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blackjackkent · 5 months

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OK, I think the time has finally arrived: The Baldur's Gate Gate.

And hey, our first glimpse of a Steel Watcher:

Pretty intense-looking thing, even from a distance.

This area is labeled as South Span Checkpoint, and there are some refugees arguing with the Flaming Fist near the gate, trying to get in. It didn't actually occur to me (or Hector either) till this moment that there's no more reason for them to let us in than the other refugees; the Fist do not know that we are the main character.

Hm.

Well, let's go up and try our luck.

"Halt! By orders of Lord Gortash, refugees are no longer allowed in the city. Turn around."

(A/N: This was a very lucky screenshot I managed to get because this woman's textures were flickering in and out of a very freaked-out state repeatedly.)

"I have urgent business in the city," Hector says firmly. It's not really a lie, right? That business just happens to be opposing Lord Gortash with every fiber of his being.

(He can feel how tense Karlach has gotten, hearing these Fist speak his name with respect, and there is a small part of him tempted to just let her loose to clear the way. But that would cause more problems than it would solve.)

She looks him up and down, raises an eyebrow. "Well. Do you have the means to support yourself?"

It's a casual request for a bribe. This is entirely lost on Hector, of course. [MONK] "I'm here on pilgrimage," he says earnestly. "The temples will support me."

Jaheira, worldly-wise as she is, smothers a laugh into a cough.

The guard narrows her eyes at him. "I'm afraid Article 30.1.7 stipulates that religious or spiritual assertions cannot count towards one's proof of self-sufficiency. I will repeat - for the last time, may I add - do you have the means to support yourself?"

He sighs, reaches into his pack, pulls out 20 platinum to show to her. (How much, he wonders, counts as a proper qualification?) "I can take care of myself," he says, trying to sound as calm as possible.

Her eyebrows lift, and then she grins, and in a single smooth motion, reaches out and plucks the coin from his palm. He's so startled that he doesn't have time to react before she has pocketed it.

"Right," she says with a somewhat nasty smirk. "Article 30.1.5 of the Council's Decree on Extraordinary Wartime Measures. I am confiscating that. The city thanks you for your contribution." The smirk fades to a glare. "Your name?"

Hector stares at her. He's so thrown by this development that he forgets to be subtle. "My name is Hector Carlisle."

"Greetings, citizen." The Steel Watcher speaks suddenly in a loud, robotic voice that makes Hector jump. As he turns automatically to look at the huge construct, his brain twists abruptly in his head.

"Your parasite stirs. From the construct, you feel connection. Resonance."

Bewilderment and discomfort mix in his mind. Does the construct somehow have a tadpole inside it? Or has it been programmed somehow to respond to True Souls of the Absolute? If the latter... could that potentially be of use to them?

Remain silent.

He's already said too much; he waits quietly to see if this guard intends to demand anything else of them - which of course she does.

"State your business!" she snaps at him.

Hector blinks rapidly, put on the spot again, but before he can come up with a suitable answer, Jaheira has cut in.

"I'm an herbalist by trade, Saer Fist," she says, lowering her voice to a soft murmur, putting just a hint of a catch into her breath. She steps forward to Hector's side, leaning forward to put a slight hunch into her back.

It's a rather remarkable transformation; without either disguise or change in accent she has lowered the threat of her appearance completely, in spite of the blades on her back. In retrospect, Hector thinks, of course a Harper would be good at deception and disguise as well as combat, but it is the first time he has seen Jaheira take such a tack.

It works, too - the Fist's expression immediately relaxes from hostility to mild disdain. "Uh huh," she says with a shrug, and gestures at the Steel Watcher. "Eyes open, body still."

Hector narrows his eyes warily. "Why?"

She smiles casually. "The Watcher will communicate with our new intelligence directorate. They'll determine if you're a threat to the city. Upstanding citizens have no reason to fear." She leans forward a little, her eyes narrowing pointedly. "And you *are* an upstanding citizen, aren't you?"

He keeps his face completely still with the ease of practice, but inwardly his mind is racing. How much does Gortash know about them? He was gone before they even fought Ketheric; he might not recognize them by face or name. He would know them by the presence of the Prism in Hector's pack; can the automaton detect that?

Too many questions. No point in buying trouble until he knows the situation.

Do as she says. Stand still.

Narrator: Behind the Watcher's gaze, a presence awakens. You are seen. You are known.

"Whoa..." Karlach mutters. "My engine. It's almost... I don't know. Buzzing. Like it's paying attention."

Hector can't respond, can't speak. His jaw feels wired shut, his attention bound by the mechanical creature bearing down on them.

Narrator: Your party's prior transgressions are reflected in its stare, as witnessed by the cult's ever-alert scrying eyes. It has heard the howls of slaughtered goblins. It has seen the deep shadows of Grymforge, and the stone floors left bloodied. The Watcher speaks directly into your mind with a voice like poisoned honey.

"You are marked for special treatment. Not simply an enemy of the people, but an enemy of the Absolute. Come quietly, or die."

The voice feels a little like the Guardian speaking to him, or like the communications that mental bond within their little group of travelers. But it is infinitely colder, mechanical and devoid of emotion or sympathy or life. It is a fist around his throat, ready to squeeze.

He could stand and fight here - but so close to the refugee camp, it's almost a certainty that innocents would be caught in the crossfire. Better to pretend to go along, and look for an opportunity somewhere less prone to collateral damage.

Consent to arrest.

He holds completely still, centering himself, conserving his energy, ready to follow and to capitalize on whatever presents itself.

"Your peaceful surrender has been noted," the Watcher intones coldly. "You will be transferred to Wyrm's Rock Prison where you will await further sentencing."

Hector takes a step forward, watching the construct warily -- but before he can be taken into custody, there's a scuffle of activity behind the gate.

"Eat this, you pile of junk!"

It's one of Wulbren's deep gnomes; she lifts one arm and hurls a small device at the Watcher with all her strength. Hector barely has time to realize what's happening and turn his eyes away before the device explodes in a blinding flash of light and lightning.

The guards stagger aside, clutching their eyes. The Watcher spasms as the electrical surge works through its circuitry. The deep gnomes vanish like shadows back into the crowd of the city.

And Hector and his companions, seeing the opening they were hoping for, barrel forward past the wall and out of sight.

#bjk plays baldur's gate 3 #hector carlisle #finally made it into the city!#and surprise surprise it's just as fucked up as everywhere else :P

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rattyshipss · 8 months

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Agggtm/Chucky crossover, Stanley Forbes x reader (Romantic) Pip, Ravi, Connor, and Cara, (Platonic) And Trevor Cain x no one because fuck him

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"So we're going to Incarnate Lord"

"Pip all I said was I found someone there who went to school with the guy, we don't even know if he's a suspect y- ok I guess we're going, of course we're going" Ravi said watching as Pip marched out the front door before following behind her, Cara and Connor not far behind.

"You know this is a long ass drive right? Incarnate Lord is like forever away" Cara said, already fidgeting with Pip's car stereo prepared to be the dj for the ride. "I have a car" Pip said situated in the driver's seat waiting as Ravi and Connor to get in behind them. "Oh yeah we know how well that went last time" Connor said shrinking away as Pip glared at him through the car mirror.

Arriving at Incarnate Lord, after Connor's many bathroom breaks resulting in Cara snack breaks while Ravi kept Pip company in the car with jokes that make Pip think she should've just gone alone. They walked through the wide threshold of the building, getting held up by nuns and almost getting kicked out with Ravi's ill timed nun pun before Pip took over, using her "Sarge charm" to explain the reason for their visit.

"Ah Pippa!" A man in a dark suit and dark rimmed glasses stopped infront of them and introduced himself as father Bryce. "I heard you were looking for me, I'm the headmaster of this glorious academy, I hope you've been welcomed by my sisters hospitality" he gave a warm but tight smile.

"Holy shit a real life priest..." Cara whisper yelled as Connor nudged her side in protest but ended up uncontrollably giggling himself. Pip sighed refocusing her gaze on father Bryce. "Y-yes we had some information we would like to discuss with you if you have a bit of time? It's important"

Father Bryce eyed the teens before straightening his glasses. "Well I do have a class soon but I'm sure sister Ruth can cover my class for something important" "Thank you" Pip smiled nodding towards sister Catherine before the group made their way to follow father Bryce to what Pip assumed must be his office.

_________________________________________

After an, interesting, conversation with father Bryce, he showed the group out back into the main corridor, Pip in her eagerness being the first one in and out of the office as Cara smiled apologetically to father Bryce, stopped, her eyes catching a familiar face.

(Y/n) (Y/ln), Stanley Forbes girlfriend.

They had met briefly before, running into eachother at Stanley's work place at the local paper when she'd brought him lunch or just visited. She knew about Pip and Stanley's history so Pip was always cautious around her, but she was always polite during their interactions, even going as far as telling her about their family dog who was also named Pip, they didn't seem to have the same tension her and Stanley did. Pip didn't have time to even prepare for potential awkward casualties as she was called over. "Pip!" She looked over to see (y/n) smiling over at her and waving. At least she was smiling, that's a good sign right?

"Hello (y/n)" Pip returned the smile walking over to join her. "What are you doing here Pip?" She said looking at her with big eyes, Pip could see why Stanley was drawn to her. "Were solving a murder!" Connor yelled out as him and the rest of the group showed up behind Pip who was now shushing them. "Oh I should've known" (Y/n) giggled at the group of Fairview high students nodding in their direction.

"What about you (Y/n)? Seems like a weird hang out spot" Cara said leaning her chin on Pip's shoulder. "Ah, I'm waiting for Stanley, he had to stop here to get some info for his next issue in the paper, got me coffee to make it worth it though" she said pointing to the to go coffee cup in her hand, most likely from the same coffeeshop Cara worked at and would've ran into them sooner if it wasn't her day off. "AWWWWW" Cara smiled scrunching up her nose with a small smile, chin pressing into Pip's shoulder.

Stanley came into view behind her and Pip and him immediately caught eachothers eye, sharing what could only be described as a half smile. "Hey?" Stanley smiled a bit wider looking over at (Y/n) as he wrapped a free arm around her, his other arm holding some presumably work papers, and kissing her briefly in greeting. "Hey Stanley!" They'd known eachother for long enough, I mean they were dating for god sakes, but she still liked to call him by his full name, Stanley, she said it suits him perfectly. And he could see Cara mouthing "Stanleyyy" in a mock swoon to Ravi. "Pip" Stanley nodded towards the brunette, "What are you doing here?"

"Just business, like I heard you are aswell" Stanley gave (Y/n) a quick wide eyed joking look. "Well your business usually gets you in trouble" causing an awkward shuffle of feet and quiet half laughs from everybody.

Before Pip and Stanley could get lost in the uncomfortable back and forth again, Pip noticed (Y/n)'s eyes trailing off across the room, the little idiosyncrasies she's come to pick up easily. Cara followed Pip's gaze, curious as to what her detective-esk friend noticed. Her eyes landed on a tall blonde haired boy in a uniform, god they had uniforms here?

"Oh god" "Are you allowed to say that near a church?" Ravi tried to lower the simmering discomfort.

"You know him?" Pip nodded towards the boy. "Knock off Draco Malfoy, unfortunately" she replied with a look of disgust on her face Pip was trying to decipher. Before she could explain further the blonde boy caught (Y/n)'s eyes and started to walk over, with a look on his face that made that gnawing feeling in Pips stomach return, the one she always got when something bad was coming.

"(Y/n)!"

Fuck

"I haven't seen you since you got me locked up in this place" Pip started eyeing the both of them harder. "Well I didn't figure you'd be in the mood for visiters Trevor" (Y/n) replied, Pip instantly picking up his name, Trevor. Stanley watched the tight uncomfortable smile spread across his girlfriend's face, even if the tension wasn't as obvious as it is now he'd still be able to tell, he could always tell. "And who's this?" Trevor turned to Pip. Before she either of them could reply Travor continued "Wait aren't you that girl that caused all that chaos last year with that case? All that hurt, all that pain? Those poor families" Trevor put a feighned hand on his heart turning back to (Y/n).

"You mean solve a case?" Pip said now staring fully at Trevor who just scoffed in return. Ravi, the awkward peace maker he is, tried to de esculate. "(Y/n)! You know Trevor?"

(Y/n) was immediately on guard at Trevor involving Pip, she's practically still a child. She straightened up and that smile so big it had to be physically uncomfortable returned and she turned into a completely different person than Pip had run into just a few moments before. "Yeah! We go back a bit, hey did you know he was born with only one testicle?" She said looking towards Stanley afterwards. "Maybe you can include that in the next paper" Cara hid her laugh behind Pip.

"You said you'd never tell"

"Oops"

Trevor looked from (Y/n) to Stanley then back to Pip. "Look, whatever you're here to do, if you wanna succeed in a place like this, you have to put your faith in a higher power" "Thanks, but no thanks" (Y/n) replied for Pip. "We're not really in the market for-" "I'm your higher power" Trevor shot his gaze over to (Y/n). "And if you don't learn that quickly I'll make this place a living hell for you too" (Y/n) avoided the confused and concerned looks from the rest of the group. "Don't do this"

"I own you now, you think this place is bad you fuck up I'll show you how much worse it can get" Stanley was about to cut in before he was cut off by his girlfriend. "No Trevor I don't know where you can get condoms!" The whole group looked towards her confused before hearing a voice yell behind them, looking over and seeing a nun marching over to them. "Trevor Cain!"

"Nice try, but if it makes you feel any better, my situation here couldn't possibly get worse"

Everything was silent afterwards as the nun dragged him away, an uncomfortable but finally calm silence, until Cara broke it "GOD I LOVE THAT BITCH, Stanley, Stan the man your girlfriend's great and if I were her age I'd date her, I fucking love her" Stanley slowly raised his folded hand in reply to Cara holding hers up to his for a fist bump and hesitantly returned the gesture before turning and walking towards the exit, sure to talk over everything that just happened in the car.

Pip and the others leaving a gap between the pair but not far behind, moving past a delivery worker entering with a rectangular donation package.

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QOTNEJGNWMFMAG THIS FIC IS MY BABY😭👉👈💖 If you took the time to read this thank you it really means a lot🥺💖 Rewrite of one of my favorite scenes from Chucky including my other favs Stanley and the others from Agggtm👀💖 Reblogs and comments appreciated but not required!💖

#agggtm #stanley forbes #a good girls guide to murder #chucky #f/o #self ship #self shipping #s/i #self ship community #self shipping community #romantic f/o #platonic f/o

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flightfoot · 2 years

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Ok, this isn't gonna happen with my fic any time soon (and I'm not quite sure how and if it's gonna happen or not), but how does Luka respond to someone confronting him? Just... I was just thinking that of everyone in the main cast besides Lila, I figured Calico would be most unsettled by Luka. See, there's this whole can of worms of him knowing Ladybug and Chat Noir's secret identities... on the off chance Blair finds out, her anger will hit him full force cause he could've prevented Marinette from going through with her plan and Blair wouldn't be stuck there in the first place. And part of me is also kinda salty with him... while I can kinda understand him putting off telling Marinette, I couldn't for the life of me understand why he didn't come clean then to stop her from doing something even he thought was wrong (since he did made an attempt to talk her out of it). I can kinda see Marinette picking his side though, both are inclined to avoiding conflict and that's on top of her seeing Blair as the aggressor and having some bias against her. This could open up an opportunity for them to talk about how avoiding potential conflict with someone you care about doesn't always solve it. Marinette may even forgive him but I'm not sure if she would fully trust him again after this fiasco... and that's all I got. So yeah, any tips on how to handle a Luka confrontation scene? His character is just so hard to read.

Definitely agreed on Luka being a hard to read character, I've struggled with him a lot. @wackus-bonkus-maximus's take on Luka actually helped me a lot with figuring out how he might think.

Best explanation for why he didn't even tell Ladybug the truth when it was relevant in Ephemeral? He didn't want to rock the boat. He's fine with giving little nudges in the right direction, and he's good at standing up to people he perceives as enemies, but he crumples when faced with needing to say things that could cause conflict with people he cares about. Fessing up that he'd lied earlier about not knowing identities would definitely cause conflict, as would pushing harder about not going through with her plan to get Chat's identity to Su-Han. While Luka DID make an attempt to talk her out of the plan, it was more of a light prodding than anything, not something that was likely to actually upset Ladybug, or damage their relationship.

Okay, looking through what you wrote again, you already seem to have a pretty good handle on Luka, honestly. I do see Marinette picking Luka's side, at least initially. She knows that Luka is kind and she likes him, while Blair rubs her the wrong way. I love the concept of them having a conversation about needing to conflict with people you love sometimes, that's definitely a conversation Luka needs to hear.

I do think Marinette would forgive him pretty easily - she'd be upset by it in the moment, but she gets past that kind of thing pretty quickly once she's had a chance to think about it, and it hasn't had any truly terrible consequences here - but I do agree that it'd damage her trust in Luka for awhile, until she was reasonably sure that he wouldn't try to lie in order to spare her feelings again, and that he'd speak up when he had relevant important info, even if would cause conflict.

As for the details on how to handle the scene... yeah I've never written anything like that for Luka. @wackus-bonkus-maximus, maybe you could take a crack at giving some tips?

#ask #miraculous ladybug #luka couffaine

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em-dash-press · 2 years

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-Short version. I need help with chapter specific plotting, structure, composistion(?) and general problem solving help? Any help will be much appreciated!

-Long version. Ok so I have been stuck on this chapter for a couple of months now if not longer. I have written, rewritten, tried outlining but what makes sense in outline does not fit whats on the page, and am just stuck and don't know how to solve it. Every time i think i have a break through, i end up at square one again but with a thousand extra words in a jumbled mess.

I know where my charater is coming from, I know where hes going and I have plenty of barriers. Probably verging on too many. Its an interigation scene with high stakes and conflict and reaching a point where my charater is resisting but also breaking down a misbelief. There are also a lot of other things going on with other characters that although not included in this chapter, may affect the eventual outcome and following scenes/ chapters.

I am at a point where I don't know what I am missing or need to cut out. I feel like the interigation is a nessisary but its just not quite right. I might break it in to 2 interigations as it feels like too much for 1 chapter.

Again, any help appreciated.

Hey there! First: I think talking about being stuck in your manuscript is always helpful. Putting your creative struggles to words can help your brain sift through them. So thanks for reaching out and I hope this process helps you!

Second: The best way to help yourself with the challenges presented in the first version of your question is probably to scroll through writeblr blogs and use the search bar on their blog or their tags to find posts specific to what you’re working through.

You can always use the search bar to find posts on my blog about developing plot, characters, and general troubleshooting! You could also do deep dives on any blogs that I reblog from. If you want a place to start, I especially love Fix Your Writing Habits (they have a “Tags” section that has great resources) and The 960 Writers (she also has awesome tags and regularly reblogs super helpful posts).

Third: I love the details you gave about your story! It sounds incredible. It doesn’t seem like the misbelief is the issue. Breaking down the structure of the scene could definitely help. Interrogations often have follow-ups if the police don’t get the information they need (or want). You could have the scene end with everyone in the room struggling to communicate, especially if your characters are confused.

People also get called back in for interviews when new information about the case comes to light. Further evidence of the potentially committed crime could become known to the police or become public knowledge and require another conversation.

You could also free-write a different type of scene to flex your creative muscles before returning to your WIP. Write a different character interrogating your protagonist or change the setting. Change the interrogator’s motivation or see what happens if your protagonist takes their struggles/question to a confidant.

I also like brainstorming a random plot point after the place where I’m stuck. Let’s say your protagonist leaves that interrogation confused. Maybe your current plot outline has them going home to confront someone possibly involved in the crime/main event. Instead of having them do that, you could write a scene where your character goes to the local news station because they double-down on their understanding of the misbelief/want to draw public attention to their case so they don’t get interrogated again without the world watching.

Ultimately, you may still feel stuck. That’s okay too! You could try restructuring your outline or writing without it to see where your story naturally takes you.

Looking up resources from helpful blogs is also great because the various posts may put words to something you’re feeling or struggling with that’s hard to get specific about.

Good luck pushing through this point in your story’s journey and learning from the experience!

#writeblr #writing advice #dawn101

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jolyneswife-anime-reviews · 2 years

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Magia record anime review

Spoilers for Magia record and tw for despair, violence and solitude

(Preface- Magia record is the story of part of what happens in one of the timelines of Madoka Magica. It is a spinoff, so I will operate under the assumption that readers are already familiar with Madoka Magica. If you aren't, I have a separate post covering it.)

(As I was writing this, I realised there were two potential ways to approach the judgement section. One of them involved linking back to Madoka Magica, while the other involved looking at this anime as a separate entity. I think that, because the two are so close knitted and set in the same universe, it makes sense to take the first approach.)

“It’s ok to accept my weakness, right? Start small, and move a little bit forward at a time.”- Iroha Tamaki

Genre: action, magical girl, dramatic, psychological

Where I watched it: Funimation

Characterisation:7/10 (Magia record offers characters with diverse and well developed personalities, all of which create distinct portraits of what humanity means. What makes this even better is that none of the girls are perfect- they struggle with insecurity and loneliness, but they put up facades of cheeriness, independence, or aloofness to cover that up. This made the characters a bit more complex and added a few interesting twists. Backstories are generally creative and quite well developed. However, to me, most characters seemed very similar to the cast from pmmm, which I found disappointing, because the idea of an imperfect magical girl, and the themes of hope and despair surrounding that, had so much potential for expansion, so I wanted to see a set of completely new characters, not shadows of the original girls)

Setting: 8.5/10 (The idea of Iroha needing to move to Kamihama because she suspects there might be a link to the rumors and her lost sister is a good one, as it creates a sense of adventure. The city caters perfectly to the plot, with each rumor being situated in a location that represents it perfectly. Another element of the setting I really enjoyed was the villa all the girls shared- with them living all together, it showed they relied on each other and were now something akin to a family, as well as adding opportunities for more wholesome and light hearted scenes with the cast. It’s appropriate that the villa belonged to Yachiyo previously, as she was left to live there alone after the death of her previous roommates and friends. This means that Yachio letting other girls into the villa again shows that she’s opened herself up once again to the idea of making friends. On a completely separate note, the memory museum and the amusement park embryo eve is meant to be released in are both built with complexity and creativity.)

Plot: 7.5/10 (the plot is generally dynamic and stimulating, with a lot of mysteries that need solving and increasing amounts of questions raised by Iroha’s investigations of Kamihama, rumors, Magius, the group fighting for the freedom of all magical girls. Sometimes however, it gets overly complex, so it can be hard to follow, or certain aspects start to drag a little bit. Girls from the original pmmm anime were featured in a few episodes in an effort to link the two together even more, despite them having little relevance or significance to the main story.)

Art style: 8.5/10 (The theme of visual storytelling continues to be strong in the spinoff series, with several hints relevant to the plot in the settings, and the rumors, which are very similar to witches, being made up of visual bits and pieces of girls’ past lives. The doppels, a temporary witch version of magical girls which can be used in combat or to purify a dangerously tainted soul gem, are also constructed in a similarly personal and unique way. The actual drawings are pretty and aesthetic, which goes hand in hand with the dual nature of what it means to be a magical girl. Colour pallets can also be seen changing to reflect the mood of scenes, or highlight significance.)

Originality: 7/10 (Even though a few new elements, such as doppels and rumors (which are essentially witches) were introduced, the majority of the main ideas remain the same. An interesting element introduced is the additional emphasis on infighting between the magical girls, with Magius fighting for their liberation in ways deemed dangerous and unethical. This sets them up as the main enemies for most of the series, instead of witches.)

Consistency: 6.5/10 (Throughout the first 2 seasons, the anime has a solid plotline and is, for the most part, interesting to watch. Season 3, which was made up of solely 5 episodes, felt rushed, so a lot was crammed into a relatively short period of time, especially when compared to the build up. This makes it easy to get slightly lost. The resolution also felt unsatisfactory.)

Addictiveness: 7.5/10 (the series is generally dynamic, fairly engaging and full of mystery. This made it a reasonably addictive anime, as there were several questions that needed answering, with changes in characters and setting helping to keep things interesting. Sometimes, there are so many things going on at once that it becomes easy to lose interest.)

Comfort: 5.5/10 (Following in Madoka Magica’s footsteps, this series is definitely not a lighthearted one, exploring the idea of misguided and naïve girls meeting their death at the hands of witches for a flawed wish, after being tricked by Kyubey. The older magical girls, who have witnessed all this suffering firsthand, bottle up their true emotions and put up a confident façade (Yui), or push others away for fear of hurting them (Yachiyo). However, very few of the main characters die when compared to pmmm, and the true friendship between Yachio’s team can make for wholesome moments and fragments of comfort in intense scenes, especially when compared to the rocky dynamic the girls had in pmmm.)

Philosophy: 8/10 (Just like pmmm, magia record brings forth some interesting dilemmas on morality, and whether drastic action, after an eternity of suffering, is acceptable. The idea of weakness, and more “vulnerable,” magical girls needing Magius to protect them from becoming witches, is also crucial, as it shows how our solitude and insecurities can be used to manipulate us, and how those struggling tend to be forgotten by the stronger or those with their own concerns, leaving them to seek help elsewhere. Magia Record also shone light on the touching friendship between the main characters, who had all experienced the most vicious forms of despair in their own way, and suggested that, with a little help, everyone can move on and continue to fight, especially when you have someone who genuinely cares about you by your side.)

The plot

Iroha Tamaki is a magical girl who fights witches in Mitakihara city, but she can’t remember what her wish was when she made her contract. When talking to her friend about the subject, the girl says that if a magical girl goes to Kamihama city, she can be saved from her fate, and one afternoon, Iroha finds herself on a train to said city. Unfortunately, the Kamihama witches are a lot more powerful than the regular ones, so Iroha has to be rescued by veteran magical girl Yachiyo, who makes her promise to never return. However, when a mysterious small Kyubey appears and seemingly guides Iroha to Kamihama, and as she becomes convinced that the city is somehow linked to the disappearance of her younger sister, Ui, Iroha employs the help of a trio of friendly magical girls, who rescued her from a witch, to help find her sister, with no luck. However, increasingly suspicious rumors are beginning to appear, witch like creatures created by seemingly harmless stories, so, after a while, Iroha joins up with Yachiyo and another enthusiastic girl named Yui to investigate these rumors. As the three continue to track down rumors and encounter new teammates, they also meet Magius, an association which claims to want to save all magical girls from their inevitable demise. After being invited to the memory museum, the girls learn about the horrible truth behind magical girls, and Magius’ risky plan to secure their future. Iroha is also shocked to discover that the leaders of Magius are non other than Nemu and Touka, two genius girls her sister befriended when they were all in the hospital. This sparks the beginning of a battle with Magius, which will determine the future of all magical girls, and it may take great sacrifice and pain to stop Magius and save all the girls, but Iroha is certain she can get through to Touka and Nemu.

Masterlist

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misthxshira · 1 year

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Psycho-Pass (ep 1-5)

★★★★☆

This anime has been on my watchlist for the longest and I don't know why I didn't start it earlier. I'm so drawn in by the detective work and character relationships. I had read the Washington Post article on student tracking before watching these first few episodes, so my attention was mainly on the technology used throughout the anime. One of the reasons universities are enforcing student tracking now is to "flag potential dangers." If a student never leaves their dorm or avoids the dining hall then an advisor can intervene and make sure the student is doing ok. What we see in psycho-pass is an advanced system like this. The psycho-pass already measures the danger you are rather than having to assume based off data. The psycho-pass helps the public safety bureau detain criminals, and even kill them if it is necessary. When I read the Washington Post article, I was left thinking that not everyone is going to have show signs of poor mental health the same way. It's hard to say someone is depressed simply because they never leave their dorm (I'm not denying that it may be true for many). I bring this up because in the first episode the hostage woman was flagged as a danger that needed to be eliminated. The poor woman didn't even do anything, she was scared and confused and just trying to defend herself. Technology isn't going to be right about everything. If we start to rely too much on technology, we miss important facts that could guide us down a better path to resolve an issue. Another thing to think about is the fact that none of the cases were solved by using the technology they have. Kogami pieced most of the crimes together by examining the scenes and looking for answers himself. To think back to specific scenes, in the club the dominator did nothing to help them detain the one behind the avatar murders. But when Komagi observed the evidence himself, they immediately found their main suspect.

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perrybradshaw22 · 1 year

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Admincraft: Minecraft Server Talk for Serious Admins and Developers

r/admincraft

Subreddit Information & Discord Server

Admincraft Monthly Marketplace

How difficult is it to create a small campain of a role-playing type?

Ok so, some context. Me and a friend have a yearly thing every summer where we prepare a server and host an event for our friends on it. Every year it gets more complex and advanced, and we have tons of fun making it, and seeing people's reaction to it. The last two years have been focused on PVP but we want to change the formula. This year we want to go all out, we were thinking about a more streamlined approach, instead of having a PVP event, we would love to host the server has some kind of roleplaying event, with areas, trials, all the good stuff. We really don't want any mods, just plugins, my main concerns were things like : Syncing music to a discord bot, having plugins to setup trials and success conditions, having potential bosses or custom enemies. How doable is all of this in 8-10 months? Are there any plugins that could help setting up stuff like this? Thanks! (btw if you have suggestions or fun ideas, feel free to share them)

The Meta Quest Pro is here! Meta Quest Pro. A new method to collaborate, create, and work.

I'm looking to learn more about coding and server management. what are your tips for making an awesome server/running it effectively? (And coding if you are a programmer, what are your reasons for not?

Ive been running a server now for about a month, and while i've had some run ins with stuff like this never have i gotten into it and desired it as much as i do now. i want to run this stuff well but i often run into so many blocks which i know i could fix easily if i knew the tool. (same goes for coding, sentence could be changed to coding , add a month, and call it a day)

So, what are your most effective tips, tricks, simple things that you might overlook that have dramatically increased your happiness and saved you time, or created an amazing environment? These are only general suggestions. If you think something doesn't fit, but is still valuable, please be sure to share it!

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sillysunshinesstuff · 4 years

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The Absolute Fuckery that was 15x20

Ok there were a lot of reasons why the final was bad. Like so many fucking reasons. Even without the queerbaiting,this is some of the worst writing I’ve ever seen and here’s a few reasons why:

Destiel

Yes. Big main reason here. They should not have included a confession and have one of the main plots of season 15 be Castiel’s and Dean’s relationship if they didn’t intend to follow through in any way. It shouldn’t have been introduced because the story became disjointed and thematically unsatisfying due to not being addressed in the final in any sort of way. Also, queerbaiting in 2020? Just to get your views up for the last few episodes because they knew Supernatural had become a shit show of bad ratings? Calculated and cruel toward the LGBTQIA+ community who has supported their careers for years.

Saileen

The absolute least they could have done was see this plot point through but they did not. We do not know if Eileen lives and even if they release information that she did, it’s still bullshit because we don’t get to see any part of her story. She has been reduced to a two dimensional character with no agency or purpose. Another woman just meant to prop up the male lead. Bullshit.

The Empty

What the fuck was the point of everything about this plot line if it would just be trashed half way through? Why did Cas make that deal with Ruby? Why did she beg to get out? Why did the Empty accuse Jack of making it loud? I really thought they were going somewhere with this one but they chickened out. There was so much potential for this; the angels and demons being awakened, balance being restored in heaven and hell, a big final show down between them and God. There were so many things just dropped when it came to this and that is why season 15 is absolutely frustrating because it feels like we just wasted our time with useless world building that didn’t amount to anything.

Kevin

I truly did think they’d address this in some sort of way, but the last time we saw Kevin, he was cursed to wander the earth until he became insane because his soul couldn’t ascend to heaven. I was really excited about this because I thought it meant there was going to be some restructuring of the Supernatural universe. The plot would be how the universe Chuck created wasn’t perfect and it had flaws and it was up to Team Free Will to fix some of these gaping holes. They made a point of calling it unfair. It was a wrong that should have been righted in some sort of way in the final.

Benny

This really isn’t just about Benny, it is about the concept of purgatory. A running theme in the show is that good people don’t deserve what happened to them. We see a lot of “good” monsters throughout the show. Characters who helped, sacrificed, and died for the brothers. At the end, they are sent to monster hell or purgatory. There was an episode this season where Sam and Dean killed a teenage boy who had been turned into a vampire. The teenage boy accepted his death because he knew it was for the best. He was afraid of hurting more people and he accepted that it was unfair. They made sure to emphasize how unjust the rules of this universe were and the emotional toll these universal rules took on the boys. Benny’s demise was spoken about briefly and we see Dean very hurt about his death. But the audience is left with the feeling that this is wrong. That the way the Supernatural universe is structured is wrong. Good people get turned into monsters, die, go to purgatory, and then die the ultimate death there. Is this what’s in store for all the “good monster” characters in the show? Garth? His family? They’re werewolves who fight their monster instincts, do they they still deserve purgatory? Did that teenage boy? A gaping hole that I thought the show was going to address in some way. Maybe offer redemption to those in purgatory or have Jack completely wipe away the concept of monsters in the universe. After all, it was just Chuck’s shitty writing, why couldn’t they wipe it clean and just leave people? “Cure” people of the monster and officially give the boys a way out of hunting? No monsters means no hunting. They’d be truly free. I thought this was direction they were going based off the certain episodes and characters discussed. But nope.

Jack

They reduced Jack’s character to plot food and that’s it. His ending was sloppy because it didn’t take into account any of the growth he’s had over the last three seasons. We predicted his ending from season 12 and that’s bad writing. Just. Awful writing. This character had dreams, motivations, relationships, but that all quite literally dissipated. He was used as a magic button that solved all their problems. 15x19 truly showed the lack of thought put into his character. He should not have been a main character if he didn’t have more influence on the plot than simply being a cop-out for having to write a well thought out solution. He was literally just there to snap his fingers and fix all their problems.

Dean

Oh yeah, Dean’s ending was a big fuck you to any character growth this character has had over the last 15 seasons. There is a line in his final 15 minute goodbye monologue where he says they always knew it would end this way. Which, exactly. We always thought it would end this way because it’s so goddamn predictable. It’s shitty writing because it doesn’t try to subvert this. It quite literally says that any growth Dean has had meant nothing because it didn’t change his end. Dean Winchester was always meant to die a young, bloody death. Everything he’s done, everything he’s bled and sacrificed for meant nothing. His prediction came true. It makes the audience wonder why they stuck around for this long ass journey if they knew the ending all along. It isn’t about what this character deserves. We have always known that the hero deserves happiness, but the ending should say something about why the story matters. Why did we see Dean struggle all his life about accepting himself? Loving himself? Seeing himself as someone who deserves to live? It was yet another theme and plot point throughout season 15. It’s what Castiel proclaimed to him in his confession and it is what Dean finally acknowledged by telling Chuck that’s not who he was. Dean Winchester is not a cold blooded killer. Dean Winchester deserved to live. It was beautiful character growth. A wonderful end to him. But they said fuck that when his last words were that he always knew it would end this way. That he always knew he wasn’t meant to live a long life. The writers wanted tears and they got them. I was crying, not because it was a beautiful satisfying death or ending, but because they tore apart 15 years of development for my beloved character. Dean Winchester has shown consistently that he wanted more than hunting, he wanted more than the life he got stuck with. But they didn’t follow through. They just decided to make an emotional ending because that was the coolest broest bro masculine thing to do.

Castiel

Literally everything. Literally fucking everything. Another character that was reduced to plot food. Castiel, the angel who rebelled against heaven and fell for the man he raised from perdition, was not deemed important enough to be in the final. This was the biggest fuck you of all. His story had become so complicated over the last few seasons and his purpose was kinda everywhere but they finally focused it when they had his happiness be Dean. When he said he found his faith when he found a family. When he became a father to someone who would one day save the universe. Castiel lived for the love he learned he was capable of. His ending just made no sense. I guess we’re supposed to assume Jack saved his from the empty but he wasn’t shown. He was not shown greeting Dean, the man he died for over and over again, his happiness. He was not shown being reunited with Jack, his faith. He was not shown enjoying the life he fell from grace for. He was a book with half its pages ripped out. Castiel didn’t get an ending. He got erased.

Sam

That fucking wig.

This is just some of my rambling thoughts I wanted to share will all of you. I have been a fan of this show for so many years. I invested so much time and love into something I’m going to look back on with bitter disappointment. Some of shittiest writing I have ever seen. Thanks for reading and add some more reasons. I know a missed a shit ton.

#supernatural #destiel #deancas #dean winchester #castiel #sam winchester #jack kline #jack spn #saileen

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tlbodine · 3 years

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The Horror Genius of Five Nights At Freddy’s

I’ve been playing FNAF: Help Wanted VR on my Oculus Quest lately (a birthday present to myself -- I know I’m late to that party!) and it’s reignited in me my old love of this series. I know Scott Cawthon’s politics aren’t great, but I don’t think there’s any malice in his heart beyond usual Christian conservative nonsense -- and I think he stepped down as graciously and magnanimously as possible when confronted about it. Time will judge Scott Cawthon’s politics, and that’s not what I’m here to talk about. I want to talk about what makes these games so damn special, from a horror, design, and marketing perspective. I think there’s really SO MUCH to be learned from studying these games and the wider influence they’ve had as intellectual property.

What Is FNAF?

In case you’ve somehow been living under a rock for the last seven years, Five Nights At Freddy’s (hereafter, FNAF) is a horror franchise spanning 17 games (10 main games + some spinoffs and troll games, we’ll get to that), 27 books, a movie deal, and a couple live-action attractions.

But before it exploded into that kind of tremendous IP, it started out as a single indie pont-and-click game created entirely by one dude, Scott Cawthon. Cawthon had developed other games in the past without much fame or success, including some Christian children’s entertainment. He was working as a cashier at Dollar General and making games in his spare time -- and most of those games got panned.

So he tried making something different.

After being criticized that the characters in one of his children’s games looked like soulless, creepy animatronics, Cawthon had his lightbulb moment and created a horror game centered on....creepy animatronics!

The rest, as they say, is history.

The Genius of FNAF’s Horror Elements

In the first FNAF game, you play as a night security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a sort of ersatz Chuck-E-Cheese establishment. The animatronics are on free-roaming mode at night, but you don’t want to let them find you in your security room so you have to watch them move through the building on security camera monitors. If they get too close, you can slam your security room doors closed. But be careful, because this restaurant operates on a shoestring budget, and the power will go off if you keep the doors closed too long or flicker the lights too often. And once the lights go out, you’re helpless against the animatronics in the dark.

Guiding you through your gameplay is a fellow employee, Phone Guy, who calls you each night with some helpful advice. Phone Guy is voiced by Cawthon himself, and listening to his tapes gives you some hints of the game’s underlying story as well as telling you how to play. A few newspaper clippings and other bits of scrap material help to fill in more details of the story.

Over the next set of games, the story would be further developed, with each new game introducing new mechanics and variations on the theme -- in one, you don a mask to slip past the notice of animatronics; in another, you have to play sound cues to lure an animatronic away from you. By the fourth game, the setup was changed completely, now featuring a child with a flashlight hiding from the monsters outside his door -- nightmarish versions of the beloved child-friendly mascots. The mechanics change just enough between variations to keep things fresh while maintaining a consistent brand.

There are so many things these games do well from a storytelling and horror perspective:

Jump Scares: It’s easy to shrug these games off for relying heavily on jump scares, and they absolutely do have a lot of them. But they’re used strategically. In most games, the jump scares are a punishment (a controlled shock, if you will) -- if you play the game perfectly, you’ll never be jump-scared. This is an important design choice that a lot of other horror games don’t follow.

Atmospheric Dread: These games absolutely deliver horror and tension through every element of design -- some more than others, admittedly. But a combination of sound cues, the overall texture and aesthetic of the world, the “things move when you’re not looking at them” mechanic, all of it works together to create a feeling of unease and paranoia.

Paranoia: As in most survival horror games, you’re at a disadvantage. You can’t move or defend yourself, really -- all you can do is watch. And so watch you do. Except it’s a false sense of security, because flicking lights and checking cameras uses up precious resources, putting you at greater risk. So you have to balance your compulsive need to check, double-check, and make sure...with methodical resource conservation. The best way to survive these games is to remain calm and focused. It’s a brilliant design choice.

Visceral Horror: The monster design of the animatronics is absolutely delightful, and there’s a whole range of them to choose from. The sheer size and weight of the creatures, the way they move and position themselves, their grunginess, the deadness of their eyes, the quantity and prominence of their teeth. They are simultaneously adorable and horrifying.

Implicit Horror: One of the greatest strengths to FNAF as a franchise is that it never wears its story on its sleeve. Instead of outright telling you what’s going on, the story is delivered in bits and pieces that you have to put together yourself -- creating a puzzle for an engaged player to think about and theorize over and consider long after the game is done. But more than that, the nature of the horror itself is such that it becomes increasingly upsetting the more you think on it. The implications of what’s going on in the game world -- that there are decaying bodies tucked away inside mascots that continue to perform for children, that a man dressed in a costume is luring kids away into a private room to kill them, and so forth -- are the epitome of fridge horror.

The FNAF lore does admittedly start to become fairly ridiculous and convoluted as the franchise wears on. But even ret-conned material manages to be pretty interesting in its own right (and there is nothing in the world keeping you from playing the first four games, or even the first six, and pretending none of the rest exist).

Another thing I really appreciate about the FNAF franchise is that it’s quite funny, in a way that complements and underscores the horror rather than detracting from it. It’s something a lot of other properties utterly fail to do.

The Genius of Scott Cawthon’s Marketing

OK, so FNAF utilizes a multi-prong attack for creating horror and implements it well -- big deal. Why did it explode into a massive IP sensation when other indie horror games that are just as well-made barely made a blip on the radar?

Well! That’s where the real genius comes in. This game was built and marketed in a way to maximize its franchisability.

First, the story utilizes instantly identifiable, simple but effective character designs, and then generates more and more instantly identifiable unique characters with each iteration. Having a wealth of characters and clever, unique designs basically paves the way for merchandise and fan-works. (That they’re anthropomorphic animal designs also probably helped -- because that taps into the furry fandom as well without completely alienating non-furries).

Speaking of fan-work, Scott Cawthon has always been very supportive of fandom, only taking action when people would try to profit off knock-off games and that sort of thing -- basically bad-faith copies. But as far as I know he’s always been super chill with fan-created content, even going so far as to engage directly with the fandom. Which brings me to....

These games were practically designed for streaming, and he took care to deliver them into the hands of influential streamers. Because the games are heavy on jump-scares and scale in difficulty (even including extra-challenging modes after the core game is beaten) they are extremely fun to watch people play. They’re short enough to be easily finished over the duration of a long stream, and they’re episodic -- lending themselves perfectly to a YouTube Lets Play format. One Night = One Video, and now the streamer has weeks of content from your game (but viewers can jump in at any time without really missing much).

The games are kid-friendly but also genuinely frightening. Because the most disturbing parts of the game’s lore are hinted at rather than made explicit, younger players can easily engage with the game on a more basic surface level, and others can go as deep into the lore as they feel comfortable. There is no blood and gore and violence or even any explicitly stated death in the main game; all of the murder and death is portrayed obliquely by way of 8-bit mini games and tangential references. Making this game terrifying but accessible to youngsters, and then marketing it directly to younger viewers through popular streamers (and later, merchandising deals) is genius -- because it creates a very broad potential audience, and kids tend to spend 100% of their money (birthdays, allowances, etc.) and are most likely to tell their friends about this super scary game, etc. etc.

By creating a puzzle box of lore, and then interacting directly with the fandom -- dropping hints, trolling, essentially creating an ARG of his own lore through his website, in-game easter eggs, and tie-in materials -- Cawthon created a mystery for fandom to solve. And fans LOVE endlessly speculating over convoluted theories.

Cawthon released these games FAST. He dropped FNAF 2 within months of the first game’s release, and kept up a pace of 1-2 games a year ever since. This steady output ensured the games never dropped out of public consciousness -- and introducing new puzzle pieces for the lore-hungry fans to pore over helped keep the discussion going.

I think MatPat and The Game Theorists owe a tremendous amount of their own huge success to this game. I think Markiplier does, too, and other big streamers and YouTubers. It’s been fascinating watching the symbiotic relationship between these games and the people who make content about these games. Obviously that’s true for a lot of fandom -- but FNAF feels so special because it really did start so small. It’s a true rags-to-riches sleeper hit and luck absolutely played a role in its growth, but skill is a big part too.

Take-Aways For Creatives

I want to be very clear here: I do not think that every piece of media needs to be “IP,” franchisable, an extended universe, or a multimedia sensation. I think there is plenty to be said for creating art of all types, and sometimes that means a standalone story with a small audience.

But if you do want a chance at real break-out, run-away success and forging a media empire of your own, I think there are some take-aways to be learned from the success of FNAF:

Persistence. Scott Cawthon studied animation and game-design in the 1990s and released his first game in 2002. He released a bunch of stuff afterward. None of it stuck. It took 12 years to hit on the winning formula, and then another several years of incredibly hard work to push out more titles and stoke the fires before it really became a sensation. Wherever you’re at on your creative journey, don’t give up. You never know when your next thing will be The Thing that breaks you out.

If you want to sell a lot of something, you have to make it widely appealing to a bunch of people. This means keeping your concept simple to understand (”security guard wards off creepy killer animatronics at a pizza parlor”) and appealing to as wide a segment of the market as you can (ie, a horror story that appeals to both kids and adults). The more hyper-specific your audience, the harder it’s gonna be to find them and the fewer copies of your thing you’ll be selling.

Know your shit and put your best work out there. I think there’s an impulse to feel like “well, nobody reads this anyway, so why does it matter if it’s no good” (I certainly have fallen into that on multiple occasions) but that’s the wrong way to think about it. You never know when and where your break will come. Put your best work out there and keep on polishing your craft with better and better stuff because eventually one of those things you chuck out there is going to be The Thing.

Figure out where your target audience hangs out, and who influences them, and then get your thing in the hands of those influencers. Streaming and YouTube were the secret to FNAF’s success. Maybe yours will be BookTube, or Instagram, or a secret cabal of free librarians. I don’t know. But you should try your best to figure out who would like the thing that you’re making, and then figure out how to reach those people, and put all of your energy into that instead of shotgun-blasting your marketing all willy nilly.

You don’t have to put the whole story on the page. Audiences love puzzles. Fans love mysteries. You can actually leave a lot more unanswered than you think. There’s some value in keeping secrets and leaving things for others to fill in. Remember -- your art is only partly yours. The sandbox belongs to others to play in, too, and you have to let them do that.

If in doubt, appealing to furries never hurts.

Do I take all of this advice myself? Not by a long shot. But it’s definitely a lot to think about.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go beat The Curse of Dreadbear.

#horror analysis #writing advice #fnaf

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athyathye · 3 years

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Ok ok, i just came from tiktok and have an enlightment. I saw lots of what will they do if they are the parents of our tokrev bois. That's when the light of this idea came. May i present....

A fem!reader who defend herself using belt because clearly she doesn't have enough muscle to punch someone till they get knock out.

If i need to give a title for it, it would be : "With the Power of My Belt"

Long vers, my idea of a fic : fem!Reader is some kind of reincarnated person from our world and become Baji's younger sister also Mikey's crush. She is a good student with excellent grades and not in a gang (in other words, a very normal person, although very oblivious towards romance. Also a calm and collected person, unlike her brother. She can still have that Baji moment where she is very scary/savage in fights with her belt, never got into a fight before Bloody Haloween . I'll say its the belt and the power of the predecessor of hundred of years behind them. And for the grade because she is teenager who solves elementary problem.)

So because she is more mature because of her previous life memory, she try to push her brother and the gang toward a good future (by nagging and helping them with school and lending an ear and give advice of what to do with life. Giving them that domestic stability vibe.). Fem!reader have a prophetic dream ability, the one where she dream about the death of her loved ones. She got very guilty about not believing her dream where Shinichiro died, so she try to make it up by saving Draken and her brother (can be an accomplice with Takemichi to save the future).

In Bloody Haloween, she, who never got into a gang fight, arrive at the fight to prevent her brother's death, without said brother knowledge or any of the gang. She came with preparation, a phone, a dictionary, an aid-kit with a guide book of how to help when someone got stabbed, and a belt in her bag. With a belt on her hand, she fight her way through the crowd (slapping people faces and butt right and left. You call it violence, i call it displince. Lol. Make it very funny.) toward Baji and got stabbed instead of him. When she got stabbed, she fished out her phone and call for an ambulance for herself. Still with adrenaline (i think adrenaline can save one life or prolong it) running in her body, she start nagging at all of them, Baji, Kazutora, Mikey, that guy who doesn't have any relation with this, Chifuyu about how idiotic this is and somebody could have died (she is still bleeding out herself and not refering to herself).

She yells at Mitsuya or Chifuyu to help with her stabbed wounds, she got the guidebook ready. She also reprimand Kazutora to work through his trauma without involving harm to oneself and others (she make sure to say that she forgive him for stabbing her, aggresively). And getting angry at Baji because he could make their mother cry again if he died. You can insert some emotional moment between Mikey and the Reader, where he confess his feeling, and she fainted after. Fast forward, a happy, emotional, and fluffy ending, where the Reader is alive and got together with Mikey (after years of pining in Mikey's end) and also include the Toman happy fluffy platonic familial scene.

(Additional note : Fem!Reader doesn't know about Tokyo Revengers, but the Tokrev bois surely surprised our dear fem!Reader with their super human ability. I mean look at Draken and Takemichi, they are ok after getting stab in the stomach and hand. And they also pull out the said knife, which make me want to scream at them because that is not how you handle stab wounds. Anyway, our fem!Reader die in our world in their teenage years but they have good loving family and she also a good student with good grades and good social life. And the fem!Reader is also trying to make sure the bois grow up to be a good person. She reprimand her brother a lot about that car-burning things. I get that the parental figures kinda suck, almost non-existent. But, seriously did your parents let you join a gang and let you be a delinquent who got into frequent fights? And they surprisingly, very accepting with the tokrev bois, especially with japan standard. Because that is what i read with most of these xreader. I mean, i know that my parents won't let me go out alone after the sundown. So what i mean is can we get a more realistic dynamic.)

I have not proofread. Sorry for the long ask. I know that the request is not open. And if it's like an OC, i am sorry. I just want to dump this idea. I don't think i would ever write the fic, i just think it will be a cool fic or idea. So i present this to you. But if you ever decided to make a fic out of this idea, just summon me or call me by mentioning "Belt Anon". I will like it if you really make it. But no pressure. Just think it will be cool, with the chaos and all of that.

Lmao I'm rocking with the "belt anon" KSKDKEKE but yes, your idea is very interesting! I love it! Very detailed and the fem! Mc has a very attractive personality~ no doubt the type of girl Mikey would enjoy in his company.

I'm very curious as to why she was reincarnated to Tokyo revengers and why she has that ability tho lol~ the introduction was rather vague to me, for what reason did she really reincarnate if she had a pretty good life? That is, if you even need a reason to. If Takemitchy's main goal was to save Hina, and everyone of his friends, her goal would be to save their friends as well then?

Ngl I chuckled a bit at that stabbing part KWJEBDD HOW ARW GOING TO SCOLD SOMEONE ABOUT DYING WHEN YOU ALREADY ARE- 💀 ☠ 💀

Reader seems like the mother type as well! I love that! The smart one who makes sure none of her children get arrested, the stand in parent they should have-

Your idea is very interesting and has a lot of potential anon~ a few more tweaks here and there and no doubt that would be a great fic!

Sadly I won't be able to make it a full fledged fic :((( I can only make it a headcanon

I would love to write about it, but as you can see I've been pretty busy with life rn that's can only make it a headcanon~ hope you understand!

By the way, which characters should I write for then?

#athyathye requests!#athyathye 💬💬#belt anon ♡#this really is a fun read tho

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jinxxedwammys · 3 years

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Ok hear me out. I’ve listened to “Sway with me (slowed)” by Cytus II and I have this whole imagine of the reader at a masquerade ball as an undercover agent, and as The Wammy Bois (preferably L or Near) S/O or crush. Well the situation turns for the worst and L (or near) rushes out into the party (he was originally watching on cams) to get a hold of the situation to either like confront the Bad Guy or just protect the reader. Idk I think about it when I listen to the song. Love your writing btw

Aww thanks anon, I'm glad you like my writing! And damn, I like this one a lot! This calls for a fic. Thanks for requesting! (Not me accidentally making this somewhat like that ball scene in Black Butler.. oof)

For this I chose L and decided not to do Near, I hope that's okay.

Warnings: Mentions of human trafficking, Main antagonist being a creep, daggers.

(Image from some wallpaper site and very lightly and badly edited with befunky)

The night was young, the sun had only just set below the horizon plunging the city into darkness. At 8PM this night there was a masquerade ball at a very wealthy businessman's mansion. As all the high society guests exited their limousines and luxury cars escorted by servants you stood staring at the lavish mansion.

"I feel so out of place here... Do I really blend in enough?" You quietly asked Watari who stood beside you as your "servant". You shifted uncomfortably and looked to him for an answer.

"Yes, of course you do. You fit in very well. Please do not worry, I'm sure you will be alright in there." He bowed before reentering the drivers seat of the vehicle you'd arrived in. You took a deep breath before carefully ascending the marble stairs leading to he door. Before you could be noticed by anyone in particular, you placed the earpiece you had been provided in your ear disguising it with your hair.

Unlike the other guests, tonight wasn't about enjoyment or entertainment for you. You were assisting with an investigation into one of the high class men attending this party known as Daniel Grant. He had been suspected of human trafficking, though it seems he had been doing more than just that. A recent investigation by the private investigator known only to the public as L suggested that he may potentially be behind multiple murders in the area. As it happens, you were the lynchpin in solving this case and getting the evidence needed to put Daniel Grant and all involved behind bars.

He seemed to target young people between the ages of 18 and 25. As it happens, you were perfect for that role. You were also a police officer. So only two weeks ago, you had been asked to assist the one and only L. Of course, when he contacted you, you were overjoyed. Finally, something more interesting than petty crime! But now, as you entered the lavish mansion you were far less confident than you were when you initially joined.

You knew L was watching the camera feeds from the CCTV system, but it still didn't calm your nerves. You nervously approached the table where the guest sign in book was placed, carefully signing your alias. Then you made your way to the ballroom where the party was held. You took a deep breath and adjusted your mask before entering into the room.

Inside, everyone was chatting amongst themselves every single person dressed very formally, women in beautiful ballgowns, men in fancy suits. Every single one wore a masquerade mask, some plain and simple, some adorned with gemstones, lace and other ornate designs. Everyone went silent when one man tapped his glass with a fork.

"Hello everyone, I'd like to thank you for attending tonight. Thank you all for celebrating my niece's 20th birthday with us" He motioned to a young girl blonde girl wearing a dark pink dress with a black lace mask. Everyone gave a short applause in response. "Please enjoy yourselves" He bowed slightly. You hadn't known this was a birthday party beforehand. You wondered what Daniel Grant had to do with this girl. About 20 minutes into the party, you decided to check in with L as you hadn't heard a thing from him since you arrived. You excused yourself to the bathroom.

"L are you listening?" You asked quietly and waited for a response.

"Yes, I am, is anything wrong?" He asked. You shook your head before you realized he couldn't see you right now, there were no cameras in the bathroom.

"N..No, I haven't seen Daniel yet either... I was just making sure you were there." you hurriedly replied.

"Mmh, I'll guide you to him if you would like, I can see him on the cameras." He replied clearly eating something.

"Okay, please do!" You left the bathroom and reentered the ballroom doing your best to hide the fact that you were scanning the room for the suspect. L's voice came over the earpiece again, this time instructing you to look for a woman in an emerald green dress near the center of the room. You entered the crowd of guests. Your eyes widened slightly when you saw the woman L had been talking about. She was in fact talking to Daniel Grant. They seemed to know each other. You stayed back, waiting for L to say something.

"Seems like you found them, stay back for a little while, I'll tell you when to approach" He said. You of course didn't respond since you were surrounded by others in earshot. You casually checked your pockets and approached another guest making small talk to kill time. You had taken your eyes off of him for a second, and the moment you looked back, the niece was talking to him. L seemed to notice as well.

"Daniel is currently talking to an important innocent. Please intervene now." You looked around the room before casually approaching the two.

"Hello, I came to wish you a happy birthday!" You said, sort of putting yourself between them. She nodded, thanking you and went back to talking with Daniel. You sighed in annoyance, but persisted.

"Hey, could you by any chance show me to the washroom? I've been looking for it and I just can't find it" You asked. She looked at Daniel, excusing herself from their conversation before leading you to said washroom.

"I'm sorry for inconveniencing you... Oh.. and I think it would be best if you stayed away from that man." She gave you a quizzical look.

"Why is that? He's one of my mother's friends." She asked. You were kind of shocked. Another detail L had left out. You questioned if he trusted you before ultimately banishing the thought. Of course he trusted you. You wouldn't be the one confronting the guy if he didn't.

"Just trust me, he's no good" You warned. It was clear that she didn't take your words seriously whatsoever. She scoffed and left. Now what? You wondered. And just like that, L's voice came through again.

"I want you to talk to him, try your best to get him away from her." Immediately you left the bathroom and made your way back to the ballroom again. By now, there were a few people dancing. Unfortunately Daniel seemed to be one of them, but you had a plan. Dance your way to him! You started off with a tall man with a purple tie, then to an average height lady in a light blue dress, then a lady with a fuchsia pink dress, and so on until finally, you were dancing with Daniel.

"You're the person who rudely interrupted my lovely conversation with the guest of honor" He observed. His voice was cold, though there was a tinge of intrigue.

"And what of it?" You sort of snapped. He smirked, it sent chills up your spine. You backed away slightly, but he closed the distance.

"Oooh, I like them feisty" He growled into your ear. You couldn't help your face twisting in disgust at that.

"Why don't we go... somewhere more private" He suggested. It was then that L's voice came on through your earpiece.

"Go with him, I want to see what he'll do" You gulped. You really didn't want to go anywhere with that creep. But L's orders... You nodded and Daniel led you upstairs. You both stood in front of a bedroom door. He opened it, directing you to go inside. As you did, his eyes seemed to undress you. It was then that he took out a dagger holding it to your neck.

Meanwhile, L sat in his temporary investigation headquarters observing your actions. He had just stuck a piece of cake in his mouth when you had been attacked. He had not expected Daniel to be armed. You were in grave danger and he knew it. He immediately stood up, the fork clattered to the ground and the plate the cake had been on shattered as it hit the floor. He didn't care.

"Y/N, hang in there, I'll be there soon" he quickly said to you before rushing to get Watari and speed off to the party. The car ride seemed to take forever. Every second of it, he watched and listened. Daniel seemed to be just threatening you for the time being, but at any second, he might just kill you. The very second they arrived, L clumsily jumped out of the car and rushed up the stairs to the manor, past the guards outside and up another flight of stairs to where you were.

L had for the first time in his life, brought a gun in case things got even more ugly, but he doubted he'd need it. Daniel didn't seem like the type to be bold enough to kill in front of another person. Even so, he gripped the gun before entering.

"Let them go!" L commanded. Daniel's head snapped in his direction.

"Get out, this is none of your business" Daniel said, turning back to you.

"It is my business, that happens to by my significant other you have there." You blinked. Significant other? Is he acting? You thought before mentally reprimanding yourself for thinking that now. L moved a little closer.

"Oh.... She is... I'm sorry" Daniel backed away. It was kind of comical how he looked like a scolded dog. You stood up and walked towards L, glancing back a few times at Daniel to ensure he wasn't going to get violent again. And without another word, L led you out of the manor to safety. Though there was one question burning in your chest. When you were safely in the car you decided to voice it.

"L... Do you actually like me?" L turned to you, his expression was completely unreadable.

"Yes" He said almost monotonously. But that was good enough for you.

#death note #death note x reader #l lawliet #l lawliet x reader #short story

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evilwickedme · 3 years

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ok so to sum up my feelings for leverage: redemption, season 1(a): (long post warning, there’s a tl;dr at the end)

I knew that Hardison wouldn’t be in most of the season due to Aldis Hodge being a busy bee nowadays, but I didn’t realize that meant he’d only be around for the first two episodes. He was sorely missed, not only because of my attachment to him, but also because he’s usually the grounding factor in the group dynamic, and his role as info guy and tech guy was split evenly between two characters who had their own issues.

That said, Hardison is absolutely a highlight of the two episodes he’s in. his speech about redemption was everything I could’ve hoped for (plus, more evidence for the Jewish!Hardison pile...). I wish we’d gotten to see more of his dynamic with Breanna because what we saw was funny and sweet and we don’t generally get to see Hardison taking care of somebody who so desperately needs taking care of. I hope that Aldis Hodge is around for more episodes in 1(b), because what we’re left with feels a little hollow.

Sticking to original leverage characters for now, for the most part the leverage crew still felt true to the original series as characters, even if the show itself was a little bit confused at times. The actors understand their characters and embody them so well that I think one could give them the trashiest script ever and they’d still sell it. Sophie is a particular focus in 1(a) because of Nate’s death, and she’s particularly well written as a result.

That said, I’m super bitter that we saw little to no mastermind!Parker. Parker’s character being given the mastermind role was a big deal and it feels like they’re walking it back because they feel uncomfortable with it. It is eventually given an in-text excuse, but literally in the last episode, and it was not a particularly convincing reason, and in fact contradicted moments from previous episodes (Sophie leaving for a client meeting and ignoring Parker in ep3 comes to mind). It’s frustrating, it makes the end of the original leverage feel pointless, and letting Parker make a decision once in a while is not the same thing at all. The original series repeatedly showed us that while everyone in the team had their strengths, Parker works problems and solves them in unique, interesting ways, and other characters’ days in the limelight tended to be comedic or even failures. It’s a broken promise, and a pretty major broken promise at that.

On a more positive note, Parker’s dynamic with literally everyone was fantastic. She’s possibly the best written character this season. They’ve taken the autism out of the subtext and into the text (although obviously still undiagnosed), and given her coping mechanisms that were taken seriously in the text even when they were played for laughs, which I appreciated. Her attempts to mentor Breanna were sweet, her friendship with Sophie was electric and at times (CRIMES) hilarious, and as usual, she has a fantastic dynamic with Eliot that makes my heart burst. If you don’t think they’re romantically involved, at least acknowledge there’s a life partnership here. They’ve spent the last decade together.

(We’ll get to Harry.)

Eliot isn’t given much arc-wise, which is frustrating since he’s my favorite. He’s being presented as the goal at the end of a redemption arc, ie to keep working at it every day until your soul heals or whatever, and it doesn’t reflect the message they’re trying to convey via Hardison’s speech and our two new characters. He’s got his moments, but I think they under utilized his potential.

Breanna!!! Breanna’s my new favorite, except for Eliot. She’s hilarious, she’s insecure, she’s nerdy and excited in a way that’s similar to Hardison but still distinct in its inherent teenage-girl-ness and I LOVE IT. Unlike the previous series, where Hardison’s “age of the geek” was often a joke played on Hardison, we’re at the point where Eliot and Parker are both right there with him, and so they accept and even appreciate Breanna’s nerdiness. Also, canon gay character? In YOUR Leverage? It’s more likely than you think.

(No, I never thought they’d make ot3 canon on screen. I hoped, but I didn’t think it would actually happen.)

I think Breanna’s the character that will be the most interesting to see grow. She’s got a lot of potential and a list of crimes a mile long (or more). I adore her with all my heart. I want to see her tiktok account.

Harry. Oh, Harry.

It took me a while, but I do like Harry. It took a while, because the narrative positioned him at the same level as Nate back in episode 1 of original Leverage. But in episode 1 we didn’t know the other characters. We had Nate as the POV character, and so we cared about him because we were seeing the world through his eyes. (This is TV Studies 101. I know this, because I took TV Studies 101 in 2019.) In Leverage: Redemption, we no longer have a POV character, for several reasons:

Nate, previously the POV character, is dead.

As it is, by mid-season 3 of leverage Nate was no longer a POV character. This is, coincidentally, the point where the leverage writers realized they had four other characters in the main cast they could do something with, and in-universe, Nate accepted that he was a thief, not a special Good Man.

Sophie is sort of a POV character for the first episode of the revival, but only for the first few minutes. Afterwards, the series settles into the groove of seasons 3-5, i.e., the entire crew is our POV. We know our crew, and we love them as is.

Narratively, however, Redemption insists on positing Harry as the POV character, because it is his redemption we are pursuing most vehemently. And I think they really relied on us already knowing the actor - I’ve never seen him in anything before, so to me he was a completely fresh face and they put almost no effort into selling him to me. Beyond being competent and consistently mildly baffled by the antics of the leverage crew, I honestly don’t know who this man is by the end of EIGHT episodes with him. I have a much better handle on Breanna by the end of 1(a), and I can tell you I knew all five of the original leverage crew better by the end of the first episode of the original series than I do Harry. What’s the name of his daughter, John Rogers. Is he still married. How old is the daughter. Why is none of this worth mentioning. Give him a sense of humor that isn’t reacting to other people’s shenanigans. I’m so frustrated. It’s bad writing.

I did manage to grow to like Harry by the end, but I’m pretty sure this is down to Noah Wyle’s charismatic portrayal of an under-developed character, at least partially. And I never stopped being frustrated at not knowing who this man is at all.

The two highlights of the season are undoubtedly episodes five and six. Episode five was the first time I felt like the episode was more than a collection of good moments between the main cast and mediocre moments between the main cast and also the main plot. The issues with pacing and tone that I suffered through for most of the season were mostly non-existent in ep5 and 6, and at least in episode 5 I attribute that to the pared down cast. They had time to focus not only on our actual characters - Sophie, Parker, Breanna - but also on the case. This is the only client from 1(a) I am going to remember next week without googling it first, mark my words.

Episode six worked for the exact opposite reason - it completely disregarded the client and plot and immersed itself in the characters. Breanna gets a moment to shine, but everybody else gets their bits and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the script that was most fun to write. The characters felt natural, real, and captured the found-family dynamic that’s been missing all season for the first time.

While episode 2 is the weakest episode, I don’t actually have much to say about it. I am disappointed in episode 8. For a mid-season finale, I really expected them to do something. Instead, it was an episode about Nate Ford that copped out of being about Nate Ford (both with fake-Nate and with the new version of him being relayed to us). I would have told the writers to give that energy back to episode 1 and write an episode that’s about anybody who isn’t Harry, oh my God. I know I said I grew to like him but so many episodes were about Harry. He’s the newbie! Why didn’t Hardison get an episode that was actually about him, considering he was only around for two episodes? Why does Eliot have to be the butt of the joke when the theme of the series should directly tie back to him in a much more meaningful way? The last episode parodies their own tagline by saying Eliot isn’t just a hitter, but it deftly avoids noticing that they’ve turned him into nothing more than very muscly comic relief, including in that very episode!

Also, I hated the Marshal. Eliot actively looked uncomfortable around her.

tl;dr

The season took a while, that’s definitely true. But it did find its footing eventually, and by the halfway mark of 1(a) it finally felt cohesive again. The characters were played fantastically even when they weren’t well-written, and if nothing else, the humor landed every time. It still has its kinks and problems to work out, but if you look at it as a brand new show rather than a continuation of one that went off the air over eight years ago, it’s actually doing rather well. I’m choosing to judge it in both lights - according to its own standards, it establishes its identity in episode five; according to Leverage standards, it establishes its connection to its roots in episode six. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed 1(a), and continue to have high hopes for 1(b).

fic writing will commence in three, two, one...

#leverage #leverage meta #leverage redemption #leverage ot3 #parker leverage #alec hardison #sophie devereaux #eliot spencer #breanna casey #harry wilson #mine

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fantastickoalaobservation · 3 years

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doowee’s urn analysis

Rewatching this episode and realizing the infamous breakup scene took place in front of Francis 😳

Sally seems petty as hell here -- or maybe it’s just that things escalate so quickly. Even though you know they’re gonna get back together, it still hits hard man

And then when everyone on the Archaeological Club turns on Doowee and Francis backs him up, he goes, all dejected, “Thanks Francis, at least you’re a real friend”

Wonder where that’s comin from

And where does Doowee go straight after this?

To Sally’s, where she thinks he’s come to investigate with her again

And yeah, Sally’s still mad which then we get her being petty as hell before finally taking his case (”I’m so busy cuz I’m the only one solving cases now you see” “Fine i’ll take it but only out of pure professionalism”) Then Doowee kisses her and even though Sally says something like “ewgh” may I remind everyone the ship can be alive in our hearts

Then they’re going over Doowee’s alibi which no one can back up and Sally goes “I’m not accusing you but we at the SBI -- uh I mean I -- cannot exclude any possibility. You know that because you used to be a member of it.” Then she flips her hair and walks off

dang... then we get this scene where they make up (not make out, sorry everyone)

“we were a team and the only way for me to clear my name is if we’re a team again”

“ok... partner”

Look at how fast she take him back, imagine the dating potential (i’m done, really)

The case is solved quickly from there, then the episode ends cuz teamwork

A beautiful episode

“NO!!!! IT CAN’T BE OVER!!!!!” 3.5 million people cry

But alas, it is 😔 I kind of like how the main duo doesn’t have a perfect friendship, like they did something like this in SOS Saris too. They get into little quarrels but they always make up and that’s what matters.

Also idk why but I was so surprised this happened in the show at first, like this was some Captain America Civil War stuff right here.

~the end~

#sally bollywood #doowee mcadam #doowee's urn #breakup #it's platonic but it's still getting called that #the ship has crashed and burned #sbi #emotional #i wanna cry #hard to watch #oh and by the way i don't buy sally's act #she totally missed him

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ordinaryschmuck · 3 years

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What I Thought About the First Season of--

Salutations random people on the internet who most likely won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

When I first saw the sneak peek of--

...I...didn't...think it would be anything all that special. I love animation, and I love superheroes, so it would go without saying that I would love an animated series about superheroes. But the animation looked a little too stiff for my liking, and aside from featuring J.K. Simmons, there wasn't anything grabbing me when it comes to this show.

Then I heard some s**t goes down at the end of episode one. So, letting my curiosity get the better of me, I binged the entire series in a day to see what the fuss was about. And, um...Yeah. Holy s**t.

This is a series that will very much make you uncomfortable in all the right ways. However, it is a gigantic gorefest at times, so if you get queasy after a single drop of blood, DON'T WATCH THIS SHOW! Trust me, you will not be prepared for what this series has to offer.

At the same time, I highly recommend you watch this series before reading this review. I'm going to spoil major plot points and characters so I can appropriately discuss what I think about the season, so trust me when I say you should click away if you haven't watched it yet. It's one of those series that are better to go in as blind as possible. You can call it a cheap way to appeal to shock value, but I call it one of the best reasons why--

...Is a contender for best-animated series of the decade--That bit with the title card isn't going away anytime soon, is it?

WHAT I LIKE

The Guardians of the Globe vs. The Mauler Twins: This is the best possible way for the series to begin. The first fight scene is bright, colorful, and kinda fun. Thus setting the ultimate expectation subversion in making audiences think that will be the series staple. However, just because it has the energy of a harmless superhero fight, there is a sense of intensity as the Guardians give their all in saving others. Like that moment with Darkwing (Not the duck) as he rescues that woman without hesitation, despite knowing he might die because of it. Or Green Ghost, who just barely rescues all those civilians from that falling debris. It shows that you don't need intense scenes of violence to make a fight scene thrilling to watch.

Diversity Wins: I don't know how diverse the comics are compared to the show, but I'm impressed with how inclusive this series is. So many members of the main cast are people of color, with the main lead being half-Korean. And it's not just different races that the series shines a light on, as we also get the rare, but very much welcomed, animated male gay character. Who's thankfully isn't cliched in ten ways to Sunday...for the most part. It really does seem like writers are starting to grow up and that it's better to be as inclusive as possible instead of pretending certain people don't exist for the sake of "convenience." It might not solve oppression in general, but it certainly makes certain people feel better, even if it is briefly.

Mark Grayson: Mark is a pretty solid super-protagonist if you ask me. Sure, at first, he comes across as whiney...and even more so in later episodes, but he's really an endearing character at times. Mark nails the role of the relatable everyman that's also inspirational with his determination since he never gives up until beaten to the inch of his life. Seriously, while he might not entirely be--

...I guess that bit with the title card really isn't going away.

Anyways, while he might not entirely be invulnerable in the literal sense, he is very much so in the figurative sense. Mark, in so many ways, refuses to call quits once he finally gets the hang of being a superhero, which is what makes him so inspirational. Plus, it's funny seeing how much of a rookie he can be to the gig at times. Mark is far from a perfect lead but is still charming to a fault, and it's nice seeing him grow more heroic each episode. I hope to see him develop more in future seasons, as he has the potential to be ranked higher up as one of my favorite superheroes (it's hard to compete with Spider-Man and Batman, but he'll make me consider it).

Debbie Grayson: This is almost what I expect a mother and wife of superheroes would be.

Your son is constantly crash landing in your yard? Tell him to knock it off because he's past his curfew.

Your husband disappeared into another dimension to fight off invaders? Shrug it off and expect that he'll be late for dinner.

It's a ton of fun to watch, and I adore how supportive she is of Mark, despite how much danger he could be in as a superhero. But, what really endears me with Debbie is her complicated feelings with Omni-Man. There's not a doubt in my mind that she loved him with her whole heart, but she also isn't an idiot. She is quick to pick up how unheroic her husband can be at times, often scolding him for it when necessary. And when she finally starts investigating if he really did kill the Guardians, I love that she instantly comes up with every single plausible excuse she can, despite knowing the truth. Because she believes that she knows who Omni-Man is and refuses any possibility that he might be a supervillain. So when she finds out that there really is no other explanation and hearing him call her a pet (big ouch when that happened), you wanna know what she does? She cries. Not because the man she loved is gone forever, but because the idea of him is. And it's that level of emotional devastation that comes from those complicated emotions that make me think Debbie Grayson is the most complex and endearing character on the show. And I. Will. Stand by that.

Seeing the Guardians of the Globe on their down time: Wow, what a cute collection of scenes that are charming as much as they are heartwarming! A set of scenes that show how human these characters are with their close relationships with friends and family! I sure hope it's not followed up with a brutal emotional gut-punch of a scene that will be even more devastating after thinking back on these! Especially with that bit with Martian Man and the little girl, cause OOO-WEE, would THAT tear me up inside!

Omni Man destroying the Guardians of the Globe:...I'd follow through on my joke here, but holy s**t.

That's really the best way I can describe all of this. It is a brutal, I repeat, BRUTAL scene that will stick with you hours after watching it. Not only that, but it's one of the few instances when I was damn near speechless because I couldn't think of anything else to say other than, "Holy s**t." The only time another superhero property did that was Avengers: Infinity War, except with that, the only difference is that the characters come back. Here, except for The Immortal, the Guardians stay dead! There's no magic amulet or alternate versions from another dimension. No, they die and never come back. Thus setting up how serious the show can be. Because if these superheroes can stay dead, then so can others.

Plus, what makes it more impactful is how throughout the entire fight, there was a glimpse of hope that the Guardians can beat Omni-Man. I heard he got nerfed for the sake of drama, and I approve of that decision. Because if he was really--

...If he was really unbeatable, then the fight doesn't have weight to it. There wouldn't be a point in rooting for these characters to win when we already know they're going to lose. But, by showing there's a chance that they could win, it becomes all the more intense watching the fight and even more tragic seeing them lose. It is a masterpiece of a battle that proves once and for all: Batman is right. You need contingency plans.

Omni Man: J. Jonah Jameson has become the one thing he hates the most: A masked MENACE...Ok, I know Omni-Man doesn't wear a mask, so the joke doesn't work as well as it could. But it was served to me on a silver platter, damn it! I had to take it!

In all seriousness, though, Omni-Man might give Homelander a run for his money on best evil Superman. Because while Homelander might be terrifying in his own right with his style of evil, Omni-Man takes it a step up a notch with the mystery behind WHY he killed the Guardians of the Globe. We know right away that there's something off with him, but up until that point, we see multiple instances of Omni-Man doing the right thing rather than the wrong. Sure, he might come off as cold when interacting with people, but so does Batman and other great superheroes in comics. That doesn't mean he's evil. So when he does do something so incredibly heinous, we're left with this mystery as to why. Because there has to be a reason for it all, right? Like, maybe mind control or his family was threatened. Something and anything that means he was forced into killing the noblest of people. So when it turns out that his actions were intentional, it is already pretty devastating. But when we find out why he does these things, it paints how truly evil Omni-Man is, given how little respect he has for human life.

Plus, as terrifying as Homelander is, Omni-Man is ten times more of an engaging villain. With Homelander, what you see is what you get: A narcissist with a god complex. For Omni-Man, it's more or less the same thing, but it's something fed to him because of the conditioning from his planet. There is a tiny, molecule-sized part of him that genuinely cares about others. It doesn't change what he does, nor does it mean he deserves forgiveness (far from it), but it hints that maybe he's not evil because of his own ego. It's because of how he's trained to be. And judging by his pained expressions from Mark's words and the single tear he sheds when leaving everything behind, there's a chance that he might be willing to fight back that mentality.

Or he will stay evil, and that he'll return to do worse things in the future. I don't know. I haven't read the comics. But I feel like I don't need to read anything to tell you all that Omni-Man is up there as one of the most intriguing comic book villains of all time, and I can't wait to see what happens with him next.

This show is f**king Violent: I mean, I refer you back to that scene where Omni-Man destroys the Guardians of the Globe. But, unlike other shows that use violence to force that mature rating, I feel as though In--

...Title card. You were cute the first time, but now your novelty has quickly worn thin.

Anyways, I feel as though this show...uses gore more appropriately. More often than not, death and carnage get treated as a literal joke in adult cartoons because people are sick bastards, I guess. But with...the current series I'm talking about, it all has an impact. No one dies or gets mangled for the sake of shock value or for a laugh. Instead, every instance of this type of violence is to either make a point, set the tone, or prove just how dangerous a specific character is. It makes...the series more mature than most adult cartoons you'll find because it actually brings a worthy discussion for its violence rather than milking it to give the illusion of maturity. And I gotta respect the writers for doing that.

Cecil: This man is basically Nick Fury if he was overpowered but in a good way. There is just something about a man who knows superheroes are needed in the world but also trusts a "hero" like Omni-Man as far as he can throw him. Not only does Cecil have contingency plans for his contingency plans, but the guy also knows to send the right heroes out for the exact missions that require them. Plus, a man is an instant badass when he's stone-faced about a demon saying he'll go somewhere worse than hell and is calm when being face-to-face with an angry Omni-Man.

I don't make the rules. I just abide by them.

The title card gets bloodier with each episode: This is just a really cool gimmick. It proves how intense this show can really be and how the stakes get higher and higher with each installment. Also, I like to think the amount of blood that splashes over the title card reflects how brutal the episode will be, especially with episode eight, 'cause holy hell.

The plot structure: The way the story works is very similar to how a comic book series handles its overarching narrative. Even though the writers begin a new arc that continues for a handful of issues, the overall main plot still develops in the background of the current adventure the hero goes through. That's basically how--

>Intense inhale<

>Calm exhale<

That's basically how THIS SHOW operates. Each episode can be seen as its own story that's given a ton of room to develop with its forty-five-minute runtime (which blew my f**king mind when I started binging it). Despite that, there's still a great sense of continuity. Everything involving Omni-Man and the mystery behind his murder of the Guardians gets fleshed out throughout the season, even when it takes the background of Mark's escapades. It really does feel like sitting down and taking the time to read an entire volume of comics, which I like to believe is the intention. After all, what's the point of making a series about superheroes if you don't make it feel like a comic book at least once?

Dark Blood: I desire a series based on this character alone. I know it's probably just Hellboy, but I want it.

The idea of a demon solving murder crimes to work off his debt in Hell is too much of a remarkable concept to strictly be a c-plot in one series. Give Dark Blood a spin-off, damn it!

The Realistic Portrayal of a Superhero world: Unlike certain superhero properties--*cough* DC *cough*--it's--

>Huff<

>Puff<

>HUFF<

>PUFF<

>HUFF<

It's. This. F**KING. SHOW! That really does an excellent job at portraying how much it would suck to live in a world of superheroes. Sure, you got the cool battles and awe-inspiring heroes with incredible powers, but do you know what else you get? Hundreds upon thousands of people dying from the very threats those heroes fight against. Not to mention all the realistic physics that come from people like Mark trying to save others. Just look at how mangled that old woman looked when he attempted to help her. It, uh...It sure did not look great. Don't get me wrong, I love superheroes and the worlds they live in. But when watching a show like...this one, it really makes me appreciate how I don't live in those worlds with them.

It’s Still Funny: This is something I appreciate the most. When most superhero shows go for the realistic approach, they go with the doom and gloom route, making everything so melodramatic about how serious the world is. But here's the thing: Superheroes are f**king stupid.

Don't tell me they're not because they are. Superheroes have cornball hero names, bright costumes, and logos on their foreheads, chests, belts, and what-have-you. Taking a superhero too seriously is the worst mistake you could make, which is why I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Say what you want about Marvel having "too many jokes," but at least they know it's for the best to laugh at themselves and embrace the weirdness. It's something similar with...you know what. Because while the series tells a serious and realistic story about superheroes, it's still a story about superheroes. So it tells some jokes and some pretty funny ones at that. Because while it's essential to include some drama in a story such as the one in...you know what, it's just as important to never forget to have some fun.

“Earth is not yours to conquer.”: Such a great line that gains an even greater meaning once we fully know who Omni-Man is. The main creditor for how effective it is goes to J.K. Simmons for making the line sound explicit yet implicit at the same time.

Allen the Alien: ...It is an absolute crime that this character only has about six minutes of screentime. Allen is such a bro, partially because of Seth Rogan's performance, that I would honestly be upset if he doesn't show up more often in later seasons. Seriously, bring him back for more.

The Mauler Twins: Thankfully, these characters get as much attention as they deserve. The banter between the Mauler Twins is always entertaining, often being the comedic highlights at times. On top of being funny, they also work as efficient villains who can come across as threatening at times.

But what I love most of all about these two is the explanation behind the cloning process. The reasoning of why neither character remembers which one is the cone is a brilliant idea that I'm surprised no one else did in the past (to my knowledge). It also provides some excellent fruit for thought in wondering if it really is better to live your life not knowing if you're a clone or not. The whole thing is great to watch, and it makes me really glad for their inclusion...too bad they had to be forced into a story that makes a character look like a reckless superhero and an inconsiderate jackass to his friend. Seriously, what was up with that?

“That Actually Hurt”: This just might be my favorite episode of the first season. Machine Head is both equally hilarious and devious, Titan might just be my favorite character due to how intriguing his allegiances and motivations are, that final fight was the perfect amount of brutal, and we get the biggest hint of the man Omni-Man really is. Having him simply watching Mark instead of flying in to help him actually shocked me the first time seeing it. It's not until we learn what a Viltrumite really is that it becomes clear as to why. He doesn't care about saving his son but instead seeing Mark reach the same potential Omni-Man did during that smash fest the planet went through to reach perfection. And something tells me he felt more disappointment than sadness after seeing his son get nearly killed by Tony the Tiger (I know he has an actual name...but this is funnier to me). It's such a solid moment with great implications that just so happens to exist in an even greater episode.

Eve deciding to just help people for the heck of it: I actually love this idea more for the potential it has rather than what actually happens so far. Because the main reason why heroes don't fly around and solve every little minute problem people have is that they need to learn how to act without help. If you suddenly make food appear out of thin air or stopping forest fires, you're doing good, but there's also potential harm that comes from it. I think back to that episode of The Powerpuff Girls, where the townspeople are so idiotic and complacent with having their heroes solve every problem that they really can't think or act for themselves. A similar thing can happen with Eve if she's not careful. Even worse, if she keeps trying to end famine for farmers, because she might get into a Supergirl situation with people building a cult around her. And, you know, that's not going to be fun.

But again, that's just the potential that this presents. We--Or the people who haven't read the comics--don't know if Eve will actually face this issue. Regardless, we still get some solid moments that proves just how much Eve is a true hero in this series as she has no other motive to help people other than she just wants to. And I actually think that's pretty cool.

The Immortal’s rematch: I gotta hand it to the guy. Not a second after being brought back to life, and The Immortal's already flying off to get revenge on the bastard who killed his closest friends in the world. Or, globe, I guess.

I respect that, to be honest.

(As a bonus, The Immortal causing Omni-Man's eyes to become bloodshot adds to how evil he'll be in the last episode)

Mark trying to snap his dad out of mind-control: Oh, I felt that.

I'm pretty sure we all felt that.

Ow...Big ow.

The Train Scene: ...This is the most horrific thing I have seen in entertainment. Seriously, while Omni-Man annihilating the Guardians left me speechless, this is another level. Because him using Mark's body to kill a train full of people ramming into them, leaving Mark all the more helpless to stop it, makes a scene that is so...so hard for me to describe how effectively f**ked up it is. It's one of those moments where just by seeing it, you know why it's awful in all the right ways. And I will never forget the look of shock and horror on my face when it reflected onto my laptop's screen after the scene briefly cut to black soon after the carnage. Because if that doesn't explain how unmerciful this moment is, I don't know what will.

Saving Mark after the fight: I really love this because as it flashes between still images of people carrying Mark away after his brutal fight with Omni-Man, it really feels like you're reading a comic from panel to panel. It’s pretty neat. I won’t lie.

WHAT I DISLIKE

The Animation isn’t that great: Now, in terms of action, the animation is fantastic. You feel the impact of each attack, there are some creative uses of powers, and the gore is better implemented because it's all animated. As for everything else...yeah, it kinda sucks. Movements are a little stiff at times, the CGI backgrounds could use a bit more polish, and don't get me started on the CGI crowds of people. I understand the shortcuts that need to be taken to make everything else more effective, but man, this series needed a little more time in the oven before being shown to everyone. It's never too bad, but it can be pretty distracting at times.

Amber: F**k Amber. Just f**k her. Everything people tell you that is wrong with her is one-hundred percent on point. She is easily one of the worst love interests, and to me, it has everything to do with the fact that she knows Mark is--

...That she knows Mark is--

...

...ThatsheknowsMarkisInvinci--

--BECAUSE IT INVALIDATES ANY POINT SHE HAS, GOSH DANGIT! I don't give a single S**T if she's upset that he's late all the time! If Amber was always unaware of it, then I would understand. But having her know means that she thinks her issues are more important than Mark, oh, I don't know, SAVING THE PLANET! I mean, the girl helps feed the homeless! You would think she would understand.

But fine. Maybe Amber's just upset that Mark's lying to her. Sure. That's understandable...BUT WHAT THE F**K IS UP WITH HER BLOWING UP IN HIS FACE FOR NOT HELPING ANYBODY AT THE COLLEGE WHEN SHE KNOWS HE'S HELPING EVERYBODY!? Even if it's her giving Mark one last chance to tell her the truth (which is a mile of a stretch, and you know it), did she really expect him to reveal his secret with tons of people watching? That is a crazy expectation that no one should live up to!

Amber is quite possibly the worst thing about this show. She was fine at first, and her chemistry with Mark was on point, but MAN, did she get worse later on.

And if I see one mother f**ker calling me a racist because I don't like this character who just so happens to be black...I'm going to be upset, not gonna lie. Because that is a cheap shot to dismiss any criticism, especially since her race has NOTHING to do with why people hate her...Or, at least, most people.

Edit (5/27/2021): Disregard the above. The long and short is that I don’t like Amber. She just doesn’t sit right with me for the reasons that her anger towards Mark just never felt entertaining to me in comparision to everything else. But saying her thoughts and arguements are invalid is not cool, and I’m sorry to both any readers who are black or especially female who would be upset by this.

Rex-splode: I understand the point behind Rex. He's a character who we're supposed to hate, so it becomes so much more satisfying seeing others s**t on him. But those characters are hard to get right if you’re not careful. Make them too irritating, then any suffering they go through will seem too little. Make them not annoying enough, and their punishments can be too harsh. Rex fits into the "too irritating" category. It's satisfying to see Monster Girl wreck his s**t after he started commenting how ineffective she might be, but with what he pulled with Dupli-Kate, I feel as though he might deserve worse. Although I will admit Rex gets slightly better in later episodes, showing at least a smidgen of character development. But I don't think it's enough to make his a**holeness worth it. Still, I hope he at least becomes above decent in the next few seasons, which is way more than what I can say for Amber.

(Seriously, writers, if she just disappears without an ounce of an explanation in the season premiere, I won't question it. You have my word.)

Edit: I no longer agree with what I crossed out, but I won’t delete it either. I want people to know the mistake I made so I can prove that I changed in the future.

Robot cloning himself to be with Monster Girl: ...Nope!

Nope!

Changed my mind.

I am NOT touching that.

I will touch a lot of things, but I will not touch--That came out wrong.

Please forget you read anything.

Thank you, and goodnight.

Let’s move on

Transitioning to the title card: Here it is! The nitpickiest of all nitpicks! But, seeing how it happens in every episode, meaning that the writers have no choice but to commit to it, means it's one of those things that viewers are forced to get used to. And boy, is the transition to the title card hard to get used to! Oh, you thought it was annoying how it kept happening in this review? Well...fair enough. But trust me when I say it's much more aggravating in the show.

The funny thing is, I had no problem the first time it happened. It was a cute way to introduce the character as well as the title of the series. But having that be the basis for transitioning to the title card every time was a gimmick that got old real quick. Especially since every time that a character says the word--

--it always feels forced. What's even more annoying is that sometimes it interrupts characters as they're saying invin--

LIKE! F**KING! THAT! Because interrupting someone before they say something is one thing, but doing so as they're saying it shows a sense of bad timing. Not even that, because this is something that I feel like could have been the easiest to change in the series by having someone go, "Hey, maybe we should edit out this single second."

It's laziness that doesn't happen often, but it still grinds my gears a bit. Plus, is there really no other smoother transition the writers could come up with? Did they really believe this is the best way to do it?

Think, writers! THINK!

It's fine to have a gimmick, but this is one that really shouldn't have any follow-through on.

-------------

That's about all the issues I have with the show. It's far from perfect, but still, an A- is pretty impressive work. The stuff that this series does right not only outnumbers the mistakes but also heavily outweighs them. Besides, no show in the history of creativity has ever been perfect in its first season. There are always dents that need to get buffed out and improve upon for the subsequent seasons to come. Only then can a series truly be Invincible from all criticism.

...

...Oh, sure.

SURE!

NOW it lets me say it!

GOSH, DANGIT, I HATE THAT TITLE CARD!

#invincible #mark grayson #omni-man #debbie grayson #amber bennett #what I thought about

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bbdaydreams · 3 years

Text

Courage My Love// Semi Eita

Pairing: Semi Eita x Reader

Summary: You like Semi and come up with a plan to confess to him, unfortunately it takes a turn. You meet again a couple years later by chance.

Chapter Eight: Teenage Dream

Series Masterlist•<previous•next>

A week into the tour and your body finally decided to allow you wake up before two in the afternoon. You stretched your body a little bit in your bunk before getting up and out to finish stretching. You checked the surrounding bunks and saw that only Haruka was still sound asleep while the others were empty. Making your way to the lounge you found your missing members and greeted them. They gave you back a robotic response while peeking out the window.

“The hell are y’all looking at?”

“The boys,” Yui answered. “I’m waiting to see if one of them eat shit.”

“Yui, what the-“

“Look, look, look!” Izumi whispered, stretching her arm behind her in an attempt to grab you to pull you towards them. You placed your knees on the bench to watch through the blinds with them.

Semi, Subaru, and Ranmaru were wearing plain t-shirts and gym shorts while Jiro wore a buttoned up blue flannel with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and black skinny jeans. The three elders from the group seemed to be running back and fourth from one end of the parking lot to the other while Jiro was skating a few feet away.

“How long have they been doing this?” You asked, turning away from the window.

“No clue- oh shit!” Izumi exclaimed, jumping up and running over to the main door to hop off the bus.

“That was a bad wipeout,” Yui added, following after the bassist. You followed after them, hesitating a little bit because you had just woken up and were in your sleepwear. Saying ‘fuck it,’ you threw on a pair of slip ons before following the others.

“Jiro!” Subaru and Ranmaru yelled before running over to their guitarist.

“Dude! You good?” Semi asked, crouching down to help Jiro sit up.

“Yeah, I’m good. Where’s my board?”

“I’ll go grab it,” Yui said as she headed towards the direction of there the skateboard rolled off to.

“What happened? I heard yelling,” Haruka asked. She was stepping off the bus still in her pajamas and rubbing her eyes, making it clear that she had just woken up. Her eyes landed on Jiro who was sitting on the pavement. He looked at her with panic in his eyes as she took in his disheveled look. “Why are you bleeding?”

“I- I’m okay, no need to worry-“

“You have a giant hole in your jeans that shows your red scraped knee, you have scratches on your face, and I can see the blood droplets on your flannel!” Haruka exclaimed, turning back around getting onto the bus.

“Is she pissed?” Jiro asked.

“Nah, just concerned. She probably went to grab our first aid kit,” Izumi answered. “You should probably take off your flannel though, that’s a pretty big stain on your elbow.”

Jiro unbuttoned his shirt to reveal a black t-shirt. Haruka came back with the kit and knelt next to the heterochromatic male. She took out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some gauze making him gulp, knowing what was to come. “Do you have to use that?” Jiro asked, gradually moving his arm away from her.

“Yes, now sit still,” Haruka responded.

“Here’s the board I ran as fast I could as soon as I saw-“

“Fuck!”

“-the brown bottle,” Yui laughed. “Guess nurse Haruka has it under control.” The rest of you laughed at Jiro’s reaction and left Haruka to tend to his wounds.

“What are you guys doing anyways?” Izumi asked the three older males.

“Oh, we were working out. Jiro does his own thing for exercise which is mostly either parkour or skating,” Subaru responded.

“Or as we call it, just Jiro things,” Ranmaru added on. “You guys are free to join us during our workouts though, makes things more fun.”

“Haruka and I might join you guys,” Yui responded.

“Pass from Izumi and I,” you spoke up.

“And why’s that? Nice pajamas by the way, very festive for summer with the snowflakes,” Semi teased.

“Leave me alone. Sweating is gross. And personally I get bored doing the same thing repetitively. I’ll go on a walk, maybe jog a little bit, but that’s about it.”

“Sweating is gross, huh?” Semi asked with a devious look in his eyes.

“Don’t you dare come near me,” you responded, taking a few steps back as Semi walked closer to you.

“What? I just wanted to give you a hug, especially while you wear your cute pajammies.”

“Stay the fuck away from me. Semi. Semi! No!” And now you were running away from the 180cm tall former setter, who you know could catch up to you at any time. You still chose to take your chances though.

“He’s never gonna let her go, is he?” Ranmaru asked Subaru.

Izumi and Yui heard him loud and clear which peaked Yui’s interest. “Ahhh so he still has feelings for our leader. How cute.”

“Keep this between us, but yeah,” Subaru spoke. “Does she have any feelings left for him?”

“Honestly, we’re not sure. She never talked about him after the whole thing went down. She’s been with other people but she’s never been over the moon for them. It doesn’t help that she’s also super independent. It makes us think sometimes that she’d rather be single. There’s nothing wrong with that either, but at the end of the day we think it’d be nice for her to find someone,” Izumi spoke, watching you run around the bus only to yell out you were going back to sleep right when Semi caught up and wrapped his arms around you. “You guys might not believe it but how she’s acting now with him is no different to how she’d act with other people. Maybe it’s because of all the touring we do but she’s so open with people that it’s hard to read her. We love her and she’s fun to be around with but when it comes to her, it’s hard to tell what she wants.”

“We see. Eita’s sort of been the same in relationships. He’s gone on dates too but he’s never been whipped for any of them. Like he’ll do his best to please them and shit like a good partner should, but if you look at him from a distance it feels almost forced. He wants to love but it’s like fake love, if that makes any sense,” Subaru spoke.

“What about your drummer girl? Also between us, Jiro still seems to like them a lot,” Ranmaru asked, deciding to bring light to the other potential couple.

“Wait, what do you mean still? From what we know, they were friends during their final year but that’s it,” Izumi explained , now confused.

“Jiro fell for her hard during that year like he would come home and talk to us about her and ask for advice if he couldn’t ask his older brother. The thing is he was labeled the dumb hooligan while Haruka was the typical quiet good girl so he didn’t want to taint her record. You know how people talk in high school. He was convinced she shouldn’t be with a fool like him, so he never spoke up,” Subaru followed up.

“Ah. Well I think they’ll be together by the end of the tour, maybe even week. I can feel it,” Yui said.

“And what about you guys? Are you single?”

“I have a boyfriend,” Izumi quickly answered. “He’s back in Japan.”

“I’m single. My reason being it’s hard finding people you wanna know more about, ya know?”

“Really now?” Subaru answered, looking at Ranmaru.

“Yui, are you sick? I think you’re lacking some vitamin me,” Ranmaru said, attempting to put his arm over Yui’s shoulders.

“No! Me!” Subaru argued.

Before either of them could touch her, Yui grabbed their forearms and tugged on them to bring them closer. When they jumped a little closer together she took their hands and placed them in each other’s before letting go. Yui looked over and Izumi who was smirking from trying to hold in a laugh. “Don’t worry about it, Dumb and Dumber. Since I apparently have you guys weak at the knees it appears you might be lacking vitamin D. You two should get to know each other and solve that problem,” Yui responded as she gave them a fake smile. “Let’s go Izu,” she laughed, turning from the boys to get back onto the bus.

Semi came back to the two white haired males and crossed his arms before speaking. “You guys are idiots.”

“Karaoke night!” Haruka cheered when your set finished that night.

“We just got done playing and you’re this excited for karaoke? At least act tired,” Izumi whined, leaning forward to place her hands on her knees after she set her guitar down.

“Haru,” Yui started before taking a deep breath, “what the fuck.”

“Mmmm, nice cold floor,” you said, letting your body collapse on the black tiles the backstage had to offer.

“Y/n, no!”

“Get up people walk there!”

“It’s dirty!”

Too tired to figure out who said what, you let out a groan and got up. “Fine I’m up, I’m up. I need a baby wipe though. I’m all sweaty and gross.” Making your way over to your green room you bumped into One Ok Rock. “Hey guys.”

“Hello, hello. You guys sounded amazing as always,” Taka complimented.

“Thanks! Oh! Do you guys have plans after your set?” Haruka asked.

“Sleep,” Ryota responded which made the others laugh.

“Ah haha, did you guys have something in mind?” Toru asked.

“We’re all off tomorrow so we were gonna have a karaoke night on our bus,” Yui explained.

“And there’ll be booze!” Izumi added.

“We’ll try to pop by then,” Tomo answered. You wished them luck before heading into your dressing room to clean up a little bit before meeting your fans.

Yui and Haruka were currently making dinner while while you were showering and Izumi was setting up the karaoke system.

“Oh fuck, we forgot to invite Won’t Regret,” Yui mentioned.

“I’ll text RoRo!” Haruka lit up.

“How could we forget to invite all of your guys boyfriends?” Izumi teased.

“Jiro is not my boyfriend!”

“I never said he was,” Izumi responded with a smirk.

“Does this make thing one and two mine?” Yui asked.

“Lol, yeah. Are you gonna tell them?”

“Yeah, I don’t need them annoying me. I have enough to put up with.”

Stepping out of the shower with a towel around your body you looked over at the girls and saw they were still doing what they did when you last saw them. “Hey, is dinner- oop gotta go!” You exclaimed, running to your bunks and closing the door because there was a knock at the front of the bus.

“It’s open!” Izumi yelled. Coming up the steps was Taka and Toru with smiles on their faces. “Hey! Welcome to our bus! Did the others decide to call it a night instead?”

“Yeah. They’re parents now so they age faster and need more sleep,” Toru laughed.

“No worries. C’mon in and take a seat. We just finished cooking if you’d like some food,” Haruka said, showing them a plate she had already prepared.

“Taka and Toru just got on the girl’s bus. Wonder what’s going on over there,” Ranmaru said aloud as he glanced out the window.

“Who what now?” Semi asked, looking up from his phone.

“Oh they’re doing some karaoke tonight. RuRu just texted me to invite us,” Jiro answered.

“RuRu? Do you mean Haruka? You guys have nicknames for each other already?” Subaru teased, laughing at Jiro’s reaction.

“Look at how red he is!” Semi roared.

Subaru looked over at Ranmaru, smirking knowing he was about to roast Semi. “Boy if you don’t shut up! Go look in a mirror before judging him!”

“Eh?!”

“Eita, every time Y/n is around you put all your attention on them. It’s like you’re a bee fixated on a flower. Just non stop buzz buzz buzz around them.”

“Okay, I get it.” Semi sighed. “Is it that obvious?”

“Yes. Please just ask them out already.”

“I can’t do that, bro. It’s too soon. We’re just friends for now.”

“We have 5 weeks left on this tour. You’re gonna have to ask them out before then. Who knows if we’ll see them again after this.”

Letting Ranmaru’s words sink in he realized the reality of it. After the tour was over your band would probably go on your own tour to promote your new album in Europe, Australia, Japan and maybe even the US again whereas his band would probably only do Japan. You’d be busy touring and focusing on yourself you wouldn’t have the chance to see each other again. “Fuck. You’re right.”

“I’m always right. Anyways I’m headed to bed. Have fun at karaoke.”

“I’m going to bed too. Night,” Subaru yawned.

“Guess it’s just us,” Jiro laughed before tilting his head to ask “let’s go?” to which Semi responded with a head nod. They told their bus driver they’d be on the other bus so he could drive off if they didn’t come back by midnight.

“Alright that’s the theme tonight?” Yui asked Izumi, covering her mouth since she was chewing. They were both currently sitting on the small kitchen counter while Taka and Toru were sitting around their dining table and Haruka was standing off to the side.

“Let’s have our guests have the honor! Hit the button to spin the wheel,” she explained as she jumped off to hand her phone to the two older men. “Ooo, looks like we’re doing ‘Women in Pop’!”

Hearing knocking from the front door, Yui yelled it was open. Semi and Jiro walked in and greeted everyone. “It smells so good,” Jiro stated, eyes lighting up once he spotted the meal that was cooked.

“Take a seat and I’ll give you a plate. Semi, would you like one too?” Haruka asked. Semi nodded his head and they both accepted the meal after thanking them for the hospitality. After they were seated Yui got them up to speed to what they were doing.

“We should probably go first to show them how it’s done,” Haruka stated.

“I kinda wanna finish my food,” Izumi mumbled which made Yui jump in and say ‘me too’. Luckily for Haruka, you had just come out of the bunk area in sweats. “Look at that, Y/n can sing with you.”

“What did I do in the first five seconds of me appearing for me to go first?” You asked confused.

“Show up. Here is your mic,” Yui responded, making you playfully roll your eyes at her.

“How do you decide what song to sing?” Taka asked.

“We just decide between ourselves. Any song is good as long as it fits the theme,” Haruka responded. You let Haruka pick and take the lead for the song as you backed her up and sang your parts while also trying to match her energy in small dance gestures. When you finished you handed your microphone to Toru who asked to go next and Haruka handed hers to Izumi. Fixing yourself a plate you took Toru’s spot and sat next to Taka while Haruka took Izumi’s spot.

“Yo,” Semi started to grab your attention, leaning forward to not speak into Taka’s face.

“Yo,” you responded.

He smirked before continuing, “nice pajamas.”

You let out a small chuckle before looking back at him. “Leave me and my comfy clothing alone, asshole. I am cozy.”

Laughing at the nickname you gave Semi, Taka decided to jump in. “Hey Eita, we should go next.”

“Eh, I don’t know. Honestly I’m not much of a karaoke guy.”

“Boo, Semi you’re no fun,” you pouted while eating your food.

“Yeah, Eita you should try it out,” Jiro added.

Semi threw his head back and grunted in disapproval before turning his head to look at you. As he leaned back you did as well and gave him a child like smile, showing as many teeth as you could with your lips curved upwards as a friendly way to encourage him. Letting out a small chuckle, he leaned forward and let his forearms rest on the table. “Alright, I’ll do it.”

“Yay!” You, Taka, and Jiro cheered. Izumi and Toru sang Party In the U.S.A. by Miley Cyrus which had the group laughing when Toru tried to reach the high note and when he tried to mimic Izumi’s dancing. When they were done you all applauded for them.

“Do you have an idea for a song?” Semi asked Taka, taking a sip of his beer.

“Yeah, yeah. I wanna do Beyoncé! Is Single Ladies good?,” Taka responded with a giant grin.

“I’m good with that.” The two got up from their spots and you and Jiro slid into their spots so others could sit as well. They accepted the mics from Izumi and Toru, Taka stretching afterwards to ‘loosen his body up’.

When the music started, Taka started moving his shoulders from side to side while Semi lightly bobbed his head along to the beat. Taka took the lead and sang the first verse. As the song progressed Taka put his body more into the flow making you all get louder for him to cheer him on. Leaving the second verse to Semi he moved his torso more into the song but he couldn’t compare to Taka, and it made him start overthinking a little.

He’s so much cooler and better than he is. Taka knows how to rile up a crowd. His performances are better than Semi’s but then again he does have more experience so he has to factor that into their differences. He’s so chill and laid back but also open and hilarious, he’s got it all.

Towards the end of the song when they were singing the last of the “all the single ladies”, Taka got closer to where you were sitting and went to hold your hand as he sang, causing the group to hype him up even more than they already where.

When they finished, you and Yui went next, opting to do Katy Perry. As you took the lead, Semi couldn’t keep his eyes off you and agree with the lyrics you were singing. He enjoyed your facial expressions as you sang and the way you carried yourself, somehow different than how you were on stage. Unfortunately Semi also couldn’t stop the negative thoughts that obscured his brain.

Semi noticed the blush on your face when Taka had the slightly intimate gesture with you. What if he’s not good enough for you? He doesn’t want to hold you back from being the happiest person you could be. Semi knows he’s not the funniest, most charming person in the world. Compared to your ex, Tendou, he knows they’re almost nowhere near similar. Tendou was more easygoing and knew how to light up the mood whereas Semi is more uptight, always concerned about others and what they think. If anything Taka was more like Tendou, a potential better option for you than himself. But he knows you all had just met recently so who knows if Taka is just being friendly or trying to get at something. Maybe you were just going to stay a teenage dream.

A/n: look at that an update. Sorry for taking so long, I’ve been tired but here ya go!

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