I am a person with 5% English proficiency. So, forgive me if there are any translation errors in this text. I am also currently obsessed with Tim Drake, even though I have never actually read any comics (mainly because they aren't translated into my native language). I'm also fond of characters like Chuuya Nakahara, Max Thunderman, Keigo Takami, Kuroko Tetsuya, Daisy Johnson, Kim Dokja, Yu Ho and Qin Ju, Sigma, Peter Parker, Nagisa Shiota. (At the end, characters I rarely read) I hope you enjoy my posts! If there are any, of course. 😅
everyone is saying that the Louvre heist was pulled off by the crows and only could have been planned by Kaz Brekker but lowkey it feels more like Jesper kept insisting he could plan a better heist than Kaz until Kaz finally let him plan one expecting it to crash and burn with sixteen back up plans and then Jesper’s plan actually worked
Jesper two days before: so we’ll use a *rolls dice* ladder to get in through the *pulls a paper out of a hat* second floor window where we’ll steal *throws a dart at a board* a bunch of jewelry and then ride away on scooters!
Wylan: and how will we get to the jewelry?
Jesper: …smash through the glass? Ooh! or we could use that thing that cuts holes in glass!
Nina: and what do we do with the ladder afterwards?
Jesper: …set it on fire?
Inej: and you genuinely think this is going to work?
Jesper: …yes?
Matthias: this is not going to end well
Kaz and Inej scootering away after
Inej: so you pulled some strings to make it work?
Kaz, *still reeling and incredibly confused*: …no…i can’t believe he pulled that off
Damian: Richard. I require....assistance, and if you have the knowledge, some advice.
Dick: Of course, Dami. What can I help with?
Damian: There is a classmate of mine that I wish to romance; however, my formal speech seems to be off-putting to him and has caused me to be labeled a "fruitloop" in his eyes. I wish to learn teenage slang, despite the butchering of the English language.
Dick shock: What
Damian: Hold on, please. *pulls out a stack of papers* Jon made a dictionary of common slang. Let me rephrase my request. "Yo, teach me those made rizz skills to help me bag a baddie. Ya dig?"
Tim from down the hall: What in the nine levels of hell was that?
Damian: Drake! How many times have I warned you to stop illegally surveilling my private conversations! *Flips through papers* I mean, Yo, that's wack!
Tim: Make him stop, Dick! I'm breaking into hives!
Dick: Okay, Dami, I'll help, but first, I'm pretty sure Jon gave you slang words from the 90s. Let's look for words of this era, since kids won't know what you're saying.
Damian: I see. Only old people would know these, huh. Are these words nostalgic to you, since you are from the late 1900s?
Tim: Oh shit! Dick, he's disrespecting you! To your face! Right to your face!
Dick: Tim! I swear to Alfred's cookies recipe, if you don't shut up, I am going to tell Damian about the Rubber Duck incident.
Tim: ....I apologize for my outburst. As a formal appology allow me to help you charm Daniel Fenton.
Damian: How....How do you know his name!
Tim sticking his head out of his room: I have coffee with him once a week
Dick: Why?
Tim: He joined the photography club.
Damian: I was under the impression you were the only one in that club
Tim: I was! Now there are two of us! And before you lose your mind, Damian, he likes you! He takes pictures of you when you're unaware to bring to the meetings!
Damian hopeful: Truly?!
Dick: Wait, you mean to tell me you knew a boy was taking pictures of Damian without his knowledge and just let it happen?!?
Tim: Course not. I made recommendations for the light settings. I can't let my only club member not improve.
Dick, rubbing the bridge of his eyes: I can't do this anymore. When is Bruce coming home?
Damian: Should I pose? Do you think Daniel will like it if I pose? What do you think, Drake?
Tim: - and that was the last time anyone saw Daniel "Danny" Fenton alive. Till this day, his family searches for answers, looking for the son who vanished without a trace.
Jack watches from a crack in Tim's bedroom door: Why is he reading cold cases to his teddy bears?
Janet, peering around Jack: He's just playing
Jack: Nah, when I played with toys, I made them go to a ball, or played house. I did not sit them in a semi-circle, turned off all the lights, and read cold cases with alarmingly clear timelines, under candlelight, might I add
Janet: Really? I made my dolls sacrifice each other to aplease a moon god I made up. I also had them kill eachother for drama.
Janet: Clearly, I need to schedule a psychology check for you both, but one thing at a time. Where did Tim get the information on that cold cases anyway?
Tim appearing in the door's open crack: He told me. Danny is with all the time. He's my friend.
Jack: *Scream*
Janet: That's some creepy shit, my son. Jack, honey, you okay?
Jack:
Janet: Alright, Timmy, tell your friend bye and get your shoes on. We have to take Daddy to the hospital. I think his heart stop of fright.
Danny: Again? That man needs to go on anxiety pills
Janet: I'm going to pretend that clear teenage male voice came from my six-year-old son and not the empty air for my own sanity. One thing at a time, as my Jackie says. Now go get your shoes.
Tucker: That was a great Comic-Con. I got to meet so many voice actors.
Danny: I know! I underestimated big city cons. I went way over budget.
Sam: How much did you spend?
Danny: four hundred
Sam: FOUR HUNDRED!?
Danny: I'm including the hotel room.
Tucker: Oh thats not too bad.
Danny: Might be easy for you to say. Both of you guys have money to spare. My extracurricular activities make it impossible to keep a steady job. I need a sugar Daddy. Anybody on this escalator want to be my Sugar Daddy?
Jason turning around: Sure
Danny: *Gasp*
Jason: How much you need, gorgeous?
Danny:...I dont know. I was joking.
Jason: If you want, we can go back down the escalator to the con, and I can buy you whatever you want, then you join me for dinner in the nerd theme bar.
Danny dazed: Okay
Sam: What's happening?
Tucker: I think we're witnessing the beginning of a Rom-con.
Sam: While cosplaying Pride and Prejudice?
Jason: Your cosplay was why I noticed you, actually. I always wanted to romance Mr.Darcy.
Danny: And I always found Red Hood really attractive. Your costume is perfect.
Jason: Thank you, gorgeous.
Tim, slightly in front of Jason: And you said this would be a waste of time.
I overthought the Blackwater Arc, and now you can too!
I do not like the Blackwater Arc. I have been personally victimized by MXTX and I do not relish these chapters on reread.
But. I do think the arc is kind of brilliantly constructed, both as a parallel to the greater story and as a means of encouraging a specific mindset in readers as they head into the later arcs, most especially White Clothed Calamity arc.
Because let's face it — a good revenge arc following all of the human face disease fuckery would feel insanely cathartic. I'd probably toss away all of the other themes of the series and root for Calamity Lian without too much nudging. Yeah, boy — rain down those angry spirits! Fuck them kids.
Which, of course, is one reason why the narrative takes a massive detour first. Instead of pushing through the flashback in one go, we're forced back into the present and dragged through the Blackwater Arc kicking and screaming and crying for mercy. And while it's cruel and, some have argued, completely unnecessary to the larger story, I would counter that the events here are not just important to the story (it IS Xie Lian losing his only real ally in the heavens, and it IS Jun Wu continuing to purge heavenly officials he thinks are too powerful), but it's also forces you really reconsider how cathartic a revenge arc might actually be and is integral to really getting into the meat of what makes Xie Lian who he is. In this essay, I will…
Nah, fuck it. I'mma do the essay. Click the Read More!
MXTX loves to employ literary foils in her storytelling to really highlight who her characters are by showing you who they are not. And in the Blackwater Arc, we have He Xuan set up as the most obvious foil to Xie Lian. Just like Xie Lian at the end of the Fall of Xianle Arc, he's been stalked by a menacing creature, lost everyone close to him, and had his life destroyed. And he is going to fuck things up for the people responsible. YEAH! FUCK THEM KIDS!
Except, oh no, them kids includes Shi Qingxuan, who is the single most lovely lovely to ever lovely. Not only could she charm the ash off of Tonglu, he is the ONLY character who has shown unrestrained kindness to Xie Lian in the heaven realm. He's spoiled, but not rotten: he's vain, he coasts on his brother's status and merits, but she is also genuinely kind and has a strong sense of justice and…oh wait, this also sounds familiar.
So in addition to being treated to a foil in He Xuan, we're also treated to a parallel of 17-year-old Xie Lian in Shi Qingxuan. (Ooooh, shivers.) More on this later.
And with this set up, we get to watch everything go to hell.
He Xuan's continued existence revolves around vengeance — he is literally the embodiment of vengeance at this point (and also a fun play on the concept of a "hungry ghost"). Throughout TGCF, resentment and vengeance are depicted as tangible things. Their most obvious role is to provide power to people who would use them, but they're also consuming. The resentful spirits that cause human face disease consume the people they infect. Lang Ying is consumed by his wife and son in exactly the same manner his vengeance devoured the people of Xianle. To a lesser extent, due to his > 9000 power level, so is Jun Wu. The price of Xie Lian stirring up the resentful spirits of Xianle is either to unleash them on the people Lang-er Bay or be consumed himself. As the embodiment of vengeance, He Xuan cannot stop consuming things; ghosts, monsters, food — he is always eating. But it's never enough, and even once he has succeeded in his revenge, he is not sated, and importantly, he does not disperse. He shows up later and is still eating everything. He consumes, he is consumed, and even once he's reached his goal he is not fulfilled.
And that is a lovely cautionary tale, fit for audiences of all ages and across cultures, but what does it tell us about Xie Lian that we wouldn't otherwise know?
The important difference between He Xuan and Xie Lian is how they deal with their anger and grief. He Xuan very much externalizes everything — he lashes out at the people causing his misery as he dies and continues plotting against Shi Wudu into his afterlife. Xie Lian is the opposite — he is depressed and angry during much of the First Banishment Arc, but most of that is directed inward at himself. He needs to be better at earning money. He has to cultivate to get his status back. He, he, he. (This all vibes very well with his Daoist beliefs — practitioners are exhorted not to put resentment/disharmony back out into the world where it will further upset the balance of things). It takes White No Face actively pushing him to become a Calamity — it's not something he chooses free of influence, and that (in my humble opinion, anyway) is why he's able to find his way out of it in the end. And relatively easily, too! The bamboo hat man surely wasn't some paragon of virtue and kindness that lit the way back for him — he was looking for a way back to himself and took the first path he saw.
(As an aside, these same behaviors are what set Hua Cheng and Banyue apart from the other wrath ghosts we meet. Their resentment is directed inward at their own failings, and in becoming wraths, they worked to correct those perceived failures. Xuan Ji blames Pei Ming for everything, and Qi Rong…well, he's Qi Rong and there is no known cure.)
So we have two characters here with somewhat similar stories making drastically different choices in the end. There are some major differences, as well, though. He Xuan was a scholar, where Xia Lian was a prince and a Daoist cultivator. Their lives moved along entirely different paths, and it's hardly fair to expect an average person to react the same way as someone who is steeped in ideology that insists on non-violence and purity.
But you know who has a story even more similar to Xie Lian AND uses those same cultivation methods? Jun Fucking Wu. They both begin as princes with strong moral precepts, they both want to save their people, but fall short and are dragged through muck and mire by those same people. They learn from the same guoshi. Their stories are so similar, Xie Lian even begins to think he must have some sort of relationship based on the murals of Wuyong. And yet. AND YET, in the face of the backlash from his people, Jun Wu chooses vengeance, just like Joe Average He Xuan.
Their backstories have nothing to do with their choices, other than giving each the opportunity to make them.
When Hua Cheng tells Mei Nianqing "They're nothing alike," in regards to Xie Lian and Jun Wu, this is part of what he's talking about. Mei Nianqing sees them as similar because their lives have followed the same trajectories, and they've cultivated the same path. But that isn't what makes someone — it might shape some of their beliefs, but it doesn't dictate their responses. They have to be the ones to choose what to do with their anger, their grief, and Jun Wu chooses to explode outward with his blame in spectacular fashion. He tosses his advisors in a volcano and goes on a god-hunting spree. Classic.
(And I do think it's important to frame these as choices, as well. TGCF is very heavy on the theme of choice, so reading it as something like "Well, Xie Lian is just innately a good person while Jun Wu was born a bag of salted dicks!" would diminish that agency. We're talking about something the characters have actively participated in making themselves into.)
The final foil piece for our palace (for those of you keeping count) is Shi Qingxuan. He's had a few rough patches in his younger years, but mostly lives a very comfortable life, thanks to the protection of his brother. His backstory has nothing on the angst-filled melodrama that most of the characters have waded through. He's spoiled and vain and kinda flighty — he's almost the kind of character you'd expect to have a tantrum when the rug is pulled out from under him and lash out at the world. Almost. Because despite having a drastically different history to Xie Lian, he is also genuinely kind and good-hearted, and makes choices based accordingly, even when others look down on him for it. And so when he loses everything, he reacts very much the same way: he turns inwards and decides to go learn how to live an unsheltered life. It's not exactly a happy ending, but it's also not really an ending, and he is cheerful enough about it.
And there you have it: of the 4 characters that Didn't Deserve It, 2 chose to make it everyone else's problem, and 2 chose to roll with the punches and move forward. The Blackwater Arc, traumatizing though it may be, really provides as opportunity to highlight not only the similarities, but the differences between these characters, and in turn shows that nothing about their choices is inevitable based on their past. You can't traumatize someone into committing vengeance, that is something THEY must choose.
Although if you are Jun Wu, and wake up each day to choose to be a bag of salted dicks violence, I guess you can try.
Clarke initiating most every smooch in canon. She just wanted to kiss her girlfriend 🥺
Well ok listen. No 🤣😅
Lexa was the first one to initiate kissage.
I will never ever ever ever ever let that fact be forgotten. And this isn't aimed at you anon, it's truly not I'm just ranting. This is purely a point of order that I always feel is necessary to bring up because too often Lexa is, for understandable but ultimately misguided reasons, painted as being shy or reserved or hesitant in showing her affections.
She absolutely was not.
That girl? Went for it. Ok? She sucked in a shakey little breath, uttered those three apocalypticly romantic words—
and dove head first into the feeling that had been building between them from the start.
And not ONLY did she Go For It™, she really tried to make that kiss count 👇
Like the girl was barely willing to come up for air. And then she did, what did she do? What did she do?
That's right.
Cuz Lexa: does not half ass anything. Including going for the girl. She saw what she wanted and was Gonna Go For It 😏. Smoothe Heda style.
I mean even after Clarke said, "Not yet," Lexa continued to court her. Lowkey, granted, but she absolutely was courting her. Keeping Clarke close. Exhalting her position next to The Heda. Inviting her to Polis. Holding her hand when they went to blow the door. Keeping her protected (when Lincoln tries to follow, her furiously commanding him to stay and protect Clarke in her place)
She was respectful of Clarke's wish for more time, but still very much continued to persue her in subtle yet meaningful ways.
I've said it before and I'll say it again—will probably continue saying it until the people at the nursing home decide it's easier to just pull the plug to shut me up—but I think where people (again, not you specifically anon I'm just ranting 🥴) get it twisted is because after the mountain, Lexa gave Clarke space.
That's it.
Because again, she respected her!
She thought Clarke hated her. Despised her. She understood Clarke's hurt on a personal level, and understood how hard it is to let go of that. She had broken everything they had built, and wasn't sure it was something she could ever repair between them.
So even though she still left the door open for Clarke—giving Clarke protection, showing vulnerability, swearing oaths and vows to her, inviting her into her personal space, accepting and attempting to return intimate touches and not getting angry when she was rebuffed—she purposefully allowed Clarke to set the tone of their relationship.
She left it up to Clarke.
Not because she didn't want to go for it, but because she knew she had to.
She loved Clarke and respected Clarke enough to never cross the line she had drawn. After the mountain, nothing was the same as it was when they were alone in that tent so many weeks ago, just two young women forced to be leaders too young, trying to find balance in the universe between what they want and what they have to be.
But 👀
As soon as Clarke stepped over that line herself?
Once she waved the white flag and invited Lexa back in?
Lexa, still worried about overstepping this fragile truce between them, literally crying with the fear of losing Clarke forever, along with the hope and disbelief that this thing—this feeling she'd been carrying with her for months—was finally ok to let out?
What did she do?
She jumped on those lips
Was two seconds away from trying to crawl inside Clarke's mouth
So overall like, ok maaaaybe Clarke initiated more kisses. But I argue that's simply because of how things transpired. I fully believe, without a second of hesitation, that if things had gone differently or if they had been given enough time to really Be Together (fuuuuck you Jason), Lexa actually would've proven herself to be the more demonstrative partner. More kissy kissy.
Yes Clarke is a tactile person, yes she can be extremely affectionate. Lord knows she'd hug a tree if she felt it necessary. But Lexa? Lexa is a yearner. She's a lover babe. She wants kisses and hand holding and hugs and midnight candlelit talks in slinky nightgowns. And that's just what we know from the devastatingly little we were shown. Imagine the amount of stolen kisses and pecks to Grumpy Clarke Lips she would've indulged in if given the chance. Sleepy good morning kisses and "I'll see you at dinner" goodbye kisses. Nasty makeouts in the wake of pulling Clarke into shadowy corridors of tower that the only Heda's are allowed to go. Kisses to dry tears and kisses to bruised knuckles and kisses across clusters of tiny freckles.
I love Clarke and I'll never, ever claim that she isn't affectionate, because she is. But yo. Mm mm mm. Nobody has the market cornered on being Down Bad for her girlfriend's lips like Lexa is.
caitlin worrying that all her friends like frost more than her and then a handful of seasons later when she's killed herself in an attempt to bring frost back they chose to let HER stay destroyed and revive frost. literally everyone except barry wanted to choose frost. good fucking lord.
I don't really remember Flash because I've been watching it for a long time, but I trust you to tell me about the events of seasons 4 and 5. I'm not sure. So, I really like Caitlin (she's my favorite character in the show because I have a weakness for biologists) so I felt sad when I read your post. I remember how sad I was when Killer Frost took control of the body and she was no longer there. And the choice between my old friend who disappeared (is it possible to call it a coma?) and the girl you're in a relationship with and currently communicating with is very complicated, even without considering all these additional events and feelings. And yet, I feel sad..... I want to watch the first season again...
i'm assuming this means u've never seen passed s3, then? the og post is abt a little storyline in an episode of s4, and then a bigger plot within s9 !! rest assured, caitlin comes back as herself in s4 and remains a main character along with frost. they're more explicitly retconned into two separate entities within caitlin's body, so they both get their own arcs in s4-8 !! if u want more caitlin content i would definitely suggest continuing on passed s3 some of my favorite character moments for caitlin is in s4 :>
Hah, I watched up to season 7 and I'd completely forgotten everything 😅 I just remembered how sad it was that Caitlin disappeared for a while. From what I saw in the spoilers, there's no new sister or, you know, person appearing in season 9? I'm not entirely sure about that, but I think that's what happened. I should definitely rewatch The Flash when I have time. Thanks for reminding me of that! ☺️♥️
for real tho, emulation is such a big part of the killer frost storyline !!!!
caitlin promising killer frost will never exist on their earth, then being terrified of turning into her earth-2 doppelganger when the ice powers activate. our frost taking over that name, that look, that cruelty- despite initially being named khione by thomas. she copied everything from earth-2 killer frost, including the assaulting freezing kiss, because that killer frost finally showed her who she was supposed to be. what she was made for.
caitlin watched hannibal bates try to flatter everyone into letting him go, when he used her form in the pipeline; so killer frost tries the same thing when she wakes up there, too.
when she's having doubts while working with savitar, she calls herself caitlin to his face, and he has to remind her that she's not caitlin.
eowells tells barry that some people, when they break, they can't be put back together again; killer frost tells barry that some things you break can't be put back together. dehumanizing herself there by calling herself a thing instead of a person; "killer frost is the weapon" and "killer frost is my cure" first and foremost.
then the act drops, later on. like iris says, she was terrified of being caitlin, and like frost admits, she didn't want to be stuck living half a life and being half of a person.
deathstorm-prime calls her "an echo," a "faulty experiment," a "broken mirror." even the mental augmentation chamber doesn't register her as "real" because all her own grief was built up from caitlin's, until she starts crying because of caitlin's impending doom. then she can turn into hellfrost; a physiological emulation of deathstorm-prime.
she only accepted herself as a real person separate from anything-caitlin for a few hours during the day she fucking died
caitlin worrying that all her friends like frost more than her and then a handful of seasons later when she's killed herself in an attempt to bring frost back they chose to let HER stay destroyed and revive frost. literally everyone except barry wanted to choose frost. good fucking lord.
I don't really remember Flash because I've been watching it for a long time, but I trust you to tell me about the events of seasons 4 and 5. I'm not sure. So, I really like Caitlin (she's my favorite character in the show because I have a weakness for biologists) so I felt sad when I read your post. I remember how sad I was when Killer Frost took control of the body and she was no longer there. And the choice between my old friend who disappeared (is it possible to call it a coma?) and the girl you're in a relationship with and currently communicating with is very complicated, even without considering all these additional events and feelings. And yet, I feel sad..... I want to watch the first season again...
The idea of using the fact there may be some rotten apples as an excuse to lock ALL of them up like animals, to treat ALL of them as “guilty until proven innocent” and not the other way around, is in itself discriminatory.
How many people in the United States own a gun? How many can choose to walk into any crowded place and start firing, guaranteeing to kill many people until they’re apprehended? Do the government agencies in Agents of Shield keep a tab on all of them? Monitor their every movement. Where they go? What they eat? Who they see? Where they live? Where they work? Do they have a list on who owns the most dangerous of weapons?
It might not be the same, sure, and certain inhumans have the power to wreak a lot more havoc than someone with a gun or a rifle, but the concept is the same. Now that the terrigen has spread in an uncontrolled environment, everyone who turns needs to be taught how to control their powers and how to deal with them.
Unfortunately, unlike before, inhumans cannot be ignored because they’re no longer hiding, rather they’re in the public, and people who know nothing are turning with their entire world being flipped upside down.
It’s unfortunate, but before then, only those who were ready were chosen, and given the time and space to embrace themselves in an environment created specifically for that by people who went through the same thing.
An alternative is very much needed, which IS what Shield was trying to do (albeit with an ulterior motive to recruit the best of them for a secret team) but locking up all these scared people who are experiencing all sorts of biological and psychological changes so that they’re isolated, “othered” and dehumanized is NOT a solid alternative. Especially when none of these organizations actually know anything about the inhumans in the first place. And when it’s done without these people’s consent, and when any try to resist out of fear, they’re killed (as implied in the first episode of s3).
These organizations like the ATCU don’t know or understand inhuman DNA, they don’t have the treatments to care for them should they be hurt, they don’t have the technology or knowledge to help them transition. Nor is that even something they want. They want a return to the status quo. A return to before the terrigen spread, even though that’s no longer a possibility.
We’ve seen how Simmons (with good intentions) created those gloves for Daisy to stop her from hurting herself, only for them to end up actually causing Daisy further harm, and disrupting the transition process. Once in afterlife, Daisy was immediately placed in medical care specifically designed for inhumans and she was fully healed in a short amount of time.
How on earth can scientists and politicians and doctors who have no understanding of inhumans be the ones responsible for their care? And against those peoples’ will?
Someone like Andrew, transitioning for the worst and harming many people, it makes sense to lock him up and try to prevent him from turning fully (even the other inhumans don’t disagree) but to treat all of them like that?
When Jeanne goes to Gévaudan in the present day, she's dead set on killing Chloé. And that sense of obligation isn't just due to her sense of duty as a bourreau; she very clearly feels personal guilt about failing to kill Chloé the previous time. Why?
Jeanne goes into Gévaudan thinking that Chloé really is the Beast. And that means she thinks Chloé's been killing the people of Gévaudan, which she must know Chloé in her right mind would rather die than do. Hell, Chloé even asked Jeanne to kill her when they met on the cliff as beast and bourreau, as she really was laden down with the guilt of "causing" the deaths of her family and the horror of the true nature of the "beast." Jeanne has every reason to think that Chloé has been killing her people and is suicidally miserable about it.
And it's not just that Chloé wants to die and Jeanne failed to kill her. As far as Jeanne can tell when she comes back to Gévaudan, Chloé is still alive and living Jeanne's personal worst nightmare. When Jeanne cries to Vanitas about the fear of losing herself in the atelier, she's not just scared of a loss of identity or control. She's terrified that her violent impulses and loss of self will one day bring her to hurt Luca—the person she loves and most wants to protect.
Chloé is absolutely devoted to the people of Gévaudan. Jeanne knows that, and when she thinks Chloé is the beast, she thinks she's been killing them. She thinks that Chloé has lost herself to her violent impulses and is hurting the people she most wants to protect. So of course Chloé has to die! Jeanne herself also desperately wants to die rather than risk hurting a loved one. It's why Vanitas's promise is a comfort to her.
Jeanne is haunted by the thought that she failed Chloé by not killing her, and that guilt is informed by a bone-deep understanding. Jeanne wants to kill Chloé because she sees herself in the horror of what she thinks Chloé's situation is, and she cannot allow Chloé to keep living their shared worst nightmare. Chloé has to die because she cannot exist in a world where she's hurt her people, and Jeanne can relate to that better than anyone.
That's why Vanitas has to emphasize that Chloé never hurt the people of Gévaudan when he finally talks Jeanne into saving her. Jeanne's guilt may not be the only reason she tries so hard to kill Chloé. There's also her job as a bourreau and her sense that she's simply bound to carry out orders, but I don't think she initially enters Gévaudan with the blank mindset of a thoughtless drone.
Jeanne goes to Gévaudan to kill Chloé because she knows that Chloé would rather die than live having hurt her beloved people. There is no saving her once she's crossed that line. And Jeanne understands that because she's terrified of the exact same thing.
When you really think about it, Noé is not a free character:
-he’s bound to his archiviste powers
-he was kidnapped and sold having to call his owners “master”
-he’s basically Teacher’s pet
-he’s under Ruthven’s oath control now
-he’s bound to promises made to Vani and Louis
-Misha and JJ both force Noé to drink their blood
-Being sheltered gave Noé a limited scope on society and prejudice
All of these things were out of his control so he doesn’t dwell on them. There’s a moment I feel ppl don’t talk about in ch. 57. JJ apologizes for forcing Noé to see his memories and Noé absolutely brush it off. Everyone else is like….no you can be upset. You’re allowed to be bothered. Noé is so used to not having a choice, of thing being black or white that he genuinely doesn’t see the issue.
This is one of the many reasons I love the time loop/dream loop, because it’ll be the end result of all of this. After being restricted physically and metaphorically for so long, he creates his own cage.
vaporwave
titsay
gummygunk
yousharknotpass
dededos
izzy806
