#I am holding out hope that playing on my nostalgic ass ds is gonna make me finally cry about the Kurashikis

[bibiana112]

(whips out entire deck of cards like yugioh and they all have numbers for comfort character ask game) aoi um 2 4 6 7 12 13 15. CAN I ASK HALF THE GAME i like talk about him you see

I took forever on this!!!! I hope that's okay aah

★ Comfort character ask game!

2. whether or not they’ve ever made me cry

Surprisingly I don't thiiink so? For all the hot girl summer breakdowns I do indeed be having and no longer feeling shame over crying it's still actually pretty difficult to move me to tears? If I say certain things or scenes made me cry it's probably not hyperbole it's just me highlighting it cause it was surprising and made me more fond of whatever it was for it, but that said, on my second playthrough I was like okay this is totally gonna get to me about like both the safe ending stuff and the true ending backstory stuff but,, then it didn't, I got all mushy and couldn't speak to my friend right but no tears. so like yeah I need a lot of preexisting investment on a character and surprise at new developments for it to get to me like that usually and it's so close to the last stretch of the game that you can really fully understand his character for it to count so what I'm saying is if he was in another game ever I'd probably definitely have cried

4. what about their personality i like

That's such a fun question about him since so much of what we see is an act lmao but like, even with that I still like how easily he seems to convert skin crawling anxiety into am angy energy despite not genuinely wanting to antagonize most people in there, like the character he's putting on is argumentative and very aggressive sounding but he's never like shown to be in any way physically violent when push comes to shove, putting the planned gun stuff aside and also like yeah less of a stretch that he'd have no qualms about hurting Hongou if need be, but even then with like when Door 3 happens for example and he has every reason to follow through when he threatens Junpei he immediately just drops it after Akane's outburst cause it's not his real response to the situation (also she'd be sadder if they fought), also I like how he has some slip ups here and there that like he recovers from pretty instantly but they're still more noticeable than whatever Akane ever has going on for example but okay, allll of that aside my favorite bit is definitely the little we know of him before everything we know he worked really hard to be a good sibling to Akane and was really considerate when taking care of her to the point of keeping up the Santa thing even through the harsh circumstances

6. the moment of theirs that made me the saddest

Good question, difficult question, you were right he's such an upsetting character to think about, uh hardly anything good happens to this guy doesn't it, I'm torn between hearing him over the speaker on the safe ending and well obvi the incinerator thing but also like, not exactly an Aoi moment, but Snake explaining how him and Akane were never reported missing always gets to me a lot too like hhh yeah I could be all day listing every instance that comes to mind couldn't I, hmm. I'll say. It's very especially heartbreaking to get to the part with tiny them in the lifeboat because he's just so damn relieved that whole nightmare is over but we know it's not,,,

7. the moment of theirs that made me the happiest

Reunion huuuug!!! That was the one I was the closest to actually crying during and like scenes that are like this that are happy and a relief are the ones that most get to me everytime but also honestly I can't think of any other genuinely happy moment we get from him

12. what i like about the way the fandom portrays them

I am trying to phrase this in the nicest most family friendly possible way but. I really like how we all decided his vibes are manipulate manslaughter manwhore with an emphasis on the latter akasjksnk probably the one time I took a look at fanon, nodded and said yeah I'll incorporate that into how I perceive the character, I think it works lmao

13. what i dont like about the way the fandom portrays them

THERE'S NO REASON FOR US TO BELIEVE HE IS A RUDE JERK WITH ZERO COMPASSION FOR OTHERS OUTSIDE OF THE ACT C'MON PEOPLE HE RAISED ANOTHER KID WHILE GROWING UP HE'D PROBABLY BE A CHRONIC MOM FRIEND UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES AKANE DOESN'T EVEN CURSE Okay but in all seriousness I guess the best way to put it is that I don't like how fandom portrays him as impulsive? Like, that was one of the traits he put on but that out of every other one I can't really see him genuinely being at all, no matter how you stretch it, like I do think he's more emotionally driven than Akane but they both are very much aware of everything they do, the stuff they both pull off are complex and intricate and have not inches of space for mistakes that acting like that on the regular could bring, even if he's being reckless I don't think he'd default to do stuff without thinking y'know he's not like Junpei who jumps no thoughts head empty into any fist fight out of a sense of justice or something I think it'd be out of being too antsy and anxious and needing something to physically happen and thinking okay this won't end well but I'm doing it anyway, like I've even seen people having him snap at Akane at the drop of a hat like?? Because of him feeling guilty no less??? I really don't like interpretations where he's not entirely on board with all the manslaughter too like c'mon people the thing that's weighing on him is not protecting his sister from these people plus the innocents that need to get involved, I think seeing the executives bodies genuinely gets to him but only in like a physiological sense cause he didn't get a preview of how gorey it'd all get but, like that has nothing to do with regretting the actions that lead up to it in any way shape or form, they kind of kidnapped and tortured him and other kids who no one actually cared enough about to get justice for and one of them brutally killed his sister in front of him I really don't think he gives a shit there but also c'mon that doesn't at all mean he doesn't give a shit about any human life other than those guys like c'mon guys some nuance here for him too pls people act like Akane's the only one allowed to have any

15. what i dont like about the way canon portrayed them

Actually I don't like how canon forgets to portray him at all more than anything, also the staircase comment thing really really bothers me but I'm willing to pretend for a second Uchi's horny bullshit doesn't apply and it was just a dumb thing for him to say while in character

[gojaimas]

Chapter 36 Comments

MageofDuality: “Ya’ know I’m actually feeling sorry for Gwen. I ship her and Ben don’t get me wrong and Lucy is great both as a test to them and herself but geez the way she is just hammering this whole thing on Gwen subtly like a mastermind in the shadows is a bit much.”

Lucy sort of realized that this chapter. Gwen ended up really hurt by the whole thing, and Lucy felt terrible about it.

csgt: “About Lucy "testing" Ben, I'm still not sure if she was more interested in seeing him passing or failing XD I really enjoyed these scenes”

Haha, the best tests are the ones which will make you happy regardless of the outcome!

csgt: “PS: you have an OC named 'Nathan' who has a crush on Gwen, and I also have an OC named 'Natan' who has a crush on Gwen. I'm pretty sure you didn't read my fics so you didn't know that, it's just a big coincidence, but I was quite surprised to see that name popping up here XD”

Oh wow, that is a coinidence. I named Nathan after a kid I knew in middle school who was particularly bad at talking to girls.

Phildev: “I'll admit, I was thinking that adding Lucy as a legitimate love interest was gonna go poorly. But having Gwen temporarily out of the equation allowed this to flow very well!”

Thanks! I think I write characters best as pairs. Seeing Ben and Lucy having their own dynamic while away from Gwen for a bit definitely showed off their chemistry.

Guest: “Lucy is such a babe. Perfect story. Perfect plot.”

Everyone enjoys the Lucy scenes for the...plot.

Jagcity: “I've also been wanting but forgetting to ask about your thumbnail for the story. It's amazing and seems to reflect a lot of their qualities from your story!”

Thank you! I drew it some time last year without any particular scene in mind. It was part of my practice with drawing characters using poses from a reference photo of different characters. For that one, I used this pic of Oreki and Chitanda from Hyouka:

haha.plogue: “Isn't it supposed to be year 5 of the month of January?”

No, the years are measuring time from their first summer trip. Year 1 began in September after the summer trip ended. The story isn’t currently taking place in the year 4 AD.

Guest: “If this ended benxgwenxlucy it will be creepy” Guest: “AHHH they both go well together with Ben I don’t know who to ship just end it with a threesome lol”

You guys wanna talk?

Guest: “That comparison of similarities between the Ben and Gwen in denial of their feelings was brilliant.”

Haha, and people said the Julie arc would never amount to anything.

Guest: “Also, this is the first time I’ve actually seen Lucy feel a little hurt that Gwen was Ben’s main priority because she was just as much as a shipper as the rest of us. She’s precious. Hope she gets a happy ending.”

Lucy is so great. I feel bad making her feel bad. But at least she's still happy about Ben and Gwen making progress.

Guest: “the way you executed why they started hating each other from the flashbacks was brilliant. It was even never explained in the original series as far as my knowledge.”

Yeah I don’t remember them ever explaining it either, so I made it the way I imagined it. Just some stupid misunderstandings with both of them being too proud to stop fighting back.

Guest: “Lucy is my waifu”

This is the best comment I’ve ever received.

Guest: “Thank you Gojaimas for making Bwency a thing, they had so much potential in the original series, especially during their dance”

Oh I didn’t invent Bwency. It’s been here for years: http://thegreatbentennyson.tumblr.com/post/101398479772/lucyxbenxgwen-is-my-ot3

Guest: “Like Lucy giving Ben the nostalgic feeling of his connection to an alien life of any shape or form, you just made me pick up my DS and play Pokémon.”

Ah, Pokémon. The original nostalgia. I like to imagine Ben, Gwen, and Lucy all play Pokémon too. Ben’s favorite Pokémon is Charizard, Gwen’s is Espeon, and Lucy’s is Pachirisu.

Guest: “Is the title I wanted what I saw that day a reference to Ben seeing Lucy shirtless? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)”

I take it back, this is the best comment I’ve ever received.

Car-54: “Regarding Ben, I'm starting to suspect that he has already realized his feelings for Gwen. We just aren't seeing his thought process. He keeps quiet because he assumes that she would be repulsed by the revelation.”

Ben’s basically never been comfortable expressing any emotion other than happiness or anger, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to say he could hide something like that.

Jagcity: “Not really too important but just curious, is the watch and locket real gold or just gold plated? I'd imagine they both used up a fortune of their allowance on those gifts, especially Gwen.”

The lockets and the watch aren’t really gold. They’re likely not even gold plated. They’re probably brass or something else that just looks like gold.

Fan of you: “Your story has surpassed Little Moments in terms of reviews. Slowly we'll get to the favorites and follows too haha.”

I actually just messaged shadows59 yesterday. Apparently he’s been reading my story, so I had a pretty big ‘senpai noticed me’ moment. So shadows, if you’re reading this, and I know you are, my story has more reviews than yours. I only need 180 more follows and 563 more faves until I’m better than you. Take that!

Guest: “you know that daily struggle meme where there’s two buttons and you’re sweating on contemplating which one to press, that’s how I feel rn except one’s Bwen and the other’s Bency. I don’t know why people are referring their ship name as Bwency. That sounds like all of their names combined.”

It is all of their names combined. People are shipping all three of them together. Here’s Lucy’s daily struggle from last chapter:

Guest: “I can literally Google this story or your name and it shows up on the front page, that’s how much exposure you’ve got. Saves my lazy ass the time to go to fanfiction and search it up.”

Sweet! I wonder if anyone outside of fanfiction.net has heard of my story.

Guest: “this is my favourite K-drama”

Yeah but the manga was better.

Guest: “Gojaimas you’ve got goddamn talent you’d be a worth opponent 1v1 me Rust last kill trick shots noscopes only, let’s have a go inside the boxing ring since that’s the YouTube trend now apparently but more importantly, battle me to the death in Dance Dance Revolution.”

No. We must settle this like men:

Guest: “Gojaimas you didn’t reference “Love Me” by Katy Perry when Gwen wanted to hold Ben’s hand I’ve lost all hope”

FUCK! I missed another one! Guys, nobody tell Katy Perry. She’d be pissed.

Guest: “am the only one who would also smash Lucy in her sludgepuppy form? She’s literally like Mystique (Jennifer Lawfrence’s version) from X-Men.”

I mean, that depends. Are we talkin' this:

Or this: