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tigerkirby215 · 4 years ago

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5e Quinn, Demacia's Wings build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Katie "TeaTime" De Sousa. Made for Riot Games.)

lol who gives a shit about Quinn?

I do. I do Riot. :(

Honestly while I haven’t played Quinn in awhile I still think she’s an extremely fun champion, and not just because you get to bully the enemy top laner with discount Vayne. Quinn has a very unique playstyle that’s so different from every other champ in the game which makes her real refreshing to play after sticking to other champs for an extended period of time.

But let’s be real the main reason I’m making a Quinn build is so I can have a cheat day. I mean she’s obviously just a Beastmaster Ranger, right?

GOALS

Valor, to me! - Burd up! I really wish that Quinn was called “Quinn and Valor” in game.

Stick to the plan, Val - When the going gets tough it helps to be a swift scout, dashing around the enemy and vaulting off them if they get too close.

I'd keep my head down if I were you - While it’s perhaps not the first thing that comes to mind Quinn is known for letting down a volley of arrows when she first engages with Valor on her back.

RACE

League of humans, at least until I go back to Ionia to make more furries. Regardless we’ll be switching it up a bit with a Mark of Finding Dragonmark from Eberron! You get a +2 to Dexterity and +1 to an ability score of your choice: I went for Charisma because “League of Legends female body types.”

You get an early set of boots with the Mark of Finding, since Courier’s Speed increases your base movement speed to 35 feet. And to help with backflips Intuitive Motion will let you add a d4 to your Acrobatics checks (or your Land Vehicle checks, but I’d perhaps discuss with your DM to change that to Air Vehicles instead?) But most importantly you get Magical Passage for a one-time use of Misty Step, for Flash!

IF DRAGONMARKS AREN’T ALLOWED: A Variant Human works fine. Take a +1 to Dexterity and Charisma and the Crossbow Expert feat a little earlier than usual.

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - Dexterity is tied to shooting and back flips, both of which you’ll be doing a lot of.

14; WISDOM - You have a bird’s eye view; the best advantage.

13; CHARISMA - This is partially because “League of Legends female body types” but mostly for multiclassing.

12; CONSTITUTION - Demacians are no easy prey, and spending so much time behind enemy lines has made you sturdier than most.

10; INTELLIGENCE - Intelligence is tied to military tactics among other things.

8; STRENGTH - This is partially because “League of Legends female body types” but mostly for multiclassing because we don’t need it over the other stats.

Feel free to swap Wisdom and Constitution if you want worse skill checks but better durability.

BACKGROUND

We’ll be going for Faction Agent not because it fits best but because it has the abilities that make the most sense. I’m sure you could refer to the Demacian Scouts as a faction after all. Regardless you get proficiency in Insight along with one WIS, INT, or CHA skill of your choice: I opted for Perception for that bird’s eye view. You also get proficiency in two languages so once again pick your poison.

The main reason we opted for Faction Agent was for access to a Safe Haven behind enemy lines. You can always find insiders to give you a place to hide, or to give you information. Not that Val needs any help finding people. "Sometimes I swear that bird is just showing off."

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

Starting off as a Rogue for the skill proficiencies primarily. Acrobatics and Stealth are the two main ones we want but I’d also recommend Investigation and Intimidation. (Persuasion may be more useful in the average campaign but it doesn’t fit Quinn well feel free to build the character however you want but I focus on making the character as lore accurate and gameplay accurate as possible.) Anyways as a Rogue you also get Expertise in two skills: I’d recommend buffing your Perception right out the gate, as well as your Stealth because... it’ll be useful as a Rogue I assure you.

Rogues can chat with spies and infiltrators behind enemy lines thanks to Thieves’ Cant, a mixture of words and phrases that don’t actually mean what they sound like. But of course what we’re really here for as a Rogue is good ol’ Sneak Attack, for a d6 if you sneak attack an enemy (duh) or if Val (or another ally) is distracting them.

I’m going to briefly mention what weapons you’re probably going to want to start out with: a Hand Crossbow is an obvious must but until about level 6 or so you can honestly just stick to a Light Crossbow to do more damage at a better range early on.

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

Second level Rogues can further abuse their range thanks to Cunning Action, letting them Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a Bonus Action. Play around bushes to get the jump on your Harrier marks.

LEVEL 3 - BARD 1

Seeing as Bards are good at everything we’ll be taking some Bard levels. As a Bard you get proficiency in one skill as well as a musical instrument: pick whatever instrument you prefer and I’d of course take Animal Handling to take care of Valor.

You also get Bardic Inspiration to tell your allies of information you scouted ahead with your bonus action, letting them add an extra d6 to skill checks, attack rolls, and saving throws that they know are coming. You have a number of inspirations equal to your Charisma modifier, and regain all expended inspiration die at the end of a long rest.

But of course the main boon from being a Bard is access to Spellcasting! You get two cantrips from the Bard list: Light will let you see with your dumb human eyes, and Message will let you chat with your team behind enemy lines. You also get four first level spells from the Bard list: Animal Friendship is kinda an obvious one, as is Speak with Animals. Other than that Heroism will help you (or your allies) keep their cool behind enemy lines, and Color Spray (ty Tasha’s) will let Valor blind your foes so you can get away!

LEVEL 4 - BARD 2

Second level Bards get Jack of All Trades, letting you flex into whatever role your party may need. You also get Song of Rest to heal for an extra d6 of health during short rests to patch yourself up after getting into a scrap. And finally Tasha’s gave you Magical Inspiration, letting your allies with Bardic Inspiration add a roll on their inspiration die to the damage or healing of a spell.

You also learn another first level spell like Feather Fall, in case Valor needs to drop you.

LEVEL 5 - BARD 3

Third level Bards get Expertise in two skills: Acrobatics proficiency is a requirement for backflips, and Animal Handling would be good to handle Valor. (But more realistically expertise in Insight or Investigation would be more useful.)

But more importantly we can finally get some combat ability out of the Bard! The College of Swords gives you proficiency with medium armor and shields, neither of which we really need. It also gives you a Fighting Style you won’t use with a Hand Crossbow, but Dueling is probably better for your purposes.

What we’re mainly here for is Blade Flourish, which despite the name works on ranged attacks! When you take the attack action on your turn Harrier will increase your movement speed by 10 feet, and once per turn you can use one of the following Blade Flourishes:

Defensive Flourish increases the damage of the shot by a roll of your Bardic Inspiration and let you add the number to your AC as Valor makes it harder for the enemy to hit you.

Slashing Flourish will let you pick up a Runaan's Hurricane to deal extra damage to the target and everyone within 5 feet of them.

Mobile Flourish lets you vault off an enemy, dealing extra damage equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration and pushing them back a number of feet equal to 5 plus whatever you rolled on your Bardic Inspiration. If you want you can then use your reaction to run up to them, but I don’t know why you’d want to do that.

Basically no matter what your Blade Flourish does extra damage equal to your Bardic Inspiration, and you can choose to either make yourself harder to hit, do AoE damage, or push the enemy away. Oh and you can now learn second level spells like Animal Messenger so Val can get important information back to Demacia.

(Artwork by Michelle Hoefener. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 6 - BARD 4

4th level Bards get the first of many Ability Score Improvements but we’re actually going to take a Feat: the Crossbow Expert feat will let you ignore the Loading property of crossbows to attack more than once on your turn, attack in melee range without disadvantage, but most importantly if you attack with your hand crossbow you can make one more attack with your bonus action!

You also learn another spell, and another cantrip! For your cantrip Minor Illusion is great to make a distraction, and for your leveled spell Locate Object will help if you need to find an important artifact belonging to the enemy. Are there more useful spells? Yes, but I’m building what would make the most sense for Quinn as a character. Feel free to take Heat Metal or Lesser Restoration as you’re allowed to change my builds however you want.

LEVEL 7 - BARD 5

Grabbing the 5th level of Bard for Font of Inspiration, letting your Bardic Inspiration (and Blade Flourishes!) come back after a Short Rest. Which is good because your Bardic Inspiration increases to a d8!

You can also learn third level spells like Leomund’s Tiny Hut for a safe place to rest after a long combat.

LEVEL 8 - BARD 6

But of course the 6th level of Bard wouldn’t hurt, as you’d now get an Extra Attack from the College of Swords! You can also learn another third level spell like Sending to send information more directly. Again: feel free to take spells that you feel are more practical if you wish.

(Artwork by SixMoreVodka Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 9 - ROGUE 3

Going back to Rogue to get our Scouting badge, specifically with the Scout subclass! You get to officially be classified as a Skirmisher, and can move half your movement speed if an enemy ends their turn within 5 feet of you. This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks either, so I’d flavor it as you vaulting off the foe to safety.

You’re also a natural Survivalist, with Expertise in the Nature and Survival skills. That’s why we didn’t get Survival proficiency earlier! And to top it off your Sneak Attack increases to 2d6.

LEVEL 10 - ROGUE 4

4th level Rogues get another Ability Score Improvement, and we’ve been sitting on an uneven Dexterity score for awhile now. So the Piercer feat will let you increase your Dexterity by 1 while also augmenting your skills with a Light Crossbow, allowing you to reroll the damage die of one of your attacks and deal triple damage if you crit!

I’d discuss with your DM if your Blade Flourishes count as “weapon damage die” for the sake of Piercer, because if they do you’ll likely get a lot more value out of this feat. If not well... it’s still useful regardless!

(Artwork by bekkomi on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 11 - BARD 7

Quickly going back to Bard for some 4th level spell slots to cast spells like Dimension Door to quickly get out of danger.

LEVEL 12 - BARD 8

But of course the 8th level of Bard will get you some more Ability Score Improvements: more Dexterity will mean deadlier shots and more AC. And you can learn another 4th level spell like Freedom of Movement to get out of sticky situations.

LEVEL 13 - BARD 9

9th level Bards get to pretend that a d8 Song of Rest die by total level 14 is valuable. You do at least get 5th level spells like Rary's Telepathic Bond to keep communication up with your team.

LEVEL 14 - BARD 10

But what we’re mainly here for is the 10th level of Bard. To start off you get Expertise in two more skills: Insight and Investigation would both be the most practical choices. Your Bardic Inspiration also increases to a d10, which means that your Blade Flourishes increase to a d10 as well!

But far more importantly you get Magical Secrets, and hey look by total level 15 we finally got Valor! Summon Beast will let you summon a beast of land, sea, or (most realistically) air to fight alongside you! The flying beast has a 60 foot flying speed, Flyby (which lets it avoid attacks of opportunity), and can attack using your spell attack modifier to deal damage equal to a d8 + 4 + the level of the spell slot you used to cast this spell. It’s only a second level spell but it gets quite strong when upcast, so you can choose how strong you want Valor to be!

Alternatively if you want to fly Behind Enemy Lines, look no further than Fly! It gives you a 60 foot flying speed, plain and simple! And if you upcast it Valor can even bring a friend, or several friends!

You can also learn another cantrip like Mending, because it’s good to keep your armor in check as well as your falconer’s glove.

LEVEL 15 - BARD 11

Seeing as we got Valor we may as well grab a few more small things from Bard. 11th level Bards get 6th level spells like Find the Path, to find the path to the objective. Again: feel free to take more practical spells I am merely taking what makes sense for Quinn.

LEVEL 16 - BARD 12

12th level Bards don’t get new spells but they do get Ability Score Improvements. I’ll leave you with a choice: more Charisma will increase your Bard saving throw DCs (and Valor’s hit chance) as well as give you more Blade Floruishes, but the Sharpshooter feat will let you consistently add more damage to your shots while also ignoring range limitations and cover.

(Artwork by Ina Wong and West Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 17 - BARD 13

Grabbing 7th level spells from the 13th level of Bard like Teleport, to recall back to base when needed. You also get to pretend that a d10 Song of Rest die by total level 18 is majorly impactful.

LEVEL 18 - BARD 14

14th level Swords Bards get the Master’s Flourish, letting you make a Blade Flourish every turn without spending a Bardic Inspiration, as long as you make your Blade Flourish a d6 instead.

But you also get two more Magical Secrets! To call down a Skystrike try Steel Wind Strike, which will damage up to 5 creates in the area and also let you teleport to one of them after using it. Your other spell doesn’t really matter much so... I dunno. Blindness / Deafness so Valor can make a Blinding Assault? Again feel free to make your own choices to customize the build.

LEVEL 19 - BARD 15

We’ll be stopping at the 15th level of Bard for a d12 Bardic Inspiration, as well as an 8th level spell like Feeblemind to weaken an enemy beyond any capability of fighting.

LEVEL 20 - BARD 16

But we may as well grab one more Bard level for one last Ability Score Improvement. Again up to you if you want to cap out that Charisma modifier or take Sharpshooter for some more damage.

Now that that’s done it’s time for some Ranger levels! Oh wait...

WHY NO RANGER LEVELS? - Put simply it would’ve been very hard to get Quinn’s unique skill set without some weird multiclassing shenanigans or a Bard investment. The three things I needed for Quinn were the following:

* Bird companion (Ranger or Druid)

* Flight (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard, Artificer, or some weird stretches of logic like “be a Druid and turn into a bird to fly lol.”)

* Skystrike (either Conjure Barrage [bad] on Ranger or Battle Smith Artificer, or Steel Wind Strike on [high level] Ranger or Wizard)

Put simply there was no combination of subclasses that wouldn’t result in weird mix of classes other than Bard. Add in the fact that I really wanted Scout Rogue levels as well as Crossbow Expert (both of which would conflict with Beast Master Ranger) and Bard seemed like the most logical course of action.

The sad truth is that in all honesty Quinn doesn’t even use Valor that much in her kit is kinda the main thing. I wanted to prioritize the crossbow shooting of Quinn more than anything. If you want a more traditional Quinn build that prioritizes the Bird then Scout Rogue 8 / Beastmaster 12 (using Tasha’s Beastmaster companions) will give you more bird and just about everything that this build did minus the flight. (If you build like this I’d also recommend dropping Crossbow Expert and simply opting for a Longbow, or seeing if you can get an Artificer teammate to make you a Repeating Heavy Crossbow.)

If you really want flight and are willing to stretch your imagination then Scout 4 / Drake Warden (UA) 16 gets Perfected Bond by Ranger level 15, allowing you to ride the flying mount. Yes you’ll have a Fireproof Valor but you can just call that Phoenix Quinn.

Of course all of this can be avoided if your DM either gives you a magic item that provides Flight or lets you put Fly on the Ranger spell list. The golden rule is to always discuss with your DM if you have a particular vision in mind, or else accept the sacrifices you’ll have to make for practicality.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Just like hunting thresher geese - 3 hand crossbow attacks per round with a 3d6 Sneak Attack and a d6 (or d12) Blade Flourish adds up to some pretty decent damage per round overall, and that isn’t even considering Sharpshooter.

I'll follow your lead, Valor - Most of your spellcasting is utility based, meaning that you don’t need to worry about your spellcasting modifier. And hey: we got Valor without having to go for Beastmaster Ranger!

Buy me some time - Mixing Bard and Rogue together means that you have proficiency in quite a lot of skills! Expertise in 8 total skills, proficiency in one more, and Jack of All Trades for the remaining skills. You can fill any role that the party may need!

CONS

Look Val; snacks - It takes us quite awhile to get Valor; some would argue too long. Put simply there’s very little way for us to get the very specific spell list required for Quinn (Summon Beast, Fly, Steel Wind Strike) without doing some weird multiclassing shenanigans. You could go Lore Bard if you want to get access to Summon Beast and Fly faster (Scout 3 / Lore 6 = basically everything to play Quinn by total level 9) but then you’d miss out on Extra Attack among other things.

Still heart, steady aim - Low Constitution along with a d8 hit die really doesn’t do you any favors. You’ll likely have a little over 100 health, which means that it won’t take much effort to put you in Power Word Kill range.

Who's there? Jarvan who? - Honestly our Charisma is low for a Bard, and while most of the spells we took are utility based it still sucks to only have two Blade Flourishes. Feel free to use Point Buy instead for some better starting stats and less in those fairly pointless stats like Intelligence. (8 / 15 / 12 / 8 / 13 / 15 would be my recommendation to have the best Charisma you can get while still having decent Wisdom to boot.)

But your job is to scout: any kills you pick up on the way are a nice bonus. Soften the enemies up with Valor by your side and do what needs to be done to win the war without the enemy knowing you’re there. Fight differently, fight dirty, and remember that no matter what at least you’re not playing Vayne top.

(Artwork by Xu “Crow God” Cheng. Made for Riot Games.)

#DnD 5e #dnd build #dnd guide #dnd #League of Legends #League of Legends Quinn #League of Legends Valor #League of Legends Quinn and Valor #Quinn #Valor #Quinn & Valor #dnd rogue #dnd bard #dnd ranger?#bird up

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moonlightserenadeeznutz · 4 years ago

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Rizzo

Oneshot about how Sirius obtained his motorcycle. Prompt by @daylily-evans.

I should add, to all my non-UK readers, I use the word f*g in this as a slang word for cigarette, which is what it’s commonly used for over here, especially at the time the oneshot was set. I tried not to use it, but eventually it was impossible, and unrealistic, for the characters to not use it, so I apologise for the use of the word and I promise in this context it is not a slur word, and is only a slang word for cigarette. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Request a oneshot here!

When Sirius graduated Hogwarts, he really had no idea what he wanted to do. Short-term wise, he wanted to go on missions for the Order, help out in any way he could and take down the death eaters one by one until only You-Know-Who remained. He couldn’t wait.

But long-term, after the war had ended, he was clueless. Truth was, he hadn’t planned that far ahead, just in case he didn’t survive to see it. But he was beginning to see that having a job now would be beneficial in a number of ways. Maybe as a cover-up, or a hiding place, or at least an opportunity to earn some well-needed money.

Dumbledore wanted him to get a job at the Ministry, to try and collect any inside information. But this suggestion made Sirius angry enough to ignore it completely. For starters, he didn’t care about what Dumbledore wanted. He tried to hide this of course, as he didn’t think the others would approve. But he’d lost his taste for obeying the old man ever since Dumbledore had forced Remus to live among the werewolves. And while Sirius could vaguely understand why it was useful, he couldn’t forgive Dumbledore for placing Remus in such a horrible situation, away from his friends, and possibly making Remus feel like the monster that Sirius knew he wasn’t. When Dumbledore had first suggested it, Sirius had been absolutely livid, and it was only Remus himself who managed to stop Sirius from marching down to Dumbledore’s office and giving the guy a piece of his mind. Remus had calmed Sirius down, but Sirius knew that he’d never shake off the resentment he had for the headmaster.

The other reason that he was angry at Dumbledore’s suggestion, was because he hated the Ministry. It was full of people like his parents, making rules to oppress anyone who wasn’t a pureblood wizard. And after having grown up with Remus, watching as the boy had to work for a future he didn’t have because of the Ministry, the last thing Sirius wanted to do was work for the bastards.

But what other jobs were there in the Wizarding World besides a ministry job? Hogwarts teacher? There wasn’t anything he could teach, and he certainly didn’t have the patience to deal with a bunch of teenagers, and nor did he want to give Dumbledore an opportunity to keep a close eye on him. Healer? He couldn’t think of anything less suited to him, though maybe Moony wouldn’t mind seeing him in a healer’s skirt and cap.

No, the problem was, wizarding jobs didn’t suit Sirius. So perhaps he needed to look outside the Wizarding World for a job.

Sirius wasn’t exactly familiar with muggle jobs, at least not first-hand. He’d seen plenty of them before. He, James, Remus and Peter had been to a few muggle clubs and bars together, and Sirius had spent all night chatting up the male bartenders, until he was quite knowledgeable on the job itself.

Sirius thought he’d be a great bartender. All he had to do was serve drinks, listen to music and chat up hot guys. And okay, so there was probably a little more to it than that, but he had the people skills, and he could easily learn about all the different muggle drinks.

Yes, he decided. I can be a bartender. I’ll be safe in the muggle world, I can still go on missions, and I can earn some money for the Order, or at least to support myself and Remus.

Sirius even knew about a bar that had an opening, since he’d been there so many times. He had to walk there, since he couldn’t apparatus, or floo there, and he still didn’t know how to use the muggle bus. But it wasn’t too long a walk, and it was a nice day at least. Sirius liked muggle towns, especially the underground-type, diverse, grunge places such as the one where the bar was situated. The streets were lined with music shops, pubs and all things that screamed rock n roll in the 70s. Sirius loved it.

When he was almost at the bar, he suddenly got distracted by a shop he hadn’t noticed before. He noticed it this time because Queen was blasting out of the speakers of some tinny radio from inside.

Sirius looked at the exterior: Lomax Motorcycles said the sign at the front. Another, smaller sign, stuck onto the window said: job vacancies with some smaller writing underneath that Sirius couldn’t read. But he was intrigued enough to go inside.

The interior- Sirius was quick to notice- was incredibly cool. There were two adjoining rooms, all filled with motorbikes. Sirius had seen motorbikes before, mainly in the films that he watched with James, Remus and Peter, but he hadn’t realised how much he liked them until he looked at them up close. These ones were all slick and shiny, some with patterns of fire along the side. They were like broomsticks, but with a muggle twist, and from Sirius’s limited experience, they were always ridden by punks in leather jackets. Sirius could definitely see himself riding one.

The shop itself was dimly lit, but he could see a number of framed posters lining the walls, of muggle bands that he loved: Pink Floyd, Ramones, Blondie, Joy Division. Not to mention all the cool-looking accessories that hung above the motorcycles.

Just then, the owner of the shop walked out.

“Alright, mate?” Greeted the man. Sirius nodded, taking the guy in. He looked around his late thirties, with a dark brown mullet, a badge-covered sleeveless jacket, leather gloves, at least twenty different piercings and full sleeves of tattoos. Sirius looked like Sandy from Grease compared to this guy.

“Yeah, hi.” Sirius replied, immediately intimidated.

“Looking for a bike?” The man walked behind a counter against the wall opposite to Sirius and started restocking a container of different locks.

“Nah, I’m just looking. I’ve never actually driven a motorbike before.” The man looked him up and down.

“Really?” Sirius nodded, awfully self-conscious. The man took out a cigarette pack and lit one up. The shop was quite smoky, but Sirius actually enjoyed that about it.

“I saw you had a job vacancy sign in your window,” Sirius plucked up the courage to mention.

“You looking for a job?”

“Yeah.” Sirius of course hadn’t intended to try for a job here, but since he had the opportunity he thought he might as well. See how far he could take it before the man asked him to leave. The man exhaled smoke out of his nose.

“You haven’t even driven a motorcycle.”

“I can learn. I pick things up quickly.” He realised that he sounded inexplicably uncool. It was typical. Around his friends he was effortlessly punk. Laid-back and relaxed, cigarette balanced between his lips, fluent in witty remarks and sarcasm. But here, in front of an almost carbon-copy of his cool persona, Sirius was sounding like someone who’d only recently entered the punk scene and had no clue on how to act.

“How old are you?” The man asked.

“Eighteen.”

“Pretty young, you even out of uni yet?”

“Oh, uh... I’m not going to uni.” Uni. University. Remus said that muggles went there to learn even more. Sirius didn’t see the point of it.

“I didn’t go either,” replied the man. He seemed very friendly, which certainly didn’t match with his overall appearance. “Didn’t interest me. Started working here instead. It was my dad’s.”

“Oh.” Sirius wasn’t sure how to respond.

“I’m Darren by the way. Darren Lomax.”

“Oh right, like the name on the shop. I’m Sirius.”

“Sirius? Never heard that name before. It’s cool.”

“Thanks?” He’d never thought of his name as being cool before. It was run-of-the-mill in the Wizarding World. In fact there were already two other Siriuses in his family. He was Sirius the Third. “If you’re interested in motorbikes, I can take you on as an apprentice if you want. Give you a bit of money. Teach you how to fix up these babies.” Sirius blinked.

“Really?” He hadn’t expected any kind of offer. His resume wasn’t exactly impressive, especially not to a muggle. An inexperienced eighteen year old with no muggle qualifications and less knowledge of motorcycles that literally anyone else who could’ve walked through that door. Sirius wouldn’t hire himself.

“Yeah why not? If you’re shit I’ll get rid of you. We’re not a professional garage. Really we just piss about fixing engines, listening to music and smoking. That your style?”

“Yeah, blimey.”

“Great. You can start tomorrow. Fag?” Darren offered him his cigarette pack, and Sirius took one. Darren lit it for him.

“Cheers.”

Dumbledore wasn’t happy with his choice of job.

“How are you planning on gathering information for the Order if you’re spending your days working in a muggle shop?” The man asked. Sirius had no intention of being guilted by him.

“Isn’t the information that Remus is gathering enough for you? I should hope so, considering everything he’s going through to get it.”

“Mr. Black, in case you haven’t noticed, there is a war going on. You can’t spend your life thinking about yourself and Mr. Lupin and no one else.”

“I am thinking of everyone else! And what everyone needs is money. And I can get them that money, as well as staying safe in the muggle world. I’m not exactly useful if I’m dead am I?” Dumbledore sighed as if he was talking to a child. The old man was pleasant with everyone, but with Sirius there was a slight curt undertone to everything he said. Dumbledore knew that Sirius wasn’t happy with him at all, and it showed. Sirius didn’t care. Dumbledore hadn’t done shit for him. He didn’t owe him anything.

Sirius was taking that job.

~ His first day went well, in the sense that he got along with Darren and he enjoyed the environment of the shop very much.

Because of his very limited knowledge of how to fix a motorbike, Sirius’s main job was at the front desk, talking to customers. He really did have great people skills, as he quickly discovered, and he put this to his advantage, bagging more sales in a day than Darren achieved in a week. So even if Sirius was shit at the mechanical side of things, he certainly wasn’t going to be fired any time soon.

At the end of the day, when the shop closed, Darren asked if Sirius would like to stay late and learn his way around the motorbikes. Sirius, who hadn’t been assigned any missions, and therefore didn’t have much going on, agreed immediately.

Darren showed him the engines of one particular motorbike that was in rather a lot of disrepair.

“Completely useless she is,” explained Darren. “Not likely to get her running any time soon, probably won’t even be able to fix her. Engine’s blown, parts are missing, tyres are a wreck.” Sirius knew that she’d easily be fixed with magic, but obviously this wasn’t an option. So he was sad that she’d never be ridden. But even if she was little more than a shell, she was a good example for Darren to use as an introduction to the inner workings of motorcycles.

Sirius listened intently to everything Darren had to say, learning how to change the oil, how to change a tyre, how to know when a motorbike needed new spark plugs (and learning what spark plugs were in the first place).

Outside of the workshop, Sirius tried to research more on the motorbikes he was working with. When he wasn’t spending time with the Order, or talking to customers in the shop, or following Darren around like a puppy, he was at the library reading up on all the different motorbike types, how they worked and how they were made.

Whenever Remus was permitted a break from staying with the werewolves, breaks that usually only lasted a few days maximum to avoid any suspicion, Sirius proudly took him down to the shop and showed him all the motorbikes that he helped to fix.

Darren greeted Remus happily, commenting on his name too. “The weird name couple” he called them. Darren, being the punk anarchist that he was, that was so prevalent in the late 70s, didn’t give a shit about Sirius and Remus’s relationship. Sirius didn’t need to hide it for very long, especially since he hadn’t tried to hide his sexuality in the first place.

Remus was very interested in the shop, and as soon as he stepped foot in it his first response was “Shit, Pads, this place was made for you.”

Sirius showed him the motorbike that was “unfixable”, but that Sirius had still been determined to work on as much as possible. The engine was still a bust, but he’d at least changed the tyres, and given it a new paint job (red and black). Sirius felt very close to the bike, especially once Darren had struck up a deal with him, saying that if he could fix the bike he could have it: “even if it’s fixed, it’s a shit model. No one’ll want it, believe me. Besides, I’m already paying you fuck all, so consider it a raise.” Darren was paying Sirius, but it was apparently much less than the usual muggle wage, since Sirius was still technically an apprentice. However, the current muggle to wizarding exchange rate meant that Sirius got a lot of galleons for his pounds. So, he was perfectly able to support himself, and if he ended up with a free motorbike in the process? Well, he almost couldn’t believe his luck.

Sirius fixed up the engine as much as he possibly could, until it was simply a case of the engine just not working. It had been months now since he’d first started, and the engine was the only thing left. The motorbike looked good as new, and despite Darren claiming it to be a shit model, Sirius had fallen in love with it. He’d even named it Rizzo, after Betty Rizzo from Grease.

Sirius was absolutely determined to have Rizzo, and deciding that the engine simply needed a boost, he risked using magic out of sight of Darren. Darren would never know, and Rizzo would have a new lease of life.

“Fucking hell, you actually got her working!” Exclaimed Darren the next day, as Sirius showed off the brand new humming engine of his prized motorbike. “How the fuck did you do that?”

“She just needed a boost, that was all. Good as new.” A boost with a little bit of magic, thought Sirius. Darren was shaking his head in disbelief.

“Well, shit. I guess a deal’s a deal. She’s all yours, mate.” Sirius couldn’t refrain himself from grinning. He patted Rizzo’s paintwork proudly. She was all his. He couldn’t wait to show her off to Remus and James and Peter and all the others. James was dying to get a glimpse of her: Sirius had been bragging about his motorbike for weeks now, annoying the hell out of the others.

“This motorcycle better be fit for Merlin himself, Pads, or I’m gonna be pissed,” James had semi-joked. Sirius assured that she was even better than Merlin. “She was made for me,” he claimed.

When James did finally see Rizzo, he was very impressed, but then again, he was as knowledgeable about motorbikes as Sirius was when he first started at the shop. Sirius probably could have put a mound of metal in front of him, moulded into the vague shape of a motorbike and James would still have been impressed.

“Can’t believe you named her Rizzo,” James laughed. “You’re such a fucking nerd.”

“Yeah, well. I have a motorcycle and you don’t, so jokes on you.” James put his hands up in surrender.

“You’re right. I’m just jealous.”

~ Sirius had a lot of fun with Rizzo. He rode her everywhere, through muggle and wizarding towns alike. It felt even more freeing than a broomstick. He could weave in and out of traffic, the wind in his hair and the roar of the engine blocking out everything.

There was also room for two. Or at least, two was the legal amount. But Sirius could be rather lax with the law sometimes, especially muggle law. So it wasn’t uncommon for all four of the marauders to squeeze onto the back of Rizzo and go driving off into the night.

Eventually though, Sirius decided that four people on one seat could damage Rizzo, which was the last thing he wanted (and he supposed it could be dangerous as well). So he splashed out some of the money he’d saved on a sidecar. James was particularly keen on it.

Remus on the other hand nearly always opted to sit on the back with Sirius. Sirius loved these journeys the most. Just he and Remus, the man holding tightly onto him as they zoomed down roads, ending up in country lanes. He could feel Remus’s arms around his waist, and Remus’s head on his shoulder, and after everything Remus was going through, as well as the risk of sudden death around every corner for both of them, when the two were pressed together on the little black and red motorbike, roaring through the countryside without a care in the world, it felt like the most precious moment of their lives.

#does this end badly #hopefully not #i could write more but this felt like the natural stop #no I didn’t forget about the fact that the motorcycle could fly #he charms it later #and that’s writer for ‘I didn’t get round to it yet’#harry potter #wolfstar #sirius black #sirius x remus

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super-famicom-star-inactive · 4 years ago

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Friday Special #14

March 19th, 2021

Hello friendos, and welcome back to another Friday Special!

So with the recent announcement of Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl for the Nintendo Switch as well as Pokemon Legends: Arceus, for this episode, we’ll be taking a look into the original titles of Pokemon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum for the DS and how they forever changed the Pokemon world.

The year is 2004.

The Pokemon movie Destiny Deoxys was just released in Japan and it’s the newest Pokemon movie to be released at that time. The Pokemon anime would still be in Gen 3 (Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald) for a few more years.

The film features a new Pokemon that was never seen before: Munchlax, who was the first revealed Pokemon for the next Generation, Gen 4 (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Heartgold, and Soulsilver).

Munchlax wasn’t the only Pokemon teased before Gen 4′s release, however.

That following year in 2005, Lucario and the Mystery of Mew was released and it prominently featured several new Pokemon to the gaming public such as Lucario, Weavile, Mime Jr., and Bonsly. This now was five new Pokemon revealed to the gaming public.

Then came 2006, the crunch year.

Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea was released and it introduced more new Pokemon in the forms of Mantyke, Buizel, Chatot and the Legendary Manaphy. Also revealed that year were the first of Gen 4 Legendaries Dialga and Palkia for the new games’ box art.

In the end, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were officially released in Japan on September 28, 2006, in North America on April 22, 2007, in Australia on June 21, 2007 and in Europe on June 27, 2007. Diamond and Pearl would also be the very first Pokemon games to be released in South Korea on Valentine’s Day in 2008, setting the precedent for future Pokemon games to be released in the region.

Diamond and Pearl were the first Pokemon games not only to begin a new Generation but also on a brand-new console, the Nintendo DS. In order to capitalize on the new system of choice and its capabilities, Diamond and Pearl were the very first Pokemon games to utilize 2.5D graphics (the effect can best be seen in various objects like buildings and the train in the Great Marsh in Pastoria City). Speaking of sprites, new and never-before-seen trainer sprites were added as well to ever-growing list of types of trainers. The list of Pokemon expanded as well, thanks to the addition of 107 new Pokemon exclusive to the Sinnoh region.

As the introduction goes for both games, you are greeted by Professor Rowan and you have the choice of either going as Lucas or Dawn, though the player does have the option to create their name for their chosen character. Their rival, Barry, also can be named by the player like in previous versions.

The game starts with your character watching a broadcast about Johto’s Lake of Rage and its elusive Red Gyarados. You then meet up at Barry’s house, who is also your best friend in addition to being your rival, and the pair go off to Lake Verity to search for Legendary Pokemon. There, you are greeted by Professor Rowan once more along with his assistant and they accidentally leave behind their briefcase and before the pair can retrieve it and return it properly, they are attacked by two random Starly and the player has to pick one out of three Pokemon to fight them with and succeed. Once the battle is concluded, the assistant comes back to retrieve the suitcase, aware of the Pokemon being used and leaves the pair with their new chosen companions. Back home, the player’s mother gives them a pair of Running Shoes to traverse faster across the land and instructs them to meet with the Pokemon Professor in Sandgem Town. Upon arriving, Prof. Rowan bestows upon you the Pokedex, sending you on a quest to retrieve data for the Pokedex of every Pokemon in Sinnoh.

Thus, the Adventure begins.

In the games, you face Battles, attain Gym Badges and work your way to defeating the Elite Four as well as the Pokemon League Champion. Along the way, you have to defeat Team Galactic, an evil organization who want to erase the entire universe in order to create a new, more perfect universe, and they need the power of the Legendaries in order to accomplish this massive and frightening goal. By defeating them, your home region of Sinnoh, and the universe at large, will be safe.

Some of the features to make a comeback in a newer fashion was the day/night system first introduced in Gen 2 (Gold, Silver, and Crystal), Pokemon Contests from Gen 3 (Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Leaf-Green and Fire-Red) and even a new battle system which allowed for a more versatile set of moves for a Pokemon but ran into trouble with older fans as the attacks were now labeled as either physical or special instead of just by type alone.

The pair of games were met with commercial and critical success upon release with particular praise being given to the soundtrack, story, the inclusion of Wi-Fi, the voice chat function. Unfortunately, it landed criticism with the graphics with IGN being quoted as saying “everything still has that Game Boy look to it” (Which in retrospect made the games more appealing as they still appeared timeless without looking too dated). Famitsu gave it a 35 out of 40.

With this massive success, there was a growing need to continue the Generation.

In response, Game Freak created Pokemon Platinum, an enhanced version of the Diamond and Pearl.

Pokemon Platinum was released in Japan and Taiwan on September 13, 2008, in North America on March 22, 2009, in Australia on May 14, 2009, and in South Korea on July 2, 2009. Like its predecessors, it also received high praise, and was both commercially and critically successful.

There were a few notable differences between the original Diamond and Pearl versions and Platinum:

On the TV in Twinleaf Town, instead of a special about the Red Gyarados, the special instead talks about Prof. Rowan’s arrival back to Sinnoh from Kanto.

The outfits of the main characters change to be more suited to a colder environment.

Instead of recovering a suitcase in the forest and fighting Starly, you meet up with Prof. Rowan and receive your Pokemon at that time.

The sprites of important Trainers (like Gym Leaders or the Pokemon League) have their own individual animations like the Pokemon do.

Instead of facing either Dialga/Palkia depending on the version, your Legendary Battle will be with Giratina instead and it will be down in the Distortion World (more on that in a moment).

Platinum also expanded on previously introduced features such as:

Allowing up to 20 people at one time in the Wi-Fi Plaza (it was only a few people before)

Allowing your starter Pokemon to be admitted into Amity Square in Hearthrome City (in Diamond and Pearl, only a select number of “cute” Pokemon were considered)

Players can now challenge other Trainers in certain Pokemon Centers (first game in the mainline series to do this)

Faster animations with HM Moves such as Surf and during Battles

to name a few.

In regards to new Pokemon, 59 Pokemon were added to the Sinnoh Pokedex, rounding the number of entries to 210, including Legendary Pokemon. Legendary Pokemon like Shaymin were also added and other Pokemon like Rotom were enhanced either with new abilities or new forms.

So about that Distortion World bit from earlier...

For those unfamiliar, the Distortion World is only available in Platinum and it was how the player fought Giratina. The Distortion World level in particular was considered impressive at the time for the Pokemon community as it utilized 2.5D graphics that almost looked 3D.

How did they do this?

They allowed the character to move up walls in order to complete the current level as there were multiple levels.

Here is a video of the entire Distortion World walkthrough (the video is a little gritty as it was published way back in January of 2009 and it’s the original Japanese version):

youtube

At this time, this was considered insane for Pokemon in 2008/9 and it was one of Platinum’s biggest selling points. Although it may look a little dated with today’s newer titles, this the was bridge that connected GBA-styled graphics to more modern 3D ones.

So with that, Generation 4 was well underway and these games, as well as the ones that followed by the names of Heartgold and Soulsilver (a topic for another time), are still remembered fondly by fans to this day.

Thoughts From The Head

When I first got into Pokemon, I got into Pearl, making me a Gen 4 kid. I have very fond memories playing this game with my friends back in elementary school as they either had Pearl like I did or Diamond. When Platinum dropped, it was the hottest game to get on DS and I remember everyone and their mother clamoring to get a copy of it. I never did because I was broke at the time, so I wound up having enough to get a copy of Soulsilver, which I just rediscovered the Pokewalker (remember those?).

I remember the Distortion World bit like it was yesterday. A friend of mine had gotten far enough in the game to get to that point and I remember all of us crowding around behind him and glued to the screen as he traversed into this strange, new world.

We were blown away to say the least.

We also utilized the crap out of those Action Replay devices (which I used to max out both the Sinnoh and the International Pokedexes as well as the inventory), making the Champion Fight with Cynthia almost a breeze with the maxed out Rare Candies we had to boost the levels to Level 100 for the entire party. Now a couple friends of mine had managed to even hack the Platinum game to not get the special event Pokemon like Shaymin and Arceus without the special event in question, they were even able to clone Pokemon as well as steal other Trainers’ Pokemon outright with no issues (still not sure how they pulled those off).

Thanks to the announcements of the Gen 4 remasters and a mutual of mine playing Pokemon Diamond for a YouTube stream via Desmune emulator, I rediscovered my Pearl game and now I’m currently playing my second run! As of this post, I am about to take on Fantine of Hearthrome City so wish me luck!

Here’s the photos of my copy of Pearl!

I was in the process of leveling up my Chatot so she ain’t looking too good right now.

So do y’all think about all of this? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Thank you for reading!

#my voice!#gaming #irl #pokemon #pokemon diamond and pearl #pokemon platinum #gif #video #Friday Special

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camelotcinematicuniverse · 4 years ago

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About Harry and Maple

Well, this is gonna be a really strange little thing that I write, but I'm still excited nonetheless.

In a Mario Golf 64 Twitch stream clip, the awesome speedrunner MetalYoshi ProGamer (yes, that's his alias. No, it's not lame, shaddup) asked the following question to his chat:

"Do you think that Maple has some kind of relationship to Harry?"

And that got me really thinking to the point that this very blog was made. So thanks, MetalYoshi. If you ever read this, I really needed that boost to put my thoughts out there.

Anyway, I actually have a few headcanon theories relating to Maple and Harry, but first we need context. Both Harry and Maple are the final characters from the Camelot OC bunch to be unlocked (without the Game Boy Color Mario Golf save file), thus making them the "best" of the Camelot OC golfers as character progression is measured through how far you get in the various modes of Mario Golf 64. Harry is the final Camelot Character unlocked through Get Character, while Maple happens to be the first character unlocked through earning 50 Birdie Badges. Technically that makes her the weakest of the four final characters (Maple, DK, Bowser and Metal Mario), but out of every Camelot OC she's probably the best alongside Harry.

Metal Mario may topple everyone else in stats and control alone, but don't let that discourage you from checking Harry and Maple out either. They have their own little quirks and low points, but they're still really good choices if you want something different from Bowser and Metal Mario.

Now for the fun part: my headcanons! I have three ideas to throw out in the ring, so you can decide for yourself which headcanon you'd like to go with. Hell, make your own and let's see what we can all come up with! Now then, let's begin!

_________________

Headcanon #1: Maple is Harry's daughter/little sister/family member:

This is an extremely cute idea to me because both of these characters look similar in a way, but they definitely have a difference in behavior with their mode select screen idle poses. Here we see Harry, with his alt colors, doing a semi serious crossed arms look. Like he takes himself a bit too seriously, but you can tell he loves the game of golf:

As for Maple, the screenshot wouldn't be enough, but she's dancing and just generally being cute:

Do you all notice anything about these two? How they have almost the exact same alt colors, how Harry's older, more seasoned presence kind of trickles down to Maple's eagerness (due to her dancing)? They're both blonde, and even the small things like the structure of Maple's nose kind of seem like a natural feminine version of Harry's being smaller and a lot less prominent, but it's still more than Plum's to me.

All this to say I have the theory that Maple could be Harry's daughter or even younger sister. It's just something about Harry that gives me this "older and wiser" vibe to Maple, and with some of the similarities pointed out, I like to imagine that Harry is a proud dad or brother to a young lady (honestly have no real idea of Maple's age, but I go with young adult/older teen vibes) who is as interested in golfing and competing to get even farther drives than before -- Maple. She looks up to him heavily and even starts to wear some of the same things as him but in her style. Note the first (1st) and third (3rd) alternate colors on the pair: the former is an orange shirt, and the latter is a red shirt. Hell, Maple goes so far as to change her shorts color to red as well, instead of the usual blue/purple. Look also at the hair color from Maple to Harry's hat color. The second (2nd) alt on Harry has an auburn-esque color, and Maple has her hair color changed to Auburn too!

I know that the more practical response would be "that's just how the game works in alt colors," but in universe, why else would Maple go out of her way to change her hair color and wear similar color coded outfits to Harry? Could she be extremely happy to emulate his behaviors and style from the extremely healthy bond the two have shared? Could he have been the closest thing to an exceptional male role model she had in her developmental years, so she trusts him and loves him to the point of having the same colors as an alt? That's something I like considering. Imagine if we had Harry console Maple on things that she's going through in her personal life, giving her a man's perspective on relationships and friends, and them enjoying their time together and being super close. When it comes time to golf, though, they are both competitive!

Headcanon #2: Harry is Maple's mentor:

A lot similar to the dad/brother one, Harry still is able to give Maple advice and pointers on her life, but it's about as much time spent as an average evening of golfing practice, typically a few hours at most. This is really the one I spent the least amount of time thinking about as it's not as interesting as the other two points, but I still thought this would be cool to share alas.

Headcanon #3: Maple and Harry are dating:

Ok, ok, here's the one I think MetalYoshi was hinting at with the way he worded his question. "Do you think Maple has some kind of relationship with Harry?" is probably something I figured he meant as a romance thing...well, I'll explore this one here.

From the first headcanon, we can see they have things in common physically and hobby wise, but what else do they like to do? Maybe Harry secretly likes cooking and Maple does too. Maybe he takes her out when she's upset. They would cuddle every night with a glass of wine (dare I say...Sherry?), and for Harry, Maple is what he needed in his life to keep him from taking everything too seriously. Loosening up to let her in after he puts up his own barrier to his emotions and probably has some puppy eyes thrown in.

Maple really likes Harry in this case because it gives her a sense of security, safety, a feeling of trust and realistic love that no one she had ever been with had before. She's unafraid of letting her walls come down and being more social and being herself around Harry. Her cute, tomboy, dorky self is what he truly cares about.

Hell it even goes through to golfing. Maybe the fact that they foil from each other and compliment well together is what makes them strong as golfers with a good drive and above average control. (Clearly not the best, but for them, that's ok)

________________

When it's all said and done, I do really like the idea of Maple and Harry together in some way. I think it's all too coincidental for them to nearly match in their alt colors, have some of the best stats of all the Camelot OCs, and how much they really do seem to mesh well together. In my eyes, the headcanon I do like the most is the familial one, but the romance option is such a cute option as well, and not to mention in my personal fanfics all three headcanons are interchangeable. The mentor/family friend one is used more often in my writing blurbs, but I liked the other two so much more that I'll have to implement them a lot more!

Ay, thanks for reading this. I really appreciate the traction since I don't usually share a lot of my headcanons on Tumblr...ah well. Enjoy!

#camelot cinematic universe #mapleXharry #mario golf #unironically #golf harry #golf maple #headcanon

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angryknightstatesmantrash · 5 years ago

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It’ll Be Okay

A Criminal Minds One Shot

MY MASTERLIST

Requests and Tagslist open!

[I’m super willing to write more parts with London or to continue this part let me know in the requests!]

Original Focus Character: London Emma Schmidt, 17

Team Status: First few episodes of season 3 before Rossi→ Hotch, Reid, Morgan, Prentiss, JJ, Garcia

Potential Triggers: Sexual abuse and assault → 2 potentially triggering scenes. One depicting the after thoughts and another briefly detailing what it looks like on the outside from a distance.

National Sexual Assault Hotline: Call 1-800-656-4673

London loved her job.

Sure, the pay sucked, but the hours were relatively constant, the people were amazing, and even though the team could function without her, they all pretend it couldn’t.

Working as a (low pay) intern at the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit was a dream come true for her. She had landed the gig through her councilor, who had handed her the pamphlet and application.

Mrs. VerHagen knew about her passion for going into some form of law enforcement or government, and how badly she wanted to join the bureau. With that knowledge, as soon as she saw the new intern program that would match one student to each unit in the building, she knew London would be interested.

As soon as the deadline had occurred, she received the letter she was accepted and would need to submit a skills profile so that each unit could choose which intern they felt would fit their team best. It all seemed very pet adoption style, but if it meant she had a better chance of making it into the FBI after high school, she would take it.

Once she submitted that, she waited another very anxious several months before getting word that the Behavior Analysis Unit had chosen her from all the survey talented individuals.

Since she was only a high school junior, seventeen years old, she couldn’t go on trips with the team’s and parent’s approval- which she knew would never happen- so she just stayed in the office, helping Garcia from her cave, or tidying things and filing old cases.

Today, however, was one of the days that she would go straight from her public high school to the bureau’s headquarter. She smiled at the main guard at the main entrance, letting them search her school bag and scan her employee badge clipped to the front pocket of her jean jacket.

As she stepped out of the elevator, she was greeted by JJ waving to her while walking from her office, “hey London, I have a few things for you to do today while you’re in, the list is sitting on your desk!”

“Sounds great, JJ! I’ll get right on it,” London called as they passed and she entered the bullpen and set her bag down onto her desk.

“Hey, Schmidt, did you make a coffee run?”

Moving her head to follow the voice she rolled her eyes at Special Agent Derek Morgan, one of the people she loved the most at the BAU, sitting at his desk, relaxing as he leaned against the desk of the person in the office she was closest with, Doctor Spencer Reid. “I didn’t know I was supposed to, I can see what the break room has, but I know you’ll still complain.”

Morgan laughed and outstretched his hand, an almost empty coffee mug hanging for her to grasp, “You know my order?”

London laughed and took the mug, “splash of milk one spoon of sugar, yeah, I know,” she laughed. Looking over to Spencer she raised her eyebrows, “want any Reid? I know your order, don’t worry.”

Spencer nodded and smiled at her, “Yeah, sure. Thanks, London. How was school?”

Shrugging, she leaned back against her desk with the mugs held in her hands. “As good as school can be, but hey, I don’t have to go back until 8am tomorrow.”

The two men laughed as she shrugged and moved to fill up the coffee mugs, “I’ll be back!”

After London filled and returned the mugs to her coworkers and a mug for herself, she started on the list that JJ had given her.

It was a simple list, just filling out some basic forms and organizing records. Sometimes spending so much time with the agents. She made small talk with the people around her.

Tricking Reid into doing her homework for her, throwing small things at Morgan while he wasn’t looking, and sending cat videos to the group chat she was in with JJ, Prentiss, and Garcia were just a few.

It wasn’t until Morgan spoke again that she remembered the time, and what waited for her at home, “Hey, Lon, it’s Tuesday, don’t you gotta be back home by 10?”

Looking up from her AP Chemistry homework, she nodded, “Yeah, why?”

Prentiss looked at the clock sitting on his desk before chiming in, “It’s 9:30 right now.”

Her heat dropped. She was already dreading going home for the fact it was the night of the week she hated wholeheartedly, but being late would make everything that much worse, “Shit, the bus leaves at 9:45, do you think I could make it?”

Reid looked at her, “Hey, I can drive you home, no problem.”

She shook her head, scrambling to shove her books in her bag, log out of the computer, and chug whatever was left at the bottom of her coffee mug, “Yeah, but that’ll only save a few minutes, I’ll still be late.”

At that point, London didn’t have time to allow herself to remember that not only did Reid hate people in his personal space but he also hated driving.

Morgan looked at Prentiss, they made eye contact with a mutual concern.

London was always punctual, that’s just how she was, but on Tuesdays towards the end of the night she was always that much more on edge, only for her to return on Thursday fine.

Once she had gotten ready at her desk at a seemingly superhuman speed, she looked at Spencer expectantly. “Chop chop, we gotta go, come on.”

With keys in hand, he was still grabbing his side bag while she all but dragged him out the office, neglecting the elevator after deeming it, “too time consuming and slow”.

Once they had gotten into the car, London’s leg wouldn’t stay still, it was bouncing and she was picking at her nails, something the team had quickly identified as her “tells”.

“So, are you going to explain why you’re in such a rush?” Spencer asked, seeing it as appropriate to have an explanation.

London shrugged before pointing the corner to turn leading him into a neighborhood that could not be easily classified into lower or middle class. It was the first time any of the team members had brought her home after her shift.

Once he pulled into the driveway, he moved to get out, but was interrupted by London stopping him with a forceful, “what are you doing?”

Spencer looked at her front door, which had the porch light on, and the man standing in the window before clarifying, “I was going to meet your dad and siblings, you talk about them all the time. More your siblings than dad, but still.”

It was a terrible idea. Bruce would be mad enough at London for being late, let alone if she brought someone home, let alone on a Tuesday night.

It wasn’t a secret to the team that her mother was dead, she was open about the ordeal. A drunk driving accident, something that was all too common. It was also true she talked about her younger siblings, little Lance and Jessica, all the time, she loved them and proved every Tuesday she would do anything for them. But the threat of her father, Bruce, out weighed the desire to introduce her family with her friends from the BAU.

Frantically shaking her head at him, her eyes darting from her father, to the clock on the dashboard reading that she was at least fifteen minutes late to curfew, and then Spencer. “No, no no no no, I’m sure you’ll get to meet them sometime but tonight won’t be it. I promise I’ll pick them up from school one day and take them to the office even. But right now I need to go.”

Before Reid could even argue, she was already out of the car and standing outside the front door. “I’ll see you and the rest of the team on Thursday! Have a good night and get some sleep!”

After the kind words she yelled at him she quickly entered her home, shut the door, and turned off the light.

Spencer knew that something was wrong, but nonetheless he drove away from the house and discussed the peculiarities of the situation with the team once he arrived back at the office.

While Reid drove back to the office, London was dealing with the rage of her father inside the home.

“You’re late.” The empty cans laid on the coffee table and refused to let her forget the impending doom that polluted the air around her.

“I know, I got wrapped up, it won’t happen again, I promise.” She looked to the kitchen table, “where are the kids? You know the deal, you do whatever you want to me but you don’t lay a hand on them.”

Downing the rest of the can he was holding, London’s father moved towards her, “I don’t care about what the brats do. What I do care about, is what we’re about to do, and I’m going to take my sweet time tonight,” the way he caressed the side of her face made her almost as sick as what was about to happen would, “sweetheart.”

Laying in her fathers bed, naked with tears streaming down her face and under the covers with him, all London could remember was when she hadn’t grown so numb to her father raping her.

She used to resist. Sometimes she wouldn’t go home on Tuesdays, as that was always the night he got so wasted he could barely remember who his own children were and would beat them senseless.

London learned the hard way that if she wasn’t there to take the brunt of it, it would go to her ten year old brother, or six year old sister, and she couldn’t let that happen. It wasn’t like her older brother, Bryan, knew about it. Once mom died, dad spiraled, and Bryan left for college never to look back at just the right time.

So her father had his way with her every Tuesday night so long as she kept her grades up, he didn’t get black out wasted, and she met her 10 o’clock curfew every Tuesday night, and 11 o’clock curfew the rest of the week, or until her father decided to add an extra day to the schedule.

She knew that she would find herself back where she was tomorrow night, she was late, what should she have expected?

She was tired, she was so tired, more tired than she usually was on a night after. It was a Wednesday, the conveniently planned off-day unless she was called in to help JJ brief the team on a new case, something she had only been allowed to help with two or three times before.

She had drifted through the day ready to go home and get the torture and punishment of being late by her father, until her phone rang as the last bell rang.

Answering it she heard JJ’s lovely voice through the speakers asking for her to go into the office and help with a couple house/office keeping things, help out the team a bit overall.

London agreed, only asking if she could go in a bit later to set up Lance and Jessica’s dinner and evening situations. She felt bad for leaving them alone as often as she did, but on days she regularly had to go into her internship, she had arrangements with her kind neighbors established.

JJ, obviously, agreed.

It was around five thirty in the evening when London made her way into the office. She still smiled at the people she passed, and greeted the security guards who, although were confused about her break in schedule, were still happy to see her.

As soon as she got to her desk she dropped her bag, half heartedly waved at Prentiss who smiled brightly at her, and went to get the most needed mug of coffee probably ever.

Reid had approached her shortly after she sat down, “hey, are you alright? You seemed really upset last night.”

Glancing up from her laptop, London gave him a faint smile, “yeah, sorry about that. My dad’s just strict about curfew.”

Morgan chimed in from his desk, “only on Tuesday?”

London looked between Morgan and Reid before squinting her eyes and looking between them, “Yeah, my siblings get home earlier those days. Why? You guys better not be profiling me, there’s a rule against it for a reason.”

Reid shook his head and shrugged as he sipped his coffee, and Morgan leaned into watching as she stared into space after the three remaining in the situation for what felt like lifespans.

Nodding to Spencer, Morgan, and Prentiss, who didn’t want to be directly a part of the investigation but was still invested in the girls wellbeing, watched as he placed his land on her arm.

Against their hopes, she flinched away and panicked, darting her eyes around the office and her breathing escalated. “What?”

Spencer just looked at her for a moment before asking, “I’m going to be done with paperwork early tonight, I can give you a ride home again tonight if you’d like.”

She looked at him before slowly agreeing, rubbing her forehead in her hand, “yeah, sure, sounds great. Curfew’s 10 again tonight, though.”

Spencer looked back to Morgan and subtly nodded before replying to the girl, “sounds good.”

After an odd car ride to London’s house filled with weirdly general but specific questions from Reid, she once again found herself standing inside the front door of her house, ready to let her father take advantage of her so long as it meant her siblings were safe.

Reid sat in his car parked outside of London’s house with his binoculars in one hand, and his phone in the other. It felt wrong that he was there, spying on his department’s intern that he had grown to become friends with.

Friends care about and help friends. London needed help. That much was clear and had been subtly obvious since day one, the only part left unclear was from what.

***TRIGGER WARNING: ACT (AS MENTIONED ABOVE) BEGINS***

He sat watching through the large front bay window as she stood to her father, which Garcia and other research found to be Bruce, until he pressed her against a wall and moved his face close to hers.

There was a look of resistance on London’s face before he said something that made it drop into defeat and she let her father push her down the hallway.

Spencer had a sick feeling in her stomach. So far, everything that was happening had matched with him, Morgan’s, and Prentiss’s theories. Someone was molesting their intern, they just weren’t sure who.

Watching through the window, Reid watched as London was pushed into the middle of the room. It looked like it was hers, the light blue walls seemed to fit the girl so well he wasn’t sure whose else room it could be.

Spencer hated watching, but he knew that if there was another witness it would make it that much easier to put the bastard away once this was over.

With that in mind, he watched as the girl shook her head at her father before he slapped her face, and moved to close the blinds.

He could still see her silouette as she removed her shirt.

It was all he had to see to call Derek Morgan on his phone and say the only words he needed to, “Hey, we were right. It’s her dad.”

***TRIGGER WARNING: ACT (AS MENTIONED ABOVE) ENDS***

One week and one day later, London works at the BAU, and she loves her job and couldn’t think of a time she genuinely disliked it.

That particular Thursday, however, doing anything else was more appealing to London than going to work.

Maybe it was the sinking feeling that someone had figured out her secret with all the questions they had been asking for a week. Maybe it was the day after feeling she had grown used to when she missed curfew for the second week in a row. Maybe it was just because she forgot her lunch money and was even more tired than Wednesday.

She followed her regular routine through the hallways and elevator to the BAU office floor where the desks of the agents were empty, something that wasn’t uncommon when they were out of town on missions and JJ would have Penelope give her tasks or email her a list.

The uncommon part about the desks being empty was that Doctor Reid was standing next to her desk.

She could tell something was wrong. It was established early that Spencer had the worst poker face, and she had gotten significantly better at profiling since the internship had started.

She was determined to find out what was happening. Did something happen to her siblings? Did something happen to her? Was she being fired?

“What’s up, Spence? Why the long face?”

First, he nodded at her desk and then to the conference room, then he spoke to her, “why don’t you set your stuff down and come join the team in the conference room. We have a case we’d like you to see.”

“A case?” She had been allowed to sit in on several briefings, even help JJ give the briefings, and she often helped Penelope when she was incharge of her interning, but they never waited for her so that she could see.

Nodding, Spencer walked next to the girl around the bullpen and up the staircase. “How was school? Did that boy ask you out yet? Did you know that Morgan had Garcia dig into him for you?”

Laughing she shook her head, “You guys are ridiculous.”

There was a shift in the atmosphere when she walked into the conference room. The entire team was sitting there, and it seemed they were waiting for her and Spencer. “What’s going on? Am I getting fired because I swear Morgan was the one who broke the mug on Tuesday.”

“Hey!” Morgan exclaimed as the girl shrugged at him. What she was saying wasn’t entirely true, but she wasn’t about to get fired over dropping a mug because a boy texted her.

Hotch smiled softly at her before calming her, “no, you’re not getting fired, London. Reid, can you close the door?”

“Okay, cool. What’s this about then?”

It got quiet again as the tension in the room was insufferable.

Looking around the room, London watched as every member of the team avoided her eye contact. “What’s going on? I’m not a fan of the whole-everyone-knows-something-London-doesn’t thing.”

Emily looked up to meet her eyes before speaking in a calm and comforting manner, “London, we know what’s happening at home.”

What’s happening at home. Which part? It might not be as bad as London was thinking. Maybe they don’t know about Tuesdays, they only know about Bruce’s drinking problem.

“What? What do you mean, what’s going on at home?” The change in London’s voice was palpable. It was strained, like she was about to cry if it was what she thought it was, which was absolutely true.

JJ cleared her throat softly, “we know what your dad does to you on Tuesdays. And every night you miss curfew.”

London was glad she didn’t move her head to make eye contact with JJ, she kept her eyes unmoving, staring straight in front of her. Her jaw was clenched, her breathing was heavy but steady, and her fingers clenched in and out of fists.

After a few beats of silence, Derek spoke to her, “Lon, it’s okay. We just want to help you.”

London blinked before looking up and diluting her face to a neutral position before asking, “Alright. Are we done here?”

The team wasn’t sure what was worse, how natural ignoring trauma was to a seventeen year old, or the fact she was so calmly numb to the fact that there were tears rapidly falling down her face without notice from her.

Spencer then did one of the most unexpected things that he could have done, he walked up to the girl and pulled her into his arms. It was then the dam broke and London started sobbing uncontrollably, moving to clutch the man in a hug.

“It’s okay, London. It’ll be okay, I promise.”

concepts for a part 2/series

#heartbeat #spencer reid owns me #intern #bau #criminal minds #fanfiction #angst #spencer reid #original character #writing #masterlist #fluff #london #london the bau intern

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sasuhinasno1fan · 5 years ago

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Eternal eclipse - Klance Month Week 4

I have no idea where I was going with this but it happened, so yeah. I do wanna redo week 2 of @monthlyklance at some point, but I’ve got a mer bang to finish, so don’t be too surprised if the last prompt for this week is late. Enjoy I guess. Eclipse/Victory

“I’m the sun and your the moon.”

“What does that even mean?”

“We’re apart, but an eclipse is a moment worth watching.”

Keith burst into laughter. “That made no sense.”

“Yes it does!”

“No it doesn’t.”

Crappy webcams couldn’t distort the pout on Lance’s lips.

“What I mean is when they do get to pass each other, it’s one of the world greatest wonders and us being reunited would be the airport’s greatest wonder. Or at least, me getting to see you would be mine.”

While the analogy made no sense what so ever, knowing that he was Lance’s always put a smile on his face. Even when they were miles apart.

He and Lance met at a convention and had a slight competition over who had the better mecha lion cosplay from their shared favourite show, Space Warriors. Keith wouldn’t admit it then, but Lance had won with his Blue Lion cosplay, seeing as the people he came with were engineers and had made the moving pieces of their costumes. Lance himself, despite being a professional stage manager, was able to create the light up weapons they used. Keith made his Red Lion cosplay with hard work and long nights but he was willing to wave the white flag, if Lance hadn’t been so smug about it. In the 3 days of the convention, they always seemed to bump into each other, competing over the smallest things, like who could get a better score in the game room or who could find the better deal on a plush in the dealer’s hall. Even though they spent a good amount of time arguing, Lance had given him his number and told him to call if he ever wanted to admit Lance was better.

Keith was mostly never planning but he was working on a cosplay and the top didn’t look right and he had no other friends who liked cosplay, so he texted Lance.

‘Ah, so you admit I am the better cosplayer. it’s fine, no need to send a voice memo saying so. By the way, the shirt is the wrong colour if that’s the character your going for. You can actually order to correct colour from Jo Anne’s if you want to make it yourself. Check H&M or Forever 21 for similar looking shirts in the correct colour.’

While he rolled his eyes at how utterly smug the guy sounded, he took his advice. It was easier to get the shirt and fix it up himself and it was actually surprising how close to the real thing he needed was. Their relationship continued in asking for advice on cosplays or line ups for conventions and then he happened to find Lance’s Instagram.

Keith kept his cosplays and personal life separate, but Lance combined everything. Pictures of his cat, pictures of the beach, pictures of his friends as they lounged around, somewhat professional pictures as Lance worked, even though Keith knew enough about theatre to know Lance should be completely in the dark in the booth. So, Keith started asking questions about his life, Lance asked about his and they started to become friends. Lance could still be as snooty about his cosplay skills as possible but he was always helpful when it came to offering advice. Somehow it took finding a small fandom they both liked to make them closer.

“Whoa, wait a second. You like Kirarin Revolution?”

“Yeah?” Keith had been playing his usual cosplay making focus playlist and the second opening had come on and Lance heard it over the phone.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone who likes that anime? Almost no one knows it! I’ve been trying to find someone to be my Hiroto to my Seiji for a cosplay. What convention are you going to next?”

“Um, Galaxy Con?”

“Prefect, text me your sizes. we’re doing a cosplay together.”

“Wait, my size?”

“How else am I suppose to make your cosplay?”

“Wait what?”

Lance would not be swayed and when he arrived at his hotel on badge pick up day, like a hound dog, Lance found him and put him in his cosplay to do finishing touches. He even styled his wig for him.

“Why don’t we do this more?” Lance asked as he fixed the feathered pieces for the coat.

“Because you live in LA and I live in Texas.”

Despite Lance claiming not a lot of people knew the anime, they had made quite a hit at the convention. He became good friends with Hunk and Pidge and got to see another side to Lance that wasn’t hidden in smugness. Lance was actually a pretty nice guy and once they had separated again, they still kept that closeness they gained during that convention. They had even started to stream animes together, texting each other on everything.

Even with the distance between and the fact that they didn’t always go to the same convention and see each other, they kept getting closer and closer. One day, they were video chatting and Lance had been falling asleep on himself. His cat had joined him and was asleep herself and looking at him with his face squished by his hand, his half awake eyes and how he was all cosied up, Keith couldn’t help thinking he looked really cute.

He might not of been one for relationships, but was he even considering doing a relationship when your significant other lived so far away. Ok, maybe not that far, but long distance was hard. There was a reason it had such a stigma around it, even if people claimed it could work out.

Keith broached the subject and while ecstatic that Lance felt the same, he’d been as worried as Lance was. They were such good friends, what if this relationship didn’t work?

It took a lot of communication to make it work. Keith tended to keep things inside, including his nerves about how to act around Lance when they could meet at conventions. Lance was always nervous he’d be too clingy. There was a good moment where they stopped talking because not talking meant things couldn’t change or get worse. It was miserable and if it hadn’t been for Shiro – and Hunk on Lance’s side – it would of kept up. Once they talked everything through, it got better. It wasn’t like they’d go ages without seeing each other. Keith always saved up his vacation days at the Fire Station for conventions and he was always working so often anyway that the guys kept insisting he take more time off. Plus they loved teasing him about Lance, trying to sneak into the background of any video calls.

Lance would talk to Keith during shows that he knew the cues for like the back of his hand. He considered it worth getting in trouble for. he’d always count down to the next convention they’d meet at, somehow always knowing where he’d bump into Keith. they’d been doing it for a year now. There were long periods were they couldn’t see each other at conventions, maybe due to flight issues or work and the distance, while manageable, did hurt. Keith didn’t know why he didn’t just take a random week off when the theatre Lance worked with was in the dark and just spend the week with him. Maybe the fear that without conventions, they’d fall apart. Not a healthy way to live, which was why he was sure Lance announced on this very chat he was coming to visit him. Which kinda lead to their discussion on eclipses. When Lance was in town, in between actually hanging out and not sticking to a convention schedule, he wanted to make a couples cosplay with him. they’d been bouncing back ideas, almost going with Zuko and Sokka from ATLA (even though Keith knew he was more into Zuko and Katara), when Keith went on a tangent about the BNHA manga.

“You know I rarely read manga half the time.” Lance complained.

“I think you’ll like this one. The artist made this little drawing moon Todoroki and Sun Izuku and tododeku shippers have been going insane. it’s a whole huge thing now. I mean, everyone already says things like ‘oh the moon and sun get to kiss each other during an eclipse’. I must of seen 1000 fan arts of those two getting their kiss.”

“Oh! We should do that! it’ll be like us!”

which then lead back into their current conversation.

“Lance, when I get to see you, it’s not going to be a one time thing to kiss you. If it’s up to me, I wouldn’t stop. We might not even get any cosplay work done because I’ll be too busy kissing you.”

“Ooh, eternal eclipse. Kinda like the final battle with the Dead Moon Circus.”

Keith furrowed his brow. “What?”

“Sailor Moon? My god Keith, we might not be doing any cosplay stuff if I have to school you on essential anime.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “It’s not essential.”

“Keith, it’s changed the whole game. it’s essential.”

Keith could put up being school with ‘essential anime’, as long as he got Lance with it.

#monthlyklance #long distance relationship #otaku keith #otaku lance

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thewidowstanton · 5 years ago

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Evelyn Carnate, burlesque artist, producer and director

Known as ‘The Shapeshifting Showgirl’, Evelyn Carnate is the current Miss Burlesque UK. With acts ranging from the playful to the powerful and unpredictable, the neo-burlesque performer has been on the scene for five years. She has a naughty sense of humour and can play everything from sweet and subversive to sensual and downright twisted.

Evelyn is also a director, producer and teacher and one of the founding members – along with Lilly Snatchdragon and ShayShay – of the all-Asian cabaret collective The Bitten Peach. All the proceeds of its show at the Underbelly Festival in 2019 went to Rose Thorne’s Cabaret vs Cancer charity. Evelyn now appears in CvC’s fundraising event Ashes to Ashes – a cabaret tribute to David Bowie – at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club in London on 26 February 2020. She chats to Liz Arratoon.

The Widow Stanton: Where are you from? Evelyn Carnate: I’m now from London but I’m actually half Thai, half English. I grew up in Thailand in Chiang Mai. I went to an international school so that’s why I have this kind of American accent. [Laughs]

Are you from a showbusiness background? I was always obsessed with dancing; I did a lot of ballet and all kinds of dance. I did so much that my parents ended up sending me to a full-time ballet boarding school in England for a few years. It was Arts Educational School in Tring.

Had your family moved here by then? No, my dad is from Bristol but he moved to Asia over 30 years ago and never came back. My family have always been in Asia so I came back on my own.

Did you get straight into burlesque? Oh no, not at all. After dance school I went back to Thailand, then came back to London for art college. I trained as a theatre designer at Central Saint Martins in London. And then I did acting classes on the side and I went, ‘Oh, shit! I’m an actor!’. [Laughs]

So how did you move into burlesque? After graduating from art school, I then did drama school in New York – the William Esper Studio – right in Manhattan. So in my second year of studying I ended up living in a circus studio in Brooklyn – The Muse – and that’s where I fell in to cabaret. It was a training space; a big warehouse for training and they also did shows. Because I was at drama school six or seven days a week I couldn’t really do circus. I really wanted to do aerial but I had no time. I would help out at the shows and directed my little projects there when I had time. Then I saw burlesque and thought, ‘Yeah, I could do that, I could strip’.

Who did you see that inspired you? Oh, some of my flatmates did it. They would do these little showcases so I saw burlesque there and then I started going to the dive bar shows and cabaret clubs, such as The Slipper Room, Nurse Bettie, House of Yes, Duane Park and the Bowery Poetry Club. And all the underground, like alternative New York performance-art shows. And then someone recommended me to go see Jo Boobs at the New York School of Burlesque. She’s a really famous teacher. She runs the school and is a very incredible lady. So I did her beginner course and that was it. We did a showcase and it was just so exhilarating.

You must have real body confidence, which not everyone has… Yeah, I guess also from the dance training my body wasn’t… I didn’t really think about it. I was used to getting changed with other girls and guys and being backstage, you know, in skimpy leotards. I mean if I had to speak onstage without a script I would be very scared… doing stand-up comedy terrifies me more than being naked. [Laughs]

I love your name Thank you. I really love Lulu, the play, and I was reading it and there’s one part where he calls her ‘You little devil incarnate’. And I thought, ‘Ah, Evelyn Carnate! OK!’.

How does it feel that you’ve won the UK title? I feel very surprised but in a good way. [Laughs] I haven’t really done competitions. They’re very popular in burlesque; it’s a good way for newcomers to get in. I once did another one when I was first starting out, which I won. It was the Alternative Cabaret Battle. I went with an existing act, but for the UK competition I had to prepare a lot; a lot of work went into it. Many people helped me with costumes and polishing the act. I’m happy that an alternative performer won. I’m quite proud of that because I did think they would go for a more classic traditional performer.

So tell us about your style; you call it neo-burlesque… I’ve never worn a corset in any acts yet! So my style… I really love characters, I love stories, so all my acts have quite different characters and even when I’m doing classic I need a clear image and story behind it. I am, in quotes, The Shape Shifting Showgirl, so I do go from really classic slow striptease to quite strange performance-art burlesque. And sometimes people don’t actually recognise that I’m the same performer. I’ve had that a lot: “Oh, you’re the one that did that act? You look so different.” I really enjoy that.

Do you design your own costumes? Yes, because I did theatre design I really love sketching costumes. I sketch all of them but I’m not super-skilled at making so I go to professional people. For this one (pictured with green fans), a lot of people helped me… there’s this amazing lingerie designer called Rosie Von Boschan. It’s the second time I’ve worked with her; her work really inspires me, I guess because it’s not the classic burlesque look. It feels more true to my style and taste. She made the lingerie for my traditional act for the competition and Bourgeoisie made my dress. We had to submit two categories of acts, one traditional and one, they call it ‘unique’. I did my subversive pink fan dance that goes a little bit wild for that. [Laughs]

Why did you set up The Bitten Peach? I co-founded it with two amazing performers, Lilly Snatchdragon, who is a trustee of Cabaret vs Cancer (pictured right below), and ShayShay (centre below). Lilly is a drag queen and burlesque performer and ShayShay is a drag performer. We all had our ideas before of doing an Asian show. I wanted to do an all-Asian burlesque show. I read some things about The Forbidden City in San Francisco, where they would do all these revue shows with Asian performers. That was very inspiring and I just thought, ‘Where are all the Asian burlesque performers? Like, let’s gather them up’.

I planned a little show with Lilly, which never actually happened! Before that, Lilly was working on Polly Rae’s show at the Hippodrome in London, and she had these ideas of doing a big Asian extravaganza with like, lion dancers and traditional things, and was going to get me involved as a producer. ShayShay had already done an Asian show, Lunar New Queer. Lilly and ShayShay met up and decided to do The Bitten Peach together and then they brought me on board.

So, we’re the three founders but we’ve also launched a mentoring programme for new Asian cabaret performers; we call them Peach Fuzzes. We help develop their acts and they debut at a Bitten Peach show. We’re making the programme a bit more official this year. I teach burlesque as well at The Cheek of It! School of Burlesque and Cabaret. And I recently opened my own studio in Hackney Wick, where we will be launching The Bitten Peach workshops for Asian newcomers. The info will be on our website.

Does The Bitten Peach have a regular venue? We’ve been everywhere; at all the kind of iconic LGBTQ venues like The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, The Glory… we move all around and we’ve done a variety of styles, like club nights and theatre shows, more classic cabaret; we do everything. What can you tell us about Ashes to Ashes? All the acts are set to David Bowie’s music; original Bowie tracks, no covers, featuring Bowie from every era. It’s hosted by Benjamin Louche, another Cabaret vs Cancer trustee…

Rose Thorne adds: What a night we have in store! This is the fifth annual Ashes to Ashes show at BGWMC and is very much our cabaret family showing love for Bowie and recognising the influence he’s had on so many of us. Among many others, we have amazing burlesque from Demi Noire, circus from the internationally renowned Andromeda, and, of course, the sound of Bowie from Keith Ramsay, seen recently at Southwark Playhouse. We have a Bowie raffle, badges and our exclusive officially licensed Bowie merchandise. We encourage our audience to dress up and sing loudly! Best of all, every penny raised will support Cabaret vs Cancer.

How is the burlesque scene doing in general? Evelyn: There’s a lot of crossover with burlesque and drag now, which really excites people. I mean drag is so popular now because of RuPaul’s Drag Race and also it’s a lot more diverse than it used to be, especially after The Cocoa Butter Club was founded by Sadie Sinner. She started a regular showcase for performers of colour and Lilly and I and ShayShay have done that. That existed a few years before Bitten Peach and that was definitely an inspiration and has completely changed the way cabaret is cast. It has become much more exciting and diverse.

Can you pick out a highlight from your career? Definitely the Underbelly show for Cabaret vs Cancer. It’s the biggest thing we ever did; there were 22 performers… there were group numbers… and we raised almost £4,000. Also because Lilly’s father passed away a few years ago from cancer and it was really important for her, it was so nice to do it for her as well.

Do you have any particular ambitions? Definitely more Bitten Peach. We’re really on a high right now. We didn’t even expect it to grow so fast, we just thought: “Oh, let’s just get together…” Sometimes I think people think we’re some big organisation but it’s just a few of us like, with our laptops in a coffee shop. But we’re making another full theatre show for March that ShayShay’s writing and directing, and we’d like to do more theatre and theatrical things that we could also possibly tour and get more audiences, especially Asian audiences in the UK and Europe.

Evelyn appears in Cabaret vs Cancer’s fundraising cabaret Ashes to Ashes at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club in London on 26th February 2020.

Pictures: Corinne Cumming; Claire Seville; Juliet Shalam

For tickets to Ashes to Ashes click here

To donate to Cabaret vs Cancer click here

Evelyn on Facebook

The Bitten Peach’s website

Twitter: @Evelyn_Carnate @cabaretVScancer @bittenpeachuk

Follow @TheWidowStanton on Twitter

#evelyn carnate #bitten peach #cabaret vs cancer #ashes to ashes #david bowie #lilly snatchdragon #shayshay #burlesque #burlesque interview

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supercasey · 6 years ago

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Why I don't make many friends over the internet anymore

Alright, so, I know I've vagued about this a lot. I know I've been leaving y'all in the dark, and I'm sorry for that. I thought I could hold this all in until it went away, but she isn't going away, and I don't want to be angry anymore; I just want to move on and get better.

So yeah... This is why I don't try to make friends online anymore. This is why I don't talk online much at all. This is what happened. Take it as you will, all I ask is that you understand that I'm at my limit with this person, and I ask that you please don't harass her once you realize all that went down (if you even figure out who she is. She's sorta... infamous in the RvB fandom, and not in a good way). I just want her to leave me alone, and starting a fight won't solve this mess.

It started with a bad fanfic that I wrote.

...

I will not say the name, but I wrote it for RvB and it was... a vent story. On my alternate account. About... gross shit. I double guessed posting it at all but I was determined to vent about my fucking issues, and this seemed like the best way to do so. And, surprise surprise... It's my most well received RvB fic, and I'm not even taking full credit for it.

To make it simple, it's about age regression. No, it is not sexualized. No, I don't get off on it. Yes... I age-slide. I hate it. It hasn't happened in a bit here, but I still hate it, so I made a fic where the characters are forcibly made to age-slide and it's written out as the psychological horror that it's meant to be. Except... there was always this one Anon, the one consistently rooting for the villains. Even when the heroes were rescued, they begged for more time with the heroes kidnapped and abused. They loved their "pwecious wittle babies UwU" and wanted nothing more but for the torture to continue.

I... humored them. I joked and bantered, but nothing was done. I never undid the rescue, and while the characters were still very much suffering from the results of their kidnapping, they were actively recovering, and I loved it. The small crowd of regulars I had following my story were pleased, and always willing to give me support. I felt validated. I felt good knowing that I was able to expose age-sliding in a way that wasn't grossly sexualized or enjoyed. While the characters were happy at times, it was a naive happiness, and it was made clear that what was happening wasn't safe or okay.

A few months pass without an update. I've grown a bit tired of the story, still plagued by self doubtful fears of my work being perceived as some sexual bastardization of a story. Then, one day, I get a message on Tumblr. I don't recognize the username but... they found me out. They knew it was me writing the story (to be fair my style kinda stands out in the fandom, not to mention that I'm bad at lying) and they wanted to talk about it. I was, of course, fucking terrified. But, to my utter surprise... they liked it. And they wanted to discuss my thoughts on it!

I was estatic! Finally, someone who understood! Someone who I could talk to about this horror story that means so much to me! However, it soon became clear that we interpreted the story... very differently. Where I used it as a means of venting and exposing the trauma of unwillingly regressing at a moment's notice, my newfound "friend" loved the "baby fantasy" and wanted to "adopt" the main characters, especially the boy.

I kinda just... enabled it. No, I encouraged it. I was so desperate for a friend, I actively wrote little things for her where the age-sliding was more consensual/enjoyable, all while wishing for it to go back to being an insight on abuse. But it never was about that; it was about fulfilling her needs and making a baby doll for her to fantasize about.

Before long, we had been chitchatting back and forth for a few months, and eventually over a year. I was happy, or at least, I convinced myself that I was. I struggled to respond regularly so it wasn't that bad, right? I wasn't always around her so I couldn't be that upset, right? Time passes, I idly mention having an online friend to my family and they, the loving family that they are, support me. They're amazed that the loner of the family has finally made an actual online friend.

Suddenly, talk of meeting face to face becomes commonplace. She's in Washington and I'm in Michigan, so I figure it's never gonna happen. I'm wrong. The year is 2018, and February's just hit. Talk of RTX has started, and I, a shy little RvB fan with hardly any money, know I'm not going. But my friend is. She's excited, already telling me about her plans, when she suddenly asks if I'm going.

I of course say no. I mean, come on, I'm not even close to rich enough to pay for a whole trip across the US. But my friend is... insistent. I make if clear that I can't afford it, and out of the blue, she offers to take me. No strings attached, no payment on my part (except of course for merch), just bring... me.

I'm of course floored. RTX? Really? My siblings and I have always wanted to go, ever since we started with AH videos. But here it is, right in front of me. An opportunity to go to the biggest convention I've ever heard of, and she... really wasn't taking no for an answer. I tell her that I'll think about it, that I need time to figure it out. She assures me that it's fine, take all the time I need. I tell my family about the offer, about how I've known her for over a year and trust her (I don't, but I'm too afraid to admit it). Mom's scared, but at the promise of a video call with my friend, she chills out. Dad's supportive, but also a bit worried. My siblings are over the moon, excited for me and raring to someday go as well.

It's obvious, right? Now I have to go. After all, my friend HAS to have someone go with her, and no one else she knows wants to go. After all, my siblings have always wanted to go, and it would be shitty to say no when they'd say yes in a heartbeat. After all, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and really, who wouldn't?

I say yes. I save all the money I can, my dad video chats her, and then... I'm off. I fly to Texas (I insisted on buying my own plane ticket). Up to that point I had never left my family before, not for over forty-eight hours, and yet here I was, leaving for over a week. My therapist, my parents, and my siblings were all cheering for me to go, to get out of my comfort zone and do the thing I never should've been able to do.

I didn't have the heart to tell them that I was scared I wouldn't come home alive.

I land in Austin, Texas the day before RTX begins. I meet her in the airport. I'd already seen her face before, so I wasn't exactly surprised, but I felt safer seeing she was a bit heavier. I could outrun her, if need be. I could get away, if she tried to take me. Unless I was in headspace. Unless I was a little fucking baby. Unless I was sliding and woke up on a one way trip to Washington-

I shook my head. No, I thought. No, I'll be okay. Stop being paranoid, Ted, it's all in your fucking head. Again. Paranoid motherfucker.

We got to our hotel room, and after a long day of walking around and exploring Austin, we called it an early night, eager for tomorrow's adventures.

It was fun, at least at first. She got me a platinum badge, so we got a garanteed spot everywhere we went. There was a cool-ass rec room for platinum badge wearers where we could chill in-between events. I stuck close to her, as she's been to RTX a thousand times over, and I felt like it was going to be okay. That night, I streamed all of Nomad of Nowhere, and intended on going to the panel the next day. Unfortunately, things took a... bad turn.

You see, my friend had enemies. People she believes are "heartless abusers who are evil and cannot be trusted", especially not near me. Well, I'm a dumbass, and I can't keep track of everyone in her fucking burn book (too many names to count). Cue a mutual from Tumblr contacting me, wishing to finally meet me in person (I made a post about being at RTX and they saw it). I, of course, agreed.

Later, I nonchalantly mention that I'm going to meet up with a mutual at the RvB panel. She asks who it is. Still unaware of the shift in my friend's mood, I casually say the username. She goes white.

"I'm sorry, did you say [INSERT NAME]?"

"Uh... Yeah? Is that... bad?"

Holy. Fucking. Shit. She loses it, sobbing like I shot her dog. Empathetic little bastard that I am, I also begin to cry, begging to know what's wrong. Cue a lot of "How could you!?"s Followed by me desperately apologizing, still completely in the dark.

Apparently, my mutual? Her worst enemy. Number one. They who must not be named. And me, a dumbass with PTSD induced memory issues, did not remember the one time she mentioned them. So now I'm fucked, in-between a sobbing friend and a promise to meet a mutual. I've gotta fix this, and fast. I was scared, and in a panic, I promised her that, no, I'm not meeting to "be their friend". I'm just... seeing what they look like! So I can protect my REAL friend!

This all felt very dramatic, and honestly a tad juvenile. Here we were, me just shy of twenty, and her over twenty-one. I felt like I was in second grade, promising not to be friends with anyone else on the playground. Hell, I was still in the dark as to what this person had fucking DONE.

Later, we meet. My mutual is, unsurprisingly, incredibly nice and sweet. We compliment each other's writing in the back of the room after the panel, all while I know my friend is watching from afar, glaring at us. I make it quick, too scared to get in trouble, and then it's over. I felt like such an asshole, blowing my mutual off, but I was afraid of the lion a few feet away, ready to pounce and maim me.

Afterwards, I was grilled about our talk. What'd we talk about? What did they say? Was that laughing she heard? Were we laughing at her? *Gasp* Am I turning on her!? Oh, she knew it, she knew it! I'm an ABUSER! Another monster!

This, of course, gets me crying. I'm empathetic as all hell and as a result I'm unfortunately prone to taking on other's emotions. She knows this. We get out of there, but the tension is high. She has a panel only she's interested in, so I stay alone in the hotel room.

Again, I made the most of it. I binged all of Nomad of Nowhere for the first time, and it was enough to calm me down. Delighted, I discovered that the panel for NoN would be the next day, around noon. When my friend returned, I was quick to fill her in, begging if we could go. She smiled, and promised we would. I fell asleep quickly that night, momentarily forgetting the drama for a bit.

The next morning, my friend's dead quiet. I ask if she's alright, and I'm repeatedly assured that she's fine. We reach the convention center around 8AM, and agree to meet up at 11 so we can catch the NoN panel together. I run off to wander and explore, and my friend goes off on her own for awhile.

For two hours, I'm chill. Everything's super. I talk to cosplayers and I listen to my music, and at around 10AM... I get a worrying text from my friend. I'm not going to post screenshots (because they're out of context/confusing/taking screenshots for a call out makes me feel shitty) but it started as her repeatedly saying how her enemy was "ruining the con for her" and how she was crying. I immediately start looking for her, but I have no idea where she is. Just as I'm getting ready to check the hotel, she sends me this:

"I'm writing down a statement!" ((Reporting my mutual))

I panic. I'm fuckin' bolting through the con, looking for the help desk. I'm crying, I'm shaking, I'm scared I'm gonna pass out. Thankfully, I find a guardian. She leads me to the help desk and there my friend is, crying her eyes out while filling out a form to report her enemy for... existing. And being "mean" to her on Tumblr. Yeah.

I was still kinda having a panic attack when this occurred, so it's kinda blurry at bits. I remember sitting on the floor next to her (there weren't a lot of chairs and I didn't want to be rude and ask for one) and rubbing her back. I gave her my extra Arizona green tea because it was still cold and had honey in it.

The guardians praised me, saying I was a great friend. I felt like the scum of the earth.

Awhile passed. She filled out her form, and after the guardians checked over her "screenshot evidence", they told her there was nothing they could- or should- do. They chilled her out and told her it was HER con, and to not let some bully get in the way of it. Tearfully, I apologized over and over again. They just smiled and assured me that it was fine. It wasn't.

We almost missed the NoN panel. Almost. I wonder, sometimes, if that was intentional.

I should mention now, while I have the chance, that I was keeping contact with my older brother through all of this. When I was sitting on the floor panicking, I texted my brother for advice. He offered to talk to my friend about this (I knew exactly how that would go, considering how my friend was), and I just... cried. Cried and begged him not to make my friend mad. He didn't, but I could tell he was willing (and wanting) to tell her off.

The rest of the convention went... bumpy. There were a few more meltdowns, but overall, I survived. We went to the airport early (because I was afraid) because there was nothing to do, and after she left to wait for her flight... I felt safe again. I breathed in. I breathed out. If I cried, all the more reason to leave early.

Back home, life returned to normal. My older brother was worried about me, but I blew him off in favor of trying to be like him and have a successful online friendship. I was not backing down. People are sensitive sometimes, right? It doesn't matter that her reasons for hating my mutual are inaccurate and fake. I'm her friend. It doesn't matter that she scares me. She took me to RTX. It doesn't matter that I'd rather die than keep talking to her when all she does is make me afraid. I owe her. She's been nothing but kind. I'm just a selfish, greedy little bastard that needs to be grateful and stop questioning this.

It gets worse. Now she wants to know everything about me. She wants to hear every detail of my trauma, every moment of fear or weakness. I tell her I'm scared, and not ready.

"Just a little, sweetie. Just tell me a bit. How am I supposed to be your friend if I don't know what's damaged you? How am I supposed to have you if you keep running to your big brother?"

So... I told her everything. I tried to keep it small, but lord knows I'm an oversharing mess. The minute I start, I can't stop. She knows that. A few hours and it's all typed out; my heart, my soul, my damaged bastard of a body. She says she loves me. She says she'll take care of me forever. I tell her I need a break, and for over two weeks I'm mentally fucked, drifting in and out of headspace, struggling to coexist with my dug up trauma. I'm drowning. I'm scared.

While all of this occurred, my friend took it too far. When discussions of next year's RTX came up (always from her. I'm never going back there, not with her, maybe never again), she balked at the thought of me bringing my siblings (with them paying for themselves of course).

Mostly, she feared my brother. She caught wind of his suspicions, and immediately began to try and convince me that my brother was Bad, and he was gonna Hurt Her. Didn't I promise to protect her? Didn't I promise to keep her safe? Now's the time, Ted, chop chop! Your best friend needs you!

Except... she was a dumbass to think I'd ever turn on my brother. One night, after all of this; after telling her everything about me, after sharing my deepest traumas, after refusing to turn against my brother... She went off. She began mass texting me, accusing me of abusing her, of being a monster. How could I? How could I be so mean and terrible? That must make me an abuser, and all abusers are the same! Evil!

I was... shocked. And hurt. And crying. I broke down, and finally- fucking finally- I told my brother everything. About the emotional abuse, about the pressure, about the guilt... I must've talked for two hours straight, just flipping out. By the end, I was ready to do what I needed to do, and with my brother's support... I cut ties. I told her I was done.

Three days later (she always texted back right away, so I knew she was giving me time to wonder what she'd do) she responded with a "I think we need a break from each other :/ we're both pretty terrible, huh? :/// Mostly you but whatever bye ://///"

Since then, I've been trying to get better. She still sometimes does things in order to remind me that she's around and stalking my Tumblr (sent a few messages before she abruptly deleted the blog she used to talk to me (still has her main), passive aggressively messaged me for a spell, finally made me lose my cool by harassing my sister, etc) but I'm trying to ignore it.

I know this is a lot... but they're hard lessons to learn, and I'd much rather you all learn them through my stupid actions before you get hurt or cornered: Not everyone online is your friend. Just because they say they love you doesn't mean they love YOU. Trust your fucking gut before you drag your ass onto a plane because someone told you to. And most importantly of all... Not everyone you're told to hate is bad, because guess what? Everytime I've been down, been questioning shit, or just vented, do you know who's almost always responded? The very mutual I was told was evil. And you know what else? I found out every fuckin' thing my ex said about them was a straight up lie; every screenshot was fake/out of context, and every "abusive" word was from my ex, not my mutual.

So yeah... I know better now, Natalie. I hope that if you see this, you actually try and get help. You need to realize that you don't own people, and that you can't force everyone who doesn't adore you to be an antagonist in your story... all you're doing is hurting yourself. I never lied when I said I loved you; I still sorta do, even after what you've done to me. I fucking love you, Natalie, and it's because I love you that I'm getting away from you. Please oh please get yourself actual help, before you make things any worse for yourself.

Sincerely, Ted.

#so yeah here's my dirty fucking laundry #i wish i could truly just move on but this drama keeps rearing it's ugly head and i hate it so much #supercasey says shit #supercasey ramblings #i hope you all don't hate me for this #long post #i didn't cover everything but this is the jist of it

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anflowcrat · 7 years ago

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Octopath Traveler: I love it but in the same way I love fries.

[Not a review. This is just me shooting the shit. Doesn’t spoil anything but does assume you’re already familiar with the game]

I clocked in 70 hours for this game to finish everything (and I do mean everything), which means that Octopath Traveler is one of the few games past my childhood that I was able to play til completion without dropping it to play more minesweeper. That may not sound like much but believe me there’s very few games that have reached that bar (pretty much just Dark Souls really). And while it does hold that esteemed badge, I’m hard pressed to recommend this game to anyone apart from the most hardcore of classic jrpg fans. Because, at its best, Octopath Traveler is the perfect love letter to the SNES jrpg era, but at its worst, it is just that.

The game never elevates above its genre unlike, ironically, many of its predecessors. It’s not the perfect storm that is Chrono Trigger, it doesn’t have the depth of Bravely Default’s job system and combat nor the charm of its meta narrative, it doesn’t have the heavy themes of an SMT title, and it just doesn’t attempt to make a mark in the history of this genre.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of things Octopath Traveler does well. However, it consistently falls just short on any of these things for it to realize its full potential. The fragmented narrative is the most unique aspect of the title and its the aspect they pushed heavily in marketing, and I mean, yeah, it works.

Let me reiterate, it works. It’s fun to piece together how the narratives tie in with each other, especially during the post-game when everything really starts to converge as one giant world rather than eight fragmented ones, and it’s really only in a format like this where you can have this much insight on so many different aspects of the world and where you can delve this deeply into each character. So it works. But that’s not really much of a compliment. My toilet works but I’ll be damned to call it excellent.

And no, I’m not just stealing from the Dunkey video here.

[quick little digression here, feel free to skip] I disagree with Dunkey’s assertion that the narrative loses momentum every time you switch to another character’s story. Because, for one thing, if you haven’t developed the “suspension of time” (i made that up) needed when playing a video game after all these years, then what the fuck are you doing. As someone that plays video games, this is just a part of the medium you have to accept. If the game offers you freedom, then you have to understand, as a player, that it’s almost as if time pauses before you progress the narrative. How many “LuL in Fo4 you’re obsessed with saving your son but instead the character just dicks around building houses and shit” jokes do we have to make before we just accept this aspect of the medium.

And for another thing, I saw Octopath Traveler as more of a series of interconnected short stories, where each chapter is a short story of its own. And if you look at how the writers structured the chapters, you’ll see that this was the clear intention. Each chapter has a beginning, middle, and end and each chapter resolves a small arc. Tressa’s story is a prime example of this. If you look at her narrative as one big story, rather than four connected stories, it’s absolutely nonsensical. Like any amateur writer will tell you that you can’t introduce a new character with an arc in the third act and then resolve that arc. It makes no sense. But, in this case, a character wasn’t introduced in the third act, they were introduced in the first act of the fourth story. Does that make sense? [digression over]

However, I do agree with Dunkey that very little effort has been made to bring these eight characters together. The most you get are Tales Of style party chats. That’s it. I’m unaware of what the budget for this game was, or how much development time they had, but considering the fact most dialogue is without voice acting and the animations are simplistic and often recycled, it boggles my mind as to why the scenes aren’t slightly altered based on who’s in your party. I’m not talking about anything complex. I’m saying, have Alfyn crack a joke to break the tension during another character’s tale. Shit like that to give the party more chemistry, and really more of a reason to give a shit about them. Even in the post-game, this wasn’t done. I appreciate the post-game’s attempts to bring the side-characters together, that was really fun, but again the game exerts little effort to bring the party together or even to tie members of the party closer to the world. Why was there no special line when talking to Zeph when you have Alfyn as your party leader? No special line when talking to Ali as Tressa? I know that this shit seems small but this is exactly what I’m talking about. Octopath Traveler consistently does things well but it never goes above and beyond to be truly special.

I find this apparent in every aspect of the game, except its visuals (which are fantastic). The combat is only very very slightly more layered than a lot of the olden titles of the genre. Certainly a step back from Bravely Default as the “boost” system is simply a means to empower your abilities. The random encounter rate is atrocious. The music, while good (Alfyn and Cyrus’s themes are the shit), I doubt it would be remembered as the years go by. The actual content of the narratives (rather than the form) are pretty by-the-numbers. While some characters do shine, such as Alfyn, Cyrus, and, uh, yeah that’s pretty much it, the others are as forgetful as they come.

I don’t know. I don’t know what to make of this game. Because I did enjoy my time with it, but I know that a lot of that is simply because I’m a fan of the genre. And the game is clearly aimed towards me. But that’s the problem, it only aims for me. Yeah, I didn’t mind the basic characters that much because it was comforting to see mainstays of the genre like Therion, Primrose, and Olberic. But at the end of the day, I know that that’s just fan service. I know that’s just me munching on fries. And I don’t hold fries deep in my heart.

[Oh, sidenote, the voice acting was really good. Surprised me because I usually play games like these with japanese voice acting but the english VAs did a really good job for the most part. I really like that part where Alfyn confronts Miguel. The voice acting was fucking amazing during that.]

7/10

#gaming #octopath traveler #games #octopath #jrpg

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britesparc · 7 years ago

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Weekend Top Ten #295

Top Ten Favourite Things About Kinect (R.I.P.)

So after consciously decoupling Kinect from the Xbox One, then removing the console’s dedicated Kinect port, and then refusing to give out Kinect adaptors for free, Microsoft has finally bitten the motion-sensing bullet and ceased production of Kinect entirely. I can’t say I’m surprised, although I am disappointed.

I really liked Kinect, especially at first. I mean, we were all blown away by that ridiculous launch video, with the kid scanning in his skateboard and the girl designing dresses and stuff like that. But even when the realities of the technology hit home, I still felt like there was a ton of possibility there, and the fact that it was never realised is frustrating in a lot of ways.

Despite hanging around the neck of the Xbox One like an unpopular albatross, Kinect 2.0 never really felt supported by Microsoft. All the gesture-based TV bollocks was unwieldy and unnecessary, and the few dedicated Kinect games this generation really just amounted to a spruced-up Kinect Sports and some dancing titles. This despite the fact that making the camera mandatory, and dedicating processing power to its use, was certainly a large factor in making the PS4 – cheaper and more powerful – look like a much better deal for a lot of people. I quite frankly assumed that given the peripheral’s apparent place at the centre of the Xbox One ideal, we could expect triple-A revolutionary experiences using the device. But none materialised, perhaps because none were really possible. Most people just want to sit and play with a controller.

So we come to the end of an era, one that is disappointing but which was not altogether disastrous. Kinect had its moments, was fun while it lasted, but does not feel like it is being taken from us too soon. There are other things to play, and thankfully most of them can be played sitting down. But in the meantime, to celebrate Kinect and its (ahem) legacy, here are ten things that I really enjoyed about it, or I thought were genuinely successful.

“Xbox On”: by far the most-used feature of my Kinect is its impressive voice recognition. Turning the console on with your voice, jumping to games, increasing the volume… voice commands were genuinely useful and – most of the time – worked incredibly well. Having to say “Hey Cortana” instead of “Xbox” is a pain in the arse, mind, and it’s debatable whether it’s worth all that money and effort for Kinect when a simple mic could probably manage it, but all the same, this was a feature that worked.

Skype: being able to call up anyone from your sofa and video chat to them is the stuff of our Demolition Man dreams. Skype integration worked really well, especially coupled with voice commands, although the intelligent camera – that panned and zoomed as you moved about – wasn’t ideal for when you have toddlers nipping in and out.

Kinect Sports: undoubtedly the game that best showcased what Kinect could do. It was fun, it was accessible, and it served as a really good workout, too. It also underscored some of Kinect’s limitations, but the team at Rare worked around them to great effect. Not quite as good as Wii Sports, but still a great game.

“Can you tell me how to get…”: how to get to Kinect Sesame Street TV. Back in the golden days of me working at CITV and scoring some great blags, I was sent a copy of this game. I tried playing it with Emilia, but she was far too young; nowadays, both my kids would probably really enjoy it. Working as interactive episodes of Sesame Street, you could take part in little games, chat to the characters, or just watch classic clips (Emilia mostly did the latter). It was an inspired and gentle use of the tech, and a great game for the very young.

Dance, baby: outside of Kinect Sports, the best application of the Kinect technology was in dancing games like Dance Central. This made tons of sense, and actually worked. It’s kind of a shame, actually, that we’ll have to go back to some form of controllers for dancing games in the future.

Hello!: the facial recognition from Kinect was mostly very good, and the auto sign-in feature was handy too. It was supposed to be totally seamless, recongising different people, knowing who was holding the controller, etc. But whilst it was fun when Kinect spotted your wife walking past and decided she could join the game, in reality it was slightly fuzzy, and not quite as accurate as signing in with a controller.

Kinect Adventures!: this might not be high on anyone else’s list, but I for one really enjoyed the free game that came bundled with the original Kinect hardware. Ostensibly a summer camp-style jaunt through nature taking the form of various mini-games, like Kinect Sports it was designed around the strengths and limitations of the tech, and as such was great fun. Plus I loved the aesthetic, with stitched-on badges to win.

Googly Eyes, etc: the Xbox Design Lab was a fun collection of free mini-games and time-wasters designed around Kinect – making simple models, taking simple photos, etc. It was fun to tinker with, and a nice little “add-on” from Microsoft that showcased different aspects of the technology.

Leaning into other games: Kinect really worked best with simple bodily functions (steady) like jumping or dancing; as such, it was difficult to incorporate into “traditional” game designs. But I liked it when they tried, and one of the most successful is using Kinect to lean round corners. I found this useful during Tomb Raider on the Xbox One. Also fun: shouting squad commands in Mass Effect 3, although playing games late at night when the family sleeps upstairs means you usually want to be fairly quiet.

Dance Solo: Kinect Star Wars is, let’s be honest, shit. But it’s fantastic, wonderful, hilarious, entertaining shit. Even the bits that don’t really work – the combat, especially – somehow manage to slide anarchically into “so bad it’s good” territory, but really it’s the fact that someone, somewhere, thought it was a good idea to make a Star Wars dancing game where Han Solo gets jiggy in the Mos Eisley cantina. I mean, come on; that’s art.

Incidentally, I know it’s Halloween next week, and I often try to do something creepy or kooky, but I felt talking about Kinect is really talking about a horror show featuring something dead but not yet buried, and so it’ll have to suffice.

#top ten #games #gaming #xbox #microsoft #kinect

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maisie445credits-blog · 6 years ago

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annmarie770imvu-blog · 6 years ago

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keikaku-sama · 8 years ago

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Book of the Atlantic: Chapter 6

Rating: Some early chapters are rated T. Some later chapters are rated M. Reader discretion is advised. Side note: Sentences in Italics without quotation marks are thoughts. Sentences in “Italics” with quotation marks are characters on the other end of a phone call speaking. Sentences in “Bold and Italics” with quotation marks are characters saying things angrily, venomously, for emphasis, or the like.

And, sentences in “Italics and are in headline font” with quotation marks, are two characters speaking in unison. Sentences in “Bold, Italics, and are in headline font”, are three or more characters speaking in unison. Sentences in Bold and Italics without quotation marks is a character telepathically speaking to another character.

“The eternal flame in this breast, cannot be quenched by anyone.

“We are-“

The two teenagers, and the two adults, then got into ridiculous poses, which made Yuki and Adrian burst into laughter internally, while Sebastian seemed to be completely ignoring the pain that came with putting all his weight on his bad leg.

“Phoenix!!”

Ciel blushed in embarrassment, as he glanced at the ghoul and the mortician, before glancing at Sebastian with concern.

All three of them held straight faces.

What kind of pose is this?! No one would believe them sane!!

If we’ve got it wrong, all will be lost, Sebastian!

This must be the right pose, though. If it wasn’t he wouldn’t even bother with doing this.

The man in front of them widened his eyes, before striking the same pose.

“Phoenix!! Welcome to the Aurora Society.” The man then gave them fire bird pins, similar to his. “Here are your membership badges.”

After the man left, Sebastian walked over to Ciel to fasten the slate haired boy’s pin onto his lapel, without his cane.

The Earl blinked in confusion, while Adrian and Yuki raised an eyebrow. “You taking oxycodone?”

“Hm? Oh, yes, I am. Surprisingly, it helps.”

“Guh! Hee! Hee! Hee…”

At the laughter, the demon, ghoul, and Earl, looked to Adrian.

Who was glaring at someone behind them, as he pulled both Yuki and Ciel close to him.

“EEEE! HEE! HEE! HEE! I NEVER IMAGINED YOU’D DO SUCH A THING!”

—————————————————————————————————————-

The Earl and his butler’s eyes widened, while Yuki seemed to realize something.

So he was the one I saw hiding behind the pillar this morning.

The ghoul then paled, as she also realized what that meant.

Oh no.

The white haired girl hid behind Adrian, and hid her face in his leather jacket, as she whined silently.

Shh…..Don’t fret, dearest. I gave you my word that I’d protect you kids, and I intend to keep it.

“And that one looked so funny while doing it! Hee! Hee! Hee!” The other reaper was referring to his twin, who was still glaring at him.

”W-Why are there two of you?!”

“Hee Hee…! I’m from another universe, you seeee~! I was dropped off in this universe after mine was destroyed~!”

Adrian moved a confused Ciel behind him, before speaking. “I figured as much. But why are you here on this ship?”

The other silver haired man grinned. “Hee Hee~! For work, you see! Hospitals are valued clients of mine!”

Yuki then chose that moment to peek out from behind her step-father. “May I ask how long you’ve been in this world?”

“Of course, dearieee~! I’ve been here for thirteen years!”

The ghoul raised an eyebrow. “And you’ve set up shop in that time?”

“I have~!”

“But Adrian is well known around London, not to mention that he’s well known around the world. How did you set up shop without us knowing?”

The renegade reaper in front of them chuckled, before speaking. “I did so without you knowing, because I told the city that I’m his long lost twin brother that he didn’t know about~! And my shop’s in Edinburgh, East Lothian, Scotland~! Hee Hee Hee~!”

Adrian had to grab hold of the white haired girl’s arm, to keep her from walking over to the other one, as her eyes sparkled in excitement. “Wow~! I bet Scotland’s even more beautiful in person, than in photos and movies! I can’t say that I’ve been there myself, though…”

Sebastian glared at Yuki, as she made idle chit chat with the other reaper, before looking to Ciel, to speak.

The Earl blinked, before nodding slightly, and peeking out, or trying to peek out from behind the reaper in leather.

The man just kept moving his arm in front of the boy’s face, so Ciel just popped his head out from between Adrian’s arm and torso.

The reaper’s eye twitched at that.

“We’re investigating illegal human experiments that are said to be conducted by this hospital. Would either of you two happen to know anything about the dead being resurrected?”

The question was directed at both reapers.

Adrian sighed exasperatedly, before responding. “I know of a few ways to resurrect the dead, but out of all of them, only one works. But, that way would not work here, and I would not recommend that you try it, unless you want to become a walking contradiction.”

“Walking……contradiction? What the bloody hell does that mean?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

The leather clad reaper’s twin seemed to be quite interested in the R-System to Yuki and Adrian, but Ciel and Sebastian didn’t care to notice, as the other began to speak. “Hee Hee…! I’m not as lenient as he, so if it’s information you want, I must have compensation for it!

“Yes, let me think…How ‘bout Lord Earl and the girl do that pose for me one more time, hmm?”

At that, Adrian growled lowly, and had to be stopped from punching the other by Yuki.

Ciel, however, only yelled at him angrily. “What do you take us fo-“

“Phoenix!!!”

The Earl was interrupted by a certain perverted moron, who greeted Sebastian and the reaper in a bad mood with that ridiculous pose.

“Do excuse me for adapting the pose to suit my style.”

Ciel and Yuki were hidden from the perverted moron’s view by Adrian, who turned around to greet the man with Michaelis.

“Isn’t that the Viscount of Druitt?!”

The disguised Earl whisper yelled this to the ghoul next to him, who was trying to make herself smaller than she already was to avoid the Viscount’s attention.

“He did have a physician’s liscense. Michaelis must’ve forgotten.”

The perverted moron clinked glasses with Adrian and Sebastian in greeting. “Oh, I say! Are you two newcomers here?”

The two teenagers behind the leather clad reaper internally sighed in relief, as the perverted moron hadn’t seemed to notice them.

Adrian smiled politely at the Viscount, while Sebastian’s eyebrow twitched. “We are indeed. We happened upon the newspaper article, you see…”

At that, the perverted moron elegantly placed a few fingers to his forehead, as if he had a headache. “Oh…Madam Samuel’s loose lips will cause us no end of grief. To think that she would reveal our secrets so readily!

“Though, it is a miracle that it hasn’t ended up on the internet…”

That was when Yuki’s phone went off, alerting the Viscount to her presence, as she fumbled with her phone before managing to turn it off.

However, the damage had already been done.

Viscount Druitt peeked around Adrian, to the silver haired man’s dismay, to see Yuki burying her face in her step-father’s back.

“Oh? And who have we here?”

The ghoul buried her face even further into Adrian’s back.

“She’s terribly shy around strangers.”

“I see. My dear flower, please let me see your face. I won’t hurt you, I swear.”

At being called ‘flower,’ the girl tensed, before doing as asked.

The Viscount was breathless when he saw her face.

Her face was framed by white hair, and she had a bit of baby fat on her cheeks, her lips plump, and light pink with gloss, while her eyes were big, and a cobalt blue with speckles of amber scattered throughout the iris.

However, she was glaring at him.

He pouted at that, before his lips pulled into a grimace, as he saw her tattoos. “Dear flower, why did you mar your skin so-“

“Call me flower again, or say one more word about my tattoos and how ‘unladylike’ they are, and I will castrate you with a rusty, dull knife, then feed you to the sharks.”

The Viscount of Druitt yelped, and jumped away in fear at that, making Adrian chuckle.

“V-V-Very sorry, m-m-madame.”

The ghoul glared at him, before turning, and walking over to an empty table, and sitting down.

The renegade reaper sighed at her, before waving goodbye at the Viscount, then having Ciel and Sebastian follow him over to Yuki.

■————————————————————————————■

A black eyebrow raised, as a pale man growled in anger at his phone. “Shit…Why didn’t she pick up? Has something already happened?”

The black haired man went silent, before scoffing. “Fuck it. I’m going to go check on her myself.”

The man was then engulfed in black and red, fire like shadows, before they vanished, showing that he had disappeared, with only a note lying where he had been sitting.

■————————————————————————————■

After they had sat down, with Adrian insisting that Ciel sit in the chair at the back of the table, and Sebastian sit in a chair sat in front of the Earl, the door closest to them opened.

Four men carrying a coffin walked in, followed by a brown haired man in a doctor’s uniform.

Ciel raised an eyebrow. “Who’s that?”

Adrian hummed, gently rubbing circles in the back of Yuki’s hand, before answering. “That would be Rian Stoker, the founder of the Aurora Society.”

“So that’s…”

■————————————————————————————■

Black and red, fire like shadows roared to life outside, on the second class deck, near the barroom, before disappearing.

A pale, black haired man, with red eyes, snarled, as he followed the scent of his nephew to the barroom.

Meanwhile, a silver haired man watched silently, curious as to what the other would do.

Larten laughed at a joke Ronald cracked, before glancing to the door.

He saw a tall man in red looking at him.

At that, the orange haired vampire stood up, and grabbed his coat.

“Hey, Larten. Where you going?”

“I have to go meet up with my sister. I promised I’d take her to the arcade again tonight.”

The women at the table, and the men, seemed sad to see the man go, while the blonde reaper nodded in understanding. “Ah. Right. Well, you go on then. Wouldn’t want to keep her waiting.”

Larten smiled at his friend, before leaving a few pounds for the bartender, then walked out of the barroom, only to be grabbed by the collar of his shirt.

■————————————————————————————■

Everyone in the room became quiet, as the founder was starting to speak.

“The eternal flame in this breast, cannot be quenched by anyone.

“We are-“

The brunette man then struck that ridiculous pose, making Yuki gain a small smile, as she was put in a good mood.

“Phoenix!!!”

■————————————————————————————■

“What the hell are you doing here?”

The orange haired vampire sighed at his uncle, who seemed to be paranoid, and jumping to conclusions.

Again.

“Adrian told me that I should have a bit of fun before everything goes to hell. He also said to leave and go find Egin and Lady Elizabeth, then take them with me to where he and Yuki are, once I see you.”

“You shouldn’t have listened to him. You should have stayed with your sister!”

“And what? Have him become anxious, and start being as paranoid as you?”

Alucard growled lowly at the new voice.

■————————————————————————————■

“Esteemed friends and colleagues!” Stoker bowed to the audience, before continuing.

“I thank you for attending the Aurora Society’s research presentation, ‘Absolute Salvation of Mankind through Medical Science,’ on this fine day.

“What is Absolute Salvation, you might ask? Well, it’s…

“Perfect health!!”

Rian then began to strike all sorts of ridiculous poses, making Yuki, Adrian, Ciel, and Sebastian, groan internally.

This is so stupid.

“A healthy body.

“Healthy teeth.

“A healthy mind residing in a healthy body.

“And healthy weather.

“Good health is a many-splendoured thing!”

A somber look then took over the man’s face. “However, there continues to exist a state of greatest, most profound unhealthiness that we are unable to conquer, try as we might.

“And what is that state?”

■————————————————————————————■

“Stay out of this, Ferid. It’s none of your business.”

The silver haired man-Ferid, glared at the vampire king. “None of my business? None of my business?! He may not be related to me by blood, but he is still my son! So, yes, I do think that it is indeed my business, Vlad!”

The No-Life King snarled at his brother-in-law. “He needs to be with his sister. Or do you not care about her anxiety, fear of ships, and large bodies of water either?!”

At that, the silver haired vampire flipped.

“You’re seriously asking me if I don’t care about my daughter and her phobias?! What the fuck, Vlad?! Of course I care about her! I’m just not flipping out like you are, because I know that Adrian will keep her safe!

“He gave you his word that he’d make sure she would make it out of this alive! He never goes back on his word! You know that! When you first met him, you asked him to protect Crowley for eternity, and he gave you his word that he would!

“He has continued to protect Crowley to this day, and the same can be said for Crowley’s children. Adrian told me what you said over the phone. I understand why you’re worried, but Adrian will be able to protect her just fine, if Larten doesn’t make it in time.”

Alucard’s eyes glowed red with anger, as he growled, before dropping Larten onto the deck. “I’m going to go find Yukino.”

Ferid blinked confusedly, as the vampire king let the venom slip out of his voice, seemingly not angry anymore. “……..Alright. You go on ahead. We’ll catch up with you later.”

The man in red grunted, before turning to leave. “Larten.”

“Yes, uncle?”

The black haired man stayed silent for a bit, making Ferid worry.

Before the vampire king turned his head to the side, to glare at his nephew with eyes still glowing red in anger.

“I regret turning you into one of us every damn day of my life.”

The silver haired man snarled at Alucard, as the taller man lowered himself into his own shadow, before it traveled up the side of the ship.

Ferid scoffed, before turning to his step-son.

Who was trembling, and staring wide eyed at the spot Alucard had been, looking to be on the brink of tears.

The silver haired vampire looked at Larten with concern, as he crouched down in front of him.

“Larten?”

He didn’t answer.

“I know that you’re not okay, but….Do you want to cry?”

“I don’t know.”

The ruby red eyed man gazed as the other sadly, as the orange haired man’s voice was cracking.

“Do you need to cry?”

“I dunno.”

A hiccup.

“You’re gonna cry.”

“Y-Yeah.”

The blood works started as Ferid pulled his step-son into a hug, the younger vampire’s sobs muffled, as he had buried his face in his step-father‘s shoulder.

The silver haired vampire rubbed Larten’s back soothingly, before running his hand through his hair.

“Shh…..”

“Papa….What did I do to make him angry at me?”

“You did nothing. He’s just a paranoid, mean, old coot who doesn’t know how to care for his nephews properly.”

The two stayed like that for bit, before Larten pulled his face out of the older vampire’s shoulder, with a determined look on his face, that surprised Ferid.

“Are you going to be okay now?”

“I’ll be fine. I’m going.”

The orange haired vampire stood up, and went to leave.

“Going where?”

Larten paused, then looked back with a smile. “I’m going to do as Adrian told me, and I’m going to prove uncle wrong.”

Ferid blinked at that, before quickly getting up, and running to follow his step-son.

“Wait for me!”

■————————————————————————————■

Stoker placed his hand on the coffin, before continuing.

“It is death!

“And the wonderful, singular power that will save us from this calamity? That is…

“The medical science of the Aurora Society!”

The doctor then took his hand off the coffin, letting the men who brought it in open it.

Yuki immediately covered her nose, as the smell of the corpse was too much for her, making Ciel raise an eyebrow.

“Now I shall demonstrate to you the fruits of our research, the ‘Absolute Salvation of Mankind through Medical Science.’

“Here lies Margaret Connor, age seventeen. She lost her young life in an unfortunate accident.

“Her death was truly tragic, the result of a catastrophe that never that never should have occurred.”

There was a couple in black standing next to the coffin, the woman crying, with the man comforting her.

“Her untimely end brought ill health not only upon her own heart, but also upon the hearts of her loved ones.

“I wish to absolutely save this young lady and her family!”

Despite seeing Yuki cover her nose, Ciel leaned over to her. “Is the corpse real?”

“Yeah. Been dead for at least two weeks.”

The men next to the coffin placed electrodes on the corpse’s chest, and forehead, before Rian raised his hand, to show off some sort of generator.

“Allow me to show you, everyone! The power of medicine!”

The brunette then pulled the lever on the generator, making electricity travel through the electrodes, to the corpse.

“Absolute Salvation!!”

■————————————————————————————■

“Oh!

“It’s nearly time.”

The women Ronald was with looked disappointed. “Hm? Where’re you goin’?”

The blonde reaper slid his coat on, before waving goodbye to the women. “I’ve got a little work to do.”

“Awww! Leavin’ so soon?” The brunette woman pouted, before smiling. “Then ‘ow ‘bout we meet again ‘ere t’morrow?”

Ronald smiled back at her. “Okay! If we’re both alive, that is.”

■————————————————————————————■

“Now rise from the ashes, my dear!

“Like a phoenix!!”

Adrian placed a hand on the gun holster on the back of his belt, glaring at the corpse, as it rose.

“Please, take a good look!

“Our medical science can overcome even death!”

The mourning woman-The corpse’s mother, then hugged the corpse. “Maggie! Oh, Maggie, my sweet child!! Thank you so much, doctor!!”

“This is ‘Absolute Salvation’!”

Ciel suddenly stood in shock, as he gaped. “What exactly is going on here?! Did a corpse really just come back to life?!”

The corpse’s maw then opened wider than any human could.

“As long as you are alive, your mothe-“ The woman then screamed, as the corpse bit into her neck.

“M-Maggie-?! What is the-Ow-“ The woman was then killed.

The audience screamed, and ran for their lives.

The corpse then got up out of the coffin, and headed for the nearest person.

Which, apparently, was Yuki.

The ghoul summoned her weapons, and was about to draw her shotgun, when-

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4 notes · View notes

bethygauw · 8 years ago

Text

[2/3] Enstars: B’s-Log January 2017

Released in November 2016.

Unit Song CD 2nd Series Vol.5: Ryuseitai Cast Interview

Lyrics translations are by Rain! (Dreamwidth)

General note: Ken’ichi Maeyamada (Hyadain) is the lyricist and composer of Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!! . His previous works include Nichijou OP and Kuroko’s Basketball ED1.

Yuichi Jose (VA of Chiaki Morisawa)

Q: Firstly, please tell us about your impression on the songs when you first listened to them.

Jose: When I first listened to the demo tape of Ryusei Fireworks, judging by the melody I thought it was Akatsuki’s song. But when I started singing it, I was like, “Oh, this is Ryuseitai.” (laugh) In a good way, it betrayed my expectations. I mean, when the five of us sing, any song becomes Ryuseitai’s song. The chit-chat is super fun in this song. As for Shooting☆Star!!!!!, when I think about it we haven’t used the phrase “shooting star,” even though it’s supposed to be the meaning of “Ryusei.” I find it surprising. Compared to the first series, the dramatic feel in the song that pictures their hidden strength and strenuous effort is getting stronger. The songs are also tied more strongly to the stories in-game, and there are various instances that picture the bonds between Ryuseitai members as well as the bond between Ryuseitai and all of you Ryusei Pink. I had the opportunity to sing all that, and it’s a perfect song for it. I feel that they have slightly matured, blasting through their own path with unwavering conviction, even if they are hurt at times.

Q: Then how did the actual recording go?

Jose: I have to use my energy in every single Ryuseitai recording, so it was a hard work. In order to bring out the character in a playful song that is characteristic of Ryuseitai, I would have to make arm gestures no matter what. This time we launched a firework, comforted a baby… I was worried if my gestures would become noise in the recording (laugh). In the first series, (the voice actor of Midori Takamine) Takumi-kun had his recording right after me and I felt sorry because the headphones were drenched with sweat… But this time, no one recorded after me so I didn’t feel as guilty (laugh). As for Shooting☆Star!!!!!, the chorus doesn’t go boom, but it’s meant to slowly sink in—I had a hard time making it feel like Ryuseitai when it has a different feel from the usual. When I listened to the others’ singing except mine, they sound cute like Ra*bits, so I would try to hold that down. Or rather, I want to support them in order to make up for all the trouble [Chiaki] has caused (laugh). When I sing as Chiaki, I can’t sing unless I root my feet into the ground strongly and put my might into it, so when I finished I could feel it on my lower back. Chiaki sings the whole pre-chorus, so I was completely exhausted. In Ryusei Fireworks, the “Ha! Ha! Ha! Soiya!” gave me a hard time. Even when I’m at home practicing, I was already thinking, “Oh boy, this part is gonna hit my lower back pretty hard during recording” (laugh). It’s quite a feat to sing Ryuseitai songs alone, and it seems we have another song eligible for entering that endurance competition. I’d like all of you to challenge yourselves and practice it.

Q: Please tell us the appeal of each song.

Jose: Shooting☆Star!!!!! has a message where you have to support one another even if you’re hurt, become one, and move forward while doing your best. Although Chiaki is not part of it, there is a feel of unison in the parts where the other members are singing something like “blue and green make the earth.” After that, it’s not like Chiaki unified them, but I think that part gave a sense of unity where all of them became one. They’re frank with one another. As for Ryusei Fireworks, everyone is nothing but balls of energy (laugh). Ryuseitai’s belief is that you’ll still act cheerful even if something awful happened to you. This song speaks something like, “we are there for each other, and we’ll stay positive,” and I thought it has a really good presentation.

Q: Ensemble Stars has been extending its reach through appearances in various kinds of media. Could you promote the series to the readers who have not yet been exposed to it?

Jose: Chiaki Morisawa is a man of passion, but there’s a fundamental reason why he’s the way he is. Of course, not everything is confirmed, but I really admire his way of living. He works very hard to be the ideal person he wishes to be, and be a man of passion. It makes me wonder if he’s seriously a high school student (laugh). It’s not just letters in a word—true passion is his appeal. In both good and bad ways, Ryuseitai won’t be Ryuseitai without Chiaki, and Ryuseitai and Chiaki can’t exist without one another—they’re something like a family. Ryuseitai isn’t the academy’s model unit, and Chiaki would bring up an unusual proposal and cause so much trouble to the producer, to all of you players. Each individual’s potential is not that high either, and I wouldn’t describe their team work as perfect. But everyone is on their way to combining into one, into Ryuseitai. I’d like you to walk together with them too.

Q: Please give a message to the fans who are looking forward to the release!

Jose: The previous CD placed second on the Oricon chart, a happening that caused such a big fuss on the Ryuseitai members LINE group, and I was really grateful of everyone’s support. But I was worried if there could really be something new Ryuseitai can give (laugh). I mean, there is a representative song, Yumenosaki Ryuseitai Song, and new units have been added in the past year. But, the songs in the second series are masterpieces that brushed off that worry. I was also able to re-discover possibilities of Ryuseitai’s future, and I’d like all of you Ryusei Pink to sing together with us too. Please give us your support.

Kotaro Nishiyama (VA of Kanata Shinkai)

Q: Firstly, please tell us about your impression on the songs when you first listened to them.

Nishiyama: At first, I thought Ryusei Fireworks was like Akatsuki (laugh). When I considered the festival theme only, there was a part of me that accepted how Ryuseitai is singing something that is not characteristic of a hero squadron. But after listening and singing to it many times, I could really picture the characters singing. As Kanata, I sang while thinking, “Ah, I wonder if Shinobu-kun would approach the lyrics this way,” and “If it’s the Commander, I wonder if he’ll sing it this way.” It’s a lively song that pumps you up. In Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!! too…. It’s not call and response, but there are parts where the vocals are chasing one another, so I think it’ll be a song that can fire up the audience too.

Q: Then how did the actual recording go?

Nishiyama: The lyrics in Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!! are what Kanata-kun doesn’t speak normally, so I hope I could bring out his cool and manly side. Other than that, I suppose it would be the unison with Midori-kun. I don’t think this combination appears a lot, so I hope you can pay attention to that part. I’m also looking forward to how it’ll turn out! There are English phrases in Ryusei Fireworks’ chorus, and for that part I kept in mind to make it as Kanata-kun as possible, singing the line as if it is in hiragana. I would sing the line “FIRE FIRE” like “fai-yah fai-yah,” to bring out his character. Other than that, for example in the second chorus too, I got to make it sound a bit like a spoken line, so there are traces of Kanata-kun scattering all over. Whenever I have recording as Kanata-kun, I would always have his merchandise on the music stand. I would place Kanata-kun there, and I would think of it as a mirror, transform into Kanata-kun and have recording. This time, I brought the heart-shaped cushion badge! He’s making such a big smile on this one, so I had the recording while imagining Kanata-kun having fun.

Q: Please tell us the appeal of each song.

Nishiyama: At the end of the chorus in Ryusei Fireworks, there’s a line, “Your smile becomes our energy.” The director asked me, “Sing it with smug!” so I made a smug face, Kanata-style (laugh). It was so much fun! It’s easy to follow the rhythm in the song too, and the singing is explosive since the very beginning, so in a way it was easy to make a smug face (laugh). I think it’ll be a song that fires up the karaoke room. As for Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!!, there a lot of memorable parts after the first time you listen to it. Especially right before the end of the chorus—overall, I made sure to keep the word “comrade” in my mind. It’s very Ryuseitai, where the personalities are all over the place, but they are united to the point they can share their suffering and pain. I tried to express Ryuseitai’s bond, where they are aiming for the same goal. Ryuseitai exists because the Commander is there, and because he is there we could gather. Also, Kanata-kun is like the Vice Commander, and I think that is one of the reasons for their unity.

Q: Ensemble Stars has been extending its reach through appearances in various kinds of media. Could you promote the series to the readers who have not yet been exposed to it?

Nishiyama: When we recited a script in an Enstars event, I thought Ryuseitai has a really good balance. There’s the Commander that pulls everyone along, there are three children who are loud and making a racket, and there’s Kanata-kun who acts as the gentle mother. I think it’s a unit that is like a family. Also, I feel that it’s so easy to think of Ryuseitai dearly. In a way I also think of myself as someone like a big brother next door, so I guess that’s how you make yourself wanting to cheer for them. As for Kanata-kun, I like how he’s devoid of lies. What he says is always straightforward, and he’s also straightforward with how he likes himself. It feels refreshing to act out that part of him and this purity makes me feel secure. A lot of people think of him as a mysterious boy, and that’s not wrong, but I hope you can look out for his kindness and how he would be there for others.

Q: Please give a message to the fans who are looking forward to the release!

Nishiyama: I think everyone knows that Ryuseitai members get along with each other, but the voice actors also trust each other a lot. Whenever something happens, we would report it to the LINE group, for example, “I just finished recording”! Even for the spoken lines in Ryusei Fireworks’ interlude—it started in an event. We casually brought up how we were hoping there will be spoken lines [in the songs]. And then Yoshiki Nakajima came up with ideas and in the end we got to talk it out with the staff. Because of Ryuseitai’s team work, we could do various things. We crammed everything we wanted to do, and I think they became songs that are crafted with love, so it would make us really happy if all of you can listen to them lots. Please listen to them and sing to them many, many times!

Yoshiki Nakajima (VA of Tetora Nagumo)

Q: Firstly, please tell us about your impression on the songs when you first listened to them.

Nakajima: For Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!!, I’m always under the pressure that it’s a song by Maeyamada-san (Hyadain), so… (laugh). I was nervous waiting for what kind of song it would be, and it turned out to be something typical of Maeyamada-san. A lot of his quirks are packed into the song. But on top of that, it is also a very Ryuseitai song, just like usual, so I was very relieved. As for Ryusei Fireworks on the other hand, also because of the intro, I thought, “Isn’t this Akatsuki’s—!?” But when I tried to sing, it became something that can pump up the mood like the usual Ryuseitai.

Q: Then how did the actual recording go?

Nakajima: Tetora is a man who won’t cut corners and relax one bit. So it’s really tiring to sing with his voice. When I looked at the lyrics and music score, I thought it was going to be okay if it’s at this level, but when I turn into Tetora to sing, the calorie consumption isn’t normal after all (laugh). Aside from the melody, Ryuseitai songs also have background vocals and spoken lines, so I feel that I also spent my energy in those parts.

Q: Please tell us the appeal of each song.

Nakajima: Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!! is the “gold standard,” or rather, it’s a song that shows Ryuseitai’s coolness out at the front. But that being said, it’s a different type compared to the previous songs. It gives the image that they are singing with such style on a quiet stage. Also, dialogues are unique traits of Ryuseitai’s songs, and they are also in Ryusei Fireworks’ interlude. Actually, I was the one who came up with the dialogues in this song. There was nothing at first, but I thought I wanted to make it more Ryuseitai, so I consulted with the staff and the other members in advance and had them included. Apart from that, I’d like you to pay attention to parts such as the Enka-like line that packs a punch. [1]

Q: Ensemble Stars has been extending its reach through appearances in various kinds of media. Could you promote the series to the readers who have not yet been exposed to it?

Nakajima: The units that appear in Ensemble Stars have concepts that are the gold standards, as in, it makes you think many are quite idol-like. But Ryuseitai is “a unit of heroes of justice,” something you would question whether or not they are idols in the first place (laugh). Because of that concept, they have this unique trait where it’s easy to feel affection towards them, no matter your age. It’s just that the members are all eccentrics, which is a regrettable side of theirs… (laugh). And Tetora, who is part of the unit, is quite the unusual individual himself. But when he’s with Ryuseitai, he naturally becomes the straight man… Actually, the actors too—when the five of us are together we turn into our characters! You can see that in the events too, so please come to see us at least once.

Q: Please give a message to the fans who are looking forward to the release!

Nakajima: We gained such popularity thanks to all of you, and there are always lots of people coming to the events and the like, so it makes me really happy. We greatly value the game as well as such opportunities. The second CD is about to be released, so there may be stories that dig deeper into the background of each character. Other than that, new units have also been added, and we the actors are also looking forward to future developments. Please give us your support for many years to come.

--(t/n)--

1. Second pre-chorus: “Both fists and mikoshi too,” which is sung in Enka-ish style.

Takumi Watanabe (VA of Midori Takamine)

Q: Firstly, please tell us about your impression on the songs when you first listened to them.

Watanabe: When I first listened to Shooting☆Star!!!!!, I thought it was a really cool song. The lyrics, compared to words that Midori-kun normally says, seem to be something that would come out from the innermost part of him. So I was really troubled with how I should express it. Until now, I think Ryuseitai had been presenting themselves as allies of justice and everyone’s heroes. But in Shooting☆Star!!!!!, it seems that each of them has found something they want to protect. In that sense, they’ve matured. With Ryusei Fireworks, I thought, “Ah, it sure is Ryuseitai’s song.” (laugh) It’s a song like a festival, which can’t be produced by other units. At the same time, I was wondering if Midori-kun could properly participate in the festival in the end… (laugh)

Q: Then how did the actual recording go?

Watanabe: The first CD series was my first song recording ever, but this time I also felt a bit of pressure, although in a good way. The story is moving forward in-game and it got me to think about how I can insert Midori-kun’s feelings into the singing even more than the first series. The key signature was high so it was difficult, but I was told by the staff that I was able to project my voice better than the first series, so I’m glad. Other than that, the line “I’m depressed” was also difficult to say, as if trying to match the level of difficulty of the singing (laugh). It’s rare for Midori-kun to raise his voice, so if his voice is too loud it would be “fashionable depression” (laugh). I think the fans out there will also pay attention to the spoken lines, so I tried my best not to shake my voice. That spoken line connects well with “Life, even if it’s hard today, | Shall we forget the bad things and sing?” and I think there can be two different meanings. To Midori-kun it would be, “Even if it’s hard for him, it’ll become fun when he sings with everyone,” and to those who are listening to the song, “Please cheer up.” I sang the songs thinking about all that. But really, it was my first time saying, “I’m depressed!” that loudly (laugh).

Q: Please tell us the appeal of each song.

Watanabe: In Shooting☆Star!!!!!, Midori-kun sings the line, “Risk your life.” It’s a phrase he will never say normally, and he won’t say it even if he thinks about it. So conversely, it makes me think that in truth he thinks about it. Then comes in the question, what does he protect? May it be the transfer student or Ryuseitai, I suppose he will risk his life to protect the person(s) important to him. I haven’t listened to the finished product, so I’m in the dark as to how everyone else sings, which is making me fidgety (laugh). But I sang desperately. As for Ryusei Fireworks… I had an easy-going recording session (laugh). I hope you’ll be able to tell how much fun Midori-kun is having when he’s together with Ryuseitai members. He’s indecisive when he’s alone, but if he’s going to have a festival with these members, I bet he’ll have so much fun. Of course, he has his own way to enjoy himself. Other than that, there’s a line, “strike the evil named melancholy,” and I’m a bit bothered by it from Midori-kun’s point of view (laugh). He may wonder if he’s actually evil (laugh). But this way, he may think, “I’m also part of Ryuseitai!” and gives encouragement to others.

Q: Ensemble Stars has been extending its reach through appearances in various kinds of media. Could you promote the series to the readers who have not yet been exposed to it?

Watanabe: Midori-kun is really tall. But all he talks about is “I’m depressed” and “I want to die,” so probably the only thing about this boy that was growing is his physique. His mentality stays childish, he behaves like a spoiled child on his own, and says that he’s suffering. After all, he said that he enroled into the idol course by mistake. But, by having members full of unique personalities in a unit called Ryuseitai around him, his stance about idols is changing, and I think it will continue to change. Ryuseitai is an energetic and powerful unit, enough to change a pessimistic boy like him. It’s a hero squadron unit that cheers people up. He joined such unit and is in the middle of developing. But, along with his body, his mentality will start to grow from now on. He’s an honest and delicate boy who has only started sprouting.

Q: Please give a message to the fans who are looking forward to the release!

Watanabe: The unit songs from the second series are both packed with cheerfulness that is very much like Ryuseitai. I hope you can look forward to how Midori-kun deals with a cool song and a song that cheers people up!

Anju Nitta (VA of Shinobu Sengoku)

Q: Firstly, please tell us about your impression on the songs when you first listened to them.

Nitta: Hyadain-san is handling Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!!, so when I first listened to it I was very surprised! The lyricist also says “Ken’ichi Maeyamada”, so I was like wow. The song has Hyadain-san written all over, so I was happy that I got to sing this song. I think it’s a song that puts the Leader in a spotlight, so we’ll have Jose-san sing it with perfection, and the four around him will act as support! As for Ryusei Fireworks, it’s like The Unrivaled☆Meteoranger if you compare it to the previous songs. It’s a type of song that makes you go “Wasshoi!” and “Soiya!” just like the lyrics (laugh). I hope it’s something that lifts up the mood in the karaoke.

Q: Then how did the actual recording go?

Nitta: I put my might into the spoken dialogues in both songs, hoping I could bring out Shinobu’s character. In Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!!, it would be “The yellow flames” that follow the main lyrics. In Ryusei Fireworks, it would be “You are Members,” or “Wasshoi” or “Soiya.” There are a lot of lines inserted into the main lyrics in this song (laugh). With the spoken lines in Ryusei Fireworks, it was Yoshiki-san who came up with some parts of it and shared it in Ryuseitai LINE group. I think it fits perfectly. I had it recorded many times, so I think it’ll be something good.

Q: Please tell us the appeal of each song.

Nitta: As for Ryusei Fireworks, it would be the lines before the chorus such as, “Light up the festival” and “Thrust them up high.” Everyone was singing their solo lines, and then it builds up towards the end. It feels extremely good to sing with that kind of flow! The flow in Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!! is also good. I also like the toned down chorus right before the last one, where it becomes quiet. When I looked at the lyrics one line by one line, there are lines “In the black night, yellow lightning” and “On this green and blue planet.” I like how the colors are combined. I think Shinobu-kun will like it, and well, so do I (laugh). It’s cool, isn’t it? There are a lot of parts I like.

Q: Ensemble Stars has been extending its reach through appearances in various kinds of media. Could you promote the series to the readers who have not yet been exposed to it?

Nitta: Shinobu-kun is a shy boy. Even though he’s set to be a character that is lonely, he met comrades, Ryuseitai. He becomes good friends with Yuta-kun, Hinata-kun and Mao-kun. I think he’s a character whose development can be seen clearly. In the second half of the year, he really becomes cheerful and even gets treated coldly by the transfer student (laugh). But I think their relationship has developed into one that allows things like that. In that sense, I suppose he’s a character that makes you want to tease him. But recently, he’s got really cool card illustrations, and I bet no one could’ve imagined it back in the early days. It’s also really exciting since his left eye is exposed (laugh)! Shinobu was also really cool in the event Nuclear Ignition ☆ A Sparkling Quintuple-Color Supernova, right? I was just so happy! But the reason why we can see that part of him is thanks to Ryuseitai, I believe.

Q: Please give a message to the fans who are looking forward to the release!

Nitta: Each song has different directions and charms. They are seriously songs that will make you want to listen to them many times and sing together. By all means, pick a color you’d like to assign yourself with, gather the rest of the members and sing together! I’d like you to have a party and sing together with everyone. Please support Ensemble Stars and Ryuseitai from now on too!

#ensemble stars #b's log #ryuseitai #chiaki morisawa #kanata shinkai #tetora nagumo #midori takamine #shinobu sengoku #yuichi jose #kotaro nishiyama #yoshiki nakajima #takumi watanabe #anju nitta #staff

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