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Day 12: Holy Quintet (+ 1) for @magitober

Madoka Magica Magia Exedra Opening Animation

But here? This reveal? This is a Big Reveal for us, Peter B Parker, and Miles, all on different levels. We and Peter both know Doc Ock is a portly dude, not a woman. We know the name Octavius… Otto Octavius. But when she says her name is Olivia Octavius we’re clued in to the fact that Doctor Octopus is a woman in this universe. And she has Peter captive.

Miles, if he was paying attention in science class earlier in the movie, would have known her name was Olivia Octavius, but that doesn’t mean anything to him, why would it? Liv has apparently been very good about keeping her supervillainy a secret. She’s in educational videos shown in high-schools. So to Miles, the reveal here is this scientist lady, who he knew enough about to know was the head scientist at Alchemax, is a supervillain. He gets the reveal a second or two after Peter.

And the movie? It was dropping hints the entire time, confident in our expectations blinding is to the truth. Olivia’s name was partially visible when Miles got to science class. Her glasses are octagonal. The lights in her lab are octagonal. We know she’s working with the Kingpin. Why wouldn’t she be a supervillain? Because she’s hot? Hell, Peter even says he needs to reexamine his internal biases. Maybe he was telling us that we should too.

Toph Beifong

A Shadow

CLAMP are big on fate and destiny and, as you said, they have gone on record saying many of their characters are essentially soul bonded to each other. syaoran and sakura, touya and yukito, etc. in any universe if one appears the other won't be far behind, endlessly yet unknowingly drawn to their soul's counterpart.

but i actually think this is not the case for kurogane and fai. some have speculated before that the reason these two were so powerfully drawn together in the TRC-verse was that their own universe's counterpart had already died, and while i do think that's certainly a super interesting take, i think the idea of them not being soul bonded is actually more interesting?

because it would mean they were never actually meant to be together. no cosmic force pushed them toward one another, no preexisting bond bouyed those feelings. they were simply collateral damage of someone else's destiny. only there at the right time due to a twist of fate. an aberration. an accident. somebody mucking around with what was supposed to happen. but essentially it means that everything these two did regarding each other they did on purpose. deliberately.

in a way they created their own destiny, they bent fate to their will and said no, this one is mine. when kurogane put that sword to his own flesh he defied fate. this fai, our TRC fai, was a thrice cursed child; he was always meant to die. until kurogane said actually fuck that - what do we say to the god of death? not on my fucking watch. he changed his own destiny by force. a killing machine learns that the most powerful form of love is to protect? and uses that to take fate by the throat and tell it to fuck right off? fucking sublime. he chopped his own arm off and pulled the man he loved out of destiny's cage, thereby changing his own fate by choosing fai. deliberately and without hesitation.

and fai, in choosing life, in choosing love, in choosing kurogane, in choosing to let himself be loved, in choosing the life he made over his own towering guilt, self-loathing, and despair? he changed his own fate, too.