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thenovelartist · 8 months

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Life After Destruction - Chapter 1 - Honkai: Star Rail fanfiction

Took me long enough to get this out. It had like seven rewrites...

Anyway! Here's the romantic DanStelle fic I wanted paired with the "fixing the vidyadhara offspring problem" trope. ;) Enjoy.

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It was insane how many things had changed in four short years.

For one, Stelle had coerced Dan Heng to marry her. Admittedly, he’d seemed pretty willing to do so, but she knew it was all strategic planning on her part. And by strategic, she meant she tricked him into participating in a wedding custom on a planet they explored. Nevertheless, they had been going strong for almost three years, and Stelle couldn’t be happier.

The second massive change was actually so recent that Stelle could barely wrap her head around it: Nanook had fallen. Somehow. By the power of friendship and the stellaron inside of her. One that had almost killed her.

She was still learning to cope with that near-death experience. Far from her first, but certainly her most terrifying and painful.

However, it had hurt more than just her. The Astral Express crew at large had been extra clingy to her ever since, each in their own way. Everyone who’d heard of the incident was still sending her mountains of get-well gifts, and those she’d formed closer bonds with still frequently checked in on her.

Then there was Dan Heng, who rarely let her out of his sight. Which was fine by her. Things had been different between them ever since she’d been released from the hospital, so having him there all the time reminded her that he was still her husband and he still cared.

Today, they were once again attached at the hip, having both been invited to a certain young vidyadhara's house.

Oh, that was the third thing that Stelle supposed was different: she’d had the pleasure of watching several of her companions grow up. Hook and Clara were already mature for their age, but it was an honor to watch both of them grow into young ladies in their own right. And Bailu, despite being a vidyadhara that aged differently, had done her fair share of growing up as well.

“How are you feeling?” Bailu asked Stelle upon inviting her guests into her home. “I know a doctor has given you an ‘all-clear’, but I won’t believe it for myself unless I look you over.”

“Bailu,” Dan Heng warned, a tired edge to his voice. “She’s had many check-ups by many different people all wanting the same thing.”

“I don’t mind,” Stelle responded. “Bailu’s probably won’t be as invasive, anyway.”

Dan Heng quirked a brow at her. “Only if you are certain.”

She nodded. “Besides, I know you’re plenty concerned about me, too.”

Dan Heng glanced away, confirming what she knew already. After all, she had basically exploded before his eyes, and of course that would have left an impact on her husband, especially considering how deeply attached he was to her. Again, it was moments like this she clung to, trying to remind herself her husband still cared because there were times it felt like he didn’t and—

“Then this way, please!” In an instant, Bailu grabbed Stelle’s hand and began dragging her to a nearby room.

Successfully saved from her haunting thoughts, Stelle stumbled after Bailu.

Once inside the small examination room, Bailu had Stelle sit down on the cot. “Big Brother Dan Heng already told me everything that happened,” she said, beginning to examine Stelle. “But I’d just like to confirm everything.”

“It’s fine,” Stelle assured. While it was true she was growing tired of being poked and prodded by doctors, there were a few she’d make an exception for. Namely Natasha and Bailu. And that was because they were less “doctoring her” and more “confirming she was okay”. For her friends’ sake, Stelle could cope with their check-ups.

Dan Heng did slip into the room after them at some point. There were times she felt as though he was more concerned with her health than she was, and she could only hope that would fade the more time went on. After all, it wasn't like she didn't know why; she'd been at death's door for a while, which had clearly terrified him. So while she submitted to all these check-ups for her friends' sake, she hoped that Dan Heng would get the message she was fine. Maybe things would go back to normal then.

Unfortunately, no such luck so far. Maybe Bailu's words would have an effect on him.

“Seems like you’re okay,” Bailu said, her eyes drifting down to Stelle’s chest. “But I can see scarring on your chest sticking out of your shirt collar. I’m assuming that’s from the stellaron bursting?”

Stelle nodded. “I got stitched up well enough, but my guess is that it’s going to scar really badly.” She then forced a smile. “Though, it’s a small price to pay for the safety of the galaxy, right?”

Bailu didn’t look convinced, her still youthful face scrunched in thought. “Let me do a little research. I’ll find a way to heal the scarring. I promise.”

At that, Stelle’s smile turned real. “Don’t worry over it that much,” she said, ruffling Bailu’s hair.

Bailu’s expression scrunched even further as she gently swatted Stelle’s hand away. “I’m not a child.”

“I still consider you my little sister.”

“Hmmf!”

Stelle chuckled. “I’m sorry, do I owe you a treat as an apology?”

“You owe me a treat as an apology for making me worried that you almost died!” she cried, crossing her arms in front of her like a petulant child. The glassy tears forming in Bailu’s eyes reminded Stelle that she was just one more person who was worried about her.

“It’s okay,” Stelle said, trying to ignore the throbbing in her chest. Though she still didn't know whether it was because she was sad she caused one more person to worry about her or phantom pains from her injury. “I’m fine.”

Bailu rubbed her red-rimmed eyes and dabbed her nose with the back of her sleeve.

Unsure what else to do, Stelle opened her arms.

And Bailu instantly lunged at her.

“I’ll treat you, but only this once,” Bailu said, her voice warbly with tears as she clung tightly to Stelle.

“I’ll happily accept.”

~~~

Three days later, Dan Heng and Stelle had come back to Bailu’s residence at the young vidyadhara’s request. Normally, Dan Heng would be preparing to scold the younger girl for likely staying up too late in her studies, but not this time. Not when it was for Stelle.

Logically, he knew the scar on Stelle’s chest was superficial. Furthermore, he knew it was fresh and therefore would slowly—very slowly—fade with time. But whenever Stelle would bare her chest, all he could see was the sprawling, red-purple spiderweb carved into her skin.

That moment she burst before his eyes would forever haunt him.

But enough of him. He knew that moment would haunt her, too. The way she would study herself in the mirror, fingers running over her scar with a dead look in her eyes, was not anything he ever enjoyed witnessing. So anything that would make that scar heal quicker, fade sooner, was welcomed by him.

And to show his thanks, he and Stelle brought a goodwill offering.

“Hey, you’re here!” Bailu enthusiastically greeted. “Come in, come in! I finished it last night.”

“Thank you, Bailu,” Stelle responded, stepping through the threshold.

Dan Heng followed, closing the door behind him.

“There are healing creams I’ve made for scars before,” Bailu began explaining as she wove through the house to a back room, one laden with the heavy scent of herbs, minerals, and other various substances she used in her medications. “But they don’t work on larger ones all that well. So I had to go back to the books and found an outworlder medication that, when combined with some of our remedies, stimulates the regeneration of cells. It’s one of the stronger topical medications I’ve managed to produce.”

Ignoring the main table in the middle of the room that was littered with medication vials, each one wrapped with a little note, Bailu headed over to a little red table off to the side and grabbed a small jar from there. “Doctors orders: apply a small amount once every day. Only about as much that will fit on your finger.”

“Yes, Dragon Lady,” Stelle said, taking the jar from the girl.

She pouted. “You know it irritates me when you address me so formally,” she huffed.

“I know,” Stelle said with a wink as she patted Bailu’s head. “Little sister.”

At that, Bailu broke into a smile. “That’s better. Hey, why don’t you go try it now? That way, I can examine you for any immediate side effects.”

“Sounds fair.”

“Bathroom is there,” Bailu said, pointing off towards the side. “I’ll go make some tea, and we can chat a bit. Maybe Dan Heng can go grab some snacks,” she said with a mischievous smirk.

Amused, he raised the bag he was carrying. “We already brought some.”

“Ohhhh!” she excitedly cried. “Perfect! Why don’t you go put those on the table in the tea room? I’ll join you shortly.”

Dan Heng gave her a nod.

As Bailu headed off, Stelle followed suit, but not before giving Dan Heng a gentle pat on the shoulder. I’ll be back, her smile seemed to say.

Before she could disappear completely, Dan Heng took hold of her hand, pressing a light kiss to the back of it before she slipped away.

He relished the smile that appeared on her face as a result.

When Dan Heng arrived in the tea room, he took a moment to arrange the snacks they’d brought from the Astral Express on the table. Stelle had done her best to cook some of them, hence their… rustically charming appearance. The rest, though, were pre-packaged snacks, stolen from the stash that March 7th added to every time they visited somewhere. Bailu would undoubtedly find them enjoyable.

“I have tea!” she piped up upon entering the room pushing a tea cart. “Ohhhh! Those look good!”

“Stelle thought you’d like all of these.”

She nodded enthusiastically, her twin braids bouncing as she did. “I’m sure! Stelle has the best taste in snacks.”

He couldn’t help but smile in response. “By the way, thank you for helping Stelle. Though, you look to have been very busy.”

“A doctor’s work never stops,” she lamented as she set the teacups on the table. “But before you go worrying about me, I have an assistant who makes those remedies now. The only ones I’ve been working on are the ones on the red table. And that’s because those are the new ones.”

“New medications?”

Bailu nodded proudly. “Yes. A doctor’s research is never done, either. There are always ways to make things better to help our patients.”

“True. I just hope you find time to rest. You can help no one if you don’t care for yourself.”

“I’m managing a good balance,” she insisted as she plopped down in the seat across from Dan Heng.

“I hope you mean you’re not living off of snacks,” Stelle piped up, making a reappearance.

“I’m not! I swear! I have a cook who ensures it,” Bailu tacked on with a grumble.

“Good.” Smiling, Stelle took a seat next to Dan Heng. “Then you can eat anything here without my teasing.”

At the way Bailu’s cheeks puffed in offense, Dan Heng stifled a chuckle.

Only after Bailu finished pouring tea for them did Dan Heng start up conversation again. “Out of curiosity, what other experimental medications are you working on?”

“It’s nothing I would consider groundbreaking." Bailu held a hand up to count things off on her fingers. “There’s your healing cream, for starters. A supplement for helping children improve from sickness faster. My research on mara-struck never stops. Oh! And a fertility treatment for partners of opposite species.”

Stelle quirked a brow. “Does that make a difference? Opposing species, that is.”

Bailu nodded. “More often than not, people tend to date within their own kind. However, it’s been noted that those in inter-species relationships tend to struggle with bearing children, if they can at all. From my research, some species combinations are completely incompatible breeding partners.”

“You wish to change that?” Dan Heng questioned.

“Of course. There is no reason there shouldn’t be breeding between them. Offspring take on most traits from either one parent or another, essentially fitting back into one of the two species anyway, so it’s not like there’s going to be any disappearance of species or anything. I haven’t found any examples of some perfect mesh between the two.

“However…” Bailu continued sheepishly. “I will admit the research I’m going off of is… inherently flawed due to the amount of knowledge I can acquire on the subject. There really isn't that much information on inter-species fertility, and finding couples to research is proving to be a little more difficult than anticipated.”

Dan Heng hummed in understanding. It was true that, at least on the Luofu, species did not inter-marry that often despite the species all being willing to work together. He believed it to be a matter of pride above all else. Maybe that was why his marriage to Stelle was met with disdain and disapproval from a good portion of the vidyadhara that did still accept him. There was no amount of public renown or intergalactic achievements she could hold to make them change their minds.

It made Bailu, who’d accepted the news of their marriage with no small amount of joy and well-wishes, stand out considerably.

“That’s very like you, Bailu,” Stelle commented with a smile.

“Well, I can’t just leave them when they need help,” Bailu insisted in between bites of her snack. “They’ve been trying for twenty years. Unsuccessfully.”

“They’ll be happy to have hope.”

Dan Heng gave a silent nod in agreement.

Bailu didn’t look convinced. “Yeah, but hopefully it will work and, well… not make them sick in the process.”

“Why do you say that?” Dan Heng inquired.

Hesitantly, Bailu tapped her fingers against the table, her cheeks now tinted pink. “Well… er, one of the ingredients is known to be a strong aphrodisiac. There are cases where people have abused this ingredient in order to make ‘love potions’, so to speak. So while it’s regulated, it’s not too highly documented. I’m walking a fine line of adding enough of the ingredient to make the fertility components powerful enough while trying to limit it so as to avoid causing a problem.” At that last bit, her cheeks flared red.

Dan Heng couldn’t help but smile at her innocence. “You should start on the low end and inform them of the potential risks and side effects of your experimental medicine.”

“Of course, I will. That’s the duty of a doctor. I’m not cruel,” Bailu insisted. “But… I just want it to work the first time, you know?”

“We could try it,” Stelle piped up.

Which caused Dan Heng to choke.

Bailu herself seemed to be confused. “Why? It’s not like you need a fertility treatment since vidyadhara can’t breed.”

“If it’s just the strength of the aphrodisiac component you’re concerned about, then I don’t see an issue.”

“Stelle,” Dan Heng warned under his breath.

“What’s wrong?” she inquired, her brow quirking upwards. “I don’t see a reason why not.”

Bailu’s eyes lit up as she gasped. “Would you? I’d forever be in your debt!”

Flustered, Dan Heng felt his cheeks flush with heat as his heart started hammering uncomfortably inside his chest. “Er… well.” Looking over at his wife, he cleared his throat. “Can we talk privately?”

“I’ll leave!” Bailu practically leapt from her spot. “I’ll go sort through all my notes and research in my office in the meantime. Come get me when you’re done!” And with that, she disappeared.

Dan Heng turned to Stelle, who had already turned towards him. “So," he began. "What is going through your mind to volunteer such a thing?”

“Don’t you want to help Bailu?”

“It’s medication, Stelle. This isn’t just helping her run errands or the like.”

By now, she'd glanced away, wringing her hands together awkwardly. “I know.”

He swallowed, suddenly feeling nervous as an inkling came to mind. “This… by any chance, wouldn’t happen to be because of the aphrodisiac, would it?”

The brief moment Stelle tensed told him all he needed to know.

“Does this have to do with sex?”

Stelle opened her mouth to speak, but words seemed to catch in her throat as she sighed between her teeth. “I mean… yeah, kinda,” she finally admitted.

It was his turn to look away, rubbing his jaw uncomfortably. It was true they hadn’t been intimate in months, since Stelle had been severely injured and in recovery for so long. But she hadn’t been herself for a while, either, so he didn’t want to initiate something she didn’t seem like she was up for. Or was that not the case?

Maybe what he really needed was to have an actual conversation with his wife. While Bailu's house might not be the right place to talk things out, a talk was long overdue. “Are you… upset that we haven’t been intimate since the war?” he asked, turning back to her.

“Well… yes, but it’s more like… ” Stelle pursed her lips as she struggled to find the words.

But what really killed him was the way she wouldn’t look at him. Suddenly, he felt inadequate, as though he was a failure of a husband. Sure, everything had changed with that last battle, including how their marriage functioned. The problem was he didn’t know how to fix it. Part of him hoped things would work themselves out; another part of him realized that they simply had to settle into a new normal, which would take time. But what if there was something he'd missed?

“You treat me differently,” she spoke up, finally meeting his gaze. “You… It’s like you’re always around, but there’s a distance between us. You don’t… hold me anymore. Like you're scared of me. And you always look at my chest with this expression I can’t quite figure out.” At that, her gloved hand clenched her shirt front. “Is the scar that ugly?”

His eyes widened, his mouth growing dry.

“It’s not like I can help it!” she cried when he failed to fill the silence between them. “I didn’t ask for this stellaron inside me. And I can’t help the fact that it did what it did, but it had to, to defeat Nanook. And I know it must have taken a toll on you to watch that, so I haven’t brought it up because I don’t want to put more pressure on you, but does it make you… uncomfortable?”

… What?

Here she was, bearing a scar that was evidence of her near death, and she was worried about if it bothered him? “No,” he answered, reaching out to grab her shoulders. Her eyes widened at his touch, as though she hadn't expected it, which hurt him more than he thought it would. “The scar only bothers me because of what it represents. I watched you explode in that fight. I’d thought I’d lost you, and I’ve never felt so terrified in my life. Yes, the scar reminds me of that time, but the fact you’re still alive is all that matters to me.”

Her mouth formed a little ‘oh’ shape as she gradually absorbed his words.

“But you…” he continued, guilt welling up in him with each passing second. “It always seemed you were distressed by it, so I didn't want to bring attention to it."

"Me?"

He nodded. "You get a faraway look in your eye when you see it, but you brush everything off by saying you're fine, so I didn't want to push. I don't..." He grit his teeth, huffing in frustration. "I'm not good at this. I know you said you don’t want to bother me, but I want you to lean on me. I just don’t know what you need so I can't... I can't fix anything for you. And I know you're tired of people making a fuss over you, so I didn't want to do that, either, but I am your husband. I love you, so I just want to care for you."

Her surprise lingered a moment longer before being overtaken by a soft expression. "Dan Heng."

The sound of his name rolling off her lips was a comfort he didn't know he needed. And when she reached up to grab his wrists, pulling them from her shoulders, he held on to her hands tight.

"I..." She chuckled bitterly. "Now I feel stupid."

"Don't," he instantly countered. "You were the one who went through so much. Me not knowing how to help isn't your fault."

“But you did help me,” she said, giving his hands a squeeze. “All the time. You were always by my side, bringing me whatever I needed and carrying me around when I had just gotten released from the med ward. Part of me feels bad for leaning on you so much.”

“Never feel that way,” he said, clinging tightly to her hands and leaning closer. “Ever.”

The way Stelle pursed her lips told him that his words weren’t enough to take that weight off her shoulders. “I’m your partner, too,” she countered.

“And? You were injured.”

“But I’m fine now. I even got the all-clear from the doctors at Herta’s Space Station to start trailblazing again.”

“You were told to take it slow and not do anything more than light exploration.”

“Okay, but light exploration still means I’m fine. So can you stop being my bodyguard and start being my husband again?”

Dan Hen��s brow furrowed in confusion. “When did I ever stop?”

“Since I woke up in the med ward,” Stelle answered. “Is it because you still see me as fragile?”

“I know you’re not.”

“Is it because of what happened when I was unconscious?”

A mixture of dread and embarrassment suddenly bubbled up in his gut. “What are you talking about?”

“Welt told me everything that happened when I was out.”

Oh… that. And here he’d hoped Stelle would never find out. “What exactly do you know?”

She gave him an abashed grimace. “That Welt and March had to physically restrain you when the doctors said I might not make it. And that you literally wouldn’t leave your self-imposed post at my door until Himeko forced you, and it was only because the doctors begged her to.”

He grit his teeth. So she really did know everything.

“Ever since I woke up," she continued, "you’ve been protective, and I know it’s just you were just worried about me. That’s just who you are, and I love that about you, but I was hoping you’d realize I was fine and go back to normal. I… I’m sorry I made you worry so much about me, but I’m okay now. So, can I just have my husband back?"

Before Dan Heng could answer, it hit him that her eyes were growing glassy. Stelle wasn’t the kind of woman to grow emotional, so her impassioned plea hit him doubly hard.

“I thought I was being your husband,” he said. “But I’m sorry you felt like I wasn’t.”

That’s when she moved, throwing her arms around his neck and just holding on.

He guided them to stand from their seats, allowing him to pull her flush against him and just hold her. No, embrace her. He’d held her many times since she’d been released from the med ward, but not like this. The image of her possibly dying before his eyes, hooked up to numerous medical machines to keep her alive, had haunted him so badly.

But she was here now. Alive and well. And what she needed was for him to stop treating her so delicately. So while there was that image that haunted him, he would have to get past it for her sake.

And considering he'd do anything for her, he could manage to do that.

He squeezed her tighter. “Sorry,” he whispered once again.

“It’s okay,” she responded just as quietly. And as she took in a shaky breath, he realized she was on the verge of tears. “Sorry for doubting you.”

Unsure how else to respond, he simply pressed a long kiss into her hair at her temple as he started rubbing long, soothing strokes on her back.

She, in turn, melted into him, her face nuzzling deeper against his shoulder.

Aeons, he didn’t realize how desperately he missed this.

They stood like that for a while, her quiet sniffles paired with a growing damp spot on his shirt. And he just held her, his own eyes feeling a little overly watery as well.

But as they calmed down, Dan Heng slowly came back to reality, and reality was they were still in Bailu’s tea room. With Bailu still waiting in a different room for an answer.

“Are you okay now?” he asked.

She nodded into his shoulder.

“Because as much as I enjoy this, there is a different topic we have to discuss.”

Stelle pushed away from him, but her hands didn’t leave his shoulders. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Is the reason you wanted the aphrodisiac because you wanted to close the distance between us?”

She nodded. “I wanted back the man who… you know, used to slam me up against a wall or two instead of treating me like I would break.”

He sighed, a muddle of messy emotions swirling like a storm inside of him now. “I’d… think it best to take it easy.”

That storm of emotions only got worse when she seemed disappointed at the prospect.

“But,” he continued, taking a pause to clear his throat. “If I promise you we can make love tonight, will that be a good enough start for you?”

A little grin paired with the red dusting on her cheeks. “I would like that.”

“So, we can say no to Bailu?”

She hummed. “I mean… we wouldn’t have to use it tonight.”

Oh no. He forgot he was arguing with Stelle, a woman who didn't give up easily once she set her mind to things. One of her many charms... and drawbacks.

“And it is for helping Bailu.”

“In the grand scheme of things, there is little help we can give her. She did her best as a doctor to make the medication safe, and she will have to explain the side effects to her patients regardless.”

She sighed. “I guess so…”

He did not like where this conversation was going. “And you still want it.”

She squirmed under his touch.

It was his turn to heave a sigh. “Stelle.”

“Dan Heng.”

After a moment’s stare off, she relented first. “Alright, fine. If you don’t want to, I won’t force you. But, you better keep your promise to spend time together tonight. I… miss you.”

Those last three words were spoken quietly, but Dan Heng caught the intensity in them anyway. He cradled her cheek. “I miss you, too.”

Although her cheeks turned pink, her expression brightened at that.

And then, to reward her—and because he hadn’t done so in too long—he kissed her. Not just a light peck, but indulged her in a firm, genuine kiss.

She gave a little whine of protest when he pulled away, but part of his hazy mind reminded him a certain young vidyadhara was still waiting for them. “We need to go give Bailu an answer,” he whispered to her.

Although she sighed, she did pull away. “You’re right.”

Hence, after untangling themselves, they headed towards Bailu’s office. Stelle reached for Dan Heng’s hand, holding onto it tightly.

Glancing down at her, he caught her shooting him a smile, one that seemed relaxed and genuinely happy for the first time in a while. He didn’t realize how badly he’d been longing for such a sight.

Dan Heng knocked on the door to Bailu’s office, garnering a quick reply. With permission, he opened the door.

“You two took a while,” she pointedly commented.

“Sorry,” Stelle apologized. “There were… other things we needed to discuss as well.”

“It all pertained to the offer,” Dan Heng cut in before Bailu could ask if it was necessary.

“Huh, well, okay.” With that, Bailu stood from her seat. “So, what’s the verdict?”

“Actually,” Stelle began, “we decided—”

“To ask about the risks,” Dan Heng finished for her.

She glanced up at him, her brow quirked up in confusion.

Which was understandable. Part of him still didn’t want to, as he deemed it unnecessary. But when Stelle had grabbed hold of his hand, walking close to him even if for only a short distance, he realized that it would mean a lot to her if he caved. And considering she had just voiced her worry about him pushing her away and being distant, he decided that maybe it would be more beneficial to indulge her here. To prove that he still wanted her, even if it meant going along with her half-thought-out schemes.

“So you’ll do it?” Bailu asked, eyes lighting up. “It really would help me soooo much.”

Dan Heng glanced over to Stelle, who looked up at him with bemusement yet still gave his hand an affectionate squeeze.

Yes, he decided. This was the right choice.

#honkai star rail #honkai fanfic #danstelle #hsr bailu #romantic fluff

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rivalsforlife · 8 months

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The Yearly AA Series Future Speculation Post

I've given up on calling it aa7 speculation because that has never worked out for me. anyways [apollo justice voice] hiya!

It's been a while since I made one of these little posts where I try to predict things and end up horribly embarrassing myself. BUT this year has actually been very exciting for Ace Attorney. We have Ghost Trick! We have 456 ports! Could there be more? Who knows. Tokyo Game Show is coming up and that's always a bad time of year for my self-esteem.

In this post I will do the following:

-Go over the November 2020 leaks again, to compare that to where we're at now

-Talk a bit about the 456 port and what I think that means for the series and its future

-Talk a bit about how well TGAA is doing, I think

-Brief Tokyo Game Show speculations (there's not much to speculate about)

I'll reference my previous posts and sources where necessary. It'll get long and rambly again so I'll put the rest under a keep reading.

FIRST:

Revisiting the Calendar (Again)

For those who aren't aware, back in November 2020, Capcom got hacked (this was overall bad) and from that hack came a leak of a roadmap for the future of the AA series.

For this post, please keep in mind that this calendar is using the Japanese fiscal year, which starts in in April. Therefore Q1 is roughly April-June, Q2 July-September, Q3 October-December, Q4 January-March of the next year.

This calendar was likely made in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, which inevitably ended up throwing everything off quite a bit.

Some of these things came true. This leak was where we first heard about the official TGAA ports, and while they were delayed by about a quarter, they still came out pretty close to on time with all things pandemic to consider. What's especially interesting is that now with confirmation of the 456 ports, we now have no idea what is up with AA7.

We know that AA7 was in development at one point. We know that, if things were on track prior to the pandemic, they might have started the main production. However, the plan seemed to be to release it for the 20th anniversary and use those sales and the sales from TGAA to judge whether 456 would be ported; now that we have 456 confirmed before AA7, we can assume that AA7's delay is so severe we have no way of predicting if or when it will come out.

The thing is, though, AA has been doing really well the last few years, despite the lack of a new game. The 2019 ports of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney trilogy have sold around 2.3 million copies, when previously no other Ace Attorney game broke a million. The trilogy hit a million copies around December 2020, for reference. Ace Attorney itself as a whole broke ten million copies sold recently. In this post I covered how TGAA seemingly has sold way more than Capcom expected, and sold pretty quickly, and is confirmed to be somewhere between 500k-1 million copies sold.

I don't see any reason to believe that AA is in dire financial straits. We've gotten more official merchandise in the last year or so than we got for a while, AA is featured heavily on Capcom's Captown website, the Tokyo Game Show merchandise store has been selling out of AA merch faster than any of their other IPs... I don't see why they wouldn't want to milk that. And 456 is probably a part of it.

What Do The 456 Ports Mean

Back in March 2022, in an event I almost completely forgot about, Capcom updated their trademark for Apollo Justice. I covered my thoughts on that here, and speculated it might indicate a 456 port. ... Which it apparently did. I'll quote exactly what I said in that post, since I still feel this way:

Presumably, previously, the decision to port or not to port 456 would be dependent both on how well TGAA does and how well AA7 would do. With no AA7, they might be making this decision solely based on TGAA. And they… might actually decide it’s worth the port?

This tells us a couple of things.

1.Capcom is aware that there is a decent market and profit to be made porting the Ace Attorney games to all consoles.

2.This heavily implies that TGAA sold fantastically.

I also said in my post about TGAA's success that the 456 ports would be the best indicator of whether Capcom would find it more profitable to continue along with mainline or stick to writing more things about TGAA. Because TGAA is actually doing... pretty great? It's always seemed to have a pretty good fan reception, but it came at the end of the 3DS life cycle and seemed to do poorly enough that Capcom didn't try to localize it for several years. But now it's big enough that Ryunosuke made it onto the 20th anniversary logo, and Ryunosuke and Kazuma are featured in some of the Ace Attorney merchandise for TGS's merch store.

456 doing well would probably reinvigorate Capcom's desire to continue making stories set in mainline. It also might inspire them to finally give an official translation to my favorite game, Ace Attorney Investigations 2, who is Capcom's poor unloved child these days. I'm not expecting Investigations Ports for a few more years, since they seem to be spacing out the ports by about two years, but... it's more likely now than I felt it was about three years ago.

The Great Ace Attorney Sweep

Also, the last few years have had a heavy focus on Great Ace Attorney, even now a couple of years after the ports came out. Takarazuka made their first AA musical in a decade based on TGAA, and, if you ask me, it sounds pretty heavily like they were teasing for a sequel someday. There also has been a reading theater based on TGAA, with an original episode written by Takumi.

Of particular relevance is this source of dubious credibility I linked to in one of my other posts talking about TGAA's expected success. I've assumed it came from the data in the November 2020 Capcom Leak but I can't be certain, so take this next part with a grain of salt.

Here are the original sales projections from 2019(?): FY21: 195K (originally supposed to launch in Q1) FY22: 55K FY23: 8K FY24: 41K (with 32K being in Q3)

This sudden increase in FY24 has always been interesting. Again, as a reminder, Japan's FY24 Q3 would be equivalent to October-December 2024.

It would make sense to say that the 456 ports coming out would likely lead to an increase in sales for all AA games, and it could be that Capcom initially intended for a 456 port to come out about half a year later than the current projection of early 2024. At the same time... I can't deny the possibility that this could be hinting at a new game in the TGAA setting. And something coming out in late 2024 could be a reasonable candidate for an announcement at some major gaming show that Ace Attorney fans already have an interest in tuning into. These are all completely neutral things I am saying that I have no expectations or hope for whatsoever.

What IS Happening At Tokyo Game Show?

TGS is always the part of the year where I say "This is the most likely place for a new AA game announcement leading up to or during it" and it never happens. This year, though, will be different! We have a CONFIRMED feature of the 456 ports. This is the first time we'll have AA content at TGS since 2018, when I first got into the series, so I think it's a pretty big deal. (2018 was when the trilogy ports were first announced; TGAA ports had an announcement-release window of April-July, so they didn't get a chance to feature at TGS.)

Since all we have for a release date is early 2024, I wouldn't be surprised if there will be an official confirmation of the release date, probably a showcase of port features, maybe in-person gameplay? That could be all, and it would be more than we've had since 2018.

I want to say "because there's going to be 456 advertising there, it would be ridiculous for them to announce some new AA content to detract from that". But I said the same things about the capcom showcase where Ghost Trick was featured and the 456 collection was announced, so. Capcom's decisions on when to announce things can be counterintuitive, it seems, so maybe the least likely time is actually the most likely...?

Anyways, we have no idea what the state of New Ace Attorney Content is like in Capcom. From the calendar from the Nov 2020 leaks, the staff that had been working on the DGS ports would join the main staff for AA7, suggesting to me that there would be part of the staff working on ports and part of the staff working on new things. We have no idea what happened to these people who were supposed to be working on AA7. We *can* assume that at least part of the staff transferred over to 456 ports now, but we don't know when that would have been, or if they'd really need all hands on deck for a remaster.

It's been a few years now since Yamazaki left Capcom. We know absolutely nothing about what Takumi has been doing, outside of whatever contributions he may or may not have made to the Ghost Trick remaster, and only recently contributing to various stage content. (We know he advised at least somewhat on the Takarazuka play, and wrote that original episode for the reading theater, so I'd assume he's not in the middle of a big project right when those were taking place.)

This is all to say, there's reason to believe Something's Been Happening Behind The Scenes. And Therefore -- [clown wig descends onto my head again] Maybe TGS 2023 Will Be The Year Of New Ace Attorney Content. Since 456 will be taking the spotlight, I wouldn't expect anymore than a teaser, if it's happening at all.

And now that I've said it, it won't happen.

OVERALL

-TGS confirmed 456 port feature, which should be interesting to see what kind of quality of life features they'll add. Slight possibility there could be something else AA related teased there, solely because Capcom.

-I think TGAA is doing better than Capcom expected and I wouldn't be shocked if they tried to make a new game of it, or at least more extracanonical content like stage plays taking place in that timeline

-AA7 has seemingly vanished but I am sure it will come back when I least expect it.

-AAI ports someday. please. please. please.

#ace attorney #aa7 speculation #[banging pots and pans together] YEAR 3 OF FAILED PREDICTIONS LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR YEAR 3 #there's not much to say here I just wanted to get something out as we're heading into september #do I even want aa7 anymore? no. am I speculating anyways? yes.

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inastarlesssky · 2 months

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In Defense of Dramione - an essay

Okay, time for another Ted talk/ soapbox/ pointless rambling...Putting it under the cut because I have opinions.

In Defense of Dramione - an essay

First of all, I want to say I ship Dramione. Which is a recent thing, specifically about half a year ago. I didn't always because well it never occurred to me that you could. Of course, that's how ships are. We ship some ships bc they're canon, okay, fine. But we ship a whole lot others that aren't because you name whatever reason (they've got chemistry, they WORK, they're better than the canonically approved pairings whatever the hell else, idk). My point is, it had never crossed my mind that I myself would actually like the idea of Draco and Hermione. Bc naturally, you look at them and you think, "He did insult her when they were children. He was an asshat, etc etc." But...BUT.

You know that trope Enemies to Lovers? Ever heard of redemption arcs? Yeah, those are things. Of course, I don't speak on behalf of everyone in the fandom because we all have our reasons for why. But I ship them because there is potential in Draco's character for growth, for repentance, for redemption. I believe that he's capable, when he's an adult of realizing that he fucked up and that the beliefs he was spoonfed as a child are not the law of the land. I've read more fics than I can count that describe this character arc for him and they do it masterfully. Honestly, I think he's a pretty complex character and I believe that we see a sliver of that in the last few movies. Like look, in 6th year, Harry hit him with Sectumsempra and nearly killed him. But when the Golden Trio were at the Manor and it was on Draco's shoulders to identify Harry and basically seal their doom, did he do it? Did he rat them out? Nope.

Maybe this wasn't exactly Draco "forgiving" Harry, admittedly. But Draco saw that Harry was their only hope for destroying Voldemort or for having some sliver of a winning chance, of a possibility of surviving the mess Voldemort was orchestrating. He obviously deemed it important enough to dare to lie, especially knowing that Bellatrix would have summoned the Dark Lord himself in the next few moments. If Draco really didn't care about the outcome of everything, he wouldn't have done that. If anything, we see that he cares at least about the safety of his family because that could have also been the motive. But that gets me thinking, couldn't he also have confirmed Harry's identity? Voldy would have arrived, perhaps praised Draco and spared the Malfoys to die another die. So really, Draco might have gotten more out of it if he HAD confirmed Harry's identity. Hmm food for thought.

Second point, I'm not going to judge anyone in the fandom because of reasons stated above, but I will go so far as to say, please, if you don't ship Dramione, that's okay. Everyone has their own cup of tea, but please, do NOT claim that all of us (that every single one of us who happen to support this ship) are and I quote "are just a bunch of horny teenagers desperate for some pretty boy and pretty girl sex". That isn't fair and it frankly isn't true, so please don't. I know many wonderful people who have crafted amazing stories and shown great talent through their writing to express the complexities I've just spoken about.

I'll end by saying that we all have our ships, and that's okay. There's no real right or wrong inasfaras who you ship with whom. But it's a basic gesture of respect, I think, to let others love the pairings that they love. Spreading hatred, ill-will or just unkindness toward those of us who enjoy a particular ship, that's not cool and that's what brings us down in what should be something we all enjoy and go to find joy and share that joy with others.

Okay, it seems I really defended Draco more than Hermione here but I will die on this hill and defend my dorks. Fight me on it (joking here but really though. XD) Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

#my ramblings #dramione #draco malfoy #hermione granger #in defense of dramione #because i'm sick of seeing people throwing unnecessary shade on this beautiful fandom #thanks for coming to my ted talk

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not-goldy · 9 months

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They deny what they can't admit

So you agree JK was in a relationship with tattoo girl then and recently he was with Yubi ? Because both were denied by hybe. Yubi's eveb before it was spread to I side

That's a rather simplistic way at looking at things isn't it? They were both denied because they couldn't admit it ergo hybe a liar liar pants on fire??

Honey....

If you have to import delusional facts to rebut factual arguments YOU ARE DONE. Your argument has no legs to stand on💀

Delulu has you in a choke hold.

Let's pause here for a moment and do a lil analysis- your boyfriend Let's gay rumors run rampant in a Fandom creating the impression he's in love with his fellow bandmates one of whom he sneaks into hotel rooms with, and walks around carrying his hicky on his neck but some how denies he is with you because??

Girl run. Run from Jungkook. At least Taehyung had the courage to tell Tuktukkers they are nuts in the head and need to get out of there cos it's not good and he cussed at reporters spreading false dating rumors about him- JUST RUN. LOVE YOUR SELF AND RUN FROM JUNGKOOK.

See this is why I can't even bring myself to support Tae Jennie cos Miss Kim you deserve so much better than this silence hide me like your French girls that's going on right now💀

Hybe and BTS have no reason to deny dating rumors or hide members relationship anymore. They are not children anymore. As men hybe no longer have to present them as clean shaven 16yr Olds to please 12 yr old deranged fans.

They have no reason TO LIE about who dates who. All they can do is confirm, not confirm or stay the hell out of it. And whether or not they confirm it is totally up to the artists themselves. If they prefer to keep their dating life private that's their prerogative. And when for no fault of theirs the truth comes out, all they have to do is come clean or leave it hanging by not addressing it at all- which is what Tae Jennie are doing. But for Jungkook he doesn't confirm it because there's nothing to confirm.

Yes they deny some things faster than speed of light because it is easy to deny them when they are not true. Truths are always difficult to deny because lying about those can have so much repercussions on the reputation of the company, the boys and even their alleged partners because it is disrespectful and humiliating. It's why they would rather not comment, invoke the Privacy clause than tell a LIE.

I agree to nothing cos nothing you've said here is deduced logically. You've misconstrued and totally misapplied that expression when you make that analysis.

To admit that which you can't deny and deny that which you can't admit is simply saying tell the truth when you can no longer justify the lie and lie when you can't or don't want to confirm the truth- but it's just an expression. It's not set in stone. Lying is not the only way to avoid confirming or telling the truth. Ever heard of right to remain silent so you don't incriminate yourself?

Regarding the context within which I used the expression, all I meant was hybe is being evasive and neither denying or confirming Tae's dating rumor which often is indication there is an iota of truth in there. If there wasn't then, hybe wouldn't have any problems coming out to outrightly deny it.

Also, I meant that Hybe will stop avoiding the truth when this whole Tae Jennie thingy becomes so obvious that there would be no point avoiding it. For now, they are neither confirming or denying it until they can't no more- just like with JK's Itaewon scandal. They tried to avoid admitting or denying it by evoking the privacy clause until they came under backlash.

Being evasive is certainly different from outrightly saying something is TRUE OR FALSE.

They can't admit to certain things because those things might be blatant lies- why would anyone admit to something that is not true. I mean it's common sense isn't it?

All I was saying is that, when they start acting evasive- which I describe as them stuttering- is when you know for sure they are playing fast and loose with the truth like they are doing now with Taehyung's dating rumor.

I'm so sorry, but they denied that dating rumor with the tattoo artist with their entire chest. They weren't even being evasive. They didn't stutter. They said it was NOT TRUE and proceeded to threaten legal action against anyone spreading MISINFORMATION about that rumor.

I'll let you in on a secret, it's an offense to intimidate and threaten people with law suits especially when you know damn well you can't back it up in court and the ground for your actions is baseless.

Big Hit throwing these legal threats around can also amount to violation of free speech if they using judicial redress as a means to silence people. So I like to believe they know damn well what the fuck they talking about they they threaten to come after people for spreading false information. EMPHASIS ON FALSE INFORMATION.

For you to successfully bring an action against someone for false Information the Information they provided must have been FALSE

In recent times the government of SK has moved to strengthen its laws on fake news and the spread of false information. Mind you they were not threatening to sue for defamation- because in South Korea you can be sued for defamation if the Information you spread were the truth- however for FALSE INFORMATION you must have told a blatant lie. It implies the truth of the statement denying the rumor was NEVER IN QUESTION. They would be hanging themselves with a legal thread if they did.

The language they use in these press releases is not for decoration they carry legal meaning and legal weight and you can tell when they playing fast and loose with the truth depending on the choice of law they threaten to sue under- take this as pro bono. Free legal consultation. You welcome 😌

Yall seem to forget Hybe is a company that has its own brand and reputation to protect. While they don't want to come across as bullies and abusers of the legal process they certainly don't want to earn a reputation as liars either especially over something as trivial as their members dating life. That sort of branding hurts and costs them money news flash cos their shareholders and general public would lose trust in them if they came off as shady. It's part of the reason I believe they take these false rumors thingy/ cases pretty seriously.

did you pause to think about all that? Or are you just a simpleton incapable of complex deductions😩 PLEASE.

Also, didnt the girl herself deny those rumors? So Hybe is lying, Jungkook is lying, and yall delulu lots are the ones telling the truth?

Come with receipts. Until then in Jungkook I trust.

the tattoo lady by her own admission and behavior has proven over and over that that rumor of them dating was false.

Common sense should tell you no person who truly is dating or loves another in Kpop would want to jeopardize that person's career by publicly humiliating their partner- especially when that supposed partner and their agency have allegey told you to stand down.

You don't throw the agency under the bus and speak out for yourself when your "man" is supposed to do that for you💀

If you have to speak for yourself you're single. I'm gonna scoot over so you squat next to me bestie

We the people of the singles club do hereby adopt this slogan for ourselves- say after me- I love myself too much to be hidden and denied while the gay in you runs free with another man👉🏾👈🏾

You think idols keep their relationships private and refuse to engage in public arguments over their private lives because they are fools?

No. They want to tell the world they are dating, no one wants to hide the person they love, and most of them certainly want to go off and cuss haters out on the internet everyday for meddling and for hurting the people they love- recall Taehyung losing it and lashing out threatening to stab people with poisoned needles? YET THEY DON'T. Because doing so hurts their careers and brings unnecessary heat on the people they trying to protect💀

I don't see nobody trynna protect mijoe do you?

I have all the time in the world show me

I feel sorry for the girl. Even the dude whom people alleged had been violated due to Jungkook back hugging her denied he knew her. No one came to her defense. Poor thang 😢

I refuse to believe a supposed gf of Jungkook would fan the flames the way this girl did knowing very well it was the last thing Hybe and Jungkook wanted her to do. Only 2 yr old puppies believe that rumor sorry.

Saying something is private is different from outrightly denying it. When you deny something you deny its truth. When you say nothing you leave things in the balance

You have a rather simplistic way of looking at things. Such a simpleton. I'm jealous.

ALSO YUBI? LoLOLOLOLOLOL GWORL💀

At the end of the day, I'm delulu, you delulu- to each their own.

Now excuse me I'm going to watch the lexians happy birthday bro video and cackle over all the alleged girlfriends they treat like shit. Not even a birthday post or I want her for Christmas video this is wild- at least Miss Kim got a follow and unfollow followed by an apology on the internet because that experience was "scary"

The ghetto 💀

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chloecherrysip · 1 year

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This is probably starting to get annoying, but here are a few more scattered, silly thoughts about the mario movie. :)

(Did I go see the movie again for the 4th time in theaters last night? YES. Is that an excessive amount of times? YES. Have I spent a ridiculous amount of money at this point? YES. Do I have any regrets? NOT EVEN THE TINIEST BIT, NO.)

Trust me, I would be totally honest if I was starting to get bored, but I'm really, really not??? I had a really tough, busy week and I just wanted to be able to relax and have a good time and it was delightful as always!!! I left feeling so much happier. I'm already thinking about going to see it next week again! No one and nothing can stop me!!!! Other than possibly my bank account, LOL.

Obviously the reunion hug takes the lion's share of the focus, but I just want to express my undying love that Luigi and Mario share MULTIPLE hugs before we even get there, and that's not even counting moments at the beginning and the end where they have an arm around each other in kind of a half-hug! They are wonderfully, unabashedly affectionate and it's the best thing in the world!!!

As much as the family is teasing Mario & Luigi about their commercial, I DO appreciate that after their dad's insensitive comment and Mario leaves the table, all the adults genuinely look a little taken aback and stare at the dad (except the grandpa who is in his own little world lol) as if to say Wow, Not Cool. Like, it seems like saying something like that would even be a step too far for the uncles! I just like that there's subtlety and layers to the family stuff, and no one is portrayed as being 100% a jerk (even if some of them have some jerk-ish qualities like the guy stealing food from poor Luigi XD)

ALSO: in fanworks, I've seen several people allude to the bedroom Mario's shown in as being only his bedroom - I was watching those scenes closely this time just to confirm to myself (because I'm annoying about being as accurate as possible, haha), and it's DEFINITELY both his and Luigi's room! It goes by quick, but you can see another bed with green sheets in the far corner of the room clearly in at least one shot, both in the Brooklyn version and in the Mushroom Kingdom version. For some reason, it just tickles me that it's SUCH a small little inclusion and not really necessary, they could have just left it ambiguous whether they actually share a room or not, but nope, that detail is there if you are looking for it! :)

Y'know, even when Mario is dragging Luigi into a dangerous situation and jumping down through what is essentially a WHIRLPOOL into the sewers, he STILL stands at the bottom and waits/watches to see that Luigi makes it down safely after him before moving forward. OVERALL A SILLY THING TO DO but, as he always does when it comes to Luigi, Mario has those extra moments of care and attention. :)

Peach going on and on about how small Mario is will always just make me smile, I'm sorry XD IT'S TRUE (and I love how he's just like "yeah, yeah, make fun of me if you want" and moves on to the important stuff without actually getting mad, it's clear he's heard it all before)

I JUST LOVE MARIO IN GENERAL. I LOVE HIM IN THIS MOVIE???? I LOVE HIM, ALL HIS LITTLE MOVEMENTS AND MANNERISMS. HE IS JUST THE SWEETEST, BRAVEST LITTLE MAN AND HE DESERVES MORE APPRECIATION

I might make a separate appreciation post but here is a shortlist of little things I love: his little "I don't want to eat this" wiggle-dance when first trying to eat the mushroom, the bashful way he kicks up his feet and holds his hands behind him when he's standing next to Peach in the Flower Fields, the way he just cutely, awkwardly WAVES HELLO at everyone wherever he goes (in Toad Town, through the crowd as they're leaving the castle, even to the Kong Guards), how he's genuinely excited to see Donkey Kong's kart for a split second before DK's "I hate you" comment, how he saves DK in the water with NO hesitation at the risk of his own life because he is just a deeply good person, etc etc etc.

As much as I deeply wish that this movie had an actual scene where Mario gets to talk more about Luigi to his new friends and the dialogue wasn't always operating at Maximum Efficiency, I DO appreciate that there are still those couple of beats where you are explicitly reminded that Mario is doing this, ALL of this, for Luigi's sake and only that. The one that got to me this time is when Peach and him have that sidebar before the DK fight where she's like "this is a REALLY bad idea" and his retort is: "well, do you have another way to save my brother!?" And then you see him go on a little face journey where he's calculating things before agreeing to the fight and proclaiming that yes, he WILL win. BECAUSE HE WILL DO ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING FOR HIS BROTHER AND IF THE ONLY WAY TO REACH HIM IS TO FIGHT AND WIN, EVEN IF NO ONE BELIEVES IN HIS ABILITY TO DO SO, THEN BY GOD, HE'S DOING IT. ANOTHER REASON THAT I LOVE HIM!!

The aesthetic of the shattered Rainbow Road pieces glowing in the ocean around DK and Mario (and then inside the eel) is genuinely very beautiful and I always love the effect of it!

I'M SORRY, I CAN ALSO BE VERY CRITICAL OF THIS MOVIE IF I WANT TO, BUT HOW COULD ANYONE - ANYONE - WATCH MARIO AND LUIGI WREAK ABSOLUTE HAVOC AND DESTROY BOWSER IN PERFECT, EFFORTLESS UNISON WITH THE SUPERSTARS MUSIC PLAYING AND NOT FEEL ABSOLUTE JOY??? That sequence is actually perfect, and the music is even MORE perfect. Every time, I hear it, I feel exhilarated and light as air and like anything is possible! HOW COULD YOU NOT THINK IT'S MAGICAL??? HOW??? [STANDS ON TOP OF A MOUNTAIN AND YELLS] HOW????????

Something that I have never noticed until this last rewatch and caught me genuinely offguard is that when Bowser's in the jar and Mario makes the "told ya I'd get you a turtle!" comment to Peach, if you're paying attention to Bowser, he actually does a "hardy-har-har VERY FUNNY" fake laugh as he's being all pouty, and I laughed outloud at that.

ALSO IN GENERAL, I AM SO PROUD OF THIS VERSION OF THE CHARACTERS AND THEIR WILLINGNESS TO PUT BOWSER IN ACTUAL JAIL!!!! HE DESERVES JAIL!!!! Like, I get that we're all very sweet and forgiving here and he's usually allowed to just slink away in most of the games, but seriously, HE COMMITTED VARIOUS WAR CRIMES FOR INCREDIBLY STUPID REASONS, THANK U FOR PUTTING HIM IN JAIL

The last scene with Luigi and Mario doing their handshake and then Luigi just full-on playfully poking Mario in the belly before running off is the CUTEST thing and also has the most Younger Sibling Energy of basically anything in the movie, lol. He also does it to him in the opening scene! I loveeeee ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

#mario movie #mario movie spoilers #super mario bros movie #this movie has clearly become a comfort film for me. it just makes me happy!#will i make another post like this? WHO KNOWS but i'm sorry if you're sick of it lol #cherrysip hc's & rambling

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oscurascout · 18 days

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Y/N As A Doorman

From That's Not My Neighbor game

Note - I don't know if there will be any romantic relationship, I really don't want to but maybe I'll change my mind, also you'll notice that I have favorites.

Part 1 (Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

While I was driving towards the "Jermaine Middleton Apartments," the place where I would be working as a doorman, it all started an hour ago while I was scrolling through social media. My mother had called me and told me about a friend of hers who was currently searching for a doorman for her apartment. I obviously accepted the job since I had been searching for an easy job, but now that I thought about it, I probably should've considered it a bit more.

I arrived at the location and saw a woman in her mid-30s outside. She looked at my car and walked towards it. I got out and greeted her. She was delighted that I accepted the job and quickly put me to work without explaining anything, writing a contract, or providing any details. She just showed me the office, put on a recording, mentioned my pay would be at the end of every week, and then left.

"What the heck?" I thought as I watched the documentary and realized I was going to have to figure out who was and who wasn't human. "Oh crap, what have I gotten myself into!?" I hadn't thought that being a doorman meant having to identify doppelgangers. "Well, these people might as well say goodbye to their lives because I'm a failure at this type of thing," I thought as I looked around. "No, Y/N, don't think like that. You have a duty now, and that is to protect these people," I thought with determination.

The metal shield then rose up, and I saw a person in a protective yellow suit. They greeted me, provided a bit more information on what I had to do, and then left. "Wow, do they seriously expect anyone to be able to save a whole apartment with just this info?" I thought as I got my area organized, I saw the list of people that were expected to come in. "Okay, I can do this," I thought as I saw someone walk to the front window.

It was a very pretty woman. "Wow, look at how pretty she is. Wait, isn't she one of the twin models that always appear in famous magazines that my friend never fails to mention? Wait, these two also show up in annoying YouTube ads" I thought as I looked at her closely and confirmed that she was one of the twin models. "From how she is wearing an orange dress and round earrings, I think she is Selenne," I thought as I was about to confirm my suspicions, but her annoyed face made me stoped.

Selenne - *annoyed* "Are you going to check my papers or what? You know my time is precious, and right now I need to quickly return to my complex to change, so hurry up."

"Mmm, so it was true about celebrities having a bad attitude," I thought as I started to check her papers. Since I was new to the whole thing, it took me some time, which only made her more annoyed.

Selenne - *tapping her foot* "Ugh, can you hurry up? I'm going to be late, and it'll be your fault."

"If you don't shut up, then I'll take longer," I said as I looked at the ID number.

Selenne - *gasp* "Do you know who I am!?"

"Yeah, a pompous brat who doesn't know how to shut up or prepare on time. Now, zip it, or else I'm going to take longer," I said, already annoyed.

She looked at me angrily, but I couldn't care less. I then confirmed she was the real one, although I had already confirmed that a few minutes ago. I just wanted to annoy her since she was rude. I let her in, and after she left, her twin came. She gave me her papers and started to tap her finger on her arm but didn't say anything. "She probably heard me and her sister arguing," I thought as I looked over her papers. Once I made sure she was the real one, I let her in, and she also gave me one last annoyed glanced.

"Mmm, if I can annoy those famous twins, then maybe this job won't be so bad," I smiled at that thought. I then heard the door to the office open. I looked and saw it was my mom's friend, a.k.a. the landlord. She looked at me and smiled.

Mary - "Please excuse those two; they both have a very strong temper."

"Oh, don't worry; so do I," I said as I smiled at her.

Mary - *smiles* "Well, I just came in to mention a few things that I realized I failed to mention. You won't exactly get a lunch break; you can eat any time, but not like a normal employee. Since you are the only doorman this apartment has, you can't take breaks. Well, you can, but you have to stay in the office at all times in case someone comes. You can walk around, decorate the office however you like, and *takes out a key* you can also use the kitchen that's behind the door with flower decorations, don't worry it has enough food for a week."

I looked at her with an 'Are you serious?' face. "Anything else?" I said with sarcasm.

Mary - "Oh yes, thanks for asking. You will also work from 6 to either 10 or 11 pm, but no pass those hours, oh but don't worry the pay is good. Well, that's all. Goodbye, dear. Remember to work hard and not let those monsters in."

After she finished saying that, she turned around and walked away, leaving me with my 'Are you serious?' face all alone in the office. "I might let those monsters kill me," I said as I only stared at the office exit door.

This is how I imagine the office would be

#that's not my neighbor #selenne sverchzt #elenois sverchzt #Y/N as a doorman #thats not my neighbor #Selenne that's not my neighbor #Elenois that's not my neighbor

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ninthprime · 8 months

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mildly arbitrary rating of every gundam i have watched so far

in order of me starting them

witch from mercury: 7.5/10. we’re never gonna get confirmation of people’s various theories that this show was originally planned for 50 episodes and i’ve also heard that the showrunner’s series tend to be kind of just Like This, but gwitch has a lot of missed potential mostly focused on 1. its seemingly incomplete worldbuilding and 2. the fact that the arcs of much of its secondary cast (guel, nika, shaddiq) appear to jump over a few steps or just are missing something. on the other hand, the arcs of its primary cast (particularly suletta) are great, suletta herself is a top-tier protagonist, the tertiary cast is one of the best i’ve seen in gundam (i love earth house), and sulemio is probably objectively the best gundam romance even if i’m pretty sure it’s not my personal favorite.

gundam 0079: 9.5/10. the GOAT. you know how it is. every single person who got into gundam via gwitch like i did but still hasn’t gone back to watch 0079 is doing themself a total disservice. you watch this show and both everything about mecha and everything about modern anime in general suddenly clicks completely in your brain. everyone who has been obsessed with char aznable and amuro ray for the last 40+ years has been completely right. i think its only big flaws are some of its treatment of women (though later shows like ZZ have way more glaring issues there) and its shortened length, but frankly if you hadn’t told me it got cut short seven episodes early i would not have noticed, because its finale may be one of my all time favorite television finales ever. just go watch it. i’m sitting you down right now

zeta gundam: 8.5/10. a really ideal sequel in a lot of ways that are remarkable considering the gap of time between it and 0079. focuses on new characters who reflect on the last show while still being their own things, and brings back the cast of the last show in ways that feel like they make sense while still being unexpected and making you look at things in a new light. deeply iconic and atmospheric in ways that are a little overwhelming at times; it is a dour show. has way more glaring flaws for me than a lot of the fandom brings up though, mostly in its pacing and its villains. this show has an entire middle section i barely remember and do we need both the four and rosamia storylines? and frankly i do not care about the titans that much (other than sarah).

zz gundam: 8.5/10. zz defender crop is here. please ignore everyone who tells you that you can skip zz. zeta’s other half in ways that aren’t just “it started two weeks after zeta in real life”- it also fixes zeta’s pacing, provides a welcome counterpoint to its dire tone, and its villains are literally just improved versions of zeta’s (glemy is better scirocco! haman is a top tier gundam villain in general!). i think the middle section of this show- the entire time they are on earth- is my favorite section of UC gundam, or at least tied with 0079’s ramba ral and finale arcs. i do think the dip in quality people say it has in the last arc is true. also probably has the largest Woman Problem in any gundam i’ve seen so far (i have a threshold for bad women writing so high it is practically antifeminist but unfortunately emary breaks that threshold, what the hell is up with everything about emary) even though i love some of those women very much. secretly has the boldest and most thematically interesting gundam finale so far. ple forever

char’s counterattack: 8/10. as i’ve said before: a gorgeous film about two men being so divorced that thousands of people die. genuinely iconic and also very bold but i often find myself torn as to whether i want tomino to be more explicit about what he’s saying here. we could have saved ourselves years of “was char right??” debates but then again, it’s the spirit of cca to claim that only you have the right take about cca. beyond the time is a good song

gundam unicorn: 7.5/10. politics here are often confusing and messy, and i think it suffers from its core characters (banagher and mineva) and their relationship not getting the time they need. on the other hand, i’m interested in what it says about the worldbuilding of UC (even if i think it didn’t execute it that well) and its secondary cast is great; i did nearly cry about marida and zinnerman so that sure works. full frontal does not bug me nearly as much as he bothers most people although i think he has the same “needs more time to cook” issue banagher and mineva have. i even kind of like what they do with riddhe and i usually dislike that archetype. in other words: i would have been nuts for the forty episode (and properly paced) version of this show. marida forever

gundam hathaway: 7/10?? hard to tell here without having the next two movies. was a bit hard to get invested in the conflict near the end as we met many characters who are not developed yet. but the relationship between the core trio here is intriguing and i like hathaway as a protagonist a lot.

the rest of my “gundams i am most interested in list” is victory -> turn a -> 00 -> iron blooded orphans so that’s the next four shows. after…who can say

#gundam personal tag #hot takes post. watch out. weeoo weeoo

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invisible-storyteller · 1 month

Text

Because you can't spell 'emissary' without Mas(on)

They eventually cornered the woman in the movie theater as the last screening of the night was coming to an end.

"What do you want?" Liam demanded in lieu of greeting.

"Excuse me?"

The woman didn't seem all that surprised to be approached by three teenage boys in the nearly empty establishment, and Mason couldn't even call her confused or intimidated. Who would she be intimidated by, anyway? Liam with his 5’6 feet, Corey with his noodle arms or Mason with his Heelys? The widening of her eyes was probably for show, as if an innocent look could distract them from the fact that she had been observing Corey in his workplace all evening without purchasing a single ticket.

"You've been following us all week," Liam cut to the chase while doing what Mason dubbed as his alpha posturing, “Who are you and what do you want?"

The woman sized the three of them up and smiled. The fact that she didn't put up a fight was the first foreboding sign.

"Eleanor," The woman introduced herself with an outstretched arm, but neither of them shook her hand.

"What do you want... ma’am?”

"I'm here out of mere curiosity."

Mason caught Liam's wary look before his friend straightened up - the new stance making him an imposing 5’7 almost.

"You're stalking three underage boys," Liam accused, "We should call the police."

"You won't," Eleanor stated confidently, and then quickly diverted back to Liam’s original question, "I heard that the true alpha left Beacon Hills and now his first beta is in charge of the territory. I had to see it for myself."

"Why?" Corey asked, simple but to the point. They had already guessed that she was in the ‘inner circle’, but the confirmation wasn't promising either way.

"To know if the town is safe," The woman replied disdainfully, "And I got my answer. This place is clearly unprotected."

"We can protect it," Liam insisted, but his voice wavered a bit higher in pitch like when he was still mutating.

"You?" The woman laughed into his face, "You're what? Fourteen?”

"Sixteen,” Mason corrected, earning a pitying grimace from the woman.

“And I'm an alpha," Liam declared, then after some thinking, added: “In theory."

"And where's your pack, alpha?" The woman taunted, to which Liam instinctively looked over his shoulders at Mason and Corey, "Those two, huh? I've never seen such a small pack."

"What do you want?" Liam repeated, his tough act visibly faltering.

"This town attracts the supernatural," The woman reminded them sharply as if they didn’t know it from first-hand experience, “When the next bad thing comes, who's gonna deal with it? Three boys still in high school with mediocre grades and a lacrosse team that only wins because there’s only one rival school in this godforsaken town?"

“My grades are good,” Mason interjected, not that the woman cared.

“You don't have an alpha, you don't have an emissary, you don't have anything a stable pack needs."

Mason put a reassuring hand on one of Liam’s shoulders, and so did Corey.

"You don't know him, and you don't know us," Mason said, looking challengingly at the woman, whose lips ticked up into a sneer.

"Then by all means, prove me wrong," She dramatized (she must have been a theater kid in her golden days), and just then, the last visitors of the day flooded out of the rooms and the woman faded into the crowd.

The three boys looked at each other in matching puzzlement as Liam voiced their unanimous thought: "What the hell was that?"

***

"And she knew about Scott leaving the territory?"

"Yes."

The face Deaton made in response was disconcerting, but honestly, coming to Deaton in the first place was a hapless move since it was always closely followed by the unavoidable Fuckening™.

"Then, I have good news and bad news."

"Bad news first," Mason asked apprehensively.

“She's probably an emissary.”

"How is that bad news?" Corey questioned aloud.

"She's here to gather intel. Often, when a territory loses its alpha, other packs will claim the territory as their own. Her pack is most likely looking to expand and they sent their emissary into town to see if there are any competitors."

"Intense,” Mason noted with feeling.

"What is the good news?" Liam asked with hope naively glinting in his eyes.

"She believes that you're weak.” If Deaton was expecting some kind of a celebration at the reveal, he had to be sorely disappointed.

“That’s your definition of good news?”

"Yes. It means she doesn't know what you're capable of,” Deaton elaborated with a blank face that could have meant anything between disapproval of their mental sluggishness or happiness at the sudden realization that he had some left-over chicken at home, “You can still surprise her. The reason why she’s been following you is because she isn't sure of your strength yet. You still have time."

"Time for what?" Liam asked back unsurely.

"To sell a lie. To make your pack seem stronger than it is."

“Is there some kind of a supernatural steroid for that?” Mason inquired, to which Deaton gave him a simple “Are you stupid?” look, which was his most frequently used expression around the pack. “Better to know.”

"Liam, she was sadly right,” Deaton continued, “Your pack currently has three members in total.”

"Four," Liam corrected, and Corey and Mason smartly shut their mouths.

"You can't fight another pack with four people, Liam."

“Depends on the size of the pack,” Mason interjected, to which Corey nodded in support.

“Do you know which pack she belongs to?”

“N-“

“She had a tattoo,” Mason recalled, which seemed to surprise everyone in the room, “On her hand. Three parallel lines and a circle.”

“The Donoghue pack," Deaton nodded pensively, "They counted thirteen members the last time I heard.”

“We’re screwed,” Corey muttered under his breath.

"And you? Can't you be our emissary, and I don't know, talk to her?" Liam asked Deaton, although he wasn't certain he could share Scott's emissary like that.

"An emissary has to be someone you trust. Someone you're close to as they will be your chief confidant. Does that description fit me?"

Liam strategically didn't answer.

"And if it was me?" Mason suggested, earning a frown from Liam, a shocked gape from Corey and a considering look from Deaton.

"It is a big responsibility," Deaton cautioned, because out of the unholy trinity of gaslight-gatekeep-girlboss, he was at least two of those things.

"We already have a big responsibility," Mason argued, motioning to the helltown that was unfortunately protected by teenagers in the absence of capable adults, "The question is: How fast can you make me into an emissary?"

"Enough,” Deaton replied, which was approximately as much as they could hope for.

“Alright. When do we start?” Mason asked, excitement mixing with dawning trepidation.

Deaton shrugged. “Now is good for me.”

***

“We told you we could handle it!” Liam groused petulantly as Stiles parked his jeep at the preserve’s entrance.

“Yeah, and I saw right through your lying asses.”

“Scott isn’t here,” Theo pointed out with a complacent grin.

“He has too much faith in Liam,” Stiles cut back like the beta wasn’t even there, “At least now it’s not a pack of alphas invading but why does anyone want this cursed town for themselves? I tell you why. Because they are insane.”

“Wait, why don’t you have faith in me?” Liam got stuck on Stiles’s first sentence.

“I don’t have faith in any of you. Maybe Mason.”

Theo looked already bored with the conversation so he asked: “Can someone tell me why we're going to the preserve again?”

“Because that bitch is an emissary,” Stiles answered shortly as they piled out of the jeep.

“What does that mean?” Liam whispered to his best friend on their way into the woods.

“It means she’ll be looking for the Nemeton,” Mason replied while they began to search for the magical stump as well. Some teenagers spent their Friday nights getting shit-faced at a house party, Mason and his friends spent it hunting down malevolent druids and stopping them from draining semi-sentient plants.

As their group entered deeper into the woods, Corey brought up the one crucial detail they hadn’t agreed on yet: “Guys, what’s the plan?”

"We're going to bash her head in, dig an eight-feet deep hole where we hide the body, kill a bunny and bury it five feet above it so police dogs will find the animal carcass only, and get away with the perfect murder,” Stiles outlined his plan passionately while the others looked on in bafflement.

"Or... we could just talk to her?" Mason offered, to which Corey and Liam nodded along concedingly.

Stiles acknowledged their decision with his eyes squinted judgementally, and sighed. “My idea is better but sure. Let’s play the pacifist. That worked out well in the past.”

They didn’t have to wander much around after that: all of them had (unfortunately) been to the Nemeton before, so even if not by conscious navigation, but they soon reached its vicinity and stumbled upon the foreign emissary, whose surprise only showed on her face for one fleeting second.

“Oh, look, the middle school finally arrived,” The woman scoffed but her head tilted questioningly at Stiles’s presence, “You are new.”

"I'm the muscle man,” Stiles stated with his aluminium baseball bat cradled like an infant in his hands. With him, the whole group gained +1 skill point at being threatening, making it 2 points in total.

"Shouldn't you have muscle for that?" The woman mocked in return.

"I'm the bat man then."

"He's Batman," Liam declared assertively.

“He looks more like a Robin,” Corey mumbled off-handedly.

“Hey! I’m not Robin!”

"I’m with Stiles on this one. Can't we just slash her throat?" Theo interrupted surly, reminding the group of their original situation.

The comment made the woman straighten up, too, with a dark look in her eyes that was partially achieved by her shadowy mascara. It seemed that her hand was reaching for a small satchel at her side - no doubt containing mountain ash that she could cast around herself in a protective circle, which, in this case, would shield her from exactly one person in their group.

"You think this is going to scare me?" She smiled derisively, dragging her gaze over each member of their pack.

"I know why you want this land,” Mason spoke up, both to direct her attention to him and commence the negotiations at last, “There's a special connection that can be established between an emissary and a Nemeton, and this bond can grant incredible power to the person wielding magic. Guess what? I have that power."

"You’re not even a proper emissary,” The woman smiled condescendingly as she took a step closer. Corey instinctually stepped in front of Mason, but the woman swept him out of the way and into a nearby tree with a flick of her hand.

"The pack regards me as the human connection,” Mason countered while watching Theo pull Corey up to his feet from the corner of his eyes, “That makes me their emissary.”

“You still don’t know what being an emissary really means.”

“I’m an advisor. And now I advise you to leave our territory.”

“How are you going to fight me, boy? You might have studied the books, but you don’t have my experience.”

“True,” Mason conceded as the woman got into dangerous proximity. “But you failed to do one of the most important things when engaging in a fight.”

“Yeah?” The woman humoured him, “And what’s that?”

Mason looked around the clearing, and upon his signal, Nolan and Chris Argent emerged from the trees with arrows aimed steadily at the woman's head. Their appearance halted Eleanor’s advance as well as the air in her lungs.

“You forgot to check who you stand against,” Mason stated, and he could feel everyone gather behind him in a silent expression of their unity. “You want to cast a mountain ash circle that won’t be effective against the arrows or the chimeras in our pack. You cannot run away because you don’t know these woods like we do, and you can’t fight us all because we have you outnumbered. So what does your experience say? Is it still worth attacking?”

The woman contemplated the alternatives Mason presented with begrudging realization and wavering confidence in the face of their pack's unified spirit. Her following retreat made her last words sound pathetic and desperate rather than scary as she shouted:

"My pack is still stronger than yours! You better keep a close eye on your precious town!”

Mason looked to his side where Liam had stepped forward, the two of them standing shoulder-to-shoulder and just as undeterred as they had always been.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Mason smiled at a proudly grinning Liam before turning back to the withdrawing woman, “I always stand by my friends, and I will do whatever to protect them. Can you say that about your pack?”

The woman huffed but didn’t waste any more words on them. She vanished from the preserve with one last feeble threat thrown over her shoulder, and Chris Argent followed her with the reassurance that he would make sure she truly left the town. Once she had disappeared from sight, the entire pack walked up to Mason to deliver their congratulations and personal remarks about the standoff ("I legit thought she was gonna kill you, man") while Mason tried to laugh off all the excess adrenaline.

“That was a really great bluff, too," Stiles complimented with one friendly slap against Mason’s arm, whose confusion must have been evident if Stiles felt the need to elaborate, "You know, about that thing with the Nemeton."

“That wasn’t a bluff,” Mason clarified as Stiles’s eyes widened into saucers.

“You’re telling me you can actually harvest the Nemeton’s power?”

“Why am I the only one who reads things?” Mason sighed indignantly at all the shocked expressions around him.

“Because you are our emissary and nobody could do it better,” Liam stated with one arm casually thrown around Mason’s shoulder, making the young emissary laugh.

“Hell nah.”

On their way back to Stiles’s jeep, everyone was talking either about whether Eleanor's threat should be taken seriously or the closest pizza place that still delivered at this time of the night, and only Mason seemed hyped about all the implications of becoming an official pack.

“Oh, hey, by the way. What is going to be our pack symbol?” Mason asked, enthused at the prospect of getting a tattoo. “I was thinking we could do little paw prints-“

“NO!” Everyone shouted as they crowded into the car and dropped the subject altogether to Mason's disappointment.

As they pulled out of the parking lot, Liam nudged his shoulder placatingly. “I accept your advice about anything but this.”

“Okay, that's fair," Mason nodded with a bummed sigh.

“Do you really want to be my emissary?”

The question seemed so absurd after everything that happened that Mason had to roll his eyes fondly at his friend and give a similar nudge back. “We look out for each other, remember?”

Liam's lips stretched into an ecstatic beam right as Stiles cursed loudly in the front: “Fuck, I think that bitch cut my breaks.”

(For the Mason Week held by @masonhewittappreciation, because there simply aren't enough stories with emissary!Mason.)

#mason hewitt #masonweek2024 #emissary!mason #teen wolf puppy pack

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kwaggysshardmindemporium · 8 months

Text

I've been using Pokemon Sleep for about five weeks now. Here's some thoughts below the cut. It's a long one.

First, my opinions about the nuts and bolts of how it works. This is... mostly complaints.

- The monetization in this game is absolutely disgusting. Like just heinous. If you're the kind of person that needs to avoid stuff with microtransactions, do not install this game. I haven't given them a dime, but I've also at this point built up a strong resistance to monetization tricks. DO NOT let your kids play this game if they have a credit/debit card hooked up to their accounts.

- On the flip side, credit where due, when they say on the load screen that you can play 100% of the game without paying, this is true. You'll progress faster and with less effort if you pony up some cash, but the game gives you a decent stream of the premium currency, Diamonds, that will get you access to whatever niceties you'd like. If I wanted something that requires the premium currency to get, I haven't found myself walled behind a massive wait for the drip feed to catch up.

- The game wants roughly thirty minutes to an hour of your time a day not counting the sleep tracking. Three ten to twenty minute chunks. One in the morning to review last night's sleep data and feed Snorlax breakfast, one in the afternoon for lunch, and then one or two in the evening for dinner and switching on the sleep tracking.

- When the app tells you to put your phone on the bed for the sleep tracking, this is actually NECESSARY for how it functions. I had assumed it just uses audio to gauge if you snore or whatever (which it does), but it also uses your phone's accelerometer to determine if you're tossing and turning and by extension how deep you're sleeping. If you put it on a bedside table or something, it'll give you a readout saying you slept like an absolute fucking ROCK. If you're like me and toss and turn a lot, you can actually use this to cheese the game a little since certain Pokemon only appear when you sleep deeper and those are for me quite hard to get without this cheese. I would go so far as to actively recommend this tactic.

- You may notice that's kind of a creepy amount of data to collect and it feels kind of like inviting a stalker into your bedroom. You are correct. The app assures you that the actual sleep data does NOT get transmitted at all. I do not have anything other than their word to confirm that. I don't know if what it collects is fairly standard for other apps like it, but my assumption is yes?

- Because of how it tracks your sleep info, if you sleep with a partner in the same bed it completely skullfucks its tracking.

- If you have an even slightly older phone, the app chugs whenever you try to click anything. There's like a one-second lag on every click in the menu followed by a short load screen. Those 10-20 minute sessions would be about half as long if I had a phone with more processing speed.

Now all the above might sound damning as hell. But here's the thing. I like this app a lot actually. It's DEEPLY flawed, but let's talk about the game's mechanics, which is mostly positives:

- Right at the top, this app has improved my sleep schedule, pardon the pun, practically overnight. My new PC has told me twice now that step one to fixing most of my mental health issues is healthier sleep, which he knows is hard but you gotta try. I've been hesitant to take the meds he prescribed for that, but I heard about this app and figured gamifying sleeping on time would be a great way to get me to actually do it. Worked like a charm. The game asks what you'd like your nightly bedtime to be, and gives you rewards for maintaining it. You get these rewards if you go to sleep either 90 minutes prior to that time, or 30 minutes after. My doctor recommended 30 in each direction for consistency, but they don't send you a reminder notification until that 30 minute mark prior so partial credit I guess? I've missed that bedtime like 3 times in these last five weeks, and yeah my everything is way better.

- Looking at the Pokemon wandering my camp makes my brain make the happy juice in a way most Pokemon stuff really doesn't anymore. Like, there's no battles or anything (although you apparently can transfer to and from Pokemon Go, don't know how well that works because I don't play), so you just get a pleasant kind of domesticity most Pokemon stuff doesn't do.

- Here's the actual gameplay loop. You're researching Pokemon sleep patterns. To do this, you're using some nonsense machine that amplifies local Snorlax's natural aura of sleepiness to attract Pokemon to come sleep by it. Snorlax's are apparently the capybaras of the Pokeworld which I actually love. The more you feed Snorlax, the more powerful this sleepy aura becomes. It resets each week because you go to a new campsite with a new Snorlax. During the day, your team of Pokemon (max of... 5 for some reason instead of the default six everywhere else in this franchise?) gather berries to feed your Snorlax throughout the day in idle-game-esque timers, as well as ingredients for more complicated meals. You take the ingredients, make Snorlax meals up to three times a day (6am-noon for breakfast, noon-6pm for lunch, 6pm-6am for dinner). Each pokemon also has an ability that in some way helps you out. Then you can at any time turn on the sleep tracking, then turn it off when you wake up. After a rest of 90+ minutes has been tracked, it gives you a total of how much power that rest generated, and takes you to a minigame where you photograph the sleeping Pokemon that came to rest in your camp. The more power, the more varied the sleeping positions and the rarer the Pokemon. You can then feed them biscuits to befriend them. You get the equivalent of a Great Ball(/Biscuit) every day which on its own fills about 3/5 of a non-evolved Pokemon's friendship bar (the basic biscuit that you'll use most of the time fills 1/5), so there's always at least some progress towards making a friend. Sometimes a Pokemon is extra hungry and the first thing you feed them is worth triple, and you can also get that same multiplier as an RNG thing without warning. Once you fill up a bar, you've befriended that Pokemon and can now add it to your teams or send it to the professor for candies like you do in Pokemon Go. You are also given candies for every Pokemon you attracted even if you don't befriend them, plus "Sleep Points" based on how long you slept for that can be exchanged for items like more biscuits (for reference, a single basic biscuit is roughly 1.5 times a good night's sleep... fucking YIKES) plus "Dream Shards" for how cool the photos you took are, which are used mostly for leveling up your Pokemon and upgrading your camp.

- I love this gameplay loop actually. It feels way more like these Pokemon are my friends as opposed to wild animals I've caught.

- Leveling up and evolving take large amounts of those candies and dream shards. The candies feel like the primary gate on progression.

Overall, this is a game I like a lot despite its flaws, and the positive impact it's had on my health even in this short span is hard to understate. I wish they'd back off with the creepy monetization so I could actively recommend instead of recommend with an asterisk. But yeah that's my thoughts on this weird ass product.

#pokemon #pokemon sleep

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