#akira. akira. where the fuck did you learn that

[legionfusion]

ok but where the FUCK did akira learn how to fly a helicopter. is that like mandatory police training or something. did he just hop in the cockpit and go wild or ??!?!?

the way the game just presents information to you and expects you not to question it. the audacity lmao

[valeriehalla]

actual writing advice

1. Use the passive voice.

What? What are you talking about, “don’t use the passive voice”? Are you feeling okay? Who told you that? Come on, let’s you and me go to their house and beat them with golf clubs. It’s just grammar. English is full of grammar: you should go ahead and use all of it whenever you want, on account of English is the language you’re writing in.

2. Use adverbs.

Now hang on. What are you even saying to me? Don’t use adverbs? My guy, that is an entire part of speech. That’s, like—that’s gotta be at least 20% of the dictionary. I don’t know who told you not to use adverbs, but you should definitely throw them into the Columbia river.

3. There’s no such thing as “filler”.

Buddy, “filler” is what we called the episodes of Dragon Ball Z where Goku wasn’t blasting Frieza because the anime was in production before Akira Toriyama had written the part where Goku blasts Frieza. Outside of this extremely specific context, “filler” does not exist. Just because a scene wouldn’t make it into the Wikipedia synopsis of your story’s plot doesn’t mean it isn’t important to your story. This is why “plot” and “story” are different words!

4. okay, now that I’ve snared you in my trap—and I know you don’t want to hear this—but orthography actually does kind of matter

First of all, a lot of what you think of as “grammar” is actually orthography. Should I put a comma here? How do I spell this word in this context? These are questions of orthography (which is a fancy Greek word meaning “correct-writing”). In fact, most of the “grammar questions” you’ll see posted online pertain to orthography; this number probably doubles in spaces for writers specifically.

If you’re a native speaker of English, your grammar is probably flawless and unremarkable for the purposes of writing prose. Instead, orthography refers to the set rules governing spelling, punctuation, and whitespace. There are a few things you should know about orthography:

English has no single orthography. You already know spelling and punctuation differ from country to country, but did you know it can even differ from publisher to publisher? Some newspapers will set parenthetical statements apart with em dashes—like this, with no spaces—while others will use slightly shorter dashes – like this, with spaces – to name just one example.

Orthography is boring, and nobody cares about it or knows what it is. For most readers, orthography is “invisible”. Readers pay attention to the words on a page, not the paper itself; in much the same way, readers pay attention to the meaning of a text and not the orthography, which exists only to convey that meaning.

That doesn’t mean it’s not important. Actually, that means it’s of the utmost importance. Because orthography can only be invisible if it meets the reader’s expectations.

You need to learn how to format dialogue into paragraphs. You need to learn when to end a quote with a comma versus a period. You need to learn how to use apostrophes, colons and semicolons. You need to learn these things not so you can win meaningless brownie points from your English teacher for having “Good Grammar”, but so that your prose looks like other prose the reader has consumed.

If you printed a novel on purple paper, you’d have the reader wondering: why purple? Then they’d be focusing on the paper and not the words on it. And you probably don’t want that! So it goes with orthography: whenever you deviate from standard practices, you force the reader to work out in their head whether that deviation was intentional or a mistake. Too much of that can destroy the flow of reading and prevent the reader from getting immersed.

You may chafe at this idea. You may think these “rules” are confusing and arbitrary. You’re correct to think that. They’re made the fuck up! What matters is that they were made the fuck up collaboratively, by thousands of writers over hundreds of years. Whether you like it or not, you are part of that collaboration: you’re not the first person to write prose, and you can’t expect yours to be the first prose your readers have ever read.

That doesn’t mean “never break the rules”, mind you. Once you’ve gotten comfortable with English orthography, then you are free to break it as you please. Knowing what’s expected gives you the power to do unexpected things on purpose. And that’s the really cool shit.

5. You’re allowed to say the boobs were big if the story is about how big the boobs were

Nobody is saying this. Only I am brave enough to say it.

Well, bye!

[un-pearable]

internally: decent movie. more tolerable than the previous for most parts. rewatchable. FINALLY has a soundtrack that sounds like sonic and DOESNT have gratuitous plot-irrelevant human scenes. sonic gets to do sonic stuff!!!!! characterization makes sense given previous movies and (very slightly) nudges him towards something potentially interesting. not inventive AT ALL (missing everything intriguing about SA2) but could be worse

externally: while some lore omissions make sense given the world established by the previous films, those choices are boring and others they make are completely baffling changes. rouge omission harms the whole thing. i dislike the entire direction they’ve taken with their sonic characterization and the themes and they fundamentally miss key traits for everyone involved . why did we do this. what was the point

it’s fun. more consistently enjoyable than the previous but that’s mostly bc the scenes that bothered me with the aggressive Carryness had tails in them so i could just watch him be cute.

lore change to make him another mystery alien is annoying but frustratingly makes sense given the context. i’m not torn up over it <- don’t care about shadow and didn’t expect much going in . the missing part of maria’s story is ridiculous though (why is she just there??????)

i love herrrr i love her 70s energy and outfits and i will incorporate the roller skates. its soooo cute . the godzilla movie with the biolizard is pretty funny but that’ll totally piss off diehards. i do think they do good job of showing shadow + maria as friends and why he cares so much about her but that’s mainly just the scope of a film vs a video game

COWARDS THOUGH . SAYING “THEYRE CHILDREN” ON SCREEN TO INTERRUPT A SHOT-FOR-SHOT RECREATION OF HER DEATH??? THATS THE POINT. SHES A CHILD. ITS A TRAGEDYY

the shots directly from the shadow 2005 intro…. unbelievable . hilarious

akira bike slide ON VERTICAL BUILDING is cool i’m here for it

low budget flight and actual sonic-esque music…. i accept my crumbs

knuckles is lame. literally stolen joke from sonic boom w the team knuckles stuff. i wanted him to fight sonic over the ME so bad

the wade reveal is physically painful like i knew it happened in the show but he sucks sucks and right after the only satisfying scene w the humans (shadow fuckin up tom) . ME you deserve betterrrrr

torn on the overall message. i think it’s a more coherent film than the last two and the message isn’t terrible - it aligns with sonic’s overall freedom and choice vibes. but having shadow be a tag along to eggman’s schemes is a weird choice given he was pretty explicitly the one who wanted to . yknow. blow up the earth in the first place and just gave eggman the tools in SA2. this version takes a lot of agency out of his story bc gerald is here. which is weird since the whole explicit theme is choices!!

fucking gerald. can i kill someone. mr carrey i hate him

extremely dragon ball combat. which is fine but unexciting . WHERE the fuck did the emeralds go at the end they just??? gone??? they detransform and (incorrectly) sonic falls out of super and shadow dies but the emeralds flat out do not appear in the film again after they initially transform . what happened

FINALLY giving us a heart to heart AND live and learn for the fight ONLY TO CUT AWAY TO TWO MINUTES OF CARREY SHENANIGANS. illegal . egregious. im glad he’s dead

the shift from sonic having to inspire shadow to be better and move onto his past to . shadow pulling a ‘you’re just like me’ is lame. hello again scourge .

like it’s a logical change especially given the target audience and the kind of stories that are popular rn but it’s sooo less interesting than SA2’s thing

shadow being confronted by sonic bc he challenges his belief of being exceptional and makes him reconsider what it’s possible to be -> shadow being sonic’s narrative parallel bc they both had one (1) human they liked who they would do anything for

^^^ it’s bad. not unwatchable like sonic 1 but bad change. makes sense for this established universe tho so i get it

tails is great . colleen should be paid more

WAIT THINKING ABOUT LIVE & LEARN AGAIN. I CANT FUCKIN BELIEVE IT at least they had the music still playing when they cut back to the fight scene but that bullshit w the egged men. torture

yay shadow dead!!!!! no that final endcredit didn’t happen

the moon shot was cool. sadly now sonadow fans will claim the moon <- IT WAS SONKNUX TERRITORY FIRST

rouge would have made this film 1000000000% better

why so many metal sonic???????? hi amy

at least she’s cute i’ve seen so many bad edits since 2020 at least she’s cute. i’m intrigued w the cloak choice what’s going on here. just to hide the outfit so they can change it? reference? hmm

fascinating implication for whatever 4 is going to be. in my heart carreybotnik stays dead and we get a pseudo heroes where metal is pretending to be him. but alas i fear the family focus for eggman in this film is leading up to. him making metal sonic and treating him as his kid. which could be fucked up in fun ways but i’m so tired of carreyisms

they did say 2027 though which is an extra year than the last two got…. what are you budgeting guys

why oh why is shadow consistently the only character who gets any emotional arcs or storytelling it taunts me…. can’t even hate the guy bc he’s the only one with interesting stories . this story sucks and it’s still better than what knux got . orz

sayonara shadow the hedgehog

[cainluvr69]

"The Master Swordsman Smiles Fearlessly" Cain SR Story - Take My Hand

Cain: (There really isn't much info on Kirsche Persche, huh.) (I guess for right now I'll see if anyone around here has anything, and then report back--)

???: What do you think you're doing?! Give me back my wallet!

Cain: !! (That voice came from…that alleyway.) Hey there, friends. Mugging someone in broad daylight, huh?

Riquet: …! Who…?

Grey-haired Man: Huhhh? Keep your nose outta our business and it'll stay atta… …! You fucker, you're Ventisca's katana expert, aren'tcha. Who'da thought I'd see your ugly mug again.

Cain: Again…? Oh, yeah, now that you mention it, I have seen you before. You two started getting rowdy in one of our shops, so I had to smash your faces into the pavement about it.

Scarred Man: D…don't say it like that! Damn, we're gonna pay you back big time for that!

Cain: You two don't learn easily, do you… Well, whatever. I'll take you both on. Hey, you. You should run while you have the chance. Just leave the rest of this mess to me.

Riquet: I--I'm not going to run! I couldn't possibly let them fight you two against one…

Grey-haired Man: Shut the fuck up already! Take this!

Cain: …jeez.

Grey-haired Man: Gwah?!

Riquet: !! He knocked that man so far back with just one swing…!

Cain: I'd rather not get violent in front of a kid, but… I figure smashing your faces against the pavement again might get the message to stick this time. So come on, feel free to come at me however you'd like.

✦✧☾✧✦

Scarred Man: Th…then how's this?! --Ghh?!

Riquet: Attacking from behind is an act of cowardice! Now repent for your sins!

Cain: Rope darts…? Hey, you know how to fight? I totally thought you were some pampered rich kid…

Riquet: I am nothing of the sort! I'm perfectly capable of fighting with these. Please leave this one to me!

Cain: Gotcha! But I wanna talk to you when we're done here, alright? Let's make this quick. Hah!

Riquet: Haah!

✦✧☾✧✦

Those Guys: Tch… R-run for it!

Cain: Whew, we're finally done… Hey, kid, you're not hurt, are you?

Riquet: No, I am not. Thank you very much for coming to my rescue, um…

Cain: My name's Cain. Good to meet you.

Riquet: Cain. My name is Riquet. Um…what are you putting your hand out for?

Cain: What, you don't know? It's for a handshake. Even if it was a brief battle, I still entrusted my back to you. I want to express my respect for you, as well as my gratitude. If you're not opposed, just grab my hand.

Riquet: Wahh, Cain, your hand is so warm…

Cain: Ahaha, I get that a lot. How about you, do you get told that your face looks like a little kid's when you're not fighting?

Riquet: Wah, n-no, I don't! Stop treating me like a kid, you're getting my hair all messy…!

Cain: Sorry, sorry. Here, I'll smooth it back out.

Riquet: Goodness gracious… You were so cool when you came to rescue me, but I see that in truth you're rather unrefined.

Cain: Am I? But, hmm, something about the way you said that… Feels oddly nostalgic for some reason.

Training Episode: Unchanging, Even In One's Dreams

Cain: The dreams you have are always so intense, Master Sage. Could you tell me more about that latest one?

Akira: Sure, I don't mind.

Cain: Let's see, it was the one where Snow was an adult, and me and Mithra were his henchmen.

Akira: Oh, yes. Riquet and I were in a different organization that was in conflict with yours, though…

Cain: By conflict, you mean I had to fight you guys? I dunno how I feel about that…

Akira: Oh, no, it never came to that! But one time you did stop me from running away when I was scared… Seeing you be so threatening gave me chills.

Cain: I can't believe the version of me in your dreams would do something like that to you. Next time you see him, be sure to chew him out for me.

Akira: Ahaha. Now that I'm awake, it just sounds funny. Besides, it wasn't like you were a super scary person in that dream or anything. Once I actually got to talk to you, it was obvious right away what a friendly, kind person you really were.

Cain: What, really?

Akira: Yes! All of the best parts of you didn't change a bit.

Cain: Ahaha. Getting complimented like that is a little embarrassing. But rather than that being kindness, I'd say it was…

Akira: Was what?

Cain: That the me inside your dream wanted to become friends with you, too. Since, hey, that was what I was thinking when you and I first met, Akira.

[kuratm]

I JUST RETURNED FROM THE MOVIES AND HOLY SHIT? HOLY FUCKING SHIT, SONIC 3 BLEW ALL MY EXPECTATIONS, IN BEST WAY POSSIBLE! 😭😭😭😭😭😭

spoilers under read more!

first and foremost, THE REFERENCES TO SONIC ADVENTURE 2! THE BIKER SHADOW SCENES! THE AKIRA REFERENCE! not only it put a big smile on my face, but brought SO MUCH NOSTALGIA to me. i shit you not, when they played live and learn, my inner child screamed and jumped in joy 🥺 also the def not obvious references to snapcube sonic LMAO i've come to make an announcement-

secondly, THE SCENES WITH MARIA AND SHADOW HIT ME SO HARD! they were sad in video games, don't get me wrong, but THIS MOVIE? holy shit, they amped up the sadness of it - leaving me a crying mess in the cinema 😭😭😭

thirdly, the fucking part where ivo and gerald (both portrayed by jim carry) went "it's almost like we're the same actor in a movie!", made me LAUGH so fucking hard MKDMRKFMTGMTMKG holy shit, i never laughed so hard like i did in that moment

additionally, i wanna say it's interesting what the movie did with gerald's character - bc in the games, he was more so a background character and the victim who was forced to create shadow... but, in the movie? he's actually a VILLAIN, which is honestly a really nice change.... but also, the way he died with a fucking fart and poof 😂😂

also, the way sonic and shadow mirror each other is PHENOMENAL. they mirrored each other in the games, true, but it wasn't as IN DEPTH as it is in this movie, and i just... i really love how they added more character in these goofy fellas ;u; made my lil heart spark with joy

last but not least....

REVENGE GUAC

[princelylove]

My Prince,

This is a bit personal, so feel free not to respond if you desire to do so. A fear I have is driving. I think I’m a bad driver. I get over it enough to drive, since I have to, but I’ve come home panicking over almost getting into a car accident. It feels terrible. My fear is that I’m going to accidentally kill/hurt someone and then I don’t know how I’d live with it. I’m mostly scared about myself driving, I feel less worried if I think the driver isn’t reckless.

I wonder if and how yanderes would use the fear to make me dependent on them.

They could screw up my car, sabotage it so it breaks down, or mess with my tires? They get to be a ‘knight in shining armor’ when they coincidentally show up to help if I’m stranded. Struggling to get money needed for repairs is also a good opportunity for them.

Show me videos or news reports of terrible car crashes or pileups to remind me of the danger, or tell me about people they knew that were injured or died in a car accident?

I don’t know how anyone could do this, but somehow orchestrate car crashes to happen around me so I see them up close?

Maybe they could make comments about my driving, insult my driving, make a joke out of it to hurt my confidence while driving and make me feel guilty? But I’d hope they would be at least somewhat gentle about it…

And then as I get more scared of being ‘behind the wheel’, they could slowly offer to take me places themselves, until it’s to the point I’m dependent on them for getting around. If I refuse to drive, they have significant control of my schedule and how I do things. It also makes it much harder to escape a kidnapping if I’m too scared to take transportation.

Who would most likely do these kind of things?

i apologize for this being so long, and it’s appreciated if Your Highness read through all this blabbering. Thank you very much.

You would like a yandere that scares you, anon? One that manipulates you? It's too easy sometimes.

I like it when my peons prattle, it's often cute.

Typical manipulators are going to abuse any sort of fear- Noriaki, Diavolo, Melone... the list goes on. Cars are tricky because they don't really come around until part two, and leave in part six. Part seven has very, very new ones- they count, I guess. There's a window where cars are just in development and not that reliable, but I don't see many yanderes in part three and behind as all that manipulative.

Sure, Caesar is, but he's too proud to take the easy way out. Lisa Lisa doesn't see the point in cars when you're meant to be living on her private island. Joseph respects the technique and isn't above sabotaging yours, but... that's pretty lame. He's more creative than that.

There's also the fact that some manipulative yanderes are out of touch or otherwise don't care for cars. Kars doesn't know what that thing is and he doesn't care to learn. DIO is newly acquainted, but isn't going to drive himself, as he's above it. Giorno is banned from being behind the wheel ever since the White Album incident. Leone is normally too tipsy to reasonably put himself behind the wheel, Bruno tends to walk everywhere...

Some yanderes could sabotage your car with their stand if they wanted to, but putting on the news works too. Court TV is on because knowing about the news is important, no you can't have the remote. Ohh, that man drove into a parade, that's crazy. They're saying he was drinking. Isn't that little treat you get during the day alcoholic? Ohh, no? I thought there was a lawsuit going on with the company that makes it, said they were putting it in and mislabeling it. Crazy, huh.

Mariah fucks with your car before she asks you to drive her anywhere. Kochi could easily attach "Heavy!" under your car in traffic, as he did in canon. Akira could- well, to be honest with you, I'm not sure how cars work, but I'm sure Red Hot Chili Peppers could mess with it somehow. Machines are always going to be just that- machines. They break, they stop working. Fickle things.

As for who I think definitely would.... Melone likes to do tricks on his bike to scare you, Hol Horse would do just about anything to get one up on you, and Funny Valentine is absolutely not above orchestrating a crash in front of you. Newly invented, so unreliable.

But some yanderes are very understanding about it, can you take the train or just walk? Maybe bike? They'll come with you so you don't get lonely! Josuke normally takes a train to get to his university, he can teach you how to use the little card and how to get a good seat or stand in a good place.

Or, you could get lucky and get Jolyne, who wasn't gonna let you drive anyway and takes safety super, super seriously. Or Rohan, who could easily rewrite any of your fears! (But won't.)

[xylofondue]

Ninjago DR S2 Spoilers!!!

Ninjago dr s2 was soo good because it really reminded me of like the Oni Trilogy, which is my favorite group of seasons ever and i really appreciated the callbacks it made like in the Oni trilogy and OMG like it had really good animation and Cole is when hotter than before which i didn’t know could happen but it did and Galadrial??? Wizard lady? Yes please she’s so cool and her character design is mwah chef’s kiss and the Finders are so found family it hurts. Also theory for Fitz since he has a crow mask on his head and marking like Akira, he could be a forgotten formling? Which is pretty sad but maybe. Also the parallels between Lloyd and Arin and Wu and Morro???? Help??!? It is not good in my opinion that Lloyd is trying to be like Wu girlypop you do NOT want to be like him you know how his first student turned out and also apparently Arin learned Shatterspin??? Like the similarities between him and Cinder’s Shatterspins are ENDLESS. I also think that Arin has the FSM’s or Wu’s powers now bc he has golden powers and is ✨special ✨who else in Ninjago have we seen with golden colored powers? Wu and the FSM. Also WHERE IS PIXAL????? Shes dead and never comimg back im convinced also i NEED that Frohicky plush i swear i need it for my mental health its so adorable ALSO NON BINARY FLAG ON ONE OF THE PEOPLE IN DORAMA’S SHOW HAD IT ON THEIR SLEEVE IM SCREAMING AAAAAAAAAAA anyway egalt is a dickbag he should listen to his wife and not rag on Arin pls you are not helping him with his self esteem issues bro. AND THE KAI AND NYA FLASHBACK??? GORGEOUS AMAZING THEY WERE SO CUTE also what was kai’s vision in the tunnel???? Why was he looking at Lloyd and Nya like that??? What happened???? Also Arin is defo going to be manipulated into that Shattering Gong thing like omg. I guessed it ep2 and im sticking with it. They keep talking about how Arin is naive and good and stuff and Ras is taking advantage of that stay away from my baby i swear if you touch the child i will kill you. Also Lloyd is so not doing well. Like it’s almost funny how not okay he is. Bonzle is also officially one of my fav characters and i’m convinced that Zane was Cole’s gay crush or gay awakening bc they were super close and Cole was always more affectionate and touchy with Zane than the others (sorry lava) And Kai is so dad-coded it hurts he deserved to be the one to learn Rising Dragon technique i will fight anyone who disagrees. Also the fears scene was kinda funny like you had everyone else as like devastated and sad, while Nya’s just like “Jay would not fucking do that tf? Clearly fake” unfortunately it’s true and it hurts so much

Um

Good show about legos that i am so normal about.

[chompmon]

I desperately wish to make a rewrite of togainu no chi- one where all routes happen simultaneously, where everyone gets their ending, where characters dont make weird choices just because they're in a bl and we Have to have a sex scene here.... what if Nano raping Akira had more meaning? What if Akira asked him at the end, when he had the whole spiel about choosing your own fate, "why did you rape me? Was That predetermined? You couldve just not done it."

Learning about the experiments through more gradual, impactful ways than a lore dump at gunpoint. Motomi could be the one to make Akira remember things. Giving Akira more painful memories, more reason to be afraid of his blood, more reason to feel affected by what happened- he's stuck fixing other people's traumas throughout the game and we don't get to learn enough about him. And he s weirdly well adjusted and opinionated for the character thats meant to be apathetic and cold...

Rin getting more screentime. Shiki being more than a one note villain. Giving Akira more agency instead of him just running around and stumbling upon the next plot point. Keisuke not just fucking instantly dying after surviving rein, giving Him more agency...

I don't know how i'd end the story. I d probably be biased, for example i d never have akira be with shiki at the end, but i d want to pick the one thats the most satisfying narrative-wise, and that feels like it'd be nano or keisuke.

Idk i just. Nitrochi give me the rights to togainu no chi im gonna make this so good just pls respond to my emails-

[andtheyreonfire]

sacrifice

ao3

WC: 1,065

AN: happy birthday @averagegtenjoyer !!!! you are a fucking awesome friend and i offer this to you until i can get your actual gift sorted out fhdskjl

~

“Does it get lonely?” Akechi asks. “Being a god?”

Akira snorts. He’s hunched over his own creation, room-sized hands polishing massive bits of metal. One of these days, Akechi should ask him what he’s doing. One of these days, it might make a difference. “I'm not a god?”

“Oh?” Akechi smiles, wide enough for Akira to see. He shifts on the embroidered pillow he’s perched on. The cushion’s larger than his mother’s house. Akechi pretends the thought doesn’t make him cower. “So, the sacrifices, the temple, the cult at your door—all of those are just for show?”

Akira pulls a needle from—somewhere. Hammerspace surrounds him. Akechi'd be lying if he said he wasn’t the most dangerous entity he’s ever seen. It's good thing he’s practiced, then. “I suppose gods’ sacrifices wouldn’t ask these types of questions.”

“Do you mind?”

“No.” Akira shrugs. He threads the needle, adding leather to the handle of something that almost looks like a sickle. At least, if the blade didn’t spiral inward like a fractal. “At least, I don’t think so.”

“You can’t tell?”

“A god would mind. I don’t know. I like hearing about your life.”

All at once, Akechi has the urge to scoot closer to him. He’s sitting on a cushion to the side of Akira's—desk is a generous word, considering it’s the size of a cliff and carved from a species of wood Akechi's never seen in his life. The set-up is enchanting, inviting. It makes Akechi feel special, to be here. It’d be effortless to close the gap.

Akechi freezes, warning lights blaring in his mind. His hand twitches for the sword at his side. With a tremendous amount of effort, Akechi retracts it. He must soften his edges, appear something like innocent, for his mission.

This—flirting is dangerous. The longer his enemy does so instead of showing his true, monstrous colors, the more dangerous it becomes. Akechi shouldn’t be this close.

There’s nothing Akechi can do but persist. “Time is all we have, I suppose. I understand wanting to find ways to pass it.”

Akira snorts again, dropping the needle. “Sure.” Akechi doesn’t flinch as it clatters against the desk, doesn’t move as Akira reaches for a cloth the size of a bedsheet. He can’t stop his palms from sweltering. “I'm surprised I couldn’t convince you to pick up a hobby. It does get boring down here.”

“I can entertain myself well enough.” Studying the giant would be Akechi’s hobby, if it wasn’t already his job. That, and sharpening his skills for the day of reckoning: slashing matchsticks as long as his leg whenever Akira turns his back. He didn’t sacrifice himself to the demon’s dimension without an army as backup, ready to strike the second Akechi finds his weakness. That would be foolish.

Almost as foolish as believing Akira when he says he cares.

Akechi says, for the sake of learning weaknesses and nothing else, “If you’re not a god, then what species are you?”

Akira doesn’t look up, polishing the long, cold blade with a soft cloth. “I’m just condemned, I guess.”

Akechi laughs. He’s self-aware enough, at least, to know his side will lose the war. And then, Akechi will have the commander right where he wants. And then—well. Akechi asks, “By whom?”

“I fucked up.” From this far down, his face is impossible to read. It’s easier to pretend Akechi's at a disadvantage than acknowledging Akira has the most impressive poker face he’s ever seen. “I didn’t mean any harm, but someone thought I did. I'm trapped here for as long as they see fit. We’re all bugs to be squashed by someone, I suppose.”

Fucking rich, considering Akechi's almost been on the wrong side of Akira's boot several times. Still, Akechi smiles. “And, what are you? You didn’t answer my question.”

The blade is otherworldly in the pale light of Akira's room. Akechi watches as Akira finishes, heaving an object that weighs as much as a house into a drawer. When he turns to Akechi, his gaze is readable, sharp. “I don’t think I need to be anything. It’s restricting. What matters is that I'm here, and what I can do with the tools I have.”

Akechi steels himself, trying not to feel like a bug pinned to a corkboard. “Wouldn’t it be nice to define yourself? To describe yourself?”

“For what? For other people? Or for your own sake?”

Akechi rests a hand on his chin, forcing himself to relax, a little, into their usual back-and-forth. “For others, I suppose.”

“You tell me.” All at once, Akechi's veins turn to ice, as Akira tilts his head and says, “You never told me your given name.”

Because Akechi doesn’t have one. Because he remembers his mother—her warnings, the fear in her eyes, the scars, the blood, her cold, limp embrace—and there’s nothing else Akechi wants to honor. There’s no one else he’s doing this for. He’s an Akechi, he’s Akechi, and if Akira peeled back the walls of his heart with a sword-like claw, he’d find nothing beyond that.

The perfect soldier. The unwanted child. The burden of a son—his identity doesn’t matter. He’s here, he’s going to slay this monster, and he’s going to take revenge on the commander who ruined his life. That’s final.

“You’re right, I suppose.” Akira rumbles, snapping Akechi out of his thoughts.

It’s been a minute since Akechi was supposed to respond. Akira's looking right at him, eyes the size of Akechi's head locked onto his pathetic—no, not pathetic, Akira's just freakishly oversized—form. Akechi keeps his tone level when he asks, “What?”

“I didn’t answer your question.” Akira crosses his arms, placing his head in the crook of his elbow. Akechi freezes, instinctually, at the proximity. “It does get lonely, around here.”

Akechi's limbs threaten to tremble. It’s his weakness—all this time, and he still freezes up when Akira when levels his full attention on him. It’s the size. It’s the strength. It’s the fact that he’s taking off his mask to look someone the size of his finger in the eye. All Akechi can manage is, “O—oh.”

“But, it’s not so bad.” Akira smiles, then, unmasked gaze turning soft. “I have you, after all.”

Akechi hunches his shoulders, hand tightening around the hilt of his sword. He doesn’t look back.

[jack-in-the-dark]

Jack Builds Spaceboats: The Rally Vincent, Part 2: Akira-class, My Beloved

Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert at this game and the information I present may be erroneous.

I love the Akira-class. I cannot overstate that. Ever since I first saw the beautiful USS Thunderchild and her sisters at the Battle of Sector 001 in Star Trek: First Contact, I have been in love with this ship.

I love that way she looks. The way her design makes her swoop. I love her lore. I love that she's basically what you get when Starfleet decides to throw subtlety out the window. I love how she's sleek and aggressive while still maintaining that Starfleet feel.

So here comes an autism rant.

The development of the Akira-class starship started after the Battle of Wolf 359, where an entire fleet of starships was annihilated by a single Borg cube in a matter of hours, if not minutes. It was a massacre, and a wake-up call. It was a reminder to Starfleet that having fighting ships, while frowned upon by Federation ideals, is an absolute necessity for the peace and safety of the Federation.

So the engineers got to work, and designed four new classes of ship designed primarily with kicking Borg ass in mind: the Defiant, the Sabre, the Norway, and the Akira. While the Defiant, Sabre, and Norway were more compact and smaller designs, the Akira-class was a full-fledged cruiser at over two-thirds the length of the massive Galaxy-class explorers.

She also had a truly massive hangar bay that ran the full length of the saucer section, allowing her to carry an unheard-of amount of support craft.

What truly set the Akira-class apart, though, was the fact that she is absolutely fucking covered in torpedo launchers. Most Starfleet ships have, at most, four torpedo launchers - two fore, two aft, with phaser arrays covering the ship (the Galaxy-class, for example, is considered a battleship with two torpedo launchers and over a dozen phaser arrays). The Akira-class has three phaser arrays. She has fifteen photon torpedo launchers. Four facing forward in the weapons pod, three on each side covering the aft port and starboard quarters in the mission pod, one in the saucer section just above the deflector dish and, most unusually, two photon torpedo launchers on each side of the saucer section facing directly port and starboard.

A big part of why I started playing Star Trek Online was because I wanted to fly an Akira-class. I longed for it. So naturally, I pounced on the opportunity the moment it presented itself.

You can imagine that it came as a bit of a shock when I learned that the torpedo-heavy cruiser-carrier I loved was, in game terms, an agile glass cannon designed to use dual cannons.

I exploded. A lot. So much so, in fact, that I straight-up swore off flying escorts almost altogether and started flying cruisers instead because they could take a goddamn hit.

I was angry, I was disappointed, and even a little heartbroken.

But as my knowledge of the game grew, I kept going back to the USS Rally Vincent, re-evaluating and tweaking, and eventually even making a ship that I felt actually worked with what an Akira-class should be.

Then, in 2022, I started seeing rumors around the STO subreddit: Cryptic was working on a Legendary Akira-class. Now, "Legendary" variants are typically only for "Hero" ships, those that served as the focus of a series (like the various Enterprises, the Defiant, and Voyager). The idea of a Legendary Akira-class was... curious, but also very very exciting.

So I immediately started saving up, and holy shit am I glad I did. When Cryptic announced the Legendary First Strike Bundle and the stats of the ships it would come with (the Legendary Multi-Mission Command Carrier and the not-talking-about-it-in-this-post Legendary Temporal Ops Strike Wing Escort Warbird), it was like Cryptic had read my Christmas list and decided I'd been such a good boy this year that I was gonna get everything I wanted.

This was finally a frame that could be an honest-to-goodness Akira-class. Still nimble, but not a dogfighter, able to take a few on the chin, packing enough firepower to make a Klingon blush, and full Command specialization seating primary and Miracle Worker secondary, giving her access to some fantastic Bridge Officer abilities and arguably the best torpedo-buffing BOFF ability in the game, Concentrate Firepower III.

It was truly an evolution of the Rally Vincent's build, going well beyond mere improvement. The advent of the Advanced Hangar consoles elevated the build even further, making her one of only a handful of ships I have capable of dealing with Elite content despite her decidedly off-meta build.

I genuinely wish I could give this ship a hug. She really is a dream come true for me.

[discordiansamba]

spitballing about the altean empire AU, parallel reverse, a bit here because that's the mood I woke up in this morning.

it is, of course based very strongly on the alternate universe arc from who you are in the dark. I kept worldbuilding for it and this is the result.

the main plot focuses on Akira Kogane, our Keith parallel, who unbeknownst to him is half-Altean on his long absent mother's side. He's still raised in foster care, and still wound up under the mentorship of Sven (and still stole his car. some things never change). They have the same close bond that Shiro and Keith do, because of course they do.

They end up in a rebellion against the Altean Empire together, alongside the parallel versions of the other paladins- Tsuyoshi Garret, an engineering teacher from the Galactic Garrison, Isamu McClain, a cargo pilot instructor and Katie "Cat" Holt, whose entire family went on a 'diplomatic' meeting to Altea and never came back.

She stayed with Sven while they were gone (and then never came back), so she ends up knowing Akira quite well.

Akira always possessed an odd ability to temporarily disrupt the hoktrils upon making physical contact with them. This is wildly useful to the rebellion- but also caught the eye of the Altean Empire... and it's current Empress.

Eventually, Akira, Cat, and Tsuyoshi are captured during an ambush and taken back to Altea, where Akira is separated from the other two- and ends up learning more about his mother than he ever wanted to.

It turns out his mother, Lia, was one of the few Alteans who still possessed alchemical abilities, and that she disappeared on a quest to find Oriande. It means he's half-Altean, a fact which he can't deny after the Empress breaks the illusion his mom cast over him before he left Earth, that kept him looking so human.

Since Akira himself also clearly possess her same talents, the Alteans are very eager to convince him to join them. Akira wants nothing to do with the Empire, but he also sees the groundwork of a way to protect both Cat and Tsuyoshi from the hoktril. So he cuts a deal- he'll join them, if they spare them both from it.

(Turns out, the Alteans aren't wildly enthusiastic about applying the hoktril to a race that looks so eerily similar to themselves.)

This saves Cat and Tsuyoshi, although they do both get slapped with a much more old-fashioned pre-hoktril version of the Empire's 'rehabilitation'- effectively, shock collars. Akira can at least pull strings so that they're basically put into his service since apparently all Altean alchemists are brought into the royal family. Which means he's a prince now. what the fuck.

oh yeah. he guesses he's also betrayed the rebellion now too- he did kind of have to sell out one of their bases to really get the Alteans to trust him. Good thing he knows Slav has absolutely cleared the place out by now... but that doesn't stop him from being thrust back into the conflict on the Empire's side now.

he hates everything about it. but if wants to keep Tsuyoshi and Cat safe, he doesn't have much of a choice.

(he's also way too good at selling it for his own comfort. Sven hates him now, he's sure.)

He also learns that not all Alteans have fallen in line with the ways of the Empire. There's a resistance effort within the Empire itself, and they very quickly smoke each other out. This gives him a chance to pass intelligence to them, which they can in turn, pass onto the rebellion.

He also realizes that if he's able to master this alchemy stuff, he might have an actual opportunity to kill the Altean Empress himself and he's not going to pass that up.

In the process of trying to learn more about his talent, he stumbles upon an AI created from the memories of an Altean named Coran, who was killed shortly after Altea became an Empire...

(...and there's a ghost of a woman haunting the halls of the Castle that only he can see.)

[davekat-sucks]

about damara, but again, look at WHO is calling her a "racist caricature" and WHY. I dont think the people that do that even know what that means, because the only people ive seen call her that are americans or at kates podcasts and when you look at what they think is "good representation" they create shit like the validate game where a french-korean woman gets called colonized pussy and also nicknames herself "the colonizer and the colonized" because of her mixed heritage, or they draw damara as a tree jumping ninja, or they insult japanese artists for drawing the hs characters in an anime style.

and once again i want americans to answer this: do they think that when an anime/manga has a character speaking broken english its an offensive racist caricature, or they recognize that the mangaka might not speak english, acknowledge it as the joke that it is and not take it that seriously? because damara has way more in common with those characters than any racial caricature they are thinking of.

did they expect akira toriyama to learn fluent italian so that piccolo could start speaking it fluently because his name means small in italian? or english because apparently some people think piccolo is "black coded"? and im not defending hussie here either, fuck him, im asking how can anyone be expected to accurately portray damara, an alien troll parodying weaboos that has never lived in actual japan, as "japanese coded" if theyre required to learn an entirely new language to fluency for fanwork thats not even monetized?

instead of repeating and fighting over the same problem over and over again, why not offer a solution. i just want to hear what japanese fans think is bad about damara (her quirk, her design, her personality, its their call) and we could have a discussion of what could be done to better portray her as a parody of weaboos or simply just so that no artist nor writer is harassed anymore for simply wanting to do fanworks for her or simply liking her character.

so here is a starting point of the discussion on the long shot that there is a japanese fan reading this, but anyone is welcome to join: i actually think damaras attitude of a vulgar foul mouthed delinquent high school girl is supposed to be reminiscent of sukeban, in that shes a rebel outcast that takes no shit and smokes cigarettes. and that she wears a hairbun and speaks google japanese because hussie based her on tinkerbell, who has the same hairstyle and spoke in bell sounds that could only be understood by peter pan (ie. rufioh, pupa pan) and was very jealous of his romance with wendy (horuss?). if one problem in this concept is the google translate japanese, would it be better if that was changed to morse code instead or something else? why or why not?

[shslskaterboy]

Ryuji for bingo if no one else has yet :>

Boy I don’t even know where to fucking start with him, he makes me so insane and there’s so many things to touch on that my brain just puts itself through a food processor every time I try. First of all I am taking him away from atlus until they can learn to play nice with him, bc he’s such a good boy and there is NO reason he would be Like That to Ann given that he WASN’T IN THE BEGINNING. Anyways, that aside, the second most egregious sin they commit with him is never letting him have any emotional payoff. The Kamoshida arc was very good for Ann, but it did come at the expense of not giving Ryuji a big moment despite the fact that he also had big emotional stakes in it, and it is a crime that he get relegated to being the Best Friend Guy for the rest of the game. Ofc this isn’t necessarily a bad archetype, if not for the fact that atlus seems to think there’s no use in him having feelings that are addressed in a meaningful way. The closest we get is his confidant, which gives us a very clear indication of his tendency to take responsibility for things that aren’t his fault (baby please, Kamoshida breaking your leg and disbanding the track team was not your fault 😭) and how he finally let’s go of the track team in favour of moving on by Akira’s side (gay as hell btw sorry I don’t make the rules.) And all of that is good, but it’s nowhere near the level of emotional catharsis he deserves after all the shit he’s been through.

As you can probably surmise, I have spent more than a little of my brain power thinking about this. But in the interest of not writing a full thesis or spoiling anything by getting more specific, I shall leave it on this note: he is so so pretty and so silly and so Ouppy and he makes me want to absolutely tear my hair out bc he could’ve been perfect if atlus hadn’t fucking NERFED HIM

[sushispider1212]

Shigeru constantly using his knowledge/college class in psychology to fuck with Akira, some examples being:

-Handing him random objects/trash while on the phone (weirdest object was a skull of an unknown animal, Akira doesn’t know where Shigeru got it from and is terrified)

-Leading Akira to random spots when he is too busy ranting to notice Shigeru is taking him somewhere (he was once taken to the edge of a cliff and left there)

-Giving Akira candy/treats when he does something Shigeru likes (genuinely this fucks with people so much when you randomly stop doing it, which is what Shigeru did, basically trained him like a dog and Akira was so upset when he figured it out)

-Learning Akira’s body movements and mirroring him at random times, it unconsciously makes him uncomfortable

-Staring intensely at a random part of Akira’s face then wiping that spot on his own to make Akira think he has something wrong with him

-Mentioning something random and often wrong things about Akira’s appearance and then promptly saying “But don’t worry, you can hardly notice it.”

-Staring at his forehead intensely when having conversations, it really freaks Akira out

-Asking Akira if he’s ever gotten Deja vu, then asking it again a while later

And the list goes on, Akira is absolutely terrified of Shigeru because he knows he’s being messed with, he just doesn’t know how to spot it when it happens, or when it’ll happen next. (lemme know if you have any other ideas of what this asshole (loving) has done to Akira)

Oh please that’s hilarious.

I imagine Shigeru just occasionally moves things around, but only slightly, and denies it was ever moved. It was always like that, what are you talking about?

Or like randomly texting Akira “remember”, leading Akira to wonder what the hell he is supposed to be remembering.

[cuiizhu]

Helios Rising Heroes - Rise on GoldenXXSection

Note:

This entire event story is an April Fools AU. None of its contents are within Helios's canon, but it does reflect the plotline of Main Story CH14 - First Storm and is best appreciated after reading said chapter. Go read it if you haven't yet, it's very good.

Chapter 1:

Akira: HELL YEAH! The Genius Idol, Ootori Akira’s back at it! Gonna work at Voltage Max again today! 

Dino: Good morning, Akira-kun. You’re as lively as ever~ perfect marks♪

Akira: Hehe♪ Ain’t that right~

Asch: Oi, greet people properly. 

Akira: Haah? I just did, and happily too! 

Asch: That wasn’t a greeting. It was just a big monologue. 

Akira: …Shit, don’t say things that ruin the mood. Even you don’t greet us all the time either.  

Asch: Aah??? Don’t fuck with me, shithead. 

Gast: Now now. Why don’t we turn the voltage down a notch instead of maxing it within the first minute of arriving at work, both of you? 

Akira: Gast! Don’t steal MY Voltage Max! 

Gast: It’s not stealing…. And anyways, where’d you get the idea that Asch isn’t greeting us? 

Gast: He’s more thorough than any of us, you usually just don’t see it. 

Akira: Eeh….? 

Asch: In the first place, you’re always arriving later than me. Know your place. 

Akira: Guh…..

Asch: For a rookie to do it this often…Do you want to learn this lesson the painful way? 

Akira: The hell, you wanna go? 

Gast: Oi, quit it…. Asch too, don’t let it get to ya. 

Asch: Hmph. 

Dino: Let’s just calm down you guys. Look, here’s the piping hot pizza that just arrived~

Akira: You ordered pizza again!? Everytime I come here, this agency’s always got pizza. 

Asch: It’s not the agency’s fault, it’s this guy’s. This pizzahead bitch never gets tired of ordering it day in and day out. 

Dino: I’ll never get tired of it! One pizza per day! Then I’ll be happy, and everyone will be happy! 

Dino: Definitely, love and peace…..☆

Gast: Ahaha, there it is. Dino’s inscrutable motto. 

Asch: Tsk, who’s ever heard of an idol that eats nothing but pizza everyday. …..How have you not gained weight? 

Dino: I won’t gain weight. In fact, it’s full of benefits for health and beauty! See? If you eat pizza, it’ll be love and peace …..☆

Asch: Stop shitting around…. speak like a normal person.

 

Akira: Dino’s supposed to be our leader, right? At first glance, he seems normal, but I don’t really understand…. 

Akira: Hm? Gast, whatchu lookin’ at? 

Gast: Our fanclub site. Subscribers seem to be on the rise.

Akira: Oh!? What’s that feel like !?

Gast: Take a look…our followers on social media are steadily increasing, and results from searchin’ your own name feels pretty great. 

Gast: For a while there were some rumors of member disagreements that’d pop up, but that’s calmed down since. 

Dino: Ahaha, there it is~. I think everyone’s realized Asch’s lone wolf persona.

Asch: Aah? This ain’t a persona.  

Dino: Is that so? Well, even so, it just means they’ve accepted who you are as a person, I’m glad ♪

Asch: ……Tch….

Akira: Ah! By the way, there was talk of using our song in a commercial right? Any updates on that?

Gast: Aah that, huh. That kinda talk…

Dino: That huh~ It’s a shame but it seems that’s a dead end. Apparently they picked another song last minute. 

Akira: Seriously!? Man, and I was so looking forward to it…..

Dino: There there…these sorts of things happen all the time, so don’t get too down in the dumps. There’ll be plenty of other chances soon enough. 

Asch: ….Plenty my ass? 

Asch: We’ve been like this since before the rookie’s arrival. We’re not at a level where these offers come handed to us on a silver platter. 

Dino: You think so? Between the conditions and power balance within the agency, so on and so forth—I think it depends a lot on those kinds of circumstances…..

Dino: But I think first priority should go to whether we fit what they’re looking for. 

Dino: “This is what I wanted! This is exactly what I was looking for!” —till we get those kinds of feedback, let’s keep giving our all♪

Asch: Tsk, if only the industry were so simple—

Akira: You mean, till you’re the strongest idol! Leave it to me, I’ll shut everyone up! 

Dino: Akira-kun…..!

Akira: Let’s aim to have the most fans in Japan, no, in the WORLD! Voltage Max!!!

Asch: Turn it down….

Masterlist || Next

[letsplayballet]

so uh. this post didn't get a whole lot of attention but it did get just enough for me to start trying to write some other scenes. this piece is pretty different vibe-wise, and i'm pretty sure it's not done, but i'm tired of looking at it so!!

~*~

“Have I told you that my father was a cop?”

Akira stops, losing his mental grip on the rest of the sentence he’d been writing for his literature assignment for Kawakami. Glancing up from the paper, he sees Makoto sitting tense as a coiled spring on his perpetually dusty couch, knuckles white on her pen, staring through the textbook in front of her as if she could see into the café below their feet. If it weren’t for Morgana’s perked ears from where he’d been half asleep on the table, Akira could almost believe that she hadn’t said anything at all.

It had been a little strange, when Makoto had shown up hours early for their planned infiltration of Futaba’s palace. She’s his teammate, and he trusts her implicitly, is willing to put his life in her hands- if she’d shown up that morning asking him to go backpacking across China with her, he would only have asked if it could wait until after they’d dealt with Medjed. But despite all this, they haven’t had a lot of time to spend together individually, and Akira gets the sense that there’s still a lot he doesn’t know about her as Makoto, as opposed to Queen.

And she hadn’t asked to do anything drastic. Hadn’t asked anything at all, actually. Just stood in the entrance to Leblanc silently, exactly 15 minutes after opening, until Akira (remembering all I am is a burden to her, remembering the faintest gleam of guilty relief in her eyes when telling them I haven’t seen my sister in days) finishes brewing coffee for the both of them and just as silently brings her upstairs to his room.

They’ve been working on their summer homework for nearly an hour, quiet but not uncomfortably so. This is the first either of them has broken the silence, and it’s pretty clear that whatever is on Makoto’s mind has been weighing on her for a while.

Realizing she’s still sitting there, tense and unmoving, Akira clears his throat a little. “Once, I think? You said he’d worked the beat in Shinjuku.”

Makoto lets out a long, measured breath through her nose, and her jaw unclenches ever so slightly. It’s another few moments before she speaks again.

“He was. He was actually a really instrumental part of the Shinjuku Cleanup Operation.”

She stops again. Bites her lip. Her pen shifts slightly in her grasp.

“I… Growing up, I thought of him as a hero, you know? Idolized him, even. I didn’t know much about his job, not really, but between the few things he shared and what I would always see on shows, I definitely had this golden, untouchable image of what he did. Hunting down criminals, bringing justice to the world… I wanted so badly to be just like him.”

There’s a faint, fond wistfulness to her tone that makes Akira intensely grateful for her still-distant gaze, forcing his breathing to remain calm and even as he gently sets his own pen down and hides his shaking hands in his lap. For a moment he’s overwhelmed –

that dark, ugly fury rising up in him, blinding, screaming see, you can’t trust anyone, as if anyone would give a fuck about you when you’re nothing –

the sense memories of hands too-tight grabbing pulling and concrete hard and cold against his face –

until his battle instincts kick in and he’s able to bring his mind back to his body in the (conditional, relative) safety of his attic room. This is Makoto. She’s not an idiot, and she’s not frivolous with her words, still learning she can say more than the bare minimum she absolutely needs to. If she’s saying all this, to him of all people, then there’s something important in there.

Thankfully, Makoto has lapsed into silence again, too lost in organizing her thoughts to notice his slip. He can feel Morgana’s eyes on him, though, and makes a mental note to block out his evening for that conversation just as Makoto continues.

“When he-” she pauses once more, swallows. “When he died on the job, a few years ago, I only became more motivated to follow in his footsteps. I was… so convinced that there was some nigh-unstoppable tide of evil out in the world, that the police were gallant figures holding the line, and if I joined the police I could…”

“You wanted to help people,” Akira says quietly, filling in as Makoto trails off. Like you needed to be helped, he doesn’t continue, because maybe he’s projecting, though the resonance of his bond with her makes him think he probably isn’t.

Makoto gives a little self-deprecating scoff, turning to look at him for the first time. “I’m sure I sound like some naive idiot, don’t I? I even-” she barrels forward, frustration entering her voice, before Akira can even think to say anything in response, “- I would see stories of corrupt officers, mistreatment, false convictions, and every time I would write it off, or come up with excuses. But then I met you, and none of my excuses sat right even before I tried to blackmail you about dealing with Kaneshiro, and when his men grabbed me off the street the cops at the corner just watched as they forced me into the car and -”

The pen in Makoto’s hand snaps loudly, causing all three of them to jump as shards of plastic clatter across the table.

There is a long, frozen moment where everyone stares at her still-clenched fist and the crooked end of the pen barely kept in place by her grip. It’s broken only when Makoto lets out a loud, shuddering breath and drops the ruined remains of the pen to the table. Morgana makes a quiet noise and stands, crossing the table and sliding into her lap as Makoto presses her own hands to her face in an attempt to compose herself.

Akira gives her a minute, gathering and tossing the pen in the trash and wiping up the few stray drops of splattered ink before sitting next to her on the sofa. He leaves a little space, just in case – but it’s quickly closed, Makoto pressing her shoulder against his, Morgana’s purrs loud and soothing between them.