#because they both look so different from shina

[narusakueremika]

Unfinished but I love them so here you go

[trashlie]

ILY FP 258

I can't believe we're actually passed episode 250 lmao I Love Yoo is truly the never ending story (affectionate). I appreciate how much of the story we really get to dig into at this pace and while I know a lot of people have long-since dropped it, I imagine the rest of us (those reading this post because why else are you here?) also appreciate it. And that's what is even more refreshing about this episode - if refreshing is even a word we can use to describe it. Getting the extra scenes from other characters, a look at their lives and from these glimpses, what we can glean in the unsaid between the lines.

Can you believe I used to prey on Kousuke's downfall? There's so many posts of me talking about him from a different view, believing that the only way he could grow and develop and make the changes necessary to make him a better person was for him to crash and burn, to fail so significantly that he would be forced to pen his eyes to reality. But here we are, me, fervently swaddling him up like a baby and shoving him into my pocket because GOD he needs to be protected.

I don't even remember when it was, that my view on him began to shift, when I went from "he's interesting but awful" to "GOD THIS IS MY SON AND I WILL FIGHT EVERYONE YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME" but.... lol there's no going back!

That's enough rambling, let's jump in.

There is something so painfully devastating about every time ILY confirms to us something we have long-since known or suspected through nuance, foreshadowing, reading between the lines, etc: That Kousuke isn't Rand's biological son, that Shinae was at the formal for Gun Kim, that Kousuke has been manipulated his whole life. Nothing in this episode regarding Kousuke is actually new to us. We have known, and talked about, for months and months long before the confirmation reveal that Yui drugs Kousuke - that he has been manipulated by her his entire life, that she orchestrated his life to manipulate him into situations she could take advantage of. It's the way she spoke about Rand's affair around Kousuke, the way she commodified Rand's love so Kousuke became convinced he'd never earned his father's love, the way she spoke of their family vs others and convinced him from such a young age that everyone was out to get them, to destroy them, and that he couldn't let them get close, couldn't let them near - and how Nol was very much a target planted in his mind.

But it's the fact that he is speaking of this and acknowledging it! Until now, Kousuke has heavily lived in denial. Again, we know this. We talk a lot about the chasm between reality and the reality he believes in. We talk a lot about how Kousuke couldn't face reality, even though on some level he knew everything he believed and was told was not quite true not quite real, but that he was so afraid of the truth, he couldn't do it. Kousuke admitting that he's been driven by fear and envy explains everything about him, and why he could not accept the only unwavering unconditional love he was offered.

A few weeks ago I saw a video on instagram of this father talking about a conversation he had with his daughter, who was feeling a little uncomfortable with her friend group. A new girl started to play with her and her best friend and she said she wasn't exactly jealous, but that maybe it was that she was afraid that there wasn't enough love to go around. Her dad had to explain to her that love is not like a pizza - it's not finite, a limited amount that could be taken and hogged by someone else. But Kousuke never learned this. His father's love was commodified and he was made to fear this other kid who he mistakenly believed knew a version of his father he'd never been privy to. He never learned that love is finite, that Rand could have enough love for the both of them, and feared that Nol would hog it all - that he WAS hogging it all because whether or not it was good or bad, Nol received more attention that Kousuke did. And that speaks VOLUMES about how Kousuke sees Rand, what he thinks of their relationship. In his mind, he is still unworthy, that he's not noteworthy enough.

This part gets to me so badly. We, as omniscient readers, know that Rand has tried his best, but that Yui runs a spectacular interference with which he can't compete, largely because of the roles their family have placed them in - Rand the busy businessman, Yui the mommy homemaker. But no matter how hard he tries, it isn't good enough. Rand tries to reach Kousuke, but the manipulation and paranoia are so far gone that the times Rand does have the chance to convey his feelings, Kousuke can't even believe it, because he thinks he's not good enough to deserve that love, that he hasn't fully qualified for it yet. And despite that, Nol, who Kousuke feels hasn't done half of what he has to deserve Rand's love, gets the attention. It doesn't matter that it's negative attention, that Rand barks at Nol, that Nol feels Rand hates and regrets him, because ultimately, it's still more than Kousuke receives. And worse, to him, every time Rand is busy reprimanding Nol, he turns away from Kousuke to do it.

I want to make it clear that this is a deep trauma point of Kousuke's. He's never learned healthy love and the only person who gave him healthy love was someone he was set to fear and fight. Something I think about a lot is the flashback to Kousuke, in the bushes, watching Nessa and Nol's display of warm affection, before Yui appears literally looming before him. In that moment, he witnesses something he's been deprived of. "We're not like other families"'. He's told from a young age he shouldn't compare himself to those healthy families, to warm and affectionate relationships that he will not cultivate in this household. From such a young age it is normalized, that they aren't like others, that they are cold and distant. From a young age, he's made to stuff down his feelings, his tender wants and desires, in order to earn them. To be a good little boy who makes his parents proud. To make his father look his way.

There's also something about the way he says "I've been a good boy" that echoes Shinae learning she's been manipulated by Yui, devastated and angry and yelling about how she's been a good girl so why do these things keep happening to her, all she wanted to do was help her dad. Two people who, from a young age, felt they had to be so obedient, so good, to not be a burden, and despite following the rules, despite doing as they were told, despite trying to be whatever version of "good" they believed in, the world still beat them up and mistreated them. The world still punished them.

As Rin in our discord server pointed out, though, to some degree, Kousuke is very much a person who can - and does - act out, when he's emotionally high-strung. He's a volatile man, and it's largely to do with the fact that he's been drugged to placate him for so long. He never learned emotional regulation, he never learned how to deal with high-stress situations or to face conflict or to own up to things. This is something that some readers who hate Kousuke and expect him to act a certain way because of his age are missing. You don't just learn these things with age. You learn them with experience and Kousuke was deprived of the opportunity TO have those experiences. He never had to learn these behaviors, and now as an adult he cannot function when overwhelmed.

Idk this whole episode is just heartbreaking. It's devastating. I remember when I was someone praying on Kousuke's downfall and now I want to take it all back ;___; I always believed he had to crash and burn to be able to see the world for what it really was and to face his fears, but this is somehow so much worse.

And even though he's drunk, I don't think he's going to forget all of this in the morning. Rather, I think what he's voicing are things that have been plaguing him since waking up in the hospital. From that moment, we saw him wary and distrustful of his mother, we saw his concern for Nol rising above everything else, but grappling with the understanding that he doesn't deserve to stand in front of Nol anymore. These aren't epiphanies coming to him just because he's drunk; it's more like he's only voicing them because he's drunk. But even when he sobers up, he will probably still be haunted by these fears, these agonies, these truths, this understanding.

How does he face his mother after this? How does he face anyone? He may not even feel like he can trust Jayce - who while very kind to him, is still employed by his family. He may not even feel like he can trust Hansuke (though I really hope that's not the case).

He's so miserable and it genuinely hurts to have him lay it all out for us - everything we've known and suspected, like how it was so painfully clear he WANTED Nol's friendship, their brotherhood, but feared it, didn't believe that there was enough love to go around, that there could only be one of them and that even if it was for good or bad reasons, Nol cast him in the shadow. And all these years, watching as Nol, as Yeonggi, grew into this person who sounded so very much like this unknown version of their father, someone funny who makes others laugh, someone goofy, someone so boyish in the ways Kousuke was never allowed to be. Watching as he gathers friends, while Kousuke, so unlikeable, is wanted only for his money, for his status, for the clout.

He doesn't even know WHO HE IS! Questioning his own traits he's believed of himself, wondering if this is even him, if these parts of him are real or does he just act it, say it, pretend it, while trying to fulfill a role he was shoved into. That makes me feel SO deeply sad, because it's something I've been anticipating for so long: Kousuke wondering WHO he really is, how much of him is real and how much of it is the result of manipulation.

And that moment that he catches himself and says no no that's offensive and rude you can't be like that. ;AAA;

For him to admit how much he envies others, how much he craves the kind of connection others have, the kind of family others have, to feel that love and warmth that he's been deprived of, forced to endure this solitude because, as he believes, he didn't get the good parts of Rand. And what will happen when he learns that Rand isn't his father? That he never stood a chance to inherit any of those traits. Kousuke has operated on this belief that, if he tries hard enough, he can earn the things he craves, but I fear learning about his parenthood will make him think that no matter how hard he tried, he would never earn that, because none of it was ever him, could have gone to him.

I think this is where Shinae, in the future, will come in. I feel so very strongly that she will be someone who helps Kousuke to see that this isn't true, that these kinds of personality traits aren't something inherited, but rather something learned. For him to one day realize it's the paralyzing fear that holds him back, not his genetics. Of course, I acknowledge this will still take a lot of therapy but...

Something else very remarkable to me is the way Kousuke recognizes Shinae in Shinhye, because their eyes "feel the same" and he opens up to her - on some level, whether or not he is consciously aware of it, Kousuke knows, or maybe just wants to, that he can trust Shinae. That she is someone who is safe. He even knows how she feels about his mother. I don't think we'll see a lot of Kousuke and Shinae's friendship until we're passed our timeskips, but it makes me feel a little hopeful about it, that she'll be able to reach him, because she feels like someone who is safe. It's the way he sees Nol in her and wants to try to have that do over, a relationship with someone who  has unconditional love for him. It's the way he knows he mistreated Nol, that it was wrong, that he took it all out on this kid he was so afraid of because he had no other outlet, and he wants to do better but knows that there's nothing to salvage anymore.

But also, it just makes me hope more and more that in the future we WILL see a reconciliation between the brothers. As I say every time, it doesn't mean they have to become brothers or friends, but I just want them to see each other fully. Kousuke knows what he did to Nol. He doesn't deny it, even if he might not say it out loud unless he's drunk. But Nol is still so in the dark. Yujing is trying to tip him off and make him aware of it, but I hope one day when Nol realizes it, when he finds out that Kousuke, too, was Yui's victim, that he wasn't the only one, that Kousuke was made to fear Nol's love, he might.... understand. I'm saying understand here loosely because I don't want people to get the idea that I mean Nol will forgive him and Kousuke will be justified, but rather that Nol would be able to understand why Kousuke felt that way, and move on. But I can't help but hope that it will lead to an understanding, a reconciliation, where maybe they can try to be in each other's lives.

I think it's also interesting that Shinhye was somewhat honest, even if she wasn't very forthcoming, with Kousuke about her own family. It sounds like her mother has been gone for a long time, that she's been on her own the whole while, and I think it reinforces the idea that she believes both that Simhan is her father and that he rejected her, that he didn't want anything to do with her. It lines up, too, with how she feels that he wouldn't react well if he saw her (although I think she credited that to looking like their mother). In the same way that Shinae has felt abandoned and cast aside by their mother, Shinhye probably thinks their father never tried reach out, to find them, to maintain a relationship with her. Or perhaps it's that her mother fed her lies about him, made her believe him a different type of man, made her believe there would never be anything of their relationship to salvage. And given that she's the one who Kousuke opened to, it makes me think that there must be some kind of parallel there; the way she mentioned her own mother feels like maybe her mother, too, was a manipulative - or at the very least, dishonest - person.

I don't speculate a lot on Shinhye because frankly I don't think I know enough about her to really try to talk about her, but I do think that it's very likely there's some kind of connection between Shinhye and the Hirahras or Gun. To be clear, I don't believe she's working with Yui at all. I think it's more like... Alyssa isn't the only girl who has been trafficked by Gun. What's the likelihood that Shinae and Shinhye's mother was? Given her history, the gambling addiction that was so egregious her reputation haunted Shinae and chased her to a new neighborhood and school, was she seeking money somewhere else, somewhere more dangerous? Is that part of why they had to change their name? There's so many questions left about them, and I look forward to learning more about her, but, much like with Alyssa, I think it will take time and be dropped in little tidbits like this - things to read into and try to glean something from.

And maybe we'll see more of this duo in the future? It would feel a little weird to give them this one single run in, but I'm not entirely sure. Quimchee likes to keep us on our toes. After all, Minhyuk and Shinhye have also had only the one run in. Still, I think it would be interesting to watch, if Shinhye ever felt.... I want to say maybe compelled? to dig in more to Kousuke, ever feel a kind of kinship. I don't think she'll open up to him at all, but rather, maybe she'd keep going back because a. he's wealthy and there's more she can nick from him (assuming he doesn't realize she stole anything while in his apartment, if he even remembers any of this) and b. wanting to gather more intel.

Like I said though, she's hard to read so I don't want to cling too hard to any ideas and, instead, sit back and enjoy the show.

[purgemarchlockdown]

Shidou, Mahiru, Amane and Parenthood

(Also Known As: Shidou and Mahiru are paralleled with Amane's parents and I need to talk about it)

(CW: Child Abuse, Cults)

So the newest interrogation question came out and the question is this:

If you had to make one of the prisoners part of your family, who would you choose?

Amane's answer to it was this:

A: Mahiru Shina. Her innate goodness might have brought the two of us closer, maybe

This is an interesting response for a lot of reasons, especially since the last time we saw Amane and Mahiru interacting they didn't exactly have a pleasant conversation.

23/01/17 (Mahiru’s Birthday)

Amane: Happy birthday. Mahiru-san. How is your body feeling? Mahiru: ……ah, Amane-chan. Thank you. Yeah, I’m fine. Now I can move around if I use a wheelchair…… It’s all thanks to Shidou-san looking after me…… Amane: I’ll give you one warning. The two of you are dabbling in something tabooed. If you continue to go against the way of nature like this, you’ll just bring an early death upon yourself. Think hard about this. Mahiru: Amane-chan……? Are you really Amane-chan……?

If Amane believes that Mahiru is dabbling in something taboo then why does she think Mahiru should be apart of her family? Well let's take a look at how Mahiru and Amane parallel for a bit. At first it doesn't seem like they have much in common but there's actually a substantial amount of connections between them.

The one most important to this discussion is the usage of water and their views on love.

Now water for Amane is punishment, both symbolically and literally. She was waterboarded. However this torture was used to confirm something, her parents "love" for her.

But it’s not scary at all, because it’s love I can actually think of it as a good thing, see isn’t it a great thing?

The thing about Amane Momose is that she's sinful and impure. At least in the eyes of her cult. She's constantly messing up, constantly failing, constantly wanting to run from the trials presented to her.

Dear wise one, Is this ok? Is it ok to be weak sometimes?

In the eyes of her cult Amane Momose needs to be punished so she can become "better." A better girl, a better person, a better follower of god. Under this logic the punishments are her parents way of delivering...salvation, to cleanse Amane Momose's impure soul of it's faults and eventually turn her into a "good girl."

Pain is Love, for all intents and purpose, it means that her parents still care enough about her to try to purify her. Even though she herself knows that it's a lost cause.

Only if, only if, only if I could be a good girl

This is something she shares with Mahiru.

We fought sometimes, I was happy to get hurt Let's have matching pain, this sickness is pretty bad

Do you really think you know what love is? If you do, let's just overheat together

Mahiru believes that if you are in love you share everything, happiness, sorrow, joy, pain. Being together even if you are suffering and unhappy is proof of your "bond."

Giving you love to the point of pulling you down It's just because I still get worried, please forgive me Even when I test you, even the times we do the breakup ritual, Is because I love you

Using this lens we can read the water through a different lens we can see it as...love. Water is love, it is needed for people to live, it is rejuvenating and good.

Now multiple characters have this motif and I won't talk about it in too much detail but both Amane and Mahiru's boyfriend are covered in water, love. Metaphorically or otherwise. Except both of them are submerged in it, drowned even. The version of love Amane was given and the version of love Mahiru gave out was distorted and destructive. With Mahiru's love ultimately leading, in some way or another, to her boyfriend's death.

This makes two lines in their MVs super interesting.

My emotions are out of control, that’s inconvenient? I don’t care!

You’re sorry? I don’t care! Please, go ahead and die already

This is very similar phrasing but the context is completely different.

When Mahiru says this line she's talking about her love for her boyfriend. Her overly indulgent, suffocating, love. It doesn't matter if it's inconvenient to Him because this is how she shows Her love.

No matter how unaware she was of how unhealthy her relationship was (and I don't think she was malicious at all in her intentions), she was still Actively suffocating him by not taking his feelings into consideration.

Amane however is Reacting to her mother's abuse. Her mother's painful and horrible "love." "Love" that really could have killed her, people aren't supposed to survive waterboarding and electrocution without any medicine, or just in general.

When she goes to her mother and kills her she's doing this because she Hates Her. She doesn't care if she apologies because she never took Her Feelings into account when she punished her.

Not only that but we have this Timeline conversation.

20/07/06

Amane: You want to know about my family……? My father is a truly wonderful person. He’s honest, values fairness and justice above all else, and will work himself to the bone for other people’s sake……. Why do you want to know? Mahiru: Oh, I was just wondering what sort of parents you must have for them to have raised such a good child like you. Fufu, I’ll keep it in mind for the future when I raise my own family. Amane: I see. If it will be of use to you, I’ll tell you more. It’s still a long way off for me, but for someone your age the prospect of finding a partner and having a family must be feeling a lot more real. Now that I think about it, I recall my mother was around your age when she gave birth to me……

Amane's Mother was Mahiru's age when she gave birth to her? Mahiru thinks Amane is a good child and wants to use her parents as examples for how to raise someone like her?

To me, it seems like Mahiru is being paralleled with Amane's parents. Most likely her mother but you could probably argue the father too due to how Amane is (seemingly) on much better terms with him.

Now I've outlined most of the Mahiru-Parent parallels but we also have Shidou.

So, Amane hates Shidou, that's a well-documented opinion. Shidou violates cult rules and doctrine. He "steals" people's trials away. He's evil and horrible and needs to be destroyed.

Amane: Oh – speaking of which, there is one among the prisoners right now. An evil existence that’s trying to steal people’s trials away from them. Es: …! Amane: Shidou Kirisaki… His actions violate our rules. I have given him a warning. If he continues, I suppose it will be inevitable for me to intervene.

However this isn't the only reason why Amane dislikes Shidou, in fact she's disliked him since the start. For reasons completely unrelated to this.

Shidou makes Amane feel small.

Shidou: I…… I just don’t understand. If everything about MILGRAM is true…… why did a child like you have to become a murderer? Just imagining what sort of circumstances must have led to that, it makes me so sad…… Amane: ……*sigh*. Is that right. I don’t think I’m going to get along with you, Shidou-san. I don’t agree with the fact you refuse to acknowledge that I have my own free will, and that I should be held accountable for my actions, just because I’m a child. I may have only been alive for 12 years, but all the choices I’ve made, even if they weren’t the best ones, were entirely my own. What point is there in you getting sad when I have no regrets myself?

His actions are, for lack of a better term, triggering. It reminds Amane of her parents. The lack of control she had over the situation, and how her words meant nothing to them.

She cares about her free will because for most of her life her free will and choices weren't respected. So Shidou disregarding her feelings makes her feel disrespected and uncomfortable.

Is this done out of malice? No but it seems like Shidou is doing this more for his sake than Amane's.

22/06/27 (Amane’s Birthday)

Kazui: What’s up, Shidou-kun? You’re looking pretty down. I guess you must be tired, I’ve been relying on you a lot lately. Shidou: Yeah, I just remembered…… today is Amane’s birthday. I’m just getting a bit sentimental. Kazui: Hmm, it’s unfortunate, but at the moment we can’t worry about that. ……you understand, right? There’s something that you need to do right now. And if you tried talking to her your words definitely won’t reach her. Don’t look at me like that. We’ll just wait until the situation changes. Let’s do our best. Shidou: Yeah. I’ll do what I can. I can’t have a child making a face like that. Even though we’re “murderers”…… we’re also the adults here.

Shidou is Guilt Man. He's absolutely consumed with it, even now that he doesn't want to die his guilt haunts him. In a way, taking care of Amane is a way to "redeem" himself for whatever he did.

He's also presumably coping with the loss of his own children and is projecting that Onto Amane and also Es. You can see this very clearly in his T1 VD.

Shidou: I’m a fine specimen of what a murderer ought to be. I don’t mind when you hand down your judgement, but if it’s possible… Instead of being told by the law that I won’t be forgiven, I wanted a child like you, Es, to tell me that.

Shidou is condescending and makes both Es and Amane feel uncomfortable and disrespected, even if he doesn't want to. His actions harm them because Shidou cares less about them and more about the Idea of them being children.

(My emotions are out of control, that’s inconvenient? I don’t care!)

The clearest example of how the way he interacts with Amane is this scene in this Timeline.

Amane: I warned you. I can no longer turn a blind eye to this wickedness taking place right in front of us. You’re bringing ruin unto yourself. Do you understand? Shidou: No, I don’t understand. It’s my job as an adult to teach you that throwing a temper tantrum isn’t going to make everything go your way. If it’s a test of endurance you want, I’m happy to oblige, Amane.

Now as I've said. Amane likes having her opinions and choices respected, this comes from how they Weren't when she was living with her parents. Most of her positive interactions with people, especially in T2, come from people asking her about her opinions and how she feels about things. Shidou dismissing her emotions and calling them a temper tantrum was one of the worst things he could of possibly said to her. Outright confirming To Amane that Shidou doesn't care about how she feels.

Again that isn't exactly true, Shidou does care, but it doesn't change the affect it has on her does it?

Shidou makes Amane feels small and disrespected and Hurt. Like how her parents made her feel. Amane's just been given a righteous reason to hurt him now, like what she had for her mother.

(This is another reason why I can't exactly say Mahiru is paralleled with her mother and Shidou her father...it's possible we have a bit of a roleswap here.)

In short: 050608 family parallels haunt me forever and ever.

[archivalofsins]

So, that last minigram huh?

Kotoko continuing to be unable to take what she dishes out is adorable without question. To celebrate the continuation and the use of portal timeline interactions in another minigram-

I wanna take a moment to discuss that and how martial arts is handled in the portal timeline too!

Transcript of official translation of Minigram EP51 "Mixed Martial Arts Competition Part 2"

[51-1] Kotoko: You're a martial arts guy right, Kazui? Kotoko: What do you do? Judo? Mahiru: What's wrong Mikoto? Kazui: Why do you wanna know all of a suddent? nervous Mikoto: If the battle starts here, I'll have nightmares about it. Mikoto: Who is stronger...? Last episode [51-2] Kazui: Uhh. Kazui: I mainly do judo and kendo(Japanese fencing). Kazui: And a bit of karate. Kazui: You also have some experience in combat sports right? Kazui: I can tell. Kazui: Hm... Kazui: It involves punching and kicking... Kazui: But I don't think it's karate... Kotoko: ...! Kazui: Is it taekwondo? Kotoko: I'm not telling you. Kotoko: Stop staring at me you pervert. Kazui: Is.. Kazui: Isn't that a bit unfair...?

Source

Does Kotoko in the last panel remind anyone else of another prisoner?

I guess playing investigator/hero is only fun when when she the only one doing the watching right?

They’re still here, still here, it grates me.

The difference between this in and the portal timeline interaction is that more prisoners have been included. Mahiru and Mikoto. Two people who had already deduced that Kazui and Kotoko had some martial arts knowledge.

Since this is following up from Minigram EP50 "Mixed Martial Arts Competition Part 1" where Mikoto asks who would win between Kazui and Kotoko in a fight.

[50-1] Mikoto: By the way- Mikoto: Who is stronger between Koto-chan and Kazu? Mikoto: Both of them do martial arts, right? Kotoko: If we go head to head, I'd think Kazui. Futa: Of course it would be. Futa: Don't ask such a stupid question. Futa: Women can't beat men in martial arts. Futa: This isn't a manga. Futa: Body size makes a big difference. step step Futa: How hard you hit is dependent on your body weight Futa: You don't understand. [50-2] Kotoko: Futa does have a point. squeak Kotoko: The fact that many martial arts have weight divisions means that it makes much of a difference. Kotoko: I would be bantamweight and he would be cruiserweight or heavyweight. Kotoko: But... snap Kotoko: I would at least break one of his arms. sst Kotoko: ... So when do we fight?

Maybe we'll get to see Mahiru and Kazui's timeline conversation from 20/06/19 turned into a minigram as well.

20/06/19 Kazui: By the way…… thanks, Shina-chan. You keep going around and talking to people to make sure the mood never gets too sour, right? It’s a big help. We’re all in here together, after all. If a fight broke out, the whole group could fall apart. Mahiru: ……eh? Huh~? Ah, no, I’m just talking to people because I personally want to talk. All the kids are so cute, so I can’t help but want to fuss over them! A fight, huh… But if that ever happened, then you’ll definitely be a big help, right~? Since you’re so big! And buff! Kazui: Ahh, no. I mean, I’ll do what I can. Based on appearance, as long as nobody has a weapon, I think I can probably get everyone under control…… No, we should just hope that nothing like that ever happens. Mahiru: You know, I quite like watching martial arts, actually. I don’t really get it, but it looks super cool. Hi-yah! Hi-yah!

The changes made in the minigram could be to give a more cohesive narrative to those moments. Mikoto, asks Kotoko who's tougher which causes her to get intrigued as well wanting to test her strength, she asks Kazui what martial arts he knows to see if he's a worthy opponent. This leads to Kazui getting nervous assuming this means she's going to try to fight him. Which could lead into him thanking Mahiru for always trying to keep the atmosphere light afterwards and she just explains she has fun talking to everyone.

But let's hop into the interesting thing. Considering the focus on strength and martial arts I decided to look over the timeline interactions involving them. they're interesting to say the least.

Here's the first one to mention martial arts-

20/05/30 Mahiru: Hey, Kotoko-chan. There’s something that’s really been bugging me, so do you mind if I ask? ……how do you style yourself so well? Have you always dressed like that? But it also looks like something you’d wear for training. Do you play sport? Ah, or maybe some kind of martial arts? Kotoko: ……you really are carefree. Everyone in here is a “murderer” right? Is this really the time to be asking questions like that? Mahiru: Hmm, I guess so. That’s what they said. But nobody here seems particularly scary or anything, right? If I had to pick someone, then maybe you’re the scariest! Ah, wait, do you do like yoga or something? Kotoko: ……I can’t tell if you’re making fun of me or are just an airhead.

The second is you guessed it the interaction between Mahiru and Kazui. Wow Mahiru certainly is good at picking out people who know martial arts in a casual way.

The third one is Kotoko's interaction with Kazui,

20/07/09 Kotoko: Kazui, you do martial arts, right? ……what type? Judo? Kazui: Ah, my main is…… judo, and kendo. I also know a little bit of karate. You must have some martial arts experience too, right, Yuzuriha-chan? I can tell by looking. Hmm… probably a combat type…… I’m guessing not karate…… is it taekwondo? Kotoko: ……I’m not telling you. Stop ogling me like that. It’s gross. Kazui: I-isn’t that a bit unfair?

Then the conversation between Mikoto, Kotoko, and Futa.

20/08/03 Mikoto: By the way, Koto-chan. Who’s stronger between you and Kazu-san? You both know martial arts, right? Kotoko: ……if it was a fair one-on-one fight, probably Kazui. Futa: Isn’t that obvious? What a stupid question. There’s no way a girl could win in a fight against a man. This is real life, not a manga. There’s too big a difference in body size. And that’s what determines the weight of your attacks. Kotoko: ……Futa’s not entirely wrong there. In a lot of martial arts, they specifically split up divisions based on body weight for that reason. I’m bantam, and he’d probably be either cruiser or heavy. Well, I’d still break an arm or two though.

The funniest thing about looking over the Portal Timeline interactions in contrast to how the minigram portrays this is-

Well to realize that Kazui never told anyone he did martial arts until he was directly asked by Kotoko. Kotoko and Mahiru both just assumed from how he was built that he did some sort of martial arts. A conclusion they would have come to by oggling the man.

Now Mahiru doesn't hide that she's eyeing up the every adult men in Milgram at all-

20/06/08 Mahiru: Shidou-san…… you’re really good-looking. Personally I think you’d be better if you ate a bit more, but you’re slim and tall, and well put together to boot…… You must’ve been super popular up until now, right? Shidou: ……yeah, that’s true…… I did my share of fooling around in the past. Mahiru: Oh~? That’s not the sort of answer I’d expect from you. I’ve got it! Somebody told you that if you replied like that people wouldn’t resent you so much, right? Shidou: Haha, I’m surprised you guessed. ……it seems that no matter what guise I put on, it’s meaningless against a woman’s insight.

So, it's not much of a surprise that she would make this sort of observation about Kazui. Hell, I'm not even faulting it.

Q.05  Who do you dislike most out of the other prisoners? Mahiru: Futa-kun is a bully, so definitely out! Also Mikoto is pretty flippant, he kinda seems like the type who’d cheat~

If she's trying to use Milgram to find a new boyfriend all the more power to her. Yet, it is again very hilarious that from how the timeline presents it the only reason Kotoko came to the conclusion that Kazui did a martial arts was because she was in her own words ogling him.

Kotoko: ……I’m not telling you. Stop ogling me like that. It’s gross.

What about you, Kotoko?!

Putting this look to the side. Which out of context and in context is not good cosidering the deifnition of the term ogle.

Kazui never told anyone that he did a martial art until he was expressedly asked by Kotoko. The only way that anyone would draw the conclusion that he did is by looking at him (possibly alot). Plus we already know that Kotoko has been keeping an eye on all the prisoner and even more stuff since the release of Deep Cover.

Sorry to go into semantics but yeah what Kotoko did in this minigram is the definition of ogling and is presented as such visually as well as contexually. So, makes sense why they'd have her call him a pervert instead of having her say to stop ogling her like she did before. Having her say that would highlight the double standard here a bit too much.

Despite Kotoko not even answering Kazui when he asks why she's inquiring about this in the overtly menacing way that she is. He still answers her question earnestly. Then when he asks her what martial arts she does to continue the conversation and give her the opportunity to have a reciprocal conversation she just shuts it down by calling him a pervert in the minigram and implying he's one in the original portal timeline by saying he's ogling her.

Him saying that's a bit unfair is rather reasonable. Because that's what it is unfair. He told her what martial arts he does the least she could do is continue the conversation she started and answer the same question she had the audacity to ask.

But while we're still on the topic of martial arts-

Why the fuck are Mahiru and Mikoto so good at telling who does martial arts? It makes sense for Kazui and Kotoko. Also Mahiru admits to being interested in martial arts to Kazui. So, that somewhat explains that. Yet, with Mikoto it's a bit surprising. Given he says that he hates violence.

Q.06 What do you hate? Mikoto: working overnight / reptiles / violence

Well just because he hates violence doesn't mean he can't recognize those capable of being violent or even that he won't use violence himself. It just means he hates it.

Still why is that a skill Mahiru or Mikoto would ever need to the point of being comfortable enough to surmise that two of the prisoners here do it? While also being stunningly correct. Mikoto could have overheard any of the other timeline interractions and just been making small talk though.

Since his talk happens after all the others. Still the fact that four people in this prison are possibly really good at surmising if someone does martial arts by looking at them alone is kind of impressive and terrifying.

This is just some interesting stuff that the new minigram got me thinking about. It's really interesting to see how the staff is incorporating the portal timeline interactions into the minigrams. I can't wait to see what they do with the others from trial one.

[kurenaicrush]

Death end re;Quest Concept Art

(Disclaimer, art not done by me. Credit goes to Kei Nanameda.)

Because of how obscure the game itself is, I might literally be the first person to release some of this stuff onto the internet, let alone in high quality. So this is character concept art from the DER White Rabbit Archives book. The book was included exclusively in the DER collectors/limited edition. I happened to find someone selling the book individually for a cheap price, so I bought it with the intent to use the book to help me with a potential Compile Heart fanart project. Here is the complete concept art section of the book. Everything else in the book is stuff we've already seen before, so it's not worth mentioning. I'd also like to give my personal thoughts on each of the characters.

Shina - There's not much to say about Shina, other than they tried different hair colors for her. It seems like they had a pretty good idea of what they were going for right from the beginning.

Lily - Just like Shina, there's not much for Lily either. It is worth mentioning that it can be seen on page 62 that they tried a longer hair style. That hair gives her even more of a princess look, but I like better the design they ultimately went with. In the beginning of the game Shina and Arata specifically mention Lily's NPC design having different hair, so I like to imagine this is what it looked like.

Al - The sketches show a bigger/older version of Al with different style ears. I really enjoy this look and like it equally as much as her final design. In the end though it's probably for the best we got the smaller/younger version, as it adds more variety to the cast of characters. I kind of like the bigger longer ears better though. She's also shown with a gun, but it was later decided to give the gun to Clea, and Al her lance/spear thing. The character notes next to the sketches imply that she could've been a catgirl before they decided to make her an ambiguous beast girl. There's also another sketch on page 62. This Al is almost the same as the final version, but she can be seen with a hat and different style of ears. I don't really like this look, but it's interesting to see!

(Here's some more for Clea)

Clea - Many different horn and hair styles were tried for Clea before one was finally settled on. There's a sketch with her having her hair down on page 62, she looks really good like that! One sketch in particular that I'd like to focus on shows Clea with a completely different style of horns. These appendages on her head seem more resemblant of animal ears than horns. Perhaps it was possibly considered to make Clea a beast girl instead? This sketch also shows her with an eyepatch which is a cool look. It seems like both Al and Clea have a couple design elements that crossover, such as the gun and animal ears.

(Here's some more for Lucil)

Lucil - Firstly I'd like to mention that Lucil's iconic chair seems to be absent from the concept art, except for her character page. I'm thinking her chair was an idea decided on later in development. Lucil went through a lot of different iterations and they all look really nice! I've never really been that big of a fan of Lucil's design, so a lot of these I'd honestly take over the final one. One really neat idea they had was for her eye being the part of her body affected by the bug. She had this really cool glitch effect flowing from her eye and her hair concealed it. This looks so awesome and I really wish they kept this. I really like the glitch eye Lucil's outfit too! It's a bit different from the final one.

(Closer look at a Celica concept)

Celica - It seems like most of her outfits are not too drastically different and she went through mostly color palette swaps. She did have a different buggy in one sketch. This is however one sketch for Celica that is a lot different. Her hair is completely different along with her outfit. She also has this big monster glitch arm that reminds me of Alice's blood skelter form from Mary Skelter, another game that Kei Nanameda worked on. This sketch almost feels like a completely different character, but she's still really cool!

Arata Mizunashi - Sorry to disappoint, but Arata really had nothing. Thought I'd still mention him though, since he's a main character.

Page 60 character sketches - So this is REALLY interesting! Here we have five unnamed and unused characters, that I can only assume were meant to be Luden ideas. All of these look really awesome and it's a shame we didn't get them as actual characters. My favorite is the bottom left one with the girl on top of the monster. Such a badass design! All of these designs feel very reminiscent of Mary Skelter, which once again it's the same artist.

Fun fact: some of the concept art appears in one of the visual novel backgrounds, accompanied by some other Kei Nanameda sketches of unknown origin, likely other random concept arts.

Thank you so much for reading! As a big DER fan, I'm honored to be the one to release this art and information! Normally with video games the material from art books eventually gets released online, but because of how obscure DER is, no one else to my knowledge has previously done so. Page 58 seems to be the only one that's been officially released. Most of everything else has been in the dark up until this point. If I find anything else, I'll be sure to post about it! I'd really like to get the DER2 book in the future!

[ohplagg]

I Love Yoo Timeline Part 2/4

The Evidence Part 2

This is part 2 of 4 of my I Love Yoo Timeline as of Episode 241.

Part 1 and 2 consists of laying out all the detailed evidence with descriptions, screenshots and episode number.

Part 3 consists of explaining the evidence, connecting the dates and some math because the I Love Yoo universe (or as I like to call it, Yooniverse) uses letters instead of numbers to represent official years.

Part 4 is the I Love Yoo Timeline.

----

I told you guys there's a lot of information. Both The Evidence parts reached picture limit.

--------

Kosuke's life when he was in school

Episode 91

YuJing and Kousuke went to high school and university together.

Episode 79

Whatever happend that caused the fallout between Kousuke and his college friends happened "about 5 years ago" according to Hansuke.

I'll show the evidence later in this post and go in depth about it more in part 3 but for now do keep in mind that Hansuke didn't go to the same college Kousuke and the friend group did so when he says "about" we should interpret that as "I don't really remember how long ago it was exactly since I had more important things that needed my attention"

Episode 144

Kousuke graduated in Spring

Kousuke was 14 the day of his graduation

Episode 241

Kousuke goes to the park with his mom right after his high school graduation and Nessa is there.

Episode 239

Hansuke was there at the funeral related to the college friend group fallout.

Kousuke got his friend group at the beginning of his college days

Kousuke was part of the friend group for a couple of years

Episode 116

In Meg's flashback we learn:

Alyssa has already started the path of becoming a Kpop idol

Meg is 20 years old

Hasuke and Meg went to the same university. A different university from Kousuke, YuJing and the friend group.

The college group of friends would visit Hansuke at his college every once in a while.

Kousuke used to date "around" in college.

At this moment in time, the fallout between Kousuke and his college friends has started to happened if it hasn't already happened AND Hansuke wasn't aware of it.

At this moment in time Kosuke is "like 20"

Kousuke is "finishing up his masters this year or something"

I do want to highlight that the information that we get for Kousuke's graduation is based on a rumor that reached a different college than the one Kousuke goes to.

From personal experience I can, with 100% confidence, say that people that start college at a younger age get mistaken to be much younger and finish school much faster than what is true just because the gossip stays the same throughout the years without considering that time passes for said person who the gossip talks about.

In my personal experience, a person who started college when they were 16 had their gossip evolve to say that they started college at 14. And by the time they were 20 and with a year more of school the gossip was "that person is graduating soon and they are like 16 or something. Yeah dude, they are super smart".

So my point is that Kousuke, having started college at a young age, always looking young for his age with that Hirahara genetics and low testosterone levels, and the fact that this information comes from a gossip in a college he doesn't even go to, all tells us that this is not trustworthy source of information and we should take it with a grain of salt.

Shin-Ae's Timeline

Regarding Shin-Ae's timeline, I won't be touching up on her personal family affairs since that's a whole can of worms that I don't have the brain capacity nor the space to add it in this post.

If in the future the whole plot of Shin-Ae's sister and her mother becomes extremely relevant then I might do another Evidence post for that and add the events to the timeline. But for now, I don't see them that important to the timeline mystery so I'll only mention whatever I feel is relevant for the timeline I'm constructing.

Episode 222

Shinae and Alyssa met in "Class of 20XT"

Episode 205

Here we see all 3 of Min-Hyuk's Middle School (which is the same thing as Junior High) yearbooks. Min Hyuk's last Middle School year was 20XT = Min-Hyuk graduated on 20XT.

Episode 202

On the Shin-Ae/Alyssa flashback Min-Hyuk says that he will be graduating middle school "next year" meaning that the incident took place the year before 20XT

When Shin-Ae was leaving the hospital, winter was just around the corner (Winter officially starts December 21st)

Exact dates for events that have happened since we started following the story

Episode 6

Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th of September 20XX was the day of the party where Shinae met the brothers. When Rika and Maya got pranked by Shinae and Nol at the very first party.

Episode 37

November's calendar

Episode 144

December's and part of January's calendar

Character information shared by Quimchee in her 2017 and 2018 Curious Cat answers

Kousuke seems to have had a very active dating life in his teens

Character's ages (keep in mind these answers were given when in Yooniverse it was still November)

Other information relevant to the construction of the timeline

Nol was a late bloomer. This is important to keep in mind because Nol looks young in so many flashbacks, specially compared to Dieter, Soushi, and Alyssa. Any Nol we see before his 15th birthday will look like a little kid.

-------------

This is just part 2 of 4. Go keep reading:

Part 1: The Evidence Part 1

Part 3: Math and connecting the dots

Part 4: The Timeline

[silverynight]

Enemy

<---Previous

Chapter 9

Tanjirou starts pacing around the living room as Genya and Nezuko talk about something that doesn't make a lot of sense to him, perhaps because he's too worried about what's happening in Undercity and is not paying attention to them.

"Do you approve of my brother, Nezuko?"

The girl chuckles, looking at the tall boy with amusement.

"Of course I do. He has helped us a lot since we got here. Tanjirou told me everything."

"He's... very much in love, you know?" Genya says, looking a little bit flustered. "I know he might not look like it but I know him better than anyone..."

"What about you, Genya?"

"What do you m-mean?" He stammers, blushing to the tip of his ears.

"Are you sure you can't take me there again?" Tanjirou pleads, interrupting the conversation, he's not usually like this, but he's really worried about his friends...

"We don't want Genya to get in trouble," Nezuko tells her brother, putting both hands on his shoulders. "I'm worried too, but I also trust Inosuke and Zenitsu; I know they can take care of themselves. Let's just wait for the Pillars to come back and tell us what happened, alright?"

Tanjirou nods, feeling useless, but finally giving in. He takes a few steps closer to Genya and pulls him into his arms.

"I'm sorry... I know you've done a lot for me," Tanjirou mumbles, looking at him and noticing how red his face is now so he immediately takes a step back because he's probably squeezing Genya too hard... "You have helped me since I met you... I'm really grateful for that. I truly am, Genya."

"You're welcome. It was my pleasure," the tall boy mumbles, looking a little bit shy.

They wait. Tanjirou doesn't like it that much and his mind doesn't help him relax; it's constantly jumping from one terrible scenario to another, but at least he tries to distract himself. The three of them stick together the whole day.

All the hashira come back at night, but the first one they see is Shinazugawa because the three of them are still at his house.

He rushes inside, walking like a determined man on a mission until he finds Tanjirou sitting on the couch next to Genya and Nezuko.

"Shina–" he doesn't get to finish because the Pillar takes him in his arms and presses their foreheads together. Tanjirou is a little bit surprised.

"You weren't in your house, like we told you to," despite Shinazugawa usually harsh personality, his words sound more worried than irritated.

"I wanted to know what was going on... I still want to..."

Suddenly, there are more people inside, Nezuko looks amused and Genya concerned, especially after his older brother starts yelling at the other Pillars to get out of his house.

Of course, nobody listens to him and Tanjirou finds himself in different pairs of arms; Kanroji kisses him on the cheek when it's her turn, Himejima presses his forehead against Tanjirou's cheek...

"I'm glad you're not there anymore," Tomioka mumbles, running his fingers through Tanjirou's hair.

He's confused and flustered at the moment, wondering why they're so affectionate out of the sudden. Iguro even holds his hand at some point, as Uzui's wives walk inside and fuss over him.

"What happened?"

"We stopped the conflict before it escalated further, don't worry about it, my boy!" Rengoku says as he rubs their noses together.

He feels a little bit better, although since they don't know anything about his friends, they can't know if Zenitsu and Inosuke are alright at the moment.

Tanjirou wants to go back, however, this time he wants to do it right because he doesn't want to get in trouble or upset the only people that have been nice to him and his sister.

"I would like to go back to Undercity."

"No," Uzui says immediately, there's no hesitation in his voice. It surprises Tanjirou how determined he looks at the moment. Sadly, the other look like they think exactly like him. "Last time you were there you got hurt."

Instinctively, Tanjirou touches his neck and regrets it immediately after Kocho narrows her eyes at him with concern.

"We can bring you anything you want," Tokito offers, noticing Tanjirou's sad expression.

"I need to see two people who are very dear to me," he mumbles, deciding he can trust them with that information.

Although he gets really confused when he realizes that all the hashira seem upset and are currently frowning at him.

"What do you mean dear to you?" Shinazugawa asks, clearly angry about something.

"You told us you didn't have a significant other out there!" Kanroji says, looking like a kicked puppy.

Tanjirou feels even more confused now.

Genya shakes his head, although he looks a little bit amused while Nezuko, on the other hand, rolls her eyes and steps forward, right next to her brother.

"They're our friends. He's talking about our friends."

As if Nezuko just uttered a couple of magic words, the frowns disappear from their faces. They look almost relieved.

"We promise we'll discuss it, Tanjirou," Iguro says, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We don't want to risk you."

Tanjirou tries to say something else, but Kocho shakes her head.

"If we agree to this, two of us will go with you. It's the only way."

Tanjirou knows he's not going to persuade them to let him go alone, so he just nods, hoping their presence doesn't scare his friends off. Like most of the people who live in Undercity, they don't trust topsiders.

"Okay."

***

Tanjirou doesn't like to wait. It's been just two days; Genya mentioned they actually had to wait a little bit because none of the people in Undercity would like to see them again so soon in their territory, especially after what happened.

"I understand that they don't want to see the hashira, but perhaps if I go–"

"You heard them, Tanjirou," Genya cuts him off. "They won't let you go alone."

"I'm not planning to disobey them this time," Tanjirou assures his friend, putting a hand on his cheek to calm him down; it works really well. "But why are they so worried about me?"

"You should know, Tanjirou... It's not like they're trying to hide it. My brother–"

As they walk down the hallway, an enforcer runs into them and stops as soon as he notices Genya.

"We need you out there," the man says. "Two people from Undercity broke in... They got into a couple of houses, it looks like they've been looking for information on the hashira's guests."

"Nemi is going to get mad," Genya mumbles, mostly to himself, before he turns around to look at Tanjirou. "It's okay, Tanjirou. You and your sister will be fine, I promise."

He follows the man before Tanjirou can say something; he really has a bad feeling about it.

Why are they asking about them? He doesn't care that much about himself, but he doesn't want anyone to hurt Nezuko.

Fortunately, Genya comes back really soon and informs him that the two boys have been apprehended, although they seem to know a lot about Nezuko.

With his heart beating crazily inside his chest, Tanjirou turns around and looks up to stare into Genya's eyes.

"How do they look?"

"I don't think I should be giving you that information, Tanjirou."

"Please..."

"Why do you always use that face against me?" Genya sighs, cheeks turning slightly pink. "One of them is a blond and the other wears a face mask with fangs painted on it, it almost looks like a boar–"

"Take me with them!"

"I can't. They're currently being questioned by my brother and the other Pillars. Besides, they could be dangerous–"

"They're not! They're my friends!"

Genya looks at him almost like he knows something not really good is going to happen, but he nods, giving in.

"What are you doing here? We're in the middle–" at first Shinazugawa doesn't notice Tanjirou, only his younger brother, but when he does, it's too late because the redhead is already running towards the middle of the room and jumping into the two pair of arms spread at him.

"Inosuke, Zenitsu!" Tanjirou says, voice breaking. "I'm so glad you're alright!"

"We were so worried about you and Nezuko!" Zenitsu sobs as Inosuke nuzzles against Tanjirou's cheek affectionately.

"Tanjirou, darling..." Kocho mumbles with a very sweet voice. "We're in the middle of something. They must be judged."

"Don't be too harsh on them, please!" Tanjirou pleads. "They probably just came here to look for Nezuko and me... They have good intentions!"

"Let us finish the interrogation, Tanjirou," Tomioka insists, prompting the redhead to nod, however, Tanjirou doesn't move away from them.

Shinazugawa doesn't seem to like that. Well, none of them look particularly happy about it.

When it's more than clear that the two boys were just looking for his friends, all the hashira agree not to do anything against them.

"You are free to go back to the other side," Iguro mumbles, waving a hand in a dismissive way at them.

"No, no," Tanjirou says, pulling his friends closer to him. "Stay with me. Please, stay here. You can move in with me!"

"That'd be nice," Inosuke admits, prompting Tanjirou to embrace him again.

"They're not topsiders, sweetie," Kanroji comments then. "We have to approve their entrance first."

"I'm not from Topside either," Tanjirou points out, refusing to let go of his friends.

"You're an exception, Tanjirou," Himejima says with a fond smile on his lips. "You must know this..."

"Please..." Tanjirou insists, prompting Zenitsu to look from him to the Pillars with an irritated curiosity.

"Fine," Uzui sighs, looking back at Tanjirou before grinning at him. "Just because you asked."

"Thank you!"

"You know we'd do anything for you, my boy!" Rengoku assures him, looking like he wants to jump over the table to get closer to him like he did before.

"Although we're not sure we want them to stay with you," Tokito mumbles, eyeing Tanjirou's friends with irritation.

"We can provide other accommodations for them," Kocho offers, although that's not what Tanjirou wants at all. He's missed his friends so much.

"But the house I'm living with Nezuko is really big!" He insists. "The four of us can stay there!"

Suddenly, Rengoku frowns at the way Tanjirou keeps pulling the other two boys closer to him.

That's when Zenitsu rolls his eyes and takes a few steps back, dragging Inosuke with him.

"None of us are into him," Zenitsu says quickly, looking at the Pillars, confusing Tanjirou a little bit. "We're his friends. Besides, I'm in love with Nezuko."

"Fine! You can stay with him!" Shinazugawa grumbles reluctantly.

Tanjirou is too happy to question anything about what happened. He tries to hug them again but Zenitsu shakes his head.

"Stop trying to get us killed!" He whispers furiously.

"What do you mean?"

***

After they're back at the house and Nezuko hugs a very happy Inosuke and an incredibly flustered Zenitsu, the four of them start talking about what happened since they got into Topside.

"I didn't know the members of the council were so jealous and possessive," the blond comments, prompting Nezuko to chuckle. "I can't believe Tanjirou has them wrapped around his pinky."

"I don't!" The redhead protests, blushing to the tip of his ears.

"It's been like this since we got here," Nezuko adds, ignoring his very confused brother.

"It doesn't surprise me."

Tanjirou wants to ask what he's talking about, but Inosuke interrupts by announcing very loudly that he's starving so Tanjirou decides to ask Zenitsu later and takes them all to the dining room.

***

Next--->

Patreon

[chattegeorgiana]

Hello, I wanted to bounce a headcannon about Shinachiku and Sasuke relationship . I always felt that in Shina earlier childhood that they are both reflections of each other. Both of them being “princes” and being in the shadow of each other’s family (Shina being in his parents)& Sasuke (his brother and his clan as a whole). Which why I believe Sasuke either directly influenced Shina decision to study with his tantos or he influenced Shina indirectly which is more his style. Also I feel that Sasuke would be drawn to Shina after seeing interactions with his younger siblings , mainly Arashi being a reflection of Sasuke and his brother. It���s obviously different but there is an argument that they’re reflections of each other as well. Sorry for the long paragraph!

That is an absolutely superb headcanon, anon dear!

And you know what? Thinking about it it makes absolutely total sense! Shina and Sasuke do have more in common than we initially even envisioned for them.

Things just grew organically, because when we made Shina the older brother we didn't think of making him parallel a certain character, no.

Anyone who is old in the fandom know that Shina is basically a breathing, living creation that came alive organically from the minds of people involved in the fandom.

People who were just disappointed in the ending & wanted to do something different than what the franchise itself did.

Now for the tantos, at most I think it would be indirect influence as Shina is the kind of guy who looks to pave his own path, not necessarily to follow or copy anyone else's. But, sometimes our subconscious does register certain elements & embeds them afterwards in our behavior.

However, regarding your second observation, I fully agree with it.

Not only it makes a nice parallel between Sasuke/Itachi & Arashi/Shina, but also a parallel between Shina and his father, Naruto, without being a carbon copy, but an organic development. How so you ask?

Well, if you remember, Sasuke likened Naruto to his brother, Itachi, too. Having Shina afterwards parallel Itachi, and being Naruto's son, creates some sort of "proxy" parallel, if I may say so, but without carbon copying the original, but being a standalone element in itself with its dose of originality, while still rooted in the same element of familiarity.

Marvellous, frankly! I just love it!

That's what I love most about this little fanon corner of ours. Things just grow organically and naturally without forcing parallels & neither intending them per se, making a nice call-back to the original series, all while having their own originality due to the aforementioned organic growth.

I just love it.

[youuuimeanmee]

Kousuke and Nol: The Psycho and Joker Confirmed?

A long time ago, I read a theory from webtoon.theory (rip, imysm) called The Psycho and The Joker. I thought it's an interesting read, but I took it with a grain of salt because OP said "it's an extreme representation of what Nol and Kousuke could be in a parallel universe," so I really didn't think about it much for a long time. Until recently.

Some people in the webtoon comment section keep bringing up about how in the future, Nol will be an agent of chaos. I thought, "that's just like Joker!" That's when I remember the Psycho and Joker theory. I was still not convinced, like, Kousuke as the Psycho? Umm. (I don't watch American Psycho, I admit my sin) I forgot my own theory on Reddit about the Color Theory from episode 222. (Well, also episode 211). I facepalmed so hard. Like, how could I be so blind. I feel so stupid.

For the sake of this post, I'm gonna quote some of that theory to continue my point (you can skip ahead if you've read it beforehand):

In chess game theory, Yui and Rand are divided into White and Black team. On ep 211, Kou has a blue background & Nol has a red one. So two factions again, different color this time. In my limited knowledge at that time, I associated blue with "peace, justice, and good guy" while I associated red with "danger, passion, and bad guy." I thought the red color suits Nol, but Kousuke? Instead of peace, he's more volatile; unlike justice, he's done many foul moves, and he's more of a misguided person than a straight good guy.

Since Kou is in blue, I figured Yui would be the same. It turns out to be true on this episode, ep 222; Yui's words are blue-enveloped while Rand's words are red-enveloped. It's interesting, I thought blue is such an ironic color for both Yui and Kou. I decided to look up color theory online to confirm my doubt. There are many meanings, some of them are ironic, but this is what I found.

Blue (positive): security, trustworthy, tranquility, loyalty, responsible, honest, reliable, calmness. Blue (negative): Sadness, passiveness, depression, aloof, cold, conservative, predictable.

Red (positive): Energy, passion, determination, power, action, love, sexuality, excitement, confidence, strength. Red (negative): Danger, aggresive, impulsive, dominance, lust, anger, alert, rage, stress.

Kousuke: If this is the best version of Kousuke -- without manipulation, prejudice, and paranoia, he is definitely trustworthy, secure, loyal, responsible, honest, reliable, calm, and conservative. This is probably the one of the reasons why he has many friends on college -- until he ghosted them. This could also be his traits near the end of the story, if he decided to join hands with Nol to take down Yui. For now, he's nowhere near calm, trustworthy, secure, or reliable. He can try to -- with the help of medicines and such, but he will fail sooner or later. He's definitely cold and aloof, but I predict he will be much colder in the future. It will be interesting to see Kou vs Nol in the future; Tranquility vs Chaos. If his every plan goes wrong, he could spiral out of control, his moves will be predictable, and he will hit rock-bottom. Sadness will definitely suit his condition. It won't be far-fetched if he develop depression after he open the canned worms of what Yui has done to people, what she has done to him, and what he has done to Nol.

Nol: The red meanings are kinda self-explanatory; most of it matches well with Nol & Rand's energy and how they're gonna go in the future. They will have the power, determination, and confidence to take down their enemy. Nol will be agressive and impulsive at some point. In between the revenge, there's gonna be a parallel between Nol-Shinae and Rand-Nessa; some hints of love, passion, and probably even lust. Depending on how the White team attack, there will be stress and rage on the Black team. Hopefully, they can keep being dominant throughout the story. But honestly, even with all of that, I can't picture how they will end, how far they will go to exact their revenge. There's an anti-hero theory for a long time, but I still don't know if they will end in tragic way or hopeful way. Of course we all want a happy ending, but we already know how Quimchee is by now.

Okay. So.

I was an idiot, I missed this obvious hint when I made this color theory.

The chaotic, patronizing speech bubbles are in red, while the calming, soothing speech buble is in blue.

Red and blue. Again.

I also completely missed one of the meaning of the color blue: Conservative. It also means Unchanging. Which means control.

Not to mention, Nol's speech on episode 205.

"Kousuke and I... We're sort of complete opposites... He finds solace in order. Minimalism. Silence. Your friend's bedroom may be small, but it's loud. It's cluttered. There's lots of things I can look at. Lots of things that can distract me. It's loud and silencing. And I like that."

So, is it really confirmed?

The Joker vs The Psycho.

Chaos vs Control.

And to get back on webtoon.theory's last words of this theory:

(Istg you need to click this link. Read this incredible theory now.)

TLDR; Quimchee is a genius. ILY Fandom is fucking great.

I should really start watching those two movies.

[theunrealinsomniac]

As you know, I'm not familiar with your NaruSaku kid OCs. Character and design-wise, how do you imagine them being different from the more famous fankids, Shinachiku, Hanami, and Arashi?

In fairness D, I don't think anyone other than me is actually familiar with my NS kids lol, but I gather your meaning lol.

Okay, let's be clear first and foremost cos I have run into this problem before and I don't want anyone to misunderstand me when I say something in a moment.

I have no ill will against Shinachiku, Hanami and/or Arashi. I've just been here a long time and the NS kids I came up with have been knocking around my noodle for a lot longer than Shinachiku has ever even existed. I have my own, I'm not dropping them for anyone or anything. I'm also not co-opting them and merging my characters with them either. I patently refuse.

It's rude you know?

Cool? Cool.

As for differences beyond the obvious, there's four of my kids, they look different slightly, well you'll have to tell me, I don't know too much about them outside of the bits and pieces I've gleaned from other fic and art.

I strongly suspect the biggest difference is less to do with the kids and more to do with the differences between my Naruto and the Naruto we typically see in stuff about Shina et al.

We are made who we are by the people who raise us, no matter how much we may fight against it as adults, we are the people who came out of our parents/guardians parenting. For good or ill, we are all reactions to our parents, so if my Naruto is different to everyone who writes Naruto for Shina etc ... well I'll have different kids.

I very much get a bumbling sitcom dad/fourth child vibe from Shina and his siblings' dad. And that's fine, it's a perfectly fun and popular take on how Naruto would be as an adult and parent.

I just ... disagree.

I think this comes slightly from two key differences between me and the majority of fanfic writers still knocking around in the NaruSaku sphere.

I'm a man.

I'm a father.

So I have a distinctly unique perspective on fatherhood to most of the people writing Naruto as a dad for NaruSaku. Not a better one to be clear, just a different one.

And because of this, any particular differences between Shina, Hanami and Arashi with my four kids, Sachi, Ichika, Yuuto and Akihiko ... would be kinda like comparing apples and oranges to be honest.

So what I'm going to do instead is just describe the four of them as just them. And you'll have to tell me if that's like Shina etc or not like them.

I do actually have a post where I detail my kids a bit but I was a bit lackadaisical on physical descriptions. So this post will focus on that and I will link the other post with more of their personalities here.

Now, let's start with the appearance of the eldest Uzumaki child.

Sachi Uzumaki

Sachi is our eldest, she's got pink hair a couple shades darker than her mum, eyes just a little lighter blue than her dad and her face is mostly a perfect mix of both her parents, except for the grin. She's got her dad's grin and mouth. Her hair has been all sorts of length but as she settles into teens and active ninja duty, it is cut just a little longer than Sakura's was for most of the story.

When she hits her full height she stands at 5 foot 7, has a generally toned physique like most ninja and kunoichi do with one key exception. Sachi Uzumaki's arms are jacked. Girls got guns and knows how to use them lol. Think an Olympic swimmer for reference but not quite as bulky.

As for clothes, she typically dresses for action, she's what we who grew up in the 90s and early 00s would call a tomboy. There's a general mixing of colours, Sachi is very comfortable being the centre of attention and her clothing reflects this. While she's never gone out wearing full orange or anything like her dad, she has been known to walk around wearing some of Naruto's old jackets.

She does love a good pair of combat boots, the laces normally being fluorescent colours. Sachi's go to look from about the age of fourteen was an oversized top of some primary colour, normally blue, light grey trousers like the ninja uniform and sometimes Naruto's old jacket, sometimes a black leather jacket with the Uzumaki and Haruno symbol, which Naruto and Sakura made once they got married and merged their clans, yes I like this idea too, I'm sure it's also all over the other fankids lol, she wears her headband over her forehead to keep her hair out of her face and because she won't shy away from headbutting people with it.

Ichika Uzumaki

Ichika, Ichi to the family, is Naruto and Sakura's second daughter, sometimes their second or third child depending on the story.

She typically keeps her blonde hair long, think Kushina's lengths for the most part, but the style changes from braids to long flowing locks depending on her mood. She has the same shape and shade of green eyes as Sakura and like all of her siblings, Naruto's grin and mouth. But aside from her mouth it's all Haruno all the way down, you could see Ichika from a mile away and pick her out as basically a blonde Haruno.

She's very lithe to contrast her more muscular sister, if Sachi has a swimmer's body, Ichika has a gymnast's. She's also a few inches shorter than her sister and when all four of the kids are adults, she's the shortest of the bunch at 5 foot 3.

In yet another contrast to her big sister, Ichika is decidedly more traditionally feminine in her attire, favouring pinks and baby blues in her clothing. She's also more inclined to dresses and skirts. She loves summer because it's an excuse to wear sundresses and she loves a good sundress.

It does contrast to what she wears when on mission or training, she favours more form-fitting and close clothing in that scenario and her go to ninja gear is basically the typical uniform but with leggings and turtleneck under her eventual Chunin and Jonin vests. She wears her headband like a belt buckle.

Yuuto Uzumaki

Yuuto, Yuu to the family, is their first son, normally their third child, sometimes second.

He's a dead ringer for child!Naruto. If it weren't for his hair being less spiky and more flowing, think Minato basically, and his eyes being a couple shades lighter green than Sakura's you wouldn't be able to pick out which was five year old Naruto and five year old Yuuto. It's uncanny.

That is until he hits puberty, and his hair gets longer and his face more angular and it's like looking at Minato Namikaze's face on Hokage Mountain come to life. He styles his hair differently but if Sachi is a blend of Uzumaki and Haruno and Ichika is a Haruno ... Yuuto is a Namikaze. At least in the face. Body wise he's basically the same as Naruto, muscular in an agile way with a bit more bulk than his dad and standing at a full 6 foot, the same height as his dad. I don't care if he's actually 5 foot 10 in canon, it's my world now lol.

Yuuto wears as much black as he can as well. It's actually somewhat comical to see the flash of colour at the top of him, blond hair and a dark red headband over his forehead, and then just all black. Black dress shirt open at the second button and untucked, black jeans and black boots. If it didn't suit him so well, he'd get made fun of viciously by his siblings.

He forgoes the Chunin and Jonin uniform unless he's directly ordered to or it's a formal occasion and in fairness to the boy ... it does look weird on him.

Honestly, he looks a bit like a stylish super saiyan lol.

Akihiko Uzumaki

And last but not least, Akihiko. Aki or Koko to his family, I will let you guess who calls him what, but let's just say only Sachi gets away with calling him one of them.

Anyway, Akihiko has dark pink hair, which almost darkens to a very, very light red when he hits early adulthood. He keeps it shorter than the rest of his family, not buzzcut short or anything but no longer than the bottom of his ears. It's still a mess of hair though, no sign of mousse or hair gel lol. As an older man he even grows a beard.

He's the child who most resembles Sakura facially, including the forehead. But his eyes are a glorious merge of blue and green. Honestly they're quite astounding to look at. And of course he has Naruto's mouth and that damn grin.

He's a bit shorter than his brother and father, coming in at 5 foot 11 when he stands up straight and 5 foot 10 when he slouches, which is often. And he is very lanky, he's the least muscular of his family and that actually makes him look taller than he is because of how willowy he is.

Clothing wise, I dunno how to really put it, he dresses normally? Akihiko basically dresses to blend in, he doesn't stand out and he'd really rather you didn't look at him too long. Lots of earth tones and dulled colours. His headband is the brightest thing, and he ties it around his upper left arm on a flash of pink cloth.

And that's basically it for now. I hope this was worth the wait and let me just remind everyone that my takes on Naruto and his kids are just that, mine.

I have nothing but respect for people who use Shinachiku, Hanami and Arashi as their NS kids, but maybe now you've learned a bit about mine ... you'll see why I'm so attached to them. And I hope you look forward to reading the future stories I have about my Uzumaki family.

Ta ra!

[veryimportantsparkles]

So this isn’t the team’s champion post, but they did just beat the game yesterday.  I decided to do full designs for all their adult forms before I do the champion post, because I think none of them has enough art yet.

Eryn - Finally learned Spore, and has evolved to his full potential.  I originally planned for him to undergo a drastic personality change when he evolved, but I think having a strong friendship with Ponder keeps him grounded.  He hasn’t gone mad with his newfound power, if anything he seems hesitant to use his full strength.

Ponderous - Nobody took him seriously as a psychic because he ‘doesn’t look like a psychic,’ which had him kind of pissed off for a while.  He swapped his comfy hoodie for a trenchcoat and some gloves, but he refuses to give up sweatpants.  Also, I gave him the Blue Orb after we used it to catch Kyogre.  I think maybe a legendary control orb might be too much power to trust him with?  But he won’t give it back.

Becky - She got to land the final blow on Steven’s Metagross but she had to begrudgingly share the fight with Eryn.  She might be...maybe...willing to admit that he’s a good fighter?  Everyone else on the team owes her for her leveling assistance, so now she’s just going to take pride in their accomplishments.  She’s strong, and she makes everyone around her get stronger.  It’s an important job and Becky does it really well.

Shina - Still Becky’s number one fan, but she’s become a lot more comfortable with her own style, which is very different from Becky’s.  If anything she’s becoming too vain, but at least she’s not mean-spirited about it like Becky sometimes is.  Nera is asleep in a box somewhere, living her best life.

Ambience - Red glove for Flamethrower and blue glove for Ice Beam.  She’s so useful and versatile now.  She’s stopped caring as much about keeping Becky’s approval, because she can clearly take care of herself.  In fact, she’s gotten used to using Ice Beam on Flying-types that Becky and Eryn are both unequipped to handle.

Hanna - As this file’s world sacrifice, Hanna isn’t quite like the others.  All the other Pokemon from this run are ‘siblings,’ but Hanna isn’t part of the family.  I don’t know if she knows that, though?  She has all the weirdness of the other sacrifices but she’s also a Spinda so it’s hard to really tell what’s going on with her.  She hangs out with the others like she’s one of them, but talks like she didn’t hear their half of the conversation.  They don’t dislike her but they never expect her to pay attention, or make sense, or stand up straight.  Sometimes Ponder chats with her about psychic things (she’s not Psychic-type but she still has the power) and then nobody can understand either of them.

Not pictured: Inari the Linoone, Mola the Sharpedo, and Dayo the Tropius, who have formed their own little squad of HM users.  They split the duties of surfing, flying, strengthing, etc.

[beastdrive]

as many br characters as you want + the game beanboozled

This is so horrible and I've been struggling so much, thank you.

I'm just going to do the whole playable cast, why not? Let's pretend they're all in a situation to play the nasty jellybean game!

For anyone unfamiliar, this is Beanboozled :)

Greg the funny circus man went out of his way to put this game together expecting it to be a genuinely fun and wholesome way to bond with everyone. Most people vehemently disagree.

Gado and Jenny turn their noses up at participating in this sort of tomfoolery but they're not too good to watch everyone else's misfortune, so they agree to spectate and essentially play referee. They're off to the side sipping wine and brandy then occasionally point and laugh at someone for getting a bad bean.

There's a good handful of folks who would play fairly, which is nice! Yugo and Shina have something to prove, so they would cringe through every bad bean along with Mitsuko who is just here for the ride. Shina and Mitsuko both spit out the bad flavors when they're identified but Yugo misunderstands the rules and thinks he has to endure the whole experience in order to win.

Long and Ryoho are only participating because Uriko and Mana asked them to. Nagi is playing because she wants to feel included. All three of them quit after their first bad bean. Long was very polite about spitting his into a napkin, Ryoho and Nagi just spit the beans out right into their little cups.

Uriko was really excited about this game and as soon as it was brought up begged everyone who wasn't interested to play too. Cronos scrambled to join in a group activity and Alice thought it would be pretty funny. Alice has really pronounced reactions, makes faces, gags. Prince Cronos has never tasted such horrible things in his life and tears up every time. Uriko gags bad beans right out of her mouth and cries (she cries from relief with good flavors after that).

Kenji and Shenlong are built different. They both independently decide that, if they're going to take part in this, they're not getting any bad beans and use some subtle trickery to cheat. Kenji uses slight of hand to not even put the bean in his mouth, Shenlong fake-chews for effect before he spits it out. Mana got one bad bean and looked so pathetic Shenlong taught her to cheat too.

Stun, the poor bastard, is so blasted by bad experiment juice he can't taste the difference between the good or bad jellybeans so he's just studiously chewing and swallowing each one. He's trying his best. Ganesha can't taste the difference either, but he thinks they all taste like crap so he's even spitting out the good ones.

The others are more difficult to pin down as being cooperative enough to participate, but let's say they manage. Fox and Xion would threaten to kill Greg for starting this game as soon as they get one nasty flavor. Kohryu, Reiji, and Uranus would probably attempt murder over jellybeans on first contact with a bad flavor.

Greg, the good sport, would see all of this and try desperately to get the bad flavors himself to spare his friends! Meanwhile, Busuzima wants the gross flavors on purpose because he thinks they're fun, he wants to disgust people to get a reaction out of them but then winds up making himself sick from clowning around too much.

So, to summarize...

[trashlie]

what r ur stalkyoo predictions

Oh man Nonny this is such a broad question lmao and it doesn't help that my "predictions" are constantly changing week to week. I'm going to do my best to write what I currently anticipate but... honestly just know that a week or three from now maybe it will change lmao but here's what I anticipate

(this DOES include FP spoilers up to 235)

At this stage, I think we're moving towards Stalkyoo both acknowledging/admitting their feelings, but perhaps not entering a relationship given, yknow... extenuating factors.

I think Dieter will talk to Nol and confront him on how he pushes everyone away and how it especially hurts Shinae, that he knows what he saw that morning and he knows that they both like each other, and what good is it to hurt her pushing her away just because she doesn't return Dieter's feelings? I think this conversation is important not just because Nol feels guilt towards Dieter, but because Nol needs to see and understand an earlier point Shinae made, that he cannot keep making decisions on their behalf. Just like pushing Shinae away in order to "mitigate her risk of harm", pushing away someone who reciprocates his feelings in order to not hurt someone else benefits no one.

Something crucial for Nol to understand is that a. there are some feelings you can't keep squashing down and b. what happens when you continue to do so. Not so much a prediction as much as I hope, I really hope Nol will look at the letters in the Bible from his father, so that he can better understand his mother and father's relationship, and how they ended up in the positions they did.

As much as Nol, Shinae, and Alyssa parallel Rand, Nessa, and Yui, the most important difference is that they are not yet in as deep. In leaving Yui for Nessa Rand stood to lose much more than Nol does - not just his life's work (the company), but he was already married and he had a child with Yui. I think Rand probably stayed to try to protect Kousuke the best he could, to try to counteract what he could. It wasn't as easy for him to leave. But Nol isn't in that predicament. He has all the opportunity to leave, to put himself first and to put his own needs and happiness first.

But it's still important for Nol to stand in Rand's shoes for a moment so that he can understand. Even though Nol has never really come out and said it himself, I think it's easy to see that he probably resents Rand for all of that - for being married and having an affair with his mom, leaving her a single mother to raise Nol all on her own, for everything that happened after they moved to Korea. It sounds like they lived in secret, undocumented immigrants hiding in the country put up by Rand but still unable to be part of his family. And I think that made him resent his mom a little, too. He asked Shinae what if you mistreated the cow from which your burger came and it lends some ideas to the guilt that Nol carries. What if before losing her, Nol fought with his mom? Fought about her relationship with a married man, hiding in a country where they had no one. He was alone, lonely. He had no friends.

It's so easy for Nol to point fingers and admonish blame. He was married, he shouldn't have done that! She shouldn't have done that!

But what kind of rules and arguments do you apply to a marriage that was never based on love, but rather was an arrangement? It's not confirmed, but it's always felt like Yui and Rand are an arrangement, rather than two people who married for love, much like Nol and Alyssa are. For Nol to stand in his father's shoes - to essentially have a responsibility (used very, very loosely here) to someone else but to know that his heart and happiness lie with someone else, to be torn between what is right and what he wants, perhaps he could better understand his parents, and how they ended up living the ways they did. Why Nessa clung to someone like Rand despite everything.

But also, just as importantly, I think it would give him more understanding of the choice Rand couldn't - didn't - make, and what could happen to Nol if he doesn't. It's not just his happiness that is in jeopardy but also Shinae's. Knowing what his mother was like, and how Shinae, too, is so relentless, unwilling to give up on him, might give him more of the resolve needed to make the choice that his parents were unable to.

Now, I'm uncertain of the order I think things from here will progress. Will Nol get a chance to talk to Alyssa and break up with her before he gets to talk to Shinae? Is Alyssa going to have to contend with dating rumors involving convicted felon Nol? At some point, whether it's a mutual choice or not, one of them is going to pull the plug on that fake relationship. The moment Alyssa's benefits are jeopardized by Nol's reputation, it's all going to fall apart. We know that much. Minhyuk has kind of hinted at it - Alyssa doesn't keep people around when their reputations bring her down and the moment it does, she's going to have to make the call, whether or not she wants to.

At some point, though, Nol and Shinae will talk. They both have very pointedly (on the same day!!!!) come to realize the nature of their feelings towards each other, to understand just what they mean to each other! And Shinae is SO feral about it! I FULLY think she's going to have a spicy dream about Nol lmao the smut in Maya's books was too heavy handed for it to not come back into play in Shinae's subconscious, further illuminating something she's just become aware of. It's not enough to want to hang on to his friendship - it's EVERYTHING she doesn't want to lose, it's what he he means to her, and what SHE means to him. Nol's been given a 3 day extension before has to go to prison and I don't think quimchee would deliberately write that if not to leave room for this to happen. Notably, this extension brings us to Christmas Eve; it just feels TOO pointed to ignore.

Maybe it won't happen until the final day, but I think Nol and Shinae WILL talk and it will set us up for their post-time skip dynamics. Whether or not they actually enter a relationship at this time, I think what is more important is that Nol and Shinae will very likely resolve a lot of this - what they mean to each other, how they feel about each other, but also understanding that they are better off together. It's so easy for Nol and Shinae to be used by Yui against one and other if they are isolated, if Nol is pushing her away, if they are not a united front. Nol needs to start taking steps to forming his alliances so that in the future he isn't left so vulnerable. A talk about their feelings is more than just about relationships; it will set them up for the future where they are both playing this game.

But for the sake of my predictions, I think Shinae WILL go see Nol, whether it's because she wants to demand her belongings back or because she suddenly gets shy and can't face him. I really don't think we're leaning towards that any more, but rather "fine if you won't me have you" (SCREAMS), some kind of high tension moment that will inadvertently bring their feelings out into the open lol. As much as I'd like her to go straight back to him after waking, I'm not totally certain if I think she will or if she'll wait until the next day. Maybe Nol needs to sit with his feelings, too, after his talk with Dieter to be a little pathetic about her and really drive home how much this is something he can't just keep repressing lol.

And while I'm not sure they'll actually enter a relationship at this time, I think what we'll probably see is how this brings them into the timeskip. My friends and I have been talking lately about Nol taking his own path - moving forward not as a Hirahara but as a Lochlain, not attending Oxford but perhaps some other school abroad, becoming a self-made man his own way, while Shinae remains in Korea and probably takes Yui up on her offer. My guess is that Shinae will basically "trade herself" for her father - make a deal that you leave my father be and fine, I'll do this, I'll let you cover my schooling. I just... I DON'T want her to lose Simhan, I DON'T want him to die to force Shiane's hand. I'd much rather see her be proactive and take action against Yui, because as much as it still means she's being "forced" into taking up Yui's offer, it's still more or less on her own terms, it's not nearly as dire as what happened at the formal.

I think it will lead us to something where Shinae is the one playing the game the most openly - she's the one employed at the company, she's the one who is the direct adversary to Yui, who will be trying to no avail to try to break her, to get her to play the game her way, to try to convert her to her side. Meanwhile, I think Nol will operate from the shadows. They know of their own relationship, they know of their importance to each other, but perhaps others may not see it up front. Quimchee has a lot of Patreon art of Nol and Shinae that, quite frankly lmao, feels very much like it's Shinae in charge and Nol is here to do her bidding because he really doesn't care about anything else besides her LMAOOOOO idk maybe he WILL want revenge, especially if/when he learns that what happened to his mother may not have been simply her taking her own life. But I think their future dynamics will very much put Shinae at the forefront with Nol operating from the shadows, perhaps Shinae feeding him information so that he can work out of sight from people like Yui. That's not to say I think their relationship will be a secret or anything as much as just.... those who matter will probably know. There are a lot of benefits to them pointedly not revealing it to other people, right?

Something I think has been emphasized a lot in a lot of ILY art is that even if Nol and Shinae aren't directly connected, they're very often connected in SOME way - the earbuds binding them together, holding on to each other's fingers, Shinae's gaze on him. I think Stalkyoo will prove that they have a connection and understanding that goes deeper than a lot of people expect, and as such, they have confidence in each other, that they don't NEED to proudly display their relationship, and thus it will work to their advantage because we know Yui WILL try to divide them so it's better to keep things in the shadows, right?

My head is still really stuffy so this is not my BEST explanation, but hopefully this suffices! For now this is how I see things going down but, as always, we will possibly see this change with the coming episodes haha!

[nerice]

coming in with some fresh ocs now that I can look at your site! 🕰️for garvith, 🤕 for shina, 💀 for noah

aaaaaa hello yes!! new oc info coming up i definitely drifted a little in these replies since i wna do justice introducing these guys to you :D!! as always u have impeccable skill in choosing ask game questions<3

🕰️ has there been an event that happened in your OCs past that affects their future or one that they think about still? is this a bad event or a good one? what are a few of their childhood memories they can recall?

extremely :D! abt this one bc it is so so vital to his existence!!! garvith is infact the other half of reina's soul (as in, resulting from the very soul split that broke the entire verse) the original ruler they were split her soul resulting in reina (who retained the original's name and appearance) and garvith, who took the form of a giant white feathered serpent, who didn't take a proper name until a bit later due to nerice getting nuked as consequence n there not having been a lot of time for identity-finding during that mess. immediate post-split reina/garvith is vry fun because they're essentially identical persons(serpents) who share a consciousness soup until they diverge into vastly different personalities over the following centuries of war :3!!! as such garvith's 'childhood memories' are exactly the same as reina's bc they were the same being up to the soul split, which definitely wins out on Important Event He Keeps Thinking About That Shaped His Future like. i do have to stress it's not that garvith is a split-off part of reina but that both reina&garvith as they exist now are divergent paths of the singular true ruler they were before the split!! i love going on endless meta on which aspects of og!reina each of them retained/are expressions of, it's soooo interesting!!!! but a ramble for a different time bc length! :D

plugging the reina/garvith aes tag here tho it's one of my favs <3

🤕 what is the worst injury your OC has ever suffered? do they have any scars or lasting physical reminders of it? do they get sick often or have any lasting medical conditions?

ohboy!!! shina is the lifesong user of lhnh generation making her everyone's favourite field medic (evil) the drawback being that to heal someone she essentially transfers their injuries to herself >:3 she's racked up an impressive scar count that easily beats out gray's habitual mutilation games to the point where there's not many places on her body that are unscarred. her worst scar(s) are the result of trying to save as many people as possible in the aftermath of one of azra's surprise attacks until the lifesong shut down on her (yay for parasitic power that wants to keep its host alive) & to her credit, with experience she learns to mitigate the damage she incurs by diverting e.g. one large injury in many smaller, less severe ones, so long as the total life force given balances out it works! descendant resilience keeps her from suffering too hard a long-term damage (everything heals eventually) also just general unrelated but vital fun fact im tacking on at the end: she absolutely fucking hates descendants and her war duty and while she will not let anyone die she is also always a second away from murdering people in cold blood, has stopped hearts in sincere threat, and despises reina with a passion. shina's only buddy is a guy by the name of irias who also keeps a pet blood demon which further dampens how much dmg she has to take for her job where she can just infuse its generated blood with her life force to heal people and then pass the fuck out. she's a lot

💀 has your OC ever lost anyone to death? multiple people? people close to them? how does the loss make them feel?

FUNNILY ENOUGH noah has never lost anyone to death (not on main anyway. avery dies a couple times, but that's Complicated lol) HOWEVER noah is notoriously unlucky in just. getting fucking betrayed to the point of the other person being dead to him/having to kill them which is just. extremely tragic how it keeps happening im laughing (crying) rn fucking f. heres an abridged list:

damia whom he technically betrays first when he allies with reina and leaves damia stuck at the bottom of the ocean. they have a cute deathmatch abt it in dream game

maheloas switches to azra's side and noah spends much of the rest of the war hunting him down/keeping him in check during battles

garvith, who ultimately flees the war during a critical encounter with azra (which also almost kills reina. oops) & that fucks noah up even more since he n garvith were kind of an item (in their own dragon/serpent way. advanced qpr)

noah's entire fucking drama revolves around a self-sustaining cycle of toxic loyalty and betrayal (where his own betrayal of damia is at the core) and he copes with what he did thru his unwavering loyalty to reina to his own and everyone else's detriment h.

-

these were very fun so if anyone wants to send me more!! pls!!!! (oc page linked in description etc) uwwwwwu

[duhragonball]

Mai was one of Emperor Pilaf’s henchmen from the first Dragon Ball arc.   The other one was a shina ibu dog named Shu, and their names were a play on shumai, a type of Chinese dumpling.  

The Pilaf gang’s final appearance in the manga was when King Piccolo betrayed them and tossed them off their own airship.   They showed up again in a filler episode near the end of the Dragon Ball anime.   They didn’t appear again until the first episode of Dragon Ball GT, but the joke was that they were much older by that time.

Wow, I forgot how ragged Shu looked in GT...

The trio returned in the 2013 film Battle of Gods, but this time they were small children, which Pilaf explained was due to a wish they made on the Dragon Balls off-screen. 

I always assumed this was done as a direct response to their depiction in GT. Either they didn’t like the GT version, or they wanted to try something different to set this movie apart from GT.  In any event, the Pilaf Gang meets Goten and Trunks in the movie, and Trunks develops a romantic interest in Mai.   At first she tries to use this to her advantage, but by the end of the movie it’s implied that they might really be an item.

I mean, here they are, literally sitting in a tree.  This can only lead to K-I-S-S-I-N-G.  After that, who knows?  Love?  Marriage?  Could Mai end up pushing a baby carriage?   Quite likely.

The Trunks/Mai relationship carried on into Dragon Ball Super, but it never seemed to go anywhere.   For some reason, the Pilaf Gang seemed to be just... living in Bulma’s house for a while?  And I’m not sure anyone ever noticed that they were the same people from that first Dragon Ball arc.   The most serious development Trumai ever got in the show was when Future Trunks showed up, and it turned out he was in a relationship with the Mai of his own alternate timeline.

DBS went out of their way to make it clear that the two couples were not the same people, but alternate timeline counterparts to one another, but presumably this Future Mai had the same backstory up to a point.  She must have gotten de-aged by Pilaf’s wish on the Dragon Balls, and then survived the Androids Crisis.   The implication in the story was that Trunks and Mai seemed destined to end up together, since it happened in this other timeline.

From a fandom standpoint, a lot of people liked the Trumai ship, but it has plenty of critics.  For one thing, Mai was a lot cooler when she was a bad guy in the old days of Dragon Ball.   It feels like Toei flanderized her to make her a suitable love interest for Trunks.  Also, Trunks/Goten has been a popular slash pairing for many years, and some fans don’t like the implications of giving Trunks a girlfriend. 

But the biggest objection is that Mai is chronologically old enough to be Trunks’ mother.   You can de-age the character to make her look younger, but she still retains all of her memories and experiences from her adult life.  Future Blunks/Future Mai is one thing, because they’re both adults and they presumably met as adults, since we never saw her in DBZ.  But having Kid Mai get together with Kid Trunks is pretty awkward, to say the least.   She claimed to be 41 in Battle of Gods, but I’m pretty sure she’s even older than that.

Personally, I don’t have strong feelings about the matter, since Kid Trumai never seemed to go anywhere in the show, so it’s hard for me to get worked up over it.  It’s an example of Toei/Shueisha being really slapdash with characters’ ages and not thinking this sort of thing through.  My bigger problem with all of this is that they’ve brought this character back and have done extremely little with her, to the point where this shipping controversy is the most interesting thing about her.

[theglowyscorpio]

all set | eren x reader

a/n: this is a story in the making, currently available at AO3 and Wattpad. If you like it, please don't hesitate to give me some kudos, leave a comment or maybe follow me on my social media! <3 Any feedback is highly appreciated since I'm just getting started!

pairing: eren yeager x female reader

tags: mature content, alternate universe (modern setting), college/university, recreational drug use, implied sexual content, M/F, F/F, the author is not religious lmao

word count: 4.3k

current chapters: 2/?

playlist: this one was made with a particular playlist in mind. they are really great songs that help to convey this chapter, so I hope you have a time to check them out! :)

a. slomosa - kevin b. upsahl - drugs c. rosenfeld - like u d. kaiba - overdose e. lil kapow - tinman f. bodega - how did this happen!?

***

all set

I lost count of how many parties I went to this week. There was one at Shina, another at... Sasha's. Wait, was it? Or Ymir's? Honestly, both their houses look fairly similar and we always see the same faces over and over again, regardless of where we are getting wasted. Definitely two at my house. The timeline is blurry at this point. If my liver could talk, it would spit out "Screw you, Eren." and I wouldn't be able to disagree.

Classes will start next week so everyone is acting like we're going to stop doing all this for the rest of the semester. That never happens.

I barely enter Reiner's house and the music is already piercing my head. My ears will soon tell me to go screw myself too. The bass was loud. But it was good.

— Hey, finally — Reiner says, giving a hard slap in my back. I can't even get mad at him because he probably didn't mean for it to hurt. Fucking strong bastard.

— Sorry. Lost track of time.

— You know where the things are — he leaves me behind and disappears through the noisy music.

It's hot inside. August has been particularly cruel this year. I'm using a black t-shirt, which is luckily pretty thin, and my black Adidas pants that are somewhat breathable. My hair is in a bun. I will probably be sweating soon, though. Reiner's AC won't do miracles with this amount of people since it is specially packed today. I guess I might see some new faces tonight, huh.

This fact already makes things more interesting.

I walk through the room and then arrive in the kitchen. Connie and Sasha are there.

— Eren!! — I barely open my mouth to talk and Sasha is already giving me whatever weird drink they made. Their drinks sometimes are... unusual, for the lack of a better word. Most of the time they are simply pure shit. They call it scout's fuel, always the same name regardless of what's inside. Maybe that's why my liver hates me so much.

— Thanks — I'm already used to the goddamn gasoline taste — I guess you both want to get us wasted tonight.

— It's our personal mission, so enjoy the fuel — Connie says laughing, raising his plastic cup. I love this duo – who doesn't? – and I can't help but laugh with them, even though it tastes so bad — Everyone is already here, come on — I follow them and find all the familiar faces I've seen all week: Bertholdt, Historia, Ymir, Mikasa, Annie, Armin, Jean, everyone.

The girls look hot, even though I'm used to them. Either way, I avoid hooking up with my friends since the last time didn't work so well. It's better to avoid Mikasa today.

We all sit together while drinking. I light a joint I had already prepared at home and say — Am I crazy or is Reiner's party bigger than usual? —, releasing the smoke a few seconds after. This one is the best grass we could get around our area, I've saved it primarily for today and now I see that might have been a great decision on my part. I'm glancing through the room and looking for some girls, might share this shit with one - or a few - of them later.

— Thank god, I was tired of seeing your ugly faces every fucking time — Jean says. The girls look at him and he rushes to add — I mean, the boys, of course. It's always nice looking at all of you, ladies.

It's not enough to avoid Annie's kick anyway — We can say the same of you, horse face.

Reiner arrives at the perfect time and explains — Since the new semester starts Monday, news about today traveled fast and we got a lot more company than usual.

— Do you know all of them, Reiner? — Historia asks — I've talked to a bunch of them tonight and there are people from all over the campus and from all years as well — Historia always looks pretty, her blonde hair shining even in the low light of the party. Guys make a line to talk to her at all parties so there's no surprise that she's already familiarized with the whole scenario. I wonder what Ymir thinks of it. Probably followed her during this little field trip.

— Hell, no — he grabs the joint of my hand and sucks deeply — I know some of them and some are Bertholdt's friends but there are some random people.

— I bet Reiner knows a lot of the girls — I take my joint back from his fingers — I assume they aren't Bertholdt's friends, though — and grin.

— Hey, I don't see you with any new company either, dude — Bertholdt tries to grab my weed as well, but I avoid his advances. He instead grabs my cup and drinks all of it, leaving me empty. He makes a funny face at the taste. Suit yourself, man, I think to myself, laughing on the inside.

— Yeah, but I'll work on it in a sec — I tease him knowing that he can't handle much of Sasha and Connie's fuel. He always knocks out before everyone. I hope he realizes he needs to stay awake to try anything with Annie. Someday. He simply never gets there.

Hange arrives almost falling over Ymir and spilling her drink on the floor in the process — I think we should all make a toast and make this last party a wild ride!!! — her yelling stabbing us louder than the music.

— Bitch, you are this fucking drunk already? — Ymir says to her, holding Hange's weight on her back — What the hell did the gasoline duo do to you?

— Okay okay, enough with the questions, let me fill your cups because this is the night! — Sasha says, just pouring all that mystery liquid that soon will go straight to our heads — Also, Reiner, where's the food?

We raise our plastic cups and Connie yells — To the new semester! — and we drink, feeling the immediate burn on our throats. It's hard being a scout.

— I need to get laid today — Jean says as he lays his back on the couch — Gonna arrive for the classes pretty motivated next week — he then rests his left arm at the back pillow, behind Mikasa's head.

— You should start roaming, then — her cold delivery puts Jean's subtle attempt at flirting six feet under the ground, as usual. It was pretty damn quick, but I could notice Mikasa glancing at me and then looking the other way. Yeah, I think I need to start roaming soon, too.

— That sounds great, then let's do that!!! — Hange grabs Jean by the arm and they disappear amongst the crowd.

— When all this fun ends, I'll be the one who will probably have to take him home after he gets slapped by some girls — Armin and Jean live with me so we normally go back together. Armin is the responsible one between us, which is not exactly hard considering how Jean and I are — Gonna at least drink some beer before that happens.

— I'll go with you, this drink sucks — Annie says, finishing the drink anyway and following him. We always drink the last drop of it, we never learn.

The girls went dancing, the music was exceptionally good today. A lot of bands I already liked plus some I have never heard before. I need to remember to ask Reiner for this playlist later. Connie was already surrounded by a different group, everyone likes to talk to him. He is popular. The rest dispersed as well and I could hear Hange's screams far away. This is going to be a night for her, indeed.

I start walking around, meeting a lot of people from my classes and others from the campus in general. I talk to all of them and drink a lot in the process, which feeds my need for nicotine every time. I grab my pack of cigarettes and while smoking, I see Levi.

— I must be dreaming — I say, letting the smoke leave my lips with a smile. It reaches him and looks at me with a deadly expression. He is smoking as well, but he only admits one specific brand of cigarettes and hates all the others. Levi usually doesn't show up at these "brat" parties, as he likes to say, since he's a few years older than us. I normally see him at Shina's, which is a popular club slash bar near our university. He's the owner so we all met him there, after going so many times. Shina has the best parties and the best drinks of all the clubs near us. And it couldn't be any other way, since Levi is a perfectionist. There's also a small stage there, where indie bands perform from time to time. My band does some gigs there sometimes.

— Hey — he replies, as cold as ever. He's Mikasa's cousin, so they have the same expressions and hard-to-approach vibe — Already high, I see.

— Always. In fact, today I hope to be higher than usual. What miracle brings you here?

— Some people from the staff decided to come here today so there are fewer brats to piss me off — he drinks what's probably a high priced whiskey and continues — and there's a new girl at the club so we have been showing her the area for a few weeks now.

— There's a lot of new girls here today — although I know Levi doesn't give a crap.

— So? — yeah, he doesn't.

Levi is a pretty successful business owner and even I have to admit that he's hot – is not only common knowledge but a mutual agreement between everyone –, so girls are always trying to get him, but he doesn't screw most of them. He doesn't fuck brats, period. He says he doesn't have the patience. That makes the girls even more desperate. He has the highest standards of every guy I know. When he was still in university – the same we all go –, he screwed not only the hottest girls but also the professors - which went after him and not the other way around. At least that's what I've heard. I think Levi never had to actively look for any girl, to be honest.

I can only laugh at his reply. That's just so him.

— If you want more stuff than what's already in your system, Floch is over there.

— I want, actually. I was going to look for him — I see Floch's red hair among some folks. Floch is usually as busy as Connie but with less than half of the charisma.

He finishes his cigarette, blowing its last white smoke into the air, and we both hear a loud HELL YEAH!! coming from all the other way across the room — Tsk, is that Hange?

— Pfft, it was before, I think it's Sasha now — he doesn't laugh at my reply. He never does. I think hell would freeze while heaven catches on fire.

I think about the music again. It's so good today, what the hell — Hey Levi, don't you think this playlist is too high quality for a Reiner party? I don't get it, his music taste is always pure trash.

— That's from our new girl — he drinks the last drops of his whiskey and starts to leave — You might find her around here — he then suddenly stops and looks at me — Don't get your hopes up, though.

I am not able to ask what he meant by that because he leaves too quickly. Time to look for Floch.

— Hey, Flo-

— Here.

— You didn't even let me finish.

— I know what you want. You are not in the mood for cocaine so you want MD instead, blah-blah-blah-blah. Is that kind of night — he pauses for mere seconds — Am I wrong, Eren?

— Nope, right as usual — Floch is the main person you go to when you need drugs. I mean, good drugs. He looks like your standard rich boy – which he is, by the way – that can do no wrong, but you can get the best stuff from him. I've always found this funny. The weed I have today was his work. He knows my taste well.

Reiner's frat house is huge, so there's plenty of room to walk. I'm approached by a bunch of girls on the way but for some reason, none of them piques my interest. I am pretty set on going after something new today and I have no problem getting laid. It happened every single day this week and it truly happens anytime I want. Which, okay, boosts my ego a little bit. Maybe a lot. I might even have hurt some girls in the process. I was never slapped though, unlike Jean. So that's a win in my book.

I see a few of my friends again, mainly Historia and Reiner, and they are talking to a girl I've never seen before.

She has long black hair and short messy bangs, the kind that goes a little above the eyebrows. I didn't know black hair was my thing until now. Her face has the perfect features, at least for me. She's wearing a sleeveless white top that is so tight that hugs her figure perfectly and makes her breasts look amazing. That type of top that shows the girl's side boob, and I'm a total sucker for those. It is also short so you can see a bit of her waist. And I don't even have to see her ass because I already know it is probably too damn good. Her light blue ripped jeans are cool as well and she has black sneakers. I like her style. She has a bunch of tattoos - a lot on her right arm, one on her left hand, and probably some that I couldn't see because they were behind her clothes. I intended to, though.

Fuck, she's hot.

Historia looks mesmerized talking to her, which is a very privileged view from where I stand because, as I've already said before, she is also beautiful. But she isn't exactly hot. This girl is. Way too much. Oh, and Reiner is there too. Whatever.

I can see a lot of guys want to approach her but none of them do. I went for it. Wasn't this night supposed to be wild?

— Hey, Eren! Guess what, Y/N is the new DJ at Shina! I was telling her how we go there all the time.

— Hi, Eren, nice to meet you — she says, with that kind of smile that people who know they are hot make. I do that too.

— Hey, Y/N — I say. And as I told you seconds before, I'm good with that type of smile as well so that's what she gets — Levi told me he came with the staff and a new girl, so I suppose that's you.

— Yeah, I'll start there next week.

— I talked to him about the party's playlist because I knew it couldn't be Reiner's.

— Yeah, it's Y/N's. She prepared it for the party when I invited the guys from Shina yesterday. We were in the same high school. — Reiner says that looking at me with a face that shows "See that, dickhead? I've known her for some years now".

— It's pretty good! I can't wait for the next party at Shina's to see your set! — Historia was always an angel.

REINER, WHERE'S THE REST OF THE ICE, MAN??, someone screamed far away.

— Shit. Catch up with you later, Y/N.

Too bad, huh, Reiner? He gives me a look that I can't quite figure out what it is, but I know for sure it wasn't a look of support. In the fucking slightest.

— I think Ymir is calling me as well, sorry!! — It was painfully obvious that Ymir wanted to make out with Historia for some time now. They never did. I think only Historia hasn't realized yet that Ymir is thirsty for her for god knows how long.

After Historia left, there was only me and her — So, by any chance, do you go to the same university as us? You look our age but Levi said you are new here — I tried asking this without looking at her body, but looking at her face was even worse. Her eyes were piercing me in the best way possible.

— I'm not exactly new, I'm from the same uni as you guys, but I took a gap year — she takes a sip of her drink — You probably never met me but I'm in the same year as you all are now.

Since Reiner knew her from high school, he also knew she was at the same university all along and never told any of the guys. Smart fucker.

— So that makes you a year older than me — I smirk at her.

— I guess it does — she smirks back as she lights up a cigarette and blows the smoke at me.

Ok, looking good so far.

I'm pretty high at this point, the MD and the music are making me horny, so I don't even bother to pretend that I'm not looking at her body. I'm looking at everything.

— You took something, didn't you?

— Do you want some? I can show you later where to get the best stuff. Anything you are in the mood for.

— I'm all set — she shows me her tongue and I see the acid. The view makes my own tongue feel lonely, maybe I should use it to steal that from her mouth. I hope she's horny as well.

We talk a lot about music since it's something that we both enjoy. She's passionate about it, I can tell. She asks about my band with true interest. Doesn't sound like small talk. She touches her hair and it makes me want to stuff my face in it. She has the smile that makes you want more. Her voice has the same effect.

The loud music allows us to talk near each other's ears. I hope she moans as loud as her playlist. The girls usually love my hair for some reason, either if it's in a messy bun as it is right now or if it's loose. They all love my green eyes too. She can see all that with somewhat detail since we are so close, even though it is a little dark here. If I take you to a room you can see me better, I almost blurb it out. I can see her too and that kills me.

She looks receptive to me but normally at this point I would be already hooking up with the girl. This time it isn't happening. I never have to work so much. I think I understand why the other guys didn't approach her before. She's a little intimidating to talk to, and that comes naturally to her – it doesn't seem to be on purpose. I flirt with her the way I normally do but she is hard to get, she hits every ball I throw. I remember what Levi said before. Oh, right.

But I'm vibing way too much at this point, I think if I touch any part of her I'll get hard immediately.

— This gap year you've mentioned... Did you go anywhere specific?

— I know it will sound cliché, but I went to Europe.

— Where in Europe?

— Everywhere — she says — I went down — the corner of her lips forming a smile  — And up. Everywhere. — and I can swear she sounds flirtatious as hell. I want to bite her lip.

— That sounds... Awesome. — I think she wants to bite me too, or at least I hope she does — Was there any particular reason to leave? If that's not too much to ask.

— Hm, I was kinda... — she stops to think for a few seconds as she holds her hair up and makes a ponytail, looking at the ground, the cigarette glued to her now closed lips. Her neck became exposed, it looks soft as hell and I can't wait to bruise it. She releases the smoke, that flows into the room, and looks deep into my eyes, as deep as I want to be inside her right now — ...stressed.

I reach my limit at this point.

— I can help you with the stress if you want.

— Really? — she's looking at me with the same teasing look and I'm doing the same, so we both know that's not a question I have to answer. Her tongue quickly passes through her top lip, her mouth forming a little wet smile — I don't think I need any help though.

I threw the ball and she hit a home run. My team was out.

I was not expecting that.

We hear some of the guys from Shina calling for her — Oh, they are calling me — Y/N looks at me again and says — See you around, Eren — giving me the same fucking grin I wanted to bite before.

She walks away and I see that her ass is, as I suspected from the very beginning, too damn good.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

After this, some time has passed. I look at the clock. Yeah, maybe a lot. I couldn't tell before because I'm drunk and drugged. I see most of my friends, all fucking wasted. Armin is holding up pretty well, Bertholdt's is knocked down for God knows how long, Mikasa probably smoked way too much weed (who am I to judge?) and looks dead on the couch. I don't see Ymir, Historia nor Reiner - there are too many people in this house to keep count. Sasha's eating something in the kitchen, I can't see what it is, but certainly, she got hungrier than normal after smoking some pot Connie gave her. Connie always holds his drinks well, he's still talking to a lot of people. I pass in front of one of the bathrooms and Hange is there, getting everything out of her system. Oh, and Ymir. There she is, holding Hange's hair, looking as pissed as ever. Levi probably went home hours ago. Jean is making out with some chick, he's going to score tonight. To be fair, he always does, but never with Mikasa.

I saw a lot of pretty girls today and I went for none of them. They tried and I shut them down, even the ones I normally fuck. There's someone I want to taste tonight and she's nowhere to be found. The guys from Shina are missing too, so I know I won't see her today anymore. Damn.

I'm not pissed at her but I'm pissed at the situation.

— Armin, I think I'm going to take off, are you coming?

— Yeah, I'm already pretty tired — he gets up — Jean's probably going to stay here.

— Yep. Probably. — Am I pissed that Jean's getting laid? Even though I could have as well? With someone else, at least? My mood feels off.

— I'm going with you too, I've lost count of how many assholes I had to shut down today. I think I even punched a few — I don't have to look to know that's Annie speaking — You were right, Eren, is it especially crowded today. In the shittiest way possible.

— Then let's go.

— Wait, I need to get my bag first, I left it in Reiner's room.

— I can get that for you, wait up.

— It's a black one. Small.

I sign a thumbs up for her and climb the stairs. I am hundred percent sure I'm going to see someone fucking there but that's the usual. I'm pretty sure I've already seen some people screwing in the corner of the living room minutes before. No one cares.

I open the door and see Y/N in her underwear, putting her white top back on. She does indeed have other tattoos.

— Hey there! — she says smiling, as she also puts her jeans back up, making little jumps so they pass through her ass. Her hair is not in a ponytail anymore.

I say hi in a confusing way.

— I came here to get my friend's bag — I look around for milliseconds like I don't know where the hell I am until I see Reiner lying - clearly naked - under his sheets. Can't be anyone else, with that bleached hair and huge biceps.

What? Ahn?

Hey... Wait a second.

Historia? Clearly naked as well? What. The. Hell. I guess she's not exactly the angel I thought she was?

They are sort of awake, sort of sleeping, kinda like on a different planet. You know, the type of thing that happens after a really strong fuck? That sort. They look exhausted. They look destroyed. And not in a bad way. AT ALL.

— Oh, I saw a bag before. Here you go — she gives me Annie's bag. She's all dressed now. She notices my confusion, I'm too high to act any other way — I've told you I don't need any help — her eyes piercing mine for the hundredth time tonight. Her smile hurts now. Ouch.

She grabs her sneakers and walks towards me and the door:

— I'm all set.

She leaves the room as I hold Annie's bag.

Yeah. I was not expecting that.

***

Thanks for reading (if there's even anyone here lmao). Chapter 2 will be uploaded later but it can be read now at AO3 or Wattpad.