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lore-of-the-silvereyes-rwby · 3 years

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The Hero that was never meant to be

I’m going to ask you guys a quick question. Think back to the volume 2 season finale in 2014. Or before Salem's debut. Once all of the antagonists are defeated and you're now left asking; Who's going to be the next antagonist for the series?

Before we proceed with this inquiry let's take a look at what exactly distinguishes a hero, from a villain.

Hero/Villain/Anti;who knows?

Below are multiple examples/definitions and meanings of heroes and villains as well as their anti sub groups.

Hero

a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

the chief character in a book, play, or movie, who is typically identified with good qualities, and with whom the reader is expected to sympathize.

“a person of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his or her brave deeds and noble qualities." Heroes come in many forms in life, ranging from one's family and friends to athletes to movie stars. A person's heroes can change over time.

Villain

(in a film, novel, or play) a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot.

a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.

a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.

Anti-Hero

a central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes.

is 'a central character in a story, film, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes'. These missing attributes include idealism, courage, and morality. Anti-heroes can sometimes do the right thing, but it is usually because it serves their interests to do so.

Anti-Villain

is the opposite of an Anti-Hero — a character with heroic goals, personality traits, and/or virtues who is ultimately the villain. Their desired ends are mostly good, but their means of getting there range from evil to undesirable.

Now that we have some measure of clarity about this let's get to the point. Basically Ironwood is a Anti-Villain character

If you think back to the things we have learned throughout the series, all the people we have met, you will find that all of Ironwood’s traits align better with Salem, Cinder, Jacques, and Adam. All of them have this hunger for power and/or control, all of them are trying to protect themselves and increase their control.

All of them use a level of manipulation and none of them really cared about the damage it would do to others. Ironwood might be a little better because, at first, it was something he kind of thought about. Kind of. He had trouble relating to the idea that protecting more was better than protecting less, and it seems that he had been struggling to find his heart since the beginning.

Ironwood is a well intentioned and desperate man who wants to protect Atlas against Salem, but he can reach extreme means to do so. By the end of Volume 7, he's willing to abandon both Mantle to die and throw away humanity's best chance of survival by leaving Amity Tower; he also falls far enough to shoot a teenager for comparing him to Salem.

Going hand in hand with his Never My Fault tendencies. Ironwood hates anyone bringing up how his ways don't work, with extreme annoyance being the best reaction possible. It doesn't matter if someone is simply stating the objective tangible negatives of his actions, he will not hear it. He gets into a shouting match with Nora when she calls him out on how much damage he's doing to Mantle and only stops when she points out his proposed solution to deal with the current unrest (martial law) is just going to cause far worse problems if he goes through with it.

While he demands complete loyalty from others, Ironwood has repeatedly betrayed the trust of others in the name of the greater good. If someone is an obstacle to accomplishing what he believes is necessary, he will use political or even military power to enforce his will.

Ironwood has helped Ozpin fight Salem for years but they disagreed over the best way to defend Vale; Ironwood secretly convenes a meeting of the Vale and Atlesian councils to report Ozpin's behavior, resulting in Vale removing Ozpin from overseeing the Vytal Festival security in favor of Ironwood. Qrow later tells Ironwood that he has a strange idea of showing gratitude if he responds to Ozpin bringing him into the fight against Salem by betraying him. Even after being confronted, Ironwood insists that he had no other choice.

Ironwood spends most of Volume 7 promising that the Kingdom of Atlas is safe and that Mantle can count on him to protect them. However, when he discovers Salem is arriving in person to attack Atlas, he decides to abandon Mantle to the Grimm in favour of raising the floating city of Atlas higher in the atmosphere where the Grimm can't go. When Ruby tries warning her allies about Ironwood's plan, he disables her scroll, and has Teams RWBY, JNR, Oscar and Qrow arrested.

Ironwood's a man with good intentions, but he seems to believe the best way to handle any sort of situation is if he is in full control of it. This is seen as early as Volume 2, where he both brings a large fleet (composed mainly of machines) along with students for security and later has the Vale and Atlas Councils transfer security control of the Vytal Festival from Ozpin to himself.

After the Fall of Beacon, James continues to tighten Atlas' defenses with a Dust embargo and closing of its borders, and by the time the heroes arrive in Mantle, there are broadcasts of the general practically saying that as long as they cooperate with his laws, he can and will keep them safe.

As Salem's forces continue to sow discord and increase his paranoia, and when he discovers that Team RWBY has consistently hidden important information from him, Ironwood decides to invoke martial law and raise Atlas out of Salem's reach, under his control. When Ruby warns the others of his plans, he shuts off her call with his own Scroll.

Ironwood is noted for being a man who never gives up pursuing his vision of how people should be protected. When his attempts to convince Ozpin that they're on the wrong path fail, he convinces the Atlesian and Vale councils to override Ozpin's authority and give him direct control of protecting the Vytal Festival Tournament.

In Volume 7, he is willing to pursue his goal of protecting the Kingdom of Atlas against Salem no matter how bad his public reputation becomes with the citizens.

To be clear Ironwood is an Anti- Villain type character in the RWBY story. He may have good intentions but it is unknown as to their extent of what they are. His methods to achieve those methods have only made things worse.

I couldn’t let you breath, cause I didn’t wanna Die

We all say we would die for something but do we actually mean it?

“I would die without regret I offer up my life”

It is hypothetical but not in the way you suggest. The difference between using would or will is not about whether the speaker is being disingenuous about their offer, it’s about whether the speaker knows if they are ever going to be in a position to fulfil their promise

It is hypothetical because the speaker does not know whether there will ever be a situation where they would be in a position to give their life to save you. If they were to use will, it implies they are anticipating that they will be in a position to give their life to save you

When someone says “I would die for you if you need it,” is it just a hypothesis that's never going to happen, the subject doesn’t want to die at all, otherwise they’ll use “will” instead of “would”?

Kill or be killed

All the weapons in rwby appeal to the audience as they have options when it comes to fighting. Ironwoods does not. His weapon is only designed to kill as a reflection of his inability to see reason. As opposed to other characters that show that when they kill it would be a last resort option.

(Think of the Jedi's preference for lightsabers instead of blasters)

Ironwood has a revolver - reliable, never jams. high attack power, similar to his mentality on robotics in general and how he values them focusing on the characteristics of the revolver is the important part, and you see it in another Atlesian character--Weiss Myrtenaster is a Rapier and a Revolver as well, and revolvers are still used nowadays because of their reliability. They'll never jam, and when it comes to a gun all that really matters is hitting the target on a pragmatic mindset at least, and ultimately in the show the weapons used by characters say a lot about them. For example;

Qrow has a scythe - not a weapon, a farmer's tool, alluding to the scarecrow. The actual weapon would be the sword mode, and is inspired by the grim reaper, who uses a scythe because he reaps souls like one would reap what was sown(or harvest)

Jaunes shield and sword are both offensive and defensive weapons which offers a variety of options as to handle conflict

Ozpin's cane symbolically conveys the message that it's okay to be weak and its normal to accept help and support from others

Yang's gauntlets are basically Bruise but don’t kill type weapon as such they give her more control of the damage that is inflicted on her opponents

As ruby put it the Weapons in the show are an extension of the characters. The extent of Ironwoods weapon is that it conveys his blunt, and cold methods that he can’t or won’t embrace alternatives solutions or anyone else's ideas to problems

This can also be seen with his use of militarized Huntsmen and the use of mindless android soldiers. As I stated in I am power Ironwood’s personnel combat abilities are mediocre to non-existent with his true power stemming from the consent of the people to die for his cause instead of him since it's guaranteed that he will die instantly due to his lack of unique or special combat abilities.

(Pretty self explanatory considering he had to sacrifice an arm to beat a nerd)

Fear of death is basic human instinct

Ironwood believes that he is this chosen savior and can’t die and he believes his life is more important than others and would instead sacrifice everyone else instead of him if it would mean victory

Now you're probably asking why does Ironwood not want to die when he said he would? As stated before he doesn’t trust anyone but himself to do the job right. His narcissism and ego prohibit him from trusting others and having faith that people besides him can win.

This has been hinted as early as his debut in V2 where he asks Ozpin;

“Do you honestly believe that your children can win a war?”

Because of this and his Nihilism for rejecting the truth, he believes that he is the most important piece on the bored and everyone should listen and die for whatever he needs if it would mean victory

Ambitions and desires of a broken kingdom

A character without motivation is a really boring character as opposed to one who does. But to realize what their motivation is or what it is truly is another. Ironwood is no different but what exactly is his personal motivation that is unique to him one must wonder?

That's just it, he has no real personal motivation. Like what does he have to lose? What does he have to gain? What is so important that he is willing to go to such lengths that clash with the ideas of Ozpin and the heroes? To answer Atlas. After all, what is Ironwood without Atlas?

It is important to know the effects of a characters home and origins to better understand a character's personality. Ironwood's plans have always been in line with Atlas, whose intentions are that of Ancient Mantle. Now what exactly are the intentions of the former capital that would live through Ironwood.

Atlas as I stated before is more or less a Technocratic Conservatives society led by Authoritative totalitarians with a focus of becoming an Extreme Militaristic Oligarchy that had originally started out as a Resource driven Empire out of necessity and without restriction

To clarify, Ironwood is a byproduct, and enforcer of Mantle’s(later Atlas) Philosophical Ideology and Culture. The effects of one's origins can have a very lasting impact on one's life. Ironwood’s life has been heavily affected by his homeland to the point that he will die for it, and sacrifice whatever he deems necessary for it.

Because of this Ironwoods alignment is that of Lawful Evil because of his Atlas ideology

A Lawful Evil character is an evil character who either tries to impose or uphold a lawful system on others without regard for their wishes, and/or adheres to a particular code. They believe in order, but mostly because they believe it is the best way of realizing their evil wishes.

In other words Ironwood will always be the loyal son of his Kingdom and will do anything to save it.

Now that clears his main motivation and the scale of what he is willing to do to achieve it but what motivates him personally?

Well that's just it there is none. His primary motivation is pretty shared by most of the heroes and main characters and as is the common clause of save the world stories everybody knows they can’t let that happen as peter quill would say;

“Why do you want to save the Galaxy?”

“Because I'm one of the idiots who lives in it.”

So with that in mind what's in it for him that he can’t lose or let the world be destroyed?

You overstepped your boundaries

To help understand his character it is important to understand what exactly his role in the plot was originally and how he ended up biting off more than he can chew when he broke away from it.

Essentially Ironwood was meant to be the overseer and guardian of the relic of creation as well as the trainer of the next generation of huntsman/huntresses. Meaning the only position of power that he should only have is Headmaster of Atlas academy. As I stated in I am machine Ironwood's heroism stems from a lack of trust and in doing so has burdened him with more responsibility than he can handle.

The catalyst

All of the events and conflicts that plague remnant at the shows present can all be traced to Ironwood. An argument can be made for Salem but to me she seems more of an opportunist instead of an actual evil master mine. Being the opportunist she is she needs ammo for which she is otherwise incapable of making on her own. Thanks to Ironwood she has plenty of it to enact her plans and reach her goals

Below is a list of events and conflicts as well as characters that have been affected by Ironwood

(Whether Directly or Indirectly)

The Schnee Dust Companies Immoral and shady practices

I know Jaques is mostly to blame for all of this but one must ask; Why didn’t anyone stop him before V7?

It's already been established in the show that the S.D.C. and Atlas Military have a corporate alliance to mass produce Weapons and ammunition. The most prominent weapons to come out of this alliance was the paladin assault mechs. Now how important was this alliance to Ironwood?

In short, they are the best choice to provide for his needs for war. As long as he gets weapons and all that he needs to sustain a war he doesn't care what the giver has to do to meet his demand. As such Ironwood had enabled Jaques and allowed him to continue his immoral ways so long as he gets what he needs. On the other hand Jaques seems to be at least a decade older than Ironwood so there is a possibility that the corporate alliance has already been there long before Ironwood ever came to power.

But I ask again why didn’t Ironwood who was aligned with a man like Ozpin didn’t stop him? As the Volume 7 commentary stated Ironwood doesn’t care for Ozpin's rules and sees being efficient is more important than being morally good. Because of this Ironwood had been more focused on starting a war first and caring about people second thus he has only spread misery by enabling Jaques’s greed just to have his war. The crimes of the S.D.C. are also Ironwood’s

The family strain of the Schnee family and Winters abandoning

While we’re still on the subject of the Schnee's let's talk about how essentially Ironwood made Winter the Blake to his Adam

As I stated before in “You had me with your words” we don’t exactly know why Winter would be so loyal to Ironwood to the point of saying that her life doesn’t matter in V7 and why she would be so against her family to the point that she makes no effort to see Weiss, and Whitely included and only bothering to be apart of Weiss’s life only because she seems to be following the same path of defiance against their father. In other words she only chooses to interact with her sister only if she is rebelling against their father. If she is not, then Winter wants nothing to do with her.

Now who or what exactly would cause Winter to have this unhealthy mindset in regards to her own personal existence and relationships?

The answer being Ironwood.

If we were to consider Jaques words being serious than it is more than likely the truth. Ironwood did steal Winter, not just from her father but from the rest of her family. I don’t know what exactly Ironwood said or did to turn winter away from her family but it wasn’t out of the kindness of his heart. He did this just to have a loyal subordinate with incredible power( her hereditary semblance) & status( her grandfather's legacy and accomplishments) just to give his power and status more legitimacy.

By doing so Ironwood made Winter believe that her family as well as herself is beyond redemption due to the actions of her father thus leading her to abandon them and only believing Ironwood can redeem her hence why she values her life so little and is willing to die for whatever Ironwoods says.

I understand that winter joined the military to get away from her dad but she had options besides the military and like weiss she could have went to the other academies to get away from her dad but she didn't which i consider Winters greatest flaw is that she has no idea of an actual healthy relationship

The White Fang

This is also speculative but not unlikely as the show has clearly shown; Faunus and Atlas don’t mix.

Same thing with the S.D.C. this can really be seen as indifference on Ironwood’s part and lack of care but still Ironwood didn’t do anything to settle the racial inequality in Atlas even though he is allied in a secret circle that's supposed to keep the peace.

Especially when that inequality was being used to help legitimize a terrorist organization that can be used as a disposable army for Salem which it did.

Watts’s Defection & the P.E.N.N.Y. Project

Ironwood commissioned 5 scientists including Watts and Pietro to make Weapons for war.

Even though Watts is an egotistical bastard it really makes you wonder how someone as smart as him would work for a literal demon lady hell bent on conquest. The same can also be said about why he chose Penny instead of any other actual and practical projects ideal for war.

One thing to note is the possibility that Ironwood did not tell the 5 about the real reason as to why they’re making these weapons in the first place. For example would Pietro really want Penny the closest thing to an actual child that he may have had to be used as one of Ironwoods militarized assets?

We’ve seen what Pietro is like and that he really cares about Penny and if it were his choice Penny wouldn’t be in the situations that Ironwood would place her in. Ironwood had basically taken and drafted Penny without her or Pietro's consent and made her a tool for war and much more.

In semi canon sources(Amity Arena) the general consensus is that the Paladins were Watts’s idea and project. One of the misconceptions is that it was a contest for whose idea would be made but since we see both the Paladins being used and Penny that's not the case. All 5 projects were going to be used but only 1 would take top priority first before others and that project was Penny.

This might actually explain why the paladins were ugly and incomplete in V2 as opposed to their slicker and finished versions in V3. The Penny project took both praise and priority first before the others. Once penny was finished the other projects would begin that may also explain why the Paladins weren’t first revealed until the events of V2 even though Pietro said that the commissions for the projects including the Paladins were almost a decade ago as of V7 ep 7

To Watts he felt insulted that his (to him) practical project was being postponed for a sad man's personal self indulgent pet project. This and due to not really knowing as to why these projects were going to be used for. Because of this and Ironwood’s lack of concern for people He had essentially driven Watts to Salem and made him one of her most valuable assets that she ever had. Salem herself even states that she should have employed his services years ago that alone tells us how valuable an asset Watts was and Ironwood discarded it. Which led to the fall of Beacon and the civil unrest in Mantle With Watts out of the way let's move to the next question

Why the Penny Project?

We all know at this point that Penny is the Pinochio for Pietro’s jopedo. So why would Ironwood approve a project that seems the least efficient and effective for war? There have been many theories as to why but two of them stand out the most; Potential vessel for the maiden powers and Espionage

It has been made clear that Ironwood has been readying for war against other people Salem specifically but how does one go about that? The first of which can be explained as Ironwood trying to make the ultimate artificial warrior with incredible power. As Ironwood has more faith in machines than people he would see Penny as the ultimate super soldier that he can use in his war

The second theory as to why he chose penny could be for spy and espionage purposes. As stated by cinder in volume 3 where this theory originates from; why would Atlas make a robot look like an innocent little girl? We know why Pietro made Penny look human but why would Ironwood go along with making a T800 complete with realistic skin and hair? Besides Pietro there was no logical reason to make penny look as humanly as possible. Like the Terminators who were designed for infiltration and assassination missions and Ironwood being a paranoid individual who sees the world as one of two things; you’re either an asset or a threat / Penny or similar models would have been used to spy and eliminate potential threats in the other kingdoms. With the possibility as to what Ironwood would use penny for before her reveal in V3 clear let's move on to the last part of this bullet point

Why didn’t Ozpin know about Penny?

Prior to the truth of her origins being revealed via her death by Pyrah the only people who knew she was an android are cinder’s team, Ruby, Pietro, and Ironwood. The villains knew that truth after being fortunate enough to have Ironwoods scroll infected by the virus and Ruby found out by accident from penny.

So officially the only people that were allowed to know the truth about Penny were Pietro and Ironwood. Winter and the Ace-opts don’t count as Volume 7 confirmed that they were brought into the fold after the fall of beacon along with penny so by the time of the fall of beacon they had no idea about salem or that was the sole purpose as to why penny was made.

The same can be said for Watts too since Penny was still an idea being developed along with being assumed dead and not seen in atlas for years. Thus Watts never even knew what penny looked liked. Had he known i'm pretty sure he would’ve revealed that to Salem who would have given it to cinder for use in her mission. But as V3 shows Cinder finds out after getting access to Ironwood's personal scroll. Meaning that Ironwood kept Penny so secret that he never even bothered or considered to tell Ozpin.

By the end of PVP Ironwood sounded like a terrified child who got caught while trying to explain to a pissed off Ozpin about Penny only to be coldly told in a threatening tone to use the army that he brought to clean up his mess or else. That alone is proof enough from Ironwood that he never told Ozpin about Penny and was scared of what Ozpin would do to him for catching him on his secrets and lies.

So why didn’t Ironwood tell Ozpin about Penny? Short answer Ozpin would never approve the use of Penny. It was already established in V3 ep 6 that Atlas has been doing unethical experiments with Aura. Ozpin and most of the inner circle don’t really approve of such practices but can tolerate it and use it if they have to. But most likely not to the extent of using it to make artificial living beings just to be soldiers.

This would be a similar moral dilemma as the clone troopers from star wars who were bred and mass produced at an accelerated rate to fight in a war that they didn’t even understand or have a choice to fight in with the mindset and innocents of a child. The Umbara arc from season 4 of the clone wars series perfectly depicts the unhealthy amount of abuse the clones faced and the length of being taken advantage they were forced to endure

Now apply that to an army of pennies with the same childlike innocence and naivety and sentience being deployed into combat without much preparation and are expected to die just to buy time for the real heroes to win.

Now who is more likely to use a clone army without concern for the morality and ethics about making it let alone not care for the well being of those clones

A key important factor to remember is that until V7’s end Ironwood was pro war as he thought he could win against Salem if he had the largest army at his disposal. Penny was no exception and Ironwood only saw her as a potential part needed for his war machine. Because of the war centric views of Volume 2 & 3 Ironwood and lack of concern for the safety of others Ironwood had set the stage perfectly for volume 3’s finale

The Fall of Beacon

The points above actually help validate and contribute to the Fall of Beacon, but it's true Beginning for its fall started when Ironwood arrived at Beacon in Volume 2. As stated by Oz in Ironwoods first appearance Headmasters don’t usually attend the vytal festival with their students. Given what we now know about the importance of the academies, Ironwood pretty much abandoned his post and risked the safety of the relic under his charge.

All in what appears to be an effort to make a power grab against Ozpin and promote Atlas.(That’s probably speculative but not far off the bat given Ironwoods doubts and actions by the end of V2).Ever since his debut Ironwood has always been a character that contradicts the main characters that are suppose to be the heroes

He seems to only believe the best way to handle any sort of situation is if he is in full control of it. This is seen as early as Volume 2, where he both brings a large fleet (composed mainly of machines) along with students for security. Ironwood has helped Ozpin fight Salem for years but they disagreed over the best way to defend Vale; Ironwood secretly convenes a meeting of the Vale and Atlesian councils to report Ozpin's behavior, resulting in Vale removing Ozpin from overseeing the Vytal Festival security in favor of Ironwood.

Volume 2 also has Ironwood reveal to Glynda that he thinks Ozpin is hiding something from them. Glynda points out that he's part of the inner circle that's hiding things from the rest of the world and that he needs to stop talking about trust and learn how to trust others. Ignoring her advice, he secretly collaborates with the Vale Council to strip Ozpin of his control over the Vytal Festival security, then tells Ozpin to trust him.

This also brought up the possibility that Ozpin would be removed as Headmaster of Beacon academy. Not only was Ironwood willing to depose the leader he was following from his position of power but also remove an important ally from safeguarding one of the most important and crucial places in all of the world that also holds probably the most important relic of all of them(The Crown of Choice)

I already talked about how Penny’s secret had contributed to the fall so I’ll be talking about how Watts contributed to it since I forgot to include in the last bullet point. Its a very small Easter egg but on Cinders scroll as she was rigging the vytal tournament for CVFY’s match and discovering Penny’s android nature there is a small cursive W at the corner of her scroll. The small W that Watts uses as a holographic icon when he calls Leo in V5. RT has said that they had WTCH in their back pocket for years until they were revealed taking that into account it is clear that the virus that infected Beacons CCT Ironwoods scroll and forcing the droid army to commit order 66 was made by Watts.

The virus and the cyber warfare aside the next final contribution on Ironwood’s part was the imprisonment of Roman Torchwick

It's pretty much been clear that Torchwicks' imprisonment was an improvised plan on the villains part to get an inside man aboard a warship. Basically it was like Heath Ledger's joker in the dark knight; he wanted to get caught. Torchwick himself said that he is where he wants to be to Ironwood at the end of V2. As V3 showed Torchwick and Neo took over what can be assumed to be Ironwood’s personal flag ship and used it to destroy the rest of the air naval section that was brought for the Vytal security team.

This could have been avoided had Torchwick not been released into Ironwood's custody or at the very least kept somewhere else that should he escape he couldn’t have done so much damage. The Airships aside it was also possible that Roman had used the onboard artillery on the city as well that means that innocent civilians weren’t just being mowed down by hacked robots but being carpet bombed as well increasing the death toll at the fall of Beacon.

The Dust embargo and closing of borders

Since the fall of Beacon Academy, Ironwood has become increasingly unstable and paranoid, making more and more ethically questionable decisions that he repeatedly justifies as the greater good; by his own admission, he will do anything it takes to stop Salem.

This however does not fare well with the rest of Remnant though.

As Atlas is the primary location for most of Remnants Industry as well as having a monopoly on Dust; Remnant’s most crucial resource that everyone needs in order to survive, the other kingdoms rely heavily on Atlas for technology, resources and weapons. By placing an embargo he has cut off everyone in the world from their most valued resource. Though he did this to stop the enemies chain of supply he is still letting people suffer and die by with-holding the one thing they need to live and survive.

Which brings us to the borders

Though it could have eased tensions after the fall of Beacon it just lasted too long as well as the fact that Ironwood had essentially turned his back on the world and refused to help the other kingdoms in their time of need. In the CFVY book spin-off all of the Beacon students either went to Haven or Shade academy to finish their training. As well as the Vale refugees going to other kingdoms as well. But due to Atlas closing its borders none of the students or the people went to Atlas for help. Basically due to Ironwood’s orders the Kingdom of Atlas was forced to not help the other kingdoms when they needed it the most.

And it has only gotten worse due to the events at Mistral in V5 as not only are the students of both Beacon and Haven going to shade, putting a strain on the academy but leaving the entirety of the worlds largest kingdom unguarded and undefended as it now lacks able huntsmen to protect it due to Ironwood’s refusal to help

It should also be noted that when Ironwood closed the borders he had failed to inform any off his subordinates of who can and can’t enter the kingdom especially in regards to allies like Glynda or Qrow who again are allies against Salem and Ironwood made little to no effort in keeping contact with the other Oz members. This is made evident in V6 when the Argus soldiers refused to believe Qrow about being an ally to Ironwood. you could say that he was waiting on the amity project to make contact with the other members but he had to have realized that they needed to get into atlas at some-point. But did he make it easy for them or any other ally to reach him? No he did not.

The Mistral Huntsmen Genocide and the Battle of Haven

Second verse, same as the first, he had put them in a hearse. Another example of Ironwood’s indifference and hypocrisy that led to the death of allies and innocent people.

Due to the events of the Fall and it being broadcasted the enormous state of panic had spread throughout all of the kingdoms. The negative emotions in mass had attracted the Grimm and caused much havoc and loss throughout all of them and the worst to suffer from this mass hysteria was most likely Mistral due to its larger population and territory.

In V5 Lionheart had confirmed that Mistral losses were heavy and many of the local huntsmen including the Professors from Haven were killed in the initial grimm invasion that plagued Mistral following the fall of Beacon. After the initial panic had settled down the Mistral council had been employing Huntsmen in mass and restricted their activity to crucial and vital missions in high profile areas to ensure the safety and stability of the Kingdom.

Now the real question comes in where was Atlas?

In the world of remnants shorts its confirmed that Mantle and Mistral have an alliance that eventually carried into Atlas. With that being said, where was Mistral’s ally during the fall out and what were they doing. We know in V5 that all Military Assets were recalled within the month prior to the battle of Haven. I know that the kingdoms are weary of Atlas at this point but given the state of the world after the fall, Mistral needed all the help they could get. As such Mistral would have to call upon the old alliance and have them honor their word and offer aid.

Or at the very least transfer some assets over to Mistral to use it as needed. We have the base in Argus sure but that was just a forward border control base that didn’t really help anybody. Prior to the recalling Ironwood had Winter gather intel on potential activity that would lead to a second fall of a huntsmen academy and he chose to do nothing. This is further proof of his hypocrisy and arrogance. Ironwood at this point is reading the military for war and with holding aid and support that was actually needed.

His V4 self is a stark contrast to his V2&3 self as that version of himself was willing to manipulate and intervene in the affairs of other nations under the assumption that the ends justify the means and would see himself above the rules so long as it's for the greater good and stop the threat before it can escalate. That was exactly what Ironwood did at the end of V2 by stealing power from Oz and tried to enforce his own set of rules if it would prevent a disaster.

Now why did Ironwood not do the same thing with Mistral and try to prevent the potential fall of its academy regardless of the bad publicity that it would warrant? It's already been said by Ironwood that he doesn’t trust Leo to handle the situation at Mistral and based his dissection to close the borders on Winters report and decided to prepare for an potential attack on Atlas rather than sending a small task force to handle the threat at Mistral.

Taking into consideration his plan for Amity it's quite possible that he wanted Leo to fail and Mistral to be ready to eat from his palm. In other words unless there is something to gain and benefit from he’s not going to do it.

Ironwood all the way till he was told the truth about Salem in V7 had a War is the Answer mentality and was hoarding everything and anything that would help sustain a long campaign as well as increasing the size of that force with the intent that that the large numbers were enough to intimidate Salem and her faction into surrendering and eventual destruction. The only problem is that the people he needs were born in a time of relative peace.

Because of the 80 year age of peace that followed the Great War the Modern world of Remnant has had zero to no conflicts as large or damaging since that one war. There were small conflicts sure like the faunus war, the White fang terrorist cell, and the criminal underworld but they weren’t that much or a threat or concern to a majority of remnant it wasn’t until the Fall of Beacon that the foundation of this peace was shaken so intensely that the cracks started to show but it was still together if only held by a thread.

With the Peace in mind and the peoples faith still with the huntsman as their distrust for Atlas Military lingers no one in the world of remnant outside of Atlas would have any motivation or desire to mobilize for war let alone a war for a foreign leader of a foreign land that has recently come under suspicion. Ironwood was never going to be able to unite the Kingdoms and mobilize their people for his war after the fall of Beacon with Atlas being painted as the bad guy. Unless the situation went from worst to extreme.

Like if another academy were to fall with the same or greater results like Beacon. Then maybe people all around the world would consider following Ironwood’s lead and wipe out the threat before things can get even worse.

Because of this Ironwood had allowed Mistral and possibly the other Kingdoms to exhaust themselves so much that they would be unprepared for the next major Grimm invasion should they come after the next major hysteria induced panic. Panic like Ironwood’s original plan to unite the world and tell them about Salem causing the kingdoms to fall into further disarray only to be saved by the flying grace of Ironwood and his Military. And the only repayment for his help is that you join his fight.

I know this is all speculative and you can say Lionheart was the one who was responsible for mistrals problems after the fall, but remember Leo was the only Faunus on the council of a racist kingdom and only had one seat over the huntsmen and can only give out and approve mission assignments that would get them killed thus he had no real authority or power in Mistral besides siding with the majority and even if he tried to talk the council into refusing Ironwoods help their racism wouldn’t listen to Leo and they would do the opposite and call for aid.

But again Ironwood prior to the fall was willing to stop the threat at its source regardless of politics. But after the fall he had put all of his focus on preparing for war instead of helping people that needed his help at that moment. This may be due to his semblance(still dumb BTW) but ultimately he was focusing on his own needs first than the needs of others. Because of this he had ignored the issues of Mistral and failed to see the truth of what Lionheart was doing and had allowed Most if not all of the well trained and experienced huntsmen of that kingdom to die leaving the kingdom defenseless and unprepared for any conflict that would come.

Like the Battle for Haven for example. Had Ironwood not recalled everyone back and had Winter and whatever Atlas personal that were with her its quite possible that the battle may never had happen, the truth about leo would have been discovered sooner and the genocide of Mistrals huntsmen wouldn’t have been as bad had Ironwood actually chose to help, Instead he started to fall back and focus on the Amity Project and Atlas instead of spending any resource outside of them, due to a narrow focus to and putting everything on it just so he can have his Victory.

The Civil unrest in Mantle

A loved and respected leader will die by the side of his people: A feared and hated one will die by their hand. Short term closing the borders cloud have helped ease tensions between Atlas and the rest of the world but long term it had made things worse

Due to the fall of Beacon it's quite possible the initial attacks that came after can explain why Mantle's defensive wall was so destroyed and ruined by the time of V7. That means that potentially for almost over a year that wall has had no repairs or maintenance and has had the bare minimum leaving the citizens in a state of constant peril and danger since the fall of beacon

This is further made worse when Ironwood closed off the borders and cut off the chain of supplies and trade not only to Atlas but also to Mantle as well making the kingdom suffer more than it had to. As the original capital, the rise of Atlas reduced Mantle to a shadow of its former self. Streets are run-down, technology is old, security defenses haven't been updated in years, and smog from the mines hangs heavy over the city. People struggle to eke out an existence, depend on dangerous mines for work and experience regular Grimm attacks that the city increasingly struggles to repel. Meanwhile, Atlas hangs in the sky above their heads; a constant reminder of the wealthy elite that is failing to share the wealth that Mantle creates, and a target of Mantle's growing resentment and anger at having been left so far behind.

Ironwood who is again allied with and a member of a secret circle that is supposed to keep the peace and prevent any social unrest that can cause a conflict. Thus he should have tried to ease the tensions and made the conditions of Mantle better in order to maintain peace. Now I know it's not solely Ironwood’s fault for the state that Mantle is in as he hasn’t been in a position of power for long but still he should have focused on the people instead of preparing for a war that may have never come. A stark contrast to Ozpin’s way of preserving peace and handling threats

Because of his narrow focus and indifference he made things worse as he was only focusing on potential threats that have yet to come instead of focusing on the issues and preventing them before they escalated. After the fall, the embargo and closing of Borders Ironwood concerned himself with preparations for an assumed winnable war instead of trying to restore peace and keep the people on his side. Which is ironic as he was doing this to rally a large force and stop the threat but did not consider that he may have been pushing away potential troops and allies that he would have needed. And only stoked the people's frustrations

This is mostly due to Ironwood never giving an estimate of time for how long the embargo and the borders would last as well as not giving a clear and believable reason as to why he was doing all of this in the first place. I know he was going to tell Mantle and the world about Salem eventually and he did in V7 but that was only because he was forced to and used it to take out potential threats by baiting them. This is also added with the fact that he really didn’t have any solid proof that would make the people believe him about Salem as well. Due to the frustration of the people it would just sound like made up propaganda and Ironwood shifting blame onto a fake enemy to drive people's attention onto something else. And yes the people believed it but remember they were being evacuated so i don’t think they were buying Ironwood's statement but were just glad that they were being saved.

And in the end it doesn’t even matter as ultimately Ironwood caved in to fear and decided to leave Mantle for dead. Which could have been avoided had Ironwood focused his attention to the needs of people rather than the needs of war. One of the constant themes of the show is that victory is not in strength or in mass numbers but within the small and willing hearts of those that will fight no matter what.

In conclusion Ironwood had played a pivotal role in contributing to all of the conflicts that plague the world of Remnant at present, even if it were minor role he nonetheless helped set the stage for the villains and Salem

The reason why I say that; as stated in earlier sections: Despite all of his talk about the greater good for the world he really means the greater good of Atlas and by extension himself. He is prioritizing his kingdom above all else at the expense of the other kingdoms and exploits of their people for his kingdom's own personal gain. As well as with holding beneficial technology that could actually benefit and improve the living conditions and way of life of the other kingdoms.

Ironwood’s inability to trust and have faith in people and others to keep the peace ultimately led to him intervening in affairs that he had no right to and with his own belief that his way is what is best had caused the Fall of Beacon and the events and conflicts before and after it.

It was over before it started

Now the Question must be asked what was Ironwood’s plan?

Ironwood throughout the series believed that he could win against Salem, and by the end of volume 7 he still believed that he could win, but in reality he had already lost the moment he tried to start a war.

To quote Ruby as she asked Ozpin: what was Ironwood’s plan to stop Salem if he ever had one to begin with? As far back as Volume 2 to Volume 7 Ironwood’s ideas and plans to handle Salem seemed to be; gather a large force, blitz run her stronghold, and destroy her with WMD’s. Most of his plans stem from an appeal to force and intimidation tactics via large numbers with heavy armament. In any other circumstances this could have worked had it been a different kind of villain that wasn’t immortal. As V6 has revealed Salem can’t die through traditional means such as modern warfare thus making Ironwood’s plans and solutions moot and pointless. Once he is told the truth in V7 he still continues down the same path of thinking that has not only failed but enabled the villains goals as well. So it must be asked why does Ironwood not see that his way is flawed and that he was never going to win if he continues down this path?

Ironwood's numerous conflicts throughout the series occur because he feels he does not need to follow the standards he sets for others; He demands people trust him while showing them none in return. He forces others to sacrifice much for the cause while giving up very little in return. He insists on loyalty when he has turned on others solely because they disagreed with him.

As Volume 7 progresses, he becomes willing to commit increasingly dubious actions in order to oppose Salem. He starts off by imposing a military embargo on Mantle despite the economic hardships said embargo is causing for the civilians on the ground and diverting resources that Mantle needs to rebuild its infrastructure to build a comm tower at Amity Colosseum. By the end of the volume, he's degenerated into declaring full martial law, abandoning Mantle to die, and either attacking or having arrested anyone who opposes him.

Salem and her faction were a tumor that can only be handled with the surgical precision of a scalpel not with the bulk of a fleet or large armies. The Huntsmen were that scalpel and to be specific the Huntsmen that Oz had chosen as they were meant to protect all people and prevent conflicts without personal bias or desire. Ironwood only acted in the self interest of Atlas and the benefits that he would gain from it

Ozpin’s priority had always been the people, no matter where they came from. However, I think he was once in Ironwood’s shoes. I am pretty sure he tried everything, including the same things Ironwood did, and saw it fail horribly. Ozpin or at least the soul, has had centuries to millennia's of experience in fighting Salem and managing the world. The delicacy of the human mind and heart are something he is well acquainted with, and I think he already knew what type of person Ironwood was, or at least was becoming. Near as I can tell, the big reason he kept Ironwood on at this point was because Ironwood had the resources and technology he needed to keep his plan moving forward and wouldn’t relinquish them.

Ozpin worked hard to maintain the peace and goodwill of the people. Ironwood, so far, has not. Having robot sentries on every corner without the concept of morals and stopping trade for a kingdom that can not easily generate its own resources, as well as hoarding those resources and preventing necessary repairs and aid to those people–those actions all show that he is not keeping this important aspect of leadership. He is not making sure that the people are on his side so when he needs them because he does not consider their needs as important unless they are in line with his own

Even with the Knowledge of the truth of Salem’s immortality he is still sacrificing everyone and everything else for nothing just to keep up the illusion that he is the hero and to keep his source of power high in the clouds away from anyone who really needs it

I may have been a little harsh on Ironwood for his actions, especially V7 and I understand the circumstances that led to escalation by the end of the volume. He was making dubious decisions but he was trying to do better, he listened at times and tried to show an extension of trust, the kids with giving them the lamp back, and later with Robyn at the dinner. These were due to the positive influences of Oz. He just fell back to old habits hard and turned to extremes when it became clear he had non control of what was happening by V7 end. He was struggling with old habits and opening up and was doing better that first part of the night a prime example of what the creators meant if Ironwood had been more open and trusting of others but when everything went down he was pushed over the edge in the latter half of the night cementing his fall and decent into an antagonist further making the problem worse as he has always done. This is mostly due to his primary source of influence; Atlas (which we can agree has been the biggest source of conflict in the show so far) and probably his lack of understanding and planning for what comes after all is said and done.

What did you think would happen?

The question must be asked; What happens after Salem? The fandom has pretty much each their own idea of what might happen after Salem is finally defeated. But do the characters know what happens after the war especially Ironwood? As the end of the hero’s journey goes; Nothings the same after you become a hero. And given Ironwood’s behavior and actions before his fall in Gravity, Ironwood seemed to have ambitions and plans in the works for the long run after Salem was no longer a threat. As stated before in I am Machine no one is truly altruistic to the point that they do something that doesn’t benefit them. So what exactly did Ironwood want after Salem was gone to the point that most if not all his actions and decisions were in the effort to reach and make those plans come true?

As stated in Broken Kingdom Ironwood doesn’t really have any personal desires or motivations that aren’t related to Atlas or the Heroes common goal to stop Salem. As far as we can tell Ironwood has no current family members at present and there's very little that tells us that he has anything in mind outside of either Atlas or Salem ,so what does Ironwood have to gain from this conflict?

All hail the conquering Hero

Ironwood’s biggest issue is that he has to be the center of everything, that he has to be in control. First he’s going to try and gain control with his army, while trying to wrangle anyone else back under his control. Then, when it becomes clear that anyone who has a plan that better and could work, he’s going to get competitive, come up with new and crazy superweapons to throw against the enemy in an attempt to prove that he can defeat Salem before the heroes can gather allies from across Remnant. He believes that He is strong, that He is brave, that He doesn’t need to run to anybody for help! He believes that he is the hero and is letting his self entitlement cloud his mind and it has gotten the better of him

An In-Universe example of this false belief comes from RWBY: Amity Arena as it gives bios to every character in the game compiled by the In-Universe developers. While many try to be objective, the ones representative of the Atlas Elite tend to demonstrate a notable bias, most prevalent with the General's. His bio is very defensive of him, calling him the "hero of our time" and that he wears the burden of the world on his shoulders, talking him up as a Hero with Bad Publicity. The bio goes as followed;

General Ironwood. The hero of our time and Atlas' greatest protector. Under the general, we have advanced to incredible heights, discovered new technologies, and created the world's first artificial intelligence. Though horrifyingly revealed at Amity Arena, Penny is our proud foray into sentient AI, and Ada is the culmination of the machine learning we have long developed in our labs.

As reviled as he was for his misguided attempt to protect Vale, how can the world fault our General when the culprits are out there? How can the victims be blamed for the sins of the perpetrators? Is incompetence somehow a greater sin than premeditated evil? Our General may have failed to protect Beacon, but he's not the one that hacked our weapons into hurting the innocent.

Yet... he wears that burden on his shoulders like he is alone in the world...

Ozpin, missing. Lionheart, dead. Theodore, uncertain. We say Atlas is the greatest, the mightiest... the city in the clouds, but what is first place when there is no competition? Yet, our kingdom and our General... we're the best chance that humanity's got... which scares us to death.

Menagerie?

...what about it?

After reading that you can probably see through the propaganda, hypocrisy and ego that are written in the bio. A key factor to note is that this was possibly made after the main heroes arrived in Atlas and before the election night. And since there's been no contact or travel between the kingdoms and Ironwood was aware of Leo's status by worst case scenario it tells us that the heroes have shared everything with Ironwood in regards to those events concerning Haven.

Since Ironwood is looked up to as a god by his subordinates and since he was the one of the only few to have known about them as well as to have the status to make any key choices since the app is made by atlas scientists contracted to the military. Thus Ironwood had used it and the blind loyalty of his loyalists to make propaganda and shift the blame from himself to something else as well as try to emotionally manipulate the people by making them sympathize with him while ignoring the truth.

He is not Remnant's only hope nor is he the best choice.

This is another example of his never my fault montra and he does things right and its further shown in the bio as it not only continues to discredit the other Headmasters(I am well aware of leo) but ignores all the good and actual heroism of other people like the Faunus of Menagerie as they are to the primary reason as to why Haven didn’t become the next Beacon and as stated before in an earlier section the opportunity for the Battle of Haven was in a way created by Ironwood who had chosen to flee and protect his city instead of preventing an attack like he had originally intended with Vale.

It may also show how much Ironwood believes in his own hype as it does paint him as some sort of de facto king of Atlas. Again he views himself as the chosen savior of the chosen people and that it is his destiny to rule and change the world as he sees fit. Or as Watts puts it the Giant that stands above all

I’m the Captain now

I think it's safe to say that almost everything he does is a twisted version of Ozpin's ways as well as to place himself as Remnant's ultimate leader as he believes he is the one that can ensure a safe and secure world. Ever since his debut he has undermined everything that Ozpin has done and stood for because he believes his ways aren’t efficient ( Or beneficial) to him and has been systematically taking power and control away from him and placing himself as the new big good.

He wants to be the New warrior king and change the world as he sees fit as he only sees Ozpin as either a failure or a hindrance to him and his plans. Combine that with his Atlas ideology and a lot of things make sense. I mentioned in the False chosen one that Ironwood may have been influenced and tried to emulate the Warrior king as to better rise and gain power and correct the supposed mistakes of Ozpin. Even though that he has claimed to be doing it for the greater good of all of Remnant but he really means only Atlas and himself

A world Reborn in my image

A major factor to consider is that Ironwood is a by-product of Atlas that was a by-product of Ancient Mantle. Ironwood is essentially a living mouthpiece for Atlas. He pretty much the living embodiment of the kingdom if it were a character. That's the sad truth of Ironwood is that he is simply an extension of this toxic environment and tricked into believing that its this ideal society when in truth it never was. In other words a legacy of tyranny lives on through Ironwood

We’re all aware of the origins of Atlas and its rise to prominent power. It started out as Mantle that began with a handful of people that prospered by adapting to the harsh conditions by making advanced technology faster than the rest of the world. It eventually formed a trade alliance with Mistral trading tech for food. A grimm incident occurs and Mantle thought being cold emotionless robots was a perfect solution. It tried to force its toxic ideology onto other civilizations and was met with mixed results. The Great war happens they lose and all of their resources are spent forcing it to rebuild its economy that eventually gives way to Atlas

Now how does this affect Ironwood?

Well Mantle through its alliance with ancient Mistral possibly adopted their ideals of imperialism and expansion as Mistral was the world's largest territorial economic empire of its time. When it comes to the rise of an empire and the type they are as well as their need for expansion it can be summed up to these 3

Economic empire

Ideological empire

Territorial empire

Due to Mantle's lack of essential resources like food and energy, its early days were more or less focused on establishing a strong economic trade empire in order to get the essential supplies needed to sustain life in solitas. After its great depression period after the War the kingdom's economy began to grow at a rapid rate that by the time the kingdom shifted to Atlas it had Remnants largest economic empire.

This is also an important factor to consider since the sad truth of it all is that as long people can make a stable income and support themselves, they are more than likely to turn a blind eye to any shady or immoral activities so long as there's something to gain. What does this have to do with Ironwood you ask? Well as his bio card said Ironwood has pretty much been proclaimed as the kingdoms benefactor for its prosperity. This may have been due to his Corperate alliance with The Schnee’s since it was Mostly Nicolas and Jaques as far as we know being the most prominent reason as to why Atlas has prospered.

When Ironwood formed that alliance with the SDC it gave him at least half of the power and influence of the company that was truly responsible for the kingdom's wealth and claiming it as his own. Once he had gotten some control over the economy it was time to move onto the next step and increase the empire from economic to Ideological or Political expansion.

Empires change and adapt in order to satisfies their needs now that Ironwood is the de facto head of that empire and given what we know about him and Atlas it is quite possible that he has been indoctrinated to have this desire to create an empire for Atlas as the politics and ideologies of its people have given it a false sense of entitlement and need to have everything under their control.

When looking at it from V1 to V3, it looks as if Ironwood was trying to occupy without resorting to force then you're left asking the real questions like "Why is ironwood selling the people of Vale on Atlas military Technology?" "Why is it that when a breach happens in vale, Atlas Bots rush in?" "Why did Ironwood make a power play to become the security of the Vytal Tournament?" It all seems to point to the same thing, Ironwood wanted control over Vale

A section of Lyrics from the song “When it Falls” may help reveal Ironwoods true intentions since his introduction and to be honest they seem relevant only to him and given his actions this is mostly likely the truth as they go like this;

“They play the part of allies

Claiming peace their only goal

But once the fight for power starts

They'll eat each other whole

Their iron gloves point fingers

They'll wage a war of blame

And mankind will wilt in pain”

As of V7 aren’t those words mostly relevant to Ironwood? After all, what has he done recently? He claims to be an ally with intentions of peace but he’s really trying to control those who buy that lie and escalates the situation to the extreme for no logical reason other than to set the stage for the next part in relation to the lyrics.

After all is said and done the fight for power will start and he wants to win and consume everyone before they can consume him. And as things go wrong he points his metal hands blaming everyone but himself as he tries to gain control and power, the world suffers.

Ever since his debut he has been trying to amass Political power which would lead to a territorial empire under Atlasian control. Playing into the theory that he does want to be a better version of Oz he wouldn’t make the same mistakes that he assumed the king did by letting the kingdoms remain independent instead of being under the control of one.

A king has his reign and then he dies

To continue on with the theory that he is essentially a bastardized version of Oz, Ironwood may have been trying to find ways as to make himself immortal

Another reason as to why he would see Ozpin as inferior is due to the fact that for all his power he can’t stop himself from dying, or at least maintain the same amount of world power and status from his last life. This may have given Ironwood ideas and ambitions to pursue any methods that may yield results that may make him a true immortal version of Oz hence why he most likely authorized the research and development of the aura transfer technology as a means to artificial reincarnate till proper immortality was achieved.

This could also be another reason as to why he may have chosen the Penny project. As it could lead to a way of extending his life as a means of transhumanism; immortality through technology

To reiterate Ironwood doesn’t trust anyone to do things right so he micromanages everyone under his control and makes them dependent on him. This is best seen with Winter and Clover as Winter would side with a madman as opposed to siding with her sister and clover’s inability to think for himself led to his death.

Due to his lack of faith in people Ironwood makes them less independent and make them rely on him as he may believe if everyone is dependent on him then the more control that he will have over them as to better determine who is a threat as the people he controls are more or less robots now without a conscious or sense individuality and are less likely to commit evil acts. Similar to ancient Mantle’s anti life policies before the war.

If he believes that to be the case and since he only trusts himself to see it through he’s going to try and find ways to make him live as long as possible until his methods become autonomous. Because of his lack of faith for others Ironwood doesn’t understand or refuses to understand the fact that he is going to die one day and everything that he has ever accomplished will be undone by the ultimate victor; TIME.

This is sadly the likely outcome as everything changes through the passage of time. As time moves so does the advancement of decay upon the world. Ironwood is already dying by aging and all that he has achieved will be undone or outdone by others that will come after him. The same thing can be said for everyone else in the show as they already lost.

Ruby, Oz, Cinder, even Salem herself have already lost to time. Everything they have or will achieve will be undone as well and one day they will all die. It’s just a matter of how and when.

To better explain let's take a look at Epsilon’s final speech from RVB season 13;

“There are so many stories where some brave hero decides to give their life to save the day, and because of their sacrifice, the good guys win, the survivors all cheer, and everybody lives happily ever after. But the hero... never gets to see that ending. They'll never know if their sacrifice actually made a difference. They'll never know if the day was really saved. In the end, they just have to have faith.”

Does Ironwood have faith in anyone that's not under his control?

People only do wrong when the perceived benefits outweigh the cost in that moment. Ironwood doesn’t just see an opportunity to stop Salem he also sees an opportunity to bring the world under Atlasian control with him at the top. Since he has amassed so much power and authority he sees himself above the rules that everyone respects and follows. Because of this Ironwood tries to hold unto that power because without he is nothing and would become a lesser and weaker being which would be an affront to his perfectionist ideologies

If your nothing without it then you don’t deserve it

Take away Ruby’s Silver eyes and what is she? Someone that will continue to fight no matter what

Take away Atlas from Ironwood and what is he? Nothing but a broken man who had this coming for a long time.

As I stated in I am power Ironwood by himself has nothing to contribute to the fight against Salem. Let's face it the only thing that he had going for him was the fact that he lead the Military and as we later find out that Military isn’t going to be useful against Salem since the key concept of the show since V1 was that there is no victory in strength but in the simpler things in life that start with simple and honest souls.

How does this concern Ironwood?

Well that's just it Ironwood was never going to win with his methods and he was never going to get the benefits that he wanted if he followed someone else with theirs. Again Ironwood had plans and ambitions after Salem that saw him as the ruler of the world instead of her, and controlled it so that a threat like her or any threat to his power would never come again. This is probably what he thought would happen before being told of her immortality.

Now with the knowledge that he can’t destroy her and that she’s coming he decides to cut his losses and settle with ruling the city instead and leave the rest of the world in her mercy instead of accepting the fact that he is wrong and relinquishing power to someone that can handle the situation better. Remnant doesn’t need Ironwood to survive. This is the biggest problem with Ironwood that he thinks he is the hero so long as he is in control of Atlas. Because without it he is truly nothing and has defined his whole existence around it. And will continue to make whatever plans to keep himself in power and is willing to pay the price at the expense of others.

“What if all the plans you made,

Were not worth the price they paid?

Even with the lives you stole,

Still no closer to your...

Goal.”

He never cooled the fire but he still incites the crowd for he can't see what he has become a crown with no kingdom

Ironwood had only played to win and he would laugh at the ones who lose while millions are shouting out for him to stop but he Still lit the fuse

He says he wants to fight but Then he always runs because he doesn't want to die yet he Still shoots the loaded gun escalating things for the worse

His refusal to see the faults in his own actions. Ironwood continually defaults to and relies on methods and actions that have repeatedly been proven to not work because he refuses to see the error in using said methods to begin with.

This isn’t your story James

One of the important aspects to remember is that this isn’t Ironwood’s story. His entire character and story revolves around the main protagonists and how he interacts with them and more importantly what role he played in it. Ironwood started out as a side character that ended up getting a lot of focus because the story of Team RWBY and the show in general is to show how the last generation can fail the next and how that generation has to learn and grow so it can avoid the mistakes of the past.

Before we delve further into Ironwood’s true character in the show let us explore whether or not he was an antagonistic or protagonistic force in the story. Keep in mind these terms are different from hero and villain. Below are several definitions and meanings for the 2 narrative characters types;

Antagonist

a person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary.

a person who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with another; opponent; adversary. the adversary of the hero or protagonist of a drama or other literary work

Protagonist

the leading character or one of the major characters in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text.

an advocate or champion of a particular cause or idea.

In modern literature, the protagonist drives the story forward by pursuing a goal.

The protagonist of a story is sometimes called the main character.

Since this is RWBY’s story and to an extent Oz’s, Ironwood(and Atlas to an extent) was always meant to be an antagonistic force in opposition to the show's true ideals of heroism and saviors.

The antagonist is the principal source of conflict for the protagonist. Often, the antagonist is a bad guy, a villain, but he doesn't necessarily have to be. He may just be someone who has a different agenda. Antagonists might be one person, a group, or even an animal.

Due to the beliefs that his methods are for the best even though they contradict the intentions that were thought to be shared by the heroes Ironwood was always going to become an Antagonist for the series at some point

Volume 7 slowly sees him fall into this, as his paranoia and determination to stop Salem cause him to perform increasingly questionable decisions for the greater good. While Qrow, Oscar, and Teams RWBY and JNPR support Ironwood, they increasingly debate the merit of doing so, given how concerned they're becoming with his behavior. When Cinder breaks into his office and plants a black queen, Ironwood sends Winter to forcefully take the Winter Maiden's powers, and he begins to question every decision he's made and speculate whether he's played right into Salem's hands. His confrontation with Team RWBY over their decision to leak intel to Robyn triggers the appearance of a Seer Grimm, forcing him into a verbal confrontation with Salem. With the discovery that the conflict with Watts and Tyrian distracted them from realizing they'd lost long-range sensors and that Salem is already on her way to Atlas, Ironwood snaps. He orders the arrest of Qrow, Oscar, and Teams RWBY and JNPR, and decides to abandon Mantle to die in an effort to prevent the two Relics and the Winter Maiden from falling into Salem's hands. Volume 7 ends with him and the protagonists actively opposed to each other, as his refusal to acknowledge that his methods are flawed and his opposition towards anyone who might stand in his way solidifies him as an antagonist.

The events of Volume 7 slowly but surely tear away at the positive aspects of his character as he succumbs to fear and paranoia, and questions whether Salem's strength comes from her ability to strip away her humanity. By the end of the volume, he has degenerated into a paranoid tyrant who abandons Mantle in favor of saving Atlas, is willing to kill a dying Winter Maiden to protect the Relics from Salem, and arrests the heroes for disagreeing with him. At the end of the volume, Oscar even points out that Ironwood's actions and current mentality make him no better than Salem.

His character deconstructs the mindset of the Necessary Evil character archetype. He declares his willingness to sacrifice his reputation and humanity for the greater good by forcing others to sacrifice for his cause. Characters constantly question the morality of his choices and his own actions create consequences that later bite him in the ass. His lack of concern over his image and the negativity his actions generate serve only to assist Salem's plans and increasingly alienate him from the heroes. He appoints himself the judge of what counts as the "greater good", he neglects Mantle's security and makes it increasingly vulnerable to attack by viewing it as less important than Atlas. Oscar lampshades the deconstruction by pointing out that being willing to sacrifice all of Remnant just so "a few can live" is making him just as dangerous a threat as Salem.

In a way Salem and Ironwood are also foils to each other as they appear to be dark lords from their respective genres

Ironwood being the syfy equivalent clad in white to convey the false message of order and peace while masking evil intentions and crimes

Salem being the Fantasy equivalent clad in black to emanate a sense of Mystery and fear of the unknown while using it to her advantage

Discussed between Ironwood and Oscar. Ironwood spends Volume 7 utterly haunted by how Leo's fear of Salem destroyed him and endangered Mistral and Haven. He is so determined not to end up like Leo, that he doesn't realize what mistakes his own fear of Salem is causing. While Leo completely submitted to Salem and became her puppet, he has full self-awareness and knows exactly how far he's fallen and why. Ironwood cannot accept that he has any fear of Salem at all and interprets the problem as possessing "humanity". He believes Salem is a threat because she has none and speculates that the solution is to become the same. He becomes increasingly controlling over his kingdom and his allies; regardless of how much suffering his methods cause, he persists in believing it's for "the greater good". While Leo is willing to give up the Relic of Knowledge and his kingdom's Huntsmen, Ironwood is so determined to prevent Salem getting the Relics, his Huntsmen and the Winter Maiden, and thereby avoid Leo's mistakes, that he travels in the opposite direction, becoming a dangerous authoritarian instead of a spineless coward.

Ironwood has made it clear that he will use whatever means necessary to defeat Salem. When Team RWBY calls out his decision to raise Atlas out of Salem's reach, he calmly says he's aware that he is essentially damning Mantle to her wrath. He later tells Oscar that he is done letting others' opinions hold him back from doing what he thinks is right. The boy warns him that he'd become as dangerous as Salem herself like that; the general simply nods to himself but doesn't deny it.

This is who he has always been. The only difference is the more desperate he becomes, the more extremes he goes to to maintain the illusion he is strong and in control of the situation.

During Ozpin's speech, notice how this unique line of dialogue is purposely inserted over Ironwood's last scene of Volume 7.

“Or will the person staring back at you be the very thing you should have feared from the start? I suppose we all find out... sooner or later.”

As the other parts of the speech are relevant to the other characters shown in the montage This specific line cements the Truth of Ironwood's character being a threat that was planned for a very long time. Going with the show's themes of Grey morality and the balance of light and dark, we are to learn of the possibility that with the potential to do great good also comes with the potential to do great evil.

As we were focused on the obvious threats in the show like the grimm, the white fang, Cinder, and Salem we are tricked to neglect the obvious signs of evil intent that are hidden and growing among the heroes. The real monsters of the world aren’t the ones with fangs and red eyes hiding under your bed, No the real monsters of the world look just like you and me. After all if we assume everyone is like us then how can we tell who the real monsters are, that are hiding in plain sight.

Ironwood’s evil nature and antagonism was subtle and growing under the skewed perception that he was the hero and that he was right. But this comes down to the fact that he is only in it for himself and what he has to gain from it.

I understand that James Ironwood was a tragic character even from his introduction, and the seeds for his volume 7 turn were planted in volume 2. I eventually recognized that RT was setting up this pivotal plot point way back in the day and now they are harvesting what they had sown.

Ironwood didn’t snap when he found out RWBY lied to him. He was content, even after he defeated Watts. He snapped as soon as he saw Cinder’s present. The Queen piece. He unraveled immediately and, sure, the discovery of RWBY’s lies didn’t help, but it wasn’t the cause for Ironwood’s descent.

He genuinely means well in opposing Salem and her forces, but his severe paranoia complex, exacerbated by the stress of being one of the only ones in the know about Salem and having to explain his actions to the skeptical populace and council, cause his decisions to degenerate over time. By the end of Volume 7, he becomes willing to abandon everyone in Mantle to die, violently lashes out at anyone who opposes him, and manages to undo all of the hard work he's accomplished by second-guessing his own actions.

James Ironwood is undoubtedly a fascinating character that has this certain appeal to most people. I can understand Ironwood's viewpoint but it is not the same as forgiving or condoning as good. Sure, I thought him intervening in affairs that he had no right to was a skewed perception, but I understood where he was coming from. I thought him ignoring the concerns and advice of people was reckless, but I also kind of understood his limitations and his upbringing. But in all honesty I was neutral about Ironwood ever since he debuted and didn’t think he had much to contribute to the story besides being the guy with an army along with the pride and arrogance that comes with.

Because of that Ironwood was always an antagonistic force in RWBY with ideals and plans that contradict the established ideals and motivations that are already shared with the world of Remnant. He just simply couldn’t fit in and when he tried he didn’t like it. When he tried to change it and take charge he only made things worse. Ironwood had potential to be good and a proper hero due the influence of Oz but his pride and ego that he got from Atlas got the better of him and now the show's true heroes will have to fix the problems that he has caused.

Summary

#rwby #rwby ironwood #james ironwood #general ironwood #Ironwood analysis

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coll2mitts · 3 years

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#28 Hairspray (2007)

Welcome to Hairspray, where a well-intentioned, woke, white teenage girl singlehandedly ends segregation in 1960s Baltimore.

Y’know, after watching Cry-Baby, I wasn’t super keen on revisiting Hairspray, but I figured it deserved a fair shot. I hadn’t seen the original since I was in high school, so I booted up HBO Max and settled in for a long night of old-timey dance moves and racial inequality. Guys... the 1988 version of Hairspray is flippin’ great.

The cast is just to die for. Ricki Lake, who I only knew as a talk show host in my childhood, is a great Tracy Turnblad. My favorite devious sea witch Divine is her mother, and Jerry Stiller is her father. Goddamn Debbie Harry and Sunny Bono are her rival’s parents, and Amber Von Tussle is motherfucking Colleen Fitzpatrick. As someone who has a vested interest in all famous Colleens, I was stoked to see that Hairspray was Vitamin C’s first acting gig.

FUN FACT: According to Wikipedia (which is never wrong), Graduation (Friends Forever) charts on iTunes at the end of every school year. Colleen is also the VP of music at Nickelodeon, so she’s doing just fine.

Anyway, the original Hairspray is campy, edgy and hilarious. If I were Miss Soft Crab 1945, I too would bring it up every chance I got. The story really boils down to two horny teenage girls trying to claw their way to the top, but the charm of Tracy is she’s trying to pull everyone else up with her. The way they handle segregation and racial inequality is over-the-top ridiculous, but somehow more realistic than its updated counterpart (put a pin in this). I mean, a racist white woman shoved a bomb in her hair to own the libs and it gloriously explodes on her head. I haven’t seen the musical adaptation of Hairspray, so my opinions of how true it is to its source material won’t be explored here, but the 2007 movie adaptation, to me, left a lot to be desired.

Hairspray might be the most popular in a recent trend of non-musical movies being adapted for Broadway. I remember back in the 90s when Beauty and the Beast hit the stage - it was so successful Disney now has the movie-to-Broadway pipeline on speed dial. But now we’re getting a shitload of movies with no musical elements being fast tracked to Broadway, like Kinky Boots, Bend it Like Beckham, Mean Girls, Beetlejuice, Heathers, Waitress, Legally Blonde, fucking Groundhog Day with music written by Tim Minchin, just, so goddamn many of them. I love musicals, but to say I didn’t want to see The Heathers threaten Veronica in 3-part harmony would be an understatement, so I’m immediately skeptical to the quality of this content and hesitant to consume it. Unfortunately for me, Hairspray is one of the few who had their *corny* musical adaptation also committed to film, and it is a neutered, earnest, high school choir translation of the original and it made my teeth hurt.

The two positives I’ll give the remake are the sets/costumes are great, and the cast serve their roles well, although I will never be OK with someone wearing a fat suit as a costume. The songs are... fine. Again, this era of music is not my favorite, so I’m never going to get excited over “It Takes Two” or “I Can Hear the Bells”. It’s just the tone is so different from the original, and by the end of the movie I was exhausted and very glad it was over. Writing about it now has required several breaks and side-tangents and I can’t even get to the fucking synopsis of the movie... ugh let’s just do this.

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Tracy Turnblad is a “pleasantly plump” teenage girl living in 1960s Baltimore whose sunny disposition makes her oblivious to the reality of murky situation she is living in. We’re quickly introduced to her obsession, “The Corny Collins Show”, which features a number of far-out teens that love to dance, including multi-year winner of Miss Teenage Hairspray and miss Pitch Perfect herself Amber Von Tussel. Her mother, Velma, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, is the station manager at WYZT, and uses her power to keep Amber featured front and center.

After a girl on the show gets knocked up, an audition is held to replace her. While Tracy’s mother Edna, regrettably played by John Travolta in a fat suit, is afraid that Tracy’s weight will prevent her from landing the gig, her father, puzzlingly played by like a 60-something Christopher Walken, is generally supportive. True to Edna’s feeling, Tracy is fat shamed by Amber and Velma and doesn’t make the cut.

After getting detention for skipping class for an audition that didn’t pan out, Tracy makes friends with a bunch of black students who are all excellent dancers. Turns out her new friend Seaweed is the son of Motormouth Maybelle, the sometimes-host of "The Corny Collins Show”, played by Queen Latifah. Velma, in addition to being a massive bitch, also segregates the station’s black talent from the main show, only to be featured one night a month on “Negro Day”. While Tracy is boogying down, Link, Amber’s boyfriend and one of the stars of TCCS, peeps at her ass and tells her if she shook her rump in front of Corny at the Hop, he’d have no choice but to put her on the show.

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In the original movie, Tracy Turnblad fucks. She moves in on Link and devours him whole, with no mind given to her size. She is a kind of bratty, confident young teenager that isn’t afraid to reach out and grab what she wants. Tracy in the 2007 version is the most innocent cinnamon roll that has ever been baked. Link gives her one compliment and she drifts into fantasies of marrying him. Part of me is annoyed by this, but the other part of me appreciates misguided optimism played as humor.

At the Corny Collins hop, Tracy steals borrows Seaweed’s dance move and lands a place on TCCS council. After declaring she wants every day to be Negro Day, the head of the station declares he wants that “chubby communist girl” off the show. Corny, played by a dreamy James Marsden, sticks his neck out for Tracy and furthermore, says the show should be integrated. As Tracy’s popularity skyrockets, the station shows more leeway to her size and her look, but to maintain some semblance of control, Velma works to completely edge out Negro Day.

Meanwhile, Link is clued into how fun it is in detention, and him, Tracy, and Penny all dance their way to Motormouth Maybelle’s record store for a potluck. When Seaweed introduces his new white friends to his mother, Penny delivers my favorite line of the whole movie, “I’m very pleased and scared to be here.” Amber rats out Tracy’s activities to her mother, and Edna arrives to Motormouth’s with the intention of dragging Tracy home until she realizes that black people are OK because they eat brisket.

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After Edna shoves a bunch of food in her face, the gang finds out that Negro Day on “The Corny Collins Show” has been cancelled. Tracy has the great idea to protest the television station, and all the black people are like, “Why didn’t we think of that?” Link decides to bow out of the march because there’ll be talent agents at the Miss Hairspray Pageant, and he doesn’t want to give up his big shot at fame and glory to fight for a entire race of people’s basic rights.

The next day, Tracy and her mom are the only white people in a sea of black people to march to the station. Queen Latifah sings a very earnest song about the resilience of her community, because this is the Serious Portion TM of the musical. Tracy assaults a police officer without giving any mind to what it would do for all the black people she’s marching with, and runs away to let them handle the consequences. The movie doesn’t show any police brutality because Reasons, and a bunch of protestors are arrested and immediately bailed out by Tracy’s Dad. Tracy eventually ends up back at Motormouth Maybelle’s record shop so she can hide there without considering how dangerous it would be for Motormouth to harbor a fugitive of the law.

The next day is the Miss Teen Hairspray competition broadcast at WYZT, and with Tracy being wanted by the police, they have to sneak her into the station. She bum-rushes the set to sing a song with a now-enlightened Link about not stopping progress, while also inviting Motormouth Maybelle’s daughter, Little Inez, on stage to dance. Everybody calls-in to vote for her because the only racist people in Baltimore run the television station, and Little Inez is crowned Miss Teen Hairspray. Amber is like fine with it even though her mom isn’t, and everyone dances and sings to celebrate that “The Corny Collins” show is now integrated! Meanwhile, I’m left wondering why Amanda Bynes was forced to wear a dress that she can’t move her legs in, even though they knew she would participate in the show’s closing dance number. The end.

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Oh, and there’s also a whole B plot where Velma tries to fuck Tracy’s dad and Tracy’s mom finds out and gets upset for like 30 seconds. This is immediately resolved by a song and dance number among a bunch of laundry.

This movie is fine and competent or whatever, but for some reason it just rubs me the entirely wrong way. Tracy constantly says that the 1960s are changing for people who are different, implying that an overweight white teen also knows what it’s like to be discriminated against in the same way black people are. The movie does roll its eyes at some of her most tone-deaf “I’m an overenthusiastic ally” moments, like “I wish every day was Negro Day!” and “This is afro-tastic!”, but it also goes out of its way to talk about how much Tracy has helped the black community. Like, by doing what? Being fat and on TV? That being said, she does use her privilege to feature black dancers on a major television broadcast, so by the end of the movie she becomes the person everyone says she is. Also, I’m a dumb, overweight, white, middle-aged woman, so I’m not the right person to get all indignant about a well-intentioned feel-good Broadway musical.

Final thoughts: If you love bright colors, cheese, and sincere, glossy reflections of the 1960s civil rights movement written by a bunch of white dudes, this movie is for you.

#100 best musical movies of all time rotten tomatoes #unwarranted opinion

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thebibliomancer · 3 years

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Justice League Indispensable: JLA #222: Beasts II: Death Games

January, 1984

I’ve noticed over two-hundred and twenty plus posts that villains love being tall and dangling heroes from their fingers.

That tactile sensation... It must feel amazing. And a little squirmy.

Not much else to say about the cover. Except that Hawkman’s legs seem to not exist.

Anyway.

Last time on Justice League: the Justice League have been dealing with a lot of weird animal/people hybrids. Has Dr. Moreau finally been adapted into DC? Probably not. But Flash, Elongated Man, and Hawkman all get badly injured in separate locations by these Ani-Men. And Firestorm catches a catgirl named Reena robbing the Empire State Building. She asks him for sanctuary so he takes her to the JL Satellite to spill the beans on the Ani-Men.

This time: Superman is in the hilarious position of interrogating catgirl Reena who has forgotten how chairs work.

Just sitting on the table. Probably getting hair everywhere.

Firestorm tells Superman to chill out with the hardnosed animated Justice League approach (I mean, he doesn’t, but animated Superman also needed to chill out, amirite?) because Reena volunteered to help.

Reena says she has no choice but to trust the League and that she’s lived in DAILY TERROR for the past few months.

She asks if any of them have heard of Repli-Tech?

Dang, shame Batman is off having recently formed the Outsiders because I bet he knows all the companies. All of them.

Ooooorrrr Aquaman does?

Aquaman: “Repli-Tech Industries... They were one of the first of the genetics companies to go public on the stock exchange, weren’t they? I remember they made quite a splash a year ago... But I haven’t heard anything about them since.”

Oh, Aquaman, you punster, you.

So Reena lays down some exposition about how Repli-Tech was a hilariously mismanaged company, where the executives forced a rapid capital expansion beyond its market niche and how a recession just bankrupt the overextended company.

But despite the dismay and panic of the other execs, hilariously mustached CEO Rex Rogan had a daring plan to save the company!

Rex Rogan: “Dr. Lovecraft and his genetic discoveries were the basis for our initial success, developing new forms of medicine -- new fertilizers -- even new fuels! He’s come up with a way out for all of us, involving a new, experimental form of DNA manipulation. It could kill us -- but the alternative is disgrace, financial ruin, and imprisonment.”

Oh, sure. Of course. Why not trust a guy called DR. LOVECRAFT.

But due to faith in Rex Rogan, CEO, or just fear of prison, the whole board all agrees to this wild plan.

And the wild plan?

Dr. Lovecraft uses SCIENCE to put them all in cocoons where they are transformed into furries.

Rex Rogan Maximus Rex: “We are reborn -- we are above the beasts, and above mankind! We will do more than merely survive -- we will conquer -- we will rule!”

Then with company guards also enhanced by Dr. Lovecraft, Rex has them steal a whole bunch of shit which is used to protect Repli-Tech from bankruptcy.

Huh.

Uh. I don’t really get how becoming furries was an essential part of this plan.

If the plan was just to steal a bunch of shit to make up for poor financial management. But live your best lives, Repli-Tech board of directors.

Anyway, having super hunky animal powers is handy when the superheroes inevitably become involved which oops look its happening. It happened last issue and this issue so good thing they had turned themselves into furries.

(Do the Repli-Tech board of directors not have to make any public appearances? They’re a publicly traded company, apparently.)

Also, Maximus Rex buys a warehouse to turn into an arena for some death games where humans fight beast-men for the amusement of the rich and powerful like politicians and corporate executives.

Not really sure how this specifically saves the company but I think that’s more of a personal project for Maximus Rex, lion hunk.

The blood sport did make Reena start thinking that maybe Rex was the asshole.

‘Uh no shit’ chimes in Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman who determine now is a good time to interject that Reena is just as much of a monster for sitting idly by as people were killed in blood sport.

Firestorm, Superman, and Zatanna counter ‘hey lets hear the rest of the story, mkay?’

Reena grew unable to stomach all the death and as luck would have it Rowl, one of the Repli-Tech guards recently transformed into an animal hunk also found the whole situation gross.

He helped Reena escape but wound up captured himself.

He did manage to high kick a scorpion man though. So that’s something.

Anyway, Rowl getting caught is why Reena was breaking into the Repli-Tech office in the Empire State Building. She wanted to find evidence!

Hawkgirl: “I don’t believe it. Not a word. She’s obviously a plant -- she said herself, she was Rogan’s mistress, that she always did everything he told her. Why should we believe she’d turn against him?”

Firestorm: “Look at her, Hawkgirl -- me, I believe her.”

Aquaman: “We can’t ignore what she’s told us, Shayera.”

Even Superman goes yeah lets believe the catgirl. And I’m sorta wondering about all the male Justice League members believing the catgirl while two out of three of the woman leaguers are like uhn uh I don’t trust that darn cat.

But we shortly see that Reena was telling the truth about Rowl, if nothing else.

Guards at the Arena snooze gas Rowl to drag him from his cell into the Arena.

A Guard: “Y’know, I used to be friends with this guy, when he was still human. Rex gives him a chance to be something special, and he goes and blows it helping some damn cat.”

Rowl comes to in the center of the Arena with the crowd roaring for his blood.

He tries to talk to the crowd, win their sympathy by saying he used to be human like them but they’re rich dicks who want to see someone horribly murdered for their amusement.

Trying to talk to them was a non-starter. And Maximus Rex even mocks him for trying.

Maximus Rex: “Human you may have been -- but you were never like them. Smell the air: it’s so thick you can taste it -- the oily sweat of a blood-hungry mob! They want a death, Rowl... They want your death!”

Maximus Rex asks the crowd what Rowl deserves and they chant DEATH and KILL HIM so Maximus Rex jumps down to the Arena floor to see to it personally.

He’s kinda like Roman Emperor Commodus from the historically adjacent movie film Gladiator who liked to gladiate instead of just watching Gladiator gladiate.

And unlike movie Commodus, Maximus Rex is no slouch.

Right off the bat, he blocks Rowl’s ultimate technique, a jump kick.

Poor Rowl is doomed.

And he doesn’t even know it yet. He manages to hit Maximus Rex once and thinks he’s winning.

Rowl: “You’re just as you were in the boardroom -- you’ve no stomach for a real battle! We used to laugh about you, Rogan, down in the ranks! All of us -- we called you a gutless wonder!”

Maximus Rex retorts by disembowling Rowl.

Maximus Rex: “So, Rowl... Which of us has no stomach now?”

Savage af.

Then he knocks Rowl down and RIPS OFF HIS HEAD TO SHOW TO THE CROWD??

Geez! This is a gory story! I mean, we don’t see anything really except for some dark blue blood but geez!

A lion man just ripped off a jump-kicking wolfman’s head in a gladiatorial arena for the ultra rich!

You’re bonkers, superhero comic books!

RIP Rowl, Justice League #222 (1984) - Justice League #222 (1984).

Back at the Justicey part of the plot, 22,300 miles above the Earth, the League receives an emergency message from Dr. Hamid of Cairo Hospital.

Or he says he’s Dr. Hamid of Cairo Hospital.

He looks like Tony Stark, that Ironman guy from Marvel.

Anyway, he got the JL’s top secret broadcast code from a device on Hawkman’s uniform.

Yeah. Hawkman. Remember how he was attacked by a giant scorpion last issue? Well, he’s in the hospital with an acute case of too much scorpion venom in him. And Dr. Toby Stark fears he may not last the night.

Hawkgirl is understandably upset and wants to rush to his side as fast as possible. And since the League has cool teleport booths, that’s... still not that fast because the booths only go to other booths and Cairo Hospital doesn’t have a booth.

She also asks Wonder Woman to go with her.

Superman wonders if Hawkgirl is maybe too emotionally torn up to go see her scorpion’d hawkguy.

Zatanna: “I won’t stop her, Superman. Will you?”

WHILE GIVING AN EXPRESSION THATS LIKE ‘please do not drag me into drama.’

Reena tries to commiserate with Hawkgirl but Shayera is having none of that.

Hawkgirl: “Your people did this. If Katar dies -- you killed him!”

Oof.

Zatanna tries to contextualize Hawkgirl’s outburst by explaining that Hawkman and Hawkgirl are just super close but Reena says she understands because she and Rex were that close.

And that despite everything she still loves him and it makes her feel like shit.

Oof.

Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl arrive at Cairo Hospital and Dr. Hamid tells them that Hawkman isn’t the only one who got scorpion’d.

Dr. Hall and his students were attacked by giant scorpion man to rob some archaeological relics they found. Several of the students are in the hospital after being stung and two have already died.

As for Dr. Hall, why he’s just plum gone missing. (Because he’s Hawkman)

From his hospital bed, Hawkman weakly (because of getting scorpion’d) apologizes for the argument they had before he left for Cairo and Hawkgirl claims she doesn’t even remember the fight. Because nothing makes you put aside hurt feelings like possible death by scorpion.

Dr. Hamid tells Wonder Woman that Hawkman is very likely to die unless they can get some giant scorpion man venom to develop into an anti-toxin.

And while they walk by, a random janitor mopping the floor reports the presence of the Justice League members to his ring.

HMMM.

I think that I suspect that this humble janitor is in fact actually a plant for the Rex Squad.

Yup.

Yuuuup.

That janitor was up to no good.

With two Hawks down with sleep gas, its left to the Rex Squad unit leader to handle Wonder Woman.

ITS A HECKIN RHINO MAN!

Of course, a hero as strong as Wonder Woman isn’t going down to a single rhino punch.

It takes a second whole punch to knock her out.

Womp womp.

Rhino Man: “Gas her and shove her in the ‘copter with the others, Mac. The boss wants ‘em all for a little TV show he’s planning. Way I hear, it’s gonna be a ratings smash!”

Rhino puns.

About an hour later, the Justice League subteam nicknamed Sit On Their Thumbs is still in the satellite wondering why Wonder Woman hasn’t called to tell them how Hawkman is doing.

But gosh darn it, if they don’t hear from her in two more minutes in time for the regular hourly check-in, then they’ll just have to do something maybe!

But they get a signal from Hawkgirl’s code and Aquaman main screen turns on... to reveal a big sneering lion man who is not Hawkgirl at all.

Reena: “oh god... he’s found me.”

Maximus Rex, full incoming ham: “Yes, Reena, I’ve found you. When this is done, you’ll suffer the fate of all who betray me. But first, tell your new friends who they face! I am MAXIMUS REX, LEADER OF THE NEW ORDER!”

Firestorm: “Y’know... Somehow, I’d already guessed that.”

Snrrk.

But Maximus Rex warns them not to mock his lionness and has the camera swung over to reveal that he has Wonder Woman and the Hawks as his hostages.

Hawkman is definitely going to die (from being scorpion’d) but Maximus Rex is Magnanimous Rex and instead of immediately killing them, he’s going to turn them into furries too.

Maximus Rex: “I think the Amazon would make a very proper pig, don’t you?”

Man, this guy must have loved the “This Little Piggy” episode of Justice League Unlimited.

Buuuut he won’t turn them into furries and make them fight in his Arena if the Justice League do him some small favors.

First thing, turn Reena over to him.

Second thing, “I want your full cooperation with my plans.”

When Superman tells him ‘obviously no’ Maximus gets mad.

Oh, Maximus the Mad. That’s a catchy name for him.

Maximus Rex: “In the hours to come, you will regret this decision, Justice Leaguers. My new order is the future. You cannot turn the tide of destiny. It will sweep over you... Draw you under... Drown you in the sea of history! Ours will be a struggle to the death -- your death! HA HA HA HA”

He is.

Frothing a little.

And as the mad lion lad continues just belly laughing on this collect call, Superman shakes his fist determinedly.

Superman: “Enjoy it while you have it, Maximus. We’re bringing you down.”

I mean, sure, half of the League is captured or in the hospital already from tangling with these Ani-Men but the League is probably due for an upswing, right?

Or maybe they’ll all get captured and I’ll get to see what the Justice League’s fursonas are.

My guess for Superman is the noble capybara, friend to all.

Follow @justice-league-indispensible or @essential-avengers which is my real liveblog. I’m sorry, this has all been a lie. A jape. A delightful jest. An April Fool. Like and reblog maybe. The more notes this gets the more I go oh no look at what kind of response Justice League gets and I’ve backed the Avengers horse, the April Fool turns out to be me! That’ll show me.

#Justice League of America #Justice League Indispensable #Superman #Wonder Woman #Aquaman #Hawkman #Hawkgirl #Firestorm #Zatanna #Reena the catgirl #Maximus Rex and the Ani Men #indispensable dc liveblogging

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crowdvscritic · 3 years

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round up // AUGUST 21

Happy 2nd birthday to these Round Ups! For two years I’ve been making monthly pop culture picks, and they’ve included:

More than 200 movies

32 TV shows and specials, plus 8 different Saturday Night Live Round Ups

27 albums, singles, playlists, and more music picks

13 podcasts

12 books

2 concerts

There have also been articles, events, museums, social media bits, trailers, and a service that helps you find movies across streaming platforms. (Find all of them here.) This month I’m adding a few more, like:

2 podcasts

2 albums

5 vampire movies

A conversation between two GOATs

A very funny dead guy

A terrifying Robert Mitchum performance

Another Dumb Rom-Com I Nevertheless Enjoyed

Here’s to another year!

August Crowd-Pleasers

1. Jungle Cruise (2021)

Indiana Jones meets Pirates of the Caribbean with a dash of The African Queen. I like all those movies, so sue me, I had a nice time! Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10

2. Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Genetically-enhanced sharks try to break free of their cages in an ocean research facility, chaos ensues for the characters, and it’s a delight for us. For no intelligent reason, I love movies that make me guess who’s going to get killed off next, so a big dumb shark movie starring L.L. Cool J and Samuel L. Jackson? It’s a particular brand of joy. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 5.5/10

3. Double Feature — Adam Sandler Comedies: 50 First Dates (2004) + Murder Mystery (2019)

Adam Sandler movies are little like IcyHot for the brain—that is, they’re the relaxing kind of mind-numbing. Thanks to a stressful month at work, I watched six Sandler flicks in August—which I don’t necessarily recommend but also don’t regret—and the Netflix original Murder Mystery (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10) was one of the the best of the bunch. It’s a silly spoof of Agatha Christie’s work, and it’s a scenic two-hour European vacay. I also gave 50 First Dates (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10) another try and was pleasantly surprised. Once you get past some of the gross-out humor at the beginning, you’ll find a sweet story all about how we need to keep showing up for the people we love.

4. Double Feature — SNL Comedies: Wayne’s World (1992) + Hot Rod (2007)

My love for Saturday Night Live is more than well-documented, so exactly zero mes were surprised that I loved these flicks from its alums. Wayne’s World (Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 7/10) follows up with Wayne and Garth in the basement we first saw on late night. Now they have the opportunity to make it big on TV thanks to a sleazy exec (Rob Lowe). Brian Doyle-Murray and Chris Farley show up, and so do Laverne and Shirley? Hot Rod (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 6.5/10) follows Rod (Andy Samberg) as he tries to make it big as a stuntman and impress his stepdad (Ian McShane). Will Arnett, Bill Hader, and Chris Parnell show up, and now I can mostly forgive all those boys in high school who quoted this movie non-stop.

5. Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)

If those SNL comedies weren’t enough silliness for you, how about you add some Bernie to your lineup? Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman are wannabe-yuppies who think they’ve got their career breaks when an exec named Bernie invites them to his vacation home for the weekend. What they don’t know is that Bernie (Terry Kiser) has been laundering money, is connected to the mob, and, is now, um, dead. The right thing would be to call the police, but then we wouldn’t have a 97-minute high-concept comedy, now would we? Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 7/10

6. Twilight series (2008-12)

I mostly skipped the Twilight phenomenon at its peak, but I’m so glad I hopped on the train years later—this series of vampire vs. werewolf showdowns are ridiculous. But major kudos to the filmmakers who somehow turned a dump truck of nonsensical gobbledygook and unhealthy teenage relationships into something insanely watchable. Also, major kudos to Billy Burke and his understated, curmudgeonly, sarcastic performance. Bella’s dad is the MVP with the only appropriate responses to all of the nonsense he's forced to participate in and the only tether this franchise has to reality. Be sure to watch with a friend so you have someone else to process this weirdness with. Series Crowd: 8/10 // Series Critic: 5/10

7. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at The Muny

You know what’s great? Live theater! This month I made my first trip back to the stage at America’s oldest and largest outdoor amphitheater, the Muny in St. Louis. Their productions never disappoint, and these performers reminded me of Howard Keel, Jane Powell, and Russ Tamblyn in the best ways.

8. Wimbledon (2004)

Paul Bettany and Kirsten fall in love at Wimbledon! Frankly, that premise alone should be enough to sell you on this very winning rom-com. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7.5/10

9. Career Opportunities (1991)

This month’s Dumb Rom-Com I Nevertheless Enjoyed! Frank Whaley and Jennifer Connelly fall in love while stuck overnight at a Target—which honestly sounds like a dream scenario—and since it’s a John Hughes script, it’s got some heart beneath its thin premise. John Hughes directing would’ve made it better, but there’s enough Hughes in there to catch my heart. Crowd: 7/10 // Critic: 4.5/10

10. First Blood (1982)

Aka Rambo: Part I. Sylvester Stallone is a tough-as-nails Vietnam vet, and Brian Dennehy is the self-righteous sheriff who ticks him off. It digs a bit into PTSD and how we don’t take care of our veterans, but mostly, it’s just Stallone going ape with a knife and explosives. Oddly, also from the same director as Weekend at Bernie’s! Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10

August Critic Picks

1. TCM’s The Plot Thickens Season 2 (2021)

You know those movies that make you ask, “How on Earth did this get made?” This season of The Plot Thickens, subtitled The Devil’s Candy, is an attempt to answer that question. Pretty much no one thinks 1990’s The Bonfire of the Vanities works as a film—including yours truly—and reporter Julie Salomon documented many of its production troubles leading to the final product. A must-listen for anyone who loves hearing behind-the-scenes stories or just gets a kick out of schadenfreude.

2. Gene and Roger (2021)

Gene and Roger, the summer series on The Big Picture podcast, is an overview and reflection on the work of Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, starting with the launch of their individual careers in the ‘60s through their partnership that lasted into the ‘90s. Another must-listen for movie lovers, especially those who love digging into the history and criticism.

3. Gold-Diggers Sound by Leon Bridges (2021)

Chill vibes and cool groves to transition you from Summer to Autumn.

4. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Come for the Clint Eastwood, stay for the Ennio Morricone. Actually you can stay for Eastwood, too, because his humor is at his driest, and for Eli Wallach, whose Tuco is an insanely charming cockroach. It’s almost three hours, but this treasure hunt breezes by like a tumbleweed in the wind. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 9/10

5. AFI’s Master Class - The Art of Collaboration: Steven Spielberg and John Williams (2011)

Two GOATS talking about making some of the GOATs. They share clips and explain their collaborative process (including on projects like Jaws and Schindler’s List), and they take questions from film students at AFI. I’m only wishing it were 10 hours instead of 1!

6. The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Robert Mitchum’s terrifying preacher elevates this classic into more than just a standard crime thriller. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8.5/10

7. Respect (2021)

While a few scenes indulge in melodrama, Jennifer Hudson’s killer performance��both in vocals and character work—more than makes up for it. This Aretha Franklin biopic hits the familiar beats, but it makes you feel like you’re in the room listening to Franklin sing , which is really all you want from a movie like this. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8/10

8. Solar Power by Lorde (2021)

At first listen, this minimalist pop record sounds worlds away from the angst of Pure Heroine and the melodrama of Melodrama. At second listen, you realize it’s the Lorde you know and love, just with a Laurel Canyon influence. Carole King even gets a shout!

Also in August…

This month Kyla and I checked out Loveline, a call-in radio show popular during the run of Gilmore Girls. Should our favorite Yale students give up dating OR call into the syndicated radio show Loveline? Should Dr. Drew Pinsky and Adam Carolla give strangers advice OR make fun of them? Oh, and Germany OR Florida? Listen to ep. 107 of SO IT’S A SHOW?

The '40s are coming! Reviews of 1940s Best Picture winners are on their way, and I kicked it off with an overview of the Academy that decade focusing on how they responded to World War II and their new prestigious reputation.

Photo credits: The Muny, The Plot Thickens, Gene and Roger, Leon Bridges, AFI, Lorde. All others IMDb.com.

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honey-harper-official · 4 years

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Meet Me in the Middle Chapter 28

Meet Me in the Middle Chapters Masterlist

Word Count: 2692

This is a fic about Rosetta, Nova and Adrian’s daughter, who doesn’t have powers (sort of) and is in love with Ellie, Oscar and Ruby’s daughter, and handles both in the worst way possible.

SEE THE TAGS FOR TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER!

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Rosetta draped herself across one of the chairs in the common spaces. Throughout the campus, in all of the buildings, there were recreation spaces with tables and chairs and board games stored aside. The larger ones were in the student center and they had more than board games. There were pool tables, ping-pong tables, air hockey, board games, books, magazines, bean bag chairs, blankets, and even badminton rackets and birdies.

Oftentimes groups of students would come and hang out or work on projects together like Rosetta was now.

But at the moment, it was just Rosetta and Ellie, the two of them waiting while Beck and Kiki finished talking to one of their teachers about something related to their band while Lana waited for Meg to finish showering as she had rehearsals all day.

Since Meg was a dance major, she had rehearsals for the Valentine's Day show, which had been casted a few months ago, but also the Spring Show. Their roles for that had been casted right before break and rehearsals started up right after and usually there was overlap between show rehearsals.

Meg liked to have someone wait for her so they all took turns. They had asked Ellie and Rosetta to go claim their spot before the commons got too crowded after people began leaving from classes and hopefully there weren't too many people who didn't have after class activities. Meg had barely escaped another round of rehearsals as she was thankfully scheduled for the next day.

Rosetta was almost certain that their friends were just trying to give her and Ellie some alone time too by making them grab a spot but she wasn't complaining and was instead ranting about a fantasy book series, The Aviator's Path, that she was obsessed with to Ellie while Ellie listened and was writing something down in a notebook.

"So in the first book they get trapped inside this weird cell thing because they tried to start a prison revolt and one of the guards helps them escape and then slips some sort of coin medallion key thing into her hand but in the third book she finds the lock it opens and places it into the lock only for it to open and to reveal he made the antagonist his puppet and....." she trailed off, realizing that Ellie probably didn't know what she was talking about and she had been talking for too long about music anyways.

But Ellie was still looking at her intently while she wrote, listening and trying to understand. And Rosetta started to feel like she was being watched at the same time. It was the creepy feeling washing over her again and she assumed it was just because Ellie was staring at her but it didn't help her want to talk much either.

"Why'd you stop talking?" Ellie asked, cocking her head, eyes full of concern. She paused from whatever she was scribbling down in one of her many notebooks though Rosetta couldn't make out what it said. Her handwriting was in a very messy cursive that was not legible to anyone but Ellie and Rosetta could only read it after a few minutes of looking at it.

"I- I was talking too long. I know I tend to just ramble about things I like and ignore everything else and I thought you wouldn't want to hear anymore of me talking about the book series. I know you're not a big fan of fantasy or YA novels and stick to non-fiction," Rosetta admitted, words rushed and blurred together.

Her face fell as she reached out and squeezed Rosetta's hands.

"I love it when you ramble. I don't care if it's about something I don't understand or like as long as you're happy."

"But isn't it annoying?" Rosetta asked. "I mean most people find it annoying. They won't always say it but I can tell eventually."

She thought of all the times classmates had told her to shut up. She thought about all the times her teachers before high school had told her to shut up. She thought about all the faces of the adults and family members who tried to be nice but grew bored and wanted her to shut up.

"It's not annoying. I love your voice regardless of the situation."

"Really?" Rosetta asked. People told her she had a pretty voice when she sang and they told her they liked to hear her talk because her voice could be soothing when she was bored but no one ever told her that they always liked her voice. Eventually, one way or another, they would snap and signal in some way that she was being annoying.

In fact, Ellie was the only one who had ever told her before that they liked her voice in general. Ellie was the first and only person to tell her that her rambling wasn't a nuisance. Her friends never minded too much but they never said it.

"Of course!" Ellie said. "I swear you should have an ASMR channel and you should just talk forever about whatever you want and I would watch the videos and it would help me relax."

The idea of someone wanting to listen to her talk for hours on end and not only wanting it but saying that it would relax them instead of annoy them made Rosetta ecstatic. No one ever wanted to hear her talk so she didn't before she got too far ahead of herself.

Ellie then leaned over and pressed a kiss to her mouth but they were interrupted by Meg and Lana coming in. Meg was freshly showered, her short hair still a little wet as she flopped back in a bean bag and Lana launched herself onto a couch.

"So what have you two been up to?" Lana asked, raising a brow and smiling suggestively.

Meg hit her with a pillow. "Lana leave them alone," she said, leaning back in the bean bag and relaxing.

"We literally just sat here talking," Rosetta said, rolling her eyes.

"You guys are gross," Ellie said, sticking out her tongue.

Meg and Lana hooted with laughter as Rosetta peeled herself out of her chair and grabbed one of the little paddles for the air hockey.

"Anyone want to play?" She asked, tossing it up and catching it.

Lana got off the couch and took the other paddle. "You're on."

"First person to ten points wins," Rosetta said, turning on the table and putting the disk down. She shot it right at Lana who missed blocking it. The puck didn't make a point either, instead bouncing around the edges of the table.

They sent the puck back and forth, each of them scoring a few points while Meg and Ellie talked with each other and watched the little competition.

Beck and Kiki then came in, disrupting the game by dumping snacks from the vending machine onto the table. They had a few cans of Snapple and some assorted snacks that they all liked.

"Snack break!" Kiki yelled.

"Oh good. I was getting hungry after rehearsals?" Meg said.

"It's why we came prepared," Beck said as him and Kiki began passing out snacks.

The game would have to wait.

Rosetta reached for the peach Snapple but so did Lana.

"Winner of the game gets the Snapple?" Lana offered.

"Or you can both actually look and see that we got two," Kiki said, rolling her eyes and passing them the other one.

"Oh," Rosetta said, catching it. "Thank you."

They all sat down and opened their drinks, trading Snapples and passing bits of their snacks to each other. Like normally, Beck and Rosetta continued their competition of catching food in their mouth, Kiki throwing fruit snacks in the air and each of them shoving each other out of the way to catch it. The game resulted in a lot of head-butting and crashing into each other but it was fun anyways.

As they messed around, the air hockey game was forgotten and abandoned, replaced by all of them laughing and giggling.

"Oh my stars! I forgot I have to grab some things from the camera department to finish up a project tomorrow! Can two of you come with me to get the equipment?" Lana asked, all of the sudden, eyes wide in horror at her own forgetfulness.

"I'll come," Rosetta offered.

"Me too," Ellie said, standing up.

"We'll be back soon. Won't take long," Lana said, grabbing their hands and pulling them away and dragging them out the door.

It was cold out so they ran down to the film house to get whatever camera equipment Lana needed. She usually forgot a lot of things but Rosetta never minded. She was forgetful herself too.

As they went into one of the rooms, Lana started grabbing things and piled them on a table. She was musing over herself and counting things off in her mind as she did so, making sure she had everything.

In the meantime Rosetta and Ellie sat and waited patiently, looking at their phones.

She noticed there was a new posting on the school's posting app which was literally just called GATA App. For a school based on talent and creativity it wasn't a very creative name but it wasn't like she could change it or complain much. The app was mandatory for all students to have and each student automatically got their own account by enrolling, but it kept them constantly updated on what was happening at school. All students could post on it, asking questions to teachers and being able to set up meetings as well as being able to ask for help and advice from other students on their own projects.

Immediately, both Ellie and Rosetta opened it up. They usually didn't get many notifications but they were tagged in a post only for it to be a horror show.

It was pictures of Ellie and Rosetta kissing posted by Jack Vales and outing them to the whole school. They were moments when the two of them had thought they were alone. It was all taken at school but Rosetta didn't know how he even got these pictures. One was of them moments ago in the commons when Ellie had kissed her, right before Lana and Meg walked in.

But it wasn't just the two of them in photos. The rest of it was all Rosetta. Some were videos and audio recordings where she admitted she wasn't straight. And all of it was at the fingertips of their school.

Lana noticed their faces and turned, looking down at the photos with a face of shock.

Rosetta took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. She didn't think anyone at school would really be surprised but it didn't make it right. Her love life and sexuality belonged to her and no one else. No one was entitled to know anything about them.

Even if being gay or trans was mostly widely accepted, people being outed still happened and it still was miserable. There was part of being shoved out of the closet that no one talked about. It wasn't the violence that followed after or the way people changed how they treated you or viewed you, it was the way if put up a roadblock from becoming who you were meant to be.

And that was one of the worst parts.

Everyone carves a path for themselves in life and for many gay and trans people, part of carving that path is figuring out their sexuality or gender. It meant learning to let go of certain people and learning to accept part of who you are. It meant learning that some people were going to hate you for existing and it meant unlearning that in yourself too sometimes.

Being gay or trans changes the way you view yourself and how others view you. It's a large weight to bare and some people who hadn't accepted those changes yet should not have been forced too and never should be forced too.

Lana pulled something out of the shadows by the hair. It was Jack and he must have had the ability to travel through shadows which would explain how he got the photos.

Jack was yelling at her but Lana wasn't backing down. She never backed down.

"You asshole!" She screamed at him.

"They deserve it. Being gay is unnatural," he insisted, growing defensive and glaring.

"Oh but you believe Jesus could walk on water and that's fine? News flash! Jesus and all the of the disciples were gay!"

"Don't insult my religion like that!"

"It's my religion too you dick! And maybe don't be homophobic to my friends!" Lana yelled.

In the meantime Rosetta was trying to stay calm and keep Ellie from blowing her top. While everyone always assumed, based on the way Ellie and Rosetta dressed and acted, that Rosetta was the more violent one and Ellie was more docile, it was quite the opposite. Rosetta would never start a fight, no matter what. However her girlfriend, despite all the dresses and heels she wore, would absolutely shred someone if she felt it was necessary.

Both of them were good at physical fighting but Rosetta only used it as self defense whereas Ellie would do it on the drop of the dime without telling anyone.

And sometimes if she wasn't careful and she was really pissed her powers got out of control. It happened for a lot of prodigies when emotions were running high and while Ellie was slow to anger, when she got upset it could be extreme. All hell would break loose sometimes.

Rosetta could tell Ellie was about to boil over and could feel the air in the room changing. It scared her and put her even more on edge. Things never ended well when this happened.

Tears pricked her eyes.

"Elena," Rosetta whispered, pleading. It had been so long since she had called Ellie by her full name.

"I know," Ellie said softly. "I'm trying."

She was aware of her powers becoming more and more wild and she knew that Rosetta hated violence not just for herself but for others. Every time Rosetta had ever been violent she lost control of her own powers, though unknowingly, and was expelled for it. She didn't want the same for Ellie or any of her friends, especially when she had a feeling that by the end of this she was going to need them with her at school and at her side.

Jack's attention then turned to Rosetta as he approached, Rosetta's heart pounding with fear. She could defend herself but she did not want to. She was scared of not only him, but of the chance that she would be kicked out of another school. With her track record, administration was probably not on her side and she wasn't sure if she could handle having to change schools again. She was so close to graduating and had finally found a place where she fit in and at the last leg of the race it might be ripped away from her.

Rosetta was also terrified that he would hurt Ellie and Lana. They would do everything they could to prevent her from being hurt and if that meant taking any hits for her then so be it. Even worse, he might hurt them in retaliation to her.

"You should have agreed to come over," Jack snarled. "Maybe I could have changed you."

Tears streamed down her cheeks silently and she bounced her leg and flapped her hands for comfort as he came closer. She felt herself shrinking and feeling the need to puke and the implications of his words. Rosetta had never before wanted her mom or dad with her at the moment.

Ellie jumped out of her chair before Rosetta could grab her hand and pull her back. Her fist collided with Jack's face, a spray of blood shooting out. At the same time, all the air in the room shot back, causing the shelving unit of props behind Rosetta to come crashing down on her.

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blvirz · 4 years

Text

Living Life Through a Lens: Chapter One

Chapter 1: South Korea It Is

Word Count: 3.1K

Warnings: None

[6:30 AM EST]

You woke up to the sound of your alarm. On any other day you would have angrily smacked your phone until you managed to hit snooze, but today was different. Today you had a big meeting with Universal and although you had no clue what it would entail, you were excited about it nonetheless. After turning off your alarm, you rolled over to see your girlfriend Irene still asleep. Your eyes wandered over the features of her face, then her neck and then to her chest which was rising and falling at a slow rate. How peaceful, you thought.

Getting up slowly and carefully not to wake her up, you made your way to the bathroom. You stripped down and got into the shower. The water was hot enough to make the surrounding glass walls fog up, as well as the mirror across the room. You loved the shower, especially when the water was scorching hot. It wasn’t good for your hair, but you didn’t care. After shampooing and putting conditioner in to let sit, you started to wash the rest of your body. You quickly finished up and as soon as you were about to get out of the shower you felt two hands wrap around your stomach. You didn’t have to turn around to know who it was. You could recognize the smell of her perfume from a mile away.

“Good morning my love,” you say with a smile.

“A good morning it is.” She says in her morning voice.

Her hands travel further down and right away they’re met with yours. You can feel her mouth pout against your neck. You turn around and for the second time today you find yourself staring at her. Her eyebrows are furrowed, her brown eyes staring into yours, her mouth in the form of a pout. Smirking, “last night wasn’t enough for you? Later. Tonight. I promise.” You kiss in between each word, and with that you hop out of the shower leaving her alone. On your way out, you hear her shout, “you're going to regret that later!”

After getting dressed you make your way into the kitchen and as you’ve had for the last five years of your life, you make four boiled eggs for breakfast with a little pinch of salt on the side for dipping. Two for you and two for Irene. You leave her eggs on a plate and make your way to the fridge. After pulling out your water bottle you return back to the counter where you wrote a note for Irene not wanting to risk being pulled back into the shower. You wrote that you would be back in the evening and that you loved her.

The traffic on the way to work was how it always was; slow moving and packed with cars. You and Irene worked at the same office building but because of her position as a lawyer she could work from home most of the time. You pictured her in a simple but fitted navy dress, hair tied back and pinned away from her face, but most importantly her phone glued to her hands. She worked from home yet still insisted on putting on work attire. Her work ethic was unlike any other, and this was of the many reasons why you loved her so much.

Making your way through downtown you thought about what your meeting might mean for you. Were they going to renew your contract? Was it another offer to make another feature film? Were you being fired? You ran through every possible scenario, but one thing remained constant in all of them. You were going to tell them you needed a break from filming. You had worked non-stop since you were seventeen years old. Moving. Filming. Editing. Premiere. Repeat. You loved your job, but you wanted to sit back and enjoy some time with your girlfriend and your family. Rejuvenate.

[7:30 AM EST]

Quickly and excitedly you pull into the parking garage that happens to be next to the Universal Pictures building. On your way out you tip the parking garage attendant and make your way inside the office. As soon as you walk in, you're met with a big and over the top Globe statue. The famous Universal logo. The statue had to have been 10 feet high and just as wide. In routinely fashion you flash your badge to the receptionists at the front and they let you through the gate to the elevators.

As if the sounds of your heels hitting the floor as you made your way to the conference room were an alarm, your fellow coworkers stood up to greet you from their desks. You nodded in each of their directions and greeted them a good morning with a warm smile. Before you could make it to the conference room an arm links its way around yours. You look up and it’s your assistant Alexis; Lex for short. She greets you a good morning and hands you a coffee. The cup is hot, telling you she must have just made it.

Alexis wasn’t just your assistant; she was one of your best friends who you’ve known since the sixth grade. She was an exchange student from South Korea and finished part of her education in Canada. She was everything you needed in a friend and assistant. She was hardworking, smart, kind, shy and beautiful. But of the many traits you could choose to describe her, your favourite was her strength. To move to a new country without your parents, go to school and make all new friends was something you could not imagine doing at the age of 12. So little by little as you got to know her, you admired just how strong she was. Any task put in front of her, she could handle. Ever since then you two have been inseparable, and you made sure that it wasn’t just your business relationship that was the thing holding you two together. You made it clear that before anything else that she was your friend first, and if she didn’t enjoy being your assistant at any point, she could quit that role no questions asked.

Snapping back into focus you and Lex made your way into the conference room taking your usual seats. Soon the room would fill with an array of people. Spanning from your lawyer, your manager to Universal’s lawyers and other higherups. It was important to note that although you technically worked at Universal, your company signs yearly contracts with them. In essence you were your own boss with your own company, but you would still need larger corporations with larger budgets to produce your films.

You were 17 when your first film came out. It was a school project that you posted online. It wasn’t big, but somehow it made its way into the hands of important people. From there you became your own CEO. Up until this point you’ve made hundreds of films. Unofficially of course. Officially you’ve made three, all of which did well upon their release. What made your documentary films different from the rest you had no idea, but from your fans and other respected directors in the community they told you it was because of the warm and genuine perspective you were able to capture. You took pride in your filming and editing process in that it was unlike any other; you didn’t want to make documentaries that were just loads of facts being spit out, you wanted to avoid the coldness and education-like feel that were typical of many documentaries you’ve seen.

Your first film was a test to see if Universal would sign you. So, you made a documentary film centering around a non-profit organization that would help bring clean water and energy to low income areas. After you boosted Universal’s PR image and made lots of money for the non-profit, it was safe to say you were hired. Your second documentary film was the same in that it centered around another non-profit. However, for your third film you wanted to follow not an organization but rather a person or group. Luckily you were signed under Universal, so you had access to many people. Ranging from actors to even artists signed under Universal Music Group. Your third and most recent documentary you chose to feature the Jonas Brothers. You centered it around their comeback and the struggles they encountered when they first disbanded in 2013. The public response was a warm one to say the least. It was the first film that catapulted you into the spotlight, which you hated. Although you liked filming, you wanted to be the one behind the camera and not in front. You dreaded the press interviews and red carpets, but slowly you were accepting that it was all a part of the job.

“So… do you have any idea what the meeting is about?” you asked Lex, hoping she would at least have an idea or heard a few whispers around the office.

“I haven’t heard much of anything. But if I had to guess it would probably be a new feature film,” she said looking at her phone.

You sigh, “I can do this right? Tell them I want a break?”

“As your friend, I want whatever is going to make you happy. But professionally, I don’t think they would want you to take a break, not when you just got your big break in the industry. It’s going to be a hard pill for them to swallow, they’ll probably ask you to think about it for a couple of days.” She says as she sets her phone down and now looking at you.

You spent 15 minutes trying to convince Lex of your plan to step back, imagining her in the place of the executives that would soon fill the room. Right as you finished, the lawyers and investors started to enter the conference room one by one. With each one that entered, you slowly started to doubt yourself. The last businessman to enter the room was the chairman, Ethan Silver. He was nice but also had the scary professional side to him. He was in every meeting to make sure that the company did well, and if didn’t, let’s just say you didn’t want to be the cause of it. Although he struck fear into the other employees you had a unique relationship with him. You could joke around and tease each other almost like a fun uncle-niece relationship. He had a daughter about your age and sometimes treated you as such. As soon as he sat down, he wished everyone a good morning and pulled himself closer to the table as to initiate the meeting.

“As we have discussed these past few weeks this isn’t just a normal meeting. We will finally get to tell the lovely Y/N why she was called in to join us this morning.” He says as he gestures toward you. You blush and turn away shyly from everyone in the room, causing everyone to laugh. Besides Lex, you two were the youngest in the room, and it being full of old grey haired men made you nervous.

“Y/N,” Ethan says looking towards you.

Nervously, you respond “Ethan…”

“Because of your recent success with your last documentary, the company has been looking into a new subject for you to follow. Among all the options the company has taken an interest in a particular offer coming from one of Universal’s subsidiaries, Interscope Records. A South Korean girl group, BLACKPINK, have recently been signed under Interscope and their company has been looking for a way to catapult them further into the Western market. We have prepared dossiers on each member and YG Entertainment for you to take a look at, but before we continue was there anything you wanted clarification on?” Ethan asks as he turns to look at you.

You couldn’t believe what he just said if you were honest. A chance to work with BLACKPINK?! You were a fan to say the least, you stumbled upon them during their Coachella set when Lex dragged you to their performance. You were instantly mesmerized and fell into the blackhole that was K-Pop. You didn’t have much free time but when you did you were watching anything Blackpink related, you were shocked to see the lack of content surrounding them as you found them so entertaining. How could YG not promote them better? Suddenly your thoughts of taking a break were halted. No! I need a break. You want to spend time with your loved ones– you thought. But its Blackpink. You were conflicted.

“I have no words. Wow. Um…I’m actually a huge fan. But please continue,” you blurt out, not wanting to geek out any further. But internally you were freaking out.

Ethan continues on with the little minute details of the deal. Going over the contracts and the usual plans. Marketing covered their portion followed by finance and PR. You found yourself zoning out of the rest of the meeting, lost in your thoughts about what to do. Do you work? Do you take a break? Will this opportunity ever come again?

Suddenly, Ethan snaps his fingers in front of you. “So… what do you think? It’s a no brainer, right?! You're a fan and they need promotion…” You look at him and he has a large smile planted on his face.

You don’t reply right away, and as the seconds pass by you feel the whole room look to you desperate for an answer. Surely you were going to say yes, they all thought. Who wouldn’t?

“Uhm. Uh. See the thing is… While I was expecting this meeting to be another job offer… And while I’m excited–”

“–Hold on. Y/N. Are you saying you don’t want to do this? Process this slowly… I’m not sure if you’ll ever have another chance like this.” Ethan pulls your chair closer to his.

“I-I just need some time to think about it. How many days do I have?” you ask. With all the eyes on you in the room you couldn’t just say no. This was so much easier in my head.

...

“What happened in there Y/N? What happened to your plan to take a break?” Lex asks.

“It’s not that easy,”

“But it is Y/N. You need one. It was hard seeing you finish the last one. The toll that it took on you to be away from everything you love, year by year. Don’t feel bad for needing one. I wish you would stop thinking about how to make everyone else happy and make decisions that bring you happiness. Please reconsider this. Don’t be afraid.” Lex lectures.

She was right, you did need this break. Physically you were good. Mentally you were drained. For the past six years all you have done was pack up. Film. Edit. Go to a premiere and repeat. You were living your life through a lense and all you wanted to do was simply just live.

That’s all that was on your mind the whole day. The time just seemed to melt away and by the end of the day you just wanted to go home and spend time quality time with Irene.

[6:19 PM CST]

You stumble in the doorway exhausted from all five of today’s meetings. They covered your personal finances, fittings, investments, sponsorships- and of course the big meeting about your new upcoming film.

“Irene! I’m home sweetheart!” you yell and trip over a pair of heels that surely weren’t yours, they were too small. Did she have someone over? You get up and walk toward her office.

You walk in and see Irene kissing another woman. Her hands were on her arms. As soon as they take notice of you, your mouth is hung open. You processed so much information today and yet what was in front of you was too much. You're shocked, confused, angry, sad? You felt all these emotions at once, but quickly you look from Irene to the woman. Giselle?

It was Irene’s best friend. Before you started dating you knew she had a girl best friend that was attached to her hip, you initially thought they were together because of how close they were, but when Irene told you they were only just friends you pursued her. In the beginning it bugged you a little, but as time went on you learned to adjust. You trusted Irene, so what were you so worried about?

“You know I always felt bad for thinking that you two were secretly sneaking behind my back. Always. And so every time I did, I would do something nice for each of you. I never told you why of course, but it was because I felt bad for thinking that low of you guys. But I guess my gut was right in the end. Shame on me.” You choked out.

“Y/N! wait pleas–” Irene said as she lunged toward you.

As you made your way back to the door, you picked your purse up from off the counter and left your keys to her apartment on the counter. Irene follows you, continuously calling out for you at the same time. You turn around and look at her for the third time today.

Calmly and with tears streaming down your face you say, “had it been any other girl Irene, I think it would have hurt less. But thank you for making it so easy for me to leave. I’ll send for my stuff. Please do not insult me in trying to explain what I just saw because there is no other way to interpret it.” And with that you leave her apartment building.

As soon as you got into your car you broke down. Hitting the steering wheel in frustration not caring how hard you were hitting it or about the bruises that would show up on your wrists tomorrow. You scream and cry until your cheeks start to sting. When there weren’t any more tears to come out you stop and call Lex.

“I’m taking the job. Tell Ethan to set up a meeting with YG for next week. I want to leave for South Korea in three days. Also, send someone to I-Irene’s apartment to collect all of my stuff, I want everything that’s mine taken from there and put in storage.” You hang up without another word. This wasn’t how you expected to be forced to take this job, but South Korea it is, you thought.

Chapter 2 - HERE

#blackpink #blackpink imagines #jennie kim #lalisa manoban #blackpink rosé #blackpink jisoo

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fanfic-corner · 3 years

Text

Under 10,000 Words

16/12/20 - I can never figure out what my favourite length of fic is, but I think it depends on my mood. Sometimes I want a huge, 200,000 word journey, and sometimes I just want a quick drabble. Anyway, here are some fics which are all between 2,000 and 10,000 words, organised by the word count.

Sleep Deprivation by Honey_Honey on AO3. (2,313 words).

Tags: Cute, First Kiss.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: The one where killing monsters leaves Dean without a week of sleep, and Cas has to deal with the consequences.

Notes: This was so fluffy and cute and I can totally imagine Dean overthinking everything while Sam just finds the whole situation hilarious.

That One Time Sam Winchester Googled Something Weird and It Had Pretty Awesome Results by quitepossiblyjanuary on AO3. (2,587 words).

Tags: Romantic Fluff, First Kiss, Stars, Humor, Courtship, Short & Sweet.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: In which Sam Googles something and his curiosity doesn’t kill the cat. Or him. Or anyone. It’s a pretty awesome feeling.

Notes: This was so adorable! Gabe was so sweet, and his mind reading skills made me laugh.

What Can’t Be Seen by destieldrabblesdaily on AO3. (2,639 words).

Tags: Soulmate AU, author!Cas, Strangers to Lovers, First Kiss.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: Written for this prompt: Soulmate AU where you first see color after eye contact: Cas is a famous best selling author and he’s promoting his book, so he’s talking to a crowd of people and suddenly his world is in color, and a lot of his fans pretend to be his soulmate. A Cinderella type situation ensues.

Notes: This was really cute and such a sweet and funny idea.

The Tea is Decaf by mnwood on AO3. (3,673 words).

Tags: POV Castiel, Fluff, Sign Language, Castiel in the Bunker, Canon Compliant, Sharing Clothes, Asexual Castiel, Gentle Dean, Non-Explicit Sex, Domestic, Established Relationship.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: Based on this text post from thebloggerbloggerfun: “Listen, imagine Eileen sneaking out of Sam’s room at night to go to the bathroom or something and steps out into the hallway in one of Sam’s shirts only to see Cas trying to quietly leave Dean’s room while wearing one of Dean’s shirts and they both just stare at each other awkwardly for a few seconds before trying to muffle quiet laughter and now they have a late night club where they talk about life and gossip about the Winchesters in sign language"And this anon I received: "what if Eileen and Cas discover there are some things Sam and Dean both do in bed because Dean jokingly gave Sam pointers when they were younger and Sam took the advice”.

Notes: This has to be one of my favourite fics of all time, even though the first time I read it I hadn’t even met Eileen yet! I’m still so pissed off that she wasn’t in the finale (unless we’re counting Blurry Wife?).

surely heaven wants for you by cenotaphy on AO3. (3,782 words).

Tags: Episode: s15e20 Carry On, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Heaven, Coda, Post-Finale, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Dean, Outdoor Sex.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: Cas doesn't come to him. Dean can't really argue with that, given the circumstances. In all the history of balls in courts, he thinks there might never have been a ball as thoroughly in a court as this one is in his. He drives for what feels like a long time but might just be a single sunny afternoon, or maybe years (time's funny here, Bobby had said), just enjoying the music, the shifting landscape outside his window, the hum and creak of the engine. Finally the forest opens up and the road narrows down in a way that he's fairly certain wouldn't typically happen on any kind of earthly interstate, and he glides the car to a halt at the edge of a lake.

Notes: This was so beautiful and such a interesting exploration of Dean’s feelings!

a quick salt and burn by xylodemon on AO3. (4,609 words).

Tags: Episode Related, Cemeteries, Case Fic.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: "Fuck," Dean mutters, wincing as pain throbs in his shoulder and neck. After the ghost chucked him into the hedge, he hit the ground like ton of bricks and clipped an exposed tree root so old it was practically petrified. "So much for a quick salt and burn."

Notes: This is adorable and hilarious, so a double win.

Funny Bone by PallasPerilous on AO3. (4,933 words).

Tags: Fluff and Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Skeletons, Bad Pick-Up Lines, Alternate Universe - No Angels, Canon Divergence, Mild Gore.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: It wasn’t even a particularly creepy skeleton; it was in kind of a “just chillin’” pose on the floor. One ankle was still locked up in a heavy iron cuff, at the end of a short chain leading back to the wall. Snoresville, as dead stuff goes; Dean’s seen worse at Disneyland. It was the skeleton’s comment about Dean’s ass that really livened things up.

Notes: This has to have been one of the funniest fics I have ever read, but oh boy did I feel bad for poor Cas.

Grace by july_19th_club on AO3. (5,164 words).

Tags: Fix-It, Episode Fix-It: s15e20 Carry On, Resurrection, Reciprocated Confession.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: A man dies. What happens next will shock you. [script]

Notes: This was written beautifully, and now I really want to see this filmed! So much better than the ending we got.

(un)conventional by imogenbynight on AO3. (6,100 words).

Tags: Alternate Universe, mechanic!Dean, Writer!Castiel, Conventions, Fluff.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: Spec Lit Con--Speckly Con, to it’s regular attendees--is an annual weekend-long event held in Chicago, dedicated to science fiction, fantasy and otherwise speculative literature. This year Dean's favorite author, C.J. Novak, is appearing as a panelist. Naturally, he shells out the cash for an all access pass.

Notes: This was so adorable that I nearly screamed in the corridor outside my computer science lesson. Plus, the writing was absolutely gorgeous! I miss conventions :(

La Vie A Plus by K_K_TiBal on AO3. (6,260 words)

Tags: Punk Castiel, Asexual Castiel, College/Uni AU, Roommates, oh my god they were roommates, College Student Dean, College Student Castiel, Pining, First Kiss, Misunderstandings, Art Student Castiel, Love Confessions, Gabriel is a Little Shit, Tattooed Castiel.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: Dean Winchester is hopelessly, head-over-heels in love with his best friend and roommate, Castiel. Castiel - with his blue hair, and his tattoos, and his artwork, and his perfect everything. Dean never stood a chance, really. It only sucks because, as far as Dean can tell, Castiel is definitely not interested. But love, much like art, has a way of being unpredictable. Even if you think you know where you’re going with it.

Notes: The angst is strong in this one! Again, I feel like many aces have had this conversation or that fear that people (allos, especially) may not want to be with them.

Event Horizon by Winglesss on AO3. (6,442 words).

Tags: Suicidal Thoughts, Suicidal Dean, Depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Past Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Texting, Sharing a Bed, Happy Ending, Veteran Dean, Doctor Dean, Writer Castiel, Strangers.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: Castiel couldn't have helped his sister. That's why being offered a chance to help somebody else dealing with suicidal thoughts he took it without hesitation. When he gets the first text from someone who needs his help, nothing goes as he expected.

Notes: I don’t know if that kind of suicide prevention scheme exists, but this fic is very sweet.

I Think That’s Mine by palominopup on AO3. (6,804 words).

Tags: Fluff, AU, Reporter!Dean, Writer!Cas.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: A mix up at the Atlanta Airport places Dean Winchester's laptop in someone else's possession. A series of calls and texts bring two men together.

Notes: This was so cute, Cas was so sweet, and Dean was an icon.

Nothing Equals the Splendor by RurouniHime on AO3. (7,865 words).

Tags: Fix-It, Post-Episode: s15e20 Carry On, Angst with a Happy Ending, Grief, Explicit Sexual Content, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Declarations of Love, Canon Compliant, Minor Injuries.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: Maybe it’s the cynic in him. The hunter, always under the surface of any quietude he ever found. Or maybe it’s just that he has always had trouble with blind faith. But after a while (a blink? A decade? A century?), Dean raises his eyebrows, looks around, and says—

“Uh. No.”

It’s so close. Just so slightly imperfect. And maybe, he analyzes, maybe that’s the final knell of this bell called contentment. Dean’s experience with happiness has always been that last rise in the road, right before it turns. Right before fate comes barreling around the corner head on. He turns in his spot on the bridge, and suddenly Sam is like a cellophane film through which he can see the light streaming, and the taste of cheap beer on his tongue is much, much older a memory than it should be.

“Oh, you’re good,” he says, and means it.

Notes: What a great idea, and written so well! I always thought the show could have done so much more with djinns, but never mind.

In the House of the Rising Bun by imissmaeberry on AO3. (9,046 words).

Tags: Bakery and Coffee Shop, Baker Dean, Barista Sam, College Campus, Poet Castiel, Mutual Pining, Daddy Issues, Background Sam/Jess, Past Balthazar/Castiel.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: Dean Winchester only has three rules concerning the cafe he and his brother Sam own, “House of the Rising Bun”.

1. Any and all opportunities to make a pun will be taken. 2. Free regular coffee with your student ID (If you want some of that fancy nonsense you gotta pay, sorry kids). 3. Anyone and everyone is always welcome.

Between Dean running the shop full-time and Sam helping out whenever he isn’t in class, there really isn’t a whole lot of time for romance for either of them. But that all changes when they gain a new regular - some writer from London - who may or may not have the bluest eyes Dean’s ever seen.

Notes: First of all, the puns were amazing and I am willing to fight people on that. Secondly, that was so sweet and funny I am afraid I might have to disappear under mysterious circumstances and open my own cafe…

I hope you enjoy these! I haven’t read any new fics for this list and even then there were way too many to put on one list, so expect a sequel at some point in the future!

#fic recs #destiel #sabriel #saileen #fanfics #supernatural #spn #spnfamily #10000 words #2000-10000

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airis-paris14 · 4 years

Text

Dress Up 4

Summary: She’s not his fiancee, but no one else needs to know.

Warnings: None

A/N: It’s literally been a whole year since I’ve posted anything on here. This pandemic has given me a lot of free time. I’ve got a lot of ideas , two stories to post, and two stories to finish. I’m very excited to get back into my groove. Hope you all enjoy and are staying safe. Wear a mask, wash your hands, and Social distance. ✨

“Damn it all!” T’challa hissed, his hand flying onto the table. “Calm yourself!” Ramonda admonished, glaring at her son as Shuri frowned at the cake in front of her. “It has been weeks mama, weeks and still she shows no sign of improvement. Did we choose the dumbest of them all!”

“T’Challa you will watch your mouth!”

“So she can not bake a cake, neither can you. Everyone has a talent, maybe we should stop conforming her to our standards and look at her own.” Shuri pointed at Sirobie where she sat, her back facing the group.

“The cake is not the problem. The problem is that we have tested now, eight talents, and she has a knack for none of them. She is utterly talentless according to Wakanda’s standards. If she is to stand in for Kamyra, then she must present herself as an embodiment of Wakanda, held to Wakanda’s standards.”

“If only you would hold your betrothed to that standard, maybe we wouldn’t be in this position in the first place!” Shuri fired off, glaring at her brother. Sirobie stood quietly and glided out of the room, stopping only to glance back at the siblings. She sighed before continuing into the hall. Sirobie hurried back to her room, fighting back the tears burning the corners of her eyes. She blindly pushed open her door, jumping slightly at the women who stood in front of her. “Kasigo, Eshe,” she quickly wiped from under her eyes, “I was not expecting you until later.”

“We found your art supplies and thought we would drop them off for you to have after your session with the Queen, are you alright my lady?” Eshe frowned. “I will be fine, thank you both,” Sirobie offered a small smile. “ Are you sure you would not like some company?” Kasigo offered. “I am well. Or I will be.”

“If you insist, we will be back later tonight,” Eshe reaffirmed, both of the women dipping into an elegant curtsy. “Thank you,” Sirobi smiled, until both of the doors were shut. Glancing at the blank canvas and supplies, she let tears begin to fall from her eyes as she walked back out onto the balcony. She methodically set up her station, letting her tears fall freely in a trail from the balcony to her room.

A few minutes later, she sat in comfort in front of her easel. Rushing back into her room, she grabbed last week's sketch from her night stand and methodically traced the design onto the canvas. The scratch of the pencil lead, soothed the students nerves as she let the tears fall.

The tears began to slow, as the woman emerged from the fountain side. Minutes, then an hour passed before she placed the final stroke. Placing the pencil down, and finally wiping her eyes, Sirobie sighed, turning to grab her paints. Only to run smack into the king’s chest.

“You never told us you paint.” the king stated, staring at the mesmerizing sketch of the mountain. Sirobie moved around him to begin placing and mixing her paint. “You never asked me what I could do. You only assumed.”

She moved intentionally around the king. Finally allowing herself to move back to the easel once the brushes, paint, and water were all comfortably positioned. She began by filling in and highlighting the rich brown of the woman’s skin. Displaying her natural curves and glow where the sunlight hit her skin.

“Why do you start with her body and not the mountain, or the large expanse of sky.”

“She is the focal point of the painting. She deserves time and detail. This also allows me to mold the elements of nature to highlight her beauty, and presence, even more.”

“You paint beautifully. Yet you study film. Why?”

“I am a storyteller at heart. Sometimes I paint what the director in me, envisions in my head.”

“I apologize for my conduct and words earlier.”

“Why?”

“Because they were cruel and wrong-”

Sirobie’s hand froze mid stroke, lifting slightly off the canvas. “No, not an excuse or the polite answer. Why are you apologizing if you mean it? Perhaps because Queen Mother is angry at you?” She continued on with her light strokes.

“Because I did not mean it. I also made you cry. That is something I promised myself that I would never do. If I could help it. I never wanted to make someone cry.”

“Why do you say things you do not mean your majesty?”

“Because I cannot grow close to you. You are not mine to keep. You look like her. But you are not her. I am quickly falling for you, but I can’t have you. I thought that by pushing you away, the separation would be easier for us both.” The king sighed. “I hope you can forgive me lady Sirobie. Let me earn your trust.”

The student placed down her brush. “We can see. Starting tomorrow. At the hospital.”

“I’ll see you then?” the king offered a small smile. Sirobie turned to slight one of her own. “I’ll see you then.”

Sirfobie practiced her measured steps as she walked down the hall to the king’s room. The desired effect was to glide. The young woman in training was not there yet. She had graduated from appearing as though she was perpetually tripping, to trying to hold back a run. Upon noticing her practice, T’Challa smiled. “You are improving sithwanda sam. “

His words startled the student. She quickly regained her balance and looked up. “Oh thank you.” she replied. “Shall we go?” the king offered the woman his arm. Sirobie hesitantly accepted. “Please, relax around me. If we were truly engaged, we would be all we have besides our families. There isn’t much privacy in this lifestyle.”

“I can tell. I guess it’s best that this is fake then.” Sirobie replied. “If that is the way you feel.” T’Challa replied, stepping away to open the door for Sirobie.

“Thank you.”

The king slid in the other door. As soon as the door shut, the driver pulled off. T’Challa cleared his throat. “I thought that maybe we could get to know each other a little better.”

“Why, I am not your fiancée,” Sirobie sassed, staring out the window. “I know. I just thought that it would be nice to know each other a little better-”

“Why are you all of a sudden being so nice T’Challa.” She cut him off. “I thought, and last night-”

“I don’t know where I stand with you T’Challa. The first few weeks I’m here, you embarrass me. Chastise me like a child. Essentially call me talentless. But now you want to get to know me? I don’t understand you.”

“I am trying to be better. I was acting out of character. I am just so afraid of what happens if this plan falls through. If I do not marry the oldest child of the Habredies royal family. Shuri, must marry her brother. He is a crude young man. With no feelings and qualms about laying a hand on women. I do not want that for my little sister. She is too bright and strong willed to have to endure that. He will break her. I cannot let that happen on my watch.”

Sirobie, placed her hand on the king’s squeezing softly. “I am trying to keep my grandfather’s promise, but Kamyra is not my idea of a wife. She hates my country, and complains non-stop. She is image over everything, I often feel like I can not let down my walls around her. So as awkward as it is for me to admit this. I was afraid that I would fall in love with you Sirobie. I just can’t be selfish in this situation.”

“I understand. I at least hope that we can become friends,”the student offered. “Of course,” The king squeezed her hand in return as they pulled up to the hospital.

“This is it,” Sirobie sighed as the driver opened T’Challa’s door. The king briefly let go of her hand and hopped out of the car. He reached a hand back in to help the student out of the car.Once she was out, he kept her hand around his as they made their way into the hospital.

“Your majesties,” a middle aged woman smiled. My name is Hapset. I am the director of the Women and Children’s hospital of Wakanda. If you’ll follow me, the children are very excited to meet you both.” The woman smiled, leading the couple down various hallways and staircases to an open play area.

There, nurses played with children, ranging from toddlers to highschoolers. All doing their own activities. The room lit up as soon as several children recognized the couple.Murmurs of “the king” and “she’s a princess” erupted around the room as children moved towards the couple. Nurses grabbed the toddlers and escorted them back to the nursery as Mrs. Hapset began to speak.

The couple was quickly flooded with conversation and stories. They laughed, took pictures and even played games with the children. Many of the teenagers were surprised that Sirobie and T’Challa both knew and used snapchat. As well as they both attended school out of country. The king hoped that wouldn’t be too big a deal, as they had both let it slip. Taking their final pictures and waving their goodbyes, the couple followed the director to the nursery.

“In here, we house our toddler daycare during the day, for parents who can’t be here with their children. As well as babies who are awaiting adoption.”

Sirobie’s face dropped as she gestured to a crib. “May I?”

“Of course your majesty.”

T’Challa watched as the student stepped up to the crib and gently lifted the baby from its cradle. “Hi love.” She cooed gently, rocking the baby.

“That’s Camden. His mother had just finished a war dog mission in the Americas.”

“Where is she now?”

“The war dog life is not suited for children. Just as some are not suited for parenthood.” The director smiled sadly.

“Of course,” T’Challa replied, watching as Sirobie bounced the child in her arms. For a brief second, imagining if she was the mother of his child, and she was staring at him like that. It was hard to imagine Kamyra in that position. With a newborn nestled in her arms. “Cwan I see?” a little boy walked over to the queen. He couldn’t be older than three. Quickly checking with Hapset, Sirobie bent down to the boys height. “Why he face so small?” The little boy tilted his head. “He is still growing. One day he’ll be just as big as you.”

“Really?” the little boy smiled up in wonder at Sirobie. “Really,” she beamed. “Wow. Was I that small?

On a whim, T’Challa found himself bending down with Sirobie and the child. “Yes you were. But look at how big and strong you are now. I bet you could take the black panther in a fight. “Black panter.”

“That’s right, a little black panter,” Sirobie smiled. Shooting a brilliant smile at T’Challa. A flash of light alerted the couple that they were no longer alone. And that this was not their family. Press flashbulbs went off all around them as they said their goodbyes and made a hasty exit.

Once back in the limo, T’Challa directed their driver off the path, and onto a dirt road. “You might want to take your heels off for this part. The king removed his shoes as Sirobie did the same.

T’Challa spoke to the driver and he quickly backed up and drove off. “How are we supposed to get back?” Sirobie pouted. “We shall walk,” the king replied nonchalantly as he began walking away from the student.

“Do you truly like children?” he asked as she caught up to him. “I’ve always had a soft spot for them.They make me genuinely happy.”

“The way you looked at that baby today. You seemed truly happy. At peace.”

“I was. It has been so long since I was able to hold a baby. I rarely get to see my younger sisters. I took care of them when they were that little.”

“You truly miss them?”

“I do.”

“Kamyra does not want children.”

“Do you?” The king did not reply and Sirobie feared she had crossed a line. “I’m sorry if that-”

“Yes,” the King interrupted, “I do want children.”

“Oh.” Sirobie nodded.

“Sirobie Johnson. May I take you out to dinner tomorrow?”

“I thought we shouldn’t get close?”

“We should not. But I hardly doubt I’ll be able to forget you either way,” the king smiled.

“Then, yes. I’ll have to check my schedule with Queen mother first of course,” Sirobie teased.

“And I with Okoye,” the king chuckled. “I look forward to it Lady Sirobie.”

Taglist: @almostpurelysmut @tchoking @sisterwifeudaku @wikiwakanda @royallyprincesslilly @90sinspiredgirl @thedelightfulone @autumn242 @purple-apricots @kumkaniudaku @queertrex @kaciidubs @halfrican-heat @leahnicole1219 @kreolemami @mzbritt @derangedcupcake @chaneajoyyy @lalapalooza718 @ororowrites @sarcastic-sunshines @sarahboseman @waitingonafriend @faatassbitch @autumn242 @purple-apricots @skysynclair19 @gorjiss @yoyolovesbucky @builtalongthewayside @ilcb7 @dopegalkk @shesakillerkween

#tchalla #tchalla fanfiction #tchalla imagine #tchalla x reader #blackpantherimagines #t ‘challa x reader #dressupfic #apbpfics

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hunterfm · 4 years

Text

𝕀𝕟𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕕𝕦𝕔𝕚𝕟𝕘: Hunter Reid

( thomas doherty, cis male, he/him ) have you heard about HUNTER REID? they’re a TWENTY FOUR year old TEAM MEMBER in the QUIZ team. i don’t know what their last job was, all i know is that they’re originally from SEATTLE, WASHINGTON. carol in hr said that they’re kinda ARGUMENTATIVE and NON-COMMITTAL but jessica in marketing insists that they are CANDID and ARDENT. at the end of the day, no one is worthy of the instant hype here. i just hope they get achieve their dream of being PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM LEAD one day. According to the latest Vibez quiz, their Disney soulmate is PRINCE ERIC.

hello wow!! I’m Jay, 22, est, he/him. I’m one of the admins here and I also play Hunter. All your apps were incredible and I can’t wait to plot and write with you SO!!! Here’s my man, Hunter. If you’re down to plot with my problematic boy here, just like this and I’ll hit you up for plots.

𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒔

Full Name: Hunter Zachary Reid

Nickname(s): Hunt, Reid

Birthday: March 31st

Age: Twenty Four

Pronouns: He/Him

Gender: Cis Male

Sexuality: Bisexual

Height: 5′ 11″

Zodiac: Aries

Hometown: Seattle, Washington

Position: Team Member

Team: Quiz Team

𝑯𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚

Hunter was born to Alice and Zachary Reid. He was the second child and the only son. The family originally lived in Seattle, Washington. Both of his sisters were around his age. One a year or so younger and one a year or so older. They grew up very close to one another, even if they did get on each other’s nerves. His life was pretty perfect for the first few years. He never wanted for anything. His mother owned a charming boutique and his father was a very successful doctor.

He attended private school with his sisters and had a very active social life. From the time he was a child, Hunter was very charming. It didn’t matter if It was teachers, students, adults, or children. He seemed to have a way with words, a way of making everybody adore him.

When he was twelve, he noticed fighting between his parents. He assumed It was nothing, but their announced divorce later that year proved the theory wrong. The conversation didn’t go all that badly though. His mother took him aside after the family found out and told him that she loved him. They made a promise--- That even with everything going on, she’d never leave him behind.

She moved out the next summer. And he never heard from her again.

A lot of people thought the loss didn’t affect him because he held himself together quite well, even for a child. But he was hurting. His father was a good man, but he was a pushover. He let her leave. He didn’t fight hard enough. And his mother was his favorite, but she’d left him. She’d broken the promise. He didn’t feel lovable, no matter how many people insisted that he was. And that was a feeling he carried over into adulthood. Though It was masked by romance and charm.

He learned to show his feelings through his art. The shitty polaroid camera from his mother was the last birthday gift she ever gave him. The only gift from her that he held on to. That was what started his love of photography. Moments pass, but you couldn’t ever lose a memory. Not when it’s captured on film.

He enrolled in college at NYU and things really changed for him. It was a new start. That’s what he had convinced himself, anyway. As far as anyone else was concerned, he was perfect. His grades were perfect, his dates of the week were perfect, his photographs were perfect. And he’d even landed the perfect internship at Vibez during his senior year.

He interned under incredible photographers, learning how everything works behind a huge company like Vibez. And when they asked him to stay? How could he say no! The job opportunity was perfect. Until he found out the photography team was full... and he would be placed in the Quiz team now that his internship was done.

𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚

Hunter comes off as very romantic. He can be charming, often masking his true intentions with people. A lot of his relationships feel like magic in the beginning only for him to fade away and grow dis interested. He sees relationships as art, as a moment in time, not as something work fighting for in the long run.

He’s been with a lot of people, and It usually starts the same. He doesn’t have many boundaries so when you’re with him, It feels as though you’re the only person in the world.

He will make you feel special one moment and completely replaceable the next. It’s a cycle he isn’t fully aware of, but it’s a cycle nonetheless. He wants love, he craves love. But at the end of the day, it’s far easier for him to not care that much and leave. God forbid someone else does It first.

However, working at Vibez (while originally a dream) has been a little bit of a nightmare. He’s been on the quiz team for three years now. Each time loosing that spot on the photography team to someone with more experience or with “a new outlook” which is what the execs call a family friend. This has made him charming outside of work, but rather grumpy while on the job. It’s almost like he’s got two different versions of himself.

The lovesick artist versus the bitter perfectionist.

Romance, work and mommy issues aside, he can be a great friend. He's fun, charming, spontaneous, and will do anything to make someone smile. Even if he winds up hurting them in the end. Get used to having your photo taken though. He’s always got a camera around his neck.

𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔

Close friends

Childhood friends

Best friends

Ex Classmates

His older sister (would be 25/26)

His younger sister (would be 22/23)

Someone who isn’t a sibling but feels like one

Neighbors

Roommate

Cousins

Frenemies

Bad influence

Good influence

Drinking buddies

Flirtationship

Family Friends

Exes on good terms

Exes on bad terms

Friends with Benefits

One night stands

Almost lovers

and anything else we can come up with!

#vibez:intros #*#hello there !!!!

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amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines · 4 years

Text

Betty//...fireworks

Request: Can I request a Betty/Reader set when Cheryl is in the sisters of quiet mercy, you're with her in the conversion camp and when Toni comes to break her out you get away with them/ Betty helps you escape/adjust back to school

There’s heavy footsteps in the background of your dream and you frantically look to figure out where they’re coming from.

But you’re in a forest with two of your friends, Spongebob, your freshmen English teacher and Emma Watson...for some reason. And the footsteps don’t sound like they’re on a forest floor. They sound like they’re coming from inside a house, maybe on a carpet.

They’re getting closer and you’re starting to panic. Sweat beads on your forehead and your breath quickens and then you feel it.

Two strong hands on your shoulders.

Okay. Now you’re awake.

Your eyes snap open as your pulled from your bed.

A scream rips through your throat but as soon as it leaves, a sweaty hand is clamped over your mouth. Instantly shutting you up.

You do the next best thing to screaming. You kick, and hit and thrash about as you’re dragged from your room. Anything to make noise or get free.

You look around frantically. Trying to find anything or anyone that can help. But then you lock eyes with your mom and dad. You try to pull away from the men and call for your parents, but the mens grip tightens as you look at your parents properly. Both stood outside their bedroom door. The door is open slightly and you see boxes inside. They haven’t got pyjamas on, they’re wearing normal clothes, and there’s no emotion on their faces.

Why aren’t they doing anything? Why aren’t they trying to help. Why aren’t they stopping this? Why aren’t they calling for help? You’re screaming in your head as you look at them, a pleading expression in your eyes. Your body hurts because of the tight grip these people have on you, but that fades when you look at your dad.

‘We’re sorry.’ He mouths, just before you’re dragged down the stairs.

And the last thing you hear before you’re ripped from your childhood home is your mom, softly saying “We had to. You left us no choice. I hope you understand.”

Then, you’re thrown into the back of an unmarked van and you’re whole life changes forever.

On the cold morning of November 29th, all seemed right in Riverdale. Well, as right as can be.

Unbeknownst to the students of Riverdale High, a fellow classmate and friend has been committed to The Sisters of Quiet Mercy for ‘sins against nature...and God himself’ Whatever the hell that means.

When the Y/l/n’s were asked that morning about the sudden move, they spun some lie about your mother’s, mother being gravely ill. And when asked why their daughter wasn’t waiting in the moving van, or helping pack, they said you were saying goodbye to friends.

But in reality, you were being tied to a bed in preparation for conversion therapy.

Yep, all of this because you liked girls.

A few neighbours had reported screams, but the police showed up when your family was moving, far too late. They told the sheriff what was happening and that they’d heard no screams, and on their way they went ‘to pick you up from your friends’.

It was slightly suspicious. But Riverdale had bigger problems to deal with.

So your search and the sudden move was forgotten.

But not by everyone.

Betty Copper had been your best friend for the best part of five years.

You, her and Archie Andrews had been inseparable since the day you met the duo. You told each other everything.

Well, there was one thing each of you hadn’t told the other.

Archie hadn’t told you that he was the one that broke your favourite necklace. The one your grandmother had given to you before she died.

Betty never told Archie that she accidentally killed his pet goldfish.

And you’d never told Betty that you’d fallen in love with her over the years. And now it seemed like you never would.

So when you didn’t meet them by the corner that connected your two streets together so you could walk to school that morning, they thought it was strange.

When you didn’t turn up to school without a call or text, they thought it was odd.

And when word got out that you and you’re family had up and moved practically overnight. It was really fucking weird.

“What do you mean she’s gone?” Betty asks annoyed.

After school, Betty had dragged her boyfriend, her best friend, and her other friend to the police station and demanded to speak to the sheriff. Which just so happened to be her friends dad.

“They’ve just moved.” Sheriff Keller sighs, but Betty wasn’t having it.

“But she wouldn’t just leave without letting us know. Me and Archie are her best friends. She would have at least text us. But nothing. And she isn’t replying to any of our texts or calls. Something isn’t right her.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say. We got a call early this morning about some screaming. We checked it out at about 6 this morning and the Y/l/n’s were packing. I asked where they were going, they said Mrs Y/l/n’s mother was sick. When I asked where Yn was, they said she was saying goodbye to some friends. And then off they went.”

“And that didn’t seem suspicious to you?” Archie asks.

“Yeah. That doesn’t seem like her.” Kevin adds. “She would have text them.”

“Wait.” Betty interrupts. “You said her mom said her mom was sick?”

“Yeah?”

“Her grandmother on that side of the family died when she was 11.” Betty says and an eery silence took over the room.

“What?”

“Yeah. She gave her a necklace just before she died. It was the one Archie broke.”

“You knew?” Archie asks, now very confused and a little upset.

“Of course I knew. She did too. She just never said anything because it was around the time...your goldfish died.” She trails off, playing with her fingers.

“Oh.” He sighs, unsure of what to say next.

“Anyway. She didn’t say goodbye to me. Did she say goodbye to you?” She asks Archie and he shakes his head. “Did she say goodbye to either of you?” She directs her question to Jughead and Kevin and they both shook their heads. “Now are you going to do something?”

“Sorry Betty.” Sheriff Keller shrugs. “We already have enough to deal with. From gangs selling drugs to a masked killer. Is it odd? Yes. But is there also a reasonable explanation to each and every thing? Yes. She’s ignoring you to make it easier to leave. Her mom got upset and just got confused. And maybe she has other friends to say goodbye to. Or maybe thats what she told her parents she was doing, when instead she was sneaking off to say goodbye to a boyfriend.”

“Bu-”

“Kevin?” He looks at his son for help and he nods, grabbing her arm.

“Come on. We’ll go back to yours and figure this out.” He leads her out of the room with Archie and Jughead following quickly.

“Something isn’t right.” She says, looking at each of them.

“We know.” Archie agrees.

She was going to figure this out, even if it killed her.

------

Three weeks. It had been three weeks since the Y/l/n’s had moved out of Riverdale seemingly overnight. They packed up their belongings, put their house on the market and left. No explanation, no goodbye’s, nothing.

And three weeks you had been in that hell hole. With the itchy uniforms, scary nuns and middle aged practices.

It had been torture. Literally.

And you weren’t sure how much more you could take. It seemed as if the entire world had forgotten about you. Betty hadn’t. She’d been trying to figure out where you’d gone non-stop for the past three weeks. And everyone was starting to worry. But you didn’t know that.

At first you thought you’re parents would come back for you. That they’d realize what a terrible mistake they’d made and take you back home and you could go back to being happy again. But as the days moved on and the ‘treatments’ got more intense. You started to lose hope. But then you figured that you’re friends would find you. That Betty and Archie would track you down. But as week one, turned into week two, and then week three. You started to accept your fate. This was your present, and your future. For the foreseeable.

Being locked in a room for most of the day, made to watch shitty films that were supposed to scare you straight, forced to do hard labour, plus there was the shock therapy, (you thought that was just something that happened in the 60′s, but it was still very much happening) had its affect on you and you were slowly losing your grip on reality.

Until she turned up.

“Cheryl.” You whisper to yourself. You thought you were seeing things when you walked into the movie room. But there she was. Cheryl Blossom. Sitting on the end of a bench, with tears streaming down her face. She looked scared, traumatized. You had a feeling you looked like her, if not worse.

You never thought you would be so happy to see her. Usually if you saw her in the corridor you would roll your eyes, right now you would do anything to hug her.

Slowly, you made your way to the seat behind her, and sat down quietly.

While one of the sisters was distracted setting up the film, you took the opportunity to get her attention. If she was here, you had a chance to get out. You couldn’t get out alone, but with someone else here that you know, you had a chance.

“Cheryl.” You whisper again making her flinch at the sudden noise. You quietly curses yourself. Of course she was flinchy, you were too. “Cheryl.” You say, less rushed. “Its me, Y/n.”

“Y/n?” She replies, just as quietly while the two of you continue staring in front of you.

“Yeah.” You say. “I’ve never been more happy to see you.” You sob quietly and you can hear her crying.

What a mess your life had become. Three and a half weeks ago you were sat with your best friend on her bed. Talking about homework and...boys.

Well she was talking about Jughead and how he was taking her out on a date later that day and you were just nodding along. At the time it seemed like the conversation would never end. But what you wouldn’t do to go back to that time. You were happy and in love, and even though she didn’t know, nor she ever would, you were content. And most importantly, you were safe with her. Now, you were sat in conversion therapy with Cheryl Blossom and no real hope of escaping.

“You’re going to be okay.” You reassure her, squeezing her shoulder before quickly pulling away.

“We all thought you’d moved.” She whispers and you shake your head. Of course thats what they said.

“Surprise.” You laugh, but there’s no humor behind it. Its bitter and sad and Cheryl cries harder, her tears for you. Because she’d been here for three days and she felt like dying. You’d been here for three weeks and she could only imagine what you felt like.

The film started and you both shut up. You’d made the mistake of moving before the nuns left and you regretted it for three days, you would after being hit so hard you could barely see and then locked in your room for three days with barely any food or water.

As soon as the nun leaves, you cry silently, your tears blurring your vision.

You wanted out. You wanted to see Betty again. And you wanted to hang out with Archie and Kevin, and even Jughead. You didn’t mind that he had the girl you’d been pining for for the best part of 4 years. As long as you were with them...with her.

But it seems everyone has given up on you. Believed what your parents had told them and moved on.

“Cheryl!”

You could have sworn you heard someone shout Cheryl’s name. Maybe the shock therapy had fucked up your brain even more than you thought.

“Cheryl!” The voice was louder and you thought maybe you were dreaming. That you’d finally fallen asleep and this was your dream. Although why someone would be shouting for Cheryl instead of you is a mystery. But you and Cheryl glanced quickly towards the door, but when nothing happened you both turned your attention back to the film.

The blue lights cast a weird glow and it makes you feel colder than you already are. Its like all sign of life has been sucked from the room.

“Cheryl!” A pink haired girl bursts through the door and your eyes widen. Holy shit. Someone was here. “Are you here?” She asks, her eyes squinting at the light.

“Go.” You mutter, shoving her to stand and she does quickly, not quite believing what was happening. The frantic look of the girls face shows that she’s someone special to Cheryl and that makes you both happy and sad. Happy that they’ve got that, sad that you haven’t.

“Toni?”

“We came to rescue you.” She explains and now you can’t stop the tears falling down your face.

“You did?” Cheryl asks, and Toni nods. Quickly, she makes her way towards her, both of them smiling and hugging tightly before they pull apart and then...fireworks.

Its the most depressing setting for what you assume is a first kiss but its sweet, and you can feel everyone in the room rooting for them. They’re all hoping they’ll have someone they love come rescue them, you included. But you all have the same realization at the same time, that that isn’t going to happen and look down. Too afraid that if you look any longer you’ll melt into your own disappointment and sadness.

“Cheryl. Toni. They’re a bunch of nuns we have to go right-Y/n?” Your head snaps up at the sound of Veronica’s voice. “Holy shit. Y/n. Everyone thought you’d moved. Come on, lets go.” She says and Cheryl holds a hand out to you.

Its now or never.

“We’ll cover for you, for as long as possible.” The boy who’s sat beside you says and you send him a watery smile.

“Thank you.” You mumble before running towards Cheryl and grabbing her hand.

The four of you run into a dark corridor, Veronica grabbing your other hand and you let go of Cheryl’s, deciding to give them their own thing. The sisters are cornering you and you know there’s no way out. You’re all going to get punished and then you’ll be stuck here forever. But Veronica pulls you down a stairwell with red lights, the four of you desperately running away. The floor is wet, and its soaking your shoes and socks, but you don’t care. You just want out.

You run through a gate, and down another corridor, narrowly avoiding the sisters and you can feel your heart hammering in your chest. This is it. You either get out, or you die in here. The fire bell is deafening as you run past it making you falter slightly, but Veronica’s grip on your hand tightens as she pulls you alongside her and then up a ladder.

The four of you make it up the ladder and are running again. Your lungs are screeching and your legs are burning, you’ve never ran this much in your life. Not for something so important. And you so desperately want to stop, but then you see it. Light. And someone is holding the door open. You’re so close.

“Come on!” They shout and you’d recognize that voice from anywhere. Its Kevin!

Finally you’re out.

Toni jams a crowbar through the handle, and it starts to shake as the sisters try to get open it, but you all keep running. You run until you get to Kevin’s dads truck, the five of you all squashing in.

“Y/n?” Kevin asks once you’re all inside. “We thought you’d moved.” You’re starting to get sick of that saying. “Your parents...they said your grandmother was sick. They told my dad.”

“Can you take me somewhere safe?” You ask and he nods, knowing now is not the right time for questioning.

“Of course. I know just the place.”

Betty Coopers house looks just the same. The same old suburban outing, with the stone wall and big red door.

You remember playing stupid games in the garden, both you and Betty hiding behind the wall, waiting for Archie to pass by so you could jump out and scare him. It usually worked, although one time he did accidentally punch you in the face, breaking your nose in the process. However, you made a deal that if you punched him in the face as hard as you could, you wouldn’t tell your parents it was him, you’d just say you fell over. You knew they would kill you. Now you’re thinking they just might have, maybe for different reasons though.

But as you walk up the steps you’ve grown up with, nothing feels the same. Toni, Cheryl and Kevin are waiting in the truck while Veronica helps you up to the house.

You’re looking around frantically, just waiting for a man to jump out from behind a bush and grab you, locking you away forever. But it doesn’t happen, instead there’s heavy knocking on the front door which makes you jump, but Veronica’s arm wraps around you tighter, letting you know your safe.

The front door swings open revealing a tired looking Betty. Her hair is up in a bun and she has cute matching pyjamas on. And even though she’s half asleep, she’s still the prettiest girl in the world. She makes your heart skip a beat even in these odd circumstances.

“Yeah?” She rubs her eyes, but she stops when she sees you stood beside Veronica. She blinks a few times, her eyes widening as she takes in your appearance. You look awful...but perfect. “Y/n? What the hell. Where have you bee-”

“She’s been with the sisters.” Veronica says quietly and Betty nods before taking you from her.

“Come on.” She leads you into the warmth of her house, sending a thank you to Veronica before closing the door. “Let me find you some pyjamas. Do you want to take a shower?” She asks and you nod slowly.

Her house is the same as you remember, and you’re glad nothing here has changed. Its just you. And your entire life.

You make your way towards the bathroom and close the door quietly once you get there, making sure you haven’t closed it all the way. You don’t want to feel trapped again.

Peeling your uniform off you start to cry silently but when you start to the shower your cries become louder and your glad it seems to be only Betty in the house tonight.

“Y/n?” She knocks on the door gently and you quiet your crying as you step into the shower.

“Yeah?” You mumble. She barely hears it and he heart breaks at how broken you sound.

You’re no longer the bubbly, happen friend who always knew how to cheer up the people she loved. You’re broken and trapped and she has no way of helping you.

“I’ve left some pyjama’s and a towel just by the door.” She says, because there’s nothing else she can say. She opens the door a bit more to slide the clothes in, grabbing your uniform in the process. It goes straight in the bin once she gets downstairs, but it doesn’t feel like thats doing it enough justice. She feels like she should burn it, stamp on it, anything.

She doesn’t know how she’s going to make this better. So she rings Archie while you’re showering, to let him know what has happened. She doesn’t know much, but she knows enough for now.

She hangs up the phone when she hears the bathroom door open. You slowly walk out and she leads you to her bed.

You’ve spent countless of nights in this bed, staying up all night, talking about the future. Not once did either of you believe that something like this could happen. And it almost feels wrong to lie down in something thats been untainted, but you’re so tired. You haven’t slept properly in three weeks.

As soon as your head hits the pillow, your half asleep, but there’s something stopping you.

“You’re safe.” Betty whispers. Its like she can sense whats wrong with you, and as she slowly strokes your hair, you begin to fall asleep.

You’re in a forest again. But this time, the footsteps are right behind you and you’re running away from them. But no matter where you go, or how fast you run, they seem to be right behind you. Until...

Your eyes snap open as you sit up. Betty pulls her hand away from your shoulder quickly as you curl up into a ball, rocking back and forth.

“Sorry. You were having a nightmare. I didn’t know what to do.” She panics, switching the bedside lamp on. “Here, have some water.” She hands you a glass and you take it with shaky hands, taking a large drink. You hand it back to her and slowly start to relax as you look around the room.

“I missed you.” You mumble and her worried expression melts away. Its replaced with the lopsided smile that you fell in love with.

“I missed you too.” She replies, but her smile turns into a frown when she see’s you crying. “Hey, whats wrong?” She asks, wrapping her arms around you, you grimace at the pressure she’s putting on your bruises, but you don’t say anything. You want her to stay, you want her arms wrapped around you forever.

“Toni came looking for Cheryl.” You sob and her eyebrows furrow.

“Toni went looking for Cheryl. Everyone forgot about me. You all believed what my parents said. Nobody loves me enough to look for me.”

For a moment Betty is confused, but then she remembers seeing Cheryl and Toni in Kevin’s truck. Cheryl was wearing the same uniform as you and that confused her. But when you were getting ready to go in the shower, Veronica had text her to explain what had had happened, and thats when she found out the two of you were there for conversion therapy.

The only other explanation for you being in there would have been pregnancy but the only boys she’s ever seen you interact with is Archie, Kevin and Jughead. And all of them are a big no for different reasons.

But now everything makes sense. She was too busy wrapped up in everything that was happening, but now she understands.

“Conversion therapy.” She says quietly. “You parents put you in there because you’re gay?” She asks and you nod your head softly.

“I don’t know how they found out. I just woke up being dragged from my bed in the middle of the night by two men. I tried screaming but it didn’t work. And then I was thrown into a van and they said sorry, but they couldn’t have been sor-”

“Breathe.” She cut you off. You were starting to panic and she didn’t want that. You were safe here. “Its okay. No one is going to find you here. You’re safe. I’ll keep you safe.”

“How could you just forget about me?” You ask, your voice cracking and she sighs.

“I-we didn’t. Stay here.” She tells you before walking to her vanity and pulling open the drawer. She comes back handing you a folder filled with paper. You open it carefully, your eyes flickering from that to Betty and she nods reassuringly.

Dozens of pieces of paper filled it. All with several people’s handwriting on.

“We’ve been looking for you. We all have. The day you went missing I went to the police station because I thought it was weird but they just ignored me, so me and Archie took matters into our own hands. We listed everything we could about you and your family, we asked your neighbours if they knew anything and if they thought anything was weird about the sudden move. I called around your family members. Everything. We were even planning on going on a road trip to where your grandmother used to live.” She explains and you cry harder. We never forget about you...I never forgot about you.”

“Betty.” You sob and she pulls you into tight hug.

“I’d have looked for you every day of my life until I found you.” She whispers in your ear and you smile gratefully.

I love you. You say in your head, but the room remains silent.

*One Week Later*

The first day back at school is always the hardest, especially if you’ve been off for a few days.

But its even worse when your parents lock you away with the nuns for liking girls, then you escape and you end up living with the girl you’re in love with.

Alice basically decided to adopt you as soon as she walked into her daughters room and saw the two of you cuddling. She’d always liked you ever since Betty had brought you home, plus she thought you were a much better influence on her that Archie was. Betty had explained what had happened and then it was decided, you would live with the Coopers.

Archie was your next visiter, bringing along some flowers and your grandmothers necklace (now fixed). He’d found it on the driveway of your old home when they were still looking for you and asked his dad to lend him the money to get it fixed. (He also hoped that if the two of you saw the necklace, Betty would finally admit murdering Fish Sticks in cold blood...it didn’t)

The three of you had spent the entire day together, just in Betty’s room. Just like old times. Alice had even made cookies, which you ate the majority of.

Over the next week you had a few visitors, including Sheriff Keller, who formally apologized. They questioned you about the Sisters and their practices, and the next day, 9 children and teenagers were rescued from the place, all had been put in conversion therapy. The other people that had been put in there for various reasons were also taken out, and put in other places. Safer places.

Betty never leaves your side for the entire morning of your first day. And if she has too, she makes sure there’s someone else familiar with you. Her and Archie take it in turns to be with you and occasionally Veronica, Kevin or even Jughead will help out.

Even though things are a bit awkward between Betty and Jughead because of their sudden break up. Nobody saw it coming, and you’re not entirely sure why they did, but they ended it. Betty came back twenty minutes after telling you she would be be out for a bit. She was upset, and you could tell she had been crying, but when you asked her what was wrong, she just shrugged and told you things with Jughead had ended. And when you tried to find out why, she just smiled softly at you and told you not to worry, gently holding your hand as she did.

But for now they seem to be getting along for your sake and sometimes you feel like a child of divorce around them.

The looks you’ve been getting have settled down over the course of the day, but at lunch time it feels like everyone is staring at you and your starting to forget how to breathe. Betty looks around, noticing the stares, and leaves your side momentarily to ask a girl in her Math class what is happening.

But by the time she finds out, its too late. You’re already at your locker and its staring you in the face

‘dyke’

Is scrawled in red writing across your locker and you feel the breath being knocked out of your lungs.

You feel trapped, like you’re in that dingy room again, with the grey walls and hard bed, and people that screamed all day and night.

Your breathing is ragged and your hand is clutching your chest. Everyone is staring at you no matter where you turn and Betty seems to be moving towards you in slow motion.

By the time she makes it to you, you think you’re going to die. Her hands are on your shoulders making you stumble backwards. She curses to herself before holding your hands instead. She’s talking, you can see her mouth moving while she stares at you, but you can’t hear her. It all sounds like static.

Betty can tell she isn’t getting through to you, so she has to think of something. Everyone’s eyes are on the both of you and she can hear a few people laughing.

Who would do such a thing to a sweet girl?

Everyone loved you before you were taken away.

So what changed?

Oh yeah, they found out you prefer women over men.

So, she takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and presses her lips to yours. She needs a way to get through to you, she needs people to talk about something else, she’d rather be the ‘dyke’, that have anyone call you anything other than beautiful. Plus, she’s been wanting to do this forever.

To the outside world, it looks like the most depressing setting for a first kiss and if you’re being honest. It is. But its perfect either way.

Its like...fireworks.

Your eyes widen once you realize what she’s doing.

Betty Cooper is kissing you! The girl you’ve been in love with since you were 13 is kissing you, and you don’t know what to do. You feel breathless for an entirely different reason.

Kiss back! You’re screaming at yourself and you muster all the strength you can to kiss her back, melting into her.

She pulls away first, a bright smile on her face as she stares at you.

“I love you.” She admits and a soft smile appears on your lips.

“I love you too.”

Then, she leads you to the front of the car, you, her and Archie fixed up together and you’re whole life changes forever.

#betty cooper #betty cooper imagine #betty cooper x reader #betty cooper x you #betty cooper x y/n #riverdale #riverdale imagine

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