#like seriously what’s up with them why they kill everyone in Quincy like that | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fenheart87 · 4 years

Text

Sprint Challenge 2 - Colorwheel

The silence echoed in the room, Marinette and Adrien were glaring at each other, a battle of wills making the silence oppressive and settled like a heavy weight on the other occupants of the room. Juleka never glanced up from her phone, Rose watched the heated debate-turned-argument unfold and Nino was fighting to keep Alix from adding fuel to the fire. Dingo had just left to pick up Luka and the rest of Kitty Section from the repair shop.

“You are unbelievable, seriously Adrien!”

“How did they even get into this argument again?"

"No Idea I place my bets on Marinette.” Juleka murmured, eyes flicking to the arguing pair and back to her phone.

“Not even your own brother? So does that mean that you are going to bet Against me?” Alix chimed in, somehow holding resigned Nino in a headlock.

“Leave them alone dude, they will figure it out when they stop listening to respond and listen to talk.”

“Would you just stop being stubborn-”

“Me?! Pot meet kettle, you stop being stubborn!”

“Hey does anybody know what started all this like they seem that they might try to kill each other…” Rose cut in, concern growing as the quarrel was getting louder and louder.

“Why are you being so dramatic over this?!” Marinette was well past being just plain worked up, rolling her eyes with a huff.

“Because it doesn’t make sense Marinette.” Adrien shot back, crossing his arms again.

“It makes perfect sense! It you would just do your job and let me do mine-” The designer exploded, pointing aggressively with her words.

“Not when you don’t make sense!” Adrien interrupted again, frowning hard enough that his resemblance to Gabriel uncanny.

“How?! How doesn’t it? I’ve been staring at these with you for at least six hours! I need to know which shades!”

“Why can’t fashion just have some good old color names, why do they always have to be so weird and unique and why can’t we just call them simple colors as what they are! Blue, dark blue, light blue I get. Cerulean, regal and bahama are just different shades of the same blues! They don’t need ten names for ten colors that look exactly the same.”

All eyes snapped to the quarreling pair, a dramatic offended gasp from the other pink person matched Marinette’s outraged face. Dingo and Luka slid into the room quietly as to not draw atttention to themselves. She straightened to her full height and Adrien shrunk a bit but didn’t fully back down.

“Uh Lulu, you might want to save the groom…”

“Nah, he deserves it.”

“You take that back right now Agreste or I quit and you can explain to Kagami why she has to pick a new wedding dress!”

“They’re just colors Marinette.”

“Oi! Lime green and electric green ill have you know are two completely different colors!” Dingo chimed in to defend Marinette.

Heaving a big sigh and rolling his green eyes, the blond admitted, “I just don’t see what the big deal is, that’s all. It’s just for our wedding, one event of many that we will share together.”

“Adrien Michelle Quincy Salvatore Athanase Agretste I will end you if you do not take back those words right now!” Rose threw her notebook she had long abandoned into her chair and marched over the taller blonde, blue eyes narrowed and frown marring her pixie like face. Adrien glanced between the two women and stepped back, growing more and more nervous.

Luka moved closer, sliding in between the scared lamb and lionesses about to tear into his hide. “Look I admit most of the time I can’t tell the difference between Tiger and Tangerine, even though Marinette uses both colors often. What I do know is she has a passion and drive for colors, fabrics and sewing, like I do for my music. Just means while we see pink and light pink, she sees mauve and baby pink just like we can hear different keys in different remakes.”

“Ah I didn’t think about it that way I guess you’re right… I’m sorry Marinette I wasn’t trying to be insensitive or a jerk..”

“You’re forgiven only if you forgive me. Im sorry too, we are all stressed and I shouldn’t have started that argument. This is a big day and while I know you and Kagami won’t notice the little details I put into this, I just want it to be as special as possible. The cocoa color was your mom wore for her wedding, that’s why I wanted to include it so she could be included too. The pinks are rose and myself, Luka is hard to pin down on which blue, I still think Azure and Cyan is a great idea mixed if you trust me to dye the fabric.”

“There’s a whole story hiding in this…” Adrien moved closer to the quilted banner that Marinette had been pestering him about for days.

“Nino and Alya,” she pointed to other color swatches, “Chloe and of course our heros to help watch over and keep you both safe… That’s why I’m being a pain, your colors are red and gold with hints of blacks and whites but this is my wedding gift for the both of you. Kagami was upset she cannot wear her chosen wedding dress but I was able to get free reign for the after party and we might need an EMT at the party.”

“Marinette… I love it and thank you for being so thoughtful. I don’t know the color names but I think I can at least pick out the colors with the swatches”

Marinette sniffled and pulled Adrien into a hug, surprising the ex-model for a moment before he returned it. Rose joined in, dragging Juleka and Alix, Nino wandering over on his own.

“Group hug!” Dingo shoved Luka in behind Marinette and with the help of Ivan, squished everyone together until they broke apart in laughter.

“So Marinette, what are your dream wedding colors?”

“Periwinkle.” The color choice slipped out as she stretched, meeting Luka’s frozen blue eyes. “Pink and blue make purple after all!”

#lovebugs and snake charmers #sprint challenge #mlb au #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #luka couffaine #adrien agreste #rose lavillant #juleka couffaine #dingo king is adopted

54 notes · View notes

merakiui · 4 years

Text

Twilight and Night Teams Playing Among Us HCs

The 14th Department decides to play Among Us (PART 2). (Part 1 can be found here.)

Twilight Team (Hesperide)

🎮 Cyrille 🎮

He’s the type of player who overanalyzes everything. Oh, the lights went out and Sian’s avatar passed by him? Yep, that’s sus.

He’s actually pretty good at determining who the impostor is. Cyrille keeps an eye out for those who are around him, stowing that information away for when the next dead body is reported.

Cyrille’s a genius, so of course he’d be perfect as a crew mate or the impostor. It doesn’t matter the role; he’s able to adapt flawlessly.

Though he still manages to fumble with the controls. Dexterity isn’t his speciality, so it took some time to get used to playing. (He accidentally clicked on the vent button instead of sabotage, and Sian caught him.)

When he’s the impostor, he uses the classic “if you didn’t see it, it didn’t happen” excuse. He’s always asking the others for their proof when they’re accusing him.

“If you didn’t see me anywhere near the body, why would it be me? You lack substantial evidence, and because of that you’ll lose. In other words, voting me out would only benefit the impostors.”

He could probably write an entire thesis paper on why he isn’t the impostor.

Everyone just believes him because they don’t want to hear a rant that delves into the science behind the gameplay, and they’re also just trying to have fun. No one asked for a science lesson. Sorry, Cyrille.

He’s not that good at completing the tasks because the controls confuse him.

His go-to color is green, and he wears the goggles hat.

🛠️ Noah 🛠️

Noah’s soft appearance and way of speaking reflects kindness, so there’s just no way he could be the impostor!

He likes to look at things from the perspective of lawful justice. Although it’s a game, Noah’s certain this tactic won’t fail him.

He considers it to be a great way to pass time, and it’s especially fun to play with the manager. Sometimes it can get tedious when he’s stuck as a ghost for an entire round, but other than that Noah likes it.

He’ll stick with the others in groups so no one winds up dead, but if the manager does end up dying he might tease them about it.

Noah likes playing with Kati, despite the fact that the younger Soul Reaper is always trying to compete with him. He tends to take on the role of an elder brother whenever him and Kati are in the same lobby, and most of the time he’ll lose for the sake of inflating Kati’s ego.

He tends to break up a lot of arguments between Kati and Sian, especially when they bicker over who did what task.

“It’s just a game. There’s no need to fight so much.”

“The phrase ‘it’s just a game’ is such a weak mindset.” - Kati to Noah, probably. Noah just doesn’t understand why everyone gets so riled up. There’s no point in arguing over Among Us. They should use that time to vote out the impostors.

He’s more athletic, so video games aren’t his style. But Among Us does improve his observation skills, so he doesn’t mind it all that much.

His go-to color is lime, and he wears the police hat.

🎤 Sian 🎤

He blames everyone but himself. Sian is so quick to point fingers and start arguments based on what the others say.

“You saw me vent? As if! I’m not stupid like you. If you vote me out, you’re all going to lose. Seriously...”

Sometimes he gets a little too into the game, often getting frustrated when he’s voted out all because someone blamed him.

He likes to check the cameras in hopes that he’ll be able to catch one of the impostors.

When he’s the impostor, he goes after Quincy the most. It’s for all the times Quincy’s bothered him. Revenge is best served in Among Us. “This’ll teach you for always calling me a whelp!”

If someone walks in on him after he’s killed a crew mate, he’ll report the body so fast and blame that person.

“It was Kati! I saw him kill Cyrille! You guys have to believe me.”

Sian is 100% salty in the dead chat, but Cyrille’s there as well so it’s not all that bad.

He probably looks at Among Us memes and tips to win flawlessly as the impostor, and he’ll show them to Cyrille so that the two of them can team up to throw the game.

His go-to color is red, and he wears the backwards cap because he believes it looks cool.

🍎 Kati 🍎

He’s competing with Noah. It doesn’t matter if they’re in two separate lobbies; he’s still going to consider it a competition.

Kati’s the type of player who chases the others around while pretending to be the impostor.

Definitely trolls, so much so that sometimes he’ll get kicked from the lobby.

He’s also the one who constantly calls emergency meetings when nothing has begun just so he can accuse others.

“I saw Noah fake the scan in Med-bay! It’s got to be him. Vote him out!”

He’ll say the most suspicious things, telling the others to watch their backs or else he’ll bite them. It’s a heavy threat when you consider the fact that he actually will bite you in real life. So in-game isn’t all that far off either.

Kati gets a little too trigger-happy when he’s the impostor, forming pacts with the others and then betraying them shortly after. He’d be good at the impostor role if he wasn’t constantly acting so giddy and sus.

He teams up with Day and the two of them cause trouble together. It’s especially fun when they’re the impostors.

Kati complains in the dead chat once he’s killed, whining about how he’s so certain that it was Noah who sabotaged his chances at winning.

His go-to color is pink, and he wears the flower pin hat.

Night Team (Noctu)

🎯 Aitachi 🎯

The others tell him to wear the sticky note that says “dum” because it’ll ward off the evil impostors, and he does just that.

Aitachi doesn’t really understand the concept of Among Us. He’s not exactly up-to-date with modern technology, and so he’s not good at video games.

When playing, he’ll believe whatever the others tell him under the pretense that they mean what they say. Of course, half of them are being helpful and the other half just want to see cute Tachi pout in confusion.

“What does any of this mean, Sir Kirr?” he’ll ask, as if Kirr knows anything. Kirr just tells him it boils down to pure instinct and survival. “I see! In that case, we shall form a group and huddle to keep warm!”

Aitachi, no... You have to do your tasks, silly.

He never does any of his tasks, so his task bar never goes up. Because of that, everyone suspects him of faking tasks. In reality, Aitachi has no clue what that even means.

When he plays with the manager, Aitachi always swears that he’ll protect them because it’s his duty as a warrior. Unfortunately, as soon as they separate, he’s killed.

He types in the ghost chat as the living debate what their next move will be, wondering why no one’s responding to his messages.

When he does figure out how to play, which will take a lot of time, he actually has a lot of fun trying to find the impostors.

His go-to color is brown, and he wears the bear ears because it’s the closest thing to a pelt. When he isn’t wearing that hat, he’s got the “dum” sticky note on.

🏹 Kirr 🏹

Just like Aitachi, he’s clueless. Though he’s able to adjust to the rules once he understands them.

The only thing on his mind is survival of the fittest, and he uses his knowledge as a hunter to avoid death.

“This world is not much different from ours.” (For context, he’s comparing the impostors to vengeful spirits.)

Kirr likes to ask a lot of questions that have nothing to do with the actual gameplay.

“If everyone is stuck on this spaceship, why haven’t they had anything to eat yet? They will starve without any nutrition.”

Kirr, sweetheart, it’s just a video game. Don’t worry about that.

He works alongside Aitachi, and the two of them learn—albeit incorrectly—from one another. They’re both so proud when they do their very first task.

Kirr never seems to become the impostor, so he’s always stuck as a crew mate. Along with that, he gets lost around the map quite easily, which is ironic considering he’s a skilled hunter.

He’s one of the few who’s killed first because he’s always alone in electrical trying to connect the wires. :( Poor Kirr.

His go-to color is black, and he wears the miner cap hat because he thinks the light on it will actually illuminate his way when the lights are sabotaged. Kirr’s just trying to do some in-game camouflage, but it’s not really working.

🎼 Nine 🎼

Nine is a silent player, only talking when he needs to. No one ever has time to question him because they’re too busy arguing over whether or not the others are the impostors.

He wouldn’t have considered playing if the manager hadn’t mentioned it to him. It’s a way for everyone to relax and have fun, so they wanted him to be part of the chaos.

He tends to stay in the background to avoid immediate suspicion. His tasks are always his first priority, and because of that he ends up finishing earlier than most players. Though a body report or an emergency meeting is inevitable, and sometimes that’ll interrupt him when he’s downloading files.

He’ll only call an emergency meeting when it’s absolutely necessary. Whenever Day follows him around, Nine doesn’t bother with a meeting. He’s certain Day won’t kill him because that human puppy never seems to get the impostor role.

Surprisingly good at faking tasks. He’s learns quickly that certain tasks perform a small animation once completed, so he stays away from those when he’s the impostor.

Very rarely participates in the discussions. His strategy is mainly just keeping important information to himself so he can win, but as a crew mate he adds in a word or two that can either refute or prove the others’ claims.

Nine never understands why Theo’s so intent on chasing him around. Once he was outed as the impostor—courtesy of the gracious Theo—and for that entire game he was just following Theo as a ghost. Sometimes Theo’s more confusing the gameplay itself.

He’s still polite to everyone, even if they’re accusing him or getting a little too heated.

“I respect your opinion, but I’m afraid I saw Mr. Cyrille vent.” Nine wants to remain civil despite the chaos that erupts when trying to pick out the impostor.

His go-to color is purple, and he wears the flamingo hat. (Day chose it for him.)

🍦 Day 🍦

Day doesn’t like being the impostor because he feels bad about having to kill his friends.

“I don’t want to kill Nine-Nine! I don’t want to kill anyone.”

He’ll call emergency meetings for the dumbest things.

“What’s going on? No one’s died yet.” And Day will respond with, “I just wanted to say hi to everyone! At the end of the day, we’re still friends, right?”

Nine has to tell him that it’s just a game and that he should just have fun.

Day follows Nine and the manager around because he believes that if they’re in a group nothing bad can happen. Imagine his surprise when Nine ends up killing him the second the manager leaves for navigation.

He feels so betrayed. His expression goes from :D to D: so fast. Poor Day. He just wanted to be by Nine’s side.

He has so much fun when he’s a crew mate. When he finishes his tasks, he’ll run around the map looking for something to do.

Probably dances on the cameras so the others won’t suspect him of being the impostor, or he’ll do figure eights in the lobby while waiting for everyone else to join.

His go-to color is white with the cherry hat because it reminds him of ice cream.

38 notes · View notes

zanguntsu · 4 years

Note

what are ur thoughts on each bleach arc o: like quality wise!

oh boy this got longer than expected. Whoops.

substitute arc: i rlly like this arc! its short but i love how it sets up the characters and i adore the integration between ichigos human life vs shinigami life And i like the monster of the week set up its a fun and its a lot more character focused in the beginning. the fights were very character driven, like with grand fisher, sora, the hollow that went to hell. all the fights felt like they had a meaning that had a strong impact on a character, like ichigo having closure after defeating (he should have killed him tbh) grand fisher.

soul society: one of the best if not the best arcs imo. theres a good amount of development, the fights are good and have emotional weight (ichigo v byakuya, uryu v mayuri, chad v shunsui, yoruichi v soi fon) and the newly introduced characters are interesting! very iconic and cool! there was a lot of character arc conclusions? Closure? like with uryu and yoruichi as well as rukia. the characters are a strong point here too and the introduction of soul society brought in world building and it was something we really needed to see. soul society as the villains was pretty good and it did show them as a threat. its a good arc and had a good cliffhanger ending to the next arc

arrancar arc: its a pretty good arc but this is where i feel like bleach was starting to fall off in quality since kubo didnt plan for the series to go past ss. like the plot was a little repetitive with the rescue arc the placing was pretty bad and its where the kubos problem of having too many characters started forming. there are some pretty good moments though, i really love the ichigo vs grimmjow and ichigo vs ulquiorra fights along with rukia vs aaroniero (rukia development time,,). the arc just felt pretty slow at times ig? But there are some very good moments

fake karakura arc/deicide: i like this arc even though i know half of it was bullshit. there are some good fights, soi fon vs barragan is one of my faves bc her bankai and it was just interesting to see the captains more involved even though i wish they didnt just stand there. like cmon the fate of the world is at stake gang up on ppl u have numbers. i do think its bullshit to have aizen be That powerful (i will excuse the hogyoku use bc thats his trump card and was set up) but having him take down everyone like that was eh. like i know it was meant to show how powerful aizen was but honestly i wish there was a better way. maybe make them all fight amongst each other like with momo but its all mind games and shit i feel like that was a better way of showing how strong aizen was. also speaking of aizen i wish there was more character to him like take away his manipulative badass thing and its just nothing. what drives him to kill the soul king and why? was it loneliness (which is a poor motive tbh), injustice? what brought him on this path? i feel like tousens goals had more to it then aizen tbh

the deicide arc was pretty okay i love mugetsu but im sorry there was absolutely no lead up to him. i love that form but its pretty bullshit that it didnt get as much as a mention in the past and i wish it did bc that would have made mugetsu have a lot more impact. i remember how ppl theorized that it was how isshin lost his powers even though it was proven otherwise but i wish they went with that. but i did like seeing zangetsu again and that touching moment with him and ichigo was good also the rukia and ichigo goodbye was very emotional. was it a good arc? maybe not plot wise but its pretty beloved

fullbringer: oh this is where the quality definitely dropped which sucks because i feel like this arc had a very interesting premise and plot set up. i know that i havent watched/read all of the fb arc but i do know enough of it just not much in between the beginning and end. i wish that the fullbringers had more focus bc they were all forgettable except maybe riruka and they should have had more screentime and the concept of fullbringers is genuinely interesting?? humans with hollow powers is a good concept and its a shame kubo didnt expand upon this more

oh and i have some beef with the villains bc its a fucking tragedy of wasted potential. ginjo is like. almost there to be considered a good villain. hes the previous substitute shinigami and u only bring it up at the end?? thats such a huge chunk of information and it sets up a connection between ichigo and ginjo. idc about tsukishima he can be whatever but i do think ginjo could have been a pretty good villain if he wasnt as blatantly evil. like i know the betrayal schtick is getting old but i would have preferred him as a villain with good intentions, like having him against soul society is a good motive bc ss commits war crimes but it was never clear in this arc (aside from ss monitering the substitutes) but it just didnt feel as strong as a motive to make him do what he did.

one good thing i do have to say about this arc was i do like ichigo in this arc and how much conflict he experiences and we get to see him commit murder although i do wish this had repercussions on him. i feel like soul society’s intervention was unnecessary but thats just me. the fullbringer arc being centered around humans was a good idea, bringing the series back to its roots and i just wish we spent more developmemt with the humans before jumping back to soul society, like more time on the aftermath of the last arc. also this arc should have been the chad arc im dying on this hill.

tybw: wow! this was a trainwreck of an arc! i have. So Many issues with tybw and its where kubos writing weaknesses truly shine. the biggest issues are its pacing which is absolutely abhorrent and it takes up at least a third of the entire series (literally. tybw had 206 chapters out of 686 since tybw officially starts on 480). we had periods where the main cast dont show up for like. 50 chapters. the other biggest problem were the characters. why did kubo think it was a good idea to introduce 26+ characters. why. there is absolutely no time to develop them and while some may receive screentime the majority have no impact to the plot beyond their fights with the characters we actually care about. there is no reason for people to give a shit about them. i can barely remember their names, much less their backstories

and one of the bigger problems was the antagonists themselves. they have a motive and while i understand hatred towards soul society. yhwach’s motives were the worst out of all the villains. i cannot fathom what motivates him because it went fucking everywhere. did he have beef with ss? was he waging war out of self preservation? did he want to end death? like the narrative hints at all of these but it just feels like a mess of a character! i never liked yhwach to begin with since his very concept is awful (seriously? giving a previously thought group of people who experienced genocide a nazi motif? what the fuck kubo). hes a villain but theres no substance. his powers could have been cool but it was on the point of needing a deus ex machina to take him down.

and the fights are forgettable with the occasional good ones (shunsui v that one fuck, rukia v that other fuck) but there are some bad fights (askin v yoruichi, the quincy thor guy). there are some good moments, like all the bankai reveals, it adds more to the characters but it also causes so much jumping around in the plot and this is what happens when u have this many characters and some will be forgotten (so sorry chad). it sucks. some of the fights dragged on longer than necessary and it was just. so much. all of these issues really downgraded the arc and thats what made it the mess it was.

and a lot of the ideas brought in to tybw are criminally underused. ichigo being a quincy may have been wack but i did like the idea but it really only had some sparse moments like masaki and zangetsu development, creating a connection between ichigo and yhwach but that was really it. it was not like his hollow powers which coexisted with the plot and had huge moments and was just a constant presence. you could forget that ichigo was a quincy tbh and we needed more quincy moments. and the soul king was horribly underused because it did have set up from the arrancar arc, it was aizens entire goal! but kubo never really explores the ideas of the soul king and only in cfyow do we really get more info about it and thats no good because the soul king is a vital piece of bleach lore and worldbuilding.

anyways thats my two cents sorry this was rlly long

#ask #anon #sorry this was more of an essay #i just have a lot of feelings about this laundrey detergent show 😔#ramble tag #long post #nazi mention #its brief but i hate the vandenreich so

26 notes · View notes

lailannajacobs · 4 years

Text

Empire of Angels | Part One

Pairing: Bucky x ofc!Amelie Novak

Summary: Amelie Novak moved from New York to Boston to escape a shitty ex and to get a killer story. She just didn’t realize she’d meant that literally.

Warnings: none!

Word Count: 4.5k

A/N: Technically this part has already been published under a different name, but it’s been seriously editied and changed with parts added so it’s quite different? Anyways, I’d love to know what you think! <3

Empire of Angels | Part One

“I need someone to go after ex-sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. You ever heard of him, Novak?”

Amelie nodded, but her boss Cary, kept going as if she hadn’t. Typical. It wasn’t like he took her any more seriously than an intern.

“He’s ex-military. Defected five years ago and has been working as a hitman ever since. I’m sure you must have heard of him. If the cops are right, then he’s to blame for over a dozen high profile kills since. I got a source telling me he’s in Boston, ‘bout to hit his next target. I want you to find him and get me killer story before anyone else even thinks about it. And before you say a thing, I know you’re a reporter, not a cop. But this could be huge for the Globe and I need someone on this.”

Like hell she would say anything. Cary was finally giving her a real story. When Amelie had moved - more precisely, run away - to Boston looking for a change, she hadn’t expected to get sidelined. She was a damned good reporter and everyone at the Times knew she was good at her job. So like hell she’d say a thing and ruin her chance at proving to her new employer that she was the best he had.

“Do you know who the intended target is?” She kept her voice clipped, professional like his favourite boys did.

Cary shook his head, “My source wouldn’t say. But I need to know you’re okay with this, Novak. He’s dangerous and cunning, practically a ghost. I don’t want you walking into this expecting peaches and roses like the rest of the stories you cover.”

Amelie almost mentioned that the reason all her other stories had been peaches and roses was because he wouldn’t let her cover anything hard hitting, but nodded instead, afraid to look anything other than absolutely capable.

“It’s no problem. This will be my number one priority. I won’t let you down,” She promised with conviction.

With a curt nod, he waved her out of the office, apparently satisfied. Amelie could barely contain her excitement, and purposefully slowed her walk toward the conference room door. Her curiosity got the best of her before she could walk out.

Glancing over her shoulder as nonchalantly as possible, she asked, “Why me?”

He kept his gaze on the papers he was now leafing through, “They told me when I hired you, that your biggest asset as a reporter is that you’re constantly being underestimated. I figured the best way to get to him was to send someone like you,” He paused and looked up at her, “Am I wrong?”

She shook her head.

“Didn’t think so. Now get to it, Novak. Somehow I doubt he’ll be here for long.”

Amelie left the conference room, unable to wipe the smile from her lips, ignoring the curious looks from her coworkers.

Staring at the computer screen, Amelie finally understood why Cary had sent her after such an important and dangerous story. The dozens of articles she had found on Barnes made it clear that this story Cary wanted her to cover wasn’t something he expected her to succeed at. He didn’t expect anyone to find Barnes at all and hadn’t been about to waste one of his better employees on a fruitless task. She didn’t care. Cary had finally given her a story worth covering and she was sure as hell going to get it done, even if her first thought had been that the police, FBI or even a PI would have been better suited for the job. There was no way she’d turn the job down now. Not when there was no way she could lose. If she got the story, she’d be bringing in one of the biggest stories the Globe had seen in years. If she failed, well, no one expected her to succeed anyways.

Her research on Barnes - otherwise known as the Winter Soldier - had led her to two conclusions. He was extremely dangerous, and he was extremely talented at what he did. And what he did, was take out criminals before anyone even knew that’s what they were. The hit would lead to an investigation, which would then lead to the exposure of skeletons no one knew were hiding in the deceased’s closet. His MO didn’t make any of his vigilante kills any less of a crime, it only meant that getting the story before anyone else would be huge for her and probably save a life in the process. All Amelie had to do was find the scumbag Barnes was targeting before her little hitman found him first.

Get a story, save a life, put an asshat in jail, get promoted. All in that order. That simple.

The problem - the biggest one at the moment - was that no one was able to figure out who Barnes’ next target would be before the body dropped. The deaths appeared random, but she knew it couldn’t be. Anyone who worked as meticulously as the Winter Soldier did had to have a process. Figuring it out would be the key to her success.

Amelie had reached out to other reporters across the country, including an old friend from the Times who had covered the deaths accredited to Barnes, but all anyone could say was that he was ghost.

So, the other major problem was finding him.

But that’s where she came in.

Finding people was something she had always been good at. Although she had never figured out how exactly, Amelie had an uncanny ability to be at the right place at the right time. Trusting that gut feeling had never steered her wrong in the past, and she wasn’t about to doubt it now. Any reporter could follow up on a lead and dig up dirt. But not every reporter had her instincts. Amelie had to believe that it was what was going to put her ahead of the dozen or so journalists who had gone up against the Winter Soldier in the past.

Her printer spat out a photo of the sergeant’s military ID, the most recent photograph she could find of him. She didn’t doubt he looked nothing like the picture. The cropped dark hair and clean-shaven face were probably long gone, and she had to assume that, like the security cameras unable to get a clear image of him, she wouldn’t recognize the man from the picture. The only saving grace was that she had never seen ocean coloured eyes so striking, even on a low quality, home printed scrap piece of paper. She figured she’d recognize them if - when - she met his gaze.

The military uniform and crooked grin seemed at odds with the infamous hitman she was hunting, but Amelie knew that dangerous men came in all shapes and sizes. The facts were that this man had killed almost a dozen high profile businessmen and politicians in the past five years and that each hit was in a largely public area, creating mass chaos, which was, if she had to guess, his escape route.

Scoping out Boston’s most popular public areas was where she would start. Tomorrow. She wouldn’t be able to find him running on half a muffin she’d had for supper and little to no sleep. Resting and getting her things in order was her priority. Tomorrow it would be the Winter Soldier.

* * * * *

Amelie wandered through Quincy Market among families decked out in Celtic’s green, ready for the night’s big game against the Raptors. The town square was alive with laughter and shouting, one of the last warm, autumn days brightening everyone’s mood. She let herself get stopped by tourists asking for directions, wandered into a coffee shop and popped into gift shops, looking to send her New York friends and family a little sign that she was adapting to just fine. No one had really understood her move from the New York Times to the Boston Globe, but then again, none of them had dated Brian for as long as she had. The only exception had wished her well and sent her off with an understanding smile. One of these trinkets was for them.

Every ball cap in sight caught her attention, though none hid incredible blue eyes under the lid. It was a gamble on her part to assume that he’d be wearing one, but the best way to get through a crowd, antsy for tonight’s game, was to blend in. And judging by the amount of ball caps in her five-foot radius alone, the odds were in her favour that she’d find him under one. Her instincts had gotten her this far. She wasn’t about to start doubting them during what was probably the most important story of her career.

Before she could decide where to wander to next, she was thrown to the ground, pain searing through her wrists. Where the hell that basketball had come from was beyond her, and she pushed herself back up, wincing as the assailant rolled away.

“I’m so sorry miss, are you all right?”

Amelie took in a deep breath and forced a cheery laugh, “I’m fine. Happens to the best of us. Let’s just hope none of that happens to our team tonight, right?”

The washed-out looking man in a stretched thin jersey picked up the ball and handed it back to his son. The man smiled, most likely pleased by her kind smile, cheery attitude and the fact that she wasn’t chewing his son out for his pathetic aim. They always were. Nice was usually seen as a weakness. Nice was never looked at twice. But underestimated and forgotten were some of the reason Amelie was able to do her job so well.

He finished with another apology and a slightly creepy wink before whisking his son away. She wanted to roll her eyes but kept her well practice act in place, keeping her gaze trained on them as they wandered through the crowd. That was when she spotted someone far more important behind them. The cap, which was what had immediately caught her attention, was a dumb choice on his part. The navy colour only brought out his eyes, which had made him that much easier to spot.

Amelie grinned.

It was time to pay her little hitman a visit.

She wove through the crowd with purpose, keeping an eye on her target. Stalking him wouldn’t do any good. She could do that later if need be. Right now, he was probably hyper aware of people trying to tail him, and less wary of people actually trying to talk to him. The latter was exactly what she planned on doing.

Amelie knew she shouldn’t have been feeling anything other than fear, but this was what she had come to Boston for. A fresh start and a killer story. All she could feel was the adrenaline coursing through her veins, her senses coming alive. It didn’t matter that she was tailing an accomplished hitman. She was damn good at her job. She could do this.

When she got close enough, she tapped on his shoulder, “Hi! I’m a reporter from the Globe’s sports section and we’re conducting a survey to see who’s watching the game tonight and where. Mind if I ask you a couple questions?”

He turned around, brows furrowed, and eyes narrowed as if surprised to have been spotted in the first place.

“No,” He answered gruffly, striding off.

Amelie hurried after him, “Technically no means you don’t mind!”

He kept walking.

“Please,” She begged, “I’m never going to be taken seriously if I can’t even get this silly task done. I, like, really, really, really want to be promoted to fashion. I’m sooo done with sports. Please, can you just answer this one tiny little question for me?”

He sighed, but thankfully stopped, “If you want to be taken seriously then lose the ditsy attitude.”

Rude.

“I’m asking you a question, not asking you to act like an as-” She cut herself off, cursing the slip in her act. She was better than that.

“That’s better,” He smirked, “You get one question.”

Amelie couldn’t roll her eyes at him, no matter how much she wanted to. The last thing she needed was an attitude that drew attention to herself or flagged her as threatening or even suspicious. He had asked her to drop the ditsy attitude, but that was the last thing she intended on doing. A cheery woman, somehow stuck doing an article for the sports section was exactly who she would be because that was the woman her hitman wouldn’t have a second thought about after they parted ways.

“If you’re watching the game tonight, are you watching at the Garden, at a bar, or at home?”

His face was the perfect image of boredom. Amelie couldn’t help but wonder if he practiced it in the mirror every morning.

“I see why you don’t want to keep asking these questions.”

“I’m glad you agree,” She answered dryly, unable to help herself.

He kept his blue eyes solely on her, which meant he wasn’t looking out for someone else. He obviously didn’t want to be here answering questions - the way he kept all his weight on his toes made Amelie think he was going to take off at any second - but he didn’t appear to be in a rush to get somewhere else either. Whoever his target was, he or she wasn’t here. Either that meant that her hitman had been fed false information or he was scouting a location rather than looking for a person in particular. Amelie had to bet on the former. It wasn’t much of a clue, but it was something.

“Let me guess,” She returned to the perky act, hoping she could get a solid answer out of him this time, “You seem like the kind of guy who would go to a bar to watch the game.”

He narrowed his eyes and her stomached knotted. This wasn’t how she wanted him to be looking at her. Amelie leaned even further into the act, widening her smile. She couldn’t slip up when she was so close to an answer.

He sighed. If he had been suspicious, he had quickly dismissed her as a threat, “Is that your way of trying to prove your journalistic instincts?”

“Is that your way of evading the question?” She countered.

“Maybe,” He smirked, a dangerous quirk of his mouth that sent her pulse racing, “How about you?”

“Maybe.”

Amelie held that piercing blue gaze, refusing to be the one to back down first. Arching a brow in a silent challenge, she waited with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Yes,” He conceded, “I’ll be watching in a bar tonight.”

She let out a sigh of relief, “Thank you! See, was that so hard?”

He snorted and walked off without another word.

“Have a nice day!” He called after him with fake chipper, muttering asshole beneath her breath.

Barnes didn’t turn around - not that she expected him to - and she watched him go until he was out of sigh. Hopefully, she was already out of his mind.

The game didn’t start for another couple hours, which gave her time to figure out which bars were playing the game tonight. Amelie had been disappointed when he hadn’t said he’d be watching the game at the Garden. A stadium was a hell of a lot easier to canvas than all the bars in Boston. She couldn’t even be certain that he was telling the truth - odds were that he wasn’t. Fortunately, Amelie’s gut feeling told her the opposite. Rude hitman didn’t necessarily mean liar.

Another sigh escaped her lips, the adrenaline wearing off. It had been risky giving herself away, but she banked on the fact that not many people, especially someone to small compared to him, would knowingly approach a wanted hitman. She had incorporated as much truth into her lie to make it as credible as possible and just had to hope that he wouldn’t check up on her.

The thought should have scared her, but it didn’t. Barnes was nothing like the articles described him as, and quite frankly, the only adjectives she would have used to described him were grumpy and rude. The man she’d just met was nothing like the terror described in the other articles. She didn’t know if her reaction made her stupid or brave. Maybe it was neither considering that no-one else had actually gotten close to him.

Not wanting to tail him all afternoon and most likely alert him to her presence, she decided to go home and get some more research done. It wasn’t going to be easy trying to find him tonight, but Amelie had always considered herself as someone who was lucky. She could get Barnes, but she was also going to need a little luck on her side tonight.

* * * * *

Amelie had tried five different bars before finally finding him in a pub known for its connection with the Irish Mob. Her feet were sore, someone had spilt a drink on her lap at bar number two when the Celtics had scored, and it had taken an extra fifty just to convince the bouncer to let her in, but it was worth it.

She’d found him.

Finally.

The whole process of trying to find him had taken up so much of her energy that she’d forgotten to actually plan what she wanted to do when he found him. Not wanting to do something stupid, she did nothing. She’d somehow found a seat at the bar, despite the packed Friday night crowd, close enough so that she could see him but far enough away not to attract any unwanted attention. The pub was just as noisy as every other place she’d been at, drunken cheers and insults being shouted at the televisions sporadically. Amelie ordered another beer, still not sure what to do. Without a gut feeling to tell her what to do, she sipped away, keeping tabs on him from time to time. That was, until he wasn’t there anymore.

Cursing herself for being so sloppy, she downed the beer and pushed off the seat, only to run into a broad chest in a red henley and a dark leather jacket. She didn’t have to tilt her head back to know she was face to face - face to chest? - with the exact mad she was looking for. His narrowed eyes probably meant that their running into each other wasn’t accidental or a good thing.

She smiled.

He dipped his head, breath hot on her ear when he growled, “Sit down.”

Her eyes widened in the nonexistent fear she should have felt and followed his order while he slid into the free seat on her right. Barnes ordered a drink, not saying anything as they waited for the barman to come back with his beer. He probably hoped to ramp up her supposed fear by letting her stew, but it only succeeded in giving her time to think of a way out without killing her chance at getting this story. She had to give him credit though. She figured most people would have been afraid. But he had no idea that she wasn’t most people.

“Who are you?” He demanded after the bartender had moved on.

“Oh! Right! You didn’t get my name earlier. I promise I’m not stalking you or anything, it’s purely personal,” Amelie could tell the sweetness in her voice had thrown him off guard, so she continued, laying it on even thicker, “It’s not every day I get to interview someone so… handsome, you know. I just thought that if I can into you tonight then-”

“Who are you?” He repeated, cutting her off with a cold look.

Obviously, manners weren’t his thing.

She forced a giggle even if it was getting harder to keep up the charade. What she wanted to do was shake him and tell him that manners were for everyone, including international hitmen, but she looked away for a second as if embarrassed.

She extended her hand, “Amelie Novak.”

He looked at it as though it might bite him, but he summoned all of his dangerous, brooding bravery and took it, “I wasn’t expecting such a firm grip.”

She shot him a pointed look, filling in the unspoken words, “From someone so ditzy?”

Amelie couldn’t help it. His condescending attitude made it impossible not to want to answer in the same tone. She needed to get her act together. Now. In the last five years, she had never broken character on the job, and now, she had twice in the same day. She reminded herself what was on the line if she slipped up and shot him another smile.

He let out something that might have been a laugh, if hitmen did indeed laugh. Judging by the looks of him, it wasn’t something he did all that often. At least no in from of other people. Or ever.

He stood, “I’m flattered by your…interest, but I have to go. If you’re lucky, some overgrown frat boy will come in a take my place. Seems more your type anyway, sweetheart.”

Amelie smiled through gritted teeth, holding it in place until he was no longer looking at her.

“I tried that,” She muttered when he was too far to hear, thinking of Brian, “Didn’t work out.”

Ordering another drink, she followed him out with her eyes, waiting to see what he would do next. After having seen her twice in the same day, she couldn’t tail him. There was nothing left for her to do. Or at least, that’s what she thought before realizing that he was following someone else out of the bar; someone Amelie very much recognized. And if that man was her hitman’s target, then all she had to do was find that man’s dirty little secrets. Fast.

She pulled out her phone. There was only one person she could count on to get the kind of information she needed and who could get it to her before the night was over.

* * * * *

“What do you got for me?” Amelie perched on the corner of Detective Sam Wilson’s desk and flicked the Paul Pierce bobble head.

He barely spared her a glance, focused on the document on his computer screen, “Nice to see you too, Novak.”

She sighed, “Come on, Wilson, you know I’m not one for pleasantries.”

“You were when we first met,” He pointed out, typing away.

“That was when I thought I could get something from you that way,” She grinned, “Turns out you were a lot less gullible than I thought.”

He pushed back from his desk, chair rolling far enough that he could extend his legs, “I should’ve encouraged manners. A simple how are you would have been nice.”

“Fine, fine,” She rolled her eyes, “How are you, Wilson? How was your day?”

“I’m fine, Novak,” He smirked, “How are you?”

“Hoping to be better once I hear what you’ve got.”

He crossed his arms, “What made you start looking into this guy anyways?”

There was no need to tell him that she’d just gone toe to toe with an international hitman, so she simply said, “I got a hunch.”

He raised a brow, “A hunch, huh?”

“Yeah,” She nodded, knowing he was too good a cop for her to risk lying even more to him, “A hunch.”

“You should have been a detective, Novak,” He chuckled, “I think you missed your calling.”

She laughed, “I never could have passed those physical tests. But I’m assuming that you found something if you’re telling me this?”

He nodded, eyes bright.

She leaned forward, “What is it?”

“Oh, you know, police business.”

She nodded, “Of course, police business.”

“I’m going to the bathroom. My computer’s been having trouble lately and won’t seem to shut off,” He winked, standing, “You’ll be gone when I’m back.”

“Yup.”

He put a hand on her shoulder, “Sorry I couldn’t be of more help, Novak.”

“No problem, Wilson, I understand,” She grinned and whispered, “Thank you. I owe you. Next time I’ll come bearing coffee.”

He pulled back, “It better be one of those fancy coffees.”

“Obviously,” She hopped off his desk, watching him leave.

“With cinnamon,” He called over his shoulder.

Amelie bounced onto Sam’s chair and stared at the document he’d left open. Her excitement built as the words for her article began to string themselves together in her mind.

* * * * *

The article had gone viral. Hers. Amelie Novak’s. Cary, after having cursed her out for banging on his home door at midnight, actually smiled after reading it. It had managed to get enough press that even her friends in New York had heard about it. Thinking about it still made her giddy, even days later. God, she loved her job.

The man, a corrupt CEO working with the Irish Mob, had been placed in protective custody, despite his white-collar crimes. Putting him in jail was too dangerous, a prison too flimsy for a good hitman.

Amelie probably should have felt better about having saved a life, but it was hard to feel proud when the made she’d save was a grade A scumbag. Among other crimes, he’d stolen from hundreds of families in the area and hurt so many other people through his connections with the Mob and those were only the crimes Wilson had been able to dig up overnight. Since then, other crimes had surfaced and all her articles since then had been recaps of the cops’ investigation.

Fumbling with her keys, her grip slipped on her grocery bags and she scrambled to get into her apartment without dropping anything. The place was dark, the late evening light gone long before she had left the office and the city lights barely poking thought the cracks between the adjacent buildings.

The light switch was too high to reach with the weight of the five-pound sack of potatoes in one hand and the jug of milk in the other, so she wandered blindly into the kitchen of her new studio apartment.

“I’d have to say, I’m impressed.”

Amelie shrieked, almost dropping the bags again. Her heart pounding her chest as if it was begging her to leave, but she didn’t move or turn on the lights. She didn’t need to. Amelie recognized the voice.

Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, professional hitman, the Winter Soldier himself, was in her kitchen, and he was most definitely trespassing.

#bucky #Bucky Barnes #james buchanan barnes #bucky fanfic #bucky fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #fan fiction #fanfic #bucky barnes x ofc

13 notes · View notes

blooming5th · 4 years

Photo

AIZEN SŌSUKE & HINAMORI’S BLIND DEVOTION.

*AHEM* Now this is something that I’ve been wanting to write for the longest time ~ I have discussed it with a few of my friends & I think the time has come for my thoughts to be heard & thus... sort-of announced? I don’t want Hinamori to be a blunt side character... I don’t personally enjoy that people look at her as if she’s just “Aizen’s subordinate” as even she says... so it’s about time I make a few things clear!! The actual headcanon can be found under the cut because it’s going to be pretty long... but hopefully, it’ll be something you guys can also enjoy!

( You can scroll this post all the way to the end & read the long story short LMAO )

Without further delay... I have to say that I believe Hinamori’s devotion actually has a name:

KYŌKA SUIGETSU.

Gasp. Super shocking, right? Uh... no. Not really, if you think about it.

Information on Kyōka Suigetsu: this zanpakuto’s most fearsome power is known as Kanzen Saimin ( 完全催眠, which directly translates to "Complete Hypnosis" ). & according to Aizen: “It can control all five senses and lead people to hallucinate all sorts of things.”

So now I have to ask you something that Aizen, himself, asked during the battle in Kurakura: “When did you think that I wasn’t using my Kyōka Suigetsu?”.

This cursed man holds more power on his pinky finger alone than most Shinigami do in their entire body, people. Let’s not forget this fact, alright? Therefore... a Bankai is quite literally nothing when compared to the totality of the strength he holds. It doesn’t even reach a solid 1/10 of his actual force, so... seriously... just what makes us think he wasn’t using Kyōka Suigetsu through the entire time he spent as Captain of the fifth division? Leading people on is what Aizen does best. He would have no problems deceiving people to get exactly where he wanted to... & we have that established since day one.

Scene between RANGIKU, IZURU & MOMO, in the new Bleach Brave Souls “Thin Ice: Prelude To Pandemonium” event.

Momo: By the way, have you seen Captain Aizen, Rangiku? Rangiku: No, did something happen? Momo: I haven't seen him all morning. Rangiku: I see. I haven't seen him either. Captain Aizen seems like a busy person, so maybe he's off doing something. He gathered us all and showed us his Shikai the other day. Maybe he's preparing something like that again. Momo: I hope so. Still, I'm a little worried. Izuru: Our Captain has been out all morning, too. Maybe they're dealing with some sort of emergency.

This scene happens a few days before Ichigo & the gang’s arrival to the Soul Society... so it means that he made a ceremony ( YES, AN ACTUAL FREAKING CEREMONY !! ) just so every member of the Gotei 13 could see his Shikai’s form. The man got out of his way to make his plan absolutely perfect by throwing a “haha party time !! now look at my Shikai !! haha now let’s have fun everyone !!” just so they could later be deceived by the performance of his goddamn Bankai. Are you KIDDING me?! ps: Note how Kira also comments Gin was missing? LOL @ those two. y’all acting weird and we been knew.

Now the question: How does all this relate to Hinamori’s devotion towards Aizen?

Pretty easy, really... Hinamori just happens to be a poor soul that is at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

In my honest point of view, I believe she has seen Aizen’s Shikai before anyone else has. Why? Well duh... because she’s his Lieutenant? He needs her to be perfectly faithful to him ( AND HIM ALONE... ), to never doubt the reason why he’s not there or why he disappears without warning. He needs her to believe his lies and to be unable to see through the painfully blunt truth that is standing right before her eyes. This is why I believe Hinamori’s utter devotion towards Aizen comes directly from Kyōka Suigetsu‘s Complete Hypnosis.

Hinamori is quite enthusiastic, free and outgoing throughout the series... but whenever the matter was Aizen, her personality seemed to take a 180º turn and she would go from cute and friendly to defensive and willing to take risks. An example?

Soul Society Arc: Hinamori jumps in and mercilessly attacks Tōshirō because of a goddamn letter that points him to be Aizen’s killer. Thousand-Year Blood War Arc: Hinamori’s almost crying while asking Shinji if there really had been a reason for them to kill a Quincy enemy.

See the difference? Yeah... I know I do.

I believe the Complete Hypnosis power Aizen held over Hinamori slowly started to fade away as time went by and he was no longer in contact with her. It goes unsaid that everything goes to waste with the Kurakura battle... but there’s a difference between focusing your Bankai’s hallucination effects into a single person ( like I believe he did with Momo during most of the time he was her Captain ) and focusing them on many targets at once ( exactly like what happened during the everyone vs Aizen battle ).

LONG STORY SHORT: Aizen’s a bad guy who showed off his Shikai so he could use his Bankai on everyone. But before doing that, he used it on Hinamori as soon as she became his lieutenant, which immediately granted him her blind devotion and turned her into his precious, little, discardable subordinate. Once he escaped to Hueco Mundo, the effects started to wear off of her, but were still present, which is why she asks Tōshirō to save him. When they meet again in Kurakura, he uses the Complete Hypnosis of his Bankai again, but it’s so he can make EVERYONE hallucinate and not just Hinamori, which makes the effects a lot easier on her. When she wakes up - and considering Aizen is stuck in the Muken -, Kyōka Suigetsu’s powers are completely null, which allows Hinamori to be her own self again.

#🌺 ✖ ✖ 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕫𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 — ♡ headcanons //#( THIS GOT WAY TOO LONG I AM LAUGHING SO HARD #LISTEN .........#I LOVE AIZEN SO MUCH........ HE'S SUCH A GREAT POWERFUL VILLAIN #LOWKEY ONE OF THE REASONS WHY I LOVE WRITING MOMO IS BECAUSE I GET TO FEEL THIS CLOSURE LIKE #*whispers* he could stab me anytime and I would thank him tbh #ANYWAY #enjoy my 1k words headcanon LMAO )

15 notes · View notes

miracleforestfruits · 4 years

Text

There is so much disgusting bullshit, logical inconsistencies and out of character behaviour in Narita’s Bleach novel Can't Fear Your Own World. It’s obvious that he wrote it to cover for some of plot holes, many of which were left by Kubo in the original manga, but instead he added even more idiocy and couldn’t explain anything. His ‘ideas’ seem straight out of retarded fan fantasies about overpowered characters and ridiculous plot development that doesn’t make any sense. There are some moments in his shitty work which directly contradict already lousy manga’s plot. He also gave some unimportant or new characters retardedly strong abilities which don’t fit into overall power balance of the manga. Overall this talentless moron just made Bleach look even worse, though it seemed impossible after the trainwreck ending. This novel is nothing more than a waste of paper, it’s on the level of the most distorted fanfiction and shouldn’t be considered anything more than this. Below you can see examples of such idiotic inconsistencies and contradictions from his shoddy trash.

Firstly, he completely twisted and grossly misrepresented Quincy characters. A random maid from Silbern that appeared literally in one chapter of manga suddenly turned out to possess a great skills and be on par with the main Sternritters. Making insignificant characters into mary sues is one of the general problems of this novel. Narita gives too much attention to Liltotto and Giselle in the novel clearly because they are popular even among Gotei fans. He simply rides on cheap popularity, while these two are actually secondary characters and didn’t show anything special in the manga. They should have been dead, but he revived them due to illogical bullshit to attract more wankers. They couldn’t survive Auswahlen and keep their Quincy powers. Auswahlen takes away Quincy powers in the first place with the part of Yhwach’s soul. Also Yhwach would have immediately felt that their souls didn’t come to him. It’s impossible to fake through. It’s also stupid that Narita constantly repeats who is who among the Quincy, because he apparently understands that retarded Gotei fans don’t remember Sternritters.

There are many retarded plot moments and mary sueish powers for the newly created and old manga characters equally. Suddenly, some secondary characters turned out to possess Soul King particles in them, even though they must be extremely rare like Mimihagi in Ukitake. Fullbringers were ordinary people in their own arc in the manga and their abilities originated from the Hollows’ power. So by making them somehow connected to the Soul King Narita severely retcons manga material. There can’t be so many Soul King’s parts freely roaming around, and Fullbringers can’t be so freaking special after they lost to Shinigamis.

The biggest mary sue among the Fullbringers was of course Aura. Narita overpowered her so much that she was stated to be on the level of Aizen, which sounds like a bad joke. And she is still some secondary filler character from the non-canon novel. Narita’s urge to make everyone into demi god seems to originate from his inability to create something really interesting and original, so he just buffs up random nobodies. Aura's reiatsu is said to be of the highest degree as well, she could fight evenly with Urahara and single-handedly defeat several Sternritters. While she was still just a human, that’s so much bullshit. Moreover, she could freely manipulate any matter, though it’s primarily Quincy technique and a human woman shouldn’t be better than them at it. She was also a leader of the cult and a host of the Soul King’s chain of fate - just how much more retardedly overpowered qualities could fit into one character? This shit can’t be taken seriously.

Narita stated that Yhwach actually didn’t want to rule the world, he wanted to merge the worlds and revert the world to its original state. While a new 'prophesied king’ in the novel instead wants to rule over the three current worlds. But in the manga it was already shown that Yhwach became the new king over the world and even created the new castle in the Soul King’s dimension. And the worlds didn’t even start merging, only Earth was shaking for some time after that. Also Narita added an explanation that the world of the living will be alright only until the Soul King stays on the throne. But that’s a straight up lie to cover up for Kubo’s bullshit which he came up with in the last moment. Yhwach overthrew the Soul King and took his place. But the world was still standing and even the balance didn’t crumble. Moreover it was implied in the manga that the world existed even before the Soul King. So, we actually saw that the world of the living won’t be destroyed with the death of the Soul King.

Narita also mentioned that it’s not clear whether Yhwach is relative of the Soul King or not. But that means they didn’t even discuss this with Kubo. And since even this very important moment is still unclear, it most likely suggests that they haven’t discussed anything at all concerning the novel. So it’s highly likely that Kubo wasn’t involved with the writing of this novel which again makes it non-canon. He probably only came up with new bankais and made illustrations.

Narita also borrowed some ideas from the anime filler arcs and sometimes he just retells old manga events and outright quotes it, because apparently he couldn’t come up with anything really new and original. And filler arcs for the most part are complete nonsense, they were made for simple fanservice for the fans of Gotei. Thus another reason to not consider this shitty novel a canon if it’s based on the non-canon material from the fillers in the first place. For example, Narita mentioned that each noble family has a Zanpakuto that can be inherited and one of them is Muramasa. But how can Zanpakuto be inherited if the previous owner has already awaken its shikai and bankai? It was specifically stated in manga that only asauchi without shikai can be stolen or passed to another owner.

Narita obviously tried to make his filler characters more special and strong by tying them to already existing Espada and Sternritters. According to him Hikone was unable to speak or move until Tokinada gave him Gremmy’s brain. That’s completely ridiculous, a pathetic attempt to add more false importance to the new character. Moreover Narita implied that Gremmy didn’t really want to fight against Kenpachi, that’s why he lost. Apparently that was another attempt to cover over Kubo’s fail explaining why Gremmy lost with such huge advantage and didn’t properly utilized his powers. But it’s not true and just another retcon, because in the manga Gremmy didn’t really show any intention to give up and wanted to win. And Kenpachi killed a child, this new development with his brain wouldn’t change the fact and make him look any better. Well, at least Narita didn’t kill a child in his novel unlike that cruel asshole Kubo, that’s something I guess. Also Hikone was made of ten thousands Shinigamis, humans and Quincy Konpaku. That’s a pure nonsense because to make artificial Quincy souls you’d still need a part of Yhwach’s soul which they obviously lacked.

Narita doesn’t remember some important details from the manga, like the fact that Arrancars don’t need to hunt souls anymore, because they’ve already evolved. In the novel it’s stated that Grimmjow continued to chase after Hollows, which is another contradiction. Later Narita even added that Arrancars were eating some lizard in Hueco Mundo, which is complete nonsense, they don’t need to eat. He also forced some popular characters like Grimmjow to encourage Ichihime ship, clearly to promote this shit among the fans, who didn’t welcome it after the ending. Speaking of Grimmjow, Narita and Kubo forced him to follow Gotei’s orders which is an outrageous OOC. Real Grimmjow didn’t obey anyone, even Aizen, and wouldn’t be asking a permission from Urahara to kill Ichigo. He would never help Gotei against Tokinada. Narita added him to the novel only to attract his numerous fans.

There is a case of Kyoraku’s hypocrisy when he reproached Tokinada for using a child and making Hikone work for him. That’s laughable because they forced Ichigo to do all their dirty work and every Shinigami was okay with it. Nell also acts like a hypocrite since she only cares about Ichigo and doesn’t give a shit about Gotei’s atrocities against Arrancars. Even though it was said earlier in the novel that Gotei didn’t attack them only because the balance of worlds has been shaken. It means they are still not friends at all and ready to assault Arrancars any minute. If this disgusting hoe doesn’t care about it she is not worthy to rule Hueko Mundo, she would just give it up to Shinigamis. Narita created this fake and pretentious alliance between the former enemies only to make an illusion of peace and to distract idiotic Gotei fans from Shinigami’s evil deeds. Of course this phoney union wouldn’t be enough to forget Gotei crimes and sweep them under the rug.

There was a facepalm inducing explanation regarding Hikone’s Zanpakuto. Again, Narita tried to raise powerleves ridiculously high, after this even main manga characters look weak compared to his new mary sues. Apparently there was some Vasto Lorde that ascended to the sky by devouring the Soul King, but then Ichibee defeated him. What the actual fuck? Maybe there is some inaccuracy in the English translation, but even an attempt to devour the Soul King sounds absurd for some random Vasto Lorde. And if he did it, how could he lose to the Zero Squad? He must be stronger than them. So, this absurdly strong Vasto Lorde was sealed in Hikone’s Zanpakuto by Nimaya. Which is a contradiction too, because Zanpakuto were made from Shinigamis’ souls and not from Hollows. Nevertheless, Kenpachi was able to one shot him. Powerlevels are all over the place if Narita didn’t want to imply that Kenpachi is stronger than the Soul King now. Or he just doesn’t follow his own bullshit. Moreover, that Zanpakuto absorbed a piece of the Soul King from Hikone and remembered its true name just before he was defeated. Logically he should have evolved instead. But Narita just like Kubo makes Shinigamis stronger for no reason and without any explanation even if the enemy before them is literally on the level of the Soul King.

By the way there was a notion that Shinigamis were impotent in the reishi-enriched Soul Society and couldn’t do anything to that overpowered Hollow which spread its influence over it. Meaning Soul Society didn’t belong to them originally and they didn’t even have Zanpakutos at that time, but Nimaya managed to seal him in a sword anyway. There were already hints in the manga that Shinigamis are impostors in Soul Society and can’t control anything in it without Zanpakutos while Quincy have natural skills for reishi manipulation, so I guess Narita confirmed it. All in all, Narita twisted the process of Zanpakuto creation to make another stupidly strong character. And Nimaya shouldn’t even posses the technique and skills to create Zanpakuto at that time if no one in Gotei had them. But even then it was made pretty clear that Ichibee and Nimaya are evil. It’s disgusting how they were almost gloating that they could seal so many souls in the sword.

Another hypocritical whitewashing of Shingami’s villainy was when Ikkaku and Yumichika told Giselle that they wouldn’t attack from the back because ‘they are not like Sternritters’. But later in the novel it’s mentioned that Shunsui would attack from behind if there is a chance. It just shows the overall level of Narita’s shitty writing, he contradicts not only manga, but his own text. Also Ikkaku stabbed Yukio in the back in the Fullbring arc. Narita’s hypocrisy and attempt to present Shinigamis in a good light must be intended for retarded Gotei fans who don’t even remember manga events. Also Narita shamelessly tried to make Hisagi look like some sort of knight when he said that he can’t kill Hikone because as a Shinigami and a warrior he has an honour. That’s a repulsive bullshit because it’s usual for Shinigamis to literally kill thousands of souls for the balance, not even talking about their war with Quincy and the old genocide. Also it was mentioned earlier in the novel that Shinigamis are willing to kill people if it’s necessary to protect Soul Society. So, the defence of Soul Society comes first for them, it’s more important than human lives and Narita even admitted it himself.

Narita made his share of asspulls. It was said in the novel that Kenpachi had never practiced Shunpo before, nor had he considered solidifying reishi underneath his foot because it was too confusing for him. But somehow he suddenly could manage to remain standing in mid-air. Narita doesn’t even give an explanation how is this possible, Kenpachi just conveniently does it when he needs it. Shinigamis can evoke any ability if they need it for the win. But even if Kenpachi for no reason learned how to stand in the air, he still can’t use Shunpo properly while Hikone utilised all known speed techniques. Zaraki shouldn’t be able to catch him anyway, that’s another illogical asspull and shitty writing.

Concerning Tokinada, Narita made another primitive villain out of him with stupidly strong power. His ability isn’t even original, like everything in this novel. Kageroza from filler arc also could copy abilities from Shinigami’s Zanpakuto. And Tokinada’s shikai has the power to mimic any Zanpakuto abilities that he has witnessed, even several powers at once. But even with such huge and absurd power Tokinada couldn’t defeat a single captain. Again, retarded powerlevels and nonsensical Shinigamis’ victories.

Tokinada was also chosen as a scapegoat for Gotei’s atrocities. Everything was blamed on him and his noble family even though his clan was created only for the novel and never mentioned before. All other noble families have dirty hands, but Tokinada was specifically made the main villain so brainless fans would forget what other Shinigamis did. For example Byakuya wanted to execute his sister for breaking some superfluous Gotei law, but everyone seems to sweep it away. But Tokinada was excessively put in a bad light like he is responsible for every shit that Gotei did. Narita made Tokinada’s noble clan the main villains, but in the manga Seiretei nobles weren’t even so important. They were rich spongers which gave orders to Gotei and thought they have everything under control until Aizen killed them all. But they weren’t involved with the Soul King. The true villains have been always Zero Squad members who knew the truth about the Soul King and were responsible for him. So Narita just shifted responsibility to a newly created character and his clan even though it was never mention that nobles could even have such authority.

What was the most infuriating, Narita even put all the blame for the spying on Ginjou and murdering of his friends on Tokinada too. But originally in the manga Ukitake was responsible for it. That’s a disgusting retcon when Narita is again shamelessly trying to present Shinigamis in a better light and want readers to ignore their crimes. He impertinently shifts the blame on Tokinada even though he didn’t even existed when Kubo was writing Fullbringers arc. Apparently they wanted to clear Ukitake’s reputation since he got killed in the end. Overall Tokinada seems like a character that was created only to bear all sins of Soul Society and specific Shinigami to divert attention from their cruelty and villainies. That’s a rewriting of history in favour of the popular characters.

Soul King is said to be neither alive no dead in the novel, which is a direct contradiction to the manga where he was obviously alive if he died when Ichigo stabbed him. It was important to emphasize that the Soul King would be alive, otherwise Kubo wouldn’t make such a big deal out of it. Besides he even invited Ichigo to talk in the beginning of the TYBW arc, though Kubo changed the plot later and forgot about it. Also in the novel Soul King was called the original guardian and the progenitor of Quincy, Shinigamis and Fullbringers. And at that time apparently there were no boundaries separating life and death. This statement is so contradictory and wrong, it shows that Narita doesn’t even understand what he is writing about. Narita himself came up with the bullshit that the worlds would merge without the Soul King, but here he suddenly presents a universe where the Soul King is alive while the worlds are merged already. How does it even work in his opinion? The worlds would merge without the SK, but they are also merged with him in this version. There is no logic at all. And in the manga it was said that the Soul King was created at some point by Shinigamis, so how could he be some omnipotent being before they made him into a Soul King? Sounds like another ridiculous nonsense which Narita added just to make even the Soul King himself more special for his mary sue festival.

Not to mention that Narita didn’t miss a chance to make Fullbringers seem more important again, even though they were weak normal humans with Hollow powers originally and not descendants of the freaking Soul King. Also if Soul King was partly a Fullbringer, it implies that there were Hollows already at that time. But that’s impossible since they would have eaten all souls while Shinigamis still didn’t have Zanpakutos. And obviously Fullbringers would appear later than Hollows, because the Hollows infected their parents initially. Narita pulled that Soul King origins history right out of his ass.

There are minor contradictions with the manga in the details here and there. In the final manga chapters it is said that there have been 10 years of piece already. But Tokinada was a huge threat that appeared in the same period of time. Ichibee decided to tell the story of the Soul King to some random mob soldiers. Why would he share such important information on a whim with simple servants? That’s so stupid, in the manga Soul King’s servants were blindfolded, because they are not even allowed to see him apparently. And Shutara’s servants were some kind of marionettes. Of course no one from Zero Squad would tell servants such secrets. Another detail, Tousen and his friend had Zanpakutos with identical names according to the novel, and even had a similar release commands. That shows Narita’s lack of imagination and plain copying from the manga.

Of course Shinigamis were given easy victory with the power of asspulls in the novel. Thus Hisagi easily persuaded Hikone to not fight just with the famous talk no jutsu technique. Even though earlier in the novel Hikone said that he will gladly die for Tokinada and was ready to cut down their enemies as long as it fulfilled Tokinada's goals. It was also mentioned that Hikone sees him as father. Liltotto even admit that Hikone is a fanatic for Tokinada. He was a loyal servant and wouldn’t disobey orders just because his enemy is babbling something. He had his own will, but still he was created to serve Tokinada. Furthermore he suddenly got attached to Aura and had feelings for her out of nowhere, while she betrayed Tokinada. Logically he should have killed her for it. It’s such unrealistic and mawkish cliche that Hikone started to see her as a mother. He isn’t even a real child and just an artificially created homunculus. Typically, Narita wanted to divide enemies of Shinigamis, because if they stood united, Shinigamis wouldn’t have won. So I guess this sudden attachment to Aura was also made to push Hikone away from Tokinada.

Tokinada was also conveniently weakened when his Zanpakuto absorbed part of his powers. Another plot trick to make him lose. Narita created an absurdly overpowered Zanpakuto for him, as was mentioned already. But even when he stole Aizen and Yamamoto powers, he still could kill a single Shinigami, what a load of bullshit. Is Narita trying to say that even their powers are not enough to kill off a single mary sue from his novel? Well, Tokinada’s Zanpakuto can’t have such huge power in the first place since it’s just a clan relic and not some special craft from Nimaya. But Narita already gave him such sword and then couldn’t allow him to win with it, thus that forced weakness with taking away part of his power.

Hisagi was also given farcically powerful Zanpakuto, it ruins all powerelevels from the manga when a secondary mob suddenly gets an ability stronger and more complicated than some of the main characters. Hisagi was always more of a comic relief character and never demonstrated any major achievements in battle. He was a lieutenant, not even a captain. But Narita raised him to ludicrously high levels of power only because he’s the main character in his retarded novel. It’s inconsistent and plain stupid. Even his shikai was retconned and now can heal his wounds. While his asspull bankai traps his enemy in a sphere where they both are healed and can’t die, creating a condition resembling the world before the Soul King with no boundaries between life and death. Meaning his Zanpakuto must be more ancient than Yamamoto and somehow connected to the Soul King, but it’s impossible for a simple Shinigami soldier from Rukongai.

In the end Narita even added an overly sentimental shoujo banality when Aura suddenly awakened a feelings for Hikone and her maternal instinct appeared out of nowhere. Everything in this shitty novel happens suddenly and contradicts previously established characters and events, that’s the level of Narita’s writing. Aura was indifferent to everything before, but abruptly changed her mind in the decisive battle and betrayed Tokinada. That was obviously made to weaken Tokinada even more and deprive him of his allies. Otherwise Gotei wouldn’t have won, as always they need a convenient plot trick for the victory. Also that maternity and childbirth propaganda went off the charts in the end. Aura never was interested in anything like this before, it’s OOC for her. Seems like Narita got a pay-check from Abe to promote a ‘happiness’ of having children to the Japanese readers.

Even though Gotei won again with asspulls and plot shields of course, their system remained the same, encouraging Shinigamis’ crimes. Despite all Narita attempts to make them into even bigger mary sues and to put Shinigamis in a good light and hush up their atrocities, they will continue to be authoritarian assholes and live in fear. Thus Yoruichi showed her true colors as a member of noble family and was ready to kill Hisagi, because he continued to search information about the Soul King. There are other nobles who want to hide the truth even with murdering Hisagi too. This novel didn’t bring anything new to the Bleach plot, it just reused old materials and created anecdotic and improbable powers for the new filler OCs from Narita. He couldn’t even convincingly cover for Kubo plot holes and failures. On the contrary, his novel became another failure and can’t be considered canon with so many unreasonable contradictions. Narita should have died from cancer in hospital, so that readers would be saved from this abhorrent novel.

#bleach #cfyow #bleach novel #tokinada tsunayashiro #hikone ubuginu

13 notes · View notes

tokusashi · 5 years

Text

For real

invincibleHello guys, please her me out.

(My english is kinda bad but I’m trying my best. Also I DON’T WANT TO OFFEND ANYONE, if some words were poorly used then I’m sorry. But please, let me know)

Lately, reading posts about bnha spoilers, I’ve noticed that people are making a little mistake. I’m talking about blaming OP as the main source of the anime/manga falldown. At least- shounen m/a.

Well, let me say this- not really.

As examples, I’ll use three titles, “Fairy Tail”, “Bleach” and “Naruto”.

So, let’s start with the first one, shall we?

(about the Boku no hero Academia I’ll write at the end)

1. FAIRY TAIL - Hiro Mashima, creator of the FT had once said, that he’s not good with creating a big plots. And we could see that. When stories were short, it was funny, clever even and nice to read and watch. But when the whole Zeref problem was on the picture and whole DRAMA? Wellll...

Biggest problems of FT were:

a) many, many characters that meant nothing

- Fairy Tail is an title with so many characters, that people can’t remember half of their names, but not only because of their number, but because of their lack of existence. Yeah, sure, they are there, but they don’t do ANYTHING important, mainly just waiting for the main hero (or his crew) to rescue them.

They’re just there for to be there and this is really not good. You know that Lisanna won’t do a thing, she’s just there for being pretty. You know that Evergreen won’t be a hero of the day, because there will be bigger shark, like Laxus or Natsu, to bite the enemy.

Even Levy was supposed to be the intelligent one, but in the end she was just a plot device as a damsel in distress and Gajeel’s lover.

b) main character without character development

- Natsu. Just... Natsu. He haven’t changed ALMOST at all. (I’m not saying completly). Through the whole series, he always was just a loud idiot who liked to fight with strong oponnents and with those who have hurted his friends. I mean, it had it’s charm, but it was leading to nowhere. A breakthrough moment for him was the one, when Gildarts taught him, that he won’t always win. But we never ever see it again. Yeah, was this one time when he decided to leave Sebertooth members alone to be sure that Happy’s ok, but it wasn’t situation about win or lose. Natsu, all alone, was interesting with his problem about dragon and demon seed in him buuut... It get only worse.

c) almost lack of any training of the characters, they were always stronger because plot demanded it

- Like when they were with Spirits in Spirit world, and then learned that “Oh sh*t, we lost our all time for training”, and there was DEUS EX MACHINA, Ultear with “Sure, I can make it up guys”. And BAM! Done! Now we have super powered fairy tail members!

And it was just ugh. Like, no training arc or anything. Yeah, sure, when they were fightiung they were learning and “gaining lvl”, but not drastically.

And then we had power up “because”.

And then time-skip to explain why everyone are super powerfull right now.

And that’s kinda meh.

d) every villain who had tits was on list “to forgive everything what she had done”

- Do I have to even explain it? Like Minerva. the biggest sadistic jerk of the females in Fairy Tail, who tortured Lucy, had FUN with it and so on. Buuuut why won’t we turn her into and lovely sheep and adopt her, because of her bewbs.

And sad story written on an knee.

e) lack of consequences around choices that main heores have made

- Again, Natsu. People were kinda worried, what’s gonna happen to him! Will he turn into a dragon?! Or a demon?! Or a mix of both?! And what have killed it all?

Igneel: Are you dragon or demon

Natsu: I’m human

WELL DONE, END OF THE PLOT.

Also Zeref had literally fu*ked a kid. Like, the body of Mavis was the one of a little girl. BUT WHO CARES.

Also, many many times characters did something, but it had no meaning whatsoever. Even the big plots, and that’s really nono.

d) Erza as a very bad written OP character

- Erza is an perfect exaple of op character, that is terribly bad written. Like, she’ll always win. She’ll be always the strongest, she’ll have armor for EVERYTHING, she’ll do the thing. I’m surprised that she had no fight with zeref 1v1, she could end the whole series a lot sooner.

Like, seriously, there’s no other character like Erza. She’s just there to win, that her whole plot. And it wasn’t suddenly. She was OP since the beginning till the last fight, and it wasn’t interesting at all. Hiro Mashima had no knowledge about “how to handle an op character”.

SUMMARY:

It wasn’t OP that destroyed Fairy Tail. Those were character, that Mashima-sensei didn’t know how to use, plot devices he had used poorly and lack of consequences and feeling of the real danger. Sure, Erza as OP was also a problem, but not the main source.

SO, NEXT’S BLEACH:

a) Tite Kubo had continued the series after Karakura Arc.

- It was really good! The end with Ichigo who had lost his powers? Great! Final Getsuga Tenshou! Zangetsu and Hollow Ichigo merged! Very nice!

And then... yeah. Continuation. We’ve seen that Kubo-sensei had no heart to this anymore. Next Arc after another was worse and worse.

b) potential of whole Gotei destroyed

- To be honest, whole Gotei was not even as half interesting as Hollows.

Even worse, we had seen whole Gotei from the very bad view for more than a half of the series. Also captains (after KArakura arc) had almost no real meaning. They were just meh.

c) getting tangled up in his[Kubo-sensei] own mistakes

- Like making a hybrid of shinigami-hollow-quincy-human main character, just because shinigami with hollow powers was not enough for the audience.

Or creating a third crowd with bows in white out of nowhere, just for the plot.

Or making Ishida the Sasuke of this series with even more drama than before.

Or creating fullbring just to throw the arc away.

Or just Yhwach. Kubo made him so powerfull, that he had the same problem as Masashi Kishimoto. Had no idea how to kill it. Also, the whole Zangetsu-Yhwach thing was kinda out of... yeah. Just, there were a lot of things that had no sense or were just simply stupid, and that hurts.

d) problems of Tite Kubo

- As I’ve said before. Tite Kubo had his own problems with Shounen Jump. It became the source of the flaws that Kubo-sensei had made, and we all know it.

SUMMARY:

Actually all of the main flaws are coming from continuation, because really- If Tite Kubo could end the series after Ichigo had lost his powers, then it would be a really great shounen! Buuuut we can see how it went. The biggest problem here was not an OP, the biggest problem was the fact, that Kubo-sensei had the toys, but had no fun with plaing with them, and it’s clearly visible. He drew because he drew, because people had pulled him by the ears

AND THE THIRD ONE, NARUTO:

a) no meaning of side characters

- DON’T BITE ME, I’m not sayin “completly”! there are those like Might Guy, but when we’ll look at Kiba, Temari, Kankuro, Ino and many, many others. They were not as bad written as the ones from Fairy Tail, but also not perfect. They had almost no effect on the “final bosses”, and were out of league, when we look at the golden trio- Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto, who were almost like a gods at the end in comparison to the others.

b) ninjutsu was forgotten

- At first it was amazing. Techniques! Elements! Limited chakra! Kunais were deadly, and bombs and everything that ninja used.

And then they just forgot about all of it, and Made Dragon Naruto Ball Z. There were big effective blasts, and power flowing out of characters, giant beasts who made every shinobi not important [at all] and so on. I’m really glad that Naruto had won with the final boss because of the sexy no jutsu, becase, AT LEAST, it was a jutsu.

c) Madara Uchiha and what to do with it

- As I’ve had written above abour Bleach, I have to repeat myself. Uchiha Madara was the problem, that Kishimoto-sensei had no idea how to solve.

When he was stronger, Naruto had been stronger, and Sasuke to, but there he was even mooooore powerfull, so they also had to and, yeah.

He was just a poorly used plot device.

d) Love out of nowhere

- Let’s talk about Sakura. she did loved Sasuke only because he was cool, and then he tried to kill her, he betrayed the whole village, her and naruto over and over, had treated her as she was a nuisance etc. so what she did at the end? She walked after him so long till he made her pregnant and they’ve got married. Best romance ever. Except it’s not.

Also, Naruto and Hinata. Hinata is a great character, don’t get me wrong, but while she ALWAYS loved Naruto, Naruto never really payed attention to her, and it all was created very rougly and quickly at the end. He was always more focused on Sasuke, and there was also problem with that, because Kishimoto-sensei didn’t knoiw how to show devotion to someone, that’s not as romantic as Naruto’s toward Sasuke. And it’s obvious that it WASN’T INTENTIONALL, it just looks like it looks.

Also, the only one relationship that was builded was the one between Temari and Shikamaru (we can also say about Asuma and Kurenai but it was a really short one).

And then the final chapter, everyone are married and with kids out of nowhere. Good for them, just, it was really weird.

f) who needs Akatsuki

- Akatsuki was an organization that was purely great as long as it was in the shadow. People were scared of it. It was a really BIG DEAL, and members of it were dangerous. And then in manga, and in shippuuden anime, when they started to show themselves, they... well, died pretty quickly. Also the whole thing about the chief of Acatsuki, Pain, who was in fact only a puppet of Madara... I mean, suddenly Akatsuki became nothing, and it was kinda unnerving.

g) Friendly Tailed Beasts

- Demons. Pet demons. Plushies who need to be understood.

Like, Tailed Beasts were a really interesting creatures, but obiously Friendship no Jutsu of Naruto worked also on them so here it is. Naruto’s Zoo.

Killed potential. There was a chance to show something with power and brutality, but nah, why we should have that? Demons can’t be evil obviously.

SUMMARY:

- “Naruto” is not a bad series. Just have it bigs flaws. But also here, like in Bleach or Fairy Tail, the OP’ness wasn’t the main source of the failure. It was lack of the proportion between main characters and side characters, and Kishimoto-sensei clearly had no idea what to do with his own villains and had really strong problems with creating a relationships. But in the end it wan’t about ninjas anymore, it was Dragon Ball with guy in a tracksuit, and that was the worst one.

SO, DID THE OP-THING DESTROYED THOSE THREE TITLES?

My answer is: nope.

OP characters are totally ok, as long as creator KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THEM. Kuchiki Byakuya from Bleach was an OP character, but still great, Hatake Kakashi from Naruto was an OP character, but also- still great.

Also I want to say, that I don’t hate Fairy Tail, Naruto or Bleach.

I don’t like FT, but with Naruto and Bleach I’m pretty ok. I’m just a person who understand flaws of the title she reads.

SO, ABOUT IZUKU MIDORIYA’S “OP’ness”:

Many have doubts how it’ll turn out, but what I want to say is that Izuku is supposed to defeat All for One, and to become the greatest hero. He have to become powerfull and have more than one trick, so for me 6-7 quirks works.

Also just look at chapter 215. Everyone cried that he can use “black whip” so suddenly, but the price for using it is STRONG PAIN and reduction of One For All limit, that is possible to use (20%). So now, add 5 more an every each with it’s own restriction. Yeah.

Izuku have a lot of strenght, but Todoroki or Bakugou are controlling their powers FAR BETTER than him. Tokoyami too! He still have to catch up, ant to learn a lot of things.

Also, how many quirks does All for One have? Is he invincible? Ofc not.

Also summing my babling:

Izuku’s “op’ness” won’t destroy a thing. Horikoshi-sensei (for now) know how to handle and OP characters.

If there will be a downfall of the series, then there will be a lot of another flaws, not just one to kill it all, so don’t be afraid. Have a faith.

#bnha spoilers #bnha #chapter 215 #215 #OP #Naruto #Bleach #Fairy Tail #SPOILERS #Falldown of the series #Babling #Ranting #Poor english #engrish #Izuku Midoriya is a great character

133 notes · View notes

drunklander · 6 years

Text

Drunj!Der Yells About Outlander

Thoughts on Ep. 402

It shouldn’t be surprising when I say this post is going to be less jokey than last week. If that’s not your jam, I recommend you stop reading now and maybe just sing “Everyone is Garbage” to the tune of Everything is Awesome while you instead go watch the entirety of Underground, or the Rosa Parks episode of Doctor Who.

I have to say, the producers on this show have said a lot of dumb shit in the past. From “Frank’s a good guy!” when he’s portrayed as being objectively awful on screen to “We don’t shy away from the horrors of the past because we’re so daring like that!” as a justification of their need to rape or assault everyone with a pulse. But one of the dumbest things in recent memory was at NYCC when Ron tried to claim that Outlander isn’t a political show.

Bullshit. Everything is political.

Using America the Beautiful to underscore how America didn’t, and still doesn’t, live up to the ideals we sing about in our romanticized versions of our history was political. Albeit in an overly heavy-handed way. Choosing to do an episode about slavery that focuses solely on white people and not the enslaved, who are just there as props for the white people’s moral dilemmas, is political. Choosing to show a lynching on screen in a time when Black people are still being killed in horrifying numbers at the hands of white people who are supposed to serve and protect, in a time when Black people have the police called on them while simply having a cookout in a public park, in a time when a white man can shoot an unarmed Black boy and walk away with no consequences, is political.

How we portray Black bodies on screen matters. And in this instance, a *very* white show chose to frame enslaved people as the props against which they highlight the guilt of the white protagonists.

I really do wish they included someone checking to see if Claire, who had a man killed right in front of her, was ok. But instead she just does the emotional labor of assuaging Jamie’s guilt over Bonnet’s attack. Because doing emotional labor is just what women do. *flips off the patriarchy and also the producers*

Young Ian’s awe at River Run, how it’s befitting a king, just highlights how he has no context for what the symbol of a big white plantation house means for so many people. That image is so laden with white supremacy it should immediately trigger a bad taste in any decent person’s mouth. Go ahead and @ me.

Jocasta Cameron is straight garbage, but Maria Doyle Kennedy is fucking amazing. A++ casting, show.

Not sure if the parallel of Jocasta telling Claire to call her Auntie and Claire telling Phaedre and Mary to call her Claire was intentional or not. Will have more to say about that in a second...

Honest question, if the dog who plays Rollo is so poorly trained that they have to cut him out of most scenes, why didn’t they get a different dog? Slash, I thought they’d been training this one since it was a puppy?

“Some River Run hospitality.” *feels nauseous*

I SO hope they don’t do the Jocasta and Ulysses having an affair storyline from the books. Please, show, don’t do it.

Show!Jocasta is so much more overtly garbage than book!Jocasta. This is a woman who had to flee her country after the Rising because of how horrible the English were to the Scots. Yet she doesn’t bat an eye at the concept of keeping human beings as property. Even with Jamie, she isn’t thinking of him as his own person, but rather someone she can make do her bidding and use for her own purposes. She should fucking know better, but the promise of benefiting from white supremacy is apparently more beneficial than actually having morals. Fuck you, Jocasta.

Claire’s palpable discomfort with being led around by an enslaved man juxtaposed with Jamie thinking nothing of it as he reminisces about his mother is just the start of me side-eyeing Jamie a lot this episode.

Don’t worry, I’m an equal opportunity side-eye’er. Claire’s gonna get her share of it too. Starting with her asking Phaedre and Mary to call her Claire.

Claire. You know all about chattel slavery. You know it’s wrong. You know how enslaved people are treated. Why the fuck would you ask Phaedre and Mary to put themselves in a position to potentially face serious consequences for not being “properly deferential” to a white person just to make yourself feel better about being complicit in their enslavement. She’s prioritizing making herself feel better at the expense of the potential well-being of Phaedre and Mary. JFC, Claire, do not endanger the marginalized people you claim to care about in the name of wokeness.

The skunk bit with Young Ian and John Quincy Myers is a tad off-putting tbh. I love that Ian wants to learn about Native Americans and looks to find similarities with them rather than think of them as “savages,” but like they’re having this convo while completely ignoring the fact that an enslaved boy is filling the tub and like immediately just start talking about banging Native American women. It just feels like they were stretching for some levity when the characters in this episode don’t deserve any.

Jamie: “Uncle Hector and you have achieved a great amount here, Auntie.” Me:

Jocasta: “I purchase them in lots, in order to keep those with children together.” Me:

“Over the years, I found my slaves to be more productive when treated with benevolence. You see, I don’t actually see them as people. I only treat them nicely so my property can reach its maximum potential output. I am a garbage human and the myth of the benevolent slave owner is just bullshit that white people tell themselves to absolve themselves of the fact that they benefit from white supremacy.”

That Jocasta can refer to the people she enslaves as both too expensive to be livestock and friends in almost the same breath is peak caucasity. Seriously, show!Jocasta is an irredeemably shit person.

Also Jamie being like oh well done, Auntie, you are so nice to these people makes me want to punch him in his dumbass face. Show!Jamie has been on my last nerve for a while tbh.

Like bro, you literally lived in a cave for fucking years because the English were out to fuck Scots up. You were in prison for fucking years. You served on an English estate, where you were raped, for fucking years. And now you see people who were ripped from their homes and families and brought across the sea against their will (hey remember your nephew, Ian?) and you’re like oh Auntie, you’re such a nice white lady. Go fuck yourself, Jamie.

Jocasta playing the woman card with Jamie to justify her needing him to get involved with the enslaved labor on her plantation is something Colum would be proud of.

And Jocasta being like hey, “Claire, you’ve been homeless for a hot minute, shower me in praise for how nice my slave-run house is as I ‘graciously’ let you stay here” is such a power move in the worst possible way. Colum and Dougal raise a glass from whatever afterworld they ended up in.

Claire, girl, why couch your opposition to slavery in the Quaker influence. Own your opinions on this. Take a fucking stand. There are things in life worth standing up for. This is fucking one of them.

Oh Jenny. I love that she wrote to Jocasta about Claire. But also last season still turned me the hell off from show!Jenny so really I don’t like that lady.

Fuck each and every one of these yuppie white men.

Aw, woke-ish!Ian. Yes, it was their land, but let’s please not think of the Native American women as sexual conquests like you were earlier. KThxBai.

Ok for real, after living at Leoch and scheming through Paris and then being fucked over by Bonnet, Jamie sure doesn't learn much about people being sneaky. How does he not see where Jocasta was going when she so readily positioned him in a position of authority on the plantation.

Jamie, bro, buying into the benevolent slave owner narrative is not a good look. And by not a good look, I mean you are a garbage person. I get that that’s the point, but still.

Ok so the book frames Campbell as a friend to the Frasers, and the show is trying to frame him as someone genuinely trying to look out for the Frasers’ best interest. But he has also resigned himself to the reality of his current situation with no desire to try to make things better since it would mean making a personal sacrifice. To which I say, fuck you very much, you coward.

Hi, I’m Der, and I’m of the opinion that if you are in a place of privilege and see bigotry and oppression taking place, it’s your duty to stand the fuck up and try to make a change.

“If we take the Tryon option, we don’t need to feel bad about slavery and can just bask in our white privilege on stolen Native American land and not have to deal with the consequences of accepting free land from the English, y’know, the people we hate, for almost a decade.” Cool, Jamie. Cool cool cool. Remember last episode when you were almost woke?

Claire acting naive about what’s going to happen to Rufus should seem out of character. She went back into the past knowing full well how things were there. She knew that if she went back, she’d be in a time where this was the reality. Yes, she thought she’d be in Scotland, but that’s just another sign of her fucking privilege. She was like oh, I’ll just be in Edinburgh and not have to consider slavery. Joe Abernathy did not deserve the shaft he got in season three and he does not deserve fucking peak-white-privilege-the-past-is-fine-because-it-doesn’t-really-affect-me Claire as his friend.

Scrub Nurse!Ian is literally the only positive part of this episode.

This entire scene of a room of white guys being like “we need to uphold the law!” makes me want to kick the shit out of each and every fucker who has ever owned a confederate battle flag t-shirt or a bumper sticker.

Also fuck each and every person who voted for the authoritarian narcissist who currently occupies the white house in 2016 or any of his fucking lackeys in the midterms. All these fuckers are straight garbage. And all the fuckers defending the authoritarian tendencies of the current administration can go fuck themselves. Go ahead and @ me.

“Don’t worry, my husband is heir to this estate.” Oh don’t fucking delude yourself, Claire. Rufus is going to die. And you are complicit in his death. Fucking own it.

*insert obligatory Joe Abernathy deserved better rant here*

I don’t like giving partial credit, but at least the show let fucking Rufus tell his own story. Just for a little bit though.

Ok I’m calling fucking bullshit that Ulysses, a man who (I don’t care what his relationship with Jocasta has been) has been enslaved for years, fucking calls Claire out and tells her she should have let Rufus die. Way to fucking try to absolve Claire by having a Black, enslaved man try to make her upcoming actions ok.

Don’t act naive, Claire. You know how this was going to end. Rufus was always going to die. You are complicit. There is no escaping that. Fucking own your part. Fucking own your privilege. And also fuck the show for centering this so much on the fucking white people.

Rufus didn't get to be an active participant in his own death. Claire should *not* have been absolved of her decision to kill him by having him ask her to do it. But by not even telling him what she's doing, she's just another white person making decisions for him without his consent. She also should have known to kill him without Jamie telling her to. *gestures at the Graham Menzies part of the books* She knows what's about to happen. She should accept that by choosing to be in the southern colonies, she's going to be complicit in slavery. She made her bed when she decided to go back into the past and now she should have to lay in it.

Sure she may not have known that she’d end up in the colonies, but she still knew she’d be going back to a time when she’d end up being part of something that is morally abhorrent. But apparently getting that ginger dick was worth it.

It’s cute they do a parallel of her helping Rufus to die with her helping Geordie to die. But I can’t help but think this is as much for her as for him.

Every white person in this episode is trash. As they fucking should be.

Fuck everyone who defends the continued existence of confederate memorial statues tbh.

I know that’s out of left field, but yeah, fuck those people.

The fact that this shit is bringing up very real feelings about today’s political climate makes me fucking angry at the fuckers around today and also the fucking production crew for trying to cater to the meemaws by saying the show isn’t political.

Fuck Jamie for being like yeah, I can just pray this shit away. No. God is a cop out. You did this. YOU. You need to own this. Don’t you dare hide behind your faith. You will not be absolved.

Fuck this show for showing a fucking lynching and them immediately cutting to Claire’s face to make the lynching about her white guilt. Fuck them.

If Jamie and Claire really don't want to be complicit in the atrocities of colonial America, they should move to a city where they could join in the work of starting to dismantle the things they claim to be morally opposed to. Instead they embrace their privilege of getting to ignore slavery by leaving River Run next week and go out to colonize Native American lands.

And just think. After all of this. After witnessing a lynching. In a couple episodes, Jamie’s gonna voluntarily send a guy into slavery!

Fuck.

Please all go read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me. KThxBai.

#*#drunj!der yells about outlander #outlander starz #outlander 4x01

118 notes · View notes

teacherunicorn · 7 years

Text

Opposites Attract (Chapter 77)

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Chapter 68 Chapter 69 Chapter 70 Chapter 71 Chapter 72 Chapter 73 Chapter 74 Chapter 75 Chapter 76 Chapter 77

Tag List: @the-chick-with-the-best-fandom, @does-it-matter129, @dcgoddess

She couldn’t breathe. The elevator reached and left the ground floor, making Alyssa numbly reach for the emergency stop to avoid being brought back to the one place she was trying to get away from.

Alyssa knew several people who detested small spaces like the elevator who’s metallic wall she was now sliding down. She wasn’t especially fond of them either, but she certainly preferred them over large, faceless crowds. Isolation was easier to comprehend when one was physically alone.

It wasn’t possible. Over a dozen doctors had told her so. She had even called in a favor with Lex and brought in the best mental professionals the world currently had.

Every single one of them had said with absolute certainty that Jervis Tetch was lost to the world.

******

*Four Years Ago*

Despite its still dilapidated state, Arkham Asylum had been re-opened last week. Inmates were cycling in from all over and it was all the news, all anyone, was talking about.

Alyssa had always been fascinated with the old building. It had first closed down when she’d been a child, but there had never been a lack of stories about the place. Most of them were ghost stories to dare teenagers to spend the night there, but those stories paled in comparison to the truth. She’d never understood why a hospital would do so many things that sounded as though they only made patients worse.

‘Only in Gotham.’ Harvey Bullock’s words echoed in her mind as she explored the halls. She had broken in several times in her youth, so she vaguely knew her way around. The only difference was that she was supposed to be her now; Falcone had noticed her interest in the place and had put her in charge of making sure all transitions went smoothly.

She swerved sideways as a blob of....oatmeal? went flying at her head. Yeesh, so much for order. The men and women in stripped uniforms were running amok, screaming and giggling like her toddlers at the Flea.

“Crazy, right?” the guard who’d let her into the rec room said.

Glaring at him, Alyssa lifted two fingers to her mouth and whistled shrilly. The entire room froze. Several pairs of eyes drifted to the platter of cookies she was holding.

“And here I was hoping to make some friends.” she addressed the inmates in a pleasant voice. “I was always taught not to show up at someone’s residence without a gift.” she held up the tray. “Form an orderly line, and no shoving. Let’s all be fair here.”

To the absolutely amazement of the Arkham staff, the inmates did as Alyssa instructed. They were like children, bouncing on their heels and looking around each other’s shoulders. Children were her specialty however, and it appeared her skills could be put to use no matter the physical age.

“O frabjous day! The white queen has reclaimed her throne at last.”

Alyssa’s eyes snapped up to the man who had spoken. He was an inmate, dressed in the typical stripped uniform. He also had a top hat on his head made out of newspaper. His gestures were wild and animated, his longer brown hair was in desperate need of a wash. Something about those eyes however.....

Stepping down from the table he’d been standing on to make his announcement, he walked up to her and bowed, flipping his hat off with a flourish.

“My queen, I am honored to stand in thy presence. I am, of course, your humble servant.”

She wasn’t sure what it was about the phrase, but Alyssa’s blood suddenly felt like ice. She played along however, pulling out the sides of her skirt to curtsy back as the thanked him for his loyal service.

She figured if someone called you a queen, you ought to agree with them.

Once rec hour was over however, and the inmates had to return to their cells, the first thing Alyssa did was look into this ‘Mad Hatter.’

She sincerely wished she hadn’t.

“How is a man who was declared dead twenty years ago, alive, kicking, and thinking he’s a character in a children’s story?” she studied the file she’d been given.

“No clue.” the Warden, Quincy Sharp, shook his head. “Half the inmates we’ve been getting haven’t got much of a story before they got locked up; they’ve just been there that long.” he nodded to the file in Alyssa’s hands. “This one doesn’t even recognize his own name anymore. According to every record I was given, Jervis Tetch no longer exist. All that’s left is the ‘Mad Hatter.’”

******

The door wasn’t locked. Given who lived here, Alyssa supposed no one would be stupid enough to break in. The gun pointed at her face upon entry proved her point.

Raising her hands with a sigh, she rolled her eyes at the woman dressed entirely in leather. “Don’t shoot, I come in peace, blah blah blah. Where’s your boss?” she demanded.

“Ms. Connors, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Victor Zasz strolled into the room, a slight grin on his face.

Alyssa lowered her hands and crossed her arms. “I’ve got a job for you.”

“Sorry hun, Penguin has me booked these days.”

“I’ll pay double your usual rate.”

Victor chuckled, smirking. “Why not triple?”

“Done.”

His smirk fell as he realized how serious she was. “....What sort of job?”

“I need someone killed.”

“Okay, while I’m flattered you thought of me, why’re you going to so much trouble? You’ve got Penguin wrapped around your finger; you say the word and every man he’s got is at your command.”

“Oswald tends to have a flair for the dramatics. You’re more straightforward. If I ask you to put a bullet in someone, it stays between us.” her eyes trailed to the woman still pointing her gun at her. “Well, us and your little entourage.”

Victor glanced at the ‘Zaszette’ and nodded at her to lower her weapon, which she did without question. “Alright Mama Gotham; anyone who’s got you this spooked will no doubt be a challenge. I like a challenge.” his smirk was back.

“I’m going to need you to take this seriously.”

“Come on Alyssa, you came to the best.”

“And we’ve already established how much it took to get me here.”

He scoffed. “You really think this guy is a threat to me?”

“I think he’s a threat to everyone. That’s why I want him dead.”

“Well, pay me half upfront and I can take him down with one shot.”

“He can take you down with less than that.”

“Thought you wanted me to kill him?” If Victor Zasz had eyebrows, they would be drawn together in annoyance.

“I do. I just want you to know what you’re dealing with.”

“Who is this guy anyway?”

“His name’s Jervis Tetch.”

#jervis tetch imagine #victor zsasz imagine #oswald cobblepot imagine #jerome valeska imagine #edward nygma imagine

24 notes · View notes

gunnerpalace · 7 years

Note

Seeing both sides of the arguments, i think that is plausible that IH was endgame since the beginning, but we would always end in 2 scenarios. IH was planned since the beginning but poorly executed, for the detriment of boths characthers, or it wasn't and still count as detriment. I'm saying this as somebody that prefer IR because IH, legit does nothing for me. By the way, that anon, was being rude, your preferences are yours and nobody should tell you otherwise.

I’m seriously tired of the words “endgame” being thrown around in relation to Bleach. Bleach wasn’t planned. There were so many things that were raised and then dropped without leading anywhere, that were simply forgotten, or that were outright retconned out of existence. Kubo had, at best, a rough outline, and at worst, was largely making shit up as he went.

Examples:

Soul pills were originally introduced as having been designed to force spirits out of already-dead bodies. This means revenants are a serious problem Shinigami had to deal with. Really weird that we never saw any, huh? Forgotten.

The Quincy were retconned from being one particular tribe of many different kinds of magic users, who were spread all over the world, to some weird anti-Shinigami who somehow commune with the divine (whatever their “God” might’ve been). Kisuke, of all people, would’ve known what they really were and had no great reason to lie—he wasn’t trying to mislead Rukia, he legitimately didn’t know at that time, because neither did Kubo.

Akon originally speculated that the maker of Rukia’s gigai would’ve been thrown out of Soul Society because it was simply too good and accurate—we know from the fact that Kisuke was trying to make Rukia into a human that it was basically a complete human body. In other words, Kisuke had come up with something that could turn the dead into the living and produce more life. This was summarily forgotten because Kisuke was no longer (likely) the villain and just a shady guy, and much later the Visored story was introduced to explain why he was banished.

Literally everything to do with the Four Great Noble Houses and their artifacts or roles was dropped and forgotten, after the appearance of the various Shihouin artifacts during the Soul Society arc. We never even got the names of the other two houses. In TYBW, Yuushirou showed up with an enormous bag of stuff to help Yoruichi, only for it all to be forgotten again.

Kubo literally completely forgot about the Visored and Yoruichi during the LSS arc.

The entire Soul King plot had zero resolution. All of its plot hooks were discarded.

“I leave it up to you, Kurosaki and Kuchiki.”

And on, and on, and on. Certain things (like “Shirosaki” actually being Zangetsu, and “Zangetsu” being something else) were clearly planned from the start. Other things clearly weren’t, and IH is one of those things. You know how I know? Because it was completely unsubstantiated.

Some IH is going to pop up and go “B—B—But Orihime confessed!” Yeah, to an unconscious Ichigo, and big fucking deal? The thing about relationships is they involve relations. There was, what? Orihime trying to hang out with Ichigo and getting turned down? Eating bread with Uryuu and Chad in his room?

There were no civil tender moments (i.e., outside of combat). There were no martial tender moments (i.e., in combat). There were no dates. There was no confession from Ichigo. There was no hug. There was no kiss. There were no longing looks. There were no deep conversations looking at the moon. There was never any indication, in any fashion, that Ichigo reciprocated her feelings. They never hung out outside of the context of supernatural bullshit. They literally did not have a relationship. (“Hurr durr, IR didn’t have a lot of that either!” some mouthbreather will interject, and let me state that I’m not substantiating IR here, I’m deconstructing IH.)

You know how I know? IH will go out of their way to prattle on about how much Orihime deserved Ichigo’s affection, because they have nothing to point to to show that he felt that way, and they know it. It’s always only ever about her, never about him.

So explain to me how something that is literally never established, and never shown, is plausibly an “endgame.”

While you think about that, I want to share with you my favorite bad novel summary. It’s a book called “Out of the Dark” by David Weber. I haven’t read it, but the description alone makes the case for it being bad.

Have you read the plot outline? Good. Notice how it’s a book about an alien invasion until suddenly vampires pop up out of nowhere and save humanity in a convenient deus ex machina to cash in on Twilight? Would you call that “endgame?” It was how the book ended! But it doesn’t really follow from the premise, does it? It’s just kind of a thing that happens to wrap things up.

Since I keep making Twilight allusions: imagine if Breaking Dawn - Part 2 ended with Blade appearing, killing everyone but Bella Swan, and then having an OT3 with her and Selene. That would certainly be an ending! You could write that! It is a thing you could do! If that was how it had actually ended, would you call that “endgame?” No, you wouldn’t, because it was never established or built toward. It would’ve just happened.

Just like IH.

A bunch of one-sided bullshit from one party with no reciprocation isn’t establishing a relationship. It’s establishing a character, i.e., Orihime. Ichigo doesn’t even come into it. If Jack jerks off to Charlize Theron, or Jane touches herself to Chris Pine, would you say that Jack and Jane are in a relationship with Charlize and Chris? No, because that would be stupid. That’s not how relationships work. They require back and forth interaction.

Which is exactly what IH never had in any kind of romantic or even intimate fashion.

So if you show me hours and hours of Jack and Jane daydreaming about Charlize and Chris, and getting their autographs, and eventually hanging out with them now and again as acquaintances, and then you suddenly skip to ten years later and they’re married and have kids and are lovey-dovey, yeah, that’s a story, I guess? If you expect me to believe it was always “endgame” I’m going to laugh in your face.

IH was some bullshit that Kubo did off-screen and shoved in our faces to blow his franchise up. The general fandom knows it. IR knows it. And IH knows it too, which is why today, a year later, they still give a fuck about convincing us how “right” they were, and how “wrong” we are: because they have absolutely nothing, and it eats them up inside, like acid in their hearts and souls. It’s why they can’t make anything worth a damn, be it art or fic, because there’s nothing to make. They can’t even connect dots; there are no dots, they gotta make it up wholesale. Because. Ichigo. Never. Cared. About. Orihime.

It wasn’t “endgame.” It was an asspull. And that’s all there is to it.

Until somebody finds me some panels that demonstrate Ichigo gives two-shits about Orihime because he’s looking at her the way he did at Rukia in chapter 151, or 423, or 459, or innumerable other examples, I do not give a single fuck about what Orihime thinks, feels, says, or does.

Those panels don’t exist, so this topic is over. Case dismissed. Don’t bring this non-recyclable trash to my courtroom again.

#Asks

239 notes · View notes

arrancarwrites · 7 years

Text

A New Start: Ambassadors of our Species! Part 2

AKA: Criessa You Dummy, Do You Know How to NOT Make Enemies!?

(( after binge-reading the last 200 or so chapters of Bleach, I’m trying to do this at least somewhat chronologically. Bare with me a few installments longer so we can get into the fun stuff! This one’s long I’m sorry（；´Д｀ ))

~~~

“Who’s she talking to? Head-Captain is in his quarters like always.” Criessa’s ears twitched and she froze, chest puffed out. What did they say? She jerked back around to the man she’d ASSUMED was in charge. The dumb smile on Kyoraku’s face meant he could see the hesitation in hers. Sweat dripped down her cheek. The girl beside him was giving her an awfully disappointed look; Criessa could appreciate the pity. Obviously, she grit her teeth and forced a feeble smile, they know what’s going on….

Criessa spent too much time picking her intro music and forgot to actually find out who everyone was!!!

“Obviously she knows the Captain can hear her! Don’t underestimate someone who snuck in so easily!” Another sweet Soul Reaper underling! Oh yeah, good save! Shunsui winked at her, and she gave him a thankful look. Back in action, she pointed her finger up at Kyoraku and yelled, loudly enough to maybe save some face.

“That’s right! Take me to your leader!”

“Wow you really weren’t prepared in the right ways, were you?” The lieutenant deadpanned, but Shunsui, charmer that he is, stepped in and offered her his arm. Somewhere in the crowd, someone asked someone else what she’d just referenced.

Criessa blanked, staring down at the hairy appendage offered.

“Alright then, Ms. Monserra, let’s relay this very important information to the Head-Captain.”

“Uhh, thanks. I’d prefer not to take your arm though, but the sentiment is nice.” He nodded and brought a hand to his chest, as if hurt; she kept on explaining herself before he could interrupt, “Honestly! It reminds me of the movies and plays I’ve read! Like Prince Charming!” She beamed, bouncing along while he escorted her.

He blinked. “Oh well that’s a heck of a compliment! Excuse my forwardness, again,” He smiled and held his palms up toward her, “Goodness, it seems I’m being a really rude host today! I’m not usually so mean!” He chuckled, “But how do you know about that?”

Criessa watched him carefully. He certainly was a charming guy -not her type, but still.

She raised an eyebrow, “Human things?” Kyoraku nodded and gestured for them to turn down a pathway. “I’ve always liked Human things; they’re colorful and fun. I like games, and Humans have good senses of humor. Entering their world isn’t as comfortable as here, but that’s where I’ve been hiding since Ichigo Kurosaki defeated Aizen.”

The First Division headquarters came into view, stretching up into the sky. Criessa paused at the bottom of the steps. Kyoraku put a hand on her shoulder and hid his smile underneath his hat, hand up to his mouth to stage-whisper. “Nanao and I will keep your secret about not knowing who we were.”

Criessa’s spiritual pressure bristled with her embarrassment. The red-head’s shoulders dropped and she buried her face in her hands. “Oh yeah, way to remind me how silly that was!” She peeked through her fingers towards Nanao, “You’re right I wasn’t really prepared for this.” She fluffed her hand through her hair, and shrugged, “I really just spent WAY too much time deciding on whether or not I wanted to use Welcome To The Jungle or not, I forgot to do any better observations! Well… I guess it won’t hurt, since you’re already keeping one dumb secret for me, I’ll admit it: I’m not anything close to an authority for my species, I sort of barrelled in here half-cocked, but it’s getting bad back home, and it’s not even safe for me to look for the people I’ve lost.”

A white-haired man met them, appearing a few feet away. She met his eyes as she finished her confession.

“I’m worried this is more than we can handle…”

~~~

To say that the real Head-Captain was upset by her presence would be an understatement. Some lingering primal part of Criessa’s brain was screaming how much she really shouldn’t be here, standing before Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto. She took a deep breath and straightened up. No worse than Aizen ever was. She furrowed her brows, eyes still closed. Man, this life after he was captured was making her soft -she never bothered with fear before, what was wrong now?

Olive eyes and freckles. A sweet smile. Blonde hair falling in her face. A warm body underneath hers. Pretty blue eyes.

Oh yeah.

“Arrancar.” Yamamoto’s voice boomed in the silence of the room around them. No one who had remained; Kyoraku, Nanao, or Sasakibe, who was apparently the first division lieutenant, hadn’t so much as breathed loudly since introducing her as, ‘the Arrancar who broke into the Soul Society’. She looked up to meet his gaze. “What is your name?”

“Criessa Monserra. An unranked Arrancar with no affiliations.”

“So be it. Why have you invaded our Courtyards? I want to hear about this nonsense in Heuco Mundo.” The old man never budged from his place, hands firmly on the top of his cane.

“Yes,” She nodded quickly, “Men calling themselves Quincies have arrived and abducted many weaker Arrancars. Anyone left will put up a fight, but Las Noches is carefully monitored. The Espada were our strongest, most reasonable soldiers,” She opened herself to him and frowned, “without them, against an organized force, Hueco Mundo can fall.”

“How am I to believe you know all this, when you say you’ve been hiding in the Human World?”

Criessa brought her hands forward to fiddle, shoving her fingernails underneath each other. “I’ve risked a few trips, long enough to see some old comrades fighting, and see their forces in formation. My last trip… I barely outran them, and have been avoiding detection since. This is my last idea before I risk going back for a blaze of glory.” She curled her hands into fists at her sides. “Honestly,” a smirk, “after Aizen, I’m not stupid enough to side with a losing team. I don’t think joining the Soul Society is a bad future-plan.”

Yamamoto pealed an eye open for her. She supposed it should be a sign he’s taking her seriously.

“You are a Hollow. Our enemy. I could never trust you to join us, who’s mission it is to save Humans, when you are, at your core, the creature that devours them.” She felt anger bubbling hot up her spine. How dare he! “If there really is an organization invading the house of our enemies why should the Soul Society interfere? The Quncies have been dead for 100 years. Whoever this is killing you Arrancar, I should just wait until they’ve finished.”

How DARE he!! The young girl, standing before this pillar of power in their worlds, no more than a match held to the Sun. But she burned all the same at his dismissal. She grit her teeth, baring her lower fangs.

“Don’t be a fool!” The tension rippled over her, from every corner of the room, “I’m sure you heard what I said earlier! And I’m an Arrancar; I haven’t eaten a Human soul in years.” She shook her head, trying to temper the fire in her chest. “And it would be a foolish decision indeed to ignore the army at your gates! Quincies or not, they’re amassing something!” The Head-captain, now thoroughly irritated, smacked the bottom of his cane on the floor.

Fuming, Criessa ignored his demand for silence. She was really starting to remind herself of Grimmjow.

“I’ve seen your Soul Reapers, Head-Captain! I know the caliper at which you operate! The standards you have set! I never expected you to believe me on my word, but I am powerless here! Check my information! Send me to your scientists! I’m an endangered species, and I doubt you’ll find another Arrancar to walk into your halls asking for permission to join. I thought you’d be able to see the value in that.” She dropped to one knee, and tossed her weapon onto the floor at her own foot.

Again, katanas aimed at her throat.

“I’m not going to be a part of whatever those idiots in white are doing, I won’t die like a dog! I came to you with good will! I’m ready to make this place my new path, but if you’re going to be stubborn about this just because of what I used to be, I was mistaken.”

Fire in her eyes, steam blowing out with her breath, Criessa stared into the awful eyes of her Juge and Jury.

“Lock her up.”

~~~

The darkness made time flow differently, but it wasn’t long enough until the door to her chamber slid open, and instead of Kurotsuchi coming to test more of her anatomy, his girl, Nemu, invited Criessa back into the light of day. She was being released far too early… Something must have finally happened.

“It seems you were telling the truth about the Quincy forces before.” Kurotsuchi bustled around, collecting and typing and moving things, talking over his shoulder to his former captive. One of his lackeys bumped into her, she apologized as she kept running, barely keeping the papers and little tubes in her hands as she dodged. The Captain was still blabbering, “I confess even I assumed you were crazed… or just stupid.” Criessa rolled her shoulders and shrugged. “I was excited to have a new test subject all to myself.” She swore his shoulders fell.

“I could see why. This was always a slim chance.”

“It’s interesting that you would even risk your existence for such a trivial matter. I don’t recall Arrancar being particularly hospitable.” He moved toward the exit, Criessa and Nemu in his coattails. He glanced over his shoulder with a wicked, knowing look in his eye. “Though, you did have quite the motive: Joining the Soul Society, as an Arrancar. Too bad you weren’t very convincing -yelling like that.”

“I don’t know what response you’re trying to pry out of me, Kurotsuchi. My morals align best here.”

“Interesting. What exactly do you define as moral?”

“That’s getting a bit too deep into my personal life, but why we fight is a big deal for Arrancar. We get in arguments about Ethics a lot. Some, who call themselves evolved, think that fighting should have a good, logical reason, like duty, honor, or information gathering. Maybe they’re right. Some just have that itch to do it. It’s instinctual -we’ve been clawing our ways to the top since we died in the first place.”

Criessa shrugged, blinking as they stepped out into the sunlight. She smiled. “I tend to fight for fun.” The odd, bulbous man watched her carefully as they came to a stop. “I know, I know, it sounds barbaric, but it’s not like that. Fun, like games. I don’t want to win, I want to play. I’m no good at laying waste anyway, so I stay out of the way.”

“Captain Kyoraku will be around soon to pick you up. I believe I have enough time for another question.” He turned to her, golden eyes bulging out of their facepaint. Briefly, Criessa struggled to pick one to stare at. “Obviously you don’t keep your head down as much as you say -since you’re here. What are your true motivations?”

The Arrancar kept staring into the left eye of this weirdo captain they’d given her to. Criessa loathed to think of actually hanging her head -she’d never cowered in front of anyone.The birds sang, the insects screamed, and she refused to say anything until her escort was visible on the horizon. But he didn’t need to know that. She leveled her gaze and started walking towards the Lieutenant. She snorted.

“No need in making him walk so far.” Pointedly without looking back, she finally answered Kurotsuchi. “Personal gain, Captain, same as yours.”

~~~

Trailing the coattails of the captain down the hall toward what felt like a big, intimidating meeting, Criessa giggled. Kyoraku glanced over her shoulder, eyebrows raised. She waved him off and rolled her shoulders back.

“I don’t do well under pressure, haha.” She shrugged. “Nervous laughter.”

Oooh, all the captains were gathered when she finally got to step in. They all looked pretty frumpy and serious. No fun. She frowned to herself.

“Head-Captain.” Her focus snapped back to the immediate situation when the pink kimono in front of her moved to his own designated spot, and she stood in front of the old man again. He didn’t say anything to her, and the atmosphere was stifling. Criessa let out a sigh and played with the back of her hair.

“It would be INSANELY rude to say ‘I told you so’ but all things considered, Head-Captain…” She dropped her arms by her sides and blatantly ignored the guffawing at her insolence; staring, unflinching, daring the man in front of her to ignore her advice again. Hadn’t he already lost his lieutenant?

“I will take that and we will consider the apology I owe you null, Criessa Monserra.”

She broke out into a beaming, toothy smile. “Yes sir.”

#written by randomhatthief!#credit to her for writing this!#bleach oc #bleach fanfiction #criessa monserra #submission

8 notes · View notes

toldnews-blog · 5 years

Photo

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/technology/entertainment/watch-michael-and-saras-favorite-movies-and-songs/

WATCH: Michael and Sara's favorite movies and songs

Transcript for Michael and Sara’s favorite movies and songs

I said it, and Sara and I, we do not always agree on everything. You kind of have figured that out, which is why we created a segment called “State your case.” Our executive producer, Rory will give us some topics and Sara and I take different stances on them. What’s up, everybody? Rory, you’re right here. Yeah, I am. What’s up, Sara? How are you? I just had to justify — we spent a lot of money on the monitor and I had to justify the expense. I figured — they will come down on me. Consider it justified. That makes total sense. We’ll each get 20 seconds to argue our opposing sides and make our case, and as is typical, I have prepared notes and Michael did not. Of course. So at the end, Rory will decide who wins each round based on audience applause. Okay, Rory. As you noticed, I will not pander to the audience because I really think our audience is just brilliant and smart enough and they will realize a great topic. Okay, Rory. Get us started, man. A lot of pandering on both sides. First topic. Best movie ever made. 20 seconds on the clock. Go. “Love actually” is the story of trying to find love. Finding love at the wrong time, finding love, losing love, finding love, keeping love and it teaches you that no matter what the circumstances, love is at the center of all of our lives. The more we love each other, the better the world will be. You can watch it at christmastime or any time throughout the year, but it always makes you realize love is what will make the world go round. Big fans of love in the crowd today. Sara, you’re up. 20 seconds, best movie ever made. Go. What did you write? The best movie ever made is “Legally blonde.” Elle woods is not just a she is all of us. She reminds us of personal hygiene that comes with regular manicures and getting into an ivy league school is, like, not that hard. And everyone should be lucky enough to have a tiny chihuahua side kick named bruiser. Comedy makes you laugh and happy people don’t kill their husbands. They just don’t. Who thinks “Love actually” is the winner? And how many people think “Legally blonde” took it this time? Wow. You know what? I’m going to give that round to I’m giving it to Sara. Thank you. She did her homework. Next topic, best song of all-time. The first round goes to Sara with 20 seconds on the clock. What’s your case for the best song of all-time? “Bohemian rhapsody” by queen is the greatest song of all-time. I yield the rest of my time. Just kidding. It’s a perfect song because it’s a blend of so many genres. I want goes from power ballad to head-banging rock to operatic all in one song. Freddie Mercury said it leaves the meaning to the listener and it changes where the song is going which makes it different each time. All right. Now for the unwritten argument. I just got to say to preface this, my song is a little bit more obscure for a lot of people so you may have to look it up because that’s how great it is. Sell it. I’m going to sell it. You have to state your case. You can’t preemptively state your case. 20 seconds on the clock, state your case. Mine is “Secret garden” by quincy Jones. All these people, and when you hear the song, it makes you want to just, you know — makes you want to get a little sexy. You know what I’m saying? When you are at home, you want to get a little sexy. That’s where it’s at. Yeah. Is it over? Is it over? Michael — Rory, he just shared his secret garden. Rory, it just got hot in here. I just had to cool myself off. Michael clearly won that round. Put your secret garden away, Seriously though. In the afternoon. It’s 1:00 in the afternoon.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

#bollywood movie #celebrity gossip #celebrity news #entertainment news #hollywood movies #movie reviews #music concerts

0 notes

ddproductionsw77 · 7 years

Text

The Electronic Configuration of Hate and Love

Fandom: Girl Meets World

Pairing(s): Riarkle (enemies to hinting at romance?)

Characters: Riley Matthews, Farkle Minkus, Maya Hart

Prompt from riarklespirfire: Funny story actually… I kinda lost the prompt, lolz, but it was along the lines of ’We hate each other but now we’re project partners so I guess we’ll just have to not kill each other’, AU (obviously)

Author’s Note: So, I am still taking Riarkle/GMW prompts for short stories if you like this one… I honestly did not plan for this to get so long and crazy, I just loved writing this version of Riley and Farkle. It just got to the point where I had to end it somewhere, so I did. However, if you really want, I am thinking a part 2 might be in the future. Let me know if anyone would want/read that…

“Well, it appears the sun has risen once again on our blessed Abigail Adams, my young chemists. Good morning and welcome back from your last Spring Break!”

Riley Matthews felt the familiar sharp stab of a bony elbow her side and turned to her best friend with an exaggerated look, eyebrows raised in questioning.

Maya Hart, beautiful, blonde, and bold, quirked one of her own dainty eyebrows and muttered, “Is he for real?”

Dropping her expression to an endearing smile, Riley rolled her eyes and pointed to the front with her pencil, “Pay attention.”

“-Last project of your high school chemistry careers.” Mr. Hudson was introducing, to be met with a round of cheers from the chunk of Senior class residing at their desks.

Waving, the elder man silenced the crowd, “Please, hold your applause until the end. Now, this last project obviously has to be something to stick in your minds and motivate you all to pursue chemistry in college!”

“Neeever gonna happen,” Maya mumbled for only Riley, resting her chin on her palm and leaning forward.

The brunette bit back a smile and shook her head.

Mr. Hudson continued, “So, I’m gonna let you blow something up.”

Again, the class erupted into cheers and even Maya sat up straight, a smirk playing at her lips.

“Yes, yes! You and a partner will be designing, creating, and lastly igniting your own fireworks.” The teacher barely managed to call across the room of giddy students.

Instinctually, Riley and Maya knotted their arms together. No one around them even glanced over to ask for a team up. Riley Matthews and Maya Hart were only ever not partners when they were forced to go without. It went without saying that this project would be no exception.

…Until Mr. Hudson spoke next.

“Now, everyone get up and sit in alphabetical order by the last name. Whoever you end up next to, you will be spending the rest of the school year with.”

Riley’s heart stuttered, her smile sliding from her face.

No, no, no! Please, God, no!

Maya whirled around to look at her, wide-eyed as everyone else began to move around the classroom. She knew exactly why her best friend was still sitting on her original stool, frozen. She knew and yet she still looked slightly…amused?

Traitor!

“Ms. Matthews?”

Swallowing, Riley turned to see Mr. Hudson standing beside her (well, she guessed, not anymore) desk.

“Yes?” She squeaked out.

“Is there a problem?”

“…No?”

“Ah, good! Then, I think you’ll find your new seat is over there.” He pointed to a desk a few rows behind Riley. Slowly, the girl turned on her stool to follow the path of his finger.

There, exactly two tables back and one to the left sat a desk with only one boy currently occupying it.

The boy was sitting up, his posture as rigid and awkward as Riley imagined her own was at that moment, and he was fidgeting with the pencil in his hands, whirling it around his long digits expertly.

Farkle fucking Minkus.

His lighter brown hair was styled up in that annoyingly attractive spiked-up way that made it incredibly easy to get a good look at those electric blue eyes. Electric blue eyes that were currently boring back at Riley, cold and calculating and so damn intense.

God, does he always have to look like he’s plotting my murder?

Turning back to Mr. Hudson, Riley opened her mouth.

“Nuh-uh, Ms. Matthews. Your partner is your partner, now get moving.” The chemistry teacher grinned and passed her the stack of books that had been sitting before her. He gestured for her to move along.

Pouting at Maya as she passed, Riley ducked her head and trudged back to the table two back and one to the left. She slammed her books on to the desk and dramatically threw herself down onto the stool.

There was a long, long silence and then…

“Impressive display of maturity, Matthews. I’m in awe, truly.”

Narrowing her eyes, Riley spun on the boy and pointed at him, angrily. “Listen here, you don’t talk to me. You don’t look at me. You don’t breathe on me. Do that and we might actually get a decent grade.”

Quirking an eyebrow and otherwise remaining expressionless, “And followed up by a completely rational reaction, not at all excessive. Color me surprised.”

“Shut up, Minkus.” Riley hissed, turning back to the front as Mr. Hudson began to go on about the project.

The hatred between Riley Matthews and Farkle Minkus began on the very first day of Freshman year.

Riley, bright and shiny with sunlight sown under her skin, had strolled in through the double doors of Abigail Adams High School with high-in-the-sky, apple-pie hopes. She’d been the top student at John Quincy Adams Middle School and had been working on her valedictorian speech since her 351st ‘A’.

It was her beginning, the true start of her path to excellence and Ivy League.

Farkle, darker and more empirical with some dents and scratches in his packaging, stumbled through the doors of Abigail Adams because an upperclassman had rammed into him. He’d been bullied and beaten in elementary school, transferring to Einstein Academy the second his parents said he could. He had excelled there, top marks and every teacher’s favorite, and he was ready to keep the momentum going through high school.

Princeton, as his father constantly reminded him, was calling.

Riley hated Farkle from the moment she heard him cursing under his breath in latin while fumbling with his locker combination.

Farkle hated Riley from the moment he watched her recite Pi to the 28th digit when she’d only been asked for the basic 3.14.

The only thing the two seemed able to agree upon was that Abigail Adams was definitely not big enough for the both of them.

The bell rang, sharp and shrill, and Riley wasn’t sure if she had ever heard anything as sweet as that sound. It had only been a week since Farkle Minkus had been assigned as her partner and she’d already wanted to kill him more times than she could count.

Shooting to her feet, she scowled and ignored Farkle as he opened his mouth to speak.

Once to the door, Riley took comfort in Maya’s waiting presence.

“Are you okay?” The blonde asked, tugging at the lapels of her combat jacket. There was something in her tone that made Riley shot her a questioning look like she found the brunette’s suffering funny.

“Oh, I’m great, Peaches!” Riley grinned painfully, forcing her cheeks to remain locked. “Why on Earth wouldn’t I be? Because Farkle said that he should take charge on our project because we aren’t ‘writing fanfiction about rainbows and butterflies’ so my expertise aren’t required?”

“Ouch.” Maya frowned.

Riley scoffed, wrenching her locker open, “Or maybe because he turned our work packet in after doing it all alone and without letting me see it?”

“Admittedly unnecessary.”

“Oh, oh! Maybe you think I’m not fine because Farkle insisted on checking my work on balancing our chemical equation for gunpowder and, fuck him by the way, actually found one tiny, little mistake?!” Riley’s voice rose and she slammed her locker back shut, crossing her arms tightly over her chest.

Puckering her lips, Maya eyes widened at her best friend, Riley Matthews, cursing aloud and glanced around to see that the outburst had called the attention of some of their peers.

“Move along, ya stalkers, nothing to see here!” She snapped at two passing freshmen, who immediately cowered away and raced off. She turned back to Riley to speak, only to be interrupted by a third party coming to stand a few feet from them.

Farkle stood with his shoulders slouched, hands shoved in his pockets. Riley noticed his shirt was hanging a little haphazardly and his hair was messier than it'd been just before in the chemistry lab. Meeting those cold, blue eyes, she found them looking worn and tired.

Seriously?! What’s the matter with him now?

“Minkus.”

“Matthews.”

“Can I help you?” Riley asked after Farkle didn’t continue.

He groaned and closed his eyes, leaning his head back, “Help is such a strong word.” Looking back down at her, he pulled a folded packet of papers from his pocket and held it out before him. The previously mentioned work packet. Huh.

“Hudson said that the point of having a partner is working with them and not against them, whatever that means.” Farkle shrugged.

Riley smirked, “So, he could tell that you didn’t let me work on it?”

Farkle just stared at her in response and she was once again struck by how exhausted he looked like he was too tired to even be annoyed by her as usual.

“Well, what do you want me to do about it?” She asked, glancing over at Maya. The blonde was watching the chemistry partners back-and-forth as if they were a tennis match.

“We have to redo it.” He sighed and noticed Riley’s drawn eyebrows, “Like together. It’s due first thing tomorrow, the start of class.”

“Wait, what?!” Riley exclaimed, dropping her arms, “But that means-“

“Meeting up after school, yeah, I know.” Farkle shoved the packet back into his pocket and twitchily tugged at his hair. So that’s how it was suddenly all messy… “Believe me, I’m about as excited as you, Matthews.”

Rolling her eye because the whole situation was his fault, Riley grabbed Maya’s arm and pushed past the boy. She threw over her shoulder, “Whatever. Be at Topanga’s at 5!”

“So, your mom owns this place, right?”

Riley glanced up from her chemistry textbook to see Farkle inspecting the little cafe. They’d been working for about an hour already in near silence, having created a rotation system where they completed the work and then exchanged it for the other’s approval. It was actually working quite nicely, and now Minkus had to go and talk.

Following his gaze, Riley’s chocolate eyes took in the familiar atmosphere of her second home. The scent of coffee and fresh croissants hung in the air, filling her nostrils and heart with nostalgia.

Tapping her pencil against the coil of her notebook, she nodded and returned to working, “My family, yeah.” Scrunching up her face, she amended, “Co-own.”

“It’s nice.”

Riley froze, wondering if she’d heard right. Farkle Minkus had never complimented anything about Riley. Never once in the four years that they had known of the other’s existence. And sure he hadn’t said she was pretty or smart or anything but he’d still said something nice about something dear to her.

Weird.

“Uh,” Riley slowly meet his eyes, which were now zeroed in on her, “Thank you.”

“I thought your mom was a lawyer? And your dad’s a history teacher. Where does entrepreneurship come into all that?” Farkle asked.

She shifted and blushed, recalling her mother’s attire on the day they had bought half of the cafe and bakery. A small laugh slipped past her lips as she shook her head, “Actually, it was going to go out of business and my mom has this freakish moral compass so she couldn’t let it go down. And it’s Auggie’s favorite.”

“Your little brother?” Farkle nodded, looking down at his hands fiddling on the table before him.

Confused, Riley nodded, “Yeah. How did you-“

Farkle cut her off, shifting in his booth, “Scientists observe.”

“Sort of comes off like stalking.” She quipped without thinking. Oddly, she hadn’t actually meant it as an insult, just a joke, like she’d tease Maya.

And then something even odder happened.

Farkle laughed.

And not like a breezy, cool-guy chuckle either but a real honker, reminiscent of a car alarm.

It was silent for a moment before Riley burst into her own full out, gut busting laughter, bending over the table with tears forming in her eyes.

“Was,” She gasped between giggles, “that your laugh?!”

The lingering smile that had befallen the boy’s lip instantly slipped away and he slunk down into the booth, glaring at the table, “Shut up, Matthews.”

Rolling her eyes, Riley half-hearted tried to smother her bubbly laughter, “Oh, don’t pout! It was actually kind of cute.” She shrugged, not realizing what she’d said at first.

Once the words did register in her head and she noticed Farkle freeze across from her, however, she viscously backpedaled with a horrified expression, “Not cute! I mean,” She let out a squeaky attempt at a scoff, “I obviously didn’t mean that you were- I was just-“

Riley forced her mouth shut, her cheeks burning as she looked anywhere but at Farkle Minkus.

Her stomach twisted when after several long, long minutes of returned silence and work, she glanced up to see Farkle looking once again at his fidgeting hands, the corners of his mouth curved into the smallest of smiles.

Oh fuck…

Weeks passed and following the evening at Topanga’s, Riley found that Farkle Minkus wasn’t quite as unbearable as she’d always thought.

Nope, that’s not the problem with him anymore… She thought, looking up as the boy in question whirled into the chemistry classroom. Like her, he always seemed to prefer arriving long before the bell rang. Her heart hammered as he approached, head down and eyes on his feet, and she smiled to herself as she looked back at her notebook.

In fact, Riley’s new problem with Farkle Minkus was, ironically, just how very, very bearable she was coming to find him.

Sure, she still wanted to throttle him a few times a class period and, yeah okay, she would still never, ever admit aloud that he was probably, maybe, just a little smarter than her but… something had definitely shifted in the last month she’d now been his partner.

Farkle’s usual remarks that once made her blood boil now made Riley bite back smiles, as she slowly began to realize that most of the time the boy wasn’t being intentionally rude, just incredibly socially inept, which was honestly so endearing.

The effort he had begun putting toward their partnership was another thing to draw her in, and while she figured he was probably just committed to a good grade there was a part of her that liked to think maybe he just trusted her opinion more.

And it didn’t really help how damn adorable he was.

Seriously, Riley had always known that Farkle Minkus was objectively attractive; it had once made her even more infuriated with him. It was just different now. Now, she didn’t feel the need to talk herself out of finding him attractive, to talk herself out of ‘observing’ him.

Observing him just a scientist would, of course, She reasoned. Taking notes on all his nervous ticks because goddamn the boy could just not sit still. Listing alphabetically the names of the important people in his life that he so very rarely mentioned: Jennifer, Lucas, Smackle, Stuart, Zay. Cataloging into a mental database every expression, every curve of a lip or quirk of an eyebrow.

“Matthews.”

Riley pulled herself from her thoughts and turned to give Farkle a nod in greeting, “Minkus.”

“Your weekend?”

“Good. Yours?”

“The usual.”

This was another new routine for the pair. They now actually asked each other, in their own way, about each other’s lives, weekends, and days. Riley relished the small interaction as it not only made her feel like just maybe her endearment was possibly mutual, but it was also teasing enough about Farkle’s life to satisfy her mounting curiosity.

Farkle’s cell phone, set face up on the table between them, buzzed and the screen lit up with a text.

From Jennifer Bassett Minkus: You are not the center of my universe, Farkle.

A pause and then a second buzz and text.

From Jennifer Bassett Minkus: Call your father or get over it.

The boy, who’d been busy hanging up his jacket and backpack on the back of his stool, dropped the bag to the floor and scrambled to grab the cell phone. Shoving it hastily into his pocket, he cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck.

Another nervous tick. Riley noted before what she'd just seen really registered. Her eyebrows drew together as Farkle silently took his seat and kept his head bent.

Jennifer Bassett Minkus, Riley knew from the limited data she had, was Farkle’s mother. Riley had seen the tall, gorgeous, intimidating blonde a few times over the years, walking next to her son in the hall at teacher conferences or whispering on her cell phone in the back row at debates. She’d seemed okay, even if a little terrifying.

Still, her words, seared into Riley’s brain in Helvetica font, seems so harsh. She couldn’t imagine ever having her own mother or father speak to her so brutally.

Thinking for a long moment, Riley swallowed hard and turned to Farkle before she could talk herself out of her next action, “Is everything okay, Farkle?”

His pencil paused mid-word and his eye flickered over to her before he pressed on, “It’s rude to look at other people’s texts.”

“Scientists observe.” Riley countered with an echo of the boy’s own previous statement and kept her gaze and voice steady.

That made him stop his writing.

Farkle remained bent over his paper for a moment before spinning himself around to come face-to-face with the pretty brunette. Like, really, really face-to-face. Like, with how close he was and how those intense, magnetic, electric blue eyes seemed to be taking in every inch of her face, Riley struggled to remember her original question or even the fact that she was current in chemistry and supposed to be copying the notes from the board.

But who would ever be able to think with someone looking at them like that? Like she was a nearly complete theorem that would unravel the mysteries of the stars. Like she was a riddle that he, for whatever reason, was positively desperate to solve.

Swallowing hard, Farkle looked away after a second, after an eternity, and yet Riley still felt completely out of sorts. She blinked several times and, like her partner, returned to copying notes.

“Topanga’s at 5.”

Riley didn’t acknowledge Farkle’s words. Somehow she knew she didn’t have to. He already knew she’d come.

Riley rushed into Topanga’s twenty minutes late and feeling incredibly guilty. Her father always had to stay after school on Wednesdays for bus duty, but this Wednesday her mother also had to work late unexpectedly and had needed her to keep an eye on Auggie until one of them could get home.

She’d practically run from the apartment the moment her father walked in. It wasn’t like she had Farkle’s number to explain and she was worried that he’d give up on waiting for her.

But there he was, sitting at their usual booth, and of course fiddling with his hands.

Riley flung herself down across from him, an apology already on her lips, “Farkle, I am-“

“Matthews.”

“-SO sorry! I swear I didn’t-“

“Matthews.”

“-Mean to leave you waiting. It’s just-“

“Matthews!” Farkle snapped, expression exaggerated and a little bemused.

Riley slammed her mouth shut, a light blush spreading across her face. Looking at the table, her stomach dropped. Farkle’s chemistry book and notebook were open and resting on the surface, obviously being actively utilized. “Oh no! I forgot my stuff!”

“Huh?” Farkle looked confused for a moment before he followed her gaze, “Um, actually, I just had these out while I was waiting, you know, for you.” He shrugged without meeting her eye and reached out to slam the textbook shut.

��Oh.”

Riley blushed more and worried at her lower lip, becoming very interested in her cuticles.

So, Farkle didn’t want to meet for their project… she hadn’t let herself really hope that he just wanted to spend time with her, just wanted to maybe talk to her. But now it seemed the logical conclusion and Riley tried to always be logical.

She waited for Farkle to begin, only he didn’t. He remained silent, slouching in his seat, and rubbing the back of his neck.

Apprehension began to creep into the girl’s bones. She’d never been alone with Farkle Minkus for any reason other than school work and she didn’t really know what to expect. Was this just how he was socially? He had friends, right?

Yeah, Lucas Friar and Zay Babineaux. They’re one mix-match threesome, but they are definitely friends.

Well, then maybe Farkle just didn’t want to talk after all. So, why ask her here? Why wait for her when she didn’t come on time?

Why?

Oh god, what if she’d been imagining his increasing kindness? What if he hadn’t changed his mind about her after all? What if he hadn’t changed his mind but had realized she’d changed her’s? What if he was now just messing with her, laughing at her?

Taking a deep breath, the girl made herself sit up as a display of completely false confidence and narrowed her eyes at the genius across from her, “Look, Minkus, if you just asked me here to mess with me-“

“Mess with you?” Farkle echoed, his head snapping up at an alarming speed, eyes wide.

Riley raised her eyebrows at him skeptically and gestured around them.

He shook his head, quickly, “For once, Matthews, I am honestly not trying to mess with you.”

Looking at him long and hard, Riley sighed and relaxed back into her seat. “So, what are you trying to do, then?”

“Talk to you, obviously.” He stated like she was stupid for not already knowing. She did not appreciate the tone.

“Then talk.”

“Well, shit, Matthews, why didn’t I think of that? They certainly aren’t joking about you being the second in our class.” Farkle snapped, his eyes cold in a way Riley had honestly forgotten they could be. Her chest tightened as his words and gaze cutting into her.

“Oh, yeah, I am so out of here!” She frantically slid out of the booth and started toward the door only to feel a hand grasp her arm, firm but gentle. She didn’t have to, but she followed the limb back up to the boy it belonged to, not saying a word.

Farkle, who always seemed to shy away, who always seemed so indecisive down to the way he couldn’t pick one position to keep his body in, who infuriated and yet enthralled her, stared at her with steady and certain eyes.

“Wait, I shouldn’t have said that,” He paused and let her arm go, “It was wrong.”

Drawing herself up, Riley nodded, “It was.” Then she stepped back and slipped back into the booth across from him, “But I’m going to let it go and give you another chance.”

Farkle laughed but it wasn’t the cute, real laugh Riley had heard that one evening in this same spot. This was hallowed and humorless. She wasn’t a fan. “Why? It’s not like I’ve ever really given you a reason to be nice to me.”

“I don’t believe that kindness should require a reason,” Riley said, simply.

Coming from anyone, anyone, else the statement would have sounded like complete bullshit. But this was Riley Matthews and Farkle had hated her from afar long enough to know that she really was just that idealistic. It was absolutely puzzling to him.

“You might want to start the talking, though. Wouldn’t want to waste my generosity.”

He found himself flickering his gaze back up to Riley without thinking. She was doodling with her finger on the table, a teasing and genuine smile playing on her lips.

So what? She’s nice, that’s great but it doesn’t mean she’ll ever understand. Go ahead, pour your heart out, cry her a river, it won’t change a damn thing.

Farkle looked back down at his hands and sighed, tugging at his hair. “So, my parents aren’t really home a lot…”

And no, he didn’t pour his heart out or cry a river, but he did talk.

He shared with Riley Matthews things that very few people knew, things Farkle had previously only chosen to willingly share with Lucas and Zay and over time Smackle.

He explained how business kept his father away nearly constantly, how his mother took this as permission to never be around either because the money they had obviously needed spending, and how it was really better that way because it was never good when they were both home.

When he finished, he fished his phone from his pocket and flipped it over and over in his hands. “So, that was the text you saw. The academic honor awards for the senior class are next week and when I brought it up, my mom reminded me that I am not…”

“-The center of her universe.” Riley finished, her voice wavering slightly. She shook her head, “She shouldn’t have said that. That ceremony is where they introduce you as valedictorian before graduation and I’m sure you’ve earned more awards than just that this year. You worked hard and you deserve it, she should acknowledge that!”

Quirking an eyebrow, Farkle gave Riley a look, “Matthews, did you just say that I deserve valedictorian?”

A grin broke out across the girl’s face and she shook her head, giggling and not even bothering to try and cover up her obvious affection, “Shut up, Minkus.”

“Hey, Matthews?”

“Hmm?”

“Thanks, you’re actually not the worst person to talk to.”

“And you’re actually not the worst person to listen to.”

OKAY WOW, this turned into a total monster!!! I did not mean for this to get so intense and long and crazy. I have decided that I’m going to end this here, with this little hint of something hanging in the air between our favorite duo. However, I am thinking of a 2nd part if people are interested? Maybe actually explore this version of Riley and Farkle becoming real friends… maybe more? Would anyone like that?

94 notes · View notes