#(i ended up recommending her the game and told her no one dies the title is just funny)

[cloudyxdel]

supper <3

[thecheesiestcheese23]

the hand that feeds (and the heart that bleeds)

47 was an unknown and innominate man whose mind was a gaping maw of death and destruction; who was a blight upon some and a freak of nature to others. He thought he was nothing more, could be nothing more.

Until he remembered.

Until Six.

Until Lucas.

--

hello!! this is my first time writing anything in like,,, ever so please don't judge lmao. i recently got into this game and the lore and storyline is soso good compared to other fandoms i've been in recently.

for some notes: this is mainly based off of the trilogy, however i have added some aspects of the old games and from what i've seen of the comics. also, i have not read the comics, so i have taken some liberties on them. the title is loosely based off of ozymandias by percy bysshe shelly (which is a really good read) and i def recommend. ALSO if anyone has any song recommendations for my hitman playlist pls drop a comment ty.

please do enjoy!

words: 4.6k

--

A timeless chasm tears open within his mind, the hungered mouth swallowing everything that he knew.

“This is your gift.” An empty voice speaks to him and a blank-faced boy. He blinks, and the boy dissipates into ash. “Your gift, and your curse.” A heavy hand rests upon his shoulder (upon his mind and his memories, burying them) and squeezes, a nameless man looming above him. A voice booms from the man, and yet he only shows a vacant visage. “To touch lives only by ending them.”

--

Agent 47 was no stranger to being called a machine.

He's heard it from other ICA agents spread through gossip, an off-handed comment from Diana, an insult spat from the lips of Soders as he died. He let it fester, doing nothing to stop it. It had never bothered him before: let people think what they will.

After all, it was partially true in some form, not that he remembered- he was genetically modified for killing, his bare atoms torn apart and made into an unempathetic and inhumane killer. He was a twisted and unsettling imitation of a man, a vicious mockery of what he should have been. An improbable being made of stone and dust where blood that is not his own drips down his body and pools beneath his feet.

Before he remembered, 47 thought he could be nothing more. The call of death hummed in his veins with the handle of a knife fitting perfectly within the palm of his calloused hand. It was all he knew since waking up in the asylum, knowing nothing more than the most effective way to kill and how the recoil of a gun felt.

The ICA had given him a sense of purpose. A home, of sorts. Diana, in turn, appeared in his life, a constant presence in his ear, her quick-witted humor and steady voice filling in the void where he knew someone else should be.

The thought would give him pause at moments, which was unlike him. 47 knew he didn’t remember much of anything beyond the art of death, but there was always this pressing feeling that there was more that he should know. It settled like ash on his tongue, sour and grainy.

The only proof that he held of this feeling was the polaroid clutched between his thumb and forefinger. Angry eyes stared back at him, a cold blue that mirrored his own detached ones. It was him- he was sure of it. The picture sat heavy in his scarred palm, an unnamed weight tied to it.

47 sees the face every time he blinks his eyes, an unknown slate of himself pushing against his eyelids, a haunting image following him wherever he goes. It presses down on his shoulders, bears down on his violent mind. He leans back in the leather chair that sat in the hotel room, the material squeaking in protest for a moment. There had been points over his time employed at the ICA where he had wondered if his past was really worth remembering.

His eyes slid over to the open briefcase on the made bed, the light from the windows catching on the sliver of the guns and the glass of the bottles. He remembers what Diana had told him over the phone call, her smooth voice crackling over the phone, over the many continents that separated them.

“I, too, know what it’s like to have everything taken from you.” Diana admitted, her voice tinny over the phone. 47 says nothing, letting her speak. “He claims to know about your past; your childhood, your memories, everything Ort-Meyer stole from you.”

Would it be worth it? To join Providence just to remember his past? More importantly, how did Providence know who he used to be? There had to be something more than what they were telling Diana.

He didn’t know if it was worth it. It was as if the world had just spat him out; opened up to a gaping maw where he was made not from a mother or father but from death itself. If that was all he remembered, then maybe there was a reason for that.

47 slides the photo into his pocket, smoothing it over as he stands up fluidly from the chair. With a snap, he closes the briefcase and takes it in hand. There was little else for him to take- he never left a trace of himself anywhere. (Distantly, somewhere far away, a rosary hangs from a wooden gate, swaying softly in the wind.)

He strides out the door, a ghost in everything but name.

--

The first memory 47 could recall was of a snow white rabbit.

It was a runaway lab rabbit with beady red eyes and silky fur. The first time 47 had met it, it had been hidden underneath his bed. Curious, he reached his hand out to grab it, yet it had scurried away.

He was unsure of what to do, how to continue. It was unnerving.

47 did not know how to be kind.

Over the expanse of a few weeks, 47 taught himself how to care. He cared for it as well as he knew how- he fed it scraps from dinner and water smuggled from lunch. Slowly, it no longer flinched away from 47’s heavy hand- it leant towards it instead, like a flower to the sun.

He was surprised by the softness of it all. The kindness it exhibited. It was a feeling 47 had never experienced before and it acted as reprieve from the constant tests and pain that the Institute provided.

He knew Ort-Meyer didn’t approve- he made it known with condescending glances and patronizing words, saying that boys like him didn’t need unimportant attachments to such things. Still, he did nothing to remove it, so 47 kept it.

Unlike everything else at the institute, it was gentle- forgiving, even. It was not jagged at the edges or venomous in its words.

And then there was Six.

47 eyes the boy in his room, ever untrusting. The boy (who he distantly recognizes as Subject 6) sputters for a moment, standing up straight from where he was crouched over the rabbit. “You’re supposed to be on a mission.”

47 nods slowly, analyzing the room. Six continues. “I had just heard you had this rabbit. I didn’t mean to intrude.”

He tilts his head, thinking. “It is… alright. You are Subject Six, no?”

Six nods, seemingly more relaxed than the other. “Yes. And everyone knows who you are, 47.” He looks to the rabbit and then back again. “I did not mean to intrude. I can leave if you wish.”

He nods again. “You can… visit more often, if you like. The company would be enjoyable. You do not seem like the others.”

The boy smiles, almost giddily, and 47 is taken aback for a moment.

The next two years pass in a similar motion- the two becoming closer and closer by the day.

That was, until 47 came back to a dead rabbit.

Six was away on a mission, so there was no one for him to turn to. He knelt down before the dead rabbit where it was beaten senseless and bloody, the red blood seeping into the cold concrete below. The other boys had always been particularly cruel. Something burns in his eyes, and before he can blink whatever it was away, it drips down his cheeks.

He stays there, broken and crying before his bloodied rabbit.

--

Streaks of blood stream down Wazier Kale’s forehead. A smoking gun is hidden away, slipped behind the black void that is 47’s suit.

“The infamous Maelstrom is dead.” Diana hums in his ear. “Excellent work, 47.”

47 sometimes wondered about the people he killed. About the families and dreams they left behind; about the opportunities not yet taken. About their life- their past. He wondered what it was like to have the opportunity to be something.

It wasn’t something he enjoyed thinking about often.

“Mission accomplished.” Diana says, breaking him out of his thoughts. “Time to find an exit. It’s almost too bad we can’t stay for a vacation. Lovely weather this time of year.” She jokingly muses, humming and not expecting a reply.

47, as expected, says nothing as he leaves the building. He leaves no trace behind: the gunshot unheard in the loudness of the streets, the gun unregistered, and he easily blends into the crowd.

Diana had asked years upon years ago about his past. About who he was. All he had to answer her with was a number made name and the suit he wore. If asked now by her, he would say that he was a hitman. A contract killer. Others would say that he was a freak of nature, an animal in the skin of a human. As he slid into the cab, to the people wandering the street, he was nothing more than a man.

His back is set in a straight line, the guns resting at his hips barely noticeable. The cab rolls over the brick of the road, and it takes a few minutes before Diana speaks. Usually, the two wouldn’t speak until 47 was back in a safehouse, so he listens intently to her words, wondering if something had gone wrong.

“Agent 47,” Diana breathes, and to anyone else, she would sound impassive, but 47 knows better. She sounds almost giddy, yet she tries to reel it in with a front of professionalism.

He says nothing, not wanting to freak out the cab driver, so he just hums.

“I have been tracking any suspicious purchases of large or abandoned buildings lately after the dismantlement of the base in Colorado, and just now, I have received a notice that an abandoned building out in Romania has been purchased by an antonyms investor with the use of cryptocurrency. It has to be Lucas Grey.”

Lucas Grey. The Shadow client. The man they’ve been hunting for the past year. To have this much of a lead on him would allow 47 to put an end to this once and for all.

But this is almost too easy. Grey has been covering up his tracks well enough over the past year that even Providence hasn’t been able to track him.

“But,” Diana continues, taking the words right out of his mouth. “Even if this does end up to be Grey, it still very much could be a trap.”

The cab sputters to a stop with the driver shouting something in Marathi, and 47 takes that as his cue to get out. He gives the cab driver more than what the fee would have been, but he’s gone by the time the cab driver can process this.

“It is the most we’ve had on him in the past year.” Agent 47 says smoothly, not agreeing or disagreeing on Diana’s hesitance as he strolls on the long-since abandoned sidewalks towards the airport.

“It is.” She agreed, and he can faintly hear typing in the background. “The plan is to wait for a few weeks to monitor the place; see if there will be anyone else entering or leaving the compound.”

He’s silent for a moment before Diana continues.

“47, this is the only way to return your memories. To learn what Ort-Meyer has stolen from you. Don’t you think it’s time to get some closure?”

47 thinks of a polaroid burned long ago. Of angry blue eyes. Of a past long lost. Of a boy he killed.

He finds that he agrees with Diana.

--

47 and Six run through the forest with nothing but the clothes on their backs and each other. Gunfire rings out, bullets lodging themselves in the wood of trees and the soft dirt of the ground.

They duck beneath branches and hop over streams of water, silent as they could be. Their breaths stay quiet and even, trusting in the other to follow them wordlessly as they continue through the endless forest. Their feet sink into the soft earth as down-pouring rain splattered down around them, drenching their jumpsuits as they blinked the water out of their eyes.

“The rain’s good.” Six had whispered to 47 after they had taken out the guards at the main entrance, hovering close behind him. “It’ll cover our tracks.”

47 swiped the access card he had stolen from Ort-Meyer earlier. He was the only one who could get close enough to do so. “It can cover theirs too.” He said, sparing a glance at Six as the door soundlessly unlocked.

The two had been planning this for months on end through hushed voices after dark and on assignments, not wanting to be caught by Ort-Meyer or any of the guards. Finally, they had put their plan into motion: a piece of concrete broken off from the underside of the cafeteria tables had been all they needed to distract a guard and strangle him with a homemade fiber wire. They choke out the others, snap the necks of some, and kill the rest with silenced pistols.

The smell of earth and the taste of liberation on their tongues was a heady feeling.

Now the two sprint towards the promise of freedom with bullets flying at their backs, never taking a moment to rest when they knew it could be their last. 47 dutifully followed Six, never faltering or doubting for a moment.

That was, until he tumbled forward onto the wet and slick ground below. He slides for a moment, unsure of what had happened until a dull pain spreads throughout his shoulder. One of the guards had gotten him. Grunting silently, he pushes himself up with his good arm to his feet, staggering for a moment.

In an instant, Six is by his side, a question on the tip of his tongue before 47 shakes his head. “I’m fine. We need to go.”

Six stares at him for a moment, assessing, before nodding his head in a sharp jerk and taking 47 by the good bicep to encourage him along. “C’mon, 47, aren’t you supposed to be the best of us?” He attempts to joke as they continue running, but it falls flat. Still, 47 finds it within himself to huff a laugh.

They continue to run, only this time side by side with Six clenching his bicep in a death grip as if he was afraid he was going to disappear if he let up for even one second. At least with the movement, he could feel that the bullet had gone clean through, so there was no need to dig it out once they were safe.

Yet safety never came.

With another two resounding gunshots, 47 felt a bullet lodge in his lower stomach, and if knowing by some innate feeling, he shoves Six out of the way to get another bullet lodged in his leg instead of his brother’s.

He tumbles down once more, a wet gasp leaving his mouth as his injured leg connects to the ground below.

“Why would you take that bullet, you-!” Six knelt down beside him, fluttering hands skating over the wounds, not knowing how to help in a moment of panic for his brother. “Shit! 47- fuck, come on, you need to get up!”

“Six.” 47 gasped, more so in fear for his brother than for himself. The barking of dogs and the pounding of footsteps only grew closer. “You need to run.”

“No, come on, I am not leaving you. Not here. Not in their clutches.” Six shakes his head, resolute. 47's heart throbs in anguish. And then his wounds sear in pain as Six attempts to pick him up. He was always the more hopeful of the two.

47, in one last attempt, gets up with the help of his brother before he lurches forward in pain. He knew that even with three bullet holes in him, he would still be able to run, but he would only end up hindering Six. Closing his eyes, he shakes his head. “You need to run.” He repeats.

Six protests immediately. “No-”

“I’ll only slow you down. You and I both know this.” He insists steadily as he stumbles away slowly, acceptance slowly blooming within his gut.

“I’ll carry you. You’ll heal. I can’t go on without you. I won’t know how.” Six continues on, distress clearly showing in the lines of his body.

“The bullet is still in my leg. I won’t make it long without proper medical care.”

“I’ll dig it out myself-”

“Six.” 47 interrupts him, speaking through a mouth full of blood. It dribbles down his chin and stains him. “Please.”

He was never one for words, and he never begged, not for anything, but for his brother, he would do anything. He would get down on his knees before the altar of a long-forgotten god and beg for his safety, he would cut out his heart if Six needed it, he would kill for him, die for him, return to that god-forsaken institute for him. ”Live your life for me. For the both of us. Be free.”

He hesitates for a moment, but 47 can see the dawning realization on his face. His older brother swallows harshly, encapsulating one of his hands in both of his. “I’ll come back for you, okay? I’m- I’m not just going to leave you here.”

He should tell him no. He should tell him to run and forget about everything that has happened here. About the Institute. About Ort-Meyer. About the torture, the experiments, the pain and suffering.

About him.

But he allows himself to be selfish, to hope one last time. He nods shakily, drawing in a deep breath. “Okay.”

Six squeezed his hand, yet the ever-increasing closeness of the guards spurred him away. He disappears into the foliage, looking back one last time before the forest swallows him whole. 47 pitched forward, catching himself on the rough bark of a tree as black spots danced in his vision.

With a shuddering sigh, he forces himself back up and makes his legs move in a different direction, intent on leading the soldiers away. He makes as much noise as possible before he heaves forward, a tangle of limbs on the ground.

The last thing he sees before he passes out is the looming building of the Institute that hovers over the tree line and the muzzle of a Weatherby Vanguard pointed at his face.

The black void engulfs his vision, grief and blood heavy on his tongue.

--

The place, just as Diana had described it, was deserted.

And familiar.

It was familiar in a way you had something at the tip of your tongue, yet couldn't name it. The way a dream slips away. The way you walk into a room and forget why you’re there.

“He’s here.” 47 says as he approaches it.

The dilapidated building stood crumbling yet tall with vines crawling along the stone sides and in through the broken windows. Getting there had 47 traversing through acres upon acres of foliage with only Diana there to guide him at points. There was something odd about this forest, however. At points, there would be bullets deeply ingrained into the trees or embedded into the dirt below.

“The breadcrumbs were almost too easy to follow, 47. This could be a trap-” Diana’s voice wavers for a moment before being forcibly cut off.

“Not a trap.” He muses to himself as a window flickers to life with light.

The gate swung open easily, creaking. If this was any other mission, he would have found another way in.

Deep down however, with a churning gut and unknown past, he knows he knew this building. He loads his gun.

“An invitation.”

Now it was time to find out how.

--

47 sits straight in an uncomfortable chair, the cold of it seeping into his bones. His head is held high as he stares at Ort-Meyer’s back as the man hunches over, fiddling with something.

Resentment pools within his gut and hatred burns the back of his throat.

It would be so easy to slam Ort-Meyer’s head down into the metal table until his face was nothing more than flesh stuck to his palms, but he had to bide his time before his next escape attempt. Six had already gotten out, and that was more than enough for now. To know that his brother was free from the Institution's clutches gave him more than enough hope that he could get out next.

His thigh, shoulder, and stomach all throb in a distant reminder of what had happened: not in pain, but as a dull memory; the wounds have all long since healed. 47 grits his teeth and bides his time.

The rest of his brothers had already been killed or had been placed in another part of the building, but he knew that he wasn’t going to be next. If he was going to be, they would have put him down in that forest. He was too useful to them. He was the perfect clone.

‘Too useful to waste.’ Ort-Meyer apparently agreed with this sentiment.

Something akin to fear settles deep beneath his skin when Ort-Meyer turns back around, filled syringe in hand. The man begins to pace, circling around 47. He tenses and his nails dig into the metal of the chair, leaving crevices behind.

“47,” Ort-Meyer begins, voice even. “I understand your actions. You felt trapped, scared. 6 had been tormenting you for so long."

Confusion paints his face white, but he refuses to show any fear. He swallows harshly as the doctor continues.

“It would only make sense for you to lash out like how you did. However, I would prefer it if you only kill the people we ask you to, 47.”

“What do you mean, father?” 47 asks, fingers twitching as he stares at Ort-Meyer’s neck. Dread pools in his gut and a feeling of wrongness weighs him down.

Ort-Meyer hums in compilation, and 47 hates like never before. “How you killed your tormentor, 6, after he pushed you too far, of course. How he had bullied you for years upon years until you snapped. How you had fled the facility in fear, thinking that we would punish you for such a deed. However, that is not the case. 47."

His heart hammers within his chest, and fear thrums in his nerves. Why is Ort-Meyer telling him this? Did they kill Six? Did they find him? Bile rises up to his throat.

He flicks the tip of the syringe, examining how the light reflects off of the liquid. “We are impressed by your so-called escape, even at the loss of Six. The thoughtfulness you exhibited when you hid his body, made a fiber wire out of a window sill and broom, oiled the door hinges to prevent them from making noise, and shot the guard dog with a bow and arrow is impressive. We cannot let such talent go to waste.”

‘No,’ 47 thinks, an indescribable feeling of dread washing over him. ‘They found him. They killed him. Six is dead because of me.’ “That’s not what happened, father.” 47 says steadily, but his voice sounds shaky even to him. He felt like he was going to be sick.

Ort-Meyer stops behind him, and alarm bells set off deep within him, making him nauseous. “When we’re done here, 47,” Ort-Meyer caresses his head in a mockery of a loving touch, thumbing over the bar code at the back of his head as if he was trying to comfort him. 47 wants to kill him. The prick of a needle at his throat stings for only a moment, and a feeling of numbness settles over him like a scratchy blanket. “It will be.”

--

A shattered mirror lies at the top of a staircase.

The broken pieces jut out like a venus flytrap, and 47 can see the faint traces of blood coating them. 47 stares at himself for a moment, his body broken up and spread through the many pieces.

An angry blue-eyed boy watches him. He blinks, and 47 stares back.

The inside of the building was just as broken down as the outside suggested. Mildew and mold coated the walls, wallpaper torn and spiderwebs crawling along every surface available. 47 stalked forward, following the twisting and turning halls easily as if he knew them like the back of his hand.

The place seemed to be void of any personality: the wallpare a musty green and the flickering lights a sickly yellow, aged with time- yet it gave him this peculiar and inexplicable feeling of home. It sickened him like never before.

His free hand trailed along the decaying walls, something akin to unease settling in the pit of his stomach. There was something about this place that made him want to flee and never look back. It was strange and left him uneasy like never before.

A flickering light beckoned him forward, and shoving everything aside, he followed.

In front of a gaping hole stood Lucas Grey, his silhouette cutting against the harsh light of the afternoon sun. 47 steadied his gun, arm straight and true, yet something made him hesitate.

“You can home.” A haunting voice came from the man, gun in hand. He shifts it so that he held it by the muzzle, turning ever so slightly so he can look 47 in the eye. ”I knew you would.” Grey tosses the gun aside into a puddle, the water rippling for a moment as 47 looks on in muted surprise. “You’ve come a long way, 47. And even now, you don’t remember.”

47 should shoot him down where he stands. He shouldn’t prolong this any longer, but he doesn’t pull the trigger. “This place…” he begins.

“This was our prison.” Grey interrupts, hatred coating his words. He spits the words out like a curse, as if they burned on his tongue. He turns around, and 47’s head pounds. “Where father trained us, shaped us into killers for Providence.”

He stalks forward, gun hand never wavering, but what Grey says next gives him pause. “Now you don’t remember, they ripped it out of you, wiped it away, but I do. I remember everything.”

A hand on his shoulder. A comforting presence. A house yet not a home.

47 shakes his head, finger ghosting the trigger. ”You’re a terrorist with nothing to lose. You’d say anything.” Grey moves to the left, towards the wall, and 47 nearly makes him a smear upon the wall.

The man squats down and digs his fingers into the wall, tearing it away. Two bloodied handprints sit there, and 47’s hand stings in a reminder. The muzzle of the gun is pressed to the back of Lucas’ head as a reminder.

He swallows harshly. “I know it’s difficult. You never miss your mark or question your function. But we made a pact, you and I.”

47 stares at his scarred palm. He had forgone gloves for this mission, and now the matching X on his palm stands out more than ever. Lucas turns, and emotions that 47 can’t catch paint his face. “Do this… we both lose.”

47 remembers little but he knew he was a killer in more ways than one. “There was an incident. That boy… he died by my hands.”

“He lived.” Lucas says, the words dripping out of his mouth like nectar. “Because of you.” He fluidly stands, gray eyes boring into his own, searching frantically. “Don’t you remember his name?” He asks desperately, pressing forward, only stopped by the barrel of a gun kissing his forehead. ”You know this. Deep down, you know. What was his name?”

A forest. A promise. Pain and hope. A brother.

Six.

He raises his gun, hand twitching. “Subject Six. Your name is Subject Six.”

“And what is our purpose?”

Suffering. Experiments. Killing. Flesh tearing anew.

“To destroy them all.”

--

please excuse if the characters are ooc, i haven't written these characters before so i'm still trying to get the hang of writing them. i hope you all enjoyed it! i may write some more on this fandom later on! :)

[cultivating-wildflowers]

Books of 2023 - June

Temporarily broke out of a reading funk by finding some easy sci-fi; but the rest of the series didn't exactly hold up, and I'm back to where I started (behind on my non-fic list, slogging through a good but thick historical fiction, and unable to focus on anything). It may be time for a reread that isn't Narnia.

Total books: 7  |  New reads: 6   |   2023 TBR completed: 1 (0 DNF) / 12/25 total   |   2023 Reading Goal: 43/50

May | July

#1 - Old Man's War by John Scalzi - 5/5 stars

*obligatory content advisory here: language, violence, and gore on a level with The Murderbot Diaries; sexual content on a level with the World of the Five Gods series (and easy to skip)*

The easiest way for me to describe this book is "Ender's Game but with retirees instead of children". And possibly a little less introspection on the part of our hero, not that I'm complaining.

I snagged a copy of this book from my local used bookstore after a friend heartily recommended it. (Thankfully the dust jacket was missing, because I found what the cover art probably looked like and. No thanks.) When a succession of historical fiction, children's fantasy, and classics left me feeling a little bored, I decided it was time to pick up Old Man's War.

I tore through it inside of 24 hours.

While the main character's voice is a little bland, the writing itself is fantastic: bantering dialogue, masterful strokes of world-building, a good balance of humor and gravity, just enough techno-babble to convey the stakes without bogging down the story, and moments of sincerity that made me tear up. Solid sci-fi all around.

#2 - Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery - 4/5 stars (audio)

Another hit from Montgomery. This one reminded me a lot of The Blue Castle, which was an automatic point in its favor. A straightforward, cozy sort of story; although, knowing it was Montgomery's last book and that she was working on the sequel when she died, I got to the last couple of chapters and really started to fret that we wouldn't get a resolution before "The End". (Spoiler: everything turned out alright.)

#3 - The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi - 5/5 stars (audio)

This sequel to Old Man's War features a new POV character and a new cast, with a few familiar faces thrown in. I definitely found Jared's POV far more compelling and engaging than John's, but what I really loved were the underlying themes of home and belonging. I also appreciated a deeper dive into technicalities that were understandably brushed over in the first book. It worked well here, with characters who needed that deeper knowledge.

#4 - The Last Colony by John Scalzi - 4/5 stars (audio)

And back to John's POV for most of this one. John is just so...meh. I don't know why but he isn't compelling to me. He feels shallow, maybe?

The story itself is solid as ever and I really liked the conflict. A little predictable, but good all the same.

#5 - Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi - 3/5 stars (audio)

Scalzi's weak point really seems to be his characters. Somehow, despite not actually being related to him, Zoe suffers from the same "just some guy" syndrome as her father John (but not in the way that makes it fun). I think most of it stems from Mr. Scalzi not really knowing how to write teenagers.

As for the book itself? Decidedly meh. It's a retelling of the story from the previous book, told from the POV of John's adopted daughter. About 75% of the book tells about Zoe's experiences while her parents are trying to keep their new colony from collapsing, sprinkled here and there with details we didn't get in The Last Colony.

And it's frickin' boring. It feels plain old lazy, like Scalzi finished his trilogy and then had all these ideas of things he wished he'd added to The Last Colony, so he went back and added them in, and then swore the POV character and her friends to secrecy so it didn't look like retconning.

But hey, I got a title that starts with "Z" for my alphabet book challenge, so? (Also if anyone sees this, this is the book with the unhugging.)

#6 - The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis - 5/5 stars (reread)

I never noticed before this reread exactly how much Lewis loved the dynamic of "snarky boy and girl thrown into an adventure where half of their mistakes are because they're stubborn and the other half because they're showing off". Eustace and Jill, Aravis and Shasta, and now Digory and Polly.

This installment shot up into second place on my list of favorite Narnia books. There are so many little things to admire here, and so many intriguing questions it opens up for the world of Narnia. (Where did the Lady of the Green Kirtle come from if she was one of Jadis's race? What happened to the toffee tree? What happened to the guarding apple tree? Why don't we see more pegasuses in the other books? If Frank and Helen's kids married nymphs and dryads and the like...I don't really know what the question is but I have one.)

#7 - Ahab by E.B. Dawson - 3/5 stars ('23 TBR)

"It is the nature of man to fight his enemies. If none are readily available, he will create them for himself."

I would like to start by saying I've never read Moby Dick and possess only a passing understanding of the plot. So as for how this retelling holds up to and honors the original? No idea.

It had a strong opening that carried through to about the 40% mark, but after the first major confrontation the pace eased up and I got distracted for...well, several weeks. At that point it was easy to get back into, but somewhere around the 70% mark things switched gears and the ending felt incredibly rushed. Who are all of these new characters? Wait, this specific issue is what we should be focusing on? The final confrontation is happening NOW? And then the epilogue, which…again, felt rushed.

I loved the broad strokes of the worldbuilding and I liked what was happening with the characters, but it seemed like we needed a little more time to process a rush of information near the end and fully understand the stakes; or maybe when the pace eased up at the 40% point, we needed that time to learn the true stakes and character motivations, instead of taking a romance subplot sidetrack (which I wanted to like but, again: not enough time). Overall, it felt incomplete.

My only other complaint was that the dialogue was kind of stiff. I definitely skimmed a lot of that.

DNF

Synapse by Steven James - Talk about heavy-handed spiritual themes. They were Mjolnir-heavy, and I only got 3% of the way in before stopping.

World-building was clunky rather than organic, and not at all eased by general exposition. "There was an explosion. Ok, now that I have your attention, lemme info-dump on you about everything that looks different here compared to your world and time." (Side note: will someone please give us more sci-fi/futuristic stories where the main characters go "don't ask me how nano tech works; I'm in customer service!")

The search for tolerable modern Christian spec fic continues.

[cap10frogguy]

Tenth Anniversary recap

So, as my little celebration of the Ninjago 10 Year Anniversary, here’s a little recap of every single season, including the pilots and a few bonuses. I also added totally arbitrary scoring based on my own preferences. Ready? Here we go!

The Pilots:

Local man joins gang to save sister, gains awesome powers and dragons along the way. Featuring the Wise Old Mentor(C) and Generic Evil Overlord(C), as well as FIYAH, the main character with a firey temper, AT-AT, blue guy with motor mouth, Frosty, local “real boy” who is super aloof, and Bucket of Rocks, who is the “leader” and has a personality like a rock. Is that a compliment? You decide!

Choppy animation and okay storytelling, but excellent characterization creates a surefire laugh fest!

0/0, they were trying their hardest, so no ranking for you.

Season 1: Rise of the Snakes

Ninja team angers young and bratty boy, who unleashes snake army. Prophecy threatens to tear the team apart at the seams with contests to prove who is better. Winner ends up being FIYAH’s sister, but instead of becoming The Chosen One(C), young and bratty boy (henceforth known as Green Angst) gets the title. 

Animation is slightly better, and the storytelling style leads to an okay season.

3/13, Room for improvement.

Season 2: Legacy of the Green Ninja

Green Angst gains superpowers, ages up, and beats up his dad, who has become possessed with evil. Plot of Return of the Jedi ensues, dad is good, and everything wraps up. 

Thinking this was going to be the last season, the showrunners pulled out all the stops, and it shows. Good job!

5/13, This makes a good ending.

SIKE

Season 3: Rebooted

Series tries to pick up where they left off. Unnecessary love triangles and robot battles ensue. Frosty dies, totally for realsies. 

The whole atmosphere feels a bit rushed, and about half of the story is there for unneeded drama.

1/13, did not age well.

Season 4: Tournament of Elements

In stunning turn of events, Frosty is not dead. Ninja must battle in hunger games in order for Colonel Sanders to release him. FIYAH develops a crush on his daughter. 

A fun season with quippy writing and tons of lore, it works really well!

8/13, this season ages wonderfully.

Season 5: Possession

Ghosts are a thing now! Green Angst gets possessed, and so the ninja must learn ghost fighting to fight ghosts. Also, FIYAH’s sister (From now on called Water Girl) gains water powers. 

While a neat story concept, the fact that Water Girl has only NOW been told about her powers kinda starts to weaken the story for me.

4/13, could do better.

...

...

Oh, and Bucket of Rocks is a ghost now. But the writers don’t care, so lets move on.

Season 6: Skybound

AT-AT gets a season, where he had to battle a genie pirate while Water Girl tries to be a Strong Independent Woman(C) despite the love triangle fiasco. Season ends up retconning itself out of existence. 

While a good season pre-redesign, some of the story choices cause it to feel a bit drawn out in hindsight.

6/13, a fun season concept.

Day of the Departed:

Bucket of Rocks cant catch enough of a break to get a season, gets Halloween-ish special instead. In it, he becomes No Longer A Ghost. Hooray for... writing? 

There’s not much to say about this one, it is what it is, and for a while, this was the only content we got centered around good ol Bucket of Rocks.

0/0, a ranking of this one wouldn’t be fair.

Season 7: Hands of Time

Angst! Drama! Time Travel! Technology jokes! Old Mentor is dying from Too Many Secrets, so Green Angst must lead team. FIYAH and Water Girl find their parents. I bet that’ll be important later!

The story feels choppy, and leaves a lot of threads hanging. It’s still fun, but less so that what came before and what comes after.

2/13: Guys, you had one job.

Season 8: Sons of Garmadon

The ninja get a facelift, and Green Angst gets a girlfriend! Guess which one is permanent. Evil Ex summons Evil Overlord(C) 2.0, causing Green Angst to loose Green and gain Angst.

The animation bump is stellar, the new voice actor for Green Angst really shines, and the story, while not new by any stretch, is filled with plenty of twists and turns.

9/13, Stellar Season.

Season 9: Hunted

The OG 4 in Mad Max on one hand, while Green Angst and Water Girl resist against tyrannical overbearing ruler on the other. Now with even more daddy issues, inspiring speeches, and of course, ANGST.

The storytelling and atmosphere increases in quality, and the show does a good job of balancing angst and hope. Also, then end is really cool. 

12/13, Great Atmosphere.

Season 10/March of the Oni

Everyone teams up to stop faceless CGI army! Wait, does that count if everything is CGI?

There’s not much to say on this one either. It feels both too short and too fast, and many of the story beats don’t hit like they should.

(6 1/2) / 13, Pretty OK.

Season 11 pt 1: The Fire Chapter

Local team gets lazy, unleashes witch, FIYAH looses fire, Frosty dies again. OR DOES HE!?

Even better animation, and the voice actors are really having fun for this season onwards. It’s one of the weakest of the newer seasons, but the shorter episode time helps every episode pack a punch.\

7/13, Would recommend as a starter season.

Season 11 pt 2: The Ice Chapter

Frosty becomes Frostbite and commits genocide. Is redeemed by power of friendship and amnesia. Let’s move on.

Character development, great moments, and thought provoking storytelling!? This season has all that AND a good grasp on the aesthetic!

10/13, Please forgive Frosty. He didn’t mean it.

Season 12: Prime Empire

AT-AT gets his own season again, enacts plot of Tron Legacy, but better! Also, Frosty becomes a detective.

The obligitory videogame plot is done really well. Lots of fun is poked at videogame mechanics and it makes for a quippy and fast paced season. Just like AT-AT! 

11/13, videogame movie(?) done right. 

Season 13: Master of the Mountain

Bucket of Rocks finally gains own season, proves that he is the best character. Gains a best friend and beats her dad in combat. 

Beautiful set pieces, awesome character development, lore, jokes, and heartfelt moments, I consider this to be the single best season of the newer ones, and possibly even the whole show. 

13/13, amazing season

BONUS!

The Lego Ninjago movie:

Kung Fu High School AU with a dash of Star Wars. Different from the series? Sure. Super fun? Absolutely!

8 out of 10 Meowthras.

Wu’s Teas:

Wise Old Mentor(C) opens teashop. Shenanigans ensue.

10 out of 10, if you don’t laugh at at least one, something is wrong.

[franki-lew-yo]

The Romantic (2009, R, Gothic Fantasy/Horror), aka the most forgotten animated film in the world

What if I told you there was a movie under serious threat of becoming lost media with no clear reason as to WHY it's been lost other than no one has apparently watched it besides me and a few people on Reddit? What if I told you that movie wasn't half bad and would no doubt have some interest peeked if anyone DID know about it?

The name of that movie is The Romantic.

It was released in 2009 and it's Rated R for nudity and sex scenes [insert Robbie Rotten meme here], though none of it too graphic. It was a pet project created by animator Michael P. Heneghan, originally starting as a flash project for his animation class before he expanded it into a feature film. The film was inspired by movies such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, but what I see every time I look at it is a touch of Jhonen Vasquez, Tim Burton, and Roman Dirge- the guy behind Lenore the Cute Little Dead Girl. It's flash animation especially remind me of the puppet-rigged toons of the 2000s (again like Salad Fingers or Lenore). It's not bad, it's just not inherently 'feature film' quality flash, nor is it exceptionally artistic like Sita Sings the Blues in it's simplicity. Like, really, if you happen to find this thing it's not the worst animated project at all it's just amateur for a professional production. I've seen worse flash movies. Heck, if The Romantic were released in separate parts on youtube or Newgrounds as a series (ala Homestuck) I'm sure it would have been really successful and totally in it's element. But it wasn't.

Because next to no one has seen it and I'm lucky to have not only ever seen it when it was available for free but have also found it recently (hush hush, I ain't telling you how) I'm going to actually give you all a plot synopsis under the cut. There will be some details I leave out and I think I've spelled some characters names wrong. It's a bit of a surrealist film as well, so you might need some things explained.

Spoilers ahead:

The Romantic is set in an autumnal, surrealist world inhabited by humans and monsters and ruled by three gods; Po the goddess of love; Pik the god of Hate; and Pjorrc the god of time though Pjorrc was made to live inside a pumpkin moon as everything he touched rabidly aged and died.

((Tapestry art featuring the main three gods of the film.))

A young man (called “Romance” or “The Romantic” by the other characters) performs a bull sacrifice in order to summon Abbledepopa, the unseen creator of the other gods and ‘storyteller’ of the world. The sacrifice does not conjure Abbledepopa but, when Romance spares a monster that was ready to eat him, the monster tells him of a profit named Patience. Patience is a foul-mouthed dwarf living alone with an army of babies who points Romance in the direction of Po.

((Romance outside of Patience's house.))

Romance wants the god’s help because he has fallen out of love with his girlfriend. Po grants him his desire and restores his love only for Romance to return home and find his girlfriend with another man. Blinded by heartache and rage, Romance kills her. He then swears vengeance on the gods for ‘making’ him do it. In the midst of this vow, a corrupt prophet called Fat Daddy kills the queen of Vauxhaul (Romance's home) and her guards, and forges a new body for his newborn son with their bodies. Fat Daddy rallies the townsfolk behind him in supposedly finding the Queen’s murder into follow a new religion called "The Poetic End".

((Romance (right) besides the monster he spared at the beginning of the movie.))

Patience accompanies Romance on his quest and tells him to take Po’s mask, which hides her true face, once he kills her. Romance buys Po’s trust by weaving her a tapestry that tells her story: in the dawn of time Po and Pjorrc were in love. However, Pjorrc gradually became distant and Po became resentful when their daughter, Love, earned Po's original title as the god of romance and love.

In the present day, Romance sleeps with Po for over a year before finally killing her and taking her mask. He and Patience return to his home of Vauxhul only to be chased out by Fat Daddy’s personal army. They flee to Marshallton, the town nearest to the god Pik.

((Romance's hometown of Vauxhul. ))

The king of Marshallton, King Crookie, tells Romance of a prophecy he, Patience, Fat Daddy and all the gods are a part of and that the world is soon to change. Romance then fights and successfully kills Pik when he shows the god of hate his reflection in a mirror King Crookie gave him, but not before losing his hand to Pik.

When Romance comes down the mountain he learns from Patience that nine years have passed since his fight with Pik began. Patience reveals to Romance what Pik saw in the mirror that allowed Romance to take the killing blow; after Love had grown up and married, Po asked Pik to tell her where her husband was always running off to. Pik reluctantly revealed Pjorrc was disguising himself as a human and married a mortal woman. Po found Pjorrc and his pregnant second wife, forcing Pjorrc to leave his human family behind, but not before asking his wife to name their son “Patience”. In retaliation for his treachery, Po proceeded to sleep with fifty men and produce the fifty bastard children in Patience’s house.

((Fat Daddy, the main villain.))

Marshallton and the entire rest of the world has fallen to the rule of Fat Daddy, who captures Romance and Patience. Fat Daddy tortures Patience into telling him how to get to Pjorrc but is unable to convince Romance to take part in his ‘new world’ or give him Po’s mask. Romance and Patience escape and leave the village to be torn apart by the fifty babies Po had, now transformed into veracious monsters after Patience didn’t feed them for the past ten years. Romance confronts Patience when he realizes the latter is Pjorrc’s son. Patience calls Romance out on his mantra of vengeance and points out that all his decisions are his own, not the gods, and instructs him to seek Love herself in Po’s basement. Patience then attempts to confront Pjorrc but is cornered and killed by Fat Daddy before he can do so.

In Po’s basement, Romance finds Love nailed to a wall, her face torn off and half eaten by her deformed husband. Love tells Romance that Po ripped off her daughter’s face in rage over Pjorrc’s infidelity and Pjorrc did not intervene fast enough. Po then threw Love into her basement, turned Love’s husband into a monster, and wore her daughter’s face as a mask - which Romance had broken into pieces moments ago after Patience had shown him his face in King Crookie’s mirror. Romance then finds Pjorrc hanging himself. As he dies, Pjorrc tells Romance to take the hand Fat Daddy had cut off and sew it onto himself, which will in turn help Romance defeat Abbledepopa.

Romance traverses the wasteland and does not find Abbledepopa, but instead a golden loom. Having seen all the destruction he and others had caused, Romance sits upon the loom and accepts his fate as the new ‘storyteller’ of the world, as he begins weaving a new one...

---

I mentioned before the animation quality of the film and why maybe that caused people to overlook it. The only other thing I could complain about on a technical level with The Romantic is it's sound design. Some of the voices and music is a little too quiet and so all these key details I had to go through the film a few times to really piece together. But that leads me to the thing I like about this movie and I'm sure others would to: the lore.

It's very hard to create a new fantasy world w it's own customs, religions, history and rules out of the blue as any YA Harry Potter/Hunger Games ripoff book could tell you. The Romantic is so unique in how it handles the pantheon and culture of these three gods and their kin; really only four or five characters throughout the entire story aren't connected to the gods or prophecy in some way, as there's the main three gods, Abbeldepappa, and the prophets Patience, Love and Fat Daddy, who make up your main cast besides Romance. There's a lot that's intentionally left unexplained and other info that must be explained, like Pjorrc and Po's marriage and Romance's feelings towards the gods, if we want to understand the former. The movie is paced pretty well and knows when to follow up on what, it's just that again some of those animation and editting shortcomings might make it hard to understand...but I don't think THAT hard. Look, if someone can enjoy Starchaser: The Legend of Orin or even better surrealist world-building films ((Fantastic Planet comes to mind)), then I say there's no reason The Romantic wouldn't have a following. There's no other way I can articulate why and what doesn't work about the story except just to recommend you watch it yourselves, but before I get into that I want to talk themes...because I love the themes and tone of The Romantic.

I revisited The Romantic a week before I made myself watch Centaurworld and The Owl House for the first time...and what a week that was~! The Romantic has the vibe of those kinds of shows along with Adventure Time and Infinity Train ((so I hear, I haven't watched the latter)). It's surreal and you'll only marvel at 'woooah wut an acid trip' for so long before you get into the vibe of the universe. It also reminded me substantially of the Broadway musical Hadestown and not just because this movie is also a self-contained, somewhat self aware fable about the relationships between humans and gods - it's very raw in how the characters talk. It's very emotional and blunt in how kind and how cruel they can be, and it doesn't make excuses or really worships any one of them. Romance himself is the world's most likable Incel: he murders a woman he thought he needed to love and blames his emotions on the gods of those passions...except the gods AREN'T the manifestations of love, time, and hate - they simply dictate and oversee it in the lives of men. It's a dynamic I really like in religious works where Gods are powerful but not all knowing or puppet masters to everyone's design- they have morality too and there is only so much you can blame and get from them.

"You made your gods into excuses and your excuses into gods!"

-Patience. This here is a cool quote. I like this quote.

No matter what, The Romantic is not gonna be a film for everyone. We all have our tastes - I think I'm drawn to it and accepting because I've come to love these kind of worlds that used to keep me up at night - these trippy 70s inspired fantasy landscapes given a whole Avatar: The Last Airbender degree of worldbuilding and character worth. It also doesn't feel exploitive in it's violence, it's sexuality, it's grimmness - it doesn't feel like it's trying to hard or going over the top because it happens to be an adult animated film, something that I love in movies like 9 or Hair High but really turns me off in stuff like Sausage Party or Wizards. Whatever go watch The Romantic...

if you can.

-----

When I first saw this film in 2016 it was actually very accessible and was even uploaded to youtube by the creator himself. I don't know WHAT happened to Michael P. Heneghan, but simply put, the man's disappeared...like...REALLY disappeared.

Lookit his IMDB. He has The Romantic and a wapping two other projects to his name. His Twitter isn't very helpful either. He last updated in early 2020 and he says next to nothing about The Romantic. It's so odd that he would one day be happy with the film enough to host it on Vimeo and Youtube but then just cop out.

According to a Reddit user: "On Valentines Day 2011, Heneghan released the film for free online through all kinds of platforms including direct download, bittorrent, Vimeo, and even directly through Archive.org. He even joked about releasing a 300 gig uncompressed version.

I know I watched it on Vimeo probably as recently as 2016. Now I can't find it anywhere. The website is dead, the Vimeo video went private, even the archive.org version has been taken down. It really looks like he wanted to wipe it off the face of the internet. His newer website mentions it, but again, the Vimeo link is dead and even that website is closed for business."

It's weeeird. What happened Michael?

And yes, obviously, other people worked on the movie.

No - I can't find out anything about them either.

I'm betting on three theories at the moment: 1) this film is an SCP or some Candle Cove weirdness with only me and a handful of people ANYWHERE remembering it, 2) something weird is going on w Michael Heneghan and it involves too something about this film. It was a scam or a scheme or a hidden agenda weirdness, 3) Heneghan's doing okay he just doesn't like this film anymore and wants it hidden while he takes a break.

Look, I get it Michael! What was once our life's worth can become cringe as you improve as an artist - you're not the person making the stuff you were ten years ago...but you should still have the film kept alive somehow. Someway.

I'm seriously the only person to have ever made fan art of this movie on the internet. That just doesn't happen, and I don't think I like being in a fandom of one. The Romantic is a testament to the power of design and storytelling > animation quality itself. Too often I see people equate good animation with smooth animation, with a budget with squash and stretch. These animations are good but art is diverse and there's so many kinds of films out there, the value of the medium can't just be in one style/form. There's a lot of honestly wonderful pieces of art out there if you know where to look and you're willing to see where it leads you.

Don't let The Romantic be the most forgotten movie of all time. Reblog this post. Show it to your friends. PM the animation community reviewer people like Saberspark and someone who isn't Saberspark and smuggle them a copy.

Keep telling the story...

[ratcandy]

CoGR Abridged/Summarized

Hello hello! My name is Clam, otherwise known as Squeakyclam on Ao3, and this is a heavily summarized/shortened version of my HK fic Camouflage of Great Renown. For anyone somehow finding this that doesn't know what it's about, CoGR focuses on Zote and his story through the game and what preceded it. He recounts his entire life up until the end of what's known in canon, and this includes a whole lot of angst, growth, realizations, and Trauma Revelations.

Oh, and he's a nosk. Zote is a nosk. Yep.

I've had a few requests for a summary, as the work is super long and reading through 130k+ words of Zote dialogue may not be for everyone, hehehe so I've compiled all the important plot points and wrote them out here in order of his story, rather than the plotline CoGR goes through specifically (in which big events in his history are revealed later on).

If I had to recommend reading the fic for anything, it'd be the... impact, I suppose? 'Cause reading the summarized events here will NOT be anything like reading it in CoGR. Seeing as the fic is all in Zote's pov and he actually has to force himself to admit all of this aloud. But I digress!!

Here's a summary of Zote's life according to CoGR.

THIS IS A VERY, VERY LONG POST DESPITE BEING A SUMMARY. I'm sorry, CoGR just has a lot happening! T/W for mentions of death.

A lot more heavy stuff happens in CoGR, but in this summary I do my best to step around those subjects. If you think more T/Ws should be added, let me know, and I'll put them here

Nosks were a species that inhabited Deepnest, specifically living in a den towards the nest's depths. It split off into lots of tunnels and caverns that each nosk lived in. "Society" there was very hostile and unwelcoming, as nosks valued brute strength over just about anything else. Caring for another nosk - be it kin or otherwise - was considered weak. "Burdens" to the den, such as nosks that were badly wounded, would/could not hunt, or were simply getting too old would be killed off. Death in and of itself was very common and hardly anyone would bat an eye at it.

Think the Mantis Tribe but largely feral and without a shred of decency of morals.

Runt donning mask of citizen was born into the nosk den alongside his brother, who would become hunter donning hide of tiktik.

(Before anyone asks, these are just the naming conventions that nosks have. No one but the nosk superiors - the leaders of the den - are granted actual names.)

A third egg was among them, but the brother broke it open and ate the younger sibling not long after hatching.

The two were born under a superior (their mother) and her chosen mate (their father). They were expected to grow up strong and eventually overtake their mother and become superiors. Or, one of them would, maybe.

The runt (Zote) was immediately scorned by the mother, as he was extremely frail and useless, and she just about killed him off right after he hatched - but his father stepped in, and the runt was left alive.

Zote grew up to be a weak nosk who could barely defend himself in a den full of beasts that would gladly kill him if doing so wouldn't be a direct offense to a superior. His brother was cruel to him, his father berated him constantly, and his mother was hardly in the picture at all. Only ever watching him distastefully from afar.

His father did, however, train him, if only sparingly. The least he could do to keep Zote alive. (Doing so would be a death wish were any other nosks to find out about it...)

However, an elder in the den - hunter donning mask of weaver - gained Zote's attention as she told him fantastical stories from outside the den. This elder had spent a good portion of her life among the Weavers, initially being sent to learn about them (to make them easier to hunt) but growing interested in their culture and choosing to stay. Until she did something to get her chased out.

At any rate, she told the stories from the Weavers to Zote, alongside news of what was happening outside of Deepnest. This caused the runt to become obsessed with the idea of being a knight, as the stories just sounded!! So amazing and heroic and awesome and!!! :D Yea!! He wanted to be just like that!

To the point where he even carved a sword out of the shellwood... with the den elder's help. He named it Life-Ender eventually.

At some point, however, his father found out about all this. His father figured that the only way to eliminate this problem - as wishing to be something heroic that saved lives or whatever was SO unnosk-like (and would get him killed) - was to kill the den elder.

Before she died, the elder told Zote to run away from the den, and not to return no matter what. The idiot did not run, and because of this, he witnessed the Den Elder's death at the hands of his father and some other nosks.

Man! this does, however, cause Zote to be more... "open" about his ideas. By this I mean he begins carrying Life-Ender around instead of hiding it in his nest. what do you mean it's a comfort item what! no he's just rebelliously showing off how much he wants to be a knight. totally. 100% /s

well, anyway, not long after this, the idiot's father dies at the claws of his mother. Zote unfortunately witnesses this as well. When he tries to run, his mother catches him, nearly killing him as well. Luckily(?), this attempt is thwarted by Zote's brother, who was very distraught over their father's death. The brother swears to kill the mother before storming off. Zote runs into hiding (still in the nosk den), and begins devising his plan so to get the hell out of there.

Of the few times that Zote leaves his nest after his father's death, 90% of them ended with him getting pummeled by his brother. The latter was livid, blaming the father's death on Zote and frequently bursting into fits of emotional rage. Rage is great for nosks, other emotions not so much.

On one occasion in particular, the brother goes too far, nearly killing Zote. In the scuffle, Life-Ender is shattered, and that sends Zote into a blind anger (mixed with survival instinct as he's About to Die). Zote then kills his brother.

A crowd had gathered around them during the fight. In that crowd was Zote's mother, who looked to him approvingly after he'd killed off his brother. This terrified Zote, so he gathered the pieces of Life-Ender and fled the den forever.

Stopping at the hot spring in Deepnest, he made a disguise for himself based on the vessels that nosks would often capture. He made a new name for himself, took on an entirely new identity, and decided to abandon the idea that he was ever a nosk. He would just go to the City, be knighted by the King (who he'd heard of from the stories the Den Elder would tell him), and live out his life as a knight. Just like he always wanted. Not as a nosk. because he's not that.

The events that follow now are just very short summaries of things that happen throughout cogr.

- He breaks a statue in the Queen's station on accident after a bug finds him there. as a nosk. oops

- He obliterates the entire uoma population /j and burns himself in the process

- He repairs Life-Ender originally using mushrooms in the Fungal Wastes. Fungal adhesion is real I checked I swear

- He makes it to the City of Tears! and while there, he

Gets caught by Hegemol who mistakes him as a vessel

Drowns in the City's gutters

Purchases a cloth to wrap around Life-Ender

Hears the Pale King talk one (1) time and immediately decides he hates him

- While leaving the City, he finds a grub. That grub never really gets named, but as he frequented calling the little thing "Fiend," and the grub eventually began responding to that title, he just considers it a name for them now.

- Zote travels with the grub throughout the Crossroads until he drops them off with the Grubfather, being rewarded for reuniting them but overall feelings pretty :( about it.

- He then goes to the. So you know the houses that are underneath the Gruzz Mother's lil arena? Yea that place. he goes there and "guards" it, becoming that place's self-proclaimed knight.

- then he starts being paranoid about the grub and returns to the grubfather only to see all the grubs have been stolen. he presumes Fiend is dead from this point on (and dodges around ever using the word).

- Then he goes back to the lil town place only to see everyone's infected :(

- We then spend TEN CHAPTERS!! in Greenpath. In which he

eats a plant and dies

Stands in No Eyes's tomb.

Visits the Lake of Unn (and nothing bad happens)

Sees a nosk at the entrance to Fog Canyon and proceeds to have a panic attack

Kills everything

Gets caught by the Vengefly king

Gets saved!

has a breakdown

Yells at Ghost and then Leaves

- Canon starts!

- He stops in Dirtmouth, listens to Elderbug talk, gets told the Myth of the Great old Nosks who are now all Extinct. The news that nosks are now extinct freaks Zote out a little, but he absolutely refuses to return to Deepnest. He doesn't need to make sure. It's fine.

- In an effort to convince himself not to go to Deepnest, he goes to the City again, thinking it can't possibly be all that ba-- oh no everyone's dead!

- he inadvertently steals a map marker from Ghost and decides to use that as a pin for his cloak

- Zote returns to Deepnest. He's very upset with himself for this, but he just has to know if all the nosks are actually extinct now.

The answer is yes

but before that he gets caught by dirtcarvers and put in a web and has to be saved. this makes him angry

Upon seeing all the dead nosks once he gets to the den, and noticing that the last nosk was mimicking Ghost (evidenced by the mask left behind) before it died, he decides that he's gotta Kill Everything again

- more specifically we're going to the Colosseum now.

- Zote's fear of water evaporates as he goes through the secret passage in the King's Station to get to Kingdom's Edge. He only found it because he saw Ghost go that way

- While at the Kingdom's Edge, he gets caught by the Fools, who he stupidly challenges and then immediately gets caught by.

- sits in dumb baby jail for a while. mean to tiso

- Then the colosseum battle happens! He does not win he then gets dropped down into kingdom's edge with little regard toward whether he's dead or alive

- He grabs a Fool's helmet before leaving, going back to Dirtmouth, and intending to bury that thing

- this goes wrong as he bumps into Bretta. He then sits and talks with her for God Only Knows how Long, spacing out while doing so, and not even noticing when she eventually gets up and leaves him.

- He buries the helmet, shuts himself away in his house, and gets stuck repeating his precepts to himself. At the end of CoGR it is revealed that he hasn't been talking to anyone, and is instead talking to himself endlessly as no one is left to listen to him

and that's it! that's cogr. yeah

[incorrectshantaequotes]

Shantae Headcanons - The Seven Sirens

So! I've been in a creative mood - time for some more headcanons. While I've talked a bit about my headcanons for the Sirens as a species before (primarily here; I recommend you look at their section in it since I'm going to be referring back to it), this will be about the titular Sirens we were introduced to in the latest Shantae game, with more emphasis on the five that didn't really get a chance to shine.

As is to be expected, this will be a long post, so I'll put it under a read more

The Seven Sirens as a Group

Before they were trapped underground, the Sirens were part of a royal court, with each having a specific role: Empress Siren was, obviously, the ruler, Water Lily Siren was initially there as a representative for another colony of Sirens that ended up getting wiped out while she was negotiating, Coral Siren was the Royal Technician, Tubeworm Siren was the general of the Siren's armies, Anglerfish Siren was the Royal Magician, Octo Siren was Empress Siren's personal assistant, and Lobster Siren...well, that'll be explained a bit later.

When the airship crashed, with no signs of the Sirens themselves during the following week of the Half-Genie Festival, they were presumed dead - much to the relief of the half-genies themselves, but to the slight sorrow of Lobster Siren, who didn't wish to be the last of her kind - and, besides that, she did somewhat enjoy their company.

However, a month after Shantae and some other half-genies left, and the native half-genies - Zapple and Vera - as well as Lobster Siren were in the middle of an effort to fix the damage the rising airship had caused to the island, this presumption was proven wrong when Water Lily, Coral, Tubeworm, Angler, and Octo Siren pulled up on shore, looking rather peeved.

As it turns out, they did survive the airship crashing! It just so happened that, between Shantae's own beating and the ship, you know, exploding, they had to take a while to lick their wounds and recover. But when they regrouped, the Empress wasn't among them. A bit of covert spying from Angler led to them learning exactly what happened between Empress Siren and Shantae, and, seeing as she wasn't with them...they could only assume she'd been slain in battle. Enraged, Tubeworm Siren had rallied up the Sirens and led them to the surface to get vengeance for their fallen queen.

However, before there could be any fighting, Lobster Siren stepped in and desperately pleaded for the others to change their ways - though it was a bit hard to tell for Zapple and Vera, since their various brands of half-genie magic didn't lend itself that well to understanding Siren. And to Lobster Siren's credit, it did work...for Water Lily. The rest had to take some more convincing, with there being several battles between the local half-genies and the remaining Sirens. But, in the end, they did all end up getting redeemed...which lead to a new problem.

What about their names? Lobster Siren already had a more proper nickname than "lobster girl" (more on that later), but the rest were...a bit more lacking, and weren't really forthcoming on what their actual names were. So, for lack of better options, they called in Shantae with some teleportation magic to help translate Lobster Siren so she could explain, and she proceeded to inform them that...their names were effectively the name of the species they were crossed with. Just with fancy intonations that didn't really carry over to English. And so, more nicknames had to be given. The exact nicknames will be explained in each Siren's appropriate section.

Lobster Siren

Ever wonder why Lobster Siren and Empress Siren have such incredibly similar animal halves? The answer is simple: Lobster Siren and Empress Siren are related. To be more specific, Lobster Siren is Empress Siren's niece, who she took in after her mother died in battle.

...but that was less out of genuine kindness and moreso to look good in front of her subjects. In reality, Empress Siren couldn't really care less about Lobster Siren, usually giving her about as much thought she would to a random soldier or servant. Needless to say, Lobster Siren developed better relationships with the other Sirens than she did the Empress.

Around two weeks into the effort to fix up Siren Island, Zapple suddenly declared that Lobster Siren needed a name, as calling her "lobster girl" all the time was driving her crazy. She ended up settling on Tacea - as in, crus-tacea-n. Vera argued that that was a terrible pun, and so did everyone Zapple brought in for a "second opinion," but Lobster Siren liked it, so Tacea stuck.

Her teleportation magic is rather useful for facilitating visits to and from Siren Island, whether that be for Shantae, the other half-genies, or herself. It's a useful way to keep in touch...even if teleporting from that long of a distance typically means a few hours crashing on a nearby couch.

Empress Siren

Contrary to what was initially believed by the other sirens, the Empress survived the battle with Shantae and the airship crashing. In fact, thanks to some lingering power from her battle, she actually recovered faster than the other Sirens did. She simply didn't bother to check if the others were alive. No, no...her priority was getting revenge on that accursed half-genie and the double-crossing pirate!

A week before the other sirens made themselves known, the Empress burst out of the water near Scuttle Town, interrupting a battle between Shantae and Risky Boots that was going down at the time, and wasted no time sending bolts of electricity, raging waters, and an army of sea creatures their way. Although briefly caught off-guard, the half-genie hero and pirate agreed to call a truce to drive off the mad Siren, and successfully beat her once again.

Since then, Empress Siren has added herself to Shantae's rogue's gallery alongside the Barons and Risky Boots, although she does terrorize the latter as well...sort of. Recently, it would seem her anger toward Risky has cooled down and started to become a begrudging respect for managing to pull one over her. Her anger towards Shantae doesn't seem to be cooling down anytime soon, though.

Still goes by Empress Siren, and refuses to be called anything else.

That being said, her "Empress" title was never actually official - the Sirens don't have a combined leadership. The official title for the ruler of a colony is Queen. On paper, the title was just a sign of arrogance and ego. In practice...she had one of the largest colonies of Sirens under her command, coupled with more firepower than the combined efforts of three colonies. It was very easy for her to bully and push the other colonies around, and that "Empress" title suddenly didn't seem that farfetched.

Water Lily Siren

When one looks at Water Lily Siren, their initial assumption might be "lazy." And it is true that she likes to relax and sunbathe quite a bit - beyond just liking it as a Siren who's partially plant-based, she works hard and enjoys any time she gets to lay back and soak in the sun - this is downplaying her surprisingly gentle and kind personality. There's a reason she was chosen as a diplomat.

Speaking of! Water Lily Siren was an ambassador for a colony of plant-based Sirens to try and negotiate with the Empress. As said before, Empress Siren may not have been an actual empress, but she had a lot of resources. At the time Water Lily was sent, the Empress was blocking off supplies out of a perceived slight from their Queen, so she was sent to reason with her.

Unfortunately, as that was happening, some humans happened across the Siren colony that Water Lily came from...and the forces that Empress had sent to block off supplies. Panicking upon recognizing the latter from the Empress' attacks on passing ships, the humans assumed the colony was working with the tyrannical Siren, and promptly used their resources to blow the place to kingdom come.

Water Lily was distraught when the news came, locking herself in the room Empress Siren had provided her and proving completely inconsolable for several months...and then, when she finally started letting herself see visitors and try to move on from the loss, Empress Siren casually pulled her aside and told her that the official story she'd be telling anyone who asked is that she joined the Empress' court willingly due to seeing how superior she was to her own Queen, that she was glad her colony was all dead, and if she ever even hinted that her colony was destroyed due to Empress' proximity, she'd have to try her luck in the abyss. Fearing for her life, Water Lily Siren agreed, and was accepted into Empress Siren's court.

Despite her position, Water Lily never did much in terms of bureaucracy, so she did her best to try and fill that gap with some other things. Sunbathing, growing some plants...and caring for Lobster Siren. Yeah - for a lack of a proper mother figure, with her own missing and Empress Siren's cruelty, and for a lack of anyone to call her own, Lobster Siren and Water Lily Siren ended up growing a mother-daughter relationship, ending up incredibly close.

Ironically, this relationship with Lobster Siren is the main reason Water Lily never broke rank before or during Seven Sirens - before, it was just a worry of what might happen to Lobster Siren if she were to disappear, and during the plan set up by Empress Siren and Risky Boots, she was afraid that if she didn't do her part, Lobster Siren might have to step in, and, well...she already knew what humans could do to Sirens. She already knew what genies could do to Sirens. She wasn't going to take her chances with a half-genie.

Thankfully, with the threat of Empress Siren gone and Lobster Siren having broken rank herself, she took very little convincing to join up with the good guys. Although she didn't wish to fight the other sirens, having no quarrel with them, she did take a part in the following battles - her control over plantlife combined with Vera's refresh magic proved very effective.

Ended up settling on Lily when the surface-dwellers decided they wanted to go a bit further than "plant girl." It was a nickname she already had with the other Sirens, and it sounded like a surface name, so it was a fairly easy transition.

Does have a bit of a mischievous side to her, mostly brought out by Lobster Siren but can be brought out by others as well. The native half-genies to Siren Island have gotten especially good at it.

Coral Siren

The Royal Technician, Coral Siren was primarily responsible for the airship the Empress used to spread her reign across the sea, and all kinds of firepower and weaponry for the Sirens as well.

Her personality, in a single word, is gremlin. She likes shiny things, she likes tech she hasn't seen before, and if it's some combination of both she is instantly going to see what it is without regard for whatever she was doing before. Combine that with a seemingly limitless energy, and she's a terror in any lab that isn't her own. Key words being "isn't her own," because ironically enough, her lab is perfectly pristine.

The sea slug that serves as her cycloptic helmet is her pet, which she's affectionately dubbed "Spiny," and she loves it as much as she loves her own inventions, which is really saying something. Like many of the sea creatures native to Siren Island, it has unique biological properties thanks to the ambient magic in the area, with Spiny's being the cycloptic "eye" visor that other creatures can see through. When they look through the "eye," they can see beyond their normal sight, similar to Plink's own Seer Magic. This is especially useful for Coral Siren, as Spiny's magic readings can often be more effective and useful than her own equipment.

Lobster Siren was most often the one who helped her out whenever Spiny got lost or was missing, so they ended up forming a nice little friendship. They weren't that close, but it was nice for Coral to have a listening ear once in a while, and if Empress happened to come around looking for Lobster, well...what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

The third of the Sirens to break rank when they made their return. The reason? Well...she ended up spotting a hot air balloon during a battle in Armor Town and immediately dropped everything to try and see how it worked. Tubeworm Siren barked orders at her, trying to get her back on track, and Zapple...simply offered to let her look at all the tech she wanted if she came over to their side. She agreed in a heartbeat. And then had to be pulled out of the way of Tubeworm Siren's wrath. From there, she pulled from her own technical expertise to give the growing resistance tools to counter the remaining two sirens.

When she learned that she'd been dubbed "Coral Siren" as a result of no one really seeing her lower half, she first angrily corrected them, offended that she wasn't referred to by her proper title of Seahorse Siren...and then took on "Coral" as a nickname, because it sounded nice even if it wasn't the correct terminology for what she was, and it did sound like a surface name.

Tubeworm Siren

High and mighty, Tubeworm Siren was the latest in a long line of generals serving her colony's crown, and by god was she smug about it. Her legacy was one of the most important things to her, and she often boasted about the deeds the past generals did and her own strength that followed. In present day, her legacy is still important to her, and she does still hold pride in her combat prowess...but she no longer holds it over everyone else's heads since she's no longer loyal to the Empress. More on that later.

As one would expect of a general, she was fanatically loyal to her Empress, rarely questioning her decisions and simply following orders. Her loyalty was valued very much by the Empress, and she did her best to ensure its cultivation, making sure that Tubeworm Siren was completely and utterly obedient to her...

One of the few things Tubeworm Siren ever did question about her Empress was her treatment towards Lobster Siren. She never brought it up to Empress' face, but it always rubbed her the wrong way how easily she was dismissed and ignored. So, Tubeworm Siren decided that she wanted to help...which, unfortunately, translated to "make Lobster Siren stronger." After all, she was strong, and she was well-respected! Surely, a little training was all the little lobster needed! But her idea of "training" involved...a lot of things. Like lasers. Lots and lots of lasers. And needless to say, Lobster Siren didn't like any of it. Although she understood that Tubeworm Siren meant well, she tried to avoid her if she could help it.

The last of the Sirens to break rank from the Empress - she stayed loyal even as Sirens left one after the other, calling them cowards and traitors to the crown. In the end, she refused to listen to reason, so there had to be a joint effort to restrain her and then imprison her. Lobster Siren often visited to try and get her to join them and be free, but no luck. Her turning point only came when Shantae came around to visit Siren Island, and she just so happened to overhear a conversation about the Empress' latest exploits as Shantae and Zapple passed by her prison. Upon hearing that Empress Siren was alive, and that she'd been attacking some random half-genie rather than helping her people...Tubeworm Siren connected the dots of why she didn't show up. She didn't take it very well.

Which is to say, she promptly broke out of her prison and started going on a rampage to take out her rage and sorrow. The other Sirens and the half-genies teamed up to stop her once again, but this time they were barely able to slow her down, even with Shantae's help. But just when it seemed like they would have to take drastic measures...Tubeworm Siren just. Broke down. It was quite the unexpected sight for all involved. Eventually, Tubeworm Siren ordered that the others go away - save for the half-genies and Lobster Siren. Once they were alone, she quietly explained her own conclusions about the Empress' actions, and then pledged her loyalty to their side - it was clear to her now that her Empress...no, the Queen, did not deserve her loyalty, and perhaps never did.

At first, she just patrolled the shore, constantly on the lookout for that traitorous Queen should she ever come back, but with a bit of coaxing from Lobster Siren and some sporting brawls offered by the half-genies, eventually she was helping out with the rebuilding effort and being social once more, finally back to her normal self after weeks of misery.

Tubeworm Siren took on the name Scylla after a monstrous beast in Siren Island's folklore - the tales of which she properly identified as the exploits of her great grandmother, the first of the colony's generals.

Anglerfish Siren

The Royal Magician, Angler served as the eyes for Empress Siren, using her magic eye constructs to spy on the surface and either take notes on ships with good loot...or to take notes on other siren colonies and any slights they might have committed against the Empress. She didn't like the latter part too much, but, eh, orders are orders, right?

Saw potential in Lobster Siren's teleportation magic, and privately taught her how to hone it and use it to its fullest. Angler couldn't help as much as she would've liked, due to her own magic differing a good deal from Lobster Siren's own (even if it was supposedly in the same category), but the progress she and Lobster Siren did make her pleased her significantly...one of the few times she smiled was when Lobster Siren managed her first long-ranged teleport.

Empress Siren ended up putting a stop to it as soon as she found out, much to Angler's displeasure and Lobster's protests. But Angler knew how powerful the Empress was. She was in no position to fight back, even with her impressive magical power. And so she accepted it, though not without giving Empress Siren the stink eye every time they passed in the halls of the airship.

This apprenticeship with Lobster Siren was why she was the second to break rank. Because, as she was spying on the surface to learn what had happened to their Empress...she saw how Lobster Siren was genuinely happy. How much fun she was having with her friends on the surface, how much she smiled...and how much that contrasted with her fearful behavior when she was under the Empress' command. She tried to hold onto her loyalty to Empress Siren, but in the end, she couldn't fight against her own apprentice. Not when she was so happy up here. After the first fight, she left in the shadows and arrived at the alliance's temporary base in the dead of night. Needless to say, she gave them quite a scare.

That being said, "willing to help" did not equal "friendly." For Lobster Siren, sure, and Water Lily she could treat as a passing acquaintance, but for the half-genies she was anti-social and rather moody. She stayed that way even as more of her Siren brethren joined with them. However, an unexpected visit from Rottytops led to the zombie discovering and ultimately befriending the Siren, thanks to her own experience with magic and the occult...maybe a bit too well, if the ensuing prank spree is anything to go by. It did get Angler out of her shell, though. Still moody, but she's willing to talk with people outside the Sirens.

Ended up going with "Lure," by Rottytops' suggestion. Besides just being appropriate for someone who's part anglerfish, it also happens to be wordplay - "Think about it. Ang-LURE. Eh? Eh?" To Rottytops' credit, Zapple laughed.

Octo Siren

Octo Siren had a similar issue to Tubeworm Siren's problem, but in a very different direction. Whereas Tubeworm Siren boasted about her legacy and her physical prowess, what Octo Siren had was a personal line to the Empress, as the one who helped her with matters like paperwork and court. As a result, Octo Siren grew haughty and saw her assistance to the queen as the only thing that mattered, leaving more trivial matters to the octopi she could command with her magic.

She did have a surprising amount of respect for Lobster Siren though, thanks to her connection to Empress Siren - moreso than Empress Siren herself, ironically enough. As long as it didn't interfere with Empress Siren's own desires, Octo Siren was more than willing to lend her some octopi for some minor things...key words being "Empress Siren's own desires." In the end, Octo Siren always defaulted to Empress Siren above all else, so she and Lobster weren't very close.

The fourth to break rank. At first, she stayed by Tubeworm Siren's side, because in spite of her past respect of Lobster Siren, well...it was as Tubeworm Siren said, she betrayed the crown. Any respect she had for her was now gone. And with Tubeworm Siren being the next best thing, she stuck to her. Then she started to get worried as they lost more and more of the more combat-ready Sirens. She actually quite likes her little octopi servants, and as the others left, she was forced to draw upon more and more to make up for the deficit. And the problem is, to put it simply, her servants aren't that capable of combat, especially compared to the sheer monstrous might of Tubeworm Siren. Octo Siren really, really didn't want to keep throwing octopi at the problem and losing them, so in private, she discussed the idea of a truce. Even Empress Siren knew when to back down, right...? Although she couldn't remember even one time.

The answer she got was, unsurprisingly, a resounding no, and that was enough for Octo Siren to push away from Tubeworm Siren and join up with the rest. She never helped that much in combat, to no one's shock - being a secretary doesn't prepare you for combat and all - but her servants are very handy for reconstruction, and she is very good at paperwork and legal terms. So, the half-genies and other sirens are willing to put up with the occasional haughtiness as long as she gets things done.

Octo Siren was the last to choose a surface name, though not for lack of trying. She just couldn't find one she liked, and no matter what that electric half-genie or zombie would suggest, she was not going with a stupid pun. However, after thinking it over, she settled on...Molly. You could really hear the crickets when she announced that one. "...what? Did you just assume that because you all chose aquatic names or those horrid puns that I'd pick one too? Please, I'm hardly that cliché. Au contraire, I am a trendsetter, and I happen to think my surface name is quite fetching, wouldn't you agree?" "I still think you should've gone with Ceph." "You shut your mouth!"

[kaypeace21]

What was the first moment or scene that made you suspect or realize Will can alter reality? 🙋🏾‍♂️

Hi, anon. :) I think it wasn’t 1 thing in particular but an amalgamation of things. S3 was probably what made everything ‘click’ in my mind. But there were A LOT of things in prior seasons that made me scratch my head - such as the connection/parallels of certain human/nonhuman characters to Will. And I was trying to figure out-what the narrative explanation was for all of this.

But I think what made me think of Will altering reality ...was  mostly how the media Will consumed affected the supernatural plot specifically .  And how the mf was connected to Will’s emotional state and “Will the wise”.Of course this is all unconscious on Will’s part-and he’s unaware. I won’t mention outside film inspos just what’s in the show- for this post.

s1: the demogorgans are connected to Will playing the game.Like how rolling the 7 in d&d caused him to be captured by the demogorgan in the game and real life. And how in the game the demogorgan is attracted to blood so it is irl. The weakness of the demogorgan being fire. And in a s1flashback- Will mentions Will the wise using fire powers against the bad guys. Duffers (in interviews) and Nancy saying the demogrogan was like a shark- and Will has a Jaws poster in his room. And in s1, Will watches poltergeist and is thrust into the same scenario as the little girl (being trapped in another dimension- where the mothers can only hear their voices and communicate to them through electronics ). The fact Will can mess with electronics similar to other psychics, and the monsters.In s1 Mr clarke describes the vale of shadows (later the upsidedown) as being created by “necrotic” (’dead’-zombie boy) and “shadow” (shadow monster/mf) magic.  

s2/3: Mike says he was Venkman. And Will is thrust into the same scenario as Venkman’s love interest.Dana finds a demon-dog in her fridge, and hires the ghost busters. And right before Venkman goes on a date with her she is possessed by the big-bad, Zuul, and is transformed into the gate-keeper (who controls demo(n)-dogs). Venkman proceeded to try to talk to the real Dana , ignoring her possessed form and eventually realizes how serious her condition is, is forced to sedate her. Eventually with the help of his team, Venkman closes the gate to Zuul’s dimension, rescuing Dana in the process. 

-In s2 Will also plays dig dug which is about underground mazes- so the supernatural underground caves are made in s2. And it’s a callback to the s1 d&d game with “troglodytes “ (cave men). And in s3 the Russians had the underground lab too - sort of being the troglodytes in a way.

-Will is called ‘zombie boy’ and in s3 when Will watches a zombie movie and writes a d&d story about juju zombies- the mf creates zombies and creates a monster resembling the thing (because when Will was writing his d&d story he was next to the ‘the thing’ poster in s3). When Mike hijacks Will’s d&d story saying ‘they’ll torch the chambers, sacrificing themselves killing the juju ’. Will gets angry and yells “Fine, you win.” And then Joyce and Hopper do just that- when they pull the lever, and Hopper ‘dies’ sacrificing himself, and the Russians literally are eviscerated.

-Will says ‘will the wise’ is a wizard ( writing on a music tape in s3 “will the wise-wizard mix’ and having his password for castle byers be ‘rhadaghast’- a lotr wizard.) In d&d Mindflayers are created by inserting a slug in a humanoid (like Will at the end of s1). And similar to Will’s s3 d&d story-Will says in s2 the mf drawing was for a story he was writing (which isn’t exactly the truth, but close to what is happening).The way they describe d&d Wizards matches Will/mf perfectly “Wizards are adepts and magicians . wizards are able to create spells of explosive fire, sparking lightning, subtle deception, and gross mind control. Their magic summons monsters from other planes of existence, predicts the future, and turns defeated enemies into zombies. Their most powerful spells can transform one substance into another, summon meteors from the sky, and open portals to other worlds”. Dustin says the mf uses it’s “highly developed psyionic powers for mindcontrol.” Nancy in s2 says: “So this thing is like a brain that’s controlling everything.” And accidentally calls the mind-flayer the mind-flamer ( WW had fire power).Hopper then says “So how do we kill this thing shoot it with fireballs?”And Dustin says “ No, No, fireballs you summon an undead army.”Referencing Will (fire)and foreshadowing of the zombie-esque people Will caused in s3.But Mike actually nails it on the head when he says, “If the brain dies the body dies … closing the gate will kill him(referring to Will).Because it’s not the mindflayers’ brain - it’s Will’s brain- that both Will and the mf share! 

Joyce  describes the tunnels Will draws as “like lightning” (a power Will the wise was shown to have in s1  and mf has in s2).And note in s1 we are told Lonnie taught Will baseball (and this was when Jon told Will not to mimic him)- and suspiciously there is a baseball and baseball-mitt next to the ‘shadow monster’ (mf) drawing in s2, and a bat (next to the ww drawing in castle byers in s3). Cause mf= ww.  Will lies and says the mf is just a sketch for a story he’s writing- but even if that’s not exactly true. The mf is still something he unconsciously created. And the mf comes in s2 during Will’s PTSD “anniversary effect” and in s3 everytime Will is thinking of his romantic feelings for Mike (why the mf shows up in the summer despite light being his weakness). 1st time it’s on one of their ‘movie dates’, 2nd time when Will is sad when Mike and El walk off together down the hill to make-out, , 3rd time right after he smashed castle byers after Mike says “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls”, 4th time (after the fight with Mike) when Billy is yelling to open the door (a trigger) and confides in Mike, 5th time when Mike asks him to go away so he can talk to El in the hospital waiting area, and 6th time when Mike says he loves El. 

-Susie in s3 references the ‘A wizard of Eathsea’ -it’s about a male wizard Ged (Will) who casts a powerful spell, but the spell goes awry and instead he releases a shadow creature! The new Archmage, Gensher, describes the shadow as an ancient evil that wishes to possess Ged. But the ‘shadow’ turns out  to be a representation of the darkest aspects of his personality. And the only way for the chaos to stop is for ged and the shadow to merge.

-‘the dark crystal’ movie poster in Mike’s room is about a race called urSkeks who inadvertently divided themselves into two separate beings; the violent, materialistic Skeksis, and the gentle, contemplative urRu. It was only when they merged back together as one could harmony and peace be restored to the world.

- Montauk Project’- The original title for Stranger things was “Montauk”- in reference to the Montauk Project. Where Duncan could “open portals to other dimensions-  and lets loose a monster from his subconscious.”

- In s1 Hopper says he likes the book cujo , that one of the guards is reading, and at the end of the book they replace the dog Cujo with a dog named Willie. A ref to Will creating the demo-dogs. The fact in s2 Chester (Will’s dog) died at the same time the demo-dogs appeared is probably not a coincidence.

- Susie has a wizard of oz poster & in s2 when murray mentions the supernatural he references the movie.He references Wizard of Oz by saying “people don’t like looking behind the curtain” (in the movie what was behind the curtain was a wizard-Will).

-in s3 Will & El parallel (sebastian & Atreyu from neverending story). Which Dustin references in s3.“Atreyu (who was deemed the ‘chosen one) is thrown  into the sea of possibilities (beach in cali). There he wakes on the shore of abandoned ruins (junkyard for El). There Gmork (The Mindflayer) reveals himself, having been lying in wait.He explains that Fantasia represents humanity’s imagination and is thus without boundaries, while the Nothing is a manifestation of the loss of hopes and dreams. And then latches his jaws onto Atreyu’s leg (like what happened to El).The Empress in the story later tells Atreyu, that despite being told he was the chosen one (he never was). And that it was always Bastian (Will) who was the chosen one -that could save them, all along! And that Atreyu’s (El’s) story, and “others” (the rest of the st cast) are following Bastian’s (Will’s) story all along, making them all part of his neverending story. The Empress tells Bastian that he has the power to save them using his imagination.”*Bastian has a bowl cut, appears to be a normal human, and from a single parent house hold. Bastian even temporarily goes evil after he loses his memories (just like Will).

IT ALL CONNECTS BACK TO WIIL!

* There’s also A LOT more evidence - like the many other correlations/parallels/eastereggs to Will and other human characters (El, Kali, Terry, Brenner, Max, Billy, Hopper, Alexi, Etc) who I believe Will created. As well as the parallels to Lonnie and the demogrogan(which in d&d is called “the deep father”).  I recommend reading my THEORY HERE for all that other evidence. It also includes the cited inspos  for the show there too (which i didn’t mention in this post). It’s a very long post-but I believe worth reading.

[thetypedwriter]

Lore Book Review

Lore Book Review by Alexandra Bracken 

Lore by Alexandra Bracken was one of 2021’s most anticipated YA novels and it's easy to see why. The plot summary itself is enough to pull you in with the intriguing concoction of calling it the combination of The Hunger Games and the Percy Jackson series. 

What’s not to love when you fuse the illicit danger of Katniss Everdeen with the mythological enchantment of Rick Riordan’s masterpiece?

Turns out, quite a lot unfortunately. 

Before I get into why this book didn’t live up to the insurmountable hype it built up, I’ll attempt to give a basic summary. The key word being attempt as a good portion of this novel’s plot was a mind boggling and convoluted mess. 

The book takes place in modern day New York which Bracken likes to remind you every other paragraph with small snippets about how the city that never sleeps smells like sewage and is yet still the best place on earth apparently. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love New York as much as the next person, but the pandering to the Big Apple got annoying after awhile. 

Within the cantankerous city lives a girl named Lore which we are introduced to by means of her kicking ass in an underground Chinese restaurant’s fighting ring. 

Pretty strong start. 

Lore’s world (and the reader’s frankly) is tipped upside down when Lore’s long lost childhood friend, Castor, reappears to warn her that he is looking for her. Terrified, Lore is then at first unwillingly thrust back into the world in which she was born-a world dominated by violence, bloodlines, and the Greek gods who are very much alive and out for vengeful retribution. 

In a very exposition-dump heavy conversation, we learn that Lore is the last of Perseous’ line with the rest of her family having been horrifically murdered, that a week long event called the Agon occurs every seven years in which the original nine Greek gods or their reincarnated selves become mortal for seven days, and that a series of killing often happen because if you kill a Greek god you then become that Greek god as well as inhabit their powers, abilities, and immortality. 

Well, until the next Agon that is. 

The currently reincarnated God by the name of Wrath is attempting to end the Agon by killing all the other Gods, but in order to do it he needs to wield a special weapon called the Aegis. 

Unfortunately, only the Perseides can wield this shield (for some reason) and thus, Wrath is out to get his hold on Lore as the last of her line so that he can bring this eons old competition to an end with himself as the sole victor and only remaining God. 

Confused?

I’d be surprised if you weren’t. 

Now, I love Greek mythology. I’ve read the classics and would say I’m fairly up to date on the stories, the legends, the gods, and the stories they represent. I’m not an expert, but I would say I’m  knowledgeable on who the major figures are and what they stood for. 

I genuinely think this book would have been miserable for anyone that didn’t know anything about Greek mythology.

 Bracken does a terrible job of explaining what the hell is happening at any given point, and she often throws out allusions and references to Greek mythology without bothering to explain a single shred of information about it. 

In addition, after this laughably and poorly explained world and plot at the beginning, it is almost never explained again. It’s brought up, as are names and titles and weapons and relationships, but it’s never explained in a way that’s feasibly understandable. 

At the beginning of the novel Bracken lists who all the important characters are, their bloodlines, and their titles.

 I soon figured out why, as every other sentence a name like Wrath or Reveler or Tidebringer or whoever was brought up, and it was impossible to keep track of so I didn’t even bother. 

Even Lore brings up that the names are ridiculous, which I appreciate, but the meta moment of clarity doesn't make it any better. 

Also, what Lore and her friends get up to over 90% of the novel is a muddled mass of bewilderment. 

Why do Lore and Castor and the others need to find Artemis? I don’t know, but sure, whatever, sounds good. Why was Lore the last of her line again? Oh yeah, right, okay, I guess. Wait, Castor died? Oh, he didn’t? Why not? Oh, we’re not going to explain it. Sure, sure. 

Throughout this entire novel, what the characters are doing and what is happening is almost impossible to follow with the way it's presented and the way Bracken developed her world. I think this was a really cool idea that had very poor execution. 

Points for the originality and the inclusion of Greek mythology, but all of the positives were taken away when that originality was flushed down the drain with a lack of explanation and logic. 

Lore very much reminded me of a shoot-em up, bang-em up action movie. Almost every other chapter was some sort of super intense, super climactic fight scene, chase, theft, break-in, etc. 

Now. I do think action scenes are hard to write and I think Bracken actually did an incredible job of writing action in a way that was entertaining and thrilling. 

However, when the action takes place every ten pages it gets really old, really quick. Towards the end, I downright started skimming the fight scenes, because they lacked so little depth and stakes and we had read so much action at the end point that it had lost all vigor and vitality. 

Continuing with the action movie metaphor, most action movies focus solely on the bright explosions and the crazy fight scenes as their selling point of the whole movie, often to the detriment of the characters, plot, and development. 

Now, some people like this. I am not these people. 

I find action movies boring as most of my enjoyment from consuming media comes from the characters and the developments they undergo. 

My biggest criticism with Lore, other than the astonishing storytelling, is by far the characters. I just...didn’t care. About any of them. 

Bracken tried to make Lore come across as a strong, opinionated, fierce, angry female character and while sometimes she succeeded, more often than not I found Lore temperamental, aggravating, impulsive, selfish, and shallow. 

Bracken very much invoked the tell-not-show strategy that makes any book hard to get through. While there were some decent moments of showing instead of just stating, more often than not, Bracken would tell us that Lore was strong by having other people say it or others calling her weak. 

I appreciated Bracken’s feminist agenda and how strongly Lore felt about gender inequality, even if it was a bit heavy-handed at times. Still, I did appreciate this inclusion of civil rights on this front, even if some of the circumstances to incite it were ridiculous or over the top. 

In addition, I hated that there was all this backstory that we were just told but not shown. Like in my last review of Wilder Girls, Lore suffers from an intrinsic failure of getting me onboard with these characters and their relationships by telling me how I should feel about them instead of exposing them through action. 

I was told:

Lore and Castor haven't seen each other for seven years, but my gosh, Castor is just the best and is so beautiful. Ensue obligatory YA romance. 

Lore has a best friend! Yeah. Her name is Iro. Here she is! Um. Okay. Why was this necessary?

Miles is just the coolest best friend ever. Like, look how cool and chill he is. How funny is it that he has no idea what’s happening? Really not funny at all. He was a useless character used to build empty stakes. 

  The list goes on and on, but Bracken will throw out some sort of fact or relationship and just expect the reader to go “Okay!” Which. I didn’t. On any of those occurrences. 

Often Bracken would do this in the use of flashbacks at the most inopportune times (during a fight scene, after someone was injured, right before a huge revelation, etc). These flashbacks were the worst. I do not care for adolescent Lore and child Lore was somehow even worse. 

The romance in this book, much like an action movie, is off to the side and really only there to fulfill the trope of having a romance. 

Lore and Castor are boring. I don’t know what else to say. Castor is too perfect to be likable and Lore is the opposite. Nothing about their romance was unique or well-crafted. 

The kiss between Van and Miles I also saw coming a hundred miles away. I also thought it was pointless as Van and Miles had known each for six days and had had maybe two conversations. So. No. I didn’t care at all about the romances. 

It actually made me laugh and scoff simultaneously at the end when Lore is looking at Van, Castor, Iro and Miles and smiles because she realizes that these people are her family. 

Ummm. Sorry?

Castor disappeared for seven years and you’ve been reunited for seven days. You’ve hated Van your whole life until this week. You also haven’t seen Iro in seven years and she tried to kill you at least twice in this book. Miles is...fine, but again useless. I don’t even know why Bracken included him except to make Lore worry about him which she only did about half of the time. 

Phew. 

I know this review has come across largely negative, so this might be surprising, but I didn’t hate it. It lacks substance and depth, but it was entertaining. 

Just like an action movie.

 If you want some hyped fights and a plot that really doesn't matter and characters that won’t stick with you, but a fast-paced narrative that keeps you on your toes nonetheless, then you would probably enjoy this. 

It’s like the equivalent of watching a James Bond movie or one of the millions of the Fast and Furious. Bracken tries to develop the characters, but at the end of the day, most of the story is made up of cool fights, magic, and weapons. If that’s your speed then you would probably really love Lore. 

Recommendation: Action, action, action. If you want some high intensity, get-your-blood-pumping enterprise then this is your novel. The writing is fluid, the adrenaline-inducing scenes are non-stop, and everything else falls to the backdrop of external fights and villainous monologues. If action is not your preferred genre, then your best left to get your Greek mythology needs from Percy Jackson or the Song of Achilles instead.  

Score: 6/10

[topsytervy]

Book Lovers ~ Pope Heyward

Blurb: You have a crush on Pope and Pope has a crush on you. Your love for books brings you together.

Word Count: 3,376

Warnings: swearing, poorly written towards the end cause I'm bad at ending writings, probably spelling/grammar errors, I think thats it.

I started writing this as a whole bond over books thing and then it kind of got away from that a bit but not really I don't think.

Also, the way i was going back and forth between writing this and something Calum Hood related cause its his birthday and I love him was insane.

~~~~~~

You sat on the beach on a towel, a book in hand as the sounds of screams and waves filled the air.

Not too far away sat Pope, staring at you as JJ, John B and Kie surfed. He watched as you brushed some hair behind your ear before turning the page, completely engrossed by whatever it was you were reading. 

"Are you serious?" Pope jumped as his head swiveled to look at the voice that spoke.

Kie stood there, surfboard under her arm with an eyebrow raised, the two other boys behind her.

"What?" Pope shrugged, acting as casual as he could.

"Really? Playing dumb Pope? Thats JJ's job." She answered, setting down her board and sitting next to him.

"I take some offense to that, Kie." JJ told her which only caused the curly-haired girl to roll her eyes.

"Just go talk to her, Pope."

Pope widened his eyes. "Are you crazy, Kie?"

"If talking to someone you like is crazy then have me committed but last time I checked it was normal." 

"What would I even talk to her about?" 

"Oh, I don't know. She's only reading a book. Gosh if only you read." Kie told him, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Pope sighed before getting up. 

"Go get 'em, tiger." John B grinned as him and JJ took a seat next to Kie, watching as Pope made his way over.

He was about halfway to you before he turned around and walked back, shaking his head. "I can't do it. It's rude to interrupt someone's reading ya know. That and Toppers walking towards her." 

JJ scoffed. "Really, man. Toppers got nothing on you. Besides, I'm pretty sure they're just friends."

"Oh quite the opposite, JJ. He's got money and a way nicer boat." 

John B shot Pope a look. "How dare you insult the HMS Pogue like that."

"You know what I mean. He can buy her literally anything she asks for." 

"Okay. So he's got money and a nice boat. That means he's trying to compensate for something. Any guesses as to what that is?" Kie stared at Pope.

JJ grinned, deciding to answer for his best friend. "His di-"

"Personality, JJ" Kie cut off the blonde. "What he lacks in personality, he makes up for with money. Topper is boring as hell. He doesn't know the meaning of excitement and adventure. You do. I'm sure you have way more in common with her than Topper does." 

Pope took one last look at you, book open but ignored as Topper chatted with you. You just smiled and nodded before standing up and gathering your things, waving a small goodbye to Topper as you did. 

You glanced over and saw the Pogues watching you so you brought up your hand and sent them a small wave, blushing when Pope smiled and waved back at you.

The next time Pope saw you was at the library. He was getting a couple of books for a paper he had to write and you were there, scanning the shelves, trying to figure out what book you wanted to read next.

Pope had looked over and froze when he saw you just a few feet away from him, fingers ghosting over the spines of books as you read the titles. 

You had agreed to ride with Kelce to the library considering he needed a specific book to read and you needed a new book to read. You chewed on your lip, focusing on each one before pulling one out that caught your eye, reading the blurb before ultimately deciding that you didn’t want to read that one now. 

Pope took a deep breath before scanning the titles himself, attempting to find one that he had already read that he thought you would enjoy. He finally found one and grabbed it, walking over to you.

"Having troubles?" He asked.

You jumped slightly before looking at him. "Little bit. It's hard to find which one to read next, ya know."

Pope nodded before handing you the book. "You might like this one. I read it and could hardly put it down. It's definitely on my list of books to own." 

You took it with a smile. "Thanks."

 "It's no biggie." Pope shrugged. 

You smiled again before walking backwards towards the checkout counter. "I'll see you around, Pope." 

Pope grinned at the fact that you knew his name. "I hope so, Y/N."

You blushed slightly before turning around, meeting up with Kelce who immediately noticed your reddened cheeks.

"What's going on over here, Y/N/N?" He asked, pointing to his own cheeks.

"Nothing." You mumbled, placing your book and library card on the counter. 

Kelce looked around, trying to spot who was making his best friend blush before shrugging.

Later that night, you and Kelce were sitting on his living room floor with Rafe and Topper, a board game set out in front of the boys as you read your book and listened to their conversation. 

"Topper, St.Louis is not the capital of Illinois." Rafe said for what felt like the hundredth time. 

"What are you talking about? Yes it is!" 

Kelce took a deep breath before looking at Topper. "Top, sweetie, if you think St.Louis is the capital of Illinois, then what's the capital of Missouri?"

"Boise?"

You peered over your book with a blank look on your face, Kelce and Rafe having the same look on theirs.

"Come on guys, you know I'm bad at geography." Topper whined.

"I think," Rafe started, looking at Kelce, "We need to bust out that Sequence state capital game from second grade."

"I think I lost a brain cell during this conversation," Kelce rubbed his temples.

"Good thing you're not playing fucking jeopardy or you'd really be screwed, Top." You said.

Topper turned his attention to you. "Not all of us are book smart, Y/L/N." Topper leaned over to look at the page before squinting. "Whatcha reading that's better than playing a game with us, anyway?" 

You held up the book enough so they could read the title and Rafe raised an eyebrow. "Where'd ya find that one?"

"Someone recommended it to me." You blushed a little at the interaction with Pope earlier that day.

"Oh ho ho. That is the same blush you had at the library. You like this person." Kelce pointed.

"Shut up, Kelc."

"Wait. She was blushing? Oh snap."

"Spill the name, Y/N."

You rolled your eyes at your friends before replying. "I don't have to tell you three anything."

"Come on. If you're not gonna tell us then how will we tease you?" Rafe whined.

"That's exactly why I'm not gonna tell you. You'll just tease me and then whenever he's around, you'll act all juvenile."

Topper looked at the two boys before turning towards you. "If we promise that we will keep the teasing to a minimum when he's not around and that we act mature about this, will you tell us?"

You bit your lip before hesitantly nodding. Rafe, Topper and Kelce's eyes widened, eager to hear the name about to come out of your mouth.

You sighed, bookmarking your page. "His name is Marcel. He wears glasses and wears a sweater vest. A bit on the awkward side but very sweet."

Kelce and Topper shot each other confused glances, never having heard that name before. Rafe, on the other hand, cocked his head to the side with an unamused look and a 'really'.

"You know this Marcel, Cameron?" Topper asked.

"Yeah. If you watch the Best Song Ever music video, you'll meet him. I do have two sisters, remember." He answered.

You shrugged. "Worth a shot."

"Come on, Y/L/N. Just give us the name." 

You held up your hands in surrender. "Okay, okay." Your three friends leaned forward, staying quiet with raised eyebrows. "Pope Heyward." 

"Oh my God," Topper breathed.

"Can we not do the usual 'traitor' bullshit please? I feel like my mom is already going to have a fit."

"What makes you think we'd do that?" 

You shot each of them a look before standing up. "I gotta get going. You guys have fun and Topper," you looked at the blonde, "learn your damn capitals."

And then you were out the door.

****

Pope walked into The Wreck a few days later and spotted you in the corner, book in hand while you ate your food. Pope was so focused on you that he didn't even notice Kie appear next to him with a water pitcher in her hand.

"You gonna stand there all day or you gonna sit down with her and start up a conversation."

Pope whipped his head to look at his friend before shrugging. "I guess I could but sh-"

"She's reading and its rude to interrupt someone whos reading. I know." Kie rolled her eyes before walking over to your table.

He saw you smile at Kie and greet her before nodding. You looked past Kie and saw Pope. You grinned and waved him over which Pope happily did, taking a seat across from you.

"Want anything Pope?" Kie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Just get me the usual." 

Kie smiled before walking away towards the back.

"I finished that book you recommended to me last night and I was speechless. The ending was...wow." You leaned back in your chair, taking a drink of water. 

"I know right. That book made me want to read all his other works and they're all just so amazing." Pope grinned.

"His writing is so poetic that I was surprised I wasn't reading an actual poem."

"Exactly. He's such a good writer."

You two talked for hours about different authors and books you guys liked, eventually both of you started writing down names of books and authors for the other to check out.

"How long have they been like that?" John B asked, JJ sitting beside him along with the kook boys who joined them unexpectedly with no hassle whatsoever. 

"Lets see. You five have been here for 45 minutes to an hour, Pope showed up a couple of hours before you. So...almost four." Kie smiled before scurrying off to wait on another table.

"Four what? Hours?" JJ asked. 

"Yes, dumbass." Rafe rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to the table where you sat with Pope.

"They both look so happy." Topper commented.

"Because they are. They're in love." Kelce sighed with a dopey smile on his face, resting his head against his hand.

"Aren't they a little young for love?" John B raised an eyebrow.

Kelce shot him a look which caused John B to raise his hand in surrender. 

"What do you think they're talking about?"

"They're both nerds. Take a guess."

JJ opened his mouth to object, offended on behalf of his best friend but John B stopped him. "No, no. He has a point."

You glanced at your watch before standing up, saying something to Pope who nodded, handing each other your phones. 

JJ smirked. "My boy is getting some." Rafe, Kelce, and Topper all turned to look at JJ, unamused with his words. "Or not."

*****

Pope shook his head. "No way. That is one of the dumbest and most cliche tropes ever." 

It was a week later and you and Pope sat at The Wreck again, having a conversation about whatever you recently read and now, apparently, your favorite and least favorite tropes.

"I have to disagree. Enemies to lovers has my heart." You responded, taking a bite out of your burger after you spoke.

"One bed and they have to share reigns supreme." Pope popped a fry into his mouth like that was the end of discussion. 

You held up your finger as you finished chewing before swallowing. "You have to have some love for the enemies to lovers trope then because a lot of enemies to lovers involve sharing a bed." You pointed out.

"What about friends to lovers? Hmm? Hmmm? That right there is practically gold and bed sharing comes into play." 

You rolled your eyes. "At some point, a friend likes another. I can tell you in confidence that I had a crush on Topper, Kelce, and Rafe at some point in our friendship. It was bound to happen because we hang out so much. Enemies to lovers though? Who willingly hangs out with their enemy? No one." 

Pope laughed. "Alright. Sure. Whatever." 

"Don't whatever me Pope. I'm right and you know I am." You laughed. 

Pope held his hands up in surrender.  "Sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

Kiara walked over to your table and you smiled. "Lets ask Kie."

"Ask me what?" Her eyes darted between you and Pope.

Pope turned to Kie. "I want you to be honest with me, Kie. Which trope is better? Best friends to lovers or enemies to lovers."

Kie blinked slowly as she spoke. "I was just coming here to ask if you need refills or anything else."

"This is more important. Best friends to lovers or enemies to lovers?" 

You both looked at the girl expectedly and she shrugged. "I'm more of a fake dating girl myself so neither."

"Or both." You raised your eyebrows.

"True. Enemies could fake date or friends could. Sounds like a both thing for me."

Kie just turned and walked away, shaking her head with a small smile. 

Your phone dinged and you looked down, seeing a text from your mom. "Thats my mother paging me." You sighed as you stood up. "This has been a fun date, Pope." 

"Date?" 

You felt your face heat up from embarrassment."Oh, was this...not- I shouldn't have assumed. I'm sorry."  

"No, it was. I just didn't think you'd think of it as one." Pope quickly said.

You smiled before kissing his cheek. "I'll talk to you later then.'

Pope blushed as he watched you walk away, paying for your half of the meal before exiting the building.

****

It's been a month since you and Pope became official. A lot of your dates were either study dates, beach dates, or dates that consisted of you two eating at The Wreck while discussing anything under the sun.

Pope was kind of scared when you asked him what he wanted to do for a living, considering everyone else thought it was weird but you were supportive.

"That's cool." 

Popes eyes widened in shock at your words. "Really? No 'why would you choose a coroner' or 'why the hell would you wanna work with dead bodies'?"

You shrugged as you stole one of the fries from his plate. "I think it's cool. It's a job not many people want but it's an important one." 

That was probably when Pope knew that he was in deep with you. The fact that you didn't judge the things he was passionate about and what he wanted to do. That just made him fall for you more and let him know that you were the perfect girl for him.

Now here you were, spending the weekend together in the best way.

You sat in Pope's living room, okay laid in Pope's living room, watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Pope had the house all to himself for the weekend and invited you over for a Harry Potter movie marathon since you two just finished rereading the entire series. 

So here you were, curled into your boyfriend's side with his arm draped over your shoulders, holding you closer if that was even possible. 

You sighed as Alan Rickman appeared on the screen. "I miss him."

Pope kissed the top of your head as he rubbed your arm. "I know, sweetheart. You say that everytime he pops up on screen."

"I can't help it. He was just such a good soul." 

Pope smiled, twirling some of your hair around his finger. He loved listening to you talk about things and people you were passionate about. The smile on your face whenever someone, usually him, brought up one of those topics was worth it and he could listen to your voice for hours on end, which usually happened when a topic of interest was brought up. 

"Are you even listening to me?" You'd ask, tapping his wrist.

"Every word."

You'd lean back and cross your arms, a smirk on your face as you raised one of your eyebrows. "Oh really?"

He'd nod before speaking. "You were saying how you think iced coffee is better than regular hot coffee."

You'd make an impressed face. "Are you going to say anything at any point in this conversation."

He'd pretend to think about it before shaking his head. "I'm good." 

You'd roll your eyes before purposely bringing up a topic that would cause him to talk some because just like him, you were obsessed with seeing his smile when he was interested in a topic and hearing his voice.

"Pope, did you hear me?" 

Pope blinked before shaking his head. "No. Sorry. I was spacing this time."

"I asked if you wanted to make stir fry tonight?" You laughed lightly at the space cadet you called a boyfriend.

Pope smiled and nodded. "Sounds great. I'll ask dad if we can raid the store for whatever we don't have." 

You both pulled out your phones, you to get the recipe and Pope to ask his dad if it was okay to take whatever was needed for dinner. 

You walked into the kitchen and started pulling out whatever you could find that was needed for the stir fry before writing down on a notepad what was left.

"We got the go ahead." Pope told you and you held up the notepad.

"Then let's go on an adventure." 

You two paused the movie and made your way down the street towards Heywards hand in hand.

"Have you ever seen the Percy Jackson movies?" You asked, genuinely curious if Pope had or not. Pope shook his head and you let out a laugh. "Oh boy. We might have to take a break from good ol' HP so you can watch them." 

"Why?" Pope swung your arms as looked at you.

"You might find them...interesting. That's all." You shrugged.

"Are they good?" 

You smiled up at him as you leaned your head on his arm. "You'll have to see."

Normally, you wouldn't recommend watching the movies to anyone but when it came to Pope, you wanted him to see it. You wanted to see him rant about all the differences and how bad this adaptation was. You wanted to see him get all flustered at the smallest details that the movies got wrong and complain about how this doesn't do the books any justice. 

"Are you setting me up?" A small smile sat on Pope's lips.

You placed a hand to your heart.  "Ouch Pope. That stings."

He just laughed before kissing your temple as you approached Heywards. Pope unlocked the door and you followed him inside, picking up the rest of your ingredients before walking over to the counter and pulling a 20 out of your pocket, sliding it under one of the boxes for Mr.Heyward to find.

"Really? You know my dad loves you right? Like you don't have to pay him for this stuff. He gave us the okay." Pope said.

You shrugged. "It's fine and it's only right. I mean, I'm taking things from his store. The least I can do is pay him." You turned to the security camera and waved before pointing to the box the cash was under and doing the hand signal for money.

"You do know he cant check the system from his phone right?" 

"Yeah but if he plays it back, he'll know and no one else will see the footage." You smiled before turning back to your boyfriend. "Ready?" You asked as you placed your things in a bag. 

Pope grabbed your hand and the bag as he nodded. "Lets get cooking." 

You laughed as you followed him back outside, waiting for him to lock the door before beginning the short journey back to his, the pair of you thinking about how lucky you were to have someone like the other.

~~~~~~

[shiyoneko]

[TL Summary] Kageyama Shien 100K Celebration Stream (4/10/2021)

ranslation Summary of Kageyama Shien’s 10 Hours Stream To Celebrate His 100K. Mostly covering his chit chat parts, scene that I myself find interesting, and marshmallow reading. Do remember since it’s a translation summary, there will be spoilers of game results and such! For those who haven’t watched the stream, I recommend watching it~

[100K Celebration!] The Unexpected 10 Plans! I’ll Be Playing For 10 Hours Straight! [Kageyama Shien/Holostars]

Congrats on reaching 100K subscribers, Shien!

The long 10 hours stream started with opening chit-chat

・He first greets the chat with his usual Mission Start! He said he’s been waking up at a healthy time for this stream so despite being a bit sleepy, he said he had a good sleep.

・Mentioned how it’s been a while (about 4 days) since he did a stream on his own channel, since he had to cancel Toraware no Palma for health reason.

・Mentioned why he planned on doing 10 hours stream in the first place. Thinking about wanting to do something different for his 100K celebration stream, he thought doing 10 hours challenge would be fitting and at first thought of doing 2 hours for each game until it reached 10 hours. But after reviewing all the games he had played, he conclude that he could do 10 games for 10 hours.

・Already predicting how it’ll surely be difficult to achieve each game’s goal and named some games that’ll took up time like Monster Hunter, APEX, and Fall Guys.

・He said there might changes for the games’ goal or how to achieve it depends on his circumstances during the stream –for he is the rule breaker.  Also mentioned the time schedule on the stream description:

10:00 ~ 11:00 JST :　OP Chit and Chat 11:00 ~ 12:00 JST :　Viewer Participation: Mario Kart (Will get punishment if ranked 10th or below) 12:00 ~ 13:00 JST :　Viewer Participation: Clubhouse Games 13:00 ~ 14:00 JST :　APEX Legends (10 Kill within 1 hour) 14:00 ~ 15:00 JST :　Fall Guys (Get a crown within 1 hour) 15:00 ~ 16:00 JST :　Minecraft (Get 10 diamonds in 1 hour) 16:00 ~ 17:00 JST :　Viewer Participation: Monster Hunter (Get a Purple Magna Orba within 1 hour) 17:00 ~ 18:00 JST :　Uma Musume (Win URA Finals within 1 hour) 18:00 ~ 19:30 JST :　Marshmallow reading 19:30 ~ 20:00 JST :　Sing

・Hanayura Kanon came and congratulated him for 100K, and also cheered him for the upcoming 10 hours battle

・Mentioned he’ll very likely skip the dialogues in order to finish in time for URA Finals (Uma Musume)

・Chat asked for live stream tag, wondering if it’ll be enough just to tweet about it in his usual stream tag #エンエアー (En・ea~) or if the fans preferred a special tag for the stream. A chat recommended #テンエアー (Ten・ea~) which made him really hesitate, but he decided to use #エンエアー(En・ea~) in the end.

・Remembered that he hasn’t brought the goods he’ll use for punishment so he goes and took it. (made Nekoayama watching over the chat) Turns out it was a toy that you need to put your finger into one of the 6 holes available and spin the roulette, and at 1:6 chances you’ll randomly get electrocuted. Looks like it cost a lot of batteries so he goes to get another one. (made Nekoyama watch over the chat again and Nekoyama got red SCs). Shien came back and tested the toy, it lets out a scary sound.

・Eating Time! And he brought an unexpected item: Canned coffee! (Shien is weak to caffeine in general and a small amount of it could make him awoke for a whole day) But he said it’s okay to drink it in the morning.

・Greeted a new viewer and apologized for talking and eating during stream. He 20% regrets doing it

・Another new comer said they like his voice, Shien was eating so he couldn’t give fan services so he turned on the echo and keeps eating.

・ Mentioned how set meals usually have the drinks of either coffee or tea, but he can’t drink both or else he wouldn’t be able to sleep so he thought it’s a such a waste that he couldn’t drink it. Tho he had received many non-caffeine tea from his fans during his birthday so he’s grateful for it.

・One hour had passed so he prepared his switch for Mario Kart

・After some technical difficulties with Switch, he finally able to open the game. He also mentioned about his PC’s condition lately which has been pretty good, but in case it happened he told us beforehand that it might died suddenly and pray it’ll never happened.

・ The first round starts and Shien praised those that came in while wearing purple suits. Also noticed a player that dressed their character similar to that of Silence Suzuka (Uma Musume). And the first game ends with him in 6th place, so electrocution avoided!

・Second round will start and he noticed a player dressing up their character as Haru Urara (Uma Musume), and… his Switch crashed. He’s able to get back. During the map selection, Haru Urara picked a theme park map and the game chose it in the end and Shien said it’s like a Go Out event with Urara. And he mentioned he had recently took her to URA Finals. …This his controller didn’t responded, and connection error happened. Looks like this is the first time he received such error. The match ended with him being the last. But since it’s an error out of his command, he didn’t count this one. A comment told him that Urara won first place in that race.

・Third round started with no particular error and he ranked 7th.

・Fourth round started with no particular error. He noticed a player dressed their character as Special Week (Uma Musume). Mid-game, he thought being 10th or lower for the punishment is too hard for him to get so he changed it to “If he’s unable to place 1st in 1 hour, he’ll do the punishment.” The round ended with him being 2nd and Switch died right after. He then determines to take it for repair and told us he won’t stream Switch games next week.

・He got into the room again and fifth round started. He noticed a player name theirself “50K Red SC” and said it’s interesting to race with a red SC. He won 1st place.

・Sixth round started and he noticed a player with character similar to Toukai Teio (Uma Musume). Mid-game, he said since he had took first place, he returned rule to it’s previous state; Get punishment if he can’t place 9th place or higher. He placed 8th.

・Seventh round started and he noticed a player with character similar to Biwa Hayahide (Uma Musume) and a player named “Holostars 4th Gens”. He placed 9th .

・Eight round started and he noticed a player with character similar to Gold Ship (Uma Musume). He placed 11th this time ＾＾

・Ninth round started and he noticed two players with each character similar to Twin Turbo and Mejiro Mcquuen (Both from Uma Musume) and Mejiro Mcqueen’s player name is “For The Honor of Mejiro Family”. He placed 8th.

・Mario Kart section is over and it’s punishment time! Enjoy his reaction

・The next game is Clubhouse Games and he decided to get punishment every time he loses. Tho there aren’t much to translate here, there are many interesting scenes so I highly encourage you to watch the archive!

・The next game is APEX and 1 hour 10 kill challenge.

・In the middle of the game, his party ended up with only 2 people. But even with such situation, his teammate didn’t quit the game and keep on fighting with him, which Shien said is very admirable since if he got two-people team, the other one will usually just leave the match and leave him alone.

・Unable to find any enemy, at one point Shien found a counter and start playing Receptionist, which his teammate catch up and both starts squatting together ww

・He scored a total of 4 kills and decided to take 6 times electrocution. He got electrocuted 2 times.

・The next game should be Fall Guys, but due to technical difficulties, he can’t open the game. And his PC died… Since he’s also getting hungry, he decided to change it to lunch time. While he go grab his food of bread and hashed beef rice, Nekoyama took over watching the chat and again received lots of SCs giving him food.

・While eating, he mentioned the Hololive collab with Sanrio characters. Some times back, he had talked about how he want Holostars to collab with Sanrio characters and started to thought of characters for each members. He said at that time, he wasn’t trying to hint of Hololive’s Sanrio collab or anything and also as oblivious of it as other fans, and it was a surprising coincidence.

・Chat mentioned that tomorrow (4/11) there will be Oukashou horse race and Shien said there are so many horse racing going on this month. Thanks to that too, the mission in Uma Musume has been added more.

・Continuing the talk about Uma Musume, he asked the chat who should he raise for the Uma Musume part. He said he hasn’t brought Teio to URA Finals yet. And he doesn’t have Rice Shower yet. Chat suggested Silence Suzuka, Gold Ship, and Oguri Cap. Shien commented that he just recently got Oguri Cap but is able to tell that she’s really strong.

・He goes to clean up his dishes. Nekoyama once again received many SCs.

・When he came back, he mentioned how there’s someone who posted a photo of their own creation of Mafiayaki –The dish he made with Oga in Himashokudou collab the other day. The poster said their kids also like it and hearing that makes Shien happy.

・His drowsiness came and he’s worried about the next part, which is Minecraft. A chat suggested him to scream some lines during the playthrough and Shien tried it with a loud “NOOO MY DIAMOND…!!”

・Hearing Diamond lately has instead reminded him of the new support card Kitachan Black and Satono Diamond. A chat mentioned how Satono Diamond’s name could be abbreviated to SatoImo and it reminds Shien of how the title of light novels could also be abbreviated the same way.

・Chat told him some light novel title like Oregairu (Yahari Ore no Seishun LoveCome wa Machigatteiru) and Yorimoi (Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho). He told a story of how in Niconico there are times where a series title was abbreviated by fans and when the management lets out the official abbreviation of the series, it tends to cause confusion especially if the fans did it first.

・A chat mentioned the kanji for Sora in Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho (宇宙よりも遠い場所) uses the kanji for Uchuu (宇宙) but it should be read as Sora, and the same goes for Kara no Kyoukai (空の境界) where even tho the spelling uses Kara, the kanji they used is Sora(空) and it’s complicated and Shien agreed.

・Shien saw Astel that tweeted about his 10 hour stream by saying “10 hours?!! That’s crazy!!” and mentioned how for Astel, 10 hours stream is the norm for him, and he commented that Astel is indeed an alien with incredible physical endurance.

・A chat asked who else in Holostars that does long streams and mentioned Astel for a usual long time of streams. Mentioned Rikka for endurance stream, and mentioned Roberu for 24 hours talking stream. And despite not doing much of it, Temma and Miyabi also occasionally did long streams. Chat mentioned how Temma and Miyabi did Planet Zoo for a long time, and Shien mentioned how Temma named one of the animals with his name.

・Chat mentioned they want to see Babudon endurance stream. Shien also wants it but lately Roberu has been busy. Chat mentioned they also want to see MaFia endurance stream and Shien wondered if Guilty Gear will releases more stuff in the future.

・A chat asked about the TRPG collab, and Shien mentioned it’ll be on May 15th and 16th.

・Mentioned how Yurustars had been digging for a lot of diamonds in Minecraft a while back to make the star for giant Christmas tree, and wondered if there’s still diamond left for him to dig. He’s thinking of whether making a new world to dig.

・It’s time for Minecraft and while opening the game, he told us something happened to the aforementioned giant Christmas tree. He showed us that something blew up at the tree’s terrace, destroying it and the leaves around it.

・He changed the BGM so he wouldn’t feel sleepy. He put a really funky BGM while saying “Alright, let us dig diamond with this calm BGM! This BGM will surely makes us sleepy! Now let’s grab our equipment! Let’s bring this pickaxe named “Pacifier” prepared by Astel for us! …This BGM is loud! Who turned this BGM on!” and he turned it off and changed it to one of his usual stream BGM.

・He instantly got 6 diamonds and will only need to search for the remaining 4.

・After some digging with no diamonds in sight, he said most of the game he was playing for that day requires a good amount of luck to complete. He mentioned how he always got weird luck.

・Miyabi came to congratulate him reaching 100K and said he’ll treat Shien parfait next time. Shien accepts the offer and said he would like parfaits from Ginza Parlour.

・Upon seeing two creeper separated by lava, he created a drama scenario of the two being separated twins and how the other one wanted to go to his place but the other one stopped them from going, dramatically.

・He found the remaining 4 diamonds, got swarmed by monsters on the way home, and with that Minecraft 10 diamonds challenge is finished!

・The next one is Viewer Participation Monster Hunter. The target is to get one Purple Magna Orb from a monster named Magnamalo. His Switch died a lot here..

・In the end, he got the drop item at the very last battle! He said that it was his first time obtaining it and he never once got it when he was playing solo. There are those that didn’t get to play with him because of his switch error and he apologized, and when he decided to do viewer participation again he’ll be happy if they can participate again and play with him.

・After a short toilet break, he set the Uma Musume game to stream and asking chat once again to choose who to raise. He showed all the Uma Musume he got.

・ A chat asked about his team formation and he showed it.

・Since Oukashou will be held the day after (4/11), he would like to raise a horse that has a history of running on the previous Oukashou horse race, and was wondering between choosing Daiwa Scarlet or Gold Ship. In the end, he choose Daiwa Scarlet.

・Borrowed Roberu’s Kitachan Black support card.

・And with that, the challenge to URA Finals had begun. He mentioned he’s been using a Support Card Dialog Checker, an app to see what effect will certain selection dialogue in each support card brought.

・During debut race, Shien mentioned about how every time a player train a horse, at first they will always only have 1 fans, and that’s the trainer. Shien liked the idea of having the trainer as the horses very first fans.

・In the end, despite late on leaving the gate, Daiwa Scarlet won marvelously in URA Finals.

・Time for Umapyoi! Umapyoi! ＾o＾)9 I strongly recommend watching his archive to see him hyping for Umapyoi Densetsu. Just do it, it’s gold.

・He realized it’s been 8 hours already. Chat asked about his throat condition. Shien answered his throat is getting tired, but he can still going.

・The next is Marshmallow Reading~

・The first mallow wrote their message of congratulations and happiness of able to see Shien’s growth from his very early day up till 100K and conveyed their wishes of Shien’s future activity. The mallow question is: Since Jojo will get a part 6: Stone Ocean anime soon,  they wondered what Stand does Shien like?

Shien answered with Sticky Fingers. Aside from it’s cool appearance, Sticky Fingers Stand user is Bruno Bucciarati who is voiced by Takahiro Sakurai.

・The next mallow asked whether Shien doesn’t mind to be called Shien-kun. Everyone called Shien as Boss, but the sender wanted to call him Shien-kun but is worried and ended up calling him Shiepi.

Shien answered it’s okay to call him either Boss, Shien-kun, or Shiepi. It’s fine to either use シエンくん or シエン君 either.

・The next mallow’s sender has a hobby of taking care of their nails. Upon doing so, the mallow sender wondered about what does Shien’s nail looks like. The sender asked if it’s okay for fans to imagine what does his nail looks like and put in fanarts and such.

Shien answered with how when his Mamu (his illustrator, Namakawa) draw his New Year costume, they draw it with his gloves off and it showed his bare hand with the nail only a bit longer. He claimed when Mamu was designing the costume, he cut the nail off ww

He said it’s okay for fans to draw his nails much more longer than that.

・The next mallow asked what kind of clothes he wear when he sleeps.

Shien answered with the Jerapique robe that Oga gave to him for his birthday, and not a pajama.

・The next mallow asked Shien to explain his feeling upon reaching 100K subs in just three letters (words, for English convenience)

Shien:感無量（Brimming・With・Emotion）

・The next mallow asked: Does he likes chocomint?

Shien answered that he’s neutral about it. He doesn’t hate it but he doesn’t eat it as much as those who likes it. He adds that whenever he goes to Baskin Robbins he’ll always order the Caramel Ribbon flavor.

・The next mallow asked whether he’s the type of streamer who remembers his fans or not.

Shien answered that there’s probably no fans he doesn’t remember, since he looks at live chat a lot. On the other hand, he would like if fans who realized they are recognized by him and start sending him annoying replies to stop that since its troubling him. He also remembers those that told their YT name when doing Oshafest, and also those that draw him fanarts, and those that always commented on his stream or throwed him SCs and the likes, he remembered them and tries to remembers them.

・The next mallow asked what does SSB stands for.

Shien answered with Shien Secret Base, and directs them to his Membership Opening stream archive.

・The next mallow asked him what is the memory that he can’t forget until now.

Shien answered with how when he was little, around middle school, he was going out to ski in one of the ski slope. For that, he needs to ride a lift and there he  had a chit-chat about Pokemon with a stranger that sit beside him. He still befriends that person and still in contact with them even until now. Other unforgettable memories are those that are accidental, like the time where he accidentally broke his chin (?!). There are other similar stories but he stopped with just that for now. Another unforgettable memories for him is the time where he and some of his friend was on a train, standing. Suddenly his friends started laughing at him for no particular reason. After they got off, Shien asked them why did they laugh back then and they told him that there was a man who starred and sniffed him from behind his back. Shien was surprised and yelled at them for not telling it to him sooner. In the end, the man didn’t do anything tho, otherwise he noticed by then too.

・The next mallow’s sender was having so much fun when Shien last time did a viewer participation Splatoon stream and asked him to do the same with Mario Kart

Shien answered that he just did it during this stream and will do it again in the future.

・The next mallow’s sender is a fans of voice actors and upon hearing Shien’s voice tweet that got RT-ed by his followers, they instantly thought it was a really great and praised Shien’s voice impression of Takahiro Sakurai by saying it really sounds like him and they ended up RT-ing the voice tweet as well. That’s all the sender has reported! They will continue to support Shien from now on too.

Shien: Thank you… Thank you… Im really hyappi. I wonder what voice impression they would like.

And he mentioned that he recently uploaded his voice impression of Yugi singing Umapyoi. While also feeling happy that he was being found, he also slightly embarrassed.

・The next mallow mentioned how in yesterday’s stream (Miyabi’s QnA marshmallow), Miyabi mentioned that Shien is fashionable and knows what clothes best fits him, so the sender is curious on what kind of plain clothes he usually wear, and whether he wear any accessories?

Shien answered that he likes Uniqlo brand and tends to wear simple clothes. For accessories, he sometimes wear necklace and wristwatch and tends to wear them on summer. Mentioned how Miyabi always glaring at his shoes when he goes out with him the other day and said that the shoe Miyabi  was looking at was the shoe gifted to him by subordinates on his birthday. It was white and purple and he likes it very much. He added that he usually wear PC glasses when streaming and gaming.

・His throat got tired so he read the next mallow in a low tone voice. The mallow asked, what will he do if he has infinite time and money.

Shien answered that he wants to do world travel and goes to lots of places  he doesn’t know, especially with him coming from a Beast world. If he can, he would like to go on a space trip too. After he finished that, he would like to continue his life doing nothing. He added that he would like to borrow a large dome and have Holostars-only event there.

・Realized that it’s easier to just talk normally so he read the next mallow with his usual voice. This mallow would like to see his no-archive Vocaloid only singing stream.

Shien said he always wanted to do one, and not only just Vocaloid songs, but also Disney songs too.

・The next mallow wrote their heartfelt congratulation for his accomplishment of reaching 100K. Shien had made their life happy and is grateful for him and asked whether he also felt happiness on doing his activity. They will always follow him from now on too. Btw they asked for the color of Shien’s pan peace (草)

Shien asked what the sender will do for him to make him say the color. For it,  they need a payment. If they couldn’t do that, he won’t answer it.

・The next mallow wondered about Nekoyama and the minions’ back, and specifically wondered whether Koyama has a tail or nor.

Shien answered that Koyama doesn’t have a tail and only a black fur on their back. Nakayama has one and Nekoyama has a tail too. He showed the three of them on screen and start describing Koyama as the one that wears a pacifier, Nakayama is the one who had the tail, and Nekoyama as the one who had a purple ribbon. Nekoyama’s tail is fairly small.

・The next mallow asked about books he likes.

He assumed it as novels and/or comics. He mentioned a book titled “Melancholy of Mickey Mouse”, a fiction novel that describes the “backstage” of a huge theme park. Also mentioned Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Sky Silver.

・The next mallow’s sender conveyed how they liked the tweet where Shien points out his favorite part of his new year costume, like the waist part that showed his body line, and his glasses, and his bangs, and his forehead, and his ponytail, and others.

Shien responded by showing all the points above again. He showed his feet on a big scale and started stomping it while saying “That day, humanity received a grim reminder…” and congratulate Attack on Titan’s final chapter. Zoomed his face and starts eating the chat (mogumogu).

・The next mallow… is a congratulation message with e-mail format… www

・The next mallow conveyed how the sender at first looks at Shien as a cool person, but over time it changed more into cute and wondered if Shien doesn’t like it if people calls him cute. And asked for words that he doesn’t want fans to say, if there’s any.

Shien answered that he’s doesn’t mind being called cute, since he actively acts cute consciously himself. He mentioned people has rights to say what they wanted. Tho as a man, he also wants to look cool too. As for the things he doesn’t want fans to say, for now there aren’t any. Usually, if he doesn’t like something being sad, he always says it at that moment too. As to why he could honestly say what he doesn’t like on stream, it’s because his subordinates always listen to him. He explained it’s not “he likes the subordinates for obeying his words” but rather “he likes subordinates for properly hearing him out”

・The next mallow asked about the parts of him that he likes himself, or parts he wants to improve in the future.

Shien quickly answered with Face・Voice. He also likes the part where he freely expressed what he likes. As for parts he wants to improve, it’s his singing. He mentioned Izuru suggested him to hear the recitations about song, and he’s using that as reference. The reference is filled with knowledge about intervals and how to properly let out voices and such. He also mentioned how he were amazed by Izuru’s Aishite Aishite cover.

・The next mallow asked about his favorite manga.

Shien answered with Yotsubato!, Gash Bell, YAIBA (written by Conan’s author, Aoyama Gosho), Black Jack, Hinotori, Otome Youkai Zakuro, Houseki no Kuni, Teichi no Kuni, Bleach, Kono Oto Tomare!, and others. He also likes reading doujin and mentioned the high-quality doujinshi made Holostars Mama and Papa (Illustrators) as well as his own Mamu’s creation. Despite knowing a wide variety of mangas, he mentioned that he hasn’t picked up HunterxHunter, Ueki no Housoku, and Rekka no Honoo yet. He stopped here since the talk will be infinite at this rate ww

・The next mallow sender is someone who just got into Holostars and asked who is currently the hottest (in terms of popularity) in Holostars so they can made them their oshi.

Shien answered with “KAGEYAMA SHIEN.” He mentioned how all Holostars members are also on their peak with Izuru reaching 100K, Astel’s Envy Baby reaching 100 thousand replays, and other accomplishments. He also said that Holostars in a whole is raising up in popularity as of now, so it’s a good idea to support them all now!

・The next mallow asked Shien to share a bit of his story from childhood.

Shien answered with how there’s a time where he got taken by his friend into a sunflower field. Shien then saluted the field before they enter, and when his friend asked why he do that, Shien answered “I’m on a patrol.” (Cute) Chat mentioned the Pokemon underwear and he starts re-telling his experience of wearing pokemon shorts while biking around town, unaware that it’s actually an underwear. He re-tells another story when he watched a Pingu episode where Pingu chew spinach and spit it into a toilet with a straw and thought “If Pingu can do that then so can I!” So he chewed the spinach in front of him and spit it out, and then his Mama got so mad at him and sent him outside the house as punishment. From then on, even if he doesn’t like spinach, he’s forced to eat all of it and now has able to overcome it somehow. Shien described his mom as quite a Sparta, not letting him waste a single food on the plate and ate it all. He still watched Pingu from then on.

・The next mallow asked whether he could revive the fallen Tsueso APEX archive he did on April Fools.

Shien answered that he initially would like to leave the archive stay an entire day of April Fools, just like how games did with April Fools event. But there are things that he couldn’t left it on the screen  as it is, so this time, he apologized that he can’t revive the archive anymore. Next year if he does another April Fool stream, he’ll let it live for a day and then erase it when clock hits April 2nd . Tho he don’t know if he’ll bring Tsueso again or not. He told subordinates to keep Tsueso close to their heart, and suddenly Tsueso hijacked the stream and said “Everyone, don’t forget me~ Lets meet again~!!”

・The next mallow asked him if he preferred pants or skirt (for girls to wear)

Shien answered that he would like skirt more, but he also likes hot pants. When asked long or mini skirt, he answered with the long one and would also prefer long skirt maid outfit than a mini skirt one. Chat asked about tight skirt and said he likes it too. But for Shieko, he insisted that she should wear mini skirt since she’s a gal.

・The next mallow’s sender is having difficulties on uploading their fanarts on Twitter, and wondered if he could still see it if they uploaded the art on pixiv

Shien answered that if they post a tweet with the pixiv link on it. Tho with that, the sender wouldn’t know if Shien had properly saw it or not, but if they’re fine with that Shien let them post their art however they want. He wondered if the sender doesn’t like getting RT-ed instead. Connecting the talk, he told about how he personally won’t RT fanarts that depicts him as the opposite gender. For such posts, even if it were tagged in his illustration tag and he saw them and liked them, he won’t RT them. It’s a matter of culture differences, and it’s only for him and there might be different opinions depends on the streamer.

・The next mallow came from an overseas fans and he tried looking up words to replied it, and then remembered that he didn’t asked it before (in his previous English learning stream). He praised overseas fans that went out of their way to translate their mallows themselves using DeepL and such.

・He mentioned that there are still many more mallows he wants to read so he extend the mallow reading time.

・The next mallow asking whether he’ll do a cooking stream.

Shien answered that he’s trying to find a way to do it. He needs a super long cable that connects his kitchen with his streaming room or else we won’t be able to hear him.

・The next mallow: HUG&RELEASE with LOVE&KISS for Shiepippi

Shien: *reads it with echo* …Okay, can I go on to the next one now?

・The next mallow asked about the name of the little cats he has on his shoulder.

Shien named Nekoyama, Koyama, and Nakayama by the order we see on the screen.

・The next mallow’s sender recommended him to sing Yuuki 100% during Shien’s singing stream back in February, and it happened to be a day just before the national pharmacist exam that the sender will be having, and Shien picked up their comment and sang it. It gave them courage for the exam and now reported that they had successfully passed the exam, and thanked Shien for giving them the strength they needed.

Shien congratulate them and said it was a really great feat. He’s so happy that he could boast this to others that one of his fans passed the national exam

・The next mallow is from a new fans, asking if he can play any musical instrument, and asked is there any special rule that fans need to keep when he streams.

Shien answered by ringing his New Type. For the serious answer, he couldn’t play any particular musical instrument and said he would like to learn how to play drums. Also mentioned that during his birthday, he got 3 kalimbas and don’t know what he should do with it. He thought it’ll also be cool to be able to play guitar and piano, he looked up to Sing and chat streams. He also mentioned Anpanman’s tambourine and castanet, but his castanet was missing. Chat mentioned triangle but he couldn’t play it on streams or else his mic will get weird again (because of the high frequency sound)

・The next mallow asked: Which do you like more, Roberu or your subordinates.

Shien: …………..BOTH.

He thought of it as a cruel mallow because no way he can pick just one of the two. Tho, he mentioned that the lines of his love to Roberu and to his subordinates are two different lines. He leaned more towards subordinates for they know him much more.

・tskr

・The next mallow asked him about his favorite color.

Before Shien answered the mallow, a red SC came to bless him for his sneeze and Shien thought red SC sneeze is just an urban legend but he’s getting it right now. Continuing one, he answered with purple, black, white, blue, and green. He mentioned that he usually wear blue shirts for his usual wear.

・The next mallow’s sender had their previous mallow about not being able to draw manga good got answered by Shien, and thanks to his advices they can now draw something great. They conveyed their congratulations message and their hope for his future activities.

Shien congratulated them and said that everyone could get a slump sometimes, even him, and it’s okay to feel like that. Shien said he’s happy to receive report mallow like this that said they had cheered up or achieved something, and would like to see more of it.

・The next mallow asked what dog breed he likes.

Shien answered that he likes dogs with short feets like Corgi. And he really likes Shiba Inu. He mentioned that he saw a video that tells how hard it is to keep a clever dog. The cleverer the dogs are, the more they are more sensitive to changes. He also likes big dogs like Golden Retriever and Siberian Husky. When chat mentioned Chihuahua, he said he’s particularly neutral with small dogs, but he likes Pomeranian.

・The next mallow’s sender couldn’t get themselves to listen to Shien’s voice pack. Despite already buying them, they already imagined what kind of cool voice waiting for them there and will get embarrassed first. They asked how they could get some courage to listen to it.

Shien was surprised they haven’t heard it yet and asked them to listen to it. He worked so hard to write the scenario himself. Chat also agreed with the mallow, saying they all need to prepare their heart before they listen to it. Shien encouraged them that their heart won’t get throbbed all suddenly like what they had imagined, and it’s not he will kill them instantly. In the end, he said it’s okay to not force themselves to hear it but if they didn’t, it’ll be a waste.

・The next mallow asked from where did he starts liking Takahiro Sakurai.

Shien answered the he first know of Takahiro Sakurai from his role of Kururugi Suzaku in Code Geass, and then starts listening to his drama CD of “Teiden Shoujo to Hanemushi no Orchestra” and became a fans from there on. If he need to list his top three of Takahiro Sakurai’s role, it’ll be: Makishima Shougo (Psycho-Pass), Ray Lundgren (Gun x Sword), and Shimogamo Yasaburou (Uchouten Kazoku), but he added that he likes more roles other than what he mentioned and couldn’t just pick a few of it. He mentioned that he also likes Cloud and Merlin, but to him personally, judging from Sakurai’s voice and acting, he likes the top three more.

Connecting the talk about voice actors, he mentioned Yoshimaya Hosoya had a role in one of the new legend card in Shadowverse

・The next mallow came from an overseas fans and asked when will he have another English-only stream.

Shien answered that he’ll consider it. He previously played Fall Guys in EN only, but for next time he wants to try something different.

・The next mallow mentioned how this year, the price of cabbage has been pretty cheap so they wanted to buy it but doesn’t know what will they make with it, So they asked Shien who is good at cooking for dish ideas.

Shien answered with pot-au-feu, since he tends to put lots of cabbage in it. Cabbage roll is good too, but it only use a bit of cabbage. Another dish he recommended is shredded cabbage and salted kombu with sesame oil and salt, and make it as a side dish. Chat suggested coleslaw but Shien said he doesn’t like it that much. Chat also mentioned cabbage with eggs

・The next mallow said they became Shien’s fans because of his talk about Kamen Rider and would like to hear more about the form he likes, or his favorite character or lines)

Shien answered that it’s depends on the series. If it’s Kamen Rider W, he likes FangJoker. If it’s Kamen Rider OOO, it’s Shauta and Tajador. If it’s Kamen Rider Drive, its Mach and Chaser. If it’s Axe-Aid, it’s Parad. If it’s Kamen Rider Build, he likes the Hazard Forms and said all of it are cool. Added more that he likes Heart Roidmude too in Drive. Mentioned that the series he likes OOO the most for the character bonding and development.

・The clock indicated that he had passed the 10 hours mark!

・Hanayura Kanon came again to congratulate him for reaching 10 years (eh? ww) stream. Shien played along and said that the 10 years felt so fleeting and he will work his best to continue his activity for 100 more years.

・He received many SCs and decided to sing for the last part. He’ll try his best to sing songs that doesn’t restrain his throat too much.

・Setlist:

-Started with his usual Devilman no Uta (Keizo Toda) -Mamoritai ~White Wishes~ (BoA) -READYMADE (Ado) -Gira Gira (Ado) -Sayonara Elegy (Masaki Suda)

・Connecting from the lyrics of Sayonara Elegy, he said it depicted his feelings of being happy with just us being beside him.

・He is really happy to have became one of Holostars and able to meet with so many subordinates. He then thanked us for spending 10 hours today with him, and also keep following him for almost a year.

・He also thanked the senpai of Holostars and Hololive that had helped him able to stand where he is right now.

・Mentioned TriNero, and recollecting the past 100K countdown stream where he said he would like to bring along the feelings of the members that couldn’t continue their journey together as Holostars, but he also told us that he doesn’t see it as a responsibility that binds him. Despite all the things happened, he wanted to be here because it’s fun. It’s thanks to all the people behind the screen, the members, and the subordinates that keep on supporting him that he’s able to be here, and he would like to always remember that.

・He wants to continue being in Holostars so that they could be seen in many more places, so many people can find and reach out to them more. He knows it’ll be very difficult to do.

・Just like how when he got an event offer from Argonavis and became a guest star there, he received words of thanks for participating. He participated because he like the series, but from there, he received new connections and many people found him and start becoming fans, and it made him very happy.

・He would like to keep showing his figure of having fun to his subordinates, just like how he showed his other side when playing Uma Musume earlier. He would like to show us more of his various sides. Tho, he’s aware that maybe amongst all the people there, some might find it weird and decided to take some distance away, and it’s okay for them to do so, it’s their choice. But he will work his best to entertain the subordinates who decided to stay. He also would like to show his cool sides. He’ll do activities in a way that won’t leave him with regrets, and will keep existing here as one of Holostars.

・He thanked us again for always following him, even to this 10 hours stream. Who knows that 10 hours will be his normal streaming time in the future, he’ll trust us to keep following him by then.

・He also thanked subordinates from overseas, from Japan, both girls and boys, those who watch his streams live and those who watch his streams from archive, he loves them all. His love is strong and heavy and told us to prepare for it. He said he won’t let go of his subordinates ever.

・He thanked us all again and said it was a really fun 10 hours stream, both for watching and/or sending SCs. He decided to read the remaining SCs that he hasn’t read in another chat stream.

・Please take care of Kageyama Shien and also Holostars from now on too.

・Reminded us to buy the White Day voice pack, the sale will last until 4/12.

・Also mentioned the Holostars “In Silence” collab in 4/11.

・Lastly, he thanked everyone again- From Shinove to Yagoo to other Holostars members, and also to his beloved subordinates.

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆★ ★ ★

Thank you for reading and sticking with him for 10 hours! Good luck! 

[mightydragoon]

Suitless Vader and Luke Fic Recommendations

@silvereddaye Hey you asked for it. 

1. Sent Out for Safety - Chapter 1 - throwawayflames - Star W...

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22659655/chapters/54159751

At the age of eight, Luke Skywalker and his sister, Leia, are split up for their safety. Leia stays with their Uncle Ben, and their mother, to learn how to be a Jedi. Luke, on the other hand, is sent to the Organa's, where he will pretend to be their adoptive son who was orphaned. Ben had only given Luke one rule to live by while he was away from his family, don't tell anyone his last name, and he followed that.

It wasn't his fault that Darth Vader sensed that he was a Force Sensitive and now he wants to train him, as a Jedi no less. That's the complete opposite of what Ben had told Luke. And after asking Darth Vader about his dad, Luke can't help but say yes to Darth Vader training him. After all, Luke's always wanted to be a Jedi like his father.

 2. Another Empire -   Theace1

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14666787/chapters/33883572

Another Empire - Chapter 1 - Theace1 - Star Wars - All Med...

The Battle of Yavin had a surprising outcome with the death of Emperor Palpatine. Luke Skywalker's confrontation on Bespin has a much different outcome in the AU story, meeting someone he never expected to see: The Empress Vader.

3. Oceans Across- planningconquest

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15176468/chapters/35194499

Oceans Across - Chapter 1 - planningconquest - Star Wars -...

Star Wars on the high seas! Doesn't get more simple than that.

4. Burning Mother planningconquest

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11952459/chapters/27024234

Burning Mother - Chapter 1 - planningconquest - Star Wars ...

A Jedi Luke emerges onto the galactic scene over a decade after the Jedi temple burned. Joining with Cassian Andor, rebel spy, they attempt to return to the Rebellion to attempt to full fill his destiny as the Chosen One. Sidetracked by pirates, farmers, and blind monks. All the while hunted by a vengeful Lady Vader who would see the young Jedi dead with the rest of his Order.

5. Dynasty  Valerie_Vancollie

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13111908/chapters/29997507

Dynasty - Chapter 1 - Valerie_Vancollie - Star Wars - All ...

Hit in the leg by a stormtrooper's blaster bolt, Luke falls in the Death Star hanger bay and is unable to escape on the Falcon along with Han and Leia. During the subsequent interrogation, his true heritage is revealed and Vader instantly takes him to Coruscant, determined to reclaim the son the Jedi stole from him. But the glory of the Imperial capital belies its true nature, where politics and power are everything and anything is fair game in the never ending game to reach the top. Not lying, not betrayal, assassination, sabotage, blackmail, nor seduction. As he commences his Sith training, Luke must also learn the rules and etiquette of the Imperial Court if he is to survive as most of his enemies fight their battles with words and political maneuverings rather than military force. Yet, even as he struggles to gain his place within the Empire, Luke learns that his best friend has joined the Alliance...

6. Possibilities of If May Be Valerie_Vancollie

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12946578

Possibilities of If May Be - Valerie_Vancollie - Star Wars...

Co-authored by Selinthia Avenchesca.

What if two different Star Wars realities started to merge?

7. We are all in the gutterarcticapple

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7070698/chapters/16072126

We are all in the gutter - Chapter 1 - arcticapple - Star ...

Vader gets caught by the Rebellion and eight years old Luke gets tossed into the mix. Observe and discuss.

8. new cornerstone: a reconstruction mandalorianed ( Private) 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/5308523

https://archiveofourown.org/works/5308523

When Luke had imagined finding out who his parents were, he had never imagined this.

9. Revenge Leads to Karma, and Karma Bites Darikiema

 https://archiveofourown.org/works/9055873/chapters/20601586

Darth Vader created them for his revenge; the clones of Obi-Wan Kenobi were his to torture and kill. But when something goes wrong and one of them isn't grown before being released from the pod, he's met with a dilemma that could change the face of the Galaxy.

Or:

Karma sucks and if Darth Vader ever meets her, he's going punch her in her damn face.

10. The Reckoning.  SpaceTrashCanFan (Sketchandcomicbookperson)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21597067/chapters/51495820

After Darth Vader goes missing after an failed attempt to assassinate the emperor, he was presumed to be dead.

Years later, a few Jedi and a child show up at the front door of the rebellion with an mysterious defector in tow. And they have big plans...

11. Bright Binary sunset in Dark Times SpaceTrashCanFan (Sketchandcomicbookperson)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19711126/chapters/46648030

A.k.a Vader got frozen in Carbonite, somehow.

-------

Since Vader went missing, years ago somewhere in the outer rim...when Leia was very young (5 years) . Leia Organa gets years later when she was seventeen a bodyguard assigned to her after an attempt on her. Normally, she would protest.

But this man is not like the others. Something that was eating him and her parents were keeping a secret. Wielding a weapon of a Jedi... Using the Force and having secret meetings with spies and her father..

Leia is determined to find out what is going on and discovers how her bodyguard is a reformed Sith-Lord who went missing several years ago.

12. Tumblr Prompts  KaelinaLovesLomaris

https://archiveofourown.org/works/9179176/chapters/20834479

A collection of unrelated Star Wars ficlets, from tumblr prompts. New "chapters" will be added as I get new prompts, and I'll update tags as I go too. Almost all of these revolve around Luke and Vader's father-son relationship, aside from the first few.

13. No Distance Far Enough KaelinaLovesLomaris

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17549516#main

Imperial Prince Luke Skywalker is kidnapped by the Rebellion. His father is not happy.

14. Those Who Walk The Paths Of The Sky (Must Learn To Fly) antebunny

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13771092/chapters/31651179

In which Leia is seven when her only friend Dijan dies. Her grief tears apart the shields Obi-Wan Kenobi put up on her mind to hide her adeptness with the Force, and is felt by two other residents in the galaxy: her father and her brother.

Or: The Skywalkers have a mental conversation from opposite sides of the galaxy because they're Skywalkers.

It also changes the course of the galaxy, but that's just to be expected.

EDIT: the second work is all part of this work!

15. Those Who Walk Series  antebunny

https://archiveofourown.org/series/1176827

Skywalker family fluff.

16. Those Who Walk The Paths Of The Sky (Must Learn To Fly) II --antebunny

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13779084/chapters/31673112

Sequel to Those Who Walk The Paths Of The Sky (Must Learn To Fly), because there are still a lot of things that need to happen. But they're Skywalkers, so it has to be dramatic as possible. Including old friends, Organa Family Drama, Skywalker Shenanigans, and Hutts. Also, don't mind Obi-Wan. He's busy moping.

EDIT: THIS IS NOW ALL PART OF THE FIRST WORK

17.  the shifting light of stars  freefan1412

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20904197/chapters/49692206

Obi-Wan never needed to ask Padme for Anakin's location. That has consequences.

18. Fulfilling a Prophecy KianRai_Delcam (orphan_account)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13466274/chapters/30871740

Qui-Gon's eyes are gentle when he replies, "Changing fate is not always best, Vader. Whatever happens is as the Force wills it to be." Vader scoffs, "I'm hardly a youngling to be lectured, Jedi. My knowledge of the Force is more complete than yours. You have not walked both sides of the Force as I have. The Force is neither an ally nor a slave, as the Jedi and Sith see it." After Darth Vader's death and Anakin's redemption on the second Death Star, both Luke Skywalker and Vader are more than surprised when they find themselves alive on Coruscant in the Jedi Temple. Of course, Master Qui-Gon Jinn and Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi are a bit perplexed as well. Follow the Chosen One and company as they journey across the galaxy once more, discovering their true selves and fulfilling a prophecy as it was meant to be. Fic takes place over a few years, and may possibly go into the Clone Wars. Not just another time travel fix-it AU. You have been warned.

19. Cloak And Dagger  dorenamryn

https://archiveofourown.org/series/613946

“...and those that endeavour to dissolve it [the Union of Great Britain], carry a dagger under the cloak of patriotism, to stab their country in the heart."

In which everything changes, but also nothing does. (aka: the one where Anakin Skywalker is a Jedi Knight pretending to be a Sith, Emperor Palpatine thinks he's won, Obi-Wan Kenobi thinks his best friend's betrayed him, and Leia Organa is stuck in the middle of it.)

20. The Good Temptation Sinclairchap

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4740410/chapters/10834520

The Force is out of Balance. Unfortunately, it's Chosen One has done little to fix this, and has even Turned to the Dark Side, furthering the Unbalance. The entities created directly by the Force, who guide those who use it, have decided he requires a nudge in the right direction. A rather large nudge.

But not everybody, or even the Chosen One himself, agrees with this plan.

(Previously titled "Path to Redemption")

21. Misguided Light Skylanian_Writer

:https://archiveofourown.org/works/4572396/chapters/10413042

Vader survived Mustafar unharmed, but believes everyone he holds dear is gone. Except his son, who he would do anything for, so long as Luke stayed by his father's side.

Padmé managed to survive childbirth, and lived to see everything she fought for be deystroyed. Except her daughter, who Padmé would die for in a heart beat.

Unfortunately, Luke and Leia are not willing to sit quietly as their parents fight a war. The twins actions shake the entire galaxy to its core.

The Force really hated the Skywalker family.

22. In the Past  SilverDaye

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16597682/chapters/38898149

It's been two months after Bespin, and Luke Skywalker is trying to come to terms with the events that happened there. During a dogfight with Darth Vader, both of their fighters crash. When they recover, they both find themselves on Coruscant at the end of the Clone Wars. Vader still aims to claim his son, but Luke has been taken to the Jedi Temple where he meets Anakin Skywalker.

23. Runaway SilverDaye

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14630196/chapters/33813027

Imperial Prince Luke runs away from home to escape his overprotective father Emperor Vader. Jumping from planet to planet he finds himself creditless on Tatooine. While working for more money to leave the planet, Luke meets an old man named Ben Kenobi. But Luke knows he can't stay in one place for long for surely his father is hunting him down.

24. The Bargain SilverDaye

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13722573/chapters/31525827

Vader has killed off his master and claimed the throne as Galactic Emperor. Padmé has become an outspoken figure head and leader of the Rebellion. Vader captures his wife. Now she must figure out a way to be free for not only herself, but her children as well. She's fighting against Vader, who will stop at nothing and use anything means necessary to bring his family together.

[baconcheeseburger]

Friday - The One Where All Hell Breaks Loose

civilian!AU; everyone is human

Summary: Castiel found an old ouija board on the attic of his house and he wants to use it. When his friends come over for the weekend, he talks them into playing with him. And to everyone’s surprise, they actually make contact! The session ends kind of strange and sudden, and the next day they decide to play again. But this time, it’ll change everything…

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Characters: Sam Winchester, Castiel, Charlie Bradbury; Kevin Tran

Story warnings: angst, supernatural / paranormal events, violence, blood, injuries, possession, hallucinations, death

Chapter warnings: angst, supernatural events

Word count: 3254

A/N: This was written for @smol-and-grumpy​‘s superfriends title challenge. This is the first chapter of the “Ouija - Always close the door” mini series. I’m super excited to share this baby with you. - Enjoy! Banner and divider were made by me.

Ouija series masterlist

„You are damn buzzkills. Come on guys, this will be fun!“

„You gotta be kidding... He must be kidding... He's kidding, right?“ Dean turned his head to look around the room into the faces of his friends, but his question, no matter if he really wanted an answer or not, was ignored. All eyes were on the wooden board in Castiel's hand.

Around the edge of the board, beautiful ornaments had been burned into the wood. In the left upper corner was a sun, on the right a crescent moon and in between them, the words "yes" and "no". Underneath were all the letters of the alphabet alongside with the numbers from 0-9 and underneath that was the word "goodbye". In his other hand he held a triangle shaped wooden piece with a round glass embedded on the wider side that had a light blue stain.

You shifted in Dean’s arms and ran a hand through your messy Y/H/C hair, followed by a deep sigh. „Cas. I thought you don’t believe in this kind of... stuff. And now you wanna play this… game?“ Your mouth twists in disbelief and discomfort.

Before the addressed man could even begin to answer, Charlie shot up and said enthusiastically „I always wanted to try this out. I'm in!“ while she walked around the couch to join him. A triumphant smile spread on Castiel's lips as she stood next to him.

"Guys I don't think we should do this... We could open a portal through the veil to the other side, if this works, which it could. Pretty bad stuff has happened to people who played carelessly with ouija boards. People got hurt. And worse...“, you trailed and nervously bit on the nail of your pinkie while you looked at your two friends.

A small smile appeared on Charlie's lips. „Nothing will happen to any of us“, she reassured you. „We are all with you, right guys? And Dean would never let you get hurt." Castiel nodded his head so fast, it must have made him dizzy. You felt Dean's arms slightly tighten around you, confirming her words. 

Charlie approached you and held out her hand for you to take.  "Come on, let's do this. It's only a game, isn't it?“

You thought about it for a moment, ignoring Castiel's pleading in the background as hard as you could. Castiel didn't even believe in ghosts or any other occult or spiritual things. Despite having a priest as a father, he was the most atheistic and anti-supernatural person you had ever met. And still he wanted to contact the dead? Yeah, great idea. 10/10, would recommend.

Not to speak of the fact that this could end pretty badly. Sure, the possibility of ‘making contact’ wasn't exactly high and there were enough studies that said the planchette only moved because of the ideomotor effect - unconscious, involuntary physical movements from the participants. But on the other side there were a lot of witness reports, that stated that unexplainable and paranormal stuff had happened; from knocking to bad things like injuries: scratches, deep cuts or even broken bones. And you definitely didn't want to be on the receiving end of that.

But Castiel seemed so excited… And it couldn’t hurt, right? Just like Charlie said. It’s just a game...

While rolling your eyes in defeat, you took Charlie’s hand and let her pull you to your feet. „One time!“, you murmured and pointed a finger at Castiel and Charlie who high-fived each other in victory.

Dean and Sam exchanged an annoyed look, but still followed their friends out of the living room. They were sure the planchette wouldn't move and as far as they knew Castiel, he wouldn't want to try it again if it wasn't successful tonight. So, what the hell.

You all sat around the dinner table together, waiting for your dark haired friend, who had told you to give him a second as he searched for some candles.

„It's all about the atmosphere!“, he yelled from the kitchen. He mumbled to himself while he was looking through the cupboards and drawers. After a few minutes he came back, his arm packed full of different candles. Castiel placed them on the table and various surfaces in the dining room. 

"It's good that we are five people, it works better with an odd number of players", Charlie told everyone while she helped him light the candles, then she turned off the electric light so the room was only dimly lit by the dancing flames of the candles.

„Ok“, Castiel started when he sat down and put the board in place so everyone could reach it comfortably, „so, there are some rules we have to follow…

One: be kind! Yes, I'm talking to you Dean.“ Dean's forest green eyes widened at the accusation and he opened his mouth to counter, but Castiel went on talking as if he didn’t notice Dean’s attempt to protest. „If we get rude or vulgar answers, we can't mirror them. We have to stay nice.

Two: No questions about death! Not their death, like how they died – they could get angry and shit or these poor souls could relive their trauma again and again – and especially not your own death or the death of anyone else, no when or how.

Three: Don't play it alone and NEVER play it in a graveyard. Should be obvious, why.

Four: Always say goodbye. Otherwise the door will stay open. Plus, it's part of the 'be kind' thing, so….“

Castiel shifted around on his chair and looked at everyone, waiting for them to give him some sign of agree- or disagreement.

You examined the faces of your friends as well.

There was Castiel, who tried to sound bossy – so not him – and have everything under control. But there was something under this mask. Excitement paired with... A bit of worry, maybe?

Between you two, to your left and to Castiel's right side, sat Dean. He looked kind of bored on the outside, but you knew him well enough to tell that Castiel's words still intrigued him in some way, but he would never let it show.

On Castiel's other side was Charlie. She slightly bounced on the chair, grinning from one ear to the other. She couldn't wait to start.

To her left, Sam had placed his chin in his palm, tapping his fingers over his cheek bone. He looked like he wanted to be everywhere else but here. It was obvious that he thought this was just stupid.

After everyone nodded, Castiel gave the instruction to touch the planchette with two fingers („Right hand!“), then you began to move it in circles over the ouija board. One time for every player. After the fifth circle, when your hands came to halt, a cold breeze blew through the room that no one seemed to notice.

„Is anyone here?“, Castiel asked, his voice deeper than usual. Everyone tensed unwittingly, waiting for something to happen. But the wooden piece under your fingers didn’t move.

Getting impatient, Charlie asked a few moments later again. „Is someone here with us?“ But still got no answer.

Shortly after she asked, you felt a breeze, making you shiver. You looked around and frowned. Was one of the windows open? All of them seemed closed and you couldn't remember that one of the others had opened one up throughout the evening.

You looked back at the board. Well, it couldn't hurt if you tried it as well, right? You took a deep breath and whispered the same words your friends had said before. „Is someone here with us?“

Suddenly the planchette started to vibrate lightly, so faint it was almost not noticeable. It slowly moved, until it stopped over the word 'yes'.

„Oh wow. Go on, Y/N“, Charlie encouraged you with a nod in your direction and sparkling eyes.

You glanced around and found all eyes on you, then cleared your throat. „Who are you? What's your name?“ Your voice was not much louder than the first time you spoke.

The planchette reacted almost immediately. It slid a bit over the board and came to halt at the letter 'K'. It stopped there.

„Hello K. Thank you for talking to us. Er- excuse me for asking this, but...Ehm, are you a… good.. spirit?“ Your lips twisted at the lack and choice of words and shrugged.

It moved back up to 'yes' again. Everyone around the table had held their breaths after you asked the question, which now escaped as relieved sighs.

"How old are you?" The wooden piece moved to the numbers and stopped on '1' and '9'. So they were 19 years old when they died. You wondered what had happened to them that they had to die so young, but you knew better than to ask.

"Do you want to tell us your full name, so we can address you better?"

K - E - V - I - N

„Are you alone, Kevin?“ Charlie wanted to know.

'No'

Dean was the next to speak. One could tell that since the planchette had moved, he was utterly excited. „How many others are there, besides you?“, he wanted to know. His eyes had the same glistening in them as Charlie's.

The wood under their fingers moved again, still slowly, aiming for '3' but jerked unexpectedly to '4'. Before anyone could ask another question, the planchette began to move over the board, rapidly circling in an eight motion. The planchette pulled almost violently on their hands, getting faster and faster, driven by a much stronger force than the one before. You were sure that if everyone would stop touching it, it would keep going.

Suddenly the triangle shaped wood piece stopped and jerked to 'goodbye'. The second it touched the word, another breeze blew through the room and the temperature in the room increased by a few degrees. This time, the breeze had been strong enough for everyone to notice. Even the candle flames had flickered.

„What the fuck was that!?“

„What did just happen?“

„Holy fucking shit!“

Everyone spoke at the same time. The five of you stared at each other in shock, none of you were touching the planchette anymore now. For a moment there was absolute silence in the dining room. Only the different rhythms of breathing and the ticking of -

DONG – DONG – DONG – ..., followed by a high pitched shriek that escaped Charlie’s lips, resounded through the rooms. The big grandfather clock that stood in the hallway beside the dining room reminded them loudly of how late it had gotten. Nervous chuckles filled the air. When the clock striked for the last time Dean got up, while a deep sigh left his lips. „Okay, I need a drink. Beer anyone?“

Everyone followed him into the kitchen and he handed everyone a beer from the fridge. Castiel was the last one to enter the room. „You, ehm- you guys will stay the night. Right?“ His gaze was on the bottle Dean handed him and he started to pick on the label. He didn’t dare to look at anyone.

Charlie looked up from the piece of paper she had snatched from the fridge door and was now holding in her hands. „Er, duh! I mean, that was the plan from the start. A whole weekend of watching dumb movies, eating junk food – which we STILL haven't ordered by the way“, she waved with the menu in her hand, „and if ANYONE suggests a damn horror movie, I'll kill them with my bare hands.“

After the incident with the ouija board, you hadn't really talked with each other, everyone was buried deep in their thoughts. As soon as the doorbell ringed they were back to their old selves.

"YES, FOOD!!" Dean jumped up, almost knocked you from the couch and practically ran to the door. He opened it with so much force that the handle crashed into the wall.

"Sorry Cas!" he yelled while he fished his wallet out of his back pocket. Sam got up and joined his brother by the door to help him carry all the stuff.

“Not cool, assbutt!” Cas yelled back, barely able to contain his amusement about Dean’s enthusiasm for food. It was no secret the man loved to eat.

The food had arrived around thirty minutes into the first movie. You had decided to watch the Cornetto trilogy, starting with Shaun of the Dead. Nothing better to ease your tense minds than a good laugh. 

When Sam and Dean came back, a mouthwatering smell quickly filled the air. The coffee table was soon packed with various delicious items such as pizzas of any kind, a big amount of burgers and french fries, tacos, spicy chicken fingers and onion rings that went along with barbeque sauce. And let’s not forget the pie. Movie night always resembled a big feast. The leftovers always lasted for the rest of the weekend.

Everyone started to dig in and you occasionally talked about the movie.

But your attention was repeatedly drawn away from the tv screen somehow. You kept glancing around the room, looking over your shoulder and examining your surroundings. Your eyes kept being drawn to the dark corner in the back of the room for some reason, right beside the bookshelf where a cross hung on the wall. But there was nothing to see.

Something felt off to you, but if you had to express it in words, you wouldn’t be able to find any to describe what it exactly was that you were feeling, or why. It made no sense to you that you were feeling so uneasy. There was a pressure in your guts and you almost felt nauseous. Maybe you just ate too many different things, or just too much in general. You tended to overeat on these evenings, that was nothing new. But somehow this felt kind of different compared to past movie nights.

You absently fiddled with your fingers, a thing you always did when you were nervous.

“Hey, you okay sweetheart?”, Dean whispered into your ear, his hot breath fanning over the shell, sending a shiver down your spine. 

You turned your head and slightly smiled at him. “Yeah, I’m fine, just feeling a bit off. Shouldn’t have been eating so much pizza I guess.” You giggled and pressed your lips to his cheek and nuzzled closer to him, head buried in the crook of his neck.

"Okay." Dean planted a kiss on your hair and laid his head against yours. His fingers danced over your thigh, following patterns only he saw. The soft movements distracted and soothed you. Laying in his arms always gave you a feeling of safety, he was always able to ease your mind and calm you down.

When the credits of the second movie rolled over the screen, your tired eyes wandered around the room. You noticed that everyone except for you and Dean had fallen asleep. You were pretty tired yourself, so you fully turned to Dean and softly nudged your elbow into his ribs to get his attention.

He groggily looked at you, his eyes were glazed and a little watery and you could see just how tired he was. 

"Let's head upstairs and go to bed."

He nodded, waited until you got up and did the same. After you turned off the tv, the both of you closed the food boxes and carried them into the kitchen, putting the leftovers into the fridge, before you walked upstairs.

You headed for the second room on the left, the one you always stayed in. It was one of the two guest rooms. The bedrooms of Castiel and his father were up here on the second floor as well, alongside the pastor's study. 

Not much time had passed since you and Dean laid down, when there was a rumbling sound heard from downstairs. It sounded like heavy furniture was being moved around, scraping over the floor. The sound stopped after a few seconds. It was silent for a while, until someone walked up the stairs with heavy footsteps. Normally you were able to recognize who it was by the way of their walking, but this one didn’t exactly sound familiar. But it could just be because of the sleepiness. The person stopped at the last step, not going further for a while. The footsteps continued not far from the room you were staying in and then stopped right before your door.

"Occupied!", Dean grumbled loudly and pulled your body closer to him. 

It took a few seconds before the person on the other side moved again, walking further down the hall, but they didn't say a word. Then a door was being slammed shut.

Dean huffed and nuzzled his face against your neck. "God, why do these idiots always have to be so loud?"

You chuckled, searched for his hand and intertwined your fingers with each other. "No idea", you sighed sleepily. “Night, baby.”

“Night, sweetheart.”

You closed your eyes and drifted to sleep.

You jolted awake, unbeknownst to what had pulled you from your deep slumber. While you sat up, you rubbed your eyes and tried to make anything out in the darkness. You had no idea what time it was or how long you had been asleep for.

The faint memory of a door getting closed ringed in your ears, but you weren’t sure if that wasn’t just a remnant of a dream. When you looked to the other side of the bed you saw Dean sprawled out over the mattress, fast asleep, facing the other way. He laid on his stomach with an arm shoved under the pillow, one of his long bow legs bent, the other one stretched out. The rising of his shoulders with every deep breath was mesmerising and you watched him for a while.

Then you heard a sound. Thud - thud - thud.

You couldn't quite make out where it came from. It sounded as if it was coming from next door, out of the pastor's study, but at the same time it sounded like it was in your room. It almost sounded like footsteps, or soft knocking or something like that.

Thud - thud - thud. Thud - thud - thud. 

You decided to get up and take a look at what was going on out there, so you walked to the door, slowley. You twisted the door knob, opened the door slightly and peaked your head into the hallway. There was a light shining from under the door to her right across the hall. The other guest room. It seemed like one of the others was still awake, doing whatever. Right before you pulled back the light went out, just to light up again after a second and immediately going out again. It went on and off for a few times, then it was dark. You frowned and waited for a bit, but the light stayed out. Seemed like they went to bed.

You yawned when you went back into your room and closed the door. You tiptoed over to the bed, climbed in and cuddled up against Dean, throwing your arm around his middle.

The rustling sound of the sheets that covered you filled the otherwise silent room. It slowly dragged down your bodies and fell to the floor at the end of the bed, where it piled up.

You had fallen into a deep sleep a while ago, and neither Dean nor you had moved.

[hillblah]

Podcast Recommendations:

I just spent nearly 2 hours writing these for a work Teams thread #justpandemicthings. So uh, here you go. If you’re following this blog (why tho?) you might like my vibe, so you might like some of these! Finding categories is hard, so I've mostly lumped podcasts together in small groups by loose connections, or vibes. This is also how I sort my bookshelf after admitting defeat on having a perfectly coherent system. Past me would have been horrified, but I think that's what growth looks like. Some descriptions are all mine, some are copied from the creators. Feel free to read into which ones I copied and which I wrote myself as much as you want.

Fiction:

36 Questions A 3 part musical podcast about a couple on the brink of divorce. The title references the "36 Questions to Fall in Love" (/build intimacy) that can be found here: https://bigthink.com/ideafeed/how-to-fall-in-love-36-questions-and-deep-eye-contact

Alice Isn't Dead Audio diaries of a long road trucker searching for her wife who she thought had died, but Alice Isn't Dead. Really cool sound design and writing from the team behind Welcome to Nightvale. Slight absurdist/ more than slight horror vibes. There's 3 seasons in total that tell a meandering overall story roadtrip. Best listened to while parked in an empty carpark on the edge of town with rain running down the windshield and creating flickering shadows from the streetlights. It took me a few attempts to listen right through the first episode, but I eventually fell in love with the sound/feel/vibe of the podcast. Teaser is here: http://www.nightvalepresents.com/aliceisntdead

The Magnus Archives A horror fiction podcast examining what lurks in the archives of the Magnus Institute, an organisation dedicated to researching the esoteric and the weird. Each episode is presented in the form of a witness statement being read by the newly appointed Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute - London. Over time the stand-alone statements start to form connections, and then an overarching plot. I don't normally enjoy horror, The Magnus Archives is absolutely the exception. Really well told stories with incredible soundscaping. Maybe don't listen right before bed...

Kiwi Podcasts about Sexuality and Gender:

Micro Wave Feminism Micro Wave Feminism is a place for open, inclusive, loving and vulnerable feminist chats. It's all about talking to real people about real sh*t and experiences of femininity and masculinity in this crazy (beautiful) world we live in. Really interesting discussions on feminism through the personal experiences of kiwis. Sporadic episodes as a non-professional labour of love, but boy does it have cozy vibes.

BANG! RNZ's BANG! explores sex, sexuality and relationships over a lifetime, from parents attempting "the talk" with their children, through the fraught teen years, modern dating, long-term relationships, contraception and conception, right up to intimacy in retirement homes. So many people talking about their experiences with all aspects of sex, sexuality, relationships and gender. My personal favourite is the Takātapuia episode from season 2: https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/bang/story/2018651794/bang-season-2-episode-6-takatapui

Let's Get Sexual Let’s Get Sexual is a podcast dedicated to exploring sexuality. It is part of the growing global movement to normalize conversations around sexuality, to embrace its complexity, and highlight how we all have our own sexual journeys. Similar vibes to BANG! But with a more personal approach and more time with each guest. Really interesting conversations with people from all walks of life.

Kiwi Current and Not So Current Events:

Gone by Lunchtime The Spinoff's politics podcast. A good balance of views from the 3 hosts, and the only politics podcast that has made me laugh out loud multiple times.

The Citizen's Handbook Robbie Niccol (White Man Behind a Desk/that guy that I went to school with) partners with RNZ for a video series all about the history of Aotearoa, and the things all citizens need to know about where we are now. There's also a podcast that goes with it, that's a game show? Really the video series is the more important part... But the podcast is a great listen.

Isolation:

The Habitat The true story of six volunteers picked to live on a fake planet. You know those stories that occasionally pop up about people living in isolation with each other to see what happens so we know about the problems and can prepare for space travel? Well this 7 episode podcast follows a group of 6 imitation NASA astronauts stuck with only each other for a year. Something I'm sure the rest of us will never have to experience right?

Our Plague Year Essays and listener messages about Our Plague 'Year'. Some really talented writers pouring emotions out. This was one of my favourite podcasts last year, though some of the episodes hit a little hard. My personal favourite episode (so far) is Trust Ends at the Windshield, featuring Hank Green, Meg Bashwiner, and Erin McKeown. Which talks about the the-show-must-go-on mentality, includes this gem: "We are killing people because we are bored. We are killing people because we are entrenched in a toxic, capitalist society that values money over life.", and was one of the triggers for me writing a 12 minute, spoken word, poetry adjacent, thing, last year.

Doing Stuff:

Cortex CGP Grey (educational youtuber) and Myke Hurley (host of about 50 podcasts) talk about productivity, and how they run their businesses, and education, and the Apple ecosystem, and a whole bunch of other things. Long episodes, and occasionally dated by reference to current events. Definitely not a super condensed productivity podcast, more of a personality / sitting in on a conversation vibe.

Start With This Art is hard, starting is hard, if you want to start somewhere you should start with this. The co-creators of Welcome to Nightvale talk about making things/the artistic process. Every episode ends with 2 assignments, one thing to consume, and one to create.

Building Positive Culture:

Dare To Lead Brené Brown talking with other people about Leadership. Really interesting and inspiring conversations. Top recommendation is the episode with Simon Sinek.

A Bit of Optimism Simon Sinek talking with other people about working together to make a better world. Really interesting and inspiring conversations. Top recommendation is the episode with Brené Brown.

TED Worklife Organizational psychologist Adam Grant takes you inside the minds of some of the world’s most unusual professionals to explore the science of making work not suck. From learning how to love criticism to harnessing the power of frustration, one thing’s for sure: You’ll never see your job the same way again. Pretty new on my feed, but every episode I've listened to so far has been an absolute hit!

Interesting Stories/People:

TED Radio Hour TED talks, collated into similar subjects with extra stuff pulled out interview style. Good to search through the archives to find areas you're interested in, or just pick a random episode and dive in!

99% Invisible - 10,000 Years [person from work who I’m too lazy to edit out a reference to] has already recommended the podcast, but I want to throw in my favourite episode. It's about the challenge of trying to mark nuclear waste sites in a way that will last 10,000 years (for reference 10,000 years ago stone tools were a pretty neat invention) and is absolutely fascinating. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/ten-thousand-years/

[rainbowkittyblossomwings]

So I don’t want to get into a huge retrospective of how 2020 was for me, because it’s personal and I think we can all agree things have been bad. So instead I’d like to talk about great video games I got into in 2020!!! These games didn’t necessarily come out in 2020 just things I discovered and I’d like to talk about my top 10 faves

1.       The first best video game I discovered in 2020 is the entire Trails Series (I played all of them in 2020, cold steel, ao, zero, and Sky). Initially I played Cold Steel 1 because my friend told me it was like “Playing Code Geass the anime”. The story was pretty easy to get into of a guy going to military school and you’re placed in the special class for commoners and nobles when there’s a huge class divide in your country. From there it had some basic anime tropes like a dating simulator like thing and various cliched characters, like the tsundere, the guy who’s trying to get everybody to work, the music kid, and the noble, you know?

But Cold Steel wasn’t cliché in the least bit. I played it after surgery recovery so I was in a lot of pain and out of my mind, but each character had depth, the entire world was fleshed out and after each game more of the story and the villains were revealed, secret robot technologies were given to the main characters and they slowly became more and more powerful after that.

I wanted to know more and more about the world so I played the first series trails in the sky and the Japanese only series, Zero and Ao, and they were even better. Not only that but in this JRPG there were canon gay characters that had traits to their character besides “I’m gay.” There were a lot of lesbians for me to pick and choose between as faves.

Not only that but I find none dating sim video games difficult cuz I get easily frustrated and rage quit. Cold Steel was turn based combat and never made me feel like rage quitting because they had a function called “Retry but easier” where if you died you could start the same battle but make it easier. That made it so I only had to die five or so times on things I was really stuck on and then I could move on with the story. And the game never felt like a grind fest and I could make the game faster in combat.

This series I may have discovered in 2020 but it’s become just as beloved to me as any other series. It’s one of my faves.

2.       My second favorite game in 2020 was 13 sentinels : Aegis Rim. I love time travel so much and everytime a new time travel anime or game comes out I get super excited. Aegis Rim was a game that had all sorts of cool tropes, like time travel, memory loss, androids, different realities, and psychic dreams and it just sounded cool. Not only that but there were 13 different protagonists to play and I had seen it reviewed in LGBT+ articles, saying it had a canon gay character and a canon nonbinary character! It was a very fun game and part of the story followed a point and click formula and the other half followed a kinda strategy blowing up giant robot monsters formula, and I enjoyed it. Also the music and the art was amazing.

3.       The House in Fata Morgana was my third favorite game I discovered in 2020!!! It was a visual novel I had gotten in 2019 but never started because “They didn’t have anime eyes so IDK if it’ll be interesting.” I had seen a lot of horror visual novel people review it though with stellar reviews. I ended up playing it when I was sick and man was it an amazing story. It gave me a lot of respect for people who write short stories that wrap up nicely, and a lot  of the characters were flawed but I really enjoyed reading their stories.  The story was pretty basic in the beginning of a maid telling you several different stories of the previous owners of the mansion she worked in, and the tragedies that befell them throughout her time there, and I really liked the sort of tragedy feel. One of the stories reminded me of Greek tragedies like Oedipus, and as the story got deeper and deeper and connected plot threads of the previous owners it became very cool. Also the game was very LGBT+ friendly with trans and bi characters and possibly an aro character too???

4.       Hades was my fourth favorite game in 2020!!! A lot of people have already talked about Hades before and what it’s about but I’d like to talk about why I liked it. As mentioned before I have a problem with video games that rely on skill. I get so frustrated that I either start yelling or crying because I don’t believe that the muscle memory will ever get into me or that I’ll ever be good enough to get past the hard part. It’s incredibly distressing and it makes me feel bad because I’m like “why can’t I do a simple thing other people can easily do?” Hades is one of the few games that taught me that eventually I will succeed, and the muscle memory will come to me. As you probably know Hades has god mode which increases your damage resistance every time you loose. I got to the max god mode very quickly of 80% and for about 10 runs even that wasn’t enough to beat the first boss and I was incredibly frustrated. I was like “they should have raised it to 90% cuz if even their worst players couldn’t beat the boss on easy mode then they’re missing out.” But as people have probably told you, Hades rewards failure. Each run you learn a bit more and get better skills and friendships with people due to grinding. And eventually I stuck to it and beat the first boss, and then all the other bosses. The muscle memory finally hit and I beat Hades and got the true ending and I’m really glad the developers made it accessible enough that even the worst players could beat it and I’m glad they rewarded failure.

5.       My next favorite is Chaos;Child, which wasn’t made in 2020, but I did discover it in 2020. It’s another horror visual novel but by the people who did Steins;Gate. I absolutely adore Steins;Gate because of the time travel so I was curious about the other games in the series. Everyone said Chaos;Child was the murder mystery of what Steins;Gate did to time travel and they were right. It was a psychic murder mystery story and although it was very gorey it was very fun and I really liked the characters

6.       Sixth favorite was Café Enchante a new otome dating sim released in 2020! You run a coffeshop for monsters basically and I adored it!!! I was a little worried before I got it that it would be boring because what kind of plot can you make in a coffeeshop? But it was very cute and I loved the monsters and the lore. Despite my misunderstanding the entire game did not take place in the coffeeshop and instead went into various monster worlds and expanded on the lore of each world in each route. The art was wonderful and I just love fake monster lore about Fae and beasts and angels and stuff and it was just a wonderful game and is one of my new fave otome titles.

7.       I played Ai: the somnium files in 2020! I knew it would be a favorite of the year because it was made by the same people who did the zero escape series. It had a very different tone of the zero escape series of course, instead of being about psychics it’s about the inner workings of the mind. You play a detective going into people’s psyche’s to try to catch a murderer basically. It reminded me a lot of ID;invaded an anime that I think came out this year? Anyway it was a cool story and I liked the graphics but I did not like the timed missions. Without a guide I would have died.

8.       The dark horse of 2020 was Untitled Goose Game. I did not expect to get it but my friend gifted to me and I hadn’t played it yet. And as everyone can tell you it’s just a fun time harassing people as a goose. It has 2 player mode so my sister and I played it together and it was great. I liked feeling like grand theft robbers and saying “BOOK IT” as we stole people’s stuff.

9.       My ninth favorite game I played in 2020 was Little Busters! It’s by the same people who did Clannad so I knew I would be crying by the end. Clannad’s team is known for their great story telling and heart wrenching characters. It’s about a team of friends who start a baseball team and then it gets sad and time loop-y from there. I played Clannad too in 2020 but it was a little too homophobic for me to let it make it to this list and I don’t remember any homophobia in little busters, so little busters gets its spot.

10.   Finally we get to Persona 5 Royal. I didn’t play much of the original persona 5 besides at my friends apartment so I was able to finally have a copy of this game on my own!!! I loved the idea of going into mean people’s minds and changing their hearts so they could understand the wrong that they did, it was just a good concept. I also loved that Persona 5 royal added a safety mode so you can loose and yet not die. It was a great game of 2020 and it only makes it so low because I spent way too many hours on it (135) and it was a great amazing game that I loved and enjoy talking about but would not replay because it’s just so long and I’m not quite sure what would be different on  replay. Also I’m sad that you can’t date the boys because I love them. They are good beans. Either way though I’d recommend it if you haven’t played before and it was very fun, and still one of the best games of 2020.

If you want me to talk about any of these games in more depth instead of just a short review tell me!!!

[teababe27]

Notes From the 2020 Myanimelist.net Challenges - Part 2: Manga

Time for Part 2 of the Thoughts on the Challenge posts; this one talking about the manga side.

A lot of the executive dysfunction and side effects of the chemo kinda took away my desire to read sometimes. As such, I didn’t get as far into the challenge as I had hoped, only getting about halfway through the required amount I had chosen for myself. There were even a few manga I was reading for the challenge that I have unfortunately not yet finished (Billy Bat, Battle Angel Alita, Meteor Methuselah), so I reluctantly won’t be including them on here. However, I did still read and finish some decent manga and some pretty good ones, too.

Like the anime post, I will mention some honorable mentions/one I had thoughts on, followed by my favorites that I read for the challenge this year.

Let’s do this.

Honorable Mentions/Other Notables:

Scumbag Loser (aka Saiteihen no Otoko) - completed for the task “Read a manga series you can finish in one day”

Masahiko is a fat, perverted loser who has a smell fetish and thinks everyone is beneath him. He takes solace in the fact that he’s not the Class Loser. However, when the Class Loser gets a girlfriend, Masahiko becomes the new Class Loser. Desperate to get out of this position, he lies and says he has a girlfriend: his childhood friend Haruka, who transfers to his class the next day. But there’s a problem that only Masahiko knows: Haruka died several years before. 

This wins Worst of the Challenge, but I didn’t hate it entirely. Masahiko is not a good person, which is usually a negative in my book. This manga basically goes from 0 to 100 real fast. It takes a couple unexpected turns and I couldn’t help but wonder how the problem would be stopped. Ends on a bit of a downer.

Dragon Head - completed for the task “Read a manga that started serialization in the 90s”

While on a school field trip, the train carrying the students crashes after a natural disaster. Teru is the only survivor in his class. While trying to find a way out, he finds two other survivors, Ako and Nobuo. The three survivors try to escape while dealing with lack of food and light, earthquakes, cults, and the freaking apocalypse happening outside.

This manga was quite the ride. Creepy and scary at times. The artwork was really good, definitely adding to the atmosphere. I liked the characters. The story did kinda drag a bit in the middle and I felt the ending was kinda rushed and stopped inconclusively, but I liked this one.

Omukae Desu - completed for the task “Read a manga that started publishing the same month and year as one of your listed favorites” (Azumanga Daioh, in this case)

Madoka is a college student who has the power to see lost souls, kinda like the Ghost Whisperer. He is recruited by Nabeshima (the guy in the bunny suit on the manga cover) to work for the GSG, an organization that helps transport wandering souls to the afterlife. In order to help, Madoka often lets the souls briefly take over his body to do various things that they always wanted to do before passing on.

This manga was actually pretty adorable at times. Lighthearted and fun. Characters are kinda hit-and-miss, though their interactions are very amusing. I liked it.

Deathtopia - completed for the task “Read a manga that got cancelled/axed”

Kou Fujimura is an average guy. One day, he gets into an accident and is severely injured, leaving him blind and on the brink of death. He gets surgery and survives, but he now has psychic abilities and can see weird monsters. A mysterious woman appears, and she recruits him to help her and her fellow hot assassins who work for the police department. He helps the ladies take out the aforementioned weird monsters called Cheaters, people who come back from the dead with special abilities and blend in with normal people.

I liked the story/concept a lot. Kinda gave me Parasyte vibes at times. A little bit too fanservice-y at times. Very good in the beginning, but took a lot of lapses in logic (pointed out in the scanlations I read) near the end, and the ending felt rushed, though I can blame that on the manga being prematurely cancelled. I still recommend this one, as the story is interesting and the action is good.

The!! Beach Stars - completed for the task “Read a manga with a symbol in the title”

The sequel to the manga Beach Stars that I read for last year’s challenge. 

Iruka and the rest of the team are back, getting ready for and competing in the Madonna Cup. Iruka’s goal is still the same: to beat the local volleyball champ Sanae Kayakawa.

Everything I liked about the prequel is here. The action/sports scenes are great, and the camaraderie between the ladies is cool, too. Though it is disappointing that this sequel is only 12 or 13 chapters, as some things could have used more buildup and fleshing out, especially the final match. Still a fun read, though.

Favorites from the Challenge:

Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan (aka Our Happy Time) - completed for the task “Read a featured manga” (Article: https://myanimelist.net/featured/1561/11_Epic_Manga_That_Deserve_to_Be_Adapted_into_Anime)

Juri is a former pianist who has gone down a dark path after a traumatic event in her life. She has grown to hate her mother, who was once a famous pianist herself. Juri has since attempted suicide multiple times. Yuu is a convict on death row charged with murder, and he has tried to kill himself as well. When Juri’s aunt Monica, a nun, invites her to visit Yuu, their lives both change forever.

This manga makes me think of how a friend told me they recently saw the movie Collateral Beauty for the first time. They said it was melodramatic, but they cried and enjoyed the movie all the same. This pretty much sums up how I felt about this manga.

This one honestly made me tear up a bit, as melodramatic as it was. A little dark, but I was still invested in the characters and the situations. The art is really good, too. It’s one volume, so it doesn’t take that long to read. 

Kingyosou - completed for the task “Read a manga that includes a character with a disability”

One day, a girl, Asuka, falls in love with a boy, Manami, after hearing him play the taiko drums at a school festival. Manami is deaf, however, and has closed his heart to love. Asuka and Manami get to know each other and face various obstacles in their relationship, both relating and not relating to Manami’s deafness.

I thought this manga was really sweet. I also liked that there was deaf representation here, though I can’t really speak on how accurate it is because I’m not deaf myself. You don’t see many manga where the characters have disabilities. The relationship felt a little more realistic in this one because it took some time (as proportional as time can take in a 2-volume manga) for Manami and Asuka to get into the relationship. Another manga that was short, sweet, and to the point, at only 2 volumes.

Babel - completed for the task “Read a manga that appears when putting in your username in the Myanimelist search bar”

Kouta is a hotel waiter dissatisfied with his job serving rich clientele on New Year’s Eve at the Babel Hotel. On New Year’s Day, a worldwide terrorist attack occurs, with bombs going off everywhere. Kouta then meets someone who gives him the ability to go back in time. Kouta has to use this ability to stop the terrorist attack from happening and pretty much causing WW3.

I liked this manga a lot. A lot of unexpected plot twists. A fascinating mystery, keeps you hooked. I’ve always found time travel plots to be interesting as well.

Bloom Into You (aka Yagate Kimi ni Naru) - completed for the task “Read a Shounen Ai or Shoujo Ai manga” (tagged Shoujo Ai)

Yuu is a new high school freshman who loves romance manga and wants to experience a love story of her own. But when a classmate confesses his feelings to her, Yuu finds she feels nothing. Yuu sees the student council president, Nanami, turning down a love confession herself. Yuu joins the student council and she and Nanami become friends. Nanami soon confesses her feelings for Yuu, and Yuu is confused.

This one is tied with the next entry in this post for Best of the Challenge.

I loved this manga. So sweet and adorable. Made me tear up at times. Great, well-written character development. Doesn’t rely on bad/problematic tropes like certain other yuri I’ve read and watched recently. I loved watching this complex and realistic relationship between Yuu and Nanami develop. Some of Yuu’s feelings are pretty relatable. Read this one if you’re looking for a great yuri manga.

Inside Mari (aka Boku wa Mari no Naka) - completed for the task “Read a Psychological or Thriller manga” (tagged Psychological)

Isao Komori is a shut-in who spends his time after dropping out of college fapping, playing video games, and visiting a local convenience store every night to see a high school girl named Mari, who he admires from afar. One day, Isao finds that he is in Mari’s body! Isao-as-Mari continues to live her life and tries to find out how to switch back.

I know I mentioned this earlier, but I’ll be giving Best of the Challenge to both Bloom Into You and Inside Mari. I honestly couldn’t decide between the two, as they are from two different subgenres and two different styles. Kinda like how I couldn’t decide between Hereditary and Into the Spiderverse as my favorite movie of 2018 because they were so different form each other that I couldn’t really compare them.

This manga threw me for a loop multiple times. A subversion and deconstruction of the usual body-swap plots. A darker take on one, if you will. A couple of interesting plot twists, and the manga often takes a different direction than you expect, especially about halfway through the manga, where it switches to different characters’ points of view.

Highly recommended, though not for everyone.