#I genuinely had no faith in this squad | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hyperesthesias · 2 years ago

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König x Female Mexican Intelligence Agent

Author's Note: Don't look at me, I need to jot down some ideas for a story I will never write. I love this idea so much that I may actually change a few things and publish it as an original work somewhere down the line. If I actually wind up deciding to do that, I will probably delete this at some point. But for now -- I need to get this out because I am gnashing my teeth. This idea won't leave me alone.

Potential Warnings: Fictional depictions of war violence (I mean...obviously.) ; Secret Relationship ; Pregnancy ; Hostage Situation ; Attempted Murder ; Coma ; Unformatted, mostly just an outline/ideas.

Word Count: 4,847.

The first time they meet is at the chapel before an extended assignment. They haven't been officially introduced, they barely speak at the chapel anyway -- he can't keep eye contact with anyone for long. Especially with her. She looks beautiful under the array of colors from the stained glass windows. She smiles at him, and even if he didn't have a balaclava on, he's not sure he'd be able to return it. His heart's already in his throat, the last time he set foot inside anything remotely religious was back home in Austria -- many years ago. But the assignment ahead of them promises nothing but terror, and he's been having thoughts on whether he'll retire by choice or by bullet. He watches as she crosses herself, and he wonders what faith she claims. The chapel houses anyone seeking refuge, and maybe all he's wanting is a quiet space where his mind doesn't have to compete for attention. His leg bounces, his fingers wring together -- he's not looking at anything in specific, his thoughts wander this way and that, but the quiet and absence of prying eyes keeps him centered.

The woman leaves, glancing at him with another smile -- it's such a pretty smile. He thinks such a pretty smile shouldn't be anywhere near the stench of death. And he knows he reeks of it.

The squad gathers for mission ready and assignments, and he's stunned to see the woman from the chapel. She isn't as weighted down as the others of 141, but the gear strapped around her middle and her legs make her ready for anything. He knows she'd never recognize him -- he looks incredibly different from their passing encounter: the entirety of his bold frame is covered from face to feet, even more than when she smiled at him the first time.

She smiles at him again as the comms crackle with instructions -- and for a brief moment he wonders if she recognizes him. It's an impossibility. But it's a nice thought nonetheless.

They're paired together for the first portion of the assignment. It's then that he learns she's Mexican Intelligence. A spy. An asset. She's meant to draw out and extract information from another asset who'd gone underground almost a year prior. He's meant to give her cover, to offer additional persuasion should they encounter resistance.

She isn't intimidated by him, she doesn't mention his mask neither his size. It relaxes him. He's used to the relentless teasing from his brothers in arms, to the deluge of questions and comments that usually come from people who'd never met him. She came to the middle of his upper arm, but she made no remark about his towering stature. It's hard for him not to wonder if she accepted him genuinely without judgement, or if she was putting him at ease on purpose in some effort to manipulate trust between them. Spy craft was never something he was interested in, he doesn't like double talk. But her soft spoken words are truthful, upfront, as honest as she can be. There are things she can't tell him -- operational things that are need-to-know; things about her life outside the tangled mess of international underhanded dealings. He wonders what her life is like: she was graceful, eloquent, she had a natural talent of mediating conflict -- it garnered trust between informants and enemies alike. With a stern word and a soft smile, she had contacts in the palm of her hand.

Without noticing when or how it happened, he suddenly comes to the realization that he, too, is in the palm of her hand. They've spent long nights talking in their shared language of English, occasionally laughing trying to find a way of saying some untranslatable concept. She has a mother in the United States, he finds out. She also tells him she has no time for love. Neither does he. All of his nights are spent looking out windows in search of a target, or hiding in darkened corners. He expected her to make a joke about how difficult it must be for him to hide. But she didn't. He didn't make sniper, he tells her, a sadness in his voice.

"You have my back," she tells him. "That is what matters."

The moonlight looks sweet on her lips -- and the purr of her voice mingling with her accent, it's enough to drive him mad.

He finds out he loves her while he's peering at her through his scope. He's perched on the roof of a building opposite of the one she's in -- she's passing intel to another informant inside a hotel lobby. It feels off -- something feels wrong. He's done this long enough to know what it feels like in his bones. She glances to him, watching for the spark of the scope on the rooftop, knowing he's there, knowing he's watching her like a hawk. She has the same uneasy feeling.

As she's about to bail and call off the drop, she's double crossed -- stabbed in the leg, they only missed her stomach because she pulled her body away in time.

A shot comes from nowhere -- breaking through the daylight, shattering the glass doors of the hotel. The bullet sinks itself through the enemy, plummeting him to the ground in a pool of blood and matter.

She limps away in the cacophonous mess of people that descend on the man, sputtering his last breath. König meets her at a rendezvous point in an alley not far away. He helps her limp back to the base camp they've commandeered in a safe house a few blocks away.

He's angry at himself for not catching the set-up sooner. Swearing in German under his breath as he patches up her leg. His hand swallows her thigh as his deft fingers sew up the knife wound that missed an artery.

"It's not your fault," she breathes heavily, trying to keep herself sane through the searing pain in her leg. "It's not mine, either. These things happen. We learn, we correct, we move on."

He glances up at her through his hood and sighs, tying off the suture. "I thought I lost you," he says. He shakes his head and growls at himself quietly. He should learn to never get so attached to his partners. "I have lost brothers before..." he trails off for a moment, busying himself with the bandages. He wraps them around her thigh gently -- he's always so gentle. He ties it, sets the roll back in the kit, and looks up at her. "This was different." His accent is thicker, heavier; he's tense.

Her bloody hand reaches to his masked face and caresses what she believes to be his cheek despite that she cannot see him. "I know." She swallows, dizzy with adrenaline and uncertainty. "It is for me, too."

He didn't know she felt the same. He's still unsure now as she's speaking the words. He's convinced he misunderstood.

But as she caresses him, and as she leans to kiss his helmet, his body relaxes at the thought that he understood perfectly.

"Thank you for having my back," she breathes as she pulls away from him.

He sits there, very still. Wanting to do something, but not knowing what or how. He can't look at her, the same way he couldn't look at her when he saw her in the chapel that day.

Quietly and without a word, he takes off his helmet. And his hood. The balaclava is all that's left. He takes a breath and hesitates before he nudges it down his bare face. He's fair skinned with soft blonde hair, a long and bitter scar jagged across the diagonal of his face. He still isn't looking at her -- his eyes darting from her this way and that. It's everything in him to keep his head up. "We...have met before. In the chapel."

"I know your eyes anywhere," she says and smiles at him -- the same way she smiled at him that day.

"You knew?"

"I figured," she chuckled.

König lets a weighted breath. She was a spy, of course she knew. He pulls himself up and even on his knees his frame seems to envelope her -- he leans and gives her a kiss on the head. "I am glad you are okay."

She holds his head, staining his skin with the blood on her fingers. "I am now." She presses a kiss on his lips.

He has never been comfortable sharing his body with anyone, it requires that people see him. He doesn't like to be seen. He doesn't like to be touched. But the way she touches his face -- it does not hurt. It does not make him recoil. He melts under her fingertips, letting himself sink into the bed beside her, with her.

The 141's assignment progresses, as does their relationship. They're more than partners, they're something deeper. Something only they know of, something only they understand. Confidants who have each other's backs, lovers who know each other from stolen glances alone. They keep it secret. Almost afraid to jinx it.

But where he was afraid of jinxes, König notices she's become distant. Where they would steal a moment of time to even say 'I love you', she avoids him. He wonders what he could have done wrong -- he wonders if the images of him slitting another man's throat, or eviscerating another with brute force was enough to push her away. He would not hold it against her if that is the case. He can't track her down enough to even ask her what he had done.

He finds her in their safehouse after a briefing, sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor. He believes it is starting to make sense: the job is difficult, the blood is never ending, and the mind can only take so much. They've been at it for longer than most, with another few months added to the total time they'd be in the field of their current assignment.

"Meine Liebe," he whispers and kneels in front of her. "What is it? What bothers your mind?" He puts his hand on her back and her arm. It looks as though she has been crying -- her eyes and her nose are swollen. He's never seen her shed a tear, even with a knife wound.

She struggles to look at him. She swallows and feels a pain in her throat. She can't speak over a whisper: "Ich bin schwanger..."

His body goes numb and his eyes fall wide. He's staring at her without any air in his lungs. She's pregnant. He is the father.

She wanted to tell him in words he would understand without any doubt. She's practiced how to tell him in her head for two days. The pain in her throat grows.

"Schwanger?" he says again. The energy returns to him, and he can't sit still. He can suddenly hear his heartbeat in his ears. His hands go to each of her arms, he wants to hold her, embrace her -- but he doesn't want to hurt her. He's bobbing up and down, a smile starting to grow on him. "You are having a -- a baby," his brain can hardly translate it coherently.

She watches as his eyes speak to a smile that spreads and stretches against his hooded face. "No se que hacer..." she whispers to herself. "If they find out, I will be off the team," she sniffles. "I have to see this through," her accent sharp and hard.

"We will -- We will hide it," he says, definitively. He's convinced himself already -- he's already thinking of a plan. "We will make sure they do not know."

She shakes her head. He doesn't understand all of the risks. "It is dangerous. For all of us." Her arms wrap around her middle. "And for the others," she nods as if pointing to the rest of the 141. "We cannot lie to them."

"We are lying already," he shrugs.

She stares at him.

He centers himself at the sight of her glare. "What I mean is, they don't need to know everything, ja? It is...'need-to-know'. For right now, they do not need to know."

That she could work with, at least for now.

König wraps her in his arms, being careful not to hold her too tightly. "We will think about it, Meine Liebe. 'La resolveremos', ja?" His hand cradles her head as he leans his veiled cheek on her hair. "I have your back."

They want to tell the 141, they keep trying to find the right time to do it. The more people they have on their side, the better -- the more people there are to protect her, in König's mind. But she worries they won't be as forgiving. Weeks pass, time lapses -- the job is always more important. They can never seem to find just the right moment to reveal such a secret. But König's spirits are high, his desire to be around her, with her, beside her stronger than ever. He puts her at ease, reassures her -- spends nights with her talking about the days they would have with their new life. They make a promise to each other, to their baby: they wouldn't retire by a bullet, it would be a choice. One they would make together. She wonders what kind of life this new little life would have -- something different, something better than theirs. She would make sure of it.

Ghost is perceptive, despite his quiet nature. He picks up more than what people give him credit for. He can feel something is different. But the job is hard, it's lonely, it's difficult to find intimacy, harder to find someone who understands what the job means, what it takes. If they find comfort in each other, he wouldn't say anything. As long as it doesn't affect the mission, it's not his place to butt into anyway. But he can feel something...deeper, something much more serious. He hasn't quite figured it out yet.

That is, until he watches as she pats cold water on her forehead at a utility sink in the warehouse turned makeshift base. She hasn't looked well, but whenever anybody tells her as much it earns them a stark answer of "female trouble", and nothing more. None of the other men want to know anything more than that, they figure they wouldn't comprehend it anyway.

Ghost hands her a towel, and when she reaches for it, the layers of coats that have been wrapped around her for weeks briefly part enough for him to see a reason for her so-called 'female trouble'.

"When are you due?" he asks.

Her eyes close as she holds the towel to her head. She knows her time is up. He's going to tell on her -- she'll be off the case, and all the work she'd put in, the vendettas she'd garnered, it'd all be for naught. She swallows and sighs, turning to him. "Four more months." She plops the towel on the edge of the sink. "We should be through by then."

He stares at her, quickly glancing at her stomach. "Why'd you lie about it?"

"I have worked too hard to throw all of this away. I can do my job. I am not an invalid."

"You don't want off the team."

"I don't want you to say anything."

"Honesty is the best policy."

"It is my honesty to share."

"And König's?"

She stops and straightens. She doesn't say anything. But it's all that needs to be said.

The rest of the 141 find out later that evening. Both she and König come clean. The men are upset, worried, but know that complicated is part of the job. She's deep cover. If she disappears, it would wreck the mission. They've all worked too hard to throw it away. They keep it secret. Besides, pregnant women make for easy confidants -- a natural response to witnessing a maternal figure, she could use it to their advantage.

König dotes on her as well as he can, sacrificing water, rations, and sleep rotations for her. The others do the same to an extent. But König's excitement supersedes them all -- he smuggles some of her favorite homeland snacks from the field. He struggles to focus when a rifle isn't in his hands. But that is to say, he focuses often, for weeks.

She's guiding them through a chokepoint with cameras and coms from a van. Leading them to the stash of WMDs and intel that they've been hunting for a year. She's out of the line of fire, but never out of danger. She's due in a few weeks. She's tired, they all are.

"You boys almost finished out there?" she asks, watching from Soap's camera as they tag and bag what they came for.

"Just about," Soap radios back.

"Ja, everything is here," König is looking at a tablet in one hand, with his rifle in the other.

"Claro," she exhales sharply. "Because my water broke an hour ago. Get back to base."

"Copy. We are RTB," Soap says -- keeping calm not only for the men with him, but for her sake.

König itches to get back to her, his leg bounces, his fingers wringing. Would the infant be born by the time they got back? Or did it take more time than that? He suddenly realizes he knows nothing about anything -- at all. His mind is blank. But the moment he barrels through the door of the safehouse, seeing her sitting at the table, wincing, he knew one thing: he had to help her. He takes her in his arms and carries her to the bedroom. The med kit on his breastplate has nothing of use for her, he orders his brothers for towels and water.

The night wanes and the pain grows more intense. But he never leaves her side. The others are outside the bedroom, unsure what to do with themselves. She forgets they're there altogether. All she can think about is what will happen after that night. And by morning, after his final encouragement for her to push -- the night has ended, and a new life takes a breath. A small cry breaks with the dawn.

He helps both her and the newborn recline on the bed, and presses his bare face to them both. They are both so beautiful -- so unlike him.

"It's a girl," he says as he greets his brothers, his voice fogged with tiredness and emotion. His eyes tell of his happiness behind the hood. His brothers are happy for him, they congratulate him, pat his back, but silently share the fear of uncertainty.

She has to be on her feet in two days, to move up and out. Everything is sore, she moves slower than she did when she first went into the mission. She's charged with writing the reports and packing the computers -- all between nursing her newborn daughter. The rest of the 141 are loading the munitions and tac-gear, they would be back for her when it was almost wheels up. They had to figure out a way to smuggle the infant out of the base first.

König returns with news that they've paid off a guard to ignore the newborn. But when he approaches the safehouse, the sound of the infant's manic crying can be heard from the street -- the door is slightly ajar. He enters with a weapon drawn, and sees the computer smashed and scattered across the floor. The baby is in her blanketed drawer -- her makeshift crib, alone.

His lover is nowhere to be found.

Cool rage sets in before panic. The nervousness in his mind goes quiet, everything goes still, his face flushes with cold. She's missing. There's no one better than to find her. König wraps the baby in her blanket and positions her snugly inside his body armour before he radios the 141.

She's taken by a double-spy, an informant she burned in pursuit of the WMDs and the intel they chased for a year. He lost everything -- he no longer exists, cannot exist anywhere. A life for a life, he says, it sounds fair. He explains, there are more of her enemies gunning for her -- but if he takes her, he'll fetch a handsome reward, one he is unwilling to share. All she can think of is her newborn, of König, of the life they promised themselves. Somewhere far away. Her body fights against her and weighs her down as she struggles to escape the ties he has her in. She manages to headbutt him, disorienting him giving her enough to snap the ties around her wrists. She takes his radio and forces her body to run as fast as it can out into the open. She doesn't know where she is, how she got there -- but she knows König will find her.

The 141 track a coded radio message four miles away. They know it's her. They don't know if they'll get there in time.

She's on the flat roof of a three story house, having been held in the attic. Her enemy advances through the window she escaped; she searches for a way off the roof. She hears the 141's vehicle as it screeches to a halt, the men already pelting bullets in her assailant's direction. The man grabs her as a shield. She can feel her body starting to rebel against her, she's dizzy, starting to see double.

The men stop their hail of bullets and fan out, Soap and Ghost breach the house through the rear. König watches helplessly from the ground, she sees the outline of the baby in his clothing. Whatever happens, she knows he wouldn't break his promise of a better life for them -- even if she couldn't hold up her end of the bargain.

Her attacker wraps his arm around her neck, threatening to pull them both off the roof and to the pavement below. He has a weapon to her head. Ghost and Soap come up through the attic and appear on the roof with them. The man's finger bounces against the trigger, his feet dance against the roof's gutter.

I want to finish what I started, she thinks. Ignoring the yelling, the clatter of weapons, and the gravel beneath her feet -- she takes a single breath.

With a twist of her body, she wrangles herself out and under the grip of his arm -- she violently pulls his shoulder backwards. Wrested free, she uses what little strength she has to kick him over the ledge -- three shots come flying from behind her, pitting themselves inside the assailant's chest. He goes over the edge. She takes another breath, her shoulders sinking with relief as she watches him begin to fall.

Before she can take another, she feels something grab her wrist. Suddenly being pulled backwards, she careens over the edge with him. Ghost lunges forward, but it's too late. She watches as her partners -- her friends -- are left behind on top of the roof. The sky above her, the ground below -- she takes one more breath.

She lands on top of her enemy, crushing his lifeless body.

König runs to catch her -- he kneels at her side. Desperately, he looks for a pulse. She is unconscious, but alive. Her head made impact with her attacker's skull. He lifts her over his shoulder and seeks refuge in the vehicle.

They return home from their assignment with more secrets than answers.

Before their infant is one month, König is on a civilian flight to the United States. His daughter in his arms, a pack with everything she could ever need or want for their travels slung over his shoulder. He's shrouded in a large hooded jacket and a balaclava. He gets his usual stares as he boards the plane: his height, his stature, but the stares at the baby in his arms is new. She's tiny compared to him, born slightly premature, she's small. He thought she might inherit the genes of his height and width, but he figures she will take after her mother. She flies mostly without incident, but dislikes the bottle. She prefers her mother. He speaks to her in his native tongue: "I know you want your mother, but right now I am all you have," as if it would convince her to take it. An older woman on the flight shows him a trick on helping an infant take a bottle.

"Is she yours?" she asks.

He hesitates, he still can't look anyone else in the eye. No one except his lover. But he nods. "Meine Tochter," he manages a small smile beneath the mask.

"She is beautiful."

"Ja, like her mother."

He simply means to leave her on the front porch of her grandmother -- his lover's mother. Her and the pack. But when he gets there, he finds himself out of his element: out of his gear, in the suburbs, toting a baby -- on the porch of his mother-in-law. That, combined with his size, gets him caught. The woman comes to the door with a broom and begins beating him with it.

"I know your daughter," he finally manages.

She notices the crying baby in his arms. Something is terribly wrong. She invites him in.

He is sitting on the couch -- it feels strange to sit in a place so calm, so daintily decorated. It feels like a trap. But the woman holding his daughter is calm and kind, cooing with her. It was the best decision to bring her here. She'd be safe.

"I thought she might have blonde hair. Like me," he mutters, his whisper almost being swallowed by the balaclava. He extends a finger to his infant. "But...she has so much hair. None of it blonde," he smiles and laughs.

The woman chuckles. "My daughter had such thick hair when she was born. It looked like this." She begins to tear, but does not cry. Much like her daughter. "Is she safe?"

He nods. But he cannot look at her. "A hospital. She will be okay, they told us."

"Do you believe them?"

He looks at her now.

"They say things sometimes...Sometimes they are not true."

He sighs. "Ja, I believe them. Because..." he struggles to find the right words. "Because I believe her -- that she is strong."

A silent tear falls from the woman's face. The baby fusses.

"She will be okay," he says again. He feels as helpless now as he did when he watched her fall.

"Will you catch the men who did this to my daughter?"

"I will." His tone turns dark -- darker than he meant it. But it is the truth. "This one will need a place to stay for now," he caresses his baby's face.

"Mi angelita," she sings sweetly, and kisses her head.

"What does this mean?"

"My angel," she says again.

König looks at his child, her face glowing in the warm daylight peering through a window. She is heavenly -- just like when he first met her mother in the chapel that day. They are both perfect. So beautiful. He feels a pang in his throat, and he takes a calculated breath. His hands go to his face with apprehension, and he pulls down his mask, revealing the large scar that mars his features. But also a soft smile, and wet eyes. "Meine Liebling," he whispers, and places a kiss on her soft skin.

A day later, he places another kiss on the forehead of his lover, who lies in a hospital bed at a nondescript location. She's resting, asleep. The soft tissue damage has all but resolved. It's the swelling in her brain that worries her physicians. And him. And the rest of the men. Her superiors are threatening to disavow her. But none of the 141 will let that happen. Not him. The attempt on her life won't be swept under the rug. He'll find all of der Ficker who want her head -- and he'll take theirs.

His thumb caresses her hair as he nestles his masked face against her temple. "Meine Leibe." His eyes close as he draws a breath. "I have your back."

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lorelite333 · 10 months ago

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thank you to @sclairereject for the inspiration for the post, because i never have anything to post about half the time. however as someone who does do tarot (i'm spiritual), i wanna put my own twist to this. (ppl have their own interpretations, but the cards still have definitions)

Redacted Boys (includes Alexis) Major Arcana Tarot Cards:

I'd also like to say that these are just my takes, and things that I've noticed and felt. I don't have everyone on here, as I got tired writing this halfway through, so I don't have everyone on here.

SHAW PACK:

David Shaw is the Magician, specifically because he was trying to find his power and voice as leader, in which he did.

Milo Greer is the Chariot, because of sense of direction and will power. He tries his best to do what's right, even if it hurts him in the process.

Asher Talbot is the Strength card, due to his overcoming self-doubt, his compassion, and his bravery in situations. In reverse, this card represents self-doubt, lack of confidence, and vulnerability.

SOLAIRE CLAN

Vincent is the Lovers card, standing by his personality alone, resembling unity, balance, partnerships, and choices.

Sam is the Justice card, associated with fairness, truth, balance, and legal matters. I feel like Sam genuinely cares about what's right, and wants to help no matter what, even if he says he wants to stay out of things. He has this sense to try to make things right, even if things may get rocky. He's a healer by heart, and tries his best to do what's best for everyone in a situation.

William is the Hierophant, it is associated with education, knowledge, traditions, and institutions. I dont really have a reason for this one other than vibes.

Alexis the Judgement card, due to her past actions as well as her personality. This card represents reflection, rebirth, transition, and decision-making. In reverse, this card represents self-doubt, poor choices, stubbornness, blame, and confusion.

Porter is the Tower card. It represents trauma, destruction, unexpected change, revelation, chaos, awakening, and warning. We know that Porter is in fact "The Blade" of the Solaire Clan, and we know that he somewhat regrets it in some way, as well as him having trauma from this and his maker.

DAMN SQUAD

Gavin is The World, as it symbolizes success, fulfilment, and an end of a cycle. I feel like this represents him due to his change with the Freelancer, him being able to open up and enjoy his life with them and his friends. Gavin never really considered Aria his home, but more so just a place he lived at. In his SBW, he talks about how Dhalia has become his home, as Freelancer and the DAMN squad had helped him change his view on it (as well as change him).

Damien is the Sun, mostly in reverse, this academic over-achiever has a little bit of an ego. He's also quite pessimistic and has unrealistic expectations that were set on him by other people. However, the Sun is also associated with positivity, happiness, freedom and vitality. Which I think Damien has learned throughout his years of being friends with the Freelancer, that it's okay to take a break sometimes and just have fun.

Huxley is the Star, as he tries to maintain his happy and positive self for everyone else, turning to inspire others and give them hope with their problems. However Huxley also experiences negativity, hopelessness, failure. I think Huxley somewhat feels like the things in life get too repetitive, and he sometimes loses interest in certain things or just becomes bored with them from a tedious routine.

And finally Lasko, is the Fool, mostly from vibes, however The Fool is an air element card, which represents new beginnings, a leap of faith, and loyalty. Lasko sees the DAMN squad as family, in which he's very loyal to. I feel like during his time at DAMN, he's experienced time after time a new beginning, from Damien and him becoming friends to him and Coworker having a relationship.

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checkoutmybookshelf · 3 months ago

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We're Back To UCMH!

I have been waiting for this book for literal months, and I am SO HAPPY that it is finally here. I'd have read it in one day, except that I got 1 hour of sleep in two days, so I did actually crash before getting to finish Halle and Henry's story. It was worth it though, because watching the dynamics between a neurodivergent-coded love interest and a demi-coded love interest was absolutely fascinating. I had so much fun with Halle and Henry, and it was nice to have Nate, Stassi, Russ, and Aurora around a little too. Like, the "adopted by a gang of hockey-playing golden retrievers" vibe that I loved from Icebreaker was still here, but we also get how Henry and Halle navigate a deeply gregarious group that loves them. Let's talk Daydream.

Hey, so this is your SPOILER WARNING because I'm going to SPOIL THE HECK out of this book. You were warned, proceed with caution.

Soooooooo...the fact that Henry DIDN'T take a swing at Will because he was so worried about how Halle would feel about a) what her dickhead ex-boyfriend said and b) about Henry's response just makes Henry the bigger man in so many ways, and that was just deeply satisfying to me as a reader. That and Halle letting her mom HAVE it because her mom has been using Halle as a third parent in the household since Halle was a kid. Hannah Grace has a knack for making character arc climaxes immensely satisfying and avoiding cliches, and I really appreciate that. I also loved how Halle and Henry both get climaxes that work WITH their character arcs. Halle learns to say no and prioritize herself, and Henry gets to BE himself and be loved and supported in his needs.

So I'm not neurodivergent, and I'm not always good at seeing it in books and book characters where it's not explicitly stated in the narrative, so I was grateful for the letter that my copy had about how there was explicitly NOT going to be a diagnosis. I will say I'd probably have caught it in Henry's case from the text and the context, but I appreciate the clarity and I also appreciate the opportunity taken to highlight that nobody needs a diagnosis to be valid or to explain their experiences and needs. Just the matter-of-fact acceptance Henry gets and the patience people in his life have to let Henry explain what he needs and then GIVING THAT TO HIM with no questions asked was lovely. I also love that it wasn't always perfect. People made mistakes in good faith when they were trying to help, and there cannot be enough good said about modeling communication, accepting new information, and doing better the next time.

Listening to and believing people when they tell you about their needs and experiences should not be groundbreaking, but holy crap do people still struggle with this, so I love that Henry never had to. He is surrounded by people who listen, hear, and support.

Which is extra nice narratively because Halle is not. Her dickhead ex-boyfriend is ten kinds of jerk, her family basically uses her as a stage manager/extra parent, and she was honestly super isolated and lonely before she got pulled into the house full of hockey playing golden retrievers (seriously, that wonderful lost keychain in a frat house tumblr post about how wonderful "boys will be boys" can be as a vibe when it isn't toxic absolutely applies here). I was never a Halle, but I have KNOWN Halles, and I cannot tell you how lovely it was to watch her learn how not to people please and to find herself in a girl squad that genuinely loved and valued her in addition to having Henry around. It was lovely and happy.

I also (and please feel free to correct me on this) read Halle as demisexual coded, and that's a dynamic that I'm not used to seeing in romance novels, but it was also one that I really enjoyed. It's never bad to reiterate that pressuring someone to do something they're not ready for or don't want to in bed is SUPER BAD, ACTUALLY, and that that behavior includes bullshit like trying to enforce arbitrary timelines or calling someone cold for not wanting sex. Also, asexual spectrum identities are entirely valid, and deserve more representation in romance.

Overall though, the thing that made this book for me was Halle and Henry's communication. They're really good at the communication thing and they're really good at BEING together, which does not mean sex, it means that they are good at existing in the same space while being aware and accommodating of each other's preferences, needs, and boundaries. AND THEY HAVE FRIEND SQUADS FOR SUPPORT. Because it is normal and healthy (and often hilarious) to have multiple sources of support in addition to your partner. I adore that Henry and Halle have that, and the side characters (both new ones and ones we know from other books) are still wonderful.

Other things I adored in this book in no particular order:

Henry being a fine arts major. That was such a fun alternative side to an MMC after Nate and Russ were SO sports-focused. Henry having that extra dimension was great.

Halle being a writer. This is very much a "ooh, it me!" moment, so your mileage may vary, but I do love me a writer character. (Yes, this is why I still have a deeply soft spot in my heart for Rick Castle. No, nobody asked. You just know this now.)

Henry being so worried about Halle being sick that he takes her home to his mother who is a literal doctor. Henry was correct, Halle needed to take care of herself, and honestly, this was the sweetest thing.

Halle getting to have her girl squad preparatory periods. As someone who also used to adore getting ready for stuff with her girl squad, there is something really wonderful about this dynamic, and it was a treat to see Halle get to experience it.

The sex painting. I was not expecting to do anything but roll my eyes at this scene, but actually? It was well handled, it was cute, it made sense in the context of their characters, and y'know what? Sure. The book not self-cringing at this also helped, and I was willing to let these two adorable college kids have their fun and make some art together.

Henry's gift giving. I am a Halle, I am SO BAD at gifting, but I appreciate the skill in others. And Henry NAILED it. A+, no notes.

Halle admitting to Gianna that she wasn't sorry she and Will broke up. That was big for Halle personally, and hot damn did it model something important to her little sister. Just excellent.

I had a delightful time with this book overall, and I'll be sad to leave Maple Hills. If we are lucky, there will be more Hannah Grace books in the future though!

#hannah grace #daydream #maple hills #icebreaker #college romance #hockey romance #romance novel #books and reading #books #books and novels #books & libraries #book recommendations

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floatiesmx · 25 days ago

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Do you think it’s time for Madrid to have a new coach?or do you think the issues will pass with time?I don’t mean this with any disrespect to Carlo but he doesn’t seem to know how to handle this team,have any structure,tactics or anything that would help this team.Defense is in the trenches,midfield did not develop at ALL,and the only reason it does look like it at the first glance is because the players are insanely talented on their own,the attack has issues as well,youngsters are sitting on the bench,it’s like the academy players seem to not even be there and with the players that he has to his disposal it’s pure embarrassment how they play and what position they play in.I mean our right back isn’t a right back and I mean that for both Jude and Vasquez,because Lucas just doesn’t do well at all there and Jude is an offensive player and shouldn’t even be there and he’s not a player that does well on the right as well,Mendy also doesn’t seem to know how to play recently,rodrygo sits on the bench as well,kylian misses,vini sometimes does well sometimes there’s issues,arda had exactly ONE minute in the last three games,Fede gives his all and has no rest,there’s pure chaos on that pitch every game.That video from celta match is just ridiculous,for players to be that confused and come up to ask questions one by one?what flick did with those teenagers and players in general,this is what I think this team needs just to develop them and get them to their best ability,at least with midfield and do something about the defense,and someone who can tell the board how idiotic they are by not signing any defenders.I’m not really sure what to think because from one side you can’t deny him what he achieved but in the other side how can you make players like that play so terribly?

I think the issue is solvable cause half is on the tactics and the other half is the players underperforming like as much as i get mad carlo is displacing some of the players he is only doing that to make up the laziness of some other players. I do think if they refuse to get a rb in the january transfer there is something severely wrong with the board like genuinely but Ill wait it out to see before writing carlo off completely. But one thing ill say is he needs to have faith in the youngsters of the squad and he is awful at developing majority of these players and i think he is too nice to not force tactics on them like he should say either step up or be benched and that should go for everyone so maybe this could be his last season but idk

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burningdaybreak · 5 months ago

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"OVER RAD SQUAD!!" Event Impressions — and then it kind of becomes a Summary and Analysis halfway through

(Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers for all of the OVER RAD SQUAD!! event, and general VBS stories spoilers.) Hello, to whoever is reading this. Last week was quite an eventful week, between the Sekai Broadcast and this event and banner's announcement. There's been many negative reactions lately, huh. Not really the place to talk about them, but I understand many of them (or more like understood, in some cases). This essay isn't like my usual one, since it'll mainly be my thoughts on the event; but I'll also summarize the event a bit and perhaps talk about the cards and my general impression. However, I wouldn't call it an analysis, and perhaps not even an essay? I'm just talking about my impressions and such. [Note after finishing the essay: It very much became both a summary and a bit of analysis lol] Warning that this isn't formally written like I did for my other posts, and it has the incoherent and perhaps even incomprehensible thoughts of a fan. So yeah, this is just a regular post. But perhaps I write an actual essay eventually because this event rocked.

1. The Event's Announcement

OVER RAD SQUAD!! had a pretty stormy announcement, not just because it was a unit limited event when VBS had already had one just two months ago (Whip the wimp girl!!), while a unit like WxS hasn't had one since 2021, but also because the story preview suddenly mentioned they're surpassing RAD WEEKEND in this very event. There was a lot of commotion on both things, but the former isn't particularly important here. People felt it was rushed, too soon, that Colorful Palette was ruining VBS's story... among other things. While I was actually pretty excited for the event, not just for the story but also the banner (new Akito lim card yay!!), and had faith they'd do the story well, the general negativity and dooming ended up getting to me and I got a bit stressed regarding the story. However, it turns out that everyone was wrong, and the event story turned out to be amazing and managed to cover pretty much all the important remaining plot threads neatly, and surpassing everyone's expectations. I'm glad everything ended well... (I demand an apology.) The outrage regarding the quick in succession unit limited events is understandable. It was especially bad not just because VBS had gotten one two months ago, but also because of WxS not getting any since 2021, and the second announced unit event for this month was WxS; so people generally assumed it'd be a permanent VBS event in early July, and WxS lims at the end of July. I really understand the rage, but I wasn't particularly surprised at VBS turning out to be the limited banner because, well... the Sekai team's decisions have been a bit erratic since the third anniversary, and VBS being the limited banner fit within my expectations. (Oh and I did kind of want VBS to be limited, since I think unit lim events are very hype... and because I wanted an Akito lim. Among other reasons. I apologize) Either way, the event turned out great, and the cards are very nice and Akito's card is very aibouyaoiful (yippee!), so all is forgiven (no it's not?). Now, getting into the event itself; first of all, I want to say, it's a very good event. And also extremely long. That's part of the reason why I'm not writing out the plot like I usually do; but also because I believe it's better to read it yourself, especially while listening to the voice acting and music. It's genuinely really good. (I was planning to write a summary at least, but I'm finding it pretty difficult and it'd be ultra long, sorry everyone...) [Post-essay addition: LOL. not editing this so everyone can laugh at me] Of course I can't expect everyone to know Japanese; I personally don't know much, and I machine TL events while reading them over at Sekai.best (along with the voices and Live2D in-game) — however, I later read sub TLs made by people, in case anyone just went "oh my god how can we rely on this guy's essays if he machine tl's things?!" I do know a bit of Japanese though! And I also get the general tone of a line by listening to it. So I can easily know if something's getting butchered by a machine. But if you don't like the machine TL method and prefer subs, then there's people on YouTube who sub events. (lozy bug usually sub VBS events pretty quickly; as of posing this, they've already subbed four chapters of the event) But yeah, read this event if you like VBS. I'd say it's one of the best VBS events. (I'm not really sure about calling it the outright best because I'm very biased towards Akito's focuses, but the fact I'm even considering it should be a sign of how good it was.)

2. Event Impressions and Thoughts

[Warning: Not very formal and may be incoherent. Also sort of becomes a summary halfway through lol. DISCLAIMER that I will mix my thoughts among the summary. AND!! I translated most quoted lines myself; I apologize if they're wrong, but they should get the general feeling of the line across.] God. It was so good. I genuinely cried and sobbed multiple times. It was very funny because it was just the very beginning of the event and I was already crying. There was a new BGM playing right at the start and it was so hype and exciting and it was like. This is it. This is the end... this is what they've been working so hard for... They're finally doing it... I was way too excited by the fact VBS would finally accomplish their goal. I'm not even a VBS fan (well, actually, I'm rethinking if that's true lol), but I'm just... ugh. It's been over three and a half years since their journey started, and they're finally achieving their dream. I'm very happy. The entirety of chapters 6 and 7 had me going crazy. I mean, that's pretty much the main part of the event, where VBS's event takes place. This was all the culmination of VBS's story, all their effort rewarded. This is it, this is what they wanted, and they finally reached it. Their dream has been accomplished. Ughhh... But let's go back to the beginning first: Kohane's task. Or tasks, rather, but the other one comes later. It was actually a quite simple task, which was strengthening her singing. For that purpose, Ken has her being coached by the other groups that participated in RAD WEEKEND: RUST and GLaP day. It was very cool to bring them back tbh, and that they were all coaching Kohane. The coaching method was also quite interesting: it was a sort of game where they take turns improvising lines. Her objective was to beat everyone at least once. She was struggling to beat them when suddenly, An sends her a message, and it was actually the scene from Whip the wimp girl!! where they meet in the morning and they have their singing duel. I really like how that happens during this. So cool. I love WTWG by the way. Her feelings of frustration from losing to not just RUST and GLaP day but also to An motivates her to give it her all and pour all she has into this. She wants to give back to An everything she has been given. Or, in my mentally ill way, she wants to give back the love she has received from An. Showing how grateful she is in her own way. Focusing on all that, fueled by her frustration, and wanting to give back to everyone, Kohane manages to beat everyone, and she's now more than strong enough to surpass RAD WEEKEND. She's curious about her second task, but Ken tells her he'll tell her on the day of the event. After that, she keeps practicing at COL, trying to grasp that feeling that allowed her to win against everyone, but she isn't quite there. COL's owner tells her that if she keeps singing like that, her voice will run out, and explains to her that perhaps she has to look into herself; find her own ego. That is, a selfish feeling, an impulse, what she's doing this for. What would make her do this even if it troubled other people. "I'll do this no matter what, no matter who I cause trouble to." Walking through Kamiyama Street and thinking about others' egos, Kohane wonders what's her own ego. Miku then appears to her, wondering what's her. Kohane explains that she doesn't know if she has an ego of her own;

🐹 For a long time, I've never been able to find a dream or something I want to do... 🐹 But I met An-chan and the others, and I was able to have the dream I have now. 🐹 ...Just like that, I was able to have dreams thanks to someone... 🐹 …If you ask me if there's something I want to do no matter what, even if it means causing trouble for everyone—

Miku then tells her that there is, but she just hasn't noticed it. And she suggests they go on a walk. She reminisces about how far she has come and her journey from the start, how she came across An and WEEKEND GARAGE. Then, she overhears a song, and following it, she comes across WEEKEND GARAGE once again, like she did back then. There, she finds her partner and teammates practicing.

🐹 (— What an amazing song...) 🐹 (My skin is tingling, my heart pounding...) 🐹 ("More"...) 🐹 (... I don't know if it's ego or not, but—) 🐹 (I like this feeling.) 🐹 (If I'm going to sing at an event bigger than RAD WEEKEND, I want it to be with this feeling.) 🐹 (I want to feel more excited.) 🐹 (I want to make you feel even more excited.) 🐹 (I want to cherish this feeling and sing it.)

Afterwards, her teammates notice she's there and she asks them to sing with her, before the flashback ends. I really liked the parallelism in this last scene, and how she finds her own ego in a similar way to how she found music back then. It was An and her teammates that allowed her to find music and herself, and now she wants to cherish this feeling, and sing for them, and do this with them. Ughh. So, yeah. The Kohane section was really good. It showed her character's development so well. She used to be shy and such, but now she's so confident in her skill and using everything she has learned and all her feelings to get stronger. She's so cool tbh. And the ego part was very good, too, and figuring out what she sings for, what she wants to do no matter what... very good. Now in the current day, there's one week left until their event (which is where the event actually starts, but chronologically, the flashback goes first). After their meeting, Kohane is worried in her room and Miku talks to her again, and that's where all of the aforementioned flashback takes place. Following the flashback, Miku tells her she'll be fine, since she has been facing her feelings all this time. Then the day before the event arrives. They left practice earlier than usual, to prepare for what's coming the next day. While talking, they reminisce about Arata, who isn't with them anymore. Touya hasn't given up on bringing back Arata, but there's nothing they can do about that anymore. They did all they could, and now all that's left is to finish it. They're doing it tomorrow — going beyond RAD WEEKEND! Chapter 6 is possibly one of the lengthiest chapters in all events in the game (I don't remember any longer one right now, at least). The chapter starts with Taiga coming back which is !!!!, because at that point I thought he wouldn't come back at all, but he did. It was a cool surprise. He talks a bit with Ken, wondering if it's fine he's here rather than backstage with them, cheering them up like a coach; but Ken replies that it's not his event — it's their event. The "next generation"'s event. By the way, their event is named RAD BLAST. Silly name tbh. But it's fun. Meanwhile, backstage, everyone's thinking about what they're feeling.

🐹 (... Amazing.) 🐹 (The atmosphere is different from previous events even before it started.) 🐹 ("I want to see the moment RAD WEEKEND is surpassed", "I want Nagi-san's wish to come true" —) 🐹 (All those strong feelings turn into heat... and I can feel them all the way here.) 🎧 (... It feels strange.) 🎧 (This time, I'm looking at the view I looked up at that day from the same perspective as Nagi-san.) 🎧 (Finally — I've come this far.) ☕ (... I've never been this nervous, even in the biggest competition I've ever participated in.) ☕ (... We only have one chance.) ☕ (We will definitely surpass it.)

But then, Akito interrupts everyone's thoughts, telling them to form a circle, since doing that before a show gets him really pumped. And then, he says he'll go first and:

🥞 I've been betting on this day! 🥞 I couldn't take anything seriously, and I couldn't forgive myself for being half-hearted. 🥞 The thing that made me realize that life was worth risking was RAD WEEKEND. 🥞 When I overcome RAD WEEKEND, I'll be proud — of myself, and everything I've ever been. 🥞 So no matter what... I'll surpass it!!

(Interrupting the summary: this part made me so emotional I started crying the first time I read it. In fact, I am sobbing again as I write this. I love Akito so much, honestly. Ugh.) Then following his partner's lead, Touya speaks up, too:

☕ — I want to know. ☕ I came to this town, met my partner, my friends, and new music. ☕ During those days, I was able to acknowledge myself. I was able to accept everything, both my past and present. ☕ ... No matter what obstacles I faced, thanks to everyone, I was able to keep going and get to this point. ☕ And then — at last, we came this far. ☕ I want to see how the songs I write will move the town, and how far I can go... ☕ For that reason, I will do my best today.

Kotaro (🍓) and Tatsuya (🏍) follow, too:

🍓 ...I!! I don't want to be such a pathetic person anymore!! 🍓 Laughing and saying there's no way I can do the things I really want to do — I don't want to be like that!! 🍓 With this — going beyond what I think is the most amazing thing, I will be able to accept myself!! 🏍 This time, I sing to believe in myself. 🏍 Even if someone ridicules me, I will pursue my dreams. 🏍 ... Even though I longed for that kind of lifestyle, somewhere along the line, I was swayed by the words of others. 🏍 There's no way it will come true, there's no way I can win, there's no way I can surpass it... I will resist such words. I will surpass RAD WEEKEND — I will believe in myself!

Kohane realizes that this is everyone's ego. They won't give in to anyone, and accomplish it no matter what... she starts to understand. She couldn't put her feelings into words, and she's beginning to understand her ego. Then, An talks, too:

🎧 I— I've always admired it; RAD WEEKEND... and Nagi-san. 🎧 I always thought that someday I'd catch up to that place, run with you, and surpass you. 🎧 ... I can no longer run with Nagi-san. 🎧 However— I can carry on the dream that Nagi-san left behind. 🎧 I can go to a world that Nagi-san couldn't go to— that she couldn't see. 🎧 If we can surpass RAD WEEKEND, I'm sure... 🎧 So we will surpass it! Absolutely!

Finally, Kohane speaks up, telling how she feels:

🐹 I— I want to go! 🐹 Beyond RAD WEEKEND, to the place beyond that...! 🐹 I'm sure it'll be exciting, like when I first heard An-chan's song... 🐹 ... No. I'm sure it'll be even more exciting! 🐹 I want to go there!! — No matter who tries to stop me, I will definitely go!! With everyone!!

Finishing the speeches off, An tells everyone to make this the best night of their life. It's time to go beyond RAD WEEKEND, and begin a new legend! (At this point, this has truly become a summary, but I still want to give my thoughts lol: this scene was REALLY good. Akito's words really hit me hard and made me cry the first time I read this part, as I mentioned earlier, but I also really liked everyone else's words. This was when I was like "Oh... I really understand these characters...", because many of the things they said are things I wrote about in my essays. I get these characters, and I'm so glad.) But going back to the event: following their speeches, Ken appears to tell Kohane her second task, before promptly leaving. And then, with the audience unable to contain their excitement, it's time to begin their final event — the one that will mark a new legend, 「RAD BLAST」. An and Kohane are the first batters. Together, they sing, hyping up the audience, and increasing the heat. The event is off to a good start, and if they grasp the feeling of "evolving together" that they learned in their duel, they can make the fire bigger. They finish off their performance, leaving the audience very excited, and so it's Akito and Touya's turn. And they give us this absolutely sickening (positive) interaction:

🥞 … Let's go, Touya. 🥞 Hm? What are you smiling about? ☕️ You are too. Aren't you nervous? 🥞 I got over that a while ago. Now, I'm just-- 🥞 Surpassing it. That's all I'm thinking about. ☕️ Yeah. I agree. ☕️ Let's go, Akito. Let's make our dreams come true.

"Our dreams"... ugh... critical hit. It's now a shared dream... a dream he got from Akito... that now belongs to both of them... Sorry I'll stop being gay. They sing together, exciting the audience even more. They think as they sing:

🥞 (I gave top-batter to those guys, but—) 🥞 (To move upward through clashing with your partner, isn't your privilege alone!) ☕️ (We both looked toward each other—we looked at what we didn't have, and we ran upward.) ☕️ (I hope I can be a worthy partner!)

(So good... the bond with your partner is amazing... Working together, growing together, experiencing things together... argh...!) Following them it's Kotaro's turn, and then Tatsuya and EVER. Watching them perform, Taiga thinks of how he didn't expect these guys to turn into such great singers. As he thinks, he notices a guy in a wheelchair, which is tough with the crowd in the livehouse. But when he asks if he's fine, he notices who it is— Meanwhile, backstage, EVER is about to finish their performance, and it'll be time for the final performance. But suddenly, someone appears: Arata. Akito asks him why he's there, and he shows them a CD; a CD that Souma sent him, telling him "Please surpass this" in a memo, along with "I was moved by the song that Aoyagi-kun wrote.", "If you listen to it and it moves you, please listen to this one last time." He couldn't listen to it, as he felt he didn't deserve to when he couldn't carry his dream. But he had to at least listen to this song, and upon listening to it, he understood — he wants to carry Souma's dream. It doesn't matter if he can do it or not — he wants to do it. That's his ego. He's being self-centered, but he wants to carry his dreams, and his songs, regardless. He wants to sing. Despite running away and coming back at such an important time... and what he's asking for being so much... he wants to sing. Akito simply responds that he hopes he didn't get stale, and he gets permission from them to sing. EVER's performance is about to end, and Akito tells him to get ready. He thanks Akito... and Touya, too — since Souma wrote "I was able to write this song thanks to Aoyagi-kun." in his message. Touya brushes it off, telling him that the reason Souma was actually able to write this song was because he was thinking of Arata, to which he responds that he'll sing that feeling — all of his and Souma's feelings.

With EVER done, the audience is looking forward to the finale by Vivid BAD SQUAD — but instead, it's Arata who appears, which surprises everyone, especially Souma, as he wasn't in the lineup for the event. When he's about to sing, he notices Souma among the audience. Even though it should be hard for him to even stand still, he still came. Souma shouts, saying "Let's overcome this together!!", and Arata begins singing. Souma cheers for him as he sings, shouting that he's there too — with his song, next to him. Arata's performance gets the audience even more excited, and the time for Vivid BAD SQUAD to deliver the finale is getting closer. It's up to them to surpass RAD WEEKEND. While waiting for their turn, Kohane goes get some water. As she drinks, she thinks that they have to surpass it, and clearing her task too. She thinks back on it, and it's revealed what her final task is: putting all her feelings into her song, and telling Ken what she's feeling, at that moment. She thinks how she has to do it, deliver her feelings, her ego — everything. But then she realizes her hands are shaking, and her heart beating loudly. As she thinks that now's not the time to be trembling, Miku interrupts her. (Interrupting the summary again: this is where chapter 6 ends. It really was a very long chapter. I think it was super great. As I said earlier, the circle scene truly took me out, and the Arata-Souma part made me Sick (in a good way). I recommend reading this chapter with voices and Live2D; everyone gets new Live2D models! Even the NPCs!! This is the most important part of VBS's story!!!) Wondering why Miku has appeared, she tells Kohane she just wanted to check things out, since their turn is coming soon. Miku then asks her if she's feeling excited right now — feeling the same excitement she felt that day, the day she went to Vivid Street... the day she found WEEKEND GARAGE... the day she met An. Kohane responds she's feeling excited, but it's a different kind of excitement — "I have to do this" is what she's feeling. It's like she can no longer see the excitement of "I want to do this"; which isn't good, as she had finally found her feelings. Miku says it can't be helped, as this is a place where emotions swirl, and sometimes it's easy to lose sight of things. However, she has to remember —

💚 『Kohane is now standing in front of a big wall that leads to a new world.』 💚 『We don't know what's on the other side. No one knows yet.』 🐹 No one... 💚 『Let's go see it, Kohane — together with everyone.』 🐹 … Yeah. That's right. 🐹 Together with everyone in Vivid BAD SQUAD, and all of my friends who've come this far...

Miku then replies that that's not all, is it? But then says that it'll become clear on stage when Kohane's confused at her reply. They then hear the cheers from the audience — their turn is coming soon. The rest of Vivid BAD SQUAD come looking for Kohane, and they make notice of Miku. Soon after, the rest of VIRTUAL SINGERS appear too, coming to support them and wishing them luck.

💚 『Let's go see a new world together.』

And then, it's time for Vivid BAD SQUAD's performance... the time to surpass the legend has come!! ... However, this is where I'm stopping the summary for chapter 7. I'm really sorry but I really believe this is a chapter you have to read yourself; something you have to witness yourself. This chapter is probably the best chapter they've made in all events so far, and any summary I make of it won't do it any justice. They really went all out with it. I really, really recommend reading it yourself. Watch Vivid BAD SQUAD surpass RAD WEEKEND. But, as you may know already: they do it. They surpass the legend — they surpass RAD WEEKEND. And they make a legend of their own.

[Chapter 8 — To the next world] EPILOGUE

A few days later, everything's so lively on Vivid Street. There's musicians everywhere singing, a familiar scenery for the people in the town... everyone has been inspired by RAD BLAST, wanting to surpass this new and exciting legendary event. Vivid BAD SQUAD managed to even change the scenery of the town. Meanwhile, at WEEKEND GARAGE, Taiga and Ken are talking. Taiga is already heading to the airport, poking fun at Ken since he has things to do, unlike the man who closed his store. Furthermore, he has to go back and brush up his skills — he wants to be the one to achieve Nagi's dream, but now he has more rivals. Finally, he thanks Ken. But then, Ken tells him he wants to do it together again. His role as a mentor to the next generation is over, and he'll be just an artist again, so — he wants to sing with Taiga, again. His wife's fine with this, and An laughed and said they're rivals now, so it's alright. They're partners once again.

Finally, Vivid BAD SQUAD and everyone else are at the graveyard, visiting Nagi's grave. They clean up then pray to her grave, saying a few words.

🎧 ... Nagi-san, we've come this far. 🎧 From now on, I will go beyond Nagi's dream. 🎧 The scenery that Nagi wanted to see, the various places... We'll go and see them all. 🐹 Thank you very much, Nagi-san. 🐹 Thanks to Nagi-san, we have come this far. So— 🐹 From here on, leave it to me. 🥞 "Conquer the world"... We've accepted Nagi-san's big dream. ☕ The rest will be slow — please watch over us.

Following that, Kohane asks what everyone's planning to do from now on: Kotaro is planning to upload his raps online, as he wants more people to listen to them, and tells everyone to subscribe to him; meanwhile, Tatsuya and EVER are planning to go major, debutting as pro singers, since they want more people around the world to hear the music that was born in the town. As for Arata and Souma, they're planning to team up together again, with Souma as the track maker, and Arata singing his songs. They'll be a team once again. They haven't decided what they'll do exactly, but they will pursue the dream that Nagi entrusted to everyone, which means they're Vivid BAD SQUAD's rivals now. Finally, Vivid BAD SQUAD — of course, they're planning to take over the world, and going beyond Nagi's dream. Kohane thinks, while she may not know what she wants to do from now on, she's sure it'll be okay; they can move forward. Because—

Because—!

Because they will never be discouraged, no matter how big the wall!! Furthermore, just imagining what the view as they "Take over the world" will be like makes Kohane's heart race. She then calls out her teammates' names, telling them she wants to go there soon. And the event ends. Vivid BAD SQUAD has accomplished their dream — but their journey is just getting started. Run to a new world!!

2.1. My Event Impressions and Thoughts For Real After I Accidentally Summarized the Whole Event

Well, lol. Sorry, in the end I summarized most of it. (Also I may be accidentally repeating here some of the thoughts I wrote throughout the summary.) So, as I was saying earlier: it was sooo good. I genuinely cried and sobbed multiple times. This is very noteworthy because I really dislike crying, so I don't cry often (im just like akito fr), and not many Sekai events got me close to being emotional over them (there is a few, though. I'm not emotionless lol), yet this one had me emotional all throughout. In fact, even days later I still feel emotional over it. Just the thought of this being the end... what they worked so hard for... what they've been looking forward to for so long... they're finally accomplishing their dream. I'm so, so happy. Kohane's part of the event was really good. Didn't expect they'd bring back RUST and GLaP day to coach her (also, at first I thought COL's owner was gonna be the one coaching her lol!), it was so cool. I also really like how much it showed Kohane's development — how she used to be so shy and with no dream, but now she's very confident in her skill and her dream that she inherited from her partner and teammates. I also quite like how Whip the wimp girl!!'s does actually happen concurrently to this event. Very epic stuff, guys. With her feelings of frustration, after losing to Taiga, RUST, GLaP day, and now An... she uses those feelings to improve even further, with the desire of giving back to An, wanting to show her cool side too. Giving back the love she has received from An... wanting to love back, after An has provided so much love... Ughh...!! Kohane is very cool, actually. The finding your ego part was also quite cool; I had never viewed everything that way, but it makes a lot of sense. Of course, as an Akito fan, I end up naturally thinking of Akito's ego, sorry, but this isn't about him; Kohane finding what she's doing this for, what she'd do this for even if other people didn't like it, it was so good. Very cool. When you think about it, RAD WEEKEND was Nagi's selfish wish; it was her ego, and the ego of everyone else who participated; and RAD BLAST was everyone else's ego. This kind of ties it together — everyone came together for their own wants. Oh, the parallels... they make me crazy. And then there's chapters 6 and 7. Pretty much the main point of the event. To be honest, there's a few people who complained about Kohane events mostly being "plot events" rather than "character events" and — perhaps that's true, but the first half focused on her character, her task and her growth, and this is like, the big VBS event. There's no helping it. In a way, this is a plot event, but it's very closely tied to the characters, since they're reaching their ultimate goal. But as I was saying... chapters 6 and 7 were crazy. The circle scene at the beginning of chapter 6 really had me losing it. When Akito started shouting his Akito-like lines, I just... started sobbing, genuinely. The lines were the usual Akito lines but... they really hit me hard. Man. I love him so much. Honestly. Fuck!!!! (sorry for swearing) Everyone saying their ego and everything, it was so good.

Pretty much the entirety of chapter 6 was amazing. It was so nice to see the partner duos performing together to kick off the event. Also Touya's line about "Let's accomplish our dream" has been imprinted in my brain. Just... ugh. The Arata-Souma part was also really good. I like how he appeared last minute and sang Souma's song... even though Souma can't sing anymore, they were doing this together, in a way... oghh... I get emotional thinking about this. This is tragic yaoi, perhaps. (Little bit of nitpicking here) Maybe it would have been nice if they gave us a bit more about Arata, though, such as what he was doing until now, and how Souma even found him... but perhaps they'll do that in a future event. And chapter 7? Mannnnn. I didn't summarize it but I'll give my thoughts on it. Don't read this part if you didn't read the chapter or something!! Chapter 7 had me speechless. I was livetweeting my event impressions and I just couldn't keep tweeting anymore except a random screenshot because Kohane's lines hit my head hard, but yeah. It was so epic. I was sobbing, happy, laughing. This really was the greatest chapter in all Sekai events so far. (Actual chapter 7 spoilers now) All the effects and stuff were so epic. And how they used multiple BGMs of the characters singing?? And then for the finale, VBS's cheers and time stopping for Kohane??? It's just... wow... it was so incredibly shounen and perhaps even a bit corny but it was amazing. I loved it so much. I'm not even that big of a fan of shounen stuff but it was so cool. They really went all out with this chapter. A big love letter to VBS, and really delivering on their finale. Man!!! So great. I'm so, so happy. They finally did it. I didn't even really consider myself a VBS fan until recently, but WTWG really hit my head hard, and I've since reread most VBS events and reconsidered my thoughts on a lot of things. And now here we are... But even then, I've always been an Akito fan, so even if I didn't like VBS (which I do!), just seeing him accomplish his dream... makes me cry. I'm so happy for everyone, really. I'm so grateful. Chapter 8 was a pretty nice epilogue. The chapter starting just like back after RAD WEEKEND, with the musicians singing in town and aiming to surpass the new legend in town... wow... the themes of chains of inspiration and generational cycles are cool. RAD BLAST inspired and motivated everyone, and revived the scenery of the town once again. It's so nice. Ken and Taiga becoming partners again was quite an interesting development. Didn't expect that. It's pretty sad that Ken-san may be gone... between that and all the NPCs having their own plans (Kotaro becoming a YouTuber lol), it's like... VBS is by themselves, once again. I feel sad thinking about this.

Also I wanna say that I really loved how they showed the development that all the VBS characters went through. This event is like a culmination of not just their story, but also their characters. They grew a lot... It makes me so happy. It also focused a lot (more than I expected) on the partner bond; not just within VBS, but also Arata-Souma and, very surprisingly, Taiga-Ken. Not to bring "discourse" here, but some people seem to think the partner stuff is fanservice, for some reason (I beg people to Read the stories, please); but it's a very integral part of the VBS characters. The bond with your partner and growing together and helping each other grow; this event really drove the point home multiple times, including in the cards (lol). I talked about partners a few times in my past essays, and I'm glad the game really shows how important they are to each other. While they're a group, and there's a friendship between all of them, the most important person to each other is their respective partner. It's a truly inseparable bond. This did feel like an actual finale. Of course, their story is far from over, but they REALLY did make it look like an actual ending. Good job. Breaking the mood for a bit, I actually feel a bit mixed about this ending. I kind of... dread what's next? It's an odd feeling. Like, I feel super happy and satisfied, but also... it has been over three and a half years since their journey started, and now it's over? It's like when you finish a very long game that you loved and suddenly you're like "Oh... now what?" It's also weird because most of their life has been about surpassing RAD WEEKEND... it's scary to think what they're gonna do next. Of course, I support them in whatever they plan to do, they're like my kids (everyone in Sekai is, tbh), but the unknown is scary. While random to mention here, perhaps Akito may feel something similar soon. He even says it in the event, but RAD WEEKEND was all his life, what kept him alive, and he has been looking forward to this day all this time; so now that he accomplished this goal, he may feel a bit lost on what's next. While "conquering the world" is definitely VBS's next goal, he may want something... more concrete? Direct? But there is someone that has always been with him... his partner. Maybe this is me being a bit delusional but perhaps it'll be Touya that gives Akito a "new purpose" in life — they'll always be together, no matter what, just like Arata and Souma. In the end, it's all about aibou. Leaving the negative feelings aside: yeah, it was an epic event. Possibly the best VBS event? Or even in the game? However, I don't know if I can rank it higher than Akito's focuses because, well, that's my boy!! But as a group event, this is perhaps the best. There's some minor nitpicks, such as why, despite being their big event, none of their friends and loved ones were there (like, Saki and Tsukasa would want to be there for Touya; and Kohane's parents too, among other people), but perhaps they simply didn't appear physically since they didn't want to crowd the event too much? Or it was recorded (don't make the same mistake as RADder lol)? But it's a bit "hmmm" to think about. (<- guy who just said he'd leave the negativity aside) BUT! I think they really landed this event. It was quite Crazy to suddenly finish not just the arc, but their STORY so soon, and everyone doubted they could do it (June 29th was a rough day). But they did it. In a way, this is storytelling (what is he yapping about), and as my friend put it:

i do think that doomer phase was a quintessential part of the vbs experience. “there’s scenery you can only see when beaten and crawling on the asphalt” after all . they scared the shit out of us with insane balance and pacing decisions and pulled it all right back together (source)

I had faith in the writing, unlike most people, and thought they'd be able to cover, at the least, most of those plot threads that there were hanging... but they actually covered nearly everything. It was much better than I expected. They surpassed my expectations, both the writers and VBS. It was so great. A really good event. I love Akito. I love aibous. I love VBS. Truly legendary.

3. Event Cards Impressions (and Some Analysis)

[Disclaimer: Personal opinions ahead. The analysis is very minor, since I think there isn't That much to analyze here.] So epic that they gave Akito a gay bar themed card to finish off pride month 🧡💙 We truly ended pride month with a BLAST!! Okay, jokes aside. The event gacha's name is The Party Of Blast!! Gacha, and looking at the cards, it's easy to see why. They're all partying in their cards; this is pretty much the afterparty of their event. Everyone's cards take place in bar-like settings, and there's alcoholic glasses all over — however, rather than alcohol, they're filled with diamonds and various other gems, some of them colored as VBS's characters' image colors. (They're minors and can't legally drink alcohol by the way.) There's also confetti raining down on them, representing their victory. They're all dressed in military-like clothes, symbolizing how hard they've been fighting so far to reach this place. And, they also all have elements of VBS's image color (hot, bright pink) in their outfits, mainly their belts or belt straps and their shoelaces, which represent their unit and their unity as a team. (Won't mention this detail for all of them, so just adding it here.) There's also chains present in most of the cards. I did talk about chains a bit in my latest essay, and I feel they may represent a similar thing here: connection, the connection between these characters as a team, and the partners' deeper connections to each other. So overall, the theme of these cards is as I said — an afterparty, celebrating their achievement after all their hard work. Something that could be interesting to talk about before getting into the cards themselves is the fact they chose a bar setting for these cards. An often-controversial aspect of VBS is that they often cover and sing adult-themed songs; like, suggestive songs (such as PaIII.Sensation), or in their most recent cover, Yoidore Shirazu, featuring elements of drinking (As I've said in the past, I don't really condone them covering these kinds of songs and I'd rather they weren't a thing but, it is what it is). This last example is fitting since this set, too, has a drinking-related theme, which is bars. VBS are often associated with adult elements, despite being one of the younger units (all second-years, same as Leo/need), and this is another case of that: minors aren't allowed to drink alcoholic beverages, nor enter bars in general. For that reason, the content of the glasses in the cards are replaced with diamonds and other gems, but the original feeling still remains of them being in a place that is usually reserved for adults. One way to look at it is that they're more mature than expected for their age, chasing after a dream in a mainly grown-up world, and aiming to surpass an event hosted by adults, and they represent that maturity by putting them in adult situations? Or perhaps, due to the street culture, these things represent them breaking the rules and doing things that aren't fit for minors; to symbolize the underlying theme of rebellion in these characters, too, and showing everyone that they can do whatever they're chasing after. Project Sekai is, in a way, a "coming of age" game, showing all the characters' growth and development as they experience things in their teenage life, so this adult angle does make sense. Vivid BAD SQUAD are growing up...! In any case, let's get into the cards; of course, starting with a very special boy:

4☆ Shinonome Akito - "A Circle Signaling Our Determination"

"... Good. Everyone has their hands in."

This is Akito's 4☆ card from the event. This may be crazy to say but, I think this is THE gayest Akito card. Not just for the gay bar joke (sorry), but it very much gives that vibe. While I actually think "woww he looks so gay here" whenever there's a new Akito card... this time, it's for real. I'm not sure how to explain it, but he LOOKS gay. I've seen gay guys that look like this before. This is a gay guy, if I've ever seen one. His beloved partner sitting on the chair's arm next to him, so close to him, really adds to the homosexuality. It's just a great card to me. ... Anyways, getting serious. My general thoughts on the card is that it has become one of my favorite Akito lims (still below FES and Doggy though). People were being mean to his hairstyle but I think it looks really nice! It's now one of my favorite hairstyles for him.

Fun fact: Akito's hairstyle here is quite similar to Souma's hairstyle. Meanwhile, Touya's hairstyle in Whip the wimp girl!!, which I thought was a reference to his dad, does share similarities to Arata's hairstyle, too. Are they implying something?

Also, I quite like his outfit. I'd definitely wear that stuff (you're insane), he looks very handsome and attractive. It's very nice that his pants are dark pink? Grape pink? (I don't know color names lol.) Furthermore, his boots' shoelaces and his belt strap are bright, hot pink; which is VBS's image color. It's pretty nice and bold. From memory, I think this is the first time he wears these kinds of pink? Which I feel is quite bold, since he usually wears less showy colors; a recent exception being his BURN MY SOUL card's outfit, which he got in the event where he realized he has to listen to how he feels and be true to himself more, which I interpreted in the outfit as him being more confident in how he dresses. There's even a similar contrast in both of these cards' costumes, combining black / dark colors, and a showy color. Could just be reading too much into it, as usual, but the fact he's getting bolder with his fashion is quite nice and something I enjoy. He feels more confident in himself, and now wears colors he didn't use to wear (pink), which is a color usually considered "for girls"... Don't want to delve too deeply into the topic of his sexuality in here, otherwise this is gonna get extra long, but I talked about getting bolder with his fashion and how it could relate to what he learned about his feelings and feeling more confident about them, and his sexuality and my homosexuality headcanon in the BMS card section in The Gay Akito Thesis™. Similar logic would apply to this card and outfit, in my opinion. A very nice detail is the colored diamonds and gems — they're colored after VBS's image colors (Pink, Light Blue, Orange, Dark Blue). The fun part is that, even as diamonds/gems, the partners are always together (Pink+Light Blue, and Orange+Dark Blue). You can see them together on the table, and in the glasses in the card. They're inseparable, after all. Speaking of which, Touya himself is next to Akito in this card. So nice... always together... aibou4ever...

Oh, nearly forgot to talk about the theme. Yeah, as I said earlier, they're dressed in military-like outfits, and it's a party at a bar. Out of all the set, this card is the one that is most obviously a bar because of the glasses hanging in the back. (Considering that, and the, uh, nearing-homosexual bond between Akito and Touya, the gay bar joke seems quite fitting.) Also, not that important and likely obvious; the neon sign in the back saying "Go all out" symbolizes Akito and everyone else giving it their all during their event. it also represents akito coming out of the closet (joke) In short, this card represents the afterparty and celebration after surpassing their goal, which they had been working so hard to accomplish and put all their effort into. It's quite cool. Great job, guys, you deserve it. So, overall, I think it's a great card. I really like it. The untrained illustration also features Touya next to Akito, and a neat detail is that it's the first time Touya reciprocates Akito's shoulder touch (Akito is always all over Touya's shoulders, but it was never the other way around), just... wow... sorry I'll stop being gay. Great card, everyone. Gay Akito is real. Happy pride month.

2☆ Aoyagi Touya - "Just a Little Bit More of This Atmosphere"

Touya's 2☆ card. Not much to say here, it's just a 2☆... But it looks quite nice! I like how he's Happy (both literally and the actual card attribute) and enjoying singing... such a nice development from the Touya at the start of the game... he enjoys music once again thanks to his partner and the town. So good. I like it. Touya's initial 2☆ (his very first one) was also Happy, and comparing his appearance between both cards, with his initial 2☆ him looking serious and gloomy, and now in this card him looking happy and enjoying himself as he sings and does what he enjoys... it's quite a difference. It's very nice. Perhaps this card may represent this moment in the story, too:

Very good... smiling about making THEIR dream come true — it's not just Akito's dream, it's their dream now... So great. Aibous forever!!

4☆ Hatsune Miku - "Beyond the Door"

"Let's go and see it, Kohane. Together with everyone."

Now we have Miku's 4☆ card. This is a quite notable card because, up until now, Miku's lims were mainly reserved for "special occasions" (FES, collabs, and special events). Although, perhaps, this IS a special occasion — besides the fact it was the first Bloom Festival banner, it's also a special occasion for VBS. Their arc end, their final goal, the end of their story... maybe? Yeah. It's a nice card. Seeing Miku with her hair down is new and interesting, although I would've liked a different hairstyle for VBS Miku but... eh, it's alright. It's good too. Just like Akito's card, the card takes place in a bar-like setting, and she's wearing military-like clothes, with hot pink shoelaces, belt, and thigh belt (VBS's image color). The glass she's holding has four different colored gems: dark blue, yellow, light blue, and pink, which I imagine represent KAITO, Len, Miku, and Luka. It's odd that there's no red and orange for MEIKO and Rin, but you could pretend they just can't be seen from the front. There's also something else: if you zoom in, there's two glasses in the background, one with dark blue and orange diamonds, and the other with light blue and pink diamonds. Even in this card, the partner pairs are together, and in different glasses, to boot. Funny. They're truly inseparable. Also the neon signs in the card "get over" and "NEXT" are quite nice. Symbolizing surpassing their goal and, as the second sign literally says, what's next. Pretty cool card. I should also mention the card's untrained illustration: usually, the VIRTUAL SINGER holograms in the story aren't that big, but it feels more symbolic than anything; Miku being next to Kohane, supporting her and watching her back as she heads towards her dream. It's very nice.

💚 『Let's go see a new world together.』

3☆ Shiraishi An - "What I Want to Tell You"

"Nagi-san, we've come this far..."

An's 3☆ card from the event. Just like the others, the theme is a bar celebration in military-like clothes. Also, once again, the outfit has bright, hot pink elements (the shoelaces and the belt). I think it's a pretty nice card. Unlike the previous cards I've talked about, there's colored gems of many colors in this card, and there's a lot of them. You can make out the VIRTUAL SINGER's colors laying on the table, including the missing red and orange in Miku's card, and the middle glass on the table has VBS's image colors, and once again, they're together. (The light blue one is a bit hard to make out because of the glass' reflection, but it's definitely there, next to the pink one.) The other two glasses seem to be a combination of all colors, all together. And the untrained illustration is kind of insane, in my opinion: An visiting Nagi's grave... it really hit hard when I first saw it. After surpassing RAD WEEKEND, she's finally visiting the grave of the one she admired, saying a few words to her, telling her how she finally did it. It's just... argh. It makes me emotional...

🎧 ... Nagi-san, we've come this far. 🎧 From now on, I will go beyond Nagi's dream. 🎧 The scenery that Nagi wanted to see, the various places... We'll go and see them all.

4☆ Azusawa Kohane - "A World Full of Excitement"

"It's so beautiful... my heart's pounding..."

And finally we have the star of the event, Kohane, and her 4☆ card! Same theme as previous cards, her card is a celebration in a bar-like setting, featuring drinks and wearing a military-like outfit, also with hot pink elements; although, due to the artistic lighting, you can't really see them, but they can be seen better in-game: she wears a hot pink belt, shoelaces, and her top. She looks very cool and confident in this card, powerful even, which I quite like; showing off Kohane's development from the beginning. Also the hairstyle is quite nice! This card also has colored gems. At first they were hard to make out, but I think the ones in the glass are also VBS's image colors. There may be other interpretations though, since it's not as clear as the other cards. However, there is two more gems on the table, and those are definitely light blue and pink, representing An and Kohane. Very nice. Always together! The untrained illustration is the main part of the event: VBS after they give their final performance, and looking at that view they've aspired to see all along... the excited audience after their legendary event. Proud of what they accomplished. It's so good...

The card section this time wasn't as deep as usual (although I waffled a lot about Akito lol, sorry. Just me being crazy about Akito and homosexuality), but I believe there isn't that much to analyze here; it's pretty much just an afterparty at a bar, celebrating their big achievement, confetti raining down on them congratulating them for their victory, and the military outfits representing how hard they fought to reach where they are. Perhaps you could analyze something like the meanings of the diamonds and gems and their colors, though, but I don't think there's any deep meaning behind these cards like, for example, WTWG's set: it mainly represents VBS, the inseparable bonds with their partners, and them enjoying themselves after all their hard work. I think it's a really nice set. I like it a lot.

4. Conclusion

This wasn't like my usual essay. It's much more informal and unserious, so I apologize for that. It did kind of become a summary halfway through, but I didn't analyze too much (although I don't think there's much to analyze this time?). I mainly wanted to voice my thoughts and impressions on this event, and I hope that's fine too. I said it multiple times throughout the essay but, it was a really good event. I've mentioned it in the past, but I'm not a VBS fan — my favorite units are Niigo and MMJ. However, ever since WTWG, I've been reconsidering whether it's true that I'm "not a VBS fan"; I mean, I like every unit, but I always thought my absolute favorites were Niigo and MMJ. This is funny though because my absolute favorite character is Akito (as you can see in The Gay Akito Thesis™ — yeah I'm linking it again), it's curious how that works. I think, after reading this event, I can certainly say it: I'm a VBS fan. But, it's a bit silly to have three favorite units out of five, so idk what I'll do about that. Though, for now, I'm a VBS fan, too. I love Akito. I love VBS. I love aibous. 𝓐𝓲𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮. This is one of the greatest events in the game, perhaps one of the best, if not the best (even though I don't know if I'd say it's better than Akito's individual focuses). I really enjoyed it, and it's absolutely a must-read if you're a VBS fan. A bit of a tangent here but, personally, I think My Footprints, Your Destination is Sekai's peak. I loved everything about that event: the song, the cards, the story, the hype leading up to it... everything was great, and I still think about it years later. No event has reached that peak, but Whip the wimp girl!! has come close; the one flaw about WTWG is that I don't like a part of the full song (silly reason), and the story is amazing, but Footprints was a different kind of amazing. However, OVER RAD SQUAD!! is getting close to that peak, with the story being extremely great, and I really like the cards even if I admit they may be the weakest point of everything I mentioned. The only thing remaining is the song... it's a bit scary, since it'll release at the end, but I hope it's good! Even if it turns out to be flop, I think it's very close to the peak I mentioned. This is one of the greatest events in the game. We truly ended pride month with a BLAST, huh? (stop with this joke bro) And that's all. This is how I feel about this event. I don't know if there's much else to add about it. I hope people enjoy this, even if it's not the usual serious essay I write. These are my thoughts and opinions, and hopefully that's enjoyable, too. The last thing to mention, which is not related to the event, is that tomorrow (July 4th) marks two months since I posted my first essay; it's a bit dumb to celebrate just two months, but it also happened to be a VBS lims event and an event that I really enjoyed. Before that, I had never written anything serious like these essays, and WTWG was good enough to make me actually write something? And with that, I started writing stuff. And just last month I wrote and posted a very long essay that I had been wanting to write for a while, which I'm so proud of. Please give it a read if you haven't!! I feel like my writing improves with each essay I make, which I'm quite happy about. To finish this off, while perhaps a bit corny, I would like to thank everyone that reads and enjoys my essays; all the likes, reblogs, retweets, and everything else (?). And also give thanks to all the friends I've met. I met a lot of people recently, when before I barely interacted with the fandom because I thought it was full of awful people; but there is good people out there, too. I'm glad. I'm much happier with my life now, having met great people and interacting with others more. I'm very grateful to everyone. Thank you so much!! And so, see you in the next essay! If I don't write anything else before then, there should be two essays at the end of this month, so look forward to that!

#prsk analysis #(not really an analysis this time but theres a bit lol)#project sekai #pjsekai #pjsk #kohane azusawa #an shiraishi #toya aoyagi #touya aoyagi #akito shinonome #vivid bad squad #vbs #RAD BLAST #OVER RAD SQUAD!!#aibou #aiboulove #aibouyaoi #aibouyuri #yeah adding those too. its necessary

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mariacallous · 5 months ago

Note

Of course there's zero self-reflection among the far-left why they lost last night in New York. It's always everyone else's fault but their own. But Cori Bush is going to lose in a landslide, too, possibly by even more points than Bowman (because she also voted against the infrastructure bill, is also antisemitic, and is also a conspiracy nutjob who thought she could faith-heal tumors away; and Missouri is an open primary, so Independents and Republicans can vote her out, too).

The real moment of truth tho is going to be with Ilhan Omar's election. That one's tight. But between Omar's moment of insinuating Jewish students are either Good Jews (want Israel destroyed) or Genocidal Jews (don't want Israel destroyed), her husband's extremely shady business practice, and her also voting against the infrastructure bill, and the fact that she only won her primary last time by two points, she could very well lose her seat; especially now that there's momentum among voters to kicking the Squad out. If she loses, that's going to be what really devastates the far-left. Really hoping Democratic voters in Minnesota come through for Don Samuels.

People should also put a pin in AOC's very low turnout last night, despite her victory.

If I remember correctly, AOC’s had issues with her vote margin in her previous elections, too.

I genuinely think the infrastructure bill vote is such a big deal that doesn’t get acknowledged enough, tbh

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thygoddessouijathicc · 2 years ago

Text

Interpreting all the DSAF characters personalities and motivations because I’m bored

I will only be interpreting Flipside squad characters as well as Henry but if this gets enough attention I might come back and do the DSAF side characters.

Spoilers for everything and if you have different interpretations please do share <:

Jack

I had to of course start with my all time favourite character and the main character of the series. Jack is a character so frequently misinterpreted that I jump for joy whenever I see a fanfic who portrays him with any degree of faithfulness to his personality.

As Doggo himself has said Jack is very childish, and we see this ingame. Yes, while often Dave is far more childish and wacky Jack can be just as chaotic and manic from time to time. He’s shown to be immature but capable of realizing the consequences of his actions and growing from them.

Jack is frequently portrayed as a tsundere which is simply not the case. While Jack is as stated by Doggo himself bad at expressing his feelings leading to him bottling them up, as well as being described as a man who doesn’t take shit from anyone, Jack is at no point mean to people he loves to deny that he loves them, he just isn’t good at saying that he does. Jack doesn’t lie about his feelings, he just doesn’t express them.

He’s also not soft as he’s frequently portrayed as, and is very capable of being able to take care of himself, as immature as he is. He doesn’t take shit, he fights his own battles, and he tells people off when needed.

He rarely has his own autonomy ingame as most routes have him following other characters but we still get a feel for his motives in each one although since he varies so fucking wildly from saving all the souls and putting Freddy’s to rest, to having fun and doing drugs, to running a business to just having a thirst for blood I can’t declare definitively what motivates Jack.

Dave

After the Tangerine himself I had to of course talk about the fan favourite secondary protagonist of the third game in the main routes, Dave Miller aka William Afton.

Dave is a pretty clear cut character shockingly. It’s not difficult to understand him. Dave is a manic, chaotic neutral/evil sociopath who acts the way he does due to being raised by Henry who we know from a thing written by Doggo in which he hits a presumably adult Dave with a wrench to be abusive. The abuse, brain damage, and encouragement of negative behaviours led Dave to become what he is in the games.

Dave is highly codependent and once he forms an attachment to a person it’s unbelievably hard if not impossible to sever this attachment, which is notably true because when Jack won’t help him he always defaults to being an enemy in an attempt to maintain the relationship in a weird way. Flipside Dave is codependent as well as Davetrap, but Flipside Dave is far less so and is very capable of severing attachments to people he no longer wants to associate with. The attachments he forms can be platonic or romantic, platonic with Henry, romantic with Jack although they both fill similar roles for him.

Dave is also incredibly stupid and easily manipulated which is why he’s as redeemable as he is as we know for a fact that unlike the FNAF William Afton and even some other characters in DSAF who kill, Dave genuinely didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. He’s a character who is endlessly loyal to those he bonds with even if they treat him badly or make him do things he doesn’t want to. Flipside Dave is again not quite as bad in this regard but he still is pretty bad and maintains for a lot of the plot that Henry isn’t evil. Dave thought the kids he killed would be happier dead and never questioned it due to his endless loyalty to Henry.

He is still however responsible for what he did because it was to a degree willful blindness. Dave didn’t want Henry to be the bad guy so he ignored any indication that he was. Regardless of how much Henry is the problem Dave still actively refused to question his orders. Something we do in fact know he could have done because he did at one point blow up and question Henry after killing Dee because Henry’s reasoning wasn’t quite as on point as for the previous kills. However it still took Dave two children dying to notice killing children to make them happy and make animatronics more lifelike doesn’t really make sense when honestly killing children bad should just be a given. However Dave does redeem himself for what he did and it can be argued his willful blindness wasn’t entirely willful because Henry removed parts of his brain to make him more loyal. While I don’t think brain damage excuses serial child murder Dave’s crimes can be looked past due to his redemption, Henry’s character, and the fact he was taken in at a young age by an incredibly manipulative character.

To briefly touch upon his stalking and obsessiveness it’s a feature of his character that is very much explained. Henry frequently watched him on cameras, and used him as a tool so Dave would see stalking Jack as a normal expression of love, and would also not see the issue with letting Jack take the fall for his actions because Henry would do the same thing and that must be normal. It’s still not ok, but once again, Flipside Dave isn’t quite as bad and the relationship is clearly not one sided. In addition Flipside Dave redeems himself and if given the opportunity, likely would not continue this. He does these things because he thinks they are normal and would likely stop if given enough context to know they aren’t.

As for motivations, Dave has some pretty depressing ones actually. At his core, Dave just wants someone to care about him and is willing to do anything to make that happen. He doesn’t care if this is positive or negative attention as he’s very much willing to fill an enemy role for the same purpose. Everything he does in the story is for someone else, usually Henry. He tries to keep Henry’s dream alive without even actually knowing what it was, only knowing what Henry acted like it was. Dave spent his childhood alone and once he met Henry he was groomed to be incredibly codependent so when left isolated he struggles. The only ways he seems to manage isolation seem to be through chasing serotonin via his many crimes and vegas, acting for someone else, or telling himself that there is someone who cares about him who will come back for him, for instance Davetrap waiting 30 years for Jack to return for him.

Dee

You may or may not know this but Dee is probably my third favourite character after Dave and Jack, and the most clear cut one left so she’s next.

We objectively do not know as much about Dee as we do the other characters, most of what we know coming from other characters and her appearance in the third game unlike with Dave and Jack who are in every game prominently and the phone guys who each have their own game in which they impact every route.

From what we do know of Dee’s personality is that like her brother, she doesn’t take any shit. Dee says what’s on her mind and doesn’t care how it affects others which you have to respect. She’s shown to definitely have a degree of sass to her, but more than that it comes off more as a frustration. While her jokes and attitude are just that, jokes and attitude, they actually do tend to tell a different story when read the right way. Dee is angry about how things turned out for her, probably the second most angry of all the characters. The most angry being Blackjack.

Dee died incredibly young and then directly after her horrible death she was pushed into a position in which she was responsible for helping others who died. She was still, as I’ve said, just a child with no idea how to handle this. Dee was then forced to mature incredibly quickly, and as we know from Jack, the dead don’t mentally mature, so Dee actually does still have the mind of a child, but takes in the personality and responsibilities of an adult, which is an aspect of her character I wish was more explored but I know couldn’t have been ingame because when exactly would it have been?

Dee was also not raised by adults, she was raised by her older brothers who even if Peter was an adult at the time, he was a young one and definitely not in a place to take care of a baby. It’s likely that even before her death Dee had to mature quickly because they all did, but definitely not to the same degree before her death.

Dee and Dave have a strange dynamic, she most definitely hated him for most of the series but was open to being proven wrong about him when she found out about his past and that he was manipulated by Henry. Their relationship is more of a sibling rivalry by the end.

As for her motivations, Dee is motivated by anger and justice. She’s angry about what happened to her and the other children, fuelled by rage for her killers, she set her goals as stopping the killings and freeing the souls. Although as benevolent as this may seem, I do think there is a point to which it’s more about her own suffering and her own justice than it is about the other children’s. Still, she’s a better protector than Fredbear because she does something about the situation rather than waiting until it’s too late.

Peter

Ok I’ll come out and say it, I don’t remember the DSAF 2 Peter routes as well as I remember the rest of the game series, so this particular section may be subject to change, however I do think I have enough of a grasp on his character to write an essay.

Peter is the oldest of the three Kennedy siblings and yet another contender for “who has it the worst in the games” the answer of course being either everyone or Jack depending on how you see the third games good ending. Peter spends most of his time in his debut game brainwashed into thinking he’s Scott.

He spends that game living in a state of confusion as he’s getting dreams with his own past memories, particularly of his beloved wife Caroline. He deep down knows he is Peter but isn’t quite sure and has been told he isn’t. Depending on the ending you can either save or kill him or simply get close to saving him but not actually manage it and have him be killed by the factory.

Peter is far less of a coward than his predecessor Steven, willing to directly attempt to take down the infamous kiddie strangler and in the true ending succeeding. While he never fully recovers all his memory he recovers enough to return home to his wife. In the bad route we see even more of Peter being a fucking badass with his speech to Jack before firing him. Peter tells Jack to cut the shit, calls him out on everything he’s done, correctly guesses his lack of a soul, and goes on to talk about the true situation with the dead kids being that they are really dead kids with families mourning them. Peter is unable to help these families and it eats away at him, he has to carry the burden of the deaths while watching Dave and Jack get away Scott free. He then proceeds to break his own code for the sole purpose of telling Jack to fuck off.

As for his backstory, we don’t know quite as much about alive Peter as we do phone guy Peter. We can however infer from context that Peter was forced to take on a parental role at an age he was not fit for parenthood causing him to not mature properly, once he met Caroline he left Jack to take care of a still quite young Dee all on his own which is understandable since he was starting his own family and surely thought Jack could handle it, but he didn’t take into consideration that Jack actually couldn’t, which led to Dee’s eventual death because Jack was not an equipped caretaker and left her unattended which isn’t anyones fault truly but Henry’s because if he had left her at a place besides Fredbear’s she wouldn’t have been kidnapped and subsequently killed.

Peter’s motivating force is curiosity for who he is as well as a sense of justice like his sister. He spends most of his time trying to rediscover himself after being brainwashed into being a slave for Freddy’s, however unlike Steven he doesn’t just play by the Freddy’s code and actually makes attempts to stop the killings and refuses to send employees to the factory instead insisting on proper burials as he knows it’s not right. He has a strong sense of morality which motivates his actions to end the killings but his primary motivator is still to find out who he is.

Steven

Steven is a tragic character, in most series other than DSAF he would be one of the most tragic, however in DSAF where everyone is pretty equally fucked he’s around the same level.

Steven is a first generation phone guy, which means he has little to no recollection of who he is, all he knows being how he died and his name. Steven died standing up to Henry which is objectively one of the bravest things he’s done in the series, in fact, one of the braver things you can do in the series, however beyond that, Steven is a coward. And that’s not even against him, I love Steven, it’s simply a very central part of his character.

Steven has shown he’s willing to throw anyone and everyone under the bus for his own survival which is understandable knowing he’ll be killed if his business goes under as he has a psychotic purple himbo trying to make his business go under who he unfortunately can’t accuse of this crime because of fear so he has to settle on the new employee. That’s not to say that trying to pin everything on Jack was a moral decision, but given the corner Steven was backed into it was practically the only one he could have made. We do know he could have gotten Dave arrested because you can get him to get Dave arrested by calling in a favour, but he likely was only willing to do this because in this context if he did he has Jack as an ally and thus is less likely to get murdered by Dave.

Steven also doesn’t seem to care very much about the murders, which is a little less excusable than his throwing Jack under the bus because Steven is very willing to just let the murders go unsolved and seems to care absolutely not at all about it. Steven doesn’t care much about death in general actually unless it’s his own. He’s more than willing to kill Jack for the stupidest reasons, he was the guy who sent Peter to the factory so we know he doesn’t care what happens to people who end up there, and honestly I can’t blame him.

As I’ve said before Steven was put in an incredibly bad situation where he knows he’ll die if he steps out of line, accuses Dave, or let’s his emotions control him in any way. Thus he’s willing to kill or frame Jack as long as it keeps his business going, he’ll frame anyone for the murders as long as he doesn’t think they’re a threat to him (thus why he doesn’t accuse Matt, Matt is a threat to everyone), and he doesn’t care about the deaths because he’s caught up trying to prevent his own.

Steven in the Flipside continues this pattern of survival at all costs despite actually being dead. He has others fight for him and runs from his issues until he can’t anymore at which point he tries to fight. After joining the squad he changes his tune slightly deciding he does care about what he did and wants to be saved.

As for motivation, as said, Steven is motivated by an overwhelming urge to survive. He’s put in a position where one wrong move could have him dead and behaves as such, putting himself first and ignoring all others out of not just selfishness, but desperation. Everything Steven does is because if he didn’t he be killed and thus he’s not just a “bad boss” he’s a bad boss who wouldn’t be quite as bad if he weren’t stuck between an Aubergine and a Factory.

Blackjack

There isn’t much to be said about Blackjack, people say he’s underrated and while I agree he has his strong points, Blackjack is easily the weakest member of the main cast, and not in personality or lore as always he’s an intensely interesting character because Doggo is amazing, rather because Blackjack simply doesn’t get enough screen time to be a full character, he doesn’t get an arch because he can’t. Blackjack is introduced at the very end of the third game right before the conclusion of the final battle after which he doesn’t have a single line of dialogue, so he’s underrated yes, he’s a good character, but I think his being underrated is kind of fair. We didn’t get to know him very well. It’s incredibly hard to introduce a character so late into the story and have them be popular, because everyone is already so attached to the other characters and the new one doesn’t have time to be established.

As for his character he’s kind of full of himself which is interesting in its own way but is again a bit of a weak point because he acts like he should have an arch but he doesn’t. He treats the other characters kind of like tools going as far as to basically call them freaks and want to use their trauma and emotional turmoil as punishment for Henry. You can understand why he’s this way of course, he was murdered and is processing it. However everyone was murdered and so he comes off a little whiney given that absolutely none of them made as big of a deal of it.

His backstory is just Jack’s backstory with the addition of turning into a dog and doing more than Fredbear ever could with locking Henry in the void. However due to his rage and selfishness Blackjack decides not to kill Henry, and instead to torture him while letting him grow in power by accident. He’s eventually convinced to kill Henry but he should have done it a long time ago.

As for motives, Blackjack is motivated like Dee by anger and justice, but it’s far more clearly selfish. I wish we got a moment at the end with Blackjack apologizing for everything, particularly his behaviour towards Jack but we didn’t and that’s fine honestly. He’s a flawed character who takes out his rage on Henry believing himself to be worthy of dispensing justice to all who wrong him.

Henry

The man himself Henry, the one who caused every single bad thing to happen in the entire series, he’s actually a very interesting villain who while he isn’t physically present for most of the series his impact is very felt and from what we see of him he immediately became the most hated character.

Henry is as evil as they come, this is without question. At every opportunity in the series he does whatever hurts the most people. He’s someone you love to hate. Henry is far more than simply evil. He’s cruel, psychopathic, manipulative, abusive, delusional, and far more, and it’s goddamn interesting.

Henry is like the other characters in the sense that his backstory explains exactly why he is how he is. Henry is a man abused as a child, who grew up to become a Machiavellian member of the military, and then lost his wife and child somehow. Henry experienced nothing but death and suffering his whole life and sought to end death entirely out of his own fear and potentially to bring back his wife and child. We do know he cared about them because of how mad he was at Dave for taking his son’s name. Despite all his suffering however Henry has done so much worse than what was done to him.

In his pursuit of his goal of beating death Henry murdered countless innocents, mostly children, as well as manipulating Dave into becoming a serial killer by basically grooming him into codependency, telling him he would be doing something good, and messing with his mind as well as very likely putting Dave in a situation where he felt he couldn’t question Henry’s authority, he then springlocked Jack, Steven, and if I recall Peter, allowing them to die in agony without even putting them out of their misery, and capped it all off with showing absolutely no remorse. These actions tell ten story of a man who doesn’t care who he hurts to get what he wants. Henry sees what he’s doing as for a good cause and thus it doesn’t matter if he does something bad because more good comes out of it in the end. He has a utilitarian view of the world seeing others as a means to an end.

As for motives, Henry is motivated by fear, selfishness, and narcissism. He’s afraid to die, afraid of the unknown, and will do anything to escape fate, in a similar way to Steven he just wants to survive, but Steven only did what he had to, Henry hurt people he didn’t need to at all, and dragged on others suffering in ways he absolutely did not have to do. Henry is a horrible narcissist who sees himself as the protagonist of the story with the cards all stacked up against him, when really, he’s the one who stacked the cards in the first place, and is just suffering the consequences.

#dsaf #dayshift at freddy's #dsaf henry #dsaf old sport #dsaf jack #dsaf davetrap #dsaf dave #dsaf phone guy #dsaf peter #dsaf steven #dsaf dee

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icecreambeach · 2 years ago

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"Why did Din mansplain manipulate malewife his way into giving Bo the Darksaber when he wouldn't give it to Paz?" 1) Paz Vizsla—who up to that point had solely been presented by the narrative as a loyal Mandalorian and Professional Din Djarin Hater (we love him for it)—rolled up to my man Din like "maybe you suck at the Darksaber because it belongs to me because my ancestor made it." (tBoBF, S1E5.) Then he directly challenged Din to a duel. If you think Din wouldn't respond to that with "hell yes let's fucking go," then you don't understand Din.

2) Bo-Katan had already refused to accept the Darksaber from Din and did NOT challenge Din to duel for it even though she had ample opportunities to do so. She could've challenged Din in her own throne room. It certainly would've helped her get her squad back so she could retake Mandalore! But she'd given up. She lost faith.

3) By the time Din and Bo are before Axe and the fleet, Bo has proven herself a capable leader many times over. She's had a genuine come-to-Mythosaur moment, she rescued Din, she's performed the highest of Mandalorian services by rescuing a child, AND she's been honored by the covert's leader (Din's leader) to work to bring other Mandalorians back to the Way. Also she was literally trained as a leader from birth (not JUST born to it, which Mandalorians *SHOULD not care about.)

4) Din cares about two things: Grogu, and being a good Mandalorian. Being a good Mandalorian in that instance meant following his alor's word and ensuring that Bo-Katan be successful in her appointed mission to bring Mandalorians together. It didn't matter to him up until that point because the Darksaber ONLY matters to the people who believe it matters. "Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!"

5) So my boy (who demonstrated throughout that episode—and even before—that he's very good at sussing out the reasoning methods of an individual/group and utilizing those methods to further his own goals,) thought about it for 5 seconds and figured out a way to convince Axe and the others (and Bo, for that matter) that, actually, this stupid shit I mean super important symbol belongs to Bo. He used the group's own programming (lol droids) against them.

6) "But using that logic it would ACKCHULEE belong to—" Great, you've figured out how stupid the Darksaber bylaws are. That's the whole point.

*There are some Mandalorians who do care about bloodlines but they suck and it goes against OG Mandalorian culture.

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thoughtfullyrainynightmare · 1 year ago

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Could you answer #1, 11, and 23 for beloved Fue?

FUE FUE FUE!! GDASFDRAF

*dusts clothes and clears throat* Yes

Why do you like or dislike this character?

Okay! So! We've talked about this a lot on this blog lately, and perhaps I'll add them to my Vermillion Master post. But, let's give a ... somewhat brief summary of it.

I very much like him. I really do. Because I think that him as a character is someone that is easy to admire. He has high morals and lives by the virtues and values he has found for himself, granted that they lie greatly in the scheme of what is good and law abiding. However, he's also capable of letting mercy serve as justice at time. What I mean by it, is that sometimes the law isn't to be followed to the letter, but evaluated on a case by case basis. If he didn't believe in that, then he wouldn't have stopped Asta's trial along with Nozel.

He's someone who tries to do good, and sometimes, at his own expense. If he didn't, then he wouldn't be putting such a huge toll on himself to be the very best leader to the CLK that he could be, but also, why he didn't pursue (not that we can see anyhow) any further consequences to William for his betrayal. Of course Julius' orders would have weighed a lot, but I'm sure that, if Fue had wanted to, he could have emphasized his standing in the socioeconomical system, and perhaps even try to put pressure on Julius for William's dismissal if nothing else through the King/Law department.

But instead, Fue decided that the kingdom has already suffered greatly, and the loss of a Captain might be too heavy of a toll, both in man power, and the unrest it might cause, along with people losing even more faith in the MKs as a whole. I mean, some of them being possessed was bad enough, but one of them being, kinda, the leader of the cult that made it all happen? That would be too big of a blow.

Yes. It's a great tragedy on Fue. But it's a personal tragedy. One life, his own, in the place of many.

I really think that he is someone who believes in... how those at positions of authority are servants of the people. They make decisions for the good of the people, and he tries to abide by that.

Can Fue ever trust William? Fully at least? I think not. But... I think that in his mind, the scales tip towards him not pursuing justice for himself. Because he wants the good of the people.

I'm not sure if I can, still, fully formulate the gravity of this decision, and what an incredible decision it is, because I'm not sure, if I could, in a similar situation, make the same call. I'm not sure how many could.

Fue is a character who's very essence is in the growth, safety, and well being of others. Yes, sometimes it comes in the form of telling them to grow stronger on their own accord, because there'll come a time when they need to stand on their own two feet. But if everyone is as strong as they can be, then the system is much more solid and safe to everyone. Everyone needs to do their part. But he wants to help people achieve that.

However, I also think that, since he has been known to dismiss people from his squad (due to good reasons), he's not naive, and he won't forgive or look to the other way with just anything. So, the person's wish to be better, needs to be genuine. They really need to try and be good, be better, from the bottom of their hearts. Abide to at least similar ideals as he does.

And as my "somewhat brief description" isn't brief anymore, I think I'll end here.

(But as a bonus, he's also fine to look at, so... a little icing on the cake)

11. Would you date this character?

I think that he only reason why I wouldn't date him, is his royal status. I imagine that it'd be quite restrictive, and it'd be a lot to get accustomed to. But... it'd, probably, be doable. So... yes, yes I would date him.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

(Do I really have to choose?) You get top 3 (last ft. Mereo)

#black clover #fuegoleon vermillion #ask game #anon flamelets #hehehe... heh.. he... I might have gone overboard again #whoops

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oneatlatime · 1 year ago

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Jet

10th episode! Nominally half way through the season, so I might make some kind of review/summary post soon.

This episode opens with a rather ominous musical sting.

Gorgeous fall colours. Which makes no sense because the winter solstice just passed but whatever.

This accordion type trap design is not something I've ever seen before. Are these a thing in real life? Also words cannot express how much I love Momo's little leitmotif. It's so him.

Sokka's aim with that Boomerang of his has got to be near-supernatural.

You know, Sokka kind of does have an arrow on his head.

He IS just a goofy kid! That's what makes him the best! Seriously, after a century of war, there isn't a person alive who doesn't need a hearty dose of goofiness.

Katara is pulling no punches here. Peak little sister. Really railing on those "instincts."

"How do people go anywhere without a flying bison?" Welcome to living like the rest of us mere mortals. Actually, between Appa, his glider, and his ball of air that he rides places, you can make a case that Aang (or airbenders in general) have severely underdeveloped walking muscles.

With the amount that Katara is ridiculing Sokka's attempts at leadership, I predict this going two ways: either Sokka gets a chance to lead this episode and it goes well (disproving Katara) or Katara screws up majorly in a way that she could have been avoided if she'd just listened to Sokka's Instincts. We already had a Katara screwing up episode with the Waterbending Scroll, so my money is on the first one.

I love Aang so much. Sokka's obvious bluff accidentally works and Aang's repsonse is to praise Sokka's skill and 100% believe that it was totally Sokka's doing. Such faith in his friends.

How dumb are these fire nation soldiers? They had superior numbers and weaponry but made sure to wait the appropriate amount of time for the full child-soldier squad to arrive and even out the advantage. Between these idiots and the stupid earth kingdom soldiers in the episode with the black and white spirit, I'm starting to think that this war could be over in 10 minutes if each side unleashed a squad of ten year olds.

This man's weapon is LOG.

Katara DON'T YOU DARE.

Huh. This is an actual squad of child soldiers, led by a teenage boy with Peter Pan vibes. This will end well.

Aang can charm anybody. And it's all genuine too.

Why does a kid who can't be more than like seven know what munitions smell like?

This Jet guy has untrustworthy eyebrows. Obviously this is being set up so that Katara is embarassingly into him and Sokka's jealousy of his leadership or fighting skills or whatever makes him suspicious, but this guy is too smooth.

So Katara gets a ride up but Sokka gets an arm dislocated?

An airbender would love this place, wouldn't he?

Did they stick Appa in a treehouse? Isn't he like super heavy?

I don't like this boy. I don't like. Cult leader vibes here. Knows exactly what to say. Exactly which buttons to push.

NO no no do NOT fall for it Sokka. Your instincts! Listen to them!

Does that work? Can you use a knife in a tree like a stethoscope?

I KNEW IT!!! A FUCKBOY!!!

Jesus Jet's psychotic! This is a kids' show!

Now we've moved on to garden variety mugging.

Even these kids' presents are destructive.

NO. No Katara. Did she sew a hat from leaves?

Thug? I'd use something stronger. I would pay to see Sokka swear.

What do you want to bet that that's Jet's knife? This prick. You are not important enough to be assassinated. This kid's complexes have complexes.

This fucker twists words. Sokka's right. He is smooth. oh god this is making my skin crawl.

Peak comfy.

It's the knife! Also is that headband adhering to this child's eyeballs?

"We can't win without making some sacrifices." And have you asked these sacrifices for their consent?

This guy is totally nuts. He's twisted things around so much in his own head to justify his actions that it's like he sees a completely different world than reality.

I feel dirty finding beauty in such an episode that deals with such horrific subject matter. Is it strange that Aang being the sole survivor of an actual genocide and finding his friend's skeleton didn't freak me out, but this Jet guy makes me want to reach for Holy Water?

This whole conversation makes my skin crawl. It's masterful manipulation. I'm no psychologist or whatever to break this down, but in a few sentences, Jet: -Portrays Sokka in a good light, which he -chalks up to Katara's good influence, thus flattering her, while also -making himself seem like a good, forgiving guy willing to selflessly make allowances for the flaws of others (Sokka), painting himself in the best light out of everyone present, while also -Providing a reason for why Sokka isn't there, which will prevent Aang & Katara from wondering where he is, thus eliminating all possibility of rescue (unless Appa saves the day again).

and all of that is going on while Jet has explicitly given orders that Sokka have god knows what done to him, fully aware of how important he is to Katara and Aang (otherwise he wouldn't use forgiving Sokka to further ingratiate himself with Katara). It's masterful. It's disgusting and awful and exactly the kind of twisty that traps people in horrible situations, but it's also performed with such skill. How many other people that Jet thought could be useful has he pulled this on?

I am not convinced by the physics of this. Can water do this?

"I've never used bending on water I can't see." Um, yes you have? That time you un-drowned Aang on Kyoshi island, getting the water out of Haru's mom's water pump, getting the water out of your very much not transparent POUCH?

No. Fuck off. Leave my girl alone. Hands off.

Good thing Katara taught Aang some waterbending moves last episode. Nice continuity to see him immediately using them here.

"I'm sure he'll be happy to see us." Girl no. Brace yourself. Fuck this boy.

"Jet's a great leader. We follow what he says, and things always turn out ok." So you've outsourced both your morals and your thinking?

Nice callback to the beginning of the episode. One thing I love about this show so far is how well it sets up tiny things early on that I take to be worldbuilding, that turn out to be big things later that are actually critical to the plot. There's so much thought put into each episode.

Log man may be a brainwashed supporter of a terrorist, but you have to admit he knows how to go with the flow. Stuck in a cage? Might as well enjoy the bait.

Again, so pretty, so horrible.

"Jet wouldn't do that." Wanna bet?

Not only a fuckboy, but proud of it too. This is just disgusting. Does he honestly not see what's wrong with what he's doing, or has he worked so hard at justifying his choices that he's deluded himself?

I am honestly disappointed that he didn't eat dirt.

Never have I been happier to contemplate the potential long term frost bite damage of waterbending. Wreck him. Obliterate the fuckboy.

This was a lesson that Katara had to learn, that I've been rooting to see her learn, but damn if this isn't painful to watch. "You're sick and I trusted you!" As disgusted with herself as she is with him. Not your fault. Some people in this world are just fuckboys. Or, you know, leaders of terrorist cells that employ child soldiers. In any other genre of show, the whole child soldier thing would have tipped them off.

This show once again pulls no punches. This whole sequence is intense. The music cuts out, even the picture fades out. In any genre but a kid's show, Sokka would full on die here.

How many episodes now is it that Sokka's quick thinking and Appa's existence combine to save the day?

I love this art style. It looks like it's painted with tea. And the shine on Sokka's hair is so pretty.

This healed some of the psychic damage I took from this episode. Missus Pretty. That's exactly the kind of name a doll would have too.

I love that she leaves him there frozen. I hope no one comes to save him for a very long time.

I've hit the image limit for this post (didn't know there was one - learned something new today!), so just imagine a screenshot of the most disdainful yip yip ever executed.

Sokka is so clearsighted in this whole final scene with fuckboy. Every line is pure wisdom. It's delicious.

Aang told Jet earlier that it was out of character for Sokka to apologise, but it's Katara who should be apologising for the (horribly realistic) folly of trusting a too-smooth guy. She did apologise to the empty air just before the dam blew, but would it kill her to say it to his face?

Final Thoughts

This episode was a masterpiece. That's the word I keep coming back to: a masterpiece, masterful. This episode hit every note it was aiming for and executed every beat perfectly. Everything this episode set out to do was accomplished, and then surpassed. It feels like a giant step up in quality compared to every episode before it. This episode was a masterpiece and I will never watch it again because I never want to see a fuckboy portrayed so accurately ever again. I enjoyed seeing him get wrecked in the end but I won't be able to sit through all the work up to that wrecking again, knowing exactly the manipulation that Jet pulls. Jet makes my skin crawl. The way Jet takes advantage of, actually actively cultivates and then takes advantage of, Katara's crush on him, it makes my skin crawl. The way he takes advantage of Katara and Sokka's difference of opinion makes my skin crawl. This guy plays people like they're instruments and he's a maestro and it makes my skin CRAWL.

I'm also getting kind of tired of yelling 'Sokka's right!' at the screen every second episode. Not that I want him to be wrong, but it's like the lessons learned last episode don't carry over to the next one.

Aang was Aang this episode, with very few lines and basically no agency the whole plot. Just a tag-along. However, I think there's a contrast between how he genuinely makes friends and how Jet manipulates people into working for him. Aang says Pipsqueak's name is hilarious, because to Aang, that is a hilarious name. He's honest, and that wins him a friend. Does Jet say a single honest sentence in this whole episode? Ever? And he's won the loyalty of his Lost Boys more thoroughly than Aang wins over Pipsqueak. Chilling.

This was a Katara episode, which the last one was too. I'm getting tired of her not learning her lesson too. Stop trusting people so easily, and listen to your brother (when he's not trying to assert his manliness at least).

I predicted at the beginning that this would be a 'Sokka the good leader' episode rather than a 'Katara screws up' episode, since that was literally last episode's plot. This episode might as well have been called 'Katara Screws Up part 2: Actual Consequences This Time.' Last episode a bunch of pirates and a not very competent avatar hunter lost their ships. This episode? a completely uninvolved village got their buildings destroyed. To be clear, that's completely not Katara's fault, but she does seem to be developing a talent at getting into Situations.

I feel cheated that this episode had such a beautiful setting for such twisted people. I'm going to go watch some cleansing Spongebob.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #Jet #avatar the last airbender

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