#by the time I got back to GI again and actually *playing* the game I'm already way out in Sumeru

[dee--eer]

Found a clip of JP streamer playing the poetry event and I'm. Giggling kicking my feet up frothing at the mouth this part is so goddamn adorable wtf 😭😭😭

((Don't get me wrong the EN translation is also really cute but sometimes a more direct dialogue can shake my heart more and it can be very effective))

[inmyheaddd]

Playing watergirl and fireboy (im unsure If thats name of the game but i hope u know what i mean😭) with Ravi headcanons

games

playing fireboy and watergirl with ravi would solve all my problems 💖 this request was so so so cute i hope i did it justice!! wc: 976 masterlist

you and ravi’s movie night was getting slightly boring, you got to the point where you had basically watched every movie there is, and you were on a sugar high, so sleeping was out of the question.

the credits of the last movie on your watchlist started rolling. after a few moments of silence, you asked what you two should do now. 

“why don’t we play a game?” you’re lying on ravi’s chest, with his hands in your hair. you feel his words in vibrations more than you actually hear them. 

“what kind of game?” you turn and meet his eyes.

“hm,” he taps his finger on his chin in an exaggerated motion, then strokes his imaginary beard. “do you want to play fireboy and water girl?” he says with a smile on his face. he said the sentence so fast, sounding like a child asking if you have games on your phone. 

you knew what the game was as you used to play it as a child with your siblings. you always wanted to be watergirl, but you didn’t know how to play WASD keys.

you two were now sitting cross-legged next to each other in the middle of your bed, with the computer in front of you. 

“okay you know how to play, right?” he taps his fingers on his knees, his giddiness couldn't be more obvious.

“yeah, i'm the best at it.” you say 

“are you sure? i mean, you’re talking to the reigning champion of fireboy and water girl right now.”

you fake scoff and look away from him, shaking your head, "nerd.” 

“you’re nerd-er”

“that’s not even a word, it’s nerdier." you look back at him, trying to keep your “nonchalantness” in tact, but you can’t fight the smile that finds your face. you’re head over heels for him.

he shakes his head with a sigh, a faint grin on his lips too. "i love having a smart girlfriend."

"knowing the word nerdier isn't even... whatever." you think to yourself. it's alright though; you love having a ravi boyfriend. 

you started playing the game, and maybe you weren’t being the most truthful when you said you knew how to play. 

you were watergirl after 15 lengthy minutes of ravi teaching you how to use the WASD keys, and you dying in the game too many times to count. 

you were so close to finishing a level after failing so many times, and ravi was being your hype man as he always is: “yes! you’re so close you can do it,” “that’s my girl!” “you’re the bees knees”

“ravi!” you laugh out, “you’re distracting me.” you continue, dragging out the "me." you were trying to act 'annoyed' at him, but you both knew you weren’t. the day he stops his corny phrases is the day you die.

“alright, sorry.” he replies with an amused chuckle, his eyes trained on your face. he found the way you were so focused on this game entertaining to say the least. 

after a few seconds of silence and your character about to fall into the lava again, he speaks again. “you can do it! yes!” this time, in whispers that go against everything a whisper should be— quiet.  “that’s my gi-“

you retract your hands from the keyboard and place them on your lap dramatically, then turn to him with a blank stare. he slowly turns to you, matching your ‘dramatic ness’, and looks down at you with the goofiest smile plastered across his face.

you keep your composure for a total of 2 seconds before your lips start twitching upwards and you both burst out into laughter. 

every time you were about to stop laughing, you would see ravi still in tears from his own "joke." not to mention, his laugh was just so contagious.

you finally recover from your fit of laughter, only to fall into another one minutes later when playing.

“aw these characters are so cute; it’s like us in another universe.” you smile as you continue playing.   

he simply turns and looks at you with an eyebrow raised. “aren’t they siblings?” 

“oh.” 

you both start laughing hard, and again, seeing ravi laugh just makes you laugh even harder. 

you’re practically in tears at this point, and ravi is in hysterics. it’s like a never-ending cycle of laughing at each other's laughs.

you both take deep breaths and stop laughing for a few seconds, then make eye contact. you both burst into laughter again.

“stop!” you’re so out of breath, you feel like you’ve done a whole ab workout with all the laughing you just did, “we need to- we need to finish the level,” you manage to get out in between deep breaths and giggles.

“who cares about the level?” he chuckles with a light shake of his head.

“i thought you did?” you let out a chuckle through your nose, and you and ravi are looking into each other's eyes. 

he shakes his head once once more, “hm,” followed by a shrug. “i like my watergirl better,” he mutters before moving towards you and kissing you. 

you can’t help yourself from smiling into the kiss, and then he pulls back. “can you stop smiling so i can kiss you?” he says with his eyebrows raised, with the same large smile on your face on his. “only if you stop being cute,” you respond jokingly. he was slightly taken aback—you were never the one who would make corny jokes, and make comments that sounded straight out of a 2010 rom-com. “hey! that’s my thing,” he pouts, pretending to be hurt. 

you shrug your shoulders before leaning in to kiss him again, and now he was the one smiling incessantly. you didn’t say anything though; you wanted to stay in this position forever. the computer was starting to overheat, evident from the loud noises the fan was making. but neither of you cared enough to say anything, you were too focused on the person in front of you. 

[i-like-anything-water]

Hey, me again! I was curious: What would your thoughts be on a Chloenette AU in which both Chloe and Marinette play video games as a way to vent stress, and end up starting to date online... while totally unaware who the other is IRL? Hey, the question mark is working this time! But yeah, I kinda picture Chloe as the type of person who SAYS she doesn't like video games because they are for "nerds," but actually has a bunch of really expensive gamer gear, and Marinette is a confirmed gamer in the show.

Hello!

Oh god, this would be very hilarious and fluffy. At first Chloe really doesn't like videogames cause why would she spend her day staring at a damn screen when she can do other things? (Like staring at her phone screen while shopping lmao). But she changed her mind when Adrien started inviting her over to watch and boy, was he super ridiculous.

"Adrikins!" She cries out, snatching the controller from the boy, "You are an Agreste! You do not lose to anyone, especially commoners over a stupid game!"

She actually managed to win third place but being the competitive brat that she is, she was pissed and vowed to get first place. What started as merely watching and commenting became her and Adrien's 'training' to beat random people online.

She still insisted it was kept a secret though. She was a Bourgeois, utterly unacceptable!

I'm not good with videogames myself so I don't have a specific game in mind. But I'm thinking of some rpg or where there's roles and heroes and stuff and Chloe meets a player who's ticked her off.

Marinette was sleep deprived and just had to beat an annoying akuma and wanted to play in peace and relieve her stress when this very flashy and expensive looking player just...poked her. She poked her back. And it ended with them just running around and decided to go on one adventure. Just one, she was intrigued after all.

Chloe didn't mean to poke her. She accidentally pressed her controller and it poked this player that just gave her some sort of... something. And it poked her back! She got an invite and despite being confused about the whole thing, she accepts.

And that's where it all started.

They became friends after learning how compatible they are during missions. Chloe was still wary of people finding out about her interest in games so she kept some part of her life vague, especially her name. Marinette didn't mind, she was just happy to talk to her friend.

They open up, learn stuff about each other and one thing leads to another and bam, they're girlfriends!

This bleeds on to their personal life and since Chloe is mostly on cloud nine, she doesn't bully people like usual and everyone is surprised (and slightly worried that the apocalypse is near or there's a reality bending akuma). Everyone including Marinette.

Marinette is also ecstatic (she's told Alya and some others about her girlfriend and they were very happy for her) but she can't help but notice and be curious about her rival's sudden change of attitude. She wanted to ask but they're getting along more easily (by this, they don't try to go at each other's throat by just locking eyes) so...maybe as long as nothing major changes....

It's during the upcoming competition does certain major changes come. Marinette is with Max, Adrien and some other kid talking about signing up for the competition. Chloe overhears and being the girlfriend of an amazing gamer, she couldn't help but brag.

"Hmp, your skills are no match to my girlfriend's! She'll wipe the floor with your tears when she's done with you." Her girlfriend had mentioned last night she was thinking of signing up for their school's competition and Chloe found out it's different schools battling each other. She had been excited! Her girlfriend shared her excitement and planned to see each other and introduce themselves formally when the competition comes. Chloe wanted to support her girlfriend after all.

Max looks like he stopped working, Adrien is beaming and Marinette is shocked. Wait...

"Girlfriend?!"

"Anything wrong with that, Dupain-Cheng?!"

"What? No, no! Oh god, no! I was just..shocked." so that explains the happy moods. Max still looked shocked. Then again, this was Chloe. It wasn't even the girlfriend part. It was the, uh, someone actually wanted to date Chloe? That wasn't Adrien or some famous celebrity? And Chloe wanted them too?

"Whatever, Dupain-Cheng. My girlfriend is one of the best and she's trying out for the competition and I'll be there to support her! I feel sorry for any of you who'd be up against her."

Chloe rolled her eyes and walked away from the shocked group, muttering how they're definitely going to lose.

"Marinette." Max finally speaks.

"Hmmm?"

"There's a 89% chance you will experience sudden dizziness and faint, but didn't you just tell me you also had a gamer girlfriend who happened to be blonde and is coming to support you?"

Oh. Oh.

"She has ten seconds before she - oh wait, no, she's already fainted. Thank you for catching her, Adrien."

[spyslayerkaisen]

Happy New Year everyone!

It is now, as I'm posting this at midnight at this point, 2024 in my area. Sure, 2023 had plenty of shitty moments (which I am not gonna talk about here since I wanna keep things positive here), but this year is not all entirely doom and gloom, as there are plenty of positives that happened this year for me. Those include, from the top of my head:

* I got a brand new gaming laptop with an RTX 3050 GPU from NVIDIA, with my own money

* I saw The Super Mario Bros. Movie twice in my local theatre (I even saw a movie at my local theatres twice before back in 2019, being Endgame 4 years ago, meaning this is the second time I've done so)

* I got back into plush collecting. Sure my plush collection in the past few years was small, but it has been growing lately as I got more later down the stretch of the year.

* I've been trying out new foods my mum has cooked for the first time (one of which includes cheesy potato with bacon)

* I’ve gotten into anime series that I never watched before this year (such as Darling in the FRANXX, Idolish7, Ensemble Stars, and Bungo Stray Dogs, and I did rewatch season 1 of JJK and Spy x Family before season 2 of their shows came out (I finished Spy x Family season 2, but I still need to catch up with JJK a little later on) and rewatching Demon Slayer season 1 again managed to make me watch the Mugen Train arc (technically twice, first for the movie and second for the TV-adapted arc) and Entertainment District before the Swordsmith Village arc came out (I was gonna see it premiere at the movies, but I did not get to, but at least I saw the arc when it actually aired on Japanese TVs).

* I saw a Studio Ghibli movie on the big screen, for the first time (I have seen anime movies in my local theatre before though, but this my first Ghibli movie in my local theatre, and it was dubbed too, which I saw to hear Christian Bale, Robert Pattinson and Mark Hamill in a Ghibli film)

* I've gotten more posters throughout the year in addition to the posters I already own. This year, I got posters of Spy x Family, Yu-Gi-Oh! (Duel Monsters, of course), Fairy Tail, Jujutsu Kaisen, Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, Pulp Fiction, Spider-Man, Demon Slayer, Batman and even Bluey! (which Bluey is one of my favourite shows, so I could not resist) I need three more in 2024 then my walls in my room are complete

* I saw two Amazon Prime exclusive shows for the first time (Invincible and The Boys) and they both became two of my favourite shows upon seeing them. And hell, even 2023 was a great year to see them for the first time, as Omni-Man and Homelander are coming to Mortal Kombat 1 which made me a proud fan of both shows.

* I've gotten back into physical media collecting (well I stopped early on in the first half of the year when I got Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, and I thought I was not gonna buy anymore physical media after that, but fortunately, I saw on the internet that people I've known on social media still love collecting physical media as long as they are still releasing them (I'm glad my local JB is still selling them which is a good thing as people are still buying discs for movies in Australia as I saw, despite that Best Buy, on the other hand, is no longer selling them starting 2024), so because of that, I decided to get back into buying physical media again, which this year after I got TOTK back in May (which I pre ordered in January), I got Street Fighter 6 (which I still need to beat the story mode of that), Resident Evil 4 (still need to play more) for PS5, Mortal Kombat 1 (which I pre ordered, and hell, I even got on Steam recently so I can play it on either my laptop or the ROG Ally, which I’ll get to in a little bit, but at least I beat the Story mode of it), Super Mario Bros. Wonder (which I still need to beat), and Spider-Man 2 (which I also need to beat and get the Platinum trophy of it post-game) and I even started to buy physical media of movies/TV shows/anime series (I didn’t buy any shows this year though, maybe I will next year), which are Puss in Boots the Last Wish, The Wizard of Oz, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, My Dress-up Darling, Cinderella (the 1950 Disney Classic), Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (which I still own on DVD and I'll still keep the DVD, but might as well upgrade it to 4K) and recently, The Crow! (which I'll watch later on for its 30th anniversary and maybe again on Spooky month)

* I got the Platinum trophy for three more games (Spider-Man Remastered, Spider-Man Miles Morales, and Bluey the Video game, all for PS5) after Astro's Playroom), so hopefully in 2024 I hope to get more Platinum trophies for PlayStation games

* And lastly, to end the year off with a bang, I finally got the brand new ASUS ROG Ally, also with all the birthday and Christmas money I've saved! Since it is a Windows device and it functions as a gaming PC, I can use that as my new gaming PC (one of these days I will get a docking station for it so that way I can have my new Ally replace my gaming laptop (which I'll still keep for collection purposes) and use it as my new main gaming PC).

That being said, 2023 (despite all the bad things that happened then, including several that happened in my life) I thought was a mixed bag between shitty moments and good moments. It was a shitty year for the bad things that happened (which, like I said, I'm gonna keep things positive here), but the good things that happened to me in 2023 definitely unequivocally saved the year for me from being entirely bad (2020 was still the worst due to “we all know what happened then which I'm not gonna bother mentioned since I mostly focus on the positive oriented stuff, but hey at least it had a few good things that happened for me back then, such as when I got my PS5 pre-ordered and got very lucky when I got it purchased when it was still in shortage (when it first came out, anyway) in early December, and even pre-ordering my first PS5 title which is Spider-Man: Miles Morales before I got said console).

[ben-talks-art]

Top 10 favorite Yu-Gi-Oh! Gx duels

I love Yugioh! Gx! I love Yugioh! Gx!I love Yugioh! Gx! God, I freaking love Yugioh! Gx!

Love its weird cast of characters, I love its weird idea of a school of duel monsters and secret cults, and evil space lights, I love its over-the-top boss monsters that all look like the coolest toys on the planet, and I just love, love, love its duels!

I suddenly got in the mood to talk about Gx so, why not talk about the duels I like the most?

10. Jaden vs. the Reaper hand

This is a duel that's interesting because of the themes around it. The game itself isn't really that memorable, the antagonist of the episode simply has an OTK deck that burns the opponent once the conditions of his spell are met but Jaden finds a way to interrupt him.

No, the actual cool thing about it is the message. The guy Jaden is facing has been winning all his latest duels, but he wasn't winning with his own efforts, nor was he winning in a particularly enjoyable way. He was basically being given an "I win" button, and after facing Jaden, who is a guy that enjoys his duels regardless of winning or losing, he makes the realization that "Oh, yeah... Yu-Gi-Oh! is meant to be fun while playing it, isn't it?"

I feel like this duel works as a nice commentary for the split from casual to meta players. Do you play because you just want to win, or because you wanna get the chance to use the cool cards from your deck and do cool combos with them?

Idk, I just find it interesting and kinda relevant.

9. Jaden vs. a deck-out deck

This is exactly what it sounds. Jaden is faced against a guy that has a deck-out deck and forces Jaden to be creative with his strategy in order to overcome this challenge.

This is similar to his duel with Bastion where he loses the ability to use fusion and the fun is in seeing how he will get out of the situation, and the way he does it is so freaking enjoyable.

He basically pulls a huge combo consisting of E. Hero Electrum of all things, alongside de-fusion and quick-fusion in order to make his opponent deck out instead. It's just glorious.

8. Jaden vs. Zane

This is basically Jaden vs. Cyber End Dragon. The entire duel Zane just keeps fusing, re-fusing, reviving, taking away and pulling back his big-ass robot hydra as if it was a yo-yo and Jaden needs to keep finding ways to trash it over, and over, and over again.

It's like fighting a boss in a video game with multiple phases and seeing how long you can last.

The duel ends with a pretty cool final clash of Shinning Flare Wingman duking it out with Mecha Ghidorah after pulling some quick spells that raise their attack to some absurd numbers. It's honestly such a cool moment that I'm shocked they haven't made a card out of it yet like they did with these.

Maybe one day...

7. Syrus vs. Zane

This one is interesting.

Syrus has always been recognized as one of the weakest duelists in Gx and one who was very insecure around his brother, so seeing him go at it against Zana was very cool to see.

You keep looking at who he was at that point and who he used to be early on, and you can't help but go "Sniff, sniff... That's my boy! They grow up so fast!"

Like, keep in mind, this dude wasn't even able to play a casual duel with Jaden without having self-doubt, and here he is, giving everything he has, all to save his brother.

It's just such a nice display of character development, and Gx is full of that stuff.

6. Jaden vs. Aster

This is the duel where Jaden got the absolute living sh*t beaten out of him.

Jaden had several duels where he lost to a stronger opponent before, but this was the first time where it felt like the dude was just ridiculously outmatched.

Everything he tried the opponent would just go "lol, nope!" as if this was... a game... Huh...

There is just something strangely enjoyable in seeing everything Jaden used ends up crashing and burning and makes you realize he still has a long way to go.

It's kinda of a Empire Strikes Back moment where the heroes get their asses kicked so hard that you just can't wait to see how they'll get their payback.

5. Jaden vs. Fake Yugi

Unpopular opinion time: I think the final duel of Jaden vs Yugi freaking sucks... I didn't find the combos they used that interesting, I felt Jaden was being a tad too one-sidedly crushed, and a lot of the old-school cards Yugi used just weren't that interesting to me.

The duel vs fake Yugi though? I loved that.

What I like about it is that they actually used Yugi's cards in a way that made sense for the game, and in a way that made them look strong and cool. Like, they make Kuriboh look like the coolest freaking thing cause that monster stopped Jaden's moves about 4 or 5 times.

And the whole duel was just that, just watching these old Yugi cards that you think didn't age well but because they are being used at the right time it makes them all look effective.

Not to mention they bring out Yugi's coolest monsters! Chimera, Black Luster Soldier, Balck Magician of Chaos, and they give them new updated effects to make them feel fresh.

It's just a fun duel that shows how nostalgic cards can still be awesome.

4. Bastion vs. Chazz

The one time Bastion was cool.

This is the duel where Chazz steals Bastion's deck only to find out he has six other decks, all focused on different playstyles and strategies.

The best way I can describe this is... This was the duel where they made being a nerd look fun and cool.

Building a bunch of decks with different themes sounded really fun, making a whole deck based on chemistry with a boss monster that's a giant dragon made of water sounded really fun, trying to create a deck that represents your personality sounds really fun, and having a deck specifically designed to counter your opponent... honestly sounds kinda douchy... but fun!

This duel makes you want to play the game, cause it makes it look like a fun time... At least it did to me.

3. Chazz vs. his brothers

This is one of the most cathartic duels ever.

Chazz is given a condition that he must face against his brothers for the sake of the academy in a duel where he's only allowed to use monsters with low attack points against them who have access to super big fat attack point dragons.

Keeping in mind, the show had established that Chazz has a sorta of abusive relationship with his family where they keep gaslighting him to feel like he's inferior for not having as many achievements as them.

This is the equivalent of watching a kid who used to be bullied by his older sibling having to fight against them in order to protect his new friends from them, all while having his hands tied behind his back, while the siblings all are equipped with massive bats...

And of course, Chazz completely destroys them, and of course, that felt absurdly satisfying.

Let's pick this apart a little, a victim of bullying facing his former bullies, in order to protect his new found family, forced to fight with an unfair disadvantages, and he still manages to come out on top, not just that but with an overwhelming victory.

How's that not awesome?

2. Zane vs. Yubel

I love this duel.

On one side, a demon possessing a student in order to get him into bdsm clothing, on the other, a guy with a heart disease that could kill him at any moment while carrying a giant leather jacket in the middle of the desert, both of them trying to tear each other apart with their big FU dragons with 4k attack.

This duel is awesome because you really feel like these two are legit trying to kill each other. Every attack feels relentless, every move feels like it's taking a lot of risk on its user, they both feel like they're putting everything on the line to win.

And the way it ends is just so perfect as we slowly realize who's going to win with "bewildering duel" playing in the back while Zane gives his final words right before his body finally fails him.

So good!

1. Jaden vs. Crowler (rematch)

Another duel that's just perfect.

A rematch that mirrors the first duel of the series to show how far both characters have come.

Jaden who used to play just for the heck of it now is playing in order to carry the hopes of everyone who puts their faith in him, while his teacher who at first played just to show his superiority and get rid of someone he used to see as worthless now duels with anticipation and curiosity to find out how his student will get out of his predicament.

I freaking love how midway through the duels all the students who were watching start getting so sucked into the game that they forget what was at stake and just start rooting for both sides. I always appreciate it when the anime makes playing the damn game look actually fun.

The way it ends is just brilliant, showing both sides using the same monsters and strategies from their first match, to show how far they've come but still being true to the dueling styles that feels right for them.

And then we top it all off with every single student doing the "Gotcha!" gesture that Jaden always uses, showing how much he influenced them into also learning to just enjoy the moment.

This duel captures everything that's great about Gx. The character growth, the great chemistry between the cast, the awesome monsters with awesome effects, the heart and emotion underneath it all, and of course, the fun factor.

I love Yu-Gi-Oh! Gx so much!

[shinayashipper]

Hi! I am (relatively? Subjectively?? Objectively???? All three?!?!?) new to Yu-Gi-Oh. I have seen it as a kid through YouTube amvs because I never really knew where to watch them. The only clear memory I have was watching Pyramid of Light but I heard people say it's not that good so I personally think it doesn't count 😅

Now that I am grown , I have readied myself to watch the original series and hyperfixate on it for a long while XD.

I am aware of the story, aware of the ships, and played the games (the first DS game I think, and currently enjoying Master Duel)

I know I shouldn't really "ship at first sight" but your artworks are one of the first to make me pay attention to Rivalshipping and be inspired to make a fanfic about them as I am a sucker for rivals-to-lovers, red and blues and the like .

This became long and winded so I just wanna ask, at what point/s be it anime, manga, movie/s, or subtext made you go:

"OMG, that makes so much sense. This! This is the essence of Rivalshipping!"

(sorry for the long and winded essay 😅)

That's okay!! I hope you enjoyed yugioh again as much as we did <3

I also actually only watched some of the DM anime in our local TV when I was a kid (it only airs the first season / Duelist Kingdom and I don't really have access to get to know anything else from the franchise), played the card game with my brother. I remember liking Yamiyugi character more than anything else 😂 and love the monsters. But I haven't really immersed myself in it.

Years later I found out about Yamiyugi/Atem being Dead in the end and IT HURTS ME <\3 it was through a internet search (I didn't have access to internet back then) after I randomly ran into a local parody video of Yugioh (a team dubbed the YGOTAS in our local indigenous language and it was HILARIOUS it got me thinking "oh WOW been a while since I get this much laugh, I wonder how Yugioh is nowadays??")

After the initial Heartbreak of Losing Yamiyu, I also stumbled on the YGO manga- it was the first time that I knew YGO used to have more Horror elements, it was Really Fun!! I read a bit of the manga and I Really Like Yugi!!! That's the time I started to Understand the story, and began appreciating the characters more (other than Yamiyu haha) and then all my Attention just shifted to Yugi, and I Really LOVE Him, he's my babie

And then I stumbled on DSOD, and I thought "YGO got a Movie?? Well let's check it out, I wanna see More of Yugi" and then the Yugi in question comes out and he's SO DIFFERENT from the babie I used to know??? 😂😂 he's all Mature and stuff!! But he's SO SAD and that Sadness kinda pulls me in-

When Kaiba and Yugi starts their Duel I think THAT's when I got "oh yes: Them" because I think it was the first time I ever see a Kaiba vs YUGI not Yamiyu Duel and it was an Emotional experience, beside the Duel having Emotional backstory behind it too, it was just a whipslash of Emotion for me 😂😂😂

It was also when I started Noticing Kaiba's appeal as a character too. They are SO SAD in the DSOD movie that it draws me in <3

After the whiplash of Emotion from DSOD, I started to read the manga and watch the anime more carefully and started Noticing details- every little bits of interaction between Yugi & Kaiba, even the ones that only happens offscreen (like how Yugi mentions he visits Kaiba in the hospital a lot of times) makes it feel like everything that happens in DSOD really makes more sense, and it feels like it's Meant to happen, their story builds up to DSOD, and I really like that- they got Growth in their story, I think. I guess I lean more on the manga in story-line that makes me get interested in Them <3 but DSOD just seals the Deal 😂

Also after that I learned of that "4 years later" insta post by KT and it shows Kaiba and Yugi together Making Games, AND GOD IT WAS- IT TRULY SEALED THE DEAL... Everything Makes Sense, they're sooo build to be Together for me!!! 🥺🥺🥺

And welp now I'm here 😂

I'm Very Happy you got to enjoy the ship through my drawings <3 but my intrepertation of them might not be the same as anyone else (and I think my content are mostly ooc too) so I hope you can see the original series again and enjoy it as you like 💙💜 have fun!!

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 - Disc-2

Aww, no more full-color chapters this time around :'( it was fun while it lasted. I wonder why this manga never came out in America? I know Digimon didn't make it as big as Pokemon, but I would think it's big enough, no? Maybe they thought the alternate-world Taichi would be too confusing for kids which...fair.

Ch. 11

-This chapter was pretty creepy. The premise (a village going crazy and everyone killing each other) was already low key creepy pasta worthy, but the way the artist draws Zeromaru in crazy/brainwashed mode was pretty unsettling. Not to oversell it, in the end it's a pretty standard "teammates used against each other" plot.

-Something about an evil Patamon is pretty funny. He's too cute to be evil!

-I don't like Demon's design (didn't like his anime design either). The only part that's kinda cool is the "missing data" on his arm and mid-section.

-Seems kinda messed up that the digivice can make a digimon full instantly. Depriving your friend of the joys of eating :'(

Ch. 12

-Another Digimon World-like reference where Taichi talks about force feeding Zeromaru and not cleaning up his poop. Ah...so glad I never have to play that game again lol.

-Is Taichi wearing loose socks? Very 2000s of him. I miss that fad...

Ch. 13

-Digivice abilities so far: scan enemy digimon, transmit data to partner (commands, food, abilities). Seems pretty OP. I hope they don't over rely on it.

-There's a lot of Engrish in this manga ("deep saver," "wake up combination"). I wonder if the random "cool" English in manga motivates kids to learn at all...

Ch. 14

-This chapter was basically all gags and no tags. Just as useless as the Starmon episode in the anime!

-New digivice ability: it can scan books and then upload that info to your partner's brain. Again...kinda OP. Of course, they nerfed it by making Taichi's doodles cause trouble, so I guess it's fine.

Ch. 15

-Edgy rival guy appears! He kinda looks like a discount Killua. He doesn't appear to be brainwashed like Ken? Who knows though...

-TWO digivices!?

No but really, what's the point in having two? That's stupid.

-Another OP power added to Taichi's digivice: It can unlock any electronic lock

-So Etemonkey was wholesome all along!? :'( poor guy. Rival dude said his lifespan is like 120 hours!? Geez I didn't know we were going by game logic THAT much.

-Wow, Jogress evolution! I'm glad I'm reading this after Digimon Adventure 02 or else I might be confused by some of the stuff they're throwing at me with zero explanation.

-Rival guy's name is...Neo Saiba. How am I supposed to take that seriously? Makes me think of Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh!

Ch. 16

-Well that got dark pretty quick. Neo sacrifices a Metal Greymon for the sake of collecting data. The fact that the Metal Greymon's only reason for existing was to prove himself to Neo was really sad. RIP.

-So I realize that "Neo Saiba" isn't a first name but a first and last name lol, Idk why I thought otherwise. I guess I'm just so used to hearing digimon with two names at this point.

-Another digivice ability. Apparently you can use it to straight up kill a digimon? (Or "delete," as they worded it). I wonder if it's a real kill or if MetalGreymon gets to turn back into a digi-egg...

Ch. 17

-This chapter got a little violent with Zero bleeding from the nose and mouth and then ripping off Skull Satamon's arms. I bet if you were an 8 year old reading this that would be really intense!

-Apparently anger can give digimon a power boost. I wonder if other emotions have any effect?

-The official release actually ends here for volume 2 which seems weird, but it's because there's a huge chunk of omake materials at the end including C'mon Digimon! I've been reading the scanlations, but I think I'll have to buy the real deal to get that sweet bonus content.

[callgespenst]

Well, I started playing Yu-Gi-Oh! again.

It's not the main thing I think of being into when I was a youth, but I sure was into Yu-Gi-Oh when I was a kid. The card game and the anime both. I'm sure I would have played some of the video games if that was something I was allowed to do. I played a decent amount in middle school at the local library with older kids who were way better than me, and then again in high school where I had a fairly decent deck. It won a tournament once! Just not when I was playing it, a buddy borrowed it for a weekend. I lost my deck shortly after graduating high school and it became a fond memory.

Anyway a friend of mine who was still in the loop told me a few months ago "oh hey, there's a new mahjong-themed archetype coming" and like a fool, I started looking into it. Found some decklists, checked TCGPlayer, and discovered that putting together a Tenpai Dragon deck was surprisingly cheap! Two of the three main deck dragons go for pennies, the Synchro monsters are maybe a dollar, and the white dragon goes for $10. I found plenty of other cards that worked well with them on the cheap as well. I still lack the key Synchro that makes the deck really work, but that's because it's still minimum $60 and I refuse to spend that much on any one piece of cardboard. $20 is my absolute upper limit. There's a reprint of Trident Dragion coming soon so I'll try one box and hope the aftermarket prices go down.

Tenpai Dragon has proven to be a lot of fun to play so far! The few duels I've gotten in, I've had a great time. It's a competitive, fast deck, but not so much so I lose track of what I'm doing. My biggest issue in pulling off wins is definitely that while I know what my cards do and how they combo, I don't know anyone else's Deck that I'm playing against well enough to use my cards that negate opponent's effects. But that'll come with time.

I've played in two tournaments since my comeback. The first one, I had one Duel win, and otherwise lost every Match. The second one, I managed an overall draw on my first game! And a resounding win on the first Duel of my third Match. Lost the second Match outright, and the third Match, my opponent side decked in a lot of hard counters. That's another problem, Tenpai Dragon is actually pretty big right now, so plenty of players are actively keeping its best counters close at hand.

I had a lot of fun at that second tournament. At the end of three matches I had to like, zone back in. I thought way more time had passed than actually did. And everyone I've played against so far has been really nice and helpful and friendly. Haven't run into a single stereotypical smelly stuck-up rules-lawyer neckbeard. Yet. I hope that keeps up. But at locals, the spirit of good sportsmanship is alive and well, so that definitely also keeps me wanting to come back.

Anyway, I haven't spent a whole lot of money on my comeback. Definitely more than I would have been able to spent in middle/high school, but compared to my other hobbies, not a whole lot at all. It's actually kinda nice because when the overwhelming desire to make an impulse purchase kicks in, instead of dropping minimum $50 on a collectible I want, I can spend $5 on a pack or on ordering some cards online and it scratches the itch just as well.

There's more support incoming in future boosters for Tenpai Dragon so I'm hoping it remains viable for a while yet. It's hard to imagine it getting completely outclassed, but then again, the current state of the game was beyond imagining fifteen years ago.

On one last note, I've already been hit with one of those "haha new ygo is so weird! forever combo! card text too small!" jokesters. I won't deny it's a wildly different game than it was when I was growing up. But that doesn't mean it's not still fun! It's definitely got a learning curve and a barrier to enter high level play due to cost. But like, what card game isn't like that, at this point? I'm sure Magic and Pokemon are just as bad, maybe worse. Anyway, even if you don't like the modern setup, there is nothing preventing you from buying old cards for cheap and playing the way you want to. All the old staples and one turn kills and tremendously busted cards of yesteryear are now pennies on the dollar. It's still in the mail but I put together a classic Warrior deck for myself and a Kaiba deck for my wife for $20 total, for casual play. With the exception of only a handful of cards and original printings, old YGO cards just don't go for that much. Have fun the way you want! Don't let the meta stop you.

[thedarkmistress16]

Do you have any app or mobile game to suggest? QwQ I wanna try playing something new

OOF there's so many mobile games I'm listing so prepare yourself

BATTLE CATS is the shit. Tough levels at points but there is a semblance of progress to be had. They added a lot of events and extra shit so it might be overwhelming for new people. i have no idea tho I barely started playing it again.

I'm a lover of the solitare genres (klondike and spider) but ugh the ads. I really only like them for the virtual customization of the themes that desktop comps dont provide enough of and having something offline to play on the go. ive been getting better at the four suit spider games, tho- i can feel my brain learning. 😁

Bingo games are fun! I don't have any one in particular I like the best, tho. Been a while since I played them.

Tinker Island 1 has great progression and you have the opportunity to collect the paid currency constantly, building up your gem vault. I like the garden minigame more than the actual gameplay XD.

I like Marvel Puzzle Quest for the match-3 gameplay with the marvel aesthetic. I'd recc. to play this one casually because progression is nonexistent with AND without $.

On the topic of match games, Bejeweled is a classic. 😊 I loved the butterfly rescue one back in the day and poker version was fun too- the tension is just MWAH.

Grand Summoners is for some reason spending a lot of money in ads because I'm seeing it everywhere despite having it on the exact device I'm seeing the ads on??? I'm not saying it's a problem it's just odd, lol. Micromanaging gear and teams will implode your brain but there is some strategy to it, even if you try to auto everything. They have crossover events all the time, on top of progression being kinda slow but still possible, and I'm quite happy with unexpectedly pulling a Hatsune Miku and evolving her. 😊

I would recc. trying out Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links out for a test run to see if the grind is up your alley. Very generous with rarity tickets the last time I played it.

For another simple game, billiards are fun too, and easier to play digitally than in real life, lol. You will be playing against other humans all the time, tho.

Injustice 1 or 2 and Marvel Contest of Champions have their own pros and cons, but both are finger-input fighting/brawl games with IPs so it depends on asthetic and progression i guess? If I had to choose tho, I would say Injustice is more organized in its content than Champions if that makes any sense?

Best Fiends is a cute and neat lil' bubble draw and pop game that has some progression to it, but it's been a while since I played it. Surprising for me that I even like this one since the mascots are cartoony insects.

Color Puzzle is a gradient-building/color-matching puzzle game. I played it during my art class and it made me more aware of how colors react next to each other though it can hurt your eyes.

Visual novel story/chapter games are ones you need to curate yourself to figure out which one you'll want to sit through. Chapters has sexual/explicit stories but a beefy reward system compared to Choices from what I remember, plus community engagement/contests. This likely could have changed now- I haven't checked. Other apps have (slightly) animated characters/establishing shots and some are more customizable in the protagonist and reputation systems (romance or otherwise). They all blended together in my mind like a big soup of colors, but i will tell you that the paid currency choices are never worth it.

(Pixel) Color-by-number games are fun pastimes until they hurt your eyes and drain your device battery.

South Park Phone Destroyer was fun for a bit. Until it wasn't.

Dream Girlfriend is the best Ambition gacha/character simulation game they have, prove me wrong.

side note: have you ever played a mobile game that got deleted? one that was solely a play-to-win that was also fun in general and you were close to maxing out your characters? yeah, it's worse than the pain you feel when you discover your fave fic has been deleted from the internet😢

[jun0pop]

There's a game I'm increadibly nostalgic for but not because of the franchise it's from

Back in 2015, there was a game that caught my eye like no others. For context, the video games I mainly played back then were all shooters. With the most drastically different one being Destiny.

Now then, I got really into art and wanting to be serious with it in 2014 from my love of MLaaTR and the limited animes I've seen (Naruto, Yu-Gi-Oh, Sailor Moon, etc.) I uh...didn't understand how to really make a unique oc design. Most of them were recolors with slight modifications or stick figures. Now with that context:

2015...

A game was on sale on the xbox for a very cheap price known as free xbox gold membership deal pf 75% off (yeah remember that?) Do you know what that game was?

Dragonball Xenoverse 1

(Now I actually am not a fan of Dragonball for multiple reasons but that's a different topic.)

Dragonball Xenoverse 1 was the moment I learned what a true oc was. And it only got worse

Dragonball Xenoverse 2 released very soon

You bet your ass I bought 2 and man...that's a video game that has been with me for a long time. One of the few games I've played over and over and over again. Just because I loved the freedom and creativity you could do in it. It's been a game I still even play to this day.

It's how most of my oldest ocs were created and fleshed out. I genuinely love this game and how it has helped me throughout my teenage years discovering characters I wanted to make into a reality. It's one of the few things I'm sentimental to.

I know this game has aged pretty heavily over the years but I can look past all those errors because of my love for a game that helped boost my drive and passion for art.

Thank you Dragonball Xenoverse, I love playing you from the thick and thin of it!

<3

[f4nd0m-fun]

Because you enjoyed this I dug up my old document on it. Also be warned, Pariah Dark is a mother hen in this. 😂

-the fact he has an heir now, Pariah is a lot calmer, if not worse of a hen than Clockwork.

I'll give you a link but I'll also post some excerpts, I have to get ready for a few things but let me know what you think ^^

Also, there was a bit of an idea that there's a few different families who have wings in Gotham alone, even if the bloodlines aren't pure enough to actually let them fly with them (in fact, the ones who can fly usually redid some version of the original deal to do so).

BTW, this is the version I made with DP, in this Jonathan Crane is descended from both the Fentons and the Nightingales (oof).

Also, the story itself was gonna be 'Good parents Fenton send Danny away to fix things so their tech doesn't hurt him) or something similar, so he gets sent to Jack's brother.

Also that Fenton wings were more genetic based (so Maddie couldn't grow any) while the Nightingales are more magic based, so the adopted kids can gain wings and if Bruce marries there's a nearly-lost ritual he can use.

=====||=====||=====||======||=====||=====||=====

Panic Attack Warning

Also, bully teacher who is most likely getting fired.

Danny was no stranger to bullies, whether it be lunch money, tests, or a punching bag they were after. He was also used to teachers who pushed their rules, who played favorites and sneered at those they thought of as less. At least he had his cloak, a secure weight upon his shoulders, much lighter than the crown he would day wear.

Mr. Welch seemed to zero in on his sour mood. "Nightingale?"

A sigh escaped his lips, his fist digging into the feathers. "Yes, sir?"

"Tell me, in the Silmarillion, what is the moral behind the oath of Fëanor?"

He stared at the board a bit before glancing at the book in front of him. "I'm not certain, I think it’s that you shouldn’t promise something if you can’t actually do it?"

The teacher sighed. “No, Nightingale.”

There was a snicker behind him, Danny ignored it.

“Yes, Atkins? Can you answer?”

“Choosing violence in the heat of the moment will almost always end with suffering.”

“Good job.” He looked at Danny. “Now, was that so hard?”

“But-”

“You got it wrong, Nightingale.”

Danny hadn’t realized how close the teacher was until the cloak was yanked off his shoulders, feathers scattering. “No! Give that back!”

“You can have it after class is over, clearly it's distracting you.”

The laughter that had been bouncing through the room suddenly stopped at that; all the students knew better than to take another’s prized possession. Some money, maybe their homework, or even a jacket? All fair game. But anything that was clearly precious? You never knew how the kid would lash out, especially the corvids.

Danny watched as the teacher walked away, but he did not take stock of the room itself. His wings, they were gone, seared away again. And he shook, like the shocks that wracked his form, mouth aiming to scream the silent terror that took over as his vocal cords were fried and healed time and time again until he had made his way out, wings in tatters, the scent of burning meat hovering over his f-

“Ghostling, you are not experiencing that anymore...” The tone was deep and stern, the barest hint of kindness underneath the ancient voice, mingling with a soft sorrow..

Danny continued to shake, but leaned into the cold warmth of armor and shadow. He had no idea where he was or how he’d arrived, but he was glad his p̸a̴t̷r̵o̸ was here for him.

“I guided you to a dark space as well as I could, it is hard for me to show after all.”

Danny didn’t pay too much heed to the words, merely listening to the soothing tones and trying to calm himself.

Pariah was determined to get that cloak back quickly, It was an important gift to his heir, and was too powerful to be left in the wrong hands. But, right now? All his focus was on the ghostling. “You can see the glow of my eyes, yes?”

Danny slowly looked up at his face and nodded weakly.

“What else?” Pariah mused as he waited for a response.

“The... light under the door...”

“Good. Again.” Perhaps it was a good thing Tik had trapped them together in a loop until Pariah learned how to help the ghostling.

“Uh... there’s shelves in here.”

“Can you find anything else?” Thankfully, ghosts could see well in darkness, though Shadow Cores like himself did even better.

“I think I see a mop? P̸a̷t̵r̴o̷, are we in a closet?”

“Are you feeling better? Can you name something you can feel?” He hoped he didn’t forget anything until Danny was fully calmed.

“A... bit.”

He felt a smaller hand grab the figment of his own.

“I... can feel you, sorta. Your armor, your... essence..?”

He nodded. “What else?”

“The... floor. It’s solid.”

“Good. Give me ano-” Before he could finish, Pariah’s connection to the shadows was lost as the door opened. His form lasted not even a second in the light, but his hearing caught the reaction of both his heir and the intruder. Suddenly, the door was slammed and he felt the connection grow again, sighing softly as he returned. “Call your uncle,” he hesitantly began, hugging the ghostling again. “I don’t think you should stay here the rest of the day.”

“But your- my-”

“The cloak will be returned, I assure you, and whoever picks you up will make certain it is returned.”

Danny sighed heavily, and clung to Pariah as he fished his phone out of his pocket.

=====||=====||=====||======||=====||=====||=====

1) I again like the idea that the Batman has baby wings as they Alfred grants them their adult wings. Also the idea that the Wayne adoptees get wings though magical adoption or something. Maybe they hide the wings as robins and batgirls but Alfred Gifts them once they move to a new name.

2) He's probably even more of a fuck off about Gotham, he's not stepping in there unless you get some rabid hellhounds to drag him in, so he probably assumes it's a Gotham thing. Of course, if he ever meets Alfred... well, I'm laughing at the idea of Alfred pretty much magically slapping him in the face with one of his soul shards and basically saying 'the inflation for this is just not worth it anymore, it's gotten ridiculous, take it back at once before I change my mind." and Constantine just REELS or something.

3) What if Alfred is Bound to Gotham as part of his deal with the Waynes? And Joker knows that it's dangerous to hurt a bird in Gotham, so maybe he'll mosey along that way and pray to whatever demon he's working with.

4) That would explain Bruce's recovery after Bane broke his back.

5) WINGS! I love your ideas. Personally I liked the idea that Bruce has owl wings because of the Court but those are GORGEOUS. Also, my document details the ideas I had for the wings. And yeah, lil Galaxy baby.

What's funny is Dark Ages with Little Danny is basically the Origin Trio of Pokemon - Time, Space, and Void.

@f4nd0m-fun here (I hope they allow us to ask with secondary blogs soon)

Just how wild do you like your Batfam cryptids? I've got ideas for days.

One is a wing fic where all the bats essentially end up half demon. Thomas and Martha make a deal with Alfred to help fix the city and clean up the curses and everything, and. Alfred asks for 'the souls of your descendants' at the point, not caring much for humanity but hoping to get ahead of those pesky demons in his soul collection (so and so said he has Constantine's soul but that's only a piece! What about a bunch of souls that have been tainted by the spirit of a city that has never had reason to hope? Now those are some rare and dark souls).

The Waynes were hoping he'd take their souls instead but he refuses (maybe they're too full of hope or something) but, over time, he grows attached and ends up giving Bruce a shard of his power, allowing him to transform into a demonic winged form based on an animal for his protection after his parents die. When he's young the form is a snowy owl, but once he come back and became Batman his wings have changed. Each of the babies is the same way. As Robin, they gain their baby wings, but, once they move to a new name, their wings evolve.

'The Demon's Head' isn't just a fancy title, the Al'ghul's are demon descended, so Damien is at least a quarter demon even at the beginning, but Alfred's power can't be passed genetically like they thought, so he was born grounded. In this, he shows up sooner, Talkia asking Jason to take Damien with him to his father since she knows her father will kill him for being wingless.

Tim, poor baby. He couldn't fly as Robin because his wings were a shattered mimicry of Jason's Robin wings. He felt like he was in the shadow of the previous Robin, making the 'replacement' nickname sting even more, but, eventually, he grows into the wings of a cardinal and learns to fly.

I'm not sure if Alfred marks Barbara as his person, but if not, maybe he regrets not doing so, thinking that she might not have ended up paralyzed if he'd given her power. But also she's not really considered a 'Wayne descendant' life the kids Bruce adopted, so he'd have to directly make the deal with her. Maybe he does this with Stephanie when she comes along, still thinking about how Barbara might've been better off with a deal. Also, he keeps trying to hold off on gathering their souls because he's grown attached. I figure he'd probably end up wanting to turn them into proper demons too tho when they eventually die but, for now, until the city has been restored (if it ever will be), the Batfam is essentially immortal, and Alfred might be pulling some strings so no one realizes the Waynes are as well. As a side note, I debated Alfred x Lady Gotham for this story.

-

Then I had a dpxdc version of this where the wings were still demonic in origin but basically Scarecrow and Bruce are many many family lines removed cousins from an ancestor who was siblings with Jack Nightingale. On top of that, Danny had wings but they got charred when he was electrocuted. This one also has Clock x Pariah and they have wings due to something to do with ghosts, Danny gets a cloak made out of their feathers while his ghost side slowly grows its own wings (but he'll never have wings as a living again).

-----

Sorry for the long send, I got a bit carried away, but if you want I can dig up my AU again and share what I have for the wings at least, not sure what else I've got written down.

#colony of bats AU

Honestly I love both of these ideas, but what if they were say, combined.

Alfred gifts Bruce a shard of his power- everyone knows the Waynes have wings, even if in most cases too small to fly. But the wings are feathered, usually bright and flashy for the men who inherit the trait.

Which means they're very identifiable. But like you said, Alfred gets (ugh) attached to this little mortal. He's practically raised him and honestly thinks it's adorable watching him manipulate the other richfolk at galas into thinking he's such a "polite young man." Bruce is practically his baby!

So he gifts him a bit of his blood (which we know via Constantine can extend ones lifespan including giving them a bit of healing) and an itty bitty piece of his own power. Just enough for Bruce to be able to willingly call upon it. Just enough for him to disappear into shadows. Just enough for his eyes to gain a hint of an unholy glow. Just enough for a hint of claws. Just enough for feathered wings to shift into jagged mimicries of his own.

You know what could be an interesting thing? The wings are Realms in origin. We know the FentonNightingales separated into the Fentons and Nightingales some time after Jack, so whose to say that the Nightingales didn't get into magic. Perhaps they were given a gift to thank them after a bit of protection or assistance. And the infinite realms are well, infinite. It attaches to all worlds, including say the more demonic ones. But whose to say none of the Fentons made a deal or three in the generations following. They were witch hunters after all, perhaps they need something to keep up with the "traitors" of their bloodline.

Perhaps a deal which resulted in those matching wings.

Now, how could they find out their relation with the Fentons? While there could be the adoption route, what if instead it was right after Danny's accident.

He died screaming, visibly got electrocuted, his wings are torched, there's no way they're not taking him to the hospital. Which means things like blood tests, maybe even a donated organ or two because someone doesn't get blasted with that much electricity without consequences.

Which, it's the batfamily, they definitely have alarms set up for any sort of family pings for both themselves and their rogues. Just in case.

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

Also had no idea where to put it but if this includes demons and ghosts feeding on fear, or emotions in general, then Scarecrow could be instinctively attempting to feed and grow his wings. Also he deserves raven or rook wings. Maybe a jay's if you wanna go for color.

Oh my gosh, even if Alfred and Gotham don't get together, they definitely have tea together and spar. They're definitely co-parenting either platonically or romantically, it doesn't matter this is their specialist lil boy. Who then brings even more of the specialist lil ones ever!

God I love the implications of Clockwork and Pariah creating a cloak of wings for a ghostling for them to use as their feathers slowly grow back. Love what that implies for the culture of the ghost zone. Love the idea of it maybe having an influence on Danny's wings in ghost form since a ghost's appearance is influenced by their image about themself.

[latte-fairytaekwoon]

Hidden (Kim Hongjoong) Rated

Pairing: Soccer Jock! Kim Hongjoong (Ateez)× Nerd! Reader (Female)

Genre: Smut, Fluff, Slight Angst, College AU.

Summary: There's nothing that makes Hongjoong feel better after a game than to spend it with his secret girlfriend.

Word Count: 3.5+K

Warnings: male breast play (we love the hiddies), light gropings, dry humping, light degradation, corruption kink, unprotected soft, vanilla sex (always use protection), dom! Hongjoong, sub/slightly inexperienced reader.

Taglist: @seacottons (I wrote this for you ♡), @little-precious-baby @yunhofingers @yunhoiseyecandy @galaxteez @hanatiny @deja-vux @brie02 @multidreams-and-desires @daniblogs164 @couchpotatoaniki @a-soft-hornytiny

•––––☆––––•––––☆––––•––––☆––––•

The crowd erupted into thunderous applause and cheers when their prized center forward kicked the ball with full force into the opposing team's goal, effectively allowing them to take victory over another college from the area. His teammates hoisted the bleach blonde male over their shoulders, parading him around the field and letting the spectators admire him once more. The athlete shyly smiled and gave tiny waves towards the crowd. His eyes passed through all the rows of people standing about, searching and scanning for a particular person he hoped would come to see him.

Once he spotted a familiar red plain hoodie tucked near the very end of the bleachers, his smile grew even wider and he even felt bold enough to send a wink their way, the tiny group of admirers sitting nearby mistakenly thinking it was directed at them. The figure in the hoodie tried not to let any suspicious look give her away, but even she couldn't stop the faint pink hue that appeared on the apples of her cheeks. He mouthed a few words to her, which she understood to mean for her to wait for him at a certain place while he went to go get changed. Quickly picking up her bag, she made way to step down the bleachers, but unfortunately for her the little group of popular girls had the same idea, thus ending in one of them bumping into her rather harshly and sending her crashing down onto the concrete stairs that allowed one to get out of the spectator area.

The soccer player of course saw this and slightly hissed when he watched her palms come out instinctively to lessen her fall, only imagining the stinging sensation they went through. He then turned his attention to the tiny clique leader who looked completely unapologetic, her mouth saying something that he couldn't quite make out, but judging from the way her little minions snickered and laughed, he deduced it was only another one of the usual jabs they liked to fling at the poor girl. And he hated it, the scowl clearly visible on his face. Just when he was about to turn around and give them a piece of his mind, the victim looked up and gestured for him not to intervene and just run along to the showers. He hesitated briefly until she once again assured him she was fine, getting up and quickly escaping before another accident occurred.

Left with no choice but to follow her instructions, the soccer player joined the others in the showers to freshen up after a long and arduous game. He made sure to be quick about it, as he wanted to go check up on her injuries as soon as possible. After drying off completely, he stuffed all his belongings into his bag without caring to check if he was crushing anything and sped out of there. Along the way to the place where he parked his car, he only waved at his fellow classmates and belatedly ignored the prissy bullies that caused the incident back at the bleachers.

"Snakes." He mumbled to himself as he passed by them.

Rounding a tiny corner of the building, he took out his keys and unlocked his car, looking around in confusion when he didn't see the person he was expecting anywhere nearby. Hearing a tiny rustling of leaves, he rolled his eyes when he finally realized they were hiding behind the hedge that decorated the stairs that led one inside the building.

"There's no one else around, now come out of there before the groundskeeper finds out you were messing up his artistic shrubbery." He called out as he walked over to the hedge.

Peeping her head out, the girl looked right then left to make sure he wasn't lying before throwing one leg over the green barrier, trying to get out. It definitely proved more difficult getting out than getting in, as her foot accidentally got stuck when she tried to swing her other leg out. She grunted softly as she tried to yank her foot out, which she eventually accomplished but with how hard she pulled she was thrown off balance. Had the male behind her not have run up to catch her, she would have surely hit her head on the floor. Luckily he had indeed caught her before such tragedy occurred. Looking up, his unamused face was bearing down on her.

"Thanks?" She sheepishly said.

"Don't mention it honey bunch." He snorted when she frowned at one of the many nicknames he enjoyed teasing her with.

"Don't start now Kim Hongjoong." She grumbled with a huff as she sat upright.

When she turned around, she had no chance to say or do anything as he took her hands and made her palms face him. Hongjoong sighed when he saw the tiny scrapes on her fragile skin.

"I'll be fine. It's just a scratch." She asserted before he got anymore upset.

"These 'scratches', and the mean names, wouldn't happen at all if only you'd let people know about us."

She recoiled slightly at his words. He was right, she knew that. Still, she was hesitant about letting the entire school know about their secret relationship, something that he was more than eager about sharing. But he respected her need and wanting of privacy, even if it irritated slightly at times.

"I'll be fine Hongjoong. Really... their words don't bother me anymore. And besides, I'd rather not have all eyes at me at every moment. I like being an invisible wallflower." She repeated what she often said.

He understood her, but couldn't help the sigh that came out his lips.

"Honestly L/N Y/N, I don't know what to do with you sometimes." He confessed as he turned her palms over, his eyes focusing on her left hand. Or more precisely, on the black promise ring that was wrapped around her left finger. He smiled softly as he rubbed his thumb over it, knowing that on the inside of it, his name was engraved in white, followed by his birthstone in the shape of a heart. He wore a similar one around his neck, held up by chain that dangled right above his chest, close to his heart. Only the one he wore was a white band and had his lover's name in black with her own birthstone on it. It was a present he had bought for their 1 year anniversary, which had happened not too long ago. Every time he saw her wear it, he felt a warm and tranquil feeling in his soul. He himself never took off the chain off his neck, only when he needed to shower and even then, he made sure to never misplace it.

It was a somewhat nostalgic feeling, standing there, holding her hands kinda like the first time he worked up the courage to come up to her and state his interest in dating her. Even to that day, he couldn't believe she would have actually agreed. He was so happy and full of bliss at having her that he couldn't help himself as he closed his eyes and began leaning his face towards hers. His girlfriend widened her eyes and let out a muffled shriek before pulling away from him. Hongjoong grunted angrily as he walked after her towards his car.

"It's not a crime to kiss my girlfriend in public you know." He exclaimed.

"Someone might see us." She kindly reminded him.

Throwing his hands up in frustration, Hongjoong was about to start nagging but opted for taking a deep breath instead to calm down.

"Ok fine, but once we get behind closed doors, I'm expecting a lot of cuddles and smooches from you. You've been giving me the cold treatment at school even beyond what we agreed on and I'm slightly hurt." He pouted as he turned on the ignition.

Shaking her head, Y/N leaned over and placed a peck on Hongjoong's cheek.

"Ok you baby. Only because you were amazing on the field today."

•––––☆––––•––––☆––––•––––☆––––•

Safe in the sanctuary and privacy of her apartment, Y/N couldn't hold herself back now as she tangled her limbs around her boyfriend, face pressed against his chest. Hongjoong couldn't stop himself from snorting when he felt her cheek rubbed against one of his protruding pectoral muscles. The arm that was stationed around her frame came up to lightly scratch the back of her head.

"Having fun there you cuddle bug?" He raised an eyebrow at her when she snuggled closer to him.

"Hmmm yeah. Your man boobs make such comfortable pillows." She beamed as she reached one hand up to caress the muscle that her face wasn't buried in.

"They are not boobs Y/N. We've been over this how many times?" He dropped his head back onto the pillow as he released an exhausted and frustrated groan.

Feeling a bit on the bolder side that evening, Y/N shifted her weight over so she was fully laying on top of him.

"If they're not boobs, how come I can do this?"

Hongjoong half gasped- half moaned when he felt his girlfriend's mouth part and latched onto one of his highly sensitive nipples. Of course his girlfriend took advantage of this little fact, suckling onto his skin in a tender manner. Hongjoong lost himself in the feeling of her tongue flicking at his hardened peaks, closing his eyes as she kept on enveloping his buds with her warm mouth, first one breast then moving to the other one. This time her suction was a little more rough, teeth baring to lightly bite on the skin around his nipple. Hongjoong obviously didn't mean and was thoroughly enjoying the more harsher treatment as he began bucking his hips up against hers, his tent brushing against her folds which were only covered by her cotton underwear.

Satisfied at being able to rile her boyfriend up, Y/N sat up with a smirk as she peered down at Hongjoong's dazed look. Before he could get a word out, his girlfriend begin grinding herself against his bulge, her hands steadying themselves on his lean but firm abs. Hongjoong looked up at her, his eyes glowing with the same lust that mirrored in her own. Not able to bear to leave her in charge, his hands came up to grip her hips, forcing her to stop momentarily before they started taking control of her movements. He guided her so every time her clothed mound would rub against his tent they would both feel the best friction between them. Not only was he in full control of her body rolls, he made sure to lift his hips up so she would feel him even more. The air around them thickened as their sexual tension grew more and more, their once soft sighs turning more into heavy panting as they both waited for the other one to give in and say they wanted more than just the semi clothed dry humping they were currently doing.

Y/N knew fully well Hongjoong wouldn't say anything, it was in his nature. He'd just keep donning that signature smirk he was hailing at her at the moment as he continued to grind himself up at her. She knew he wanted her to tell him how much she wanted him, as a form of payback for not acknowledging him back at the university. She wanted to play at his game, keep her mouth shut and even get off him only to leave him frustrated and aching. But she had no will or mind to do that. Not when her body yearned for his, cried out to have him pin her to the bed as he tore through her intimate places. She couldn't hold back any longer, her bottom lip was starting to hurt from how hard she was biting down on it.

"What's wrong babygirl? Something on your mind? Do you want something?" He teased her as he moved his hands to cup her ass, fingers digging into her flesh and brushing against the hem of her panties.

"Hongjoong... I want...I want.." Even after having done this quite a few times, she was still very nervous and shy about requesting such things from him.

"Use your words darling, I know you can use them. After all, you're the smartest person in school. So tell me...."

Sitting up so he could lean his face close to hers, Hongjoong brushed his lips against hers, replacing her teeth with his own as he tugged at the corner where she had been biting on just a few seconds ago.

"What do you want?" He asked once more, hands going underneath her shirt so they could fondle her perky breasts, a satisfied grin lightly appearing on his face when he discerned the subtle whine that came from her throat.

"You, I want you." She finally answered, her arms wrapping around his neck as she closed the space between them and kissed him passionately.

Their tongues tangled themselves together in a desperate and slightly sloppy fashion. Flipping their positions, Hongjoong carefully laid Y/N down on the mattress, never once breaking their kiss even when his hand dropped down to tug her underwear down her legs. She helped him out by lifting her hips up and was about to pull the hoodie over her head, but Hongjoong stopped her.

"No baby. Keep it on. You look more adorable wearing my clothes." Briefly pulling away from her, he had a cocky smile as he rid himself out of his own boxers.

"Even if I do enjoy taking them off you." He admitted with no shame, which didn't surprise her.

Prying her legs open so he could fit himself between them, Hongjoong peppered butterfly kisses across her forehead and temples, sighing blissfully as he aligned himself at her entrance.

"I love you." He always made sure to state those 3 words before they got lost in their love.

"I know. I love you too." She responded.

Satisfied at hearing his confession being reciprocated, Hongjoong slowly pushed himself inside her, always taking care to be gentle as his lovely girlfriend wasn't as experienced as he was. He let her walls adjust to the intrusion of his member as he busied himself by kissing along the side of her neck and near her jaw while his thumbs rubbed circles on her waist. Y/N took a deep breath and lightly tapped his arm, a sign for him to start moving.

Hongjoong started off with slow and deep strokes, making sure to angle his hips properly so his head would brush against that sweet spot that would have the girl underneath him crying out his name. Y/N's eyes dropped down to look in between their bodies, always fascinated by the image of Hongjoong's cock disappearing inside her. One of her hands came up and slid underneath her covered stomach, a soft gasp escaping her lips when she felt her boyfriend's bulge poke out from under her skin. Noticing this, Hongjoong chuckled softly.

"You like that baby? Like feeling my cock deep inside of you?"

She could only respond with a light nod of her head as she released a faint moan that turned louder when Hongjoong abruptly slammed back into her at a quicker pace.

"You feel so good around me love. You're so tight, warm, and soft- fuck! I can't get enough of you." He hissed as he continued to roll his hips into her.

Y/N loved hearing him say things like that to her. Hearing him say how much he wanted her, it turned her into puddy. However, there was something she had been meaning to ask him to try but didn't know how to approach the topic. Figuring it was the best opportunity then, she looked up at him with large eyes.

"Hongjoong? Can we try something tonight?"

His eyes instantly lit up when she asked that, always eager to satisfy anything she was curious about or wanted to try.

"Of course. Anything you want." He assured her.

"Then can you..... can you degrade me a little?"

Hongjoong suddenly stopped moving and blinked at her with a worried expression on his face. Y/N wondered if maybe she shouldn't have asked that given his reaction. She watched as Hongjoong's bottom lip poked out in a light pout.

"Baby why on earth would you want something like that?" He tilted his head at you.

"I just.... I want you to call me your bad girl." She muttered softly, feeling embarrased at declaring that.

Hongjoong let out a heavy sigh as he cupped her cheeks and squished her face.

"But you're not a bad girl darling. You're my good girl. My sweet, kind and obedient angel who doesn't misbehave or cause trouble." He reasoned with her as he planted his lips on her cheek.

Y/N let out a tiny huff as she began to think she would not be getting what she was hoping for.

"That's what everybody else thinks....don't they?" She could hear and feel the shift in Hongjoong's mood, confirmed even further when he suddenly clasped her wrists and pinned them above her head as he started moving once again, only this time it was a more rough and fast pace. He stared down at Y/N with a hungry gaze, tongue poking out to lick his lips as he slammed his hips deeper in her.

"Got everybody in school fooled thinking you're such a goody two shoes, little miss perfect who is oh so sweet, innocent and pure, has never even kissed anyone."

Hongjoong smirked mischievously, pausing briefly before continuing.

"How do you think they'll react when they found out I ruined you? What will they say about the fact you opened your legs for me and allowed me to steal your virginity?"

Y/N threw her head back against the pillow and groaned loudly. It was true, she had let Hongjoong take away her purity a few months back. It wasn't anything she regretted, she loved and trusted him enough to give herself up to him, and she knew the feeling was mutual with him. And now to have him use that against her at that moment, to remind her of it, it felt amazing.

"What will your parents say? Their perfect daughter not only dating behind their back but actually letting her boyfriend stay over with her and fuck her into the sheets. Bet they'd be mad, bet they'll hate me for tainting their precious little angel." He laughed in a mocking tone.

Y/N's moaning now turned to whining and whimpering, her legs wrapping around Hongjoong's waist when the unrelenting tempo of his thrusts was threatening to throw her over the edge. Hongjoong knew this too given he felt everytime she clenched around his shaft, her walls squeezing onto him as if her life depended on it. He muffled his raspy pants when his lips attacked her mouth once more, his pecks aggresive and teeth nipping at her bottom lip.

"And so many guys will be jealous. You don't know but I've overheard even some of my teammates whisper about how they wanted to rob you of your innocence. Hell, I know for a fact even some of the professors wanted to shove their cocks inside your little pussy." As he dished out those tiny secrets she never knew about, Hongjoong's pounding became more harsh and he snarled with jealousy at the thought of anyone else looking at his prized possession in an erotic way.

Y/N clung onto him as she was on the brink of topping over, nails raking along his back.

"But they'll never get a chance because you're mine. All mine. This pussy of yours is mine. I claimed it a while back and only I get to fuck it. It's mine..... you're mine."

Unable to contain herself anymore, Y/N softly cried out Hongjoong's name as her body started twitching underneath his, face heating up as her juices pooled down her body. With only a few more strokes, Hongjoong himself was shooting his own cum into her, letting out shaky breaths that matched hers, their bodies collapsing on the bed as they tried to recover from the orgasm they just had.

After a few minutes and with his heartbeat back to normal, Hongjoong looked over at the girl beside him. Taking her hand, he held her arm up and aligned it with his so that the matching couple tattoos they got the month before would connect. It was a rather simple and subtle design, both of their wrists decorated with a beach wave that to anyone else wouldn't look out of place or arouse suspicions, but when they held it against each other, the waves formed a heart, which was exactly what Hongjoong was admiring at the moment. Rolling her over so she was facing him, he grabbed her leg and wrapped it around his waist so it would be easier to slip himself back inside the warmth of her walls. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head, both of their eyes closing as they began to drift into a serene sleep, safe in each other's arms.

"I love you munchkin." He giggled when her hand smacked his chest.

"Don't start or else you're sleeping on the couch."

[cowboymantis]

Let's talk about Kazuto Arase

Yakuza / Yakuza Kiwami , Yakuza 3 side content spoilers. Later on Yakuza LaD too, but I'll give a warning before that especially since a lot of people haven't played that yet.

So I have a lot of thoughts about Yakuza on my mind and just want to scream into the void about it somewhere to write 'em all down somewhere! I'm starting with... Arase.

Yeah, I know, a mostly very hated character (personality and battle-wise) that has so little screen time on top of it all too, is the first thing I'll be talking about.

Hear me out, I actually really love this character and only really started to appreciate him after I went for the Yakuza 3 platinum trophy... I've replayed this game so many times, I didn't mind it when I played through it first but seeing all the hate it has gotten, I went to replay it just in case and with that replayed it again and again because I just somehow loved it so much-

And you know, one part of Yakuza 3, also completion related so there was no way I could've missed it, were the Hitman missions. In general, after playing through all the main games I started to come back to a lot of characters I didn't like or minded the first time playing that are now some of my favourites (other examples are Tamashiro or Lau Ka Long, hell even Katsuragi)!

To come back to Arase, let's start with, well, the start: Yakuza / Yakuza Kiwami.

Introduced already in the very first Yakuza game, Arase is just there for a brief moment in the game, yet has a heavy impact on the game's story and Kiryu. It starts with Arase's oath brother Shinji being shot by Arases subordinate, Mochizuki, at least it looks like it. Shinji came here to rescue Reina, whose corpse then gets dragged on the roof of the Dragon Palace by Arase, Sergeant of the Nishikiyama Family. Now that's a pretty... heavy and sadistic first image for a character introduction, and honestly, his strong personality like that seemed also to be the reason he wasn't exactly loved by other members of the Family.

His battle theme in the first Yakuza game is called "Turning Point" which also puts more emphasis on how important this scene is, Kiryu breaking down, his scream when he sees Reina's body... It's really a turning point in the story.

In Kiwami, his new theme "Virtical Point" is also used as the intro song (or at least, the intro song "Vertical Point" is similar and shortened). Which also once again shows the importance of this piece.

Of course, he's not the most important character in the story, but it's still interesting to see how much there is around him other than his rather short appearance.

Then, his fighting style. Yeah, most hate this too and also the fact that starting from there, other bosses also sometimes use his moveset or a similar one. Like, take Jiro or Jo Amon or Andre Richardson... Basically just the usual dual wielding guns while being an athlete on crack - layout. It is actually not that bad, it's even less bad when you've got the right equipment but I have to admit I didn't really have that much good equipment when I first played all the games and basically just rushed through them because I just couldn't stop!

Arase's goal here of course was also to beat Kiryu but well, just like every other character ever, he couldn't do it and got beat instead.

And that's the end of that... The end of his part in the story and also the end of his part in the Nishikiyama Family, because he got disowned right after his failure.

Which is so... hmm... It makes me think. Many others have tried to take Kiryu down, too. And I mean, Arase was normally a very successful assassin, right? Yet this one failed attempt, at which everyone else too failed, got him disowned? Seems to me like they didn't like him and gave him an impossible task to have a reason to throw him out, huh?

And with that wonderful transition, let's get into his appearance in Yakuza 3.

You get introduced to the concept of the Honest Living Association, in short the HLA pretty much after Kashiwagis death. An association, founded by Kashiwagi to help Yakuza / former Yakuza who weren't meant for this life or just wanted out but just couldn't do in it on their own. For some, all they knew was the criminal life, so having a thing like this is especially helpful. Although, I'm kinda sad this was never a thing anymore after Yakuza 3. The whole concept of it was very cool.

Kiryu gets asked by Ibuki to help the HLA because there is an organisation of hitmen, also known as The Reapers (or The Avengers on PS3) whose goal was a different one than the HLA's, it was to kill Yakuza. The Reapers consisted of former criminals, mainly Yakuza, who were wronged by their superiours and expelled, disowned, you name it. Basically what happened to Arase.

Apprehending those hitmen is a totally optional part of the game and I have to admit, I didn't finish it my first time playing. Which is such a shame because it goes by so fast too when you play it after finishing the game! And the individual stories are all so interesting too, I've really enjoyed this side content and also replayed those missions already. You don't really expect someone like Arase to be behind all of it when it turns out to be him who is the founder and the leader of it all. I was already taken aback by Shinzaki being the lieutenant, or part of it at all. I often stopped by to listen to his guitar playing and talked to him, often asking myself is there's anything else up with him.

And once this one hitman contract came in and guitar playing was mentioned, I was just thinking "It can't be him...?", god, this whole side storyline just was so good. And here people come and say Yakuza 3 was a bad game.

The whole build-up to then reveal Arase was just so cool, honestly. It made me start to look more into his character after this confrontation. The fight was really cool too, just having to fight Shinzaki so many times wasn't really necessary, but Arase seems to like to fight alongside others, so fair enough.

And his theme "End Point" is also just so good. It's more similar to Turning Point than Virtical Point was. The name is also again fitting, since this is the end for The Reapers and Arases power.

It is made clear here that Arase has a strong hatred against the Yakuza and especially holds a strong grudge against Kiryu. He sees Kiryu as the reason he got wronged and had to leave the Yakuza behind, while also seeming to be very aware of the fact that the others there probably didn't like him at all.

He's so angry at him, he holds this whole speech and talks about revenge while Kiryu tries to talk some sense into him, eventually Ibuki also joins and tries to reason with Arase too. Telling him how that's what Kashiwagi wanted, even for Arase to find a new, honest life.

Arase is too strongly lead on by his grudges, so even though it seems like he might be thinking about turning his life around, he decided to not let them help him. Then he goes on about how he will definetly return to take revenge on Kiryu... Well. That's the end of that.

It becomes clear that Arases stubborn way of thinking is kind of childish. Not taking responsibility for any of his actions, thinking that his vile personality and actions are in fact the reason he got disowned. Failing to beat Kiryu was just the final puzzle piece to have a solid reason to throw him out. He's clearly unstable, doesn't think twice before shooting someone, he could turn on anyone and wouldn't be sorry for it. Just, he doesn't seem to really think about what he does.

I guess he probably thinks he's strong enough, he doesn't need to be careful. Also fitting for that is his fighting style in Dead Souls, how when he gets low on HP, he pretty much fends for himself, disregarding orders and just charging head first with full strength.

His Dead Souls appearance is also interesting. Okay, we all know, this game isn't canon, it's a spin-off and just doesn't fit in to the story. But it is interesting how he teams up with Kiryu for a bit and then leaves again. The game itself takes place after the events of Yakuza 4, meaning at this point RGG did remember that hey, they have a rival that swore to beat Kiryu one day. But after that... radio silence.

Really, this is such a shame. Just alone from his short appearances I can talk so much about Arase because he really is an interesting character with so much more potential! The only thing that's good about it is that he didn't die, making him technically one of the longest surviving characters in Yakuza which really is a great achievement.

Okay, we don't exactly know that he's still alive, but assuming due to there not being a mention of him being dead, he's probably alive. He might be, might not. Schrödinger's Arase.

One other thing I thought about is Jo Amon. I mean, his outfit and fight style is also similar to Arase, but that's not what I'm mainly thinking about. So the name Amon is for the greatest assassins, right? And they have a strong hatred against Kiryu at the beginning too.

So, putting those things together, Arase being a former assassin in the Nishikiyama Family, then the leader of a dangerous hitman organisation... Then, to fight Jo Amon in Yakuza 3 you also need to do all the hitman missions other than the substories and the IF7 fights. And to start the search for Amon, you also need to go to Ibuki again, where you got all the other hitman missions.

Yeah, it's a bit far fetched, but ... not too far fetched to think that maybe Arase and at least Jo Amon could know each other. I'd say, they could team up in a future game but. Well... Yeah.

Now some more things I thought about, I'll put a warning here though.

Yakuza LaD spoilers ahead!

Soooo, in this game we've gotten a couple of characters "back" ... Some more real than others... Thinking about Joon Gi's body double.

But one character that survived is Kashiwagi! Now the bartender of a bar named Survive. What a fitting name. After surviving such a heavy attack and believed dead by, well, everyone, it was the best approach to keep a low profile, start a new life. Also, he doesn't seem to be fit for any fighting after the incident.

So Kashiwagi is still there. And, now I just thought about, what if there was a possible redemption arc for Arase? Kiryu is believed dead now too, alone the fact that it seems that Kiryu never met Kashiwagi while being in the same area is kinda sad. I like to imagine they met each other...

I think it could go either way, Arase somehow got information on Kiryu being in Ijincho. He is a professional after all. Plus, by now Kiryu is also, well, not really working with... but. You know, not fighting with the Amon Clan anymore, even having Shin Amon to help determine Ichibans strength with the (True) Final Millennium Tower.

And, now, maybe there can be some other comnecting inside the Amon Clan and some info got out to Arase, ah, hell, I don't know, it's all so far fetched but I just like to have those possible headcanons of Arase somehow coming back!

Another possibility could also be Arase thinking Kiryu has died, just per chance being in the area and just going to the Survive bar? He'd probably be way more open about the thought of redemption and with Kashiwagi probably being pretty good at talking former Yakuza into that, given how the whole HLA was his doing.

Just... Thinking about possible things.

Yakuza LaD spoilers end here!

Well. That's that.

At the end of the day, the chances of Arase returning are pretty much 0, other characters you never thought of reappearing sometimes appear in one way or another, so it can be possible, but probably won't.

But one thing is clear, looking more into this character made me really appreciate him more. I guess that's the fact with a lot of characters, not just in Yakuza, but in general.

The characters in Yakuza are just so well written and even though it has some very weird and silly plot points and plot twists, I just love this game so much and looking more into it and replaying it is just so much fun.

I even started to like the minigames in Yakuza 3, even though I got very hopeless at the last pool opponent and the goddamn Mahjong completion, ugh. But at the end of the day it's all just really fun once you get the hang of it. It hasn't aged too well when you play it after the other Yakuza games, but replaying it on all the difficulties and then casually, then trying to beat it as fast as I can just made me love the game more and more every time.

So, uh... I don't know if it's a blessing or curse for me to often really like the characters that either everyone hates or have almost to screen time. Because well... there's such a lack of content and appreciation but hey that's what I'm writing this for!

I hope maybe someone starts to appreciate Arase more after this - if anyone even reads further after learning that I love this character. :D' I swear I tried to write it with as little bias as possible. I do know he's a morally very very grey character but after all, it's a video game character. (...There's no way I'll ever like characters like Yoneda...Ogita...Or Kume though... ugh)

Well anyway, with that, I go!

[queerb]

🏳️‍🌈❤️‍🩹- yamcha

💖🌌- nail

😋- Piccolo

@yamchaas Let's get down to business 😤

Yamcha:

🏳️‍🌈 - Orientation

Yam's one of those characters whose sexuality I don't think about much? Like, I ship him with whoever I think he'd be cute with, gender not really playing a part in it. I will say, Bi Yamcha is fun for the thought of him growing up being horribly shy around women, and it just took him a hilariously long time to realize he liked men too.

❤️‍🩹 - Angsty

(I was gonna complain about how I'm not good at angst and then I went a little ham on this one lmao)

Okay okay here's what I got: Gohan obviously looks a lot like his father, but the resemblance was strongest when he was a young teenager. After Goku died in the Cell Games, Yamcha vowed to be there for the Son family no matter what. But it got really difficult at times, looking at Gohan and seeing the likeness. Then it got even harder when Goten was born, because oh god it's like seeing kid Goku all over again.

But he's a strong guy and sees it through, expressing his grief among friends when it crops up again (he's not the only one who lost Goku that day, and it helps to talk). He sees Gohan grow up too, and he looks more like his own person, and Yamcha takes quiet relief in that fact.

Nail:

💖 - Happy

This is something @sternbagel is already aware of, but I love the idea that Nail is into gardening. It's a peaceful hobby that requires dedication and patience, two things he has in spades (and I promise that pun was accidental). He's a warrior namekian, but can "heal" in the sense that he can bring just about any plant back from the brink.

🌌 - Zodiac

(I feel like whenever I gotta look up zodiac traits I get different answers every time, for this i'm just gonna pull from astrology-zodiac-signs.com)

Taurus! "Reliable, patient, practical, devoted, responsible, stable." Also the first interest on that page said "gardening" so fuck yeah.

Piccolo: 😋 - Funny/stupid

Look I've had this rant before but Piccolo is 100% aware of his reputation and aesthetic and he'll make a conscious effort to keep that up. He will do dramatic shit just to look aloof and cool, even if he won't ever admit it out loud.

Actually I'll do a little of this rant again because my brain is a bitch and you all have the power to ignore this post. I can think of two examples from Bojack Unbound alone: first one is his fight with Krillin in the beginning where he's just standing the way he always does, Krillin runs in, completely misses and goes off the edge of the cliff, only for Piccolo to catch him by the back of his gi, and even though he does that he's still looking dramatically off into the distance. But he had to step closer to the cliff to catch Krillin, i.e. get out of the position he was in, and he still maintained that "I'm the coolest mf on this rock" stance.

Then LATER the Special Beam Cannon that comes in from off screen?? He's always taken a certain stance to fire that off. But in this instance when he actually shows up on camera a second later, he's doing his Cool Guy Stand again with his cape in the wind. That tells me he did the attack and then immediately stood up straight so he'd look cool when Gohan saw him and that is hilarious to me.

[bubbly-vivi]

Haha

4 hours of playing GI and I'm tapping out for about a week.

There's a reason I don't play POV games and it got me again.

Lemme just sit here and recover from the motion sickness haha (Looking back, I reaaallly should have heeded the warning at the starting screen)

I'm definitely immersed in the game. My only problem is, there's no way I can play it for a long time in one sitting (unlike ML).

I'd really have to set a schedule for it since I actually do enjoy it, I just can't overdo it, not with my tendency to get motion-sickness at play.

Anyway.

Here's where I thought, "ah, it really is such a beautiful game, tho"

(*after which I proceeded to be distracted by every shiny thing I saw before I could even enter Mondstadt*)

Here is me just derping about and getting a selfie with a local of Mondstadt.

(*notice me, senpai*)

Here is me in awe of the visuals and really feeling like I got transported into an anime world.

And this is me after finally discovering the screenshot feature and (after some frustrated searching for the destination folder) finally realized I had to click the "save" button for the screenshot to actually show up in the folder.

All in all, I really do love GI so far.

Fantasy-genre games FTW~🌸

[elencelebrindal]

Favourite colour, music, film, anime? I'm curious

Uuhhh, sorry for the wait, this ask has been waiting in my inbox for a lot by now, but let me answer you. Some of these answers are really long, so I marked them with a title in case people are not interested in everything. Though, I don’t think many people would be interested at all, my life is not that eventful. 

Favorite Color

My favorite color is black (even though black is not technically a color, damn you art school why did you have to teach me that), closely followed by blood red and silver. 

Favorite Music

My favorite music... I don’t really understand if you’re asking me what genre I prefer, or who do I prefer listening to, so I’ll just go the safe route and answer everything at once.  I love metal (especially power metal, epic metal and folk metal, with a significance preference for its viking sub-genre), and I am in love with Blind Guardian, the first ever band I listened to. I still remember the first song I’ve ever listened, which is “Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)”. Being a Tolkien fan led me to discover them, and subsequently to fall in love with the genre. Among my favorites there’s also Nightwish, Epica, Alestorm, and I’m baffled by Sabaton and Korpiklaani. I do listen to a bunch more bands, but not as much and I don’t know as many songs. 

But it’s not my one and only love. Aside from metal music, I also love classic music (I am deeply in love with a ton of Italian composers alongside the others), dark cabaret music (most notably Aurelio Voltaire, Dresden Dolls and Emilie Autumn, though her style doesn’t really fall into one single category), and I go crazy with anime music and openings.  I appreciate the music of anime so much, even though a lot of people don’t think highly of it, and since childhood I’ve always listened to our “opening singers” (the most important I grew up listening to are Cristina d’Avena and Giorgio Vanni), so I simply cannot stop loving them.  On a similar note, I cannot have enough of movie soundtracks. Composers like Howard Shore, Ennio Morricone, Hans Zimmer... the list could go on forever. I never get tired of their music. Again, videogame soundtracks are on the list of my beloved music as well, especially the music from Skyrim (Jeremy Soule) and Assassin’s Creed (Jesper Kyd). 

Favorite film/movie

I don’t really have one favorite. I do have a list of movies that I could watch over and over again, though, and others I just have fun watching even though they’re not my favorites.  The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy are absolutely on the top of my list. As I said, I’m a huge fan of Tolkien, and I’m also a huge fan of Peter Jackson. Add them together and BOOM! I am a tiny bit bitter about the Hobbit movies, but seriously? I still loved it.  Right after them there’s ALL the movies by Tim Burton, Alice in Wonderland and its sequel on top. I love Tim Burton, so much I cannot even explain it. And Alice in Wonderland has a very special place in my heart. 

[story time, you can skip if you want]

Not just because I love the story and the craziness of everything, but because back in high school (my last year) we decided to do Alice in Wonderland with a twist for our theater lab, and I not only got to write the entire script, but also to play the Cheshire Cat alongside all of my friends. My best friend was Alice, my other best friend was the costume designer, a lot of other people I knew and loved were the other characters. It’s such a delightful memory for me that I never stopped enjoying Alice in Wonderland from that day onward.  I got so involved with my part that I ended up making an entire steampunk-ish cosplay of the Cheshire Cat from scratch, a cosplay I brought two times to a convention and I’m currently renovating after taking it apart. This is how much I grew attached to that play and to that character.  Some years ago, before this, we had a director guiding us for two years of theater lab. A delightful man that looked at me and decided I needed to be addressed as “Alice” because of how much I reminded him of her.  It’s just good memories. 

[end of the story time]

I also have the “classics”, like Harry Potter, Star Wars, and the like. If it’s fantasy/sci-fi/something along those lines, I probably love it. Regardless of who made it, being it the writer or the director.  One particular movie that holds a special place in my heart is “The Fall”, and I cannot really pinpoint a reason why I love it so much. I just do.  There’s many titles I can tell you, even more serious ones like “The Imitation Game”, “The Danish Girl”, or “Dallas Buyers Club” and “Fight Club”.  Even though I prefer fantasy themes, there’s significant exceptions.  Old Italian movies are among my favorites too, but they’re just a drop in the ocean.  To close this, I’m going to bring you my love for the entire “Night at the Museum” ordeal and the entire “Jumanji” series (as of now, but I will never love anything more than the original).  I get really excited when I get to talk about this kind of interests, sorry T_T

Favorite Anime

Oh boy.  This sounds like it might be an easy one, given the nature of this blog, but it’s actually not.  In fact, I forgot Saint Seiya was my favorite anime.  You see, I originally watched it when I was nothing but a child, with a memory that obviously wasn’t so good at the time. This eventually led me to forget about how much I loved Saint Seiya, even though its characters never left my mind, and I started gravitating more towards Yu-Gi-Oh!, especially 5D’s. For the longest time I was convinced my absolute favorite was Yu-Gi-Oh!, until I finally started re-watching Saint Seiya and got hit by the memory train. 

But let’s not wander too far away from the question. What’s my favorite anime? Of all time is Saint Seiya, hands down. It has so much to offer, so much diversity, so much story and so many characters. Here in Italy, it has one of the most unique dubs of all time, with dialogues that are aulic (for the Italian fans who are curious --> l’origine del registro aulico dei Cavalieri dello Zodiaco è stato deciso da Enrico Carabelli e  Stefano Cerioni ed è spiegato in questo video, ed è poi stato mantenuto da Ivo de Palma nella serie di Hades) and filled with quotes from authors like Dante Alighieri, Ugo Foscolo and more, an “oddity” that made me fall in love again and again. 

Aside from this, I have another list, because I honestly cannot bring myself to choose only one.  Above all are Yu-Gi-Oh! (in order from best to worst for me --> 5D’s, Duel Monsters, GX, ZeXal, Vrains, Arc-V), My Hero Academia, and Sailor Moon.  Honorable mentions are Attack on Titan, Black Butler, Another, Pretty Cure ( spent basically my entire childhood/teenage years watching them, my favorites are the first two series), One Piece, Dragon Ball, Naruto, Beyblade, Tokyo Mew Mew... this could go on forever.  I’m a sucker for “old” anime as well, so a lot of them are mostly from the 70′s, 80′s, 90′s. Some of them I was so little when I watched it, like for example Card Captor Sakura (I was like three years old and I dressed up as her for Carnival), that I don’t remember them but they still have a place in my heart.  I wasn’t even fixated on one genre and that was it, I watched the hell out of anime and I still do (when I have time). 

I do also watch yaoi (shame on me, I know), and since I’m here telling you about my favorites: I love Dramatical Murder, especially (and you might not believe me) for how creative the story and the worldbuilding are. I’m also shameless enough to have watched the entire game in all its incarnations, so there’s that.  Not only that, I’m shameless enough to have watched more explicit ones, but I’m not telling you ;) I have a reputation here, after all. 

This took a long time for me to answer, and I’m sorry. I legit looked at this in my inbox, tried to conjure up some will to write, failed and went back to bed or to my books. Rinse and repeat for an entire week.  And to all of you who actually made it through this entire thing without getting annoyed/bored, damn you’re determined.