#had 2 get this one out at least now i can move on to sillier things

[itseghost]

only you.

my turn with soul touch jayvik :)

[n7cloacadestroyer]

Mass Effect's overall plot is a lot of fun, but any fan will tell you straight up that it isn't the tightest run ship. Major sections of the trilogy's overall plot are moved forward by contrivance, and established lore has a reputation for being tossed out the airlock because the dev team thought of something cool. That said, one (1) of the things that irks me the most is something I don't often see talked about--the Citadel Relay.

So here's the reaper's plan, in paraphrase:

Leave one (1) guy behind and fuck off to dark space to get that good sleep.

Oneguy turns on power saver mode and keeps an eye on the meatbags.

Fleshies find mass relays and citadel; use them.

Open murder hole to let the squad through.

Make meatbag soup

Return to step one

Now if something were to go wrong with step four, you'd have quite the pain in the ass in your future if you're a reaper.

Thought experiment: You're leaving your house for the day. You don't want anyone to just wander in, but you obviously need to get back inside later. Do you… A. Lock the door and take the key with you? B. Have someone house sit? C. Leave one of the back windows unlocked and hope no one notices? D. Train your cat to unlock the door when it hears you whistle?

Admittedly that last option would be cool, albeit contrived and prone to failure. For some reason though, the reapers went with that one. And surprisingly enough, someone eventually broke in and retrained their cats. The reapers don't have a single dialogue exchange in the entire series that doesn't include a small diatribe about their intellectual superiority, yet they have no contingency in place for this.

So it's already pretty silly at this point, but it actually gets a little sillier when you realize what the game takes care to avoid explicitly stating--the reapers obviously have a mass relay with them in dark space. One that links to the hub of the relay network but is for some reason isolated from it. They don't even have a backup that just like… links to the Serpent Nebula relay.

I know what some of you are probably thinking. That the closed circuit with the Citadel relay is meant to ensure that the reapers aren't stumbled upon while they're schleepin™. As Vigil states, "In this state, they are vulnerable." So turn it off. We've already established that relays can be deactivated, and that a capital ship like Sovereign can manually open them as it attempted to do with the Citadel. Link that bad boy to the whole network, turn it on when you get the signal, killallhumans.exe ggnore.

Now we turn our attention to Mass Effect 2, which establishes that there is an active relay beyond from which no one has ever returned. So the galactic community put their heads together and came up with a plan--stick some warning signs near it and let the problem take care of itself. Literally just throw hands up and move on. So if the reapers just killed everyone who came through their super secret clubhouse relay? Maybe put some of those weird Collector Laser Probes to take out the stragglers? They'd probably be fine.

Eventually we learn that the relay leads into the galactic core, and that it checks for a reaper IFF system to engage more accurate protocols to avoid throwing friendly vessels into a supermassive black hole or the hundreds of stars it's throwing around at nearly light speed. So now we've established that at least one relay has an Identify Friend Foe system. Mass Effect 3 further establishes that the IFF system is only usable by the Normandy because of EDI, who explains that the IFF is more of a thinking intelligence than a simple program. So if you aren't an AI, or don't have the help of one, you're kind of screwed.

Shame they couldn't use that technology for anything else. Barring access to certain relays, for example.

Recall the Arrival DLC. Commander Shepard vaporizes ~300,000 colonists because the Viper Nebula/Alpha relay is, and I quote, "their shortcut to the rest of the galaxy." If the reapers had even a single one of these contingencies in place, humanity would've likely arrived to an empty Citadel in a new cycle. They would've had their shortcut already, and there wouldn't be anything to be done about it.

Given that their plan is actually quite flawed, there are only a few explanations that I can think of:

The reapers are actually kind of stupid.

The Catalyst intentionally designed the "reaper solution" to be imperfect. To give the meatbags a chance, I guess?

The biomechanical nature of reaper construction has caused them to inherit more traits from the organics that facilitated their construction than any of them seem to freely admit. Namely arrogance, in this case. You'll notice that Harbinger does talk with the same aloof superiority that the Leviathan use when talking to Shepard in ME3, whereas Sovereign's dialogue reads as something more akin to disgust or hatred.

Development was rushed and somewhat troubled for every Mass Effect game to date, and many of the gaps we see are a result of content being cut to get the game out the door on time.

In all honesty, it's most likely some combination of 3 and 4, but it's kind of frustrating. It's not surprising that so many people write no reaper AUs and/or headcanon a Destroy ending that doesn't kill the geth and EDI simply to fit the framing as the Renegade option. Mass Effect, in the minds of most fans, is a character driven narrative. The reapers aren't really characters. There are only two of them that have names, and only three who actually speak. They're mostly just an excuse to make the plot happen.

If the intention was to imply that the reapers are literal mechanical mass graves haunted by the metaphorical ghosts of the civilizations harvested in their creation? I'm on board. The problem is that we're never told that, and we aren't given enough interaction with different reapers to come to that conclusion definitively ourselves. May as well just call 'em Harby and the Boys, cause it's clear from the outset that Harbinger is the only one that the narrative intends to give even the tiniest amount of weight after Sovereign is destroyed.

The reapers are a constant presence during the trilogy, and yet we only meaningfully interact with four, and that's if you're counting Sovereign's half brother Sluggard.

[aska234]

THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AN ASK NOT A SUBMISSION SORRY

Anyway take 2 ig lol

Im curious about your fem vox and the blank/untitled one

Also really intrigued by the least intimidating fangirl title

Haha, thats fine, absolutely do not worry about that! Happens to the best of us♡ :D

The fem vox is the title I gave one of my drawning after saving it for the first time at 1am, after 2h of work haha. It is a fanart of @/blackblood-tonic's desighn. I just saw it and could not resist trying to draw it with my own little take on it (Of course I asked for permission first!). I am planning on posting it by the end of the week ^^

Blank one is kinda.. let's say lost media at this point hahah! The idea began in 2021. Because It doesn't have any title and although I KNOW that I wrote the first chapter, I have no clue where to find it. All that remains is VERY detailed step by step plan for 19 chapters of SBI in the Spiderwick Chronicles world (great book, would recommend 10/10).

��

It is esentiallyabout a family whose car broke down in the middle of the woods. Trying to fix it they are attacked by invisible monsters who chase them towards an isolated, rundown cabin. The lonely resident, being merely a teenager, relucantly let's them stay a few nights until their injuries get better (accidentally bonding with the strangers) as he helps the father fix the car without risking being eaten. Meanwhile two boys, younger then the teenager himself start to pry around the house, discovering things noone should ever meddle with..

—

At the moment I plan on using the outline for another fandom as after recent dramas I am unsure about my belonging to the minecraft community at all.

And the fangirl one is The Owl House's / Huntlow / pre-canon little fanfic about how they might have met! It was written in 2022 (before s3 aired) and was just sillier little idea for how they may have met if they were younger. It is so far one of My favourite fics! (That did not get posted whatsoever. I have vanished from the internet like the avatar, I'm telling ya) Have the snippet!! :D :

————

Hunters' train of thoughts was abrubtly interruped by random witch turning corner just as he was about to do the same resulting in two people getting scattered on the floor. He slowly opened eyes, holding his forehead before noticing random pot with some kind of flower inside falling from the air right at his face.

Ow. That will surely leave some kind of mark.

"For Titans sake!"

He swore, abrubtly sitting up as dry earth fell through the holes in his mask right into his eyes. What can he say. Maybe he was trained to endure pain in high stress situations but it funking stung Titandamit.

"Oh no! Im, im so sooo sorry. Are you alrigh-.."

The witch he bumbed into started saying something but he was too ocupied with frantic blinking to get the dirt out of his eyes without help from his arms, to pay to it any attention. He couldnt risk taking his mask off right now when he was chased by-.. oh Titan! The girls!!

"He went that way!"

"Faster before he gets away!"

He could tell by louder and louder voices that all the advantage he had gained from his fast moving and knowing the city like the back of his hand just faded as the thunder of teenage feet neared the position he was sitting in right now.

This isint good. He needs to move NOW.

————

[satohqbanana]

Just a few updates (also mini rants on multiple topics in succession):

These days, I find tougher and tougher to allot time for certain endeavors. I like creating stuff; I still like playing games; I still like fan works. It's just been difficult to enjoy them, and recently they've been feeling like less of hobbies and more of obligations.

Speaking of obligations, doing an AV3 playthrough was probably not the best idea. I've spent 40+ hours on three of its games on normal mode. (Why normal mode instead of easy? Because easy mode makes battles less fun.) I really only wanted to play it for Mel's story, but I feel like it's dragged on for so, so long.

The writing mostly feels like a silly downgrade from AV1 and AV2. The first two parts were more or less tolerable, with a few things that irked me and failed to bring out an intended emotion from me. However, the third part just really... no. The only thing I enjoy here is gameplay, because AV did find a good balance of the battle system. However, the story is just too painful for me to read, because I feel like the story removed most meaning and development from its previous installments. For me, it's like a fandom-approved fanfic. And I had to do majority of this game consulting a walkthrough to navigate its too-convoluted mazes and equally convoluted side quests. No, despite my complaints, I'm a few steps away from the final fight, but I'm ready to move on to other stuff, really.

Speaking of moving on, I have no idea what to do with my SK fanfic. I promised a second arc rewrite twice; it feels sillier the more I think about it. I feel like I should move on, but I also feel an obligation to it. I started this mess; I know how it's supposed to go down; I should be able to at least write one more arc?

But, my muse can no longer connect with it that strongly. I do feel desire to continue it, but when I get to think about it, I get nothing. I don't get it. I love the characters. I love the idea. Why can't I write about them anymore? Why do most of my creative concepts now flow to a super new thing that can't even stand on its own foundations yet?

And these things make me think: Am I so jaded? Am I so cynical? Am I broken?

Why. Can't. I. Be. Normal?

Thankfully, there is a bit of good news, and that is: I'm moving closer to releasing an Arcanium: Magia demo for my friends (target: July-August 2022). It will only be limited to them; the purpose of the demo is to find errors and areas of improvement to guide the rest of the development. It will contain a lot of placeholder sprites and graphics; it will only have Area 1 and a preview of Area 2 (of 5-6 areas).

After I tweak things to their feedback and load in the final sprites and graphics, I could hopefully extend the demo to a proper Area 2 showcase. And by the end of this year (December 2022), maybe I could have a proper demo out.

Is this game going to be commercial? I don't know yet. Either way, I hope this game does get realized. Not only is it part of my attempt to reconnect with my interest in programming, but also it is a way for me to create something not fandom-related. My real own idea, donut steal series. It may be small, but it's mine. Something of my own.

Sorry; I'm having feelings.

[stanharu]

beastars episode 24 thoughts!

this post got kinda long i have Many Thoughts on this one

Overall I had fun watching this ep but I could really tell it was rushed and there was so much that got cut, which makes me super sad. our fears about the finale having pacing issues due to all the added scenes & rearranging were confirmed & it rly sucks, but i'll elaborate more on that in a bit.

this week's ep covered the end of chapter 92, chapters 93-97, and included small bits of chapters 98 & 99.

so the ep starts with the ED and the latter part of the tunnel scene with ibuki and louis. i liked the visual effect they used to show that they were in the dark. louis' voice acting was also On Point. for the most part i think this scene was done pretty well but I can tell it's being rushed also. I really wish we got more buildup and narration instead of just jumping straight to ibuki telling louis to shoot him. the way it is in the anime feels less impactful imo.

also im sad we didnt get to see this in the anime

before i move on, i wanna talk a bit about louis and his relationship w/ the shishigumi and ibuki. i feel like in the anime quite a few of the lil moments that really endear you to the shishigumi and also ibuki were either cut or kinda glossed over, which is strange to me considering how much effort and care went into the ED. it's very emotional and good but i feel like maybe anime onlies are missing out only seeing the anime and the MV. but idk.

legosi and riz's fight was quite rushed as well. there's so much narration and dialogue missing from it and that really rubs me the wrong way. It wasn't all bad but compared to the manga I just don't think it's as good. I will say tho that I really liked the sequence w legosi and the moths. I thought it looked really nice and was pretty well done.

also i liked how the backgrounds had some anti-yahya graffiti, its a nice touch imo

it says "high quality horse meat"

I was happy to see legosi do the "tell me more" pose but I'm honestly disappointed that the anime took out the whole exposition about why legosi did it. like i feel like without that it's just legosi being weird when he has a reason for it!!! This is just one example of the anime taking out crucial narration during the fight.

I also think it's kinda weird how they changed how louis shows up at the fight. im not sure how i feel about riz just charging at him like that, but i liked how legosi kicked him before they ran lol.

i dont have much to say about pina's small scene but I did wanna say that during my first watch thru of the ep i was too distracted trying to read the graffiti behind him that i didn't notice him getting his phone out of the dumpster and calling the cops lmao

it says "devour yahya"

and now... here we are... the predation scene.

overall i thought it was pretty well done but, like the rest of the ep, i could tell it was also being kinda rushed. some important beats werent given enough time to really sink in, and there's a few bits of narration taken out of this part as well that i find disappointing :^(

tho i did like how the anime called back to this scene in s1 when legosi mentions utilizing his strength.

also this part where louis is remembering ibuki had me like😭

I also really liked seeing louis cry. I was crying too sjdflskjdflsjkdf. i thought that scene was really good, its prolly my favorite part of the ep tbh. getting to hear the whole predation scene voiced made me kind of a mess lol. i really liked louis' expressions throughout this whole ep too. studio orange used their whole louis expression budget on these last 2 eps lmao.

seeing legosi instantly get all beefed up was great too. he looked a little ridiculous but i kinda loved it lol. he's so huge and poofy. i love him.

big pomeranian

anyway, im also sad they took out louis' line about being reduced to a flashback character lol. instead he tells legosi "be a hero" again which... im not sure about that change. i liked the part with riz thinking back about tem tho. tho imo the way riz realizes he's in the wrong feels pretty sudden. again adding to how rushed the whole ep feels.

before i move on again i just wanna say legosi looks so cute. even all puffed up and covered in blood. how does he do that

baby boy baby. i wanna ruffle his cheek floofs.

i think one of the things im most disappointed about from this whole ep was how the fight got wrapped up. i really like how the cops show up and totally shift the tone in the manga jslkdfjskljdf. im also really sad we didnt get this interaction

tthe anime really took out most of the sillier moments from the finale, which makes me pretty sad to think about. i know the anime and manga have different tones but pls let the boys be silly sometimes!!

the next part where legosi and louis finally establish their friendship was really cute tho ❤️ even tho it was pretty different i enjoyed it a lot.

BABIESSSS 🥺😭❤️❤️

the wrap-up for this arc and this episode gave me whiplash sdjlfkjsdf. it literally speedruns thru legosi's predation conviction, being released, louis & haru's graduation, and legosi deciding he's going to drop out of school. that is SO MUCH AT ONCE. also i was holding out hope that legosi would have his new years call with haru after the fight instead but that didnt happen!! so it just got cut!!! kinda mad about that tbh. legosi and haru having a lil scene at the very end made up for it a lil bit but that's still one of haru's few moments in this arc that's just not included.

we didnt even get the part wher legosi learns he can't marry haru bc of his conviction.

ive been really hoping for a season 3 announcement once this season ended. with all the background allusions to yahya, the added plot point of someone stealing elephant tusks, and sebun and melon's lil cameos in this season, it seemed to me that studio orange was kinda teasing a 3rd season. but now, with the dismissive way the anime ended, and paru's note from earlier today, im less sure about the possibility of a 3rd season. i'd still like to see the rest of the series animated, but i guess we'll just have to wait and see if more anime is announced in the future.

if we do get another season in the future i just hope that we swing back around and actually address the things that got completely glossed over in the last couple minutes of this episode instead of charging forward w/o touching them again.

i really think the finale for this arc should've been two episodes at least. not including the tunnel scene. i think then things wouldn't have felt so rushed. people have been saying this season really would have benefitted from at least 1 extra episode and i cant help but agree. some have even suggested a whole 24 episodes just for this arc, but i think that this arc couldve been done properly with 12 or 13 episodes if there was some better prioritizing on what to include and what to cut.

like i dont mind not getting the parts about legosi's family if they can be addressed somehow in a future season (or if theres no more future anime seasons thats a plot thread that doesnt have to be worried about). i could have lived w/o seeing sheila & peach's chapter animated if it meant more time for the focus of this arc. and was the kangaroo red herring really necessary?

adaptation wise, i dont think this season was as good as the first. i still think it did fairly well, but i know that it could have been much better. ive been excited to watch this season with my friends once the dub releases, but now im wondering if i should just tell them to read the manga instead. sighs idk. perhaps it comes thru better as a bingewatch, or perhaps im being a bit too harsh. idk. at some point ill do a rewatch and see how i feel about the season as a whole, but that wont be for a while.

if you've read this far, thanks for reading my ramblings!! it's been fun to make these posts every week and im gonna miss getting new episodes every week.

[danwhobrowses]

Oh No, Not Another Rey Mysterio Deserves Better Rant!

Probably what you're thinking but considering how my last one was January it was pretty alarming.

Spoilers for MITB 2021

So despite a good match, the Mysterios lost the titles they only really defended against the Usos at about 2 months, and it annoyed me. Which is unsurprising but also commonplace in a PPV that squashed Kofi in another World Title match, saw Charlotte beat Rhea again (storytelling bloating and sucking all investment of Rhea getting her win back so that Flair could win a 14th title) and saw Nikki ASH win MITB despite being the sillier character and probably the least popular babyface in a pile of Asuka, Naomi and Liv.

It was practically a similar finish to SD's 6-man tag with the Usos cheating and frankly I don't see why it happened. Usos as a tag team are great for sure but now who do they face? The wealth of babyface teams like...oh that's right there are none on SD. Sure the image of the Bloodline in gold is a visual - though one that feels like a Xerox of another company's big time world champion and heel brothers tag champions - but what does it serve in the now? The Usos will face nobody or just rematch with the Mysterios again as side characters, and Rey Mysterio should not be a side character.

Leading into the crux of my point. Rey Mysterio has been working in the business since he was 14, in 1989. His career spans across 5 decades and he's still going, not just part time going he is still going on a regular basis. Even when he wasn't in WWE he didn't stop, he went to the indies, to AAA, to Lucha Underground (people talking about him vs Ricochet like they didn't put on a banger at Ultima Lucha), to All In, to even NJPW. Legends of the business and highly respected wrestlers have praised Rey on countless times and yet he's in this spot where he's WWE's pin cushion, taking losses and being flattened by Otis or ragdolled by Roman for cheap heat.

A 2 month tag reign with his son and a Universal title match only looks good on paper but considering that over the last year Rey has in kayfabe been thrown off a building, had his eye ripped out, watched his son be beaten up by whoever looks at him funny because they know Rey's pledge of vengeance doesn't actually come back round to them and then spent a lot of the time taking pins and losing clean on consecutive weeks to Corbin, and it doesn't look so great. Even his tag reign was merely a tool for Roman's story, and when we had a small chance of establishing a big-name feud between Rey and Roman we didn't even give them time to build, in fact they made their tiny build even shorter because they didn't let them do it on the freaking PPV, and then after all that they made him tap out - because vengeance means nothing - in what was up till then a great HIAC match, before Rey and his son again played understudy and then ends up being pinned and losing the tag belts to the brother who was done for another DUI, but goes unpunished because WWE's 'plan' exceeds health and safety.

At this point I do have to wonder what Rey has to do to warrant the same respect others that came at the same time as him did. I mean, Edge and Cena are great wrestlers but why do they get the instant world title shot and months of build? They show up for a few weeks after sitting pretty at home for months or in Lesnar and Goldberg's case years while Rey is wrestling week by week putting other guys over? And when he gets his turn it's just filler, that objectively feels backwards. What, does Rey have to be a part timer just to get some brain cells put into his booking? If he wasn't doing his damnedest to give his son the best training and support he can he could be in another company tearing it up on a higher level, and it hurts that people seriously take him for granted.

I mean he's 46, he's older than AJ, older than Jeff, older than Cena, older than Brock and he's still moving like that. Even with all the damage the job has done on his knees as well, and he still has the fans' hearts, imagine being this consistently over and not thinking that he's a legend? Someone worth using higher up on the card. The tag reign would've been good if they had a longer run at it and some more valid opponents but WWE don't really give two shits about tag teams anymore, so the Smackdown Six member gets scraps while all his 6 foot buddies get big money programs.

It just, infuriates me you know? We don't know how much longer it'll be until Rey hangs up his mask, have we considered what wrestling would be without him? Some of the most athletic talent in the world man and woman have Rey's career to thank for inspiring them, for breaking the barriers to allow them to reach the coveted brass ring. It feels like Rey could be doing a lot more in his late career, I mean there is so much he could be doing right now, granted he could still go into his 50s like Jericho, Big Show, Mark Henry, Dustin Rhodes, Liger etc. did but you never know.

WWE, of all the things you've been messing up on as of recent - and there are a lot - your creative laziness towards Rey is extremely damning and wasteful, the man is an icon, treat him as such.

[runner5ive]

😠!!! Grumpy apocalypse mom and our gremlin child, pretty please! 🥺

Janine and Five!

If you'd like to request something please go here to see who’s who! I've had a few requests so far and I'm starting to work through them, but there's still plenty of characters available 💕

Apologies this ones longer than I expected 😅 I just have a lot of love for Janine.

The moment Five arrives in Abel, Janine is delighted at the thought of having an actual military trained recruit in her township.

And for a while, it's exactly as she'd hoped it'd be. Five stands and salutes her whenever she walks by (even if no one else does), they do whatever tasks are given to them without argument. Hell, her name sign is 'Boss' and she is thrilled.

She thinks, for a moment, that perhaps This new soldier would be good for Abel. Maybe they'll help... reign in the other runners a little. Bring a level of seriousness to the township.

But then she starts to see Five change. Five becomes sillier, bouncier, less like a soldier and more like... like someone their own age.

And at first Janine's put down. She blames Sam and Simon for corrupting her perfect little soldier. Uncertain what she's doing wrong, she asks Five what Mullins was like, hoping for an idea of how to reign in her own runners. And so Five tells her, and Janine realises just how broken and miserable Five actually was when they arrived.

So, she figures, she might not have the perfect little soldier, but at least she has herself a happy, loyal runner.

And Five is loyal.

They don't leap to their feet every time she walks by anymore, but they always, without fail, salute her. They still call her Boss. They still do everything she asks without question. They're just... happier.

When Five thinks they'll be going back to Mullins at some point, they mostly crash on Janine's couch in the farmhouse, refusing any permenant lodgings incase they get too cosy. The minute Five decides they're staying - they move out and get their own corner of a housing tent and the farmhouse seems a lot... emptier without them there every morning and night.

Janine refuses to admit she misses them. She carries on, business as usual, certain that Five wouldn't be too bothered about seeing her other than during missions. But Five surprises her. She'll be sat in her office, pouring over documents and trying to figure out how to fairly share out rations, or planning missions. And she won't even notice anyone come in until she notices the mug of coffee and a biscuit beside her.

When she falls asleep during her work, Five will usually be the one waking her gentle, smiling warmly and giving her a friendly salute before suggesting she went to bed.

Janine is a strong, but somewhat socially awkward too. Listening to her on runs always makes them smile.

Spoilers from S1M6 below the cut:

Season 1

S1M6 Janine feels awful after leading Five into an ambush. She almost can't believe it. She was so sure they could trust New Canton, and she was wrong. She's frustrated with herself and her own poor judgement, taking it out on Sam before storming off to bed.

S1M7 When Five returns that night, dehydrated, exhausted and a little battered, Janine goes to visit them in the quarantine hospital rooms. Five is asleep, unaware she's there, but Janine is comforted at that moment just by watching them breathe.

After that, Janine shows more concern for Five in her own subtle ways. Checking they have all their supplies for long missions, making sure they have enough warm clothes in winter. She always asks Maxine for updates on their health if they ever need to go to the infirmary. She pretends not to care... but Five knows. And Five cares too.

Season 2

S2M1 Whilst Five is staying at New Canton, their cat Simon Pawchlan Feline De Luca ends ups living with Janine. She pretends to hate it, but honestly he’s good company. Plus, he’s a good mouse catcher. Though she cant help but think that the combination of hers and Simon’s names is a not so subtle hint from Five. 

S2M4 The attack on Abel practically destroyed Five's bunk. Their friends were able to salvage most of their stuff, but the broken bed and the influx of those needing housing means that Five doesn't really have anywhere to stay when they return home from New Canton. Janine act frustrated that Sam had brought them back without checking with her first, especially since there's nowhere for them to stay, but she's secretly glad they're crashing on her couch again.

With the Major back at Abel, Janine can't help but notice the same stiffness return to Five when they take orders from this stranger, and it surprises her. Because this was the Major, the one in charge, and although Five had never met her before they must know she's trustworthy.

But Five warms slowly to this new person in charge. Not many others notice because they're all treading on eggshells now the Major is back, but for Five it's different. Janine is the one to realise that perhaps she reminds them of Mullins a little too much.

Janine is also surprised to see that any orders the Major gives them, Five's eyes would dart to Janine for confirmation. Five is a loyal runner, but only to those they know, and at that point they're loyal to Janine, not the Major.

Janine doesn't mention it to them, but she keeps an eye on Five, watching over the weeks as they gradually warm up to the Major. Still, there's not the same level of trust for the Major as there is for her.

S2M40 But then it turns out there's a traitor in Abel. And there's only so many people it can be. And Janine can't help but suspect Five. Because, let's be honest, Five hadn't really been there that long. Five arrived through rather suspicious circumstances. And Five still hadn't admitted who exactly they were before the apocalypse. Not even a name.

Five is hurt that Janine suspects them. It leaves them uneasy around her. But they still refuse to give her their name. When Janine demands an explanation why not, Five struggles to sign coherently. They're upset, but they manage to get the message across: they don't like who they were before and they're trying to forget. They're trying to be better. This of course only builds more suspicion.

S2M43 The day Simon is revealed to be the traitor, Janine is devestated. Because it can't be Simon. Not Simon. Not her stupid Simon. She listens as Jamie attacks him with the bat, stunned and horrified, but also hating herself for how she suspected Five more than anyone.

When Five gets back, they run straight up to Janine and throw their arms around her, stunning Janine, who is not a hugger. She's not sure if Five is trying to comfort her or looking for comfort themself. She awkwardly pats them on the back.

That day, Five gives Janine their birthname. It's hard to do, but they do it. They tell her that if she wants to look them up, she can. They're tired of secrets. Janine waits for them to leave before searching that name, and then deleting everything she can find on them, without reading a single thing. As far as the world is concerned, Five's life started at Abel.

Season 3

S3M5 The day Five accepts to become the Head of the Runners, Janine decides to make the role official. With the promotion, Five works a lot closer with her, planning mission and training regimes, and earning an official 'Head of Runners' bedroom in Janine's house. It was a downstairs pantry, but it's a decent size and already has lots of shelves and a nice view from the window. Everyone helps to do it up so it's nice and cosy, and Five can finally move off the couch and into their own space.

Five has no idea what to do with a bedroom of their own and is very overwhelmed. More hugs for Janine, even if she's more of a handshake kind of gal.

Five has an entire shelf dedicated to the people they've lost. Sara's sunglasses, photos of Simon.

Five is a lot more cautious about Janine's wellbeing than they've ever been. There are more instances than not where Five will physically drag Janine's in her chair from her desk, seizing her work and refusing to give it back until she went and had some food.

Janine's raised, frustrated voice can usually be heard from outside, and people ask Five how they cope, since all Janine seems to do is shout at them.

Five doesn't care. Because they know Janine cares too. With their additional duties, Five's often working late, and Janine is somewhat surprised by how seriously they're taking this role. Five just wants to do her proud, which is weird because they've never really done anything to make anyone proud before. When Five falls asleep in their work, they'll wake with a blanket over them.

Mornings are cosy. They both usually get up at a similar time. Whoever gets to the kitchen first usually makes the other a hot drink, and they usually sit in silence, reading the mornings memos together.

Five knows Janine's missing Simon, but neither of them can bare to talk about him. Still, on days Janine's feeling particularly low, Five can usually tell. They give her extra buscuits these days.

Season 4

S4M22 Five is a wreck after Sam gets bit. Like, a complete mess. Everyone tries to consolidate them when they get back to Abel, but they are in self-destructive mode. They run off, and hours later Jody finds them having raided one of Simon's old whisky stashes. They're rotten drunk and barely able to stand.

They DEMAND to be taken to Tom. Their shotgun is in their hands, and there is rage on their face. Everyone's panicking, but Janine doesn't say a word. She just marches up to five, punches them in the gut so hard they drop to their knees, and yank their shotgun from their hands.

Janine refuses to take them to the infirmary, saying they just needed to sleep it off, and drags them into the farmhouse to look after them herself. It's very much tough love. This includes forcing her fingers down their throat to get them to puke up as much booze as they can, forcing them into the shower so she can hose them down, and getting them ready for bed. Five asks if she misses him, and for a moment Janine thinks they mean Sam, until she realises she'd tossed Five one of Simon's old shirts to wear as pjs. That night they sit on Janine's bed talk properly about Simon, not really speaking just quietly signing between each other, and Five ends up falling into a drunken sleep against her shoulder. Janine has no idea what to do, so she doesn't disturb them and lets them sleep. Besides, at least this way she can make sure they don't choke on their own vomit in the night.

Thankfully, Five doesn't puke on her in their sleep. They do drool a lot though.

Five knows Janine is going through some stuff when they capture Tom, and although they want to help, she refuses. Still, they're there for her. They don't even care when she threatens to court marshal them again. They just keep telling her: whatever you need, I'm there.

[liskantope]

A personal look back on my summer 2020

My fall semester has already been going on for a little while, but in the past week the weather has suddenly switched from hot to autumny and now it feels like the summer was a period which is truly over and which I can look back upon as (unsurprisingly) one of the most singular summers of my life.

I consider myself to be excellent at autobiographical memory, probably in the 90th percentile or so, at least when it comes to being able to recall the year or month (or sometimes week) that particular events of my life occurred.  I attribute this to often being able to connect various things that were going on in different areas of my life at the same time (rather like separate arcs in a television episode) in ways that allow me to anchor any particular memory to the time it occurred.  Sometimes there are particular time periods where the "plot arcs" of my life somehow seem to fit together really well in a united larger story or a      single flavor, whereas looking back at other periods I can with some effort remember various arcs but it's hard to hunt them out and put them together, as though they were part of a poorly-written TV episode which doesn't have any particular unity.

Summers for me have always stood apart from the years they were in (with the slight exception of the summers I spent abroad doing my first postdoc which had so little structure that my general routine was the same all year round).  This summer I often looked back at the summer of 2010 (the last divisible-by-ten year), which was an example of the former: somehow all the separate arcs going on in my life at the time -- my studying and research (sadly, this was the most recent summer when I actually felt good about how studying/research was going!), stuff that was going on in my immediate family, progress in my social life, my first forays into doing local gigs as part of a band, the weather, my      apartment/roommate situation, shows I was watching, and personal internal struggles I was facing -- feel like they were all nuances of the same flavor.  (This was back in the days that I had cable and it so happened that Curb Your Enthusiasm was on the TV Guide Channel and I was introduced to it and watched it a lot just that summer; for years afterwards the theme tune immediately brought back the emotions that came with the flavor of summer 2010.  Semi-coincidentally I've been watching a lot of Curb clips on YouTube since I noticed them appearing early this past summer.)

The following summer, summer of 2011, is an example of the latter kind of time period in my memory: I'm able to remember a bunch of separate things that went on, including a visit to Switzerland, some of the research I was trying to do, my living situation (and anticipation of a move and the shift in my social life it would bring), my discovery of the local Unitarian Universalist fellowship and being a regular attendant there the entire summer, some particular online interests, and the unpleasant bike accident I had, but it takes some effort to recall that this was all happening in the same three months.  (One thing I do distinctly remember about my living situation is that my one roommate spent most of the summer out of town and that, in anticipation of my next roommate who I knew traveled less and would be much more social, I was telling myself, "Enjoy this level of privacy now because chances are you'll never have it again." I was absolutely right in my prediction that there would be much less solitude and privacy with the next roommate who I remained living with for several years, but I sort of assumed that after that I would have found some kind of a partner to be with all the time, and... oh the irony as I sit here, still continuously partner-free, after another day of the far more intense privacy and solitude of the past six months!)

This past summer, the summer of 2020, is very, very clearly bound to become a longer-term memory of the former kind: its extreme flavor is unmistakable.  As is probably the case for most of us, my experience of summer 2020 has been shaped almost entirely shaped by the pandemic we're still in the midst of.  For me this has meant constantly being home alone (although I settled pretty soon on into a pattern of going on daily bike rides and weekly supermarket trips plus a number of other types of errands.  Also, a caveat to the rest of this paragraph is that my parents visited one weekend and that provided an exception to some of the otherwise constant conditions below.)  I became uncharacteristically super introverted and very intent on making as much research progress as possible in the absence of teaching duties. None of this has been too unpleasant, but there has been a complete and utter lack of any form of fun, both in traveling (this may hold the record of the only summer where I stayed in the same 6-mile radius the entire time) and in social events.  The one positively pleasant thing in my life this summer was discovering the most beautiful area for cycling in any place I've lived, as well as a handful of late-evening warm-summer-night walks.  The extreme degree of loneliness and the necessity of self-discipline to keep my wheels turning has been smothering, and actually I think I dealt with it much better than I would ever have imagined I could if someone had told me this was coming a year ago.

I'd say my summer was a personal success in that way and in most other ways apart from the main concrete objective of completing a research preprint, which failed quite badly and is putting my career aspirations in a very precarious place (it would have been nice to get some heavier blogging done as well).  One could say that this was a less important goal than that of not letting my mental health spiral, though, and I did succeed quite well at the latter.  (In fact, I was doing much worse in January and February than I was when the pandemic hit.)  I'm upset that my goals seem to take me much longer than I feel they should but am glad that this doesn't seem to be due to an inability to sit down and focus on the work, as was the case with research during some summers of grad school.

Part of the flavor of summer 2020 that will live on in my memory has to do with my being home alone so much of the time, never having to get near other people, in an apartment that I kept hot, that, let's just say it took me a ridiculously long time to accumulate each laundry load and there were often T-shirts draped over my sofa to be reused for an hour or two at a time over multiple days.

While I'm continuing on this gratuitously self-absorbed vein, as I've noted that I love keeping track of personal "endurance" records, I've (again unsurprisingly, because of the situation) made a bunch of them which I'll finish by taking note of here:

Longest time without stepping out of the front door: I actually was careful to make sure I never stayed entirely inside for two days in a row, but it finally happened the weekend before last (after a late Friday night walk in my complex where I may or may not have gotten back inside by midnight).  I believe it was 61 hours, or very nearly 61 hours, without exiting my apartment. This may be a lifelong record; the only other event that compares was a 2-3-day period in March 2011 when I was very feverishly ill in the wake of a snowstorm, and I don't recall how far beyond 48 hours I stayed in.

Longest time without going into my office (or even onto my campus) in over a decade of having an office: from April 2nd to August 11th.  Hardly a unique one here, but I never thought I could have handled only having my home to work in for over four months.

Longest time not going near any public transportation whatsoever, since high school: Sunday March 8th (or just after midnight on March 9th, a bus ride as the final leg of the journey home from my last trip of any sort) to 26 Sundays later on September 6th because of having to leave my bike in the shop.

Longest stretch of time not withdrawing cash or paying for something in cash: since sometime in early March and counting.  The only times I've touched the cash in my wallet at all during all of this time was on two occasions when I gave a bill to someone in need.

Longest time since age 19 not touching a drop of alcohol: since April 11th (at a virtual birthday party of a friend) and continuing.  This smashes a record from last fall of something like 54 days.

Longest time with the thermostat completely off (no use of heat or AC): from one of the last days of March to, I think, June 4th. This was nothing to do with the pandemic (in fact, it makes the pandemic situation slightly more remarkable since I've had to be home for a lot more of the time); the spring where I am was just particularly pleasant.

Longest time not shaving my facial hair: 32 days in the late summer, breaking a record from earlier in the summer of exactly a month.

There are probably other even sillier ones, such as the fact that I’m pretty sure I didn’t put on shoes from sometime at the start of June to a few days ago. You’d also think I’d break an endurance record for not uttering a spoken word to anyone, but I haven’t kept track of that.

Let’s hope future intervals in my life are much less extreme and record-breaking; that’s the gist of what I wish for everyone right now.

[thearcanaartificer]

Okay! These are not the next ones I had, but I crunched through this ask list faster. Here is the original post. I will be cutting off my post a bit because I will only be doing half here and half in another post.

Thank you to those that are reading this and enjoying it. If you ever want to chat, I love talking.

OC asks that reveal more than you think.

1. Do they sleep with a stuffed animal? If they have multiple, who’s the favorite?

She has a few. She made a lot of stuffed animals when she was regaining a lot of her motor skills as a way to practice stitching and pattern making, though most she donated to the local orphanage for the children there and a few have been given to her pets. She likes making stylized bunnies, dogs, cats, birds, and teddy bears. Asra had to hide most of her old ones she had from their childhood- even the ones she had made him when he was ten.

Her most prized one is actually one that she found that Asra didn’t hide very well. A black bunny with mismatched button eyes. She calls it Pumpkin (Yes, she had just bitten into some of Sesali’s pumpkin bread when she named the thing). It’s not well put together and the type of stitching that was used is the wrong choice- like a surgeon had sewn it together like they would a laceration- and messy, but the thing is worn and obviously well loved. She felt attached to it from the first moment she discovered it.

She use to chew on its ears a lot when she was first recovering from her amnesia as a from of comfort. She’s stopped since then, but she takes the best care of it since its the only part of her past that she seems to be able to hold on to without headaches.

2. Can they take care of a plant? What about a pet? What about a child?

Yes to all three! Though she is a bit of a scatterbrain when she’s in the middle of a big thought or job, she’s actually very good at taking care of things. Plants are easy enough, just water them and make sure they are maintained and make sure they get the right amount of sunlight. Boom. Done.

Pets, she has a multitude and some of them are exotic, so she has a few rescues scattered around Vesuvia to keep them properly cared for and has actually hired other Vopels to keep them for her. But she has at least five at home that are hers to care for and she takes very good care of them. Her dog is almost always by her side, her cat is intelligent enough to find her when he wants her company, and her familiar is a bird, so he comes and goes but she always has bones ready for him if he doesn’t want to have to scavenge.

3. Ask them to describe their love interest.

Big dumb, leggy bird of a man.

Okay, she knows he’s not dumb. He’s honestly one of the smartest men she knows- but he does dumb things when left unsupervised! So when she’s trying to describe him in a way that doesn’t give away the fact that he’s Julian Devorak- the wanted ‘murderer’ of the Count- she calls him that.

But if she’s asked to describe her love the right way? He’s a handsome man with the prettiest wild russet red curls of hair, strong nose, and a charismatic energy that will just pull you in. He wears mostly dark colors with at least one flashy bright one for dramatic flair and stands above the rest of the crowd with his height. He may be wearing his eye patch- no he doesn’t need it, its for the aesthetics, thankyouverymuch. He’s brilliant and kind and despite his towering, threatening looking frame, would rather cling tightly to her hand and draw courage from her presence. But he’s brave with or without her. He’s tender and altruistic and plays the part of being confident, but can get nervous and anxious if left alone in his head too long.

4. Do they look good in red?

She thinks she looks good in anything that isn’t predominately white or pastel. So red? Throw in some black or dark greys and yeah, she could work it.

She’d prefer orange though…

5. Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech! Will they give one, and what about?

Yes, she’d give you one. No, you don’t want her too. Hers are a bit complicated and unending and always to the wrong audience. One minute she’s giving some normal speech about whatever the occasion is and next, she’s trying to teach a bunch of drunks the nonlinear properties of the magic realms and how to navigate their way through time lapses, its like the folds of fabric with how they intermingle and touch from one time to another, and the different realms can be tricky based on their patterns and-hey Juli put me down! I’m trying to give a speech about- why are we leaving?!

6. Who will they take advice from, no matter what it is? Who won’t they take advice from, no matter what it is?

Old Glory, surprisingly. She’ll take most advice from other Vopel women and even Asra, but she’ll toss out a lot of their sillier ones- like don’t date Ilya (Asra’s). But anything Glory tells her tends to be very good advice (she’s never given her bum advice) and she’s far better with reading people than Odelia and so she’ll just default listen to her on a lot of topics.

She has a long list of who she won’t take advice from, but, to no one’s surprise, she’ll instantly tune out Valdemar’s advice. They rub her wrong and even if the advice is solid, she’ll ignore it because why would she ever want or take their advice?

7. Describe them in three words. Now let them describe themself in three words.

Smol chaotic neutral.

Controlled, chaotic exuberance.

8. Do complex puzzles intrigue or frustrate them?

The more complicated the puzzle, the more interested Odelia is. She has a deep love for whodunit novels because she loves a good mystery to piece together. Her mind loves puzzles of any sort. Magic and science both have the allure of being a puzzle, especially when she’s working on projects that require them to work in tandem (hence her unique brand of magical artificery). Asra use to bring her little puzzles to fidget with as she reclaimed the dexterity of her fingers and she’d just sit there playing with them- before she could even properly speak again- and figure out how solve them by herself.

9. Do they empathize with non-sentient things (dolls, plants, books…)?

She talks to them. A lot. Her plants are her babies and she’ll baby talk them. Her dolls have ‘personalities’ based on weird things they’ve done (like refused to stay in a particular spot so its persnickety about where its to sit or has fragile stitching so it’s an old lady stuffed toy). And books- she’ll talk to them about their condition or if they fall and land funny. A ‘there you are you sneaky thing’ to books that had eluded her.

But Odelia is a talker and it does help her focus on the here and now (rather than get lost in her thoughts) by talking out loud- even to inanimate objects.

10. What age do they most want to be right now?

The age she is now? She’s not one to daydream about her age or whatnot. She’s in her very early thirties and the world is her oyster. She’s fit and capable and her age is just an unimportant number to her. (especially since she doesn’t remember the previous years before ‘waking up’ anyhow.)

11. They’ve won the lottery. Spend, or save?

Haha, she’s already well off, so hurray more money? She’ll just invest the money responsibly as she did the money she had prior to that.

12. Do they like romance in the books they read (or in the book they’re in)?

Oh she’s a sucker for a good romance. If she likes the two characters, she’s in their corner rooting for them. She likes the wittier ones that banter more than anything. But she does get annoyed by impractical drama. Excitement! Danger! Ah YES! ‘Oh no who do I pick? I’m stuck between two choices!’ Grow up and outright pick. Let the one you don’t choose have a chance to get over you and move on with their life and find happiness (or pick both of them if that is a possibility! Just pick!). Because nothing is worse to her than pulling on the heartstrings of someone you aren’t going to pick.

13. Name one thing their parents taught them.

She doesn’t remember her birthparents. They were never a part of her life. Her birthmother briefly, but, when her magic’s rare classification came to light, she was taken into the care of another to raise and train her in the ways of their magic style. But she has had parents in her life. The most current ‘parent figure’ she has (one she remembers) is Old Glory (a nickname she gave the older woman and uses regardless of if the woman is present or not. A bad habit.).

She taught her through her actions that kindness isn’t reflected out outer beauty. Though most think she looks scary, as gnarled and scarred as she is (has a very mean resting bitch face), her heart is kind and compassionate. She tends to children with the utmost of patience, though tolerates no blatant disrespect. She remembers the names of everyone she’s been introduced to and what was last told to her about their day or life. Volunteers her free time to visiting the less fortunate and charging them no fee for her services. Hard shell, ooey, gooey insides.

14. Would they agree with the term ‘guilty pleasure’? Do they have any?

Oh she has guilty pleasures. A lot of the sweets she buys at Sesali’s bakery are guilty pleasures of her because she buys them by the dozens. Also mystery novels. She will re-read mystery novels she’s already read because she still likes the narrative and the build up to the big reveal. And theater. It’s fun, no matter how obvious the plot is sometimes.

15. What would they consider a waste of time– other than school or work?

Oddly enough, she finds sitting down to do her hair or having to apply make up or even more complicated outfits a waste of time. She’s very utilitarian in that regard. A ponytail will keep her hair out of her face so why spend hours learning how to do complicated braids simply because they look pretty?

Don’t be mistaken though. If Portia or Nadia or Julian want to do her hair or make up or dress her up- the time is no longer wasted. They enjoy doing those sorts of things and letting them enjoy themselves, despite how much she doesn’t understand why its enjoyable to them, means the time is well spent.

On her own though, nah. She’d rather do anything else- just throw on some clothes, toss her hair into a pony tail, and get going.

[rogueshipagogo]

ppl have been asking me my opinions on space channel 5 vr... and i guess since i bought a vr headset off craigslist just so i could play it and speedrun it before work the day it came out... i should talk abt it now... i dont rly think i’ll be able to separate it into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ things i think i’m just going to do a rambly stream of consciousness bc i have a headache... but i DO have good things to say abt this game... so st.... sta stay t tune  d

right off the bat, the thing i appreciate most abt this game- i like that space channel 5 vr doesnt have cash grab vibes. i Do genuinely believe that they Wanted to make this game For the people who are still obsessed with it, and that they ultimately did what they set out to do when they intended to scale certain aspects of the series up conceptually to match the way the fandom perceives it nowadays. but like i’ve said before... i’m not going to Disagree with the very common conclusion that it Needed to be longer, or at Least more intricate plot-wise. one of my fun and fresh excuses for sc5vr being as short as it is is because you arent really supposed to be playing vr games for too long anyways, its really disorienting and kinda painful, but even that doesn’t account for why so much of the game that we got is a rehash of old settings, concepts, songs, and characters. [i dont even have a problem with reusing old songs, i just think the ones they chose ended up being misleading]

for example i think it makes sense that the first report is a remake of the first games first report on the surface, it’s meant to take you back to the way the first game felt and give you an idea of what it means that the games classic scenery can be rendered in actual high quality detail now [same with the recurrence of events like encountering the space pirates in the asteroid belt/the last battle against a villain being singing to it about what it’s done wrong], but i really thought, like, report 1 was going to end up being a simulated scenario for the benefit of lou and kee’s training... which i dont think ended up being the case??? i think they really did write ‘ok here you are in the first game’s setting again, fighting the old enemies again, because... :^) ok have fun playing report 2!’

and then whats report 2... you fight another old boss from the first game... but theres Still no clear villain or motivation for anything thats happening... and there wont be until like... basically the end of the game...

like, glitter is a really cute character, but its kind of underwhelming that shes just a random citizen who was kidnapped by an entity that we NEVER LEARN ANYTHING ABOUT... like part 1 was extremely notable for being about corporate greed and corruption, part 2 honestly wasnt that political in comparison but at least made you do a think wrt purge’s motivation and his methods, and this game just has a plot device that feels like it’ll do smth but then ends up not doing anything beyond what we already learned about it from the information on its character bio before the game was out. if it turns out that cell x is actually relevant again in a future entry in the franchise and they do have a more developed concept for what cell x Is in mind, i’ll do an entire backflip, but for now its just chalked up to being the result of More Space Hijinks that dont need to be explained

ESPECIALLY WITH ALL OF THE ALLUSIONS TO CELL X BEING AN ENTITY THAT FEEDS OFF OF DANCE ENERGY... it had me thinking that there would have to be some New Method of fighting it off that didn’t just lend it more power in the process, but nah apparently just tacking on the disclaimer ‘*this dance energy is not for glitter’ is enough to turn it from smth it can consume for power into big attacks you can use to kill it... like honestly it sounds like im asking for a lot from a game that has Never made too much sense, but considering that in part 2 they could add details like ‘oh didnt you know purge can open pocket dimensions? ulala is capable of manifesting tangible dance energy and the only other person who can do that is purge???’, its not like they havent come up with weird new shit for dance energy to do within the plot before. they just didnt do it in this game fsr

like did anyone else think that cell x/glitter was going to be the result of tossing purge out into deep space and him encountering the sc5 universe’s equivalent of an eldritch alien creature, smth more bestial than morolians?? even if purge wasnt part of it, when you say ‘uh oh, this guy Eats this society’s only source of energy!!!’ i expect the stakes to get HIGH, and i want the ramifications of it to be kinda STARTLING, because blank wanted money and purge wanted to ritualistically end the world but something this near to an ecological disaster that would force an entire paradigm shift hasn’t occurred yet in the series?? its totally new!!! there’s a lot they could do with this but OH DONT WORRY ABOUT IT EVERYONE ulala knows how to make dance energy kill cell x instead of feed it she’s got this we’re good no need to investigate more into all that

i can’t explain why the game is like this. and i dont expect grounding to address it in any meaningful way either. i’m sure they’re Aware of these complaints by now- the game reviewing community has Not been kind to sc5vr specifically due to all of these shortcomings [i didnt even touch on the issues with motion sensing and how many of the games mechanics were removed in favor of smth presumably easier to program yet much less satisfying, like Secret Moves just being mini quicktime events and Turning Your Ratings Into Stars just being replaced with the standard Three Strikes You’re Out method of scoring], but the pr team still seems very enthusiastic abt the game and is still promising dlc and potentially even more games in the series after this one- heres hoping that they’ll at least take these grievances to heart and consider making the experience not only more accessible [aka it will... go back to being a rhythm game with controller input.... and not... an exclusive vr experience...], but also as immersive and detailed as the old games, with less reused plot beats. i can let some of it off the hook in this game simply because i’m aware that it began its life as a tech demo that was only supposed to be that initial first report from the first game But Happening All Around You!, but i Really dont think they could get away with doing this little to expand upon the groundwork set by the first two games again. not with the way people remember part 2 being such a vast upgrade from part 1... the bar had been set so high that this just felt like a huge backslide into something even sillier and harder to take seriously than part 1 before we had any idea what kind of staying power the franchise would have as a hallmark of sega’s quirky antics. like... this game is what i think space channel 5 looks like to people who don’t understand the appeal of the first two games. and that scares me

but i guess for the most part, aside from wishing they had done more to revitalize the setting and the lore of the sc5 universe itself, im kind of glad it didnt do a lot to change the existing storylines the characters have kinda forged for themselves- here i was stressing out that they would pull out some plot development that would utterly and drastically change the way we talked abt the series for the rest of time, but so little happened and so little was added to the bank of sc5 lore that we can kind of all just carry on as usual and keep having the same headcanons we always had.

BUT!!! there ARE a lot of cute little details here and there that make the experience feel wholesome and like i said not an utter cashgrab- like so many of the character profiles referencing previous games [all of the references to npcs in this game being relatives of the npcs of the last games made me lose it] and how often ulala changes her expressions up and looks right at you and talks to you. the new music they wrote for the game also all slaps and everyones redesigns [if they got a redesign... rip pudding] are stunning

one of the most important things they did in this game was give a nice sort of Update to every character.... for example explaining that ulala isn’t a rookie reporter any more like she was in the first 2 games, that she’s moved up to being in charge of training new channel 5 reporters, and that while pudding is still somewhat stuck on her rivalry with ulala her career isn’t stagnant either, she was just cast in a romcom series as the lead... which is really nice considering how in the past she was portrayed as somewhat of a loser with almost no remaining fans left from her idol years

and you knew i was going to bring up jaguar at some point HES ALL OVER THIS GAME AND IT LITERALLY MADE ME FEEL LIKE MY LIFE WAS WORTH POWERING THROUGH THESE LAST FEW YEARS AND ALSO LIKE IM A GENIUS FOR SPENDING SO LONG POSTING EVERY SINGLE DAY ‘NO REALLY, HE’S THE SECONDARY PROTAGONIST OF THE STORY, ITS ABOUT CHANNEL 5 AS A COMPANY AND THEIR IMPACT ON EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER ENCOUNTERED THEM AND THAT INCLUDES JAGUAR AS WELL AS ULALA HES INTEGRAL TO THE PLOT BC SHE WOULDNT BE ALIVE IF IT WEREN’T FOR HIM’ i feel like it’s really incredible how in this game he has genuinely nice energy and doesnt withhold praise from ulala just to be helpful in a mysterious way later and he like HAS FRIENDS now. like consider how he went from disgraced former ch5 employee who got mad every time he saw them, to kidnapped robot henchman kinda humbled by the fact that now the turns tabled and ulala had to rescue Him, and now 3 years later his bio is all about how he has a new tv show thats super popular and he has a new entourage of ladies who he considers his '’’’’’comrades’’’’’’’ within the station he founded??? AND AFTER 20 YEARS THEY WERE FINALLY ABLE TO GIVE HIS MODEL JUICY ASS CHEEKS??????????????? NO MORE PANCAKE BOOTY???? THE BOY HAD A GLOWUP AND NO I WONT STOP TALKING ABOUT IT

WHEN I SAY MEOW MATCH THE POSE MOTHERFUCKERS THIS BLONDE BASTARD GETS TO BE IN CHARGE OF THE HUNDRED STAGE BATTLE NOW TOO THIS IS THE YEAR OF THE SPACE PIRATES BAYBEE

[towhomeverthisconcerns]

081519

AIGHT SO. Tracy and Joanna told me to write down my thoughts and feelings about Missions ‘cause I find it really hard to talk about how I feel so here it is. I got out of bed for this so CHARLES. I HOPE YOU’RE READING THIS. (He’s literally the only one who reads this stuff. LOL)

I think the biggest thing that I got out of this missions trip is that God really moves in our lives in ways we can never expect. Ever. And like I know it sounds super cliche but it’s 100% true. Here’s the thing people. I fell out of touch with God a LONG time ago. Probably near the beginning of my second year of college/end of my first year. And I really struggled with that. I was too embarrassed to admit it to my old church. (granted my old church was not the best environment to be in either... but that’s a whole ‘nother post) It was really hard for me to feel the calling to go to church every Sunday because I felt so ostracized. And like I tried talking to people about it but I don’t think they were in a position to be able to understand where I was coming from. 

Anyways. Fast forward a couple of years. I’m much more open to going to church, but I know I don’t want to go back to my home church. I talk to Josh about church hopping, and he invites me to his. He offers to carpool with me, which is probably like the biggest incentive to going to a church that far. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t. LOL. But I actually was able to connect with the people at that church, and I really felt a different vibe at this new church compared to the old one. I’m not saying my old church was a bad church. I just think I grew and evolved into a different person, and my old church just didn’t suit who I became? I don’t know if that makes sense. Regardless, the point is that this new church became a church that I really wanted to invest in and it was a big turning point in my spiritual faith, because I now had a solid community I could go to every Sunday.

At this point, I’m still very weak in my faith. I mean I just started going to a church, and then I took a month break from it to go to Europe, and then I came back sparingly because Josh goes to NorCal like once every other month, and I have Tet meetings every so often that I really wish I could get out of but it’s really important that I’m there so I try my best to be there. This just all goes to show how I really didn’t feel like I was ready for Taiwan missions. I mean who am I to lead these kids to Christ when I’m struggling with my own walk with God? I felt like I didn’t deserve to go on this trip. But what can I do? My family signs me up every year unless I protest or have a very legitimate reason. I was going whether I wanted to or not.

Another thing I really struggled with was finding out I was going to a camp where I knew NO ONE. If you don’t know how Taiwan Missions for the FECA family works, basically since there’s so many schools/regions who teach at, there’s actually 4 different camp sites that the teachers live in, and each site has their own set of schools that they go to, and so we really only get to know the people at our own camp, and even then we only really connect with the ones that go to the same schools as you, because those are the people you actually spend the most time with. For me personally, it’s ideal to be in a camp with at least 1 of my family members, whether its my mom, my dad, or one of my sisters. I just really like having that support/person to complain to (there tends to be a lot of drama on these missions trips, of which I can explain if needed but for now we’ll leave it as is) So it was really hard for me to accept that I was going to a school where I would have 0 moral support from my family. I brought this up to my mom and she told me she could switch me to a different camp if I really wanted to. And at first I was like YES PLEASE. But then my mom told me to pray about it. So I did. And that was something I really struggled with because I could really feel like God was saying “Trust me, I put you in that camp for a reason.” and I was very like “Are you sure. ‘Cause I’m really not for this. Like. Can’t I at least have ONE of my sisters???” But I decided to listen to God. I’m not even sure why. I just knew in my heart that I had to go to Camp 1 by myself. And that was something that made me SUPER nervous.

I was also super nervous about people’s expectations of me. Like, they all knew I had been on missions for a LONG time. (since 2011) But I’ve been so spiritually removed from it that I felt like I wasn’t in a position to lead anyone. I hardly prepared for this trip other than that one prayer I did about moving camps and showing up for literally 1 out of 6 training sessions. LOL. But everyone would look up to me and expect me to take charge. Which was a super frightening expectation to have put on me. 

Not only all of that, but also I was going Week 2. Which means all the people at that camp would’ve already formed their own friendship groups because they all went through week 1 together. Except for me. So I wouldn’t know anyone... and still be expected to lead... and just.. GAH. SO MUCH STRESS. TT__________TT

So fast forward to Day 1 of missions trip for me. I’m doing my literal best to just listen to God and do as he says. I went into this trip with more intention than I’ve ever given this trip in my life. LOL (well maybe not but it sure felt like it). I’m much more mature than I was in 2011 so it was definitely a different experience this year, because emotionally and spiritually I was more mature and in tune with myself. But OH MAN. The week went by so QUICKLY and I really truly connected with SO MANY LOVELY INDIVIDUALS <3 

I’m gonna go into it chronologically but the order doesn’t really matter. 

FIRST THINGS FIRST. Jo Nathan. That is the nickname he gave himself to me. Just saying. I did not come up with that for him. LOL. But yes he was a blessing from God I didn’t realize at the time. But he was also new to Camp 1. He was at Camp 3 during week 1, but they moved him to Camp 1 for week 2 and so he was just as nervous about fitting in as I was. Which is probably why we were able to connect so well to the point that people thought we were friends way before this trip. Jolene was the one who told me I could trust him, ‘cause I told her about my worries about not having someone to lean on/complain to at camp LOL. So day 1 I asked who Jonathan was, and found him and immediately told him we were gonna be friends. And then luckily we were forced to sit next to each other (since they arranged our seating by schools/class#) and thus I was able to sit next to him every time we had worship, trainings, sermons, etc. I really miss stabbing him with the Sword of the Spirit but I am so grateful he was willing to open up to me and be my friend during that week. He made me feel so much more relaxed because at least I had one person who was willing to laugh with me and at my jokes. LOL. I really appreciate the friendship we made during that time, and I can only hope it continues to grow as we move forward. (although if it does die, that’s ok because that’s also very normal in life.) SECONDLY. SAMUEL LIU. Ohmygosh. This boy is such a joy and blessing. UGH. Jo Nathan did not go to the same school as me so I only really talked to him in the evenings. But in the mornings, I was able to be as silly as I wanted to be because Samuel would always be 10x sillier. HAHA. My favorite thing about Samuel is his willingness to serve. His heart is so pure and he’s so good at words of affirmation (one of my top love languages) and he just made me feel SO LOVED. He truly is the little brother I never knew I needed. Side story: I was assigned worship leader for the morning assemblies, but I literally did not remember the dances, and so LITERALLY THE DAY BEFORE DAY 1 OF TEACHING I learned the dances as diligently as possible and found out that Samuel would be at the same school and so I asked him (and this other girl who I’ll get into later) to teach me and also go up on stage with me and HE SAID YES!!! Q____Q Just having him there made me feel so much better about leading worship. But my favorite memory with Samuel is when he asked me to share my testimony. I’ve never had someone ask me that before. I was so touched that he wanted to know. It’s such a great thing to ask someone. When I shared with him, I really felt like God was showing me that he had a plan all along, and it was through talking to Samuel that I realized I was actually supposed to be at this missions trip all along. Jesus was using me to teach myself that I am so much stronger in my faith than I believed. He gave me so much wisdom during that week. I am so grateful to have experienced that week in Taiwan. God is so amazing. So awesome and powerful. I have so many more memories with Samuel (like DEEP DOWN, OH DEEP DOWN DOWN and KTV on the bus) but I’ll have to save them for another time because this post is already WAY too long. NORA AND DAPHNE. These 2 girls are so so so precious. Daphne is really shy but has the heart of an angel. Truly she is so willing to serve and does things she’s not entirely comfortable with in the name of God and I am so proud of her for that. It’s really not easy to break out of your comfort zone, especially at the young age of 14. Daphne did not have an easy time teaching in Taiwan, but she’s already talked about going back and I’m just. What a great example of God’s disciple. She really has such a pure heart that is so willing to learn and I can’t get enough of it!! She was really hard for me to read at times because she hardly ever expressed her true emotions and is the type to keep things to herself if she’s bothered, but I know she’s working on it. My biggest fear was that I would step on her toes without knowing and she’d get upset but never talk to me about it. In the end I’m not sure if that happened or not but overall I want to say we had a good time together. I learned so much from her, and I hope I can continue to learn from her in the near future! Nora is much more open compared to Daphne (not that that’s a bad thing), and she was also willing to help me teach the dance on stage for worship during morning assembly. She was actually the one who spent the most time with me making sure I knew the choreography the night before our first day. AND FOR THAT I AM FOREVER GRATEFUL <3 Her heart to serve is just as big as Daphne’s and I’m so proud of her as well. She really did a great job teaching alongside her co-teacher. She was also willing to be silly with Samuel and I which was super fun! I’m just so so grateful I was able to witness God moving in their lives and really wish I got to spend more time with the both of them. The two were so cute in the fact that they were always listening to me. God used them to show me that he would always provide a way, as long as I was willing to listen to him. My biggest wish now is to be able to get to know them more and hangout with them. If you see this and you know who I’m talking about, please lmk ‘cause I don’t have their contact info because I’m an idiot and didn’t ask in time!! q-q

RUBY and ETHAN. Both of them were my coteachers this year and I could not have asked for a better trio. Ruby is the mother of Daphne, and right away I could tell she was an amazing mother. The way Daphne is filled with so much love, you could just FEEL that Ruby really loves and cherishes her daughter. TBH it feels weird to call the mom of my friend by her first name but I had to do it all week in Taiwan so it is what it is. Ruby was super sentimental and pointed out a lot of things to me that I didn’t notice going into this missions trip. She really relied on me to teach her about this missions trip but through her I learned so much more about what it means to be a disciple of God. Ruby and Daphne are from HK, so they speak Cantonese at home, and so they both struggled with talking to the students at times, but through their serving heart they let go of that worry and came out to Taiwan anyways. Her love for the students was also super visible, and I really think a lot of the students were affected by her presence and really felt God’s love through her. She 100% respected me and Ethan the whole week and was completely open to our ideas. I am so grateful to Ruby for being there and supporting Ethan and I as the lead teachers. Ethan, Ethan, Ethan. What can I say. He truly was like a little brother in the sense that we bickered a LOT. LOOOL. But I really appreciated his point of view and perspective because it was one I was not used to. He definitely had a more laid-back approach to teaching the kids, whereas I had a more planned out one, but in the end we made it work. There’s a funny story I tell everyone about the first time we really FOUGHT but I’ll save it for another time. In the end I was able to learn a lot about patience and letting others take the lead sometimes. Honestly Ethan is a super great kid, and he did really well leading the activities that we agreed he would lead. I’m very thankful for the different perspectives he offered, and for the blessings God used him to show me in my life. 

There were so many more people that impacted me greatly on this missions trip. Christina, Jesse, Ariel (my roommates at the camp); Dorothy, Michelle, Debbie, Carrie; Brian, Tracy, and my baby sister Joanna. But the ones mentioned here impacted me the most during my week in Taiwan and I believe were the ones God really used to teach me so much during that week.  TL;DR: God really used the people at my camp to teach me that 1) I’m always the perfect servant as long as I’m willing to serve him, no matter where my faith is, 2) Trust in him always, because his plan is so much bigger than I’ll ever understand, 3) He is truly an amazing, awesome, powerful, and wonderful God.

*please note. This is a really big thought dump to be doing at 3am so I apologize if there are grammatical/spelling errors, and if my thoughts don’t make sense. I plan to go over it and edit in the morning.

[nightvision-of-thesoul]

stolen hearts

Part 2

things are beginning to change at the outpost, in some strange and unexpected ways. 

The resounding thud from Venable’s cane brought me and the rest of the grays to attention, making it clear we could return to the tedium of tending to chores around the outpost. Nearly as fast as Langdon left, we all scurried in the same direction he did, only to quickly scatter throughout the different sections of the large common room. The task I had set before me prior to the preparing and serving of dinner was scrubbing down the stairs. Menial at best, it was an understatement to say that I wasn’t looking forward to it. Especially after the events of the evening, the last thing I wanted to do was confine myself to the floor and put myself in an even more poor position to present myself as a deserving subject to follow Langdon to the sanctuary. That is, if I was even able to be granted an interview with the man himself. The more I thought about it, the sillier it seemed. If I wasn’t even considered worthy enough to be above scrubbing shit stained toilets, how could I be considered worthy enough to repopulate the planet by someone who clearly held more influence than our current leader?  

While I tried not to think too hard about it: the prospect of never returning to this bunker proved too enticing not to hold on to at least some semblance of hope that I could possibly be chosen. However, I knew that regardless of what I felt about my station, I could be dead in the ground, or worse yet, covered in lesions and pustules aplenty, mind and body addled with radiation. I thought about that while I scrubbed, always trying to seek out the positives, not only in a world that had constantly sought out negativity but in this microcosmic one as well. I was surrounded by people who were the center of their own universes within this one, people who were callous, cruel, and unforgivably full to the brim with hubris, impulses I hoped never to align myself with. When it really came down to it, why were they the last people allowed alive? If the Sanctuary was looking for these kinds of people to repopulate it, did I even want to be a part of that future? The people I was surrounded by would sacrifice their own children for a shot at being allowed to say they were important enough to be selected for some unspoken, nondisclosed honor. I supposed money was the root of all their evils though, and in the end I couldn’t fault any of them for the way the acted, their actions being a product of that evil. Sometimes even that made me feel all the more alienated, still in the lowest position even in this world. I wanted so badly to belong, but felt like there was no way I ever could, not when the remainder of the populous was narrowed down to these select few.  

Lost in all my own longing and self-doubt, I hadn’t even realized I had stopped my scrubbing. Instead, I found myself sitting on the floor, tears flowing loosely down my cheeks, which were flushed not only from the heat of the surrounding candles but also from the intense sensation of loss and in some ways, shame. Loss of the world that I had once known, loss of the purity that could once be found in humanity, and finally, loss of my sense of self. I wondered how I could even think I was a part of what Langdon was looking for, and the idea inexplicably broke my heart.

My self-pity was interrupted swiftly by the raucous thud of Venable’s cane contacting the hard floor behind me. I scrambled to a standing position, unintendedly spilling the bucket of soapy water at my feet. Torn between standing at attention like I was always required to do and bending down to clean up the mess, I chose to remain upright and see what it was Venable was about to request. Her eyes fell disdainfully on the spill, but she returned her attention to me without comment.

“Layla, would you escort Mr. Gallant to my office please? Mr. Langdon is waiting to begin his interview.” Feeling the blush deepen in my cheeks, this time from pure embarrassment, I could do no more than nod quickly and scurry quickly past her to the living area where Gallant still remained, hastily wiping off my cheeks.

The hairdresser was chatting cordially with Coco, something about how the apocalypse was no good for split ends as he caressed the blonde tips of her hair with disgust.

“Mr. Gallant, Mr. Langdon is ready for you now,” I called from the doorway to the room, clearing my throat to signal my entrance. He slowly turned his head towards me with an exaggerated eye roll.

“Let’s get this over with.”

I walked briskly in the direction of Venable’s office, Gallant traipsing along behind at his usual relaxed and aloof pace. My heart fluttered unexpectedly at the prospect of seeing Langdon again, his sharp jaw and measured tongue weaseling their way back into my mind as we approached the large sliding doors. I could tell Gallant was excited by the idea as well, for his pace began to pick up behind me the closer we got to the room, closing the space between us as I grabbed the ornate handles and took a pause before I opened the entrance to the office.

Langdon’s immense presence was there to greet us, waiting patiently just on the opposite side of the door, his lips still upturned in that sultry smile that suggested he knew something you had no way of knowing. I nearly jumped, startled to be met with his soft and unblinking gaze that met my eyes before I had even known he was there. His hands were folded behind his back, and it looked as though he was waiting for me to speak.

“Mr. Gallant is here to see you sir.” Though it took considerable effort, I forced myself to hold his stare, taking note of how the yellow light from the fires caused the blue of his iris to melt almost seamlessly into the whites of his eyes.

“Right on time. Thank you, Ms…” His honeyed voice trailed off, awaiting a response.

“Layla.” Suddenly I felt ridiculous saying my own name, like somehow it wasn’t worthy enough to be said.

“Mmm, Layla.” He let his breath linger over it like he was trapping it in a cage. “You may leave us now.”

I hadn’t realized I had been holding my breath until he finally transferred his attention to Gallant, who was practically jumping over my shoulder to make himself a part of the interaction. It was interesting how he had this strange sort of effect over everyone. With a quick flick of his eyes, Langdon signaled me away. As much as I wanted to, I didn’t hurry away with my tail tucked between my legs as I had done after the first time we all met him. For whatever reason, he didn’t give me the same sensation as Venable, who tried her damndest every moment to remind you that you were beneath her. No, Langdon stirred something else entirely in me. Amid the squirming desire to crumble in his presence, the desire to stand rigid and unflinching, unafraid, before him, was equally as strong. His authority was undeniable, in an effortless way that made him far more menacing than Venable could ever hope to be. That was the closest I could come to describing just what it was about him that made me so uneasy. I couldn’t begin to shake the memory of his eyes looking into mine as though he was standing face to face with my fully bared soul, a rattling experience considering we had only just met.  

I returned to where I had begun the evening, the floor still splattered with the cleaning fluid. Trying to repress him from my mind, I knelt back down again and got to tidying up my mess.

*****

The evening began to stretch on, lengthening more slowly than the spread of molasses. Gallant still remained in the interview, but I had since moved on to other tasks, sweeping, dusting, tending to the many fire pits in the main room. Though time had no real meaning here, I could tell it was impossibly late. Letting out a monumental yawn I began to make my way towards the spiral staircase, just past Venable’s office. A high-pitched tone caught me off guard from behind the doors. For an instant, I wasn’t sure if I should stop or not, but the words spoken were what caused me to stop in my tracks and press my ear tenderly against the wood.

“Do you like leather?” The question came from Langdon. Above the crackle of the coals behind me I couldn’t tell if Gallant had answered or if he was just waiting, wondering what to say. The high-pitched voice rose again, giving me my answer.

“I like a lot of things.” Another pause followed before . “Can I ask you something? Are you gay? Because I’m getting a real major hit off of you.”

“Does the idea of that excite you?” The words came out almost biting, an undertone I wasn’t quite sure was a good or a bad thing. All I knew was that I didn’t like that the answer wasn’t immediately no. I couldn’t pinpoint why that would matter to me: I had known of Langdon for less than 12 hours. His sexual preferences meant less to me than Gallant’s, or anyone else’s for that matter. So why him, why now? Trying not to read too much more into it, I leaned closer to try and drown out any excess background noise.

“Yes.” Gallant’s reply was slightly breathless, signaling his deeper intent. “What are you going to do about it?” The question seemed odd being asked from his perspective, but held me rapt nonetheless. The space between this moment and Michael’s reply seemed to last for eons. I tried to listen now above my own heartbeat, the steady rushes of blood that clouded my ears. When he spoke again, his voice was much closer, making me nearly jump out of my skin. I could tell he was only inches from the door, the only thing separating us the inch and a half thick slab of sturdy oak. Though I know it was the heat of the fire behind me, it was as though the warmth of his body radiated through instead, causing my cheeks to blush uncontrollably once more, the third time this evening. I knew I should walk away, but it was like an unspeakable magnetism holding me in place.

“Let’s continue this conversation another time.” His tone invited no answer this time, and before I could move an inch, the doors were thrust apart, exposing me like a deer in some goddamn headlights.

There was a moment where he began to turn again towards Gallant, but he stopped cold in his tracks, expression of cool repose melting quickly into look of undignified shock as he saw me standing outside the door. It looked almost foreign compared to his usual composure, like I was somehow able to catch him unawares. The three of us remained frozen for an instant, but Langdon was still the first to regain his poise.

“Are you going to tell me just how long it was you’ve been standing there?” Each syllable was measured evenly, thinly veiling an impatient undertone. An inexplicable fear trickled down my spine like ice water, and I did as well as I could to repress the chills that riddled my body. The look he gave me held no warmth this time, but instead of mixture of frustration and what looked like confusion. The reasonable thing to do would’ve been to apologize, maybe say I was just passing by, but I decided instead to rise to his challenge, feed that confusion I could clearly see in his features.

“I hadn’t planned on it, sir.” I matched my tone to his as best I could, each word coming out of my mouth a bolster added beneath my feet to give me higher ground to stand on. His visage hardened like stone before he took a few sauntering steps towards me, his boot heels clicking in an echo that resounded throughout the room. His breath was sweet and warm, washing over me as he postured himself just a few inches away. Unblinking, his slanted eyes gave me a slow and steady once-over, causing me to feel much less like a human being and more like a bug under a microscope. Despite the overwhelming sensation of exposure, his unwavering gaze turned the ice water running down my back to butterflies trying to escape my belly.

“I believe you’d better go now, Ms. Layla.” His voice was barely above a whisper, but it rumbled low and with great purpose. He lingered on the “s” in my title, reminding me uncomfortably of the snakes that had been resurrected earlier.

“Good night, Mr. Langdon. Mr. Gallant.” I peered over his broad shoulders to find the blonde sitting slack-jawed and gaping at the interaction, dark brown eyes peering over his purple tinted sunglasses. He quickly shook his head and gave me a half-hearted smile, turning around once more in his seat. I met those baby blues one more time before turning on my heels, looking forward to nothing more than being embraced by the comfort and seclusion of my bed. I could feel his gaze like a target on my back, but resisted the urge to look back. Despite our now-growing distance, the butterflies refused to yield.

@sojournmichael @ritualmichael @readsalot73 @kaigitana @queencocoakimmie @itsyagirl01 

second installment is here!!!! i forgot that i had a name for our girl already so i hope that that doesn’t bother anyone, i had never originally planned on publishing it anywhere so i just never changed it up !!! i hope u guys enjoy thank u so much for your support it means the world!!!

[recentanimenews]

Resident Evil 2 Remake Will Have you Seeing S.T.A.R.S.!

I’m supposed to gather some electric parts to turn on the mechanism that opens cell doors in the underground jail cell. I found one after dodging vicious zombie dogs, and now I’ve found myself climbing back into the very police station I was trying to escape less than an hour ago. I know where I need to go--by now the police station is somewhat safe, and I know the best routes to get to where I need to go… until I find myself needing to extinguish a fire. "No problem," I say, and go about doing so with some easy exploring. Things are going well. I’ve got good health, ammo, and then… Mr. X happens. Suddenly, everything I thought I knew had changed.

All the skills I remembered from playing Resident Evil 2 20 years ago vanish, as the huge Tyrant hounds my every movement. Open a door too fast? Footsteps. Shoot my gun? Louder footsteps. Suddenly… a door opens that I didn’t open. I panic, and run. "If I can just get to the save room, I’m fine…" And then I hear it. A Licker. I ran too fast and too loudly, and with only a second to spare I dodge into the S.T.A.R.S. office, safe for now, and pause the game. My breathing is ragged and I put the controller down for a moment. I’m terrified, excited, and above all, happy. This is the best feeling in the world!

Resident Evil was always my favorite horror franchise, and Resident Evil 2 was the game I spent the most time with when I was younger. I played it more than I played any other game in the series until the co-op fest of Resident Evil 5 with my partner. The zapping system of Resident Evil 2 entranced me; the idea that a game had multiple storylines that interacted with each other, and that the game itself changed when you played it again blew my mind. The campy charm of the weird puzzles, esoteric nonsense, and scary but cool monsters made it all a blast. And then Mr. X showed up in scenario B, and I lost my little mind! I couldn’t believe a game could have a monster chase me, know where I was going, and make me feel unsafe in areas I thought I cleared. Fast forward to 20 years later, and I found myself doing the exact same things I did when I was a kid, totally amazed by the experience I was having, and watching as nostalgia mixed with the new experiences introduced in this remake to create something truly special.

There’s no real way to beat around the bush: the Resident Evil 2 remake is an amazing game! If that’s what you wanted to know, you can stop reading now and go buy a copy of it right this instant. It might even be my Game of the Year, and the year just started, and yes, I know that Kingdom Hearts III just came out. But the Resident Evil 2 remake has an addictive and entrancing combination of things going right for it that make the game not only thrilling to play, but a game you constantly want to get back to playing. To play again and see if you can get a better score than you did, how much ammo you could have saved, what route you might have tried to avoid Mr. X better the next time (For the record, my Leon playthrough resulted in a 7.5 hour B rank, and I’m already gunning for that A!). If you have played Resident Evil before, you’ll likely find a lot to love in this game, and if this is your first introduction to the series (or maybe second following last year’s also stellar Resident Evil 7), you’re in for a real treat. And there’s an odd magic to this remake; if you never played Resident Evil 2, it’s still an amazing game, and if you were a fan of the original, the Resident Evil 2 remake might transcend to be an almost perfect game. The graphics are amazing, and the combination of sound, lighting, and effects make the game feel tense and scary even in well-lit areas, and downright terrifying in dark ones. Each area of the game (there are 3 major ones) have a distinct feel and sense to them, making them unique and exciting to explore.

But much of that, frankly, you probably already knew. The game looks amazing and borrows heavily from the new engine used in Resident Evil 7, changing from the first person perspective of that game to the somewhat more traditional over the shoulder camera from Resident Evil 4 through 6. The controls are fluid, particularly when compared to the older “Tank Control” style of the original, but at times I found the game still had a weird inorganic movement to it that made avoiding enemies still pretty challenging in tight areas, as if the remake combined the two control schemes of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4. This isn’t really a complaint, and if anything the Resident Evil 2 remake feels like the best version of Resident Evil controls since 5 (omitting 7 here since 7’s first-person view really changed the game experience). In terms of how the game feels, looks, and plays, there’s very little to complain about with this remake; it just works.

Perhaps the biggest discussion to bring up in terms of gameplay, however, is difficulty. I found myself caught off guard by the difficulty of the Resident Evil 2 remake even as someone who had played all of the previous titles, and even done runs of earlier titles at harder difficulty. Generally, I play the game on normal first, then go back and test myself with harder difficulty, or use easy difficulty to attempt a speedrun or pick up missed collectibles. In this remake, my first zombie encounter left me totally stunned and, honestly, panicking. I had shot him in the head 4 times… and he got back up! I found myself running low on ammo constantly early on because I kept trying to kill my enemies, angry at times that the monsters I had so easily killed when I was younger were now giving me trouble. And then I encountered my first Licker, and things changed.

This game is not about fighting. It is quite literally about surviving, which means making the decision of when to fight, when to run, and when to plan your next move. Normal difficulty will provide you with this question just as readily as hardcore will, and players should be prepared for that difficulty swing if they’re used to Resident Evil 4 style Super Secret Agent Leon, popping off Ganado heads and doing sick melee takedowns. You aren’t that Leon (or Code Veronica Claire) in this Resident Evil 2, you’re a person trapped in a hellscape with no way out and limited supplies. It was a funny thing to realize, because the term “survival horror” has rarely focused on the actual “survival” part, with more and more modern games focusing on early weakness transforming into endgame destruction on a grand scale as your character finds better weapons and levelled up. The Resident Evil 2 remake turns that on its head, instead focusing on making you think about the best way to get from point A to point B with the least possible risk to yourself. A mistaken calculation can cost you time, ammo, and health, and there are even times when you’ll need to judge if it’s better to take damage to avoid using up precious ammo, and you’ll certainly need that ammo when you face the bosses that this game throws at you occasionally!

Each boss fight is exciting and challenging, and while you may feel frustrated at the amount of ammo used, the game seems somewhat fair in helping you replenish yourself afterwards, and doubly rewards you for good planning and smart use of resources and your environment. At times I felt early on that I might struggle with the game and run out of ammo, but when I finally finished Leon A, I found myself literally swimming in ammunition that I could probably never use all of. Judicious use of non-combat items matters as well, and while the game doesn’t have a strict upgrade path like later installments did, you can still find ways to make your weapons better, usually by hunting safe combinations and exploring hidden areas off the beaten path. To this end, the map in Resident Evil 2 is an amazing ally and one of the best new features in the game. When you enter a new area, the map will turn red if there are any items, files, or important interactables to locate. The closer you get to that item (or, if like me, you actually brushed up against it but didn’t notice the prompt), the map will tell you exactly what that item is for you to go back and grab. Seeing what rooms were red and what weren’t really gave me a sense of knowing that I had finished an area (for the moment, at least), and tracking my progress in an organic manner.

One of the charms of Resident Evil 2, and the Resident Evil series as a whole, are its puzzles. It would probably not be incorrect to say that the Resident Evil games are actually puzzle games that occasionally have you shooting giant mutated zombies and other things. If you wanted to abstract that even further, it’s honestly fair to say that the avoidance and risk-reward routing through areas of Resident Evil 2 is a puzzle itself. This is probably also why Resident Evil 2 is one of the strongest in the franchise with its somewhat ridiculous set piece puzzles spread out around the police department. Finding weird keys, turning dials on giant statues, finding gems to insert into boxes are all within the game's experience, and it does little to ever try and make any of that make sense. In the Resident Evil 2 remake, there are a few attempts with the narrative change that the police station used to be an art museum, but it still makes little to no sense, and is lovable for it more than frustrating or silly. The sewer system, with its chess piece keys, is even sillier, and all in all adds up to what makes Resident Evil 2 so fun: its charm. The game has a weird charm about it that makes the experience fun to work through, even when fighting off flesh-eating monsters. The puzzles add a thoughtful but not particularly difficult wrinkle to that mix, making you think every action out in advance, and putting you on somewhat constant quests to find the one weird item you’ll need to open a door so you can collect a medallion to… well, you get the picture! All of that supposed backtracking may sound tedious, but it isn’t, because every time you venture back into the areas you’ve explored, not only might you find new secret places to explore or connect to, but the threats have likely changed too.

There are a few odd quirks to the game, however. One of which involves the DLC add-on that allows you to play the game with the original Resident Evil 2 score and sound effects for things like menus and typewriters; once I heard about it from friends, I bought it myself during the review and was blown away by how much it changes the experience! While it may not matter as much initially if you’re new to Resident Evil 2, playing with the original score was the missing component for me in some ways of merging the two versions of the game. Hearing the classic police station music play when I entered the main lobby was an amazing thing, and it made me feel like I was 20 years in the past, playing the game for the first time. Even if this remake is your first rodeo with the game, I honestly suggest getting the DLC to really complete the package; the new score is fine by all means, but the original score was a real work of art that fit the game perfectly. The added benefit of the Resident Evil 2 sound effects being thrown in was a great bonus.

  My second issue with the game is voice acting. For whatever reason, Capcom decided not to use the union backed voice actors from past Resident Evil games; I’m not sure if development and recording for this game coincided with the SAG-AFTRA strike that took many voice actors out of games, but what I am sure of is that I think Capcom did the game a disservice by not working with the original actors to ensure the true feeling of Resident Evil 2 was preserved. The new voices of Leon, Claire, and the rest are fine, but they feel off or wrong in a way that you think you know what these characters might sound like, and they don’t. Some line readings are a little awkward (I’ve found this to be the case with Claire more than Leon), and while 20 years ago we might consider that campy charm, here it just sounds… odd. I don’t think there’ll ever be some way to fix this in DLC like with the music, and it makes me sad. I really enjoy the Resident Evil 2 remake, and don’t think I’d not play the game because of it, but I wish Capcom had waited or elected to pay the union actors and preserved the original personalities and intonations of the Resident Evil cast before release. As a few minor notes, if you get extremely anxious while playing horror games, or find games where monsters chase you constantly (like Alien: Isolation) hard to play, do know that Mr. X can be a bit of a handful (he’s really smart), but it doesn’t take up as much of the game as it seems. It can change the pacing and comfort level a bit, so be forewarned!

As we got our code right at release, I decided to take my time with the game and play through the storylines fully to see what the full game really had to offer. It may seem odd for a review, but here are a few tips that I learned while playing that I hope can help you out when you try out Resident Evil 2:

1) If you don’t think you’ll enter an area often or for a long time, aim for zombie’s legs rather than try to kill them if you can’t just dodge by them. It slows them down considerably and saves some ammo.

2) Blue herbs may seem worthless (there are like 2 enemies in the game that poison you) but can be combined with Red+Green herb mixtures to give poison healing but, more importantly, damage resistance! Great for boss fights!

3) Save frequently and cycle saves; I hunted a few trophies this way that I either missed initially, or would have needed to go back and do things I might not have done originally to get them.

4) Don’t worry about your ranking! That’s what replays are for! The game rewards multiple play through attempts through familiarity and speed.

5) Dogs suck. Run.

6) You get the ability to craft certain types of ammo. Always prioritize weapons that have scarce ammo but big impact on your play style or needs.

    If you are a Resident Evil fan, you probably stopped reading this review after the second paragraph; the game is just that good and you probably already bought it. If you’re new or on the fence, or never got to experience Resident Evil 2 the first time, you should absolutely consider making this game part of your library. There are a lot of great reasons to play through the game multiple times, and Capcom has promised some new DLC expansions to add on to the game over time as well. Even without them, the Resident Evil 2 remake is an absolute blast of amazing gameplay and experiences that you’ll find yourself going back to again and again, wondering if this time, just maybe, you can get that S rank. So buckle up, take your G-Virus shots, and get ready to tag along with Leon and Claire.

REVIEW ROUNDUP

+ Amazing atmosphere, graphics, sound direction, and controls make this probably the best Resident Evil yet

+ There is a lot to do across multiple routes and reasons to keep replaying the game

+ It’s Resident Evil 2!

+/- Difficulty might turn off some at first, but it is worth sticking through and learning from your mistakes

- While almost everything else is fantastic, the non-union voice actors used instead of the original cast is a real letdown

  Are you a member of S.T.A.R.S., returning for more? Or will this be your first encounter with Resident Evil? Let us know what you think of the game in the comments!

----

Nicole is a features and a social video script writer for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

  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

[killian-whump]

In Which... Rogers takes one step forward and two steps back

Another chapter of my fic involving Detective Rogers, a dungeon, Eloise Gardener... and lots of chapters “in which” things happen.

For the previous chapters... [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2]

No specific warnings on this one, as there’s no content that should be inherently disturbing to anyone. I’ll warn you beforehand if there ever is.

It was sometime after Eloise Gardener's visit that Rogers decided to dismantle his prosthetic. He'd been unable to get a solid grip high enough on its forearm casing to pull the whole thing free from the strong suction that held it in place normally - but he was fairly sure he could break the wrist joint and detach the hand portion entirely. Of course, doing so blindly without causing any lasting damage to the hand or the sensitive electronic components used to connect it to the casing on his arm was another matter entirely.

Still, as much as he loathed the thought of possibly having to replace the damn thing, the knowledge that Eloise seemed to be capable of some sort of voodoo vine magic he still couldn't wrap his head around was enough to convince him that the high price (quite literally, in this case) might be worth it. Admittedly, it was a judgement call on what would be more useful to him - a freed left arm without a hand or a restrained arm with a functioning hand - but considering he suspected the charge in that hand was going to run out on him at any minute, the former was starting to look more and more appealing.

And at the very least, it gave him something to do and kept his mind off of Eloise and the excruciating pain in his jaw from wearing a ball gag so long.

He had no way of knowing how much time passed as he worked on his task, but when his left hand finally broke free, the handcuff on his left wrist fell uselessly away. A quick twist and tug on the casing just under his elbow freed him from that, as well, and he allowed himself a sigh of relief as he rubbed at the sore skin it revealed. His prosthetic was comfortable enough for a long day at the precinct and doing whatever else his life entailed, but it wasn't meant to be worn without any breaks for as long as he'd been wearing it.

Now, of course, he had nothing to distract him from his plight any longer. It was just him, the unyielding darkness behind his blindfold... and the knowledge that Eloise would eventually return, and that he probably wouldn't like whatever she had in mind for him.

He passed the time by sleeping and imagining all the different scenarios he could come up with that might lead to his escape. He also hummed a little, softly to himself, just to break the silence of the cavern. Classical music at first (he'd never really been one for the modern stuff), then some songs he remembered from his childhood. He could never remember where he’d actually heard them in his youth, as wretched as that time in his life was, but the memory of the songs themselves refused to ever leave him.

Of course, he fell silent the moment he heard the grating sound of the metal door of his prison opening. Holding his breath, he prayed it might be Weaver coming to his rescue... or maybe even Roni (why on Earth would it be Roni?) or Tilly (which seemed even sillier, somehow).

But alas...

"Oh, how cute," Eloise said with a grin he could fucking hear. "You broke your fancy hand. Well, seeing as your handcuffs are no longer keeping you under control the way they ought to be, you can take your own gag off."

He felt something hit his chest and bounce off, only to clatter on the ground beneath him. A key, he surmised. He grumbled behind the gag, but fumbled around with his right hand until he finally felt the key under his probing fingers. He tried the key in all of the locks at the back of his head, but was disappointed to find it only worked on the bottom lock. Still, one lock was far better than none, and he wasted no time pulling the ball gag out of his mouth.

He immediately regretted the pained whimper that broke from him as he was finally able to move his jaw once again, but there would've been no way he could've held it back even if he'd thought to. It fucking hurt.

"Yes, yes, I know," Eloise said dismissively. "If you behave yourself, we'll leave that off of you for a time. Would you like that?"

Rogers didn't dignify that with a response.

"Well, no mind. Did you miss me?"

"Like a bloody hole in the head," he ground out.

"Oh, now that's not nice."

As if he cared. "I already know who you are, Eloise, and I already know what you can do-"

"Is that so? And just what can I do, Detective?"

He frowned, his jaw muscles still screaming from the movement. "I don't know how you can do it, but... you made vines come out of the ground. I felt them retract and disappear. There's no point in hiding it from me, since I already figured it out, so let's do away with the blindfold."

"Oh, is that why you think I've blinded you?"

"Isn't it?" he asked.

"Of course not. I'm keeping you blind simply so you can't see what's coming next. It amuses me."

Well, that wasn't good news. Rogers decided to keep his thoughts on that to himself, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of knowing how much he hated being nothing more than a plaything for her.

"Speaking of what's coming next," Eloise continued, obviously not as bothered by his lack of an answer as he'd hoped she would be. "I can't have you running about the place like this. Where's the fun in that?"

There was the sharp sound of her snapping her fingers and then an odd scent suddenly permeated the air. Rogers only had a moment to register this change before he felt himself tumbling over onto the mattress he was sitting on - his body completely limp.

"See? Aren't surprises fun?" Eloise said cheerfully.

"Whaaaaa..." He tried to form words, to ask her what the hell she'd done to him, but his slack jaw refused to cooperate. In fact, everything refused to cooperate.

"Yes, yes, you're confused and alarmed," she mocked. "Let's move past that and get to me having fun."

He could hear the rustling sound of her clothing as she came closer, and he wondered for a moment just what the hell she was wearing with that much fabric. Still, the excess was certainly noisy - and he could use that to his advantage to keep track of her movements. He knew that could prove very useful indeed, although admittedly nowhere near as useful as being able to fucking move.

His breathing sped up as he felt her hands on him, pulling him into a seated position against her. He wanted to attack her, to throttle her with the chain keeping him prisoner here, but he knew it would be a bad idea even if he was capable of it (which, of course, he wasn't). If she didn't have the keys on her at the moment, he'd still be trapped in this hellhole with nothing but her corpse for company as he slowly starved to death. That wasn't quite how he wanted this all to end.

No sooner had he thought that then he felt Eloise unlocking the handcuff on his right wrist. Shit! She did have the keys with her, right there in her hand! He was free! He tried desperately to move, to will his body into any kind of motion that might help him take advantage of his sudden freedom... but to no avail. He couldn't move a muscle.

And she laughed. Eloise laughed. "I can feel you twitching, Captain. You're trying so hard to move right now, aren't you? And it's just no use. You're completely helpless, you poor little thing. How frustrating that must be for you."

He wanted to kill her. Couldn't. He really was as helpless as she said, and he hated her all the more for it.

"Now hold still for me," she mocked, knowing damn well he couldn't do anything else. She wrestled with his prone body then, pushing and pulling his arms into long sleeves of rough fabric with no apparent end. It was as she was buckling the back of the garment tightly closed that he realized what it was.

She was putting him in a straitjacket.

He groaned weakly in displeasure, the only real sound he was able to make at the moment.

"Oh, shush," she admonished. "You brought this on yourself, you know." She finished fastening the back straps, then pulled his arms tightly around himself and buckled them, as well. Another strap held his arms tightly to his chest, while one final strap was pulled tightly against his crotch.

"There,” Eloise said triumphantly. “Try that out now." She snapped her fingers and the air cleared, freeing him from whatever hold she'd had over him.

All his desperation and fury exploded from him like a powder keg set alight. He kicked and screamed at her, fighting against the straitjacket and trying desperately to get at her.

He got nowhere - and he got there fast. He was left panting breathlessly against the mattress where he lay, knowing she had him beat and hating it with every fiber of his being. "Why are you doing this to me?" he asked finally. "What the hell did I ever do to you?"

"You came in through my window, Captain. And you came on to me. We were magical together, you and I, and I'd thought for certain you'd come with me and we would seek our revenge together. But you... decided to stay with that brat, instead."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Rogers cried. "And why do you keep calling me that? I'm not whoever it is you think I am!" He tried to settle himself down, tried to appeal to her sensibly in spite of his own spiraling emotions. "I'm sorry, Eloise. I'm sorry that I was drinking when you were taken. I'm sorry if you blame me, and I'm sorry if that's why you hate me. I hated myself for a long time, too. But that's no reason to do this to me. You've been locked up for so long, Eloise, I know you don't want to go to prison. And if you let me go now, I won't tell anyone what you've done. We'll get you the help you need and-"

"I don't need any help," she said simply. "I know exactly who I am and exactly what I'm after, Captain. It's you who needs the help. And this... See, this is precisely why I was keeping you gagged. Your face is so pretty, my dear, but this curse has really turned your mind to mush. You just don't remember anything right, and it's tiring trying to explain it all to you. Do you want me to gag you again? Is that what you want?"

He didn't want to answer her at all, to dignify that kind of humiliating question with an answer, but he was more afraid that she just might do what she was threatening. "No," he said shakily. "I don't want that."

"Good. Then stay still and shut up."

Rogers heard the sound of chains then, and felt something cool against his neck. "No," he said, trying to move away from Eloise's hands and the chain she was holding between them. "Eloise, don't. Please..."

She grabbed him and held him in place, her grip abnormally strong. "I told you to stay still," she said. "You don't listen very well, do you?"

He bit back a whimper as she padlocked the length of chain - the one he could only guess was still locked to the wall behind them - around his neck like a collar. There'd be no escape now. Just as there hadn't been any real chance of it before, either. The window where it might have been possible had just been slammed shut right in his face.

"There," she said with finality. He could hear her step back and brush her hands off on the noisy material of her skirts, obviously proud of her handiwork.

And Rogers could only imagine how he must look to her: helplessly trussed up on a flimsy mattress, chained to the wall like an animal, curled up at her feet like some pitiful supplicant. "Why are you doing this to me?" he asked her again. If there was ever a time to appeal to her for mercy, he supposed this might as well be it. "Eloise, please... Things don't have to be this way. You said something about wanting me to come with you. I'll do that. I'll go with you wherever you want, just please... Don't do this."

She crouched beside him. "Oh, my love," she whispered, stroking his cheek. It took everything he had not to shrink away from her touch or respond with revulsion.

"You are exactly how I want to keep you. What part of that don't you understand?" She stood again, her demeanor immediately reverting back to a business-like one. "Now I'm going to leave your food and water dishes here for you this time. You're free to sample them whenever you get hungry." She laughed slightly. "That is, if you manage to find them. Now I have some errands to run before I can visit you again, so don't get too lonely."

Rogers listened as she walked away from him.

"And don't get too excited about not being gagged, either. There's no one around for miles, my dear. No one can hear your screams, so there's no point in you losing your voice over it."

As if there was a chance in hell of him taking her at her word on that one.

The door clanged noisily as Eloise opened it. "Oh, and Captain, do give some thought to what I've said."

Then she was gone.

[zephosthefaedemon]

(repost, don’t reblog)

Zephos Lylanna Bodadottir

Character Study

— basics.

▸ is your muse tall / short / average ?

A shortie, about 5′2″. That’s not including her horns, albeit not too tall after horns included either. 

▸ are they okay with their height ?

She doesn’t really care too much? I mean sure she needs help or a step-stool for taller items, otherwise not really having an issue with it.

▸ what is their hair like ?

Big. Fluffy. Mess. She has really pretty curls, but quite untamed. If actually styled takes a while, otherwise loose and free black curls. 

▸ do they spend a lot of time on their hair / grooming ?

Not really, unless she knows she’s going to be somewhere where that matters. If she does need to primp her hair she needs to take at least 20-30 minutes to get the hair workable, then however she needs it styled it could take between 10-30 minutes.

▸ does your muse care about their appearance / what others think ?

She doesn’t care much what others think of her appearance with her average day to day look. If she changes from the typical old world feel she does get conscious, due to her unused to modern apparel and unsure how to make it look right without an extra set of hands. 

— preferences.

▸ indoors or outdoors ?

Outdoors mostly, if cold more indoors. 

▸ rain or sunshine ?

Sunshine. She loves seeing the sun out, plants happy, and generally able to be outside without getting sick or cold. 

▸ forest or beach ?

Forest, she’s a faerie.

▸ precious metals or gems ?  

Gems. Can be used in potions or stylistically.

▸ flowers or perfumes ?

Flowers. She’s unused to perfumes that actually aren’t made from plants, also a lover of gardening. Also can be used in potions or spells. 

▸ personality or appearance ?

Personality.

▸ being alone or being in a crowd ?  

Kinda ambivert? She comes across as extroverted but doesn’t quite know how society at large works with mortals (read as humans) 

▸ order or anarchy ?  

She’s one for order to a point. She doesn’t like others being hurt so she ends up leaning toward order to keep the weaker and innocent ones protected.

▸ painful truths or white lies ?

Painful truths. Sure they hurt but it’s better to be honest. Plus the fae can’t lie anyway, so she can only do white lies if she’s to falsify anything. 

▸ science or magic ?

Magic. She knows what it is and how strange it can be. Hard facts are harder to rationalize since you can’t reason with them. 

▸ peace or conflict ?

Peace. She’s seen plenty to hate conflict, tends to be a peacekeeper. 

▸ night or day ?

Night.

▸ dusk or dawn ?

Dusk. She likes the darker hours since they’re more calm.

▸ warmth or cold ?

Warmth. She hates being cold. 

▸ many acquaintances or a few close friends ?

Few close friends. She’s used to playing pretty princess to a crowd until one fateful day that it all came crumbling down. Otherwise she wants genuine people in her life. 

▸ reading or playing a game ?

Reading. Games she’s not used to playing honestly. Unless the game is more physical, such as hide and seek or a small prank. Then games. 

— questionnaire.

▸ what are some of your muse’s bad habits ?

She tends to be too hard on herself, holding herself to old outdated standards that the fae had taught her. She’s also rather naive, too kind to others at first. She also works herself too hard, candle at both ends. Also loves sweets, doesn’t help that she knows how to make them. 

▸ has your muse lost anyone close to them ? how has it affected them ?

Her whole village, family, she has almost nobody when starting any verse. She usually wants to build a connection and shares too much of her past too quickly. Though only when something arises or someone asks directly about a habit or something. 

▸ what are some fond memories your muse has ?

Well, depends on verse. With some it’s baking and cooking, other’s it’s watching movies or playing video games for the first time. She’s rather new and open to experiences, so she’s building fond memories now. 

▸ is it easy for your muse to kill ?

In a physical sense yes. She’s got powers she doesn’t quite have a full grasp on yet, and that can lead to dire consequences. Otherwise the only way emotionally to get her to is put her in a rage or protection mode. She’s a mama bear in that regard. She doesn’t want to hurt, but will do so for the sake of others she deems worthy of protecting. 

▸ what’s it like when your muse breaks down ?

Oh, it gets so quiet right before she does. Then it comes to a head, like a thunderstorm. When she cries it’s ugly, magic loosing control too. She cries black tears, she screams, she goes from wanting affection to shoving others away, it’s not a pretty sight.��

▸ is your muse capable of trusting someone with their life ?

Depends on the relationship. If they’re good to her and she trusts them, then yes. Otherwise she’ll protect the other then escape if it’s possible. 

▸ what’s your muse like when they’re in love ?

She’s never really been in love before, mostly crushes if anything. She waits for them to make a move, but she’ll be sweeter yet sillier with them. Similar to how she treats friends, Though more blushing will be involved, more gift giving, generally just trying to say, “Hey love me!” Without saying it verbally. She’s garbage when it comes to words of love before she learns if it’s requited. 

Tagged by; @alastorologyrp

Tagging; @wrxthfulguard @chainsaw-to-the-heart @mxthbladed

[bnheadcanons-scenarios]

Oh poor unfortunate soul! Almost everyone ask for smut. Can you write a scenario where Todoroki, Midoriya and Bakugo play some party game (like Mario Kart but it doesn't really matter which one, the sillier the better) and they are very serious and competitive about it?

You said “poor unfortunate soul” and now I have that song from Little Mermaid stuck in my head lolol! I don’t mind writing smut but stuff like this is hella fun to write;)

Also, this scenario is based off a real thing that happened the last time I played Mario Cart with friends (and our personalities when playing this game match up with these three so that’s kinda funny lol)

Ah I’m rambling again sorry! Here ya go love!–“What the actual fuck is wrong with your damn TV, Deku?”

Bakugou sat dumbfounded at the giant, old, box television sitting on the entertainment stand where Midoriya’s old television was. Midoriya scratched the back of his head sheepishly and Todoroki cocked his head in curiousity as well.

“Well, our TV broke so we had to pull this one out of storage. It should still work though.”

“Whatever. Let’s just fucking play.” Bakugou sat at the edge of the couch, wheel-remote in hand. Todoroki moved to sit next to him, reaching over and grabbing another remote off of the coffee table, inspecting it.

“I’ve never played this game before. How do you play?”

“Of fucking course you don’t know jack shit about this game. It won’t be fun destroying you if you suck!” Todoroki just blinked at him, still waiting a response. “Jesus fuck. You pick a character and that fucker will be on one quadrant of the damn screen. Then you press and hold the fucking 2 button when the timer counts down to zero and you turn the wheel like you’re driving an actual fucking car. Or have you not learned how to do that yet?”

“I know how to drive a car. And the controls seem simple enough. Thank you Bakugou.” The blonde grumbled a quiet whatever before fiddling with the controller.

“Oh! Kacchan didn’t mention it but you can get a start boost if you press the button slightly before the countdown hits 1. And there are boxes you can get that give you boosts or weapons of sorts and you press the back button to activate them. It’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it.”

“Thank you Midoriya.” Midoriya flashed a smile before turning around and turning on the television and taking a seat on the other side of Todoroki. “Um…”

Midoriya cocked his head to the side in confusion. “Is everything okay Todoroki?”

“No everything is not fucking alright, Deku! Take a fucking look at your damn TV!” Bakugou threw the remote down and huffed, crossing his arms and leaning back on the couch.

Midoriya looked and let out an annoyed groan.

“Yeah, your goddamn screen is broken!”

“It’s not that back Bakugou. At least the picture still comes through.”

“Shut the fuck up, Halfie. Screens aren’t supposed to fucking be like that!”

“But…at least the top half is normal, right Kacchan?”

“But the goddamn bottom half has fucking inverted colors! How the fuck does that happen?! What kind of fucking TV is this Deku?!”

“It’s…the only one i have?”

“Whatever. I’m fucking leaving.” Bakugou stomped towards the door.

“Wait Kacchan-”

“So you’re going to quit before we even got started? Are you that afraid to lose to a beginner like me?” Bakugou’s hand froze on the doorknob before he slowly turned around, a murderous aura emanating from him.

“The fuck did you just say to me you bastard?! I’ll kick your ass!” He quickly made his way back to the couch and grabbed the controller. “You’re on douche-dick.”

They all picked their characters and karts, Bakugou demanding to be Player 1. They waited for the race to start, everyone preparing. When it started, Midoriya got the boost, Todoroki didn’t, and Bakugou spun out, immediately cursing and gripping the controller hard enough to almost break it.

The room was quiet, well, besides Bakugou’s incessant screaming and trash talk.

“Ha! In your damn face Deku! You’re in dead fucking last like the loser you are!”

“I don’t know why I’m so bad at this today,” Midoriya groaned as he waited for his character to respawn, watching as his rank went from second down to twelfth as Bakugou maintained his first place. Surprisingly, Todoroki rushed into second and was very close to passing Bakugou.

Part way through the race, a light bulb went off in Midoriya’s head. “Wait! This course is mirrored!”

“Yeah no shit Sherlock. A-fucking-plus deductive skills dipshit.”

“Well, I memorize the tracks so it’s no wonder why I’m not doing very good now.”

“Wait, what does that mean?”

“Don’t worry about it Halfie just pay attention to the screen when I whoop your ass.”

Bakuogu smirked as he neared the finish, not realizing just how close behind Todoroki was. The other picked up a speed boost that he activated, pushing him ahead of the blonde. Bakugou stared dumbfounded at the screen, mouth open as the screen flashed “Second Place”. Midoriya sat frozen in fear and Todoroki just hummed in contentment.

And then all hell broke loose.

Let’s just say that Midoriya was glad that his television was just a temporary replacement.