#volume 8

This perhaps goes without saying but spoilers ahead ⚠️

The palm reading in volume 8 really fucked with my brain chemistry. Reading the rest of the book looked a lot like this:

My initial thought was: Pierce/Islington. Then maybe Pierce/Hawkes. After letting it marinate and then re-reading, my current working theory is Pierce/Pierce.

I started with the idea that in literature prophecies are often fulfilled in unexpected ways. For example, early in the series, the Roman says "a man of war" comes to the house, which sounds ominous enough to really frighten Agnes. Then we come to see it means a man who has experienced/photographed war (and has a history of personal battles). The prophecy is not as calamitous as it initially sounds. Thus, I tried to think of ways that the palm reading could still be true without becoming a love triangle situation.

Some of my (over)thinking processes:

If Emma had to choose one person over another, wouldn't one line be shorter? She just wouldn't know which is which.

If the two branches are 2 different people that means she has THREE "true loves" which seems like an embarrassment of riches.

At this point she and Pierce are already courting, so one branch is likely him. If it is true that prophecies are often not fulfilled in obvious ways, a love triangle seems like the obvious slant here. Instead, what if it's the same person but different versions of him, based on his choices? (what you choose. what they choose. a thousand other decisions or possibly very few)

Thus, my Healed Pierce vs Unhealed Pierce theory. "Healed" in this sense means he is doing the work to address his alcohol use & emotional trauma

Deeply or Completely - she could still love him deeply if he is unhealed, but more completely if he is healed and not hiding parts of himself from her.

Sharp as a knife - honestly I think this is just reflective of his name: Pierce. But it could also mean that the relationship hurts at times, if he's unhealed.

Game of mirrors** - a negative interpretation of the game of mirrors is that an unhealed version of him could mean she can never see *him* clearly; positive interpretation is that a healthy partner helps you see yourself clearly. Also that partnering with Pierce is a reflection of her parents' relationship: a woman of a genteel class marries a social-outsider artist-type.

One more difficult - did you think this would be the unhealed version? TWIST!Emotional healing and personal growth is very difficult. Worth it! but definitely not easy.

One less free - loving an unhealed Pierce might mean there are aspects to his past he never shares with her, which means they can't be fully vulnerable with each other. He is less free to be completely open.

**n.b. admittedly I could see "game of mirrors" as an Islington premise, meaning who is she "reflecting" to him, Becca or Hannah?

That said, I still propose that the prophecy, if true, will manifest in a way less direct than a love triangle.

During Ironwood's Post-Beacon scenes, whenever he hits something, it's always been out of frustration at his impotence. And it's always been followed up by him making a decision with negative effects on his kingdom. First, in Jacques' office before closing the borders. Then, in his own office before ordering Robyn's arrest. And again in his office, just before he turns on Team RWBY. But each time while there is damage, the desk is still whole, symbolizing that there is still a chance to fix things.

So of course, he destroys his entire computer terminal just before making a choice that brings his entire kingdom to total ruin. And while the bomb he's threatening to use on Mantle is stopped, his decision to drop it sets off a chain-reaction of events that hand Salem the very victory he wanted to prevent.

Here are gifs for volume 8 of Banana Fish I made today after work.

There are a lot of silly GIFs this time ꉂ(˵˃ ᗜ ˂˵)

I finally decided to stop torturing myself and find what Miss Yoshida used for the backgrounds. Here is the image I saved in case someone needs it જ⁀➴⇣⇣⇣

I didn't really know what to do with this panel, but I liked it a lot, so I decided to just cut it and add it to the post.

There will be one more GIF and probably a short video as well. I will post both in a separate post.

Edit: Here is the last GIF I mentioned ⤴︎⤴︎⤴︎

I don't really like how it turned out, but I don't have the strength to keep working on it.

And as always, you can use the GIFs as long as you credit me ✮⋆˙

Dude, give it back!

Inori’s towel, a rare example of Chekhov’s gun.