#but 'tis a fave. i should replay it at some point.

[thatrandombystander]

When you get to the final boss of Okami and you're all alone fighting an alien monster in the darkness and you've lost all your strength and all hope seems lost BUT THEN you hear the voices of all the characters you've helped in secret along they way as Issun steps into his role as your Celestial Envoy and everyone starts praying to you while Reset (Thank You) plays and their BELIEF in you unlocks Ammy's cool ass final form so you can GO KICK YAMI'S ASS and save the world. I cry 😭

[canirove]

Rice, Rice, baby | Epilogue

Author's note: And we've made it to the end! 🙁 Thank you very much to everyone who has read and supported this story. As always, and especially with the ones about Declan since he is my fave, it means a lot. Hope you like this last chapter, and once again, thank you very much for reading! 💜

Previous chapter

Masterlist

A year later…

“Can you replay that bit?”

“What?” Declan says.

“The last five seconds of the video. Can you play them again?”

“Urgh” he groans. “I should have worn one of those clip on ties like the one Leo is wearing.”

“Declan, Leo is six and you are almost thirty. You have to wear a proper tie” I say while trying to follow the step I just watched. “Ok, done.” 

“Let me see” he says, checking himself in the mirror.

“You clean up quite well, Rice” I tease him.

“So do you, Miss Chapman” he winks, my face instantly starting to burn. Will that ever stop happening? Probably not.

“Yes… Umm… Let’s go, we can’t be late.”

“One last thing” Declan says, taking my hand as I try to leave the bathroom. 

“What.”

“I love you, Liv” he smiles.

“I love you too” I smile back. “Now let’s go.”

“Liv, did you just dodge me when I was about to kiss you?” he laughs.

“I did, yes. I can’t let you ruin my makeup. And, if we kiss, we will definitely get carried away and end up being late, and then Madders and Kennedy will kill us.”

“True” he chuckles. “Though now you owe me a kiss.”

“I won’t forget about it, don't worry. Now let’s go.”

“Fine” he sighs when I grab his hand and basically drag him behind me.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride” the priest says before Madders wraps his hands around Kennedy’s waist and kisses her, everyone cheering and clapping.

“They are so cute” I smile. “Don’t you agree, Declan? Declan?”

“Yeah?” 

“Oh my God, Declan. Are you crying?”

“What? No, no” he says, quickly wiping away his tears. “It’s just the sun and these gorgeous blue eyes you love so much. Sometimes they get too sensitive.”

“The eyes or the owner of the eyes?”

“Don’t tease me, Olivia” he says, pinching my butt and making me jump. 

“Declan!” I say, quickly looking around to see if anyone has noticed.

“You’ve been warned” he smirks.

“Idiot” I reply, hitting his arm. “But there is nothing wrong with getting emotional during a wedding, you know? And I have seen you cry many times before.”

“I know, Liv. But this time, I wasn’t crying.”

“Of course you weren’t” I say, moving my hands to my back so he doesn’t try anything again. But he has seen me, and does something worse. 

“I wasn’t” he whispers in my ear before giving it a little bite, the noise that leaves my mouth being the most inappropriate one ever, and one that the woman sitting next to me has definitely heard. 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Hi! Sorry for interrupting!” Kennedy says from the stage where the DJ is playing. “Hello everyone. Are you having fun?” she asks, all the guests cheering. “Good, great!” she smiles. “I'm afraid we have take a little break from partying, because it is time for something very very important. Girls and some boys, assemble!”

“What did she just say?”

“Nothing, ignore her” I say, kissing Declan again.

“Olivia, I can see you!” Kennedy says. “Stop making out with your baby daddy and join the others!”

“Bloody hell” I whisper, resting my forehead on Declan's chest.

“What is going on?” he asks.

“Nothing.”

“Olivia Chapman!” Kennedy calls again, all the other guests definitely looking our way.

“Ok, fine!” I say, finally giving up. “But you and I…” I say, pointing at Declan. “We aren't done yet.”

“Oh, I know” he smirks. “And you still owe me a kiss.”

“Haven't we kissed enough already?” I laugh.

“Nope” he says, that smirk that makes my knees feel like jelly and my insides on fire, still on his face. 

I don't know what has gotten into us today, but we can't keep our hands from each other. Though that's a lie. In my case, I do know what has gotten into me: Declan in a suit. Well, he's not really gotten into me yet, but soon. And yes, that's a thought that has been almost said aloud more than once tonight. 

“Olivia!” Kennedy yells again.

“I'm coming!” I reply, joining the others.

I know what she's going to do. She is going to throw her bouquet at us, and whoever catches it will be the one getting married next. And I also know she is going to do everything in her power so I am that next person.

“Are you ready?” Kennedy says, turning her back to us. “One… two… three!” she screams before throwing the bouquet. 

I see it fly, the girls in front of me jumping to try and catch it, one of the boys holding the arms of the one next to him so he can't grab it. And then, I see it coming towards me.

The girl standing next to me pushes me to catch it, but she somehow steps on her dress, and makes us both fall. 

“Are you ok?” I ask her as I stand up. Thank God I had already gotten rid of my heels and I'm wearing my sneakers. If I hadn't, I'm sure I would have hurt my ankle.

“Yeah, yeah” she says, taking the hand I'm offering her and also standing up. “Though you are much better.”

“What?”

“Look” she says, nodding behind me. 

As I turn around, there he is: Declan in all his glory with his messy hair, the tie gone, the first buttons on his shirt undone, and the sleeves rolled up and showing his forearms. He looks hot, and handsome, and gorgeous, and urgh. Can you believe he is my boyfriend? The father of my child? Because sometimes, like right now, I still can't believe it. And what I can't believe either, is the thing in his hands.

“Is this allowed?” he asks, looking at Kennedy.

“Not really. But since I am the bride and this is my wedding, I say it is. Congratulations, Declan and Liv! You are next!” she says, looking my way with a mischievous smile.

“Great” I say under my breath.

“So…” Declan says, walking towards me once the music starts again. “Does this mean that now I have to propose? Or how does this work?”

“You have, yes” Madders says, showing up out of nowhere.

“Dear lord, James” I say, my hand instinctively moving to my heart. “You scared me.”

“Sorry” he smiles. “But yes, Declan. Now you have to propose and ask Liv to marry you, that's how the tradition works. Though since you were the one who caught the bouquet, maybe it is Liv the one who should propose to you?”

“I'm not proposing to anyone” I say.

“Don't you want to marry me, Liv?” Declan asks me.

“I do.”

“Oh my God” Madders gasps.

“That wasn't a proposal, James. Relax” Declan says. “The day I properly ask Liv to marry me, it'll be somewhere special and with a more romantic setting than a DJ blasting David Guetta. Something like that dinner we had in the Seine with the Eiffel tower behind us, but better. Is there any city you would like to visit one day?”

“I remember you once told me that one of your dreams was to visit Rome” Madders says.

“Is that true?” Declan asks me.

“It is, yes.”

“Then watch out, Liv” he says, moving closer. “Because any day now, I may fly you to Rome and ask you to marry me. You've been warned” he whispers in my ear before biting it like he did earlier, that noise leaving my mouth once again.

“Ok, I better go find my wife” Madders says, leaving us alone. “Enjoy the rest of the night” he winks. He heard me. He definitely heard me. Wonderful.

“You need to stop doing that in public, Declan” I manage to say while he starts kissing my neck, Kennedy's bouquet still in his hands as he wraps his arms around my waist. 

“Do what?” he says against my skin, the feeling making me shudder. 

“You know what.”

“No, I do not.”

“Declan…” I whisper.

“Yes?”

“Let's go to our room.”

“Already?” he says, moving to look at me and lifting one of his eyebrows.

“Yes, already.”

“Why?” he asks, now trying really hard not to smirk.

“I still owe you a kiss, don't I?”

“You do.”

“Do you want it?”

“Of course I do!”

“Then let's go” I say, taking his hand and dragging him behind me like I did this morning.

“So bossy, Olivia” he chuckles.

“This is nothing compared to how I will be if we get married, so you better get used to it.”

“Looking forward to it, Liv” Declan says, lifting our hands and kissing mine. “Looking forward to it.”

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

A couple of years later…

“I don't want you to go, mummy.”

“It'll be just a few days, Ollie” I say, while trying to comfort him.

“But I'm going to miss you! Why can't I go with you and daddy?”

“Because it is a holiday just for mums and dads” Declan tells him.

“Boring” he pouts.

“Next time you are coming with us.”

“Promise?” Ollie says, looking at me.

“I promise” I reply, kissing his forehead. “Now go get your bag, grandma is waiting.”

“Fine” he says before running away.

“He doesn't want us to go, but five minutes after we've left him at my mum's he will have forgotten we exist” Declan chuckles.

“I know” I sigh. Every time Declan and I go away for a few days to enjoy some alone time, it is the same. Ollie doesn't want us to leave, and when we arrive at our destination and call to check on him, he's so busy playing with whoever he is staying with, that he completely ignores us. 

“Mummy, are you bringing me a present?” he asks me when he joins us again.

“Of course. What do you want?”

“A zebra!” he smiles. “I'm missing one in my farm.”

“Take notes, Declan. A zebra. The one with black and white stripes” I tease him.

“I know what a zebra looks like, Liv” he replies, rolling his eyes. 

“Just in case” I say, trying to hide a smile. 

Ollie is obsessed with animals since my dad bought him a farm for his first birthday, and every time we go away or even just into London to do some shopping, we have to buy him a new animal for his collection. A couple of weeks ago Declan played in Barcelona and promised to buy him a shark, but he showed up with a whale because he somehow got them mixed, and that had Ollie crying for an hour and us checking if they had sharks on Amazon and could deliver them the sooner the better.

“Should we get going?” Declan says. “We can't be late for the airport, Liv.”

“Yes, of course. Ready, Ollie?” I tell him, offering him my hand.

“Yes!” he replies, doing a little jump and taking it.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Liv… Liv, wake up.”

“What?” I mumble, slowly opening my eyes.

“We just landed, Liv” Declan says.

“Oh, shit.” 

“Take your time, there is no rush” he chuckles. “And you can't go outside covered in drool.”

“I don't drool” I say, touching my face and noticing something.

“You were saying…” 

“Idiot” I reply, quickly cleaning my chin. Turns out that I actually drool. 

“Declan…” I say when we walk into the airport, his arm wrapped around my shoulders.

“Yeah?”

“Why is everything in Italian?”

“What?”

“And the people who just walked past us were speaking Italian too. Weren't we supposed to go to Paris?” 

Since we don't have a proper date to celebrate our anniversary, every year we try to save one of the trips we take just the two of us to spend it in Paris, always staying at the same hotel we did the first time.

“Change of plans” he shrugs.

“What?”

“Benvenuto to Rome, mon amour.”

“Declan, you just mixed Italian, English and French” I laugh.

“I am a man of many talents, Liv” he smirks. 

“You are, yes” I chuckle. “But why Rome?”

“Well, I thought we needed a change of scenery, and to change our menu. I want to try the real tiramisú, not that thing they give us back home.” 

“And then I am the one with the sweet tooth” I laugh.

“Meh meh meh” he says, pulling me closer and kissing my head.

After that, he keeps talking about other things he wants to do while in Rome, places he wants to visit. But my brain has got stuck in a memory, in something he said during Madders and Kennedy's wedding years ago: “Then watch out, Liv. Because any day now, I may fly you to Rome and ask you to marry me.”

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“And?”

“Nothing” I say, showing Kennedy my hand over facetime. Because no, Declan hasn't proposed yet, and today is our last full day in Rome. 

“Aww, Liv… Maybe he will do it tonight.”

“Maybe” I sigh. “Or maybe he won't because he doesn't remember what he told me at your wedding. Like, he's been acting so normal the whole trip, not teasing me about it or anything…”

“I'm sure he remembers, Liv” Kennedy says. “He may just be waiting for the right moment and doesn't want to ruin the surprise.”

“Yeah…”

“What are you doing tonight?”

“Going for dinner at some restaurant he got recommended, and then probably go back to the hotel before I fall asleep on the table.”

Because that's what I've done the most on this trip: sleep.

Declan's first idea had been to rent a vespa and use it to move around the city and avoid being stuck in traffic, but Arsenal weren't too keen on the idea since we could have an accident and he could get injured, and he ended up hiring a car with a tour guide as our driver. And what happens every time we are in the car going from one spot to the other? That I fall asleep, always having to be woken up by Declan when we arrive. And at night, it is more of the same. One time he even had to carry me to our room because I wouldn't wake up.

“Let’s hope you stay awake and you both get to tell each other what you have to. Because you haven't told him anything yet either, have you?”

“No, I haven't. And he is coming back, act normal” I say when I hear him opening the bathroom’s door.

“Ok” Kennedy chuckles. “Are you bringing me a present? Maybe some tiramisú?”

“Ha!” Declan laughs behind me. “I'm pretty sure Liv has eaten all the tiramisú in the city.”

“I haven't, don't listen to him.”

“She has” he says, sitting down next to me. “But if we are able to find some and she doesn't eat it, we'll save it for you.”

“Thank you, Declan” Kennedy smiles. “And I better go, you probably have to get ready for tonight. You don't want to be late for that special dinner.”

“We don't, no” he smiles back. 

“Yeah… umm… I'll call you tomorrow, ok?” I say.

“Have fun, guys” she winks before hanging up. 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Liv, are you ok?”

“I'm fine” I say, struggling to take off my shoe.

“Then why have you been acting so weird the whole night?” Declan asks me.

“Because I'm tired.”

“You've been tired since we left London. And let me help you with that” he says, getting on one knee in front of me and helping me with my shoe. “Why are you laughing now?”

“Nothing, it's nothing. I'm just tired.”

“Liv, are you sure you are ok? You are starting to worry me” he says, easily getting rid of both my shoes.

“I'm fine, Declan” I say, forcing myself to smile. “I guess I'm just getting old.”

“Don't be silly, Liv.”

“Yeah, well” I shrug. “I'm gonna go take off my makeup.”

“Liv…” he says, taking my hand and stopping me before I get up. “If there was something going on, you would tell me, wouldn't you?”

“Of course I would.”

“Promise?”

“I promise” I say, caressing his cheek.

“Then why does it look like you are about to cry?”

“Because you just gave me the same look Ollie did before we left, I've thought about him, and… I miss him.”

“I miss him too. But we'll be seeing him tomorrow. I can already hear him screaming when he sees us both showing up to pick him up from school” he chuckles.

“So do I” I smile. 

“And my back can already feel him jumping at my arms and asking me to pick him up.”

“See how we are getting old? The thirties are coming” I tease him, making him roll his eyes. “And I better go get rid of all this before I start falling asleep.”

“Yes, of course” he says, helping me get up. “But Liv…”

“I'm fine, Declan.”

“I wasn't going to say that.”

“Then?”

“I love you, Liv. You know that, don't you?”

“I do” I smile. “And I love you too. Very much” I say, kissing his cheek before walking into the bathroom. 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Liv… Liv, wake up.”

“Uh?”

“Wake up, Liv. C'mon” Declan says.

“What time is it?”

“Early.”

“And why are we waking up early?”

“Because we have a last minute place to visit.”

“What?” I say, finally opening my eyes. It still is dark outside and I feel like just two minutes ago I was getting in bed, disappointed and kind of mad at him because he hadn't proposed, but also feeling like I loved him a bit more after seeing how much he cared about me. 

“Pietro is already waiting downstairs, c'mon.”

“Urgh” I say, covering my head with the duvet.

“There is no time to be lazy, Olivia.”

“Declan!” I complain when he takes the duvet and throws it away. 

“You have five minutes, Liv. We can't be late.”

“This better be worth it” I say, giving him my most murderous look.

“It will. I promise” he grins, making me feel funny things in my stomach. How can I try to be mad at him, if with just one smile he completely disarms me? 

“Not fair.”

“What?” he laughs.

“Your face” I say, pointing at him as I get up from the bed. “It isn't fair.”

“I am extremely gorgeous, I know” he smirks. “Now stop admiring my beauty and go get ready. Five minutes, Liv.”

“Urgh” I groan, walking towards the bathroom.

This better be worth it. 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Are we there yet?”

“Almost, miss” says Pietro, our tour guide.

“You need to be a bit patient, Liv” Declan says.

“What I need, is to go back to bed” I complain. “The sun isn't even out yet!”

“It'll be very soon, miss. Like Mister Rice said, you must be patient.”

“Urgh” I groan for the millionth time since Declan woke me up.

After a few more minutes walking in silence, Pietro suddenly stops. 

“We are almost there, miss. Are you ready?” he asks me.

“I guess” I shrug.

“Good” he smiles before turning a corner.

“Aren't we following him?” I ask Declan when he doesn't move.

“Yes, yes” he says, squeezing my hand and starting to walk.

“Oh my God” I gasp when we turn the same corner Pietro had just a minute ago.

“Surprise!” Declan smiles.

“Was it worth it, miss?” Pietro asks me after taking a photo of me where I will definitely show up with my jaw on the floor. Besides being our tour guide and driver, he had also been our personal photographer, taking the best candid photos of Declan and I.

“So worth it” I say, trying to process where I am right now. 

Due to it being one of the most visited places in the city, we had skipped going to the Fontana di Trevi. But there we were now, just us and a few other tourists, the sun starting to shine and illuminate it all. It was simply… breathtaking.

“Look at how awake she looks now” Declan chuckles.

“Oh, shut up” I say, giving him a little push while looking at every single detail in the fountain. 

“Do you want to make a wish, miss?” Pietro asks me, offering me a coin.

“Yes, of course!” I smile. 

“You must turn your back at the fountain, close your eyes, think about what you want, and then throw the coin with your right hand over your left shoulder” he explains.

“Ok. Done” I say, opening my eyes after throwing the coin. “Declan, now is your… Declan!” I gasp when I see him on one knee in front of me.

“Olivia… Liv” he says, taking a little box from the pocket of his jacket. It's happening. It is finally happening, oh my God! “I have rehearsed what I wanted to say so many times that now I've forgotten most of it, so I'll keep it simple. Liv… Will you marry me and make me the luckiest man in the whole wide world?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, that was fast” he laughs. “You barely gave me time to show you the ring.”

“Sorry” I apologise. “But that was the easiest question ever, I didn't have to give too much thought to my answer. Of course I want to marry you, Declan.”

“Even if I took you out of bed way too early?” he says with a teasing smile, getting the ring out of the box and taking my hand.

“Even so” I reply, my eyes fixed on what he is doing, on the gorgeous ring he is putting on my finger. 

“I love you, Liv. I'm stupidly and completely crazy in love with you.”

“And so am I, Declan. I am stupidly and completely crazy in love with you” I say before wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him, Pietro and the other tourists cheering for us. 

It happened. It finally happened. We are getting married. 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Declan's pov 

“You barely like the ring, don't you?” I chuckle once we are back in our hotel room to have breakfast, Liv admiring her hand and moving it so the ring catches the light and starts sparkling.

“It is so perfect, Declan. So so perfect… Who helped you pick it?”

“Kennedy and Olga showed me some examples of rings you had told them you liked, but then I designed it myself.”

“Wait, what?” she says, finally looking at me.

“Yeah” I shrug. “The most special woman I have ever met deserves the most special ring” I smile.

“Declan, that's… I… Urgh” she says, getting up from her seat and coming to sit on my lap before hugging me. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Liv” I say while hugging her back. “Am I allowed to finish my breakfast?” I ask her after a couple of minutes in silence where we just hug and enjoy the way our arms feel around the other.

“Yes, of course.”

“You can stay here, tho” I smile, not letting her get up. 

“I actually have something for you too.”

“A surprise?”

“Yep” she says, leaving my embrace before I can stop her. 

“Can't you find it?” I ask her while she turns her suitcase upside down. Guess there won't be time for some cuddles before leaving for the airport. We'll have to spend that time making her suitcase again.

“I know where it is, I just… Here!” she says, showing me what she was looking for.

“An envelope?”

“A very special one, yes” Liv says, handing it to me.

“Aren't you going to sit down with me while I open it?” I ask her, looking down at my lap.

“I'm fine here” she says, standing next to the table and playing with one of the napkins. 

“You look nervous, Liv” I chuckle while opening it.

“So did you earlier.”

“I was about to ask you to marry me.”

“And I'm about to tell you something important too.”

“Are you? Let's see…” I say, checking what is inside the envelope. A photo. A photo of Ollie doing a thumbs up with each hand, a big smile on his face and a t-shirt that says big br… “No!” I gasp, looking from Liv to the photo and back at her. “Is this real? Are you… Liv, are you…”

“I'm pregnant” she says with a shy smile.

“You… holy shit” I say, standing up so quickly that I hit the table with one of my knees and knock one of the glasses. Thank God it was already empty. “You are… You… How? I mean… When? We have been taking precautions!”

“Remember the game against Tottenham? The one you finished as a captain and where you scored?”

“How to forget it” I chuckle. “Your dad didn't talk to me for a week, and he threatened to not let me see Ollie ever again after we left him at their house for the night.”

“He did, yes” she laughs. “But I was talking about what happened after. About what we did when we made it home.”

“You mean… Oh…”

“Yes, oh” she says, closing the space between us. “The sun was starting to come up when we finally decided it was time to sleep for a bit.”

“It was a glorious day and night” I smirk, hugging her by the waist.

“And because of that night and, once again, your perfect aim, now our family is going to welcome a new member” she says, taking one of my hands and putting it over her stomach.

“I… I don't know what to say. I… Wait. Is this why you've been constantly falling asleep and taking so many naps?”

“Yep” Liv laughs. “I'm not feeling nauseous yet and I hope it stays like that, but I am so tired all the damn time…”

“And I've taken you on a holiday and made you walk for hours. I'm such an idiot.”

“Declan, it's ok. You didn't know” she says, caressing my cheek. “And the doctor said I could fly and keep with my life as usual if I was feeling ok. You haven't put us at risk.”

“Us…” I say, looking down at where our hands are resting together. 

“Declan, are you crying or are those beautiful eyes of yours being sensitive again?” Liv teases me while wiping away a tear.

“This time I am crying” I chuckle. “I just can't believe that, in the same morning, the woman I love has said yes to marry me and then told me that we are going to be parents again. I am so freaking happy right now, Liv. I feel like my heart is about to burst inside my chest.”

“Same” she smiles. “I love you, Declan.”

“And I love you, Liv. I've loved you since the day we met and you smiled at me while giving me that coffee, and I will love you for the rest of my life. Because I'm stupidly and completely…”

“Crazy in love with you.”

“Crazy in love with you” I repeat before kissing her.

━━━━❃━━━━ FIN ━━━━❃━━━━

[thenovelartist]

WHAT. We played in the exact same order!? That's so funny LMAO What are the chances!!! 😂 to think we both didn't follow the recommended route order at all and used a completely different route order.

I agree!! Shu quitting smoking for Teuta was so cute. I think one of my (very minor) gripes is how Shu didn't experience withdrawals at all, or ever felt the urge to light a cigarette after all that? I don't really count the one time he smoked with Yang because he was offered a cigarette, and he did put it out early. And yeah you're right that was really cute 🥺 out of all the LIs, it's Shu that I was least expecting to talk to her parents, but he really went and did it. Good job Shu.

HAHA I also get you on bringing up your faves whenever you get the chance, I also do it a lot albeit unconsciously haha oh Sasuke is in your top three, who are the other two if you don't mind me asking?

I like your thoughts on the last two chapters! You're one of the few people I talked to who kinda liked them LMAO in my case I was definitely one of the people who were disappointed. So much plot bombs were dropped that didin't have any hinting or foreshadowing whatsoever throughout the same, so it's just one unsatisfying surprise after another to me. It also gave me more questions than answers, which hopefully would get answered in the second season but also I highly doubt it. I really love the Carmen CG though. Also man I felt the opposite with Auld Lang Syne, it didn't feel calm to me at all LOL the effects were giving me a migraine, and the reveals (especially about Zora and Sauli) made me feel so sick. Then the game ended there and I just sat there confused. 😂

I know, I was laughing for days afterwards over the fact someone else bucked the recommended order and played the exact order I did.

True about the withdrawals thing; never really through of that. I'd say my gripe in general was the routes felt on the shorter side, so the writers had a LOT of ground to cover in not a whole lot of time. So I guess things like Shu struggling with quitting or more obvious romantic scenes in Mozu's route were glossed over due to those length restraints. Though, thinking about it, Shu's withdrawals had to be hellish because he said smoking was the way to bring him back to that day, but the nicotine had to be numbing in some fashion, too. So you have the two opposite components tied to past trauma that his clinging to using a now deeply ingrained habit, and you're telling me he was able to just change to lollipops on a dime? Yeah, I'm not buying it, but I'll overlook it because it's Shu. XD

And agreed. You would have expected Limbo, with his connection to his sister throughout the game, to be the one to do it. But nah, Shu was the surprise. :D I really liked it, though, because even though is family is a little odd and broken, it was very tight and meant the world to him. It was very precious. <3

I know I'm a bit of the odd ball when it came to those last 2 chapters. XD But whatever, LOL. I was definitely left reeling after the last chapter, so I understand that feeling. I binged that game in a matter of a week or two, so I hit the end and was just sitting in the adrenaline rush of "no, that can't be all!" XD I haven't replayed that end, so I'll have to go back and replay it for a better answer. But for Auld Syne Lang, I guess I should have clarified that it didn't exactly calm me as much as it was relatively "calmer" compared to Full Circle. XD Because that end WAS one gut punch after another. (Also, yeah, those affects were brutal, I think at that point, I stopped paying attention to them and just focused on the text specifically.) As I was replaying the main route, though, rereading that Luka committed fraud for a sex crime victim's case was a punch to the gut! Like suddenly her motivations of being a cop and helping out that victim in particular was crystal clear. And painful. Like, there were hints that you just kinda gloss over at the time, but rereading them makes you applaud that bit of foreshadowing.

Left this for last, but as for my three favorite boys, I'm obsessed with Code:Realize. Victor Frankenstein and Abraham Van Helsing have been batting for top spot for a while. XD I adore both of them to pieces. Victor was top for a while, but I think Van has just edge him out by now. And that leaves Sasuke as solid third. XD No other Love Interest has left quite as strong and heavy of an impression on me as much as these three boys. (It's the glasses. Has to be. XD) Even though I definitely have others I love, these are hard and fast top 3 that aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

My love of Van Helsing is probably the reason I was drawn to Shu so much. They have quite a bit in common.

[middlemistgrey]

So I saw a reboot of yours from a while ago, where you invited others to ask you your opinion about ships (I sent you a direct message with a screenshot of it). If you’re still doing that I’d really like to hear your opinion on Asuka and Shinji; I ask because I feel like that pairing gets run down a lot online, and I want to know if I’m the only other person who likes them. Anyway, if you’re busy, just ignore this. Thanks!

Oh, you're definitely not the only person who likes Asuka and Shinji together but I know that feeling... Very few people celebrate this pairing openly??? Yeah, that.

Anyway, so moving onto the questions!

→ My thoughts on Asuka/Shinji:

Let's be honest: I like the dynamic. She's brash, she's loud, she isn't afraid of voicing her thoughts. He's submissive, he's quiet, he's always afraid of saying the wrong thing. She thinks she doesn't want anyone. He thinks no one wants him. They are polar opposites in their behaviour and yet the same due to their childhood problems and trauma. I call this quality shipping material. I know people against this pairing call them "abusive" which to some extent is true but they are wrong in labelling who exactly is the abuser. Asuka definitely isn't the only one who "abuses" Shinji in their semi-canonical relationship. No one is solely a victim or a villain here. I don't like the people who seriously cheer as Shinji lunges to choke Asuka in EoE. Also, some people justify Shinji's attempt to kiss her in her sleep as "teenage hormones" and that's just bullshit. I admit it, they are problematic af but I ship them because I believe that they have real potential to be better to themselves and each other.

→ When I started shipping them, if I did?

Admittedly, I didn't ship them on my first watching of NGE. I don't even think I was familiar with the concept of shipping back then. (I was almost 10.) I remember being deeply intrigued by the Rei/Kaworu pairing for some reason (them being "polar opposites" too, so to speak, I guess and I still like them, tbh) and only laughing at the comedic moments Shinji and Asuka provided. I started shipping them when I rewatched NGE for the second time and not at some sweet moment but in Episode 22 when Asuka screams, "Why are YOU there?"

I was like, "HELL YESSSSS!" and threw imaginary confetti. I mean her words, her voice, the way the camera moves from Kaji to Shinji... I replayed that whole sequence so many times, you have no idea.

(I am so fucked up.)

→ What makes me happy about them?

Thinking about what they do when they're not busy saving the world makes me happy about them. I think she sits in the drawing room and reads magazines and watches television. He cooks in the kitchen. She throws around bubblegum wrappers in the apartment. He cleans up. I like imagining the humdrum aspects of their lives and living together. I like how they sleep across the hall. I LOVE EPISODE 9. I love the little smile she gives when he saves her in Magma Diver. I also like the brief flash we get of Asuka hugging herself in EoE when Shinji is dissolving into LCL. It's just a flash but...hey.

And because of that, I made the following storyboard because in my imagination, Asuka's transition guide was Shinji. (Unlikely, but a girl can imagine!)

(For some reason I like the whole Kitchen Scene too, but then again, I am so fucked up. It doesn't make me happy, but it gives me so much angst™.)

→ things done in fanfic (or in general fandom) that annoy me

01. "Asuka abused Shinji." NO. As I have already said, no one is solely a victim or a villain in the whole of Evangelion. Your fave is problematic, get over it, people.

02. Fanfics where Shinji suddenly is far too confident of himself and Asuka accepts him in like, 5 seconds. My question is... Did you even watch the show???

03. "Shinji Ikari is a pure ball and nothing else." (Subtext: "Asuka doesn't deserve him.") Um, again, did you watch the show? He is somewhat of an internal misogynist who thinks of other people as paper cutouts who don't have as complex emotions as him. He attempts to sexually assault a sleeping girl. Harsh, but it's true. And let's not forget the opening minutes of EoE. He meant well but look what happened. In short I hate it when they woobify Shinji.

04. Post 3I fics where Asuka suddenly has accepted herself and is now a doting girlfriend to Shinji. I guess this ties in to point 2 but in this scenario, it irks me even more. The world would end before that happens. Wait, it already did. You know what? It still won't happen in a span of 5 minutes. They'll always remain problematic, like ALL relationships. I don't like the "happily ever after perfection" thing some fic writers tend to do.

05. But this... This I probably hate the most. There's a reason why it is the fifth point. That's because it's about the Fifth Child. I absolutely hate when Kaworu (and by extension, Rei) is villanised and/or suddenly killed off. See: Re-Take. Shinji IS bisexual, you know? Asushin shippers should stop undermining Kawoshin. Likewise Kawoshin shippers should stop undermining Asushin.

(When they fight, I just say, "ShinRei" and exit. Lmao. [This is a joke, I don't ship them.])

→ things I look for in fanfic:

Mutual pining™ and those secret stares when the other was not watching gallantry (seriously liking each other but not acting or hesitating to act upon those feelings)

Asuka listening to Shinji's music.

Shinji making Asuka some of her favourite dishes.

Post 3I fics where nothing is reset. Also, Instrumentality and then subsequently waking up on the beach (yeah, that is a sharp drop in the fluff ratio and I know it but HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THE INFINITE POSSIBLITIES OF INSTRUMENTALITY.)

→ who I'd be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other?

I have no specific choices, as long as it is made clear that they are happy for real. Though I love the idea of Kawoshin.

For some reason I picture Shinji and Rei living together but not as a couple. I definitely don't want them to be a couple. Because not only is it incestous but Shinji even mentions in Episode 24 that he got a feeling of his mother from Rei. But anyway, I just picture him and Rei living together.

[kmbtob-monthly]

July 2018 Story # 1 : Beautiful Melody

Title: Beautiful Melody

Author: Mika

Summary: Hyunsik met Melody in probably one of the most cliché way. Now seeing her walk down the aisle made him remember their moments and a lot of beautiful things about her.

---

As far as my eyes can see, faces of people I knew almost half of my life were there. All of them anticipated with glee for her to come through the doors of the chapel. And I was not an exception. As a matter of fact, I think I felt different kinds of emotions all at once that time.

When she appeared at the entrance, my heart raced at an increasing rate. To say that she is beautiful was an understatement.

She held a bouquet of pink and white peonies. I remember her saying that it’s her favorite for it embodies romance, prosperity and a happy marriage.

The moment our eyes met, I felt nostalgic. I can still remember in detail the day when I first saw her.

I met her in spring...

~

The moment when I first met you

It's still very clear

The moment you hugged me

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" A voice bellowed from behind. I turned around and saw a speeding bike a few meters away from where I was standing.

The girl riding it seemed to have lost control of the bike as I saw her hand was continuously pressing the brake handle and still, it was not stopping. The downward slope of the road made the situation even worse.

"You might get hurt! Stay away!" She warned me again. But instead of avoiding her, I put down my guitar and readied myself to catch her. I don’t know exactly how I will do that but I can’t just let her go into a bigger trouble.

She hit an uneven part of the road, causing her to separate from the bike. The impact sent her flying.

“AAAAAAH!”

Everything happened so fast. I caught her with my arms and we stumbled on the ground where fallen cherry blossom petals were scattered.

“Are you okay?” I asked when I felt her grip on me loosened. She lifted her head, frightened eyes stare into mine. My face were inches away from hers and my breath hitched at the sight of her up close.

She’s pretty.

She pulled away from my embrace, I forgot that I was still holding her. “Y-yes, thank you.” she answered when we both stood up and shook the dirt off our clothes “How about you?” she asked full of concern.

I nodded then smiled and I saw her sigh in relief. We decided to check her bicycle that fell on the pavement. It was a good thing that no one was near us when the accident happened, so no one got hurt.

“The brake cable snapped off, that’s why it didn’t stop when you pulled the handle” I explained to her when I saw the cause. I can tell that she has been using it for a long time now. The color already faded, fenders were dented and the chain is rusty. “It’s not safe riding this, you must get it fixed.”

She said she was about to go home from the convenience store and forgot to check if the brakes were working. We were going the same direction so I picked up my guitar and walked with her, I learnt that they just moved in their new house a few days ago and she also transferred to the school where I go to. She pointed at a house a couple of steps from us. “That one is ours.”

And I pointed at one, two doors away from hers saying that it is where I live. We walked a little more and halted in front of her house “Thanks again for saving me, I’ll get my bike fixed.” her lips curved upward.

“No problem. You should, and always remember to check the brakes before riding it.” I said, adjusting my glasses.

“Yes, sir.” She jokingly saluted and we laughed “I’ll go in now.”

I nodded and waited for her to go inside but I just remembered something.

“Hey uh- I forgot to ask” she turned back to me “What’s your name?”

She smiled a toothy grin and I thought that was the most beautiful thing I’ve seen all day.

“Melody” she said “My name is Melody.”

Wow. Even her name is pretty.

“I’m Hyunsik.” Giving the same smile, I stated “Welcome to the neighborhood, Melody”.

And to cut a long story short, we became friends. We became comfortable around each other for we meet and talk everyday, whether in school or while going home.

In school, we also share the same circle of friends and teasing us became their habit. Melody and I will just shake our heads and laugh it off.

~

I know the whole world become brighter

I felt it was different from yesterday

Oh because of you everything has changed

“Is that a new song you are writing?”

I was too focused on what I was doing that I didn’t notice her sit next to me. We were under a tree nearest to the school building.

“Mm- yeah. It’s only halfway done.” I said still scribbling on the notebook.

“Can I hear a little bit of it?” I felt her move closer as she slightly pleaded “Just a teeny tiny bit?”

She knows that I won’t let her hear the song until it’s finished but her puppy dog eyes never fail to make me say yes.

She always wins.

“Okay okay, I’ll sing a bit” I surrendered.

“Yay!” Melody clasped her hands and I started to sing the chorus. She put her hands under her chin and leaned.

Just wait, I will fly high just like you Higher than the countless twinkling stars above you Just wait, I will always be by your side I’ll be your star that shines brighter than anyone else

She listened intently as I sing until the last line. When I finished, she clapped and her eyes twinkled with delight. “Woah Mr. Im Hyunsik! The song is soooo good and your voice is amazing as always.” She sincerely said “What’s the song called?”

“I haven’t decided on it yet.”

She was silent for a moment before saying “Star. How about ‘star’ for the title?”

I nodded in agreement “Star it is then.”

The next minute, we heard meowing sounds and she followed it to see where it came from. It led her to a bush. “Hyunsik, come and look at this” she called to me.

It’s a mother cat with three kittens, their colors were a mix of black, gray and white. Melody scooted down and carefully patted them “I bet you’re hungry, it’s almost lunch time” she talked to them. I watched her get a canned tuna from her bag. She opened it and fed the tuna to the kittens and their mother.

Melody has this soft spot for animals, especially for cats, albeit she can’t keep one because of pet allergy. She always carry cat/dog food or canned fish so that whenever she met stray cats or dogs, she’ll never think twice to entertain and feed them. Also, she always find time to volunteer in animal shelters.

“Imagine you are alone in the street, you have nowhere to go to, nothing to eat, and no one is there to take care of you. It’s sad right?” she said to me once. “If only people will just care more about these kinds of things then the world would have been a better place.”

If you’d ask me what is the most beautiful thing about her and I only need to pick one, I’d say it is her heart.

“They’re so cute, don’t you think so?” she looked up to me with happy eyes and she giggled. I heard her humming to the song I sang earlier.

At that moment, I noticed something different about her. But what is it?

Did she change her hair color?

Did she put make-up on?

Why does she look extra pretty today?

I might be over-reacting but I thought she was glowing.

It was the first time that I felt something different too.

~

When I close my eyes, I see you again

In my head, I only think of you

I somehow, only for today

I want to say it to you

Her eyes.

Her smile.

Her laugh.

My mind kept replaying scenes on the things that she does or the things she likes to do like when she likes something so much she’ll say “this is soooo good” for not less than 5 times or how she ties up her hair in a bun when she will do something that needs her full concentration or how she fiddles with her watch when she’s nervous or the way she sketches when she’s in a good mood and when she has nothing to do. Those little things I noticed whenever I secretly look at her.

I kept thinking about her. Not a day passed without me wanting to see her, wanting to hear her stories and her hearty laugh.

I wanted to confess that I like her but I just couldn’t bring myself to say it.

Prom came, Melody and I each had our own dates but that night, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. She wore a simple maroon chiffon dress, light make-up and her hair had curls on the ends. Melody’s beauty radiates without her putting on too much effort.

I saw that she was genuinely happy....happily dancing with her date.

He is a transferee like her and he came from the US. The guy is her crush she often talks to me about. I silently hope that at some time, she’ll notice that I don’t really like that topic.

More days gone by and the feelings I have for her grew. My eating and sleeping habits were a mess. I keep spacing out and one day my brother snapped me out of it “You could just tell her, you know. What are you so afraid of?”

“What?” I just went back to my senses, we were taking a break from playing a video game and he just said that out of the blue.

“Melody. You like her, right?” He leaned back on the couch.

“I just couldn’t say it to her, hyung. I feel like I’ll ruin the friendship we have.” I hugged the cushion and buried my face.

“You should, Hyunsik. Either she feels the same way or not, that friendship will never be gone if it’s true.” He stood up and said “Besides, you’ll never really know what she feels about you if you don’t tell her. Worst case is, what if someone confesses before you do?” hyung left me and went to the kitchen.

As if on cue, my phone lit up and a text message came in.

From: 🎶

I ran some errands a while ago and decided to get the tickets since I’m near the cinema. Don’t forget later okay? See ya sikkie~

Oh right, we were supposed to watch The Incredibles 2 tonight. She kept telling me that she wants to watch it with me since the first Incredibles movie were both our fave movie of all time.

And then I remembered what my brother said.

I need to confess now.

~

8:30 p.m.

The movie won’t start ‘till 9 and here I am outside the movie place thinking of how I will bring it up to Melody.

I can do this, I repeated over and over.

I went inside and my eyes found her immediately. She wore a sky blue top and denim pants and was sitting at a table near the arcade.

I sneak up behind her and covered her eyes with my hands “Guess who~” I said in a higher pitch-female tone voice and I can’t help but giggle with what I was doing.

“You need to practice more, Im Hyunsik.” She confidently said.

“I’m not. You are wrong.” I said in the same tone.

She burst out laughing “Hyunsik! Stop with the voice already.”

I removed my hands and sat across her. “I know you too well to not recognize that it’s you.” She chuckled and rested her hand under her chin.

She did that twinkling eyes again I can’t help but stare at her. She was telling me something but I was not paying attention. I want to tell it to her. It’s now or never.

“Hey, are you still listening to me?” she tapped my hand that was on the table.

“Melody” I switched our hands and put mine on top of hers.

Her expression changed to a serious one “Hyunsik, is there something wrong?”

I pursed my lips and shook my head “No. There’s… there’s something I want to tell you.” my heart was beating so fast I think it’s going to explode.

It was a weekend so many people came to watch a movie but suddenly, all I can see is her.

She’s looking at me, her eyes telling me to go on “Melody, I’ve been wanting to say this to you for a long time. I-“

“Oh hey sorry, the line in the restroom is too long.” I was surprised when someone interrupted.

It was her prom date that she has a crush on.

He gave an apologetic smile and then looked at me “Hi! You’re Hyunsik right? Melody told me a lot of things about you. Don’t worry, they’re all good though.”

“Hyunsik, you remember Peniel right? He’s at the class next to ours.” She pulled her hand from mine and stood up from her seat, I felt the emptiness.

“Nice to meet you, bro.” he held out a hand.

I took it and greeted back. “Nice to meet you too, Peniel” I forced a smile but inside I was not really pleased in meeting him. Not to be rude, but he just ruined the moment.

I saw his hand intertwined with hers. I think I stopped breathing for a while.

“I’ll get us some popcorn, what flavor would you like?” He asked us both.

“Anything would be fine, Hyunsik and I eat everything.” She said then looked at me “Right?”

“Y-yeah, right.” I faked a laugh.

Peniel went to the counter and waited in line and Melody got back to her seat.

“What were you saying again?” she asked me.

“Oh that… I just want to tell you that uh- I finished ‘Star’. I already recorded and I’ll let you hear it.” I half lied. Well, I really finished it and I’ll give the song to her.

“Wow! Really? I can’t wait to hear the whole song. Every song you make is really good and worth to listen to everyday. I also let Peniel hear your other songs and he agrees with me.”

Since when were they that close? And since when are they dating that I didn’t even noticed it?

It seems like she read my mind “Oh, we’ve been constantly contacting each other since prom night and earlier he said he wanted to meet me. I was at the bank that time, mom asked me to make a deposit and I said to him that I’m going here, so we met here. And-“ I saw her blush before she continued “He confessed to me and I still can’t believe my crush likes me back.” She slightly squealed.

I felt like a bucket of ice cold water was poured on me. The whole night I continued to fake smiles and laughter.

Peniel is a gentleman and very kind, even to me. Whenever he asks her something, he’ll never forget to include me in the conversation. He’ll crack jokes about the characters in the movie that’ll make her laugh, from time to time he’ll feed her popcorn. I think I watched them more than the movie.

Her smile was different that time, she was blooming and oh how beautiful her lips curve up into a smile and her eyes formed tears from too much laughing.

I really wish that it was me making her laugh like that, making her eyes disappear to thin lines, making her happy.

It was supposed to be just the two of us.

It should’ve been me.

If only I was a little braver.

~

When you’re tired, when the tears fall out

Just remember this one

You are more precious than me

I will hold your two hands, I’ll be here

We graduated high school and we went to different universities. I majored in music while she majored in architecture. Albeit having different schools, we still had the same schedule. Peniel goes to the same university with Melody but they have different schedules so I still go home with her since our schools were just near to each other.

That’s the only time I can catch up things with her because her free days are for Peniel.

Now how can I argue with that?

I just can’t, because I’m only the bestfriend and he is the boyfriend. I let it be.

I tried getting out of this one-sided feelings by focusing on my studies, composing songs, spending time with my family and other friends.

But at the end of the day, it’s still her.

I also tried to look at other girls. I was in my last year in the university when this girl in one of my classes gave me homemade chocolates on Valentine’s Day and she confessed to me thru a letter.

I gave it a shot and dated her. I thought I was happy with her and that I have moved on but every time I’m with her, Melody was all I could think of. When she took care of me when I had a fever and I was at school, I remembered how Melody always bring me herbal drinks whenever I’m sick.

Every thing she does reminded me of Melody. We were nearing our anniversary when I decide to tell her how I really feel. I thought that I can reciprocate fully what she felt for me so I tried to focus on just us and we’ve come this far, but I guess my heart was really held by someone else.

It was New Year’s Eve, and I know how she loves watching fireworks so I took her to the rooftop of our school building because that is where it can be seen clearer and it’ll feel more closer.

As expected, she was very happy when it started “I feel like I can reach them with my hands.” She said chuckling and she looked at me “Thank you Hyunsik” she rested her head on my shoulder.

I thought about Melody again. We didn’t really had much time to talk with each other because college life had been busier and also we had different schedules now so we rarely see each other.

Is she also happy watching the fireworks now?

“Sami.” I held the hands of my girlfriend “I am glad that you liked it.” I brushed my thumb against the back of her hand and I inhaled deeply “I have been nothing but happy these past months. I realized you are a wonderful person as I got to know you more.” My eyes never left hers as I say those words.

“But I can’t go on with this anymore. When I’m with you, I can’t help but also think about her. I felt like I was cheating on you and you don’t deserve that. You don’t deserve me.” This time my gaze dropped to our hands, I swallowed hard “I’m sorry, I’m in love with someone else.”

I was waiting for her to cry and be angry with me but instead she gave my hand a squeeze and she lifted my chin so that we were face to face again.

“I know.” I was surprised with her reply

“When we took pictures in the photo booth in an arcade, you went to the restroom and left your wallet with me, our pictures came out and I decided to put it in your wallet.” She paused for a while “But when I opened it, I saw your picture with her. And I recalled the many times I’ve seen you staring at it, the happy tone of your voice and the different glint in your eyes whenever you mentioned her name to me. It made me jealous but I didn’t say it to you.”

My heart was breaking, that day we went to the arcade was our first date as a couple. I didn’t remove my picture with Melody because I didn’t have to. Or maybe… I didn’t want to.

“And that time when you introduced us to each other, I saw how you looked at her and I know that you’ll never look at me the way you do to her.” Her voice faded and she cleared her throat before continuing “This was the day that I feared the most, but I still prepared my heart for it. So don’t feel too bad, okay?” she smiled even though her eyes were glassy, she was fighting back her tears.

I pulled her into a hug “You are beautiful inside and out, someone is out there waiting for you and you deserve his full attention and love. You deserve to be really happy.” And I sincerely do want her to find the love and happiness that I can’t give “Thank you Sami, thank you for everything.”

She hugged me tighter, her voice was faltering “Thank you too, Hyunsik. I wish you luck and hope you’d be happy too.”

~

“Yes, sir. Thank you very much” I ended the call and shouted with glee “Yes!” I was accepted at Cube Entertainment and will become part of the music production team. It is a step closer in reaching my dream to become a producer.

I instantly thought of going to Melody. I want her to be the first one to know. After being an intern for a year and a half, she also got accepted in her dream company. As for Peniel, he went back to the US because his family misses him and so does he so when he got the opportunity to work there, he didn’t let the chance slip away.

Melody was hesitant about the long distance relationship at first but she didn’t want it to look like she was keeping him away from his family.

It was okay at first, Peniel’s contract there is 3 years and they’re halfway through the LDR. But as months passed by, even if she doesn’t say it, I noticed that Melody got sadder. She told me they rarely talk now and sometimes Peniel would sleep in the middle of their conversation because of the different time zones and he got busier as work loads got heavier.

I stood outside her apartment door and rang the doorbell, no one answered. I rang it another time. Still, no answer. I purposely didn’t text her for I wanted to say the good news to her personally. But, she’s not at home.

Where could she be?

I fished out my phone from my pocket, I was about to dial her number when it buzzed and musical notes appeared on the screen.

“Hyuuuuunshiiiik… he he he” she said on the other line when I answered.

“Melody, where are you? Are you drunk?” I quickly noticed the way she spoke.

She stifled a laugh “Nooooo…. We came heeeere… last time…. Changsub’s birthdaaay… lights are really pretty here.. you know?” she giggled in between her words

“Stay there okay? I’m going to you.” I hurriedly drove to the bar where our friend Changsub had his birthday party last week. I hope she’s not too drunk, people might take advantage of her.

My worries subsided a little when I saw her sitting on the gutter just outside the bar. Melody was clutching her bag and she rested her left cheek on top of it. I can’t help but admire her peaceful face. I crouched down and woke her up “Melody” I slightly shook her arm “Come, on I’ll take you home.”

She lifted her head. She smiled widely as soon as she recognized me. “sikkieeee” her limbs encircled my arm and pulled it close to her “you smell niiiice… he he” I chuckled at her actions. Whenever she’s drunk, she’s clingy and tends to say a lot of cringey things.

She let go of my arm and looked at me again “You” she pointed at my face “cutieeee… you look so cute todaaay” I stifled a laugh “You think so?”

She nodded “Uh-huh… you’re Mr. Im Cutesik todaaay.. cutesik… cutesikkieee... cutiesikkie” she sing sang and I swear my heart fluttered.

I made her stand up and supported her body as I walk her to the car. She was still chanting the nickname until we reached her place.

I sat her on the sofa and she leaned sideways, her hair covering her face and within seconds, I heard small sobs. I sat next to her and reached for her hand “Hey, what’s the matter?”

She didn’t say anything and cried louder. I wrapped her in my arms, it was the first time I saw her cry like that. She usually cry over sad songs and movies but not like this. This was different. She was crying her heart out.

I wanted to punch whatever or whoever hurt her.

When she calmed down she leaned back on the sofa “We’re over-” she sniffed “We fight every time we talk… I’m so tired of it.” the sadness in her voice made my heart ache “Peniel... he- he’s going to stay there for good.” She cried again after that.

I brought her to bed when she stopped crying and tucked her in “You’re tired, sleep now.”

She clutched the hem of my shirt “Don’t leave me.” She said in a weak voice

I nodded and smiled to assure her “I won’t.”

I lied down beside her. Her eyes slowly closed when I ran my fingers through her hair and started to hum a lullaby.

I watched her sleep that night. She tossed and turned, her legs and arms were going everywhere, and her mouth was slightly opened. It was a funny scene to look at and she must’ve been really tired and sad.

But even with those things, she still looks beautiful to me.

~

So you can be happy, you can always laugh

I will always be there

Every moments of moments

I promise to protect you

The day after she got drunk, I took care of her. I learned that Peniel’s contract was extended and he decided to stay there for good. The relationship didn’t work out anymore and they didn’t end on a good note.

Since then I told myself that I wouldn’t let anything or anyone make her cry like she did that night again. I wanted to help her move on and so I did.

But, it was not easy. She still cried for more than a week or two so I encouraged her to do new hobbies and focus on other things like playing sports, or video games, tuning in to k-pop and stuffs, travelling to different countries and I slowly observed her improvement because I am with her in every step of the way.

She was getting better everyday and when I saw her beautiful smile more often, I know that the Melody I knew is back. She may not have totally gotten over him but at least she’s not crying anymore.

I started writing a song and this time I want to sing it to her personally, conveying all my feelings for her. Nothing is holding me back this time.

In more or less 2 days, I have finished the song and I called her to meet up with me later that day. I brought my guitar with me and also bought her favorite peonies.

I put in my whole heart to the song. It portrays the things I want to say to her and to remind her over and over how she is important to me and that I’ll never leave her side.

This time, I’ll confess with no hesitation. I’ll tell her that I love her and that from the start it has always been her.

I’ll never forget that day.

Because that day, was the turning point of my life.

~

Thank you that you are there for me

you are here

I promise that I will love you forever

Baby, baby you are the one

When I wrote this song, I thought of marrying her. I promised to myself that one day, in God’s will, I’ll sing it to her as her groom.

Now that I am here in front of Melody, singing the song I wrote for her and she was wearing a wedding dress, it was like a dream come true.

So you can be happy, you can always laugh

I will always be there

Every moments of moments

I promise to protect you

I sang my whole heart out looking at her, I saw how her two orbs shined, how her smile reached her eyes, how stunning she is.

The entire song I was looking at her.

Even though she looked at someone else.

Her happy eyes and wide smile were for the man beside her.

She is the bride.

But the groom is not me.

That day when I decided to confess for real, she didn’t show up. It turned out that the man she had always loved came back to her that same day.

Peniel left everything to be with Melody and they got back together and a year after, they decided to get married.

I never really got the chance to say to her how I feel. But at least as a singer for their wedding, I was lucky that I can sing it to her.

When you’re tired, when the tears fall out

Just remember this one

You are more precious than me

I will hold your two hands, I’ll be here

I will never forget the first time we met. I’ll always keep in my heart the memories I had with her, and the things she does and likes to do.

I will never leave her side whenever things get tough and I’ll always be the bestfriend whenever she needs one.

I will always remember her beautiful eyes that twinkled, her beautiful laugh that resonated, her beautiful mind that thinks, her beautiful heart that loves and always cares and all the beautiful things about her.

And I’ll always be here for her.

My Beautiful Melody

[ahiddenpath]

Vidja Games

So I checked out Game Informer’s list of the top 300 greatest video games, and they are objectively wrong, lol (I can’t imagine the fights that went into making this list??)!

I’m no critic, and I’m not interested in attempting to objectively rate games, but here are my (subjective) faves in rough order-ish, if you’re interested!  They are arranged by franchise for my sanity below the cut.

The Elder Scrolls (TES)

My all time favorite video game series is TES, although I wasn’t able to stomach playing I and II.  In order, my favorites are: Morrowind, then Oblivion, then Skyrim.

Morrowind is unfriendly to casual gamers, and even experienced folks need to learn the lay of the enormous world, how to fast travel, and even how to level and plan characters to best effect.  The learning curve is enormous, and if you decide to play a different type of character later on, you’re stuck!  You might even have to start over, since you level your character by increasing the major and minor skills you chose upfront.

But I have never experienced such an open, imaginative world.  The later installments felt both smaller and less varied.  In Morrowind, you’ll find everything from sprawling floating cities to houses built into enormous mushrooms, with ashlands, swamps, and mountainous terrains in between, complete with hell-on-earth smack-dab in the middle of everything.

Oblivion is more user-friendly than Morrowind, and it has some of the most engaging quests in the series.  What it loses in environmental diversity and sheer exploration potential, it almost- almost- compensates for in fun quests (there’s much less ‘fetch me some swamp muck’ involved), easier transportation, and the wonderful world of Shivering Isles, an expansion.

Skyrim is the most accessible of the three by far, and it’s forgiving in that it allows players to change their play style on the fly with little repercussions.  It also has the best combat.  Sadly, the repetitive environments make it far less compelling to explore than its predecessors, which is a huge part of TES’s charm for me.  I also found the enemies repetitive.  The more fanciful enemies are almost absent, and the few that exist are tied to specific daedric quest lines.  Do you know how hard it is to recharge enchanted items when you only encounter a handful of daedra?  Wolves and trolls just don’t fill them back up well.

Also, while the accessibility widens the target audience considerably, it cuts into the customization options previously available to more experienced gamers.  That was a huge disappointment for me, personally.

To be clear, though, I still adore Skyrim.

Personal anecdote:  My Morrowind strategy book was so worn that it fell apart, so I punched holes in the pages and kept it in a binder.  I took out the fast travel map and the local map of whatever area I was combing to find a dungeon door tucked into a cave hidden behind ivy or whatever.  I still have it; it’s a sentimental treasure.

The Sims

The more open-ended a game is, the more I like it, and The Sims is king of that arena!  For me, 3 is by far the best installment.  2 introduced the idea of having types of Sims with personal goals to meet to create direction for the player, but ultimately, it felt like I was stuck with the same five Sims over and over again.  The wishes and moodlet system of 3, along with the five slots for personality traits, gave me so much more power to create Sims that felt like actual characters.

I... don’t even want to know how much of my life I’ve put into The Sims...

My ranking:  3>1>2>4

It should be noted that I didn’t mind 1′s lack of direction, since my imagination alone is way more than enough to pull me forward in a sandbox game.  In comparison, 2 felt restrictive by creating five character types, limiting me to that in a way I couldn’t ignore.

Personal anecdote:  I received the original Sims for Christmas when I was in middle school.  I accidentally played from bed time until 4 AM, which is the closest I’ve ever come to pulling an all-nighter.

Sonic the Hedgehog

WHERE DO I EVEN START WITH THE BLUE BLUR.

Sonic was an enormous part of my childhood, guys.  I played all the games.  I watched both cartoons (the one with Sally and the Freedom Fighters and the one where it’s just Sonic/Tails/Eggman/some robots), I learned to read with the comic books.  I have a vivid memory of my brother taunting me by refusing to let me see his comics “because I couldn’t read”...  So I spite-learned using the comics when he wasn’t paying attention.

I don’t think I can pick a favorite!  As a kid, I played Sonic 3 the most; I was a huge Knuckles fan, so that might have played a role (also the original Sonic was too difficult for me at the time, although I certainly tried).  But I also loooooved Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2.  And Sonic Generations was so much fun!

Mario Bros

Lord, I was playing Mario games before I could read, I don’t...  Mario has always been around for me, okay?  It’s a huge part of my story, and the franchise is so iconic that there’s little for me to say.  There are way too many amazing games in this franchise for me to name, but personal faves include: Super Mario RPG, Super Mario World, and Yoshi’s Island.

The Legend of Zelda

This is another franchise where I don’t know what to say...  It’s too iconic for me to offer much.  Zelda games are known for their exploration and adventure, even from the beginning.  Ocarina of Time was a big part of my childhood, but I also adore the newest installment, Breath of the Wild.  And I know this may be silly, but I love Hyrule Warriors!  I can’t wait to play it on the Switch with all the DLC.

And the music???  Guys?????  THE MUSIC?!?!?!    

Bioshock 

Amazing atmosphere, fun game play, and one of the best stories in gaming history add up to an unforgettable experience.  Also a fore-runner to the idea of playing dialogue and recordings while the player explores, a trend that caught on in a huuuge way.

Persona

It’s hard to describe Persona games...  They basically combine Jungian psychology with various mythologies, sprinkle in some horror (or glob it on in the case of 3), throw in an RPG, and add a heaping serving of everyday high school life.  The games tackle a wide range of ideas and game play, creating a unique experience that has drawn a devoted following.

I’ll make this quick:

3:  Best story and atmosphere, worst/most needlessly frustrating game play, very prickly cast lol

4:  Best characters and character development

5:  Best game play (exquisitely polished game play, really), best overall style, worst story and character development

My ranking is 4>3>5.  It should probably be noted that story and character are king for me, so while 5 was incredibly polished mechanics wise, the comparatively weak story and characters sunk it to the bottom of the list for me.  It was one of those games where I understood where they were going hours ahead of time, and then they would explain “the twist” to the player for half an hour over and over and over.  Frankly, it was... kind of insulting, and soured the experience for me.

Also, Mona, I swear to god, how am I supposed to pass school if you don’t let me study or do my homework because you think I need to sleep at 5 PM every day ahhhhh!  XD

Harvest Moon

Oh god, here’s another franchise I don’t want to delve into in terms of hours I’ve spent playing O_O

I can’t even explain why I like these games...  In HM, you are a farmer, and your job is usually to prove to the villagers that you’re a valuable member of society so that they won’t evict you from your own inherited property.  (I’m curious about their deeds and legal policies, lol.  How do you write that clause up?).

These games combine farming with socialization and light dating sim elements, and time management is the name of the game.  They pull in players by tapping into the universal desire to create order and advancement.

My favorite installment is Friends of Mineral Town.  I also adored Harvest Moon 64, but the controls are sadly too dated for me to replay it.

Pokemon

I’m sure I’ve missed at least one, but I’ve played almost every mainstream release of Pokemon since Red and Blue came out.  It must be doing something right, lol!

I’m a huge sucker for games where you choose monsters to raise.  It’s so fun to assemble a team based on your tastes and raise them just so!

My favorite release is the remake of Gold and Silver.

Monster Rancher 2

OH MY LORD I played this game to the point where I’m shocked the disc still works.  In Monster Rancher 2, you find monsters by placing discs into your Play Station, which each encode a monster.  In order to access the strongest monsters, you must raise your rank as a trainer by winning official tournaments.

I wish I could explain why I latched on to this particular game so hard, but...  I think it had something to do with the massive variety of monsters, the difficulty of the tournaments (I never did hit S rank, and not for lack of trying!), and the myriad of odd ways to unlock special monsters.

Mario Kart

Seriously, who doesn’t like smiting friends and family on the race track?  MK is a fun, family-friendly way to deliver a beat down...  As long as you contain your desire to cuss like a sailor, anyway.

It’s so hard to pick a favorite here!  It’s hard to top the original for the challenge...  But Double Dash and Infinity are contenders, too.

Danganronpa

Danganronpa games are visual novels that mix survival, horror, and crime-solving into a dark, bizarre, unique experience.  I’ve written a ton about this series lately, so I won’t delve into it here, but you can check out the danganronpa tag on my blog for more.

Kingdom Hearts

These games are so charming and fun to play!  I’ve never completed one on my own- linear games are rough for me- but I’ve seen my husband play them all, even the (many) extra installments.  KH2 is probably my favorite, although Birth by Sleep was amazing, too.

Final Fantasy

I’ll admit that I don’t really enjoy playing Japanese RPGs; linear gameplay doesn’t appeal to me much in general.  But the FF franchise is famous for its sweeping narratives, imaginative environments, and breath-taking music, and I enjoy them for that.  I’ve watched my husband play X-XV, and I briefly joined him in playing XI and XIV.  My favorite is probably X...  Although I have an enormous crush on Ignis from XV.  

My favorite FF game to play is Theaterhythm: Curtain Call.

Mass Effect

How do I say this...  I don’t think I’ve ever played a game that better simulated becoming an entire universe’s hero and moral center.  In Mass Effect, you shape the world and the political climate in unprecedented ways.  By the end of 3, every player is so deeply invested in their Shepard and the world s/he created.  In that sense, it’s en epic experience without peer.

Destiny

I love playing Destiny with my husband and our friend!  I’m a titan, Tony is a hunter, and our buddy is a warlock, and together, we are... three guardians, lol!  

Okay, so the vanilla Destiny release needed some help, but it became a great game with the expansions.  I’m still waiting for that breath of rejuvenation for 2, but I treasure the time we spend together kicking ass as a team.

Left 4 Dead

This game redefined what co-op meant to me.  I always thought of it as Halo, basically competing on the same team against other players.  And yeah, you do that in L4D...  But the cooperation angle that this game brought to the table was more or less unprecedented.

In L4D, if your team of ragtag survivors doesn’t work together, it’s unlikely that anyone will survive.  I spent a lot of free time in college playing this with my friends spread out over different schools.  I had so, so much fun with it.

Although 2 had more varied game play, which was great, I enjoyed the original more, mostly because the online game play wasn’t as loaded in favor of the zombie team.  Objectively speaking, though, the sequel was the more robust game.

Personal anecdote:  L4D is where I learned about dealing with males online.  With Halo, which I also played at the time, I only enjoyed it enough to play it with people I knew.  I loved L4D so much that I would log in to play even when my friends weren’t available, which meant that I was teamed with random players.

I have a very feminine voice, which apparently means that I am meant to be treated like crap online.  Even though it’s a co-op game, and communication is important, I spent most of my sessions with the headset turned off.

Borderlands

THIS GAME, I HAD SO MUCH FUN WITH IT!  The crass humor, the expanse of wastelands, the gun-slinging insanity, the incredible couch co-op!  What’s not to love?

Sadly, the sequel was a downgrade from the original, but the first game was an amazing ride.  I’ve been considering replaying it with Tony with all of the DLC.

Metal Gear

I’ve never played these myself, but I watched my husband play the first three.  They’re so cinematic and goofy and over-the-top and awesome!  I love breaking out my Solid Snake gravel voice, too.  My favorite is... probably 3?  It’s hard to pick between 2 and 3, though... 

Disgaea

Hmm...  How to describe these games...  They’re tactics games, I guess?  And there’s a lot of story, too...  Game play wise, the later installments perfect what the earlier ones started, but you can’t beat the story and characters of the original.  Laharl is still one of my all-time favorite male video game characters.  He’s... such a brat?  I love him???

Honorable mentions in no order (ie, I’m tired of writing descriptions, sorry to the rest of these games):

Halo, Dragon Age, Fallout 3, Ratchet & Clank, Resident Evil, Portal, Soul Calibur, Tetris Attack, Uncharted, Ms. Pacman,  the Batman Arkham games

EDIT:  I forgot Nier: Automata and Super Smash Bros!  FOR SHAME!

[the-jade-goblin]

Hi! I've seen that you really like k-pop, I've been trying to get into k-pop but I don't know where to start. What was your first k-pop song? Or your favourite groups?

Hi Nonny! I’d love to help you out in your k-pop journey, there is a lot of content out there so it can be intimidating to get started. 

I’ll combine your questions to give you some solid recommendations - my first songs that I heard from some of my favourite groups, AND I’ll throw in my current fave songs from those groups so you can check them out! 

My very first k-pop song that I heard was Sad Tango by Bi Rain; I was in primary school (middle school) and teaching myself Japanese, so I went on this anime site to find some Japanese bands that I could listen to, and the Japanese version of Sad Tango was listed there. 

I really liked it and became obsessed with Bi Rain, but as I was young, my friends peer pressured me into stop listening to him and “Weird” stuff and instead I went back to listening to the Jonas Brothers and Nickleback bc I didn’t want my friends to stop liking me. 

It wasn’t until I was in yr10 of highschool did I re-immerse myself into k-pop. I was in the library and a girl I’d just met in math class the day before was listening to something on her laptop - she was watching an MV and I got curious and came over to ask her what it was. 

She told me it was called Lucifer, but a k-pop group called SHINee. My instant reaction was “oh that’s so weird?” but I took the earphone she offered me and watched it with her. I loved it. She then showed me other MVs from SHINee, and I was hooked. With a friend who was also into it I felt more confident in my passion for k-pop, and she became my k-pop supplier haha

She and I still best friends to this day, though we now have many more k-pop friends (and friends we’ve converted to k-pop *evil laughter*) and we’ve gone to so many concerts together to meet some of our favourite groups.

Now that my personal history is over with, I’ll get to the recommendations! 

I’ll go through my favourite groups, and the first songs I heard from them + my current favourite songs of theirs! I’ll go in alphabetical order to make things easier to navigate, and I’ll provide links to all songs listed

Under the cut because this is a LONG POST

1. B1A4 

My first B1A4 song was Beautiful Target, their debut song. My current favourite is not a title track but I love it, and it’s called Wonderful Tonight (unplugged remix) from their first album It B1A4. My favourite title track is 걸어 본다 (Tried to Walk) from Into the Wind.

B1A4 was my very first kpop concert, I went to see them in Sydney in 2014 - their first Australia concert - with my friend, literally the DAY after we graduated from highschool - while others went to the afterparty after our formal (prom), we went to the airport

2. B.A.P

The first BAP song I heard was, once again, their debut song Warrior, back when we called them Blonde Asian People bc at the time they all had blonde hair haha 

My all-time fave BAP song is One Shot, but there are SO many others that could hold that title too - like 1004 Angel, Wake Me Up, Save Me, Honeymoon, Hands Up, Skydive, Young Wild & Free - there’s so many. I really recommend BAP for beginner kpoppers

I saw BAP in concert in Sydney in 2016 for their Live on Earth tour - their 2nd Australia concert

3. Boyfriend

I was with Boyfriend since debut (no surprise there I’ve followed many since debut lmao) so my first song of theirs was their debut song Boyfriend. My ultimate favourite Boyfriend song is Janus

I saw Boyfriend in Sydney, along with JJCC, in 2016 - their first Australia concert

4. BTS

BTS is one of my all-time favourite groups, I’m so emotional about these boys I love them to death. My first song of theirs was their debut song No More Dream. I have a thousand favourite BTS songs, there’s so many that I adore, but if I really had to pick I’d say currently my favourite title track is Save Me, and my favourite non-title track is Best of Me, but there SO MANY others I could have picked, like Serendipity, Dope, Fire, Danger, Boy in Luv, Hip Hop Phile, Let me Know, DNA, Dimple, MIC Drop, We On, If I Ruled the World, War of Hormone, Blood Sweat and Tears - ALL OF THE SOLOS Begin, Lie, Stigma, First Love, Reflection, Awake, MAMA - Lost, Spring Day, 21st Century Girl, Wings, Cypher 4, Not Today, I Need U, Converse High, Young Forever, Run, Butterfly, Ma City, Baepsae, Autumn Leaves, TO NAME A FEW  

I saw BTS in Sydney a few years ago, their first Australian concert

5. B2ST 

Beast is no longer called that, it’s called Highlight now since they lost a member and re-branded themselves, and tbh I haven’t listened to any of their stuff under Highlight (my bias was Hyunseung, the member who left) but I still love B2ST even if I don’t listen to them much anymore

My first B2ST song was, unsurprisingly, their debut song Bad Girl (when you watch the MV you have to remember this was 8 years ago, and kpop was…very different back then. Like Asian Eurovision. It was…bad)

My favourite song from B2ST is a non-title track called I Knew It, but my favourite title track is probably Fiction, it’s old but it’s good

6. CNBLUE

Again my first song of CNBlue was their debut I’m A Loner. CNBlue isn’t a dance group like most kpop groups, they’re an actual band so they play their own instruments. 

My favourite CNBlue song is a toss up between the non-title tracks Lie (tho I prefer the Japanese version) and Sweet Holiday. My favourite title track is In My Head I think, but again that’s a Japanese release

7. EXO

Mama was EXO’s deubt song, and surprisingly this was actually not my first EXO song. I came a little late on the EXO train, I wasn’t following the hype of EXO pre-debut, so my first song was actually their second single History.

My absolute favourite EXO song is Miracles in December from their first Christmas album, and will always be my fave

I went to see EXO at K-Con in Sydney last year

8. FTIsland

FTIsland is another k-pop band, and my first song of theirs was Love Love Love, which isn’t their debut song Love Sick. My favourite FTIsland song is an old one called Hello Hello

9. Girl’s Day

My favourite girl group! I wasn’t into girl groups for a long time so I came into Girl’s Day quite late; my first song of theirs was Something, which is still my favourite Girls Day song, tied with Expect

10. Infinite

My first Infinite song was Paradise, which is from their first album but not their debut song. I’ve had a lot of favourite Infinite songs, like Before the Dawn, Last Romeo, Destiny and Bad, but I think my favourite currently is Back

11. MBLAQ

MBLAQ are an old favourite of mine. My first song wasn’t their debut song, it was a song called Stay (again, kpop was…very different back then) and it’s probably still one of my favourite MBLAQ songs, but my ultimate favourite I think is This Is War (its a great karaoke song)

12. Monsta X

I love Monsta X with all my heart, though I got into them a little later. My first song was Hero from their second extended play, and is still a fave. I have many favourite Monsta X songs, most of them non-title tracks, Ex Girl, Perfect Girl, Incomparable, Amen, Broken Heart and Miss You to name a few, but for title tracks I think my favourite is a tie between Beautiful and Shine Forever - I also adore the acoustic version of Beautiful

I saw Monsta X at K-Con last year

EDIT: MONSTA X JUST HAD A COMEBACK LIKE YESTERDAY AND ITS’ THE BEST THING EVER

My new favourite Monsta X song is Jealousy, Destroyer, and Lost in the Dream - wait no Special, idk they’re all lit as fuck

13. NU’EST 

My first Nu’Est song was their debut song FACE. My favourite Nu’est song is probably Yeoboseyo, but I adore Not Over You and Good Bye Bye equally

14. Pentagon

My first Pentagon song was their debut Gorilla, and while my favourite used to be 감이 오지 it’s now Like This and Runaway

I saw Pentagon at K-Con last year

15. Seventeen

Seventeen is amazing; my first song of theirs was Shining Diamond, which is technically not their debut song Adore U because it’s not the tile-track, but it’s the first track on the album and I pre-ordered it before I listened to any of their material and Adore U was the second track is listened to so like idk point is I’ve been here since debut. Seventeen is made up of three sub-units that’s important, the vocal unit, the hip-hop unit, and the performance unit

I have a lot of fave Seventeen songs, including If I, Rock, 20, Say Yes and Adore U (vocal team ver.), and while Don’t Wanna Cry has been a long-standing fave,  lately I’ve fallen back in love with three songs in particular; 13월의 춤 from the Performance Unit, Trauma from the Hip-Hop Unit, and Change Up from the Seventeen leaders, a new unit made up of the leaders of each sub-unit

I saw Seventeen in Sydney a few years ago

16. SF9

I’ve been a fan of SF9 since their debut of Fanfare. I love this group and have so many favourites, like K.O, Easy Love, Jungle Game and Roar, but my favourite is O Sole Mio

I saw SF9 at K-Con last year

17. SHINee

SHINee was the first kpop group I fell in love with, my first song of theirs was Lucifer. There are so many faves I could list from SHINee. Dazzling Girl, Juliette, Amigo, Hello, In my Room, Romantic, SHINee Girl, JoJo, Up & Down, Electric Heart, A-Yo, Ready or Not, Love Pain TO NAME A FEW

My forever-fave is Replay their debut song and Quasimodo (and yes, I don’t listen to new SHINee stuff, I haven’t listened to any new songs since the Sherlock album, oh except like the title track Everybody and Why So Serious. I’m an old-school SHINee fan I prefer their old music)

If you’re going to get into SHINee you should be aware that their main singer Jonghyun recently committed suicide, so there’s a lot of pain in the community right now. I personally have not been able to listen to a single SHINee song since he died. I burst into tears when I tried to play Replay, and I did listen to Crazy, Jonghyun’s single debut, twice since then but I cried half way through both times and had to skip the song. 

18. Super Junior

MY ULTIMATE BIAS GROUP! 

My first song from SuJu was No Other, but since then I have loved all their other releases. I’ve bought every CD they’ve ever produced and practically devoted most of my life to them, so you could say I’m a bit of an ELF expert XD

My absolute favourite songs will always be Neorago, Evanesce and A-Cha (my must karaoke songs) but there are so many others.

Super Junior also has many sub-units including; Super Junior M (Chinese unit) Super Junior T (trot music unit) Super Junior Happy (cute concept unit) Super Junior K.R.Y (the vocal line unit consisting of Kyuhyun, Ryeowook and Yesung) and Super Junior D&E (dynamic duo unit with Donghae and Eunhyuk) 

Most of the members have their own solo careers too; Kyuhyun, Ryeowook and Yesung in particular, also SJM members Zhoumi and Henry. Heechul also has his own band with TRAX member Jungmo called M&D, they write their own lyrics and music, perform and film the mvs on their own - which is why they’re so weird xD Heechul’s a weirdo

A incomplete list of my favourite main group SuJu songs; Shake It Up!, Oops!!, 나쁜 여자, 사랑이 이렇게, Reset, What If, Dead at Heart, Happy Together,  Hit Me Up, Don’t Leave Me, Islands, Scene Stealer, Haru, Bittersweet, Daydream, So I, Over, Love U More, Sapphire Blue, Missin U, Our Love, 사랑이 죽는 병, One More Chance, Shirt, Opera (Japanese ver.), U, Don’t Don, Sorry Sorry, Marry U      

If you’re gonna check out the subgroups I recommend; D&E - Still You, Growing Pains, Sweater and Jeans, Don’t Wake Me Up, Breaking Up | SJM - Break Down, Perfection, Super Girl, Go, Strong | M&D - 울산바위, Close Ur Mouth, Springs Days of my Life (which is a cover I believe), Narcissus

and I’ll leave the other subgroups and solos to your own browsing pleasure, I’ve rambled about SuJu for too long already ^^;

19. Stray Kids

MY CURRENT OBSESSION! I LOVE THESE BOYS SO MUCH ;O;

Stray Kids originally appeared an a survival reality show for JYP’s next boy group. There was lots of pain and tears during the elimination rounds, and I won’t spoil it for you if you want to watch it, but I’m so happy the ot9 got to debut together - plus Chan and Felix are Australian! and Felix’s Aussie accent is thicker than mine xD it sounds so bad 

Since Stray Kids have only just debuted, as of like, freaking yesterday, they’ve only got a limited number of songs. But they’re all so good I HIGHLY recommend! Stray Kids released a pre-debut mixtape made up of the songs they wrote on their survival show, and yesterday they made their official debut with their second mixtape. 

So because they’ve only got those two albums so far, I’m going to link the entire albums here, along with their performance videos of Young Wings, Grr,  because honestly I can’t pick a favourite song from the two I love them both so much. Needless to say my first Stray Kids song was both their pre-debut title track Hellevator, and their official debut title track District 9 xD

Their first mixtape can be found in its entirety here, and their second album “I am NOT” here

AGAIN, I CANNOT RECOMMEND THESE BOYS ENOUGH

I HAVE SEEN THEM GO THROUGH SO MUCH PAIN AND ANGUISH TO GET TO THIS POINT AND I’M SO FUCKING PROUD OF THEM OKAY I’M VERY EMOTIONAL ABOUT THESE SWEETHEARTS

Ahem, moving on...

20. Teen Top

Teen Top is another old school fave of mine. My first Teen Top song was Crazy, which wasn’t their debut song Clap, but they both remain very nostalgic faves for me. 

My favourite Teen Top song is probably Love Is, tho it used to be I’m Sorry and Missing

21. UKISS

Ukiss debuted the same year as SHINee, so they were sort of overshadowed in their debut. My first UKISS song wasn’t their debut song, it was Man Man Ha Ni, which is most Kiss Me’s first song. 

Ukiss have lost a lot of members over the years, and gained new ones in return. Mostly they’re active in Japan rather than Korea so they have a lot more Japanese releases than Korean ones, tho my favourite remains 0330, a Korean release.  

Other of my faves include, Love On You, Mysterious Lady, She’s Mine, Quit Playing, Heartless, Tick Tack, Forbidden Love, DoraDora, Alone, Sweetie, Believe, Standing Still, Every Day, I Don’t Understand and Neverland

While I haven’t seen UKISS live, I did meet one of the members, my bias Kevin, at K-Con last year. He was the host and I got to meet him during my hi-touch event with UP10TION briefly - best day ever

Speaking of UP10TION...

22. UP10TION 

Another group I highly recommend, all the members are such talented sweethearts. My first UP10TION song was their debut song So Dangerous and it’s still a solid fave of mine, as well Runner 

Currently my fave song of theirs is tie between Going Crazy and their latest release Candyland in terms of title tracks, it used to be Catch Me! and Wild Love tho. Non-title tracks, I love Everyday, Be My Luck, Come With Me, and Holic  

I saw UP10TION at K-Con last year - I told Sunyoul he was really cute and he got so shy it was adorable, but I digress

23. VIXX

We’re nearly there just bear with me haha

VIXX is life, VIXX is love. My first song of theirs was their debut song Super Hero, which was..fine, I mean I’m very glad they’re where they are now they’ve progressed so much. 

My fave VIXX title song is probably Error, but I die for Fantasy, Hyde, The Closer, Shangri-La, and Chained Up too. For non-title tracks I adore Love Me Do, Eternity, Rock Ur Body, Six Feet Under and The Romance is Over. 

I saw VIXX last year in Melbourne    

24. Winner

Winner is the forgotten group of YG, who’s only interest lies in Big Bang let’s be real. Personally I prefer Winner, but that opinion seems to be controversial in the kpop fandom (Big Bang is overrated, there I said it). Winner is the product of a reality survival show, who won their debut that way over their competitors iKon who debuted later under the same label.  

Anyway, my first Winner song was their debut song Empty, though my favourite remains Different. For title songs my favourite is a tie between Really Really and Fool. I love their first album the most so I can only rec my faves from that album, Don’t flirt, I’m Him, Love is a lie and Color Ring.

25. Day6

I know this is D but it’s down here bc they’re not on my playlist I was working from and I forgot to add them earlier. 

Day6 is another band group, from JYP the company Stray Kids has just debuted from. They have consistently released a comeback every month for the last year so they work hard to get where they are and we need more fans for these sweethearts. 

My favourite Day6 is also my first song, I Loved You, which isn’t their debut song but I got into them a little late. From them all their songs are stellar, but I recommend Free, How Can I Say, When You Love Someone, What Can I Do, Man in a movie, I Wait, I Smile, Out of my Mind, I Like You and First Time  

ps most of the mvs tell the clearly obvious one-sided love story between Wonpil and Sungjin and no one can tell me different

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

For groups that I love but didn’t make it into the top *counts* 25 apparently 

NCT, including their sub-units NCT U, NCT Dream and NCT 127. My favourite are NCT U and 127 

For NCT U I recommend Without You, The 7th Sense, Baby Don’t Stop and Boss

From NCT 127 I recommend Cherry Bomb, Mad City, Good Thing, Whiplash, Baby Don’t Like It

Wanna One - a product of another reality survival show called Produce 101, out of 101 trainees these boys from various companies were picked. Their contract has been extended but it does end this year, so they will be disbanding and returning to their companies. Still, they have some good music that I recommend, Energetic, Boomerang, Burn It Up, and Beautiful   

VAV - ABC, Flower, Under the Moonlight

GOT7 - also from JYP, I recommend Girls Girls Girls, Just Right, If You Do, Look, and Never Ever  

VICTON - Eyez Eyez, Blank, #Begin Again

ROMEO - Love Sick, Miro, Without U, Hustle

MYTEEN - Amazing, Mr. Misery

Madtown, who have sadly disbanded now - OMGT, New World, Lie

iKon - Rhythm Ta, Dumb & Dumber, My Type

JJCC - BingBingBing, Be Good, Insomnia, Fire, Trauma, Where you at

Cross Gene - Billion Dolla, Shooting Star, La-Di Da-Di, Sky High, Black or White

History, who have also disbanded recently - What Am I To You, Queen, Might Just Die, Psycho    

[laughingpinecone]

Chocobox 2019 letter

I am laughingpineapple on AO3

This year’s theme is, apparently, out-of-left-field intra-party interactions (plus the occasional ship). For any of these, I’d be thrilled to get any small situation or event that highlights the dynamic you see between these characters - show me what ties them together, what could make them drop their barriers with the other person. Or a big situation! I like plotty fic too! But especially if we matched on some bizarre “&” combo that never even interacted in canon, I’d love to simply see what a scene between them could be like.

All requests are art or fic - for art, my fave kind of fanart is based on interaction. It can be super simple - one character makes a face and the other one emotes accordingly, or they’re having a cup of coffee together, walking together, chatting, that kind of stuff. Anything that shows that they enjoy each other’s company, or have each other’s back, or get on each other’s nerves but with gusto. Slice of life fanart, if you will.

Likes: worldbuilding, slice of life (doubly so if the event the fic focuses on is made up but canon-specific), missing moments, 5+1 and similar formats, bonding and emotional support/intimacy, physical intimacy, lingering touches, loyalty, casefic, surrealism, established relationships, future fic, hurt/comfort or just comfort from the ample canon hurt, throwing characters into non-canon environments, banter, functional relationships between dysfunctional individuals, unexplained mysteries, bittersweet moods, journal/epistolary fic, dreams and memories and identities, canon-adjacent tropey plots , outsider POV, UST, exploration of secondary bits of canon, leaning on the uniqueness of the canon setting/mood, found families, characters reuniting after a long and/or harrowing time, friends-to-lovers, road trips, cuddling, wintry moods, flannel, ridiculous concepts played straight,sensory details, sickfic

Cool with: any tense, any pov, any rating, plotty, not plotty, gen, shippy, IF, nerdy canon references, unrequested characters popping up

DNW: non-canonical rape, non-canonical children, unrequested ships, canon retellings, consent issues

Final Fantasy VI 

Gogo & Cyan Garamonde

Mog & Terra Branford

Sabin Rene Figaro & Celes Chere

Sabin Rene Figaro & Cyan Garamonde

Strago Magus & Celes Chere

I recently replayed FFVI and truly fell in love with it for the first time. The game does a wonderful job of juggling such a big party but I spent all the downtime daydreaming about all the intra-party dynamics I could think of - these characters are all so cool and should talk to each other more. Worldbuilding also very welcome if that’s your thing. I don’t have any strong shippy feelings here but if you want to background something, I do dig Celes/Terra.

Gogo & Cyan: ascetic Gogo leaves their cave to fight for a higher cause. What’s it like, being a hermit but having a skillset that is literally based on other people? Something something abnegation of the self? What’s it like, suddenly being among so many loud, unique people? Do they and Cyan meditate together and find a moment of respite from the crowded mess that is the Falcon, what does Cyan think about them, what does it feel like to see Doma’s otherwise lost sword techniques mimicked on the battlefield? (I default to they for Gogo but he or she work just as well. I’d just like them to be their own person, no identity reveals. And a pretty big person at that, going by Amano’s artwork, regardless of gender!)

Mog & Terra: fae folk bonding, basically? It’s such a central aspect of Terra’s character but I saw it in Mog too - the way moogles break the fourth wall, how they help her at the beginning like an aid from the earth itself, and Mog’s own Geomancer skillset, his dances that draw from the power of the earth... so maybe some cute friendship between these two otherworldly characters, each in their own way?

Sabin & Celes: Celes could use some friends she could rely on and Sabin always felt so... safe to me. Good bear. So when they got their moment to shine in the World of Ruin, I was overjoyed. Sabin’s comforting presence was just what she needed to find first! And that long chocobo ride along the serpent trench, chasing hope, seeing the cultists’ tower from afar...

Sabin & Cyan: Sabin’s leg of the journey is something else and I’d love to know more about his adventures with Cyan, or their feelings about their homes, one lost, one left behind. They’re both pretty emotionally charged at that point and I think it’d be interesting to explore. They also share some form of martial training, making imho for an interesting common ground.

Strago & Celes: descendant of the mage knights & artificially infused magitek knight, what does magic feel to them? Does Strago’s odd family have space for an added granddaughter (especially if Cid died on the island, but Strago was the Coolest Grandpa anyway, no offense to Dr Del Norte Marquez and his magnificent banana coat)?

Ghost Trick

Cabanela & Pigeon Man

Jowd & Lynne

Jowd & Pigeon Man

Jowd & Sissel

Alma/Cabanela/Jowd

Jowd/Alma & Cabanela

Alma & Cabanela

Cabanela/Jowd

Lynne & Memry

Lynne/Memry

Pigeon Man & Memry

Cabanela & Sissel

Jowd & Yomiel

Open to AUs here, especially for generic fantasy or sci-fi settings or the Final Fantasy ones I prompted for Yuletide. GT is one of my forever fandoms, I love all about it, especially how heartfelt and over the top it manages to be at the same time.

Cabs & PM: how do they meet in the new timeline, what makes their odd friendship stick this time? I love how they play off each other, with Pigeon Man’s snark bouncing off Cabs like water off a duck’s back...

Jowd & Lynne: please show me the Worst Mentor doing his Worst Mentoring? How is chicken involved? (this one would lend itself particularly well to a Jedi AU, I suspect) Or does Lynne’s optimism save the day on one occasion when Jowd is doing his cheerful nihilist thing?

Jowd & PM: anything about their friendships from back in the day when Pigeon Man was still Jowd’s coroner to a new timeline where PM is still fascinated by meteors/astronomy/alien conspiracies and Jowd humors him...

Jowd & Sissel: oh the shenanigans. Some clever communication between them, on a case or otherwise? Sissel doing cat things? Gossiping through the ghost world?

Alma/Cabanela/Jowd: what’s a hobby one of them has that the other two are dragged into? How about a day at the beach? Or in a cabin? I’ll take hot springs or basically any standard anime filler plot too. Unless you want to write about their get-together, which will never get old for me.

Jowd/Alma & Cabanela: see above but with INTENSE found family instead. Cabanela finding a place where he belongs, two people who feel like home. I can totally see it not being romantic at all and just as intense. When did it click for them?

Cabanela/Jowd: please no infidelity, I only like the ship without Alma during the canon times when Alma is dead or at most a what-if where she’s not around. Did Cabanela lower his mask for a hot minute during their walk to the minister’s office? What if he’d stayed dead and tagged along with Jowd and Lynne after 15? What if no-reset scenarios? Or office shenanigans where Alma is backgrounded by virtue of not working there but she’s okay with what’s going on.

Lynne & Memry: next generation detectives! Action! Ridiculous murders! Secret ghost cats! A little bit in the future maybe? Odd girl & odder girl teaming up and leaning into each other’s quirks... maybe undercover?

Lynne/Memry: same as above but they kiss - and Memry trying to get through Lynne’s obliviousness sounds like my kind of fun.

Pigeon Man & Memry: please evacuate everyone else from the expected blast radius when these two start talking. But she’s a detective - Special Investigation Unit, at that! - and he used to be a coroner and still has several aces up his sleeve, so who knows what could get them working together...

Cabanela & Sissel: let Sissel have his fun. He’s been eyeing Cabanela’s quirks since that fateful night, please let him tag along and enjoy the eccentricities. He can do the whole noir detective narration and Cabanela (who, lbr, would jump at the chance to be even more extra) can act accordingly...

Jowd & Yomiel: the PTSD team. Even beyond the experiences they have in common and the memories they can’t share with anyone else who’d truly understand them, there’s something about their approach to life that makes me think they’d bond quick and be able to get over the respective atrocities. They also share Sissel! What do they talk about in jail, or what do they do on a day off once Yomiel is out (cat dads’ cat date!!)?

Pyre

Big Bertrude & Volfred Sandalwood

Celeste | The Gate Guardian & Tariq | The Lone Minstrel

Sir Gilman & Jodariel

Vagabond Girl & Tariq | The Lone Minstrel

Volfred Sandalwood/Tariq | The Lone Minstrel

Hedwyn & Jodariel

Any cutesy activity lifted from the game would be great, like X doing laundry with Y. Any postcanon very welcome with any combination of endings as long as the revolution was peaceful. I love everyone so much. Good with background Volfred/Oralech, Bertrude/Pamitha if applicable.

Bertrude & Volfred: something nice Volfred does for Bertrude? Some mild adventure as he brought her to the Nightwings? A bizarre request for her shop? That dialogue about their relationship slew me dead - friendship through unrequited love is one of my rare tropes, so I’d like to see any aspect of their bond. Or epistolary with an ending that splits them, either way?

Celeste & Tariq: something completely alien set at any point before the ending, showing how inhuman they both are (but maybe Tariq picked up /something/ during his travels?) or, on the contrary, figuring out humanity as they travel together as a mysterious indie duo?

Sir Gilman & Jodariel: On war, honor, the Bloodborder... Sir Gilman is in awe of her, obviously, but is she in a state of mind where she can be boosted by his unrelenting energy?

ae & Tariq: Moon Moon! And Tariq looks like someone who knows a whole lot about the Scribes, so I think she might try to figure him out at some point, in her own way... but mostly, moon connection...

Volfred/Tariq: All I know is Tariq of all people fell and fell hard - he makes it sound like Volfred is the biggest deal ever and he's some servant... but he's the herald and Volfred is actually some dude who got kicked Downside (albeit a particularly charismatic and idealistic dude). And I like this dual imbalance very much. What happened in the woods during Volfred’s self-imposed exile? Or do they find each other again after the ending, in the Union? If you want to lean on how alien Tariq is and/or how tree Volfred is, please do!

Hedwyn & Jodariel: (I see them as brotherly more than mother-and-son, fwiw) what was their reunion like? How much did Hedwyn find Jodariel changed, horns and dramatic makeup aside? What about fic where her transformation recedes in the Union? Or their early days in the blackwagon - or their late days in the blackwagon when it’s not just them anymore? What can she absolutely count on him for?

The Last Guardian

The Boy & Trico

The boy & the very good boy... I’d like to read about a distant reunion. I was surprised by the boy being the combo breaker after the former Ueda protagonists cast their societies behind. He gets to live his life with his people, apparently, but what makes him leave and find Trico again? What’s their bond like, years later? Or is it Trico who comes back to search for him?

The Last Remnant

David Nassau & Allan

David Nassau & Duke of Ghor

David Nassau & Emmy Honeywell

David Nassau & Roberto

Emmy Honeywell/Glenys

Pagus/Maddox/Sibal

David/Rush is a welcome exception to my “no unrequested ships” DNW. I’m mostly interested in post-game exploration, which means either a David who has lost his bf or fic set further in the future where Rush has somehow come back.

David & Allan: Allan is tsundere enough about Torgal (not necessarily in a romantic sense!) and enough of a stuck-up cat in general that I think it’d be fun to throw a skilled diplomat at him, and one who knows Torgal very well at that.

David & Ghor: I like the Duke of Ghor a lot, and the more well-adjusted Yama characters in general. Politics talk? Or something more personal? What’s Ghor’s position in the new political landscape, what would David’s visit be like?

David & Emmy: if David was Emma’s filial figure and Emmy her actual daughter, did they perchance grow up together before Emmy left for her journey? How about some reminiscing? What did Emma teach them, how are they coping and moving forward?

David & Roberto: Can someone please adopt the good Marquis - celibate Roberto, for example? I imagine they could feel at ease with each other, got each other’s emotional back covered...

Emmy/Glenys: Sword lesbians? With very different hangups about proving themselves... if you want to go full weird with Glenys, especially wrt her mysterious connection to the homonymous kingdom, be my guest!

Pagus/Maddox/Sibal: old men being together like they couldn’t be in their youth when life got in the way, please? Get-together (who makes a move...? or established Qsiti triad would all be amazing...

Twin Peaks

Harry Truman & Garland Briggs

Albert Rosenfield/Harry Truman & Frank Truman/Doris Truman

Gordon Cole & Constance Talbot

Gordon Cole/Phillip Jeffries

Maddy Ferguson & Audrey Horne

Dale Cooper & Laura Palmer & Wally Brando

Dale Cooper/Albert Rosenfield

Albert Rosenfield/Harry Truman

Dale Cooper/Harry Truman

Dale Cooper/Albert Rosenfield/Harry Truman

Bobby Briggs & James Hurley

Chet Desmond/Sam Stanley

The mystery of the woods. How do they relate to the woods, what do they gain and what do they lose in the woods. Case fic but they don’t find out jack shit, someone disappears, David Bowie was there, it’s complicated. Fragmented, shifted, mirrored identities. New Lodge spaces. The risks of staring into the void for too long. Gentle illusions. The moon. Static buzzing. Any title from the s3 ethereal whooshing compilation used as a prompt, actually. AUs and fusion AUs are great for this fandom! I have Final Fantasy on my mind a lot recently so any FFVI, VII, T, IX, X, XII or XIII reimagining would be fantastic, but also regular fantasy, space opera, sci-fantasy… anything fancy!

Canon-specific dislikes: any singular Dreamer being the ‘source’ of canon, BOB (let alone Judy) being forever defeated in the finale, Judy being an active malevolent presence in the characters’ lives, ‘Odessaverse’ being the reality layer, the Fireman’s House by the Sea being the White Lodge, Gordon being a harmless, fun dad or conversely having the worst intentions. Clear explanations for canonical ambiguities.

Harry & Garland: Bookhouse Boys&Bue Rose-adjacent friendship, quietly aware of the mysteries that surround them? Or, as per Mark Frost’s AMA, Harry finding out important info throughout the 25 years and passing them to Garland - but Garland isn’t conventionally alive and physical throughout the 25 years, so did he travel through strange places to reach him?

Albert/Harry & Frank/Doris: Albert needs someone to shout AT, Doris needs some to shout BACK, I think. It could be therapeutic for both of them. Could they meet through the Trumans? Frank and Doris’ relationship can be as complicated and probably doomed as we saw it - I do feel that they care for each other and I’m really invested but it’s too strained, too sad.

Gordon & Constance:is she involved in some new strange case or is Gordon cleaning up the Briggs mess? What’s it like, sparring with someone who still has the fire of a young Albert? What does she suspect? (no Albert/Constance, please. Albert&Constance otoh I’m interested in)

Gordon Cole/Phillip Jeffries: does Gordon eventually manage to throw himself into the void (that’s one way of considering a retirement plan!) and reach Phillip? What’s left inside that teapot alembic, or is he the smoke? How did Gordon even get word from Phil - in his pt17 infodump, he seems perfectly aware of the other’s status - what kind of contact have they kept? I love all the fanon I’ve seen for them, if you want to lean into it.

Maddy Ferguson & Audrey Horne: looking for Laura in each other, finding out they’re not Laura through each other? It’s a shame that Maddy and Donna never really got to explore this angle in canon and it’s an even bigger shame that Maddy and Audrey, also on her path toward Laura-ification, didn’t even meet! Or, if you will, wild postcanon meeting. Mfrost said Maddy is alive now, so...!

Dale Cooper & Laura Palmer & Wally Brando: I have a soft spot for Dale and Laura traveling through strange spaces, lost, slowly healing. On this background, imagine, if you will: Wally speeding by on his bike. I need this meeting...

Dale Cooper/Albert Rosenfield: fiery early days? Dream meetings that Albert will inevitably write off as a product of his aching subconscious? Post-finale where Albert has made his peace with Coop not being part of this world and not even deigning to greet him, except one day Coop is back - with apologies? Post-post-finale where they’re peacefully living out their days as best as they can?

Albert Rosenfield/Harry Truman: did they tragically fall into each other’s arms in the wake of Coop’s disappearance? Did they realize they’re so good for each other, but neither of them was willing to give up their life? And/or was the wound of Coop’s disappearance too fresh for them to try to heal? Do they keep in touch throughout the years? Does Albert resign on the spot with a resounding fuck it after the s3 finale and rush to see Harry? Does he stay this time?

Dale Cooper/Harry Truman: Harry seeing his Coop again… somewhere, somehow. Maybe he perceives him in the woods, maybe Coop isn’t all human now. Monster cuddles very welcome. Could be canon divergence but could very well be post-s3. Harry getting closure for waiting all that time in front of Glastonbury and never giving up on Coop… they can live in the woods together…

Dale Cooper/Albert Rosenfield/Harry Truman: basically the sum of the three sides of this triad… give them peace, given them nice things, give them so much love… Coop finding his place in the world and making up for lost time… give time to these old wounds…

Bobby Briggs & James Hurley: once Laura stops being a burning wedge between them, could they maybe... begin to get along? There’s something to be said about their complementary approaches to the bad boy image - besides, Shelly thinks that James was always cool and Bobby does value her opinion! Could also be Bobby/Shelly & James, if the Briggs manage to reconcile... maybe through James somehow?

Chet Desmond/Sam Stanley: reunion fic! Chet’s been AWOL for years, Sam has fallen through the cracks, how do they find each other again and why do they choose to remain off the grid? I would also like to read about them in the present day-ish, handwaving the return and reunion. Maybe they made a new life for themselves. If Sutherland were to play Sam again, Sam would be… notably more buff. What caused that change, was it traveling with Chet, what kind of person is he now? Could they be in Buenos Aires, investigating on their own whatever that shrinking box was?