#also i had no real good screenshots to use for this so i went ahead and chose this one

[a-finnish-janitor]

The feds say all of the Alan Wake business is done with, but there is still taken that need to be dealt with. On a scouting trip for one, Ilmo makes a discovery.

~~~~~~~~~~~

And here it is! Inspired by this post by @one-berzerker, I had been wanting to write some more Alan Wake stuff, but the one idea I had had fizzled out. So when I read this, I was super pleased when this idea formed in my head! Plus its more Ilmo angst (now with added Rose), which I think I have more angst for him in mind, just need to see if I can coax it out.

Takes place after the events of the game.

[sanflawoah]

Black Myth: Wukong ramblings because I'M GOING INSANE.

FOUR YEARS. I. DID. MY. WAITING. WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO EXPRESS MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS GAME.

(Lengthy words and massive spoilers below!)

First minutes into the game I was all chill expecting the opening to be a long prologue cutscene about JTTW, explaining core things you need to understand, a helpful guide for those unfamiliar with the lore beforehand. But NOOOOO....we jump straight ahead fighting ERLANG SHEN AND THE FOUR HEAVENLY KINGS. We're WIDE AWAKE.

About gameplay, the devs stated repeatedly that it's not a souls-like game, and more like a God of War ish. Yet so many still questions whether it's a souls-like and then went into the game just to say "meh not souls-like". Amazing density of head.

I really don't demand much for whatever mechanic they serve, I'm really just here for the monkey smash experience and the childhood nostalgia and the fresh aesthetics.

The character design?? The environment?? The architecture?? The statues?? Soooo beautiful oh my god you really need to stop and admire these things (when you don't have a boss shredding you) up close. Look up their inspirations and concept arts, some statues and buildings exist in real life and it's really mind boggling how they incorporate it into the story. The part where you fight with Yellowbrow at Thunderclap temple, what a creative choice, the idea of "miniature fight" on the temple altar. I'm farming so many screenshots for art references. 10/10 visuals, graphics will definitely fry your PC.

Again with the character designs. I'm really loving the absurd looking bosses one, really fresh take. Then to the celestials and yaoguais, I just..... OH they're ALL hella gorgeous. I've seen some people going "WOULD" towards Wukong or The Destined One and I don't blame you. I've had my fair share of neuron activation moment.

Erlang yoo, I was stunned at first with the way they present his personality during the opening, but turns out we got the reason for it near the ending :"(((. He was helping us all along ughsjsjsjsksdsd. Also, they know EXACTLY what they're doing by casting Andrew Koji as the english VA.

White Clad Noble? Half snake man hissing at you to get off his lawn. I feel kinda bad for him lmao, dude was just minding his business and we go monkey smash all over his place.

Keeper of Flaming Mountain? Neat hat and cool makeup bro, awesome yin yang palette and battle area design. BANGER THEME I'll get to it.

The Third Prince in Pagoda realm prison, why does he looks so good, you encounter this guy in his cell just suffering, and somehow he's still serving looks.

The girlies damn, the spider sisters are gorgeous, and YES even madam violet spider, come look at spider granny serving fashion and arachnophobia.

At first I was scared that they're going to sexualise the hell out of the spider sisters or any of the female characters, since the book itself tells their trait as luring men with their beauty (to be eaten though). But actually?? They're a lot tamer than I expected? I mentally prepared myself for the worst, like racy sexualised outfit and personality, but turns out they're all very normal. Like how you would see Tang dynasty inspired ladies. I braced for GTA or cyberpunk-like explicitness but thank god it's not the case, not at all.

Rakshasi and Pingping having the relatively "sexy" look, but then both of them had a moment where they're not actually their real selves, but rather a transformation of Zhu Bajie and Red Boy LMAO. Funny boner killer.

Talk about this boi, our Destined One. To be honest I was kinda disappointed when I found out he doesn't speak at all. Banters, insults, cackles, anything you would expect a Wukong-like personality, he doesn't have it.

I tried to think of a reason, and I think the dev's choice of making The Destined One silent kinda has a root to it. Our MC is NOT the Wukong himself, we are literally just some monke, and we're tasked to gather the six relics Wukong had scattered by retracing his journey. Also, I think it's a funny thought that probably it's just their personality difference, Wukong the loud, Destined One the quiet. Wukong sometimes does chaos for shits and giggles, our Destined One does chaos because we have to.

My theory: our Destined One is just non-verbal! Zhu Bajie even acknowledged it. When we first met him after defeating Kang-Jin Loong, he bantered "A furry coat and a pinched face, luck's all you've got", and he looked confused when we don't say anything back because Wukong would've returned the favour, "Great, another mute. Let's not dally". So the game actually acknowledges it, it's not like they intentionally muted us and have the NPCs acting as if we talk back to them all the time.

Non-verbal and asexual coded? I'll take it.

THE ANIMATED CUTSCENES??? OH MY GODDD. Impossible to put ALL the epic frames here. I really don't expect this from a game at all, real time cutscenes are great, but a WHOLE 2D AND STOP MOTION ANIMATED SCENE?? No wonder the full development took SIX years. You could pause the scenes at any frame and it's worthy of analysis.

The stop motion one really surprised me, how are they that dedicated. The plot as well, it started out romantic and escalated into HORROR real quick. Batshit insane, love it.

For many players, the animated cutscenes may be confusing on the first watch. So many references to JTTW, metaphors, mix of Chinese Taoism and Buddhism. I personally encourage people to look around in forums for explanations, plenty of the Chinese words are untranslatable into English, but it's all so worth the knowledge.

Enjoying the JTTW shows and contents as a child is all about the fun and giggles, understanding the lesson of it all as an adult hits me like bricks, especially with the way they're adapted in this game.

I CRIED?? A LOT??? Of all characters I could cry for, ZHU BAJIE?? Man is literally a nasty pervert in the book, living to the pig form indeed, but in this game he's a bit better. Sure he's still his natural pervert self, but since the game took place after JTTW, he surely had some character development. His animated love story cutscene, loorddd they have no business making it so full of freshly diced onions.

Love how each character in animations have different styles. Erlang's design in particular are different in each scenes. Most of the time he has dark hair, in others he has white hair and different armor, same goes for Wukong's design. I'd imagine the devs struggled to choose for one consistent design and decided to just fuck it and put them all in lmao.

And then THE SOUNDTRACKS, THE SOUNDTRACKS YALL. Love love love it when they incorporate buddhist prayer chants flawlessly into the soundrack. The soundtrack during the chapter one ending animation caught my attention with it, I asked around what mantra is it and they say it's probably Cundi Dharani? Please correct me if I'm wrong. The track is called "I See" in the official playlist. The lyrics too, my god, the way they narate the animations.

During the fight with Keeper of Flaming Mountains, IS THE SOUNDTRACK A RENDITION OF "FISHERMAN'S SONG AT DUSK"? IS IT? Losing my mind because it's my favourite chinese traditional piece. Half expected him to pull out a guzheng and blast me with phantom blade from the strings, IYKYK.

And of course, a new rendition of the classic JTTW theme. This will be my neighbour's favourite music for a while.

Some tidbits I like, apparently if you're idle for a while and Zhu Bajie is with you, sometimes he'll start to talk about past stories or lectures you. If you push him around for a few times he'll get annoyed, if you keep pushing him then he'll struck you with his rake lmaoooo. Perhaps we weren't so different from Wukong after all.

Another insane stuff is the headless singing guy. GoW has a talking disembodied head, now BMW has a HEADLESS singing man, literally a reverse Mimir.

The rematch with The Four Heavenly Kings YOOOOO I love their design so much. They look like statues from temples jumping straight to life. The stances! Throwing hands with them is the true Monke of War experience. The East King with his Pipa literally playing the background music, excellent touch.

This has been an insane scroll of yappings, I'll stop here (for now) and take a moment to touch grass. If you've been reading ALL THE WAY to this line, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to harm your braincells.

[autumn-foxfire]

KID episode! The one where Heiji almost kisses Kaito. Also, in the episode Shinichi looks very unimpressed with Kaito that he did. I wonder why.

Heiji is giving credit to the wrong person though. Shinichi didn't do anything, that was Ran. And she did so because she can't actually voice her feelings for Shinichi (I wonder why <.<).

Shinichi's husband <3

I don't like how Gosho writes Kazuha and Heiji most of the time but I do appreciate Heiji being written as a normal teenage boy who shows normal attraction to others but still chooses Kazuha. It's not really as contrived as the main couple of this series.

Urgh. Please bring back the old OP with Shinichi dancing. It's better than this one. I always watch the OPs at least once to see if they have any good moments but this one was not a good one.

Hi, Komei. Welcome but I don't really care about you, I care about our favourite phantom thief.

I will remind people that Jirokichi has suggested this idea before and it was dismissed so Komei isn't special for suggesting it, in fact I'm pretty mad that they forgot he has suggested this before just to fluff up Komei.

Ran, the history nerd.

KAITO. My precious baby boy.

BABY BOY. Kaito is adorable, he heard the woman had been cheated and immediately changed his plans in order to return what belonged to her.

I love how Heiji is too busy thinking about Kazuha to care about Kaito while Shinichi only cares about his husband and is confused why his best friend isn't interested like he is (suprise surprise, Heiji actually likes his love interest).

Ran: if he saw that...

Me: What a flattering way to talk about you "returning" Shinichi's "feelings"

Ran is still more invested in the relationships around her than she has ever been in her own.

What I do appreciate about heists, as infrequent as they've become in the canon, is that they're showing Kaito's more human side, the one where he does make errors and does make plans at last second instead of being always ten steps ahead.

Heiji immediately regretting upsetting Kazuha and going back on his previous words is nice though and refreshing. You don't see this too often.

But of course they have to make into a competition with Shinichi. But Shinichi won't let you arrest his husband, Heiji.

Of course Kaito buys himself good dresses to wear. He wants to look pretty, thank you very much.

You know Shinichi noticed immediately that he switched with Kazuha and didn't say a word because he acts like he wants to arrest Kaito but he never actually tries properly to do so.

Kaito is incredibly, thank you for pointing it out.

Kaito is really using Heiji's attraction to Kazuha against him XD But he can't fool Shinichi when he's dressed as Ran (Shinichi did show his attraction to KID when he was though, I remember when he tried to look at his thighs).

Kaito is having too much fun.

Shinichi has definitely known that Kaito is Kazuha since his arrival and did absolutely nothing to inform anyone about it. In fact, him trying to drop a hint to Heiji just comes across as him being jealous over Kaito clinging to him. Yes I'm delusional.

Look at this unimpressed face.

I forgot Komei is related to Scotch.

He's so annoyed.

I love taking screenshots of Kaito.

Awww, poor Shinichi thinks Heiji knows. You've underestimated how attracted Heiji is to Kazuha and how he wants to start a relationship with her that he's overlooking things because all he thinks about is confessing to her.

Kaito: THIS ISN'T THE DETECTIVE I WANT TO KISS.

And Shinichi still looks unimpressed. Jealous boy.

Shinichi: So you noticed the broker was suspicious, but not that your girlfriend was suspicious.

Shinichi knows his husband well and that we went to return it to the real owner. And he still looks incredibly annoyed about this whole heist. Probably because his husband was about to be kissed by a person who was not him.

Shinichi: he's doing a good thing but he almost kissed another man and I am not impressed.

We know baby.

[gardensystemtv]

Technically Veilguard spoilers... I mean, I don't THIIINK it counts as a spoiler even by very liberal measures, but any actual spoils under the cut just in case! (context for those who don't know the game. it is about my strong feelings on how it handled Trans representation in the first 6 hours I played so far)

The dialogue option when interacting with the mirror, and talking about being trans.

I picked the bottom right option "feels good to see the real me." And I did not think to catch any screengrabs of it, but when I stream next, I hope to clip it maybe!?! Either way, She talked about how she is proud of the woman she sees in the mirror now, and actually, verbally, out loud, acknowledges being trans. While processing all this, it also made me realise that the game lets you pick gender identity and pronouns SEPARATE from the voice, and from eachother in this game... the voice actors must have also recorded the same dialogue but if you selected Man or Non-binary, right? I am using Feminine 2, because I think it's he one Erika Ishii did, or at least it sounds like them, but just thinking of the reprsentation, can we have them say "I am proud of the man I am" and whatever they would have used for non-binary (just person? is there something that is SPECIFIC to being non-binary instead of just non-binary that is not ambiguous but specific?) Because like.... I got REALLY hard into Dragon Age, primarily 2 and a bit of Inquisition, around the time I really struggled with feeling isolated due to a mix of the DID and gender dysphoria. And I can only imagine what it would have done to me if I had THIS in a game at the time. I am crying now thinking about it all EDIT: Went ahead and got screenshots and recordings of all the dialogue lines the game has to being trans. For me this is set to she/her pronouns, woman gender identity, and with Feminine voice 2! I don't have the time or means to record other options right now, unfortunately.

THERE IS EVEN AN OPTION FOR NOT REALLY BEING COMFORTABLE WITH MIRRORS YET!

Combine that with being able to adjust your characters appearance through out the game, in theory, you could play out an entire transition timeline in this game, not just with a before and after, but changing your character progressively, tiny bit by tiny bit over the entirity of an entire playthrough. I'm not saying you HAVE to, of course. but the fact the game seems to be ready to facilitate that.... PERFECTION

[capitalnineteen]

Nancy Drew Rewatch

I've decided to rewatch the series now that it's done and why not blog my thoughts this time around, right? (Hi, Bethany!)

"Horseshoe Bay's most infamous sea queen wore her crown for just one night. People say she still haunts our town. But I don't believe in ghosts. I believe in looking for the truth."

I like that these were pretty much the first words of the series. I went into the show the first time expecting that to be the way it would be: like the books I read growing up, it would be pulling the ghost masks off evil real estate developers.

Wait. I'm thinking of Scooby Doo, huh?

Still. In those books, Nancy found the completely normal - albeit nefarious - reason that there were strange noises and secret staircases. And they were never ghosts.

So I admit it took me a little while to warm to the show. I didn't dislike it! I just didn't get what it was going for. I had the wrong idea and it took some time to understand the show wanted me to let that go.

So here we go: Season One - Episode One: Pilot

(More - much more - below... Also! This is a rewatch so there ARE SPOILERS.)

Books on Nick's shelf: A History of Western Morals by Crane Brinton and The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity by Kwame Anthony Appiah. (We also see Plato on a higher shelf and other titles I can't make out, unfortunately. Excuse the blurry screenshot and understand why that's all I got.)

Having finished the show, those two titles in the screenshot do seem pretty appropriate. Especially 'Rethinking Identity' considering we're getting to know five characters and what we're given about them is maybe not the most relevant facts... or even entirely true.

And since those books are rattling on the shelves because Nancy and Nick are knocking boots, (No, wait. She puts on her sneakers after and his boots are on the floor by the bed.) let me go ahead and admit now: I liked Nancy and Nick together in the first go 'round.

Also? I liked the idea of Nancy Drew as intentionally uncurious. We're given such a quick punch of details here and I think they're presented well: "I never do this." "You say that every time." "Also never thought I'd be wearing this again." (Her Claw uniform.) "I'm not exactly where I thought I'd be, either. And that would be freshman tailback for University of Florida, which is where I'm from, if you're curious."

And of course there's her voice over just before that: "...when I'm with him, I don't think of anything else. And that's a good thing." Bookended at the end of her brief conversation with Nick by answering his "You don't ask a lot of questions, do you?" by saying, "What can I say? Girls love mystery." She says that like it means she doesn't want to solve them but of course it can read both ways. Nancy does love a mystery, she told us in her backstory. She's just sworn off solving them now.

At The Claw we get the rest of the gang introduced: George, Nancy's manager and former classmate with the bad blood between her and Nancy; Bess, the rich girl who's living in a mansion for the summer but inexplicably working as a waitress; and Ace NoLastName who I'll get to in a second.

Of course, having seen the whole show, we know how wrong or won't-be-true-for-long the information is. The 'bad blood' Nancy and George will become people who risk everything again and again for each other. (As they all will.) Bess isn't rich and certainly isn't living in a mansion.

And then there's Ace. The way Nancy presents his lack of last name makes it seem like Ace's choice. He's a one name enigma. But there's also a hint that she's intentionally not noting his last name in the way she goes on to imply that maybe it's not that he doesn't judge her for tanking her grades and bailing on applying to college, but instead just doesn't remember that she told him. And if he doesn't remember (or, as implied, care) that, then she doesn't remember (or, possibly, care) about his last name.

But it's easy to shrug it all off and not make much of it, especially when his 'my bad' on the lack of crackers and the 'sorry, I was thirsty' about the lack of wine as well as the 'it wasn't me' when the lights go out imply that her read on Ace's level of concern and accountability is pretty low as well. Though given that she's outright told us she's in the deficit on those herself, it seems a little hypocritical that she seems to look down on Ace for lacking them. (In minor ways that could just be a teasing coworker/friend sort of thing like with her "like a fungus" response to his declaration that he's "growing on her" about Bess.)

But let’s imagine for a moment, that scene where our newly uncurious and disinterested Nancy confesses that she’s ruined her senior year and her chances for college. Who does she confess all of this too? The implied flake whose last name she doesn’t even know? Hardly. Even then, Ace is far more important to Nancy than she lets on.

Rewatching this knowing the details about George/Ryan and Ryan and Nancy, it's nice to see there were hints there to be caught about George and Ryan at least. There's George's "We could stay open a little longer" when Bess tells him they're closed when he beats on the locked door. There's her strained tone of voice as she greets him: "Mr Hudson! Welcome to The Claw!" and the positively gritted teeth as she continues, "I don't believe that you've been in here before." And of course the "Oh, your wife is here?" and the quick change from retail-worker polite smile to I'm-going-to-stab-someone thousand yard stare as soon as she turns away from the table. And most of all, asking Nancy for help so she doesn't have to take the food out to Ryan's wife.

Yikes. Who could blame her?

And good grief, Ryan. Ask the teen you're sleeping with to bring food out to your wife. There's a long list of not great things you've done and that's hardly the headliner but it IS the first one we see, even if we don't know the significance yet.

To be continued because this is long and I'm only a quarter through the first episode! I'm sure they'll be shorter as this goes on. (If this goes on? Anyone interested in this?) But this is the first episode and I guess I was feeling wordy!

[safe-ship]

Heads up about the safeship creator everyone, they refuse to provide accessibility to screen readers despite being asked to multiple times & is generally ableist. Below are some screenshots + a transcript of a really long paragraph rant went on.

Context: An anon asked her to stop using ! and 0s to censor proship related things. This was her response:

Context: The same anon sends another ask that the OP screenshotted. (I cannot find the post as it seems she either deleted it or Tumblr's search feature is funky)

Their response is copied + pasted below. Content warning for NSFW mentions, sexual harassment (of the anon), and guilt tripping.

Listen dude i do know better you fucking insufferable misinformed prick. I myself need readability accessibility with ny fucking aphasia that is only getting worse. I already know firsthand how little people give a shit about this stuff becuz i need it. I already have difficulty writing legibly okay. And i get a lot of shit over this disability that i dont deserve. I made this fucking tag to help others to the point that i dont even block the few people weve had problems with so that even if i have to sed it at least the tag will work well for others. So if i have to put a 0 and ! In the forbidden word to decrease how much extra stress is gonna be on me from putting it straight up on their dinner plates then im fucking going to. Why dont you get off your high horse and grow the fuck up and stop making fucking assumptions. Cause im doing a hell of a lot more of kindness and effort for accessibility than you are for saying its immoral for someone WHO NEEDS screendreaders and is ashamed about it to choose a fucking single exclammation point over getting the regular bullshit i put up with from people who wanna be pedos x100 so that you can feel good abt yourself becuz u would choose the latter. Whether ur also a screenreader needer or not what you are is a fuvking asshole becuz i literally have two spine surgeries voming up with a huge threat of bevoming a paraplegic or dead before then and i have a shortened lifespan from all my disabilities. I come into this community to cope with how shit my life is and i try to make it better for others no matter if its a little harder on me and i get nothin but disrespect from invasive and presumptuous assholes like u behind anon who dont wanna have a real vonversation with me or actually think abt anyone but yourself and how good it feels to stroke ur moral dick over the dying woman and i have had it up to here!

U guys wanna keep coming in my inbox being assholes to me? No nuance in life im a bitch? So little thanks nothing but pussies on anon talking shit or invading my privacy? Maybe someone the fuck else should try and run this ship then becuz im fed the hell up and abt to deactivate.

And even despite being told twice to provide accessibility, they continues to be inaccessible even excluding shipcourse.

And in regards to more of their ableism, they told someone to "develop a frontal lobe" which is harmful towards those with intellectual disabilities. For context: calicofemme was their old main.

Anyway, do what you will with this information. If anyone wants to add more things to this regarding her behavior, go ahead & I'll reblog it. I made this post to raise awareness of how the creator is harmful and shouldn't even be in this community because of how they go entirely against their motive for making it.

[thequeenofmyownscreen]

Sixteen things I noted about CR2E115 “Fetching Fables & Frosty Friends” and the Talks Machina about it :

Whyyyyy French again ??? At least I know Sam knows a little French, so I'm somehow less offended when it's him. But yeah at the of the ad, I felt this screenshot IN MY SOUL :

Matt, to Travis, about Beau who's running way ahead of Fjord : "She's a monk, she's faster than you." Travis, immediately and petulantly : "You don't know that !" Matt, not impressed, deadpan : "Yes. I do. It's on her character sheet."

I love Dagen so much. He tries to do a little bit of polite conversation, and Veth is like "Are you asking if anyone of us is single ?" and Jester doubles down with "Are you secretly in love with me ?", and then he calls them "colorful". He has worked with Vess and Ludinus before, so yeah that must be a change of pace for him.

Dagen, recalling the worst group he ever traveled with : "There was this rowdy bunch out of Syrinlya, Uthodurnian folk. Too boisterous. Too loud. When you're trying to make your way across landscape like this, you want to keep quiet. Just a bunch of fucking dwarves singing about what they had for breakfast, about what they had for lunch, tales of mysteries to the north ! They had beautiful voices, but they just wouldn't shut the fuck up. One day we got ambushed and they all got torn apart. I was the only survivor... I just feel bad for the poor halfling they dragged along." Me slowly realizing Matt is describing the first Hobbit movie : AMAZING !!

Caleb, 20 minutes after Veth and Jester started getting real with Dagen and are creating what I can only describe as an elaborate fan-fiction of Dagen and one of the travelers possibly named Sheila he might have fallen in love with - and named his axe after : "Hey, are we the worst ones yet ?" Dagen, through gritted teeth : "Gettin' real close..."

Laura looks so cute with her unicorn hoodie on.

Love that they knew they were messing with POWERFUL NECROTIC MAGIC, and that Liam pointed out that this kind of trap "pivoted the entire campaign one" (which to me was a clear indication that he wanted to do it, because this is Liam and he loves this kind of stuff). And still they went for it. For an hour. Man, did Caleb try. The last attempt, dramatically casting Dispel Magic while walking away, because he couldn't let it go, and still the stone rests, is an very funny visual.

Oh Beau read Yasha's poem ! Which was not a poem, but a wonderful letter. I love how Marisha was overjoyed as Ashley was reading it (as the voiceover).

Oh my god, the story of the Katzen Prince is everything. The revelation that Liam wrote that in a day, just before they were paying, is the cherry on top. Look, I fucking love fairy tales, and I had a book when I was young where it was all of the original versions (aka the dark endings, and even when it was a good ending for the hero, there were some brutal elements, like when birds pierce the eyes of Cinderella’s half-sisters at the end !!). So I LOVED this tale !!! It was sweet, melancholic, had a dream-like quality to it, and still a happy ending. I also want to see all of the art.

Awwww, I love when the monsters turn out not-so-monstery after all ! The Mighty Nein chose to be kind, even after they were ambushed, and so they got precious intel : finally, someone saw Lucien and his group, not but one day ago !!!

Travis broke. They invited the yetis to dinner in Caleb's tower, and they even read them a Zemnian bedtime story, and it broke Travis so much. This is so awesome. I love this visual of 4 yetis, being inside a magic tower, in a grand and warm hall, under tents for them to sleep like they usually do, surrounded by small cats and the Mighty Nein, listening to a man reading them a story in a language they don't know, and falling asleep in 5 minutes.

I trust Beau, Beau is always right and she should say it. And the way Marisha made her pitch was wholesome.

It's true, Brian is right to recall it, every time there is a Talks Machina with Liam and Taliesin, the vibe is "whatever the fuck is the opposite of toxic masculinity" - I think it's what he called it one time.

Dani is being tortured this episode, what will all the Fartist and chest hair re-growing stories.

Taliesin, about the pillar with the necromantic emerald : "I was amused. I could have possibly stayed a little longer... Until we had to resurrect someone !" HAHAHA the little shit (affectionate)

OH. Oh. This is the episode before the 2020 American election ? Aka, the Destiel Putin Election crazy night we had over here on Tumblr ??? IT'S SO CRAZY TO THINK ABOUT !!!

[lixiesfreckless]

okay…it’s been like, a month? and I finally found the words to say regarding this series at [checks watch] 12:56 in the morning. do I have to be up in six hours to drive two hours to watch the World Cup Finale with the dads side of my family? yes, yes I do. but somehow, this is more important than any sleep I may or may not get tonight.

this series is a fucking masterpiece.

I feel like the best way to preface this is to mention that I started reading it in the middle of the day at some point last month, took a break to do something with my family, played jackbox games with my friends, and at 2 in the morning when we finished, CAME BACK to the series despite needing to wake up early the next morning. I was still up on part 3 at 3:30 in the morning. and then the next day, I called one of my best friends and had her start and finish it over a video call, where I also finished it. and the whole time we were sending each other screenshots of killer lines and screaming into the void over subtle facial expressions. and it takes one hell of a story to make me feel so inclined to share it with someone else and sit on a video call, completely silent while we devour it. it was just that good. I’m completely baffled by the characterization, the plot line, the SETTING, the premise, EVERYTHING, and I was so blown away that I swear, I try to avoid using curse words, but holy fucking shit how do you come up with a story THIS good.

I would like to take this time to highlight some of my favorite moments, and although I’m not directly quoting them because I’d need to find them, not only am I lazy, but I would actually just really like to reread this story and write down the quotes that had me screaming into my pillow later sooooo

SPOILERS AHEAD

Changbin’s initial character is so unreadable that it is in fact, as intriguing as the main character describes him to be

I have always loved the way my favorite writers wrote changbin, including myself. it feels kind of weird to reference shrek in a tumblr fic review about stray kids, but I feel like the line “ogres have layers” really fits here. he’s such a layered person in real life that it’s kind of hard to capture his essence in writing, which is why I feel like he kind of falls short in a lot of fics I read but HERE? not only did you capture him so accurately, you made him your own by being kind of standoffish and kind of a prick at the beginning of the story, and I LOVED it. the thought of making him and the main character so up in arms with each other, without really giving context as to why only makes their backstory all the more intriguing when you see them fall for each other. it makes you wonder how it all went wrong. why do they hate each other now? what the hell happened in Paris(no really I kept asking my best friend this as I was reading through it)(also I can’t remember if it was Paris or Italy)? and it just hits even harder when you start to see his softer side, like how he tells Felix to ask if the main character got home okay. THAT REALLY GOT TO ME. it was one of those “gotcha” moments when you smugly look at the imaginary camera, breaking the fourth wall, and whisper “I knew they still cared” like COME ONNNNNN. that was so good. of course his character arc is amazing but I just had to rant about him at the beginning of the story.

Felix is unreasonably amazing and had me wondering for a hot minute whether he was the main male lead or Changbin because I kept switching lanes

it was almost criminal that Felix didn’t get a potential love interest until the END of the story. his character in this entire fic was just so likeable. this is probably the best “best friend” portrayal I’ve ever seen in a stray kids fanfic, hell, maybe in any fanfic I’ve ever read. he is just so genuinely sweet, and funny, and hardworking, and he deserves so much that I was half wishing that the main character would hook up with him JUST because I wanted to see him happy for a moment in time even if I knew it would only hurt the plot. I JUST REALLY LOVE FELIX OKAY AND I WANNA SEE HIM HAPPY [sobs in a corner]. that being said, his absolute best line in the whole fic, is when he catches Bin and the main character arguing outside of Minho’s party. when he threatens them by telling them to “sort their shit out” or he’ll never speak to either of them again??? I read that part, put my ipad down, and had to just PONDER how such a short scene of a longfic left such an impact on me. because those are actually high stakes! Felix is the main characters best friend who has done NOTHING wrong essentially, and has only put his resentment for his brother aside because he was making her happy! and things were finally starting to go well, and then they both couldn’t pull their heads out of their asses and needed to set things straight and WHO ELSE in the story could have made a threat that was genuinely so chilling, that it might make them actually get their act together? none other than Felix, the mvp, the goat, the W character, just gosh he’s a real gem and I’m so glad you portrayed him this well. standing ovation for him ALONE.

Jisung is just such a good supporting character gosh how did you do this

to be honest, I loved all of the characters in this fic, and I could write essays about each of them, but it’s currently 1:23 in the morning so I’ll keep this one brief. the one scene that really sticks out to me with him in it is around the time that the main character gets invited to Minho’s party, and she asks jisung if Minho acts differently around her compared to other members of the kitchen. and there’s just this very subtle scene where she’s like “is he flirting with me?” and jisung just goes “do you want what I’d think or what’s really happening” and when you pick the latter, his smile fades a little and he just says “he’s definitely flirting with you.” HOW. HOW DOES THIS SCENE SO EASILY CONVEY SO MANY DEEPER PROBLEMS CONCERNING THE COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP JISUNG HAS WITH ALL OF THE MORE “PROMINENT CHARACTERS??? on one hand, he SAW the main character and Bin’s complicated love arc and wants them to be happy not only for their sake, but for the cohesion of the kitchen. and on the other, he’s OBVIOUSLY grown close to Minho, thanks to the short scene where it’s mentioned that Minho has cooked him lunch before. and he would definitely want to see Minho happy. and Minho is obviously a good guy that is kind of just being led on by the main character which kind of sucks but it’s sort of justified by her and Changbin being such cowards when it comes to defining the relationship and UGH THIS FIC IS SO GOOD I HAVE PRACTICALLY NO ISSUES WITH IT

okay I’m kidding. the ONLY gripe I have with this fic that I would love to see a short film adaptation for, is that Hyunjin appears so close to the ending that he’s not essential to the plot, and that if you removed him, it wouldn’t do much😭 and it almost looks like he was only added so every member would make a cameo, WHICH IS TOTALLY REASONABLE BECAUSE THATS ABSOLUTELY SOMETHING I WOULD DO AND HAVE DONE BEFORE AND NOT ALL CHARACTERS OR CAMEOS HAVE TO BE ANYTHING SPECIAL AT ALL, and to be honest…I’m only sad because he’s my ult bias. like I KNEW he’d eventually show up in this fic, and when the painter was mentioned I KNEW it would be him, and his scene at the end is ADORABLE AND YOU MADE HIM LOOK SO CUTE, but the HWANGER in me made me wish he was a bit more relevant to the overall story.

and yeah. that’s literally the only thing wrong with the story, and it’s not even REALLY wrong, it’s just me being Hyunjin’s slut fr. and me nitpicking because this story is so goddamn good, there’s no way that the only flaw I can find isn’t really even a flaw at all HOW DID YOU WRITE THIS

and oh my gosh, don’t even get me started on their first kiss scene or the scene where they were playing cards or the pool scene or the bj scene in the kitchen or the maple(?) tree or the fireplace scene or the way the story was constructed where their love story and love reconnection story are being presented to us at the same time and is both heart wrenching and heartwarming to read in this format or how it was really cute how Jeongin was actually the main characters first time and it kind of makes a comeback but not really but it was really sweet the more that I thought about it or how we were canonically related to Seungmin or how Minho is actually such a sweet character and it’s almost kind of sad how the main character was preoccupied with Bin because he really did deserve a lot or how Chan is LITERALLY OPENING HIS OWN RESTAURANT IN THE END, WHAT IN THE RATATOUILLE IS THIS or how this is kind of my new favorite tumblr fic, and I hope you could tell that from how long of a review this was.

it’s a masterpiece. I haven’t even touched your other series because of how afraid I am of how they could affect me and the way that I structure my own stories. this feels like a “she was insane for this” but it’s literally just you writing something so amazing that if I wrote it??? it would literally be my legacy. my magnum opus. my peak. and for you I can’t even say if that’s true or not because I read falling rain and it wrecked me for DAYS on end. I should probably make a lengthy review on that fic because good golly gee whiz that one just attacked my very SOUL, and that was just a oneshot. you’re literally amazing at your craft and my gosh it’s 1:52 I’m gonna shut up

expect another review after I revisit this fic during Christmas break, but until then, thank you thank you THANK YOU for blessing us with this piece of fiction, and I have so much more to say about it, but until then

stay gold,

-bubbles

be my mistake

be my mistake — series masterlist  [ playlist ] [ back to general masterlist ] status: complete

this series (and this blog) are 18+ !! minors, please do not interact!!

• changbin x female reader, other stray kids members are featured, changbin and felix are brothers, felix is the mc’s best friend.

• non idol au, multiple timelines (past and present), slow burn, past relationship, best friend’s brother trope, exes to lovers, mcs hold grudges. a lot of guilt and a lot of fluff. 

• word count: 60k (60,215) 

• content: angst (a lot of it). strong language. drinking. trauma. mutual pining. smut (lots of building). fluff. mentions of depression, financial trouble, family issues. contains a scene of harassment (part two). each chapter will have its own warnings.

You’re delighted - you’ve finally found yourself a new job at a local restaurant. It’s everything you need, but when you meet the rest of the staff, you find out the head chef is your ex, Seo Changbin. What was supposed to be easy becomes very, very complicated. As you are both confronted with a forced reunion, you remember meeting him. Getting to know him. Falling in love with him. Him, your best friend’s brother. You’ve spent the past years convincing yourself you’ve moved on - but you haven’t, and neither has he.

• taglist: @tanyas97 ; @ughbehavior ; @softandfluffy ; @changbinluvr ; @bitchoftomorrow​ ; @babybabydoll ; @hyuneater​  ; @ipegchangbin​ ; @valreadsfics​ ; @i-say-choco-you-say-ice-cream​

• author’s note: Hi!! Welcome to this story. I’m glad you are here. Don’t hesitate to send me a message or to ask any questions. I hope you will like what I write. Take care of yourself! 

• part one: you, and a sunrise • part two: you, and a drive home • part three: you, and a whisper • part four: you, and blueberry pancakes • part five: you, and going back • part six: you, and the maple tree • part seven: you, and me

I’m hoping to publish some drabbles if it interests you. Thank you so much for reading ♡

[iamshay]

Hi cupcakes

I have been afk from streaming, I have been busy with work with my artist on my sub badge for twitch and kick. Also, I have been talking to many people to get on podcasts and address the whole situation that happen on kick and I am going to put all my card on the table. leak all dms and the vod. So a big wave is coming for them all. While they so rested and everyone befriend each other when they didn't know each other. the fact I know and watch people for over 1 year-ish on twitch fact she befriends them and now defend their action is spit on my face. which I will mention and name-drop them all. Oh boy fuck yeah am calling everyone out. The assholes and the people whom I thought was my friend. All of them will have a piece of that too.

I am 10 steps ahead of them all. They delete and lie about me around the community kick but when I show what I collect screenshots whole dm convo from them all. Even that girl I thought was a friend.

it should be fun to bring them all into the public eye to show what kind of person they all are. They all playing all mighty adults and think they are so pitch perfect and do not condone it fact befriending the same people that were talking shit is just shows the part of the fucking problem.

I have spoken with some people and also shown them screenshots and vod also a link to my blog where I have posted the dms they used to say I am harassing them which couldn't be far from the truth.

No. Answer your question and thought I don't give fuck about any of them and how it will affect them. When I call them all out in front of a huge audience since they don't give fuck about me or any of their so-called friends reach out and ask how I am doing. I DO NOT GIVE A DAMN FUCK. Publicly people won't fuck with people like that. People can make their own minds. They think that people will support them. reality is only their community will have their back. But someone that went through harassment and the level they talk about me. So many people will not be okay with that. It's my time to air this shit out.

EYE FOR EYE. I come with receipts and a facts. What proof do they fucking have the same dm I have already leaked. That aint harassment. As my "my story" post I fucking had to post what harassment means. This won't be a good look for any of them or the platform the way they look at others' ways.

Trust I am not letting this go until the whole fucking publicly bigger audience does not fucking view bots that they thought they air shit out front of bots.

the podcast fucking audience going to be real actual people watching me talk about this and with another woman that went through harassment and knows how it feels. if they feel encouraged to speak out. I am going to be in multi podcasts addressing everything that happens on kick. Since they hiding it I am not going to hide shit. See how it feels to be in my fucking shoes. They might ban me and try to silence me as always they always put dirty laundry under the rug. This of going to be a bad look for kick but I didn't choose this path. They choose not to care. I am going to be transparent

twitch.tv/am_shay You can watch me on there

kick.com/shay

I stream on twitch too guys actual stream on there not long ago. Trying to build my twitch viewership and get partnered too. Since that last step, I need to. Since the only issue with twitch is the viewership. I plan to do more debate podcasts and get involved with those types of debates like destiny and his community streamer. I have been in debate calls in his discord talking about stuff. I mean destiny I watch him for years. I have been networking with his community meeting pretty cool people and playing games offline. his community help me a lot to get involved in podcasts and reach out to people to me help me get a platform.

Just goes that only these fucking asshole communities only support assholes when others out there get disgusted and are willing to help out to fucking expose these fuckers and forward messages around to each ear. Destiny community orbits are ruthless. They can't stand losers thinking they are somebody and think they go far to harass someone and make the content of them.

Not going to drop the name of the person to help me get into the podcast. just yet. Let's just say a big wave coming for them all. I AM fucking done be nice. it's my turn to speak up and air shit out. on the same platform not as they did in front of bots and all of them are friends.

anyways. This is what I have been doing. Busy with a lot of stuff and gathering stuff and making doc professional way so can show everyone and it is understandable.

I am going to play close beta games. and some apex or cod idk. But yeah. I have been playing this close beta game that I can't stream or show. and catch up with friends on discord calls. Because I put my time into losers and ungrateful people whom I thought were my friends. Now we are here and I am going expose them all. Good luck with them growing with that behavior. only a supportive community will have their back. but people have gone through the same shit and will feel type of way.

Good night.

[thebettybook]

👻 My thoughts on Book 4 of “A Twisted Halloween: Terror is Trending” 🎃

Spoilers ahead!

Note from Strawbetty: I have so many favorite screenshots from Book 4 of this event (especially from the Diasomnia chapter)

🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

Screenshot from Twisted Wonderland’s “A Twisted Halloween: Terror is Trending” Event

🗒 Ace and Deuce bicker like brothers LOL

🗒 HAHA moments like these make me wish the Halloween event was animated into like short episodes

🗒 Also a very late remark but the event background music SLAPS!! It’s so good

Screenshot from Twisted Wonderland’s “A Twisted Halloween: Terror is Trending” Event

🗒 I had to Google impalas and they are “medium-size antelopes found in Eastern and Southern Africa” according to Google

🗒 Jack truly has all the qualities to be the next dorm leader of Savanaclaw some day!!

🗒 It sounds like Leona had fun scaring away the Magicam Monsters through Jack’s plan, and I loved how Leona used his Unique Magic to turn the pirate props into sand to scare them away + Ruggie using his own Unique Magic to make the Magicam Monsters not able to move

🗒 I also like that instead of being prideful and trying to lead a plan, Leona followed through Jack’s plan like a team player + he gave credit and props to Jack by saying “That was a decent display, Jack.”

🗒 It’s not the best compliment but also notice how Leona doesn’t judge Jack or dismiss his ideas just because Jack is a freshman

Screenshot from Twisted Wonderland’s “A Twisted Halloween: Terror is Trending” Event

🗒 THE SPOTLIGHT AND AZUL’S POSE DHEJBDDOWSBSOA

🗒 They’re making this a show, I love it

🗒 Magicam Monsters, those poor, unfortunate souls

🗒 HEHE ALSO JADE AND AZUL JUSTIFYING SCARING THE MAGICAM MONSTERS AS BEING BENEVOLENT

🗒 Benevolent indeed

Screenshot from Twisted Wonderland’s “A Twisted Halloween: Terror is Trending” Event

🗒 AWWW KALIM

🗒 I love that Kalim went the extra mile by asking Rook for pointers on animal behavior

🗒 This part really highlighted Kalim’s resourcefulness and how he thinks a lot about Scarabia and NRC

Screenshot from Twisted Wonderland’s “A Twisted Halloween: Terror is Trending” Event

🗒 We get a bit of background from Vil; how he hates people taking his picture without his permission even if he is a public figure

🗒 In a way this entire Halloween event has highlighted our generation in relation to social media and social clout today in real life and it kinda feels…educational???

🗒 Moral of the story: don’t litter, invade private spaces, break things, or be noisy or rowdy just for clout, kids

🗒 I wonder what the Dark Mirror was doing the entire time Pomefiore had their skit LOL

Screenshot from Twisted Wonderland’s “A Twisted Halloween: Terror is Trending” Event

🗒 PFFT IDIAAAAAAAA

🗒 The way he says this as himself and not as a line from his favorite Halloween movie

🗒 Also Ortho getting a kick out of scaring away the Magicam Monsters is adorable and frightening all at the same time

🗒 Idia reminds me of Kristoff from Frozen (“reindeers are better than people”). But instead for reindeer, it’s games and movies and stuff for Idia

Screenshot from Twisted Wonderland’s “A Twisted Halloween: Terror is Trending” Event

🗒 PEEPAW PFFFT

🗒 I have so many favorite moments from the Diasomnia chapter in this event’s Book 4 omg

🗒 Lilia loves kids and he loves scaring them lol

🗒 Just imagine like a younger Silver and Sebek back then during Halloween where they thought they heard a monster but it was actually Lilia playing tricks on them

🗒 Like Malleus would say, “My, you sure get a rise out of scaring Silver and Sebek every year, Lilia.” And Lilia’s like, “Fufu, whatever are you talking about?”

Screenshot from Twisted Wonderland’s “A Twisted Halloween: Terror is Trending” Event

🗒 This line gave HEAVY Maleficent vibes

🗒 I bet when Silver was a little kid, Malleus would play around with him by taking away his Halloween candy to see his reaction, only to chuckle when Silver would cry and Malleus would give it right back

Screenshot from Twisted Wonderland’s “A Twisted Halloween: Terror is Trending” Event

🗒 AWW PEEPAW’S SONS

Screenshot from Twisted Wonderland’s “A Twisted Halloween: Terror is Trending” Event

🗒 He really would though

🗒 Sebek is Malleus’s #1 fan, and will literally fight anyone for that title

🗒 Also I love how Lilia fixed Malleus’s hat because it was lopsided, and Malleus said, “I’m no longer a child, Lilia” while frowning and pouting a bit

🗒 In Lilia’s eyes, Malleus is still a precious kid 😭🤧

👻 Notes on Book 5 here!

🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

[gildedmuse]

Hey, everyone.

So recently I've (predictably) very not well. Actually, whenever I don't post for long periods, just assume my body is trying to kill me. But I've gotten messages from three people asking if I. Okay, which is super sweet. I am actually trying to work on the next All Hearts, a really long ZoLaw post and two request fics, but mixing chronic kidney pain and capitalist society's mandate to work 40+ hours is not recommended.

But to prove I'm okay and still me, here is some Shanks antics with him being a total slut while Mihawk and Beckman just roll their eyes and go along with it. [Shout out to @jhaernyl who not only listens to me ramble about this stuff, but actively encourages it]. I also have many thoughts on the latest episodes and so many screenshots it's embarrassing. Hopefully, when I'm in less pain, I'll get around to actually posting those. Otherwise I just look like an insane person who literally takes by the second frame shots every time Zoro is on screen.

.... What is that? I look like that anyway? Fair.

Shanks Is A Bad Influence

It feels like Buggy and Shanks split up after Roger's death (the crew was told to, and they are the only ones who went to his execution) and I find it impossible to think Shanks didn't immediately set out and find a crew; like, pirating is the only thing this kid knows in life. This means two things:

He set out from East Blue. Also, he seemed at ease and familiar with the East so it's possible he spent like a year there getting everything together. Maybe he even played around in the other blues for a while before heading back to the Grand Line. I say this because his crew is from all over so either he found and recruited them in the Grand Line or visited various blues. Either way, I'm gonna say it took him about two years before getting a 'proper' start. In that case, he would have started out properly at the age of 17 and we know One Piece likes it's parallels.

That still puts Shanks at 17 to Benn Beckmen's 28. How the fuck did Shanks manage that? I'd call it grave robbing, but let's face it, the little tyke probably got up to some actual robbing of graves as well.

My point being everytime Shanks teases Mihawk about keeping this 19 year old kid on his personal island, mostly shirtless, Benn Beckmen just lifts an eyebrow.

Excuse me, captain, who had prefected the 'opps still don't have my sea legs' trip-and-fall into their first mates lap by the age of 17?

Shanks: Beckmen, you caught me! *Shamelessly nuzzles up* Thank goodness! I could be a devil's fruit user after all and - Ahh!

Benn: *Drops Shanks straight over the side of the ship into the water*

Shanks: *Sputtering* What what that!?

Benn: Checking to see if you had eaten a devil's fruit on us, Capatin.

Benn: You didn't.

Smart ass. But he can't resist Shanks forever. Shanks will wear him down eventually.

Next time Mihawk tracks him down for another match - because you know he gets bored way quicker than he'll ever admit and Shanks is at least amusing a challenge - Shanks makes a big deal out of how Mihawk follows him around, "accidentally" revealing they slept together, sighing about how it's so hard to resist him.

Benn Beckmen is just leaning against the side of the ship, sipping his booze.

Shanks: -and I can't stay for hours like last time!!

Mihawk: Are you quite done?

Shanks: *whispering* Does Benn look jealous?

Mihawk: He looks bored. Much like I am. Is this some strange attempt to get out of my challenge, Akagami?

Shanks: What? No, come on I told you I was game. But, hey, could you do me a favor? Maybe like try and kiss me or something? Like take a swing like your going to hit me but then stop shot and grab me by the waist instead.

Mihawk: .... Trickery is beneath you. Besides, you're absolute rubbish at it.

Shanks: Oh, come on, I would totally help you get laid if you asked!

Mihawk: .... *Sigh* I want a proper match afterwards.

Mihawk: *In a forced, monotone voice* After this I will take you to my lair and have my way with you, Akagami.

Mihawk: ... My lair? Really?

Shanks: *Holding up cue card with quickly scribbled line* What? That is how you talk.

Mihawk: I can't believe I wasted precious hours of light tracking you to this atrociously rural port.

Shanks: See? Now, read the next one.

Benn: Captain? If this is going to take all night, I am going to go join the rest of the men in the tavern.

Shanks: Huh? Wait! Benn! What if Miha really stabs me this time!?

Benn: *Salutes Shanks with his bottle* Sounds like that is his plan captain. Have a good 'challenge'.

Shanks: What? No... *Reaching out hand, like he might die if Benn leaves, looking completely devastated* Not even a little jealous...

Mihawk: You couldn't have thought that pantomime would actually work.

Shanks: Benny, don't leave me.... *Turns to Mihawk, immediately brightening* Oh, well, there's always tomorrow. Hey, Miha, guess whose free all night and horny as a pirate in the calm belt?

Mihawk: .... *Sigh* Very well.

Mihawk might as well get something for the trip he made. Although, he's reconsidering if the sex was actually worth the trouble after he ends up listening to Shanks worry half the night that Benn is shacking up with someone else (after a couple hours of rough and raw fucking, admittedly).

Is it the hat? He likes his captain's hat. Miha, you think his captain's hat is sexy, don't you?

Mihawk: It's utterly ridiculous.

Shanks: ....

Shanks: ....

Shanks: *Smile* Ahh, Miha, I knew you liked the hat!

Shanks: What do you old Northerns find sexy?

Mihawk: I am only four years older than you.

Mihawk: And silence.

Trying to convince Mihawk to go spy on Beckman for him. Shanks doesn't actually care if he does sleep with someone else, it's more that Beckman didn't immediately turn angry and jealous like Buggy would have that has him paranoid.

Mihawk is going to fuck this annoying red head again just to shut him up.

Mihawk: Maybe he doesn't like red haired boys who don't know when to be quiet?

The next morning Shanks is pacing among his poor crew that's gotten stuck listening to Shanks obsess about Beckman again. IS IT REALLY THE HAIR!?

It's not even a matter of Shanks's age (or obvious immaturity). I mean, Beckman got on board and stayed, didn't he? Beckman just enjoys watching Shanks try so hard to get his attention. Like Benn's attention isn't constantly on Shanks. He had to when his captain is always one step away from disaster.

He only left him with Mihawk because it was clear Dracule is not a real danger to Beckman's captain.

Except maybe insulting him to death. But Beckman is pretty sure Shanks can handle it. He's met Buggy. He's suspects Shanks LIKES it if anything.

It gets to the point where when they dock somewhere and see Mihawk waiting, or come back to the ship and spot his familiar silhouette, most of the crew goes off somewhere for another drink (sometimes the newer kids will stay to watch such an awesome fight, everyone else is like... Look, you'll have plenty of opportunities later. This is not a one off.)

Benn just takes a look around, nods to Mihawk (a silent signal for, "he's all yours, do with him as you please, if anything happens to him I will track you down and make sure your last few hours on this blue world are as painful as humanly possible") and heads off.

Oh, it's just the Hawk boy.

That's fine then.

Benn use to be a sailor on a trade ship between the North, East, West and Grand Line. He's seen it all.

They called him The Gun Slinger BEFORE he joined Shanks's crew and became a pirate.

So this young, broke ass kid from the streets of some near artic northern island trying to pass himself off as a Lower North rich type has a thing for his captain? Not really enough to keep Beckman up at night, no matter how good at swords he's supposed to be

Besides, he's pretty sure for the kid to keep tracking down Shanks, he must be bored out of his skull. He's not going to do anything to endanger their captain.

Not if Shanks is the only thing he can find to keep him entertained.

One day, Mihawk is going to be waiting on the dock when a bunch of Red Haired pirates are stumbling home, laughing and chattering amongst themselves (Shanks's crew always seems to be in a good mood). One of them will catch sight if Mihawk and walk by with a smile, patting him on the shoulder.

The captain's occupied. Seems likely he'll be 'occupied' for a good while, too.

Mihawk won't smile, but he will think "So you finally warmed him up to you, Akagami?" and snort lightly.

Poor Benn, though. Mihawk could never imagine being with someone so much younger than him. Shanks is only four years his junior and already it strains Mihawk to put up with his occasional moments of "youthful whimsy" (aka being an annoying, immature child)

"A young, cocky pirate with strangely colored bright hair"

Mihawk just putting that on his Not To Do List.

That lasted until Roronoa.

(Mihawk just looking at Zoro knowing this is bad news.)

Mihawk: *Takes list from Benn*

*Cross out, scribbles*

*Hands back to Benn*

Do Not Do:

- A young, cocky pirate with strangely colored bright hair a silly hat, who is overly dramatic and in any way, shape or form related to Gol D Rogers.

Ace: Hey what's up?

Mihawk: *Takes list from Benn*

Go ahead, Benn, laugh it up. Mihawk is aware he has a type. Young, pretty, and utterly insane.

After that night where Shanks was otherwise 'occupied', it's over six months before Mihawk sees his friend his rival again. He is, as expected, far too smug and proud looking.

Shanks: Oh, Miha, so sorry you came all this way, I'm-

Benn: Well, I'm off, captain.

Shanks: What!? But we, you, I... Benn, hessoeexyarentyouworriedforyourcaptain?

Benn: *patting Mihawk on the shoulder* Have fun with him. Don't forget to return him by noon tomorrow, we have a schedule. Oh, but if you can babysit him for at least four hours? That would be great.

Shanks: BABYSIT!?

Mihawk: I suppose I can be troubled to do so.

Shanks: TROUBLED!?

Benn: Thanks, Hawkeyes. I owe you.

Shanks: *Fake tears clinging to his lashes* You two are so mean!

No, don't feel bad for him. Shanks is just trying to guilt the two of them into bed at the same time, and they both know it.

Thanks no thanks, they're not into that. But Shanks can be pretty cute when he's trying so hard (Benn) and at least he's not as boring as everything else in this world (Mihawk) so they allow him to keep up the act

Shanks: *looking at Zoro's wanted poster over Mihawk's shoulder* But I feel like you'd gladly go to bed with him and his captain if he asked. That doesn't seem fair to me. You'd never go that far with me and Benn.

Mihawk: *Eyes Benn*

Mihawk: *DEAD. ONLY.*

Mihawk: I have my reasons.

They can and do agree on plenty of things, including reciprocally not being that attracted to each other.

Shanks: Sounds fake to me

Shanks: But guys!

Shanks: This isn't about you

He's gonna need you guys to drop the egos and focus on what HE wants. I.E., being in the middle of two sexy Northern men.

Honestly, so mean to poor Shanks!

[onewithnomightypowers]

clandestine (chapter 7)

PAIRING: Tom Holland x fem!Reader

SUMMARY: Y/N is an up and coming actress, married to a once hotshot actor, Harrison (Haz). What happens when her co-star, Tom, makes her realise that she is stuck in a loveless marriage. A marriage starts crumbling and a new romance stars brewing.

chapter 7: rabbit hole

A/N: i do not encourage cheating. omg THE LAST CHAPTER!!!! i hope you guys like this chapter!! feedback is always appreciated. thanks for reading <3

warnings: drinking, cursing, hate comments

word count: 1.6k

important: bold and italic are character thoughts

series masterlist   main masterlist   chapter 6

Love, easy it comes and easy it goes. Y/N and Haz’ calamitous love had no tracks ahead of it. The only thing they could do was jump off the train before it crashed and burned. Y/N took that step and fell on Tom’s doorstep. When Haz saw her leave, he understood that hurt couldn’t save a dying soul, so he jumped too, causing their marriage to fall off a hill.

They left the hobbit’s room with a sea of change in their aura. Both had bloodshot eyes from all the rivers they swam through. “I will go settle the tab”, Haz said without meeting her eyes. Y/N walked towards her driver, Arnold, who was standing near the main entrance, eager to tell her about the situation outside.

“There is a herd of paparazzi out there, ma’am”, he said.

Y/N hummed in acknowledgment.

“Shall we go?” Haz walked over to them.

“Yeah”, her voice was small and dry.

Arnold opened the door and stayed ahead to make way for them in between the storm of people. They were all screaming something over one another, making it hard to understand. Haz and Y/N had their heads down, trying to hide the stained cheeks from the blinding lights. Haz clutched Y/N’s hand protectively, out of habit.

They made their way inside the car, parked not so far away from the pub.

“You can stay with me tonight, you’re leaving for New York tomorrow morning anyway”, Y/N said looking outside the window.

“It's fine Y/N, I can get a hotel room”

“No, I insist”, her eyes focused on the lamp heads passing them by.

“Okay, I’ll take the couch”

“You can sleep on the bed, with me”

Haz found Y/N’s hand in the dark backseat and squeezed it affectionately.

That night was the last time they slept together in the same bed. When Y/N woke up the next morning, he was already gone. He left a note on the refrigerator that read, ‘thank you for everything’. A bittersweet smile took over her face.

Y/N needed some time to herself, but she also needed to inform people about her decision. She craft an email to her manager, agent and her lawyer. All of them were sent the exact same email.

Harrison and I have decided to end our marriage. I would like to file for divorce as soon as possible, and the process should be civil. I will be unavailable for a few days, so do what you have to with the news.

Y/N

She also sent her parents that email but as a text on the family group chat.

It’s short and to the point, let’s hope they don’t call me with a million questions.

When it came to Tom, she noticed that he had sent her an image a few seconds ago. It was a screenshot of a TMZ article. The headline was, ‘Y/N left her movie premiere early to meet her husband’, it wasn’t jarring but the photo underneath the headline was. Haz was holding Y/N’s hand as tightly he physically could, both of their bodies looked tired and Y/N’s makeup was all messed up. She hadn’t noticed any of that in the moment, last night.

Tom sent her another text.

Tom: Are you ok?

Y/N: not really, I’m filing for divorce

Tom: oh, do you want me to come over?

Y/N: I think I want some time to myself right now

Y/N: I’ll probably watch Gilmore girls the whole weekend

Tom: ok, I’m here if you need anything

Tom: love you

Y/N: you too

---

On Monday, the news broke. The whole world now knew that their marriage was over. The news outlets tried their best to be creative with headlines.

‘Their kingdom has come and gone: Harrison and Y/N file for divorce’

‘Harrison and Y/N, Hollywood’s perfect couple not so perfect anymore’

These were some of the most impressive ones according to Y/N’s management team but they decided to keep it to themselves. No one had heard from Y/N since Saturday. Even though she had told them that she would be unavailable, they still sent emails, warning her to stay off social media sites, especially twitter, the creator of hate wagons.

Twitter was not kind to her at all. Their divorce was trending in the entertainment section. Many people thought that it was their right to comment on this situation. They had a lot to say, mostly about Y/N.

Y/N would often find herself diving into the rabbit hole of her trending tag. She would read almost everything they had to say about her, the good and the bad, but the bad overwhelmed the good.

‘She was only in it to get famous’

‘She ugly if I was Harrison then I would drop that ass too’

‘She is so fake’

‘Harrison is better off without her’

‘She was def cheating on him’

‘Why would someone even love Y/N’

She didn’t notice, but this was getting to her. She would constantly stare at her reflection, picking her appearance apart because someone on the internet called her ugly. Y/N would rethink everything she ever said in front of the media wondering whether she sounded fake or not. She would wake in the middle of the night, pacing like a ghost, thinking she didn’t deserve Tom at all and that he would realise soon enough.

All would be lost.

Even though she thought no one noticed that she was slowly losing her mind, Tom did. He would look at her touching her face, getting lost in deep thoughts. He could feel her tossing and turning in the bed, every night. He would look through her while she’s looking through her phone. Her leg would never stop fidgeting while at rest. He noticed everything.

He took it upon himself to save her from the demons. It was late evening, Tom picked Y/N up from the set. The whole ride home, Y/N was on her phone, mindlessly scrolling through her twitter, reading every inch and every corner. No words could escape her.

When they reached home Y/N informed Tom that she was going to take a shower. Tom was in the kitchen getting the food ready, when he saw Y/N’s phone unattended on the kitchen island. He was tempted to go through with his plan.

He picked up her phone and unlocked it, he knew her password. He went on deleting every social media app from her phone and also changed his contact DP on her phone. Earlier it was an embarrassing childhood photo, he changed it to a scanned Polaroid photo of them together.

Y/N came out with a towel tied up her head. She grabbed two plates from the cabinet and set them on the island.

“What are you making?” she asks him.

“Rice paper rolls”

“So we’re having Vietnamese today, interesting”, she grabbed her phone to check her Instagram.

Where the fuck are all my apps?

“I think my phone has some defect, the Instagram and twitter apps got deleted”, Y/N says vigorously swiping through her phone.

“That’s not a defect I did that”, Tom served the dinner.

“You did what? You have no right to go through my phone and delete apps without my permission, Tom.”

“It’s for your own good, all of that shit was getting to your head”, he said calmly.

“No it wasn’t” she poorly defended herself.

“Yes it was, you were letting some random divs tell you what you are worth. That’s fucked up, babe”

She lets out a loud grunt, filled with frustration.

They both ate in silence, only the crunch of vegetables audible.

After Tom was done with his dinner, he got up, placed his dish in the sink, picked up his coat from the sofa and walked towards the door. Y/N’s eyes never stopped following his figure.

“I think I should go back to my apartment”, before Y/N could reply, Tom was out of the door.

They didn’t talk for a day but Y/N realised how peaceful she felt without having other people’s opinions being fed to her constantly. She felt less insecure about her body, her personality and especially Tom.

He loves me so much that he was ready to invade my privacy to help me.

She decides to call Tom, noticing the unfamiliar photo on his contact. The phone rung, he picked it up on the second ring.

“You little shit changed your photo, huh” her smile was audible.

“I did and I’m sorry”

“No, I’m sorry. You were right, I do feel better with all the noise gone, but you know what would make me feel much better, you, here with me”

---

Tom came over almost instantly, it was like he was already halfway to her apartment when she called. They were on the couch, watching a movie on Y/N’s laptop. Y/N had her head on Tom’s lap and he was playing with her hair.

Holding her breath, Y/N slowly said, “You didn’t need to save me, you know”

“I know”, he replies nonchalantly.

“But the real question is, would you run away with me?”

“Of course, where to darling?”

“Somewhere no one can find us and it’s only the two of us”, she scrunches her face.

“Do you remember the first time we kissed, at the pub?”

“Yeah”, she replied, fondly remembering that moment.

“You said we should go to Ireland together and I said don’t make empty promises”

“Well, do you want to run away to Ireland with me?”

“Yes”, he bent downwards and kissed her softly.

THE END

@mysticapples17 @storybookholland @flqwsome  @hollandstanevans

[thatgamefromthatad]

Mobile Life Simulators, Ranked (Part 1)

I downloaded a whole ton of mobile life simulator games over the past couple weeks and I realized it wouldn’t be plausible to rank all of them in one go so I’m breaking it up into parts with more similar games grouped together (can’t say when the next part will be made but I’m definitely planning on doing more at some point). Thank you to @creativeghost51 for recommending I cover the Sims games and other life sims!

It’s hard to define what ties these Part 1 games together (as opposed to some other groups like idle life sims and text-based life sims) but I guess the biggest similarity would be that all of these games involve your sim characters living in a home where they can freely walk around, and can interact with objects and each other. With the exception of Virtual Families Lite you can also decorate, customize and expand your home.

Something I noticed about all of these games is that you don’t really have as much freedom to experiment and build your own storylines and such as you do with, for example, the Sims computer games. While the games aren’t completely linear and there is a variety of things you can do in each of these games, they don’t really have the same sandbox quality that I think about when I think about the Sims. Which is understandable - these games are free to play and they’re made to be played mostly on people’s phones so they are expectedly more on the casual side. But I just wanted to point that out in case anyone was looking for something like the Sims to play on their phones or tablets. I haven’t really seen a mobile game in existence yet that is going to give you that same life sim sandbox experience.

Anyway, here’s the ranking rubric for these games (I’ll go into more detail about all of these scores under the read more):

***

***

***

1. Home Street

Developer: Supersolid Ltd

Release Date: Oct. 10, 2017

I was actually really surprised by this game - while it is more marketed as a home design game than a life sim it has a lot of similarities to games like The Sims Mobile; you have a character you can customize and dress up in a wide variety of outfits, you can interact with and build relationships with other characters/players (although only friendships, not romantic relationships, and you can’t have kids) and you do hobby-like activities such as painting and cooking.

While there aren’t personality traits or careers in this game, you save up “ideas”corresponding to different emotions or attributes, which function as crafting materials to go toward your hobbies. Through your hobbies/crafting abilities you can complete jobs for other characters, like selling them vegetables from your garden or giving them something you’ve cooked.

🏡 Character Design: 3/4 (while the ability to customize your character’s facial features and such isn’t as advanced here as it is in The Sims Mobile, it still has a wider range of options than The Sims FreePlay and I prefer the art style of Home Street compared to FreePlay; there’s also a wide range of outfits and accessories and you can set different outfits for different activities)

🏡 Home Design: 4/4 (although you’ll probably notice from my screenshots that I’m not exactly a home design aficionado, I found placing decorations, walls and floors etc in this game to be a smoother and easier process than in any of the other games and I like the art style of the objects as well. There’s a good range of items, including ones your character can interact with in different ways, and I like having the various hobby workstations embedded into the home where you can place them wherever works best for you, which is also how it is in the Sims games. There’s a lot of potential for someone who’s more adept at home design than me to create really fun themed rooms and whatnot)

🏡 Gameplay: 9/10 (I really loved the gameplay concept in this game more than in any of the other games, I love leveling up to get new workstations and crafting items to fulfill tasks for other characters. The task concept kind of reminds me of Animal Crossing in a way. While the main screen can be a little busy at times, overall the game is really easy to navigate and does a good job of guiding you with goals and tasks without making it feel like you’re restricted to only following those exact tasks. The characters and dialog are also charming and make you feel like you’re progressing through a story as you level up)

🏡 Playtime vs. Wait Time (without paying to speed up tasks): 4/4 (while you do need to wait for your hobbies/crafting tasks to complete, they don’t really take that long and you can save time if you craft things ahead of time; also there are a lot of things you can do while you’re waiting. The wait times might get longer as you get further in the game but I played for about two weeks and so far I haven’t felt really stalled at any point)

🏡 Total: 20/22

2. The Sims Mobile

Developer: Electronic Arts

Release Date: March 6, 2018

I was also pleasantly surprised by this game, since I had played The Sims FreePlay years ago and didn’t really like it, but this one I liked a lot more and had quite a bit of fun with. As I mentioned before, it doesn’t have the same sandbox quality as the computer Sims games, but the character customization is the best out of all the life sims I played and there’s such an enormous catalog of different clothing and home design items to choose from, there are definitely a lot of fun possibilities.

There’s a fairly wide range of things to do although I did feel a little more confined to the tasks the game set out for me - for example I went with the careers that I had objectives for rather than picking careers I’d really want my character to have, plus you need to wait until you level up to unlock careers so you have less freedom in that aspect.

🦙 Character Design: 4/4 (This game actually uses sliding scales to customize different facial features and body types and such, and although it isn’t as advanced as in the computer games it is much more advanced than I’d expect for a casual mobile game and makes it a lot easier to make the characters look how you actually want them to. The catalog of things to dress your sims up in is also enormous and there’s a fun special fashion feature that creates unique clothes that boosts your stats for certain activities, which is why there are hearts floating around my sim in the screenshot. Oh and there’s a social feature to give other people’s sims stickers based on their outfits, which makes dressing up your sim more fun and exciting)

🦙 Home Design: 3/4 (The home design here is pretty fun and there is a wide range of items, and I also like how there’s a score that goes up as you add more items and complete furniture collections. However I personally found the controls for placing a moving things a little wonkier than in Home Street and FreePlay, i.e. I kept moving things on accident or couldn’t get things to easily snap where I wanted them to, and the collections and goals did make me feel a little confined to selecting certain objects or adding things I didn’t need to fulfill the goals rather than going with my own style, although I suppose you could just ignore the goals if you wanted to)

🦙 Gameplay: 7/10 (This game is fun although it can get quite repetitive since one of the main things you’ll be doing is “events,” which mostly involves just tapping things or waiting a certain amount of time for the tasks to complete themselves. The “events” in this game kind of reminded me of the tasks in the Kim Kardashian game which I also played years ago lol. However there are things to do besides events and the events do have a little more to them than just tapping; when I say tapping I mean tapping task options that sometimes have quirky, funny names and there are also “risky” tasks that have bigger rewards but a certain chance of succeeding or failing etc. There are little bits of dialogue as you progress through your career, relationship and hobby chapters and there are also seasonal/limited time activities you can do that add more fun and variety and chances for rewards. However I still wish there was a little more variety and flare to the “events” aspect, which made up the bulk of my playtime)

🦙 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 4/4 (Like in Home Street, there is waiting involved if you’re waiting for events to complete and you run out of energy to do the tasks that speed them up, but you can choose whether to have a longer event or a shorter event and you can also have one sim be running an event while doing something else with the other sim. I was able to choose shorter event times if I wanted to stick around for a bit and then run a longer event when I was logging off for a while so I could reap the rewards when I came back. The amount of time you can spend playing continuously here is much better than a lot of other mobile games that involve an energy system)

🦙 Total: 18/22

3. Virtual Families 3

Developer: LDW Software, LLC

Release Date: Sept. 17, 2020

(Note: Please disregard how barren my home looks here, this was the last game I started playing so I didn’t progress very far but I feel I can still base my scores on what I’ve played so far and what I can see available that I just haven’t unlocked/can’t afford yet)

The Virtual Families games are all pretty similar to each other to be honest, but the most recent version is definitely the most fleshed out and the least ugly. There are more things to do, more variety in the sim designs (here they’re called “adoptees”) and there are actually nonwhite characters which I’m pretty sure there weren’t any or were barely any in the last two games. You still can’t customize your adoptees though, just flip through the options to pick the ones you like the most.

I kind of struggled with the Virtual Families games because they run on real time and my adoptees would end up severely neglected when I just didn’t have time to play, but there is an option to pause when you’re away, I just didn’t want to and wanted the game to progress naturally.

What I do really like about Virtual Families is that the adoptees have minds of their own and you can kind of watch them lives their lives and imagine little personalities for them. It’s a lot more casual than the other games and you probably have the most freedom here to do whatever you want although there are not as many things to do.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Character Design: 2/4 (You can’t customize your own characters but there’s more variety here in the randomized designs and the art isn’t as ugly and janky as in the previous two Virtual Families games)

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Home Design: 2/4 (Home design isn’t as big of a thing in the Virtual Families games but there is a decent variety in furniture and objects to put in your house and you could probably have some fun with it if you’re creative. The art style isn’t that great though)

👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 Gameplay: 7/10 (Like I said, what I like is watching the little adoptees go about their lives or dropping them around to pick up the debris on the floor to look for collectibles. In this game there are also a lot of little funny random events like getting random phone calls or being given random choices to make that can have positive or negative outcomes. Occasionally you’ll be given problems to solve like needing to repair or hire someone to repair something, or once I lost the TV remote and had to look around my house for it then send someone to retrieve it. It makes the experience more varied and engaging and makes you feel more involved in progressing)

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 3/4 (You can pretty much play indefinitely watching your adoptees except that can get boring especially if they’re just eating or sleeping. My adoptees kept getting really tired and I would just send them to sleep and exit out, then when I came back they would be out of bed and still extremely tired lol. But once they did get enough sleep I got to spend more time with them until they had to do something else boring like work or eat)

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Total: 14/22

4. The Sims Freeplay

Developer: Electronic Arts

Release Date: Dec. 15, 2011

This game was pretty disappointing when I played it years and years ago hoping to be able to play the Sims while on the go, and it’s still pretty disappointing now even though I have more understanding of why they can’t put the actual full Sims game on my phone, especially not for free.

The most disappointing thing about this game is not just the long wait times, which are annoying on their own, but the constant ads that pop up any time you do a task that’s more than like 3 minutes. Some of these ads aren’t even skippable. This made it pretty much unplayable for me up to a point, until I figured out how to strategize to do the shortest tasks possible, and until a limited time special event thing came up that gave me something else to do without having to constantly wait or dodge ads.

That being said, this game does have the unique charm of being a lot more similar to the classic Sims computer games, with a similar art style and even the same or similar music and sound effects. If you have patience (or if you pay to play) I can see this being a lot more satisfying and I’ve seen people do really cool things on this game as far as building storylines around their sims and building really impressive houses. But I don’t think this game really works as a casual free-to-play game, it’s much too frustrating and monotonous for the average player.

💚 Character Design: 2/4 (limited options for facial features and not as many options for clothing as The Sims Mobile, plus the low-poly look is not very appealing; I know it’s an older game but since it’s still being maintained I’d think they would have upgraded it a little and added more variety over the last 10 years)

💚 Home Design: 4/4 (editing your home in this game feels a lot like in the Sims 3 and like I said I’ve seen people build awesome mansions in this game so I think this is definitely one of the best aspects of the game)

💚 Gameplay: 5/10 (I was going to give it a worse score given the insufferable, unskippable pop-up ads but I did give it credit for the limited time/seasonal events which are easier to play uninterrupted and add some variety to the game, at least the one I played did. I was able to find this game somewhat tolerable also by only doing the shortest tasks possible to avoid ads and then exiting out whenever an ad popped so I could just come back a little later, although the need to do that was also annoying in itself)

(Note/Edit: A very nice anon pointed out that you can avoid ads in games that don’t need a constant internet connection by turning off your wifi/internet while playing, and this seemed to work with FreePlay as long as you are connected to the main game before you turn off internet! You won’t be able to do everything in the game but you can still play in the main world with your Sims in their houses and do longer tasks without getting an ad pop-up if you temporarily disable internet on your device. I’m not going to fully change the score and ranking since I don’t think that’s how the game was intended to be played and needing to turn off wifi to play is kind of inconvenience in itself but the game definitely is definitely more like a 6/10 or 7/10 if you do this.)

💚 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 2/4 (Absolutely would have given it a 1/4 but the event saved it from that, you can play for longer stretches of time when there’s an event, but of course that only applies to playing the event and not the main game)

💚 Total: 13/22

5. Virtual Families 2

Developer: LDW Software, LLC

Release Date: Dec. 6, 2012

All of the Virtual Families games are pretty similar overall so I won’t go into a lot of detail for these last two but basically Virtual Families 2 has more variety in things to do than the first Virtual Families, especially in terms of home design and things to unlock throughout the game. It also has a slight visuals upgrade, although the character designs are still pretty janky for something that came out in the 2010s imo.

Also this game has a bug where if you do something the tutorial was supposed to teach you before the tutorial is over, you’re forever stuck in tutorial mode unless you completely start over, just a heads up.

👨‍👩‍👧 Character Design: 1/4 (While the janky character designs do kind of give it a retro charm for me this game really didn’t come out all THAT long ago and the designs and animations are pretty wonky. I know Last Day of Work/LDW isn’t an enormous company like EA or anything but from what I understand they had relatively good amount of success in the early casual mobile games sphere, and since this is a sequel I’d expect a little more of a visuals upgrade than this but that’s just me)

👨‍👩‍👧 Home Design: 2/4 (Same deal as Virtual Families 3, more furniture options and opportunity to expand your home but art style is lacking and doesn’t feel like a central aspect of the game)

👨‍👩‍👧 Gameplay: 6/10 (Just a little less varied than VF3 and a little more than VF1)

👨‍👩‍👧 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 3/4 (Same exact deal as VF3)

👨‍👩‍👧 Total: 12/22

6. Virtual Families Lite

Developer: LDW Software, LLC

Release Date: June 3, 2009

Phew, you know a game is old when it has “Lite” in the title. This is one of the first smartphone games I EVER played (though when I first played it I didn’t have a smartphone, just a 1st gen iPod Touch); in fact, I’m not 100% sure, but this might actually be the first smartphone game I ever played, and I do remember it fondly. I want to make it clear that I’m rating it now on the experience of playing it today in 2021 relative to the other mobile games I’ve played and reviewed, being that the purpose of this blog is to hopefully give people an idea of what games they’d like to play, and hyping up a 12-year-old game as though it holds up more than it does for nostalgia’s sake doesn’t fulfill that purpose imo.

That said, this game does hold up fairly well, but definitely pales in comparison to its sequels and other options now available. This game is still worth playing if all you want is to have a little virtual family to check in on from time to time and don’t really want to do much else. Otherwise it doesn’t offer anything that its sequels doesn’t save for its nostalgic charm and uniquely terrifying art style.

👩‍👦Character Design: 1/4 (Same as VF2 but uglier)

👩‍👦Home Design: 1/4 (The house already has everything in it and you can’t rearrange anything, which is convenient but boring. You can upgrade your work stations though)

👩‍👦Gameplay: 5/10 (Same as VF2 but a little less variety)

👩‍👦 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 3/4 (Same deal as the other two, although watching your family is arguably more boring when there are less things to do, but it’s also more convenient when you already have all the furniture and appliances you need right off the bat so it balances)

👩‍👦Total: 10/22

If you got here to the end, even if you just skimmed through, thank you so much for reading 😍 Follow me for more mobile game reviews, articles and commentary 🥳

[not-so-mundane-after-all]

hand-holding, 33, Dick & Gar

Locked Myself In a Cage and Threw Away The Key (But Your Gentle Hands Had Set Me Free)

Hand-holding | 33. bandaging the other’s hand and not quite letting go - for @undertheknightwing

Gar walked into the Tower's kitchen humming softly, his eyes focused on the phone he held in his hand. He was scrolling through endless pages of recipes, trying to find a perfect smoothie combination. He loved experimenting in the kitchen ever since he was a little kid, his mom would usually assist. At Chief's house Larry has always been very protective over that specific area and wouldn't let him touch anything so the boy never got the chance to do it again but when he arrived in San Francisco with his new friends a little over a week ago and basically started drooling at the sight of a huge kitchen island and shiny appliances, Dick walked up to him with a smile, patted his shoulder and simply said "Go ahead. It's all yours."

"Aha!" he exclaimed triumphantly as he dropped on one of the stools. He found a perfect recipe, a combination he never tried before. He needed kale, an orange and a lemon, a cucumber, coconut water and honey. "Wait, do we have all of that?"

Leaving his phone on the counter he made his way around the kitchen island to the fridge. He found a cucumber (that was already withering so it was the last chance to use it) and some honey. There were a few lemons in a bowl on the counter but no oranges. Other ingredients from the list were missing as well.

Damn it.

Gar quickly grabbed his phone, took a screenshot of the recipe and sent it to Rachel with a note of what he needed. Dick took her out for grocery shopping (apparently his idea of quality time which Gar honestly loved but wouldn't admit it, at least not to Jason), they left like 20 minutes ago so there was still a chance she could get this stuff for him. A minute later she responded with a thumb up emoji and he let out a sigh of relief.

Now all he had to do was wait.

***

When he got the text from Rachel that they'll be back home in 5 minutes (he still couldn't quite get used to calling this place their home - Rachel on the contrary had no problem with it, probably thanks to Dick), Gar dragged himself from the couch in the living room and set to work. Soon the elevator door let out a loud ding sound and she walked in, carrying a huge paper bag filled to the brim in her hands.

"Got everything you asked for." she said, smiling, as she set the bag beside him on the kitchen island and started unpacking it.

"Sweet, thanks." he replied, starting to chop the cucumber into pieces. "Where's Dick?"

"Still in the garage." she sighed, then dropped on the stool next to him and opened a bag of sour jelly beans. "Want some?"

"No, thanks. Why?"

"Car started acting weird." she explained, chewing on the candy. "Apparently something's wrong with the engine or something, I dunno. He's looking into it."

Gar lifted his eyes at her, brows furrowing in concern.

"Ouch, I hope it's nothing serious. I have a feeling Donna wouldn't be happy if it turned out we broke her ride- agh, shit!"

He felt a jolt of stinging pain on the inside of his left palm, setting his nerves ablaze and instinctively pulled his hand away, trying to escape the sensation. Rachel's eyes grew wide and she gasped, staring at it. He slowly lifted his hand back up, looking down and suddenly he felt dizzy, the floor crumbling under his feet.

There was so much blood.

It wasn't really the sight that made him feel this way, or the pain of the cut. It was the touch of the warm liquid creating a puddle inside his palm. The bitter smell of metal that hit his nostrils. The Tiger inside of him came awake, letting out a restless growl and started clawing at the walls of its cage, demanding to be set free.

The cage. Like the one they locked Gar in at the asylum. Suddenly he was back there, curled up in the corner naked, afraid and bloody, staring at a pile of disembodied body parts and internal organs ripped apart. He could feel the taste of crimson in his mouth, sour and disgusting, while the Tiger was roaring in pleasure, demanding for more. Gar heard someone calling out to him, some part of his brain registered a gentle touch and a surge of energy, but the Tiger was quick and shut it all down with one single growl. It wanted to take control, to put Gar in the cage instead. The boy was too close to letting it. As much as the cage terrified him, it also felt somewhat safe and if staying inside meant he could be free of the Tiger for a moment at least, then-

"Gar? Gar, c'mon. Come back to me, buddy."

He snapped back to reality so quickly he started feeling dizzy again. Or maybe the dizziness didn't go away at all, he didn't know. He gasped like he just came out of water and when his sight sharpened again he found himself gazing into Dick's concerned brown eyes, feeling the man's fingers gripping his arms tightly. Rachel was peering over his shoulder, nibbling at her lower lip in worry.

"I tried to heal him but it didn't work." she said, her voice quiet and hesitant. "I don't know why."

"It's okay." he told her, although his eyes never left Gar's. "Go grab the first aid kit. You know where it is, right?"

"Yeah." she nodded and disappeared from view. Dick focused on the boy again.

"Gar, breathe. It's just a little blood. You're okay."

He followed his instructions. Deep breaths. Slow and steady. It's just a little blood. The Tiger is asleep.

"You're not there." Dick spoke softly, as if reading his mind. "You're not in the cage anymore."

They kept breathing together for a bit longer and Gar started feeling better. He risked looking down at his hand. It was covered in smudged blood and a deep cut ran across the inside of his palm. It stung when he stretched his fingers.

"I, uh…" he started, his throat suddenly feeling dry. "I think I didn't notice. The knife slipped and-"

"It's alright, kiddo." Dick comforted him, sending him a warm smile. In the meantime Rachel came back with a small red box in her hand and set it down on the counter. Dick thanked her quietly and looked back at the boy. "Why don't we patch it up, huh?" He let go of his arm and offerend his hand to him. "Can I?"

Gar hesitantly put his injured hand in Dick's hold and instantly relaxed feeling the warm touch of his fingers on his skin. The man cleaned the cut with a disinfectant (it hurt like a bitch), smoothing a damp cotton swab over it, then started wrapping a white bandage over it. His movements were slow and careful, he kept holding his hand gently, turning it to the sides whenever he needed to. Gar observed him quietly, feeling somewhat hypnotized by the process. It was calming down his shattered nerves.

When the dressing was done though, Dick didn't let go of the boy's hand like Gar expected him to, but instead he clasped it between both of his own and held it firmly, looking into his eyes again.

"You good?" he asked and Gar knew he didn't mean the cut.

"Yeah." he answered, his voice sounding a bit croaky. He cleared his throat before speaking again. "Sorry I spaced out."

"It's okay. It triggered you, didn't it? The blood."

Gar took a deep breath and felt his shoulders trembling.

"It did. I know it's silly, but-"

"It's not silly." the man interrupted him and squeezed his hand in comfort. "It's your body and mind reacting to trauma. It's completely normal."

Gar looked down at their hands, feeling his eyes burning.

"I was at the Asylum again…"

"I figured." he heard Dick say quietly. "But thankfully it wasn't real this time. You're safe, Gar. With us, with me. You're at home, not there, remember that."

They stared into each other's eyes for a few long seconds before a smile finally broke onto Gar's face.

"At home."

Dick grinned back at him, relief flooding his face.

"Yeah."

Someone's hand rested on his shoulder. Rachel.

"I'm glad you feel better now." she said. "How about we finish this smoothie?"

Gar lifted an eyebrow at her.

"You hate green smoothies."

"But I am willing to try this one. You bled for it after all."

All three of them chuckled at her joke.

"Save me some for later." Dick said as he stood up from his chair. "I gotta get back to the garage."

That reminded Gar of the car issue.

"Hey, what happened? Is it bad?"

Dick was already halfway to the elevator when he shouted back.

"Nah, I just need to tweak a few things, that's all."

The elevator door dinged and he was gone.

Gar turned to Rachel.

"You said you tried to heal me?"

She shrugged, a look of confusion appearing on her face as she went back to unpacking the groceries.

"Yeah, but somehow I couldn't."

He scratched the back of his neck, thinking.

"I think the Tiger stopped it. I felt something, but then it was abruptly cut off. I don't know, maybe I was imagining things."

"Maybe." she closed the fridge and turned back to him. "So what do you need next?"

"Give me that coconut water."

"Gotcha."

_________________________________________

Fandom: DC Titans

Title: Locked Myself In a Cage and Threw Away The Key (But Your Gentle Hands Had Set Me Free)

Series: Physical Affection - Tumblr Prompts

Pairings/Relationships: Dick Grayson & Garfield Logan

Summary: It wasn't really the sight that made him feel this way, or the pain of the cut. It was the touch of the warm liquid creating a puddle inside his palm. The bitter smell of metal that hit his nostrils. The Tiger inside of him came awake, letting out a restless growl and started clawing at the walls of its cage, demanding to be set free.

CHECK OUT THE PROMPT LIST | REQUESTS OPEN

[amy-issen]

ok so here it is!! i spent the last week solely making and listening to this playlist like i was POSSESED because this ship is lovely and deserved a nice playlist!  if anyone wants to know why i picked each song, i’m going to ramble about it extensively in the read more, so check that out if you want! hope you enjoy it! also thanks again to @birbwell​ for letting me use her art for the cover!

i divided this playlist in a few sections so let’s start with the first one (section one: first meeting/pining) i. in the rain - joe hisaishi i wanted to start with a short instrumental track to set the mood, and i looooove howl’s moving castle score, so i had to pick this one! the fact that it has rain in the title also helps to reference how their relationship began! ii. with every breath i take - frank sinatra “every breath that I take is a prayer that i’ll make you mine” my sister is a big sinatra/jazz fan (and also a yakuza fan) so she helped me with picking a few of the songs here! this one is very romantic, elegant and beautiful and i thought it fit the mood (and it’s what i think tachibana listens to in his free time lmao).

iii. gold rush - taylor swift “what must it be like to grow up that beautiful? with your hair falling into place like dominoes my mind turns your life into folklore i can't dare to dream about you anymore” this one is my FAVORITE song on this playlist, and one of the first i picked because this song just fits them like a glove. it’s basically pining 101, and i love that what taylor said this song is about “daydreaming about someone then snapping out of it.” i feel like the first part could be from tachibana’s perspective and the second one from kiryu’s (also giving a bit of a glimpse into the future, with the mention of a coastal town they’ll never find together) iv. first love/late spring - mitski “so please, hurry, leave me, i can't breathe please don't say you love me mune ga hachikire-sōde (my heart seems like it’s going to burst)” this one was another song i picked very early on because i love mitski, and i needed to include her here. i just wanted something to symbolize the trust that tachibana and kiryu have to share to work together, and the feelings that emerge from it, if that makes any sense. i don’t think this has a specific perspective, because i feel like this could work from both kiryu’s and tachibana’s (mostly kiryu though) v. real estate - adam melchor “every time I wonder how i'd carry on without you i'm runnin' out of real estate tryna make all the right moves i don't wanna hesitate i would bet the house on you “ do you UNDERSTAND how satisfying it was to find a song named real estate for them?? come ooon. ok that’s not all of my reasoning for it but it’s like. most of it, lmao another song i felt was about trust and feelings. (also a bit of a glimpse into the future, because i’m sad) vi. i get a kick out of you - ella fitzgerald “i get no kick from champagne mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all so tell me why should it be true that i get a kick out of you?” another one my sister recommended. i originally was gonna go with sinatra’s version of this, but i love this one and it just wouldn’t leave my brain. again, one from mostly tachibana’s perspective, get this man to sing this on karaoke night right now. vii. like real people do - hozier  “i will not ask you where you came from i would not ask and neither would you honey, just put your sweet lips on my lips we could just kiss like real people do” this is one of my all time favorites from hozier and, again, it just fit perfectly. tachibana and kiryu have both lived some very... troubled lives so far, and while they’re depending on this trust they have in eachother, none of them really care to know about what they’ve done or who they are. this is mostly from kiryu’s perspective, specially with this metaphor of being rescued/dug up from the earth with the whole being found in the rain and saved by tachibana and his poor driving skills. viii. delicate - taylor swift “this ain't for the best my reputation's never been worse, so you must like me for me... we can't make any promises now, can we, babe? but you can make me a drink” y’all are going to have to forgive me for picking TWO taylor swift songs but COME OOOON this is another one that i picked early on because i could draw so many parallels between the lyrics and things that they both said in that car scene on chapter 9 (mostly tachibana though) and i kept harassing my sister with screenshots to prove my point and i’m gonna do it again

ANYWAYS i’ve made my case, and now we enter the second section of the playlist at last ( section 2: actual romantic/fluffy songs because this is a ship playlist) i. good old-fashioned lover boy - queen “dining at the ritz we'll meet at nine (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 o'clock) precisely i will pay the bill, you taste the wine driving back in style in my saloon will do quite nicely just take me back to yours that will be fine” is this a bit of a cliché? yes. did i want to include it because it’s very cute and i’d like to imagine kiryu and tachibana having a nice date night with no people trying to kill them all the time? also yes. i love this song.

ii. stay with me/mayonaka no door - miki matsuraba “you in your gray jacket with that oh-so-familiar coffee stain just as you always are the two of us reflect in the window display stay with me knocking on midnight's door i beg you not to go home tonight” (translated lyrics) is anyone not obsessed with this song lately? this is the only song here i’m blaming tiktok for making me listen to it lol. in any way, this song is deceptive because it sounds really happy but is actually quite melancholic. i thought it fit their relationship well, and it seemed like a good addition to the playlist with it’s 80′s city pop vibes.

iii. on melancholy hill - gorillaz (covered by matt forbes) “just looking out on the day of another dream where you can't get what you want, but you can get me so let's set out to sea, love 'cause you are my medicine when you're close to me" this is a gorillaz song but i went with this cover because it fit the feeling of the playlist a little better. another song that i just love very deeply and i thought fit the sentiment of kiryu being like “hey i know we have Big problems and you’re very sad in the moment but i’m here for you” iv. (i love you) for sentimental reasons - nat king cole "i think of you every morning dream of you every night darling, i'm never lonely whenever you are in sight" surprisingly, not one that my sister recommended, but one i found for myself while looking for quiet  romantic songs. i feel like this is tachibana's reply to kiryu being there for him and helping him. plus, idk i just wanted to imagine them slow dancing to this. v. positions - ariana grande (covered by travis atreo) "perfect, perfect you're too good to be true but I get tired of runnin', fuck it now, i’m runnin' with you" i picked this cover because i felt like using ariana's one would be a little goofy for this section lmao, but i really like this song and how it's about commitment and doing everything to make a relationship work. i just wanted to throw some sexy vibes before this playlist delved into depressing stuff. also if you telling me tachibana wouldn't absolute body a tiktok set to this song you're lying to yourself. (section 3: oh no this is getting sad) i. forever - labrinth "i'll live forever" i love everything labrinth makes, the euphoria soundtrack lives in my mind rent free and this is my favorite one. this barely has any lyrics so, again, mostly a track i picked for its intrumentals and feeling overall. mostly preparing you for the sad stuff ahead. ii. hong kong - gorillaz "you swallow me i'm a pill on your tongue here on the nineteenth floor the neon lights make me calm" this is my favorite gorillaz song, by FAR, and i think it's introspective vibe really fits tachibana's character. not really a song about relationship but i really wanted to include it because it's just such a GORGEOUS song. iii. fragments - severon another instrumental track! this one i stole from a playlist my sister made for a fic i wrote last year. again. sad vibes. iv. sign of the times - harry styles (covered by LANY) "remember everything will be alright we can meet again somewhere somewhere far away from here" i loved the synth-y vibe this cover had, while still keeping this song's sad "our lives are dangerous and i'm about to die" vibes. i mostly wanted to evoke the vibe from the scene where tachibana agrees to go with lao gui after kiryu gets shot. just really sad all around. v. so close - jon mclaughlin "we're so close to reaching that famous happy end almost believing this one's not pretend let's go on dreaming though we know we are so close, so close, and still so far" me? picking a song from disney's enchanted??? for a playlist??? it's more likely than you think. idk this song just gives me that vibe of being so close to being happy and together, almost reminiscing and wondering what could have been. but it just... won't happen. vi. as the world caves in - matt maltese "yes, it's you i welcome death with as the world, as the world caves in" oops, yes, i had to go there. just couldn't resist including this song, and i feel like it's really self-explanatory. vii. places we won't walk - bruno major "neon lights shine bold and bright buildings grow to dizzy heights people come alive at night in places we won't walk" again, i feel like this song speaks for itself. a bit of a meditation on kiryu's perspective on things that could have happened, things they would have done, that kiryu will just have to do alone from now on. viii. carry me out - mitski "i drive when it rains at night, when it rains, i drive and the headlight spirits they lead me down the styx so black it shines and carry me out carry me out"

possibly the saddest and the most powerful song in this playlist, because i just had to put a mitski song again. the image of kiryu carrying tachibana's body is just constantly in my mind when i listen to this, but i could also see this song being from the perspective of tachibana's spirit. ix. arms tonite - mother mother "i died in your arms tonight i slipped through into the afterlife it was nice" lmao this felt a bit like a cruel joke to include, but i didn't want this playlist to end TOO depressingly. it's a nod to tachibana dying in kiryu's arms, sure, but also it's romantic and possibly a little hopeful (tachibana lives au!!! orpheus and eurydice au!!! fuck it, idk!!)  xi. everybody wants to rule the world - tears for fears "there's a room where the light won't find you holding hands while the walls come tumbling down when they do, i'll be right behind you so glad we've almost made it so sad they had to fade it everybody wants to rule the world" not a recommendation from my sister, but it is her favorite song, and she was happy that i included it. another 80's bop with sad lyrics! i feel like this is a lovely summary of their story together and it feels like a nice little bow to wrap up the playlist.  i hope you enjoyed my long ass explanations! i might add songs later (or make an entire second playlist altogether for the fic i'm writing rn, but let's not get ahead of ourselves)

[the-lost-media-blog]

Saki Sanobashi/Go for a Punch (Warning: Mentions of violence and suicide)

Alright, the first post for my new blog. Teach, if you’re reading this than hi :). Okay, lets get started!

Go For A Punch (also known as Saki Sanobashi) is a supposed lost anime that is speculated to have been made in either the 80′s or early 90′s that only have a sub available.

The first mention of Saki is on a 4-Chan comment on a post in 2015 asking about what was the most messed up thing found on the Deep Web. The comment in question said that they (the one who told the internet about this and will be called OP) they found the Deep Web. OP went on to describe how, in 2011 they found a subbed anime OVA called, at least on the site, ‘Go For A Punch’. In it, they described what it was about, so here’s the brief description:

Nine girls are trapped inside of a bathroom with no way out, they have debates over whether or not they’re going to get out. After days of starving, and being naked for some reason (honestly idk either), all of them commit suicide by either bashing their heads in against the floor/clawing at their throats, with one girl with a bright -almost white- hime cut being drowned by another girl in the sink because she couldn’t do it herself. ( below is a reference image of the hair cut.)

The OP mentions that it was 80′s-ish in quality, most girls had short bushy brown hair (there was also the hime cut girl who might have white hair, there’s a red-head and apparently a blonde?), the eyes were small and far apart, strange camera angels, a scream that sounded like the scream Dies Irae from Stanly Kubrick’s The Shinning, the player on the site is similar to the modern Bing Player, and that there really wasn’t any music. People questioned OP as the whole thing sounded interesting, and defiantly stood out from the troll and basic ‘I saw real gore’ posts. One of these comments is where the name Saki Sanobashi came from.

The search went on for 5 years as of when I’m writing this, blowing up after YouTuber Whang posted a video on November 21, 2019 as apart of his ‘Tales From The Internet’ series, which brought more attention to it as part one has 779k views at the current time of writing.

One thing I would like to note is that many people have claimed to have seen Saki, some going into details that OP didn’t list, but sadly the majority of those posts have been proven false, with one admitting that their lie was only made to show how gullible people are, and will believe that anything’s Saki. 

Many people were hoping to find this lost anime, one person made a series where they go over manga/anime to see if it’s Saki (the series is on YouTube with a least 50 parts). There has been many false leads, one of which includes the profile pic I’m using claiming the girl was from Saki, but it’s not. Another reason for why the search got crazy was because of all the gore filled anime from back then. Like seriously, there’s a lot there some are more known than others. Also, side note, Saki Sanobashi/Go For A Punch has it’s own TV Tropes page, which is how you know it got big. 

But on December 22, 2019 someone claiming to be OP made a post on one of the many sub-reddits. 

They said that they made it all up for laughs since they thought the creator of the original 4-Chan thread was an idiot for expecting a serious answer, and OP’s coming forward since they feel bad for how crazy this all had gotten. Their proof was screen shots of the hime girl (which is above and why I chose it) and a book spine which was OP’s pic for the very first post on 4-chan, both screenshots dated for 2015, as well as the Bing player, and the Dies Irae scream.

Now, many people, like myself, are assuming that this OP might not be the real OP. One of the main reasons being why would they still hold onto those specific images, for nearly 4 years at that point, if it was for a troll post. This OP said it’s because they don’t delete downloaded pics, which sound off to me. I will delete pics on my phone if I don’t see a reason to keep it (example: I’ll keep a pic of the Halloween Timeline so I can keep track of which films are on which timeline, but delete a screenshot from a BuzzFeed quiz). But, never the less, some people gave up on the search, leading one of the sub-reddits to become nothing but memes, and the other ones had to pick up the slack. 

One group on the sub-reddit is claiming to be making the OVA themselves under the title Team Saki, the trailer’s on YouTube so I suggest that you look it up yourself. I’ve also heard of a possible Visual Novel being made of Saki on one of the sub-reddits. Also, there’s tons of fanart of Saki out there, so if you wanna see how some see it then go ahead search if you want to, there’s a whole sub-reddit dedicated just to artwork. On TikTok, there’s plenty of lovely cosplays as well.

Another thing I feel like mentioning is that there’s a music video made by a J-Pop (Japanese Pop) group, that some people claim is inspired by Saki. I kind of see that, I mean, the art shown at the start looks 80′s-ish, and there are some basic similarities. But, that being said, I’m betting it’s all a coincidence, and we have no clue what the Lost Media scene is like in Japan as Lost Media is different in every country (as the Lost Media ice-burg, made in Spanish, has shown). I’ve Googled if it was, and I’ve seen some sites claim that, but I’m sticking with it’s a coincidence until there’s an official claim from the band themselves to confirm the inspiration so I’m not going by word of mouth. 

Here’s the music video if you wanna check it out and there’s also (fake) blood as well as a suicide scene in it, so just to let you know so you’re not caught off guard when it happens. They stay dressed though, with only the pantyhose getting cut. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kBK33DvIoM

So as of when I’m writing, all we have is the mentioned teaser, concept art on the sub-reddit for both the animation and visual novel, an odd half live-action half drawn recreation clip made October 30, 2019. As well as just loads of dead ends. Some people hope that if we find it, or at the very least Team Saki turns out good or it leads to the real deal comes out because of something like a copyright claim or something.

I personally believe that it could exist some where out there, but maybe under a different name and somewhat buried on the internet. I meant if something that was banned such as Shoujo Tsukubki can find it’s way onto YouTube (aka the Surface Web/ Clear net) then it’s honestly possible it’s out there.

Either that or I just wasted your time with reading about something that might not even exist, so here have a kitty!

GO FOR A PUNCH/SAKI’S CURRENT STATUS:  Existence unconfirmed, but fan projects are being made.