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criminalmutantsins · 4 years ago

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My Top 10 Favorite Ducktales Characters

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NO. 10 Hewey Duck

At number 10 is Huey!

Hewey has been my least favorite triplet for most of the series; it by no means he’s a bad character or any of the sorts, Huey is more down to earth compared to other characters. It’s hard to say much about Hewey other than how he’s a sweet, fun character I’m glad is around.

His development in season three was good, though the weakest of the three. Kinda half-baked and rushed, as if the creators thought, “we have to add some Huey development since this is his season.” With Dewey and Louie’s, it felt like their respective seasons revolved around them instead of the other way around. The only episode I really think perfectly gave Huey development and at the same time move the main plot forward fluidly was the “Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!” with the whole Huey vs. Violet rivalry. Y’know what also sucks. Huey wasn’t even that integral to the finale. That annoys me to no end.

Now, I’m going to end this with positive notes.

What got Huey into the list was his sweet nature and how integral he is to the team’s balance. Every team needs someone who represents order and Huey is just that. Plus, his innocent love for romance is so cute. I love the episode where him and Webby were setting a date up for Fenton and Gandra.

NO. 9 Scrooge McDuck

Scrooge is probably the most interesting protagonist I’ve ever watched. Unlike most of them, he’s more of an anti-hero than a pure hero like Steven Universe or Luz from Owl House.

I don’t really have much to say about him because I don’t love him as much as the characters above him. He probably has the best development- Lena’s rivaling his really well. In the beginning, Scrooge was a grumpy miser but now, thanks to the kids, his heart is softer and more open. His cheapness is annoying, but the good qualities overthrow the bad.

Scrooge most likely would’ve been higher in the list if “The Life & Crimes of Scrooge McDuck” didn’t happen- or at least occurred in season two instead since humility and hard work was the main theme. The writers went overboard showing the audience how bad of a person Scrooge was in the past, especially with him taking advantage of the poor villagers and leaving them in their states-without even helping them. This episode downgraded Scrooge pretty badly.

NO. 8 Donald Duck

Although on the lower half of the list, I still hold so much love and respect for this version of Donald. He’s such a massive improvement from his previous iteration. The creators made him kind and strong-willed but kept his anger issues. Though, they turned that flaw into a more comedic and positive aspect of Donald since he uses that intense anger to protect his family. Speaking of that, his relationship with the triplets is absolutely adorable. He loves and protects them like a great father, and I’m still a bit peeved that characters didn’t acknowledge that more. Instead, their relationship was sidelined and pretty much haphazardly... replaced-I don’t know if that’s the right word- with May and June.

Another thing that annoyed me was Donald’s voice treatment. The creators pretty much portrayed his speaking problem as a joke, which is terrible. I hope to goodness that children with speaking troubles don’t take those “jokes” to heart because there is nothing wrong with having a different voice. It’s also surprising how much characters mostly don’t understand him when I can seventy percent of the time. This complaint is more towards season one since that was the season where most of the jokes happened.

Anyways, I hope this Donald will start a new beginning for the next iterations of him. A nice guy who has anger issues but means well. Same with him and Daisy’s relationship-another massive improvement the writers did. They are such a great couple from the episodes we got with them and this dynamic should continue.

NO. 7 Webby Vanderquack

Another character who was massively improved was the great Webby Vanderquack!

In the original series, she was a boring damsel-in-distress with no personality-pretty much like the earliest Disney princesses. The ‘17 creators did such a great job molding reboot Webby into a character who can kill you with kindness or impressive fighting skills. This pink-loving queen is probably the sweetest character I’ve ever met; I just want to hug her.

I love her optimism and caring personality. She was able to change Lena for the better and not give up on her when almost everyone did. Webby is the best friend you can have.

While I’m not fully on board with the Webby finale twist, I really liked how her interest in the McDucks played some big part of the finale. Do I wish it was in different circumstances? Yes, but I’m still glad Webby got an important moment for herself. That interrogation scene was very emotional; seeing Beakley fully breakdown like she did was shocking and really set the mood of how pivotal that moment. I literally almost cried seeing Webby so heartbroken by her grandmother’s lies- this pink baby deserves all the love in the world. At least she found out the truth and gained a parental figure in her life.

NO. 6 Louie Duck

I’ve gotta admit; I did not like Louie that much at the start of the show. Greedy and selfish characters usually don’t get my love, but season two changed. A lot more depth was added to him such as his insecurities and anxieties. I struggle with these issues and it was nice to see a character show that as well. One of my favorite arcs was Louie’s trouble connecting with Della; it was realistic and not rushed. While watching this season, I was often having trouble connecting with people, even old friends. Sort of having someone experiencing them alongside me made me feel less insecure and lonely.

His development was really good too, from beginning to end. At first, Louie was someone who was willing to execute every angle no matter how much it could hurt his loved ones. Yet, he grew to be a humbler person who now knows the consequences of his angles. A favorite episode of mine is “The Richest Duck in the World” because of this development. Seeing Louie clean the Bombei’s shoes with Scrooge made my heart melt.

What lowered him down to number eight was season three. There were a few episodes that backtracked Louie’s development like “The Trickening” and “The Fight for Castle McDuck” episodes. He was a real jerk towards Huey for no reason. It frustrated me enough to affect this list. And I also prefer other characters more.

NO. 5 Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera

You can’t expect me to not put this quirky and adorable dork in the top five! He’s one of the best boys in the show. Him being voiced by the great Lin-Manuel Miranda does add some bonus points- you can tell I’m a big Hamilton fan.

Like Webby, Fenton was drastically improved. He became this sweet, scatterbrained scientist who only wants to help people. I instantly fell in love with him. And it got even better when Fenton became Gizmoduck- my second favorite DT hero. He deserved so much more screen time, especially in season 3; “Beaks in the Shell” was not a good enough episode for Fenton and his relationship with Gandra. There should’ve been more. The finale moments he had was not satisfying enough, particularly him and DW sort of team up. It was rushed.

If a Darkwing Duck reboot takes place in the ’17 universe then Fenton must be a major character- at least show up in ten episodes a season. A Gizmoduck and Darkwing crossover is essential, and I will riot if it that doesn’t happen. And more Fandra, my fifth -maybe fourth- favorite ship.

I also had a big crush on Fenton back in season one. You can’t help but love him this sweety pie. This pretty much influenced thirty percent of his placement.

NO. 4 Launchpad McQuack

This muscular dummy is amazing! He brings a sense of comedy and light to every episode he is in. It’s infectious as h*ll!

I liked Launchpad instantly. He’s kind and wants the best for people. Optimistic characters are almost the best characters. They are great reminders of how there are still many good people in the world. Whenever I’m down and watch Ducktales, LP makes me feel a lot better with his dumb yet endearing moments. My favorite jokes are literally LP sending Beakley an invitation saying not to come and when he tried to make small talk with Gosalyn at the window; I can never stop laughing at those moments.

There are times when Launchpad’s dumbness irks me, but his good qualities overthrow that. Though, I wish he wasn’t used too much as comedy relief; LP had the potential to gain more development than what he got. I’ll give an example. Learning about his family would’ve been great to know- an appearance wouldn’t have hurt either. It could’ve opened a reason to why LP cares about Scrooge’s opinion and cares about him like a dad. Maybe there’s some bitterness in LP’s relationship with his dad and that’s why he doesn’t talk about his parents. Loopey not being introduced was a missed opportunity. Big brother Launchpad is all I need.

I also have a small crush on Launchpad, though mostly for his personality and voice. He’s still cute *wink.*

NO. 3 Drake Mallard

We made it to the top three! With the dashing caped crusader Darkwing Duck starting us off!

It’s funny how much I love a character who’s only appeared in like five-maybe six- episodes enough to put him in the top three. I had some trouble defining many reasons why I love him; it’s this weird connection I have with DW. He’s this dorky dummy who loved a big part of his childhood enough to make it his reality, yet I love him so much.

I think what made me fall in love with him was how similar we are. Like him, I was a meek person who got pushed a few times- either physically or mentally. Those times also inspired me to grow stronger and be an inspiration for the next generation. I can be pretty clumsy too(lol). Characters I see myself in are usually really high in my love list and it shouldn’t be surprising that Drake is one of them.

His kind and genuine nature was also what drew me in. And, I just made this realization, this is the first time I don’t prefer the original iteration over the latest one. I still love ‘91 Drake but he’s too arrogant.

Unlike the original DW, Drake became a hero to help others- though a wish for glory played a bit of a part too. This clumsy, stuttering actor took a step to become his hero and a future one for children like him. That’s admirable. His lovable personality also being so cute enough for me to want to give a big hug is a good addition.

NO. 2 Lena Sabrewing

Hands down Lena had the best development!

She started off as this distant loner who followed the gray area of morality. Now, Lena is a part of this loving family and her own person. A few of her episodes are my favorites, such as “Friendship Hates Magic!” and “A Nightmare on Killmotor Hill.” They are well-written episodes and hit me in the feels.

Like Louie and Drake, I see myself in Lena. There are times I’ve been afraid I’ll take on my family’s bad habits or turn like them. That’s why I love “A Nightmare on Killmotor Hill!” Watching Lena try to be good enough and feeling insecure reminded me of the dark times I usually think about. There are even times I have dreams of these issues. The creators must have been inspired by me (lol). Though, I am kind of jealous of Lena because of how great her friends are. I want friends like Webby and Violet.

Even so, I do have some issues with Lena. Her magic arc was not written as well as her previous arcs. This might be more of a personal opinion than anything, but I’m still going to say it. Lena learned to control her magic too quickly, and it was treated as more like a plot device. And a shaking one at that. For example, in “The Split Sword of Swanstantine” Lena was able to stop time and send her and Huey into his mindscape. But, somehow, she couldn’t conjure a burst of energy to attack Steelbeak; granted, Huey mentioned that, yet Lena’s reasoning was dumb. Attacking someone with magic is way easier than doing what she did. I’m a little lenient on this since that idea lead to more Huey development, though I’m still going to critique it.

A great thing about Lena learning was her temporary outfit change. She looks absolutely amazing in light colors, which I didn’t expect, and her hair design is what I saw she would look good in. The eye shape is kind of weird.

Lena’s magic mode is in my list of cosplays.

NO. 1 Dewey Duck

Finally, number one is Dewey Duck!

Dewey has stolen my heart since the beginning. His positivity and fun nature always make me smile, even during the toughest times.

In my opinion, Dewey has the best arc/development of the triplets. His arc trying to find out what happened to his mother was what kept me watching Ducktales and helped me see why this show is so special. Many of my favorite moments are in season one, specifically ones involving Dewey. For instance, the scene in “The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!” where Dewey was willing to risk his life to get the last piece of paper and possibly solve what happened to Della was emotional. Hearing the desperation in his voice while pleading with Scrooge to tell him what happened hit me hard. I can’t imagine how much pain HDL have gone through not knowing what happened and thinking they aren’t allowed to ask. It would be terrible to experience.

Another moment I loved was in “The Spear of Selene.” It was when Dewey was hesitant to know what happened as the possibility that Della was a bad person grew more prominent. He looked so defeated admitting that realization and it reminded me of myself. There were moments when I realized that my parents were not as good as I thought. It hurt me a lot. At least sweet Dewey didn’t have to go through that. The scene when Dewey started tearing up seeing his mom in the sphere was also heartwarming. I wanted to give him the biggest hug.

Dewey’s insecurities of not being good enough and to be loved is what I struggle with too. Its kind of different because I have trouble believing anyone loves me while he wants everybody to like him. Confidence is not my forte.

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missmentelle · 4 years ago

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Hi MM/Bee! I'm a recent college graduate. I always worked hard in school and I matured a lot at college, but I'm realizing how low my self-esteem is. I'm obsessing over the things I haven't done/accomplished, scholarships I never applied for, my body image, my high school days, "not being as successful as my high school class", an old crush who I never talked to (who is already super successful), and some days I feel like I messed up my life beyond repair. How do I work on self-love? Thank you!

For starters, I think it’s important for you to know that you aren’t the only person feeling this way. I get similar questions all the time, often from people who aren’t even out of their 20s yet. It isn’t even remotely true that you need to achieve wild success by age 25 or you’ve wasted your life, but I can understand why so many people feel that way.

Our culture is dangerously obsessed with productivity, youth and achievement, to the point that it is actively making all of our lives miserable. It’s not hard to understand where people get this idea that they’re failing in life if they aren’t a 20-something well-travelled millionaire - that is the message our culture throws in our faces all the time - and it’s so unbelievably untrue. We compile “top 30 under 30″ lists, celebrate incredibly young performers and entertainers, and hold up extremely high-achieving lifestyles as something that every one of us needs to be striving for, but we don’t - there is no timeline for “success”, there is no one true definition of success, and people will take wildly different paths in life to arrive at the same set of goals. What you think of as your failure is not actually your failure - it’s a cultural failure that so many of us fall victim to.

I think it’s also important to remember that you haven’t messed up your life beyond repair: you’ve barely started your life yet. Your college years are supposed to be a time of growing and maturing, and that maturation doesn’t end the moment you cross the stage - you’re going to continue to learn and change and grow throughout your lifespan. And growth means you are always going to mess some stuff up - that’s how we grow. All of us have to make mistakes in this life, and all of us have to prioritize rest sometimes; there are always going to be tests we don’t do so great on, social situations we flub, scholarships we don’t apply for, crushes we don’t confess to, deadlines we miss, relationships we let fall apart and goals we don’t achieve. Nobody speedruns life with 100% completion. And that’s okay. Those missteps and mistakes are what teach us to do better next time, or they give us the time to rest and gather energy for the next goal we want to work toward.

Of course, learning to accept yourself and let go of cultural conditioning is easier said than done. For many of us, it’s a lifelong journey, if not the overarching theme of our lives. I wish there was a simple way to achieve it. I do, however, have some tips that can help you get there:

Unplug from productivity and self-improvement culture. Going online and seeing “Shakespeare wrote King Lear in quarantine, here’s how to maximize your quarantine time” and “here’s how I became a millionaire by age 22″ is not actually that motivating - in all likelihood, it’ll just make you feel bad about yourself. The internet is an absolute firehose of content about how you can do more, achieve more, squeeze more out of your day, and it’s completely overwhelming; honestly, most of us feel better when we stop pointing that firehose straight at our own face. It’s easier to believe that you are enough when you stop consuming content that tells you that you aren’t. Self-improvement culture looks positive on the surface, but we aren’t actually making ourselves better people by obsessing over our work and productivity - we’re just making ourselves miserable.

Ask yourself “who benefits from making me feel bad about myself?” It’s not a coincidence that we’ve built a culture obsessed with youth and productivity - that culture is making a lot of people very, very rich. Whenever you can be convinced that you aren’t thin enough, not pretty enough, not good enough, you can be convinced to run out and buy things that might fix the problem. That’s how we ended up with a $10 billion dollar self-improvement industry and a $532 billion dollar beauty industry. Content people are harder to sell to. Of course, knowing that people are profiting off your insecurities doesn’t magically make the insecurities go away - but it’s important to start thinking critically and asking yourself “where do my insecurities come from? Is there really something wrong with me, or is someone profiting from making people like me feel this way?”

Do things that make you happy, just for the sake of doing them. Paint a picture. Plant a garden. Learn to play the mandolin. Read cheesy romance novels. Find some things that you enjoy doing just for you - things that you don’t need to maximize, monetize or optimize. You don’t even need to be good at them. If you enjoy doing it, have at it. So many of us are encouraged to suck the joy out of our hobbies by turning them into a “side hustle” or another regimented form of self-improvement. Find some activities that just make your life better and do them, just for the sake of doing them.

Examine the role of social media in your life. Most of us don’t post a complete, unedited view of our lives on social media - we just post the highlights and keep the tough stuff - the rejections, the times we got ghosted, the bad hair days - to ourselves. And even if you know that cognitively, it still sucks to log onto social media when you’re having a “blah” week and find yourself bombarded with other people’s engagement announcements, med school acceptances, wedding pictures and photos of the new homes people just bought. Social media forces you to compare your “average” to everyone else’s “best”, all the time. And the numbers don’t help - social media lets you do an exact comparison of how many followers and likes you have compared to someone else, and seeing someone get more positive feedback than you can sting. Working on self-love means taking a hard look at the impact social media is having on your self-esteem. How much of your time do you spend on social media? How do you feel after you use social media? Are you following accounts that make you feel better about yourself, or worse? Do you ever feel bad about the number of likes or followers you have? Do you feel like your time on social media is wasted? Do you follow accounts that make you feel better about yourself, or worse? Stepping away from social media for your mental health is an important move for some people - you can still be happy for your friends and loved ones while acknowledging that it’s not good for you to have their achievements broadcast to you 24/7.

Surround yourself with good, supportive people. If you find that your circle of friends tends to diminish each other’s achievements, be overly critical of each other or go out of their way to one-up each other, that’s probably not a circle of friends that’s going to be good for you in the long run. Find people who are genuinely happy for you, and make you feel supported and loved for who you are. If that means you need to branch out of your current social circles, that’s okay - you can find great friends in surprising places, and it’s worth the initial awkwardness of getting to know a new person.

Challenge your definition of “success”. Success does not have to look like a high-paying job and a giant house and expensive cars and 2.5 honour roll children. It certainly can look that way, if you feel that those are meaningful goals for you, but it doesn’t have to look that way. A doctor is not necessarily “more successful” than a poet, and a lawyer is not necessarily “more successful” than a stay-at-home parent. The only person who gets to define what a “successful” life looks like is you. It takes time to unlearn the social conditioning that “money and prestige = success”, but it can be done. Success looks different for all of us.

Set goals that are personally meaningful to you. It’s important for all of us to think critically about what we want, and it’s even more important to think critically about why we want it. Do we want that degree program or that accomplishment or that job because it aligns with our interests? To impress others? To prove someone wrong? Or because we feel like we’re supposed to want it? Try to focus your energy on the goals that you want, that are personally meaningful to you. If that’s law school, great. If that’s selling homemade jam at the farmer’s market, that is equally great.

Remember that success does not have a deadline. I know this is very hard to believe in your early twenties, but your dreams do not shrivel up and blow away the day you turn 30. Life doesn’t end when your 20s are over. You haven’t missed your shot, and you don’t have to figure everything out right now. Growth and achievement are lifelong journeys - people find their dream jobs, accomplish their goals, finish degrees and meet the love of their life in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond. The best book I read this year was “Where the Crawdads Sing” a novel that spent 32 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. It also happened to be the author’s first novel, and it came out when she was sixty-nine years old. Your dreams do not have an expiration date.

Capture the joy and positivity in your life. I think one of the most important ways to feel better about your life is to spend more time focusing on all the good things in your life, rather than focusing on all the ways you could be better. Rather than fixating on whether you could have applied for more scholarships or turned that B+ into an A-, spend more time reflecting on the happy memories you have of your time in college. Again, this isn’t something that will happen overnight - it’s a learned skill that you need to consciously work on. Interrupt yourself when you are starting to fixate on things you could have done better, and make yourself list out three things you enjoyed about college. Connect with old college friends you haven’t heard from in a while. Try to take more notice of good things in your life as they happen to you - take more pictures, keep a journal, make collages, start a scrapbook, keep a box of momentos. You don’t need to have a perfect life to be happy; it’s okay to work on being happy with the life you have.

Best of luck to you! MM

#Anonymous #AnsweredByMM #askmissmentelle

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farouchelyoptimistic · 4 years ago

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Hyunji: Rekindle

Part 1

"So, you're telling me, I should move to another agency? I still don't get it." Yea Ji leans back on her seat as she tries to wrap her head around what the CEO of the company she's under is trying to tell her.

She fully understood what they were saying, but what she wanted to understand was why. She had been under this company for nearly ten years, ever since she had started her career in the business. She knew everyone from the first floor up to the last floor up top. And everyone knew her inside and out. The familiar staff around her was considered family.

And now, at the near end of her contract, instead of talking about renewal, they were talking to her about transferring to another company, a company that hasn't even been established yet.

"It's not like we want you to move, Yea Ji-ah. But their offer is great for you and you'd surely benefit from it a lot. They were formal enough to invite you by contacting us first, and I personally appreciate it." Her boss starts, leaning over the table with his hands clasped together.

"We've been taking care of you for so long, and we would love to do so for some more. But they're offering you something we couldn't get you ourselves. You're like my daughter, and I want the best for you. Even if it means letting you go. Gold Medalist will be established January next year, it's new but it has massive foundations and connections. They're also co-producing a drama under TVN, and they would want you to be the lead if ever you join them. I've heard about the script, Yea Ji-ah. It's going to send you into a breakthrough, one you've been waiting for. This is good. It's hard to let you go, but this is what's best for you. And, after the drama, if they don't treat you half as much as we do, come back to me. We'll have you back in a heartbeat. "

She almost wanted to cry at her boss' words. How could someone, totally unrelated to you, treat you with so much care. She thought about it for a few minutes, silent as she sat in her chair buried in her thoughts.

She had trusted them for so long, and they had never lead her to anything that was bad for her. If they were so sure about this, then there was no reason she shouldn't.

The pen felt heavy in her hand when she signed the exit contract. This was it. She was cutting ties with the company that had handled her for so long. Adding to that, leaving the people that surrounded and took care of her felt nothing more than melancholic. It felt like saying goodbye to her family.

But she believed that it wasn't the end. They were still going to see each other at some point, treat each other as long time friends. They have already carved out a space for them in her heart, and it was theirs forever.

She spent the remaining months of the year traveling and staying at home with her dogs. Somehow, she enjoyed her unemployment. She was basically jobless, not forever, but she tried to enjoy it as much as she can.

Her schedule was usually demanding and draining, sometimes sucking the life out of her. But she also enjoyed the rush, and the thrill and even the sleepless nights and days. More to it, she enjoyed mastering her craft, improving her skills, and developing her prowess. And most especially, she enjoyed putting a smile on her fans' faces. That was the most important thing.

Funny how she never even considered acting as a choice before. She went to a different country to study and finished a totally different degree. When she came home, it came as a surprise also to her when she started working as an actress. Destiny, probably.

Acting was not her choice, acting chose her. Good thing she had a natural knack for it, born with the gift of excellence in anything she dived into. She was a natural-born actor, exemplary in the craft that had grown on her. She had learned to love it.

She was fairly underrated. Mainly because she had started later than everyone else. Compared to others whom everyone saw grow up in their screens, she was still seen as a fresh face, shadowing her magnificent talent.

The awards and all the recognition meant nothing to her though. It was merely unimportant. She wasn't in the game for fame, she was in it because she enjoyed playing. Strengthening her skills, bettering her capabilities. That's what was important for her. Improving, getting better. She wasn't someone who settled for less and provided for less. She wanted to be better, not only for herself but also for her co-actors and the people who are looking up at her.

She was happy with her career already, but the breakthrough her old boss talked about made her feel a little excited. Who doesn't want a breakthrough? She's read the script for the drama they were offering her and it gave her goosebumps. It was going to be a challenging character, but it was complexly marvelous. She always loved a challenge, and this one was a challenge she was willing to take.

That's what she thought about as she walked through the unfamiliar halls of her new company. It was a new environment she needed to get used to.

It was a new journey, she thought. And she'll make sure it was a journey worth traveling.

Signing the contract was quick. The new people that were meant to take care of her seemed kind, and they all welcomed her with warmth. She almost felt like they were family now, a new family.

Just as she makes her way to leave the conference hall, the door opens, sending everyone turning their head to one direction.

What came in after was something she never expected. Someone, rather. Her feet were stuck on the ground, heart rate gradually raising, hammering against the walls of her chest.

"Annyeonghaseyo!" The familiar voice filled the silence.

She hadn't noticed that she was holding her breath until she felt her chest ache from the lack of oxygen. This was what he did, not only to her, but to everyone. He took people's breath away. His presence replacing the air in the lungs.

When he locks his eyes with hers, her breath falters out in a shaky blow.

Those eyes.

"Kim Soo Hyun!" Her new boss exasperates, a loud laugh following as he welcomed him with a hug. She could only stare, watching them exchange hugs and greetings. She swallowed an invisible lump in her throat because just like her, his eyes never left hers.

"Yea Ji-ah, I'm sure you know our Soo Hyun-ah here." The CEO's voice thunders inside the room as he gently pulls Soo Hyun with him, walking towards Yea Ji who was statued in her spot.

She summons all the strength and might from within her and clears her throat lightly. She forces out a smile, nodding her head politely.

"Sunbae-nim." She eyes him for a spilt second, nodding once more.

It almost takes him aback. Sunbae-nim. Oddly, the way she addressed him bothered him. It had been five years since she first called him that, the memory crystal clear in his mind. He could never forget the first time he heard her voice.

What he didn't expect was how she's back to calling him that. It had been embedded in his mind the way she used to call him Soo Hyun Oppa. How it felt warm and comforting whenever she did, how it brought a certain degree of serenity. But now, it felt like they were meeting once again for the first time. Back to square one. Total strangers. The barren coldness in her voice made him feel empty.

He forces out his own smile, though reluctant. He nods his head, unable to look away from her.

"I heard you two worked together a few years ago." Both of them nod in unison. The memory of the ad they shot a few years ago flood their memories. The first time they met.

"De. Just for a quick ad." It was Soo Hyun who decided to confirm. Glancing at her from the corner of his eye.

"Well, if you accept the role, Yea Ji-ah, you guys would be working again."

"What do you mean?" Finally, Yea Ji found her voice.

"Well, he's the male lead of the drama we're offering you. If you choose to accept it, then you guys would be the main leads. So, I really hope you accept it, Yea Ji-ah. Both of you look so good together." Their boss nods his head as he looks at them back and forth.

She could only nod. She was totally taken aback by the information poured over her. Work together, both of them. Again. If only someone else knew about what happened the last time they worked together.

After a few more small talks, she finally managed to excuse herself. Her new boss bids his farewell with a warm fatherly hug, wishing her good luck and anoother triumphant welcome. She only looks at the man behind him, slightly nodding her head before she slides past the long table and walks out the door.

She releases a breath once she was out. She knew it wasn't impossible to run into him at some point. They were revolving in the same world, same business. It was inevitable. But she successfully managed to work without having to cross paths with him for so long, that when she met him today, totally unprepared and overwhelmed, she felt a slight rattle in her stomach.

And now, she was signed in the same agency with him, and may or may not work with him too. It felt like a train was rushing towards her in full gear, ready to slam against her out of her wits.

She was barely ten steps away from the door when someone suddenly grabs her hand. She immediately turns around, the shock making her jolt on her feet.

"Yea Ji. . . . ssi."

She stammered at the sight before her. Kim Soo Hyun, holding her wrist, so gentle and warm. His eyes were fixed on her, watching her as she looks down on his hand against her skin.

He immediately lets go, wary of the rationality of his impulsive action. He swallows an invisible lump, placing the hand he once had on her to the back of his nape. He suddenly felt warmth creep up to his cheeks, shy. He felt flustered with her presence and the way her eyes pierced through his.

There was something new in the way her orbs glowed. It was different from the ones that were blanketed with sullen shyness and sweetness. It was still there alright, but now there was something new. Confidence, a lot of them.

It made him weak in the knees. Flustered. Swivet. Now, he felt like he couldn't look her straight in the eyes. He can't even bring himself talk clearly.

"Uhm, " He lets out a breath. "Yea Ji-ssi. Do you want to go grab something to drink? They serve good coffee at the cafeteria." He tries to hold her gaze, but it was so intense he felt like he needed to look away.

He needed to look away to stop himself from advancing into something that might just freak her out. And that's the last thing he wants, freak her out.

Coffee. She almost wanted to chuckle. It also started with a cup of coffee. She unconsciously bit her bottom lip, thinking it through.

"You know, for old time's sake?" His anxiety was growing as he anticipated her answer. He was slowly trying to ready himself for whatever her answer is, slightly terrified if she said no.

She let's out a breath. For old time's sake. There was no reason to deny an old friend, acquaintance rather, a cup of coffee to share. It was just coffee. Well it was what she thought a few years ago too. Just coffee.

This time though, it's just going to be coffee. It had to be.

When she nods her head and releases a small smile, he almost wanted to jump up and down, fist the air like he did the first time she agreed to have coffee with him.

Shoving the fireworks of feelings erupting in him to the back of his head, he smiles. Stepping aside to lead her the way. She took cautious steps beside him, the fat obvious distance between them is failed to be unnoticed. But he doesn't push. He doesn't speak. He tries to bask in the silence between them, it wasn't as comforting as it was before, but it was with her, so he'll take it.

"Here." He enthusiastically pushes the glass door open, letting her enter first. Immediately, the smell of the freshly brewed coffee fills her nose, making her smile. She loved coffee. It never failed to comfort her in any way.

He found himself significantly jumpy, yet careful. He runs pass her, pulling a chair for her. He smiles, eyeing her shyly as she courteously nods, sitting down as he gently pushes it back.

He basically runs to the counter, ordering two cups of iced coffee. Watching her from behind, made him stop in his tracks. Her black silky hair cascaded down her back, sparkling under the sunlight that seeped through the glass walls.

Just as he remembered her, she sat with her back straight, her broad shoulders flat and hands clasped together on her thighs. She was anxious. She was like that the first time he had coffee with her.

And for some reason, it pulled out the melancholy in him.

He smiled through it as he carefully slides the cup of coffee towards her. He eyes her for a second as he took a seat, looking down immediately. She mumbled a soft 'thank you', her low voice sending a calm chill down the pit of his stomach.

His foot continued to tap against the tiled floor, his eyes fixed on his cup, his fingers holding it tight. He was nervous. Yet, he was excited.

Letting out a breath, he finally looks at her fully. Her light make up accentuated her features, her smooth glass skin glowing. She was beautiful, she has always been. And like she did the first time he saw her, she took his breath away.

He couldn't help but smile.

"How have you been?" He bites his bottom lip, anticipating her response.

She smiles. She's been trying to hold it in for a while, but she couldn't help it anymore. She smiles.

"I've been doing well. I guess you have too. I've heard you just got discharged from the military. Congratulations." She tells him with genuine sincerity, looking straight into his beautiful brown orbs.

He smiles, nodding his head. He had a scarcity of words. When he heard about her joining the company, he had thought of a million things he could say to her. Now that she was merely less than a meter away from him, he had nothing. He was enticed by her presence.

He didn't have this problem before, because whenever he had nothing to say, he would listen. He would sit in front of her, listening to her talk. She has the most beautiful, most attractive voice. And she loved to talked.

She talked endlessly whenever she was with people she was comfortable with, and he used to bask in the serenity and the calm that her voice brought. Her silence made him weary, has she lost the comfort she once felt for him long ago?

"It's nice to see you. It's been a few years since. . . . we" Broke up?

"Went our separate ways." She finished his sentence for him. She knew he had thought about saying they 'broke up' but they didn't.

It wasn't considered a breakup when they weren't anything, to begin with. They had just decided not to proceed with anything and went separate ways. It was complicated, but it was a mutual decision. Both agreed upon.

What happened to them was like fireworks. Sudden, beautiful and electrifying, yet short lived. It was a beauty not meant to last.

"Anyways, welcome to the company. I hope you consider taking the role, it would be nice to work with each other again. I would love to work with you." He says, hoping she feels the same way. It was true, he wanted to work with her. He had secretly watched all her movies, all her dramas, even the variety shows she was in.

She was a gem in the industry, and he hated how underrated she was. He saw how marvelous of an actress she is, and as an actor, he would love to work with someone with such dynamics.

It was just a bonus that it was her as well.

"I'll think about it. It would be an honor to work with you too, Sunbae-nim." She says, reluctantly nodding her head. There's so much to think about. So much to consider. But she was enticed by the complexity of the role that it would be so hard to let go of the thought of playing it.

As much as she would want to deny it, acting alongside him is inviting. He was a seasoned actor, talented and marvelous in his own right. The opportunity is one of a kind.

"Yea Ji-ah." The informality surprised her, making her stare. Making her heart make a small flip inside her chest.

"We were friends. We shouldn't be too formal. We are friends. Let's be friends? I-I want to be your friend. Yea Ji-ah." His voice almost started to tremble.

He was aware of how much she's changed. Evolved. She was already intimidating back then, now she was more than that. He almost felt like she was out of his league. And it slightly terrified him.

His breath falters when she pushes her chair back, fishing her phone to read a message. She stands up and politely nods her head.

He stares at her in bewilderment, slowly pushing himself up. His heart suddenly raced and slammed. Was she rejecting his offer of being friends?

He was about to say something, anything. But he doesn't get the chance because she smiles at him. Small but genuine.

"See you around, Soo Hyun Oppa."

He lets out a breath. A breath of relief as he watches her turn around and walk away. Dumbfounded, slightly, but he releases a triumphant smile.

The universe had been fairly cruel to them, but maybe it wasn't entirely. Sometimes the world breaks things apart so they could grow individually, so that when it's time to bring them back together, they would form an unbreakable beautiful whole.

#psycho but its okay #its okay to not be okay #kim soo hyun #seo yea ji #hyunji #hyunjicouple

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birdwonder · 5 years ago

Note

just thought of the idea of Rohan using his stand on reader and seeing on their page they have a big crush on josuke so Rohan either teases them or helps them get together. i think the idea is cute

|| i am SO sorry this took a while longer than i usually take to write. my holiday has left me without a computer so writing long stories takes forever on a phone but i hope these 3,000 words make up for it :,) its 3am so i doubt i editted properly so ill go through it again tomorrow

Josuke Higashikata | Rohan’s Help / Confession

You and Rohan have been friends for a short time. Less than a year to be honest, and yet you two felt like you were as thick as thieves — an unstoppable duo when it came to your friendship. Both of you complimented each other so well, you being able to improve Rohan’s social skills and how he treated others, and Rohan had been making progress with you to be more confident. A kind yet self-loathing highschool student who is best friends with a prideful and stuck up manga artist, who would have thought?

In the small amount of time you two have known each other, you both have been able to pick on small quirks you had and tell-tale signs of your moods. For example, you were currently leaning on the side of Rohan’s desk as he scribbled away on a piece of paper, desperately trying to figure out a new and inventive pose for his next manga page. Your blank, dull eyes staring into the distance and lack of encouraging comments was all Rohan needed to know that something was up with you. Of course, he wasn’t the best at comfort, not when it’s so early into his progress of becoming a better person, so jumping straight to sympathy and questions was not his go-to plan.

“So, what do you think so far?” Rohan questioned with hope, holding up his sketch book with one hand and gesturing towards it with another, hoping that your thoughts on his work would be at least distracting enough from whatever was plaguing your mind. Unfortunately, you only glanced towards the sheet of stunning, detailed figures and hummed halfheartedly before returning to look at absolutely nothing with your chin pressed into the centre of your palm.

Groaning, the artist tore out the page dramatically to then scrunch it up into a tight paper ball, throwing it into the trash-can beside him in a small fit of annoyance. “Right then,” he burst out abruptly, two hands slamming on his desk and his chair scraping backwards as he got up to emphasis his change in mood, “you’re going to tell me what’s wrong right now because right now I can NOT figure out how to draw this next panel, and I can’t do it when you’re sitting here like a... a...”

“Like a what?” You piped up, one brow quirked up which gave you an atypically fed up expression, one so cold it almost sent shivers down Rohan’s spine.

“Like a killjoy!” He finally said, huffing and puffing his cheeks out. “You’re just sitting there, staring like a corpse and I’m actually trying to talk to you!”

Then, you faltered. Your tightly pressed lips tilted downwards and your brows lowered, returning your expression to it’s well known gentle and kind look, something Rohan had greatly missed the last hour or so. “Oh, I’m sorry Rohan, it’s just, oh never mind.” You mumble your last words, a strange pink tint along your cheeks that didn’t go unnoticed by the man who valued every single detail he saw.

Rohan then grabbed your shoulders firmly, forcing you to turn and look at him, his eyes narrowed with an intense stare boring into your own pupils. “[F/N], I refuse to take that as an answer, so let’s try again shall we? What. Is. The matter?”

You gulped a little, sucking in your breath while debating whether or not to tell your trusted companion about the problem that ridiculed you or not. You opted no. With a shake of your head, you gave an apologetic look and your frown only went deeper, “sorry Rohan, it’s really stupid and I just don’t want to say it. I mean, it can’t be solved anyways, so I’m sure I’ll get over it soon!” You placed a hand on his shoulder and forced yourself to smile a little, your heart swelling with some joy over the fact Rohan had clearly grown as a person - showing that he cared for the problems that bedevilled you was one large step from where he was when you first met. “Thank you though, really.”

Your gratitude and certainty may have been enough to rest anyone else’s soul, but not Rohan’s. He simply would not take ‘no’ for an answer. Sighing, he released his grip on you, giving you the message that he wasn’t going to pry anymore until he spoke, “I didn’t want to resort to this but you leave me no choice.”

Before you could question his words a familiar cry of “Heaven’s Door,” was yelled and you felt your body slowly feel lighter, almost weightless as you watched the skin on your face and arms unfold to reveal small prints of words, words you knew revealed everything there was to know about [F/N] [L/N].

Resistance was futile as you struggled to shift away from Rohan’s approaching form, the back of the chair and the wall behind you trapping you inbetween, prayers being your only tactic of getting out of the hectic situation. “Now let’s see,” Rohan hummed, taking a gentle hold of the pages attached to your face between his thumb and index finger, his eyes scanning each word carefully as though missing a single one would be detrimental.

“Rohan, please don’t,” you begged, fear arising in you from the idea that he would find out the cause of your sullen mood. Fear that was quickly picked up on.

“[F/N] [L/N], sixteen years old... Birthday is... Ah, here we are, something more modern. Cereal for breakfast, and currently stressing over the idea that Josuke Higashikata won’t like her...” Rohan’s out loud reading soon quietened and the look he gave you could only be summarised to ‘really?’

Once he pulled away from you, Heaven’s Door effects subsided and your skin was no longer detached from you. You sighed with relief that you were no longer in such a vulnerable state, calm until you began to lightly pound your fists against Rohan’s chest, unable to actually hurt him since you didn’t have to heart to. “Rohan, that was private information, how could you?!”

Rohan clicked his tongue, using only a finger to press against your forehead to push you away. The perks of you being so docile was getting you to stop any hint of aggression was easier than reciting the alphabet.

“I did it for you so I could help you with your problem!” He argued in attempt to defend himself and cringed slightly, speaking with venom in his voice. “How was I supposed to know that you were so worked up over that idiot and not something sensible?”

“He is not an idiot!” You retorted since you hated whenever either Rohan or Josuke insulted each other. Those two really had the potential to be friends with each other, they just never let it work. Regardless, your main concern was the fact your true feelings were revealed and in the worst possible way. You hadn’t meant for anyone to find out about how you feel, not when you were for sure that it wouldn’t matter in the end.

Josuke ... he was amazing. Friendly, strong, funny and whenever he looked with you with those kind eyes and a smile on his plush lips, your heart stopped only to restart beating 1000 beats per minute. You were certain that he was the most perfect person you had ever met, and every memory with him was greatly treasured.

Though you were almost certain he didn’t feel the same. You felt so small compared to him, figuratively that is, and everything he was good at, you seemed to fail at. Confidence, strength, styling the perfect pompadour; you couldn’t even compare to him, even if these all seemed like the most insignificant aspects ever. So, why would he want to be with someone who couldn’t reach his standards ? He wouldn’t.

Your internal self deprecation was silently evident to Rohan as you began to nibble on the bottom of your lip, dejectedly looking down like a lost puppy. No way was he going to let you keep that up, not when he had announced you as a friend to himself and actually cared about how you felt.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Rohan groaned at what he was about to do although he knew it was going to be worth it if it meant you weren’t ruining your hang out times anymore. “Alright, we’re going to make you confess to Josuke.” He declared, catching you off guard, and you weren’t able to even question him as a single finger was suddenly pressed upon your lips, sealing your mouth shut with one simple movement.

“Listen and remember this well, [F/N], you are perfect the way you are and as much as I would hate to see Josuke gain anything he doesn’t deserve,” he paused to retract his hand from your face and instead ruffled your hair, treating you like a younger sibling for a second, “I know being with him would make you happy, so I’m going to help you confess your entirely questionable and possibly delusional love for that delinquent.”

You blinked up at Rohan a few times, mouth agape. There was no way that this was happening, just who was this guy and where was the real manga artist you knew?

“Rohan, I appreciate you wanting to help me, I really do, but there’s no need! It’s a lost cause, let’s just get back to what we were doing before - poses right?” Your attempt to change the subject was quickly brushed off like dust on Rohan’s shoulder when he pinched your nose, an audible ‘ow’ squeaking from you.

Your resistance to the situation was irking Rohan to no end, his drive only stepping on the gas each time you tried to refuse his assistance. There was no way he was going to let you suffer in silence. Besides, if he helped two young, dumb and lovesick teens get together then maybe he could have some insight on how to work around the more romantic scenes of his manga, if he was to ever implement them.

“I’m not taking no for an answer. This is going to happen and you’re going to thank me for it,” the green hair male stated, eyes heavily trained onto you. You gulped.

You really didn’t know where this was going to go.

——

A band of raging drums had surely replaced your heart.

The hammering sound of sticks against percussion instruments was practically akin to the violent, frantic rhythm that pounded against your chest with the diagnosis resulting to be nervousness.

You sucked in your breath and released the built up carbon dioxide by muttering words of encouragement that Rohan had taught you to rehearse to yourself in case of situations like this. Ironically, he was the one who had put you in this nervous wreck state. His vow to have you confess to Josuke had stuck through pretty solidly leaving you in a cute outfit you definitely could not have afford on your lonesome, [Thank you Rohan.] and standing in front of your crush’s door.

Gulping, you began to hype yourself up.

‘I can do this! I can totally do this. No problems here, none at all!’ The repeated phrases were practically a religious mantra at this point; if you were to even dare forget a single one you’re certain life would be a living Hell. Well your stresses shouldn’t matter anymore, you were here now. Just knock. Knock and say what’s on your mind!

The unremitting worries failed to cease however , eating at your brain like parasites that were only starting to leave once you gathered enough courage and balled your hand into a fist, rapped against the wooden door.

It took less than a minute for the door to be unlocked and opened, revealing the tall, well built figure of the one and only - Josuke. For some reason you felt as though none of this actually happening right there and then, like it was some dream or even a nightmare you were going to wake up from any second. You quickly rubbed your eyes to see if that was true. When you opened them, he was still there, his usual stylised school uniform replaced with a regular white t-shirt and dark blue jeans. It wasn’t an unwelcome look but certainly threw you off for a second seeing as it was rare to see him wear anything other than his uniform.

“[F/N], hey!” He greeted,his eyes seeming to light up at the sight of you while a hand gripped the door frame, “didn’t think it’d be you at the door. What’s up?”

The moment he smiled at you, you knew that you had to this. How he instantly had made you feel relaxed would have seemed impossible to you five minutes ago, now you felt as though things would go perfectly. If not for the persistent nagging voice in the back of your head.

“Hi Josuke! I was hoping that I could maybe uhm, talk to you! About something that is. Something really important.” Your wavering voice had caused some concern to flash in Josuke’s eyes; the way he looked down at you with such a caring expression made you want to hide your face into a pillow and squeal.

He responded easily with, “oh sure, is everything alright?” Really, you weren’t even sure if things were alright or if they were going to be at all.

You doubts rose up again and a jumbled ball of words was suddenly caught in your throat, countless words and ways to say your thoughts conjuring up but not a single thing is said. If only you had more confidence — Rohan had spent so long trying to get you to perfect your confession and despite all that effort, you were still struggling.

Glancing down, you noticed that your fingers were a plain sign of your awkwardness. They constantly switched from fiddling with the fabric of your outfit to thumbs twiddling with each other, neither things helping you in the end.

“[F/N]...? You don’t look like your usual self, where’s that cute smile of your’s, huh?”

Oh god, did he just call your smile ‘cute’? Did that just make talking even harder or ten times easier? This boy was going to be the death of you!

Teeth lightly nibbled on your low lip as you argued in your head what to do. You really don’t know if you could ever have the courage to even approach him like this, let alone think about asking him out. Besides, all of Rohan’s efforts would go to waste.

“Josuke!” The sudden change of your volume had clearly surprised the teenager, his brows raising. “I— I have something serious to tell you and I’m sorry for making it so weird so far, it’s just really hard to get through what I want to say.”

Facing him was just too much. You couldn’t handle the idea of looking up to see an uncomfortable, angered, disgusted or any expression that would send you hurdling down a pit of regret. Instead, you stared down at the ground although you paid no real attention to it, your hand clutching at the clothing over your heart, almost as though you were trying to steady the rapid beating drums within your ribcage.

Taking in a deep breath, you continue, “I’m not the best at being outgoing or confident, and as my friend I know you know that, and you’re the exact opposite! You’re bold and kind to everyone and everything about you is incredible. Saying this I think I fully realised why I lo—.”

Again, the words are caught in your throat and you’re visibly struggling, almost choking on what you want to say. None of it goes unnoticed by Josuke, who had been initially taken back by the praise and tone you were using. His smile quickly returned when things became obvious to him, much softer and sweeter than before, his plush lips turning upward all thanks to your adorable stuttering.

He reached out with a large and surprisingly softer than you would have guessed hand, his palm resting against your cheek as he guided you to look up at him with both your eyes staring into each other’s.

“Do you want to come inside?”

The question was short and simple though it still took some time to process. You made a small, questioning ‘eh’ sound to which Josuke laughed at.

“You don’t have to stress so much, whatever you’re going to say I’m sure I’m going to like hearing,” he told you, stepping to the side so that you now had room to enter his house, a hand gesturing for you to come inside. “Maybe things would be easier if we had something to drink? My mum’s not home so we can watch a movie too!”

You had no idea how things got to this but you didn’t want to ask. If what Josuke said was true and that he was really going to like whatever you said then, why rush? It was probably better to wait for when the atmosphere was much more relaxed anyways. Things just seemed more right that way. The relationship between you and Josuke were always so casual so it was best to confess just like that. He was a serious God send to be so nice and understanding.

You mouthed a ‘thank you’ before walking through the door with small pep in your step and butterflies swarming in a welcomed fashion in your stomach. Josuke followed you, closing the door behind him as the two of you started to strike up a conversation about your week and what movie the two of you wanted to watch, every worry and care flying free and becoming lost in the sky.

From across the street stood a smiling manga artist, ready to walk home with nothing but pride in his heart for his shy and growing friend. All he really had left to worry about was whether or not Josuke would treat you right.

#josuke higashikata #josuke x reader #jjba x reader #platonic #rohan x reader #but its platonic #request

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cosmic-navel-gazin · 4 years ago

Photo

This is something a bit different from me, but in light of the recent announcement from Ubisoft that there’s going to be a remake of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time coming out in January 2021, I thought I’d share some thoughts.

(This started out small but got outta hand so super long post incoming, no spoilers for the games)

So first off, a bit of my history with the original game.

I’m a big fan of the Prince of Persia (PoP) franchise, and I’ll fully admit that nostalgia plays a big part in it. You see, in many ways this 2003 classic was my real entryway drug into the world of videogames.

It wasn’t the first videogame I had ever played. My friends had consoles, there were some games on the school computers, but I didn’t own games as a kid. As far as my parents were concerned, these were all the spoils and soul damning devices of Lucifer himself. You know how it is, every generation goes through this thing of blaming all the world’s problems on a new artform: rock and roll, comic books and then videogames.

So yeah, a gaming console or buying games for the home computer was a BIG NO-NO!

But of course, the more an authority figure says you can’t have something, the more you want and crave it. It was only a matter of time until the opportunity presented itself to me.

And then the day finally came.

It was just me and a couple of friends, going to this new magazine store near the school. And there it was: the dvd case that came with a gaming mag for like 5 euros if I remember correctly, stupid cheap for such a great game.

There was doubt, there was fear, there was anxiety. I didn’t know much about the game, only the old 1989 DOS Prince of Persia:

This had the same name but looked different. I was seduced immediately.

The case stared longingly at me:

It’s not my fault, I was bewitched and I bought it.

My symbol of rebellion, my first big transgression, and my first real treasured posession that I bought with hard earned money.

PoP:The Sands of Time was my original sin so to say:

Accurate representation of what happened that day

I furiously installed the game as soon as my parents left the house. Played it for a couple of hours and stood in awe at the thing - the cinematics, the cool parkour moves, the arabian nights setting, the time manipulation to undo mistakes when platforming or in combat, the Prince breaking the fourth wall saying:”no no no, that’s not what happened, let me start over” whenever I died and got a game over…

You have not experienced true fear if at some point in your life you didn’t feel the cold sweat running down your back as you hear the very distinct sound of your parents’ car arriving when you’re doing something “prohibited”.

As soon as I heard that sound, I quickly quit the game, uninstaled it (I could not run the risk of them finding out I had tainted their machine with a videogame *gasp!*), and ran to my room to hide the game before opening the door for them.

Neetheless to say, I never made much progress since I had to start over every time after quitting and uninstalling the thing. I would just play those first couple of hours over and over, never knowing how the story progressed, but I was happy all the same. At one point I knew every line of dialogue, every music cue, every sound effect of that beginning part. It would be some years before I got my first laptop and finally managed to complete it.

All of this to say that the game means a lot to me. Not just as a product or piece of entertainment. This wasn’t casually playing on someone’s gameboy advance or PS2 to have a bit of fun and pass the time.

This was more intimate.

It was just me; the game; a dark room and a blanket; and a sincere and charming, simple but compelling story told seamlessly through mechanics that only enhanced it. This was me witnessing gameplay and storytelling going hand in hand in a way that even many of my other favourite games don’t do, or don’t do as well (there’s usually some disconnect where a game only manages to really excel at one but not the other).

Ok, so on the announcement and trailer:

youtube

As a big fan you might think I was super hyped for this.

But I gotta say…no, not really.

I’m not super angry, but I’m not really excited either honestly. And I don’t think it’s just the rough and uncanny character models and animation that people are pointing out all over (although that doesn’t help).

I guess to talk a bit on that, I should stress out that my problem isn’t that it doesn’t look realistic enough. To be honest, and this is going to sound rich from a big Witcher 3 fan, I think that the gaming industry overall, moreso big tripple A titles, seem to have this unhealthy obsession with photorealism. Like, I don’t need to see the characters’s pores to care about these polygon people. Strong art direction is what I feel is more valuable. I just don’t think this arms race to photorealism is sustainable. Games are taking longer to make and fund, and I’d rather have dev teams spend more time polishing and refining the games’ mechanics and/or story if the trade-off is less “realistic” graphics.

It might just be personal preference, but I wish we were getting more stylized character and world design. Go look at some screenshots for Pathologic 2, a game that came out last year that hits that sweet spot between full-blown cartoony/caricature and realistic by today’s standards:

And I think that is somewhat what they were going for with this remake’s character models (or I hope it was). But it’s still not quite there, hopefully they’ll work on improving those so they can hit that sweet spot also.

(in defense of my hipocrisy and love of The Witcher 3, I think the more realistic look was appropriate for the world they were portraying, it benefits from it. However I don’t think I would love it any less if it had less detailed models and environments)

One last thing on the graphics.

I will say this though, at least from the footage we see in the new trailer the team seems to be capitalizing on colour. Big vibrant reds, blues, whites and yellows in the environment look great, and really captures the 1.001 nights/arabian nights feel that I absolutely love. I appreciate that since there’s always this tendency for remakes to suck all the colour and life from the original (in both games and movies), regardless if it fits the setting and tone or not.

Anyway, I think the reason I’m very much without a big reaction is that I believe the 2003 original is a true classic, a masterpiece even - I guess I should stress out that when I say masterpiece, I don’t mean it’s perfect. Just that the whole is bigger and better than the sum of its parts, that the things it does right, it does so right, that it completely overshadows the flaws.

The story, the art direction, the gameplay (the holy trinity of platforming, combat and puzzle solving), the brilliant introduction of the dagger of time as a gameplay and story mechanic (one of my favourite mechanics in all of gaming), the music, the charming duo that is the Prince and Farah, the tight pacing with the game being just the right length and not overstaying its welcome, the outstanding level design where you’re never stuck doing one thing for too long (the game is always juggling between combat, story, platforming and puzzles, mixing and matching)…

Looking at all these things, I just really don’t think we need a remake because I don’t think there’s that many glaring terrible flaws that could justify it.

Adding more scenes and content could be good, or it might backfire: bloat and ruin the game’s already excelent pacing and fluidity (which I think is the main keyword that better describes the original, everything flows superbly). The original was only 6-8 hours long and it is better for it. I’m not confident that adding dozens of hours of gameplay like the big tittles today would help at all.

The only real improvements I can see are:

tweeking and perfecting the combat (I’ve seen it mentioned that they’re implementing a targeting system which sounds good);

perhaps also better Farah’s A.I during combat when you have to help protect her from swarms of enemies;

Maybe throw in a couple more enemy types? The cut sand tigers for example?

usual things like adding the option of subtitles, add the ability to skip cutescenes;

But other than that…

I don’t even think the graphics of the original look bad. They’ve aged of course, with the game being 17 years old, but still. I installed it last night and played through the first hour to take some screenshots and I think they’re still good:

I can understand the MediEvil remaster, the Spyro remaster or the more recent FFVII remake in terms of wanting to update the graphics. I can understand that not everyone can easily go back to these low poly lads:

But this game? I know I’m influenced by nostalgia and all, but I don’t think it needs that makeover that badly, especially when compared to these other remakes and remasters. Funnily enough, I just noticed that these examples I just listed were all PS1 games. PoP: SoT was a PS2 , PC and Xbox game. PS2 era games have aged far better visually and don’t need that big a makeover in my most humble opinion.

It would be one thing if the original was out of print like a Rule of Rose scenario ,where you can’t find the game unless you go to ebay or something and it’s stupid expensive. Or if it was a pain to get running on modern systems like it was with Grim Fandango, until it got a remaster.

But no, you can find the Sands of Time trilogy and the PoP (2008) reboot on GOG and Steam (on Steam only there’s also the PoP:The Forgotten Sands midquel). So there isn’t the usual problem of the game no longer being accessible to people who want to play it, which helps justify the need for a remake.

The original still plays nice, sounds nice and looks nice, so I guess this all goes to show that at the end of the day, this remake just feels a bit unnecessary to me, at least from what little the trailer showed (I would love to have my bitter cynical ass proved wrong though!).

Maybe I just have a superhuman tolerance for older games and how they look, I really don’t have that big a problem if the game itself is good or interesting, so I don’t always think older games need remakes.

Maybe my falling out of love with Ubisoft in this last decade has curbed forever any hype I might have for their announcements, even when they pull out my son, my baby boy Prince of Persia out again.

Maybe I’m just burnt out and too pessimistic about remakes, remasters and adaptations (although game remakes usually do better than film ones).

And this makes me a bit sad because I don’t want to sh*t all over the first piece of “new” Prince of Persia content we’ve had since 2010??? Oof, it’s been a while.

Especially knowing that Yuri Lowenthal is coming back and excited to voice the Prince again. And I also don’t want to be too harsh since we’re looking at an alpha of the game. But so far I’m just very numb to this, I do seriously hope it turns out good and that they don’t rush it out the door. But I’m not convinced we need a remake in the first place. The original is a milestone, a game changer. I’d rather see a game that had great ideas and poor execution being remade than something people already love and consider a masterpiece.

Guess we’ll see how I feel once more news and footage come out.

Oh and feel free to share your own thoughts on this remake. I’m curious to know what both fans and newcomers alike think.

small edit: I can’t believe I was just watching this Sands of Time playthrough on youtube and at one point it is said: “Another game that is designed similarly to this is Soul Reaver actually.”

Of course! I didn’t even see it! All of my favourite things are connected!!! Maybe that detail was another thing that helped me getting really into Soul Reaver as I was first playing it.

#prince of persia #prince of persia: the sands of time #prince of persia remake #ubisoft #videogames #my ramblings #I can't seem to write a short post to save my life!

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mcrmadness · 4 years ago

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Rambling about my (dä fan)art...

I was writing another post and this kinda got out of hand and turned into me talking about my art overall. I’m gonna put this under the cut because I don’t know if people are interested in my art nor especially in my thought about it and my “art history” basically, but if you are, then I hope you enjoy.

And yes, this is gonna be about my die ärzte fanart mainly!

So let’s start with the HELL coverart drawing because that’s what I was talking about originally:

I’m extremely happy with how the drawing turned out in the end and I like that feeling of success when I’m happy with something I have created. That is not always self-evident with myself. More than often I have plain hated my drawings or have felt like there should be something done differently, or something that I could always improve at and do better. So this feeling where I’m actually content and happy with what I have created is something new and different. I have a dopamine rush every time I look at that drawing. I like the drawing. I think it looks nice. And I’m extremely happy about this fact and I am not afraid of admitting it. Perfectionism is a curse and a gift. It can sometimes make your life a living hell when something that is perfectly good still feels like it’s not enough. When everyone else sees that what you have done is actually good or even great but your brain just keeps repeating how it’s shit and everyone else is just delusional and that they don’t see what you see. And this is like the polar opposite of that feeling. It wasn’t other people who were delusional, it was you and youself all along. You were the one seeing the image in your head and the drawing not matching that image. Other people saw only what you had created and couldn’t compare it to anything. And that doesn’t mean it was never good.

So whenever I do these comics and comic style drawings nowadays, I just feel so happy. I feel that I am no longer failing them, I feel like I can draw the image I see in my head. I finally feel like I can draw, I have some skills, I’m not a professional and maybe not as good as everyone else but I’m good at what I’m doing. This is my thing and I’m good at it and it’s enough. And I love it when I feel like I’m improving. For years I felt like I was stuck, like my skills would have been glitching somehow, I didn’t get better no matter how much I drew. But I guess I tried too much and was too harsh on myself because I believed that a drawing is good only when no reference photos have been used. And I sucked at drawing without them. I still do! I was staring at the Hell coverart the whole time I was drawing! I wouldn’t have been able to do this if I didn’t! And this feels particularly good also because this is the first time I have tried something different with these comics. I have never tried to draw a photo or existing picture with this style. I have only drawn my comics and those I have created all by myself. The clothes come from what I have seen in videos and photos but the plots are created by me alone, with a idea coming from somewhere actual usually, as inspirations do.

For comics I do look at reference photos of people sitting or standing, or I look at the mirror, or even take photos of my own hand to be able to draw something. And that’s lots of fun and also challenging because I’m mixing there my old habit of portrait drawing with my less serious comic book style but I really really do like the combination. It also makes me feel that I am memorizing what I draw and the next time when I need to draw that same posture, I no longer need the reference photos because they’re no in my brain. And in my muscle memory. My hand remembers how to do the lines now.

Here you can see one of the sketches I did in 2018 - I had this image in my head and I wanted to draw it and I just... drew it in my sketchbook. Didn’t use pencil. But now I’ve noticed I like doing these on proper paper instead of the sketchbook AND it’s so much more fun to first draw the sketch with the pencil and then draw on it with the fineliners. That I have always done with the comics (apart from one) because they take more time than these quick sketches. But here you can see Farin’s legs on the first image - I think I might have looked at reference photos for that but then it was so much easier to do the to the comic I made in 2019.

I have now also figured out that a big part of my style is not to draw just simple straight lines. I like making those sketch-like lines even with the marker. They look more rough but that’s something I like seeing with my art. That’s what I was missing when I was staring at the lines I had drawn before and hated every detail of them. They were too clean and neat.

^These two I have also drawn on my sketchbook in 2018 and I don’t really know why. I guess I was still a bit stupid and didn’t really realize I’m drawing again. But anyway, they both were inspired by my own fanfiction I have written a long time ago. It’s one of my favorite self-written fanfics and it had these two scenes I just saw in my head and felt like I could try drawing them. Maybe that’s why they are in my sketchbook, I wasn’t sure if they were going to turn out even good... The marker around the second one obviously was shit and the paper wasn’t good for it, and I never finished with it so it looks a bit weird. Do I need to say that I really enjoy drawing very small, repetative details, like those tiles? It’s so soothing, almost like a therapy.

I think that quitting antidepressants in 2013 has done so much good for my creativity. If you compare my work from 2011 to 2019, the difference is huge - all are just parts from my comics:

Can you guess see the difference? But have to admit I am jealous for myself for how I have drawn Farin’s hair to the 2011 one and maybe have forgotten to color Farin’s arm but... I actually had so long pause from drwing (~8 years) that I forgot how I did that and had to use THAT as a reference when I was trying to draw late 80s Farin’s at some point last or this year :D

Anyway, my style with the shadows is a little different when I use colored pencils than when I use markers. This is from my latest comic from this year, where I experimented with Promarkers the way I had never done before and I really like how it came to be:

I have owned this set of Promarkers (black + 5 greys) for years and have never really used them, apart from the black which I usually used for the thick lines anyway. And wanted to see if I could find some use for the greys too! (Yes that’s Bela back there - this comic was an alternative ending for Für Immer music video :D)

And I wanna end this post with a face progress comparison for all three. During this I also noticed that before I used to draw their side profiles and it was really difficult to find images where I’d have drawn from from the front. And nowadays I have mainly drawn them from the front and it’s hard to find side profiles! Interesting! Here’s one of Farin and Bela from a drawing I made this year:

Also the hand that was so much fun to draw but I also took photos of my own hand in that posture in order to even draw that - that was fun! :D

But here are the last three images - using the HELL one as the last for each, of course:

Bela has always been the easiest to draw. And the first one of these three is actually from my first ever Bela&Farin comic! I didn’t color their skin back then. With the next ones I already did color their skins too but I used darker colors to do the shadows. Nowadays I do the shadows with fineliners. Or it depends - that 2019 one doesn’t have that lol.

Damn it was so difficult to find something where I’d have draw Farin from the front :D And I see the HELL one literally is my second (or third) time drawing Farin with his grin. Or if you count all those numerous extra mouths I drew because I failed the first one, then I have drawn his grin at least 15 times by now. I probably can draw his teeth with no reference photos from now on.

I haven’t drawn Rod too many times. I can actually count about... 5 times? And then there’s only 2 times when I’ve drawn his side profile but he’s at the background. I don’t know if I’ve ever really succeeded at that, I usually try to draw his head a more round and his eyes smaller than for Bela and Farin and I was actually bit worried for the HELL one and was wondering if I’m going to ruin the whole thing. But in fact, that was actually easiest of them to draw. And STILL I’m surprised by how alike he looks in that last one. In fact, I think his dacial features are perfect for a carricature drawing so you don’t need to do more than a few lines for the mouth and it looks like his mouth. The middle one was for a drawing I made for a friend and with this I actually looked at photos so that I could draw some of his hairstyles from the 90s and I liked this one the best and it was also quite easy to draw too.

Do I even have to say that I’m not extremely motivated what comes to drawing? I feel like my creative has become what it has never been before. I still don’t really know what to draw but I just feel that whatever it is I’ll start next, it will be good. And if it doesn’t... who cares? I had so much fun with those extra mouths of Farin which was maybe visible from the video I filmed, and that is what makes drawing worth it. Before I took the drawing process so seriously and a mistake felt like the end of the world but now I laugh at them and make fun of them and don’t take them too seriously. And I always have ways to fix these, or I can redraw. Just like I did with Farin’s mouth (or a half of his face actually) for this newest drawing. The most important thing is that I’m having fun and enjoying what I do, that way usually the outcome will also be a success.

I have now at least 2 dä comics on my to-do list (I don’t remember if there’s a third one too) + one pencil drawing that is halfway there. It will take one more night/day for it to get it finished. I also have probably 5 ideas for self-comics etc. in my sketchbook and I try to find some time to work on those. Or actually I have a plenty of time. Adhd, time blindness and executive dysfunction just make it feel as if I didn’t :D Can’t wait to get working on my next drawing projects, tho!

(I wish I knew how to make art for a living even but that’s a topic that will need its own post which I’m probably do in a near future if I don’t forget :D)

#mcrmadness’ art talk #mcrmadness draws #the post has lots of text but also quite a many images #dä fanart #die ärzte #I have been drawing dä comics since 2010 - the old ones are very stupid but whatever :D #long post

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kuchenackerman · 5 years ago

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you're an eremika fan so i figured i'll ask haha. i wrote my first EM fanfic and i'm so apprehensive about actually uploading it. i don't think i'm too bad a writer, but self proofing can only go so far and i'm concerned as to whether it'll actually gain any traction or not. do you know if people still read eremika fanfics/how do you gather the confidence to post your work? :/ also ur rad!

First of all, congrats on writing your first eremika fic! I wonder if by this time you already published it though? You sadly sent me this ask when I was focused on writing and editing an update to my own EM fic, so I probably was reserving my last two adhd braincells to be able to finish it lmao, which is why I didn’t reply in time and then... I forgot to do it and for that I’m very sorry!

If you still don’t publish your fic or you’re still interested on my answer, I’ve seen other people go through a similar struggle, and as a fellow writer I can understand your concern regarding of whether your fic will gain traction or not. When it comes to this last thing, it often depends on many factors, like on how active the fandom is by the time you publish your fic, on what people are looking to read about lately (i.e. fluff, angst and/or smut) and on the ship developments (or lack of it) currently going on in the manga. For example, as far as I remember, after chapter 123 dropped people were writing and reading oneshot fics about the “what am I to you?” flashback, and basically the same happens whenever we get some tasty (?) and especially angsty EM-related scenes in the manga (including chapter 112, lol). Writers get inspired to “fix” or develop these panels further and readers crave that content as well, so they kinda jump on it right after it gets published. In these cases, authors often get a quick and decent amount of feedback in a short span of time, which is amazing. When you are one of these authors with the ability to swiftly pull out a wholesome oneshot related to a fresh eremika scene, I guess you don’t have to worry THAT much about whether it will get at least a bit of attention or not, because people are going to be thirsty for that content and will consume it as soon as it’s available. Most of these readers are going to show appreciation for it in terms of likes, reblogs, kudos, comments, etcetera, without you having to wait too long.

When we publish fics that aren’t related to the manga current developments and stuff, the first thing to do is to be able to get the reader’s attention with a catchy summary and the proposal of an interesting plot / situation between Eren and Mikasa. To increase the chances of people reading your stuff, it’s also important to make a post with the fic’s link and info here on Tumblr and on other social media platforms like Twitter, always using the eremika tag.

And yeah, I assure you there’s a lot of people who still read EM fics. There’s even been an interesting influx of new eremika shippers thanks to what’s been going on during the timeskip and in latest chapters. However, between 2013 and early 2015 the SnK fandom overall was way more active and also fic writers got way more feedback. We have to consider that there was a more limited supply of EM fics back then of course, especially in 2013-2014, so I guess the feedback was also way more concentrated while the demand was kinda bigger than nowadays. If you’ve checked old fics mostly on FFnet that were published years ago, you probably already saw and know what I mean. I mention this because it’s important to not compare the amount of feedback that most EM fics receive today with what those older fics got. The reality of the fandom is too different now after the initial hype...

Regarding your question about gathering confidence, well, in my case I don’t have confidence issues in general and less when it comes to fandom. What I do is to just do something I feel like doing, enjoy the process of doing it and then put it out there without further questions. I don’t think I’m the best writer or anything, but I do believe in the value of what I write and of the other things I make. There are a few times when I look at what I’ve written and I’m like “pfft this sucks” and get very critical about it, while at other times I’m like “ohh, that’s some good shit! I really wrote that myself, huh? *pats own back*”, though most of the time I’m mainly conscious about the effort, love and creativity I pour into what I write among the enjoyment (and suffering lmao) I experience when I’m on it, which makes me appreciate it more. In your case, you already wrote something and you know it involved a degree of effort and time, so why not going ahead and sharing it? Even more so when showing it to others was your intent since the very beginning~

I think it’s totally worth it to share what you’ve written rather than never allowing it to see the light of day because of self-doubts. As with many other situations, you take a risk when you put something out there for others to see and dissect, but you also get the chance to receive nice responses that can make your day and, since readers provide you with feedback that help you to be more aware of your strengths and weaknesses, you also get the chance to improve your writing skills.

We love the same amazing pairing and it deserves way more content and love, so please, give it a try and share your fanfic with the fandom!

#JUST DO IT ANON!!#idk if this is coherent at all but I tried ok #eremika #replies #Anonymous #my engrish sucks today so I feel like I wasn't able to properly express myself #anywaaay

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wolfythewitch · 5 years ago

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Hi! I've been kinda stuck in art (quarantine isn't amazing for mental state but at least I'm not sick) and I absolutely love everything you create,and it inspires me. If you dont mind me asking, how long have you been drawing? And do you have any tips to share?

Hello! I’m sorry to hear that, yeah quarantine isn’t the best time. I’m glad my art can bring some reprieve tho 💕 and if you ever need to talk, my ask box and dms are always open^^

I’ve been drawing my whole life tbh, I can’t say I haven’t, doodles and coloring books, but I guess I never took it seriously till 3 years ago. I believe it was January 11, 2017? I drew James Potter, from the Harry Potter books and realized I wanted to do it more, yknow? That I wanted to improve and do something with my art.

Tipssssss

Humm I think I have some

1. When you’ve been drawing a while, and the drawing looks bad to you, or you feel like something isn’t working, or if you’re getting frustrated, take a break. Could be 10 minutes, could be an hour, or even a day. Stop working on it for a while and do something relaxing, then go back to it with a calmer mind. I used to draw things in one sitting, and so there’s a lot of my old art I’m unsatisfied with because I come back to it after a few hours and I see all my mistakes and how I could’ve avoided them.

2. Speaking of mistakes, they suck yeah, but don’t let that ruin your day. You’re going to have to make mistakes to learn, and sometimes it’s pretty fun to try to fix them. Drop an ink blot there? Draw a bouquet around it. Accidental line on the face? Well this character’s got a wicked scar now. It’s much easier to remove mistakes in digital art, but I do encourage you to try to have fun with it!

3. Use! References! I’ll admit, I’m also guilty of not using them sometimes, it takes a while for my laptop to download things so I don’t really feel like doing it. But when comparing drawings where I used references to drawings where I didn’t, there’s a considerable improvement. Plus, references help build up your visual library!

4. Visual library is v important. Whenever I see art, I always(at this point it’s become subconscious) study the lighting, or the line work, and what makes the piece,,,work, yknow? When I see stuff in real life, I try to remember how light and shadows affect it, how clothing wrinkles in certain places, what colors go together and what emotion they evoke. It’s helpful in building a good foundation for your art, and also makes a fun activity XD

5. I’m aware that some of my followers might have aphantasia, where one cannot visualize imagery. I don’t know enough to speak about this, but this is where references definitely comes into play. As well as art studies. My friend has this, and according to him, “I can’t imagine what a tree looks like, but I do know what a tree looks like, so I can still draw it.” If any of my followers have aphantasia, you are definitely welcome to talk about this and/or correct me if I’m wrong hsdhdh

6. There’s always gonna be bad art. Tho I’m a firm believer of “no art is bad”, I do know how one can be their own worst critic. Trust me, there is always bad art. When our favorite artists post beautiful art after beautiful art, it’s hard not to think about how effortless it seems, and how they seem to never make anything bad, but I promise you they do. I know I do, I just never post it XD so keep drawing, even if it’s one bad art after the other, because somewhere along the line, you’re going to see that you’ve improved, and when you look back on the previous years, you’re going look at the journey that took you here and it’s gonna be worth it.

Some more smaller tips:

-when drawing always check your angle, because sometimes you might be drawing on a raised surface and the angle will be all weird when you check it at eye level

-Save. The. Canvas. I’m a hypocrite and my friends will tell you because I can go 7 hours without saving but trust me, do it. I have lost so many files because of this.

-art studies are always fun! Try practicing drawing different hand movements, or eye shapes, dynamic poses

-don’t be afraid to ask for constructive criticism! (unsolicited critic is a whole other topic) when people give critique they often mean well, but if someone insults your art, and it’s not constructive, ignore it, it won’t help you.

-an art style isn’t in any way wholly original. So if you want to find your art style, I suggest combining different styles and try to find one that fits your tastes! Delicate lineart, bold lineart, saturated colors, pastel colors, cell shading, flat colors, painting, inked, it’s all up to you!

-try out different mediums! You can have your main one, but it’s pretty fun to play around with others

-have fun! Art is meant to be enjoyed, and so you shouldn’t force yourself to draw when it makes you unhappy

If you’ve got your own tips and tricks, feel free to add them to this post! And also, here’s a drawing I did a couple of years ago XD

#anon #anon asks #tips #art #digital art #traditional art #art tips #asks #sorry for the long post dvdjd

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emomint · 5 years ago

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a/n: i want apologize to the person who requested i am sorry for the wait for such a suck-ish reaction; this is definitely not my best work, but i believe it is beginning to improve; also i forgot yixing, whenever i am able i’ll try to add him if that is what you all would like - emomint 🥀

warning: this is a mafia au, there will be violence including murder, vulgar language, and or abuse. if any of these things make you uncomfortable, do not read. ⚠️

kim junmyeon.

it was never intentional to talk to him, it would just happen. you were with [ex name] when he introduced you to junmyeon. supposedly they had just became allies within the business, but do to meeting you.

junmyeon no longer cared for business with him, but pursuing you. even after stealing you away, he kept [ex name] around, as if he was flaunting you around. but the moment [ex name] even tried to have a simple conversation, he would be made an example out of.

“i believe i’ve said once before, no one that works here and anyone who wants to continue living, would stay away from y/n” junmyeon said to everyone in the break room, while looking at [ex name]

kim minseok.

he had went away to prison; he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. of course, you were pissed, you were the only person to attempt to make him stay home.

he even had the nerve to tell you not to come visit him, after the judge realized who he was and wouldn’t allow bail. just that fast, he would be doing 6 months in jail.

out of rage, you called up an old friend, not even thinking twice about minseok’s workers. whom had immediately went reporting the news to hiss boss.

you had woke up to an empty bed, while the bathtub water was running. the door then opened, there stood minseok covered in blood.

“jagiya, why don’t you join me in a bubble bath” he said giving you a sinister smile afterwards.

you took the opportunity to run as fast as possible out of the bedroom, but ahead of laid out was your secret lover. fresh blood pouring down the staircase

“that wasn’t very nice of you to run away from me”

“oh i see you’ve noticed our guest, he had worn out his welcome. now, again, come join me in a bath.”

byun baekhyun.

you were mesmerizing to baekhyun and when he fell, he fell hard, as did you. but what about [ex name], you did leave him for baekhyun. but he didn’t lose hope, he would try everything get you back. flowers, chocolate, cards, etc.

but when he realized how deeply in love you were with baehyun, he became violent. he would flatten your tires, throw bricks into your windshield, and going as far as trying to break into your house. recently he had gotten in contact with you, blackmailing your fiancé and baby’s father. you, you had become with child 6 months previous, as baekhyun proposed right afterwards.

the same questions sat in the back of your mind, how far would [ex name] go to get you back? would he really try to strip your family away to get you back

sitting in bed thinking of different foods you’d like to eat momentarily seemed like the only thing you did nowadays. every now and then, going work on the nursery. when suddenly a loud sound erupted through the hallway.

girl don’t go

you got up to see where the noise was coming from.

goddamn it please just turn around

twisting the knob, before you could pull, the door was forcefully pushed open, there stood on the other side [ex name] with a devious grin.

before you scream, he had you against the wall, hand covering your mouth. while the other wondered around your body occasionally groping your breast.

“you think your too good for me” he said, breathe smelling like liquor

“please.....”you said barely audibly

“why did you leave me? why did you leave me for him!!?” He yelled, slapping you in the process, making you fall.

you were furious, but still the tears began to pour.

“because, i love him!!!” you screamed attempting to knee him in the chest, catching his growing.

he then wrapped his hand around your neck.

“if i can’t have you, non-”

his eyes widen as he froze in shock, he collapsed onto you. behind him stood baekhyun, pistol in hand, and with a glare you’d never thought you would ever see. making eye contact with you, his eyes softened, rushing over to you, pulling after you as far away from the man and into his arms.

“i’m so sorry y/n. I left you and our baby unprotected. i am so-”he said laying his head in crook of your neck, as his tears poured out.

“i’m ok, let’s just stay like this for a little bit longer.”

kim jongdae.

you had been married to kim jongdae the last 17 years. had 3 beautiful children and was a full time housewife. sure, to anyone on the outside, you were living your best life. but, you didn’t. you felt like you were living with a complete stranger, constantly craving affection and attention, you couldn’t get even from your spouse.

jongdae was still apart of the mafia, still coming home late as ever and still expected you to take care of him, his kids, and his home.

going grocery shopping one day, you ran into an old friend from college. the two of you caught up, while sharing a bottle of wine. which led to a mistake.

but once you had gotten a feel of what you’d been craving, it became an addiction. you knew it was wrong, but you couldn’t stop yourself.

that is until one day. jongdae had gotten home much earlier than expected. walking in on the two of you in an act, he didn’t yell, or fight, he just began packing.

your head was finally out of the clouds and you were about to hit rock bottom. you began admitting to your fault, pleading him to stay and forgive you.

“you want him or me” he said, pulling the pistol from his holester

“you. it’s always been you” you said immediately

before you could blink, the gun went off, shooting the person beside you”

“go clean yourself up princess”

park chanyeol.

he was your ex. the two of you married when you were only 18, while he was 25. during those 6 years together, the two of you shared 2 sons, but you left due to his uncontrollable possessiveness. 1 year later and you lived happily hours away from chanyeol and now closer to your boyfriend. he was kind, patient, and was really good with your boys. he was-

“y/n, open the door” the voice from the other side barked, beating as if they were the police.

opening up. there stood chanyeol with your sons. not waiting for your approval, he’d let himself in.

“where’s your boyfriend” he asked, looking around in disgust.

he always had something against bf/n.

“why? chanyeol don’t you have places to be? possibly even people to do, you whore” you said, not forgetting to through into his face that you knew he has been a hoe, since your divorce.

“actually, i do. boys, why don’t you go try out the new games” he said to the children, still holding eye contact with you.

once alone, he began inching closer. before you could properly comprehend what you were getting yourself into, the two of you were completely naked in your bedroom panting after what felt like hours.

“i love you. still, i still am in love with you. i want you and the boys back at home with me, not some shitty apartment. but i am willing to wait for you, my love” he said, gently kissing your lips, then leaving.

that’s how it started. the two of you couldn’t keep your hands to yourself whenever around each other.

“are you sleeping with him? it’s a simple yes or no question” your boyfriend yelled, blocking the walk way

“no” you said, as he finally let you walk pass

“fuck, it’s not your doing it” you muttered a little to loudly, which caused his hand to connect with your face.

“bitch, so you just go around sleeping with whoever?” he asked, roughly grabbing your hair

“well, do you?” he asked, yanking it you closer.

“no” you cried out.

the next few days, he began beating on you. you were thankful your boys weren’t around to witness such things happen. you couldn’t call for help because he had broken your phone and threatened to hurt you again, if you told anyone what happened. finally the day had come, bf/n would be leaving for work.

your thoughts were interrupted by two loud knocks.

oh no, chanyeol

you cracked the door enough to let the boys slip in, but quickly tried shutting the door before chanyeol could come in. but due to his strength compared to yours, he easily pushed open the door. causing you to turn the opposite direction.

“boys go play in your room” he said

“hey, you alright” chanyeol spoke again, once alone.

“yeah” you said picking up the imaginary lint from the counter to avoid turning

“y/n baby, please look at me” he said desperately as he walked closer

slowly, you turned, he gasped seeing your face

“did he really-” chanyeol was now as red as a tomato

“it was an accident” you said covering for bf/n

“accident my ass’

“boys, pack your things” he yelled, earning two high pitched scream ‘ok dad’

“what are you doing” you said, heart pounding

“babygirl, just go pack all of your things” he said pulling the gun from his holster, checking for bullets

“chanyeol, what are you doing”

“look, just make sure you and my boys are ready to come back home” he said, pecking your lips before rushing out.

you spent the next five hours pacing back and forth after packing. eventually, around 4:30 am, chanyeol walked in, covered in blood. huffing in relief, you ran into his arms, not caring about the blood. “i thought i...we lost you” you said wrapping your legs around his torso

“never, you will always be stuck with me” he said playfully

“is everyone ready?” he asked

“yeah, let’s go home”

do kyungsoo.

kyungsoo was your knight, he had saved you from your own castle. you had previously been with [ex name] during a dark time in your life, looking back, you realized how much he was tearing you down, worsening your mental health. sure, kyungsoo was apart of the mafia but he was also caring, funny, and an amazing cook.

one thing you learned on your journey bettering yourself and health was to just forgive and forget.

which is why you were agreeing to meet with him, when you were told about his terminal illness.

“where the hell is y/n” kyungsoo said thinking out loud in the hall

“sir, she went out with her friends again” the maid said, carrying your 1 year old son down the stairs

“again? she never told me anything about going with friends” he said to himself lowly

feeling suspicious of his lover, he did what any normal s/o would do. he tracked your phone. which lead him to a cheap apartment complex.

he followed you for days, watching your every move, until the time was right to fall through with his plan.

finally, he went through, picking the lock, there stood y/n, feeding [ex name] soup, whom much different from the last time the two had seen each other.

before anyone could say anything, kyungsoo had a gun to the man’s head.

“kyungsoo, baby, please don’t do this, he’s sick, he only needed some help around here.” you said gently

“help? send his ass to a nursing home-”he screamed, but immediately shut up, seeing your face.

“aishh, you too kind for your own good, try anything and i just might find a way to ‘cure’ you” he said holding his gun, now sitting down in the recliner.

“is that the soup i made” he yelled again

“you can leave” you finally yelled back

“i was just asking” he said sinking into the chair.

kim jongin.

“are you done yet.”

“i don’t even know why your jealous, we’ve never been official and again he is an ex.” you yelled at the jongin from the closet

“i didn’t have too, when i fucked you in my car, you became mines”

“and to say your with a mafia boss, you act like any clown can just come sweep you away from me” he continued, flopping onto your bed

“whatever you say” you said coming out of the walk in closet with a backpack

“i am not property, you don’t own me jongin, if you can’t respect that then i’ll be with somebody who will. bye.” you said walking out, before he could protest.

time skip

*boom* *boom* *boom*

“who is-jongin. what are you going here.” you scolded the man, who wasn’t looking at you, but around you at the man coming down the stairs

“babygirl whose at the door.” [ex name], your former lover, said wrapping an arm around you.

*bang* *bang* *bang*

the sound of his body hitting the ground caused the tears to start prickle out of your eyes.

“did you think, he could save you from me? i thought you were smarter than that. go get her shit.” he said putting the gun back in his waistband.

his henchmen then emerged from what seemed like thin air. going upstairs to grab your items.

“after you” he said letting you walk out of the house to his car

holding the door open for you, you slowly got into the vehicle. anticipating what was to come. once jongin was in the car with, he gave you the most evilest look. before you could speak, the back of his hand came in contact with your face.

“i thought he was just an ex, huh?” he barked at you

“you probably fucked him too, you slu-

“i didn’t. can you just take me home.” you said looking out of the window letting the tears pour out silently.

time skip

“are you really still ignoring me? it’s been 3 weeks since you’ve said anything to me.”

“i get it, he was your ex, but he was also your friend. i wasn’t thinking rationally at the moment, being blinded my jealousy. but i’m sorry for i have done, i can’t take it back, but..i’m sorry.” jongin said getting up to leave the room.

“your also possessive, grumpy, clumsy, lazy, manipulative, psychotic, narcissistic, and a overall monster. but...i love you.” you said, making him turn around with the biggest smile.

oh sehun.

[smut]

“fuck” the man said as he began pushing himself deeper into your womanhood

he began thrusting deep, but slowly, making sure you felt every inch. he missed you so much. he hated the fact that he had to share you with another man. why couldn’t you have stayed with him?

“just like that, don’t stop” you moaned, moving your hips upwards, slamming against his prostate

feeling your walls clinching around him, he sped up. both of your moans, following after, but he’d keep thrusting, making your milky cum gush from your inside. finishing up, he immediately got down, to your private, sucking and licking away the substance.

“oh my-

the door knob was then shot, making the door push open. outside stood your husband, one of the most powerful mafia bosses in s.korea, oh sehun.

“baby, i-

“shut up” he said

you immediately got up from the bed, grabbing your clothes.

“you lie to me, tell me your going to see your hoe ass friend. i allow you. only to find out you went to get your pussy wet.” he said looking at you with so much hate, you would feel the heated tears at the rim of your eyes.

sehun then turned to leave the hotel room.

“wait. sehun don’t go.” you yelled, hurriedly. as he halted at the door waiting to hear what you had to say.

“let him go, we can finally be together.” the man said rubbing his fingertips against your waist.

“choose, it’s me or him.” sehun said turning back to you, a hint of excitement in his eyes.

“i..i choose sehun” you said looking up at him nervously.

“y/n your not thinking this through. you said you loved me...we have history-

“exactly, we have history. nothing else. i love you [ex name], but not like sehun. i regret reconnecting with you, these few weeks have been a mistake. i’m sorry.” you said looking at your ex lover, who was now on his knees, hoping you change your mind and pick him

you brushed him off, slowly walking toward sehun afraid of what was to come.

“go wait for me in the car” he said, not sparing you.

you began walking out of the room, down the hall, before you could make it down the stairs. the sound of a gun going off rang through the hall. you continued walking, feeling the same heated sensation in the rim of your eyes.

“i’m sorry.” you said feeling a single tear shed, before getting into the passenger seat

minutes later, sehun got into the car, slamming the door. you kept your head down to avoid his criticism, but it never came. in fact, he drove silently, going the correct the speed limited, which made being in the car scarier because sehun had been known for speeding.

when pulling up, he silently got out, opening the door for you, walking away right after. he went straight to his office. after hours of being home, sehun still had himself locked away.

what would you expect

finally gaining the courage, you knocked on the door of his office, after standing outside for about 7 minutes.

hearing a faint ‘come in’, you entered

“i..i was...gonna go cook. are you hungry?”you asked trying to start a conversation

he looked up at you as if you had two heads, a dry laugh following.

“come here”

you slowly stalked towards his desk, coming around, so that you now stood in front of him. within what felt like seconds, he had you against the wall, right hand lightly wrapped around your throat.

“if you were even so much as breath the same oxygen as another man, i’ll kill him and make you watch, is that what you want princess?” he asked lowly into your ear, seeing rapidly shake your head no, he gave you a deranged smile.

“good. bibimbap will do for tonight.” he said letting you go, sitting back in his seat.

“sure thing” you said hurriedly scurrying out of the office.

credit to the owners of the gifs

#exo mafia au #exo scenarios #exo reactions #exo request #yandere exo #kim junmyeon #kim minseok #zhang yixing #byun baekhyun #kim jongdae #park chanyeol #do kyungsoo #kim jongin #oh sehun

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caitlinclark · 5 years ago

Photo

Maitane López: «We are more tactical and therefore we play a very different football»

Our first 'C' in this tremendous trident is Maitane López Millán or also known as “the smile of the Liga Iberdrola” or “Mai”.

She says that it is something natural but unconsciously gives off that 'good vibes' energy that makes the interviewer (in my case) feel like being with a friend drinking something.

And before you start it is important that you understand that ...

For this and subsequent occasions, I have decided that my interviews can be taken as a souvenir home. For Maitane I drew half a soccer field on an A4 sheet and put 11 representative photographs of the player in question, symbolizing the number of components of a team. Her name also appeared in large print, a drawing of a book (later you will understand why), an orange and a star. Once the rules of the game have been explained, I give it to her and when she sees it, she smiles and immediately says, "Very original, really." And with an Aquarius in each hand, Mai begins uncovering the first photograph and ...

Photograph 1 (Maitane as a child) M: Oh! (She laughs). My beginnings, right? I started with 4 or 5 years, all my paternal family was related to football my father, José Ignacio López Rekarte, my uncles, Luis María and Aitor López Rekarte and my grandfather, Luis López. Until one day I came home and told my mother to sign me up. And of course, my mother didn't know anything about women's football in Mallorca because we had just moved from Murcia, and she decided on the Son Cotoner club, which was later renamed Sporting Ciutat de Palma. (Laughs) This anecdote is very funny because with 4-5 years I went to train, and my poor mother told me "don't be sad if they don't pick you", and on the first day, I went up two categories!

ESF: Did you play with boys? M: Yes, until there was a moment that another girl came who became my best friend. At age 12 I was beginning to notice inequalities between men and women because we are biologically different. But I never had problems with any teammates, they were more screams from the stands than anything else. In fact, I keep in touch with some of them.

Photograph 2 (Maitane with her uncle, Luis María López Rekarte) M: My uncle ... has always been my role model (snorts). I still remember this picture, I can see the smile on my face ... It was radiant. Imagine, thanks to him I could have access to my idols, that is, I was next to Kovacevic, Nihat, Xabi Alonso etc.

Really, I had devotion to him, when he came to play against Mallorca, I brought all my friends and they freaked out, for me he was my idol and he was the one who pushed me to continue.

ESF: Is your uncle going to see you at the matches? M: Yes, and my whole family when we play in Zubieta.

Photograph 3 (In his second football team: UD Collerense) M: Colle ... I was in Sporting Ciutat de Palma until the second division and then I went to Collerense for three years and I was a little scared of the reception because they are rivals to death, but nothing, everything was great (smiles). This club has been my trampoline, a super humble team with very few resources that gave me the opportunity to play in the first division and over at home. I think it is worth considering that the club has been 5 years in the first division (seasons 2011-2016). I take great friendships, in fact the day after tomorrow I will stay with them. But for me Sporting is special because I entered with 4 and left at 15-16 years of age there.

Photograph 4 (Studies) M: I am currently finishing the Primary Education career with a mention in Therapeutic Pedagogy, now I am doing an internship at a Special Education center in Cheste. I've searched for it near Bunyol to get everything on time. The truth is that I've been trying to get my degree for 7 years (she laughs). No, I have not suspended any exams, the thing is that because of football I could not do the practices. And now yes, I have TFG, practices and memory, and that's it.

ESF: And that's it? M: Yes!!! (Smile from ear to ear). I've been doing this for 7 years, but it seems normal, but it's good to combine studies and be a professional football player. Although I have always been clear that I wanted to do both for what could happen, I also believe that when I leave this sport, I would like to dedicate myself to what I have studied, since it has nothing to do with football.

Photograph 5 (First day in the east) M: Incredible... Levante UD has given me everything, Colle was the springboard, but in this club I have evolved both personally and professionally. In addition, I had never lived alone outside home but this team welcomes you and takes care of you so much that I adapted very quickly. And it’s that (laughs) I'm still hallucinating that they iron our clothes and leave us folded in the locker room, really, I’m grateful for everything and I feel immensely happy in Levante UD.

Photograph 6 (Selection) M: I did freak out there, in fact I was with my partner on a off weekend in Salamanca and I was in a bad mood, Jorge called me and asked me how I was and I told him that great, and he told me that I was going with the National Team to Prague. It was a dream for me, to train with them, some of them were already friends ... Now they are in the United States and I wish them the best of luck.

Photograph 7 (Maitane smile) ESF: A lot of people say you're always smiling ... M: (laughs) Yeah, it's true ... (laughs again) Obviously I don't realize it and although it sounds like a cliche I think you have a better life smiling than crying. Also in the team along with Rocío we are the ones who pull pranks... and Lucia and ... Eva (laughs). And nothing, you just have to enjoy everything you do.

Photograph 8 (Eva Navarro, Ona Batlle and Maitane) M: My gorritis !!! They are Eva Navarro and Ona Batlle, they are not my friends, they are like my daughters (laughs). Although Ona is not so much now because she has already grown but Eva is... And I love having them on my team and having met them, it is one of the most beautiful things that football gives you and I am very grateful for it. I love them a lot.

Photograph 9 (Maitane playing the guitar) M: It's one of the things that disinhibits me from football ... I am very much the kind of person who goes with a book to read sitting alone in the street (stares at me and smiles) don’t think it’s weird if you see me one day out there or on the beach giving a walk… In addition, whenever I am a little sad, I feel immense desire to play the guitar and I think… (raises her index finger) “What's wrong with you? You have been playing for half an hour, two hours… ” (Laughs) It is true that my 'gorritis' suffer a lot, although many times it is them who ask me for songs, and we start singing and dancing all three. We have a lot of videos being dumb together (laughs).

ESF: Favorite singer? M: Ainoa Buitrago! (she doesn't doubt a minute)

Photograph 10 (Stadium) M: From the final of the U19 European we lost, I think that defeat has helped me a lot to mature as a footballer. A few years later, you value being a starter in a final. In addition, we faced the Netherlands with some very good players, moreover, the one that scored a goal was the now Arsenal striker and an undisputed starter of the Dutch national team, Vivienne Mediema. And I think about it and I still hallucinate having played that final.

Photograph 11 (The British Ladies Football Club team) ESF: Do they sound like you? M: (Stares) Mmmm… no.

ESF: Do not worry, it is a very old photograph and almost nothing differs. They are the British Ladies Football Club, the components of the first women's soccer team on March 23, 1895 in England. What do you think? M: In the end I think they were the first to open the doors. It is true that now we are being given more visibility and I think we are collecting the reward of all the work not only ours, but since that March 23, 1895. And in the end, we are so grateful to them that they were the first as to all those who have fought for equality both inside and outside the football field. For example, to me past generations like Sandra Vilanova, Melisa Nicolau etc. All of them have opened the door for us here in Spain in many things.

ESF: What do you think of the collective agreement? M: Every step is important. Everything is improving, now there is a sub-20, sub-15 and before it did not exist, I think it is progressing a lot and faster and faster, although there is still much to improve.

ESF: And about future generations? M: I think we have to keep working so that in the future, girls can get to live football as boys do.

ESF: What do you think of the phrase 'girls don't entertain? M: Well (snorts) it's football and it's another kind of show, you don't have to compare men’s football with women’s football because I've said it before, we're biologically different and therefore, we play differently. We don't have as much speed, aggressiveness as they do… We are more tactical and that is why we play a very different football. That’s it.

Female football star M: The best player in the Liga Iberdrola is ...? (sound of drums) Jennifer Hermoso. And the one that is very good but is not given media hype… Mariona. (She laughs)

Favorite book M: I love reading and this question is always a problem for me but ... ' Contra el viento del norte’ by Daniel Glattauer oe ‘La mecánica del corazón' by Mathias Malzieu.

Food ESF: Star dish, favorite ... M: Well, let's see ... (laughs) If you like to eat well, you have to know how to cook. And I know! I love to eat, really, but for football I have to reduce certain foods. For example, my star dish, which is to suck your fingers is: crusty bread, with a layer of provolone cheese and another of hot foie. (close your eyes) Mmmmmm. Really, great. But this I can only allow once every two months (she smiles) that then you have to go out play.

ESF: Thank you very much Maitane, really, ESF thanks you for your time and your sympathy. M: Thanks to you and ESF that I get along great with many of that media. Goodbye, see you soon (smiles and leaves).

And I hit the pause button. I hope you never forget this interview, take a little piece of ESF home and we smile and closeness. Maitane from ESF we wish you all the luck wherever you go and we will always be grateful for these times you give us. Really, do not lose that illusion and desire to live the life that has led you to achieve so much. And we also want to thank Levante UD Feminine for their willingness.

Interview conducted and written by Cristina Brull. Original photographs by Juanfra Galindo for «They Are Soccer»

#she's so humble i love her 💕💕#also i love that she said mariona is one of the best players in the league but doesn't get the spotlight :')#also when she said that eva and ona are like her kids :')#maitane lopez #football

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dandelliongirl · 4 years ago

Text

What a year

2020 was..

The last time I wrote anything it was April, and now it is the 23rd of December and I’m about to go spend Christmas with my family. My last failed attempt at christmas bread is in the oven (for some reason it didn’t proof at all, I guess I put too much flour in..) and I’m cooking up some Christmas porridge on the stove. Watch me burn that in a moment too.. For some reason this whole autumn has been a very stressful disaster. I am still working from home and just logged myself off of work until the 7th of January 2021. Maybe because I’ve been working from home it feels difficult to get into holiday mode. At least we got some snow today so it looks beautiful.

Spring and summer 2020 were an absolute dream! With no responsibilities and the possibility to work from anywhere I got to spend so much time with my family and at our summer house away from the stress of the real world. I could not have dreamt of a better summer, and apart from strawberry picking (at an actual farm, not just from my own strawberry plants) I got to finish off my summer’s to-do list. I even made a cute little summer video with my old Canon EOS 100D (yes - I have a new Canon EOS 90D now!). Endless days of exploration, swimming, biking, sauna, gardening, having lunch with the midsummer roses, baking rhubarb galettes with my own rhubarb from the garden, biking to the ice cream van, SUP-boarding with dad and spending so much time outdoors made me happier than I could ever be. I cannot believe how many beautiful things COVID has given me despite it’s awful impact on the world.

The start of the autumn semester was chaotic to say the least. Practically all of our system integrations are behind one developer, and he happened to be on vacation when everything went down, and study rights did not transfer correctly. This lead to an insane rush of support requests across the board, and lots of extra stress. I was exhausted and scared after last autumn’s disasters and definitely didn’t need another one to start the new semester. I’m starting to seriously fear August... Other universities have tens of people in their technical support, and we have TWO (sometimes 3). In more positive news I was given a permanent job contract starting August, which was amazing, and makes me so grateful especially during a year when many lose their jobs and get laid off. I guess that also contributes to my levels of stress as I cannot hide behind “I just work here for another few months”, but I have to actually take responsibility and ownership as a permanent team member.

Basically a lot of things escalated at work this autumn because our entire staff is way over burdened with COVID changes and the systems not working in an ideal fashion. Because our organisation does not have clear and defined process ownerships many changes come alongside the implementation of new systems, which puts me as a system admin (and not a process expert) in an awkward position. Hopefully our organisation will be able to develop and reconfigure responsibilities with some outside help, but for some reason my hopes aren’t very high.. All in all the anger and frustration of the organisation has been reflecting on the way people treat us and each other and as an empath it has been very exhausting. Luckily my new team is amazing and I’m having so much fun working with them - even though we aren’t physically working together at the office. I cannot imagine how it would be if my previous colleague hadn’t left. I hope she is happy and thriving as well!

All in all what got me through the autumn was the fact that I got to work from home. Being able to take a 10-15 minute nap when things got overwhelming pretty much saved me. Also the fact that I can wear whatever, make tea or snacks whenever I need to and don’t have to spend time moving from one location to the other. My guy got his own computer desk and a proper chair, and we’ve both been working from our very crammed but cozy livingroom. Even though our hobbies have been on and off I’ve gotten a few moments to myself and have also gotten used to doing my thing even though he is always here. No big relationship drama apart from the occasional little argument.

Ballet and body combat got to continue in person for most of the season. The last couple of weeks of ballet classes were on Teams, and the last body combat class was on Facebook with the season ending a couple of weeks early, but other than that having hobbies outside the house definitely helped. I have also loved having my ballet friend stay home instead of studying abroad. Obviously it sucks for her because it has meant a lot of changes to her plans, but I’ve needed her so much, and enjoyed our walks, hanging out together, going to ballet and the hours we spent outside talking on our way back. Ballet classes have been pretty easy as we only go to pointe and adult classes, but at least we are having fun together, and I like to somewhat maintain my skills even though I am not improving by miles. It’s also easier for the body as I’m definitely no longer a teenager. Starting next year we’ll have a fancy new studio!

After the relaxing summer it has definitely felt like I don’t have enough hours in a day or days in a week to do everything I need to. I cannot believe how I used to do all this and so much more pre-COVID but I guess it’s all because Animal Crossing didn’t take anywhere between 30 minutes to 5-8 hours a day. Oops. Needless to say I have been loving ACNH even though the Halloween and Turkey Day events were a bit too easy compared to New Leaf. I have high hopes for Toy Day tomorrow (YIKES! TOMORROW?) even though I haven’t had to go through the usual process of noting down all my villagers’ wishes, which I definitely miss. I am sad the diy recipe RNG has been so bad though. I’ve spent a couple of days spawning balloons on my beach, and never got the big Christmas tree diy in time. Maybe I’ll get it tonight but it’s definitely too late for this year.. Maybe next year then. I didn’t struggle this much with the maple and mush series diys..

So yeah, last summer me and my friend finished our old photography project and I edited the last sets of photos to give the finished book for her as a Christmas present. I love the project a lot because the learning curve is so apparent between photoshoots, and I found my “style” throughout the process. My EOS 100D started to get weird electronical bugs and definitely wasn’t running very well anymore, so after insane amounts of research I decided to get the EOS 90D from a Black Friday sale. I still need a memory card and a new camera bag for it since it’s so much bigger, but I’ve already planned out some future photoshoots and the theme of the new project, which can be described as “Adventure”, “Expedition” or “Discovery”. I just hope my friend will have time to model for me because I’m yearning to go try my new camera out.

My boyfriend and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a friend couple who started dating a week after we did. We took an extended weekend trip to a national park, a spa and a rental cabin. It was so much fun and a very special way to celebrate 10 years together. Especially with an exceptional year like this one has been.

Yesterday me and mum went to granny and grandpa’s place to help with the last of their Christmas preparations, take over some food and sing Christmas songs. I took our old piano book with me and mum played the piano while we sang. Grandpa got teary eyed during a special song and it was so incredibly bittersweet. I don’t want to lose my grandparents but I know it won’t be long since they are both approaching 100 years. I am so thankful for them, and for the time I’ve gotten to spend with them. I just wish I could remember more of it. It seems so unfair that we never have enough time with all our loved ones, and there are so many childhood memories other people remember that I don’t. I wish I could go back in time and observe myself spending time with my grandparents to memorise everything. If I ever have children I’m going to take so many photos and videos to preserve as much as I can for them.

In my post from April I wrote that I had been looking at houses and vacant lots. Well, the house of a childhood friend of mine is listed and I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve arranged my mortgage and left an offer. The sellers didn’t accept my first offer so now I’m going to see the house again on the 30th to see if it’s wort raising my offer. I like the house but it’s definitely a bit inconvenient as it is a 3 storey house and way too big and expensive for our current needs. I just really like the area and it is one of the best houses in that neighborhood. I’m going to let things progress naturally though, and if I end up with the house then it was meant to be. If someone else makes a higher offer I won’t be upset either since we have no immediate need to move. It’s just a bit crammed in our current apartment and I would definitely like to have an actual office for my photography equipment, and a sewing machine/crafting space.

Looks like my christmas bread cracked pretty badly but at least it rose a little in the oven.. Hopefully it is edible. At least the one I made for granny and grandpa turned out better.. Time to go scarf down the last of my porridge (which I didn’t burn by the way!) and then try to get all my stuff over to mum and dad’s place. Christmas preparations this year have been crazy busy and I definitely regret not being able to enjoy the season enough but hopefully I’ll get more in the spirit tonight. I’m really happy with the gifts I got mum, dad and my guy this year (online and early in October/November to avoid the rush).

I’m hoping to make a new year’s post on here as well either before 2021 or during the first week. I just like writing things down so that I can look back on where I’ve been. :)

Happy holidays whether you’re spending them with your loved ones (in real life or through a video call) or alone.

#personal #diary #December2020

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shibalen · 4 years ago

Text

♡ matchup for @shower-wizard

hihi! my first request! i was excited to do this. i looked up information on your signs and mbti, hopefully that’s all right :)

✩ Boku no Hero Academia

platonically, i match you with . . .

Iida Tenya

You two would make a great team! You're both reliable and care for the ones around you. While Iida's got the firmness and boldness of a leader you have the charm and the ability to harmonize. You'd work together like clockwork, instructing your classmates and helping them out any way you can.

If there's anyone you can trust, it's Iida. He was your first friend in ua and the first person to gain your trust there. If you don't like to talk much or be the centre of everyone's attention, no worries - he's got you covered so you could always be comfortable!

Honestly, he'll fight/tell off anyone if they're being loud and obnoxious and it's bothering you, no questions asked. We already know even Bakugo isn't a problem for him.

Iida has a strong sense of duty so you being nearby assures him and helps him worry less. Your loyalty is like his own, and it makes him happy someone shares his view on it. He knows he can count on you if there's ever the need.

He can't always tell how you're doing because you don't give away much, so he'll ask if there is a single grain of doubt. It's sweet but you can tell him if he's being too big a worrywart :)c

You explore different book genres together. Be prepared because he gives extremely long and detailed reviews of each one he reads, especially if you were the one who recommended it to him.

Coming from a higher-class family, Iida was likely taught how to play the piano from a young age. Though he doesn't remember much of it now, hearing you play brings back some of his old spark. Once he tries, it's more fun than he recalled.

Will take you to grand piano concerts whose tickets should have already been sold out? Sometimes you meet Yaomomo there too and other times three of you go together. You discuss your opinions on the way back while grabbing a bite to eat.

You can go to his house to practice archery whenever you'd like. His family definitely has a space for it. Iida doesn't know much about the sport himself but will cheer you on nevertheless! He learns all the vocabulary so he can understand when you talk about it.

Study sessions with the two of you are the best. It has gotten to the point where you make sure to announce them beforehand so any of your other friends can join you. you're the saviour duo (-人-)

Runner up: Denki Kaminari

romantically i match you with . . .

Shinsou Hitoshi

You know i had to. softness: check. dates indoors: check. cats: double check.

You encourage him so much. While he's definitely improved over the series, your support on his goals saves him from moments of doubt and dark thoughts. You gently remind him even the smallest progress pays off in the end, that steadily working on his shortcomings is better than comparing himself to others and doing nothing.

While he knows you're not easily deceived by others, he still keeps an eye out and making sure no one with ill intentions approaches you.

Ironically enough, the first time you met he probably tried to brainwash you during the sports festival. You'd already figured out his quirk though and just smiled at him and sauntered away. Boy was left kind of annoyed but also quite a bit intrigued.

Whether or not you're easily embarrassed doesn't matter cause Shinsou will tease you anyway. He's a little shit and enjoys cracking your mysterious demenour.

Be soft for him. Take his hand, compliment him and run your fingers through his hair. It won't take too long before he's the one subtly trying to hide his flustered face. And if you cuddle him and kiss his cheek while you're napping, I bet those dark circles would be a lot less visible.

Shinsou loves how comfortable you are to be around. He loosens up whenever you're interacting without even noticing it himself. He laughs and smiles more but if you point it out he'll either claim not to know what you're talking about or come up with a way to sidestep the topic smh

You go over to his house to study and see his cats, or vise versa, and before either of you have realized, you're snuggled up, drinking coffee/tea and exchanging book recommendations with a cat purring in your lap. Basically you're on a date now, congratulations! it comes so naturally.

You two just having a good time in a cosy café, people watching and lowkey trying to guess their stories.

He'll gift you with a lot of cute charms, bookmarks and other little things you might need. Shinsou's very observant so even if you don't tell him you'd like something he figures it out one way or the other. He just wants to see you happy.

"This is the same sheet music folder I've been planning to get. How did you know?"

"Can you imagine? This guy worked his back off asking—”

Shinsou, casually wrapping up a struggling Kaminari: "I just knew you could use a new one"

Everyone else is either lowkey scared of you or thinks you're the coolest couple. You seem like a relaxed but "mess with my s/o and you're dead" pair. Well, it's true for at least one of you.

You guys don't have a lot of pda going on but anybody who knows the two of you believes the compability is incredible. They're jelly.

❋ Kimetsu no Yaiba

Runner up: Izuku Midoriya

platonically i match you with . . .

First thing's first: the aesthetic you two have? 10/10. Tol and smol but both just emitting a calm and mysterious aura. Extra points cause you seem to have a very classy appearance so that adds to your reserved look!

Gyomei Himejima

Both of you are the type to be mistrustful towards others at first. However, although it may take a little time due to that similarity, once you have warmed up you'll be big softies for each other and it's the sweetest thing.

You dislike the same kind of people so you tend to prefer each other's company. That's probably how you met too, while steering clear from obnoxious people at a meeting. You decided to befriend him since he seemed like a more humble person to talk to.

Gyomei appreciates the way you carry yourself because you remain level-headed and kind. He thinks that is a difficult combination to keep up, as the world is far from being a fair place. Going off your infj-a personality type, he also admires that you focus more on inner peace and improving yourself rather than dwell on your weaknesses.

You are both loyal so you always have each others' backs. Your gentle nature is comforting when he's feeling emotional.

This man never fails to hear you out on your problems and give the best advice. It might not always sound like it cause of how blunt it is, but trust him.

A lot of mutual understanding. Can you read each other's mind at this point? rumors say yes.

You spend a lot of time together in quiet reading sessions. He'll read his scriptures and offer to explain them to you (though he sucks at it. . .) Feel free to rant about what you're reading too!

He'd carry you on his back, arms and shoulders and it's one of the most comfortable things ever. There is not always a reason for it. it's more like a quiet way to show he cares for you.

I can easily imagine you feeding and taking care of several stray cats together. You need to make sure he doesn't accidentally overuse his strength though while playing with them.

It's great you play the piano. Since he can't see you, listening to you play helps Gyomei form an image of you in his mind. Also, your music is therapeutic to him. He'll always come hear you play ♡

Some see you as an otherwordly pair, as in: how are you always so collected and wise? are you beings from another dimension? share your secrets with us.

Hear me out! You said you don't like rude people BUT I think Genya needs someone like you to relax more. He's stiff, short-tempered and awkward so your calm and gentle personality would help him feel at ease.

Genya Shinazugawa

Runner up: Giyuu Tomioka

romantically i match you with . . .

Tanjirō likely introduced the two of you, yet the first impression wasn't the best. Genya got too nervous, turned away to hide his blush, and ended up not speaking a word which came off as pretty arrogant.

He is so gentle with you! towards you, he's never disrespectful or mean.

But he apologised for his actions soon enough and quickly explained he wasn't very good with talking to girls. With such honesty, it didn't take too long afterwards before you came to trust him. For Genya, trusting you came easily because of how laid-back you were. He could tell you were being honest with him and it was that genuine kindness that sent butterflies into his stomach uwu

Genya's not the most talkative but his smile speaks for itself. He loves listening to you talk though. Then again, he could stare at you while you're reading him the world's most boring book and still be ( ˊᵕˋ )♡.°⑅

Boy will melt at the affection you give him. He’s very blushy about it but grows more comfortable overtime (on most part at least rip) Secretly happy he's one of the only people who gets to see that side of you.

He looks up to you for having traits he lacks BuT his favourite thing about you is your confidence and passion for what you do. it inspires him to become stronger too and confront his brother.

Teaches you how to defend yourself just in case you're in trouble and he's not there. He worries.

Genya thinks it's cool you do archery, cause he does shooting! You guys often chat about your hobbies respectively. Also, showing the other how to aim with their weapon and gently adjusting their position from behind? Yes, please.

Dates would include romantic walks in the woods, picnics and trying out foods from different stands or restaurants. Don't worry though, no one will bother you. With a big guy like Genya next to you, nobody will dare raise a commotion. though you might want to stop him from death-glaring or picking a fight with anyone who talks too loud

Indoor dates also happen a lot and whatever you may be doing, Genya likes to be holding your hand. It's just so small in comparison to his and he loves it (but won't admit it) If you two are cooking or if you're playing the piano, he settles with standing next to you and enjoys your presence (✿◡‿◡ )

In conclusion, a very sweet couple that balances each other out nicely. You being soft and down-to-earth and Genya being more hot-headed but still incredibly caring ♡ Did i mention i'm a sucker for height differences?

thank you for requesting i hope you enjoyed it! i’d appreciate any feedback you might have ♡

Runner up: Tanjirō Kamado

#anime matchups #shower-wizard #len's matches

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lovemychoices · 5 years ago

Text

Always Be My Driver - A RoD Rom-Com [Colt x MC/Logan x MC]. CH 4

Book : RIDE OR DIE

PAIRING : Colt x MC/ Logan x MC

SUMMARY: Emma and Colt have been childhood best friends since forever, they were both inseparable. In middle school they became something more but when Colt had to move with his mom away from LA all the way to Miami, things started to change between them. A small misunderstanding leads to the end of their relationship. 6 years later they meet again at the most unlikely place. Will Emma and Colt be able to mend what has been broken between them? Or will it continue to crash and burn?

Characters except my OCs belong to Pixelberry, I am just borrowing them

Word count : 4765

Chapter Summary: Things start to get confusing for Emma and Colt. While Logan starts to fee out of place.

A/N : It should be obvious by now that I suck at updating all my series but that doesn’t mean they are forgotten. Anyway this chapter of a bit long but mostly dialogue. Sorry for any grammatical errors I didn’t really have time to check for edits.

Warning : pretty pg-13

Catch up with the series HERE

***

After that night things between Emma and Colt was starting to improve. They were finally getting along like old times and with Logan out doing jobs most of the time they began to hang out a lot at the garage. Emma was happy it felt like she was getting her bestfriend back, things weren’t as they were before but baby steps she kept telling herself.

The crew had this tradition that started ever since Emma joined where every third Saturday of the month they would all go out to their favourite karaoke bar to sing and have fun. Since Colt was in town she decided to invite him along.

Emma : Hey

Colt : Hey there yourself 😉

Emma : So… I was wondering if you have any plans tonight, do you want to hang out?

Colt : Nope, no plans.. What did you have in mind?

Emma : Well how about you, me, the crew and a karaoke bar?

Colt : Depends..

Emma : on what?

Colt : Is Logan coming?

Emma : Yes? He is part of the crew remember? Plus he is my boyfriend he would come along.

Colt cringed at the word boyfriend.

Colt : Then I’ll pass..

“Seriously?” Emma heaves a sighs thinking what she could reply that could convince him to join.

Emma : Please Colt! You’ll only be here until the end of summer break. After that who knows when we’ll hang out again?!

Colt : Em, you know I can’t stand being in the same room with him… Pretty sure he feels the same way too.

Emma : Please? I promise I’ll ask him to be nice and dial down on the PDA.

Colt : Why do you think I care about your PDA?

Emma : Just… please? 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Colt : …….

Colt : No….

Emma : 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Emma : You know I’m not going to stop sending you puppy eyed emojis until you say yes..

Colt felt reluctant to join at first, he didn’t feel like he needed to see Logan sucking face with Emma the entire night. It wasn’t like he was jealous or anything at least that’s what he keeps telling himself. His phone kept buzzing and soon his notifications were filled with puppy eyed emojis from Emma.

Damn it! I forgot how persistent she can be.

Colt lets out a sigh of relief, throwing himself on the bed, his fingers hovering over the screen of his phone. “The things I do for you Em.” He murmured under his breath.

****

At the Karaoke bar..

“Woah, we're halfway there. Woah, livin' on a prayer. Take my hand, we'll make it I swear..Woah, livin' on a prayer!” Toby’s high pitched voice could be heard traveling across the bar as he sang on top of the small stage. “Common everybody, sing with me now!”

Colt snorts out a laugh. “Toby is really giving it his all up there huh?”

“Living on a prayer is like his go to karaoke song.” Ximena grins.

“That’s one way to put it.” Mona rolls her eyes and shakes her head before turning her attention to Emma with a grin. “So Emma why don’t you tell us a little more about Colt here? Was he always so broody as a kid or was it something that only developed during his adulthood.”

“Hey you make fun but the ladies love the whole broody loner act.” Colt grinned.

Emma chuckles. “I think he was always broody, it just takes the right person to soften him up. I mean he used to hate me when he first moved next door.”

“Yeah, you were that annoying little girl who wouldn’t leave me alone.” He scoffed.

“Yeah but I warmed up to you eventually, didn’t I?” Emma grinned and he huffed a laugh shaking his head.

The two went back and forth on stories about each other, laughing at every memory. Ximena, Toby and Mona were intrigued to know more about Emma and Colts childhood adventures. Logan on the other hand felt like he was a stranger to Emma compared to Colt. They had so much history growing up together as kids. There were things about Emma that he didn’t even know about and Colt did. He couldn’t help but wonder, if they were ever more than just friends? He shakes his head at the thought. Emma wouldn’t hide something like that from me.

“So Colt do you sing?” Ximena asked.

“Nah… It’s not really my thing.” He answered, taking a sip of his beer.

“Are you serious? You happen to have the best voice of all time.” Emma blurted out, making Colt slightly blush. “Remember when we were kids and you used to sing to me when I was scared or couldn’t sleep?”

He used to sing to her? She never mentioned that? Still.. don’t read into this too much Logan they we’re just kids.

Colt snorts a laugh. “How could I forget, you practically annoyed the hell out of me till I gave in.”

“Aww.. you guys were so cute! Did you two have your own special song? Was Colt the only one who sang or was it a duet thing.” Toby asks with a intriguing look in his eyes.

“We did actually. It was true colors.” Emma beamed when she looks at Colt. “Remember when you used to sing to me whenever I would get scared during a thunderstorm?”

He used to sing to her? She used to be afraid of thunderstorms? How did I not know this? How did Emma never mentioned this to me?

Colt’s face started to blush again. “You’re really not holding out on any embarrassing secrets are you Em?”

“Nope!” She beams and takes a sip of her drink.

“Huh.. Interesting.” Mona ponders slowly stroking her chin then suddenly leaves the table without a word. “Where is she going? Or better yet what is she up to?” Logan raises an eyebrow. Emma shrugs. “Mona? Who knows nowadays.”

Mona returns a few minutes later, a wide mischievous grin on her face that doesn’t seem to leave when she stares at Emma and Colt.

“Why are smiling like that?” Colt asked giving her a skeptical look. “You’ll see..” she answers and takes a seat next to Logan.

“Up next Colt Kaneko and Emma Park, table number seven requesting for true colors.” The woman in the front starts announcing on the microphone. “Colt Kaneko and Emma Park.”

Emma gasps. “Mona you didn’t..”

“Oh but I did.. Now you two have no choice but to sing.. sing...sing.” Mona starts to chant then Toby and Ximena starts to chant with her. Their chants starts getting louder and louder, drawing attention from the rest of the people at the bar.

Emma leaned into Colt’s ear. “You know they’re not going to stop until we give in.”

Colt gives an eye roll and exasperates a sigh. “Alright fine! We’ll sing! Just… Stop with the chanting. Geez and I thought Emma was persistent and annoying.”

Emma playfully swats him on the shoulder, quickly taking his hand before turning to Logan and kisses him on the cheek. “Be right back.”

“Knock em dead up there, troublemaker.” Logan winks, giving a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. They’re just friends.

Colt stands next to Emma on stage, his one hand holding mic while the other in his pocket. Both exchanging sheepish smiles at each other as they start to sing. It didn’t take long for the two to ease into the song and pretty soon they were singing like they were the only ones in the room.

There was such chemistry between them and not just in their performance but the way they looked at each other. This didn’t go unoticed by Logan, it was the way Colt looked and her and she looks back at him. He knows that look all too well, it’s the look he has whenever he is with her. “I need to get some air.” He mutters and abruptly leaves the table to go outside.

****

The song finally came to an end, Colt and Emma steps down the stage. Emma lets out a soft giggle. “Omg! That was so fun. Nice to know you still have some notes in you Colt.”

“You’re not too bad yourself speed demon.” He grinned. They saunter back to the table where the group were cheering and clapping enthusiastically. “You two were AMAZING!” Toby hollers, patting Colt on the shoulder. Colt shakes his head and takes a seat in his chair.

“Hey where’s Logan?” Emma asks when she notices he wasn’t in his seat. “He went out a few seconds ago.” Ximena answers pointing towards the door. “Probably wanted to get some air.” Emma nods and heads outside to find Logan.

Logan sat on the hood of his car leaning on the windshield with his arms folded behind his head looking up at the sky in the dimly lit parking lot that made the stars light up a little clearer. He was trying to get any jealous or insecure thoughts of Colt and Emma’s relationship out his mind. Their just friends, you’re not the jealous type so don’t start becoming one.

“Hey..” Emma announces herself and he is pulled out his thoughts. She walks up to him with one arm wrapped around her waist, a subtle smile plastered on her face. “Ximena said you went out for some air, is everything alright?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” He says plastering a fake smile and slowly getting down for the hood. He pulls her close, wrapping his arms around her waist then presses a soft kiss on her lips. “Sorry I had to leave mid way through your performance, there was a call I needed to take.” He lied.

“So that’s why you’re still out here, leaning on the hood of your car, looking at the stars all alone?” She says in a skeptical tone, they have been together long enough to recognize when something was bothering him. “Logan, you know you can talk to me if something is up. No secrets remember?”

Logan heaves a sigh. “This is going to sound stupid and the last thing I want you to think is that I don’t trust you.” Emma raises an eyebrow at him, she was curious to see where this was going. “I know you told me that you and Colt were close growing up but did the two of you ever had feelings for each other? In a more than friends type of way?”

Emma felt caught off guard by his question. Does he know? Just keep it calm. "What? Why would you think that?"

Logan pulls away, running his hands through his hair. “I just, the way I saw the two of you. The way both your eyes glimmered when you looked at each other.. I don’t know.” He shakes his head. “Maybe I’m just overthinking things and if I’m being honest, I feel a little jealous that the two of you have more history than the both of us.”

Emma felt like she swallowed a lump in her throat, she didn’t like lying to Logan but what good would it do if she came forth about her history with Colt? Colt won’t be around after summer, they’ll all go back to their normal lives and nobody would have to get hurt. She plasters her best fake smile, wrapping her arms around his neck and gives him a soft kiss. “I promise there is nothing going on between me and Colt. We’re just friends always have been.” She lied and could feel her heart sink as she did but it was better than telling Logan the truth and getting him hurt, at least that’s what she keeps telling herself.

****

A few days later..

It was a slow day at the garage, Emma was at the front desk logged on to her laptop getting the accounts done and scheduling appointments for the next few weeks.

She started working part time for Teppei after school hours and during college breaks a few months after she graduated high school. Logan agreed to let her work at the Auto Body Shop but only for front desk related work, she in no way was allowed to work in the off book side of business.

Emma drums her fingers on the keyboard, she had just finished her work and didn’t have anything better to do. The garage was quite that day, Logan and the rest of the crew were out running errands while she and Colt were the only ones left behind. Like her, Colt was under strict instructions by his father not to meddle with whatever business they did behind closed curtains.

Could this day be any boring? I wonder what Colt is up to?

“Hey Colt.”

Colt jolted up, hitting his head on the undercarriage. “Jesus!” He growls and slowly rolls out from below with his hands pressed to his forehead.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry Colt! Here let me get an ice pack.” She apologizes and hurries to the back room grabbing an ice pack and two bottles of beer from the fridge.

She kneels down and tilts his chin up, carefully taking a look for any bleeding. Thankfully there was none, probably just leave a tiny lump. “That doesn’t look so bad.”

“That doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt.” He said placing an ice pack on the left side of her forehead while he sat leaning against the car. “Don’t ever do that again.”

“Geez, you’re such a cry baby.” She teases and take a sit next to him.

“What are you doing back here anyway don’t you have work to do up front?”

“Nope… I am totally free for the rest of the day. Beer?”

Colt gingerly accepts and they both silently enjoy their beverage. Not long after Colt breaks the silence by broaching a question that’s been on his mind.

“So this is your life now huh? Working for car criminals and joining illegal street races?

Emma took a sip of her beer before answering him. “It’s only temporary, at least until I graduate and get a professional job. I need someway to pay for my expenses and my scholarship at UCLA doesn’t really cover anything other than the semester fees.”

“What does your dad have to say about your current choice of lifestyle?”

“He.. Doesn’t really get a say in it at all. Things between us have been fraught ever since he found out about me and Logan” She replied, her fingers slowly scraping off the wet label on the bottle.

“What? you telling me he doesn’t like the guy?” He said in a sarcastic tone and she gave him the look.

Colt ran his hands through his hair and shook his head. “I still can’t believe you’re with someone like him.”

“Why Colt? Is it because he’s just some highschool dropout or because his a criminal?”

Or because he isn’t you.

“Maybe both? I’m just saying you deserve better.”

“And what is better for me exactly?” She looks at him and their eyes locked at each other for a moment. It was like she was waiting for him to give her an answer and at that moment he wanted to say the words but he couldn’t.

He turns away and looks back down at him cold bottle of beer, thinking of an answer. “I don’t know Em, maybe it’s something you’ll have to figure out on your own.”

“Maybe? But you didn’t know what it was like.” She said with her eyes downcast. “After my mom died things were different, dad became so focused on his work and I had just lost my mom and my best friend that same year.”

Colt takes Emma’s hand and gives it a soft squeeze. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you when your mother died. I should have tried to be there for you but we had that fight and we broke up.” He shook his head trying to erase the memory. “I know this doesn’t make up for anything but I’m glad that we’re friends again. I really miss you Em, I’ve missed you a lot.”

“Thank you Colt, I’ve missed you too.” Emma gave Colt a grateful smile then leans her head on his shoulders. They stayed that way for a few moments until the sound of the garage bay opening catches their attention. Emma gets up from the floor and Colt follows after, a yellow Devore GT pulls up into the driveway. Logan exits the car closing the door shut behind him, he raises an eyebrow when he sees Colt standing next to Emma.

“Didn’t expect you to come back so soon pup.” Colt sneered.

“Yeah well You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” Logan glares at Colt but his expression quickly softens when he sees Emma approaching him. He immediately pulls her in for a deep kiss and Colt rolls his eyes at the site.

“You look happier than usual. What’s the occasion?”

Logan chuckled. “There’s no occasion. But I do have a surprise for you.” He reaches for the back of his pocket taking out a silver charm bracelet.

“Logan you found it!” She beamed.

“I know how upset you were when you lost it, so I went poking around finally found it at one of the pawn shops. Some jerks must have found it and sold it there.”

Emma cups his face and pulls Logan into a kiss. “Did I ever mention how you’re the best boyfriend ever.”

“Not as much as I like.” He jokingly said. “Here let me help you put it on. The clasp broke so I had to go to a jeweler to replace it.”

The bracelet somehow catches Colt’s eye and it looked so familiar to him.

Is that the bracelet I got her for her 14th birthday?

He tries to take a closer look again and that’s when he saw it all The charms that came with it when he bought it for her including the prickly cactus.

Flashback here..

Is that a cactus?”

“It’s uh.. Something to remember me by. You know cause you’re always saying how prickly I can be?”

“You’re not wrong about that. Could you help me?”

“Oh yeah, sure.”

“It looks beautiful.”

Not as beautiful as you.

End of flashback..

She kept it after all these years?

“What are you looking at?” Logan scowls at Colt who’s eyes can't seem to move away from Emma.

“Don’t flatter yourself pup.” He answers in disdain then turns to Emma his expression slightly impassive. “Nice bracelet.”

Shit! He doesn’t remember this does he?

“Colt…”

“Just.. No Em.”

Colt grabs his leather jacket from the hood of the car next to him and saunters to his motorcycle.

“Where the hell are you going? Don’t you have a job to do?” He glares pointedly at Colt.

“I don’t answer to you, pup.” He answers with a scowl. Without looking back Colt revs his motorcycle and guns it.

“I don't care if he’s Teppei’s kid. I swear one day I’m gonna lose it and punch him in the face.”

“Hey.. Just cut him some slack.. He’s probably just dealing with somethings”

“Who isn’t? That doesn’t give him the right to act like an asshole. Why are you defending him anyway?”

“I’m not.. Look we have the rest of the day to ourselves can we not waste it by discussing 100 issues that’s going on with Colt Kaneko?”

Logan heaves a sigh. “Look I know he is your friend but he’s probably not the same kid you grew up with all those years. You don’t have to make excuses for him all the time.”

Emma gave a weak smile and nods. She knows she knows that she’s with Logan now and that she shouldn't care but her mind kept on racing back to Colt.

*****

Colt sat at the edge of a cliff facing the ocean somewhere in Malibu. When he was a kid maybe 7 barely 8 his father took him here for the first time, he remembered Teppei telling him to jump off the cliff all the way down to the ocean, how high it seemed to a kid and how afraid he was. He remembered when he told Teppei that he was scared and didn’t want to jump but he made Colt jump anyway. “Fucking asshole.” He mutters under his breath when his thoughts brought him back to that day. Ironically enough as he got older this was the one place where he could be whenever he needed peace to think.

She kept it after all these years? But why? She was the one who broke things off, she was the one who said she didn’t want to ever talk to me again. Then why keep it after all these years? Does she still have feelings for me?

He shakes his head at the thought.

Why am I even thinking about this, I shouldn’t care about this about any of this. I am not in love with Emma Park. Or am I?

The thought consumed him, he reaches for the pocket of his leather jacket, slowly pulling out a small keychain, his fingers lingering on the picture in the clear acrylic surface. It was the same keychain Emma gave to him before he moved away. Emma wasn’t the only one who was holding on to something from the past after all those years.

Everything that happened in the few weeks he was back at the garage and spending time with her. It made him feel something that he hadn't felt in a long time, he was happy, he felt whole again. Then it finally hits him. Fuck, I’m still in love with Emma Park.

****

Later that Night

That night Emma lay alone in bed, Logan and the crew were out for a job which included Teppei, so once again it was just her and Colt. Her mind was still on him, she couldn’t stop thinking about this afternoon. The way he looked when saw the bracelet, he seemed confused? upset? Whatever it was she didn’t like it. She needed to give him an explanation, It's not like she is still in love with him, she was just being concerned as a friend. Or was she?

She waited a few minutes for a reply but all she got was two blue ticks. She debated whether she should go down to his room. “Screw it I’m going down there.” She muttered under her breath.

Emma slowly knocks on his door but no one answered. “Colt I know you’re in there, we need to talk.” Still no answer.. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I let myself in. She twisted the door knob and slowly pushes the door which makes a squeaking sound as it opened. She looks around but Colt no where in the room. Hmm… Strange I’m sure I would have heard his motorcycle rumble if he went out, considering how loud it always is.

She continues to look around his room, on the wall were a few posters and what seem like photographs he had taken. This must be where he stayed as a kid when he came here during school breaks and weekends. She always wondered why no one stayed in this room, Teppei had always kept it locked, turns out it was because the room was reserved for Colt.

A textbook on robotics placed on the table next to his laptop. Guess he did get to study what he always wanted. Colt may not admit it but he was as much as a nerd as she was. He always had good grades and excelled at what he did. Plus there was his secret love for Harry Potter which only she knew about.

Her eyes roamed from the desk to the wall of photos right above it, some were digital and some were Polaroids. They were all beautifully taken, another secret talent of Colt he kept from the world that only she knew of. One photo in particular caught her eye, it was a photo of her when she was 12 taken the day of his 13th birthday.

Spring 2012

After dinner and some cake Colt and Emma got ready to head to the mall. They were at foyer about to leave when Emma remembered something. “Colt, wait I almost forgot. Wait here for a minute.” She said and hurried up the stairs coming back a few seconds later with a baby blue colored gift bag in her hand. “Happy birthday Colt, I hope you like it.” She beamed, handing the gift bag.

“Emma, you really didn’t have to give me anything.”

“Of course I do, it’s your thirteenth birthday. You’ve officially entered the teen zone and you deserve something special to remember it by.”

Colt smiled, he opened the bag and took out navy blue colored polaroid camera. “This is…”

“You don’t like?”

“What? No.. I was going to say this is the best gift I have so far. Thank you Em.” He said pulling her into a hug. They pulled a part a moment later Colt gave her curious look. “How did you know I wanted one of these?”

Emma chuckled. “You know by now not to underestimate how well I know you Colt Kaneko.”

“I guess I should know better by now huh?” He grinned. He looked down at the camera in his hand and had an idea. “Hey Em, smile at the camera won’t you? You’ll be the first official photo I take with it.”

She gave her best smile and he clicked on the button, a polaroid photo came out of the camera. Colt gently shook the picture to let it dry, a few seconds later he looked at the picture and smiled. “How do I look?” She asked. “You look perfect.” He replied and showed her the picture, she smiled then tiptoes up to kiss him on the cheek. “C'mon let’s go before the mall closes.”

Present day..

Emma stares at the picture in her hand, In her mind she remembers like it happened yesterday. He kept it all these years? But why? She is suddenly pulled out of her thoughts by a squeaking sound of a door opening.

“Emma what are you doing here at this hour?” Colt asked in a surprised tone. He had just come out of the shower, his hair was a little damp and he was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers brief. Her mouth slightly opened as she took in the sight of his chiseled abs and half naked body.

“Colt.. I… I…” She fumbled at her words. Damn it Emma, get a hold of yourself. It’s just Colt! Colt with really nice abs and.. “Emma are you alright?”

Say something.. anything. “I… Why do you still have this picture of me?” Good Save. She noted to herself in her head.

Colt saw the picture in her hand and tried to hide a smile because he remembered how happy he was that day. “I don’t know Em, I haven’t been in this room since I was 17.”

“But we weren’t together anymore.”

Colt shrugged. “I know.. Maybe I wanted to take it down but forgot. It’s not like I bring it around wherever I go.” He lied obviously, the turth was he never could bring himself to get rid of the photo it was his favourite picture of Emma.

Was that supposed to be directed at me? About the bracelet? “Colt, we need to talk about this afternoon.”

Colt exasperates a sigh. “You really aren’t going to let this go, aren't you? I told you Emma, I’m totally fine. So you still wear the bracelet I gave you all those years ago, it’s just an accessory it doesn’t have to mean anything right?” Unless there’s something else you’ve been keeping from me.

After their break up she tried so hard to forget Colt, he wasn’t just some childhood crush that she lost, he was her best friend, he was her person. Eventually she managed to put all those feelings in a box, lock it and safely hide it but there was a part of her that didn’t want to truly forget despite what happened, Colt was a part of her life for a long time, it wasn’t something she could just easily let go of. So she kept the bracelet as a reminder of the good times they had together. At least that’s what she told herself over the years.

“I…. Yeah. You’re right, it's just an accessory. Too pretty for me to just throw away.” She lied but her tone wasn’t really convincing and if anyone could see through her lies it was Colt. “So are we ok?”

Colt steps closer to her standing only a few inches apart, still half naked. He tucks a loose strand of her hair to the back of her hair, his fingers lingering on her cheeks and there was this intense gaze in him. “I don’t know Em, do you think we’re okay?”

She could feel her heart pounding fast as she gazed back into his eyes, his beautiful brown eyes that were now locked with hers. His lips now only one small move away from hers. Emma starts to feel butterflies in her stomach, she didn’t even know why. In that moment she suddenly felt like she was 13 all over again.

She felt a strong urge to kiss him and she could swear he must have been feeling the same thing, the way he looked at her, it was like he was fighting temptation too. “Emma, I want to kiss you so bad right now.” There it was the words she didn’t know she wanted to hear for so long. “But if you tell me to stop and back off, I will..”

“Colt..I…” Can’t! say you can’t! Just tell him to back off, you can’t do this to Logan. She wanted to tell him she couldn’t kiss him not when she was still with Logan, that he was her boyfriend. But her feet were planted firmly on the floor unable to move.

Colt leans even closer, their lips about to touch when their moment was cut short by the sound of the garage bay opening and car engines rumbling. Emma felt like she was being pulled back into reality again. “That must be Logan and your dad.. I should go.”

As she turns to leave Colt takes her by the hand. “Emma wait..” She looks at him and there was a pleading look in his eyes. Colt please don’t do this.

Stay don’t leave. Is what he wanted to say but something different came out of his mouth instead. “Good night, Emma.” He murmured, giving her a weak smile and she did the same. “Good night, Colt.”

*************************************************

Rod - @liamzigmichael4ever @client-327 @brightpinkpeppercorn @lovehugsandcandy @lilyofchoices @justdani14 @zaffrenotes @queenkaneko @mskaneko @pintsizedelle @flowerpowell @desiree-0816 @emceesynonymroll @kinkykingliam @jlpplays1 @annekebbphotography @thecordoniandiaries @cora-nova @rainbowsinthestorm @princess-geek @leelee10898 @emichelle @pixelburied

#Colt x MC #colt kaneko x mc #colt kaneko #choices ride or die #Logan x Mc

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murasaki-murasame · 4 years ago

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On the one hand, we’re getting Ilia in the next banner as part of a prize showcase that’d be worth summoning on just for the extra rewards alone, but on the OTHER hand, I didn’t manage to get Gala Zena from any of the free summons, and then the worms in my brain went brrr and I think we all know what happened next :)

Also now that I’ve had time to experience the 2.0 update for a week or so, I’ve got a lot of thoughts on that to talk about too

First of all, I got absolutely no 5-stars of any kind from my free summons on the gala banner we got before the Zena banner, so that sucked, lol. I was genuinely tempted to at least go for a pity-break, but I decided against it, since that banner in general was so unappealing to me.

Then for the Zena banner I at least managed to sit back and see how the free summons went, and I got Meene and Midgard Zero off of them, which was nice. But of course that meant that I didn’t get Gala Zena, and I just couldn’t hold myself back from chasing her, lol.

Thankfully I managed to get her after an extra 70-ish summons, so I didn’t have to spend THAT much to get her, but I almost immediately got a dupe Meene from my ticket summons so that kinda hurt, lmao. I also got a dupe Andromeda [who’s now at 3UB], and I think those are the only 5-stars that I’ve gotten from these last two banners. The 5-star dragon ticket from the log-in bonus gave me a dupe Gilgamesh [who’s at 1UB now], though.

In general my summons were a bit more barren than I’d like, but I can’t really complain since most of them were free summons, and I managed to clear out the whole Zena banner, lol.

If I remember right, I had about 270 summons before this, and now I’m at around 200. We’ve still got some anniversary related wyrmite coming in the near future, though, on top of the free summons, so I might still be able to spark on the mid-month gala remix banner if I want to. But I’d probably only do that if Gala Alex is featured and I don’t get her from my free summons. She’s now the only gala unit I’m missing, so she’s a pretty high-priority spark target.

Which is also a big part of why I’m not really that interested in summoning on the Ilia banner, and by extension why I decided to go ahead and chase Zena now. I mean, that was still a dumb decision since if I ended up needing to spark her, that would have drained my entire stash, but still, lol. Ilia’s non-limited, and she seems to be the only new unit on the next banner, so if anything I’d mainly just be summoning for the extra rewards. Also I don’t really have any high-priority dream summon candidates anymore, since I got I-Nefaria and S-Mikoto a little while ago, and I got Meene from this banner, so I could just dream summon Ilia later on anyway.

But mainly I’m just kinda salty about how she’s basically a direct improvement over the new Joe alt, lol. I was hoping she’d at least be flame or wind or something, or even have a different mode type, but she’s literally just Joe but better, which is lame, since I really like Joe, and even if I got Ilia I dunno if I’d want to replace him on my light team. So that on it’s own kinda deflated a lot of the hype I had about Ilia.

Anyway, at this point my main priorities are to be able to get Gala Alex whenever she’s available again, and to hopefully get any new gala dragons when they come out. I’d also really like to go into the New Years banner with a spark saved up, just in case. Even though that’d probably require skipping Christmas. So we’ll just see how that pans out, lol.

All that aside, the 2.0 update has been out for a while now, and boy has that sure changed how the game feels, lmao. I think it’s an almost entirely good update, but there’s a lot of awkward growing pains going on as we have to adjust to all these new and changed systems.

I know that the new wyrmprint system gives us more flexbility than the old one, and that it at least gives a reason to want to use a lot of the 4-star prints, but I really hope they implement some sort of preset option soon, because having to keep setting up 4-5 wyrmprints on every single character is really awful. I’m also not a huge fan of how expensive it is to get extra copies of prints, but I get the logic behind it, and thankfully event prints are extremely cheap to get extra copies of. Which at least means that new players can pretty easily get four copies of Plunder Pals before eventually getting specialized skill damage prints, but I feel kinda bad for anyone who didn’t get all the Megaman event prints, since they cover basically every single important wyrmprint ability, lol.

Also it’s kinda awkward how the change to having every print just give one ability means that a lot of prints got indirectly nerfed, like Fires of Hate and Resounding Rendition, or Chocolatiers now just being 50% skill prep. Not to mention how so many prints are almost identical, down to the fact that even the affinity bonuses for a lot of similar prints aren’t even different either. So that’s kinda weird. But ultimately I do think this was a good change for the game. I’m also thinking now that one type of new endgame progression they might add eventually is 6-star wyrmprints, since it seems really noteworthy to me that the new wyrmprint UI is a 2x3 grid with only five slots taken up, and the other just being empty space. So they might introduce 6-star wyrmprints to fill in that extra slot later to add even more flexibility to the system.

Then there’s all the changes they made to the weapon system, which I think are gonna take a fair while for me to feel truly familiar with. There’s a whole lot to take in, and even though I think it’s more streamlined and easy to understand at the end of the day, it’s such a huge change from what i was used to that it just feels kinda overwhelming and strange. But I think the only part of it that genuinely feels bad is how it’s now WAY more expensive to fully unbind Agito weapons than it was before, since you have to now buy all of the last four unbind levels, like with HDT weapons, instead of it just being a one-time upgrade cost that gives you an automatically MUB tier 2 weapon if you had a MUB tier 1 weapon. So that really sucks, and I think it really screws over anyone who was holding off on upgrading their flame and shadow Agito weapons until this update hit, since now it’s extremely expensive compared to before. But apparently it’s an intentional design choice and not just an oversight, so I guess we’ll just have to deal with it. I'm also kinda annoyed at myself for dismantling all my 5t3s before this update hit, since now they’re actually worth getting for the weapon bonus system, but that’s not as big of a deal.

And on that note, I know lots of people don’t like how expensive the weapon bonus system is, but I’m just viewing it as a super long-term, end-game grind that intentionally gives relatively minor stat upgrades that nothing in the game is actually balanced around. It’s basically just an extension of the weapon dojo system for people who want to have something to keep grinding for once they hit the end-game.

I do really like how they condensed all the niche void weapons into just one weapon per element/type combo, though, and how their unique weapon abilities are now passively applied to all similar weapons once you unlock them. It gives you a reason to care about getting them, and grinding void battles in general, without forcing you to use super weak weapons if you need their unique ability. I dunno how much I’ll actually grind Void Agni after this, but it feels really nice to just have the scorching air res ability on my Agito/HDT weapons, lol. It’s also really nice that they let you do the same thing with the HDT Bane abilities, since that makes it way easier to grind them, and this update gives us a whole lot of reasons to want to get back into grinding HDTs again.

HDTs are just way easier now than they used to be, which is great. I think Cygames has accepted that they just weren’t very fun or well-designed as endgame co-op raid type content, and that people just want to be able to farm them solo for their drops. And this whole update makes it way easier to do that. On top of the earlier change to nerfing their opening blasts and reducing the damage that AI characters take, it feels like they only slightly raised their stats to compensate for the huge balance patch update, which makes them feel way easier to beat than they used to be. And they also reworked the fights a bit so that they actually have purple indicators for [most] of their attacks, and some mechanics like HBH’s volcanoes now actually work properly in solo, so that’s neat.

The introduction of solo versions of endgame fights is really nice. I think at this point it means that you can go through the entire game’s progression system without touching co-op [outside of events, I guess], which is nice, since I know it’s always been off-putting to a lot of people that co-op is basically mandatory for endgame content.

We also now have PVP [kind of], which is something I never expected, and I ALSO never expected that it’d actually be . . . really fun and well-balanced? It’s genuinely shocking to me that they actually managed to pull off PVP properly in this type of game, lol. This has always felt like the most anti-PVP gacha game out there, if that makes sense, so I never thought PVP would work, but the whole battle royale set-up actually works really well. Mainly because everyone works off of the same blank slate, and your account progress outside of the battle royale mode has absolutely no impact on how strong you are in PVP. It’s more of a skill-based thing, where you’d have an edge over newer players just because you’re more familiar with how to move around in the game and do stuff. There’s also the fact that there’s barely any difference in the points you get between first and last place, so you don’t feel like you’re missing out on much if you keep losing. And most of the stuff you spend points on are just cosmetic skins for the character you play as, but there’s also some genuinely good rewards like sunstones and testaments that you can fairly easily get even if you just grind for it by dying as fast as possible every round. I really hope they keep the rewards the same for each season, since having a fairly consistent supply of 2 sunstones and 4 of each testament every five weeks or so would be really good.

The whole balance patch also happened, and that ended up being a lot more of a big deal than I thought it might be. Even though they only tweaked everyone’s damage mods and not any of their abilities or anything, basically all of the buffs feel like what you’d expect from a mana spiral. A pretty huge amount of characters got their damage mods doubled or even tripled, and then there’s cases like Gala Euden who effectively had both of his skill’s damage mods quadrupled, lol. I was wondering if they might use this as a chance to effectively give mana spirals to old gala units without actually giving them mana spirals, and that’s basically how this went. On top of Gala Euden now being even stronger than before, Gala Mym got basically all of her damage mods doubled, along with a new strength buff on her S1. Gala Sarisse also got her S2 improved so that it always gives a team strength buff instead of alternating effects. And Gala Ranzal got what seems to be a really big improvement to his damage in general, along with his gauges now being easier to fill, so now I think he might at least be on the same level as Leif, if not stronger, which he really deserved.

They even buffed a lot of the weaker shadow units, which I wasn’t expecting, but I’m glad about it. Obviously Norwin was one of the first units whose changes I looked into, and I’m glad that he’s better than he used to be, but it’s kinda awkward to me that he has poison punisher effects on his skills now, when they didn’t change the fact that he has a blind punisher ability, and another ability based around inflicting blind. I think he still needs a proper spiral to fully morph him into actually being about poison, but he’s a lot better than he was before. They also buffed S-Norwin’s S2 for some reason, even though he was really good before this update, lol.

Vice also now has the honor of being the first unit to get straight up nerfed in the game’s history, but even with the nerf, I think he’s still one of the strongest 3-stars in the whole game, and he’s still worth investing in as a low-budget DPS option. I also actually like the fact that he inflicts poison on his S1 now, since it makes him a more consistent source of poison, but it also means he’ll be constantly afflicting poison, which might not always be good. I think it’s a good balance change, though. At the very least I’m able to easily solo eHJP in like one and a half minutes while still using him as my main DPS unit, while also having everyone equipped with gold fafnirs. So he definitely still does his job just fine.

Anyway, we’ve also got the whole second anniversary event going on, and it sure is a doozy. I think I liked Fractured Futures more, but this is still a good event in it’s own way. It’s not as intense or depressing, but I like the focus on lore and world-building, and it’s also just really refreshing to get an entire event where Zethia’s the protagonist for once.

A lot of what the event’s gone over has felt sort of predictable, but it’s still nice to get all this stuff explicitly spelled out, and it also means we get to see Ilia as a socially inept punk biker with a giant rifle, so that alone makes the entire event worth it, lmao. I figured we were gonna get something like this from all the increasing glimpses at how ancient civilization used to be technologically advanced, but seeing it play out like this is still really fun.

It’s also interesting to get the origin story for Morsayati. It’s not quite as interesting as I would have hoped, since it turns out that the Other is just Mordecai’s disembodied hatred, but still. Mordecai’s a surprisingly adorable character, and for a free unit he also feels surprisingly strong, which is nice. Although it does suck that he just straight up outclasses Hanabusa, lol.

One of the more surprising things about this event is that we’re also getting new world-building about the fairy kingdom, which seems to be setting up for how they teased at the main story moving over there soon. It’s pretty clear that sometime after chapter 18 they’re going to release Notte as a playable character [either as a welfare unit or as a gala unit], and I think Meene is kinda like the template for how they’ll handle Notte as a playable character.

We also now know that we’re getting a free character from chapter 16, and like most people I think it’s probably going to be Leonidas as a flame gun unit going by the preview from the digest, but it’s possible that he’ll be the next gala adventurer instead. I also think they might do something with Chelle soon, since I think they teased her showing up in chapter 17, and we also know that she’s apparently the one who introduced manacasters to the world.

The latest This Month post also talked about how we’re getting a new Halloween event for the middle of the month, which is kinda surprising. I think we’re still getting a Halloween event at the end of the month, so I wonder how this upcoming one will go. My current guess is that, since they didn’t say anything about the banner that’ll be run along with it, they’ll just be rerunning the old Halloween banner for it, and the event itself will just be based around the second year Halloween units, since they didn’t get their own event last year. At least that way we’d get two new Halloween events without having to deal with the stress of getting two differently entirely new Halloween banners in one month. I’m also hoping that they make the old Halloween units non-limited like they did with the Valentines ones.

They’re also apparently going another rerun of Accursed Archives [plus the Akasha event], which is kinda surprising, since I thought they’d just add it to the compendium. But at least this means we’ll get an extra set of rewards once they add it to the compendium later, lol.

We didn’t hear anything about a new Halloween event/banner at the end of the month, but we’re probably getting one, and unless Gala Alex gets featured before it, that’ll probably be what I save my next spark for. I’m not sure exactly how they’ll work it now, but I’m hoping that they’ll bundle the new Halloween units into a gala banner that also introduces a new gala dragon, since that’s also something I want to get, so it’d be nice to knock out two birds with one stone.

#murasaki rambles #dragalia lost #at least we're getting like seven free tenfolds on the Ilia banner lol

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