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softrenjunnie · 3 years

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the battle of hogwarts l pj

pairing: reader x jay

characters: boyfriend!jay, friend!jake, brother!sunghoon, chosen one!heeseung, death eaters, voldemort, other small characters

genre: hogwarts!au, angsty angst (maybe a little speck of fluff somewhere? but i wouldn’t bet on it)

word count: 4.1k

warnings: mentions of blood, wounds, pain, death, torture and broken bones; swear words; character death.

note: spoilers !!!! i reference/talk about a lot of the stuff that happens in the battle of hogwarts, aka spoilers from the “harry potter and the deathly hallows” book (and movies), but i mean it’s a different story so it’s not super spoilery? note that heeseung plays the part of harry potter here !!!! also, the ending is rlly bad and weird (just like many parts of this oop-) but also pretty open so i guess there could be a pt 2? if i ever get the inspiration to write it heh

“stupefy!”

you heard the voice from behind you and managed to leap to your side to avoid the spell just in time, letting the red light instead hit the wall in front of you. you turned around, and instantly noticed the death eater who was standing many meters away, his wand by his head and ready to strike. “petrificus totalus!”

“protego!”

the beams shooting from his wand met the shield yours had produced, blocking it and letting its light die out. closing the distance between you, he lunged forwards and kept casting a variety of spells, which you, with great difficulty, blocked. you couldn’t hold your protection much longer, it was getting too tough - so instead, you turned around and made a run for it. a green beam of light missed your head by only a few centimeters, as you turned around a corner and kept running. you knew he was following you, and you knew you couldn’t keep this up; just as he rounded the corner, you pointed your wand to the roof above of him. “bombarda maxima!” you tried your best to keep your voice as steady and strong as possible, despite your wild nerves. the spell worked; soon, the death eater lay buried underneath the heavy stones that had just fallen.

you let out a sigh as you determined that he wasn’t going to rise, but you remembered to not let down your guard. there were perhaps hundreds of others inside and around the castle, and you knew from this little incident that they weren’t afraid to attack. so as you ran ahead, on towards the great hall where you hoped to find the people you were looking for, it was with your wand raised high and your eyes listening for every small sound in your vicinity.

you had been taken aback at first when that death eater had arrived; you hadn’t expected to meet anyone the moment you stepped out of the room of requirement. you thought everyone ought to be in the great hall, or perhaps outside of the castle - not lurking around on the top floors of the building. but none of that was what was going through your mind at the moment. you were focused on finding-

“jake, watch out!” you could recognize his voice from miles away, and especially when he was calling out for his best friend, but you don’t think you’ve ever heard such desperation in his voice ever before. at the end of the hallway, you spotted him - jay’s wand was shooting rays of all colors as he leaped forward, shooting down the woman in black, long robes who had just a second ago had a good grip around jake’s neck. she lay still on the floor, and for a few moments the boys stand as if frozen, until jake crouches down next to her and declares that she’s still alive, just fainted, to which both boys seem to calm down for a second. that is, until a scream is heard from a bit away, and the both of them run to where it came from, out of sight from you.

you were surprised that you had stopped in your tracks to watch the scene ahead of you, and you shake yourself before starting to run forwards again. reaching the end of the hallway, you turn to the way jay and jake had just gone. through the big entrance to the great hall, your eyes scanned over your two friends who were helping a ravenclaw girl, who you recognized to have been in your charms last year, fight off two death eaters. sprinting towards them, you watched as the girl, who you now remembered is called yewon, got hit by a spell right in the stomach, launching her into the wall behind her with great force.

as the wizard cheered his own accomplishment and was left unfocused on the other students, jake used the opportunity to strike. “expelliarmus!” he yelled, and the death eater’s wand flew out of his grip and onto the floor, close to where jay was currently standing, fighting the other death eater. as jake stunned the wandless wizard, jay did something he shouldn’t have - he bowed down to pick up the wand from the floor, but in that exact moment, the witch in front of him aimed towards him and was surely about to jinx him-

“levicorpus!” you yelled with all your might, now only standing a few meters away from them both, and the witch too dropped her wand, now hanging in the air upside down.

jay turned his head to where your voice had come from, and his jaw dropped once he saw your face. “y/n?!”

“petrificus totalus.” the witch now dropped down onto the floor, head first, and you almost felt bad for her for a moment before you started thinking about what she could’ve done to jay if you hadn’t jumped in.

“what are you doing here?” jay exclaimed, coming closer to you. “are you completely crazy?”

“a small 'thanks' would’ve been nice,” you scoffed, and before he had the opportunity to say anything else, you turned your head to where your former classmate had crashed into the wall, and spoke again. “yewon? are you still there?”

you didn’t hear an answer, and you ran over to where you suspected she was - and she was right by the wall, lying on the floor and sobbing as she held an arm to her chest.

“hey, are you alright?” you crouched down next to her, placing a hand on her trembling shoulder.

“my arm...” she managed to get out in-between sobs. “it hurts...”

when you looked at it, it wasn’t bleeding nor did it have any visible curses on the skin. you turned your head around to jake, who was now standing behind you. “do you think it’s broken?”

“likely. with that force, i’m surprised more isn’t,” he said, and you nodded agreeingly, pulling out your wand and tapping it to her forearm.

“brackium emendo.”

yewon gave out another cry, but this time it wasn't out of pain. “thank you! thank you so much-”

“y/n,” you heard jay’s stern voice from behind you and you turned around once again. his arms were crossed over his chest, and if you had been anyone else, you likely would’ve crumbled under his gaze. but you couldn’t, not now, there were much more important things to do, people were still screaming on the other side of the castle walls and- “please, can’t we talk?”

you stood up, dusting off your knees with your hands before speaking to jake. “make sure she’s okay, please? and pick up that witch’s wand from the floor, and make sure neither of the death eaters get up.” jake nodded at you, flashing you a small smile, before you walked over to where jay was now standing, two tables away from the others.

the great hall was completely empty now, except for the four of you and the two stunned death eaters, and the atmosphere was almost tranquil, even though there was a full-on war going on just a small distance away.

“what are you doing here?” he asked, the desperation clear in his voice. “i thought they made it clear that-”

“i didn’t get to choose what i wanted to do, i was just forced into the room of requirement like everyone else, and-” you took a deep breath. “of course, i escaped. did you really expect me to just follow the others?”

“yes, because you’re underage, y/n!”

“by two months,” you spat, having a hard time controlling your anger at jay’s stubbornness. “i’m two months too young to fight? that doesn’t make any sense, you know i’m better at charms than most of your classmates!”

he shook his head, his eyes wandering around the room. “they were the rules, y/n. i can’t believe you-”

“can’t believe what? that i would want to fight for my school? fight for my friends? fight for this world to not go under-” you let a few tears fall down your cheeks, and you weren’t sure if it was out of exhaustion, frustration, or despair; likely a combination of them all. but you didn’t bother wiping them away. “fight for you. did you expect that i would just sit at home, just hoping that my friends, family, and boyfriend would all survive? not knowing anything and not being able to affect it would’ve killed me, i think you know-”

you were cut off as he pushed his lips onto yours. your eyes fluttered closed instinctively, and your hand that wasn’t currently holding your wand went up to cup his cheek. he tasted of blood from a small cut on his bottom lip and you tasted of salt from your tears, but neither of you minded. kissing jay felt so familiar; it felt like you were home again. it felt like you were back in your common room with him like you’d been a year ago, when no war had been going on and no dark lord was preparing for his final battle. jay’s lips smoothed over yours with such ease and such softness that if you hadn’t been standing, you could’ve fallen asleep from it.

“hey guys,” jake’s voice made you jump into reality again, and you moved your hand from jay’s cheek to his chest to push him away from you far enough for your lips to part from his again. “i hate to be the one to interrupt your moment, but uh... we should really get going.”

you nodded towards him, before looking back over at jay again, who did not look like he had wanted to stop his previous actions, a tiny pout on his lips. now that you were standing so close to him, you could study his face; there were several smaller wounds all over it, and he winced slightly when you reached up to remove a small piece of glass that had been stuck in a cut below his right eye. you used your thumb to wipe away the blood which had leaked down from a bigger wound by his jaw. “episkey,” you whispered, watching as the skin melted together and soon looked as if nothing had ever happened to it.

there was a loud bang, and the glass of the windows behind the staff table shattered everywhere - and in through the hole ran at least a dozen new death eaters, followed by students, teachers, parents, and other adults who were fighting for your side. and amongst them, you spotted none other than your brother - sunghoon was dueling a death eater, whom you’d seen before in the newspapers, all alone, but as he struck the other wizard with a jinx that seemed to have an extreme force, the death eater flew and slammed into a wall just like yewon had done.

in the few moments that you had stood watching your brother, the people around you hadn’t stopped like you, but instead started helping out in battles. you instantly joined jay’s side again, helping him battle a tall and broad man whose wand was producing beams of light at a faster speed than you had ever seen before. “incarcerous!” jay roared, and ropes appeared out of thin air which wrapped around the death eater and held his limbs tightly together.

“good one,” you told him, and turned around to find someone else to help - but standing right behind you was none other than sunghoon.

“jay, are you dumb?!” he screamed at the boy standing next to you. beads of sweat were rolling down his face and his dark eyes made him look of a mixture between exasperated and exhausted. “forcing my baby sister into a war?!”

“he didn’t force me, you idiot!” you frowned up at him, groaning. “i chose it myself. and what part of me is baby, sunghoon? i’m almost of age, start treating me like it!”

“either way, you can’t be here! you have to get back to the room of requirement!”

you shook your head and took a step closer to him. “in case you haven’t noticed, they’re fighting in here. if we don’t help out soon, we will all be dead. i’d rather die helping out than die arguing about this!”

you walked past him and raised your wand, ready to strike at a witch jake was taking on at the moment, but sunghoon grabbed your arm and pulled you back. you were about to shake him off and complain when he pulled you into a hug. holding you close, he muttered, “i can’t lose you. please, please, take care. never battle alone.” you squeezed him back and nodded into his chest, before pulling away from him. you heard how he told jay to protect you, and the two of them were just about to hug when a red light missed the tops of their heads by just a few centimeters, almost as if it was a signal that you all needed to get back to the war.

you and jay took on one death eater each, throwing spells and shooting colored jets through the air as quickly as you could. but after stunning your opponent, and helping jay do the same to his, you overlooked the room and realized just how many people there were. it was extremely crowded, with injured people crying for help while lying on the floor and voldemort’s helpers assaulting other wizards and witches with both their wands and their bodies. it was overwhelming, there were too many of them, how would you ever win this? your breath became uneven, and you felt like you weren’t getting any air. your head was spinning, and the ground felt like it was shaking below you - it likely was, to be honest - and you couldn’t stay in your place a second longer.

you turned around slowly, before moving towards the opening of the main hall and looked for the best place to go. to your left, your defense against the dark arts teacher was fighting two robed, tall men all by himself, though he seemed to have no problem doing so; to your right, the hallway was empty, so that’s where you went. you found a hole in the wall a bit away, and you could almost hear the fresh air of the night calling for you, so you climbed out through it. instantly, your lungs were filled with the cold air, making you close your eyes in satisfaction and sit down on the ground, relaxing fully. you instantly felt better, and you felt like you wouldn’t have to be out here for a lot longer before you could back inside, just-

“look at who we have here,” said a female voice from beside you, and you opened your eyes and flew up to stand on the stone debris from what had formerly been the wall. you recognized her instantly - she was one of voldemort’s most faithful followers, and you had read about her and her escape from azkaban in the newspapers before. “isn’t it the little mudblood who’s been helping lee heeseung in his plans against the dark lord?” you raised your wand to attack, but she was quicker. “expelliarmus!” your wand flew up into the air and landed right by her feet. you didn’t even bother trying to fetch it, you knew it would be to no avail. “tell me where the boy is hiding, and i shall spare your life.”

“i don’t know!” you cried out.

she raised her eyebrows. “hmm. maybe this will make you remember. crucio!”

you had never experienced pain like this in your life. you crashed down onto the ground, unable to control anything in your body. the pain was obliterating, intense, all-consuming. you screamed, but you couldn’t hear yourself, all your senses being dulled out by the pain.

and suddenly, she broke off the curse, though your muscles were still throbbing from the curse. “do you know where he is now, then?” she sneered.

“no-” just as you had managed to whimperingly utter the word, she flicked her wand once again. the second hit of the spell felt a lot like the first, but this time she held it for much longer. your bones were on fire, a million knives were pushing into your skin, boiling water was being poured over your body, your head was about to explode-

the relief you felt when she stopped the curse for the second time was indescribable. high-pitched, horrifying laughs were flowing from the death eater’s mouth before she once again spoke. “i think you know now.”

you wanted to slap the grin off her dark lips, but you had no energy to even stand up. instead, you gathered your last bits of power, and said, “i don’t. and even if i had known, i wouldn’t have told you.”

she chuckled, before shaking her head at you. “you silly girl... you deserve this.”

the third time the spell hit you, it was much worse than the other two times; she must’ve gone extremely angry by now. it felt as if you were in space, there was no air for you to breathe. your lungs weren’t working properly. you wished to do anything to make this extreme pain go away, anything... even disappear or... die...

though it had felt like an eternity for you, there were only a few moments after she’d cursed you that the curse was interrupted once again. you couldn’t even look up; you were curled into a ball on the ground, eyes shut tight, wishing that everything would just be over...

soon, there was a shuffle beside you, and soon a hand lay on your shoulder, shaking it gently. “y/n? are you alive? please, be alive...”

by now, you were just barely breathing; it was too hard, it took too much energy from you and you already had very little left.

“hey, it’s all fine now,” a voice told you, as a hand caressed your cheek. “she’s gone. you’ll be fine. please, just-” the voice paused, and when it returned, you could tell that the person by you had turned around and was now yelling towards the entrance of the castle. “jake! get some water, quick!”

you were too exhausted to listen clearly to his voice and try to recognize it, but from his wording, you could easily tell who it was. slowly, you opened your eyes, looking up at jay who sat crouched next to you. he had more bruises and wounds all over his face now than he had had when you had left him, and he was looking down at you with eyes of such panic that you’d never seen before. “fuck, y/n,” he mumbled. “you can’t just go off like that. do you realize how-”

he stopped in his tracks when you reached up with a hand to thread your fingers through his hair, pushing his fringe back and out of his eyes. “i’m fine.”

“a-are you sure?”

you nodded slowly at him, closing your eyes once again and letting your arm fall to your side. “i just need to...rest a bit...” jay let out a sigh of relief, and his hand went from your shoulder and up to your face, letting his thumb wipe away a few tears that you hadn’t noticed shedding. “what happened to her?” you hummed, voice low.

“oh, you didn’t hear it?” you furrowed your eyebrows. “i stunned her at first, but then voldemort spoke over the grounds and told his forces to retreat, to give us one hour to treat to everyone’s wounds and to say our goodbyes to those who are leaving us. he said that heeseung has an hour to give himself in, or else the war is on again.”

you were surprised that you hadn't heard voldemort's voice, but then again, you even now had to put in all your force to hear jay properly. you looked up at him. “he’s not going to, is he?” you questioned, to which jay merely shrugged. “he can’t, that’s-”

“y/n, are you okay?! someone told me what happened,” said jake as he came up to you two, an empty plastic bottle in his hand. “i only found this, it’s empty, i know, but i mean you can always-”

“aguamenti,” jay said to cut off his friend’s rambling, filling the bottle quickly before handing it to you. thanking them both, you sat up straight, although every muscle and every ligament in your body screamed as you did, and drank a couple of sips.

deciding that you wouldn’t get anything done sitting there all night, you put away the bottle and pressed your hands into the ground, trying to push yourself up, but instantly failed. jay saw your struggling and bolted up, offering his hand down to you and helping you stand up once you took it in yours. “how’s your balance?” jake asked as you froze for a few seconds when you were trying to figure out if you were blacking out due to the stinging feeling in your head or due to your blood pressure dropping from standing up too quickly.

“not good enough,” you chuckled. “will you guys help me?” they both nodded, and soon they were by your sides, letting you throw your arms across their shoulders to steady you.

as you walked into the castle again through the hole you had come out from a while ago, you couldn’t help but to think about what jay had said earlier. say our goodbyes to those who are leaving us... he made it seem like there are many who were too injured to bring back. there couldn’t be a lot, could there?

“where is heeseung?” you asked, moving your head between them to look at their faces. “he knows we are fighting, right? he can’t give up!”

jake stopped in his tracks, which made you jump back too even though you all were just a few meters from the main hall by now, and he gave jay a very specific look. “you haven’t told her, have you?”

jay rubbed his hand that wasn’t holding you up against the back of his neck. “i- i haven’t found a good moment to do it!”

“wha-” was all you could let out before jake spoke again.

“and you think this is a good moment?!” he almost yelled, shaking his head at jay.

“i don’t think we’ll find a better one, nor that we have any choice,” jay groaned, and just as your confusion and frustration of not being allowed into the conversation peaked, someone ran into your view.

“oh my god, y/n!” cried yewon, running up to you. “i’m so sorry for your loss, i wish there was something i could’ve done-”

and that’s when it hit you. you realized what jay and jake had been referring to, but you refused to believe it. she must’ve been confused, it can’t have been true, nothing was wrong-

you pulled away your arms from the boys and ignored their calls of your name when you sprinted forwards, past yewon and into the hall. you pushed away your thoughts of your aching muscles and how it was likely unwise to do this; nothing was more important right now than making it all the way to where the dead bodies lay in the middle of the room. they had removed the tables by now, and people were gathering in groups around the wizards and witches on the floor, though you couldn’t see anything other than the one body you were aiming towards. and as you reached him, the world turned black.

“sunghoon,” you whispered, crouching down to the floor and shaking him by his shoulders. “please, sunghoon. you’re not dead, you can’t die, not now, you...” before you knew it, your sobs were uncontrollable, your face buried in his dusty cloak. this couldn’t be real. there was no way. “wake up... i beg of you...”

you felt someone sit down next to you, and then a hand on your back. you instantly turned around and threw yourself into jay’s embrace, crying out loud. your hands clutched at the material covering his chest and once again you had trouble breathing, your breaths unnaturally short and rapid. jay held your trembling body to him as tightly as he could, hoping that if you felt that he was there with you he’d be able to hold you down in reality, to make sure your mind wasn’t floating away.

but as time passed, and you started realizing that sunghoon wouldn't come back, your sorrow turned into something else. vengefulness. they weren't getting away with this.

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stillgeekingout · 3 years

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thoughts on reputation by lex croucher

first my non-spoilery thoughts (mostly non-spoilery. light spoilers for tone and general content): this book was so good and also SO STRESSFUL. haha. if you’re going into it expecting a light read, this isn’t it, but it’s incredibly funny (like seriously so so funny, there was probably at least one phrase or sentence on every page that gave me a little chuckle inside) and has a lot of really important things to say. and the stress does pay off for a very cathartic ending. you’re gonna suffer, but you’re gonna be happy about it etc.

honestly the two things I care the most about in books these days are if they’re funny and if they have characters that I care about. this supremely delivered on both counts. I really loved every single one of the characters (I mean, except the ones you’re supposed to hate, obviously. it does a very good job making you hate them). the third thing I care about is friendship narratives and hoo boy was there a lot of that too.

it gets compared to bridgerton a lot and I haven’t seen bridgerton, so I can’t speak to that, but I don’t think I would like bridgerton based on what I’ve heard of it and I really liked this. make of that what you will, I guess. it also gets compared to mean girls a lot and I think that’s very accurate, if mean girls as a narrative was kinder to its characters (including the plastics) and actually let characters be gay in a nuanced way. and if mean girls did a better job developing the love interest so we care about him and the romance part of the plot. similar to mean girls, if you’re going to be really bothered by secondhand embarrassment, this might not be the book for you. it’s not quite as pronounced but it is there, and I did squirm through a few scenes. this didn’t subtract from my enjoyment but it might for some people. The other content warnings are here for anyone who wants to know what I mean by heavy material: https://www.lexcroucher.co.uk/reputation-cw

Now time for my spoiler-filled thoughts under the cut!!

So I knew going into this that it would be too much drugs and alcohol content for me, a known prude, but that being said I thought it was handled really well and I liked that the narrative had things to say about doing things in excess / requiring that stuff to be able to have fun. and thomas’s whole thing was really thoughtfully handled.

Georgiana cracked me up the whole time with her naivety. I do think part of the embarrassment of this book for me was how much she reminded me of my younger clueless self, being inexperienced in everything and scandalized by everything. I also reeeeally related to the whole “this person is friend-shaped, be my friend be my friend be my friend”-ness of her. And I’m always a sucker for a “female character is very flawed and honestly kinda shitty to her friends but learns to be a better person over the course of the narrative” story.

I LOVE BETTY. I call being #1 betty walters fan. I get crazy when I latch onto a character, all I do is wait for them to make a next appearance and scream about it when they do. But anyway I just want to say that I loved betty from her first scene and I’m so glad george finally caught on. I was initially scared that it was going to go more the route of like, george is mean to betty in the climax and then realizes she has to apologize because she feels bad for her, but the fact that they became actual genuine close friends on top of that made me very very happy. No matter what else I say please know betty was my absoluuute favorite character, I’m obsessed with her, I would die for her, etc.

This book honestly just kept subverting what I thought was going to happen. I did not see the end coming at all, particularly with the way the jeremiah plot went. It reminded me a lot of Oklahoma (the musical) and a lot of… real life lol. but yeah it was v good and I’m proud of george.

I really did not expect to get very attached to thomas. Usually when a book is a friendship book with romance also in there, I get very very wrapped up in the friendship parts and then only sort of care about the romantic lead. And it did start that way when george was initially obsessing over him, I kept just kind of being like “ok he’s here, sure”. But lex gave us a kindhearted emotions boy, which is honestly the best kind of boy, and he plays piano and his dad is nice and he keeps george in check about being a kind friend? Heck yeah. The LETTERS?? YES. listen my favorite book is ella enchanted and ever since then, any romance that involves witty written correspondence is automatically in my good books. also he has the benedick energy of like, unquestionably supporting women over his sketchy friends and that’s Always good.

I loved each of the friends in different ways, and I am a little sad that we didn’t get much closure on Cecily and Jonathan in particular, but I do understand why it ended the way that it did and I appreciate Georgiana realizing that these were never really going to be her People. That’s a really cool thing that I don’t see a lot in stories. Usually either they make friends for life, or it turns out that the group were Bad People and that’s why they go their separate ways. So the fact that it was like “no, I think they are good people and I care for them deeply, but our ways of life are just never going to be compatible in the long run so I’m just going to appreciate them in my periphery from now on” was a really nuanced take and something that I think is truer to reality.

Let’s Talk About Frances. Frances intrigued the hell out of me because I never knew what the heck she was going to do next. I do always love a bitchy woman with secret emotions and after the first vulnerable sleepover scene, in my mind I already felt like I knew where frances’s arc might be going. But lord I did NOT! It’s really really interesting to have a book that follows so many tropes of other stories but at the same time goes in completely different directions. I would’ve read a whole bunch more about frances and her emotions and her parents and her trauma, and I really hope jane is helping her heal from all that and also be less of a jerk to everyone, and if anyone is writing the “jane and frances heal from trauma and become better people together” fic I am soooo there. I’m glad we at least got the confirmation that she believes george, that she got the satisfaction of telling off jeremiah, that she’s living with jane, and that her parents have separated at least for the time being. But yeah I think in a lesser book, frances would’ve been reduced to like “the regina george” and not necessarily given all the nuances that she had, and I really appreciated how much she felt like a rounded-out person with a lot of her own shit going on. I am sad that she and george had to end the way they did, but again, it makes sense for the narrative and I’m glad they’re at least on good enough terms that she’s going to go to the wedding.

I do think there were some things that were left loose (george bringing up donating to the poor was never addressed again, frances’s parents are barely addressed again which surprised me after the mrs. walters bit, etc) but now that I’m finished with it and not waiting for certain loose ends to be tied, I think that’s kind of the point. that sometimes things just end without closure. sometimes you just move on from people and you don’t get to change them in the way you wanted to.

I probably have a bunch more to say but the main thing is that every single character in this book felt extremely three dimensional to me, and that is a Really hard thing to pull off and it has made me even more excited to read all of lex’s future books. Came for the humor, stayed for the insanely well-developed characters.

#reputation #lex croucher #idk if there's a tag that won't get all mixed in with tswift stuff but yknow #excessively long post

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ichika27 · 3 years

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The World Ends with You

(Yeah, it’s the same screenshot I used for my post about ep. 1. I couldn’t get a new one so...)

Ah, first week without the TWEWY anime to look forward to. I’m actually kinda sad cause I’d miss waiting for the episode every Saturday night (Ani-One posts theirs on that day here). I have some stuff I wanna say about the anime so I thought I’d make one of these plus this is a good way to end the twewy anime blog post series I make every week. I’ll try not to spoil until the very bottom of this post which will have a spoiler warning.

Also, this will be very long and rambly as most of my fandom posts are haha.

Story:

A boy named Neku wakes up in the middle of Shibuya with no memory and finds himself as a player in the Reaper’s Game. For a week he must partner up with a girl named Shiki and both of them must complete missions, battle creatures called noise, and survive as failure meant erasure.

Characters:

Neku Sakuraba - our main protagonist who somehow lost his memories and is now playing the Reaper’s Game. He’s a loner who isn’t too keen on getting close to anyone let alone working alongside anybody - unfortunately for him, it’s a requirement if he wants to survive. As a player he has an assortment of abilities to fight off noise and other enemies (in the game this meant he can use a lot of different pins).

Shiki Misaki - the nice and friendly Shiki becomes Neku’s partner in the Reaper’s Game. Unlike Neku she has knowledge of the game and fills Neku in on things he doesn’t understand. Her ability is to control her stuffed toy called Nyantan/Mr. Mew which she uses in combat.

Beat - the tough skateboarding player, he’s somewhat more like the typical hot-blooded shounen protagonist when compared to Neku. He’s protective of those he care about especially his game partner, Rhyme. He uses his skateboard in battle.

Rhyme - Beat’s game partner who is a lot kinder and calmer than him. Rhyme tends to be the one to reason with Beat when needed and the two are always seen together.

Yoshiya Kiryu - a mysterious boy who seem to know more than he lets on and acts at times acts suspicious. He prefers to be called by the nickname Joshua.

Sanae Hanekoma - a cafe owner who helps out Neku and the others and would give them advice. His advice prove to be very helpful and Neku takes them to heart. Seem to have a lot of knowledge about the Reaper’s Game but doesn’t seem to be a reaper himself.

Thoughts:

(I tried my best to not be spoilery in the character descriptions so some names weren’t written in full)

The World Ends with You (or in the original Japanese “Subarashiki Kono Sekai”/It’s a Wonderful World) is an anime based on the video game of the same name. It had to compress an entire game’s worth of story within it’s 12 episode run which meant they cut out a lot of things and combined some scenes to quickly run through them. It’s theme song is the anime version of the game’s original OP “Twister” although this wasn’t what was originally planned but an incident involving the band who sang the original theme forced them to make changes. The original voice actors from the game also reprised their roles for the anime. The series is created to be watched before the release of the long-awaited sequel game.

The art style is made to be similar to it’s game version (with a bit of change to adapt it as an anime like when it comes to body proportions). They also retained the effect of the characters from the UG (players/reapers) being brightly colored while those from the RG having darker/muted colors. While the noise are obviously cg, I personally liked this since they’re said to be from a different plane anyways so it’s a nice contrast to those from the UG and RG. They had to update the setting though as years had passed since the original game’s creation and they had to model anime version of Shibuya to what it’s real life counterpart now looks. The characters are also given smartphones instead of the flip phones they had in the game (anime-only watchers who are gonna play the game would have to get used to them still using flip phones though lol).

Okay so story-wise... it’s rushed. Of course it is. They shortened it so that what’s left would mostly be important plot points from the main story but they cut out many scenes that consist of character interactions and several little things that could’ve fleshed out the characters more. The gameplay is also made simpler with some mechanics taken away and the mini games weren’t adapted (RIP to Reaper Creeper and Tin Pin Slammer, especially the latter as you’re severely missed). The game boast an assortment of characters and some NPCs have their own stories but due to the anime’s limited run time, they had to either be cut out (and are just given cameos) or given smaller roles (and their stories weren’t adapted). They did, however, give a few bits and pieces of information that weren’t in the game such as some details about certain characters and one supporting character was given a bit more screentime that they did in the game version.

Despite the rushed nature of the series (which may or may not affect how one views the story itself), the anime made sure to adapt several important scenes and the dramatic stuff is made worse... like, they really had to make some deaths harder to take. The battle scenes were nice as well although my biggest complaint about them is that the boss fights were over too quickly. There were scenes that were changed for the anime version and there are those that I liked and those I didn’t but there are many which I think was as good as the game’s version.

Do I recommend the anime? The game is better, the characters and story are more fleshed out and the way the character/relationship development happens is better paced so of course, me, biased already would tell you to play the game instead if you haven’t yet. Do I recommend those who played the game to watch the anime? Yes! Yes I do. I think the anime is better watched when you’ve played the game and know the stuff that they cut out cause it’ll make better sense that way. Plus I found it enjoyable seeing the scenes from the game animated and the characters are speaking whole dialogues and moving. It’s great!

Even if the anime wasn’t perfect, like I mentioned before, they did their best to condense the entire main story in a 12 episode series and it tried to be as faithful as it could to the original story so despite the deviations when it comes to how things got to the way they did, if you summarize important plot points, they would be the same (with some details changed). Overall, it was very enjoyable and it wasn’t as bad as I feared when I heard how many episodes the anime was going to have.

Some spoiler thoughts:

It would’ve been better if the anime had more episode count than just 12. Cramming a 3 week story of game into just 12 made the thing very rushed with Week 1 only getting three episodes, Week 2 getting four, and final Week getting five. They had to get to the good stuff so they cut off a lot of scenes where the characters are interacting with each other which means they suddenly get character developments and relationship developments too quickly. It might not be that obvious to anime-only watchers but to me, it felt kinda sudden and it feels like it doesn’t work out well story-wise since Neku had to learn how to trust other people and make friends and with how he started vs. how he came out of it contrasting each other.

By the way, they made the characters look good in the anime. Especially Joshua. Have you seen Joshua? He’s so pretty in the anime. I want a picture of him I could stare at anytime I want to (I do not own a phone, sadly).

I like how they gave Eri more scenes though and that they changed her outfit for the anime so she won’t look exactly like UG!Shiki. All of her scenes though made me feel like I wish the anime gave closure to Shiki’s own story by showing us her and Eri making up. Another scene I liked in the anime is Neku’s fanboying of CAT when he finds out the truth. It was adorable.

Some info was taken away from the anime. Beat and Rhyme leaving home had scene dialogue and unlike Beat just narrating it in-game but they didn’t mention specifically why he was angry and his trouble at home. Joshua wasn’t present when Sota and Nao gave Neku a pep-talk either which is a shame cause I think that helped Josh as well.

I mentioned before how the anime made things go too fast. They cut off chunks of not-main-plot story that let the characters interact with each other more which means each game day is shortened as well. I think it made sense that Neku wakes up at the scramble in the end and not stressed out because he didn’t go through as much as his game counterpart did. That said, game Neku learned a lot from more than just the main cast in the game compared to the anime so I like his character development in the game better.

They took away Tin Pin Slammer. I am sad and disappointed. I was hoping so bad for Another Day to be adapted even if it’s an OVA. That and the ramen incident are part of Josh’s week which meant some side of him wasn’t shown (I mean, anime fans don’t know he wasn’t there on week 3 since he’s busy playing a kid’s game elsewhere and how he could talk about food like he is from a cooking anime). Speaking of Josh, they made him very suspicious from the get-go in the anime. I understand as there’s a limited run-time and they can’t really afford to be subtle about it but it meant some of the fun interactions with Neku is gone and so are some scenes where they actually got along. At least they had ice cream together, I guess?

(I have more to say when it comes to Joshua cause he’s my fave character but this is long and my thoughts on it would make this way longer. I might make another post.)

In the end, it wasn’t perfect but the anime was fun and enjoyable enough that I found myself looking forward to it every week. Seeing scenes I recognize from the game in animated form (with voice acting!) felt exciting and awesome. I’ll miss this show and I still wish it was longer.

If you’ve read this far well, thank you. And also I’m confused why but still hopefully that was a good time-killer. I have so many other things I wanted to comment on but that’s for another time. Maybe.

#Subarashiki Kono Sekai #subaseka #the world ends with you #twewy #sana_post

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flamewing · 3 years

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OCtober Day 11: Truce

[Plain text: “OCtober Day 11: Truce”. End PT]

(Prompt by @oc-growth-and-development)

A few hours late this time bc I wrote this last minute 😅 slightly fic-spoilery, but also it’s basically just a fantasy version of the end of KnB episode 43 with OCs added, sooo *shrugs*. Also my longest OCtober post so far (552 words), so putting it under a cut for the length.

---

Kagami slid down the mountainside. At the bottom, the battered Aomine lay on the ground in a daze—and a black pantheress nudged him with a paw. “Aomine… come on, let’s go home,” she said.

“What?” he grunted, rolling over to get up. “This is nothing… I can still—”

“No, you can’t.”

Kagami blinked as he watched the two. He had only seen the feline a few times before, but he felt as if he recognized her as someone he knew personally.

No, he didn’t. Byakko did.

Kagami closed his eyes, willing himself and Byakko to separate from their shared form. When he opened his eyes a moment later, the white tiger stood beside him, staring in surprise at the other big cat.

“Kasha?!”

Kasha looked up, and her eyes widened in recognition. “Byakko?”

Kagami’s gaze flickered back and forth between them. “You two… know each other?”

“Indeed we do!” Byakko smiled.

“We’re just acquaintances who have fought alongside each other before,” Kasha said. “I wouldn’t call us friends, but we most certainly aren’t enemies.”

“But you two were fighting a few seconds ago,” Aomine mumbled as he got back on his feet with some effort.

“I myself am quite curious as to why you’ve been helping that blue-haired tyrant out, Kasha.” Byakko tilted his head to one side.

Kasha sighed. “I only came because I suddenly sensed that Aomine was in danger. I didn’t know I’d be fighting an old ally here. Now that I do know…” She shot an irritated glare at Aomine. “I’m out of here.”

“What?! Wait!” Aomine called out as she began to turn away. “I can’t—!” Then his legs gave out beneath him, and Kasha rushed to his side to support him.

“…You can’t what? Win this one on your own?” She raised an eyebrow. “You see? You wanted a challenge, and you got it. How does it feel?”

Aomine’s gaze fell as he held on to her. “I… don’t know. I didn’t realize coming that close to death would be so… scary.”

Kasha briefly glanced at Kagami. “I don’t think you would’ve needed to worry about that. Kuroko would never kill an old friend, nor would he let his allies do so. Unlike you, they’ve been fighting for peace.”

“Is that so…?” Aomine let out a weak chuckle. “I guess that’s it, then. I may not be dead, but… I’ve lost.”

“You say that as if it’s a bad thing,” Kasha muttered. “But now you see the error of your ways, don’t you? And now you know… what you’ve actually wanted all along?”

“Also, you didn’t lose,” Kagami added with a frown. “I wasn’t able to defeat you with my own strength.”

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Kasha rolled her eyes, then looked at Byakko. “Great, we’re both stuck with idiots.”

“What?!” the two idiots snapped.

Byakko laughed. “Let us not concern ourselves with such trivialities as who has won or lost! After all, there is no longer a need to know the victor of this battle, correct?”

Kasha nodded. “This has been enough fighting for one day. And I don’t expect these two armies to ever fight each other again. Besides…” She glanced at Aomine and Kagami in turn. “There is a common enemy to the north who needs to be taken down, isn’t there?”

#oc-tober #oc tober #knb #kuroko no basket #kuroko no basuke #kagami taiga #aomine daiki #oc #knb oc #oc: kasha #oc: byakko #fanfic #kuroko’s basketball #the basketball which kuroko plays #oc tober 2021

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cirgaydian-rhythm · 5 years

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Promare is GAY AF

and you can’t change my mind.

Gonna ramble some spoilery thoughts under the cut!

I have seen this movie three times now, and while I remember a lot of it, I might fuck up in some places, so forgive me. But my point is, I paid attention to different elements on each rewatch, and I’ve given a lot of thought to everything in it over the past week.

But basically? Trigger knows damn well what they did, and they did it with all the intent in the world, because they made deliberate decisions that could have very easily gone different ways:

The Promare being rendered as pink triangles. Why pink? Why triangles? Burnish flares get rendered in a variety of neons and angular shapes, but the very first visual of the Promare itself, and every representation of the base Promare “life force” is pink triangles.

For those of you young’uns who’re missing out on your queer history: the Nazi concentration camps used a variety of different colored triangle swatches as badges to denote why the prisoners were in the camps, and pink triangles were used for homosexuals. The queer community, of course, took this and turned it into a badge of pride, because that’s what we do. It’s ubiquitous enough (or at least, it was in the 90′s and 00′s) that pink triangles were used to mark queer safe spaces.

Here’s the wiki article for more info, but basically, there’s very little chance that the writers didn’t know what they were using, especially given all the other themes in the movie.

Galo’s entrance. It’s easy to miss on the first watch because there’s just so much going on, but the FDPP trucks are only flashing red and blue lights. But when Galo’s pod-thingy is deployed, it’s accompanied by a whole rainbow of lights. So...here’s this inexplicably shirtless guy with an undercut and some weird strap across his chest, loudly and proudly emerging from this rainbow-rave-light thing...

Yes, I know the strap is from the sleeve for the burns on his arm, but it didn’t have to be like that. The animators didn’t need to add that strap across his chest, but they did. And black leather chest straps are just Gay Culture, okay?

You can argue with me that his hair is a mohawk, but I’m pretty sure it’s an undercut since the short parts aren’t shaved bald. And undercuts are Gay Culture.

The scene with Vulcan at the pizza place. This is a small detail, but given that it’s Studio Trigger, it’s kind of significant? When Aina joins Galo in trying to get Vulcan to stop, she is on top of him, literally with her boobs on either side of his head. And Galo? Galo isn’t blushing or drooling or anything - he’s annoyed that he’s getting smashed between her and Vulcan! I’d maybe ignore this from any other studio, but I’ve seen Kill la Kill, I know they’re not shy about making characters drool over other characters doing inadvertently sexy things, nothing would’ve been taken away if the brief shot of Galo’s face was of a stupid drooly grin instead of a very annoyed grumpface. But they went with grumpface.

The frozen lake scene with Aina and Galo, and I’m not just talking about him dropping her on her ass. There are several small cues in this scene that paint them as similar, but ultimately out of sync.

One of the wide shots shows Aina pushing off to skate closer to Galo, only for Galo to push off a second later to skate further away from her - not deliberately, even, he just simply doesn’t know what she’s doing.

As they turn, talking about their shit, they’re both alternating between light and shadow...opposite from one another. Yes, they’re going through similar things and relating to similar experiences, but at different times, in different ways.

Galo is completely oblivious to the position he catches Aina in. She’s completely flustered, and he’s just like “oh, you fell, lucky I caught you before you conked your head on the ice,” and then all awareness of her and her proximity to him is completely gone when he spots the Burnish Flare.

Also, thinking about it, I’m not even sure Aina is all that into it? Like, yeah, she’s completely flustered and embarrassed, but at the thought of Galo kissing her, she...makes a face like she’s holding her breath like a child would when they have to endure something they dislike. There’s no imagine spot, no attempt at kissing him first, no nothing. It’s clear that she she has some affection for him as a friend and coworker, but that seems to be it. Whether she’s not sure of her own feelings, or she thinks Galo is in to her, is up to interpretation, I guess, but there’s no reason for her to have made that face if it didn’t mean that she felt like kissing Galo would be something she’d have to endure, rather than something she would enjoy.

The Promare life-force transfer. Look, it’s magic, and Trigger could have had it function literally any other way, but they deliberately chose to go with the CPR/“kiss of life” method.

Not to mention, that when Lio tries to revive Thyma, the focus is on the life force. The shot changes angles multiple times, and Lio does, at points, pull away and try again - closer to the actual mouth-to-mouth CPR method. It’s deliberately set up as being akin to something Galo is trained to do.

And yet, when he’s faced with the necessity of the same method, he not only does not follow Proper Mouth-to-Mouth CPR Procedures, he doesn’t even follow the method Lio used on Thyma!

You can argue that, in-universe, Galo maybe didn’t really remember what was supposed to happen and just panicked and was trying to transfer the Promare in any way possible, but that doesn’t work on a meta level.

There is no heterosexual explanation for holding that shot for 15 whole seconds with that lighting and that background music. It did not need to happen like that unless Trigger was trying to make a point that it means something. It was shot and framed differently from Lio and Thyma because it is different from Lio and Thyma.

Galo’s freak out. This gets its own point because the fake-out is built on a super popular “no homo” joke, where a guy freaks out about “kissing” another guy in the midst of performing CPR. They absolutely, deliberately make it seem like that’s where it’s going with Galo, but then veer into “you made me light a fire!”

And I mean, yeah, it’s funny that a firefighter is flipping out over having lit a fire, but on its own, it’s a bit over-the-top, even for Trigger - and that’s the point. It has to be considered in the context of the trope its mocking, because Galo considers “lighting a fire” to be of more concern than “kissing a boy.”

Plus, in-universe? He’s a first-responder, a trained EMT - he’s probably performed (actual) CPR on guys before. Big whup. As silly as it is to have him flip out over lighting a fire, it’d be even more implausible for him to have flipped out over locking lips with a guy for medical purposes.

Yeah, I said for medical purposes, because in-universe, that’s what it was. But only in-universe. Because nothing about how that scene was planned and framed and shot was “for medical purposes,” and anybody with half a braincell can see that.

And the HEART. You know, just to drive the point home that this is love. They didn’t have to do that! It didn’t have to be a heart! It could’ve been anything else! It realistically should have been anything else! But it’s a HEART. Trigger did that.

Anyway, I’ve probably missed some other things, but this is what I remember thinking. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

#promare #promare is gay #you can't change my mind #trigger said gay rights #galolio #liogalo

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whoslaurapalmer · 3 years

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okay, final rule of wolves thoughts, clearly very spoilery, also literally just me talking about writing --

-there was a LOT going on plot wise but I feel like it was all paced pretty well, but at the end it did fall apart a little? mayu's pov just drops out?? (that's the book you should write next leighb not more crows as much as I love the crows but I'll get to that) zoya being queen is like phenomenal but also is really rushed?? same with nina and hanne?? they all become rulers completely unchallenged, without any difficulty? -again, phenomenal moments and rightfully so and I'm glad they happen and they SHOULD, that difficulty shouldn’t always be there, nina calling it a beautiful dream but it being real matters so much, but it just doesn't feel.......narratively well done idk idk -i think it is just that it feels really rushed in some way -like i don’t want them to have to work harder for that. but it IS really, really rushed

-captain inej. my whole heart -kaz and jesper and wylan..........also my whole heart -kaz. my boy. the light of my fucking life. -l o v e h i m

-i loved seeing zoya and genya and alina hang out at the very very end and wish there'd been moreeeeee

-ONCAT’S STILL ALIVE, THERE IS A GOD -misha.......... :(

-david's death -- on one hand, the cruel casualties of war, even when you think nothing can go wrong, the contrast in it happening right after the wedding, war and life can turn on a dime and that’s just, how it happens -- but, ugggg. It hurts bc there was so much of david and genya being precious and that shouldn't be the slap in the face it is when you read it again because then it's not sweet it's just foreshadowing loss and that's actually aggravating to think about. because we got so MUCH of it in rule of wolves. -especially bc david is THE ONLY casuality of the cast in this book????? literally the only one?????? unless i forgot someone???? -not that I WANTED more cast to die but. big casualties in alina's story and one (1) here. yes they've already lost a lot and zoya's garden shows that but, then especially why kill david

-i don't know if I think the darkling gets redeemed -- I think it's a little funny that he brings together the starless one worshippers and he super hates them bc they aren't what he thinks he deserves and he can't completely manipulate them -- and I think him being resurrected in yuri in king of scars was a FASCINATING twist. because you read that and you think, oh my god, how are they going to handle that??????

-but, that's the thing, in writing -- it's not enough to write something that's a fascinating twist, you need to follow through with the right consequences of that twist. which means, you have the darkling again. what happens with him? he’s killed again -- but if immediately, why bring him back? if they wait to kill him, what is his worth to the plot that he lives longer? (and then he manages to manipulate them again!! as much as i wanted to see alina, i was really surprised that they actually, legitimately put them in the same room, that they even considered it, that they even asked alina!!! yes, nikolai will expend any avenue to help ravka -- but put alina and the darkling in the same room??????????)

-he’s not killed again, or right away -- then he has to hang around. what does he do? does he try to regain his followers? he can’t because they aren’t who he wants. he has no one to go to. he doesn’t even go to alina again even if he knows where she is. does he immediately plot against nikolai? but even the darkling admitted he can’t, but, since he did keep his powers, he’s clearly capable of it, actually. so then he’s just, trying to get the worshippers together and it just keeps going wrong for him like a sitcom plot? if he has to live -- is he redeemed? not every character can be redeemed. not every character DESERVES to be redeemed. does he hide and we never see him for the rest of the book? then that leaves an unresolved plot thread to be brought back later, and why? and then why not just kill him? -then does he become a bigger plot problem for the characters that’s kind of unnecessary?

-so it brings me back to, again -- as fascinating a twist as it was, was it necessary? does the act of following through with the consequences come to outweigh the power of the twist, because those consequences cause more problems? -and in general i think leighb is really good at working with ‘x happens -- there are consequences’ in her plots, so that’s why i’m so concerned about picking them apart

-i’m sorry to make this like all about lulu talks about writing semantics but i respect leighb a lot as a writer particularly in her worldbuilding and characters which is why i want to think about this on a technical level -so in the end -- is it a good twist??? or does it only harm or reduce the narrative that came before (he had to die and that was okay!!!!) and add an unnecessary additional plot problem to the narrative now??

-but -the darkling having to be the one in the thornwood, and finally stop the spread of the fold, what he himself was responsible for, that he deserves to finally suffer for because the darkling is a fuckwad and I hold like zero sympathy for him????? beautiful beautiful beautiful. (-but, again, it felt kind of too convenient, to have that be the answer to the blight.) (what should be the answer? i don’t know. it makes me wonder if the blight was something else unnecessary) -but then genya forgiving him, for knowingly giving her to the king??? (not everyone has to be forgiven. not everyone can be forgiven.) zoya fulfilling his wish to be a saint???? which she did not have to do???? (guess it would appease the followers though??) giving him a pov???? like we need to know where he is, and it's funny that he's pissed off at the followers, but also maybe shouldn't be funny??? -oh what would've been fun (the good fun. not funny fun) was him wrestling with yuri more

-SPEAKING OF WRESTLING i know nikolai has to come to terms with the demon somehow and the failed obisbaya apparently helped but the demon was in the back quite a bit, I thought, even for as much as he shows up -maybe it’s just because it’s been like a year since i read king of scars

-okay so the ending -i know leighb said she wanted this to be like the grand finale of grishaverse but that she was still open to more and like i completely understand that but -knowing when to end something is important, too. -every story has a natural conclusion. I think, yeah, there’s always, some piece that could probably still be talked about, BUT – you can’t just keep going back to a story or a world and try to draw more out of it, keep pushing something in it so you can push your characters and your story more and more. eventually it won’t feel the same. it won’t be a natural ending anymore, it will be, here is an end, OH LOOK HERE’S A NEW THING, here is an end, OH LOOK HERE’S ANOTHER NEW THING, and that’s already happening a little here. (-i don’t think it was bad that it happened with nikolai at the end of ruin and rising -- that’s leighb addressing the consequences of something that she set up, and why i think king of scars was necesary.) -stories end. character arcs, as we know them, come to an end. if not, then they are just mined for content, usually angst and drama, and that’s especially not good writing. you risk stopping creating something that feels genuine. -so yeah i think king of scars was necessary to talk about the aftereffects of nikolai’s demon and where ravka is going. but i don’t know if i think it was successful. -what bothered me about king of scars, even with the parts i did like, was actually nikolai and zoya meeting elizabeta and juris and grigori -i don’t know if i just thought it was unexpected and i’d feel differently if i read it again?? but i never forget reading it last year and feeling just, weird about it, like it was too out of left field, idk -i think the connection between saints = grisha is important. but again it’s all just, execution stuff

-i don’t think she should’ve set up a whole new adventure in the last like four pages, if it’s supposed to also have the ability to be a contained end to the story -i don’t think it make sense to tease a new story!! i don’t think it’s needed!! i think it should have just had a plain happy ending with zoya taking the crown and being with nikolai!! i don’t think that’s bad!!!! -i know the big thing is that, the downfall of grisha is the desire for power, and that’s what got alina (at least she got better. like the one time where ‘character lost powers’ is okay) and especially the darkling, but zoya has come really far in these two books in how she sees other people and working on relying on them as people she loves and i liked her chapters the best and they were what hit me the hardest, and i know it’s going to be a worry for her but i don’t think the idea of her becoming the darkling is something that should be given that weight -ESPECIALLY IF IT WAS ONLY FOR FOUR PAGES

-so yeah i think the logical next book would be a place leighb hasn’t explored, like with six of crows. -there’s a lot to do with the shu and the kerghud that she could do and as much as i love kaz and think another heist would be cool, a heist has already been done and i think it would be a wasted opportunity to do that without doing something new in the grishaverse

-it honestly really made me want to reread six of crows because i missed the crows a lot -and i think it says a lot that so many people liked the chapters with kaz and jesper and wylan so much in rule of wolves -that was why i caved and bought rule of wolves right away!!! because i wanted to see the boy!!!!!! but i did also care about nikolai and zoya. -personally i do think six of crows are the best books in grishaverse. i think they’re the most tightly plotted and have the best characters and are the most CONTAINED and the most compelling (even if i can’t always follow kaz’s implied background machinations) (i can’t always keep track of all the politics either!!) (not that big of a deal for me, though.) -that duology is close to perfect. i think everything wraps up almost completely neatly (although i will, actually, be wondering now, about how death is handled in a narrative, re: matthias, because when i was reading them i thought, well, someone has to die in crooked kingdom, but, why? but anyway), and i love that the ending of it all is 1) characters continuing to change, and showing they will continue to change 2) inej reuniting with her parents aaaaaaa (-worth noting though that the epilogue of ruin and rising is indeed one of my favorite things as well, too.)

-i did still enjoy rule of wolves, though!!! a lot of little moments i really really liked, and nikolai and zoya were beautiful and delightful and i love them too, and i do kind of want to reread king of scars and this one again to see if my opinion has changed when i read them closer together but -i also do really just want to reread six of crows, again.

#i don't know what this is. i really went off here #just about a lot of things about. putting together a story

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bean-n-shroob · 4 years

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The Origami King Review/Opinion

(I sorta hate that it has the word The in it cause when I did impressions or this review, it sounds strangely official)

I’m gonna review but if people don’t want spoilers here’s some Pros and Cons that I felt

Pros:

+ Music is fantastic! I love how the battle theme changes with every area/sub-area you go to.

+ Writing is good, it gets you invested in enough to sorta care. Humor is top notch as expected!

+ Olivia is a sweetheart! I love her so much and how she’s so marveled by everything.

+ Boss Battles are fun to figure and deal with.

+ Finding Toads is actually kinda fun, I enjoy figuring out where they’re hidden

+ Badge system is intriguing if not a bit clunkly put together (sorry, this is suppose to be Pros)

Cons:

- Regular Battles get old quick if puzzles aren’t really your thing and its a bit too easy to just not depend on the coins, thus making them pointless.

- Story sorta flops, it starts strong but then just sorta fizzles and all we got left is... fun experiences (I know this sounds like a Con, but while the experiences are fun, it is disappointing the story sorta flops hard)

- Character Design is very meh. The most well written character can’t save it from its extremely generic design

- But also Olly is not... that well written... so...

- Partners and Vellumentals are kinda under utilized to a disappointing degree (baby steps, baby steps ugh)

Anywho, that’s all my feelings (that I can remember and feel I can say without spoilers)

6.5/10 (I’ll explain the scoring under the cut)

Spoilers Under Cut

Hello and welcome to the Spoiler Bits of this Review/Opinion

Buckle in, this is a long one

Now y’all may be a bit curious as to why, with so much big things (music/writing/bosses/Olivia) being good and so little being bad, why a 6.5/10?

Well, I felt a 7 was too generous and would make people think “Oh, its good!” but a 6 is like “Eh... its mediocre” and a 6.5 is more like a “Its Good, But” and I feel that But is important! I know how this may sound, but TOK could’ve been WAY better and Chapter 2 was an example of how good this game could’ve been!

You know how people always bring up Huey, or the “Morton Leston” joke, or the “I would do things that would raise this game’s rating” line as examples as why Color Splash is actually really good and we’re all in denial?

I feel Chapter 2 will be that for TOK and its all because of Bobby! I like Bobby, I like Bobby a lot! I wish he stuck around! I loved how he and Olivia interacted together and how they formed a bond!

But

I sorta hated how overall useless he was to the action and adventuring. He’s the most useless partner that somehow leaves a deep impression on the player!

He leaves such a deep impression that I don’t think anyone noticed how badly written Professor Toad was! He was such a let down as a follow up to Bobby! And worst of all, he was like way more useful than Bobby! He can dig holes, he can wipe out a whole role of enemies, he has a function outside of battle and story.

Seeing how useful Professor Toad was, sorta put into perspective Bobby and his eventual sacrifice to save Olivia (I told ya this was spoilers). He just dies, in a shockingly emotional moment, giving a speech about how Bomb-Ombs live relatively short lives and are always trying to make the most of it.

Wow... I really wish Chapter 6 didn’t have a segment where you were half hazardly shooting bomb-ombs out of a cannon, cause otherwise, this could’ve been way more impactful!

But it also made it seem like "we can't make Bobby too useful, he's gonna die. So just keep him extremely simple and useless in every other aspect of the adventure, besides story."

I don’t get how TOK started out so strong! The intro and Chapter 1 introduced us to the basic loop how what we’d have to do and how stuff will play out and Chapter 2 took that and showed us how far we could go with this loop and how involved the world will be with this loop!

Only for Chapter 3 to just give up on everything and give us 1 expansive dessert to explore, a very one note partner who doesn’t leave a lasting impression, a boring quest of solving an ancient riddle and a very annoying boss dungeon segment that went on longer than it should’ve! And above all else, a very half-assed excuse for why he won’t be joining your journey! Especially since Chapter 4 doesn’t have a partner!

Chapter 4 feels like an overly-long intermission of Mario n Olivia’s adventure to Chapter 5. Legit the purple streamer of 4 could’ve been the green streamer of 5 and it would only flow just a little bit less smoothly. Chapter 4 has this weird send off to the Vellumentals, with the boss dungeon being a mixture of the last 4 Vellumental chambers you’ve explored. Which feels out of place especially since there’s like 2 more chapters of stuff happening afterwards! And like a thunder elemental like boss fight in 5 but I guess they just couldn’t be bothered to create a Thunder Vellumental fight to tack onto the story and just gave it to this Origami Sumo Bro! Okay!

And then the Bowser Castle segment is right when they decide to get creative with enemy encounters, but only 2 enemy encounters (you can fight these two multiple time if you’re neither a chicken nor annoyed with the battle ring system) but then just stop right after cause Scissor makes cut out soldiers was the only excuse why that happened.

Again... I like TOK, I do. If I didn't, I'd rate it a 4 or 5 outta 10. I'll talk about the good, I will, but lemme just rant about 1 thing first! Its actually 2 rants but its gonna be about 1 topic I'm rather passionate about.

Character Design

I hate how generic the Legion of Stationery are! Once again, Chapter 2 wins by giving Rubber Band a very unique design, but everyone else is so generic looking! Remember how I said the personalities couldn't save them from their generic design? The Legion have such fun personalities, its so tacky and fun! But I cannot get over how it contrasts with the fact I'm staring at an object hoping in place or wiggling or jiggling as they talk! It kinda sucks, honestly!

I wish these guys had more creativity behind them, and truth be told it wouldn't have bothered me had Rubber Band not been an outlier! Why them and not everyone else! Its baffling!

But above all else, the worst offender, is the Origami Craftsman! The dude who folded Olly! Is a TOAD! That's it! A toad in an apron! WHY

And I get it, there's story reason behind it! Olly wants all Toads gone cause they all look alike and thus everyone reminds him of the Craftsman who wrote (a very touching message) on him!

And that SUCKS!

(uh oh, i forgot about Olly and his terrible terrible motive to be evil)

Speaking of Olly! Remember when I said he wasn't well written? Well besides being an evil prick who enjoys messing with the heroes (i dont mind that, evil just to be evil is fine), it sorta randomly just comes up that he hates Toads near the end! It just comes up!

And I THINK it was suppose to be hinted at by the fact all the Toads gets attacked and folded by Paper Macho and Folded Soldiers. But my problem with this is:

1. Would they have been daring as making Folded Toads as enemies? Thus the lack of Folded Toad enemies should've hinted at this

2. The enemies were origami version of Mario enemies! So enemies still being enemies but folded would've just strengthen the fact we'd be fighting bowser minions again, making the previous Toad hint moot.

3. Toads have always been in peril in previous PM games so the fact they're in peril again wouldn't have been a point of interest!

I GUESS the fact Folded Peach specifically asks whether Toads should be silenced could've hinted at this, but people just took it as "hah lol Toads annoying" and not "oh, this villain has a thing against toads~". Its just, who else would the villain have pointed out? There's only Toads here! Maybe if there was a bigger variety of npcs and we saw other npcs either becomes folded soldiers or be spared from the folded attack, we could've wondered "hey, why are only the toads getting stuck in places?"

But we don't!

Anyways, huff! Lemme count all the good, spoilery things in the game (that's not in Chapter 2) to end on a good note

I love how Olivia is so sweet, no one could bring themselves to be mean to her (except Olly), even Kamek has a hard time being mean cause she's so bubbly and caring (except for that weird bit in the forest where Kamek had to be all rivalry about it but I digress)

Bowser backtalking Olly was very funny, I loved it a lot!

The fact Olivia asks Olly to come to his senses before Mario smashed his face with the Olivia hammer (i need to specify this cause otherwise it'll look like Mario interrupted this scene with a hammer smash but no, Olivia fully knew her hammer weight was gonna fall on Olly's face and just gave some last words of pleas before not even letting him respond) I loved that.

I liked how sweet Olivia was to Luigi despite how much he kept screwing up (i forgot to rant about that but tl;dr, he's a bit of a buffoon and its a bit annoying) i thought it was very touching how Olivia kept rooting for him regardless.

The Tape talking like a Gangster was actually really funny, I liked that a lot.

Bowser's pep talk to Olivia was very funny, it was basically "dont be sad, look at me, my muscles are massive and I can punch through walls!"

As jarring as they were, I actually liked a lot of the singing and dancing that occurred through the game.

Olly having his own color scheme for his Vellumental forms was super cool!

The ending was really touching. Olivia wished for all of Olly's creations to be undone, and because you find out in Chapter 4 that she's also a creation of Olly, she is undone too. And they don't spell that out! You just find out she's not around and connect the dots. I think that was very well done.

And these are some of several reasons I liked TOK and why I couldn't rate it lower than 6. It has a lot of things that just doesn't live up to Chapter 2 and its disappointing to realize halfway through that the game peaked in Chapter 2. Its so weird, they showed us how good it can be and then never lives up to the expectationd set by Chapter 2. I wish it did

Thats why I rate it a 6.5/10

#The Origami King Spoilers #The Origami King #review #opinion #mod speaks

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sohmariku · 5 years

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Toumyu Kisho Hongi Review-ish

[non-spoilery]

OMG, Kisho Hongi was so good! Everyone is so talented! The wigs and costumes were on point and I loved the music. Like, all these boys are amazing singers! Surprise of the day was probably Tsurumaru's singing voice. Holy **** that boy can sing. He does feel a little baby for the role maybe, but he did an awesome job. Everyone did an amazing job!!

Other surprises were the singing voices of our historical characters. Those boys can sing too! They did an amazing job too. Love them!

Storywise, the start of the musical felt a bit slow, but then a twist and the action begins. I also like how it seems they are trying to bring all the separate stories together and how this story really ties in with Mihotose on a level we haven't seen before. I'm really interested to see where they'll take it next. What's also nice, this musical seems to explain some things of Mihotose too. I'm actually amazed they thought that far ahead!

Now, onto the spoilers, stop reading if you don't want to know plot info!

FIRST ACT

So, we begin our story in the past. Sengo and Tonbokiri are still at Ieyasu's side, performing the roles they took upon themselves. Ishikirimaru, Nikkari and Okurikara have returned already, because their roles have been fulfilled and they "passed away". Monoyoshi seems to be out on the field to fight a battle, but might be in trouble. Sengo wants to go send reinforcements, but Ieyasu refuses. (or something)

Now, insert Kotegiri gives an idol performence... That boy makes it very clear he wants to become a star and stand on the stage with his senpai. Then Akashi shows up, introduces himseld and comments on Kotegiri's sof hands. Then leaves. Next Otegine shows up and Kotegiri invites him to join him for singing and dancing.

We cut back to the past...

The exact timeline is a bit blurry in my head, bit let's talk about some things I do remember.

So, Ieyasu (together with Tonbokiri and Sengo) decides he and his third son Hidetada will both lead a force to fight some battle. While his second son Hideyasu has to stay behind. This apparantly indicayes Ieyasu has chosen Hidetada to be his successor. Hideyasu and Hidetada don't take this well. Hidetada feels his older brother should be the successor. And so does Hideyasu. Ieyasu doesn't want to explain himself and both brother's feel it might be related to the fact that Hideyasu is in fact the older half of set of twins. (I unfortunately forgot the twins name) Twins are supposedly cursed or so and usually removed from history.

Thereupon Hideyasu gets corrupted by the History Retrograde Army and trouble starts.

A new team is dispatched to help Tonbokiri and Sengo fight the threat, but things go south, because Sengo feels and incredible regret towards Nobuyasu's death and wants to take revenge by killing the Kebiishi who cause Nobuyasu's demise. So, he goes all crazy when one shows up as they are fighting Hideyasu, who's trying to kill them. As a result Sengo almost gets himself killed and they need to run for their lives. Consequently he and Tonbokiri share a touching moment while Tsurumaru is sleeping right next to them. Seems like Sengo was more involved in Nobuyasu's upbringing than anyone thought. Before becoming Naomasu he apparently disguised himself as old men (etc) to play games with Nobuyasu and teach him "things".

More HRA and just as they are almost defeated a stranger shows up who saves them. It turns out this person is actually Nobuyasu, alive and well, who's taken the name of Kakegawa no Gohei and now works as a farmer, while fighting to protect the common folk. War is all about food, he tells his Hidetada, people fight because they are hungry. Fill their bellies and you'll have peace. Hidetada thereupon decides to once more ask his father, Ieyasu, why he was chosen over Hideyasu. Oh, btw, Nobuyasu knows all about the Touken Danshi and the fact he's alive is actually thanks to Ishikirimaru. It was basically all a set up. Though he didn't learn about the Touken Danshi from Ishikirimaru. He played the role of Hanzo till the very end. Someone else came by to tell him he should help the Touken Danshi if that time came. This turns out to be Mikazuki! (We learn at the end of the musical.)

More fighting and somewhere in between we have Akashi and Kotegiro discuss the meaning of life and fighting. Saving one life is as good as saving none, or something. So, no need to bother. But Kotegiri's heroics eventually convince Akashi to actually try.

So, Hideyasu is saved by Kotegiri's purifying skills. He talks with his younger twin and they both agree it's alright even if he can't succeed Ieyasu. Btw. This younger twin also knows about the Touken Danshi. Something he learned from his big brother Nobuyasu long ago. At first the younger twin and Otegine don't get along very well, but as they spend more time together they turn into a great team.

Eventually we also learn that Ieyasu chose Hidetada to succeed him, because he feels Hidetada is better suited to rule a peaceful country, but if Ieyasu had felt he couldn't bring peace and the wars would continue, he would have chosen Hideyasu to succeed him. Hidetada is satified with this answer.

And... They all live happily ever after...?

Not really, at this time we learn Mototada/Monoyoshi passes away in battle. Ieyasu just bursts in sad laughter, because laughing is what Monoyoshi taught him best...

We end back at the Honmaru. With Tonbokiri reading the book that Ishikirimaru wrote and Sengo making to changes to it. And the other boys having fun. Akashi not going to get himself fixed, even though he's told by Kotegiri time won't heal his wounds, they aren't human after all. Except Tsurumaru, who has a serious conversation with Master.

So, yes, now we know. The person visiting Ieyasu on his death bed wasn't a ghost, it was probably Nobuyasu himself, alive and well.

We also know Mikazuki is going around in the back. Possibly without his Masters knowledge. It seems he is all about taking shortcuts to keep go history as it is. Even if it means he has to tell people what needs to happen.

SECOND ACT

We are treated again. Great costumes and great songs. Tonbokiri solo, Sengo solo, Tsurumaru solo. All three guys did such an amazing job! Otegine, Akashi and Kotegiri need to share the stage, but their song is fun. And their vocals more than decent.

We also get some group songs. We had Tonbokiri and Otegine come by our side of the theater. Tonbo was just waving. Otegine started really interacting with the audience. He created some very happy saniwa today. It was so cute!

Another very cute part was the MC corner. Akashi is lazing around and Sengo says he's just playing tsundere. Kotegiri comments he doesn't know what it means, so Sengo gives Otegine and Tsurumaru the job to explain to Kotegiri what "tsundere" means. Insert a very cute fake fight. Otegine pushing and yelling at Tsurumaru to leave, because he isn't helping. Than yelling at Tsurumaru, because ge pushed too hard and hurt him. It seems to turn into a fight... then suddenly... That's Tsundere. Well, guess Kotegiri understands now.

Next Sengo asks the whole hall to tell Akashi we don't love him. (because yes, if he's being tsundere , we can too) He responds by getting up and telling us he doesn't really care if we like him (it's easier that way) , but he still likes us. XD I've neven laughed so much during a show. It felt like the boys had too much fun too and just tried to make it last as long as possible.

More songs, even our historical characters get a chance to show off their vocal abilities again. Thankfully. It would've been a waste of they hadn't done that. And of course the taiko too, we still have that.

Songs were good, costumes were good. I have no complaints, except... I wanted more!

It was a super fun performance and I can't wait to see it again!

#Touken Ranbu #Toumyu

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idaisa · 4 years

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Major spoilers for everything, but I have a point...

What is with everything having to have a bitter sweet ending all of a sudden. From Game of Thrones turning Dany into a maniac, because, why the fuck not even though there was like 0.5 of a lead up to it, to End Game literally killing off the guy who, if he had survived would’ve had the greatest story arc in the history of cinema (Ironman) and now, The Rise of Skywalker. I know not a lot of people have not seen it, and I’m sorry, MOVE ON from this post cause now I’m gonna get super spoilery. To have these three new movies come out, like I get it the technology is there, why not make new Star Wars movies. And the first one was great, it had nostalgia, it had tragedy, it set things off really well because it brought people in and created a foundation on what we were comfortable with. The second one had so much potential because it had so many places to go, but instead we go this fanboy esk movie, made by someone who clearly doesn’t understand the fans, but whatever that’s for a different rant, and now we have the Rise of Skywalker. A movie that was supposed to fix the problems of the last and also finish off a 9 movie saga. What I got felt like it was doing damage control for the last, and thus didn’t have time/space to do what it was originally meant to do. It shoved a out of fucking nowhere villain (they could’ve made JarJar the bad guy and I’d feel like it came from about the same place) but there was a ray of hope, there was one character who if they did him justice, I would’ve been fine with every other mishap. And that is Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. A character who again could’ve had a very impressive story arc. Starting of a sith, murdering his own father, haunting a young woman who slowly motivates him to question his path in life. This third movie could’ve been his redemption and reward for being good, but you know what happens? He dies. After a brilliant scene between him and his father he goes to save Rey, YES redemption moment offered. Then he fights off his Knights of Ren and faces Palpatine by her side, YES redemption asked for. But then when Rey dies, and he is left with a future without her he uses what is left of his power to bring her back to life, they kiss (yay for those Reylo fans because this movie gets flirty between them REAL quick) and then he dies. She is left alone in the world and he doesn’t even get a force ghost moment with his mother and Uncle. He gets nothing. He saves the girl, he rejects the darkness within himself and he gets nothing.

And yes it could be argued that he saved the person he loved the most, and got a kiss, but even his very soul doesn’t find afterlife happiness because we see NOTHING.

Side point, the relationship between Padme and Anakin was more satisfying to watch end. OMG FUCKING SHOCKER, but seriously, they fell in love it was forbidden, she gets pregnant and with is decent into the darkness, you watch the purest of things, love, withstand that. Who does Padme ask for? Anakin, who does Vader ask about? Padme. And yes she dies, but it served a purpose, to set the twins off, and to add to Vaders mixed emotions about everything. Sure she died stupidly, but still I felt it gave more to the plot than Ben’s death. Ben’s death felt like, a hero of this series (and yes by the end of this he is a goddamn hero) didn’t win. How amazing would it have been to see the contrast, Anakin turns dark, looses the person he loves the most, Ben turns light and gets to be with the person he loves the most, I AM JUST SAYING THERE WAS AN OPPORTUNITY HERE! And they missed it. Keep in mind I’m not a reylo fan-girl, but if you’re going to give us that relationship, then actually do it.

So my problem with this is, what are we trying to say here? that you can do terrible things but still redeem yourself, sure, but will you see any kind of happy ending here? no, you don’t even get to go to the equivalent of Jedi heaven. And when you’ve invested years of your life watching and following a potentially great moral story here, it’s unsatisfying. Now I am not one of those people who will trash a movie, set fire to all my merch and call it a day. But like how I felt with Endgame, what was the point of all that? why do I feel so deflated and unfulfilled by this story? Because I grew up with films that gave you trials and tragedy but they (for the most part) let the good guy win, and live happily ever after. Rey doesn’t even seem that well off, she finishes the movie, again in a fucking desert. I’m just being hit with these movies and tv series that I invest large chunks of my life into and I’m feeling like in the end I get punched in the gut for my loyalty and it kind of sucks. My favourite trilogy is still the original three. And in some ways I guess this new one beats out the prequels as well. But I just feel like fans, who invest their money, time and emotions into your stories, deserve better. It doesn’t have to be roses, sure he could die and it would say that sacrificing yourself for the one you love is important. BUT HE DIDN’T EVEN GET A FORCE GHOST, he didn’t get that in soul redemption and WHY, what would it have done to the plot to show him as redeemed as Vadar. I just... I feel like there are happy endings and there are endings that make a point, there are endings that teach us lessons and there are endings that satisfy us. Not everyone is going to be happy, you can’t impress millions, but don’t leave me feeling like I could do better. Don’t leave me feeling like some of the good guys don’t win. The thing I loved about the origional trilogy is that it gave you a villain, a real villain who kills potentially billions through out his life (planets and all) turn around and say no to that darkness. And you know what he got? fucking peace, he got to move on to the afterlife redeemed and at peace. And I just think if you are going to kill off Ben fucking solo, an actual skywalker, call the movie the RISE OF SKYWALKER (hinting at some kind of ascendance for him), then maybe you want to give the last SKYWALKER who sacrifices himself for the greater good of lets face it EVERYONE, afterlife peace.

Maybe they’ll do an extended version, change the ending, who the fuck knows, but for now, like with those other franchises, I feel like my persistent loyalty was not rewarded and that kinda stings.

#tros spoilers #got spoilers #enggame spoilers #reylo #star wars #star wars the rise of skywalker #rant #Disney

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marcussour · 4 years

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As promised some time ago, here are some random (non spoilery regarding the new story stuff) thoughts about FF7 Remake:

Jessie is love, Jessie is life. Also, can’t remember if her surname existed before or not, but it’s kinda adorable that it’s Rasberry.

Also, she’s SO THIRSTY.

Bigg’s cool. Wedge’s also cool, but I still can’t get over the fact that he’s voiced by Breaking Bad’s Badger.

Since Square was willing to mix up some things regarding the story and narrative of the game, it would’ve been nice that they would have let you play as Jessie, Biggs or Wedge at some part (Jessie rides the bike with you at one point and it’s the closer we get to that -while also adding more wood to the thirsty fire, like, that scene while she rides the bike is not subtle at all-).

Everyone in this game -EVERYONE- has the hots for Cloud (at least until that part when Aerith meet Tifa, and from then onwards, Cloud’s pretty much just a third wheel).

Johnny is annoying, but it kinda grows on you. What I like the most about it is that they updated a random NPC model from the original and made it a character that’s clearly going to be a thing in the future.

The combat system in this game is fucking amazing.

The soundtrack is just in another level, I really like both the new dynamic orchestration of the original songs, and the remixes that are offered as in-game records (especially when it’s songs that doesn’t appear in the Midgar section of the story, like Wutai or Costa del Sol’s music).

Said it in an earlier post, but Aerith really grew on me in this game. The same thing with Barret, who I had some fears based on his previous characterization and the voice acting, but he’s amazing, and it’s great that (SEMI SPOILER) there’s an in game explanation for how he’s basically faking this almost 80′s action movie star facade, while hiding his insecurities and fears.

Red XIII is perfect.

Let Aerith curse more often.

The way they modernized the Wall Market is a triumph in and on itself. Not only how they managed it, but in how they got rid of the worst and most problematics part of the original, while expanding the setting, giving it new personality, and adding new characters that are some of the most memorable ones in the game.

For the most part, the games looks and runs amazing. But it’s still kinda weird that in some parts there are some textures that looks like they came from the PS1 or PS2 era, while other parts have these weird graphic hiccups where not everything loads at the same speed. Dunno if the people with PS4 Pro had those issues or not. Anyway, it’s nothing that ruins the experience, but it’s distracting at times. I’m guessing this was a result of the weird change of developing teams that happened a few years ago.

Almost all the new and expanded sections work great. But there are some places where the padding it’s visible (going through almost the same corridors over and over, those weird instances where you have to go through a mini cutscene in order to go under a collapsed building or something like that).

I love how some of the old (and weirder) enemies now got a revamp -and glow up- as bosses, specially the Hell House.

The weapons upgrade system is really good and, also, really squareenix-sy.

One of the things I liked the most about the original (and was more fearful before playing) was if Square was going to keep the political side of the original story or don’t. And, without spoiling the new stuff, I’m more than happy to report that they actually expanded upon it. Yeah, the game has never been subtle (the villains are literally a corporation that milks the planet of it’s essence while ruling a city state -and basically almost the whole world- where the upper clases live in a plate above the ground, while the poor people live in slums among the garbage and destruction caused by the upper classes), but I always felt that it didn’t need to be subtle in it’s message. Yeah, it’s fucked up that the cautionary tale about this weird dystopia, ended up being more and more relevant as the years went on, but it’s amazing that Square decided to double up upon it, while also adding some new modern layers (like how Shin-Ra now uses fake news to control the narrative in Midgar).

A nice detail is how in the places where the original had save points (or where you’ve expected them to be if those were still a thing in this game), now got these vending machines that sell various items, and some benches (in some places with a logo that’s the old save point) where you can rest and heal up, basically replacing the need for tents.

That’s it for now, might come back later with some more random thoughts, maybe regarding the spoilery stuff.

#ff7 #ff7r #final fantasy 7 remake

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annavolovodov · 5 years

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ya girl saw the downton movie and has some Thoughts

if you followed me at all from 2011-2015 then you'll know i am firmly Team Downstairs and did not want this movie to happen, just so you all know what position i'm coming from here.

everything below is gonna be spoilery af. if you haven't seen it yet and want info just hmu. if you have seen it and want to talk about it please message me bc i’m always up for chatting about Downton.

okay but the title sequence with the music building and cresting as we come up over the hills and get our first shot of downton... goosebumps. tbh i don't know shit about film making but i can't fault the technical aspects (costumes, music, cinematography). the impact of the increased budget was felt from the very first second.

for the plot i’m gonna split things by character to make it easier. i’ll probably go to see it again and maybe after that i’ll have some deeper Thoughts but i missed being able to liveblog during the film so enjoy my rambling first reactions.

upstairs peeps

everything with violet was iconic. i'm glad that they didn't neglect her relationship with isobel and ofc maggie and imelda played fantastically off each other. pretty much everyone has already highlighted the scene with violet and mary at the end and it tied things up perfectly between them. violet and mary are so so similar and violet has been pushing for her to inherit since before S1. the movie showed us that mary is basically running the estate even if she doesn't get the the title and i can totally see why violet is confident in the future of downton now. that being said, i don't think violet will actually die. maggie has been talking about leaving since 2012 and fellowes obviously put this in as a get-out clause for her should she want to go, but i reckon they’ll convince her to do more. if carson's palsy can be mysteriously cured, so can violet's conveniently vague illness.

i already knew that robert and cora weren't gonna be in it much, but i wish we could've seen cora finding out what was happening with edith and helping her out. it wouldn't surprise me if there was a deleted scene there cause that whole storyline felt a little disjointed. i completely forgot that cora knew about the pregnancy and was so confused at how the queen foud out about it all. i don't think we got anything in robert and cora's bedroom, or anything with cora/baxter and robert/bates, which would've also been very welcome but i guess they can only fit in so much.

onto mary: this may be an unpopular opinion but god i miss her long hair. yeah i know it wasn't the style of the time but her wig in this one was tragic and they need to fix it. i absolutely love that t*lbot didn't exist for a solid 95% of this movie and mary got her rightful place ruling downton. i wouldn't say i’m the biggest mary fan but her arc felt like one of the more satisfying ones of the movie imo.

as someone who has been firmly #teamedith from day one i am delighted to see my girl happy and successful. literally all her outfits were A+ and not to be gay on main but those scenes of her in her nightclothes getting ready for bed gave me my rights. i’m sad that she seems like she's either given up her magazine or has less of a role in it now based on what they said outside???? she did seem unsatisfied with aspects of her position so hopefully she'll go back to doing some writing and publishing cause that was a good fit for her, and if edith and bertie are “modern” enough to travel without servants surely edith moving away from traditional grand lady duties and back to her magazine that wouldn't be an issue.

the mention of sybil being gone seven years? yeah. thanks for the pain. tom accidentally saving the monarchy on no less than two occasions is the ultimate "congratulations you played yourself" moment but the fact he thought the army had sent someone to check up on him is the level of republican i'm trying to be on. i'm a bit ehhhh on his relationship with lucy, mainly cause i'd rather the screentime given to the newbies had went to established characters. but like sybil/tom was a wholeass epic romantic slowburn spanning several years through a war and across class divisions n shit and meanwhile lucy/tom have known each other for forty eight hours and had three conversations in a hallway so like obviously that’s just gonna pale in comparison????? like it just is???? i guess i don't hate it but it just was a bit unnecessary and the time coulda been spent on better things.

isobel didn't have all that much to do on her own but i appreciated her scenes with violet and i love that she was the one to figure out that lucy was lady whatever's daughter. penelope wilton's facial expressions during some of the exchanges with violet were great. i see lord merton has also undergone a miraculous recovery from his apparently serious anaemia but he also didn't appear much which was a big win for me!

team downstairs aka the ones i turned up to see

as a downstairs supremacist who has watched the screentime distribution in previous fifty two eps of the show, it’s fair to say i had low expectations going in. i expected a grand total of 10 minutes for the servants combined and i think that's why i was unexpectedly happy with what we got. ideally we would've ditched the subplots involving the personal lives of the royals and all the stuff w imelda staunton and her maid but oh well it could’ve been worse and i'll take any breadcrumbs i can get. anyway i'm eagerly awaiting the team downstairs cut of the film one of yall will hopefully make when the dvd comes out. the only part that was far, FAR too upstairs heavy for me was the last sequence of the film after the royals left and i think we would've benefitted from rounding things off with team downstairs after the ball.

so i guess retirement magically cured the palsy carson had, but i guess after matthew’s miraculous recovery anything can happen at downton when it comes to health. Fellowes is getting a free pass for retconning this one cause i cba with more death/loss. mary going to carson for help and him immediately coming to her aid was very sweet. kinda wish we'd find out what he was up to post-Downton (except for his gardening) tho.

i was expected zero carson/hughes content in this movie and yet !!!! and yet!!!!!! we were somewhat well-fed. like carson (incorrectly) thinking he can control the other servants and mrs hughes' "oh that went well charlie, start as you mean to go on" hdjksjs i love them. and the lil scene in their cottage ugh. also we got more of them using their first names and yeah i guess that makes sense given they've been married for a while now but as i said, i had low expectations.

mrs hughes is still like the best person ever but wbk. her vs. the royal housekeeper = iconic. i kinda felt bad for royal whatsherface in some ways because she clearly didn't know who she was up against THE elsie hughes who has vanquished much scarier foes in her time. the other servants were never gonna win that battle.

the 0.5 seconds of baby bates *chef's kiss* perfection. god i am slightly bitter it was only 0.5 seconds given the fuckin multiseason journey leading up to his birth. tbh we should've ditched everything involving the personal lives of the rando new characters and let baby bates have some of that time but fellowes loves upstairs too much to let that happen. the small interaction was adorable though and i'm glad the mention of his name was subtle enough that we can retcon it cause i truly believe anna and bates would've came up with a more creative choice than that. genuinely i'm so curious about their whole living situation and how they cope with a smol child while working full time but i doubt fellowes even considered that so y’know. what can we do. i enjoyed the breadcrumbs but i wanted more.

i did go into this film with the mindset of "something awful will probably happen to anna or bates," cause that's what usually happens in these things but plot twist!!!! we saw them smile on multiple occassions!!!! what a nice change for us all! i swear every time anna bates smiles an angel gains their wings. her scenes with mary were good and i'm happy their friendship made it into the film. you know what else i was happy to see? the EXTREMELY UNDERRATED brotp between anna and baxter. there was a couple of moments with them standing next to each other or talking to each other and it warmed my heart. like yass two of my fave people are friends. it's a big win for me.

i'm sure i read something about brendan being involved in another project which meant he couldn't film too much (i'm curious to whether this impacted the lack of baby bates scenes?) and while it's true that bates didn't have a ton of scenes, i didn't feel like he was absent which was good.

thomas had the best storyline imo. i don't blame him for being angry that mary brought in carson and it was actually very iconic of him to go off in the library like that. i found it hilarious that while everyone else was panicking at downton he went off on gay adventures. i really wish we'd gotten this "thomas makes a gay friend then discovers the village's underground gay scene THEN gets a boyfriend" in the show cause that would've been SO MUCH BETTER than some of the other stuff that got stretched out across the last couple series (like the love quadrangle with daisy/ivy/alfred/jimmy). like, imagine thomas’ movie plot as a series-long arc. the impact. i liked the guy that was his maybe-boyfriend and i hope any continuation keeps that relationship going.

mrs p and daisy continue to be the mother-daughter duo of the century. i thought both of them were supposed to be moving to the farm post-S6 but i suppose that would've meant they wouldn't be in the film hence why it didn't come to fruition. i guess they could all move once daisy and andy get married. mrs patmore didn't get a great deal to do but i still feel like i saw her a fair amount. comrade daisy was awesome and is definitely me when i see any monarchy-related stuff. somewhere over the last few seasons she's developed into one of the most interesting characters in downton and we don't talk about that enough. andy trashing the boiler was immature af but at the same time i feel like it completely makes sense for daisy to take that as a compliment. it’s just such a daisy thing to do?????

now, there is one thing i kinda fucked up here. while i went into the film with low expectations for everyone else, i fully expected baxley to be A Thing because how could i not and boy did i come out looking like boo boo the fool. i guess baxter and molesley have continued the tradition of Agonisingly Long Downstairs Slowburns which would be okay if we were still getting one season per year but is quite frankly rude when we're on rationed content like this. the first half of the film i thought it was gonna be revealed that they were together or something but then that scene at the end implied they're dancing around each other and my god is it frustrating. i would give so much to trade tom and lucy's romantic subplot for a baxter/molesley one but once again i know that's an unrealistic dream.

definitely not enough baxter in general but that one shot of her, anna and mrs hughes standing in the same frame was worth the price of my cinema ticket. still love molesley even tho he's a monarchist.

in terms of the overall downstairs stuff, i'm euphoric at seeing all these people interact with each other again. as we all know, found family is the best trope and since the servants are literally the epitome of that every moment focussed on them is like chicken soup for my weary soul. was the revolution against the royal servants realistic? no. was it realistic for the two people who came up with most of the plot to be the ones who went to jail for doing literally nothing wrong and would therefore want to avoid stuff that could get them in trouble with an all-powerful family? also no! however, seeing downstairs all working together for a common goal is content that appeals directly to me and i am thankful.

shoutout to the last scene which is the best way the movie could've ended it for me. use of first names AND walking home together? thank u fellowes.

tldr; team downstairs fan who was strongly anti-movie, went in with low expectations, was pleasantly surprised. there are a shit ton of things i’d change but i just really loved seeing these characters who all mean so much to me again. obviously the only reason this film happened was for financial reasons rather than a desire to continue the storyline (cause the finale tied things up perfectly imo) but i wish they'd done a two-part miniseries instead to ensure everyone gets some screentime. two ninety minute specials every few years would work much better if everyone wants to keep downton going but i guess that doesn't bring the cash in like a movie does.

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lightandwinged · 4 years

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Alright, it’s review time, and it’s going to be spoilery and rambly because I’m still parsing my thoughts on everything SO.

Sans spoilers: a solid and fitting conclusion, if a bit faster paced than I would’ve liked, but it adhered to the overarching themes of the Skywalker saga probably better than anything in the new trilogy has before, and I don’t know how, considering everything (namely that Space Mom is gone), they could have or would have done things differently. Not my absolute favorite (that will forever be RotJ), but still very good.

Spoilers below, be ye warned.

I found it utterly hilarious that the plot started with Kyle Ron finding the Macguffin and chillin out with Papa Palpatine while the Good Guys had to go on this entire huge quest to FIND the Macguffin to begin with, and the only reason he didn’t just fuck off and finish some dastardly plan while they were scurrying about and trying to find the Pyramid Of Doom was because he’s got a lot to work out in his feelings about Rey. Like shit, no wonder Papa Palpatine decided to just stick with his own bloodline for galactic domination, Skywalkers are useless.

(except Leia, who is awesome)

The inclusion of Carrie Fisher in this film was VERY well done, but it also hurt a lot because you could tell that her scenes were cobbled together from old material and not made of anything new. It was good and necessary, but it also just hurt, like a constant reminder that she’s gone and nobody could replace her ever. And I’ll get more to that in a minute.

The Macguffin questing honestly felt a lot like the first half of RotJ, where we have to go rescue Han right quick because Harrison Ford was pretty sure he didn’t want to Star Wars anymore, so here’s a sidequest for half the movie, with the only difference here being that the questline had to do with the actual Plot. I’ve been following the Star Wars leaks subreddit for a while (don’t read the comments, it’s a wretched hive of scum and villainy and bitterness), and I know that at one point, it was supposed to be this race between Team Dark Side and Team Light Side to get the Pyramid of Destiny and then they’d find out that oh shit, Sheev’s here, but that was scrapped... and I kind of wish it hadn’t been? It would’ve made the first half of frolicking through this planet... no this planet... no, no, it’s on this planet... feel a lot less distracting.

The dynamic between Finn, Poe, and Rey was fantastic, because those three actors just have amazing chemistry on so many levels. They immediately fell into the dynamic of “we’re a polyamorous triad who’ve been living together for a while, and we really love each other, but we’re also a LITTLE BIT STRESSED RIGHT NOW OK” and that’s fair. I was glad to see all of it, and I just wish that we’d had more of it in both TFA and TLJ. It reminded me a LOT of how the best parts of the OT were always when Luke, Han, and Leia were together.

And now I’m going to take a sulk break to think about what we could’ve had with that amazing dynamic.

I’m back.

The new characters were some of the weaker parts of the film, I felt, save for Lando (because Billy Deeeeeeee). Dominic Monaghan, whom I love, could’ve had his role taken entirely by Rose, or Billie Lourde, and nobody would’ve noticed. And I don’t mind the addition of extra women to the cast, but Zorii and Jannah felt like they were just there to be like “Poe fucks women! Finn might too!” And... yanno, cool? But the OT3 stands.

And then General Pryde, aptly named, should’ve been a bigger part in all three films because it was like... here’s this yahoo out of nowhere who’s apparently a really big Sheev fan and just... like... what? I mean, I’m a huge Sheev fan, too, but I wish he’d been more of a Piett, where we could’ve seen him worming his way up the ranks, which would’ve made his downfall more satisfying. Instead, it was just kind of like... eh? Cool, I guess? With Piett, you felt like “yeah, we’ve seen this guy fucking things up for our heroes for two entire movies now, and here he is, getting destroyed because of his pride, hahaha!” but with Pryde, it was like “wait, who are you? Oh you’re dead now? Okay, cool, I guess?”

And in conjunction with THAT, Hux was just wasted in this film. I fully accept the idea that he rose through the ranks because of nepotism or something, and I also fully accept that he’s an absolutely useless twink who can’t do anything without having Phasma top him weekly (she used to top both him and Ren, which is why they’re such disasters in this movie), but man, couldn’t we have like... taken him with us? Imagine the comedy potential as he’s brought back as a prisoner and Domhnall Gleeson gets even more screen time with Oscar Isaac. I don’t mind that he died a worthless death because he was basically a useless wretch, but I do feel like if the movie had given itself more breathing room, he could’ve been a lot of fun.

RELATED, the pacing. So in the beginning of the movie, the idea of a light skip (basically, just sort of using the hyperdrive without planning or anything) is brought up, and everyone involved in this action bounces from world to world to world in rapid fire fashion to get rid of a bunch of TIE fighters following them, and that’s roughly the pace of this film. There are a few moments of quiet and contemplation, but they’re so rare that they seem to last a lot longer than they actually do, and I think it’s mostly because this movie really feels like a Lord of the Rings style epic packed into a MCU time frame. And I’m not complaining about the time, because by the time the credits rolled, I had to pee so fucking badly, but I feel like also if we’d trimmed out a couple of things (like maybe we can get rid of Kijimi, I think it is? The snow planet? or just merge Kijimi and Pasaana?), we’d have had more time to breathe and that would’ve helped the pacing a lot.

The slow moments in the film belonged almost exclusively to Rey and Kyle Ron, and honestly, Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver both deserve some sort of award recognition for their acting, the latter particularly. Without going into wild details about the plot, Kyle Ron does change his mind and go back to being Ben Solo, and god bless you so much Adam Driver because the change is instantaneous and delightful. If we’d seen significantly more Ben Solo than Kyle Ron, I’d totally be on board with the r.3y.10.z because this child omg. As it stands, the kiiiiissssss made me do like

in real life. It felt... mm, unearned, we’ll say. Maybe as a moment of “oh fuck that was intense and now we’re both alive” I could’ve bought it, but it wasn’t that, it was supposed to be this “my looooove” moment and just... sorry, but no.

BUT that said, while I think his death was the only way this series could’ve ended for him because a redemption arc would’ve required a LOT more time and energy, and that just... wasn’t going to happen. The time to have him make the turn if we were going to see a redemption arc was during TLJ, and since he didn’t make that change, we don’t get a Zuko arc. And that’s FINE because that’s a lot of work for a three movie series. And I don’t want a TV series devoted to Ben Solo learning to not be a dick to people. That’s exhausting.

But I do wish we’d gotten more time with him. The brief time we had, the bit of Han Solo snark that came out (”ow”), that was all delightful and made me understand what people see in the character (who I hate because he’s a great character to hate).

(omg while I was writing this, someone was saying that they were in a theater with someone talking about how the movie should’ve ended with Kyle Ron giving Rey a Force baby, and Y’ALL THERE IS NOT ENOUGH NOPE IN THE WORLD)

Anyway, bullets now, for the times I cried:

Literally everything with Leia, but especially that her last word was “Ben” and her using every last bit of her energy to save her son because I GET THAT FEEL, and honestly, the only reason she wasn’t there raining death and destruction on Sheev by herself for grooming her baby was because Carrie Fisher died. But anyway, from the moment she dropped her headset on, I was a blubbering mess.

And then Han, just a memory, but looking more at peace than he ever has. He convinces his son to come home, and Ben now says, “Dad?” and Han just says, “I know,” and FUFUUFUFALSKJDLAKSJDF: SOBBING

And then CHEWIE reacting to Leia’s death just... UGH. I am destroyed utterly, still.

Luke finally managing to Force lift the X-Wing out of the water made me cry as well, weirdly enough.

And then whatever emotion I felt when Rey heard all the Jedi, and it was LITERALLY EVERYONE WHO HAS PLAYED A JEDI EVER COMING IN AND SAYING A LINE like not just the familiar ones but the ones you wouldn’t know unless you’d watched all the TV series and extra material... it was so much more than tears. I couldn’t cry because it wouldn’t have been enough to encompass everything that made me feel. Very sincerely well done.

All-in-all, yeah, it was really good. I don’t get what everyone is so fussed over with it... it ties up the themes of the entire nine-movie arc pretty neatly and does basically the best it can with what it has.

But a bigger point in its favor, for me, was seeing Sam’s reaction to it: jumping up and down in his seat, gasping, grabbing my hand, whispering, “Mommy, they’re going to be okay, right?” and then cheering at the end. Star Wars, as a thing, isn’t for just one person or one group of people, but I consider how people who were kids when the PT came out say without a hint of irony that it’s not that bad, because to them, that’s what Star Wars is and always has been. The joy of it isn’t just the OT but those three movies that were “meh” to those of us who cut our teeth on the OT only. And in a similar vein, the ST is full of that joy for kids now. Like holy moley, Sam and his best friend geeking out over seeing each other in Star Wars costumes at Halloween was just worth everything.

So in the end, like I concluded at the end of TLJ, the message here is that it’s for them. And also that there’s always hope, that ultimately, even when it seems the odds are against light, there’s more of us than there are of them.

#star wars #the rise of skywalker #the rise of skywalker spoilers #I dehydrated myself crying at this movie

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katsens-writing · 4 years

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And Life Goes On

A/N: This was written originally as an epilogue to See You Again but it was too long so I turned it into a mini-sequel/connected one-shot, whatever you want to call it. It takes place the day after the story ends. You should read See You Again first or else this wouldn’t make much sense. As always my asks and messages are open. If you want to be added to my Marvel taglist or any of my other ones, just let me know, it’s no trouble at all! Thanks again to @itsallavengers and @wisemanwhodoesntknow for the inspiration! (Sorry it took so long to get this part up guys!)

Summary: Tony makes amends and Peter puts his foot down.

Content: A little sadness, a tiny bit of angst but mostly fluff. Some mildly bad language? Let me know if I need to add anything. *This story contains a few references to Far From Home but they are not in themselves spoilery. If you have not seen it, read at your own discretion.*

Word Count: About 5.8k

See You Again, Part 1 Masterlist Buy me a coffee?

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Tony yawned and stretched before getting out of bed. The sun hadn’t even started to rise yet but he had a busy day ahead of him and he needed to be up bright and early if he wanted to get anything done, or at least for the first part. He quietly got dressed before slipping out of the room, sneaking down the hall without a sound.

“Boss, is something wrong?” FRIDAY’s sudden voice made Tony start.

“Shh!” Tony winced. He’d manually set an alarm himself instead of having FRIDAY wake him up for a reason. He should’ve known that wouldn’t work. “Everything’s fine, Fri. Keep an eye on Pepper, let me know the second she wakes up, ok?”

“Okay...” the AI’s response was drawn out in suspicion but she didn’t say anything. Her boss was acting strange but if he said nothing was wrong...

Tony quickly snuck down to the kitchen and got to work gathering ingredients. “Flour, milk, eggs...” Tony muttered quietly to himself. “Chocolate chips... chocolate chips? Yeah, chocolate chips... bacon, fruit, granola...”

45 minutes later FRIDAY chimed overhead. “Boss? Pepper just finished getting dressed. She’ll be down here any minute.”

“Perfect!” Tony grinned, balancing two plates. He turned at a shuffling sound in the doorway.

“Tony? What--” Pepper blinked tiredly. She stopped mid-sentence and mid-step. “What’s all this?” she asked, her eyes slightly wide.

“Well, I felt bad about yesterday,” Tony began as he sat the two plates down on a marble top island. “And I wanted to apologize.” He straightened with a sigh and wiped his hands on a towel. He slowly walked around the island to Pepper.

“I haven’t been the husband you deserve in quite some time and I’m sorry. You’ve stayed by me this whole time when everyone else in your place would’ve left, hell, even times I would’ve left,” he shrugged. Pepper looked at him with a small frown, her brow furrowing a little. He looked at her guiltily as he continued. “I don’t deserve you. I never have, and I don’t even hope that I ever will, because I know that it’s just not going to happen. I-” Tony sighed. “I have a lot to make up for, I know, and believe me, this is just the start.” Tony took Pepper’s forearms in his hands. “I love you, Pepper. I love you more than I can ever even hope to show you and I’m so, so sorry for how I’ve been. You deserve so much more.”

Pepper placed a hand on Tony’s cheek and looked at him with concern in her eyes, tears brimming them. His hands fell to her waist where they rested comfortably, just like he remembered. “Tony,” her voice cracked as her eyes filled with tears. “Tony, what’s going on?”

“I promise I’ll tell you everything later,” Tony smiled, lifting a hand to her cheek and sliding an arm around her waist. “But first...” Tony lifted his chin and gently rested his lips on Pepper’s. Pepper closed her eyes, the fear and worry vanishing from her body. She wrapped her arms around Tony’s neck, and Tony tightened his arm around her waist, each pulling the other closer. Tear’s glinted along Pepper’s eyelashes. She didn’t know what was going on, but she had her husband back.

After breakfast and a promise to Pepper to answer all her questions later, Tony excused himself. As he was heading down the hall to the elevator, he called out to FRIDAY.

“Hey Fri, what’s on the schedule today?”

“Your schedule today is clear boss,” the AI replied.”It's Saturday.”

“Excellent! I’ve got some errands to run--” Tony stopped short just as the elevator door opened. “Actually... would you like to come with me, FRIDAY?”

“Boss?” FRIDAY’s tone held more emotions in it than Tony had felt in the past five years... well before last night anyway.

“Well?” Tony pressed, trying to suppress a smile.

“Of course!” The AI replied excitedly.

“Great! I have some stuff I have to do in the office first. I’ll meet you in the lab in 10,” Tony grinned. He stepped into the elevator and headed to the office floor. He stepped out into the reception area and was just a little surprised to see his receptionist there. She turned at the sound of the elevator.

“Oh, Mr. Stark!” She started, clearly caught by surprise. “Sir! I- I didn’t know you were--”

“What are you doing here?” he asked, his brow furrowed a little, not in anger but confusion.

Her face flushed. “Well, I was a little behind yesterday and--”

Tony lifted a hand and cut her off. “It doesn’t matter. You work so hard to keep this chaotic place running, definitely way harder than I have been the past couple of years. I want to apologize for that, I haven’t been a good boss in quite some time and I want to make it up to you. I’m giving you the next two weeks off with pay. If you decide to go anywhere, let me know and I’ll take care of the arrangements, ok?”

Tony entered his office and closed the door, leaving behind his dazed receptionist standing in the hallway. He began leafing through some papers on his desk, putting some aside until he found what he was looking for. He picked up the business card and dialed the number. As the phone rang, he looked over the brochure. An amused huff escaped him as he listened to the energetic recording when the voicemail picked up. He left a message for the young entrepreneur saying he liked her presentation and that he would love to set up a meeting to get to know more about her business ideas. He left out the part about how she had already been approved for funding. He figured he’d tell her that in person.

He sent a quick email to the board of directors about setting up a foundation for the firefighters and victims of the fire. He wanted to make sure that the little girl and her sister had a place to stay, as well as the others. He’d already called the hospitals and told them not to bill anyone connected to the fire; he’d see to those himself.

He left his office and smiled to see his receptionist already gone. She probably figured she should leave quickly before her boss came to his senses. He hurried to the elevator and down to the lab. When the elevator doors slid open, he walked past the work tables and to the wall where his suits were held.

Tony walked over to a small panel on the wall separate from the other and lifted his hand to it. Once it scanned his hand it beeped, and then he leaned forward for the retinal scan. The panel emitted a little chorus of musical beeps as the wall beside it split open to reveal a suit. Tony let out a low whistle as the lights around the new suit came on. It was sleek and low profile in his classic red and gold color scheme with black accents.

“Boss?” FRIDAY spoke up questioningly.

Tony grinned. “Perfect timing, Fri. It would seem Harley never got around to testing the new suit and I for one think that’s unacceptable.”

“Well boss, Mr. Keener was--”

“But you know what they say, if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself,” Tony continued as he powered up the suit. “What do ya say, Fri? Think you’re up for it?”

“Yes, boss!” Tony’s grin widened at the excitement in the AI’s voice. He stepped into the suit and flexed his fingers as he adjusted to the fit and examined the controls. He heard a very faint hum as the computer systems came online.

“You ready to go, Fri?” Tony inquired as he headed for the balcony and the launch platform.

“All ready, boss!” The AI chirped.

Tony chuckled at the AI’s voice. She sounded borderline giddy and he just couldn’t help it. “Then let’s go!”

As Tony went above the city he noticed how smoothly the suit flew and how quiet it was. The controls responded like a dream and it was so comfortable and light he could almost forget he was even wearing it.

“Harley really outdid himself,” Tony commented to FRIDAY. “How’s everything running on your end?”

“I couldn’t agree more, boss,” FRIDAY agreed, sounding impressed. “The systems are all running great. I have to say, it’s one of the best suits I’ve seen... not better than yours though, boss, of course.” She added quickly.

“Oh, of course,” Tony smirked, suppressing a snort. “Call Harley up, would ya Fri?” A soft dial tone filled the suit as the phone rang before a young man answered.

“What the hell, Stark?” Harley started in way of greeting, immediately launching into his tirade. Tony rolled his eyes affectionately with a light smile. The background behind Harley moved quickly back and forth and Tony could only guess he was jogging somewhere.

“You haven’t answered my texts in nearly two weeks, I reach out to you by actually calling you for once and you don’t answer, and then, then you call the next day in the middle of a--” Harley’s words were cut off as he dropped to the floor behind a desk. He ducked his head down and closed his eyes tight. When he opened them, he opened his mouth to continue delivering his riot act when he saw Tony’s bemused smirk that instantly stunned him into silence. He blinked his eyes rapidly and shook his head, thinking he was imagining things. Tony looked like himself again, just like he had five years ago. As the shock wore off, he realized Tony wasn’t calling from his office.

“Where are you?” Harley scowled, his brow furrowing as he recovered.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Tony grinned.

Harley scoffed and rolled his eyes at the smug look on Tony’s face before he gave a sharp cry and jumped to the side, dropping his phone. He quickly grabbed it and when he did, Tony could see he was now flat-out running.

“Harley, what’s going on?” Tony’s grin disappeared and his voice grew serious. If the kid was in trouble, he wanted to know. He’d give him a riot act of his own later for not calling him sooner if he was.

“Uh, nothing,” Harley quickly, instinctively replied. He immediately closed his eyes and mentally kicked himself for his reaction. He really is back to his old self, Harley thought. Tony was the only one who ever managed to get Harley to panic like that when he was in over his head. “I just, uh, had some kids over from the shelter and the group home for a tour of the compound lab.” His eyes widened as he dodged something. Tony saw an orange and yellow blur fly by the phone’s camera.

“And how’s that going for you?” Tony smirked as he raised an eyebrow.

“Shut up,” Harley growled much to Tony’s delight.

“We can talk about it tomorrow at lunch. I’ll see you at 1 at Haab’s.”

Harley opened his mouth to protest before his eyes widened in panic. “No, no, no! I said stay away from the muriatic--” he was cut off by a shattering crash. Harley swore. “I gotta go.”

Tony chuckled after Harley hung up. Oh, he couldn’t wait to hear about this tomorrow. He’d send Harley a text later to remind him. “Hey Fri, is the Fire Safety Foundation headquarters still over on 58th?” he asked.

“Yes boss, 27th floor,” the AI replied.

Tony turned and headed for the building. As he got closer he saw the person he was looking for sitting at a table on the patio of what looked like a little outdoor break area for the employees of the building. As he flew lower, people below pointed up at him. He heard several surprised gasps and excited chatter following him as he went by. He landed on the patio a few feet from the woman’s table, much to her surprise, and disengaged the mask.

“M-Mr. Stark!” The woman greeted as she wiped her hands on a napkin. She recovered rather quickly in spite of the shock still on her face. The woman she was sitting with remained quiet but her expression spoke volumes.

“Ms. Kanick,” Tony grinned as he shook her hand. “It’s good to see you again. Sorry to interrupt your lunch ladies, I promise I won’t be long...” Tony nodded to the woman sitting across from Ms. Kanick.”

“Oh, it’s fine, really, we’re, uh, just surprised to see you,” she replied, still a little stunned. “And please, call me Marissa.” She turned to the woman sitting across from her. “This is Angela Meyers, the assistant director.”

“It’s an honor to meet you,” Tony smiled as he shook the woman’s hand.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Angela shook Tony’s hand uncertainly, shifting her eyes to Marissa in confusion.

“Speaking of honor, that’s what I’m here to talk about,” he turned back to Marissa. “Since you took the time out of your very busy schedule to come and invite me in person, I thought it would only be fair to let you know in person that it would be my pleasure to be the guest of honor at the charity banquet.”

“What- why that’s- that’s great, Mr. Stark, thank you!” Marissa stammered. Tony didn’t think it was possible but she looked even more surprised than when he landed by her lunch table.

“No, thank you,” Tony looked at her meaningfully. “Your work has helped so many people, saved so many lives, more than you will ever know.” The woman smiled and lowered her eyes awkwardly, her cheeks flushing a little.

Tony cleared his throat. “Sorry again about interrupting. It was wonderful to meet you, Ms. Meyers,” Tony smiled. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a few more stops to make.”

Tony activated his thrusters and headed for the neighborhood he had visited the night before. As he flew over the familiar streets and alleys below, he spotted a little floral stand on one of the street corners. He landed several feet away from the stand, making sure not to mess up the flowers with the wind kicked up by the thrusters as he landed. He walked over to the stand and greeted the florist.

“Hi, I’m looking for two of your best bouquets. Nothing too fancy or extravagant though, just something nice and simple.” Tony told the confused man before he started looking around at the flowers.

“Uh, right...” the man slowly turned without taking his eyes off of Tony. “Well, I have some fresh roses in, the old fashioned ones. Or if you prefer something without a scent--”

“Oh, these are nice,” Tony tilted his head and picked up some carnations.

The florist glanced over with a raised eyebrow. “Sure, if they’re for your mom.”

Tony looked at the man in confusion. “Huh?”

The florist smirked as he took the bouquet from Tony. “Women like carnations but they don’t like to get carnations.”

“Ah,” Tony replied. “Uh, you said something about roses?”

After Tony paid for the roses he left, deciding to walk the rest of the way to his destination because it wasn’t far. He walked up to the familiar building and knocked on the front door.

“Just a minute!” Came a warm voice. There was a light clattering noise and the sound of footsteps softly approaching and a brief pause before the door slowly opened.

“Oh, Mr. Stark,” the woman gave a tight smile, her demeanor changing immediately.

“Hi May,” Tony smiled back weakly. He felt a guilty pang in his chest at the change and the impersonal way she addressed him. It had been a while since he had seen Peter’s aunt. One of the many people he had forgotten about in his depression. May’s expression was unreadable but that in itself was enough. She was usually such a warm person, always smiling.

Tony lowered his eyes guiltily. “I am so sorry about yesterday. I- I-” his voice cracked and he swallowed. May’s face softened, tears brimming her own eyes. Before Tony could recover, she had her arms around him and had pulled him into a gentle hug.

“I know, Tony,” May hugged him tighter. “Losing him was hard on you too.”

Tony closed his eyes tight against the tears forming and returned the hug. When they pulled apart he looked at May. “I know, but that’s no excuse. He was your nephew, practically your son...”

May smiled at Tony sadly. “He was your son too,” she spoke softly.

At that, the tears Tony had been fighting slipped down his cheeks and a small sob escaped him. May pulled Tony into another hug and they stood there on her front porch consoling each other. After a few minutes, May ushered Tony inside. He gave her one of the bouquets of rose. When she saw them, she accepted them, smiling through her tears. After putting them in a vase, they sat down and talked for a bit.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you yesterday... or lately. I... I haven’t really been there for anyone since...” Tony’s voice trailed off. May put a comforting hand on his. He cleared his throat. “I thought- I thought maybe we could...” Tony looked down at the other bouquet of roses in his lap.

“I would love that,” May smiled softly, her eyes moist. Within a few minutes, Happy had arrived at the house. When Tony and May walked down the steps, he greeted them with a smile.

“Mrs. Parker, it’s lovely to see you again,” he opened the door for the two.

“Hello, Happy,” May smiled.

The three chatted about things as they drove. The neighborhood had changed so much since Tony had last seen it, even though it all looked the same from above. May pointed out the center she volunteered at on the weekends, saying they had expanded and just opened a new location in Brooklyn. Tony smiled. I’ll have to be sure to tell Steve and Peggy, I’m sure they’d love it. The pair may have retired long ago, but they still loved to stay active in the community, always volunteering their time.

When the car pulled up to the gate, Happy got out and opened the door for them. “I’ll wait here for you guys. Take as long as you want.”

“Nonsense,” May shook her head. “You should come. I mean, you’re welcome to, if you want... he loved you too, you know.”

Happy smiled. “I would, thank you,” he spoke softly.

Tony smiled warmly at Happy before turning to offer May his arm. The three of them walked arm in arm with May in the middle. It had been close to five years, but Tony knew the way. They wove their way among the graves and statues until they came to a stop at one underneath a large, beautiful oak tree, right beside Benjamin Parker’s. It was simple and understated, just the way he would’ve wanted it. The headstone read ‘Peter Benjamin Parker August 10, 2001- May 8, 2024. Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.’

Tony knelt down and laid the roses on Peter’s grave. “Hey kid, it’s me. You won’t believe who I saw last night,” he chuckled weakly, his vision blurry. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I really let you down these past few years but... I promise, I’m going to do better from now on.” He wiped a tear from his eye. “Thanks, Peter. For everything. I miss you, kid.”

May’s eyes watered again at Tony’s words. When he straightened she gave him a sad smile. He gently put his arm around her shoulders. They stood there and looked over Peter’s grave. At the Avengers’ request on May’s behalf, fans of Spider-Man mostly left his grave alone, however, a small red and blue Spider-Man plushie had been left propped against the headstone. Tony’s brow furrowed as he noticed the blackened, dirty fabric. It almost looked charred in spots and it reminded him of his next stop.

He turned to May and took her hands in his. “I’m really sorry to leave you May, but I have a few more places and people I have to visit. I’ll come by later this week and we can catch up, ok?”

May nodded understandingly. “Thank you, Tony. I’ll see you then.”

Tony turned to Happy. “Take her wherever she wants to go, Happy. I’ll meet you later.”

Tony took off from the cemetery and headed for the hospital. On his way he had FRIDAY set a few reminders. “Hey, Fri? Remind me when I get back to the tower that I need to email Ms. Kanick to set up a meeting to discuss a yearly donation. Oh, and I need to text Harley about lunch tomorrow at 1. And don’t let me forget to call the Rogers! I haven’t seen them in forever and that worries me. They may be old but I swear, they need as much supervision as Harley does.”

“Right, boss,” FRIDAY chuckled.

“Here we are,” Tony spoke a little hesitantly as he landed outside the hospital. He stood outside staring at the building for a moment. He hadn’t been to the hospital since that night. He never really liked hospitals, even before that. Now he tended to avoid them like the plague.

“Boss?” FRIDAY spoke up, breaking him from his reverie.

“Hey, Fri, when is the board going to decide on the foundation?” he asked as he walked through the sliding doors.

“Next week. They asked if you’d like to be there.” The AI replied.

“Tell them I wouldn’t miss it,” Tony answered. He disengaged his mask as he approached the reception desk.

“Hello. I’m here to see Carson?” Tony winced. He didn’t think it was going to work but he had to try.

The person sitting behind the desk didn’t look up. They had dark skin, close-cropped hair and thick, black glasses frames with a navy blue top and a wide, red tie. “You’re gonna have to do better than that, hon,” they replied flatly, the clicking of their typing never even pausing.

Tony sighed. “Yeah, I know. He’s a firefighter, he would’ve come in late last night, early this morning with his partner, Reyes...”

“We had a lot of firefighters come in last night,” they interrupted, unimpressed. “There was a huge blaze over on Madison, the whole building came down.”

“I know, I was there,” Tony replied, trying not to get frustrated.

The person looked up at him before raising an eyebrow, the clacking on the keyboard finally stopping. “You’re Tony Stark.”

“Yes,” Tony sighed exasperatedly. “I just want to see him, see how he’s doing.”

The person’s face softened so slightly it was barely noticeable. “Your boy saved my kid brother in that fire five years ago.”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, he probably did.” Tony didn’t mean to sound rude but he was tired.

The person’s face softened a little more. “You saved that little girl last night too?” they asked.

Tony’s eyes widened. “She’s here too?”

They nodded, looking back to the computer in front of them and resuming their typing. “Her and her sister just left about an hour ago. She had the cutest little Spider-Man dress on. She was talking non-stop to all the nurses about how Iron Man saved her.” Tony thought he saw a faint smile on the person’s face.

Tony smiled slightly to himself. He had hoped to see the little girl and her sister too, but if him missing her meant she was out of the hospital, he didn’t mind.

Without looking up the person spoke. “Their chief came by not too long ago. If you take the south elevator up to the fourth floor, you still might catch him. Hard to miss.”

“Oh, right, right,” Tony replied quickly, snapping out of his thoughts. “Thanks.” He turned and made his way for the south elevators. “South elevator, fourth floor...” he muttered to himself as he pressed the button for the floor. “And then... wait. Which way?”

The doors slid open and Tony looked to the right and left. He couldn’t see any sign of the fire chief but he heard a familiar voice followed by some laughter. He followed the sound to the right down the hall. The door was open and through it, he could see the firefighters he had met the night before. The men laughed at something and Reyes scoffed, shaking her head. Tony smirked and knocked on the door.

“Hey, sorry for interrupting,” he spoke up as they turned, surprised. “I just wanted to stop by and say hi.”

“Of course, come in!” Reyes stood up and waved him in. Carson looked a little confused.

“Thank you,” Tony replied as he pulled up a chair next to Reyes’ chair. “So how are you feeling?” he addressed Carson as he settled in.

“Fine, all things considered,” he shrugged weakly. “I inhaled a lot of smoke. The docs said it will take time for my lungs to clear. They’re keeping an eye out for signs of anything worse because it was an old building.”

“They also said he’s not supposed to talk a lot,” Reyes glanced at Carson, crossing her arms. “And he’s supposed to keep that on as much as possible,” she added, indicating the oxygen mask.

“C’mon, Reyes,” Carson turned and smiled tiredly at her. “You know how well I listen.”

“Yeah, about as well as Rook,” she scoffed, putting the mask over his face. He began protesting but she glared at him and silenced him, swatting his hand away from the mask. he leaned back against the pillows reluctantly. He crossed his arms and sulked before wincing. His right arm was in a sling and his left shoulder was bandaged.

“Speaking of Rook,” Tony turned to the bed next to Carson’s. He was filled with relief at the name and his shoulders eased but he didn’t let it show. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the young man in the bed. “Things got a little too toasty for you, huh?”

“Maybe a little...” the young firefighter mumbled, lowering his eyes sheepishly. “Thanks for saving me.”

Tony waved it off. “That was brave of you, finding that little girl and giving her your mask. Real stupid though. Brave but stupid. Why didn’t you stay out like your chief said?” he asked.

The young firefighter shrugged. “I heard a woman calling for a little girl. She stopped an officer and asked if everyone had gotten out from the fifth floor and...” his voice trailed off. He looked up at Tony with a wince. “I just couldn’t leave her there. I couldn’t stand there and do nothing, not when I knew. Not when I could help.”

Tony’s heart skipped at the young man’s words, but he hid it with a firm look. Oh my God, he sounds just like Peter, Tony thought. Terrifying. “Well, you’re definitely doing better than the last time I saw you,” he looked Rook up and down, remembering the young man lying in the ambulance, the paramedics fighting to save his life.

He shook his head inwardly. “But next time, promise me you’ll keep the mask on, huh? It works better that way when you do.” Tony arched his eyebrows and Rook smiled sheepishly again, like a chastised kid. “Speaking of, you should probably have an oxygen mask on right now, yeah?”

“He has tubes for his nose,” Reyes glared at the kid. “You keep taking ‘em out, they’re gonna put a full mask on you like Carson.” Reyes quickly glanced over at Carson, jerking his thumb in his direction, then looked back to Rook before doing a double-take. Carson gave her a sheepish grin which could be seen clear as day without his mask on.

“I swear to God, Carson, I will duct tape that thing to your face, you pain in the ass!” Reyes practically climbed on top of Carson reaching for the mask but he pulled it out of her reach.

“Aw, see Rook? She does care,” Carson grinned over at the young man who just shook his head as he dutifully put his oxygen tubes back in.

Reyes glared at Carson and gripped his left shoulder firmly. “Ow ow ow! Ok, I give!” He protested painfully as he handed her the mask back.

With intent focus, Reyes put it back over Carson’s mouth and nose. “Now keep it on!”

“Yes ma’am,” Carson mumbled reluctantly, a hint of a mischievous smile playing at the corners of his lips. Reyes narrowed her eyes at him before shaking her head. Tony lowered his gaze to the floor to hide a smile. His eyes came to a rest on Carson’s left hand as he subtly entwined it with Reyes’ right hand. Tony glanced up at them, unnoticed as they continued to bicker. He smiled knowingly but didn’t say anything. He made a mental note to call their chief later and ask him a few questions.

“I’m glad to see you’re all doing good. I’ll check in again with you guys later,” as Tony turned to leave, his gaze softened as it fell on Rook. The young firefighter had fallen fast asleep. Tony huffed softly. Peter could sleep through anything too. He quietly walked up to the young man and made sure the oxygen tube wasn’t pinched closed. The other firefighters noticed and paused their arguing, watching him closely. He looked over his shoulder at them as he stopped in the doorway. “Look after the kid, huh?” he jerked his head toward Rook, speaking to Carson. Cason nodded solemnly. Tony turned and looked at Reyes with a smirk. “And look after both of them.”

Carson opened his mouth in protest and Reyes snorted. “Someone has to.” Tony chuckled with a nod. As he left the hospital, he flew back toward the tower.

“Hey Fri? You up for one more task?” he asked.

“Always, boss,” the AI’s Irish voice sounded eager.

“I want you to find the best firefighting gear there is out there, everything from the trucks and equipment to their socks and underwear,” Tony ordered. “Find me the best there is and send me whatever you can get on it. Schematics, blueprints, patents, whatever. If you can get me samples, that’d be great. Have it all sent to the lab.”

“Everything boss?” The AI asked incredulously.

“Everything,” Tony replied firmly. “Don’t bother telling the board, this isn’t coming from the foundation.”

“Well boss, you already have some of it. The fire extinguishers we keep in the lab are top of the line,” the AI informed him as he landed.

Tony frowned and picked one up as he walked by it. “That’s not gonna fly.” He walked over to his table and sat the extinguisher down on it. His eyes widened a little as an idea came to him. With a tap on his chest, the suit opened and he stepped out. The suit automatically returned to its charging station but Tony didn’t even notice. He was too busy examining the extinguisher under a magnifying glass.

“Fri? Find me whatever reports you can on this model. I want to know everything you can get on it,” he spoke before frowning. “Five-year shelf life? Please, I can double that at least.”

“Boss?” The AI spoke up softly after a few minutes of silence.

“Yeah, Fri?” Tony replied instinctively without even looking up, already lost in his work.

“Wecome back.”

- -

Peter stepped through the portal and was immediately greeted by Quentin and Fury.

“Welcome back,” Fury leaned forward as Peter emerged, just like he always did when he returned from another dimension. “Anything new to report?”

“How safe are these monitors?” Peter quickly crossed the room to Quentin, ignoring Fury’s question.

Quentin raised an eyebrow indignantly. “They’re fully cloaked with built-in defense mechanisms. If they are ever discovered--”

“No, how safe are they to be around?” Peter scowled angrily.

Quentin crossed his arms and frowned. “Why?”

“Because the apartment building the one on Madison was located at burnt down in a suspicious fire!” Peter exploded. Fury’s eyes narrowed at his words.

Quentin’s frown deepened. “The devices are completely self-contained and self-powered. If you think--” Quentin stopped and his eyes widened. “Please tell me you didn’t interfere.” He shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Like hell I did!” Peter shouted, throwing his arms up. “What was I supposed to do, just stand there and let everyone?!”

“I’m sure the locals could’ve handled it just fine,” Fury spoke up coolly, getting to his feet. “The fire department or the heroes.”

“Yeah, about the heroes,” Peter turned on Fury, seething. He crossed the room until he was standing right in front of him. Maria tensed at Fury’s side, her hand twitching. “You didn’t tell me Spider-Man was dead.” Maria turned and looked at Fury, her eyebrows arching slightly.

Fury looked down at Peter, unflinching. “We suspected but we weren’t sure. Either way, it had no bearing on your mission.”

“Not anymore,” Peter’s chest heaved angrily. He took off the suit and dropped it to the floor, leaving only his tank top and shorts. “I’m done with both of you.” Peter turned to Quentin, pointing at him. “I don’t trust you,” he turned back to Fury. “And I’m sick of your secrets and lies. Call me when you’re ready to be honest. You know where to find me.” He turned and stormed out of the warehouse, slamming the door behind him.

Maria turned to Fury with a sigh, arching her eyebrows. “Sound familiar?”

Fury leaned forward and rested his chin on his hands thoughtfully. “Too familiar.” He turned to Quentin with a sigh. “Well, I’m sorry Mr. Beck, but it looks like you’re on your own now.”

Quentin’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t be serious.”

Fury arched his eyebrows and motioned to the door Peter had stormed out of. “Did he look like he was joking to you?”

“Surely there must be somebody else Stark trusted?” Quentin protested.

Fury leaned back in his chair with a shrug. “Like I told the kid, they’re all busy.”

“The Fury in my universe would never have stood for this,” Quentin scowled.

“Probably not,” Fury agreed. “But then again, he probably trusted you. Maybe that was his mistake.” He narrowed his eye at Quentin.

Quentin’s face darkened. “You’ll regret this,” he vowed, taking a step toward Fury. Immediately Maria had her gun drawn and leveled at the man’s chest. He narrowed his eyes and growled. “When they come, you’ll regret this.” He turned on his heel and left.

As soon as he was gone, Fury sighed. “See? This is why I have trust issues.” He turned and looked up at Maria. “Follow Peter but don’t let him see you. Make sure he makes it back to his room safely.”

Fury turned to the scientists that had been operating the portals under Quentin’s direction. “You got it?”

One of the scientists nodded, holding up Peter’s discarded suit. “It’s all here. We’ve got footage of New York from every universe he visited.”

“And the portals?” Fury asked.

Another scientist sitting at a computer turned. “With Stark’s tech and Quentin’s notes, we should be able to recreate them.”

Fury nodded. “Good. Stark was right. Even dead, he’s still the hero.”

--- Tags: (If you want to be added to my Marvel taglist, let me know!) @xmarveled @parkerspicedlatte @myworstdays @bla-369 ---

#Avengers #Avengers fanfic #Spider-Man #Peter Parker #Iron Man #Tony Stark #iron dad #Spider Son #Marvel #Marvel fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #my writing #katsens-writing #writeblr #And Life Goes On #And Life Goes On by Kat

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Text

QOAAD

*SPOILERY REVIEW/THOUGHTS*

I finished QOAAD a couple days ago and I’ll say I have some mixed thoughts on it. I am somewhat disappointed tbh but it also DID have its moments.

I have to say I felt this book had too many POVs. I didn’t like that. I didn’t feel like they were all necessary. All the POVs only ended up with me feeling very disconnected from the story as a whole, and the characters, even my faves at times. I think the POVs where one part of the problem, the other I am not sure. Maybe Cassie has too many projects on her plate or idk but something impacted her writing. Not just for QOAAD but I felt it in Ghosts of the Shadow Market stories too. It had a few exceptions but compared to The Shadowhunter Academy short stories overall, they just weren’t as good. :/ As much as it pains me we gotta wait like 4 yrs for TWP maybe its a good thing? The onslaught of books may have passed and TWP will get more focus. Im just gonna tell myself this to get through the waiting time OTL.

I will start with thoughts on Emma and Julian as they are the main characters.

I like both Julian and Emma’s characters, but I think they lost me somewhere at some point in this series as a couple. I can’t say exactly when but reading QOAAD I realized I didn’t care for them as a couple. I’ve seen this is the case for many others too. Was I very intrigued where the parabatai curse would lead? Yes, but that’s it. Now the parabatai curse, I wasn’t too satisfied with how that played out. I kinda was and I kinda wasn’t. I guess I was expecting something bad to happen some consequences but the rune just burned away and that was that. I loved when Julian got his emotions back and went all into head of the institute since I was a child mode. Like I know my shit I know what I’m doing. Then Dru being like “good to have you back, I missed your lunatic schemes” xD I love Julian scheming ok, lol but like with emotions.

I gotta say one of my favorite things about TDA and what I felt like was one of its strong points is that togetherness the Blackthorns had as a family. My favorite thing about Julian was his love for his kids cause they are his kids!! BUT I just didn’t feel it in this book. When looking forward to QOAAD I was looking forward to how they were all going to deal with Livvy’s death. The kids where gonna need Julian so much but he just wasn’t there for them ALL throughout the book which was my BIGGEST disappointment. At first he wasn’t there because he took away his emotions and separated from them, then he got back and because he was emotionless he couldn’t be there for Ty when Ty reached out to him clearly troubled and broken. Now, I don’t blame him. He was emotionless after all, but after he did get them back I feel like he didn’t make the effort to be there for them. It was like he didn’t remember the way Ty reached out to him before and the things he said to him about his plan. After he got his emotions he was all busy with the Horace-Cohort situation and his situation with Emma but what about the KIDS JULES?! ;_; It was Ty who again sought him but he didn’t really try to pay attention to what was going on with him, during and after their little convo. It felt like

Jules: oh btw you good?

Ty: yeah sure

Jules: ok im here btw

Ty: K

Jules: K

And that was it. He never found out about the necromancy or biting and just *sigh*. At least the biting is something he should’ve and would’ve noticed as Dru pointed out. Everyone was on their own basically and then in the end he and Emma are going on a travel vacay. Like what?! There was Helen but Helen is not Julian. She is trying to get to know them but Julian is the one who is basically their parent. There are 2 things I loved about Julian best, one was his willingness to do what needed to be done, and second was his care for his family and like I said, I did not feel it here. :[ I’ll say I do love Julian’s character, and more than Emma’s actually. Emma is just fine, but there is a lot more going on with Julian. Though neither are my faves in this series. But I love Julian xD

THULE: ok so I was sobbing during this part. I couldn’t control my tears. All this broke my heart when we found out about how everyone’s fates turned out. I felt so sad for Livvy all alone there. Everything was just so tragic ;_;. I do found myself wanting for the POV to switch to see their friends and family freaking out about what happened to Emma and Julian. I’ll say it didn’t make sense to me how Ash went into Thule only like 5 minutes before Jemma and he aged up yrs yet Jules and Emma where there for a pretty long time too and nothing?? It was another reason I wanted the POVs to switch I was wondering if yrs where passing by in their world or what. I’ll say I did enjoy the pain and hurt Thule gave me lol. It was one of those moments where like I didn’t felt disconnected with the characters at all. I was very much feeling all the feels but it also felt like I left QOAAD and was thrust back into CoHF. It felt too much like TMI it was kind of a whiplash, like from TDA i went back to TMI then TDA again. 0.0

Now to my faves

Ash!: He was one of my favorite things of this book! His character was so interesting. I have high hopes for his character. He is probably not all good or all bad but what I’ve seen of him from boy to teen he is more good and human than meets the eye. Cassie Cassie Cassie! Do we really need a 3rd evil Morgenstern? No, No Nope! He deserves the chance Sebastian never had! </3. ;_;

The way he shook when he was holding that sword with the Unseelie King when he was trying to make him kill Kieran. He clearly didn’t want to and not only that, he questioned WHY, like he thought you can’t just kill someone just because. Then in Thule we had Thule Dru talk about how she noticed he didn’t want to be there for Thule Sebastian’s executions, among the rest of things that happened there.

Now Ash and Dru, omg PLS I ship already! I cant wait for them!

Ty and Kit!: My other faves, my babies. I am the most invested in them! I just knew they were going to be separated at the end of this. I had a feeling. Then they made that “To never being parted” declaration in the campfire and I knew for sure oh no, they are gonna part. ;_; Their fight in Lake Lyn broke my heart a little bit, tears were shed. It particular broke my heart how while they were both physically fighting, they were crying about it and the whole situation. Though I’ll say I also did like that Kit went to live with Jem and Tessa <3. I feel like he is in the process of finding himself as a shadowhunter and just as a person too. I love that Jessa will be like his family. I cant wait for Jessa being parents! Also the arc of them separating only to meet again yrs later with so much unsaid ugh I cant wait for them either OTL. I could drown myself in feels thinking about all the different scenarios in which they might meet again. ;_; Oh! When they were in the campsite and Kit was wondering why Ty didn’t went inside the tent with him right away was everything. His mind was just reeling with TY scenarios it was the cutest.

I have to say I hope TY, KIT, and DRU, as they are our main characters are given priority in TWP no 10+ POVs PLS. (Ash gotta be in the POVs though ofc.) We only have 3 books with them. They deserve the focus so we can connect with them the most. Heck if there is no more than 4/5 POVs even better. We can get to know other and new characters without being in their heads as we got to love Ty without his POV in TDA.

Mark, Kieran, Christina: Other characters I love too. What can I say? I love that this threesome happened. I think the initial delivery coulda been better, but I loved their ending. When I say their initial delivery I mean their coming together as 3. I LOVED that spark they had in LOS when we first could see that there could be something between the 3 of them like ‘OMG what?!’. But in QOAAD I feel like I didn’t get like a full understanding of how and why Kristina and Kieran came to love each other. We could all see the love, feelings, and intense connection between Mark and Kieran since LOS. Also the connection between Mark and Christina, but with Kieran and Christina I feel like it needed more development. They were suddenly very into each other when they hadn’t spent much time together after LOS events and Kieran left with Diego. I’ll say what did help that a bit was that it was actually pointed out by Christina herself, saying how what they might have (Kier+Tina) is probably not close to the connection Mark and Kieran do. Despite this I love how it eventually concluded with the three of them. It was bittersweet, like Kieran my boy <3 ;__; but I liked it very much. Have I said how much I specifically love Kieran and Mark because I do!!

Lastly, woah I did not see that coming with the clave leaving Idris. I’m shocked they even agreed to that considering how prideful they are of their home. It is also like a safety cocoon for them. Im still processing, this is a huge change. It will be so interesting where the shadowhunter world goes from here.

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