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k7l4d4 · 3 years

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Midnight Striga: Fairy Tail/Owl House Cross Fic Episode 7 Part 2

Hello all, I’ve returned for another piece of Midnight Striga! Everybody Clap Your Hands!!

Scowling to himself, Hunter ducked away from the human. He… wasn’t supposed to be in Bonesburough, not really, but it was one of the few days off he got, so he decided to make the most of it with some research. Events had shifted. What before everyone would’ve laughed off as some kind of joke, or the words of a deluded fool, were proven true when a group of human rogues decided to raze the Covention, using magic!! Hunter wouldn’t deny, he burned to know how they did it, how did they overcome the biological limitation? If ever questioned, he could and would easily decry it as Wild Magic, something to be locked away for the heresy against the Titan it was… but in private, he craved that power for himself. Not for glory, or conquest, no! He wasn’t an idiot.

He wanted to be normal.

“Stupid human, thinking I would buy a cheap excuse like that.” He muttered. It burned, it truly did, that she somehow thought he would fall for a ploy, even if she had no clue who he truly was. ‘The Emperor’s most trusted agent, The Golden Guard himself!’ He puffed out his chest, smirking in pride at what he’d accomplished. And it WAS an accomplishment. Anyone who knew the truth of his situation would no-doubt cry about how he had it all handed to him by his uncle, and if they did he would have no problem laughing at the fools, behind their backs of course, no need to start a fight when he could finish one.

For as long as he’d been in his Uncle’s care, he’d worked and slaved to obtain his position. He’d studied, trained, honing his body and his mind to be the best. If someone crossed him, he found ways of getting even, and without even having to get his own hands dirty half the time. Seriously, he understood the need to maintain the Coven’s image of being the best of the best, but most of them were just stupid!! ‘Even Clawthorne.’ He scornfully smirked to himself. He was ecstatic at seeing the cocky witch being taken down a peg, especially by her own hand. The fact that it showed the Isles what she really was, a worm and a cheat who slinked her way to the top, made it all the sweeter, and not to mention that her actions unleashed the most dangerous Wild Witch in generations into the populace. He knew that’s not how it actually worked, but it was a convenient lie that people would reach of their own free will, and would make an excellent tool for getting her out of the way when she finally outlived her usefulness.

But that’s besides the point. He shook his head lightly, clearing his thoughts as he leaned against a bookshelf. The human was here, in the library, and that was an opportunity he wouldn’t let pass. He wouldn’t stalk her or anything, but he’d be watching, waiting, and listening to see just what exactly she intended for the Isles. The mad laughter of those maniacs who had been brought in echoed in his ears, his eyes hardening into stone at the memory. If she turned out to be a threat, he would destroy her. Even if he never gained the secret to the humans’ ability to wield magic, he would gladly sacrifice it to protect the Isles. He swore it.

“This place is both amazing, and kind of ridiculous.” Luz commented, having put aside any thoughts of that rude guy from before, determined to make this a good day. She ducked under a book flying overhead, glaring at it as it shrieked at her. “I wonder if anyone would be willing to help me navigate this place.” She murmured, rubbing her head at another near miss.

“I believe we can help with that!” A voice that seemed to mix charming and cheese together in a corny mess sounded out behind her. Turning around, Luz raised an eyebrow at what she saw. Two Witches, a male and a female, and by her guess twins, if the incredibly strong resemblance and similarity in age was anything to base her decision off of. The two were standing back to back, the boy shooting a cocky grin that he probably thought made him look “so cool!” beneath his deep green hair and golden eyes, his apparent sister tilting her head in a different direction, gazing off in thought, a mysterious look in her eyes.

Luz turned on her heel, already done with these two. “Yeah, if you’re trying to flirt with me, I prefer homemade food and some shopping,” She said, not watching as the two collapsed in shock. “Also, you guys kind of come across as desperate.” She added, turning her head back to shoot them an eyebrow.

“W-we weren’t flirting with you!” The girl shouted, face flushed, even as her brother sat in a heap, poking at the ground with his finger. She marched over, her flush fading as her look shifted from it’s brief moment of outrage to some measure of control. “We just overheard you saying you’d appreciate someone showing you around, and we happen to know someone. We’d be cool introducing you.” She explained, looking Luz up and down as she did so. She shrugged. “But yeah, we probably would flirt with you normally, but we don’t have time for that today. Ed!” She called, her brother raising his head in response. “Let’s go find Mittens!” Her brother nodded in agreement, still seeming a little dazed from Luz’s snark from before.

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Luz rebutted, raising her hand in a halting motion. “Did I say that I agreed? Because I don’t think I did.” She said, crossing her arms.

The girl huffed, hands on her hips. “Do you have a reason to actually refuse?” She challenged.

Luz paused, thinking for a moment, before shrugging. “Fair. Okay, let’s go.” She stopped, causing the girl to groan.

“What now?” She asked.

“I just remembered I never got your name.” Luz sheepishly admitted.

The girl blinked, before chuckling, some of the tension in her face bleeding away. “Yeah, I did too.” She stuck out her hand in a shaking gesture, leaning forward at an angle that honestly looked a little silly. “Emira Blight, at your service.” She smirked.

“And I’m Edric!” Edric called out, popping up behind his sister.

Luz laughed. “Heh! Good to know! Since we’re formally introducing ourselves, not that I don’t believe for a second that you don’t know who I am,” She said, shooting the two a challenging smirk. They had the good sense to accept it with a shrug and a nod without putting on airs. “The name’s Luz. Luz Noceda.” She declared, shaking the slightly older girl’s hand. Her grin turned mischievous. “So, I’m assuming that Mittens is Amity?” She asked gleefully, leaning forward, even as the two siblings did the same.

“You know Luz, I think we are gonna get along just fine.” Emira declared, an equally mischievous smile on her face, mirrored by her brother. With that, the trio rapidly began plotting how to best fluster the composed youngest Blight. Hey, Luz more or less liked her, but she thought a little harmless goofiness would get her to destress some. Not too much though, she liked her head on her shoulders. The trio walked off, heedless of their watcher in the isles.

Boscha breathed out a sigh of relief. “They’re gone.” She muttered. Not only was she here, but so were Amity’s older siblings!? Yeah, she wasn’t gonna stay and get caught in whatever craziness those two decided to get into. With a spine-cracking stretch, Boscha pulled away from the Isles, pulling a book to her chest. She breathed in deep, sighing out, before freezing at the sight of flame licking out of her mouth. Clamping her jaw shut, she rapidly shifted her eyes back and forth, already feeling paranoid at anyone having seen that. She clambered off towards the checkout, the book white-knuckled in her grip.

The book’s title read “Mysteries of the Mind, and Other Dark Truths.” Maybe now Boscha will be able to get some answers.

Luz rounded the corner, arm slung over Emira’s shoulder, chatting away with the other girl. “-And that’s why I never date a girl with fire magic without asking if they are medicated or not first!” She boldly declared, completely unbothered by her own past misadventures. Admittedly, she and Azzie probably would’ve still been together, if she wasn’t head over heels for a childhood friend who ran away with the circus.

Edric sprayed out his drinking, choking on his laughter. “And she let you live!?” He asked incredulously, choking and wheezing all the while.

Luz sheepishly shrugged. “Yeah, maybe trying to tell her that I wanted to break up while she was waiting for her medicine to be refilled, and while she was practicing her spells to boot, wasn’t my smartest move.” She was SOOO lucky she dodged that initial attack, her butt still felt like it was singed at the memory!!

Emira gave her an amused smirk. “Oh, I wonder why?” She playfully ribbed the other girl. Her look of amusement softened. “You know, I was honestly all geared up to tear you apart at first.” She casually admitted, even as Edric stared at her in shock and Luz raised an eyebrow at her admission. “Yeah, after I got a rundown about what you accidentally dragged Mittens into, and trust me, I know you wouldn’t be able to stop her, I was totally prepared to dismember you and bury your corpse so you could never get involved with her again.”

“Eh, not the worst thing anyone’s admitted to wanting to do to me.” Luz said, shrugging the casual death threat off. Edric just wordlessly worked his jaw, somehow at a loss for words.

“But… as much as I want to blame you, I get that it wasn’t your fault, what went down. So I’ll be keeping an eye on you, but I’m not gonna try anything. Especially not now that I know how fun you are!” She finished, giving Luz a chipper wink, getting a friendly smirk in response. As the next area caught her eye, she perked up. “Oh! I think we’re here!”

“Finally!” Edric cheered, having gotten bored of the place a few stacks ago, with only Luz’s stories to keep him going. Who knew you could cause so much chaos with Cheese, a banjo, and a juggler!? He must find a way to top that…!

Peering around the corner, Luz’s eyes widened. “Is that what I think it is?” She asked, her voice tight with awe and fervent hope.

“Yeah.” Emira squeaked, equally overcome.

Edric just raised his eyebrows. “I don’t get the big deal, but you guys do you, I guess.” He said, shrugging.

Before them sat Amity Blight, her normally stern look having fallen away, a look of innocence and kindness gracing her features, as she read from the book in her lap to the children surrounding her, Skara standing to the side with a happy smile of her own.

“‘What do you think you’re doing?’” Amity read along, keeping pace with her place in the book, her eager audience leaning in closer, with Skara sidling up too, a sheepish grin on her face at how captivated she was with the simple reading. “‘We’re your friends and we wanna help!’ said the Tin Boy with a yelp. Otabin smiled and paced the floor. ‘I’ve never had real friends before.’”

Luz suddenly found herself very much identifying with a children’s book character from a story she never read, just from that one line. She turned to the twins with starry eyes. “Amity reads to kids?” She stated more than asked, getting an enthusiastic nod from Emira and a playful smirk from Edric.

She watched in slight awe as Amity continued. “‘Then we’ll be your first.’ The Chicken Witch Clucked. Otabin couldn’t believe his luck.” She turned her gaze to the kids, eyes glowing in delight at this simple kindness she was performing. “So, Bookmaker Otabin, surrounded by friends, bound a book of friendship and that’s the end.” She finished cheerfully, the children cheering and applauding, while Skara threw an arm over her friend’s shoulder, which Amity playfully shoved off.

“Yay!”

“Thank you so much.”

“Goodbye.”

One particular kid walked up to Amity and hugged her legs, before speaking in a strikingly deep voice. “Thank you for the story Miss Amity.”

Amity gave the little demon boy a kind smile, reaching down to return the hug. “Ah, thank you Braxas. Have a good day, and give your dad my wishes while he heals up. See you next week.”

The little demon, Braxas apparently, cheerfully ran off, waving in reply behind him. “Okay!”

Skara gave a soft laugh, clapping her hands. “That was so sweet, Ams!” She cheered. She shot Amity a mock critical look. “And just why haven’t you shown this to me before?” She asked faux-haughtily, even as Amity snorted.

“I think what I do to destress is my own business.” Amity replied dryly, getting a sheepish laugh from Skara in response. Her smirk softened into a smile. “But still, I’m okay with you having shown up. The kids really liked you.” She gave Skara an appraising look. “I honestly didn’t expect you to be cool with something like this.” She softly admitted.

Skara gave Amity a stern look. “Amity, I get that I can be judgy, but I’m not gonna bust your chops for being nice to kids.” She said sharply, before shifting into a teasing smirk. “Still, you know that now you have to do something I like to do without other people, right?”

Amity spluttered. “I don’t remember agreeing to that!” She said hotly, her face flush.

Skara spun on her heel, pulling Amity along with her. “Ah, don’t be such a buzz-kill! It’s nothing illegal, and I promise, you’ll enjoy it.” She said, giving Amity a wink, prompting the other Witch to roll her eyes.

At that point, Luz decided that it was about the right moment to reveal herself. “Well, well, well! It looks like Hexside’s number one lemon drop has a secret sweet center.” She commented, stepping into view.

Behind her, Edric and Emira shared matching looks of glee, mouthing the words ‘lemon drop’ to each other in delight. Oh yeah, they liked Luz, for sure!

#the owl house #fairy tail #owl house au #fairy tail au #owl house crossover #fairy tail crossover #luz noceda #amity blight #emira blight #edric blight #braxas the owl house #skara the owl house #magic

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fluffonthebunniestail · 4 years

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A Way to Behave

I just wanted to say thank you again for actually liking and reblogging my post! I was really surprised ❤️

Also, bit of a warning: it's been a long time since I've watched assclass, so I'm sorry if it's a bit out of character.

Summary: Koro Sensei thought he was able to get a grip on every student, until he met a certain slippery redhead. However, one day he discovered something... interesting.

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It was slightly irritating. No, scratch that. Very irritating.

Koro Sensei thought he was able to get Karma under control after catching him from the cliff.

He was dead wrong.

At this point, he wasn't even sure if the redhead cared if the pranks really harmed him or not. But it was certainly getting on his nerves.

He tried, and he means really tried to look at it from a bright way. That he was... he was just expressing his intelligence and creativity.

But, this drive can only last so long.

The last straw was at the final class. As he was teaching the class as diligently as ever, something caught his eye.

A certain magazine on his desk.

What no-

"oHMYGOODNESS! CHILDREN OVERT YOUR EYES. WAIT-NO I-I CAN EXPLAIN THIS-"

"Oh teach, I saw you dropped it. So, I thought it'd be kind to return it." Karma smirked leaning even more from his desk. "Call it, a sign of gratitude for all you've done for the class."

"YOU- you! I cannot believe how absolutely shameless-" The teacher was cut off from the ring of the bell. Koro Sensei sighed in defeat. "Class is dismissed. Karma-kun, please stay for a bit."

Karma just grinned, calmly leaning forward on his desk; resting his head on the palm on his hand.

That was just adding more burn to the cut. The octopus could feel the steam burning through the hole of his ears. He allowed himself to calm down and politely ask for Karma to follow him outside.

"Is there an issue?" Karma asked feigning the worried look on his face. "I was just trying to be helpful."

"Karma-kun, I do appreciate you trying as many ways to assassinate me. But, I must ask for you to not pull such stunts that would make the students think of me like a..."

"A pervert?"

"I am NOT A PERVERT!!"

"But Sensei, if you can't pull someone down physically. The best bet is to tear down their pride. It only makes them more vulnerable." Karma said, tilting his head down ever so slightly down as if he was challenging the octopus.

Who was he kidding?! He can't change this... this devil!

Koro Sensei just placed two tentacles on Karma's shoulder.

"You must also learn to pace yourself, Karma-kun. You may have more chances to kill me, but you can burn yourself out more easily." Koro Sensei then begin to massage his shoulders for emphasis. "You need to be able to take breaks to allow the brain to recuperate. That could make you more vulnerable in turn."

"Sure, sure." He tried waving his teacher off.

"I'm serious Karma-kun. It could make it easier for someone to find your weakness instead of the other way around." He said as he was releasing his tentacles from his student's shoulder lightly.

He accidentally brushed his neck, not thinking about it until he heard a squeak.

What was that?

"You know what?" Karma said suddenly walking off scratching the back of his neck. "I think I'm gonna head home, it's getting late. I do need to make some more fun ways for me to express my gratitude. See ya!"

He then ran off leaving Koro Sensei... confused? Did he hurt him? Perhaps he doesn't know his own strength.

It was the next day and he saw Karma casually sitting on a desk talking to Nagisa.

Koro Sensei wondered if Karma had forgotten about the strange exit he made yesterday. Koro Sensei hadn't, and he was still curious.

So, he decided to do a little experiment. He quickly went through the classroom, and as soon as he was close to Karma, he made sure to brush his neck again.

He was able to catch Karma make a strange strangled sound and then coughing.

"You okay?" Nagisa asked worryingly patting Karma's back.

"Yeah, just breathed through the wrong tube." He responded casually.

"Awe, those sucked." Nagisa smiled.

Interesting, very interesting.

He decided to try it again, to see if it was just a coincidence or a cover.

The next time Koro Sensei decided to try was the class before lunch. He saw the redhead not paying attention to the course. And, the material was important.

Karma had however, seem to think that leaning back in his chair and twirling his pencil was more interesting.

So, Koro Sensei decided to quickly go to Karma. This time, swiftly poking his sides.

"Karma-kun, as intelligent you are-"

He cut himself off as he finished the movement, causing the redhead to shriek leaning a bit too far from his chair, falling to the floor.

He heard laughing from Terasaka and some chuckles from others. Karma just quietly pulled up his chair glaring at both Terasaka and Koro Sensei as his face started to burn.

The teacher just kinda froze, certainly not expecting the kid to actually fall off his chair.

"Uh, well, Karma-kun. Please pay attention to the lesson, it's very important."

Perhaps, he has found a way to make Karma actually behave.

It was now break, and Koro Sensei heard arguing. Well, Terasaka yelling.

"Hey, I thought you'd be good. Don't get offended because you're shit, it's nothing I can control." Karma smirked.

"HOW ABOUT YOU LEARN-"

"What's going on?" Koro Sensei asked seeing Karma smirking and twirling a badminton racket while Terasaka was fuming.

"HE'S JUST TRYING TO WOUND ME UP SO HE CAN WIN THE STUPID GAME!" Terasaka yelled pointing the finger to Karma.

"I was just telling the truth." The boy shrugged.

"Karma-kun, please apologise to Terasaka-kun."

"Why should I? Maybe you should consider-" Karma was cut off by a yelp, freezing. He felt a quick poke to his sides. He looked to see Koro Sensei smiling even wider than he thought possible. "My most sincerest apologies." He bowed sarcastically. "May we finally continue the game?"

Terasaka nodded proudly as the others were shocked that the redhead relented.

"Are you sure you're doing okay? Are you sick?" Nagisa asked getting more worried.

"Just peachy." Karma mumbled glaring at Koro Sensei, who was ecstatic at his new bit of information.

The big and bad Karma Akabane was ticklish.

Oh he is so going to use this finding to his advantage, without a doubt.

And he did. He only did it one other time, but it was already to the point where he could just get close to Karma and he'd tense up.

It was honestly quite funny. But then, after a class from Bitch Sensei, the redhead was nowhere to be seen. Apparently he skipped.

Koro Sensei decided to give Karma a little visit when it was break time.

Who the hell did this slimy yellow octopus think he is?

That he could just poke a prod him as he pleased?

Karma was just brainstorming the many ways to cut off the teacher's tentacle if he tried to touch him again. He was sitting underneath a tree instead of usually climbing and sitting on a branch.

He often went to the woods to clear his head and when he was stressed-

But this wasn't even a stressful situation! It was idiotic and stupid, not to mention really embarrassing.

He was tempted to just sleep it out. But it seems like the universe wasn't on his side and he felt yet another poke.

He yelped out a curse turning to see a goofy ass octopus laughing.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" Koro Sensei asked behind Karma's shoulder. He vehemently ignored the shiver down his spine.

"It got boring, I already know the material and I'll ace the test tomorrow anyways."

"Perhaps, but I feel you shouldn't be skipping so often. You understand these actions come with consequences." He said as a tentacle wiggled a bit too close to Karma's side.

He jumped, standing up growling feeling heat rise to his cheeks.

"The hell's your problem?!"

"Haven't I told you to be careful to not exhaust your tries? It makes it easier to spot a weakness." Koro Sensei said smiling wider than the usual.

Karma for once wasn't entirely sure what to say. He was about to ask what weakness but immediately clamped his mouth shut. He was about to speak but Koro Sensei already beat him to it.

"I must say, I certainly wasn't expecting you to be ticklish." He chuckled, especially seeing Karma's face go from bright pink to full on red.

"No I'm not." He said without thinking.

"You sure?"

"Certainly." Karma huffed, turning around and began walking away.

"Uh huh." Koro Sensei then wrapped a tentacle around Karma's waist, pulling him close to the teacher.

"What the actual hell?!" Karma yelped and started to wiggle around, pulling at the tentacle around his waist.

"Then surely this shouldn't bother you."

The octopus then began to wiggle his tentacles to the redhead's sides, and the reaction was instant.

He began to giggle hysterically moving around as much as he could, making it more difficult for Koro Sensei to control him.

"S-stohop!" His giggling started getting more heavier as the prodding turned to full on squeezing.

"But I thought you weren't ticklish! Surely, this shouldn't be bothering you."

The teasing was making the situation worse. He squealed as he felt two more tentacles wiggle to underneath his arms, rendering him absolutely helpless.

He just couldn't stop laughing and the strange tingling feeling was making it really difficult to think properly. He opted to just kick aimlessly and arch his back as his underarms and sides were being viciously attacked.

He was laughing full on already like a mad man. Much to Koro Sensei's shock, his laugh was less evil, but really adorable.

How come he hasn't heard him laugh like that before?

"FUHUCK OHOHOFF!" He laughed not being able to handle this whole situation. How was he supposed to come back from this? His pride basically crashed out the window.

"How rude, I'm simply putting a smile on your face!"

He released his hold from his underarms but then moved to tickle his stomach. This made Karma shriek very loudly doubling over and thrash.

"STOPSTOPSTOPSTOP!!" He begged laughing going up an octave.

"Is this a sensitive spot?" Koro Sensei chuckled, moving his arms to hold Karma's to his chest and attack his defenseless belly.

At this point, Karma couldn't form any proper words laughing and thrashing. It was honestly surprising.

"I was expecting you to be ticklish, but not this ticklish. You've got to be the most ticklish person I've ever met! It's quite adorable." He chuckled seeing Karma's face get more red if it was even possible.

It really was an adorable sight, Karma's smile was more wide than he's ever seen. Not to mention, the dimples at the side of his face. His eyebrows were also pointed upwards from the laughter instead of the normal neutral or furrowed brows.

Koro Sensei decided to give the boy a but of a break by just tweaking his ribs. He thought Karma would calm down a bit more but he was still giggling heavily. Seriously, how ticklish is he?

"So, are you ready to go back to class and behave?"

"Heheget ohoff me you asshohole!!" He giggles, still trying to wiggle his way out of the teacher's grasp.

"That's not the answer I'm looking for." He said, teasingly inching a tentacle closer to Karma's stomach. He laughed at seeing him suck in his stomach and giggle in anticipation. "Well?" He asked as he just tapped his stomach making a flood of giggles poor out his mouth.

"Okayokahehey, I'll go back to clahahss. Just stop, plehehahahase."

"That's better!" Koro Sensei beamed letting the boy go who plopped on his bum panting, wrapping his arms around his middle protectively. He was still giggling slightly.

Koro Sensei thought he heard Karma mutter 'asshole'.

"Does someone need to be taught another lesson?" He threatened poking at the boy's side making him stand up immediately, actually looking somewhat frightened.

Karma just glared at Koro Sensei that promised death, but he just chuckled.

"Oh, and don't worry about this little weakness if yours. It's our little secret as long as you behave. Who knows what some people could do with information like that?" He chuckled turning around heading for class, fairly certain Karma's face was as red as his hair.

#ticklish!karma #tickle fic #tickle fluff #assassination classroom #koro sensei #fluff #karma akabane #nagisa shiota #karma #this is really long #sorry not sorry #enjoy #much thanks #this is terrible #i suck at writing #but it is what it is #still kinda happy with it

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heyyylittlemo · 4 years

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I'm bored so i will ask everyone this weird question:

Where's my Mo's at?

Yeah cuz I know some of ya be Tsundere af!

You're lowkey a cat at heart and whose friends are lowkey afraid of insulting you!! You'll say the exact opposite of what you really feel most times. You aren't always honest, and you can come across as not liking people you honestly admire. You don't feel its necessary to compliment others. In fact, the more you like someone, the more you'll probably call them names because you don't know how to handle your true emotions!

You're a bit of a gold digger--a parasite--taking advantage of others' willingness to please your hard nature with a bet--you're very competitive and find delight in others squirming to impress you! You make it a struggle because you're entertained by being chased. You gotta secure that bag tho, right? You'll come close with the sound of a nice bell. Cat needs that meow mix--and you're pretty obvious about it. Really though, the chase is just an excuse for you to run away and not admit that you're taken away by it all!

You're quite independent and tell yourself you can get by fine. You hate to bother others and hate to be bothered. But you do see the value in others' though it might take awhile and a lot of time for it to develop. You've closed yourself off because you've been hurt before. Before anyone was your friend, it's likely you were not on great terms at the start just because you're difficult. You're very cautious and overtime people see through your weaknesses and come to understand why you are the way you are.

You're that one in the relationship who carries. Y'all are some responsible ass people with 0 chill! You just want things to be done right and at your pace. You'll fall in love with the one who has the most perservance, patience, and nagging to make it out with you at the other side--someone who will understand your depth because they too have things that follow them. You need to be consoled and pursued like hell and without that insurance, it's hard for you to believe anyone's soft feelings for you because you feel you don't actually deserve it, even after everything. But once that person does break you out of your cage, you're actually very sweet and caring. Leave it to you to make sure they have everything they need, even when it disservices you.

Leave it to that one annoying person you can't stand to be the one you can't get outta your head--just admit the tension turns you on!!

You'll die before you admit it though, because they get on your last nerve and it would hurt your pride to admit it.

Even tho you seem like you don't care you've just learned to be careful and would break down at the slightest trigger--it feels good to be comforted.

😻😻😻😻😻😻

Where's my He Tian's at?

Because some of y'all be frisky!

You're somewhat of a instigator--lighthearted like a child--with a tail between your legs. Sometimes it's wagging like a happy-go-lucky puppy idiot out of love and other times it's dangling with mischief.

You love teasing others and looking for a reaction. Life's too boring without a little excitement. You want a challenge. Your friends think you're too much but respect you for your reputation!

You'll fall in love with the one person who won't be fascinated by your charm--who'll question you. It doesn't even insult or faze you, but drives you crazy! It makes you do stupid things to impress them.

You're quite shameless--whether your horny, in love, hungry, hurt, sad, etc. You wear your heart on your sleeve. But you also hide away because you know there's deeper things haunting you behind your façade.

Even though many people claim to know you, few really see you and you're truly quite lonely. You'll do anything to share your life with the one who really puts up with every side of yourself.

😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈

Where's my Jian Yi's at?

Because some of y'all are silly!

You're a very kind person whose always getting themselves dragged into some mess! You mean well even if things don't add up! You're very curious and see the best in people. Others tend to doubt you and see you as immature, but you hold a self-awareness most don't!

You love someone whose going to put up with your shenanigans and straighten you out. You think of the world as your play ground and find fun everywhere!

You'll fall in love with your best friend because they know you like the back of your hand! You value the history behind you guys' story. No one else can compare or relate which makes them important to you! You're interwoven closely with the one you like. You're very demi, but sexual too! You desire them so much that you can't help yourself!

Even if they judge you, they mean well and you apperciate someone whose realistic and calm-natured and nurturing. You've learned so much from them and have become dependent on their impact on your daily life.

Both of you share the same feelings and it never has to be stated because the proof is in the pudding. You're fine without labels, and your love is the most natural flow!

😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

Where's my Zhan Zheng Xi's at?

Because some of y'all don't play around!

You're a very realistic person whose not afraid to say what you mean. You're also not easy to open up and you don't bend to the needs of others often. Because of this, not many can get close to you. Even if it seems like you're just around to criticize and get everything done on your terms, you still hold your closest friends and family in mind and never once let them down! You'll go through great lengths for them and have a great patience. You're really caring deep down!

In reality, you're very attached and even clingy to the person you love--you can get pretty jealous!! You're very proud of your connection and hate to see anything stand in the way of it. You can worry and become restless about them at times!

You seem to always be around them even if you're going to tell them a thing or two about how they can improve themselves. You're absolutely in love with train wrecks! The goofy people! The helpless idiots! You'll take care of them because you've got big brother energy that cannot be denied. You need someone the opposite of you--bright and cherry--and it attracts you! Someone whose going to keep you at your toes and whirl you around into nonesene--because even if you act cool and collected, you're hiding your excitement!

You're very responsible and hard to crack. But with the right person, you become undone and display yourself in ways you hate to be seen like! You can't believe you want to kiss them, cuddle, wipe their mouth, and take them down the aisle, but they drive you crazy! You'll never once say it to them directly, but without words, you'll make sure they know just how much they mean to your life.

So which one do you resonate with most? RB or reply and let me know lol.

#19 days #tianshancontent #tianshan #19 tian #he tian #mo guan shan #little mo #zhan zheng xi #jian yi

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esperwatchesfilms · 3 years

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New Year’s Evil

youtube

I got the idea to start this challenge while stoned in the middle of the night and desperate for a goal. Something to put myself into. And I thought, “COVID has made me a shut-in who only watches films and talks to people. What better way to spend that time than to actually attempt to beat that world record I set out to beat so long ago. Unfortunately, I’m doing it very unofficially so only the people I talk to on a regular basis are likely to pay it any attention. I’ve got to point out here and now that my scoring system for films is arbitrary and is not a true reflection of how much I enjoyed watching a film. My scores are based on silly things that I give and deduce points for as I see fit. The Esper Scale of Entertainment (or the ESE) is understood by no one, but I will give a clear indication of why points were given and taken away at the end of each post. With those two things out of the way, I’ve got to admit I really enjoyed New Year’s Evil despite its 35/100 ESE rating. It starts off with a disappointing horror movie rule-breaking trope. There’s a woman of color in the first scene. Clearly, this means the killer is going to kill her. She committed one of the ultimate horror movie sins by being a woman of color, and thus, the movie gods decided she had to die, which was made even worse by her cliché killer-pops-out-from-behind-a-shower-curtain death. Then we get the opening titles. About eight 80s punk-rockers are packed into a convertible and blasting “New Year’s Evil” by Shadow, the video I attached to this post. So, from the word go, I have no idea what I’m watching, but I’m here for it. The song slaps, so I’m immediately all in. Earlier we saw the Yvonne (the woman of color) talking to a friend over the phone saying, “I’m on my way” before her horror-movie-trope demise, and once the credits end, we are more properly introduced to Diane, aka Blaze, a TV/radio personality who is hosting a party she calls New Year’s Evil, which appears to be a punk show where all the opening title convertible punks were headed. Before going out on stage and starting the show, Diane/Blaze’s son rocks up in fancy coat tails with blue jeans and a crumpled tie. He’s handsome as hell, but holy hell, I can’t deal with this look. I should have probably taken more than five points off for this look alone, but it’s too late now. Anyway, Blaze and Derek (Coat Tails) have a weird mother-son exchange, and their interactions are cringey at best, but incestual-feeling at worst. Anyway, the show Blaze is hosting is a punk rock show where there are some unexplained people on a stage answering telephones (is it a telethon? We don’t know. No one seems to be pledging anything. Are they making requests? It is not explained). So, Blaze is the host and decides to get in on the answering-the-phone action. When she does, a modified voice says to call him “Ee-vil!” He pronounces it exactly the way Mermaid Man does in Spongebob Squarepants, and I could only see the ridiculous face of Mermaid Man in my head any time he said it (because, oh, yes, friends. He can’t only say it once! Anyhow, the man says he’ll be killing one person on the hour every hour from 9 pm to 12 pm. (East Coast’s New Year to West Coast’s New Year) So, naturally, Blaze informs her agent that he needs to get ALL the police there to protect everyone. Meanwhile, there’s a mosh pit happening in a sanitarium, where they are watching the New Year’s Evil show live on television. While we are at the sanitarium, an orderly (I think?) and a nurse sneak off to have some fun. The orderly has a small radio capable of recording external sound (like an oversized Talkboy) as well as the sound being emitted from the radio. The nurse makes some mention of it, to which he responds, “I always come well-equipped.” She giggles, bites her lip and says, “I bet you do!” Which tells us, as the audience, that not only are they about to do the do... but this dude’s definitely the murderer. Because we’ve already seen one horror movie rules death. So, of course, we need to see another. Nurse lady has sex? Nurse lady has to die. From here on out, there are more killings as the police rock up and try to sort out what’s happening. They’re portrayed as very useless, very authoritarian/demanding, and very judgmental -- soooooo, accurately, I suppose, is the word I’d use. They’re portrayed accurately. We see the killer in the car with two women, one of which is a ditzy blonde who just cannot shut up. She talks about all the different types of meditation she’s tried. She tells the killer her friend tried one of the types, too, for her “nervous diarrhea”. You know, just the thing you tell a stranger you’re thinking about sleeping with... that your friend gets nervous poops. The ditzy blonde girl is our next horror movie trope. “The Fool”. Done in by her own stupidity. They stop somewhere for snacks or some such (I honestly don’t remember), and the friend goes in leaving the killer alone with the ditz, whom he strangles with a plastic baggie that is also full of weed. When the friend comes back, the car is gone and in its place is her friend’s shoe. She sees a nearby dumpster with a piece of fabric matching her friend’s dress poking out. She walks over while some generic horror music mixed with some Walmart Brand Jason Voorhees breathing plays, and she opens the dumpster, and the killer is inside with a lighter which he flicks on and grins menacingly at the woman, who is yanked into the dumpster, where we can assume she, too, was murdered.

I should note that somewhere before being murdered, the ditz says, “When a girl doesn’t have a date on New Year’s Eve, she’s in Shit City.” And ditzy girl? I hear ya. From here on out, there are some necessity injuries. He is being hunted down by bikers for what seems like no reason at one point, so he hides at a drive-in movie, where he sort of kidnaps a girl who was getting felt up by her boyfriend. He yanks the dude out of the car and throws him aside after stabbing one of the bikers who was chasing him. We don’t see him die, so I’m going to assume it’s an injury since he seems to only be interested in killing women. He then, later, knocks out a security guard trying to get into the punk party because the police have now determined that Blaze is probably the final target. The police and Blaze are about to check on Blaze's hotel room (the party is being held in the hotel in a ballroom or something, I’m assuming. Convention center? I don’t know. The place is connected to the hotel), where her son is, and they pull a gun on him. She yells that it’s her son, and they apologize and leave, and she apologizes to Derek saying she forgot he was there, and he storms out, “YOU ALWAYS FORGET ME WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH”. The police leave, and when another officer comes back, THE KILLER ANSWERS HER DOOR. PLOT TWIST -- THE KILLER IS DIANE/BLAZE’S HUSBAND!!!! He called earlier to say he would be late, and when he shows up? HE’S THE KILLER!!!! I have to admit, I didn’t see this coming. The husband was mentioned briefly, but my brain didn’t connect it, so it was a pleasant surprise that this 80s film done duped me. Good job, New Year’s Evil!!

Anyway, Blaze is seen in the elevator moments later flirting with the officer, who’s married and has two sets of twins, information to which Blaze comments, “What’s the matter? No TV?” Suggest, Blaze. Very suggestive! It sucks that your creepy murder-husband rigged the camera in the elevator, so he knows about your weird suggestive conversations with randos, something it seems his son has also alerted him to, because when he reveals he’s the killer to her, he mentions that ladies are evil in general. Okay. So, it wasn’t just me. It wasn’t speculative. Dudeski really does just hate women. The whole film is just, “Guy hates women. Guy’s New Year Resolutions include killing all the nasty womens.” He tortures her a while by handcuffing her to some chains underneath the elevator, and then making the elevator go up and down with some fuse box of some kind that happens to just be easily accessible and next to where the elevator is. At least I haven’t seen this form of torture in film before, so that’s fun. The end is relatively boring. The police sort out that the husband used to be in the sanitarium we saw earlier where the nurse died. They find him torturing his wife, and they chase him to the roof, where he runs to the edge of the building, quotes Hamlet, and immediately plummets to his death wearing a goofy mask that he’s only worn twice in the film, both for short periods of time. He dies on impact, and everyone goes to investigate the body. The son picks up his mask and ominously stares into the distance, telling us before he’s actually told us that he’s totally going to take up his father’s quest to murder the womens.

Blaze is put in an ambulance, and when it pans to the driver, it’s the son, wearing his father’s mask. The film ends, the credits roll, and I move on to the next one.

Overall, I laughed throughout. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this film, but if you’re bored on New Year’s Eve and feel like a “horror” film, this one isn’t the *worst* one you could watch. Below, you’ll find a breakdown of the ESE rating I gave it.

Quick ESE explanation: every film starts with 50 points for being a film. From there, I add or deduct points based on... my whim.

35/100

50 +4 for packed punk convertible +2 for New Year’s Evil 80s metal theme song +1 for switchblade comb -5 for coat tails with blue jeans -5 for creepy incestuous mother-son duo -2 for Mermaid Man pronunciation of “Ee-vil!” +10 for “I always come well-equipped.” “I bet you do” -5 for punks moshing to some funky blues -5 for predictable horror movie trope deaths +2 for maniacal punk laugh +3 for the “Oops” because he pissed off the bikers +5 for punks booing the police at the New Year’s Evil party -7 for the creepy incestual feeling of the interactions between Blaze and Derek +10 for PLOT TWIST!!!! -25 for the woman-hating killer +5 for creative elevator thing +2 for Hamlet quote -5 for highly predictable ending

#movies #world records #most movies watched #New Year's Evil #New Year's #review #spoilers #80s films #punk movies

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0poole · 4 years

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Bloons

Honestly the entire Bloons series has been some of my favorite flash/other-than-flash games out there, and I feel like it’s worth bringing it up since I just crossed the 365 day threshold for BTD6. Maybe in the past, but nowadays I definitely don’t feel like I ever play a game daily for a year straight. Chances are it was a little desperate when I first started playing, but as of now literally every single day I open the game up and play the daily challenge just for the sake of it. Plus, since the chest technically resets every 9 hours or so instead of 24, I could’ve cheesed it a bit, but I didn’t. That’s a pure 365 days of playing the game.

And even apart from that, the entire Bloons series has been in my mind since the first one and my middle/elementary school Coolmath Games days. Even though the puzzle, pure form of Bloons wasn’t as much in my interest, the staying power of the Tower Defense version is crazy. Flash Tower Defense games are plenty, and yet the one with the stupid monkeys throwing darts at balloons was the best.

I went back semi-recently and played a round of each BTD, and I gotta say, it was fun seeing where everything came from. 1 is absolute garbage, forcing you to just spam Super Monkeys if you want to get anywhere, but a good starting point obviously. I honestly know nothing about the people creating these games, but obviously it wasn’t made by a AAA crew, so you can’t expect everything to be put in place in the first iteration. 2 and 3 feel much better, but obviously not much after being so used to the modern stuff, and 4 and 5 are the ones that really shine the most, apart from 6 obviously.

I definitely was one of the types of people who initially reacted poorly to the artstyle change of 5 and 6, but I’ve definitely turned over. I don’t know if the whole BTD community rioted at that point, but I at least was like “ew, they’re cute now” when I first saw it. Thankfully I turned over, and realized the current designs are the absolute best out of the entire franchise. Also, I love their cuteness, as I love cuteness in general, so basically just call it character growth. Even though 2D art always is more interesting for games than 3D in general, the entire art direction of 6 is genuinely really good, being so bright and cartoony (at least before the fifth stages of upgrades) really fits the cartoony idea of monkeys popping bloons. 5, and the entire franchise before it, really is proof enough how horrible a pure top-down perspective is. On the title screen, you can see what the monkeys are supposed to look like, but in-game they literally look like weird blobby scorpions. Even though in the back of my mind I knew what they were supposed to look like, the pure top-down perspective completely ruined the image. Not to mention the OG designs for the monkeys was really weird and bad anyway. Even if you wanted a goofy fat kind of monkey, there are a million better ways to achieve that than how it used to be. Again, of course, they weren’t exactly AAA game-level quality, so you can’t expect such perfect character design.

But, oh my god. One of the things about this game that must’ve kept me through 6 was the character designs. If you know anything about me, it’s that I love a good character design, and 6 is full of them. It’s so interesting to see how they extrapolate the main concepts of each tower into their three different paths. The generic Superman-based monkey can turn into a Batman-based monkey, a Terminator-based monkey, and a fucking ancient god of the sun. The seemingly chill Druid can smite people with the power of Zeus, become the much more expected forest-based type, but also turn into this completely out-there being of pure wrath. I could go on and on about that, but needless to say for so many of them look and are designed so great. I think the tower with the coolest level 5s of the game is the Ninja. It’s hard to explain, but they all just look really cool while also not deviating too much from the cartoony-cute art style. I think my all-time favorite level 5 is the top path of the Wizard, mostly just because he looks really cool, but also because the parts of the path before it show him aging and growing out his beard. I also have to say the 2-0-3/4 Wizard also looks exactly my style, with the dark purply-ness and gold rims. Also, if you haven’t noticed, the Magic monkeys are my favorite type, and not just because their signature color is purple. That’s part of it though. Magic is also just cool in general. My main RPG-class of choice is almost always a mage/wizard.

Also, the heroes are also really fun. As someone who often creates species of aliens/monsters, I always feel like I want to create a dedicated character out of them no matter what, so I feel like the heroes are basically just that. And, of course they have good designs too, and of course as you can probably guess my favorite is Adora, basically being the same thing as the 5-0-0 Wizard with the Sun God aesthetic. Since she has her own stage and a special interaction with the True Sun God/Vengeful Monkey, I think she’s a pretty big deal anyway. I will say that I highly slept on Gwen, but then for Easter they gave her the Harlegwen skin and I fell in love. It’s insanely good stuff. Apart from looks, it does feel nice to have some sort of interchangeable tower that you basically just place and forget about, aside from using their powers. Plus, it makes a really easy type of thing to periodically add to the game to keep things fresh, even with the skins in general. It definitely is much better than the stuff they had in 5, where you had to use Monkey Money to buy each one, and you could only use them once per stage. Obviously 6 has the extra powers to help you out, but they feel much more optional and cheaper than the heroes of 5. Since I barely buy anything with Monkey Money to begin with, and since I’ve obviously had 365 chest openings, and AND since I barely use them to begin with, I’m completely stocked up. I only ever use the farmer and sometimes the tech bot if I get lazy. I did use the portable lake I got from my 365th chest opening after I got it, just for the sake of celebration. That’s literally how my mind goes.

6 does have the slight tinge of a mobile game artstyle, but in this case it’s really just better. I’m not into mobile games, and especially not the generic artstyle they have, but it is really pleasing to look at anyway. It did chase me off before I converted, though. That, and the fact you had to buy it now. Like a true gamer, I was put off by the fact that something that was once expected to be free now has to be paid for. But, then, I realized that the entire franchise has provided much more than 10$ worth of entertainment to me throughout time, so it was extremely fair to pay that. It is still kinda weird how 5 has to be paid for for mobile, when it is just free online, though. However, unlike a true gamer I think the microtransactions of the game are extremely fair. Considering they just give you things that you don’t need, and can get for free otherwise, I think it’s completely fine to have them. It sounds bad on the surface to have to pay for the game and have there still be microtransactions in it, but since they’re completely optional there’s no good reason to hate it. I think people assume that means that you have to pay for the game, and pay extra for different major parts of the game, and that sours their opinion on everything. Gamers are a strange, irrationally angry breed. I do hate using my phone for pretty much anything, though, so once I bought 6 on Steam I haven’t played it on my phone since. It’s just so much better in every single way...

I bought the game around the time of one of my family’s semi-annual trips to England because I thought it’d help when we were traveling between wi-fi spots, and it really did wonders for me then. Probably looked like some asshole teen to strangers who don’t know I barely ever use my phone for anything, since I was playing it so much. My sister even saw me playing it and bought it for herself, although I don’t know how much she’s played since then.

For the sake of stats, I have 235 hours played of it on Steam alone, and in game I’m level 115. My most complete map is Monkey Meadow with all medals except CHIMPS, which I put the effort in because it’s the default map, and definitely not because it’s an easy/good map because it’s just kinda bad compared to so many other ones. My Dart monkey has a total of 4 million XP, and the only towers that haven’t crossed a million are the Ice, Heli, Alchemist, Druid, and Spike factory monkeys/tower. I think the farthest I’ve actually gotten round-wise is 200 once or twice, but I don’t remember if I’ve actually beaten that level and continued on or lost there. I think I might’ve gotten past it once, but just sort of lost interest in micro-managing my powers and let myself lose. I probably got there once after that and lost on it. As someone who didn’t look up the optimal strategies for things until very recently, I think that’s pretty good. It definitely feels like the kind of game where if you know the best strategies, you can literally just replicate that over and over and win really easily, but that just sounds kinda boring. Since I pretty much only do daily challenges nowadays, it forces me to use a limited amount of towers, so I either go much farther because it forces me to build up less towers more, or it makes sure I can’t even pass round 90 because it just was made to get you to round 40 and that’s it. When I have the full range of towers to use, I feel like I try to get the instant satisfaction of getting a new tower to increase DPS instead of making the few towers I have/need reach their full potential, which seems to be the better option. I also don’t really sell anything when I don’t have a limited number of monkeys to place, which I think is also a good strategy if you can eliminate the major money loss in it, since it can give you a massive boost in cash to get you the better upgrades quicker. I may or may not try to learn the strategies to wipe the rest of the game clean eventually, but right now I’m fine with just doing the dailies.

But yeah, that’s like the whole thing with Bloons Tower Defense and me. Something something reject modernity, embrace monke, or whatever the kids these days are saying.

I will say that if I didn’t have so many OCs to work with and could just pump out animated shorts on the reg, I’d love to do some sort of Bloons shorts. They’d all lean into the ridiculousness of it all. Like, the first one could do the 2001 thing with the monkeys learning to use sticks, and as the main one is bashing the ground with one or whatever and throws it up, an ancient, leathery patchwork bloon flies overhead and accidentally bumps the stick such that it lands back on the main monkey’s head, knocking him out. Cue the monkeys around him to go berserk and start throwing other sticks at the ancient bloon, and once they pop it using a sharp stick, they realize what they must do. Cue a long montage of the different stages of war and invention using the monkeys finding better ways to fend off the bloons, with the whole idea being that the monkeys are getting irrationally angry at the bloons, who are just sort of around and not actually sentient, even though they assume they’re malicious because of their history and upbringing. Absolutely no political message in there whatsoever. Just comedy.

Other short ideas could include, for the start of the modern time story, it could be the backstory of some sort of chiseled veteran main character, which would involve a bloon floating into his town, and from the people’s panic someone knocks over a lamp post that sets his town ablaze, only for him and his people to blame the carnage on the bloon, causing his classic edgy character motives for fighting against the bloons. Another, much more golden idea, would be an interrogation scene, where a bunch of monkeys capture a bunch of bloons for interrogation purposes. They’d obviously do the whole “Silent treatment, eh? Well, we have ways of making you talk...” thing, except the “way to make them talk” is to strap them to a wall with one dart guy on one side to systematically pop them to try and extract info. But, of course, it would look and play out exactly like the classic Bloons puzzle game. That’d be the fun part. If not that, then it could be like the classic carnival game that likely inspired the idea of using darts to pop balloons. I really just think this weird world of monkeys and bloons is perfect for some good comedic content. Watching the monkeys severely overreact to the bloons sounds extremely fun, and I’d love to see someone do something with it some day.

#bloons tower defense #btd #6 #poole #rant #rambling #opinions #bloons #ninja kiwi #nk #flash

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need-a-fugue · 4 years

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Why Not? - Chapter Four

Summary: With a garage to run and a young daughter to, well… run after, Bucky Barnes doesn’t exactly have time for dating. And with his relationship track record – and the constant meddling of a certain overbearing best friend – he’s not so sure that’s a bad thing. But then he meets Annie – a rather insistent, pretty damn cute fellow car enthusiast – and it’s got him asking himself, despite all his hesitations, why not?

Author’s Note: Written for Little Darlin’s Mystery AU Challenge. Thanks to @sourpatchkidsandacokecan for triggering this… sprawling thing simply by supplying me with the prompt of Mechanic!AU for Bucky. It’s taken on a life of its own already… look at what you’ve done!

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x OFC

Warnings: Bit of angst, mostly fluff. Some bad language words...

Chapter Four

“So?” Steve croons, almost giddy as he strolls through the door, finally rolling into the garage late Monday afternoon.

Bucky doesn’t give him a hard time about his lack of punctuality, not really… not when Steve is typically the one covering for his absences. Besides, he figured this might happen. Nat was supposed to get back late last night from a week-long business trip. So, yeah, it makes sense that the two of them would end up sleeping in this morning. Especially considering that they were conveniently kid-free.

But… shit, it’s almost three. And c’mon, it’s pretty ballsy to walk in that late. And to do it because you were busy banging your best friend’s ex. And to open, not with an apology, but with a, So? dropping out of your gossip-hungry mouth.

Now, maybe – maybe – if it were any other day, this wouldn’t bother Bucky quite so much. Maybe he’d just laugh it off and tell his busybody friend to get his ass to work. Maybe. But today had already been a day, and Bucky can feel himself teetering dangerously close to the edge. And what pisses him off more than anything right now is that Steve would’ve been able to plainly recognize that fact… if only he bothered to read the room a bit before opening his big, dumb mouth.

Had he just done that, had he instead asked, Hey, man, what’s up? Everything okay? Then Bucky could’ve vented – just for a moment… that’s all he really needed – about getting bested by a four year old last night, agreeing to forgo a bath and then letting the chlorine-soaked kid sleep in his bed, rolling and flipping and kicking him in the face at two in the morning.

He could’ve told him that, thanks in large part to that debacle, he was too damn exhausted this morning to push when the age-old how to appropriately dress when leaving the house argument erupted just after breakfast. He could’ve explained that’s why the victorious four year old over in the corner is wearing her new Moana swimsuit right now. And overalls that are at least a size too small, causing a wedgie deep enough that she’s been picking at it all damn day. Oh, and snow boots… yeah, she chose to wear snow boots. In the dead of summer. And he was powerless to keep any of it from happening.

He could’ve also explained that, while he didn’t really expect Steve to be in early, it would’ve been nice if he’d shown up by noon. Because there were already four drop-offs by the time he got in this morning, and he still has two rebuilds out in the back bays. Not to mention the Cobra, which is good to go now, but is still taking up valuable space – because no way is Bucky risking parking that beauty out back. And, yeah, Peter had been around to pick up the slack and to help keep Lana out of trouble – thank God for summer vacation and a kid with a good work ethic – but still… it would’ve been nice to have his business partner around to help deal with the business.

Hell, it would’ve been nice if Steve had just noticed and given his friend the much-needed opportunity to say all these things – to garner a little bit of well-deserved sympathy. And maybe a meek apology too.

But instead what he gets is a smug-ass, So?

Bucky’s nostrils flare, brow furrowing, as he watches the blond – giant, goofy smile splitting his big dumb face – head for the counter where he’s busy finishing up placing an order. “What?” he snipes, eyes narrowed and tone more than a little heated.

Steve stops short, brows shooting high. He shakes his head in amusement and takes two large, comical steps back from the counter. “So it went that well?” he jokes, before turning and heading around the corner. He pops into the office to drop off an armload of paperwork, and waits for Bucky to follow.

Which he does, quickly wiping down his hands and tossing the oil-covered rag on a shelf. He glances over his shoulder to see that Peter and Svetlana are still consumed with watching… something on his phone, and he follows his friend to the office. Leaning stiffly in the doorway, he cocks his chin up to indicate a pile of papers on the desk that Steve is haphazardly trying to shuffle off to the side. “Those need to be paid this week,” he states casually, earning a deflated sigh from the otherwise chipper man.

Steve picks up the bills on top of the stack and lays them in another pile he’d been organizing. What his method is, Bucky’s never quite been sure. But he’s managed to pick up most of the slack on the bookkeeping end of the business, and as long he continues to keep their doors open, he honestly doesn’t really care what his system entails. “Seriously,” he breathes out after a long moment, once he’s seemingly satisfied with the layout on his desk. He steps around it to lean back into the metal tabletop, folding his arms coolly over his chest and smirking openly at Bucky. “How’d it go? You get lucky?”

“This coming from the guy who didn’t lose his virginity ‘til he was twenty-two,” he smarts with a smirk of his own.

“Hey, just because I was a late bloomer doesn’t mean I have no interest in sex now.” He quirks a rather assessing brow at the positively brooding man, giving him a knowing stare. “And besides, it’s not exactly a secret that you really need to get laid.”

“Very funny,” he grinds out through gritted teeth, a strangled breath blowing tightly through his nose as he tenses in the doorway.

Steve only laughs. “I’m just saying, it could do wonders for your… mood.”

“I’ve had about enough of you bitchin’ about my mood, Rogers,” Bucky declares with a pointed finger and just a hint of playfulness in his otherwise irritated gaze. He shakes his head vaguely – the gesture somehow looking both amused and indignant. “Besides, I’m pretty sure you lost the right to talk to me about getting laid when you shacked up with my wife.”

“Ha, ha,” Steve counters dully, rolling his eyes. He swallows thickly and quirks a forced smile. “She’s not your wife.”

“Mm-hmm,” he hums, folding his arms across his chest in a manner mirroring Steve’s.

The truth is, Bucky barely thought of Natasha as his wife when they were married. Theirs was a marriage of convenience more than anything – easier to trade off midnight feedings and diaper changes and the woes of teething when living in the same house together. And better insurance coverage for a recently out-of-work Nat – OBGYN appointments and ultrasounds and childbirth being stupid fucking expensive. And he’d only really batted an eye at her and Steve hooking up because… well, because it’s Steve. And honestly, he still sometimes has trouble seeing the giant blond as anything other than the scrawny, scrappy absolute dork he grew up with.

But once hooking up morphed into something… else, something more… once his two friends decided, just a few short months ago to make it unofficially official and move in together, well, that’s when Bucky started to feel an odd tug and pull in his gut. A feeling that sometimes drains his breath away, tightening like a vice around his chest and sparking a sort of resentment that burns and simmers like the charred embers of a just-extinguished fire.

It feels a little like jealousy. A lot like grief.

Most of the time, he’s able to ignore it, bury the feeling deep, deep down inside… squelch the smoldering until the acrimony passes. But sometimes he gives in, the bitterness typically rising in passive-aggressive jokes and not-so-off-hand comments. Hurting his friends – his best friend and the mother of his child – is definitely not something Bucky would ever want to do. But there is a small amount of satisfaction in this game that he sometimes just… craves.

Steve lets out a rather exasperated huff, unfurling his arms and reaching down to tightly grip the edge of the desk behind him. “Come on, Buck. Are we really gonna do this again?” he asks, tone impassive.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he responds with a dismissive shrug and a smug expression.

“Jesus,” he breathes out, irritation seeping from the word. “We never did anything while you two were married. You know that.” The words are issued out with little emotion. This is just a reminder, not an argument. They’ve been through it. Over it. A million times or more. “And besides, even when you were together… you never…” He releases his grip on the desk and issues out a stilling breath before looking up at his friend with patient, pleading eyes. “You guys were never in love.”

Bucky simply stares, left foot shuffling slightly as he digs his tow into the tile of the floor, jaw ticking tensely to the side before unlocking just enough for him to say, “There was love there. Might not’ve been… whatever the hell you two think you have…”

Steve sighs, long and languid, as he continues to try to pull back from this all-too-familiar precipice. “You two had a fling that ended in a shotgun wedding. You had some fun and some… hardship. You had a beautiful little girl. But you never had love. Buck, you as much as told me that.”

He shrugs, jaw still tensing, arms tightening around his chest.

Steve shakes his head gloomily, lets out an almost dejected sounding sigh. “Are you gonna tell me how your date went or what?”

Bucky purses his lips tightly together, stormy gray eyes shifting around the room as he seems to think over his friend’s inquiry. And Steve, for his part, simply waits, patiently lingering atop the edge of the desk as Bucky works to bring himself out of the funk he so easily seems to fall into these days. He almost laughs while he waits, recalling doing this same exact thing with Lana just the other day when she lashed out at him after being refused TV time and proceeded to silently sulk on the sofa, her tiny jaw clenched and ticking to the side in much the same way as the man standing across from him now.

Natasha had fumed over the interaction, telling him he has the patience of a saint before huffily marching Svetlana over to timeout.

Finally, Bucky shrugs, arms loosening and dropping to his sides, hands slipping casually into his pockets as he rocks back on his heels. “It went… fine,” he mutters before glancing up and catching Steve’s curious gaze, his eyes widening as if to say, go on. “It was fine. It was good. She seems… nice.”

“Nice,” he repeats, head bobbing up and down, small, appreciative smile creeping across his face. “Just nice?”

“What more do you want her to be?” he asks rather pointedly.

“I don’t know. I mean, she’s pretty. She’s nice. You said she was good with Lana the other day. She knows cars…” He shoves off of the desk and takes two long strides toward Bucky. “She obviously really likes you… got Tony freakin’ Stark to spy on you.”

A quick laugh sputters out of him, fond smile sweeping over his face. “Not sure that was her doing. You know he’s a mechanical engineer?” he asks, face twisting distractedly. “He builds robots. I don’t know why I ever bought that he needed a mechanic.”

Steve reaches out and takes a firm hold of his shoulder, clamps down and gives a quick shake. “I don’t care about Tony Stark.”

“So sorry to bore you,” he complains, gaze falling to his foot as it continues to scuff along the tile. “Yeah,” he mutters after a moment, offering another halfhearted shrug. The corners of his lips quirk up just the slightest bit… and he can feel the pull in his cheeks too as his face sets into a grin. “Annie’s nice.”

Steve chokes back a chuckle and squeezes his shoulder a little tighter. “Your lips say she’s nice. But your face says she’s really something else,” he intones with a lilt and a wink. He drops his hand and leans back to give him an assessing look. “You gonna go out again?”

Bucky chews his lip hesitantly before nodding. “Yeah. I think so. She should be in later to pick up the Cobra. So…”

“So…?” he intones, the word imbued with just as much mirth as it had been the first time he said it. Bucky says nothing, just shakes his head as he bites back a snicker. “Go on,” Steve mutters, slapping him on the shoulder and spinning him out the door. “Get back to work. I got bills to pay.”

It’s not even an hour later when Annie shows up, dropped off by a taxi that speeds away like it’s in a police chase. Bucky meets her at the door – not even thinking about how obvious that makes it seem that he’s been waiting and watching for her – and lets out a low whistle after the screeching tires. “You say something to make him take off like that?”

She tosses a glance over her shoulder as she strides into the shop, dark hair flipping wildly with the motion. “Just mentioned I had a .22 in my boot when he asked if I wanted to make a pitstop,” she says with a shrug.

“Do you?” he asks, forehead wrinkling in both amusement and concern.

“Of course not,” she breathes out, dropping her arms onto the counter and pivoting her weight forward. “I don’t believe in guns… or violence. Or making pitstops with creepy fifty-year-old cabbies who almost veer into oncoming traffic because they’re so focused on trying to see up my skirt through the rearview mirror.”

Bucky feels a quick pang of anger shoot through his chest, a sudden swell of protectiveness – or, shit, is possessiveness? – rises up in his gut. “Well,” he breathes out, quirking his frown into a forced grin. “I have a pretty nice ride here that can get you across town instead.”

She follows him through the shop as he leads her to the bay where Peter and Svetlana are lazily polishing up the wheels on the Cobra. “Oooo,” she intones, eyes blowing wide. “You gave her a bath too?!” She drops down to the ground at Lana’s side, the kneel looking awkward – even painful – in her high-heeled ankle boots and tight skirt. “She looks beautiful.”

“Yeah,” Lana quips, grinning up at her before retuning her attention to the brilliant chrome wheel.

Bucky steps up behind them, looming largely as he says, “Lana and Peter both have those tiny fingers. Perfect for getting between all the spokes to polish up the wheels.”

Peter shoots him a look somewhere between confused and offended, and rises swiftly to say, “My fingers are…” He thrusts his hands out in front of Bucky, voice going a bit high pitched when he finishes with, “These are the hands of a man.”

Annie chokes on a laugh, sputtering and covering her amusement with a cough as she ducks her head and continues to kneel by Lana’s side, pretending to be as focused on the shiny wheel as the little girl seems to be. But Peter hears her none the less, letting out an offended huff and spinning to head out toward the back bay, mumbling something along the lines of, “no respect,” as he goes.

Bucky snorts out a sudden laugh of his own when the kid accidentally collides with Steve as he steps out of the office, shoulder checking him and then anxiously fussing with the items knocked from his boss’ hands. Juice boxes. The kid is fretting over spilled juice like he’s gonna lose his job. Steve chuckles lightly, pats Peter on the back, and hands him a box for his trouble, placating and sending him on his way.

“Juice break!” he announces as he rounds the corner, making his way over to them. Bucky raises a suspicious brow, not at all believing that it’s a coincidence this impromptu snack break is happening in time with Annie’s arrival. Steve catches his wary guise and merely wiggles his eyebrows in response before looking over to Annie and offering, “Juice?”

“Uncle Steve,” Lana announces, taking the box with the freshly popped straw from him. “That’s Annie. And she has that car. But not really. But she gets to drive it. And I made it pretty.”

“I see that, pumpkin” he says, reaching down and running his fingers casually through the little girl’s curls.

Annie happily accepts an apple juice from his other hand, smiling gratefully as she offers a nod and says, “I’m Mr. Stark’s personal assistant. So, not my car. But, like Lana said…” She shoots the little girl a conspiratorial wink. “I do get to drive it.”

“Can’t say I’m not jealous,” he intones, glancing over at the shiny specimen before them. “And I gotta say,” he mutters, hand raking down through Lana’s hair and coming to rest at her cheek. He gives her a gentle pat and she leans easily into him, resting her head on his thigh. “You made her look real pretty, buddy.”

Annie nods in agreement, looking over at Bucky and expecting a similar appreciative nod from him. But what she sees instead is a rather stiff, emotionless expression constricting his features, his shoulders tightening as his gaze falls to Steve’s hand, once again tenderly tangled in his daughter’s hair. “Uh, yeah,” she mutters, momentarily distracted by the sudden, thick tension. “You did a great job, Lana,” she says, keeping her eyes trained on Bucky, studying him with a sad sort of curiosity as he continues to watch his daughter melt so casually into this other man’s embrace.

“Oh,” Steve starts, exuberant blue eyes honing on in her, seemingly utterly oblivious to the sudden discomfort of the man to her left. “I’m Steve, by the way.” He drops the remaining juice box onto a shelf and extends his hand for a shake.

Her head whips towards him, confusion creeping along her features for a fleeting moment before she accepts his hand and offers a bright smile. “Yeah, yes, of course. No, Bucky mentioned you. And actually… I think we’ve met before. When I brought in my car.” Her eyes veer quickly to the shining convertible at her right before returning to the tall blond in front of her. “My… I have a Bronco.”

Steve’s smile is absolutely luminous, his face seeming to split with joy as he says, “Yeah, I know. I remember. Just seems like you always end up talking to this guy,” he says, ticking his chin towards Bucky.

Annie lets out the smallest, breathy chuckle, her cheeks popping with a quick swell of crimson.

“Heard you two got together for dinner,” he goes on, biting back an amused chortle. “Where’d you guys go?”

“Oh, uh… McGuinness?” she sputters, trying to remember the name of the place. “Just this little pub…”

“Yeah,” he says with a curt nod. “Yeah, I know it well. We go there a lot, right Buck?”

Bucky’s eyes pop up to meet Steve’s, a tight lipped smile pulling at his features as he nods.

“You guys gonna go out again?” he asks, sly smile blooming as he turns away from Bucky, directing the question to Annie instead.

“Oh, uh,” she falters briefly, eyes ticking nervously between the two men. “Maybe. I mean… I hope so.”

“You should go to the zoo,” Lana says after a long and loud slurp through her straw. “Daddy loves the zoo.”

“Oh yeah?” she beams down at the girl.

“Yeah, he likes the monkeys best.”

Bucky’s lips split wide, blossoming grin bright and true and beautiful as he gazes down at his little girl. “I like my monkey,” he tells her, wiggling his brows to pull a thick, wet cackle from her.

“Well,” Steve says casually, “I think you two should just head out now… take the Cobra… maybe grab some Chinese. Bucky loves Chinese, doesn’t he?” he asks, quirking his head down and giving Lana’s hair a little tug. She nods in response, too busy sucking her juice box dry to offer any words. His fingers continue to thread idly through her curls, giving another short tug when he hears the vacuous sucking of a bone-dry box. “You about ready to head out, bud?”

She shakes her head and pulls away from his gentle hold, her wild hair flying in a mad halo around her as she leaps towards Bucky. “Nope,” she states, popping the P with flair as she slams into him, slipping around to hide behind his back.

Steve cranes his neck to peer around Bucky and down at the little girl as she coils herself tightly round her father’s leg. “You sure? Mom’s been traveling all week,” he says, tender tone just for her. “She really wants to see you.”

“I’m supposed to have her ‘til the end of the day,” Bucky states, his voice taking on a hard edge, hand sliding down to splay protectively over Lana’s small back as she continues to cling to him.

Steve merely gazes at him with wide, weary eyes. “Yeah, I just thought… we’re pretty slow now. Peter can handle closing things down. I thought we both could take off a little early. I figured, you two…” He lets out a soft sigh, smiles shyly, nervously. “And then… maybe Nat could get a little more time with her…”

His face remains still, impassive. There’s a coldness to him that Annie had yet to see, and it startles her a bit. Saddens her, truth be told. Especially when she sees his shoulders pull and stiffen even further, the muscles of his jaw rippling beneath his cheek as he repeats, “I have her until the end of the day.”

“Buck,” he breathes out, eyes flickering down to the girl in his grasp. She still has herself wound tight around his leg, but unlike just moments before – when her face was lit with that wide, sweet smile, cheeks rosy with playful exertion – she’s now stiff and silent, curled up into herself.

Bucky follows his friend’s eyes down to the little girl clinging to his side. A long, languid sigh escapes him, deflates his bitter resolve as he feels the tiny muscles tense in her back, sees her face shift and press deeper into his thigh. He’s not oblivious to this disposition of hers, this propensity that he had somehow bestowed upon her to slip so easily into a silent, sullen state. The inclination as well to mirror his own temperament and echo even his worst traits like a little imprinting duckling.

“Okay,” he mutters with a groan before reaching down and peeling her off of him. He lifts her into his arms, leaning back a bit to get a good look at her face. He matches her pouty frown with a put-on, overly dramatic one of his own, raises a brow as he gives her a little jostle and waits for her countenance to crack.

She shakes her head, continues to pout, the Romanov stubborn streak bubbling up to the surface. He pokes her in the side, a jolting tickle that usually works to pull her from a sulky stupor. But not today. She pulls back, shifting heavily into his other arm with a long, deep bellow of, “Noooo.”

Another sigh. Another quick glance over at Steve, who’s standing still and silent, nervously chewing his lip. “How ‘bout this,” Bucky tries, bouncing Lana in his arms again. “You go hang out with your mom… because I know she really missed you and really wants to see you. And maybe you can come back to the garage to help me out for a while in the morning?” He looks up at Steve – hates that he feels like he needs to – seeking confirmation… permission.

He shrugs. “Daycare should be back up and running tomorrow, but I guess she could come by for a bit before.”

Lana’s brow furrows as she thinks on the proposition. “What about Annie?” she asks, voice just barely above a whisper as she leans into Bucky’s ear. “Are you gonna go to the zoo without me?”

He shakes his head, chuckling under his breath. “No, baby. I’d never go to the zoo without you.” He leans in and swiftly swipes his nose along hers, bopping their tips together and finally pulling just the smallest of giggles from her when he murmurs, “Can’t watch those monkeys play without my own little grease monkey, right?”

“Okay,” she agrees finally, though there’s still a suspicious amount of doubt in the word for such a little girl.

“Okay,” he nods, laying a messy raspberry of a kiss on her cheek and plopping her onto the floor. “Go throw away your juice box and grab your stuff,” he directs, waiting until she disappears into the office to turn back to Steve.

“I’m sorry, man,” the blond states, a giant, nervous hand pawing at the back of his neck. “I just thought… I figured this would work out for all of us…”

Bucky waves him off, clears his throat and says, “It’s fine. Really. It’s just a couple hours early,” directing the words at Steve despite shifting his gaze at anything else. He pivots away, back towards the car – back to face the awkwardly silent woman standing beside it – and he lets out a stilted breath. “What do you say,” he starts, stern countenance slowly melting away as his eyes flick up from the Cobra to Annie’s soft, soothing eyes. “You wanna take me for a spin?”

#bucky barnes fanfiction #dad!bucky #ldamc #bucky x oc #bucky barnes fanfic #Bucky Barnes #marvel fanfic #bucky imagine #bucky barnes imagine #avengers fanfiction #avengersau

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sykilik101 · 4 years

Text

Arguments

It's his fault. Yeah, of course it is. It's always his fault. It's not like I did anything wrong. He's the one with the map, not me. He's the one who's supposed to be leading us through this forest to get to Pallet Town. But he's still arguing back at me, like it is my fault. How can he be so dense, so stupid, so adorable…

Wait, that's not what I meant to say.

Okay, so maybe I did mean to say that. After all, how could anyone be mad at him after looking into his brown eyes? Those brown eyes that hold so much determination and passion. Those amazing brown eyes that I've fallen in love with…

Ack, pull it together, Misty! You're supposed to be mad at Ash, not thinking about how much you love the guy…wait, stop it! Argh, I can't take this! Why does he have to be so darn cute?

…okay, forget it. There's no point in trying to be mad at him anymore. Even when we argue, I can't stop thinking about how much I love him. Sometimes it's a real hassle, but at this point, it doesn't matter. Looks like Brock is trying to calm Ash down. Good, just what I need, a minute to clear my head.

Wait, what was that? Did Ash just…smile at me? It looked like it, but I only saw it for a second. What was that about? We just got finished with argument number 862 of our journey together, and he smiles? Wait, did I actually just remember exactly how many arguments we've had? I really have to stop being so exact with things…

Anyways, where was I? Oh, yeah, the smile. It's not like he enjoyed the argument, right? I thought I was the only person that did. Wait…well, I suppose that didn't come out right. It's not that I like making Ash mad. Heck, I don't even really like arguing at all. So why does Ash always get me so hyped up?

Like right now, we were arguing about getting lost again. Sure, most people should be mad when they get lost, but Ash…that boy just drives me crazy! I tell him that it's his fault we're lost, which is just an observation, right? I'm just pointing out a mistake he made; no big deal, since he makes mistakes all the time. Then he goes and starts yelling at me like there's no reason to be upset, when clearly there IS a reason, since we're LOST in the middle of the forest, with NO idea where to go, and the person who's reading the map of the forest just HAPPENS to be the DENSEST PERSON IN THE WORLD! Ugh, I need to go get some air…

It's weird, now that I think about it. While our arguments DO give me a headache after enough of them, sometimes…I like them. It's confusing. I mean, normally, when I'm arguing with my sisters or somebody else, I get seriously annoyed, and I just want to pummel them into the ground! But with Ash…sometimes, it doesn't feel so much like an argument. It's kind of like…a competition. Like he's challenging me, and he knows darn well that I don't back down from a challenge that easy.

Oh, hey, I didn't know there was a lake around here. Guess if I'm gonna get some air, it might as well be here. This log looks like it'll be a good seat.

So what was I thinking about again?…oh, yeah, Ash. Well, I suppose when we argue, it feels like he's trying to be better than me. Yeah, that sounds weird to say about an argument, but Ash is a weird guy. A sweet, caring guy, too…

Do I always have to think about why I love him? Honestly, I think I get the point already! I don't need any more hints!

Still, sometimes he acts weird during our fights. Every time I bring up my bike, he never talks about paying me back. He just whines that I'm complaining about it again. Every time I tell him he needs to pay me back, he changes the subject, or something else. Honestly, he goes about how he's such a good guy, always caring about his friends, and he won't even pay me back for my bike? What POSSIBLE reason could he have for not getting me another bike?

Well, I'll get one from him one of these days.

But what's even weirder is that…when we argue, I have fun. Wait, what the heck am I thinking? Fun in an argument? That doesn't work! But still…Ash is definitely a strange one. I get mad, but not an angry, gonna-pummel-him-with-my-mallet kind of mad. Okay, so maybe sometimes I do, but for the most part, I get excited when we argue. Most guys would probably just apologize if they made a girl mad, but Ash fights with me as if I were another guy. No matter what I do, Ash is always treating me the same. Maybe that's why I love him so much. We get along so well…okay, maybe not exactly, but it's like we…I dunno. Ugh, I have no idea how to explain it. It's kind of like…he completes me.

Oh, please don't tell me I just used such a corny and overused phrase! Get it together, Misty!

Well…it's not like it's a bad thing. After all, why should I be mad that I love Ash? Oh, wait, I remember now…there's no way he'd ever feel the same way about me. All he seems to care about is Pokémon training. I know it's not fair to be mad at him for it; after all, Pokémon training is his dream, and I admire that he's putting so much into it. I know it's selfish, but I just wish he felt the same way…aw, why is this so unfair? I'm in love with that raven-haired blockhead, but there's no way he'd ever love me back. That dense, dumb, stupid, sweet, caring jerk…how can he not see how I feel…?

…wait, did I just insult him, but not insult him? What's wrong with me? Darn you, Ash! Quit messing with my head!

Ugh…and no matter WHAT I do, it's like he never seems to notice me as something more than a friend. Kinda like back when we were at Maiden's Peak. I tried my best look pretty for Ash; heck, I even let my hair down. And I think he liked it…but he was also noting how pretty the other girls were. Sometimes I wish I could pummel him into the ground for being so naïve. My motive? You always hurt the ones you love. Yeah, that'll do.

…You always hurt the ones you love? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Enough with the cheesy lines, Misty! No wait, it's not my fault, it's Ash's fault. Yeah, of course. I almost forgot. It's his fault for being so easy to love. He does have a lot of bad traits, for sure, but he always makes up for it. He's handsome, sweet, caring, and he never gives up. He always put others before himself, and he never backs down from a challenge.

Wow, that was such a girly thought. Then again, I guess I AM a girl. I just wish Ash could see that, instead of just a friend. And I'm glad that we're friends…but I just wish we could be more…

Oh, great…stop crying, Misty…you have no reason to be sad…

I guess I'm just looking into our arguments more than I should. Still…I love him so much, and yet we keep arguing. Does that mean I don't really love him? And yet, I feel that he's more special than anyone. I couldn't imagine living without him, yet we always seem to end up fighting. But at least he doesn't soften when we get into an argument…winning would be too easy, and wouldn't be any fun.

Mmm…that breeze feels really good. Maybe I'll put my hair down for a while…yeah, that feels better. Now where was I again?

Oh, yeah. Still, even if I don't like our arguments, I do get angry with Ash sometimes, and I know I shouldn't. I just get mad when I think of how he doesn't feel the way I do, and I end up taking it out on him. I love him, and yet I hate him for not seeing how much I love him. Jeez, our relationship is so confusing…

Huh? Who's that?

Ash?

Wait, is he staring at me? He never does that…well, as far as I know. Hold on…he stared at me like that the last time I…had my hair down…oh, wow, I think my cheeks are getting warm…get it together, Misty. Looks like he noticed I saw him. So what does he want?

He's apologizing? What the heck is going on? He's never apologized about an argument before. Maybe Brock told him to. Maybe he just doesn't want me to be mad at him. Well, sorry, Ash Ketchum, but I'm not going to forgive you that easily…even IF you're looking at me with those adorable brown eyes…and that goofy expression…and…

Hey, hey, hold on, Misty! Don't let him get you again!

But, he really does look sorry…

No! Don't let him trap you! He'd just trying to get you down! He knows what he's doing!

…wait, WHAT? There's no way Ash could purposely be making me feel like this! He'd too dense for that!

Oh, why does he have to be so cute? Why can't there be something about him that I absolutely hate? Oh, right, it's Ash. It's freaking impossible to hate the guy. Darn him.

Yeah, yeah, okay, I forgive him. It's not like I can stay mad at him for very long, anyways. And being mad at him wouldn't help matters.

…no, I wasn't crying. What are you talking about?…oh, my eyes? I just had something in my eyes, that's all. No, I didn't just sob. Shut up, Ash! Stop knowing when I'm sad!

Okay, now why does he look a little embarrassed? Hold on…now he's moving towards me…

He's getting closer…

No, he wouldn't…

He couldn't…

And yet, he just did.

I can tell my face is red by how hot it feels, and how fast my heart is beating.

Ash Ketchum…

That kind idiot…

That caring jerk…

My dense best friend…

…is hugging me.

And now all my anger and sadness is gone, for sure. His hold on me is firm, but gentle. My head feels dizzy, and I can't think.

…oh, wait, that's probably because of all the blood rushing to my head. Y'know, maybe hugging him back would be a good idea.

I don't know how long we are gonna hug, but I don't really care. My mind is only on him. No arguments, no reminders of my bike, no pummeling him with my mallet…none of that. I feel happier than I've ever felt, and I know it's all because of him. This is why I know I love him. There's no way I can explain it, I guess.

Aw…I guess the hug's over. Thankfully, he's still holding onto my shoulders. His fingers are touching my bare skin, and I'm trying my best not to shiver. Darn you, Ash…how do you do it?

…okay, don't you EVEN flash that smile at me! Don't do it, Ash! Don't! DON'T!…too late.

Great, now I just wanna melt in this guy's arms. What a jerk…

Still, I love this jerk…

Hey, I think I heard Brock calling us. Now Ash is telling me we have to start back again towards Pallet. Darn it, why'd he have to let go of my shoulders?

Well, here we go again. We're probably gonna get lost again in a few minutes, or something will happen, and then we'll be arguing again. And I'll be going through this whole stupid thought process again. And then I'll be remembering one of the many reasons why I love him.

I love him because we argue. And I guess that's not so bad.

xxxxx

This is an older fic, so dunno if it’ll be as good as some of my current ones, but I’m rather fond of it.

#pokeshipping #aaml #ash x misty #pokemon #fanfic #ash ketchum #misty #satokasu

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fba-art · 4 years

Note

Wally is one of those guys where it just seems so *right* for him to have fun hanging out with a girl squad (and also for him to have so many good friends in general)

I LEFT THE LAB BEFORE I SAW THIS SO ALLOW ME TO THROW MY TWO CENTS IN FROM MY SKETCHBOOK IN BED,

actually, a funny little fact: in the comics, wally goes through one or two streaks of sexism ( writer-dependent ), and frankly, in my characterization, i like to keep that as part of his history… because it shows growth. wally’s a growing, teenage boy, he’s young and stupid and shows plenty of problematic behavior that teenagers do. stuff that has to be unlearned. #problematicfave

so i really enjoy writing him from a place of genuinely, earnestly trying to be better, and to learn, and to enjoy his own life as he chooses to live it. and that means taking chances and trying new things!

and you’re right, wally is just a friendly dude!!! makes friends wherever he goes, keeps up with them, hangs with his girl squad because he loves being around people that make him happy and these ladies do exactly that!!!! he’s happy to paint his friends’ nails, and is MORE than thrilled to be fawned over by some of his favorite people, prettiest gals he knows, have his “hand held” when they paint HIS nails. it’s calming, it’s therapeutic, and they all chatter nonstop while the paint dries lol. win/win/win.

and bc now ii’m on this tangent,goofy hc time, young!donna amidst a young!fab five would occasionally ask the boys to do her nails, bc she didn’t have many girl friends at the time, so she’d approach one or two of them after a rough day and ask it as a favor. and most of the time none of them really knew “how”. so it became an excuse to “teach them”. and sometimes when donna just wanted to talk to one of the guys, she’d preface with a “can you paint my nails” and eventually it was just an excuse to spend quality time with her boys. and as they all got older, she’d paint their nails and they’d trade places. one night they were all just up late as a group, and everyone wound up with different colored nails (some took more convincing to get them there but they all wound up with a souvenir set of ten in the end).

idk. just a cute image.

but back to wally + ur original point for half a sec,yeah wally is just sorta the outgoing type who rolls with whatever his crew is doing. doesn’t matter who he’s spending time with, he’s just happy to spend time with the people who love him. wally goes with the flow and can make conversation out of ANYTHING.

honestly, i feel like if somebody suggested wally do something traditionally “feminine”, he could be both “yea sure why not, sounds fun i’m in”, and also “challenge accepted”. wally recognizing that “Boys Doing Girly Things Is Played As A Joke All The Time” is a crucial turning point on his journey to chugging Respect Women juice.

and also, while i personally write wally as a cis male, i myself am not cis, so in conclusion, fuck the binary and let boys experiment with gender and self expression

#fba art #onceuponymous #years back when i was screencapping to make icons for my rp blog i noticed that a lot of keyframes had darker outlines around wally's eyes #so i half-joked that he ''canonically wears mascara/eyeliner''#but frankly? let!! wally!!! wear!!! mascara!!!!!#eons ago i took some online survey that ''rated'' u based on ''gender preferences'' as opposed to ''gender''-- it was like a 4-way graph #and u could be separated into 4 quadrants based on the consistency of ur answers: ''fem''#''fem''; ''masc'';#''neutral''; ''androgynous''#where ''neutral'' was more of a ''you don't exhibit social gender preferencing behavior'' and andro was ''you exhibit both fem AND masc''#and bc i'm predictable i took the test for wally-- MOSTLY TO TEST MYSELF AT HOW WELL I WROTE MALE-ALIGNED ROLES;;;#but it came out as SUPER HIGH ANDRO-- and the test broke down all the answers #and ''fem'' and ''masc'' gendered behaviors weren't quite ''socially accepted/gender binary'' behaviors #but more along ''behavioral effects of estrogen/testosterone''#so it was REALLY FASCINATING the answer i got bc it wasn't like ''oh sports are Masc and crying is Fem''#but more like ''compassion is Masc while empathy is Fem''-- same spectrum but different effects #and idk i thought about that a lot for a while bc it definitely fit. Wally.

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comicteaparty · 5 years

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October 12th-October 18th, 2019 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from October 12th, 2019 to October 18th, 2019. The chat focused on the following question:

Of your story’s characters, who is your favorite to write and why? Also, who is your least favorite?

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

In Phantomarine (http://www.phantomarine.com/), my favorite AND least favorites to write for... are both of my villains My favorite to write for is the 'fun villain' - a character as quirky and dramatic as they are threatening. It's super satisfying to just get into their words and PLAY.(edited)

The other is the 'cold villain' - calculating and quiet and controlled. Dramatic fun villains are way more my thing, so writing one that's so restrained (combined with all the bad things I know she's done )... I genuinely dislike writing for her. She holds me back from having fun... AND she's a meanie

Deo101 (Millennium)

In millennium (https://millennium.spiderforest.com/) My favorite to write for is definitely Keith and Aaron... I know technically that's two characters but they practically count as one, so I'm gonna say them. I just really like writing their goofy interactions and their silly jokes, and the way they interact with eachother versus with everyone else.

I..... Don't have a least favorite to write honestly. If I had to pick one, I guess I would say the HARDEST person to write for is Kessiah, which I guess makes writing her scenes my least favorite? That's just because shes the newest character of the whole cast, though, so I don't know her as well. I still like writing her and I love the scenes shes in and shes super important, she's just harder so I dread some of her scenes because I don't quite know how to fit her in. (She was added kind of last minute, everyone else has been there years before I started!)

AntiBunny

In AntiBunny http://antibunny.net/ I've often said my favorite character to draw is Piago, but probably my favorite to write is Penelope, because of how organically she's grown over time. And she gives me a nice challenge to write because she always seeks non-violent solutions, and she doesn't live in the sort of world where that's always an option.

For least favorite, probably Malphas. He never shuts up, and that's tons of dialogue I have to work in. He's the kind of guy who uses ten words where one would do just fine. If he gets talking he can grind the pace to a halt. Juju I'd also say is difficult to write. Readers want another chapter with her, but honestly, her kind of grim humor really isn't my cup of tea anymore. I've grown as a person and she hasn't, so I'm not really sure what to do with her.

snuffysam

For Super Galaxy Knights Deluxe R: http://sgkdr.thecomicseries.com/comics/ Mizuki and Taci are definitely the most fun to write, especially when they're interacting with each other. Mizuki is the perfect roaster, and Taci is the perfect roast target, so I'm not sure I can pick a favorite between them. For least favorite... either Cahe or Gynu. Gynu has very little personality besides being loud and powerful. He serves as a counter to Suzigu's lazy/annoyed attitude I suppose, but on his own he doesn't really do much for me. Cahe is a bit more entertaining, and while he's not particularly complex I am glad that his kind, mostly innocent personality is a part of the comic. The real issue with Cahe is his powerset - it's basically impossible to work him back into the story as a fighter because of how his ability works.

HiddenElephant

For The Wide Ocean: http://thewideocean.thecomicseries.com/

Most fun to write: Zahrah. Unsurprisingly one of the main characters, the reason why she's fun to write is because it's surprisingly fun to see which poor decision she'll make next, or she's bonding / living with the people around her.

Least fun to write: Paea. A minor character who's hard to remember. I don't have an especially good grip on her character, and a lot of the time it feels like I'm writing her because the plot calls for a sharkfolk who fills the niche she fills; someone we know, who is a little bit of a jerk but not as much of a jerk as another character.

Steph (@grandpaseawitch)

In http://oldmanandtheseawitch.tumblr.com/ I only really have two main characters are the moment and one I only partially write for, as Ains belongs to his creator and I'm essentially using him on loan. So technically, it'd be Witchy. Truth be told, it's also Witchy because he's basically male-Yzma, he likes being mean and nasty, he's a dramatic, crafty fish-man with an eye for pretty things and absolutely zero ability to be introspective on his own feelings. But there's a strange, surprising depth and sympathy to him where he should otherwise be unsympathetic.

For non main characters, probably Hiro. He's such a goofy little fisherman and will invariably be doing something stupid in the background. I love him. I would die for him.

Least favorite... gosh. I try to make every character a character I would love writing for or could make a main story for, so that's honestly pretty hard. There's King [Redacted], who will not show up for a LONG time but his characterization is always slippery for me--unlike his son. Who is somewhere in the character page but also won't show up for a long time.

@LadyLazuli (Phantomarine) VILLAINS VILLAINS VILLAINS ARE THE BEST TO WRITE FOR

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

@Steph (@grandpaseawitch) THERE IS NO DOUBT ABOUT THAT

HiddenElephant

Actually, I'd debate that, especially when they are irrevocably cruel, violent, self-serving and delusional.

keii4ii

Well, some people genuinely have a ton of fun writing characters like that. Whatever Floats Your Boat and To Each Their Own

kayotics

yeah I gotta agree with Keii, sometimes people just love writing villains. And sometimes those are the most fun? You don't have to write them winning, either

keii4ii

I love lawful good/ lawful neutral characters, good or bad, both as a creator and as a reader. But I'm fully aware that not everyone likes them, and that's okay!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

True! I know Steph and I definitely lean more in the villain/antihero-centric direction, but depending on your story’s aim - and the kind of villain you’re writing - it can either be a chore or a delight. Writing stalwart, lawful-good heroes is a nightmare for me, in comparison. It’s just not something I’m strong at

keii4ii

(psst lawful good does not always a hero make. You can totally have lawful good losers :'D)

kayotics

i think most of my favorite characters to write are chaotic in nature, whether they're villain or hero, or even just a side character, so really there's all sorts of directions you can go

keii4ii

Yeah!

Steph (@grandpaseawitch)

Lawful-good is an alignment that sees very little action in my writing, haha. As an entity of chaos myself, it tends to leak into my characters.

But the worst of the worst, the True Villain, is absolutely a delight to write. I've written a few bad-end versions of Witchy like that in other universes and they were IMMENSELY fun.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

A lawful good loser is actually a character I’m currently trying to write. He’s right on the edge of what I’m comfortable with. A layered kind of good. Good that means well, but suffers on the way to goodness. It’s a great exercise, and I’m starting to genuinely love him. A golden hero who always succeeds and does the right thing... may actually show up as a secondary villain someday, in comparison 🤫

Steph (@grandpaseawitch)

Oh! I may not have a LAwful Good character, but... there is one for a main character.

Which is Mister Ains. :3

So there is technically one in the comic.

He's a fun kind of LAwful Good because... he was originally the type of Order Is Very Important type of Lawful Good. A good heart, but sometimes might have put rules above people, and over the years, learned how to be the more "Good Is More Important Than Order" kind of lawful good. Which, to bring things back around to the topic, is why he's a very fun character to write, and probably the most fun of the characters on loan to me.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

I would put "Good Is More Important Than Order" under Neutral Good, personally. (Assuming it doesn't go all the way to "good is more important because order is useless," which sounds like Chaotic Good.)

Lawful Good seems like a tough alignment to write -- maybe the toughest? Because it's unrealistic for there to be no unjust laws. If the character starts off earnestly believing all the laws are for a good purpose, that works, but eventually they're going to find a bad one and be forced to choose...

Deo101 (Millennium)

I've always thought of it more like "do good and dont break any laws"

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

But sometimes, the only good thing to do is breaking the law.

Extreme examples are things like "you're legally required to report on your neighbors if they question the government, and anyone who's reported mysteriously disappears in the night."

keii4ii

One way to go about it is they die trying to change the law the legal way (or the closest possible), e.g. getting killed while doing a peaceful protest

or a suicide protest that doesn't involve physically threatening/harming others (e.g. self incineration protests by Buddhist monks)

Nutty (Court of Roses)

the Player's Handbook for D&D: "Lawful Good creatures can be counted on to do the right thing as expected by society."(edited)

keii4ii

Also, lawful good doesn't have to mean "the MOST upper-est left-est corner possible in the alignment graph." You can be like, 90% lawful 88% good or something.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

"Neutral Good folk do the best they can to help others according to their needs. Chaotic Good creatures act as their conscious directs, with little regard to what others expect."

keii4ii

That too. Society =/= the government

at least, not in every case!

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Yeah, "expectations of society" is a different standard from "laws of society." And it'll vary from subgroup to subgroup, so if the character sticks to "the expectations off my social circle that believes it's wrong to inform on our neighbors," it's easier to maintain.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

Yeah! i was double checking the book and saw that description, and for that very reason is why i brought it up

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

You'd still have to always associate with a group that shares your current values, so you'd have to deal with conflict by convincing people to come around to your point of view...that, or dumping them and finding a new friend group...

keii4ii

As someone who consistently tests lawful good, I genuinely don't get why this is any harder than any other alignment! Like... I'm not lawful good 100% of the time, but I'm still closest to that alignment than any other, overall!

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

I mean, I probably follow the local laws 90% of the time, but I wouldn't say that makes me Lawful so much as lucky!

keii4ii

Just because some evil-aligned villain has the occasional Pet The Dog moment, doesn't necessarily make them good or even neutral, yeah?

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

...no? But I'm not sure that's the same issue.

keii4ii

Say a lawful good character breaks a rule they consider to be fundamental to being lawful. It can happen. One key difference, for me, is how they deal with it afterward.

Deo101 (Millennium)

I like to think of it more as a tendancy than a hard set rule, too

Nutty (Court of Roses)

I myself consider Merlow Chaotic Good, but not because he's a wacky unpredictable guy, he just goes with the flow and what feels right to him.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

So would the difference be that "lawful good" feels bad/guilty/distraught about having to break the rule, whereas "neutral good" doesn't feel attached to the rule, just satisfied that they did the right thing?

Nutty (Court of Roses)

that sounds about right

or at least, the LG one would be self conscious about it and worry about what others think

keii4ii

Maybe not even "what others think"

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

NG would probably worry about that to some extent too, just for practical reasons.

keii4ii

depending on the situation

Nutty (Court of Roses)

true

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

But "willing to break the law for the greater good, just beats themself up about it afterward" is a much easier character type to sustain than what I was thinking!

Nutty (Court of Roses)

yeah!

keii4ii

like, it could be more about... worry about what they believe others SHOULD think (this can be very relevant if there is a big rift in the society with regards to what's right -- maybe they're in the minority, and don't feel guilty about acting contrary to what the majority believes to be right)

(I really like parentheses in case you haven't noticed)

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

(lol me too)

Nutty (Court of Roses)

(whisper whisper)

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

So that goes back to the "LG character adheres to the rules of their particular subculture" idea.

keii4ii

That sounds about right

Though there could be exceptions -- like, what if that subculture is all about anarchism?

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Chaotic Lawful!

And given the history of real-world attempts at anarchist communities, we know that one can only sustain itself about five minutes before self-destructing...

Nutty (Court of Roses)

loooool

#ctparchive #comics #indie comics #webcomics #comic chat #comic discussion #creator interview #comic creator interview #comic tea party #ctp #creator babble

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miyoron · 5 years

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Miyo’s Anime of Note 2018 Rainbow Edition

2018 was some kind of a year wasn't it? It was long and a pain in the ass but there was some anime out this year I really enjoyed. I'm here to write down a bunch of shows I enjoyed in no particular order. I might put them in the order I watched them in, or I might not. I guess we'll see huh?

Also, I think there's WAY more this year than usual which means I either like things easily, there were a lot of good shows, all of the above or some other reason. Hope I don't get too long winded on you! Also I'm using whatever names I feel like for naming things off, translated, still Japanese...whaaatever~

Pop Team Epic

Pop Team Epic was everything I wanted it to be and more. I've been a fan of Bkub's work since the early days so to see these two shitty girls finally show up on the anime screen week to week was a pleasure and a delight. The decision to make two separate half episodes with different voice actors for Popuko and Pipimi was a wonderful decision that let us experience things like Aoi Yuki as Popuko and Norio Wakamoto as Pipimi. It also shot the wonderful team of ACBU into the spotlight. Their Bobunemimimmi segments were so disgustingly perfect and fit the tone of the show perfectly. It also gave us one of the best moments in anime this year:

Needless to say, I really hope they are doing a season 2 like it's been rumored. I'm on board for SO much more.

Yuru Camp

This was a show I actually watched twice this year and have subsequently watched multiple episodes just on my own. It is one of my favorite things this year and maybe it's just because of how unassuming it is. There's honestly nothing deep to the show. Cute girls dress in warm winter clothing and go camping. However, the way everything is paced with nice warm colors and chill ass music nestles its way into your heart and fills you with a nice cozy feeling. It's like a blanket, the anime. Just wrap yourself up in the wonderful friend times and maybe you'll learn a thing or two about camping and friendship along the way.

Mitsuboshi Colors

Are adults letting you down? Sure, they're not up to the challenge pretty much all the time. But that's why you should just stay out of the way and let Colors come in to save the day! This trio of girls are ready to save their town and to let shitty cops know what's up. Seriously, it's a cute show with a cute group of friends getting into big adventures, even if those adventures are often due to their own misconceptions. It's a good show with kids who act like kids and are always either talking about poop or are sucking at video games. It's a nice show and has some good performances, as well as the best sunglasses of 2018 in my book.

Karakai no Jouzu Takagi-san

A series about a boy and a girl who are totally crushing on each other, even if one likes to keep it deeply hidden and the other would never admit it really. Oh, also she owns him every chance she can get with teasing. It's like a reverse Tonari no Seki-kun if Seki was not in his own world and was actively trying to make Rumi blush or stumble over herself. This premise may sound mean but it's honestly all in good fun and there's something really cute about the pair's friendship with each other. The way the manga apparently goes makes me really want to check it out sometime too.

Oh also there's a great side trio of friends with and I love how dumb of a baby one of them is.

Hinamatsuri

What happens when a yakuza becomes the dad of a psychic girl who crashed in an egg in his apartment and broke all his vases? This series! Hinamatsuri was a show that got me really hard this year at a couple points where I know I had to either fight back tears or take a few minutes to sit their with a quivering lip and watery eyes. It's an incredibly funny show from the premise alone but when you have the put upon character of Nitta having to take care of the force of nature that is Hina it just escalates it. On top of that though, there's a good heart to it as well. Anzu is a wonderful character and I love her story and her many grandpas. Also Hitomi's story actively hit me hard to where I felt bad for a fictional child to please just be a child for a little while. It was powerful stuff and I loved it.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online

I hate Sword Art Online. I've only watched the first series with the original and faerie times, but I hated it so much. That being said, hearing that the new one was actually good made me seek it out and...thank God it is. Llenn/Karen is just a much more compelling character than the power fantasy that is Kirito. The story of a woman who does not like herself in the real world, but finds a new home and life in virtual reality is a nice little story. On top of that, ditching the stupid "if you die in the game, you die in real life" really helped the show out in my eyes. This show is not about stop some huge over arcing villainous plot to fuck over the whole world or whatever. GGO is about trying to save someone from hurting themselves and honestly, that's a lot more relatable. A recap episode in this day in age IS silly though for what it's worth.

Let's take a short break shall we? For a little section I'm gonna call, Fuck, You Let me Down Man.

Amanchu Advance

I put Amanchu on my list two years ago of Anime of Note because I really enjoyed the tale of friendship it told. Amanchu Advance continues that story and shows Teko slowly becoming more of her own person thanks to that friendship. She wants to become a stronger person, a better version of herself and it's through her friends she's able to do this. The series is still very good at showing these moments but the last few episodes of the show are bogged down in a weird supernatural plot with a ghost boy that I wish they would have just tossed down the shrine steps. The twist at the end with it was not worth sidetracking the story for three episodes in a 12 episode story and soured my experience as a whole. I've been told the author likes doing these sorts of things and I didn't mind the lucid dreaming episodes, but this bit just did not land for me and it's a big bummer.

Here's Another Side Category Called Old Anime I Watched And Enjoyed. Yes, that's the full title.

G Gundam

I don't know why it took me so long to watch this series, but I am glad I did. Maybe I just needed friends to be there to watch it with, who knows. Either way, I'm thankful I got to join Domon on his journey searching for the man in the photograph and to experience the Undefeated of the East in his most powerful form. G Gundam is a goofy setting with a bunch of weird but fun characters and their even weirder mobile suits. I don't know how much I can really say on it since I'm sure most people have probably checked it out years ago on Toonami. It's still fun and good and it has a Gundam who is a boxer and a football man at the same time. Gundam Fight, Readdddddy....GO!

Back to my normal list, though I have grouped the next couple shows in a block I am calling the "I wish these had a full 24 episodes even though I understand why they didn't but please make more I'd love it, ok thanks" block.

A Place Further Than The Universe

This show had...a lot of moments where I was sitting there and just processing all that was going on. A group of girls become friends and join a civilian expedition to Antarctica, one of whom is going there to basically go where her mother had spoken of years ago and never came back. It's a show that I felt compelled to keep watching even though I knew I should have stopped for the night, telling myself "I can watch one more episode..." . It just gripped me and sank its penguin fangs into me. Shut up, I know what I said. Seriously though, the cast of secondary characters are just as fun as the main ones and I enjoyed every minute of it. It definitely destroyed me in one of the more heavy moments near the end though so keep a box of tissues handy ok?

Wotakoi

Love is hard for otaku. It's in the show's translated title and everything. Let me tell you, I'm very happy seeing so many anime featuring adults in the work place these days. Wotakoi is a show I felt a very personal connection to, especially its humor levels. Not going to lie, I am a Kabakura through and through when it comes to my anime watching and purchasing habits. It's a cute love story with a couple of characters getting together out of convenience before realizing maybe there's something more than that to it. The interactions are great and it's very relatable if you've ever had a friends' game night or anime watching session. It's a show that just feels like it knows just how to speak to you if you've been a fan of anime for a long time.

Hisone to Masotan

Hey, you into dragon vore? Then have I got the show for you buddy. All joking aside, Hisomaso is a show with one of the more fun protagonists I've run into in a while. Hisone's blunt and to the point to the detriment of anything that comes out of her mouth most of the time, but there's something about her honesty that's very endearing. The show's pilots are a great cast and their dragon friends are just as charismatic even if they spend a lot of the time cosplaying as aircraft. This show has a nice story about trying to find just where you fit in within the world and sometimes that's hard. Sometimes the best thing to do is dive into the gullet of a big scaly F-15 and ride the free skies to your heart's content. I love you Masotan.

Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight

This show I think more than any others in this block I wanted more of, even though I know why I don't have more of it. From episode one, I got Utena vibes with the music, the auditions, Hell, even the prefight wardrobe transformations. Stage girls do battle with all of their shine to prove who is truly the top star. That's the basic premise and the cast of characters really helps to flesh it out with their own motivations of what makes them keep going to be the very best they can be. I loved all of the imagery in the auditions and the music and the big doofy giraffe just watching from the stands and enjoying the whole thing. Revue Starlight is a stylish show with some amazing animation and choreography that puts most of the things I watched this year to shame and I need more things like it.

STOP IT'S PRECURE TIME

Go Princess Precure

This is me and Cheapsteak's "old Precure" of the year and it's wonderful. It's a story about dreams and fighting for them. The Princess Precures are maybe not the most relatable of characters as they attend a very prim and proper high class school. One is a business conglomerate's daughter, one's a super model, one's a Princess from another plane entirely. But there is something wonderful how they all work together as friends and work to save everyone's dreams, I don't know there's something very good and wonderful about that. I love that even when it comes to one of the villains, a character in the show goes out of her way to help him with his self esteem (and make up). I don't know, I've got a few episodes left but I just love it. Haruka is my favorite Pink Precure I've met so far and she is gonna be tough to beat.

Hugtto Precure

Very similar to Go Princess is Hugtto, with its message of hope for the future because you can't just stay in the present. There's a great cast of characters and they all work so hard to cheer each others' dreams on, all while taking care of a baby and a hamster from the future. I think this show also has the best mid-seasons Cures I've met so far and just...everything with how supportive and good everyone is to each other has me smiling the whole time. Also in the episodes leading up to the anniversary movie this year, we got some of the best big moments I've seen in a show in a while. A lot of the episodes have some amazing animation work as well and just...I like this show a lot especially what it did to show Hana's pre-show back story as well. Pink Cures are really good huh?

Back to business!

Asobi Asobase

Along with PTE, this was one of the weirder comedies that I watched this year. It's often crass or just outright weird, but that's one of its strong points I think. The show's opening is a giant fakeout from what seems like your ordinary "cute girls doing club things" chill show because you're soon hit with some of the weirdest faces and shrieks that I've run into in a while. The characters are a troublesome group of weirdoes who try to do activities like a normal club but fail horribly at it, often due to one or more of them sabotaging it with their own dumbness. It really says something that the sweetest and most relatable characters are the witch girls who practice curses all day. They're really the best though but so are all of the fucking weirdoes in this show. Also there's ass lasers so if you're into that...

Cells at Work

Learn about the human body while dangerous viruses and germs get fucking iced like they walked into the wrong anime. Follow a red blood cell make her way through the blood stream and lose her way every single time. Thrill at the amazingly adorable platelet crew as they get to work each day. Cells at Work is a weird science shounen show with some great character designs and interactions. The way the cells just are working hard and doing their jobs as best they can is great and you want to root for them so hard. Those Killer T and White blood cells and Macrophages just love killing SO much. It's a fun show that teaches you about biology and anatomy in a somewhat rudimentary but enjoyable manner.

Plus I will stress again, the platelet design is beyond cute.

Skullface Book Seller Honda-san

Honda-san is a cute little series you could watch in an afternoon due to its episode count and length, but it's one I could see myself watching multiple times easily. It's a fun window into the window of book store retail and the Japanese publishing industry. The characters have fun designs, mostly normal bodies with some kind of weird mask/helmet on but they're very relatable. Honda-san does his best to help out the customers, even when their requests tear at his very sanity some times. But that's retail huh? It's fun though, go check out this good skeleton!

Bloom Into You

I think this was the show that intrigued me the most this year because I was just hooked on the relationship between Yuu and Touko and seeing how it advanced. Yuu is a girl who wants to be able to fall in love like everyone else her age seems to be able to and when she finally meets a girl who she thinks feels similarly...that darn senpai falls in love with her. It's a very relatable tale even if you haven't been in a lot of relationships. Seeing Yuu realize her own feelings slowly grow towards Touko and the issues that come up because of was something that had me wanting to find out more each week. It also was the show that took me the longest to come to my final thoughts on too due to its ending but ultimately, I'm glad I watched it.

Zombieland Saga

Honestly, I'm glad to start and end this list with certifiable bangers. The concept of zombies becoming idols sounds like it could just go so wrong but it doesn't. It's so good and fun and goofy. The characters are all really fun and goofy but still have depth to them, even zombie brained legend Yamada Tae. I love this show and every character in it and if there were Franchouchou concerts done like a Hatsune Miku tour, I'd go so hard. Zombieland Saga is a good and powerful show and it even has a good ending with a sequel hook. Watch these girls and cheer them on, that is an order.

I normally do a "Shows I'll Watch Next Year" section but I realize I never end up doing it so I'm just going to add one of my current ones I know I'll continue watching.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind

Come on, you knew this was going to be on here right? I'm curious where this gangster plot line is going and can't wait to continue next year.

So that's my list, I hope you enjoyed it. For a special treat to go into 2019, I leave you with the best moment in anime 2018. Peace!

Ah well I got copyright striked so here’s a mirror

https://streamable.com/87z73

#MiyosAOTY2018

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bluboothalassophile · 6 years

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Jay/Rae 17?

Hello,

I’d say sorry this took so long to get to but truthfully life’s just been kicking my ass lately. So I hope you enjoy, this was fun to write! =)

Come Alive

Jason grimaced as he sat in his seat trying not to squirm ashe felt a busty blonde slither over him.

He’d say it was revolting but there were two minds workingnow. His hormones, and his job in taking apart Penguin’s operation. After all,Penguin had claimed Roman’s operations which had been spanning into internationalsmuggling, and Jason just couldn’t allow that. He as the Red Hood was not goingto permit it.

But then there was the other mind which was making it somewhatdifficult to sit and as he felt her fingers ghosting over his thigh as her lipsmurmured sexy, naughty promises in his ear; it wasn’t helping the thinking.Nope, not helping at all. Which was what had him almost groaning in his tornfrustrations.

Jason wasn’t a man to be ruled by his hormones, he didn’treally feel the need to get laid like Dick did. But Jason wasn’t going to sitthere and say sex wasn’t fun, he liked sex. He was a healthy young, red bloodedman, and he could admit he liked sex. And sex with someone who wasn’t likely tostab, chain him up, or kill him, sounded mighty appealing as the blonde’s whinywhispers promised him full reign to do whatever the hell he wanted with her.And that sounded mighty fun.

So…

Work or Sex?

It was a genuinely tough choice, and only getting to be morechallenging as her fingers slid further up his thigh.

Suddenly there was a new hand on his shoulder, which had himfrowning as he tilted his head back and nearly fell out of his seat at thefamiliar sight of Raven.

Her black hair was loosely braided, and her dress; if itcould even be called that, was a cocktail sapphire blue gown that clung to herevery curve, with fish net stockings, and thigh high leather boots.

“Mind if I join?” her smoky monotone was smooth as she discardedher jacket revealing her bare shoulders and mostly exposed back. The rubynecklace hung around her neck and it’s Azarathian design wasn’t lost on him as Jasonlooked his new team member over in an appreciative light.

Raven, who had always been small and slight of build, alwayshad sexy legs, hips and ass, of which he had always loved watching and checkingover. Her slim form was elegant as she tilted her head back a notch and thewhiskey in her fingers dangled elegantly as she was dealt into the game ofpoker. Jason’s eyes slid over her form appreciatively and he smiled as heforgot about the blonde who was whispering in his ear about fun times.

The empath stared him straight in the eye and he couldalmost feel the goofy smile he got on his lips when he was around her forming.

His newest teammate, and the boldest of any woman he hadever met; who had had the balls to tell the JL to go fuck themselves when shewas left to save an entire city from a tsunami while her team battled somemonster, was fucking sexy. And he’d admit, he’d always had a bit of a crush onRaven; for her legs alone.

“I don’t mind at all little bird,” he assured her as heswatted the blonde away.

“You just lost tonight’s toy.”

“False, simpering, brainless company for a bout ofmeaningless sex or a lovely evening in the company of a queen? I think it’s ano brainer, sunshine,” he assured her. Jason would have jumped her a while ago,except, it was Raven, and he knew that if he started anything with her, he wasn’tgoing to stop.

Simple reasons for that were the following:

1. She talked books, like actually could sit down and discussserious literature with him and aside from Alfred he’d never met anyone capableof that.

2. She interested him, not on that superficial scale thatmost people interested him but on the deeper one. He liked figuring out whatemotions were beneath her apathetic façade, and he fucking enjoyed figuring outthe little things about her that just about everyone else over looked. A primeexample of this was the fact he knew her favorite color was pink.

3. He could watch her all day, no need for anything more,just watch her read a book and drink tea. He had done that and creeped himselfout to needing to remove himself from the premises of their shared warehouse/apartment/safehousebefore he did something insanely stupid; like kiss her.

4. She wasn’t boring, Jason could honestly say that anytime he spent in her company was more pleasing than the meaningless sex ornights out with strange women or even Rose.

5. She made him feel alive. Yes, alive. Jason might havecome back to life but he rarely ever felt truly alive and in Raven’s company heusually felt alive.

So, those were the reasons he preferred her company toanyone else’s, also, he fucking adored the fact she could dare to say ‘fuckyou!’ to the JL, that just made his fucking year!

“Careful, handsome, I’d think you were flirting if I didn’tknow you better,” she said with a slight twitch of her lips.

“Mmm… and if it’s more than flirting, sunshine?” he askedher seriously, all pretenses gone as he assessed every minute expression ofher.

“I’d be very careful, Red, in my culture what you’re askingabout isn’t a game, it’s a serious venture. Do not tease or toy with somethingif you have no intentions to be serious.” Her tone was sharp and warning and hestood as he called out of the game seeing the target he wanted. Shoving hishands in his pockets he leaned over her ear as he smiled.

“Oh, I’m serious little bird. I’m going to marry you oneday, but until then, I want to know just how serious I need to be,” he said andkissed her cheek before slipping her his room key and walking after his target.He could feel her staring at him and just smiled.

Yup, he was going to marry her one day.

She made him feel alive.

#bluboothalassophile #fanfic #one shot #jason todd #raven #jayrae #redrae #raex

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taz-writes · 6 years

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WIP questions tag

i got tagged by @eff-writes and I haven’t actually participated in a tag game in like 10 years, so here we go!

1. What is the working title of your book?

Book 1 is called The Beginning. Boring, I know... The series as a whole is called Feilan! It used to be The Feilan Chronicles but then I decided that was stupid.

(book 2 is The Queen of Feilan, book 3 is Storm and Shadow, book 4 is Liaea. 2 and 4 are literally perfect but 3 is Bad and needs replacing when I finish the manuscript.)

2. Where did the idea for your book come from?

It’s based on a recess game I used to play with friends in elementary school. You know how basically everyone was involved in that stupid Boys Versus Girls war in first and/or second grade? I was the leader of my school’s stupid Boys Versus Girls war, it was centered around “Fairyland,” and my friends and I all had these overly complicated self insert characters that we LARPed as during recess. Over the years, the boys vs girls thing faded away, but we kept playing fairies and developing the ~lore.~ When I got to sixth grade, I decided to write it all down for posterity, and that’s when the first concept of Feilan came into being. I wrote the first legitimate draft in 9th grade, after spending a few years developing the characters and world into something that could exist without relying on bad self insert Mary Sue logic.

There were a couple specific scenarios that we always wound up playing, and those are what the books’ core plots are about. Book 1 is the game we played at my house in the woods, usually searching for treasure. Book 2 is the ice skating rink game where we rescue Violet from the Frozen Isles, fused with the swimming pool game where we turn into mermaids. Book 3 is the one we played at my friend Emily’s house, where we built couch fort “prisons” and tried to escape without making enough noise to bother her dad. If we knocked too much stuff over, he’d come up and lecture us for interrupting his Warcraft game, so avoiding him became part of the LARP. Just typing this is bringing up vivid flashback-style memories.

3. What genre is your current work in progress?

High/heroic fantasy, with a drop of genre de/reconstruction added in for fun :)

4. Choose the actors for your movie rendition.

Lucy Liu has to play Lilac Ravenhart. I don’t care about anything else but she has to be Lilac, it’s perfect.

Honestly, if I got a movie, I’d want Sayara to be played by a total unknown because I feel like it fits her place in the story. She wants to be known as Sayara, the actor should want to be known as Sayara and not as whatever their last major role was. Plus I can’t think of any actresses who are short and buff enough.

5. Give a one-sentence synopsis of your book.

An ambitious illegitimate princess stumbles into a civil war and somehow manages to make herself a ~new legendary hero~, much to everyone else’s chagrin.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agent?

I’m not sure yet! It would be awesome to have an agent and be published with a legit publishing house, but self-publishing is faster and easier. Considering that I’ll be trying to market a debut novel with niche appeal and no romantic subplot to speak of, which also has three sequels.... self-pub seems more likely right now.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft?

The first first draft? I plugged that baby out in six months back in high school, because I didn’t have anything else to do with my life. It added up to over 150,000 words, so that was no small feat. It’s taken progressively longer to finish every new draft since.

8. What other books would you compare your story to?

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (frantic googling sounds)

Honestly, I have no clue. I’ve read lots of books with similar concepts or characters, but I’ve never read another book that was enough like mine for me to want to make a comparison. I’ve taken some inspo from Game of Thrones, but deep worldbuilding lore and too many characters isn’t enough similarity to make a good comparison. Most of the fantasy I’ve read lately has been in a very different vein from what I write, because I’m trying to push my boundaries.

9. Who or what inspired you to write the book?

I got into this a little with the “where’d the idea come from” question! But mostly, my inspiration was spite.

The reason for making this particular recess game into a novel was, simply, that I couldn’t find a single book in YA fantasy that gave me what I wanted out of a story. I wanted strong female leads, who didn’t fall in love or have a LI, who saved the world without being questioned because of their gender or being outshone at the final hour by random boys. Do yall know how rare books like that were (and are) in YA fantasy? Full respect to paranormal romance writers, but your genre was the bane of my existence in high school, because the library would always label it as fantasy, and they always stocked twice as much of it as they did the actual fucking fantasy. Poor little naive Taz would pick up book after book about cool monsters and seemingly-intriguing plots, only for it to devolve into Edgy Boy Love Triangles. I didn’t care about the sexy demon/angel/whateverthefuck boys! I wanted to know how the girl who was supposedly the protagonist was gonna save the world!

Also, I was really into fairies, but the only YA-ish author I could find who wrote about them was Holly Black. Who is a talented writer and I envy and respect her success, but that just wasn’t the kind of story I wanted to read, yknow? She’s too edgy, and the love interests are... that.

I’d sat on “the fairy story” for years at that point, but this powerful rage was the kicker to actually get me started. I was bitter and salty and figured that if nobody would give me what I wanted then I’d just have to make it myself. I already had this source material that was funny and weird and deep and (as far as I could tell) totally unique, so I took it and ran with it! My friends gave me a lot of inspiration, because a few of them still remembered the fairy game, and they wanted to know when their characters would show up. So I’d send them chapters as I finished them, and we’d all get excited about stupid inside jokes and goofy names.

10. What else about your book might pique a reader’s interest?

I think the deconstructive elements are the core appeal in Feilan. I have a lot of the trappings of standard high fantasy--the lost princess, the return of the evil, the big war, the chosen one--but they’re used with the intent of picking them apart to see what makes them tick. None of the elements listed are played entirely straight.

The main cast is made up of mostly royalty, and their positions have Actual Responsibilities that motivate the plot and their character development instead of just being set dressing.

Female friendships and relationships are really important to the story, no boys will ever appear to derail character arcs at any point.

One of the main characters (Violet) is a trans girl and I know people appreciate queer content

(most of the main characters are actually under the queer umbrella but it doesn’t really come up in canon since i have a lot of plot to deal with)

Sayara is a relatively unconventional character type (especially for a female protagonist), she’s ambitious and mostly confident in herself, and her conflict comes from the way other people treat her more than how she treats other people. She’s not forced to learn “humility,” she’s not forced to give up on what she wants. Instead she learns how to handle responsibility and move past naivety to realistic optimism, and how to achieve her goals without hurting other people by it. I feel like that’s a theme that should be way more common in YA fiction than it is right now. teenage girls are right about things sometimes!

i have Deep Worldbuilding(tm)

The magic system has categories and you can sort yourself. because we all know what’s really important here.

I’m not going to tag anyone new in this, because I’m tired and I don’t have the energy, but if you want to pass on the challenge then feel free to say I tagged you! :)

#taz talks #tag game #feilan #i spent like a half hour fondly reminiscing on the fairyland LARPs halfway through this #what a time that was #i used to bring my friends over to my house and we'd carve swords in the basement out of scrap wood #and give them super dramatic names #mine were nightshade and maximinimum #ngl though maximinimum has a certain ring to it #and then we'd go out back and hit vines with the swords and get really excited if we successfully cut something #sometimes we colored on the swords with magic markers #i still want to know why we spontaneously decided we hated emily's dad lmao #it's not like warcraft was the problem #emily also played warcraft #and we did get really loud and obnoxious #but oh well #The Characters In This Story Bear No Deliberate Resemblance To Any People Real Or Imagined #except amalie and melalina. amalie and melalina are valid and i got permission.#oh also the recess game thing is why there are so few male characters #all the heroes are girls because it started as girls vs boys #and then when i developed the villains i replaced a lot of boring 2D male characters with more interesting complicated women #leaving behind just the handful of men who remain

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curriebelle · 6 years

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Episode Ignis Feels Like Fanfiction and That’s a Good Thing

Ok so I’m having a Thought.

You know when people say something reads “like fanfiction”, and it’s meant to be a criticism? The phrase is one of those intangibles, one of those agreed-upons, where no one can define it quite accurately but everyone thinks they know what it means. Usually it’s a combination of deviation from the original tone, bleaching out character flaws and complexities, a lack of understanding of nuance, and a reverent or worshipful attitude towards old characters, moments, settings, and iconography (and iconography is just the Stuff. Star Wars iconography is lightsabers, wookies and Jedi robes).

That’s a pretty reductive description of fanfiction of course, because a lot of fanfic - whether it’s well or poorly written - doesn’t necessarily follow those patterns. Weirdly enough, saying a sequel or reboot reads “like fanfiction” often implies that the writer doesn’t understand something about the source material - that they’re oversimplifying, or they’re fanning about while failing to understand what a “good” sequel would actually require. And that’s pretty ironic, because fans - obsessive detail-hoarding, secondary-character-worshipping pastiche-crafters that they are - often know the source material better than anyone, sometimes better than the creators themselves, and they are very aware of what they are erasing or changing when they move Marvel into a fluffy coffee shop AU.

But I’m kind of digressing, because my point is that “this feels like fanfiction” shouldn’t be seen as a criticism, but rather as a gut feeling that we need to unpack. Sometimes it leads to legitimate criticism that, while worth addressing, actually has very little to do with fanfiction. And sometimes it leads to this weird 4:30 am conclusion: Episode Ignis is when “this feels like fanfiction” should be deployed as a compliment. Spoilers onward, for both Episode Ignis and FFXV.

I’m talking specifically about the alternate ending, here, which is tantamount to an FFXV fix-it fic. In this version Ignis averts the tragic ending of FFXV, and though he prepares to sacrifice his own life to do so, it ends up costing nothing. Ignis survives with even prettier hero-scarring than he gets in the regular plot. The episode fills in a sizable story gap after Leviathan knocks Noct out, and closes a few additional plotholes (I wondered what happened to that one obnoxiously overdesigned Imperial guy: turns out Ravus stabbed him). It spends some time with likable characters (Ardyn, yeeee) and underdeveloped characters (again, Ravus). Ignis gets roughed up and drenched, loses the glasses, and I’m 90% sure the animators made his eyes bigger in the cutscenes for extra pretty. He gains maximum plotline power, and Adam Croasdell voice acts the shit out of some sassy comebacks and anguished screaming (ok, this is unrelated, but when he’s doing the regular stormbind combo, it sounds like he screams FUCK in one of his battle grunts and it makes me laugh every time). He can liberate Altissia more or less by himself, and that’s before he drives a goddamn speedboat away from pursuant megarobots. So for anyone calling Mary Sue, yes, Ignis dives headfirst into that. He basically becomes Magic James Bond.

The whole episode is also pretty blatantly queer-coded. We get a very cuddly flashback to kid Noctis, and Ignis’s vow to stand at his side. Ignis is monomaniacal when it comes to finding Noctis. Noctis eiher drops the l-word, referring directly to Ignis and the freshly fridged Lunafreya (I’m still salty about that one, sorry), or says Ignis will always be in his heart depending on the ending. There’s a fantastic gifset going around of the official couples in previous Final Fantasies (Squall and Rinoa, Tidus and Yuna) declaring the exact same thing Ignis does in the alternate ending. “Rinoa, even if the world turns on you, I’ll be your knight”. “There’s no way I’ll let Yuna go”, even if I have to break all the rules of your stupid religion. Even if it costs my own life, I won’t let you take Noctis away. The queer subtext here is one of those things where it’s purposefully vague - just enough emotional evidence and physical contact that you can read romantic feelings there if you want, but just short of an actual romance to leave interpretations open. If you’re convinced Noctis and Luna were in love, Episode Ignis probably won’t debunk that.

So Ignis and his Episode are both powerful, emotional, pretty, potentially kinda gay, and ridiculously awesome.

And honestly, it is phenomenal.

Episode Ignis is a blast to play. His combat style is very fun and quick and fluid and flashy, and the grappling hook in the first portion makes you feel superheroic. Killing Ardyn, meanwhile, makes you feel godlike. It is an incredible surge of adrenaline to take on armies and deities by your lonesome. The gameplay and narrative reflect each other here, just like they do in the base game. FFXV seems happy at first, and the combat is pretty entertaining with all the goofy combo-attacks, but that game is a tragedy. It’s all the more tragic by how fun it is to begin with, and by the end it is painful to play. Characters get older, places fall apart, people die, and you have to escort Ignis around for a chapter while he grows used to being blind and Gladio constantly bitches at you for walking too fast. The photo mechanic is introduced to break your heart later, to show you how fleeting youth and pleasure can truly be under backbreaking destiny.

And in retaliation, Episode Ignis thrives on the power of Fuck You. Long commutes by car, mundane in the moment but peaceful upon reflection decades later? Fuck You, I have a grappling hook. Sections that force you to walk slowly through a dungeon and think about what you’ve done? Fuck You, I’ve got two daggers, lightning teleportation and button-mashing hands. Musings about the ravages of time, and aching nostalgia for youth? Fuck You, Ignis is prettier than ever. A tragic ending pre-ordained by prophecy? Fuck You, Ignis is going to re-write that fate by being clever, patient, and brave enough to sacrifice his life, but double Fuck You, he gets to live as well. Bullets flying, health bar low, multiple explosions and Atlas Ripped decking airships in the background? Fuck. You. It’s time to make some fucking soup.

With all that in mind, it makes sense that people might accuse Episode Ignis of being tone-deaf, of being fanfiction in all the “bad” ways - it neglects the nuance of the original, and papers over complex themes so everything can end up hunky-dory, but I still think that’s too easy.

Here’s the thing: Episode Ignis can only exist as fanfiction - or as alternate-ending DLC, I guess. FFXV is the story of Noctis and his story has an ending and it’s horribly, horribly sad, but it’s also what the story is built around. You might find it too depressing or too grim or you might find it just right, but it is well-structured. FFXV is careful with its themes and patterns and foreshadowing.

Because of that care, Ignis screwing Ardyn’s plans out of whack and saving Noctis from his fate couldn’t occur in the main game. FFXV is not about Ignis. It’s about Noctis. And the gameplay, built as it is around creating nostalgia - photographs, long car rides, camping, friendship - wouldn’t work if the ending wasn’t agonizing enough to make you long for the good old days. Maybe Noctis didn’t have to die or maybe he did, but the ending of FFXV was always going to hurt.

FFXV is an emotional project, and that project is to make the player painfully nostalgic. With that intriguing goal achieved, Episode Ignis exists as a response, and it can never really be more than that. It’s an ending I like better, but it is an alternate ending.

If you think about it, Episode Ignis didn’t need that alternate ending. It could have existed perfectly well as a companion to FFXV, filling in a much-needed blank (and without the alternate ending that’s exactly what it does). But in making a response to FFXV instead, they challenged a lot of assumptions FFXV needed to make in order to tell its story. FFXV assumes its prophecy is the only answer, as do its characters. FFXV yanks a great deal of agency away from Ignis, Prompto and Gladio when it asks them to sit still for a decade and wait for their friend to die without hunting for an alternative

Why can’t they try something else? Why can’t they defeat their nemesis on their own terms? I mean, who the heck does Bahamut think he is, anyway? Who says the ending can’t be happy, and the future can’t be bright?

Those are exactly the questions a fanfiction writer would ask. FFXV created those questions, and Episode Ignis addresses them, but in a way that acts as more of a breach than a closure. It’s one route to a happy ending - so maybe there are more. This is also the reason I brought up the queercoding in Episode Ignis. If there is any genre that needs a complete overhaul from grimdark tragedy into happy endings, it’s the scourge that is the modern queer romance story. There are so many of those bloody stories ending in anguish or separation or suicide or displeasure, and not nearly enough fairytales. Having a tragic ending overturned by the power of queer love is an insanely empowering experience, and that’s probably why you see so many posts about how Ignis’s gay love can pierce the veil of death and save the day. Episode Ignis didn’t need its queercoding any more than it needed its alternate ending, but the two make sense together: both of them are stories that people are absolutely aching for.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything quite like this - a company actively revising their story, overturning its mood, questioning its plot, granting a completely different ending, and then asking fans to pay 6.99 for it. It’s different from alternate film endings, because those are DVD extras and one always wins the theatrical release. It’s different from re-imaginings or adaptations because Episode Ignis is...just not quite that. It can’t exist on its own, unlike most remakes. Video games are always fluid texts to a certain extent, but now developers are even relinquishing the solidity of lore and cutscenes. It’s so odd.

At the decision point of Episode Ignis, you can use R1 and L1 to flip the camera back and forth, moving between a shot of Ardyn and a shot of Ignis. It’s a tiny, insignificant moment, one that almost feels like a mistake - like maybe the developers couldn’t figure out how to stage a normal shot-reverse-shot. But that moment became an oddly powerful synecdoche for what Episode Ignis was to me. If you want to look at this story from a different angle, well, go for it. Here’s another place you can point the camera. Maybe the sun will rise over there too.

#ffxv #episode ignis #what the fuck it's six am #happy 2018

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