#And yes I will make a comment back to this when I get to vol 18

[age-of-moonknight]

Timeless (Vol. 3/2023), #1.

Writers: Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly; Penciler and Inker: Juann Cabal; Colorist: Edgar Delgado; Letterer: Travis Lantham

[pureconancommentary]

Okay, so, knowing the future, 'Masami' here made up her name based on someone she knew. Since there are aliases at play, we don't fully know if this man's surname (Hirota) just happens to match the professor's later, or if 'Masami' created her alias and everyone else made up a name around hers. The kanji for that name match. (The taken name of 'Masami' uses different ones, probably to give the small mystery for people to catch onto later.)

The only thing keeping me from saying it was just an alias is because Kenzou here never had his name come up as being fake while the police were investigating his murder. (And that he keeps being referred to by that name, when the big guy is never really named after we know he also used an alias.) They learn about his (lack of) family, so at least his name is real. So it's super lucky for 'Masami' that her borrowed name that acts as a hint later just happened to perfectly match with Kenzou's.

[hunieday]

Re:vale - 2D☆STAR Vol.5 interview

Please note that I am not a professional translator and I'm only doing this to share the side materials to those who cannot access them, if you notice any mistakes please let me know nicely. Enjoy!

This magazine has been released in November 2016 aka before part 3!

Interviewer: Thank you so much for your hard work with the shooting and outfit change! Pleased to work with you for this interview.

Interviewer: It's been a little while, but congratulations on the success of your 5th anniversary live performance at the Zero Arena inaugural event!

Momo: Thank you very much!

Yuki: Thank you.

Interviewer: Your live concert was very exciting. Could you please share your honest thoughts?

Yuki: It was our honor as Re:vale to be chosen to perform in such a special place like Zero Arena.

Yuki: I'm grateful to all the staff who worked hard to make the show a success, to TRIGGER and IDOLiSH7 for their support and their performances, and to all the fans who came to see us.

Yuki: I’m sincerely glad that Momo and I worked so hard together.

Yuki: Right, Momo?

Momo: Yeah!

Momo: I'm really grateful too! I want to thank each and every one of them as loudly as I can!

Yuki: We’re also glad we were able to cover a Zero song as planned.

Momo: And the exclusive one-night shuffle units with TRIGGER and IDOLiSH7 were super exciting too!

Interviewer: Speaking of TRIGGER and IDOLiSH7, they did perform a medley of Re:vale songs, how did you decide on that?

Momo: Actually they didn’t inform us about that, it was a complete surprise!

Yuki: It sure was.

Yuki: We were as surprised as the audience, if not more.

Momo: I almost cried even though we were about to perform!

Yuki: You mean you were actually crying.

Momo: Come on, Yuki, don't reveal Momo-chan's secrets so casually!

Yuki: Fufu. My bad.

Interviewer: I see. Thank you for sharing that precious memory with us!

Interviewer: Allow me to change the topic, could you share your thoughts on this cover photoshoot?

Momo: The shoot was so much fun! There was Re:vale spray-painted on the set which was very exciting!

Yuki: It was. The letters weren't very visible in the end because we stood in front of them, but it was nice to have a set specifically dedicated to us.

Momo: And the outfits exuded our adult charms thanks to the casual jackets and hats, don’t you think!?

Momo: Right, Yuki?

Yuki: Fufu. For me at least. Momo didn't give off much of an adult vibe.

Momo: Huh!? That's not true! I was oozing with charm, right!?

Interviewer: Yes! You both looked wonderful.

Interviewer: The theme of this issue is "Secret Talk with Close Friends", so please tell us about a moment where you felt grateful for having a partner.

Yuki: I'm not good at socializing or livening up the mood, so Momo's ability to make everyone around him happy helps me out a lot.

Momo: I'm happy, but you say that all the time~ Tell me something new!

Yuki: Then show us your example, Momo.

Momo: For me, it's Yuki's cooking!

Momo: I'm really happy that he makes dishes with meat just for me since he doesn’t even eat it! I can really feel your love!

Yuki: Hmm, I see what you mean.

Yuki: Then, during our indie days when Momo and I were still living together in poverty, Momo never got mad at me even when I was getting fired from my part time jobs. I’d love to thank you for that.

Yuki: Thank you.

Momo: You went back in time out of nowhere!?

Yuki: It's about how grateful I am to you ever since we started working together.

Momo: Here it is! Yuki's handsome comment!

Momo: You're in such high spirits today, you’re making my heart flutter!

Yuki: Fufu. Sorry for always being so handsome. 

Interviewer: Since we’re already at it, is there anything you'd like to tell your partner?

Momo: Yuki, there's still a confession you haven’t told me yet, right!?

Yuki: Why does it have to be a confession?

Momo: Because we're on the cover, so it's a great opportunity!

Momo: Please give me a warm confession that will convey our relationship to those who don’t know about Re:vale!

Yuki: Wait. Don't ask me to do things outside my expertise out of nowhere.

Momo: No way... I've always trusted you, Yuki... Was I just a game to you...!?

Yuki: No, not in the slightest.

Momo: If you don't share that special confession, Momo-chan might not recover...

Yuki: Ahh, are we doing this?

Momo: Momo-chan might not recover...

Yuki: Alright...

Yuki: "Until the end of the world, you’re the one and only partner for me in the universe." …*chuckles*

Momo: Yuki, you’ll ruin everything if you laugh at the end!

Yuki: I tried my best, so cut me some slack.

Interviewer: Thank you for the passionate messages!

Momo: Actually, TRIGGER’s Gaku came up with this line for me.

Yuki: The Number One most desired Man is also handsome on the inside, isn’t he?

Momo: I respect him for being able to churn out a dramatic line like that without any shame, even though he’s our junior!

Yuki: That’s right. No matter how many times I say it, it doesn't sound as manly as when he does.

Momo: You'll sound good if you don't laugh halfway through, Yuki!

Interviewer: Now onto the next question. Where do you see Re:vale in 10 years?

Yuki: I'll be 36, Momo will be 35, and it'll be Re:vale's 15th anniversary in ten years.

Momo: I'll work hard so that Yuki doesn't replace me with a younger guy!

Yuki: Hey, don’t say something that might cause misunderstandings.

Momo: Because I'm working on anti-aging!

Yuki: You’ll still be my partner even ten years from now, right? I’m looking forward to working with you more, Momo.

Momo: Yeah! Looking forward to it too, Yuki!

Momo: If I can still be with you and Re:vale in ten years then that's enough to make me happy!

Yuki: Thank you, Momo. I’ll be happy too.

Momo: I’m gonna be a bit greedy, but I’ll also be super happy if all our fans continue supporting us in ten years like they do now!

Yuki: Fufu. Indeed.

Interviewer: Lastly, please share a message for your fans who continue to support you.

Momo: I hope everyone enjoys the cover issue featuring Re:vale.

Momo: We were able to be on the cover of the magazine and succeed in the inaugural performance thanks to everyone's support! Thank you!

Momo: You have plenty of choices with so many charming idols featured in the magazine, including TRIGGER and IDOLiSH7, but please continue to support Re:vale!

Yuki: We were able to achieve all of this, from the magazine cover to the inaugural performance, all thanks to our fans who believed in Momo and I and kept supporting us.

Yuki: We will continue to do our best to keep offering the best Re:vale, so please continue supporting us.

The End

[queer-eggman]

Why I think it is wrong to sexualize Rocket: a rant/vent

I’ve been seeing tons of posts and comments that have made me super upset lately. So much so that I’ve had to block #roquill (most of the gross stuff is from that ship I hate roquill so fkn much omg ). And I’ve just felt like I need to talk about it even though nobody asked for my opinion.

Please note must of this can be defeated by ‘he’s just a fictional character’ but ill address that in a bit.

Rocket’s story is fundamentally about he trying to overcompensate and regain control of his life after years of trauma and abuse. There is no point in the comics or movies where he is recovered in any meaningful capacity. Of course you can be attracted to fictional characters but it’s upsetting when his most sexualized quality is that he’s ‘bratty’. His anger issues are a trauma response and he isn’t like that at all when he’s comfortable. His characterization is that of a broken man dragging his way through life and realizing it’s ok to find comfort in other people. Sure, he’s witty and clever and furries love him but the fact that I’ve seen comments on Rocket art like “he’s such a power bottom omg…” when it’s not even suggestive makes me want to throw up.

Now the weird part of this post

I see the characters I kin as not only real people, but as facets of myself. When I personally see Rocket sexualized, it feels like an attack on ME. Rocket is genuinely one of the things that kept me from ending it for so long. I developed severe maladaptive daydreaming to cope with being bullied for being queer in the Deep South. For many years i promised myself I’d survive to see gotg vol 3. I’ve found such deep comfort and solace in him that the way I think and process things often connects to him. His personality molded to me and has stuck. He is me. Of course not literally; I know full well he’s just a character; but his story and his motivations and how he is as a person reflects myself so deeply I find it hard to separate where he ends and I, myself, begin.

I’ve heard that the character you relate to the most is how you see yourself; and that is fully true here. Me and him are just trying to gain control of our lives and make it through without relapsing. Even though I’m not an alien lab experiment or badass bounty hunter; I feel for him. I often think of him as a little ghost in the back of my head, guiding me through my life and a trans and autistic person in a rough spot.

Of course, I can’t and won’t stop anyone from liking what they like. I just wanted to share my experiences with Rocket and how much he truly means to me :)

(yes I should probably get real therapy yes I pirated every single gotg comic yes I own the plushie from Disney world yes I have thousands of headcannons that I’d love to share if anyone wants to hear them)

[oddlyhale]

I got curious to see if there was any red flags of what lead to the shutting down of RT beside the obvious controversy and did I found a rabbit hole.

If you head to the RT reddit Chesla Atkinson made a post about the email she recieved from Jordan Levin the General Manager of RT about the cancelation of RTX2024

https://www.reddit.com/r/roosterteeth/s/Py84R0ELHy

Scroll down to a username by Bobthemine criticize how that RT is taking away big earnings for the company. To which Barbara Dunkelman the Creative Director answer that there are three things.

1) If it making the company lose money

2) people who are fraeting it don't want it anymore

and get this

3) not showing any signs of growth or potential for profitable

https://www.reddit.com/r/roosterteeth/s/tczkHYp2Eo

Barbara the commented to another post about how it confusing to supporters who are suprise at the cost of that RTX in order to make profit for RT as well as the hesitation for vol 10. To which she explains that JUST A MINUTE of animation of RWBY cost $12,500 to $35,000 she confirm they could no longer paid this amount of money thus the cancelation of RTX2024 and finding alternate way to make money.

https://www.reddit.com/r/roosterteeth/s/A8mRiuyzOu

Hence why the partner ship with Crunchyroll as RT couldn't be able to paid the cost anymore and why Vol 9 almost didnt happen. This wasn't the first time she mention this about the financial state of RT

https://www.reddit.com/r/RWBYcritics/s/7sQeGmFDeB

Now I'm not trying to be a crazy conspiracy theorist here BUT considering the fact RT stop airing the show on YouTube and if you wanted to watch the show or any other RT shows you had to go to their website. Then season 2 of Genlock being transfered to HBO MAX before being shutdown completely. And the cherry on top all of the scandals that was happening with the company itself.

Everything was a dam waiting to any moment now.

Sure it was popular and trending on Tumblr and Twitter. But just because it was popular here and other sites isn't enought to keep the company standing.

Now this is just my opinion. I really don't think any company is going to pick RWBY for nostalgia purpose yes but with all the controversy, bad handling of finances, and how Barabra states the show need to be profitable (which it hasn't been even with the partnership of Crunchyroll). RWBY will now forever be tied with RT failings and no company wants to touch that.

I also doubt know if RT was genuinely serious if RWNY found another home but with them being vague I'm pretty sure they actually meant it as "we are actually hoping for someone to but this show and we don't actually have a company in mind" so yeah #greenlit volume 10 is more like #please some help a us out

^ ^

Really interesting things that everybody should read!!

They really took RWBY for granted, that's what I'm getting out of this!

RT has a love-hate relationship with RWBY because they begrudgingly have to fulfill the show, but really they want to promote their other projects and 7 thousand podcasts that nobody cared about. They want the old-fashioned Roosterteeth back (gaming, jabbering, podcasting, bro-ing around), but with their fame dwindling and not catching up to today's mainstream, they basically put RWBY through the wringer just for attention.

They never grew up. They never took responsibility and they failed themselves.

When they're destined to shut this year, now they care about RWBY because they know the show is their money maker. Reality hit them like 5 freight trains and it forced them to get a grip. There's nothing wrong with needing help (begging for any company to pick up RWBY,) but they also need to do their part and fix their problems. No company would want to be back-loaded with their bullshit if they don't get themselves together.

I mean even Crunchyroll couldn't help them forever. I wouldn't be surprised if CR didn't want RWBY after their run with V9. If Amazon picks it up - because Amazon tends to pick up anything - then I may be intrigued. Sometimes Amazon airs hits or misses, just like A24 or Netflix.

[sanctus-ingenium]

answering asks and stuff vol 5

i think he'd just sort of hang there limply like a sack of potatoes. no verve in that man

(more asks under the cut because u know these things get long)

-

Yes! There are actually soooo many different horses around the place, it's the reason the ranger organisations in Inver have a section entirely dedicated to horsemanship. Your whole job can just be the guy they call whenever there's a horse (this is what Pascal's human sweetheart does btw)

The Unicorn is a creature who starts to make trouble in the year 2017 and is a nemesis of Pascal who, again, is a modern Inver character. I do portray Unicorn with water motifs on purpose, but that's because his territory or the area in which he operates is the great inland sea of Inver, Lough Cánamac.

(@sleepvines)

The water horse in that picture referred in the ask & those tags lived until the year 1864 in the victorian Inver period and died pretty dramatically after tangling with the Púca servants and a completely normal human man called Jean-Baptiste (Félix's twin brother). Jean-Baptiste was researching the application of bombarding enchanted objects with electrons in a vacuum tube to see what the hell it would do. He was sort of a scientist, if you consider making jerry-rigged electromagnets with no safety features in his bedroom 'science'. He discovered that the electrical current in a vacuum tube interacted with a magic object by piercing the barrier between the Overworld and the Otherworld, and this would often have flashy and explosive consequences. To date, he is the only human character of Inver who has invented his own form of magic without the aid of any faery patron or familiar.

The water horse, after its scuffle with Félix as depicted in the painting, withdrew and then came back for vengeance. And one CRITICAL feature of faeries in Inver is that they physically can not tell identical twins apart - no matter how different they look, those two people are one person in the mind of someone from the Otherworld. So it attacked Jean-Baptiste instead and died super hard because he doesn't fuck around.

-

So his head isn't fake fake like Nosewyse's is, there are actual skull fragments in there.

I can't comment on what causes the growth of flesh within holy beasts but I can say that this would not be a factor for either Pantera or Krokodilos. We'll just call it an imbalance of his humours ;)

-

Guinefort is suuuuper archaic, one of the very earliest Holy Beasts still kicking. And back then, they built small on purpose. They didn't have the technical knowhow or the foundation of knowledge to make anything much bigger or more complex. When he was built, he was the pinnacle of enginesmithing and he did hunt dragons, though back then he would have been accompanied not by companion beasts in a crusade, but by ground troops only. He was (and is) very quick on his feet thanks to his super light build and works well as a lure or decoy (his actual animal type is a greyhound).

He also used to have a series of regular black powder cannons mounted on his back, which was fun and dangerous and used to be absolute hell to maintain & reload because he couldn't carry much ammunition.

[lordystrange]

”I don’t think they’re gonna break up Mileven. Mike and El have such a strong connection. Also Will’s arc doesn’t need romance in it, he just needs to get rid of his trauma.”

I just saw this comment on tiktok under a byler edit, and I NEED TO make an analysis. It’s gonna be good. So read it!

”I don’t think they’re gonna break up Mileven.-”Let’s start with the first sentence because it’s the easiest. I’m just gonna say, that it’s a good thing that this person doesn’t need to do the thinking for the Duffers.

”-Mike and El have such a strong connection.-” Now this is interesting. Where have we seen their strong connection? In season 1 I did see a connection between them, but that was pretty much it. They don’t have a lot of conversations, especially deep ones. When Mike in s3 tried to explain to El about love making people crazy, he couldn’t even say the word and El clearly had no idea what he was trying to say. ≠ strong connection. In s4 we had the ily scene, where Mike tried to connect with her using his experience being bullied, but El bluntly dismisses his experience. El the shares her feelings about their relationship and Mike calls her ridiculous. ≠ strong connection. And I vaguely remember in vol 2 how El was determined she needed to get to Hawkins right that second, and Mike didn’t understand her worry at all. ≠ strong connection. (Bonus: during the series we get many deep convos, heart2hearts, and shared looks of understanding or judging with Will and Mike. = strong connection.)

”-Will’s arc doesn’t need romance in it, he just needs to get rid of his trauma.”

A couple of things to pay attention here. Firstly the latter part, because you can’t just get rid of your trauma. You have to learn how to live with it. And yes, El has trauma too.

Now let’s see about the other thing. Throughout the series, we see Will going through traumatic experiences, but at all times, having the support of his family and friends. Apart from Lonnie, he has the best family in ST. Joyce is an amazing brother and Jonathan the best brother. What Will doesn’t have tho is a romantic relationship. And he’s the only one. It would be even homophobic to just leave him without one.

El on the other hand was raised in the lab, got kissed by a boy 5 days since she broke free, was hiding in a cabin for a year, and almost immediately after she had to jump into a romantic relationship with Mike. We see in the show, that El grows personally most when she’s not with Mike. (S3 with Max, S4 getting her powers and memories back) What she has lacked tho is a real family, because she even lost Hopper in s3.

Now which story do you think is better?

1. A story about a boy with a family wanting a boyfriend but not getting one and a girl with a boyfriend wanting a family but not getting one

2. A story about a boy with a family wanting a boyfriend and getting one and a girl with a boyfriend wanting a family and getting one

Let me clarify: If Will doesn’t get the love of his life, he’s arc hasn’t led anywhere. If El doesn’t get to become independent and finally start a life with a family that loves her, her arc also hasn’t led anywhere.

So, independent El and Byler Endgame it is!

[novankenn]

2am - General Response to Complaints

FIRSTLY, again, I will APOLOGIZE for not correcting the story tags when I chose to let the story evolve in the way it has. That is my fault and there is no excuse for this mistake.

Characters - Sorry to break everyone’s bubble… but characters are plot devices… it is their reactions, actions and lack there of, to external and internal situations that push a plot forward.

Portrayal of Pyrrha - Yes, I have Pyrrha as recovering Alcoholic/Addict… which why her actions as I portray them are to quite a few readers horrendous, they are also portrayed in the light that she was severely under the influence…

 Alcohol/Drugs alter and lower inhibitions, often changing personalities in the process. A meek person who over indulges can turn violent.

I have seen this, and actually been a victim of this…

I also knew a couple that because of alcohol lead to a man kicking in the head of the mother of his children, killing her.

Additional point in case it was missed, though it is implicitly stated in the summary… Pyrrha’s fame finally crushed her, and she took up an unhealthy coping mechanism…

SOMETHING TO CONSIDER : It hasn’t been addressed yet… but there is a strong possibility/implication that Pyrrha has been repeatedly raped due to her addiction (you can’t give consent if you’re blacked outed/incapacitated by alcohol)

Cheating - Jaune and Pyrrha were ONLY a couple in the loosest sense of the word until just after Azalea’s third birthday. So anything that happened from that point forward isn’t cheating, it is Pyrrha, caught in a self-destructive downward spiral because of her addiction(s).

Pyrrha Not feeling like Pyrrha - Sorry to burst any bubbles here, but ANYONE who uses Pyrrha past Volume 3 (where she dies as a plot device to give Jaune justification to chase after Cinder/assist Ruby) has to make her “feel” less like cannon Pyrrha. RT/Monty made her one dimensional… she was just wholly a plot device She had no growth, she was just there to train Jaune and then die. Giving her any growth means interpreting what she would be like if she had lived through vol 3. This story happens after GRADUATION.

Azalea - again a plot device as all characters are, and as in RL children of broken relationship are often a point of conflict for the parents.

Azalea wanting her parents back together - is not a conflict between Jaune-Pyrrha…is actually a conflict between Azalea-Jaune, neither Jaune nor Pyrrha control what their daughter wants/thinks.

She’s only there to give Jaune/Pyrrha a reason to still be in each other’s lives, and that is correct to a point, but she is also there to show that originally Jaune x Pyrrha had a good relationship that fell apart.

She is also a lynch/influence for Jaune and Pyrrha to deal with the baggage between them.  Could this lead to a romantic reconciliation? I do not know.

Pyrrha Character Assassination - sorry, but that’s not happening. I am at no time/place simply stating Pyrrha is a terrible person. The “She’s a Disaster” comment is another character stating their opinion… it’s not a fact.

Shitting on Arkos/Pyrrha - Sorry, I know it looks that way, but it is not happening, and regardless of your opinion if you read carefully you will see a fair bit of the “conflict” after the breakdown of the relationship is because of other people’s actions, and abuse of Pyrrha when she was under the influence.

Jaune has no flaws - He does… they're just not as obvious… Pyrrha’s flaw is right in everyone’s face (Alcoholism/Addiction)...

He’s not over Pyrrha (still holds a torch for her), he has a mental illness (Severe Depression) that leads him to self-harming behaviors

Prior to others forcing him to get help (which will be shown in a flashback) he attempts to commit suicide… this loving father who was denying to seek treatment was about to abandon the daughter he loves in the most permanent way possible. Yes, Depression is an illness, but choosing not to seek help/ignoring the need to get help is selfish.

I know this from personal experience - because I deal with this daily and now have to take mood stabilizers, anti-psychotics, and anti-depressants for the rest of my life.

He’s a coward… he has been avoiding/unable to follow through with having a complete separation from Pyrrha (hence others being able to torment him through their own malicious intent, through Pyrrha’s unlocked scroll)

He’s a COWARD… he has been avoiding coming out to his own daughter about the nature of his and Reese’s relationship. Azalea only sees Reese as “Daddy’s Special Friend”... he’s been avoiding for at least a year the conflict of a young child feeling that one of their parents was trying to replace the other parent

Support Structures -

Jaune - his family, his doctor, people from his gym, and Reese

Pyrrha - Her mother, her sponsor (David Scarlet), and her friends (Yang is implicitly named, but others are implied)

End Game/Story Arc - Pyrrha if you hadn’t noticed is going through a redemption arc. While pretty much all the prose is focused on Jaune and his struggles (so far) Pyrrha is getting herself out of the pit she had fallen into. It is obvious now that I have to show this fact in more explicit/obvious detail.

Some final notes… Alcoholism is a disease that compels you to drink to feel normal, but as a consequence it often leads to over indulgence as those afflicted continue to chase that feeling. It is NOT a choice 1.4% of the word’s population (that’s 1.1 million people) have alcohol addiction/dependency issues. SO it is not unreasonable for Pyrrha to suffer from this disease.

So this could be considered a long “rant” though it is not intended as such. It is a breakdown of what I was trying to portray in this story. Can I do better? Definitely. Should I have changed the tags once the end game evolved from an ARKOS relationship, YES I should have.

This will be the last time I discuss “complaints” with this story. If you don't like the story, that is totally acceptable. If you think it is terrible, again, that is perfectly reasonable. Personal tastes differ.

However, if you wish to discuss the story… consider instead of just complaining about why you don't like it, maybe offer some feed back on HOW it could be IMPROVED, or how I can correct flaws in my technique, writing style, or characterizations for future stories.

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 01/03/2024

Thank You, Everybody!

Season 4 Episode 1 Featured on: FINAL BOUT ~ SiIvaGunner: King for Another Day Tournament Original Soundtrack VOL. 3

Ripped by Expensive Dispenser

Requested by Alex Worm! (Request Form)

God, man. King for Another Day was magical, in so many ways. And I know, I know, that's something I've repeated over and over on here, to where you could almost argue my coverage of KFAD on here is a bit oversaturated - Sunday Morning, September, Here Comes A Thought, Lifelike Waterway...the event was simply overflowing with incredible performances from SiIvaGunner's entire team. Obviously the most exciting part of it all was the finale, and I discussed perhaps the loudest part of that in NIGHTMARESCAPE 〜Unrestrained HyperCam 2〜 (Final Boss Phase 2). Yet, when the dust had settled on that final battle, there was still things to be done. A battle between the tournament's two finalists, yes, but more importantly: A thank you to be given.

It's difficult to grasp just how gargantuan the event was unless you were there to see it all unfold piece by piece, and it's all made yet more jawdropping when you remember that SiIvaGunner still operates entirely as a non-profit, hobbyist endeavor. Back in 2016, the channel had started out as nothing but a pool of pure self-expression, an extended running joke left driven by impulse and commitment to the bit; yet four years in, it had morphed into an entity with continuity, with lore, with running jokes and ongoing storylines...and a devoted group of fans eagerly loving it all. The original King for a Day Tournament back in Season 3 was a rather sharp left turn for the channel's trajectory up to that point, and was only conceived as a way to give the channel something to do during an agonizing copyright strike - yet it wound up being a surprise highlight of the entire year for many of those devoted fans. To have the status quo of the channel's proceedings shaken by a random one-off event, and thus in a way change just what those same fans would expect from the channel in its years going forward...I imagine there must have been a lot of pressure on the SiIvaGunner team in developing the second tournament as a result. In a way, it's sort of felt to me like one of the first ever projects on the SiIvaGunner channel developed specifically to satiate our expectations, rather than subvert them.

What I'm getting at with all this is, that the King for Another Day Tournament was a one-of-a-kind project, one that kept one-upping itself with every step along the way, to the point where several commenters were noting just how insanely high-effort of a project this had turned into - if, for no other reason, than to surpass our expectations. With each MOJO post, each huge-in-scale arrangement, each twist in the tournament's proceedings, it felt more and more like we truly didn't deserve what we were getting. One part that I'm still in awe over was what I covered back in Fall Breaks: as the tournament's two finalists in Mariya Takeuchi and DJ Professor K were about to face off, we were treated to FOUR incredible collaborative arrangements between the two. We were, throughout the entire event, *spoiled* in so many ways, and the excitement through it all was absolutely palpable.

Yet, mere hours before the Grand Finals results were announced, on Christmas Eve of 2019 - we received Thank You, Everybody!

I remember it all clear as day, as one of the first SiIvaGunner rips to make me emotional within just the first few seconds; no, I'd say before I even clicked play. Here was this team of hobbyists, arrangers, composers, musicians of all kinds of trades from all over the world, putting together a project of this scale with no reason but for the love for the medium...And after a project of this scale, they were thanking us. US! The viewers, the fans, who hadn't contributed a single cent, who had no right to demand, no right to expect anything from what the team was to deliver with this tournament. At first glance, it felt completely backwards - until I clicked the video itself and was reminded of what SiIvaGunner truly is. A community.

The team were thanking us for everything else we had done to push them along this crazy ride. For our commitment to following this silly idea for a YouTube channel, for being so vocal about our excitement in so many fields, for speculating and engaging and spreading the word of the tournament throughout the year, and for - in the process of all of that - helping turn SiIvaGunner into a full-on community, scattered as it may at times feel. Yet check the comments on the YouTube upload yourself, and you'll see a community that was - for once - wholly united. Three hundred and nintety-two comments, all of which express the same sentiment, a unified thank-you sent right back for the team for the event they had put together for us.

These feelings are what immediately come to mind when I think of Thank You, Everybody!, but it of course helps that the rip itself is absolutely fantastic at amplifying those feelings. It's not a triumphant, bombastic credits theme - the final results were still to come, after all! - but rather plays to the strengths of Mariya Takeuchi's patented City Pop style for a lo-fi melody cruise. Primarily building on Tyler, the Creator's GONE, GONE / THANK YOU, it implements sprinkles and stylistic flairs of Hideki Naganuma music such as that featured in Jet Set Radio, little hips and hops and record scratches to always remind you which two characters the rip is build upon, yet with a tone that makes it sound as if the battle has just wrapped up.

Its an amazing listen in so many ways, be it with the sappy context given in mind, or just as a fantastic piece of music that shows just why these two were the ones to make it to the tournament's final round to begin with. In both Takeuchi's city pop and Naganuma's sample-funk, we the audience found a kind of sound that was otherwise missing from the channel, we formed a connection with these characters, with the people behind them and their rips. And regardless of who the winner would be revealed to be just hours late, Thank You, Everybody! would remain a beautiful end to the tournament's proceedings, and in its title alone a perfect reflection of our sentiments toward the SiIvaGunner team itself. Thank you. Everybody.

[blackdigitalrose]

Digimon Series Rankings!

Because I can and because I've really done nothing but comment about Ghost Game, it does give a slight misleading impression on where it stands. So in brief, I may go into more detail down the line, we'll see how I feel out the blue one day. Worst to Best of all 10 Digimon series.

(got to keep up that suspense XD)

And yes, Dubs are going to be a factor, I haven't watched both Sub/Dub of all shows.

10 - Xros Wars This is solely by default because it is the only series I haven't watched, I don't have much inclination to either. Digivolution method really can make or break a show and Digimon lego sets with no actual way to gauge power besides from more sets you stick together the stronger you apparently seem to be, does not hold much appeal. Plus what I've seen of X7/X8, it just looks so messy. Although, I'd like to be able to weigh in on the Taiki debate, some say he's one of the franchises best Goggle boys, others say he's too perfect he's not interesting.

9 -Digimon 2020 For a modern day reboot it had all the action, zero the charm or personality. Those snazzy, action filled fight scenes mean nothing, when there's no story, no characters and just flat out laziness all-round. The Diaboramon movie got rehashed 3 times. The significance of the crests forgotten until a rag tag added on arc at the end and even then they weren't really earned. Izzy just ruined everything, unless you were Matt and Tai, you were basically useless and Tai… I could rant about this series all day, it ticks me off so much!

8 - Frontier This is one of many examples of Digimon not being to do the long run story, a tolerable first half, an unbearable second half full of holes and flaws, it makes you wonder if multiple teams were writing eps apart from each other. This series wrote itself into a corner it could have wrote itself easily out of but chose not to and suffers greatly for it. There is so little to actually talk about in Frontier, none of the cast are actually likeable, not to the extent that you can really get behind them. The only one you feel for slightly is twin 2 but they don't do alot with him after. The only thing it has going for it is the Intro's both sub and dub are amazing!

7 -Tri Such a strong first half, first 3 vols, amazing! Stakes, emotion, understandable dilemma's occurring from being so much older and once more they fail the landing. Tai never got is pay off over his fears. Matt's future plans literally come out of nowhere. Mei and Meicoomon out stayed their welcome so quickly they got in the way in the second half. However, the biggest crim is Daigo and Maki and what we could have had as the first Digidestined team… their partners being the four sovereigns actually makes so much sense! They won but failed, there was an amazing story set up to be told there and they just went, nah, bin it -.-'' Abridged Daigo though is the most relatable character ever and hilarious to boot

6 -02 Let's be honest, this series, I couldn't care less for and some one punch Davis! (He's not so special anymore mind you.) However, despite the not so exciting team, it had it's moments, the Wizardmon ep was very touching, the idea of passing to the next gen, with the originals to help guide them, nicely done with the right mix of original and new but what really gives it, it's place and you all saw it coming. The Digimon Emperor arc! Such a good villain, the contrast against the team, against Wormon, the ongoing subplot over Chimeramon and then our Digimon Emperor gets turned back to normal and show becomes so boring and with more holes in it than swiss cheese.

5 - Appli Monsters I did put this off, I was one of those people… however, I was pleasantly surprised. This show is quite solid, all the characters get their own arcs, the story actually has progress from start to finish, the end boss narratively is good as an actual end boss, it couldn't have made a stupider play if it tried. With social commentary right on the nose, it was a show definitely released before it's time, if they tried it now, I think it would have done a lot better as it would be so much more relatable to people. Why only 5… well, there's nothing that overly stood out; like a moment or ep that is a must re-watch. I watched it the once and haven't gone back to it.

4 - Savers Savers has so many of my faves, my fave digivice in the IC, digivolve style with Digisoul, fave rivals with Masaru/Tohma (love me some two halves of the same coin), some of the best looking Megas you'll ever see, even my fave mon is from this series! Looking at you, you double agent, traitorous, snarky scarf! This series even has the best villain, well human anyway out of all series and the best part, he remains a prick and gets no cheap redemption! Just a guy you love to hate. The downside, like so many others, the doesn't stick the second half. I mean it's alright, no where near as good as the first half and becomes too much of the Masaru show for my liking. (And no, I don't dislike the Digimon punching gimmick per se but it is overused and gets ott in parts that kind of takes you away from it.)

3 - Ghost Game This actually took some serious debating and the bottom line, what do I just openly go and re-watch and despite it's many, many flaws; Ghost Game was just so much fun! It lived up to it's reputation, it gave you horror, surprise, creepiness, you did run through the emotions with it. The major selling point though, it has to be the cast. Tamer and Digimon alike, all 6 are just so likeable with great dynamics and you don't get to say that about many. I also like how Hiro, Ruli and Kiyo represent the three common reactions to the paranormal, the sceptic, the enthusiast and the fearful.

2 - 01 Surprise! Or not potentially and yes, this is heavily the dub, fight me, it's amazing! No bad will be said about dub Apocylamon. Nostalgia likely plays a part in it to but all our digidestined team a great, they all get little arcs and for the most part, all get to play a part, even at the end where only two get megas, however, narratively this works. The story has good progression, in character and difficulty, there's obstacles which don't seem to impossible for kids to tackle, stuff actually feels earned and the villains are just as memorable as the heroes. To top it all, it's such an easy series to just re-watch from any point.

1 - Tamers Ha, yes, I am one of those to. I stand by it, this is peak storytelling for Digimon. What starts off quite light, becomes mature, gritty and a real good coming of age story despite still being kids. Our main trio all get good character arcs, they bounce of each other well and a bonus point for at least trying with the card game. why yes, I do consider Rika as the rival in Tamers, it just makes more sense due to conflicting beliefs about digimon with Takato On the other hand, it's End boss is by far the worse on so many levels but also contains one of Digimon's best character arcs with Impmon. With Tamers, I could only plan to watch one or two eps but before I know it, I'm half way into the series again and still not bored of it.

And this really didn't stay as short as I initially intended ^^;

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Vol:13 - Looking back at the 25th Anniversary tour. 

*As soon as the wait screen appears, the sound of the director instructing Kaoru about the plan for the free half and the paid half can be heard. A few comments pop up saying, "We can hear you" etc, and the mics are promptly turned off until the official start time😅*

K: Hi, and welcome to The Freedom of Expression live on our Niconama channel. Im Kaoru from Dir en grey. 

J: Im Joe Yokomizo. 

T: And Im Tasai from Tokyo Sports. 

*applause*

K: Its been a while since we were here. 

J: This studio? It has, yeh. Is this where we did the Christmas tree last year?

K: Was that last year? Yeh, last year. 

J: Was it this year?

T: It was last year, wasn't it? Eh?! Was that last year??

K: Eh? haha

J: It was last year, right?

T: Yeh, yeh. It was last year. 

J: Since covid though, don't you feel like its kinda hard to know what happened when over these last two years? Don't you like, lose a sense of it? Or is that just me getting old?

K: Hm, Im not sure. 

J: We did do the tree here though, right?

K: Yeah, we did. And we made that cake. 

J: We did! 

T: Oh, yes. 

K: And we made Takoyaki. It makes me think we are gonna eat whenever I come here. And we had all the Umaibos!

J: Was it here where we went up to the roof at New Year?

K: Oh, what was it?...Bubbles, and stuff. 

J: Was that here?

K: Yeah, I think it was. 

T: *reading comments* One year since the cake, that black cake.  

K: *notices the comments* Eh?! It looks like umaibo. (*there is a kind of wierd graphic in the comments*)

J: Woah. How do they do that? People are so creative. Ahh, the cake of darkness, yeh. 

T: That tasted good. 

J: Ah, memories, memories. Well, anyway, today we dont have any cake, or Christmas activities, but more importantly, Kaoru, congratulations on completing the 25th anniversary tour!

*applause* 

K: Thank you. 

J: So, the tour is now finished, after starting on October 25th and continuing nationwide. And you did one extra show on Dec 16th, with audience cheering allowed! I wonder if anyone who went to that show is watching now? I think a lot of the people watching us today will have gone to at least one show during the tour...Oh, whats that? Kaoru's mic is hitting his necklace? 

*Kaoru fixes his mic*

T: (*reading comments*) "Thank you for coming to Tokorozawa!"

J: Ah, "I went to Shinjuku". That has become a legendary performance. 

T: "It was so much fun!"

J: "At last, I could use my voice!" Ahh, keep sending in your comments. Oh, so by the way, the theme of this live broadcast is 'Tour 22: From Depression to____ After-Talk Special'!

*applause*

J: Ahh, "I couldn't get tickets to Shinjuku", "I went to Sendai", "I went to Osaka and Amagasaki". Ok, so Leader, the tour is over, but first just give us a quick word on your feelings about it. 

K: Well, hmm, a lot of people came, so I'm really thankful to everyone who did. 

J: I see. Tasai, what would you like to ask?

T: Well, I went to Haneda. It was quite a different feeling there. It looked like you guys were having a lot of fun on stage, but how was it really for you?

K: Well...I'm gonna get a bit serious here, haha...Uh, well, normally we'd release an album, and do a tour, and the songs would be all kinda new, right? So as we do the tour, we'd be kinda gradually chasing the songs up to a higher level as we play them. But this time, we've already done all there is to do with these songs...It might sound strange to say it, but there is nothing higher to achieve with them. Plus, parts of them are ingrained in us, so we know exactly how they will flow out. 

J: You mean, you've perfected them live?

K: Yeah, so it wasn't really a case of 'How is this tour going to go?', but rather, 'How can we make each day exciting?'. So, that was actually quite difficult, haha.

T: Ah, like retaining your motivation?

K: Yeh, or like trying to decide which parts we need to spice up on each day, and stuff. It wouldn't be very exciting if we just played the songs the same old way as usual. I mean, even for us too. So we kinda fumbled along, trying to make each day of the tour exciting. 

J: I see, so if you have a new album out, your big goal is to perfect the songs live, but with these songs that you already know so well, you had to kind of set yourself new objectives, or missions for each day of the tour?

K: Yes. It also reminded me of my past self, well, in my playing style too, but also in my movements and stuff. It was almost as if my past self was trying to emerge, I remembered how I used to be on stage. It felt too different from my current self, and I didn't really want to go there. That was hard for me.  

J: Well, a live show is a bit like a documentary of current times, so in that sense, you didn't want to fall back into your old habits?

K: You could say that, for me. It was difficult anyway. 

T: What exactly do you mean by your past self emerging? 

K: Well, it could be anything. When I'm playing a song, the feelings I had in the past emerge in my body, you know? I mean, I don't know if thats actually how I really was, but, you know? 

J: It happens spontaneously, right?

K: Also, we had a bit of leeway with them this time, right?

J: Ah, yeh, because they are not new songs? 

K: So, I ended up feeling like I need to do something different with them. I could simply just play them as they were, but I did end up feeling like I need to do something with them. I had this kind of ongoing internal conflict in my head..'You don't need to change it, its fine', and 'Oh, you need to do something with this!'. 

J: Were there any parts of the tour where you really tried to challenge yourself with the old material?

K: Well, no, in that sense we put a group of recent songs in the middle of each set, then we put in the new 'ain't' after those. That was the part where we could challenge our current selves. So thats what we considered while making the rest of each setlist. 

J: I see. Someone asked, "How do you feel about the re-recorded versions?" Everyone is sending a lot of enthusiastic questions. But, I was gonna say, a live show happens in the moment, right? So you must have had a lot of incidents ocurring on tour, like in the dressing rooms, or in transit etc? Can you tell us about anything that happened during this tour? 

K: Now? Incidents?(*thinks*)

J: Yeah, backstage gossip. We wanna hear about it. 

K: Well, at Haneda, my amp broke. 

T: Which day at Haneda??

K: Day 1, during the rehearsal before the main show. (*To his manager off camera*) It was day 1 wasn't it? Yeah. So we had an emergency substitute brought in. Oh, no, actually on that day we just used a back up one that we already had, but we got a proper substitute in for the following day. I still havn't got mine back yet. 

J: Oh, its still being repaired?

K: Yeah. 

J: ???

K: Well, the staff did their best.

J: Ahh, I see. Well, this kind of thing can happen on tour. 

T: What about food? Did you eat anything nice?

K: Well, we went to Hokkaido at long last. I ate some nice things in Hokkaido. Well, there is good food everywhere though. 

J: Well yeah. What did you eat in Hokkaido?

K: Seafood...Uh, I had Shirako ponzu (*cod milt/sperm with ponzu sauce*)

J: Ahhhh, I wanna eat that!!

K: Hahaha

J: I couldn't go to any of the regional dates, I wanted to go to Osaka though.

K: They don't call it shirako in Hokkaido though, do they? What do they call it again? Tachi?

J: So like 'tachi ponzu'? 

K: Tachipon. 

J: Ahh, did you have sake with it?

K: No, I had a highball. Haha

J: You always drink highballs!

T: Thats the type of thing that would come up in a Kaoru quiz. 

J: Oh, will it?

T: Yeah, you have to remember this. 

K: For another time, right? haha. 

J: Yes, for another time. Thats the keyword to remember with Tachipon. Oh, look, some people are saying they went to Hokkaido. Well, we'll talk more about those details later, but for now the director is telling us to move to the next page. 

(*They all pick up thier notes and turn the page*) 

J: Ok, just notifications to read out. Uh, on this show we really, really welcome lots of comments and messages. Suppport, thoughts, feelings about the show, anything is ok, so please send them in. Twitter users can use the hashtag TFOE. The first part of this show is free for anyone to watch, but the second part is for channel members only. As a member, you can watch the live broadcasts in the archives for one year, and there are also members only videos for you to see, so please everyone...can you see the link at the top of your screen? Leader, point to it. Thank you. Everyone, please use this link to become a member and stay with us to the end. Ok, so for this 25th Anniversary Tour After-Talk Special, here is our first corner. "Ego-surfing for reports of the tour!"

T: Lets do it!

J: We did this once when the album was released, right?

K: Yeah 

J: Well we are going to do another forbidden search, now that the tour is over. Its scary, right?! Searching for yourself online. Eh, someone said  "Aghhh, don't do it!" No, we will do this live. Tasai is currently searching on the PC, but this same Tasai has an injured foot. 

T: Haha, sorry. 

J: What happened? Show us. 

(*Tasai lifts up a bandaged foot*)

T: Its embarrassing, haha. 

J: What happened?

T: I fell over. 

J: Where? 

T: In front of my office. 

J: Ehhh?! Were you drunk?!

T: No I was just setting off for home like normal, and there was a pothole in the road. My foot got caught in it and I fell over sideways. 

J: Honestly though, Leader, don't you think Tasai has gotten bigger? I think he has. 

K: Well, he looks big. 

T: Oh dear, thats not good. What should I do?

J: Whats your weight?

T: About 100kg. 

J: I bet it is, that sounds about right. You fall in a hole with that much weight, this is what happens! How embarrassing. 

K: (*Laughing at Joe*) How embarrassing? Hahaha

J: Look, someone said, "I want to nurse him"

T: Thank you. 

J: There are people like that out there! When you get guys like me laughing at your pain and embarrassment, there are still people out there who want to nurse you. Haha, someone said, "He's getting plump" haha, "Tasai is becoming a Titan". Oh, ok  yes, lets do some ego-sufing. 

T: (*Reading tweets*) Ok, whats this one..."ワシら(wasihra/us)"

K: Thats my tweet, haha.

T: Hahaha  

J: The first one you chose, and its Kaoru's?? Oh, right, Im being told to explain the hashtag. Right, yes. So what we are doing is searching on Twitter for tweets about the tour. We want to see the reports from people who went to see the lives. We are searching using the tag DIRENGREY25th, so if you havn't already tweeted your thoughts, do it now with this tag, and the injured Tasai may just pick up your comment. 

K: These tweets go right back to the start of the tour. 

J: There's so many, its hard to choose, right?

K: Should I do the scrolling (*takes over*)

J: Poor Tasai with his foot, he can't move much. 

T: Haha 

J: Well, if you remember when we did this with Phalaris, even if you write something now, it might still get seen. 

K: (*Reading a tweet*) "There were a load of songs from Vulagar and Withering to Death, it was a great setlist. I wish they had played The Final and Obscure though". 

J: Ahhh

K: Ahh, we didn't play those two on this day. We did on other days, just not this day. 

J: I see, yeh. It depends on the day. Well, later we will talk more about how every single day was different, the director is telling me. 

K: Haha, they weren't that different from each other. They were only a little bit different each time. 

T: You can talk about the reasons for the changes and stuff. 

K: No no, its not that we planned to change stuff, its just like I said before, we just needed to make each day more exciting by changing little things here and there. 

J: Oh, so you didn't have a big plan from the start to make each day totally different?

K: No no. 

J: It was just a little bit to keep up the excitement after each show. 

K: Yeah. 

J: So would you like, finalise or change up your setlists at the last moment?

K: On the same day?

J: Yeah. 

K: Well, we have done that...

J: Amazing!

K: Well, I mean, thats not really a big deal for us. haha. The staff will have to change a few things round for us, but thats about it. 

J: Ahh, I see. (*reading comments*) "Thats backstage gossip too". Right?

K: (*Looking at computer screen*) These are all tweets from Sendai. 

J: Did something special happen at Sendai? 

K: No, no, I mean, we've only scrolled as far as Sendai, haha. 

T:(*Reads out a tweet mentioning Rasetsukoku*)

K: Hm, yeh, we played Rasetsukoku each time. Im just gonna scroll right down...Ah still Sendai.

J: There are so many tweets for each live. 

K: There's still tonnes. Tasai, I was hoping you would have scrolled a bit further by now. Hahaha. 

J: Yep, there they are both, scrolling away. Are you past Sendai yet?

K: Uh, Zepp Sapporo. 

T: (*Reads out a tweet saying that Saku was the first song*). Ah, starting with Saku!

J: Yeh, I noticed a few days started with Saku when I saw the setlists. Im honestly a bit envious. Starting with Saku is epic, right?!

K: Really?

J: Yes. 

K: Actually, we started with Rasetsukoku for the first two days. 

J: Oh, really?! Thats the rule??

K: The rule? Haha, no, we just decided off the cuff. 

J: Oh, is that it?

K: Yeah. 

(*Louds noise blares out. Kaoru looks shocked and wide-eyed. The sound goes off, and then the video stops for several mins. A message pops up informing of technical difficulties*) 

K: Ok 

J: Ok, we're back! We did it!

T: We're back!

J: The tech staff got us back. 

K: That was quite scary wasn't it?

J: Yeah! Like 'Kyaaaaa' all of a sudden. 

T: It was like a screech from another world. 

K: I was pretty shocked. 

J: Someone in the comments asked if it was Kyo. 

K: Haha

T: Haha. One comment said that its because Joe was predicted many blocked paths this year. You remember our shrine visit?

J: Ah, maybe thats it. I was predicted that at the start of the year, wasn't I?

K: It was Tasai's mic acting up though  wasn't it? And then this huge noise exploded. 

T: As soon as I talked about my leg, it started doing stuff. 

J: Tasai, you need to be purified at the shrine, you have evil on you. 

K: We went at the start of the year though, right?

J: But if its Tokyo Sports there could be all sorts hanging around. 

T: No, but since I hurt my foot, my wife won ¥10000 on the lottery, and WestLand, who I'm reporting on, won the M-1. So there are a lot of good things happening around me. 

K: What about us(Dir)? hahaha 

J: There's nothing bad hanging around you! Ehh, what could it be? Well, at least we've got the sound back. What were we talking about before? Oh, Saku!

T: Yeah, Saku. 

J: Where was it? Hokkaido! Saku was the first song in Hokkaido. 

T: You need a lot of power to burst open with Saku though, right? 

K: What else did we say? About how we opened with Rasetsukoku only on those two days. 

J: Yeah, I think the viewers probably heard that. So continuing the search. Actually there was a question about Sendai...something about a sauna in the dressing room? Did you go in the dressing room sauna?

K: Ahhh, no I didn't. 

J: Oh, more background noise? There is definitely some evil hanging around. 

T: Is it me??

K: We didn't hear anything here, right? Its better now?

J: Ah, lots of ghost emojis..."Its Rasetsukoku" (*land of rakshasas*)

K: Well, I mean, weird stuff just happens to us a lot. 

J: Yeah, so we are probably ok, right? 

T: Anyway lets do this search. 

J: Yes, lets get on with that. Someone wrote, "Sprinkle salt around Tasai's leg"

T: Haha 

J: Someone bring us some salt!

T: Haha, yes please. Ok, now we are at Nov 18th which is Amashin..

K: While we were off air, we did some mega scrolling, haha. 

J: Yeh, the sound guy and you two were working hard, I was just sat here. Sorry, haha. 

T: Ok, here's a tweet. "The speed at which Toshiya crossed the stage during KR cube was incredible!" Do you remember this Kaoru?

K: Uh, I dunno. Haha. He's being doing that for years though, right?

T: Another one, "C straight after Merciless Cult was amazing!" What do you think? This song order is great on the album too. 

K: Yeah, we tried that. I think we only did that once though. 

T: (*Correctly reads out a tweet containing a few song names*)

K: Oh, you really do know the songs! Just from this?!

T: Yes (*reads the name Mamachen/Marmalade Chainsaw*)

K: You even know Mamachen!

T: Yes, because I listen to them. 

K: Oh, thank you. 

T: (*Reading more tweets*) "It was amazing beyond words", also, "Toshiya is really macho" etc. 

K: (*scrolling*) Joe, speak for a bit. 

J: Ah, ok. There are a lot of comments coming here, as well as the tweets, especially about Toshiya cutting across the stage, like his legs are so long he can cross the stage in three steps.

T: No way!

J: Thats was was written in the comments! There are lots of comments about Toshiya..."I was happy to see Die all in red"...."I thought Toshiya's body was 90% legs"

K: Hahaha 

J: That must be a joke. But people are saying its right! Someone wrote that you were chasing each other around the stage at Amashin. 

K: Eh?

J: Were you chasing each other? 

K: Uh, no. What does that mean?

J: Give us some more details people...Did you chase the other members around the stage? 

K: Oh, like following behind? Yeh.

J: "Kaoru and Shinya chased Kyo"

K: Ahhh, yeh.

J: Also, "Kaoru's paper airplane"

K: Oh yeh, I did that. Where was that again?

J: Osaka? 

K: Yeh. I folded the setlist into a paper airplane while I was on stage, but my folding technique was a bit off. I folded it like this (*demonstrates with notes*), so it just flew in a vertical drop as soon as I threw it. Haha

J: It didn't even reach the audience??

K: It fell in the space just infront of the audience. 

J: Ah, someone just said it was Osaka day 2, the paper airplane story. If you guys have any other events from the tour that you want to know about, please send a comment...."The towel throwing was also great". Did you throw it far, Leader? 

K: Well, it flew. 

J: Oh, someone said the water bottles and towels flew as far as the second floor at Hatch. 

K: If you throw the water bottles right, they do go quite far. 

J: To the second floor?

K: Yeah. 

T: (*scrolling*) I think I've reached to the newest tweets...."I made so many memories, it was amazing. My neck is sore"..."I was glad they played Saku and Kodou"...Where is this? Hm, maybe Hatch day 2..."The 25th anniversary tour was great! KR was so much fun, and I've always wanted to hear songs like Wake, Drain, and Jessica live, so I cried a lot during the show"

K: Well, songs are like that. Each person has their own particular meaning and memories attached to each song. So yeh, I can understand that. 

T: It seems like there were a lot of songs from earlier albums. 

K: Well, that was decided by the song battle which Fujieda did. Sitting and talking by himself all that time, haha. But we tried to just include most of the highest ranking songs from that. The songs that we chose ourselves are actually very few. 

J: Ahh. "The mistake at the start of Jessica was also good" Did you make a mistake?

K: Yeah 

J: They spotted it. 

K: Well, we stopped the song. 

J:Oh! Please write where that was if you saw it, guys. "Thank you for spraying water on me, Kaoru". 

T: "The excitment was crazy with Rasetsukoku at the start". That must have been one of those two lives. 

K: Yeh, people like that song.

J: They really do. "Citta day 2"? Ahh. 

T: Also "They didn't play 'I'll' after all". A fan sent this with a crying emoji. 

K: Well, well, well...hahaha. 

T: Ok, I get you, haha. 

J: "I love Rasetsukoku so much, I want it at the start and the end!"

K: Nah...I don't think so, hahaha. I'd want a different song. 

J: Yeh, we get that they love it, but we need variety too. 

T: "Happy Birthday to my favourite guitarist, Die"

K: Ah, yeh, it was his birthday yesterday. 

J: Happy Birthday Die. 

T: Yes, Happy Birthday. Hm, what else can I find here.."It was so emotional at Shinjuku Blaze"

K: Oh yeh, it was the first time in ages for me to go to Kabukicho, the last time was for that talk event we did in Loft. 

J: Oh yes, that was 4 or 5 years ago, right? Ah, but Blaze, yes. 

K: Yeah, Kabukicho really doesn't suit me. Hahaha. 

J: Its so garish, right?

K: Well, it felt kind of dirty. 

J: Ahhh, yeh. 

K: Like, people lined up everywhere,  drinking. I know people do that from the daytime in Ueno and places too, but Kabukicho has a kind of slimy feel to it. 

J: Yeah, Shinjuku is unique. Uneo and places are different. 

T: People are commenting about Tōyoko (*トー横 - An area in Kabukicho*). 

K: Yeh , it was next to Tōyoko. 

J: But this was the first 'cheering allowed' live in ages, right? How was it?

T: Yeah, I wanted to go. 

K: Well...it was a step in the right direction. 

J: Yeah. So cheering was allowed from when the members appeared on stage?

K: Yes 

J: Ahh, somebody write how it felt in the comments! Well, as Leader said it was the first step. Uh, we will talk more about the setlist in the second half. Ah, someone said, "I cried". Well, of course yeh, its been a long time. 

T: (*Reads out a couple of tweets praising the Blaze live*) 

J: Oh, but that moment where the lights go down and everyone screams, right? 

K: But at first, when the lights changed, everyone clapped. 

J: Oh, out of habit? 

K: Yeh. Then when Shinya went out, he was the first out...thats when the cheering started. Well, as far as I heard.

J: Ah yeh. "I wanna scream their names". Yeah, people who couldn't go to Shinjuku will be feeling this. People really want to know whether cheering will be allowed at the tour next year?

K: Well, with current circumstances, the answer is no. It depends on each venue. A lot of them are saying that cheering is allowed at half capacity, which would be a bit tough for us. But if they say cheering is allowed at full capacity...well, I don't know yet. But for now, no. 

J: Its not really something a band can decide on their own, right? It depends on the venue and the region, but im sure people will understand. Anyway, we had a bit of a break earlier, but we are now at the end of the first part of the broadcast. I think we've made up for the part that we lost earlier. In the second part, we will take a much closer look at the setlists from the 25th Anniversary tour, so please join us for that. As was mentioned a bit earlier, each setlist was different!

K: Haha, I don't think thats such an impressive thing really though. 

J: Oh no no. Im not sure if the audience and the performers feel the same about this, but changing just one song can change the whole atmosphere, right?

K: Well, that is true, yes. 

J: So its really exciting for the audience, if they compare it to previous shows. You may even see setlists from the shows you went to, so please send in any questions you like. Ok, ill just inform you of how you can watch part 2. The next part is for channel members only, so you have to be a member if you want to watch to the end. Then you'll be able to watch this broadcast in the archives for a year, and we also have members only videos for you. In these we set various challenges for ourselves. There are some funny ones and some more serious ones. Ok, here's how to join. There should be a blue link at the top of your screen. Leader, point to it please. Thank you. Leader's fingers are on the move. If you click this link you will get a payment method screen. Thank you for pointing sideways, Leader. Choose you preferred method, click proceed, and then enter your info. Its really simple, so if you haven't already joined, please do so to stay with us to the end. Ok, Leader, before we switch over, do you have any announcements you'd like to make?

K: Announcements? 

J: If you have any. Its ok if you don't. 

K: Hmm, do I have any?

J: Haha, I don't know. For example, TheTheDay stuff, or something?

K: TheTheDay is the day after tomorrow. 

T: How about what you will eat tomorrow morning or something? haha

K: Should I really announce that? haha. 

J: I think you could. 

K: I haven't decided yet, haha. Oh, just earlier...today we were rehearsing for the New Year festival, and I had a bit of time before coming here, so I got some ramen, but the soup was lukewarm. It was so disappointing. 

T: Hahaha

J: Ahhh, what a shame for your post-rehearsal ramen!

T: Thats quite an important announcement. 

J: Yeah, it is. 

K: I was disappointed. 

J: Yeah. What will the New Year festival be like? Well, you probably can't say anything, right? 

K: Nah. Anyway, we don't even have a timetable yet. 

J: Well, we can look forward to it. Someone asked what kind of ramen you had?

K: Soy sauce type. 

J: Is that your usual type?

K: No, I like miso, soy sauce, tonkotsu, anything salty, but I guess if im trying a place for the first time, i would choose soy sauce. 

J: Ahh, but still, the sauce was lukewarm. Well, lets get rid of your disappointment and cheer you up in the second part. 

K: In Hokkaido I had miso ramen. It was the first time in absolutely ages to have ramen in the middle of the night after drinking. 

J: Ah, but I guess you didn't care much if you were drunk?

K: I wasn't that drunk though. 

J: Was it like, you went straight in without having to wait in line?

K: I did have to wait. 

J: Oh, you did? Ahh, someone wrote "ramen report". Maybe we will have to do that next year. Ok, we will stop here to switch over. The change over screen will appear for a moment, so members hang tight. See you in part 2 for more 25th Anniversary tour talk!

[smoosnoom]

can’t believe that i finally decided to comment all ur works that i read before daily compliments.

“let me steal this moment from you” became my first victim. tbh i haven’t read it since november i think?? and part of my brain which is responsible for memory is too occupied by remembering facts about u so i don’t remember plot sorry. this one is gonna be like the first time 🙏🏻

“If anything, it’s a miracle any of them are still awake and functioning.” no fr. they spent like a week in that uncomfortable van and the first thing they did after returning to hawkins is cleaned the cabin?? not even shower.

“At least it would save the catastrophe of seeing Argyle and Ted Wheeler interact.” ohh, i’d like to see that

“It’s blue. He imagines painting a yellow sun on it.” 🥺🥺 bc he’s yellow and sunshine and lights up every room he walks in. sorry i love him so much

“He wonders if he's more of a monster than a mistake.” ok i had 10 minutes tears break after that 🧍🏻‍♀️ maybe i Am crybaby idk

“He’s pretty sure it’s the first time they’ve laughed together since they’ve arrived back in Hawkins.” poor boys haven’t laughed in Weeks :( i wish i could fix everything for them

will wants to make “smalltown boy” with mike so bad and i can’t blame him. my boy deserves be as far away from hawkins as possible.

“He doesn’t have any time for self-doubt when Mike turns his hand over in Will’s grasp, until their hands are properly entwined” it’s all them. best friends, each other reassurance and safe space, soulmates if u want. i just love them ughhh. that’s why they hits so hard.

“we aren’t kids anymore” omg how do u exactly know where to put references?

“And we got to bury Jonathan in a bunch of sand, which was pretty fun.” oh wait!! i remember ur Fantastic fan art! writer And artist how talented u are!!

“Night Seven” ofc its night seven. love that it could have been 5+1 but it’s byler so it’s seven instead.

“and it seems to be the right move when Mike lets out an appreciative hum” my “naturally good kisser will” agenda never dies. he just knows what to do he didn’t need practice 🙏🏻

“He probably looks like a kissed-dumb idiot.” he is. good for him!

god, ilysm. ur so talented u have no idea. and u make me feel things.

i love that fic so bad and if u like it too u should thank moon for it!!

if it helps i dont even Remember most of "let me steal this moment", every time i click post it's like every associated memory just vanishes from my brain

im glad u get to experience it all over again i wish i could do the same with other fics </3

"the first thing they did after returning to hawkins is cleaned the cabin?? not even shower." U ARE SO RIGHT i thought abt that the first time i watched vol 2 like what do u mean u arent even going to change !!!! u have been in those close for Days !!!!

i almost did write a ted wheeler and argyle interaction . Almost

that is so real . will byers my sunshine sweetpie

HEOEOKPJY IM SO SOSRRY

so real and true ! i need these two far far away from hawkins and HAPPYYY

u get me !!!!!! theyve alwyas been best friends first and thats why they hit so different

oh god not the drawing 😭😭😭 can we pretend that Didn't happen . maybe . my artistry isnt grea t

IM SO HAPYPPYY U NOTICED !!!! night seven !!!! it was a seven !!!!!!!

will is just naturally good at it idk what to tell u . yes he has never kissed anyone Yes he is a loser yes hes also great as kissing . sorry

so honored to have made u feel things <3 alya my beloved it is Always the best day of my life whenever u decide to read something of mine :D

[deepestllamapersona]

Firstly, this is a very good thread however I kinda want to argue and add to certain things.

Petra actually doesn't has a SS were she is infatuated/weird about Subaru underwear that is actually a sexualising fanon spread by the fandom and (disgusting) fanarts and memes. Which stemmed from the LN vol.11 art in which Petra was washing clothes and seemed embarrassed/suprised about washing/holding Subaru underwear.

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As for Schult he isn't perverted about Pris, he seems to have a crush on her but it doesn't cross the line to a sexual one.

And Schult situation it isn't just Al 'shota' comments. But Also disgusting comments from Priscilla. Not only does Schult help Pris change her clothes. Pris make comments about how she lets Schult beside her because he is cute. In a SS she tells him she doesn't want body hair on him (put in mind he is 12/13). (Correct me if I'm wrong) but also uses Schult as her 'pillow' (luckily it doesn't seem that anything suggestive happens and they just sleep in the same bed).

The feet comment was actually targeted towards Al. In which Pris said she will let Al kiss her feet if he does good and Al replies he doesn't have a foot fetish but if it's Pris... you get it. Which is also creepy. Considering that Al is 34/35 and Pris 19/20.

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

Now to Felt. First, I have to argue that Felt outfit wasn't sexualising but rather it's to emphasise Felt poverty. As multiple times in the SSs she makes comment about how hard to get FOOD and eat. Add to that that Felt mainly got money from theifry and saved it to herself and Rom. While not wanting any kindness from Rom as she felt she was burdening him. Not adding the ppl in the slums hated her and has no problem selling her out, even if it was to slavers. And to support my point neither in the anime nor the LN Felt was sexualised in the art or the narration while wearing the outfit. Which is why after being taken by Rein you see her outfits are good since she got from poverty and could actually afford good clothes.

And since we mentioned Rein let's talk about the SS. First, Felt couldn't get any clothes as that scene happened immediately the next day of her kidnapping. And her clothes were taken due to being the rags that you saw in arc 1. And since Felt presence wasn't predicted they didn't have clothes which is why Felt was naked.

Second, while yes I think that scene wanted to emphasise Rein social unaptitude, that wasn't the main thing it wanted to emphasise. It wanted to emphasise a much bigger problem in Rein and Felt relationship pre-arc 5. Rein constant oversteping of Felt agency/boundaries and making choices/decisions for HER while having 0 info about the situation. Prime examples: him making Felt wear clothes she clearly expresses she doesn't want to wear, not informing her of ANTHING before arc 3, confining her when she clearly expressed against her stay, this line in arc 3.

“I got dragged here out from the slums against my will,” she continued. “I told him to take me back and he wouldn’t, and he hid my old clothes so I had to wear this stupid thing. I am way past ticked! I’m annoyed a million times over! No, I don’t accept this!”. LN, vol. 4

And the nail in the coffin, is him try to harm Rom (someone he knows is important to Felt) in an attempt to persevere her candidacy. A candidacy she outright rejects multiple times. And Rein oversteping boundaries doesn't seem to be a new trait, as it seems it was also present in his and Heinkel relationship before it went down the drain (that it's own topic though). So yeah this is my take on that scene.

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

Now to the Age gaps. Tappei seems to use the western media formula with this relationships, especially since most, are children having onesided crushes. In which the child romantic behaviour is viewed as endearing/cute but neither endrosed nor supported, however, it also doesn't get called out or corrected which is the problematic part. As the adult should correct this behavior. (Also this might be me misunderstanding your point, however calling Ram/Roswaal and Clind/Fredrica relationship Romantic/romances is misinterpretion of their relationship as this relationship are onesided crushes that doesn't get endrosed or validated) .

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

Now to Kiritaka. Kiritaka was confirmed by the Q&A to love Liliana and he is pretending to be a lolicon. Which is... concerning. Prefering to be called a lolicon (aka a pedophile) over just admiting your crush and it being socially acceptable is.. wtf.

Which here a big problem I noticed in the Rezero world. Is that people are weirdly okay with lolicons. And this situation is also appearant in Anastasia SS in which Ricardo is thought/called a lolicon due to his care towards Ana and ppl are just.. okay with it. Like they don't express any genuine concern.

This could be seen as a societal flaw since this is medieval time were such things were normalised. The problem is: it ISN’T treated as one, but more of a comic relief. Like the only one whom seem to be taken seriously for his behaviour is Clind (which is still not taken that seriously). Which just raises the question how tf is he let near Annerose? (even though he expressed arousal due to her calling him out once in an SS, ಠ_ಠ)

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

Now to Tappei himself. Tappei despite doing all this, expresses that he doesn't want to write sexual content and affirms that lolicon is, he said and I quote, "a perversion and a disease" in the Q&A. So this are the possible explanation that I believe to be one out of 3 cases:

A) (to give him the benefit of doubt) The editor/publishing firm pressuring the writer to do this things for fanservice sake (bc sex sells, sadly even children aren't exempt from that rule). Which is (sadly) a very usual case in the animanga industry.Which then make the difference in his opinions and his actions, logical despite being contradictory.

B) Adding troupes/fanservice to appeal and attract more viewers, without any pressure, to get more profit. Which is very disgusting and the writer isn't worth any respect if this is the case. Even more since he seems to be aware of how morally wrong it is.

C) He is lying in the Q&A, and is adding his disgusting fantasies.

Hey, how are you doing? Firstly, i'll understand if you choose not to answer this ask since the subject is controversial and kinda heavy

We currently have at least two pedos in the story, like, actual pedos (the guy obsessed with Liliana and the creepy butler that i forgot the name) and then tappei's writing in some things is just... weird?

I get that subaru and beatrice are supposed to have a sibling relationship, but it just weirds me out

And he keeps adding loli characters with questionable designs too

What is your opinion on this? Its something i manage to ignore, but it still weird me out a little

hi anon!! :o thanks for asking how im doing pfft im doing pretty well - though i am a college student and its This Time of Year (end of semester) so im hanging in here lmao 👍

also ok as for the topic at hand!! yeah no i 100% hate it. ive been thinking about rezeros flaws lately because the further you get into watching/reading rezero the Clearer it gets. its mostly fine at say, arc 1, but by the time you get to arc 5 or arc 8 its like. What the hell. This again?? so yeah its 100% understandable to be weirded out and uncomfortable by it because tappeis writing is frankly Gross sometimes.

(okay also yes this ask has minor or major arc 5+ spoilers yes and also. You know. detailed discussion regarding rezero sexualizing children.)

yeah so tappei writes problematic things into rezero regarding both women and children especially, and while theres exceptions its like. very Prevalent in rezero. i talked about it a bit in my last ask if youd like to check that out!! but yeah like. i hate how children are treated in rezero. its very Problematic a lot of the time.

tappeis writing follows very similar patterns regarding treatment of children and women that you see in a Lot of other anime/manga/japanese media - and media in general, really, but im sure most anime watchers / manga readers will know what im talking about because its unfortunately That common. we're all seen this. like fan service shots, lolis and shotas, etc etc. but rezero is a little more insidious i think, just because tappei is capable of writing good characters regardless of age or gender. and theres Less of stuff like fan service - or at least rezero is a little less obvious about it or its just seen less in rezero, but thats also because media in general is so in your face about it and Unfortunately Common so rezero looks like a tiny bit of paradise in the middle of a barren desert.

i mean look at the amount of people who've thought rezero was a harem anime until they watched rezero - rezero seems like an outlier but thats only because its just a tiny bit less gratuitous and it still has a lot of good writing. and also because i am pretty sure the bar for media like this - especially media in rezeros genre (isekai) is Extremely Low. like depressingly low. and despite rezero being a deconstruction of isekai, rezero also contradicts its own damn messages sometimes about treating others like the People they are, respecting others Personhood, treating women well, etc. and its easy to see that the moment you look at some of otsuka's artwork and designs for rezero or if you look at all the rezero merch mainly based around the girls and Sexualizing the girls and its like. my god this is a little depressing to look at. rezero is just a tiny step in the right direction away from say, misogynist shounen/seinen media thats also weird about kids or something, but then rezero trips and falls on its own face after taking several right moves.

the problem is that these problematic aspects are still there, theyre still clear to see if youre paying attention, and often character arcs start well but then fall flat despite the good foundation. and then the problematic aspects hammer the already Poor/Inconsistent Writing into the ground which it makes it Even Worse.

like louis is a great character. shes fascinating, really. and then you hit arc 7 and she regresses immediately into the mind of a toddler so we only get to see her amnesiabaru/Suffering From Rbd arc in arc 6, her confrontation with subaru, and then BAM its arc 7 time and now she is an entirely different person????? i remember raging the further i got into arc 7/8 and realizing she hasnt gotten any development, she just changed instantly. it just feels lazy to me!! unless tappei proves me wrong and writes her developing but right now louis has spent two goddamn arcs being subaru and rems loli prop/daughter prop/a plot device to use in battle, basically. okay sorry i got passionate there but i SWEAR it gets on my nerves a bit. the louis/spica conflict now would feel so much more thrilling if she didnt have her weird half assed arc 7 development.

like if i was really in the fantasy world, of course i wouldnt vote to kill spica, shes innocent now. she doesnt know shit about her crimes, shes a whole other person now. she didnt do those things. she is an innocent child. i did a poll on this a while back actually haah and yeah a lot of rz tumblr, including myself, voted to let her live for this reason!! but also like. narratively speaking. i do not care about spica at all. shes a blank slate, shes just there to move the plot, she is taking up space in the plot right now and she does not need to be here forever. i 1000% want her dead hah. yeah shes this cute little kid now, but again, she got zero development. why should i care about her?? all the interesting things about her in arc 6, all the potential that couldve happened out of her gradually going from her arc 6 self to someone who genuinely cares about rem and subaru is gone. If we actually saw this change, personally id care more about spica and be invested in her character but as it stands im really Not. and i think if we saw her actually Develop a lot of us readers would be more invested to see this conflict out - not only because our Favs are fighting over it, but also because we’d actually care about spica. Like. im not sure how many people actually care about louis past arc 6, but yeah thats just my personal thoughts on it.

And also the Other big flaw with louis’s character is tappei once again being creepy regarding kids and. Okay im gonna show an excerpt from the arc 6 WN (iirc ch60 to be exact?) and yeah fair warning because it is once again sexualizing a child (louis). But also im putting it here in case anyone wants to see some vivid proof of rezero being weird about kids. Im not sure if this was cut from the LN version or not but the fact that it exists At All makes me want to put tappei on a watchlist.

And okay i know you might be thinking about how louis represents the sin of gluttony anyway and gluttony includes sexual or romantic desire too and how having louis, who looks like a child, say this makes it even more Offputting - like. Yeah. but is it Necessary? because making louis, WHO LOOKS LIKE A CHILD, say all this and then use descriptors like “expressed a bewitching smile unsuited to her age” - is this Actually necessary? You have to be careful writing this sort of thing, because a child/character who looks like a child saying things like this due to being, you know, Mentally Unwell, is different from Emphasizing What Theyre Saying By Sexualizing Them via the narration and descriptions. And why is the sexologist line there?? its just frankly uncomfortable, to an unnecessary extent, i think. I just dont think we need all this emphasis on louis’s body, louis’s apparent “arousal”, or how her smile is “unsuited to her age” (this is the narrative once again sexualizing a child), and plot-related sex/sexual content in rezero is kept to a minimum anyway so you could also literally just have louis be weird about “loving subaru” without the sexual aspect. Because she literally just said that she was aroused by him. she looks like shes twelve at most and then in the arc immediately after this one she regresses back to having the mentality of a toddler!!! and then shes subaru’s daughter there.

And again, i know that the whole point of this scene is to be off-putting and disturbing and wrong in all sorts of ways (and also subaru tries to kill louis a page later so like.) but i think if youre going to keep the appetite=sexual desire detail (which IS a good point about gluttonys nature, on its own), then this scene absolutely needed to be handled better than what we got when the character saying this is a child. you can write a child sexualizing herself because shes frankly Unwell or Doesnt Know Better, because this is fiction and you can write sensitive topics like this with proper care, but if you, the author, are sexualizing this child, then that is a Whole Other Thing.

or you can entirely dodge this whole debate over whether or not this is actually okay to write by making louis look older. but tappei went with this route once again in a sea of rezeros various child characters despite the fact that tappei then decides to link sexual desire to the sin of gluttony, which is a sin occupied in rezero by three children. I know ley has a very traumatic backstory, and the specific details are escaping me but iirc he was likely a slave or something along those lines, with implications that hes been abused by adults, so you could delicately handle what kind of abuse he Couldve unfortunately had to go through, and also of course roy and louis are clearly not okay in the head either, but. Once again. Children in rezero Not Being Sexualized in some way is a rarity. Unfortunately.

you see this pop up again and again and again. petra? Yeah iirc theres a side story where shes weird about subarus underwear. Correct me if im wrong on that but also i would not be surprised if that was a real side story. Unfortunately. Also theres Uncomfortable lines regarding petras chest.

according to rezero wiki, schult is… well iirc al makes creepy comments about schult being a shota (and of course this isnt really called out in canon), and theres also these two details about schult:

also regarding sin archbishops who look very young, capella represents lust and yet she also looks like a child. i know the point of her design is to make her a bit grotesque, but you can get that point across without making her look fifteen years old at most. this is the sin of lust too. and shes already called “Mama” in canon—she doesnt need to look that young!!**

also side note about pandora. she also looks like a child, which—its okay with her, except for the frankly lazy outfit design imo?? why is she wearing a bedsheet??**

** another edit: its easy to see capella and pandora as women also, but again, tappei and otsuka In General keep mixing up short/young women and Children and it should be easy to tell if pandora and capella are children or young women or not. but i dont feel that its clear enough given tappei and otsuka’s Track Record.

and typhons design with the see through skirt is so creepy and disturbing that im Really glad the anime fixes it most of the time. heres the fixed version:

but also the anime Really doesnt fix it as much as it probably should, because her dress is Still see-through in some shots. you can even see a bit in this shot—we dont need to see her lower body area like That!! this skirt doesnt need to be see-through!! and the bar was already in hell anyway because otsuka makes typhon’s skirt Really see-through.

theres also this photo of typhons design and its Way better without that see-through skirt.

granted, there is some good child character designs—felt’s arc 1 design frankly sucks though purely because of the way her outfit is handled. like its Really bad. it takes only like one look to see that. but her arc 5 design is a Huge Improvement:

characters like meili, schult, child subaru, etc have good designs too, but you know, this doesnt change the Creepiness regarding children, because this also applies to subaru and Some Lines about him in arc 8 iirc. if i find them again ill talk about it another time (or if someone else finds it feel free to add on to this post?) but yeah just. urgh.

regarding felt again, theres a scene in a felt camp side story where she wakes up naked in bed, post arc 1, after reinhard kidnaps her to his mansion. and yeah, the whole point of the scene is to show reinhard is kind of dense and bad at reading social cues because hes still trying to talk to her very civilly while shes covering herself with the bedsheets and she Literally just got kidnapped by him, but, say it with me, she doesnt need to be naked. she couldve woken up in bed in her usual clothes and the point still wouldve come across!! WHY is she naked??? shes fourteen.

and also like capella, liliana looks like a child. and of course theres kiritaka, as anon said, whos obsessed with liliana, and then theres clind, the creepy butler. and of course tappei has “deniability” because lilianas not Really a child (she STILL looks like one), and clinds not Really a pedophile, he just likes youthful souls!! (this is literally disgusting.) and clind may have interesting lore or whatever about how hes kind of involved with the sin archbishop of melancholy but i just dont give a shit about him when hes a pedophile that tappei keeps excusing.

also mimi? mimi is a Special Case.

the thing with mimi and her brothers is that its implied in the kararagi girl and cats eye side stories that kittypersons (??) are fully grown by age 1. theyre rescued from dying on the streets but they insist theyre “fully grown” (at age 2-3). they havent changed physically at all. and they dont change physically at all later, because now in the Present Day they all look Exactly the same as they did when they were 1, 2, 3 years old. did they grow mentally???? theyre like 14-15 in the main route. and then you look at aganau route from the lost in memories mobile game which takes place around twenty (??) years after arc 3, and mimi is a grown woman and she looks exactly the same as she did when she was 14 or 2 years old. and then this makes her romance with garfiel a little weird because hes a normal fourteen year old??? but mimis been fully grown all this time??? what??

this is mimi. yeah, she and her brothers look EXACTLY this age their WHOLE LIVES.

and meili? yeah shes definitely one of the better child characters, though she does have an Extremely Traumatic backstory and has had a habit of copying elsa. this on its own is fine and understandable. elsa was her only support and shes a child, of course shes gonna copy elsa. though iirc she also copies elsa’s “flirtatious” aspects, which is honestly also understandable given elsa is a Questionable Influence, but this detail about meili’s character gets worse when you think about it in the context of all the other child characters—

why is it that all the children tappei (and otsuka) keep sexualizing are in the same age range? theyre about 9 or 10 to 14. louis stops being sexualized when she reverts to being a toddler and becomes subarus daughter. felt stops being sexualized when she turns 15 in arc 5. emilia is the main love interest to subaru and shes apparently “mentally 14”?? and shes tappeis favorite character too? but also mimis case is so weird because shes been “fully grown” since the tender age of ONE YEARS OLD?? well also i sure hope im wrong on this point but given the amount of child characters that fall in this age range and also how Often theyre all sexualized and also the majority of them are Young Girls—yeah its. its not a great look.

(and again a side note about meili again—tappei uses similar descriptors that he used for louis: that its “inappropriate for her age” and that she’ll “attract many men in the future”. tappei stfu. please.)

subaru’s lolimancer title is kind of funny. maybe. until you remember rezero being creepy about kids. and also like—i dont like the idea of tying a word like “loli” to the literal main character of the story anyway skdnd. theres just Connotations to it.**

**EDIT: i was told that “loli” is apparently a fan translation thing, while in japanese its “little girl user”, but in an inoffensive way (like Jojo’s “stand user”). make of that what you will!! (not great that the fan translation makes rezeros already poor treatment of kids Even Worse.)

and also—was subaru, al, medium, etc turning into children really necessary?

like in subarus case, its so he can have more ego, more confidence, more recklessness while being nerfed a bit and being mistaken as the emperor’s son—but at the same time, this just feels like a watered down version of the amnesiabaru arc to me where he has more ego, more confidence, more recklessness, and hes nerfed, but then he learns to love himself more. it just feels too similar to the amnesiabaru arc imo. him turning into a child feels very unnecessary imo and it doesnt look great when you remember tappei and otsuka’s fixation on children. literally arc 8 would be exactly or almost exactly the same if subaru was back to his usual 18/19-year old self. but he has to keep being a kid right now because Plot, apparently. then again if anyone disagrees with me on this feel free to explain your stance!! but yeah as of rn i just want subaru to be back to his usual age.

also tappeis weird about young priscilla/prisca and lamia but i havent read the ex novels about them yet so i cannot go in depth 👍 but just know you get nice lovely lines (sarcasm) like “flirty way she caresses her own thighs”. great!!! thanks tappei for fanservicing underage teenage girls once again!!

and again, treatment of child characters / characters who look younger than they are in rezero—this is so so creepy also as someone who does in fact look younger than my age. and im also Very Short (4’11) too. so like. thanks tappei and otsuka!! i feel very comfortable right now 👍

and women are often infantilized in rezero which you can. Easily connect to the pedophilia, yeah. theres also age gap romances in general, and i mentioned emilia already (yeah. emisuba is an age gap romance.), but theres also ram and roswaal, frederica and clind, anastasia iirc gets described Weirdly sometimes because shes a short flat-chested woman, and recently theres been madeline and balleroy having a small moment (that feels. Romance coded. iirc.) in an arc 8 chapter.

they look like this by the way:

thanks tappei and otsuka once again for the creepy writing and designs that actively work against all the good parts of the damn story 👍

on a lighter note, i think beatrice in general + beatrice and subarus relationship is one of the better parts of rezero—iirc theres nothing creepy about it, and beatrice and subaru are very easy to read as a sister and brother relationship. theyve helped each other out in many ways, and theyve grown Very close by the time we see them in arc 5!! you could. Technically see their relationship as a father-daughter one too, but i dislike that take—not for bad reasons, but just because i feel like it doesnt fit them.

the thing with beatrice though is that shes simultaneously A Child but shes also like. 400 years old. so i do wish the narrative balanced that more post-arc 4–not in a creepy way of course. god no. but in the sense that shes mature in a lot of ways!! shes familiar with death and suffering!! shes intimately known Isolation!! that sort of thing. shes the one whos closest to subaru because of how he helped her in arc 4 (“choose me”), and also because she knows about his self-harm and heals his injuries. shes someone who can deeply understand subaru in a lot of ways in this sense, at least. the way they support each other feels more like a sibling bond to me and not a Parent-Child one just because youre not Really supposed to be leaning this much on your child for support. theres a power dynamic to a Parent-Child relationship, and beatrice and subaru are Equals.

plus echidna gaslight gatekeep girlbossed both of them, so theyre also siblings in that sense hah…

but yeah correct me if im wrong on that though regarding beatrice and subaru and im missing something?? but yeah as far as i remember and as far as i can tell, i think theyre actually one of the least creepy parts of rezero hah :,)

and then because this sort of thing is Unfortunately so common in media like rezero, we’re kind of conditioned to try and ignore it so we can keep reading or watching because its Everywhere. i still enjoy some of rezero, but its hard to ignore All Of This. and i think its important not to turn your brain off to it and recognize whats Wrong here, yeah. (unless it makes you so uncomfortable that you have to stop looking at rezero, which is very understandable.)

but yep. thats rezero for you.

[kittycattoys]

Blood - Peter Ballard

Warnings: 18+ content, Angst, Smut, P in V, Unprotected sex, praise kink, Fucking in a bathroom, cockwarming, getting caught in the act, torcher, Dr Brenner (he needs a warning), Mentions of child murder, Mentions of manipulation, Spoilers for the end of vol.1, kinda dark, very long, Y/n basically adopts eleven as soon as they meet,

Summery: Peter Ends up falling in love and Brenner uses it to his advantage.

In this version eleven stayed in the storage room

____________________________________

The last thing that Peter expected to find in the government building he was trapped in was love. Her name was Y/n and she was a young nurse. He found out she was taken from her family and locked in here just like him. But she never had powers she was just a very skilled nurse with no reaction to blood and gore, she had the misfortune of catching the eye of Brenner who was looking for a nurse who could work with the kids as well as the staff who got ingered. Her family thought she was dead, it helped that they found a body that looked like her soon after she went missing. She was thuraly stuck.

Soon after they meet they started dating, in secret of course Dr Brenner made sure there was no fraternizing among staff. Secretly hocking up in storage closets, bathrooms, and occasionally in one another's rooms.

He pushed her chest up against the cool tiles of the small bathrooms. It was just a normal day for them doing there work and then hooking up on break. They were both already naked.

"So fucking beautiful as always" he whispered in her ear before moving to lightly kiss her neck making sure not to leave a mark no matter how much he wanted to.

"It's always for you" she lightly moaned out. He covered her mouth as he slowly slipped into her cunt. He let out a small grunts as he started moving. She let out breathy moans into his hand. He always covered her mouth making sure no one could hear them. They couldn't risk getting caught.

"your such a good girl" he said pushing her more into the tiles in front of her. Just then there was a pounding at the door and they both stilled

"You two better get dressed quickly" Brenner yelled from the other side of the door "Or else I'm dragging you both out here naked"

Peter quickly pulled out and moved to help her get dressed. He saw the look of pure terror in her eye. Her mind kept racing about what was going to happen to her she had seen what Brenner's punishments had looked like he never held back not even on the kids. "Hey don't worry I'll take the blame and the punishment" He tried to calm her but it did very little "I won't let him hurt you"

"And how would you do that" she spat angrily. He knew she was stressed out and just ignored the comment. She hadn't known of his powers, yes she saw the tattoo on his wrist but never questioned it.

Just as they finished dressing Brenner busted into the bathroom standing next to two guards. "Did you two really think you could get away with this or did you forget I have eyes and ears everywhere."

"Please Dr Brenner it's my fault just punish me" Peter said moving Y/n behind him.

"Oh you'll get your punishment" he said and then the two guards moved to grab and separate the two lovers

"It's a shame you really did make a good nurse but you'll serve another purpose" he said grabbing the girl's face.

"Your going to regret this old man" Peter said. Brenner let go of her face and turned around to punch the blonde in the face.

"No Peter you'll be the one regretting this" he moved to adjust his suit before commanding the two guards "take them to the room"

********

It had been a few months since the incident at least that's what Y/n thought it was hard to count the days in the room they locked her in. They only brought her out to tourcher Peter when he did something wrong. They would beat her in front of him, she would often pass out from the pain and wake up in her room covered in bruises. She had become imasheated from the lack of food, she only got feed a little once a day if that.

She was losing hope of ever going back to her normal routine, she would rather do anything then spend another day in this stupid room. She was just laying down on the small cot they gave her trying to ignore the pain from the bruises covering her body, when she heard screams, gun shots, and loud sounds that sounded like metal bending and breaking.

After awhile the sounds stopped. Y/n moved to sit up but then heard footsteps heading twords her room. She cowered in the corner of the wall that was next to her bed.

The door opened with a thunk and a loud squeak. She started fearing the worse but then Peter walked in. "Oh my god, Peter" she said and moved to stand up and run to him but as soon as she stood up she fell forward. She was caught by him and he pulled her up into a small kiss.

"Shit what did they do to you" he felt her ribs sticking out of her side, something he didn't notice when they beat her up because she always had a filthy shirt and shorts on. She still wore the filthy clothes. "Let's get you out of here" he moved to pick her up bridal style and quickly left the room

As they left into the hall the smell of blood quickly hit her nose. "How did you get me out"

"uh... Manipulated one of the kids to remove the thing that took away my powers then murdered a bunch of kids and guards." He moved quickly through the halls. He held her gently. "Now we need to get the kid I manipulated and get the hell out of here"

He stopped in front of the door to a storage closet. He lightly put her down on her feet next to a wall for her to lean on. He took a deep breath before opening the door. In the room the small girl stood impatiently. As soon as she saw Peter she ran over and gave him a hug. He stood there not knowing what to do while Y/n looked at him with a small smile. When the girl pulled away from him she finally saw Y/n and pointed at her. "Who is she?"

"She is the love of my life, she was also a prisoner here, I'd never leave with out her" He said looking over at the H/c girl "her name is Y/n she was one of the nurses here but Papa didn't like us being together so he took her away from me and hurt her alot"

He moved to pick her up again and the girl looked at him with confusion "why are you holding her"

"As I said Papa hurt her, he hurt her so bad she can't walk on her own now let's get going while we still can" he grabbed her hand showing her the way out.

********

Leaving the building was a blur to Y/n she had passed out at some point and woke up on the bed of a hotel room. Sitting next to the bed was Peter holding her hand.

"your awake" he said with a big smile.

She looked around the room in a small panic "where is the girl"

"Eleven is in the bath she should be out soon" he placed a small peck to her forehead "And your next"

As if almost on cue Eleven walked out of the bathroom wearing the same gray outfit that they wore during training. She slowly walked over to the other bed and sat on it without saying a thing.

Peter picked up Y/n bringing her into the bathroom, setting her down onto the closed toilet, and started running a new bath. "Could you get me some food and something to drink please." She said looking up at him

"of course darling, but when I come back you better be ready for the bath" he gave her a kiss on the forehead and left the hotel room.

She stood up bracing herself on the wall as she removed her shirt. She stood in her bra and shorts starring at herself in the mirror. Bruises covered most of her torso and there were singed skin from where they jabbed her with the cattle prod. There were also cuts some of which looked infected.

"did Papa... do that to you" a small voice asked from the doorway. Y/n whipped her head twords the voice to see the small girl standing in the middle of the doorframe

"uh yeah" Y/n slowly shuffled twords the doorway.

"does it... hurt"

"yeah it hurts a lot" Y/n cupped the small girls jaw "we need to call you something less conspicuous then eleven."

"Con... spicu... ous" she tried to say.

"Yeah Conspicuous, it means standing out, we need to teach you some English and Grammar get you talking better"

"I got you some snacks from the vending machine" Peter said entering the room "nice to see you two are bonding"

"may I have some... snacks"

"of course" Y/n quickly said before Peter could say no. He gave her a small glare "what it's my snacks."

He rolled his eyes and handed a small bag of chips to eleven and handed the rest to Y/n. "Let's get you to bed" he grabbed the little girls hand and lead her to the two beds. He opened the bag of chips for her and the made his way back to the bathroom. "And let's get you in the bath"

********

She sat in the bath as Peter ran the loofah over her body. "And here I thought you would be in the bath with me"

"Do you really want me to"

"I do yes" she looked at him with puppy dog eyes batting her eyelashes

"Fine you win darling" he said standing up to remove his clothes. She watched biting her lip. "Excited much"

"Can you blame me I haven't had you for myself in months." He let out a small chuckle before removing his pants and slowly sat in the warm water. He didn't get to sit in the water for long before she moved onto his lap.

"are you sure you want to do this darling you still have a ton of bruises and cuts" he put his hands lightly on her hips

"I'm sure just be gentle" he moved his hand from her hip down to play with her clit earning a low moan from her. "I love you" he slowed his movements it was the first time you had said that

"I love you too darling" he stopped his movements on her clit returning his hand on her hip, he moved her hips up, and slowly slipped into her awaiting heat. He moved his hand over her mouth out of habit and not wanting to wake up eleven. She started to bounce on his cock he helped with the one hand still on her hip.

He let out small grunts as she moaned into his hand. His hand that was on her hip down to play with her clit once again.

They both came embarrassingly fast from being away from each other for a very long time.

She rested with him inside her as he finished washing her off. She dozed off wrapped in his arms.

____________________________________

I'm going to make this a series because I have a shit ton more I want to write

[writingforatwistedworld]

Can I request for self aware yandere au where after mc enters their world they dote on the yandere but are also like “we would never get together, you are way too perfect for me 🥰”? For yan!Malleus, Vil and Azul please <3

Fun fact: I am a huge fan of scenarios in which the reader enters a different world.

(Lemme just change that “We would never get...” to “we could never be...” ok? Just to make the plot a bit smoother)

For a bit background info please read Malleus, Vils and Azuls “Entering their world”

Little note from my side: You are all perfect in your own ways! Don't ever think otherwise!

Self-aware au

I do not take any responsibility for you reading this no matter which age group you are from!

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, obsessive behavior, possessive behavior, mental instability, unhealthy relationship, self-doubt, insecurities, stalking, manipulation, imprisonment

Malleus/Vil/Azul-”We could never be together, you are way too perfect for me.”

Please stop

You are making a fully grown fae cry (I'm not joking)

Someone get a bottle! I bet those tears would sell for millions! You know dragon tears and that....

First of all, when he saw you for the first time he was stunned (in a positive way of course... as positive this situation can be...)

He would pull a classical dragon for you and burn those castles and villages down as long as you wished for it

That one treasury back home is too small for you? Take his and the entire family heirlooms of the Dracona family!

He wants to give you the world on a golden platter

But then he hears this

I think I heard something breaking just now...

Oh yeah, that was his heart

You were there (no not really but he tells that to himself) when he was experiencing his loneliest moments!

Watching out for him!

Caring for him!

And you think that he is the perfect one??!

Don't make him laugh!

No, that other kind of laughing...

Before you even know it he is already kneeling before you, pressing a kiss against the back of your right hand

Malleus is pleading with you

Pleading that you love yourself more

Pleading that you accept his love

Pleading that you will be with him for all eternity, safe in that room

It's almost like he is praying to his god

Scratch that, it's not like he is praying, he is praying

From that moment on he is helping you to build yourself up

This isn't so innocent how you think though...

His good did think that they weren't perfect enough, right?

Well then they just have to think that way

Don't keep him waiting for too long or you might find yourself in a unfamiliar, lavish room without even saying the defeating yes to his proposal to move on to his home

That apple he was just eating gets stuck in the wrong pipe

As Idia would say, you just triggered a SSR event

My dear reader, your road to relationship with him is already a hard one

First he stumbles right into your arms when you two first met

Which ends with you losing almost every bit if freedom you once had

And now you also say such a thing

This is the moment Vils spiral into the Abyss begins

He had polished you like the diamond that you are for the entire time

But what good was this when you wouldn't see that for yourself?!

The next day your entire routine carefully planned by Vil Schoenheit himself suddenly gets changed

Don't get me wrong, it's still one in which you are very focused on your appearance

But now some things also focus on your mental well being

For example, you get a hour more time for yourself

Let's not lie to ourselves, not a second of your time is private since you have a bunch of stalkers of which at least five are following your every move

Vils comments also get way less harsher

Now he even compliments you *insert Van Goghs “The scream”*

Let's make something clear

Vol might be a bit much with his pursuit of perfection but to him you are perfection

He just tried to polish you a bit more

Just as much as he polishes that crown every single day (you can't tell me he doesn't do that)

Even the Fairest Queen was smitten by how radiant you were so how could he ever dare to say the opposite?

Vol can be a very gentle lover when he wants to be

He cranks that up by 100%

If you leave after that and still think like that then... no that isn't even possible

Vil will spoil and coodle his dear diamond till they see their light themselves

You are after all the only one which he accepts being even beautiful than him

The second cryer of the three

But it's a bit understandable in his case if we are being honest

He has dealt with insecurities and self-doubt his entire life

So the thought of you feeling like that yourself alone is enough to force him in his knees

He is handling the situation less graceful than the first contestant though

Azul is standing on his knees burying his face into your stomach whilst coloring the fabric covering it in a dark blue from his inky tears

Azul loves you just so much

So why can't you see that you are that wonderful being??!

You are like the sunlight falling through the water

The next few days (or rather the days until you finally see yourself as a perfect being yourself) are filled with soft moments

... is what I would like to say but sadly it's only like that on the surface

Azul says very often “You are way more perfect than me. Your light is so far away from me that I can't even come close.”

Sounds so cute, right?

No

He is degrading himself to push you up

At least this doesn't end in some sort of unhealthy way of living

He is way too busy being your personal cheerleader to come up with something like that

He will gladly do anything just to keep your mindset in a positive place

He is the only one of the three that (somewhat) understands your pain which leads to more actions being taken against it

Azul doesn't notice it but he actually also hoards you (huh? Yeah I got that right... Azul are you a distant family member of Malleus? No? Ok...)

It's because he understands how you feel that he knows exactly what kind of buttons to press so that you completely depend on him for mental stability

But believe me, you are in good hands... uh... tentacles

He would never let anything bad happen to you whilst you are in his care

It's almost like you were the one crying all along

He is just so soft and caring that it hurts

But oh well, it's not like you could ever leave him after he finds out what you think about yourself

Dear, you are safe and warm under his care so why not be perfect by his side and shunned in the outside world?

In other words: he uses this to make you dependent on him forever... I already said that somewhere before, right?

[sweetchup]

Bi•valve

Noun

an aquatic mollusk that has a compressed body enclosed within a hinged shell, such as oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops.

AKA

The Most Common Seashell in the Ocean

————————

Vol.4: Change in the Tides// Ch. 20

Type: Poseidon x reader

Word Count: 3,000+

Masterlist

The boy’s nose crinkles up once he sees who helped him, “I didn’t need your help.”

“Sure you didn’t…” The red haired goddess states as her green eyes flashed to her unconscious son on the floor and… her replacement in the cracked wall. Pathetic. “Though your mother and I did make an agreement…”

“…Orion.”

–.--.--

Gasping, You shoot up from your lying position. The silk blankets that were once on you, now lying at your waist. The midnight light of the moon flowing into the room. Illuminating the grand bedroom around you in a soft glow. Wait…

… What?

“You are finally awake. You were out for some time.” 

“P-Poseidon?” You ask out quietly into the dark room.​​ Looking over, however, you see Hades instead sitting in a chair near your bedside; his calloused hand reaching out and caressing your cheek. Catching a tear you hadn’t realized had fallen.

He lets out a low chuckle, “Do my brother and I really look that similar?”

“No. I–” You stumble with your words, trying to grapple with what happened. You don’t remember… anything. Sure, there was that boy from the market, the blood and Triton. But after that, it was all fuzzy. 

The smile suddenly falls off of Hades’ face and a look of concern replaces it, “Did… Did you want my brother here?”

“No.” You instantly respond, though you quickly feel the need to take it back. You did secretly wish Poseidon was here to comfort you. Even though you knew the sea god would never do such a thing, “It’s just… I don’t know… I— What happened? H-How am I…?”

“Shh,” Hades says, grabbing onto your shoulder as you attempt to get up, “It’s all okay. It was bound to happen eventually. Even Hercules experienced it.” 

“Experience what…?”

Hades pauses and seems to roll his eyes as he huffs, “It seems there's another thing my idiot brother decided to keep from telling you.”

You wait as Hades adjusts himself in his chair before finally telling you what he was getting at. “When one takes a sip of Ambrosia and survives, there's a sort of… side effect. No one knows why it happens or how but think of it as an energy burst in a way.”

“An energy burst?” You murmur out, though your words echo in the big bedroom you were in.

“Yes. It happens only once but Demi-Gods or Goddesses who have the ambrosia can go into a black out state of mind, where they are absolutely rabid. They will go punching and screaming to go after whatever they are going after. Even…”

Hades looks you in the eyes, a serious expression on his face, “...if it costs them their life.”

You can’t help but let out a small gulp, “...And…I was like that?”

“Yes.” Hades quickly adds another comment as your face turns distraught, “But it was bound to happen sooner or later.”

However, that does little to relieve your sour mood, “Did…did anyone get hurt?”

“No– Well… actually…” You grow nervous as Hades trails off, “that depends on your definition of hurt.”

You grow nervous at Hades' expression. It was a mix of amusement and blankness, “What happened…”

Finally, since the time you awoke, Hades smirks, “It's best for you to see it yourself.”

Holding up two fingers, Hades chants something under his breath. You watch on anxiously as a flame like essence begins to glow around the fingers. It is a faint white before suddenly–as Hades finishes chanting–turning into a startling neon green. The corner of Hades’ lips twitch up slightly, a little smug upon seeing your expression, but it doesn’t stop him from bringing them up to the temple of your head. Just as the tips of his fingers touch your skin, you gasp. Your vision blurs drastically and it suddenly goes black.

–.--.--.--

“Oh look she's actually getting back up.” Amphtrite mutters, turning her back to Orion to face you. Watching as you stumble and make your way out of the wall. Your movements erratic and stiff as if you weren’t even remotely aware of what your body was doing, “Surprising.”

“Though…” A shiver runs down Orion's spine at the expression Amphtrite makes, “I wonder how much more you can take.”

“Hey, don’t—!” Orion goes to stumble to his feet but before he even twitches his fingers, Amphitrite is halfway across the room and in front of you. The old queen kicks up her leg ready to aim at your head with a sickening blow. However as a loud smack resounds across the room, you stand there unscaved. Your arm up blocking your head from the incoming blow.

“Impressive…” Amphitrite lets out sarcastically, her brow twitching up slightly in amusement, “But let's see if you can continue to follow—”

All of a sudden, Amphitrite lets out a gasping breath. Her face contorting to pain as your heel digs into her abdomen. The sound of broken bones cracking echoes in the room as Amphitrite is kicked into the nearby wall.

“You—“ Amphitrite coughs out, her hair suddenly going wild and standing up on its ends, “You Bitch!” 

Orion can only watch back in horror as the two queens battle it out. These… These were gods. The pressure was immense, it was suffocating, and Orion couldn’t even move. His eyes trained to the fight in front of him out of pure fear. 

And it is only as a large droplet of blood—from whom he didn’t know—came splashing onto his cheek, that he broke out of his stupider. 

“H-Hey!” The teenage boy announces, picking up an ornamental sword that laid nearby on the ground, “Stop it! I don’t care what my mother told you. Stay out of my—“

“Shut up.” 

Suddenly, a shiver goes down Orion’s spine as the water around him goes cold; eerily cold. And he instantly drops his sword. The metal making a loud clang as it hits the marble floor. He can only let out shallow hiccups of breaths as he slowly turns to look who was next to him. 

…Poseidon…

The elder god doesn’t even spare another glance nor word at him but Orion got the message. Loud and clear. If he moved, he would be dead. And it wouldn’t even take a second. 

Frozen in fear. Orion lips quiver but he doesn’t make a peep. He stands there frozen as Poseidon suddenly disappears from his side and he has Amphitrite in a death grip by her hair. 

“P-Poseidon…,” His ex-wife chokes out at him. Though Poseidon doesn’t spare her a glance, a look or even a thought. Just like their marriage and as long as she had known him, Poseidon pays Amphitrite no mind. Instead his eyes were trained to you—you fricking bitch—while his other arm was wrapped around your waist lovingly. Even as you scratched and clawed at his chest to the point it drawn blood, still desperate to get at Amphitrite in your crazed state, Poseidon didn’t flinch. “M-my Love…”

Quickly, Amphitrite realized that was the wrong thing to do as Poseidon’s sudden bitter cold gaze finally looked towards her. For the first time in their lives, the two ex-lovers locked eyes and Amphitrite felt pure fear run through her. 

Poseidon simply muttered 6 words to her, “I was never such a thing.” 

“P-Poseidon…!”

–.--.--.--

You gasp and clutch your head as a sharp pain runs through you. Nearly collapsing from the overwhelming feeling, yet somehow still attempting to hold yourself together, you hunch over to keep yourself centered.

“Shit—“ Hades’ cold hands suddenly grab your face quickly, “Sorry I shouldn’t have done that so quickly after you had woken up.”

However, that was the last thing on your mind at the moment. As you finally get yourself well enough to glance up from your fetal like position, you can only say one thing, “Poseidon…I… he…

…He ripped her arm off.”

An eerie silence fills the room but you could tell that Hades isn’t all that shocked by your words. Not even in the slightest. 

“Yes. That he did.” Hades answers simply, still caressing your temple as he sighs and looks away from you.

“Y-you’re…are you not surprised?” 

“It’s simply an eye for an eye.” The eldest god sighs, taking his hand from your temple to run through his hair as he leans back in his chair, “Amphitrite tried to hurt you with her bare hands so Poseidon tore one of them off.” 

“But…”

“You’re thinking humanly. Remember we are gods.” 

Hades suddenly stands up and walks around the bed to the window nearby. 

“We are Beautiful; Hubris; Malicious; Possessive.”

As Hades trails off, you watch as he brings up a hand to the glass of the window, “I do not blame my brother for what he did. Hell…” Suddenly Hades lets out a dark chuckle, “If anyone laid a finger on Persephone… I…”

You can’t help but let out a low gulp as the glass around Hades hand started to form tiny crystallized cracks. 

“…I don’t know what I would do…”

Silence dances around the room as Hades takes a deep breath. Trying to calm himself down. “But hell, that’s just how we gods are.” 

“But, Poseidon doesn’t like me like that.”

And, Hades doesn’t miss a beat in responding, “We both know that’s false. Much to my distaste.” 

“Distaste?” You can’t help but laugh at that, “I thought you were happy about the fact Poseidon and I were together. Well.. other than that small bump from earlier…” 

“Yes. You are very much correct but not anymore,” Hades turns himself around to look back at you. A young human; no, he was wrong. You were far from human now. You were a Demi-goddess. A Queen. Poseidon had plucked you from your home and burnt everything that remained of your former self. Hell, he didn’t have to think, he knew that you could no longer blend back into human society. This was why he knew Poseidon, and Zeus, had to be held responsible for their actions, “I have the tendency to spoil my younger brothers a bit too much. They have never faced my wrath and I had no intention of it happening either. Though…”

Hades comes closer to you and sits down on your bed, “…this time those dumbasses took it too far and they deserve to be punished. Especially Poseidon.”

“…you don’t have to do that…” You can’t help but whisper out.

“Yes, I do.” Hades answers, “Someone has to stick up for you.” 

Suddenly before you can respond, the door of the bedroom comes crashing open. 

“And that makes the two of us!” Persephone shouts out, though she pauses as she walks a couple of steps in. After a few moments, a smirk makes its way on her face, “Hey… Hey… Hey Hades… I didn’t realize you were this eager to get into her bed.”

“Persephone!” You gape out shocked at her words, your face feeling hot and bothered as you scurry away from Hades as much as you can. Though Hades doesn’t even bat an eye, a low chuckle being the only sign he heard his wife in the first place.

“No, no. I don’t mind (y/n),” Persephone answers, a small pout making its way on the tiny woman's face, “If anything, I’m a bit jealous Hades would have gotten to you first…“

“You know I wouldn’t have started without you, my love.” At Hades’ “charming” words , Persephone leaps into her lover’s arms and presses kisses all over his face. “You know how much I love to just sit back and watch it happen.” 

“Hades!” 

Upon hearing your whines, Persephone turns her attention back to you, “Oh come on, (y/n). You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about—“

Persephone is suddenly cut off by a booming voice, “That’s enough.” 

“Hey, Hey, Hey.” Gently, Hades moves Persephone off his lap and stands up. “I thought I told you to stay away from here.”

You can’t help but watch stunned as Poseidon pays no mind to his eldest brother’s words and instead, he bravely marches up to you by your bedside. Not even batting an eye at the couple on the other side.

“Poseidon—“ 

Persephone is cut off once again as Poseidon speaks, “Triton is safe and well.” 

A confused silence falls over the room.

“What…?” You can’t help but let out. Looking up at your husband in pure confusion. 

Poseidon blinks not once, not twice but three times before repeating himself. Surprisingly without any sass or rebuttal from him. 

“My—Our son… he’s fine.” He says, his hand hesitantly reaching down to touch your face. Though it is only a ghost of a touch that caresses your cheek. As if he was almost hesitant to do such a thing in the first place. “I came to inform you that Triton is safe and healing. His injuries were minimal for a god.”

“I see…” You whisper, hesitantly sparing a glance away from him to look at Hades and Persephone. The latter silently fuming as he stared at his brother. “Thank you… I mean it…”

“Though…”

Your look suddenly turns icy as you bravely stare Poseidon down in the eyes, “What about your other son? Poseidon.”

“(Y/n)…”

Poseidon’s gaze suddenly turns blank as Hades chimes in as well, “I think we both deserve that explanation, dear brother.”

“I don’t owe you anything—“

“Poseidon.” The sea god—though not showing it—can’t help but be shocked as you cut him off. While you may have done it before, it was out of pure firey spite. Not like this. No. Not like the cold chill that he could feel leaking from your prescence, “I want an answer. Now.”

The blonde haired god looks at you for a couple of moments. Seeming to take you in as if he needed to before taking his hand away from your cheek and opening his mouth.

“If you are referring to the myths about us gods and asking if I raped the gorgon sisters. I did not.”  Poseidon answers, his gaze never leaving you as he continues, “Remember, Humans from the past feared us. While some of our stories were of heroic tales, romance and adventure. Most were to show our wrath, have the Humans respect us. Fear us.”

He lets out a heavy sigh before finally tearing his eyes away from yours, “And no one… no one, feared the wrath of the ocean. The wrath of any other ocean god, more than the Greeks.”

While you felt bad for Poseidon and the fact humans wrote him such a way just because they feared him, you still couldn’t help but still feel bitterness towards him for not telling you this sort of thing. So you tried your hardest not to let out a voice of concern. 

“I see…” You honestly had no clue what to say next. “So…, then you and the Gorgons…”

“They don’t produce offspring through Sex.” Poseidon quickly explains, “According to what I’ve gathered over the years, it's through drinking the blood of their victim. I didn’t think the last time I got into an… altercation with those three that they would dare to use my blood for that purpose.”

They?

“You think all three tried to…?”

“Likely.” You are caught off guard as Hades suddenly voices up. Though you could still hear the bitter tone in his voice from Poseidon’s presence, “Those three have been trying to get back at the gods ever since Athena turned them into those things.”

A thought suddenly hits you, “And…, Holding the true heir to Atlantis…”

Poseidon meets your gaze, seeming to already understand the situation at hand, “Will cause the downfall of the gods.”

“Wait, Wait, Wait,” You are shocked as Persephone suddenly steps into the conversation, “I can’t help but see that you aren’t too shocked by Orion”

That was very true. Persephone made a good point.

“Because,” For the first time ever you see Poseidon hesitate, 

“Because Orion isn’t the only one.”

You can instantly hear Persephone screaming at him but it was muffled, as if it seemed far away. It felt as if your ears were ringing and as you stared at Poseidon’s blue eyes, you realized it was the only thing keeping you grounded. And it’s only as Hades voices up after a couple of moments that you snap out of it. 

“Of course he hasn’t told her about that…” 

“About what?“ You snap your head at Hades before quickly turning your head back at Poseidon, realizing he’s the one you should be mad at. “I’m starting to get sick and tired of you not telling me things!” 

“(Y/n)—“

“No, don’t (y/n) me!” You shout, slapping away Poseidon’s hand as he goes to touch you. 

“Human.” Poseidon warns, his patience thinning and he struggles to hold himself calmly. 

“Poseidon.” At his brother’s harsh call, he stops himself. Finally, Poseidon decided to give one glance at his elder sibling and while it was extremely brief, he knew what Hades was trying to tell him.

Treat her as your equal. 

“Tell me everything, Poseidon. Anything and everything.” You say bitterly to the god you call your husband, “Even if it takes all night.”

Thankfully, there wasn’t even as much as a sigh before Poseidon starts talking once again. 

–.--.--.--

What a mess…

To put it simply, you learned much more than you wanted to know about the realm of the gods. Especially the Fates. 

You knew from the many Greek myths how minor yet also big of a role they played but you didn’t expect this. It turns out that those three old hags had just as much of a sick sense of humor as the rest of the gods did. Especially little Miss. Future diety. 

She apparently liked to whisper into the ears of Mortals to spark some “true” inspiration in their myths and storytelling about the gods. Apparently one time when Hercules went to go visit them, he overheard some of the futures that she was sprinkling into Mortal thoughts. 

One of which was about the myth of Chrysaor and Pegasus. 

From what the gods assumed and secretly looked into, Chrysaor and Pegasus were stillborn in Medusa. Never to be born naturally and could likely only be produced if Perseus chopped off Medusa’s head.

Of course, at the time, they had never heard of a valent hero called Perseus and believed that it was something of the long future. Nothing to worry about currently.

Though you couldn’t understand why they were so calm about this. Especially Poseidon. He now knew he had a first born son in Orion. A half gorgon, half god-like being. One that you knew hated gods and goddesses alike. He also still had Triton. A 100% god offspring whose birth mother was insane. One that was heir to the throne (though you didn’t know if that was true anymore). And now, now, you knew that at any moment if Perseus came strolling along and chopped Medusa’s head off. Poseidon would have two more children to add to his bunch. And you didn’t want to know what would happen for that situation. This was just insane! Total insanity! 

“My lady?” You are suddenly startled out of your thoughts as Marine’s concerned voice rings in your ears. “Are you alright, My Lady?”

You give Marine a small grin before once again looking out the window of the carriage, “Yes, yes. Of course.”

Though, that was very much a lie. And Marine knew it just as much as you knew it. But he didn’t press any further. 

“Well,” Marine says, suddenly speaking up once again, “I heard that the parade tomorrow is going to be exciting.” 

The Cychríepochí Festival. Day 2 has now arrived. 

“Yes, that it shall be very… exciting.”

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