#give him the `this actions will have consequences` video game pop up

[batcavescolony]

A Lonely Place of Dying. Tim officially meeting Batman for the first time.

Timmy thinking ahead placing a tracer on Two face

Being Robin for a whole 10min and already getting a death scare

And Batman begrudgingly getting his new Robin

[ready-to-obeyme]

[OM!] Angel!AU Demon Brother as Your Guardian Angel

Scenario: Residing as angels in the Celestial Realm, the brothers have been assigned to watch over you to guide and protect you. How they do so is up to their discretion. (And if they fall in love with you, well...)

Note: gender neutral headcanons; if i had to choose a timeline, satan exists but belphie doesnt hate humans yet and lilith is alive 🤪, the boys retained their personalities that we all know and love -- it really just be them with guardian angel duties--- bonus angel is Lilith ;)

inspiration from [link] and their other angel!au videos (they’re all adults in this post btw) and [link] (yes just this post; apparently my guardian angel Lucifer is in awe of me... for being dumb as FUCK--)

--

Lucifer

a little affronted he has to take time to look after a human as a seraph but doesn't vocalize it as much since it's direct orders from his father

isn't one to directly intervene in your life much because he doesn't see the need to nor does he want to; a little haughty ngl about being an angel and you being a human

there is no guideline to being a guardian angel and making sure you don’t die before your time is his Main Priority 

he's not going to stop you from eating a whole family sized Dorito bag by yourself or from staying awake till 4am-- those bad decisions are on YOU

finds a little pleasure from seeing the consequences of your actions for a while, but eventually just judges you for everything you do

"why aren't you studying? isn't the midterm tomorrow?"

"when was the last time this human ate?"

"why are you dating that person?"

grumbles over you and your life choices, but is now just actually concerned and hoping you'll be able to make better choices for your own health and happiness; he is now officially Invested as Guardian Angel, don’t you dare laugh at him Michael

if he does utilize his powers to influence you, it comes in subtle hints-- the wind blowing in your hair so you look a certain direction, a sudden bright light to wake you up so you sleep properly in a bed and not a desk... maybe appearing in your room for just a moment to place a blanket over your shoulders

realizes he has… feelings when you perform a good deed or grow as a person and he feels immensely proud and happy for you; has to really keep himself in check to not intervene in your life in more menial, though still helpful, ways

humbled by your growth and change as you become a better person

finally reveals himself to you (by accident) when he has to physically come and save you from danger and then proceeds to yell at you in anger (read: worry) about safety and doesn’t leave your side

Mammon

similarly to Lucifer, grumbles about having to take time to babysit a human but quickly becomes invested in your life at record speed (typical Mammon)

unnecessarily and excessively worried at times even for things that isn't actually putting you in danger

"WHAT THE HELL HUMAN, LOOK BOTH WAYS BEFORE YOU CROSS THE STREET--"

"NO NO NO, BRING YOUR PEPPER SPRAY WITH YOU! I don't care if you’re just walking to the adjacent apartment, BRING IT!"

eventually just ends up storming down to the human realm and """attempts""" to be subtle

if you placed the spray on the table, you turn and it's in your bag again. weird.

pretty sure you could have done a pretty good paranormal activity video with the weird stuff happening in your life when mammon is not-so-secretly intervening in your life

attempts do not last long because mammon's patience grows thin and he suddenly pops into your life and demand you be more careful

probably meets you by slapping your hand away from buying another random but expensive plushie even though you can barely afford it and you just stare at him like he's crazy as he explains that he's your guardian angel

'My Guardian Angel as My Roommate' becomes the title of your life or alternatively 'My Guardian Angel and I are Both Idiots'

the genre of your life is now officially a rom com

his main excuse for being constantly at your side (and it's NOT because he likes you a lot) is "how else am I gonna be prepared to protect you from anything that wants to hurt you?? you would have died 1000x over without me" which is a lie but it's okay he pays rent

hold his hand and tell him it’s so you don’t get lost and he’ll blush but never let go of your hand

Leviathan

life is a simulation

or rather, your life is

once he gets assigned to you, he observes you for a while-- and it looked like he was going to leave you be for the most part, when one Bad Choice has him popping up right in front of you

he slaps away the tub of ice cream you were gonna binge eat

"human, stop eating that crap! your stats are gonna suffer!!!"

super insistent in telling you to do something that good for you and is pretty stubborn when it comes to decisions that benefit your health and career

"noob, hurry up and level up your intelligence or you're gonna fail your exams"

"is life a game to you"

"yes, and you are losing. but have no fear, I am your walkthrough."

joking aside, Levi is pretty supportive of you, in the way Belphie is to his human-- he just words things in gaming terms like stats, energy, leveling up, exp

did not expect to get gratitude from this gig, but when you express your true appreciation for his care, he doesn't know what to do (starts crying maybe?)

his advice starts veering away from just lifestyle and health but to more human aspects; he offers a listening ear and supportive compliments whenever needed

because it turns out he cares for you a whole lot more than if this was really all just a game to him and ends up caring about your general happiness and is more considerate about your feelings

Finds himself being super casual with you and talking about your favorite show and has to catch himself from speaking so quickly-- can’t have the human thinking he… adores you

Satan

has no qualms with coming to the human realm to watch over you, but is fine with not immediately being a part of your life or intervening as much as Mammon or Belphie

ironically, as a man who was originally never born as an angel, he does his duties in a manner most befitting manner of one

subtly inserts himself into small parts of your life, persisting off small interactions

he's the guy at the counter when you needed to find a book, he's the one who picks up your hydroflask and returns it to the lost and found, he's the one telling you your backpack is open before anything spills out

he doesn't know but you jokingly dub him your guardian angel, even if you don't know who he actually is but never have the courage to speak up-- also mainly because he flits in and out of your life so fast you don’t even have the chance to say “oh, by the way, what’s your name?”

Satan is content with how he is more of a passing moment in your life, so this way you can still live your life the way you want it without much interference from an outside source because he respects your choices and the concept of free will that all humans have

truly believes that the best course of action and his duty as your guardian angel is to see you live your life the way you want to-- and if can help out a little or give you a little nudge in the right way, then that’s fine by him

Prefers to be on the sidelines and watch you become your own person and-- well, it’s a bit hard not getting attached to you when he sees you trip over yourself over someone you like or help someone out with their books when they dropped them

eventually does have to step in in a more meaningful way when you accidentally endanger yourself and he wards it off or catches you before you hurt yourself

at that point it was hard to pretend not being a part of your life when he's helped you so often-- and the fact that you're infatuated with him and asked him out

(he probably doesn't even realize how suave and prince charming he looks lmao)

Asmodeus

chooses to watch over you from above more but doesn't mind just popping down to the human realm just to have some fun at the same event you're in

lives through all your moments with you; laughs when you laugh and cries when you cry and  genuinely enjoys seeing you go through life, living and learning

generally leaves you to your own devices unless there's something really pressing

utterly cannot stop himself from intervening if you have doubts about yourself or if you struggle with self-love

loves appearing in dreams to dish out advice and tell you to love yourself, forgive yourself more, and to seek happiness because you deserve it

you don't remember the dreams exactly, but you do remember the sentiment within it and sometimes the fuzzy image of a beautiful angel you aren't sure you've seen irl but you chalk it up to seeing the face of strangers you’ve seen (which is... technically true)

dreams are his main way of communicating with you, and he also just thinks the mystery and anonymity is kinda exciting-- but sometimes he just spends a lot of your dreams just talking to you and getting to know you more intimately and seeing things from your perspective

sometimes enjoys being in your lucid dreams when you’re pretty aware and you go on some really whacky dream-induced adventure

loves you like no other and truly wishes the best for you

accidentally reveals himself to you during a party where you meet face to face

"I've feel like I've seen you before…"

"Haha, well that's because I've been in your dreams! They were pretty pleasant weren't they?"

you think he’s kidding for a long time-- and honestly he’s not even trying to hide the fact that he’s your Guardian Angel, considering he tells you all the time “Honey, I’m you’re Guardian Angel” or “Of course I’m here for you! I’m your Guardian Angel!” 

but the way he says it makes it feel like that’s just a nickname, not an official TITLE

floored when you actually see his WINGS and turns out you’ve been in love with an actually angel this entire time

Beelzebub

similar to Asmo and Satan, he doesn't really feel the need to insert himself into your life

instead, he's wherever you are… but in the background, eating at a table in a far corner or walking casually across the street from where you are

very inconspicuous and surprisingly good at keeping a distance, whether he intends to or not

he just looks very natural doing whatever he is doing at any time, but often accidentally ends up in the background of a photo or selfie without people noticing

as your Guardian Angel, he watches over you by stopping anyone with ill intent from approaching you... like the obvious ones like mugging and stuff; he wishes he could protect you from bad people too but he respectfully keeps his distance and allows you to make mistakes and grow from it

it infuriates him when people take advantage of your kindness

(though if the person that hurt you emotionally meets Beel in an alley...)

is very taken aback when YOU are the one approaching HIM asking for the time or if you could grab something on the high shelf for you

actually pretty flustered when you do interact with him because he was distracted doing other stuff he never expected you to notice him

Beel is the definition of a Guardian Angel-- a sentinel, standing on guard to protect you from danger and physical harm-- and he does exactly that when the time comes

most likely to save you from something dramatic like a car incoming or a fight

doesn't really understand why you trust him so easily or so wholeheartedly even after he saved you because he thought he would look intimidating

(he did, until you asked him for the time and he spoke with his mouth full of burgers or stammered out a 'you're welcome' when you smiled at him at the library)

Beel doesn't know until much later that he's dubbed as your gentle giant

Belphegor

like some of the others, doesn't like to influence your choices as much-- not because of free will or anything like that, but because he likes humans because of who they are and what they do

(and also he’s too lazy to be hovering around you trying to control your every move anyhow)

and man are humans, especially you, interesting

why is that human drinking from that person's navel? no clue but it looks fun

why is that human consuming whipped cheese with waffles? no idea, but he wouldn't get this much free entertainment without it

has no problems integrating himself into your life as your friend or roommate just to watch everything unfold in person and to tease you for your mildly questionable decisions in life

“Belphie, why didn’t you stop me from eating that last bowl of cereal?”

“Eh, I thought it would be kind of funny.”

isn't one to go out of his way to do something to influence you, but he does encourage you to do the things you want to do, whether they be good or mildly questionable ones-- but especially the fun ones like joining a new club or going to town to have fun (which you do drag him along to every time)

does steer you away from making Bad Decisions like murder or whatever, but he thinks most choices are pretty neutral and does help you process the consequences, both good and bad, of what happened

so he's integrated himself as your friend, offers advice and supports your decisions no matter what, and subtly looks out for you… and he's surprised when one day you confess to him that you like him???

this was NOT part of the plan but he would be lying to himself if he said he didn't end up falling for you too after seeing all sides of you and watching you grow as a person

Lilith

watches more from afar, because as much as she loves humans like Belphie, she is a little shy about meeting you

curiosity does triumph over shyness eventually, and she does surveillance distantly like Beel before winding up being directly in your life like Belphie (siblings am i right)

her brothers would keep trying to give her input on how she should interact with you or guide you but she brushes them away with a huff because she thinks she's doing a fine job thank you very much!

or so she's pretty sure, considering you're hanging out with her, seriously listening to her advice, buying her gifts... cuddling in bed with her if you’re attracted to her

if you do like her and want to date her, she has to be ready to somehow defend you from the only danger in your life, which turns out to be her brothers

if not, you two live happy lives as the best of friends, though the brothers can never be too careful with their darling sister

likes updating about your life to her brothers and they're lowkey jealous

doesn’t actually have to reveal herself as an angel unless you somehow find out... or because Mammon and Lucifer come down and threatens bodily harm if you hurt Lilith (wait, who’s watching over who now??)

hold up this is setting up for exactly what happens in the canon storyline

[narcissasdaffodil]

A prompt of your choice with Elisa??👀👀

“You thought I never noticed you, but I did. I always saw you.” This is from a prompt by @screnwriter and links to Feels Like This, my Noah oneshot. This one will hopefully be continued, I’ve enjoyed writing about Lucisol.

One minute Marisol was on top of the world, the next her heart was entirely destroyed. Quinn didn’t even have the common decency to tell her to her face, she had watched, helpless, as Quinn followed after Elisa on Girls’ Day, and they kissed. Quinn had promised her this was nothing to worry about, and had let her believe there was still a chance for them as a couple.

“Marisol, can I talk to you?” Marisol looked up from her breakfast to see Elisa shifting from foot to foot. The taller girl leant on the counter and refused to look at her directly. A sinking feeling grew in Marisol’s stomach and she fiddled with a loose curl of hair. “Sure. What’s this about, then?”

Elisa sighed, looking up from the counter briefly. It was difficult to maintain eye contact with her, Elisa was being considerably shifty. “Quinn told me not to tell you, but we kissed on Girl’s Day, right? Well…”

“Well, what? What happened?” Marisol felt herself lash out at Elisa, causing the other girl to move backwards, out of range. Elisa not coming out with it immediately was causing her anxiety to grow.

“I’m so sorry, but last night on the roof terrace, I was with Quinn. We kissed, and…” Elisa kept going, but Marisol blocked it out, her ear popping. Looks like you’re doomed to be forever unhappy. What’s so wrong with you that no one will stay? Quinn has a pattern of cheating on people, yet you didn’t pay attention. She did that to Lucas during Operation Nope earlier in the summer, yet you didn’t see the signs, the neon red warning signs. Hope had warned you to not lose your head with Quinn, she didn’t trust her. But of course, you knew best.

Marisol felt tears spill down her cheeks and she covered her mouth. She pushed aside her food, taking off her glasses and put her head on the counter, not wanting people to see her like this. She couldn’t hear anything and put her hands over her ears, hoping to block out the ringing sound in her head.

She felt a hand resting on her head and fiddling with her hair. The sensation made her feel sick and she sat up, only one person would touch her hair like that and that was the one person she wanted to avoid. Quinn had run over her heart in her tall high heeled boots and smashed it to bits, now she was completely broken.

“Marisol, why are you so upset?” Quinn’s voice softened as the other girl sat next to her. Marisol edged her stool as far as possible from her, turning her head away from the other girl.

“I don’t want to see you right now. You should know why, does last night on the roof terrace ring a bell at all?” She pulled back her composure, refusing to look at Quinn. “I gave up everything for you, and you refused to acknowledge that. Did I mean anything at all to you, or was I nothing at all? Just someone else for you to walk all over and discard when you were done with me, like you did to Lucas. I trusted you, and that was a mistake, pure and simple.”

Quinn grabbed onto her hand, clutching tight to it. Marisol tried to pull away, but Quinn’s grip tightened. “I’m not going to have you run away from me. No wonder Gary gave up so quickly, to think I felt sorry for you when he lied. He made one mistake, then you crucified him for it. Poor little Marisol, every single couple falling apart for you, and how unlucky you were. Spare me the sob story, I don’t care.” Quinn’s words cut deep into her, pressing on some of her deepest insecurities. She fought to keep her composure, feeling tears spill over.

“You cheated on me. How dare you try to blame me for your own fuck up. I’m not the one that cheated. Did you even like Elisa? Or did you just use her because you couldn’t get Noah? And this situation is nothing to do with Gary. I’m over that...” She felt Quinn’s grip lessen on her hand and turned to face her, noticing how the other girl was fidgeting with her hands and looked lost for words.

“And this situation is nothing to do with Gary, or any of my failed couples. I’m over that… I really don’t understand what Lucas and Henrik saw in you, you’re an awful person.”

“Don’t...don’t say that. That’s not fair! I’m not going to say I wouldn’t use someone, as technically speaking I did that to you. You’re hardly over Lurik date day, you keep bringing it up. Lucas would never like you, so I wouldn’t try it.” Quinn’s voice turned high and whiny, faced with the consequences of her own actions.

“Of course I like Elisa, that’s a stupid question. Ever since we kissed, I’ve liked her. And I needed to escape you. You’re far too clingy and expect me to dote on you. I wish I stayed with Lucas, but nope. I had to let you reel me in, I only ever felt sorry for you. I didn’t see you as a real romantic prospect, who would?” Quinn laughed, the sound echoing in the quiet kitchen. She pulled back enough composure to shatter Marisol further.

“I...I’ll say whatever I want. You can’t manipulate me in that way. No wonder you’re close to Lottie, both of you are bullies who are yet to grow up.” Marisol’s voice was weak as she stood up, backing into the stool which squeaked in protest over the flooring. She grabbed her glasses, pushing them up her nose and her breakfast and coffee mug, wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible. “We’re over, by the way. Don’t talk to me at all, unless necessary. You’re sleeping on the daybed permanently, until you can properly get together with Elisa. Why you couldn’t do that earlier without putting me in the middle, I don’t know.” Marisol rushed inside, hurrying upstairs. She dodged Bobby in the living room when he tried to follow her, and made her way to the roof terrace.

She set her coffee and breakfast plate on the bench and sat down, staring out over the Villa. Her bottom lip wobbled again as she felt herself break, and she took off her glasses again, preparing for the waterfall of tears. She curled up, resting her chin on her knees as she sobbed, hiding behind a curtain of hair. It was the start of a new day, but it felt like everything was turning awful again. Getting up early was a mistake, now she was stuck obsessing over her own decisions, what she could’ve done to make things better.

She heard footsteps and looked up in surprise to see Lucas, who moved aside her breakfast, sitting next to her on the bench. She watched him suspiciously, ready to bolt again. “I heard what happened with Elisa and Quinn, if you want to talk, let me know. She did it to me with Noah, and I decided to take her back, which was a bad idea. If you just want silence, that’s fine too.”

“Why...why are you here? Come to pity me? There’s no way you could’ve come for another reason. And I’m fine...Besides, what’s it to you? You didn’t care enough to give me a date when you came in, and haven’t given me the time of day since. I’d be surprised if you even knew anything about me, I fade into the background so easily. How do I know you’re not just going to report back to Quinn, anyway?”

“I haven’t talked to her once since before the last recoupling. I had no idea you two were together, it snuck up on me. It was her responsibility to have the common decency to say something.” He sighed and looked directly at Marisol, wiping her eyes with his finger. “You thought I never noticed you, but I did. I always saw you. I’m sorry for the dates, for all that’s worth. If you want me to find Hope, I’ll do that. But you shouldn’t be alone when you’re like this. I know from experience, I’ve done enough overthinking to last a lifetime because of Quinn.”

Marisol blinked. His finger on her cheek was causing her to short circuit and she blushed. He always saw you? Really? Maybe you’re not alone after all.

“You...saw me? I don’t know what to say to that. Please stay. I’m just really surprised by that. Why would you care about me? There’s so much wrong with me. I either leave, or people get scared off by me…” Her breath caught in her throat and she stared at the bench, grabbing her breakfast and taking a bite of her bagel to distract herself.

“I’m staying right here. And Hope hasn’t been scared off by you. As well as Bobby. I’m sure I can add more people to that growing list, but it’s a start.”

Marisol put the bagel back on her plate and looked up at him. She knew she probably looked an absolute state, and he didn’t have to follow her, yet he did. “Quinn couldn’t even tell me herself. She wanted Elisa to keep it a secret, and they could crack on behind my back. I’m just thankful Elisa had the sense to confess. Poor Bobby, he deserves better than her.”

“So do you. Quinn expects people to just sit by while she destroys everyone in her search for Noah, and until she gets him, everyone else will get walked all over. I learned that the first time she cheated, but went straight back afterwards. I’m not making that mistake again. Being coupled with Chelsea isn’t ideal, but…” He stopped mid sentence and studied her thoughtfully. She blushed under his gaze, cursing herself for getting this flustered. He’s just being kind, and you could do with more friends.

“You interest me, and I’d like to get to know you more. I’ll admit, I was surprised when you coupled up with Quinn. You’re much calmer, you actually give me time to think. Sometimes with Quinn, I’d have her chatting on and on without me getting a chance to get a word in edgewise. On top of that, children aren’t exactly in my plan for life. What about you?”

Marisol shook her head quickly. “Definitely not, I prefer to focus on my career. Cats on the other hand, are a different story. I take it Quinn wants the opposite? In that case, maybe I dodged a bullet.” Part of her felt relieved at the acknowledgement of that, and at the same time, something clicked within her.

“She called me clingy, which is true. Ever since she supported me unconditionally during Roccogate, I fell for her hard. Despite the fact that we were completely different people. Come to think of it, all three of my major relationships here were started by the person being kind to me. Rocco was the only one who cared about me on the day of the Lurik dates, and I mistook that kindness for love, not realising he was playing everyone. While for Graham, he seemed to focus on me and only me when we were together. He saw me as a weak link, an easy way to get into the Villa, and I was too blind to see it. Quinn on the other hand, was completely perfect. She cared about me so much that I never thought that could be a lie. But clearly I was so awful she needed to escape. And everything fell apart, once again. It’s like school again, always the outcast.” She let out a harsh laugh, the situation making her realise that she wasn’t cut out for relationships.

“Maybe I should just cut my losses and be alone forever. As people are always going to leave. I deserve it at this point. I wish people liked me more, but I can’t do anything about that. I’ll never be enough for them...” Her voice wavered and she sobbed again.

Lucas caught her chin, turning her face to face him. He focused completely on her when he spoke. “Marisol, listen to me. You shouldn’t base your own self worth around other people, and you’re not going to be alone forever. You’re not an awful person, it was Quinn who cheated in the first place.”

“The worst part of this whole mess is that Elisa reminds me so much of my ex Olivia, who cheated on me. They don’t look the same, but they have the same energy, it was pretty unnerving at first. So the fact I got cheated on again, and with someone so similar to Olivia, is just typical. Elisa even flirted with me when she first came in and I turned her down flat. She was flirting with both of us, and Quinn saw something special in her, I guess. Sorry, you probably don’t want to hear me moan so much.”

“You don’t have to apologise. It’s better to get it out.”

Marisol felt tears spill over again, and found herself moving closer to Lucas, nestling into his shoulder as she sobbed. His kindness without strings was unexpected, but it was helping. He moved her coffee cup and plate out of the way and let her move closer to him, wrapping his arms around her. The close proximity of him calmed her down, he was good at helping her talk through her feelings. The crush on him that she had before reignited, and she tried to ignore it.

Once they separated, the question on the tip of her tongue made her nervous. What if you’re just projecting onto his kindness, for the fourth time?

“W...would you be interested in a friendship couple with me? It’s okay if you’re not, anything would be better than Quinn.”

He nodded. “Of course.”

The door opened again, and Hope appeared. She rushed over, sitting on Marisol’s other side. “Are you okay? That’s probably a silly question, but you completely disappeared. I’ve been trying to find you.”

Marisol winced. “I’ve been better. But Lucas has been helping, he’s been a good friend to me.”

Hope nodded and looked between the two of them, smiling slightly. Her eyes glittered slightly, which confused Marisol. It seemed like Hope was happier about this than she had when Marisol had spilled the beans to her about her crush on Quinn, and she found herself questioning that. “Come on, let’s get you all cleaned up and ready. You can bring your breakfast with you, I’m staying with you regardless.”

Before Marisol had the time to react, Hope grabbed Marisol’s mug and breakfast plate, causing Marisol to grab her glasses and nearly rushed after her. She turned to Lucas and gave him an awkward wave. “Thank you for caring about me. See you later, then.”

He nodded in response as she rushed after Hope. Even though she felt awful, things were looking up just a little bit. She didn’t want to spend the entire day hiding in bed and letting Quinn know how much the other girl’s actions had bothered her, so the next best option was to spend time with Hope, and hopefully Lucas. She didn’t want to rush into something new quite as quickly, but part of her was hoping he had the feelings that were swirling around inside her.

[splatterchatter]

Resident Evil Village  AKA Ethan, for the love of God grow a personality the same way you grew a hand, I’m begging you

Now, I am sure that anyone who has been on the internet the last couple of months is aware that there is a new Resident Evil game due to one Lady Dimitrescu in the promotional material for the game. Now, don’t get me wrong, a giant middle-aged vampire woman is worth the internet’s admiration, but it turns out that there is a lot more going on in this game, which I feel wasn’t advertised as much. So I am here with a review of all things that you missed while pledging your undying devotion and loyalty to Lady Dimitrescu, or one of her daughters. While I will attempt to make this a spoiler-free as possible, I can’t promise I won’t give things away so read on at your own risk if you haven’t played/watched the game yet.

Resident Evil Village, or Resident Evil 8, starts with a fairytale about a little girl who gets lost in the forest and receives gifts from a bat, a spider, and a sea monster before she takes a gear that is not a gift, leading to her to be confronted by an evil witch. Before we get to the end of the tale, we are transported to Mia and Ethan Winters' living room where Mia has been reading to their 6-month-old baby Rosemary. It is established pretty quickly that Mia and Ethan’s relationship is a bit strained since the events in Louisiana, which is understandable, and have been relocated to Europe by Chris Redfield in hopes that they can put the past behind them. As you can imagine, given that this is a Resident Evil game, the calm family scene doesn’t last long and once again Ethan is thrown into horrors beyond his imagination to try and save his child. Ethan, oh Ethan, you are by far the most boring video game character that I believe I have ever encountered. While his confusion and overall horror didn’t bother me too much in Resident Evil seven given how bat shit crazy that situation was for a man who was in IT before that all started, I could give him some leeway. However, after one bat shit situation, when your child is kidnapped and there are lycans running around a small European village, you eventually stop saying what and why all the time and start getting a bit of a personality other than screaming “WHERE IS MY BABY” over and over. Also, Ethan, you have fought enough people to know that you don’t have a whole conversation with them because that always ends poorly and yet on THREE SEPARATE OCCASIONS you have a whole dialogue before getting thrown into some sort of trap or almost killed. I mean you have a character who just reattaches his hand multiple times between 7 and 8 and he is still supremely boring and has no character development. Sliced white bread is more interesting than this protagonist, even with the twist. Now, did I get emotional at the end, yes, but that wasn’t because I gave a shit about Ethan so much as Chris Redfield's reaction to the whole thing. I mean, the character introduced in the after credit scene is more interesting in seven seconds than Ethan was in two entire games. While Ethan was terribly boring, there were several interesting characters, both protagonists and villains, that were underutilized in this game. To start with, a much more interesting game would have been to have the main character be Mia, post her life of lies and their consequences, having to track down her child and come to terms with what she did that led to the events in 7. While I also found Mia getting on my nerves in this game, it was mostly because she was sidelined to snipping at Ethan, not telling him the truth (because that went so well last time), and constantly shrieking questions. Mia was an operative and could have been fleshed out to be a super badass character if they had given her more purpose and screen time. However, you didn’t even need to flesh out Chris Redfield because he has been a staple in the Resident Evil games since the first one. There is already this rich backstory and he was more interesting in the half-hour we see him in the game and I felt for him more than Ethan who I’ve been with for two games. This is a man who's seen the carnage of Umbrella for years at this point and it’s wearing on him. Show me the story of Chris and his team, who were interesting in their own right, going god damn feral on an Umbrella facility. Basically, give me a main character with some sort of personality, I'm begging you. Hell, Beneviento’s little doll was more complex than Ethan.

  Speaking of Beneviento, while I felt that all the villains were pretty well-rounded, I didn’t think that we have enough time with any of them. Lady Dimitrescu is in the game for a surprisingly short time for all the hype she was given. Now, I don’t blame the developers for this as her castle is the first area of the game and therefore what they had completed first to show off to the world. However, I feel that each of the four houses could probably have been their own games, but instead, we were given just enough to get interested in them, and then they were dead. Lady Dimitrescu wanted to live with her daughters, Beneviento wanted to be left alone with her dolls, Moreau just wanted Mother Miranda's approval and Heisenberg wanted to kill Miranda for what she did to him. Heisenberg especially, I wanted to know more about and his history before Miranda. What did he lose when she brought him into her experiment? What did they all lose? There are enough questions there that I felt every section, besides perhaps Moreau’s, ended far too quickly to feel satisfying. At this point, you probably think that I hate the game, which is not the case. I actually found it really entertaining and a pretty good video game. However, I am a huge story person and while no Resident Evil game is a piece of storytelling genius, it doesn’t mean that I’m not going to talk about the things that bothered me. One thing that this game did exceptionally well is the visuals. This game is absolutely beautiful and all of the areas have their own distinct atmosphere and look. If you are a fan of Resident Evil Four, which most people are, the beginning of this game is going to give you the same ambiance with much better graphics. God, what I wouldn’t have given to have Leon kicking people down ladders in this game. While Lady Dimitrescu is far more interesting than Ramon Salazar, don’t get me wrong he is the one Resident Evil villain that I have never forgotten, they have the same thoughts on interior design. Then the Beneviento house and Monreau’s sections were more like 7 and the factory was a new and very beautiful set piece. An utterly stunning game. Resident Evil Village is also in the same vein as Resident Evil 4 in that it is much more action-horror than survival horror. While the Beneviento house is properly scary, the rest of the time you know that you’re going in shooting. I feel as if her house also has the scariest monsters, though there are only a couple. Don’t get me wrong, the lycans look cool and Heisenberg’s monsters are solidly in the realm of body horror, but you get a gun early and use it often. Resident Evil 7 was far more tense, even with weapons, because you have no idea where the family members were and usually they could easily kill you until you got into their boss fight. Again, it’s a fun game, but if you expected the same tension as in 7, you will only have it in a small area of the game. Overall, this is a fun and beautiful game, but not without fault. I am still craving the game with Mia as the main character because I feel as if that would be a much more interesting story. Nothing against Ethan, he was just written that way. I am really hoping that if there is a Resident Evil 9 it follows Chris just laying waste to an Umbrella headquarters because the man deserves it if anyone does. I mean, my dream is a Chris Leon team-up, but that is just the fangirl in me. Chris and Claire would be fun too. Basically, anyone with a personality. I would say that this game is worth the money, but not without fault. Now I am just crossing my fingers for a Resident Evil four remake because I need to see my boy Leon again as well as the president’s daughter popping out of a dumpster like a gopher with stunning graphics.

[jungle321jungle]

Ten Of Swords: Level One

The world of Swords of Power and Conquest was one Virgil dove head first into, giving his soul and life to the game. He would play whenever he could, and had even decided he wanted to go into game design. At times he had even dreamt of how wonderful it would be to be inside that world for even a moment- until that world became his reality.

The familiar world he had come to love was now a foreign prison, one with no way out.

A Log Horizon AU. If you don’t know what that is, this is a Show Better Than SAO AU. If you still don’t know, the sides get trapped in a video game.

Ao3 - Masterlist 

Taglist: @hells-missing-a-goat @angels-and-dreams @ollyollyoxinfree @gattonero17 @chumo-cookie @dreaming-always @anxiety-ismy-name @mrbubbajones @janustheliar

~~~~

Level One: A Place That Doesn’t Really Exist

He had gotten the game on a whim out of boredom. It was something he heard of a lot from kids at school, but with a laptop as old as his he had never considered getting it himself. And then he got a new laptop for his birthday. And a few days later, knowing he’d be bored during his family’s Christmas party, he downloaded it. It had taken forever honestly, and he kept going back and forth to his room to see when it would finally be ready for him to play. When it finally was prepared he had sat on his bed surrounded by younger cousins who had made their way into his room (past the door he had been 80% sure he had locked) and made his character. They had opinions on his character’s look, and even the name. But finally he thought he had found a way to both trick and satisfy the kids, and typed the name of the toddler in. He had fully expected the system to reject the name and then the kids couldn’t complain when he changed it to something he actually wanted. He hadn’t expected the game however to fucking accept “Anthony” as his screen name.

It had been a stupid introduction gaming, but back then Virgil didn’t realize how much of an impact Swords of Power and Conquest would have on his life. At one point he had thought the name was cheesy, but soon enough just like the rest of the world of Lirya, Virgil fell in love with it.

The intricacies of the many skills available, the complex fighting system which interpreted those skills, and the way it seemed to thrive without any form of class systems, were all mesmerizing to Virgil in ways he couldn’t describe. He had thrown himself into the game playing day and night (much to his parents’ dismay), and fell more in love with it each moment.

He had tried other games, at the urging of friends who claimed Swords was too pointless with all the holes in its main quest. Those games had been fun, and Virgil had even tried a bunch of different genres. But there was something about Swords which always pulled him back. Maybe because it was his introduction, or perhaps because the constantly updating side quests and his in game friends were too great to give up. So much so that years later Virgil found himself not only playing, but wanting to go into game design. He wanted to create- to work on something just as good, if not better than Swords. To give someone else the feeling he had when he first started the game.

He was a true geek wasn’t he?

“I could’ve told you that,” Simon commented.

Virgil rolled his eyes as he typed out his reply, you can’t tell but I’m rolling my eyes

He heard as the guy gave a slight laugh, “You know the point of this feature is to talk right?”

My roommate’s napping, he was feeling sick

“Rude of him... I just got a message from Tact. Apparently he wants to meet and talk.”

What about?

“Doesn’t say. Just says he has some info worth paying for.”

Go handle it. I’ll watch things here

“Sounds good, don't get more handsome while I’m away.”

Virgil rolled his eyes but didn’t bother to reply as Sam teleported out. He gave a stretch as he looked about his screen and the empty shop. On the other side of that virtual wall would be customers hanging out and lounging around, he supposed he could switch outfits and join those working, but he wouldn’t gain much from that. Maybe it was time to sign off for the night, he could watch some of the Twins’ videos. The latest guild had apparently done a large raid against one of the sphinxes of legend, that would be a cool video to watch. With that thought in mind he logged off and when the window was closed he noticed his calendar open.

His calendar with words written in red for the following day.

CALC TEST

A curse slipped from Virgil’s mouth as he glanced at his clock. 5:34. If he skipped dinner and studied straight until midnight maybe- just maybe something would stick. Hopefully.

~~~~

Virgil was on the brink of committing murder.

Not only was he stressed about his exam in the morning, but his roommate’s, Jonas’, NyQuil fueled snoring had been loud enough on its own. But on top of that there was  the sound of their neighbors. Virgil had never been a fan of those living in the room to his left. This was usually on account of one them seeming to have an “overnight guest” over too often subjecting Virgil to sounds he wished to erase from memory. But tonight that wasn’t the case (at least not yet), tonight was a party.

A loud party which had gone on far too long.

The party had begun probably around nine or ten. And since it had only persisted and grew in volume. At first Virgil had knocked on his wall annoyed, but when that had yielded nothing he had gone over right before midnight to complain about the noise. The one who had opened the door had been taller than him, and if Virgil wasn’t so annoyed and tired he probably would’ve found himself spending more time staring at that gorgeous face as opposed to bitching about the noise. The guy had nodded once and had promised to quiet down.

But that had been two hours ago.

And it seemed Virgil’s second trip to yell at his neighbors to shut the fuck up a few minutes prior had done just as much good. So there was only one course of action left.

“You told the fucking RA?”

Virgil looked up from where he had been staring at his Calc notes in preparation for the test about to begin to the face (of who else but) his neighbor. “I asked you to quiet down twice,” Virgil replied looking back down to the equations in front of him.

“But tattling? What are you? Five?”

Virgil took a deep breath as he looked back up to that face. “It was two am.”

“I don’t care. No one else on the floor seemed to care.”

“That’s not my fault.”

“Alright everyone!” The professor cut in. “It's that time!”

As if calculus exam’s weren’t bad enough on their own, his neighbor’s eyes were glaring holes into the back of his head the entire time. He definitely failed that test. And the pop quiz in CS. And then he had left his Spanish homework in his room (and turns out the asshole neighbor is in that class too). Oh and of course he couldn’t forget he still had an essay due.

Today was just shit in its purest form.

And there was only one shovel Virgil knew how to use.

He couldn’t stop the sigh of relief which escaped his lips as he sunk into his desk chair.

“I take it you had an amazing day?”

Virgil just gave his roommate the finger as he pulled his laptop from his backpack. After glancing at the clock he could play for about an hour before needing to switch to writing his essay in order to be done before it’s due at 11:59. “Hey will you yell at me to stop in an hour?”

“Set a timer,” Jonas advised. “I’m not being yelled at again for forgetting.”

Virgil rolled his eyes before doing as he was told. With his timer set he pulled his headphones on and logged in. Logging in was accompanied by a message from Ralph.

The Silver Green Sharks and the Zora Regime are warring today on the Sheriyan Ruins in two hours. I’ll send a follow up with the exact coordinates soon as I know.

Virgil glanced at the time the message was sent with a smile as his inbox refreshed with a new message. Ralph seemed to have perfect timing as always.

He found a spot toward the outer ring of the ruins where he’d been hidden in the shadows of the collapsed building. And not a moment too soon, because it was then others began to arrive at site. But after nearly forty minutes, Virgil was finding neither guild seemed to be timely. They just seemed to have taken sides, but neither had bothered to attack. Virgil’s fingers were itching for something- anything to do. They needed to start fighting soon, before Virgil spent too long playing and his essay (and grade) suffered as a consequence. He sat there, spinning his phone’s ring stand in his hands and biting his tongue, and then a shout sounded over his headphones. He hadn’t been paying attention enough to know what it said, but the moment the voice ceased the two armies charged.

The chaos was instant, and Virgil had to stop himself from smiling at the sight- he had nothing to smile about just yet. His eyes scanned the details of everything in his character’s field of view- which wasn't much in this spot. But even if he moved further out he wouldn’t have enough information... He’d need to get to higher ground to see anything, but he’d need to risk being seen. But then again the risk was a portion of the fun. Virgil’s eyes flickered to his skills list, his mind already running through the combinations he knew. This was the true fun of Swords. To a new player a single skill was simply that. To a veteran its a building block, a string meant to be interwoven in an unseen pattern with others to create even better ones. The combinations were near limitless overall, and every pattern held potential. But even with so many patterns only five patterns could be saved to be used a single click before the level cap. Others would take long casting time purely based on the abilities of the player.

The skills, the skills, the skills.

Virgil could and had gone on and on explaining to friends the combinations he had found and written down, and he could go on about theories he had for new ones. But this mission wasn’t the time. It wasn’t the time to think about improving his skills to get what he needed, right now he had a single saved skill, which would be useful in this situation, Silent Presence. A sneaking and cloaking skill which would keep him hidden for five seconds before a cool down too long to let him use it again if needed. Virgil took a deep breath and poised his fingers on his mouse and keyboard. He’d run, look for higher ground while looking out for any possible grabs, use his skill and then steal the best thing he could.

He took a deep breath and then he was going. He ran out amongst the masses fighting, dodging them as he went. If anyone noticed him, they didn't say anything or try to fight him, most likely assuming he was a mercenary. He moved quickly spotting a higher bit of a crumbling wall, a few feet higher than the rest and everyone’s heads- perfect. He gave another deep breath, and then charged the wall. He jumped up to another crumbling piece and then double jumped up to the top ensuring he used Silent Presence as he did.

Virgil bit his tongue as his eyes scanned the screen and zeroed in on where a few of the The Silver Green Sharks and a Zona regime commander surrounded, and she was failing to fight back. But regardless of who would win, there would be some nice drops. The only problem was that he wasn’t sure how much longer that fight would last, but with Silent Presence ending he had no choice but to move and hope for the best. He hopped down and started running going wide to see the fight going on his left. But as he went Virgil’s gaze couldn't help but slip to his timer and he bit his tongue noticing how much was left, three minutes. Maybe he’d go a few minutes past, he’d just need to get a good drop to make it worth it.

The Silver Green Sharks had forced the Zora Regime’s commander back away from her troops. There were three of them, surrounding her, forcing her to back up as they attacked him from long and short range with all the skills in their arsenal. From his angle none of them looked particularly impressive by Virgil’s standards, but it didn't matter. She was failing to fight back despite the impressive looking sword in her hand (a high level one no doubt given the Zora Regime’s status), so her HP wouldn’t last much longer. And that meant Virgil needed to move faster. He glanced at his remaining skills debating if he should save his Speed Sprint for before or after this grab. But looking at how badly this commander was doing he didn’t have much of a choice. He charged forward watching as the commander fell and the Silver Green Sharks began to jump for joy. Virgil didn't waste time jumping with them. He used the last of his speed burst to run up to the dead character.

The sound of his timer pierced his psyche and Virgil’s fingers slipped causing his character to stumble, but he tried to regain his momentum as he reached the fallen commander. The moment his hand was on the sword he wasn’t even sure if anyone was following him but he didn’t bother to check as he continued to run as fast as he could. He gritted his teeth as he ignored the sound of the timer ringing loudly in his ears, he couldn't think about that right now. Right now he needed to focus on the game. So in case of pursuers, he switched the sword strapped to his back, for the higher level one he had stolen. He had never been good enough with long distance weapons to rely on them. He could only rely on how fast he could run. He ran for the outer edge of the Ruins where he could dive into the forest. His fingers were flying across the keyboard queuing up a teleport crystal. For a moment he thought he was free-

“Turn the thing off!” Jonas shouted at him.

Virgil grimaced but didn’t bother responding as enemies began to come his way. He gave a swallow, eyes scanning the map for an escape as he tried to ignore Jonas’ bitching in the background. Damn he should’ve saved the fucking sprint.

The cliff. It was a gamble but if he managed to get the edge, maybe they would slow down enough rather than push him off the edge. He just needed enough time to plug in the coordinates to the crystal. That would only take what? Four seconds? Could he buy himself that much-

“Virgil!”

“Shut up.” He returned, or was he directing it at the shouting voices in his headphones. Quite frankly he didn’t care. They were gaining on him, but as he reached the edge his character skidded to a stop. The enemies behind him didn't close in but they were too close for comfort. If they shot an arrow he was dead. Virgil gave a swallow as he finished typing in the last of the coordinates a risky plan before him.

“Virgil!”

He jumped from the cliff and hit teleport at once, and as he began to teleport he felt an overwhelming amount of relief. He couldn't help but smile as Jonas snatched his phone away, nor did he care about the angered shouts in his headphones.

And then came the deafening static.

It was sudden- it was loud- it was piercing and Virgil let out an involuntary scream of pain. He reached to rip off his headphones only to feel his body crash to the ground as his vision flickered. Until he was left completely alone in the darkness.

A groan escaped Virgil’s lips as he pushed himself to his knees. He rubbed at his closed eyes wondering how the hell he had managed to take such a hard fall from his chair before he opened them.

He was greeted with the sight of grass. Grass and trees.

Virgil gave a swallow as he pulled himself to his feet trying to annoy the way his heart had leaped into his throat which was already constricting itself. He tried to force down his panic and the rising bile- he tried to breathe - but his gaze was focused on the sign.

On the sign he had once helped put in this exact spot. But that didn’t make sense, that spot- this spot- that sign- was at the fork leading to the tavern- to a place that doesn’t really exist...

At least, not outside of the game.

~~~~

Level One - Level Two

[yourdreamscenarios]

When he cheats on you part 2

∙ Request ∙ Word count: 3.1K

“So, have you heard from him?” Sarah asked once more, as if she hadn’t asked that question a thousand times during the past couple of weeks. You rolled your eyes at once of your most cherished band members and even though you loved her, you wished she’d just leave.You’d banned the topic Kim Seokjin in your dorm for as long as you possibly could. But there was a time a person simply could no longer run from their problems. It seemed like you’d reached that point about a week ago, when your members had been done with your sulking and had told you to call him and talk to him. But here was the thing. No matter how much you it hurt you to talk about what had happened and no matter how much it pained you to hear someone say his name, it was nothing compared to the rage you felt. It was boiling inside of you, day and night and you were afraid that once you’d no longer have anything left to distract you from all of those bottled up feelings, you’d just loose it. 

There had never been someone who’d been able to make you feel all of these things. One of the most important people in your life had put a knife in your back and you had never felt more betrayed. He was supposed to be the one who supported you whenever, through whatever. And instead he had only been thinking of himself and his own needs. “How about no.” You muttered, knowing you were being moody for no reason. They couldn’t help the situation you were stick with right now. None of it was there fault. Yet,  you couldn’t help but feel like you had to be mad at everyone. Perhaps it would be a good idea for you to take it out on something. Take boxing classes perhaps? Maybe they’d allow you to put a picture of Seokjin’s face on your punching bag so you might actually be able to let go of some of your anger. It would feel good to actually be able to put a punch to his face without actually having to deal with the consequences. “Don’t you want to hear from him?” Jaimy asked you from across the room, where she was reading her book on the couch, laying upside down. 

She was one of those human beings you simply couldn’t seem to understand, no matter how hard you tried. She was one of the nicest people you knew, but there was something new to learn about her every single day. And hearing her ask you this question, you knew for sure she didn’t really have her mind into the conversation you were having. “Definitely no.” You said, looking up from the spot behind your laptop to send her a hard stare. As her eyes slowly slipped from the chapter in her book towards yours, she blinked her eyes innocently before going back to her reading. “It might give you some closure, talking to him. Maybe then you can move on, stop being moody.” Kyla muttered softly underneath her breath. Your fingers tingled from the urge to throw something at her while she continued to play her video game like this was some neutral conversation about the weather or your favorite ice cream flavor. 

This was your heart they were talking about so carelessly. You had loved that man, for such a long time. You had given him so much of yourself. You had trusted him enough to let him come close to you, to let him know all the small details about you. And still, he’d been able to hurt you the way no one else had been able to do before. You moved back toward your computer, where you’d opened the program which you used for songwriting. You wished there were any more things you could write but lyrics about heartbreak and hating your ex boyfriend, or the way you wanted to slap him with a baseball bat. The last thing you wanted was to have to think of him every single time you had to perform. So these past few days had consisted of you writing song texts, before saving them in a long forgotten map on your computer where you’d hopefully never have to look at them again. 

You told yourself they helped you to progress everything that had happened, but everyone knew that was a round out lie. Why couldn’t your friends just focus on their own stuff instead of trying to be your therapist? “We’re just worried about you, you know that right?” Sarah said, looking up from her piano where she had been jamming on some keys, as if she’d heard your thoughts. You demanded your defending posture back, trying to ensure yourself that was exactly what they were doing. Though, sometimes you couldn’t help but think they were trying to get into the middle of something they just didn’t understand. You nodded once, then sent her a small smile which probably looked as awkward on your face as it felt. “Oh god.” Kyla said, pausing her playstation so that a big source of sound fell from the room. Frowning, Jaimy pushed herself upright, fidgeting as she tried to steady herself and not drop her book at the same time. The probing on the piano keys faltered as Sarah looked up from her melody to stare out of the window. 

It had been raining outside since you’d woken up, which was probably the reason why you’d all decided to stay indoors today. A set of headlights flashed throughout the window and you squeezed your eyes as the light shone straight into your eyes as a car parked on your driveway. You’d recognize that vehicle anywhere. You’d sat in those leather seats so often you’d lost count. The lavender smell still seemed to be lingering inside of your nose. It made all the hairs on your limps rise in discomfort. Out of all the things he’d do, you surely hadn’t expected he would show up at your door. You thought that he’d understand, that after ignoring his texts and phone calls, he would understand that you simply didn’t want to see him. But Seokjin had never been one to quit so easily and he wasn’t one to give up on something he wanted. Displease churned inside of you as you realized that all your members would be able to see this entire scene happen. He’d chosen a hell of a moment to pop in for a chat. Listening to the sound of a car door slam shut you stretched out your neck, trying to see beyond the curve of the wall. 

But you couldn’t manage to see him before the doorbell rang and he was already standing at the front door. An intense silence fell over the apartment as everybody sat on their spot, frozen. The ticking of the clock in the hall indicated a few seconds had passed before the buzzer went off a second time, and quickly a third. He probably knew you were home and he wasn’t going to give up until someone opened the door. “Well, are you going to get it or are we?” Kyla asked, sending you an uncomfortable look from her spot on the couch. You glared at her while slamming your laptop shut, making sure to make it look as dramatic as possible. If you’d find out that one of them had something to do with this sudden appearance, then this wasn’t over yet. The sound of your chair scraping across the floor as you stood echoed against the walls and you took your sweet time making it towards the hallway and towards the front door. 

The thought that he was standing right outside, getting soaked by the pouring rain made you feel quite good right now. Standing on top of your tiptoes you reached to look out through the peephole and to be honest, what you saw made your stomach drop. You’d never expected it to be easy to see him again after what had happened. It was probably one of the reasons why you had avoided sticking anywhere after showcases or watching too much tv these days. You’d avoided his face on purpose, so you wouldn’t have to deal with all of the negative feelings its sight would have to offer. But now, you couldn’t do anything but stare at him, once again realizing how handsome he was. Once he’d been yours, before he’d decided to mess it all up. Taking a deep breath that crushed your lungs, you ripped the lock from the door and opened it. 

His hand had once again been on its way towards the doorbell, but paused halfway as he realized you were standing right in front of him. He was drenched, his clothing sticking to him in a way that would have turned you on not such a long time ago. Now, the only thing you felt when you looked at him was agony. A silence passed between the two of you as you stood on the dry side of the house and the rain continued to tickle on top of his head. The look inside of his eyes was one you had never seen him wear before. You could sense all the guilt in it, all the pain and the hate he probably felt towards himself. The thing was that you couldn’t bring yourself to care. “What do you want Seokjin?” You asked, surprised that you had it in yourself to sound as cold as you did, while you felt your insides falling apart. A visible shiver traveled through him, and the logical part of you told you that you had to move him out of the rain. If you wouldn’t he’d probably get terribly sick tomorrow. But then you reminded yourself that he had done this to himself, it was his own fault he was standing out there in the cold. 

“I just want to talk.” He muttered, his voice straining as he looked at something over your shoulder. You didn’t need to turn around in order to know he was watching your members disappear from the living room, creeping up to their bedrooms. On one side you were glad they were giving you the privacy to handle this without them being all over it. On the other side, you weren’t sure if you’d be able to do this alone. “I thought I’d been clear last time? I don’t want to talk to you, nor do I want to see you. I want you to leave me alone.” You spat, hoping he could feel the heat of the fire inside of your voice. You hoped your words hurt him half as much as his action had hurt you. For a brief second he closed his eyes, as if letting go of something he’d held onto until now. “Please…” He implored, his voice cracking in the middle of the world. And you realized that perhaps it was his dignity which had just left him, from begging you. God, the strength you held in this situation. 

It would only take you a second to slam the door in his pathetic face. It would only take you a single breath to tell him ‘no’. But you immediately realized that wasn’t what you needed. Kyla was right, you needed closure. If you ever wanted to move on from what had happened and leave it behind you, you’d have to endure this. It took everything inside of you to put a step aside and let him pass. You could tell he was trying to make eye contact with you as he slipped inside of the house, but you purposely looked down at the trail of drops he was creating on the clean tiles. You could feel the memories of all the times he’d been in the dorm probing inside of your mind, willing to surface and make this even harder for you. But you pushed them all back, refusing to give into them. You took your sweet time locking the door, checking twice if you’d done it right. And that time you took to pull yourself back together. Taking deep breaths in through your nose and letting them out through your teeth. No matter what he said, you must never forget what he’d done to you. 

Of that moment you’d found him in your shared bed with a strange woman underneath him, calling out her name. Straightening your shoulders and flipping back your hair, you turned around and walked towards the living room, where he stood at the centre waiting for you. Once he’d been as much at home here as he’d been in his own dorm. Now, he didn’t even seem sure if he was allowed to sit on the couch. You were sure his wet clothing wasn’t the only thing to blame for that. “Well go ahead, talk.” You said, stilling at a safe distance from him. You didn’t want to smell the soft scent of limes coming from him, or see the reflection of yourself in his sad eyes. You told yourself you had to set boundaries, in order to protect yourself. “I wanted to apologize.” He said, and it seemed that only now that he’d said those words out loud, he realized how they sounded. You squared your shoulders and crossed your arms over your chest as you took them in. You could tell the plan he’d made before coming here was starting to unravel in front of his eyes. This wasn’t some kind of fairytale which happened in happy ever after. 

This wasn’t the kind of world where love made you forget all the bad and remember only the good. You wondered if until now he’d even realized how high you’d built your walls ever since everything had happened. He would never be able to break them down again. You’d built them brick by brick, to make sure he would never get back in on the other side. What he did wasn’t something an apology was ever going to be able to fix. “I-I know that’s not what you want to hear. But I’m so, so terribly sorry. I want you to know that I never wanted to hurt you. I never should have done what I did. I will regret it for the rest of my life.” He rattled, wringing his fingers together in front of him. His hair was starting to curl around the ears, in the process of drying up. It was probably the first time you looked him straight in the eye as you answered him. “Good.” You’d never known you had it in you to hold these kind of grudges, to be this mean. But then again, nobody had ever treated you the way he had. He swallowed harshly, emotion flickering across his face. You took a deep breath, preparing yourself for what you were about to say. “Maybe I’d like to hear your story one day. Perhaps one day I could handle an explanation. But not today.” 

“Right now, I hope you’ll feel as hopelessly lonely as I did the past couple of days. I hope one day you’ll found out what it’s like to be left in the cold, to have your heart broken into pieces by someone so important to you, you were willing to give them everything. I hope you’ll find out what it feels like to think it’s all your fault, and you’ll have to handle it on your own.” By now a shimmer of tears swam inside of his eyes and it didn’t take long before the first ones rolled down his cheeks. Not so long ago you would have rushed towards him demanding to know who’s made him this upset so you could fight for him. But right now, you were fighting your own battle and there was only one of you who could win. “Right now, I wish you pain.” You croaked, trying to keep your own emotions in check. You weren’t going to cry, not in front of him. It was one thing to tell him how much he’d hurt you, it was another thing entirely to show him. He nodded, brushing off his tears with his already drenched coat. You could tell he understood, and for now you were able to find peace in that. 

That he knew that he’d been wrong, and that he would carry this mistake with him for a very long time. You hoped he’d be able to use this lesson in the future, even though you’d both had to learn it the hard way. “And now I want you to leave. If I ever wish for you to contact me again, I’ll let you know. Until then, I hope you could at least respect me enough to give me my space.” You said, trying to make him to understand that you did not ever want to see him appear on your doorstep again. He shouldn’t try talk to you when you ran into each other during broadcasts. That he shouldn’t congratulate you on your birthday or text you to ask how you were doing. That he wouldn’t like your Instagram posts and wouldn’t promote your songs. By the look on his face, you could tell he understood, and you could tell it was breaking him apart. Letting out the air you hadn’t known you were holding you stepped aside, creating room for him to let himself back out. He knew how the lock worked, he’d used it many times before. 

“Goodbye Kim Seokjin.” You mumbled, for the last time tasting his name on top of your tongue, the feel op it rolling over your lips. You took him in, trying to put his picture inside of your mind before burying it somewhere in a black box in the back of your mind, locking it and stuffing away the key. His steps trembled as he walked past you, his hand briefly brushing past the sleeve of your sweater as in a final greeting. You felt the love which had once been there glide against your skin, tickle your nerves. But you forced it to trickle onto the floor, together with the trace of water he was leaving behind on the floor on his way out. 

∙ BTS Masterlist ♡ ∙ Masterlist ♡

[ordinaryschmuck]

Top 20 BEST Animated Series of the 2010s-16th Place

All aboard the hate train! Because I’m about to say a show people would put in their top tens where it hasn't even made my top fifteen!

CHOO-CHOO!

#16-Regular Show (2010-2017)

The Plot: Two twenty-something slackers named Mordecai and Rigby are working in a local park named...The Park (Yeah, it’s a pretty lazy title when you think about it). When they’re not doing work, they’re usually slacking off by playing video games and hanging out as best bros should. However, amongst their sacred duty to avoid work at all costs, these two friends learn the ordinary isn’t as regular as one would think. Can they survive whatever life throws at them without getting fired? Judging by the number of seasons this show got...probably.

One thing I should mention right away is that this series was the perfect show for teenagers...and the occasional stoned college student. But teenagers, most of all! Or at the very least, teenagers in late middle school and early high school. And when I say that, I don’t mean that Regular Show panders to teens by using slang or sexy women (most of the time), but it at least knows how to talk to them. And it all has to do with the situations Mordecai and Rigby find themselves in.

Aside from when Mordecai and Rigby are forced to fight demons and monsters, any teen can relate to what Mordecai and Rigby go through in Regular Show. Most teens wish to escape responsibilities to play video games or to just goof off. And the lengths that Mordecai and Rigby go through to make that happen helps the target audience root for them. Teens can also relate to the personal issues Mordo and Rigs face. Rigby often struggles with growing up and trying to become a better person. He often comes across as annoying at times, but his attempts to change are both admirable and even relatable. Then there’s Mordecai, who faces something more dangerous than any monster these guys have met: Relationship issues (and also self-doubt, but it’s the relationship issues that the show focuses more on).

Now I know that I’ve complained about romantic subplots in the past and that for some fans, the romance was what dragged this series down as well, but I personally think the romantic subplots are one of the best things about the show. Mordecai’s struggles to have/keep a girlfriend is something that most guys (and maybe even some girls) can relate to. And while I would rather have the show focus more on his self-doubt rather than relationship drama, there is still the essence of self-doubt as seen through how he struggles with making the first move with a girl. The best example of this is in the episode “It’s Time," where Mordecai keeps chickening out to ask out Margret and ends up paying the consequences for it. The self-doubt is still there, but it’s just hidden under romantic drama. However, there is a love triangle, but it lasts no more than just a season-long and is completely tame compared to Star V.S. the Forces of Evil.

And while Regular Show primarily focuses on Mordecai’s love life, there are still other relationships in the show that manage to also be pretty entertaining. I legitimately love the fact that Muscle Man and Starla is the perfect couple, even though it’s revolting to see them be romantic with each other. Not only is it hilarious, but it even comes across as sweet at times. Speaking of sweet (kinda spoilers ahead), both Rigby and Eileen are adorable in later seasons. Rigby is far from perfect, but he honestly tries to be better and more understanding of Eileen. The best part is that Eileen doesn’t encourage him to do this. She likes Rigby for Rigby. Faults and all. Not only is that something most romantic partners should try to aim for, but it’s really adorable to see. (kinda spoilers over). And while not romantic in the slightest, the friendship between Mordecai and Rigby is honestly the best. They both have a great dynamic, and the interactions they have with each other legitimately feel like I’m watching real best friends having fun. I’m not kidding when I say there are actual moments where I forget that these are just characters voiced by people in a booth. Because they come across as THAT authentic.

Speaking of characters, I'm amazed by how there isn’t one in this series that I hate. Or at the very least, not a single character that I’ve learned to deal with. As for characters I love, Benson is on the top of that list. Not only are his frustrations with Mordecai and Rigby hilarious at times, but his struggles to have a life with meaning is something all of us can relate to. Then there's Skips, who is this stoic badass who actually has more layers to him than one might realize. Both Pops and Muscle Man also have great depth to them, one more than the other, while also managing to be the funniest characters. The only characters I really have slight problems with are Margaret, Thomas, and High Five Ghost (Yes, that’s actually his name). Margaret has little to no development until season seven, and even then, there’s really not much done with her. As for Thomas, he was forced into the story, and I felt nothing when he eventually got written out. Then there’s Fives, who doesn’t really have any personality other than being Muscle Man’s bro. While I’ve grown to live with these characters being in the show, they still have problems that I can’t really ignore.

And while we’re on the topic of problems, there is one main issue that I should mention first, and that’s the fact that this show is so weird. That stoned college student jab wasn’t just a joke because it honestly feels like you have to be high to understand the logic of this show's production. Just from looking at the main cast alone, I struggle to wonder how J.G. Quintel came up with these ideas. Not only that but the situations these characters find themselves in can range from bizarre to holy-crap-someone-had-to-be-high-while-making-this. And somehow-SOMEHOW-it gets weirder with each passing season. Sometimes I’m okay with shows embracing the weirdness, but even I have a limit for this series.

Another problem I should mention is Regular Show’s animation. The animation in this series is not all that great. Usually, that isn’t a problem because it relies on dialogue and bizarre imagery to entertain viewers. However, there are occasions when Regular Show utilizes action scenes, and that is when the poor animation really drags the series down. There’s neither weight nor choreography for any of the fights. And rarely can you feel the punches that the characters exchange with each other. Because of this, the action feels both slow and kind of boring at times. A problem that wouldn’t exist if the series had just slightly better animation.

However, what really drags this series down is its seasonal rot. By season five (six if I’m feeling generous), the show starts to lose its magic. The first thing to leave is its maturity. I don’t know if it’s child censors catching up with the writers or if the target audience just got younger, but it is painful to see this show become more kid-friendly. It used to not be afraid of having the characters be in the middle of a shootout (with real guns and rocket launchers, by the way), but by season seven, the series resulted in using lasers and bean bag guns. What also eaves is the show’s sense of humor. At first, the jokes were pretty funny. But after a while, they start to lose their mojo and can be awkward at times. But none of this compares to what happens in Regular Show’s final season. Without giving too much away, the eighth season puts the characters in an environment that doesn’t really fit the show. There are times where even the characters don’t feel like themselves, and it gets to the point where it seems like I’m no longer watching Regular Show anymore. I don’t know how other fans felt about that season, but that’s how I felt throughout most of it (It’s also been four years since the finale, and I still don’t understand how the last two minutes are even possible).

Regular Show is not meant for everyone. Hell, at a point, it no longer became the perfect show for its original target audience. However, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to enjoy. It’s funny, has great characters, and while it gets pretty weird at times, most fans loved that weirdness for six years. It’s nowhere near the best show in the 2010s, but it was still a good show. A jolly good show indeed.

(That last line makes more sense if you seen the series)

[takadasaiko]

Hi, I don’t wanna sound rude but why r u romanticising an abuser? Howard was abusive to his son n was probably as cold hearted towards Maria 2. I mean, from all the clips we got of her with him, she seems wary n sad. Always compromising, some battered wife syndrome. There was a shot scene from IM2 where he made her cry. I also doubt he stayed faithful; he’s a womaniser n really a misogynist in Agent Carter. I hope I dont come off as rude. I just wonder how there r HowardMaria ship 😖 take care.

I’m not sure why people think that saying ‘I don't want to sound rude’ makes it any less rude to come into an inbox and call someone an abuse supporter. I’m not romanticizing abuse in any way, shape, or form. I enjoy the complexity of Howard’s character that we got a better view of through the Agent Carter series. I have an analysis here if you’re interested that delves into how he went from the disaster dork we saw in CATFA and the Agent Carter series to the man that Tony remembers as being cold and distant. I also have a post here that touches on it as well. 

I’m aware that there are various arcs in the comics in which Howard is a downright bastard and a half. I totally understand why fans wouldn’t and don’t like him in those arcs. I have no interest in that Howard. The one I write about and the one I spend time on is the one from the MCU who is shown as having more of an emotional disconnect with Tony and an inability to express how he felt in a way that Tony could understand. That’s not abuse. Terrible, stressful, and painful absolutely, but not abuse. 

We see Tony go on a journey through the Marvel movies from where he describes his dad in IM2 as someone that never said that he loved him through the clip that Howard message Howard left him on the reel all the way through getting to see his father in 1970 and experience how terrified, but still excited he was for Tony’s arrival. It’s part of growing up in a way. As Tony matures, experiences some of the things his father experienced, he gets a better, more rounded understanding of him. It doesn’t mean Howard was a ‘good’ father, necessarily. He screwed up in a LOT of ways and actions have consequences. Some of those were consequences that Tony lived through (such as not believing his father loved him). Thankfully Tony was able to break what I can only assume was a Stark family trend of bad communication between fathers and children. The way he takes what he saw his father do incorrectly and adjust for the way he approaches Morgan is fantastic and such a healthy response.

For Maria, we know precious little about her in the MCU. We saw her through Tony’s memories via BARF, Tony spoke about her to Steve, we saw her in the video where she and Howard are killed by the Winter Soldier aka Bucky, and then Howard spoke about her in End Game.  Breaking those down individually: 

BARF

In the BARF memory form Civil War she strikes me as long-suffering dealing with the Stark men’s antics. Howard and Tony clearly had a habit of pushing the other’s buttons and Maria just sits there at the piano lightly chiding them. She didn’t strike me as an abused wife in the slightest. It’s not a stretch to assume she had to give things up to become Howard Stark’s wife - she would live in the spotlight with him - but that hardly means she’s abused. Any sadness seems to stem from the fact that her boys don’t see eye-to-eye. She loves them, she knows that they love each other, but stubborn Stark boys have trouble expressing that and butt heads instead. I’d be frustrated too. That woman had to be a freakin’ saint.

Which takes us to our next mention of her....

Talking to Steve 

When Tony is rambling on to Steve about why he and Pepper are taking a break in Civil War he says that, in Pepper’s defense, he’s a handful (Tony is likely my favourite MCU character, but I think anyone can admit he’s a handful). He goes on to say that Howard was a ‘pain in the ass, but Mom always made it work.’ He’s comparing the same level of Stark boy drama and the women that love them. We’ve seen Pepper. She’s sharp and clever and takes no shit. This conversation here is one of the reasons I feel Maria had to be very similar. The parallel is drawn through comparison. 

The Recording/ Bucky’s Memories

When we’re watching the video of the Starks’ car crash and shift into Bucky’s memories there, the first thing Bucky remembers is Howard falling out of the car and mumbling ‘help my wife. Help my wife.’ For all of Howard’s fault (and the man has a laundry list of defects), his first thought was to help Maria, not himself. 

And I would just like to take a brief moment to note that abusers focus is on themself. On what they can gain. It’s not to help others. 

End Game Discussion

This whole conversation was really to give Tony closure with all the questions he had about Howard and the lingering ‘did my father ever love me?’ that was difficult to get a real answer to once he was gone. Even so, we see Howard thinking about his pregnant wife at home. Flowers and whatever she was craving at the time. It’s small, but it’s sweet, and for a man that could have easily just told Jarvis to get her whatever she wanted, he’s doing it. It shows a certain level of care and attention that from a man that clearly struggles in that arena emotionally, deepening the meaning of the actions.

For your other mentions...

Tony was a womanizer in IM1, but he was faithful to Pepper once they got together. With all the parallels drawn between Tony and his father, why do you think Howard was any different?

Also, I’m not sure I know what scene you’re referring to in IM2. Maria’s mentioned very briefly when Tony pops up in the reel they’re shooting and Howard asks him where his mother is. Feel free to jog my memory on that one, because I’m at a loss there.

You seem to make a lot of assumptions based on a bias that you seem to start with, which is your prerogative. You’re welcome to feel however you wish about a character for whatever reason you wish to feel that way. What you are not welcome to do is come into my inbox and call me an abuse condoner.

[salty-dracon]

Some thoughts on The Caligula Effect 2

So I joke about this game getting a second remake to my friends online and the next moment I learn THIS was announced during the Japanese Nintendo Direct. Let me spill out my thoughts to spark discussion as well as provide a record to myself if this game actually does get localized.

Everything is under the cut!

My thoughts on Overdose were that it has a fantastic world... and that’s it. Out of the game’s cast, there were maybe four characters I liked, and the rest had moments that made me lose all sympathy for them. I recall it was common for some Let’s Players to like the villains better than the protagonists, and I’d agree on that front. I actually think the anime is the best iteration of this game’s story, changing up the formula enough to provide a really solid characterization arc to everyone. But Overdose suffers from poor writing issues (killing Eiji offscreen in the best ending was one of the worst decisions they made), rough handling of certain topics, boring and monotonous dungeons, and 500 social links you’re never going to do. I’m incredibly critical of this game, and I’d never recommend it to someone without a LOT of disclaimers, but somehow I still love it.

Already this game looks CRAZY good visually. It doesn’t look like a reskinned Vita game anymore, with something a little more reminiscent of say, the Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth games. That’s not to say that the game doesn’t still implement its fantastic character art, which still show up next to the speech bubbles. (At least the models have moving jaws. That’s important.)

Here’s to really hoping this game won’t be another Caligula 1 reskin, because uh... the game is about a protagonist who realizes that the world is a virtual one created by a Vocaloid who won’t let anyone out and joins up with a group of teenagers who also want to get out despite the fact that their real world lives were horrible so that they can set things right and they call themselves the Go-Home club (and also a Vocaloid gives them weapons made out of black stuff) but the people that are stopping them are basically the servants and guardians of the Vocaloid keeping them trapped in, who also happen to be humans who can’t return to the real world because their real world lives were so horrible, and so they have to fight because the Vocaloid won’t let them out otherwise. I mean, of course it won’t be a reskin, but I’m surprised at just how much of the original story they kept.

As for things they absolutely did NOT keep, DAMN this game looks dark! I was once remarking to a friend about how Caligula’s story would appeal better to me specifically if they’d gone with a religious pressure rather than idol stan theme, and they appear to have really pulled through with that religious pressure. I just realized, while writing this, that the image I showed off above actually has an image of an angel in the stained glass window being worshiped by fans with glow sticks. Furthermore, there’s a gothic cathedral-like altar, a halo behind Regret’s head, and this whole exchange looks like it takes place in a church. While I’m not religious myself, I can talk a lot about church architecture (see: my Fire Force livetweet) and I’m interested to see how this game handles it.

Not only that, most of the character designs seem darker and very different from the original game’s. Take a look at this game’s idol goddess:

Is μ going through an emo phase? I wouldn’t blame her lol. I think she still has a fantastic design that is in equal parts dreary and beautiful, while perfectly matching the color scheme of the new game.

And what a color scheme it is! The world of Caligula 1 had a gorgeous white, black, pink, brown, and gray color scheme framing bold pops of color in the form of flowers. Caligula 2 changes things up by making black the primary color framing everything else. The pops of color are so much bolder, too, from Noto’s bright yellow sweatshirt to basically everything χ is wearing. Do these changes reflect the story’s potential darker tone too? Or are they representative of something else?

We don’t know too much about the characters, but Caligula 2 looks like it’s giving them different weapons. It looks like the protagonists wield double knives instead of double shotguns. As for the other weapons, I see shortswords, katanas, chains, pistols (much smaller than Shogo’s), canes, and Qiyana’s ohmlatl from League of Legends. Definitely a shift from the original game’s weapons. I wonder if they’ll make a comeback? That giant gun was unique to say the least.

The Obbligato (I think?) are this game’s Ostinato Musicians. Italian for “obliged”, they are the ones who defend Regret from any threats. The one shown off most in the trailer is this guy who looks like the 1010 dudes from No Straight Roads. Man, he really looks like Shadow Knife in that image up there...

Also we get a, um, clown astronaut and a crazy high school yandere. Just to name a few. Definitely not the first time I’ve beat up a clown in a video game. Pretty unique as far as villains go, though. I hope this game has its own villain route, where you learn more about them. I’d really like that.

Social links! Looks like you rank up social links the same way you do in the original game. Do you want to make this character spill out all their trauma? Are you SURE about that, despite there being no negative consequences to you, the player? Awesome. Get ready to be sad.

The battle system is, from what I’ve read, similar, but not the same, as the battle system in Overdose. I’m not going to give too many details on that. They still seem to be time-based with combo chains, but they’re pretty vague. Looks like you still get to unleash crazy special attacks against your enemies. And they in turn can unleash crazy special attacks against you.

I absolutely want to see a. better characters and b. better overall writing. In my opinion these were the two weakest points of Caligula 1. Despite the protagonists’ tragedies, some of the little things they did made me sort of hate them. I did not like how everyone in the original Go-Home Club used Kotaro (who you learn is FOURTEEN!) as a verbal punching bag despite him being one of the kindest characters in the club. As for better overall writing, I stated before that I preferred the anime’s interpretation of events, because I thought they were in a better order overall. Besides killing Eiji offscreen, I hated how they wrote μ to be such a monumentally stupid character (I often point to Persona 5 Royal on how to write a villain like her well) and their, in my opinion, poor handling of certain topics like fatphobia. And though the character episodes sort of redeem them, it’s like... not really? The way I described it to a friend was that while the moral of Caligula 1′s story may have been “We live in a society and everyone’s dealing with their own hardships, but you can’t run away from them forever and you can at least be sympathetic to those facing them”, the character interactions end up dumbing it down to “We live in a society”.

Also an anime adaptation would be really sick. The anime just had so much better writing.

As for what I’m really curious about:

1. Who is Regret and how is she related to μ and Aria? We already know she’s a Virtuadoll like them, but if I recall correctly μ and Aria had some more concreteness to their backstories. Specifically, the human characters remember them existing as vocal synthesizer programs before they became the rules of Mobius. Regret’s backstory is that she just kind of showed up one day. Does she have different origins from μ and Aria? By the same merit, who is χ and how is she related to Regret, μ, and Aria? We know that χ opposes Regret and gives the Go-Home club the power to fight back against her, kind of like what Aria did in Caligula 1, but was she a co-creator of Redo like Aria was, or was her role completely different? The fact that she isn’t a little sparkle like Aria was (as a result of losing all of her power) indicates that their roles might be a little different.

2. What relationship does Redo have to Mobius? We know Mobius was created because Aria and μ wanted a place for humans to live without the sorrows they experienced in the real world. However, eventually μ was manipulated by everyone’s negative emotions and Thorn’s actions. This caused her to prevent anyone from leaving, and also the plot of the first game. Is Redo a second, improved iteration of Mobius, or a completely new virtual space? Were the goals behind its creation the same as in the first game? Or was there another force at work? Is Regret trying to copy μ or improve on her work? Or is she doing what μ did independently? I don’t think there’s enough information to predict the answer to this, but from what I’ve seen, there are a lot of similarities between the two worlds, from the high school to the end goal. However, there are some differences in tone. Mobius was a place to escape suffering, while Redo is being marketed as a place to escape regret. Redo also has a more religious bend than the idol theme of the first game.

3. What other links do the first and second games have to each other? People have been theorizing that Marie Mizuguchi/Wicked from the first game may return as Marie Amabuki (I think) in the second due to them having the same VA. There’s obviously the shared artstyle, symbolism, Catharsis Effect, glitchy NPC faces, and general setting. I also suspect that this game takes place after the events of Caligula 1. Not much I can say about this right now, but I wonder how everything joins up. Or if it even matters that they do. I haven’t seen too much on whether or not this game is being marketed as a standalone or a sequel, or if you even need to play Caligula 1 to enjoy Caligula 2.

Conclusion: While the Caligula series isn’t one I’d recommend to everyone, for the way it handles a number of sensitive topics, I will still be checking out Caligula 2 if it comes to the West. Though very little has been revealed thus far, so far I’m interested in the religious iconography used as well as the darker tone and colors presented in the game. As well as the characters, who have more varied and interesting designs including super unique weapons. I’m a bit disappointed that the plot, as it has been revealed, is an exact copy of Caligula 1′s plot, right down to the names of the protagonists’ faction. I was hoping for a bigger evolution to the story, but considering so little has been revealed in the first place, this may be a bit of a preemptive judgement.

That’s it. I hope you enjoyed my discussion of what I’ve learned so far.

[eatingfireflies]

law and chaos in dx2 liberation

Oh hey 10 years after Dx2 came out, I’m going to talk about it. 

Inspired by this post which I stumbled upon while looking for Jabo screencaps and pretty much sums up my general reaction to Dx2′s storyline as a whole: Wtf is happening here?  Also, why is Einherjar such an asshole?

Quick recap of the story so far: protagonist downloads an app via recommendation of popular video streamer Megakin. They are greeted by Einherjar, who tells them they are capable of summoning demons using the app (aka a Devil Downloader or Dx2 for short). Einherjar also says there are two groups of Dx2s battling each other, namely the Liberators and the Acolytes. Somehow, it’s decided the protag will join the Liberators and help stop whatever it is the Acolytes are planning on doing, which has something to do with this thing called Vanitas. 

The protag does have an alignment, which will become affected by the dialogue choices the player makes in game, but it doesn’t affect the gameplay at all. You can choose one option in Chapter 6 for the final battle in Odaiba and then come back instantly and choose the other option to get the alternate Odaiba battle, no biggie. Your alignment doesn’t really have anything to do with the routes... so the whole thing is pretty much cosmetic imo. But how come choosing to be ruled in order to survive considered a Chaos point?

Because Einherjar is an asshole and Astaroth is an inconsistent fuck. 

I have a problem with how the ‘celestial’ beings in Dx2 handled the plot and that’s why I’m writing this. I’m biased, but I’ll try to explain why. 

1, From the start, the Acolytes are framed as bad guys. Unlike most Megatens where you start off with nothing but worrying about survival before choosing your path, Dx2 starts you off with the Liberators from the start. They give you very little incentive to think of the Acolytes as in any way worthy of sympathy or your time. By the time you reach the fork in the road and Astaroth offers you a chance to switch loyalties, there’s very little reason for you to do so. The Acolytes themselves don’t even work with each other: they all have their different motivations that barely have anything to do with each other. Why would you even align yourself with that? But okay, at least their group as is Chaotic as the game labels them.  

2, It’s not that I don’t think different motivations is bad. While the other Liberators have their own personal goals, they’re united by their sense of justice and doing what’s ‘right’. The Acolytes, on the other hand  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ they’re a bunch of various corrupt individuals who do whatever they want, and by the time the Big Plan is revealed by the highers up, it’s kinda too late for us to care. So what is it the Acolytes supposedly want?

Joshua Hawke: wants to return the world into a state where nature is untarnished by humans.

Jabo Kakuryu: posits that destruction goes hand in hand with civilisation and implies destruction is needed for humanity to go forward. This somewhat ties in with what Joshua is saying (for the earth to be saved, some humans have to die). Finally, we seem to be getting somewhere. 

3, Except not really. Poor Astaroth, he’s doing his best to sell this gig but the plot does its best to thwart him to the point of him contradicting his own actions. 

It doesn’t help Joshua doesn’t trust Astaroth and at a critical point ignored his warnings about Vanitas (which resulted in the ‘bad end’). Like, Joshua really? Which one of you can see the future, buddy? 

Let’s try to break the whole thing down and I’ll do my best because tbh I don’t know:

Vanitas (comparable to Polaris in DeSu2) judges if mankind deserves to continue existing.

Astaroth sees the destruction of mankind in the future and decides to support the Acolytes in the guise of Jabo, in order to help save humanity.

Joshua Hawke, as advised by Jabo, intends to use Vanitas’s power to get what he wants. The Acolytes need to cause enough chaos to make Vanitas do something, but not enough that Vanitas would deem to destroy all of humanity. Just enough to clear the room a bit, you know?

Joshua doesn’t do that, but that comes later. 

Astaroth invites the protag to join the Acolytes’ cause, as it’s the ‘only’ way for humanity to survive. 

Shiori and Einherjar point out the flaw in Astaroth’s logic: if Astaroth’s predictions are infallible and the future can’t be changed, then why did he bother supporting the Acolytes? Also, the moment Astaroth interfered with humanity’s fate, he ceased to see a concrete future: Astaroth can’t see his own fate. 

Astaroth doesn’t defend himself despite these arguments being beside the point. Astaroth jumping into the fray doesn’t change the fact that Vanitas is going to pop in to judge mankind anyway. It’s going to happen, no matter what the Liberators and Acolytes do; what Astaroth is doing is just offering people a way to get through this alive somehow. He created a branching timeline: nothing more, nothing less. Saying he’s not infallible doesn’t destroy his arguments because his ‘route’ is based on the provable fact that Vanitas is coming. But the game seems to forget this I guess? 

Einherjar then (hilariously) points out that siding with Astaroth would mean being caged. By what? The Acolytes’ dogma? But the Acolytes don’t even listen to Astaroth. Astaroth himself has been consistently chill about humans doing whatever they want. In fact, when he and Einherjar agree not to interfere with humans after protag makes their decision to either be free or live like a cow, Astaroth honours his promise and stands back, no matter which side you choose (although he would try to give you tips if you side with him). Einherjar on the other hand would try to punish you for betraying him and the Liberators (the Acolytes route is a bit harder than the Liberators route because you have to fight Einherjar). This doesn't even equal how you have to fight Dadga in the Bonds Route of SMT4: Apocalypse, because we don't owe Einherjar anything--unlike Dagda who literally had to revive Nanashi's dead body in exchange for doing what Dagda asks.

So there you are, with Astaroth who will honour your decisions and Einherjar who wants you to choose the Liberators' side no matter what. Like how is that different from being 'caged'? This guy is basically showing you how you'll be punished if you step over the line.

Ah, but that does sound like the Law route doesn't it?

The choice Astaroth presents the protag goes against the usual Chaos route trappings of anarchy and disorder (quite the opposite actually), but the very different ways Astaroth and Einherjar react to protag's decisions kinda hark back to the harsher consequences of the usual SMT game.

eta: Jabo's speech about civilisation and destruction going hand in hand did NOT age well

[mrjoelgarcia9]

Let’s Talk #Anime: Summer Wars

Despite the comparisons to a certain anime film, Summer Wars is a great film.

For a review of Summer Wars, feel free to keep reading. There will be spoilers.

High school student Kenji works as a moderator for the virtual program Oz. One day, he is offered a job by his friend Natsuko to attend her great-grandmother’s birthday. To his surprise, when they arrive, she calls him her fiance. As he awkwardly keeps up the facade, a distant relative causes tension at the reunion. He is also sent a mysterious text with an equation to resolve. He does so, only to be accused of unleashing chaos due to a program known as Love Machine wreaking havoc upon Oz. As things get worse, Kenji, Natsuki, and her family now have to stop it from blowing up a nuclear power plant.

The premise is similar to the 2000 short film Digimon Adventure: Children’s War Game (AKA Our War Game/the second act of Digimon: The Movie). It centered around a Digimon named Diaboromon affecting all global communications, with the characters having to stop him before he starts World War III.

Note: The comparisons are based solely on the short’s English dub. 

Both the short and film have some things in common. They were directed by Mamoru Hosoda, the word War is in the title, feature a computer program unleashing chaos, and a climax where a character is supercharged by everyone online giving them energy.

Summer Wars differs just enough to be its own distinct take on the premise. 

The original short was a continuation of the anime, and with its short run time only needed to introduce the conflict and villain. The film uses its longer run time to introduce the characters before the conflict began and expand upon the situation such as showing more real world consequences. 

For example, while Diaboromon jokingly called everyone at the same time, Love Machine inadvertently killed someone.

The film's digital world is shown to be a virtual hub connected to everything from video games to satellites. It goes into more detail than the short where it was simply called the internet.

What makes the film stand out are the characters. Kenji is the cliche shy math nerd who gets thrown into an unexpected situation, in this case having to pretend to be Natsuki’s boyfriend. Natsuki, at first, just wants to impress her sick great-grandmother by pretending to have a boyfriend only to be distracted by the arrival of her favorite uncle.

Said uncle, Wabisuke, is set up as the antagonist by how he alienates himself from the others, later revealed to be Love Machine’s creator, and tells his adopted grandmother he did it for money. He is shown to be remorseful and regretful for his actions and comes back to avenge her death. For Natsuki, she adores him to an almost fanatic level, using parts of his life story as Kenji’s cover, and clearly heartbroken to find out he indirectly caused the chaos.

The actual antagonist, Love Machine, is reminiscent of Diaboromon. Both are monstrous programs who wreak virtual havoc and progressively evolve into far more powerful and threatening forms. What makes Love Machine stand out is how he rarely speaks, giggling at first only to then stay silent and emote solely with his eyes. In comparison, because of the time’s dubbing standards, Diaboromon spoke like a generic bad guy.

Natsuki’s family consists of a wide range of aunts, uncles, and nephews, most of whom have their own distinct traits. Seeing each family member have a unique opinion about the situation felt realistic compared to films where large families are often shown with a hive mind mentality.

When it comes to pacing, the film spends the right amount of time with each scene. The first act quickly sets up Oz, the premise, and characters. The second act follows Kenji trying to prove his innocence and the family’s varied responses to the crisis. The third act begins on a somber note, with Kenji and the family quickly having to recoup and fight Love Machine, and culminates in a climax where everyone works together to destroy it.

The film has several great moments to shine, the most powerful being the death of great-grandmother Sakae. It is presented realistically, slowing down to focus on the family mourning her passing and featuring a mixture of anger and sadness.

The climax, while having exact same plot beats as Our War Game, is far more dramatic. The orchestral music helps increase the intensity of the situation whereas the short’s dated pop music ruins the moment.

The animation is excellent. Hosada’s distinct realistic style is far more evident in the film than the short. None of the real world characters look off or unusual, to the point where it almost looks rotoscoped. It is perfectly grounded.

On the other hand, the virtual world features clear references to Hosada’s past work. Most of the avatars could easily be mistaken for rejected Digimon, such as King Kazma. Love Machine even looks like an anthropomorphized Greymon.

When it comes to the English Dub, it is really good. The dialogue is faithfully translated, only rearranging a few words to match lip animation, and the acting is consistently good. Dragon Ball Z fans will likely recognize a couple of voice actors playing supporting roles, such as Cynthia Cranz and Monica Rial. Compared to the original Japanese version, both are equally enjoyable.

Within Mamoru Hosada’s original filmography, Summer Wars is an overall excellent film. It has a great plot, great characters, great animation, perfect pacing, and excellent dub. Whether you want to see a better take on the evil computer program premise, are a fan of Hosoda’s other films, or anime overall, Summer Wars is Highly Recommended.

Summer Wars is available to own on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital. Within the United States, it can also be streamed exclusively from Funimation.

Until next time, thank you for reading!

[eddtober]

EDDTOBER MASTERPOST 2019!

ABOUT:

Eddtober is a list of prompts made in an effort to encourage the Eddsworld Fandom to spread their wings of creativity beyond the norms that they are used to, during the month of October.

It is all without harming others or causing drama, a neutral ground for all fans of Eddsworld to come and have fun, no matter what side of a discourse they’re in. 

It hopes to promote inspiration beyond the usual over-dramatised content, to revive a spirit in Eddsworld that hasn’t been seen in many years, and to stretch the invitation to all who can create.

Eddtober calls not only the artists who have a talent for drawing and painting and so forth, but also: the authors (fanfics, journalists, essayists, diarists, poets, ramblers), the cosplayers, the video-makers (animators, video essays, memers, youtubers), the gamers (game devs, let’s plays) and more. Eddtober calls for all those who want to be inspired with unconventional creativity. 

So Eddheads: come forth, be inspired and make something new! 

With that out the way, steel yourselves - this post is gonna be a long one under the cut!

RULES:

Base Rules need to be set so everyone can participate in Eddtober safely and in a fun way. Please read them carefully!

Always tag it with #eddtober and tag appropriately! Of course, the first part is easy. In regards to the second part, there’s three categories. All they have in common is that they must be tagged with their own tag and NOT in the main eddtober tag. These specific tags musn’t be shortened or reimagined either, just to make sure. Side Note: If you don’t want to see ANY of these things mentioned in the categories, it’s recommended that you get some form of a blacklist extention, either Tumblr Savior, xKit, or even tumblr itself to hide those things from you. Though do beware - be careful when looking through the blog since… Yeah, it’s hard to blacklist stuff through there. a) Gore. Gore and related NSFW is allowed in the challenge, but please tag it as #Eddtober gore, alongside the appropriate trigger warnings of the subject as #tw -trigger here- . The creative piece should also be posted with a ‘keep reading’ redirection so it isn’t immediately seen by those who are repulsed by it. b) Shipping. As of 2019, shipping is now officially allowed and acceptable in the challenge! If you have any ships implied or shown in a prompt response, always use #eddtober shipping and what ship it is in a seperate tag. c) (In)Famous Fan Projects. As of 2019, a lot of dividing opinions have been flying around the community and splitting people apart. In an event of unity and neutrality, these opinions are still welcomed, but still have to be done carefully. If you’re in favour of a fan-project, go ahead and tag them alongside ’#eddtober fan project’. But if you’re not, then you don’t have to tag them - just use ’#eddtober fan project salt’. And yes, those are the exact tags. No need to alter them here.

Be Sensitive and Respectful to Others. I know many of us here in this fandom can take easy offence to certain creations, so please consider and think on your creative piece before you make and post it. If it’s intentionally insulting and offensive, don’t post or even create it at all.  

Credit Where Due. This should be blatantly obvious right now, but please, please don’t steal other’s creative fanwork or post it without credit. Always have permission from the creator to post something of their’s, regardless of the social media, and always have their username when you post it, not just ‘credit to the artist/original person’. If you do not follow this, actions will be taken for your consequences. This also goes for spreading Eddtober - always place a link to this blog if you spread the list to other social medias!

Keep your situation and life chill. You can do one prompt for Eddtober, some of the prompts or all of them - up to you! It’s understandable if life gets in the way. The goal of Eddtober is not to do every prompt, but to be inspired to create fan-content in a way you usually wouldn’t have.

Spread the word. This is less of a rule and more of a personal request from Admin Chris, but since she doesn’t have many social media accounts you’d expect, spreading word of Eddtober (with appropriate credit back to this blog) would mean a LOT, so they can join in the fun too!

Sharing is caring. Reblogging and sharing from your fellow creators doing Eddtober would be great to give them a motivation and confidence boost! (Keep in mind that reposting is not the same as reblogging, unless proper credit is given with the original artists’ permission.)

Go Beyond the Boundaries of Your Imagination. The whole purpose of Eddtober is to promote new, fresh things to come up in the Eddsworld fandom and break a cycle of the same old that’s been there for a while. Take a leap, spread your wings, do your best, and go have fun.

BOUNDARIES:

Most of this list will be related to Rule Two of Eddtober:

Be Sensitive and Respectful to Others.

Quote:

‘I know many of us here in this fandom can take easy offence to certain creations, so please consider and think on your creative piece before you post.‘

Whilst Eddtober is a fun, neutral place to spread our creative wings, there are boundaries that need to be taken in order to keep everyone safe. Which means certain parts that are usually seen as ‘common’ within the Eddsworld Fandom will not be acceptable in the challenge. This list is just to make sure that we as the Eddtober community can set a good standard for the fandom and for ourselves.

Edd Gould’s death. Admin Chris wishes to make it clear that creative pieces that draws clear lines to Edd’s passing IS NOT okay. This includes Edd (IRL and the character) in hospital for cancer, Angel Edd or any AU that depicts him as a divine being of any sort (including Blessworld), in Heaven or Hell (as an actual denizen there, not a tourist like in Hello Hellhole. There’s a strong difference).   Here at Eddtober, Edd's life is something to be celebrated, not his death. It’s uncomfortable to see this thing happen and should be steered clear of.

Fetishisation/Sexualisation of Religions and Faiths. This is another reason why AUs such as Blessworld aren’t okay. In regards to that AU, the sexualisation and the horrendous acts done within the Catholic church is a highly sensitive topic that’s still debated over even in real life. So things such as ‘sexy’ nuns and priests and so forth are a strong insult to them. This is only one example though, and I’m not saying you can’t explore faiths and combine them with Eddsworld, but I HIGHLY recommend doing your research on the faith or religion and its history before creating for Eddtober.

Edd’s old IRL Friends. This is regarding Prompts 27 and 28 for the most part. Whilst Edd Gould did draw his pals into comics and Eddisodes, making them their own characters (quite clearly), many of them might not want to be associated with Eddsworld or Edd after his passing or after the legacy season. So out of respect for their wishes, please do not involve Edd’s actual old IRL friends in your creative pieces unless they say they’re okay with it. This will vary from person to person, so do not also take one answer from one person and apply that as an umbrella motive. If you get no response from the person regarding this if you ask them yourself, then take it as a NO and don’t involve them in the creative piece. This doesn’t mean that you cannot use the Eddsworld character based off of them (unless they straight-up say so). You’re perfectly able to, but to avoid future confusion, a person’s Eddsworld character IS NOT the same as the real-life person. For example, using Tom from Eddsworld in a piece is okay, but using Thomas ‘TomSka’ Ridgewell himself for the same Eddsworld piece isn’t. (Disclaimer: Said example may not be 100% accurate unless there’s further information about this. This is a fictional example, after all.)

The real guys’ last names/surnames. I really didn’t want to say this in here and it hasn’t happened in Eddtober yet, but when Legacy ended, one of Tom’s last says was that the fans shouldn’t use the IRL last names of Eddsworld crewmembers (specifically actors and animators) for the characters. It’s an effort to seperate the characters from the real-life people. This means when creating your pieces, you don’t use: -Edd Gould -Tom Ridgewell -Matt Hargreaves -Tord Larsson And so forth. You’re welcome to come up with your own last names for the characters, but please don’t use the old IRL ones. Unfortunately since this habit is starting to pop back up in bits of the fandom, I want to make it clear that isn’t cool or tolerated, and action will be taken if I see it happen in here.

Sinsworld. Believe it or not, the sinsworld tag was specifically made back in the day to keep the porn out of the main. But due to a certain in-fandom event, this intended action has been long-lost. Because of all of these events, any sinsworld (porn, lewds and related sexual NSFW) that’s Sinspired by the Eddtober prompts WILL NOT be accepted into the blog or any other official Eddtober accounts by any means.   This is because many in this fandom are minors/underage and more who are 18+ are repulsed to porn and such (Admin Chris is part of the latter group). It is fine to be sexually inspired by the prompts and create stuff for them, but PLEASE don’t tag that Sinsworld content with Eddtober.

Abusive/Self-Harm Creative Content, Gorey or not. No. Just. No. I don’t wish to deny vent or darker creations. It is good to release your frustrations and express personal issues in what you create, but there are safe and appropriate ways to do so in the challenge. Death wishing, abuse, suicide/suicide idealisation, self-harm and/or similar are NOT allowed to be depicted in the challenge and should NEVER be romanticised or supported. Eddtober aims to be a safe and uplifting place for all creative people, no matter what their space is at the moment.

Shipping. On a similar note - whilst shipping is allowed, there are of course some things we don’t allow out of respect for everyone: -Shipping of the IRL people. -Sexual or abusive ship dynamics and tropes. -Ship-bashing or insulting ships. I’m sure there will be more to add to the list as I continue getting asks regarding this, but in the meantime, please don’t let yourself fall into creating for this.

Gore beyond Eddsworld’s levels. Gore has been a staple of Eddsworld since the early episodes, and it won’t be refused in the challenge. However, there are limits to how far this gore will go as of 2019, and it will be made clear here. -Guts This was allowed in Eddtober 2018, but as of now this is no longer the case. A lot of Eddheads expressed discomfort at the idea of guts hanging out of bodies as of the 2019 preparation survey, and I agree with them. This will also be extended to zombification/zombies. -Romanticised/‘Fashionable’ Gore. Absolutely not. Using the creative properties of gore to make someone look more ‘attractive’ in a sexualised manner is against the earlier boundaries. -Gore of Edd Gould, or his old IRL friends. This hasn’t happened, but it is good to make this clear in case some people are really naive about this: DO NOT DO THIS. That’s just straight-up offensive. -Gore of Prompts 27 to 30 (and potentially 31).   Obviously. Since these last few prompts are about expressing your love and appreciation to the fandom, it doesn’t make sense on why you’d make something gutsy-gorey about some wholesome times. Especially in regards to Prompts Twenty-Seven and Twenty-Eight (Which was also just technically mentioned above, but the point has been made).

(In)Famous fan-projects. In the past year or so, certain fan projects have gathered a strong following - both for love and hate. Unfortunately, due to this hate being especially loud in 2019, action had to be taken for this. It’s not to say that you can’t express your opinions of a project, but there’s a safe way for all in doing so. For the others around you, and for yourself too. So if you’re going to create things that relate to either side of the argument you’re on, I will NOT allow straight-up insulting stuff to either side. Be it horrendous caricatures of the creators, vaguing about others through a story, plain old bashing or other means, I will NOT let it be shared around. More so, if this is kept up, I’ll most likely disregard your creations entirely since I don’t wish to endorse hurtful people. Especially through this event.

With all that said and done, let’s get to the ACTUAL prompts!

Quick reminder: when this list says ‘create something for’, it’s not just referring to fanart. It refers to any medium - digital, traditional or unconventional - that can be used. The challenge here is to be creative as possible, not to stay conventional.

The List features Admin Chris’s Commentary. Some useless, some useful.

Create something for Edd. (Not his real-life counterpart, but the character. That needed some clearing up based on 2017’s results.)

Create something for Tom.

Create something for Matt

Create something for any pre-legacy season episode, except WTFuture. (You can do WTFuture if you want, but seeing that much of this fandom is currently made of people who came in after The End… It’d be worth having a crack at other pre-legacy episodes.)

Create something for or with the crew’s symbols. (An example of symbols being a cola can for Edd, something blue for Tom, a mirror for Matt, etc.)

Create something for Superhero Alter Egos! (It doesn’t have to stop at PowerEdd’s canon either! Go nuts! Give Edd and his friends new superhero alibis and outfits!)

Create something for Supervillain Alter Egos! (Reminder that it doesn’t have to stop at the ‘Green/Blue/Purple/Red Leader scenario! Again, go nuts! Get wacky if you must!)

Create something for Minor characters of the show. (Except the Neighbours - they already have their own prompt.)

Create something for descendants of the main four guys. (Sure, you can make it about the love children of your favourite ships, but the point of this prompt specifically is to not be ship-related. See if you can come up with descendant characters from the bloodlines of the main four. If not, shipping is fine.)

Create something for Tord. (He’s late in this list for a reason. Trust me.)

Create something for the neighbours of 29 Dirdum Lane. Are Kim and Katya still there, or are there newbies in the street?

Create something for the neighbours of 25 Dirdum Lane.

Create something for unlucky things happening to the guys, or one of them. Feel free to go as dark or as humourous as you like!

Create something for genderbends of the guys, maybe as if the Ellsworld we know never existed. Or you can stick to canon, up to you.

This prompt is a wild card. Do with it as you wish. (In 2017 everyone was told to quote: ‘go whole hog on this’. The next thing we all knew, everybody literally drew pigs with the guys. That wasn’t supposed to be literally taken, but by god it was hilarious.)

Create something for your crew. Whether you’re the main character with your friends or have OCs taking that place or a mix of both is up to you.

Create something for an AU of Eddsworld. You can make one up on the spot, or even fan content for an AU that already exists is cool too. (As of rule number two of Eddtober, the Blessworld AU will not be accepted for this prompt. I know it is popular, but if you have any issues with this, please contact me in the blog asks myself.)

Create something for Eddsworld as a video game. Whether it’s concepts and covers for your own ideas or fanart for games in the making such as Eddsworld Armageddon, up to you. Heck, why not make a demo?

Create something for Todd, or whoever the ‘Tord’ figure is of 25 Dirdum Lane.

Create something for a Saloonatics-WTFuture Crossover. (What? Shenanigans could be made here, guys. Just take it!)

Create something for the future selves of the guys. Or if you want to take it up a notch, make your own versions of them! Have them all be hobos (#HoBrosforlife), or have cola not be banned in the future… up to you!

The End who? Create something for and/or elaborate on how you would finish off the Eddsworld Legacy season. (For the purposes of this prompt, I can accept an angsty end for this, but I personally do not recommend it.)

Create something for Zanta. (I guess you could call him a Nightmare Before Christmas, then.)

Create something for an Eddsworld movie. Whether it’s stuff for the Eddsworld Fan Movie or your own ideas, up to you!

Create something for the deal with Tom’s eyes. If you want to call them that.

Pick a song, any song, and put that on repeat. Use it as inspiration to create something in relation to Eddsworld.

Create something for Edd Gould himself. Not his character in Eddsworld, the real-life person.

An obligatory prompt without Eddtober in the beginning: create something for Edd’s birthday. (This was made into a prompt and will permanently remain as one as Edd’s birthday shouldn’t be taken away from today.)

Create something for someone/multiple someones in the fandom who inspire you - even the small artists and writers and such who are just starting out!

Create something for who or what got you into EW. What's your story? How did you get here? (Do you have 90 minutes?)

Create something for you being inserted into Eddsworld in any way. (Because here in Eddtober, cringe culture is dead and we don’t hesitate to self-insert.) Be it you hanging with the guys or going on an eddventure, the context and situation is up to you!

VETERANS! Have you already done a prompt and don’t want to repeat yourself? Then check out the list of Eddstra Prompts here!

Phew! Alright, that’s everything. If you have any suggestions or questions about the challenge, please feel free to shoot an ask through the blog. Thanks for reading and have a safe and awesome Eddtober!

[recentanimenews]

We Will Never Escape Neon Genesis Evangelion

I loved Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance. The bombastic fight scenes. Shiro Sagisu’s epic choirs. The careful game of hot and cold the film plays with viewers, teasing you with happy endings only to spit in your face. Most of all, I was excited to be seeing Neon Genesis Evangelion’s final form. After the compromises of TV Evangelion and its follow-ups, after Anno’s years of depression and anxiety, here at last (I thought) was the beginning of the end of a story that had haunted so many people’s lives.

  Years later, I watched 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo with a friend. I was crushed. This was not the Evangelion I knew. Every character but Shinji had transformed into hateful, incommunicative ciphers — except for Kaworu, whose death at the end of this film is arguably even more shocking and graphic than in the original TV series. The fights had become overblown, weightless parodies of Evangelion’s excess. What struck me most of all, though, was how much of the film’s world contradicted the previous movie’s set-up. I was expecting that Shinji’s actions of at the end of 2.0 would have dire consequences, but not that it would create an entirely new universe of lore, weirdness, and unsolved questions that made Evangelion’s earlier status quo irrelevant.

  “What will become of Evangelion now?” I cried to myself.

  I was a fool.

    In the Summer of 2019, Netflix put Neon Genesis Evangelion up for streaming for the first time. This was a huge deal, as Evangelion up to that point had been one of the most important and influential anime series you could only really watch through piracy or via expensive DVDs. Friends across Twitter celebrated. Online journalists wrote lengthy pieces praising the series and how it changed their lives forever. It didn’t matter if you had never heard of Evangelion, or if you were an Evangelion obsessive (or naysayer), everyone was thrilled to rediscover it together.

  Then the bonhomie disappeared in an instant. There were excellent aspects of the new release — particularly Casey Mingillo’s work as Shinji in the new dub. But other bits seemed off. Why was Shinji referred to as the “Third Children” rather than the more natural “Third Child?” Couldn’t Netflix bothered to have brought back Tiffany Grant to voice Asuka? Most annoyingly of all, an exchange between Shinji and Kaworu was changed in such a way that removed valuable subtext. Rather than say “I love you” to Shinji, Kaworu says “you are worthy of my grace.” For a series known for its complications and thorny character relationships, I found it bizarre that the team handling the series would choose to remove that bit of nuance.

  Anime fans argued back and forth for days over why these decisions were made. In the end, the answer seemed to be: Anno and his friends at Khara believed the earlier subtitles were not faithful enough to the original script, and so they insisted on accuracy at the expense of flow. The original ADV release continues to exist on expensive DVDs. The Netflix version is closer to the true vision of Evangelion, but perhaps farther from ours. Could Anno’s vision of Evangelion be inferior to the one his fans had obsessively crafted over years of urban legends, fan theories, and obsessive study? As people grasped in vain for the promised land of Eva, I couldn’t help but think: once more, we’d fallen into the trap.

    When people talk about Neon Genesis Evangelion, there are certain lines repeated so many times they become clichés. “None of the religious symbolism means anything.” “Why won’t Shinji get in the robot?” “The characters are all so unlikeable and weird.” “The ending is such a disappointment.” “Compared to the TV ending, End of Evangelion is a monstrosity.” “Compared to the TV series and the film, the Rebuild films are pared-down and too market-tested.” There’s one theme that ties these disparate statements together: Evangelion is a mess. And it absolutely is. In fact, there are countless other anime from the '90s you could argue are even better than Evangelion. Cowboy Bebop has great music. Serial Experiments Lain is a weird horror classic. Heck, if you want a series with meaningful symbolism, great visuals, and a rollercoaster of a story, Revolutionary Girl Utena is right there!

  But there’s something about Evangelion that keeps pulling people back. There’s a reason fans were excited when it was announced Evangelion was coming to Netflix. There’s a reason that people continue to debate aspects of the series to this day. There’s a reason Hideaki Anno himself keeps coming back to the well, again and again, grappling with the story that made his name on the world stage and that he still can’t escape from. Everyone who knows and loves Evangelion, from forum lurkers to aspiring animators to the creators of Evangelion themselves, are caught in the show’s gravitational pull as much as they know that pull can be harmful. I’m caught in it too. We go around and around, and ask ourselves, “What is Evangelion about?” Does Anno know the answer?

  Here’s what I think Evangelion is about: Evangelion is a trap. It’s a loose end. There is no final, comprehensive answer. The story will always be unresolved. I was wrong to think Rebuild would or should give me the answers I wanted. Your favorite Evangelion fanfiction will never be definite. Hideaki Anno and his staff may never be satisfied. The story of Evangelion is the story of Charlie Brown endlessly running at Lucy’s football. It’s both Ultraman and Devilman. And that is why Evangelion is as popular as it is. To engage in some pop psychology, as Evangelion itself loves to do: The world we live in is full of things that seem incomprehensible to us. Whether intended or not, the universe of Evangelion is full of those loose ends. So we worry at them like we’re trying to dislodge a tooth. It’s painful, but something in you wants to get it done. To know the taste of blood.

    Sometime soon, the final Rebuild of Evangelion movie will be released. Perhaps it will give us an ending. More likely, it will raise more questions. Some of my friends will be upset. Right now, though, I’m at peace. Evangelion will never make me happy. But my friends and I will be arguing about the show until we are dead. Maybe that’s enough.

  What do you think of the Rebuild movies? What do you think about Evangelion? Will we ever stop thinking about Evangelion? Let us know in the comments!

  Adam W is a Features Writer at Crunchyroll. When he is not watching this video, he sporadically contributes with a loose coalition of friends to a blog called Isn't it Electrifying? You can follow him on Twitter at: @wendeego

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[mediaeval-muse]

Video Game Review: GreedFall (Spiders, 2018)

Genres: action RPG, fantasy

Premise: Players assume the role of De Sardet, a human noble who arrives on the recently-discovered island of Teer Fradee. Able to ally with either the natives who inhabit the land and/or any of the foreign nations competing to colonize it, De Sardet seeks out a cure for the mysterious illness that plagues their family, while also battling monsters and magic.

Platform Played On: PC (Windows)

Rating: 3/5 stars

Disclaimer: My rating is in response to multiple aspects of the game, not just its politics. If I were evaluating solely on politics and gave the developers the benefit of the doubt that they were trying to make something with a good message, my rating would be around the 1 to 2-star range, depending on player choices.

***Full review under the cut.***

I am evaluating this game based on four key aspects: story, characters, gameplay, and visuals.

Story: I’m immediately wary of any pop culture item that tries to tell a story about colonialism and Indigeneity because it usually ends up indulging in colonialist fantasies rather than critiquing them. Complex, morally-grey stories are great and all, but when it comes to tales about colonialism, “both sides” narratives tend to look a little insensitive. So, I can’t tell you why I decided to play GreedFall, other than I heard that it filled the Dragon Age-sized hole in people’s hearts. Since I’d rather use my own judgment than read video game reviews, I bought this game on sale and gave it a go. If nothing else, I told myself, I could use my history and literary analysis chops to say something intelligent about it.

In terms of politics, I don’t think GreedFall was as terrible as games where the goal in itself is colonization, but I also don’t think it achieved a narrative that was critical enough of colonization. De Sardet’s primary goal is to achieve balance between all the nations (which I’m calling factions because they’re mostly that). While I can admire that GreedFall really pushed for peaceful relationships, as well as pushed back against abuse and racism, I ultimately thought the developers didn’t consider how the struggle for balance actually facilitates colonialism. This game presents colonialism a diplomatic issue, so as a result, Teer Fradee is kind of a fantasy where colonists can settle on native land while maintaining friendly relationships with Indigenous peoples (at least, if you play it that way - at worst, you can seize absolute power). The experience was similar to the one I had playing BioShock Infinite, whose politics involve a “both sides” argument - the difference is that BioShock Infinite made explicitly clear by the end of the game that Booker was the true villain. With de Sardet, it’s a bit more ambiguous, depending on how you play, but I do think the game pushes you to be diplomatic rather than power-hungry. As a whole, it brings up the very valid question of whether or not colonialism should be in media period, or if there’s some value to be derived from consuming problematic media that tries to do good and talking about it.

Still, I have to give credit where credit is due. GreedFall had the guts to actually try to tackle little-discussed themes in this game, such as forced conversion, abuse within the sciences, and institutionalized bullying. While the missions associated with these big themes were accomplished with varying degrees of success, many of them added emotional depth to the game. Companions would have emotional reactions to these quests that tugged at my heartstrings, and there were never any shots of graphic violence or mutilated bodies, so it didn’t feel like I was playing the game for an edgy thrill. All of the side quests had a lot of bearing on the main plot and the worldbuilding - I don’t think I encountered any “fetch quests,” so most of the things I was doing actually related to enhancing my understanding of the world and its social dynamics.

The game also did a good job of presenting players with factions that were constantly in conflict with one another, lending an added layer of complexity to all the political aspects of the plot. Character’s personal quests were also very well done and had emotional depth. Vasco’s arc about learning about his true family was a nice exploration of birth family vs found family (he’s a sailor whose birth family gave him to the naval faction, the Nauts). Kurt’s quest was also a good one about the bonds between military recruits and really showed his commitment to people over institutions (he’s de Sardet’s commander at arms). Siora’s quests were more about staying true to her culture (she’s a native and daughter of one of a now-deceased tribe leader), while Aphra’s were about learning to be open minded when learning about a different culture (she’s a scientist interested in plants). Petrus’ were a mix of taking down the head of his Church and helping your character find their roots (he’s something of a pastor who also wields magic to fight). You can tell that the developers were inspired by Bioware games in that you can cultivate reputations with your companions and eventually romance them. Many of these romances are available to both male and female PCs, so there’s potential for a queer ship.

I will say that by the end of game, I was emotionally wrecked, despite all the political problems. So, I do think the developers of this game have a good sense of storytelling - I just wish they had done better politically.

Characters: Similar to Mass Effect or Dragon Age, GreedFall gives players a player-controlled character (PC) and a host of companions to take on an adventuring party. De Sardet, the PC, doesn’t have much personality when they’re being diplomatic, but I did enjoy the moments when they were confronted with information that impacted them emotionally. I played a female de Sardet, and the voice actress did a good job of balancing emotion with the facade that’s required of a diplomat. Constantin, de Sardet’s cousin and governor of New Serene (one of a few colonial settlements on Teer Fradee), is also carefully written as a charismatic, sympathetic nobleman’s son who wants to prove his worth. He and de Sardet share a close bond, which made moral decisions a bit more personal and emotionally difficult. I do think he became a scapegoat for all the evils of colonization, though, and I wish more was done with him to implicate every colonizer on the island. The companions are likewise very likable and fairly unique. Each of them had personal quests and stories that were compelling and sympathetic. I do wish there had been more opportunities to chat with them, or that they talked to each other during exploration (like Bioware companions do). I also appreciated that the Teer Fradee natives weren’t one, homogeneous group. I think too often we see pop culture try to write Indigenous peoples as having the same culture and goals, but with this game, there was some variety regarding what the best course of action would be against an invading force. I’m sure, however, that the depiction of the natives overall was problematic, but I’m not well-versed enough in native representation in pop culture to articulate the issues. While they weren’t portrayed as primitive or child-like (at least, I didn’t think so), I don’t doubt that there were tropes in there that I just couldn’t recognize (for example, Siora maybe a Chief’s Daughter/Indian Princess trope - it’s complicated). I suggest finding and reading an Indigenous critique of the game. (There’s also this one, which is valid, and I do think the game’s efforts and failures are worth talking about.)

Gameplay: This RPG mainly relies on balancing skills, talents, and attributes. Skills define what weapons you can use and how (one-handed blades, two-handed blades, firearms, magic, etc). Talents are things like charisma, science, or lockpicking - stuff which will affect the way you interact with the world. Attributes are mental and physical abilities like strength or willpower which affect how you wield weapons. Overall, the process of leveling up and gaining points to spend in these areas was pretty straight-forward, and I enjoyed the mental challenge of building a character that fit my play style.

Combat was a little clunky; basic attacks ran just fine for me, but there wasn’t much grace in the way characters dodged or rolled. I also kept getting thrown off by the fact that you can’t press space to jump! But in all, it wasn’t the worst experience. Enemies had helpful health bars, and I enjoyed the combination of a pistol and a rapier to finish off my foes. The diplomatic elements were by far the best part of gameplay for me. If players assign their skill points well, de Sardet can use a number of different tactics and choose from multiple dialogue options, from intimidation to taking advantage of intuition to laying on the charisma. It was fun to figure out which tactic would work on which characters, and how my skill sets translated into consequences for my decisions. I do think, however, that more options could have been presented to players in terms of dialogue choices and role-playing elements. While players make important choices regarding how to handle any given situation, there was little opportunity to purely role play. More opportunities to influence the direction or tone of the dialogue in non-crucial situations, I think, would have helped and made my De Sardet feel more unique.

Visuals: Aesthetically, I very much appreciated that we were given a fantasy game that wasn’t set in the faux Middle Ages. I loved the 18th century vibe to all the clothing and town layouts, and each of the maps were distinct and fully-realized, from the urban settings to the natural ones. There was a bit of repetition in the urban layouts; the palaces, for example, were the same, and some houses were recycled, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as Dragon Age II. I also appreciated that there were people of various races and genders in all positions and all social circles. There were women in the guard, women working on ships, and so on, without any hint that it was unusual. There was also a fairly wide variety of skin tones, with people of color being included in higher social classes and not relegated to lowly servant roles. There are some problems in that “diversity washing” detracts from the racial conflicts that were very present in the 18th century. I don’t think the developers thought through the implications of putting POC in positions of power where they could commit violent colonial acts against the natives. The creatures on the island were interesting to look at. Their designs frequently combined natural imagery (such as vines and wood) with horror to create foes with an eldritch, elemental vibe. The same creepiness was reflected in the fictional disease that afflicts the colonists; the afflicted had black, vine-like tendrils running through the skin, and there was an impending sense of dread whenever I looked at someone who was infected. Despite all the things I liked, GreedFall’s biggest problem is its animation. For a game that was made in 2019, facial expressions and combat are quite clunky, to the point where the characters felt robotic. I understand that not every video game needs to have top-tier level animation, but playing GreedFall was similar to my experiences playing the first Witcher game or the first Mass Effect or Dragon Age: Origins games. Still technically playable, but it feels very outdated.

In-Game Triggers: violence (especially racial violence), colonialism, racism, religious zealotry, torture, 

I feel the need to point out that while I don’t think this game is gory or explicit in any way (PG-13 would be my rating), there are some scenes that people may find triggering. There’s also one where a Native is killed by a religious zealot, and I found it extremely upsetting (it happens when you first enter San Matheus, if you need a heads up). Other than that, you never actually see characters torture native peoples, but you do hear about it later.

Recommendations: I would recommend this game if you’re interested in the 18th century, the age of imperialism, role-playing games, and fantasy. You might also like this game if you’re a fan of Bioware RPGs.

[hellsparadiseessays]

Aza Brothers Week - Day 5

I released that essay on r/Jigokuraku back in early July, about one month after the infamous chapter 56 got out. It wasn’t a fun topic to tackle, so as a result I’m leaving the warning I put at the start of the essay before the cut. Because chapter 56 was not ok. Though keep in mind that I’m not mad at UG for it - quite the contrary, his intent is clearly not to make the chapter sexy. However, I heavily suspected the fandom to not find it as obvious because well, we have our own cultural issues. And considering how this essay has been received, and the stuff I noticed even in the Japanese side of the fandom... Well, this essay is in my opinion much needed to explain why chapter 56 is more brutal that it seems. It’s also a good follow-up on yesterday’s post, which stopped at chapter 55. 

Warning : This thread will contain references to rape, so if the topic is sensitive to you, I suggest you avoid reading it. This thread will contain spoilers for the most recent chapters as well, so read it once you’re up to date with the manga to avoid being spoiled and know what I am talking about.

Chapter 56 - A commentary on power and powerlessness

I have been keeping it to myself (and occasionally kinda raged about it on Discord join us) ever since chapter 56 was released, back in April. I’ll be honest with you, despite me joking with everybody else on Discord, that chapter really hit a personal chord and I had a hard time working on this commentary because of that. Let’s just say I regularly had to stop and come back to it a few days later, once I got my head cool again and my brain fully functional – I didn’t want my emotions to get in the way of the analysis.

Here we are now, ready to tackle a difficult topic: the borderline rape of Chôbe by Rien. And I say “borderline”, only because it was Chôbe who successfully did his Chôbe thing. He remains in a dangerous position, one I certainly don’t envy, and one that he himself strongly dislikes.

This commentary will be divided into three parts: firstly, the use of rape as a comedic device in mainstream media and how it trivialises a situation that, in fact, has dramatic consequences. Then, we’ll study Rien has a character through his past and present actions, to establish the nature of his interactions and the way he perceives himself. Finally, we’ll address Chôbe’s reactions while facing danger, and how he deals with his emotions.

I. Rape as a comedic tool

One of the many reasons why this chapter makes me uncomfortable is my personal fear for jokes made about that sort of situation. Why, you may rightfully ask? Because it is very much present in mainstream media, be it in Japan or in Western countries. Considering Reddit is mostly Western-oriented, I chose to pick a reference that focuses on rape in Western media to build my argument around, and I strongly suggest you to watch the video before you continue with this commentary. “Sexual assault of men played for laughs”, by Jonathan McIntosh from the Youtube channel Pop Culture Detective, thoroughly explores the issue through the lens of North American media, which have an area of influence that goes way beyond North America itself – especially with the massive worldwide use of internet. While not all the items of this video fit with the commentary at hand, it nonetheless points out an especially interesting argument: the man who failed to be a man – the one perceived as in control of the situation -, is subjected to various mockeries because it’s fair after all, he wasn’t really being a man when it happened, so he failed as a person.

I think we could even see this issue as a double insult to both men and women with that issue: 1) women can’t be in control because it’s not their role, 2) men who aren’t in control are perceived as emasculated, and thus the jeering is entirely justified because how dare they consider themselves men, right? Basically, this sort of joke is based on a perception of power and who is supposed to hold it. And power is what sexual assault is about. It’s not about lust or provocation. Sexual assault is the act of abusing your power over someone else to the point of robbing them of even their intimacy. This is something that tends to break people, or at least seriously damage them. Yet, this loss of power is something that remains mocked or silenced. And while women are starting to speak up, it’s still rare to see men open up about it. In Jonathan McIntosh’s video, the example of Terry Crew in reaction to the Harvey Weinstein affair and the following #Metoo movement is telling: losing power (what is perceived as such), especially as a man, is still treated in a demeaning manner that should only be mocked or ignored, not as something serious that can affect the victim for years and have a negative effect on their life in general.

Sexual assault of men as comedy is destructive, yet still awfully present in the series and movies we watch – even kids’ shows. Yes, you read it well. Kids’ shows. It gives a certain inclination to joke about rape – especially when it happens to men -, by internalising the issue and not realising how demeaning it actually is. It’s even visible in the most mainstream manga and anime (Naruto’s 1000 years of pain, anyone?) and we’ll play a little game about that: in your comment, I invite you to point out sexual assault as a joke in a manga/anime you know (and maybe enjoy). Keep in mind that I’m not doing that to slam the creations or their authors, it’s just to point out how surprisingly common it can be. I also wish to point out that, in chapter 56 of Jigokuraku, UG didn’t go that way at all. On the contrary, he made it clear that Chôbe was in danger and painfully aware of it throughout the chapter, while Rien... Was being Rien, with his own perception of who he is and the power he holds.

II. Rien: the perception of power

Now that we’ve established the basis about the way sexual assault with men as victims is perceived (especially in the West, a point of view vastly predominant on Reddit), we can start digging on Rien’s case of A God I Am.

As soon as Rien gets his first appearance (chapter 26), his status is made clear: among the boss level characters we’ve seen so far (Ju Fa, Tao Fa, Zhu Jin), he is one cut above and presents himself as the uncontested leader, the patriarch of a family who rules and serves punishment when he deems it necessary. From his point of view, he’s the head of the Tensen family as well as (potentially, it depends on Jofuku being alive of not), the ruler of the island – or the head scientist of the giant laboratory that is Kotaku. It means that Rien isn’t just the most powerful being on the island (though the notion of power can be discussed there, considering the power system used by UG), he also perceives himself as such and demonstrates it with an iron hand: the way he treated Mei before she escaped is good enough as a proof.

Behind his position as the head scientist, he shows a ruthless cruelty and a readiness to not even consider other people as persons. Mei herself, suggested as being one of the first successful experiments by Jofuku – and thus being “family” to Rien -, gets banished, mutilated and used as a living experiment material for the very thing she dared openly call out (the massive use of humans for experimentations). Rien even openly states, in chapter 26, that he’s the only one with the right to punish family members when Ju Fa injures an already weakened Zhu Jin. It gives us an idea of what Rien may mean by “punishment”. Go against his will: die or become an experiment. Disobey him: get severely injured if you’re part of the Tensen family, I heavily suspect death may be the sentence when you don’t have that luxury – and so does Chôbe. Until now, Rien has thus been shown as having a general behaviour that could be qualified of sociopathic: being indifferent towards others to the point of not seeing them as people, dehumanising anybody, using the “we’re family” or “I’ll tell you everything” tactic to try and keep people on his side. Interestingly, between him and Mei, he’s the one who has spend the most time with the other Tensen, and it is visible in their behaviour as well: they show similar sociopathic traits (Mu Dan’s experiments he seemed to find most amusing, Ju Fa qualifying Chôbe of “it” and “livestock”...).

However, no matter how godly Rien thinks he is, he remains surprisingly human and this has been shown to us through the point of view of his latest victim, who managed to do what, I suspect, no other character in the story would have been able to pull off without seriously getting in trouble for it (meaning: die immediately): he momentarily reversed the power dynamic to save his skin for at least a moment.

III. Chôbe’s status as a victim and how he handles it

Since the start, I’ve been claiming left and right that Chôbe is probably too smart for his own good, but it’s not just that. It’s an accumulation of everything that happened to him and his brother. Chôbe is very intimate with the notion of powerlessness. He’s been living it repeatedly since he’s a kid, slowly losing his place in society until he became an outcast. As a consequence, the way he thinks isn’t based on honour or revenge: it’s about survival, first and foremost.

The first time we see him go full survival mode is when he and Toma momentarily run away from the Sôshin that are outnumbering them, to find a better position to fight. In that chapter (chapter 9), we witness another way to survive that is very much Chôbe’s own method – no other character has done it, not even Toma -: instead of resisting a power stronger than his own, he integrates himself into the equation by mirroring the person who’s displaying power over him. By doing so, he creates an impression of kinship he can exploit to his advantage. As a kid, he mutilated himself to the point of losing sight in his right eye and being seriously scarred to “pretty himself up” by looking more like the bandits who were planning to harm Toma and sell them both. Doing so created a strong impression in their captors’ mind, and Chôbe used that impression to claim a place among the bandits – a first step towards claiming his power as an individual capable of thoughts and choices back. By integrating himself like that, he managed to become the leader of the pack, the chief of an entire village of bandits, causing so much trouble it warranted death penalty for him.

This method of mirroring the person holding power over him is visible again during the entirety of chapter 56. This chapter starts with Chôbe being captive, literally tied to a bed and clearly uncomfortable for many reasons: he’s been beaten to the point of passing out after having been treated like a wonderful unicorn (not a person), wakes up in an unknown place, tied to a bed in a peculiar position. By that point, Rien already marked a lot of Creep Points, and Chôbe has a lot of reasons to find the situation disagreeable. But it’s not enough, and Chôbe ends up facing actual blackmail: cooperate or become Tan (which is pretty much like dying, but worse: your life force is sucked out of you while you’re in a fake wonderland. Chôbe had a taste of it and saw what it looked like while he was in the Tan pit, both him and Toma weren’t enthusiastic about the situation and quickly got out of the pit). During the entire chapter, Chôbe weighs his options and stalls time by asking questions and gather more information on his situation to pick the best option to stay alive. It’s a daring move, to do that while facing the local godly being, but Chôbe isn’t stupid and understands having the choice of cooperating means he has value somehow. And to squeeze all the information he needs from Rien, to better weight his option and understand what’s going on on this unnatural island (he realised it’s unnatural in chapter 54), he does what we’ve already seen him do in the aforementioned bandits’ village flashback: he mirrors the one having power over him to gain some agency back through deception.

That’s where something we’ve seen him do a lot happens: he smiles. Mind you, it’s not a genuine smile. Chôbe isn’t really a smiling person, we’ve seen that everytime we’ve got even the smallest hints regarding his true feelings. However, Chôbe uses his mask as a tool for deception and picked this habit as a kid: a grin to the bandits even though his face was heavily injured to convince them of keeping him and his brother, a grin when he steels himself while facing the Sôshin, a smile when he tries to deceive Gabimaru before suddenly attacking him. It’s the vicious, weaponised grin of someone who figured out what to do and where to go, while keeping others’ attention down. He even smiles while sweating when he is nervous, at the end of chapter 55, because he has no idea what’s going on but somehow he’s tied to a bed and someone one-sidedly decided to have sex with him (yes, in case you hadn’t noticed, Rien didn’t care about his consent, because Rien doesn’t see him as a person). However, during chapter 56, we slowly see him integrates himself in the equation again by imitating Rien’s moves to numb his wariness under the guise of complying with the cooperation request. His actions mismatch his thoughts exactly for that purpose: his first thought is about a way to escape, but he realises it may be too dangerous for him. So he renounces - for now - to by himself some time and repeats his mantra, to adapt and figure things out, and gives Rien what he wants because it’s the only viable option for survival.

Since then, qualifying his attitude towards the Tensen of “bad faith” could be an understatement. He may be willing to concede certain things under the threat of death, but he will still have the guts to stand his ground, even while facing a whole group of people who could kill him – and openly threaten to do so. It takes a certain kind of madness to do that sort of thing, and oh, it’s exactly what the bandits said about him when he purposefully injured himself just to prove a point. Chôbe is too smart for his own good, but he still manages to get his agency back when it’s stolen from him, and that’s what makes him incredibly dangerous, even for the Tensen. Even in real life, it takes a certain kind of character to pull that sort of thing off. Still, despite all of his wrong, what happened to Chôbe during his childhood as well as chapter 56 qualifies him as a victim, and UG handled it incredibly well, making it tragic (if not outright nerves wracking, at least in my case) instead of using it as a comedic tool. Thank you for that, UG.

This commentary took me about... At least 10 days just to be worked on, despite the very small amount of references needed for it.

Without giving away too much information, I empathise strongly with Chôbe’s predicament and generally find him very relatable, at a personal level. His tactics are easy to recognise not just because they’ve been made fairly clear by UG, but also because there’s a pattern I know all too well in them. So yeah, that commentary tackled some difficult topics for me, and I had trouble keeping a cool head while writing it. It was a difficult birth, chapter 56 still makes my skin crawl. However, I hope you found this write up informative or entertaining. Don’t hesitate to share your thoughts, answer my little challenge (an example of sexual assault played for laugh in a manga/anime you know), ask questions, scold me for yet another Chôbe rant...

[featherypromises]

Seokjin wasn't going to come out of this unscathed. Featuring sickie Namjoon, a smidgen of Jungkook, and Seokjin. Caretaking with Hoseok, Yoongi, and Seokjin. Minor mess warning!

For the prequel, click the link below.

Do as I say, not as I do (2):

A good hyung

Seokjin woke up. Not in his bed; laying down, but sitting in a rolling desk chair with his upper body stretched out face-down on top of Namjoon's comforter. He must have fallen asleep after putting Joonah to bed. 

The leader of BTS was still fast asleep. His mouth hung open, allowing quiet, congested snores to escape. He was also blissfully unaware of his audience of one. 

Remembering why he had been in the room in the first place, the older man reached over to gently place the back of his hand against Namjoon's forehead. The sleeping boy was still a bit warm, but definitely not as bad as he had been last night. The oldest member sighed tiredly and stretched. His back ached from the awkward way he had slept, but as long as Joon was okay, it was worth it. 

Getting up quietly to avoid waking his dongsaeng, the taller man left the room, closing the door behind him. He could hear voices and commotion downstairs, so the others were probably up. He tried in vain to flatten and smooth his flyaway hair as he headed towards the kitchen. 

Hobi was in the kitchen, preparing vegetables and chattering away at Yoongi, who, in his hyung's absence had started breakfast… Or lunch? Was it really 11:30 already? 

The maknae line was in a row on the sofa, looking like living representations of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" and they were oblivious to how cute it looked. Tae was holding the sides of his head, being aegyo. He had just trounced Jimin thoroughly in a video game and the defeated Jimin was covering his eyes in utter disbelief at the upset of his victory. Poor Kookie, looking only half-awake, held a tissue over his nose and mouth with both hands, blowing his much abused nose softly. Seokjin watched them, entertained, as the younger members teased each other and squabbled amongst themselves.

The oldest rapper turned to place the cooking pot into the sink and saw his hyung and what he was looking at. Immediately, Yoongi poked Hoseok and jerked his thumb towards the young vocalists. They shared a smile before turning to Seokjin. 

"Morning Hyung!" Said Hobi brightly.

"Barely…" Yoongi added, "Where's Joonah?"

"Sick…" admitted the older man with a sigh, "I think he caught it from Kookie, but… well, you know Namjoonah never does anything halfway."

Yoongi muttered a curse, 

"Aiisssh, that kid! Seriously…If he would just slow down for a minute…" Hoseok quieted his friend by placing a kindly hand on his arm and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Is he doing okay? How can we help? 

Seokjin smiled at the dance leader and shook his head, 

"I gotta handle this one, Hobiyah. It's not bad enough for him to go to the hospital, but he had a fever last night and this morning. I stayed with him overnight to make sure he would be alright." The oldest member rubbed his sore neck and looked at the counter in front of him rather than meet the eyes of either of the younger men. 

Hobi sucked in a breath through his teeth, making a disapproving cluck,

"Hyung! I could have stayed with him, or Yoongi,... You realize you are probably going to get it too now right?" 

Min Yoongi put two and two together in his head and swore again,

"Damnit Hyung! You are just as bad as Joonie! You catch everything these punks bring in here!" He pointed at the three youngest on the couch, drawing their attention. He continued,

"How long did you lecture Namjoon on his health yesterday, or today? I know you did! Don't shake your head at me hyung. You should apply some of your "wisdom" to your own life! Any of us, except maybe Jimin, (the exception to this statement objected with a loud "Yaaah!" and was ignored) would have had a better chance of not catching this than you. It's a miracle that you didn't catch it from Jungkookie!" Yoongi glared at the taller man, who glanced up when the rapper paused for breath.

"I know. It was dumb, but I couldn't just stand by and watch. He hid how sick he was until I found him out and demanded that he take today off. I know I'm going to get it, if I don't have it already, Yoongiyah. But Joon wasn't going to rest or tell anyone, because he felt that would be wrong for a leader to do that when we were all working so hard." Seokjin could feel the youngest three members' eyes on him and he turned towards them,

" You three need to stay away from Namjoon's room for at least a few days. This bug is a lot worse than what Kookie had..." Jungkook blew his nose again, and Seokjin corrected himself, "well, has… This isn't personal, it's being sure that we all don't end up getting sick. Okay?" The young trio nodded, and Seokjin continued, "I'll be with Joon until his fever's gone, but after that, if I start feeling even a little bit sick, I will be in my room, so steer clear until I let you know it's okay to go in again." 

He got more nods, and "Yes, Hyung"s from the maknaes. The eldest member turned back to Hoseok and Yoongi, who was still glowering at him.

"I'm going to need a few things: tissues, cough sweets, cold medicine that fix congestion and coughing, and some of the juices from the refrigerator. Food will be harder to figure out… Yoongiyah, Can you take the soup I froze last week out? Joon can eat that for a while. If I only come to the kitchen to heat up the food and we sanitize well, we should be able to reduce the chances that anyone else gets this."

Hobi began collecting the requested items as he spoke, leaving his hyungs to sort out the rest. Min Yoongi put his pointer finger up in a warning gesture,

"Hyung, you are going to tell me when you start to feel even a little off… I will bring food to you and to Joon. We really can't afford to have another member get sick or the recording next week is going to be delayed." Seokjin nodded reluctantly. He hated being fussed over, but the rapper was right. 

"I will." The oldest hyung gathered up the supplies and returned to Namjoon's bedroom. The door creaked a bit as he opened it, announcing his reentry. Namjoon groaned as he turned over and opened his eyes slowly. Putting the care items down on the desk, the older boy went over and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Hey Jooniyah, how are you feeling?" 

The younger man looked up at his hyung blearily,

"Dot good, Hyug. I'b so stuffed ub, I cadt breathe." Seokjin cringed as the younger man coughed harshly into his hands. His body shook with the effort and the struggle to stop the coughs seemed to drain the little energy the rapper had. 

"Let's get some medicine in you, Joonah." The older man helped him sit up against the pillows and measured out the red, gloppy medicine. Handing the tiny cup to Namjoon, Seokjin opened a berry-flavored juice and set it beside the sick man on his nightstand. The leader swallowed the stuff with a grimace and immediately chased it with a big gulp of juice. He licked his lips reflexively and winced. They were so badly chapped that the bottom lip was bleeding slightly. 

"Are the others okay?" asked the not-so-off-duty leader,  as he pulled a tube of lip balm out from under the pile of books on his nightstand and applied it generously.

"Worried about you, but fine otherwise." The older man replied honestly. Namjoon dropped his gaze to his lap and his fingers began toying with the bottle lid. Seokjin sighed,

" They would have found out sooner or later… besides they have to let the managers know that you are not well enough for the photoshoot tomorrow."

That made the leader look up sharply. When he started to protest, Seokjin held up his hand,

"Even if you feel 100% better tomorrow, you might still pass this on to the others. Nobody wants that, Jooniyah." 

The rapline's maknae looked like he still had objections for a moment, but his body had other ideas.

"Hh...Hiih-Hxxgt! Hhxxntch! Hiiphissh! Hektshuh!! Hhh...huhhh…ugh."

As the sneezes ripped their way out of the younger man's nose and throat, he struggled to squash them into his elbow as Seokjin watched helplessly. The oldest member grabbed the tissue box, pulled out a few and handed them to his Dongsaeng. Namjoon hitched for a moment more before groaning in frustration, as the last sneeze eluded him. He took the tissues and blew his nose cautiously, not wanting to trigger another fit. The sound made Seokjin's hair stand on end and he shuddered. It sounded similar to someone popping small bubbles on bubble wrap as the viscous liquid was forced out little by little.

"Poor Joonie… I'm sorry you are feeling so bad." The older man smoothed Namjoon's hair away from his forehead, checking for a fever. The findings gave Seokjin a little comfort. Joon might still be under the weather, but the fever was gone. The vocalist cleared his throat, as he quickly removed his hand, trying to regain his composure and hide his relief. This small action had an unexpected consequence, however. The ailing rapper looked at his hyung with confusion, which quickly evolved into anxious concern, then a guilt-induced panic:

"Hyug, you're dnot… Oh no, did I ged you sig?!? Shit! I'b so stupid! How could I have let you do all those things for be yesterday?!? I shouldn't have let you dnear be! And you were here all last dnight too? I'b so sorry, hyug!" 

Seokjin's utter shock at this sudden reaction, shaped his mouth into a small dumbfounded "o". Recovering himself, he tried to calm the unwell man, who was still berating himself with a thoroughness that showed that this was not the first time that he had thought these insults at himself. 

"Joonah! JOON! STOP! Just stop it now! You are not stupid at all! Never say anything like that again! If I get this cold, so what? I've had colds before. It's my job to look after myself, and if I don't, then the consequences are my fault. Mine. Not yours." Seokjin drew the anxiously trembling man to him, embracing him tightly, " I took my vitamins and got plenty of sleep, so that should give me a fighting chance. Yoongi said it was weird that I hadn't already caught this from Jungkook, maybe I'm building up some resistance." 

The older man felt the other man's congested breathing calm as he held him. Seokjin released the slightly smaller man slowly, guiding him back to lean against the pillows again. 

"You don't have to worry about anything except feeling better, okay?" The vocalist ruffled Namjoon's hair gently. The younger man nodded slowly, then blushed as his stomach grumbled its impatience for food loudly. Seokjin laughed,

"Sounds like you're hungry! I'll check with Yoongi and see if lunch is ready." A few text messages and minutes later, Min Yoongi entered carrying two bowls of chicken and vegetable soup.

"Seokjin-hyung said you weren't feeling well, so your hyungs thought soup would help you get better faster. Hoseokie will come check on you later." Yoongi held out one bowl to the younger rapper and gave the other to Seokjin. The normally taciturn man seemed to struggle for a moment before saying, 

"You worried us, Joonah… Next time you aren't 100%, just tell us. We won't think badly of you for something you can't control." 

Namjoon responded with a sheepish smile,

"I will, Yoongi-hyung… sorry."

Min Yoongi brushed the apology away with a flap of his hand,

"Quit with your sorries and eat before it gets cold." Namjoon obeyed and ate with obvious enjoyment. Seokjin would have been content just to watch the younger man eat. He was happiest when he could cook good food for the other members, but at the moment he had more pressing issues. An alarm bell was going off in his head, signaling him to do something about a tickle that was growing in the back of his nose. He fought for control as his nose twitched and scrunched with irritation. He had only a few seconds to act. He stood abruptly,

 "HH- I'm going to use the-hhh bathroom. I-I'll be back." He left quickly, his breath already hitching. He dashed down the hall, out of earshot and sneezed desperately,

"Heh-hephBrrrsshuh! Ahh-Brreshooo!" The sneezes bent him at the waist, forcing him to try to catch them in his cupped hands. His eyes stung as his sinuses burned and his nose wasn't through with him yet, "Hhh-H'Ressshuh! Ah-GRSShooo! BRESSHUH!" 

Seokjin's hands were covered in a mess of liquid and his face twisted in disgust. He sniffled fruitlessly and turned into the bathroom, leaning his back against the door until it closed behind him. He used his elbows to turn on the faucet and scrubbed his hands until they were bright pink. He sniffled again, trying to prevent the fluid from running over his upper lip. 

The cold had finally caught up with him as Hoseok and Yoongi had said it would. He wasn't congested like Joonie was yet, but Seokjin knew it was only a matter of hours. He was just glad he had been able to leave before Yoongi, or worse, Namjoon had seen or heard that fit. The normally quiet Yoongi would have dragged his hyung by his ear back to the vocalist's bedroom and superglued the taller man to his bed. A small smile played across Seokjin's face at the mental image that accompanied that thought. But that picture was quickly warped until he could only see Joonah's panic-stricken face and hear the younger man verbally beating himself to a pulp over Seokjin getting sick. With a herculean effort, the oldest member pushed the gut-wrenching nightmare image away and splashed water onto his face to help clear his head. He would have to keep this development from Joon. If he didn't, the younger man would just make himself sicker worrying about things that he couldn't fix or change.

The vocalist dried his face and hands before grabbing some tissues and blowing his nose. The man knew how pointless blowing his nose was at this point. It was like kicking at a wave rolling onto the shore: you couldn't stop it, but trying made him feel like he wasn't giving in to the illness yet. He shoved extra tissues into his pocket, just in case.

Steeling himself, he returned to the youngest rapper's bedroom. Yoongi gave him a suspicious look as he entered, but said nothing. Instead the younger man put his pointer finger close to his lips in a pantomime of "Shush". Seokjin relaxed as he saw that their leader was asleep again, his bedspread lovingly tucked in around him and a box of tissues within easy reach. 

Silently the older men collected the bowls, flatware, and empty bottle of juice and left the room like shadows, closing the door behind them. They moved down the hall towards the stairs, when Seokjin felt a tap on his shoulder from behind. When he turned to see what the rapper needed, the older man was instantly subjected to a long, deft finger poking him in the nose. Seokjin stumbled back and gasped as his now sensitized nose objected, and launched him into an itchy flurry of sneezes.

"Wh-what the Hehhhl! H-Heh-Hahrresshoo! HehGrresshhoo!! Hat'shuuh! Ghessshoo! Heh-HAH-HEKT'SHOOO!!! ASH-CHOO!!!"

Unable to cover with full hands, Seokjin sneezed openly, twisting away from the younger man. At the end of the fit, the older man was a sniffling, drippy wreck. He wiped his runny nose on the forearm of his sleeve. Through teary eyes, he saw Yoongi glaring at him, arms crossed; the dishes he'd been carrying on the floor, forgotten.

Defeated, the older man made a face at the younger man before continuing down the stairs with the dishes. He put them into the sink and used a paper towel to clean himself up, as Yoongi caught up with him. The rapper deposited the remaining dishes into the sink and said,

"I could hear you from down the hall."

Seokjin went white as a sheet. Had Namjoon heard too? The shorter man shook his head, in response to the unasked question.

"Joon was too busy to hear… his nose was causing him problems too. He was so tired after that much sneezing that he almost fell asleep sitting up." 

The singer sighed in relief. He nodded and turned to head upstairs to get some rest himself. It would be a long couple of days. Passing Yoongi, he rested one large hand on the smaller man's shoulder.

"Don't tell him… Joonie would just be upset."

"Fine, but you have to promise me, Hyung, that you will text either me or Hobi if you need anything or if you start feeling really bad. Any sign of fever or…anything…" Yoongi didn't meet his hyung's eyes, but Seokjin knew that was just the rapper trying to hide his concern. Six years of friendship had given the oldest member at least that much insight into Min Yoongi's mind. He smiled at the younger man, 

"I promise, Yoongiyah." His tender moment with the younger member was interrupted by another sneeze. This time he was able to fish a tissue from his pocket to catch it. 

"Huh-HUH-HEH-GHSSSHH!" The younger man rolled his eyes at his hyung,

"Yeah-yeah, let's get you back upstairs. I'll check on Joonie once you are settled and I'll have Hoseokie check on you later."

The oldest member snuffled into the tissue and nodded, following the smaller man up the stairs and into his bedroom. Seokjin wasn't really surprised when the rapper turned down the bed coverlet and sheets or when he pulled the shades on the windows to darken the room for sleep. What surprised him was that once he had laid down, Yoongi with practiced hands began to tuck him in, in the same way he had obviously done for Namjoon, not long ago. Seokjin hadn't experienced this in years, it felt strangely comforting. 

"Sleep well, Hyung. I will bring you some medicine in a few minutes." The older man smiled at the rapper, showing a mixture of pride and gratitude, and said just loud enough for Yoongi to hear as he turned to leave,

"You are a good hyung, Yoongiyah."

"You too."