#UNBELIEVABLE targeted character appeal
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#deltarune#queen deltarune#fanart#me for 100 months: i shoudl draw queen (doesn't draw anything)#explosions insane dialogue absolutely showstealing villain who repeatedly initiates hijinks with the protags#and ends up joining them as their weird roommate(?)#UNBELIEVABLE targeted character appeal#sprites are fun to draw from.....
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THE AARONS 2023 - Best TV Show
While I do highly recommend all the shows listed here, I don’t expect you to watch that much TV if you don’t want to. We’re The Aarons, not The Marvels. Here are The Aarons for Best TV Show:
#10. My Adventures with Superman (Season 1) - Adult Swim
As James Gunn steels himself for Superman’s big-screen revival, he would be remiss not to take notes from the character’s recent small-screen success. Alongside the still-strong Superman & Lois, the new Adult Swim show confirms the key to the character’s appeal is his good-natured boyish charm. Adventures bolsters this tenderness with pretty animation and a storytelling focus on the young hero’s budding relationships with Lois Lane & Jimmy Olsen. The series stands out with a fresh-spin on its famous rogues gallery, including tantalizing teases of an imminent alien invasion, but it’s this spot-on romantic characterization that will sweep viewers off their feet and up, up, and away.
#9. Star Trek: Picard (Season 3) - Paramount+
The final installment of the Star Trek spin-off boldly goes where it has never gone before: onto a ‘Best of TV’ list. It only took a complete creative overhaul and the return of the entire Next Generation crew to make it so. Functioning as a mulligan for both that cast’s previous send-off and the first two seasons, Picard’s third outing put the long-standing chemistry of its venerable characters front and center. In between all the nostalgic spaceships and evolving relationships, the show wove a madcap mystery out of surprising pieces from the franchise’s extensive lore. As unbelievable as it sounds, that adaptable energy made Picard one of the bright spots of TV last year (and there are four lights.)
#8. I’m a Virgo (Season 1) - Amazon Prime
Sorry to Bother You filmmaker Boots Riley made another welcome addition to his idiosyncratic output with I’m a Virgo. If the director’s involvement wasn’t enough of a signal to watch, the premise is even more intriguing: the coming-of-age of a 13-foot-tall Black teenager named Cootie in an absurdist version of Oakland policed by a fanatic billionaire superhero. An awe-inspiring mix of puppetry, prop design, and perspective is used to bring this giant protagonist to life. It’s a tall tale, but not one without real-world relevance. Riley uses the towering position afforded him to champion racial and economic equality; the strangest thing about the surreal show ends up being that Amazon of all places signed off on it.
#7. Barry (Season 4) - HBO
Last year’s Aarons noted that Barry was gunning for a place in television’s greatest works. With a fantastic final season, it hit its target. The culminating episodes consolidated directorial duties in the multiskilled Bill Hader while bifurcating their storyline with a dramatic eight-year time-skip. In the first half, Barry stages a dazzling prison break; the second half makes it clear that the repercussions of one’s actions are far harder to escape from. This complexity further complicated a dark comedy that has always been difficult to define. Though the series got a lot bleaker as it went on, its status as a showbiz satire returned with a vengeance during the final curtain call. Without shying away from the fallout of its violence, Barry still manages to get the last laugh.
#6. The Last of Us (Season 1) - HBO
The Last of Us has been one of the greatest experiences in video games for a decade now; with the first-rate television adaptation, non-gamers now have no excuse to be left behind. The post-apocalyptic road-trip, shepherded by Chernobyl’s Craig Mazin and game creator Neil Druckmann, upgrades the original’s already-impressive production design with the ample resources afforded by HBO. Players will recognize, yet still recoil from, the show’s unsettling set-pieces, but it’s the small deviations from the source material where everything truly clicks into place. Taking advantage of the medium to enrich its world-building and side characters ensured the story held lasting intrigue for new and old fans alike.
#5. Reservation Dogs (Season 3) - FX
The news that Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi’s comedy would end with its third season was met with a lot of reservation since the series remained as brilliant as always. However, the decision secured the show’s ability to go out as one of the top dogs of TV. The final season, like the heartful series as a whole, advocated for embracing one’s community. It embodied this theme by entwining the advancing arcs of its young cast with that of its eccentric elder characters. These mirrored storylines fostered an unforgettable forum for processing grief, celebrating joy, and passing along wisdom between generations. As made explicit by the series finale, Reservation Dogs’ ending should not be viewed as a time of mourning but of happiness for all the life it had.
#4. Mrs. Davis (Miniseries) - Peacock
One of Peacock’s best shots at becoming a competitive streaming service lies in the defiance of an algorithm. Hailing from Watchmen’s Damon Lindelof, the bizarre Mrs. Davis sends devout nun Sister Simone on a quest for the Holy Grail as a last ditch effort to rid the world of an omnipresent artificial intelligence. The miniseries is recommended if you like ambitious sci-fi, spiritual journeys, unpredictable plot-twists, magic tricks, Super Bowl commercials, or chicken wings. The sheer absurdity of its various plot threads may seem at times like a lot of horsing around, but those who hold faith in the show’s ability to bring all those listed things together for a thoughtful conclusion will be richly rewarded.
#3. Succession (Season 4) - HBO
The popular drama effortlessly rose through the ranks of the Aarons following a full series binge-watch this past year. Considering the nature of the premise, the final season, in which each character suddenly scrambles to enact their ultimate bid for power, was primed from the start to take over as its best. Unlike previous HBO hit Game of Thrones, it succeeded. As always, this was in no small part due to the sharp-tongued transactions between its talented ensemble. The richness of the writing lays bear the tragedy of its characters as they negotiate large acquisitions and influence Presidential elections without ever seeing the strings that are pulling on them. Luckily it’s all overseen with acerbic wit by creator Jesse Armstrong; a show with people this pathetic had no business also being this funny.
#2. The Great (Season 3) - Hulu
Although it’s not his Favourite, The Great is the crowning achievement of writer Tony McNamara’s career. The third season of the risqué royal dramedy was as inaccurate as ever with the history of Catherine II & Peter III of Russia and no less on point with its scintillating dialogue. Some peculiar highs and precipitate lows in the duo’s tumultuous relationship gave stars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Holt equal opportunities to command viewers’ attention with their disarming performances. The progression of their marriage gave rise to some oddly emotional moments for the largely irreverent series. Those events are yet another example of the series playing fast and loose with the actual facts, but what is irrefutable is that The Great absolutely ruled.
AND THE BEST TV SHOW OF 2023 IS....
#1. Poker Face (Season 1) - Peacock
No lie: Poker Face was the best television of last year. One should have suspected as much from the start given the involvement of Rian Johnson; the mysteries here are every bit as sharp as Knives Out. Face has unique features for both a streaming series and detective show: its case-of-the-week episodes follow a howcatchem format instead of the more common whodunit. This formula folds each installment into an outstanding showcase for first-class actors, writers, and directors, including Russian Doll’s Natasha Lyonne fulfilling all three roles. Her charismatic character Charlie Cale anchors each story in perceptive humanity; that more than enough motive to be all-in on Poker.
NEXT UP: THE 2023 AARONS FOR BEST TV EPISODE!
#tv#TheAarons#TheAarons2023#TheAaronsTV#best of#best tv show#my adventures with superman#star trek#picard#im a virgo#barry hbo#the last of us#reservation dogs#mrs davis#succession#the great#poker face
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How VFX Services Enhance Visual Storytelling
VFX, or visual effects, is the process of creating captivating videos by blending computer-generated images with live-action footage. VFX services can elevate a simple film and turn it into a masterpiece through visual storytelling. In this digital age, content creators rely a lot on visual storytelling to send their message to the targeted audience. Visual storytelling helps content creators wrap their message in an interesting narrative aided by captivating visuals. This is where VFX effects come into play. When you see the door opening by itself in Harry Potter, it makes the concept of wizards and a different wizarding world more believable. VFX artists can enhance the visuals by improving the colors, adding elements that give a more realistic feel, and aiding character development. They use VFX to create tension or mystery or highlight key moments in the story. Here, we will discuss the transformative effect of VFX and how they enhance visual storytelling.
Role of VFX Services in Enhancing Visual Narrative
VFX plays a pivotal role in elevating a video and increasing its appeal and reach. Whether it’s creating fire-breathing dragons or making the characters interact with holographics, there’s a lot that virtual effects can do to make the impossible seem real. Not only does it improve the visuals, but it can also enhance the way the story is presented.
Creating Immersive Environments and Worlds
One of the biggest roles that VFX has played is creating realistic and immersive environments. From creating mythical and mystical landscapes to bringing imaginary characters to life, VFX can breathe life into your imagination. With VFX, you can add and highlight intricate details in the videos, blend mythical with real, change time and space, alter gravity, and transport the viewers to an imaginary place. It has made it easier to share your story with the world, no matter how fantastical or whimsical it is!
Realistic Portrayal of Historic or Futuristic Periods
With VFX, you can give a realistic portrayal of historic events or futuristic visions. Whether it’s creating a fictional and futuristic world, like in The Matrix, or recreating history like the pyramids of Egypt in The Mummy, VFX is your need of the hour. You can explore new futuristic worlds in your science fiction or go back in history and re-witness events. However, such creative visualizations and their rendering require the expertise and dedication that an experienced VFX studio can provide.
Enhancing Engaging Action Sequences
Action sequences often highlight films, bringing attention to the video and attracting a bigger audience. You can enhance an already powerful action sequence with some amazing VFX to make it look larger-than-life. When you see impossible fight sequences with actors jumping high and performing mind-bending stunts, they’re enhanced by VFX to add suspense and keep you on the edge. A high-profile car chase or a superhero lifting a giant submarine with bare hands are the perfect examples of seamless visual effects.
Character Development through Visual Effects
With the digital revolution, computer graphics has also changed immensely. What was once inconceivable, is just a hand’s reach away! Whether creating fantastical creatures and mythical realms or showing unbelievable character transformations, VFX can do it all seamlessly! From mythical creatures like dragons and goblins in Harry Potter to iconic characters like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, VFX can bring your imagination to life. Such spectacular effects not only keep your audiences hooked but also create immersive experiences that stay with them for a long time!
Heightening Emotional Impact and Cinematic Experience
Visual effects also act as a trigger, boosting the effect of storytelling. They go beyond surface-level enhancements and elevate the narrative by highlighting pivotal moments. The seamless integration of VFX with live footage makes it possible to create fantastical landscapes, breathtaking environments, edge-of-the-seat action sequences, and stunning visual metaphors. VFX also helps add depth and realism to characters, making them believable. The visual effects added to characters or backgrounds bring depth to the storytelling and compel the audience to connect emotionally.
How VFX Services are Shaping Audience Expectations
VFX services have a very profound and pervasive influence on visual storytelling. Today, the audience doesn’t just appreciate but also anticipates the visual marvels of VFX in almost all types of videos. The use of advanced VFX technology like motion graphics, 3D rendering, etc. enriches the story and elevates the storytelling methods. A story or a video enhanced with VFX has a lasting effect on the audience. It makes the videos engaging and captivating for all. And the audience loves to connect emotionally and immerse themselves in such stories.
Conclusion
Simply put, VFX is the interplay of artistic creativity with technological innovation that brings imagination to life and fosters an emotional connection with the audience. With the latest VFX technology, VFX artists can create videos and films that transcend conventional boundaries. VFX is an indispensable tool for content creators that helps them weave narratives that captivate, engage, and last for a long time. With the right VFX studio, you can avail of the best VFX services and professional expertise to elevate your video to reach new heights. In the ever-evolving world of visual content, this blend of VFX services with visual storytelling promises a future full of boundless possibilities.
Source Link[https://amlpverse.com/how-vfx-services-enhance-visual-storytelling/]
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so about those asks (different anon), i’m in a similar situation about turning 18 in a few months and i’m worried people will start harassing me for liking a 17 year old- that being silver and well,hwhwjqijwheueu im not sure how to put it- im tryna enjoy my last few months as a minor 😭
It makes me so unbelievably sad and angry that so many people live in anxiety of getting harassed only for liking fictional characters like... They are not real, they are not drawn or written to look like or act like real teenagers... They are purposefully made attractive and with sexual appeal so that people who are financially independent (who happens to be most adults) can spend money on them. They are made attractive so that they are marketable. Besides twst is a gacha game and gacha is essentially gambling, and gambling surely should not be encouraged to minors. Don't feel ashamed about becoming an adult and still play twst or like it's characters, because you are the target audience.
Besides there's literally nothing wrong on a 18yo liking a 17yo(much less if they're fictional)?!?!? It's only a one-year age gap, and if people are gonna complain about that holy shit they really need to touch some grass because they must've never seen an actual relationship in their life 😭😭 What, do they think when a person turns 18 they automatically should be having full jobs and paying taxes and are not allowed to have fandom-hobbies anymore? I've seen a lot of minors having this kind of thought and it's sad, really. 💀
I bet antis are gonna shit their pants when they realize that harassing and sending death threats to adults who are harmlessly gushing over a bunch of pixels doesn't actually protect minors irl !!! omg shooketh 😱😱
And now I wonder if there's any anti seeing this, how do you sleep at night knowing that your behaviour is harmful even to other irl minors? They are anxious about turning of legal age because they are scared of being harrassed by the likes of you. Because everything is fine when you're still 17, but the moment you turn 18 and you still like a 16/17yo chara you're suddenly a p*** now? I can't with this idiotic thinking. This problematic, harmful thinking has been poisoning every fandom recently, and if you think like that, all you're doing is bringing harm, and no good at all. Absolutely no one benefits from this thinking and it might cause serious consequences if you're not careful with your words.
Don't like the content? Just block and move on.
Anyway sorry for rambling, you're completely valid for liking a character that brings you comfort <333 If you yume with Silver I'm already your supporter, anon x Silver my OTP. Don't let these bitter ppl get to you and don't be afraid to smash that block button. Stay safe anon, mwah <3
#people who harass others for liking smth in fiction i hope a bird poops on ur head <3#it feels like this week theres been a lot of these antis attacks to my mutuals#no nice girl anymore from me bc im pissed <3#discourse#answered ask
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Hi here's my money for that Barry and Len "guilt versus shame" essay. Thanks! 💰💰💰💰💰 (I drew the dollar signs on the bags myself. I'm crafty)
Anon when I said essay, I meant essay. But alright. Here you go. for you and your hand-drawn dollar signs. Come, take this journey with me. (A journey of character analysis for fun—please, no one take this as reliable psychology.)
As I said, I consider the main conflict between Barry and Leonard not one of good versus evil, but of guilt versus shame. Specifically, the difference between them is that Barry is a character motivated by guilt, while Len is motivated by shame.
(And to get this out of the way - I’m not talking about sexuality, but how Barry and Len relate to the world and other people. I don’t think Len is the least bit ashamed of his sexuality; Wentworth Miller has always said that Len is someone who knows exactly who he is, and I think that’s true).
A more accurate way of talking might be to say that guilt-driven characters are motivated by love, while shame-driven characters are motivated by respect.
I’m going to start with Barry, because guilt-motivated characters tend to be much more straight-forward than shame-driven characters. Barry grew up (with some bumps along the way) in supportive, loving homes. His parents, and later Joe, always treated him with love, which allows Barry to love himself and other people.
Treating children with love is the most basic respect their guardians can afford them, and they’ll always have that basic core of respect to fall back on in the face of outside adversity. (Barry is remarkably hard to ruffle with insults—antagonists always have to target the people he loves, because he just… does not rise to the bait when it’s just his own pride on the line.)
This kind of early exposure to love and respect are fundamental to being able to feel guilt about harming others later in life. Barry was raised to respect and love other people (in the general, “love your fellow man” sense), so he would feel guilty if he hurt someone innocent. The core sense of self-respect and self-love that Barry developed in childhood means Barry’s sense of self can always take the hit when he feels guilty about hurting other people.
Guilt makes us feel, temporarily, unloveable. But because Barry was raised to feel fundamentally deserving of love, he can afford to feel briefly unloveable when he hurts other people—it just means he needs to make amends, and then he’ll be worthy of that love again.
That’s why Barry’s a guilt-driven (or love-driven) character: when he interacts with the world, the thing he’s most afraid of losing is love. He’s never been put in a position where he feels like what he’s missing is respect.
And that’s where he and Len differ. Len’s not guilt- or love-driven; he’s shame-driven.
Len appears to feel zero guilt for hurting innocent people, at least when we first meet him in season 1. And the reason for that is Lewis. As I mentioned, love is a prerequisite for guilt. And unlike Barry, Len wasn’t brought up in a loving home. I highly doubt that Lewis’s love for Len was ever freely given, even before he became physically abusive. And if it was, that sense of self was absolutely ripped away from Len when that abuse started.
As I mentioned, treating children with love is the most basic respect their guardians can give them. By withholding that love, Lewis taught Len that he was inherently worthy of neither love nor respect. Raised in that environment, where violence was the way Len saw power exerted over others, the natural response was for Len to seek out respect, not love. He had nothing to gain from loving others—and therefore, from feeling guilt—because he’d already been taught he could survive without love. What he couldn’t survive without was respect, because disrespect meant becoming the object of violence—first from his father, and later, from the criminal justice system.
(Prison is a conversation for another day, but suffice to say, the dehumanizing treatment incarcerated people face parallels that childhood lack of love, robs them of the self-respect and self-love they need to have healthy relationships with other people, and increases the likelihood that they’ll commit violent crimes, not reduces it).
So Len did whatever it took to survive, and survival meant accumulating respect. There’s an obvious cure to this obsession with respect, of course: 1) love, and 2) safety.
Now, as eager as I am to jump into how Barry helped Len break the cycle of violence, Barry’s not the source of love I want to talk about here. Barry comes in later; when I talk about the love that saved Leonard, I’m talking about Lisa.
Because, listen—I’m as exhausted as you are by the trope of “female loved one is male character’s humanity,” especially where, like in some of the Flash comics, it means killing off Lisa to make Leonard a more ruthless (and, I guess the the theory goes, interesting?) villain. But Lisa isn’t just some crack in Len’s armor; she fundamentally changed Len’s life when she was born.
Len was already somewhere between thirteen and sixteen by the time Lisa was born; for the sake of convenience, let’s put him around 15. (For some more detailed meta about the Sniblings' ages, check out this excellent post by @coldtomyflash). If Len was five when Lewis went to prison, and ten when Lewis came out a much more violent man (see: everything I said about prison earlier), that means Len experienced several years of incredibly traumatic treatment before Lisa was born.
He and Mick were in juvie together at least once when Len was still young enough to be “the smallest kid in there,” and Len was nearly killed. Mick saved him, yes, but the experience had to further numb Len to guilt and reinforce that violence and respect were the only real paths to survival.
And then, Lisa. Len clearly, canonically loves Lisa from the moment she’s born. We know nothing about either of their mothers (and it is pretty likely, given the 15-year age gap between them, that they have different mothers), but they’re clearly both out of the picture—Lisa says Len raised her. Len raised her! Fifteen years old, three years away from being free and clear of Lewis’s house forever, and Len stays to raise her.
Lisa is absolutely the one person keeping Len from sliding fully head-first into the path carved for him by Lewis and reinforced by the prison system. He is still primarily shame- and respect-driven—we see him kill people without any guilt, hell, he tries to derail a train with children on board in season one just to see what Barry will do.
But Lisa taught Len that he’s deserving of love and capable of loving others, and because of that, Len cannot, will not respect Lewis for his violence he rains on them both.It leaves open a door in his mind: Lisa doesn’t deserve to be treated that way, which could mean, if he could ever afford to consider it, that he didn’t deserve to be treated that way, either.
It’s why Barry is so unbelievably smug at the end of “Family of Rogues.” He’s figured it out; he wouldn’t put it in terms like guilt and shame, but he’s cracked it all the same. He always knew Len was like him, was someone who had been forced into violence by his circumstances, and now he has proof. Barry is remarkably unconcerned that Len shot Lewis; he’s briefly surprised, sure, but by the end of the episode he’s visiting Len in Iron Heights and goading him about the good in him.
And that’s where Barry comes in. He’s the crucial second ingredient to that cure for shame—he’s the safety.
He blazes into Len’s life and praises him for things no one else ever praised him for: for his morals, for his mercy, for the way he loves Lisa. He gives him an acceptable out to stop killing (he appeals to his vanity, says he’s good enough at what he does that he doesn’t need to hurt innocents, and they both know it’s an excuse), and he makes it clear that he respects not Len’s capacity for violence, but his desire to escape the need for it.
He also offers Len protection to start making that transition. Len knows, even if neither of them say it, that Barry would drop everything to help him if he called. When Len’s reluctant do-gooding puts him in harm’s way, like with King Shark in ARGUS, Barry does drop everything. He gives up a tool that could save Iris’s life to save Len’s instead. This is not me hating on westallen at all—Barry’s sense of obligation to Len is just that strong. He knows he’s put Len on slippery ground by helping extract him from the safety net he’d built himself out of violence.
And that’s Barry’s guilt drive in action—because yeah, he loves Len. He cares about him, and he respects him, and that’s love to Barry. He just wants to give Len the chance to love people that way, too. And in the end, Len, despite all his misgivings, ends up letting him.
#and then he. and then he d. he di-#i'm going to go stare into the ocean#leonard snart#barry allen#coldflash#to an extent. and that extent is that i think they should kiss on the mouth#lisa snart#the sniblings#abuse mention tw //#meta#i might get into how barry's childhood tracks a little closer to len's than i gave him credit for in this post but like#another post for another day
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Common Ground
Part 2 of Hunter (formerly Hunter and Prey)
gif by @themandaloriandaily
Rating: Explicit
Content Warnings: SMUT, Oral Sex (fem recieving), Cock Warming, Descriptions of violence/blood , Edging (maybe?), Dirty talk, Praise kink, Size kink, Big Dick Mando, Blindfolded Sex
Words: 11.7k AO3 LINK
Summary: Reader and Mando land on Nevarro to meet with Karga
A/N: im sorry to niceguy!Karga in season 2
This would be less awkward if you knew how to talk to the man.
The awkwardness is probably one-sided though you doubt he’s brooding over what the two of you did last night in this cockpit. You’re not a blushing virgin afraid to talk about sex, but it would be nice if you actually knew something you both had in common, since you’re going to be spending a lot of time together. The extent of your conversations have been about sex, mechanics, and killing people. That’s pretty fitting for the two of you, you suppose. He is… Officially? your bounty hunting partner now.
However, he’s very comfortable in silence, so much so that it seems to be a central part of his character, much like the armor strapped to his body. Is being reserved a part of the Mandalorian creed too, or does he just prefer it? Does he want to talk about how you sucked his dick mere hours after abandoning your jobs as mercenaries? What is he thinking about right now? You could probably ask him all this, you know. Your internal argument is boiling over like a forgotten pot as you ruminate in the passenger seat of the Crest’s cockpit.
You woke up in his arms a few hours ago, curled up in the pilot seat together, your face feeling a bit grimey due to not scrubbing it clean after he gave you that facial. Feeling cozy in the quiet moments that follow waking, you snuggled in closer to his warmth, still only separated by the thin layer of his undershirt. You started when his palm squeezed your shoulder, his way of letting you know he was already awake.
There’s an unspoken feeling about the way he fell asleep in your presence. You may work together now, but you’re still virtual strangers and Mando is a professional. You doubt he’ll pass out in front of you again.
Slumped in your seat, you mull over every second that passed between the two of you. Meanwhile, he’s just sitting there like a lump of metal. Unaffected. Impassive. If you didn’t have first-hand proof of the deliciously warm skin he hides, you would’ve passed him off as a droid.
Actually when you think about it… when it comes to conversation topics, maybe metal is the place to start. As in, the ship that is now your impromptu home for the foreseeable future. You’ve gleaned that the Crest is like home to the Mandalorian and, come to think of it, he seemingly opted to sleep on his little cot down in the ship’s hull instead of taking up a bunk back on the space station. If he were anyone else, the gesture would’ve been ostentatious. It gave the impression that he was ready to leave at any moment.
But no one wants to confront a Mandalorian.
Bringing up the Crest is probably a safe option and you’re knowledgeable about ships. You can hold your ground when it comes to the technicalities of mechanics. Plus, you can be charming when you want to be; on merc jobs you weren’t put into the femme fatal role for no reason. Although you’ve casually lured men to their death, you’re more nervous to chat with Mando. But you’re determined to try. Try to be appealing...
“I’m curious… Once I have some credits saved up, would you be interested in adding mods to the Razor Crest? I haven’t gotten a good look yet, but I’m floating some ideas around.” You bite your lip automatically out of apprehension, but hoping it comes across as playful. You’re not out of line or anything; it's been hours since you last exchanged any words so it's not like you’ve been chatting his ear off. Still, you worry that you sound extra loud to someone who’s spent so long in stillness.
“That may be useful. What were you thinking?” Mando’s response comes only a second later, and even though he faces the cockpit’s transparisteel windows as he speaks, you’re giddy at his swiftness to respond.
“Well, I would love to touch her up a little. There are some issues with the hyper-drive and coms that could be fixed pretty easy. As for modifying, I saw that you installed a mobile carbonite-freezing chamber for bounties?” He nods to affirm your guess. “I could move that ‘round to utilize the space for storage and better suit two people living here. Either install a bed that can swing down or-”
“Separate beds are unnecessary. We can sleep in shifts or share the bunk.”
“O-oh. Sound’s good.” You gulp, feeling a little warm. The implication makes you sweat even if he shot down your idea. “Well, upgrading the deflector shields would be a good idea. Protect her better, plus efficient heat dispersal during atmospheric flight would let us jump into hyperspace faster. If we need to run or just want to fuck off somewhere.”
“Hm. That is a good idea. She’s fast but there's always room for improvement.” He accentuates his response by patting the console lightly, and something about the way his hand lingers gently on the surface reminds you of a parent touseling their child’s hair. A smile stretches across your face, finally relaxing a little after being so tense all morning. For someone that you thought was so serious, he sometimes reveals a sentimental side to his personality. It makes you want to ask him more, to know more about him and how he thinks, but you’re so nervous about asking him anything even slightly personal, anything that has to do with his preferences or opinions. Your short exchange about his ship went pretty smoothly you think, maybe you can ask him more, you’ll just stay on the topic of starships. That should be fine.
“Do you have a dream ship?” You blurt, sounding a little less casual than you were trying for. Oops.
He takes longer to respond this time, seemingly thinking the question over. “No. Maybe when I was younger. I have the Crest now, there isn’t a need to plan for another ship.”
There's that seriousness again, the way he responds to you makes you think that he has never had to answer hypothetical questions before. It makes perfect sense, the average person doesn’t go around asking tall, intimidating Mandolorians about their hobbies. What a Gonk Droid. I’m jealous he can get away with talking like that. Still, you do want to continue this conversation if only to hear his voice. “Nothin’ about planning Mando, just a little make-believe. Personally, I like an A-Wing, the RZ-1 variant is classic even if the 2 is flashier. X-Wings are neat too, minus the pigs flying them.”
A weird huff passes through his voice filter and he finally turns to face you. You’re caught off guard by the sudden eye-visor contact, so it’s a second later when you process what that noise was, and the realization makes you positively giddy. “Oh shit, did I make a Mandolorian laugh? Am I on Spice?”
“That’s funny- pigs don’t deserve the nice Starfighters.” He laughs again, clearer this time while warmth feelings bloom within you at his reaction. It’s so unbelievable to you that he’s here laughing at something you said. You never once heard a reaction like that from him before now. “Those fast ships are impressive and great for combat, but I need a bigger space… a YV-929 would suit my needs.”
“Of course it would, there’s like 1000 guns on that blocky thing. Plus the Empire banned it and you like to break rules.” The ship he named is virtually the same build as the Razor Crest, just with more guns, which is amusing to you.
Creature of habit, you think, finding yourself leaning subtly closer to his body with every exchange. You don’t think you’re imagining him doing the same.
“16. Could add more though.” He murmurs and something in his voice makes you think that he isn’t being entirely humorous.
Maker, he is probably mapping out all the baster mods he could stick on that bulky freighter. You’re still amused by his very literal sense of things. You settle back in your seat to observe the hyperspace light streaking across the cockpit, a comfortable silence falling over the cockpit.
As you sit there and ruminate, the topic of weapons brings forth a vague memory in your mind.
Someone once told you that Mandalorians aren’t considered great fighters due only to reputation and rumor. Most people are aware that armor and weaponry is part of the Mandalorian culture, but fewer are aware that such items have religious significance, going much deeper than a learned skill. Mandalorians are revered as great warriors not just because of their physical training, but because fighting and waging battle is a form of prayer.
Despite finding rumors about Mandalorians to be generally exaggerated, you feel this one may be true.
You’re curious but afraid to ask him to elaborate. The fact that neither of you exchanged more than a few words when you worked together is proof of his preferred privacy. Even though you’re pretty sure he wouldn’t mind giving you some sort of explanation about his culture, you decide to avoid any personal questions.
Plus you really don’t want to come across as asking about his helmet.
You break the silence shyly, trying to smoothly bring up a different topic. “Down in the hull… I haven’t explored much of your ship, I don’t want to come across as snooping. But I’m wondering, what sort of manpower have you got stored here?”
“I installed an armory. Do you want to see it?”
Fuck yes you want to check it out, his personal collection must be a wet dream.
“Yes, I’d love to!” You reply excitedly. The weapons Mando carried were always fascinating. You especially admired that rifle he slung across his back. You’ve never seen it in action but you heard it evaporated its targets. The two spokes at the end made you wonder how it shot. There has to be different settings on the gun, it would be impractical to evaporate all your targets especially if you need to bring back bounties, dead or alive. The bullets he slung across his chest must be paired with the rifle based on their size and shape when you compare them to the rifle chamber. What sort of charge do they contain to completely disintegrate its victims?
You’re tapping your fingers on your bottom lip, calculating how the rifle might function when his leg brushes past you. Glancing up in surprise, you realize he’s already headed to the cockpit ladder, twisting his upper body as he turns his helmet to look back at you.
“Come on.” You’re unable to read his face but something in his body language makes you think he’s amused by you. Flushing red, you scramble upright from the leather seat to follow him down to his armory. He slides first down the ladder, not bothering to use the rungs. Being unfamiliar with the area you opt to carefully descend one portion at a time, unaware of the view you’re giving Mando. By the time you reach the bottom, he’s diverted his gaze.
Tall body moving to a panel on the wall, he punches in a four-digit code, prompting a smooth metal cabinet on the opposite wall to slide open with a hiss. You shake your head at this. The man has a tiny metal cot but he installed a hydraulic system for his weapons cabinet. But when you look closer at the exhibit your jaw falls open.
Oh my… Now that’s sexy.
The two side doors hang open to reveal a space in the middle filled with large blasters. His mid-sized guns are stacked horizontally above each other while the longer rifles lay vertically to the right of the center display. The doors contain smaller handguns of varying design and purpose. Each weapon is unique, there is not a single inch of wasted space given to any blaster if it doesn’t have distinct properties. Eyes locked on the arsenal, you scoot forward and make grabby hands at the cabinet.
“Oo, they’re beautiful! Can I- May I see?” You are immediately drawn to a cylindrical pistol mounted at the very top of the stack, the gun’s sight a smooth metal and grip warm brown. Despite its deadly properties, it is a fucking gun, something about it looks soft to the touch. You’re finding more and more that you enjoy the juxtaposition of lethality and softness.
Even though you’ve made no specification on which gun you want to hold, Mando reaches out and selects the very gun you’re attracted to and hands it to you. I should stare less, it's like he can read my mind. Despite resolving to do so the thought is fuzzy, unimportant when you’re so excited about handling one of the prettiest pistols you’ve ever seen. Mando watches you from a few feet away.
“Good choice. I usually conceal-carry that blaster since it’s small on me, looks like the perfect size for you though.” Mando’s compliment has you grinning up at him, feeling giddy and full of light, but you’re quickly drawn back to look at the gun. Turning the weapon over in your hands you admire the polished metal, the texture making a satisfying noise as you run your fingers on its silky surface. The weight is perfectly balanced as you aim it at the wall, lining up the sight with a seam in the metal paneling.
“You can carry it from now on.”
What? It’s a good thing you know your trigger safety otherwise you would’ve pulled the trigger in shock, probably ricocheting the blast into your head. The giddy energy drains from you, replaced by apprehension and confusion. Why is he giving me so much shit?
Of course you’re thankful. You’re incredibly thankful to be on the Razor Crest at all; however you can’t help feeling as if you owe Mando on a level where you’re incapable of repaying him. He didn’t have to take you with him when he dropped Ran’s crew, he didn’t have to indulge your sexual fantasies, he didn’t have to comfort you, didn’t have to partner with you, and he doesn’t need to give you this blaster. It is certainly a collectible, a rarity. A Mandalorian wouldn’t have it on hand if it were some run of the mill E-11 handed out to every Stormtrooper in the Empire.
But what can you even say to him? It would be incredibly awkward if you refused him right now. Your mind races.
Best focus on the easy stuff. As long as he doesn’t drop me off on some wasteland I’ll be fine. That blaster is too pretty to decline so with your willfulness broken by aesthetic pleasure, you holster the gun on your hip, opposite the blaster you already carry.
“Thank you. I’ll put it to good use.” You try to inject as much gratefulness into your voice as possible, even though you still feel odd about taking it.
“Yes, you will. Get ready and come back to the cockpit, we’ll be on Nevarro in a hour.”
------------------------------------------
You’re used to men like Greef Karga but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop being annoying.
The way he speaks like he’s owed something from you just because you’re listening, the way it’s clear that every decision he makes is in self-interest, the way he eyes the women around him, yourself included. He isn’t outright dismissive like some men; such as the guard placed behind him only having eyes for your partner; but you can tell he either doesn’t take you seriously or he is more concerned about how he can sexualize you.
He definitely isn’t treating Mando as a joke. Annoying.
But, it’s not all bad. You got a kick out of how a hush came over the dusty cantina when the Mandalorian entered. He had been walking behind you which, with a little imagination, gave the effect that they were all reacting to your presence instead. Even though in reality, no one had ever reacted to you that way unless they were leering. You like how they fear him. It's a turn-on.
You wish they would fear you like that.
Someone says your name, startling you out of your thoughts. You realize that everyone at the table is looking at you expectantly but you didn’t hear the question at all. Kriff, you need to show yourself up more. Mando’s reputation is practically handing you the job but you still need to sell your skills to get anything decent out of Karga. He’s so stingy with the quarry's, even with Mando despite how he kissed the Mandalorian’s ass when greeting him. You figure that Mando didn’t take on bounties often, which put his skills in high demand.
“Uhh, sorry. A bit distracted. Can you repeat the question, please?” You reply, accentuating the please with a bat of your lashes while looking Karga full in the face. If he’s going to objectify you, you may as well play into it. Smiling, he leans forward and pushes a glass of Spotchka into your hands, lingering a little longer than necessary when your fingers meet.
“I asked if you wanted a drink. Take it, I can see you need one.” He winks at you while you stare indignantly, wondering what he means by that. It’s not like you’re sweating bullets in here. You’ve been here countless times on countless planets. Seedy cantinas with seedier people. Hopefully, he’s just flirting and doesn’t think you’re nervous. Maybe the flirting is backfiring.
You grip the glass and wet your mouth with the drink, enjoying the burn for a moment. Mando tilts his helmet at the way you accept Karga’s drink, seemingly looking sideways at you. Narrowing your eyes at him, you drink again and turn back to Karga.
“Thank you, the Spotchka here is lovely.” It’s average, but flattery can’t hurt. Karga laughs robustly at this.
“It’s no Alderaan wine, but it’ll do.” He drains his glass then pours himself another, filling it to the brim before turning to your partner. “So, Mando! Word travels fast around here. I take it you’re a full-time guild member now! I’m not surprised, always took you for the loner type. In fact, I already updated your status to full-time before you landed.” Karga waits for a response from Mando but the man sits silently at your side. Unbothered, Karga continues, “But, I am surprised you stayed that long with Ran in the first place. Must be the pretty ladies he keeps around.”
The comment makes you cringe but you still smile brightly back at him since what he is inferring is clear. Can he just register you already?
“Not alone. She’s with me.” Mando’s reply is short and flat, with no reaction to how you’re attempting to work Karga’s attention, nor at the revelation that Mando’s departure from mercenary work has apparently spread across the sector.
Karga’s smile twists into a smirk as he glances between you and Mando, looking at both of you as if he wants to fit your bodies together like a puzzle. “Well, well, well Mando. Didn’t think you were the type. Is she a bed warmer?”
Your grip tightens on the glass. What the fuck is he implying? You’re rising in your seat, about to let loose on Karga when a gloved hand settles on your shoulder and pulls you down. Excuse me? Do I have to go off on everyone here? Why the fu-
“She’s my hunting partner, my equal. Don’t insult us again.” Oh okay, you don’t know why he stopped you and he still doesn’t sound all that offended, but at least he’s defending you.
Not wanting to be spoken for, you add on, “I’m prepared with my information so that you can register me in the Bounty Hunters Guild. Pull up your holo, I’m done with the small talk.” Your back is rod-straight in the cantina booth, trying to look down at the Guild leader even if he’s seated higher than you. “Also, your Spotchka is shit.”
Karga’s is unphased at your reactions, even rolling his eyes. He replies bluntly, “If you’re going to join my guild then you need to prove to me that I’m not wasting my pucks on you. Don’t rely on the Mandalorian’s reputation. If you aren't out of some brothel then you were a mercenary, were you not?”
At first, the audacity of Karga has you fuming, ready to stand again despite whatever Mando wants. However, as you’re looking out of the corner of your eye at the crowd you realize that the bodies filling the cantina are no longer milling around quite as naturally. It's subtle, to an untrained ear and eye not much has changed. The chatter around you remains at a consistent volume and no one is blatantly staring. But your senses are sharp enough to tell that everyone in this room is On Greef Karga’s side. If a fight broke out you’d likely lose, even with Mando being worth ten men and the shiny new blaster strapped to your hip.
Also, your prospects with the guild would be fucked if you fought everyone right now, which is the whole reason you’re here. You have to play nice and it infuriates you… But you still need the job.
Taking a deep breath to quiet your anger you look to your left away from Karga, only to be startled by Mando’s visor locked directly on you. Sharing a look, one that you can only guess the meaning behind, you find the patience to calm down. You turn back to Karga, locking eyes steadily.
“Sorry for insulting your drinks, that was petty of me. But I am not sorry about how you implied that Mando would keep some poor sex slave around, nor am I sorry for reacting that way. I’d like to start over… If you’ll accept my apology, I’ll accept yours.” You can’t help letting some stubbornness slip into your words. If he’s supposed to be your boss then you aren’t going to keep up a pretense of respect after that. Not without an apology.
You’ve never given much thought to how you look to other people, how you affect the crowd when you enter a room. It’s not that you don’t think you’re pretty. Being assigned roles by Ran that allowed you to dress up and distract targets was a direct affirmation of how you looked, even if they were creeps. But when you walked into this place, the only heads that turned were for the Mandalorian. You've never had the experience of being scary to other people. You’re always having to prove yourself and show everyone that you’re someone who can handle what’s handed to them, an equal to every other hard character in the galaxy’s Outer Rim... it’s tiresome.
Karga is looking at you again, a little differently this time.
“I respect you for being blunt. Do accept my apology.” He sounds sincere enough so you nod, lips drawn tight. Heavy metal suddenly settles on your knee, Mando’s vambrace is laying across the soft flesh on your upper thigh. He squeezes, oh stars. Now you’re feeling flushed for other reasons than anger.
“Do I get an apology?” Mando asks Karga quietly, voice frustratingly mild just like the other two times he’s spoken up in this booth. The other man grins at Mando, more jolly than he should be considering who he insulted.
“My apologies, Mando! Do stay with the guild, your skills are irreplaceable! I’m afraid my jokes can go too far.`` His response is light and humorous but no one is fooled by the tone. A Mandalorian is far too valuable to lose.
After a few seconds pass between the two men you clear your throat, annoyed by everyone dancing around each other while you’re still not signed up to hunt bounties. It’s your only purpose here but whatever. Karga directs his smile at you, pulling his holo from behind him out of his guard’s hand.
“I haven’t forgotten about you, sweetheart. Now, I’m going to put your basic details in… Do you happen to be registered elsewhere, such as under an Identichip?” You shake your head; you always worked behind a moniker. “Great! That makes this easy for me. Simply provide a name, real or not, and I’ll set up a chain code so quarries are tied to your data.”
You provide your name while Karga fiddles around on the device. It’s unclear if it is really that complicated to work the thing or if he is just stalling. This feels a little too easy so far. Didn’t he make a huge fuss about proving yourself? You decide to ask outright, wanting to bring it up instead of waiting around for him to finish.
“I thought I needed to prove myself to you. Aren’t you worried about wasting pucks?” You were trying to tease but the bite in your voice can’t be helped. You worry you might’ve gone too far when Karga looks up at you with open annoyance.
“Do you want to go out back and shoot a few bottles down? Seems childish to me.” He huffs out a short breath and returns to his holo. “I know that you worked with Ran’s crew on mercenary missions which grants you some cred. You can tell me what your specialties were on such jobs and it might convince me to give you the mid-level pucks instead of entry.”
This is unfair, everyone knows it, he’s the one who told you to prove yourself and now he’s making you feel stupid for reminding him. He’s the one who was so concerned about wasting his precious pucks. But now that you’re here… you might actually be able to talk Karga into giving you a better quarry. Taking a deep breath, you start to list your qualifications.
“On mercenary jobs, I usually took a stealth role due to my stature. For certain missions, I would dress to infiltrate a group, sometimes carrying hidden weapons but mostly I would conceal poison in my jewelry, skin powder, or anything similar. I’m a great shot and am knowledgeable about starships. When I first started I had to work my way up the ranks, the lowest being mechanics. Within a year I managed to go from handywoman to assassin... There’s more if you want to hear, although I can’t directly prove anything.” You wish you could actually show all these skills to him instead of just telling him. Karga is right, shooting down dusty bottles like some sort of carnival game would be pretty useless, but at least it would feel more substantial than this.
You’re about to open your mouth and tell Karga more when you’re interrupted by Mando, and he finally sounds emotive, no longer inscrutable in tone. “This is all true. I haven’t worked closely with her on every job but I noticed her when I did. Her stealth was critical to our success during hits. She often worked on my starship. The Crest always came out in better shape once she looked at it.” You’re not sure what emotion is in his voice but whatever it is, it reminds you that his hand is still resting on your knee under the table.
Trying not to smile too widely, you bring your hand down on top of the one on your leg, giving it a pat of thanks. Karga’s eyes follow your movement but thankfully he stays silent, leaning back with a pensive look.
“Alright, this is all very interesting. Tell you what, and don’t take this as an insult, you can either have two entry-level pucks or one mid-tier. It all adds up to the same amount of credits, however, the mid-tier quarries will boost your rank… Mid also comes with a time constraint.”
There’s always a catch with this man you think, a little displeased, but at the same time, you understand that he can’t maintain his business if all pucks were given away in good faith. Mid-tier seems like the best deal, and you aren’t just here for the money. Presumably, this will be your job for a while so you may as well aim ambitiously.
“What are the last known coordinates of the mid-tier bounties?” You ask him, trying to sound like you’ve not already decided to take it.
“One for Corellia and one for Mimban. Neighboring planets.” You grimace, recognizing the names. How lovely, you get to choose between two shitholes. Karga is correct, the planets are right next to each other, so at least you don’t have to worry about fuel. Corellia is more dangerous but the planet is explored thoroughly when compared to Mimban and you’ve already been to Corellia once.
“I’ll take the Corellian bounty, thank you.” Karga slides the puck across the table with an unpleasant scrape before drawing out three more, stacking them in front of the Mandalorian one by one.
“Two are bail jumpers but the credits for each are decent. I also threw in one S level criminal, let's see how you do with that one now that you’re dedicated to my wonderful guild.” Karga grins at Mando so widely that it is almost a grimace. Well, he didn’t have to beg for the good pucks. Yeesh… Mando’s arm lifts from your knee and he gathers the pucks wordlessly.
Mando moves to leave, rising quickly from the booth and leaving you scrambling behind him, slipping your puck in the pocket on your pants. He’s at the door by the time you remember to say goodbye to Karga. Not wanting to be rude even if you don’t really like him, you turn and wave. “Um, bye! Take care.”
He waves back. “You as well, girl.”
A powerful hand grips your forearm and pulls you none too gently to the doors and out into the acrid, volcanic air.
----------------
It would be nice if the man who called you his equal an hour ago would tell you his plans. Instead, he had placed a small bag of credits in your palm and told you to go get some food and wait. You couldn’t find it in yourself to snap at him since you were starving, the last time you ate was probably several days ago, before Cantonica. Your hunger might explain the snippiness you’ve felt all day, actually.
Having finished your meal of dubious-looking soup, you get up to explore a bit before heading back to the ship. The settlement is small and you think it may be the only town on the planet or at least the only one in the area. The land around you is flat enough to see for miles. It’s impressive that Mando disappeared considering the lack of terrain to hide behind. He must be in the city somewhere.
As you wander through the busy main strip, peering at different vendors and booths, you start to feel dejected. Mando defended you, spoke up for you, and even backed up your claims so that you’d look better in front of Karga. Then he just… disappeared. Somewhere. No communication. That's fine.
It’s a little worrisome, the speed at which you’ve become attached to the man. You’ve been together for less than three days, and you already feel weird being alone. You know that you’re being unfair to yourself right now, it's not abnormal to feel lost on a foreign planet plus you literally just lost everything you’ve worked for as a mercenary. But in the end...
Being here, alone and penniless, reminds you of home, the one you had as a child. It’s something you try to forget about.
Swallowing the memories away into that off-limits area within yourself, you decide to leave the bustling road and wander down a dingy alley. Probably not the smartest move but you do have two blasters on your hip. The sounds of the crowd fade in the background as you wander farther and farther down the twisting path.
It’s almost funny how quickly things go south.
Mere minutes later, you find yourself backed up into a wall with two Rodians aiming their blasters at you, your huddled form reflected in their massive, black eyes. One of them jabs your arm with his gun saying something in that grating, echoey voice that most Rodians speak with. You get that they’re both aiming deadly weapons at you but you’re honestly just irritated.
“I don’t have credits on me fellas, you can search me but you won't find shit.” They must understand Basic because one of them pins you to the wall while the other pats your body down, searching for anything valuable. Pulling the empty credit pouch from your belt and throwing it to the ground, he twists you to face the wall, grabbing at one of your blasters. The rare one that Mando just gave you. You start to panic now, the positioning of your bodies making you nervous as you realize how vulnerable you are, fearful that they aren’t just looking for something to steal. Kicking backward at the Rodian pinning your arms, you start to struggle against them, trying hard to wiggle free and pull your other blaster.
You must’ve connected with a kneecap because you hear a sickening crunch at the same time the Rodian howls, falling to the ground. His companion makes a furious sound then lashes out at your face, fingertips just barely connecting with your cheek as you duck slightly too late. Your face stings and feels wet, his gloves seem to have sharp points on the ends. You pray that they aren’t spiked with poison.
The injured member is still preoccupied with his hyperextended knee, granting you just enough time to pull the other blaster from your hip before he joins his partner and turns on you. You throw yourself to the ground, aiming at the same time and squeezing the trigger right before you hit the earth. The shot connects with the Rodian who swung at you and he falls to the ground, shriek cut short. Twisting to your side so you can attempt an evasive roll, you attempt to line the sight up with the chest of your living assailant but your shoulder connects with debris on the ground, jerking it out of your smooth movement.
The blast misses by a few inches.
The pain from whatever you landed on shoots to your fingertips, numbing them. Noticing your distraction, he hurls his body at you thankfully unable to jump accurately due to the injury you gave him. Despite that, he lands on your legs and starts to drag you toward him, abandoning his blaster in his rage while dirt billows around your struggling bodies.
You’re terrified, fear making you clumsy as you handle your blaster. You don’t want to die being strangled by some alien in this dirty alley but the numbness in your fingers has you moving slower than usual, hand heavy as you try to aim again. Sucking in a deep breath you scream, hoping that someone on the busy strip will hear you. But no one is coming for you and there is no time to wait. Panicked, you fire in the direction of the Rodian, not taking care to calculate possible ricochet points in the area. A shot connects, his heavy body falling on your hips, dead.
Fingers still numb, you hurtle upwards and try to wipe the dust out of your eyes to look at the bodies. The first Rodian you shot is a few feet away, slumped against the wall you were pinned to, blaster marks littering the brick surface from your panicked shots. Disgusted, you shove the dead body off of your legs and stand up.
As you analyze the second alien you realize something doesn’t add up here.
Somehow the blaster shot that killed him seems to be on the back of his head. How is that possible? Did I manage to reflect it off something and hit him from behind? You’re approaching the body to look for other possible causes of death when a large shadow leaps from the rooftop, landing heavily in a cloud of dust. You curse and aim your blaster at his head, pulling the trigger before you realize who it is.
He’s lucky his helmet is pure Beskar.
“Mando! What the fuck, I could’ve killed you!” Stomach feeling like it’s full of rocks, you march up to the man and slam a fist into his chest plate, hard. Looking up into his visor you feel a flash of misguided anger, lifting your fist to pound on his armor again. “Where the fuck were you anyway?!”
A large hand flashes up to catch your wrist before it can connect with his chest. He looks at you darkly. “Do you always hit people to thank them?” he asks, while his other hand reholsters the silver blaster back onto your hip.
“What do you mean, you-” The pieces connect in your mind, the impossible blaster shot in the back of the head of the Rodian and Mando’s positioning on the roof.
He saved your ass. Again.
You already realize your anger is misdirected, he didn’t do anything to warrant it. But the adrenaline and fear paired with your entire experience on Nevarro have wound you up to the point of lashing out. You shouldn’t be mad at him, and you should definitely apologize for almost killing him. Also, you should be thanking him for saving you even though you probably would’ve survived the mugging anyway. That criminal was unarmed at the end there.
But you don’t care. You weirdly want to argue with him, to try and break that cool attitude he’s been maintaining nearly all day.
“I could’ve gotten him easily. If I didn’t hurt my arm he would’ve been dead before you arrived, also you didn’t answer my fucking question. I thought I was your equal, Mando.” You mock his earlier phrasing from the cantina, hoping he’ll snap and say something back. But he doesn’t.
Instead, he does something so strange that all the turbulent emotions you’ve been harboring fly out of your body in one instant.
Bringing up one glove to cover your eyes, he holds the hand you punched him with at the bottom edge of his helmet, pushing it up with your clasped fingers. There is a quiet hiss and you can feel the weight of metal digging into your knuckles as the Beskar lifts. Your fingers meet with soft lips, coarse facial hair brushing your skin as he presses a kiss on the blossoming bruises there. Heat rushes to your cheeks and you suddenly can’t remember what you were yelling about.
It’s odd. You’ve seen the most intimate parts of him but only now, having felt his lips, do you truly recognize how rawly human he is.
Too soon- he draws away, the helmet settles back on his head. You step back blinking as the light hits your eyes, cradling your hand to your chest like it's been hurt. Which you guess it has. You can’t really feel it.
Unable to meet his gaze you stare at his boots, “You’re weird and I don’t understand you.” Your words sound embarrassingly breathless.
He chuckles quietly. “Good.” And after a beat of silence- “Do I get an apology?”
Annoyed at how he mirrored you throwing his words back at him, you look up glaring, but you’re unable to put any actual heat into your halfhearted expression. You’re still thinking about how soft his lips felt plus, you actually feel bad for lashing out at him.
“Yes, um, I’m sorry Mando, I was only mad because I was scared. I actually could’ve killed you, and those guys almost killed me- or worse.” You shrug, eyes round as you look at the violent scene in the alley. “Plus Karga is an asshole and you disappeared, telling me to wait around like a kid. I was in a bad mood.”
“Yeah.” He offers shortly. Is he gonna say more or- “Karga is an asshole.”
“...Is that all you’re going to address.”
“You’re a good shot. You could’ve killed these muggers without me, I just didn’t want you hurt.” He smoothes away a strand of hair from your cheek, tucking it behind your ear before gripping your chin, twisting your head to look at the scratches the Rodian left. “Pretty girl.”
Flushing red again while frozen in his grip, you stand there with him as he examines your face. His gaze is piercing, and you don’t know what he’s staring at. It doesn’t take this long to examine a face. You think he’s just looking at you.
“Let’s get back to the ship, that scratch needs some Bacta gel.” He drops his arm abruptly causing you to sway at the loss of an anchor. Hand flashing out to grip his bicep, you regain your balance before starting to pull him along, heading to the street.
----------------
The walk back to the Crest is short.
You don’t know your way around this city but shipyards are easy enough to find. You recognize the signs pointing it out after your time spent as a mechanic, streets gradually widening to form into a flat strip of land for the vessels, heavy machinery appearing here and there. As you walk, you oddly find yourself getting dizzy, steps starting to drag as you realize you may have injured yourself in the struggle. You can’t recall if you hit your head or if anyone hurt you aside from the gash on your cheek, which has begun to throb. Did you knock your head on the alley wall?
The Mandalorian grunts behind you when you trip, quickly overtaking your pace to throw your arm over his elbow, then walking at your side and subtly holding you steady. The Razor Crest rises into view over the horizon, so you speed up, relieved. You want to sit down so badly that you even try to jog but Mando holds you back. His helmet ducks down next to your ear.
“Don’t overexert yourself. I want to make sure that scratch isn’t poisoned.” He murmurs, voice overwhelmingly low. Your stomach twists with desire and surprise at the tone of it, he sounds like he’s flirting with you.
“Does danger turn you on or something?” You blurt, wondering if there is a pattern to the man's desires. He did let you suck him off right after yesterday's conflict and now he seems to be coming onto you after an attempted mugging. Is this a Mandalorian thing? Weirdo. He doesn’t answer you, but the ship is right there so you break away and march up to the lowering ramp.
You pause in the middle of the hull noticing some changes. The small cot seems to be upgraded, a patterned blanket is folded at the end and there is even a pillow. That sorry excuse of a fresher is more orderly too, shower hose hung from the ceiling like an actual, well, shower. There’s a sliding metal door for privacy installed on the entrance now too. The previously barren hull has a touch of coziness now, not enough to get in the way of efficiency, but everything is just a little more livable. It is unlikely that he did this just because you live with him now but the gesture is still thoughtful.
“Is this what you were doing?” You ask excitedly, walking across the room to sit on the end of the cot.
“Not the entire time.” He answers vaguely, fiddling with his vambrace to close the ramp and flick the lights on. You just sigh in response, laying back against the bed, the thin mattress has a soft squish that cradles your sore body. Eyes sliding shut you take in the lovely sensation for a few moments. A shadow covers the light behind your eyelids. You open them to peek at the end of the bed, already feeling a blush hot on your cheeks.
Mando is standing there, towering over you with his legs just brushing your dangling lower half. He leans over your frame, arm reaching over you like he’s going to prop himself on top of your body. Your heart pounds as he comes close enough to settle his hand next to your head, helmet hovering right above your forehead. The visor tilts down to look at you frozen underneath him, heat pooling in your lower belly. An almost inaudible hum comes through the voice filter sounding like the beginning of a word as if he were about to say something but decided against it.
You find your voice, asking him in a trembling whisper. ‘Wha-what? Did you say something?”
He makes that low noise again, replying, “Those scratches need Bacta,” before he gently shoves his hand under your shoulder and pulls, sitting you upright at the end of the cot.
Your eyes are round, lips pursed in confusion. Honestly, you forgot all about that.
“O-Oh yeah…” You manage to stutter out as Mando backs up from the opening, making his way to the storage shelves to rummage around. He comes back to the cot with a tin box, undoing the clasps to fish out a tube of gel and gauze. The imagery of medical equipment reminds you of the throbbing on your cheek, which is now accompanied by a throbbing in your cunt. Very conflicting feelings.
“There’s no discoloration or swelling, you’re likely not poisoned.” He starts wiping at your jaw with a wet fabric that smells of chemicals, cleaning off the rust-colored blood that dried there. “How are you feeling?”
“Ummm, fine pretty much.” His gentle motions make it hard to think, the swiping over your skin is so gentle that you’re zoning out. That is until he reaches the actual wound, which stings harshly from whatever liquid is saturating the fabric. You flinch, “Ouch! Well, it hurts now.”
“That means it's working.” Mando picks up the gel and dabs it on your cheek which helps to soothe the sting. “You say you feel fine yet you were stumbling around a minute ago. Are you sure you’re alright?”
His question is sweet but you don’t like how he points out your loss of balance. It both concerns you and is slightly embarrassing. Are you alright? You aren't sure, the stumbling could’ve been from a number of things, exhaustion, blood loss, or any other affliction. You feel worried now, grabbing at Mando’s free arm and locking eyes with the visor.
“I-I’m not sure… I’m kinda freaked out, is it possible that a toxin could have a delayed-release? What if I kneel over while we’re in hyperspace?” You finish the sentence a little high-pitched, unable to hide the worry in your voice. The Mandalorian circles your wrist with his fingers, bringing your hand to rest on top of your leg and placing his palm over it. His thumb rubs soothingly over your knuckles.
“I don’t think you’re in any danger. I’ll take a blood sample for testing then we can stay on Nevarro for an hour, just in case.” You make a sad noise when he removes his hand from yours, but he’s already sifting through the box of medical supplies, probably to find something to test your blood with. Pulling out a tube he turns to you and holds your hand again, which makes you smile until you realize the tube contains a needlepoint to prick your finger with. Oh yuck, you hate needles. A life spent surrounded by danger and that tiny jab still makes you nervous. Breaking out into a cold sweat, you look away as Mando jabs your pointer finger; he must’ve noticed your reaction because his thumb starts up that soothing pattern again.
“You’re a trained mercenary who is scared of needles?” His tone isn’t mocking, he seems to be trying to distract you. You just stick your tongue out at him instead of verbally responding, worried that your voice will shake. For some reason, Mando freezes at this, one arm halfway to the metal box, the tube of your blood in hand. It is so odd of him that you instantly take note of the reaction, wondering what you did. After a second he starts jerkily moving again, laying a small strip of paper down and dripping your blood on it. He pointedly keeps his gaze on the paper, refusing to face you even when you poke at him.
‘What? I can’t stick my tongue out at you?” You prod him again trying to provoke a response. You gasp when his hand flashes up and stops your finger in its path, his thick fingers wrapped around your wrist just like when you punched him in the alley.
“Not,” he punctuates the word by dragging your hand down his waist, “When it reminds me of my cock down your throat.”
Your clit throbs again, slickness starting to gather between your legs. “Ummm… sorry?” You reply dumbly, throat going dry when he presses your palm into his growing bulge with a groan.
His helmet glances at the strip of paper again. “Results are normal. We should still stay on the planet for an hour, just in case… How will we fill the time?”
You don’t know how to respond. Any former thoughts you had in your mind have flown away, leaving you blank. Staring at Mando, your mind races to form a decent response, but you must’ve hesitated for too long because he rolls his hips into your hand, fully hard now.
Whining, you lean toward him reaching out your free hand to wrap around his neck, but he moves away from your touch leaving you flushed on the cot. His helmet looks you up and down, contemplating something.
“Are you feeling alright?” He asks for the second time, voice an octave lower than before. He picks up the roll of gauze, unused at this point, and holds it halfway lifted in the air in front of you. You aren’t sure what he is going to use it for, you assumed to dress the wound but from the way he is holding it, he must have other ideas. He would’ve already patched you up if this were just about the fabric’s typical function.
“I’m feeling fine. The gel is working.” It’s the truth. You can’t feel your cheek throbbing anymore. The Bacta in your bloodstream has a calming effect as well, soothing your anxiety from before. You feel good even, clear-minded and thrumming with energy. You can’t imagine what he is planning but you know you want him so badly it hurts. Your heart quickens.
“Mando…” You breathe, the way you say his name is both a question and a prompt. He answers by unrolling a strip of gauze and holding it out in front of your face. The breathing through his modulator is audible now, pants heavy with desire.
“I cant- I can’t go slowly, if I fuck you right now. I want to try something else.” You nod fervently, completely ready for whatever he is thinking of doing to you however, you’re admittedly confused when he starts wrapping the gauze around your head and over your eyes. Mando unrolls several layers of gauze, a decently thick strip obstructing your vision to the point where little light penetrates the fabric. His voice startles you when you hear it right by your ear, asking, “Is this okay?”
You’re still wordless, nodding in response again. Mando hums and parts your legs with his hips, pulling you to his body and grinding against you. You mewl into the empty space in front of you and fling your arms out to find him, suddenly needing to feel as much of him as you can reach.
Hands connecting with his shoulders, you pull him down hard as if you were going to kiss him. The helmet bumps you in the face instead.
“Oops..” You murmur, embarrassed. Admittedly, you forgot all about the armor barrier between your bodies. Mando huffs softly and bumps you again, gently as to not hurt you with the heavy metal.
“Wanna guess my idea? “ He asks, sliding down your body, his fingers trailing over every inch of you, touching you as if to replace him kissing down your body. He reaches your hips and pauses there. You can’t see anything but you’re guessing he is staring at you, the thin leggings don’t leave much to the imagination. A finger presses onto your clothed slit, running up and down the length of your pussy to gather the wetness there. You can feel yourself soaking through your clothing, Mando’s fingertip is gliding wetly along your folds as if you were unclothed. You arch into his touch, needing more from him; the overwhelming sensation has you falling back onto the cot, laying there with your legs parted and the Mandalorian still between your legs.
The world feels like it’s spinning for a multitude of reasons, first and foremost being the desire you feel for the man crouched before you. Other, more complex thoughts on the situation swirl in your mind, paralyzing you with their intensity. You honestly didn’t think he would want you sexually again, especially not so soon. It just didn’t make sense for your idea of the Mandalorian, the image you carry of him as a person, all based on your time together even if much of that time was spent living separate lives. He flirted and inferred to sex a few times today, plus there was that kiss he lay on your bruised knuckles earlier. He defended you, backed up your claims, and spoke of respecting you and your skills. He’s done so much for you today, but you’re still blindsided as you sit here before him, unseeing in more ways than one. Most of all... you can’t stop thinking about that kiss.
Seconds after you physically attacked him and he offers you a kiss. It was the absolute last outcome you expected from your efforts to taunt him, you wonder if he’s even allowed to do that considering his vow to never show his face. You knew he was actively sexual just from your awful experiences on the mercenary station, although you never gave much thought to that drive. It didn’t need much thought, in your opinion. He is a man after all. Face bared or hidden away from the galaxy he still has needs, even if he is devoted to a religion that you can barely fathom the depths of. Your wants and needs seem minuscule next to the enigma of the Mandalorian.
This all seems unimportant when his fingers hook in the waistband of your leggings and pull. You whimper and lift your hips, trying desperately to speed up the process and bare yourself to him. The blasters you carry are still attached to your waist but you don’t try to remove them. Sex and guns pair together perfectly for the man.
Cool air hits your pussy at the same moment he moans low in his throat. “Fuck, look at you. Beautiful.”
That reminds you, “Can’t look, can I? N-not like this…” You still weren’t sure about the gauze blindfold he secured over your eyes, your only idea so far is that he must be into this sort of thing. Not that you’re complaining. The temporary loss of sight has heightened every other sense you have, especially touch and sound. You’re certain you’ll remember every word of this encounter for the rest of your life. He’s complimented you several times over the past few days. Pretty. Beautiful. You’ll never forget that.
“Still haven’t guessed?” The Mandalorian rumbles at your thigh, pulling your pants off your ankles and spreading your legs as wide as the cot doorway will allow. A short growl rips from his throat, his touch leaving your thighs much to your dismay as he fumbles with something. There is a heavy thud that you can't make sense of, he had to have set something large on the ground to make that noise but you don’t know what- oh. Oh, stars I can feel his breath.
He took his helmet off. For you. The pieces are falling in place quickly but you can’t react to it- you can’t even breathe, every implication of his gesture setting your world ablaze. Your heart is pounding, arms stretched out from the tension you hold in your limbs, you need an anchor, anything-
There's a hot puff of air on your clit and gloveless fingers digging into your thighs. He must’ve removed those too.
It’s like you’ve been sucked into a stasis chamber, the buzz of your cerebral cortex halting all efforts to process what’s happening, enveloped in a place so quiet that you feel fucking crazy. The anticipation is killing you, you’re going to die here and that’s alright, that’s fine, you’d love to die here, in fact- wait where is he? His face is somewhere near your aching center, you know this because you can feel each breath he exhales ghosting over your pussy, the muscles in your hips want to squirm and seek him out but you can’t. Not with all this atmospheric pressure gathering, the weighted air pressing harder and harder down on you and you know you’re about to break. But you’re terrified you’ll disrupt the spell that keeps you both frozen here, still and aching with pleasure. You’re gathering the courage to make the first move when Mando finally breaks the silence.
“From now on,” you interrupt him with a gasp at how different he sounds without the voice filter, the tone is so much fuller and warm, but he then continues unperturbed, “This is fucking mine.”
Your yelp echos off the walls when his hot, skillful tongue liiicks up your slit, flicking at the very top of its path off of your clit.
Fuck this feels so good, this feels so good, how does it feel like this, so fucking amazing? He barely even talks, how is he so dexterous with his tongue? Tortured noises fall out of your throat as Mando licks through your folds, trying to taste everything his mouth can possibly reach. He rolls his tongue repeatedly over your clit making you tense up and shake from the overwhelming sensation. There's a sound in the hull, you can barely discern the source of it at first but you suddenly realize it coming from your own mouth, a filthy mantra falling from your tongue.
Mando-Mando-Mando-Don’t stop- Please dont-Mando
He stops.
“Hey! What-” Your hands fly down and flounder around finding soft locks of hair and immediately latching on for dear life. Impatiently tugging at his scalp, you try to scoot down and find his talented tongue, your clit feeling cold and achy without his touch. But he’s so strong, a solid pillar of immovable stone and you can’t budge him at all, his only reaction being a deep growl when you yank a little too hard on his head. You must’ve pissed him off because one hand is suddenly on your heat, cupping your pussy with his palm but leaving a gap between your bodies, torturing you with the lack of friction. You whine pathetically at this game.
“Mando-fuck- why… pleeeaaase.” His touch leaves you entirely and you’re more desperate than ever, writhing to the point where you almost slide off the thin mattress onto the floor. Your inner thighs connect with broad hips again, this time without the barrier of your leggings between you. When your cunt presses into his crotch you realize you can feel more than the cloth of his dark pants, he must’ve pulled his cock out because you can feel his skin, the skin of his cock brushing over you plus just a patch of it from where the hem of his pants is pulled under his balls. A ragged sound tears from both of you when his thick length parts your lips, grinding against your clit.
“I-I thought you weren’t, I mean you said-”
“I’m not g-going to fuck you-” he gasps out, voice breaking despite the clear determination in his response, “not yet. I want you to use me and make yourself-fuck- cum. Fuck yourself on me.”
You’re speechless, there are absolutely no words in any of the Galaxy’s countless languages, known or unknown, that can succinctly express just how fucking turned on his suggestion makes you. Is this his way of giving back to you after you made him cum the night before? You don’t know, fuck- you don’t care either. Fuck whatever complex you had about owing him, you deserve this and you want it more than you’ve ever wanted anything in your fucking life.
His broad body is propped over yours, cock grinding into you over and over again as he rolls his hips and groans out, “Well? You want it like this, pretty girl? Or do you-”
You interrupt him by reaching between your legs and finding his cock, pushing it down your lips to your aching hole. He sucks in a sharp breath and everything is frozen in that quiet place again, just for a split second, before you press his length into your body, sinking down to the hilt.
A broken sound comes out of you, your throat so tight that your vocal cords can’t rub together to produce anything louder than a squeak. However, the Mandalorian is not without his words, a string of curses tumbling from him in that gorgeous, rough voice. Fuck, holy fuck, you wish you could hear him speak like that for the rest of time, his real voice without the modulator hits you straight in the gut. He called you beautiful yet he doesn’t realize the power of his beauty has completely destroyed you. You’ll do anything for him, for that voice. When he claimed your pussy as his you realized that there was never a point in time where it didn’t belong to him. The Mandalorian moves mountains with his claims.
He is like a mountain himself, completely stilling his body the second you let him inside you. You clench down on his thick length and drag yourself off of him, leaving only the swollen head inside your hole. You’re burning up, a sweat breaking out over your entire body as you try to take his cock. He’s so thick inside you, stars you can't control your fluttering lower muscles that pulse from the strain. The saliva and slickness helped him slide inside initially but now you’re clenched around him painfully tight as you try and adjust to his size. He lays so still for you, still muttering curses at the feeling of you, yet patient as you work yourself on his cock. But at some point, you can’t help letting out a little wail when you fuck yourself on him, the debilitating mix of pain and pleasure is fucking overwhelming and he can tell you’re struggling.
Mando settles lower on your body, elbows next to your head and armored torso brushing against your upper half, the ridges on his cuirass catching your nipples through your shirt. The movement slightly ruts his hips, an inch of his cock entering you accidentally. You swear and freeze at the sensation, face screwing up-it’s so good but you hurt just slightly. His mouth must be close to your face because you can feel his breath on your skin when he starts whispering filthy encouragement.
“You’re doing so fucking good for me, taking my cock- fuck you’re so tight, how are you so tight- Maker that has to hurt, you can do it baby, keep-keep trying.” The elbow to your right lifts off the thin mattress, his hand caressing down your body, over your breasts, down your side, gentle trails from his fingertips ghosting over your skin and sending tingles all over. This helps to relax your muscles a little, you feel the walls of your cunt loosen just enough to relieve the uncomfortable ache. Wetness gathers around his cock from his encouragement, as you slide with more ease along him grinding yourself up and down on his solid cock.
It is fucking indescribable, a nearly out of body experience fucking yourself on him, every time you bottom out the thick head presses into a spot that sends flashes of white behind your eyelids. You can't even moan right now, the only noises you manage are shuddering gasps and whines as you feel yourself rise higher and higher. The peak is right there, you can feel it, you’re right fucking there-
“M-Mando, I’m gonna-gonna-fuck, I’m going-I-” You’re frantic, unable to string together the words
The hand exploring your body diverts its path, reaching between your legs to rub strong circles around your clit.
He’s saying something to you but you can’t understand him, a rush of blood in your ears drowns out all other senses, the only thing you can feel is your blinding climax and the thick cock in your body. You’re clamped down tight on him as the sensation rips through you, building you up and destroying you over and over again. You can’t comprehend how he has the control to just hold himself there, you feel like you’re being wrung dry with how tightly you clench around him with each pulse of your orgasm. Eventually, the white noise fades from your ears and sensation returns to the rest of you, limbs tingling as you stretch the taut muscles.
Mando is trembling above you, arms shaking from the effort of propping himself up for so long. A soft noise leaves you and you wrap your arms around him, trying to soothe the tightness in his muscles like he did for you but the armor gets in your way. He makes a low noise in his throat when you skim over his side, finally allowing himself to rest when he lays on top of you, one arm still holding his full weight back so as to not crush you. You reach an arm under his shirt trying to feel more of his skin, but the padding and metal still attached to his body prevent you from moving more than a few inches.
This time, you’re first to break the silence, “What did-what were you saying?” you ask, not wanting to miss anything he says to you in his real, unfiltered voice. He doesn’t say or do anything at first, his hesitation lasting long enough that you resign yourself to never knowing. But then he lifts his head from where it lays next to yours and you feel the sharp tip of his nose brush your good cheek, over the bridge of your nose to the other side, then press closer into you as his lips meet yours.
His kiss is so gentle that you forget he’s still hard inside you. All you can think about is the heat of his mouth crushing against yours, pressure held back enough so that he doesn’t dig into your injured cheek but filled with a promise of the energy he holds in his powerful body. You fucking hate those Rodians more than ever because you would give anything for him to kiss you with his full strength right now, holding back nothing.
But soon -too soon, he draws back from your mouth and pulls his cock out of you. You blush at the obscene noise your wetness makes as he curses and wrenches the last inch away from your pussy, leaving you empty.
‘Come back to me…” You whisper desperately, reaching out for him.
“Fuck I can’t- I don’t want to hurt you.” Mando spits out, sounding wrecked, “I want to so fucking bad but I-”
You try pleading with him, wanting him to feel just as much blinding pleasure as you did from the way your bodies fit so perfectly together. “You won’t hurt me I swear, I can take it-you said I could.”
He groans in a tortured, painful way, hesitating for a moment and you think you might’ve just convinced him to come back and fuck you- but the hand that eventually touches you isn’t anywhere near your pussy. He’s wrapping the gauze from your eyes, pulling it from your head to press into your cheek. You blink as your eyes adjust to the yellow light of the Crests hull, the usually dull fluorescents are piercing. Still, your vision is not quite blurry enough to hide the gleam of the polished Beskar sitting back on Mandos’s head. You swallow your disappointment at losing the pure tone of his voice to that damn modulator.
“I can't,” he says softly, “you’re bleeding again. It was too rough.”
You can’t argue with him. You feel a bit weak and dizzy which is not just from your powerful orgasm. Sleeping in the cockpit didn’t grant you the most restful night; you’re exhausted, slipping away even as he speaks.
“I’m sleepy...” You mumble, your speech very simple when you’re this exhausted. Mando makes a low noise, indiscernible in tone now that it is passing through the voice filter. You hate that thing for stealing away the depth of his voice even as it fades with your consciousness.
“Sleep now… I’ll pilot the ship while you rest. Sleep…”
And so you do.
------------------------------------------
It’s many hours later. The ship hurtles through hyperspace as you stand and examine your cheek in the tiny mirror of the fresher, basked in yellow light. The wound isn't very deep but it’s long, stretching from the high point of your cheekbone halfway down to your jaw. You grimace at the sight. That will definitely leave a scar...
The Mandalorian is moving quickly behind you in the ship's hull, arranging the carbonite freezing slabs in a way that you can’t make sense of but don’t really care about. You’re too preoccupied with your reflection to consider it. Mando takes note of this.
“Warrior marks.” He tells you, walking across the length of the ship to lean against the doorway of the small fresher. “Wear them proudly, burc’ya.”
Wear them proudly.
And so you do.
#din djarin x reader#the mandalorian#the mandalorian x reader#din djarin x you#reader insert#fanfic#smut fic#mando x you#the mandalorian/reader#din djarin/you#din djarin/reader#the mandalorian fanfic#smut#din djarin#star wars#star wars fic#fanfiction
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Hi! Not sure how to phrase this. I have a character who was tortured, physically and otherwise, for a long time starting from say 16. The torture was a way of training and conditioning this character to be a certain way, punishing "wrong" behaviour. Kinda like brainwashing. At some point this character gives in. My question is 3-part. 1, is this scenario possible? 2, can this "programming" be broken? 3, if so, would there be times where it "snaps back" ?
This scenario isn’t possible. Or rather- it wouldn’t ‘work’ the way the people doing the ‘training’ think it should. You should really start by reading this post on torture apologia present in fiction and how to avoid it.
Before I go any further I’d advise you not to use the term ‘psychological torture’ in your writing. It’s a term that torture apologists tend to use to refer to practices that are physically harmful (sometimes fatal) but don’t leave obvious scars. These ‘clean’ tortures, like stress positions, solitary confinement and starvation are not ‘psychological’.
Torture is physically harmful. Downplaying or ignoring that belittles what survivors go through.
This does not mean that emotional abuse, coercion and manipulation are not harmful. They are. But they do not, to my knowledge, cause kidney failure, heart attacks, strokes or any of the other possible causes of death by clean tortures.
Brainwashing doesn’t work. Not in the sense of beating someone until they think the way the abuser wants anyway, and that’s the impression I’m getting from this ask.
If the abuser characters want the victim to perform tasks then this kind of abuse is probably going to make the victim much worse at those task then they would have been otherwise.
I mention that because a lot of asks with this scenario are using it as ‘training’ for being a soldier, assassin or thief. And working under the assumption that a torture survivor would be ‘better’ at it as a result. Often what the author describes in the ask would be fatal.
Leaving this story as it is isn’t just unrealistic; it is unrealistic in ways that excuse torture or downplay the harm it causes. It suggests that survivors are controlled by torturers. That torture can ‘force’ people to change their strongly held beliefs. It suggests that because of these two things survivors are dangerous and this is a line of thought that is used to bar real survivors from real help.
None of that is true. This is not how torture functions.
I think removing the apologia gives you two choices with this scenario. You can carry on with a scenario close to the current one, in which case it shouldn’t be treated like brainwashing but like slavery; so there are no ‘programmed’ behaviours or changed beliefs but there’s a lot of abuse and coercion that effects the character in a lasting way.
Or you can change the scenario in a way which could have a chance to effect the victim character’s beliefs and feelings. They wouldn’t become a programmed automata, but they could come out of it wanting to behave the way their abusers told them to. This is unlikely to work if there is any sort of deprivation or physical abuse.
I’ll talk a little about both possibilities. Realistic or not there’s something in the original scenario that appealed to you, that felt important to the story. I think you can find it again in one of the more realistic scenarios. But I don’t know what it was you found interesting, what you wanted to explore.
You know that best; the choice of which scenario is best for your story is up to you.
Let’s start with slavery.
People who are beaten and abused in an attempt to force them to work will often chose to comply. But I don’t think it’s accurate to treat this as if they’ve done anything other then make a hard-headed conscious choice.
These victims assess the situation they are in and generally they choose to comply because they recognise that they’re more likely to survive if they do.
Many of them will see compliance as a short term strategy that makes successful escape more likely in the longer term.
And there are limits to this compliance. Enslaved people resist in a huge variety of ways. Granted not all of these actions are obvious or successful, but they are intended as acts of resistance and should be understood that way.
People enslaved during the transatlantic trade launched organised wars against the people who enslaved them. They faced guns with crude or no weapons. And sometimes, as in Haiti, they won.
They also organised large scale escapes and founded sophisticated, separate societies. The most famous of which were in Brazil.
They poisoned and attacked slavers. They sabotaged equipment. They destroyed property. They conducted banned religious rituals, educated themselves and others. They also committed suicide in large numbers and they stated that this was to spite the people who enslaved them.
In short enslaved people do not stop being people.
Torture encourages resistance. It causes an unbelievably strong feeling of opposition to the torturers and everything the survivor associates with them. This can sometimes extend to whole races, countries, religious groups, institutions and so forth.
Enslaved people do not agree with the people who abuse them. And I do not think their actions, their decisions should be understood as long term ‘obedience’ but as short term compliance in the face of real threats and coercion.
You are probably wondering why enslaved people feel they need to comply. You may also be connecting this compliance to the violence meted out on enslaved people.
Based on what I’ve read about historical and modern slavery I think this is a simplistic view of a complex situation. And you come to me because it’s hard to see that complexity without dropping sixty quid and three months on reading materials.
I don’t think violence is the whole picture in these scenarios. Focusing on the violence often means overlooking the systematic structural features which encourage enslaved people to comply.
Escape is made physically difficult, sometimes life threatening. Slaves are generally moved far away from their family home, cutting them off from social support. They’re actively prevented from contacting friends, family or people the slaver does not approve of.
They are repeatedly told that they can’t seek redress from any kind of authority figure. Historically even if there were laws supposed to ‘protect’ slaves courts systematically sided with slavers over the enslaved. Nowadays slaves are usually told that if they go to the police the police will just arrest them for immigration offences, or drug dealing, or prostitution.
This is often true.
Slavers work to cut off their victims from any form of outside support; be it material or emotional. They deliberately create an environment where slaves feel they can not leave without help while being cut off from any help.
Something I often see described in survivor accounts is a figure I call the ‘promoted slave’.
This is someone who says they started out at the same level the slaves did, they complied, they ‘worked hard’ and they were rewarded with wealth and a position of authority over the slaves. These people consistently present the idea that the slaves will be better off if they comply.
Finally slaves are put in a situation where escape would leave them in a state of deprivation. The slaver tries to make sure they don’t have money, an alternative place to go or anything they could practically use.
So successful escape could mean sleeping on the streets. It could mean starving. Or freezing. Or a dozen other deaths by deprivation. Slavers not only point this out but work to make it seem more likely then it actually is.
All of these factors are significant. They combine to manipulate a lot of victims into thinking the only sensible choice is compliance.
But they also don’t work on everybody and they don’t work forever. Some victims will still refuse from day one. Some victims will comply for years and then reach point where they feel the only thing left to do is actively resist.
There is no such thing as a certain way to ‘make’ everyone obey.
Which brings me to option two and ICURE.
ICURE is a set of techniques that can, over time, change a person’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviours. Again, these are not 100% effective. They are also a lot less likely to work if the victim is in any sort of pain.
Because inflicting pain encourages disobedience.
For ICURE to be effective the character would have to be removed from their usual social circle by the group of people attempting it. They would need to stay with this group of people for several years and the group would have to use ICURE consistently throughout that time.
It would also be more likely to work if the targetted character sees the members of this group as their friends, as kind, caring, trustworthy people.
ICURE stands for Isolate, Control information, create Uncertainty, use Repetition and Emotive arguments.
The first point should be pretty obvious. The character needs to be isolated from their previous social circle and support network. When people don’t receive any information from outside of the group the group eventually becomes their most trustworthy source. When they don’t have social contact outside the group they become reliant on the group for support.
Controlling information means that anything the character learns is first filtered through the larger group. It’s a form of censorship which means the character is only exposed to information that supports the group/ideas the group wants the character to have.
This is combined with creating uncertainty about beliefs the group wants the character to reject. Often this means only providing information that discredits their previous belief system (whether this information is correct or not). It can also mean extended discussions about ‘why x is wrong’.
Repetition is, what it says on the tin. It’s repeating this pattern of only giving the character information the group wants them to have, positive messages about the ideals the group wants to instil and negative messages about previous belief systems. Consistent repetition over a long period of time has an effect on our beliefs. Sometimes it even effects them when we know the information is wrong.
Emotive arguments means- well keeping any discussion away from logic. Something like- going from ‘well I’m not sure this idea about our belief system lines up with our holy text’ to the manipulative character asking why the target hates them/God/the entire church.
If this set of behaviours sounds like a cult or an emotional abusive relationship- well that’s because it pretty much is.
In a slavery scenario a character is generally complying because they think they’ll die if they don’t, and they don’t judge it to be worth dying over.
In ICURE characters obey the way someone might obey a teacher or a priest or a strict parent.
To be clear ICURE can not make a character like someone. It creates reliance, not attachment.
But if the attachment is there as well, if that builds up separately, then you end up with one of the strongest and most reliable motivations for a character to obey someone: they don’t want to let someone they care about down.
Availableon Wordpress.
Disclaimer
#writing advice#tw torture#tw slavery#tw suicide#torture apologia#torture does not work#torture survivors are not broken#resistance to torture#resistance to slavery#ICURE#compliance under threat#torture and obedience
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Hi! So, I’ve just recently gotten into K-Dramas, and... I have a small issue, and that is though I LOVE them in the beginning, by the end they always disappoint me? Like, they start lighthearted and fun, and then by the end suddenly everyone’s in mortal peril, and I don’t care? Or they start all fantasy, and then it’s all about the romance in the end? So... Could you possibly recommend me ones that are good, or tone consistent, throughout? Please?
Hi! Thanks for dropping by for recs. These are some of my favorite asks. I just love going back through my watch list and finding dramas that fit a given criteria. It gets more fun the more dramas I've seen.
The thing about Kdramas that makes them a uniquely sticky beast is that many of them are live-shot week to week, at least for part of their run, and often the scripts are not fully written before filming begins. Popular Kdramas will also occasionally receive extensions which can cause further pacing and plot issues and (sometimes) cause a story to sputter out entirely. With the increasing prevalence of entirely preproduced dramas there's been an increase in overall drama quality and consistency in past years. That being said, Kdramas are still a decidedly mixed bag in terms of overall production quality. So it pays to either drop things with extreme prejudice if you stop enjoying them and watch widely, or to have a good drama filter friend (like me!) to give you vetted recs. As a genre a lot of the more "classic" feeling dramas have a tendency to start really light hearted and then swing super dramatic in the latter half. That's something I occasionally like, but lucky for you not all dramas are like that!
Your ask doesn't really tell me what genre of Kdrama most appeals to you, so I went through my list and tried to find you wide a variety of dramas that I think of as being well-paced and tonally consistent throughout. I've also tried to limit myself to dramas that I rated highly on MDL, although my primary criteria was "good and tonally consistent" so this list of dramas is kinda all over the map. But then, so are my tastes. Also, I kinda got the impression from your ask that you're not a fan of the uber-melodramatic side of kdramas and you want something a little more restrained and less soapy, so I tried to steer away from those more makjang dramas but did not entirely succeed, lol. I gave a couple sentences of description so you can more readily narrow down what you're interested in, and if you would like a more thorough review of the dramas some of these have full reviews on my blog which I went ahead linked where they exist.
Age of Youth: A well written slice-of-life ensemble drama about a group of 5 college age women who end up boarding together. There are a couple moments of high drama/trauma toward the end of the show that might be a turn off. But other than the finale the tone is consistent. 9/10
Arang and the Magistrate: A dark fantasy fusion sageuk with a romance. I included this drama because it does a good job of developing the creepy worldbuilding and fantasy throughout. Though at points it can be a bit slow and the special effects are hella cheesy. 8/10
Argon: A tight, journalism driven suspense drama. Not always my genre but I found it very engaging, and at eight episodes it does not overstay its welcome. 8/10
Be Melodramatic: Another female-centric slice-of-life ensemble drama, though with an emphasis on fourth wall breaking comedy and clever dialogue. Very funny and heartfelt. 8.5/10
Cheese in the Trap: Maybe a controversial inclusion, but I very much enjoyed this drama. A slice-of-life college romance with psychological thriller elements. Some critics felt that the drama focused too heavily on the second male lead in the later half of the story, but YMMV. 8.5/10
Coffee Prince: Classic cross-dressing romance and still probably the best of its kind. A wonderfully nuanced and progressive handling of the subject matter, even after 13 years. Deals with serious subjects but doesn't go too melo with it. 8.5/10
Children of Nobody: My best of 2019, a dark psychological thriller about a child psychiatrist and a police detective who have to confront gray morality while attempting to track down a serial killer who only targets unrepentant child abusers. 9.5/10
Ex-Girlfriend Club: On the lighter side, a friends-to-lovers type romantic comedy about the writer of an autobiographical webtoon who has to figure out a way to get along with a group of his ex-girlfriends to make a movie based on his work. Only 12 episodes. 8.5/10
Go Back Couple: Also only 12 episodes (these shorter dramas tend to be better paced I find) a time-slip drama about a divorced couple who get the chance to relive their twenties and end up realizing they still have feelings for each other. This drama is both very funny and it had me bawling on multiple occasions. 9.5/10
Healer: A favorite of a lot of drama fans, this is an action-focused romance about an awkward soft boy with a secret identity as a highly skilled errand boy to criminals and an intrepid tabloid reporter who is his biggest fan. This drama is pretty tropey, but it's fun and the romance is great. 8.5/10
Hello Monster (aka I Remember You): A police procedural with a background love line about a criminal profiler looking for his lost brother and a detective looking for her father's murderer. One of my personal favorites. 10/10
Hit the Top (aka The Best Hit): A time-slip fish-out-of-water comedy about a 90s pop star who winds up in modern day Seoul and ends up befriending his biological son and meets old friends who his disappearance left in the lurch. 9/10
Incomplete Life (aka Misaeng): A realistic office drama that gave me real world work anxiety, focusing on a failed Go player who winds up an intern at a highly competitive shipping company and has to find a way to earn his keep even without the background and college education of his coworkers. Unbelievably well done ensemble drama. 9/10
Just Between Lovers: A romantic melodrama about two people whose lives were irrevocably changed by a tragic mall collapse that nearly killed them as children, meeting again as adults and finding comfort and healing in each other. A rough sit at times, but a wonderful love story with incredible acting. 9/10
Just Dance: High school, slice-of-life, drama about a dance club in a technical high school and a group of working class kids who reluctantly become involved in this club and befriend each other. Only 8 episodes (or 16 thirty minute episodes, depending on how you recon it.) 8.5/10
Life on Mars: Remake of the British show of the same name, this is a surreal time-slip police drama, about a forensics expert who gets shot in the head and wakes up in 1988. Or does he? He could also be dying on an operating table. It's hard to tell. Dark, suspenseful and trippy. 9/10
Matrimonial Chaos: An off-beat comedy about two dysfunctional couples who become inescapably mixed up in each others lives. One that's having a hard time getting divorced and another that's having a hard time getting married, and all the messy weird emotions that go along with that. This is another one of those, makes you laugh/makes you cry throughout dramas I have an affinity for. 9/10
Moment of Eighteen: A heartfelt high school drama about a straightforward but awkward loner who is forced to transfer to a new school, immediately earns the ire of a powerful student and experiences first love. Not my usual thing, but very well written with complex and likeable characters. 8/10
Mother: A cold and socially isolated woman becomes a temporary teacher and upon discovering one of her students is being severely abused and neglected, decides to pose as the child's mother and go on the run with her. Like Children of Nobody, this can be a bit of a rough watch because of the subject matter but it is very well done. 9.5/10
My Mister: A healing, human drama about a structural engineer in his 40s and a debt-ridden young woman in her 20s who end up crossing paths and saving each other from a miserable existence. My current all time favorite drama. Cannot say enough good things about it. Practically perfect in every way. 10/10
One Spring Night: A very restrained and naturalistic slow-burn romance about a woman who is about to get married and suddenly begins to question her relationship and a single father who had given up on love who find themselves irresistibly drawn to one another. 9/10
Prison Playbook: An ensemble slice-of-life drama centered on prisoners and correctional officers in their day to day lives. I find the actual het romances in this drama totally useless, but it's a large and talented cast playing a variety of lovable characters. 8/10
Psychopath Diary: Recent fave. A screwball black comedy about a mild mannered pushover who loses his memory and finds a diary that convinces him he's a psychopathic murderer, which gives him a huge boost of confidence from his new found identity, much to the chagrin of those around him and the actual owner of the diary himself. 8.5/10
Queen In Hyun's Man: A drama about a Joseon scholar who time travels to modern day Seoul and meets an actress who just landed a part playing the queen he served in the past. This one might be on the border line of too dramatic or tonally inconsistent, but it's got one of the most pitch perfect finales in Kdramas and the 45 min episodes keep it a snappy watch that doesn't drag or meander too much. 8/10
Reply 1988: A late 80s nostalgia drama about a group of families who all live off the same alley. Lovely family drama, comedy with a variety of romances. Long ass episodes especially later in the run, but I have rewatched the whole thing and I loved every minute of this show. 9.5/10
Save Me: A dark drama about a young woman who finds herself forced into a dangerous cult by her family, and is desperate to escape, and a group of 4 local young men who try to help her. One of the more unique and well done OCN thrillers. 9/10
School 2013: High school ensemble drama that launched a whole bunch of careers. In general I avoid school dramas (I know there have been three on this list so far, but those are like the only three, lol) but this show got me so invested in all these students and teachers. Also the two male leads are so shippable. 9.5/10
Secret Love Affair: A romantic melodrama about a piano prodigy from an underprivileged background who catches the eye of a married older woman and the two fall into a passionate affair. This drama involves cheating (obviously) but it's beautifully filmed and written and the music is to die for. 9.5/10
Signal: This is a supernatural crime thriller and a perennial favorite in the Kdrama community. An imbittered criminal profiler finds an antique police radio which allows him to speak with a police detective 15 years in the past, and uses this to crack cold cases and try to prevent brutal crimes from ever happening. 9/10
Six Flying Dragons: This one is a bit different from the others on the list, first of all because it's a more traditional historical drama, and secondly because it 50 episodes long. But it is so, so very good. And if you're looking for overall consistency in terms of storytelling and tone this drama has it in spades. 9/10
SKY Castle: A unique melodrama about a group of affluent competitive mothers who will go to any lengths to get they're children into the best medical schools, and a mysterious school coordinator with shady motives who gets brought in as a ringer to give them an edge. This show is kind of hard to sell but very entertaining and watchable. 7.5/10
Stranger (aka Secret Forest): The story of a stalwart prosecutor who, due to a childhood trauma is unable to feel the full spectrum of emotions, works with a bighearted police detective to root out corruption around a series of murders. This one’s rather cerebral and requires your full attention but the leads are amazing and there's a second season coming out this year I'm very much looking forward to! 9/10
The Nokdu Flower: Another sageuk drama about the latter years of the Joseon Dynasty surrounding three people who fall on different sides during the Donghak Peasant rebellion. Incredibly well written and involving historical drama. If you're not sure you're ready to commit to something like Six Flying Dragons, I think this would be another good entry point into the genre. The acting is amazing. 9/10
The Smile Has Left Your Eyes: A romantic melodrama and psychological thriller about a dangerous enigmatic young man on the cusp of becoming either a human being or a monster. He becomes involved in a fraught relationship with the sister of a police detective at the same time her protective older brother begins to focus on him as the prime suspect for a murder. High key moody and tragic if you're into that kind of thing (I am). 9/10
Touch Your Heart: On the complete other end of the drama spectrum, this show is pure unadulterated fluff, which managed to keep me giggling and swooning throughout the run, even though it's typically not my thing. An actress joins a law office as research for a role and falls for the ace attorney she's assisting. 8.5/10
WATCHER: Another OCN thriller about three different people with shady motivations who are connected to the same murder case and become involve in a corruption task force looking into dirty cops. One of those "trust nobody, everyone's a suspect" dramas with lovely complex characters and a fully engaging plot. 8.5/10
Sorry that got so out of hand! This is what happens when you don't give me a little more direction I guess. These are all dramas I quite enjoyed and I believe you will find something in there that will suit your fancy. This is a pretty accurate cross section of my tastes.
Happy watching!
Jona
#asks#answered#kdrama recs#this got stupid long#i got half way through writing my two sentence plugs and was like#omg why did i put so many dramas on this list#lemme just casually throw together a list of 30+ titles that’s what you want right#like wtf#oh well#hope you find something you like anon#i have no idea why i’m this way either
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Anime adaptations don't do Kuroshitsuji manga justice and this is why Kuro is so unpopular. Kuroshitsuji needs new anime that follows the manga, characters are in-character, there's no implied sebaciel (large majority of anime fans are repulsed by this and avoid anything that gives off yaoi vibes, this is why aot is much more popular with everyone - there's (gay) relationships but they aren't fanservice or child-adult) and it needs more dark/serious moments and better animation and soundtrack.
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Dear Anon,
I agree that the anime really does not do ‘Kuroshitsuji’ any justice. Even with the bettered animation the impact is just tiers below the manga does. What I found unbelievable was how an animated scene managed to be more static than a literal static page from the manga…
Episode 7 versus chapter 31.
Book of Murder OVA 2 vs chapter 49
Though, I really do not know anything about the ratio of fans being drawn to vs being appalled by the BL fanservice in the anime, so I cannot comment on that. All I do know is that some changes were - at the time - the better choice.
Sebastian
The change of Sebastian as mentioned in the post linked above was apparently an effective choice. At the beginning, many fans were of the opinion that the manga Sebastian was less appealing than his anime counterpart. Some said that the original Sebastian was too lanky, childish and less gallant, which did a poor job at hitting people’s buttons. In this post for example, I talked about how Editor K was well aware of fan-reactions to the two Sebastians, and that anime!Sebastian was the main fan-magnet. Therefore, in order to get the musicals off the ground, he explicitly instructed Matsushita to use anime Sebastian as reference as he was more popular at the time.
Visuals
Ciel too was changed a bit, but mostly his visuals. The animators decided to make his hair bluer, as a more distinct colour-coding of ‘the black butler and the blue bocchan’ would be more iconic, and therefore more memorable. It wasn’t until ‘Book of Circus’ that O!Ciel was returned his grey-ish hair, and ‘Book of the Atlantic’ where Sebastian’s eyes were coloured as Yana intended them to be.
Yana designed Sebastian’s eyes to be “the colour of black tea” when in default human form (not real English black tea, so not the colour of his soul. In Japanese ‘black tea’ is actually written as ‘red tea’. So it’s a brown colour with a red hue.), explaining that it’s the best he can do to resemble a natural eye-colour for humans. His eyes when glowed up would be a bright red.
In the old animation however, as we all probably still remember, Sebas’ default colour is true red, while they’d glow up pink instead.
Success of ‘Attack on Titan’
… well, that’s an altogether different story. But I would say that ‘Kuroshitsuji’ and ‘Attack on Titan’ are too different in any field to be held into comparison. It’d be like comparing chocolate to a Boeing 787.
The success of ‘Attack on Titan’ is really not the parts of its sum. The main reason is just that it’s a well animated series that lives up to the expectations of ‘a mainstream’, (and that the airing time is not f*cking ridiculous. Just for reference, these ⇊ are the airing times for Kuro. Yes, they know it’s so ridiculous they made up extra hours in a 24h day to make it look like it’s acceptable.)
The animation and soundtrack of ‘Attack on Titan’ are of course top notch, I think nobody can deny that. A high budget animation is always a good draw for any audience, but it’s not a matter of ‘people making the wise or stupid choice of high/low budget animation’. It is simply that the studios need to make an estimate of whether they are going to earn the costs back for expensive animation, which is why usually niche-productions only get middle-ranked if not lower budgets. And as discussed in the original post, ‘Kuroshitsuji’ is a series that walks VERY awkwardly on the edge between mainstream and niche.
The ultimate flaw to ‘Attack on Titan’ is that it was animated too soon, and the constant hiatus the anime-watchers were forced into resulted in more frustration every time. On top is that the story constantly keeps piling up 10 new mysteries for every half an answer they would give, and that also lead to enormous frustrations and rage-quits among audiences. Most people are painfully aware of how much damage an ill-balanced give-and-take can do for a series. *UGHUM Kuro manga…*
I wonder how long ‘Attack on Titan’ can continue with its fanbase with frustration levels being so high… and the Not!Nazi and Not!Antisemitism parallel is tasteless to say the least.
Ships?
As for the real homosexual relationships in ‘Attack on Titan’ being present in there, and whether that’s an appeal or not. I would say it’s mostly very popular among the passionate minority who care. (I know there are many people who care, but it’s still not the majority.)
‘Attack on Titan’ has a very different demographic of fans than ‘Kuroshitsuji’ has. The target audience is boys or young male adults who are there for the action and/or mystery, and the majority of audience (in Japan at least) is indeed that group. In contrast, the target audience of ‘Kuroshitsuji’ is girls or young female adults who are there for bishies, ships and mystery.
The inter human-relationships are really on low priority among the target audience of ‘Attack on Titan’; hence neither animators nor the mangaka need to take the presence of ships into first account. And let us be fair, two (or more) people don’t even need ANY interaction for people to ship them; so ‘Attack on Titan’ does not need to take the shipping tendencies of fans into consideration either.
The priority of the animators is to give the anime a very flashy and smooth, and impactful animation, good tension in the action scenes, and sprinkle it with some good catharsis for the heroes and their sacrifices. That’s it.
Conclusion
In a nutshell; where anime ‘Kuroshitsuji’ was aiming for a small but loyal fanbase, ‘Attack on Titan‘s objective is to reach a very wide audience. The strategies are too different to be compared.
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The really wild thing about people continuing to be upset at Rise for daring to exist is that honestly, there’s never been a better time to be a fan of varied takes on the franchise. You want a more “mature” TMNT? Great! IDW is going strong and nearing 100 issues, and it’s absolutely some of the best storytelling ever done with the characters. Batman/TMNT is on its third crossover (not counting the more kid friendly Adventures one), and the movie adaptation is the most violent turtles project ever put to film. Even the edgelordiest stuff from the ‘90s like Bodycount and the Image series--the kind of thing people feared would get swept under the rug when Nickelodeon bought the property--are back in print for the first time in years, with the latter even finally getting an official conclusion. Now more than ever, TPTB seem to realize that there’s an all ages market out there for turtle content.
Go into a store and you’ll pretty quickly find that the ‘80s turtles merch is almost just as prominent as the new stuff. NECA’s still putting out amazing figures based on the 1990 movie, IDW’s been steadfast in making Mirage material accessible, etc. Rise isn’t a threat to any of that; it isn’t taking any previous series’ place as the dominant pop culture “face” of the TMNT. It’s just expanding the franchise into the next generation, and using a style that fits into today’s animation landscape. So if it turns out that style doesn’t do it for you? That’s okay. There’s plenty of other new stuff on the way, and 35 years of existing TMNT history to enjoy. Not every version is gonna appeal equally to every person.
Now, I’m not being anti-criticism here--by all means, talking about a show’s problems is fair game. But bombarding social media aimed at the target audience--you know, actual kids--with tantrums about the Rise turtles not being your TMNT? That’s unbelievably selfish and short-sighted. There’s a whole separate argument to be made for every turtle cartoon being a unique reflection of its time/audience, but the bottom line is this: if you grew up loving TMNT, why would you ever want to deny that experience to someone else?
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Off-the-Cuff First-impressions Review: Trials of Mana
I got Seiken Densetsu 3/Trials of Mana in the mail today and am surprised by just how excited I am about it. After the admittedly predictable letdowns of the Secret of Mana “remake” and the FFVIII “remaster,” not to mention the iOS revision of the former, you’d think I’d be jaded at this point.
But! FFVII remake is Actually Good, and so far it looks like Trials of Mana is, while certainly lower budget, also Actually Good. The voice acting is kinda meh, but not bad enough to detract from the game in my opinion, and considering they are working with SNES-era scripts (the dialogue is 99% word-for-word the same as the more recent translation of the original SD3 game, so it’s going to be a bit stilted anyway) it’s really not bad at all.
Besides, the actual meat of the game--the world, character and monster design, and the gameplay--is extremely solid and I have had very little trouble acclimating to it. It’s fun to play, it feels good to run around and explore the world and the battles are both very simplistic in a way that is familiar to an old fart like me and very satisfying in the way they function. One of the biggest weaknesses the original game had was absolutely horrendous input lag in some areas due to 1. the sheer size of the loaded map section, such as Rolante/Laurant, 2. The number of on-screen instructions the SNES had to process during battles, particularly during fights where you had massive sprites taking up the entire screen (the awful awful wall-guardian “Genova” [harhar] is probably the single hardest boss in the game purely due to input lag/drops; when you attack an enemy, even assuming your weapon swings when you tell it to, and that’s a big ‘if,’ the monster you are attacking is actually in a state which is several frames ahead of whatever state it visually appears to be in on-screen, making it extremely difficult to time your attacks properly to both defend and do optimal damage to what should have been a relatively minor “miniboss” fight). Trials of Mana, on the other hand, has none of those problems, simply thanks to more modern technology. So far every fight I’ve engaged in has been smooth and responsive as well as very visually appealing.
And wow is this game pretty. It’s not the most amazing example of the best graphical advances in gaming history, to be sure, but I genuinely don’t think that matters, as it’s still beautifully detailed and really does look like they took the original graphics and magicked them into more modern models. The re-imaginings of each area and monster are very faithful to both the aesthetic and the layout of the original design while at the same creatively expanding on them; I've had no trouble finding my way around familiar maps or identifying the bestiary, but I have found a lot of added depth to them, such as the ability to jump down on rooftops and find hidden nooks that were just static backdrops or otherwise out of sight in the original. The areas are more layered and interactive, but very importantly, nothing is missing. Not even the dogs and cats, who still bark and meow at you if you talk to them. I feel like I’m being allowed to see and explore the original maps from angles I didn’t have access to in the past. It really makes the 16-year-old in me unbelievably happy, to be able to finally, actually see and do these things I could only wish for back then. For people who have never played it, it’s probably a very pretty, if otherwise unremarkable experience, but for me it’s the granting of a wish I’ve had for a long time, but never expected to happen.
Similarly, I think a lot of people will look at the plot for this game and go, “...what?” Because it really doesn’t seem to have been changed at all from the SNES version, aside from a few little tweaks to the dialogue here and there to ease the transition between some sections or correct for differences in game mechanics (of which there are only a few; again, this is definitely a remake--it remains the same game with the same mechanics at its core). This can lead to some pretty awkward interactions between characters, and at times it seems pretty clear that the voice actors weren’t given a lot of direction about the context of their lines. It’s not a bad story, but it’s a very simply told one, and feels more like it’s targeting 12~16 year-olds (which it probably is, to be fair) who might not care so much about nitpicking the semantics of the plot and character motivations. Which is to say, most of the characters who are not main protagonists or villains are painfully cardboard-flat. They do what they do and say what they say because it advances the plot for them to do and say those things. Elliot falls for a “trick” that I’m pretty sure most 4-year-olds would see through. The Bad Guys are 1-dimensionally evil, wanting to either destroy or take over the world, with the possible exception of Lugar and Koren who have slightly more complicated “I’m your rival” reasons. That leaves the complexity up to the protagonists to shoulder, and while I haven’t played that far into the game yet, thus far is is beat-for-beat and shot-for-shot the same as the original, so I expect that character-building will be left largely up to the player to mentally write in, especially since the game features light/dark class-changes as a feature of its progression. (I do kiiiind of hope that your choice in class changes has a more material effect on the ending’s outcome, but I think that might be asking a bit too much from a remake of this sort.)
But the somewhat archaic plot and character arcs are not surprising and for me don’t take away any of the game’s charm. Nikita is still the best, the shop owners still dance inexplicably, the fact you can play a werewolf is badass, rabites are still cute, Don Perignon is still kind of a jerk. I’m very nervous/excited to get Busukaboo and Flammie and hope they’ll be as much fun now as they were then. And the whole world is so damn pretty, I’m just glad to be there.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the music. I’m not sure how much of a hand Hiroki Kikuta actually had in this remake, but the synth-orchestral arrangements of his originals are excellent so far. They’re both accessible/adaptable to the game’s sudden scene transitions (”Nuclear Fusion” starts and ends just as cleanly) while being a richer version of the themes, keeping close to the original sound while making better use of all the instruments that the SNES just wasn’t capable of emulating well. It blends very well with the rest of the game and I hope that continues to be true.
I do have nitpicks; while I know it’s a popular mechanic, I don’t like the “shift-lock” sort of dash using the left analog stick as both directional and a button. I think the camera controls are solid, but I do wish there wan a toggle-option to have the camera just follow over your shoulder wherever you run until you either run into a battle or turn it off. The character models don’t seem especially affected by anything except the most intense/pervasive lighting and sometimes feel oddly out of place, like I’m watching one of those old movies where an animated character comes into the Real World. Some of the monster designs seem cute-ified more than I’d like. And I can’t help but think that if the game can be this nice as a third-tier title for SE, what could it have been if they’d but the resources behind it that they obviously did with FF7? I understand why they didn’t, but it’s hard not to wonder what it could have been if they had.
Seiken Densetsu is one of the most fraught series in the history of home video games and the fact that it’s even still around is something of a miracle, in my opinion. After the last...four?...titles following Legend of Mana, and the disappointment that was SD2′s (second!) remake, I really didn’t go into Trials of Mana with high hopes. I have been really, honestly pleasantly surprised. Even if you’re a diehard old-schooler who really doesn’t like modern JRPGs, if you have any nostalgia left for this series, you should give this one a go. I think it translated really well to 3D models, and what little it loses in the switch, it makes up for in playability. It’s not hard to pick up, it’s easy on the eyes and ears, it’s less grind-y than the original, and it doesn’t try to be more than what it is. I’ll probably always prefer the original, of course; there are too many memories attached to it for me, too many things that were groundbreaking at the time that are now old news or completely obsolete nowadays, and the new game certainly doesn’t push any modern boundaries. But it’s worth checking out, and especially if you’ve spent 20 years feeling let down by the Mana series, this might actually be the game you were hoping for, albeit maybe a decade late.
#other games#seiken densetsu#seiken densetsu 3#sd3#trials of mana#sd3 remake#long post#i have not proof read this at all#wysiwyg#opinion
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Okay, like most people in this fandom I was also surprised about YU-GI-OH! Sevens.
But the thing is, this isn’t such a big surprise if you look at what similar franchises are doing. Pokemon rebooted their anime with a softer style and stories that most of the time appeal to a younger audience(as far as I understand). And Duel Masters current protagonist is also a grade-schooler and appeals to a younger audience as well.
It also makes sense to shake up the formular since Vrains wasn’t generally that popular with audiences(as far as I’ve heard), and this is probably one of the reasons why the show had such a short third season. Vrains was a very serious show that appealed to an older audience, and Konami ended it early.
This also isn’t the first time Konami has shaken things up. Zexal was a brighter and more colourful show compared to the previous shows. It also had a lot of comedy and quite a few gags and seemed to cater to a new younger audience in a way none of the other shows before it had. Gx and Arc-V also have more comedy, but the plot always tried to work against it in a way it never did in Zexal. Of course that doesn’t mean that was a bad thing for Gx and Arc-V and Zexal definitely also has its serious parts. But I do remember Zexal as the most funny of the shows I.e. not necessarily the best depending on who you ask but the one that made me laugh the most.
And it also worked, Zexal was a succes with the audience. I wasn’t a part of the fandom when Zexal was airing, but as far as I understand it devided the fandom which does make sense since it was meant to cater to a new younger audience and not please the already existing obviously older audience like Gx and 5ds did. And I believe that is what Konami is doing again. Vrains was a failure so now they are trying to cater to a new younger audience because it worked the last time they did it.
My point is that although this may seem both shocking and unbelievable to those that prefer the more series tone targeting a more mature audience, it does make sense from a business standpoint.
And maybe this won’t be the show for you, but just like we all have a favourite YU-GI-OG! show, then we also have a least favorite and that is okay. If you don’t like it then just don’t watch it and come back 3 years later and then maybe the next show might be your new favourite. But there will probably also be people who will love this show and maybe this will be how they get introduced or reintroduced into the fandom. So don’t scare them away, be honest if you don’t like the show due to the tone, the main character, the duelling etc. But don’t hate them/us for liking it just because you don’t. We all have a right to our own opinion, but that doesn’t mean you have to hate on someone for having a different one than yours. If you are open about your opinion whiteout being toxic, then you may inspire people to try to watch your favourite show and maybe that person will like it just as much as you. But you will never know if you scare them away by being toxic.
#yugioh sevens#yugioh vrains#yugioh arc v#yugioh zexal#yugioh gx#yugioh#yugioh 5ds#lets all be nice to each other
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Want to use an eldritch horror in your D&D game? Why not Mother Hydra?
I already covered the oh so wonderful Shub-Niggurath in my last post about using eldritch horrors in D&D, so let’s take a look at another sinfully under-used lady of the eldritch world. Good ol’ Mother Hydra. Who is so under used I could hardly find any info on her at all...
So we all know what a Deep One is, right? They’re an ocean-dwelling race of fish people who kind of have the hots for humans. Seriously, Deep Ones love banging humans. They’ve done it so much that some people believe they’ve now reached the point where their genes are so weak that mating with humans is the only way they can still reproduce anymore. But if you’re a poor fishing village on the brink, you may actually find this appealing, because the Deep Ones are kind of like the shepherds of the sea. Only instead of herding sheep they’re herding fish. And they can herd those fish right into your fishing nets... In addition to that, they also seem to have a vast supply of gold artifacts of unearthly design which they are also willing to share.
So... Poor fishing, can’t sustain itself, people have nowhere to go and no way to survive? Problem solved! All you have to do is have sex with fish people and they will provide you with bountiful catches and gold treasures. And don’t think that it’s just a bunch of fish out there in the ocean viewing you as their prostitutes either... They’ll even stick around and join your village and help care for your women after they’ve knocked them all up. How nice! Although if it’s the other way around and you’re a guy who knocked up a fish lady it’s more like a shotgun wedding at that point, but hey... At least she’s got loads of gold, right?
And once the Deep Ones have set up camp in your village they will even let you join their religion. And by let you join, I mean that it’s mandatory... They’re going to tare down your churches and replace them with the Esoteric Order of Dagon, where they will teach you how to worship the true god, Father Dagon.
You know Father Dagon, right?
He’s the deity who presides over the Deep Ones. Some say he’s a Great Old One, but it’s more likely that Dagon is an enormous specimen of Deep One. While apparently immortal, his longevity may be attributable to his fraternization with the Star Spawn, who sometimes select formidable specimens from a given species to protect, nurture, and empower for reasons known only to them. So in reality you are probably just worshiping a really big fish warlock who is in turn getting his power from someone like Cthulhu.
But before you go thinking this deal is just getting worse all the time, let me point out that it’s not bad for everyone. Because Father Dagon is going to need a consort. Which means if you’re a hot little piece of fish girl ass and you are deeply devoted to the Esoteric Order of Dagon, and you follow all the rites and rituals and sacrifice enough of the unbelievers, Dagon may just decide to empower you the same way he himself is being empowered by definitely not Cthulhu but probably Cthulhu. Then you too can become a giant fish monster of enormous size and power and be worshiped by all the other Deep Ones as their new goddess, Mother Hydra. Sure, you’ve got to take Dagon as your Pact of the Great Old One patron, and then you’ve got to become his mate... but you’re already a fish girl so that probably doesn’t sound so bad... and you’ve just obtained godhood! Sort of... Not really... You have no supernatural power outside of what any other warlock would have... But who can tell the difference?! You’re fifty feet tall now and worshiped by your people! If anyone wants to argue that you aren’t actually a goddess, you can just eat them. You and your new hubby are sitting at the foot of Cthulhu’s throne. Who’s going to argue with that?
Now as a DM I don’t know if I would allow a PC to actually go through this transformation, but it is doable. Both Father Dagon and Mother Hydra are just titles passed on to the greatest of the Deep Ones if the old Father Dagon and Mother Hydra die. If I did allow a PC to go through the transformation into becoming Mother Hydra that would probably be the entire campaign and once the PC had become Mother Hydra it would end and I would take their character sheet to be used in future campaigns. Sort of a way of letting the players create the gods of their world they are playing in.
If the PC was a warlock who wanted to take Mother Hydra as their patron I wouldn’t do it all that much differently than other Pact of the Great Old One warlocks. Unlike some of the eldritch horrors that could be used, Mother Hydra isn’t all that powerful. She doesn’t have any extra supernatural abilities to grant to PCs the way someone like Shub-Niggurath does. If you wanted to be really realistic about it, you could actually make the PC roll with disadvantage when using magic on account of the fact that their patron is just a more powerful warlock, getting her power from an even more powerful warlock, getting his power from an actual Star Spawn. So if you wanted you could say the warlock’s power is not coming directly from the source and is being diluted twice before it gets to him. Not exactly great for a PC but that is something you could do if you wanted a group of warlocks for a low level party to fight without too much trouble. Just have them fight warlocks of Mother Hydra who all roll with disadvantage.
As for using Mother Hydra herself as a monster in combat, I would probably use something like this...
Mother Hydra
Huge monstrosity (deep one), neutral evil
Armor Class 20 (natural armour)
Hit Points 337 (25d12 + 175)
Speed 30 ft., swim 60 ft.
STR 25 (+7)
DEX 14 (+2)
CON 25 (+7)
INT 14 (+2)
WIS 18 (+4)
CHA 20 (+5)
Saving Throws Str +13, Dex +8, Int +8, Wis +10
Damage Vulnerabilities lightning
Damage Resistances poison; bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, poisoned
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages Deep Speech, Common
Challenge 20 (25,000 XP)
Amphibious. Mother Hydra can breathe both air and water.
Aquatic. While in water, Mother Hydra has advantage on attack rolls against non-aquatic creatures.
Magic Resistance. Mother Hydra has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Magic Weapons. Mother Hydra's weapon attacks are magical.
Matriarch's Sacrifice. When a deep one within a range of 60 feet of Mother Hydra takes damage, Mother Hydra can chose to take this damage instead of the deep one.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. Mother Hydra makes three attacks: one with her bite, one with her claw and one with her mind grasp.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 23 (3d10 + 7) piercing damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 25 (4d8 + 7) slashing damage.
Mind Grasp. Ranged Spell Attack: +11 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (3d10 + 5) psychic damage.
Matriarch's Blessing. Hydra chooses a deep one within 120 feet of her. This deep one regains 27 (4d10 + 5) hit points. Hydra cannot target herself with this ability.
LEGENDARY ACTIONS
Mother Hydra can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Mother Hydra regains spent legendary actions at the start of her turn.
Attack. Mother Hydra makes one bite attack or one claw attack.
Matriarch's Blessing (Costs 2 Actions). Mother Hydra uses Matriarch's Blessing.
Matriarch's Curse (Costs 3 Actions). Mother Hydra targets one creature that she can see within 30 feet of her. That creature must succeed on a DC 19 Charisma saving throw or be cursed for 1 hour. While cursed in this way, the target has disadvantage on attack rolls made against deep ones and on saving throws made against spells or effects created by deep ones.
As a variant on this you may also want to add a small spell list to Mother Hydra’s arsenal. If you actually allowed a player to create your Mother Hydra through turning a warlock PC into her as mentioned above, you could just use whatever spells that PC had at the time of her transformation. If you didn’t go that route but you still want your Mother Hydra to be a spell slinger, I would remember to keep the spells limited and not too powerful (choosing only from the Warlock’s spell list) because Mother Hydra isn’t intended to be anything more than a CR 20 monster.
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Emerging Practices – Analyse
Alfred here
For the Emerging Practices formative, I've decided to look into Alfred. Alfred is a keyless ‘smart’ deadbolt lock, that believes in using technology to make life at your house safer and easier. So you can be ready for anyone: guests, tenants, family members, tradespeople - even at a moment’s notice.
He’s always standing by. (https://alfredinc.com/)
Above image has been taken from Alfreds Kickstarter video (0.23)
Analysis
The video starts off with “I have always been a symbol of status and luxury” which makes me think they want people with Alfred to think this is an item to show class and wealth. The name Alfred could relate to Batmans’ Alfred who was his loyal butler and the man in the video is a ‘butler’ is trying to convey that you could be rich and admired like Bruce Wayne. The video then states that it's not practical to have hired help like Bruce Wayne but you can gain the same statues with this product, “But today it's not practical to hire help to simply open your door”. They really try and appeal to peoples associations with status symbols. They again say the word LUXURY, “that's why I have relocated some of my magical charms here, Alfred brings the luxury of doorstep service into the modern world” and talks about Alfred in a way that sounds unbelievable and like its meant to be. Using MAGICAL CHARMS make it sound like it could be in another world where the same rules don't apply, but the statement “ the modern world” makes me think they are targeting older people. They use terminology relating to wealth status symbols which older generations have a better appreciation of, they make it sound unbelievable and that it will solve a lot of problems, which they don't state in the beginning, that you never knew you had. They then use the word gizmo when relating to a ‘modern servant’. We still don't really know what Alfred does yet and have to wait till 0.48-seconds into a 1: 59-minute video where we start to find out that Alfre is a keyless ‘smart’ deadbolt lock where you can use your phone to unlock your door.
They talk about using pin codes, blue tooth keys, time restraints and keep track of every lock and unlock, showing off the many ways of using Alfred to the viewers with visuals and narration. They really sell their product in this section, as they have some upbeat music in the background. around 1-minute in the ‘butler’ says you can keep track of every lock and unlock while a teen sneaks in the house. This is another indicator that this product was made for an older generation.
He gives a little laugh after this happens, not his first or laughs little snide moment and you as the viewer start to relate and connect with him and want to understand more.
The character of the ‘butler’ is very demurring and sarcastic which you start to then relate and connect with him and want to understand more about what's going on, he gives a little laugh after the teen goes inside and it's not his first nor last laugh in the short video. You start to get an understanding of how much like Alfred the butler really is.
His little laugh at the scene after the teen gets in trouble.
They then talk about the ‘care taken’ about the ‘safety’ and ‘convenience’. They use three phrases here and all appeal to there audiences, their fear of safety is triggered, there concerns on how much thought was put into a project and if they could use it with ease. they are saying Alfred is easy to use and there should be no safety hacks. I feel like this part is really stateing home who this is for, people who don't have time or patience to learn how to use Alfred, how it works won't matter as long as it does to the audience as well. With an image making it seem as user-friendly as possible it seems, easy.
Image of Alfred, not in use or anything happening to it.
In the end, they bring home the wealth and statutes symbol Alfred is by talking about enhancing the look of your home and how safe it is to protect your ‘wealth symbols’. They start using words such as outstanding in describing features to make them sound grander. At this point the music also gives way to a crescendo, creating a climax in the ‘story’ where we find out the ‘best’ features. By this point, it goes downhill when he states, all of this and more, which means they don't know the end game of this product and don't know where it could head.
This image is showing the ‘best feature’ while the music crescendoed.
Why does this artefact exist? what is the purpose?
This product exists to offer a technical way to unlock your door, it plays off a keypad entry but with your phone. You can now use your phone to do mostly everything so why not unlock your door with it. I believe that they just want to follow the trends of one thing in your pocket, I think its a very good idea. I think that an older audience (28-35) is their target.
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An Unbelievable Overview to Make Use Of Social Media for Organisation
Making Use Of Digital Media is a cost-effective offer. If your brand is awesome, it can get cooler with the buzz you can hop on Social media. Taking into consideration the rise of net usage in India, we are adopting the digital fads with a really quick rate. So, it has actually become truly important to have an electronic profile.
Article video clips: The rate of video interaction is really extremely high. There are forecasts that electronic videos can change the ads on TELEVISION. Keeping this in mind, if you buy videos, you can obtain real engagements on social media. Live video streaming, producing individual stories as internet series, vlogs and also making engaging video clips associated with your company can assist you get a lot more website traffic. Post individualized material and imaginative pictures: If your web content as well as pictures are appealing, distinct, individualized as well as mentions the brand's tale, you can obtain even more sort. Individuals are burnt out of the boring as well as old made stock photo of brand names. Articles consisting of fresh material and innovative images associated with genuine tasks aid in gaining even more web traffic on social media. Reliable social media services company like Famoid provide good solution
Concentrate more on Mobile: As all of us recognize that Smart Phones are gradually changing net usage on desktop computers. So, develop the web content which is mobile friendly. Likewise, develop posts for the regional audience as well as disperse it according to the appropriate layout, time and also area. It will certainly assist you in targeting maximum people.
Produce technology driven posts: Despite how as well as what we assume concerning Expert system, we are interested regarding it, and also we enjoy to check out and also discuss it. As most of us are accepting the equipment society to our daily life, placing it on Social Media can produce interesting engagements. Developing articles connected to modern technology, advancements, realities connected to innovation and also Artificial Intelligence can aid you gain much more traffic. You can club modern technology with travel field, healthcare, education and learning as well as also the day-to-day activities like using home devices and also devices. It not only makes life easier however can aid you order much more likes.
Employ a professional: Managing Social Media for company is a little bit various from uploading from your personal account. You need to constantly work with the specialists for the task, if you believe you are not handling it appropriately. People who are professional understand the trends, they understand how to make approaches and also exactly how to handle concerns coming on the means. They recognize exactly how to obtain even more engagements on your material as well as they can develop remarkable digital marketing blog posts. They have the expertise of the significant platforms and they can offer a seamless lift to your present status on the internet. You can likewise outsource your digital media to the firms operating in the field.
Be readily available: There is no certain time on which a prospective client can see you and search for company. So, it is always recommended that, be offered to your audience, otherwise 24x7, at the very least during your job hrs. Respond all the inquiries asked by your site visitors, if you can not do that instantly, ensure to tell them to wait and also as soon as you can, respond to the questions. Having discussions with people that pitch you on digital media can aid you in obtaining recognition. Reply to your messages and comments. Be happy when they share your articles, it will produce interaction as well as improve your social media credibility.
Use purposeful Hashtags: Hashtags are prominent and you can obtain a whole lot of traffic to your digital media accounts with making use of this effective device. It aids in classifying the articles as well as making your material recognizable to individuals that are looking for similar stories. It will also help you in uncovering the posts from your rivals. With the aid of hashtags you can connect with numerous brand names and also individuals of similar interest and also create an involvement. Making use of hashtags, which belong to your service can bring a huge traffic.
Facebook: As we all know that Facebook is just one of the top social networking websites on the planet and also it tops in India, it can offer you terrific service. Since Facebook came, increasingly more people are joining it. You can develop your company account on Facebook or start a fan web page. It is just one of the very best systems for any service to obtain worldwide target market.
Facebook Carrier: Also referred to as Carrier, it provides text, voice as well as video clip communication and also you can utilize it for the promo of your brand and additionally for telling your clients about the new things happening in your business.
Google Plus: Individuals were not really sure of its success when it was introduced in 2011, yet today there are greater than 500 million individuals on Google+, which is additionally recognized as G+. You can conveniently add individuals of similar interests as well as arrange your links with this platform. It has an international reach as well as you can post and share your photos, texts, video clips and web links on G+. Being a product of Google, it helps in indexing the content on Google really quick.
Twitter: It is a micro-blogging website which supplies a distinct function of sending your messages in 140 characters. If you can be miser on characters as well as you know just how to build unique and also appealing content, you can market your organisation properly. You can interact, connect, pass information, talk concerning the most up to date news and also target your audience with your items by utilizing Twitter. It is a powerful system where you comply with individuals and they do the very same. You can like or re-tweet articles which you locate intriguing as well as send individual messages on DM (Direct Message).
LinkedIn: It is a professional neighborhood where people can build their service or specialist profiles. If you intend to attach with experts operating in the similar area LinkedIn is the best platform. Right here you can check the accounts of experts due to the fact that it has their education qualification, previous job experiences, service network. Additionally, if you intend to build a network of neighborhood professionals, you will discover plenty of registered customers.
YouTube: Started by three former PayPal workers, YouTube is the most preferred system for video clip sharing. Monthly, even more than 1 billion visitors struck the web site. You can upload your video clips and also get to optimal prospective customers via video advertising and marketing on YouTube.
WhatsApp Carrier: For immediate texting, WhatsApp is a wonderful platform which you can utilize for your business. You can share texts, pictures, videos and voice clips via your Cellular phone or Tablet. It is an efficient platform for immediate communication with your clients. You can also run your company's marketing campaign on WhatsApp.
Instagram: Instagram is a Social Networking platform where you can upload your photos as well as video clips. It has a remarkable attribute of filters via which you can edit your photos as well as this makes Instagram an one-of-a-kind system liked by millions of users. Instagram can be found in 2010, and Facebook acquired it in 2012. Given that after that, the number of individuals on Instagram has up rose in an extremely high rate (as Instagram is linked to Facebook account). Popular for its hashtags, Instagram can aid in getting your organisation content viral quickly.
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Hey I was just wondering do you know what level you are in each of your target languages like CEFR levels and could you share why you decided to learn said languages? Thanks, enjoy the rest of your day!!
Hey! Thank you for your ask! :)
I don’t know my exact levels of CEFR in my target languages, but I have made a guess based on what I know each level represents (I may have been to strict with myself though hehe).
Spanish - B1/B2
Spanish was one of the languages I could choose as my target foreign language in school (addition to German and French). Spanish has always appealed to me, and I remember all the way back to 6th grade that I started to learn a little Spanish (not much though haha). Spanish is also one of the worlds most spoken languages, so it’s definitely good to understand it!
Finnish - B1
The story behind this one is a little strange: February last year, we learned about phonemic and non-phonemic orthography of languages, and Finnish was as an example of a language with phonemic orthography (English was an example of a non-phonemic orthographic language, of course). I had always thought that Finnish sounded really funny and strange (in a good way), and everyone had been saying that Finnish is so incredibly difficult to learn. Therefore, after I saw Finnish as an example of phonemic orthography, I decided to learn it to challenge myself. What met me was an unbelievably beautiful and complex language that astonished me so much I became addicted to learning more and more about it. The fact that my Norwegian teacher spoke fluent Hungarian (which is in the same language family as Finnish) after having lived in Hungary for 10 years gave me faith that I would some day become fluent in Finnish.
Mandarin Chinese - A1
Mandarin Chinese became an option of chosen subject in second year of high school, and I had always been very interested in the language, so I decided to choose Mandarin Chinese as my subject. My stepmother is from China and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese (and Uighur). She has helped me with things I didn’t understand which has been very useful. Mandarin Chinese is the world’s most spoken language, so it’s definitely a good thing to be able to understand and speak/write it! I have lots of difficulties with the characters though, and my teachers haven’t been the best either (I have had 6 teacher in one year, one was actually fired too), but I’m getting there slowly but surely.
Armenian - A1
I answered an ask about it here! :)
Greenlandic - A0/A1
Greenlandic is one of those languages that I am completely amazed by. The way it works is so interesting and to be honest very alien to me that I just had to learn it. Greenlandic is difficult language to learn (at least for me), so it’s a challenge for sure! Also, the resources are limited which could be quite troublesome sometimes. However, I won’t stop learning this amazing and stunning language no matter how difficult it gets. This language is honestly addictive. After I constructed my first Greenlandic sentence, or in this case, my first Greenlandic word (qimmeqarpunga = I have a dog), I just couldn’t stop constructing and learning more.
Icelandic - A0/A1
Icelandic reminds me of the language the Norwegians used to speak. The reason I want to learn Icelandic is because I want to in some way or another feel like I am closer to my ancestors (way back there somewhere). I know it’s a little cheesy and all, but I just feel this connection to Icelandic and Iceland which I can’t explain. Icelandic is also an incredibly stunning language and it has very interesting grammar and words. And when I read Icelandic, I can definitely recognize a few words here and there that are not just similar to Norwegian in general, but also the dialect of Norwegian which I speak (which is an advantage for sure!).
North Sámi - A0/A1
The queen of stunningness has arrived. North Sámi is by far the most beautiful language I have ever seen and heard. Every day I watch Oddasat (news in North Sámi) and I get amazed by the language every time. Since it is in the same language family as Finnish, I recognize a few words here too. And since I have already gone through the pain of learning the most difficult parts of Finnish grammar, and I see that the grammar of North Sámi is somewhat similar to the Finnish, I hope that I won’t have a too difficult time learning North Sámi. Also, being a Norwegian, and even though I wasn’t even born when this happened at worst so I probably shouldn’t blame myself for it, I feel guilt for what the Norwegians did to the Sámi people and their language. I can’t do much about it now, but I can at least learn as much about the language and the culture behind it as possible! :)
Have a nice day too! :)
#ask#my target languages#spanish#finnish#mandarin chinese#chinese#armenian#greenlandic#icelandic#north sámi
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