#but at the end of the day any story with the premise ''look how cool this one guy is'' is. going to be about how cool that one guy is

[gureumz]

if only you knew (that i can see you)

rating: explicit

member: jay

premise: you're enhypen's new manager and it's palpable how instantly this one member takes a liking to you. you're adamant about keeping things professional but he's very persuasive.

notes: fem!reader, dom!jay, slightly dubious consent, dirty talk, mentions of vomiting, unprotected sex, clothed sex, creampie, a quickie (but a very hot one imo), office romance-ish (?), mentions of drinking, lmk if i missed anything!

a/n: fourth of my 1k follower special! oh, writer's block is a bitch. one whole month of nothing and i churn this out in one night. big, big apologies if i've become rusty over the past month, but i couldn't get this story out of my head. also, title is by from madame swift's 'i can see you'. please enjoy!

you feel like throwing up. right this minute, right at this very second.

you're fully convinced that you're about to hurl all over your pristine brand-new sneakers, spewing chunks of this morning's breakfast (a single cup of iced coffee) on the company's shiny, newly-waxed floor.

you're moments away from it, you can feel something catch in your throat. this is it, you know this is it. goodbye to your new job, your company benefits, goodbye to this godforsaken earth—

"sorry, are you lost?"

you whip around, eyes wide. towering over you is a man, sharp-featured, lean, and unbelievably handsome.

you swallow, trying to find an answer to give.

"i'm the new assistant manager. sejin-sunbaenim told me to come straight to dance practice room 2," you manage to say with as minimal tremor as you can. the man raises both eyebrows.

"oh, it's you," the handsome stranger says, bowing. "you're ______."

you nod, chest loosening at the sound of your name. so you're in the right place, after all. one less thing to worry about.

"that's me," you confirm, bowing back.

"cool. i'm jay," the man responds with an easy smile. he reaches out and you grasp his hand in yours.

oh, he's so warm.

"i...know," you mumble out, chuckling nervously.

jay grins. he drops your hand, motioning to the door behind you.

"sejin-nim is inside. so are the others," jay informs, reaching over for the door handle. you sidestep, and for a moment, you feel like a nervous bunny, jumping all over the place and flinching at the slightest sound.

in your defense, the last thing you want is to cross any boundaries on your first day.

jay smiles at you again, pulling the door open. "after you."

you blink, momentarily distracted by the dimple on his cheek. you quickly regain your bearings, smiling sheepishly as you step into the room.

you're quickly whisked into a flurry of introductions. each enhypen member seems equally excited, or at least pleased, to meet you. they shake your hand, bow, and greet you with bright, boyish smiles.

you're dazed by the end of it all, but at least you're not thinking about throwing up anymore.

"you have the calendar i shared with you, right?" sejin, your superior, asks after the members have difted off, busying themselves with warm-ups.

you recall the zoom conference you had with sejin a week ago, how you pored over every phone number, email, and address pertinent to your job as enhypen's new manager.

"yes," you answer.

"everything's there. all orange tasks are mine, and all blue ones are kyungjun's. he's not here now, but you'll meet him probably tomorrow. you can pick another color for your tasks in the mean time," sejin explains.

"i'll email you every morning with things i need help with and you can add those to the calendar afterward," he continues. "for today, i just want you to shadow me to see what a typical day looks like for us."

you nod along, occasionally glancing at your phone, the managers' calendar flashed on your screen.

you ignore the way your heart drops when you see the stacks of orange and blue piled on each tile.

as if reading your thoughts, sejin chuckles beside you. "it may look like a lot, but the boys make it easier. they're total professionals."

you laugh along, turning back to the group. your eyes immediately settle on jay who's quick to catch your gaze.

he smiles and you smile back.

---

"________-nim! how was your first day?"

you look up from your phone, momentarily abandoning the email you were composing, an inquiry sejin assigned you to send to a local media franchise. you were on your fifth reread.

you realize with a start that it's jay.

he sets a large paper bag down on the table. you're late to notice the drink carrier he has in his other hand.

"well, however it went, i got you a drink and dinner to commemorate your first day," jay adds, taking one out of the two drinks from the carrier. he slides the cup towards you and your cheeks immediately heat up.

"you didn't have to," you say, laughing nervously. "you're too kind, jay."

jay beams at this. he pushes the paper bag towards you as well.

"this is from all the members," jay informs. "as thanks for working hard today."

before you can reply, jay bows briefly before waving goodbye and walking away.

you stare at the paper bag for a few moments, a weird flutter taking over your body.

---

jay is...strange.

or, at least, you think he's been acting strange.

it's only been a little over a month since your first day. it was easy for you to fall into a routine, seeing as the group is in between promotions. a photoshoot every other day, a pre-recording once a week, dance practice every day after dinner. the most stress you've had so far was when you forgot to phone the van driver about a change in schedule, leaving you and half the members stranded at a certain broadcast station.

jay had comforted you then, as you were near tears. he laid a hand on your shoulder, his thumb rubbing against your sweater in an attempt to soothe you.

"it happens," jay had said. you didn't even notice his hand had moved from your arm down to the small of your back.

"you're doing great," he added before withdrawing his hand.

you thought about that moment the whole night. how warm his touch was, how gentle he handled your near-breakdown.

he was your responsibility and yet jay was the one that came to your rescue.

you went out on your first official team dinner a few days after that, with the whole managerial team present along with the members. sejin recommended a quaint, yet highly-acclaimed restaurant off one of the side streets around the company.

jay had squeezed in beside you at the table, so close you can feel his body heat radiating off him. a few times his knees knocked against yours but neither of you acted like you noticed.

it was then the first inkling of suspicion rose in you.

could jay be...?

surely not. he was just being nice. he's the literal definition of a gentleman. it's just the way jay is.

of course. it's totally in his character to bring you coffee almost every day. it's normal that he rushes to open every door you walk through. there's definitely nothing weird about him gifting you an expensive box of chocolates for completing your first month on the job.

he's not flirting with you. that would be silly.

you sigh, shaking off these thoughts as you approach the small practice booth at the end of the hall. you can hear the sound of a guitar from the inside.

"jay?" you call out, knuckles knocking against the glass door. the guitar stops.

"yeah?" comes a muffled voice from inside. you slowly push the door open, peeking your head in.

jay is seated in front of the computer, his electric guitar cradled in his arms. he's sporting a loose white shirt and black joggers. his hair is unstyled, black tresses falling over his eyes. he brushes it back with his fingers.

"you have a recording like—," you pause, checking your watch. "right now."

jay gives a start, checking his phone. he groans, setting his guitar down on its stand.

"right," he mutters under his breath. he sighs, rising up from his seat.

you watch as he stretches, the bottom of his shirt riding up to reveal the top of his boxers peeking out from his pants. you catch a glimpse of a very thin sliver of skin.

you try your best to ignore that.

"you better hurry before the producer kicks both of our asses," you urge lightly, crossing your arms. you've been trying to be more assertive with the members lately, seeing as you've already had enough time to know more about them and how they're supposed to be spending their days under your supervision.

"yes ma'am," jay replies, approaching you. you step out of the doorway to let him pass.

he doesn't move for a few seconds and you peer up at him with a questioning look on your face.

"can i ask you something?" jay blurts out, shoving his hands in his pockets.

you glance around to make sure no one is nearby. you have a feeling he's about to ask something that's a little less appropriate for work.

"are you single?"

you nearly choke on your own spit. you had a sense of what he was going to ask, but you never expected him to be this direct.

"may i know why you're asking?" you reply, treading carefully. one wrong move and you can end up dismissed from this long-coveted job of yours.

jay shrugs. "just curious."

you chew on your lip, contemplating how to go about his question. you let out a breath, deciding that there's no harm in being truthful.

"i am," you confirm.

jay nods. "same."

you quirk an eyebrow at this. cocking your head to the side, you ask, "really? how come?"

"i'm sure you see how busy we are," jay counters with a smirk.

it's your turn to shrug. "that doesn't stop jake from texting that girl from—"

"you know about that?!" jay cuts in, his voice dropping to a whisper.

you snicker, shaking your head.

"i know a lot of things, jay. i'm with you guys almost every waking hour of the day," you inform.

jay looks at you with an unreadable expression. something between fear and confusion. it makes you giggle.

"i technically should take it up with HR and higher management, but the other managers and i agreed that until you guys decide to go sneaking off on late-night dates, we'll keep it under wraps."

jay's mouth hangs open, still in disbelief.

"so, if you're planning on taking some girl out, you better let me know," you say, giving jay a pointed look.

jay's expression changes then as he ducks his head to avoid your eyes.

"not gonna happen," he says.

jay gives you a curt nod and smile before pushing past you out into the hallway.

---

you and jay don't talk about that night.

you know that he knows that you know the reason he asked about the state of your love life. he definitely did it on purpose to open up the discussion.

you're determined to squash the notion before it develops further.

you're not doing it to be mean. you'd never want to hurt jay on purpose. but you have a job to do and a reputation to keep.

jay knows that. he should know that.

you get the impression that even if he did, he doesn't care. not when he's sauntering over to you now, a bag of food and an iced coffee in his hands.

"mind if i join you?" jay asks, already sliding into the seat across you. there's barely any other people in the hybe cafeteria but a nervous chill still runs up your spine.

this is nothing. just a friendly lunch between a manager and her member.

"you didn't leave me much choice," you say with a laugh.

jay shrugs, winking at you playfully. you quickly avert your eyes. better to not say anything.

"i like your outfit today," jay compliments, taking a sip of his coffee.

you glance down at yourself. you're in a plain, short-sleeved blouse, white and a little sheer. you paired it with comfortable black corduroy pants and sneakers.

nothing special. to you, at least.

you had to feign ignorance on the way jay had stared at you the whole morning while you were in a meeting.

"thank you," you reply curtly, taking a bite of your kimbap.

"i'm taking you guys home tonight." you quickly revert to another subject.

"kyungjun-sunbaenim has to attend to other things so he assigned me to make sure all of you get home safe and in one piece for today."

jay nods. "got it."

"you guys don't have anything scheduled after 11 so i expect all of you to be at the lobby by that time," you add.

you can feel jay staring as you continue to pick at your food. you fight the urge to look up.

"will do," he finally says.

---

"do you need me to walk you guys up?"

you lean out of the passenger side window, watching as the members file out of the vans in front of their apartment building. thankfully, they all heeded your word, showing up at the lobby at 11:05, ready to head home for the day.

as if to prove that the heavens were on your side, the ride home was awfully quiet, too, which was a surprise considering that it was jay, jake, and sunghoon that decided to ride along with you.

jungwon shakes his head to your question, walking up to your side of the van.

"we're good, _______-noona," jungwon says. "you get home safe, though!"

riki nods along, skipping up to you. "yeah, or else jay hyung is g—"

the youngest is cut off with a sharp elbow to his ribs by jay. riki splutters out in disbelief, complaining, but he's herded off by sunoo.

"good night," jay calls out over his shoulder, waving at you.

you wave back, observing as the boys enter the building, finally letting yourself relax as the last of them disappear through the doors.

---

a vibration jolts against your cheek and you gasp as you're ripped right out of your deep slumber.

you realize in your sleep-hazed mind that it's your phone that woke you up, ringing incessantly. you must have fallen asleep with your face against it.

you press the 'answer' button, the faint beginnings of irritability creeping up your chest.

"hello?" you say, voice sharp.

"_______-noona? i'm so sorry for waking you if you were sleeping, but i didn't know who else to call. we're sorry but we went out to drink after you dropped us off and jay hyung had a little more alcohol than he could handle."

the voice rambles on and it takes you a second to remember who it belongs to.

"jungwon? where are you? who's with you?"

a short pause. you hear the faint sound of a voice, rapidly complaining. you think it's sunoo.

"we took a cab back to our apartment but jay hyung won't get up so we're out here on the front steps," jungwon explains.

"he's just too heavy for sunoo-hyung and i while he's in this state, and the rest of the hyungs are already passed out upstairs," he adds.

you press a hand on your forehead. this can't be happening right now.

a million thoughts run through your head but you will them to quiet down, focusing instead at the task at hand.

"how about riki?" you ask.

"nothing is going to wake him up now, noona," jungwon says, exasperated.

"please, we're not in the—hic—best state, either," jungwon continues. you can still hear sunoo in the background.

you fight the urge to groan.

"okay, okay, i'm on my way," you finally say.

---

you practically fly out of the taxi, not even bothering to wait for your change. you see three figures at the front of the building and you immediately recognize them as jay, sunoo, and jungwon.

"what the hell, jay?" you ask, rushing over. sunoo and jungwon have resigned themselves to sitting on both sides of jay's sprawled figure on the stairs.

jay is on his side, hands tucked under his head as if sleeping on the most comfortable bed instead of rough concrete.

"we tried," sunoo says with a pout. his eyes are glassy, but his speech seems fine. probably tipsy, you think.

"i can carry him just fine," jungwon speaks up. his speech is definitely slurred. "but that's when he's conscious and when i'm not drunk off three bottles of soju."

"jesus christ," you say under your breath.

"okay, i'll grab from under his arms, sunoo you grab his legs, and jungwon, support his torso and that big fat ass of his," you instruct, positioning yourself at jay's head.

jay giggles suddenly, eyes blinking open slowly.

"you think my ass is fat?" jay asks, barely comprehensible with how drunk he is.

"shut up," you respond, huffing. you tuck your hands at his armpits, hooking your arms through.

sunoo and jungwon follow suit.

carrying a nearly six-foot-tall man weighing more than what you can deadlift in the rare times you're at the gym was exactly as difficult as you expected, even with additional help.

it took the three of you ten whole minutes to haul jay towards the elevator and about fifteen to get him down the hall to their unit.

only god knows where the apartment's security guard is amidst all this.

"just a little more," you pant as you combine your efforts to drag jay towards his shared bedroom with jake.

you kick the door open as you heave all your might into getting jay across the threshold.

the room's empty. jake's probably in heeseung's room.

your legs give out before you can get jay to his bed. sunoo and jungwon fall to their knees as well, all three of you breathing heavily from the effort.

"i need to throw up," jungwon declares, dashing out of the room.

"i need...," sunoo pauses, a hand held up as if to silence you, despite you not having said a word.

"i need water and an aspirin," sunoo finally says, stumbling out of the room as well.

he's gracious enough to close the door behind him.

you get up, feeling around for a bedside lamp, muttering a soft 'yes' when you finally feel a switch between your fingers. you turn the lamp on, bathing the room in a soft yellow glow.

you turn to see jay's slumped figure, his back resting on the foot of one of the beds. you approach quietly, kneeling down next to him.

"you're such an idiot," you whisper, brushing back some of the damp hair away from jay's forehead. "who told you to get this drunk?"

"no one," jay responds. you nearly jump, not expecting jay to be lucid at this point in time.

"you know i'm gonna have to tell the other managers about this," you softly berate jay, tugging off his jacket. he giggles, holding his hands over his chest.

"why are you undressing me? do you wanna fuck me or something?" jay asks in his drunken stupor.

you roll your eyes. "no, stupid, i'm making sure you're as comfortable as you can be while in this state."

"liar," jay counters. "you so wanna fuck me."

"i could report you for inappropriate behavior," you reply quietly, throwing jay's jacket to the side. you reach for the topmost buttons of his polo.

"see? you're getting me naked," jay continues, reaching out to take ahold of your wrist.

you stop to look up and you realize that jay has his eyes open, pupils focused on you. his grip tightens around your wrist as he pulls you closer.

"you know right?" jay asks.

your first instinct is to feign innocence, to ask him what he's talking about.

but you do know.

"you're drunk, jay," you supply rather simply. "we'll talk tomorrow."

jay smiles, reaching out to cup one side of your face. you freeze, letting jay's thumb run along your cheekbone before traveling down to your lips. he traces the curves of your mouth, staring intently.

you don't know whether you leaned in or if jay pulled you down, but a moment later, your mouth is against his, a desperate, messy press of lips. he licks right into you, and you can't help the groan that escapes you.

you can't be doing this. this is a clear breach of protocol, this is illegal, even.

"jay," you whisper against his lips. "jay, please."

jay pauses, pulling away slightly. he nuzzles against your cheek, waiting for you to speak.

"we can't keep doing this," you say, prying jay off you. "at least not when you're still drunk."

jay gives you a long, hard look. his eyes are half-lidded as if a step away from sleep. his mouth is parted, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

"i'll remember this tomorrow," jay declares.

you sigh, leaning in to peck his lips one last time.

"we'll see."

---

the whole thing blew up in the members' faces. and yours.

you got a good telling-off from sejin, but thankfully nothing reached upper management. the whole group was called into one of the conference rooms the next day and sejin spared no one in his heated scolding. not even riki.

('i was sleeping!' riki had argued. sejin planted his hands firmly on his hips and listed the many different ways ni-ki could have contacted any of the managers to at least inform us of the older members' whereabouts)

you stood very still in the corner, having already received the tamer, abridged version of sejin's speech.

it's been a week now and everything was as normal as it could be, the only difference being that the whole group would be required to have their locations turned on at all times for the next few weeks until management was sure they wouldn't pull another stunt like that again.

oh, and you've been avoiding jay like the plague.

you're thankful that he made no effort in approaching you outside of what was appropriate for work and whenever he did, he'd look anywhere but your face.

it hurt you a bit to see him like this, knowing that he's probably embarrassed with the whole thing. though, you're not quite sure if he's also affected by or if he even remembers the incident in his room.

you're so deep in thought while storming down the hallway, that you nearly run into someone. their firm arms reach out to keep you steady as you try and regain your balance.

you look up and all air is knocked out of your lungs.

"oh, hi jay," you greet, stepping back. your palms clam up as memories of that night the week before flash in your mind.

"hi, ________-noona," he replies.

seconds tick by and no one talks. you know you should say something, anything. an apology, a snarky remark, or a lame excuse to get away. but nothing comes to mind.

"i'm sorry about what happened," jay finally cuts through the silence.

you shake your head, offering him a smile. "we've been over it, jay. quite thoroughly, if by sejin-sunbaenim's standards."

"that's not what i meant," jay continues. he's looking you in the eye.

you gulp, your insides churning.

"that's fine," you begin, keeping your voice as steady as you can. "we can just forget about it."

jay sighs. "i'm not sorry that it happened. i'm sorry that i needed to be drunk to let you know how i was feeling."

you're struck speechless, your brain going haywire. how do you respond to that?

"jay, you know we can't," you deflect, taking another step back. jay follows, standing over you. you feel so small, so vulnerable under his gaze.

"why not? the worst that could happen is you'll be transferred to another artist, another department," jay protests. he takes another step forward.

all you can do is stare down at the floor.

you want it, too. so bad. but you can't risk it. you're not ready, everything's still too uncer—

you feel a pair of hands on your face. you gasp, eyes darting around to see if anyone is in the vicinity.

"j-jay, not here—"

you're pulled forward, jay's strong grip around your arm. he practically drags you to a nearby supply closet, yanking the door open and pushing you in.

worry gnaws away in you as you remember the surveillance cameras in the hallway. those thoughts are immediately pushed away when you feel jay press up against you. you hear him rummage around for a switch, and suddenly, the cramped space is illuminated with dim, yellow lighting.

the closet couldn't be more than a few feet wide both ways, just enough to accommodate two people standing practically on top of each other.

jay grabs your hips and presses himself to your frame. you stifle a gasp as you feel him poking through his pants.

"i want you," jay says lowly, large hands traveling down to your ass. he holds them firmly, squeezing with all his might.

you moan, your hand flying up to your mouth.

"you want me too, right?" jay asks. he slips his hands beneath your denim skirt, a timely choice of clothing for this situation.

you don't know whether to thank or curse the heavens for that particular choice you made.

"we can't—," you begin once more.

jay shuts you up with his mouth, kissing you with so much force it drives you back against the storage shelves. jay cages you between his arms, planting his hands on the wood behind you. he devours your lips as if they were his last meal on earth.

he reaches one hand down, pressing two fingers against your mound. jay groans against your lips when he feels the wetness in your underwear.

"see? you want me, too," jay says, pulling away. he bunches up your skirt around your waist.

"keep it up," jay commands and you oblige, gripping your skirt with shaky hands. you watch as jay unzips his pants, pulling them down along with his underwear, just enough to let his already hard cock spring free.

jay yanks your panties aside, tapping your legs, signaling you to open up. you part your thighs, reaching up to steady yourself on jay.

you yelp when jay pulls one of your legs around his hips, giving him a better angle to slide in. and he does, slipping in so easily between your folds and right into your waiting hole.

"j-jay," you gasp out as he fully sheathes himself within you.

"fuck, you feel amazing," jay compliments, wrapping an arm around your midsection. "already so wet for me."

he pulls you even closer and that's when he starts to move. jay's thrusts are intense, plunging into you fully before pulling back nearly all the way out, and then sinking right back in. your eyes roll back as jay picks up the pace.

"sshh, that's it," jay coos. "we gotta be quiet and we gotta be fast."

you let out a muted whimper, burying your face in jay's chest. soft thuds can be heard as he fucks you against the shelves, your back digging painfully against them, but you can't be bothered to care, not when jay's cock is splitting you open so well.

"still gonna say 'we can't'?" jay says through gritted teeth. you look up to see his forehead creased in concentration, his pupils blown wide. sweat drips down the side of his face.

"god, you look so good like that," jay whispers. "so helpless on my cock. this is what you wanted, right?"

you nod frantically, arms wrapping around jay's neck.

"yeah," you breathe out. "wanted your cock for so long."

jay grunts, throwing his head back. "yes, keep talking to me like that."

his movements quicken and it takes everything in you to fight against the urge to let your knees buckle underneath you.

"please jay," you whimper. "fuck me harder, fuck me the way you've always wanted to fuck me."

"shit," jay mutters.

you're briefly left breathless as you feel your other leg give out, neither of your feet planted on the floor. it takes you a second to realize that jay has scooped you up in his arms, holding you up completely as he continues to ram into you. you wrap your legs tighter around jay.

jay has full control now and all you can do is hang on for dear life.

"yes! jay, yes!" you cry out against his neck. jay pants directly in your ear, fucking you at a speed that's nearly unimaginable to you.

"i-i'm gonna cum," jay manages to get out.

"do it," you quickly answer. jay pulls back to look at you.

you hold his face in your hands, nodding. jay covers your mouth with his as he gives the last of his thrusts, stilling inside you after a while. he presses himself deep within you and you moan against his mouth, feeling him pulse and twitch against your walls.

you cling onto jay for a whole minute before he stumbles back, letting you down on your own two feet. he snaps your underwear back in place, kissing you passionately as he does.

"keep it there for the rest of the day," jay mumbles against your lips, smiling.

you laugh breathlessly, unsure whether it really is jay saying all these things.

you hear a faint buzzing sound and you jump, remembering that you had your phone in your skirt.

well, before jay nearly ripped it off you.

you spot your device on the ground, snatching it up to quickly answer the call.

"hello?"

"_______? have you seen jay?" sejin's voice cuts through the silence inside the closet. you meet jay's eyes and he, too, is perusing his phone.

"no," you lie right between your teeth. "i haven't. why?"

"he has a schedule in a bit and he's not answering any of my calls," sejin says. you're not quite sure if he's worried or irritated. probably both.

"i'll try calling him," you offer. jay grins wolfishly from your side, leaning in to press open-mouthed kisses on your neck.

"great," sejin says. "let me know if you reach him."

you hang up, pocketing your phone.

"you're hot when you're breaking the rules like that," jay says against the column of your throat.

it takes all your willpower to push him away.

"there won't be any rules to break if i get fired," you say matter-of-factly. you lean in to kiss jay square on the lips.

"so you better get your ass out of here before that happens."

[evilkitten3]

#i think mdr also doesnt rlly care abt younger ppl's opinions sdffggfds#he's like. old man shakes his fist at a cloud#he is so OLD and i think he believes that its part of why he must be right#like ... he has all this experience. he has lived an extensive life#tried and failed to make 'teamwork' (cooperation) work#so for him it is. it seems naive probably of naruto to believe that this would work#(it is notable tho that he SEES that the shinobi villages are cooperating. he mentions this Twice actually the other time is#right after his edo tensei resurrection. its the very first thing he remarks upon being faced w the alliance#that theyre all wearing the same headbands but they seem to be coming from different villages#this kind of .. does blow his mind. but its too late for him to take on a new ideology Now ^_^#he has to go thru with it. he's so smart and so sexy after all <3 he has to be right. and they must be wrong#bc he has lived and seen that any alliance will just fall apart at the end and so thats why theyre 'pathetic' at the end of the day anyway)#it is very funny tho i think asfgdfdgd#bc obt is like out there screaming and arguing with everyone. and mdr is like ummm who the fuck cares. LMAO#lets beat the shit out of each other and whomstever wins. that one's the one that has rights. and IS right w their ideology#i also do think its notable that team 7's 'teamwork' doesnt actually manage to bring him down BUT#their teamwork does lead to the defeat of kaguya. so. i feel like at the end of the day#u can still say that the teamwork/cooperation ideology is the winner here#bc they get to have a future and konoha continues to exist. whereas mdr fucking explodes and then dies. lmao#so the narrative does. still prove him wrong albeit indirectly

1000% true he only cares about opinions of the youth (hehe) when said youth can shatter his ribcage. and even then he's still more interested in getting kicked again

alternatively i think he might find it somewhat amusing that the way to get everyone to cooperate turned out to be. having them all be really really really about-to-shit-themselves scared of him (obito but that's that same thing as far as he's concerned). moreover, if the only time they can work together is when they have a common opponent, then as soon as that opponent is defeated (entirely hypothetical ofc bc he's perfect and about to become the second sage and can't be stopped ever) then they'll just. go back to fighting each other. which just proves his original point (it in fact does not, but since he never tells anyone anything there's no one who can point out the itty bitty teeny weeny gaping massive gloryhole flaws in his logic such as that. while they can't prove that that's not true. he also can't prove that it is.)

your logic concerning the narrative is technically correct but unfortunately madara operates on his own crazy caveman logic, and while team seven can do. basically jackshit to stop him, as soon as kaguya takes over, they manage to beat her, which i think madara could easily interpret as black zetsu sacrificing madara to bring back someone weaker than him (did kaguya survive maito gai? no. did she survive a living full-power hashirama? no (neither did madara but pointing that out will just make him hard again). as far as he cares, all kaguya did was show up, steal his body via black zetsu hax, and then get pummeled by three teenagers, some corpses, and obito's ex. all of whom tried and failed miserably to stop madara).

now, technically, madara is crazy so his own potential thoughts on All That should be irrelevant.... if that had been the final battle. but the final fight of the series is naruto vs sasuke, and whoever is stronger is the most correctest, ultimately just. proving madara's power-over-all stance to be the correct one (i guess you could argue that naruto worked with kurama? but. idk kurama still doesn't really have the ability to just. leave. so i would at the very least have an asterisk there, personally)

wait so, as the holders if the most and 2nd most insane naruto characters, what did madara and obito have to say about team 7 dynamics ??

As a past memeber of team 7 Obito's opinion doesn't count cause he thinks kakashi's gremlins are the only normal people in the world. I don't remember Madara saying anything on the dynamics of team 7 but I'm not an authority on the matter so I turn it over to my resident Madara Scholars @evilkitten3 and @narutoenjoyer5000

[arpmemething2]

Scott Pilgrim Vs the World Sentence Starters

Send one for my muse's response. Feel free to change pronouns as needed.

"What a perfect asshole."

"If I peed my pants would you pretend that I just got wet from the rain?"

"I know you play mysterious and aloof just to avoid getting hurt. And I know you have reasons for not wanting talk about your past. I want you to know that I don't care about any of that stuff. Because I'm in lesbians with you."

"Does that mean we can make out?"

"You're too good for him. RUN."

"He's good right? Sometimes I let him do the wide shots, when I feel like getting blazed back in my Winnie. What can I say? I'm nothing without my stunt team."

"It's amazing what we can do with computers these days."

"You punched me in the boob! Prepare to die, obviously!"

"Okay, presumeably, you may have just seen a dude's junk, and I'm very sorry for that... so is he."

"He punched the highlights out of her hair!"

"I partake not in the meat, nor the breastmilk, nor the ovum, of any creature, with a face."

"Did you really see a future with this girl?"

"It was a very amicable breakup. We're peaches and gravy now!"

"He punched a hole in the moon for me, so that was pretty cool."

"That's it! You cocky cock! You'll pay for your crimes against humanity."

"I don't know the meaning of the word."

"I think garlic bread would have to be my favourite all-time food. I could eat it for every meal. Or just constantly, without stopping."

"When I'm around you, I kind of feel like I'm on drugs. Not that I do drugs. Unless you do drugs, in which case I do them all the time. All of them."

"I want to have his adopted babies."

"You're the salt of the earth."

"Well, if my cathedral of cutting-edge taste holds no interest for your tragically Canadian sensibilities, then I shall be forced to grant you a swift exit from the premises... and a fast entrance into hell!"

"The only thing separating me from her is the two minutes it's gonna take to kick your ass."

"Kick her in the balls!"

"Ask them what it's like to get his sloppy seconds!"

"You just headbutted my boyfriend so hard he burst."

"Your BF's about to get eff'd in the b!"

"What's the password?"

"I was more alone when we were together than I ever was on my own."

"Didn't you get my email explaining the situation?"

"You broke the heart that broke mine."

"Ok this next song goes out to the guy who keeps yelling from the balcony. It's called "We Hate You, Please Die.""

"He just left."

"You once were a ve-gone, but now you will begone."

"We all have baggage."

"Look, I didn't write the gay handbook. If you got a problem with it, take it up with Liberace's ghost."

"Do that again, and I will end you!"

"Oh? Do you have any embarrassing stories?"

"Don't you talk to me about grammar!"

"Tell it to the cleaning lady on Monday."

"Listen, I know I can be hard to be around sometimes. I totally understand if you don't want to hang anymore."

"Ooh, coins!"

"Did you know that the original word for Pac-Man was Puck-Man? You would think it was because he looks like a hockey puck, but it actually comes from the Japanese phrase "Paku-Paku" which means to flap one's mouth open and closed. They changed it because they thought Puck-Man would be too easy to vandalize, you know, like people would scratch off the P and turn it into an F or whatever."

"You're pretentious, this club sucks, I have beef. Let's do it."

"'Sup? How's life? He seems nice."

"Guess who's drunk!"

"So what you're saying is we're dating?"

"I have to go pee due to boredom."

"Bread makes you fat?"

"Open your eyes. Maybe you'll see!"

"You made me swallow my gum! That's going to be in my digestive tract for seven years!"

"Go ahead. I'm too cool for you anyway."

"Why can't we have our own secret shows?"

"Hey so, can this not be a one-night stand? For one thing I didn't even get any. That was a joke."

"I can not... have... tea."

"Vegans are just better then everyone else."

[leia-doodles]

Monster high G3 rant

Watching the TV series and I’m kind of disappointed.

This will be my second watch of season 1, I’m rewatching after the current season 2 episodes.

the show feels very flat in my opinion. They’ve given the characters a lot of cool traits, but they’re used for like one episode and then never brought up, or they only use one specific trait 24/7. Like Frankie in this generation, they have the ability to electrocute, extend their body parts, and they get visions from the people they’re made out of. Specifically they get visions from this one recurring doctor/ scientist. The idea is cool, but the vision literally is there to give exposition about something conveniently. Like when they are trying to solve the puzzle of clawdeens mom, Frankie’s vision just conveniently tells them what to do and how to do it.

In that same episode, we see manny taur. A Minotaur character. And right away we are just told that he’s good at puzzle solving, and so is draculaura! They’re rivals! But this is the first time I’ve ever seen or heard about draculaura being into puzzles, let alone her one sided rivalry with manny. And as the episode ends, she’s like “well you can be the rightful puzzle master” but it feels so flat. There has been no build up to this moment.

Another example is lagoona. In her designated episode, she is rooting for torelai to win the fear-leading captain over draculaura (another thing that has no build up as to why it’s important to her) lagoona explains that torelai is holding a secret over her head, and if it gets out she will lose her status as the fiercest monster in school. But this is the first time we have heard this!! In previous episodes there’s no mention of her being scary or fierce. Or even her super fast swimming skills. It’s just brought up and glosses over with a “be who you are, it’s okay to like what you want! We all have secrets 🥹” but there’s no real character development.

My last example will be the way draculaura is presented in this series. From what she tells us, she has high standards to live up to as a vampire. She needs to look good for her day so she studies endlessly and is striving for perfection. But she also has a love for witchcraft, which is banned in monster high due to its connections to humans. This can be a cute premise, but they NEVER show draculaura compared to any other vampire to show how she’s supposed to act. They never give us episodes where she blows off her friend’s shenanigans because it makes her look bad, and they never really show her dad being so overbearing. They don’t show us WHY humans are hated. And even though witchcraft is banned, whenever anyone finds out about it they’re just cool with it? No push back or anything. The only character to challenge draculaura was torelai.

This all may be very nitpicky, but MH is a character driven franchise. Character relationships with each other and their surroundings are very important to me. I want to feel the so called pressure these characters are being put under. It doesn’t have to be ultra serious 24/7, but issues get resolved within one episode and then rehashed a few episodes later with no further development. Especially with characters like Cleo and lagoona. They have been benched as side characters in this show, and side characters get much worse treatment.

‘The general episode progression is like this - introduce an issue, introduce a high stakes situation that involves the school, have all or one of the main 3 engage in a sequence of fights against this issue(or rapid solving of said issue through convince) - issue is resolved and lesson is told to viewers-characters reset for the next episode.

I know this is a children’s show, but that doesn’t mean it needs to have bad writing, not all kids are high off cocomelon. Kids deserve good writing in their media!

My next rant will be about clawdeen and her story this generation

[nekropsii]

🔥

Dancestors

[For the Unpopular Opinions Ask Game!!]

Okay, this may come across to some as harsh, but I don’t care. You asked for Unpopular Opinions. This is one of them. It’s heated. It needs to be said.

The way people continuously searched for reasons to get mad at the Alpha Trolls and still to this day continuously search for them to the point of literally fucking making shit up is embarrassing. The fact that people- fans!- use them as their little scapegoat for “everything wrong with Homestuck” is embarrassing.

The way people will make up and pass around straight up lies about the Alpha Trolls just for the sake of Outrage Farming is embarrassing. The fact that these are all taken as truth, more so than the literal text of the Alpha Troll plot lines, simply because people didn’t have anything else to yell at that week, is fucking embarrassing.

I once watched a pretty good Homestuck video essay on YouTube. It was a great time. The premise of it was basically a retrospective on Homestuck and it’s plot in broad strokes, and why the whole thing is good and cool and you should read it. Very nice. The speaker had a lovely voice. And then, for some ungodly fucking reason, right at the end, they started going on some very long winded, incredibly wrong diatribe about the Alpha Trolls and why they’re the worst thing that’s ever happened- parroting, with rage, common lies I’d seen for years and sprinkling in some brand new brain fungus, all like it was fact. The dude called Porrim, Porrim fucking Maryam, an MRA. Porrim fucking Maryam was reduced down to a whiny Men’s Rights Activist who didn’t know shit, and Kankri Vantas was correct about everything, suddenly. Horuss’s main problem was that he was a mockery of Otherkin people. Otherkin people! As if the fact that he’s a mockery of Systems is less important!! The reason for this is clear- that motherfucker, and every god damn other person making essays about how the Alpha Trolls are The Worst in the whole ass 2020s, have not actually read or played through the Alpha Troll segments for shit. They have no go damn clue what they’re talking about, and they don’t care. They don’t care about being right, or making good points and observations, they care about being mad and getting engagement. It is literally completely performative.

It completely ruined the entire essay. And for what? And for fucking what? The Alpha Trolls are, for the most part, wholly irrelevant to the story, sans Aranea and Meenah. You can skip over them and miss nothing. They are not “the worst Homestuck has to offer”, they are a skippable fucking footnote, and everyone needs to get a god damn grip. Holy shit.

At this point, it really feels like most of the anger and hatred is only still parroted around blindly because it’s just tradition at this point. No one knows what they’re talking about, and no one cares. Why would they? This is what gets them the little guaranteed dopamine rush of other idiots just looking to be angry agreeing with them blindly, just for the sake of being really mad at something that doesn’t matter and no one will face check. God damn. Grow some eyes and read the comic you’re criticizing before criticizing it. Grow a damn spine and get your own opinions. This is not hard.

The Alpha Trolls are rife with things worth criticism. No one is talking about any of them, because no one cares to actually read it and gather an insightful, meaningful opinion on them from literal direct observation and analysis. They just care about being mad, and saying something very outrageous confidently enough that they seem right. It’s not that they don’t have anything worth criticizing, it’s that almost everything people are criticizing them for either doesn’t matter, is wrong, or is a lie.

[enriquemzn262]

Talking about anime, with the current season finally over, let me tell you what I saw this time, which is actually quite the short list:

The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World

Aka the Red Ranger Isekai, based on the manga of the same title which I have actually kept up with for years, a fun twist to the normal isekai slop by having the overpowered otherworlder have an actual reason to be like that: He’s quite literally a power ranger.

Red himself is a ton of fun, a true power ranger that can be enjoyed by both fans, old and new, of Power Rangers, and shonen fans not tired of their loud and overly positive MCs. The supporting cast of characters is really good too, from a busty ADULT mage girl who’s as competent at battle as the MC, and is actively researching his powers, to a tsundere swordsman who learns to tolerate Red, his accompanying princess who’s both pure and experienced, and eventually another ranger.

Good animation, not great but at least consistent in its quality, good music, great humor (for once), and a cool story about a natural born hero trying to go back home and in the process making friends and saving people.

8/10

I May Be a Guild Receptionist, But I'll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time

Aka Girumasu, another fantasy adventure anime that’s an isekai in everything but the isekai character, with the twist being that the female MC is actually really powerful, but likes her cozy office job too much to actually become an adventurer, instead, as the title says, she only gets involved in combat to make sure her work doesn’t pile up via reports of defeated adventurers and unconquered dungeons.

Good premise, interesting start, but by the end it was veering too much into the adventuring side she was so desperately trying to avoid, turning it into a sort of bog standard story, thankfully the supporting cast keeps things interesting enough to keep your attention to the end.

Very good animation, is actually much less horny than your usual adventure anime, the female lead is actually allowed to have a personality outside of both romance and combat, and there are some very neat magic concepts hidden along the way.

7/10

Medalist

The story of a little girl who really, really likes ice skating, and how through her talented yet insecure trainer, slowly becomes a top notch athlete, helping defeat her and his own internal demons in the way.

Never been much of a fan of sports anime outside the human horse racing series, and an anime with a preteen female lead is usually trouble outside of magical girl shows, but I caught a scene of one of the girls skating, found it to look gorgeous, gave it a try and never looked back!

Superb animation, a nice blend between CGI and traditional 2D, great characters, especially the main girl, Inori, who keeps getting the funniest facial expressions, and Tsukasa, the main male character and trainer, who’s a bundle of excitement and raw emotions, a nice extended cast who keep on getting their moments to shine, and some excellent music to boot!

I watched the Spanish dub on Disney+, but sometimes would change to the OG Japanese, and man, both were great.

10/10, my absolute favorite of the season, it’s confirmed to have a second season, so please give it a try if you can!

Those were the only three I watched from start to finish, I tried Sakamoto Days but watching it reminded me why I dropped the manga, also tried one about an office guy reincarnated as the main villain in a dating game, but after watching Bakarina all those shows are the same derivative slop so I just didn’t get past the second episode, and finally there was Uber Blat or something like that, which I thought had a female lead, since I really like action shows with them (they mean I don’t get to watch the millionth horny bumbling teen with a heart of gold who’s also a badass in combat and gets all the girls and bleh), but nope, it was a guy, and it was as generic as I expected after enduring the first 4 episodes.

Man, what a weak season overall, without Medalist and Red Ranger isekai I would have completely forgotten about everything in it after s few weeks, I did take the opportunity to rewatch the Ranma 1/2 remake AND Frieren tho.

The Apothecary Diaries is hitting Netflix tomorrow, if the upcoming season is as bland as this one, I may just stick with that one, as I have only heard good things about it, plus, female lead, that’s almost always a sign of a good anime!

[communist-hatsunemiku]

I have been thinking of writing something with Miku as protagonist, something not too original: the Terminator, Miku version.

Miku is sent to the past (our present) to save the future of music (insert even more dystopic future here), in a physical body, and has adventures while she learns about humans and human music.

It's it too ridiculous? Any tips?

Tbh isn't that premise like, one of the actual official descriptors of Miku's "backstory". I remember someone mentioning something extremely similar! Like there a few nuggets of official Miku canon and this sounds like one of them. don't let that dissuade you from writing the story tho, it's a fun premise!

It's definitely not too ridiculous, but I'm far from an actual story writer. I have a way with words and am a good writer but my ADHD seriously hampers my ability to do anything longform. not impossible, just would be a lot lol.

BUT I will workshop a few things just for shits and giggles.

The body Miku ends up in when She travels back in time should be like, the wrong one. Her intitial planned body suffers a disaster, or there's some silly mixup and She end's up in an absolute junker Miku android body, I'm talking exposed wiring, missing limbs, almost scary to look at. This could be fraught depending on what direction you go with it. I think there's a real chance you could write something that is pretty ableist(like in the end Miku is in a perfect fixed body and She's much happier or something). Great care would need to be taken with portraying a character in your story like this, but it could be really fucking cool. OH also reading your ask again, something you could do is, through some mishap, the version of Miku that ends up in the past has Her memories wiped accidentally, and therefore sort of has to find Her way to Her true purpose. This would allow Her to "learn" about humans and human music in an organic way.

My second idea is just have a fuckton of Miku's in your story, Miku is perfect for a bunch of clones of Herself getting into hijinks. It could be a rogue contingent of Miku clones sending one of Themselves back in time. Miku is being sent back by a rogue group of time traveling hacker Mikus. (I mean this sounds like the premise to xmen days of future past. Which means you could be telling two stories simultaneously. What Miku does in the past changes the present in real time for the characters.)

Miku's a good vehicle for anti corporation, anti copyright law, pro piracy, pro open source shit. Like this dystopic future you mention is basically the most nightmarish "fascist corporations control literally everything down to the music you listen to" future imaginable, and Miku's whole thing is how diverse and adaptable people's music with her is. She has come to symbolize(in this world, but really our actual reality as well) communist and socialist values, and these evil corporations cannot co-opt Her image because of this. She's simply too deeply ingrained as a anti-corporation anti-fascism symbol.

BUT these corporations are going to try anyway, they are going to devise their own twisted version of Miku software: insert evil sexy EVIL(x2) corporate Miku who seeks to undermine everything our hero Mikus are doing. Potential for lesbian hijinks very high

[sheepispink]

Yeah so you absolutely did not respect the "MDNI" on the original author's account, you just decided to steal the idea. You ABSOLUTELY crossed their boundaries. Not cool.

Hi, i really do not want to hurt anyone in the community and/or discourage anyone in any sort of way. First of all, i’ve seen loads of hybrid bots on c.ai before, which is sometimes where i garner some inspiration from because they always have cool ideas!

I always try to credit where possible and if someone asks im glad to take it down. However with this situation i was confused, all i saw was the summary of their story in which ghost was assigned a hybrid and not happy about it. It made me think about how i could go full angst on the situation especially because i also saw an emotional support ptsd pet reader by twixlocation (cai bot) that i used months ago, and assessana on tiktok and cai also did hybrid bots where there was a handler. Plus i figured mine would be totally different anyway, and probably go off the rails from the op’s eventual idea which i think had tags like eventual love and stuff.

I’m young and still learning how to interact in fandom spaces and i understand that the creator may not want to interact with me given that i’m a minor. In my mind, ‘minors do not interact’ meant that minors werent allowed to interact with their page, likes, follows, reblogs etc. Also loads of mdni accounts do actually follow me so i assumed it was ok if they message me as long as i dont interact with their posts?

I didnt think the idea was something so specific but now i have looked at my own fic (that i wrote on a whim late at night and so the editing wasnt the best) and had another person confirm for me, i see that i used the puppy hybrid, and the fact that they were a rescue and a few other similar details. I will make amendments to the premise so it’s not as similar anymore.

I know the creator cannot see this but if you could relay the message that i am incredibly sorry for any harm i may have done to them and i will do my best to not make the same mistake in the future. I wish the best for them and their account and i’d be happy if anyone could educate me or send me posts relating to fandom etiquette. Someone had also sent me an ask saying i followed it properly so again i really didnt know and thought i did the right thing.

At the end of the day, i’ve made a mistake and i just hope you can see through my thought process that it was a stupid mistake, and im not trying to excuse anything here. Thank you for addressing me about this, i hope we can all have a good time in this fandom and nothing happens again like this. ❤️

Edit: when i meant cai bot, i meant the intros, made by REAL people. I dont use ai to create my works in anyway. I’ve only ever used grammar checkers eg the google chrome extension.

[sl-walker]

Username Fic Game

Tagged by @shadowmaat. Take each letter of your username and rec a fic whose title starts with that same letter! Then feel free to pass it on to your friends.

--

S - Slings and Olive Branches by Gibraltar - The first tale of the Starship Reykjavik. If you love awesome characters with many layers and also some supremely badass moments, Sam's the author you wanna read. Every bit as skilled at character, world and plot building as any professional, Gibraltar's stories of the Reykjavik are funny, heartfelt and Nandi Trujillo will just win you over literally in this first, short story.

L - Land of Song by @b-radley66 - Generally, you know that when B writes anything, it's going to be plot-heavy, dense and guaranteed to require at least one spreadsheet. But the ability to keep all of that not only in-line but also moving forward is a skill not many authors can claim, and B is an expert at it. Plus, his OCs are so good that you'll be hunting various wikis going, "But wait, they're not canon??"

W - When the Lights Come On by @btwxsixesandsevens - A beautiful little original tale set in the Star Wars universe. I love the atmosphere of this one; the way that it correlates so much to memories of my own childhood. Some things are pan universal, I think. And the author is a master worldbuilder who did stunningly cool things with zabrak culture that I still think about regularly.

A - A Higher Power When You Look (Also on Ad Astra) by @daraoakwise - An absolutely, mind-blowingly epic retelling of a lot of the Original Series cast's tales for the AOS. Dara takes a lot of the sillier premises in the AOS line and makes it all make sense. Her character work and world building and plotting are out of this world.

L - Lost… and Found by @shadowmaat - SURGE SQUAD!! Shadowmaat's OC clones (and jedi!) are incredibly charming and this is where the tale begins. Guaranteed if you read it, you'll knock out the whole series and want more. (And I am still excited for the Blackbirds crossover that will one day happen!)

K - Kaminoan Copyright by independent_variables - Awesome world-building, which seems to be a thing for me. LOL! But it's a short, punchy tale about what the chips entailed for the clones and how things change when Anakin -- of all people, but it makes perfect sense! -- finds out about them and word spreads. Sweet ending, too.

E - Every Moment a Step Forward by alyyks - Bail/Bre/Maul is one of the ships/tags I pioneered, so it's an outright thrill everytime someone writes it. And alyyks is an awesome author in general, so not only do you have an awesome author writing my own faves, but the story's excellent. It touches on a Maul who is very much living with his damage, and how important the steady love and support of a family is to his quality of life. Just a psychologically excellent tale.

R - Rest and Ruckus (archive locked) by @sharpest_asp - A gift that made me beam, this one is Corry and Scotty going camping up in the woods of Maine, with all the inherent chaos that usually accompanies those two. Sweet, funny, in-character and atmospheric, it's a quick and lovely jaunt with a bunch of excellent mental images.

--

Tagging: Everyone who sees this. Because spreading love of your favorite fics and authors is important!

[yasperapologist]

Get to know your author

I was tagged by @deaddeerdonoteat

1. How many works on Ao3?

Three! We've got Turn Back Time, my time loop longfic, Where it Starts, a prequel set in high school, and Best-Case Scenarios which is basically just random fluffy drabbles.

Frankly, that's 3 more fics than I though I would ever post. It's been about a year since I discovered The Afterparty and promptly became obsessed with the show. I got the idea for an Afterparty time loop fic and started scribbling down random thoughts on my phone's Notes app—mostly because it felt like I was going to explode if I didn’t get the words out of my head. I thought it'd be cool if I ended up writing something I could actually post, but I didn't actually expect to follow through. The only other fics I’d written were a few little one-shots/drabbles for a different fandom close to a decade ago. I had read a lot of fanfic but never attempted a project of this scale. Now I have 35k words published, close to 100k more in my draft, and 20+ chapters planned out?? It blows my mind. And honestly I don't think I would have gotten to the point of hitting ‘publish’ without all the encouragement from the Ben Schwartz Cinematic Universe discord folks ( @benschwartzcinematicuniverse, @deaddeerdonoteat, @slimeybee, @flingmetothemoon, and some others who I don't think are on tumblr??? I am so bad at matching tumblr URLs to discord handles).

2. Total Ao3 word count?

About 40k.

3. Top 5 five by kudos?

Just the three, lol.

4. What fandoms do you write for?

So far just the Afterparty. (If I ever run out of Afterparty ideas, I might dip my toe into Space Force.)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes, comments make my day and I respond to all of them!!! Possibly with lengthier responses than anyone wanted, lol.

6. Fic with the angstiest ending?

I've never written anything with an angsty ending, and I personally don't plan to. My approach is basically: I'm not into writing angst for its own sake, although there are some stories that are impossible to tell without it. Turn Back Time is one example. There's a lot of angst in there, not because I like making the character suffer, but because the entire premise is about engaging with the real emotional aftermath of the events of Season 1. But when all's said and done, I like happy endings. I joke about being a Weenie Hut Jr. writer in that respect.

7. Fic with the happiest ending?

Hard to say. They all kinda take place in the same universe. And Turn Back Time is the only one with like, a real over-arching plot. All pretty happy endings, I promise.

8. Do you get hate?

No, everyone has been very kind. (I think it helps that the fandom is so tiny. You want Afterparty fic? There are max like 3 people who write it, so you're stuck with our limited seasonal menu. 😂)

9. Do you write smut?

Nothing I've published, but I started writing a Brett/Xavier enemies with benefits fic as a joke and it somehow turned into something serious and now I have a 30k word draft??

10. Have you ever co-written a fic?

No, though @deaddeerdonoteat and I sometimes come up with silly Brett/Xavier dialogue that I think deserves to see the light of day.

11. All time favorite ship?

If we're only looking at The Afterparty, it's gotta be yasniq. I am a sucker for a best friends to lovers story. All time, any fandom? That's a really hard question to answer. (I'm thinking about like, a graph where the X-axis is "how much I believe in the ship" and the Y-axis is "how much I enjoy the ship" and then there's a third dimension/Z-axis of "how much content exists for the ship" and it's very hard to find something that checks all 3 boxes. But 1 or 2 out of 3 can still be fun.)

12. WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I don't have that many WIPs and the ones I do have are fairly likely to get finished. It's basically just Turn Back Time (which is most of the way done and I have extremely concrete plans to finish), my dumb Brett/Xavier story, and maybe a couple random sequels or oneshots that can exist in the same universe but don't have an over-arching plot (e.g. Chelsea Starts a GSA). OH, and there’s ia Yasniq covid quarantine fic. Decent odds I'll finish that one, though it might take a while.

13. Writing strengths?

Research/dedication to canon (to a degree that I can admit is obsessive). You would not believe the stupid shit I've looked up because I didn't want to get a peripheral detail wrong. I have a folder on my computer with dozens of reference photos from the show that I look at when I want to confirm details about the set. I tried to map out the layout of Xavier's mansion in MS paint (a task which I think is actually impossible). I researched the history of Hungarian-Jewish immigration when deciding on a backstory for Yasper's parents because he made an offhand comment in S1E1 about having visited Hungary many times. “What would Yasper/Aniq have been doing in the early days of the pandemic?" somehow turned into me researching PPP loan eligibility criteria.

Also I think my writing is pretty funny?

14. Writing weaknesses?

Indecisiveness. MAJOR indecisiveness. (See the fact that I’d been working on Turn Back Time for over six months before I started publishing it.) Also maybe over-use of em-dashes and semi-colons.

15. What are you working on that you haven’t posted any of?

I think it's all stuff I mentioned earlier in the post. (Mainly the Brett/Xavier enemies with benefits fic and the Yasniq lockdown fic)

---

In terms of tagging people... I am also bad at matching ao3 usernames to tumblr URLs so I can't remember who writes fic, but anyone is welcome to do this and say that I tagged you 😂

[piratekane]

i got an ask in my email that never showed up in my inbox that was basically looking for book recs and since only one person asked for my opinion and because this was the year i fell back in love with reading, i'm going to do a myspace Top 8 books i loved this year, in no particular order:

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein this is basically a love story. it's a love story and you won't change my mind. i don't mean romantic love except that i mean best friends loving each other to and through the end of the world can be romantic and we should say that more often. because this a book about war and its terrors but it's also the love story between two best friends and what they'll do to get back to each other. it has probably one of my favorite protagonists ever - actually, two of my favorites. Wein tells a devastatingly perfect story and i promise your heart will swell and sink and tie itself into tiny knots. kiss me, hardy! kiss me quick! 5 stars, i cried at the end

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo i was late to the SoC books and boy am i glad i finally showed up to the party. this book was perfection. i immediately fell in love with each crow and spent the whole book screaming that if nina and matthias didn't kiss ASAP that i was going to throw something. i also was yelling about kaz and inez, do not think i was not doing that. kex brekker you deserve love you street rat. @dealanexmachina had to deal with the screaming through this. and i think it's going to be a repeat read in 2024 just so i can experience the care and craftsmanship that went into each character, their nuances, and how it wove perfectly together into kaz's brilliant plan. 5 stars, i immediately read the sequel like a hungry jaugar hunting down a person wearing that calvin klein scent

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson brando sando is... prolific. and it was overwhelming to jump in, but i started with tress and not any of his other books (a problem i have rectified) and what a bang it was. this book is, in a word, hilarious. the narrator is a fantastical being with an aversion to linear thought and a predilection for hilarity. the humor in this book is unlike any of sandos other work and really shows that he has the ability to stretch. the premise is very clever and very cool and just very fun. tress is brave and smart and that's celebrated, not punished. plus who doesn't love a talking rat? i'm looking forward to his other secret projects 4.5 stars, the narrator is my favorite sando character

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak okay, this is billed as horror, but i wouldn't really say horror and would lean more into the mystery billing than anything. maybe thriller. and it's outside my usual genre and is definitely more suited to my wife's tastes but she finished this book in three days (and usually takes 3 weeks-to-months to finish books) and when she said i had to read it, i said yes dear and picked it up. i'm glad i did. it's an illustrated mystery and as the author writes in the notes, those who pay attention will be rewarded. the ending was a twist i didn't see coming, like, at all. and it was clever. but once the ending started to unfold it was a mad dash to the finish. 5 stars, my wife recommends this

The Nevernight Chronicles by Jay Kristoff now, i know. this is actually 3 books, not 1. but hear me out - they must all be read. it's nonnegotiable. these books were recommended by tumblr user @fiddleabout and am i so very glad they were. mia is unhinged. there's no other way to put that. the girl is fucking off. her. rocker. and no one in her life is any better. they're all just as freaking crazy. but they're my crazy comfort killers. i went on for hours about mia and ash, to the point that my wife shut the bathroom door in my face because i tried to follow her in there talking about them. this series is bloody and more than once i was like, he can't possibly make this any bloodier but he CAN and i think this book is better for it. found family, check. unhinged teenage protagonist, double check. endless fun, check in triplicate. 4.5 stars, i am never not thinking of ash and her vision of a house on a lake and softness

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon obviously i read priory first and obviously i loved it but ADoFN was... mind-blowing. maybe because priory enriched the world of ADoFN and i was already familiar with all the intricacies of it (though there was certainly more to learn) but reading this just... the bridging Shannon did, the connections she made between priory and ADoFN and how we ultimately saw the way ADoFN threaded some of the loops we saw closing in priory, it blew my mind. the utter romance of it all, my god. i read this monster book in a single day, i couldn't put it down. i emerged from my ADoFN cocoon like andy samberg in that one SNL skit where he plays a teenager who just woke up. i was changed(TM) 5 stars, i was a changed man

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo i immediately jumped into the rest of the Leigh's work (i went through SaB first but she's so strong at the end of this Grishaverse) and while i love all my SoC babes, nina was a favorite and honestly i'd recommend both King of Scars and this book. tumblr user fiddleabout was blessed to follow along with my completely unhinged livestream of this book and when (spoiler) zoya and nikolai finally got over themselves and K I S S E D, i put the book down and took a lap. then i picked it up and screamed again as nina's arc unfolded. 5 stars, i have a lot of thoughts about the kind of man nikolai is (peg)

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty i'm a bit of a sucker for a pirate book. even more of a sucker about a woman pirate, and amina is a woman pirate of the highest caliber. this book is either intentionally funny or unintentionally hilarious. amina's biggest flaw is that she's constantly ogling her demon ex-husband's cute butt - honest to god. otherwise, she's perfection. badass, scrappy, jacked. amina is all of those things and then some. so she has a bit of a past that winds up coming back to bite her in the ass and then she's thrust back onto a ship where she has to chase down an old crewmate's daughter - can you blame a girl for being the most kickass pirate in all of the seas? no! should you? absolutely not! just let amina live out her life ogling ass and sailing leisurely, please. 4.5 stars, i want to sail on amina's ship even though i'm afraid of boats. and the ocean. and things living in the ocean. and generally the water.

( ͡❛ ᴗ ͡❛)👍 and now you know, cause it's mike's pirate's super short show! ( ͡❛ ᴗ ͡❛)👍

[neutrinobunny]

One Thing About Earth That Isn’t Completely Terrible—Author’s Notes

First and foremost forgive me.  I am desperately going to try not to ramble.  This is like draft 4 of this afterword.  I keep going off on tangents.

Maybe the best way to start is to explain certain choices, and then let myself ramble at the end.

Peter Grimwade, who wrote the scripts for Mawdryn Undead and Planet of Fire, has been quoted in Doctor Who Magazine as saying “I characterized the school [for Mawdryn Undead] and when I was told about the new companion, Turlough, I did ask, “How come he got there?” but I was told that would be dealt with at a later date and wasn’t my problem. Ironic, because in the end it was!” 

So I asked myself:

Why was Turlough on Earth? 

His people had Exiled him there.

Why was he Exiled?

“There was civil war on my planet.  My mother was killed.  My father was on the wrong side, and was exiled here with my younger brother.  I, for my sins, was sent by the regime to Earth.” –Turlough, Planet of Fire, Episode 4

Why wasn’t he either sent with his father and brother, or kept on homeworld as a hostage for good behavior?  Or even killed for his ‘sins’?

There wouldn’t be a story. Same reason he can’t actually kill the Doctor. Plus the premise of Turlough was developed before any backstory.

Well, yes, but why in universe?

Maybe someone, or someones, wanted him alive for a purpose, relatively safe, locked down on a low-tech planet so he couldn’t just hitch a ride on the nearest passing spacecraft.  Basically on ice until needed.

Why keep an exiled Noble on ice?

Revolutions are messy things.  What happens if there’s infighting? (Charlie Gibbs says hello). What if the New Regime turns out to be just as unpopular as the old? Maybe the Old Days were the Gold Days. Maybe someone wants some insurance in case counter-revolution starts. Behold the Ace in the Hole, one of the old nobles to use as a figurehead.  How many stories and legends of lost princes and true kings returned are out there? And maybe he looks a little like a legendary figure? Enough for propaganda purposes?

Trions apparently have a history of exiling political prisoners, since the Misos Triangle seems to be an in universe established thing, so the infrastructure would have to be there. Trions have Agents on ‘every civilized planet.’ And we know about the very odd Solicitor in London. So why not start with him?  What would he usually do to set up a new exile, and what happens when the right hand of the Regime doesn’t know what the left is doing?  How hard does that make his job?  What if the new exile has had absolutely no preparation, because the idea was to get him safely tucked away as quickly as possible?

And the story flowed from there.

I never specified, but in my head, the newly arrived Turlough was 15 passing for Earth 13, and arrived sometime in 1978, making him 20 ‘passing’ for Earth 18 at the time of 1983 Mawdryn Undead, while not being present yet for 1977 Mawdryn Undead.  I can mentally justify a 15-year-old having a military rank, especially a ‘junior’ one, especially since ‘attending the Imperial Academy’ has popped up in expanded universe stories.  There’s a war, I can also handwave him being involved in the fighting, civil war and all. I can also mentally justify a rather cutesy ‘the gene-locked door will only open when we kiss’ adolescent romance (Kiss of Death) at the age of 14-15, leading up to the war.  Also, for a few ideas I’ve got for future stories, this gives me five years to work with.

(As far as what I’m going with for canon, televised stories are top of the iist, and then Big Finish where they don’t contradict, and then everything else.)

The Trion language is sung/spoken in Triads, aka three note chords.  Mostly just for rule of cool, but also because Mark Strickson trained as a musician, and I like making little nods like that.

One of the earliest Big Finish audios I listened to was Loups-Garoux.  So the image of the Blood-Red Beast with Burning Golden Eyes as an aspect of Turlough’s personality, if not necessarily so simple as a ‘Dark Side’, has been in my mind for a while.  And I will say that the concept of a golden-eyed shadow self, who isn’t necessarily evil does nod to the Persona series of games. (While ‘I am a Shadow, the True Self’ and ‘I Am Thou, Thou Art I’ language is more from the later games, gold-eyed shadow selves have been a thing since at least the Persona 2 duology from the late 90s).

Which leads to his counterpart, Little Spark in the Dark made of Dreams and Fire.  I’ve leaned into sort of fairy-tale, sort of journey to the center of the mind writing in other fandoms.  Danny Phantom.  RWBY.  The cover of Loups-Garoux is bright orange, with sort of ghostly images of Turlough and Five on the front. Plus the red hair, plus ‘Planet of Fire’, plus I was picturing Turlough confronting his ‘Beast’ and wound up doodling a little guy, which I subsequently took a bunch of orange markers to.

Also, the first, now backburnered idea I had for a fic, was going to be a short internal thoughts story taking place during Frontios, leading up to the Tractators revelation.  I wrote the ‘Down in the Deep Below’ rhyme for that, with thoughts of expanding it throughout that story.  Bits and pieces from that turned into the Little Spark sections.

I’ve taken bits and bobs from various things in various media and fanon.  Turlough is thin, doesn’t really eat or like much in the way of Earth food (‘survives on the occasional packet of crisps’ although both Phantasmagoria and Loups-Garoux have him kind of obsessed with getting something to eat, and in Phantasmagoria he spends a decent amount of time chowing down with at the Diabola Club with Jeake so maybe it just depends), likes tea, softens a bit when someone is kind to him with no obvious ulterior motive (Miss Carillon is very much a nod to Matron), is kind of a sensitive little soul beneath the snark (Little Spark shining through the Beast’s attempts for Survival Above All Else), is prone to nausea, migraines, and asthma due to Earth’s atmosphere, Charlie Gibbs and the Solicitor being relatively OK being due to having preparation that Turlough didn’t. Little Spark crouching in corners with hands cupped together. The Deep Below of Mind where the Nightmares Dwell being where the ancestral memory of the Tractators waits.  The experience with the ‘fizzy drink’ is a nod back to his refusing Rosa’s offer of a soda in Loups-Garoux. Turlough’s mother being a niece of the Queen? References to a many Greats Grandfather being part of the royal court and the offer of the Winter Palace as a safe house in Kiss of Death.  As well as the 2023 Doctor Who annual calling him an ‘alien prince’ as opposed to ‘alien noble’.

The Corva…is something I’m keeping for later. : )

Thanks for reading.

[pedrocomicreviews]

Absolute Superman #6

"But you might say I'm a friend of the family."

In which Jason Aaron rips my heart out and asks me if I got any use for it.

We continue from last month's attempt at ruining my emotional state. Last time, Aaron managed to make me care about the fall of Krypton-- a Herculean task no one else had really managed in my entire life. Now he's made me emotional about the Kents all over again.

This issue really showcase how flexible the Absolute Universe's premise can be while still maintaining a very distinct vibe and ideal behind each character. You can go far and wide like Absolute Green Lantern did, or you can basically take out one part of the Jenga tower that is Superman's origin, and make a whole story about it.

I guess it's kinda reminiscent of The Nail, a pretty popular JLA story in which one key difference changes everything about Superman's origin. While it doesn't go on to change the entire world just because of that, it is very interesting to imagine what would Kal-El's life be like if he arrived too old at the Kent's and had to immediately leave.

It's a lot more thematic and concerned with world-building than necessarily being a plot-heavy issue. We also have a lot of interesting implications for the future. It's also very, very beautiful.

Kal's status as a guardian angel of Earth's lower classes is used to fully effect throughout, and his ideals are galvanized almost instantly. The social commentary continues and as much as it's not subtle, I mean-- refer to the blog's profile picture for my feelings on that. It is written while looking out the window, reflecting our current struggles and worries like good mainstream comic books usually do.

And at the end of the day we get a villain reveal that most of us saw coming, but that also makes a lot of sense for the Absolute Universe, and that I hope goes some cool places by the time we make Absolute Justice or whatever the JL of this universe will be called.

Aaron is writing his heart out in this book, this is genuinely the best book he's written in years and I'm shocked at how consistent it's been. The beginning was not as strong as the other two Trinity members, but it has quickly evolved into one of my most anticipated books every month. I'm floored, this dude got me into Marvel Comics in 2010 and I'm happy he's back in good form.

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (October 29-November 4, 2023)

Like me, you probably haven't seen Godzilla Minus One yet, making Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar last week's most spectacular new watch. Kazuhiro Nakagawa's ambitions grow with each entry in this series; this time, he was helped by veteran Rider/Sentai suit actor Kenya Saito inside the great new Jet Jaguar suit. The ending wasn't quite what I predicted, but still set up what should be a spectacular showdown last year.

I wish these shorts weren't effectively the last vestiges of tokusatsu in the Godzilla series; I wish even more that Toho would allow them to stay on YouTube. This one, along with its associated behind-the-scenes videos, will stay around until the end of the year, as an apology for the Godzilla Day VOD having such awful audio as to be unsalvageable. But that still means its discoverability will take a serious hit, and it's unclear what Toho actually gets out of this artificial scarcity. Maybe they're plotting to release all the shorts on Blu-ray in a few years. In any case, download this one post-haste.

While he didn't get a new suit, Megalon still made a triumphant return in the other short film released on Godzilla Day, Godzilla vs. Megalon. A sequel to Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex, it's also directed by Takuya Uenishi. The live-action footage in this one helps ground the over-the-top monster mayhem, and a weakened Godzilla displays some cool new tricks, although I found his finisher unsatisfying. As for Megalon, well, he finally shows the world just how terrifying he can be when he takes himself more seriously.

After a mercifully brief marketing campaign, the 37th Godzilla movie, Godzilla Minus One, is in Japanese theaters (and it's making bank). I'm trying to go in relatively unspoiled (always difficult as a Wikizilla admin), but what little I have read has been promising. The basic premise, which the early promos have largely masked, sounds like a kaiju story I wrote in college, which I couldn't be more thrilled by. If you're feeling daring, there's a second trailer out.

We'll get the first episodes of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters even sooner than Godzilla Minus One. Accordingly, Apple has ramped up promotion, releasing a behind-the-scenes video (above), the opening title sequence, and the first scene of the series. We also have names for a couple of the new monsters (the new Skull Island beastie is a Mantleclaw and the critters hatching from eggs are Endoswarmers) and better looks at a couple others.

I joked after the Godzilla Day livestream that it was such a technical fiasco because Toho had put all its skill points into releasing Godzilla Minus One. Similar could be said for the Fathom Events release of Godzilla 2000: Millennium. The showing I caught was fine technically (one brief frame rate hiccup aside), just... uninspired. The preshow was the same brief behind-the-scenes footage of G2K included on the American DVD and Blu-ray; the film used the same translation as the Blu-ray. And now that the novelty of actually being able to watch it has worn off, I've soured considerably on the Japanese version of this movie. The languid score and sound design are especially glaring in a theater.

Godzilla Voxel Wars, available on Steam and Epic Games, probably should have been released in a week less packed with more attention-grabbing Godzilla news. Still zero reviews on Metacritic! Haven't played it myself, but fellow Wikizilla admin Les is enjoying it.

Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons #5 also added to the Godzilla onslaught. Still impressed at how big a role the Giant Octopus had in this (and what a brutal ending for it and Ebirah), but the miniseries wrapped up a little too neatly.

Despite backing it on Kickstarter, I had nearly forgotten about Godzilla & Kong: The Cinematic Storyboard Art of Richard Bennett. Turns out the reason the book has taken so long to be published (the campaign ended last May) is the page count jumping from "around 200" to 424! It's off to the printer now, so the wait is nearly over.

Worth posting again: the third BOSS Coffee ad featuring the new ShodaiGoji suit. Very little original footage in this one, but some first-class editing.

And a few other happenings I'll keep to bullet points so you can finally stop scrolling:

I forgot to post about Viz publishing volume 7 of Asadora! Huge props for introducing a kyodai hero without derailing the story (I won't say how, but it's quite clever).

After its brief Japanese theatrical run, the black-and-white version of Shin Godzilla is "under consideration for further development." Home video next?

The newest Godzilla Battle Line units are Super Mechagodzilla and a second version of Godzilla '54 who strafes his atomic breath and ignores most status effects. I've had virtually no time to play since the new season started (this post was typed entirely in a Georgia hotel room, put it that way), but I hear they're both stellar.

Godzilla trading card update: disappointment and confusion! The Godzilla Minus One promo cards were only available for a very limited time as add-ons to a $75+ TCGPlayer order. Meanwhile, nobody can find the packs of Surreal Entertainment cards that were supposed to arrive at Five Below on Godzilla Day.

Naturally, lots of toys revealed on and around Godzilla Day. Highlights include a Super7 Godzilla figure with an Imperial-inspired paint job, a Super7 SpaceGodzilla repaint blatantly based on Super Godzilla which sold out instantly, an S.H. MonsterArts Jet Jaguar '73, and Movie Monster Series figures for *inhales* Godzilla '55, Anguirus '55, Flying Stage Hedorah, Godzilla '64, and Minilla '67. The Godzilla Raids Again figures are both getting variants inspired by a Toy Dreams set from 2006. Bandai also started up another Movie Monster Series fans-pick-the-figure poll, but what's the point? They'll have every single Godzilla kaiju represented before the decade's half over. (And maybe by the end of the decade I'll be able to afford all the ones I want!)

[wirewitchviolet]

Consider cloning one of these games...

So the other day someone was showing me the trailer to some neat new indie game they were getting into, and my immediate thought was "that does look pretty nice but FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING! INDIE DEVS, PLAY A SECOND GAME ALREADY!"

Presumably you've already guessed this, but it was a nice little handcrafted thing that was very plainly inspired primarily by Super Metroid. Even had those bubble-looking platforms. I'd say what it was specifically, but I already forgot the name, because, you know, I've kinda seen a few games do this before.

It's not like Super Metroid isn't one of my favorite games of all time, obviously. I'm one of the shockingly few people who played it when it was new and totally fell in love then. And it's also not like there aren't several games made in its image that I also love. It's just that there's way too damn many of them out there for anyone to play, and while I'd never be one to tell someone not to make the thing they want to make due to market saturation or whatever, I kinda feel like we're doing a huge disservice to our collective creativity and appreciation of classic games to all be so hyper-focused on putting our own spins on this one particular game, especially when it kinda knocked things out of the park back when this wasn't a genre it was just this one super cool game with, among other things, a compelling structure to it.

Like, I do love that Super Metroid became A game that's served as a focal point for indie devs to try and recreate. Back when it was first released it actually sold kinda terribly by Nintendo's standards, and didn't really have anything else out there trying to iterate on the concept until we eventually got the Castlevania series going that route, and Cave Story. But at this point, yeah, Super Metroid has been all canonized and studied to death and if you're the sort of person who cares about this sort of thing in the slightest you know all about how it ticks and the appeal and what other ways the basic premise can be pulled in. So it's well past time for people to take another game that's super great and fairly unique and use that as a jumping off point to make some new things. So I'm just going to ramble here a little about some real gems that nobody's ever really gotten around to trying to replicate.

Punch-Out!!

I want to say we're all familiar with Punch-Out!! but... are we? It's a famously difficult game, so odds are good you've seen speedruns or other challenge runs, but you really have to play it for yourself to see what's so interesting about it. A big part of the initial appeal of course was having these really expressive screen-filling characters, which isn't something we're lacking now. It's also real twitchy, basically unplayable towards the end if you're dealing with any sort of input lag at all, which isn't super unique these days, but structurally, the way it's coded, there's all this weird artificial drama to it.

Like, on the surface, it's a pretty straightforward thing. Enemies have tells for their attacks, you dodge those, you hit them in the resulting openings. But there's also the round based structure, knock-downs, and one-off gimmick mechanics in the mix. Officially, we're playing by the rules of boxing where the outcome of a match is decided by either knocking someone down and them not getting back up, knocking them down three times in a round, or running out of time and having to go to some judge's decision. But that's not REALLY how it works.

There's no random chance of someone going down and staying down. You've got HP meters, you take one down, your opponent falls over, waits until late in the count and gets up, forcing you to drain that HP down three times before the round ends, and if yours bottoms out, you get to mash buttons to stand up and have your other two chances. But then there's times you CAN take someone down, not only keeping them down for a KO win, but even getting there without your opponent bottoming out on HP first. The most famous example, I believe of both of these, being Bald Bull's charge. The big dramatic make or break where he just keeps using this special move which isn't terribly hard to dodge, but deadly if it connects, and dodging doesn't really help as he won't stop until the round ends, and then might spend the whole second round doing nothing but. You need to take that risk, and get that frame perfect stomach strike just before he connects to dramatically KO him and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat... or you can do this:

I was actually looking for an example of the all or nothing strike when I found this. If you don't face the charge in round 1, he gets into it sooner in round 2 to force the matter, but if you're still not confident enough to go for it there, turns out you can just drop him early into round 3 and have him stay down... and the only real consistent rule any of this follows is drama. Heck looking at the opening screen here, this person knows tricks for getting a KO on at least the first 10 opponents. Most of them I've always just taken the TKOs on myself. Point is though, the mechanics really run on drama. AI scripts change up if you move onto new rounds. Knock-downs turn into knock outs if and only if it fits a certain narrative. This sort of thing is super fascinating to me. Makes me want to look through the game's code line by line. And the only thing I can think of in any other game that even comes close is, of all things, the Ace Attorney series, with those scenery chewing meltdowns, and scattered scenes that "break the rules" with instant failure penalties or no-win situations where you're then suddenly saved by a friendly NPC's dramatic appearance.

I wouldn't suggest anyone literally try to make a Punch-Out!! clone. There's no real reason to stick to the boxing framework. I'd definitely advise against copying all the broad stereotypes. But there's a real unique soul to the drama-driven mechanics breaking stated rules I'd love to see people really digging into to gain a deep understanding of it and apply that to original games.

Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic

I'm not just being pretentious and refusing to say Super Mario Bros. 2. When it was Mario-ized, there were two huge changes- A run button the original FDS game didn't have, and the fundamental structural change of just having you finish levels with whatever character you like (or use warp zones to skip them entirely). In the original game, in order to see the proper ending, you had to play each and every level with each and every character with no run button. And that's neat, actually.

See, just as an example, there's a bit of a skip early on in both versons of the game, where you can avoid taking a door through some whole area by just leaping across a big waterfall. In Super Mario Bros. 2 anyone can do this, just needing a running start, but in the original release, there are no running starts. Either you can jump that gap by way of good airtime, or you can't. Depends which character you play as. Everyone has different stats, so being forced through the same full set of levels, there's a few little things like this where you have to alter your strategy to reflect the character you're running with at the time. That's cool. The whole mechanic of lifting things and throwing them, or riding on enemies' heads, or stacking blocks to reach higher areas or block fireballs, this is also just cool (and another thing SMB2 tweaked actually, play both and see for yourself).

I have seen literally one indie game that riffed on this idea, Curse of the Crescent Isle.

Umihara Kawase

If you've played it, you know. If you haven't, please just watch this speedrun:

Nothing has physics quite like this game. Nothing really has the same weird mildly distressing dream sort of tone to it either, or weird as hell branching level structure, or the weird system where the game has a time limit, but rather than giving a game over just makes it end after your current level. Other games have played with grappling hooks, but nothing I've ever seen has made me feel like this here is what they were going for.

Altered Beast

You know, I don't even particularly LIKE Altered Beast. I always thought it was a bit too short, a bit too simple, and still somehow it felt like you were just killing time until getting the power-ups that kinda make you invincible for the rest of the level.

There's... something here though. Somewhere with these bodies getting so bulky and beefy with no change to their heads and the voice samples and the sense of spectacle to it all, and yeah the dramatic gameplay shifts with the power-ups. I don't quite know what the secret sauce is, but if you find it, bottle it up, and slather it over something less shallow, you might really have something there.

Ecco the Dolphin

There is such a weird mix in the whole series of new age hippie save the whales vibes and genuinely disquieting horror just kinda seamlessly blended together. So much of it is the sound design, but the claustrophobia, the weird sense of speed, the constant pressure of drowning or suddenly being in the face of some huge nasty thing that'll basically one-shot you. The... unspoken but pronounced notion that this is set in a world where all of humanity died and are totally unremembered. There's a hell of a lot you could do with any of this, and the only game I can think of that comes close to hitting the same notes is Subnautica. Actually for that matter...

Subnautica

I don't want to get into what's so great about Subnautica here, because the most common sentiment I hear from people who have played it is they wish there was some way they could play Subnautica for the first time, again. Just... yeah. If you haven't already, play through it all completely blind, and if you can think of how to recapture all of that, do it, and put it in my hands without a word.

X-Com Apocalypse

So... X-Com is a truly amazing game that to this day feels like a unique enough beast it also wouldn't be bad to try and learn from, but there's actually a good number of attempts at clones already, none quite seem willing to get into the same levels of complexity, and there's the whole remade Firaxis series with a simpler take that a lot of games are using as a template. But Apocalypse? The original third game? That tried to do a lot of new and different stuff. I don't know how much of it didn't work vs. how much is secretly amazing if you internalize how it works vs. what's sort of half-baked per se, but there's some real ambition with mixing the original's tactical intricacies and destructible terrain and such (which somehow works even better with the realtime mode this one has), with this living breathing city. You aren't intercepting UFOs on a featureless world map. You've got a whole separate combat engine on a persistent map where stray shots can damage roads and cause long-term problems because the supplies you order get shipped via trucks that travel on those roads. Tons of factions you ideally want support from but can go attack and rob if they feel like lost causes. A tech tree with really dramatic progress and early discoveries that are either double-edges swords or genuinely just terrible things to try to use.

And then the endgame is really neat because instead of just one big final mission, you flip the whole script, and suddenly you're invading an alien city, picking targets to wreak havoc on and ultimately destroy, one by one. Incidentally this also did headcrabs before Half-Life so... I feel like it should be better known just for historical context.

Shadow of the Colossus

I know this is kind of a big technical ask, but why the hell were we not FLOODED with a whole generation of grandiose setpiece-y boss rush games after this first dropped? Perhaps more than anything else on here, someone really needs to get onto scratching this specific itch again, immediately.

I could totally keep going, but more importantly I'm sure you had some game that really left a mark on you that's been largely forgotten since, which I don't even know about, and you should really, if you're up to it, try and teach the world about it and how great it was by blending the old with something new of your own.

Just... draw from wider pools of inspiration, people.

[icedroplove]

Chapter 3

-------x-------

It was already morning, Gray felt well rested and ready to start the day. The mages were at the lobby waiting for Natsu to join them since he hadn’t left the room yet. 

“Do you guys want me to go check if everything’s okay?”

“Please, Lucy.” Erza answered.

As Lucy went upstairs, Wendy sank on the puffy chair she was sitting on and sighed, petting her friend ecxeed who rested on her lap. Erza kept her firm, yet impatient posture. Gray leaned against the column and watched from the corner of his eye as Juvia played with her necklace. She looked so absorbed by it and he noticed how her lips were curved in a slight smile.

Gray looked away and crossed his arms, trying to hide the little blush on his cheeks from his friends. It was not that any of them were looking at him, though. 

Suddenly, they all heard someone yelling. It was Lucy, raging because Natsu had fallen asleep again after changing his clothes. They looked at each other and chuckled (except Erza who looked even more irritated with the delay). Ten minutes later, everyone was set to go.

First thing to do was visit their client, whose house was by the wealthier part of the village. Octavius, a short old man with a taste for vintage clothing, welcomed them into his place with a big smile. He ushered them to sit and served them hot tea. The team was getting impatient with making small talk about how the trip was and if the inn was amiable, but they waited. After a bit, Octavius calmly put his cup down, cleaned his round glasses which got blurry from the smoke and looked at them. 

“I deeply apologize for holding you so long in this conversation. I just wanted to certify myself that you were a qualified group for my request. Even though I’ve perceived that some of you lack proper manners…” He glanced quickly at Natsu, who was on his third teacup. The fire mage gulped it down at once  without even waiting for it to cool down. ”...I’ve considered that this fine team of Fairy Tail mages has the virtues I was pursuing. Now. allow me to explain what is that I need from you mages. ” Octavius acted like he was a character in a period drama story, which made sense considering the aesthetics of his clothes and house.

“I indulged myself for seven years to the work of a novel which I was convinced would become the newest classic on the market. It was a beautiful and completely original story about royalty, duties, forbidden love and a happy ending. I even ventured myself into including more… passion… on some interactions between the main couple. Of course, only because I consider that a younger audience would further appreciate the narrative with the inclusion of such scenes.”

Gray noticed how Lucy, Erza and Juvia looked at each other. Natsu and Wendy, on the other hand, just continued listening without any further thoughts. The increase of the girls' attention on what Octavius was saying confirmed his hypothesis on what those scenes were. 

“What I’ve been meaning to tell is, I sent the final draft to my editor a few months ago and got no response from her. I concluded she hadn’t received it, but a week ago I heard that this unknown author had just published a book with the exact same premise as my draft and it’s a success. I bought the novel, and Upon reading, I’m certain that it's a full copy of my work. However, I don’t have any concrete proof that Ludovic plagiarized me, that’s what I need from you mages.

”It has come to my knowledge that he’ll be attending a party tonight at his place. I can get tickets for all of you.” Octavius eyed the group, his gaze stopped at Wendy. “I wouldn’t advise the little girl’s entrance, though. It is a more adult party.”

Wendy shrugged, but didn’t look much disappointed. 

“Don’t worry, she can stay at the inn. Speaking of which, it was very kind of you to pay for our accommodation, mister. We appreciate the gesture.”

Lucy spoke, easily adapting to Octavius’ weird kind of speech. This seemed to make him happy, since the man got up and kissed Lucy’s hand. 

“I see that my choice of mages for this mission has been the most fortunate.”

Natsu gulped his fourth cup of tea and threw his fist in the air. 

“Okay, I’m all fired up! Let’s kick some ass!” 

Erza elbowed him. Octavius did not show any reaction besides eye Natsu. Apparently, the gentleman wasn't one to be rude. He reached for his pocket and handed Lucy a paper.

“If you may, please write your names here so I can get you on the guest list for tonight.” He wrote on another paper and gave it to Wendy. “This is the address of my publisher. It is possible that she has some information on what happened, she was the only person who read my draft.”

After talking a bit longer, they returned to the inn. Erza ordered Natsu and Gray to wear their best outfits since they didn’t know how fancy that party would be. The boys got ready in thirty minutes, but the girls were still inside the bedroom. Natsu huffed loudly. 

“I’ll go hurry them up.”

“Don’t.”

“But they’re taking too long!”

Gray rolled his eyes, sure that if any of them walked in they’d definitely get Lucy-kicked. After convincing his friend that it wasn’t worth it, they sat in the lounge ready to wait a good while.

-x-

“I’m lucky I brought an evening dress by precaution.” Lucy looked at herself in the mirror, examining her outfit. What heels do I wear? The red ones or black ones?”

Juvia looked away from her open suitcase to give her opinion. The red shoes were pretty, but too fancy for an event that they didn’t know how the other guests would be dressed at. The black ones were more versatile and matched the maroon dress Lucy was wearing. The girls agreed that the black heels were better. 

Wendy came to Juvia, who was still looking at her suitcase. She asked her what happened.

“Juvia didn’t bring any fancy dresses…” The girls turned to her, confused.

“Why didn’t you say anything? You can wear one of mine!” Erza said. 

“Oh...” Juvia felt embarrassed, she still felt weird asking for things like this. Even though now she had friends she could count on, she’d been used to being alone for so long that keeping things to herself was a normal thing. “Thank you, Erza-san.”

The redhead smiled and gave her a navy blue dress. “Go on, try it!”

Juvia wasn’t used to wearing revealing clothing like this in her day-to-day life. She liked it, though. The color looked good on her. She adjusted the thin straps to better support her breasts and took another look in the mirror.

“Juvia-san, you look so pretty!” Wendy said.

Lucy looked at her from head to toe and winked. “Oh my, you’ll end up killing Gray like this.”

Juvia squealed and covered her head with her hands, blushing hard. Erza made her sit on the bed and started working on her makeup. While she rambled about which winged eyeliner would match best her eyes, she let her mind wonder about what Lucy had said. Would Gray like her look?

“And… done!” Erza took a step back to look at her work and gave Juvia a hand mirror. She liked her look. It was sexy, but not too different from her own style. She put on her heels and gathered her purse.

“Okay, everything’s set?”

Suddenly, Natsu opened the door.

“Yo, you’ve been here for an hour! Let’s go!!!” To no one’s surprise, he got Lucy-kicked in the face.

After assuring that Wendy and Carla would be okay at the inn, they all left the inn.

-x-

They were lost. The instructions Octavius gave them weren’t enough to find the venue. After walking in circles for a while, they stopped at the main square as Erza went to ask for directions.

Gray crossed his arms and stole another glance at Juvia. She looked… different. Her normal attire was so chaste that he was awlays caught by surprise when she wore more revealing clothes. Of course he already knew that she was sexy, but having her wear a dress that flattered her body was… different. 

He looked away before his eyes lingered for too long on the dress' neckline pushing up her breasts. Gray didn’t want to stare at them, nor at the slit on her skirt that showed a bit of her toned thighs. Shit. It was becoming hard for him, even harder when she walked to his side as they waited for Erza’s return.

“Is everything okay, Gray-sama?”

He nodded, crossing his arms. Juvia looked at the square, toying with the necklace he gave her the night before. His chest warmed upon noticing that she enjoyed the gift that much. It assured him that he was off to a good start.

However, Gray was unsure what move he should make next. He was nervous to just ask her out. His plan was taking small steps. He wanted to make Juvia happy, but rushing wouldn’t be of any good. After all, romance was still an unknown matter for Gray Fullbuster. 

“I’ve never seen you wearing this dress.” Was everything he managed to say.

“Erza-san lend me. Juvia’s not used to this…” She gestured to her outfit “But it’s not a problem.”

Gray hummed. He saw Erza walking back to them.

“You look good.” 

He smiled lightly at her. Juvia blushed. While they followed Erza to the venue, Gray walked by her side.