#I need to hear actual previews from the dub!
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The Dream That Got Away
A Preview
Status: Not yet started
Pairing: Dark!Morpheus x You (no Y/N!)
This is a multi-chapter fic — updates will be erratic, but I’ve outlined almost everything in this fic, so you have my word I’ll complete this
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Overall Warnings!! Take heed:
Morpheus is DARK – in canon, he changes for the better (or at least, tries to – but we don’t do canon lol, so he goes even more batshit crazy) cue obsession, manipulation, possessiveness, powerplay
18+ ONLY – explicit scenes will be present, some explicit language
DUB-CON and NON-CON scenes
Character death (sort of)
Creator vs Creation drama
And other dark stuff that may be added in the future
You have been warned!! Proceed with caution!!!
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Premise:
Morpheus creates you, a Dream that inspires passion in humanity for their daily tasks and helps them discover what they want in life. He names you Mera, derived from the Greek word ‘meraki,’ meaning ‘to do something with passion, with absolute devotion, with undivided attention.’ Perhaps it’s you, his own creation, who inspires him, for he realizes his true want for companionship, and it’s you he decides to fulfill that need. So, what if, after his capture for more than a century, he finds you in love with a mortal and hears of your plans to run away from the Dreaming, from him, forever?
Chapter 1 Teaser
It's your creator’s eyes that you first see when you open yours – eyes that seemingly contain the entire universe in them, so blue, so warm, so tender. They look at you with so much adoration, you couldn’t help but smile and lean to the warmth of his palm caressing your cheek. He returns your smile with equal fervor. The first time you hear his voice, so deep and velvety and hypnotic, he gives you a name, ‘Mera.’
“My little dream, you’re beautiful. You’re perfect.” You watch his lips move as he utters his praise of his own creation.
You bask is his touch, noting how you had no right to be called ‘perfect,’ when he stands, regal in his own beauty, breathtaking and ethereal. He gives you a function which you take by heart – you are to inspire mortals to put passion in what they do and help them find what they’re truly looking for in their lives while they sleep and roam in his realm, your home, which he calls the Dreaming.
“For I am Dream of the Endless, the King of Dreams and Ruler of the Nightmare Realm.”
Your first words are of utter reverence and gratitude. “My Lord and my King, I owe you my life. Do as you will with it.”
You watch as Dream’s eyes light up with an emotion you have yet to learn the meaning of. Unbothered, you place your hand on the one still cupping your face gently, as you quietly declare your devotion to the purpose he gave you for his realm and his dreamers. You decide to pointedly ignore that faint ringing in your ears, that voice at the back of your head quietly telling you that something was amiss and cautioning you to tread lightly in his presence.
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Author notes:
Please engage, comment and reblog!! This is my first ever fic (I’ve soooo many ideas, but this is the one I got inspired enough to actually write!!), so kindness is truly appreciated
Special shoutout to @queenshelby for inspiring me to pen this — your dedication to Tom fics is unparalleled and they're a freaking treasure!!
And as well as to all you Dream writers whose fics I’ve had the pleasure to read and reread, you guys rock
#the sandman#the sandman fanfic#dream x reader#no y/n#dream of the endless x reader#the sandman netflix#the sandman x reader#dark!morpheus#dark!morpheus x reader#morpheus goes batshit crazy#lord morpheus#lord morpheus x reader#oneiros#dream of the endless#king of dreams#ruler of the nightmare realm#18+#tom sturridge character#morpheus x reader#sandman#the dream that got away#the sandman fanfiction
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LastMan s2′s crowdfunding
...launched 8 days ago and it already at 75% of its goal! But maybe some fans would like to hear about it?
Not going to translate everything but;
- it'll be an interquel between the end of s1 and the beginning of the comics
- 6 episodes x 45 minutes (so the same length as 26 episodes x 11 minutes), each a different genre, each centered on a different protagonist
- will air on France Télévision's streaming site in September 2022 (and s1 is available again there too?)
- for now they're only making it in French (+ English subtitles) but later if they get international release deals other dubs & subs should follow
- 1st episode starts roughly 9 years after s1's finale;
"Aldana's hit rock-bottom; his marriage to Tomie Katana wrecked, his boxing career down the drain, a heap of debts. He spends his days smoking and drinking and mulling over Howard's betrayal and his friends' loss-Chubby, Dave, Siri. But when he witnesses his old partner Duke Diamonds's accident, he agrees to climb back and fight in order to pay for his surgery."
Why do they need money?
They already got all the subsidies they could get but it's not enough for what they want to do plus the pandemics fucked things up--they're 150,000€ short of the 400,000 the series'll cost.
150,000'll be divided
- 20% taxes
- 8% KissKissBankBank's commission
- 23% rewards' manufacturing & logistics
- 49% paying for the actual series--animators, voice actors, etc, what have you
Now the rewards:
- 5€ - a big Thank You!
- 15€ "Duke": wallpaper, preview animatics, preview clip
- 30€ "Zenkova": wallpaper, animatics, clip + digital artbook
- 65€ "Tomie": physical artbook, poster, t-shirt, digital rewards
- 75€ "Cristo": dvd & bluray, poster, t-shirt + digital rewards
- 150€ "Marianne" (125 if you backed s1's crowdfunding back in the days): dvd & bluray, physical artbook, t-shirt, digital rewards
- 200€ "collector's": s1's BO as a collector vinyl disc, signed dvd & bluray, physical artbook, t-shirt + digital rewards
- 300€ "Richard": I think it was, artbook, dvd & bluray, t-shirt, digital rewards + signed original art [sold out]
- 500€ "Heroes": all the previous rewards (with or without the original artpiece I'm not sure) + breakfast with the team and tour of the studio [only 3 left as I'm making this post]
(link in reblog, ask me if you want something else from the page translated?)
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Download jodha akbar movie song
That in the garden the fragrance is shying away from the flowers. When I look around I see that it is spring but there is an autumn in my heart. It is as if our encounters are blended with loneliness. Mulaquaato mein hai jaise ghul si gai tanhai Jodhaa Akbar is a 2008 Indian historical romance film co written, produced and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. There is, as it were, a wall of glass divides us.īut what is this tune that fate has chosen for me to hear instead? This pain of separation is unacceptable to me. Like that of the two banks of a river that never meet. Jaise milte nahi kisi dariya ke do kinaare How does one actually tell you that they are not in love with you? Koi kaise kahein woh hain ya nahi hamaare There is a hidden sorrow in the curtain of the happy air.Īnd many unsaid things are lost in the heart. That in the garden, the fragrance is shying away from the flowers. Phool se khushboo khafa khafa hai gulshan mein It is said that this is a celebration of spring Star Cast Of Jodhaa Akbar Movie:- Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Ila Arun Download Mp3 Song:- 1.Azeem-O-Shaan Shahenshah 01 - Azeem O Shaan Shahenshah (Jodhaa Akbar 2008) Size: 5.52 MB 02 - In Lamhon Ke Daaman Mein (Jodhaa Akbar 2008) Size: 6.19 MB In Lamhon Ke Daaman Mein by Sonu Nigam & Madhushree, Film Jodhaa Akbar, Music By A. but rather its as close to a lyrical translation as possible. Its not a literal translation as that would be worth nothing. First off its close to impossible to get an exact translation coz many lines/words have mutiple meanings so don’t scream at me if you disagree. KeyShot Pro 9.1.For anyone looking for the English translation. The show focuses on how their political marriage brings love between them to an extent that it changed the fate of India. Mercury Outboard Motor Year By Serial Numberīakra qiston pe part 1 download 3gp playerinstmank Jodha Akbar is an epic drama about a sixteenth century story of the political marriage of convenience between a Mughal emperor Abul-Fath Jalal ud-din Muhammad Akbar and a Rajput princess Jodha Bai. jodha akbar movie tamilrockers jodha akbar movie tamil songs. Free wallpapers download of Gilli movie, hero, heroine, etc is available in our. Jodhaa akbar video freeload in 1080p bluray. Jodhaa akbar gallery - tamil actress gallery stills images clips - indiaglitz tamil. Jodha Akbar video Download Jodha Akbar 3Gp Mp4. Chocolate (2008) Tamil Dubbed Movie HD 720p Watch Online. freeload HD Rajat Tokas and Paridhi Sharma TV Serial Jodha Akbar . F27b91edd8 Here is the track list for Jodha Akbar In Tamil Song. movie in tamil, jodha bai akbar movie song, jodha bai akbar movies, jodha bai akbar. Watch Jodhaa Akbar 2008 Online video Free DVDRip, Jodhaa Akbar video Watch Online. Jodha Akbar Serial HD Wallpapers, Pics, Photos - Zee TV,Download,jodha. Jodhaa Akbar Tamil Dubbed Full HD video.
Listen to Jodhaa Akbar Movie Tamil freeload and 166 more episodes by Saw 3 Hindi Dubbed Download In Torrent, free! No signup or install needed. A sixteenth century love story about a marriage of alliance that gave birth to true love between a great Mughal emperor, Akbar, and a Rajput princess, Jodha. In the mean time, checkout the Top Movies on MX Player below. Search Items: Jodhaa Akbar Songs Download Masstamilan Jodhaa Akbar Movie Songs Jodhaa Akbar Mp3 Songs freeload Jodhaa .Īlgunas Busquedas Recomendadas: 36 China Town, Aaja Nachle, Aggar, Anwar, Arabe, Arabe Dance, Asoka, Baabul, Bhoothnath, Black, Bluffmaster, Bunty . jodha akbar tamil video songs freeload mp4 . thankfully this has been tampered down by Gowariker's interpretation of the characters. Jodhaa Akbar is a sixteenth century love story about a marriage of alliance that gave birth. Top Rated Indian Movies #224 | 35 wins & 23 nominations. "Jodha Akbar Songs – Jodha Akbar Tamil Movie Songs – Tamil Songs Lyrics Trailer Videos, Preview Stills Reviews". Jodhaa Akbar is a 2008 Indian historical romance film co-written, produced and directed by. Play Jodhaa Akbar album song MP3 by Instrumental and download Jodhaa Akbar . Jodhaa Akbar Song Download- Listen Jodhaa Akbar MP3 song online free. Jodha Akbar Tamil Movie Download For Mobile FullJodha Akbar videoJodha Akbar Songs In.
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Solar Eclipse (Hoseok x Reader)
Pairing: Hoseok x Reader
Word Count: 16.9k
Warnings: 18+, Yandere, Stalking, Obsession, Forced Relationships, Fear, Panic/Anxiety, Devious Intentions, Talks about Mental Health, Mentions of Suicide, Dub Con, Forced Implants, Death, The Afterlife, Heights, Jumping from Heights
I do not condone the acts displayed in this story nor do I believe any members of BTS would actually engage in this type of behavior. This is simply written for entertainment purposes and should not be taken as a reflection of my own values, opinions, or morals.
Preview: His smile drifted away, it was like watching the moon slip over the sun into a solar eclipse. The Hoseok you were left with was one that had a cold, stricken expression that bled disbelief.
This look on his face, although more genuine than anything else you had seen, was capable of sending your entire body into a panicked frenzy. Something in the back of your mind was telling you, no, begging you to run. The instincts that had been fostered in you from generations before were telling you this man was dangerous, and you were better off fleeing than sticking around to see what would happen.
“I dare you, say that to me one more time baby and you won’t like what happens next.”
A/N: This was supposed to be 10k...how did we get here. This story was heavily inspired by Beautiful Accident and Wonderful Nightmare! Both amazing movies I recommend that never fail to get me in my feels. I hope you enjoy this wild ride! See you in the comments! 💜💜💜
Your hands were hurting again.
The light from your computer screen was blaringly bright, causing you to momentarily cease your endless scrolling and remove your glasses from the bridge of your nose. You pressed your cool fingers against the warm flesh of your eyelids and tilted your head back against your seat, giving yourself a moment to relax.
The once cacophonous tapping of another keyboard suddenly halted as your assistant leaned forward in her seat, sliding her laptop shut.
“You okay, boss?” She asked, her brows pinched together in concern. “Is it a migraine again?”
You exhaled deeply through your nose as you flexed your fingers in an attempt to dispel the ache from them. You were far too young to already be experiencing so many aches and pains.
“No, I’m just tired.” You admitted as you folded your glasses up and pushed them aside.
“That’s because you work too much, honestly do you ever sleep? When was the last time you went home?” She chuckled in amusement.
“Ha ha ha, very funny. I’ll have you know I’m faithful to my sleep number, I come home to him every night.”
“Him? You refer to your mattress as him? Somebody hasn’t gotten laid in a while.” She snorted.
“I could have you fired for that, that’s sexual harassment you know.” You shot back, amused yet annoyed she had hit a little too close to home.
“Please, you wouldn’t know what to do with yourself if you fired me.” She laughed, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
Before you could shoot back your response, an abrupt knock on the door stopped the both of you in your tracks. Without saying anything, she rose from her seat and began to cross the room. Knowing she would be able to handle it for you, you reclined deeper into your office chair and slipped your phone out of your desk drawer to sort through your endless amount of notifications.
You didn’t look up as you heard the door click shut, two sets of footsteps approaching your mahogany desk.
You could hear somebody clear their throat, their breaths coming out rapidly as if they were anxious. “Y-your coffee, miss.”
Without looking up you merely held out your hand, the warm cup slotting itself into your waiting fingers. You mumbled out a rough thanks as you continued to scroll through your phone, rolling your eyes at the amount of missed calls you had from your mother who, despite knowing your work schedule, persisted in calling you during your office hours.
You could faintly hear your assistant walking the man to the door, whispering a soft, “Thank you, sweetie,” as the door clicked shut.
“Really?!” She hissed, once she was sure the man was gone. “You didn’t even look at him!”
“Who? The coffee boy? I didn’t think it mattered.” You said with a shrug, taking a sip from your coffee.
“That wasn’t a coffee boy! That was your intern, jackass!”
“He’s just an intern, Jenny, he won’t be here for long. None of them last around here anyways.”
Jenny sighed, flopping down into the seat across from you with a pout. “The poor thing was so nervous, you really should be nicer to him. He has such a sweet smile…”
“Oh no, don’t you start one of your schemes again. I don’t have time for men and the last thing I need is for you to start playing cupid. And didn’t I tell you to stop hiring people just because they're attractive?”
“Sweetie, I don’t know if you’re aware, but you're not as young as you think you are. When are you going to settle down, huh? Find a husband, have some cute kids for me to dote on.”
“Jesus, you’re starting to sound like my mother. I don’t have the time for marriage or for kids, not when I’m busy with this place.” You replied with a stiff tone, this was not the first time the two of you had this conversation.
“I’m just saying you’re hot, rich, and a CEO, you could literally have any man you want.” She pointed out, the tips of her fingers pressing together in the shape of an arrow.
“You literally just called me a Sugar Momma.”
“I mean, they do have websites if you're interested…”
“Okay, you win, I’m leaving early. I can’t deal with your obnoxious ass anymore.” You said, standing up so quickly your chair shot back and turned on its wheels.
“Jenny: 72, You: None.” Your assistant laughed, adding a point to her imaginary scoreboard.
“I was going to say call me if you need anything, but please don’t.” You chuckled, grabbing your blazer from the coat rack and sliding it around your shoulders before picking up your purse.
“Don’t worry boss, I’ll hold down the fort.” She said, giving you a quick salute as she stood and began to gather her things. “Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.”
You pressed your lips together tightly in an attempt to hide the hint of a smile on your mouth as she exited your office. She was the only person you talked to like that, you were a rather antisocial boss. You tended to come off as cold and callous to your employees, but in reality you just really didn’t like talking to others when it wasn’t necessary. It had taken four years for you and Jenny to become as close as you did, in fact she was the only person you could truly call your friend.
You had grown up in an isolated world, one filled with tutors and home schooling as you were groomed to take over one of the branches of your family's business. You had siblings, but you rarely ever saw them. They too were consumed by their work and their families, in fact you were the youngest of them and couldn’t remember a time where all of you lived together in one household. There were four of you in total, you only saw each other at holidays and your parents annual Christmas gala. You were by no means close.
You had grown comfortable being alone and frigid. It was safe and it was efficient.
Your entire life had been one of isolation, the only amount of warmth bleeding into the bleak monotone schemes of your world was Jenny. And the amount you had let in was minimal.
It was better being alone, you told yourself.
You adjusted your purse on your shoulder as your office door swung shut behind you. The building was still fairly active, everyone was in a rush to complete their work before the sun completely dipped below the horizon. That was something you enjoyed about your building. The walls were littered with floor to ceiling windows allowing the ochre tones of sunlight to bleed into the bright white and concrete interior, soft dappled light dancing over hard edges.
You paused for a moment by the windows, your eyes fluttering shut as you felt the warmth of the sun caress your face, its fleeting light still permeable through your closed eyelids creating a golden halo in your vision. You gave yourself two breaths worth of silence and stillness before your eyes snapped open once more and you hastily made your way to the elevator that would send you to your floor of the parking garage.
You waited patiently for the elevator, one of your legs extended in front of you as you rolled your foot from side to side on the precarious talon of your red bottom heels. Once you heard the doors sliding open and the familiar ding of the elevator you raised your chin slowly, your eyes half lidded in boredom as you met the expressions of your employees. There were two of them inside the metal contraption, their eyes wide in alarm at the sight of you. You tilted your head slightly to the side, and like you had cracked a whip they scuttled out of the elevator and hurried past you without a word.
You huffed in annoyance to yourself as you headed inside, you had no idea what their problem was and you pondered if there was any reason to write them up for their bizarre behavior. Perhaps not.
The elevator hummed as it steadily dropped floors, the soft music effectively worsening your mood. You hated elevator music.
As soon as the doors slid open you jetted out of them, your heels tapping noisily in the quiet garage. You slid your bag from your shoulder and busied yourself by trying to find your keys. You hissed to yourself as you tripped and almost went flying, multitasking and heels did not go together. You stopped for a moment, opening your bag wider as you tried to find the little ring of keys buried in the depths of your purse.
The second your fingers brushed the cool metal you released an annoyed breath, throwing your purse back over your shoulder as you flicked through your key ring, grasping the fob that went to your car.
Despite having what you had previously been looking for, you did not move. Instead, you looked around warily, pivoting on your heels as you scanned the area around you.
You could have sworn you heard footsteps.
You waited silently for a few more moments, listening for signs that another person was there with you.
You heard no other breaths, nor the sounds of approaching or retreating footsteps.
You weren’t going to wait around any longer just to find out you were wrong.
You swiftly made your way to your VIP parking spot, unlocked the doors, and threw yourself into the car while making sure to lock the doors as soon as you were seated.
Your mother had begged you for months to get a bodyguard. You were a young woman with lots of money and the heir to a massive enterprise. You should not be walking around as if you were a normal person. It was only now that you were beginning to think that your mother was right.
Not wanting to dwell on dark thoughts any longer, you pushed your key into the ignition, and peeled out of the parking garage a little faster than normal.
As your anxiety slowly drained from your body, you began to feel the effects of lack of sleep. Jenny was not wrong, you were considering the fact that maybe you had a touch of insomnia. Either that or you were simply a workaholic. Honestly, it could be both.
You switched the radio on, picking a classic rock station and dialing the volume up to the point you could feel your leather seats vibrating beneath you with each clash of the drums emanating from the speakers.
But even that was just barely doing its job. Your eyes were still stinging like they had been moments before at your desk. You were undeniably as exhausted as you were a safety hazard. You clenched the steering wheel harder, the flesh of your skin pulling tightly over your knuckles as you attempted to stay awake. It wasn’t that far of a ride, you could make it home.
But that thought didn’t stop your eyelids from drooping shut, it was nearly impossible to keep them open, they were so heavy you were struggling to reopen them every time you blinked.
Your eyes stayed closed much longer now than they had before, and upon opening them again a scream of shock bubbled up your throat.
A flash of black fur shot across your narrow vision as you frantically spun the steering wheel and slammed on your breaks. A band of horns beeped behind and beside you as you swerved dramatically into the next lane.
Your car had been mere inches from swerving right in front of an eighteen wheeler.
Your hand fluttered frantically against your chest, your heart pounding back against it in shock.
You had almost died.
You gathered yourself up before stomping down on the accelerator and speeding away, dodging the massive vehicle you had almost hit in the opposite lane. The shock of adrenaline you were experiencing from that frightening event was more than enough to keep you awake now. You only had one goal in mind and that was to make it home in one piece.
The minute you slid back into your regular parking spot you allowed yourself to slump back into the driver's seat, blinking wildly as you recalled the sight of the headlights and the cacophony of car horns from moments prior. You really need to get your shit together.
~~~~~~~
By the time you made it up to your apartment the exhaustion had returned full force. You toed off your shoes tiredly, stumbling over them with an annoyed grunt as you threw your purse down to the floor. You could really do without your sudden lack of coordination.
Far too tired to even care, you immediately began stripping your clothes off at the front door. You carelessly threw your blazer aside and shimmied off your skirt as you began to walk, leaving a trail of clothes behind you as you headed for your bedroom. The housekeeper would deal with it in the morning anyways, it didn’t matter where they ended up.
Your pajamas from the previous night were waiting for you at the foot of your bed, folded up into a neat little pile contrasting greatly from your current care for your clothing. You happily sighed as you pulled the creamy, cashmere sweater over your head and stepped into a pair of silk sleep shorts. This was what you had been waiting for all day.
That, and the bottle of Cheval Blanc tucked away in your liquor cabinet.
You ran your fingers through your hair tiredly as you made your way to the kitchen, the sound of your bare feet patting against the floor echoed down the long, empty hallway.
You wasted no time, eagerly pulling open your cabinet and retrieving the expensive bottle of wine along with a crystal glass. You eased the cork free from the bottle, allowing it to roll over your granite counter as you poured the wine into your glass, the liquor bubbling as you filled it to the very top. You were a guilty self medicator, that was for damn sure.
You hurried back into your living room, wine glass in one hand and a small tray of macarons in the other. There was one thing you were certain of, you were definitely going to drink your fatigue away and indulge in your favorite cookies until you passed out on your couch. You deserved it, after all you were a CEO, an overworked one at that.
So, there you sat, taking languid sips from your glass and delicate bites from your cookies as you began to catch up on a show you hadn’t had the time to watch in weeks. It was incredibly relaxing, the soft hum of the TV, the feeling of your favorite blanket wrapped around your bare legs, and the soft tapping of rain against your windows. You were set on not moving for the rest of the night. That was of course, until you had to pee.
You groaned in frustration at the thought of having to move, but the call of nature was much stronger than your will to remain sedentary. You leaned forward, setting your food and drink on the coffee table before you violently kicked your legs, fighting your blanket as you attempted to untangle yourself from it.
The second your toes touched the lush carpet beneath you, a shock of lightning suddenly splintered it’s way through the sky, shards of light refracting through your windows and lighting up the dim room. The soft rumble of thunder followed soon after.
You froze at the sight, the light rain still tapped against your windows, a dull contrast to the sudden shock of light you had witnessed.
But, what was even more unexpected, was the sight of dark fur and glowing jade eyes staring back at you. There was a cat sitting on your balcony. That should have been impossible, there was no possible way that cat could have made its way there, your building was pet free.
The sight of its slick coat of black fur tugged at your heart strings. He must be so cold, stuck out in the rain like that. In fact, he looked almost exactly like your childhood cat you had loved to dearly growing up. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to let him in, let him get dry and warm and fill his belly.
With a new goal in mind you carefully made your way to your sliding glass door, not wanting to spook him too badly lest he jump. The drop would not be a survivable one.
Despite your valiant efforts, the minute the door clicked and slid open he jumped up onto the fencing and rails that surrounded your balcony.
“Hey, no, no, no, just stay right there, kitty.” You cooed gently, taking slow and careful steps in his direction.
The cat fixed you with a penetrating gaze, his bright jade eyes trained on you, watching every step you made as his tail flicked from side to side behind him.
“That’s a good boy, just stay right there.” You hummed, your hands held up in a show of no malintent as you carefully approached him. “Come on, I just want to help you.”
Just as you were within grabbing reach, your fingers mere inches from touching his silken fur, he lept away, settling on the ledge against the building. He was dangerously close to falling off, the distance from the ledge to the ground far enough to make your toes and fingers tingle.
“Fuck.” You hissed.
The cat remained there, his gaze still trained on you. Those bright eyes seemed to be beckoning for you to come and join him, to meet him up on the ledge.
You quickly shook out your hands and feet as you stared back, your vision tunneling in on him. You could feel the cold air nipping at your bare flesh, goosebumps raising on the skin of your thighs. You could do it.
You wiped your palms against the fabric of your shorts before grasping the metal railing and carefully lowering yourself over to the other side. You could feel the wind stronger now as it swirled around you, a flash of light overtaking the sky once more as a steady rumble of thunder bounced off of the surrounding buildings.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” You mumbled to yourself, taking in a sharp breath through your nose as you attempted to calm yourself. Just don’t look down, for the love of all that is holy do not look down.
You steadily rose up on to your toes, shimming your way over as you held on tightly to the railing. The sliver of stone beneath your toes was slick from rainfall, as was the metal of the railing beneath your tense fingers. The closer you got to the cat, the further away it seemed to be, either that was the truth or the reality of how high up you were was messing with your head.
The thought you had from earlier suddenly came rushing back to you, the drop wouldn’t be survivable. What a sobering thought.
You had come to a point now where you wouldn’t be able to hold onto the railing anymore, not if you needed to be able to reach the cat. So, with a shaky breath you released your grip from the railing one hand at a time and quickly latched onto the stone architecture surrounding the windows. The only thing keeping you from falling was the tiny inches of stone beneath your arched feet, and the architecture you were desperately clinging to.
You slowly turned your head, your gaze meeting the cat’s once more. It’s eyes were almost mesmerizing, there was something about it that was telling you that you needed to get him, that you just needed to pick him up and stay with him. You had no choice but to retrieve him, you felt like you would die if you had to leave him all alone on this ledge. His eyes were drawing you in, causing you to spiral downwards into their hypnotic depths. You needed him.
He was not moving anymore, he was settled down on his back legs, his tail flicking out dangerously over the edge of the building. You were certain that you could reach him if you tried.
You slowly lowered yourself into a crouch, releasing your one hand from the side of the building as you reached out, the other hand still holding onto the stone of the window. You leaned forward as calmly as you could, your arm burning from the stretch as you slid over slightly to grab the cat.
This time the cat did not move away, it remained still, waiting for your touch.
Both of your arms were completely spread out, your fingers just barely holding onto the building as you finally made it within grabbing distance. And then, it all fell apart.
As soon as your fingers brushed his midnight fur, he jerked away from your touch causing your feet to slip out from underneath you, and your weak hold to completely detach from the wall.
And then you were falling.
A violent scream ripped its way free from your throat as you went airborne, the last thing you could see was the penetrating emerald glare of the midnight black cat as you plummeted towards the ground.
No one would know that you had never intended to end your life when you stepped out onto that ledge.
Unwillingly, you had.
~~~~~~~
You never felt the impact of the ground, and when you opened your eyes you did not find your body mangled or feel any pain. In fact you were no longer even in the city.
You were already standing, and you were all alone. You turned frantically, spinning as you tried to find out where you were. There was nothing all around you, just cloudy skies, stretching fields of tall grass, old dilapidated fences, and a dusty road of dirt and rocks beneath your feet.
And then of course, there was the bus stop sign beside you.
You approached the sign in curiosity. The closer you got the more you noticed how strange everything was. Despite there being stones beneath your feet you didn’t feel pain, and the environment wasn’t cold or hot, it was just neutral. And, it was extremely silent. Not a gust of wind blew, no crickets hummed, and there wasn’t a single chirp from a songbird. There was nothing.
You leaned your upper body forward, looking from side to side for any signs of life. Both ways you could barely see anything, the field seemed to disappear into thick clouds of fog that were impermeable to your sight.
You decided in that moment you were better off looking for signs of life than you were waiting for them to come find you. But, to your surprise, the second your foot touched down onto the dirt road a bus came rumbling down the road and screeched to a stop in front of you.
The doors slid open and light flooded the space around you. You squinted as your eyes adjusted to the exposure, your hand creating a visor on your forehead.
“You getting on or what?” A voice called from inside the bus.
“Me?” You asked pointing to yourself.
“Of course you, does it look like I’m talking to anyone else?” The voice huffed in annoyance. “I’m already running late. I'd prefer if you didn’t hold us up any longer.”
“Running late?” You whispered to yourself. “And where will you be taking me?”
There was silence for a moment and then suddenly a raucous laughter that made you jump. “Where am I taking you?! That’s a good one. Come on, let's go.”
You blinked slowly in irritation, the last thing you needed was to be laughed at and dismissed like a child when you had serious questions that you needed answered.
“Come on newbie! Today!” He yelled, causing you to jump in fright before scurrying onto the bus.
Upon entering you were met face to face with the bus driver. He had fair skin and pitch black hair with an amused, gummy smile on his face. Apparently, he thought you were hilarious. He said nothing to you this time, he just merely jerked his head in the direction behind him, signaling for you to find a seat.
Once you turned to face the passengers of the bus you realized it was far longer than it appeared from the outside, in fact it looked like it stretched farther beyond what you could see with copious amounts of passengers.
The passengers themselves were of all sizes, races, and ages. You could see mothers holding infants and elderly couples cuddled up to one another. Some people seemed to know one another, others looked sad and lonely like the little boy a few seats back.
You were incredibly confused.
Unsure as to where you should sit, you finally decided on sitting next to the little boy.
The second you sat down, you felt his gaze train on you and his little body shift closer to you.
“Hi,” He whispered, his fingers curling around the fabric of your cashmere sweater and tugging, “My name is Minho.”
You have him a soft smile in return with a gentle whisper of your name.
“Where’s your mommy, Minho?” You asked, curious as to why this little boy was all alone.
“I’m going to meet her now.” He replied, with an excited smile, his legs kicking out energetically before he suddenly calmed down. “I wish daddy came with me.”
“Why didn’t your daddy come with you?” You asked, your eyebrows pinching together in confusion.
“He said I had to go alone, he can’t come with me for a while. He said I’ll be happy with mommy, that I’ll feel better with her.” He said sadly, his lower lip pouting as he rubbed at his teary eyes.
“You’ll feel better?”
“Mhm, I was sick for a long time. Daddy said it was time for me to see Mommy, he told me it was okay to go to sleep.”
Oh, oh no. Everything was suddenly starting to make sense. You quickly looked over your shoulder and caught sight of the elderly couple you had seen earlier.
“Hey! You two! What were you doing before you got here?!”
The older man looked up at you with a kind smile as he continued to rub his wife’s shoulder. “We were driving down to visit our son, he was never too good about coming up to see us. Some bad weather hit, we couldn’t see out of the windshield very well. Next thing you know we’re rolling over the guard rail and down the side of the hill!”
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!
“You! Where were you?!” You yelled at the woman seated across from you.
“Hm? I went in for surgery, what’s it to you?” She asked with an annoyed grimace on her face.
“What’s it to me?!” You echoed with a hysterical laugh. You were fucking dead that’s what it was! All of you were!
Your thoughts were racing a hundred miles a minute as you tried to gather yourself, your heart beating frantically as a sick feeling settled in your stomach. You needed to get off the bus, you needed to get far away from all of these people.
Without thinking you lurched to your feet and gripped the cord above your window, yanking it harshly to signal the bus to stop.
The bus halted immediately, sending you stumbling forward into the back of the driver’s seat. The bus driver met your panicked face through the reflection of the mirror, a curious light to his pitch black irises.
“So, we’ve got a challenger? I knew you’d be a stubborn one.” He sighed, hitting the button that sent the doors swishing open. “The guy in charge is out there, you can voice your complaints to him.”
You were far too shocked to vocalize anything, your feet just blindly leading you to the doors. You stopped for a moment, looking over your shoulder to get one quick look at Minho. His little legs were still kicking out in front of him.
“Bye miss!” He called with a little wave and a smile, spurring you off the bus with a quick wave in his direction.
Upon stepping foot off of the bus, you were faced with a dimly lit four way intersection that looked like it had been abandoned for years. You quickly headed towards the center of the road as you caught sight of a tall man waiting for you.
His face was relaxed, a neutral expression taking over his features. He was dressed fairly well for a man standing in the middle of nowhere. You took notice of his crisp three piece suit and the high shine of his shoes. He was obviously someone who was important, if the bus driver had indicated anything by his statements.
You didn’t waste any time to hurl your questions at him. “I’m dead aren’t I?! Who are you?! What is this place?!”
“Relax.” He commanded, his voice immediately sending a wave of calmness crashing down over you.
You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, before reopening them and waiting in silence for his response.
“My name is Namjoon, this is the crossroads.” He said, gesturing to the four intersecting roads surrounding you.
“That is Life,” He said, pointing to the road behind you, “That is Punishment,” the road to his right, “That is Reward,” the road behind him, “And that is Retrial.” The road to his left.
“Right, that’s fantastic, how do I go back down that road.” You blurted out, pointing to the road behind you.
“Normally, you don’t. But luckily for you, or not so luckily, there was an error made.”
“An error?” You asked.
“Yes, one of our reapers made a mistake. You aren’t scheduled for processing for quite some time, someone by the same name, sixty years of age, was scheduled for processing today.”
A reaper? What reaper? You hadn’t exactly seen the classic skeletal face cloaked all in black with a scythe in hand had you? Your face screwed up in irritation as you flicked backwards through your memories from earlier that day, trying to remember if you had seen anything that remotely resembled a reaper.
And then it hit you.
“That fucking cat!” You screeched, spinning around as you dramatically yelled into the void around you.
Namjoon winced his posture slightly wilting at your realization. “Yes, that was one of our newer reapers, Taehyung.”
“What kind of operation are you running here? Do I look like I’m sixty years old to you?” You yelled, the panic quelling up in your chest. “You’re going to fix this aren’t you?!”
“Of course! I take my job very seriously!” He shot back. “The only issue is, I can’t send you back to your life just yet.”
“And why not?!”
“Time is a very sensitive and precious thing, as a woman of business I am sure you understand. The other woman still needs to pass and be processed, the events that lead to her demise must be tailored perfectly and set up with the correct timing. Only then can you return, once she is passed with the correct timing the two of you will switch. You can live again and she can be sent down the proper road.”
“And how long will that take?”
“A few weeks.” He replied vaguely, his body tensed as he waited for your response.
“Weeks?! And what will I do during that time? Do you expect me to follow you around everywhere?”
“Thankfully, no. In the time being, I will have to put you somewhere else, some other place and time. Are you willing to do that?”
“Yes, I’m more than willing. As long as I get my old life back, I don’t care what it takes. Just make it happen.”
“You will, in due time. But listen to me very carefully, you have to follow every aspect of this other life perfectly. You cannot act out of character, you have to act exactly as everyone expects you to. You cannot have contact with anyone from your previous life as well. Understand? If you can’t do that, then you can’t go back.”
You swallowed harshly, a sense of anxiety creeping up inside of you. You had no choice but to accept, your life and had been wrongfully ended far too soon. If that meant doing whatever Namjoon asked of you, you would do it.
You gave him a swift nod, your hand clenching up into fists.
“Perfect, I’ll have Taehyung escort you down that way.” Namjoon replied, pointing down at the road to his left, Retrial.
Upon hearing his name, Taehyung appeared. He was tall, with honey skin, midnight black curly hair, and bright green eyes.
The fucking cat.
Taehyung met you with a sheepish grin and an embarrassed wave, hesitantly coming to your side. He looked nothing like the reaper you had been anticipating. If anything he was a sad excuse for a reaper with the bashful attitude he was presenting you with.
“Did you really have to use the appearance of my childhood pet to kill me?” You asked, your voice dripping with venom as you crossed your arms over your chest, your bare foot tapping in annoyance. You weren’t exactly the picture of intimidation you normally were.
“I’m sorry.” He replied softly, bowing his head forward in an apologetic manner still refusing to meet your burning gaze.
“I’ll be checking in with you every now and then, please, try to play along with this life.” Namjoon begged, a serious expression evident on his face. Not only did he appear serious, but you could tell he was also stressed. The fuck up Taehyung had made was evidently a big one.
“I’ll try my best.” You replied, you knew you had to, or else there was no going back.
Namjoon gave Taehyung a quick nod, and with that gesture Taehyung grabbed hold of your hand and began to lead you down Retrial. From your perspective, each road was identical, this one too was dusty and littered with stones leading into a seemingly never ending fog.
The reaper beside you was quiet, his gaze pinned ahead as he focused on his task, leading you down the path of Retrial.
If only you had known how much of a trial this life truly would be.
~~~~~~~
You were boiling hot.
You could feel a mattress beneath your back, one that was far softer than you normally liked. Your body was swaddled with thick blankets and sheets that were sticking to your sweaty skin. You groaned in irritation at the feeling and attempted to bat away the blanket and turn onto your side.
A sudden grunt behind you had your heart stuttering to a stop, your entire body frozen as you came to the realization that that was not a blanket you had just smacked, but somebody's arm wrapped around your waist.
Slowly, you turned onto your side to see who was in your bed. The moment you flipped your body over you were met with deep brown eyes that were just barely open and the sight of a lazy smile as your body was suddenly dragged forward and pressed tightly against the strangers.
A sharp scream bubbled up past your lips as you threw yourself backwards, smacking the man’s hand away from your body as you fumbled out of the bed. In your haste your foot was caught in the mess of blankets, sending you tumbling backwards off of the bed, spurring another cry from your mouth.
“Baby?” A voice called, it was raspy and deep from just waking and wrought with concern.
You quickly yanked the sheets off of your sprawled out form and ushered yourself to stand on shaky legs. The man in the bed was propped up on one elbow, the sheet slipping down off of his chest to settle and pool at his waist. He was absolutely shirtless, revealing a stretch of honey skin and a toned abdomen.
Holy shit, what the fuck was going on?
“Baby, what’s wrong?” He asked you again, this time he appeared to be more alert, all signs of sleepiness dissipating from his body.
Worried from your lack of response, he rushed to stand up, the blankets falling away to reveal he was clad in boxers.
What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck? It had to be illegal to have thighs like that, right?
“Stay right there!” You yelled, throwing your hand up in fear as he ignored your command and quickly began to approach you. The closer he got the more steps you took backwards, tripping over stray clothes on the floor until the wall at your back stopped you from retreating any further.
The man, clearly ignoring your pleas to be left alone, walked right up to you. He was so close that his bare chest was pressed up against you effectively sandwiching you between him and the wall as heat flooded your cheeks. His hands fluttered around you worriedly, checking you for any signs of injury before he rested his hand on your forehead checking for a temperature.
“Are you sick, hunny? You’re acting...off?” He asked, petting your hair in anxiety as he tried to meet your gaze.
“Don’t touch me.” You finally said, brushing his hands off of you once more as you attempted to slip away from him.
“Why are you acting like this?” He asked, obviously confused before a sudden smile overtook his features. He had a sweet smile, one that made his entire face light up in joy. “It reminds me how you used to act around me all those years ago. Are you trying to get me going this early? We really shouldn’t, you know, I have to be at work soon.”
Holy fuck, what kind of person are you now?
The man in front of you pulled you out of your stupor at the feeling of his hand on your jaw as he leaned down to your height.
Realizing what his intentions were, you let out another scream of fright and shoved him away, darting for the bedroom door. As soon as your hand gripped the doorknob you ripped the door open and slammed it shut behind you.
You leaned your head back against the wall as you rested, you hand over your heart, taking shallow breaths as you attempted to collect yourself.
That didn’t exactly go as planned.
With your eyes closed you didn’t see the incoming form running up to you until it collided with your legs, winding around you tightly in excitement.
“Mommy!” A little voice cried.
Your eyes snapped open in surprise as you looked down at the little child wrapped around your legs. Despite his small and non threatening form, you couldn’t stop the scream of fright that escaped you as you unlatched him from your legs and raced to the first open door you saw, yanking it closed behind you and twisting the lock shut.
You were in the bathroom. Finally, a place where you could gather yourself. You stood at the sink, resting your forearms on the counter and your head in your hands as you breathed in sharply through your nose. You needed to get your shit together and stop panicking.
You couldn’t help but feel cheated, panicked, and pissed all at once. Not only had you died, made a deal with some crossroads entity, but now the life you had been plopped in for the time being was the complete opposite of your previous one and you had not a single clue as to how to navigate it.
You let out a few more huffs before standing back up and raking your fingers through your hair. A sudden sparkle of light caught your attention, causing you to pull your left hand free from your hair. There was an engagement ring and a wedding band on your left ring finger. You hissed at the sight of it, your entire body shuddering.
You were married and a mother.
“Are you fucking serious, Namjoon?!” You whispered to yourself in the bathroom, knocking your head back against the wall three times in frustration. Jenny would be having a field day if she knew about this.
Jenny.
You wondered what her reaction was, when she heard that you had flung yourself from your balcony. You wondered if she blamed herself for sending you home early even though it wasn’t her fault. You wished you could tell her you hadn’t done that to yourself, that it wasn’t her fault. You just hoped that she was okay and that she wasn’t crying over you.
You could get through this, you had no other choice. It was time to get your shit together.
You straightened your spine and shook out your hands with a deep breath before you unlocked the door and swung it open. Standing outside the door was your “son.” He was practically the spitting image of your “husband” who had yet to leave the bedroom. He was staring up at you, with big brown eyes, as he raised his arms up and clenched his hands in a grabbing motion.
You knew what that meant. You plastered on a forced smile as you bent down and picked up the small boy before settling him on your hip. He easily nestled his head into the crook of your neck, his eyes fluttering shut as he basked in your warmth.
At least he was cute, you could manage that.
You curled your arm securely around his back as you walked into the kitchen, your bare feet padded dully against the cool tile of the floor.
“Are you hungry?” You softly asked the little boy. You could feel him nod into your shoulder slowly, his fingers curling around the collar of your sleep shirt.
You carefully unhooked him from your clothes and gently set him down in one of the chairs at the kitchen table. He whined in refusal, reaching out for you once more before becoming distracted by a coloring book that had been left at the table.
Unsure as to what exactly you should make for the young boy, you searched the kitchen cabinets before settling on toast. Simple and easy. As the bread sat toasting, you decided to investigate the new environment you had been put in.
You could tell you were still in the city, just a different section of it. You could see the towering skyscrapers through the windows of the apartment. This apartment was definitely not your own. For one, it was much smaller with a completely different layout. And, it looked to be in disorder with toys scattered everywhere in the living space. It certainly was not to your standards, but you could manage it for a few weeks as Namjoon had instructed. All you had to do was follow this life perfectly, and it couldn’t be that hard. Right?
You pulled yourself away from the windows, the drop off sending a familiar shiver down your spine, and rushed back into the kitchen to finish up the breakfast for the boy coloring away furiously at his book.
Once you had the plate situated in front of him, you caught sight of a wallet on the opposite side of the table. Without hesitation you rounded the table and snatched it up, rifling through the items inside until you caught sight of what you were looking for. An ID.
“Jung Hoseok.” You mumbled, the name tingling on your lips and echoing in your mind. So, this was your temporary husband.
“What are you doing?” A voice asked from behind you causing you to jump in fright.
You pivoted on your heels to face the man, your husband, Hoseok. Despite the fear his voice evoked in your body, he was presenting you with a blinding smile. One that sent chills throughout your body for reasons that were unknown to you.
“Hoseok?” You said, although it sounded more like a question.
“Hoseok?” He chuckled, “What did I do, am I in trouble? What happened to Hobi or hunny?”
Well shit, you were already fucking things up weren’t you?
“You know if you need anything you can always ask me, baby. No need to go sneaking around.” He said, his smile still pinned to his cheeks as he struck you with a penetrating gaze.
He said nothing for a moment, he just stared at you with that smile in absolute silence. It was so quiet you could hear the blood pulsing through your ears and the soft ticking of the clock in the corner of the room as you tried to avoid his gaze. Despite the high position you once held in your previous life, you had never been very good with eye contact. He was really testing you today.
He remained quiet as he grabbed the wallet from your hand and slipped it into his pants pocket before straightening his jacket out.
“Jihoon, you’re going to be late for school. Go get ready.” Hoseok said, his voice and face still appearing cheerful as the little boy shuffled out of his chair and darted down the hallway to his bedroom.
You didn’t know why, but you were struck with the feeling that something was very wrong here.
You remained motionless as Hoseok raised his hand, cupping the side of your face rather gently, much softer than you originally expected.
“You’ll be good for me while I’m gone, won’t you baby?” He whispered, his lips lightly brushing your cheekbone as his fingers gently swiped over the smooth skin of your cheek.
You said nothing, you merely nodded in agreement so that he would finally release you and leave you alone to process what you had gotten yourself into.
Without warning, he pressed his lips to your own in a hard kiss spurring a cry of surprise from you. You attempted to pull away from him only to find his hand at your back, keeping you pressed close to him as he sighed against your mouth, a shudder shaking through his body. His grip was becoming stronger, borderline bruising the more you squirmed against him as he tongue swiped over the flesh of your lower lip.
“Ew! Daddy!” Jihoon yelled as he reentered the room, fully dressed for school with his little backpack slung over his small shoulders.
Hoseok pulled away from you with a laugh, allowing you to stumble away from your supposed husband, your hand cupping your mouth. You took back whatever you had thought about Jihoon before, he was your saving grace.
“Sorry buddy, Daddy just loves Mommy so much!” Hoseok said, his voice full of glee as he gave his son a quick hug before standing up again. “I’ll see you after work.”
Hoseok headed to the door, stopping for a moment to look you over one last time. “I’ll be seeing you later as well.” He said with a wink before exiting the apartment.
Thank fuck he was gone.
Jihoon quickly approached the now closed door, sliding his shoes on and reaching for the door knob.
“Where do you think you’re going?” You asked as you watched the young boy open the door.
“School?” He asked slowly, his little brows furrowed in confusion.
“By yourself? No, give me a minute to get dressed. I'll walk you to the bus.”
“Mommy, you can’t!” He cried, causing you to come to a stop.
“I can’t? And why not?”
“Because, you never do.” He replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
What kind of mother was this person? She didn’t even walk her own kid to the bus to make sure he didn’t get kidnapped? Jihoon was so young, he couldn’t have been older than six by the looks of him. He was practically still a baby.
“Well I am now, wait right there Jihoon.”
You were still dressed in the baggy T-shirt you had woken in, the fabric rumpled and hanging loosely over your shoulders revealed a fraction of your collarbone. It didn’t take a genius to figure out this was Hoseok’s shirt. You hissed in annoyance and ripped the shirt from your body, filing it into a corner of the bedroom.
The closet was filled to the brim with clothes, both yours and your “husband’s.” You swept the various suits and shirts aside until you stopped at your own clothes. You found it strange the amount of formal attire Hoseok possessed and your lack of it. Your side of the closet was filled with comfortable clothes, the only “formal” attire you owned was a wedding dress tucked all the way in the back of the closet and stored away in a plastic case.
You sighed in frustration, settling on a pair of leggings and a large hoodie. One that was, presumably, your husbands as well. Did this woman have no desire to take pride in her appearance? Apparently not.
“Come on, Jihoon!” You called with a clap of your hands as you made your way to the front door where he waited, his small hands wrapped around the straps of his backpack.
Jihoon didn’t say anything in response, he merely held up his hand and slipped it into your own. He was a cute kid, a perfect reflection of Hoseok, but eerily enough you could see your own features reflected in him.
You released a deep breath through your nose, pushing those thoughts to the back of your head. You needed to focus on getting him to school for now.
The door clicked shut behind you as the two of you began making your way out of the building. The weather was still warm, not that much different from what it had been in your past life. It was nice, being able to take in the fresh air for a moment and be able to process what exactly you were going through.
Jihoon had taken the initiative for the both of you, considering you had no idea where the bus picked him up for school everyday. His hand was still clutched in your own, his arm outstretched as he walked quickly in front of you. He was talking a million miles per minute, the most random things leaving his mouth. And, just when he was about to get to the point, he would find something new to distract himself.
“Oh, Mommy! Look at that butterfly!” He was painfully cute.
“Oh, it’s very...pretty.” You said, unsurely. At first glance, the creature was beautiful. It’s wings wide yet delicate, painted with bright colors like paint splatters on a fresh canvas. But, it had a large chunk missing from it’s right wing. The injured wing fluttered every now and then with the gentle breeze. The poor thing was trapped in the flower bed it was lying in, it would never be able to fly again.
You were pulled from your reverie as Jihoon tugged on your arm sharply. He beckoned you to lower yourself down to his height. As soon as you had settled down on your haunches he threw himself against you in a tight hug, squeezing you twice for good measure.
“Bye Mommy, I love you!” He yelled before pressing a kiss to your cheek and turning on his heels, darting towards the school bus.
You stayed there for a moment, your hand frozen on the spot he had left a kiss. So, that was what it was like to have a family. To have someone love you. You had never had that before.
You rose back up to your feet, taking a moment to gather yourself back up again. You could see there was a park nearby, and getting yourself over there seemed like a good enough idea. You didn’t want to go back to the apartment just yet, you still had no idea what you were supposed to do. You didn’t like the thought of just waiting at “home” for Jihoon, or worse, Hoseok to come back.
Jihoon was easy, predictable. But Hoseok, he was uncharted territory. A raging sea you didn’t know how to navigate.
Damn you and your incapability to foster stable relationships.
It was only day one of this temporary life and you were completely out of your depth. A husband? A son? A stay at home mom? You had and were none of these things, but now you had every single one of them. Whether you wanted them or not. Namjoon gave you orders, and if you wanted to survive, you had no choice but to follow them. You had to play along.
You walked slowly, tiredly, through the park. The tips of your sneakers were dragging against the ground, kicking loose stones off to the side. A few weeks he had told you, just how long exactly was that?
Lost in your thoughts, you didn’t hear the incoming footsteps approaching rapidly. It was the feeling of fingers gripping your shoulders and violently spinning you around that finally caught your attention, a cry of shock escaping you.
“What are you doing?!” A voice cried, their hands shaking you to garner your attention.
The sun that had blinded you finally lightened as it slipped behind a thick cover of clouds, disappearing out of sight. You could see now, and the man that was holding you so tightly was none other than Hoseok.
“H-Hoseok?” You stuttered, your hands gripping his wrists as he ceased to lessen his hold on you. What was he doing here? He had left for work no longer than half an hour ago.
“Did you hear me? I said, what are you doing?!”
“I’m going on a walk? I just dropped Jihoon off at the bus.”
“You did what?!” He yelled, his face stricken with panic and a deep, hidden anger. His hold on you was only becoming stronger, near bruising as he shook you once more.
“Hoseok! Stop it, you’re hurting me!” You yelled, taking a step back from him.
That seemed to do the trick, his voice quieted and his hold became much lighter than before. What the fuck was wrong with him? Why was he acting like you had just committed a crime.
His eyes slipped closed as he took a deep, calming breath, his shoulders rising and falling with the motion. “Baby, you don’t leave the apartment. You know this, we’ve been over this.”
“What?” You asked, utterly confused.
This seemed to shock Hoseok, his brows raising and his eyes widening. The both of you were standing there, a gap between the two of you as you stared at one another with equal states of confusion. You not knowing what he meant, and him wondering if you were experiencing some sort of memory loss.
“Come on, I’m taking you home, you need rest.” He finally said with a gentle smile, he was firmly set on the idea that you must be sick from how strange you were acting.
You didn’t trust him or that fake smile he was giving you. Something was going on here, and it was terribly wrong.
“No.” You said firmly, taking a step backward when he tried to grab hold of you again.
His smile drifted away, it was like watching the moon slip over the sun into a solar eclipse. The Hoseok you were left with was one that had a cold, stricken expression that bled disbelief.
“What did you say?” He asked you, slowly.
“I said, no.” You spat back, your voice sharp and firm despite the tingles of fear and anxiety creeping through every muscle in your body.
This look on his face, although more genuine than anything else you had seen, was capable of sending your entire body into a panicked frenzy. Something in the back of your mind was telling you, no, begging you to run. The instincts that had been fostered in you from generations before were telling you this man was dangerous, and you were better off fleeing than sticking around to see what would happen.
“I dare you, say that to me one more time baby and you won’t like what happens next.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Hoseok.”
That did it. As soon as he took one step in your direction, you spun around and booked it like a track star. You paid no mind to where you were going, not caring who you had to shove aside to clear a path for you to get away. You were trusting your gut, and it was screaming at you to get as far away as possible. You could hear Hoseok behind you, yelling your name and telling you to come back, but you paid him no mind. You just knew that this was your one and only chance to get away from him before you lost it.
Everything he had said and done had raised red flags in your mind, the way he talked to you and touched you, it was all wrong. It was possessive and dark, whether he intended it to be or not.
What husband doesn’t allow their wife to leave their home? What father lets their six year old child walk themselves to school? What caring man demands you obey his every will? There was something wrong.
You couldn’t hear Hoseok behind you anymore, the crowd had thickened substantially the further away you got from the park and the deeper into the city you were. People were staring at you strangely as you shoved through the crowds, grunting in annoyance as you squeezed yourself through them.
The crosswalk was fairly empty, you could make it through and keep going, you had no time to stop and question how far away Hoseok was. So, you broke through the final band of people and began to sprint through the road, despite the sudden cries and warnings that were being shouted behind you.
Fuck, there was a reason the crosswalk was empty, wasn’t there?
You turned your head to the side as you ran, only to come face to face with an oncoming car, coming in so fast you knew it wouldn’t be able to stop. No matter what you did, it was going to hit you. You threw your arms up in front of your face, blinding yourself as you squeezed your eyes shut and prepared yourself for the impact.
But it never came.
“Day one and you’re already fucking things up, aren’t you?”
The sounds of the city had fallen silent, there were no more car horns, no people talking, nothing. It was dead quiet. You slowly peeled your arms away from your face and opened your eyes.
Namjoon was there, still dressed in that three piece suit of his as he leaned up against the hood of the car that had almost hit you. He looked beyond pissed with you. You looked around, taking notice of your environment. There were people still looking at you, their faces frozen in shock and horror. There was a bird above you, it’s body frozen in midair with its wings spread wide open. And there was a little girl on the corner of the street, her popsicle stuck freefalling a foot above the ground.
Time had been suspended.
“Namjoon! You don’t understand, this life you put me in, I can’t do it! I’m not a wife or a mother, I can’t do it! And my husband? There’s something wrong with him, I don’t know what but he isn’t right in the head.”
Namjoon rolled his head back, a sharp sigh leaving his lips before he righted himself and pressed his fingers to his temples.
“You need to go back.” He simply said, his frustration evident.
“I just told you I can’t -”
“It’s either you go back to him and play house for a few fucking weeks, or I take you back to the crossroads and process you!” He snapped.
You jumped in surprise at the sudden intensity of his voice. When you had first met Namjoon he was calm, collected, even a little embarrassed at the mess up that had occurred. Now, he was frustrated.
“I told you before, you need to follow this life perfectly, you cannot let anyone know that anything is amiss. That means you need to be Jihoon’s mother and Hoseok’s wife. Whether you like it or not, that’s reality. So, you need to decide right now what you are going to do. Are you going to grin and bear it for a few measly weeks, or are we both leaving right now?”
You remained quiet for a moment. You already knew what your answer was going to be before you even opened your mouth. You needed to stop panicking and start thinking efficiently. What was a few weeks of unease and fear in comparison to years of your life you would gain in return. It was a good investment.
“I’ll do it.” You finally said.
“Good,” Namjoon breathed a sigh of relief as he popped off the hood of the car, “No more fuck ups, for my sake and yours.”
And then he was gone, disappeared into thin air.
The world was moving around you again, and you were no longer standing on the crosswalk but instead in the middle of the sidewalk as the crowd of people that were previously waiting to cross the road dissipated and made their way to the other side.
And then, those same hands were on you again, but this time they pulled you into a warm chest, crushing you like a boa constrictor in a desperate hug.
“You scared the shit out of me!” Hoseok cried, his hand settling on the back of your neck as he pulled your head into the space between his neck and shoulder.
How ironic, you had scared him.
~~~~~~~
Hoseok hadn’t even taken the risk of walking you back home, instead he flagged down a taxi and ushered the both of you into the back seat. The ride was spent in silence between the two of you. You sat there, the side of your head pressed against the window as you listened to the music from the radio and the feeling of Hoseok’s hand on your thigh keeping you immobile.
You allowed him to grip your wrist when the cab arrived outside your apartment and when he dragged you back inside. It seemed so much darker now after you had been outside. You really didn’t want to be trapped in that small apartment with just you and him and no Jihoon to protect you.
His hold didn’t lighten until he had dragged you into the bedroom you had woken up in the morning. It was then that he pressed his hand against your shoulders and shoved you backwards on the bed, quickly climbing on top of you as you began to flail your limbs wildly in surprise.
“Calm down, hunny.” He cooed, a genuine, sadistic smile on his face now. All the other smiles before had been so fake now that you had seen this one. This one was beyond thrilled.
You flinched as you felt cold metal encircle your wrist and snap shut. He had you handcuffed to the bed, there was no running away now that was for sure.
Your heart was thumping frantically in your chest, your limbs shaking as the adrenaline that had once faded was flooding through you again. Your instincts had been dead on accurate, you should have kept running when you had the chance.
“Baby, baby, baby,” He laughed, tilting his head to the side as his eyes shone with glee. “I haven’t seen you in so long, I thought you were gone.”
You were shaking beneath him as his eyes traced over every inch on your body, his fingers playing with the loose strands of your hair.
“You’ve been acting so different today, almost like how you were when we first met all those years ago.” He hummed, his face pressing closer to yours as he lightly brushed his lips down the side of your cheek before stopping to press a kiss at the curve of your jaw.
You flinched to the side in discomfort, spurring a delighted giggle from his lips.
“As fun as it is to have you like this again, that doesn’t mean I can let your bad behavior go unpunished. You left without my permission and you said no to me, I can’t have that baby, I just can’t.” He sighed, the puff of air against your flesh spurring goosebumps to rise in response.
“So, be a good little girl for me, and don’t move.” He instructed, pressing a lazy kiss to the bared column of your throat.
“You’re in timeout, a couple hours to yourself should help you think long and hard about what you did today.” He laughed, pulling himself off of you and retreating towards the bedroom door.
“I’d think of a good way to apologize to me if I were you.”
And then he was gone. Once the door shut you could feel your heartbeat steadily falling and returning to normal. “Play house,” Namjoon had said, “Grin and bear it,” he told you. You weren’t so sure if those sentiments applied to your situation anymore.
It was confirmed, you were married to a sadistic sociopath.
Hoseok had left you chained to the bed for hours on end like the asshole that he was. You were rightfully scared of him, like you had previously thought, he was unpredictable. One moment he was kind and gentle and the next he was angry and after that he was filled with a corrosive glee.
How were you supposed to make it through the next few weeks like this? It was impossible.
All you could do was lay there, stewing in anxiety as you were drowning in your never ending stream of thoughts about your fate at the hands of your so-called husband.
By the time you heard the front door unlocking the sunlight had completely shifted in the room. The light was now entering at a different angle casting long, dark shadows over the room. It looked like the light was being chased away by the tendrils of darkness curling at its soft edges.
You could hear a loud thud coming from the main room and the sound of little footsteps approaching the bedroom quickly.
“Mommy!” A voice called before the door was shoved open. Jihoon. “Found you!” He giggled, kicking his shoes off before scrambling up the side of the bed and crawling over to you on all fours.
Jihoon seemed undeterred by the sight of your wrist bound to the headboard behind you as he curled up against your side, his head resting on your shoulder as he wrapped his small arms around you. A chill traced its way up your spine, this wasn’t the first time he had seen his mother like this. No, this was common for him.
Jihoon was already prattling endlessly about his day, much like he had on the way to the school bus that morning. His chatter suddenly came to a stop as he ran out of things to say, instead he let out a little hum and asked you: “Daddy put you in time out?”
“Yeah, Jihoon, Mommy’s in time out.” You replied, your jaw clenched and your eyes pressed shut.
“I told you, you can’t leave. Daddy always finds you.” He said, nodding his head in agreement with himself as he began to play with your hair.
Your eyes snapped open, you head turning to the side to look at Jihoon. That definitely meant something, didn’t it? In fact, how had Hoseok found you at the park in the first place? Or on the sidewalk you had run to?
“Jihoon...how does Daddy find Mommy?” You asked him.
Jihoon continued to play with your hair, his tongue poking out of his mouth in concentration as he twisted and knotted your hair in a sloppy braid. “Your boo boo.”
“My boo boo?”
Jihoon stopped his shaky braiding for a moment, meeting your eyes as he grabbed your free hand and led it to the back of your neck. That was when you felt it.
Right there, at the nape of your neck, was a small bump beneath the flesh. You smoothed your finger over it a few more times in disbelief, making sure that what you were feeling was actually real.
He had microchipped you, like a dog.��
A pit settled itself into your stomach as the reality of your situation finally hit you. The life you had been injected in was far more dark and twisted than you had first thought. This went beyond overprotectiveness and time outs, this was a clear show of obsession and possessiveness. In Hoseok’s eyes, you belonged to him.
And, upon having that realization, your husband returned home from work.
The bedroom door had been left wide open, giving you a clear view of Hoseok entering the apartment as he shimmied his jacket off of his shoulders and loosened his tie. Your arm curled around Jihoon tighter, pressing him even closer to your side like he was a life preserver, the only thing keeping you from being dragged down into the dark trenches of the sea. He felt safe to you.
The minute Hoseok looked up and caught sight of the two of you, the bleak and tired look that adorned his features drifted away and was replaced by that same fake smile, the one that never reached his eyes but lit up his entire face.
“There’s my two most favorite people in the world!” He called, pulling a laugh from Jihoon who raised his arms up in a gesture suggesting he wanted Hoseok to hold him.
Traitor.
Hoseok bounded into the room, lifting Jihoon up from underneath his arms and spinning him around before settling himself on the bed beside you with Jihoon on his chest, excited giggles shaking his entire body.
It startled you how normal this would have looked from the outside, minus your hand being cuffed. To anyone else it could have looked like any other family spending time together after a long day. A stay at home mother with her busy husband and their young son. Oh, how far that was from the truth.
“You hungry, buddy?” Hoseok asked, tickling his son's sides. “How about take out tonight?”
“Yeah!” Jihoon agreed enthusiastically.
“What do you think, Mommy?” Hoseok asked you, pivoting his head to the side, his dark eyes fixing you to your spot.
Play along.
“That sounds good.” You nodded, attempting to do some damage control from your actions earlier that day.
“Good answer baby,” Hoseok smiled, popping Jihoon off of him as he slid over to you, fishing the keys to the handcuffs out of his back pocket. His thumb gently stroked the reddened flesh of your bound wrist before freeing it. He held your wrist in his hand for a moment before pressing a long kiss to the irritated flesh.
“Behave.” He whispered into your skin, looking up at you through half lidded eyes before he flipped his switch again and bounced off of the bed in glee. “C’mon Jihoon, you can pick where we order from!”
~~~~~~~
The air had been thick with tension for the rest of the night, unbeknownst to Jihoon who was too excited to be with both of his parents to realize that there was anything wrong.
Jihoon had become a buffer between you and Hoseok, the little boy seating himself between the two of you on the couch with his food in hand while his legs kicked back and forth excitedly. A little hum of happiness left him with each bite of his food, completely oblivious to the dark look Hoseok was sending you over his head.
You had somehow managed to equally piss him off and excite him all in one day. You were scared of what it would be like when Jihoon had to inevitably go to bed, he wouldn’t be there to protect you anymore.
There were few things you had been scared of in your previous life, and they were normal things for a person of your stature. You had been scared of being mugged, being kidnapped for ransom, having someone break into your apartment, or becoming a disappointment to your family.
Most of those things could have been remedied with a bodyguard. Never in your entire life did you ever think you would come to rely on a six year old boy, your “son,” to be your protection. It was strange how much could change, all in the course of one night, one mistake.
Once again, you had found yourself cradling Jihoon to your side, his body relaxing under your touch as he snuggled up against you. He gently guided your hand away from your lap, and onto his head, a sign that he wanted you to play with the short strands of hair.
You pulled your hands away from your legs and allowed your son to lay his head down as you softly stroked his hair in a calming, soothing motion. The light of the television was flickering, casting a blue glow onto his young features. His eyes had fluttered shut, his long lashes casting smooth shadows against the skin beneath his eyes. His breath was coming out slower now beneath your touch, the rise and fall of his chest becoming slower and deeper than before.
Jenny had been right about one thing, you would have had cute children. When you went back, a part of you was certain that you would miss Jihoon. Your little protector.
You jolted at Hoseok’s unexpected touch, his arm sliding behind your shoulders as he moved closer to you on the couch. An annoyed whine sounded from Jihoon at the sudden motion causing him to press his face against your legs in an attempt to escape whatever was disrupting his sleep.
Hoseok leaned closer, his warmth seeping into your side. He joined your hand on Jihoon’s head, lightly smoothing over his hair before speaking. “I think it’s time for bed, little man.”
“Noooo!” Jihoon whined, “I wanna stay with Mommy.”
“Not tonight, buddy. You need to be a big boy and sleep in your own bed.”
“I don’t wanna!” He cried.
Sensing an impending tantrum, Hoseok scooped Jihoon up into his arms and cradled him to his chest. He started rubbing his back in slow motions, bouncing lightly with each step that he took. Miraculously, you could see Jihoon’s eyes begin to droop shut, his fatigue returning in full blast.
Your parents never did that for you.
You watched as Hoseok retreated into Jihoon’s room, presumably to get him ready for bed.
Shit, your bodyguard was falling asleep.
Your body moved before you could think, flinging itself from the couch and sprinting for the bedroom. You couldn’t think of what to do, you knew that as soon as Hoseok was done with Jihoon he was going to come after you and you didn’t know what to expect. So, you did what any other grown woman would do.
You hid under the covers.
Your heart was beating loudly in your chest, the sound echoing through your ears as you squeezed your eyes shut in fright. All you could do what lay there and wait for him, you were doing nothing but delaying the inevitable.
When you heard his footsteps rounding the corner you tried to slow your breathing, forcing your chest to rise and fall slower to make it seem like you had fallen asleep. If he bought it, then maybe he would leave you alone.
Unlikely.
He did the exact opposite. You could hear him close the door behind him, shuffling around the room as he got ready for bed. Your breath hitched in your throat as the lights flickered off, and the mattress dipped beside you from his weight.
It was dead silent in that pitch black room, the only sounds you could hear were the ringing in your ears, your breaths, and his.
You flinched in surprise when he latched onto you, dragging you backwards into the warmth of his bare chest.
You tried your best to remain calm, to breathe lightly, and to not move. But Hoseok was no idiot, and you were daft if you thought you could fool him.
“I know you’re awake.” He whispered, his nose pressing against your hair as he took in a deep breath, sending a sharp chill down your spine.
He remained quiet for a moment, his arms wrapping tighter around your body. The feeling was the same as if a boa constrictor was curling around you. Slowly increasing the pressure, tightening its grasp in an attempt to squeeze the life out of you. Slow, calculating, and intimate.
The arm that had looped around your middle lightly drew backwards, allowing his hand to slide beneath your shirt and rest on the bare skin of your waist.
“I think I know a way you can make it up to me.” He mumbled with his lips pressed against your throat.
His palm smoothed over the skin of your lower abdomen, just above the hem of your underwear as he buried his head into the crook of your neck, lips and tongue tracing over the bared flesh. Like a little lamb you had found yourself caught in the jaws of the predator, one snap away from the clutches of death.
You remained frozen from a blend of shock and fear, all sense of fight or flight leaving you and rendering you immobile. Every nerve in your body was screaming at you to move, to pull away, to throw yourself off of the bed. But your muscles were tense, frozen in a state of pure anxiety and fear, you knew nothing more than the thought of keeping still like a rabbit in the face of danger.
He moved to the side, dragging you onto your back so he could settle himself on top of you. He braced himself with his arms on either side of you, caging you in with no room to escape. He gave you no warning of what he was thinking of doing, he merely swooped down and pressed his lips to your own.
A muffled squeak rattled in your chest, your heart suddenly thudding louder than before like an alarm sounding to wake you up. Your hands moved first, sliding onto his chest and barely applying any force, struggling to push him back. His skin was warm and smooth against your palms, an alluring honey shade that you would have been enamored by like you had been that morning, had you not been exposed to his true nature.
“Hoseok.” You said, finally breaking free of his kiss.
Your call of his name had the exact opposite effect of what you had hoped. A deep groan rumbled in his chest as he pressed his hips against yours, effectively pinning you to the mattress beneath him.
“Hoseok!” You tried again, trying to grab his attention.
“That’s it baby, keep saying my name.” He sighed, expertly rolling his hips against yours.
Oh. Oh no.
The sudden wave of arousal that washed over you was unwelcomed and even more frightening than anything else. You weren’t even in control of yourself anymore, that was what his presence did to you.
“Play along,” The words that Namjoon had told you were suddenly echoing in your mind.
Your breath got caught in your throat as he pressed himself closer to you, you could feel the smooth roll of his hard length pressing against your core, light sparks of pleasure tingling throughout you. Shadows of fear still crept around in the back of your mind, the nape of your neck throbbing in a twisted reminder of the chip that lay beneath the skin.
Hoseok was in his own world, hell bent on teasing you until he grew tired of it. He shifted his weight onto one arm allowing his hand to delicately trace up the length of your body. His fingers just barely brushed your thigh, trailing upwards to trace the hollows of your hips before settling on your waist and rising up over the barrel of your ribcage that was exposed so nicely for him from your arched spine.
You were laying there, helpless for him, frozen from a state of arousal and fear that was blending perfectly into its own dark, tempting cocktail. You pressed your lips together firmly, smothering any whine that tried to force its way free from you when he pulled back, the motion of his hips stilling as he played with the hem of your shirt. You didn’t know if you wanted to yell at him to go away, or scold him for stopping.
Either way, you didn’t have much say on the matter.
He tilted his head from side to side, his dark eyes tracing over your form from head to toe. A small smirk tugged at the corners of his lips as he watched the heavy rise and fall of your chest, your wrinkled shirt, and the way your thighs and hips jerked from the loss of his touch. You looked adorable to him, he couldn’t deny the powerful feeling it gave him to see you so helpless beneath him. He was sick, and he loved it.
His fingers were still tracing the hem of your shirt, like he was contemplating removing it despite the both of you knowing it was inevitably going to come off. Hoseok was an impatient man, that much you could tell. He firmly gripped the bottom of your shirt and began to roll it up agonizingly slowly, that satisfied smirk still pinned to his handsome features.
“Whaddya say, hunny? Should we give Jihoon a sibling?” He laughed, his tongue flicking out to swipe over his lower lip at the thought of getting to see you full with his child again. He would be a liar if he said the thought didn’t turn him on.
All of the blood rushed to your face, your thighs tensing reflexively against him where he was settled between your legs.
“Is that what you want?” He hummed, hands settling on your hips and roughly pulling you down the mattress against him. “You want me to fill you up again, sweetheart?”
You didn’t get a chance to even consider answering his lewd question, a sudden shock of lighting and a deep roll of thunder caught the two of you off guard. The once pitch black room had been lit up by the blast of light, the windows shaking from the boom of thunder.
And then, there was the sound of crying and little footsteps.
Hoseok hung his head backwards in distress before rolling off of you with an annoyed whine echoing through the room. “God fucking dammit.”
“Mommy! Daddy!” Jihoon yelled before throwing the door open and scampering up over the foot of the bed, his little face wet with tears as he scrambled over the sheets and settled himself in between the two of you.
If you had questioned it before, you weren’t questioning it now. Jihoon was your savior.
“Jihoon, it’s just a little thunder, it’s nothing to be scared of.” Hoseok said, his voice a little sterner than normal, most likely from his case of blue balls.
“It’s scary!” The little boy rebutted, “I wanna sleep with you!”
“Jihoon -”
“It’s okay you can sleep with Mommy and Daddy tonight.” You cut Hoseok off, opening your arms for Jihoon to snuggle into.
The look on Hoseok’s face would have been humorous if you didn’t know you were going to have to pay for it eventually.
Everything came with a price, eventually.
~~~~~~~
Hours melted into days, and days slowly migrated into weeks. You had begun to lose track of how much time you had spent in this other life of yours. But you knew you couldn’t stand it for much longer.
You could handle Jihoon, you liked Jihoon, you could stand even being there because of him. Hoseok...he was another story. He never hid his true intentions from you, that was for sure. But the more time you spent trapped inside that apartment the more you began to feel like you were going to lose yourself.
Sometimes you could forget what Hoseok really was, and other times he made sure to remind you. In this life, whoever this person was before you took over, they had never left the apartment since Jihoon was born. That was six years of their life spent trapped within these walls with no one to talk to except for two people who were only home for a few short hours a day.
It was isolating. It wasn’t unlike the lonely life you had lived before in those regards.
You were trapped, chipped, and alone. Any attempt you had made to leave by yourself, for any reason, had been swiftly thwarted by Hoseok. The knowledge of the tracker embedded in your neck reminded you that there was no point in running anyways, he would always find you.
You tried to remind yourself that this would all be worth it in the end, that you could handle these weeks if it meant getting your old life back. But as each week passed, you weren’t so sure that was true any more.
You were in a cyclical hell that you couldn’t manage.
You had opened the door one day at the sound of someone outside it, it had been a new neighbor, a young man with full lips and an unusual laugh. Your heart had soared at the opportunity of being able to speak to someone other than a six year old or your possessive husband, but that had been quickly thwarted.
Hoseok had pulled you back into the apartment and exited into the hallway, shutting the door behind him with a grim glare.
You never spoke to that neighbor again.
Hoseok had become more needy as each week passed and you had taken to sleeping in Jihoon’s bed with him as often as you could, feeling protected by the boy you called your son. But your distance didn’t help in any manner, Hoseok was becoming more aggressive and more irritable. Not with your son, never with your son, but with you.
He grabbed onto you more, touched you more, kissed you harder, and eventually forced you back into sleeping in your bedroom.
You faked an illness for a few days to keep him at bay. That was how you got to this point. He was desperate.
Hoseok was taking you on a work trip, just you, without your son. It was a city or two over, you would be staying at a hotel and having dinner with his coworkers there that same day. He was a desperate man calling for desperate measures to be alone with his wife. That meant that you had no more excuses and no Jihoon to protect you.
Jihoon had cried when you said you had to go away with Hoseok, he didn’t want to go and stay with Hoseok’s mother, he wanted you two. And that part of your heart that had grown to accommodate him was slowly breaking with each tear that rolled down his cheeks.
You would be lying if you said you didn’t love him.
You knew that you weren’t the best mother, you didn’t know what a good mother was like. Yours was efficient at best. So you dug down deep for what maternal instincts you had, held him close, dried his tears, and kissed his chubby cheeks.
And you told him you loved him. The first person you ever loved.
So, that was how you found yourself here, at a table with a bunch of boring men and their partners talking about their work with Hoseok’s hand gripping your thigh, his finger rubbing circles into the skin beneath the length of your dress.
You were incredibly bored of this ordeal. All of these men were business executives and their concepts of how to run a business were rudimentary at best. It took everything in you to keep your mouth closed to not correct them in front of their higher ups and embarrass them for the everyday mistakes they were making.
“Play along.” Namjoon had said, so that was what you did.
Although you may be a mother now, you would always be a business woman and a successful one at that. They didn’t deserve your expertise.
Your eyes lazily drifted away from the table, zoning out as their voices became reduced to a low rumble. And that was when you saw it, a flash of black fur and glowing jade eyes on the ledge outside the window.
Taehyung. It was time.
Your heart leapt with joy, a smile carving into your once stony expression. You could go home now, you could finally wake up from this nightmare. A sharp squeeze to your thigh grounded you, a pit rolling in your stomach. You had to get away from Hoseok.
He was staring at you, confused by the sudden appearance of your joyful grin.
You leaned close to him, whispering lowly, “I have to use the ladies room.”
“I’ll take you.” He replied, going to scoot his chair away from the table.
You gripped his forearm, bringing him to a halt. “No, this is important for you, I’ll only be a moment.”
He stared at you in silence, assessing you and trying to figure out what you were getting at before he spoke. “Behave.”
You nodded quickly before excusing yourself from the table and rushing down the hallway. You had seen a large balcony on your way to the restaurant on the top floor, it was only a little ways away.
As soon as you stepped foot onto the balcony, you saw him. Taehyung was there, resting on the balcony as the sun slowly drifted away behind a cover of clouds, a gentle rain was beginning to tap the marble floor beneath you.
You approached him quickly, your heart pumping in time with the gentle rumble of thunder above you. Taehyung came to a stand on the railing, the sharp drop off beside him glaring at you.
“We have to do it this way, again?” You asked, your hands wrapping around the railing beside him as you peered over. You were even higher now than you had been the first time, sharp tingles were shooting through your hands and feet as you stared down at the streets below.
Taehyung stared at you in silence, his eyes blinking slowly twice. You would take that as a yes.
So, you carefully sat yourself up on the railing and turned, allowing your feet to dangle over the ledge. You watched in horror as your heels slipped off and went plummeting down to the ground. It took them a long time to meet the pavement, it would be a long fall for you.
“Fuck, are all of you reapers this dramatic?” You hissed at the cat. He looked amused at your predicament.
“Okay, let’s do this thing.” You huffed, reaching your hand out to touch the reapers silky midnight fur.
And that was when you heard the panicked call of your name. You looked over your shoulder, your eyes meeting Hoseok’s. His face was ashen, his hands held up as he attempted to approach you. Your eyes caught sight of his phone held up in one of his hands, a blinking dot on a grid staring back at you. He had accessed your tracker.
“Baby, what are you doing?” He asked you, taking small, slow steps in your direction. “Come here, let’s talk, okay?”
“You can’t stop me,” You replied, “I won’t do this any longer.”
“You don’t know what you're saying, you're just stressed and scared. We can get through this.”
“I know what I’m doing, Hoseok. I’m done, my time is up and I need to go.”
“And what about me? What about Jihoon?”
Jihoon. A chill spread through your body, your eyes suddenly stinging. You didn’t know that would be the last time you would hug him or say goodbye. He didn’t know that was the last day he would have a mother.
“Jihoon will be fine.” You said firmly, Taehyung was creeping closer to you now at the same pace that Hoseok was. Your time was coming to a close, Hoseok was trying to compete with death. It was obvious who was going to win.
“I won’t let you do this.” He snapped back, frustration, desperation and fear taking over him as he flung his phone aside and began to run to you.
“You don’t own me.” You spat back.
And then you grabbed Taehyung and clutched him to your chest before slipping off the edge of the balcony, Hoseok’s fingers just brushing your skin before you plummeted off the side of the building.
Death was easier.
~~~~~~~
First, there was darkness.
And then there was the sound of monitors beeping around you.
Your eyes felt as heavy as lead, refusing to open on your command. And for a small, brief moment, you were afraid that when you opened your eyes he would be there. You were afraid that you had missed the window and you were trapped with him again.
But when you did manage to open your eyes, the person sleeping in the chair beside you was Jenny.
You did it.
Everyone was surprised by your survival and your recovery. The fall you had should have shattered your bones, mashed your brain, drained you of your blood. But you survived with minimal injuries. Some people called it a miracle, others thought you were a medical mystery.
And Jenny though you were stupid.
“What the fuck were you doing on that ledge? Were you that drunk or are you just that fucking stupid!” She yelled through her tears.
“Both.” You answered, your face completely deadpan as she rained down a series of hits to your arms in retaliation.
You laughed through it until she finally calmed down, a huffing mess in her chair beside you. “In all honesty, there was a cat on my balcony and I was trying to save it.”
“Oh my god, you are that fucking stupid aren’t you?” She said, shaking her head. “If you want a cat’s attention you lure it with food you dumbass! You are the dumbest smart person I know.” She sighed into her hands.
The two of you remained quiet for a moment as she collected herself and you took in the room around you. There were no cards, no balloons, and no flowers.
“So, I guess none of my family could clear some time in their busy schedules to come see me.” You said, quietly.
Jenny raised her head, sympathy etched into the features of her face. “Do you want honesty, or do you want me to sugar coat it?”
You bit your lip in thought before making up your mind. “Honesty.”
Jenny took in a deep breath before scooting her plastic chair closer to your gurney. “Your family is...distancing themselves from you for the time being.”
“Distancing?” You echoed in confusion.
“The media hasn’t taken too kindly to your...accident. Every tabloid is talking about the woman who has it all trying to throw it away. The public isn’t very happy with you at the moment.”
“The same wouldn’t be said if I had died.” You mumbled, because that was the truth. Nobody cared until it was far too late, their true intentions hiding beneath their masks of sorrow. It didn’t matter how much money you had, you had never been happy, and had your accident truly been an attempt well, maybe it was only a matter of time.
“And what does my family think?”
“They aren’t too happy with you either. Your mother and father have put on a face for the public, wishing you a speedy recovery, but they left you a memo. They aren’t ready to speak with you yet, not until you do something to find your way back into their good graces. Your siblings, on the other hand, have said nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
You had forgotten how lonely this life was. Thoughts of Jihoon tugged at your heart strings, his little whispers of “I love you’s,” your after school snacks and cuddles, and the soft voice he used when he would wake you up in the morning with a gentle: “Mommy?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you!” Jenny said quickly.
Your brow wrinkled in confusion before you felt it, the cool, wet, glide of a tear rolling down the side of your cheek. You were crying.
“It’s not you, Jenny. I’m just thinking about someone I love.”
~~~~~~~
You had returned to work almost immediately upon being discharged from the hospital. Jenny called you stupid, you called it trying to return to your only family. You knew you shouldn’t care about their opinion, not when they so clearly showed their disappointment in you and their lack of care. But they were all you had, they were your family, your blood. They made you what you were.
Right?
So there you were, back to wearing those red bottom heels, those tailored suits, and those glasses you hadn’t touched in so long, hidden behind your desk in your office.
You had kept your cool and your composure when you entered the office, doing your best to show you were unfazed by the shocked stares and the hushed whispers between your employees. You kept your composure only to throw your office door shut and slump against it with panicked pants for air.
No matter how hard you tried, you knew you were never going to be the same anymore. Not after your fall, not after the crossroads, and not after Hoseok. You were broken in ways you couldn’t even comprehend.
Even now, sitting at your desk, eyes trained on your computer, your finger swept over the skin at the nape of your neck, mindlessly feeling for the bump, the tracker that was once buried there. You were only met with seamless skin and irritation from the constant rubbing. You wouldn’t be surprised if you ended up rubbing the back of your neck raw.
A soft knock to your door had you sighing in relief, you needed some respite from the thoughts that were racing a million miles a minute in your mind. You were mentally exhausted from everything you had gone through. You removed your glasses, pressing your cool fingers to your eyes. Your hands were hurting again.
There was a loud crash as the door clicked shut, the sound of liquid spilling violently all over the floor of your office and the thick, strong odor of coffee. And then, there was the shocked gasp of your name.
A familiar chill traced down your spine at the voice, your heart kicking into overdrive. No, it couldn’t be. You rose from your chair causing it to spin away, your breathing quickening as you began to panic.
It was Hoseok, standing there in your office in a puddle of coffee.
Jenny’s words from all those weeks ago came flooding back into your mind. “The poor thing was so nervous, you really should be nicer to him. He has such a sweet smile…”
You stepped backwards in fear, your world suddenly crashing down on you in one fatal swoop.
He called your name again, a similar panic on his face as he crossed the room in distress. “Please! You, you have to help me! I don’t know what's going on but it feels like my head is being torn apart!”
Tears were rushing down your cheeks in endless rivers now. You had walked so far backwards that you were pinned against the tall windows behind you with nowhere left to go.
“I have two lives, two sets of memories running parallel in my head and I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t!”
You closed your eyes, your body shaking and shutting down the closer he got. And then his hands were on your shoulders, shaking you in his grasp as he began to hyperventilate.
“Where’s Jihoon?! Where did he go?! He cried, his body trembling in tune with your own as he was bombarded with memories he knew and ones he didn’t. He was too close now, his body pressed tightly to your own in that same suffocating manner as he panicked, his mind being torn apart for reasons unknown to him, holding onto you to ground himself.
You were beginning to understand now amidst the haze of panic. Namjoon had said he was putting you in a different place, in a different time. He had never said in a different life. You hadn’t become someone else, you had been moved six years forward in time. Those painful weeks you had lived through with the guise of them being temporary had all been for absolutely nothing. You were doomed to live out the life you had been trapped in.
It was fate.
“Where is our son?!”
#bts#bts hoseok#bts x reader#hoseok#jung hoseok#jhope#hoseok x reader#jung hoseok x reader#jhope x reader#yandere#yandere bts#yandere hoseok#bts fanfic#yandere hoseok x reader#yandere kpop#yandere bts x reader
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Missing Ingredient
Pairing: Solomon x Reader
Word Count: 5,467
Preview: Solomon needs help obtaining some "nectar" for a spell he wants to try, and asks you for your assistance.
Unbeknownst to you, the so-called nectar he needs isn't from a flower at all.
This chapter is also being posted as a part of my “Devil Doms” series on AO3.
I wrote this after getting inspired by one of @/shokujin-art’s pieces with Solomon and their MC Ethan!
WARNING: This chapter can be considered dub-con. If dubious consent makes you uncomfortable, please do not read.
“I need your help.”
The smile on Solomon’s face is a little disconcerting. After all, usually it’s not he who is asking you for help, but…you decide to hear him out.
“With what?”
Your gaze is openly skeptical as you regard him, but his smile doesn’t waver.
“I need nectar for a spell I’ve been wanting to test out for a while. I was wondering if you could help me in that regard.”
You blink at him, confused. Nectar? How the hell are you supposed help with that? It’s not like you’re an expert with flowers, and you certainly have no idea about flowers that reside in the Devildom.
“You…want me to help you find…nectar?”
He nods, bringing a hand up to his chin—his eyes turning towards the ceiling.
“Well…basically, yes.”
You narrow your gaze at his phrasing, concern growing by the moment. Exactly what the hell is Solomon playing at? You know he’s a bit of a sketchy bastard, and sometimes you feel like he can’t be trusted, but…so far, he hasn’t wronged you.
…that counts for something, right?
“Listen,” you say, poking a finger into his chest. His eyes widen at the action, and he pauses—staring at you as you continue to jab him. “I’ll help you, okay? But I better not be harmed on this journey to achieve whatever “nectar” you need. Got it, wizard boy?”
Solomon rolls his eyes at your nickname—catching your finger when you move to press your nail into his chest once more.
“You won’t experience any pain,” he says, laughing quietly. His eyes crease, a handsome smile lighting up his face, and for a second, you forget about your worries.
“I promise.”
The next weekend, you get a text from Solomon demanding that you come over to Purgatory Hall.
Today is the day—he needs your help with his nectar issue—and so, you pack up your bag and head over.
You’d attempted to ask him what retrieving this nectar would entail. After all, did you need to dress in hiking boots?? Would he be taking you out into the Devildom wilderness to try and find some rare, valuable flower?? But Solomon had refused to reveal any details.
He’d simply explained that it may take a few hours, and that you should just bring yourself, and any basic necessities.
So now, here you are—standing on the step to Purgatory Hall—waiting for Solomon to come and let you in. It takes a few minutes, but eventually the grand wooden door is pulled open.
“Took you long enough,” you mumble as he ushers you inside. The sorcerer can only laugh, keeping pace beside you as the two of you traverse the halls—heading towards his room.
“Sorry,” he says. His hand moves to wipe at his brow. You notice the tiny beads of sweat sticking to his skin, and curiosity fills you. “I was preparing.”
“Preparing for what?”
Again, Solomon reveals nothing. He easily laughs off the seriousness of your question, waving a hand in front of him as if to try and dissipate any of your worries.
“Preparing to retrieve the nectar,” he responds after a moment, flashing you a small smile. “I’ve been trying to gather the ingredients for this spell for many, many years, and this is the last, and hardest one to collect.”
“And…you need my help in particular with this…why?”
Your eyebrows are knit together on your forehead, and you’re sure that Solomon notices your trepidation, yet he chooses not to address it. Instead, he continues a few more strides up the hall before stopping.
You’ve already arrived at his room.
He reaches out to grab the doorknob, his silver eyes darkening playfully as he regards you. The subtle shift in his demeanor has butterflies tickling the inside of your stomach, and you swallow nervously.
While you’re not as magically inclined as Solomon, you can still feel the magic leaking from inside of his room. He obviously has something planned for you once you step inside, but you’re not sure what.
“…you promised you wouldn’t hurt me,” you remind him, pouting angrily—attempting to hide your apprehension. Your words have Solomon rolling his eyes, and he releases the door knob.
Standing straight, he jerks two of his fingers towards you, and suddenly a golden magic circle encases one of your wrists.
Your eyes widen in surprise, but before you can think to say anything, he’s making another motion with his hand. Quickly, the magic circle tugs you forward, and within seconds, you find yourself directly in front of Solomon.
His previously kind smile is now replaced with something more akin to an amused grin.
“I gave you my word, didn’t I?” he asks, free hand moving to gently brush a few stray hairs from your face. The gesture contradicts his current attitude, making you feel torn. Anxiety and excitement mingle in your gut—both turned on and concerned by your predicament.
“You did, but you’re kind of a bastard, so I want you to reassure me…,” you mumble, cheeks heating up as you stare at him.
This isn’t exactly the first time Solomon has used his magic to fluster you. No, many times now he has casually used spells to fuck with you—making you more sensitive to the touch, or creating a brief gust of wind to flip your skirt up while at RAD. It has kind of become your thing—picking on each other, with Solomon bridging into sexual territory every so often.
Actually...you’d made out with him a few weeks prior—both of you slightly intoxicated, and drawn in by the club music at The Fall—but it had never gone beyond kissing, and groping. Despite that, the sexual energy between the two of you had been palpable.
Yet, nothing had come of it. You’d mutually parted—preserved your friendship—and gone your separate ways that night. You’d assumed that Solomon simply wasn’t interested in doing those kinds of things with you—that any playfully sexual advances towards you were done in the spirit of friendship. Which you were okay with.
But…now that you’re standing here—hair risen all across your body at the magic leaking from his room—you know that he has big plans. And judging by the glint in his eyes, and the way his thumb is carefully caressing your cheek—you’ll certainly be in for a treat.
“When you step beyond the threshold of this door, no harm will come to you,” he speaks calmly, dipping down to press a soft kiss to your lips. Almost instantly, you’re melting into him—heart hammering against your ribs as your defenses are so easily torn away.
“Do you trust me?”
You nod, and his fingers leave your face. You hear the doorknob turn.
“I shouldn’t, but I do.”
He laughs at that, and in the next beat, he’s pulling you inside.
His room is just like you remember it—spacious, and dark. His desk is littered with an army of ingredients, and spell books. His bed is nicely made, and there’s a single, leather armchair tucked into the corner of the room, near the fireplace.
The only thing out of the ordinary is the golden blob of magic sitting in the center of the room. There’s an intricately drawn circle of chalk surrounding it—many runes, and foreign words tied into the dormant spell.
“I’m beginning to think that this “nectar” you need isn’t exactly from a flower…,” you mumble, sending him a little look when he once again uses the magic circle around your wrist to force you farther into his room. Solomon only smiles, guiding you forward until you’re standing inside the chalk ring—the blob of magic at your feet.
“To be honest, for the longest time I thought I was searching for a rare flower,” he says, sighing as he recalls his strife. His footsteps echo throughout the silent room as he scoots arounds the circle, shaking his head in disappointment. “This is a spell I found in an ancient text, and the words were quite hard to decipher. At some point, I picked out the word “nectar”, but figuring out what kind of nectar took far too long.”
As he speaks, you feel the spell at your feet start to buzz to life. And when your gaze flickers to the floor, you note that the blob of magic is starting to…move?
With each passing second, as the spell activates, the ball of golden magic expands and contracts—bulging here or there. You’re forced to divide your attention between Solomon—who is now standing in front of the leather chair—and the magic at your feet (which looks ready to explode).
“Solomon…,” you speak nervously, gasping when a second magic circle suddenly encases your free wrist. You turn to look at the sorcerer just as he jerks his fingers towards the ceiling—forcing your arms high above your head, where the spinning circles then merge into a single, larger one.
“H-Hey! You still haven’t told me what the hell is going on!” you stutter, feeling warmth on your cheeks as you realize your current state of vulnerability. With your hands bound like this, there’s no way you can escape whatever Solomon has planned.
“And yet, you still look like you’re enjoying this,” he teases you. You attempt to glare at him, but there’s no real power behind it, considering he’s right.
“Bastard…”
Solomon laughs at that, and he steps into the chalk circle without warning. His hands find your waist, and he kisses you without an ounce of hesitation. His lips are firm, and warm—moving against your own languidly, like he’s got all the time in the world.
The show of intimacy successfully distracts you from the ball of magic at your feet. Well…at least until the energy takes a new form—multiple, long limbs of magic shooting out, and wrapping around you.
“Mmph!” you squeal around his tongue, rearing back in shock. You look down, wriggling as the warm tendrils of magic climb your body. One is already hugging your waist—replacing the feel of Solomon’s hands as the wizard takes a step back—watching everything unfold with a self-satisfied grin spreading across his lips.
“Basically,” he speaks, calm as ever—as if you aren’t being molested by magic. His magic. “I finally figured out that the “nectar” I’ve been searching for is the arousal of a human. The product of their pleasure.”
His words have you feeling even hotter—an embarrassing gasp leaving you as one of the tendrils wraps around your thigh, and wiggles against your clothed sex.
“Really, of course I finally figured it out once I’m here in the Devildom.” He shakes his head, crossing his arms disappointedly. You bite your lip, trying to stifle another lewd sound as the tendril around your waist curls up between your breasts.
From what you can tell, there are 2…well, tentacles of magic in total—with one occupying your legs, and the other busying itself with your torso.
“I-If you need human arousal, why not use your own?” you ask him, already quite breathless. The sound makes Solomon’s eyes sparkle.
“What? You think I want to sit around and jerk into a cup for god knows how long?” he laughs, eyes raking down your body. His gaze stops near your hips, and he makes a motion with his hand. In response, the tentacle currently rubbing softly against your pussy pulls away—hooking under the waistband of your pants.
In one swift motion, it tugs the garment down your legs, and discards it onto the floor. You flush hottly, pressing your thighs together in an attempt to preserve a sliver of modesty—but the tendril of magic easily slips its way between your legs, once again rubbing against your pelvis.
“And besides, this route seemed much more fun.” He smiles cheekily, a dark sort of amusement lingering in his silver gaze. “I always pegged you as the type to enjoy a situation like this anyway. You know, a damsel in distress with a bit of kink and sex thrown in.”
You send him another look, but can’t say anything. Because…he’s not necessarily wrong. You can’t deny his words, nor can your body deny its reaction to your current predicament. Each pass of the magic between your legs or against your breasts has arousal pooling in your gut.
“Of course, if I’m wrong, just tell me, and I’ll stop.”
Despite the teasing look on his face, his words are genuine. He won’t do anything you’re not okay with. Even if he needs the ingredient for his spell, it seems he’s not entirely an asshole. At least, not to you.
“N…no…I’m okay with this,” you admit meekly, causing him to smile. “But…how are you retrieving the… um…”
You’re too shy to say it, now, realizing what the nectar actually is.
“Well, I did mention that all of this took time to prepare,” he responds, allowing the tendrils of his magic to continue roaming your body freely. It seems like he’s able to control them when he wants, but otherwise, they’ll continue working towards their goal on their own.
“Since I was able to get you to agree to help me out—”
“Without telling me what would actually be involved.”
He sends you a look—a little annoyed at being interrupted despite so kindly answering all of your questions.
“Oh I’m sorry—,” he makes a motion with his hand, and suddenly the tentacle around your chest is tearing your shirt away with a definitive rip. In the same beat, the tentacle between your legs slips beneath the crotch of your panties—tugging them off your body.
Somehow, it manages to discard the garment near Solomon’s feet, so he bends down and picks up the cotton fabric with a smile—the large spot of arousal hard to miss, even in the dim light of his room.
“—but do you really have the right to be sassing me about my ethics, when you’re already wet enough to stain your panties? Clearly, you’re turned on despite me not telling you, love.”
You open your mouth to attempt to defend your pride, but the only sound that comes out is a lewd gasp. The smooth magic between your thighs resumes its motions—now rubbing up against your wet pussy with no barrier. The contact makes you ache—your clit already so sensitive to the touch—and a satisfied grin settles on Solomon’s face.
“As I was saying,” he continues with his explanation calmly, but his gaze doesn’t leave the sight of you. With your panties gone, and your shirt in tatters on the floor, the sorcerer would be a fool to not watch the show unraveling in front of him.
“It took time to prepare. I had to figure out what would be the best way to retrieve the nectar without letting it go to waste. After all, sex can be so messy.”
Solomon pauses for a moment, soaking in the sound of your voice as you whine—your body flushed from head to toe as the thick tentacles of his magic keep their pace, rubbing against you in all the right places.
His slacks are beginning to feel a little tight.
He coughs.
“Basically, the raw magic will absorb your “nectar”, and will keep it trapped until I can draw it out.”
“S-So what?” you whimper, fingers helplessly curling and uncurling above you. His magic circle allows your wrists no wiggle room. “Y-You’re just going to sit here and watch your magic molest me until you’ve collected enough of my arousal for your spell?”
“Molest is a strong word,” Solomon says, seating himself in the leather chair. He leans back, letting his legs spread wide, and your eyes fall to the tent in his pants. “I prefer fondle. Or, pleasure. After all, you’re feeling a fair amount of pleasure right now, aren’t you?”
With a small inclination of his fingers, the tentacle between your legs pulls back—the thick, rounded tip pressing directly against your clit. It moves in miniscule side to side motions, and Solomon sees the way your entire body flexes—thighs shaking with each pass over your bundle of nerves.
“Fuck,” you pant, arms straining against their bindings. The wizard chuckles.
“Shall I make you cum like this? Or would you prefer to wait? Personally, I have no qualms making you orgasm until you’re begging me to stop, but I also don’t want to break you. You’d be a pain to put back together.”
“Asshole,” you remark.
With the tentacle still swiping across your clit, you know it won’t be long until you reach your climax. And while you know cumming will only serve to make everything more sensitive afterwards, you can’t bring yourself to pass up the offer of an orgasm. You’re already too close, and your body is begging for a release.
“I…I want to cum. Please.”
“Look at you, saying “please” even though you’re calling me an asshole.”
You so desperately wish he was within kicking range, because if he was, you would absolutely lift your leg and wipe that cocky grin straight off his face.
Luckily, the magic between your legs quickly distracts you from your anger towards the sorcerer.
As if hearing your plea to cum, it begins to work even faster—searching for the pattern that will undoubtedly drag you into the depths of your pleasure. And once it finds it—lewd gasps and moans falling from your lips—the tentacle keeps at it until you’re tumbling into your release.
Sensing your orgasm, the magic limb presses up against your pelvis. It slots between your folds, rubbing languidly as you experience your high.
You can only guess that it’s currently collecting all of the precious “nectar” that has leaked from your throbbing pussy following your climax.
“Shit…”
Apparently willing to give you a moment to breath, the magic tendril occupying your sex continues its slow motions. In its place, the tentacle that had been lazily fondling your chest until now gets to work. It fully wraps around both of your breasts—squeezing, and tugging—almost as if it’s attempting to milk you.
Your eyes flutter shut at the sensation—quiet, hot breaths filling the space in front of you as the tailend of your orgasm finally passes. Yet, you can still feel the embers burning in your gut, threatening to reignite with any simple touch.
“Feel good?” Solomon questions, drawing you out of your haze. Your eyes fall to him, heart thundering in your chest when you notice that one of his hands has strayed beneath his trousers—fingers enclosed around his length through the fabric of his underwear.
“Perverted wizard,” you speak instead, completely ignoring his question. The smallest of grins grace your lips, a breathy laugh leaving you. “Getting so hard from watching me. Shouldn’t you be ashamed?”
He chuckles at your words, looking amused by your wit.
Truly, you’re a fool to be speaking to him like that, as if he isn’t the one in charge right now. While he’s been kind to you thus far, he has no issue in changing that.
“Be a good cock slut and shut the hell up.”
He flicks his fingers, a fake smile plastered on his face, and in the next moment your pussy is filled to the brim with his magic. The tentacle reaches deep—snaking between your walls until the soft head is pressed flush against your cervix.
The abrupt intrusion has you crying out, wrists once again straining against their bindings as you struggle to adjust to the new sensation. And yet, Solomon grants you no grace period.
The magic begins to move—sliding in and out of your wet walls at a swift pace that has your mouth opening, but no sound coming out. At the same time, the tentacle at your chest squeezes harder, the tip of the appendage moving to swirl around one of your hardened nipples.
“S-Solomon,” you choke out, knees buckling under the intensity of his magic. The way his name sounds falling from your lips—desperate and overwhelmed—has his cock jumping against its confines.
His jaw clenches, fingers squeezing a bit tighter as he strokes himself.
“I’d slow their pace down, but I can hear how wet you are from here,” he remarks, silver gaze falling to the space between your thighs. As the tentacle grinds inside of you, small amounts of your arousal are soaked up by his magic. As they’re absorbed, the liquid pools in the main body of the magic—the blob still resting at the center of the chalk circle which is keeping his spell active.
“I called you a cock slut teasingly, but it seems you actually are one. How precious.”
“Fuck off,” you pant, body writhing as the embers in your gut quickly reignite into flames—hot, intense, and growing with each second that passes.
He laughs at your exclamation, pressing to his feet. With deft fingers, Solomon quickly rids himself of his pants, and underwear—the pieces of clothing lying abandoned on the floor beside your own. And when he moves forward—once again entering the magic circle, and stepping into your personal space—you feel your heart skip a beat.
Your pussy clenches around the tentacle still working inside of you, nervous butterflies blooming in your tummy when you see the dark look in Solomon’s eyes. Like he’s finally giving you a glimpse of the real him—not the kind façade he always shows in front of the others.
“If you’re going to use your mouth in such a vulgar fashion, I know a better way.”
Suddenly, without warning, the magic circle encasing your wrists presses downward—forcing you to your knees. The tentacles adjust accordingly, but continue their ministrations as normal. The new position, however, has you eye-level with Solomon’s weeping cock.
“Say ah,” he says, canting his hips forward. The tip of his length smears against your hot cheek, and you flit your gaze up to him—aroused, and a little scared.
He’d be lying if he said the fear didn’t turn him on.
“No?” Solomon tangles a hand in your hair—firm, but not enough to hurt. He holds your stare, his eyes expectant. Yet, he doesn’t force himself upon you. After all, he gave you his word that he wouldn’t hurt you, and while right now he would love nothing more than to stuff your mouth with his cock, he won’t if it’s pushing you too far.
You take a deep breath, trying to calm your nerves (although it’s not easy to do, considering the two tentacles that are still very bent on pleasuring you for the sake of your “nectar”). Then—
You part your lips, hot breath fanning against his length.
“Aaah—”
Solomon looks genuinely surprised for a moment. However, he definitely won’t be wasting such a perfect opportunity.
“Truly a cock slut,” he says by way of praise—sliding his cock into your mouth before you can even think of responding.
The moment he hits the back of your throat—making you gag—you realize what you’re in for. There’s no way you’re making it out of this situation sane. Not with Solomon fucking your mouth, while his magic devastates your pussy, and fondles your chest.
In contrast to the quick, brutal pace the tentacle currently occupied with your sex has taken, Solomon starts off slowly. He rocks himself into your mouth, his silver eyes focused on you as your lips suction around him. Each time, he ventures deep—his cock sliding into you until you can take no more.
Tears blot your eyes, body tensing as you resist the urge to gag around him once again. Solomon notices your struggle—watching the way your fingers curl into fists. A part of him debates being nicer. You’re already struggling thanks to the ministrations of his magic, after all, and yet—
“You like it rough, don’t you?”
He reaffirms his grip on your hair—holding your head steady as he begins rolling his hips. He’s still not as fast as the tentacle devastating your pussy, but his slow pace is no more. No, he fucks you quick enough that you don’t have time to steel yourself for the sensation of his cock hitting the back of your throat.
So now, along with the wet, slapping sounds already filling the room, your frequent, helpless gagging can be heard as well.
To Solomon, it’s music to his ears.
“I don’t need you to tell me “yes”. I can already see the answer with how much of your arousal my magic is collecting,” he says, breathing a laugh. “Seriously, you’re the one that should be ashamed, Y/N. You stand there and tease me for getting hard, but you’re the one positively leaking right now. Do you want to be even more stuffed? I could create a third tentacle if you like.”
“Nn—,” you attempt to shake your head, tears finally rolling down your cheeks. You already feel like you’re going insane. There’s no way you’d be able to handle anything more than this.
Solomon grins at your response, purposely grinding into your mouth, and holding himself there. He watches as you flounder—body writhing against the bindings at your wrists.
Even as you struggle to breathe, you can feel the orgasm building inside of you.
You choke down a sob.
Solomon’s magic is relentless. You have no idea how long it’s been—how long the tentacles have been teasing you—have been trying to milk you for all that you’re worth—but it’s been long enough to bring you to the edge once more. And each time Solomon forces you to gag around him, you only inch closer.
“Mmph,” you whine pathetically around him, your body shaking as your pleasure continues to build to a peak. It won’t be long until you’re sent tumbling over the edge a second time, and once that happens, you’re not sure how much more you’ll be able to take. Your brain already feels like it’s on the verge of short-circuiting.
“This is a good look on you—,” he comments. Sweat has beaded on his brow—stray strands of his hair sticking to his forehead, and you’re mad that he still manages to appear so handsome despite his disheveled state.
“—ruined, and on the brink of orgasm. You’re going to cum again, right?”
Your noise of admission is lost around his cock as he continues fucking into your mouth. However, he doesn’t need to hear your agreement. He can already tell—what, with the way your eyes are practically ready to roll back into your head.
“You should wait for me,” he says, amusement tugging at his lips when he feels you whimper. “Can you manage that?”
Without waiting for your muffled attempt at a response, Solomon thrusts become rougher. He fucks into your throat, groaning at the way you instinctively gag and swallow around him. Saliva pools at the corners of your lips—slipping down to your chin and mingling with the tears that have fallen from your eyes.
You’re so overwhelmed. You’ve never experienced so many sensations at once, and while you try your best to hold out for Solomon—to be good, and wait for him like he’s requested—you can’t. It’s impossible.
With a strangled cry, you come undone. Your body thrashes, your head naturally attempting to pull away from Solomon for much needed air, but he doesn’t let you go anywhere.
“Ah, if only you had waited a little longer,” he remarks, disappointment in his tone. He lowers his other hand to grab your head, and more tears pour down your cheeks as he face fucks you to his heart’s content—even as your orgasm continues to roll through you.
Luckily, the sorcerer isn’t very far behind. He finds his release just as your orgasm is beginning to subside, the tentacles that are assaulting you finally beginning to slow their ruthless pace.
Gripping your hair, he forces himself deep into your throat—a dark satisfaction settling in his gut as he watches you choke on his seed.
“Swallow like a good girl,” he chides, one of his hands moving to wipe away your tears. As best you can, you swallow around him—puffy eyes turning up to him. The pleading look on your face successfully softens his heart, and with a sigh, he releases your head.
Immediately, you’re pulling back—coughing and gasping for air.
“P-Please, I can’t…anymore…,” you beg, voice raw. The tentacles have started picking up their pace once again--ready to resume their duty after having given you a few minutes to rest.
Solomon clicks his tongue, his silver gaze dropping to the mass of magic on the floor. There’s a fair amount of your “nectar” that has settled at the bottom of the orb. Enough that Solomon will be able to attempt his spell more than a few times.
So, with that in mind, he releases you.
The tentacle around your torso unwinds—your breasts feeling used, and sore from its touches. At the same time, the magic stuffing your pussy slowly pulls out—the limb soaking up whatever excess arousal you have to offer as it retreats.
Before long, the two tentacles have remerged with the ball of golden magic—the light from the spell circle fading as everything settles back into place. Once he’s sure that your precious juices are properly kept, Solomon waves his hand, and the magic binding your wrists disappears.
Almost instantly, you’re falling forward—catching yourself on your hands and knees, fingers smearing through intricately drawn chalk lines. Solomon kneels in front of you, brushing your hair from your eyes.
“You did well,” he says.
“You’re the worst,” you respond.
Your entire body feels like jello. You’re not even sure there’s any blood left in your arms.
He chuckles.
“Fine, I’m the worst.”
Grabbing you beneath your arms, Solomon helps you to your feet, and leads you over to his bed. He throws the sheets over you, and then moves to retrieve the blob on the center of his floor. He gingerly places it on his desk—resting it atop a plush cushion, like a prized pet.
His eyes linger on it for a few seconds, satisfied. Then, his silver stare turns back to you—his sheets rustling as you settle yourself in.
There’s absolutely no way he’ll be kicking you out anytime soon. If you can barely walk to his bed with his help, there’s no chance that you’ll be able to walk all the way back to the House of Lamentation.
Luckily, he doesn’t seem to mind your company. He’s got a heart inside of him, even if parts are stained black.
“I’ll go get some water,” he says. However, just as he’s brushing past the bed, there’s a knock at his door.
He pauses at the sound, and you hold his sheets tighter around your naked body.
Eyebrow raised curiously, Solomon strides to the door and pulls it open. Standing on the other side is a red-faced Simeon. He looks both angry, and embarrassed.
Solomon’s heart drops.
Despite all his preparation, he’d forgotten to enact a noise blocking spell…
“Oh shit.”
“Oh shit is right,” Simeon responds, crossing his arms. “You’re lucky Barbatos agreed without question to teach Luke a new recipe despite me calling him last minute. Once I heard you and your partner…going at it. You live with a child up the hall, Solomon.”
Solomon sighs. “I’m sorry. I meant to cast a spell to block the noise, but I forgot.”
“Next time, don’t forget, or I’ll have harsher words to say to you.”
“Very much noted.”
“Good.” Nodding, Simeon turns to stalk away from the wizard, but pauses.
“Oh, by the way, you mentioned inviting Y/N over this weekend. Are you still planning to do that? I’d love to see her.”
“Uhhh…,” Solomon resists the urge to glance back into his room, towards the bed where you’re currently hiding yourself. “Yeah. She should be over later. I’ll let you know when she gets here.”
“Good!”
Smiling, Simeon disappears up the hall. Solomon shuts his door, and from beneath his covers, you quietly scream.
“Simeon heard us fucking!! What’s wrong with you!!”
Again, Solomon sighs.
“Yes, yes, we already agreed—I’m the worst. Now pipe down, or I’ll have to shut you up again.”
When you actually cease your scolding words—glaring at him over the edge of his sheets—Solomon cocks an arrogant eyebrow.
Well then, he certainly knows the best way to get you to shut up from now on.
#om!#obey me#solomon x reader#solomon x mc#solomon fic#solomon smut#obey me fic#obey me smut#obey me reader insert#obey me solomon#solomon
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Digimon Data Squad Dub Comparison Episode 31 - Showdown Between Geniuses: Thomas Vs Nanami!
This is a companion to my commentary on the original Japanese Digimon Savers! Reading my commentary on the original version of this episode (which you can find here) is recommended before reading this dub comparison.
Original name ~ Dubbed name
Masaru Daimon ~ Marcus Damon
Yoshino Fujieda ~ Yoshino “Yoshi” Fujieda
Tohma H. Norstein ~ Thomas H. Norstein
Ikuto Noguchi ~ Keenan Crier
ElDoradimon ~ ElDradimon
Baromon ~ Baronmon
Igamon ~ Ninjamon
Gizmon ~ Gizumon
BioLotusmon ~ BioRotosmon
[Since several characters share the same name between the original and the dub, quotes from the dub will always be in italics, while quotes from the original will not, in order to distinguish them.]
Before we get into this episode itself, I again want to talk about the preview for this episode that we saw at the end of the dub’s episode 30. It only contained like one shot of Nanami, with none of her lines and no indication that this episode is especially focused around her; most of it was about the bits with Marcus and Thomas arguing strategy. Like with the preview for episode 17, this strikes me as frustratingly sexist. Can’t possibly make the viewers think the next episode might focus on a girl, nobody’d want that.
Recap Marcus: “Hopefully I can make [my dad] proud ten years later by saving them from Kurata! It’s fightin’ time!”
Marcus is doing the recap! Probably so that he can make this comment about his dad (though really Marcus doing it should be the default and there shouldn’t need to be a special reason for it like this grumble grumble).
Gaomon: “It was Master who came up with the strategy!”
Tohma: “A saviour…”
~~~~~
Gaomon: “Why’s he giving Marcus the credit when it’s your plan?”
Thomas: “He’s the legend’s son.”
Thomas is a bit more matter-of-factly answering Gaomon’s question instead of seeming more distantly wrapped up in his thoughts about this whole saviour thing. (As if the viewers needed to have the reason why explained to them because they couldn’t figure it out themselves.)
Kurata: “He’s pretty much the genius of the group.”
Calling Thomas the genius “of the group” only states that he’s noticeably tactically smarter than Marcus (not difficult) or Yoshi, which is not quite the same thing as him being a literal genius by anybody’s standards. That in itself shouldn’t be enough to pique Nanami’s interest… though of course she could still have figured out Thomas is a literal genius by herself anyway.
Ivan: “Garbage… must be properly disposed of. Those are the rules. If you liken those guys to garbage, then I just made a good pun. But you’ll never hear that coming from me.”
~~~~~
Ivan: “Trash must be disposed of properly. See, if everyone followed the rules like me, we’d be winning! But I’d never say we were losing out loud.”
But… they’re not losing? They may have lost the fight in episode 29, but their position in this current battle for ElDradimon is perfectly favourable, and the fighting hasn’t even really begun yet. It boggles me that the dub writers decided to remove a metaphor from the original when Ivan actually explained that it was a metaphor, so there’s no way it could have gone over their heads.
Igamon: “I saw humans there too. This man is their leader.”
~~~~~
Ninjamon: “I described their leader to a sketch artist. This is what he drew.”
The implication originally was that the Igamon himself did the, uh, “sketch”, but apparently in the dub, Digimon have professional sketch artists (who are absolutely terrible at it and yet still get given work)?
Igamon: “The saviour’s face is marked with sweat!”
Baromon: “Is the enemy that formidable?!”
~~~~~
Ninjamon: “Uhh, maybe his eyes were blue, not brown?”
Baronmon: “Anyone you know fit that description?”
The joke of Igamon and Baromon seeming to genuinely believe the sketch is good enough to strike fear in their saviour’s heart is changed to a different joke that doesn’t work as well. The sketch doesn’t even have colour for the eyes; surely Ninjamon can tell at least that much, even if his artistic judgement thinks it’s a decent drawing.
Baromon: “As of now, we have an announcement from our saviour.”
~~~~~
Baronmon: “Our legend’s son is going to deliver a message for us!”
Tiny thing, but in the original, Baromon had slipped into simply calling Masaru the “saviour” himself, whereas here he’s still calling him “the legend’s son”.
Yoshi: “Don’t mess up, Mr. Legend’s Son.”
Yoshi’s tone with those last words sounds a tiny bit bitter, like she’s annoyed that Marcus is getting all the glory. Yoshino didn’t sound like that in her equivalent line.
Baromon: “What? We’re making the first move?”
~~~~~
Baronmon: “Alright! We’re with you!”
The crowd’s initial response to Marcus’s announcement (identical to Masaru’s) of “we’re going to go and fight them” is the same kind of unenthused mumbling, but Baronmon is completely on board with it where Baromon in the original wasn’t at first.
Falcomon’s one line in this episode didn’t hit me like a brick for once, perhaps because it’s only one line and so it’s been longer than usual since I’ve heard much of what Falcomon’s meant to sound like. It’s still a bad voice for him though, regular reminder.
Ikuto: “We’ll end this fight quickly!”
~~~~~
Keenan: “Revenge time! Who’s with me?!”
Keenan’s making this very fervently about revenge, while Ikuto isn’t so much, surprisingly enough. Ikuto is going to gradually slip out of being so fixated on revenge in particular, and perhaps that’s already begun to happen here, but not in the dub, apparently.
Tohma: “He must be intentionally using his camp as bait, in order to force us to divide up our troops.”
~~~~~
Thomas: “He wants us to get our troops out of the perfect position that we’re in!”
This is the only part of Tohma’s argument that’s slightly different. Surely if the main point is about this perfect position, then it’s okay for some troops (namely Marcus and Keenan and their partners) to head off to attack Kurata? Thomas doesn’t seem to be worried so much about their troops being divided and therefore losing strength.
Though maybe there’s also something to be said for Thomas making a point of this perfect position, the position he thought up with his very great strategy that he wishes he was getting more credit for dammit.
Tohma: “He’s waiting for us to make our move!”
~~~~~
Thomas: “Right now he can’t get to us if we stay where we are!”
He… totally can, though? The Gizumon can fly? The point is that Kurata’s forces can’t approach without being noticed while the city’s in this position; doesn’t mean they can’t attack anyway. Makes me think the earlier line was also changed because the dub writers had this erroneous impression; it’d explain why Thomas wasn’t worried about dividing up the troops needed to defend them if he doesn’t think they need any troops to defend them like this at all.
Masaru: “Then we’ll just go ourselves! You don’t have a problem with that, right?”
~~~~~
Marcus: “Then we’ll attack by ourselves! No-one says *you* have to go!”
Ugh, as usual, Marcus is being more argumentative about this, like he’s getting one up over Thomas, rather than Masaru’s genuine acknowledgement of the fact that they can both take their own individual approaches to this without issue.
Masaru: “A good offence is the best defence! I’m going to kick Kurata’s ass and that’s that!”
~~~~~
Marcus: “A good defence is a good offence! I say we attack and that’s that!”
Marcus’s tone is again being far more loud and argumentative. Plus, the altered phrasing of his second sentence – “we” attack, not just that he’s personally going to – makes it sound like he’s still trying to get one over on Thomas. Like he wants his approach to override Thomas’s strategy entirely and doesn’t think the two can co-exist (and the previous line I quoted was him thinking Thomas can just go sit out the assault in a sulk if he doesn’t agree).
Masaru: “So take care of defending this place for me until then, Tohma!”
Tohma: “You don’t need to tell me that.”
~~~~~
Marcus: “So take care of this place for me ‘til I come back, okay?”
Thomas: “*If* you come back.”
Instead of the fun subtle line suggesting Tohma might be thinking “stop telling me what to do like you’re stealing all my credit and I can’t do it by myself”, we just get Thomas… being much less subtly kind of a dick, implying he thinks Marcus is going to get himself killed in his reckless idiocy.
Tohma: “I can’t believe that reckless guy is considered a saviour.”
~~~~~
Thomas: “I can’t believe these people would willingly follow that reckless fool.”
Thomas’s words – and intonation – put more emphasis on the “fool” part, again being more of a dick. He’s also lingering less on the saviour/legend thing here by not bringing up that that’s the reason why all these people are blindly following him.
Yoshino: “I think the reason why Masaru continues to take such risks is because he trusts you, Tohma.”
~~~~~
Yoshi: “Marcus doesn’t mind taking risks, because he knows if he screws up, Thomas has his back.”
I’m a little sad about her not outright saying Marcus trusts Thomas, though “has his back” does pretty much mean the same thing. It’s also a little different that Yoshi’s saying Marcus will only need Thomas to have his back if he screws up. Masaru knows Tohma has his back and can hold down the fort here anyway, head-on reckless assault going badly or not! (After all, it’s not like Masaru is one for consciously acknowledging that his reckless charging in could ever possibly not work.)
Still, I’m glad this line is basically intact. What with the greater Marcus Is A Jerk going on in the rest of this argument, I would be worried that the writers wanted to entirely remove any sense that Marcus trusted Thomas’s approaches, but at least that bit is still here, albeit a tiny bit harder to believe, sigh.
Gaomon: “Gizumon-XT, 12 o’clock.”
Those ones approaching right now are Gizumon-AT, actually. Apparently the dub writers weren’t really paying that much attention to which one’s which.
Tohma: “Thank goodness. It appears…”
Nanami: “Nothing’s happened to it yet, hmm?”
~~~~~
Thomas: “No signs of an attack yet, but when they do, we’ll be ready.”
Nanami: “You sure about that?”
We lose Nanami finishing Tohma’s sentence as an early indication of the way she can predict everything he’s planning, in place of just some generic villain banter.
Nanami: “Like you said, if the waterfall is destroyed, the lake water will wash away ElDradimon.”
That’s… not what’s going to happen when the waterfall gets destroyed. Unsurprisingly, the dub writers have not watched ahead to the next episode in which we see why the lake draining is a bad thing. They apparently also haven’t even watched ahead to the end of this one, in which the water drains away without enough force to affect ElDradimon in any significant way.
Nanami: “And so, you will come here to protect it.”
~~~~~
Nanami: “…I knew you would come alone to the one location that needs the most protecting.”
Interesting how Nanami in the dub specifies that she knew he’d come alone. The optimal strategy is definitely not to come alone, but rather to bring a sizeable amount of troops; you’d think she’d know that. So is this her predicting Tohma’s issues about not relying on anyone? Would Nanami herself also make a point of coming alone if she were in his situation? Potentially! Though I don’t think I trust the dub to be making this implication deliberately.
Tohma: “You were able to predict everything?”
~~~~~
Thomas: “Well, I guess you have it all figured out!”
Thomas’s tone is just an exasperated, “fine, you’re smart, no need to monologue at me”, rather than being caught off-guard that his brilliant strategies have been seen through so easily.
Nanami: “Anyone could see it, if they just gave it some thought.”
~~~~~
Nanami: “Oh, any general with a little common sense could see it.”
The fact that dub-Nanami makes it “any general”, and not just anyone at all loses a little bit of the nuance here. She’s implying she wouldn’t necessarily think it was so obvious for someone who wasn’t a general and didn’t have a head for war strategy. Nanami in the original is so caught up in her genius worldview that she feels like this kind of thing should be obvious to anyone.
Nanami: “Wouldn’t you agree, Doctor Tohma Norstein?”
~~~~~
Nanami: “Don’t you think? General Thomas Norstein?”
Weird that she makes such a point of Thomas being a general here, when that’s only a role he’s taking on temporarily right now. (And she herself isn’t even the general of her own side; that’s Kurata.) Stressing the doctor thing instead is her making a point of him being a genius, thus drawing a comparison with her (even though as far as we know she’s not a doctor herself).
Nanami: “I wonder for how long… you will entertain me!”
~~~~~
Nanami: “It’ll be an interesting challenge to see if I can outwit you.”
Nanami in the dub apparently isn’t even sure if she can outwit Thomas. In the original, the fact that she didn’t even bring that notion up, coupled with the idea that she didn’t even necessarily expect him to entertain her for long implied that despite his genius status, she still felt above him and like her outsmarting him sooner or later was always a given.
Nanami: “Nothing that moves within your heart is left unseen to me. Nothing at all.”
~~~~~
Nanami: “To be honest, sometimes having all the answers gets kind of boring. It’s a curse.”
She brings this boredom part up earlier than in the original, in place of some of that insistence that she definitely knows everything Tohma’s thinking.
Sometimes is a hell of an understatement for Nanami, whose whole thing is being so bored out of her mind she’s willing to participate in a genocide for some fun. The way she says “It’s a curse” is even kind of playful, like she isn’t actually upset by this, which shouldn’t be the case, so either the dub doesn’t quite get it or she’s very good at masking it. (Guess which one my money’s on.)
Nanami’s southern belle accent in general makes her sound kind of weirdly more like an innocently oblivious child than a ruthlessly cold genius in some of these lines about “why are you even opposing a genocide”.
Nanami: “The Digimon’s existence won’t bring you any worth.”
~~~~~
Nanami: “It isn’t like Digimon *do* anything for you.”
The way she’s phrasing things also kinda sounds a bit less articulated and more childlike. Though the reason I quoted this line was primarily to point out that she didn’t bring up the concept of “worth” in the dub, which was something I suspected might have hit a Norstein-related nerve with Tohma in the original.
Tohma: “They can connect emotionally with us humans!”
~~~~~
Thomas: “They connect with us internally on an emotional level!”
That’s a weirdly clinical way for Thomas to describe bonding with Digimon. Though for all I know he may have sounded similarly stilted about this in the original Japanese and the subbers just smoothed it over a bit. It isn’t necessarily out of character for Tohma to have such a detached and clinical way to describe emotional bonding.
Tohma: “Making those friends… those comrades of ours suffer is what I can’t allow Kurata to get away with!”
~~~~~
Thomas: “And you? Why do you side with Kurata when he makes the innocent suffer so much?!”
Thomas is jumping the gun a bit by asking her why she sides with Kurata this early in the conversation; that part isn’t supposed to come until later. I mean, I guess it’s fair enough that he might want to bring that up right now, but the original writers chose to save it for later on to give that moment some particular emphasis.
Nanami: “What are you? Some sort of ‘defender of justice’?”
(For the record, Nanami completely dodges the question for now and continues along the same track as she did originally. Though since Thomas was asking her a question rather than stating his own disgust at the suffering of Digimon, he was being somewhat less justice-y than in the original.)
Her tone of voice as she’s telling Thomas that he’s totally doing all this just to feel superior (which is basically unchanged) sounds a lot more like she’s mocking him for it, rather than the kind of cold, forceful, matter-of-fact way she said it originally. I don’t think the mocking tone works as well for the fact that she’s only really saying this because she’s projecting her own nature onto him.
Nanami: “What a boring attack.”
~~~~~
Nanami: “Are you through being silly?”
This is to Gaomon, as he charges recklessly at her to defend his master’s honour. Calling him “silly” really doesn’t feel like the right put-down here.
Nanami: “Tohma… I understand your loneliness.”
~~~~~
Nanami: “Look, I understand. You’re lonely.”
Slightly less nuance here in the dub. Dub-Nanami’s only saying “I know that you’re lonely”, whereas original-Nanami was taking it as a given that he was lonely from the start and is saying she understands the way in which he’s lonely.
…But really, that’s a very minor nitpick and the rest of her projecting-loneliness speech to him is very similar and gives the same effect overall.
Thomas: “You still haven’t answered my question. Why are you siding with Kurata?”
At least the dub remembered that they changed an earlier bit to have this not be the first time Thomas asked her that. I was not 100% convinced they’d remember to allude to that.
Nanami: “Hunting for Digimon is just another way of passing the time.”
~~~~~
Nanami: “Hunting Digimon just happens to be an enjoyable hobby I like to dabble in.”
Other than her weirdly casual phrasing about this in the dub (even if she’s doing this to relieve boredom, would one really call it a hobby?), her wording also kind of implies that… this isn’t the first time she’s been hunting Digimon for fun? If it’s a “hobby”, then it implies it’s something she does regularly instead of something she’s only doing right now because the opportunity happened to arise. Pretty damn sure that’s not supposed to be the case.
Nanami: “Now, come with me.”
~~~~~
Nanami: “Why? Why do you fight your true feelings?”
The dub added some more projection than there was here in the original, with Nanami insisting that obviously Thomas’s true feelings are him wanting to partner up with her as a fellow genius. Nice.
Tohma: “I refuse. I have a duty to protect the Holy Capital.”
~~~~~
Thomas: “No thanks. I want to use my genius to help Digimon, not destroy them.”
Bah, I’m sad at the loss of the bit where Tohma insists on making this about duty when he didn’t have to.
Nanami: “Even though you’re a genius… you’re a stubborn blockhead.”
~~~~~
Nanami: “Funny – for a genius, you’re a fool.”
“Stubborn blockhead” provides a nice little parallel to Masaru, somewhat more so than “fool” does – though the dub going with the latter may be down to lip-flap constraints.
Nanami: “Evolution isn’t your special privilege.”
~~~~~
Nanami: “Last time was different. I’m much stronger than I was before.”
This is a lot plainer in the dub, just generic villain gloating about strength, rather than Nanami being subtly bitter than someone else could dare to think he’s more special than her.
Nanami: “Bio-Hybrid DNA Full Charge!”
That’s apparently their new evolution call in the dub, though since it matches with the regular DNA Full Charge, you’d think it’d herald them going to dub-Ultimate (aka Perfect), rather than Mega level.
Why in the world was BioLotusmon romanised to BioRotosmon, seriously. It is very obviously supposed to be “lotus”, come on.
Digimon Analyser BioRotosmon: “What took you and your Digimon months to achieve, Kurata did in one night!”
I mean… it didn’t take them months? It took them a day of punching training dummies in a dojo, pretty much. (Okay, the training dummies weren’t really the reason, but point is it only took a day.)
BioRotosmon’s design is edited just a little in the dub to not have bare thigh and what could be interpreted as underwear. At least the dub consistently makes an effort with this actually-good kind of anti-fanservice editing. In an ideal world, they wouldn’t have to, but, sigh.
Yep, this is one of those times where the evolution music is really just a fanfare for evolution rather than a triumphant theme of victory, because there’s like five minutes or so of episode between the evolution and MirageGaogamon actually winning.
BioLotusmon: “I can read all of your movements!”
~~~~~
BioRotosmon: “I’m so fast I make a rocket look slow!”
Not only is that a silly cheesy simile that I can’t imagine a genius like Nanami making, it’s also distracting from what should be the point here. It’s not that she’s significantly faster than MirageGaogamon, but that she can predict exactly how he’s going to move.
BioLotusmon/Nanami: “Tohma… Come with me.”
~~~~~
BioRotosmon/Nanami: “Thomas… Please, reconsider.”
Her outright asking him to reconsider shows that she’s acknowledged his initial refusal. I don’t feel like that’s something Nanami would actually do, given all of her projection onto him like this is totally what he obviously wants.
The booby snakes have also been edited to have a lot more of their bosoms covered, and again, I approve.
Nanami: “I will be able to understand you.”
~~~~~
Nanami: “Only someone like me can appreciate and unlock the real you.”
Kinda like the added nuance here, that she’s insisting there’s a real Thomas inside there somewhere that he’s suppressing because of these idiots, and she’ll be able to bring it out. (Clearly, this “real Thomas” is the one who actually wants to be with her, and that explains why he keeps refusing on the surface, because it’s totally not really him, right.)
Tohma: “I… I am not that self-conceited!”
~~~~~
Thomas: “No… I’m not an egomaniac like you are!”
I prefer the original line here, not because of any significant difference between “self-conceited” and “egomaniac”, but because of the phrasing around it. Thomas is only saying, “I’m not as egotistical as you”, whereas Tohma is saying, “I’m not as conceited as you think I am”, which is a lot more impactful, because he’s essentially shooting down his own subconscious worries that Nanami might be right about him.
Tohma: “There’s a source of power in this world that even I can’t calculate!”
Nanami: “Daimon Masaru, is it?”
~~~~~
Thomas: “I realise you have to rely on your friends if you hope to achieve real power!”
Nanami: “Friends like Marcus Damon?”
Instead of making the interesting point that Masaru’s approaches are unpredictable to somebody who uses optimal calculated strategies, we lose that entirely for some generic stuff about friendship. And this is despite the fact that Tohma’s not supposed to be openly okay with the idea that he relies on others, even if they are his friends.
Nanami: “So you rely on something like him.”
Tohma: “Rely on him? Me?”
~~~~~
Nanami: “So those are the type of fools you rely on.”
Thomas: “They’re friends. Not fools.”
Yep, because we traded the point about Masaru’s unpredictability for some generic Thomas waxing lyrical about friendship, we also lost the part where Tohma was subtly uncomfortable at the suggestion that he’s relying on them. Thomas is completely okay with that, apparently. Who knows why he felt the need to come to defend the waterfall on his own in this version of the story.
Nanami: “There’s no such thing as something beyond calculation. That’s just an excuse. If you continue to stay content living with fools, you’ll only neglect improving yourself!”
~~~~~
Nanami: “You might think they’re your friends, but you don’t need them. They need *you*. They keep holding you back, dead weight, always needing your help to save them, and preventing you from reaching your full potential.”
This continues the “friends” point, but then manages to shift it into something similar to the direction the original lines went in here. However, because Nanami’s being a lot more specific about the friends thing here in the dub, and because she’s been projecting her own issues onto him this entire time, it kind of ends up reading like she’s the one who used to have friends who constantly needed her, whom she eventually got rid of as “dead weight”. That would potentially be interesting, but I doubt the dub made this implication on purpose.
Nanami: “Throw away your worthless friends and your insignificant self-satisfaction!”
~~~~~
Nanami: “Forget about those pathetic charity cases and come with me!”
Yeah, the “charity cases” comment really reads like projection here. I still am not convinced it’s intentional, though.
She’s also not telling him to throw away his “self-satisfaction”, which had some neat nuance of her thinking that Tohma being humble and accepting he doesn’t know everything is the kind of “self-satisfaction” she can’t stand, despite insisting he should be lording it over the idiots with his genius.
As all the trippy snake-Nanami’s murmur “Thomas” over and over, the fact that there’s an S in his dub name is convenient, because she can emphasise that to make it sound a bit like the hissing of snakes. Neat.
Ikuto: “What’s more, they keep showing up the same way like all the others!”
~~~~~
Keenan: “Hey, wait! If that was last Gizumon-XT, then what that?”
Alas, the dub did not keep the line where Ikuto commented on the repeated animation.
…Why is the dub using its BanchoLeomon music as we resume the fight between MirageGaogamon and BioRotosmon? Like, this BGM has a very distinct bancho-y sort of sound to it and has until now only been used for BanchoLeomon’s scenes. It feels very weird and out of place here.
MirageGaogamon: “Master, she can predict all of my movements. Please guide me through your orders.”
~~~~~
MirageGaogamon: “Sir, she can predict my every move. Plus, she’s faster than I am.”
Except the dub never had her mention earlier that she was predicting his moves, at least not as MirageGaogamon.
Also, I find it rather cheap that the dub’s making it explicit that she is significantly faster than him. If that’s the case, then her advantage isn’t about her intellect at all, but rather because Kurata happened to make her physically better than MirageGaogamon in the first place. That’s not Nanami’s advantage.
BioRotosmon: “Is this the attack plan of a genius? I’ve never seen anything so predictable!”
At least they are finally having her make a point that his strategies are predictable here.
BioRotosmon: “Better, but still slow.”
Less fond of this; the point should not be that he’s slower than her, damn it!
MirageGaogamon: “Master, your orders!”
Tohma: “Okay!”
[BioLotusmon attacks MirageGaogamon again]
MirageGaogamon: “Your orders…!”
[and again]
MirageGaogamon: “Master, your orders!”
[and again]
~~~~~
MirageGaogamon: “Sir, we need a new plan!”
Thomas: “I’ll try!”
[BioRotosmon attacks MirageGaogamon again]
MirageGaogamon: “Hurry, sir!”
[and again]
MirageGaogamon: “I can’t hold on much longer!”
[and again]
In the original version of this scene, the impression I got was that it was a quick-cut montage of all of their failed strategies, skipping over Tohma giving and MirageGaogamon carrying out the actual orders (because they were always doomed to fail) and just showing how determined MirageGaogamon is to keep believing in his master’s plans despite getting hurt because of them over and over.
But it doesn’t seem like the dub writers read it that way, because the lines they give MirageGaogamon have him very clearly not receive any orders in between each line. So in the dub, this isn’t a montage, this is just BioRotosmon mercilessly whaling on MirageGaogamon while Thomas panics and fails to come up with any kind of new attack strategy at all, having apparently exhausted the whole two of them he’d had prepared in the moments prior to this. Even if Thomas had come up with something, I’d be surprised if MirageGaogamon was capable of pulling it off in the midst of being beaten up.
I don’t think the dub’s version of the scene is as meaningful; again, it’s turning the problem into BioRotosmon simply being stronger (and Thomas losing his nerve when it counts), rather than Nanami being able to see through every single strategy Tohma comes up with (and MirageGaogamon being such a good loyal dog despite that).
Thomas: “My strategies aren’t working! She’s so fast that she anticipates everything we try and beats us to the punch!”
Thomas, that is not the problem that just got MirageGaogamon beaten up; the problem just now is that you didn’t even come up with a strategy at all. Also, again, this doesn’t need to be about her being fast, stop making the problem something that isn’t one of Nanami’s qualities.
Tohma: (She’s predicting all of my calculations. What the hell should I…?)
~~~~~
Thomas: (She’s got me right where she wants me. I can’t believe I’m beaten!)
Thomas’s thought in the dub sounds like it could be referring to the fact that she just made an ultimatum to not destroy the waterfall if he joins her. The dub is still making this significantly less about her being able to predict him, which is still supposed to be the point and the reason why this reckless approach he’s about to use is going to work!
BioLotusmon: “What are you doing on top of his shoulder? Are you *trying* to get hurt?”
Yes, actually! I’m amused that she happens to literally describe his plan in the dub, while thinking it ridiculous. (Though really Thomas still doesn’t need to be getting hurt in this, but shush, shounen spirit.)
Also. Also. Guess what music gets used for Thomas’s victorious reckless charge? It’s Probably Marcus’s Theme, just like I hoped it would be! Man, that hits a bit harder if you’ve noticed it’s probably Marcus’s theme.
BioLotusmon: “Just what sort of calculations did you use?!”
Tohma: “None. I just thought that if we got close enough to attack at point-blank range, we’d be able to pull it off.”
~~~~~
BioRotosmon: “How did you possibly know that would work…?”
Thomas: “I didn’t. I just thought that if we got into point-blank range, we’d be able to pull it off.”
Thomas basically just said, “I didn’t know that it would work, I just figured it would work.” Kinda contradicting himself a bit there? Which is, of course, a result of the dub being really insistent about watering down the part where Masaru’s reckless strategies defy the sort of calculations and prediction that Tohma and Nanami usually rely on.
Kurata: “If this keeps up, you [Kouki] may not get your turn.”
~~~~~
Kurata: “Tell [the Gizumon-XT] to back off so that Kouki can get his shot at revenge.”
…Except, in the next episode, Marcus and Keenan will still be fighting their way through some Gizumon-XT before reaching Kouki at the camp. I guess apparently that goon of Kurata’s decided not to follow that order? It’s honestly weird that Kurata cares so much about indulging Kouki’s desire for petty vengeance that he’s willing to risk giving Marcus an advantage.
Nanami: “I… I haven’t lost to you… Because… What you used was… Daimon Masaru’s power…”
~~~~~
Nanami: “I accept defeat because I did not lose to you, Thomas H. Norstein. I lost… I lost to something else… I lost to Marcus Damon’s… power…”
Weird that she’s nonetheless willing to explicitly accept defeat of any kind. Nanami’s line in the original came across a lot like she was using this as an excuse to not accept defeat at all.
Tohma: “Masaru’s… power?”
Gaomon: “Master…”
Tohma: “Why… do I feel so irritated?”
~~~~~
Thomas: “Marcus’s… power?”
Gaomon: “But how?”
Thomas: “I don’t know… What did she mean by that?”
Oh no, what a huge freaking mystery! It’s not like you won by using the exact kind of reckless strategy Marcus would use or anything! It’s not like you, a genius who is also very familiar with Marcus, would have perfectly well known that the second you hit upon such a way to win!
I don’t think this can even be reasonably read as denial, because the fact that he won using a Marcus-like strategy is so goddamn obvious that there’s no way Thomas would be able to lie to himself about that for a second. (Gaomon is also confused by it somehow, and he wouldn’t be lying to himself about it!)
The thing Tohma ends up confused by here in the original is why it bothers him so much that he used Masaru’s power to win, because the fact that he did so is already unquestionably apparent, and the fact that this gets to him is the interesting part. But somehow the dub decided that, no, we can’t focus on Thomas’s inferiority complex brought out by Marcus and his unwillingness to rely on anyone else (we sure lost any sense of the latter in some earlier bits), so instead, let’s just boringly and nonsensically insist it’s a huge mysterious mystery as to what Nanami even meant by him winning through Marcus’s power. What the actual hell.
Overall differences
Well, this isn’t as bad as it could be, since this is mostly a Thomas-focused episode and the dub’s generally decent at him, but.
Naturally Marcus is more of a jerk in the strategy meeting, sounding like he wants to override Thomas’s strategy rather than do both at once. The dubbers also seem not to get the point of Tohma’s strategy in the first place; they appear to think the lake means that nothing can approach at all (blatantly incorrect), and that destroying the waterfall is bad because it’ll wash ElDradimon away (also incorrect, please watch ahead literally one episode).
Nanami herself is reasonably intact, thankfully; there’s some minor losses of nuance and her weird southern belle voice doesn’t entirely help, but there’s also a couple of gains of nuance and the overall point is pretty much the same.
Where we do lose the original point is when things come onto the topic of Marcus, surprise surprise. The dub entirely removes the point about how Masaru’s strength in Tohma’s eyes is his sheer unpredictability and non-adherence to logical calculations. Instead, Thomas just waxes lyrical about friendship and seems okay with the idea of relying on Marcus, which Tohma very pointedly did not even as he acknowledged Masaru’s strengths.
In the battle, the notion that Nanami can predict all of Tohma’s optimal strategies is not entirely lost, but it’s significantly watered down in favour of BioRotosmon simply being faster and stronger than MirageGaogamon, which is a much less meaningful or interesting advantage for her to have. Thanks to this, Thomas’s victory by doing a reckless Marcus-like approach has less impact – so again, there’s less highlighting that Masaru’s unpredictability can be a good thing.
These changes to the Masaru topic also mean that the episode has to end on a bizarre final note of Thomas wondering what Nanami even meant when she said he won using Marcus’s power (which should be obvious), rather than him being bothered by the fact that he won that way for reasons he doesn’t quite consciously understand.
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The Gearloose Family
I would like to apologize to everyone who has been concerned about the state of Gyro’s physical health in my “The Many Adventures of Duckburg’s Heroes!” series. I am still amazed that so many people have latched on to a single line of foreshadowing and have expressed their worries about Gyro and what wringer I’m going to put him through. I’m here to reassure you that all will be well. Eventually.
But, to make up for worrying so many of my lovely readers, I am going to give you all a preview of several new characters that will soon be introduced: Gyro’s two sisters, and his niece and nephew!
So here’s some facts about the Gearloose Family!
Gyro and his sisters were known throughout their childhood as the Gearloose Three. It’s what the media dubbed them when they made the news for setting a world record because they all have the same very high IQ, and they claimed the title as their own.
Birth order is Maria, Gyro, and Natasha. Four years separate Gyro from each of his sisters. They were incredibly close while growing up, and still are... when they’re not keeping secrets from each other.
Each of the Gearloose Three has a cutesy little nickname that only the other two can use and live to tell the tale. (With one exception, see below.)
Maria’s name is pronounced the same way as “Mariah”.
Maria’s specialty is math and her hobby is baking. Natasha’s specialty is chemistry, but her passion is art.
While the Gearloose Three didn’t go on adventures outside of Duckburg with Scrooge, Donald, and Della, they most definitely were usually found with the Duck twins when shenanigans happened in Duckburg. Natasha was usually the one to run headfirst into danger, Gyro was usually behind her (more often than not while being dragged by Della), while Maria and Donald took up the rear yelling "Get back here, dummy!” at their siblings.
Natasha often jokes that she and Gyro were Maria’s practice kids, but she’s not exactly wrong. Maria was more Gyro and Natasha’s mother than their actual mother. Four year old Maria basically took one look at baby Gyro and said “This is mine now”, and then four years later she saw baby Natasha and said “This is also mine now”. She’s incredibly nurturing, and was the one her siblings went to for comfort if they were sad, hurt, or scared.
Maria is the other Doctor Gearloose of the family (Yes, she kept her maiden name; it’s the name on her degrees, and she worked hard for those). She’s a highly respected math professor.
Natasha... well. If she had showed up for her dissertation defense, she would also be a Doctor. But she didn’t show up for her dissertation defense, so...
Maria has two kids: Clara and Newton. Clara is an OC, while Newton is OC-ish. Basis for him in canon Duckverse stories, but the only things I’m keeping about him are that he’s Gyro’s nephew, his name, and a love for science.
You know how DT87 Gyro has red hair? Maria and Clara are the red-heads of the family.
Newton is Deaf. He has hearing aids but prefers to use ASL and lip-reading. He’s a cinnamon roll too pure for this world, but has a lot of Gearloose sassy moments. Particularly, he has looked someone in the eye while turning off his hearing aids, a silent “What you have to say isn’t worth wasting the batteries in my hearing aids.” The sign names Newton created for his uncle and aunt relate to his mother’s nicknames for her siblings. Plans to be an inventor like Gyro.
Clara loves ballet and books. Math and science... not so much.
Clara’s going through an angsty teenage phase. Not quite sure what she wants to do with her life and where her strengths lie and where she fits into her strange family. Some bullying that she is most definitely not telling her mom about isn’t helping.
When they were little kids, Gyro was basically Maria’s shadow. Then, when they grew up, Clara became Gyro’s shadow. When she was little and Gyro was fixing or inventing something while visiting, she was his “Little Helper”.
Gyro has another nickname for Clara, which is different than the one Maria, Natasha, and Newton use for her.
Clara and Newton don’t play favorites with their mom’s siblings... but if they did, Clara would pick Gyro and Newton would pick Natasha.
And Gyro and Natasha also wouldn’t pick favorites... but Gyro has a special bond with Clara, and Natasha is very close with Newton.
Maria’s an old soul, and very sensitive and sweet. But, unfortunately, she is afflicted with Resting Gearloose Face and shy, so she often comes across as cold.
Maria’s husband... isn’t much to write about or dwell too much on. Kind of an entitled jerk. And not her first nor her last choice of who to marry.
Natasha is the family wild child, and the most sociable of the Gearloose Three. She’s a little like Launchpad, with a friend or an ex she’s on friendly terms with in pretty much every corner of the globe. She’s also bi.
Natasha travels the country in a van and does odd jobs, to include: waitressing; making replicas of famous paintings; selling her own art; working as a performer at renaissance fairs, comic cons, and parties; and more. She did take some time off from traveling to live with Maria, her husband, and the kids when Newton was a baby to help out her sister.
Yes, her van is basically the Mystery Machine but purple.
Natasha: “Have you tried lavender? What do you mean it didn’t work? It’s freaking lavender! Clearly you’re doing it--. Oh, never mind, I see what the problem is, you need something stronger, here’s some sage.”
Natasha hasn’t been back to Duckburg for ten years, because of a secret she has kept from her siblings for even longer.
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The Monogamy Monologues (Preview)
Status: Currently writing
Posting Date: February 7th (tentative)
Creative Contributor: @underthejoon for this lovely banner!
Genre: Rom-Com / Humor / Smut
Pairing: Jungkook / Reader
Synopsis: The year? Some point after college. The occasion? Namjoon is getting married and the Rich Man’s Crochet Club has convened once again. Somewhere between the drinks and the laughter, everyone has the same realization: Jungkook has never been in a serious relationship. In the name of all that is holy (Overwatch and booze), the club’s mission is revived. Now though, their goal is much more perilous. Now, they aim to find Jeon Jungkook a girlfriend. (Part of The Rich Man’s Crochet Club series)
Estimated WC: 40K
Rating: 18+
Preview: 2,088
“JIMIN!”
“JEON!” Waving wildly, Jimin flags Jungkook down as he steps off the escalator.
There are still several people between them, but none of them prove to be a match for Jungkook. Dodging them easily – spinning, at one point around a family of five – Jungkook dramatically runs towards the exit.
“JIMIN-SSI!” he yells. “I’M COMING!”
Jimin rolls his eyes at the display. “Get your ass over here, Jeon! Sorry,” he apologizes to the same family of five.
Although the mother shoots them both a dirty look, she hurries her kids towards the Taxi stand and does not look back. Jimin opens his arms just as Jungkook crashes into his chest.
Lowering his cheek to Jimin’s hair, Jungkook closes his eyes to whisper, “I think you got shorter.”
“Fuck off,” Jimin grunts, shoving him away before laughing.
Jungkook grins. “Anyways,” he says, slinging an arm about Jimin’s neck. “Are you ready for the best weekend of our lives?”
With a good-natured shake of his head, Jimin leads Jungkook out of the terminal. Always the excellent host, Jimin actually parked his car at the airport and walked inside to greet him. Jungkook cannot remember the last time his family did that for him, let alone a friend.
“Ready to assist Namjoon, you mean?” Jimin gives Jungkook a look. “You know – on his wedding day?”
“Yeah, yeah. That.” The moment they step outside, Jungkook takes a deep breath. “Ahh,” he groans, slowly exhaling. “You smell that, Jimin?”
“Car exhaust?”
“No. Lack of humidity.”
Jimin snorts, striding forward when the crosswalk turns green. “Still not sold on Miami?”
Jungkook opens one eye. “Miami’s fine,” he says automatically, following Jimin as they enter the garage.
Over his shoulder, the garment bag keeps banging his ass. As much as Jungkook hoped this would keep his suit from wrinkling, it is looking more and more like he will need an iron.
Not believing a word Jungkook says, Jimin raises a brow. “If you say so.”
As they reach the next aisle, Jungkook takes in deep gulps of air. Jimin shakes his head at his antics, but Jungkook could not care less. This city always smells like home to him. When they reach Jimin’s car, though – a sensible, gray Subaru – Jungkook’s feet falter.
“What happened to Liz?” he blurts, taken aback by the trade.
Liz was their college nickname for Jimin’s car, stemming from the infamous Liz Lemon of 30 Rock. So dubbed because Jimin’s old car was a complete piece of crap – a lemon, from the time he drove it off the lot.
Jimin pauses, flipping the keys in one hand. “Traded it in,” he says stiffly, pulling open the door. “Too many memories.”
Realizing what Jimin means, Jungkook winces. He had nearly forgotten about the break-up. Granted, it has been almost four months since Jimin and Olivia called it quits, but the two had been dating since college. Slightly longer than Namjoon and his fiancée.
Whereas Namjoon and his fiancée grew closer after University though, Jimin and Olivia were the opposite. Jimin graduated summa cum laude with an acceptance to one of the top medical schools in the country. His painful notetaking really paid off, as Namjoon was wont to say. When he moved to Chicago and began med school in earnest, Olivia left for New York to join a consulting company.
With their busy schedules and early twenties lives, the two drifted apart. Jimin was the one who held on, not wanting to end things with the first girl he loved. It was only when he surprised Olivia in New York over Valentine’s Day he realized it was over. Not that Olivia was cheating on him, or anything – maybe it would have been easier if she were. At least then, there would be somebody to blame.
No, Jimin merely realized they did not fit anymore. Olivia had her friends and interests; he had his and the two no longer meshed. Without realizing it, they had both reached a fork in the woods and turned down different paths.
Ever since their break-up, the chat has been wary of even mentioning her name.
Jungkook glances hesitantly at his profile. “You okay, man?” he asks as they enter the car. Tossing his duffle bag over the backseat, he prays it does not land on his suit.
“Okay?” Jimin places the car in reverse. “Could be better, I guess. Could be worse.”
Jungkook nods as they pull from the spot. Slouched in his seat, he stares out the window because in times like this, he is useless. When it comes to matters of the heart, Jungkook considers himself to be woefully inept.
“Sorry man,” he says quietly. A car honks in response as they get on the highway. “Wish I could say we always hated her, but you know that’s not true.”
Jimin snorts from the driver’s seat. “Yeah, I know. I can’t really bring myself to say that, either.”
“Well, maybe you two will –”
“No. We won’t.”
Seeing Jimin’s face, Jungkook shrugs and resumes looking out the window.
After a minute, Jimin exhales. “So, how’s Miami really going?”
Jungkook’s head whips sideways to face him.
The corner of Jimin’s mouth lifts. “Thought you hid it well, huh?”
“Better than five minutes into the car ride, yeah.”
“Well, you don’t.”
Jungkook snorts. “Miami is… fine. I don’t know. It’s not really Miami I have a problem with.”
“Your job, then?”
“Yeah, and… I don’t know. Everything.”
“Be a little more vague.”
Jungkook’s lips twitch. “I just…” He pauses, collecting his thoughts. “It was so much simpler in college, you know? Things were difficult, but it all had an end date. Right? Get through four years, and you’re done. I’m starting to realize… this doesn’t have an end date.”
Jimin’s lips purse at the road. “The end date is whenever you want it to be, JK.”
“I guess,” Jungkook grumbles, slouching lower in the seat. Any further, and he might slip off the edge. “But then I’d have to admit that I failed. That I spent eight fucking years of my life either in this job, or working towards it. What was the point if I quit?”
“What’s the point of spending another eight years doing something you hate?”
Jungkook stubbornly chews the inside of his cheek, knowing Jimin is right. The problem is, though – even if he quits, Jungkook has no idea what to do. Sure, he likes photography, but the field is competitive as hell. Jungkook wants to do something he loves, but he also wants to succeed. Taking such a massive leap terrifies him.
“Let’s talk about something else,” he mumbles, turning to Jimin.
Although Jimin arches a brow, he reluctantly lets the subject go. “Sure. Let’s talk instead about how Seokjin is bringing a date to the wedding.”
“Seokjin?” Jungkook’s brows shoot so far up, they near-disappear. “Who?”
“Some girl from LA.”
“No shit,” Jungkook exhales, slowly shaking his head. “Wow. We’re all settling down, huh? Soon, it’ll just be you and me, Jimin,” he grins, leaning over to punch Jimin in the arm.
The wheel jerks at the action, swerving them towards the next lane. “Hey!” Jimin blurts, straightening them out with a scowl. “At least I dated someone during the past five years, Jeon. Who’ve you been seeing?”
“No comment.”
“Huh. I don’t remember her. Was she the blonde?”
“Shut up,” Jungkook laughs, reaching out for the stereo. As the latest pop song fills the car, he pointedly stares out the window.
Jimin smiles, shaking his head. Namjoon’s wedding is being held in the city. His fiancée’s father is some big shot at a downtown law firm. From what Jungkook has gathered, the ceremony spiraled from a small, romantic affair into one of the biggest events of the season.
Jungkook’s lip quirks. That is how you know Namjoon’s fiancée’s family is rich. They use phrases like event of the season and christen their yachts with only the most expensive champagne. Having been to several yacht-christenings in Miami, Jungkook has never understood the event. What is the point of buying something expensive, only to ruin it?
Actually, maybe that is the point.
Pushing Miami from mind, Jungkook stares at the highway as they drive towards the city. The wedding has taken on a mind of its own, according to Namjoon. So detailed, so elaborate, they were forced to hire a wedding planner. Jungkook can only imagine Namjoon, micro-manager to the extreme, being forced to trust someone else with his life.
It has been a while since Jungkook last visited Chicago. Namjoon’s family is from here, and whenever they visited in college, they always had a great time. His mom sent them off each morning with fresh fruit and eggs – it was sweet; reminded Jungkook of home.
The familiar skyline arching above brings a smile to his lips. All in all, Jimin and Hoseok do not realize how lucky they are. If Jungkook lived here, he would – cutting the thought off, Jungkook sits up in his seat. Jungkook does not live here, so there is no point pretending.
Glancing down at his phone, Jungkook feels a modicum of guilt. After placing himself in airplane mode, he has not turned the device back on since he landed. Jungkook knows there will be a fresh wave of texts from his boss and for now, wishes to delay the inevitable.
“Where’s the wedding again?” Jungkook asks, turning his head.
Jimin shrugs as he rolls down his window. The night wind ruffles his hair, sending strands flying all over the place. “Some hotel by the river. Hear it has a great view.”
“And what’s the plan for the weekend?”
“Jungkook!” Jimin scolds, turning down the radio. “Did you even read the agenda Seokjin sent?”
Jungkook glances at him guiltily. “Um, I looked at it.”
Seokjin’s is Namjoon’s best man for the wedding. It makes sense – the two of them have been roommates since sophomore year of college, not to mention they both live in LA. Jungkook knows Jimin has also helped Namjoon with wedding details, since he lives in Chicago.
The look Jimin gives says he knows Jungkook is full of bullshit. “There’s a copy of the itinerary in my glove compartment,” he says with a nod. “I printed out a few just in case.”
“Why the fuck,” Jungkook grumbles as he opens the clasp. “Alright, here we go. Wednesday.”
“That’s today,” Jimin prompts.
“I know what day it is.” Jungkook clears his throat. “Alright, Wednesday. Bridesmaids and groomsmen arrive.”
“That’s us,” Jimin adds, shooting Jungkook a look.
“Yep, yep. Thursday – booze cruise. Woo! Seriously?”
Jimin rolls his eyes. “You really didn’t read this, did you?”
Ignoring him, Jungkook continues. “Friday – rehearsal ceremony and dinner. Be at the church by 4:00 PM.”
“Dressed.”
“Doesn’t seem like a necessary clarification,�� Jungkook says, flipping over the paper. “Saturday, ceremony starts at 2:00 PM. Photos and reception following. Sunday, brunch.”
Jimin nods. “Don’t be late.”
“Jimin.” Jungkook lowers the sheet. “It’s Wednesday. How can you seriously tell me not to be late to brunch on Sunday?”
“Because I know you.”
“Touché.” Jungkook grins, crumpling the paper despite Jimin’s groans.
There are not many people heading into the city on a Wednesday night – turning on his blinker, Jimin switches lanes to pull off on an exit. As they slow, the buildings around them seem to stretch towards the night sky. Craning his head out the window, Jungkook exhales. When he pulls back, he finds Jimin watching.
“What?” Jungkook asks, somewhat defensive.
Jimin’s upper lip curls. “Nothing. You know, Hoseok and I’s roommate leaves at the end of the month. If you ever wanted to come to Chicago…”
Jungkook glances away. “C’mon, man. I can’t quit my job.”
“Can’t… won’t…” Jimin trails off at Jungkook’s expression in the mirror. “Anyways, the offer stands. Think about it, okay?”
Slowly, Jungkook nods. “Alright, I’ll think about.”
Jimin smiles, appeased and returns to the road. His hands stay firmly at the ten and two ‘o’clock position, which is so Jimin, it makes Jungkook smile. As they wind through the streets, Jungkook cannot help but think about what it would be like to live here.
He would probably be miserable if he simply transferred to Chicago. Maybe a little less so, since Hoseok and Jimin would be here – but nothing would really change in the long run. If he quit his job, though. Jungkook sighs. For now, that type of change remains firmly in the abstract.
“There!” Jimin squints at the building ahead. “That’s the hotel.”
[ TO BE CONTINUED ]
© kpopfanfictrash, 2020. Do not copy or repost without permission.
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Welp
Woke up this week to 200+ followers! Wasn’t sure how to react! I didn’t think i was going to get 5 followers on a blog just for my writing let alone this many so thank you!
So I’m giving you a small treat, it’s a “trailer” (i guess i’d call it that?) for the story after the Broken Butterfly. It’s part of the Fantasy series and the reason it’s so special is because it’s the first fantasy story i’ll do with more then two parts. it’ll be a long multichapter story that will take a while to tell but i think will be worth it? (Charmy take out the question mark)(no, bite me!) Because i still plan on writing a few fantasy shorts and other stories in the mean time. Including a Sci-fi au i think y’all will like
Anyway thank you all again! here’s my trailer (can i call it a trailer? or is it a preview?)
He couldn’t stop shaking
Not out of fear but from excitement as he hung from the thick tree branch his little hands had latched onto. The Child wiggled around before pulling themselves up with some considerable effort, having to primarily rely on his unhurt leg to swing up till he’s finally sitting on the branch with a giant grin. “I’m so high up!!” He said throwing his hands into the air excitedly, “Dad! Dad do you see!? Do you see how high up I am!?” He said to the black haired yokai standing by the tree, “I’m almost as tall as you!”
Len chuckled, “Yeah look at you kiddo” even though he had been to the one who had helped the Child reach the branch in the first place. The Child put his hands on the branch, wobbling slightly until they were in a standing position. He put his hands out for balance as he began walking down the thick branch at a snails pace. Lens’ hands hovered at his sides, ready to catch him if he fell, but the Child was having too much fun to be deterred by Lenards protectiveness, “Careful kiddo.” He said
“Can I climb higher?!” The Child asked eagerly.
Len looked up at the tall tree nervously, “Not today kiddo.” Before holding his hands out to him, “Hop over.”
The Child pouted for a moment, before carefully turning to face Len. He shifted his feet around and braced his legs before jumping over the small gap between him and Len who immediately hugged him, “Atta boy!”Lenard said smiling at him in a way that took away the Childs disappointment as he set him on his hip, “That new leg brace Mickey made you is really doing you wonders huh?”
“Yeah Yeah!” He said swinging his dubbed ‘hurty leg’ that was now carefully wrapped in a brace that his Uncle had spent almost a year perfecting. Not only was it far lighter then the one they had bought from the Healing Hut, but it allowed him to run and jump with almost no trouble. Course now Len spent most of his time chasing Him down, but to the Child that made it more fun (not the time outs that followed when He took it too far, he hated those) IT took a moment for Him to notice his Dad was giving him a big if thoughtful smile and tilted his head questingly “you’re getting so big,” Len said as a explanation using his free arm to hug him closer with his cheek resting on His temple, “I can’t believe you’re only six. You sure you ain’t really thirty? Or fifty?”
The child giggled, “No!” Before bringing his hands up squish Len’s face in his hands, causing the yokai to laugh and gently pull his hand away from his face, ‘Alright alright don’t cut your hand on my tooth.” He said, “Today is actually very special, today is when we officially start training.”
“Training?” The Child tilted his head, “Like tumbling?” He was used to that. It was fun to summersault on the soft grass.
“Not exactly, it’s a little more to it then that.” Len said kneeling down and setting Don carefully on the grass, “I want to get you started on basic fighting skills, “
The excitement the Child had felt at the thought of tumbling gave was to nervousness as he dropped his chin to his chest and poked his fingertips together, “I-I don’t wanna hurt no one though.”
“I know baby boy.” Len rubbed his scalp before cupping his sons face in his hand, using his thumb to rub the worry line between his eyes. The Child giggled lightly at the contact but kept his gaze on the ground. “You wouldn’t be learning these skills to hurt people, but to protect yourself. And you being safe is all I care about. So is that ok with you?”
The Child puffed up his cheeks in contemplation. He still din’t like the idea of hurting people, but Len was his dad, he was the one who took him in, held him when he was scared, sang to him when he was sad. If he though it was a good idea then, “Okie, cause I love you.”
Len grinned and rubbed his scalp again ,”That’s my boy.” He said, “Now stay right here ok?” Len stood up and took several steps back and pulling out a familiar wooden handle, with a spin and a flash his hookstaff appeared. “Ok kiddo, the staff is a weapon mostly used for defense. When we start again I’ll teach you some spinning exercises that will help strengthen your hands and wrists. Its one of the most versatile weapons because even if your staff breaks in battle, you can usually find a good substitute for it nearby. But my favorite thing about using a staff is that it’s a great way to fight people off without leaving long lasting damage.” He puts the staff in a wide hold, with both hands at atleast, he shuffles his left leg forward, thrusting the opposite end of the staff forward, “See?” Len asks, “This is a basic strike, even if you get to my level this is what you’ll be using if your’e ever in a fight.” Before taking his other step forward and bringing the other end with a thrust and a shout
(#)(#)\/(#)(#)
A scream of terror coupled with a earth trembling thunder snaps Him back to reality. Half his vision is stolen by a a mixture of darkness, a icy downpour that seems content on bruising the hell out of him and a heavy fog that takes him a moment to realize is his own breath. A moment later pain shoots through is stomach with enough force to double him over, wrapping his free arm around it as though trying to protect it from a invisible force. Its only by plunging the object in his hand into the ground and leaning on it that he keeps from falling over completely. Desperate to offer his aching body some semblance of support.
His vision finally starts to clear up and he realizes the staff holding him up is unfamiliar. It is far heavier and metal and has a barbed wire end facing forward in a c-shape. Before He can contemplate why he’s holding it, a fear filled sob reaches him and reality comes rushing back in a unforgiving wave
The man in front of him is standing his with arms out, as though shielding the other man behind him who his also holding a small child to his chest. The man being protected has a large gash on his scalp that drenches his tattered clothes. Before He can comprehend what’s has them so scared, he finally notices the end of his weapon has the tangled remains of the mans shirt in its wire, as though it had been a second away from piercing his chest cavity.
With a choked gasp, horror overwhelms Him as he takes several steps back, “I-I’m so-i’m sorry!” his vision is filled with bright lights, blinding him again has he rubs furiously at his eyes, desperate for reason or answers.
He gets both
What had once been a humble but fair sized villages is now in ruins, buildings crushed in as though a Child had stomped through with little to no regard for the life it could of held. He can hear whimpers and cries of pain around him, the hurried footsteps of people running away from the village
No not from the village.
He looks down to the weapon he now recognizes as a sodegarami to the family still cowering in front of him before covering his mouth with his free hand
He understands.
He is horrified .
“Run!” He shouts, causing the small family to jump,” Run! Get out of here before its too late!” With the grace of frightened ants, the family scrambles to their feet and hurries away. Glancing back as though to make sure he wasn’t going to chase them down to finish them. When they’re out of sight he allows himself to give a shaky sigh of relief and lowers himself down onto his knees to offer his body a semblance of rest. Before a voice whispers by his head somehow far colder then the rain itself.
”Now now, I can’t keep having you breaking free my gargalmelly baby,”
Terror shoots through him as he spins around swinging his weapon to aim directly at the intruder. What at first simply appears to be a shadow slowly takes from as the rain parts away from it. As though natures itself is too scared to touch the queen. Judging by her wrinkled nose the Matriarch is more concerned with his appearance then to the weapon aimed at her “And just look how filthy you are now. I’ll have to tell the maids to scrub you down when we return to the castle,” The Queen looks back to the remains of the village and its devastation, “I will say this you do make quick work. But on second thought, perhaps this isn’t the place I want my vacation castle.” She gives out a pained sigh as though reflecting on all the work she put into this ‘project’ “Oh well it was far too good for the likes of those tax dodgers anyway. I”ll find something to do with it.” She says, taking a few steps forward as though there was a floor of glass blocking her perfect shoes from being dirty.
“You-“ He is only now aware of how thirsty his is as he desperately tries to wet his cracked lips. It feels as though his entire body has been deprived of everything it needed to function properly, but he glares after the Queen, “You made me attack a village of innocents just so you can have a vacation home!?” He asks
“Now now don’t get in a tizzy, I can’t have a Prince who gets so upset so easily,” She shakes her head solemnly ,”These ,after all, are criminals. They’re dirty, weak, Ugly, and don’t deserve mercy.” Big Mama looks off into the ruined village with almost a bored eye, “They had the nerve to say the latest tax increase was far too gargantuan for their little families to afford. But you know what I hate more then tax evaders?” She asks in her sickly sweet voice that makes His stomach squirm
He thinks of the family he had almost killed and screams in rage, grabbing his staff from the ground and plunging the tip into her chest. But before he can consider the consequences, theres a strike of lightning as the Matriarch herself appears in his line of vision unharmed, her now completely yellow eyes glaring out from beneath her bands as tilts her head at him, “when my Princes disappoint me.”
A scorching heat fills His brain as he cries out. The feeling shoots through his arms and legs and his causes his left up to suddenly twist up his back as he’s forced to his knees, his face in the mud blinding his vision again. He hears her step closer and her disappointed sigh
”Looks like we have our work cut on you. But until then, you have a job to do.”
Out of the corner of his eye, a darkness crawls across his vision. IT rings a terror of familiarity that makes his eyes burn before the darkness takes him completely
#()(#)\/(#)(#)
“Wake up boy.”
A strangled breath escaped Him, but the sudden reflex jerk makes pain shoot through his side in a blinding pain that makes him double over. The world has eerie white sheen to it as he struggles to fill his sting lung. The pain in his head that he h had felt previously has now spread to his eyes. He’s sitting on a chair he doesn’t recognize. There’s a cup of water in his hands that looks like he’s been drinking out of it but he can’t remember. His hand comes up to check his chest only to find it tightly bound in bandages, through his blurry vision he can see a red stain at the center that only raises more questions then answers.
“What is your name boy.”
IT is more command then question. The voice sense a shiver down His shell that he can barely hide. It doesn’t help when the chorus of laughter joins in from his ‘visitors’ shoulders. Dark eyes glare at him from underneath his gold pointed crown, expecting obedience. He is not under any illusion that Draxum is asking out of genuine concern, but rather the same concern one would have for a favorite war horse,
Draxum expects a answer
No
His teacher demands a answer
“O-othello.” He whispers. It’s the only answer he knows to give, but he knows it’s a lie, and that alone makes his eyes burn again, “My name is Othello.”
The Baron dips his head response, “follow Apprentice, we have a kingdom to save.” with a snap of his cloak, Draxum leaves the room. Muscle memory immediately has Othello on his feet following, his body is not the only part that just wants to lie down and give up.
His name is Prince Othello
And he is Alone
Look for
Do Not Go Gentle Into that Cold Night
#rottmnt#Rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles#rottmnt fanfiction#trigger warning blood#donnie#othello#draxum#baron draxum#rottmnt fantasy au#big mama#leonard#action#adventure
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[Behind-the-Scenes] HELIOS Rising Heroes: Animation Showcase
“HELIOS Rising Heroes: Animation Showcase” is an English voice fan project I worked on all by myself (barring voice actors) that took five months to make.
The original plan was to make just one video, but it ended up being eighteen of them!
Link to YouTube playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0UbdFyWSx0n_ewcd-t0iAB0adGe5lghH
In this write-up, I’ll be discussing details about the response to the project, recording all the footage, video editing, voice acting + audio processing, script translations + rewriting, which fonts were used, and even the emulator used. I’ve organized it into sections to make it easier to find certain things. Also, this is directed to English-speaking readers since I’m not gonna bother translating the entire thing to Japanese.
THE DREAM
I wanted to make this fandub ever since the game was released (in Aug 2020). I just knew that English voices would be extremely fitting to the world of HELIOS with a setting inspired by America and characters, places, and terms mostly in English. I was disappointed to hear that the studio behind the game, Cacalia Studio of Happy Elements K.K., had no interest to localize their games outside of Asia, which meant the chances of an English dub, let alone a global release were close to zero.
I was able to understand how to play the game thanks to the fan translators, some of which came from other Cacalia Studio games, and got inspired to continue learning Japanese (there was a previous attempt to translate Japanese lyrics years back).
What I thought was just the silly dream of one overseas player’s became something much more!
THE TIMELINE (BRIEF OVERVIEW)
I played the game for about two months prior to working on the project. Before starting the project, I had to sort out graphical and technical issues on my end first as I was unable to play the game smoothly until November.
November 2020
Finding all the in-game battle lines
Writing transliterations (romaji) of lines by ear
Learning and translating lines to Japanese
Started recording footage
December 2020
Further translation revisions
Held a casting call
Script rewriting and finalizing
January 2021
Completed casting
Started video editing (learning process)
Started audio processing
Recorded more footage
February 2021
Recorded more footage
Japanese script revisions
Finished working with VAs
Finished audio processing
Continued video editing
Published Preview video
March 2021
Recorded the last of the footage
Japanese subtitle revisions
Finished Showcase video
Finished Individual battle clips
Gave recommendations to VAs
The exact start and end dates were Nov 1st, 2020 to March 31st, 2021. Pretty neat.
RESPONSE TO THE PROJECT
I was absolutely shocked with the response to the preview video, which at the time of writing has just hit 10K views and almost 600 likes on Twitter and YouTube combined. Not bad for an unpaid hobby fandub (a joke only I find funny...) of an otherwise “niche” Japanese-only mobile game.
As of Apr 4th, 2021 - Thank you so much. This is more than I could’ve asked for.
The preview video blew up way more than anticipated, setting up for a bit of disappointment when the Showcase video was released.
The amount of views I expected for this project within its prime were a couple hundred views, so I’m content that the Showcase video reached that amount (it had ~500 by the end of March).
The expectations for the battle clips were an average of 100 views and a handful of likes - and each one got roughly that amount (or more) - so I’m also content with that, especially for something that’s just “bonus material”.
I tried my best to promote this project on Twitter with three main tweets. My one regret with promoting the project was making the second tweet after publishing the Showcase because the Japanese I wrote there was pretty terrible (as I was all worn out from editing and was in a haste to tweet about it). I tried to make up for it in a follow-up reply the next day, but it was too late. I was satisfied with how my third and final tweet and thread of battle clips turned out, but it sadly didn’t garner much attention. A reason for this was probably due to bad timing. I knew that the timing of the last tweet was awful as HeliosR did something special for April Fools’ day, plus the Easter event was being hyped around the same time, but I really wanted to finish up the project within March (my timezone, at least. It was already April 1st in Japan).
It was important to also make the videos accessible to the Japanese audience as they were a large portion of the viewers. This proved to be a challenge as my knowledge of Japanese is limited - at least for me, it’s easier to translate grammar-correct Japanese than it is to write my own sentences.
I ultimately decided against posting any of the videos on NicoNico because I wasn’t sure about Japan’s laws regarding copyrighted material. I knew it was already risky enough posting on social media and didn’t want to take any additional risks.
ABOUT THE FOOTAGE (1) – HEROES & ATTACK ORDER
HeliosR uses a gacha system, so to be able to even make something like this, you’d first need access to all 16 ★4 OG Heroes in the game.
I had them spread across five different accounts, four of which were reroll accounts. Asakou from the Cacalia RPG server gave me two of those accounts, and I rerolled myself for Keith and Ren during their Birthday Orders (one free 10-pull per account). Every account is also given a free ★4 selector ticket which I made good use of.
3,000 rubies (in-game currency) were sacrificed to pity the ★4 OG Dino when he was released in December just for the sake of the fandub!
Besides covering all of the Heroes, I also needed to play through each account to unlock certain story chapters, event stages, and evolve the Heroes for their shiny evolved CG art. Some of the Expert event stages (that had the Nighttime backgrounds) proved difficult to clear with a new account.
When using skills, the order of the Heroes were edited such that everyone was able to have the majority of their lines used at least once. All Heroes had two “receiving support” lines, two or three “supporting” lines, and two or three “skills against the enemy” lines. Some of the extra lines didn’t make it into the Showcase, so they were used for the individual clips instead.
I should’ve used Gray instead of Marion for the account that had Billy because you can see Marion’s sprite in Billy’s image. xD
In the Showcase, you may notice that the "Union Attacks" consist of all the ★4 CG images. These were spliced together; I never had all four Heroes of the same sector on the same account. For example, I would have Gray, Asch, and Jay on one account and Billy on another account, recorded their ★4 Bursts separately using the same background (from unlocking the Expert stages on both accounts), and then edited all the footage together.
Jay’s Burst was later re-recorded with a different attacking order so that he wouldn’t link to Billy.
It was also important to keep the same order of Bursts as well as use all four Bursts in the same turn. The ★4 Burst order was usually determined by who didn’t link skill with one another (with the exception of East sector as I was still figuring things out) because I didn’t want the link skill activation getting in the way of the animations.
As a little bonus, I also showed off the exclusive damaging skills of the Chapter 6 and 7 ★4 frames that I was lucky enough to pull from the gacha: Marion’s "Invitation To The Dance“ (roses), Faith’s “Synthetic Vibes” (beats), and Dino’s “Crow Mark Dead End” (claw marks).
ABOUT THE FOOTAGE (2) - BACKGROUNDS
Since I didn’t want to use the same battle music and backgrounds for all of the videos, I decided to use some of the themes from the limited-time events which went as far back as Nov 2020.
Each background has three variants (Daytime, Afternoon, Nighttime) and so I carefully picked them based on the colours. I ended up using mostly Expert stages - or Nighttime backgrounds, since Daytime versions were only used for Normal difficulty stages (which are too easy to clear).
The backgrounds used for the Showcase, all from limited-time events.
I decided to mix up some of the Heroes from other sectors in the individual clips for fun, basing it off of their relationships with each other. Using South sector’s background for Gast’s clip was a purposeful choice because I already used the North sector’s background for the other three North sector Heroes. I made sure to include Akira and Will of the South sector in Gast’s clip so it didn’t feel too random!
The only default background I didn’t use was Chapter 2’s because I already made use of the Casino theme for OG West sector’s individual clips. (...Plus I didn’t really like that background :p)
Here’s a list of all the backgrounds I used:
Escape the Prison (Nov 2020) - used for Showcase [EAST]
Mission of CASINO (Nov 2020) - used for Junior, Faith, & Keith clips
HAPPY NEW YEAR SHOW! (Jan 2021) - used for Showcase [SOUTH]
Help! Cooking Hero! (Jan 2021) - used for Will and Oscar clips
A Sweet Spell Garnished With Chocolate (Feb 2021) - used for Showcase [WEST]
Grandiose Chinoiserie (Mar 2021) - used for Showcase [NORTH]
The Hero Is A Detective!? (Mar 2021) - used for Billy and Jay clips
Default backgrounds: Chapters 1, 3, 4 (shared with 7), 5 (shared with 6) - used for all other clips
The Christmas event was the only event that went unused during the Nov 2020 - Mar 2021 period.
I didn’t record the East sector event (Christmas) in Dec 2020 because I was actually too busy with the casting call! I also didn’t think I would make use of it after already recording the Prison event intended for East sector. The project ended up taking so long that it actually benefited from having a wider selection of events over the months, which also showcased the beauty of the game.
ABOUT THE WORK & VIDEO EDITING
Hardware:
A decent computer.
A pair of no-name earbuds I found while cleaning out some junk.
Software:
All FREE!
*There’s a catch
NoxPlayer* emulator (debloated, read more about in its own section) and Open Broadcast Studio were used to record game footage and sounds.
Davinci Resolve was the main tool I used to edit the videos. A very demanding program that I only recommend using if you have a mid to high end computer.
MediBang was used to edit some of the art like the logos, but I ended up using Resolve for the majority of the graphics, including the thumbnails.
Audacity and Cakewalk were used to edit audio.
Many aspects for this project took longer than I had hoped because there was a learning process with using Resolve for the first time. I’m also a bit of a perfectionist, re-exporting videos tons of times just to fix small mistakes. Lastly, the time it took to make all the fancy effects was longer than I’d estimated. As the project dragged on, there was pressure to not delay the release of the videos any longer than I had to. A lot of this was self-imposed though.
There were days where I just did something else other than work on the project, which helped re-fuel my motivation when I decided to pick it up again.
Pretty much everything in the videos were taken from the game itself. The only graphics that were taken from the official website instead were the Substance symbols (the pictures with HERO at the bottom).
Additional overlay graphics were custom-made. It took two whole days to make the 3-second long sector intros and another two days to create and animate the arrow graphics for the credits. These were made using Resolve’s fusion and colour features. Much of the edit was inspired by the official HeliosR designs.
Left: Official in-game graphics // Right: My fanmade video (sector intros)
Sector intros were inspired by the four Heroes version of Union Attacks in-game.
Left: Official HeliosR video // Right: My fanmade video
The Preview video took after the ★4 Burst mini-previews as part of HeliosR’s promotional campaign, uploaded before the game was released.
Left: Official HeliosR video // Right: My fanmade video
The credits at the end of the Showcase were inspired by a different video, this time being the Half-Anniversary video.
The Showcase - which had a duration of 29:07 - was 11.5GB large in size. It took almost three hours to render (which I re-rendered to fix things) and two DAYS to upload to YouTube because I experienced multiple uploading interruptions. It’s a good thing you can re-upload the same video to continue where you left off without having to restart the entire process.
The individual hero clips didn’t take as long to make (but they took a while anyway as I re-uploaded some of them to fix minor mistakes). The recommendations for the VAs that were given alongside the publishing of each clip also spanned over another five days as I wanted to personalize and think about each one carefully.
A pretty frustrating part of the project was the prevalent lag when recording footage, which may have been due to the emulator and/or some technical things on my end. The Prison event used for the Showcase was the very first one I recorded when I wasn’t as aware about the lag, and so it suffered a bit as a result. The Union Attacks were the worst offender. I re-recorded the same battle scenes several times each just in case, then went through the footage frame-by-frame in Resolve and chose the ones with the least amount of lag. If all of the recorded footage suffered lag at different parts, I would even compare and splice together parts of them that didn’t lag. There was also audio lag (a known issue of NoxPlayer) so I had to move all of the audio forward by 1/3 of a second.
By the end of the project I had over 200 videos of game footage with a total size of over 24GB and a total duration exceeding 9 hours, not even counting all the ones that went unused.
The Heroes weren’t the only ones who evolved. MS Paint not recommended for thumbnails.
Overall, (despite the few mistakes here and there that nobody other than me would notice) I was happy with how everything turned out, down to the gorgeous thumbnails! I am an artist, after all~ :^)
I also have much more respect for video editors. They should be called VIDEO ANIMATORS!
ABOUT THE VOICES & AUDIO PROCESSING
When making a dub, it doesn’t mean we want to replace or best the original language, we just want to give it a new interpretation. In fact, the characters’ voice descriptions and direction provided in the scripts were heavily inspired by the seiyuu (Japanese VAs) and how they performed their lines.
Honestly, this was THE dream cast!! Some of the VAs had comparably similar voices to the Japanese ones which was an amazing coincidence. The ones that may not have sounded as similar had unique interpretations that I felt still suited their characters well. I also chose actors based on their performance, and everyone delivered!
Voice actors were not expected to imitate the Japanese voices and lines. They were provided direction and reference videos to help time their lines, but were otherwise given liberty when it came to their own interpretations.
You shouldn’t hear any jarring differences between the voice actors’ microphones and setups. That’s because I took the time to process the audio. Faith’s audio was submitted to me post-processed so it was used as a guideline for what the audio quality should sound like. Some of the others had comparable quality to Faith’s, so I only added compression to balance their volumes. Most of them benefited from equalization of various levels - this took some experimenting back and forth with the frequency spectrum. Lastly, a couple more benefited from clip fixing, noise gate, de-essing and/or click removal. It was very important for VAs to have at least decent room treatment; while small differences between mic frequencies can always be altered, echoes are difficult if not impossible to remove completely.
I feel that audio engineering is highly underrated and more important than ever as voice actors continue to record from home studios.
And in case it wasn’t already clear, this was purely voluntary work. No VAs or myself were paid to contribute anything for the project. Though, the experience alone was worth more than any amount of money.
ABOUT THE SCRIPT & TRANSLATIONS
HELIOS Rising Heroes「エリオスR」English Translation - Battle Lines
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ImWrAfvS_hgp6qr5qt30vCP63uHEk2o79uqY0h-3wL4/edit?usp=sharing
This spreadsheet consists of the literal translations for all the battle lines I could find in the game (it still isn’t done -yet-, plan to finish it when I get the chance). These are only fanmade and are not guaranteed to be accurate, especially as I wasn’t able to find another translator to help or proofread it.
After translating the lines, I made many additional revisions from the literal meanings such as changing the intention of the line slightly to flow better, having extra words added in to provide more context, or changing them completely. Thus, the lines used in the video are NOT literal TLs!
Another thing of note that may not seem apparent, but is what I feel an important aspect of character writing, is to remain completely unbiased towards all the characters. Personal favourites aside, I ensured that every Hero had their own spotlight as well as lines written in a way that remained faithful to their personality, no matter how unlikeable they were (looking at you, Asch Albright).
Even after giving voice actors their scripts, I made another revision in February after the release of the aforementioned Half-Anniversary video with the transcriptions for the ★4 Bursts, which is when I discovered a couple of mistakes with my transcriptions. This resulted in me having to edit out a part of one of the voice actors’ lines (Billy’s “String Show” line in his ★4 Burst) because of a translation mistake! I’m really glad I was able to double-check the correct lines before releasing the Preview video, or it would’ve looked pretty silly to Japanese viewers.
The last set of revisions were just minor edits to the subtitles (such as using kanji instead of kana) while I was working on subtitling all the videos.
Notable changes included:
WILL SPROUT
During attacking combo
Original line:
tanonda zo... ike! / “Counting on you... Reach!”
Rewritten line:
“I’ll become stronger... For everyone!”
The rewritten line is a condensed version of one of Will’s ★4 Evolved CG lines (“For everyone... I’ll become more and more stronger!”). He had “Reach!” in both his attacking combo and regular Burst, so I gave him an extra unique line.
★4 Burst
Original line:
warui kedo... kore de oshimai da! / “Sorry, but... it ends with this!”
Rewritten line:
“I’m sorry, but... it’s over for you! HAAAH!”
There were a couple of oversights I made with the script, and this was one of them that didn’t fit the animation properly. Props to Ryan for coming up with the extra shout at the end! So yeah, we kinda winged this line.
OSCAR BALE
When using skills against the enemy, during attacking combo, and in the ★4 Burst (repeat line)
Original line:
osoi! / “Slow!”
Rewritten lines:
“Too slow!” / “You’re slow!” / “Over here!”
Rewritten simply because I wanted to minimize repeated lines and change things up.
GAST ADLER
When supporting an ally, and during attacking combo
Original lines:
tetsudau ze / “I’ll help (you).”
itchouagari / “All done.”
Rewritten lines:
“I’ve got your six.”
“Target eliminated.”
I wanted to add in a few military terms to reflect Gast’s background.
FAITH BEAMS
★4 CG line (for the credits)
Original line (literal TL):
“It’s not terrible or evil, right? Surely this isn’t punishing... I guess?”
Rewritten line (with “mistake”):
“I’m not doing anything horrible or evil, alright? This is just business as usual... I suppose?”
Faith’s CG line had a mistake when I first translated and handed it off to his actor. I accidentally wrote “oshigoto” (work/business) instead of “oshioki” (punishment). The original has him pretty much saying the same thing twice anyway, so I would say the intention was still retained.
KEITH MAX
When supporting an ally
Original line:
gambare yo~ / “Do your best~.” or “Hang in there~.”
Rewritten line:
“Stay alive, would ya~?”
I know Keith’s meant to say “serious” things in a sarcastic or snarky way, but I just had to add in this fun line!
DINO ALBANI
Using skills against the enemy
Original lines:
haa! / “Haah!”
hei! / “Hey!”
Rewritten lines:
“I can do this!”
“Leave it to me!”
The Japanese lines for Dino’s offensive skills were rather basic, with the third and unchanged line “Here goes!” being a repeat line Dino also says when attacking. I wanted to give him some more lines - as standard as they are - to show his personality a bit more, along with having an additional fun West sector interaction. The changes fit the animations better too.
(I actually had his VA say the "Haah!" line, but ended up using a different take of “Here goes!” in place of it.)
ABOUT THE FONTS
Fonts were taken from various sources and were either FREE for personal use or had an open font license. I didn’t have access to the commercial fonts (such as Futura) used in-game, so these were the following fonts I made use of:
Techna Sans looked similar enough to Futura when capitalized, and still looked decent in lowercase.
Jost* is a font that was derived from Futura. Some of its uppercase letters are sharper than Futura's, but it worked pretty well for the text in the credits.
Gau Font Over Drive was used for the ANIMATION SHOWCASE text.
Gen Jyuu Gothic LP was used for the majority of the Japanese text and its English letters were also used for the battle clip subtitles on Twitter.
Meiryo UI (default font) was used for the Preview videos’ subtitles.
Noto Serif JP (default Google font) was used for the serif Japanese text in the credits.
ABOUT NOXPLAYER ANDROID EMULATOR
ETA: AS OF VERSION 1.1.18 (04/23/21), EMULATORS NO LONGER WORK WITH HELIOSR (AS WELL AS OTHER CACALIA STUDIO GAMES). THE BELOW INFORMATION IS OUTDATED.
If, for whatever reason you’re interested in using NoxPlayer, you should take caution when installing it onto your machine. I don’t advocate for or recommend installing Nox. I had to resort to emulation so that I could record the footage and sounds directly from my computer using OBS. The reason why I used Nox specifically is because Cacalia Studio doesn’t like emulators, blocking most of them from running their games. I found further instructions on how to run the game in Nox from the Cacalia RPG Discord (via Twitter @HeliosR_en).
First, not all Nox versions are safe. It should only be installed from the official website, Bignox. More recent versions (I believe from 6.3.0.6 and up) may contain malware such as Segurazo and Chromium packaged with the installer which can be annoying to remove. The version of Nox I used was 6.3.0.0 (you can install older versions, then just don’t update it), which has Android 7 and doesn’t contain packaged malware (AFAIK).
Second, NoxPlayer may be “free” to use, but it comes with bloatware and profits off of its users’ data by collecting and sending it to many different servers. The below guide is what I used to debloat Nox and minimize communication to these servers. Scroll down the comments for additional domains to add to the hosts file.
Debloating & Optimizing Nox:
https://gist.github.com/Log1x/12d330ef7685d6fbc611d1d57efb5c29
This is another good guide that makes use of command prompt to remove additional bloatware from the emulator.
How to Remove Bloatware on Nox and LDPlayer Emulator:
https://codefaq.org/emulator/how-to-remove-bloatware-on-nox-and-ldplayer-emulator/
ENDING NOTES (TL;DR)
Images of the first and last video for the HeliosR project. We’ve come full circle!
One very tired and average person decided to translate, script, cast, direct, and edit an ambitious project all by herself using only FREE tools, and ended up taking too long to finish it. But at least she finished it, right?
Translators = RESPECT
Voice actors = RESPECT
Video editors = RESPECT
Audio engineers = R E S P E C T (their work is especially behind-the-scenes)
Hell, I even like Asch now.
During my time working on this, there was one question I always had in mind:
“What would the fans want?”
I hope this follow-up has given you a bit of insight into the makings of the HeliosR project. Thank you for reading!
~RubyJCat
#heliosr#helios rising heroes#animation showcase#english#fandub#dub#voice#voices#voice acting#fanmade#fan#behind the scenes#my projects#english translation
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Head empty, pre-TPN season 2 thoughts only.
Normally I don’t even bother with hiding spoilers but since the new season is so close I’ll put everything below a cut (if tumblr cooperates) because I do want anime-onlys to enjoy the season with as little knowledge to what madness is about to happen as possible. This is just a bunch of notes that filled my head over the past couple days.. weeks? A long time.. and if I didn’t write them all down somewhere I wouldn’t stop thinking about them.. so if you understand this whole mess, then kudos to you.
So, here’s your post-season 1/ch37+ spoiler warning.
Demon language:
With Mujika and Sonju making their grand first appearances, I hope actually implement the demon language this time?
The only word spoken in the language in season 1 was the demon god’s name, which was just changed to “Him” (sub) or “The One” (dub), so ignoring it there was fine.
Granted, our demon friends don’t say much in their language during the upcoming arc, aside from this moment in ch48, but I can see the anime passing it off as a mere whisper between the two of them just so they don’t have to worry about it.
I don’t recall any of the GP poachers using the language though.. right? Pretty sure they don’t..
Anyways, all I’m saying is that they better figure something out by the Ayshe shows up way later in future seasons.
Episode count? 24?
Short answer: I don’t think so? Did once, but stuff happened. Anyways..
Season 1 ended in March 2019, which is also when we learned we were getting a second season and once we found later on that S2 was originally going to air in October 2020, I immediately thought we were getting about 24 eps.
I thought with all that time between seasons, 24 eps would be reasonable and that S2 would end at ch101. S1 managed to adapt 37 chapters, so 64 chapters in a season twice as long sound decent enough, right?
By the time we reach ch101, it would give us the demon forest, shelter B06-32, Goldy Pond and the short trip to Cuvitidala. (all of which would make this long wait for s2 sooo worth it btw.)
By this point we learn a bunch about the outside world, Norman being alive, what happened to Phil, and the demon bastard himself.
I bring up ch101 as a stopping point because it’s the last chapter before the two year time skip and.. I honestly can’t see them doing a time skip mid-season?
I mean, they could if they wanted to, I guess? Having everyone age up suddenly between episodes via a montage, a quick summary or even flashbacks of what we missed.. but maybe at the start of a season? Not in the middle.
Right now we know anime original scenes are going to be included into season 2 so I’m kinda hoping that once we do eventually reach the time skip we learn more about the search Emma’s group went on for T7W/golden water/temples.
I counted. If S2 does indeed get this many episodes, ep23 (or 22, if there’s a break in between somewhere or whatever) will land on my birthday and you can bet I’ll be beyond happy
HOWEVER! all the hope I once had about a 24ep season vanished due to the clusterfuck that was 2020. Thanks to the worldwide pandemic, many anime were put on hold and pushed back several months, with TPN airing this month rather than the original October date.
It was a bummer hearing about the delay at first but I never complained about it. I much rather have the studios prioritize their employee’s health over production.
Even if S2 did reach ch101, or even Goldy Pond, they would need to find a ton of new voice actors, and with how the world is working now.. eh, I have some doubts.
Cloverworks also has two other series airing this month aside from TPN so needless to say they’ll be a bit busy, especially if employees are still working from home, social distancing, or however they’re managing to produce these anime.
So, episode count.. 12?
The main reason I have a hard time grasping the idea of another 12ep season at all is because.. I don’t know where it’ll be a decent place for it to stop?
S1 ending at ch37 with the kids escaping? Perfect. You can’t question that decision. But now? When a whole bunch of craziness is about happen? How do you choose another perfect moment to end a season with?
No matter how many anime original scenes they have planned for the demon forest, I believe we’ll at least reach B06-32, which will get us to ch52.
Could they go farther? Sure. Perhaps ending at ch59-60? It would leave us off with Emma & Ray leaving the comfort of the shelter to follow Yuugo into yet another demon infested forest, much like how S1 left off, as the escapees left their once safe, comfortable life into the unknown world.
Or end at ch64? After Emma gets snatched by the poachers? It could work. It would certainly leave everyone wanting more, especially us manga readers because goddamn the GP arc would be SO close!
Perhaps ch74 after seeing Norman alive? Just so it’s not a big darn secret anymore to those who are going into this season blind? (how do people manage to stay anime only? i’m not trying to make anyone feel bad.. i’m just impressed? i caught up to the manga right after s1 because i didn’t have the self control to wait!)
Ending on that chapter would be so bittersweet to me.. because you know what appears in ch75 and it’s literally one of the only things I care about.
S2 preview trailers already teased some of the demon forest scenes I’m most excited about, so the only things left that will truly excite me are Yuugo and that darn outfit. (seriously, whenever we do get to see emma in her gp outfit for the first time, someone better scream at me so i can die from happiness.)
Okay, and all the GP kids too.. especially their trio!
Could they fit the Goldy Pond arc into a 12 episode season along with every other event that came before it? I.. seriously hope not?
Compared to s1, which was very dialogue heavy, GP is about as action packed as we’re gonna get in the near future, and those scenes are going to fly by once they get put into motion.
Quick example (because it was recent and i can’t think of something else atm): the Overhaul arc from My Hero Academia. Off the top my head it was about 40 total ch? That arc took up half of the show’s S4, which was a total 25 eps.
So with the GP ending at ch96, it’ll give us about 20-30 chapters (depending on where you personally see the start of this arc I guess? once yuugo leads the duo through the forest, when emma gets snatched or when the battle actually starts)
If GP were to happen in s2 where there’s 12 episodes.. literally everything would be so fast paced and I don’t want them to rush anything or leave stuff out?
Other options?
It’s very wishful thinking and I would be getting my hopes up for nothing, because I know it won’t happen, but I could possibly see them fitting GP arc if S2 was made up of 18eps?
6 eps for the demon forest, 6 for Goldy pPond, the remaining 6 to accommodate B06-32, Cuvitidala and any other anime original scenes as they wish.
Although fitting about 64 chapters into 12-18 episodes sounds a bit much.. but not really? I seriously have no idea at this point how much story we’re going to cover this season.
Could I perhaps place all my hopes towards a second cour later this year? Like for the summer.. or would I be expecting too much?
This all could’ve been avoided if they just tell us! Seriously, I’ve been thinking about episode count since last year.. and now you have to deal with this mindless chatter of mine.
I’d honestly be okay with another 12ep season though. We waited this long that I’ll just be excited to see all the children again.
Anime-only scenes:
Those 3 days the children spent learning from our demon friends? Yes please! Did you know Emma not only learned how to use a bow and arrow but a freakin’ harpoon as well? Like.. hello?? I must see this!
Perhaps they’ll even adopt some of the extra pages from some of the chapters, like they did in S1 with the flashback of Norman being sick in ep10.
I know this will be such a high hope, but I remember in ch177 how Emma claims that after they escaped, they all remembered how kind Isabella really was, so if they decide to adapt the extras from ch41-42 & ch45, I’ll cry.
And these pages? Cloverworks, please..
I’m literally begging here..
Especially these two! Even though I still doubt we’ll reach Goldy Pond if we get 12eps.. but in the future! Please!
Other random nonsense:
I may or may not get emotional upon seeing Isabella at the very start when she goes to confront Grandma Sarah. If her hair is kept down as it was at the end of S1 then I’ll give the anime staff my sincere thanks.
We only heard 15 seconds of “Identity” and yet it has been living in my head rent free ever since that trailer dropped. I need to hear the full song sooo damn badly, y’all have no idea.
Here’s hoping they don’t cut out the inner monologues again. At this moment I don’t remember any specific ones from the demon forest I want to see but I’m sure they’re present.
I’m ready to die at every cute Chris moment they give us.. and this entire scene where the kids scold Ray.
Literally every scene with Emma & Ray. They’re my top 2 favorites from this series okay? Of course I’m going to fangirl over them. (they already showed the hug in one of the trailers and i damn near cried)
If we see him, (which i’m sure we will, but i still have tiny some doubts) I hope they give Yuugo a fantastic voice actor.
Also, his nicknames for everyone!! Literally everything about that man I’m hyped for.
Again, very doubtful we’ll get GP in a 12ep season, but whenever that arc decides to grace us with its presence, “63194” better play on full blast when ch92-93 gets animated.
Speaking of music, while I’m completely excited to hear the new OST that Obata has in store for us (thank god he’s doing this season again btw!), I hope we hear some of those unused tracks from the first season, specifically “Their Own Thoughts.”
Every time Emma mentions their future, their goals or how her family will always be together, I’ll cry. (thanks demon god and your stupid reward)
Yes I’ll be doing those reaction posts (if you follow me i’m sure you’ve seen them by now) after every new episode as I do with other series I watch.. once I survive the usual long day at work, avoiding anything TPN related so I can watch in peace and quiet when I finally get home.. damn it, im already so anxious, help.
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Digimon Xros Wars Ep1 Liveblog
It’s time for Xros Wars! I watched the dub, Digimon Fusion, a few years back, but I don’t remember a lot about it. So between that and the discrepancies of the dub and sub, this’ll basically be like watching a brand-new show. Today, Taiki helps people too good and goes to the digital world with his friend and self-proclaimed rival.
oh wow, it’s really weird seeing normal Digimon after watching Appmon. they’re so wrinkly and grody looking.
apparently I managed to completely forget what Taiki looked like. the only thing i remembered about his design is that he looked a bit like Daisuke and I guess that was enough for my brain to call it a day.
so, Taiki’s shtick is that he goes out of his way to help anyone in need, even to the point of collapse. the natural progression of this, of course, is becoming a general in a war in another world. that’s how these things work.
and Taiki is also really good at every sport he picks up, which is why this kendo kid is after him. if I remember right, this is because he has a Super Strategist Brain or something which is why he makes for a good general. this is probably the point where I mention that it’s slightly messed up that a bunch of little kids are put in charge of huge armies of Digimon. all’s fair in Digimon & war I guess
oh wow Shoutmon sounds way different than in the dub. like that’s the case for pretty much every Digimon ever, but it still jaaring. anyways in Xros Wars, Digimon give off musical tunes (that I’m assuming were intregal to the show’s toys somehow) when they’re in mortal danger. If I remember right, it’s specifically anyone who, like, has their heart resonate with the music that can hear it, like Taiki is doing now.
ok, that’s right, both Taiki and Shoutmon like to help people — which is why Shoutmon’s goal is to become a benevolent “Digimon King” and why Taiki can hear Shoutmon. I think.
if I remember right this evil guy is just another type of Leomon, so there’s no need to worry ‘cause Leomon always dies.
now Shoutmon’s lego rhino beetle boyfriend is here to save everyone. and his weird star friends are also here.
Revived Shoutmon time! Shoutmon’s actually my absolute favorite character in Xros Wars.
y’know I’m realizing the different voices also give Shoutmon a totally different vibe. in the dub he seemed adult-adjacent, but here he seems more like a kid around Taiki’s age, maybe a little older.
the stock animation of these attacks is really cool. for some reason, in the dub, they usually stuck the animation in a little box with the name of the attack underneath. the dub made some weird choices sometimes.
and now, using the legendary power of Digi Xros, Taiki saves the day and his soon-to-be-rivals-then-friends stare at him from the tops of cliffs. Also worth noting, Nene is my second favorite character.
And that was the first episode of Xros Wars! It sure was full of crossing! I do not remember what happens in the next episode and the next episode preview did not help. Presumably Taiki and his friends will find out what the digital world is.
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DEATH BATTLE Review: Beerus vs. Galaxia
Dragonball vs. Sailor Moon. The OG Shonen anime vs. the OG Magical Girl anime.
Disclaimer: Due to issues with prior Deviantart exports, and my desire to keep this as accessible as possible, this review and all reviews after this will be shorter until a new alternative is found. Apologies for any inconvenience.
Also: REALLY REALLY sorry that this took so long. Having everything be lost kinda… bummed me out.
Beerus’ Preview.
The preview opens with Wiz and Boomstick going over Goku’s encounter with Beerus, and what it means to be a God of Destruction.
Our overall stats go over just how absurdly powerful Beerus is and the kind of Ki that he has at his disposal. Where we get to our first Wiz/Boomstick segment with the new character: DUMMI.
Wiz essentially goes over the different types of Ki, with the regular simply zapping DUMMI, and destruction Ki literally vaporizing him. It’s funnier than how I’m describing, but there really isn’t that much else going on.
The hosts go over some of Beerus’ other abilities. Like his various techniques, and the fact that he has actual martial arts training.
A quick guide to Ultra Instinct is introduced, and of course, we have to go over the famous clash with Son Goku that shook the universe.
Now, similar to DC’s universe, the Dragonball universe is much bigger than our own. Our universe is on that bottom part, Hell (or HFIL, depending on your dub) is in the middle, Heaven is up top, and then there’s a bunch of other stuff.
Simply put, this is much bigger than our own ‘verse.
A few more feats are gone over and we get a card for techniques.
Simply put: Don’t mess around with Beerus!
Galaxia’s Preview.
Galaxia’s preview opens with a history on the Sailor Guardians/Sailor Scouts/Senshi/etc. Going over some of the general backstory that’s kinda needed to know exactly what’s going on in regards to the OG Magical Girls.
Then it drops you into the fray of Galaxia’s backstory of being born on a trash planet, going nuts, and destroying anything that she couldn’t have for herself.
Now, I’m going to say this right now: A lot of the highlights are kinda isolated in the notecards. The Wiz/Boomstick segment doesn’t really highlight much, other than some of the more… absurdly named attacks that she has… And apparently… a weird fetish that Wiz has?- I’m sure as hell not showing it. Plus, I was busy.
Anyways, they go over the whole concept of “Star Seeds” and how they’re basically the life force energy in all things. Planets, people, animals, you name it.
Again: Highlights are mainly kept to the notecards. Outside of a speed feat courtesy of meatball head, there really isn’t that much to talk about. So, a lot of the rundown is spent on the story differences between the Anime and the Manga.
And then, y’know… the more kickass stuff.
So, in a nutshell, Galaxia is crazy powerful. Crazy fast. And possibly the standard crazy.
Anyways, she’s got a massive powerset, and realistically, is difficult to defeat. In the Anime, she was freed from Chaos’ control, while in the Manga, she got killed by literal kindness. Because I guess that’s what beats destruction.
I have zero authority as to what kind of end line this is, so I’m just going to leave it here.
The Battle Itself.
Luis is head on animation, Beerus will be voiced by River Vitae and Sailor Galaxia will be voiced by Blythe Renay. Gods of Destruction by Brandon Yates, and audio led by Chris Kokkinos.
So for those of you who watched the preview on DEATH BATTLE Cast, you’re probably just now actually seeing and hearing the actual fight, music, and dialogue because those idiots didn’t plan ahead and didn’t realize that it was preview week. Such is the cast without Ben. Damn, total chaos and I missed it because of a class.
Anyways, remember how Goku vs. Superman 1 ended?- Yeah, that’s how this one starts!
So, right off the bat, we can see that Galaxia… Actually takes speed. She takes Beerus by surprise here, and in a few other places in the fight. And can I say that Galaxia’s little smile there is adorable? It almost makes you forget that she’s kinda a dictatorial mass murderer.
And then, just to sell how absurdly powerful these two are, they poke each other, until a massive shockwave happens.
So, after clearing the rubble, the two go all out.
Beerus goes for his wave technique, but Galaxia, being faster, is able to get by them, and fling Beerus into the Sun.
And after blowing it up, they clash inside the exploding sun.
The two kinda crash onto other planets. Galaxia enslaves a few natives onthe one she landed on, while Beerus, uh…
Blows his up.
The two clash again, and I should probably mention that their respective insta-destruction techniques kinda failed against each other. Neither of them gets to cheese a victory.
So, while Beerus is busy being tied up, Galaxia tries to go in, but Beerus activates Ultra Instinct.
Which frankly, is just unfair, and I blame the fans for it.
Anyways, Galaxia then goes for her attack: Stealing Beerus’ Star Seed.
Finishing Blow in
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…
Verdict + Explanation.
So, right off the bat, Galaxia is indeed faster, and her arsenal is much more vast and versatile than Beerus’ due to how many she has.
But after that, it starts going the other way.
Speed alone isn’t going to win any fights (unless you’re the Flash), so power output and durability is what is needed to figure this all out.
Remember: Both are threats to their respective universes, but the Dragonball universe is quite bigger than our own, which the Sailor Moon universe seems to be based off of.
Now, this isn’t as simple as Beerus being equal to a few Galaxias, the two are likely stronger. But Beerus has more evidence of being stronger than Galaxia.
Goku is still considered inferior to Beerus even with Super Saiyan Blue + Kaio Ken, and Beerus wasn’t even using his full power in that famous “Clash that shook the universe” thing. Truth be told, I prefer the movie not doing that because it shows restraint on Beerus’ part.
Simply put, Beerus at his worst is stronger than Galaxia at her best.
And DUMMI kinda wraps everything that Wiz said in a neat little bow… Not sure how to feel about him, but time will tell if and how he grows on the audience.
Overall impression.
Overall, I’d say that this is a pretty solid episode. I kinda touched on it before, but I’m not too sure how to feel about DUMMI. While he has the potential to be an interesting character for the hosts to bounce off of, and the fact that it’s possible that he gets destroyed once per episode, only time will tell if he becomes popular or not.
As for the rundowns, I can’t say that it was that interesting. Numbers that are too low are boring to watch, and numbers that are too high are difficult to keep track of. I had to count the commas in the Beerus Galaxia comparison in speed just to confirm for myself that that’s what was going on.
The fight itself is great though. And we even saw another nice little cameo from the Chuck vs. Segata fight as well, which I think was pretty neat.
The Wiz/Boomstick segments didn’t stand out though. And that’s possibly because it wasn’t really that informative. It was just there to extend a joke. I think I’ve said this before, but I like my Wiz/Boomstick segments to be the areas where there isn’t clear footage to be used in the rundown, not necessarily for jokes only.
Still, a solid 8.4/10. The fight’s great, and the music is awesome! But the rundowns could use a bit of work.
Next Time…
Oh wow. Two kids scarred by their crap dads that wield fire. So original.
Those of you who know that I was hoping to fight Zuko should kinda get why I’m a tad salty.
Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!
Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!
Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…
Scarred Fire Fight.
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Maou-jou 1 | Munou na Nana 1 | Grace of the Gods 1 | IWGP 1 | Akudama 1 | Crusade 1 | JJK 1 | HypMic 2 (also brief thoughts on the dog and cat TV short because I had them)
Maou-jou 1
I sampled this manga with what’s called a “Viz sampler”. I only ever seem to find those at libraries, so I’d assume only they and bookstores can get those.
…Twilight looks like Maou Sadao (Hataraku Maou-sama!).
“Dawner”??? I can read katakana, ya idjits. His name is Akatsuki. Update: The translator must’ve gone, “Dawn is a girl’s name. Let’s tack on an -er so it looks like a guy’s name.”
Aw, Hiro Shimono is Akatsuki. If it were Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, we could’ve gotten a Kirito joke out of it.
Oh! 快眠 (Kaimin) = good rest, literally “happy sleep”. Hence this is the nation of Goodreste. I see.
The lightning effect is soooooooooo cool! *eyes glitter at the particle effects*
I’m gonna die from cuteness from all the teddies and seals!
The little fanfare is so cute and the yokudekimashita reminds me of my days playing the arcade game Bomberman (which had a flower sticker much like this one). I wanna see this get a dub and succeed on all its merits! It’s basically my baby already…bar the fact it took a bit to work up to the first good bit of comedy.
The teddy demons are called Debiakuma, a pun on kuma (bear), devil and akuma (devil). Lessee…After “lesser demon”, there’s more text…“Fluffy bears that can be also used as pets. They give in easily to temptation. A lot of them live in the demon castle, so the princess likes to gather their fur, dye it and spin nice cotton out of it. Warning: A lot of them will either run away or call you their friend./Occasionally act as friends for the princess.”
LOL, I recognised that voice of the Scissors guy straight away…although I didn’t know who it belonged to. That’s Suwabe. (It doesn’t sound like Suwabe, I would’ve thought it to be Takuma Terashima or something.)
Aw, the Japanese version is more boring this time. It’s just Scissor Magician (in the singular for both).
*hears Scissors Demon going -ageruwa”, which is a feminine sentence ending…that’s Suwabe trying to (voice) act effeminate???!!!
These trumpet sounds never get old.
LOL, Siberian huskies dressed as Russians…
Okay, my turn again: Hari means needle, toge means thorn. Next to “His stomach is soft”, part of the subs are cut off due to Funimation’s hardsubs, but I can read “he is proud of his defence” on the 2nd line, “is the type to not refuse when relied on” on the 2nd-last line and “his favourite food is strange bird chawanmushi” on the last line.
I love how parts of the castle are upside down for no reason at all except to look cool…architects must hate that, though.
I hadn’t heard of “seesaw battles” until now. but the metaphor does make sense...kind of.
What about changing the mattress? Update: She does do that…kind of.
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Kirito was under my nose all along! Damn Demon Kinggggggggggggggggggg!
Kamina glasses on one of the background trees! Cute tapir! Ahhhhhhhh, it’s so cuteeeeeeee!
Anyways, that’s a fun show. Not as fun as HypMic, but still fun after it gains momentum.
Munou na Nana 1
I remember seeing spoilers for a twist at the end…let’s hope I don’t anticipate it. That would kill the entire anime for me.
The message actually says something about how the island is a nest for enemies of humanity.
There’s the ice narcissist I saw in the promo stuff, right on cue. I’ve never heard of his voice actor Hiromichi Tezuka before, although he does sound like Hiroshi Kamiya or someone much better.
Why do I get the feeling once the title character arrives, even Nanao will get powers…? Or maybe Nana is the catalyst for Nanao’s powers awakening or something? (Just realised having a Nana and a Nanao together in the same anime is confusing…)
Subbers spelt “noblesse oblige” wrong, unless it was deliberately done as such.
I predicted the “duke it out” line.
There’s a menu on the wall of the restaurant.
Maybe Nanao’s “talent” is his leadership stat or something?
Or maybe even Nanao is an enemy of humanity and doesn’t know it? (Sorry, speculation going into overdrive…that usually happens with superpower works like this for me, because I like to analyse them.)
Maybe Nanao can see the future, like the protag from Koi to Producer?
Technically, shouldn’t ice be weak against fire…? Or am I too used to the Pokemon system?
Called it! Nanao has a hidden power! (That reminds me: I still don’t know what Lucien’s (from Koi to Producer’s) power really is.)
Vigilantes is really good at exploring how people can expand on their own powers.
…wow, I heard rumours that the main character was going to die, but I’d pegged Nana to die, not Nanao.
Onodera is clearly important…maybe he was the one with the wind powers? Or was Nana lying about that?
…dude, the red eyes are kinda obvious that Nana is evil in some way, or at least really devious.
Grace of the Gods 1
All I really know of this is that it’s got slimes and it’s an isekai/SoL hybrid…That’s it.
…I am not, I repeat NOT, on board for a harem centred around an 11 year old!
Ryoma speaks with an unnatural amount of starts and stops, hence the caveman speak.
What’s Jil’s role in the party…?
Why would you even need to know 4 high-level skills? Isn’t it better to know all of them?
LOL, I knew the isekaid guy was meant to have a hard life so he could start over with slimes, but…stick Doppo in this and it’s basically the same thing. At least Doppo tries to resist his bosses behind their backs, this guy just did the whole gaman thing and look where that got him!
If he worked for a black company with no overtime and so forth, how did he know about a recent anime trend, eh??? Sounds suspect. Update: Unless he was thinking about 90s isekai, which still involved less reincarnation than this.
I noticed the gods have senbei (the rice crackers with the seaweed). Western-looking gods probably shouldn’t have senbei, unless…they did that to make Ryoma feel more at home?
Seriously, how does a guy with no overtime still have time for online games? Even if he were getting just ads for them, he probably wouldn’t have paid enough attention to be able to figure out what the cliches are, right? Either that, or the Dragon Quest system is older than I think it is.
Slimes don’t have paws…or hands or other appendages…to give…
…I’m not sure what to think there. Am I meant to think the slimes are cute? Am I meant to think the catgirls/animal girls are cute? The answer to those questions is “no”, so…eh.
IWGP 1
Basically, I chose this for associations with HypMic.
…the best first impression involves a CGI car. Of course. <- (sarcastic)
Given HypMic, I almost expected a rap battle…nahhhh…Rap battles don’t look so cool outside HypMic, man.
The owl is a pun. Fukurou (owl) matches ‘bukuro (bag, which is the 2nd character in “Ikebukuro”). There’s also an owl statue used as a meeting spot, much like Hachiko in Shibuya…(I learnt a bunch of things about the division territory through HypMic. Let me show off…)
I think the character designer for this anime also did Joker Game…that’s throwing me off a little. Also, they had a prime opportunity to use a Buster Bros song, so I’m still a bit miffed about that – this OP’s kinda standard. Update: The character designer is Junichiro Taniguchi – my insinct was wrong on him. He did Touken Ranbu Hanamaru’s character designs.
“Smoking kills” – Yuuuuuuuup. That’s true.
Why do I get the feeling all the male otaku will wanna bang Makoto’s mother (to put it lightly)…?
Curiously, the one who hates drugs in HypMic is Jyuto, who’s not from Ikebukuro Division at all. Hmm…
Yokoyama’s voice sounds familiar…but I’m not sure why. Update: If I had to guess, I’d say he’s Saito Soma or someone who sounds similar, so maybe Takuma Terashima, Daisuke Ono or something like that. Update 2: Takahiro Sakurai. See? I knew I knew that voice.
“Big Rei” (“Rei-nii”). That’s different from Ichi-nii (what Saburo calls Ichiro) and could also be goroawase for 02.
Uni of Tokyo is the most prestigious uni in Japan. It has quite the reputation.
…is it just me, or does Makoto have a piercing in his left ear? IWGP also happens to happily work with my existing character, although said character has a piercing in his right ear.
Zero One kinda looks like Uta (Tokyo Ghoul), LOL.
…and of course the girl has to rely on the dude. *sigh* Welp, we can throw drugs off the list for “things that count as TV-MA to Funimation” – IWGP is rated M (not 15+ explicitly, but that’s what it stands for normally) in my region.
This ED song…that’s the sort of song I was expecting from HypMic, Akudama or this.
Seems both Makoto and Takashi have earrings…maybe in both ears? Takashi’s are yellow, I could confirm that much.
…this is decent, but putting it up against its competitors is a bit harsh.
Crusade 1 (cont. from sneak peek - it’s in the title here because this is where it’s completed)
Turns out that preview was most of the episode…like “14 of 24 minutes” long.
Wait, how did Alice fall forward and end up in the princess carry pose? I remember having trouble with that when a character in a story of mine had the same problem.
…Iska-nii…(?)
That opera house looks pretty darn modern to me…
…eh…that was middling. Nothing any ol’ adaption of Romeo and Juliet couldn’t do, bar the CGI for the magic fight in the middle. (There was a fluffy griffin thing in the middle there, though.)
Akudama 1
Ume + Kimura and a cool urban aesthetic. Let’s go!
This is kinda Tron-like, eh?
Ooh, now it’s more like Cop Craft.
Kimura seems to use his gruffer voice more than his Ichiro voice, but Ume is actually worse on that fron with his ordinary voice…Welp, at least his ordinary voice sounds like it fits right in with the Courier. I almost expect an Ocean’s Eleven thing (or Now You See Me, since I’ve actually watched that) from this. Update: Turns out Kimura is the pompadour guy, not the fighter.
You can tell Ordinary Person is an okay person because she keeps saving cats. A bit cliché, but it’ll do.
Ohhhhhh…I can see where this plotline is going. Ordinary Person pretends to be Swindler to get herself out of this mess, but then she keeps getting involved with the Akudama. It’s a typical plot for a typical gal, common to insert a viewpoint character in series that require one, or a magical girl ally.
Wow, those missiles look like a**.
LOL, Hoodlum’s sentence is kinda measly in comparison to most of them. Plus, when he yelled, that sounded more accurate to Ichiro than Fighter was, so…yeah, sorry I messed up.
…Ordinary Person has some real bullseye…uh, eyes.
This could be a top contender…aside from the CGI, which does look a bit funky. I’m getting a death game vibe here, but I don’t know if that’s really the case. Also, it’s a lot of fun, but the possible intolerable thing here is Ordinary Person’s screaming – the pretense she has to keep up seems like it’ll fit right in though.
JJK 1
I read the manga once, dropped it and then read it again and didn’t realise why I dropped it.
Fushiguro has long eyelashes, tbh. Itadori comments on that at one point, I think.
Oh, it was a fish (carp) in the manga. I couldn’t figure out what the Japanese equivalent was just from the Kokkuri board.
This track club teacher is a bit of a freak, honestly. Meddling in kids’ affairs is probably illegal to some extent.
Itadori is known as “tiger” because the kanji for “tiger” is in the surname. Update: Also, the Czech dude Mirko was called “the Croatian tiger”, if a tweet I read is any indication.
I like how there’s more comedy in this one. They show the world records, so you have standards to compare Itadori against.
This is an almost beat-for-beat adaption, bar the slight comedy of the records being added (and not explaning who Mirko is). The contrast makes this better.
“People really can die.” – That’s summoning some real energy of “People die when they are killed.”
(Brief thoughts on the dog and cat short: I enjoyed that more than I thought I would. The picture of a realistic cat – someone’s actual photo of their cat?- that serves as a punchline never gets old and in fact, sometimes contributes to the humour.)
HypMic 2
LOL, TV-MA warning strikes again.
“Kore wa prologue/Hajimete no ippo/Fumidasanai yatsu ni wa/???? shinpo.” – The translation is really good for the bits I can read…the problem is I can’t read the bottom left corner. Update: The part in the bottom left is nai...That’s it.
…uh, even people from around the world can read 24 hour time??? You don’t need subs to read Arabic numerals???
…couldn’t you have just told Ichiro verbally, Saburo…? Update: Come to think of it, kids these days are more on their phones than ever, so it makes sense but also kind of doesn’t.
You don’t really need subs for laughter either…
I’d never heard of “pulling rank” before…hmm: “to use one's high position in a society, organization, group, etc., to order someone to do something or to get special treatment or privileges.”
…and here comes the F word here to mess with us again. Japanese nastiness is conveyed using words that might be considered “soft” in English, hence the sudden jump to use the F word a bunch, but the subbers could use some variety in their swearing. I mean, “dips**t” worked where it did because subbers made Samatoki go overboard with the F word, but…you could stand to use that more, maybe(?)
I like how even the Tenderloins guy rhymes where he’s meant to. It’s the prelude to a battle, after all. (He kinda looks like Kotaro from Zombieland Saga.)
…I freaked out for a second. I swore I saw a similar-looking restaurant (udon shop, located on the left of one of the shots) while in Japan. Also, we finally get to see Ichiro’s reputation at work.
…I still have no idea what a “steelo” is after all this time, but I didn’t realise I was staring at a part of Ore ga Ichiro until I saw it in context. Also, it was kinda derpy – but still really in character – for Ichiro to run to his destination with his arms up like the Glico man in Osaka (except he had his head down).
I get a weird feeling the subbers may have used the wiki translation because I’m using it as a reference and the language seems oddly similar for the most part…
The kick Ichiro does seems like it references the OP.
Notice the location is Nishiguchi Kouen…the West Gate Park. *raises eyebrows at the IWGP anime*
…oh! It occurred to me that the sign the BB do with their hands is…well, a lowercase B. (LOL, if you read my previous line funny, it rhymes.)
Gentaro doing the peace sign to his chest…that was random the first time, because it doesn’t seem in character, but then it does for Dice and possibly Ramuda, so Gentaro probably just chose to go along with it (“to add to his image as a rapper,” maybe…?).
Oh, Saburo has airpods in…those aren’t good for blocking sound, are they…?
Notice the owl on the…uh, café(?)…Ichiro goes to.
That one “holy shit!” made me laugh like a madman. Where it came from, I don’t know, but it was so random I had to laugh at it.
This makes me wonder…if you use a mic that’s different to your personal mic, does it produce the same speakers? No one’s ever addressed that before (much like how no one questions if magical girls always need the same transformation device – I wanted to make a plot on that someday, but I can’t seem to find a comprehensible way to pull it off…LOL, that reminds me, I even had a HypMic version of that featuring Samatoki at one point, but it probably makes even less sense than the standard one because it activates via physical contact. It’s notable – in my head – for Nemu’s version of the “power” being “Samatoki can’t swear, no matter how hard he tries”).
I’m pretty sure that round thing wasn’t part of Ichiro’s rings, ever. (…Unless that was the head of his spoon or something.)
…Microwave? (referring to the shot inside the hospital, which seems to be based off ARB)
The series normally transitions from BB -> MTC -> FP -> MTR, so it was interesting to see that shuffled up. Update: That’s if it has to have an order, but notably ARB breaks this standard a lot by assigning colours to each solo and then arranging interactions based on not repeating those colours (aside from the Sky High Tower event). With 4 things there are 4! = 24 possible combinations and 6! = 720 possible combinations if you count DH and BAT, so as we move forward with those 2 divisions...prepare for more shuffling.
…is Jiro gonna steal a ball? I thought it was just bikes anime characters stole. (LOL)
The mic changes the background, too, huh? Never expected that from more than the speakers.
…and of course, s*** explodes and the day is saved once again....by the Buster Bros!!! (LOL, but also *sigh*)
Hmm, so this anime’s real plotline probably involves this trio: Rex, Tom and Iris. They’re probably foreign in some way, judging by Tom and Rex. Maybe they’re aligned with a foreign government or something? Update: If you look at the credits, their full names seem to be Tom Whisper Weathercock, Iris Innocent Traiter (sic) (LOL) and…Taroumaru Rex…? (romanisations confirmed for all katakana)
Sadamezuka was voiced by the ubiquitous Kenjiro Tsuda.
It seems Cola Bintarou (aka Subaru Kimura) was on the case again today. He wrote the new song for BB, called RUN THIS CITY, along with Gesshoku Kaigi.
Of course, I’m going to keep this anime on my list...I’m just a bit worried about myself going forward, because I realised my ego got a bit inflated trying to defend the series from haters. I’ve never had a series where I’ve been a fan from the beginning that wasn’t already a known quantity for a while (Muhyo and Roji’s, Furuba). With Boueibu, I was discovering things alongside other people (or even later in a lot of cases) since it was anime-original.
#simulcast commentary#HypMic#Hypnosis Microphone#Hypnosis Mic#Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle - Rhyme Anima#our last crusade or the rise of a new world#kimi to boku no saigo no senjou aruiwa sekai ga hajimaru seisen#by the grace of the gods#kami-tachi ni hirowareta otoko#Munou na Nana#Talentless Nana#akudama drive#ikebukuro west gate park#Jujutsu Kaisen#inu to neko docchi mo katteru to mainichi tanoshii#maou-jou de oyasumi#sleepy princess in the demon castle#with a dog and a cat every day is fun#Chesarka watches HypMic#Chesarka watches Maou-jou#Chesarka watches Akudama Drive
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FRUITS BASKET ‘19 EPISODE 23 VS FRUITS BASKET ‘01 EPISODE 19
Ok! We’re finally here! We’re at the beginning of the storm! I’m so nervous... I didn’t know how to do these comparisons especially the storyline in the 2001 version not syncing up completely with the 2019 version. But I’m just gonna try and puzzle piece my way through it, ‘kay? :)
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Also, just some notes that I wanna state about the 2001 version so I don’t keep repeating myself for the next 2-3 weeks:
- I love love love the opening. It breaks my heart and heals it every time I hear it and the images of the characters by doorways/windows/alleyways looking outward and always to the side of the frame is a great artistic choice and metaphor. Also, the lyrics are just simply... everything. ‘Let’s stay together always...’
- Some of the colour choices in clothing (or even the hair) that the characters have are... interesting. I definitely find myself appreciating the newer version as you can tell they put more thought into it, even if I do think the power ranger assigned colours are kinda silly. But really? Kyo wearing pastels?! No way. ...But I kinda love it anyway. Outfit Appreciation: 2.5 stars.
- I adore the music box sounding background music. It really adds a lot of whimsy to the show and kinda reminds me that Fruits Basket in a lot of its elements takes inspiration from fairy tales.
- The English dub voices obviously sound different and in comparison to the 2019 version, you can really tell how much they’ve all matured as VAs. ESPECIALLY Laura Bailey and Jerry Jewell.
- I also adore how ridiculous and mostly comedic the 2001 version is. Which makes the later turn in the anime so much more heartbreaking and tough to watch as it comes as such a shock compared to the tone of the rest of the anime. Unbalanced? Maybe so. But on a shallow kind of level without thinking too hard, I can enjoy it.
- I love 2001!Shigure. Again, it’s a shallow choice and I don’t deny he’s a lot more interesting and fleshed out in the manga/2019!anime. I just like 20-something year old, new-father-to-two-teens-but-he’s-not-like-a-FATHER-he’s-a-’cool-older-brother’ who likes to laze around the house in his kimono and ISN’T MENTALLY TRAUMATISING THEM. Well, without meaning to anyway... AND LOOK HOW CUTE HE IS.
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Right! Let’s get into it!
This is me knowing the future trauma I’m going to have to go through with this anime.
But in all seriousness, the 2019 version really captured Tohru’s depression a lot better. Especially with the later scene where she breaks down in front of Kyo in the bedroom. A+ crying from Laura Bailey, I really felt it this time. As I said, the 2001 version seemed like it didn’t wanna deep dive too much so I’m glad we get a deeper in look to the complexities of Tohru this time.
It might be a translation ‘nothing’, but I find it interesting that Kyo felt like he jinxed her. Especially linked with his comments to Kagura later about how he feels ‘no one should want to hang around him’. I mean we’ll get into the reasoning for this most likely in the next two episodes but you can probably guess why... Poor kitty.
(Also side note: Do you think that’s why - out of everyone that has been bullied in this anime - Kyo seemed the least affected by school bullies? Is it cos of his experience within the Sohma family and his curse, that he almost expects that everyone he meets would treat him like that? It’s interesting because Hana had the same thought process towards her own bullying but she never fought back... But Kyo did. I might just conclude this thought as it just being in his nature to fight back, but we’ll see...)
Also, 2001 giving us Kyo freaking out in cat form about Tohru’s fever was pretty funny. Man, they really did do an overkill with the transformations back then...
2001 really was not good at showing the gradual progress of Kyo controlling his anger around Tohru as much as the 2019 version. Yes, in the 2019 ep, Kyo was still annoyed that Tohru wouldn’t just relax and concentrate on getting better but my God, Kyo is sooooo shout-y and yell-y in this version! And I don’t wike it lol.
However I shouldn’t shit on the moment too much. I do think 2001 wanted to show us that Kyo saw how receptive Tohru was to Shigure being calmer and nicer and it kind of influenced him to take more of a gentle approach to Tohru later. Kyo being influenced by Shigure is... questionable... but whatever, it’s got good intentions! (I still like the 2019 version better)
Momiji with the oversized work outfit! He’s so adorable I could cry.
- I’m kinda bummed that the 2019 version didn’t include the ‘Kyo stealing leeks from Yuki’s garden’ moment. It’s a hilarious moment (especially with Yuki’s reaction) and it is just PEAK ‘it’s not stealing if you’re taking it from family’ energy that I adoreeee and stand by lol
Really, 2001!Kyo... are you five years old?
‘ 🎵And at most... I’m sleeping all these demons away...’
‘ 🎵But your ghost... the ghost of you it keeps me awake’
Kyo seeing ghosts of Tohru is both unintentionally funny and dramatic in both versions to me, I’m sorry. I’m really just a child.
Where do I start? Kyo being ever so dramatic with the goggles and the face mask... Shigure with the all-knowing troll look. 2001 really gave us some gems and I think we all tend to forget that.
Plus...
I. LOVE. THIS. BROTHER. DYNAMIC. (I know it isn’t accurate don’t ruin the fanfic going on in my head)
- Tohru being depressed that she wasted Yuki’s time and didn’t fulfill her mother’s wishes makes me wish she was more so just concerned about herself and how she’s gonna pass for herself? But it is very much in her character to do so, so I guess I’ll let it slide. And I guess Kyo said what I said in well... his own unique way of giving advice.
- But when it came to the actual soup porridge scene, I lean more towards the 2019 version. There’s so much said in Kyo’s body language and Tohru’s own inner thoughts. She’s really falling in love with him and she doesn’t even know it!!!
THAT PEEK FROM HIS ELBOW?! COME ON!!! STOP IT. MY HEART. these dumb fuckin kids...
I loveee the 2019 porridge moment so much more, but this moment right here just ELEVATED the whole moment. It says so muchhhh without saying much at alllll and ohhhh this poor boyyyy...!!!!! It really took a fluffy moment and just stabbed me in the heart and I guess I respect you for that? Thanks...?
I’m so glad the 2019 version is feeding us in stupid made up songs. *chef’s kiss* haha
- I’m really glad that Kisa calls Hatori ‘uncle’ in 2019 and not ‘grandpa’ like she did in 2001. Cos as someone in their mid-twenties that shit was straight up offensive lol
The Momiji and Kyo moments are always so heartwarming in this version. My faves. <3
- Also I dunno why but I really liked Hatori, The Doctor Who Smokes in the 2001 anime. It didn’t make sense but quite honestly if anyone in this anime chose to smoke to let off some steam, it should be him. (Not an advocate for smoking)
---- Right! No more 2001 comparisons cos the episode that is equivalent to this part of the episode is also riddled spoilers for the next 2019 episode so... just normal review from here. ---
Why is it that Yuki’s insults against Kyo always hurt so much more?! They are both terrible to each other but for some reason, I always feel it more when Yuki verbally backhands Kyo. Maybe it’s the way Eric Vale practically venomously spits out these words or maybe it’s cos Yuki kinda has more privilege than Kyo so it feels like he’s kicking a literal homeless cat.
- Also, my poor boy! Definitely felt myself sympathising a lot more this time around to how weak he was feeling.
Lol I felt that exasperated breath. At least this time, Kyo doesn’t call Tohru’s umbrella ‘a sissy girly pink umbrella’. A minor improvement? (So, I might of watched a bit of the 2001 version of episode 24...)
...Need I say anything? <3
- HEADLINE: Shigure ships Yuki/Tohru and Kyo/Kagura? What is he up to...
- Kyo shouting at Kagura in the middle of the supermarket was a shitty move but Kagura mooshing his head in response was great... what a terrible but very entertaining couple lol
- Kagura’s ‘If I told you, you’d cry...’ is giving me all the heart pain. How many times can I say that I’m not ready...
I’ve seen people in the tag compare this moment to his porridge moment with Tohru and while I agree, it does seem like Kyo just naturally wanted to help Tohru compared to Kyo feeling obligated to hold hands with Kagura. But errrrm.... I just think Kyo is a good kid haha. And while I do think he CLEARLY holds Tohru in a very treasured and locked away place in his heart, he just doesn’t like it when girls cry around him and will do anything to stop it. I also think he does care about Kagura, and that he’s more so annoyed that Kagura doesn’t seem to get that he won’t love her in the way she loves him (and well... her being a tsundere lol). But I could be wrong! I’m a walking manga amnesiac as always...
*HIGH PITCHED SCREAMING*
Talk about FINALLY. They really named the episode that and made us wait until the LAST SECOND OF THE EPISODE TO GIVE US THE WORDS: ‘You look well...’
What a tease.
And we’re not even gonna get into the preview for the next episode and how three words made me tear up minutes before I had to go to a party on Friday night.
Wow. This might be the longest review so far. I don’t doubt that next week’s will be longer lol. The reason why I wanted to do the 2001 comparisons will probably make more sense next week and I will also say my thoughts on the 2001 version of the events with the umbrella and Kagura and Kyo’s date next week before I go into the review.
Jeez, this took two hours to write. WHY DO I DO THIS?!
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I’ve managed to watch the opm s2 (ep1) dub!
The main things I was interested in were the voice acting, localization script, any possible animation changes, and...my mother’s reception to it, cause she was excited to watch it live too. :D I’ll list some impressions going by memory.
Voice acting overall was good! Saitama is a given, sounding like a perpetually bored regular dude, yet also warm in moments (especially for the King flashback, good stuff). Genos is back speaking with earnest emphasis and formally without using contractions. His voice didn’t become a problem (perhaps Zach has gotten better?). King sounded fine, a deep baritone, yet also with his worries and anxieties (the restroom panic attack is still a very good scene). Fubuki probably had my fav voice, cause wow she sounded like smooth silk; keep talking! And lastly, after the credits, oho Garou spoke like one line but I still felt all the hype! 8D Also pretty smooth but also kinda growly, which ayyy I can get into this, more please!
The script was pretty fun, like actually getting me (and my mom) to laugh out loud several times. King said ‘holy crapola’ once, which felt like a Viz thing, but then Saitama called him a dumbass later when they were playing games, which was just lol (especially with him breaking the controller after, priceless). G4 said he’d ‘liquidize’ King, which was whoa! Some colorful word choice there. Oho, and the preview for the next ep had Garou say ‘slaughter party,’ which was YESSSSSS! 8D I prob got way too excited aha.
As for the animation, I was looking out for anything new, but I didn’t really notice any major changes. The airbrushed shading and some of the ghosting was still there in the high action shots, and I did happen to notice how quickly scenes cut (in between Genos fighting and King + Saitama playing games), but for the most part it was inconsequential (esp to my mother; this is stuff she wouldn’t bother to notice). King’s model did look very detailed however, that was good.
Now for the reception. In general it was a fun time! When my mother was confused about something and asked me about it, a character would usually answer it within the next min or so, so I didn’t have to explain much to her. She understood the deal about King’s mistaken identity and taking Saitama’s credits easily. She did find it odd Saitama just left Genos alone to fight G4 (I had to explain he was respecting Genos’ decision), but then Saitama’s convo with King explained why he left. Her fav character was Genos last season, and she remarked ‘it’s wrong for him to have an ego!’ when he had to ‘prove himself’ by fighting G4 alone (something she did not approve). She thought it ‘was sad,’ because Saitama’s thing is to not care about ranks and approval (and she likes that about him), and yet Genos is still doing that, to make it in the S Class top 10...:’)
When Kuseno spoke, I got the impression from his words/delivery this time that he wasn’t very approving of Genos’ decision to be a hero (in a sense like ‘you should be focusing on finding the mad cyborg instead’ kinda thing), so that felt less like the words of a concerned dad, and more like a reminder of his (their) main goal & best interests. The quick succession of the monsters showing up (reptile guy, G4, and giant bird), along with the quick cuts back to Genos fighting, really drove home how chaotic and frequent threats have been showing up (what a crapsack world; none of their citizens get a break). That yes it did read as an imminent problem their world needs to address. Which led right into the HA meeting to gather criminals to help stop the problem, all graciously explained by Sonic (mom commented ‘he looks like a girl,’ so I don’t think she remembered who he was from s1) who did all the exposition. After seeing him and Fubuki both planning to confront/fight Saitama, my mother actually got distressed for him, because ‘ahh he’s just a good guy minding his own business!’ Aha :’D The full credits were shown, and I had to suppress my excitement to wait!! Because another character would get introduced. Hoho and I’ll probably have to shut myself up from commenting in later eps, but I was like ‘THAT GUY!!!’ when Garou’s back got teased. :P I’m really eager to see what my mom thinks of him, but just from this she was like ‘aaaaauugh oh no,’ because heh, even more ‘bad guys’ to interfere with Saitama’s day. :P Next ep preview showed immediately after this (no ads) so dang I was not prepared to hear the clip of him saying ‘slaughter party’ so soon! X’D Ahahaha! Definitely looking forward to dub!Garou’s formal introduction next time!
#opm#english dub#commentary#long post#i think that covers most stuff#so yeah fubuki did sound VERY nice and i'm still very hyped to hear more of garou next ep 8D#(i did like what i managed to hear of him; i think the va can do angry/growly just fine)#my mother will be along for the ride too (cause yep she likes opm) so part of my watching the dub is seeing what she thinks of it
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