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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Ultimatum”

Welcome back, everyone! We had an unexpected break last week due to the horror going on in Texas. I'm glad we did. Not because of any salty "RWBY is bad right now yay free Saturday" feelings, but because keeping to a schedule for a fictional webseries should never take precedence over peoples' safety. I can't believe I need to type that sentence out, but it's true! Over the last seven days I've seen fans who are not merely disappointed by the mini hiatus (understandable) but outright hostile towards the crew because they... were ensuring everyone survived during an unprecedented emergency? Yeah. Given the highly critical nature of these recaps — including today's! — I want to be clear that my thoughts towards Rooster Teeth's creative choices are distinct from any thoughts about the crew itself, including the most basic forms of compassion like, “I sure hope everyone is okay over there.” In an age where it has become horrifically common to harass creators and even send them death threats over stories, it has likewise become necessary to remind people: Don't do that shit. Never do that shit. If I can teach anyone anything at all, let it be that!

Anyway, dark fandom reminders out of the way, let's dive straight into our delayed episode. It was certainly a doozy. Titled "Ultimatum," we open on a trigger warning for flashing lights. Good on Rooster Teeth for including that, though I do wonder if creators shouldn't be including time stamps as well? Or perhaps a note that you can find those time stamps in the credits, avoiding any (minor) spoilers for everyone else? I'm not photosensitive myself, so I certainly don't mean to speak for that group, but my first thought was, "So how would I watch this episode if I was? Hand on the pause button, hoping I stop fast enough as soon as the lights start?" Hard to do given the surprise nature of the scene. Really, my answer would be, "Wait for the fandom to post warnings of their own, likely including where it happens so I know when to skip" which is perhaps an indication that this information that should be included from the get-go.

But I am glad the warning exists, regardless. The episode itself begins with a shot of Ironwood looking down at the kingdom. He's used his windows as a vantage point since Volume 7, so that's nothing new, but something about this particular shot reminded me of Ozpin, looking down from his tower. I'm sure the response from many would be simply, "Ah yes, the two power hungry dictators watching over their victims," but I think there's a much more nuanced reading here about leaders being expected to fix the literally unfixable and what that responsibility does to an individual. Of course, it's a nuance that is absolutely obliterated by the episode’s end, but the implication existed for a hot second!

Two other soldiers are in the room with Ironwood, reporting that Cinder has helped Watts escape. They try to soften this with news that they still have Jacques in custody, but receive only a, "I don't give a damn about Jacques Schnee." Which, fair. He's pretty useless at this point. It's when Ironwood learns that both Qrow and Robin escaped too that he really gets mad, something his subordinates have been expecting given their scared expressions.

Now, I'm treading lightly here because I realize how this is going to sound given the end of our episode, but I still want to note that outside of that ending... this is a weird take? Just hear me out. Since Volume 7 the show has worked very hard to make Ironwood seem scary and unstable — bad setup for what we end with today — but the problem is that none of it works in context and it certainly doesn't work when compared to other characters' actions. They are literally in the midst of an unwinnable battle and thousands of his people are dying. If the audience wants a human being — who also just lost a limb and was betrayed by half his allies — o remain perfectly poised and polite during that, sorry, but that's not how human beings work. But even beyond this, what’s the message here? Ironwood raises his voice, so does Yang. Ironwood hits his desk, Qrow hits a child. If we're going to examine how Ironwood handles his stress and anger, he often handles it better than many of our heroes. Namely, by continually taking that anger out on inanimate objects. I kept waiting for him to attack his subordinates or attack Winter this episode, especially given where we end up, but it never came. Ironwood always has enough control to break the desk or punch the wall, not the person in front of him. Which, of course, would not be a good thing in the real world. I want to be clear given these sensitive subjects that if someone is breaking things in your presence that's a major problem to address. But this isn't the real world. This is a fantasy world in the middle of a war, populated by other characters who express their anger by punching people, slamming them into walls, or screaming at them until they run away. The story wants us to fear Ironwood long before he makes his objectively horrific choices and it tries to achieve that by showing us characters who are clearly terrified in his presence, by giving us a string of broken objects in his wake. But those details don't land well when we compare them to other instances of stress. In the same volume I have watched Ironwood take a deep breath to calm himself down when things have gone horribly wrong. I've also watched Weiss start a conversation by threatening her defenseless brother. So again, what’s the message here? It can’t be that acting violently towards someone = villainous behavior because, as established since Volume 6, that’s common for the heroes. Why are these subordinates terrified about Ironwood slamming his fist on a table, but Whitley has no problem hugging the woman who threatened him? Obviously there is a HUGE difference between our main group and Ironwood when it comes to other actions (cough-bomb threats-cough), but these day-to-day moments don't match up. The show wants to use violence as a way for us to easily identify the Bad Guy while ignoring all the times when our heroes do the same thing.

All of which isn't meant to be a defense of Ironwood. As we'll see in a bit, there is no defense for what he's done. Rather, it's a way of acknowledging just how badly he's been written. Why does a man who consistently reins in his anger and takes it out on objects suddenly shoot a councilman for literally no reason? Why does a man defined by wanting to save as many people as he can suddenly threaten to bomb his city? Ironwood's characterization is all over the place, in the sense that they keep writing him as the morally gray, sometimes harsh, but ultimately compassionate man he started out as... up until they need a villain. Salem isn't here yet, so Ironwood can shoot Oscar. Salem isn't attacking yet, so Ironwood can shoot the councilman. Salem is currently reforming, so Ironwood can threaten YJR and Mantle. He's the B-plot villain whenever Salem is out of commission, which is a problem for both their characterizations. This filler doesn't make sense for Ironwood and it severely undermines the threat of Salem. You finally introduce the Magical Big Bad and our heroes are facing more of a threat from a guy with a broken army and three loyal allies left? Hmmm.

The tl;dr is that Ironwood's arc is a disaster and, frankly, it's gotten old reading simplified takes of, "It's just a realistic look at what white U.S. men will do in power sweetie :) " RWBY does not have the context capable of conveying that sort of critical take because our world is not besieged by literal monsters and an immortal witch, to say nothing of how real life good guys do not get deus ex machina canes that fix the problem instantaneously. Ironwood is not an example of anti-U.S. imperialism, he's an example of writers who don't know how to write.

Anyway, I'm getting severely off topic. Obviously Ironwood is a major part of this episode, but the problems demonstrated here are two years in the making. This is the culmination of things I've been discussing for months across hundreds of posts... so I should probably stop trying to summarize it all in a few paragraphs lol. Perhaps when RWBY is over — or Ironwood has died — I'll do a single meta on his character, try to pull everything into one, unified argument.

For now though, we have an episode to analyze.

While Ironwood is receiving this news we get flashbacks to Qrow and Robyn. Qrow attacks a soldier in his bird form, which is hilarious. Someone GIF that please. It does raise some interesting questions about this magic though: does Qrow retain his aura and strength in this form (something I thought given his choice to transform during the explosion), or was that soldier just so shocked at being attacked by a crow that he went down easy? We'll never know, because that would require establishing concrete rules for this world. The point is Qrow is going feral in his freedom, throwing punches left and right — did he kill that guard? — while Robyn watches it all from under a rock. They're apparently still somewhere in the facility since all the exits are guarded, but that's not the good thing Ironwood seems to think it is. After all, Qrow is out to murder him. He wants to be there.

We all see where this is going, right? The show is going to ignore Qrow's crazy belief that Ironwood got Clover killed in favor of a "Qrow saved Mantle by murdering Ironwood"/“Qrow got revenge for Mantle by murdering Ironwood” ending. Who cares why Qrow wanted to kill him in the first place now that Ironwood has his finger on the trigger? If RWBY is good at anything, it's writing moments that encourage you to ignore everything that came before it. We'll be seeing more of that in just a bit.

"Damn it!" Ironwood yells, because the show is leaning into its cursing. He orders that the subordinates not return until "you have Qrow Branwen in custody." Here we have another great example of the show conflating what the audience knows with what other characters know. See, we know Qrow has a vendetta against Ironwood. We know their relationship is the important one to the story and that Robyn is incidental. Ironwood doesn't know that. There's no reason for him, as a character, to specify that they only bring Qrow back, but it makes sense for the audience who has the whole, thematic picture. Our understanding of the situation is influencing Ironwood's dialogue, which is... not great.

This entire scene we've had creepy music to hammer home just how evil Ironwood is. Except, as said, he takes a breath to calm down and the music fades. Instead of flying into a rage, hurting someone, or doing anything the music suggests he might, Ironwood calmly calls in for an update — which is when the explosion hits.

It's MASSIVE, seeming to originate from a lightning strike, which is weird, since it's coming from inside the whale, but whatever. The animation is very dramatic and pretty, as we've come to expect of RWBY, but the actual plot is lackluster at best. It's funny though because I thought for a hot second, when Winter and the Ace Ops were caught in the blast, that RWBY had actually done something exciting. I mean, holy shit! There are the deaths we expect from a battle like this. My god, what is everyone going to do when they realize that Oscar's needless attack took out five characters, including Weiss' sister —

No wait, never mind. They're fine.

Let's talk about that "needless" descriptor for a moment though. Do you all remember, two weeks ago, when I went, "Hey, why isn't anyone telling Oscar that that Ace Ops are approaching with a bomb? They're on a time limit! If someone would just mention that Very Important Information then Oscar wouldn't keep standing around to fight Salem." See, at the time I was frustrated because of how the plot was needlessly allowing Oscar to put himself in danger (especially when the whole point of this mission was to rescue him). Now, I'm frustrated because that same plot needlessly wasted the most powerful weapon the group had. There was no reason for Oscar to use literal lifetimes worth of stored energy when the heroes already had a bomb to do the same job! What was the point of that? I guess he took out the other grimm too, but without the whale that still would have been a challenge with a finite end, one Ironwood's army and the remaining huntsmen should have been able to handle. It doesn't feel justified to have Oscar use a weapon kept on the bench for lifetimes when there was another option literally minutes away.

There's so much wrong with this I need another list. So:

Ozpin's cane supposedly stores kinetic energy, which may contradict what we've seen from it before. Regardless, we’ve never heard about this. The all powerful weapon comes out of nowhere

It also begs the question of why Ozpin wouldn't use that power at Beacon and why he wouldn't insist that they try to get their cane back while captured. You had an out this whole time! But we’re going to ignore that because Oscar is a little hesitant?

Which makes YJR's presence even more useless than it originally was, which was already pretty useless. Oscar essentially rescued himself

This kinetic energy miraculously doesn't hurt any people or buildings, just grimm

So what is the point of Silver Eyes? That's been their MO since they were first introduced. Sure, Silver Eyes can be used far more often than Ozpin's cane, but it still feels like a let down to learn that the Big Secret behind this weapon is... the exact same thing Ruby has been doing for years

Like Ruby, Oscar likewise didn't need any practice or training. He just set off this massive attack perfectly and without issue

We have now eliminated the biggest threat to the cast instantaneously — the whale and the other grimm — with no effort from the rest of the heroes. Like the Hound, the stakes are obliterated with no satisfying work on the part of our protagonists

Instead, as said, the actual plan already in place never happened. The bomb just... goes back. Kind of like how Cinder attacked and then just went back to Salem. Penny woke up and then just got knocked out again. We continue to go in circles

This is because no one took two seconds to tell Oscar, "There's a bomb on the way"

Because this threat is gone the show needs a new one, hence Ironwood randomly threatening Mantle with said bomb

The one way we might have justified Oscar blowing up the whale instead of Winter is if he did it to save Hazel, but Hazel is implied to be dead

Maybe he's alive, but if he's not that happened off screen and we're not sure how. It couldn't have been because of the blast itself — everyone else is fine — so what, Salem somehow killed him before she was blasted to bits? While he was holding her?

And there's no body?

Salem was torn apart multiple times during that fight and reformed instantaneously, yet now, conveniently, she's taking her time

None of the characters mention the issues above. None of them admit that there was no reason for Oscar to waste LIFETIMES worth of power when they already had a solution in the works. Fantastic

I need to take a moment to acknowledge that so far this recap feels... bad. Disjointed. Bit all over the place. Which makes a certain amount of sense because that's where my thoughts are at. There's so much going on in this episode — so much wrong with it — that I don't know how to boil it all down into a few, neat claims. This episode is a mess! We're barely a few minutes in and the combined issues of Ironwood's characterization and Oscar's choice have left me reeling. So if you're still reading this, bless your patience, I think we'll both need it for the rest of this journey.

Let's snag a neater plot-point to discuss. Amidst all the chaos Neo literally skips away with the Lamp, clearly thrilled at how her own life is going. Later in the episode she'll text Cinder with the obvious: Salem is going to be pretty pissed when she realizes this is gone. “If you want her name you know what you owe me."

So wait... what is Neo leveraging here? Is she agreeing to give the Lamp back so Cinder doesn't get in trouble with Salem? Give Salem the password she's been looking for? Or give Cinder the password to use the Lamp for herself? What would Cinder even want the Lamp for when she's after the Maiden powers? I'm confused about what Cinder is being blackmailed with. Regardless, she needs the lamp for something and presumably what she "owes" Neo is Ruby. We get a cut to her just to hammer that home.

(Side note: both pictures of Neo are hilarious.)

Before that though, back at the whale, everyone is taking stock of the situation when Marrow cries, "Hey, they were still in there!" I feel like this is another scene meant to make him look like the one good guy in the group — he cares about YJOR while the others can’t be bothered — but as always, that reading doesn't fit well with the situation as a whole. The others have barely had time to realize they're alive. I don't think it's a moral failing that they didn't instinctually worry about four betrayers, one of whom attacked them, while they're still checking that they have all their limbs intact. Besides, why does Marrow assume they're dead? The Ace Ops were caught in the blast as well, yet miraculously came out unharmed. They clearly didn't set their own bomb off, so it's logical to assume that YJOR did something themselves. It feels weird to have a "Marrow mourns them and Winter is the only other character who cares" moment when everyone is recovering from bomb shock and no one even knows if the others are dead. But, of course, the show is out to portray only two of these characters as good people, so ignore the logic and run with the emotion of the scene.

All of which is bolstered by Elm pulling away when Vine puts a hand on her shoulder. Why is she acting cold towards him now? Because they're not friends, remember?

While we get more ridiculous relationship dynamics, Ironwood calls in and congratulates them on the bomb working, but tells them to get back because they have another problem in the works. That would be Qrow and Robyn. Winter decides to tell him about the bomb in person.

We cut to Watts and Cinder watching the remnants of the blast from a rooftop. Cinder has tried calling, but no one answered. Unsurprising, given that Salem doesn't have any other allies left. Cinder says that the plan hasn't changed, she's still going to take the Winter Maiden's power for herself, and Watts can help her by bringing Penny here. He explains that he doesn't have full control over her. Rather, he implemented a virus that is setting her on a single path: open the vault, then self-destruct. Cinder, as one might expect, is furious.

She snags Watts by her grimm arm and threatens to toss him over the side of the building. Thus begins the best part of the episode, hands down. Despite the danger he's in, Watts throws common sense out the window in favor of dragging Cinder in the most satisfying manner possible.

“You think you’re entitled to everything just because you suffered, but suffering isn’t enough. You can’t just be strong, you have to be smart. You can’t just be deserving, you have to be worthy! But all you have ever been is a bloody migraine!”

It's true! You know what else is true? This speech could apply to our heroes as well. Accusations of entitlement and reminders to be smart as opposed to just strong hit hard, considering those are the same flaws our protagonists are struggling with. The difference is that Cinder, miraculously, listens, pulling Watts back to safety and going to cry by herself. That moment is simultaneously more growth than Ruby has gotten and more sympathy than Ironwood has gotten. The woman who murdered Pyrrha is treated more kindly by the narrative than one of our initial heroes and our very first villain has taken more time to reconsider her choices than our title character. You know a show is falling apart when excellent choices are applied to the worst possible character.

So Cinder is crying while Watts looks guilty and we cut back to YJOR's group post-blast. Yang is finally able to answer a call from Blake who is obviously overjoyed to see her. Weiss gives them directions to the mansion and they ask what in the world they'll do with Emerald, currently on her knees, mourning Hazel.

Thus begins the third most frustrating part of this episode. See, on the way back the group continues the conversation about what to do with Emerald, with Yang and Jaune distrusting her vs. Ren and Oscar encouraging cooperation. I can't believe I'm saying this after's Ren's speech and Oscar's entire existence... but I'm team Jaune and Yang here. Look, what Oscar and Ren say — the literal words coming out of their mouth — is nonsense. Ren goes, “We can’t let all of our actions stem from fear," as if Yang and Jaune are being ridiculous for mistrusting Emerald, one of the established villains, after years worth of harm from her. It’s weird that Yang points to her arm as something Emerald is responsible for, rather than being framed or the deaths at Beacon, but the general sentiment of, “She’s done horrible things!” is true. Ren’s perspective is the same simplification that was applied to Ironwood last volume, wherein everyone acted as if he was crazy for fearing an attack on his kingdom... post an attack on another kingdom and pre an attack on his kingdom. Putting generic lines in Ren's mouth about not being afraid makes him sound willfully ignorant, as if choosing to believe that someone is good will magically make them so, to say nothing of thinking it will erase all the harm they've already done.

Oscar at least acknowledges the difficulty here, but then follows this up with, “You don’t have to forgive her… just give her a second chance."

Oscar, honey, that amounts to the same thing in this situation. Allowing Emerald a second chance means working with her, which means trust, which means emotionally reaching a point where these characters can put aside the harm she's done them in an effort to give her that chance in the first place. This actually ties into a post I saw last night, one I've come across before, that claims redemption arcs don't require any suffering on the part of the person who has done wrong. I agree in theory, that prolonged suffering doesn't help anyone, but the problem is that people tend to conflate suffering with consequences and someone who has done this level of harm should face consequences for their actions. The problem with redemption arcs is not that the bad people suffer too much — emotionally and physically beating on them as a form of revenge — but that the people they've harmed are put into situations like this one. If Yang and Jaune let Emerald go like she suggests, they are agreeing that she doesn't have to face any consequences for the damage she's done (which, keep in mind, involves multiple deaths, not including all the lost lives here in Atlas). If they agree to give her a second chance, they are forced to jump straight to some level of forgiveness. We might claim they don't have to forgive Emerald to work with her, but from a practical perspective how are they meant to function, especially during a warzone? Anything she provides them with — information, watching their back in a fight, undertaking missions, etc. — requires trusting her enough to allow those things to happen: working with that info, letting her protect them, allowing her that responsibility. It's all about trust, trust she has yet to earn. In order for a redemption arc to be successful, the power has to be in the hands of the victims. They need to be able to see some justice for what was done to them, be offered some proof that the person in question has truly changed, and have the ability to walk away if they decide no, I don't forgive you, glad to hear you've improved, but please stay out of my life. Jaune and Yang have none of that. There are currently no systems in place for Emerald to face consequences for her choices, she has offered them no proof of her remorse or true motivations, and the other half of the group is pressuring them to give her that second chance without closure or reassurance. None of that makes for a good redemption arc and reducing that to, "So you want to see poor Emerald suffer, huh?" ignores the suffering she has already caused. The group are her victims and they are under no obligation to give her a second chance, particularly under these circumstances, which makes the story's choice to have Ren and Oscar act like Yang and Jaune are being stubborn or inconsiderate a problem. The conversation boils down to, "Give the woman you know to be a liar, manipulator, murder accomplice, and servant of our enemy a second chance based entirely on unfounded faith. If you don't you're letting yourself be ruled by fear."

RWBY's touchy-feely themes really don't sit well within its realistic, morally gray premise. We cannot continually have these characters go through hell one moment and then have others accuse them of being paranoid the next. The fact that all of this is wrapped up in the group trusting Robyn, Emerald, and Hazel over their established allies remains beyond frustrating.

Because yeah, you know how Oscar finishes his speech? “I’ve already gotten a lot of help today from someone I don’t exactly trust right now." Meaning Ozpin.

The story is trying to compare Emerald and Hazel to Ozpin.

"Oh hey, I kept a secret from you after lifetimes of watching that secret lead to betrayal and death. I keep apologizing for my mistakes while ignoring that I had no reason to trust a bunch of kids with such world-shattering information and also that you tore it from me in the most traumatic way possible."

"Oh hey, I willingly joined our world's version of the devil and helped her destroy your school, leading to numerous deaths including your friend and headmaster. It was his death that put Oscar in this position in the first place! I then continued to attack your group, leading to another near death of a friend, and a kidnapping, and the destruction of Amity, until I became scared enough to make a run for it."

Which one of these characters is granted an instant second chance? You'll never guess who!

And I do think the word "instant" is important here because just like Jaune and Yang have the right to have distance and justice from Emerald, they had that right with Ozpin too. The difference is they got it. They had the power in the situation, as evidenced by their use of the Lamp and physically attacking him. Ozpin heard what they needed from him — leave us alone — and did that without complaint. They were given months to come to terms with the secrets he kept. They were offered apologies and acts of service to demonstrate intent: saving them in the airship and continually saving Oscar. I don't believe Ozpin ever needed a redemption arc, but even if we think he did, he had it. After three volumes of material Oscar's perspective is still "I don't exactly trust [him] right now" but Hazel and Emerald have earned at least the same amount of trust in a matter of hours? They're really having my boy look at the guy who has tried desperately to do right by him despite unimaginable circumstances, and the guy who tortured him to get information for Salem, and went, "That first guy. He's the one we need to watch out for."

To make things even worse, Oscar tells the others that Ozpin took on all the torture so he wouldn't have to. So he did that and they still don't trust him? If you had told me back in Volume 6 that two years later the group would still be hostile towards Ozpin, while simultaneously urging one another to trust Emerald, I would have said you were lying. RWBY has its problems, but it's not that bad. Yet here we are. I suppose the one silver lining here is that Ren smiles when he realizes Ozpin is back? So at least one of them isn't prepared to draw their weapon at the mere mention of his name.

Both these moments raise more questions though. How in the world did Ozpin take on that torture when we clearly saw Oscar getting pummeled for a good portion of the kidnapping? Is that a weird merge thing the story hasn't bothered to explain? I wouldn't be surprised, considering Oscar said last episode he didn't want to use magic because it hastened the merge, he uses the biggest explosion of magic we've ever seen, and nothing has changed. Ozpin is still in the back of his head, thanking him for the tinniest shreds of decency they get. Ren, meanwhile, seems to be back to mindreading. How in the world does he know that Ozpin is back? I assume it has something to do with his semblance, but we don't know what. They could have shown us Oscar from Ren's perspective, perhaps with two distinct emotions swilling around to imply that he sees two different people now, not a useless shot of Emerald with purple flower petals, whatever purple means.

Oh, but no, we shouldn't have gotten either of these scenes. Remember that Ren's aura broke a very, very short time ago? Is it back already? Can he use this part of his semblance without it? Considering it was near impossible to see Ironwood's aura breaking in the Watts fight and we were then mistakenly told he used his semblance in the office, I'm going to go with, "The writers forgot."

Oscar explains that the cane had "lifetime after lifetime" of power in it and though there's still some left, "we have to be careful with how we use the rest." He says that Ozpin trusted his judgement and of course he did! Ozpin also didn’t know that there was a bomb on the way. Yet funnily enough, no one else mentions that, whoops, your choice made in ignorance was a waste and that's due entirely to us prioritizing hugs over basic mission information.

Also, all these explanations take place in front of Emerald. Half the group doesn't trust her, but they'll freely discuss their powers and limitations here. Remember how the group once wanted to talk about magical relics in front of the old lady they'd just met? Yeah, they've learned nothing.

Combine all this insanity with the fact that Ozpin's magic saved the day before Ironwood's bomb could do the same... while Ruby sat in a mansion drinking tea. Who's our hero again?

So things are a hot mess, to put it lightly. Their conversation finally ends when they hear voices and round the corner to find all the Atlas citizens huddled in the subway. For once the show actually writes them in a sympathetic manner, emphasizing how terrified and helpless they are. This image doesn't lead the group to any revelations though, certainly not anything that would tie back to Ren's earlier speech in the snow. No, once again the justified criticisms here are ignored as we hear that “However this fight ends, we could really use someone like you, [Emerald.]” That's it then. Discussion over. We knew as soon as it started that blindly trusting her was being presented as the "right" thing to do and now here we are, deciding that conclusively, despite Jaune and Yang's complaints. By the time the group reaches the mansion, Oscar is defending Emerald from Ruby. We're supposed to just accept that she's a part of the group now, only minimal pushback allowed.

Before that though we return to Ironwood getting news that their bomb never went off. He briefly wonders who else could have done that, but puts the currently unanswerable question aside for what he does know. They still have the bomb and it could be "useful." See, this moment — like shooting Oscar and the councilman — is when Ironwood just randomly goes off the deep end. One minute he's talking about what they've lost and cradling his new arm,

the next he's saying that he should have tortured Qrow to get Penny to obey him! Which doesn't even make sense since I'm pretty sure Penny hasn't ever spoken to Qrow. She wouldn't want anyone to suffer, true, but it's not like Ironwood had a close friend like Ruby to use as leverage. Qrow is just Some Guy to her. Regardless, he thinks Yang, Jaune, and Ren are decent replacements, despite Penny also having no relationships with them. This is what happens when your characters only start breaking up their teams eight years into the story, the response to Ironwood wanting to torture Ren to hurt Penny is, “Does Penny know Ren exists?” But, you know, torture is torture, right? Maybe. Probably not. I mean, if they're going to turn Ironwood into a cartoon villain, they could at least keep him smart.

Because all of this is just the height of stupidity. Ironwood wants to torture people Penny barely knows to make her listen (so just grab some civilians? It would do the same job...). Ironwood wants to shoot down empty ships, even though no one, including us, knows where in the world those ships would have gone. Ironwood wants to destroy an entire city to try and save another city. He wants to use a bomb meant for a comparatively small whale and acts like that alone will take out the majority of a kingdom. None of it makes sense! And I know the easy comeback for that is, "Well yeah, Ironwood is crazy and evil" but he's not. I mean he is. Threatening torture and bombings is obviously evil, but he's never been insane, or stupid. As said before, his arc (or lack thereof) is an absolute disaster. The fandom assumes so many things about Ironwood given the opportunity — the whale is a suicide mission. He expects the Ace Ops to die on his order — and the writing hints at so many things that never happen — he's going to hurt his subordinates, attack Winter for disobeying him — and every time what we actually get is a far more compassionate, level-headed character... until he randomly does a 180 and goes, "Let's murder a whole city now!" I never wanted Ironwood to be the bad guy, but they could have at least given me a persuasive decent into this level of horror.

So... yeah. Ironwood has got to die by the end of the volume, yeah? Between Ruby warning the whole world about him and him going into full villain mode, there's no coming back from this.

Neo sends her text to Cinder and the group makes it back to the mansion. Remember Yang's criticisms of Ruby's leadership? The ones she conveniently forgot about when Ren started to agree with her? Yeah, those are entirely gone as the sisters hug it out and, presumably, forgive one another for... daring to admit that things are bad? Look, I'm not going to deny that Ironwood's scene with Winter was creepy as fuck,

but I'm not of the opinion that the heroes are any better when it comes to the theme of obedience. They've attacked one another, screamed at one another, and any dissent from Ruby's leadership results in the questioner being left behind in the snow. We'll accept you again when you fall back in line. I used to adore the relationships in this show, but watching them now is just discomforting. The show might be 100% more obvious with Ironwood, using creepy music, a smile, and that hand on Winter's shoulder, but the concept of, "Sorry I dared to question you before! We won't ever do it again :)" isn't healthy either. The fact that the show keeps erasing theses problems with hugs — Weiss hugs Whitley now, Yang hugs Ruby, someone will probably hug Emerald soon — doesn't make the circumstances any less uncomfortable.

None of this even gets into the Blake and Yang hug. First of all, why is Blake acting like they had a fight and Yang might not want to see her? She's hiding inside rather than rushing to greet them, ears down in a devastated expression until Yang touches her. Combine this with Yang's "Do you think she's mad at me?" and it feels like the writers cut a fight in the final script and then didn't bother to remove the fallout from that. Seriously, where did any of this come from? You can't just have characters act like they've been fighting when they haven’t.

Also, can't forget this.

At this point there's nothing more I can say in regards to RWBY's almost-queer baiting. Is touching foreheads more intimate than the hugs Yang gave the others? Absolutely. Is that an appropriate stand-in for overt representation? Absolutely not. This would have been a perfect time for them to kiss. Take out Blake's nonsensical fear and replace it with them both reuniting after their first separation since Volume 5, working under the knowledge that either one could have been killed, finally admitting their feelings. Hell, they don't actually have to kiss. Not all girlfriends are interested in kissing! But they could use the terminology that makes things unequivocally canon. Another forehead touch when we got that in Volume 6? It's not enough, especially not when our straight couples have all been allowed their rep.

Ren at least wants to know where Nora is. He's presumably told what happened off screen as Oscar tells Ruby that Emerald is their friend now.

Then an emergency call from May interrupts the reunion and the group learns that Ironwood is bombing the Schnee ships. “Those ships… they were going to save people” Weiss whispers. How? Tell me how they were going to save anyone. Where were you going to take these people where they would be safer than where they are now? RWBY continually asserts things without explaining them, meaning there is precisely zero emotional weight here. Again, Ironwood is far past the point of defense, but I'd be a whole lot more critical of this particular action if I had a better sense of why it's bad. He appears to be endangering the people given May's shout to run — falling debris? — but the further implication is that Ironwood has doomed the people of Mantle by denying them these ships. It's that part that makes no sense based on what we've been told.

Which finally comes to the ultimatum of our episode title: Penny opens the vault, or Ironwood bombs Mantle. Great! So glad this plan is wicked smart and works well for his characterization. It's definitely not a nonsensical, unfounded, overblown change that feels like it belongs in a child's cartoon, complete with dramatic spotlight. Nope. Excellent writing choices all around.

Our final line of the episode is, “I hope you live up to the title I gave you," referring to Penny's job as the Protector of Mantle, and you know what? That line could have been very cool if it was delivered by an Ironwood with a persuasive fall and a halfway decent plan in place. I love that we've twisted the concept of a protector and turned the title into a horrifying, rather than honorable responsibility... I just hate everything surrounding those details.

So, usual RWBY fare.

(At least we get to see that Nora is awake!)

Will things get better over the next four episodes? I doubt it. We're still expecting the rest of the Ace Ops + Winter to ditch Ironwood, someone getting the vault open, the fall of Atlas, now the potential destruction of Mantle, and none of that includes Salem who should reform at any moment. Frankly, I'm not looking forward to any of it. The final leg of a season should make its audience excited to see how everything turns out, not dreading it. I've heard from multiple people that this is the volume that finally got them to drop the show and honestly? I'm not surprised.

As a final (happier?) note: we've finally got a bingo! I completely forgot our board last time, which was a terrible oversight, but we can update it now.

Our army of grimm can't kill anyone now that it got KOed by Oscar (that is the third one hit defeat of a major enemy we've seen this volume. Yes, I'm including the Hound considering it was obviously on its last legs after Ruby's eyes.)

I'm likewise including "Ozpin apologizes for everything including his existence" because he's done nothing but apologize since he came back. The emotion is there even if the literal words are not. Oscar reminded everyone of how untrustworthy he is, but kept the group from jumping them again. And Ozpin thanked him for it.

Neo didn't literally backstab Cinder (shame), but the Relic still counts.

So a triple bingo! Is that how bingo works? Idk, I've never played. I feel like I should have thought up some sort of humorous prize, but sadly I've got nothing. If you think of anything, let me know lol

That’s all then, folks. Until next week! 💜

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #rwby ultimatum #rwby recaps #mymetas

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pinky-the-elephant-room · 4 years

Text

Lovely Noya

❀ AN: I’m been trying to upload this since yesterday here’s hoping this works !! This prompt is based off Lovely Complex, so yes Noya is Otani in this but the plot was changed to fit Noya’s personality. Reader is 5′8 and Nishinoya 5′2 or 4′10 with his hair down as Wiki states.

✿ Warning: None fluffy goodness. Tall Fem Reader x Nishinoya

❀ Summary: Of all the different times Nishinoya saw you how was he suppose to know that you were leaving a piece of yourself inside his heart?

✾✾✾✾✾✾✾

1 time.

Nishinoya rested his face against the wooden desk as the sensei went on and on about how important 2nd year was going to be for graduation and eventually college. But really, he tuned it out, the defeat at Inter high still fresh in his mind. He opened his muted brown eyes to watch as the clouds hazily moved across the horizon. He jerked out of his musing when his seatmate next to him suddenly got up, the chair scraping across the floor, and in doing so creating such a horrific sound that he couldn’t help but wince.

“L/N, read the next paragraph please,” the sensei commanded.

“Haiiiiiii.”

Nishinoya couldn’t help but sit up straighter, did girls know how cute they sounded when they talked like that? He proceeded to pay attention as Y/N continued to read in accented but clear English so much so he couldn’t help feeling envious. Despite years of having English as a mandatory class he still sucked at it.

“And that’s why the Dutch succeeded in trading with a closed-off Japan where other nations failed,” Y/N finished and tucking her skirt, sat elegantly back down in her chair.

“Alright, who’s next to read?”

Nishinoya ducked his head and prayed silently it wouldn’t be him.

“Akira, read the next paragraph!” the gruff teacher barked.

Nishinoya let out a big sigh of relief and slumped over. He heard muffled giggles and he saw Y/N covering her mouth with her hand. When she finished, she looked over to see him staring at her. She jolted in surprise.

“Oh gomen, you just looked so relieved,” she said with a grin.

Nishinoya just grinned back at her. “Don’t worry about it. I’m used to girls laughing at me.” He realized with a depressing clarification and slumped even more.

Y/N blinked at him and leaned forward resting her face on her palm. “What do you mean by that?”

He quickly shook his head. “N-never mind that, Y/N. We should pay attention now before we get in trouble.”

She flashed him a quick smile showing off a dimple only on her right cheek.

“If you say so. And I’m glad I don’t have to correct you on my name! I don’t really like my last name, Noya-kun.”

N-noya-kun??! His cheeks flushed red and he tucked his head behind his textbooks so she couldn’t see the effect her simple words had on him.

L/N Y/N was someone he never shared a class with, and he wasn’t close with her either. Well, he wasn’t close with any girls, but still, the fact they were neighbors would mean they should at least exchange pleasantries, right? But she always arrived before he did and left later than him, so they never really got a chance to communicate. In fact, this was the first time they had an entire conversation since school started. Maybe he should make more of an effort to talk to her. She seemed pretty nice and he could always use more female friends since he had none.

He was jolted out of his thoughts as the bell rang and signaled the class had ended. Nishinoya leaped from his chair with a “yatta!” and quickly picked up his bag. Just as he was about to go rushing out of the classroom, he remembered his previous notions about making friends.

“Bye-bye, Y/N!”

Y/N looked up startled, just as she was putting away her books and a small smile blossomed on her face.

“Mata ne, Noya-kun!” And she turned back to her bag.

Just in time too as his face once again quickly felt hot and he ran off trying to reach the volleyball gym in record time.

4 times.

Nishinoya sat glumly in his seat as everybody trickled in for the morning classes. Asahi, the ace of their team, hadn’t shown up again, not even seeing Kiyoko-san’s face had lifted his mood that morning. Their loss was even harder to cope with Asahi not showing up like a coward.

He glanced up when he saw Y/N pull out the chair next to him and sit down at her desk.

“Ohaiyo, Noya-kun!” she greeted cheerfully.

“Hey….” he replied and sighed.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing just some volleyball club stuff….”

“Oh! You guys had a tournament in March. How did it go?”

Nishinoya furrowed his eyebrows and asked, “wait how did you know about the game? Are you a volleyball fan too?”

Y/N waved off his inquiry. “No, I’m on the student council and I know pretty much all of the clubs’ activities for budget concerns.”

“Right well, we lost.”

Y/N’s face wilted and the smile on her face vanished. It looked wrong on her somehow, he wanted her to smile all the time.

“I’m sorry to hear that, but you’re in your second year! You have the tournament a few months from now on and even next year to do better.”

“I suppose,” he muttered and fiddled with the pencil on his desk.

Nishinoya peeked at Y/N from the corner in his eye and saw that she looked like she wanted to say something several times but stopped herself.

“Hey, can I ask you a question?”

Y/N perked up. “Of course!”

“There’s a teammate that took the loss really badly and he’s not showing up to practice anymore! And the thing is it’s not his fault we lost but he’s taking it personally. The team relies on him a lot and everybody’s down. I don’t know what to do.”

He didn’t know why he was asking her or why he was even opening to her, but it was a question weighing on him heavily. Sure, he was a boisterous guy that never let things like defeat keep him down, but Asahi was different. Nishinoya didn’t understand what the ace was going through, and he was kind of confused on how to make things right. Especially since he was harboring his own guilt. But it felt right to ask her. Especially since Y/N was a popular girl that many of their classmates relied on.

“Well, maybe you should start by talking to him and telling him how you feel. Start with exactly what you just told me and eventually persuade him to come back,” she suggested.

“Are you sure it’s as simple as that?” He couldn’t help but be skeptical. Where were the dramatic crying and wholesome man hugs?

“Yup! Every time the student council members argue amongst themselves, I always act as a mediator being the Vice President. We always start by being honest with each other and then finding a compromise.”

Nishinoya nodded. “Alright! I’ll go talk to him right after classes are done.”

Just as he was about to ask her if she could help him with last night’s homework (more like copy), Mai-san, their class representative, had interrupted them.

“Oy Y/N-chan! I have a couple of questions about the upcoming spring festival’s budget,” she waved Y/N over to her desk.

Nishinoya watched as Y/N stood up and made her way across the classroom. He was startled to notice her height for the first time. How tall was she exactly? She made him feel like an ant underneath her heel. Furthermore, how the hell did he not notice until now?

He watched as all the girls and even a few guys in their class gravitated to Y/N’s friendly nature. She was a natural-born leader that reassured many by her presence. She felt like a gentler version of Daichi-san, to be honest.

As the morning bell rang, all the students made it back to their desk on time. When Y/N sat down at her own, he leaned over and whispered, “Y/N, can I see your math homework from yesterday?”

She didn’t even look at him as she replied while writing down notes, “you can’t keep relying on me, Noya-kun. Otherwise, you will fail your tests.”

He softly brought his hands together and bowed. “Onegaiiii! I promise I’ll make it up to you! How about a popsicle?”

She reached over and pulled one of the notebooks before passing it over to him.

“Try not to make it too obvious, ok?”

“Don’t worry! I’m great at copying we won’t get caught.”

Y/N shook her head. “I wish you would be just as good at math as you are at copying,” she muttered under her breath.

When Nishinoya finally finished he couldn’t help but let out a relieved shout.

“Oy Nishinoya! What are you doing? Pay attention or you’ll start failing before the semester even begins!” The sensei barked at the interruption.

The class broke out into giggles and Y/N couldn’t help the small smile at Nishinoya’s expense as his face crumbled from being scolded.

6 times.

Nishinoya blinked slowly as he laid on the couch watching another comedy rerun of some old comedy duo that were famous in the ’90s. He quirked his head when he heard another noise. This time the doorbell rang clearly and awoke him from his stupor.

He scratched the itch on his behind as he slowly made his way to the front door.

“Alright, alright! I’m coming no need to keep ringing the doorbell.”

He reached and unlocked the door before turning the knob. There stood Y/N on his doorstep still wearing her school uniform.

“Y/N, what are you doing here?”

She shot him an annoyed look and planted her hands on her hips.

“When I told you to go talk to your teammate, I didn’t tell you to start a fight and get suspended, Noya-kun!”

He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “Gomen! But in my defense, it wasn’t a fight, and I didn’t mean to break anything.”

She tsked and reached in her bag to pull out some papers.

“Here, that’s the work for this week that you missed. I live close by, so I got the responsibility.”

He tried to sound enthusiastic as he thanked her, but her face gave him the impression she wasn’t buying it.

“You aren’t going to do it until the last minute, am I right? And you won’t even do a good job on it either because you would be in a hurry to finish it.”

“T-that’s not true and you know it,” he lamely defended himself before conceding. “Ok, fine you win.”

“What am I going to do with you?” she asked shaking her head. “Can I come in?”

Nishinoya was startled at her request for a minute before consenting. “Sure!”

He watched wide-eyed as her head almost touched the doorframe, she was that tall and he couldn’t help but stare up at her as she passed.

“Ne, Y/N how tall are you?”

“172 cms. It’s not that tall though. Chichiue’s even taller. He has to bend down so that he doesn’t hit door frames most of the time.”

Not that tall? Nishinoya wished most of the time he was able to at least reach the glassware on the lower shelves in the kitchen and she said 172 cms wasn’t tall! Genetics just aren’t fair, are they?

As Y/N collaborated to help him finish this week’s homework, he failed to notice the stars in Y/N’s eyes and the soft blush on her face each time their hands touched. And that would prove to be her undoing.

10 times.

Nishinoya cackled at Tanaka who was still lamenting tripping over a volleyball in the gym. His shaved head still sported a nasty bump that was beginning to purple, with a mischievous grin Nishinoya reached over to poke it. Tanaka let out a yelp and smacked his hand away.

“Don’t do that!”

“Gomen Ryu, it looks like you have another head growing out of your skull,” he gasped out between his chuckles.

“Ah! If it isn’t Noya-kun!” a voice called out.

He turned around to see Y/N walking towards him. She was probably heading home as well.

“Yo Y/N! You’re going home early today?”

“Un! The President let me go since I finished my work early.”

Nishinoya turned around to see Tanaka pulling at his sleeve and looking at him eagerly.

“Oh, this is L/N Y/N my classmate and this is Tanaka Ryunosuke, my teammate.”

“Nice to meet you!” Y/N said cheerfully and bowed.

Ryu however just bowed in a hurry and turned away. Y/N gave Nishinoya a curious look which he only shrugged at. He had no idea why Ryu was acting weird.

Suddenly he remembered the favor he owed her from when she helped me finish his work. He fumbled through his pockets, pulling out a Gari Gari-kun’s winner popsicle stick.

“Here, Y/N! My treat for you!” he said eagerly and put it in her hand.

“Wow. A free popsicle when I took time out of my day to help you,” she deadpanned.

He only chuckled nervously and scratched his head. “I know. I know. I owe you.”

“Never mind I’ll just think of something later. I’m going to head home now. Bye-bye!”

Nishinoya just waved to her and watched as the taller girl left.

“Noya you bastard! How could you do this to me? How could you hide such a cute girl from me?” Ryu burst out dramatically as soon as Y/N left.

“Y/N? Cute?” Noya murmured to himself like he hadn’t considered the possibility.

“You’re joking, right? That’s Y/N, the vice president of the student council. Even third years think she’s pretty and you’re telling me you haven’t noticed? Are you feeling ok?” Tanaka placed his hand on Nishinoya’s forehead trying to check his temperature.

He just batted away Tanaka’s hand and shrugged.

“I guess I just didn’t notice because I don’t like her that way? She’s super helpful and always taking care of me, but she’s not someone I would consider a girlfriend material, you know? More like a friend or even a sister.”

He saw Tanaka giving him a look that he couldn’t decipher before it disappeared. So, he just brushed it off.

“I mean the only girl for me is Kiyoko-san! She shines brighter than any other girl in the school, so it’s not a surprise that I didn’t really notice Y/N.”

Tanaka gave him a nod in agreement. “That’s true! No one can compare to Kiyoko-san,” he said before slapping Noya harshly on the back.

“Ahh! What was that for?”

“For not telling me your friends with a cute girl like Y/N!”

The two best friends tussled with each other for a few more minutes before going about their way home.

14 times

Another one and another Friday gone, Nishinoya stretched happily and got ready to leave for home. Next week is the training camp and he was beyond excited to play volleyball once again.

“Noya-kun! Do you have a minute before you leave?”

Nishinoya looked up at Y/N and nodded with a huge smile.

She handed over a bag that she grabbed from inside her desk.

“Here, I’m not sure if your allowed to have snacks at the training camp so I grabbed you some.”

Nishinoya looked through the bag to see some potato chips, chocolate, and other variety of snacks.

Y/N was nervously twitching as she watched Noya look through the bag.

“Sorry if you don’t like them, I wasn’t sure what you liked besides Gari Gari-kun popsicles.”

“N-no!... No. It’s just no one ever has done this for me. I’m just a little shocked is all, Y/N” he said a bit emotionally.

Y/N’s raised her eyebrow. “You’re not going to cry, are you?”

“Of course not! I just have something in my eye,” he cried out while he wiped his eyes.

Y/N let out a giggle. “Well, make sure to train hard. I want to see Karasuno go to the Nationals, ok?”

“Yosh! I’ll do my best!”

She just waved happily and turned to leave the classroom. Nishinoya hurried to show off his goods to Tanaka in the gym.

He ran all the way there before finding his shaved friend just about to enter the gym.

“Yo, Ryu! Look what Y/N gave me!” Nishinoya proudly showed off his gift.

“Whoa, all of that? Did you blackmail her?” Tanaka asked teasingly.

“Nah, she said she wants to see our team at the Nationals and told me to train hard! It’s like I have my very own cheerleader.”

Tanaka looked at Noya tentatively again and Noya’s face dropped at the expression.

“What? You keep looking at me like that.”

“Nothing. I just find it interesting that Y/N’s so nice to you. Do you think she likes you?”

Nishinoya’s face burned at the accusation and he quickly denied it.

“No way! Y/N’s just nice like that and she’s helpful with all her classmates. I mean she and I have gotten close lately, but I don’t think she likes me like that.”

“But does she give snacks to other boys? Or help them study? Does she treat them the same way she treats you?”

The questions left Nishinoya a bit speechless and unable to respond coherently.

“S-still I don’t think she likes me, Ryu! There’s just no way!” He burst into nervous laughter and swerved around Tanaka to head up to the changing rooms.

As he climbed the stairs all he could think about was, ‘Y/N’s pretty and tall there’s just no way she would like me. Absolutely no way!’

16 times

Most of his class was heading out to their Thursday lab class that occurred in another building. He was sluggishly making his way to chemistry which he wasn’t ok with. Because no Friday should ever end with a class as awful as chemistry (still not as bad as literature though)!

He wanted to practice volleyball some more after their practice match with Nekoma. Next time he was going to receive all the serves headed his way. His thought process was broken by high pitched squealing.

“Ehhhh? Is that Y/N-san’s boyfriend?” a girl called out.

As soon as he heard the word “boyfriend” and “Y/N” in the same sentence, his head snapped so quickly towards the group of girls talking that he could feel a kink in the back of his neck.

He looked towards Y/N and what looked like a familiar boy. Wait, was that Tsukishima? Since when did she know him?

“No way! I think he’s a first year. Look she’s handing some papers to him. It’s probably student council business.”

Sure enough, Y/N handed Tsukishima a huge stack of papers to which he took and bowed to the older girl in thanks.

“Oh, that makes sense. But don’t they look so cute though? Look, their height difference is only a few centimeters. They match so well,” his classmate said eagerly to her friend.

Nishinoya waited to hear the group of girls disagree with a frown. Only for that frown to get deeper when he heard resounding approval. Did they not know how rude Tsukishima was or how crappy his personality was? Y/N wouldn’t ever be happy with a guy like that! She needed someone who could appreciate how caring she was, not someone who would take advantage of her kind nature.

With that in mind, he rushed to rescue his friend before Tsukishima could get his claws in her.

“Hey Y/N, aren’t you going to chemistry? It’s time,” he said as he budged into their conversation.

Y/N’s eyes widened and checked the watch on her wrist. “Shoot! You’re right. Anyway, Tsukishima-san make sure to deliver that to your sensei.”

Tsukishima only nodded respectfully. “Will do. Ja! Senpai and Y/N-senpai.” He threw a weird, confused look at Nishinoya who kept sending him hostile glares.

As soon as he left, Nishinoya grabbed Y/N’s wrist and pulled her away.

“Stay away from him, Y/N. He’s on the volleyball team and he has a very nasty personality.”

“Huh? Do you mean Tsukishima-san? Are you sure? He was pretty polite to me,” she replied as she kept up with his pace easily.

“Oh, that’s a façade trust me. He always has something smart to say sooner or later. I still can’t believe he had the nerve to talk crap about Rolling Thunder!”

Y/N let out a giggle. “Rolling Thunder? What’s that?”

Nishinoya’s face lit up as he proceeded to explain how cool his super-duper receive was. And how he was called the deity of Karasuno’s volleyball team.

Soon enough the two had arrived at the lab and sat down at their assigned seats. Chemistry passed by him slowly as the teacher droned on and on about molarity. Even the lab that involved freezing and melting water by a flame turned out to be boring. Finally, the lab ended, and he was just about to zip out of there to head to practice when he heard the same group of girls again.

“Ne Y/N-san, which one of those boys would you date? Mai here thinks you suit Nishinoya-san, but I think you would suit that tall blonde boy that you were talking to earlier.”

Another voice interrupted, “aren’t Y/N and Nishinoya-kun close? I think it would make sense.”

“Yeah, but he’s so short! How would they even kiss? Don’t they have like a 10 cm height difference? It would be too weird.”

The girls burst into laughter and his heart dropped. He knew the idea of Y/N liking him was too farfetched and even if she did it wouldn’t work out. So, without hearing what Y/N had to say he left the area in a hurry.

20 times.

He could feel the pressure surrounding the court, suffocating him and the team. They had to defeat Aoba Johsai to get to the finals. Apparently, his team had beaten Seijoh before in a practice match, but it was without their usual setter. “The Grand King” as he was called by Shoyo. A competent setter really made all the difference, huh. Well, Oikawa was better than competent, but Nishinoya really didn’t want to admit that right now. He was annoying in middle school and he was annoying now.

He blew a breath through his teeth as he once again caught a serve by Oikawa. The power of the serve had struck his forearms making them alarmingly red. He could feel the spirit of his team dimming as the rally continued. What should he do? He was getting the serves, but they were still trailing behind Seijoh.

“Fighto! Noya-kun! Fighto!” a familiar voice called out.

He looked up to see Y/N cupping her hands and cheering for him. Nishinoya felt relief flooding through him. She had let him know that she would be a bit late and she had missed several of their matches already. But now she was finally here. His lips trembled and he could feel his vision get watery. Quickly blinking the moisture away, he felt his spirit rekindle.

“Yosh! Everyone don’t worry about the match! I’ll protect the court, so you guys make sure to get those points! After all, I got your back,” he finished off with a wide grin.

Immediately, he could see Daichi relax and let out a small smile. Hinata and Kageyama exchanged a look and nodded. Even Tsukishima’s tense shoulders seem to drop a little. Their spirits renewed, the team quickly readied their stance and faced Seijoh once again.

21 times.

The defeat weighed upon the team as they moved through the building to get to the bus. They were going to head back to Karasuno and go to a nearby restaurant afterward. The team was quiet contemplating their loss silently, each of them coping with it differently. As for himself, he felt disappointed and upset of course, but there was still a drive burning inside of him. Seeing the libero on Seijoh cross the line and actually set up the ball, was inspiring. He wanted to try it out for himself for future matches like in the Spring High. However, there was still the somber atmosphere and he knew it wasn’t the right time to talk about future training just yet.

“Noya-kun!”

Nishinoya looked back to see Y/N running towards him. Daichi placed a hand on his shoulder.

“You have five minutes. Meet us at the bus.” He nodded in reply and the team left without him.

“Hey Y/N, I’m sorry…,” he began.

“Why are you sorry?”

He looked up at her face to see it scrunched up in confusion.

“B-because we lost. You told us to go to Nationals and we couldn’t go.”

“Are you kidding? You guys were amazing! I don’t know much about volleyball, but so many people in the audience were surprised by Karasuno. Apparently, Aoba Johsai is an amazing school, and the fact you guys lost by two points? I’m-m. I don’t know what to say! I’m speechless,” Y/N spat out in a rush, giddy in her excitement.

Y/N bent down a little and wrapped her hands around his waist. She pulled him close and he could feel her body heat against his.

“I’m so proud of you. I had no idea you were so good at volleyball,” she whispered.

His heartbeat sped out of control and he started to feel dizzy from the smell of her sweet perfume and the feeling of her soft skin against his. Why was he feeling this way? Wasn’t this how he usually felt around Kiyoko-san and other cute girls? The realization hit him hard. Was he actually starting to like her? And not just in a joking, faux way he did with Kiyoko-san, but in a way that involved heart fulfilling confessions?

Nishinoya could feel himself panic and his body stiffened at the close contact. Y/N noticed right away his body’s reaction and stumbled back quickly.

“Oh gomen. I-I got too excited,” Y/N said as she blushed.

“It’s fine,” he trailed off watching as Y/N nervously played with her hair. He eyed the prominent blush on her face. Why was she acting like….. Oh. Oh. He wanted to immediately deny it like he had done with Tanaka all those weeks ago, but it was hard to when the evidence was right in front of his eyes.

He had to go. He had to go now!

“Listen Y/N, the team’s waiting for me. I have to get on the bus.”

She smiled and replied, “of course. I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”

School? Oh, hell he didn’t even think about that.

“Yeah, sure,” he got out before leaving her behind. He had a lot to think about.

25 times.

Nishinoya wasn’t trying to avoid Y/N on purpose. He still greeted her in class, but he was just no longer engaging her in inane conversation like he did every day. He had a lot to think about. Again, how he didn’t notice her feelings earlier; he had no idea. She wasn’t obvious but when they were alone her earnest gaze was hard to ignore.

As he tried to get himself together, Nishinoya knew he was making Y/N upset by ignoring her. But he couldn’t help himself. Sure, he was the definition of a man who was girl-crazy, but it was all in good fun. He wasn’t seriously pursuing anyone even Kiyoko-san knew that. But this situation was very real and very complicated. In the end, it could cost him the one female he managed to somehow befriend. Still, he wouldn’t have known that Y/N was going to use the opportunity to be honest.

“Noya-kun, can we talk alone?” Y/N asked one afternoon as he was readying to flee the classroom.

“O-oh, I’m not sure. Daichi-san might make me do laps for being late,” he replied flustered at her request.

“Please. It won’t take long,” she pleaded.

Hearing the urgency in her voice, he could no longer refuse. “Alright.”

They walked out of the classroom and she led him behind one of the older science buildings.

She stood in front of him, clenching and unclenching the grip on her bag before she hesitantly spoke.

“N-noya-kun, I have something to tell you.”

Nishinoya felt his eyes widened.

“I know we have become really good friends over the last few months. But I can’t help myself. I really like you! Please accept my feelings!” she said before bowing to him.

“I can’t, Y/N. I don’t really think of you that way. I’m sorry.”

Y/N stood up and looked a bit shocked. Her face that was previously flushed with nervousness drained and became pale.

Nishinoya bowed in return and said, “I’m really sorry. I hope we can still be friends.”

Still looking quite aghast she replied in a small voice, “I-I…. of course, Noya-kun. I just need a little time that’s all.”

He hesitated for a minute as he tried to explain why he was saying no. That he was confused with his own feelings, but before he could begin, Y/N ran off without another word.

“Y/N! Wait up!” He ran after her and caught her wrist, forcing her to turn around and face him.

Her face was wet with tears. “Please, I have to go.”

Stupefied at making Y/N cry, he let her go without another word. He only watched as she got farther and farther away, he couldn’t help but think that he made a mistake.

25 times

He could distantly hear volleyball hitting the gym floor and the sound of someone saying, “nice kill.” But it all seemed to fade away.

Daichi hollered, “alright, let’s do another penalty drill.”

Nishinoya absentmindedly followed his teammates doing another round after they lost again to Fukurodani.

“Oy Noya, this way. We have to run up the hill now. Practice is done for the day,” Tanaka said as he dragged him.

“Right. Gomen,” Nishinoya muttered.

As he ran up the hill, he didn’t notice Tanaka looking at him worriedly. He approached Nishinoya after he was lying at the bottom of the hill and panting for his life.

“Let’s talk, me and you. There’s something bothering you,” Tanaka blurted out.

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine. Just the losses are getting to me that’s all.”

“Bull! I’m your best friend I know these things.”

Nishinoya looked around to see the rest of the Karasuno members busy trying to catch their breath or getting water.

He sat up and plucked the grass on the hill. “Y/N confessed to me before the training camp.”

“What?!” Tanaka yelled out.

Nishinoya got startled by Tanaka’s volume and crushed the grass blades in his hand by accident.

“Shhhhh! Quiet!” he ordered, “do you want everyone to hear?”

They turned around to see the rest looking at them weirdly before assuming it was just the duo being their obnoxious selves and going back to relaxing.

“Noya, you bastard! You got a girlfriend before me! I’m happy and sad at the same time,” Tanaka blubbered trying to hug Nishinoya.

“Ugh! Get off me, Ryu! You’re sweaty and it’s too hot.”

He sighed with relief when his excitable friend finally got off him. “And no, I didn’t. I rejected her.”

Tanaka burst out laughing. “I’m sorry I think I heard you wrong. I thought you just said you rejected a pretty girl asking you out.”

“I did reject her! And she ran off crying.” Nishinoya said desolately.

Tanaka ran his fingers over his shaved head, trying to pull his nonexistent hair in fury.

“What?! Why?! This was your chance and don’t give me that bullshit about not liking her that way! You do I can tell! When you and I talk about Kiyoko-san, you get all excitable. But when you’re talking about Y/N you’re actually quiet and serious for the first time.”

Was he like that for real? He had no idea. All he knew was that he had messed up. That day after he rejected her, Y/N was polite as if they were acquaintances. There was this barrier between the two despite being their desks only a few feet away. She never ignored him, but she kept this façade by ignoring personal questions and answering noncommittally whenever she could.

“But you still haven’t told me why you rejected her,” Tanaka continued.

“Because! Y/N’s 172 cm and I’m what 159 cm? Why would she want to date someone like me anyway?”

“Baka!” Tanaka hit the top of Nishinoya’s head. “Didn’t you say that height doesn’t matter and that you’ll fight with your life?”

He clutched the top of his head and moaned. “Ryu, you bastard! That’s with volleyball! You can’t apply the same thing with dating, dumbass!”

“Yes, I can! You think that if Kiyoko-san was over 190 cm I would stop pursuing her? No way! I would still build shrines to my gigantic goddess every single day if I have to! Who cares about height in volleyball or love? Besides, Y/N already knows about your damn height. She sees you every single day and she still confessed! Doesn’t that mean she doesn’t care in the first place?”

The words echoed in his head. Ryu was right! He was so caught up in his insecurities that he hadn’t realized that Y/N never cared about his flaws. Never once did she call him out on his height or even comment about it. The only time she did get annoyed with him was when he refused to study or asked to copy her work again.

“Ryu, you genius! You’re right!” Nishinoya said cheerfully pushing himself on Tanaka’s shoulders.

Tanaka put his hands on his hips and threw his head back as he laughed gleefully. “Of course! You better fix things with Y/N when we get back. Until then get your head back in the game, Noya. Karasuno needs our libero.”

He felt his spirits being uplifted, the rejection no longer weighing as heavily as before.

“Yosha! I want to practice some more. Wanna help me with something, Ryu? I have something I wanna try,” he asked thinking of the tactics that libero used during the Seijoh match.

26 times

He could hear Y/N’s tinkling laughter as she covered her mouth to giggle whatever dumb shit his classmates were telling her. She never covered her mouth with him instead laughing with tears in her eyes desperately trying to breathe while he laughed along with her. She never had to pretend in front of him. But the fact she would rather entertain whatever they were asking her instead of hanging out with him before morning classes began, hurt. But could he blame her? Why would she want to talk to someone who rejected her? Still, at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel that maybe Y/N’s feelings weren’t as genuine as he thought they were. Because there she was acting normally with other people.

He let out a sigh of relief as the bell rang not because he was excited about class. Rather it meant Y/N had to return to her seat and all the boys surrounding class president Mai’s seat also had to go back.

“Hey Y/N, how was your break?” he asked tentatively.

She spared him a glance and a muted smile.

“Good.” She reached inside her desk and pulled out her textbook.

He couldn’t help the annoyance bubbling up. School just restarted! There was no way she had any work to review, but Y/N was putting on an act like they were about to be handed their midterm exams.

Before Nishinoya could say anything, their gruff sensei had entered and started class. He honestly couldn’t say he learned anything that day. Too anxious rehearsing in his mind on what he would say to Y/N.

When it was finally lunchtime, he made his way to Tanaka’s classroom for some reassurance. Nishinoya was going to corner Y/N before she went home. Hopefully, it would end well and with Y/N as his girlfriend if he had anything to say about it. Again, too nervous to eat, he just gulped down some bread and headed back to his classroom.

He let out a groan when he heard those gossipy classmates of his again. Didn’t they have anything better to do with themselves? Maybe study like the responsible students they all pretended to be?

“What do you mean Y/N has a confession? In the courtyard? W-who is it?—”

Nishinoya didn’t even bother to hear the rest and ran out like someone just announced their volleyball club was being discontinued. He didn’t even bother apologizing to the students he was pushing through to get to his destination. His mind being preoccupied with one thought only.

‘There’s no way I’m losing her to anyone else!’

He arrived in the empty courtyard to see an unfamiliar boy and Y/N standing alone. An unfamiliar tall boy. Y/N and he were the same height.

Nishinoya scowled deeply and stomped towards the two.

“Oy! Y/N doesn’t like you get lost!” he growled out.

Y/N jumped and turned around to look astounded by his appearance.

The boy’s eyebrows furrowed, “um who are you?”

“The guy that Y/N likes and confessed to! So, she doesn’t need or want your second-rate confession,” he snarled as a dark aura surrounded him.

“Though, I would be happy to rearrange your face if you don’t leave right now.”

The boy paled and unceremoniously turned around, walking away at a fast pace. He could be heard murmuring, “what’s his issue I was only passing on a note?” But neither of the two particularly cared.

“Noya-kun! How could you?” Y/N asked aghast.

“Me? What about you? You only confessed to me about two weeks ago! How could you?”

Y/N’s cheeks flushed and Nishinoya’s own cheeks reddened in response. Neither of them had spoken about what happened since that day.

She fidgeted a bit before replying, “i-it doesn’t matter! You don’t like me anyway that means I’m free to date whoever I want.”

Nishinoya took a deep breath knowing it was time to tell her the truth about his feelings.

“You’re wrong. I do like you! In fact, I like you a lot! Probably more than you ever thought possible.”

Y/N’s eyes widened. “But you rejected me! Why did you do that if you liked me?”

“Because I was worried about what people might think of a pretty girl like you dating someone like me. I was insecure about my height. I didn’t think you and I would work out,” he explained quietly.

“Noya-kun, I knew about the short delinquent with the blond streak since first year. And I never cared about that. I like you because of how much passion and persistence you have. You think I didn’t notice the different pain relief patches on your arms? You think I didn’t notice how much you gave your all during your match against Seijoh despite losing? Or the fact that you’re horrible at literature but still study because I asked you to? I could go on and on-“

Nishinoya felt his heartbeat race out of control. No one had ever said something so nice about him and especially not a girl. A girl that had been on his mind for weeks. No, not weeks. But if he was being honest since the day he had met her.

“Please go on. Tell me more about why you like me,” he said with a huge smile.

“I—no way! It’s too embarrassing!” she squealed and hid her face behind her hands.

“Oh please? I’ve never had a girl tell me she liked me twice!”

Y/N peaked between her fingers. “Did you mean it? Do you really like me back?”

Nishinoya motioned for her to bend down. Y/N, out of curiosity, did as she was told. He tugged her hand when she got closer, to connect their two mouths. She let out a noise when she felt his chapped lips against hers. He took her quiet sigh as a good sign and pressed harder. There was no earth-shattering moment nor was she suddenly the center of his gravity like people would say. But her soft lips felt warm and inviting so he discreetly asked for permission by sliding his tongue between her lips. Their tongues tangled and danced despite neither knowing what to do. It was messy and awkward, but they didn’t care as their enthusiasm and passion overcame their inexperience. When breathing became necessary, he reluctantly separated while she let out a small whine unable to disguise her disappointment.

“Now do you get it? I really do like you.”

Y/N nodded happily and gave Nishinoya a quick peck.

“Wait, what do you mean by short delinquent? Who called me a delinquent? What the hell?” he asked out of the blue.

She burst out laughing and laughed even harder at Nishinoya’s miffed face.

27 times

Nishinoya marveled at the feeling of her soft hand holding his coarse callous filled hand.

“I’ll wait for you after your practice. We can get some Gari Gari-kun popsicles,” Y/N said.

“Are you sure?” he asked worriedly. She already came in early for the student council. She didn’t need to stay late too.

“It’s fine don’t worry.” She stepped down the staircase and looked back up at him. “What are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to be late for practice?”

Nishinoya looked down at her curiously and smirked. With him standing on the upper stair, now their heights looked equal for the perfect angle.

“To do this,” he murmured before pulling Y/N in for a quick smooch.

She didn’t hesitate to grant him entry and let him explore for a while before pulling away. Her eyes sparkled looking lovingly at him.

“Ja!” he called out before running down the stairs. Nishinoya only sent a haughty look to an embarrassed Shoyo and Kageyama who were looking at anyone but him. A hysterical Tanaka came running up to him.

“Noya! You became a man!” The two best friends hugged and thumped each other on the back.

Daichi and Sugawara came out of their gym only to see the second-year duo crying and hugging each other, while Hinata and Kageyama were suspiciously red.

“I don’t know what’s going on here, but I better see you in the gym warming up soon or there will be hell to pay,” Daichi said as he gritted his teeth. He headed back inside shaking his head.

Sugawara puttered over to Hinata and poked him.

The twitchy first year screamed and relaxed when it was only his senpai.

“What’s going on here?” he whispered to Hinata.

“O-oh. Um. It seems Noya-senpai got a girlfriend.”

“Phfft. Funny joke, Hinata. Seriously what’s going on?” Sugawara asked again.

This time Kageyama interrupted, “no it’s the truth. We saw them on the stairs just now. K—k-is”

The flushed dark-haired boy unable to finish his sentence just threw his milk carton away and walked off muttering something about “warming up” and “volleyball”.

“Huh. It must be the truth then,” Sugawara uttered disbelievingly watching as Nishinoya and Tanaka were now talking about double dates as they entered the gym.

28 times

Hinata got on his bike and was now ready to go home when he spotted a familiar boy with a blonde streak. He was about to call out for him when a taller girl stepped next to him. Noya-senpai’s face beamed with happiness and grabbed the girl in for a hug. The two then walked off hand in hand as the sun set behind them.

‘If Noya-senpai can get a girl like that there’s hope for me too!’ Hinata cheered. With that positive thought in mind, he biked vigorously home ten times harder.

#haikyuu!!#haikyu #hq #hq fanfic #nishinoya x you #nishinoya x y/n #haikyuu nishinoya #nishinoya x reader #nishinoya imagine #nishinoya hcs #nishinoya yuu #hq nishinoya #nishinoya fluff #nishinoya scenarios #yuu nishinoya #haikyuu #noya x y/n #noya x you #noya x reader

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bellaslilpapercut · 3 years

Text

Oh boy New Moon! I've got some Thoughts a brewin' babey:

1. Smeyer: you do not need to remind your audience what happened last book, they aren't stupid. Imagine if SC started catching fire with ANOTHER explanation of what the hunger games are and that's the vibe of the first chapters of new moon. We remember james, we know what vampires are, we know that Bella is white, stop reminding us!

2. Bella has the worst self esteem of all time. Every bad thing that has happened to her since the Van Incident has been Edward's fault but she still blames herself and idk if this is Intentional Insecurity or if smeyer is protecting edward's "character" or both but gdamn it's depressing.

3. The reason I said Jasper was Inconsistently Written jumped out at me again. Smeyer dedicated a whole paragraph to pointing out how terrible jasper is at the diet or whatever but in the guide, smeyer tells us jasper actively tried to starve himself in the past because of how difficult his gift made feeding. He was one of only two Cullens to show bella empathy, he smelled her blood before, why does he attack her? The weakness of this decision is pointed out in the exposition: if it really were likely that Jasper would attack Bella, she wouldn't have needed a superfluous paragraph dedicated to telling us how bad he is at self control. If the story had convinced us of that beforehand, we would have believed the attack without the addendum.

4. The party is my least favorite part of the whole series and I will die on this hill: edward should have attacked bella. Bella should have tripped into something glass and edward should have lost it because he tasted her blood before and couldn't help himself. That way: edwards self loathing makes sense and he's forced to recon with his superiority complex from the ending chapters of twilight AND bella's self blame makes sense. A vamp who was able to starve himself before he even heard of the cullens should not have lost it around someone he spent days in close quarters with, building rapport and friendship. Edward got too high and mighty after he fed from Bella in Twilight, that should have had real consequence.

5. The writing is getting a little better as we near Edward leaving. "Better" isn't a good word actually but it's getting closer to the prose in twilight (which was flowery and annoying but at least it didn't constantly feel like being spoonfed exposition every paragraph). Hm wrote this blurb while I was still on chapter 3 and the vibe of being spoonfed reminders has not really dissipated lmfao.

We remember Sam Uley, smeyer, you introduced him four chapters ago. Just quick question: did anyone proofread this?? I think it's fair to say: when she isn't reminding us of things that we remember the prose is more similar to twilight. A little annoying but interesting enough to forgive the errors (or at least move past them easily enough lol).

6. I'm on chapter 8 now (I'm gonna break this up into three parts so I don't forget stuff like I did during the twilight reread) and there's a very heavy Vibe that smeyer is setting Jake up to be a parallel for twilight-era Bella. This line here is a pretty clear parallel for Bella telling Edward not to hold his breath in Twilight when he tells her she might get tired of him.

7. This line here "almost happy in a shallow kind of way" really jumped out. What Bella's narration says about Jacob versus her conversations with him (and her one paragraph about his happiness being effortlessly contagious) are at odds. It doesn't read like shallow happiness when she's with Jake. However, Smeyer is also a bad writer, she thinks the story she's telling us is literally what the narration says and not what the action shows and I think she realizes this in Eclipse (but obviously I'm not there yet so I can't say for sure).

8. I really can't get over the drop in writing quality. I know that she had already mostly finished Forever Dawn by the time Twilight was published (or was halfway done, I think her website said she had over 300 pages of forever dawn complete when she found out Twilight was getting published). I think the writing quality really reveals that she was not prepared to write New Moon. It's sloppier than Twilight in a way I'm not able to articulate (by that I mean I personally have a more intuitive than technical understanding of grammar and syntax so I don't have the language to break down the differences). Twilight itself is ripe with technical errors and plot errors and awkward exposition so it's not an overt drop in quality but I think it very much reads like a rushed writing job. She was committed to forever dawn, her publishers wanted New Moon, it shows.

9. I think New Moon was when I first started physically editing my copies of the saga lol. Even reading it now I'm so tempted to open up a word document and cut half of the useless shit out and fix all the grammatical mistakes. I can't even talk shit because I am also a comma-abuser but I hoped an editor would at least catch the errors before publishing. Guess not! Brevity is very clearly not meyers strong suit and this would have been a much stronger sequel if she had been able to reign herself in a bit. New Moon isn't supposed to be as narration heavy as twilight, there's already more action in the first seven chapters than the there was in the first 19 of twilight but she always delivers exposition via awkward dialogue or Bella's narration. Again, we already got a lot of the exposition in twilight, we know how vampires work et cetera. You can show us how bella feels instead of making her tell us and the story would run a lot more smoothly.

10. I'll end on a nice note! Little treat!

This is my favorite part of the book so far. I whited-out the useless dialogue tag because the line reads better without it ( line originally ends with "I emphasized" but she could have been brief and just ended the dialogue with an exclamation point for the same effect). The dialogue is natural and shows the J/B relationship that lives in my head way better than anything else I've seen on the page at this point. Like, I literally love this line more than any dialogue that preceded it (including twilight) lol.

#new moon reread #its taken me so long to get through these first chapters because its physically painful lmfao #i think when jacob comes in it gets more enjoyable if im remembering correctly #though im sure the writing quality will be equal to twilight at best #i wish anyone else in the world had written jacob black #everything about his character from the jump has been to serve bella's story #and everything about bella was to serve edward #i think i will write a meta on that eventually

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emptymanuscript · 2 years

Quote

So, what are you trying to tell the reader?

https://vocal.media/filthy/6-steps-to-write-better-sex

Honestly, asking this question on behalf of your story, scenes, and beats is one of the more powerful tools you have as a writer, regardless of genre.

One of the best exercises I got in grad school was, ‘broadscale reading:’ being assigned a beat (one single action) that was about three paragraphs and being asked to explain “what is the story trying to say with showing us this?” Not deep esoteric MEANING, like “The egg represents rebirth” bs. But direct character/plot/setting/theme stuff, like, “This dude is in DENIAL because he thinks his girlfriend giving him an egg out of the fridge for a Christmas gift means something spiritual when she clearly just didn’t think about him and tried to get out of trouble by being ‘unique.’ This shows that one of the mc’s problem is that he is determined to see meaning and kindness in things, whether it’s there or not, and that’s going to bite him when there is neither.”

One of the most intensive editing activities I did on The Hidden and the Maiden was going through and asking of every single beat: So, what are you trying to tell the reader? Is that what you actually want to say at this point? But I honestly think the three weeks (out of 5 years writing it) I did that broadscale work paid some of the highest dividends.

That tip of using that question to determine pacing, alone, makes the article worth a look.

#creative writing #writing advice #writeblr #quote

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talkfantasytome · 3 years

Text

Part of my attempt to re-post answers I've given, without the context of specific links to posts based on this feedback and advice.

Anon Ask: Linked me to a few posts about E\ain, her possible story, and the Fourth item of the Dread Trove. My thoughts on that item possibly being "unmade" and E\ain being able to "remade" them. Thought on how Koschei was preparing for Az, and how the item being cloaked in shadow could be a link to Az and the item. And how E\ain relates to the hounds of the Night Court, which were used by the Daglan. How the greeting the Book of Breathings gave Feyre in ACOMAF is actually foreshadowing E\ain and her connection there.

If I may, my first suggestion would be to block certain tags. That might help calm you. <3 I tend to avoid E\ain-Azriel theories, because they anger me at times. Especially ones like these where they try to take what some other character has and give it to E\ain. I'm seeing it all over the place and it's infuriating me. Not because I hate E\ain. No.

Because I actually want E\ain to be a good character.

And, I'm sorry, but giving E\ain other people's stories, powers, etc. that we've already seen is not making her a good character. It's making her a repeat.

So, let me start with this:

Nesta wasn't able to "unmade" Briallyn because she was made by the Cauldron. Nesta didn't create those made weapons because she was made by the Cauldron.

Those came from the power she TORE from the Cauldron, literally. Nesta had this "made" power because she TOOK it. E\ain did not take that power. E\ain was gifted the power to be a Seer because the Cauldron found her so lovely. And the Cauldron still found her lovely after it made her, which means she didn't steal anything from it at all.

So, any theory that has anything to do with E\ain having powers like what Nesta displayed are completely inaccurate and ignore the fact that Nesta's powers did not come from her being made but from what she took from the Cauldron.

Yes, E\ain might have a connection with made objects, she might be able to find them as Nesta did. But she would not be able to create them herself. Or "unmade" someone. (I really don't know if I can use the term unmake here. 😂) She may be able to wield the Dread Trove, but that's also a big MAYBE. And I say that not because I think E\ain isn't powerful or strong enough, but because no one really thought or talked about E\ain being able to wield them as Nesta did. Maybe it's because they just forget about her, or maybe it's because they're not sure she'd be able to considering her power is different.

IDK.

Basically, I don't believe that first concept can be right, because while maybe E\ain can wield the Dread Trove, she wouldn't be able to "made" or "unmade" objects. That, to the best of our knowledge, is a power that Nesta got in her blessed thievery.

And no, that's not a power the Cauldron would have just given E\ain, because that power was part of the essence of the Cauldron. In stealing that power, Nesta broke it a bit. So the Cauldron would have had to break itself to give that power to E\ain...which means Nesta would not have become Fae the way she did.

Also, for the record, Nesta didn't "unmade" Briallyn and then kill her. She killed her by "unmading" her. Because Nesta's power was DEATH. And that sure as hell ain't E\ain's.

That second argument, on the other hand, was just incredibly focused on Azriel incorrectly. I talked about that earlier. Because Koschei wasn't preparing for Az. They were laying the trap for Cassian. Why do you think Briallyn had been so silent for those months between Solstice and then? And even before then. Emerie's cousin was influenced by Briallyn by the second time Nesta met Emerie. They were laying that trap for well over half a year. THAT's what Koschei was talking about.

You can tell he was preparing for Cassian, because Cassian's the one he froze. It's not about Az. It just feels that way if you're so focused on one character you don't take the time to actually read and see what's happening in the book. While I'm all about critical reading, that also means taking the time to see if those questions are actually already answered in the book, and they are. But if you're only thinking about Az, you might miss the answers placed at your feet about Cassian and Nesta - the main characters of the book.

It is absolutely possible that Az has a tie in to the fourth item, some way. I think in one they suggested that maybe it was hidden by a shadowshinger, so a shadowsinger must find it. I could see it potentially happening. It could be how they tie the next book into the larger, Koschei plot, which is going to be an overarching plot in books 4 and 5 before becoming the main plot in book 6. Since we will be seeing more Valkyrie stuff, and likely more Illyrian stuff too. So, like, this could happen, but that would likely bring more Nesta in. She's the one that noticed there might be a fourth Trove item. Why would that plot point then go to E\ain? Other than to give E\ain another character's plot points and journey? And SJM's not going to do that. She's going to give E\ain her own arc, her own powers and plot.

As for using what the Book of Breathings said to Feyre as a foreshadowing of E\ain being able to become a fanged beast, that's almost going way too far with that stuff, considering the fact that I doubt Sarah had planned that far ahead with that much detail these later books when she was writing ACOMAF. I don't mean that in a way to degrade Sarah. It's just that she was focused on the original trilogy, and while she likely had ideas and thoughts about everyone's journeys, she did have to first and foremost focus on the books she was actually contracted for. She didn't have the contract for the next three yet when she was writing ACOMAF (I think?).

Also, and I've said this before, anything in ACOMAF that people claim is foreshadowing for Azriel and E\ain, isn't. When Sarah was writing ACOMAF she was still planning on Mor and Azriel being endgame. She made that change when she was writing ACOWAR. So, literally, nothing in ACOMAF foreshadows E\ain and Azriel, not purposefully. And, if it's not purposeful, it's not actually foreshadowing.

That being said, that's also not how I would interpret that message and, not going to lie, I could interpret it in a way that's likely a better prediction of E\ain and Az, not that I believe it is one because, again, it was done in ACOMAF. But, let me show you anyway:

“Life and death and rebirth. Sun and moon and dark. Rot and bloom and bones. Hello, sweet thing. Hello, lady of night, princess of decay. Hello, fanged beast and trembling fawn. Love me, touch me, sing me.” (ACOMAF - Chapter 57)

So, first of all, this is in Chapter 57. That's well before Nesta and E\ain became Fae. So, the book was only talking to Feyre. HOWEVER, you could argue that this line is actually foreshadowing what will happen to Nesta and E\ain:

Hello, lady of night, princess of decay. Hello, fanged beast and trembling fawn.

Think about it. Feyre is "Lady of night, princess of decay." That's clearly one person, as there's just a comma. In the next line it says "hello, fanged beast and trembling fawn". That could easily mean Nesta and E\ain. Fanged beast = Nesta. Trembling fawn = E\ain. It may not. BUT IT COULD. So this line literally could be foreshadowing that they are about the be made.

Now, IF I didn't know that SJM at that point was planning on Mor an Az to be endgame, I'd be more worried about the next line.

Love me, touch me, sing me.

Mind you, I don't think that the Book's words would be foreshadowing for endgame couples, either. But, if it was - love me = Feyre & Rhys. Touch me = Nesta & Cassian - I mean, think about how important touch is to both of them and in their relationship. Sing me, then, could mean E\ain's love interest, and obvs that would sound like Az.

Now, as I said, we know this isn't the case, cause at that point, Moriel was the plan. Also, more than that, the Book of Breathings is heavily linked to the Cauldron. So, even if it was doing that, it would be foreshadowing mates, not endgame (if there's a difference), because mates are determined by the Cauldron.

So, yeah, it's not doing that. But, like, is that not a fairly decent argument? (This is why my dad wanted me to be a lawyer. I'm pretty good at debating from either side. 😂)

And, even if no one fully believes me about any of that, then tell me this - how is it that multiple lines refer to E\ain, but nothing is referring to Nesta in that? This argument basically says that this greeting from the Book of Breathings is entirely E\ain foreshadowing. Before E\ain was even made Fae.

That doesn't make sense. Why would there be so much focus on E\ain at that point that it's foreshadowing stuff that Sarah may or may not have known yet, but none about Nesta? When both were turned Fae at the same time, and we ended up with Nesta's book first.

For now, I'm going to guess that, IF that quote was foreshadowing anything about the sisters, it was that they were going to be Made into Fae. But, in the end, that quote is focused on Feyre first. So the foreshadowing of them turning Fae makes sense. But that paragraph is not E\ain-centric, it's Feyre-centric.

Don't get me wrong. I do think the fact that E\ain is Made is important. And maybe she will end up being the one to find the fourth Trove item, but I'm not yet convinced. And I don't think the fact that it's in shadow means it has something to do with Az as much as, like Nesta suggested, it's just that it's been glamoured like the others.

One other thing, but I noticed there's also an argument that E\ain is obvious for book five because of her vision about Koschei's box. But, we know that Koschei, being the large, overarching plot, is going to come to a head in book 6. So why would that make E\ain book 5?

These arguments align E\ain so much with Koschei, and then say it means she's got book 5, but Koschei's end is book 6. Book 5, like with ACOSF, is going to have it's own plot, and Koschei is going to be tied into it as the larger, overarching plot. But there's nothing about what the main plot for an Az-E\ain book would be. Because, for E\ain, her plot will be heavily linked with Koschei.

We have to remember that Sarah has said all three books are "standalone" books. What that means is that, while there is an overarching plot (Koschei), each book will also have it's own plot, with a climax surrounding that plot. For Nesta, it was the Dread Trove and Briallyn. And Koschei was tied into it, to show he was pulling strings. That's what's going to happen with book 5. And then book 6, it'll be more of a Koschei centered plot.

If E\ain is book 5, then that's two Koschei centered plots, and book 5 and book 6 are not standalones. They are a duology.

Lastly, to talk about chapter 20 from ACOSF, which was briefly mentioned - the one where E\ain says she'll find the Trove. Some believe that scene was foreshadowing E\ain and Az. It wasn't. It may have been foreshadowing some involvement E\ain will have with the Trove. But that doesn't automatically mean it'll be E\ain and Az. It literally just means she could have involvement with it.

However, considering the timing of that scene, being the literal day after that fight E\ain and Nesta had, where Nesta basically pointed out how E\ain dos nothing, I think that that scene was also a sign of who E\ain truly is.

Because E\ain didn't do shit about the Trove. She offered and then did nothing. My guess: because she didn't actually want to do something. All she wanted to do was prove Nesta wrong. Be like "look, see, I'm doing more, I'm better than you". E\ain started to show some true colors in ACOSF, and they're not all sunshine and flowers and rainbows.

However, in the end, I'm not saying anyone is wrong about E\ain and the fourth Dread Trove object. I hope they are, because I truly hope that E\ain will get her own stuff and her own plot. But E\ain and Nesta are not the same, and that's VERY important to remember. E\ain cannot create Made objects, she can not "Unmade" someone or something. Because that's something that came from Nesta stealing the Cauldron's power. And, on top of that, even if E\ain does get the fourth Dread Trove item, that doesn't automatically mean it's an Az-E\ain book. There's actually no reason to believe that. And, remember, any time you see an argument that there's Az-E\ain foreshadowing in ACOMAF, you'll know they're wrong, because at that point Sarah had a different endgame in mind, and she had that endgame in mind until after she finished writing that book. :)

That being said, I'm still thinking that E\ain is getting Swan Lake/Vasilisa the Beautiful.

I very much hope that calmed you. Sorry it's long. I'm glad to hear you consider me not in the middle of the ship war. I very much try not to be, though I'm sure these posts may not fully be helping. LOL. But I do stay out of other people's posts, and I try to consider everything outside of the relationships as well.

#ask box #acotar thoughts #antielriel #anti elriel #elain archeron

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velvetthunder1999 · 4 years

Text

All the time on Earth

Part 6 - So Smart

Summary: George gets a bit jealous and Fred finds out you have crush on his brother

Warnings: None

Word count: 1.7K

George Weasley x Reader

Masterlist

Two weeks after the second task the amount of homework you had started to fill out every minute of your day. With the exams coming up you barely had any free time to care about anything other than your studies. Fred and George understood, of course, even if they hadn’t cared about their OWLs the year before. They tried to give you space to study but you could also feel how they were missing you when you weren’t with them.

It was raining outside, the sun was just about to go down. You were trying to focus on reading, but it was not so easy as you just enjoyed watching the susnet with all its beautiful colors; also, George sitting next to you was distracting enough on its own. He was focusing on some book about quidditch, causally leaning back, resting one arm behind your head on the couch. You tried not to look at him every once in a while, mostly because you knew he would notice. But it was really hard concentrating on anything, basically, when the boy you liked more and more every day was sitting so close to you.

You glanced at the sunset again. The sky was so beautiful it made your heart sting. The rain was also pouring heavily at this point, and the wonderful smell you had always liked was coming through an open window.

“What are you looking at?” asked George all of a sudden. You pointed at the sky.

“Look at that. Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Yeah — Yes, it is.” George smiled at you as you continued.

“You see that bright orange there in the corner? That’s my favorite color. When I see a sunset like this, I always feel both sad and happy at the same time.”

“Why?” he asked, curious.

You shrugged.

“I don’t know. I just do.”

He leaned closer, not taking his kind brown eyes off you.

“So are you feeling happy or sad right now?”

His face was so close you could see the freckles around his nose. You gulped; your throat felt incredibly dry. You had to force yourself not to look at his lips.

“I… I think I’m quite alright at the moment” you said, turning your head away before you do something stupid. You quickly continued, “But I like the smell of the rain, too. Reminds me of places I’ve never been at, but always wanted to. Does that make sense?”

“Of course” he nodded and leaned back. His face seemed almost disappointed, you had no idea why. Then his cheeky smile returned and he pointed at the book you were reading. “Any progress?”

“Not really” you answered, leaning back. “Maybe I’ll just finish it tomorrow. I’m really tired.”

“Let me see” he took the book, but when he was about to start reading it, the Fat Lady was opened and Cormac McLaggen stepped into the common room, calling your name.

“Y/N!” he walked over to you and sat down to your other side, completely ignoring George. “McGonagall gave us the list for the groupwork next month. You and I are gonna be a pair. We should really start doing it next week” he winked at you, which made you feel utterly uncomfortable. “And maybe I take you somewhere after. Just think about it, eh?”

And he walked away without even caring for your answer. You sat there, astonished at the fact how can a person be this egoistic. You decided not to say anything; you were just so sick and tired of McLaggen’s constant attempts to get a date from you. You were already hating on the groupwork you two had to do.

You turned back to George to ask him about the book, but he was not reading at all. He was eyeing McLaggen angrily, with narrowed eyes.

“You okay?” you asked, concerned. George finally looked at you and his expression softened in a second.

“Sure. I didn’t know you had to work in groups” he added carefully.

“Yeah, in pairs for a homework essay” you rolled your eyes. “A bit annoying, really.”

“And McLaggen’s your pair?”

“I guess so” you answered, without being quite excited about it.

He casted down his eyes.

“Do you — Do you like him?”

“Eh, not really.”

“No, I mean — like that.”

You shot a sharp look at him, then grimaced.

“Ew, no way!” you laughed. “Do you really think so little of me?”

His smile was shy as he looked at you.

“I was just wondering.”

“Well, stop wondering cause he’s annoying me like hell.”

“He clearly likes you.”

“Yeah, it’s making me depressed” you laughed again. “He’s a git. Thinks he’s the best at everything but he’s incapable of acting like a decent human being.”

George seemed to be in a good mood after you finished talking. He placed your book in his lap when Fred joined you and sat down in an armchair opposite you.

“You two look like you’re having fun” he grinned at his brother who shot a sharp look at him in return. “Anything I need to know about? What are you reading, George?”

“George was about to help me with my homework.” you said. “I have to answer a bunch of questions for Binns but I don’t even know where to start.”

“Yes, so shut up Fred” said George to his brother in a sharp tone. Fred just grinned at him. You furrowed your brows in concern.

“Are you two fighting or something?”

“No” said the twins in perfect unison.

“Can I read?” asked George.

“Sure” you nodded.

While you were checking the questions on your parchment George was reading and Fred was cleaning his wand with his robes; you three were quiet. Then a minute later George pointed at a paragraph.

“Alright, so this might be easier than we thought. Do you wanna see the loophole?”

“You know I do.”

He smiled.

“So I’m guessing you have to write short answers about these people and the dates their conferences were held. So actually, here — see, here — these words are numbered. Which means they’re supposed to be at the end of the book, collected into a list with a short definition.”

He flipped the pages, then showed you the long list of names with their short description. Just as you needed.

“Holy shit” you said. “I didn’t know this existed!”

“You didn’t check the book before started reading it?”

“No, I’ve never used this stupid book for this stupid class before. But this is amazing. Thank you so much!

“You’re welcome” he smiled at you, quite proud of himself.

“Oh my God, George, you’re so smart!” you laughed happily, being freed from so much work. “You just saved my life.”

His eyes grew wide and his ears turned as red as a tomato. He cleared his throat and pointed at your parchment.

“Well — er — why don’t I read the information and you start writing what I say?”

“Yeah, that’s alright.”

“Great, give me a second.”

He started looking for the first name on your list, flipping the pages with great concentration. You were watching him, unable to wipe the smile off your face. He was so sweet while helping you with your homework, like he didn’t mind at all. You watched his hands, caressing the paper. Then you watched his beautiful eyes as he read the pages. You remembered how those eyes were looking at you when he asked about McLaggen. Why did he ask?

You turned away before George could notice that you were watching him. He didn’t, but someone else did. Fred was staring at you, and you saw on his face how he just put the pieces together. He opened his mouth but you shook your head in fear. Your heart dropped and the giddiness you felt a moment ago had passed.

Fred glanced at George and then back at you. He raised his eyebrows. You shook your head again. He nodded violently. Now you were shaking your head without stopping. Please, you were begging with your eyes, please don’t tell him.

Fred was taking aback but he stayed quiet. You were considering your options. Either you stayed here hoping Fred shuts his mouth, or you talk to him in private which might make George suspicious.

“What are you two doing?” George asked suddenly, looking at you concerned.

“I just need to talk to Fred for a second” you stood up and signed Fred to do the same.

“Oh, yes — er, I was just thinking that.”

You walked to the portrait without looking at George. You didn’t want to see the expression on his face, whatever it was.

You opened the Fat Lady and Fred followed you. When you reached a bench at the end of the corridor, you turned around and faced the brother of your crush.

“Well, well,” Fred said, grinning. “Will you look at that.”

“Please Fred, don’t say anything.”

“Oh, I really think I should.”

“No, you don’t understand, I’m begging you.”

“Why don’t you just tell him?” he asked with a mysterious smile. “You might be surprised.”

“No, that’s not an option.”

Fred closed his eyes and took a deep breath like he was internally struggling. He spoke in a tormented tone.

“Please, tell me why.”

“I — I don’t wanna tell him and then suffer the consequences. I don’t want it to be awkward between us. And it would be, believe me.”

“Y/N” Fred grabbed both your shoulders and shook you gently. “He clearly likes you, believe me.”

“Well, I’m really sorry, but I can’t. He doesn’t like me like that. And I rather enjoy being with him as friends than not being with him at all.”

“Oh my God” Fred exclaimed in agony. He rubbed his face in distraught. “You’re making me mad.”

“Can you promise not to tell him? Please.”

Fred stared at you for almost a minute and took a deep breath again.

“Sure. I promise not to tell anything. You should, though.”

“Let’s just… Let’s just forget it, okay?”

Fred rolled his eyes and turned back. You two started walking and he glanced at you.

“He’s really smart, though. You should really come up with a reason for wanting to talk to me before we get back.”

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theritualofourexistence · 3 years

Text

Clarity in the Cancellation Crusade

After posting multi-paragraph comments on a couple different things that have popped up in my feed recently, it seemed like I should probably just sit down and write this out.

“Cancel culture.” Crazy shit, right?

The recent onslaught of cancellations includes Mr. Potato Head, Pepe Le Pew, a handful of Disney movies (Peter Pan, Dumbo, The Aristocats), and *audible gasp* Dr. Seuss. The Muppets also got a newfangled Disney+ content warning, though I’ve seen significantly fewer headlines about that.

The thing that inevitably happens when the news media decides to publish a headline about a children’s toy or book being “canceled” is a veritable parade of social media complaints about how sensitive people have become. I saw this particular post over 10 times in the period of a couple hours one day last week…

The question I’ve been asking recently when I see posts like that is this: “Who do you think cancel culture is?”

Because “cancel culture” isn’t real. In the majority of the cases currently making headlines, the choice to remove a character from a movie or stop publishing a book has been made by the company responsible for that character or book… and that is very much a normal thing companies can choose to do.

No one I’ve posed the above question to has overtly mentioned “Libtards,” but it’s certainly implied. People who haven’t read a Dr. Seuss book in 20 years are now suddenly all up in arms (literally?) because “the Liberals” are coming for “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.”

The Liberals are not coming for Dr. Seuss. They do not care about a potato toy. Also, nothing is happening to the Cat in the Hat. I repeat: NOTHING is happening to the Cat in the Hat.

The choices to stop publishing that book and to market a vegetable toy in a less gendered way were made by the companies responsible for producing those products… not the Liberal “cancel culture” ghoul. In fact, it’s really, really hard to find public outcry about any of the things that have been recently “canceled.” There was a single NYT article that recently discussed the problematic nature of the Pepe Le Pew cartoons… that said, Warner Bros hasn’t aired that show in decades and it is not clear whether that article had anything to do with the skunk’s scene being removed from the new Space Jam movie.

Even growing up I remember things like political correctness needlessly becoming a partisan issue. When we fall into that media trap, all we’re doing is watering the plant of an already poisonous and ineffective two-party system. Be bigger than that temptation. Push back against media intended to further divide Americans. If something stinks, it’s probably rotten. Sure, there are certain topics that fall under the umbrella of political correctness that sound alarm bells for censorship issues… but didn’t everyone’s mom tell them that if they didn’t have anything nice to say, they shouldn’t say anything at all?

Again, though, the most important thing to remember about this recent wave of “canceling” is that censorship concerns are moot. A person who owns a thing is legally allowed to do all the censoring they want. It’s not the government that has decided to stop publishing 6 books written by Dr. Seuss… if it were, we could have the censorship conversation. These changes aren’t happening because there is a Democrat in the White House. They’re happening because the company who makes these products, has for whatever reason, decided to take a different approach.

In the case of the Dr. Seuss books, Dr. Seuss Enterprises re-evaluated their choice to publish 6 books based on racist themes and images. I have only heard of two of those six. The image below is, in my opinion, objectively problematic:

The fact that a major company behind such a well-known name has seen that something is problematic and has decided to stop publishing the books containing overt racist images is awesome. It sets a great example that we can all learn from. Humans have an amazing capacity to learn… that’s one of the only reasons we are in charge here on Earth. If we fall on ice once, we are often more careful on ice the next time. When we see that something is racially problematic, it’s a good thing if we can take action to get that thing out of rotation. More on that later.

Fundamentally, what is happening right now in Media Land is gross sensationalism.

“Cancel culture” isn’t real. Should people face consequences if they say or do racist things? Yes. We should all agree on that. Should we stop publishing books that perpetuate racist stereotypes? Yes. There are plenty of non-racist books that provide an education about racial differences without the added (exceedingly inappropriate) zing of Asian characters being painted yellow and African characters being given monkey features.

If you’re not convinced that some of Dr. Seuss’s material is racially problematic, I encourage you to pop on over to Google to check out the series of ads he did for FLIT in the 1930s. Yes, it was the 1930s. In the last 90 years, we’ve learned that images like that are not okay… let’s use that knowledge to let old racist graphics die.

Still can’t accept that “cancel culture” isn’t real? Still feeling like there’s something in the air now that is different and worse than before?

Okay, then, let’s consider it further.

Things have been “canceled” by people for millennia… this isn’t new. Being all for cancel culture when Colin Kaepernick kneels for the anthem (a perfectly legal form of peaceful protest considered respectful by many veterans) but opposing cancel culture when it’s threatening to eliminate an obviously racist thing is not exactly a moral stance. Burning your Nikes in the street but then turning around and spending $400 on a copy of “If I Ran the Zoo” on eBay after Dr. Seuss’s own family has pulled it from publication due to racist imagery is… silly.

The same people who seem to be so vocal about “cancel culture” now are part of the same communities who tried to cancel plenty of things in my lifetime. Things like trick-or-treating, Harry Potter, school dances, books and movies with LGBT+ characters and themes…

History absolutely bubbles over with things that have been canceled… often for good reason! Some examples that come to mind:

DDT

the Catholic Church (see the 16th century Protestant Reformation)

doing our everyday poopin’ in outdoor holes

polio

hoop skirts

phrenology (new science cancels old science like every damn day)

Ford Pintos (not to mention cars without seatbelts)

telegrams and rotary phones (replaced by easier and better ways to communicate)

lead paint

asbestos

Four Loco

Y’all remember when we all did the ice bucket challenge to cancel Alzheimer’s?

Learning that something is problematic and moving past it is LEARNING… not cancel culture. Learning and growth are good things. We all benefit from them.

Another thing worth commenting on from that Cat in the Hat post that circulated in my Facebook feed: why do we consistently demonize sensitivity? Racism feels like something we should all be sensitive about. If being sensitive about something results in meaningful change and a less hateful country, isn’t that… good? Why do so many Americans seem to place so much value on their “freedom” to hurt others?

And don’t get me started on comparing this stuff to Cardi B. It boggles my mind that that’s happening at all. Why is there suddenly so much outcry about one song that features female genitals in a literal ocean of songs that feature male genitals. I grew up knowing every word to songs about sex well before I even knew what sex was. Your kids are only desperate to listen to WAP because they know it makes you squeamish. And take a second to think about why it makes you squeamish. Genitals are human and scientific and we literally all have them. If you have more of a problem with WAP than with any of the other 10,000 songs about dicks and sex, you need to spend some time examining why that is.

Here’s another post I’ve seen bouncing around the social media feeds:

Something about this is just plain hilarious to me. Like what are racism and rape culture if not THE REALEST issues? This country’s problem with systemic racism runs so, so deep and is reflected very plainly in centuries of cold, hard numbers. It’s not that I *think* systemic racism is a problem. The data very clearly shows that regardless of what white people think about race in this country, systemic racism absolutely IS a problem. Racism and rape culture, arguably at the root of the most recent canceling spree, are not just real issues, they’re real American issues. They’re cultural issues. And solving cultural issues is not easy. We know that these issues have been passed down through the generations so maybe changing children’s toys and books and shows isn’t such a bad thing to try. There is SO much work to do to address racism and rape culture in the United States, but small steps are still progress.

If choosing to stop airing a show that blatantly perpetuates rape culture means one less young person is stalked or assaulted or raped, that’s worth it, no? What if that one young person who doesn’t become a victim is your daughter?

If choosing to stop publishing a book with racist themes and images leads to even one kid understanding more about the nuance of race in America and the breath-taking extent of white privilege, that’s worth it too.

Would I rather the media spend time and money to bring American attention to bigger issues associated with this nation’s racism and rape culture? 100%. There are ENORMOUS fish to fry. Dr. Seuss is not an enormous fish. Potato head toys are not enormous fish. Pepe Le Pew is not an enormous fish. They’re not even big fish. They’re small. They’re tiny fish. They’re anchovies. But frying some fish is better than frying no fish.

Canceling Pepe Le Pew is not hurting anyone. Warner Brothers owns Pepe Le Pew. Warner Brothers owns nearly everything; they are not hurting for money. And canceling Pepe certainly isn’t hurting American kids. There are plenty of other kids’ shows to watch that are significantly less problematic. Just because you watched Pepe Le Pew and went on to be a properly respectful adult doesn’t mean there aren’t other kids out there who did internalize a harmful disrespect for consent. No, Pepe Le Pew probably isn’t single-handedly responsible for anyone’s decision to stalk or rape anyone else. But could a show reinforce the groundwork that ultimately leads a kid down a path where he is unable or unwilling to respect the boundaries of others? I mean, it’s not the craziest thing I’ve heard this week.

Canceling six total Dr. Seuss books that are already pretty obscure is not hurting anyone.

Changing the name of an already genderless potato toy to reflect that genderless-ness is not hurting anyone.

A brief recap: racism and rape culture are very real, very American issues.

If the decision to stop doing a thing doesn’t hurt anyone and may even save someone some hurt, why does that decision bother you?

Also, in all your frantic Facebook posting, make sure you are differentiating between “cancel culture” and consequences. When the media tosses around the phrase “cancel culture” it has this tone of finality that is, plainly, not realistic. Fads and trends move so quickly in the internet age that the idea that a group of people could “cancel” something permanently is just not possible. People who do or say racist things, though, should face consequences. People who do or say transphobic or homophobic things should face consequences. Consequences are one of the only ways we learn to do better. And again, that’s not my opinion, it’s science.

One of the consequences that can have the most impact is, you guessed it, losing money! In this capitalist hellscape, money talks. Boycotting and choosing how we spend our money are some of the most engaging ways to combat racist and homophobic garbage. When you have your temper tantrum because the company who owns a book with overtly racist imagery decides to stop publishing that book, that speaks volumes about your priorities. If you respond to that company’s decision by buying the book in question on eBay for $400, that speaks even louder volumes. What are you doing? WHY are you doing it? I’m guessing you don’t even know, and you should probably spend some time thinking about it before you flush away a chunk of your stimmy on a freaking RACIST KIDS’ BOOK.

All actions have consequences. All of our choices never affect just us. How we vote affects other people. How we spend our money affects other people. Spending our money on things that are problematic perpetuates the problem… whether it be racism, rape culture, homophobia, or transphobia… or so many other things this country desperately needs to address.

It’s human to not like change. Change is going to happen, though, regardless of whether or not we’re comfortable with it. In the information age, we have a remarkable opportunity to steer that change. Leaving behind racist relics is change, so it may be inherently uncomfortable. But change that moves our country away from racism and rape culture is GOOD change.

I am begging you. Use critical thinking… if you’re seeing a headline about something being canceled, look up WHY. Some of these headlines are absolute bunk… they’re shared just to get people all riled up and create American division. However, just like we *should* cancel lead paint, a children’s book with overtly racist images shouldn’t be published anymore and it’s weird if you disagree with that. Disagreeing with that decision, as silly as it may seem, perpetuates racism. I know how triggered y’all can get when someone suggests you might be perpetuating racism, but it is what it is. Do your research. Don’t spend your money on racist garbage. Be better.

I feel like this post is me just barking the exact same thing in different ways, but I also feel like there is so much more I could say.

I’ll leave you with this:

What will it take for Americans to weigh the threats of racism and homophobia the same way we weight the threat of lead paint? If it’s a matter of costing lives, well, the numbers speak for themselves.

#cancel culture #cancellation #racism #rape culture #the muppets #pepe le pew #dr. seuss #seuss #consequences #change #mr. potato head #potato head #cancel culture isn't real

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thegirlwholied · 3 years

Note

any chance you can describe the scene in bridgerton that has sparked all the debate? i see people argue about it but i just need like.. the most basic description to decide if i can/will watch it and you seem to know bridgerton things

OK. Deep breath. Because you asked, I will try?

Without wading into debate... with some spoilers... and with the caveat that I’m always Team Extremely Enthusiastic Consent; this is one series I (clearly) both read & watched so the answer to can/will was yes for me but mileage will vary:

The two main characters have a very traditional romance-novel dynamic in one respect: the plenty-of-sexual-experience hero, and the so-innocent-she-doesn’t-even-know-how-sex-works virgin heroine.

However consciously the book was playing off that trope, which is in so many romance novels, I’ve always read it as ‘when your entire sexual education relies on 1 guy & only what he shows you’... that can go wrong. And it goes wrong.

You may have seen some of the series’ sexcapades going by on Tumblr in gif form by now... That Scene is episode 6, of 8.

Short version of the major driving plotline at this point: Daphne thinks her husband can’t have children when actually it’s a matter of won’t. Episode 6 is mostly filled with giddy honeymooning sexcapades... but with Simon using the pullout method, which goes right over Daphne’s head. And then she catches on.

Basic show-version scene breakdown, from there: Daphne leads Simon into their bedroom, with things proceeding as laughing-honeymoon-ly as usual... until the point where he’d usually pull out, when he says “wait”, meaning to do so. And realizes, when she physically hangs on (on top), instead, something’s different this time. It’s intentionally filmed as a power shift. Immediate aftermath, Daphne gets up to leave, starting to head to her own bedroom for the first time in their marriage. The duke, still in bed, realizes what just happened.

From his reaction, her suspicions re: his lie of omission are confirmed. From her reaction, he knows she did this intentionally. His dawning hurt is the hardest part of the scene to watch, for me.

It plays out as a ‘how could you’/’how could you’ situation, with fallout & reconciliation over the following two episodes ~

~and whether the narrative sides too much with Daphne, whether there’s the right kind of fallout and reconciliation, whether this scene was integral to the plot or should have been changed more, how much casting changes how the scene feels... that’s then part of the debate.

Which... oh no am I wading into debate? I do not have the energy to pull wellies on right now and that river runs deep... I do think the writers still could have done better especially in subsequent episodes, but sometimes characters’ actions are meant to be morally questionable and raise debate and sometimes it’s just a writing whoops (looking at Wonder Woman 1984, which I also watched on Christmas Day & which also managed to spark a consent debate, omg why, writers, when Steve could have just appeared). Bridgerton’s was an intentional writing choice - ‘murkiness’ is I think an apt word here - & I think the last paragraph of this article, and the articles it links to, speak well to overall context:

“as the number of romance novel adaptations continues to rise in upcoming years, there will be ongoing debates about how many of these now-dated books — in which nonconsensual sex, sexual assault, and rape are not infrequent — will be best adapted for the screen. The good news is that the genre has largely moved away from depicting these types of sex scenes as romantic. The bad news, however, is that it's a lot harder to erase them from the industry's messy past.”

I’m glad romance novels are being adapted; I’m glad I discovered how smart & fun many of them are (it took me too long!). Many romance novels are also Not for Me, for the above-stated reasons. Bridgerton, books & show, I do enjoy... but there’s many things I don’t enjoy that other people do because something in it’s problematic in a way that gets to me, so completely get it if it’s Not For You.

Whether you see the show as a success or failure on that front, I do think it’s trying to tell a story that reflects that sex is messy & complicated & has a learning curve & can be full of laughter & can make you feel deceived & helpless even when it is consensual especially when no one’s communicating clearly. Whether That Scene is/isn’t is the whole debate, but in writing I do think intent matters -especially as perception varies - and I do find it interesting the showrunner’s stated intent was to still evoke deception & helplessness without crossing the consent threshold. It becomes a a debate as part of the audience does see it that way! It’s also... fiction, as opposed to a how-to manual on consent. Since Bridgerton’s the first adaptation of its specific kind, there’s also a lot of extra attention/pressure on it. Can stories, romances especially, model consent? Yes; some do it brilliantly, and happily, more & more of them do! Do they have to...? Well... no. And when we start policing fiction we get a little Victorian & that’s not a good thing! That’s part of why AO3 exists, after all.

My personal take is, if Bridgerton was a fic on AO3, the writer would tag it as ‘dubcon’ not ‘noncon’. Some reviewers might disagree, but writers tag based on intent and to warn, I think that’s the warning they’d give.

...And also, my take is that Netflix would be better with AO3-style tags. & so would romance novels. AO3-style tags on everything please, the better to choose wisely!

I hope this helps you decide whether you can/will watch!

#bridgerton discourse #long post #under the cut because i do not want to trigger anyone and am adding tags as quickly as possible since answers make you post before tagging #(which is dumb)#more tags for everything #the summary version of my opinion: Netflix should have AO3 tags #and i think Bridgerton would be tagged as dubcon not noncon #as tags are based on writer intent and to warn and i think that's the warning they'd give #bridgerton #i don't use a blacklist I don't know what people may have blacklisted but we're going to take a stab at it!#tw: consent issues #cw: consent issues #tw: dubcon #(...discussion thereof this is the first time I've ever had to use this tag this is not my usual topic range!)#i also do think it's interesting the book is a woman writer but the showrunner is a man as that... brings both sides to bear on the topic #answers!#someday i swear some media i enjoy will be unproblematic again #...and then five or fifteen years will pass and that too will look problematic #the circle of life?#(recently was rewatching Doctor Who 2005 and it mostly holds up but also... there are the Slitheen episodes)#anyway i'm pro the debate but also the world is exhausting and the show is shiny with pretty people and flowers #i am just here for the pretty people and flowers tbh #...i'd bet maybe some people who didn't know what they were getting into and just wanted pretty people and flowers felt betrayed #by the That Scene of it all #...and that is why Netflix should have AO3 tags #...people would still disagree about what those tags should be but c'est la vie

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paganinpurple · 4 years

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Clowder - Ch 7

I have been on an honest to Gods year long writing block until recently. I was lucky enough to force out a couple of chapters for other fics around March and April before I got blocked again, but...yeah. Sorry.

I hope no one completely lost interest waiting for this. It's just been so hard to focus, or feel like I care and any brief bursts of interest were limited to a paragraph here or a phrase there before disappearing.

Buy Me A Coffee?

It Was You (comes before this fic)

Read on AO3 or FF.net <<Ch 1 <Ch 6 Ch 7 Ch 8> (not yet written)

Protective Best Friends

Slowly, Gabriel turned to face his son. “Adrien,” he said, his expression undecipherable, “Is there anything you need to tell me?”

The boy in question took an audible gulp, his throat too dry and scratchy to let him do anything less obvious.

“Yeah, um, there’s…a girl at school. If I had to go to a gala, I’d rather take her.”

“I see,” Gabriel said as he intertwined his fingers above the table in front of him, leaning forward to regard his son over them, “And is this a girl you like, or are you already seeing her?”

“She’s…my girlfriend.”

“And how long have you two been dating?”

Adrien glanced awkwardly at his father’s assistant. Ideally, he’d tell his father that they’d been together for a week, just as they’d told Alya and Nino and the others at school, but Nathalie knew things and he could almost see her disappointment already if he lied in front of her. “Six months,” he said instead.

The shock on Gabriel’s face was apparent to even those usually most oblivious to facial expressions. His features quickly returned to their usual air of disappointment and indifference however and Adrien’s stomach turned. “Why have I not known about this until now?”

“I…” Looking to Nathalie for help, he took strength from the slight nod she gave him to continue, “I wasn’t sure you’d let me date her. I was frightened you’d make me stop.”

He watched as his father arched an eyebrow. “Who is she?”

“What?”

“If you’re frightened, I assume there is something about her I wouldn’t approve of. So, who is she?”

“It’s Marinette. Dupain-Cheng. You met her before, she designed the hat I wore, the one Audrey Bourgeois wanted to take to New York last year?”

“Ah,” Gabriel said, a slight smirk appearing on his face, “Yes, I’ve met her. More than once.”

“You have?”

“Yes. She showed up here after I tried to remove you from school last year for losing my book. She was overly concerned about you being punished for her mistake.”

Adrien’s brow furrowed and he blinked in confusion. How had that been Marinette’s fault? He glanced back and forth between his father and Nathalie in confusion, hoping an explanation was forthcoming.

“She seemed to think it was some kind of modelling scrapbook of your shoots,” Nathalie eventually clarified when Adrien remained silent, “She said that she hadn’t planned to hold onto it, she was just unsure how to get it back without you realising.”

“It was very brave of her to admit that to me,” Gabriel said, returning to his food with an air of disinterest that Adrien found hard to believe, “Considering that she wants to work in fashion one day and I could have made that very difficult for her. I take it that bravery extended to finally telling you about her feelings? Although, I admit I didn’t think you saw her as anything more than one of your friends.”

Adrien gave a flinch at the reminder of his earlier foolishness. “Yeah, well…I was an idiot. I turned her down, then I realised I liked her.”

“Well then, you were lucky she hadn’t moved on. Are her parents aware of your relationship?”

“They are.”

“Very well. I expect you to remain conscious of your public image throughout your time together. Be sure there’s nothing she might use against you in case of an unpleasant break-up.”

Adrien suppressed a snort of laughter, knowing his father would not approve. As if Marinette would ever be the kind of person to try and hold something over someone just because things didn’t work out. Not to mention he absolutely doubted he would ever let his Lady go now. Not if he could do anything to help it.

“You may laugh,” his father responded, having spotted his attempts to restrain himself, “but sometimes it only takes one bad situation for two people to act differently and upset their usual dynamic.”

The smile creeping it’s way across Gabriel’s face seemed out of place to Adrien who, for the life of him, couldn’t work out why that thought would make his father so happy.

***

As soon as he closed the car door behind him, Adrien could tell something was going on at school. He was no stranger to the fact that practically every kid at his school owned a phone and they all went through phases where they seemed to be glued to their screens. Today however, there didn’t seem to be a single person not looking at theirs and whispering gossip to one another in scandalised tones.

“Adrien!” a familiar voice shouted from off to the side of the courtyard and Adrien looked up with a smile at his best friend as he came running over. The close Nino got, the more Adrien could tell he was alarmed about something. He had that wide-eyed look he got whenever he realised he had worded something badly to Alya and she was now pissed at him.

The boy reached him finally, instantly grabbing him by the wrist and tugging him towards the large accessible bathroom in the far corner; the one that most students never used because if their wheelchair-bound vice principal ever caught them it just wasn’t worth the lecture they would get.

The second they were inside, Nino flipped the lock behind them before turning to his startled best friend.

“Have you seen the news today?” he asked without preamble.

“What?”

Not his most eloquent moment, Adrien realised, but honestly he was pretty confused about what was going on. Why was Nino dragging him off like there was a life or death situation? And if it was, then why was he so concerned about the news?

“The news, dude. Have you seen it? The biggest story to hit the city since the first arrival of the heroes?”

“Uh…no?”

Nino swore loud enough that Adrien flinched and glanced at the door, worried in case anyone had heard. It was school grounds after all, and being caught swearing was worth far more than the lecture they would get for being in this bathroom.

He watched as the other teen took out his phone and quickly opened and navigated a browser tab, bringing up a huge image and headline. He handed the device to Adrien who finally had a chance to clearly take in the picture and text for himself. His eyes immediately widened to engulf his face and his jaw slackened as a gasp snuck past his lips.

“Oh, shit!”

***

“What do you mean, it involves me?” Marinette asked as she rubbed the sleep from one of her eyes. Her mind was still groggy and she desperately wanted to go back to sleep, or at least grab a cup of coffee and a pastry from the kitchen before she attempted to make heads or tails of the conversation.

“M, go look at the headlines quickly for a sec, then we’ll talk,” Alya said, a worrying hint of panic in her tone.

“Oookay,” the sleep-deprived girl answered with a yawn, pulling the phone away from her face to navigate to a news app she sometimes used to check for akuma updates when there were issues with the Ladyblog.

The top headlines opened and Marinette had already read the first one and begun freaking out when the accompanying thumbnail finished loading. She tapped it quickly and began to scan the story, becoming increasingly more terrified the further she read.

Jamming the receiver back against her ear, she started to word vomit at her best friend. “Someone overheard Ladybug and Chat talking last night and now everyone knows they’re just kids,” she gasped, “And poly kids too. What if he reads this and thinks it’s too much hassle to deal with? What if he breaks up with me? “Oh mon Dieu, what if everyone stops trusting Ladybug and Chat Noir to protect them from Hawkmoth? What if Hawkmoth uses this against them? Oh no, this is such a disaster!”

She broke off with a squeak as the suddenness of the new information overwhelmed her. Alya was saying something in her ear but she couldn’t hear any of it; she only registered a mumble of sounds in the distance as if she were behind a sheet of thick glass.

The article managed to cover everything the two of them had spoken about last night. The teasing, the references to having more than one partner, mentioning being teenagers with school the next day – all of it. And…all of the sexual innuendo that had been thrown around, as well as the more serious side of their sleepover conversation. It would be mortifying if it wasn’t so dangerous to their identities and public image.

“Marinette! Mar! Are you still there?!” Alya’s voice suddenly broke through her haze and, no longer groggy, Marinette realised she must have gone silent for some time.

“I’m…I’m here,” she said, “Just freaking a bit. What were you saying?”

“Uh, it doesn’t really matter now. It was stupid of me to start asking you stuff when you’re so off the deep end. How you holding up?”

“Not great,” she admitted, “Wait. What kind of things were you asking?”

“Uh…” Alya was quiet for a second and the hesitation told Marinette it wasn’t going to be anything fun to answer. “Look, I know you and Chat are both dating two people. But Ladybug…she apparently mentioned a second boyfriend. Did you, uh, know about that?”

She didn’t have to own up to that if she didn’t want to, but Marinette had a feeling Alya wouldn’t buy it. She was already juggling so many lies surrounding Adrien’s identity and her own that she was going to get mixed up sooner or later, and judging by the way her heart was beating wildly out of control in her chest, it was going to be the former.

“Yes,” she said with a difficult gulp, “After Chat brought up the poly thing with her, she was apparently excited because it meant that…this other boy she was interested in wasn’t completely off the table after all.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie, it was more of a stretched truth. She knew for a fact that if things in her love life had actually gone down the way she had told Alya, then she would have been ecstatic at the opportunity to date both Chat and Adrien guilt free. Well maybe. If they really had been two different boys, she would have still had the guilt of knowing she was leading Chat to believe he was dating two different girls when he was only dating one. But if she had been single, and Chat had approached her as Ladybug after she had developed feelings for him in order to ask if she’d be okay with him dating her and a civilian girl he had fallen for? Well then, the discomfort of holding two boys in her heart at once would have dissolved away with his suggestion that she could also date other people at the same time.

A groan could be heard emanating from the other end of the phone.

“Marinette,” Alya practically whined, “why didn’t you say something earlier?”

“Why would I have?” she answered defensively. It wasn’t really any of Alya’s business who Chat’s other partner was. Technically it wouldn’t have even been Marinette’s business, beyond whatever rules her and Chat had set up within their relationships to ensure everyone was on the same page.

“Well, I could have been subtly diverting attention or putting out more feelers on the Ladyblog to see how people feel about people having multiple boyfriends or girlfriends all this time! As it is, I’ve barely started laying groundwork for that, and it’s all from the guys side of things because I thought Chat was the only superhero who was a Vee! [1]”

“A what?”

“Never mind, I’ll explain later. Look – I just mean I could have been helping make things like this seem like…not such a big deal if I’d known there was a chance of this happening. So far I’ve only been focusing on how to help Chat Noir out of any awkward situations with the public. A lot of those ideas focused on me pointing out that Ladybug was vouching for him in some way, but that doesn’t work if people are also judging her.”

“Oh.” Marinette’s face heated in shame at assuming the worst of her best friend, even after she had gone to previous extremes to prove she wasn’t going to throw their friendship under the bus for a scoop.

“Shit,” Alya said suddenly, “I’ve got to move if I still want to make it to school on time. We can catch up on this more once we’re there.”

“Uh…”

“You are going to school, right? Only, I don’t want any suspicious people trying to make any connections between girls who stay home from school on the day the news breaks and that it would be upsetting for Chat Noir’s girlfriend to see it this morning.”

Marinette scrunched up her face into a frown. The last thing she wanted to do was face everyone when they were talking about her love life around her and judging her without even realising it. But Alya was right. There would probably be a million people watching for which kids didn’t show up to school today.

Besides, she really needed to speak to Adrien too. Had he seen this yet? It seemed unlikely as Adrien usually avoided most news sites in case they were spreading gossip about him or his father. He only used a handful of well tested akuma alert systems and the Ladyblog, and even then he didn’t look at that constantly. No, Adrien usually got most of his news from hearing about it second-hand and then looking into more himself on what topics interested him. He would most likely hear about this once he was in school, at which point he’d lose his chance to duck out of the building if he wanted to speak to her.

“I’ll be there,” she said quickly, glancing at the time with a flinch, “Though I think I’m gonna be late at this point.” Alya laughed.

“At least one thing’s still the same,” she said.

Buy Me A Coffee?

1Vee: A vee relationship is made up of three partners and gets its name from the letter “V,” in which one person acts as the "Vee," “hinge” or “pivot” partner dating two people. The other two people are not romantically or sexually involved with each other. These two people are known as “metamours” to one another (metamours are two people who are dating the same person, but are not actively dating each other). Metamours in a vee relationship may not know one another, may be vague acquaintances, or may be very good friends. In some cases, metamours may even live with one another, with or without their partner. A vee relationship can be "closed" where all three agree not to date anyone else, or "open" where they agree they can see other people outside of the vee. As such, a person can be a vee in one relationship and a metamour in another at the same time.

#PIP writes #miraculous ladybug #ML fic #Clowder #Love Square #It Was You Sequel

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arethereanyoriginalusernames · 4 years

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ZP stuff for other people

Kayla edition :)

Disclaimer because yes. I do not own Zoophobia or anything like that. This is also not a post made with the intent to police what people do. This is a list of misconceptions and fun facts people can use if they want to. This is all for fun, so I hope you enjoy. Feel free to add your thoughts in replies and reblogs.

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It’s quarantine time, hunnies, so let’s write some fanfiction.

1. The bad girlfriend

Spoiler alert, we're going to be seeing a few misconceptions that involve turning Kayla into a villain, and this is just one brand of it. This one deals with instances where a story portrays Kayla as, surprise, a bad girlfriend. More specifically, she's either portrayed as a toxic partner to Zill, or she causes problems that Zill has to deal with.

On one hand, I blame the writing of the OG comic for this. I mean, literally our first look into their relationship is a chapter revolving around them having relationship troubles. I dunno about you, but having that be an introduction to any relationship doesn't sound like a great idea to me. It can imply that the relationship is not a strong one, and that these characters might not be right for each other. However, due to how Vivz portrays the relationship outside the comic, and in chapter 4, this relationship is clearly meant to be a strong one (they're the school power couple for christ's sake).

Some of you may be thinking that portraying Kayla in such a way is the writer trying to break them up. Except nope! Surprisingly, I see this in works that have almost nothing to do with the couple. Like... guys. What are we doing here? Yes, Kayla can get angry at Zill, but this happens specifically when Zill fucks up real bad. Kayla is usually a nice person, and this side of her is rarely shown in in general.

2. The Temptress

Somewhat akin to the previous, this deals with instances where it's shown to be a bad thing that Zill is dating Kayla at all. This shows up in different ways. To name a few: Kayla is bad because whenever someone upsets her, Zill comes after them; Kayla is bad because Zill spends more time with her than other people; Kayla is bad because she causes Zill to be romantically unavailable to other people, etc. This... puzzles me. I've seen people try to villainize Kayla simply because she's dating Zill, and sometimes because them dating causes Zill to act in specific ways. To name one instance, one fic I read recently had Zill intimate Damian simply because he bumped into Kay at a comic book store, and she inevitably got scared. And the story makes both Zill and Kay to be the bad guys here. Because Kay can totally 100% control what her partner does.

Funnily enough, this bothers me more than the previous, given that there, I can at least understand why Kay is the bad guy.

3. The Bully

Heeeyyy, you guys know how Kay is a nice person, is friendly to most people, and is incredibly sweet? Fuck that! Don't you know that Kay is homophobic, xenophobic, probably every type of phobic (even doorphobic), and will crucify all those who stand in her way? That's right, Kayla caused nine e××ven, world war two, the extinction of the dinosaurs, etc!

I realize that tone can be difficult to read through text, but I assure you that the previous paragraph was satirical. Anyways, I'm sure at least one person here already has a good idea about what I'm talking about, but for the those scratching their heads, let me explain. This refers to when, no joke, Kay is turned into a female Leeson. Her Christianity is used as an excuse to turn her into a stereotypical, oppressive bitch. Thing is, she's kind of, ya know, not Leeson? As shown in pictures of her interacting with characters such as Addison, Kayla clearly holds more progressive ideologies. Also, Kay, as shown in ch.4, is someone who would stand up to injustices, and help those in need. She, like some real life Christians, may simply follow aspects of Christianity that involve not being a dick to people.

4. The High Achiever

In regards to a fun fact about Kay, there's the fact that she's too legit to quit when it comes to being a student. Apart from being the class president, she works hard at her studies, and is a good student. This doesn't just extend to drama either, but likely all her classes.

5. The Dreamer

The previous fact could be due to her dream of making it big as a performer in the E! District. Possibly inspired by her idol, Celeste, Kay aspires to become a star. However, due to the fact that mammals are lower on the social ladder than snakes and birds, this could prove to be a difficult task.

6. The Rival

Kay does have a rival that exists in the form of Baltimore, who I believe goes to another school, if I recall correctly. Baltimore, being an avian, would have an easier time getting success than Kay, and I imagine that conflict between the two would bring that problem up, with Balti taunting Kay about how nobody would want to see her preform.

7. The Aussie?

As pointed out by @eclecticcoyote , Kay being Australian usually gets forgotten about. While we currently have no reference as to how much this influences her lifestyle apart from her voice, this is something that can be played around with and could make for some interesting scenarios.

8. The Voice of an Angel

Listening to Kayla's Headcanon voice, I would say that Kayla's singing voice would be around the tenor range. Not quite soprano, but still higher than alto. Basically, I can see her lower notes hitting the alto range, her usual voice being tenor, and maybe being able to hit some falsetto. Also, looking at what songs Vivz has drawn her singing, Kayla seems to lean towards mainly Broadway numbers for song choice.

She also can play the piano

9. The fighter

A lot of people, I've noticed, like to write Zill as the one who engages in physical confrontation, while forgetting that Kay can kick some serious ass herself. Not only does the chick have them fencing skills for days, she can literally knock out Rusty with a punch. Not sure if ya guys noticed, but Kay doesn't need Zill to do all the punching. She can knock some heads in herself, thank you very much.

////////////////////////

That's all I've got for now. I may have forgotten something, and will make a follow up post if it turns out I did. I hoped you enjoyed, and feel free to request whatever you want.

I apologize for wasting your time

- Spooky S Skeletons

#zoophobia #zoophobia kayla #kayla zoophobia

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ranma-rewatch · 3 years

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Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul

I can’t believe it, 2020 is finally over. Or at least, it will be on the day this goes up. From where I’m writing it, we’re nearing the finish line, but haven’t yet reached it. Part of me wishes I could have finished season 1 in the same year I started this blog, but I’m getting close to there anyway, so I shouldn’t despair. This episode...yeah, looking at the episode title, I cannot remember for the life of me what the Shiatsu Technique is. By next paragraph, I’ll have rewatched the episodes, and I’ll know. See you in a second!

That was an...interesting direction for Shampoo’s introductory arc? I mean, it’s her second episode, and she’s barely in it. I think I’ll have quite a bit to talk about, but I will say once again I’m holding off on doing a Shampoo Character Spotlight just yet, just because I want to have more material to discuss.

So, anyway, the episode starts with the Tendo’s asking Akane to wake up Ranma, and it’s made clear once again just how angry and jealous she is over the whole Shampoo situation. That doesn’t get any better when she relents but finds that Shampoo is snuggling in Ranma’s bed with him, without him knowing. She dumps water on them, activating the curse, Shampoo tries to kill Ranma, he turns back, she wants to kiss him, it’s a bunch of hijinks.

As Ranma and Akane walk to school, they bicker a little more fiercely than usual, now that the spectre of Shampoo’s affections have come into the picture. Ryoga is chilling on a nearby rooftop, and he’s actually ready to leave. He’s being very angsty, upset that Akane only likes him as P-chan, and knows that if Akane ever admits to loving Ranma, it would break his heart. He tries to head back on the road, only for him to get hit by random water throwing lady’s water, at which point Shampoo finds the piglet in the road.

Next scene, the amazon breaks down the wall of Ranma’s classroom to give him lunch, which as it turns out is Ryoga, though he hasn’t been killed or ever really cooked. Still, Akane and even Ranma are concerned, even if Ryoga doesn’t really appreciate the latter. Angry at Akane ruining her plans for Ranma several times now, Shampoo gives Akane the Kiss of Death, but Akane doesn’t back down, and is ready for a match, despite the fact that Ranma seems absolutely sure that Akane has no way of winning.

By the time Ranma gets to the place they are fighting at, the match is already over. Shampoo is gone, and Akane is unconscious on the ground. When she wakes up, she feels rather refreshed, but is more than anything confused: Akane has no clue who Ranma is. It isn’t regular amnesia, either. She still remembers her classmates, Ryoga, even Ranma’s dad.

After a lot of Ranma trying over and over again to remind Akane who he is, which even fails when Ranma activates his curse, they eventually go to Dr. Tofu. As it turns out, he knows what did this: the titular Shiatsu Technique. It actually has a much longer name, but I will stick with that. Anyway, Ranma’s dad was passing by and saw the whole thing. The move is actually just washing and styling the person’s hair, but using specific herbs and massaging scalpel pressure points to specifically remove memories of a single person.

The only way Dr. Tofu can imagine curing it would be with more Chinese herbs, so Ranma takes Akane out on the city to try and find Shampoo and get what they need. Only thing is, Shampoo shows up at the clinic right afterwards, because it turns out she’s been living there, working with Dr. Tofu.

So, that’s the episode. I’m going to start with some things I didn’t like as much, before getting into what I thought actually worked. The entire premise is just a bit...odd? Like, I have to admit I’m kind of down on amnesia plots in general, just as a matter of personal preference, but even if I wasn’t I feel like using one in the middle of a main character’s introduction arc is a tad bit strange.

I talked a bit last week about how I find that shows using jealousy as a way to show much a person cared about another is kinda sucky, so I won’t go over it again, except to say I’m still not a fan. I’m even less a fan of the fact that Akane is still being looked over as a fighter. First she never really got to fight Kodachi, and now that Shampoo is here they get...a fight we don’t see that only lasts a few seconds.

Shampoo is an amazon warrior, I get that. But I just find it annoying that they completely sideline that conflict for the amnesia one, when giving Akane an opponent to fight who is better than her would be a great way to make her grow. Even if we got a real fight and she lost, it could be something to build on later, a way to see where Akane is as a martial artist. Sadly, this series doesn’t really take Akane seriously as a martial artist, so that wasn’t ever going to happen.

Only other small thing to cover in the negatives column is that I didn’t really like the whole comedy bit of, “Uh oh, Ranma shows Akane his curse, but she thinks he’s a cross-dressing pervert!” It’s just...yeah, I don’t have the mental energy to dive into that topic, let’s just say it left a very bad taste in my mouth.

So, what did I like about the episode, then? Well, quite a lot. As much as I dislike the general idea of doing an amnesia plot here, I liked some of the specifics of it. The fact that not only had Akane forgotten Ranma, and only Ranma, but that it seemed as though she couldn’t even form new memories of him, no matter how much he or others tried to make her understand, definitely added urgency. In a good way.

I also found myself liking the technique itself, strangely enough. The fact it’s just washing the person’s hair, but with special martial arts stuff, is just kind of amazing, ridiculous in that exact Ranma 1/2 kind of way. The fact that all of the characters treat it dead seriously, none of them laughing at the idea, also helps make it even funnier.

Speaking of funny, the slapstick was pretty on-point this episode. It wasn’t quite as funny as some other episodes, but I definitely was at least smiling for a good portion of it. The whole scene of their class trying to help Akane remember Ranma was pretty funny too, in English and Japanese.

For something more heartfelt, I love that after half an episode of Ranma teasing Akane, of so many episodes of Ranma kind of being a jerk, his immediate response to her forgetting him is to do everything he can to fix it. It goes uncommented on so far, but he clearly hates the idea of Akane never knowing who he is. It could just as easily have been done with Ranma not caring in the slightest, being an aloof jerk, but this shows that Ranma does genuinely care about Akane, even if he often has a bad way of showing it.

Ooh, also, on the characters front! Ryoga! My boy! I haven’t really talked about it in a while, but I’ve been kind of unhappy with how Ryoga is being portrayed for a while now. Ever since his arc, he’s just been chilling as P-chan, only turning back to try and take Akane from Ranma in some way. He’s been very scheming and underhanded, which doesn’t fit what I remembered of his character at all.

This episode was much more like it. Ryoga fits so much better as the brooding boy, stuck in the moral dilemma of what to do about his position with Akane, scared of how she might really feel. More of this, please, and less of him making schemes to steal her.

So then, how does this episode shake out, on the whole? Well, I don’t think it’s a surprise that I wouldn’t say it’s as good as last week’s. In fact, it’s dropped quite a few places. Just barely in the top half of episodes I’ve seen thus far, I’m putting this episode just above the Ranma vs Ryoga fight and one spot below the big fight that ended Kodachi’s arc. So, here is the new ranking.

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 15: Enter Shampoo, the Gung-Ho Girl! I Put My Life in Your Hands

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 13: A Tear in a Girl-Delinquent's Eye? The End of the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 11: Ranma Meets Love Head-On! Enter the Delinquent Juvenile Gymnast!

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Episode 10: P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'

Episode 14: Pelvic Fortune-Telling? Ranma is the No. One Bride in Japan

Next week, I think we’re finishing this arc? I’m not completely sure? We’ll have to see? All I know is, the penultimate episode of the season is titled “I Love You, Ranma! Please Don’t Say Goodbye”. Sadly, unlike Ranma, I do have to say goodbye, but only until next week. See you all then!

#episode 16 #Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul #ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #akane tendo #shampoo #ryoga hibiki #anime analysis #anime rewatch

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littlepurinsesu · 4 years

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V Watches MagiReco - Episode 9 Review

*Spoilers for Magia Record Anime Episode 9*

I... have mixed feelings about this episode O___O While some parts were definitely well-done (like, REALLY well-done), there were some others that left me a bit underwhelmed and wanting something more?

Don’t get me wrong, by no means was it not a good episode, because it was. But I’m gonna try my hardest to pinpoint why I felt that while some parts were amazing, others really could have been done better.

The phone conversation with Iroha and AI had some top-notch imagery going on in the background. As expected of a PMMM spin-off, every single frame probably has some deep and profound symbolism if you really wanted to pause and analyse each one. There’s never a dull moment on screen; even when all that’s happening is a phone conversation, they know how to hold your attention by giving your eyes a feast with that amazingly trippy and surreal kind of art style that PMMM is known for.

I, too, was a bit disappointed that Madoka and Homura didn’t show up, and by the looks of it, they probably won’t be making their appearance during Sana’s arc at all, which makes yet another major deviation the anime has made. But it’s not that huge of a deal to me because I know they’ll appear at some other point and I’m sure they had their reasons for making this change (hopefully for something better!). I’m happy to let the new characters take the spotlight; I actually think it’s a better choice than constantly relying on the Holy Quintet to build hype and satisfy the fans, which could actually draw attention and focus away from the main plot sometimes. This is how I personally feel, at least ^^;;

That being said, although I didn’t mind Madoka and Homura not being there, I did have some issues with Iroha’s entrance into the Rumour. It just happened... way too quickly and suddenly? I expected a bit more dialogue between the characters, especially since Yachiyo’s expression and comment about jumping off the tower not killing magical girls should have been a big indicator that she knows something (wink wink). I think that might have been a good chance to foreshadow the reveal that comes with Chapter 6, and maybe add a bit more mystery to Yachiyo’s unrevealed past. But the biggest problem I had with this scene was the way Iroha jumped lol. She just... jumped. Like it was no big deal. And it was even weirder because she technically “fell” while reaching out to catch Lil’ Kyubey, but there was hardly any reaction xD She also happened to be in the middle of a sentence while talking to Yachiyo LOL clearly that “jump” wasn’t a planned or prepared one xD I just really felt like the dialogue wasn’t finished or something was cut somewhere in there? They were talking and suddenly down she goes. I know I probably sound extremely nitpicky and this is just a minor detail that doesn’t really make much difference to the story (none at all, in fact), but I just found her apathy somewhat unrealistic and strange, which broke the immersion for me during what should have been a very crucial and heart-pounding moment. Unless Iroha’s just super brave and isn’t afraid of heights at all? Maybe? xD

Anyway, back to the positive stuff! Sana’s backstory was depicted really well. Again, absolutely amazing visuals (I especially liked the use of shoes and dinosaurs). And Sana’s bond with AI was portrayed even better than in the game, in my opinion. It was the most heartwarming and bittersweet relationship, and it’s amazing to see how AI slowly changes in Sana’s company. By the way, their chess game with little puppies and kittens was adorable omg x) I’d love to write more on Sana and AI, but I don’t really have anything specific to say except that I just really, really loved how their relationship was portrayed. Definitely the best part about this week’s episode.

And now comes my biggest complaint: Alina’s debut. As one of the most popular and interesting MagiReco characters, I’m sure the entire fandom was looking forward to how the anime would go about introducing her. I don’t know if I just set my expectations too high or anything, but her entrance was extremely underwhelming for me. And a lot of the reasons were exactly the same as my dissatisfaction with Iroha’s jump: too rushed and too many missed opportunities. She just kind of appeared out of nowhere, and while I do appreciate the “shock value”, what annoyed me was the lack of of a proper “introduction” she got. AI stated her name, and Iroha questioned if she was a member of the Wings of Magius, but we didn’t get any answers. There was no explanation on who she was or what she was doing there, how she got in and what her relationship with AI was. Game players would know, of course, but I’m concerned that anime-only viewers will have no idea what’s going on and probably also have no idea that they just met one of the most important and popular characters of the franchise right now. Essentially, they’re just gonna be seeing a very flamboyant and crazy girl enter and wreck havoc but with no explanation about why she was doing what she was doing or what her connection was with the current situation and the bigger picture of the plot thus far. She just comes in and steals the spotlight, and while game players know that she definitely deserves the spotlight given who she is, anime-only viewers are probably going to be left wondering why this random green girl just came in, who the heck she is, and why everything is about her all of a sudden.

Another crucial piece of information that got lost in that very rushed and chaotic introduction was the fact that Alina actually used the word “Doppel”, which is the first time the term has been dropped in the anime. But again, no one even responded or reacted in any way (at least do the cliche thing where the protagonist repeats “Doppel?” or something LOL), but no she just keeps rambling on and yet another crucial piece of information is lost in the shuffle. What makes it possibly even more confusing is that her Doppel really doesn’t look like the Doppels we’ve seen so far; it could pass as her shooting random bits of paint-like oozy stuff instead, so I’m really struggling to see how anime-only viewers are going to make that connection and put the pieces together.

And if her entrance was underwhelming, then her “exit” was probably even worse lol. She just... disappears xD It’s quite anticlimactic considering how it looked like we were gearing up for Sana vs. Alina, and then she just suddenly gets kicked out lmao. I get that she’ll be back really soon, but it still felt way too abrupt? I think my main gripe about everything to do with Alina’s debut can be summed up in two words: too rushed. There’s so much about her character that’s interesting and vital to the story, but everything either gets glossed over really quickly or just dropped here and there with no response from the other characters. Even if they didn’t want to get into details right away, which is also fine, they could still have slowed down and built up some mystery and tension so that we’ll want to find out more about her because we’re interested and curious, and not because we have no idea what’s going on. Her appearance should have brought some answers to the questions raised throughout the story thus far, but instead she just brought more confusion and chaos lol.

But her entrance wasn’t all negative! They absolutely nailed her mannerisms. Basically everything that makes her so infamously crazy was delivered flawlessly. Her expressions, her movements, her voice, her speech, her word choice... she definitely entered with a BANG and she’s no doubt going to leave a deep impression on viewers, whether they understand her deal or not lol. The voice-acting was also top-notch, as expected of her seiyuu. Alina’s one of those characters where you really need to hear her speaking and see her moving to experience the full extent of her "charm”, and I’d say the anime definitely delivered in that respect and portrayed her uniqueness in a strong and memorable way, so props to them for that :D

^ I really wanted to use this image for this week’s review, but it’s technically Sana’s episode so I stuck with Sana xD Oh, and another thing I definitely loved about her entrance was hearing her saying so many of her lines from the game battles ^^

... Wow I just rambled and ranted for four whole paragraphs about Alina’s introduction, sheesus... Onto some other stuff now, shall we? ^^;;

One of the most interesting things to me about AI was how her appearance changes to become more and more like Sana. This is another example where the anime is able to illustrate things that the game isn’t capable of, and while I’m not sure if it’s a change or I simply missed it in the game because of the static AI sprite, I definitely liked this little detail. It not only shows how AI slowly becomes more and more human, but also highlights the fact that her form resembling Sana implies the influence that Sana has had on her. Sana is all AI has really ever known about humans and the “real” world, and all the human feelings and emotions she gains are because of Sana. It makes perfect sense that when she takes on a more human-like appearance, it’s going to resemble Sana in some respect. The little detail with the crown near the end was also really sweet ;___;

I really do think “mixed feelings” is the best way to describe my overall impression of this week’s episode xD Sana’s backstory and her relationship with AI had me in tears, but Iroha’s jump and Alina’s debut definitely had me raising my eyebrows a few times. I can overlook the Iroha part as just me being nitpicky over a trivial detail, but I really do hope that they step up their game with Alina next week. They definitely did her justice on a surface level, but in terms of her significance and relevance to the plot, not so much. She’s such an important character and her appearance marks a major plot point, so I hope we get the explanations and clarifications needed soon.

I have even higher expectations for next week, since not only is the showdown with Alina something I’ve been looking forward to for a while, but I’m also hoping that they “rectify” some of the issues this week lol. Fingers crossed that Alina gets some better writing, and they continue doing the amazing job they’ve done so far with Sana’s story! ^^

Sorry I’m so much more “negative” this week compared to how I usually am with my reviews, but I was looking forward to Alina’s appearance so much and was really sad to feel any ounce of disappointment :( Hopefully next week’s review will be back to just me fangirling throughout hehe~

#magia record #magireco #puella magi madoka magica #puella magi madoka magica side story #pmmm #fandom #mine #anime #review #magia record review #v watches magireco

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