#Did we actually jump not back in time but into an alternative time line??

[benkaben]

Is She Nan don't worrying where his dad is. Like. Did he just forgor. About the whole step siblings thing.

[halaboyz]

did you like her in the morning?, yunho

ateez bf! yunho x fem! reader angst angst angst angst (pre-breakup) wc: 1.5k warnings: desperation idk, mentions of cheating, a whole lot of cursing, mention of k-word and d-word for the sake of the argument a/n: you voted for him YOU GOT IT ! this has two POVs, the other one (the actual arranged marriage) is here ! i think this hurts more idk !!! don't ask me ,, i alternately use jeong and yunho in the dialogues bc "jeong!!" feels a little bit more powerful and "yunho" seemed soft so don't bash my head for that !!

"...Can we talk?" Yunho calls over the phone a few minutes of silence after the line got connected. He sounded awfully serious, yet so soft-spoken.

"Of course, Love. What time do you get home?" You coo, staying calm amidst the anxiety building up. "I've also got groceries I just picked up to cook so if you want to eat something, tell me,"

"No, y/n. I meant now. Can we talk now?" You hear him sigh, and you could make out in your head that he was slightly shaking his head and massaging his forehead.

"Okay, since you seem so head-straight about it. What is it?" You surrender, putting your groceries down and sitting on the couch. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. We just need to talk," Yunho quickly shuts you down, as if he was in a rush to let everything out. "I... I'm not going home."

"..Okay? We'll see each other tomorrow night though, right?"

"No, I meant I'm not going home. Anymore." And silence. It wasn't even supported with any explanation. Any kind, any type. As if you were just to accept what he's saying.

"What do you mean, Yunho?"

"I'm not going to go home anymore, y/n. Not anymore." It was that simple. It was just like that. Told like news, and he wasn't even fazed while you were nearly on your knees to understand.

"Love, I don't understand. What do you mean you're not coming home? Hmm?" Your voice wavered as you begged for him to say something.

"I'm not going home anymore, y/n. What's so hard to understand?" He exasperatingly replies, making you furrow your brows.

"I asked what you fucking meant! Make me understand, Yunho! You can't just drop a bomb like this and act like I'm the dumb one here!" You exclaim through the phone, jumping on your feet and then going back and forth the living room and the front door. "I know we're not getting along the past few weeks but god, Yunho. Let's at least work it out,"

"I'm getting engaged, y/n." You wait. You wait, and wait, and wait. For further excuses. Further explanations. Anything. If you thought that the words 'I'm not going home anymore,' was a bomb, this was self-destruction. You shouldn't have asked, huh?

But when it was followed with nothing but silence and his sighs, you scoff in disbelief.

"...That's it?" You just... held on. He was being ridiculously funny that an insignificant, lifeless laugh comes out of you.

"Dad set us up."

"So, that's it?" You reply quickly when all he does was take his time sculpting an acceptable answer, but he was greatly failing at it. So when you replied that quickly, he doesn't try anymore. "Come home, Yunho."

"No, y/n."

"Come home and fucking explain looking at me in the eyes, Yunho. I'm not going to make any engagement happen if you're not going to come home, Jeong. So come home if you really want that and, end us. I'll even pack your things with my own two fucking hands," And you were stern. Yet you mean the other way around.

Just to prove something, you don't want him to come home. So that no engagement was going to happen in your territory. As you end the call in a hurry, you fall down to your knees as you sob, it was better to sob all by yourself than have Yunho standing in front of you in minutes, hours...

To which he is.

As you were hugging your knees, unable to move from your place on the floor leaning on the couch, you hear your front door opening to your horror.

Yunho, standing tall and mighty before you, as if he even dropped everything just to come home. To come home and end everything; to come home and ruin you.

He stared right at you, love long left his eyes. It was clear through your teary eyes, and it wasn't as hard for him to let go as it was with you.

"You want to leave so bad you really came home, huh?" A chuckle of some sort leaves your lips, wiping your tears.

"Are we going to make things hard for the both of us, y/n?" He starts, and he doesn't break eye contact as he slowly steps closer to you. Close enough to hear him better, far enough not to reach him to hold him back.

"It's not hard for me though, Yunho." You say out, coming as a whisper that shakes. "It's not hard for me holding on to you, Yunho. I've loved you all these years and we've had rough patches too, but it was never hard for me to always, always choose you."

You've come to think Yunho's silence was a tinge of hesitation, or so you hope. Because Yunho doesn't respond.

"You don't look like you're having a hard time too, only that we meant totally different things." You chuckle lifelessly, sniffing. "You don't look like you're having a hard time letting go of the woman you dated for five years."

"Y/n. Stop it. It wasn't an easy decision,"

"Wasn't an easy decision, for whom, Jeong?!" You've risen up to your feet to step closer to him and have him a good look of your disheveled appearance. "You're twenty-five for fuck's sake! Would your dad kill you if you went against him for once?!"

Your pushes were harsh and so you wanted it to be painful as well. But god you wished these number of pushes that hurt him amounted to the pain you were also carrying.

"Would you die if you fought for us once, Jeong?!" Yunho tries grabbing your arms but you only broke away. "You gave them the right of the decision, but how about me, Jeong?! How about me?! Am I invisible or something?! Because for all I know, I'm still fucking here!" Falling to your demise as your knees hit the floor once again.

And Yunho just watches.

"...I'm still here, Yunho..." Your hands grab his index finger ever so desperately to hold on to him. It was like hanging to your life. Because everyone knows he was your life. He was someone you'd choose a hundred times over, return to earth for, and die a million times for.

Yet he can't do anything for you. He can't fight for you, he can't stay for you, he can't.

"I wish you'd fight for us like how I do, Yunho..." You sob helplessly, leaning your forehead into his hand that you held.

Yunho watches. Just watches. You had no idea how he felt, or what he was thinking. You don't even get to think about that. You were overwhelmed with your own, so how could you even think of him now?

"We were meant to end this way or that way, y/n," Yunho mumbles, head turning to his side to avoid looking at you.

"...So you took the way you'd ruin me best," You nod unknowingly, hands slowly slipping away from his finger. "Okay."

Yunho looks at you, and how your hands slowly dropped.

"Leave." It barely leaves your lips. You don't want him to, of course, but you were done.

You were done fighting for someone who can't do the same for you. You were done holding on to something you're only slipping away on.

With courage, you meet his eyes once again as you stretch your neck up in dejection. And for the first time when Yunho step inside your shared apartment, you saw emotion in his eyes.

That is, of empathy.

He looked at you as if you were such a pitiful thing, in denial of what he made you.

In ruins. Who was taking each of her broken parts and hugging it all in desperation to keep it and everything together.

He made you like that. And now was he thinking that this is the reason why he took the easy way out.

Because if you took much longer to stay, to find more reasons to love each other, and someday just find you or Yunho in this position of yours, in despair, in shambles, and probably much even worse, he'll take the easy way out. He always will.

And you didn't deserve that now, nor will you ever.

"Leave," So you glue all your broken parts and glare at the man you loved, you once ever so loved, stern in tone and harsh in glare. "And like I said, I'll even pack all of your things for you. So leave, Jeong."

You may or may not have, still, prayed for him to stay. For the last one.

But when he doesn't, and your met with his back scrambling to the front door and closing it, you can't help another surge of tears flow as your broken parts get much more broken than it was before.

So much for gluing it back together for a mere thirty seconds.

He left in thirty seconds.

permanent taglist: @sunlightwoo

networks: @kflixnet

[superm4ks]

Austria obvi been a doozy to process but 1 part of the conversation thats always interesting to me is how people are taking Max and Lando's battle as a textbook example of 'dirty' racing and comparing it wid other battles that are seen as 'clean'. Heres the thing tho, the choices both those drivers made in those laps dont have 'clean' alternatives that wud have benefited them in that moment. It was an inevitable type of confrontation. At least for the most part.

Clean/dirty racing in this generation of very wide cars literally just a matter of is there a significant enough delta to give one of the cars lap advantage or not. If there is, u get something like George and Landos lil dance in Spain. One of the cars has better tire wear, is faster, so its just a matter of waiting for the right time to make a move and build a gap. Its clean because its a waiting game, its not a battle at all. But if the cars are more evenly matched, and more importantly, if the driver defending/attacking is actually willing to defend/attack, thats when it becomes too close for comfort and as racing drivers what ur basically saying is, I am willing to take that risk because I need to gain ((or I need to keep)) advantage.

Something thats also been interesting is how people have perceived each drivers role in this particular 'dirty' battle.

I been reading and watching a lot of analysis of those laps and one of the things that jumps out immediately is that theres this assumption that Max had to get out of the way. He just had to. The fact that he didnt is what made the battle 'dirty' and the onus of 'cleaning' it was on him. When u press that narrative, and u ask the simple question of why wud a racing driver even consider allowing another one to pass him, the argument turns into endangerment. It was dangerous that Max didn't let Lando pass. The tactics Max employed to defend his line were dangerous. Follow up question, why does it matter if they're dangerous when ur literally racing cars 200 miles per hour. Oh, because what Max did specifically is not allowed'. And what is that, specifically. Then the 3 ghosts of under braking past come into ur house to offer Max a chance of redemption. And u think, why are they here. Wheres the telemetry, the wheel input, the driver cam, the stewarding precedence, the actual rule, that allows some hypothetical idea of intentional harm to even enter this conversation. But it doesn't matter anymore, because it has set the tone for how ur gonna deal wid Max's role in a 'dirty' battle vs Lando's. Lando will, inevitably, become a victim of Max, not an active participant in a battle for the lead. Max's tactics are dangerous, while Lando's were necessary.

Ant Davidson starts his analysis on skypad by comparing Max setting up a corner to Baku 2018. Baku happened in a straight, and both drivers were reprimanded for it. I personally think Max shud not have weaved in a straight like that, but thats my opinion, its not reflective of the sporting rules. Late maneuvers are dangerous but they're not necessarily illegal, not just when it comes to defending, but also attacking. What Ant Davidson does in this opening analogy is setting the tone of HIS opinion. And its interesting to me that he finishes the segment, in which at several points he talks of Lando's choices in first person, wid 'I rest my case'. The fact that he had a 'case' at all and feels comfortable admitting it is kind of shocking until u realize that the objective of his 'stewarding' is to turn defending into a punishable act because Max was the one doing it, and Max is 'dirty'. In no instance are Lando's late maneuvers questioned because, we go the back to the original point, Lando was entitled to make them. He was entitled to pass. Max, however, is not entitled to defend.

Johnny herbert who was one of the stewards in Austria, said that they looked at Max's defensive maneuvering and it was 'clever' and made Lando's life difficult but it was not clear it was under braking. He said Max positions his car very well but sometimes goes beyond the drivers 'unwritten code'. Then, regarding specifically the incident in t3, he says some people claim Lando could have moved and yes maybe but he was right not to, because it showed Max he was prepared to 'fight back' and he can 'beat Max at his own game'. Lando did not complete a single overtake in Austria. Not once did he get ahead of Max where he didnt have to fall back again. But because they bumped and Max was penalized, this is a net positive for him. The underlying implication here is that anything that threatens Max's position on track is a net positive for the driver, and for the sport. About how this battle will affect Lando, Johnny says, 'up until Austria Max had always won. Now he is not winning. It will be interesting to see how Lando responds. He will now be in a better place after what has happened. He has realized he knows he has a chance of beating Max at his own game.' Lando finished a race pointless the day after he got fleeced in a sprint. I dont think this was a positive grand prix for him. I think he engaged in a few laps of hard racing wid Max that ended in a puncture for both. Thats not important though. He challenged Max. Johnny seems content wid just that.

The issue is not that Lando isnt a victim because Max is, nor that pundits are not allowed to be biased, or that Max shud not have been penalized. Whats been bugging me about the reaction to Austria is that once something like that happens and it involves Max, its no longer about what actually took place or the dynamic between drivers that allowed it to escalate, its about deciding whether or not the battle was dirty, and how is that dirtiness attributed to a single actor. It takes motor racing and turns it into the weighing of souls. And Max's will always be heavier.

[constellationguy]

Another Perspective

Episode two

"Text": regular talking

'Text': regular thinking

"Text": Saiki talking telepathically

'Text': Saiki thinking

ATTENTION! You might want to rewatch episode two of The Disastrous Life of Saiki K before reading to fully understand the events.

Previous episode

Summary: Episode 2 in L/N Y/N's perspective.

CRASH

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” “Was that a meteor?”

‘Nope just Kusuo trying to put the ball away,’ thought Y/N exasperated.

“Alright losers listen up. We’re playing dodge ball!” Coach Matsuzaki announced. However class 2-3 did not seem too amused at the thought of playing dodgeball, they’d rather be doing something else.

“HEY QUIT COMPLAINING! Let’s give it everything we’ve got! So what if it’s childish? It’ll be fun to relive our youth! Let’s go out there and dodge till we drop!” Hairo announced convincingly.

‘Damn, and here I thought we were going to do something else,’ Y/N thought a little glum, Saiki also agreed with this thought.

“Well if Hairo really wants us to then I guess” “Ya we gotta give it a shot right?” Soon enough the collective opinion of the class turned from annoyed to eager positivity.

“Who wants to be on my team?” Most on the class raised their hands and shouted along with enthusiasm. “We’ll decide the teams with rock paper.” Matsuzaki announced.

“Alright! We’re gonna win this thing!” “YAAAAA” ‘I have a feeling this is gonna be a bit overdramatic even for my taste,’ “I have a feeling you’re right,” Saiki said to Y/N. “Being on Hairo’s team beats the alternative right?” ‘Guess so’ Y/N thought back to Saiki.

“We’ll start with a jump ball.” And with that the game is on! Hairo immediately grabbed the ball yelling enthusiastically and got Takahashi out.

“YA WE GOT ONE OUT!” Hairo’s team gave him numerous high fives in their excitement. “Getting one player out is worth that much excitement? And how is he sweating so much already? We just started.” “Hairo’s his own little sports anime, it’s best you just roll with it” Y/N said back to Saiki.

“Hey there Saiki. We’re taking you first!” The student threw the ball but Saiki did nothing to catch or block the ball from hitting him.

“Hold it Saiki! Were you actually trying to get hit by that ball?” Saiki nodded. “For real? Well. Hey where you going? You’re not out. Face safe rule.” Hairo smiled at Saiki, he could not smile back. Now Saiki has to throw the ball, uh oh.

“Saiki give it all you’ve got!” Hairo yelled. ‘Ya I don’t think so. I’d like my classmates to still have skin by the end of class.’ Y/N thought.

Y/N could tell that Saiki was obviously freaking out but eventually he landed on throwing the ball at Nendo. The throw happened to turn out more like a calm pass to Nendo though.

“What the hell kinda wussy ass throw was that?! This isn’t a game kid, it’s serious put some heart into it!” ‘Ouch that was harsh. You tried your best Kusuo, don’t worry about it too much.’

“Hey now buddy! Thanks for going easy on your boy but right now we’re supposed to be enemies.”

“Did you really go easy on him cause he’s your friend?!” ‘No part of that is true’

“Alright. They don’t call me Nen the dodgeballer for nothing! Take that! And that! Bam! Boo ya! Two fa!” “Wow he took out 6 players at once!” “The paper team only has two guys left!” Conveniently and not so conveniently Y/N was gotten out by Nendo but Saiki stayed in the game.

“Obviously I’ve gotta save my pall for last. Which makes you my next target captain. Dodge ball!!!!”

“AAAAAA” ‘okay here’s the dramatics, I’m not really into sports anime’s but this is entertaining enough,’ ‘try being in the sports anime’ Saiki thought back to Y/N. ‘right. Sorry Kusuo,’.

Just as Hairo was lining up to catch Nendo’s ball, Saiki got in the way and the ball hit him instead, shocking everyone.

“Hey don’t give up now! We’re still in this! LETS GO!” Surprisingly Hairo had enough time to make that short speech and also catch the ball before it hit the ground. ‘Okay now that was impressive’.

“Oh no! Hairo’s knee is busted!” “That means Saiki is the only one left on team paper!” The he shocked and annoyed faces Saiki was making was gold to Y/N, maybe playing dodgeball wasn’t such a bad idea.

“Looks like this is it for me. I entrust this ball to you. I know that you’re hiding something Saiki. You’ve got a power deep inside you that’s you’re not using. What’s stopping you? Now’s the time. I want to see you let loose and unleash” he paused to vomit sparkly blood. “Help us Saiki. You’re our only hope.” He puked sparkles again.

“Yo Saiki, I believe in you!” “We’re counting on you Saiki!” “Kick their butts Saiki!” ‘You have got to be kidding me!’

‘Kusuo’s thinking hard about his next move. Whatever it is, I hope it turns out in his favor.’ Y/N thought a little worriedly.

This time when Saiki threw the ball it turned out to be a spin ball. This shocked the class and brought his likeability up.

“Finally it’s my turn to show you what I’ve got. Do you have any idea what that means for you Saiki? I means that you’re in big trouble.” Kaido grabbed the ball extra confident. ‘By that face Kusuo is making, I bet he was banking on getting out, guess that plan failed.’ Y/N couldn’t tell if they should feel bad for Saiki or a little amused at the situation he’s in.

“Here’s my meteor spark genocide ball!” Kaido then made a rather pitiful noise when letting go of the ball. Saiki caught the ball with pretty much no effort.

Saiki then threw the ball to out field to bring a player in but he put a little too much power into it, which sent the class into hysteria.

“Sorrrrry, Buddy!!!” Saiki braces for Nendo’s ball and was hit. “Iiiiiiii’ve got it!” Hairo was suddenly in the game again. “Just in time” ‘I kinda feel bad for Kusuo but that face is priceless!’ Y/N tried to not laugh at Saiki’s misery.

“Saiki I saw the spirit you put into that throw. It’s really moved me!” Hairo was crying! “I’ll handle things from here!” Hairo managed to get a few outs until the score was even.

“Sorry but your little come back ends here. I won’t be dropped as easy like those puny whimps.” “Ya me neither,” “Fine! Let’s finish this thing. Bring it!”

When Nendo threw the ball Hairo was unable to catch it, but Saiki came to the rescue and gently threw it back to Hairo. “No! You take it.” Hairo threw the ball back to team rock and got Nendo and Kaido out in one throw.

“Saiki is so amazing!” “Nice job Saiki!”

“Buddy! That was a really great match man!” Nendo hugged and cried to Saiki and the class’s adoration for Saiki quickly dissipated.

—————————————————————————

“WHAT? Manako said yes?!” Class 2-3 was filled with conversations on love and relationships. In the middle of the classroom sat Saiki and Yumehara, and it was clear she had a crush on him.

Y/N was only a few seats behind the two and knew that today was going to be interesting for Saiki and fun for them. Yumehara’s blush was evident and Y/N could tell that Saiki was reading her thoughts and wasn’t very unamused at their contents.

In Yumehara’s first plan she tried to make a meet-cute, but Saiki flipped over her and used his powers to put all her papers back neatly into her hands. Y/N was at the end of the hall and had the best view possible to this event, and boy was it entertaining.

In Yumehara’s next plan she dropped her handkerchief next to Saiki, but this plan was ruined by Y/N themself. Yumehara didn’t notice but Y/N was walking right behind her and when she dropped the handkerchief Y/N picked it up, “Hey Yumehara! You dropped this.” Y/N announced.

‘I know Saiki was meant to pick this up but I couldn’t resist throwing a wrench in her plans! Sure it may be a little mean but she’s my source of entertainment for today, she’s being a little too interesting for me to let slide,’ Y/N thought only feeling slightly guilty. Unfortunately Y/N’s thoughts were accurate and when they gave her handkerchief back she had a very obviously dejected expression, “how interesting,” Y/N smirked.

Undeterred Yumehara continued on her mission to get the attention of Saiki. But unfortunately for her, all of her plots were ruined by either an unamused Saiki or an overly enthusiastic Y/N.

For Yumehara’s final plan she tried to wait for Saiki so they could share his umbrella but before that could happen the rain suddenly stopped. Yumehara was feeling solemn but quickly found a new boy, but at the other side of the entrance Y/N was waiting for their boy, Kusuo.

“I think you had a little too much fun messing with her,” Saiki said to Y/N. “Maybe so, but I couldn’t have her stealing you away from me.” Y/N said jokingly. “Who else am I going to make massive amounts of sweets for?,” Y/N continued. “No one,” Saiki replied quickly. “That’s what I thought. Now let’s get home, I’ve got macrons with our names on them!”

—————————————————————————

In the L/N residence it was a normal and quiet afternoon. Y/N was making coffee jelly and was preparing to make their mango smoothie, all was well.

‘Ever since the neighbors have stopped fighting Kusuo has been able to come over more often. I hope he and his parents are doing well.’ But suddenly they were thrown out of their thoughts my a harsh CRACK from next door. ‘I know this is non of my business but I swear if they start fighting again,’ Y/N thought exasperated.

It was quiet for about an hour until a BAM was heard, again from the Saiki residence. ‘Okay what the hell. Is Kusuo in a bad mood or something, sheesh,” Y/N thought while sipping on their smoothie.

“Hey,” Saiki suddenly teleported in front of Y/N, giving them quite the scare. “I know we’ve been friends for forever but damn, give me some warning Kusuo! Anyway what was all that noise about?”

“My parents wanted some help moving furniture,” “Oh? Alright, well there’s freshly made coffee jelly in the fridge for you. I had a feeling you’d be over here sometime this weekend. Enjoy,” Y/N smiled at Saiki. “You’re a genius,” Saiki said dreamily while walking towards the fridge.

—————————————————————————

“Hey, you missed Kongo getting chopped by Mr. Hatakeyama at the front gate,” Saiki said to Y/N who was already spacing out at their desk.

“WAIT WHAT?! Nooooooo, why did I get here early for once?!” Y/N pouted.

“Beats me,” Saiki shrugged.

—————————————————————————

Next episode

[traumaboyexo]

CARRION!Sif Anti/Alt Friend quest

[[This is for a set of alternate friend quests that each trigger from each family member watching Siffrin have a small emotional breakdown, as well as...seeing something else.]]

(You're shaking.)

(...why? This isn't the first time you've done this...and yet...)

(You can barely feel your hunger right now. Just fear. You don't want to hurt them. You don't want to hurt any of them.)

(...everything is wrong. You shouldn't be doing this. You're not...even...)

"Siffrin?"

(You jump. Mirabelle's voice shakes you out of your trance.)

"Sorry, Mirabelle."

"I-it's alright, I know you can get a little sleepy sometimes. So, um, do you have time to help me with these papers?"

(...you have to make her happy.)

(Stop shaking, idiot.)

"...yeah I do."

(Mirabelle beams. You take your seat beside her.)

(Time to take the lead.)

(...you open your mouth.)

(...Huh?)

(Nothing is coming out.)

(Come on. You know you're next line.)

(Just ask. You have to. Ask what the papers are.)

(Why won't you say anything?! You've done this several times already, haven't you? Just say it! Don't have want to make her happy?! Don't you want them to love you?! You-!)

"...Siffrin, are you okay?"

(...you didn't even notice until now, but you're panting. You feel short on breath...and you're sweating badly.)

(You quickly bring your head down.)

(You can feel Mirabelle still staring at you intensely. You can barely look back at you. You can't make her worried. You're supposed to help her. You HAVE to help her. Stick to the script. Stick to the script. Stick to the...)

(...Mirabelle places a hand on your forehead...she's checking for a fever.)

"Okay, it's not a fever, s-so...uhm..."

"...Siffrin, c-could you look at me, please?"

(...you muster what energy you have left and look at her.)

"Siffrin, are you stressed or anxious about anything? O-oh! Was it me, d-did I accidentally make you anxious about these papers and-!"

(NO!)

(Can't make her worried about you!)

(You find your voice has returned.)

"No! It's not you...and I'm just..."

"I'm just...thinking about stuff, haha."

(...is she buying it?)

"...are you thinking about...something really bad?"

(...she did, kind of.)

(She can't know. She can't.)

"...we should talk about your papers."

"I had a suspicion...but they're...bonding papers, right?"

"O-oh! That's...actually a good guess?"

(She isn't as surprised as she usually is.)

"But Siffrin...I don't want to talk about that if... if something is going on with you."

(There's nothing wrong with you.)

"There's nothing wrong with me."

(Liar.)

(You ignore the growling in your stomach.)

(You ignore the uncomfortable feeling of your sweat dripping down your face.)

"...I think this is important for you. We can worry about me later."

(Mirabelle looks concerned.)

"Well, okay then..."

"Well, I-I'm not planning on getting bonded just yet, these are just dating profiles."

(You try to look surprised but your face feels numb.)

"They came from a dating company I asked before The King happened, and I haven't had a chance to properly look through them...and..."

(...you wish she'd stop looking at you so worriedly.)

(...you have to keep it moving.)

"Go on."

(She nods.)

"W-well, since it is someone I'm meant to spend the rest of my life with, I'm thinking I could use another pair of eyes. Your eyes!"

"Or rather, your...uh...one eye."

(She sighs, and only now you notice it seems like she's trying her best not to cry.)

(You're horrible.)

"...Siffrin...I-I don't think I can just-"

(Please.)

"Mirabelle. Please."

"...you're doing this as a distraction from tommorow, right?"

(You can barely hold back your shaking anymore.)

"Please. I need this distraction as well."

"...Let me help you."

(...there's some slight relief in her eyes, but still full of the same concern.)

"...alright Siffrin."

(She gives a small smile.)

"You can help me."

(She pulls out the massive folder of papers from her dress pocket.)

(...Maybe if she told you she was carrying this, you could have carried it for her.)

"O-okay, let's start with this."

(It's the picture of that strong buff man.)

(Tough muscles. Hard to chew probably.)

"...boring."

"Besides, they look like Isabeau."

(She gives a light snicker.)

"They kind of do. Next one-"

(You can't do this. You can't do this you can't do this you can't do this you can't you can't you can't you can't.)

"I'm sorry Mirabelle. I can't talk about this anymore."

(Your breathing is heavy and hard. Your sweating is getting worse. And your stomach won't stop growling.)

"...I...I'm sorry."

(You can't look at her. You can barely focus on anything. It feels like you could explode any second.)

"...I'm worried that...I'm..."

(If you say how you feel, will she hate you?)

(Even so, you can't stop yourself anymore. It feels like the exact opposite of before. All the words are spilling out. You hold back as much as you can. You try your best not to cry. You try your best not to scream or shout.)

(You feel horrible.)

(You feel hungry.)

"...I won't ever be bonded. I won't ever find a partner. I-I'm, I'm a freak. I'm a monster. I'm not worth a single notice. I'm...I can't..."

(It seems like everything is going dark.)

(You can't stop. Your stomach growls.)

"I can't be loved, no matter how many profiles I look through myself and I can't help myself and I'm always hungry and I..."

(...you try to continue but you can barely feel your own voice or mouth of face.)

(Everything feels so...out...of reach...)

(...)

(...you hear a sharp gasp from Mirabelle.)

(You feel everything snap back into view.)

(You're breathing eased up. You've stopped sweating.)

(...what happened?)

"...Siffrin?"

(Slowly, you turn to Mirabelle.)

(...)

(...you made her worried.)

(How could you do this to her.)

(You were supposed to help her.)

(...)

(You're stomach growls. You're hungry...at a time like this.)

(You really are a freak.)

(...you bury your face under your hat.)

(You can't even look at her properly.)

(You...)

(...someone puts a hand on your shoulder.)

(MIRABELLE puts a hand on your shoulder.)

(Even as you look away, you can hear her voice. She's not being afraid. Or angry.)

(She's being kind.)

"Siffrin..."

"...I have something to tell you too."

"The truth is...I don't really want to be bonded. Or...even date anyone at all."

(You already know this.)

"The truth is...I'm been scared too. I've been trying to force myself to change...and I've been worried I'm not strong enough to do it."

(You already know this.)

"And I'm worried that I'm supposed to do these things, because I have to show my faith, and I have to show...I have to show that I can do this."

(You already know this.)

"But...another reason is because...I'm worried. I'm worried that...it's possible I'll be alone, forever."

(...)

"When The King attacked, I was worried I lost all my friends. Everyone I thought I could ever count on...but...I was wrong."

(...)

(You slowly look up at her.)

(She's smiling. She's relieved you're finally looking at her again.)

"Siffrin. I don't know what happened to you. Or why you would think like that...but..."

"...I'm not worried about being alone. I've got you, and Isabeau, and Madame Odile, and Bonnie."

"And...I'm glad I can talk about these things with you. Because you're my friend. And I care about you. And I know you feel the same way."

(...you do.)

"So don't ever feel like you'll be alone when we're around, okay?"

(...you stay silent. You can barely find the words.)

(This time she shouts.)

"Promise me!"

(Woah!) "I promise!"

(She's smiling so widely it's nearly contagious.)

"Good! A-and if you're worried whether you wasted my time or anything dumb like that, I think you've helped me."

"I think...I don't have all the answers I need just yet. But I think...I may not need to change everything about myself."

(Clever. She's always been clever.)

"When I figure it out, I promise, I'll tell you about it."

(...you should say what's on your mind.)

"I'm glad I met you, Mirabelle."

"...me too, Siffrin."

"...I'll see you later, okay?"

(You nod and smile.)

(You're really smiling. You feel refreshed. You feel relieved.)

(...and yet, as she walks away, she looks back and glances at you for just a brief second.)

(She's nervous about something.)

(...but what?)

(...you can feel it again.)

(Your growing hunger.)

(You got a MEMORY OF UNCERTAINTY.)

(You'll always remember this.)

[Whatever happened there, Stardust? Well, in any case...]

[When equipped, Memory of Uncertainty boosts all your Housemaiden's stats by 25...but by giving her your turn, all her stats double temporarily! Woah!]

[Your Housemaiden also learned the skill 'Loyal Loving Barrier'!!!]

['Loyal Loving Barrier' not only absorbs all damage, but gives your family a buff depending on how much damage was absorbed! Just like your other shield, it's only for one turn though!!!]

[Seems like you'll only get this skill when you have this exact same conversation. Though, it's not easy to fake an emotional breakdown, is it, Stardust??]

[If only you had something that could trigger that awful fear when you wanted to…]

[boasamishipper]

notes from the nnc s3e1 taping

so back in july hannah @bornforastorm and i went to the taping of the new night court season 3 premiere!!! to the best of my memory, here's what went down:

[spoilers below the cut]

pre show:

taping was on stage 10 of the warner bros lot

hannah and i got there early (as instructed) and were pretty much the only ones in attendance who had actually seen og night court (majority of ppl knew melissa rauch from big bang theory)

which is also wild to me by the way?? why would you go to a taping of a show you have never watched??

anyway

we chatted with a very nice belgian lady and a nice australian couple who had been traveling across the country for the last few months (they gave us mini kangaroo pins)

we were not allowed to have our phones on us (alas) or i would have taken a million pictures

new night court set looks a lot more grimy in person?? which i was surprised by because on tv the show looks so much cleaner than the original did. guess that's due to lighting and whatever goes down in postproduction

hannah and i were one of the first ones in line to go into the studio (we all but shoved our way to the front) and got to sit in the second row

they had a magician named mark sweet who warmed the crowd up with very delightful magic tricks (iirc he was also the opening act for tbbt tapings which is how he got this gig)

from where hannah and i were sitting we had a great view of the courtroom set. abby's chambers set and the cafeteria set and the hospital set were more difficult to see

they played a Here's What Happened So Far On Night Court recap for us to which hannah and i were like [ron swanson voice] we know more than you

when larroquette came out for the curtain call opening my vision whited out and i screamed like a maniac

larroquette was very tall and waved cutely and did a peace sign and applauded for melissa and no one else

hannah and i were more insane about that old man than anyone in the whole studio audience

abby's dream sequence scene + julianne's arrival scene:

abby's dream sequence was filmed a previous day; we watched that on tv (it already had the laugh track added)

on the first take of this scene when julianne showed up larroquette did a classic Dan Fielding Yelp and Jumped and hid behind flobert and it was magical to see

this would continue for the rest of the night but on every single take larroquette did something different and it was equally hilarious every time. that man knows how to read a crowd

they told us straight up not to applaud when wendie malick came in as not to distract the actors (or something?? can't remember the reason but i knew she was going to be there so i was not surprised)

gurgslivia canon confirmed (gurgs changed clothes in front of her)

flobert in a wig boston legal reference!!!

when talking about the new prosecutor larroquette did a take where he made an explicit reference to the OG night court pilot (alas i did not write down what it was)

larroquette had to bend down so the makeup people could touch his face up and spritz his hair

larroquette does this little shimmy every time before he gets into character as dan and it's great

great is not a strong enough word actually. seeing him transform into dan fielding before my very eyes was a spiritual experience. i heard colors and smelled sounds.

actors who flubbed the most lines: wendie malick

actors having the most fun with different line readings: larroquette and lacretta and also gary anthony williams

abby's chambers scene:

alternate dan lines: ‘Juicy little mouse’ ‘Juicy little spring lamb’

alternate dan lines: ‘crocheting a shank’ with hand gesture

fantastic line reading: ‘macrame net’

alternate dan lines: ‘chicken feet’ ‘cat brains’ ‘wrestling alligators’ (then that again but in a more southern accent so it was like 'wrasslin gators')

the cheeto bag julianne was holding exploded on the first take but larroquette went with it like a pro

larroquette did extremely hilarious line readings of That’s A Lie every single time

again wendie malick flubbed a lot of lines but she was a champ and got through it

melissa rauch had a lot of fun with the physical comedy in this scene

hospital scene:

julia duffy had soooo much fun slapping melissa rauch

hannah and i SCREAMED when julia duffy implied harry was the father (which i predicted IN MARCH AHAHAHA)

literally i was CLUTCHING hannah's hand. we were losing it

the nice australian couple behind us: .......glad you two are......having fun

melissa rauch once again had fun with the physical comedy

final courtroom scene:

took the longest to film

solid line reading of ‘a scarf with metaphorical strings attached’

some lines were not working during this scene so the writers rewrote them on the spot (and they did not notice my attempt to subliminally get them to hire me for the writers room)

lacretta and nyambi had so much fun during the julianne 'reveal'

when gary anthony williams was dumping the flobert pics out of the bag on one take they got stuck and wouldn't come out and his reaction was very funny

misc:

taping was about four hours long and we were given pizza around the midpoint

saw larroquette chatting with wendie during the breaks very cutely

larroquette swore ‘god damn it’ when he flubbed a line (very rare, he was the best of everyone)

larroquette didn't mix much with the cast other than wendie and melissa

larroquette has a book that he carries his scripts in and it looks leather bound and has a ribbon he uses to mark pages (possibly he has this for every script??)

when larroquette reads dan’s lines while he's rehearsing, he reads them with dan’s scrunched up facial expressions and does dan’s mannerisms (dannerisms??)

phill lewis (director of the ep) came up to the audience at one point and asked if there were any fans of suite life and did the ‘no running in my lobby!!!’ line in moseby’s voice and i shrieked about it

melissa rauch also came up to the audience and said hello and she was very charming

ren bell dialogue coach is hot as fuck

dan rubin was apparently there but we couldn’t see him

larroquette left immediately after curtain call (he does his job gets that paycheck and goes home god bless)

larroquette looked sooooo good in that suit

they filmed some scenes the day before our taping (dream sequence + cafeteria scene) and added a laugh track to them?? but then played them for us so our laughs would be dubbed over the laugh track?? no clue how that works

from what we saw the writers seem to be all relatively young, 20s and 30s (we gotta get more older writers in there for john’s sake)

the best non larroquette actors are easily lacretta and gary anthony williams (who is so funny and needs to be a series regular asap)

wendie malick flubbed a lot of her lines but she is apparently new to filming in front of an audience and she seemed very charming and funny; there were vips in the audience who were friends of hers and she came up and said hi to them

speaking of vips the perks they get include getting to keep their phones on them, being more likely to win prizes from the opening act magician (more on that below), and getting to hang with the actors after the show

melissa rauch impressed me, i think she is really settling into this role and i am excited to see what she does with abby this season

after they had to stop a take bc someone flubbed a line larroquette said something bitchy-funny (‘this is what happens when you-‘) but we couldn’t hear the rest of it

larroquette was doing all the physical comedy his 76 year old self was willing to do and he was amazing

overall seems to be a tight crew and cast god bless

in between takes mark sweet the magician would entertain us and also offered us the chance to win night court merch in exchange for us doing silly things. and at one point mark sweet was giving away signed copies of the script to anyone who had a special talent. so i came up and he had someone from the front row be my assistant. so i said to my assistant okay close your eyes. now reach your left hand out and grab the folder with the scripts out of mark sweet's hand.

i was shameless and got what i wanted :)

anyway overall incredible experience. i came out of there beaming like the joker and with enough energy to pick up a car and throw it five hundred yards. were it not for the laws of this land (aka me living in wisconsin) i would go to tapings every single week.

[hornyhermitry]

These are not the Zenins you’re looking for - Naobito & Naoya ramblings and then some

Since there’s no real alternative for longer rants with a personal flavour, let’s give this a shot here on tumblr I guess? Heh.

Preface

General Naobito facts:

71 years → born in 1946, died 2018

Curse Technique: Projection Sorcery

Special Grade 1 Sorcerer

One younger brother - Ogi Zenin

Probably one older brother - unnamed, father of Toji Zenin

(I assume Ogi is younger because they are clearly not twins from the way they look, Ogi looks younger and Ogi’s children Maki & Mai are ca. 10 years younger than Naobito’s son Naoya).

Three sons - youngest son Naoya (27 years in 2018 - born when Naobito was 44)

Fastest Jujucist (except for Gojo Satoru)

Both Naobito & Naoya are names that translate to honesty & straightforwardness. Naobito’s further includes a meaning of “helpful/support”

Hobby: Anime

Favorite food: Sake

Least favorite food: Fishcake

Observations & conclusions from his manga scenes:

Confident, determined, affirmative, tactical (ref. Dagon fight + Jogo appearance right before the burn, doesn’t mind losing an arm, thinks ahead of Toji going for Dagon and jumps in to distract in support)

Cocky & playful, enjoys fighting (often grinning, excited to see Dagon evolve, taunts Nanami “Two 1st grades cannot exorcise (Dagon)?”)

Petty (annoyed by everyone fixated on 4K 60FPS and stupid numbers, retorts to Maki wanting to take Clan Lead)

He was drinking and did not care about Maki leaving the clan. There was no mockery and no attempt to stop her. Only when she said she’d become the next clan head, he asked if he should make her life harder.

He showed up to Shibuya to help out the rest (Maki mocks his drinking habits, with cans next to him he shouts over to her to bring him drinks, but later he nonchalantly breathes into Nanami’s face and we see he actually has not been drinking) and is excited to hear Gojo has been sealed, wants to celebrate.

Maki antagonizes him uncalled for, a bait he does not take but tells her matter of factly she should be the one to go home, to which Nanami agrees.

Assumption based on minor clues

Clan head since the 80s or 90s — depending on circumstances.

→ 2018-1185 (Zenin at the very least date back to Heian times) = 833 years with 26 Zenin clan heads= average leadership of 32 years = his latest “starting date” would have been 1999.

IMO it is very likely he took over earlier than that, because as far as averages go, it usually is way longer spans that are interspersed with very short ones.

(see: “medieval life expectancy was just 31” which did not have most people die at 31 but caused by a high infant mortality seeking the average - you either died as a kid or lived into your 60s).

I think he took over in the mid to late 80s because that sets up the unfortunate situation his family line had to deal with.

On a factual level it’s also not unlikely, because the first half of the 20th century was a chaotic time all around the globe, full of societal shifts and political conflicts that may have potentially led to Naobito’s father/Naoya’s grandfather dying “early”.

Anyway. I present to you:

THE LIFE & TIMES OF NAOBITO ZENIN aka HOLY HEADCANON

The historical context is what makes Naobito so interesting to me and further supports my personal controversial headcanon that:

Naobito & Naoya Zenin are NOT the major players in the, let’s call it “traditional Zenin camp” that exiled Toji and used all kinds of shady internal clan politics to keep power systems up.

Let me take you on a very exhaustive detour on what Naobito being 71 years old in 2018 translates to.

He was born at the brink of World War II and in the wake of the atomic bomb.

During his lifespan, Japan went from a humbled country on its knees to a major player in the global economy, driving technological advancements. During his youth, Japan’s patriotism loosened and a lot of American culture was adapted - the yankii subculture rose to prominence.

JJK readers were told that the Heian era was the peak of jujucists. IRL historically, it was a time famous for many violent conflicts and natural disasters.

Since JJK establishes negative emotions breed curses and cursed energy, this means Naobito‘s young years must have been infested with stronger curses than ever, spawned from the aftermath, suffering, resentment and personal tragedies of WWII, Hiroshima & Nagasaki.

Born in 1946 within months of arguably the worst moment of Japanese history, emerging with a new technique utilising modern animation processes, his potential power upon birth likely matched the new level of curse threats, enabling him to eventually become the fastest Jujucist alive with the use of his modern technique. Growing up in a strongly American-influenced Japan in a rapidly changing world, he was a completely different person than his father (who had seen multiple wars but no massive technological and social progress yet) likely was.

Being the middle child, his father was likely 25-45 years older than him (men back then often fathered their first child between 19 & 23, so I assume he fathered his middle child at 25+), therefore born between 1921 and 1900. This makes him very likely a very hardline conservative patriot who took great pride in the battles he fought in - either during WWI or WWII or even both. A man raised in the spirit of a proud nationalist Japan at the peak of its expansionist mindset across Asia, high in spirits from the successful war against Russia and winning military campaigns in China, Singapore and more East Asian territories. Japan during Naobito’s father’s youth wore uniforms and kimonos.

Whereas Naobito’s social upbringing (outside of his father’s direct influence) was shaped by a more globalist approach and culture, appeasing to the West and showing e.g. through the Olympics of 1964 what a modern country they had become. So when Naobito was 18, Tokyo modernised its post-war infrastructure and built both the Metro as well as the Shinkansen connecting Tokyo and Osaka which kicked off the economic growth in a global spotlight and highlighted how well Japan had rebuilt itself after the defeat 20 years ago. Japan during Naobito’s youth wore slacks, jeans and white shirts. He is old in 2018, but he is a "modern man" in comparison to what came before and he is accustomed to change and progress.

Due to this clash of ideals and lived realities in the world around them, I think Naobito and his father had a very rocky relationship once Naobito entered puberty (and listened to jazz, blues, rock and dressed in blue jeans and leather jackets) and that they had some fundamentally different views on things.

The realities of external life could not have been more different between Naobito’s father and Naobito. Whether it was the world around them or the eventual standing of their clan, Naobito was dealt a very different hand of cards than a very very long line of Zenins in previous generations had been dealt for many centuries.

Due to going up against a man with so much pride and confidence when emancipating himself as his own person, I believe Naobito grew a strong backbone and was a very genuine, upright person - within the limits of his time and upbringing. Much more progressive and less patriotic than his father in any case, which surely was a source of conflict. Yet, I suspect that succeeding in spite of his father’s disapproval is what fueled him to become a more capable and autonomous person than his brothers are and to show that an allegedly inferior curse technique will not hold him back. But Naobito and his father did not only clash about this. In the later Hakari introduction chapter, JJK establishes there are several political factions and some are in favor of traditional millenia old curse techniques like Megumi's 10 Shadows or Gojo's Six Eyes and shun new curse techniques like Projection Sorcery and Idle Gambling that only emerged with new technology. Since sorcerer grades are based on Jujutsu strength and such, people with a modern curse technique are clowned on and not properly being recognized - which applies to both Naobito and Naoya.

The realities of life for Naobito and Naoya are very similar and Naoya’s life is dealing with similar challenges as his father’s. Unlike his father, Naobito was confronted with the reality of established values, routines and social hierarchies becoming horribly moot and due to his own curse technique not being a prestigious one, he was forced to reevaluate the legitimacy of what his father had taught him and what old clans perpetuated. Both in light of the changing world and also his own value as a person and a jujucist. Naoya was confronted with a similar road to growth and reevaluating the classic Jujutsu society & clan values, also having received the same modern technique as his father and witnessing the new kind of strength Toji wielded.

While I do say that Naobito is a different man than his father, I am a firm believer that “the apple does not fall far from the tree” and very much see the likeness between Naobito and Naoya. I feel I should clarify this applies more to personality traits than opinions and I think all three of them are more straightforward and more blunt than the other family lines.

The people readers are told to be suffering by the Zenin family’s actions and opinions are Maki and Toji.

Both of which are not Naobito’s children. They are children of Naobito’s older and younger brothers.

Naobito’s unknown older brother exiles Toji due to him being resented and seen useless by the majority of the clan for not having techniques or energy, Naobito’s younger brother Ogi and his wife raise Maki & Mai in a cruel way, on top of that Ogi is shown to secretly plot behind people’s backs and be involved (with e.g. Jinichi) in inner-clan intrigues and betrayal. Funny enough, Toji himself is shown to be as much of a schemer (as seen through his bounty plan) and backstabber (pun intended) in line with his upbringing.

Naoya & Naobito on the other hand speak their mind openly, announce their gripes and do what they want. Naoya and Naobito are not schemers, they very much are -in accordance with their names - straightforward.

Naoya is many things, but he is not a liar.

Both Naoya and Nabito are eccentrics with a very flashy style that does not conform to plain traditions:

Naoya with his piercings and dyed hair (I’ve previously mentioned his white hakama being unusual for men, which still holds true, but it is not uncommon for high rank swordsmen to wear white ones, so I have now come to conclude these indicate his rank as Chief of the Hei) and Naobito, as an old man, sporting this over the top moustache.

There is an idiom about Japanese society that the nail who sticks out gets hammered down. Both Naoya and Naobito are doing everything to stand out and refuse to fall in line with unreflected traditional actions.

Both have not inherited the Ten Shadows technique but Projection Sorcery - as a result, both are on their own side which aligns more with the reformer side (that contains other Jujucists such as Hakari & Kirara who also have modern techniques), than the conventional conservatives (such as the higher ups or the Kamos. On that note, take a moment to reflect on the implications of Maki and Mai wearing modern school uniforms while Kamo Junior wears a uniform that much more resembles traditional clan attire: The Kamos are as conservative as the Zenins and probably more so than Naobito).

Both Naobito and Naoya are denied their perceived birthright purely by the unfortunate existence of Gojo Satoru and his Six Eyes, and Megumi having the 10 Shadows Technique, for the first time in hundreds of years denying the Zenin’s claim to fame.

Since Gojo was born 1989, I personally like to imagine Naobito tasted clan leadership as “the strongest” (and, in his case, fastest) for at least a few years before the one to change the world’s balance was born - simultaneously stealing Naobito’s position at the peak of the Jujutsu world and also denying that of his at that point two sons. Toji was already past the point of manifesting a cursed technique and therefore all existing “sons” of the Zenin family were ruled out to take their clan’s glory back from Gojo Satoru.

So Naobito tried and succeeded in having another son - I believe this is why Naoya was fathered by him as late as at 44 years. All hopes to restore the waning Zenin power were now on this little boy growing up. Would he be the one to manifest 10 Shadows and make the Zenin a worthy competitor to the Gojo clan again?

No.

Naobito, at this point already several years into watching his clan’s decline, lost the last bit of hope to restore its glory by traditional means and standards when his son manifested his very own curse technique: Projection Sorcery. Personally, I believe that your curse technique is heavily related to your personality - or call it soul if you like - and both Naobito and Naoya having the same technique reflects their similarity in character.

So Naobito raised Naoya to try and surpass the competing Gojo Six Eyes boy even without inheriting the jackpot technique.

While I do believe that Naoya was pampered by servants and women growing up, being the son of the Clan Lead and future Zenin heir in a long line of proud Jujucists, I also coin Naobito as one to give tough love, and demand a lot and would assume Ogi resented him because he would remind him of his own lack of potential, lack of power and lack of future.

On the topic of Ogi:

He is a weak, bitter man who holds resentment for everyone around him and blames everyone but himself for his shortcomings.

Being the youngest brother, his upbringing was different from Naobito‘s and I imagine that especially after witnessing his father and older brother argue and clash, he tried to suck up to his father by being a yesman to all his views and often tried to throw his older brothers under the bus and snitch about his activities.

He has always been a miserable rat with no backbone, hoping for another authority figure to spoonfeed him power.

He never learned that power is not given but taken and failed to take ownership for his life and actions right until his death.

Toji‘s father/Naobito‘s older brother:

I have little thoughts about Toji‘s father/Naobito‘s older brother, but I think he also clashed with his father and (this is super out there) maybe refused to take responsibility despite being the firstborn son and had no interest in leading the clan. I think he was on good terms with Naobito either way and I can see the two of them in their late teens/early 20s out in town, wearing jeans, pomade in their hair, smoking, flirting and riding around on motorbikes with Ogi nagging on the backseat how irresponsible, shameful and reckless they are while they tell the miserable virgin to shut up and learn to be a man.

(In fact, this is the Zenin backstory I want to read and write about, hahaha).

I consider it possible Ogi remained unmarried/a virgin for most his life and only decided to marry a few years after Naobito‘s youngest son Naoya had also failed to manifest Ten Shadows, in a last ill-guided attempt to steal his brother‘s superiority by fathering a child with the golden curse technique. Unfortunately Maki and Mai did not get it either and, to add insult to injury, were girls. Ogi must have been seething about his unlikely decision to marry after all. Possibly he was talked into it by others in the Zenin clan who did not hold Naobito and his ways and his son Naoya in high regard - considering them too unruly and progressive, affirming their future support to Ogi‘s line if he ever takes action.

Either way, I think Ogi and Naobito (and Naoya) are on bad terms and Ogi is a weak rat that deserves to be stepped on by greater people.

Most readers sympathise with Maki and Megumi and their goals and views because that‘s the lense through which we see the story, but take a step back to think about the legitimacy of it for a moment.

Maki leaving the clan is fair, but why would she (or unwilling Megumi) be suitable candidates for leading what‘s essentially a business with lives and salaries and adult people in national positions of power and military units? The thought of it is absurd. It‘s only natural for Naoya, who was raised into this responsibility from a young age, to be outraged over a noname teenager stealing his legacy from him the moment he was supposed to get it in his mid to late 20s. It’s as outrageous as Gojo taking it from Naobito.

My personal headcanon on Naobito’s drinking habit is that it formed in his later years, after Gojo’s curse technique emerged. Struggling to come to grips in his mid 50s, after a life lived for the Zenin legacy for ultimately nothing, watching the power loss and decline of relevancy the Zenin hold after the unfortunate event series - Toji energyless and exiled - Gojo born with Six Eyes - Naoya not having Ten Shadows - from the sidelines of history and the center stage of his clan, with his older brother & his father definitely already dead at this point and him being left with the joke of a person that Ogi is, he took to drinking. “If it‘s all drifting into irrelevancy, I might as well sit back and have a drink in my remaining years.” Something to this extent. In line with this, writing Megumi into his will was a drop in the ocean and at this point no dent in the current state of the clan already past its prime in his eyes.

And yet, old Naobito, leader of the most powerful and wealthy Jujutsu clan (who does not need money) goes to help with the curse outbreak in Shibuya. Sober, despite Maki‘s claims.

And he does not pull a Kusakabe avoiding the curses roaming around but genuinely puts in effort to defeat Dagon and save Maki (who left the clan) after telling her to go home (which against all reason she refuses out of teenage thickheadedness and nearly dies burnt to a crisp as a consequence).

Whereas her father, Naobito‘s little brother Ogi, throws her into a cursed pit to die.

Now, as for Naoya.

Unlike Maki's mother, he does not try to stop her from getting to the curse tools. Unlike her father, he does not throw her into a cursed pit to die. Unlike Jinichi he is not involved in a plot to have her killed.

He mocks her for having an ugly face, rendering her a total failure (on top of not having CE and being a bad fighter). Compared to what everyone else is doing to her, that is really tame.

What I find interesting and most people oddly gloss over, is how he asks her if her plan is to stay in the shadow of Megumi and Yuta.

The implication of this is that he looks down on her choice to tag along behind two other boys — instead of rising up to defeat the odds stacked against her which he potentially considers her capable of. If he was not considering her worthy of being her own person, why would he mock her for being in the shadow of those two? Much like Naobito raised Naoya with tough love, I think this (unconsciously) is a jab at Maki to take Naoya and Naobito as a role model (instead of her weak father) and rise to greatness despite the odds. Somewhere in that douchebaggery of his, he considers her biggest fault her passiveness and acceptance of other people’s low opinion of her and tries to get her to snap and rethink. Be the rebel that Naobito and Naoya also are and were.

I think Naoya, with his definition of and thoughts on strength, his contrarian taunting of everyone else in the clan after his father’s death, had plans to reform the Zenin clan in his own vision once his time as a head comes, to mare sure it will be sustainable in a new age of Jujutsu with less outdated ways of thinking. Naoya has his own agenda. He is not following anyone else's. He does not care for Sukuna's plans, he does not care about Kenjaku's plans. He does not care about Gojo's or Maki's plans (the latter ofc only up until she is all up in his face with her actions) he just wants to get promoted, nothing more. That's not any bizarrely evil masterplan, just a guy trying to steer his life in accordance with his personal vision and goals.

One of my most genuine headcanons about Naoya is that, without Maki and Megumi, he’d have been with Hakari’s and Kirara’s reformer faction and wouldn’t ever have been perceived as an antagonist at all. Because he is not a villain, he is an antagonist, and specifically for Maki & Megumi - he has zero personal agenda with the rest of the cast (aside from Gojo in the broadest sense, but in the same way his father already had it and just lived with it).

Naoya’s whole life revolved around two things: eventually stepping up to lead the clan and to prove himself worthy despite an inferior curse technique, so naturally Megumi stealing the head position from him with contractual fineprint pisses him off to the max. And then to add insult to injury, his “untalented, ugly little cousin” runs amok and slaughters the clan he was supposed to inherit right under his nose. Which he, interestingly, kind of brushes off like water under the bridge and just mocks her for being heartless. He holds no sentimental feelings towards those people murdered there, going by his lack of reaction. And does not care about the Zenin legacy being wiped out for the most part. Which hints at him having prepared for a reform that has now become moot through Maki’s actions.

Now only his other goal in life remains. To be the strongest next to Toji and Gojo. And had Maki not challenged that, had it been anyone else over a different topic, he would not have cared. But his biggest insecurity aka driver was prodded and his arrogance and refusal to acknowledge strength in another Zenin child not him became his downfall. On that note, I also do not consider him a misogynist in particular - he is a petty, spiteful instigator and goader and shittalks everyone. He baits Jinichi into attacking him, he baits Maki in a sexist way, he shittalks women in front of his aunt and he shittalks his brothers to Choso. He does not exclusively single out women to disrespect, he disrespects ANYONE. (Like young Gojo by the way, who behaved the same before he met Geto - all these kids raised into clans, especially as child prodigies set up for future greatness, have little respect for others. A baseline a big ego and a certain arrogance and always feeling better than the rest, no natural instinct to care for others and no respect for established rules are traits both share. Fortunately, Geto opened Gojo’s eyes on the responsibility of strength and taught him some consideration and at least a little humility and kindness. Otherwise, Gojo and Naoya would indeed be standing right next to each other, in arrogance and disrespect for those lower than them).

For what it’s worth, I think Naoya is sexist but the one who is an actual misogynist is Ogi. And that’s why Naoya’s treating Ogi’s wife and daughters mockingly the same way their father/husband does. Yes, there is a difference between sexism (crude prejudice and discrimination) and misogynism (actual contempt and dislike/hatred of women). And while we’re at it -- most of Jujutsu society’s clan-raised peers (vs. random recruits like Yuji, Yuta, Todo) will be sexist. They just don’t get a chance to show it in the manga because their arcs revolve around other things. Kenjaku, Sukuna, Gojo, are all certified sexists given their upbringing and backgrounds.But their stories are different ones, so it’s not likely to come up. Although there has been Gojo’s remark about scary women and Sukuna looking forward to killing women - just saying.

Personally, I don’t see characters or people IRL as good or bad, that’s a childish way of thinking and in such narrow simplistic boxes that only fit in children’s cartoons. People are people. Flawed. Everyone has flaws and everyone has reasons why they have those flaws. Some people click better with your own flaws, some end up causing issues in your life. One bad trait and deed or one good trait and deed doesn’t make or break a person. It’s the sum of what you repeatedly do. Intentions are secondary, the outcome of your actions makes it real. “Who’s worse? The demon who killed 2000 humans or the human who told another human her face is ugly?” is a stupid game to play, especially on childish claims like “oh but sexism is real” like death and murder aren’t just because your sheltered little life has been free from them so far. Grow up and start recognizing the realities of physical violence. Anyway. Naoya mocked Maki for being unable to find a husband with her scarred face, her father threw her into a pit to kill her. People who think Naoya is her issue need to get a grip.

The Zenins you are looking for are not this line of the family but the rest.

And I wanna drink sake and watch anime with Naobito. And listen to him telling me stories from his 30s in the late 1970s.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.236 thoughts

[These Hearts of Ours Are Burning Red! Their Loud Cry Tells Us to Enjoy Life!]

(Topics: reaction - praise, character analysis - Soul/Sun/Luna/Andy, speculation - Luna/Ruin/epilogue)

Man, what a finale! I've read countless Jump manga over the past twenty years or so, most of which were cut down prematurely, but even among the small handful that successfully made it to their intended conclusions, this might just be the best climax I've seen from any of them

Of course it remains to be seen how well the epilogue really ties it all together, but as far as final battles go at least, this may well become, for me, the gold standard for capping off a series' themes and throughlines. Everything comes together here: the romance, the battles, the power system, the character arcs, the message...it all meshes so well that it's actually difficult for me to come up with anything to say!

Andy and Fuuko so blatantly call back to all of the story's ideas and themes that the chapter really does speak for itself, and my analyses all feel like a rote recitation of the events of the chapter. What can I possibly say that will add to this chapter or make it more impactful for folks?

Still, it'd be a shame to just be silent after such an excellent chapter, and I'd hate to break tradition right at the end! Though, I suppose in a way that's exactly what this chapter is about, huh?

We've Got New Rules

This week's chapter opens by reworking Soul's final line from last week, this time opting to translate it as unfamiliarity with Love being a Rule rather than being a meaningless concept to him. This changes the context of his objection from being that Soul himself is a loveless being to Soul (and by extension, Sun) rejecting the notion that humanity is capable of creating their own Rules

I said last week that it was the role of the Gods to create Rules and the role of humanity to interpret them, but the very existence of Love as a Rule challenges that idea. The Gods didn't create it, humanity did, and as it took out a fusion of every extant antagonistic UMA, it's proving superior to all of the Rules that came before

In other words, in no longer simply negating the Rules, but creating them, humanity has reached the Gods, the end goal of Sun and Luna's game. The Negators are about to beat the game not simply by brute-forcing the final boss, but by proving the boss is no longer needed and humanity can look after itself

The lingering question now that Sun is defeated, though, is what's going to happen to Luna?

Where Do We Go From Here?

Luna spent this chapter looking pretty nervous, and while it'll probably become clear in the epilogue exactly why, for now I think there's a lot of ways to read into that

Considering that she's about to watch Sun die, I think it's easy to look at it as the situation finally sinking in: that this eons-long game is finally about to end, and the status quo will be permanently changed. Whatever Luna's opinion on Sun is, whether she liked him or considered him a bitter rival, the two of them have been together for eternity, and that time is now definitely coming to an end. Even if it's what she wanted, Luna may have never thought it would actually get to this point, or at the very least she was never emotionally prepared for it. She may now, only now, finally be realizing that she does, in fact, understand love, she just didn't know she had it until the moment when she's about to lose it, just like Victor back in L100

Alternatively, it may be because of her attachment to her players. She's been the Game Master almost as long as she and Sun have been in this world, so if she's capable of loving Sun, it stands to reason that she feels something for the Union as well. Now that the end is here, she may not want to see them go - the sadistic choice she built into The Heart for her own entertainment backfiring and forcing her to watch the love she built up being lost while the Union throws their own around with a smile

Or, it could just be self-preservation. As she says, all of the UMA, Artifacts and Negator abilities are going to disappear, but if that's true, then what purpose does she even have? Can she even exist in a world without Sun? If Andy is going to "die" without Fuuko, and Luna may love Sun, then doesn't that mean without Sun, Luna is going to die as well?

If she does, what happens to her? The Rules won't exist anymore, so it stands to reason that Subspace, where souls go after death, won't exist anymore either, right? Unless that wasn't an aspect of the Rule of Souls and was itself simply a characteristic of the greater universe, but in that case, does that mean that Sun, Luna and the UMA will actually keep existing?

And what about the UMA that are friendly? Are you telling me that Clothy betrayed and helped defeat God just to be erased? No happy ending for Clothy? And poor Ruin, he's going to lose the only family he has in Blood and Shadow?

No. No, I don't like that. Ruin hasn't even come back from space yet, and you're telling me he's supposed to reform after having everything taken from him? I don't buy it, and in fact, I think that's the very reason Ruin hasn't come back yet: Tozuka doesn't like that plan either

In a Perfect World

A few weeks ago, I mentioned I had an idea for how Ruin would play into the aftermath of defeating Sun, but I neglected to go into detail because I didn't want to divert too hard from what was happening in the moment. Now that we're seeing the possibility for an ending that explicitly leaves out one of our most beloved cast members, though, I think the time has come for me to share what I came up with

Ruin's belief is that the world that God created is inherently perfect, that the status quo is correct and deviation from it is wrong. This is why is birthmark in L100 and scar in L101 never faded after becoming Unruin, because he believed that his suffering was part of God's plan, and therefore was already perfect: unruined

However, because he believed that God's will was perfect, he also never made any attempt to reinterpret Unruin as an ability; why would he? It's perfect the way God made it. It doesn't need to change, and there's nothing anyone can meaningfully do to ruin God's world in the first place anyway, so why bother doing something so superfluous as externalizing Unruin?

With this chapter, we realize that the answer to that question is the same as the answer to every other question: for Love, of course

Ruin loves the world as it is. He loves God and the Rules, he wants a world of order, one that makes sense. In L100, Ruin believed that the Rules created by humans were arbitrary and imbalanced, and there may well be some truth to that: as I said, the Love that humanity has just used to slay God is condemning the UMAs that weren't fighting on God's behalf. Is humanity's Love reserved for humans?

If so, then no matter how limitless it is as a power source, Love is inherently flawed, imperfect...

Ruinous

Ruin cannot possibly abide by such an unfair world that would go out of its way to make everyone happy except for him and the one demographic that he actually cares about, so it would only make sense that his capstone would be to negate the ruin of the world as God made it

Originally, my thinking was that Ruin would externalize Unruin specifically to fix the physical damage that Sun is doing to the Earth, as the very continents are currently being shattered by his attacks, but with the revelation that the UMA are set to simply be deleted, I think it's also likely that, like him, they'll be given a second chance in the final, validated iteration of the world

I don't know how this will manifest in every case, but I imagine that the majority of UMA will actually reincarnate as humans. Monsterous UMA like Spring would still be large and imposing folks, but he'd be able to play games without scaring off everyone who sees his face. The more humanoid UMAs like the Superior Rules would retain the majority of their designs, and would likely end up in parts of society that allow them to continue to live as they please

It's funny to think about UMA getting jobs, but just imagine Change becoming an actress, being able to become a new person every day, never stagnating as any one thing. Maybe she'll even star opposite Sean, with expert makeup artist Gina perfectly transforming both of them as they're seen by all

There's a happy ending in there for everyone if you look hard enough, and I just don't see Tozuka leaving us with the bittersweet aftertaste that would come with sacrificing Clothy of all characters, so I have to assume that Ruin's notable absence is meant to facilitate a workaround to that oversight

If I'm wrong though and Tozuka just...didn't really consider how upsetting that would be, at the very least Tozuka has kept the focus on the most important thing: Andy and Fuuko's relationship

Together Forever

Before dealing the final blow, Andy thanks Fuuko for giving him a way to die: being forgotten by Fuuko. I suggested a few weeks ago that this logic was going to be how Andy saved her, externalizing Undead to protect Fuuko's memories, but instead Andy's accepting that he's going to die with Fuuko

I thought that was kind of an odd thing for him to say at first, since a) in a literal sense he'll still be alive, and b) it definitely doesn't fit the idea of the Greatest Death Ever, but then Andy kept going. He says that if/when he and Fuuko meet again, he'll revive

It may be obvious to say, but this isn't the death that Andy wants, and he has no intention of letting it be what takes him out. It's going to hurt, it's going to be hard, and it'll feel like dying, but after it's all over, their life together can truly begin

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[annemariearcher]

Initial thoughts on BSD 114

Boy, that leak pretty much gave the whole chapter away.

This chapter was rather disappointingly short, I must say. I'm not mad or anything, but I think this should've been labeled 113.5 TBH.

We did learn one valuable piece of information though: when Fyodor dies and resurrects, it does affect a different person.

Presumably, it swaps out Fyodor's death for the other person's death, but...*

Is the substitute the person who technically killed him? If so, who's supposed to die in the case of the helicopter crash?**

Obviously, it's not Dazai; he didn't cause the helicopter to crash, and he's still been alive and well for sometime after Fyodor's fake-out death, and, oh yeah...No Longer Human.

So does that mean the substitute for Fyodor's death is...Bram, for controlling the vampire that crashed the helicopter? Seems like that would be a bit of a waste of Bram's character, but maybe not, since the vampire epidemic story line is wrapping up.

Maybe this is Fyodor's revenge against Bram, for, you know, executing him in the past.

Then again, the substitute could be Ranpo, as horrifying as that thought is, since Ranpo negotiated for Bram's help. But we still need Ranpo for the plot, so probably not.

**ALTERNATIVELY, the substitute could be whoever touches his body/blood after his death. And there's only one person (other than Dazai, who can't be affected by Abilities) who touched the body after Fyodor's fake-out death: Nikolai.

Nikolai, who is coincidentally not present at Meursault anymore...

Now THAT would be some bitter irony for Nikolai, wouldn't it?

*As for the mechanism to make the swap, maybe Fyodor's soul/mind inhabits someone else's body and transforms them into his appearance, which is actually kinda horrifying, so I almost hope that's the case???

That would maybe mean, when his current body dies, it reverts to whoever it looked like before. Which is why it appears to be some rando in the helicopter.

If that IS true, does that mean a known character, the one technically responsible for Fyodor's death, is about to fucking morph into Fyodor? Because that would be freaky as fuck and also really throw a wrench into the whole conclusion of the airport fight. Imagine if Fyodor just pops the fuck up at the airport right as everybody thinks it's over...

(Possibly even better: Imagine Fyodor wearing Nikolai's clothes!!!)

I have a feeling we'll be jumping back to the airport next time (AT LAST). It makes narrative sense to jump back over there after Fyodor's revelation to see what the fallout of the twist is on everybody else.

Also, there's really nothing left for Chuuya and Dazai to do at Meursault, except leave. It wouldn't really make much sense is Fyodor reappeared at the prison.

Anyway...speculation is fun. I hope we get a longer chapter in May. I NEED ANSWERS.

[thehusbandoden]

Won't Let Go- Dabi x Fem!Reader

Warnings!: Pure angst. No happy ending, blood, major death, yelling, crying, argument, harsh words, not willing to accept death.

Umm yeah I have zero idea if I'm good at angst or not... I'll probably make an alternate ending for people like me, but until then I'm sorry.

I kinda rushed bc I wanted to keep my brain going.. it's unedited like usual too.. so sorry for the errors. I might edit it later.. but idk.

You and Dabi get into a nasty fight. You leave for some air, but get attacked by a fellow villain.

1,800+ words/Pure angst

It started simply, just another stressful day, and just another argument. Both of us hissing insults back and forth, hurting one another in ways only we knew how.

He made a jab at that one insecurity that no one knows about except him, and I jab at his incapability to take me out on a normal date. He then throws out a harsher, more personal insult, and I insult the fact that he can't properly provide for the two of us.

It went back and forth, words only get shaper and more venomous to the point where I'm in tears, and Dabi is still sneering at me. "DO YOU EVEN CARE!? YOU LOOK PSYCHOTIC RIGHT NOW!" I scream, e/c eyes locked onto his turquoise ones.

"NO! I DON'T CARE, NEVER HAVE, NEVER WILL!"

"DO YOU EVEN HEAR YOURSELF?!"

"LOUD AND CLEAR! YOU'RE NOTHING TO ME (Y/N)!" As Dabi's words sinked in, my tears continued to fall, increasing in speed. "Aww look at you. You're so sensitive " Dabi cooed, venom lacing his words.

As my anger grew my body started to shake. Standing up, I walked over to our shared closet. "You know what Dabi? I'm done. I'm done with how you hurt me, physically and emotionally, and yet I stick by your side, holding you during every nightmare as you burn me. You burn me to the point of tears, and yet I still hold you. You insult me time and time again, and yet I'm still there to hold you after a particularly nasty mission. I hold you when you need me, and yet I need you and your somehow entitled to shatter my heart? Enjoy life alone. I now see why you were alone, you only hurt the people that actually care about you." I seethe, pulling on a hoodie, making sure that it was one of mine.

"Where are you going?" Dabi chuckled, turquoise eyes hardened in anger. "Away from you. Just know that it's your fault that this happened to us." I reply, eyes tearful as I took one last look at the man I adored.

"Goodbye." I whispered. As Dabi moved to say something further, I walked out the door, closing it softly before leaving, much to Twice and Toga's confusion.

"(Y/n) chan! Where are you going!?" Toga asked, skipping over to my shaking form. I just ignored her, picking up my pace slightly. "(Y/n) chan?" Twice muttered, eyes focussed on my back.

I just continued forward, stepping outside into the rain. Sighing, I started walking forward, toward the alley ways, failing to notice the eyes on my tired form.

Dabi's P.O.V:

As the door closed, I immediately crumbled onto our shared bed, regret coursing through my being. I stepped out of line. Yes, so did (y/n), but I started it.

As I remembered the cruel words I said to my precious (y/n), I scoffed as I felt a drop of blood fall down my cheek. Shooting myself up, I yanked at my hair as I paced around the room, waiting for my precious (y/n) to come back.

After about forty minutes, I started to freak out. (Y/n) usually comes back after a 10-15 minute cool down, and then continued to ignore me until I brought her into my lap, kissing her softly as a silent apology.

She would silently forgive me, and we would go back to normal. It was unusual for her to be gone for so long. Pulling out my phone, I left her a text telling her to come back, before continuing to pace back and forth.

Reader's P.O.V:

I huffed as the villain in front of me searched for an opening to strike. Right as I started to head back to my precious Dabi, I was jumped by a fellow villain.

My arm was cut badly, my stomach ached from a kick, and my left eye was bleeding, which affected my sight immensely. As the man launched himself toward me, I kicked his groin, temporarily stunning him.

As he fell to the ground, I smashed his head into the ground with my foot before fleeing towards the bar, praying that I would run into one of my fellow colleagues. As I ran my stomach ached, and sweat stung my eye, but I continued to run, avoiding calling out due to my villainous reputation.

Right as I turned the corner to get to the bar, I felt a rough hand pull at my shoulder. "Got you." The man hissed, face right below my ear. I shivered in disgust, pushing against his masculine form in a vain attempt to get away.

"I'll bloody you up real good, and then I'll chain you out of your little boyfriend's window." The man sneered, dark eyes shining as he dreamt of Dabi's horror.

"You're sick." I spit, kneeing the man in his stomach. Unfortunately, the hit wasn't strong enough to drop him to the ground, and it only angered him further.

"You little-" I couldn't help but whimper pitifully as he stabbed a knife into my arm, spilling blood onto the concrete. "You'll pay for that." The man promised, twisting the knife in my arm, producing small whimpers from my shaking form.

Dabi's P.O.V:

I awoke with a start, looking around the dark room in confusion. I don't know what woke me, but I do know that something was terribly wrong.

Unlocking my phone, I went into a panic as I saw my text not being read after an hour or so later. (Y/n) always kept up with her texts.. what was going on?

Scrambling to our closet, I pulled out a black hoodie before slipping it on, pulling up the hood as I exited our shared room, rushing towards the door. "Where are you going?" Shigaraki rasped, light blue hair covering his eyes as he lightly scratched his neck.

Ignoring him, I made my way out the door, picking up my pace as I heard a commotion nearby. As I jogged around the alleyways, I started sprinting as I heard whimpering becoming closer and closer.

Turning a corner, my blood boiled with rage as I spotted my (y/n) on the ground, blood pooling under her quivering being. A man was standing next to her, glaring down at my (y/n) as he held his bloodied arm.

As I ran toward the pair, I freaked out seeing blood leaking from (y/n)'s chest quite quickly, staining her clothes. Burning the man, I made sure to keep him alive for later. Kneeling down next to (y/n), I panicked at the amount of blood seeping from her stab wound.

Reader's P.O.V:

Breathing heavily, I looked up at the wet form in front of me, only realizing it was Dabi as I heard his shaky voice call out to me. "D-Dabi..." I whisper, e/c eyes moist as I studied his face, blood running down his face.

"Don't talk! Save your strength!" He demanded, pulling off his hoodie to press to my chest. "Dabi.. are you crying?" I ask, pressing my thumb to the blood falling down his cheeks. "No! Now be quiet!" Dabi yelled, blood coming faster as his hoodie soaked up the blood way too fast.

Dabi's P.O.V:

Dread sunk in my chest as I absorbed the situation, realizing that unless I turned us both in, or found some miracle, she couldn't be saved. Pulling my precious (y/n) into my lap, I cradled her gently, rocking her back and forth.

"Dabi... I'm sorry." (Y/n) murmured, (e/c) eyes moist with regret. "Don't you apologize; don't you dare." I growl, hugging her tighter. "B-but I said some really horrible things to you..."

"And I said worse things! Just- just be quiet while I try and think!" As my thoughts ran wild the only thing I could think of doing is to take her to a hospital, but then we'd be recognized and earn ourselves a life in jail.

But, it was better than losing her. Swooping (y/n) up, I started to run towards the nearest hospital, trying to devise a better plan. I'd- I'd sneak in through a window, and single out a doctor. I'd first persuade the doctor with money, and than threaten them.

If that doesn't work I'll kill them and find another. That- t-that would work.. it has to work... As I solidified my plan I looked down to see (y/n) getting worse, her (s/t) skin was pale, and her gorgeous eyes were almost fully closed.

"H-hey.. open your eyes." I mumbled, freaking out. "(Y/n). Open your eyes!" I demanded, stopping to crouch in an alleyway as I heard sirens nearby.

"(Y/N)-" "Dabi... I'm sorry I tried to push you into sharing things you didn't want to share-" she stopped to cough up blood before continuing, "I'm sorry I said so many horrible things to you.. and I'm sorry for not being the idle partner for you.. please know that I love you.. and no. You don't have to say it back my Love."

As (y/n) forced her eyes open, dread consumed me as the light started ebbing away and they started to close. "Don't you dare apologize! You did nothing wrong! It was me, I was the one in the wrong! And I'm sorry! So, so sorry! You were, and are the perfect partner! And I love you, I love you so freaking much! So please... STAY WITH ME!" I screamed, blood leaking from my eyes and falling into (y/n)'s (h/l) (h/c) hair.

After a few seconds of silence, I pulled (y/n) away, just enough for me to look her in her eyes and hurriedly check her pulse. As I felt her still pulse my heart stopped. (Y/n) was dead.. the one person I loved was dead.. Desperately, I attempted to give her CPR, deep down knowing that she was gone for good.

As I labored to try and revive (y/n), I screamed on top of my lungs for her to come back to me. Failing to notice Twice, Toga, Kurogiri, and Shigaraki coming up from behind me.

After a few more minutes of my screams Twice came up and grasped my shoulder, tears falling down his face. "I CAN STILL SAVE HER!" I yell, shoving Twice away, causing Toga to frown and catch him.

"Dabi. She's gone." Toga murmured, tears staining her face. "NO! NO SHE CAN STILL BE SAVED!" I paused to desperately bring her into my lap, cradling her cold body to my chest, trying to warm her up.

Rocking us back and forth, I murmured sweet things to her, kissing her head gently. "OVER HERE!" A voice yelled, growing closer quickly. "Kurogiri." Shigaraki rasped, an unpleasant look on his face.

Kurogiri then silently transported everyone except me, (y/n) and himself. "Dabi.. you're coming." Kurogiri muttered, sending out a portal underneath me. I just hissed and cling to (y/n) tighter, hugging her still body to my chest.

Masterlist

Requesting Rules (requests open and appreciated)

Do not copy, repost, nor plagiarize my work. Ask before you translate or use my work in any way, minus reblogging.

[btr-rewatch]

Big Time Rush Season 1, Episode 18: “Big Time Concert” (Part 1)

Well, it only took me (checks blog) 35 weeks, but I finally made it to the last episode of season 1. Much like "Big Time Audition," this one will probably be posted in multiple parts. Let's jump right in.

Highlights: Like one paragraph of actual episode content, followed by me spiraling into a rambling over the original unaired BTR pilot

The boys run into Gustavo's office all excited. Their first album is finally complete!

They're also going on tour!

Their first show is in two weeks, and we get a daydream sequence where the guys imagine what the performance might be like. The footage from their fantasy is actual footage from a concert they performed in Times Square. I think it might have been their first-ever actual performance in front of an audience like that?

I remember watching that concert special when it premiered on TV.

Just like when they first arrived in Hollywood, Gustavo enlists the help of Mr. X to put them through some grueling boyband boot camp. But with an added twist.

After a montage of the boys bumping into each other, running into walls, and falling off the stage, they make a break for it and run to a nearby supply closet to hide. Sensing his buddies are close to throwing in the towel, Kendall launches into what might be my favorite opening lines to one of his pep talks.

Leave it to Kendall to be like, "On top of his terrible personality, you know what else Gustavo is? Ugly."

At the urging of the other three, Kendall puts his speech into hockey terms, and that made me think about how several of Kendall's pep talks this season have included hockey analogies. I wonder if that carries on through the rest of the series. I know they continue to sprinkle in reminders that the guys are into hockey, but I don't remember it being quite so prevalent as the series goes on.

Onto the Katie storyline. She's up in 2J, hard at work making BTR shirts to sell for the upcoming concert tour. Mama Knight isn't thrilled with the idea of her daughter becoming a bootlegger, but she's swayed once she hears how much money Katie stands to make. I do like her initial reaction to hearing Katie's plan. "How did you get like this? I never dropped you. Not once."

We go back to the guys, who have returned to their concert training where Dak Zevon is ready to teach them all about the art of dealing with rabid fans.

I don't think I've mentioned him much, but I love Dak Zevon. What a fun, goofy character. Curt Hansen is great in the role, and I am always SO GLAD that he was replaced as the original series lead. He's a wonderful Dak, but not such a great "Curt Knight." I remember watching clips from the original pilot back when they were first leaked, and it was like catching a glimpse into a weird, alternate universe. The audition scene especially!!

(this is something I probably should have included in my posts on Big Time Audition, but I didn't think to at the time)

LIKE!!!! Everything about this is so off. Even Gustavo doesn't "feel" like Gustavo. He feels reserved. Not nearly as loud and angry and exasperated as the Gustavo we all know and love. Where's his fire??

It is nice that James got to sing more of his audition song, though!

But the entire scene is off. All of it. Curt is talented, but BTR needed Kendall. I genuinely, truly believe the series (and band) wouldn't have gone on to be successful without him. I'm not sure it even would have survived season 1.

Curt has too much swag?? That's the best word to describe it. He's too pretty boy. Plays the character much too confidently, like he KNOWS how cool and handsome he is, which is so. Not Kendall. Even just the mannerisms. It's hard to put into words, but there's something almost...dainty (?) about Kendall Schmidt's performance throughout the whole series. Like...his mannerisms at times, the way he moves. He's Mr. Captain of the Hockey Team Jock Guy, but he's also delicate? Does anyone know what I'm talking about???

↑ this

Basically, Curt is no tall, blond, and eyebrows. I don't see him having been able to pull off the same level of physical comedy that Kendall does or having that same level of anxiety Kendall carries with him—that constant frenzy of fixing everything and worrying about everyone and holding things together.

(and don't get me started on the original Knight family. That whole scene feels like something out of a bad Disney channel movie)

Well...that was a fun little rant. All that to say that I DO genuinely enjoy Curt as Dak, and I think everyone ended up exactly where they were supposed to be.

Let's pull this massively derailed thought-train back on track. Dak has the guys practice running along the stage to high-five fans. James goes first and is immediately pulled off stage and disappears into the sea of rabid fans. The response to this is delightful.

And because I got so sidetracked while making this post, I'm going to put a bookmark in it right here. Guess we'll find out James's fate in the next one.

[cosmiclove-heavenstruck]

Did I just... rewrite Life Is Strange: Double Exposure? Not completely, obviously, but after watching game plays and reviews on the game I was just so unhappy that I had to put my thoughts down and it escalated a bit. This is really long (over 5000 words), but I remember watching the trailer for the first time and having such different expectations and such a different story in mind that I felt so disappointed when seeing what the game was actually about. This is a rant-turned-sorta-rewrite... so enjoy!

Quick disclaimer, these are just my ideas and opinions – if you enjoyed the game as it is, that's great <3

Okay look. There's dozens of people on YouTube and whatnot who've already laid out why Life Is Strange: Double Exposure feels lacking. The decisions made have no lasting effect and most times two decisions have the same outcome, even the “major” ones. The police officer/detective Alderman, who could've made for an interesting villain or at least an antagonistic force, dies either way and is then brushed off and forgotten. I remember somebody mentioned that those major decisions are also phrased in a way that pushes the player towards one, for example one time the two options on screen aren’t “Accept” and “Decline” but vice versa.

The dialogue feels off, the relationships are shallow and not developed, and the promoted murder mystery surrounding Safi gets abandoned for a cheap marvel-we're-all-superheros storyline. What I'm also missing is the atmosphere and the world-building. A comparison to the original is inevitable, so lets remember how much we could explore of the world of Arcadia Bay: Blackwell Academy with all the classrooms and the two outdoor spaces, the dorms, the junkyard, the swimming pool, the diner, Chloe's house, Jefferson's bunker... we were able to actually get to know the world and its people which are at the final moment put at risk. In the new game, Max runs around the abandoned bowling hall, the snowy campus, the bar and her house... and that's it. It lacks so much in places that when she is caught in her timelines shifting alternative nightmare reality, they used a motel she once stayed in off-screen. Honestly, at first I thought it was from LIS2.

It never feels like Max is actually part of this world. I so wish the game would've started out with Max actually teaching a class instead of just mentioning on the sidelines Oh yeah, she's a teacher now. It would've been a reasonable nod to the start of the original game and to show how far Max has come, how her art style has developed, the differences (and maybe similarities) to Jefferson's teaching. Have a callback to her selfie moment because one of her students takes one. When Max is done with her class, she could explore (a part) of the college/classrooms and then pick up Safi from one of her classes; maybe we even briefly meet Moses. Just so it's established from the getgo that they are part of the staff and not students/set a clear boundary, because that line is SO unclear in the current game. Sometimes the students address Max as “Ms. Caulfield” other times just as “Max” like they are friends and that's just weird to me. (I never went to college or uni, but I doubt it's normal to just address your teacher or professor with their first name, right?)

So, Max picks up Safi and they drive to the outskirts of town to that abandoned bowling alley. That way, we can see some parts of the town Max chose to stay at (plus some nice music)! Also, let us start on a parking lot outside, not directly inside.

But wait, you might say, what about Chloe? What about the endings of LIS1? Well, this came to me surprisingly easy when I thought a bit about the concept for Double Exposure, which is: timelines. Max no longer jumps back in time or through photos, but she discovers she can switch back and forth between two realities. The “real world” splits when Safi gets shot. So, to answer the question: How cool would the new Life Is Strange game have been if the players can start out in two possible realities depending on their choice of the first game? One reality similar to the one in the current game (storm was prevented, Arcadia Bay survives, Chloe isn’t there – because let’s be honest, the new game never intended to serve as a follow-up to the reality where Chloe lives) and then an opposite one. Instead of the two timelines being created through Safi's death, her death is what causes something to open between the worlds.

I understand bringing Chloe back would be too difficult but then you could argue she drove ahead to where Arcadia Bay used to be to visit her mother's grave over Christmas or something like that, and Max’ plan was to come too as soon as the term ends. They’ve had over fifteen years after the storm, I’m sure they have grown to be able to handle being away from each other for some time. Having them break up off screen just feels like a gut punch to most fans who decided to save her. In another scenario, the sequel would've picked up right after the storm, but that makes it even harder to respect both endings.

So, fast forward fifteen years to Caledon University, Lakeport, Vermont.

The realities can't be too different even though they surely would be, but it’s two possible futures to explore through Max and how she discovers these differences. That would require newspaper articles, text messages, diary entries, similar to Max' Arcadia Bay stuff box in Double Exposure.

When does Max realise she can switch between realities? Obviously, Safi's death still only happens in one and when it happens, realities glitch and overlap from Max (she sees everything in double exposure).

Would Safi die in the reality where Chloe lives or died? Personally I think the first option makes the most sense, putting Max on the spot whether she's going to let another town be destroyed or not. Most happening from the start of Double Exposure up until the glitch should in my opinion be the same, with my additions: Max teaching a class and then exploring the college, meeting with Safi and driving to the abandoned bowling alley, going to the Snapping Turtle, watching the meteors with Moses on the roof. Slight differences would include text messages from Joyce vs. from Chloe, etc. Let’s make it clearer which reality is which going forward:

A (Arcadia Bay survives)

B (Chloe survives)

On the roof, Safi acts strange and keeps staring at her phone – then the phone call. Max is worried and decides to follow Safi. When Max takes the photo of the owl, the realities begin to glitch. Max sees herself, hears the gunshot but sees Safi alive – she goes unconscious, wakes up with a bleeding nose, and runs up to the viewpoint to check on Safi.

Quick sidenote on why i really like the owl. Reddit user NihilistStylist put it quite nicely:

I love that! I think the butterfly in LIS1 was a very obvious but nonetheless amazing choice, and so is the owl, though I think it would've been cool to have anything on campus or in the library so Max (and the player) can learn about totem animals and what an owl may symbolise. (Hey, that would've been a great base for a conversation with Amanda. You know, the girl you're constantly told to snog on the bar counter or else...) 

Now it's important in which reality you began the story. If you started out in reality A, you are now in reality B, and vice versa. The A-to-B!Max finds Safi alive. Safi is confused why Max is making such a fuss and she's angry that she followed her even though she told her not to. As they are fighting, Max receives a text – from her dead best friend Chloe. The B-to-A!Max finds Safi's dead body; she was shot in the back. Max is utterly confused/crying and calls an ambulance. As she puts down her phone, she sees a new text – from Joyce (or somebody else from Arcadia Bay, though I suppose Max would have the most connections with Joyce because of her childhood friendship with Chloe). This establishes the two different realities. I like how in Double Exposure, they differentiate the worlds by coloring. When Safi is alive, the colors are warm, almost golden, uplifting the Christmas spirit. When Safi is dead, the colors are bluish-gray and washed-out. (It reminds me of Greta Gerwig's Little Women and her lighting/coloring choices to differentiate “childhood” and “adulthood”). That needs to be kept.

However, what I can whole-heartely go without is the social media app Crosstalk. It's very annoying and it often doesn't make any sense. Max takes a photo (on her instant camera?), somehow posts that picture on social media (that's the real mystery here, guys) and immediately, everybody and their goddamn dog have responded to the post. Also all the pseudo-deep text posts that serve nothing to the story except for me to roll my eyes at characters I don't even know are so useless. Burn it, I say.

Okay, maybe not burn it. But cut 90% of the rubbish that is posted on there. I doubt most people who just want to play the game don’t even read the posts, they are just annoyed by that red dot telling you eight more people have posted some vague shit in the last hour. I can go on Twitter if I want that.

Who should post on Crosstalk? Whose posts are necessary and interesting to the story?

1. Yasmin, as the head of Caledon, or maybe some official account, especially when it comes to official news about Safi’s death and all.

2. Loretta/GetAClue!. Yes, I know some people find her and her podcast annoying, but I think it could be interesting to read the crazy theories and that’s surely where they’ll be. I’ll get to Loretta in a bit. (Fun Fact: I just googled her character and her last name is ‘Rice’ – did anyone know that?)

3. Abraxas. Hear me out, in the current game, they are about as interesting and mysterious as Vinh is modest, but I think with a bit of work they could become some sort of Pretty Little Liars/Gossip Girl account that exposes secrets.

Otherwise I can’t think of anyone else whose posts I’d care about so… back to the story. 

You noticed I kept those first story points roughly the same. They work, they set up the first big questions: What happened to Safi? And what is happening with Max/the realities? What I disliked maybe the most about Double Exposure (apart from Crosstalk) is that it felt like a setup for another sequel, and not just any sequel, no, a Life Is Strange a là X-(Wo)Men or Marvel Infinity War. I was so confused by the last two chapters (if you can even call them that as they were so empty and short) and what Safi's intentions were, and judging by the stats on the “final” decision I doubt many players understood either. I do not want a power revelation, I do not want a team up against the evil, I do not want after credit scenes revealing the powers of a character you barely get to know.  What I wanted was to solve a murder mystery. Why don't we team up for that? I say Max teams up with Moses and Amanda to solve Safi's murder and for that, she tells them about her powers.

It would've been fun to see Max explore her powers when they get interrogated by the police (which the game either didn't show us or just glossed over like that's not something that happens) plus she could find out more about Maya Okada at the police station — the autopsy found traces of a drug in her blood (we’ll see why later). I wanted to see more of Alderman! He was an antagonist, accusing/judging Moses for having something to do with Safi's death, trying to sabotage the investigations, and to kill him off only shortly after he's introduced was so pointless. It felt more like a show-off, and never led to anything. No one was ever in danger of touching their other version ever again!

Why would Alderman sabotage the investigations/put it off as a suicide? Maybe because Safi's mother Yasmin told him to/payed him to. Caledon University doesn't have the best reputation as it seems, and maybe another suicide would look less bad than an actual murder. I think Max (as well as Moses and Amanda) are certain Alderman is trying to hide something, and maybe after overhearing a phonecall with Yasmin at the police station, they decide to break into Yasmin's office.

For that, they need to distract Vinh. Max can tell him the truth (depending on how well earlier conversations went, Vinh is willing to play along and let them in or threatens to snitch on them), lie to him or threaten to spill a secret she found out in the other timeline (that he and Safi dated but she broke up with him and he is therefore more likely to be a suspect in the investigations, that his election to become the head of Abraxas was manipulated, something like that...). The three get access to Yasmin's office. Moses is so nervous he decides to stand guard in case Yasmin (or Vinh, based on the earlier made decision) comes back. Max and Amanda find transfers from Yasmin to Alderman as well as Mails, confirming their suspicion.

And while we're talking about Vinh: His weird thing to turn every conversation with Max sexual needs to go. They work at the same place, he had something with Max' best friend, there's never any indication as to why Vinh does this in the first place and no, later revealing he has daddy issues or some shit does not explain that. The only time his flirty personality sorta works is during the smash/pass game but that also feels out of place. And by the way: Whether or not you are playing the B-reality!Max, I don't need her to have a love interest. This is about finding out who murdered her friend, not whether Max wants to smash the bartender or the cult leader. Back to the story.

They also find: A mail history of Yasmin and Gwen, arguing about Safi's failed book deal. Up til that point, they believed it was Gwen who sabotaged the book deal, but it seems like Yasmin was the one who did not want it to be published. Maybe Safi let some things slide when they were on the roof watching the meteors, which led to Max snooping around Gwen's office. I think that should take place before Max teams up with anyone. She finds mails in which Gwen first praises Safi's book to the publishers, then later cancels the deal. So it seems like Gwen let it fail, but Max doesn't know why until Yasmin's office.

When Max' leaves Gwen's office, she gets ambushed by Loretta. I like Loretta! She is interesting and not one of those polished, perfect characters. she is difficult and nosy and this pretend-detective, sticking her nose in other people's business (a bit like Max, only that she's less secretive about it). Loretta confronts Max about snooping. Max can either give her a satisfying logical answer as to why she was in Gwen's office (school work? picking something up for Gwen?), make a compromise that she gives Loretta a short statement for her podcast and therefore Loretta doesn't tell Gwen, or tell Loretta to stay out of her business which will lead to Loretta (maybe anonymously) telling Gwen. In that case, Gwen loses trust in Max and Loretta grows suspicious. If Max is nice to Loretta, she will later help them with the clues she found out when researching for her podcast.

Back to Yasmin's office. Amanda and Max find a phone locked away and manage to unlock it. There isn't much on there, except for an anonymous chat hinting at a love affair. They use nicknames. Max checks the phone in both realities. In A, the affair seems to have hit rock-bottom, Yasmin hasn't responded to the other person's messages within days; on the day of Safi's death, the messenger asked Yasmin to meet them at “their spot”. In B, the affair is apparently still going on. But who is the other person? Amanda says it sounds like another professor. Max checks Yasmin's calendar and notices most days have a few hours blocked around the afternoon. She takes a picture. 

Outside, someone's coming back. If Max talked to Moses before entering the office/made him more confident, he manages to distract the person and take them to his office. If Max didn't talk to him, she and Amanda have to escape through the window. I think it’d be funny if someone from Abraxas saw them and posted about it on Crosstalk.

Since the anonymous chatter seems to be another teacher, Max needs to check when which professor has their consultation hours and when they are out of the office. Max checks the calendars at the teachers lounge. Gwen and Lucas both regularly have afternoon hours blocked for private reasons, but since Max knows about Gwen's wife, she decides to go after Lucas. She finds out the nickname used in the chat also appears in Lucas' highly praised novel — Yasmin and Lucas have (or had) an affair.

The difference between the two realities:

A (Safi is dead): The affair is over. Lucas wears his wedding ring, but is fighting with his wife or his son over the phone, maybe even tries to get back with Yasmin. Yasmin tries to cover it up, further sabotaging the investigations since that would ruin Caledon's reputation even more.

B (Safi is alive): The affair is still going on. Lucas also still wears a wedding ring when Max sees him. He seems to be on good terms with his wife and son while juggling the affair.

In the game, if you look at the cherry blossom tree on campus, you find out about Maya Okada. It's established she was a writer, Safi's friend, and killed herself some time prior to the start of the game. But why? I like the idea that Lucas was her professor and stole her work, pretending to have written it himself. It’s just that Lucas being an asshole isn’t really enough of a reason to me to steal an entire manuscript and ruin his student’s life.

I think Maya found out about the affair, but before she could tell Safi, Lucas threatened her to stay quiet and stole her book. It broke Maya and then we all know what happens. Why is it so bad that Maya found out about the affair? Well, on one side, she is best friends with Safi and would’ve told her, and on the other side, I think she was part of Abraxas and therefore could’ve spilled the secret on Crosstalk.

In my mind, Safi and Maya were both part of Abraxas. Only that Safi was kicked out after her relationship/fling with Vinh. Maybe she broke his heart, maybe she was trouble, maybe they were afraid her mother would put a stop to it.

Safi doesn't accept that Maya just killed herself for seemingly no reason (they were best friends, she would've known if something was up) and when Lucas' book gets published, she immediately recognizes it as Maya's work. She confronts Lucas, she tells her mother, she even begs Vinh to post about it, but she has no real evidence. The only copy left of Maya's work is with Lucas'. Safi's only escape is writing; her work is very autobiographical though poetic, and Yasmin can tell what it's about. Gwen has had assumptions, too. Max finds Maya's old texts in Lucas' office, confirming that he did steal it word for word. She also finds a gun locked away in a safe alongside the documents.

I’ve been mentioning Abraxas here and there so maybe let’s talk about them now. In Double Exposure, they are blowing smoke. Max comparing them to the Vortex Club is laughable. So how about this: Max gets ahold of Reggie’s mysterious box and has to solve the riddles to get inside. It should be more difficult than just turning the box and pressing some buttons, which would be a great opportunity to explore the campus more. Now, what’s inside? A note with a place and a time for a secret Abraxas meeting for new members. Max tried to talk to Vinh about Maya but he rebuffed her, so she decides to go to the secret meeting to try her luck there.

Abraxas should be some sort of cult/secret society and really pretentious. I’m talking rituals, cloaks, matching tattoos, drug use. Maya was deep in that cult and when she was so upset and confused about Lucas’ stealing her book and all, she went to Vinh/Abraxas for help. During a ceremony/ritual, she overdosed and died. Vinh blames himself for Maya’s death and never told Safi. Caledon only ever officially stated that Maya killed herself.

At that point, Max, Amanda and Moses decide that Max needs to talk to the Safi who's still alive. Both Safis had a similar state of knowledge about what went on with Lucas and Maya. Max can decide whether she wants to let Safi know about the affair between her mother and Lucas AND whether she wants to tell Safi about what Vinh had to do with Maya’s death. This affects Safi's trust in Max but also her rage/longing for revenge. Still, they do not know who shot Safi. Safi points out that nobody's tried to kill her in this reality yet, so there must've been something her other version found out that made her the target. She says if she found out anything, she surely wrote it down or kept the evidence in her house (or apartment? We never even find out where she lives, Jesus.).

Max switches back and they search Safi's place. Turns out the Safi from reality A found out about the affair and, upon receiving backlash from her mother, wrote a mail to Lucas' wife with her evidence. But she didn't use her own name. She used her mothers, pretending it's Yasmin who wrote to the wife.

Max, Moses and Amanda gather all their evidence and review them at Max’ house. Loretta comes over because she saw the missing cat in Max’ living room and she’s investigating that case. She sees what they are doing and wants to help. They suspect her of only having her true crime podcast in mind, but Loretta says that the students deserve to know what happened and she has been secretly investigating Maya Okada’s case. She found out from whom Abraxas is buying their drugs and how they can reveal so many secrets.

Max confronts Yasmin, who didn't know until now who leaked the affair. She admits she told Vinh to help cover any rumors about it and to find out who might've gotten wind of the affair. Max digs deeper, wanting to figure out what Yasmin knows about Safi's death, but she says she doesn't know who did it. Max asks about the affair and the “spot” mentioned in the texts. Yasmin says she hasn't even looked at the phone since before Safi's death and breaks down. The last point of call is Lucas. Max, Moses, Loretta and Amanda decide they should lure him to the viewpoint (the alleged “spot”) via a message over Yasmin's secret phone.

Outside, a storm is raging. It’s snowing heavily. Max recognised it immediately, knowing she has once again gone to far with her powers. She wants to abort the mission (Moses and Yasmin are in favor of this), but Loretta and Amanda say they just need to find Lucas. Surprisingly, he comes to the viewpoint despite the weather.

At first, he’s defensive, then Lucas confesses he was the one to fire the shot, but he thought it was Yasmin. Because of the snow and the dark, he mistook the daughter for the mother. He wanted revenge on Yasmin for destroying his family (that’s his way of viewing it, saint Lucas of course never did anything wrong… ha ha) and thought if she was dead, Safi would stop trying to get the truth about his novel out. Max says they will call the police on him, but Lucas says they have no evidence and pulls out his gun. Loretta comes in and says that they actually got evidence of everything as well as his confession and reveals a recorder for her podcast.

Lucas points his gun at Loretta. Max rips up her hand to stop him and freezes time just like she did in LIS1 when Kate tried to jump off the roof. She manages to take the gun from Lucas’ hand, then the freezing stops. Loretta sacks the evidence, but Lucas is fighting Max, pushing her over the edge of the viewpoint. She can hear the others calling her name, but also the voices of other people like Chloe, Joyce, Jefferson, Victoria, etc.

Then she gets sucked right into the storm.

Okay, wait. Let’s pause for a second.

One big problem my version has that is also present in Double Exposure: What about the other Max? I think in Double Exposure, there isn’t even another Max. The doppelgänger turns out to be Safi, but I’ve cut out her superpowers because I don’t think they elevate the story in any way. I think Max creates these two universes because of her grief and so she is the one variable standing between the realities that later merge into one.

But in my version, there have to be two versions of Max. One from reality A and one from reality B. And which one you play with depends on what ending you chose in LIS1. Let’s try to make sense out of that:

In the beginning, I said: The A-to-B!Max finds Safi alive while the B-to-A!Max finds Safi's dead body. Both saw Safi die in the glitch before they were thrust into the other universe. The gunshot was heard in both realities, which is why the police is called in both realities. I think I mostly wrote from the perspective of the B-to-A!Max, because she witnesses the murder hand-first and is therefore in the midst of the investigations. She has to solve the murder. Meanwhile A-to-B!Max has to confide what she saw to someone, possibly Moses, first. She has to solve a murder that did not happen in this world, but did happen in the other. Both have to solve why they changed places. Both want to get back to their own world… right?

What needs to be established is that Max can run into her other self and that other characters will be confused, saying things like “Weren’t you just at the Snapping Turtle?” or “Didn’t you say you wanted to go home?”. That will lead to more mess/weird conversation. It would be so cool to have a task in the game where you have to hide from the other self in order to get somewhere, similar like Max and Chloe sneaking around the swimming pool to not run into David.

So, what happens in reality B? Yasmin and Lucas are still having an affair, so they cannot convince Yasmin to text Lucas to meet her at the viewpoint for a confrontation. Either way, Lucas is busy that night: He wants to make an announcement about the screen adaptation of “his” novel at the Snapping Turtle (similar to what happens in Double Exposure). Amanda, Moses, Loretta and Max want to expose him.

Now it matters what the other Max told Safi. If the other Max told Safi everything, Safi will not only expose that Lucas stole Maya’s manuscript, but also the affair and Maya’s overdose caused by Vinh and Abraxas. If the other Max didn’t tell her about the affair or Abraxas fault, Safi of course won’t mention it. Lucas and Safi have a back and forth conversation until Safi says that it was Max who told her everything. Lucas storms off stage, grabs Max’ arm and asks her to go outside with him to talk while he secretly shows her he has a gun. She has no choice but to follow him outside onto the terrace. Here, a storm rages as well. Lucas confronts her, wants to know how much she knows and pushes her up to the railing.

The others follow them outside. A close up shot on Max’ face, trying to get Lucas to put down his gun, until Safi interrupts her and points at the storm. It’s really close. In that careless moment, Loretta tries to get ahold of the gun. The gun fires. Lucas pushes Max over the railing. She, just like her other self, gets sucked into the storm.

We need a realities-glitching-nightmare sequence in the game and now it’s time for that. I don’t like that in Double Exposure, it takes place in a motel we have never seen before. Yes, Max has lived a life in those over fifteen years since the first game, but this has no meaning to the player. What I did like about that motel scene is how more and more stuff turned into paintings. It’s a nice illusion and when Max tries to find her way out of the following locations, those optical illusions should definitely stay: Max’ classroom, the bowling alley, the Snapping Turtle, the Abraxas’ location and finally (and here, I’m allowing myself to stray from what I just said) a mirror labyrinth. Max sees dozens of versions of herself in those mirrors until one doesn’t follow her movements. Say hi to your other self, Max! They talk for a bit until the other Max touches the mirror, saying they can make everything go back to normal.

I don’t know if this is big enough for a final decision, but it’s what I’ve come up with. Max can either switch back or stay. It’s a second chance so to say. She got a glimpse of the future she could have had if she decided differently back then in Arcadia Bay. Does she still stand with that? Does she miss [Chloe | Arcadia Bay] so much that she is willing to stay in the reality she previously gave up? Does she miss Safi so much she wants to stay in the reality she’s alive or can she leave her?

[ STAY ] or [ GO ]

[ STAY ] The Max you play doesn’t touch the mirror. She turns back. The Max on the other side is very upset (“NO! COME BACK!”) and hammers against the mirror, but it’s too late. The “portal” is locked, they cannot switch back and forth between realities anymore.

A-to-B!Max is now in the world where Chloe and Safi are alive, but Arcadia Bay got destroyed.

B-to-A!Max is now in the world where Chloe and Safi are both dead, but Arcadia Bay is alive.

[ GO ] The Max you play touches the mirror and through that contact, they get thrown back into their respective worlds. The “portal” is locked, they cannot switch back and forth between realities anymore.

Each Max is back in the world she belongs in. What happened while Max was inside the storm? What are the differences between the final confrontation?

First of all, the storm is gone. Everyone in the area has a headache and some memories are mixed up, just like in Double Exposure. No one remembers that Max switched between timelines and she does not tell anyone.

Universe A (Safi is dead): The confrontation happens at the viewpoint. Amanda and Loretta are holding Lucas to the ground; Moses is calling the police. Loretta has Lucas’ confession on her tape, has the murder weapon, and they all saw that he tried to kill Max as well.

Lucas gets arrested. They all have to testify. Yasmin dissolves Abraxas before having to resign from her post. Max can decide whether or not she wants to give the police the evidence on Vinh and Abraxas. If she does, the police decides the evidence not valid enough, but Vinh gets suspended*. Loretta makes a long podcast episode and writes an article on the steal, earning an award. Alderman gets suspended for obstruction of investigations and corruption.

*The case will not be reopened. Owning the drug is not a direct indication that Vinh/Abraxas were the ones who gave Maya the drug. But the use of drugs on campus is still illegal, so he doesn’t get to keep his job.

Max celebrates an early Christmas with Moses, Amanda and Loretta at the Snapping Turtle before driving to Arcadia Bay.

Universe B (Safi is alive): The confrontation happens at the Snapping Turtle. If Max managed to talk Lucas into lowering the gun before Loretta grabbed it, the fired shot was aimed at Loretta. She dies. (Sorry! But somebody has to die!) If Lucas refused to lower the gun, his shot was aimed at Max but because of the storm, the bullet misses. Amanda and Safi are holding Lucas to the ground; Moses is calling the police. Lucas never confessed but they have enough evidence.

Only if Loretta was shot, Lucas gets arrested. In both cases, his awards get taken away, the book won’t be renewed and Maya’s manuscript gets published. Also his wife divorces him. If Loretta lives, she makes a long podcast episode and writes an article on the steal, earning an award. Max can decide whether or not she wants to give the police the evidence on Vinh and Abraxas. If she does, the police decides the evidence not valid enough, but Vinh gets suspended. (Reasoning explained above)

Max celebrates an early Christmas with Safi, Moses, Amanda and Loretta at the Snapping Turtle before leaving to meet up with Chloe.

I don’t know if this story is enough to split it into five chapters, scrolling back I think it might be four:

Chapter One: Introduction to Max’ new life, ending with Safi’s mysterious death / cliffhanger: Max noticing she must’ve switched realities Chapter Two: Investigations at the police station and at various offices / cliffhanger: Yasmin and Lucas have or had an affair Chapter Three: Maya Okada and Abraxas / cliffhanger: Abraxas killed Maya Chapter Four: Confrontation, Nightmare and End

Splitting them further would make them feel shorter and more empty.

Let me know what you think!

[uneducated-author]

First of all, I think everyone who predicted the 'Lu Guang alternate timeline' theory deserves a chocolate ice cream, and amazing job to the studio for embedding the story well enough that we could figure it out!

Second of all, did you all notice the difference in outfits? In the current timeline, both Lu Guang and Chang Xiaoshi are wearing costumes from the Romeo and Juliet play. However in the past timeline Lu Guang travelled away from, they were wearing their typical outfits, with Cheng Xiaoshi in the blue jacket and Lu Guang in the white overshirt.

The implication is kind of that the whole hostage situation didn't happen. Which actually, makes a lot of sense. I don't know if any of of you have heard of the bootstrap paradox, but it's a theory that when you travel in time to cause an event that correlates to your own timeline, the event is then 'uncaused'. Essentially it raises the question, Cheng Xiaoshi takes control of Lu Guang, and runs to the location he was abducted, because he was rescued by Lu Guang. And he only did this because he already had the memory of Lu Guang saving him. But who saved Cheng Xiaoshi first?

(Google Doctor Who Bootstrap Paradox, it explains it incredibly well)

So if the hostage situation didn't happen, maybe Cheng Xiaoshi died earlier in the timeline?

Also, Lu Guang was able to jump back in time, which isn't his ability. Back to the theory of parallel lines, what if in the original timeline, Cheng Xiaoshi passed Lu Guang his own ability, like how in the current one, Xixi (presumeably) passes her own to Qiao Ling. There are commonalities in the disparate timelines.

Also, the flashback with Chen Bin breaking free and catching himself has horrific implications. Because 'it can change with the influence of others' might have been Lu Guanv travelling back in time to save his friend, but Chen Bin didn't survive, his death was delayed. Time is more inevitable that one could think, and Cheng Xiaoshi has the mark of death on his life now.

[mysecretlittlelibrary]

Just Let Me Adore You Pt. 1

Pairing: Stucky x Reader

Word Count: 4.2k

Warnings: none here, we've just begun

Genre: mostly fluff ig

Summary: You’ve been dating your boyfriend, Bruce, for 3 absolutely blissful years. He’s a scientist and professor who is as smart as he is kind and if anyone asked, you were sure you’d spend the rest of your life with him. That is until two mysteriously charming men that Bruce swears are dangerous take an interest in you that threatens to turn your entire life upside down. I mean… what exactly are you supposed to do with two gorgeous men telling you something that suggests that basically everything you think you know is a lie? And why does part of you have enough doubt to wonder if they might be telling the truth?

Series Masterlist

***

It's a beautiful afternoon as you're wrapping up your shift at the cute little cafe/bookstore you work at.

"See ya later y/n!" Your coworker, a kid named Peter calls after you when you leave.

"See you! Have a good shift!" You wave at him with a smile. Peter's 18 and has only been working at the store for a couple of weeks, so far he's doing pretty well. Most of his shifts are in conjunction with yours and today's one of the first times he'll be working with some of the others. You trained him well so you know he'll be fine but it's kinda like leaving your kid somewhere for the first time. Your walk home is nice, late spring bringing warmer temperatures that aren't yet sweaty which you take advantage of. When you walk into your shared apartment, you find your boyfriend of three years sitting at your kitchen counter. Your boyfriend Bruce is a professor and researcher, and you moved in together almost a year ago.

"Hey y/n." He calls over his shoulder, papers scattered around him and his laptop.

"Hi Brucey. You done with lectures for the day?" You ask draping your arms over his shoulders and kissing his cheek.

"Yeah, I cancelled my second lecture for the day- they've got an exam next class." Bruce tells you.

"Ah I see. So how was your first lecture?"

"It was fine, it was my psych class and we ended up having some very interesting discussions. How was your day? You still training that guy?"

"You mean Peter right? His training is pretty much done, actually today he's working a different shift than me."

"Well how's it going for him?"

"I think he's doing alright honestly. He's a little nervous sometimes but it's kinda cute." You giggle.

"Cute, huh?"

"Yeah, the kid's a ball of nervous energy actually. Sometimes he talks like he's had too many espresso shots and it's so fast he's almost unintelligible but apparently he doesn't even drink coffee, which, I think might be for the best. It's so interesting though, I don't know many teenage boys who display energy that way." You hum.

"Maybe he's got anxiety or something."

"Hm, I hadn't considered that. He probably does." You muse grabbing a bottle of water from your fridge. "Well that's the uni update, anything interesting going on in the research area for you?"

"Oh, yeah we've got a vampire coming to the lab tomorrow actually."

"I'm not sure if I like that honestly." You hum.

"Not to worry sweetheart, it's safe. I won't even be alone with him." Bruce says.

"Right of course, not alone just- with others that are part of a vampire's diet."

"You know not all vampires feed on humans."

"What's the alternative? Animals?"

"Yes, exactly." He nods.

"And the vampire you're studying tomorrow eats animals?"

"Correct."

"And you're sure about that?" You ask.

"Well we're studying him because he's animal fed so I sure hope he is."

"Have you ever studied vampires that do eat humans?"

"Yes, back when I was a research assistant. Honestly, the hardest part about studying vampires is hunting them. Once they're caught you can sedate them and that makes it much easier."

"You hunted them?"

"I mean vampires aren't exactly jumping in line to volunteer for this kind of thing you know." Bruce shrugs.

"So this animal-fed vampire, did he volunteer?"

"Yes he did. I don't really run tests on unwilling participants these days. It's unethical."

"I know that. Sounds like your old research boss didn't feel the same." You say.

"Well, that group of researchers mostly tagged creatures to study their patterns in nature. They weren't so much running tests but it's a bit hard to tag a vampire that's trying to rip your heart out so-" Bruce shrugs.

"Alright well I'll take your word on of yours this vampire tomorrow. Be careful." You say.

"Always darling." He winks at you. In all honesty, you try not to ask too many questions about your boyfriend's research of supernatural creatures. He swears to you it's all ethical but you're not sure how well it sits with you. You've been to the lab once and the asylum-like observational rooms you saw were offputting. Stark white walls and a small bed in an otherwise empty room doesn't seem very morally sound to you despite what Bruce tells you. Granted the observational cells were empty when you visited so you can only hope nobody's been in there against their will.

"Y/n!" Bruce pulls you from your thoughts and your head snaps to his confused face.

"Sorry, I- spaced, did you say something?" You ask.

"I said I was thinking we'd order something for dinner, does that sound okay?" Bruce chuckles.  You want so badly to trust that his work is virtuous because that's what he tells you.

"Yeah that's fine with me. Did you want Chinese or Thai or there's that Italian place too, maybe pizza?" You list off some options, shaking the uncertainty from your mind. They say ignorance is bliss.

"Do you have a preference?" He asks.

"Let's do Chinese."

"Sounds good. I'll finish grading these assignments and then order in a couple hours." Bruce says.

"Yeah that's fine." You nod giving Bruce a quick kiss and leaving him to his papers. With the few hours you have to spare until dinner, you crack open your latest read, a book recommended to you by a coworker that you've been meaning to start for a while. Eventually, Bruce orders dinner and gets your attention once the food arrives. Your night is pretty relaxed, you eat and chat while watching TV together for a while before you turn in for the night. You and Bruce do have different rooms because it's important to have your own space, but most nights you sleep together in his room. You'd consider your life pretty ordinary. You have routines and habits and while you have lots of fun experiences, you'd say most of your life is very much average.

~*~*~

The tinkling of the bell over the door doesn't pull your attention from the magazine you're reading but you do greet the customer since you're at the register by the door.

"Hi welcome in!" You say with mild cheeriness.

"Hiiii y/n!" The sing-song greeting comes from your best friend and you look up when you realize.

"Wanda! Hey love." You smile at her.

"Hi! Hi Peter!" She waves at Peter, who's learning how to work the coffee bar today.

"Oh. Hi miss Wanda!" He says with a shy wave.

"I've told you sweetie you don't have to call me miss." Wanda chuckles.

"Sorry." He mutters.

"What a cutie." Wanda hums.

"Isn't he?" You agree quietly. "Anyway, what brings you here babes?" You ask.

"Is your shift almost over? I wanted to hang out today."

"Well I'm supposed to be out of here in the next half hour or so but of course, I've gotta wait for Matt or Layla to come in before I can actually leave." You shrug.

"Peter! How good are you at that coffee bar?" Wanda calls across the store.

"Uh- I- I'm alright I think." Peter says.

"Wanna try making me a vanilla latte?" She asks.

"Well I- I can try."

"Confidence honey, you've got the recipes, you can do this. Don't act like the coffee bar's gonna bite ya!" You tell him.

"Right! Confidence. Vanilla latte coming up." Peter nods grabbing items to make Wanda's drink.

"And if you have any questions I'm right here!" You call.

"I'll wait for your shift to end and then can we do something together?" Wanda asks you.

"Of course we can." You nod.

"Done!" Peter says after a few minutes. Wanda takes the coffee from Peter and drops a five on the counter for him before sitting at a table with her drink and a magazine.

"This is pretty good for how unsure you were Peter." Wanda tells him.

"Good job Petey! I told you, you got it." You smile at him and again he hits you both with a shy smile.

"Thanks." He says quietly. A few customers come in and leave before Eric arrives and you clock out, leaving arm in arm with Wanda. She seems to have a destination in mind as you walk together.

"So where are we going lovely?" You ask her after a few minutes of her dragging you down city streets.

"Well I have a date tonight and I need something to wear, so the mall." She tells you.

"A date? You have a date? Why didn't you mention this before now?!" You blink at her.

"Honestly I forgot about it until I realized it was tonight." She shrugs.

"You forgot about it? Are you even interested in this person?" You laugh incredulously.

"I am! He's very sweet, I just have been busy with other things this week."

"Alright well let's get you something to wear for this second thought date." You snort.

"It wasn't a second thought. It's just that I can only prioritize like three things at a time."

"Seriously? You can lift a plane with your mind but can't remember your date until the day of?" You scoff. Wanda's a witch. It's the only real secret you keep from Bruce. She's not totally comfortable with him knowing that information and since it's her life you have no problem supporting that decision. To tell the truth, she's not very comfortable with him in general because of the whole research thing but he makes you happy so she gets along well enough for your sake.

"I didn't forget forget I was just, you know, too busy to think about it."

"Yeah sure whatever." You laugh as she pulls you into a store near the mall's entrance. "So how do you know this date of yours? Friend of a friend? Someone from work? A dating app? One of Pietro's friends?"

"He's a friend of a coworker." She tells you.

"A friend of a coworker? Is this a blind date?"

"No. He came to a work function and I had a nice enough time talking to him there that when he asked me on a date I said yes."

"It sounds like your coworker was setting you up and just played the long game." You chuckle.

"Hang on I'd like to circle back to your suggestion that it would be one of Pietro's friends. Why would I ever do that?!" She looks at you over a clothing rack.

"Oh come on Pietro's adorable." You laugh.

"This is about his friends, not him."

"Yeah I know but I'm of the belief that hot people hang with hot people so naturally-"

"Yeah that's not. No."

"Why? Is it the fact that the halfling has mostly vampire friends? I know you have ethical reservations about the whole blood sucking thing despite being raised by a vampire." You ask as the two of you leave the store you're in. Wanda and Pietro are twins but apparently since their father is a vampire and their mother is a witch one twin got each supernatural gene, making Pietro a vampire halfling.

"Most of Pietro's friends hunt animals so no it's not that." She rolls her eyes.

"Wait they hunt animals?" You blink.

"Yeah? So does Pietro, you know that."

"I know he does but I guess I didn't think about his friends- I think one of them might be volunteering for Bruce."

"What?" Wanda's eyes widen.

"A couple of weeks ago Bruce told me a vampire was going to the lab and they were going to study him because he's animal fed and well, considering we live in New York and not Idaho I can't imagine there's a large population of animal diet vampires." You explain.

"What if he finds out about Pietro? About me?" Wanda gasps as the two of you enter another store.

"He won't. Even if this guy knows Pietro why would he put another person on Bruce's watchlist that didn't ask to be there? His loyalty should be to other vampires not to a bunch of researchers." You say quietly. The shop you're in is empty besides the employees and while supernatural creatures aren't a secret, some people are more reserved when it comes to them.

"Some of them don't accept Pietro because of our parentage. He could rat him out on purpose for-"

"Bruce isn't going to go hunting people down, I've mentioned Pietro like once so he might not even know you're related, it's not like Pietro would rat on you, and if Bruce does find out that you're twins well, you aren't a vampire. I'll simply tell him that twins of a vampire and a nonvampire split the gene, and only one gets it. Plus it's been a couple of weeks since this happened, if the vampire had mentioned Pietro or Bruce had any suspicions about you, he'd have given himself away by now. He's not going to find out you're a witch. He's not going to find out Pietro is a halfling. Your secrets are safe."

"Man I hope so." She sighs.

"Yeah well I know so." You tell her.  The two of you flip through racks of clothes for a while, pulling different items for Wanda to try on in the dressing room. "So where are you going with this guy?" You ask her when you finally reach the dressing rooms at the back.

"Dinner! Maybe something else after but we're starting with dinner." Wanda says through the door as she tries on the first dress she picked.

"Hm, what's his name?"

"Wes."

"Wes? Is it short for Wesley or- is that the whole name?"

"It's short for Wesley." She pushes back the dressing room curtain to show you the dress. "What do you think?"

"That's cute. Although maybe not right for a first date." You say. It's a short dark blue dress with lace trimming and as much as you like it, it's not a dinner date outfit.

"Yeah- maybe you're right." She looks at herself in the mirror for a moment and then closes the curtain.

"Hm, Wesley? That's not the worst name in the world." You hum.

"Y/n!" Wanda laughs.

"Look! I'm not trying to be mean, but you know, some names just don't... roll off the tongue the right way ya know." You shrug even though she can't see you.

"Now why would you say that?" She tries to scold you but you can hear her hiding her laughter before she shoves back the curtain again. "This one?" She asks. This dress is a green off-the-shoulder pick with bell sleeves.

"I think it's the wrong shade of green for you honestly." You tell her.

"Ya think so?" She hums and closes the curtain again.

"Anyway, I said it because it's true. Like I'm not saying you're going to fuck this guy or anything but imagine trying to moan a name like Bartholomew or Yolanda. Ya know? Wes or even Wesley you could probably get away with though."

"Don't be crude! I don't think anyone born in the last century is named Bartholomew but- I guess I get your point." Wanda chuckles.

"Also it's cute that your names are alliterative. Wanda and Wesley. You'll have to come up with some cute introduction when you meet people as a couple."

"It is one date. You are for sure skipping ahead." Wanda pulls back the curtain in a new dress, pointing an accusing finger at you. This one is a two-toned red and black dress.

"I mean if you think about it now you're ready for if the time comes." You shrug.

"You and your ability to romanticize things." She shakes her head. "Thoughts on this one?"

"Life is better when you romanticize things. Honestly, I think this is your dress. You should get this one. It's gorgeous on you. If he's not speechless when he sees you, leave." You tell her.

"That's dramatic." She laughs.

"It's in my nature." You shrug.

"It is a nice dress though. Should I bother trying the others?" She asks as she closes the curtain again to change back into her clothes.

"I mean if you want to but I'm pretty much sold on this one." You say.

"Excuse me." You hear a voice behind you that causes you to spin around. A sales associate for the store you're in is smiling at you when you do.

"Hi! Can I help you?" You ask.

"This is for you." She says holding out a shopping bag with the store's logo on it. Your hands fly up as if you're surrendering.

"I- didn't purchase anything so that cannot be right." You shake your head.

"Actually the items were purchased for you by someone. It's a gift."

"A gift from whom?" You frown in confusion.

"They've asked to remain anonymous."

"That- sounds increasingly suspicious. Um can you, hold the bag open for me?" You ask her.

"Excuse me?" Now she's confused.

"I am not touching that bag if I don't know what's inside it. So, if you could just open it so I can look inside?" You explain. "Wanda! You almost done in there?" You call as the associate opens the bag. Wanda rushes out of the dressing room when she hears your voice.

"Everything okay?" She asks you.

"Somebody has anonymously gifted me some items apparently." You share a look at her before looking into the bag to find a dress, a jacket, and a jewelry set each that you'd commented on while shopping with Wanda. You spin around to face Wanda almost too fast. "Holy shit it's all stuff I said I liked while we were shopping." You speak quickly and quietly to her.

"What?"

"It's the dress and the jacket that I put down right before we came to the dressing room." You hiss.

"Woah." Wanda blinks. You turn back to the associate.

"Did they pay with a card? Can you refund this person somehow? I can't just take this gift from a stranger." You tell her.

"All of the items they bought are final sale so unfortunately, a refund would not be possible, plus they paid in cash."

"So- there's really nothing I can do but take this?"

"I mean if you don't take it I'll simply sell them again. It'd be unfortunate for the purchaser." The associate tells you. You look at Wanda again.

"This is like a $200 purchase what the fuck?" You whisper to Wanda.

"Then I guess you should take it." Wanda whispers back. You mull it over in your head for a moment before turning back to face the associate.

"Alright fine. Thank you." You take the bag from the associate with a small smile. "If the, anonymous gifter returns please inform them that I appreciate the gesture but not to do it again because this is very weird." You tell her.

"I will pass on the message." She nods and walks away.

"I cannot believe you've got a secret admirer." Wanda loops her arm through yours and pulls you towards the counter with her chosen dress in hand.

"This is absolutely ridiculous. What do I tell Bruce?" You frown.

"The truth. That a stranger bought them and you have no idea who it is." She shrugs. The two of you check out and leave the store and subsequently the mall, Wanda deciding she has enough shoes to choose from at home. "Do you have any idea who it might be?"

"No. I only talk to like 5 people and none of them are spending $200 on items I only mentioned liking while we were just shopping."

"Even Bruce?"

"If Bruce did it, he wouldn't keep it a secret. So I know it's not him." You tell her.

"Well, you'll have to tell me how he reacts. I'm going to head home so I can prep for this date. I'll call you later." Wanda says hugging you tightly.

"Have fun babes." You kiss her cheek and then part ways, heading back to your apartment. When you unlock the door and kick off your shoes, the smell of food welcomes you so you head to the kitchen.

"Hi Bruce!" You say wrapping your arm around him from behind.

"Hi babe, welcome home. Work a longer shift at work or something?" Bruce asks.

"No Wanda came to my job and we went shopping once I got off. She's got a date tonight!" You tell him and Bruce turns enough to see the shopping bag sitting on the counter.

"I see you got some things too. What's in the bag?" Bruce asks.

"A dress, a jacket, and some jewelry."

"Impromptu mini shopping spree?" Bruce chuckles.

"Well I didn't buy any of that stuff actually." You shrug. Bruce frowns at you for a moment before turning back to whatever he's cooking. A past dish from the looks of it.

"Honey I know we don't really keep secrets from each other but if you're going to commit a crime-"

"I didn't steal them. Why is your first thought that I stole?" You chuckle.

"You said you didn't buy them."

"Yeah I didn't. They were gifted to me while I was shopping."

"What?"

"Someone bought these things and had a sales associate bring them to me."

"Who?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know? You didn't ask any questions?"

"I asked like a dozen questions, including if she could refund whoever it was that did this and she said no. She also told me whoever it was asked to remain anonymous, what was I supposed to do? Force the information out of her? She probably doesn't know who it is either."

"What if he was watching you? You accepted the gift he might think he has an in with you."

"How do you know that this person has any intention of doing that?"

"Can you think of any other reason that they'd spend hundreds on stuff for you? This is basically a secret admirer stunt y/n."

"Look I told the sales lady to let whoever it was know that this was incredibly inappropriate but it's too late to do anything else. Even if they're stalking me I have no idea who they are so, what do you want from me here?" You cross your arms.

"I don't mean to snap at you I'm just worried about your safety." Bruce pulls you to his chest.

"Yeah, I get that, but it sounds like you're blaming me for receiving an anonymous gift." You mutter.

"I'm not trying to blame you I promise. This is just weird and it concerns me."

"Honestly as weird as this situation is I dunno I just don't hear the alarm bells I usually notice before something goes wrong. Of course it's only one incident, things could escalate."

"Well, even if you don't feel alarmed by this, be careful anyway." Bruce kisses the top of your head.

"Always." You wink at him. The rest of your evening is quiet, you discuss work over dinner and watch TV before eventually getting ready for bed.

~*~*~

You hum along to the music playing in the store as you restock some items by the register, it's pretty slow around this time in the afternoon usually so you've got Peter in the back learning inventory stuff.

"Hi welcome in!" You call over your shoulder instinctively when the bell by the door goes off.

"Hey, excuse me." You turn around at the voice to see two men looking at you, one Black and one white.

"Hi! Is there something I can help you with?" You smile.

"Actually we're looking for someone. An employee, Peter Parker. Is he here?" The Black man asks you.

"Mind telling me what this is about?" You ask keeping a polite smile on your face although their question concerns you.

"Excuse me?" He blinks at you.

"Well Peter's a kid so I hope you can understand my reservations in disclosing information about him to men who haven't identified themselves or their relationship to him, and seemingly don't know his schedule which to me means he does not want you popping up at his place of employment unexpectedly." You cross your arms and the one who hasn't spoken quirks an eyebrow at you.

"Look is the kid here or not?"

"I'm not authorized to give out information you don't already have about anyone who may or may not work here." You tell them.

"This is ridiculous- Parker! It's Wilson and Barton come up here." The Black man calls loudly. You spin around and intercept Peter when you hear his footfalls behind you.

"Peter do you know these men?" You ask quietly. He looks over your shoulder.

"Yeah they're friends. I'm sorry if they're causing you trouble." Peter tells you nervously.

"They aren't causing me trouble but they're looking for you and I wanna make sure you aren't in any danger."

"No. No danger. It's alright, they're alright. Is it cool if I step out with them for a moment?"

"It's empty so fine but you probably shouldn't do this often."

"I swear this won't happen again."

"Go, make it quick." You wave towards the door and he leads the two men out of the store.

"She seems protective of you." Clint points out.

"She's real nice, it's kinda like having an older sister at work but that's besides the point you guys cannot just show up here while I'm working!" Peter tells them.

"That's cute, and relax you're just a cover, we were told to check on her." Sam says.

"She's wearing the jacket." Clint mutters.

"She's wearing the jacket! Did she mention anything to you Parker?" Sam looks from you to Peter.

"About her jacket? No? Why should she?" Peter frowns.

"No reason. The fact that she's wearing it bodes well for them I think." Sam says.

"Bodes well for who? Wait did they buy her that jacket?! She's been in a relationship for like three years!"

"Relax kid leave this to the adults." Sam nudges him.

"They can't just poach someone's girlfriend."

"No one's poaching anyone don't worry about it, Peter. Oh, but they do wanna see you after you get off so- head to the offices when your shift is over." Clint claps Peter on the back and then he and Sam leave.

"Sorry about that." Peter says as he rushes back in.

"Everything alright?" You ask.

"Yeah! Totally fine, I'm gonna go finish learning inventory."

"Holler if you need anything." You hum. You know it's not really any of your business but you do hope Peter was telling the truth and those guys weren't here to hassle him.

***

Part 1/???

Tagged Users: @cjand10

[ridiasfangirlings]

can you show off your K collection?

The whole collection, you say :D I have a lot, so under the cut so as not to clutter up everyone’s dash.

First: figures. The large military figures are from Alter and the slightly smaller Fushimi one is from Union Creative. The Alter ones are better quality but honestly I like the more dynamic pose of the UC figure better, there’s a matching Yata that I don’t own largely due to lack of space that’s very cool (however the UC Fushimi also has a truly terrifying alternate face…). The larger chibi figures are lottery prizes, I bought them separately in order to be sure I got what I wanted. I like the winter ones best, someday I need to get the Munakata from that set. The smaller figures are a Niitengo Deluxe set, I actually have a couple duplicates from this because I bought two sets. The ‘regular’ set had Mikoto and then there was a special set — I think it was an Animate exclusive? — that had Munakata along with alternate Fushimi and Yata figures. Then I have the teeny Shiro, Fushimi and Hisui which are keychains, I picked those up at a con (they didn’t have Yata which is why I ended up with Shiro and Hisui in there). 

Also on the figure end I have these little guys: K nendoroids! Wait, you may be wondering, I don’t remember any K nendoroids. That’s because we have no official ones (still mad about that!) so I had no choice but to make my own by modifying parts of existing nendoroids. The clothes were purchased from various places online.

Next is my full set of K nuis. It took a while to get all these, because when they released the ‘clansmen’ sets I only bought the Blue clan and then regretted it. And no, they didn’t make an official Niki nui, since I had extras I modified them. Hidaka, Benzai, Niki and Douhan are my own customs.

More plushies. I believe the larger ones were Sega prizes? I found Munakata and Fushimi being sold as a set online and then hunted down Yata later. The chubby birds are from the Chun Colle line, and of course I had to buy them their own (love) nest. The Saru cat had the clothes sold separately, I think the original listing showed them with a white cat but the black was all AmiAmi had at the time so I have black cat Saru. The Sarumi nuis are from the second release around ROK airing, they’re a bit different than the first release — a little less chubby with more scruffy hair. I have Munakata too, as you can see he’s…busy on top of my desk. 

Standees, because everyone needs a little anime boy on their desk. As you may notice, one of these things is not like the other. That’s right: Yata’s wearing bunny ears! Also Kuroh is there. At the time I bought the little Fushimi with the drink the cheapest one on sale had both Fushimi and Kuroh being sold as a set, so he’s here too. 

Speaking of standees, here’s a few more along with other lotto prizes. These were all from the specific Fan Clan lotteries, you had to be a member to draw. The big Fushimi picture and the water bottle were both grand prizes that I managed to win, so I got to choose my character for those (…don’t  ask how much I spent….). The Fushimi picture has hardware in the back that you can use to stand it up but it’s mostly hanging out hidden by my drawers because I don’t have space to display it right now. 

A few miscellaneous things. The Sarumi plate is official goods, the Akiben cup is a fan made product. The glass has Fushimi on one side and Munakata on the other though it’s hard to see, this was I believe also a lotto prize but I got it as a free gift from a shopping service. The pillows are also both official, the one on the left is the Kotobukiya dream cushion and yes I did buy the whole pillow just to use the Fushimi cover. The incredibly gay pillow featuring Fushimi touching himself while looking at a photo of Yata he’s pinned to his pillow is also, amazingly, 100% official merchandise.

Jumping around to some more official stuff, these are all my physical media. Missing Kings is actually the Japanese release, which has subtitles but no dub. It released before the US version even had a release date on the books so I bought the Japanese version instead (I don’t dislike the dub but dubs are also not something that’s a dealbreaker for me). I also have three stage plays — fun fact, the US and Japan are in the same region for blu ray — these are not subtitled. 

Novels (and a couple CDs). From the top left, we have the All Memories book, Case Files vol 2, Lost Small World, Idol K, the little short story booklet that came with the pre-MK S4 drama CD (with the glasses drama on it), the three anime adaptation books, the aforementioned drama CD and the Idol K CD. 

Next, manga. The top left corner is the K Poe Backs book, which has a bunch of mini first person comics of the cast seducing ‘you’ the reader. The top right is the K Maniacs book which is an official doujinshi book, it has no pairings but a lot of older Sarumi doujinshi artists are involved and Fushimi and Yata definitely dominate the book. I have the special Animate of editions of Gakuen K volume 3 and Missing Kings, because I liked the covers. The LSW books are all the special editions as well, the little booklet on the bottom right came with the final volume. The booklet between the two volumes of Days of Blue also came with that second volume and has the special Cherry Blossom Viewing chapter. (Meanwhile I just realized I don’t have Return of Kings….I need to buy that, I like the art.)

Some more random goods. The purse, hat and watch are all from Super Groupies collabs. I have the Super Groupies S4 wallet as well but it felt weird to take a picture of my own wallet (incidentally, if anyone sees the Super Groupies S4 earrings let me know, I didn’t have my ears pierced when they came out so I didn’t buy them and I want them now). The necklace was for Fushimi’s birthday, there’s a couple Yata ones that were made as well and another Fushimi one that’s blue but this is the only one I bought, it has a tiny S4 logo. The two tins are official teas that were made, the Homra one is my favorite of the two and is a pretty red. 

Some more clothes. I skipped most of the Super Groupies collab clothes for sizing reasons but these all fit and again, all are official. The shirts are from a collab with the brand Avail, they did shirts based off Shiro, Kuroh, Mikoto, Yata, Munakata and Fushimi. I have the Yata, Munakata and Fushimi ones, the puzzle piece S4 logo that’s Munakata’s is my favorite.

My wall o’ keychains. I actually have a lot of keychains on various purses so this is not all of them (I may have mentioned before that I’m also into lolita fashion so I have lots of purses, forgive me for not digging up all of them for keychain pics). The wall is missing a lot of Fushimi keychains though because they’re on my Fushimi ita bag. 

I’ll probably redo this at some point (I don’t really like backpacks so this doesn’t get worn much) but here’s a lot of my Fushimis that aren’t on other purses. I also have some new Sarumi ones I just bought, these are for the Sarumi ita bag I have in progress. This covers most of my collection, I also have a lot of posters and some magazines that aren’t convenient to get pictures of. This doesn’t count my, uh, extensive doujinshi collection either, just know that the bottom shelf and a half of my bookshelves is 90% Fushimi-centric doujinshi. I may be ever so slightly obsessed. 

[kirschbluetenregen-ao3]

Black Clover is back! 🖤

I can’t even say how much I was looking forward to those three chapters. Every release for 1.5 years I was hoping to see what happened to Yami. He was my favourite character from the first moment on and is still number 1. And damn, Tabata, you delivered!

Like I said, as I’m in Japan right now of course I had to buy the Jump GIGA to have those chapters at home with me (and I was walking into a supermarket wearing a kimono, great experience!). I just didn’t expect the magazine to be actually this GIGA. 🤣

Look at the colour spread, it’s so beautiful! Tabata really took my favourites and placed them in this autumn mood. 🥺

I just had two points to criticize with those chapters:

1. They were too short, I just can’t have enough Yami / Nacht / Ichika content.

2. Ichika calling her brother “Yami”. But thank goodness, it was a translation mistake. It really bothered me a lot.

She calls him “ani ue” (like Leopold does with Fuegoleon) here, like almost every time in those three chapters. Alternatively she calls him “onii-chan” and that really warmed my heart! ❤️

When I started to write “Embrace of Darkness”, Nacht and Ichika had never met before. I shipped them so hard nevertheless, and seeing them interacting now is EVERYTHING for me! I mean, look at them, they are perfect for each other!

She even kicked his ass so he would get up. Yami’s words already hit hard, but I had the feeling that Ichika’s speech really got him up. It seems like he neither wants to be a tragic princess who wants to be saved. 🤣

Speaking of Ichika, damn, she is so fantastic! Did you notice her features softened after she found out the truth? She looks so beautiful and more like the sweet, innocent child again. She left her anger behind and can be more like herself again.

The reunion of the siblings was made so beautiful. I hope they have more moments together. Just look at them. And Yami looks so badass with his Kijin form, simple but very effective.

I love how Yami is this protective man. He really does everything for the people he loves and cares for, and it seems like all those years he never forgot about his little sister and that he was not strong enough back then to protect her. He fought to become stronger, so he would be able to protect the people he loves. He really is the heir of the Yami clan, with him being the first to handle the drug and becoming the Kijin.

I just have to mention the combo spell of the Yami siblings. I was hoping so much they will get one, and here we are. 🤩 It’s perfect! and Yami is so proud of his sister and that she became so strong.

Now speaking of Nacht. Shit, I love this man and I just want to give him a hug. It’s so cruel he has to fight his dead brother and of course he struggles to fight him. He killed him once and doesn’t want to kill him a second time. I hate to see him cry, but I can’t help that he looks so pretty doing so. 🥺

His new devil union forms were so damn cool! I read others find the second one kind of underwhelming, a four devil union was expected to look more like the first one, but I think it’s perfect. I like the effect of minimalism here and I’ve got the feeling that really being able to unite with all four would make him look more human again.

Nacht always manages to drop the hardest lines in Black Clover. His dream about becoming a Magic Knight with Yami and Morgen made me cry so hard, and I hope he will find his peace one day.

Tabata, please let Morgen have some last words for his brother! He needs that so much. 🥺

I’m sure I forgot half of the things I wanted to write, but to sum it up: I’m very satisfied but need more at the same time. And please, let Charlotte react on Kijin Yami. 😄