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lisbeth-snape · 1 month

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So I translated the 3th part of my ff so enjoy<3

I think I'll be updating every week, feel free to comment or leave some feedback

"The Curse" by Lissu

Part 3: was he... Gentle?

"Finally, done," Col said contentedly as his potion changed color to the appropriate one after he had stirred it counterclockwise for the last minute.

"You took quite a while," I remarked, describing my elixir on parchment paper that I intended to attach to the flask.

"If only dragonfly eyes weren't slipping out of the mortar and onto the bench the whole time, I would have been much faster," he said irritably, while Sophie and Lucy laughed. "Snape did say it's best to crush them with the side of the knife," they continued laughing, though I wasn't finding it amusing. I wanted nothing more than to clean up the messy classroom tonight instead of being at the welcome party in the common room. I sighed heavily and raised my hand, waiting for the professor to notice me.

"Yes?" he grunted, looking into my eyes, sending a shiver down my spine."I'm finished," I replied, lowering my hand.

"Put it on the desk and leave, you don't have to make meaningless noise and inform me of such matters," I apologized as he issued the command, and I immediately complied. "Goodbye, professor. Bye," I said the second sentence softly, passing by my friends, indicating that I would wait outside the door in the corridor.

The next lesson was supposed to be Transfiguration, which I wasn't worried about at all, knowing that, immodestly speaking, I was really good at it. However, I realized I couldn't rely solely on my own intuition of my abilities, so I began reviewing the Gamp's Laws note, studying each one in turn. I smirked at the thought of what Soap did last year while transforming a bird into a goblet. Due to a slip-up, her transfiguration didn't fully succeed, and it ended up with a bird covered in glass feathers, flapping them in panic, trying to fly away but being too heavy, and the glass shards from its wings flew into the bodies of the nearest students. If it weren't for Professor McGonagall's quick reaction, it could have ended terribly, and the poor creature could have suffered longer. Since then, Soap has been panicking at the thought of those classes. For the whole month after that incident, she dreamt every night of the terrified animal, causing her immense guilt and fear of doing it again to any other creature. As I snapped out of my thoughts, I reached for the "Transfiguration Guide for Advanced" textbook, thinking it would be the last textbook I'd use for this subject, and began browsing through it. I briefly recalled the material, and Colton left the room.

"Disaster!" he exclaimed loudly. "I made a small mistake, and he told me to rewrite the entire potion description from the beginning instead of just letting me cross it out and write it next to it," he sat down, annoyed. "My hand hurts from all this writing," he continued, rubbing his wrist. "He's such a jerk" I whispered as if afraid he might hear me. "I'm afraid of what grade I'll get. I don't think I made any mistakes, but he can nitpick about literally anything," he said honestly.

"I don't even dare to hope he'll give me a good grade for it. I completely forgot to filter it; I only realized it when I was already handing it over to him, and I noticed that only my potion had sediment at the bottom of the bottle," he grabbed his head and leaned over his knees, and I felt sorry for him. This mistake could have gone unnoticed anywhere else, but not with Snape.

"Maybe it won't be so bad," I tried to comfort him, although I didn't believe it myself. I hugged him and tried to continue. "It could have been worse; everything could have just exploded on you," I chuckled lightly. "Or I could have ended up with a detention like you," he scoffed, and I hit him on the arm. "It's a shame you won't be on the party tonight. The prefects were supposed to get us butterbeer from the Hogsmeade and stuff" I sighed. "Maybe Snape will treat me kindly," I looked at Colton, and we laughed together, and the door next to us opened, and a group of Hufflepuffs came out, including Lucy, who sat next to me and started apologizing.

"I really didn't want you to get detention because of me, I really hope he didn't hear what I said, and—" I grabbed her hands to stop her from picking at the skin around her nails, seeing they were starting to bleed. "Calm down, Lu," I looked into her eyes.

"It wasn't your fault, just yesterday—" and at that moment, Soap came out, asking what we were talking about, seeing how focused and close we were sitting.

"I was about to talk about seeing something strange yesterday, but we need to go somewhere else," I got up from the bench under the classroom and started walking to a quieter place at the end of one of the corridors, and the whole trio followed me. "No one will hear us here," Colton said, and Sophie squealed, "Just don't say anything, Lucy. We know you have a loose tongue; the whole school knows I ate soap when I was little thanks to you." "It's not my fault, someone asked me, and I told a few people, and they—" the blonde interrupted her. "An has something to say," I looked at him and began, "this morning I couldn't sleep, so I decided to get myself together and study in the Great Hall before breakfast, but as I was walking down the corridor, I saw Snape heading to the dungeons. He was covered in blood and looked quite injured," I spoke cautiously, looking around to make sure no one was listening, after all, we were in Slytherin territory. "So, the rumors are true? Did he had the Dark Mark?" I nodded, confirming.

"He must have been at the Death Eaters' meeting!" Lucy exclaimed at Sophie's question, and she grabbed her. "Don't squeal; someone might hear you, panicky."

"We all can't panic," Colton added, looking at each of us in turn. "We don't know if it's true," I wanted to reassure myself, talking to them. "We need to look into it better—"

"But we have more important matters now," I said, showing the Transfiguration textbook, listening to Soap sigh and say, "oh no." "It'll be okay, girl. You said you reviewed all the books and notes over the summer," "yes, but I'm still terribly afraid something will go wrong," Lucy interrupted our conversation, saying she's leaving us because she has to run to Herbology in the greenhouses on the lawns. We said goodbye to her and left the dungeons straight to McGonagall's class, still discussing what I saw in the morning.

The lesson of transmutation went unusually smoothly. McGonagall decided that today, on the occasion of the first day, we would simply review the material from previous years, which I was prepared for and often volunteered to answer questions. Soap did the same, feeling more confident due to studying during the holidays.

"10 points for Ravenclaw," Colt and Soap high-fived because they were standing closest to each other.

"I'm really proud of your commitment during the lesson," the senior witch said. "I see that many of you are making great progress, which makes me really happy. Transmutation is one of the most difficult branches of magic, and many of you seem to have no problem with it," she smiled warmly. "You can go on break now," she opened the doors with an alohomora, and the whole year, pleased with the extra points for our house, began packing their textbooks.

"I didn't even think it would go so well," my friend hugged me, pleased with herself. "I didn't doubt it for a moment," I said, putting on my bag and we went together to the next lesson, which was history of magic.

Professor Binns sat behind his desk telling another boring story from the textbook, and most of the class was asleep. Colton was talking quietly with his Slytherin friend David about the school's preparations for the first task in the Triwizard Tournament, wondering what the tasks would be and who they would choose as representatives for each school, but mostly about the upcoming Quidditch match. Both of them were on the school teams. Soap was drawing something in her notebook, and I, in a sour mood, was thinking more and more about the impending detention with the potions master. I had never met a more unpleasant person in my life. Everything about him was disgusting - his tone of voice, which always carried anger and resentment, the grimace that always graced his face, but above all, how he treated us. I was afraid of him, especially when he vented his anger on us for no reason, an immature and vile bat, with a repellent appearance. I grimaced at the thought of how disgustingly greasy his hair always was, his skin seemed dry and rough like sandpaper, and his smell was simply unpleasant, like old, musty books left to rot in the most dampness basement ever. On the other hand, his facial features were... What was I thinking?! I scolded myself for suddenly going down such a strange path. Something in me thought he could look... good? If his hair was clean and wore something else... My thoughts wandered into increasingly strange areas, causing me to completely forget about taking notes.

-Hey, grand control to major Tom," Colton shook me by the shoulder. "Huh?" I looked at him questioningly. "The lesson is over, aren't you coming to lunch?" he stood up, taking his bag from the bench. "Oh, lunch," I said, gathering my things.

"What's wrong? You've been staring out the window for two hours, and now you act like you just woke up," Soap sighed. "I'm worried about the detention and missing the party and just being with h-i-m," I trailed off. "Eh...Come on, let's eat something, it'll improve your mood," Soap said, knowing my habits perfectly, which only reminded me of worse times, making me feel even more miserable, but honestly, she was right. As soon as I reached for the jug with my favorite tea, I filled my cup and started eating my favorite herb-roasted potatoes, I immediately felt better.

"The turkey is really great today," said Joan, the girl who shared a dormitory with her friend Mary, Sophie, and me. Colton confirmed this, reaching for another portion. "Do you want some?" he asked me and my blonde next to me. "Yes, please," Soap replied. "I'm not that hungry," I said, feeling like the potatoes I ate were growing in my throat, and I had a carousel in my head. For some reason, I felt significant weakness, and dark spots spread before my eyes, slowly blurring my whole picture. Blood pulsed in my temples more and more, and suddenly I felt drops from my nose dripping straight onto the plate.

"Oh shit, Joanna!" Thomas, the prefect from the last year sitting across from me, exclaimed. "Quickly, we need to take her to the hospital wing," he continued, standing up, but I denied it. "I'm fine, it's probably just stress," I lied, suspecting what could have happened to me.

"She got detention from the bat today," Sophie explained, handing me napkins. "Thanks," I said, applying them to my nose to stop the bleeding, and Colt grabbed me by the neck and leaned my head forward. "Better?" he asked, patting my shoulder. "Yes, much better," I grabbed his hand and rested my head on his chest.

"At least we only have three hours of Herbology left. Professor Sprout surely won't bother you today if we tell her you're not feeling well," "maybe she'll even give you some strengthening herbal mixture," Thomas and my friend comforted me. "You're probably right," I smiled slightly as I took more napkins, slowly getting up, leaning against the table and holding onto my friend's arm, I took my first steps towards the greenhouse. As soon as we stepped outside, I felt the cold wind on my cheeks, as it blew my hair. I lifted my face and looked up, the weather today was quite sunny, compared to yesterday's downpour. Bright clouds traversed the blue sky, forming various patterns and shapes. "It's a pity you have to go today and we can't spend the evening together; I feel guilty about that..." Soap began. "Let's not start this, please," I interrupted her and went towards the greenhouse faster, overtaking my friends, not wanting to continue the same topic again. I took my place at the nearest table, which was luckily empty, taking a deep breath, and trying to relax.

I felt another surge of pain in my head as I groaned quietly, which did not go unnoticed by my friends, who sat at the next table and quickly came to me. "What happened?" Colton asked, concerned. "Nothing, just a headache," I lied again, not wanting to bother them. "You should go to the hospital wing," Soap said seriously, and I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I'm fine, really," I reassured her, taking another deep breath. "If you say so," she replied, not fully convinced, and they returned to their seats. I lay my head on the table, covering it with my arms, trying to block out the light and sounds around me, and prayed for this class to be over as soon as possible so that I could finally lie down and rest.

Today, we were planting and harvesting plants used as ingredients for healing potions, with the Quidditch season starting anew. The three hours passed remarkably quickly; I was busy cutting dry twigs of plants that had grown over the summer and were ready to be harvested. I arranged all the twigs and branches on a cloth, from which Sophie took them, while Colton prepared the leaves for drying. At 5 o'clock, after finishing the tasks, we went to have a supper. I didn't have much of an appetite as I was feeling my stomach tightening itself with stress.

"At least take a piece of cranberry cake for strength; you don't know how much work awaits you there. Maybe you'll be scrubbing everything until midnight or longer," Soap persuaded me, and I complied. Sipping mint tea, I reached for a piece of cake with my favorite creamy frosting, white chocolate, and tangy-sweet cranberries. I took the first bite. The sweetness momentarily lifted my mood, and I stopped thinking about how bad I had felt earlier. However, the stomach pain returned with double force, indicating that I wouldn't be able to eat anything else today. I passed my place to the Sophie -you can eat it if you want, I can't handle any more- I said as I stood up "I'll head to detention now," I said, leaning on the table, finishing my tea, and leaving the rest of the cake. "Have fun, and don't overdo it with the butterbeer," my friend joked loudly, "Good thing you know only house-elves can get drunk on it!" "You'll be fine, birdie. We're rooting for you. After all, how many people have come out of there alive?" Thomas squeezed my hand, "We believe in you. Good luck." I thanked my friends and started walking towards the dungeons.

It was just as cold there in the evening as it was early in the morning, although now I felt it much more strongly. In the morning, at least, I was warm after a bath. My whole body shivered intensely, and I hoped I would warm up by moving a bit while cleaning. As I descended the stairs, I almost slipped but caught hold of the railing, avoiding a fall. The stairs were long, narrow, and winding, hewn from stone that had clearly worn away over the years, making it easier for someone's foot to slip. A few troublemakers going to the common room laughed at my near-fall, but I paid them little attention.

I stopped in front of the Potions classroom and knocked. "Enter," I heard from behind the door. I took a deep breath and pushed the heavy wooden door with all the strength I could muster.

"Good evening, Professor," I greeted him as politely as I could approaching him, to which he reacted only with a slight change of expression for a brief moment as a kind of greeting. I silently approached the pile of dirty and used utensils, and behind me, I heard "Wand," I turned to the teacher. "In detention, everything is cleaned manually, in case you forget. You should feel your punishment," I apologized softly, saying it was my first detention, and I moved past him to the desk where I left my wand, which he immediately took, tucking it into his pocket. Somewhat alarmed that my wand was no longer on the desk, from which I could pick it up in a situation requiring it, I looked into his eyes, but he immediately turned his cold gaze elsewhere. I lowered my head and went to the sink against the wall to start washing the dishes, not wanting to irritate him and extend my punishment.

Despite all the cauldrons being horribly coated with a sticky, disgusting residue that was difficult to remove, I managed quite efficiently and quickly, although the detergents were making my hands burn and dry out more with each passing moment. I rolled up my sleeves to avoid getting them wet and began rinsing the scissors, which someone had used to cut something horribly slimy and sticky, then I moved on to washing the mortar and pestle until foam flooded my wound. I cursed loudly and involuntarily dropped the vial of potion, which shattered under my feet with a loud bang. I looked at the burning inscription, which looked even worse than yesterday or this morning. The purplish color began to spread more strongly on my hand, and the cut itself was covered with yellow-green pus. I stared for maybe 10 minutes, or a second. In the shock that engulfed me at the sight, I couldn't determine how long it might have lasted until Snape interrupted everything, speaking sharply, "I hope I'm not mistaken, Miss Doe." He stood up from his chair and began to walk towards me, speaking more and more angrily, taking steps closer and closer to me until something in me snapped. I started crying, fearing him, his tone of voice, and above all, that he was getting closer and I didn't see the purpose for which he was approaching. Since childhood, I had been afraid of any man who raised his voice other if they were not my father. My head began to spin, cold sweat covered my skin, and none of his words reached me anymore, even as he shouted them almost into my face. I collapsed, darkness swirling before my eyes, and he caught me by the waist, which was the last thing I felt and remembered.

I don't know what happened next. I woke up in his chair, behind his desk. It was quite spacious, upholstered in black leather and even comfortable, much more than typical stools we were having to sit as students. Snape was kneeling in front of me his left knee, carefully examining my hand. He didn't even notice that I had regained consciousness and was staring at him quietly, trying to organize my thoughts. For the man, what he saw was a great shock and at the same time one of the gut wreaking things he had ever seen, although as a Death Eater, he had seen a lot. Nevertheless, the inscription on the girl's hand moved him, not because it was in any way more drastic that things he saw before, but because the term "dirty blood whore" was almost the same thing that he said as he had destroyed his friendship with Lily Evans, as he called her"mudblood" in anger and shame in spite of how much he loved her, after marauders almost suffocated him with soap suds, while they exposed his absolutely naked lower part of his body to everyone present outside.

As soon as I gained some strength and assessed the situation around me I spoke to him softly with hope "I need your help," I whispered, seeking the last straw of salvation, knowing he had everything I would need to make healing potions or anything else.

Snape looked at me one of his eyebrows up, as he walked to the door, which I had no idea where were leading, and a moment later he returned with a glass, several vials, and a small jar. He arranged everything in a row in front of me.

"Give it to me," he ordered, concentrated. I reached out to him with my trembling hand, and he unscrewed a small jar with an intensely smelling gray substance and began massaging it into my wound, which started to tingle and burn like fire under the thick layer of slimy spread he applied. I whimpered with pain and wanted to pull my hand away, but he tightened his grip, and looked me straight in the eyes. "Do not pull away, Doe," his voice, for the first time, seemed to lack the typical aggression, it was almost... calm? I took a deep breath, trying to calm my trembling insides. I focused on his dark eyes, which seemed to contain a million emotions at once, completely unreadable to me. The wound began to heal, and the bluish swelling on the skin slowly disappeared and the burning was getting weaker till it disappeared. I looked at his masculine hand, veined, slim, and delicately covered with dark hair, which still tightly gripped my wrist. Somehow, I felt like I had never been so close to any man before. He was kneeling in from of me, touching me with care... When the wound looked healed, and only a white scar remained, I heard him say close to my face, "You can stop staring at me now," as abruptly and with the same passive aggression as everything else when he spoke up. He poured one of the potions into the glass and handed it to me, saying shortly, "Drink." Obediently but reluctantly followed the command, despite how much I feared what might be inside, but I wanted to believe that even if he was a Death Eater, he wouldn't have an interest in killing me in his class, where everyone knows I was having detention today. That was too obvious. As soon as I drank the mysterious liquid, he took the glass from me and poured another potion into it, and then another.

"You should be feeling better soon," he stood up and took the vials to where all the other dirty dishes were, which I hadn't had time to wash, and then he cast a few spells, and everything was cleaning itself as the sponge was floating in the air, foaming and scrubbing every dish, the sink was opening the and closing the source of water rinsing everything from the foam, and the clean dishes floated in the air back to their place, neatly arranged on the shelves and tables.

"I won't force you to clean anything in such a state, but you will have to make everything up anyway, but you can go for now." Surprised by the sudden compassion of the teacher, I stood up in amazement as I thanked him sincerely, heading for the exit.

#severus snape #harry potter #snape content #snape headcanon #pro severus #pro severus snape #professor snape #severus #snape #snape fandom #thecursebylissu

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ashtraythief · 1 year

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Are you a hardcore Sam fan or a hardcore Dean fan? I don’t know if you’ve ever talked about this before! I think for me Sam & Dean are a package deal so it’s hard for me to separate them. I probably lean towards Dean, though, mainly partly because Jensen is the most attractive person alive. What about you?

Huh, I don't know if I have, nonnie, but I'm with you, they're a package deal for me too. The most interesting thing about them is their relationship I think. Because it's beautiful and all-encompassing and codependent and unhealthy and so single-minded. They're so different, but they work and they're both brave and determined which means in the end nothing can stand in their way and that's beautiful. Their relationship also develops and evolves which makes it even better. There's the default togetherness of the past, the rebellious separation, the anewed togetherness, first by need and circumstances and then by choice, there are fights and misunderstandings and temporary separations, but they always come back to each other, become more honest with each other and that's just beautiful.

Ahem. Sorry, I just love them so much. But. If I had to pick. Give points. Make a ranking, whatever, I am slightly leaning Dean. Because yes, for shallow reasons, I also think Jensen Ackles is the most beautiful person I've ever seen in my life (don't get me wrong, Jared's both hot like burning and insanely cute, a feat not many people can pull off, but Jensen is either proof of alien life or a fae prince in exile on earth, I don't know, but he's not fucking human). From a story telling point, it's easier to get to know Dean and to emphasize with him. Sam keeps a lot of secrets in the beginning because the mytharc revolves around him and Dean kind of wears his heart on his sleeve and is the one being vulnerable. Dean's also a little dorkier, a little nerdier, gets the car and the music, while Sam's humor is more sassy and we don't really learn a lot about his likes and dislikes in the beginning except that he's not as much fun as Dean. Which is not bad, and poor boy is grieving, and Dean can be annoying, but I think there are more Dean girls in fandom and I think this is maybe one of the reasons why. As the show goes on and we learn more about Sam, he of course has the sort of almost villain arc in season 4 (the show says it itself, the blood drinking is a tough pill to swallow esp because you know he's wrong), but the way he worked for his redemption and made the ultimate sacrifice in the end, man, I never loved Sam more than at the end of season five. What he went through, the pain, the loss, learning his entire fucking life was a staged theater by Azazel to manipulate him into saying yes, and after being duped by Ruby, after falling victim to his own hubris and anger, after trying to make amends and overcoming his addiction, he still has to jump into the cage and he does… motherfucking hearteyes for Sam motherfucking Winchester. His strength and determination and the discipline he has most of the time almost elevate him to some kind of super human level. Dean obviously is just as brave, mostly just as strong (he does have his doubt arc in s5 which he overcomes because of Sammy of course), just as determined, but Dean's also a functioning alcoholic (depending on the season), seeks out meaningless sex with women to fill a void, and is just a little bit more of a mess which makes him more human I think, more relatable. Sam's maybe a smidge more admirable, while Dean has the edge on lovable. I'm nitpicking here of course. Both of these characters are larger than life heroes with their only real flaws being their love for each other (though it's really only a flaw for the characters who get sacrificed in Sam and Dean's endless quest to save each other). Yes, Sam can be closed off and Dean can be annoying and overbearing, Sam's a controlling know-it all and Dean's a bundle of daddy issues with I know what's best tendencies, but like. How can you not love them? They both are strong and honorable, they're smart in different ways that work well together, they're brave and compassionate, they risk their lives to save other people, they have fun little quirks and interests, they are witty and have great sense of humor. Different enough to create fun teasing friction but also complimenting each other. What makes these characters so special and what made supernatural work for so long is that they're layered and complex characters with strengths and weaknesses that are written mostly consistently and they're both I think among my most beloved characters in TV.

I totally understand the Sam girls (being a Sam girl is a valid, sensible life choice) and I love Sam a whole bunch, but Dean's really just a tad more fun imo and prettier 😅 not that it matters that much, I think, because like you said, they're a package deal and what creates the magic of the show is the two of them, together.

#anon ask #does this count as #spn meta #probably more #spn ramblings #the epic love story of sam and dean

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dreamiekarma2 · 3 months

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yeah like I'm not gonna come on here and nitpick the words of someone who's clearly hurting, but the way things were written feel like pushing a particular framing rather than providing more context/details

yes that's exactly what makes taking a more analytical approach to her words less acceptable in the eye of the public and therefore harder. she feels pain from the situation so naturally it colors the way she describes it, but just because it's expected or normal doesn't mean it is also the most true account. that's a given for anybody in a position like hers ofc, but i am also not required to be her advocate and accept it at face value 100% (and neither is anyone else!). soz if this is a meaningless word vomit idk

#asks #anon

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logicandinstinct · 1 year

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I know there's people defending Ariel from the original Little Mermaid from critizism, however after recently watching the movie I cannot deny there's some truth is those critiques:

"Ariel didn't left her home for the prince, she did wanted to see the human world"

Well that is true for the first 20 minutes of the film. I won't dent those first scenes of the film portray beautifully Ariel's passionate interest for the surface world, however the way things develop after she rescues prince Eric from drowning DOES make it look like everything else dissapeared from her mind as she's shown ridiculously lovestruck.

One can excuse this decisons as a) Ariel is a 16 yo and b) this makes the following events of the film smoothly lead to the main conflict of the film: like, Ariel is smitten by the prince -》 she acts absent minded so her family notices -》 Triton interrogates Sebastian about who the "lucky guy" is -》 Sebastian reveals the truth about Ariel under pressure of believing Triton knew arleady -》 Triton finds Ariel's secret collection and blows it appart -》 Ariel makes the deal with Ursula.

However I believe this affected negatively Ariel's portrayal, as everything that was presented before about her longing to live in the surface dissapears for "Oh, I want so see the prince again!".

"But she looks interested and fascinated after she gets her legs"

Yes, for very brief moments at the beginning and a quick montage of her and Eric visiting around the kingdom. The rest of the time is still dedicated to focusing on Ariel trying to get that kiss to break the spell, so yeah, it focuses on the conflict but at the same time doesnt help Ariel's case againt criticism.

"At the end of the film Ariel defends herself againts Ursula and also saves the prince for being killed"

True. But in the way things are executed Ariel's actions are presented as unimportant or borderline meaningless in the bigger picture: her little scuffle with Ursula led to nothing, then that moment when she saves Eric is so quick it can be missed in a blink. Meanwhile, the prince Eric has a whole ass scene where he rides the sunken ship and redirects it to stab Ursula and kill her in a big spectacle.

In summary, all these decisions help the plot move smoothly forward with its limited running time, however they affect somewhat negatively the main character's looks overall. However, I think these are minor nitpicks for a quite strong film, because the "good" outlandishly overcome the "bad", like the amazing songs and the utterly entertaining and likable portayal of the characters most of the time: Ariel is outgoing and cute, king Triton is incredibly caring despite his strict parenting skills and Eric has a bloody personality for most of the film.

I just wanted to explain some criticisms that apparently the film had and I found they were not really devoid of meaning.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk 😅

#the little mermaid #disney #little mermaid #disney little mermaid #ariel the little mermaid

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xserpx · 2 years

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So, say I, or someone else, wanted to write up a RAD ace character or two or even more! Just theoretically, of course. 😉 Given it's Ace Week, I wanted to ask if you've got any insight on the matter, general guidelines, big and small no-nos with depiction, nitpicks with current ones, nuances/things you'd like to see more of, and any other misc. tidbits? Totally theoretical, of course.

No-nos: Don't be House MD? The ace community is diverse af, every ace experience is different, so I feel like it's tricky to get it "wrong" per se, especially since most of what is wrong with ace rep atm is simply that there isn't enough. I guess maybe avoid making the only ace characters robots & aliens? But even then characters like Murderbot are fantastic, esp w the way they double down on the aceness with that "if I had a sex drive I would still feel this way" stuff. Virgin shaming is another big please don't do that, but I think it's worth acknowledging how that affects ace people if the world you're writing about has similar shitty hang ups to our own re purity & allonormativity.

Avoid "blink and you miss it" rep. If a character just says "I'm asexual", and that's it (I'm thinking Sex Education), it's fairly meaningless IMO. On one hand, yes it's canon ace rep, box ticked, you are officially Aware, but on the other, it's like one episode with a one-off character. The show is clearly not interested in addressing allo/amatonormativity in any substantial way, and it somehow ends up even more alienating. I would much rather watch Heartbreak High, which does an amazing job with its ace character, despite the fact they never say the word asexual.

Avoid pairing everyone off into romantic/sexual relationships. I would say it's perfectly OK to have an romantic ace character who finds love, but just balance it out with a straight person who is single. It does so much to add diversity, it helps reduce the ace experience of feeling broken, and shows it's OK to not be in a relationship at all if that's what you want. It broadens the idea of what a happy ending looks like.

I personally would like to see more "gritty" ace rep, tackling allonormativity head on, the confusion, the alienation, how sex is tied to ideas of maturity and how you sometimes feel like a child and sometimes feel more adult compared to others. I like ace characters who are a bit prickly, who lack patience for people and their relationship drama and don't try to fit in with the allos, but are also scared of loneliness. I'd also like to see more acknowledgement of the internal frustration & confusion - ace people frequently go through questioning phases, analysing every interaction for a sign of sexual attraction.

Also I have yet to see an ace character who masturbates. I think you could get some decent comedy out of it tbh.

Personally I don't like it when ace characters realise they're asexual by feeling coerced into sexual situations, or having a sexual situation become awkward and uncomfortable. There's never any way to "prove" you are asexual because it doesn't rely on the act of having sex, so I think it's better to write ace people who just know/figure out they are ace without getting into sexual assault territory, though I know that some ace people relate to that experience.

I can't really speak for romantic & sex-positive ace experiences and what rep is needed there. I'm wary of how demisexuality could be treated as a kind of clunky HEA monogamous perfect soulmate situation, but maybe that's an unfounded fear 😅, and I think it'd be great to see more sex-positive aces in fiction.

#asexuality #ace week #ace rep

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rourhksapocolypse · 9 months

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So, the other day I mentioned to my brother (who is in leave, atm) @deadcatwithaflamethrower 's post about Ashoka being potentially anti semitic, and he just looked at me and asked, "So?"

This may seem insensitive. But it's actually profound.

When I was a kid, this kind of thing was silly. It was stupid. Why should I care that Brad Pitt broke off a "stable?" marriage because of Mr & Mrs Smith? Should I stop enjoying a dumb action movie because a marriage stopped?

A week ago or so, Mom made a fuss about me only wearing an undershirt at work, when that keeps my top shirts clean (and her making a fuss meant one of my only pure white shirts got permanently messy).

Why? Because it is unprofessional, and because, apparently, my corner of Colorado only associates undershirts as wife beaters and "Gay People Clothing". Because Queen wore undershirts without a top shirt.

Am I supposed to be offended by that? Am I supposed to change my ways so they don't think I'm gay? When I'm autistic, probably FIM Asexual, and leaving a social life or friends that aren't family because I drive people away by accident?

...

These thoughts come because of one simple question. "Have I become too 'Woke'?"

The answer, obviously, is yes. Because, as Mom put it, I had three mothers growing up, and only one of those wasn't a sibling. Because everyone, at all times, corrected me to what they thought was right, leaving me unable to form my own opinion, however well meant those controlling tendencies were.

Now, for those offended, those genuinely hurt, I'm gonna quote Xomniac in This Bites! here:

"I can't speak for you. I don't know what You've been through. I don't know your pain, your hardships. I can support you, but to keep the cycle of hatred from flourishing, I can't speak for you. You have to speak up and take action yourselves."

Is Disney hating on Jews with casting a traditionally "Jewish" actor as a greedy Imperial? Or are they just playing on public perception and image, using what's already there to convey the message?

Or is it even purposeful? Because I've hurt a lot of people with word choice and action that I didn't consider would hurt them. And all I can do is look for brightness in these dark times.

As I wrote this I remembered something else from the radio, K-LOVE, specifically. A guy who reads Bible passages and adds context in his little segment, Ruis Balau, once mentioned that he was having dinner conversation with his family and his daughter asked why he was focusing so much on the bad that he wasn't talking about the good in the world anymore.

Because, that was one of his jobs, as a Christian. Or, part of what he's supposed to do, same as me. To acknowledge the bad, yes, but to shed light onto the world with kindness and caring.

Am I falling into the same cycle of focusing on the bad and forgetting about the good?

Are we?

As the American people, are we forgetting the good in the world, and thus only spreading more of the bad?

Are we nitpicking enough, that we forget to appreciate what we have?

I needed to get this out of my head, so I leave my questions here, unanswered.

Goodnight, and get home safe. Hug your families and loved ones, if you have any left. Send love and support, monetary or emotional, to all those who need it in your lives.

Maybe that's me (and yeah, probably).

Maybe that's Flamethrower, who lost one of the last people who cared about her growing up and fears for her children, struggling with politics and money troubles.

Maybe it's someone I know nothing of and whose existence is meaningless to me, but everything to you, dear reader.

I don't know, but love them like a dog to his/her "Best Friend in the Whole Wide World" (tm).

#life rambles #pieces of my life

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vaspider · 3 years

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Hey Vas, I've been following you for ages now and I have a question. I didn't see anything against it in your faq and I'm honestly unsure if it's rude to ask, so please DM me if this is totally off base! If it is, then I apologize in advance because I don't mean to be rude, discriminatory or come of as a TERF(blegh)!

So I'm a cis bisexual woman and I've noticed more recently that people (including yourself) identifying as she/her gay, or he/him lesbian or all sorts of other combos that don't seem intuitive (to me). I'm wondering about the logistics of identifying as he/him and being a lesbian? I'm from a small town and I don't have a ton of experience with different types of identifiers and as I understood it if you are sexually attracted to the same gender, that makes you gay/lesbian. And I'm kind of struggling to understand people (like youself) who identify as he/him lesbian and how that works?

I have no idea how to phrase this question, and this isn't about not accepting sexualities and genders that people tell me they are! That's not something I have an issue with, it's just that I feel like I'm drowning in misunderstanding and maybe disinformation on sexuality and gender and how the two mesh?

Again, if this is too personal or if it's rude or TERFY, I am so sorry and its not my intention, I'm just really confused and bad at phrasing!

I love your tiktoks and I love how you present info and queer history and I love that you take so much time to explain to those of us who don't know as much as you!

Okay, I was going to write a whole long thing about history and how Leslie Feinberg (z''l) used he/him pronouns decades ago and there's a whole long documentable history of he/him lesbians going back at least a hundred years but really it comes down to this:

It's not your business.

It's not your business whether someone's pronouns "match" your expectation for their stated sexual orientation. It's their business, and the faster people get through their heads that auditing people's orientations (as opposed to their behavior) with regards to community is wrong and fucked up, the faster we can actually get back to establishing some sort of meaningful solidarity in this community rather than squabbling amongst ourselves over shit like this which is -- frankly -- fucking meaningless while our ability to be ourselves, our rights, and our literal lives are constantly screwed over by TERFs and right-wingers (but I repeat myself).

This may sound blunt and rude, but this is just factual: whether someone's pronouns "match" what you think they should be for their stated sexual orientation just isn't your business, and you don't need to understand it.

You just need to respect it.

But that said:

If we understand that pronouns don't equal gender, understanding that he/they or he/she/they or he/him lesbians exist is easy, because that may be a cis woman using those pronouns, or it may be a genderfluid person or a non-binary person.

If we understand that labels are mostly about community, in the end, and markers of what community we belong to, we'll stop nitpicking everyone's identities.

But most of all, if we understand that queer community is about how someone behaves, maybe we'll stop accepting shitty behavior and saying 'ah yes, I have to accept that this person is in community with me' from TERFs, and stop fretting so much about whether a he/him lesbian might be 'harming us' somehow by merely existing. If someone's behavior is predatory or creepy, or they associate with TERFs or are a TERF themselves, if they sell out their identity to right-wingers like, say, Bl*ir Wh*te, we can then say 'you may be X, but you are not in community with me, and I don't owe you solidarity.'

The idea that we traded one set of shitty allocisheteroperimonogamous rules for another set of shitty, constricting rules is just exhausting and wrong. Like, the older generations of queers did not spend years and years trying to break down barriers just so another stifling set of rules could be put back up -- and lest you think that this is like, new to the queer community, this frustration, it absolutely isn't; this song came out in 1992. This one came out in 1998.

So yeah.

It's not your business. What's your business is if those people are TERFs or predators and should be ejected from your community based on those facts; what you get to decide is if you want to be in community with those people or associate with them, and what you need to understand is that nothing that queer people do is why the allocishets "don't respect us," or whatever. We won't ever be respected as long as we're queer, only potentially used as tokens to prove that people aren't really homophobic or transphobic because they like that one, so they must be okay.

We don't need to not be confusing, even to each other. We don't owe each other explanations for our identities. For that matter, we don't even owe ourselves explanations for who and what we are, and it isn't necessary that those things remain stable or unchanging. It's okay if we're confused about who we are for our entire lives. What we owe to each other is respect for each other and for the process of living that we're going through. To paraphrase a late friend of mine, I don't need you to understand me, I just need you to get that I'm having a very human experience in trying to figure myself out, and I'm doing the best that I can with it, and I need you to respect that. And I need to respect that you're having a very human experience trying to figure out who you are and how you're learning to respect other people's identities, and set boundaries for myself while you're going through that.

#queer #queer community #he him lesbians are the best actually #continuing the best traditions of our community

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legionofpotatoes · 2 years

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the only truly innovative thing the new doctored strange does in the context of the em cee you is that it really really really doesn't try to be likable or charming, and it sucks how much that stands out and feels "fresh" now

spoilers from this point on. my usual disjointed thoughts

I sort-of like the bookending. the "are you happy" stuff. roping in the issues of consequence and guilt, pitting that against wanda's baggage, folding in his ego and shitty interpersonal relationship skills, managing to sponge out some form of character catharsis, passing it on to youth. almost great. it was broken up and dramatized super unevenly, but his final pep talk as a rotting zombie with a fully locked emotional close-up was peak raimi and almost exactly the type of camp and tonal flexibility these genre films lost over time

but it's the simple, non-grandiose stuff that really works and gets to the heart of very-very basic storytelling. admitting love and fear to mcadams, the bowing to wong, the choice to transcend ruthless calculus. and all of it actually motivated. elemental two-step arcs! none of this is in any way groundbreaking, but I'd need extra limbs to count all the marvel films where protagonists don't really change in meaningful ways. again, it genuinely sucks that basic shit like this feels fresh

and it mostly works on the other end as well but eurgh the wanda stuff. I get how on a story level it foils with strange but I have such a personal bone to pick with narratives painting motherhood as madness and didn't wandavision deal with all this crap already. jesus christ give that woman some meat on her lines she tries so hard to work with the scraps

sam raimi said shallow cameos are meaningless fodder and treated them as such. king shit

there's always a high caliber woman being wasted in every marvel movie huh? rachel mcadams you deserve so much better than this

you also deserve a nicer wig. no one agrees with me but it, uh. stands out?? my kingdom for due appreciation towards makeup departments in these films, but likeee

I really want to say danny elfman killed it but I can't recall a single motif or memorable musical moment. yes, even the literal musical moment was mostly, kind-of, sort-of musical in various chopped-up bits

and really most of the magic in these films is just conjuring up medieval-style tools it feels like. or fireballs! this isn't really a nitpick but more of a symptom - I understand how maddening it must feel to keep thinking up creative ways to maintain people in Disney-aliveTM states as they face literal gods and sorcerers

I truly believe that pacing - ergo structural editing - is only bad if you simultaneously care about and suck at it. And I feel like there's a tangible difference between someone who understands craft and is deliberately wheeling the ship into stormy waters to end up getting away with and having way more fun, and someone who's barely managing to keep it together to get the bow pointed north. Incredibly convoluted metaphor but I think it gets there

somewhat related to this - always a big thumbs up from me when a movie squeaks by at 2 hours of runtime. respects my time, nerves, and bladder

felt like sam raimi made this for sure. in aesthetics mostly, and partly in its gnarly, horror-esque ethos to punish and exact swift consequence on characters both deserving and not - right up to the closing shot with the eye. it's a fun way to approach superhero movies, but something the fancam crowd will certainly hate. it attempts some textual horror as well, but it don't work that well when you know exactly who the monster in the shadows is (evil soccer mom with seven movies and a tv show)

I appreciate the totally deliberate references to doom eternal nobody correct me on this. wanda had hell barons in her single-room fortress! and they totally glory killed that cacodemon in the beginning! yeah! cool! I have no clue what exactly happened to captain marvel but sure, that too!

briefly amending the danny elfman comment because I just remembered the x-men cartoon jingle when xavier first rolled in. Goofy, inexplicable, why not just throw that in there, yeah!

I've seen token characters expanded into full ones through sequels, but mordo truly innovates by somehow doing the opposite

In conclusion: okayest superhero movie of 2022. not too interesting. won't watch again

#text #I really hope this avoids falling into any tags #it has spoilers in the full thing #dont click it! if you dont want em

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “The Final Word”

Well, we made it to the finale, everyone, and if you're reading this it seems you've survived the watching of it too. Barely. To say that some questionable choices were made across these 20 minutes is... an understatement.

But before we delve into the episode, I want you to cast your mind back to November 7th, 2020. A horrible year that heralded a horrible RWBY volume. There, coming off the shaky writing of Volume 7, I posed a number of questions and concerns that the show needed to tackle, with the promise that we would return to these expectations in four months time. Now, here we are! Let's refresh everyone's memory, yeah?

Taken directly from that recap, what RWBY promised us, through various teasers and Q&As, included:

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

And you know what? They did all this. In the spirit of being fair and honest to this show, RWBY succeeded in delivering on everything they promised... it was just our foolishness that expected that these ideas would be delivered well. Ruby's leadership took center stage in the form of her hiding for multiple episodes and then others telling her she's still The Best before the plot dropped a solution into her lap... one she could have used at any point prior to this. Summer's death certainly has an impact, though it's an impact born of a crazy reveal that Summer likely isn't dead, but turned into a horrifying grimm monster. Ren and Nora both delve into their flaws, but heaven forbid either grow from that reflection. Ren learns that if he pushes past his primary flaw of keeping his emotions buried and actually expresses his doubts for once, he'll be yelled at and ignored until he admits how wrong he was. The "real" flaw is being a bad friend, with "bad friend" equaling "Not agreeing with Ruby 100%." Meanwhile, Nora considers that maybe she shouldn't rush in recklessly and hit things with her hammer... which is why she rushes in recklessly, hits something with her hammer, gets grievously injured, and is told that this is just who she truly is. No growth there, not unless we count her sudden desire to figure out who she is without Ren... but that exploration hasn't started yet. Too bad she wasn't the teammate separated at the end of the volume!

Meanwhile, May did indeed have a larger role to play, one I quite liked, it's just that this role — like all the others — inevitably circled back to realizing how wonderful Ruby is. May challenges Ruby to make a decision, but instead of being the catalyst for Ruby's growth, May becomes another forgotten side character who does a sudden about-turn regarding her perspective, leaving the group with the contradictory message that Ruby is actually doing her best, she's just a kid, no need to try any harder... everyone who claimed otherwise up until now was mistaken. May is another Cordovin. She's another Qrow. She's another Maria.

Fun fact: we don't even know if Maria is alive right now. That's how little she means to the show!

Actually, wait... anyone remember this nonsense from Volume 7?

I was too lazy to change the date.

Moving on, Ozpin's cane turned out to be a stakes obliterating bomb that came out of nowhere, makes no sense logistically — how do battles store energy that only hurts grimm? — yet nevertheless seems to have killed Hazel? It's a disaster of unanswered questions. Similar to the disaster of our two day timeline when, I'm fairly sure, we've had an unnatural number of sunrises and sunsets. I'll have to take a look back at the volume as a whole now that it's complete to be sure of that though. As for our themes... did we really explore the idea of respecting someone even if you disagree with them? Because Ironwood wasn't shown any respect. Ren wasn't shown respect. I think the closest we got was Oscar calmly validating Yang's worry about getting buddy-buddy with Emerald, but the whole point there was that Yang was wrong. She wasn't wrong, but that's what the text would have you believe. She is indeed "very suspicious and distrustful," but that's hardly unjustified in these circumstances. I'm still boggling at the fact that it took the group three volumes for forgive Ozpin, even while he was actively working to assist them, yet I-helped-destroy-Beacon-and-tried-to-kill-everyone-you-love Emerald is the group's new BFF after she... ran away with Oscar? She didn't save him, she just went along for the ride. At the very least we might have gotten a scene where Penny was like, "Hey, why are you all laughing with the woman who just tried to kill my dad?"

But oh yeah, the story doesn't remember Pietro exists either. His daughter is DEAD and he hasn't been on screen since Episode Five, let alone there when she passes.

I had my own list going in, including such expectations as "Ozpin bb you got done dirty please acknowledge this" and "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." Obviously these needs were not met.

So what, given this mess of expectations, did we end up with?

Our finale — for some reason — breaks the one word title trend with "The Final Word." It's an expression that refers to the final word in an argument or a discussion, the idea of winning by making a last, devastating point. It can also refer to making the final decision on something, which is the best way I'm able to apply the title to this episode (outside of any “final” comparisons). Penny's death is certainly all about choice and making some kind of decision... but on the whole, this title doesn't feel like it fits well. Not like "Worthy" or "Creation" or "Risk." The two latter titles had obvious connections to the episode in question through dialogue and plot, while the former was a deliberate callback to Watts' speech. "The Final Word" feels... less obvious in what it’s trying to say.

That's a minor nitpick though. Let's get into the meat of the episode.

We open on the grimm whale still disappearing, which is weird. I get that it's massively bigger than any other grimm we've seen, but they all turned to dust near instantaneously and it's been, what? At least an hour since Oscar blew it up? Likely longer when we factor in their walk back to the manor, the fight with Ironwood, fixing Penny, and this entire evacuation. It certainly makes for a nice visual, but like so many details in RWBY, it raises unnecessary questions along the way.

The important bit though is that amidst the whale carcass a blob of evil is swirling about. Salem, obviously.

She’s not reforming in time to actually do anything though, don't worry.

Instead, we cut to the Ironwood vs. Winter fight and there's at least some dialogue this time. Ironwood yells that he's sacrificed everything to keep Remnant safe. Winter yells back that he actually sacrificed everyone else. Obviously, Ironwood should be called out for things like, you know, his unprompted murders, but instead they have Winter listing stuff that she was never shown to have a problem with before. The embargo? "Squeezed Mantle until it broke?" She, as Ironwood's second hand, understood and supported both the decision to close the border and the need to collect resources for a plan designed to take out Salem. I hate that no only did she turn without an ounce of hesitation or grief, but now they're having her act as if Ironwood forced these decisions on everyone, rather than everyone supporting him through them. We all remember Volume 7 when Ruby pressured him to finish Amity, right? And in trust RWBY fashion, most of these words are meaningless. Mantle "broke"? What does that mean? The class disparity did not come about through Ironwood: that's been in the works for generations. The lack of resources made things harder, yes, but when they were reclaimed by Robyn nothing improved. Watts is the one who turned off the heat and Salem attacked Atlas, leaving Mantle alone. Now, all the citizens have escaped through magical portals. So how is Mantle "broken" exactly? More importantly, why is Winter upset over this vague, nonsensical dilemma when she could be yelling about Ironwood wanting to bomb Mantle?

Again: this woman watched Ironwood shoot the councilman, shrugged, and continued to believe in him up until she realized his bomb threat was real. That was one of the main reasons why I thought the councilman might be alive, with Ironwood only shooting a warning shot past him. Because this is how you react to a good person unexpectedly killing someone else

whereas this is what we got from Winter and Harriet.

Hell, Weiss has more of a reaction to Yang telling Ruby things aren't super great right now.

So either Ironwood didn't do something that bad, thereby justifying these tame reactions (unlikely, given where his character ended up), or we should believe based on the animation that everyone was super chill with him killing an unarmed civilian. Which is then directly contradicted when they're like, "You're going to shoot Marrow? Bomb a city?? How could you do such horrible things??? 😲" Friends, buddies, fictional pals... you already watched him murder a dude.

The point is, there's a lot for Winter to be upset about, but she's not upset about that. There's a lot that Winter herself believed in, but the writing has forgotten that. This entire arc went off the rails a volume ago.

Also, why is Ironwood fighting with that giant gun? This is his final battle, presumably ever, and he's wielding this awkward, sluggish weapon we saw him randomly pick up two episodes ago? Let him use his regular guns! Give us a fantastic battle like he had with Watts! Instead, RWBY's final showdown consists of him using this no-name weapon as a unwieldy club in some of the most boring choreography we've seen to date. It doesn't help that this fight needs to share time with three others. Instead of an epic showdown, we're given glimpses of the battle before continually cutting away from it.

During that first cut we return to the Team RWBY battle where Penny, doing her best to stay out of Cinder's reach, is whisked away on Weiss' wasp.

Too bad she didn't do that for Yang...

Jaune and Nora watch this horror unfold until Jaune says, "Priority one!" and they split. Except... what is priority one exactly? Helping the civilians? I guess, because they don't enter the fight until the very end of it, when everyone else seems to have made it to Vacuo. And you know what, I like that. For once it feels like the group — or at least the B Team — is acting like huntsmen, putting the needs of the people over their own, personal desires. I'm sure Nora wants to help the group after Yang's (presumed) demise and that Jaune would like nothing more than to get his hands on Cinder, but they put those grievances aside to do the work they signed up for. Good job!

My only real gripe is that we don't really see this struggling in the animation, I'm just assuming it's there. In particular, there's a moment when Jaune sends Nora through the portal for reinforcements — not knowing they can't return — and they seem a little too jovial when, by this point, three friends have died.

There's letting your cast be supportive, and then there's having them ignore that three teammates have perished in an abyss. It really doesn't help to sell the idea that Yang, Ruby, and Blake are in any danger here.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Penny tells Weiss that since Cinder is really just after the Maiden powers, she can buy the rest of the group time to escape. Weiss, obviously, isn't fond of this idea... and then the both of them are blasted off the wasp by Cinder's fire. Which they deserve, frankly. They're just having this casual conversation about sacrifice while in the middle of a battle. Did they somehow forget that Cinder can fly too?

Note that multiple attacks from Cinder, another blast, and a hard landing on the pathway gives their auras a knock, but doesn't break them. The primary defense for Yang's aura shattering in a single, simple hit was that everyone is exhausted and running on little to no power... yet here the rest of the cast is, tanking multiple hits as we've come to expect. There is no explanation for Yang's defeat except that the writers chose to ignore the rules of their world for a dramatic death scene... even though that drama was erased a week later as half our team falls into the void too.

We'll get to that though. For now, Cinder corrects Penny's belief with "I want it all" and proceeds to try to finish them off, only for Blake to arrive, having made her choice from last episode about who to help. It's a legitimately nice attack, but I happened to pause at the bEST MOMENT

Anyway.

We leave that fight to return to Qrow and Harriet who have, off screen, started an entirely different battle. What I mean is, last we saw Qrow had broken through the windshield of the airship, roughly pinned Harriet, and was taunting her about getting the fight she wanted. Now, suddenly, he's going “You’re making a mistake, Harriet, what happened to Clover—” as if he's been trying to talk her down this whole time. It's jarring, especially when we consider that Qrow had a volume long "kill Ironwood" arc that was dropped because... Robyn reminded him that murder is bad? RWBY feels like a storytelling pinball machine. Characters bounce from one personality to the next, one perspective and another, round and round until you don't know where they'll end up.

Harriet screams for Qrow to just shut up already and honestly? Same. I love Qrow, he's one of my favorites, but I can't deny that he's been done dirty like so many others since Volume 6. I love who Qrow was, not the mess RWBY has created the last few years.

Time to delve back into fic after recapping!

Sadly though, this strange dialogue wasn't the only "wtf" moment. Harriet is still trying to drop the bomb — which is its own mess of confusing motivations — when Vine and Elm show up on Harriet's ship. Elm begs Harriet not to do this "because you’re our friend!”

Am I glad that they finally acknowledged that the Ace Ops have always been friends? Sure, but why did we spend two volumes claiming otherwise? They were friends, a fantastic team, then Harriet announces that's a lie and we get a bunch of "Team RWBY is superior because they're actually friends" messages. Except this entire time we're still watching the Ace Ops be kind and playful with one another. But they're not friends, the story says. Not friends as they fight these battles. Not friends as they grieve for Clover. Definitely not friends as they react in horror at Ironwood nearly shooting Marrow. No, there's nothing there... until Elm claims there is! Then Harriet reacts in shock. I have friends?

Except Elm was labeled the one "just following orders" by Yang. Elm is the one who shook off Vine after the whale exploded. This isn't the story of one character, Harriet, thinking she was alone and then realizing that people do care for her, this is a story that, seemingly at random, had this group being BFFs or acting like they hated each other — and at each point the visuals are contradicted by the story's message. When they act like friends, we're told they're not friends. When they don't act like friends, we're told they really have been this whole time. I mean, do any of them even care that Marrow teamed up with Qrow and Robyn to take them out five minutes ago? All three were going along with Ironwood's scheme until they were physically stopped, but now Elm is convinced this is a bad decision she needs to talk Harriet down from with the power of friendship?

None of these characters are characters, they're just slapped together reactions based on whatever the plot needs. Who is Elm? I've got no clue. Her personality changes every episode.

Also, love that Qrow moves to stop the bomb from dropping and Harriet screams at him to "Get out of the way!" rather than just... attacking him? She even throws her hands out like she's having a temper tantrum. This feels like schoolyard bickering, not a life or death struggle.

Even though, you know, the audience is aware that the people of Mantle have already been evacuated and Qrow's group is aware that Atlas is falling on top of Mantle as they speak, so... why does the bomb matter? It's going to, what? Destroy the city thirty seconds before Atlas does? Oh no, the horror.

Things then, if you can believe it, get even worse. The bomb is still about to drop, so instead of doing anything to stop it — I mean seriously, we know it takes four people to shoulder the bomb's weight, but you're telling me Qrow and a reformed Harriet can't snag it in a pinch? — Qrow sits there, looks at Clover's pin... and the bomb careens towards the side of the airship instead, stopping.

Because I guess Qrow has good luck now? Or always did and somehow never noticed it? Or his semblance evolved?? Again, we don't know, but it's a bad moment any way you slice it, imo. Qrow has always been defined as the guy with a bad luck semblance and, much like Penny's android struggles, the allure was in watching him overcome those challenges, not having the show erase the challenge entirely. Especially when we don't even understand how it was erased. Qrow just... stops drinking, stops caring for Ironwood, stops wanting to kill Ironwood, stops causing bad luck, I guess. RWBY takes major character traits and flips them off like a light switch, leaving the audience with no emotional tether. We didn't watch Qrow overcome his drinking, or realize he can't bear to kill Ironwood, or discover a way to live life with the horrible hand he was dealt, he just blinks one day and those things are gone. Why? No one is sure. Not even the writers, I'd wager, because otherwise they would have written explanations into the text.

Many in the fandom insist that any basic information provided by the story amounts to "hand holding" when in fact there is a massive difference between the sort of unnecessary exposition that bogs down a tale, and having facts enough for the audience in its entirety to be on the same page about what is actually happening. For example, recently someone argued strongly that the "Penny is human" take is incorrect because Penny isn't human, she has an inhuman body made entirely of aura... yet where in the world does this exist in the story? Ambrosius may have been unsure about what Penny would be prior to removing her robotic parts, but that ambiguity is gone once her body forms, the equivalent of worrying about that gun only for a flag with 'BANG' to appear instead of a bullet. Worrying about something doesn't mean that something actually occurred. Penny appears human, expresses human sentiments, and then, this episode, dies as a human. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck and succumbs to the mortal peril that all ducks face... it's probably a duck. As I said in a recent ask, I implore the fandom to stop writing RWBY's scripts for them. Or rather, do so in some amazing fanfics. Don't do it on critical posts as a means of insisting that your revision is canon.

So Qrow has good luck now, maybe, but this character change doesn't amount to anything because Watts remotely starts the bomb's countdown.

At least he’s entertaining and competent. We had that for a time.

Back to the main battle, Neo is kicking Ruby's ass. Why? Because there's no consistency in power levels in this show. The ancient woman who hasn't fought in decades dances circles around Neo, highlighting how weak she supposedly is, yet now Neo dances circles around our main character. None of us should expect fights to follow the logic of the world, only what drama the plot wants to stir up. Ruby is eventually knocked down from a hard hit — yet her aura's intact! — and is saved at the last second by Weiss tossing Neo into one of the portals.

Far more of a problem than the power leveling is that Ruby gives no indication here that Neo just murdered her sister. Again, that's what the characters are meant to believe, yet Ruby is as stoic as she would be fighting a bunch of White Fang grunts. If you showed this scene to a RWBY fan on its own and asked, "What do you think happened prior to this?" the answer would be, "Uh... nothing? Ruby is just fighting Neo like she did on the airship in Volume 3." Nothing about this scene — from dialogue to animation — sells the idea that Ruby just lost the person most important to her in the world.

When we do finally mention Yang, it's Weiss who goes, “Come on, we have to do this for Yang” and the delivery is... meh. Honestly, I normally don't pay much attention to the voice acting, but I had a problem with most of Weiss' lines this episode. The "Leave her alone!" during this fight and later a "Get back!" as she attacks Cinder both fell really flat for me. Given the devastation and charged emotion that's supposed to be here, we can't give her anything better than generic cries that, again, she’d throw at any grunt? In that later scene the animation absolutely helps sell Weiss' distress, but the dialogue is common and the delivery has no emotional punch, leaving it feeling like Yang is just hanging out in Vacuo and they promised they'd beat the baddies before catching up with her. No one but Blake is acting like Yang died.

In fact, we see more emotion from Ruby when Weiss shoves her back, taking the brunt of Cinder's blast.

Weiss' aura breaks, not that that's a danger or anything. Everyone falls before they're injured, Winter gets the Maiden powers, Ren barely has to fight. Losing aura in this show used to be a moment of peril, where just last volume Winter was bruised, bleeding, and now needs an assistive device because she had to continue a battle with no aura. Now it's a joke. Aura breaks left and right across the volume with no repercussions attached to that.

We see a bit of the Blake and Penny vs. Cinder fight where Cinder blasts Blake off the edge. Penny rushes after her because at least one character remembered that they can fly.

Ruby, meanwhile, remembers that she can fly when it benefits her. After getting hit down onto a lower level and watching Crescent Rose plummet, she taunts Neo into an attack with a move that's actually quite good. I like the confidence with which Ruby riles her up and I like the strategy of darting behind Neo to knock her off the path instead. “Whatever you wanted, I hope it was worth it."

The only thing I don't like is that this speed and ingenuity had to disappear to justify Yang falling.

Cinder breaks Ruby's aura from behind though, sending her over too and grabbing onto Neo's leg. In an obvious moment born of the trope, it looks as if Cinder is reaching to help Neo, only for her to snag the Relic instead. “You should have never threatened me," she tells Neo and to Ruby: "you should have never been born.”

Love that they erased all that cool growth from last episode! And by "love" I mean "hate." As I said last recap, I'm not going to pretend that Cinder's character isn't riddled with problems, but realizing she was stronger by teaming up with Neo and Watts was one of the best things they've ever done for her. It made Cinder dangerous again and showed Watts' speech having a clear impact. It also made her more entertaining, creating a new dynamic among the three villains. Now though, Cinder is just... Cinder. The same boring, stupid Cinder we've had since Volume 4. She betrays Neo and then later betrays Watts.

So Cinder kicks Neo and Ruby both over the edge because why would we want to make her interesting? Neo falls, but Ruby has friends there to catch her! Unlike Yang. Jk. Weiss’ aura is gone and Blake actually tried both times, so major kudos for her. Using momentum supplied by Penny, she snags Ruby and hooks her weapon into one of the pathways... only for Cinder to cut the ribbon. Both plummet and once again Penny has a more believable reaction to all this, just like she did last week

Speaking of reactions, does anyone else find it weird that Cinder finally succeeded in killing Ruby and... doesn’t seem to care?

No? Just me?

At least we get that good animation with Weiss I was talking about before, even if the dialogue is lacking. I love that she snagged Blake's weapon and uses it to try and take out Cinder, shaking the whole time. Those are some great details.

Back to the bomb, Qrow is trying to escape, but Harriet says there isn't enough time to get out of the blast range. "I've killed us all." Vine has the solution though, using his semblance to wrap up the airship, thus containing the blast when it goes off. His final words are to reassure Elm that he can give his life, "if it means saving all of my friends." Just in case you missed the part about the Ace Ops being super close this whole time. Even though they also weren’t. Trying to eat your cake too, RWBY?

Frankly, I didn't feel much of anything during this scene, not when Vine made the sacrifice, nor when Elm and Harriet look on sadly while Robyn pilots them away (that's her contribution this episode).

All I can say is, good on RWBY for not killing one of the three dark skinned characters, or just murdering the Ace Ops as a whole. What the story is going to do with them though, who knows.

Jaune and Nora have that ‘You can do it!’ moment after three of their friends have presumably been killed. I swear, about 80% of Jaune's scenes do not work tonally and oh boy, things only get worse from here.

First though, I like his entrance. He slams into the fight against Cinder and lines up with Penny and Weiss, who is still dual-wielding her and Blake's weapons. That's an epic shot.

It looks as if they stand a decent chance against Cinder — Weiss' lost aura notwithstanding — except then Cinder's arm starts going crazy and she gleefully announces that Salem has returned.

Working on a time limit now, Cinder unleashes a volley of attacks that Penny steps in to protect the other two from. It's here that Cinder grabs hold with her grimm arm.

It's here that Penny dies. Again.

For the third time.

Friends, I am tired. This moment honestly deserves the most epic of rants, but that, in turn, requires energy. Energy? In this economy? Ha! That's hilarious. Taking this seriously though, the problem here can — as usual — be boiled down to a single question: What was the point?

Penny died in a horrible attack that shook the cast and audience both to their core.

That emotional impact was erased through her resurrection.

The resurrection did not create a new emotional impact for our heroes to grapple with.

Penny is given the Maiden powers, solidifying the fact that she's always been a "real girl."

That lesson was erased when the story decided to make her human for unexplained reasons (because no, she never needed to be human to survive the virus).

Penny then dies, passing the power to Winter... who was set to get the power in the first place.

We have, once again, come full circle. You can take Penny out of the story and nothing changes. Does Ruby lose any lessons or emotional growth? No. Does anyone survive who would have otherwise died? No. Does her getting the powers lead to someone unexpected snagging them upon her death? No. Penny's existence was filler. She was put in the story to take up time and, that done, was removed from the story once again. It's a choice that wouldn't be half as horrible if that filler hadn't done so much damage along the way.

First is the obvious: that Penny didn't deserve this. As a character, she didn't deserve to be brought back just to be killed off again, seemingly without narrative purpose, serving only to draw in viewers who RT knew loved the character. Second, keeping her in the story led to her entire arc unraveling. Initially, Penny died as an android in the world's eyes, but those who actually knew her — Ruby and Pietro — mourned the girl she really was. Now we have this horrible message that being a machine isn't real enough, so she has to die as a human being. It's a disservice to her character and, as an allegory for many minorities, downright insulting to the audience. Third, this offensive 'better to die as a human than live as a robot' message is wrapped up in the claim that Penny finally gets to choose something — “Let me choose this one thing. Trust me” — but she already did that when she chose to take the Maiden powers. We already had the better written version of this last volume!

And the fourth issue...well.

Fourth and fifth are the real kickers. Fourth is that Penny's death was an assisted suicide. She explicitly asks Jaune to kill her so she can ensure she's thinking of the right person when she passes (never mind that her thoughts would probably be on Jaune while this is happening) and that's... pretty horrible. Look, I'm no purist. I like a great deal of dark, gritty stories whose plot exists to make us uncomfortable. That's a valuable emotion that fiction can generate. The problem is not that RWBY is tackling a sensitive topic, but that they aren’t tackling it well. Yes, they put in a content warning and (from what I've heard) a suicide helpline as well, but providing the already necessary resources is not the same thing as writing that kind of scene with respect and care. All of the above tells us that, no matter what RT may have intended, that respect and care weren't communicated to the audience. Like Yang, they didn't even bother to keep Penny's death within the rules of their world. Jaune is right there ready to heal her and Penny says no, there's supposedly not time.

Um... since when?

Jaune's aura boost is instantaneous. The second he amplifies aura is the same second the healing starts and their talk could have been spent saving Penny. There was certainly time to save Weiss in Volume 5. To have a character go, 'Nah, it's too late' when the solution is right there is the ultimate cop-out. Suddenly announcing that the solution will no longer work For Reasons is not a legitimate limitation and it's made doubly insulting that RT didn't simply use the limitations already available to them. Jaune has been running low on aura since the whale. He then expended a great deal of aura boosting Penny to keep the virus in check. Every other ally has had their aura broken in this fight so, there. That's your solution. Have Jaune take a few hard hits from Cinder, his aura breaks, and then when Penny is mortally wounded he no longer has a semblance to heal her. It's that easy! Yet instead they had Penny reject help so that she could ask to die. That's what's offensive here.

Finally, reason number five... why is this moment given to Jaune? That's another easy solution: Jaune has gone through the portal and can't get back to heal Penny. There. Done. But logistics aside, this scene should have gone to any other character. Who is Jaune to Penny? Or Penny to Jaune? No one! They don't have a relationship. I get that the writers didn't want any of the girls at her side because then it would be hard to justify Penny not passing the power to them (which I get: making one team member a Maiden changes the show drastically), but you know who should be there instead of Jaune?

Pietro.

Pietro, who built Penny as a weapon and who was never given the chance to apologize for that. Pietro, who told Ruby he could only rebuild her once more, setting up an expectation that he'd sacrifice himself for his daughter (despite the complicated racial issues that would bring up). Pietro, who watched Penny plummet and has no idea what happened to her, let alone that she's been made into a human girl. Pietro should have been at her side, saying goodbye to his child and helping her complete her last wish.

And it would be so very easy to pull off. All it takes is a single line where Penny remembers that her father exists, asking Ruby to ensure a portal opens up in Amity. There's a quick reunion along the pathways before Cinder attacks. We hear a cry of despair as Penny falls and she looks, seeing her father racing towards her, though she thought he'd already made it out. There, you’re done. We open ourselves up to a lot of attacks whenever we say, "Why didn't RWBY just do ____?" because those who vehemently defend the writing like to go, "Oh, you think you could write RWBY better?" and no, I don't. I struggle with long-form storytelling and massive casts. I don't think I could do justice to the sort of show RWBY wants to be, but I do think I'm a decent enough writer to spot when there are major problems like this. The question of "Why doesn't Penny remember that her beloved dad exists?" and "Why, out of that massive cast, is Jaune the one to do this deed?" are both things that a newbie writer can spot, and a sometimes okay writer can figure out how to fix them both simultaneously. A good writer will start thinking about themes — what might it mean for Pietro to kill the creation he made? — and a great writer will find a way to pull that off without having that insulting, discomforting feeling pop up. At this point, our RWBY crew feels less like new writers making mistakes (because they're not new, not at all), but rather just writers who haven't bothered to learn from their mistakes after eight years. That's a lot harder to watch.

Because putting Jaune here doesn't just mess with RWBY's internal rules (not using his semblance) and it's not just useless in terms of Penny's development (she doesn't know him outside of "dude who boosted my aura for an hour"), but it also falls back into a pattern I thought RWBY had finally broken from: making Jaune the story's emotional center. This is not the JAUNE show. It's the RWBY show. Yet here, once again, we have Jaune in the spotlight. Why, after a whole volume of Ruby avoiding making decisions, does Jaune finally make the hard call? Why, after a scene where Penny asked Ruby to kill her, does Jaune do that deed? Why, after a divisive arc where all the grief for Pyrrha went to Jaune, is Jaune now set to shoulder the grief of Penny? At least Jaune had a relationship with Pyrrha, even if Nora and Ren did too. Yet with Penny he seems to be there solely because the writers can't bear to keep him out of that center spot for long. All of Team JNOR make it through to Vacuo... except Jaune. Jaune falls into the abyss too because, if the show goes this route, we apparently can’t have a volume just about Team RWBY, the main characters. The main characters are separated from the rest of the team and it's Jaune, not Oscar and Ozpin with a connection to the lore, not Nora or Ren whose development now hinges on them learning who they are without the other, it's Jaune who follows the title characters into a new dimension.

The issue is not whether Jaune deserves to grieve over the truly traumatic thing he just did now that he’s done it. He obviously does. The issue is the writers setting up a scenario where Jaune is situated to do that emotional work in the first place.

I like Jaune as a character. I don't like how the writing uses him as a character. RWBY is built on the idea that these four girls are the heroes of this tale, not the expected blond, blue-eyed, sword wielding guy we’ve seen in so many other stories. So why does that guy get the most important scene of the finale? Yes, Jaune had much less screen time this volume than he did in the past, that’s a good thing given the number of important characters RWBY has to balance, but that hasn't erased the problem of him being given significant moments that should be going to title characters. Does Ruby’s team rescue Oscar and take on Salem? No, Jaune's team does. Does Ruby's team save Penny? No, Jaune's semblance keeps her grounded and then holds the virus off. Not everything is a problem — we've also got good choices like having Ruby defeat the Hound and Ruby's team take on Cinder for the majority of the fight — but that doesn't erase that Penny’s death wasn’t something Jaune should have been a part of. Not unless he was going to heal her. Doing better than they have in the past doesn't mean that RT isn't still slipping when it comes to giving him undeserved focus.

They took one of the most controversial characters, controversial because of how much emotional focus he's gotten in the past, and had him help a fan favorite commit suicide while he cried about it, showing more emotion for a near stranger than our title character showed for her sister. This is a character who, up until two or three episodes ago, had no connection to the victim and still has no reason to thematically be the one committing this act. That is why the fandom goes, “The crew loves Jaune and does everything they can to put him in the center of the action.” Ruby, as main character and Penny’s first friend, is the obvious choice here. Pietro, as Penny's father, would be a good choice too. Hell, Nora is a better option given their moment in the Schnee manor this volume. Or Winter given their moments in Volume 7! Have her escape Ironwood, find Penny, receive the powers, and then finish him off. Literally anyone would be better than Jaune, not because Jaune is a bad character, but because Jaune has no emotional stakes here and putting him in a position where he could heal Penny but doesn’t is massively stupid. No one should be surprised that a lot of the fandom is upset about this. It was one hell of a reach to give him this moment and, since Jaune's problem has always been getting too much screen time and emotional nuance compared to our main cast, it's no wonder this act brought up a lot of bad memories. RT fell back into an old pattern after two volumes of improvement and they did so at the worst possible time.

The tl;dr is that Penny's third death is a writing travesty, just like her second. I shouldn't be surprised, given that this is the same volume that tortured a kid and the only thing they did with it was have him blindly trust his torturer... yet I find myself surprised nonetheless. Because Penny had such potential as an android Maiden and, as much as I personally hated it, potential as a former android learning to be human too. But why explore any of that when you can kill her off instead? Again.

As a final, far smaller note about this scene, we have the continuing problem of what purpose Cinder's arm is serving. If everyone recalls, its threat comes primarily from the fact that she can "siphon off" power from other Maidens.

She did it to Penny during the Amity battle and now she does it again, a great deal of green energy absorbed into Cinder. So what's left to give to Winter? Why doesn't Cinder become noticeably stronger with each successful theft? Like so much else in RWBY, we're told it exists without actually seeing the impact of that. Winter isn't a weaker Maiden for having lost power and Cinder isn't a stronger Maiden for having snagged it. It's just.. there, hanging out and looking vaguely menacing, I guess.

Outside of this unnatural not-transfer, we get to see how the power normally passes as Penny meets with Winter in some in-between place. It's a soft, heartfelt scene... with the exception that Winter says, “You were always the real Maiden at heart. I was just the machine. Just following orders."

I don't know how any viewer can doubt that RT now believes machinery = evil. Penny's machine body is magicked away so she can be a real-real girl. Yang announces that the arm she worked hard to make a part of herself is just "extra." The man with half a metal body is made this volume's villain and losing his second arm is, by the authors' own admission, a symbol of his lost humanity. Mercury with two metal legs remains a bad guy while Emerald and Hazel are hastily redeemed. Tyrian with his cybernetic tail is the most devoted crazy of the bunch. Maria, blind and in need of assistive lenses, is so forgotten by the story she was left in the tundra nine episode ago and won't be mentioned again until next volume (if then). Pietro, the guy in the wheelchair, is forgotten too, despite it being his daughter who dies on screen.

Now Winter, also bearing an assistive device, says that she's the real "machine" here and tells Penny, now human, that she was always the "real Maiden." I don't know what happened to make RT do a 180 lately, but the disability rep is no longer what it was.

Penny reassures Winter that she'll always be a part of her and then passes on, for good this time.

The rest of the episode feels lackluster, if I'm being honest. Images of Cinder beating Weiss are intercut with Ironwood beating Winter, getting her to a point where her aura breaks.

But then the powers appear and, as we'd expect, she easily turns the tide.

Gorgeous animation there.

But RT once again rewrites earlier scenes by having Ironwood claim that the "destiny" he chose for Winter has finally arrived — isn't that Cinder's MO? — and Winter shoots back that he chose nothing, this was a "gift." Except, it was never about destiny or orders? This was why Weiss' anger in Volume 7 was ridiculous. She acted like Ironwood forced Winter to accept the powers and Winter told her point blank she chose this. Ironwood didn't decide anything, he offered and Winter chose... kind of like how Penny is choosing now. I hate how nearly all of Ironwood's character has been ignored or, during times like this, outright lied about to make him seem super duper evil. He tried to bomb a city! You don't need to make him seem evil anymore, that job is done! Like their sudden change regarding disability, RT now seems to be allergic to nuance. Heaven forbid Ironwood be allowed to have valid points like he did in Volume 3. No, if you've got an antagonist every single thing they've ever said must be twisted into a display of their evilness.

Unless you're Hazel, who Oscar trusts for #reasons. Unless you're Emerald, who the group immediately embraces. Unless you're Cinder, who gets to cry on a rooftop and secures the trust of her allies long enough to betray them again.

But Ironwood? Nah, screw that guy.

Salt aside, the fight is pretty boring. Winter literally just throws up a wall of ice and Ironwood's blast rebounds, taking him out.

Winter flies through the portal and we return to Jaune. His sword is broken by Cinder, so weapons should be quite the problem in Volume 9.

There's a bit of sword vs. sword Maiden battling — this episode really pulled heavily from both Volume 3 and 5's finales — before Cinder gets smart again and attacks Weiss, currently trying to escape with Jaune. Weiss goes right off the edge and Winter isn't able to reach her in time. That's the entirety of Team RWBY, lost to the magical void.

Kudos to Winter's VA and the writing here though. This feels like an appropriate reaction to losing a sister. Screaming, sobbing, falling to her knees and beating the floor... Ruby, take notes.

A roar sounds through all the portals though, the sort of roar a pissed off witch might give. Jaune convinces Winter they need to leave Cinder behind, but before they can escape Cinder... makes a new wish?

Look, it works on all the major fronts. Cinder has the staff, check. We've basically established that Ambrosius can make an unlimited number of things per era, check. We know the previous thing disappears when a new wish is made, check. My only question is the timing. In all honesty, I'll have to re-watch the scene to be sure, but at the time it felt like the portals began disappearing almost the second Cinder left. Did she really have time to summon Ambrosius, deal with his explanatory nonsense, and get him to make a new wish without any fiddly concerns? Sure, fire is just fire, but it still felt like way too much happening too fast off screen.

Either way, the portals are gone and Winter makes it through in time, but Jaune does not. He falls through the void along with Team RWBY. And Neo.

Neo is the only addition I'm looking forward to here.

We get a few shots of our other characters as Winter arrives, saving the day by taking her grief out on the grimm. So glad something came of Ren breaking his aura again! Maybe they'll be more fighting at the beginning of Volume 9? If we see any of this group outside of 9's finale. My worst fear right now is that we'll spend an entire season away from the main action — remember how I said it would be stupid for Team RWBY to go on a side adventure while Salem is attacking the world? — and when they return there will have been some major time skip. Salem has destroyed most of Remnant, only pockets of survivors remain, it's all dark and dystopian... and oh look, every bit of character development happened off screen. How did Nora discover who she is without Ren? She did it while Team RWBY was gone. That merge we've been teasing for five years? That happened while you were gone too and, btw, Ozpin has ceased to exist. So sad, right? Not that anyone will actually mourn. Just take comfort in the fact that his last line was an "Oh no" about Ambrosius and his last major scene was apologizing for how the group treated him. Emerald's redemption? Off screen. Winter's grief? Off screen. Any and every one of these challenging beats to tackle can be waved away with, "We went through that arc while you were lost in the magical realm. Just get to know our new, improved selves now!"

Please, oh writing gods, don't let that happen.

Though I do worry because my last prediction came true.

But we all knew we’d end up here. My current theory? The portal should still be open at the vault. Winter will fight Ironwood, escape through it, and it will close right before he escapes too. He’ll fall with Atlas and everyone will act as if it’s some beautiful, poetic justice for him to perish with the city.

Ironwood didn't make a break for the portal — too busy being unconscious — but we got everything else. Winter left him, he falls with Atlas, and this is some poetic justice, I guess. Really, it's just an undignified death. I'd hoped for a sympathetic kill, something that showed the characters still cared about him even if they knew Ironwood had to be stopped. Baring that, I'd hoped for an epic battle that took him out with style. Instead, no one even bothers to kill him. Ironwood is now beneath the entire cast, not even worth finishing off. Winter casually tosses his blast back at him and leaves. Cinder throws out a "that's checkmate" and leaves. I don't think Salem even looks at him. Ironwood (presumably) dies with no one and nothing, just a casualty of the city Team RWBY made fall. And I say "presumably" because the audience isn't even given the satisfaction of being sure he's passed on. Like Hazel, Ironwood's death is this weird, ambiguous moment that, based on the other character reactions, isn’t meant to be ambiguous. Is he dead? Most likely. Is it possible, based on what we've seen, that he'll pop up two volumes later like

Yes and, memes aside, that sucks. I don't want to be wondering for the next couple years if Ironwood survived and if they'll bring him back just to drag his character through the mud again. Move on.

But no, we don't even get that.

I've spoken at great deal about Ironwood both in these recaps and on my blog more generally. Last week, I said I'd covered it all and there was no need to rehash it all again. I stand by that, so let me just conclude this travesty with a final note: if your bad guy's final moment is using the last of his strength to point a gun at the actual villain of this story, and you don't realize the problem of how this image contrasts everything else the story has insisted about his character? … I just don't know what to do with that.

Oh, actually, final-final note: Ironwood’s semblance is officially a Schrodinger's semblance. It is both canonical and noncanonical simultaneously. Wooo.

Cinder tells Salem she used her wish to "add more flames to the first of Atlas" and we cut to Watts, trapped in a roaring fire, unsuccessfully trying to break his way out. Wow, I hate that too! Next to Tyrian, Watts was our last remaining, entertaining villain. He carried a lot of the last two volumes and, I had hoped, was going to add some bright spots to the coming volumes as well. Apparently not.

Just another waste.

In addition to this casual, second murder of her ally, Cinder successfully convinces Salem that Neo killed Ruby and Ruby used the Lamp's last question, but she's back in her good graces since she snagged the Relics anyway. “You’ve done well, Cinder. Our work here is done" and they leave, blasting off like a less cool Team Rocket as Atlas plummets into Mantle.

Let's spend a second to tally things up then, shall we? What happens if Ruby, instead of throwing a moral fit, says, "You're right and we never should have lied to you, or betrayed you. But we want to help now. You get the Relics and the Maiden to safety in Atlas, if you can, we'll defend the people of Mantle"?

Well, they can still tell the world about Salem and call for help, much more easily now since Ironwood would likely just give them the code rather than them needing to spend an episode stealing it.

The Staff at least may not have ended up in Salem's hands and the group could have actually focused on getting the Lamp back (also solved if they'd been smart and just put it in the vault to begin with).

Mantle would still have been safe because Salem was never interested in Mantle to begin with.

Atlas wouldn't have fallen.

Ironwood wouldn't have died.

Penny wouldn't have died.

Even Vine wouldn't have died!

Our heroes unambiguously made the situation worse. Rather than banding together with their allies to fight the real enemy, Salem, they pushed until they made enemies of Ironwood and the Ace Ops both. Then they asked for help — which a pinch of logic said would never arrive — and twiddled their thumbs waiting for it. When it was clear none would come they...did nothing. They sat around, upset that the people were in danger, but not willing to do anything about it. It's only when one of their own, Penny, is threatened that they kick into high gear, hitting on a solution that they could have posed to Ironwood from the very start if no one liked the fly away plan. Yet instead of taking a few minutes to brainstorm other ideas — doing anything other than denouncing Ironwood to the rest of the group and attacking the Ace Ops — they spent two days sitting around, fixing minor messes they’d helped to create, then rushed through the portal plan, messing up the wish and stranding an entire kingdom in a sandstorm, with only Winter now to protect them from grimm.

Fantastically done, team.

The villains won, yes, but not because the villains were smart and compelling. Watts' hack on Penny and the heat petered out to nothing and Salem... well, she sat around for the whole volume, expending energy only to torture Oscar and try to (unsuccessfully) stop some escapees. Neo and, miraculously, Cinder did the most damage, but only in the final hour, with this "damage" being that our characters fall into a void that we now know looks remarkably like a paradise! Everything bad that happened was a result of our heroes being stupid and stubborn. That's a compelling story to tell... but RT isn't trying to tell it. Our heroes caused so much damage, yet that damage goes unacknowledged — or worse, ignored into silence like with Ren — and everything else is waved away with the magic wand the series claims isn't there. The cold doesn't kill anyone. Oscar has no problems walking off the torture. Nora hops back out of bed. Ruby one-shots the Hound. The civilians lost to the void must have survived too. The entire kingdom successfully makes it to Vacuo... unless you count the massive army we never saw making use of the portals, but who cares about them, right?

The villains won, there was indeed something resembling consequences, but none of it was emotionally satisfying. Not even when the series tries so hard to insist that emotion is there.

Qrow watches Atlas fall, mouthing Ruby and Yang's names, but it's too little, too late. Where was this care for his nieces when he was obsessed with killing Ironwood? When did they care about him? Was it when Ruby shrugged at his arrest, when neither cared that he was missing, or when they were designing an escape plan that didn't include putting a portal where Qrow could reach? RWBY markets itself around the found family-ness of its cast, but they're done a poor job in recent volumes (not others) of convincing me that most of these characters care for one another. We went from Ruby denouncing all adults, to Ruby pulling an Ozpin with Ironwood, to Ruby watching blandly as her sister falls to her presumed death. This is my hero? This is the simple soul we're supposed to rally behind? Ruby doesn't feel like a character who cares about other people anymore and, given that she leads the charge, neither do most of her friends. Or, when that emotion appears, it's jarring and undeserved. Jaune cries over Penny's death? That's tonally and characteristically backwards.

This volume was the culmination of so many mistakes over the past two years. No, Covid couldn't have made things any easier for the crew — the fact that they got a volume out at all is amazing — but the pandemic isn't to blame for the problems in the story. These seeds have existed since Volume 5, with some (like Jaune) going back even farther. I don't think we're ever going to get that flawed, but emotionally fulfilling RWBY back. The show has dug too deep and unless it somehow manages to create a clean slate — those time travel ideas get more and more alluring! — there's nothing they can do but keep on digging. At this point, I can only hope that the series does wrap up within the next two volumes, rather than dragging RWBY to a Supernatural-esque length.

Our final shot of the episode proper feels fitting for what this volume has been. Atlas and Mantle flood rather than exploding, something that makes a certain amount of sense, sure, but definitely wasn't what I was expecting. And after all these shocking images — Penny dying, the grimm attacking, our main characters disappearing in a puff of gold dust — we end it all with bits of random debris. It's strange and underwhelming. Out of everything you could have done with the options you had, you choose to do this?

Of course, RWBY always has an after-credits scene (RIP Raven's, still amounting to nothing). Here, the sounds of water return to show us a beach. Crescent Rose imbedded in the sand, mirroring its classic pose in the snow.

There's a tree. It's a very different kind of tree from what we saw in Volume 6, but the height and shape is nevertheless reminiscent of Light's domain.

A tree of life, anyone? After all, the group has fallen into a dimension created by a Relic, the gift of Light himself. It certainly seems as if RWBY is heading towards another encounter with the Gods, though what that will look like and how narratively satisfying it will be remains to be seen.

As for our bingo board, RWBY certainly pulled its weight! Only three squares got gold stars: Watts and Jacques didn't manage another team up because both are dead, Oscar didn't apologize for getting shot because he was too busy being tortured, and Qrow didn't drink likely because he didn't have access to any alcohol across the whole volume. Can't say that's a stellar result. The final image is something to behold though lol.

What a mess.

And on that less than exciting note... we’re done. This has been the volume of desertion, with a large number of fans telling me that they will no longer watch RWBY, but baring something entirely unexpected in my future, I'll be back next volume, for whatever that's worth. It never ceases to amaze me that even one person would give these nonsense recaps the time of day, so in all seriousness: thank you for reading. You rock.

Now go forth and fill the hiatus with great RWBY content!

✌️

#suicide tw #rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #mymetas #rwby recaps #rwby the final word

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williamjakespeare · 3 years

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nitpick

So I realized I have another nitpick, and once again it's about Oz. Namely, it's about his nickname "Oz". I really liked it when it was introduced, it set apart Qrow as the very informal type who would throw around nicknames where the rest of the Inner Circle addressed Ozpin by a title. (And it made this Clockworq shipper happy.) Then the main cast picked it up, and I could roll with it - they were no longer in a highly formal setting like a school, and it was tactically reasonable - this way if they were around people not in on the secret, the uninitiated would just think Os/Oz is a nickname for Oscar.

But it really ends up not being indicative of anything. Even Raven calls him Oz, and it's clearly not out of fondness. I get that people can use nicknames even for those they don't exactly like, but I saw it as such a neat thing, a way to show people's relationship to Ozpin and characterize them at the same time, and now everyone has it so it's meaningless.

(And that's just before getting into headcanons. Like, a lot of people adopted the idea of giving the Ozcarnations names that start with Os or Oz, for example I've seen Ozymandias used for the King of Vale. And that means the nickname could have persisted through several lifetimes and gosh I just wish it meant something when people called him Oz).

Yes, I made another nitpick just about Oz. I'm that single-minded, I'll try others. I wanted to find nitpicks about James, but he's perfect so I gave up.

#nitpick november #rwde

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alexlwrites · 4 years

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Liability

Summary: The one where your best friend of years and love of your life is getting married and wants you to be the maid of honor. Luckily for you, the best man is not exactly happy either.

Pairing: Taehyung x Reader, Jungkook x Reader

Tags: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst

A/n: if you enjoy this, please comment and reblog. It really means the world to me and keeps me going!

Part 2: If one thing had been different (1/3)

(Fanfic masterlist)

(support me on my ko-fi <3 )

(<<<Part one)

The weeks leading to the wedding day felt like a fever induced nightmare, hazy and blurry, filled with stomach aches and anxiety nausea. You threw yourself into work, typing until the tips of your fingers were calloused and your wrists hurt, only leaving the office when the janitor kicked you out with a broom to the butt.

You couldn’t avoid Taehyung. No, that would lead to questions with painful answers or over complicated, dead end lies. So you were avoiding yourself - filling every single second of your schedule with some sort of meaningless task, only resting when your body was exhausted enough to not even bother dreaming.

Sunken cheeks and eyes with purple galaxies around it, you carried yourself like a ghost from place to place, saving up energy for the days when you had to try wedding cakes and pretend that you weren’t going to throw them up later, when you agreed with whatever flower or fabric Haewon chose, holding back your real opinions out of spite, wanting to keep the details of the wedding you’ve planned since you were twelve to yourself.

You already stole the groom, you thought bitterly to yourself while sipping whatever champagne they offered at the venue at 2 pm on a Tuesday, you’re not stealing the lilies too. “No, yeah” you’d end up saying “roses are definitely the way to go.”

Taehyung didn’t notice your sudden introspection, didn’t bat an eye at your pale skin and bitten nails, blinded by Haewon’s ever growing brightness, both riding the newly-engaged high. At this point, you were comfortable on the sidelines, happy at their obliviousness. People in love were easy to fool - you had been fooling yourself for years.

In the first few wedding planning appointments, it was just you and Haewon. She wanted to choose the dress first and the process had a strict “no guys allowed” policy. So you followed her from store to store, accompanied by her supportive mom and overly critical friend, running your hands through dresses you were pessimistically sure you’d never get to wear.

“I still think this is too soon.” Aera, Haewon’s college friend, said in one of the dressing rooms, legs crossed and tapping her heel. Aera was nice and friendly, but vocal in a way that was starting to get to your nerves. Although both of you weren’t happy with the wedding, her approach was to complain her way through it. Yours was to pretend it wasn’t happening, hoping everything would be over.

“I know, Aera” Haewon replied, barely bothering to look at her friend, eyes fixed on her image in the mirror, shining in a lace dress “you have mentioned several times before.”

“But yet you’re still going through with it.”

You rolled your eyes, but didn’t say anything, just like you wished Aera would. Haewon saw your annoyed expression through the mirror and winked at you, amused at your annoyance. “Yes, Aera” she said in the same patient tone a person would use to explain something to a child “Funnily enough I don’t need your approval on all my decisions”.

“I’m not saying you do” Aera was not letting go and you wished for the millionth time you could leave or at least get a pair of earphones “but it is my job as your best friend to give you unsolicited advice. You have only been with Taehyung for like, a year and a half? And your career is just starting to pick up too! Is he really worth it all this…”

“As the groom’s best friend it is my job to tell you to not finish that thought.” you warned, voice still monotone and calm. You didn’t want to start anything with Aera, but you already hated this wedding enough on your own, you didn’t need her help “Look, I’m sure Haewon appreciates your input and how much you care, but if she’s not gonna listen to it then you should support her either way, not try to convince her to leave my best friend everytime we get together.”

Aera didn’t say much after that. She didn’t seem upset or chagrined, more deep in thought than anything else. All her commentary from then on revolved only around the dresses and so the fitting carried on quietly and without further problems.

Later, when the sun was getting down and you were just getting ready to leave the store, Haewon pulled you to the side gently before you had the chance to escape. “Hey, I just wanna thank you for today” she said, closing the door behind her in one of the rooms filled with white gowns “I know Aera can be too much sometimes and I know she didn’t mean to insult Tae or anything…”

You waved her off, avoiding eye contact “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I get it, really, she’s just looking out for you.”

Haewon had smart eyes, you’ve always thought so. Her stare made you feel exposed, vulnerable, never 100% comfortable. “Taehyung cares a lot about what you think, you know” she sat down in one of the couches “If you said something to him, like Aera’s been saying to me… I don’t think he would’ve gone through with it”.

You wished people would stop telling you how much power you had over this wedding. It felt like the universe was tempting you, giving the opportunity to stop it, to have it your way. But in the end, you could never bring yourself to purposefully get in the way of Taehyung’s happiness, even if for a second you thought you could make him happier.

“I wouldn’t do that.” you ended up saying, crossing your fingers over your lap.

“I know that. Well, now I do.” your heart stopped for a second and silence hung like a death sentence before Haewon continued “You know, before I dated Taehyung I dated a guy for a little over a year and I really thought he was it for me. But he had this best friend and they went way back, just like you and Tae, and I would get so nervous around her. It always felt like a competition, always felt like a pick-your-favorite game that I never won” you didn’t say anything, couldn’t even if you tried “They started dating a week after we broke up.”

The story is so similar but so different at the same time - how many times had the world created variations of the same heartbreak?

“When Taehyung first told me about you, I almost broke up with him” she continued, voice a little quieter, a bit more strained “I thought it would be the same thing all over again. But I just liked him so much.”

You closed your eyes, thinking that maybe you could pretend for a couple of seconds that you weren’t your awful self, someone who spent so much of their times daydreaming of scenarios where you got to be happy and this girl didn’t, where you were the one that got the guy and she got her heart re-shattered.

“And when I first saw you…” well, that probably gave you some peace of mind, you mused bitterly to yourself, nothing to fear here, just a depressed, teletubbie-looking chick “I thought it was a lost battle already.”

If life had a soundtrack, the sound of a scratched vinyl would play loudly enough to scare every bride in the store.

“What?!” you exclaimed, eyes flying open in surprise.

“You are so great, Y/N” Haewon’s tone was so soft “and it sucks that you don’t see yourself the way literally everyone else does.”

Who the fuck is everyone else, you thought, but didn’t say anything, please send them my way.

“You’re so funny, so warm and smart and when you talk everyone in the room listens” she must’ve read the confusion in your face, the absolute bafflement, because as she continued, exasperated “Taehyung cares so much about you and I just thought… I could never really compete with you.”

Huh.

It almost made you laugh, the sick irony of it all, the ridiculousness of this race you both created and then stopped running, thinking the other would inevitably win. How much time you wasted torturing yourself nitpicking everything Haewon had that you didn’t, not thinking that perhaps she was going through the same thing.

“But you’ve never made me feel like I was losing, Y/N.” Haewon grabbed your hand, interlacing your fingers together “You’ve always been so kind and welcoming to me and I’m so thankful for you not making this feel like a competition. For allowing me to be happy with Taehyung.”

The cheap champagne was swirling in your stomach and you felt like throwing up, but what else was new?

“I just want him to be happy.” you had been holding these words close to your chest, repeating to yourself like a mantra. And though it didn’t bring you much peace, it seemed to be enough for Haewon.

“Thank you” she repeated, giving you a hug and a watery smile.

“You’re welcome.” you awkwardly patted her back, hoping she wouldn’t start crying otherwise you would too “Now that I know how important I’ve been to this relationship, don’t expect any wedding gifts from me.”

“You already told me you got us a mini bar.”

“And I’m keeping it to myself. I’m gonna fill it with skin care and alcohol.”

Haewon shook her head “God, you sound just like Taehyung.”

You know the saying, you thought while walking out into the street, still hand in hand with her, like repel like.

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yurimother · 5 years

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Top Yuri Anime Poll Results

Whether it is subtext or explicit, cute or sexy, school love or gay action thrillers I love yuri anime. These series either focus on or contain elements of female same-sex relationships. Pride month is the perfect time to look back and reflect on the best of this genre. I teamed up with OG Man of The Yuri Nation (yurination[dot] wordpress[dot] com/) and together we put out a poll asking what you thought the top yuri anime series were and over 1000 of you responded submitting almost 5000 different entries. We spent hours combing through the data, analyzing and commenting on the results and we would like to share our thoughts with all of you. Enjoy the reflections of me the yuri critic and OG the dedicated yuri fan!

These are the Top 20 Yuri Anime as voted by you

1. Bloom Into You - 692 Votes

OG: Be it East or West the YagaKimi took the world by storm. Citrus and BiY once again taking the top two spots remains unsurprising.There is something undeniably fascinating about our leading ladies consisting of an asexual slowly coming to love her senpai back but restraining herself for various reasons. The biggest one being said senpai having a deep case of self-loathing and a fear of romantic reciprocation, also for various reasons. She is like “I love you but please do not love me back”. Then there is one of the most popular “cursed” lesbians of all time in Sayaka, the fantastic adult side-couple (The world needs an anime starring lesbian adults/mothers) and the various other characters who have their own interesting tales to tell. The series absolutely deserves a spot in the Top 10 though it would not be in my personal Top 3. Oh and as Yurimother said the presentation was fantastic.Visually stunning from start to finish in my opinion. Special mention goes to the criminally underused first-person “camera”. So cool.

YuriMother: I agree with this series deserving a spot in the top ten even if not the number one slot. For me, it was good but not great. Moments such as the aforementioned adult couple as well as stellar art and a phenomenal score made this series enjoyable but they were not enough to overshine the problems of the narrative. For the love of the Yuri Goddess, this series is crying out for asexual representation but insists on carrying on with its confused romance. Enough complaining though, many people love Bloom Into You despite its faults and I agree. The characters are interesting and lovable and it manages to tell a yuri story more real and complex than the typical fluffy girl meets girl narratives.

2. Citrus - 452 Votes

YuriMother: The presence of Citrus and Bloom Into You prove two things to me, the importance of recency, as both anime aired only last year, and the sheer popularity of these series. Both had established and extremely successful manga runs which were adapted into English by the publishing masters of yuri, Seven Seas. Citrus is a contentious series, to say the least, as it includes elements of (non-blood related) incest and non-consensual actions as part of Mei and Yuzu’s “relationship.” However, if you possess the magical power to turn off the part of your brain screaming at you that those aspects are deeply problematic or if you seek a different interpretation then Citrus can be downright WONDERFUL. I actually loved this anime series for its characters, amazing animation, and salaciousness. As OG said, it is an operatic concussion of emotion (seriously everyone in the series needs therapy) but my is it fun to watch. The Citrus anime also holds a special place in my heart, as the first serious piece I ever wrote was a review for it over on Okazu (nice plug)! Citrus is certainly not for everyone but those that stuck with it and overlooked some of the problems ended up loving it.

OG: Here we are again with Citrus at #2. My thoughts on the series remains the same as in the previous two lists I discussed (the Akiba Research and goo Ranking Japan lists), overrated. Good soap opera/telenovela-esque series but my feelings on the cast are mixed (which I imagine was the writer’s intent). My main issue has always been the obstacles repeatedly challenging Yuzu and Mei’s feelings for each other instead of it focusing on “Hey. We like each other but our parents got married. What do we do? Can we keep our desires for each other in check?”. Instead it is one newcomer after another who want to eat either Yuzu or Mei and Yuzu repeatedly asking herself if she really wants robo-stepsister patties? I will give the anime adaptation credit. The story was easier to enjoy animated than drawn. It also helped that I grew up in a telenovela loving family. The characters’ actions, reactions and emotions were depicted better in the anime. I still consider the show’s greatest accomplishment being the humanization of Mei-Tron. In the manga it took a post-epilogue continuation to show readers “Hey everyone. Mei-Tron was human all along.” whereas in the anime I sensed the small bit of humanity quicker than in the manga where I continued seeing her as a block of wood with a brain up to the point where I dropped it. Harumin though is the greatest regardless of anime or manga adaptation. Bless her. Regardless of how I feel about the series I get its massive popularity. After all, were the rest of the story to get an animated continuation I would gladly pick it up...Not the manga though.

3. Sakura Trick - 342 Votes

OG: There are fans who understandably would disagree with Sakura Trick’s praise but I will always defend it and the anime as one of the very best in the genre. First off it aired at a time where animated on-screen close up kisses (specifically consensual ones) between ladies were rare. Haruka X Yuu’s relationship was believable for the most part. Even their season finale resolution, them not getting what being “in love” meant at the time, made sense though I get why it left some scratching their heads. Probably not the best “manga lure/bait” end I suppose. On the bright side Kotone X Shizuku’s story definitely did not have the two doubting their true feelings for each other. I do hope Kaede X Yuzu eventually hooked up in the manga as they too had potential to be a lovely couple.

YuriMother: Sakura Trick has no real narrative, no great insight, and offers little intellectually. As a teacher, it makes me furious, as a fan of yuri, elated. The anime is beloved for its plentiful soft service, presenting a plethora of kisses, cuddles, and awkward thigh shots (ew). However, it was one of the first anime to include this much explicit yuri service without being pornographic. All the characters were cute and fun, even if there was little in the way of development or complexity, it worked for the series. If you want something to make you think or to learn about yuri, pass over this one. But, if you want a cute and meaningless anime definitely watch it.

4. Yuru Yuri - 337 Votes

YuriMother: OG may not be a fan of Yuru Yuri but I certainly am, which is fairly obvious to anyone who observes that a solid 20% of my communications occur in the form of gifs from this series. It is hilarious, cute, and playful. Just like Sakura Trick, this anime is an easy watch with ultimately little substance. However, the part of me that is not rolling of the floor laughing every time I watch Yuru Yuri lives in a state of pained existence with the knowledge that this work of all things ended up being so popular when people are telling interesting stories about queer women and people in actual relationship that manage to still be funny and adorable while having something to say.

OG: The undisputed most mainstream friendly yuri series there is. It is also one of the funniest. My one gripe is that excluding a select few the main draw of the show besides the comedy and yuri is the ship wars, meaning (almost any girl can be shipped with each other). Not a fan of that but hey, it brought Namori the big bucks so who am I to judge? In any case not much else to add. It deserves all the adulation it gets but the free for all shipping irks me. Reminds me of how they botched Chika X Riko in the Love Live! Sunshine!! Anime. If you were going down the Riko X Yohane route from the start then why give us Chika X Riko in the first half? Ship wars yo. Tch. Hopefully I properly explained myself..

5. Kase-san and Morning Glories (Asagao to Kase-san) - 289 Votes

OG: Still wish this got a 12-13 episode anime. The glorious movie showed how much it deserves one. Whether it will happen or not remains to be seen. In any case the beauty of Kase-san X Yamada is how simple their romance is. No strings attached whatsoever. It is as straightforward as a self-proclaimed “ordinary” cutie, Yamada, having a crush on the super cool school beauty Kase-san. Said beauty is revealed to be just as “adorkable” as Yamada. The other highlight is their story not ending once they officially started dating (as is the case with many romance stories) but that being only the beginning, like real life. From then on, side-stories aside, the two biggest challenges for the two is Yamada accepting that it is okay for someone as “ordinary” as her to be the “cool babe”s girlfriend and Kase-san finding different ways to express her love/hunger for the cutie. As for the OVA, cramming the second part of the first series in an hour definitely had the downside of excluding some important moments, yes, but it at least covered some of the best moments in the manga. The first half of the story was summarized in a five-minute music video. One last thing. The animation, though a bit too brought for some, was glorious. It also had some long pauses which were effective (The bus stop scene being the most infamous) but while I did not mind them at all even I will admit some pauses went a bit too long. A small nitpick all things considered. Fingers crossed one day we either get that 12-13 episode anime for the first series, the sequel or both. That is one of my dreams.

YuriMother: At last, an anime that I do not have to react cynically to! Kase-san is one of the single greatest works of yuri animation to ever to be created and its glory is rivaled only by the manga from which it originated. Despite being only a one hour long OVA this adaption told such an engaging and realistic (finally) story of romance and personal growth. We get to skip the meatless girl meets girls arcs and get into the depth and complexity as Yamada and Kase work to further their relationship. They struggle with the fact that they are two different people who want different things out of life and love and have to actually work on their partnership. Kase-san also includes signs of physical affection and love that are never lewd, immature, or gross, I do not even think I could refer to them as “service”. However, for me, Kase-san’s greatest victory (both the anime and manga) is in its escape from school romance, which in this genre is often a shelter from reality, allowing for women to be in relationships without actually being queer. Kase and Yamada instead make an effort to continue their romance and build a life that includes their relationship once they graduate in a triumphant final act. This anime is a slap in the face to the class S stories and sloppily sexualized works which proliferate the yuri genre. Asagao to Kase-san shines as a holy beacon for the greatness that this genre can achieve.

6. Puella Magi Madoka Magica - 286 Votes

YuriMother: Hurray!! For two entries in a row, I get to talk about series that I wholeheartedly adore without having to constantly attach caveats. Puella Magi Madoka Magica is not considered by all to be yuri, and that is certainly not what it is best known for. PMMM is however famous for twisting the tropes of the magical girl genre and creating one of the most cohesive and thoughtful narratives ever put to screen. This series summoned a new era for the magical girl genre (what OG humorously referred to as the “Moepocalypse”) but no other title managed to top Madoka Magica’s runaway success. Every aspect of this work is highly polished including character designs, a phenomenal soundtrack, and superb writing. This is not only the definitive work of its genre but of all postmodern anime. Whether or not one is a fan of yuri every anime fan should give Madoka Magica a watch.

OG: Meduka Meguca. Its impact in the “Moepocalypse” (Shows where cute and sexy girls consistently suffering physically and emotionally. These are usually dark magical girl shows.) genre and legacy are undeniable. It deserves all the praise it gets. It scarred many unfortunate souls, Homura is a legend in yuridom, Kyouko X Sayaka are glorious (Especially in Rebellion), Meduka’s Mom Junko is a Top Tier Sexy Mama, Charlotte the Witch is a very strange girlfriend and of course Hitomi is a walking anti-fun meme. The animation, especially the creepy doodle like monsters known as Witches are memorable. However, it is not my favorite Moepocalypse show. That honor goes to Yuki Yuna is a Hero.

7. Strawberry Panic - 224 Votes

OG: Like it or not Strawberry Panic is a yuri classic. I have a strong feeling that like many readers around my age (31 during this writing) this was their first 100% yuri anime. The cheese is real but it is the yummy kind of cheese and I loved almost every minute of it, except Amane X Hikari. That was the weakest of the love stories going on. Poor Yaya trying too hard (Not saying this in condescending way. She literally tried too hard). It is like a young adult lesbian novel but more fun. I mean Nagisa X Shizuma might as well be “Lesbian Twilight but not crappy”. Let us be honest, Shizuma is a vampire. Chikaru is an undisputed goddess and Kagome is the cutest.

Oh and I will repeat this statement till my last breath…

#TamaoWasRobbed.

YuriMother: I may be almost a decade younger than OG but even for me Strawberry Panic was my first yuri and it more than earns its nickname as the “gateway yuri,” although last year’s Citrus and Bloom Into You may be presenting serious contenders for this title. If for no other reason than nostalgia, Strawberry Panic remains my favorite yuri works but this ridiculous soap-opera of an anime does deserve a fair amount of recognition. I see Strawberry Panic as the culmination of the S subgenre revived by Maria Watches Over Us. However, this work succeeds at both parodying many of the tropes of S and yuri while breaking a few. However, its greatest accomplishment is introducing many of the young western fans of yuri to the genre. Strawberry Panic, you are an overly dramatic mess but thank you for all you have done.

8. Revolutionary Girl Utena - 176 Votes

YuriMother: Another gem of the yuri genre, actually scratch that, if works like Kase-san are gems then Utena is the minerals from which gems form. I think that is how it works, I am not a geologist. My poor analogies and subtle nods to Steven Universe aside, Revolutionary Girl Utena is one of the single most important works of yuri anime, possibly even more so than Sailor Moon. These two works were the dawn of the current age of yuri, an era spurn on by social progress and the internet into a place where more yuri works featuring honest depictions of homosexuality are flourishing. Utena laid the groundwork for queer representation in anime and for that I remain forever grateful to this masterpiece.

OG: I must confess. While I saw the movie long ago and thought it was cool I have yet to sit down and finish watching the main series. I cannot say much about this show other than it is another yuri classic. Possibly one of the biggest. I think I will leave this to Her Holiness because even if I had seen it I do not consider myself someone who possesses the sufficient intellect to properly explain why this is a legendary show.

9. Flip Flappers - 132 Votes

OG: I would need an essay to explain why this show is legendary. Let me see. It is a story of a girl who discovered her gayness thanks to her growing attraction to a lovable idiot/genki. There are references to Western media, dimension hopping (including Class S Hell), self-discovery, a sexual orientation journey, a tree, armored wedding gowns, crazy third wheels, Ku Klux Klan stand-ins…You know what? Just watch Flip Flappers. It is a hot mess of random, crazy, creative and thought provoking awesomeness with a wonderful dose of gayness. Glory be to PapiCoco. However, as Her Holiness mentioned this is essentially Ikuhara-san levels of weirdness (though not as complicated I feel) but as the plot thickens it all (sort of) starts making sense...eventually. That tree yo.

YuriMother: Flip Flappers was almost too strange and abstract even for me, and that is saying something. However, upon further examination, one of the most interesting works of yuri is revealed. This heavily stylized anime delves deep into the sexual maturation of its protagonist while examining the yuri genre and representation in media. Flip Flappers is the perfect marriage of heavy visual style and intellectual substance. Definitely give them one a.. err better make that three watches, as you will want to be sure to get everything out of this beautiful series as possible.

10. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid - 131 Votes

YuriMother: This series is the closest anime fans have to a lesbian couple having a family that we have, and that is a shame. I LOVE family narratives, outside of the yuri genre Usagi Drop is my favorite anime. To me, seeing women balance life, a relationship, and children is some of the best queer representation there is. However, for every point in Kobayashi’s favor, there is also a glaring fault. Kobayashi is a modern woman in the workforce providing for herself and her “family,” but is borderline abusive to Tohru. Kanna is an inquisitive child being raising by two women, but there are weirdly sexual scenes featuring her. As previously mentioned on this list, if one can silence the reasonable part of the brain this work becomes enjoyable, hilarious, and adorable. Unfortunately, its faults prevent it from being more than an amusement and I seriously doubt that they will fade in the second season. But hey, it sells a ton of figures so… YAY!

OG: This series is one of the closest yuri fans have to a series starring a lesbian couple with a daughter and it is wonderful. Is the tale of an eternally grateful dragon who wanted to repay the human who saved her life, albeit drunk, by becoming her live-in maid. Tohru being a dragon girl had incredible power and could easily crush everyone in sight but preferred to try and understand humanity so she could live in peace with the woman she loved. It of course was hard at times but thanks to Miss Kobayashi slowly growing to accept her back (romantically she had a ways to go) and the two raising the adorable bundle of mighty puff known as Kanna they became a happy family. How long this relationship will last and whether Miss Kobayashi would come to fully love Tohru back romantically remains to be seen. I have high hopes it can and will happen. Kanna X Riko is precious (Yes. Even that scene). We even have a potential BL couple, which is nice. Not a fan of Lucoa X Shouta the shota. Not because of the age gap but it not being my kind of romantic comedy. It is the same reason I have a hard time buying Tsubame X Misha from UzaMaid. Mya-Nee X Hana from Wataten...maybe. At least Mya-Nee showed she is patient. Back to Dragon Maid. Great series. Naughty of course but great.

11. Sweet Blue Flowers (Aoi Hana) - 119 Votes

OG: Megane girl falls for a cutie but has a hard time confessing to her to the point she gives a relationship with another girl a try. Said other girl has troubles of her own courtesy of her own views on what love. Do not get me started on the OTHER girl who likes megane’s girlfriend. I did not even mention megane girl’s first love interest who she herself eventually begins questioning her feelings for the glasses wearing maiden. While this is well known throughout the history of yuri anime Aoi Hana made it clearer than ever that Yuri + Classical Music go hand in hand. Plus the show is quite pretty. Ultimately enjoyment of this series depends heavily on viewers’ patience.

YuriMother: Aoi Hana was ahead of its time in many regards. Most yuri during the early twenty-first century was unrealistic and melodramatic, especially with the revival of S stories. Aoi Hana instead presents a calm and realistic story that we still rarely see in yuri anime today. Instead of relying on tricks like service or comedy Aoi Hana presents a serene and character-driven story which is matched by equally calming scenery. It is certainly not the most thrilling watch, but a slow and beautiful slice of real life that remains one of the all-time strongest yuri works.

12. Yurikuma Arashi - 99 Votes

YuriMother: Yurikuma Arashi is strange, to say the least, but this is not out of the ordinary for legendary director Ikuhara, who also directed Utena. Parallels are easily drawn between this work and Flip Flappers, as they are both complex and encoded with enough symbolism to drown a bear. Yurikuma is one of my favorite works in the yuri genre and I have had more than a few heated discussions about interpretations of the work, including one memorable occasion when I was visiting a college professor and we ended up in a shouting match in the middle of the hall. However, while Flip Flappers holds a high degree of polish the same can, unfortunately, not be said here. Yurikuma Arashi has more than a few scenes of fanservice many of which overly fetishize the characters and relationship and some of the symbols, particularly lily flowers and the word “yuri” are practically beaten to death with an object I refuse to come up with because I am starting to have my fill of symbolism. However, despite some of its sloppiness, Yurikuma is one of the single most interesting and well-formed anime out there and analyzing it is practically a right of passage for seasoned yuri fans.

OG: Yurikuma Arashi is my favorite of Ikuhara-san’s series. To me it was the least complicated of his works but even so I needed help to understand the show. Luckily I had plenty of assistance. The meat of the story is more complicated but put simply it is about a war between a group of bear girls (and some human girls) who want to freely express their love and/or desire/hunger for each other and another group that amounts to Right to Censor from WWF. Like I said it is far more complex than that but that is the gist. The anime is quite ecchi and it has good reason for it. Again the gay bears are the more liberated of the groups and them getting more sexy scenes is meant to showcase that. Our heroine has good reason to be grumpy and a divine entity was introduced alongside a certain someone from a certain dark anime we already discussed.

In the end it is a show starring lesbian bear girls. I love love stories between women and i love bears. It was obvious I would end up enjoying this one. Like other complex stories it is not for everyone. Shows like Flip Flappers, Utena and Yurikuma have something of a learning people will have to get accustomed to in order to enjoy them.

13. Whispered Words (Sasameki Koto) - 88 Votes

OG: To me Aoi Hana and Sasameki Koto were always connected despite the former being a drama and the latter a comedy. Both star a female protagonist struggling with how to best tell the girl she likes her true feelings whereas their love interest for one reason or another makes it all the more challenging to get their feelings across. Both shows aired during a time yuri was not as popular of a genre as it would become over time. Perhaps if they had come out a little later when yuri was becoming more popular in the mainstream they would have fared better…Then again they may have helped set the groundwork for future yuri shows so it’s just as well they came out when they did. In any case both good shows worthy of “best of yuri” lists. SK has the dynamic of the megane in love and her somewhat airheaded love interest who specifically likes “cute girls”. Poor megane has a hard time figuring out what the airhead defines as “cute”. The show also features an amusing side-couple of an ojou-sama and her tsundere girlfriend. Not to mention the somewhat controversial side-girl who plays a more prominent role in the 2nd half of the anime. Heck, even Mr Crossdresser himself is cool. Let us not forget Miss “Ha Ha Ha!” Another really good show that I would love to see the rest of the manga get animated someday but considering most anime are essentially manga commercials and the SK manga ended the odds of a 2nd season are close to 0.

YuriMother: 2009 was a great year for yuri anime, with both Sasameki Koto and Aoi Hana, among other works, airing. But while Aoi Hana sought to resist many of the common tropes of the genre and tell a simple grounded story Sasameki Koto appears to have looked a the list of every convention possible and say “yeah I can do that.” It has melodrama, comedy, one-sided love, friend love stories, I worship this genre but even I think there is a limit. However, Sasameki Koto is one of the most competent yuri anime works of the current era. While all the tropes are present most of the problematic aspects of the genre are not. The story is well written, characters enjoyable, and art that is really well done for the time. I enjoy every watch and if I ever want to quickly download the genre’s tropes into another person's head I need only duct tape them to a chair and throw on Sasameki Koto.

14. Riddle Story of Devil (Akuma no Riddle) - 77 Votes

YuriMother: Akuma no Riddle was highly anticipated back in 2014, sporting a premise of student assassins that, while certainly not unique, was outside the norms for the yuri genre. It promised a dark and thrilling take on the yuri genre that would not become popular until the yuri horror trend a few years later. At first, it looked like this would be successful with an excellent setup and some pretty compelling characters but ultimately Akuma no Riddle fell flat and became more derailed as it continued. The monster of the week style of episodes left little room for complex plots and plans or proper character development, which is a shame because of how engaging so many of the assassins were upon original presentation. However, this show still has some of the best action in the yuri genre, placing it alongside series like Cannan and Utena despite its flawed storytelling. If nothing else, the anime may compel one to read the manga, which expands the story and characters more than the show was given time to.

OG: Professional assassins secretly gathered at an academy in an attempt to take the life of a seemingly innocent cutie to win the ultimate prize, one of whom wishes to protect the adorable redhead. Yes the manga, which is pretty much a Director’s Cut, is better and the anime would have benefited from having 20+ episodes instead of 12 and a delightful beach OVA but the show did a good job of showing viewers what each assassin was like, their motivations (though many of their origin stories were summarized in written biographies during commercial breaks viewers needed to pause to read) were clear enough and the duels, as brief as some of them were, had enough spicy goodness in them to be memorable, especially the ones in the latter half of the show. Oh, and although the manga wrapped up after the anime it had a very similar ending.

15. Revue Starlight - 72 Votes

OG: Gay theater girls who strive to become the top star, meaning the best actress or lead actor of the cast. How do they do it? By working hard and overcoming their personal hardships? Yes. That. What makes this show so wonderful despite being almost a year old as of this writing is not only do the ladies all have interesting stories to tell but so does the stage. Every song, prop, movement, dance, gesture etc. It is like the performers and performances are united. It is like in Spongebob where not only does the person in the boots tell a story but the boots as well.

Oh yes. I almost forgot to mention the mysterious underground theater and talking giraffe. Never forget the talking giraffe from Hell. #Wakarimasu.

Super cool and super gay.

YuriMother: Bushiroad continuously gets better at what they do, creating media franchises of cute girls filled with music and making mountains of cash from smartphone games. Inspired by the likes of Love Live, they created BanG Dream and last year Revue Starlight. However, where these franchises fell short Revue Starlight success. It never twists its characters to tell a story but rather creates compelling arcs around them. I thoroughly enjoyed and agree with its place on this list.

16. Konohana Kitan - 68 Votes

YuriMother: I know of Konohana Kitan for its constant presence at yuri events more so than the anime or even the manga. It is adorable, relaxing, simple, and fun. While it does not add anything super substantial to the genre it does not take anything either or present any objectionable material. The “plot” is nonexistent but that does not matter, as it is not trying to tell a story or make commentary, just be fluffy and simple.

OG: Konohana Kitan to me is a Girls Club (Cute girls doing cute things) and iyashikei hybrid anime. It is visually stunning as it is relaxing with Yuzu pretty much one of the cutest demigoddesses in existence. She of course is a chick magnet but her heart will forever belong to Satsuki.

17. Destiny of the Shrine Maiden (Kannazuki no Miko) - 65 Votes

OG: The other stuff on the show is still not that great but ChiMeko will forever stand the test of time as far as I’m concerned. Top 10 for their love story alone. Yes. I know THAT ONE SCENE continues being controversial and talked about every time curious new yuri fans witness greatness…but I will forever defend Chikane because I get where she was coming from. Would I have done something different? Yes. The thing is you need to put yourself in her shoes and understand what she wanted to accomplish and how far she would go to get it done. Kotoha is best side-character and Souma Ogami is real man’s man who does not deserve the hate. He was an honorable warrior to the end. He fought well and accepted defeat like a man. Plus his yell is inspirational.

YuriMother: My feelings on Kannazuki no Miko are incredibly mixed. It has many of the worst facets of early current era yuri anime, tropes include S, rape and… am I reading this correctly, demon mechs? Worst of all it presents a cycle, a never-ending loop that haunts the characters in the overarching plot and it does not resolve it. If a work ever presents such an element, like Puella Magi did, it must be overcome or confronted at least. Its presence makes the already cringy story feels cheap and lazy. However, I love the two female leads and their difficult relationship. I love the music, especially the hauntingly beautiful ending theme, and the final moments of episode 11 are some of the greatest seconds I have ever seen in an anime. I cannot wrap my mind around my view of this series but at the end of the day, I understand it. I do not believe that work like it would ever be warmly accepted today but for its time it does stand as a breakout piece of yuri anime.

18. Princess Principal - 61 Votes

YuriMother: Princess Principal is one of the best anime of the past few years. It had everything, an interesting premise, great characters, an incredible soundtrack. Alongside all this is the sharp writing and thrilling story. Princess Principal did everything Akuma no Riddle wanted to with an intriguing and action-packed story featuring strong characters. On top of all this, the animation is top notch. A six-part movie sequel is planned which has me somewhat concerned, but I am glad to see that it is being continued as the ending to the series was one of its weakest aspects. Now if you will excuse me, I need to listen to some jazz.

OG: Cute and sexy gay spies in a dramatic British Steampunk setting. What more do readers need? Allow Her Holiness to elaborate a bit further. Currently waiting for the multi-part cinematic continuation.

19. Izetta: The Last Witch - 60 Votes

OG: I am known for loving shows people do not think as highly of. Izetta: The Last Witch is no different. I love this show so much. Besides how certain events transpired some complained about the depiction of WW2. Basically think about people ranting about storylines and content featured in certain Call of Duty and Battlefield games. Here however, it is clearly a fictional great war inspired by WW2. I was invested in the following:

-The cute and sexy ladies.

-Seeing two badass lesbians lead an army against an evil empire.

-FiZetta’s romance. This of course being the major highlight. I love FiZetta so much. My sexy lesbian babies and Anne X Grea’s mentors. They taught them everything they know after all.

It is similar to how I felt watching Kannazuki no Miko where my focus was primarily on the leading ladies’ developing romance. The difference is that unlike Kannazuki I was also somewhat entertained by our heroines’ enemies along with their allies. Basically viewers’ enjoyment of the show depends on how seriously they take their history and are willing to overlook the liberties this story takes with its depictions of the weapons, military and the familiar evil empire. FiZetta are one of my favorite lesbian couples of all time.

By the way, in that famous scene, yes they did. Viewers just have to squint their eyes to see “it”.

YuriMother: Another show that I consider to have squandered its potential. I know that lots of people enjoyed this one, including OG but I could not bring myself to finish this constantly mediocre series. Perhaps I am tired of alternative light-fantasy European-war inspired plots. Trying to stand out in this bloated genre is difficult and Izetta fails. Izetta started strong and hooked many viewers with its amazing visual and auditory polish but this was quickly lost in the plot which, while set up well, struggle to gain any ground of pay off what had been established. On the yuri side, it did not really do anything interesting or satisfying, with plenty of scenes feature the character’s standing next to each other looking cute and one or two moments of actual yuri. I am glad that some of you were able to enjoy this one more than me at least.

20. Maria Watches Over Us (Maria-sama ga Miteru) - 57 Votes

OG: Like Strawberry Panic this is a “Like it or not” classic. Despite being a Class S show it did its own thing and became a pioneer for . It’s also responsible for the many yuri jokes related to all-girl schools in anime.Shimako X Noriko best Grande and Petite Souer! Yumiko X Sachiko were great too as the two grew to better understand each other. Most memorable scene for me was the panda costume. Even Sei is a sleeper icon in all yuridom. Yoshino X Rei had a very interesting dynamic. I actually think they are the real pioneers of relationships between cousins. Thank you YoshiRei. HaruKana, Kaede X Sara and several others owe you two much appreciation.

YuriMother: Another great and significant series, Maria Watches Over Us, took the tropes of early yuri works, Catholic schools, a lack of men, piano scenes, and emotional relationship rather than physical ones and turned the dial up to 11. For better or worse, it single-handedly revived the Class S genre and was copied (and parodied) endlessly for over a decade. However much I complain about S I actually do not think that we would have the current age of yuri without its popularity and proliferation at the beginning of the century so I owe a big thank you to Maria Watches Over Us for that. Ignoring its historical importance and literary significance the anime still presents an engaging plot with wonderful characters and more butchered French than my last trip to Europe. It is certainly worth a watch and worthy of a place on this list.

What do you think should be on this list?:

YuriMother: As I previously said, this is a pretty perfect list. As far as missing titles I can think of the following.

Simoun - not the greatest in terms of plot or animation but it had cute service and a fun action-packed plot.

Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl - This series may be strange and present the dreaded love triangle but it did its best to tell a transgender narrative in 2006, naturally this involved aliens, and I applaud it for its attempts.

Cannan - This series is light on the yuri but heavy on the suspense, action, and amazing character designs. The terrorist plot is exciting and the final train fight featured in the series is one of the greatest action spectacles in anime that somehow manages to remain grounded.

OG:

-Harukana Receive: Best all-female sports anime ever made. Plus the gayness is not subtle at all.

-Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku: Eruna Ichinomiya is an underrated yuri icon. While not the first of her kind (That honor, I think, goes to Galaxy Fraulein Yuna) she set the standard of cool and inspirational badass lesbian protagonists who are proud of who they are and...also happen to be super perverts. Eruna made it cool to be such a protagonist. It is nice seeing a lesbian lead who does not care what anyone else thinks. She is hungry for cute girl booties. While she often loses her control in the presence of pure beauty she, as an inspiration for others like her, has enough self-control to not go overboard (most of the time).

-Symphogear: Symphogear is love, Symphogear is life. Hopefully Season 5 will keep up the good work.

-Rinne no Lagrange: My favorite mecha anime and the reason I embrace OT3s when the signs are there. Not the greatest but man was it fun. Plus Madoka Kyouno is still sexy.

-Yuki Yuna wa Yuusha de Aru: My favorite Moepocalypse anime of all time. Yuna X Togo taught me to love and trust some people outside my closest family again.

-Mouretsu Pirates: If someone were to ask me “Hey OG. What to you is the perfect anime?”. I would tell them Mouretsu/Bodacious Space Pirates.

-Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl. Thanks to the first fan commenting and reminding me of it. Definitely worthy of a spot. #HazumuWasAlwaysFemale

Final Thoughts:

OG: Pretty good list and close to what mine would look like were I to make one. Reason I have yet to do so is because I do not feel confident enough to pick a favorite yuri anime of all time. Favorite yuri manga and couples? That I can do, but anime always seems to give me a hard time choosing my absolute favorites. Like I said though, a potential yuri list of mine would look something like this. I also found it interesting how similar the Top 10 are among both our respective fanbases and visitors to the poll conducted by the Akiba Research Institute.

YuriMother: I may have done most the complaining and left the praise to OG but I actually and really happy with this list. I think that every title presented is a worthy addition and while I would certainly move some higher or lower than their current placing I do not believe that these are too far off from my own opinions, which is surprising for a popularity poll. More than anything I am thrilled to see that works I dislike that I thought to be popular did not make this list. Perhaps I should have more faith in people and their opinions. Everyone did such a wonderful job voting and I am so grateful!

Thank you so much everyone for reading and for voting in the top yuri anime poll. To see the full results of the poll and to support yuri news, reviews, and content, check out the YuriMother Patreon. Happy Pride Month

#yuri #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtq+#pride #pride month #queer #gay #anime #cartoon #tv #lesbian #lesbians #girls love #wlw #gl #poll #manga

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leviackermanscleaningbuddy · 4 years

Text

BTS DRABBLE

Anon Request: Strong and independent reader breaks down.

A/N: I am so so sorry this has taken me so long. I have had some personal stuff going on that completely drained my energy and will to write. But hopefully I can get back on track, and thank you so much for sticking with me! It means the world. <3

Tags: BTS, BTS Drabble, Bangtan Boys, Bangtan Seonyendan, Bulletproof Boy Scouts, Beyond the Scene, Anon Request, Anon Ask, Fluff, Angst, Seokjin x you, Yoongi x you, Hoseok x you, Namjoon x you, Jimin x you, Taehyung x you, Jungkook x you

Genre:Angst, Fluff

Warnings: Mild and brief mentions of death (Yoongi and Namjoon)

Title: Not Alone

KIM SEOKJIN

“Jagi?”

You hear the door to the bathroom open, the sound just barely audible over the running water of the shower, a chill breeze infiltrating the steamy, humid room as your boyfriend slips inside, shutting the door behind him.

“Jagi. You in here?” Jin repeats, and you hear his soft footsteps pad across the tile in your direction, and you instinctively shrink into yourself, arms wrapped around your knees, pulled tight against your chest.

The shower curtain is pulled back a hint, and Jin’s face appears in the crack, his eyes widening slightly as he sees you-sitting forlornly on the bottom of the tub, curled in on yourself, face probably blotchy and swollen from crying, eyes rimmed in red.

He’s never seen you cry, not like this.

“Hey, what happened?” He asks softly after collecting himself, crouching down at the edge of the tub, as the hot water of the shower continues to beat down on the crown of your head, his hand reaching out to trail along the bare, wet skin of your arm, fingers cool against your heat flush.

You shake your head violently, biting your bottom lip between your teeth, before you say, voice hoarse from crying, “I don’t know. It just all became too much all of a sudden.” You sniff, wiping your nose with the back of your hand, as he watches you with a soft look of concern. “Work, and my classes, and dance practices.”

“Jagi.” Jin’s fingers still on your skin, and his gaze meets yours, eyes dark and serious. “If it’s too much, you can drop some things.” You open your mouth, but he holds up his hand to stop your protests as he says sternly, “ And lightening your schedule does not mean you’re any less independent or capable. No one is going to judge you.”

You consider his words for a moment, and then finally nod, swiping at your eyes once more, before you manage to whisper, “okay.”

“Good.” Jin nods and then a wide smile cracks across his face as his gaze drifts over your naked body. “By the way, how long have you been in here? You’re starting to look like a prune.”

You laugh slightly, a little of the weight lifting off of your chest. “At least an hour.”

“Well.” Jin stands from his crouched position, already reaching to shuck his t-shirt off his broad shoulders and over his head with another grin in your direction. “If you can stand a little while more, I’ll join you.”

MIN YOONGI

“It’s pretty right?”

You glance over to Yoongi at his whispered words, as he takes off one of the overly large headphones from his ears, his long fingers still adjusting some of the recording levels as his eyes meet your own.

You nod, removing your own headphones, as you offer him a small smile before saying softly, “It’s really good, Yoongs. And IU’s voice is incredible.”

“I told you.” He grunts in response, already putting his headphones back on to monitor the sound coming from the recording studio.

Your eyes flicker to the woman standing behind the thick glass, eyes closed as she sings the words to the song, emotion in every lyric, her hands carefully cupped around the large microphone, dark hair pulled up from her neck in a bun on top of her head, curled tendrils black against her flawless skin, the large sweatshirt she wears dwarfing her small frame.

IU is the country’s princess, the country’s baby girl, and Yoongi had been so excited when he told you they were working to produce and release a song together. You were happy for him. And he hadn’t lied, when he told you IU’s voice was like listening to an angel.

You just hadn’t expected them to write a song about this.

A song about all the loss the three of you had experienced at the hands of the industry.

IU pauses in her singing, calling something to Yoongi through the glass, and he takes off his headphones, giving her a thumbs up.

You take the opportunity, the break, to stand from your chair, and when your boyfriend gives you a slightly quizzical look, you can barely speak around the lump in your throat as you force a smile and murmur, “I’m gonna get some air.”

You leave the studio in a hurry, and when you reach the silence and emptiness of the hallway beyond, you feel the first tear leak from the corner of your eye, and stuffing a fist into your mouth to keep quiet, you lean back against the wall, the tears now dripping down your cheeks in an endless torrent.

You stay like that, silently grieving, your heart aching in your chest, until the sound of the studio door opening makes you start upward, reaching up to swipe hurriedly at your eyes, as Yoongi emerges in the hallway, head swiveling until he catches sight of you.

“Hey, what are you….” He pauses mid sentence, and his steps falter toward you, as a slight look of shock crosses his features at your obviously blotched and reddened skin. You don’t think he has ever seen you cry before. “Are you crying?” He asks, stepping toward you, his voice softening, as he takes your hands in his.

“No.” You stutter out, wiping again at your wet cheeks, before you drop the act and nod your head miserably. “Okay, yes.”

“Is everything okay, baby?” Yoongi murmurs, eyebrow raised as he watches you expectantly, waiting for your answer.

You blush, averting your gaze from his, not sure if it’s because you’re not used to his concerned side, or because you’re ashamed of crying in front of him, at the studio no less, for the first time.

“I just….that song…” You choke out, and his fingers squeeze yours, giving you the strength to meet his gaze once again and go on as you take a deep breath. “I miss Jonghyun, Yoongi.”

You seem to have caught him off guard judging by his sudden silence, but it only lasts a moment, before he is pulling you to him, surprising you once again, as he crushes you against his body, your face buried in his chest.

“I know, baby. I miss him too. That’s why I wrote this song. It was the only outlet for my emotion that would do it all justice.” His voice is soft, but hard, and quietly fervent, and you can feel him quiver slightly beneath you at his words.

You sniff, another moment of silence falling between you, and then you say, voice muffled by the fabric of his hoodie, “It is a really good song though.”

He chuckles, the sound rumbling through his chest, and his hand goes up to stroke your hair, before he gently kisses the top of your head. “Good. I’m glad you like it.”

JUNG HOSEOK

You bite your lip, as you angrily chop the veggies, the knife flashing as you move almost without thinking, your mind elsewhere, as you reach to turn down the heat on the kimchi stew that is bubbling on the stove.

Hobi, seasoning and readying the pork belly at the counter opposite you, is whistling something meaningless, his tone happy and perky, as he beats his own knife to the beat on the cutting board beneath his hands.

It has been ten minutes since either of you has said anything, the only sound filling the kitchen the sounds of chopping and stirring and that damn persistent whistling, and as you slide the cut up vegetables carefully into the boiling stew, you can’t handle it anymore.

Slamming the empty cutting board down onto the counter, you whirl on your heel, Hobi stopping midwhistle to glance over at you, as you exclaim with annoyance, “How are you so damn happy all the freaking time, Jung Hoseok?!”

He stares at you for a moment, your chest heaving with angry breaths, and setting down his knife and pushing aside the pork belly, he steps toward you, asking gently, “Okay. What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” You almost shriek in return, waving the knife in his direction. “You whistle all the time, and the world sucks mostly, and people suck mostly, and here I am, a very emotional person, stuck with the one person in the world who seems to never experience anything other than absolute euphoria that he’s alive!”

You end your impassioned speech breathing harder than is necessary, glaring blankly at your boyfriend as he takes careful steps toward you from across the kitchen, hands held out in front of him as if he is making a peace offering with a dangerous and riled wild animal.

“Okay, jagi. First off,” Hobi says calmly, reaching your side and pushing your arm down, so that the knife is held several inches above the counter. “Let’s put the knife down.”

You breathe out hard, and it takes a moment for your unwillingly clenched fingers to finally loosen enough to drop the large cutting knife to the counter with a dull clang.

“Okay, good.” Hobi offers you a careful smile, as he wraps his arms around you and pulls you to him, stiff in his arms, as he forces you to bury your face in the front of his shirt. “Now. Tell me what’s really wrong.”

You just breathe for a moment, arms stiff at your sides, as his fingers trail up and down your back in a calming matter, and when you think you can speak again without yelling, you mutter out begrudgingly, “My mom’s coming to visit this weekend.”

“Ah.” Hobi lets out a sigh of understanding, before pushing you back from him to glance down at you with a slightly amused smile lighting up his features. “See. That makes more sense now.”

“You know she’ll just come here and nitpick every aspect of my life, Hobi.” You whine out, as he reaches around you to turn down the stew, almost bubbling over the top of the pot at your lack of attention. You wave your hands dramatically to accentuate your next words, raising your voice and making it nasally to sound more like your mother, “‘(Y/N), you work too much. (Y/N), you should change your hair, it’s been the same since eighth grade. (Y/N), when are you going to give me grandchildren?’”

Hobi laughs at your impression, and you shoot him a glare, as he once again hugs you to him, your face burying into the material of his t-shirt, that smells like dinner, and sweat, and his natural musk. “Come on, jagi. It won’t be that bad.”

“That’s what you think.” You mutter sourly under your breath, and he laughs again.

“Look, if it’ll make you feel better,” Hobi pushes you away, back to your job of cutting up vegetables for dinner, as he heads back to his own station, shooting you a sly look over his shoulder as he does so. “I’ll whistle a different tune.”

“God, no.” you groan out, waving the knife once again in his direction as you resume your chopping. “Just no more whistling please.”

KIM NAMJOON

“Doctor, there’s nothing more you can do.”

The nurse’s words jolt you from your trance, and stepping back from the bedside, you strip off your gloves, as your assistants hurry to cover up the patient, and you numbly announce, “Time of death, 18:04.”

Leaving the room behind you, you swallow around the lump in your throat and straighten your shoulders, ignoring the aching of your heart as you move to finish the rest of your shift.

Because this is a place of professionalism at all times, even if your heart is breaking.

********

“Hey, Dr. Kim. How was your shift?”

You step through the door to the apartment and Namjoon’s bright voice rings out from where he is sitting at the table, notebook open before him, pens and pencils strewn about, no doubt working on lyrics for something new, his eyes flashing with a smile as he looks up to greet you.

You open your mouth to respond, and instantly burst into tears.

You hide behind your hands as you sob, and your husband is obviously caught off guard judging by the silence that fills the room for a moment, before you hear the chair scoot back, and his large, warm hands are taking your upper arms, as he leads you blindly toward the sofa.

“Oh no, baby. What happened?” He asks softly, barely heard above the sounds of your own grief, as he pulls you down to sit beside him on the soft couch cushions, his arms instinctively going around you.

“Mrs. Chen….she….” You choke out around your tears, vision blurry, as you glance over at him, but the words can’t seem to finish leaving your throat, as you start to sob harder, hiccuping to catch your breath.

Thankfully, Namjoon seems to understand what you’re trying to say, and pulling you to him, he cradles your body against his own, reaching up to brush your hair off your forehead where it is stuck with salt water, as he murmurs quietly, “Oh, baby. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You did absolutely everything you could.”

“But she was getting better.” You cry out miserably, taking in a deep breath to try to calm down, as you reach up to wipe some very unattractive snot from your face. “I don’t understand, Namjoon. She was fine yesterday.”

He is quiet for a moment, no doubt thinking things over seriously and methodically like he always does, and then his voice is low as he replies, “Some things just happen, baby. And there’s nothing anyone can do to slow or stop them. Not even you.” He pushes a finger under your chin to make you meet his gaze, and offers you a soft smile. “Mrs. Chen isn’t upset with you.”

“I know, I just…” You sniffle, wiping away some stray tears. “This is why I told myself not to become emotionally involved or friends with my patients. Because it’s just too hard.”

“Hey.” Namjoon’s voice is serious, and he waits for you to meet his stern gaze before continuing. “Mrs. Chen didn’t have any family. She needed you-in more ways than one.”

You ponder his words, finally nodding and sniffling again, before Namjoon leans over to press a kiss against your damp cheek. “Now, let’s get you out of these work clothes, and I’ll warm you up some dinner.”

PARK JIMIN

“Ow! Dammit!”

Jimin pops his head in from the adjoining bathroom at your cry, eyebrows high on his forehead as he asks with concern, “Baby girl? You okay out here?”

“I stubbed my toe on the corner of the bed.” You say harshly, as you collapse onto the edge of the mattress, hot tears suddenly filling your eyes, as you breathe hard and long to try and control the sudden wave of emotions.

“That can’t be all.” Your boyfriend says, fully entering the room now, looking amazingly handsome in a custom tuxedo, as he adjusts his tie, looking at you sceptically.

“That’s not all.” You huff out with annoyance, whether you’re annoyed with the throbbing in your toe, or the way you emotionally reacted to it, you’re still unsure. “The bigger problem is this boob pinching, waist cinching, horror dress that I cannot breathe in.”

Jimin leans against the doorframe, watching you with slight amusement in his eyes, as you motion to the long evening gown adorning your body, a “one and only custom masterpiece” according to the boys’ stylists. He chuckles lightly, sweeping silver hair from his forehead, as he crosses the room and crouches down in front of you to take one of your high heels from your fumbling fingers, guiding it easily onto your foot and fastening the straps as he glances up at you. “Come on. You’re this upset over a dress?”

Damn it. He knows you too well. He can probably see the way your chin is quivering slightly, and the way you’re trying too hard to hold back the hot tears from falling from the corners of your eyes, ruining your perfect makeup.

Finally, as he moves to the other foot, you sigh, and rolling your eyes, you look away from him as you complain, voice suddenly choking a little in your throat, “No. It’s not the dress. It’s the awards show.” You feel him pause, his fingers resting on the top of you foot, skin warm and rings cold, and you try not to look down at him, as you swallow hard and continue, “I don’t want to spend another Saturday night sitting beside all those idols-beautiful and perfect and clearly out of my league. It makes me feel inferior and stupid.”

“Baby girl.” Jimin says on a tolerant sigh, and you finally glance over at him, as he stands from his crouched position, sitting beside you on the bed as one of his arms slips around your waist to pull you against his hip. “We’ve talked about this. And I know it doesn’t make you feel better,” He hurries to say, offering you a wide grin as his finger comes up to your lips to stop you from interrupting, “But I only have eyes for you.”

“You’re a hell of a liar, Park Jimin.” You mumble out grumpily around his finger, and he laughs, dropping his hand from your face, only to replace it, momentarily, quickly and sweetly, with his lips on your own, before he pulls back and offers you a hand.

“Now come on. I want everyone to see how beautiful you look tonight.”

KIM TAEHYUNG

“Jagi. Psssst! Jagi!”

You shoot a glare in your boyfriend’s direction, as for the second time in as many minutes, he drags your attention away from the movie playing on the screen, his elbow digging into your side, as he looks at you, wide eyes shiny and dark in the reflection from the large movie screen of the theater.

“Kim Taehyung, I swear….” You growl out in a whisper, glancing at the couples around you, hoping they aren’t being as distracted by him as you are.

One movie. In peace. One quiet date night.

“Pass me the popcorn.” Taehyung whispers loudly, motioning with his hand to the container sitting beside you in the empty seat. He’s clearly unfazed by the threat you hadn’t finished just moments before, nor by the sharp glare you give him once more as you pass him the almost empty carton of popcorn, as he flashes you a boxy grin, settling back into his seat once more, arm thrown around your shoulders, as he stuffs handfuls of popcorn into his mouth, now solely focused back on the movie.

Sighing, you roll your eyes and take a sip of your drink, before you lean your head begrudgingly on his shoulder, once again zeroing in on what’s happening on the screen before you.

This movie is really sad, you realize, as the main protagonist, a burly, good looking man, breaks down and starts to weep on screen as he learns the news of his fiancee’s death.

Wait. It’s really sad.

Oh no. Please no.

You turn your head from Taehyung, careful not to jostle him with your movement, and reach for a napkin, the misting of your eyes catching you completely off guard, as you bite your lip and wipe hurriedly at the offending tears, trying desperately to claw their way out past your eyelids.

Shit. You never cry. Why now?

“Hey, jagi.” Taehyung turns to you, and you swear under your breath, trying to wipe at your face in an inconspicuous way. What a terrible time for him to pick to ask you for something else.

Now he was really going to notice. Or maybe he wouldn’t. You could only hope.

“Hmmm?” you hum out in response to his inquiry, stuffing the slightly damp napkin down in between the seats in a vague attempt at hiding what you were just doing, as you glance over at him, hoping your eyes are no longer wet.

Taehyung stares at you for a moment, and dread fills your stomach, as suddenly, popcorn forgotten, he turns to you, face stretching into a knowing grin, as he asks in a stage whisper, loud enough for everyone to hear, “Holy shit, jagi. Were you crying? Over a movie?!”

“No! I wasn’t!” You say defensively, sticking your tongue out at him, as he begins to chuckle quietly, and a few shushing noises are heard from behind you. “Shut up, Tae.” You hiss out between your teeth, waving apologetically to the angry looking people a few rows back, before you slap a hand over your still chortling boyfriend’s mouth. “You’re gonna get us kicked out!”

He waves his hands at you, and you reluctantly let his mouth go, as he reaches up to wipe at the tears of mirth gathering in his dark eyes, before he lets out a long breath, lips still curled upward, and says softly, “I honestly didn’t know you were capable of crying. I legitimately thought you were a robot the whole time we’ve been dating. But apparently,” He waves his hand at the closing scenes of the movie playing on the screen, and starts to laugh hysterically again, no longer able to keep quiet as he crows, “This movie is all it takes!”

Tackling him in his seat, you cover his mouth once again, as the rest of the popcorn spills, and dragging him behind you out of the movie theater, his laughter still echoing, you curse yourself for ever crying at a movie around Kim Taehyung.

JEON JUNGKOOK

“Hey, (Y/N)!”

You glance up as the familiar voice calls your name, putting away your phone as you see BamBam and Yugyeom appear in the doorway of the dressing room, looking rather dapper in matching black and blue tuxedos, hair gelled back and faces heavy with makeup, lips pulled back over white teeth as they grin excitedly at you.

“Bam! Gyeom!” You squeal, pushing up from your armchair and dodging around all of the boys’ stuff to throw your arms around the two taller men, careful not to mess up their crafted styling as you look up at them. “I didn’t think you guys would be here tonight!”

“We got roped into performing after your boyfriend.” Yugyeom teases, reaching out to flick your cheek playfully, as BamBam spins you around in a circle while he hugs you, leaving you slightly breathless and laughing.

“You look beautiful, baby.” The older boy says, eyeing your dress and shoes and pinned back hair with a critical eye, as he raises his brow at you in a teasing manner. “Kookie is lucky.”

“Ahhhh. You guys look good too.” You wink, reaching out to straighten BamBam’s lapel, before you smooth down some crinkled fabric on Yugyeom’s pocket.

“Speaking of the Golden Maknae,” Yugyeom says, glancing around the empty room behind you with a quizzical look. “Where is JK?”

“Yah.” You wave your hand at them, rolling your eyes as you hear the announcement from the auditorium for people to begin taking their seats. “He had to go talk to some other idols or something.”

“And he left you here alone?” BamBam says in mock disgust, before he offers you his arm. “Come on. We won’t do you dirty. Let us escort you to your seat, my lady.”

You laugh as Yugyeom bows deeply from the waist and offers you his elbow as well, and sandwiched between the two boys, you let them lead you down the hall and toward the auditorium.

As you walk, you keep an eye out for Jungkook, and catching sight of the back of his head around one of the corners, talking to someone you can’t see, you release BamBam and Yugyeom, offering them both thankful smiles as you motion toward your missing boyfriend, “There he is guys. I’d better go drag him in with me so he’s not late.” They laugh and you wave them off. “Good luck out there! Fighting!”

You walk quietly, determined to sneak up on the unsuspected Jungkook and scare him like he always does to you, but as you get closer, you recognize the low, feminine lilt of who he is talking to, and you stop in your tracks, catching a glimpse of IU’s long flowing, shimmering dress, as she bobs her head and laughs at something Jungkook has just said.

Suddenly, watching them converse so easily and so naturally, and knowing how much of a fan of hers Jungkook is, the butterflies in your stomach turn to waves of dread.

“Okay. Well, have a good performance, Noona. Fighting.” Jungkook says, bowing deeply as Yugyeom had done to you moments before, as IU rests her hand on his forearms and says something you can’t hear, before turning and gliding off in the direction of the auditorium.

You watch Jungkook watch her go, the dread growing by the moment, and when he turns and catches sight of you, you can’t force yourself to return his smile as he bounds over to you, taking your hands in his as he presses a careful kiss to your cheek, before saying brightly, “Jagi, there you are! Ready to go in?”

You nod mutely, allowing your fingers to find their slot within in his own, but you can’t resist asking, as Jungkook pulls you toward the auditorium, “Kook, do you like IU-noona?”

“Of course I do.” Jungkook throws you a confused glance over his shoulder, not seeming to grasp what you’re getting at. “I’ve been a fan of hers since I was a kid. She’s super talented.”

“And gorgeous, and an idol, and clearly a fan of yours as well.” You say back before you can stop yourself, and you suddenly feel a sharp lump in your throat, as tears threaten behind your eyelids.

Pulling to a stop behind him, Jungkook turns when you stop moving forward, brow raised, but expression turning to worry as he catches sight of the first of the tears leaking down your face, ruining your carefully applied makeup.

“Hey, jagi. What’s wrong?” He asks, stepping toward you, hands fluttering helplessly at his sides, as if he wants to comfort you, but he’s not quite sure how, or even what he’s done to make you this upset.

“I’m not good enough for you, Jungkook.” You stumble over your words, reaching up to carefully brush some more tears away, as the roar of the crowd from the auditorium reaches your ears. “You should be with someone like IU-noona. That’s what you deserve.”

Jungkook still seems unsure of how to react to your pitiful breakdown, but suddenly, he steals his shoulders, and stepping forward, surprises you when he takes your own shoulders firmly in his hands, and shakes you gently, his voice firm, when he says lowly, “That’s stupid.”

“What?” You ask in shock, as your eyes raise to his unbidden, and the sudden hardness and determination there catches you off guard.

Jungkook is never this serious.

“I said that’s stupid.” He repeats, digging his fingers into your bare shoulders. “I like IU-noona, I respect her. But I love you, (Y/N).”

The dread is gone as suddenly as it came with his words, and sniffling, you reach up to wipe your nose with the back of your hand, as you ask shakily, “You do?”

“Yes.” His eyes go soft again, and his bunny smile emerges as his lips reveal his teeth. “Now come on. The hyungs will kill me if we’re late.”

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