#and maybe they’ll improve the plot!!

[sehnisweet]

The bump up business posters got released 👀 millnine leads

[blueikeproductions]

So next month, EarthSpark is returning for its (most likely) final batch on Paramount+.

The plan so far is it premiers October 25th.

It’s labeled “S3”, but realistically it’s just the next round of the second season. What it involves is anyone’s guess, because the old planning document that was leaked that first revealed CyberWorld has only confused things.

The EarthSpark toys are on clearance and being phased out. Those unsold, dust collecting Cyber Combiners are going to Ollies before long, and the Chaos Terrans aren’t even on shelves here. The Legacy toys are mostly gone too, the TF section is nearly all TFONE and a modest Studio Series selection.

There’s no conceivable way a series that tanked on streaming is getting specials during the successor’s tenure. If that’s how it worked, Animated would’ve gotten a special that tied up loose ends when Prime was on.

The only thing we’re probably getting is Prowl, and maybe Mirage since he was plastered on the leaked document. Considering how poorly handled ES’s (and CV’s since they share staff) ideas were, I don’t have high hopes the Quintesson and Decepticon plot will be handled well to close out ES. Modern shows have a bad habit of butterfly chasing, one idea that has potential to be fleshed out is abandoned on a whim in favor of a spur of the moment idea that isn’t much better. Entertainment in general also tends to learn the wrong lessons, like the awkward lesson taken from Lightyear is the gay kiss was the problem, so let’s just not do gay stuff at all. The gay kiss didn’t help matters due to international cultures unfortunately and the loudest grifters MADE it the problem, when Lightyear and Strange World’s problems were weak story and weaker concepts. To Strange World’s credit, it’d be a perfect Kingdom Hearts level for Sora, Donald and Goofy to run around in and the world turtle’s virus can easily be made into Heartless. Whether they’ll include in Kingdom Hearts, I dunno.

Anyway my point is, after Aligned, Transformers cartoons have all suffered bad writing and characterization: Cyberverse (said by the creators to be made for and by the fans “inbetween” which translated into Twitter IDW canon), War For Cybertron (so bleak, so overacted, so poorly acted, a downgrade in animation as it’s the same studio that made Prime, written so suffocatingly serious, it’s the 13 year old edgelord’s wet dream we grew out of), Prime Wars (oh god that was so bad, they got Peter Cullen and Mark Hamill to save face, and they instead fell flat on their faces), BotBots (the very belated response to Teen Titans Go! and Shopkins) and EarthSpark (a well meaning show using Rescue Bots’ concepts as a spring board, but refused to let go of IDW’s bad ideas, and used “DEI” as a selling point in an era where its slowly dying out.).

The movies were trying to improve, as Bumblebee and RotB are looked in more fondly by TF fans, they got (what hard cores claim) was the appeal of TFs over the Bay trilogy. And now we’re at TFONE, the film that “finally” got it right, but no one went to see.

So where are we at.

With TFONE, most news outlets agree it’s a good movie, but with its abysmal box office performance starting out, it’s not looking like that’s gonna improve, with the newsies saying the Transformers are out of gas. Or is that Energon?

In a way they’re not wrong. It’s been reported Transformers is on a decline, and with the cartoons and toys not doing well either, we’re back to the end of G2, where things aren’t looking good. The difference is we don’t have the flash in a pan miracle that was Hasbro, Kenner and Mainframe making Beast Wars and later the same thing happening with the first Micheal Bay film.

We have been long overdue for a similar kick in the pants, and I think it’s clear Hasbro wanted TFONE to be that, but alas, it’s not despite the good will.

The only kick so far are the Skybound Energon Universe series. They’re doing, as of typing, phenomenally, with the Transformers book being a decent mix of 80’s G1 Movie, Prime, and Bayformers, written and drawn in a way only the people that created Walking Dead and Invincible can do.

The other good will was the Trigger animated 40th Anniversary short.

Skybound and Trigger are the only things people were on board with. Let that sink in.

Trigger also contributed a poster for the Japanese release of TFONE.

So maybe that’s a sign they’ll be allowed to do more official things going forward. Which I think is a good thing.

TFOne is a good movie, but due to Hasbro’s and Paramount’s own indecision on what to do with the movies, and their increasingly dubious canon, we’re stuck with what is officially declared its own thing separate from Bay, though it’s pretty apparent someone internal had to show Lorenzo how irreconcilable ONE was with ROTF & DOTM because The Fallen & Sentinel Prime can’t be villains of both died horribly back on Cybertron. However, the Bayformers series is still very popular among casual fans and audiences. Universal wouldn’t still have its own Bay themed Transformers attraction with the delightfully snarky Movie Megatron if it wasn’t.

So here lies the issues. The movies. Pretty much after TLK, they’ve done poorly in theaters despite their nostalgic popularity. Notably, RotB does really well on streaming, as it did well on P+ and Netflix (in other counties, it’s not on the American one yet). The Garfield Movie is currently #1 on Netflix after having a weak but successful box office. And with preorders now open for home video, ONE walks a slippery slope of everyone agreeing this is the good movie, but no one cares enough to pay money to see it in theaters. It will probably do gangbusters on streaming, going by trends, so that’s probably the best shot it has, as apparently good word of mouth isn’t enough.

It’s not helped there’s continued confusion among casuals if TFONE is a prequel to the Bay films, and it sounds like in very early development it was leaning that way, but the differing designs, and the trailers making the film look more kiddy than Bayhem, was among the turn offs. Like how does it make sense the Transformers started out as more cartoony G1 designs but overtime evolved into the shredded metal Bionicle style. No cartoon had convincingly explained a style shift that drastic.

It was said that if TFONE did well, Hasbro would use that as the basis of future material. Well with its lukewarm performance, there’s no financial incentive to do so, but the general positivity from people about Optimus and Megatron’s blue collar years and the greatly simplified Cog and Cogless system could work in its favor anyway.

There’s still, as of typing, plans to continue with a sequel to TFONE, and while it’s still unknown if Cyberworld will borrow the Worker-Bot backstory for its Optimus… and Galvatron(?), there’s a chance it might for some brand synergy.

We’re at a fork in the road now that One has underperformed and Skybound is the only thing keeping the interest going. CyberWorld has to do what Cyberverse and EarthSpark couldn’t do and attract fresh kids to get into Transformers. Fans think they’re the only ones that matter, but it’s clear with One just appealing to us doesn’t work we need new blood. Just maintaining isn’t enough anymore. Skybound found a way, now we just need to see if CyberWorld can do so too.

[londonfoginacup]

Dude I’m slogging my way through a batch of books from the 1800s trying to figure out if they’re out of copyright or not and that’s TOO HARD so I’m just gonna post about something totally unrelated I’ve been thinking about.

I haven’t actually seen it in this fandom at all but probably because our fandom didn’t exist pre- 2010. But like there’s been a general *idea* circulating recently that fic authors are *too sensitive* now and in the old livejournal/forum days people *begged* for critiques on their fics. They think it’s insane that we, the authors of today, keep telling people to stop being assholes and putting negative comments on fics.

And first of all, I’ve got sort of a “and then everybody clapped” mentality about it. Like I’m just side eyeing anyone who’s like “yeah I wanted everyone to give me HARSH FEEDBACK so I could IMPROVE” as if Hans Christian Andersen himself didn’t lay down in the mud and cry when he read a bad review. It is not in human nature to be like “here is my precious child now everyone give her a good prodding with a knife”. It’s just not.

But ALSO you know what was DIFFERENT about LJ days? The community was SMALLER. I might be more willing to risk some negative critiques if the fandom is just me and, say, 300 other people who are so insanely into said fandom that they’ll track down a fucking livejournal community for it. Fandom is SO accessible now that 1. The Normal People (no offense) are involved and 2. Much YOUNGER people are involved. And that’s a big demographic shift!! (Okay “normal people” needs explained but like. A quick explanation being that fandom used to be for the people who would unabashedly say “squee” and “glomp” and wear cat ears in public. If you are not that level of brazen you may be slightly on the normal side. It’s not bad. It’s just different).

Like I personally do not want a negative critique left by someone who hasn’t figured out that a negative critique isn’t “I didn’t like this plot so the fic sucks”. I TOOK A CLASS ON CRITIQUE IN COLLEGE. I do not expect a high schooler who stumbled upon my fic to be able to leave a helpful negative critique! They’re new to this!

But also like. I’m gonna be real. I don’t care what a stranger thinks of my fic. If they post a negative critique on my fic and I read it and I cry, that’s not me caring about what a stranger thinks, that’s me walking along and being punched in the face by a stranger. I still don’t care what the stranger thinks but I will be getting a restraining order bc I don’t want that to happen.

I *will* sometimes go to my friends whom I *trust* and say “hey this fic is a mess pls help” and they DO they say HELPFUL THINGS. And maybe that’s actually what Fandom Olds are thinking of. Because in a small fandom community you can TRUST people! Like being in a church of 20 where everyone has known everyone for forever versus being in a mega church of thousands. I’m not gonna trust a rando in a mega church. I’m gonna trust Linda from the tiny neighborhood church because she makes the best pizza casserole and she cat sat for me once. Expecting critique in a tiny livejournal community =/= expecting critique in the vast ocean of ao3.

Anyway I’m getting on a tangent. The point is, is authors aren’t *weak* for not wanting negative critique. It’s natural. I don’t know you or your history with fic. I will take comments and compliments because that is fuel in the fire of a writer’s heart. That’s symbiosis. I will not let you prune my writing tree with big loppers because I don’t even know if you’re a tree surgeon, and pruning a tree in the wrong places KILLS IT. DON’T BE A TREE KILLER. Yes this is two completely unrelated metaphors. No im not changing my them.

[amerricanartwork]

More Love for Lilypad

Hi! To be honest, I don’t know why I’m writing this, I guess because reading everything has moved me more than I probably thought.

I don’t know how much text he let me put

I have read the current Lilypad publication and I honestly loved it, otherwise I would be here writing like an excited silly girl.

How do you connect the story of Luna and No Harassment with Sleeping Beauty (From the Disney movie because the original story is horrible, believe me, you wouldn’t want to use it if it were the original), it’s so beautiful that it moved me and connected me more with the ships. how much I love them and lilypad mainly sadly for my part I don’t see much art from them (I think it happens to me with ships that generally are not so popular or so loved, it happens to me with the message of love from SpearmasterXHunter, Godmode SaintXEnot, lilypad and PebblesXSun )

The topic, I loved reading these ideas that come from your ingenious and beautiful imagination, I want to read more of this and that would be all! Nice day/night :3!

PD: As a warning, I don’t know where I had to send this and I’m sorry if I didn’t have to send it here, and I take this opportunity to say that your ArtiXGourmand is simply beautiful and I adore it!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Oh my, @amaerumeru, thank you so much for this submission!!

I’m so glad to see someone enjoy those ideas so much, and to hear my essay has inspired some more love for these two sweethearts! Seeing people sympathize at least with the fairytale stuff is a very pleasant surprise!

Regarding the lack of content, I feel you, I’ve had my fair share of rarepairs across my fandoms too (heck, I’m even considering adopting a super rare RW ship right now...), and not being able to find content of them is always pretty rough! Although for me, the struggle doesn’t always come from lacking any content of the ship, but lacking the specific kind of content I want for it. 

Part of the reason why I began that extension of the Lilypad essay by listing the ship tropes I love and particularly explaining the main two was because, to me, how a ship is depicted is just as important as which ship is depicted. It’s so much so I actually won’t like content of a ship I normally love if I don’t like the way the characters are and act within it, or if I don’t like the ideas being shown through the characters enough. 

Both situations exist with Lilypad, and although I can excuse the lack of content as Rain World generally not having much canon ship potential, the portrayal struggle is one I have faced in basically every fandom I’ve been in, where no one seems to really appreciate those traditional dynamics I love with the ships I enjoy the most. Most of the time I still enjoy the content because it’s pretty cute and romantic, and I don’t dislike anything about it enough to cancel out that cuteness/romance factor, but it’s still not what I love most, tailored to what I identify with the greatest; I’ll eat it, but it’s not my favorite flavor. And with the New Year and self-improvement being a common focus this time of year, I figured I’d finally get the courage to take my classic art approach with these themes now; if I can’t find someone else who’s made the content I want, I’ll make it myself (like this sketch I drew up for this post), and just maybe they’ll find me!

And find someone I have! Once again, I’m so glad someone appreciates these older fairytale tropes, and I really do feel inspired to openly make more content including these ideas! I’ve always had a habit of thinking about not just ships, but fiction in general through the lens of the poetic significance characters, scenes, and plot points do or can have, and recently I’ve developed a habit of linking characters and ships back to songs and previous characters from other cartoons (like I did with Sleeping Beauty here), and trust me, if you want more content of this sort, I could both write similar essays deriving these themes within other ships AND make a lot more Lilypad content like this! I mean, after posting that addition I realized somehow forgot to talk about “Once Upon a Dream” specifically and how it so perfectly fits this ship, so I’m already probably gonna do a post and drawing on that sometime soon — !

And one last thing, thanks for liking the Artimand stuff too! Artimand is probably a better example of my “I like this ship in general, but I really wanna see more of these traditional themes in content for it“ attitude, so it’s nice to see that’s enjoyable to other people on some level too!

 Big thanks for the submission, a reason to ramble even more about Lilypad and my favorite ship tropes, and inspiration to make that drawing, Meru! And hey, I love hearing the deeper reasons why other people ship what they do too, so if you ever wanna ramble about your own ships, I’m all ears!

[shepscapades]

not you coming back just to remind me of my old pokemon obsession/j

I remember watching Pokemon XYZ series when I was younger (probably the closest thing to anime I've ever watched) I used to be a hardcore fan back then, used to watch many gameplays theories stuff and all...-

Pokemon were like,,, my only interest back then? Damn I used to be crazy about those creatures, still remember how whenever I was playing a Pokemon game my team was almost exclusively flying types (birds! I love them!) and an Eevee (later one of the eeveelutions, probably vaporeon)

I don't recall watching your animatic in the past but it feels very familiar to me like some kind of deja vu so it's possible I've actually seen it before! And I must say it has a very nostalgic feel to it! I can see how much you've improved since then but the animatic still is very cool! I love it <3

(ALSO I almost forgot how much I loved Sycamore's design back then ghghhghghgh he's such a pretty man)

Welp, now I go back to watching Welsknight and some other Pokemon animatics because you messed with my algorithm and led me into diving into an old obsession -

LMAOOO MAY <3 I’m so sorry for the YouTube algorithm that’s so funny XD yeah idk, Pokémon’s one of those things that never left me— mcyt has been at the forefront of my hyperfixations for a very long while but I still always play the new games and have brief Pokémon obsessions every now and then hehe (also!!! flying pokemon and eevee beloved!!! <333333)

Funny enough, it always happens at times like these when most of my Drawing Brain+Brainrot is taken up by school or professional work, bc my free time is instead spent playing games I can zone out to like Pokémon :>

About 2 months ago I picked up Legends Arceus for the first time since I didn’t get to finish it two years ago, and seeing cheeky references to the characters I grew up with + the insane plot that is this game gripped me so tightly that I’ve kinda been in a Pokémon spiral (/pos) ever since LOL. I’ve been a submas freak lately and if anyone who has ever been into the funny train men has me on discord they’ll know that my status is very telling <3 maybe I’ll post some of the background doodles I’ve been doing lately!! I’m such a freak about minecraft idk why I’m embarrassed to be equally freakish about the other ““game for children”” LMAO

[moonlit-mystery-writer]

Ranking reveal please ! "5 most compatible with the oc of your choosing amongst khr cast' ✨️ ( — romantic ! or not! it is up to you.) maybe, with explanations?

Gonna try my best to answer this with Fina and Hideko lol.

Fina

1. Levi - I know you’ve read the explanation as to why, but I’ll link it here for anyone else

2. Lussuria - We’re jumping from most likely to maybe in some distant timeline lol. Because Lussuria is the head of the Sun division, I headcanon he oversees medical things that happen in the Varia at least a little bit. Therefore, he knows all of Fina’s issues and spends a lot of time with her for her treatments. For Fina, Lussuria reminds her of the more vibrant side of her big sister. It’s a comfort to have him around just as much as it can overstimulate her. Thankfully years by Xanxus’ side and tending to others has helped Lussuria learn how to dodge things thrown at him in a rage.

In the normal verse for her, they’re just friends. And that’s even a bit of a stretch.

3. Spanner - This would be exclusive to future him. But even then, she’d feel a little awkward as a woman in her 30s and he’s like vaguely in his twenties? (Pretty sure he’s Shoichi’s age when he shows up in the present day, so???) Either way, they’d mesh pretty well.

If she met him in normal verse, they’d be just friends.

4. Shoichi - Same reasons as Spanner above, this time the two can also bond over gut issues.

In normal verse, she’d also only be friends with him.

5. Bianchi - Future arc version again, since present day Bianchi is only 17. Honestly, I’m putting her here because these two would have such a toxic yuri relationship lol. Bianchi is basically everything Fina’s sister wasn’t as a sister and that would drive Fina crazy. She views what her sister did for her growing up as what an older sibling should do for their younger sibling. But she also wouldn’t be against eating poison cooking. What’s the worst the could happen? Fucking up her body even more than it’s doing on its own?

Hideko

Before I start her rankings, I wanna say, not only is she a lesbian but she’s also technically taken already by a different oc of mine. (Whether they’ll be poly lesbians or not is up in the air right now)

1. Haru - So! This’ll get into some of the plotting I have for the Rewrite. But in the arc Hideko shows up, Haru’s the one who tries to fight her first because Hideko hurt Tsuna and they just happen to go to the same school. By the end of the arc, the two are still antagonistic towards each other when around each other, but neutral any time else. So while Haru ranks high, their relationship would be extremely rocky at first.

2. Kyoko - The relationship is very similar to Haru’s above, but with one step up in difficulty. As unlike Haru, Kyoko doesn’t get to see Hideko actually improve her behavior a little at school.

3. Hana - The closest to a neutral option I can give Hideko! However, the fact Kyoko dislikes her much makes it even more unlikely.

4. Adelheid - These two could almost work! Except one crucial detail; Hideko thinks Enma is a bigger loser than Tsuna. And like she is with Tsuna, she’s very shameless and vocal of her opinion. This would drive Adelheid insane.

5. Shittoppi - These two ultimately have very little chemistry. She only ranks because Hideko is used to odd people thanks to one of her own guardians being odd. But that’s where it ends. Their lack of chemistry plus Hideko’s thoughts on Enma as stated above would ultimately drive these two apart.

I didn’t do friendships here, as none of these lovely ladies would actively want to befriend Hideko. At best, pleasant business partners with her.

[x0401x]

I keep thinking back about the interview with Tsurune's director and how literally every sentence of it just confirms everything I've ever said about the anime and it almost freaks me out.

Like, yeah, those were very obvious things from the start. The fact that the animators see kyudo as a sport, the fact that the director completely ignores Minato's flaws, the fact that season 2 favors Eisuke above other characters. But was I expecting the director himself to just... outwright say all of it? To just literally call kyudo a sport, talk about how he wanted Minato to show nothing but positivity and express how much he likes Eisuke on a personal level?

I gotta be honest, I didn't think it would be so in-your-face. And so not self-aware it's almost funny. This man really has no idea.

But maybe even more obvious than that is the way his lack of exprience bleeds through the things he says. The way he talks about his accomplishments and shortcomings when working on S2 screams newbie, even though this is his third title as a director. He did improve significantly from S1 to S2, but by God, there's still a lot of room for a lot more improvement.

The one thing that really gets me is how the Minato-Shuu-Eisuke trifecta has been confirmed as the narratologic focus of this season. If we ever get a sequel of the anime (which, considering how S2 ended and how Tsurune keeps doing collabs left and right until now, we probably will), I wonder who's going to be given the spotlight. Haneina wasn't remarkable enough to be the new Tsujimine and Kirisaki didn't show up much in volume 3, but Yamamura won't be caught dead giving Masaki's character any proper attention.

I suppose there's enough content to make a whole season while mostly shoving him to the back again, given how much shit happens in volume 3. Still... would they just completely ignore the thing with Masaki's biological father? They kinda already erased the hints of it that appear on volume 2 in this season, so maybe they’ll sweep it under the rug and call it a day?

I have seen people straight-up saying that they don't want KyoAni to adapt volume 3 for a multitude of reasons, and a lot of them include the fact that Masaki often gets pushed away like he doesn't belong there. It's not even just because he's a fandom favorite, but also because much of the plot is linked to him. As always, I'll be taking what I can get if we ever get that far, but I'd be lying if I said that the story feels complete (or anywhere near the general area of satisfactory, tbh) without his side of things.

[lovepmd]

*Gates/Multi!Hero examining Gurdurr’s proposed building plans for facilities around the Pokemon Paradise. Cue the human-turned-Pokémon being eerily silent while looking over the plans. This makes the recently “reformed” carpenter nervous—because his nightmare of a client had agreed to everything immediately. So Hero’s reaction being the extreme opposite without giving any feedback is stressing him out. Gates!Partner is more worried about where they’ll get all the materials from. The house is still in-progress.*

Hero: Gurdurr.

G: Y. Yeah?

H: Why, oh why, would we build and dedicate a plot of land for a dojo dedicated to each type?

*Silence for a few moments.*

G: I mean, don’t you wanna improve your moves? Those dojos can help you learn new ones and give ya a space to purely practice. Without ruining everything around.

H: Yeah, I got that part. What I meant was more toward why we would waste eighteen times the materials when we could just build a space dedicated to training in general. Why not build a giant dojo with about… four semi-separate flat arenas? Sure, it’d take up more space than one dojo. Yet the “teachers” themselves can live nearby and simply schedule times to use the space. If worst comes to worst, we can hold more than just move training and have battles.

Gurdurr: …Oh. Sure.

*The kid kept surprising the recently un-retired carpenter by them thinking up solutions to problems he didn’t know were there.*

Partner: Oh, that’s brilliant! Some dojo places have mystery dungeons as part of them, maybe one’ll pop up and we can use it as practice.

Hero: Like the Marowak dojo?

*The two devolve into discussing the logistics of waiting for a mystery dungeon to form or to build a dojo right away. Gurdurr’s standing off to the side of the workbench trying to mentally tally how much material the mega dojo’s going to need.*

gggggggod the absolute fun and amount of brainpower multi!hero would have while building paradise

so so so so so so so SO much planning and talking things out with gurdurr and any pokemon they bring in

so.

so much

gurdurr does get used to it over time but also not at all at the same time

[3pirouette]

So, just a stupid little update…

I’m on tumblr now, what, once every two or so weeks? I think it’s an improvement over the last few months.

My next wrist surgery is on Wednesday. After that, I’ll be 100% organic again. Sadly, my MD doesn’t think they’ll let me keep the plate once they take it out.

My Steggy secret Santa is finally coming along nicely. With the extension I think I’ll even get it in on time. The tough truth is, I don’t really think in terms of Steggy anymore, the ideas just don’t pop up and live in my head like they used to. Maybe that’s why this secret Santa’s been so hard to get out, I’ve told the majority of the stories I want to about them. Dunno.

This tends to happen with me when I’m satisfied with how the canon of the story goes. When my ‘ship ends up together, it’s less satisfying to write the what-ifs.

I’ve never really questioned my fic writing impetus before. I usually just go with what inspires me and makes me happy.

…which, apparently, is this Last of Us JoelxReader fic I have going. It’s now officially the second longest fic I’ve ever written (it’s currently 99k, longer than Nobody’s Baby by 2k and shorter than Innocence and Beauty by 24k) and while I’ve managed to get most of the main plot out (yes, the end is somehow written…don’t ask) I still have a lot of the softer plot and interesting moments and yes, sexy times, to write still.

I also haven’t decided if I’m ever going to publish it. If I do it will be 100% before TLOU season 2 comes out, so I’ve got some time.

Same goes for the MandoxReader fic I’m writing. It’s somewhere in the 65K area, and I haven’t decided when or if I’m finishing and posting it.

Damn you Pedro Pascal and your sexy characters.

Oh well. I think that’s it.

Happy New Year, all!

[allycot]

I don’t really know in which way nrs is gonna show noob saibot in the plot and if they’ll even do that, but it would be interesting for me if they’d show that in another way. like, bi-han, not turning into noob after death, but throughout his life. As if it has always been his hidden, demonic power that he got accidentally, as his magic was “cursed” or it developed incorrectly; or he was improving this power consciously, being sure he could become more powerful and use that for achieving goals. and maybe once it went wrong, so kuai liang would certainly notice bi-han was not “okay”, as he thought, and tried to help him somehow. but even in that way, I’m pretty sure bi-han wouldn’t let kuai help him, so it might be one more reason for their conflict.

Feeling like I’m gonna write it in one fic.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

“Alright Your Highness, let’s have a good clean game. I’ll try not to go too hard on you.”

Remy confidently set up the chess board while Victoriana watched. Adam and Theo and Ewan had all disappeared somewhere and Remy had finished her own part of this plan. Until her brother made up his mind about how she could help him next, Remy was taking a well deserved break with Pleantview’s crown princess. 

Honestly, she figured that Adam was just looking for attention with this whole half-brother plot. Ewan looked nothing like her other siblings, aside from maybe the way his ears were shaped. She didn’t want to be crass, but if the guy had told Theo he was related to Adam, then he probably only wanted money from them. Otherwise, what difference did it make if her father had another kid? He wasn’t seeing anyone, or at least Remy didn’t know if he was seeing someone, and he raised Miruna pretty much alone without scandal. Adam worried too much for his own good.

“You didn’t set the pieces right.” The princess scowled at the board, switching game pieces around so that they were correctly placed. “Do you even know how to play this game?”

Remy frowned, inspecting the updated positions of her pieces.

“Of course I do. I was just testing to see if you did.”

“Uh huh.”

Despite Adam’s constant anxiety and Remy’s love of the chaotic, Victoriana was starting to really warm up to the siblings and Theo. She didn’t know many other kids who would hang out with her and just like her for who she was and not for the throne she would one day inherit. Adam and Theo were obsessed with each other and Remy wasn’t the kind of person her mother had warned Victoriana about, so she’d come to enjoy hanging out with her future step-mother’s family. They reminded her of her mother’s own chaotic family in a way. 

“Oh man, this is going great. Ewan doesn’t suspect a thing,” Theo snickered, incredibly proud of his plan. “We just need to figure out how to make the pact work. I don’t see anything relating him to you at all.”

Adam tried to hold in his laughter as best he could. They had a mission that they needed to focus on, but all he could think about was how easily they ditched Miruna and Remy. Ewan had gone wandering on his own, probably being followed by castle security to make sure that he didn’t steal anything, which left Adam and Theo largely unsupervised so that they could begin their plan.

“Oh hey, I think one of the horses broke out of the royal stable!” Remy cried out and Victoriana turned to look immediately. Pleasantview didn’t keep horses or carriages because of the royal family’s ability to teleport and buy expensive cars to travel in. Of course Crystal Cove’s royal family had cars as well, but their traditions were important to them. Victoriana loved horses and desperately searched for them when she visited the Crystal Cove palace, which made her an easy mark.

“Where?”

Remy smirked at her cunning and quickly switched several of her game pieces before the princess turned around. There was no guarantee that she had improved her position any, since as it turned out, Remy didn’t know exactly how chess was played, but it was a gamble she was willing to take.

“I guess it must have been heading back to the stable,” she replied, trying to keep her tone casual and non-suspicious. “It’s your turn.”

“’Stay out of the royal residences’,” Theo recited, mocking Miruna’s instructions and making his boyfriend laugh. “Please. It’s no big deal, they’ll never know we were here. We can’t just do magic in the hallway where anyone could interrupt us.”

“You’re sure this will work? I’m starting to have my doubts.” Adam looked at Theo quickly, smiling to mirror Theo’s own smile. “What if this goes wrong? What if we get caught?”

“Don’t worry so much,” Theo replied, projecting nothing but confidence. “I’m great at getting out of trouble. What’s the worst that could happen? My dad will ground me again? Miruna could yell at us? We need answers and I’m working out of my textbook, so it’s practically homework. We got this.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

“So here’s where we set things up,” Theo declared, opening an elaborately carved door and marching in. “This is the former queen’s room. Her husband and kids hated her, so no one ever comes in here. It’s been sitting empty since she died. Todd in potions class told me about it. His dad works here, so it has to be true. Trust me.”

Adam smiled tightly and reached into his pockets to get the materials they needed.

“I trust you.”

“So, anything interesting happen while I was gone?”

Remy recoiled when her potential brother sat beside her. Just because she’d lured him here with the promise of friendship or an adventure of some kind, didn’t give him the right to just sit next to her without warning.

“Where have you been?” she demanded. “You’re my guest here, the palace is going to come after me if something valuable was stolen.”

“So because I don’t come from money, that means I’m a thief?” Ewan asked, shooting her an amused look. “I’m hurt. I wouldn’t have guessed you’d be a snob. You were so friendly earlier.”

“I guess that was my mistake,” she replied quickly. “I’ve misled you. I am actually quite a snob. Oops.”

The two teens stared each other down, each one of them trying to unnerve the other. This Ewan played a good game, but he was bluffing, clear as day. Remy had spent her life in boarding schools and listening to witch politics. Her father had been treated abysmally by the people he tried to serve and some of that hatred had fallen on his children as well. Ewan may live in Pleasantview, but he hadn’t been in the very heart of it, absorbing and reflecting the darkness that made it run. He’d probably never even seen a demon up close before, let alone a warlock of her father’s standing. She couldn’t honestly see anything of the Maricourt family within this fraud.

“Theo’s obsessed with my brother, it’s really rather sad,” she continued. “I wouldn’t pin your hopes on breaking them up if were you. If that is your angle here.”

Ewan grinned.

“I don’t have an angle,” he said with undeserved confidence. “I thought you invited me here to make the day less monotonous. Was there something I missed? Has Theo asked about me?”

Remy wrinkled her nose in disgust at the very idea of interfering in her brother’s love life. This plan was starting to get uncomfortable, but Adam had begged her not to bail on it before they had an answer. She couldn’t deny wanting a firm answer about whether this jerk was her brother or not but the idea of spending even more time with him was agony.

Theo had better hurry up before something unpleasant happens to this asshole.

[jenyifer]

The day is beautiful but I’m here crying again over BostonNick. 😩 I wanted Nick to stand up for himself for both Boston Nick to chase their dreams but not like that in the show. Let me write a better ending come here everyone. It’s a Jenny style Ending. I’m planning on writing a hypothetical improved BostonNick plot with BostonRay as past relationship. So expect that some time

Let’s start here. Nick comes in and puts his arm about Boston and gives Mew Ray and Cheum hell before telling Boston let’s leave. They run off maybe nick brings some fireworks for them to set off. No kissing etc. Nick explains to Boston how much Boston has changed him. How Nick will always love Boston and want to support him but right now Nick needs to love himself that doesn’t mean Nick will ever abandon him. Boston explains he just wants to be with nick. Boston explains himself and apologizes for not understanding Nick the same way Nick understands him. Boston begs Nick that if there is ever another chance they’ll try again. Nick will take a chance on Boston again. They stare into eachothers eyes as the fire works go off for new years. They laugh a little shaky and kiss eachother before it fades to black. Time skip Boston at the airport with a sign that says “VIP Model Nick.” We see nick leaving the airport gate and running into Bostons arms. The end. Implying that either they are together or will be together again as grown individuals.

[askamnesiamoonjumper]

Hey guys! Gonna give a lil update (both a mini life update and a update for the au stuff):

Tumblr is still messed up for me (currently posting this from pc) so I’m guessing it has to do with the bells they added to the dash considering that’s when it happened, so I’m assuming it’ll be back once they take them away, but if not I might have to go to staff or something we’ll see 

Anyway I got hat game on my pc for Christmas! but it sets my laptop on fire and runs very badly lmao so I’m probably gonna see if I can get a gaming computer for my birthday so I can play it properly 

Also sorry for not being very active lately, we went on vacation but I got sick afterwards and then a big snow storm hit, so just got a bit overwhelmed from all that happening one after another lol, I’m not sick anymore thankfully but the snow is still around 

In au related news as y’all know I’ve hit some art/writing block lately, so I’ve not started on the next prologue chapter just yet but thankfully I did get the plot of it figured out in a discord call, as I had been struggling to think of how it would play out bc it’s gonna be a A B plot situation, but I finally got a way for it to work out nicely ^^ so I got a little outline of the events jotted down, just haven’t started on the actual thing yet 

So after that chapter the prologue will be finished and so things can flow into the main fic, speaking of the main fic you’d assume I’d start working on chapter 2 after finishing the prologue and you WOULD be right, but I recently decided I want to go back and edit/rewrite chapter 1 just bc my writing improved so I wanna add extra scenes or better descriptions etc etc so it’s getting a revamp but not an outright rewrite just bc that thing is way too long to redo it entirely 💀

Also on the topic of writing i kept having the issue of thinking all the chapters outside of snatchers prologue chapter (heartburn) where all not the best writing, especially compared to aforementioned snatcher chapter that had way higher writing quality, I originally just chalked it up to being in the zone™️ when writing that one, but I realized I think it MIGHT be because it’s the only one not being adapted from a comic, all the others had comic or tumblr related things tied to them, but the snatcher fic was all it had going for itself, thus it had more descriptive words or spent longer on events etc because it didn’t have anything to go off of, where as the other fics ended up accidentally feeling more akin to scripts to me in how they did descriptions, ESPECIALLY forget me not because it’s literally just word for word event for event the same as it’s comic form, not sure if I’m making sense but what I’m getting at is that I’m glad that after this next chapter we are in completely new territory! No comics or ask blog stuff is tied to any of the chapters to come, so perhaps this will mean their writing will improve because they’ll only have the words to rely on, like I said idk if this little rant was necessary I just enjoy talking about my writing process is all 

But uh yeah tldr: next fic chapter will happen eventually, after that I’m going back to redo the first main fic chapter, and sorry I didn’t get to do any holiday art but maybe I will last minute do some doodles I dunno lol, OH, and I still gotta figure out a follower milestone event bc I’m super excited about it!^^ like I said of anyone has suggestions I’d love any ideas! 

Happy holidays! :3

[rangerdoubt]

i have yelled at length on discord about stepverse interactions and yet

cut for length and rambling good god but this is going out there because i refuse to be a chicken shit on my own blog

i never thought either miguel or miriam would particularly like any of the other steps. (wrong on miriam’s end--tbf she doesn’t like anyone to begin with, ever, but she truly isn’t that hard to win over, despite her best efforts. absolutely dead correct for miguel--although he is by far more stubborn and less avoidant than i had previously pictured him.) 

but they absolutely do not like each other. i thought maybe perhaps a grudging respect (which is miguel @ elmo weirdly enough) but no. they both think the other one is like--a massive loser lmao.

for one thing, mob boss vs hero hunter: miguel thinks miriam is short-sighted and violent (yes). miri think miguel is cowardly and dependent (also yes). vastly different methods of approach that put both of them off of the other: miguel resents how miriam uhhh just shamelessly rips things up. kicks the shit out of the least important person in the room and leaves. like what in the self-centred shit--? but miri thinks that miguel is just as bad as the people he’s coming after--replacing one with another does nothing. there’s no net improvement, no accountability, just power changing hands as it has for literally forever. how’s that for self-centred? 

both of them are pursuing their own little side plots that are just... running adjacent to the actual issue but by god will neither admit that those are side plots. what a waste of talent, they’ll complain to their respective partners, if they weren’t such a (miri: stuck up asshole/miguel: cruel idiot) i think i would be able to turn them around. 

(it’s worse too because miriam’s not. shy. or polite. when she doesn’t like someone. she’s a wetwork agent, an assassin--fighting is her job and she’s her own best tool. the faster she can get things clear the more effective she is. whereas miguel has shades of social anxiety and is relentlessly, strenuously polite, especially if he doesn’t like somebody. you get around in his world by making friends, and he’s not that good at making contacts to begin with. so he settles for being a powerful asset, and easy to work with--make it hard for people to dislike you, and maybe they’ll keep you around. miguel would have allowed himself to be won over if miriam would just condescend to civility but he makes her skin crawl, not knowing where she stands with him but knowing he’s hiding something.) 

also, miri is very willing to die in whatever form it takes. all of the walls she’s been keeping up between the three selves are collapsing. there is physically no way she can keep all of those plates in the air and get a good emotional ending: she has to drop at least two of the lives. tbh if she lost all three, it might be a relief. and this would not jive well with miguel at all--whose dearest wish is to feel like he belongs to his life. like, not even ask for a better one: he can learn to love the one he has. he wants to feel entirely at home in this body that he’s forged himself. to stop feeling like the world is just a globe on a desk, a ship in a bottle. as a fate step he feels like he’s trying to pull a plane out of a nosedive while accepting that this is just slowing the inevitable crash--trying to fall with a little style. in his eyes, miri’s trying to crash a car that would otherwise have driven straight--on its own even! 

and i think--at the core of it, they’d be soooo so so fuckin envious of each other. like that’s all it is. miguel sees miriam’s drive and independence and intensity of feeling and wonders what that would be like. he loves the crew, but imagine that. being able to go off on your own and trust that it would be fine. imagine believing in something unconstrained by practicality or reason--you’ll make it happen. imagine being swallowed up in someone else’s love or anger or what-have-you, able to be there in that moment instead of somewhere before or after. and then miri’s just. furious with this guy who acts like he can steer anyone around--but can’t he? she says has the strings, and she knows what to do and where to go. but does she? if miriam feels like she’s face down in the puddle of her own life, miguel might as well be walking on water. more than that, all of her kindness is wedged behind some--block or whatever: there’s no time or space for gentleness even if she wanted to, even for the people she loves. she watches miguel deftly fit himself into any team he wants and realizes that he never works alone because he never has to. 

if they were in the same universe, they’d be staring at the unholy mess the other one is making of the the life they dream of, asking each other and asking themselves:

why the fuck are you unhappy?

[nerdyenby]

Orange time :D I’m watching Callum

Pregame

HBomb94 now wanted for murder, good for him ig

“That’s it, I’m taking matters into my own hands” terrifying, thanks Pete

Why is Callum talking about the availability of drugs in the United Kingdom???

I don’t even know how many people are in this call but all of them are bullying Callum lmao

“Habomba!!!” “It wasn’t me” “It says it was you!” “It’s a lie” “oh, sorry” them <333

Tubbo showing up and causing chaos is just as funny the second time

Tubbo realizing it’s May is even funnier the second time, I’m losing it

“Tubbo’s gone now” he’s freaking dead

Scott is such a guy, he has the intimidation factor while still being irrevocably likable

“That was the most eventful pre-MCC I’ve ever had” fr, I loved it so much

Tubbo gave Callum his stream key 😭😭😭

“Gotta be honest, I need your friendship more than I need $5k” and everyone going ‘um actually…’ 😂

Sausage asking to be sand daddy just because he wants to be called “daddy” 😂😂😂

WHAT is Shane and Callum’s dynamic here /pos

Rocket Spleef

Sausage’s explanation of his understanding isn’t wrong but it just sounds so off lol

Them just slandering all the other Minecraft events is so real, I’m sure they’re great but they’ll never be MCC <333

Everything Kara says gives Callum a flashback lol

Callum popped off!!

The MCC meta of alcohol 😂😂😂

The way the “reafy” predicting who won the game was actualy accurate

The way I didn’t think of Sausage and Callum as being in the same sphere but they have nearly the same friend group

We love them appreciating the lore :))

TGTTOSAWAF

Callum throwing his chicken in the middle being the deciding vote lmao

“I got 7th, thanks Shane” so true

Callum did so good for having never seen the map before

Yo Sausage!!!!

Tgttosawaf worst game real, it’s still good but comparatively it’s the least enjoyable

Sausage improving every round my beloved <333

Kara plotting revenge, as she should

Shane top three every time??? He’s inshane!!

When you put on the suit (purpled skin) you take on a burden greater than yourself (getting targeted)

Kara and Sausage noooooo

Your vote matters, Shane, cmon

Parkour Warrior

Graphic appreciation is so based <333

Shane’s keyboard 😭😭😭

The Hannah Montana movie reference lol

Whatever the heck Shane and Callum’s dynamic is, it’s everything

I know I’ve heard Sausage’s normal voice before but it caught me so off guard there lmao

It’s disgusting how easy this is for Callum

Finally, someone talking about the bees

HES DISGUSTING!!! /pos

HES TOO GOOD AT THE GAME!!!!

Kara 😂

The points are a lil silly, we move

Grid runners is not skippable, how dare you

Parkour Tag

Callum chickening out 😂😂😂

Sausage is giving such good comms!!

Nevermind lol

It sure is… going!!

Gosh darn it, when you see a “biggest comeback” breakdown blame Shane and Callum

I will NOT stand for this gr slander

Grid Runners

It’s not pronounced “boy,” there’s a u there for a reason lol

They’re killing it!!!

Kara accidentally cheating is killing me 😂

Those prison comms!!!!

First in Uppies!!!

“We’re so smart and big brain and maybe handsome” “We’re so handsome” so true sausage :))

One of my favorite things coming out of this MCC is everyone counting on the builders to know how to use scaffolding and them just saying “no, it SUCKS”

Consistency pog

Ok yeah, I just do not understand grid scoring

Callum’s predictions only take Ls

Kara and Shane having banger opinions

Meltdown

Shane leaking the script, rip

They played that so well!!

Callum jumping right into the lava lol

Head pat exchange at Vidcon Paris fr

Blue just appearing behind them was terrifying

Kara popping off!!!

Shane’s Kermit impression my beloved

Stay with the team Callum 😭😭😭

Purpled popping off

Survival Games

They just be makin’ sounds, so based of them tbh

“Your choice, you know I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth” Callum and Shane sure are dudes, pals even

HOW did Callum make it out of that alive lmao

“We were tenth and we’re not tenth anymore” “There’s still time, king!!” so true

Sands of Time

Shane stopping everything to say hi HBomb, so based

Callum they/them truthing Kara??

Callum “All Things MCC” PK didn’t know there’s a grace period with the sand timer? L /lh

How is he so bad at sot

I love Callum, I swear, he’s just so easy to make fun of

Sausage has such good comms for a first time sand keeper :))

They have so much sand what the heck

It is physically painful how many times Callum has looked directly at that one piece of sand

I love all the field trips this MCC, so many groups traveling together :D

The carpet trails in this blu path are insane, I’d love to study it under a microscope /pos

“Scott about to have to pay all the shipping to Spain” that’s such a good point actually, though I think shipping to America is probably more lol

Sausage did amazing!!! We love his team hyping him up :)))

Dodgebolt

I love seeing everyone rooting for red :D

That is just… not true, Kara 😂😂😂

So true Callum, the void hole in the merch store was peak mcm energy

Sausage for mcc spanish team 2k23

TIL Sausage was Cuban, though tbf I’ve never watched him before and I thought he was from Spain for some reason

This team was so fun :)))

Capitan is a menace /pos

Sausage’s Oli impression 😂

The game ended and they all collectively lost their minds, as they should

CALLUM SMACKTALKING GRID RUNNERS?!??

Shane and Callum sending Tubbo their stream keys and asking Scott if he’d do the same and his response being “God no”

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Brother knows best.

You know something Rantaro?

Yeah?

When you told me that you were gonna provide our ride to Mr Kizakura’s home...

This...isn’t exactly what I thought you meant.

Huh? Is there a problem?

Well...

*Shuichi looks out the window of the helicopter he and Rantaro are flying in.

You’re not afraid of heights are you?

No, not really. It’s just...isn’t this a bit much?

I wouldn’t say so. We’ve got a chopper on hand, and an ace pilot~

...

*Nico gives a thumbs up from the seat up front, wearing prescription sunglasses and headphones.

Plus, if we want to get here and back again, we can avoid traffic and train delays like this, right?

Uh huh...I guess when you put it like that...

Don’t worry, it’s fine. Nico’s not gonna go crashing into anything.

We’re on official business 404, refer to me as Agent Static.

Right, right, sorry...

...

You ok? You really that worried about the flight?

No, I’m alright with the flight...I’m just thinking about other things...

Like what?

Just...a lot of self-loathing really...I’m looking back at everything that happened yesterday night and...realizing that I was so stupid...!

...

I don’t quite know for sure if my feelings on the matter have changed but...doing what I did...hitting Kuripa back, calling everyone useless...and hiding from a truth I couldn’t accept.

Hehe...

*Shuichi hangs his head.

I haven’t changed...I’m the same coward I’ve always been...Unable to accept the truth, therefore I question whether it’s right to even reveal it...

But you still did so, right?

...?

I might not have been around to watch for myself, but I’ve heard stories about the things you did. Sounds like a lot of people have reason to thank you.

I’m not going to claim that I’m the reason we survived the Killing Game, Rantaro...If that was the case, more of us would have gotten out alive.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Killing Game’s, it’s this...No matter what, they always take up around 6 chapters of our lives.

Huh?

I’m saying that no matter what, Danganronpa would have gone on for as long as the creators willed it. If something had gone wrong in production, they would have fixed it.

Say Tsumugi dies, they’ll just make someone else the Mastermind and incorporate it into the plot. 

So...the fact that 3 of you got out as opposed to 2? It’s not much better, but it’s still an improvement over the fact.

...

I still feel like I haven’t learned anything...I thought after the Killing Game ended, and we got a chance to live new lives here, I believed I had what it took to help people...

And with Mrs Kyoko taking a shine to me, I thought I could do it...But in the end, I became arrogant and self-centered, and I took things too far...Now in an attempt to rescue the girl I love, I ended up setting us all back...

I ruined everything...

...

*Rantaro pats Shuichi on the shoulder, and turns him around to look in his eyes.

You know what the biggest problem with you is?

...Huh?

it’s not that you’re weak, nor is it that you let your emotions and feelings get the better of you. You’re smart, compassionate, and you’re generally a good guy.

I know you hit some bumps recently, but even the most patient man cannot retain his stance 24/7.

No...the problem with you, Shuichi, and what has always been your biggest weakness...Is that you rely too much on the people around you.

Huh?

Hm...Ok, maybe the more accurate phrasing would be that you’re...too dependent.

I’m not ashamed to rely on my friends. If anything, I think the fact that I have friends who I can be there for, and who will be there for me, is a good thing.

It is! 

But it’s because you think that, that clouds your judgement.

You’ve gotten so used to having people by your side that you assume that you can fall back on them all the time, every time, whenever you’re in a rough situation.

Up until now, that’s been true. Kaede and Kaito in particular always have your back.

But with the current situation...I mean...You get the picture...

Kaede’s not with me and...Kaito is...

To be honest, you sort of pushed him away. I think that might be on you.

...

Too honest? Sorry...

On top of that though, Kyoko has made it hard for you to really rely or depend on anyone, now that she’s cut you off.

I mean...There’s you who’s helping me now, right?

Hahaha!

I’m sorry...Who was it again that said he couldn’t trust me under any circumstance?

...!?

You’re taking back what you said only because I’m the one person who’s still here for you. Do you see the problem now?

...

Trapped in a potential death trap or not, the reality that you can’t accept, Shuichi, is that your friends aren’t always going to be there for you.

I mean...All your friends are striving towards different goals. Kaito wants to go to space, Maki wants to settle down somewhere...Even though you’re all fighting against Zetsubou, they’re all free to make their own choices, and in those situations...They can’t be there for you, and there’s little you can do to help them. 

Not to mention that in those times, you need to decide yourself exactly what you want to make of yourself too.

The more time you have together, the better. You’re happy with your friends and family around you, and I’m in no way saying you should ditch them and start living a life you’re not enjoying.

But there are times in life where you need to deal with problems ALONE. Or times where you need to take charge and be EVERYONE ELSE’S emotional crutch.

And THAT is what you lack, which stops you from being the kind of leader and detective YOU want to be.

...

To be honest, it’s kind of Kyoko and Byakuya’s fault too. Sure, they had good enough reason, given that you saved the Future Foundation from total inside collapse

But the fact that you were able to pull that off doesn’t necessarily mean you have what it takes to be a Branch Chief. We all have different skills for different tasks.

Rich coming from someone who’s good at almost everything.

Hmph! You have no idea! In our world, Agent 404 is as big a noob as they come!

Seriously, he barely even knows how to brush his teeth properly!

Thank you Static...Good to know you care...

But she’s right you know...I get how easy it is to fall for the trap of relying on everyone around you who seems more capable...But if you do that...then you limit how much you yourself can grow.

If you really think you haven’t changed much...I think that may be the reason why.

...

Maybe you’re right...But what can I do to fix that?

Shuichi...asking me would be missing the point entirely.

Only YOU can figure that out...

...

Hey, I think we’re near our location. Anywhere I can safely land this thing?

There’s a park not too far away, just drop us off there. Take off as soon as we’re out so the local police don’t come for you.

Isn’t Himuro-san a member of the government though?

Yes, but for finance. It’s not a good look if she’s using a chopper for her own personal use.

Just let me know when you finish up down there.

Let’s go.

...Yeah...

*knock!* *knock!* *knock!*

Hm?

*Koichi hears a knock at his door, and goes to answer it. Shuichi and Rantaro stand in the doorway, Shuichi akwardly diverting his gaze while Rantaro retains a stern expression.

H-Hello, Mr Kizakura...It’s been a while.

Ah! Young Mr Saihara, nice of you to drop by!

Who’s your friend?

Oh, this is Ran-

Uh! This is Agent 404...of ERR0RM3SS4GE.

ERR0R0M3SS4GE? Isn’t that this...phantom thief hacker group thing that’s been going around lately?

My real name is Rantaro. I’m actually an old friend of Shuichi’s.

...!

You sure you should be telling me that stuff?

Think of it as an equivalent exchange. We have...lots of questions we need to ask you today. And I’m gonna need you to trust me.

Oh yeah? Hehe...What can I help you with?

...

Mr Kizakura...It’s been a while since we last spoke, so I imagine you’re a little out of the loop...But recently, one of our agents was trapped by Organization Zetsubou in a heavy-duty, militaristic lab.

Sounds rough...

Yes...But the reason we’re here is because we think you may have some information.

The trapped agent turned up some old documents that proved the lab was property of the Future Foundation back in the day...and you, sir, were one of the agents who was present in the operations of the lab.

...!

*Koichi’s face becomes serious.

Just to check...did you find out what exactly was going on at that lab?

All we know is that it has something to do with contamination, and that human test subjects were involved. Your name appeared on the documents though, so we figured we’d have to come to you for any more information.

...

Are you willing to let us in to talk?

Just one question...did Kyoko put you up to this?

No. This is a personal investigation. The more we know about the lab, the better.

Though more than likely, I will be reporting the findings of my results to her once the incident is resolved.

...

Hmph...Fine, I guess I’ll bite. Come on in, both of you.

...!

...That was easy.

*Rantaro and Shuichi fist bump as Koichi lets them in his house.