#that does remind me i haven’t updated the other blog yet
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I Promised You Forever | Jay Halstead
⚠️ THIS IS A REPOST FROM MY MAIN BLOG @/DLMLUFICS.
Pairing: Jay Halstead x Reader
Request: From anon
Fic Type: Imagine
Warnings: A little angst. A little fluff. Mentions of a shooting and surgeries.
Word Count: 945
JAY HALSTEAD MASTERLIST || TAG LIST SIGN-UP
“Get to Med… Jay’s been shot.”
As she waits in the waiting room at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center, the sound of her sergeant’s words echoes in her ears. Her heart is racing, her knee is bouncing, her hands are trembling, and dried up tear streaks run down her face. She feels like she’s been sitting in the room for an eternity, waiting for any news about her husband’s condition. He was already in surgery by the time she got at the hospital, which was a little more than two hours ago.
“Y/N!” she hears her partner, Kim Burgess, call out as she approaches her. When the brunette reaches her, she embraces her tightly.
After Jay and Y/N revealed their relationship to Voight, the two women became partners. They’ve been like sisters since they went through the academy together, and they got even closer after Y/N and Hailey Upton were transferred to Intelligence after Erin Lindsey left.
“Has there been any news?”
“I haven’t heard anything; Will just went to see if he can get an update,” she says before breaking down again. “I can’t lose him, Kim,” she cries into the shoulder of her best friend. “I can’t do it without him. We just got married. I can’t be without him.”
“Jay’s strong; he’ll get through this,” Kim reassures her as she rubs her back and squeezes her even tighter; it crushes her heart to see her best friend and chosen sister like this.
“Did you get the person who shot him?” she says, pulling away from Kim and angrily wiping away the fresh set of tears that are falling. The anger in eyes and voice wasn’t intended for her partner, or Adam who had been with Jay at the time of the shooting, or the rest of their team but at the guy who fired the gun at her husband and shot him. She begged Hank to give her five minutes with the person when they apprehended him, but Hank ordered her to stay at the hospital because that’s where she needed to be the most and swore he wouldn’t go easy with the guy.
Kim replies, moving to sit in the chair next to the one she was in, “He’s in custody. Voight’s making his life a living hell, I’m sure of it.”
She sits back down next to her and asks, “How’s Ruz?”
“He’s blaming himself,” Kim replies. “He’ll be here when he’s cleaned himself up, and the others will be here after they’ve finished with the interrogation.”
She nods, letting Kim know she heard her.
Minutes pass as they sit in quiet, Kim holding her hand and reminding her that she is not alone. Will eventually returns and informs her that there haven’t been any updates just yet before he leaves once more to grab them all some coffee.
Just as Will comes back with Adam following behind him, the surgeon walks into the waiting room.
As he approaches, Y/N and Kim get to their feet. As the doctor begins to talk, Will moves to stand next to his sister-in-law. “Surgery went smoothly. We removed the bullet, stopped the bleeding, and repaired the damage the bullet caused. Jay will make a full recovery, but he will need to take it easy for some time.”
Y/N exhales with relief, “I’ll make sure he does. Can we see him?”
“Two at a time,” the doctor says with a nod.
“Adam and I will go update everyone,” Kim says to her and Will before exiting the waiting room with Adam.
The doctor leads Will and Y/N to the room where Jay has been moved. Jay opens his eyes and looks sleepily at his wife and brother as soon as they enter the room.
“Oh, baby,” Y/N breathes as she walks over to his bed and takes his hand in hers, looking at him with tenderness. “Please don’t put me through that again.”
“I can’t make any promises,” he says drowsily with a small smile. He raises her hand and kisses the back of it.
“How are you feeling?” Will asks as he stands beside Y/N.
Jay jokes with a slight smirk on his lips, “Like I was shot.
Y/N scowls at him, not in the mood for jokes right now, and says, "Don’t joke.”
“You love me, and you know it,” he gives her a small smile letting her know he’s teasing her.
“I need to get back to work, but I’ll stop by after my shift,” Will tells his brother, stopping Y/N from that is retaliating. “I’ll make sure to bring you some decent food.”
“Thank you, Will,” she says as he exits the room. Looking back at her husband, she sits on the edge of the hospital bed, clutching his hand on her lap. “I was so scared I would lose you.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he assures her. “We still have a lot to do together.”
She leans down and gives him a soft kiss while whispering, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he replies as he kisses her again. “Now, come lie down with me.”
“You’ve just gotten out of surgery. I don’t want to cause you more pain.”
“They’ve got me on the good stuff, honey, and after what I just went through, all I want to do is hold my wife and remind her that us Halstead’s aren’t easy to take down,” he says and pulls her close to him, moving them so she can lay down beside him.
With his arm across her shoulders and her head on his, he presses a kiss to her forehead and whispers, “I promised you forever. I’m keeping that promise.”
TAGGED: @mrspeacem1nusone - @halsteadbrasil - @allisonargent144 - @cs-please -
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Coming Attractions!
I haven’t gone to bed yet so it still counts as Monday, lol. XD
Plug for my writing discord--it’s pretty quiet, but mostly intended to be a slightly more interactive version of this blog.
Also, open question night, though I can’t promise I’ll get to it before tomorrow ((I also still owe at least one prompt fill from a meme I reblogged like...a week ago...))
Anyway.
This is going to be short because I got very little done last month, whoops.
Star Wars:
- Not really much has changed from last month; still poking at Precipice!verse and possible ideas for next year’s SWBB. Pretty much everything else is on the back burner.
BSG:
- Didn’t get as much writing done as I’d hoped over the last month. But in order to Motivate myself, I’m going to shoot for a Halloween debut for The Other Battlestar, which means I need to finish. Like. Naming people. And come up with a title I actually like, lol...
- Maybe I’ll do some preview/etc. posts here as bonus content; giving some details about the fourish OCs who will end up playing major roles? To both keep me on task/motivated and hopefully pique some interest...we’ll see.
Castlevania:
- If I could just get this next chapter to cooperate, lol. There are so many things I want to get to! I just have to get past that...
Original Fic:
- I don’t think I wrote anything original this month, alas. Other than poking at things in my head, as one does. I did go to a library booksale, which reminded me that I have at least three half-planned projects that I need to finish researching (an alternate history where Henry VIII dies in 1536; a novel about Judas Iscariot; a novel about What If Mordred Was A Girl) so maybe I’ll see some movement on that front. For the stuff I already post on an origfic community on Dreamwidth, I really should. like. post something plot-advancing, shouldn’t I...
NaNo Plans:
I’m still figuring out exactly how I want to play it this year. And I think a lot of it depends on what I get done re: TOB and Incinctus and Protectors/Preludes over this month, because I might decide to just narrow my focus onto one of them. But most likely I’ll do what I’ve been doing the past few years, which is set myself a wordcount goal (which may or may not be greater than the 50k standard) but I can fill it with Any (fulltext) fiction writing (I think I decided outline/bullet-point form fics counted for 2/3 the wordcount when I did one during NaNo a couple years back? We’ll see if it’s relevant).
...and, yeah, I think that’s about it. Like I said, a short update...hopefully the next time I do this I’ll have more to report!
What are you guys working on?
#miscellania#coming attractions#shadowsong writes star wars#shadowsong writes castlevania#shadowsong writes bsg#shadowsong writes original fic#open question night
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Jukebox reviews part 18! For context, see my post “A Project” under this same tag. If you want to see a full list of his EMCSA stories, they can be found here, sorted alphabetically.And if you want to see some of his drabbles, check out his blog at @jukeboxemcsa
You Can’t Deny It
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2/12/2011 mc ff
... I've taken a neurochemistry course, which is enough to know that all of this is not how ANY of it works. At all. (There does seem to be some effect of brain *structure,* but also the brain is really good at clearing out things that bond to neurons, and any that weren't cleaned out would cause a reaction and illness of some sort.) AND there's plenty of things keeping inhaled things from getting to the brain, the blood/brain barrier is a huge problem in psychology so even assuming one spritz got enough ... oh I'm overthinking this. It's fine if I set the "but I'm a scientist" aside for more than 5 minutes. Not my favourite by any stripe, for a lot of reasons, but it's *fine.* The control method makes sense, the blend of reasonable explanation with completely unreasonable behaviour is good... just. not quite something I like. 6/10 spirals
Dirty Laundry
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2/19/2011 mc mf fd
I admit I got distracted by Will's geekery and reading habits. (I had to look up the Bonzai Institute, but I knew the rest! And I've read Devil in the White City) and that distracted me from the actual story >.> I might be a bit of a nerd. This is smoothly done, though, getting him thinking about how easily he gets caught up in a book; it's a step I've taken with folk who aren't sure if they can be hypnotized myself. I'm impressed by Rowan's skill, and hope that Will is happy being one of her pets. 8/10 spirals.
The End Is the Beginning Is the End
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2/26/2011 mc mf md
"all your strength has turned to helping me to help you surrender to my will" is entirely too good of a phrase! I have to lead with that. And this is such an interesting setup, though the title does kind of give what's coming away a little bit. Watching our narrator weaken and melt as she's given statement after statement that she can't bring herself to refute is *wonderful* and hits a lot of my futile resistance buttons. The public nature of it is a little ... not super to my taste, but beyond that as long as I imagine this as a scene consented to outside of the story, it's wonderful. 9/10 spirals.
I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)
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3/5/2011 mc mm
*Excuse me,* Jim, but amethysts are lovely, beautiful stones, not "dull, solid-colored" stones. Hmph, learn some taste. :P Insults to one of my favourite semi-precious stones aside, Jim, may I introduce you to the concept of *bisexuality,* in all its flavors? Please? The homophobia Jim has - whether he's some flavor of queer or not - bothers me, more than a little, for all it's not atypical of the era the story was written. It's *realistic,* but darn it I want it not in my fiction. And the ending leaving the wife that he started the whole process for out of things is a bit ... a *bit*. So I just find myself not liking this story all that much, even though the mind control parts are solid. 5/10 spirals.
It’s All Coming Back To Me Now
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3/12/2011 mc mf fd ds
This is sweet and lovely and also hot, for all that I tend to be extremely shy in public play spaces so it's always weird to me to see stories that make being less shy feel attractive in any way. I feel like there's another Jukebox story that involves Judi and Shaun, but if there is I can't place it. Maybe it's one that I haven't reviewed yet and am remembering from other times, or maybe it's just that Shaun and Judi remind me of people I know and care so very deeply for. Regardless, the connection these two share would make even the most boring scene enjoyable, and this is far from that. The focus on the sensation of being controlled is one I can relate to more than a lot, and this story speaks to all of that, as well as just being good hypnotic rapport. 10/10 spirals
Losing my Religion
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3/19/2011 mc ff
This is fun, seeing how condtioning and control starts to break down juxtaposed with part of how it was created? It's *fascinating* in some truly hot ways. And of course, just what their Goddess is, well, and how she binds her priestess to her? I love it. So very much. There's not a lot more I can say without ruining some of the fun, so 9/10 spirals.
One of These Nights
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3/26/2011 mc mf md ma
This story is a bit of a miss for me. I don't enjoy the (obvious to the reader) underlying theme here, as it's just such an abuse of trust - especially when we have flashes of her trying to figure out what's going on. It's good if you like that sort of obliviously controlled in slightly mean-spirited way, I just don't. 6/10 spirals.
Wish You Were Here
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4/2/2011 mc ff
This is another one where the ending's more expected than not, but the how we go from where we start to where we end is the fun part anyway. I love how Tiffany tells the story through letters home, and that you can tell *exactly* where things will go if Beverly comes to join Tiffany and Camile on the island. And yet, part of me wonders if Beverly might want to *anyway,* given how it sounds like she doesn't like her job much more than Tiffany did. It sounds like there could be some benefits to her life that way. And Tiffany seems happy with the arrangement, at least, though I sure wouldn't be. But the idea of slow pampering being used to train her to be a lovely pet for Camile? I enjoy seeing that happen. 8/10 spirals.
Body Language
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4/9/2011 mc mf ff fd ma ds
... These people feel all too real in the least good ways. Seriously, though, Jukebox again is amazing at people, and I am always impressed at how so many stories in, he's still coming up with characters who feel *real.* Not people I'd want to be friends with, but I have absolutely met folk like this at dungeons in the past. The hypnosis is solid, if maybe a little tropey, and my only true quibbles are on ethics. 8/10 spirals.
Hit Me With Your Best Shot
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4/16/2011 mc mf ff md fd
Heh, this is definitely more magic than psychology, but in a fun way! And there's still solid psychology rooted in what's being done. I enjoy the interplay between the characters, the cuts back and forth, and the tempo of the story; I just wish it ended a little less ... darkly, I guess? It's not the ending I would have wished for. 7/10 spirals.
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It’s been a while dear reader, slash my future self.
12-06-2022, 11:34 pm its almost midnight.
I’ve never been able to update this blog in weeks for the reason I got “busy” of just some petty stuff. Today, I come again with a weary heart and distracted head, I am so guilty that I haven’t been spending my quite time and devotional with the Lord lately and I am becoming unpleasantly selfish and independent from His mercy and grace.
Tonight, I felt I have lost my self, deluding and questioning my value to people around me. Lord, was I to impulsive, indignant , and reckless. My insensitivity to other people’s feeling and being feeble with my emotions makes my actions way ward leading on the question “does everybody if not somebody was irritated by my presence.”
This very moment please remind me my that overwhelming welcoming personality a.k.a my friendliness will cause other people to stray away and stay away. I wanted to be normal, sometimes, people would just ignore me or just override my decision thinking that I’m always cool in everything. There are times such as NOW, that I want people to respect me and would just once agree with me. I know that the Lord blessed me with such amazing people yet sometimes I wanted to be listened to and would treat me seriously. I admit I am always quirky, happy, and loud but there are moments I also needed a break.
Dear God,
I dont know me. Balimbing ako Lord, and I guesse you’re the only who can understand me deeply as a person — my thoughts, feelings, perception, even my boundaries. I wanted to be heard, I wanted to be taken seriously, I wanted sometimes Lord to just someone to agree with me. As a person who’s been under work in progress I know I will never be perfect so is people around me, but sometimes I wanted someone to just be there and listen. Am I too prejudiced and selfish Lord? Prideful and ignorant about my flaws? Lord I dont know if I am okay as a daughter, as ssiter, a friend. I cant even voice out my frustration let alone vent about it God. Lord, please led me on for I have no idea what to do. I wish I could open up to someone without prejudice. Though I know in the end, it will always be you Lord. ALWAYS! ILOVE YOU! 😊✨
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Asks: Wedding Reactions
I appreciate all the lovely messages sent in about the Wedding DLC since its launch! It’s been wonderful to see that players enjoyed the experience. Thank you so much for playing, everyone ;v;.
FAQ
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Update Only Side Blog
I just finished the Wedding DLC for Cove, and I’m in tears, thank you for such a wonderful game, and for letting us grow up with Cove
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Im not that good with expressing my feelings with words, but at least.I wanted to thank you all, really, thank you so so much for everything, I love you all and I hope all of you can be as happy, joyful, and whole as you maybe unkowingly, already made me. Thank you with all my heart.
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I hope you’re happy, this game has made me cry like a little baby all over again. What can I say other than that this is amazing. The writing was amazing, Cove was amazing, everything was just amazing. Thank you for creating this game and thank you for the unforgettable experience!
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Played through the wedding dlc, loved it. Super cute. Also I'm now a bit in love with Baxter, idk if that was a goal but you've accomplished it anyway.
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I just finished the Wedding DLC and *guys.* I am so full of love for this team, this game, this family, and this wonderful, beautiful crybaby. I want y'all to know what a special thing you have created here. Our Life is beyond words, really. I wish I could go back and play it all again for the first time, and fall in love with it all over again. But since I can't, I thoroughly look forward to living it again and again, and falling in love with Cove Holden and Sunset Bird every single time. xoxo
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i live in texas and the recent freeze has been a lot, to say the least, but the wedding dlc coming out has been such a massive delight. it makes me a little sad to see cove’s story come to an end, but i’m also so happy to see him come so far, both him and the team. there’s really no way to fully express how deliriously happy i was playing through everything but i just wanted to thank you for the experience and the joy! i’m eagerly looking forward to the baxter and derek dlcs and ol2! have a wonderful day and thank you again!! 💝
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Cliff's speech during the Wedding DLC is what made me break and brought out the waterworks I love that man so much-
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I haven't finished playing through the wedding dlc yet but oh my gosh, the way you made me love Baxter even more...thank you so much for all of these wonderful characters ;-;
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I loved the game, it took me a while to finish the wedding DLC, I was checking every day for a release date but I got a little emotional at so many points, fudge at my wedding, of course the speeches, the vows, the ending dance with Cove. It really just made me so happy and even though Cove is fictional and maybe not totally realistic, does help remind me to not settle for a man who wouldn't say "She's picky" so our food should be stuff she eats, and just how sweet and considerate he is.
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I cried so much at the wedding holy 10/10 thank you im going to replay the entire game now <3
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Okay so I'm out here finally playing the wedding DLC and holy sht Baxter's voice literally got me melting😭😭 I didn't expect it to be so rich and just... WOW😩
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Finally got some time off to play the Wedding DLC...and I'm ugly crying. It was such an emotional adventure. Thank you for letting us experience this beautiful story.
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My friend bought me the Wedding DLC a couple hours after release and I played it smiling the entire way through. I found myself really feeling for Baxter during our scenes with him and it makes me even more excited for his DLC. Even when I was starting to cry from how sentimental the cast was being, such as during the vows and reception, I ended up laughing a few seconds later. Thank you so much for developing and creating such an amazing game!!
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I'm sure you're flooded with asks right now, but after finishing the Wedding DLC I can't contain my gratitude! This game means a lot to me and how I relate to my own personal experiences with childhood and growing up (currently in Step 4 myself-) but thank you to anyone and everyone who worked on this game and offered inspiration! The writing is very dear to my heart, and that option to talk to Baxter during the dance about importance... teared me up I tell you!
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The fact that Kyra is probably learning about how Cove tried to run away for the first time at his wedding is making me wheeze rn. This DLC is absolutely adorable 🥰
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Baxter took me by total surprise in the wedding DLC! I had no idea that MC left such a deep impression on him since he's usually flirty with everyone. I simp for Cove all the way but I'm kind of really intrigued by Baxter's dlc
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Hello ! I just wanted to thank you for this amazing game and all the effort put into it. The wedding dlc is amazing and seeing Cove one last time made me a bit emotional. Also the scene with Baxter where he told us why he never called us made me even more impatient for his dlc !
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I’ll just begin by saying thank you so much for all your hard work! I’m really enjoying Cove’s Wedding DLC in OL1, although it’s a bit sad to know that Cove’s story has reached it’s conclusion. It’s bittersweet, but I guess the rest of his life is up to our own imagination, so it’s not so bad.
I’m also glad we got a glimpse into Baxter before his DLC will come out. I didn’t expect myself to relate to him in a way, but I really enjoyed seeing who he is before we get to know him in full. (Possible spoilers ahead)
I can sort of understand why he chose not to keep in contact with Cove and co. At least in my case, with old acquaintances, I feel as though once circumstances don’t let you be together, your part in a another person’s life is essentially over. Even if you’ve made a large impact in their life, your role in their story is over after that and you’d feel like you’d be interfering too much if you tried to make contact again. It might be the same vice versa. Well, that might just be me though.
(Spoilers end) Anyway, I’m really looking forward to more OL content! Stay safe and happy, everyone!
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congrats on the release of the wedding DLC!! my birthday’s tomorrow and it was the perfect early birthday gift ❤️ thank you for all of your hard work!
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The wedding dlc was beyond amazing, I cried almost as much as Cove did. I can't put into words how beautiful everything was and I cannot wait to play it over and over again <3
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Congratulations 👏🎆👏🎆! I want to congratulate you for the amazing work and especially for the release of the wedding DLC! I've played a lot of visual novels and games with integrative fiction features and the Our Life series of games is one of the ones that has the most variations of choices and makes us really see ourselves in the story. You are amazing! Keep up the great work, I'm extremely excited for Our life: Now and Forever and also to play the wedding DLC! ❤️ 💓
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realizing that the wedding dlc is the last of cove's. i kind of wanna cry lmao. he's brought me so much comfort over the last year. i'm sad about it but I'll definitely be looking forward to the other dlcs and ol:nf. thank you for putting your stories out into the world.
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I just discovered this game like a few days ago when scrolling through Steam for some free games. I couldn't stop playing for the whole day and I just can't believe that so many good content comes from a free base game, Cove Holden has my heart and even the other characters are all so loveable. I wanted to buy the DLCs but then I found out there was a wedding DLC coming shortly so I decided to wait for that first so I can buy all of them altogether. SO EXCITED TO PLAY AND RE-EXPERIENCE THE GAME AGAIN but this time with more Cove moments! Thank you so much for all the hard work and I'm excited for the second serious of Our Life and all your future work as well !!
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I just finished beta 0.99 and it was beautiful. It was such a beautiful conclusion to the games I’ve been in tears over it for the last five minutes or so. I started playing our life during the summer of 2021 and it’s gotten me through some very frustrating times. Being able to play this game has honestly helped me destress so many times and I’m so glad I found it. The world and characters you’ve created are so wonderful and I love every moment you created. This wedding was such a beautiful ending I’m going to replay it again and again. Thank you.
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tbh I was trying so hard to stop playing our life I was obsessed with the game and everytime I open it and hear the music my eyes will just burst out tears the nostalgic and emotions hit me so hard I did stop playing our life after my steam account got banned but after seeing your tweets about the wedding I just can't hold myself and play it again. I love the game but it took me atleast 2 months to get back to reality all I did was crying, play the game and daydreaming about cove all day 😭 I wonder if there will be short moments after cove wedding he's so precious 🥺
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I wanted to let you know how much I adored the beta of the wedding dlc, and I'm sure you've heard this many times before. Thank you so very much for your hard work! ♥ If I remember correctly, it's very unlikely Baxter will get a DLC for OL2 but he seriously won over my heart with how he feels he's unimportant and just 'someone' which would've opened up so many possibilities of a really adorable and bittersweet reunion for OL2, if there ever was/were feelings for the MC in OL2. My heart 😭
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On racial stereotyping of the Haans in TMA...
Right so as someone who is ethnically Chinese I have NO FUCKING clue how I didn’t notice this more distinctly in my initial binge of tma (going too fast and not paying closer attention to character names and descriptions, probably) but the Haan family storyline is, all horror elements aside, pretty fucked up in terms of racial representation re: stereotyping. This got long as hell, but please please please take a moment to read through if you’ve got time for it. thanks.
To start off, the Haans are one of the few characters in tma with an explicitly specified race and ethnicity—Chinese—and pretty much the only explicitly Chinese characters in tma, other than the mostly unimportant librarian (Zhang Xiaoling) from Beijing. But like, Haan isn’t even a properly Chinese surname, at least not in the way that it’s spelled in canon (it should be Han, one a. A quick google search tells me that Haan as a surname has...Dutch origins??).
Of course, that could be chalked up to shoddy anglicization processes within family histories, which certainly isn’t uncommon with immigrant families, so I’m not going to dwell on names too much (although I also find it interesting that John Haan’s name is so specifically and weirdly anglicized that he changed his own surname?? Hun Yung to John Haan is a very big leap of a name change and frankly not very believable. ANYWAY, this is not that important. I don’t expect Jonny, a white Englishman, to come up with perfectly unquestionable non-Cho-Chang-like Chinese names, though it certainly would be nice. Moving on).
What really bothers me about the Haans is how they almost exclusively and explicitly play into negative Chinese immigrant stereotypes. I don’t even feel like I need to say it because it’s like...it’s literally Right There, folks. John Haan (in ep 72) owns and operates a sketchy takeout restaurant. They’re all avatars of the Flesh—and John Haan is Specifically horrific and terrifying because he cooked his wife’s human meat and fed it to his unknowing customers. Does that remind you of any stereotypes which accuse Chinese people of consuming societally unacceptable and ethically questionable things like dog/cat/bat meat (which, if it’s not already crystal fucking clear, we don’t. do that.), which in turn characterize us as horrible unfeeling monsters? John Haan’s characterization feeds (haha, badum tss) directly into this harmful stereotype that have caused very real pain for Chinese people and East Asians in general.
And Jonny does nothing to address that from within his writing (and not out of it either). And, speaking on a more meta level, Jonny could’ve easily had these flesh avatars be individuals of any race (like, what’s Jared Hopworth’s ethnicity? Do we know? No? Well then). Conversely, he could’ve easily, easily had a Chinese person be an avatar of any other entity. So why did he have to chose specifically the Flesh?
(This is a rhetorical question. You know why. Racial stereotyping and invoking a fear of the other in an attempt to enhance horror, babey~)
On Tom Haan’s side, Jonny seems weirdly intent on having other characters repeatedly comment on his accent (or rather, lack thereof) in relation to his race. Think about how, in ep 30 (killing floor), the fact that Tom Haan had spoken a line to the statement giver in “perfect English” was an emphasized beat in that statement, and a beat that was supposed to be “chilling” and meant to signify to us that something was, quote-unquote, “not right” with Tom Haan. Implicitly, that’s saying that it was unexpected, not “normal”, and in this case even eerie, for someone who looks Chinese to have spoken in fluid, unbroken English. Mind you, the line itself was perfectly scary on its own (“you cannot stop the slaughter by closing the door”), so why did Jonny feel the need to note the accent in which it was spoken in? Why did Jonny HAVE to have that statement giver note, that he initially “wasn’t even sure how much English [Haan] spoke”?
This happens again in episode 72 with a Chinese man (and again, his ethnicity is Explicitly Noted) who we assume is also Tom Haan. This one is rather ironically funny and kind of painfully self aware, because the statement giver expresses surprise at Haan’s “crisp RP accent” and then immediately “felt bad about making the assumption that he couldn’t speak English,” and subsequently admitted that thought was “low-key racist.” Like, from a writing perspective, this entire passage is roundabout, pointless, and says absolutely nothing helpful to enhance the horror genre experience for listeners (instead it just sounded like some sort of half-assed excuse so Jonny or other listeners could say “look! We’ve addressed the racism!” You didn’t. It just made me vaguely uncomfortable). And again, having other people comment on our accents/lack thereof while assuming we are foreign is a Very Real microaggression that east asians face on the daily. If Jonny needed some filler sentences for pacing he could’ve written about Literally anything else. So why point out, yet again, that the crazy murderous man was foreign and Chinese?
At this point, you might say, right, but yknow, it was just that the statement givers were kind of racist! It happens! Yeah sure, ok, that’s a passable in-universe explanation for descriptions of Tom Haan (though not John Haan, mind you), but the statement givers are fake made up people, and statement’s still written by Jonny, who absolutely has all the power to write overt discrimination out of his stories. And he does! Think about just how many minor (and major!!) characters are so, so carefully written as completely aracial, and do not have their ethnicity implicated at all in whatever horrors they may or may not be committing. Think about how many lgbtq+ characters have given statements, and have been in statements, without having faced direct forms of discrimination, or portrayed as embodying blatant stereotypes in their stories (though lgbtq+ rep in tma certainly has their own issues that I won’t go into here). Jonny can clearly write characters this way, and he can do it well. So why, why, am I being constantly, repeatedly reminded in-text of the fact that the Haans are East Asian, that they’re from China, that they’re Chinese immigrants, that they’re second-generation British Chinese or whatever the fuck, and that they’re also horrifying conduits for blood, gore, and general fucked-up-ness? It’s absolutely not something that is Needed for the stories to be an effective piece of horror; the only thing it does is perpetuate incredibly harmful and hurtful stereotypes.
And listen, I love tma to bits. It’s taken over my blog. I’ve really loved my interactions with the fandom. And I am consistently blown away by Jonny’s writing and how well he’s able to weave foreshadowing and plot into an incredibly complex collection of stories. But I absolutely Cannot stop thinking about the Haans because it’s just. It’s such a blatant display of racial stereotyping in writing. And I’ve certainly seen a few voices talking about it here and there, and I don’t know if I’m just not looking in the right places, but it certainly feels like something that is just straight up not on the radar for a lot of tma fans. And I’m disappointed about that.
Just, I don’t know. Take a look at those episodes again and do some of your own thinking about why these characters had to be specifically Chinese (answer: they didn’t.). And in general, PLEASE for the love of god turn a critical eye on character portrayals and descriptions whenever they are assigned specific races/ethnicities (Some examples that come to mind are Jude Perry, Annabelle Cane, and Diego Molina), because similar issues, to an extent, extend beyond the Haans, though I haven’t covered them here.
You shouldn’t need a POC to do point out these problems for you when they’re so glaringly There. But for those of you who really didn’t know, hope this was informative in some way. I’m tired, man. If some of the only significant Chinese characters you write are violent cannibalistic men with a perverted relationship with meat, just don’t do it. Please don’t do it.
EDIT: Since the making of this post Jonny has acknowledged and apologized for these portrayals on his twitter and in the Rusty Quill Operations Update, which went up September 2020. A long time coming, but better late than never. This of course doesn’t necessarily negate the harm done by Jonny’s writing, and doesn’t make me much less angry about it, but is appreciated nonetheless. For more on this topic there’s a lot of productive discussions happening in my “#tma crit” tag and in the notes of this post
#tma#the magnus archives#magnuspod#tma 30#tma 72#tma crit#racism#sinophobia#racist stereotyping#tw cannibalism#tw violence#long post#tom haan#john haan
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Representation at Pixelberry: The Follow-Up
One year ago, on June 15, 2020, Pixelberry released a statement regarding representation at the company. Here is the LINK to the original blog post, and here was MY RESPONSE. Oh, how naïve and optimistic I was. It contained a list of goals and promises they hoped to accomplish within a year. Well, a year has passed, and here is my attempt to hold PB accountable. I'll be going over the five main points of their representation plan and if they achieved what they promised. All criticisms are about content released after June 15th. Long post beware, but I'm not putting it under a read more because I feel like it's important for all to see.
1. Commitment to diversity of Love Interests - FAIL
We’ve already been moving towards having Love Interests have customizable skin tones. We will continue to do this with some stories, while also having some characters with clear ethnic identities. At the same time when we have multiple love interests of different ethnicities, we are aiming for those Love Interests to have equal game time.
"LIs with customizable skin tones" mean they come in three flavours: white, black, and ambiguously Asian/Latinx interchangeably. So far I have rarely seen an LI as connected to their culture/ethnicity as Rafael Aveiro, and he just talked about his Vovo's food if he ever were on screen. They had many chances with the other OH LIs as well. Even Ayna Seth and Tatum Mendoza were confirmed to be Indian and Filipino, respectively, though FA gets a little leeway, as it was set in a fictional west-European continent.
As for equal game time? I'm sure the biggest example we can all think of was the mess that was Open Heart 3, which was written during the hiatus (which only existed because they were going to straight up kill Rafael in Book 2). Game time was not equal among LIs, and the white male LI was heavily favoured. PB also continues to pay female LIs dirt by giving them no screen time. In addition to that, LGBT+ players, who are consistently underrepresented, receive one (1) unprepared pride month survey, prpbably only because someone asked them about it on Twitter.
This is the meat and potatoes of everything because it's what they're outputting to their audience. It's what the people see. Given that things haven't been going so well lately in this department, consider this promise a big fat fail.
2. More authentic and diverse hairstyles for people of color - QUESTIONABLE
Our team will focus on providing more authentic and representative hairstyles. We are prioritizing these hairstyles outside of our normal book processes and will introduce them in new books as they are ready.
While, yes, they have added two new hairstyles in WEH, they also just took Jade Bonet's hair and recycled it for LoA F!MC. PB recycles all their hair more often than not.
3. More diverse book covers - QUESTIONABLE
This is an initiative we started in January of this year. As a result the number of Black, Latinx, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, mixed, and other characters on new book covers increased from 35% of characters in 2019 to 60% characters in the first half of 2020. However, the number of black characters is still not high enough this year. More are already scheduled for books later this year. We will make sure that Black characters are well represented on our covers in the future.
"Diverse" does not just mean by race, but also gender, sexual orientation, etc. FA has the only recent MLM cover. And don't tell me that the FA and LoA covers are any different from each other. The only black characters on covers are Zoey Wade (QB), and Black!Gabe Ricci (LoA) and Bastien (WB), which aren't even their canon races unless you choose them to be. This is the case for many single-LI books, such as Cassian Keane (W:ABR, which technically premiered on Mar. 16, but the sentiment is the same), Sam Dalton (TNA), and Dakota Winchester (WEH). Not to mention the customizable/multi LI books like DS, RT, BaBu2, MTFL, etc. Majority of these covers are just cishet couples delicately cradling each other's bodies or whatever. And we're not even gonna get into how PB literally put the Open Heart LIs in order of their favouritism on Book 3's cover.
4. Writers/Staff - QUESTIONABLE
We will be engaging in professional training on historical and current racism for our writers to ensure more of them have a better understanding and more context for views of diverse characters in Choices. We will also create a program that gives more authority to people of color in the studio to advise writers and artists on more authentic portrayals in both writing and art of black, brown, and minority characters.
A story with a Black-led cast is something I have asked for in the past, but failed to follow-up on. We will very likely start this with a Black-led cast story led by Chelsa, one of Pixelberry's Black writers.
We will increase the number of diverse writers we source for new stories, starting with hiring more Black and Latinx writers to lead the charge.
For all teams at Pixelberry we will actively work to bring in more Black and Latinx candidates with the goal to increase the number of Black and Latinx employees at Pixelberry. Although Pixelberry is over 50% female, on teams where females are not at 50% we will actively work to source more female candidates.
This promise seemed like a copout from the start because we have no way of knowing who works on what at PB unless we very meticulously stalk their LinkedIn or Twitter or whatever. We have no solid statistics except for what they feed us. I do know, however, that they recently let the Ms. Match writers go and were hiring for external writers, but there really is no way of knowing what's going on behind-the-scenes with their 112+ employees, and of course there would be NDAs involved. We are yet to see a book with an all-Black cast, and receive rare development updates with new books. Actually, I think a really good way to promote diversity is to do staff showcases on their social media. Just a way to show the public who's responsible for what. Writers, game devs, the art team, etc. Don't think it'll happen, but it's always a good idea.
5. Donations - QUESTIONABLE
Pixelberry will also be making $100,000 in donations to Black Girls Code, the Black Writers Collective, and the Latinx Writers Collective at Techqueria. Rather than as a lump sum, we will be making these donations over the course of a year to remind us that we are not making short term changes, but are committed to long term sustainable actions. We’ll also be donating up to an additional $100k from profits for this week, 6/15-6/21.
There has been no proof, no receipts, no evidence from PB that they have donated anything to anyone, and as far as we're concerned, their word doesn't mean anything. No news or updates news about it. I would love to believe that they did something, but as you can see, I've become quite the pessimist. BWC still uses PB's old logo (like, pre-Choices) on their sponsors page, and the last interaction they've had with BGC was in 2013. They don't even follow each other on Instagram. In fact, BGC received a huge donation from MacKenzie Scott, formerly Bezos last July. Yes, that billionaire Bezos, and that got coverage from them. Obviously donations don't need to be for publicity, but in this case I think it's important there should be proof. Again, it's really hard to tell with these behind-the-scenes things, but given how PB loves to gloat and hates to keep promises, we can assume that none of this happened.
~~~
So, what's the takeaway? That PB's fallen down the drainhole of shitty content and empty promises and has no intention of climbing out as long as they still make that bank? Seems counterproductive, because good representation gets good feedback and income. They pump out bad books with barebones "representation" if you can call it that, then drop their precious merch and pretend all is fine and dandy. But just as I suspected one year ago, none of this matters, because people forget things, and people move on, and shit gets swept under rugs. Yet, here I am, yelling at a company in a post I for sure doubt they'll see. Because if not me, then who?
@playchoices Your move. It's been your move for a year now. When will you actually make it?
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Follower Recs
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Hi! First of all, thank you so much for running this blog, It's become one of three reasons why I haven't yet committed arson (I jest but the Feeling is true). [Hee, hee, hee.] I have a rec for you! It's called "wholesome life usurp immediately" by comfect on ao3 and it's. So good. It's unfinished but the author updates it literally every other day if not faster! It's a lovely fic, I hope you enjoy it. 🌻
Wholesome Life Usurp Immediately
by Comfect (T, 55k, yunmeng sibs, qingli, wangxian, WIP)
Summary: Wen Qing examines Jiang Yanli at Cloud Recesses and has a cure for her poor cultivation.
Now there are Three Prides of Yunmeng.
Everything kind of fixes itself from there.
~*~
hello mojo!! I would really like to recommend standing still (but we keep going) by lwjromantics!! it's really good!!
standing still (but we keep going)
by lwjromantics (justfantaestic) (T, 5k, wangxian)
Summary: Lan Wangji supposed that if having to take care of little A-Yuan and Mo Xuanyu and having to look at the reminders of Wei Ying in their habits and mannerisms was punishment for his actions, he would willingly take it and flay his own back open.
—
There are children in the Burial Mounds.
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hii mojo! I just read this cute fic and I loved it so I wanted to rec it :)
Word Up, Talk the Talk
by Larryissocute (G, 2k, wangxian)
Summary: It wouldn’t have been a problem (it really wouldn’t) if they weren’t best friends. Wei Wuxian doesn’t know what good deeds he did in his past life to be blessed with Lan Wangji as a friend nor does he know what evil things he did to be cursed with being only a friend to Lan Wangji.
Or the one where Wei Wuxian kisses Lan Wangji and then runs away.
~*~
Hey! Love your account — and proud of you for taking the hiatus you needed. [Lol - it was really nice!] Idk if you take fic recommendations, but I'd love to rec Roots by ardenrabbit. Fantastic characterization, I really love it!
Roots
by ardenrabbit (E, 46k, wangxian, WIP)
Summary: After Wei Wuxian's duel with Jiang Cheng, he finds that stab wounds aren't so trivial when he doesn't have a core to heal them. He wakes to find Lan Zhan in the Burial Mounds with him, already beloved by the Wens and making himself at home. When Lan Zhan tells him that he wants to stay and offers more help than Wei Wuxian knows how to accept, he fears that it's only too good to be true.
Lan Wangji knows that Wei Ying is doing the right thing, and he couldn't live with himself if he let him do it alone. For everything Wei Ying has sacrificed, Lan Wangji is determined to give something back to him.
Hanguang-Jun has turned his back on the clans to join the Yiling Wens and their demonic cultivator leader, and every clan has a different opinion on the matter.
~*~
Hello! I wanted to rec a fic on ao3 called "Restoration" by jelenedra. It's complete, an alternate universe of the sunshot campaign told nonlinearly. It has strong fairy tale and fae elements, with a touch of mystery. Bit of a fix it. Some delightful one liners, and the final ending imagery is just LOVELY. The fic deserves much more love. There's also some YilingWei, wwx not raised by Jiang, and sentient Burial Mounds elements. Enchanting read that keeps you enthralled and curious and intrigued.
Restoration
by jelenedra (M, 85k, wangxian)
Summary: They say he was thrown into Luanzang Gang by the man who killed his parents; they say that he is an immortal cultivator who had been in a deep trance until the Wen sect disturbed his rest and incurred his wrath; they say that he is the fierce corpse of a cultivator who had somehow regained his mind and his spiritual powers.
When Lan Wangji sees him for the first time, he understands why people talk.
Meng Yao wants safety. Xue Yang wants vengeance. The Sunshot Campaign wants victory. Yiling Laozu provides, for a price.
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I usually read all your recommendations. Thanks for gathering all good recs of wangxian. I am in love with every single story your recommend especially the favorites. [I’m so glad!] I just wanted to suggest a fic i came across while searching for phoenix!wwx. Its a new story I think as author has published it today. The first chapter was very interesting that i thought ill recommend it you and know your opinion. The legendary phoenix and his dragon -Devipriya and Hidden Path to Love by ShadowTenshiV
Hidden Path to Love
by ShadowTenshiV (G, 78k, wangxian)
Summary: Wei Ying is a servant working at the Gusu Lan castle. One day he enters through a secret passage way connected to the library where he meets a Lan for the first time. He may have left quite an impression, gaining the other´s attention and slowly becoming friends. They would like to become something more, but a servant can´t be with a prince, but maybe his secret can change that.
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hello mojo! i was wondering if I could make a fic rec? it’s called “and the calm is deep where the quiet waters flow” by izanyas. it used to be on ao3 but the author has since moved it to eir own website and has started posting updates there. i was wondering if this could also act as a signal boost bc some old readers on ao3 might not have known that it is now on another website. Author's been through a tough time so I think it deserves a lot more love.
For new readers, please mind the warnings in the prologue and the beginning of each chapter! it’s omegaverse and a very heavy read as it deals with (possible spoiler) off-screen rape that results in an unwanted pregnancy, as well as secondary gender oppression which runs deep, but for people who can bear it the writing, worldbuilding, and emotions are truly spectacular.
and the calm is deep where the quiet waters flow
by izanyas (E, 270k, wangxian, WIP, link is to WordPress rather than AO3)
Summary: Cangse Sanren was the first of her kind to become a cultivator. Talented, passionate, free-spirited, she bested everything that ever came her way until the very end.
Jiang Fengmian refuses to see her son deprived of that same freedom.
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Hello Mojo! I dunno if this's been recced before, but here's another ficrec for you? It's complete, on ao3, "The Third Young Master of Qishan Wen" by KouriArashi. It's 'if wwx was raised by dafan wen, but gets recognized as 3rd heir due to his skill' scenario. Some really nice banter and characterization. Wwx and lz get together before the sunshot campaign. Story follows the live action but diverges into au, and does some cool callbacks to original canon. Love Meng Yao in this! [Oh, I know KouriArashi from my last fandom, I love her works!]
❤️The Third Young Master of the Qishan Wen
by KouriArashi (T, 139k, wangxian, my post)
Summary: The fic where Wei Wuxian is adopted by the Dafan Mountain Wens instead of the Yunmeng Jiang.
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Hi Mojo! I can count the number of times I’ve spoken on Tumblr on one hand (I’m shy heh) but I found this fic that I think you and others would really like? I’m a sucker for emotional hurt/comfort and this was just too sweet for me not to share (did I go through 20 pages of bookmarks just to make sure you don’t already have it? Maybe …) [Aww, you can do a sidebar search in the bookmarks for the author’s name. But I hope you found other good fics by carding through the whole catalog!] It’s “Close Your Soft Eyes” by timetoboldlygo! I also wanna say thank you for all the hard work you put into this blog! It’s a treasure beyond compare. :D [Thank you so much!]
Close Your Soft Eyes
by timetoboldlygo (G, 12k, wangxian)
Summary: When Lan Wangji woke, the first thing he noticed was the slip of paper, folded and tucked between his index and middle fingers, not Wei Wuxian’s absence. His fingers trembled as he unfurled the paper. A donkey with a little smile beamed down at him.
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On the nights that Wei Wuxian was gone, Lan Wangji woke to gifts on his pillow.
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Hey Mojo! I love your blog it is beyond awesome! [Thank you!] I was wondering if you would consider reading JaenysBloodcourt series "A Bond to Takes us home"? The summary is weird but I like the fics and would love to hear your opinion on LWJ POV (it's part 2). Part one is Mingxian but part two (Wangxian) reads as a standalone for the most part. Anyways, thank you for all your hard work! <3 [I’ll put it on my list!]
A Bond to Take Us Home
by JaenysBloodcourt (T, 10k, mingxian - nmj/wwx, wangxian, series in progress)
Summary: Wei Wuxian has two soulmarks. He has two soulmates that seem to be the opposite of him. During his first life he meets both of them, loves only one and longs for the other. In his second life, the one he loved first is dead, and the one he pined after is pining after him.
These are the many tales of his soulmates and the raucous they made across the cultivation world.
Some are dark, some are light. Beware.
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I forgot to send this in for Mother's Day a few weeks ago, but have you read dragongirlG's "into the light of a dark black night"? It's a short canon divergence where Mama Lan escapes the Cloud Recesses after spending one last, heartbreaking night with her sons. It's so beautiful and bittersweet! [Oh, ouch. I just read this author’s time travelling juniors au, but hadn’t seen this one.]
into the light of a dark black night
by dragongirlG (T, 3k, Madam Lan & sons)
Summary: The night that Wu Yuhua, formerly known as Madam Lan, plans to escape from the Cloud Recesses, she runs into an unexpected complication.
That complication comes in the form of her younger son A-Zhan running up to her door and kneeling in front of it, hushed whimpers escaping from his throat.
Wu Yuhua knows it's not the full moon, knows that it's not the one day a month she's allowed to see her children—but like hell is she going to leave her six-year-old son out there trying to stifle sobs in the snow.
She opens the door. "A-Zhan," she says, bending down and reaching out a hand. "Come in, my sweet boy."
On a snowy night in the dead of winter, Wu Yuhua, formerly known as Madam Lan, unexpectedly spends one last night with her sons before escaping from the Cloud Recesses.
~*~
Hello queen I’d like to recommend for ur follower rec posts Avatar: The Untamed Waterbender by KouriArashi. Banger of an ATLA au, def the best one I’ve seen. It’s a WIP but the author updates pretty regularly and it’s all around an A+ fic [Oh, yes, I’ve been waiting for this one to finish before I jump in.]
Avatar: The Untamed Waterbender
by KouriArashi (T, 123k, wangxian, WIP)
Summary: You know the drill. Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.
100 years later, Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli find Wei Wuxian sealed in an iceberg.
Featuring: avatar WWX, waterbending JC, firebending Wens, airbending Lans, earthbending Nies and Jins, Jiang Yanli in possession of the brain cell, et cetera.
~*~
[My ko-fi.]
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A Debunking and, in my Humble Opinion, Superior Version of Weird History’s “Hardcore Facts About Alexander Hamilton”
I haven’t updated my blog in quite some time, and that is due to my schedule being primarily dominated by school. So, I decided my first step into posting semi-regularly once more shall be a more casual, more fun endeavor.
If you have not heard of the Weird History youtube channel, good for you. It is yet another social media platform that misconstrues history to appeal to the public’s enjoyment of extremes and strangeness. I saw The Historical Fashion Queens make a video responding to their highly misinformed documentary on corsetry on Miss Abby Cox’s youtube channel, which I highly recommend. This intrigued me, and I decided to find a video I could dissect off my expertise, at first only for fun in my own time. This resulted in the production in a very long bullet list in the notes app of my phone. So here is my informal destruction of this godforsaken video.
Disclaimer: I am not at all excusing any of the awful things Alexander Hamilton did during his lifetime. I am absolutely the last person who would even come near to claiming that many of the things he did were justifiable in the slightest. Although, he might be the only historical figure which I have a very strong interest in the life of, as he was incredibly complex, and the part of me with a love of psychology finds him absolutely fascinating. There is also something to be said about the way we consider moral standards of historical figures. We are quite lucky to believe in the time that we do, and not all of our standards can apply to historical figures. This does not mean they should not be held accountable. I find that a way to criticize people while also praising them where it is due is by judging them based upon their intentions. In my opinion, Hamilton’s intentions were not to harm anyone in most situations, so I don’t think he was a terrible person, nor do I think he was a particularly good one. Then again, I don’t think either of those things about a mass majority of people, so let us proceed without further delay. (Note: I will also be referring to the collective Weird History channel as the Narrator to avoid any mental gymnastics, and all of my knowledge is coming from my memory of Hamilton’s writing and some biographies.)
Automatically, the video starts with mention of the musical, but that just reminds me that many use Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton as a basis of their statements about him without utilizing much critical thinking, so I am slightly nervous.
The Narrator then refers to Hammy Ham man as “...one of America’s most undervalued founding fathers...” Now, it is debatable whether or not Mr. Hamilton is undervalued per se, but when it comes to the founding fathers, they are usually undervalued or overvalued. At this point, Hamilton is both.
I shall not subscribe, thank you for the offer though, Mr. Narrator.
Now for the first fact: “Historians don’t know when Hamilton was born.” Yes, this is correct, but I don’t believe this should be labeled as “hardcore”, but perhaps that is just me. One early document indicates that Hamilton was born in 1755, while all later ones point to 1757 as his year of birth. We know Hamilton was not always a completely honest man, so it is possible that he lied.
Also, they show an image of a baby, and I do not know if this is actually Hamilton, but they use a lot of strange imagery, which I found humorous.
“A self-made man born out of wedlock.” Now, this fact could indeed be “hardcore”, if this was not colonial America we are discussing. Hamilton actually wasn’t really special in this regard. Yes, his rise to fame was impressive considering his circumstances, but this wasn’t unheard of.
The Narrator then says that Hamilton’s mother, Rachel Faucette, was “estranged from her husband.” This caused me some confusion as it is a vast understatement. Her ex-husband was absolutely awful to her.
Additionally, they claim that James Hamilton left his family behind for some reason that I did not write in my notes, but the most likely reason that he actually left was because of his awesome debt. James Hamilton also had a history of ambitious pursuits for money, so it would not be extreme to claim that he moved to another island to attempt to make a fortune in some trading endeavor.
They also cease to mention the Stevens family, who housed young Alexander while he was working for Beekman and Cruger, and had a great influence on him, but I digress.
“A college dropout who joined the Revolution.” Once again, this isn’t special. Many rowdy young Whigs left behind their careers and educations for pursuit of military fame in the Continental Army. They also do not mention anything of Hamilton’s expansive military career, which aside from being indicative of primitive research, but would produce more “hardcore facts.”
Although, they do discuss his application to Princeton college, which is interesting enough I suppose, although everyone who has heard the first two songs of the musical knows this story. His proposal for an “accelerated course of study” was likely inspired by Aaron Burr, as claimed by Chernow and Miranda, or James Madison, as supported by evidence provided by author Noah Feldman in his novel, The Three Lives of James Madison, which is an excellent read. Young Madison, having already completed a course, decided to do so again, but compacting a usually three year course into a shorter period of time. He hardly slept during this period, which was stressful upon his health, making Princeton more disinclined to allow a similar course to be taken.
The Narrator then claims that Hamilton “formed his own militia of 25 men.” Technically, yes? But not exactly. Hamilton joined a paramilitary group called the Hearts of Oak, and they drilled in Trinity Churchyard. This became ironic later. He then became a captain in the New York Artillery Company, and enlisted his own men, which was at one time around thirty or so, if my memory serves me correctly.
“Founded a bank that existed for over two centuries.” Ah, yes, a very hardcore fact indeed. Yes, Hamilton did establish the Bank of America, but Robert Morris was the one who inspired him to do so. Though, I do think the financial plan is a product of his own genius, but I will get into that much later.
I got an ad. :(
The Narrator also says that the misfortunes done to the New York shipping industry by the Articles of Confederation were the most prominent, if not sole, motivation for Hamilton to concoct his financial plan. He first recognized the need for a sound financial plan when he was in the army. You know, when he was watching men die of inadequate supplies because the government couldn’t tax the states.
This video, like Chernow’s biography and Miranda’s musical, claims that Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were friends when, in actuality, they weren’t really. Yes, they knew each other, and they didn’t hate each other until the end of Hamilton’s life, but they really didn’t think about each other much before the Election of 1800.
“Hamilton authored over half of the Federalist Papers.” Indeed, he did! I enjoy this fact. It isn’t very “hardcore” but it is very impressive. The Federalist Papers were arguably Hamilton’s greatest accomplishment, as he organized the entire thing and, as previously stated, authored much of them. I very much enjoy the Federalist Papers, as they give some insight as to Hamilton’s political and philosophical theories, as well as how he thought of the world. It makes for an interesting read if you have something you’re looking for.
Now, this may be a hot take, but Madison’s essays are by far more effective, as they were better organized. Hamilton and I share a common flaw, and that is the lack of brevity.
“Involved in America’s first sex scandal.” Yes, we all know. I’ll get into the Reynold’s affair later because it’s its own beast to conquer. Basically what you need to understand information I shall provide later in this post is that James Reynolds extorted money from Hamilton, and if Hamilton failed to pay, Reynolds would expose the affair Hamilton was having with his wife, Maria. Hamilton paid, but when Reynolds was arrested for something else, he exposed Hamilton anyway.
“He worked with Aaron Burr to defend a man.” Once again, this isn’t very surprising. They were both capable lawyers in the same area, so it was basically inevitable. Though there was this one instance where Hamilton and Burr were working on a case together and Hamilton, being himself, insisted upon having the last word. Well, Burr was tired of him, and I can’t say I blame him, so he made every possible argument in his finishing speech, leaving Hamilton with virtually nothing.
The Narrator also mentions Hamilton’s opposition to slavery, but he didn’t really outwardly oppose it as much as you would think listening to the musical or reading Chernow’s biography. Far from being the “fervent abolitionist” Chernow and Miranda glorify, Hamilton didn’t really do much for the enslaved. He helped John Laurens in his Black Plan and joined the Manumission Society, but other than that, he never made any attempt to progress the abolition of slavery. He also ���purchased” slaves for his in-laws, and some argue that he “owned” some himself, but there is no contemporary evidence to support this that I have seen. The enslaved and servants that were in his household likely belonged to his wife.
“Founded a newspaper that still exists.” Ok.
“Died by duel.” I swear, this fact is by far the most unnecessary. They mention the duel so many times that it is already redundant. I completely skipped over this part, and the video ended, so I was thoroughly underwhelmed.
Well, seeing as this post is already longer than my attention span, I shall save you the pains of having to read any more in just one post. I shall make a follow-up to this where I give my own facts, which I believe are far more hardcore than “he founded a newspaper.” I hope you have enjoyed and this isn’t too terribly boring. I hope to get back to posting soon.
#alexander hamilton#eliza hamilton#hamilton#hamilton the musical#hamilton the movie#lin manuel miranda#ron chernow#aaron burr#maria reynolds#james reynolds#james madison#thomas jefferson#john jay#weird history#abby cox#American Revolution#amrev#amrev history#american history#american colonies#america#the american revolution#The American War of Independence#colonial america#hamilton burr duel#duel#omg im so tired of planning and writing this but im pushing through for the sake of accurate portrayals of real people#im carrying the weight of the world all of you should be thanking me#is it awkward if i listen to how stands the glass around while i write this
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//SPOILERS-ISH FOR WARIOWARE GET IT TOGETHER.//
//Don’t watch the video past the 25 minute mark if you haven’t beaten the game and want to remain unspoiled!//
//So, this lovely person uploaded many of clean voice clips from the newest WarioWare game! Including quips from Ana and Spitz that are...very unlikely to be heard in normal gameplay due to their 2p exclusivity status.
//Because I am running a blog about writing Ana, might as well share my ideas and observations inspired by this! (note, will be updating this when the in-game voice clips are uploaded!)
//I hope they’ll be an okay read, and if you wanna take inspiration by these ideas, feel free to! Lemme know if you use ‘em, okay? I love seeing more fan stuff for WarioWare!
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- Despite being described as the shy, quiet twin, Ana certainly has her excitable moments as she’s a bit...loud in some of her quips in this game. In Gold, her voice clips better matched the description of quiet and shy. Ana probably shows a more outgoing side when around those she trusts, or is presented with a subject that she really really likes. I’d like to think she can appreciate socializing, but will need to recharge her batteries in (relative) solitude afterwards.
- Both twins are childish, but in their own ways. Though some may argue that Ana is more mature (justified by how the twins are portrayed in past games), I personally think they both have their mature and childish moments. They are kindergartners after all. Note that Kat’s a bit more polite than Ana when it comes to accepting gifts they don’t like.
- Ana remarked that she’s “so so good at eating” in Gold. Now in GiT, when she quits the game, she says needs a snack. Seems like she likes food a bit more than her twin. Kat on the other hand claims she needs a nap when she quits.
- Says ‘aw pickles’ and ‘carrot sticks’ when losing. This could either mean the child dislikes those foods to the point of using them as “swears” or that she likes them, similar to how Bandit of Bluey uses “biscuits” and “cheese and crackers” in place of swearing.
- Could be the more adventurous of the two ninjas when it comes to trying new foods. I don’t think she’s that much of a picky eater, but there are probably foods that she’s adverse to, like spicy dishes.
- While Ana did join her sister in shouting “Bad Wario!”, seems like she wasn’t as angry as her sister was about the mistake due to her tone.
- Has taken on one of 5-Volt’s old quips (from Gold), which is “Gold Star!” Perhaps she admires the mom. It does help that 5-Volt is a splendid chef...and that the twins hung around 9-Volt since the first game.
- Definitely has a nasally voice like Bingo of Bluey. ...Wait is that the right term to describe her voice...? I know it sounds to me like a younger version of Stacy from Octodad (especially because they share same VA).
- ...Actually I’m just gonna say the twins are like Bluey and Bingo. Seriously, a caring, yet kinda bossy young girl who has a red haired, nature loving, timid, sensitive younger sibling feels a bit too familiar...though this could be a common dynamic between siblings. I could also be paying too much attention due to their similar ages.
- Sparkly things probably appeal to Ana. This does include coins but I don’t think it’s that farfetched she’d like other shiny objects and glitter. Maybe she likes shiny dresses too due to her love of the wedding dress!
- Very much apologetic. And still a bit of a crybaby, probably. Definitely not too focused on ninjutsu as much as her sister.
- “I’m a big ninja now!” reminds me a lot of the “I’m a big kid now!” saying from those pull up commercials...(though I feel like I heard some actual and fictional kids say something to those lines or at least sentiment...)
- Between the twin’s level up phrases, they certainly are excited to be big kids and prove themselves! I think that’s a common thing among little ones, but don’t take my word on it. Could just be a fiction exclusive thing.
#warioware#warioware ana#ana warioware#kat and ana#kat & ana#Blast! (headcanon)#Mun! (ooc)#git spoilers#warioware get it together#//also check out this blog:#hollys-useless-headccanons#//i love reading that blog's hcs! :D#//i hope it's okay that I use some of 'em...#long post
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Jeweler Richard Fanbook Short Story #25
Feel free to message me about possible corrections, and please consider supporting the creators by purchasing digital copies of the official releases: Novel || Manga || Fanbook. In case anyone is feeling generous: Ko-fi | PayPal. ( ╹◡╹)っ’･*
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Sri Lanka Nakata Diary
Title: I got to make some time all of a sudden.
Hello, this is Iggy.
Just as the title says, I suddenly managed to make some time for myself here in Sri Lanka. The guest who was supposed to come over had to go on a last-minute trip, so I wound up with almost an entire day off.
My boss told me that I should take it easy while I was at it and that studying was forbidden, so if you’d like, please give me suggestions. I think there aren’t many people living in Sri Lanka among the ones who are seeing this, so anything goes. Like your favorite ways to spend your leisure time, for example.
By the way, I like cooking when a senior acquaintance of mine comes over, but I noticed lately that I don’t cook much when I’m alone. Eating out is best when it’s Sri Lankan curry.
Ely_03
Hi, Iggy. I always have fun reading your blog. I live in Greece. I have interest in Japanese people because my daughter is studying abroad in Japan, so I’m happy to have found this blog.
1975Halleluja
Do they not have night clubs there? How about you try going to one? I’m reading you all the way from Egypt.
BB_Typhoon
How about trying to clean up your room? It might be surprisingly messy.
Archangel
Hello, nice to meet you, Iggy-san. If you are in Sri Lanka, apparently, there is a Sri Lankan massage called Ayurveda. You are finally having a day off, so isn’t it a good idea to relax in a way you have never experienced before? Take care of your body. I found the spa below. Not so bad, is it?
(This URL is only visible to the administrator.)
Title: I went to do Ayurveda!
Hello, Iggy here. Thank you for your previous comments to my blog.
I went to the spa that Archangel-san introduced to me, and it was a series of first experiences, so I was very excited. Back in my country, I kind of imagined that women were the ones who get this kind of massage, but if my tired body would get better, I could keep getting it in the future too.
The owner of the spa was a Tamil speaker. It would have been great if I were more able to talk to them. Thanks to them, I experienced enrichment in many aspects.
Iggy out.
Archangel
Iggy-san, it seems you had a fulfilling day and nothing makes me happier. I think that the most efficient way to study about languages and gemstones is to proceed with the two paralleling each other like wheels. I hope your training will be fun.
Punk_Of_England
When I read a blog from someone who’s having fun, I have fun too! If there were a ‘like’ button, I might have pressed it nonstop. Take care of your health. Man, anonymous sections sure are convenient.
Title: Three-Wheeler
Hello, Iggy here. I had a question in one of my updates.
Do you remember that, last time, I wrote an article about purchasing a three-wheel bike called Three-Wheeler? I’ve been addicted to riding it around lately.
I did have a driver’s license in my motherland, but I was the kind who didn’t have a car or bicycle, so maybe my eyes opened up to the fun of driving a car when I came here.
This thing is like a bike with a hood, so it feels good when the wind hits my face. Finding waterfowl when I’m running around the man-made areas in the evening makes me feel satisfied.
I’m going to study now. After I’m done, I’ll go ride on the Three-Wheeler again. Looking forward to it.
Archangel
Iggy-san, hello. It seems that you are enjoying your new vehicle. Although this is excessive concern, but if I may share my worries about the Three-Wheeler, while it does have a casual ride quality to it, is not appropriate for crime prevention. For example, there is no wall to protect your body if a thug happens to attack from the side of the vehicle while it is temporarily stopped. Your senior and boss have probably already told you not to carry valuables with you when you are riding. Please be careful.
Iggy
>Archangel-san, thank you for always leaving comments. Indeed, I do recall my boss telling me that. I never take valuables with me when I use the Three-Wheeler, but I’ll make sure to take it to heart once again. Thank you very much.
ilovestones
I went back to read the article about the Three-Wheeler. So cute! I don’t see bikes like that in my country at all. Must be fun to drive around one of those. I think this would come in very handy if you ever feel like renewing all the strata within a 20km radius of your house. I’m jealous.
Punk_Of_England
This might be the anonymous section and all, but I think people’s quirks show in their text, so it’s hard to tell if they haven’t yet been discovered or if they’re just being let through...
Title: Men in Skirts
Iggy here. Just as the title says, I’ve passed by several men who were wearing skirts. I wonder if it was traditional wear. But it also had a colorful and casual feel to it, so I’m slightly confused about what it was. I’m not very confident as to whether or not I was making a rude face when I looked at them. My apologies to them.
Archangel
>Iggy-sama.
That is called sarong, which is a traditional wear in Sri Lanka. Please refer to the URL below.
(This URL is only visible to the administrator.)
I believe you understood that it is used as formal wear. Perhaps the fact that there were so many men wearing colorful sarongs means it was a wedding ceremony? Do not be so discouraged.
Title: I was given a sarong!
Iggy here. For now, please take a look at this photo.
(The image is displayed only to accounts authorized by the administrator.)
I got a red and blue gingham check sarong! It’s comfy! Since it’s the locals who wear it, as expected, there’s lots of pros to it – it’s breathable, doesn’t bleach in the sunlight, and it’s easier to walk in than I had imagined.
As you can see in the picture, the length is down to the ankles. It’s longer than a Scottish skirt and that helps. It seems people put this on to go to wedding ceremonies. So cool. Above all, it suits the climate of Sri Lanka, so I think that’s better to wear than Bermuda shorts if you want to spend time here.
I received this from my neighbor, but it’s extremely comfortable, so I’m planning to buy one or two more for myself. I wonder if this can’t be worn every day.
Shinghalion
I am a local. It makes me happy that you like my homeland’s clothes. This sort of garment also seems to be trending amongst Sri Lanka’s elite college students in the recent years, so if there are any places near you where college students hang out, then the boutiques next to them are where you should aim to go. Please have a pleasant life. By the way, it seems to me that someone is leaving several comments. Are you okay? If they are being a nuisance, it seems that there is also a block function here. Just my excessive concerns.
Archangel
>Shinghalion
Pleased to meet you (just for the sake of it). Please do not say such outrageous things to someone you have never even met.
Title: I ended up accumulating sweets.
(The image is displayed only to accounts authorized by the administrator.)
I made too many...
The picture is of coconut rolls, pudding and caramelized date. As one would expect, I can’t eat them all on my own, but when I tried to share with my neighbors, they told me that it’s bad for children’s teeth and got a bit angry, so things are awkward. What should I do?
Title: My boss came over!
The sweets that I made in big quantity didn’t go to waste. Lucky me.
Weird coincidences do happen. I’m truly glad for that.
I wonder what I should make next time he comes. Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions. As for Sri Lankan sweets, I still only know about things like watalappan, and also the rolls, cream buns, and coconut dumplings sold at the station’s kiosk. But all of them are delicious, aren’t they? If you have any recommendations, please tell me.
Archangel
>Iggy-sama, I saw your post with great interest. However, I do not think you should forget about the true feelings of the person in question. Please use every day to improve your own skills and promote your physical and mental health. In that respect, as expected, I think that the sweets you are supposed to make should have focus on your current specialties, but do you agree?
Shinghalion
>Archangel, overprotection can be a bad habit if it goes too far. How about you realize that already?
Archangel
>Shinghalion, Neither I nor you know each other at all. Please refrain from speculating and saying such things on your own accord.
Punk_Of_England
Phew~! This is getting kinda interesting. I’ll be watching over the course of events.
ilovestones
Hum, please leave it as that. This is Iggy-san’s blog. Aren’t you being a bother to him?
Archangel
I resent my actions.
Shinghalion
I apologize.
Punk_Of_England
I’m sorry.
Mura_Shimo
Heya, Iggy-san! It’s your well-acquainted H.S. I came to see your blog! It’s a fun one with lots of comments. Considering that you said you didn’t advertise it to anyone, that’s amazing! Natural virtues maybe?
I wanna see you again and talk! Do lots of updates~! I’ll do my best at guitar practice too~!
Punk_Of_England
The possibility of toleration has disappeared, huh. A-san, you okay? Are you going to be silent for the rest of your life?
Archangel
I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, but I am hesitating as well. Remaining silent might be the safest.
Archangel_Of_Archangel
Hello, nice to meet you, Iggy-san.
I read your entire blog. You seem to be having lots of fun. That is a relief. I have experience with working in a country a bit farther to the southeast than Sri Lanka, so seeing you live a fun daily life reminds me of my youth, which makes me both cry and laugh. This is a very good blog where your daily life comes to mind in vivid colors.
Also, the way that so many people are looking after Iggy-san in the comment section made the corners of my eyes feel hot. Speaking of which, do the people who leave comments on this blog really have no relation to Iggy-san and just watch over him through this blog?
>Archangel-san, can we talk again?
Mail account
Sender: [email protected]
Destination: [email protected]
Message: I shall contact you through the usual phone number.
Sender: [email protected]
Destination: [email protected]
Message: I will be waiting for it. Thank you for always taking care of my son.
Title: The comments decreased?
Hello, Iggy here. Ever since the last update, I feel that the people who always send comments to the blog have gone quiet somehow. Have I written anything weird? It is weird for me to make such a request, but if there is no problem in particular, please be as dynamic as always. I mostly spend my time by myself, so I get encouragement when I read from you.
The city has become lively with the preparations for Perahera. It seems there will be many plans for the summer again, but will I be able to see it live? Iggy out!
Archangel
>Iggy-sama, hello. I shall write a long comment in due time.
#housekishou richard shi no nazo kantei#housekishou richard#jeweler richard#the case files of jeweler richard#nakata seigi#richard ranashinha de vulpian#jr short story collection#tanimoto shouko#jeffrey claremont#shimomura haruyoshi#saul ranashinghe ali#nakata yasuhiro#tsujimura nanako#yukihiro utako#novel#my translation#richard
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RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Divide”
Hello, everyone, and welcome back! It feels good to be doing some normal RWBY-ing in this strange world of ours. First, some supplementary materials.
Number One: In response to any (valid) questions along the lines of, “Hey Clyde, it’s now been a full year since Volume 7 was airing and you still haven’t answered my ask about it. Or the ones about Volume 6… what’s up with that?” I’ve created what I hope is an informative video detailing the problem:
vimeo
(I assure you, the Earth, Wind & Fire was a happy accident during the screen recording.)
Needless to say, there’s a lot and I’ve known for some time now that I will LITERALLY never get through all my asks. Which doesn’t mean I don’t want you to send future thoughts in! Just know that as we head into Volume 8 territory I’ll most likely prioritize those, as well as any Volume 7 asks that aren’t woefully out of date. But I do want everyone to know that I read all the asks I receive, appreciate them immensely, and think too much about hypothetical answers, even if I don’t have time to actually write them out 💜
Number Two: There’s a bingo board this year!
Jury’s out on whether I’ll remember to update it, but at the very least this serves as a decent glimpse into my — and others’ — expectations going into this volume.
Number Three: I’ve collected a list of things I’ve heard about Volume 8 from what seem to be reputable sources. I did this because RT is developing a tendency to talk up certain points and then fail to deliver, either because something was taken out of a volume/moved to another, or because RT apparently has radically different ideas about what including something means. So this might be handy to keep on file and ask ourselves two months from now, “Did RT actually deliver on what they promised?”
Emphasis on Ruby’s leadership and how Summer’s death has impacted her
Insight into Ren and Nora’s flaws
May Merigold will supposedly have a larger part
More information about The Long Memory (Ozpin’s cane)
Theme of the volume is that you can respect someone but that doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with them
Very short timeline (supposedly just two days)
Yang in particular is very suspicious and distrustful
I was also going to include a list of all the threads that need to be continued/wrapped up, but honestly that would have taken too large a chunk off my life. Let’s just throw out the highlights:
Are we really going to have Qrow gunning for Ironwood?
Clover is dead regardless. Press ‘F’ to pay respects
Oscar bb you got shot please acknowledge this
Ozpin bb you got done dirty please acknowledge this
Penny is a Maiden now. I feel like the fandom has been sleeping on this (myself included)
Queer baiting, queer baiting… you’re on thin ice at this point, RWBY. Just skate on over to the queer snack bar before you fall straight into the lake.
Ren spill your deep dark secret already and it had better be something more than just ‘Oh no Nora might someday die :( ’
Salem is here so how the actual fuck is the cast surviving this?
Will Ironwood likewise survive his descent into antagonism? Yes or please yes no?
I think that’s all the biggies. I strive to keep lists like this in mind while analyzing, but honestly RWBY has a hundred moving parts that are abandoned or changed or simply retconned at the drop of a hat. So an attempt will be made.
Number Four (last one I promise!): Normal disclaimers and reminders for Recaps apply:
Please don’t fill up the already full inbox with flames. It’s still 2020. No one has time for that nonsense.
There will absolutely be typos and wonky parts because I try to get these out the same day an episode premieres. I have now been working on this for ten hours, nearly straight, and have no more energy for edits. Apologies in advance and RIP to my Saturdays.
I reserve the right to use stupid GIFs and memes at my discretion.
I strive to keep my focus on recapping/analyzing but salt tends to worm its way in… If you’re a die-hard RWBY fan with little patience for criticism, let alone (at times) snarky criticism, please proceed with caution.
No wait I lied, this is the last thing:
Okay, got that out of my system LET’S DO THIS!
We start not with the episode itself but rather Rooster Teeth’s (RT’s) strange non-promotion of it. If you follow my blog you may have caught the post where I pointed out that there was nothing on RT’s website to suggest that one of their most popular shows—if not the most popular show—was premiering today. Nothing on the main page. Nothing on the RWBY page either, not unless you count the Volume 8 poster background (easily mistaken for the Volume 7 poster) and the trailer buried all the way down past Episodes, past Merch, in the Bonus Features section along with videos like Live From Remnant and the volume intros. RT… the promotion of your feature show is not a bonus. This should be front and center! Honest to god, five minutes before the episode dropped I was checking the website for a Volume 8 section, a countdown, anything that would tell me the episode was imminent without relying on fans on tumblr to keep me in the loop. We got nada, zilch. I’m not sure whether that speaks more to RT’s iffy management of the series or simply the website’s horrible design—RIP losing RWBY on Youtube—but I was surprised when I saw the episode a few minutes after 11:00am. At that point I honestly expected to hear about a dely.
So that’s the mood I entered the premiere in, but truly? We start off strong. Things take a pretty severe nosedive later on, we’ll get to that, but I was impressed with our beginning and that probably has a lot to do with the fact that we start with our villains.
We open on a Cinderella character, Cinder, and thus I’m immediately pleased that we’re getting something about her backstory after all this time. Seven years! She appeared in episode one, folks! To say we’re overdue is an understatement. There isn’t a whole lot to go on, just a younger Cinder sadly scrubbing the floor, poised under a spotlight. What we learn, or potentially learn, is based far more in cultural knowledge than this scene. We know Cinderella’s story, which includes the abusive family, the longing for more, the eventual escape, and thus we’re able to read all of that in this image, despite the image itself not telling us any of this overtly. That means we could be wrong in our interpretation, but if we’re not it’s an easy shorthand in an already packed story.
What I’m really impressed with is the sound bridge between the scrubbing and her nails on the back of Neo’s chair. Fantastic way to confirm that this is Cinder as well as showcasing just how far she’s come. The sound of her labor has been replaced with the sound of her power and given that Cinder’s power is stolen, tied to a grimm arm, the property of a genocidal maniac… that’s messed up. It’s a Cinderella story gone wrong.
So yeah, Cinder tells Neo to head straight into the creepy, grimm infested blood cloud to see Salem and Neo is like, ‘Uh… no thank you?’ lol.
RT does a good job this episode with her expressions, ensuring we know exactly what she’s thinking despite an unwillingness/inability to speak.
Poor Neo might be in too deep, but I quite like the overall atmosphere of this opening. Say what we will about Salem’s awful characterization, at least she has style. This woman knows how to make an entrance and, piggybacking off of the Apathy, RT knows how to infuse horror elements into their fantasy. The red and purple coloring of the clouds, spiked whale teeth peeking through, bright orange in the background looking like explosions… that’s all 👌 Including the intro card.
The only thing I want to gripe about is this:
I’m sorry, why does the whale grimm have landing pads? Or something like it?? The whale otherwise works because it’s poised between the natural and the fantasy synthetic. It looks like a real grimm whale on the outside, but is sporting a throne room, a control panel, and other unnatural elements on the inside. It’s a visual indicator of Salem’s ability to control and change grimm. Now though, the additions are wrong, infringing on the line between organic and tech, the line between what helps the grimm individually (giving monkeys wings) and what just helps Salem. Every other aspect of the whale straddles that line wonderfully, adding to the creep factor, like a grimm version of the Uncanny Valley: it’s not quite a whale anymore… but landing pads? That looks ridiculous. Why does Salem even have that? How many ships are her people feasibly using? Why are there five?
Take it away, please.
Cinder waltzes in like this is a normal home visit, but Neo has an appropriate ‘What the actual fuck?’ face going on.
They approach Salem on her throne where Cinder immediately kneels, greeting her with, “My queen.” I mentioned during my trailer breakdown that I think Cinder is lying her ass off here, and I still think that based on a line we’ll get in a minute, but now at least we have a sense of how she can pull this off. A woman who started out as a (presumed) servant is going to know how to mimic subservience, even if her heart isn’t in it. Salem is very good at playing the girl who will still kneel and scrub the floor for you. She will scrub the floor, she’ll do everything you want, she’ll just be plotting her own rise to power while she does it.
There’s quite a bit of interesting cinematography in this episode, not all of it good, and I think one of the mistakes is here when we get a closeup on Salem’s mouth as she greets Cinder. A closeup like that should be reserved for more significant dialogue—“Rosebud”—and yet we get this shot again when Cinder tells Emerald to be quiet. It’s awkward and coupled with the numerous eye closeups we got in the trailer, I think RT is playing a little fast and loose with the camera. Each shot should add something to the scene, not distract from it. If you don’t have a reason for including a technique like that then leave it be.
Back to the actual dialogue though. We knew that Salem knew Cinder was alive and now it seems that she just expected her to come back? I’m slightly lost. It feels like we’re missing something here. Cinder goes off to secure the lamp, fails, nearly dies, wanders on her own for months, and then randomly shows back up on Salem’s whale doorstep, yet Salem isn’t angry at all? Did she have faith that Cinder would return when she has something to offer? Did she just not care about Cinder, considering her return an unnecessary but otherwise welcome surprise? That would make the least sense given that she holds the key to accessing Beacon’s relic… but that circles right back around to why Salem is seemingly indifferent to Cinder’s comings and goings. Surely she can’t actually believe that Cinder is loyal?
“So I trust you wouldn’t return to me empty handed,” she says. Yeah, trust means nothing in this show, Salem, didn’t you watch Volumes 6 and 7? Again, I simply don’t know. I suppose I’ll just chalk it up to confidence, that if Cinder did bail Salem knew she could track her down again. Deciphering her motivations and beliefs is a lost cause when the show continually gives us so little.
The important thing now is that Cinder does indeed have an offering and you can see that Salem is somewhat surprised at being handed the relic.
Cinder, of course, takes credit for the victory and we’re given another wonderful shot of Neo. ‘YOU took it?’
Oh, Neo. Best get out while you still can.
Tyrian appears having obviously made his way to Salem’s ship sometime between her arrival and now. The exchange is pretty standard for this group. He insults Cinder for failing and needing this victory to make amends, talks about how any win against Ironwood says more about his lack of intelligence than her skill, and Cinder… doesn’t have a whole lot of comebacks, actually. I’d say Tyrian won that verbal spar, enhanced by a better use of the camera when we get his tail looming menacingly towards Cinder and Neo.
He goes on to say that Watts was a “necessary sacrifice” so, uh… I’m just going to toss out the ask I answered yesterday. Based on our intro I’d say Watts is still significant to the volume—hacking Penny is my guess—but by the end? He could be in trouble.
(As a side note: I plan to analyze the intro next week. It’s just easier when it comes first.)
Tyrian also calls Neo “little one” which I just found absolutely hilarious. In an on brand creepy manner, that is. Not that Neo couldn’t kick his ass, but there’s something wonderfully chilling about having the serial killer use an endearment towards a potential victim, one that comments on her size while he’s looming.
In contrast, Cinder refers to Neo as a “valuable asset” and we get our third mood of the episode.
Who’s going to start a Neo reaction image collection?
It’s true enough on the surface—who wouldn’t want an ally who can turn into anyone else?—but we’re still bumping up against question of why Salem needs this. She’s immortal! She has an endless army! Magic! This scene works well with a villain who needs a skillset like Neo’s to succeed, but Salem doesn’t. RT is doing a great job writing a story thus far, just not the story we’ve previously been given. This isn’t the story they set up.
This will come back up when we reach the RWBYJNOR group. Just wait.
Before that though, the gang’s all here as Emerald, Mercury, and Hazel show up, all in new outfits.
I think I like everything except for the weird Xs on Emerald’s jacket—it’s way too distracting and frankly makes an otherwise good look ugly—and the fact that she’s showing her midriff in Atlas. Hazel doesn’t have any sleeves! Oh my god, why doesn’t anyone dress for the weather in this show?
Frankly, I found their reunion to be kind of lackluster. I mean, there was nothing wrong with it. Emerald does sound briefly excited, she does run, and it’s in character for Cinder to cut her off… it just didn’t resonate with me emotionally. I thought after two volumes of thinking she’s dead, then working through the knowledge that she’s alive, that I would feel Emerald’s shock and relief more, but I didn’t. And I’m not entirely sure why. I don’t want to level any accusations at the voice acting because frankly I know next to nothing about that skill (and from what I’ve seen it’s usually praised in the fandom), but I will say that throughout the premiere I was noticing it more than I ever have before. The lack of emotion here and some awkward deliveries later, like when Yang goes, “Ruby, there is no way Ironwood will cooperate with us” and I immediately thought, “Wow, that came out stilted.” These observations stick with me because, as said, voice acting usually isn’t on my radar. It’s not something I’ve studied or had practice analyzing. If you’d never told me that Ren or Qrow’s VA changed then after a year hiatus I literally wouldn’t notice… but there’s something about this episode that didn’t sit right. Anyone else get that sense, or was it just me?
Regardless, the arrival of our other three villains really doesn’t amount to much, though I’m happy for all the Emerald and Mercury fans who get to see them in new outfits. The focus is still on Cinder as she delivers a line indicative of her true motivations: “That power will be mine.” Yeah, she’s not loyal to Salem, she’s just power hungry. Of course, Salem immediately takes note of this and raises her hand, in another nice use of the foreground, reminding her that she hasn’t given that order.
Cinder is shocked, angry even, but quickly covers it up with her “Without you I am nothing” line. If I caught it right I think she also calls Salem “Ma’am”? Hilarious. Again, skilled at playing the servant.
Also, before I forget, it’s worth noting that almost everything from our trailer appeared in this episode. Yeah, there are a few details like Nora attacking some tech and the group on their bikes, but on the whole we’ve already seen the majority of our promo material and will likely get most of the rest next week. It makes me both interested and nervous for what another twelve episodes are going to hold.
Salem opens her whale, or opens a portal type view in it, something that gives us a long-distance look at Atlas. I don’t know what exactly is going on here, but it’s pretty so I’ll take it.
She also delivers the frankly badass line, “Just because you’re more valuable to me than a pawn does not make you a player.”
She waves them all away with perfect ‘You mean nothing to me’ attitude and we sadly leave our villains.
Sad not because I don’t love my farm boy, but because things are about to get a whole lot messier.
Oscar has made his way to a camp of civilian survivors… all of whom are just hanging out in the supposedly deadly cold. Yeah, there’s a single fire, but at least four of them aren’t anywhere near it. Three of them also aren’t wearing gloves. What was that survival rate again?
A nice if gruff dude gives Oscar soup—water?—while showing off his… badger claws? I don’t know what kind of faunus he’s supposed to be, but he feels like the sort of two second, minor character who could easily become a meme lol.
Oscar thanks him (my polite son!) and hands the bowl back after a single sip.
Which is impressive because I would have assumed the guy was giving me the whole bowl and just taken it. Hell, I’ve done that even when I didn’t assume it’s all for me. A Starbucks barista once approached me with a tray and a plate of samples, I knew I was supposed to take just one, yet for some reason my hand went to take the whole goddamn plate. He had to tell me off, then I was trying to explain that I didn’t actually want or think I should have eight shots of cappuccino all to myself, I don’t even like coffee, he clearly didn’t believe me… it was awkward. So good job, Oscar. You’re less awkward than me (though that’s not saying much).
Now a question, Oscar. Darling. Brilliant boy who has been through too much: why the fuck aren’t you talking to Ozpin? This will be A Thing later when he presents a lack of time to talk as justification for keeping more secrets (we’ll get to that too…) yet here is time! You’re just sitting there for who knows how long, with plenty of privacy to hide a supposedly one-sided conversation so the Mantle citizens don’t get weirded out or suspicious. Talk to Ozpin. Our headmaster gets two lines in this episode, utterly inconsequential lines like his airship scene, lines that feel like they exist to say, “See? He’s still included in the story!” even though he absolutely is not. Two volumes of mostly silence, a perfect setup to start the reconciliation process, but we’re going to put it off again?
Instead Ruby randomly and conveniently appears. I want to know how she found him. Oscar isn’t wearing a tracker. He clearly didn’t call them because he’s surprised when Ruby shows up. He fell alllllllll the way back down to Mantle and then wandered to a random part of the slums. You’re telling me they flew over the entire city—after beginning this search thinking he was in Atlas—and somehow managed to spot him from up in the air? C’mon. I would have rather had a beginning where Oscar makes his way back to the group himself, giving him and Ozpin time to hash things out.
“Need a lift?” Ruby says, eliminating that potential. Sigh.
Oscar immediately starts beating himself up when he gets onboard, saying that he “was stupid to think the General would listen.” Nah, you were stupid to buy into Ruby’s nonsensical confidence and for telling Ironwood he’s as bad as Salem. Sorry, Oscar, but everyone is written badly these days. I will, however, say that I am THRILLED at the group’s reaction to his return. Ruby says that she’s “just glad you’re alright.” Nora has a wonderfully tender moment where she hugs him gently rather than her usual glomp.
That? That added a year to my life. Everyone else seems relieved that he’s okay too, so kudos there. After four years of Oscar being an outsider in the group, this is one of the few moments that feel like he’s 100% accepted. Really glad to see it.
Now let’s see if it sticks after they learn Ozpin is back...
They fly to the Happy Huntresses’ base and I again feel like I’ve missed something crucial. When did they team up? I mean, RWBYJNOR was working directly under Ironwood up until the last hour and Robyn ran off to fight Tyrian/Clover in the last couple episodes. When did she have time to explain her (briefly) changed allegiance and why would the Happy Huntresses trust the group without that? Did Robyn share that Blake and Yang went behind Ironwood’s back for her? Do the Huntresses instinctively trust them because they’re now wanted by the military? How did they even run into each other?
Again, I think we would have been better served to have an episode before all this. Let Oscar make his way back and let the group struggle with the magnitude of their situation on the airship, before they find new allies. Transferring directly to, “They have help and a secret base and a plan in the works!” makes me feel like I missed the real premiere last week. You know, the one where Salem unexpectedly arrived and we left the group like this.
This is where we’ve ended up though. The group is cozy in this hideout, getting info from Joanna, and my only other thought is, “Why is she giving all this exposition?”
Shouldn’t it be May? I mean, we were told that she was going to play more of a role this volume, a promise that’s pretty important imo given her status as a (so far off screen) trans character, so why not put her in the role of mediator between the Happy Huntresses and RWBYJNR? Giving her that setup as a leader among her people as well as lots of lines would be meaningful. A trans character just existing and being a part of this fight! May could obviously still fill that role—I’m well aware that we’re only one episode in—but it just seems like a missed opportunity to me. Out of all the undeveloped Happy Huntresses, our premiere focuses on the one who has the least importance to the fandom.
As said, Joanna talks a fair bit but what it basically boils down to is trying to get everyone to the crater below Atlas. It’s apparently not safe, but it’s warm, which is what matters right now.
So… let me get this straight. You want to gather everyone into a not safe crater, by leading them through an army of grimm, so that they can wait there in case someone moves the Staff, thus dropping an entire city on top of their heads? That’s the plan? Which admittedly isn’t Joanna’s fault. This is another instance of RWBYJNOR having information that a leader does not and they should really consider speaking up about it. But of course they don’t.
Also, how long does everyone have in regards to the cold? Shouldn’t there be dead civilians by now? The time it would take to find the Happy Huntresses, team up with them, get settled in the base, and find Oscar says that things should be pretty grim right now (pardon the pun), yet every non-aura user in this city seems content to just hang out in the snow. Either the cold is deadly enough to justify moving everyone to the crater, or it’s mild enough to let everyone survive this long, not both.
After hugs are given everyone obviously wants to know what happened to Oscar. His response?
“It’s a… long story. I get the feeling there’s been a few of those tonight.”
That’s a check for the bingo card! We’re halfway through the first episode and we’ve already got another secret. Yes, this is a secret. Oscar actively chooses not to tell anyone that Ozpin is back—something Ozpin himself comments on—and then skillfully draws attention away from himself with “I get the feeling there’s been a few of those tonight.” Indeed, all eyes go to Penny. Oscar’s plight is forgotten, which is what he wanted. His justification?
Ozpin: “You’re not going to tell them?”
Oscar: “You and I aren’t done talking yet.”
Along with this look.
Oscar no. There’s so much wrong with this I don’t even know where to begin. Let’s create a list.
As said, you had plenty of time to talk to Ozpin and chose not to. Miss me with this excuse.
You are now doing to your friends exactly what you and your friends did to Ironwood, which in turn is what Ozpin did to you! I can’t believe we’ve got Oscar critically side-eyeing him when they are still—still—repeating the behavior they drove Ozpin away for.
What is there to even talk about now? Oscar didn’t punch himself/Ozpin (lol) but he did steal Jinn’s name from Ozpin in the first place. You got what you wanted, drove him away, and have been lying and keeping secrets ever since. The only thing they should be talking about involves apologizing. Any further criticism—which is what Oscar’s expression and curt reply suggests—is beyond hypocritical.
Seriously, what needs to be discussed? There’s no reason not to tell the group unless Oscar wants to talk about whether they should tell them. There’s no good ending here...
Don’t you think it would be nice to know that Ozpin is back and you’ve got super magic powers while making plans to save the entire world?
This is all especially stupid given Oscar’s “Salem wants to divide us” reminder to Ruby in a moment. Oscar, you are doing the most to divide the group right now. By not forgiving Ozpin. By refusing to work with him. By keeping him secret from everyone else.
This is bad, friends, I worry for what the rest of the volume will bring…
The story is done with Ozpin for now so I guess I will be too. The group continues filling Oscar in and we get some shots of the base, including a rather prominent poster of what I assume are two Happy Huntresses. Did they die in battle perhaps?
It’s a little strange.
Oscar: “Where’s Qrow?”
Me: “Likely still making bad decisions.”
No one knows so they just drop it. Which I kind of get, only so much you can do to find him if he’s not out on the streets like Oscar, but it still reads as kind of iffy that two nieces look down at the ground for a hot second and then move on with their plans, content to leave Qrow to whatever fate befell him. In a minute we’ll see Yang firmly take Ren’s side regarding helping the people they can in Mantle, which frankly comes out of nowhere for her. I think an easy motivation would have been Qrow. Ruby wants to save the world, Yang wants to find and save their uncle, and that just happens to align with Ren’s desire to save the civilians who need immediate grimm and cold help. Don’t get me wrong, I like that there’s finally some division between the sisters, I just wish it hadn’t come about so abruptly. Ren had setup for standing up to Ruby. Yang did not.
But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. Joanna lists the grimm horde and no heat as the major threats to everyone. The group agrees.
Me: What about Salem?
Joanna says that this is all doubly dangerous because there’s “no more military protection.”
Me: Oh, so now you want the military?
This is all so disjointed. Even more-so when Joanna mentions that Ironwood has stopped all evacuations to Atlas, likely due to the “hard light shields” that are the only thing standing between Salem and the city. Thing is, the show never makes this connection, I just did it myself based on this scene and the one that comes later. The show presents Joanna’s line as a pure condemnation. Ironwood won’t let more evacuees in because… he’s just evil, I guess. Yet there is a justification here, namely that continuing the evacuations even while he’s stuck without Penny leaves him wide open to a Salem attack, the death of everyone currently safe, but that argument is never presented to the viewer. I don’t need people to agree with Ironwood’s perspective, I just wish that perspective was offered as an option. The show is very good about acting like RWBYJNOR’s opinion is the only justified opinion, or simply the only opinion at all.
After everything is laid out Weiss goes, “We’re never going to sleep again, I just know it.”
I could make a crack about the lack of continuity and how the group should be collapsing right now… but that was a funny line. It can stay.
What is far more of a problem is the fact that no one is talking about Salem. Okay, that’s a lie. They do talk about her, but in a roundabout way like her presence isn’t impacting every decision they make. That’s the real issue. They’re acting as if Salem isn’t here right now, like she’s off far away, maybe approaching slowly, and they’re arguing over how best to prep the world for her eventual attack. There’s no emotion here—let alone action—to reflect that the series’ Big Bad has arrived and is poised to murder them all. Literally what is this? Ruby is yelling about warning the world and, ignoring the continued question of why that’s a good thing when the world can do nothing to stop Salem and knowledge of her continually drives people to horrible acts, she has yet to acknowledge that… she’s the world? Ruby is the world in this conflict. She, Mantle, and Atlas. Salem is here for you all. Right now. You are, this instant, in the situation you want to warn others about, so why don’t you try to do something about it? Or at least acknowledge it. Ruby wants to warn the neighborhood about a potential fire while her house is actively ablaze, and the fire could have totally killed her by now but decided not to for… reasons.
“Ruby’s right,” Nora says. They have to tell the world so “they can prepare.” How? How are they supposed to prepare for this? The story cannot continue ignoring Salem’s immortality.
“Ruby’s right,” is all Blake says and I’m starting to thinks that’s why her character exists now, to agree with Ruby. It’s great that she’s getting a little distance from Yang, but man.
As Ruby asks whether Pietro can get Amity up and running despite it not being finished (called it) we start an incredibly odd sequence of flashforwards to their individual missions. I’ve seen a lot of praise for this already and though I agree that, in theory, it’s a good way to save time, I found the actual execution to be jarring. Upon thinking back through our timeline, it became clear they were flashforwards, but while watching I thought they might be flashbacks (especially since that’s more common).
Some of the shots, like Nora’s, just look awkward when you’ve got the exact expression and pose transplanted from one scene to another, like she’s a cardboard cutout behind a green screen. To say nothing of how the flashforwards ruin any suspense (I use that word loosely) in the conversation itself. If the question is, “Will they decide to go to the military compound?” then that question is answered when we see Ruby scoping out the compound, not when the group actually decides on the course of action.
It just made an already muddled scene worse for me, so I hope this trend doesn’t continue.
And of course, Amity can be used despite all the info last volume claiming that it wasn’t finished. Pietro suddenly acts like it is finished and the only thing standing in their way is Ironwood providing access. If that were the case, he would have used Amity weeks or days ago like he wanted to! When was it finished? Not after Watts commented on how incomplete it was. When did they get back the resources they needed from Robyn? It’s as ridiculous and retcon-y as I thought it would be.
Yang points out that Ironwood will never listen to them and Ruby counters that “he doesn’t have to.” They’ll just take the access from him. Because why wouldn’t they in a series where they’ve already stolen two airships? Stealing from the super evil military that Joanna wishes were helping them right now is just the group’s go-to plan nowadays.
Pietro isn’t sold on this plan though. He lists at least three obstacles they’d need to get through “and then… oh boy, I might need to think about this some more.” “And just to clarify,” Oscar says, “This is the easy option?” Um...no it’s not? We also know there’s an access point in Ironwood’s office so… why not go there instead? They really think the Academy is less guarded than the military base? There’s a potential justification here along the lines of, “After Neo and Cinder broke into his office Ironwood will have the place on high alert,” but unless I missed it the group doesn’t assume anything like that. They just listen to Pietro point out all the ways they can’t get into the military base and jump straight to that being the best option. It feels like a transparent way to create conflict for the group. We’ll just have them taking the most dangerous route despite an easy route being offered alongside it. Why bother mentioning his office at all? Just have the access in the military base. Boom, done.
It’s that conflict and the fact that Ruby tends to hear “You can’t” and digs in her heels. You can’t go to Atlas. I’ll just steal a ship then. You can’t defeat Salem. Watch me. You can’t break into this base. Guess what I’m doing! She’s dangerous in her fairy tale, meta-driven insistence that everything will turn out her way because she wants it to.
Speaking of, we finally—FINALLY—get someone challenging Ruby. Sort of. Not actually but it’s the closest we’ve ever gotten:
Yang: “Ruby, when we came here we said we’d follow your lead… but things haven’t exactly worked out.”
Now, there are two things to take away from this moment. The first is how utterly shocked Ruby and the others are. I mean, take a look at these expressions.
Ruby straight up can’t believe what she’s hearing. Weiss put her hand to her mouth like this is the most dramatic thing to ever happen to her. Oscar looks down in a ‘Yeah, I agree but please don’t look at me and make me admit that’ way. And Nora looks indifferent in the screenshot but animated she goes sort of stern, likely pissed that Yang would dare say that given her own agreement with Ruby. This not only reiterates that Yang’s challenge came out of nowhere—seriously, how did we move from following Ruby no matter what to this? Last volume she asked a single question along the lines of, ‘You sure?’ and when Ruby said ‘Yes’ Yang was entirely on board—but also demonstrates that no one has EVER said no to her before. Ruby is amazed that someone would challenge her. The act of challenging Ruby is, in and of itself, shocking. This group has gotten so used to following Ruby blindly that the teensiest little pushback is greeted with this.
Because it is teensy. This is the second takeaway: Yang barely challenges her and that challenge leads nowhere. She doesn’t accuse Ruby of anything, she doesn’t question her continued authority, she just broadly implies that things could be better. We followed you, now things are bad, take from that what you will. It’s incredibly mild as far as criticism goes, making the shock all the more, well, shocking, but it also amounts to—wait for it—nothing! Because Yang didn’t truly challenge Ruby’s leadership. She’s still in charge, she’s still calling the shots, and they’re still listening to her. We might have gotten some change if this division had been allowed to play out, but instead Jaune comes in with a, “Let’s go for both!” solution. It let’s both groups get what they want which, in turn, releases them from the need to grapple with whether they’ll listen to Ruby when she’s advocating for something they don’t agree with. We have now lost the chance to see whether, when push comes to shove, Ren and Yang will cave to Ruby’s will or stick by their own beliefs.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s more conflict than we’ve gotten in years, but that doesn’t mean it’s particularly compelling conflict. It’s good by RWBY’s standards, which doesn’t necessarily make it good. The actual issues at hand—Ruby’s dangerous arrogance, the group’s loyalty, her choices up until now—are just swept under the rug. For all the visuals we get insisting that there’s this great divide in the group… there’s really not. Not in any way that matters.
Also, Ruby is an idiot. Okay, that was mean, but she really is in this scene. She’s actually not an idiot overall because she was written as wonderfully intelligent in the early volumes, but now? Lately? She makes me want to bang my head against a wall.
“But that’s how Salem got this far,” she cries. “By dividing us!”
Ruby… oh my god, Ruby. No one should have to explain to you that dividing people means turning them against each other, not literally dividing your team to complete separate tasks. This girl honestly thought that because there was this teensy disagreement and that half the team would complete Plan A while she and the other half completed Plan B, both of which notably work towards the goal of, “Protect people from Salem,” that this was somehow what Salem wanted. That is was dangerous. Honestly, it’s a scary look at her view of leadership too: If everyone doesn’t 100% agree with me and do what I say, that’s an objectively bad thing that the grimm queen wants, right? Does Ruby think that unification means following a single person (her) without question or variation? That would explain a lot...
The fact that Oscar needs to explain the difference to her is not good. It really doesn’t say great things about this version of Ruby. Though he was comparing Ironwood to Salem last volume, so really they should all be wearing dunce hats.
Penny offers to take the relic directly to Salem in exchange for her leaving the kingdom alone. I honestly didn’t expect that. If anyone took that risk I would have put my money on Ozpin (but of course, during all this talk of the women he knows best, he’s kept quiet). Oscar is again the voice of wisdom, pointing out that they have no reassurance that Salem will keep her word. At least Penny is thinking about Salem as a threat though, so kudos for that. When this plan is shot down she volunteers to get Ruby past the military security instead and, uh, she’s a little intense about it.
I’m not entirely sure what is going on with Penny. She disagreed with Winter but then seemed to come around to her point of view, enough to help anyway. They had another (stupid) disagreement about the value of individual lives, so that helps to explain why she’s teaming up with RWBYJNOR (if you ignore that Ironwood is also trying to save individual lives...). Did watching Fria die shake her up? Is it being the Winter Maiden that’s not sitting right? Does Penny have lingering feelings about the framing that haven’t shown up until now? Her status as a ‘real girl’? We’ve got a lot of reasons that could definitely explain this sudden need to fight, but we’re not told which—if any of these—is the driving force.
We’re then given a lot of little details. Someone points out that if Salem gets the staff and “create[s] anything else” then Atlas will fall (so yeah, let’s move the people underneath it). We still don’t know what exactly the Staff does because “creation” is kind of broad and “powering a city to float” doesn’t seem to sit within that category at all. Pietro gives Yang the keys to his lab so they can get the bikes. We see the group dividing in the flashforwards, something I do like, especially since the show has gone out of its way to break up most of the usual duos. Nora in particular is pissed at Ren for his choice.
“Oh, I’m saving Mantle because I actually believe we can do this.”
#yikes. Well, I did say I wanted a conflict other than ‘Oh no, one of us might die’ and it looks like I got it. But Nora, the only reason you can do this is because the plot is in your corner: none of you are collapsing from two major fights, you didn’t lose your aura so the cold isn’t a danger, the military is barely a threat all of a sudden, Salem is helpfully hanging out in her whale instead of killing you, and the story decided that Amity can function so long as you all are the ones who get to use it. That’s why you can do this. Ren, who follows in-world logic and doesn’t want to risk a whole kingdom’s worth of lives on a pipe dream, thinks differently, oddly enough.
As they leave though Penny gets a call from Ironwood. I know precisely what the fandom is going to say here: “This evil man is just trying to use Penny to open the vault!” Of course he is. He needs it open to save everyone he can, Penny included. Plus the concept of “using” her is a double-edged sword. What do we think the group is doing right now? Using her to get past the security. Penny’s power is a tool any way you slice it. Granted, Penny volunteers to help the group, but notably here Ruby speaks for her. Penny seems torn and Ruby takes the scroll away with, “She’s not going anywhere until you change your mind about Mantle.”
Sorry, Ruby, but coming from you that sounds less like a reassurance for Penny and more like just an order for Ironwood. Remember Harriet? We’ll stop attacking you provided you do what we want. Ruby has yet to learn about compromises, let alone acknowledge that she might be wrong. How about you let Penny decide where she goes, especially since by all logic she should have a lot of loyalty to Ironwood. She knew him before she ever met you. She’s worked with him since she was rebuild post-Volume 3. Despite what Penny has said, if the story would just let her think about his actions for a hot second—making her the protector of Mantle, sticking up for her after the framing, sending her to the party, teaming her up with Ruby, etc.—she might realize that the ‘He doesn’t want me to have friends’ and ‘He just treats me like a tool’ assumptions are just that, unfounded assumptions. But no, Ruby speaks for them both because Ironwood is evil now.
“If she makes it through our defenses,” Ironwood says, “everything that follows will be on your hands.”
That’s true! Kind of like how it’s own Qrow’s hands that Clover died. When you insist on making a bad situation worse you hold responsibility when the shit hits the fan. You know though that Salem won’t get through their defenses now, somehow, so that there’s no chance RWBYJNOR will be blamed for it. Or, by that point Ironwood will be so crazed that anything coming out of his mouth is dismissed, no matter how accurate it might be.
We then transfer to the Ace Ops who are, despite what the fandom theorized for many months, clearly upset about Clover. Also pissed. Which they have every right to be. Their friend and leader was killed. Imagine for a moment that Ruby had been murdered by Tyrian with an allies’ help. Exactly what do you think the group would do? Swallow it quietly and get over it? Ha.
I’ve already seen some speculation that Clover survived due to details like showing us the bandage and his room being listed as for a “Patient,” but he looks pretty dead to me.
He got gutted through the chest and left out in the snow for who knows how long. We saw him slip away. Qrow screamed over his dead body. He’s not breathing now. If RWBY suddenly claims he survived this, I’m calling BS.
Most of the other visuals we get here were already dropped in the trailer. Winter is pretty injured from her encounter with Cinder, likely permanently based on her new outfit. Ironwood had to replace his arm—and I am calling BS on that “Losing his arm is reflective of him losing his humanity” commentary from RT. Please go read up on a couple decades worth of ableism in media and then get back to me.
We get Ironwood’s line about the light shields and, notably, a whole lot of empathy. Regardless of what he might want Penny for, he still called her with compassion. He’s watching the Ace Ops mourn their friend. He’s talking about protecting his kingdom. The first thing he says to Winter is, “Thank you, Winter. I don’t know what I would do without you.” Ironwood has a heart! It’s always on display, which makes this scene utterly ridiculous.
I literally don’t know how to respond to this. The gunshot made me jump, both because it’s a gunshot and because, again, what the fuck? I know I said that next volume RT might just have Ironwood descend into full villainy, shooting whoever he pleases now that he’s shot Oscar, but I didn’t actually expect them to do it. Because he never should have shot Oscar in the first place! I wanted the story to let Oscar grapple with it a bit and then quietly backtrack, acknowledging it as the mistake it was. The concept that Ironwood, empathetic Ironwood, rational Ironwood, always thinks before he acts Ironwood, let’s kids yell at him Ironwood, tried to team up with Robyn Ironwood, did everything Ruby wanted Ironwood, won’t kill Watts after he destroyed his arm Ironwood would shoot this guy just to shut him up is absurd. It was absurd then, it’s absurd now.
That being said, there’s a possibility he didn’t actually shoot the council member, but rather just (“just”) gave a warning shot down the hallway. I say this because the reactions to this are pretty tame. Everyone looks startled, yeah, but after the initial shot there’s nothing that I would expect if there was now a guy bleeding out on the floor. The council woman doesn’t scream. Winter doesn’t seem overly shocked. No one is running to try and help him. Basically, if Ironwood had just killed a political figure in front of six witnesses, entirely unprovoked, I would expect a bit more of a reaction than this. This feels far more like a, “Damn he’s not joking around, letting off warning shots to get people to leave him alone” not “WOW, our general just killed someone in cold blood!”
What I really hate though—beyond just assassinating his character—is how many fans think my friends and I are delusional for calling it character assassination at all. I hopped onto the RWBY tag for five minutes this morning and was bombarded with posts about how Ironwood needs to be murdered horrifically, anyone who likes him is sick, the Ironwood stans are as bad as Adam stans, you’re an idiot if you want him redeemed… because apparently the concept of a story writing a character badly doesn’t compute. I’m not here to argue that Ironwood didn’t do these awful things (regardless of whether he actually killed the guy or not). I’m not here to argue that they’re not awful. I’m just here to say that we never should have gotten these scenes in the first place, or if we were going to get them, we deserved an actual descent into murder at the drop of a hat territory. I’ve already explained extensively on this blog how early Ironwood was not accurate foreshadowing for this, and Volume 7 certainly wasn’t setup, but it looks like the majority of fans aren’t interested in examining whether any of this adds up. Which makes my job, as someone trying to examine this series somewhat objectively—in as much as that’s possible for any single viewer—as well as simply enjoy it as a show, really hard. It’s bad enough when a story keeps taking the characters you love and villainizing them, and doing that badly, but then when you turn to the community and see them rallying around the idea that you’re awful for being dissatisfied—you’re the bootlicker, you’re the blind stan, you can’t see what’s ‘really’ going on here… that sucks. For those of you happy and satisfied with Ironwood’s arc, that’s great! I’ve also seen a lot of posts hyping up the complexity of his character now. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying what we’ve been given and I’d never want to imply that just because it’s not what I wanted it’s somehow wrong. I’m honestly thrilled that after a year of worry so many people have adored our premiere, including this scene. I just wish that I could say RWBY had given me something I didn’t want in a persuasive manner and that the fandom as a whole was a bit more welcoming of differing criticisms.
Not that I didn’t already know the RWBY fandom had its flaws, but still lol.
That’s basically it for our premiere. Nice note to end on, huh? Our final scene is of Salem using the lamp to set her bloodhound grimm on the city. Why doesn’t she just go herself? What was she planning to do here in Atlas in the first place, considering that getting the relic was a surprise? Who knows. Little about this holds together. But we do end with another awesome shot, so small favors.
It’s always strange concluding a recap, but even more-so when it’s a premiere, during a historical moment in the U.S., amidst all the nonsense that is 2020. So for now I’ll just conclude with three quick things:
The updated bingo board will be listed at the end of each recap, provided I don’t forget about it lol. Today I’m checking off tone (not nearly enough freaking out about Salem), the team keeping secrets (Oscar), and major plot point dropped (Amity is suddenly finished). I could also probably check off the cold not killing civilians and getting Amity up and running, but we’ll see if any changes with those.
I’m including my Ko-Fi link at the end of recaps now. Not with any expectations. Not with anything resembling pressure. I thought long and hard over whether to include it at all—let alone mention it here—because I love doing these and never want anyone to feel like it comes with strings attached. But life is a little harder and weirder than it was last year, so I figure it can’t hurt. Feel free to pass on by and I won’t be bringing it up past this note.
Far more importantly: thank you for reading! :D
(Bonus 4. Editing this was an absolute nightmare — damn you, tumblr! — so I apologize if anything is super wonky when I finally post.)
See you next week! 💜
[Ko-Fi]
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Irreverent Pt. 34 - Perfect
Title: Irreverent Pt. 34 - Perfect
Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Reader
Rating: M
Words: 4788
Irreverent Series Masterlist
With Aaron working late, you had decided to call it an early day, pushing aside your unread case files. They could wait. You texted Aaron as you got up to leave, telling him that you were going to be picking up Jack and he could meet you both back at your place. He'd looked up from his work briefly, meeting your eyes down in the bullpen and nodded in agreement. He watched as you walked out with Prentiss, grateful that Jack would get some time with at least one of you.
After you left, he worked quickly, hoping to make it home in time for dinner. It was funny how easily he'd started to think of your place as home too. It seemed the three of you spent a lot more time at your place compared to his apartment, which made sense as it was bigger and usually the place the team would also congregate if it wasn't at Rossi's. But it was also very you and Aaron had to admit that was part of it. Every part of that house felt like you and that made him feel at home - he'd neglected to really do that for his own apartment. Jack's room had the most effort put into it, but even then he knew that Jack much preferred your place as well.
He thought to when the two of you had told Jack that you were together. His son had kind of looked back and forth between you and him and then just nodded in understanding, asking if that meant he'd get to see Y/N more. Aaron wasn't sure what he'd been expecting truly and he had turned to gauge your reaction to it, but you'd just smiled at Jack and said that of course he'd get to see you as much as possible.
And they did - see you - as much as possible. But there was a part of Aaron that felt like he was going about the whole thing backwards. The two of you had reached this level of domesticity that made him finally feel like he had someone there, in this with him - but it also made him feel at unease because he knew there were things that you two hadn't quite talked about. You talked about Jack and you talked about your future and yet every time there was an opportunity to take your relationship further physically, he felt himself balking.
You'd both pushed some limits and there had been some heavy makeout sessions on the couch after dinner or in his office after everyone had left - but between work and all the cases that kept coming up and this odd hesitancy on his part, it just hadn't quite happened yet. He could see the question in your eyes every time as he'd suddenly notice how far the two of you had gotten and how entirely willing and pliant and soft you were under his touch and he'd force himself to stop and say something along the lines of "Oh we should wait" or "Do we really want the first time to be in the office?" And you'd accept it but he saw the question that you didn't ask in your eyes. He didn't really have an answer beyond the feeling that it had been so long for the both of you and he wanted it to be good. No, not good. He wanted it to be perfect. Because you deserved that and he had a feeling you hadn't had perfect and he didn't think perfect could happen when it was hurried and rushed and you were both worried about waking Jack or it was some hotel in Oklahoma with your coworkers in the next room.
He did in fact manage to make it home in time for dinner. He unlocked the front door to your place, letting himself in - that was another thing, who exchanged house keys before they'd slept together? He could hear music coming from the kitchen, and as he walked in he sees both you and Jack with flour everywhere, belting out Here Comes the Sun. He feels his heart swell at the sight.
His laugh turns both yours and Jack's attention to him. "Daddy!" His son runs towards him and he catches him.
"What's going on here?" He points to Jack's little apron and the mess the two of you had made in the kitchen.
"Y/N said we can bake cookies to take to school tomorrow," Jack explains as his father sets him down on the counter.
You're still mixing the batter together, just as covered in flour as Jack. He walks over to you and places a quick kiss on your cheek, swiping at some of the flour on your face.
"You're just in time for dinner," you tell him, covering the bowl and placing it in the fridge, to be baked afterwards.
"Alright, I'm going to go change and I'll help Jack get cleaned up too," he says, going to pick Jack up from the counter where he'd gotten his hands into the flour again.
You laugh and just nod as both Aaron and Jack leave the kitchen. It had been a great afternoon for you with Jack, the two of you had first gone through the recipe book and picked out the cookies he wanted. After a quick trip to the corner shop to grab the missing items, you two had set out and made a bit of a mess, but it had been fun and wholesome and it was moments like this with him that you cherished the most.
*------------*
You were on a case involving kids again. The Unsub had so far killed two fifteen year olds - a boy and a girl - and left their mangled bodies on the porch of their homes for their parents to find. The sight of mangled fifteen year old bodies on suburban porches was enough to turn anyone's stomach. The working theory was that it was another kid - probably a wronged classmate.
"Teenage Unsubs are the worst - they pretty much all profile as sociopaths," Derek says as the team finishes the briefing on the plane.
"I mean, you remember being a teenager - all that angst and drama built up in your head. Even the slightest thing could set you off," Emily responds while getting up to get something to eat from the back of the plane.
"Not everyone was a goth with mommy issues Prentiss." Derek's smirking in that self assured way that reminds you that despite everything he's been through, boy still grew up to be a popular jock.
You have to hide your snicker as Emily throws a middle finger in Derek's direction.
"You know," Spencer speaks up from beside you on the couch, "we don't know what you were like as a teenager, Y/N. I mean Derek was a jock and Emily was a goth and JJ claims she was a sweet soccer player but let's be real we all know she was a mean girl." JJ just rolls her eyes at Spencer. This was an old argument for them. "What were you like?"
"Umm, I don't know, normal I guess?" You shrug, feeling a little put on the spot - how do you explain what you were like as a teenager to a group of profilers and not have it be torn apart?
You hear a scoff and you all turn to Hotch whom the uncharacteristic sound had come from. He usually didn't let himself get drawn into these conversations.
"I'm sorry, you have something to share with the class, Hotch?" You quirk an eyebrow at him.
He looks up at you, shaking his head in a mixture of disbelief and amusement. "You were not normal. Come on." He has the slightest of smirks on his face, alluding to how much more he knows and how much better he knows you, compared to anyone else. Thin ice buddy.
"He's right," Emily chimes in, "We all know you were THAT girl."
"Who is THAT girl?" you ask, using quotation marks. They all look like they're agreeing with Hotch and Emily and you have no idea why.
"Ha! The only person who would have to ask who THAT girl is, is someone who was THAT girl," Derek answers, looking far too pleased with the turn of conversation.
Rossi is simply sitting there turning through the case files, watching the exchange in amusement, the way one might watch toddlers interact with one another as though they're adults.
"I believe what they're all talking about," Spencer explains, "is you were the person that everyone at school liked - but they didn't know why. You were nice but not too nice. You were polite and cordial but you didn't really have friends. Popular without even trying to be. Every guy probably wanted to date you but no one could have you. And seeing as you went to a new school every few years, you got to hold on to your whole mysterious stranger thing."
You have no idea how to react to that assessment. Spencer was a good profiler, no doubt, but this seemed rehearsed almost. And they were all agreeing with him. Like they'd all talked about it before…
You narrowed your eyes and looked only at Hotch. There was no way that was Spencer's profile - at least not his alone. "He came up with that by himself, did he?"
His smirk just gets deeper because he knows they have it - you haven't denied it.
"Do you all just sit around and talk about me? Is that it? You need lives." You roll your eyes, the smallest of smiles making its way onto your face before they all dissolve into fits of laughter at your expense.
*------------*
Two cases with kids back to back was a lot and its toll was obvious on everyone. You'd managed to identify the Unsub as Nathan Crest, a fifteen year old who was kidnapping classmates he had a grudge against. He'd already gone through three out of the five names on his list that Penelope had found on his blog. The fifth girl was in custody but you'd been too late and the fourth - Casey Adams - was taken that morning on his way to school.
"Garcia, have you checked any other blogs or social media he might be updating in order to track him?" Hotch is frustrated that they haven't found the Unsub yet and every second is time wasted because he dumps his victims within 24 hours.
"Sir, I'm tracking any information we have on him and if he as much as logs in, I'll know. But until he does, we don't have much."
Casey Adams' parents have been at the police station all day and JJ has been sitting with them, trying to better understand why Nathan might have a grudge against Casey specifically. Unfortunately, parents rarely think their own kids are problematic and so far they'd been unhelpful and hysterical.
The problem was, there wasn't a pattern. Every name on the list seemed random at best with no connection to Nathan, and the team hadn't been able to pin down motive at all. Nathan's parents were refusing to help the police. You'd had to draw the conclusion that these were all perceived slights by Nathan who had chosen to escalate and devolve quickly.
You were looking over the victimology again to better understand maybe where he was holding them. The first girl, Tabitha Avery had been sweet, leader of the church choir with the voice of angel apparently. Gregory Smith, the first boy, was the lead player on the soccer team, and Amy Tabot was captain of the debate team. They all had such bright and happy futures ahead of them. They were all well liked, popular but not too popular, they were all nice, good kids who didn't bully Nathan by any means. So what was the connection?
There's a small thought tingling in the corner of your brain, and so you pull out the file on Casey Adams. Casey was a seemingly good student and was lead of the school play. You also pulled out the file on the final girl, Rebecca Stump - she was safe at least. Rebecca, it appeared, was a straight A student, always on honor roll.
Funny how they're all accomplished kids in one way or another. Sports, music, debate, theatre, and academics…
"Um, Hotch?" You try to get his attention because you're pretty sure you have a thought and it might just be it.
He looks at you, eyebrows raised in question. "You have something?"
"I think so," you respond, showing him all of the kids' files. "They were all accomplished kids in one way or another - they were all y'know THAT girl…or boy I suppose."
"You're thinking, what if Nathan wanted to excel in all of those things as well?" He's nodding along and adding on, catching up to your train of thought.
"Yeah, and if that's the case and he targeted them because they have something or are good at something that he wants to be good at - wouldn't you want to hurt them in the exact place where you had to face their talent?"
"School theatre."
"Yeah."
He's already calling it in as you gear up to head out.
By the time you get to the school, SWAT has the entire theatre building surrounded and the school campus was long cleared off. Morgan, Prentiss, and JJ are entering through the front of the theatre while Rossi and Spencer take the side entrances, leaving the back entrance that leads to the stage, for you and Hotch.
As you slowly and silently inch your way in, you can see Casey Adams tied up to a chair, at the edge of the stage. You and Hotch make eye contact and he indicates to you to go from the right side of the stage and he'll go from the left. Morgan has already confronted Nathan and they're talking, with Morgan trying to talk him down from hurting Casey.
You can see that Nathan has a gun, but also a knife stashed in the back of his pants. He's waving the gun at Casey.
"Nathan," you hear Hotch try to engage him now. "You won't get anything by hurting Casey, but you do risk losing everything. Let us help you."
"You won't help me! All you'll do is ignore me and throw me away because I'm not good enough or smart enough or talented enough for them!"
He's devolved quite a bit and you feel your stomach sinking as he's not backing down.
He goes to press the trigger of the gun now pointed at Casey's head and you hear two gunshots. You see that Casey had made a valiant jump forward off the edge of the stage and just barely missed being shot. Derek's bullet was now embedded in Nathan's skull.
*------------*
The plane ride back had been muted. Both Derek and Hotch were blaming themselves for not being able to connect with Nathan fast enough to talk him down and prevent his death. You knew that Aaron would feel the guilt and the weight of the death of a kid - even if he had been the Unsub. He wouldn't focus on the fact that the other child survived - that'd be far too easy for Aaron Hotchner.
You'd all landed late at night and Jack was still with Jess. Aaron had followed you back to your place at your urging, knowing that him being alone right now would be worse.
You waited at the doorstep, for him to park, and let the two of you in. Wordlessly, he moved to the kitchen - a drink was very much needed. He reached your liquor cabinet and pulled out the scotch that was kept there for him and Dave along with two glasses. You'd taken off your shoes in the foyer and joined him, hoisting yourself onto the island, your legs dangling in front. He was pouring out the liquor for the both of you and turned to hand you a glass, before leaning against the opposite counter.
You didn't know how to help him, comfort him. He looked so exhausted and so done and while you'd tried to talk to him on the plane, you knew it had fallen flat. He wasn't going to just snap out of it because of a few words. So instead you sipped at the scotch he'd handed you, wincing at the burn of it going down your throat and leaving behind a heat in your chest.
He was drinking silently, contemplatively, his brow furrowed and his shoulders hunched. He'd dropped his jacket on the couch on the way in and the sleeves of his shirt were folded up to the elbows, his tie loosened around his neck and the collar button undone. Only the dim lights running underneath the cabinets were on and the shadows cast on his face made him so much more picturesque - like an old time Hollywood star, you think fondly.
"We should fuck." Your blunt words cut through the silence, prompting him to look up in surprise, unsure if he'd heard you correctly.
"Excuse me?" No, there was no way that's what you'd just said - he was hearing things. He watches as you slowly place your glass on the counter, a fair distance from where you're actually seated. Your body is tense and the look on your face suggests that even you were surprised by what you'd said. But your eyes - brazen and fiery - betrayed only by the slight tremor he caught as you moved your hand back towards you, your eyes told him that you knew exactly what you were saying.
"You heard me." You take a deep breath as his eyes are still on you and he's put his glass down on the counter behind him. "We should fuck." You can feel your heart beating fiercely in your chest - in fear of rejection or anticipation - you're not sure which.
Aaron's moving to come closer to you and you part your legs, allowing him to stand between them. He's not really doing much besides watching you curiously, so you reach out and wrap your hands around his shoulders and meet his eyes. He seems conflicted as he asks you, is voice soft and uncertain, "Is this because of the case?"
You swallow before pulling him closer, placing a light kiss to the edge of his face, close to his ear. The shiver that runs through him is entirely involuntary. "A little," you admit, your voice low and your breath warm against his ear. "But also because I really want to." You place a small kiss at the top of his ear. "And because I think you do too." The lightest brush of your lips touches his jaw. "And no matter what it will never be exactly perfect." Another kiss gently placed on his cheek. Your fingers are intertwined around his neck now. You tilt back so you can see his face properly. He looks dazed and his breathing is harsher. His hands have found their way around your waist, slowly caressing back and forth. "And because we should really really fuck."
His lips crash into yours almost immediately and he can feel you smile into the kiss before he invades your mouth. Your legs cross together behind him, and you pull yourself flush against him so there's no mistaking exactly where you want this to go. You break away from his mouth and move your attention to his jaw and neck, your hands fumbling with the buttons on his shirt in the quest to feel skin.
You manage to undo his tie and toss it aside, before he grunts out, "We're not doing this in the kitchen." Cupping your ass and picking you up, your legs still wound around him, he easily makes the trek up to your bedroom. By the time he arrives at your door, his shirt has been entirely unbuttoned and pulled out from his pants and your lips have scorched every inch of reachable, visible skin.
His hand fumbles with the light switch by the door, and as you pause your exploration to look at him in question, he explains, "I wanna see you." His voice is strangled and yet still firm and you find yourself nodding in understanding as he manages to get the lights on and carry you towards the bed. He puts you down to finish taking his shirt off and watches as you shimmy out of your own pants and top while you wait for him, leaving you in only your bra and underwear.
You could feel yourself growing warmer as you watched Aaron undo his belt and take his pants off, from your spot on the bed. His eyes had been trained on you the entire time as you'd shed your clothing and his gaze over your body caused a shudder to run through you. There was a part of you that had expected him to put this off again and the fact that it was happening at all - finally - felt like a miracle. You'd wanted him to feel comfortable and ready whenever the two of you did become intimate but you wouldn't lie and say you'd enjoyed the wait. You might be a prude with other men, but with Aaron you'd felt ready for so long that it had been really hard to have the tables turned and have him be the one stalling.
You tried to commit this image of him to memory, standing in your room, breathing hard, hair rumpled from your hands running through it.
Having gotten down to his boxers, he leaned down to kiss you again, gently pushing you further along the bed, towards the headboard. His hands exploring the new skin that was exposed, and the feel of him touching you after so long was nothing short of exquisite. His hand reached around to the back of your bra, pausing until you nodded, before he deftly undid the hooks, allowing it to fall forward and off.
His eyes went to your breasts immediately and he notices some writing on your skin to the side that the bra had covered - date in elegant black script. You saw the question in his eyes. "Julian's birthday," you explain, your voice low and hesitant. He nods in understanding before pressing his lips to it. No one had ever been this gentle with you.
Aaron is determined to paint your skin with his lips, ghosting over the swell of your breasts, down your stomach, until his mouth reaches the top of your underwear. He looks up at you, meet your shining, anticipating eyes, before quickly ridding you of your underwear as well. The first touch of his mouth to your heat has a moan escaping your lips. With one hand on your stomach to hold you down, he licks up your slit, drawing another moan from you. Your hands are scrambling for something to grab onto and he helps you find his, fingers intertwined with yours, while continuing to lick and nip gently at your clit.
You are so wet and everything is so warm and of course he'd be good at this. The only grounding force are his hands in yours because otherwise you've been gone since the second he went down on you. You can feel the knot growing tighter and tighter in your stomach, your breaths hard and shallow, and your toes curling. Your hips buck into his face as you feel your orgasm wash over you, his name expelled from you. He helps you ride through it, stopping only when your trembles end and your legs go limp.
"So beautiful," he murmurs, moving up to meet your mouth again and kissing you languidly, as you taste yourself on him. He truly believes it - flush with color, hair mussed, a thin layer of sheen over your body, and the slightest of lazy smiles gracing your mouth - you've never looked better to him.
You reach for the top of his boxers, eager to see all of him and return the favor, but your hands are too clumsy and he has to help, shedding them himself. You feel your eyes widen at the sight of him. You'd suspected of course that he would be big, but wow. Before he can stop you, you've leaned down and kissed the tip, licking up the precome gathered there and the reaction is instantaneous.
"Fuck." His voice is guttural and the sound is like lightning through you.
You find yourself grinning dazedly up at him. Aaron Hotchner does not swear. Not usually at least.
The sight of you bent down in front of him, your mouth on his cock is likely enough to finish him. He has no intention of that however. He manhandles you to lay back against the pillows and climbs over you, his mouth meeting yours once again. You bring your hands back to his shoulders as he pulls away from your mouth to line himself up with your slit. He meets your eyes, before kissing you again and pushing in. The way you grasp him, wet and warm and tight, has him groaning out loud.
When he meets your eyes again there's only one word in his mind - Mine. He's not sure where this incredibly possessive thought came from but it has him pulling back out and then in again with a staggering force.
Your mouth is right near his ear, lips just at his ear and this moan is meant just for him. "Yours."
Had he said it out loud? He had. He had if your lust blown eyes are anything to go off of.
FUCK.
His hands find your breasts, tweaking the nipple into a hardened bud, and it's all so much and you're not ready to come again so soon. He can feel you pushing up at him.
He pushes in again, before flipping you over, still sheathed inside. He's deeper but you have more control now. You meet his mouth and swallow his groans as you rotate your hips on top of him, using his shoulders as leverage to move yourself up and down. It's all moans and hard breathing and he's never looked this vulnerable, letting you take control like this. His warm brown eyes are so so dark and his hands are skimming down you, finding your arms and then your hands, off of his shoulders, intertwining your fingers again and helping you move.
"You're close, sweetheart." It's not a question, he can tell as your hips have lost their rhythm.
You can't respond, so you only nod as his hips take control, thrusting up into you and his thumb finds your clit. Once, twice. And you can feel yourself falling and falling. It’s hard to breathe and you come with a silent scream, shuddering through the hardest orgasm you've ever experienced.
You're pretty sure you blacked out for a moment, because when you come to, he's maneuvered you to your hands and knees and he's behind you and all around you and when you look up you can see the two of you reflected in the mirror in the corner and his hips are slamming into you towards the finish line. I wonder how many times he's thought about that. You watch, mesmerized by the sight, as he lifts you with an arm wrapped around your breasts, his chest flush against your back, his other hand finding your clit and his lips on your neck, leaving a trail of wet open mouthed kisses.
"Come on sweetheart, one more, come with me." You can feel his hips stuttering as he quickly and efficiently gets you to your third orgasm. You turn your head to meet his lips as he spills into you, swallowing his groans as he pushes you off the edge with him.
He slowly slips out of you and that incredibly full feeling leaves you. The two of you fall back towards the bed, him dragging you with him, on top.
The two of you lay like that for seconds, minutes, it could've been hours really, your mind is too hazy to remember.
"You were wrong." His hands are trailing through your hair gently and his voice is soft and almost sleepy.
You look at him with half-lidded eyes, from your place half on top of him. "About?"
"It was perfect."
The smile on his face, was everything.
#criminal minds#criminal minds imagine#criminal minds reader insert#aaron hotchner#aaron hotch x reader#aaron hotchner x reader#aaron hotchner x you#aaron hotchner x y/n#hotch x you#hotch x reader#hotch x y/n#hotchner x reader#hotchner x you#aaron hotchner imagine#irreverentseries
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