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respectthepetty · 4 months

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Hi @respectthepetty, what were your top 5 colour moments in bl/ql this year?

Thank you.

@blogiamgoingmad, this is a tough one because I love all the colors I get regardless of how they come to me. In fact, I love color so much, I've written about the best visual narratives in two other posts:

Top 5 - Color-Coded Storytelling in BLs

Reading the (Visual) Rainbow Awards

So for this ask, I made sure to not pick the same moments listed in the other two posts, and this list includes unfinished shows as long as the "color moment" happened in 2023.

Top Five Color Moments of 2023

Honorable Mention: 7 Days Before Valentine - Dark Descent

Since the show isn't finished, and I know Q is going to be completely black before the end, I'm greatly enjoying seeing him get darker and darker each episode as he erases another person from existence at Sun's request.

Even though the lighting still shines brighter on him than Sun, I don't think that is going to last much longer, especially because I think Sun is going to ask Q to erase him which will cause Q to be the darkest he has been. I'm smiling too much at the mere thought of this to be sane, but this is a great visual narrative that I want to see more shows use consistently.

#5 - GAP - Tickled Pink

I love color exchanges (where a character wears the other character's color to show they are in love), but Sam, a Black Brooder, took her sweet ass time wearing Mon's pink in GAP. I was Kirby holding a knife outside her house all season waiting for Sam to prove that she loved Mon by simply wearing Mon's pink.

The last episode was upon us, and I needed to know if Sam was finally going to commit to Mon's pink; then, Idol Factory announced the finale would not be released on streaming platforms until after a paid screening. I was mad, but I'm a pirate by blood, so I watched an unsubbed version, saw Sam wearing pink as her WEDDING DRESS, and forgive Idol Factory for its season of color frustration because if the wedding didn't tell us Sam was committed to her Pink Person, the pink wedding dress sure the hell did.

#4 - Bed Friend - The Blue Light

Uea was great at communicating boundaries with King in Bed Friend, and King was even better abiding by them. So in the second episode, after taking Uea to go get tested after they had sex, King asked Uea to try a bed friends situation out, to which Uea said okay, but then avoided King. Blue Boy King (actually bi-colored) drove Red Rascal Uea home and put him on the spot asking Uea to make a decision as they waited at the red light with the countdown flashing: If Uea said "yes," they would go to King's condo, and if Uea said nothing, he would take Uea straight home. Then, Uea GAVE HIM THE GREEN BLUE LIGHT.

This light was blue instead of green which leaned into the color coding, but it was perfectly timed with Uea opening himself up to the possibility of something more with King. The light changing was a symbolic moment, and it was beautiful.

#3 - Last Twilight - Pink Milk

This series isn't finished, but I hope it continues to give me Mork in pink shirts because pink = 💗love💗, and this is the perfect homage to a BL tradition. Pink milk is a BL staple, but wasn't used that much in 2023. Only Friends referenced it, but Last Twilight purchased real estate in BL Land with its ode to it. Day and Mork had a nice day out together where Day purchased that bright ass pink shirt for Mork after Mork claimed it was too pink like Pink Milk for him to ever wear. Then, after losing each other on a busy street, Mork put on the bright pink shirt so Day could see him and hasn't stopped wearing pink since.

Mork fell first. He fell harder. And we don't need pink milk to know he is a member of the rainbow community. He has pink shirts to let us and Day see him for who he is - a man in love with another man.

#2 - Moonlight Chicken - Alan's Glow Up

Alan was in his feelings for most of his part in Moonlight Chicken. He was still in love with Wen and trying to make it work living with him, but Wen was done done. He was upset that Wen was seeing someone else. He broke a limb being drunk over Wen! He was sad, cold, and alone. Then, he spoke to Jim at the funeral after speaking with Kaipa, and he seemed to brighten up a bit.

Alan's color continued to brighten and become warmer as the series came to a close due to a combination of realizing Wen had really moved on, and that he, too, could do the same.

I won't give his newfound "friendship' with Kaipa all the credit because I truly think being friends with his ex and friendly with his ex's new boyfriend is what really warmed Alan up. Knowing he had a community, which was a theme in the series, was the support Alan needed to glow up.

#1 - The Eighth Sense - Monochrome Metro

This moment actually belongs to @how-to-be-a-tree who brought it to my attention, but Jae Won was color coded black and dark while Ji Hyun was a colorful and light person. When they went on their not-date-date, as they sat opposite of each other on the metro, their sides of the empty metro car reflected their respective color coding.

A few people in the reblogs and tags pointed out it was the BL version of the above meme, but it truly was a moment of pure awe that the show went as far as to color edit the seats to reinforce the story being told. Jae Won wasn't magically a lighter person simply being around Ji Hyun. He was still dark, and it wouldn't be until the end of the series that Jae Won actually became a bit lighter because HE was finally ready for change, which speaks volumes about depression and mental health.

Bonus: Jeff Satur x SHAUN's "Steal the Show"

Because it was gay (canon to me), color coded, and beautiful!

#Top Five Color Moments of 2023 #the colors mean things #color coded people in love #the color exchange #I'm still a bit mad at Sam though #a whole season my girl

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bigshotcirca1997 · 1 year

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Okay people have been asking me to explains what stands out between snowgrave and no mercy/genocide . I struggle with reading and phrasing things so sorry if some of this sounds odd ,':3

how punishment works.

Snowgrave, albeit very dark and more blunt then no mercy, doesn't exactly punish you for putting berdly in a comatose state. THE most you get is noelle and susies relationship going back to susie thinking she's scared of her, and noelle also fearing her childhood friend but the player gets off scot-free. We haven't seen the whole game, but from what it looks like, you're going to be regarded as a murderer in that one fountain, where it doesn't even exist to the outside world. Nobody else is going to know how many you've really killed.

No mercy, on the other hand, everyone starts fleeing. People go from believing you can change, to trying to guard the barrier to stop you from getting out and doing it to your own people. Sans endangers a child, just to stop YOU from using this kid to hurt more people, which is why some people say his theme is the players theme (I don't believe this, because his theme belongs to another certain someone else too rendering this impossible?!).

The only person that believes you're capable of changing your ways is papyrus. His death leads to the rest of the bosses frantically wondering what happened, alphys especially.

Both pap and alphys would be the two people to trust you right off the bat, and since you've broken that trust, they're doing everything they can to stop you where you stand, snowgrave doesn't do this! Nobody really evacuated, Nobody really got away before you decided to start hurting them. Infact, when you initiate this route its already far too late for them to start running.

Route play-out functions

I know ALOT of people have mentioned the dumpster countdown, and spamtons importance to how it functions, but this is what also interests me.

You do not know how many people are left, you have to be told by someone, guided by another monster, to know what you're supposed to be doing. No mercy lays everything out for you, down to the save points giving you exact amounts remaining in each area!

Yes, they are direct copies supposed to mimic the way genocide functions, but the difference is an outer force is guiding you and giving you exact amounts to massacre entire areas of monsters that remain. Snowgrave gives you some puppet that suffered, and is using you and noelle as an outlet to get his revenge.

Youre being messed with WHILST youre manipulating kris's friend. You are just as vulnerable, you needed spamton for your next tool to ice berdly, whereas in genocide the only real roadblock is sans, but even his forces don't stop you if youre good at the game.

The tedious open spaces for snowgrave, the closed off areas that you can just pace around for no mercy!

There is ALWAYS a save point nearby, so you can keep track of your kill streak. Snowgrave makes your journey far worse, once you've started you can't exactly stop. There's hardly save points, your items can only gather from junk you find laying around, and iced corpses will stay there for when you go back to get something.

Both have horrible amounts of work to stop you from marching foward, no mercy has stupidly high amounts of monsters for you to kill, snowgrave has a step-by-step plan for you to initiate it, and the further in you get the more ridiculous it is. Both games literally go "wtf??? You actually did it" each time you initiate the route. Snowgrave has jingles for each time you properly complete a part, no mercy has another person seeing you as a vile human each time you wipe out another area.

Human guidance (kris vs frisk)

Alot of people have spoken about this, but I think there's alot more people fail to mention. Kris is naturally a very quiet kid, but they aren't silent, or emotionless. Infact, they are way more expressive than the game is letting us know! For frisk, however, we only know that they were an outcasted child. YOU decide how frisk reacts to the monsters they've just met, your initial reaction helps them develop theirs, exactly the way a child learns from their parent how to react to someone you've just met.

Some people forget frisk is very young (for this, and MANY, MANY other things too. >:[), so the drastic difference is you're using an impressionable child to do your work, whereas in snowgrave you weaponise some poor teenagers friendships to re-traumatise all of them.

Both react very differently to what you're doing to them. Frisk has no choice but to listen to you, they're a kid, they wouldn't know it any different from an adult guiding them.

They learn from your guidance that these monsters aren't worth the time, if you don't react they won't bother either. You turn them into a cold, careless killer. You teach this child to have the old views of humans, and in the process endanger humanity from it too. Alot of people turn both frisk and chara into the villains, but both of them are young children in a place they don't recognise, they're obviously going to rely on this nagging voice, this soul controlling them to help them get home. What happens during that process is out of their control, this is all on you.

Kris, on the other hand, is very clearly trying to let their friends know they aren't okay. Constant silence, barely any emotions, lashing out to let people know someone else is using their body to do harm on others. (Can't get images, mobile limit is WAY too small lul) you aren't even using kris, perse, you're using noelle. The impact of trapping berdly both hurts noelle and kris, yet kris will hold this guilt as long as you remain a constant force for them, and they hate you for it.

Using kris as a vessel to hurt noelle, and using frisk as a vessel to spread the old views of humans towards monsters. Noelle is more optimistic on things, shes not innocent at ALL despite what people say, but you use her close best friend to hurt her. Kris has to stand and take this all in, let you hurt her and their childhood friendship, because they aren't in control so long that soul keeps them in the backseat. Frisk has to go up to the surface with a warped view on regards to life, and who truly deserves to live.

Your impact on these kids stays with them, despite kris being very emotionally defensive, you still manage to hurt them. You manage to hurt noelle, too, despite not even having physical control over her. You use kris as the gearstick, making them the monster in noelles eyes. Kris constantly kindly tells you to fuck off, whereas frisk can't say or do much, because they haven't matured enough to know.

Other stuff :P

This one is something many people have pointed out, so I don't feel the need to say much more on it, but the way monsters die. Snowgrave is far more darker, you freeze them eternally, and leave them to die in a sealed fountain. Berdlys death is also horrible both in the way it plays out, and the way you torture noelle to get to it. No mercy is more "kill now, think about it later" kind of shtick. They aren't brutal, but it really makes you think on how it's so easy to do it, and then your actions come crawling back when you really are a danger.

Berdly and papyrus, the two people who strongly believed in frisk/kris, are violently dealt with and hurt for doing so. These two have parallels that are more complex, and I don't wanna fill this with MORE text, but you get the idea. You hurt "your" most trusting friends to get your way, and both deaths are a sign that you are now too far in to turn back.

Dialogue changes too, where it goes from chipper to regarding you as a force to not be reckoned with. Alot of people say chara is the narrator for undertale, I do think this too, but this also plays into you manipulating a child to get your way! Chara is already a very troubled kid, being raised in an environment that just wasn't made for them, so obviously they're going to be very upset in death for what you're doing, but they can't stop you aswell, so on and so forth, yadda yadda. You get it :P

Sans, noelle, kris and so on talking directly to YOU. I don't need to really talk about this, you can find alot of people mentioning it already. Everyone knows that you're to blame, not these kids you're forcing to hurt people. Don't need to mention that when it's been said enough XD

Spamton is a different case entirely, kind of based of him to use you to set his own plan into motion (KIDDINF OBVIOUSLY) but he's a different case that would need a different post and oh MAN do I have alot to say about him and his situation.

We've barely touched the surface for deltarune, so some of the stuff here could change! So far, though, this is what I've noticed.

Anyway, that's my thoughts on that . Thank you if you actually read my nonsense I don't really post my thoughts/analysis on stuff publicly :^]

#deltarune #deltarune chapter 2 #undertale #long post #images should have some alt text!#rambles

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matt-lifesage · 4 months

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Matt’s 2023 Visual Novel Tier List

Another year, another tier list/countdown of all the visual novels I read!

(two-thousand words of inconsistently distributed visual novel rambling below the cut)

Honorable Mentions:

I read a couple mobile game stories via youtube videos that are worth talking about but don't really belong on this list. Anyway, I’m slowly on-again off-again catching up to Arknights (almost halfway through it all the last time I checked), and it's been solid, my personal favorite story being Guide Ahead. But the real honor goes to FGO’s Lostbelt 6. A triumph from Kinoko Nasu and the folks over at Type-Moon. One of the best high fantasy epic novels I've ever read, hidden away three hundred hours into a gacha game for extra emphasis. A genuine highlight of the franchise, and if it was eligible for my own list where I make all the rules (hey, wait a minute...), it would be somewhere in S-Tier.

D-Tier

The Humbling of a Holy Maiden

Kicked off this year with some nukige. I’ve been meaning to check out more of the genre to have proper expectations and to know what I’m actually talking about if the subject ever came up (also checked out more of the genre for the obvious reason, but shush!). Frankly, not a good start.

Our tagline is basically, “What if the degrading corruption arc of the holy maiden archetype was consensual?” Nothing groundbreaking but still potentially enjoyable. Shame this game’s execution couldn’t muster even middling entertainment. Between erotic scenes, the game repeats the same meandering attempt at a philosophical conversation between the flatly written leads, who both never feel like even they can take what they’re saying seriously. It wouldn’t be too bad if it happened once or twice, but it’s *every* conversation. They did this a dozen times. Even in a visual novel as short as this, it was mind-numbing. Unfortunately, the erotic scenes aren’t much of a relief. I didn’t share the priorities/kinks of the creators, and even if I did, I would probably find the sex a samey and dull representation of them. This game was a chore to sit through. I don’t recommend.

Also, the heroine’s ‘slutty’ design looks like two clashing sets of lingerie worn on top of each other, and it’s wildly distracting.

Coffee Talk

I’m noticing an annual trend of me reading VNs that assume I have a far more positive connotation with coffee shops than I actually do.

So… I don’t want to make too many comparisons to a certain cyberpunk bartender simulator, especially when those opinions would be based on six-years-removed, nostalgically-charged fond memories of a game I desperately need to reexperience. I went into this Coffee Talk acknowledging it's a pastiche but willing to accept its own identity and terms so I could give it a fair shot and hopefully enjoy myself.

With that being said, I kinda hated this.

Its characters and drama range from enjoyable to mildly unfortunate, mostly nothing too interesting but nothing too egregious either--with Freya, the most frequently appearing character, being our infuriating exception.

The game touches on some mature themes and topics, but more often than not, Coffee Talk’s hokey one-for-one urban fantastical allegories are weighty in the same way that inflatable dumbbells are *technically* weights. The game is so obsessed with these close metaphors that the setting fails to feel remotely believable. And because real-life identities or struggles are recast with the likes of vampires and orcs, it falls into many of the common and frustrating insensitivities of the genre.

Shout out to the art team, though. The game’s presentation is top-notch.

C-Tier

Cute Demon Crashers [reread]

I read this like eight or so years back when it first came out and wanted to see if it held up, so I slapped it on one random night and went through it all again.

Didn’t really have a good time. I’m not the target audience for this. Comfy vanilla might as well be the name of the game, and it’s very, VERY, targeted to an audience looking specifically for that. Full power to them. I can’t complain because it’s literally free. I just didn’t expect to be so immediately bored by it, even if it’s not really doing anything wrong.

Who is the Red Queen?

A quick read with some good stuff, but it didn’t stick around in my head for long after reading it. It feels weird to complain about a free indie game created by people more skilled than myself, but a chunk of the art didn’t sell the Wonderland aesthetic for me. It was fine, but I might have preferred it if it was just a text game so my imagination would interpret the world as even more ethereal and dreamlike in a way generic fantasy backgrounds didn't reflect.

If you're specifically looking for a free-to-play Alice in Wonderland-themed Yuri visual novel, it's a good one. Maybe give it a try.

Coffee Talk Episode 2

Ever read the sequel just to be a more informed hater?

In all fairness, this was a big improvement on the first game. The sequel starts with some basic world-building. There's still obvious parallels in play, but there is a little work to paint this as a separate world this time where similar issues arose, something the first game barely even tried. It doesn’t always work, but it does try, which makes it less open for me to interpret uncharitably.

A second improvement is new mechanics. I don’t think the first game fully earned its last-minute twist, but Episode 2's additional gameplay verbs, plus more significant story deviations to incentivize replay and trial-and-error, does a better job at selling the fiction that the barista has an actual effect in the characters' lives.

Finally, the characters and drama were overall improvements. It's more interesting, less cliche, and there’s a stronger thematic core to tie the desperate arcs together. The highs are higher, and the lows aren’t as low.

That said, while the execution was improved, it never escaped the same foundational approaches as the first game. The urban fantasy allegories are better, but it's still hit or miss. There's still the ever-prevalent issue of halfway through a lovely scene with likable characters discussing their interesting drama, all characters involved will turn to the camera and start speaking in the unnatural cadence of a monologue in an afterschool special. Today's very important topic: Social media harassment! Garth Marenghi would be proud. However, even that element is much better handled than the first game which literally had a character smugly declaring all of this was a one-for-one allegory to our world, JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN'T GET IT.

After my distaste for the first game, I was pleasantly surprised by the sequel. It avoids the grating mistakes of Episode 1, but it's still too sanctimonious and I'll never vibe with its brand of gentrified twee.

Sweet Home ~H na Onee-san wa Suki Desu ka?~

Our final nukige of the list is Sweet Home. No, not the 1989 video game. No, not the movie that was based on. Not the webcomic either. (Gosh, there’s a lot of media sharing this title, huh?)

If bland 'self-insert'-kun moving back in with his stepmom and having braindead sexy times with her roommates (plus some stepcest thrown in for spice) sounds like something you’d enjoy, then this one’s pretty a’ight. Mileage will vary if smut intended for the heterosexual male audience is even palatable to you. The game’s a quantity-over-quality situation, so you'll get plenty of it in this package for better or for worse. It got on my radar 'cause I dig how its artist, Kiriyama Taichi, drew ladies. I like their product. Probably wouldn’t have liked the game if a worse artist had been in charge--just to give you a taste of how shallow my enjoyment was lol. Consider any other game they were the artist for somewhere down in my TBR somewhere.

Ironically, for a game that’s whole fantasy is fucking (slightly) older ladies, my favorite route was the same-aged tsundere, probably because ‘childhood friend who's been repressing feels’ has more angst to it than 'new roommate wanted to see my dick.' After three of those routes, a crumb of drama might as well be a whole cake.

I couldn’t recommend paying full price. I think the asking price is too steep for this. Wait for a sale like I did.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

I’m not a Sonic fan, so despite this being incredibly charming and well done, it didn't have any staying power in my mind. Still good fun, though. It’s rare for "joke" games to be quality, and even if I'm not the target audience, the passion was infectious enough to still enjoy it.

B-Tier

You and Me and Her

This was a solid and fun metafiction experience. Faux fourth wall breaking isn’t my preference (besides, it was already perfected in the 1971 seminal literary classic The Monster at the End of This Book), I respond better to the flavor of metafiction you’ll find in Umineko or Alan Wake, but for what You and Me and Her was going for, it's pretty well-executed. Spoilers, but having a spiteful rivalry with a fictional character is a blast.

While I had a good time, I thought You and Me and Her missed an opportunity to expand its commentary outside the scope of a fourth-wall-breaking “what-if.” Several times through my playthrough, the game felt like it was on the verge of using its premise to explore amatonormativity and heteronormatity, but it never really did, and I was left twiddling my thumbs, feeling like I was unfairly expecting too much.

On that note, however, about a month after playing this game, I read the manhwa Surviving Romance--a very different exploration of the romance genre via different mediums. But it gave me that subtle yet poignant commentary I felt was lacking from You and Me and Her, so I’m using this spot to recommend that comic. It’s super solid. Go track down and read it. It’d be up in A-Tier if I kept track of and ranked the comics I read.

It gets so lonely here

A really well-done yandere horror experience. It has pretty art, tightly written, and does some fun things with its narrative structure. If you want a solid, free-to-play, and spooky yuri VN, I highly recommend this one. Go download it.

I think this game might have ranked higher during a different year, but the cut-off between A-Tier and B-Tier had to go somewhere.

A-Tier

The Radio Wave Bureau

A short, super cool interactive fiction about fixing your computer. We’re at the point with some of these where I don’t have much to say other than “go read it,” but this game is short enough it’s hard to talk about in a way that doesn’t speak for itself. It's like twenty minutes long. I really dug it. Go play it.

Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk

A beautiful and melancholic expansion for the first game. A character piece that elevates Milk and Milk 2 to 'must read' status. It’s difficult to rank which one I prefer since both enhance each other via contrast. While I adore this game’s detailed introspection, if I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be the simplicity of--

Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk

It's another read that's only around twenty minutes long, but no other VNs have ever grabbed me by the throat with their premise alone. Both these games are incredible and vulnerable slice-of-life works. Put them on your TBR.

S-Tier

Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon-

I made like a hundred posts about it. What else can I say?

Arcueid’s route on its own was the best VN experience I had this year. List over. That goes at the top beyond the next two entries. Sorry, not sorry. It was a beautiful, perfected reboot of the story. I loved everything about it. It made me fall in love with Shiki and Arcueid all over again. If we count the false start back in college when I didn’t get halfway through the original VN, the two times I’ve read Tsukihime all the way through, plus the twice I’ve read the manga adaptation, this was the SIXTH time I experienced this particular story. And I cried at the end. It’s that good.

Now, if I love that route as much as I do, why, you may ask, is this entry only third place? ‘Cause Remake is only half of a remake, and it really does feel like it. Not only do we not have Far Side yet, but there’s also a whole Tsukihime-worth of new stuff, half of which hasn’t been paid off yet either, so there’s a pervasive incompleteness that isn’t really a flaw with the game, but will bug me until we get the next part. Also, I wasn’t as blown away by Ciel’s route as other fans were. It turns out it becomes more obvious that I don't relate to Shiki in Ciel’s route nearly as much as I did to him in Arcueid's once you take what was basically the last four hours of the original and expand it to an almost forty-hour new story. Still love it, btw, but it’s only a 'Really really good OMG go read it' story, instead of a modern magnum opus from Nasu (what a disappointment, am I right? lol)

Anyway, this game is a triumph that met my overhyped expectations. I can’t wait to see what Nasu and the gang have planned for in -The other side of red garden-.

The House in Fata Morgana

Welp, that’s just special, innit. Michel and Giselle have planted themselves among some of my favorite leads of all time. The entire cast is strong across all the incarnations of the house. While the first act is still good, once the narrative behind the anthology format is revealed and the whole context comes into play, it becomes a fantastic tragic romance and a beautiful rumination on evil. It almost gets a bit sanctimonious near the end, but it doesn't fall into obvious narrative pitfalls. Considering the premise of the final act, it's appropriate, so I'll give it a pass.

Yet another classic that meets the hype.

WE KNOW THE DEVIL [reread]

On a technicality, this was the best magical girl VN I read all year too.

The top three VNs were neck-and-neck for the ranking, but I gotta give it to this one. It's short, but I think on every level of intent and execution, this game's incredible. A beautiful aesthetic. A creative and haunting choice/route system. Vibes for days. There are no caveats to be found here. I can't think of anyone I wouldn't recommend this to. Read it. I'm not asking.

And that’s 2023! I’m going to try rereading Va-11 Hall-A in January now that Coffee Talk is fresh in my mind. Sometime after that, I’ll get back to 428--I feel really bad I left it hanging after the tutorial. As always, I hope to get through my downloaded backlog but I also plan on reading a few more Nitro+ games and my first AliceSoft title. Stay tuned!

#matt reads visual novels #visual novels #long post

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melancholypancakes · 1 year

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New Year’s Eve party

Author note: I know it has already passed but this story is inspired by a YouTube video of fanfiction I saw a while back.

It reminds me of my OC Ophelia’s parent’s death so this is a Lord Meowpheus x Ophelia fanfic but you can read it as an x reader as well.

Warning: mentions of parent’s death and a lot of angst

https://youtu.be/9vwuKm2Jn54

Ophelia was walking in the snow during this time of night, she hated doing this, but she had to.

She despised this time of year; it wasn’t the holidays she loved spending money on her family especially her friends within the dreaming realm.

Seeing their faces brighten up when they open their gifts, she loved singing songs and dancing around in the kitchen with her younger sister Elizabeth while helping her Aunt Evelyn prepare meals.

Ophelia loves the cold weather and hearing the snow crunch beneath her shoes.

Sitting by the fire with her lover Morpheus when everyone’s asleep, she loved these activities.

It was nice...but she just couldn’t stand the time of the year all and it made everything she loved leave a bitter taste in her mouth after the fun was over.

It meant she was almost near to the destination...to the “Visit.” Everyone was expected to party on New Year’s Eve in the waking realm.

One last party of the year, to start the next one out fresh, games, food and drinking were traditional for the mortal’s household.

Morpheus had noticed this as he walked alongside his lover in his cat form, he knew this year was a hard time for her.

Usually, it was another member of the family making the “visit” every year or a few times a month if the situation was right...but this time it was Ophelia’s turn.

However, Ophelia, made this trip once a year, usually about an hour before the final countdown.

She would unwillingly sneak out of her family’s house and go to the graveyard, as she heard distant fireworks popping in the sky.

Causing the twenty-six-year-old woman to sigh, as the fireworks began to slow, she knew she was getting closer, and the final countdown would begin soon.

Finally, Ophelia and Morpheus arrived at the Graveyard, she kept looking down until she was in front of two stone heads.

Ophelia bit her lip as she looked at her parent’s graves, she tried to just look at the snow, but she couldn’t keep her eyes off the stones and let out a small groan of frustration.

“Ugh..c’mon Ophelia say something,” she says in her mind as Morpheus just watches her patiently.

“Um...Hey mama, papa...been a while huh?” she says as she tries to figure out her next words before sighing and shoving her glove hands in her jeans.

What could she possibly say?

Ophelia looks through the large trees to only see stars, no more fireworks yet and the countdown was happening soon.

She needed to hurry.

“Um...Elizabeth doing good,” she stated looking back at the graves, “A real genius in school...she’s going to be a great witch someday. maybe even better than me...” she tells the stones.

“Her little friends are handfuls, but I think you would’ve liked them they...they’re good influences on her,” she says as she thinks of another subject of what to say.

“Um...Leo, he’s a loudmouth as ever and Tia just about blows up the kitchen every time she comes up with a new recipe.” she giggles as Morpheus leans in closer to Ophelia’s legs and purrs to urge her to say more.

“And you?” there wasn’t a question, but Ophelia could’ve sworn one of her parents said it.

A forgotten voice in the breeze she tried to concentrate, “What did their voices sound like again?” she thought.

“I-I’m...um” She swallowed nervously, as she looks up at the sky praying for fireworks so she can go home.

To try this again next year but the sky remains silent, “I’m fine...” she decided to speak.

“My friends and I...are fine. Everything...fine. I am...f-fine” she groans.

“That’s not good enough...” she scolds herself. “I always say that. It’s not enough,” she says as Morpheus purrs on her leg and she looks down at him.

Ophelia didn’t want to show her true emotions for fear she would be judged but she knew better than that.

Morpheus wouldn’t judge her as she wouldn’t judge him, he didn’t want her to hold it in anymore.

He was letting her know it was okay to be sad and angry as she had shown him that.

“Then...say what you want...” his voice echoes in her head. she then looked at the tombstones glaring at them.

Angry and tears formed in her eyes, making her vision blur. “Fine!” she yelled ripping her hands away from her jeans and bawling her fist up her sides.

She asked the graves, “You what to know how I am?! I’m mad. I’m mad because instead of doing what everyone else is doing I’m here. Talking to no one!” she continues.

“Talking to a couple of rocks in the ground and I wish I wasn’t! I wouldn’t have to be doing this if you both were just here!” she began to pace as her body is tense.

“But it’s fine because I’m used to it. I am used to having things stolen, my childhood was stolen. Why not New Year’s Eve parties? Just another thing your deaths took from me.” she laughed humorlessly.

“You both die, and suddenly I’m stuck in the middle! Leo is bitter, Tia shuts down and Elizabeth is too young to know what’s happening and I’m stuck. In the middle!” She soon came to a stop in front of the tombstones again.

Her eyes were so cold staring down at the graves and at that moment, she hated them.

“No more fun and games, no more parties, no more sleepovers, just work, work, work, take care of Elizabeth, make sure she and Tia eat, do Leo’s work because he’s too angry. to do it, I stay up till dawn helping Elizabeth with spells and curses and just played off.” she continues.

“Cleaning, doing the paperwork to keep the bills paid while Tia grieved, I did it all! alone. But you know what. I didn’t need any help. I especially didn’t need it from either one of you! Because I turned out great!” she cried as she gripped the left tombstone.

“I have a loving boyfriend...I have the most amazing friends who love me, I saved the world and none of you were around for none of it!” she continues.

“I turn out just fine without you! Other young adults are stressing out about what they’re going to do in life when they don’t have their parents, but I’ve been living it for years. I’m Independent, I’m strong, and I didn’t need you. I don’t need you!”

She said as she felt the stone crack and quickly snatched them away as she gasped.

Ophelia snapped out of her rage and hold her hands on her chest for only a few moments before she picked up Morpheus who looked like a handsome tomcat.

She held him tightly as she whispered, “Thank you” as she felt tears fall, she sat there for a moment feeling the wind before she heard loud fireworks causing her to jump a little before standing up.

Ophelia looks up at the sky to see millions of tiny sparks, they went up one by one disappearing for a quick second before exploding.

She sighs deeply and out as she began to walk, she holds her lover as he purred and nuzzle her neck.

Ophelia began her trip back to the house...

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cody1bc315 · 6 months

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Blog Post 1

Technology has been a big part of the generation that we are growing up in especially as time flies by. Throughout the years we see different ways businesses are innovating their technology to try and get the user to be using it more. I really liked Max talking about Netflix adding the countdown which made other businesses start to add it to their platform. Max also mentioned about some people doing activities just so they can get that picture which is the main way I think technology has affected our lives. When technology was hard to come by I never knew what was always happening even with my closest friends life. Since I started getting into technology and getting into social media I now know so much more than I used to. Sometimes that creates jealousy into peoples eyes because they see someone in Hawaii while your still in Michigan in the snow. I think the main affect is all about how people view the world now. People sometimes feel like there life is boring and hard because they see everyone doing stuff which in reality the person posting going to Hawaii could of had a hard week the week before but obviously I dont know that.

Some Times I did not have my phone were two different instances. One of them was when I was on vacation and I only turned on my phone when I needed to text someone real quick. It wasn't too difficult for me because I was on vacation at the beach. The other instance was when I go up north. When I am up north I have zero service in my cabin which I realize sometimes I start to scroll instagram and twitter even though I cant refresh my page. I feel like I have to be scrolling in order to keep myself occupied which is a bad habit to be into. Some things I would like to do is just to drop technology maybe 30 minutes to an hour a day and just take a break. I work in IT so I am always looking at technology and engaging in the technology field. I think it would be beneficial if I started to intentionally just get some peaceful time per day with zero technology bugging me and see how I react to it.

#technology

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onlinebookiesstuff · 2 years

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How Not to Miss a Beat in Online Bookies Betting

Over the past few years, online sports betting have been increasing in popularity. Records show that websites that are hosting online sports betting have earned billions of dollars over the past decade. In fact, it has posed a neck-to-neck competition against websites designed as internet poker or online bookies. This growing trend is even expected to continue as the FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 11 in South Africa.

With the countdown to the much-awaited FIFA World Cup 2010 coming to a close, Internet bookmaking websites and online sports betting businesses are anticipating a substantial increase in their revenues which will eventually boost their bottom line. Since this event only happens once in four years, analysts are expecting a huge business, with an estimated amount of $1 billion on FIFA World Cup 2010 odds alone.

Easy to make the best out of betting

Moreover, the upcoming event is expected to present a lot of opportunities to online sports betting fans. It is very easy to make the best out of betting on the world cup 2010 odds, especially if you have a strong background on the teams that will likely emerge victorious. However, despite the expected large turnout, there are still several football fans that are interested on betting on the FIFA World Cup 2010 odds but are skeptical about the prospects of doing it online via an internet bookmaker. Don't be intimated by the idea of betting online because,, online football betting is pretty simple.

There are only a few things that you have to keep in mind in order to ensure that you win a big slice of the betting pie. One of the first things that you need is a reputable and reliable online bookmaker. To help you deal only with the best firms in the business, consider reading online sports betting guides that feature in-depth reviews of several leading bookmakers. Such guides will surely lead you to bookmakers that already keep years of experience in the business.

Bookmakers that provide special offers for betting

Keep an eye and explore your options from the list of internet bookmakers that provide special offers for betting on the FIFA world cup 2010 odds. You may also consider looking for online-bookmakers.com that provide world cup 2010 odds on the "To Qualify" teams. While it is difficult to single-out and bet on a team that would likely top the competition, it is easier to enumerate the lineup of teams that has a close call on making it to the finals. For example, while there is no guarantee that Brazil or Portugal would be deemed as the Group winner, there is a higher chance that one of the mentioned teams would likely qualify for the finals. Therefore, betting on such teams would also guarantee you definite returns.

The stage is already set for the upcoming FIFA World Cup. Likewise, the options for online sports betting on the World Cup 2010 odds are already available and ready to be discovered. There is an endless list of betting options available, and it is important that you do not let this rare opportunity pass by. Look out for special offers, and you may also consider delving into specific game sub-markets like Live In-Play gaming that will allow you to enjoy online sports betting as the action unfolds in real time.

#bookmakers

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phoenixglacier · 2 years

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[PART 3] References in We Are Bulletproof : the Eternal MV

A continuation, since tumblr only allows 10 images per post.

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LINK TO NEXT POST

youtube

1:15

Our first um… personified obstacles shot! That’s what I’m gonna call them. I don’t have a reference or explanation for this, but I’m including these scenes anyway in case it becomes apparent one day.

Trains, of course, are especially significant because of its association with Spring Day MV. I feel like there might be another specific reference I’m not getting with the trains but… onwards we go!

1:21

Personified obstacles shot no.2 is… thorns..! Which, honestly, I have no idea where it came from except for Skool Luv Affair’s somewhat association with roses as a symbol of romance..?

1:22

I’m calling it that this is a reference to Reflection somewhere again.

Also, of course, they’re calling themselves ‘bulletproof’, while using a lot of glass imagery. This both conjures up the image of ‘bulletproof glass’, an actual thing in the real world, as well as doing the opposite in implying they’re actually as fragile as glass.

1:26

This little pink one is… also Yoongi…

So this specific Yoongi look is from their Comeback Stage on M Countdown for I Need U. I Need U is the song that got them their first korean music show win (though not on the day of this specific performance). Here in the timeline, we’ve come to the point where things are slightly starting to look up for Bangtan, yet they’re still being bombarded with obstacles.

It’s worth noting that I Need U MV has a lot of water imagery (alongside, of course, fire imagery), both mainly representing depression.

1:26

The checkerboard turning red is, I think, a nod to the imagery of red being a symbol of some sort of enemy as originally set up in N.O. and constantly used by BTS all the way up until today.

The falling checkerboard squares, on the other hand, might be a nod to Fake Love MV, where Jungkook runs through a hallway with a similar thing happening to him (and the pure effort this takes him that’s evident in the MV is really not captured in this one tiny gif) (also I must point out that this wasn’t CGI - in real life the pieces of the floor really were falling while he was running)

Also worth mentioning that in Fake Love, Jungkook doesn’t fall in, while here, Taehyung does. So 2017 Bangtan has overcome this obstacle that used to consume them in 2013?

1:30

Personified obstacles shot no.5 is what looks like A BLACK OCEAN. If you’re unfamiliar with what a black ocean means in kpop, it’s basically when an audience goes out of their way to turn off their lightsticks and stay silent when an artist is performing - an active act to humiliate the artists onstage that Bangtan experienced many times in their early debut (this also being one of the reasons why many Bangtan clips from award shows only have Army Bombs in the audience).

1:32

We’ve already talked about the red, which again begins from N.O. itself, as is this entire scene from N.O. MV.

We'll continue in the next post!

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LINK TO NEXT POST

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babyboibucky · 3 years

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Project V: Pierced

Pairing: College!Bucky x Fem!Reader

Summary: Bucky convinces you to get matching nipple piercings.

Word Count: 1.9k

Warnings: Smut, unprotected sex, mention of oral, piercing pain lmfao, these two being dumbasses as usual

A/N: Maaaaaaaan, seeing Seb with them piercings really hyped me up to write shit lmfao

Project V Masterlist || MAIN MASTERLIST

“Let’s get matching something.”

Bucky proposed as he lounged on your bed, his notes against his chest. You just got out of the shower, a towel wrapped around your chest with water droplets dripping from your neck down to your cleavage. You saw how Bucky’s eyes followed the droplets until it disappeared into your towel.

“Matching what?” You asked and started applying lotion all over your body.

Bucky’s ears turned red as he watched your hands slide up from your calf up to your thighs, the hem of your towel riding up a bit to expose your skin beneath. You snapped your fingers right in his face and made a face, “My eyes are up here, why the fuck are you so horny all the time?” you complained.

“You’re in a fucking towel and I can literally see your pussy from here. Of course I’m gonna feel horny!” he defended. “Anyway, matching something. What do you think?” Bucky asked again, turning to his side as he watched you continue with your post-shower routine.

You shrugged, “How about bracelets? Rings?” you suggested as you slipped on your underwear.

“Too basic.” Bucky said.

“Matching tats?” you asked and then gasped when an idea struck you. “Get a tattoo of my pussy and I’ll have your dick inked on my butt cheek.”

Bucky deadpanned at you, “Are you for real?” he asked. “Also, I don’t want matching tattoos. It’s too common. And Steve and Sam got matching tattoos. We gotta stand out ‘cause we’re not just regular best friends.” he explained, finally sitting up on your bed.

You were now clad in a loose shirt and skipped on the shorts. Turning around to face Bucky, you placed your hands on your hips. “You’re just jealous that Steve decided to get matching tats with Sam and not you.” you teased and sat down next Bucky on your bed.

Bucky rolled his eyes, “Whatever.” he dismissed and thought about what else the both of you can get.

You were combing your hair when Bucky found himself staring at your tits, noticing your pebbled nipples straining through the thin fabric of your shirt.

And then had a eureka moment.

“Let’s get our nips pierced!”

“Can I still back out?” you asked, tugging Bucky’s hand as the both of you entered the tattoo parlor.

You refused to get your nipples pierced, you clearly remembered shooting that idea down as soon as Bucky suggested it. But Bucky, Bucky, Bucky...he had a way with his words and his tongue that made you cry out yes to his suggestion.

Fucking Bucky and his talent at cunnilingus. If that man tried to convince you to help him hide a dead body by eating you out, you would’ve started digging a grave as soon as he was done with you.

He was that good at it.

“Pussy.” Bucky teased.

“Using ‘pussy’ as an insult doesn’t make any sense because this pussy can take a pounding. You should know that better than anyone.” you spat back with a scowl.

Bucky frowned at you, “Okay, fine. I take that back. But no one’s backing out. C’mon, we’d be the coolest BFFs in town with these piercings.” he insisted.

You were about to retort back but was immediately cut off when a guy called both your names, confirming the appointment that was made a week ago. Bucky took your hand and pulled you with him further into the parlor, leaving you with no choice but to give in.

“Alright, so nipple piercings huh?” the guy asked. “Are we gonna do both...or?”

You raised your hand, “What’s the aftercare like?” you went straight to the point.

“Oh well, just don’t touch it for as long as you can. It takes about 6 months to a full year for it to completely heal. Wear a cotton bra or skip on it if possible. Try not to tug at the piercings so when doing the nasty, try not to include the nipples.” he explained so casually.

You turned to Bucky, “When doing the nasty, try not to include the nipples. You sure about this, Buck?” you asked, knowing how much Bucky loved playing with your tits during sex.

Bucky swallowed, “For how long should we avoid the nipple play?” he asked shamelessly.

“Couple of months to a full year.”

“Fuck!” Bucky hissed, ignoring how the piercer burst out laughing at his disappointment.

“So what? We still gonna do this or?” you asked.

Bucky pondered for a couple of seconds before letting out a sigh, “I really want us to be the coolest BFFs out there.”

The both of you decided to show off the piercings back at the dorm, wanting it to be a moment of surprise. The Uber ride was quiet for some reason, tension thick in the air.

“You screamed like a bitch back there.” you said, finally breaking the silence.

Bucky looked offended when he snapped his head towards you, “My pain tolerance is low, okay?” he excused. “And it really did hurt. At least I didn’t whimper like a whore.” he said.

It was true though, you did whimper like a whore getting fucked by three dicks all at once. You always thought you tolerated pain pretty well, getting a Brazilian was a regular thing for you and it never made you flinch. Nipple piercings though? Jesus fucking christ, you couldn’t even explain how much it fucking hurt.

You laughed sarcastically at Bucky’s rebuttal, “Better than screaming as if you were being pegged with no prep.”

As soon as you arrived at Bucky’s dorm, he scrambled to lock the door in hopes of Steve not coming home any time soon. He’d already seen you wearing Bucky’s boxers, he doesn’t need to see the both of you showing off your newly pierced nipples at each other.

“Okay. You ready?” Bucky asked as he stood in front of you.

“On three.” you said before starting off the countdown.

As soon as the countdown was over, Bucky reached for his shirt from behind, removing it at the same time you removed yours, followed by the thin bralette you wore underneath.

“Oh my god, we actually did it.” you snorted, looking closely at the ball closure ring that Bucky went for.

“Shit, I didn’t know you got straight barbells on yours.” Bucky asked, his eyes glued on your slightly red nipples. “Fuck, your tits look so good with piercings.” he grunted breathlessly.

You licked your lips and groaned at the confession you were about to make, “Look, I’m gonna be honest. I’m so fucking turned on right now.”

Bucky groaned, “Me too. Jesus, I thought I was gay because I got an erection when the dude pierced my first nipple. I mean, he was pretty handsome too.”

“I’m sure we can fuck but we just have to avoid the nips so just hit me from the back.” you said and quickly shimmied off your pants together with your panties.

Bucky rushed to remove his and went over to his bed, kneeling behind as you positioned yourself on all fours. You got so wet at the thought of Bucky’s nipples having piercings that you didn’t need that much foreplay to get ready. Bucky slid his fingers along your folds, gathering more wetness from your entrance before smearing it.

“Fuck, just get on with it!” you moaned and gripped the bedsheets tightly.

Bucky jerked his cock a couple of times before finally sliding easily into your cunt. He choked on his moan at the feeling of your velvety walls clenching around his hard cock. He had been hard too on the way home, no wonder there was tension in that Uber ride.

“Go fast and hard, I’m not gonna last.” you urged, pushing your ass back to meet Bucky’s thrusts.

Placing a hand on your neck and the other on your waist, Bucky fucked you the way you wanted. Thank goodness you started taking pills because Bucky didn’t have the patience to even put a condom on. He felt like he was going to nut as soon as his eyes landed on your pierced nipples, so perky and still swollen.

“Oh shit, fuck. I’m so fucking horny.” Bucky said, his jaw tensing as he watched your ass bounce every time he slammed back inside of you.

A couple more thrusts and your entire body trembled, a soft moan slipping past your lips when you came hard. Even without being touched, your nipples felt sensitive because of the piercings, the sensation only adding to your pleasure when you reached your orgasm.

“Shit, fuck. I gotta see those tits bounce. I can’t cum without seeing them.” Bucky said and pulled out to gently turn you around.

Now on your back with your legs spread open, Bucky slipped inside and continued to fuck you. His hands gripped the pillow beneath your head for leverage as he jackhammered you onto the bed, your hands finding purchase on his broad shoulders as you felt another orgasm approach you.

You lifted your head up to meet Bucky’s lips in a kiss, moaning into his mouth when you felt the tip of his cock kiss your cervix. Your vision blacked out momentarily when you came for the second time. Just as when you regained your senses, Bucky got lost in his own orgasm that he completely forgot about the piercings. He grabbed your left breast and pinched your nipple, your scream joining his loud moan when he came.

“Fucking hell, Bucky!” you cried out, the pain too much to bear that you also didn’t notice that your hand clawed at Bucky’s right pec with your middle finger getting caught in his piercing, accidentally ripping it out in the process.

“Motherfucker!”

“What the hell happened? Are you both okay?!” Steve worriedly asked as soon as he arrived at the ER of a nearby hospital.

Upon getting Bucky’s voicemail about rushing to the hospital, Steve panicked and went there as soon as he could. He had been Bucky’s emergency contact for a long time now and he was used to receiving calls from police stations due to how often Bucky got himself in trouble, especially when drunk. But Bucky calling, sounding like he was in immense pain, telling him that he needed to go to the hospital?

It was the first time it ever happened so it was understandable for Steve to panic like a husband who got a call informing him that his wife was going into labor.

You and Bucky exchanged glances, faces red from embarrassment before nodding.

“We’re good.” you curtly responded, scratching your neck.

“What happened?” Steve asked again, brows furrowing as he looked at you and Bucky alternately.

You nudged Bucky’s ribs with your elbow, widening your eyes at him as you urged him to do the explaining.

“We uh...werippedouteachothersnipplepiercings.” he murmured to himself.

Steve frowned, “I didn’t catch a word that you said.”

“We ripped out each other’s piercings by accident.” you repeated, clearly and slowly this time.

“Did your earlobes get ripped off or what?” Steve asked, taking a closer look at both your ears.

Confusion washed over his face when he noticed that your ear piercings were still intact and that Bucky didn’t even have his ears pierced. Steve straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest, looking at the both of you like a reprimanding father.

“What did the two of you do this time?”

A nurse stepped into the scene and offered Steve a kind smile before turning to you and Bucky, handing over a prescription.

“Make sure to follow the instructions when applying the ointment and both your nipples should heal properly.” she explained before walking out.

“Nipples?!” Steve gasped out.

Bucky sighed but shrugged in response, “At least we’re the coolest BFFs out there with matching nipple piercings.”

Everything Bucky Tag List:

@ddowii @jessou893 @stealapizzamyheart @bagelofthelord @mxnt @dontputyourfckingdrinkonmytable @jeeperky @ohladymacbeth @wildflowergubler @supraveng @twinerd14 @buckysmar @bakugouswh0r3 @sweetcoldharmony @wintersfilm @charminivy @amelia-song-pond @iamvalentinaconstanza @mcubqrnes @im-squished @tcc-gizmachine @sipsteacasually @prettyintopeerpressure @weloveyasmin @est19xxshit @bloodhon3yx @dressed-in-prada @lizette50 @thatfangirl42 @sunflowerbunny2 @unmagically @okiegirl24 @sugarpunch-princess @enlyume @vvipgotbb @slimeyderp @lyoongx @just-deka @nobody-will @jaziona92 @elisebuitron @dpaccione @suvikamahes98blr @buckybarneshairpullingkink @earthtonav @x-judyjude-x @nani-kenobi @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @belladonnabarnes @iloveangstposts @weenersoldierr @asemistablehundredyearoldman @reidbuck @lizzarooni @girlfriday007 @bonkywobble @lost-in-the-stars03 @its-yasbxtch @whoth3hellisbucky

#bbb writes #project v #bucky barnes #bucky #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky x reader #bucky x you #fem!reader #bucky barnes smut #bucky smut #sebastian stan

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makeste · 3 years

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but I just feel too tired to be fighting

this is a follow-up post to what I said in my recap the other day about this arc being the Deku Angst arc, as opposed to the Villain Hunt arc or the Deku SIXQUIRKS Exhibition arc. I feel like the fandom discussion tends to focus on the flashier parts of the chapters -- the sexy villains and the new quirk reveals and the Shindous -- each week, and so the quieter emotional beats sometimes get overlooked, especially since the character arc here is playing out in little bits and pieces over time rather than all at once.

this has always been a very reactionary fandom, and there’s a tendency to judge the chapters week to week without ever going back to look at how they all fit into the big picture. so I figured I would try to attempt that, and basically go chapter by chapter here to look at what exactly Horikoshi is setting up and how it all fits together.

so let’s start with the end of chapter 306, which is when the arc officially kicks off. specifically with the very last page:

this is imo one of the best pages Horikoshi has ever drawn. I got the sense that this was a scene he’d had in his mind’s eye for quite a long time, and that he was excited to finally get to this part of the story. it’s extremely effective as both a chapter-ender, and an arc-opener. like, look at this:

it establishes the initial premise of the new arc -- the world is in chaos, and Deku is now seemingly on his own

it leaves the readers with a number of questions. why did Deku leave U.A.?? is he really on his own now?? why does he look so beat-up and exhausted?? what is he up to?? what is the world like now that all these villains have been unleashed and the heroes have been decimated?? and most importantly of all, what the fuck is going to happen next??

it pays homage to some of Horikoshi’s comic book influences -- Batman in particular

it dramatically hits us with that “THE FINAL ACT BEGINS” and lets us know that shit is getting real now

that’s some good shit. so much so that I think people tended to overlook the other notable thing about this page amidst all of the initial excitement and discussion and speculation about where the series was headed. and that is the fact that the final panel in this chapter is NOT the panel of Deku standing above the city. the very last panel, the one that this chapter actually ends on, is instead the close-up of Deku’s face. his face, which is covered in shadow; and his eyes, which have dark circles under them and are prominently missing the usual flecks of light that give him his signature “sunny optimistic shounen protagonist” look.

not to mention this last line here, which is a call back to the very first time we saw the 14-year-old Deku way back in chapter one.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Horikoshi chose to throw this reference in. nor is it a coincidence that THIS is the scene he actually chose to end the chapter on. what this does is show us the drastic shift in Deku’s emotional state of mind, and his attitude towards being a hero. he’s gone from being thrilled and excited to being jaded and exhausted. he’s matured, but at a great cost. it’s always been his dream to be a hero, but “be careful what you wish for” is a popular adage for a reason. and right now he looks the furthest thing from happy.

and this is the emotional beat that Horikoshi chooses to end the chapter on. this is the panel that closes out the War arc, and begins the final act. to me the message could not be clearer -- this arc will be about the exploration of Deku’s character, and his struggle as he tries to live up to the expectations that have been placed on him as the Last Holder of OFA and quite possibly the World’s Only Hope.

it’s a character arc that builds on a lot of the things we’ve already learned about Deku over the course of the series, such as the fact that he is reckless, and that he focuses on others often at the expense of himself. but more importantly, it’s an arc that finally expands on the dark side of what has up until now been a net positive for Deku -- the power of OFA. up until this point, despite its ups and downs, it’s been a boon for Deku overall and has allowed him to pursue his dream. but now we’re finally reaching the point where the monkey’s paw part of the OFA blessing/curse finally starts to come into play. OFA gives Deku more power than he could have ever dreamed of, but it also comes with a built-in destiny that he can’t opt out of whether he likes it or not. AFO is on the loose and out there trying to destroy the world. and now everyone has pinned their hopes on this sixteen-year-old kid, and the question of whether or not the sixteen-year-old kid is ready is apparently not one that anyone feels inclined to ask (possibly because they’re afraid that the answer might be “no”).

he doesn’t have a choice in the matter. he has to do it, because there’s no one else who can. that’s the kind of pressure that is on Deku now.

and on that note, we begin the Deku Angst arc.

chapter 307

this in hindsight was mostly just a set-up chapter to better establish the current state of the BnHA world at large (spoilers: it’s not good), while also providing an answer for one of the big initial questions of the arc -- namely, “what happened to all of those villains that AFO released from Tartarus?” these are important things to touch on, but the pacing could definitely have been better, and the bulk of the chapter was dedicated to providing fanservice to all of the Shindou fans who spammed the most recent popularity poll (which, whatever lol). anyway, so this was the sole chapter thus far with absolutely no Deku development. thankfully the arc picks up from there.

chapter 308

on to the next one! this was the one and only chapter thus far which I think actually qualifies as an “exhibition fight.” this was definitely all about showing off Deku’s current powerset, as well as introducing us to another of the SIXQUIRKS. however, there was Deku development here as well, most notably in this scene:

this is the scene that got a lot of people speculating that this arc was going to focus on Deku hunting down all of the old villains. but I think people got so caught up in that speculation that they overlooked what this scene tells us about Deku’s mindset. and yes, there is new information being revealed here, and it’s not just a rehash of the stuff we already knew. like yes, we know that Deku was shaken up by the recent encounters with Dabi and Tomura, and we know that made him start questioning why villains become villains in the first place, and all that good stuff, and that’s great. however, there are two additional important things that this scene helps establish for us.

the upcoming battle with TomurAFO is weighing heavily on Deku’s mind. this is something that will become a recurring theme in this arc. Deku is thinking about this constantly. the question of what to do when he finally encounters TomurAFO again is knocking incessantly at the back of his mind, and this won’t be the last time it comes up.

Deku is using these villain encounters as test runs. can Tomura be redeemed?? is he just being stupid and naïve?? or is this really something worth attempting?? the interesting thing about this is that Deku’s resolve to save people is usually so strong and unwavering that it’s more than enough to overcome any doubts that he might have. but this time it seems like the repeated objections posed by the Vestiges and Gran Torino have really gotten to him. it’s possible I’m just reading way too much into things, but to me it really feels like Deku’s recent attempts at Talk no Jutsu were meant to do more than just show his growing awareness that the line between heroes and villains is thinner than he once imagined. they’re also serving as trial runs for the real test, when it finally comes. if he can “save” even a villain like Muscular, there’s hope for him being able to save Tomura as well. and so that moment when Muscular rejects him out of hand is all the more disappointing to him, even if it wasn’t really unexpected. basically it wasn’t the answer that he had been hoping for.

aside from those little notes though, like I said, this was unquestionably an exhibition fight first and foremost. which is fine; we needed to establish where Deku is currently in terms of strength, and it was also just fun to see him kick some ass, ngl. in terms of story purpose this chapter was similar to 219, which showed us how Shouto and Katsuki had powered up after getting their provisional licenses. people who don’t care about those characters might argue that these fights weren’t necessary, but as someone who stans all three characters hard, I would disagree! but anyways, moving on.

chapter 309

in contrast to the previous chapter, this chapter focuses more on establishing Deku’s current mental state, as opposed to his physical state. and this is what we learn:

(1) Deku is ~technically~ being shadowed/accompanied by All Might and the Hawksquad (but in practice he’s avoiding them).

(2) it was Deku’s own decision to leave U.A., and he did it because he didn’t want anyone else getting hurt in order to protect him.

and finally, (3) Deku’s game plan is to stop Tomura and All for One before they reach full power.

this last part is very important, because it means there’s a countdown in effect. as far as Deku is concerned, there’s only a finite amount of time before TomurAFO becomes unstoppable. which means that he’s not only under “gotta get stronger” pressure, but time pressure as well. he doesn’t have the luxury of taking his time and training in safety. he’s being rushed now; this is do-or-die.

this chapter is also the first in this arc in which we get to see Deku’s expressions without the hood covering up his face, and what we see is very telling. as previously stated, the light is gone from Deku’s eyes. he keeps his expressions very neutral, and the only time we even see a hint of a smile is when he hugs his mom in the flashback, and it’s clear from the dialogue (“it’s okay, I’ll come home to you”) that he’s doing it for her sake in order to comfort her.

but aside from that, this is very much not the Deku we’ve grown accustomed to. this is the chapter that really establishes his current mental state imo. above all else, he’s afraid that more people will get hurt because of him, and so he’s distancing himself from everyone around him. and he’s also morbidly preoccupied with the inevitability of having to face TomurAFO again, and soon. the chapter ends on the flashback of Gran giving him his cape, and telling Deku that “killing can be another way to save someone.” there’s a lot on this kid’s mind, to say the least.

chapter 310

this chapter opens with a gang of civilians who are trying to open fire on a nice fox lady whose only crime was walking around in the rain at night. Deku intervenes to save her, and it’s the first time in this arc that we see anything close to the “old” Deku, who just wanted to save people with a smile.

but it’s bittersweet, because all the lady can talk about is how scared she was, and how horrible everything is right now. and so Deku, who feels responsible in a lot of ways for everything that’s happened, just feels that much more pressure to somehow make things right again.

there’s also this extra throwaway line which is especially heartbreaking:

“I can’t afford to be around anyone.” fucking ouch. just reinforcing once more how incredibly isolated Deku is right now -- not by choice, but because he feels like it’s not safe to let anyone else get close to him. and so he’s out here running around this dystopian cityscape in the middle of the night in the pouring rain all on his own, and neglecting himself to the point where All Might practically has to force a bento on him.

but does he complain? of course not. because his focus is never on himself. instead, when he settles down to eat, his thoughts immediately drift back to, guess who...

it’s that time pressure once again. “unless I draw out One for All’s full power, I can’t stop any of this.” it’s just nonstop, I have to get stronger, I’m running out of time, I have to do better, and constantly thinking about that inevitable confrontation.

Deku is a thinker, you guys. and when left to his own devices he will overthink, every time. his mind will run in endless loops while he mentally works his way through all of the possibilities. and that’s one of his greatest strengths, don’t get me wrong, but at a time like this it’s also one of his greatest weaknesses. it’s just so fucking easy for him to get stuck in his own head, in his endless rambling thoughts and analyses. and without anyone else there to help distract him, or help him focus, he’s become fixated on his mission, and it’s slowly consuming him.

this, incidentally, is also the chapter in which we finally see Two and Three’s faces, and learn why Two in particular is so reluctant to lend his power to Deku. he appears to be the lone holdout at this point, so stay tuned on that, because I don’t doubt this will wind up being crucial to Deku’s future development, however it winds up playing out.

chapter 311

this chapter flips back to the Hawksquad for the first half, so we get a brief respite from the ongoing Dekuangst. right before we switch back though, we do get confirmation of something we had pretty much already guessed:

like, that much was already apparent based on what we’d seen (the bags under his eyes; the fact that he refused to sit still in any one place for very long even at night), but it’s always nice to get the official confirmation so that people can’t dispute it lol. so yeah, Deku isn’t sleeping much. and not eating much either, if all he’s getting is the occasional bento from Dadmight. so basically not taking care of himself at all, huge shocker there. but this is something that’s important enough to the story that Horikoshi took the time to point it out in the dialogue, in addition to all of the visual clues we’d already gotten.

and just in case we needed to drive that point in any further, this chapter ends with the appearance of Lady Nagant! like yeah, no shit Deku isn’t getting much sleep, what with him having to fend off racist civilians and hired assassins every five fucking minutes. smdh. can he live??

chapter 312

so this is the chapter that properly introduces Lady Nagant, who maaaay or may not be one of the primary antagonists of this arc?? like, it’s really unclear right now tbh, but she gets hyped up by Hawks and AFO, and has a flashback and a mysterious past and a weird trump card (where did you go, Overhaul) and all that good shit, so yeah? one can hope at any rate.

but anyway. so to his credit, Deku’s first thought is to retreat, but he quickly abandons that plan once he figures out Nagant’s location. this is played off like a logical strategic decision at first, but the subsequent chapter quickly makes it clear that Deku’s decision to take the fight to Nagant is less rational than he might have you think.

chapter 313

so yeah. last but not least, the most recent chapter, in which Deku’s real reason for targeting Lady soon becomes apparent:

what’s more, it quickly becomes clear that he miscalculated and probably would have been better off following Hawks’s advice, seeing as he promptly gets himself shot, and subsequently realizes that AFO gave Nagant an extra quirk, something he hadn’t taken into account. but instead of cutting his losses and running at this point, he doubles down instead and not only breaks out Smokescreen, but also the Third’s quirk which he has never even used before.

it’s worth noting that both En and the Third start telling him to chill at this point, and warn him that what he’s attempting is too dangerous. but tbh if they were expecting him to listen, they haven’t been reading the same arc I’ve been reading. once again, Horikoshi makes it clear that Deku has one thing and one thing only on his mind right now.

of course. once again it all comes back to this. hunt down AFO. it doesn’t matter that he’s exhausted. it doesn’t matter that he’s just been shot twice. it doesn’t matter that Hawks, despite knowing what Deku was capable of with his OFA abilities, specifically warned him away from this one person only. it doesn’t matter that even the Vestiges are trying to tell him you’re going too fast and you’re trying to do too much and it’s too dangerous.

he just doesn’t care. long story short, the only thing that matters to Deku right now is tracking down and defeating TomurAFO. and as the person who knows him best once so aptly put it, “he doesn’t take himself into account.” and therein lies the major challenge of this arc.

and so this is where we’re currently at now. and this has been a very long post, but if nothing else, I hope I was able to get this one point across: there is absolutely no way that Deku will be able to defeat TomurAFO as he is now. not a chance in hell. somehow he’s managed the uncommon feat of waging a war of attrition against himself, which is really quite an accomplishment. he’s not taking care of himself, and he’s refusing to listen to sound advice from the people surrounding him, and is trying to skip ahead to the final boss battle before he’s ready, because the guilt and pressure from feeling responsible for the current situation are eating him up. the only way that the world can go back to normal is if he can defeat AFO; therefore he has to do it as soon as possible, because time is running out and everyone is counting on him. this is who Deku is. and this is what inevitably happens when his saving mentality is taken to extremes, and left unchecked.

anyway so to wrap up this post now, I do think this arc is a lot more cohesive than it’s gotten credit for thus far, and Deku is the glue holding it all together. I for one am loving the exploration of his character and all the subtle little angsty touches as we build up to the big moment, whenever it finally comes. just keep in mind though that if his decisions right now seem reckless and short-sighted, it’s because they’re supposed to seem that way, because Deku is not in a good mental state right now. the cracks are finally showing in our perfect protagonist, just like everyone has been wanting this whole time. he is just a kid. he is doing his best. he is trying far too hard to do his best, and it is hurting him so badly, but he doesn’t even realize. this arc is not an endorsement of the Angsty Nomad Hero lifestyle, lol. it’s the exact fucking opposite, and I think it’s being wildly misinterpreted with all of the emphasis on “oh look at that, he mastered another quirk with no effort”, as opposed to “oh look at that, he is shutting down emotionally and is a few more missed nights of sleep away from a complete and total breakdown.”

tl;dr the overarching storyline of this arc is all about Deku slowly falling apart due to his trauma from Jakku, and the subsequent pressure that was put on him by the Vestiges with their whole “GUESS WHAT, YOU’RE THE LAST USER OF OFA, THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S ALL ON YOU BUDDY” pep talk. and mark my words, things are not going to go according to plan. something is going to go terribly wrong here. whether it’s something happening to All Might, or AFO setting up a trap for him, either way Deku is being set up to fail in a major way. unless of course, someone (or a group of someones) manages to intervene first, and possibly stage an intervention or something. it’s what he needs right now, but idk if Horikoshi is going to make it that easy.

anyway, but in other words, the point of this arc is not to show how much stronger Deku has gotten and how he doesn’t even need his friends anymore. it’s the exact opposite -- the point of this arc is to show that Deku needs his friends now more than ever. that in spite of OFA and all of its mystical trappings and fancy SIXQUIRKS, Deku can’t do this alone. he needs his friends. that’s the core message. and right now, we are at the “I can get by on my own” part of the story. and the part we are all waiting for, but which is coming -- I guarantee it is coming, you guys -- is “the thing is, you don’t have to.”

and that shit is going to slap hard you guys. and I for one can’t wait. but until then, enjoy the angst.

#bnha 313 #midoriya izuku #bnha meta #deku meta #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #long post #like 'long' is really an understatement here lol #our little green protagonist is really going through it you guys #and I just have a lot of thoughts and feelings about it

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septembercfawkes · 3 years

Text

Getting Passive Protagonists to Act

Many beginning writers struggle with protagonists who are too passive. The plot seems to constantly be happening to him or her, but the protagonist doesn’t take an action to make the plot happen.

Ideally, when an event happens to a protagonist, the protagonist responds by taking an action that influences the next event, which then influences the protagonist, which then influences an event—and on and on. But that can be easier said than done. Especially if you have a protagonist who prefers to live life passively.

This could all get confusing, though, because in story structure, almost all protagonists will more or less become more proactive. But for the sake of this post, I'm talking about protagonists who are characteristically passive. A protagonist who may want to kick up his feet in a hammock with a glass of lemonade and watch the world deal with its own problems. How do we write a story about that guy?

Many people will tell you that you can't--you must change the character.

But that is not wholly true.

It's true in a good story, we need the protagonist to act--especially at key moments--but that doesn't mean he innately yearns to act.

Often the best solution in dealing with a passive character is to strengthen the stakes. Let me explain.

Anyone will Act with the Right Stakes

The stakes are potential consequences; they are what are at risk in the story. We often think of them as negative things (someone's life may be at risk), but they can also be positive things (the opportunity to be taught by a professional in your ideal vocation).

Stakes are important because if there is nothing at risk, then what happens, doesn't really matter, which means what the protagonist does, doesn't really matter, because it doesn't change any outcomes. The story only matters insomuch as we understand potential outcomes. The protagonist's choices only matter if they affect the outcomes.

For example, we only care about Frodo destroying the Ring because we know doing so could rid Middle-earth of Sauron’s evil. If we didn't know that, what happened with the Ring wouldn't really matter. And what Frodo did wouldn't carry any weight. (You can learn more about stakes in my article "How to Write Stakes in Storytelling.")

When struggling with getting a passive protagonist to act, (almost) always look at the stakes.

No Stakes

Make sure that you’ve at least laid out stakes. Sometimes writers feel like the stakes are obvious, so they don't mention them. Just as bad, if not worse, the stakes may be too vague. And definitely worse: nonexistent.

If the protagonist doesn't have anything clearly to gain or lose, why would she act? If what happened to the Ring didn't change something, why would Frodo go to Mount Doom? Why would any of us do anything if it didn't make some kind of difference?

In a case like this, clear stakes need to be on the page.

Let's look at some examples of what one might consider passive people within the context of their stories.

Shrek wants nothing more than to live alone on his swamp. If there is nothing at risk, is he really going to go on an adventure to rescue a princess? Probably not.

In The Edge of Tomorrow, I think it could be argued that the protagonist, Bill Cage (played by Tom Cruise) is somewhat passive in relation to the main conflict. The story is about him fighting in a war against aliens, but he has absolutely no desire whatsoever to enter combat--in fact, he's a coward. You think he would sign up to be the first in combat out of the goodness of his heart? No way.

In Trigun by Yasuhiro Nightow, protagonist Vash would rather spend all day, every day eating donuts, playing with kids, and helping out the person down the street. He'd rather live life under an alias than face the fact he's the only one capable of standing up to the antagonist and saving the human race.

If none of these characters ever had anything at risk, then they would have never taken the actions they needed to, to move the story forward. They would have been forever passive.

In short, they only acted once there were stakes.

Wrong Stakes

If there are stakes on the page, and the character still isn't acting, then chances are they are either the wrong stakes (things she doesn’t care about) or the stakes are too small (the potential consequences don’t pose a real threat or a meaningful gain).

If they are the wrong stakes, you need to think about what the protagonist cares about and put it in jeopardy. We all care about something--whether that’s a reputation or a pet.

For a passive person, you might need to dig deeper and brainstorm longer to figure out what it is. And if you are having trouble, keep in mind that it's also possible the passive protagonist wants something for someone else or his environment. Maybe she's satisfied drinking lemonade and getting picked on, but she's not okay with her kid getting bullied--that's not something she can let happen.

Shrek mostly cares about living alone on his swamp. If his distant neighbor is at risk of dying in loneliness, Shrek's likely not going to do much about it. The best way to get him to act, is to put his home and lifestyle at risk. He will be willing to take action to save that.

Bill is afraid of dying (it's part of what makes him a coward). If he's put in a situation where he could die, he'll be forced to act.

Vash is obsessed with saving people. Children, friends, innocents, criminals. It doesn't matter who. He doesn't want anyone to die. If no one is at risk of dying, then it's unlikely he will be drawn to fight his antagonists. Almost always he is led to act because someone's life is at risk.

Small Stakes

If the stakes are too small, you need to make them bigger by making them broader or more personal.

Even the most passive person is unlikely to feel passive with a gun pointed at them. Unless they have a death wish, in which case, you could have the gun pointing at a loved one, or you could threaten torture. Even people who have a death wish don't want to be tortured. Almost all of us will act if the stakes get big enough.

Alternatively, you can promise an opportunity that is too good to pass up. If all I want is to live out my life on a hammock by the beach sipping lemonade, then maybe the best motivation is the promise of getting that. Maybe I'd be willing to act, if it ensured that.

It's bad enough for Shrek to have a few creatures come on his swamp, but the fact that countless numbers of them will be exiled to his swamp, is even worse. This is a big enough issue to get him to act--he decides he must visit Farquaad, which moves the story to the middle.

It's bad enough to die once, but it turns out for Bill, that he has to die over and over and over again. He also has to go on the battlefield over and over and over again, too. He keeps repeating the same events. This is enough to get him to try new tactics (and really, what other choice does he have?).

It's bad enough that Vash can't save everyone. But when it turns out the antagonists plan to destroy the whole human race, well, he can't live out life in donut-filled peace, playing cops and robbers with tykes. He has to act.

Inaction Stakes

If your passive character still really does not want to act, it's worth keeping in mind that inaction is an action--it just needs significant stakes. There needs to be negative ramifications for the protagonist not acting. Ideally, eventually these negative consequences get so big or so personal, that the protagonist has to do something about it.

For example, at one point, Vash decides to live under an alias and do nothing. He decides to be inactive. Unfortunately, this results in an entire town getting wiped out by the antagonist. Doing nothing has steep consequences. He needs to at least try to do something.

This can become a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation--where "damned if you do" at least carries a small chance of success over "damned if you don't."

At one point in Edge of Tomorrow, Bill decides to do nothing. He even goes to a bar to drink in the middle of the day. Guess what? He still has to repeatedly die. Whatever he does, he ends up dying, and having to repeat that time frame. He can either be endlessly in a tortuous loop where he dies, dies, and dies, or he can keep trying to fix the situation. On the surface, it seems like he has a lot of options, since he gets to make different choices each time he repeats the day, but 99% of them lead to the same outcome. So in reality, he has very few choices. Act and maybe die. Or don't act and keep dying.

Limit Options

Related to the last one, one way to push a passive character to act, is to limit her choices and the outcomes. In fact, if we want to take this to the real world, studies show that the more options people have, the less likely they are to make a choice--or even make a good choice.

Like Bill, when there aren't really any options, the protagonist will be pretty much forced to act. Either keep reliving the same torture or try to do something about it.

Add to it some kind of countdown or convergence, so that the protagonist has a very limited window to act, and she'll have to do something.

Stakes Reveal Character

How the protagonist acts when there are things at risk, will reveal what kind of person she is.

In this sense, one might argue, that by strengthening the stakes to get her to act, you are changing her character after all.

Or perhaps, it would be more accurate to say that you are now revealing who she truly is.

Whatever the case, it can become an argument of semantics.

Similar things can happen with the term "passive."

Just understand the concepts and the tools.

The Reluctant Hero

In most, if not all cases, a characteristically passive protagonist will create a reluctant hero. Shrek doesn't want to save Fiona. Bill doesn't want to win the war. Vash doesn't want to confront the antagonist. They just want something to not happen, more than they want to do The Thing™️.

In this sense, while the passive protagonist will ultimately still be acting within the plot (which is necessary to write a good story), he or she may still yearn for passivity.

Of course, the character's arc may possibly shift that yearning by the end.

And it should go without saying, that pretty much all these same tricks will work for passive side characters, as well--when you need to get them to act. For example, in The Office, Stanley is characteristically passive. He pretty much sits in silence and does crossword puzzles. But when pushed far enough, he will back talk his boss. And when he wants something bad enough (like a free pretzel on pretzel day), he'll actually act.

#Writing tips #writing tips and tricks #writeblr #writer problems #writing reference #protagonist #fanfic

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bitimdrake · 2 years

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Would you be willing to do a sort of infinite crisis breakdown? I’ve been trying to sort out a timeline of it but the comics in 2005/2006 seem out of sync and I’ve gotten a little lost

I'd love to! I've mentioned reading chronologically before, and Infinite Crisis and its lead-up was ABSOLUTELY one of the hardest eras to sort, but also super rewarding because I did find an order that felt good.

I don't know if you're looking for a general overview here or specific order of issues, nor how much background information you already know, so...obviously I'm going to do a super long write-up. Issue list at the bottom.

The Broader Context

Infinite Crisis was an event building off 20 years of history. You absolutely do not need to read 20 years of comics for it, but it should be understandable that there's a lot going on. The biggest precursors can be limited down to two:

Crisis on Infinite Earths from 1986, the codifier of all crisis events ever, the reason I said specifically a 20-year history, and the event that Infinite Crisis is a pseudo-sequel for. You do not need to read this. (I could barely figure out what was happening in CoIE myself, honestly.)

I believe that all the important information you really need will be covered in Infinite Crisis anyway, but for an overview: heroes from many different earths teamed up to try to save the multiverse. This included the main Earth-1, as well as the similar but older heroes of Earth-2 (like old Superman), the heroic Alexander Luthor of morality-flipped Earth-3, and the Superboy of Earth-Prime (the "real" world). They managed to save one universe, but failed to save the rest. The multiverse was destroyed, the universe retroactively rewritten...and everyone forgot that the multiverse had existed in the first place or that the crisis had ever happened.

The second big piece of context is the much more recent Identity Crisis. (This one is a lot less confusing, though comes with a huge content warning for rape.) The present day mystery story line isn't especially important, but the backstory revealed by Identity Crisis majorly shadowed over events up through IC. Again, the relevant information will be re-established in IC, but to recap--

Spoilers: It was a revealed a small portion of the JLA, the "league within a league" (which didn't include the trinity), had taken up a habit of erasing villain's memories when they threatened secret identities and, on one occasion, attempted to overwrite a villain's personality. Some time after Identity Crisis, this information started to leak out, and the villains of the DCU were getting verrrry edgy. It was also revealed that Batman had walked in on said personality-erasure, and the other leaguers panicked and erased his memory of the event. Shortly after Identity Crisis, it's indicated that Bruce has started to remember this, and it is making him even more paranoid than usual.

And with that context, let's get to Infinite Crisis.

The Prelude

(Note: some of the stories in runs that will eventually coincide with IC begin before the prelude really kicks off. e.g. the start of Under the Hood in Batman #635-641.)

But the Countdown to Infinite Crisis era begins, appropriately, with the oneshot Countdown to Infinite Crisis. This kicks off the threads for the four six-issue mini-series to follow.

NOTE: these four minis also have "Infinite Crisis Special..." one-shot issues. Those come later! Not yet!

OMAC Project follows the danger of Max Lord, Checkmate, and Brother Eye, as a bunch of innocent people are turned into super sleeper agents, OMACs. There are a number of tie-ins to this, but most of them are only tie-ins in the sense that an OMAC appears, and not really relevant. The only tie-ins I would recommend for the sake of IC itself follow a thread with Superman and Wonder Woman:

OMAC Project #1-3

Superman vol 2 #219, Action Comics #829, Adventures of Superman #642, Wonder Woman vol 2 #219

OMAC Project #4-6

Follow up - Wonder Woman vol 2 #220, Adventures of Superman #643

Day of Vengeance follows the Spectre, and the magic community in general. I did not read this one so I cannot really comment on the ideal order nor the relevance of tie-ins. Sorry.

Rann-Thanagar War focuses on the extraplanetary side. I also did not read this one, but as far as I can tell, the only "tie-ins" are the first eight issues of Adam Strange vol 2, which all occur before the miniseries' six issues.

Finally, Villains United follows the formation of The Secret Society of Super-Villains as Lex Luthor uses the villain's growing unrest about Identity Crisis's memory erasure to get...well, most of them working together. A few staunchly refuse. I actually didn't realize this one had tie-ins--some I was reading anyway (e.g. the optional Nightwing #109-115 which gives background to a certain event with Deathstroke in IC later) and the rest I didn't miss. Any order for tie-ins is fine as far as I'm aware.

Also during this brief lead-up period are some notable but less directly tied-in events like The Return of Donna Troy, the continuation of some ongoing stories like Under the Hood (place Batman #645-647 here), and the start of smaller threads that will emerge in IC like Power Girl's story in JSA Classified #1-2.

Finally, a story around the Secret Society and fallout of Identity Crisis in the optional JLA vol 1 #115-119 ends with J'onn's disappearance.

There's a little more crammed in between this and the start of IC, just continuing runs (like another JLA storyline in #120-125) or moving pieces around (the sins in Outsiders v3 #29-30, or Donna in Firestorm v3 #19 to Teen Titans vol 3 #29, where Jason attacks Tim).

Infinite Crisis

The real event begins at last. The main Infinite Crisis mini is seven issues long, plus one special for each of the four minis above, plus about uhhhh a million tie-ins. Some of these tie-ins are direct expansions or continuations of scenes from Infinite Crisis the mini, so there is a chronological order here that is very solid, very complicated, and very overlapping.

I was going to try to summarize but fuck it. I'm just gonna list issues. Pro-tip: don't feel compelled to read every tie-in for every run. Pick the ones that truly interest you.

Speaking of, a disclaimer:

Books I read all the tie-ins from: Batman, Birds of Prey, Gotham Central, JLA, Nightwing, Outsiders, Robin, Teen Titans.

Books I read some of the tie-ins from: Action Comics, Adventures of Superman, Catwoman, Firestorm, Green Lantern, Hawkman, JSA Classified, JSA, Manhunter, Superman, Wonder Woman

Books I read nothing from: Adam Strange, Blood of the Demon, Breach, Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: Rebirth, the Flash.

...so some of this order may be a little less accurate, and some missing. Here goes:

Infinite Crisis #1

Teen Titans vol 3 #30-31

Gotham Central #37

Birds of Prey #89-90

Green Lantern vol 4 #7-8

Superman #223

Wonder Woman #222

Adventures of Superman #646-647

Superman #224

Wonder Woman #223

Aquaman v6 #32-36

JSA Classified #3-4

Infinite Crisis #2

Firestorm v3 #20

Outsiders v3 #31-33

Hawkman v4 #47-49

JSA #81-82

Gotham Central #38-40

Aquaman v6 #37

Wonder Woman #224

Infinite Crisis #3

Infinite Crisis Secret Files and Origins

Superman #225

Aquaman v6 #38-39

Infinite Crisis Special: Day of Vengeance #1

JSA Classified #8-9

Batman #648-650, Annual #25

Teen Titans #32

Infinite Crisis #4

Robin #146-147

Adventures of Superman #648

Nightwing #116-117

Firestorm v3 #21

Infinite Crisis Special: Rann-Thanagar War #1

Manhunter #16-19

Wonder Woman #225-226

Catwoman v3#52

Birds of Prey #91

Teen Titans Annual #1

Infinite Crisis #5

Superman #226

Action Comics #836

Adventures of Superman #649

Teen Titans #33

Infinite Crisis #6

Infinite Crisis Special: The OMAC Project #1

Infinite Crisis Special: Villains United #1

Infinite Crisis #7

And here's what the snippet of my list in this era looks like:

Aftermath

There were a few more stories in the immediate aftermath, most of which I did not read: Green Arrow vol 3 #54-59, Superman/Batman #26, and Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre.

After IC, the entire DCU jumped forward a year. A weekly series, 52, was published to recount the events of that year. It started with direct fallout from IC, but became its own story over the run.

All DC's ongoings shared the "One Year Later" event to establish their new status quos. Also after this year jump was the other aftermath mini, Battle for Blüdhaven.

Finally, there's a much-later published aftermath issue for Krypto in Superman #712. And that's it!

#*#ask #anon #*dc #dc #dc comics #dc ref #please do tell me if this was helpful or if you have other questions!#one of the pitfalls of anon questions is i can never be sure if they reach their target </3

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thelovelyghostwriter · 3 years

Text

Ranking the HxH guys in my Simping Tier: Countdown

Note: This is just for fun and lame-ass humour. You are free to like anyone in hxh and this tier doesn’t reflect how great the character is. It’s just a ranking based on how much I simp for them.

14. Meruem

Okay. There’s a reason why Meruem is at the last list. He’s an ant. He’s not even fully human FML. Can’t believe people wanna fuck this teenaged mutant ninja ant. Can’t even say those people are a furry because this ant has no fur. It’s a no for me.

13. Illumi

The Illumi simps are gonna hack me for having him too low. I find him cute and has really nice hair that can be for shampoo ads... but his eyes... it covers 70% of his face. It’s guppy eyes. It’s like he wore those coloured contact lenses that enlarges the eyes.

12. Shalnark

OKay. Shalnark is cute. He’s really one of the most good looking guys in the series. However, I don’t know why but his personality is kinda “ehh”. He’s a little psycho who controls people with his phone, but somehow his personality is overshadowed by a lot of extreme characters with Hisoka. Also, I try not to get too attached to him because of what happens in the current arc.

11. Kite

Okay. This is weird but... I find Kite more attracted when he’s a red-headed female ant right now. Okay. I know I went all like “MERUEM ISNT EVEN HUMAN” but female Kite LOOKS human. She has freckles and all that. It’s real cute. But I’d say he’s a little lower because he doesn’t really have that “oomph” personality so-

10. Pariston

Now, talk about a character with FABULOUS presentation of himself. Pariston shows himself off with extravagance. NOW, that’s a personality. He’s like one of those celebs that are just so extra like Lady Gaga that it’s amazing. I know he’s underrated in the simping world, but he’s essentially kinda like Hisoka (who has a big simping fandom), only he prefers to play with people’s minds rather than fight people.

9. Tserriednich

You might be wondering, why the fuck is he here? Okay, first of all, he reminds me of Hannibal who is by the way, charming. And yes I mean it in the Mads Mikkelsen AND the Anthony Hopkins way. Makes me wanna his Clarice but I’d rather have Theta have that spot. Secondly, he’s a prince so being his bride is literally a dream come true. Thirdly, yeh, Tserriednich is actually very handsome. Nice blond hair and that facial beard.

8. Gon

He’s quite low on the tier because I had always seen him as a cute green mini-Ging. Personality-wise, he’s really sweet and I can see a lot of girls liking him because he knows how to treat women respectfully. He can even handle the crazy ones like Palm. His alpha side came out during the Chimera Ant arc and his adult form is hella attractive.

Jokes aside, this character is really amazing as an MC. It’s sad that he gets overshadowed but I believe he’s a pretty unique shounen MC because most of the time, a shounen MC doesn’t kill or has a pretty much black-and-white morality. Gon Freecss breaks that stereotype and he’s truly appreciated.

7. Leorio

Listen to me. This man is supposed to be the type of man you’re supposed to marry. Doctor, loyal, caring and funny. This man is the total package. I think the reason why he’s a little lower in my simp tier is because well... he’s the type of guy that I will go for in reality. In fiction, that’s where all my crushes for crazy guys should be. My simp tier is based on my heart, not brain.

6. Killua

Okay. I was down bad for Killua when I was younger. DOWN BAD. So down bad that it was scary. I sort of got over him now. But what can you do? Killua is simped by a lot of teenaged girls or women who had a crush on him since the beginning of time. He’s fiercely loyal, has white hair and pretty blue eyes, is a fun mixture of mischief and seriousness. He’s the type of guy you can count on to get out of trouble and one to always treasure you. I do think that if I ever meet Killua though, that he’d bully me to oblivion.

Okay, we’re at the top 5. From here onwards, some real NSFW simping words.

5. Hisoka

I kinda do understand Hisoka stans, but at the same time, I do not get them. Like him or not, he’s a very flamboyant character. He stands out of the crowd and he just have that unexplained charisma.

He’s actually a really well-written character. He’s the balancing factor in the narrative of HxH. He’s like the joker in the deck of cards. Back to my simp tier, he’s very attractive ESPECIALLY with his hair down. There’s a certain aura that is addictive about him that I can’t pin-point. And for that, he earns my top 5 spot.

4. Feitan

I swear. This simping phenomenon actually manifested from Hiei. Yes, Feitan’s character blueprint, Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho. (The real OGs will know that Hiei is the character blueprint, not Levi). I know a lot of people compare him to Levi but let me explain why Levi and Feitan are alike: it’s because their character blueprint is Hiei.

Anyway, Hiei is HOT. And to me, the hxh equivalent is Feitan, with a huge addition of sadism and emo-ness. Okay, that makes it even hotter.

I have read some Feitan/Reader on AO3 and BOI. I enjoyed reading certain stuff that I never thought I would enjoy. I read a fic about Reader-chan getting whipped and basically all sorts of BDSM and OMG it’s heaven.

“They say all good boys go to heaven, but bad boys bring heaven to you”

3. Chrollo

At first, I didn’t really care about Chrollo until he wore that tuxedo and let his hair down (Is it just me or a lot of hxh boys look good with their hair down?). HE LOOKS SO GODLY HOLY FUCK.

I’m 100% sure that his character blueprint for the hair-down is Koenma. He also gives me Tuxedo Mask vibes. Overall, such chivalry and handsomeness all in one man. Not to mention, that sexy sexy voice when he recites his fortune-telling. I would say he has the sexiest voice among all hxh guys. He is just that HOT and charismatic. I wanna see where he hid that Spider tattoo and scratch his back.

2. Ging

Okay. Ging is hardly simp by girls. And I do not understand why?? He is motherfucking attractive. Even now. GAWD. I love him.

I think my attraction to him pre-started because he looks and acts SO much like my childhood crush Yusuke Urameshi from Yu Yu Hakusho. I know he’s an asshat but he’s a CHARMING asshat. Yeap, I said it. He is actually highly intelligent and just acts like a total haggard because he can.

It’s not just when he’s young. I STILL think he’s hot even in his 30s. He’s not that old for me to me honest. I don’t care if he’s a decade older than me because I think that’s the appeal of it. I

It’s kinda sad that he’s not that popular because I need some Ging/Reader smut content. Like, I envisioned a smut fic where the reader is like in her 20s and is strangely attracted to Ging. He’s wildly confused over this but he’s seriously considering of tapping it because his old ass haven’t had any action lately. The other Zodiacs are also confused and are convinced that he must have given some sex pollen to the reader because who the hell is sane enough to be attracted to him? (But it’s just that you need some acquired taste to actually find this man alluring). He’s one of the most fuckable characters ahhh.

And... for the last one...

Drumroll please....

1. Kurapika

Seriously, was there even a surprise.

THIS MAN IS THE AKAKU GOD. He’s beautiful, he’s sexy and fucking dominant (yes, I say he’s domineering because do you see the way he throws a hot tantrum during the whole YorkNew arc, demanding shit from his enemies, taking charge of everything?) His chains drives me nuts. I love it when he gets angry. I know he’s kinky on the inside. When he wore that tuxedo... ooof. He looks hella fine. He’s the only guy in hxh that fulfills my ala Michael Corleone mafia boss kink. I want him to ^&*(%%%*%^ (to save myself from embarrassment, I self-censored) as we attempt to repopulate the clan and produce more scarlet eyed babies, as he whispers some real degrading and possessive shit in Kurta while he tells me what to do. AHHHHH. *bye gotta go write some kuraneon porn now byeee*

#hxh #hunterxhunter #sorry im just down bad during quarantine #kurapika #akaku #kurapika akaku akaku #akaku god #ging #ging freecss #chrollo #chrollo lucilfer #feitan #this is a shitpost

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oceantail-oceantail · 2 years

Text

Found Again

(read on ao3 or under the cut)

sequel/continuation of Want to feel unlost by @narmacils-blog

Summary:

It broke his own personal rule of not letting a former team reunite unless for an All Stars, but….

Scott let his finger touch the display, zooming in on the last team at the bottom of the list.

MCC 17: Pink Parrots Vixella, Fruitberries, KrypticZeuz, Illumina

The gears turning in his head spun faster.

Names and ideas floated across Scott’s vision, former teams for previous MCCs scattered about, the holographic lights shimmering in the colorful lights at his workspace. He reached out and swiped through the season 2 teams aimlessly, feeling the familiar anxiety of MCC team building press hot against his chest. Season 2 was his best work by far, every MCC team was better than the last, not like he’d fallen off of anything, just that he felt exceptionally proud of himself during that time. (Despite the…unfortunate drama from childish spectators back then)

His hand stilled, hovering over the ten teams of MCC 17, a thought beginning to take root in his mind.

It broke his own personal rule of not letting a former team reunite unless for an All Stars, but….

Scott let his finger touch the display, zooming in on the last team at the bottom of the list.

MCC 17: Pink Parrots

Vixella, Fruitberries, KrypticZeuz, Illumina

The gears turning in his head spun faster.

There were so many moving parts, so many factors he had to make sure were in place. For one, he had planned on introducing two new players this MCC since next MCC was when Noxcrew planned on releasing the new game.

Also, the Simmers hadn’t played in months, casually letting Scott know that they were on a break from the tournament. Not to mention it was simply in the rules: no filling out the form, no participation in the event.

Scott leaned back in his chair, indecision warring in his mind.

“Illumina didn’t fill out the form actually,” Scott said, careful not to divulge too many details about the upcoming teams. “He’s usually one of the first, guess it’s just the speed runner in him,” he laughed. "But maybe he’s giving the people on the waitlist a chance.”

No one responded. Ren and Martyn winced quietly in unison. Lizzie and Joel glanced at each other. Jimmy stared at the floor. Grian looked away.

The room suddenly felt like it had dropped 10 degrees. The smile dropped off Scott's face, and he felt like he could hear it fall and shatter to the ground with how quickly silence descended over the group.

A cold fear crept up Scott's spine and settled at the base of his neck.

“W-what happened when I was gone?”

Surely if he called Zeuz and Sasha first thing tomorrow, they would be open to joining if it meant the return of their favorite team? Scott had seen them in the practice dodgebolt arena months ago with Fruit standing along the sidelines, grief bleeding out from his slouched figure.

This team would make Fruit so so happy, especially after the last Scott had seen him in MCC 24…

“H, do you think I made the right choice in letting him play?”

His friend shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know,” Hbomb replied quietly as they watched the massive timer in the Hub blink from SO:ON to the minute countdown. “May-maybe this is what he needed?” But even his most steadfast and reliable friend sounded unsure.

And by the end of the event, it was clear that this wasn’t what Fruit needed. The shadow of Illumina’s absence hung over the entire event, but clung so strongly to Fruit and his purple team jacket that everyone could see the loneliness and pain radiating from his entire being.

Fruit’s avatar may have stood proudly on the 1st place individual podium, but the real Fruit had collapsed against a wall in the Hall of Fame, distant and disconnected from the rest of his friends.

It wasn’t intentional, but Scott could have kicked himself for putting Fruit on Purple Pandas.

No doubt Illumina would be thrilled, he had always loved Pink 17, especially meeting Zeuz and Sasha and going on to become friends even after the event. And Fruit, his best friend...

Illumina’s icon, sandwiched between Zuez and Sasha's, stared back up at him. Well, not really. It was just a cropped image of the back of his head, but it still felt like Illumina’s eyes were gazing straight into his soul, every bit as black as the Void, but still as bright and lively as Illumina always was (and would be for as long as he lived, if his friends had anything to do about it).

“Scott!” Illumina called out, jogging over to him. Beneath the thick black mask that covered half of his face, Scott could see the outline of his awkward, yet hopeful grin. “Do you think Fruit and I could team for All Stars?”

Scott winced a bit, “Sorry Illumina, but the Blue Bats is one of the teams definitely coming back.”

Illumina shrugged off his apology. “S’all right,” he said easily, “Worth a try. There’s always the next All Stars!”

But Illumina wasn’t there for the second All Stars. No Illumina meant no Fruitninja reunion in All Stars and everyone remembered how Fruit especially refused to participate in that event.

With new determination, Scott turned back this draft of the current MCC teams, with the heading “MCC 35” printed out at the top and littered with half-created teams and Scotts loopy handwriting of half-formed ideas in a light, barely visible gray.

Scott touched the last team on the list and began to type in the names in a darker colored pen, subtly altering the name order:

MCC 35: Pink Parrots

Vixella, Fruitberries, Illumina, KrypticZeuz

Slowly, a smile spread across his face.

#illumina #fruitberries #smajor1995 #scott smajor #mcc #celia writes

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junicai · 3 years

Text

Aria at Award Shows

Iconic Outfits

2020 AAAs NCT Daesang Award

Peoples’ jaws dropped when they saw Aria sidle up alongside the other 23 boys, strolling out like she owned the building. The heels gave her enough height to be nearly level with Renjun - something she wouldn’t let the boy forget - her hair dyed back to a natural black like it had been during NCT2020 promotions. It was rare that Aria didn’t look slightly apprehensive about stepping out onto a red carpet, but the confidence was rolling off her in waves. As she walked, the slit in the dress seemed to keep on going, trailing up her leg and changing the otherwise classy dress into something that left the innocent bystanders in the first row suffering from a high chance of a heart attack.

tldr; Aria’s hot and people are Noticing.

2019 Show Champion NCT 127 ‘Superhuman’

NCT’s second win with Superhuman left a huge divide in nctzens; a rift between those who were ot21 stans and ot22 stans (sans and plus Aria). Up until then, there had been rumors around whether Aria was to leave NCT now that there was a new girl group supposedly debuting under SM. Their management team had refrained from publishing a response - but that only lead fans to create their own speculations and theories. This outfit played perfectly into the growing rumor; with the large circular pendant on Aria’s bracelet having two chrysanthemums etched into the gold. The flower symbolized happy endings and goodbyes, with nctzens taking this as the proof that Aria was truly set to leave NCT in the coming months.

tldr; nctzens need to learn how to Chill.

2017 M! Countdown NCT 127 ‘Cherry Bomb’

Unfortunately, this era was the cause of a lot of strife for Arizens; the stylists either hit it out of the park and Aria was drop dead stunning - or she ended up looking a little like a bratz doll a toddler had gotten their hands on. Unfortunately for Aria, their first win with ‘Cherry Bomb’ left pictures of her in a plastic, obviously dyed blue skirt and cherry pink hair to match immortalized on the internet forever.

tldr; arizens hoped that her stylist got fired after this era. the plastic skirt wasn't the worst thing they'd done.

Other Iconic Outfits

Seating Arrangements

Depending on the venue, idols are normally sat on straight rows of chairs and benches, or at round tables. Given the choice, Aria would always prefer to sit at one of the tables, as not only does it give her a chance to not have to worry about her legs being seen while being covered by the tablecloth - if there is one - but it lets her keep everyone sitting near her in her direct line of vision.

However, should she have to sit in one of the main rows, she’ll normally end up squished beside one of three boys - Donghyuck, Yuta and/or Renjun. Should one of those three be unaviliable, Doyoung and Jeno are usually quick enough to fill in the empty space.

Donghyuck would always be her first choice, was it not for the boy’s incessant energy that sometimes left her nerves fried before their performance. Most days she adored the company - adored him and his efforts to get her mind off their impending songs with various games and ways to pass the time (they're not allowed play footsie anymore though, because Aria stomped on his foot with her heel once) - but other days she just needed someone to hold her hand and say nothing. That’s where Yuta and Renjun come in.

As Aria’s found out over the years, for all the man’s tactile affection and loud displays of love, Yuta’s highly perceptive to when she needs some silent comfort. Now, she’s not sure if he’s that perceptive to everyone or just her - but either way she’s not complaining.

With Dream, Renjun is the one she’ll sit with and doodle on the white napkins that are laid out on the table for lord knows what reason. After being bored out of their minds for their first few award shows, Renjun had snuck two black ballpoint pens into the venue in the inside of his red suit jacket. The drawings had become somewhat a tradition, and the best doodle normally is uploaded to bubble shortly after the show has ended.

All in all, Aria’s normally quite content to sit in the centre of the large group of boys - split over several rows or tables, boisterous and bubbly with energy. The only real downside to it all is the lack of blankets available to protect her modesty once she is seated.

Most venues split the idols fairly evenly between the boy and girl groups - with blankets being allocated especially for the seating of girl groups. This meant, unfortunately, that when NCT files into their seats and sits down, there is rarely something in the close vicinity that Aria can borrow quickly without causing a fuss.

Sometimes she gets lucky - other female idols might spot her and are normally kind enough to hand over one of their cushions or blankets, content to share with their neighboring member. Occasionally though, Aria has no such luck and is left to either pull down her dress multiple times per minute to cover the prickly feeling over the tops of her legs when she felt like eyes were boring into her, or wait for some kind of break so she could go find a spare covering.

Aria supposed after the third time something like that had happened, her members were getting fed up with it all.

At first it was their plan B: should some type of cover-up not be available in their immediate vicinity, Johnny or Lucas or Jaehyun - once, even Dejun - or another member who ran hot near-constantly would shrug off their jacket and fold it over Aria’s legs, pulling it up and then lifting her hands to place them in her lap to hold their jacket there.

Eventually it became their plan A however, now commonplace for Aria to go looking for the member who was wearing multiple layers and who wouldn’t suffer from the loss of their outermost one.

Iconic Moments

Twitter: [180821] and people rly say nct doesn’t care abt aria :/

Red carpets were always something to dread, in Aria’s eyes.

The cameras flashing bright enough to blind you, and the knowledge that if she stumbled or - god forbid - fell it would be immortalized forever on Koreaboo’s newest blog post.

However the worst bit, was always the footwear. High, stiletto heels that left her teetering around on nothing more than her tippy-toes, precariously balanced as she made her way up and down stairs, over carpet and tiled flooring alike.

Aria was used to wearing heels, but the one’s she performed in were usually fitted with various types of ankle support and a thick heel to give her balance. Wobbling around on a heel the same width of a piece of uncooked spaghetti was not something she’d willingly choose.

Not to mention the blisters.

Designer shoes were gifted to the company on a regular basis - shipped over just in time for Aria to slip into the pair before stepping out of the van into the sea of bright flashes and reporters. It always seemed like designers were too pre-occupied with making a shoe look good rather than making them actually wearable.

The first time Aria had been gifted a set of heels - early 2018 - she made the mistake of assuming that they would be in similar comfort as her performance heels.

Two hours later and with a wad of bloody tissue stuffed into the back of them, Aria had learnt her lesson.

From then on, it was commonplace for Aria to bandage her heels before she went out to shows - not quite as heavily as she normally would for a performance, but just enough to stop the skin splitting under the constant abrasion.

She’d only been caught out badly once - but it was all caught on camera by a fan sitting close by, and spread over twitter like wildfire.

Aria had limped her way back over to where NCT 127 was sitting, lips pressed together in a tight line and hands clenched in the tight material of the leather trousers she had been given to wear. The trousers stopped a few inches above her ankles, so the red mess of her heels was clearly visible as she hobbled over and sat down with a thud onto the seat.

Donghyuck placed a hand on Aria’s shoulder, leaning in so that he could see her face behind the curtain of hair that she had let fall to hide her tear-filled eyes from him.

“Riri?” Donghyuck whispered to her, thumb beginning to rub soothing circles into her arm. “Hey, Riri? What’s going on?”

Aria only shook her head, gesturing to the pair of torturous heels on her feet.

Donghyuck inhaled sharply when he saw the blood trailing up her leg and soaking into the back of the heel. He turned to his side to elbow Doyoung, grabbing his attention.

“Hyung. Hyung.” He hissed, Doyoung turning around with an over-exaggerated sigh.

“No, Hyuck, I told you I’m not going to-” Doyoung cut himself off upon seeing Aria’s pain-filled face. “Aria? What’s wrong? What’s happened?”

Donghyuck slid off his seat onto the ground despite Aria’s protests that the floor wasn’t clean, get up, and explained what had happened to his hyung. Sliding her heel off as slowly as he could to not pull at the skin more, he muttered apologizes to Aria as she inhaled a shaky breath before exhaling it on a small, wet cry.

“Hyung, did you bring anything for Taeyong-hyung’s shoulder that we could use?”

“Yeah, yeah I did give me two seconds.” Doyoung bent into the small bag that he had tucked underneath the seat, pulling out a length of bandage that was stowed away in the outermost pocket.

Donghyuck took it from Doyoung’s hands with a small ‘thank you’, moving to kneel back down in front of Aria and taking her ankle back into his lap.

“Hyuck, no I got it, c’mon the ground isn’t clean-”

He silenced her with a look. Aria settled back into her chair - defeated - and Donghyuck wrapped the bandage around her heel as quickly but as painlessly as he could manage.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Twitter: [190323] HSHS ARIA IS A CARAT WE’VE WON LADIES N GENTS

Maybe Aria should have been paying more attention to the camera that was slowly panning around the idols, projecting their faces up onto a large screen beside the stage, but she was too engrossed in the current group’s performance.

“그렇다고 네 맘이 작다는 게 아냐,” Swaying gently side to side and mouthing along to the lyrics, Aria was happy enough to smile along to the song and move her hands in a small mimickery of the choreography she’d taught herself off the group’s dance practice video she’d watched only a few dozen times.

It wasn’t until Mark poked her in the side that Aria broke out from her own little bubble, twisting her head to look back at him and then up at the screen when he pointed.

There, her face, staring back at her from the big screen was enough to make her mouth drop open a little bit and her eyes widen. She clapped a hand to her mouth before turning to hide her face in Jaehyun’s shoulder, shaking with embarassed laughter.

Aria could hear Taeyong’s teasing laugh in return, before a hand came and ruffled the hair on top of her head, that she swatted away.

--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Twitter: [170911] lmao same aria

Aria knew she was there.

She knew that she was sitting right there and that she was in one of those really skimpy dresses stylists loved to put girls in because apparently female idols don’t deserve modesty and Aria knew that she had a blanket for once and she should share it but oh my god.

It was Chungha.

Aria was going to pass out.

Taking side glances every few seconds only confirmed the fact that Chungha was pulling down her dress to cover as much of her legs as possible, tucking her ankles together and underneath the seat.

Ok.

Ok, she could do this.

Aria took a steeling breath, before shifting on her seat to face Chungha on more of a diagonal. She lifted her hand before lowering it slighly, looking away.

Should she- no ok she’s doing this.

Without giving herself time to talk herself out of it, Aria moved to rest her hand on Chungha’s arm. The older woman jerked slightly - startled - and Aria was quick to apologize.

There was no audio in the video uploaded - the original poster having been too far away to capture much - but the two women talked for a moment before Chungha pointed to the blanket and then herself.

Aria nodded emphatically, and Chungha’s face crumpled into something fond, bowing her head in thanks before they unfolded the blanket another time and Chungha scooted an inch closer to Aria so they’d both fit.

Chungha sent Aria another grateful smile before refocusing on the performances - apparently not noticing, or perhaps choosing not to comment on the rather obvious red tinge that the younger idol’s cheeks had taken on.

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