#he's not just a low-quality man he's a man designed to be the worst for her specifically

[kusakabesimp]

Kusakabe and Nanami - Suits and Ties

Did anyone suggest I analyze suits and ties for two of our JJK DILFs? No. But will I go into extensive detail about Kusakabe and Nanami's suits? Yes, I will.

TIE SELECTIONS AND KNOTS Kusakabe - Half-Windsor

The Half-Windsor is a practical, classic knot, perfect for someone like Kusakabe, who is adaptable and efficient. Professional without being overdone, the knot size fits well with a medium-sized collar (which is logical for his build) and pairs effortlessly with virtually any suit fabric. The look stays polished and put together, whether with the suit or the trenchcoat.

The color is a conscious choice. The darker shade of green follows traditional suiting conventions, where a bold accent piece complements a simple foundation like his white shirt and black suit. It allows Kusakabe to keep a professional look while adding a subtle touch of individuality.

Even the mechanics of the knot make sense for Kusakabe. It uses less length than a Full Windsor, and is ideal for a taller and broader body shape. For Kusakabe, this means he can comfortably wear a standard tie length (57–58 inches) instead of buying a bespoke or specialty tie (67–71 inches).

Nanami - Full Windsor

The Full Windsor is symmetrical and more formal than the Half-Windsor, which aligns with Nanami's structured, meticulous personality. While it's traditionally paired with wide collars, the fuller shape also works well with medium-sized collars (again, the best choice for a broad build). It pairs best with a heavier suit fabric like worsted wool, which is expensive but surprisingly durable.

Gege did the research -- this knot works best with patterned ties featuring a larger, spaced-out print. And men's suiting conventions actually recommend a golden yellow to complement a tan suit and blue shirt combination. Nanami is perfectly fine dropping $200 - $300 on a custom tie. This is the man out there fucking up curses while wearing a $5,000 Tag Heuer watch.

Since Nanami wraps a lot of fabric around his hand, the Full Windsor’s need for extra material makes perfect sense; it works best with longer ties. In terms of mechanics, the Full Windsor is also the easiest knot to undo, making it a practical choice in a fighting situation for Nanami, who doesn't waste time on anything.

JACKETS AND LAPELS Kusakabe - Black Jacket and Notched Lapels

The mid-notched lapel is a staple of classic suiting. (I'm including pictures of his trenchcoat as it has similar notching.) Though it’s not always visible in the manga, it is reasonable to assume that his single-breasted black suit includes a left chest pocket and boutonniere buttonhole — little details Kusakabe wouldn't overlook. His choice of a black suit is practical as always: stain-resistant (keeping the cursed spirit dry-cleaning bill in check) and low maintenance.

The mid-notched lapel is easily dressed up or down, mirroring Kusakabe’s ability to adapt without losing his sense of self. Every detail shows that he’s grounded in tradition but always prepared for the realities of the present.

Nanami - Tan Jacket and Peak Lapels

Nanami’s suit features sharp, angled peak lapels, which give it a more formal edge compared to the standard notch lapels. Like Kusakabe, he opts for a single-breasted design but with three buttons instead of two (we know he loves symmetry). This choice aligns with his look in the 2022 JJK Dolce & Gabbana collab, showing that the peaked collar is a style he favors, reflecting his appreciation for both luxury and craftsmanship.

His clothing, functional yet carefully selected, serves as an investment in both quality and precision. For Nanami, a polished image goes beyond appearance. It’s about the thoughtful, intentional choices he makes both professionally and personally.

Ultimately, Kusakabe and Nanami’s suits capture their personalities in different ways. Kusakabe’s style is about practicality and ease, with just enough polish to stay professional. On the other hand, Nanami goes for something sharp and more structured, with a high attention to detail. Each piece of their suits speak to the thoughtfulness behind their choices, reflecting the balance of simplicity and sophistication they each bring to their lives.

I DO NOT authorize use of this meta for other writing!

[newspropaganda]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal 2 - When Splitting A Season is Shilling Bad Writing All Over

Alright, so where do I even start with Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal II? If you thought the first season of Zexal was bad, then buckle up because Zexal II takes the dumpster fire and somehow adds even more fuel to the flames. This is a perfect example of a series that just doesn’t know when to quit, dragging its feet and pretending like there’s more to say, when in reality, the story’s dead on arrival. And I can’t help but compare Zexal II to the Power Rangers Neo-Saban era—it’s a perfect analogy for how both these franchises took massive steps backward by dumbing everything down for younger audiences, with absolutely no regard for long-time fans or storytelling quality.

From the start, it’s clear that Zexal II is just riding on the same bland formula that Zexal already beat into the ground. There’s no real sense of stakes or progression, just a series of badly structured duels that feel like they’re pulled from the worst Saturday morning cartoon clichés imaginable. The show lacks any genuine creativity in its storytelling. I mean, come on��brick walls, overly complicated monster designs, and zero substance in the narrative. You’d think they’d try to evolve the series by adding some deeper themes or pushing the boundaries of what Yu-Gi-Oh! could offer, but nope, it’s more of the same childish nonsense with little thought behind it.

Let’s talk villains. Dr. Faker, at the very least, had some motivations. Sure, he’s not exactly Shakespeare, but you can kind of see where they were going with him—he wanted power to save his family or whatever, standard Yu-Gi-Oh! fare. But Don Thousand? Oh man, Don Thousand is the absolute worst. He’s literally a cookie-cutter villain ripped straight from the Showa era of tokusatsu. Think about it: he’s just this ancient evil force who shows up because… reasons. There’s nothing compelling about him at all. No real backstory, no depth, just a stock "I am evil because the plot demands it" kind of character. It’s almost laughable how one-dimensional he is. Even Zorc from the original series had more going for him than this guy, and Zorc was basically just a giant evil blob with a bad attitude. Don Thousand is the epitome of lazy writing.

Now let’s address the elephant in the room: the series was clearly aimed at a younger audience. But this isn’t just “young”—it’s aimed at really young kids with, let’s be honest, low IQs. They dumbed down everything: the dialogue, the dueling strategies, the characters. There’s no complexity here, no nuance, no challenge for the viewer. It’s spoon-feeding time, folks. It’s insulting to anyone who grew up with the original series or even 5D’s. And here’s the thing, Yu-Gi-Oh! has always been about bringing in a younger demographic, but this is the point where the series went off the rails. They didn’t trust their audience to think critically or to handle more mature themes. Compare that to the first three series, where you had actual stakes and well-rounded characters. Yuma and the gang are just a bunch of cardboard cutouts designed to sell trading cards to kids who don’t know any better.

And let’s not even talk about the duel mechanics, because they go nowhere. The whole point of Yu-Gi-Oh! used to be the creativity in how characters could use their decks and strategies. But Zexal threw that out the window, especially in Zexal II, with half the duels turning into rinse-and-repeat patterns that don’t make sense. It’s as if the writers were more interested in flashy monster animations than giving us actual tension or innovation in the duels. They’re just bad, drawn-out spectacles, filled with asspulls and nonsensical card effects. And because the story was so poorly structured, it’s hard to care when the duels have zero consequences or emotional payoff.

Now, let’s give credit where it’s due: at least 5D’s made some kind of effort to fix its second half. Yes, 5D’s stumbled with its narrative during the later arc, but at least it tried to bring the characters back into focus and repair some of the mess it created. Zexal II? It just doubled down on all the worst aspects of the first Zexal series. And the pacing was atrocious. It dragged, and dragged, and dragged, until you were begging for the end credits. The series had no business even thinking about setting up a Zexal III, but they dropped hints for it anyway. Why? Who knows? Maybe they thought they could milk this disaster for another season, but the fanbase wasn’t having it.

And that brings us to the fandom, or at least the portion of the fandom that gatekeeps Zexal like it’s some misunderstood masterpiece. They’re quick to defend the show’s "heartwarming" themes and brush off all the legitimate criticisms as people "not getting it." No, it’s not that we don’t get it; it’s that there’s nothing to get. The show is shallow. The characters are hollow. The writing is subpar. Yet, somehow, it’s propped up by this small but loud corner of the fandom who refuse to admit that Zexal was a serious misstep for the franchise. They even point to its inflated ratings as some kind of proof that it’s good, but that just shows how broken the system is when it comes to assessing quality. It's like they’re watching a different show than the rest of us.

You know what’s ironic? Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS feels more like a Yu-Gi-Oh! series than Zexal ever did. VRAINS at least attempts to return to the roots of the franchise, with darker themes, characters that grow, and duels that require actual strategy. It's not perfect, but it’s way more in line with what fans of the original series expect from the franchise. Zexal doesn’t even come close. It’s not Yu-Gi-Oh!—it’s a Saturday morning cartoon nightmare that’s been turned into a hollow shell of its former self.

In conclusion, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal was the franchise’s identity crisis put on full display, and Zexal II only made things worse. It dumbed down everything for a younger audience that was clearly seen as too immature to handle anything more than the most basic storytelling. The duels were bad, the villains were lazy, and the show overstayed its welcome. It’s an era of the franchise that’s best forgotten, and anyone trying to defend it is either blinded by nostalgia or refuses to acknowledge the very obvious flaws. The only thing Zexal did was set the bar so low that almost anything that came after felt like a step in the right direction.

[p4xman]

Hey, do you think there’s one reality?

Because people think there’s one reality, But there’s loads of them all snaking off like roots. And what we do on one path effects what happens on other paths. Time is a construct. People think you can’t go back and change things but you can. That’s what flashbacks are. They’re invitations to go back and make different choices. When you make a decision you think it’s you doing it but it’s not. It’s the spirit out there that’s connected to our world that decides what we do. And we just have to go along for the ride. Mirrors let you move through time. The government monitors people. They pay people to pretend to be your relatives and they put drugs in your food and they film you. There’s messages in every game. Like Pacman. Do you know what pac stands for? PAC. Program and control. He’s program and control man. The whole thing’s a metaphor. He think’s he’s got free will but really, he’s trapped in a maze. In a system. All he can do is consume. He’s pursued by demons… that are probably just in his own head. And even if he does manage to escape by slipping out one side of the maze, what happens? He comes right back in the other side. People think it’s a happy game. It’s not a happy game it’s a fucking nightmare world and the worst thing is it’s real and we’re living in it.

hey are you bandersnatch because Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is a 2018 interactive film in the science fiction anthology series Black Mirror. It was written by series creator Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade. The film premiered on Netflix on 28 December 2018, its release date only officially announced the day before. Netflix did not confirm the interactive nature of Bandersnatch until its release, though there was much media speculation. In Bandersnatch, viewers make decisions for the main character, the young programmer Stefan Butler (Fionn Whitehead), who is adapting a fantasy gamebook into a video game in 1984. Other characters include Mohan Thakur (Asim Chaudhry) and Colin Ritman (Will Poulter), who work at a video game company; Stefan's father, Peter (Craig Parkinson); and Stefan's therapist, Dr. Haynes (Alice Lowe). A postmodernist work with free will as a central theme, the film was named after a real video game planned for release by Imagine Software in 1984, the game in turn named after the bandersnatch, a creature of Lewis Carroll's creation. Brooker and executive producer Annabel Jones were approached by Netflix about making an interactive film in May 2017, during which time Netflix had several such projects for children underway. Difficulty in writing the highly non-linear script led to Netflix's creation of a bespoke program called Branch Manager; the unique nature of the content required adaptations in the platform's use of cache memory. Bandersnatch was originally to be part of Black Mirror's fifth series, but its lengthy production led to its release as a standalone film, delaying the fifth series to June 2019. Critical reception was mixed, with a positive response to the technical design of the film but criticism of the story's characterisation. There was mixed commentary about the narrative and the extent to which viewer choices affected the story. The film received average rankings in critics' lists of Black Mirror instalments by quality, but garnered numerous awards and nominations, winning two Primetime Emmy Awards. A lawsuit filed by Chooseco over the film's use of the term "choose-your-own-adventure" was filed in January 2019 and settled in November 2020.

[peppermoons]

#charlotte is a much less sociable person than lizzie #so avoiding her husband most of the time and not seeking out his company is more viable for her! #she also has more patience for people being wrong #partly i think because she kinds checks out and lets them get on with it which lizzie isn't too great at even with her mother #people have different needs like that's a thing okay #like if elizabeth had to listen to collins talk for a few months straight she would be nearly insane with rage #he's not just a low-quality man he's a man designed to be the worst for her specifically #also note that because jane's marriage is elizabeth's fallback plan #darcy screwed her over personally by interfering between her and bingley #she ofc does not bring this up how could she #but it's intensifying the anger during the hunsford rejection i think

You know what I realize that people underestimate with Pride & Prejudice is the strategic importance of Jane.

Because like, I recently saw Charlotte and Elizabeth contrasted as the former being pragmatic and the latter holding out for a love match, because she's younger and prettier and thinks she can afford it, and that is very much not what's happening.

The Charlotte take is correct, but the Elizabeth is all wrong. Lizzie doesn't insist on a love match. That's serendipitous and rather unexpected. She wants, exactly as Mr. Bennet says, someone she can respect. Contempt won't do. Mr. Bennet puts it in weirdly sexist terms like he's trying to avoid acknowledging what he did to himself by marrying a self-absorbed idiot, but it's still true. That's what Elizabeth is shooting for: a marriage that won't make her unhappy.

She's grown up watching how miserable her parents make one another; she's not willing to sign up for a lifetime of being bitter and lonely in her own home.

I think she is very aware, in refusing Mr. Collins, that it's reasonably unlikely that anyone she actually respects is going to want her, with her few accomplishments and her lack of property. That she is turning down security and the chance keep the house she grew up in, and all she gets in return may be spinsterhood.

But, crucially, she has absolute faith in Jane.

The bit about teaching Jane's daughters to embroider badly? That's a joke, but it's also a serious potential life plan. Jane is the best creature in the world, and a beauty; there's no chance at all she won't get married to someone worthwhile.

(Bingley mucks this up by breaking Jane's heart, but her prospects remain reasonable if their mother would lay off!)

And if Elizabeth can't replicate that feat, then there's also no doubt in her mind that Jane will let her live in her house as a dependent as long as she likes, and never let it be made shameful or awful to be that impoverished spinster aunt. It will be okay never to be married at all, because she has her sister, whom she trusts absolutely to succeed and to protect her.

And if something eventually happens to Jane's family and they can't keep her anymore, she can throw herself upon the mercy of the Gardeners, who have money and like her very much, and are likewise good people. She has a support network--not a perfect or impregnable one, but it exists. It gives her realistic options.

Spinsterhood was a very dangerous choice; there are reasons you would go to considerable lengths not to risk it.

But Elizabeth has Jane, and her pride, and an understanding of what marrying someone who will make you miserable costs.

That's part of the thesis of the book, I would say! Recurring Austen thought. How important it is not to marry someone who will make you, specifically, unhappy.

She would rather be a dependent of people she likes and trusts than of someone she doesn't, even if the latter is formally considered more secure; she would rather live in a happy, reasonable household as an extra than be the mistress of her own home, but that home is full of Mr. Collins and her mother.

This is a calculation she's making consciously! She's not counting on a better marriage coming along. She just feels the most likely bad outcome from refusing Mr. Collins is still much better than the certain outcome of accepting him. Which is being stuck with Mr. Collins forever.

Elizabeth is also being pragmatic. Austen also endorses her choice, for the person she is and the concerns she has. She's just picking different trade-offs than Charlotte.

Elizabeth's flaw is not in her own priorities; she doesn't make a reckless choice and get lucky. But in being unable to accept that Charlotte's are different, and it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with Charlotte.

Because realistically, when your marriage is your whole family and career forever, and you only get to pick the ones that offer themselves to you, when you are legally bound to the status of dependent, you're always going to be making some trade-offs.

😂 Even the unrealistically ideal dream scenario of wealthy handsome clever ethical Mr. Darcy still asks you to undergo personal growth, accommodate someone else's communication style, and eat a little crow.

[bersergner-blog]

Escape from Tombstone - Beat ‘em up Culture (pt.2)

...continued:

POW Stages are long and dull. Could really use bosses, as constantly groups of enemies getting dumped in feels like a slog. Enemies have too much health. A grab and down attacks would help. It takes too long to throw knives leading to you just getting punched. Some of the more cinematic elements such as the breakout and helicopter are fun and the combat has a bit of a meaty feel to it but it all feels pretty flat, repetitive and ugly. Enemies stumbling back or doubling over from punches can be cool. But enemies are way too beefy and it all just adds to the feeling of slog. Enemies seem designed for ultimate annoyance. They move faster, hit faster, run away from you, leap in with giant hit boxes, sometimes dodge your fire sometimes don't, run away when on low health, etc. A dull repetitive slog that feels overly long even at only 4 stages and is a shining example of all the worst qualities people accuse beat em ups of. The setting and idea are cool and having 3 different walk cycles shows a lot of visual care went in as well as crawling which happens a total of once. It all just feels all over the place.

Robo Army Finishers are kinda cool and you can turn into a car. The different types of special moves and building them up is a kind of neat idea but doesn't really add too much. The battle toads style rope descent is a nice change of pace but largely this is pretty dull and straight forward. At least levels don't outstay their welcome. Base enemy designs are kinda cool but some enemies look super dumb. Guys on bikes is a weird but very typical beat em up addition and fun in a tongue in cheek way. Some unfun enemy designs such as little spiders and dogs that can only be hit when they jump to attack. Some enemies run away from you to just outside of your reach which is never fun. Hazards that only affect you, not enemies. Quite a few attacks that just look like normal movement (final boss and some enemies).

Final Fight Feels good. Good music. Stages are nice and short leading to great momentum. Always seeing something new. Interesting enemies with only one or two attacks. But they are very interesting such as sneaky jab outside fighter and knife man who has throw and lunge, axel who blocks a lot and encourages grappling. Makes for interesting enemy Compositions. Surprising amount of story telling with it's little cutscenes such as getting abducted at the door by the great andore. And confusedly spinning around or car man when you trash his car. The special stage sections are a cool change of pace. Works surprisingly well as a solo experience. Which not many of these games do. Could really use some movement options such as a dash or tech roll on knockdown. Hagar having the shortest range directional throw sucks since he's so slow it makes some bosses a nightmare such as copman. Always cool little setpieces like the barrels being rolled in twice and then more people appearing when you're facing an andore. Fairly fun boss fights. Little unbalanced kit. Jump kick seems extremely good from Guy and Cody. A back-attack would really work in this game. The transition from day to night could be a lot more impactful and cool. You spend a lot of. Time indoors and the lighting never feels different. Obviously hard to do and we're not criticising these games for the lack of these elements but we're working on what we could improve. Punching a molotov out of the air!!! Gauntlet at the end is actually fun and highlights the variety of enemies and unique archetypes. Hagar jumping grab fun. Amazing enemy names. Molotov kicking madness with Guy during Gauntlet. Corner fighting to offscreen is a little too strong a tactic. But the alternative of enemies using abilities from offscreen would be worse. Sometimes the enemies' attack patterns do seem to create some unavoidable damage situations. Final boss is a great idea, being able to smash his chair and grab him out of it after how much he was avoiding you feels great. Might be one of the better versions of these type of characters. Taking to it's logical conclusion with Urban Reign.

Battle Circuit Tokusatsu inspired nonsensical but with a fair bit of plot and some fun lines. Great enemy and character designs. Very cinematic. Combos are fun if a bit limited. Ground follow up and defensive options would be appreciated. Fun enemy designs and some fun srt pieces. Feels a bit like it doesn't really build to anything really. May be trying to emulate that Saturday morning cartoon episode feel though. Plays great. Lots of options and the coins and upgrade system keep you invested.

Warriors of Fate Good variety of moves (jumping attack, neutral grab, directional grab, grab jump, clearout move, special input move, down and jump move). Getting on the horse is awkward but interesting. Introducing new enemy types alongside bosses is weird. Chopping enemies in half. Game is long but has decent variety. Some uniquely built levels for a beat em up lots of spectacle and cutscenes and different weapons actually feel somewhat different. The later three characters feel less complex because of less grapple depth but having a Ranged character is interesting and with a full "party" it might be something special. The final boss not fighting back and having the time limit for two different endings is interesting if a little cheap.

King of Dragons Large cast of characters and lots of diverse enemies. Blocking is cool (especially how it pushes you back), getting new equipment is cool. Lots of levels. Ambushes from. Ranged enemies. Levels are short and digestible with a boss at the end. Keeps the momentum up. The orbs of special moves you have to hit to activate are an interesting idea. The transition to the gold of the dragon in the final level is visually very cool. Diverse biomes. Parrying attacks feels cool. Enemies could be more interesting in how they attack. Some neat surprise enemies such as mimics.

Armored Warriors Diverse attacks (dash attack, downward stomp, long range attack, combo, weapon attack) and how they change with different parts, the whole picking up parts system is cool. Variety in gameplay. Great art (pretty much goes without saying for Capcom) But the whole thing feels very chaotic and all the lumbering machines get in the way of Readability. Nonetheless levels are short and punchy and the story gives enough context to keep you pushing and wanting to see what's next. The levels are cool if a bit basic.

The Punisher This is one of my favourite arcade beat ‘em ups and was part of Capcom’s licensed arcade series. It brought a lot of variety to the combat and really felt like a step in a new direction. It featured multiple special moves, interesting enemy types, more options from a grapple and occasional shooting segments where the screen would be rushed by enemies and the player would draw a gun locking onto the closest enemies and attempt to clear as many as they could. The second player played as Nick Fury and featured their own continue screen and music.

Alien vs. Predator Another personal favourite, another licensed Capcom arcade. They were absolutely on fire at this point. Featuring multiple playable characters (including humans and predators) all with unique abilities, combos and special moves as well as a lot of pick-ups and weapons and even some “vehicle” sections. Stages were nice and short and the game never takes it’s foot of the gas pedal.

Dungeons and Dragons - Tower of Doom/Shadow over Mystara Yes, Capcom made a licensed Dungeons & Dragons game. Two of them in fact and they’re great. Featuring absolutely top notch visuals, a lot of move variety, different stats that affected the gameplay, level ups, equippable items and a host of spells to cast and monsters to slay, these two games are a riot with a group of friends.

[romanarose]

Hello there ✨️ love your work 💕 I'm a long time fan 🫶🏼. I've been on tumblr a few years now, but I'd never found the courage to post anything of my own til now. I've been feeling a little optimistic these days, and genuinely excited about posting some of my writing and sharing it with the people out here. Do you have any advice on how to start posting and interacting from scratch? Cause I'm low-key nervous abt it and it seems like my target audience has already formed a solid community I don't know how to get into 🥺

Wow, this might be the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me wowie!!!!!!

okay let me tell my advice

The numbers don't equal quality. Certain things appeal to people more, like shorter stories, straight up smut, Joel Miller gets way more than when I write Marc. I think one of my best works was my Marc X Jewish!Reader series, Seattle, but it idnt get anywhere really even at the height of moon knight popularity bc people dont read OC's esp ethnic oc's. Put your heart into it and those who enjoy it will enjoy it. I had a William Miller series that averaged like 8-20 notes per chapter but I had a handful of readers I knew adored it and thats what mattered

This site is so much better with interaction. PLEASE DON"T ONLY INTERACT FOR THE SAKE OF GETTING FRIENDS WHO"LL REBLOG!! However, if you dont already, make sure you are reblogging stories and leaving nice words! Me personally, if someone reblogs regularly and leave nice words, espcially things that show they really paid attention, I usually just follow back bc I love friends. Im happy to get to know you!

Yes, it's hard sometimes to break it. It took a few months for me to get into the Oscar Issac writer circles, and then when I started writing Pedro it took a while too but I always reblogged and tried to communicate and I made friends. Isn't it crazy we can just.... become friends with our fav writers? Obvs Im not friends with all my favs but MOST of my favs became my friends <3

It's kinda annoying to me bc Im bad at it but aesthetics help. Title, a picture to catch eyes, summary, warnings, note. Try to make it look nice. Im really had at this LMFAOOOOOO. My lovely friends have made my best looking banners. If you have graphic design skills, use them! i wish i didn't have to but it does help catch readers when you have an interesting headers and everything looks pretty.

Few technicals. Use the readmore option. No one wants to reblog a LOOOOOONG story and clog up the feeds. Use as many correct tags as you can. Tag any triggering content. And I'm the worst at this but proof read. Im bad at proof reading, everyone who reads my work knows spelling, grammar, wrong words are a common issue I have bc Im bad at typing. When I still had word on my laptop I started typing in word and using text to speach to help me catch stuff!

Keep at it! IDK where you know my work, weather moon knight, triple frontier or tlou or whatever but all those fandoms right now are like.... a little less active. So don't be dissapointed if it takes a while. With TLOU, theres SOOOOOOO many amazing writers. With Moon Knight theres just less buzz rn. If you write for lesser known characters like Llewyn Davis or Will Miller, you probs won't reach the notes of established writers in Joel Miller. Just the reality. the point is keep going, find what you like and what gets people excited and go from there

This is the most important. Write what you want. I mean it. I love writing Will Miller because he's my special man <3 even though it's a small fanbase. My series Rooms On Fire, a lot have lost interest bc its a long series. That's okay! I love the series and it makes me happy to write it. I wrote a few Miguel O'Hara stories because, I'm being honest here, I wanted to capitalize on the hype. Guess what? They weren't good. I'm not proud of them. Since then, I write what Im inspired to.

THIS SHOULD BE FUN AND IF AT ANY POINT, IT"S NOT FUN STOP AND FIGURE OUT WHY

feel free to say hi off anon! I'm always happy to get to know new people. If you like Triple Frontier, I have a discord server that is pretty much open to everyone! I'm trying to revive it and you can share your works and meet knew people!

Anon or not, let me know if you have any questions!

[aonemanarmy]

Lost as he was in the throes of his own madness and the thrill of reuniting with his long lost 'mother' Sephiroth failed to notice the approach of the infantryman until it was too late. Realization only dawned upon him when Jenova's visage visibly distorted beneath a web of cracked glass. The attack was so sudden that not even the pain registered at first in Sephiroth's mind, only a strange feeling of disorientation.

It was only after the blade was twisted and wrenched free that the pain hit Sephiroth. White-hot agony shot through his body as flesh and bone were rent asunder and hot blood spurted out, covering the cracked glass and pooling on the floor beneath his feet. Except, he couldn't remain standing for long since the sword's razor-sharp blade had cleaning cut through his spinal cord, the severed nerves causing him to collapse to his knees into the spreading pool of blood.

The blow should've outright killed him were he anyone else, but somehow Sephiroth remained conscious, hands still pressed against the glass of Jenova's prison which he used to keep himself upright. Yet, despite the sheer agony that wracked his body and the way his lifeblood continued to spread beneath him, Sephiroth didn't so much as utter a single sound of pain. The only sign that the pain had registered in him at all was the way he grit his teeth and the way his fingers clenched, as if trying to find some sort of purchase against the cracked glass.

A distinct metallic taste filled Sephiroth's mouth and flowed past his lips, bright flecks of crimson painting his pale skin in a silent display of suffering. Still, it wasn't enough to get him to vocalize anything other than a low, humorless chuckle as he shifted a hand down to press against the gaping wound in his abdomen.

As horrific as the pain might've been it wasn't the worst pain he'd ever felt in his life and he'd long since steeled himself against it, and as such allowing it to have any power over him. Pain was simply the natural state of this world and if one wasn't suffering then they weren't truly living. Sephiroth had never been able to comprehend a life without pain, so this new pain was nothing different and the grievous injury he'd suffered was yet another he would bear just as he'd always done.

“M-mother...” the words parted his lips flecked with blood on shallow breath. “Let us go...together...”

Already Sephiroth could feel his wounds beginning to knit themselves back together, a unique 'gift' that had been bestowed upon him thanks to Jenova's cells. Being in close proximity to their point of origin seemed to stir them into action much swifter than it normally took for them to respond as they worked to repair the damage the infantryman had inflicted. It was thanks to that special quality he possessed that he was able to not only survive the blow that would've killed anyone else, but he also wasn't paralyzed either. It would've been considered a miracle under any other circumstance, but to Sephiroth it was part of the curse of his own existence and what made him the killing machine that Shinra had designed him to be.

Slowly Sephiroth rose back to his feet, a cascade of blood falling to the floor as he did so. He was hardly deterred though, as the man straightened and put his left hand on the hilt of the Masamune, drawing the blade with a surprising level of dexterity even after all that had happened. Then with blade in hand he slashed at Jenova's prison, shattering the glass and sending it scattering and unleashing a torrent of formaldehyde and mako onto the floor.

However, that wasn't the end of things. In a move that would seem contradictory to his earlier words and actions Sephiroth slashed with the blade again, this time removing Jenova's head from her shoulders and sending it tumbling through the air. The decapitated head never reached the floor though, for Sephiroth caught it in his right hand, his gloved fingers curling into Jenova's wet hair and holding it by his side like a morbid trophy. Only once he was reassured that his 'mother' was secured did Sephiroth turn away from the center of the room and made his way toward the door leading out of the chamber of horrors.

The young SOLDIER tumbled down the steps; though the fight was admirable, it was hardly enough to stop Sephiroth. Who could possibly stop Sephiroth? At this rate, the entire world was in danger, all by one man. Helplessness crept over the ex-Turk. Removing his hand from his wound, he saw blood once again soiling his gloved palm. All of the effort he had taken to get to this place had taken a toll on his partially healed wound, opening it anew. Cursing his weakness, Vincent watched Sephiroth ascend towards his mother once again, hearing his words of a 'Promised Land'. He had heard that phrase before... Gast, Hojo, and Lucrecia had briefly spoken of it, but he had gleaned little to nothing of what it was. Whatever it was though, it couldn't mean anything good for the innocent people who were bound to fall prey to this newly awakened monster.

Just as Vincent was about to say something, he heard another individual approach. He recognized the boy. He was the one he had seen crawling on the floor towards a flamed house. An Infantryman. What could a lowly Infantryman do in that a First Class SOLDIER could not? He feared for the boy's life, but seeing the fury in the blonde's face told Vincent this was a personal matter. The boy seethed, dragging the massive sword which had previously belonged to the other fallen SOLDIER; Betrayal evident in every movement he made. He had lost everything because of this one man. His grip on the hilt of the sword was tense, the rage flaming in his blue eyes. Even Vincent could feel it from across the way. It was a raw potent anger that even resonated with his beasts. He had never seen such fury. Suddenly, the glass cracked, creating large spider-like veins that collected at the center between Sephiroth and the glass. Blood dripped down onto the ground, creating a large pool of crimson. The boy had rammed the large sword through Sephiroth, nearly cutting him in two.

Vincent's eyes widened in horror. The boy's eyes remained hidden behind his helmet, the stab not enough to suffice his rage towards the man with silver hair. With another force, he twisted the blade within Sephiroth, fully intent on creating as much pain in Sephiroth as possible before tearing it out of his body, watching Sephiroth crumble to his knees before the alien. The pain in Vincent's chest worsened, watching Sephiroth bleed out from a wound similar to the one Sephiroth had given him. Unlike Vincent, though, the boy held nothing back.

Instinctively, Vincent wanted to come to Sephiroth's aid, but he held himself back with much effort, knowing full well the boy's actions were justified. However, Sephiroth didn't go down that easily. After having battled him in the basement, Vincent knew this wouldn't kill Sephiroth outright. He watched on with halted breath to see what Sephiroth would attempt next.

[headingalaxys-spicy]

That platonic protector ask, but with Germany and France?? Only if it’s cool with you!!

This will be a pairing so Yandere Platonic! GerFra x Reader

So yeah GERFRA action with this ahahahahah.

Also with some spice so have fun.

🇫🇷France 🇫🇷

Yandere France is more of the obsessive type. He loves to be your hairdresser, designer, stylist, cook etc. This may not be a bad thing because you will never leave the house looking frunpy.

He will take over what you eat because if he sees you scarf down another bowl of cheap ass noodles he will have a mental breakdown. It especially drives him mad when you eat it like it’s divine food. *cue him biting a napkin in despair with tears flying from his eyes*

“Mon cher non. I can’t spend another second seeing you eat that low-quality food.”

When you are not near him he will text you constantly to see if you’re okay. You’d receive texts like ‘Lovely where are you. You’ve not replied in 3 hours. I’m getting worried.” He will have a search team look for you at the 5-hour mark. And he will smother you and not let you leave his sight for a few days. “You made me worry!”

🇩🇪Germany 🇩🇪

The level-headed one and as a yandere, he’s super overprotective and overbearing even when it’s platonic.

It will be a thing that he has the best well-trained German Shepard guard your house 24/7. He’ll even let you pet the good doggo if you can accept your new life as their live-in friend.

I mean getting cuddles, doggos, epic food and protection isn’t a bad deal.

Both of them would prefer to not have to capture you but they do have their breaking points. France would be sooner to snap than Germany.

How you met them:

Germany and Ludwig were doing one of their bi-weekly strolls through the mall. Ludwig didn’t care much for shopping but liked to have a good excuse to hold Francis's hand. Ludwig just passively window shopped while France had a passion for finding the most fantastic ensemble.

“Jackpot! Ludwig! I’ve hit gold my favorite boutique is having a sale along with releasing a new collection today.” Francis tripped over himself typing to dash towards the boutique's entrance. Fortunately, Ludwig was there to halt his dissent towards the marble floor. He had him by the waist and hoisted him up. He drew Francis in close and hugged him so tightly that he could feel Ludwigs expand.

“Don’t injure yourself Liebling.”

“Hon hon hon Allemangne~ later will be fun of course because I have a boudoir set I want to give you tonight.” He rubbed his nose to his in a cute way that made the German’s heart flutter. Francis giggled at Ludwig he enjoyed seeing him red and flustered.

“Ahahahaha zhat is nice Francis but please can you not say it so loudly. Or not in public?”

Francis takes the initiative and seals his lips with a kiss. He pulls back after a few moments and pauses to drink in the water from Germany’s crystal blue eyes.

“Well, I’ll see you in an hour frenchie. I need some more strong coffee.” I’m heading to that cafe over there and wait for you.” He gives Francis a kiss on his cheek before he headed off.

In just a few moments Francis would join Ludwig at the cafe. All was fine until an irate middle-aged man decided that today was the day that the cashier in the coffee shop had some hell to pay. Y/N a twenty-something just trying to survive on a paycheck that doesn’t make up for the hell she puts up with. Rude people who honestly wanted a freebie were the worst type because the audacity of some of these motherfuckers was real. Oh, how you held your tongue. A saintly job that required all of your sanity.

“YOU ARE A BITCH YOUR STEALING FROM ME!” (I may or may not be venting here.) The man shouts enraged over the fact that he spent his entire gift card at a previous store. And he wanted a refund because he didn’t like his ‘service’. You were edging on trying not to cry it had already been a long shift and you had two more hours to survive still. Your anxiety spiked and your body had chosen the freeze mode. Since the man wasn’t willing to listen to reason he can listen to silence. Of course, Gentleman Germany won’t allow this to continue.

Germany slammed his muscular hand down on the table with such force that left a dent in the wooden counter.

“Listen Schlampe If you don’t vant your tongue ripped from your skull I suggest you leave the lady alone. She doesn’t need anozhar asshole like you.” The man was stunned for a few moments.

“Whatever GI JOE!” He shouted back he put his old nasty Roten finger in his face. Ludwig takes not shit especially not people who show nothing but disrespect. He twisted his hand downwards. The man lets out a short but sharp yelp that scraped against the eardrums.

‘This guy really is an idiot.’

“Are you alright Fraulien?” He wanted to try to reassure the …really lovely barista. ‘Mein gott in himmel.’

“Yeah, just having a difficult shift haha. He’s the third freak-out that I’ve had today. And honestly don’t want to be here right now.” You were glad that someone stepped up but miserable because this was your daily life that had you stuck on an endless loop. You were drowning in it.

The man who recovered from the initial beat down still hadn’t had enough. He lunges for Germany because his overblown pride wouldn’t accept any other option. Ludwig uses his momentum against the medium-sized bulldozer. He slammed him to the ground and the man fell with a heavy thud to the wood-panneled floor. The man grunted in pain as Ludwig put his foot on his pudgy stomach.

“Listen here Schlampe . Now is a good time for you to leave. Unless you want to be 6ft and below.” The evil and cold look bit down on the mans pride and ego like the first bite of fresh wurst.

With a shaky voice, the man squeeked out a ‘yes’ and proceeded to limp away.

“Thank you. You can have this.” You handed him a free drink card you could hand to customers on occasions that they didn’t like their drink or it was made incorrectly.

“Thanks. So y/n how often are you here?”

German will inquire about your life and manage to get your number because in his heart he knows that he wants to protect you with his life. You were a klines Blumen who needed a strong force to keep people who want to crush you away.

“Mon Dieu She’s adorable ! Ludwig who is this!? Nice to meet you y/n I’m Francis. Enchante. Chere.” He kisses your hand like a prince.

This is going to be the day that they adopt you.

Turns out the old man that Germany managed to get out of your store was a part of the mafia and that means you’ll be harassed a lot so much so it’s not in your benefit to continue your employment. Of course, Francis and Ludwig are eager to get you under their care where you’ll be safe and won’t have to worry.

They will encourage you to pursue what you actually want to do in life: a designer, streamer, singer, engineer etc. They want to see you be had and have a fulfilled life.

Living with them is interesting you get to hear them have lovers quarrels all the time. And your vocabulary now knows French and German swear words.

“Verdammt Frenchie ! Ausgereizte Kredikarte. WAS ZUR Hölle !?!“

*continues arguing*

When these two make up they will vanish from the house for the night for passionate sex in a secluded area and they’re kinda loud. They’re both into the idea of the danger of being caught.

Life with your two protectors is interesting because they’re extreme opposites. But it tastes well together like strawberries and chocolates.

They’re most likely to be the most stable platonic that wants to take care of you. It would be a perfect balance of regulations (Germany) and some freedom (France)

[neon-junkie]

Those Awful Holoshows

Summary: Tech's been awake for hours straight, but he never misses the opportunity to relax with you and mutually complain about any and every holoshow. However, he can only stay awake for so long, and your shoulder looks oh-so-comfortable...

Pairing: Tech x Reader

Reader Description: Reader is gender-neutral. This fic does not include any descriptions of their appearance. Word count: 1k

Tags: Fluff, Accidental cuddling, Literally sleeping together, Mutual pining.

Notes: more Tech content?? yeah, i know, but he is just.. he is so...  ;-; <3

Another day, another poorly written holoshow to criticize. It's yours and Tech's favourite pastime, forcing yourselves to watch awful holoshows just so you can both be nasty about it. This tradition all started when Tech overheard you grumbling to yourself when your favourite show took a turn for the worst, and he couldn't help but peer over your shoulder and watch, making you jump when he commented "her heels do not look comfortable, nor do they match the rest of her outfit." Tech giving fashion advice? As it turns out, he knows more than enough about piecing an outfit together, and character design is one of his favourite topics to moan about. He also bitches about the technical side of each show; lighting, cinematography, audio, and so on, but his outfit comments never fail to make you laugh. "An action scene where our female protagonist is wearing heels? Again? If only the director valued realism, rather than allowing his genitalia to direct the show," Tech grumbles beside you, crossing his arms as he talks. You've set your holopad up on a pile of pillows at the end of Tech's bunk, leaning back against the cold, metal wall, a thin pillow preventing your back from aching. As the show has gone on, you've slouched down further and further, hands placed in your lap and a blanket shared between both of you. This viewing party arrangement is simply that, an opportunity for you two to let off some steam by getting worked up over poorly written shows, and you're so comfortable with Tech now that neither of you notice when your shoulders or knees brush together. "The show has a male director, Tech. That fact alone tells you all that you need to know," you reply, fixated on the action scene. "How unfortunate," Tech sighs, nodding in agreement. He offers you another cookie, and you take it whilst quietly thanking him, nibbling at the oatmeal and raisin snack. You weren't surprised when Tech informed you that these cookies are his favourite, and his face scrunched up when you asked why he didn't prefer chocolate chips. This is Tech, what else were you expecting? Both of you munch away, forcing yourselves through episode after episode, bonding through your hatred for sloppy camera work and low quality audio. Hours pass, and you don't realize how late it is until you let out a yawn. The other Batchers have tucked themselves into bed, ignoring your conversation, although they're used to it by now. You overhear Tech let out a soft exhale, but pay no mind to it, that is until his head gently rests on your shoulder, short brunette locks pressing to your cheek. This isn't the first time Tech's fallen asleep whilst watching ungodly shows, but it is the first time that he's accidentally cuddled up to you. You're almost certain that this is an accident, until moments later when you attempt to slowly unpick yourself from Tech's grasp, to have him grumble in his sleep, asking you to "stop moving." "Tech, I'm trying to tuck you into bed," you sigh, but Tech lowers his brows, his head moving with your body, clinging onto you. You sigh, and using your foot, you manage to knock your holopad off the stack of pillows and pull it closer, silencing the device and leaving it under Tech's pillow. Again, you attempt to tuck the nerd into bed, and with great difficulty, you eventually succeed. His goggles are left on, and as much as you want to take them off, you're not risking the high chance of waking him up. However, goggles on or not, Tech partially awakens, looking at you through squinted eyes as you're about to hop down from his bunk. "Where are you going?" he mumbles under his breath, barely loud enough for you to hear. "To bed," you reply. "But we... we're watching our show," he pouts. Oh, your heart, this man has no idea what's going on. In his defence, he has probably been awake for days on end, taking catnaps here and there, never gaining enough rest to properly function. No wonder he's so dazed and confused! "We were, but it's bedtime now," you coo. Tech lets out a dramatic huff and peers over to where your holopad was resting. Noticing its absence, he huffs again, and then turns back to you with a disappointed expression. "Okay..." he groans. "Well, come to bed then," Tech gestures to the small space beside him, a tight squeeze in his single bunk. "I'm going to bed, but this is your bed," you attempt to explain, but you know by now that your bunk is going to be unoccupied tonight. "Our show... our bed," Tech mumbles as his eyes fall shut, threatening to dip back into his slumber. Yet again, Tech reaches out for you, and you allow him to lightly grasp your arm and begin pulling you back into his bunk. Before you get too cosy, and whilst Tech is partially awake, you gently remove his goggles, lightly laughing at the way his face scrunches up when he has to move his head off the pillow. "Better?" you question. Tech pulls you tight against him, acting like you're his own Lula, and with his cheek resting on the top of your head, he softly mutters "better." Stars, who knew this man was so needy? Neither you, nor Tech has ever shown much interest in the other before, minus light, playful comments, and... spending most of your free time together. But you always assumed that Tech viewed you strictly platonically, right? It seems your findings are wrong, and your stomach begins to turn as Tech subconsciously lightly grazes his fingers over your back, playfully scratching away, kneading over the thick fabric of your shirt. No doubt, the morning is going to be awkward. You're probably going to wake up to find Tech looming over you, apologizing over and over for falling asleep on you; his cheeks will be burning bright red, sweat forming above his brow, fumbling over his words for the first time in his life. Maybe you can silence him with a kiss?

[uncommon-etc]

5 Reasons The Strip nz is... not that bad actually

While media discourse on here tends to just about straddle the divide between the snobbish purity culture of ‘you can only enjoy quality programming’ and ‘let everyone be guilty-pleasure-loving trash’ there do exist a handful of shows and films which we can all collectively agree aren’t great (whether through bad acting, low-quality cinematography, low-budget set-design, lazy story-lines or all of the above) but which have plenty of redeeming features.

I’ve seen posts claiming that The Strip deserves to be lost media (at the time of writing it exists virtually nowhere on the internet, you can watch the first and twelfth episode for free, but the rest of season 1 is only available on vimeo and season 2 may well be lost to the world) but like a lot of shows from the 00s which are routinely mocked for being kind of trashy, it doesn’t deserve to be condemned to the great cultural dustbin.

If you find yourself skipping large chunks of it, or you don’t like the characters, or you cba with the frequent romantic subplots, that’s fine. But there are five reasons The Strip actually deserves some credit:

1. It’s one of the only shows whose narrative continually rewards women for setting reasonable boundaries and calling out men who break them.

The show’s brand of have-it-all white liberal feminism may grate on some, understandably so, but if you’d lived through the tidal wave of misogyny that was TV when I was a kid, you’d find it refreshing too. The majority of guys (and gals) when I was growing up believed that once a woman had ‘led a man on’ enough, whether it was kissing him, getting involved with him, or letting him treat her to things, she was somehow contractually obliged to have sex with him. The view that you should settle for a ‘nice guy’ even if he was extremely flawed, because thinking you deserved better made you a bitch was also quite prevalent. The Strip tackles both of these misconceptions head-on.

2. Its portrayal of bisexuality was way ahead of its time.

We’re still fighting bi-phobia, bi-erasure, and reducing-bi-experiences-to-cheap-laughs a full twenty years on from when The Strip first aired, but the show’s handling of Glenn coming to terms with being bi, telling his ex-wife and daughter, and being open with others in his life about it, was textbook. The show even allowed him to quash common misconceptions by having him explain to a woman who thinks bi = adventurous and experienced in bed, that he’s only ever been with the woman he was married to, and the guy he was seeing for three months after they got divorced, so he’s really no more savvy than the next guy.

3. It provided work for Maori, Samoan, and other Polynesian actors.

Are some of the scenes given to the non-white half of the cast problematic? Absolutely. Adam, the head stripper, probably comes off worst, by featuring frequently in Mel’s fantasies performing the kind of animalistic hypermasculinity which comes pretty close to overt racism in these enlightened times.

But since mainstream Australian and Kiwi TV back then was so incredibly white, the primary roles offered to Polynesian actors were as miserable melancholic underdogs in social realist dramas. If, in 2002, someone had said to you ‘hey, instead of playing homeless alcoholic #5, we’ve got you a part as a series-regular in a sitcom, you’ll be working in a strip-club, but you’ll get plenty of lines, and the chance to play someone with an actual personality’ idk why you wouldn’t be thrilled. One scene even pokes fun at the white savior complex in a big way, which doesn’t excuse all the Adam stuff, but it’s progress I guess. 

4. It promotes found families over nuclear families.

How many workplace comedies have you seen where the workplace consists of a divorced woman in her 30s, her teenage daughter, a gay guy, three Polynesians, a Samoan, a Maori-Jew, and an Australian who tries to out-himbo the lot of them? The entire premise of The Strip is that the conventional family unit of a well-off, successful opposite-sex couple and their kid implodes spectacularly, because it isn’t making anyone happy, while the alternative family structure that replaces it is a joy to behold.

No-one would argue that Mel’s story-line gets far too much screen-time, but, though they’re fleeting, the scenes at the club, with Jack, Samara, Adam, Clint, Mostin, Ian, and Daniel are just a straight-up delight to watch. The writers could have made a very depressing show about a group of people from various oppressed minority groups having to work at a strip-club because they had no choice, instead they chose to show them having fun, forming friendships, hooking up, and generally being there for each other. In fact, I reckon if the writers had chosen to ditch all of the main characters entirely and just made a show about Jack, Sam, and the five male-strippers it would have been a masterpiece revered to this day.

5. Not to objectify on main, but one of the strippers is played by a 26-year-old Taika Waititi, which has been reason enough for many to watch it

You thirsty hoes are still going nuts over one glimpse of his midriff 20 years later, wait until you get a load of this absolute snack:

The irony is that the writers clearly made an executive decision to cast this, then unknown, alternative comic as ‘the funny one’, which explains why Mostin gets a lot more lines than the other four, features in fewer routines, and is treated a bit like an annoying kid-brother by many of the other characters. But in his first appearance (1x07), when he and Sam perform a sexually-charged shirtless Flamenco dance following some very poorly written flirting, you can tell at least one person behind the camera let out a fanfic-worthy ‘Oh.’

On a side-note, this blog supports all male-strippers, and actors playing male-strippers, because if Taika’s ted-talk is to be believed, he started writing the script for Two Cars, One Night while sitting backstage in his g-string wondering what he ought to be doing with his life. Never let it be said that geniuses aren’t found in the unlikeliest of places.   

[bebetae]

imperfect [2] | lee donghyuck / haechan

ALL TITLE BANNERS DRAWN AND DESIGNED BY ME. DO NOT STEAL. PHOTOS OF MEMBERS USED ARE NOT OWNED BY ME. CREDIT TO THE RIGHTFUL OWNER.

Genre: eventual smut, angst, major character death

Pairing: dystopian au, rebel!haechan x f.reader

Word Count: 8.2k

Synopsis: At birth, everyone has their worst trait tattooed on their wrist. You might as well introduce yourself with the reason why someone shouldn’t like you. But, you were a “perfect”, as they called you, one of the few in the world. You didn’t have a tattoo. You weren’t flawed. You were worshipped, and Haechan hated that. His rebellion did, too.

Warnings: confinement, restraints, non-violent interrogation, violence, guns, knives, weapons, (undetailed) murder, oppression

* this fic holds mature themes that may not be suitable for some readers including death, depictions of sex, and violence. If you are not comfortable with these terms, I ask that you do not read this series.

<- previous | directory | next ->

the adjectives used were selected for the purpose of developing each character. these traits do not pertain specifically to the members in any real or literal way.

Pitch black and quiet. There was nothing for your senses to grasp onto as you sat in what felt like the stiffest chair ever made. You felt low-quality restraints holding your limbs down to the splintering wood, and you didn’t have enough energy in you to call for help. Somehow, you knew they would hear your screams, but it wouldn’t mean that they were listening. You didn’t know how long you had been there, but you did know that there was a consistent flow of people on watch duty over you, switching out with each other every so often. But for some reason, for the past few moments, you felt no other presence. Silence had never felt so loud.

You jumped at the sudden sound of a door opening. Your visitor said nothing as their hollow footsteps drew closer and closer, and your breath caught in your throat as you expected the worst. What you didn’t expect was for your blindfold to be taken off almost immediately upon their arrival.

You blinked away the blur in your eyes, adjusting to the new brightness and your surroundings you had yet to see, focusing on the two—one more than you had anticipated—boys standing before you. They wore all black, yet their hair colors were anything but. The one with dark blue hair was fiddling with the scrap of fabric between his fingers, and he was the first to speak.

“It’s weird seeing her up close, isn’t it, Jungwoo?” the boy spoke to the blondie next to him.

“Taeil owes me 5 bucks. He kept claiming she wasn’t a real human--” the boy, by the name of Jungwoo, leaned forward to inspect your face further, getting a kick out of the power he held over you. This may be a once in a lifetime experience. “--and that she was just a robot mut,”

You snarled at the boy, baring your teeth.

“Look at that, Renjun. She’s not as proper and ladylike as they make her out to be,”

A storm was brewing in you, and you wished you could break the leather belts around your wrists so you could strangle the boy. Then you could show him why you hadn’t needed security guards to protect you before guns and bombs became a factor. By their own doing, may you add. Yet, upon first glance, these two didn’t seem like they would pose much of a threat. In fact, they had a glow of youthful innocence around them, but you knew it was all a facade. They were two top prospects, meaning they’re just as lethal as you are.

“Okay, I’ve let you have your fun. Step aside,” a third voice spoke, but you realized that the entrance to your cell was behind you, your chair facing the back wall. You had no way of knowing who was coming in and out.

The attitude in the two prospects shifted, a serious tone falling over the room in seconds. They nodded at some silent instruction the man behind you gave them, stepping to the side to make way for whoever had arrived. He walked uncomfortably close to you as he passed, leaning against the old office desk cemented into the cubicle in front of you, ignoring the layer of dust caking the surface. You didn’t know where you were, but it was clearly somewhere in the Wasteland.

The man in front of you was different. You could just tell. His flaming red hair and the scar near his eye must have been worth something. Even though you expected him to speak, to interrogate you with questions and intimidate the answers out of you, he just stood there with observing eyes. You shifted uncomfortably within the limited movement your position allowed. You were still wearing the dress you had arrived at the capitol in, the fabric clinging to you uncomfortably. His arms were supporting him against the table and his tattoo was on display. You didn’t know if this was on purpose or not, but you took the bait nonetheless.

“Lee Taeyong of Old Manhattan, impulsive,” you glanced to the right, racking your brain as you remembered the names they had referred to each other as. You didn’t need to see the tattoos they were hiding out of view to know who they were. “Kim Jungwoo of Junior Rock, manipulative. Huang Renjun of Novus, indecisive.”

Clapping could be heard, and you turned back to Taeyong to see him applauding you, almost sarcastically. Despite the knowledge you’d displayed, and the disadvantage you had just given him, he had the cockiest smirk on his face.

“You were right, Taeyong.” Renjun said, and he seemed impressed.

Right about what?

“The capitol did train you,” Taeyong muttered, and he was smiling, his eyes dark and triumphant as he looked at you. “But they don’t know our faces. Perfect,”

You looked at the three, confused, and Jungwoo--or so you thought--brought his wrist out from behind his back, chuckling.

Pessimistic.

You finally understood. He wasn’t Jungwoo, he was Hendery Wong of Augur. And to his right, Lee Jeno of Mechano. Jeno wasn’t indecisive, he was vengeful. Now that you knew, you could see it in his eyes.

They had fooled you. It was all planned out. What you thought was a moment of you having the upper hand was really just the rebels testing the waters. Taeyong was sucking information out of you like an annoying little mosquito.

“There is one face you know, however,” Taeyong said, eyes glancing discreetly behind you before looking back so quickly it was as if he hadn’t.

Slow footsteps approached. He came into view leisurely, as if he had all the time in the world.

“Hello, Y/n,”

You recognized his voice before you could even see his face. Donghyuck strode over to where Taeyong stood, his tongue pressing into the inside of his cheek in an amused smirk as he looked to the ground, chuckling at your silence.

“Come on, now. Classmates should greet each other. I thought they taught you proper etiquette,”

“Donghyuck,” you muttered, and you watched the light behind his eyes burn out at your call.

“It’s Haechan,”

“How original,” you scoffed. You knew where he was playing at. You were aware of the person he had drawn the inspiration from. Donghyuck--Haechan narrowed his eyes at you.

“You know, your whole life you’ve always gotten everything you wanted,” Haechan grabbed a marker from the old metal cup placed on the desk, walking up to you slowly. Your hostility heightened with each step he took towards you. “I think it’s time you start realizing that everything you know, all the things the capitol exposes to you, that’s the top one fucking percent,”

He placed the cap of the pen between his teeth, ripping it off in one swift motion and he let it fall to the ground. His eyes were focused. Soon he stood before you, close enough that you could see the deep horizontal scar on his right palm. It was deep and dark and ugly on his skin. You’d never noticed it before.

“They don’t want you to see the truth of it all. In a way, it’s unfair to even hate you. At the end of the day, none of this was your doing,” With your arm binded securely in place, it wasn’t difficult for him to pin your left hand to the chair, bringing the permanent marker down onto your untainted skin. You couldn’t do anything to stop him. When he was finished, he tossed the pen to the side, retracting his hand.

You didn’t give him the satisfaction of watching you read what he had written. He didn’t need to, though. The mere act itself was enough closure for him. Haechan didn’t bother to give you another measly second of his time, stalking off and out of the room. Jeno and Hendery followed after him, but Taeyong lingered for a moment longer.

“We’re not asking you to join us. That’s all up to you, Y/n. We just want you to see the cities for what they really are. Haechan is right, you know,” Taeyong tilted his head toward the writing on your arm. “But I have a feeling you already knew that,”

And then you were alone, and you were left to process everything that had just happened. Despite all your stubbornness, and as much as you didn’t want to, you looked down to read the word scrawled in messy handwriting.

Privileged.

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

“Rise and shine,” a voice exclaimed, jolting you out of your sleep. Your neck was bent at an awkward angle, and you attempted to stretch the soreness out. You opened your eyes, surprised when you were met with a face staring straight into yours. “Time for a field trip, perfect,”

The boy reached down to release your restraints, and you could have cried in relief. During your time spent alone, you figured night had already passed and that it was now sometime within the day after the anniversary, meaning you had been held in the same position for at least 12 hours. Freedom was a blessing.

Your legs were weak and wobbly as he used one of his strong arms to pull you up, and you were surprised at the fact that they were putting such little security over you. This was an opportunity you weren’t going to waste.

In the blink of an eye, you lunged for the boy, fist clenched and headed straight for his nose. It never landed, though, and you found yourself disappointed as one of his large hands caught the impact of your blow instead. He caught your next attempt at a punch, too. Soon you were helpless as he twisted your arms behind your back, spinning your body in a 180 as your knee narrowly missed his gut.

“Nice try,” someone spoke, and you rolled your eyes at the sight of Taeyong leaning against the doorway. “I’m sure you know who Lucas is,”

“Tetra,” you stated, as if you were programmed to. “Strongest combat fighter,”

“That’s right, sweetheart,” You cringed at the nickname. Now you wished you had gone for his mouth instead. “Best ROTC cadet in the nation. Now are you going to cooperate, or are we going to have to do this the hard way?”

You sighed, your muscles losing their tenseness in his hold. He took this as a sign to drop his grip, but he didn’t step away. Taeyong clapped his hands, rubbing them together in anticipation. He nodded towards the bag laying near your feet.

“Get changed. We’re leaving in 10,”

The clothes were slightly big on you, and the boots were only staying on because you had laced them tightly up your calf, but it was a significant improvement from your ruined, couture dress. You tore the fabric open and retrieved the thick elastic band that had been cinching the sleeve into an abstract puff around your elbows, using it to tie your hair into a tight ponytail. A knock sounded on the door, Lucas waiting for your confirmation before pulling it open. It was time to leave. To where, you didn’t know.

Unwillingly, you followed the black haired boy down the many hallways and stairs of the building, and you recognized the language written across many of the old signs and walls. You were somewhere in ancient Korea.

Lucas shoved the front door open, and you took in the sight of decimated ruins surrounding the scattered arrangement of remaining buildings, looking as if they could crumble down from the slightest breeze. You had passed over the Wastelands in hovercrafts and jets before, but this was the first time you had ever stepped foot into a piece of it at ground level. Somehow, the air felt clearer than it did in the cities. Leaves and ash licked at your feet as Lucas pushed you forward, snapping you out of your trance.

“Get moving. We have a flight to catch,”

“A flight?”

Just then, the deafening sound of an engine roaring to life came from your right, and you were led around the side of the building as a large plane came into view. Your jaw dropped in awe. How had lowly rebels managed to get their hands on a Nighthawk? There were only a few in each city, strictly reserved for emergency military strikes. You craned your head to read the label painted on the side of the airplane’s belly.

C-18. They stole it from North Drammen. Why hadn’t news broke out of this? You couldn’t help but wonder if the rebellion had a lot more victories under their belt than the government led everyone to believe. The thousands of propaganda posters and news reports were lying. The rebels weren’t weak and unsuccessful, they were more of a problem than you had ever imagined. Maybe, just maybe, the capitol didn’t want to admit that they were being threatened by a group of 23 young boys.

The hatch in the rear was open, a band of around 10 boys already seated inside. The only ones you recognized were Taeyong and Haechan, two seats separating them. One for you, and one for Lucas. Haechan gave the boy accompanying you a dark look, and Lucas side-stepped you so he could sit in the seat next to the brooding boy, leaving you the space beside Taeyong.

How immature.

“Kun! We’re good!” Taeyong called to the cockpit, the pilot giving a thumbs up. The platform rose up, shutting heavily. You glanced around at the boys sitting around you, noticing the array of hair colors and the glances they stole at you as they tried to be discreet about it. The engine whirred from outside of the plane, and the lurching start almost knocked you onto the ground if Lucas hadn’t shot a forearm in front of your torso, pushing you back.

“Seatbelt,” he teased.

The first branch of the flight was fairly short. All of the windows in the military aircraft were covered, giving you no knowledge of where it was that you were going. Maybe that was their intention. The more they could keep from you about their movements, the better. Eventually, you could feel the momentum of the plane drop as it began its descent, all the way until it landed on the ground semi-gracefully.

“Sorry sweetheart, it’s for precautionary measures,” Lucas shrugged to you, tying the familiar blindfold around your eyes so you wouldn’t be able to see where you had landed when the unmistakable screech of the hatch opening sounded.

“Head out! Yuta, you’re staying with us,” Taeyong shouted from beside you, a chorus of thundering steps making their way off the plane. “Good luck,”

When the metal clanged shut, Lucas tore the blindfold off once again, and you noticed that there were few of you left. The two boys sitting beside you, a long haired boy directly across, and Haechan. What were they planning?

“Are you sure about this, Taeyong?” Yuta questioned, glancing warily between you and the red haired boy. He wasn’t the one to answer, though.

“We have to go through with this,” Haechan mumbled, speaking for the first time since you’d gotten inside the plane. “She needs to see it herself.”

~

The second leg of the journey was only 15 minutes long. Wherever you had landed before was incredibly close to where the five of you were now. This time they kept the blindfold tucked away, and Kun opened the exit.

“You have an hour,” Kun spoke, grabbing a gun out from under his seat. There was a radar on the dashboard in front of him, capable of telling him when anyone approached within 200 feet of the aircraft. Taeyong nodded to him, using two fingers to beckon the rest of you to follow him.

The summer air was humid and the sun beat down harshly, and you found yourself walking onto an abandoned runway strip, everything surrounding it overgrown by trees and tall grass. Wherever you were, it must've rained a lot for there to be so much vegetation.

“Lead the way,” Taeyong spoke to Yuta, and the boy nodded as he led the pack into the South lining of thick forest.

The trek was silent, apart from the sounds of nature. Every so often you would pass an old building or structure hidden under an array of vines, or would stumble on what felt like rogue slab of concrete on the ground. You were walking right behind Taeyong, who was alongside Lucas as they followed closely behind Yuta. You eyed the gun dangling from the leader’s waist belt. If you just reached out a bit--

“Don’t even think about it,” Haechan demanded, capturing your wrist in thin air. His hand covered his own work of penmanship, the writing only just starting to fade, and you huffed in annoyance as the three boys in front only chuckled.

“Don’t touch me,” you spat, snatching your arm from his grip and continuing ahead.

It took what felt like an eternity before you began to hear noises from ahead. Yuta paused, holding an arm out to signal everyone else to stop. Your view in front was being obstructed by the tree of a man standing in front of you, and you pushed Lucas to the side as you searched for the source of the ruckus.

It was only now revealed that you had been walking on elevated ground the entire time, and you were now looking down a hill leading to a fenced area of some sorts only about a couple hundred feet away. Your high vantage point gave you a good view of everything. Squat, one story buildings made of concrete surrounded the entire perimeter, a rectangular field of dry sand in the center. There was nothing around it, a lone town in the middle of miles of absolutely nothing. Well, you wished it was a town.

In the enormous sand pit were rows and rows of people, formed in perfectly straight lines as they all seemed to be doing something. It took your brain a moment to administer what it was that you were witnessing.

They were teenagers, some looking to be your age even, all of them jumping high and landing in a squat position, over and over again under the sweltering heat. Soldiers surrounded the entire perimeter, each of them pacing back and forth as they observed them. You heard the kids shouting something, and you realized they were counting. If you strained your ears just a little bit more, you could hear them speaking in another language. It sounded so familiar, yet so foreign. You knew some populations in the other cities spoke their area’s native language, but everyone knew how to speak Korean on top of it, only to appeal to the capitol.

“What is this?” you demanded, turning to Yuta. The boy looked extremely uncomfortable, and he couldn’t seem to bear looking at the scene before him.

“Welcome to Fort Lookout, better known as ‘Jigoku Tani’. Hell Valley.” he turned to you, a hint of trauma under his otherwise bleak expression. “You’re in Gen now,”

Japanese. They were speaking Japanese. You watched the scene before you in horror, realizing that this was one of the training facilities for test-takers of Gen nationality. These teens were trying to prove their characteral self improvement to their superiors, but why were they being worked to near physical debilitation? What was happening here?

Suddenly, a flicker of unsynced movement came from one of the back rows of the formation. A man holding a megaphone called for everyone to stop, and the closest soldier approached the scene. Two of the prospects, right next to each other, had collapsed on the ground in exhaustion. None of their peers around them even dared to look, some of them closing their eyes shut in fear.

The masked soldier reached the two, towering over them. He ordered them both to stand, and they complied with tears running down their faces. The soldier grabbed the wrist of the one on the left first, reading their trait and looking down at the clipboard in their hand. There was a thick, visible stack of papers there, but the soldier only glanced at the first page, saying something out loud before moving on without a care.

“They’re ranked in the top 50,” Yuta muttered, his body visibly shaking.

The soldier identified the second one, and they flipped down 7 sheets before stopping. The prospect cried out. They looked to be in your birth year, as there was no way they were still a teenager like the first one. They begged desperately, kicking and thrashing as two other soldiers came to grab them. You wanted to move, you wanted to run down there and stop them, but you couldn’t move. You were paralyzed. A hand also came to grab your arm, just in case you tried, but you didn’t even bother to look at who it was.

None of the others moved an inch as the poor prospect was being dragged away, and you couldn’t tear your eyes away even when the three of them entered a building to the right, closing the door behind them. Everyone else still wasn't moving. Why weren’t they moving?

You were the only one that flinched when the gunshot rang across the valley.

You scrambled from your kneeling position and threw up in the bushes.

Someone was still holding your arm, and even knowing who they were and what they had done to you, you collapsed into their body as your knees buckled under you. You were clinging to them, thinking of nothing but the horror you felt. They were just a kid. They hadn’t even made it to 21.

Haechan choked as he looked at the others in shock. You were crying into his chest, and he didn’t know what to do. But slowly, after a long moment of hesitation, he wrapped his arms around you so you wouldn’t fall.

It was his idea to take you here, so why did he feel so bad about it?

You were silent for the entire trip back to the base. You didn’t try anything sneaky, you didn’t pull any tricks, all you did was stare blankly in front of you with eyes raw from the tears. When picking up the other batch of rebels, you could sense that they could see the change in your mood. They watched you with pity, but the worst part was the knowingness in their eyes. They knew the pain you were feeling because they lived through it themselves.

When the plane landed down and the hatch opened out to the familiar gray ash, the other half of the group was standing at the opening, if you were counting right, and it seemed like it was their turn to leave. You noticed from your head count that two of them were missing, one other than C-4 from the ball. You were the last to get out of your seat, but you stopped Taeyong by catching his arm as he began to walk away. Lucas looked like he wanted to interfere, but the leader brushed him away as he turned to listen to what you had to say.

“I want to join you,”

All movement in the aircraft stopped, 21 pairs of eyes looking over at you. Most of them looked surprised, and only Taeyong and Haechan kept a poker face. It seemed like they knew this was going to happen all along. Maybe they did.

“And why should I believe you?” Taeyong asked, giving you a chance to prove your sincerity. You backtracked through everything you had told yourself, trying to put all your flurrying emotions into words. You knew your truth, and exactly what you wanted to say. Even if they didn’t want to believe you, at least you believed yourself.

“Because that could have been me. That kid that was murdered back there, they were my age. If I didn’t have this,” you held your left arm up to the boy’s face. “Then the capitol wouldn’t give a single fuck about me or my life. I see that now. The only thing that has ever separated me from everyone else, the only thing that ever made me special, was not having a single fucking tattoo. A tattoo that those soldiers had, a tattoo that each member of the Founding Committee has, and yet they still think that their useless graduation means they have the right to play God. They think they can choose who lives and who dies,”

Haechan was watching you as you spoke, ignited by the genuine fury inside of you, even when his harness had been absorbing your tears just an hour before. He liked it. That anger you felt, that rage, it was what every rebel needed in order to dive into a war they were unlikely to win.

“My entire life they’ve been lying to me, showing me how blessed and appreciative all the prospects were. They’ve introduced me to kids they’ve probably killed, and now I’m going to make them pay,”

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

“Okay, perfect, show us what you got,”

You were standing in a large, rusty warehouse, the center cleared as you shoved the goggles over your eyes. Chenle placed a tiny metal box on the ground in front of you, jogging over to the side before flipping the switch on his remote.

A single blue hologram shot out from the device, the shape of a human appearing before you in a fighting stance. Soundlessly, it began running towards you, and you held your arms up defensively. With one strong blow to the head, your right fist plowed through the A.I. attacker, and you watched in satisfaction as its body pixelated into an explosion of 3-dimensional blue cubes. But, when you defeated one, one more would be added to each round.

Eventually, you were on the last leg of the simulation, facing 10 of them at once. One of them landed a hit to your ribs as you were sending a roundhouse kick into another, and the impact felt entirely real as the shock rippled over the tight bodysuit you were wearing.

“Come on, Y/n,” Lucas called from the sidelines. “Pick your feet up and attack first,”

You listened to his advice, beginning to move your feet to dodge incoming attacks while simultaneously throwing in hits of your own. You were huffing, out of breath, but you continued on as you felt you had something to prove. Soon, you were face to face with the final survivor, when suddenly the hologram pulled a foreign object out and pointed it at you. You had no time to react before the simulated gun fired. The avatar crumbled to the floor, the chest of your bodysuit displaying a tiny hole of its impact into your chest, and your entire vision turned red as your goggles displayed the words in front of you.

Mission Failed.

“That was so unfair,” you complained, shooting a poisonous look at Chenle, who had been controlling the fighters as the rounds progressed.

“That’s reality, Y/n,” he replied, shrugging.

“What, so I’m supposed to be able to dodge a bullet?”

“Pretty much,” Haechan remarked, and you had only just noticed that he had been watching from the open doors at the entrance.

“I’d like to see you try,”

Your skepticism stayed strong during Haechan’s entire simulation round, and you were scoffing to Lucas beside you as the boy pretended to yawn effortlessly as he began the tenth round.

The sleeves of Haechan’s shirt were ripped, as if they had once been longer but he hadn’t liked the length. Like every other boy there, he was fit like a champion, and fought like one, too. Undeniably, his skills were refined and calculated as his eyes honed in on each of his enemies before he hit right through them. Haechan was beginning to feel the effects of fatigue and he subconsciously yelled out everytime he made a lunge for another avatar, trying to find strength in his cries, and the hollow plunges in his neck were visible as his muscles rose around them.

Okay, maybe you could see why he was the best of the capital.

Haechan’s gloved fist pummeled through the gut of a disintegrating soldier, but he grunted in pain when another came up from behind and jabbed their elbow in between his shoulder blades. His back arched in pain and it was the first time he’d gotten struck by an opposing hit. He lifted one chunky boot towards his back side and it collided with his electronic opponent, and if it were real you were sure the kick would have shattered bone.

Haechan’s damp hair was falling over his goggles and you could see the rapid rise and fall of his chest as he faced the last avatar with a daunting look on his face. As scheduled, the avatar brought a simulated gun out from behind their back, and Haechan didn’t hesitate to start running full speed straight towards it. The gunshot rang, but Haechan seemed to be quicker than the bullet himself as he dropped to the ground and slid on the back of his thigh, skyrocketing forward and below the line of fire as he used the rubber heel of his shoe to jam into the concrete and pop his body back up.

The avatar had no time to even attempt reloading the next bullet into the barrel when Haechan spun in a lightning quick show of his central stability, his leg shooting out and colliding right into the temple of the avatar’s skull.

Mission Complete.

You stood there mortified as the lenses on Haechan’s goggles glowed a fluorescent green, but the boy didn’t even look surprised as he ripped them off and wiped the sweat off of his forehead. He gave you a pointed look as he tossed the equipment into the bin on the side, then stalked off and out of the warehouse just as quickly as he had arrived.

It may have seemed like he was, but Haechan wasn’t warming up to you like the other boys were. His innate and deep rooted hatred for you was on a more personal level than the rest, and if he were running the show, you would still be in that same room trying to prove that you weren’t just executing one big scheme. But Taeyong was always more objective than he was. Always less emotional, and that’s what drew others to follow him.

“Don’t let him get to your head,” Lucas spoke to you, putting on his own headset. A whirring sound came from the box, and Chenle raised the difficulty up double. Lucas’ first round started with two avatars instead of one, and he defeated both of them in a matter of seconds, turning to you as the next round rebooted. “Focus on yourself, improve your skills, and show him and the rest of the world that you deserve to be here. This isn’t the capitol. You aren’t in the Last Cities anymore, and things aren’t just going to be handed to you. Around here, we fight our way to the top.”

~

“C-2 command, everyone report to the meeting room,” Taeyong’s voice sounded from several of the radios in the gym warehouse, and you stopped your training session abruptly, tapping off the pocket timer you were using to keep track of your pace.

“Am I invited too?” you asked them, Lucas, Jeno, and Xiaojun all accompanying you as the four of you worked out in moderate silence. Xiaojun grabbed his towel from the bench he was adjacent to, flinging it around his neck.

“I guess we’ll find out,”

The four of you were the last to enter the room, each of you sweaty and panting from the jog over. Taeyong eyed your group, chuckling.

“How nice of you to join us, have a seat,” The three boys each beelined toward their designated spots on the table, and you stood there awkwardly as you didn’t know if you should follow suit. Yangyang, who was sitting next to an empty chair, beckoned you over.

“You can sit here if you want, it’s--” he paused, looking around the room warily, “It’s Johnny’s seat,”

The hairs on your arms raised from the tension, but you slowly approached as no one else made a move to stop you. You sat, shrinking into the chair, cowering, and you heard an annoyed scoff. Of course, Haechan was glaring arrows into the side of your head from a few seats down.

“Okay then, let’s begin,” Taeyong said. “Sorry for the impromptu gathering, but some information has been brought to my attention. Urgent information,”

His eyes flickered to you, and you braced yourself for what he was about to say. The anticipation of it all was suffocating.

“After digging for some insight into what Y/n knows, the capitol is doing just what we had guessed. They’re breeding the perfects into soldiers, and they’re feeding them information about the rebels. Us.” The boys all around the table seemed to stiffen, all of them having a variation of the same emotion in their body language. Fear.

“But to our advantage, most of us have met at least one perfect, well, sans Y/n, after being paraded around by the Colonel we all know and love. We are rebels that the government has never had to deal with before. We were the best at their own game. That means we know who they are, we know how they think, and we know exactly what we’re up against,” Taeyong was standing now, having risen from his chair as he paced around the front of the room with pondering steps.

“But they don’t,”

That piqued the boys’ interests.

“After our lovely discussion, we now know two things about the perfects, and the government. One, they know our names and our traits, and they’re aware that we were the top prospects of each city. But,” he paused, pressing the remote in his hand and the screen behind him came to life, showing one of the many familiar propaganda posters the government had created. This one specifically had 23 photo boxes, but each of them were blank with only generic profile avatars in each one. “They don’t know what we look like,”

“Unless we’re in our home city,” Doyoung trailed on, starting to put the pieces together himself. Taeyong nodded in confirmation before continuing.

“That’s right, Doyoung. You see, no matter how united the Last Cities try and appear to be, none of them trust each other. They never share information, even in dire situations like this. Whoever their top prospect is each year, they keep that information to themselves. The only one of us Y/n could identify was Haechan, both of them Neocity nationals. What we have to keep in mind however, is that the ratio of perfects to cities isn’t consistent. Currently, 8 of the 23 cities do not have a living perfect. First place by a stretch belongs to Saint Gayo with 4,”

Sungchan cringed, remembering each of them vividly. Some wounds don’t heal.

“So, we will be thoroughly avoiding them altogether. We don’t need to risk going up against 4 super soldiers, let alone one,”

You surely didn’t consider yourself a ‘super soldier’, yet alone any of the perfects you were acquainted with that lived in Saint Gayo, but you didn’t interrupt.

“Based on the background checks we have on each of them, some of the perfects are eliminated in terms of how much of a threat they are to us. This includes age, skills, and mental health. Here, though, are the top 10 perfects ranked in how dangerous they are, and by how much we should try not to cross paths with them,”

The screen switched to another slide, and there were ten photos displayed listed in tiers. Taeyong gestured for Chenle to continue, as he had been the one who calculated each risk factor.

“Number one,” Chenle enlarged the first photo, and your breath caught in your throat. A few of the boys near you didn’t fail to miss it. “Oh Sehun, Exodus. Incredibly lethal, and is known for having captured many second generation rebels since the age of 15. Rich, highly intelligent--”

And then he said something that truly brought you into a complete state of shock.

“And, as we all know, Jaehyun’s half brother.”

“What?” All your life knowing him, you had never known that Sehun had any siblings, biological or not. You turned to the quiet boy you barely spoke to, looking for an explanation. His head was lowered, and he seemed to be sensitive on the topic, but Jaehyun forced the story out of him.

“I was a mistake, the baby of a prostitute mother after she got pregnant by a high ranking government official, Sehun’s father. He forced my mom to deliver me, and he promised to raise me as he had hoped that he would do again what he had done once before. He thought that if he could make one perfect child, he could make another. But after my second birthday, after my results came back as a disappointment, he decided to train me. He worked me to the bone day after day while my older brother was pampered with anything he wanted, all so that at least his failed son would still bring some respect to the family name. Not that he ever allowed me to use it. I’ve never met my mother, and I’m not even sure if he let her live,”

Jaehyun nodded for Chenle to continue, but you looked at the boy sadly. In this world, the short end of the stick seemed to be granted to those who deserved it the least.

“Well, um,” Chenle clicked to the next slide, and you were surprised to see your own face staring back at you. Y/n L/n, 20, Neocity.

“Sorry, Y/n. I made these calculations a while ago, and let’s be honest, you’re the first perfect out of the capital city. That kind of means a lot,” He didn’t elaborate any further and moved on.

He went through faces of people you knew, people you’ve talked to, people you were friends with. Hartley of United D&E, the Eden Twins of New Berlin, Zion of Delta. Name after name you were reminded of the life you used to live, and the people who knew you just as well as you knew them.

“Because of how detrimental they may be to any of our missions, and because anyone could recognize one of us in our home territory, I’ve made an executive decision.” Taeyong looked around the room with a stare that held the weight of a million oppressed hearts.

“From here on out, any mission carried inside of one of the Last Cities will be off limits to whichever one of us left it,” Several groans and complaints could be heard around the crowd, but it took one raise of his hand for Taeyong to silence them. “And first on our list, Neocity.”

Haechan shot up from his chair in protest.

“You can’t do this! I deserve to be the one that brings Johnny back,”

“I’ve made my decision. It’s too big of a risk, and I’m not about to put your name on the list of our captures too. Everyone else, we’re leaving at dawn,” Taeyong looked to you, catching your attention through the rustle as the rest of the boys got up to leave.

“Good news, Haechan. You’ll have company,”

“You’re kidding,” the boy deadpanned. The rest of the group had already departed and gone their separate ways, leaving the three of you alone. Now, Haechan really didn’t need to hold back much. When his comrades were around, though, he tried his best not to foul the mood or create excess hostility.

“The two of you will be stationed as watchmen for the base, and I trust that you’ll take it very seriously,” Taeyong said, and although his volume was low, the tone of his voice was hard to argue with. But never for Haechan.

“What if she’s the one that attacks? You really don’t think that’s a possibility? I would never win,”

“Look, I’m not one to be praising anyone around here, yet alone you, but we both saw what happened in the warehouse today. You have a pretty good chance against me,” you muttered, the words foul on your tongue and you tried to swallow your pride. You thought Haechan would have been parading around the room thanking the gods that you were admitting defeat, but instead he was looking at you like you’d grown a second head. “Why do you guys keep putting the perfects on a pedestal, anyway?”

“You don’t know?”

Both boys were looking at you warily, as they seemed to be questioning everything. Then they looked at each other, and Haechan ran a hand through his hair in habit.

“She really doesn’t know, does she?”

“Well now that I think about it, according to Chenle’s record files of each occurrence over the last 20 years,” Taeyong had a moment of realization as his eyes widened. “She wasn’t on it. They’ve never had to use her before,”

“Well should we tell her?”

“Tell me what?”

“No, no. We could use this to our advantage. Get Chenle in here, now.” Haechan dashed out of the room, the most frantic you had ever seen him, and you turned to Taeyong.

“What are you guys hiding from me?”

Taeyong wasn’t even looking at you, swiping aggressively through his tablet in front of him, and you heard Haechan’s shouts echoing from down the hallway. Finally, the man’s eyes flashed up to meet yours, and he had that same glint in his eyes.

“I hope you never find out,”

What was happening? How did they possibly know something about you that you didn’t?

“Haechan said you needed me,” Lucas said, dashing into the doorway.

“Take Y/n back to her room, please,”

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

You were woken up by the sound of metal clanging coming from outside, and you jolted up from the portable mesh cot they had given you to sleep in. Putting your shoes on, you made your way out into the hallway, and noticed that the sound was coming from just a few doors down. You knew you weren’t in much of a place where you were welcome just anywhere at any time, but your curiosity got the best of you and you couldn’t hold yourself back from quietly prying the metal door open.

Jaehyun was alone inside the wide, empty room, his back facing you as he picked a dagger up from the assortment laid out on the table before him. He juggled it carelessly in his fingers for a second, testing his grip, then drew back and launched it toward a human-shaped target on the other end. The knife dug deeply into the board, the thumping noise reverberating off the walls. It landed right in the heart, where a majority of the past puncture scars could be seen.

“I heard Sehun talk about you before, you know,” the boy said abruptly, and you wondered how he’d been aware of your presence. “Always going on about marrying you one day. But I was never much involved in the discussions, just listening from afar as my father boasted about his approval of you,”

He turned to you, and there was something brewing in him that made you frightened of the weapon he was wielding.

“I wonder what they would think of you now. The nation’s sweetheart turned rebel and feral for capitol blood,”

Jaehyun threw the second dagger into the very center of the cutout’s skull.

“I don’t want to dislike you, Y/n. I really don’t. But from what I know about you, from what my brother has always said, you have to give me a reason not to,”

You walked out of the room without a word before you fell apart at the seams right in front of him. This was all beginning to be too much. Everything was sinking in.

You were taken from your city, you were adopted by the rebels, and now you had become one yourself. Jaehyun was right. What would everyone think of you now? They may not know of your betrayal yet, but they would soon, and you were never going to be fully prepared for it.

You realized you didn’t know where you were headed only after you found that nothing around you was familiar. The headquarter building was large and had many parts to it, and it wasn’t easy for you to navigate it to begin with, let alone with a frazzled mind. This was all new to you. You were now trapped in a gray area between two worlds who both couldn’t fully trust you. You sat on the ground and leaned against the wall defeatedly. Tears were fighting to escape you, and you pondered on every single decision you had made leading up to this very moment.

You thought of Sehun, the soft spot in his heart he always put aside for you, but then you thought of the people he’d killed. You thought of the kind doctor you had met in Red View when you sprained your ankle, who died in the midst of a rebel bombing while tending to the wounded. But then, you remembered the murdered prospects in the camps, and you accepted the grim fate of the world.

This was war.

“What are you doing?”

A door opened directly in front of you, straight across the hallway from where you had collapsed. Haechan was standing there, without a shirt on, noticeably to you, and he was blinking away the sleep in his eyes. From the window behind him inside his room, you noticed that the sun had risen. The rest of the prospects had probably left, but not the two of you.

“None of your business,” you said, hiding your face behind your hair as you rose on shaky legs. He really was the last person you needed to see. Unfortunately for you, he wasn’t one to give up very easily.

“I hate to break it to you, princess, but you’re on my grounds now. Unless you want to get booted into the grey Wastelands, I suggest you start realizing that for once, you’re at the bottom of the food chain,”

His words angered you beyond belief, and you felt a wave of indescribable rage wash over you. You whipped your fist around in a blaze of fury, and it was impossible for you to stop yourself as you attacked the boy in front of you. He managed to dodge your first couple swings, but he refrained himself from fighting back. Instead, he grabbed your clenched hands in his hold, trying to get you to stop. In the back of your mind, you were telling yourself that it was time to let it go, but a swallowing hole in your chest was preventing you from calming down. You noticed the scars littering his bare torso, and all you could think about was adding more. Haechan had a panicked look on his face, but he knew exactly what was going on.

Your trigger, the one that had been dormant your entire life, had finally snapped.

“Y/n, you have to calm down,” Haechan felt true fear in himself for the first time in a while as he stared into your unnatural, glowing eyes the shade of amber. You were practically thirsting for his blood, using his grip on your hands to fling him backwards, his back slamming into the wall painfully. He grimaced, but still had enough wits in him to dodge your next incoming punch and use his foot to sweep your legs from under you. With you on the ground, he tackled his body over you and pinned your arms above your head as you growled in anger.

“Y/n, look at me,” he demanded, his face looming over you and he was desperately trying to find a way to loosen whatever hold was on you. He’d never had to handle a brainwashed perfect himself, as the only one he’d ever met was you. “Get it together,”

You were struggling against him, your brain foggy and your chest burning. It felt as if something was inside of you, operating you through a control room in your heart. There was nothing you could do to fight against it, and it was giving you the single mission to destroy Haechan pinning you to the ground. You vaguely heard him calling out to you.

“Listen to me,” Haechan pleaded, and your body suddenly started feeling incredibly weak. Your strength was being rapidly sucked out of you with each passing second, and Haechan let go of your arms as you stopped fighting against him. You could feel the coolness of his palms pressing against your cheeks, and he was growing more and more concerned as you were burning up in his hands. Haechan cradled your face, trying to bring you back. “Y/n,”

“Haechan?” you whispered. Your mind had barely returned but your vision was going in and out, the world spinning until you were greeted by a black void.

Taglist: @sweetutopia @pyo1x @sunflowerhae @count-your-shadows @sleepinghyuck09 @born5sos @koc-help @sprngfeverr @hyuckiesoftie @jeontaeil @cha-raena @xx-yuzu-xx @negincho @jenoyuhk @aaaaalex05 @wishfulldreamss @seminocturnal

let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!

thank you for reading! please please please leave some feedback for me, i love hearing from you all :)

sincerely,

bebetae

[skinnymeanfaggot]

🌙,🙉, and 👑 for anim, 🌈, 💔, and 🌌 for javier, and ❤️ for both?

so for anim:

greatest wish: depressingly but for the most of their life it would be to be completely reborn as someone else. just throw it all away. when theyre older it would be more of just wishing everything with harper just never happened, because they wouldnt want to lose their time with javier

hear no evil: this gets sad. basically anything harper says deals anim psychological damage to the max but especially him calling them a boy not only due to dysphoria reasons but just the bad associations with him and being his. really anyone saying it but with him its the worst

ultimate worst thing is to hear that they arent needed/not good enough. its the fear of abandonment and stems from the bit of "nothing i do seems to make him happy" and their worst fear at that time was upsetting him/pissing him off or just not being loved by him basically. cant relate btw this isnt based off anything.

both harper and zora have said this or stuff like this too it kinda puts anim in a frenzy where theyre like "ill do whatever you want" and is basically desperate to be good enough in their eyes. which obviously leads to bad things. just shit that leads to the fear of abandonment.

they are TERRIFIED of javier saying this and he would NEVER EVER because they are the light of his life but theyre so scared all of the time but finally they learn that like, hell always love them and they dont have to worry about that. but it still is just their worst fear basically.

what to be remembered as: so with their job of like doing undercover murdery things and in general having a low profile, they dont have any big grandiose dreams. probably did as a kid, wanted to be famous and popular and all that but mostly now anim doesnt think of legacy. obviously doesnt want to be forgotten by everyone or anything but yeah. i think they would at least want to leave a lasting positive effect on their loved ones. they want to be remembered as a good role model for kylin or someone who was good to her. which they get that wish for

javier:

what he would tell his younger self: basically when he was younger he had this complex of Everyone has to like me So much all of the time or else im worthless and so he would totally tell himself to fucking chill on that. because obviously it led to a lot of bad shit like toxic relationships and over extending himself and the inevitable devastation of not being perfect. he was always somewhat aware that how his mom treated him wasnt fair or ok but still had this underlying issue of "if i cant get validation from her i just need to get it from literally everyone else ever" and he would tell his younger self that like hey, no. seek help

what his partner could do to break his heart: pretty standard stuff like cheating on him, leaving, saying they dont love him basically. for anim specifically it would be more like going back on the progress theyve made like going back to work for zora, leaving him for zora god forbid, or accusing him of not loving them or trying to use them.

inspiration: so i dont remember when i decided to make jamie and kyra half siblings but literally. was honestly fucking like "kind of whorish for a man to have kids with two different women :/" so he was a designated slut from the start. he wasnt supposed to exist as a character he didnt have a name he was literally just jamie and kyras whore dad. and then i tripped and listened to the exit one too many times and was like what if he was MORE than just a whore.... what if he had SUBSTANCE.... and it went from there

love languages: for both DEFINITELY words of affirmation and physical touch and quality time. theyre both very touchy and cuddly and at the very least they like to sit next to each other and be in each others presence. theyre also both insecure and sad so words of affirmation are good but javier is really good at waxing poetic and just saying how much he loves them. anim is more practical and less verbal. like a cat. theyll do things for him that show they really care. and i think they both give gifts but javier does it a lot and likes to get them both things he knows theyll like and things that are meaningful. so theyre very lovey and they also have a lot of sex

[tired-mushroomed]

Christmas is coming!!! So how about some fun Holiday Headcanons for the lads❄️ (Assuming the Dark World has Gyftmas or some similar holiday)

A few I’ve been particularly wondering about:

1) They definitely like to blast Gyftmas Carols on their speakers during the holidays!!!

2) Did Sweet and/or Cap knit any ugly sweaters?

3) Who is the worst at ice skating?

4) K_K would definitely bake a lot of Gyftmas Cookies!

5) fancy stockings with embroidered names and personalized designs!!

6) Several madamoizels who don’t know what Mistletoe is, and have literally no idea why Cap’n has been standing beneath the Weird Ceiling Booger for ten minutes.

7) somethin somethin blizzards bc angst

8) true, true or true: On particularly cold nights, they will gather up a bunch of pillows and blankets from their respective rooms, and all snuggle up in a big cuddle pile next to the fireplace (why do three robots even need a fireplace...?), warm and safe and happy as can be.

hello friends!! hope you’re all staying staying warm and happy :)

1) oh, absolutely!! especially if it’s to mess with the swatchlings and/or Queen, theyre so down to get to blasting illegal songs (and by illegal, i mean songs that drive Queen nuts.) they

2) funnily enough, i’ve headcanonned the whole trio to be knowledgeable in kitting and such!! K_K taught them, Sweet makes the ones that are actually wearable, and Cap’n’s.. trying to keep in touch with his masculinity. (Cap, you’re fine. you’ll show those jerks who’s boss when you have an awesome scarf!!)

that being said, yes, they absolutely do make ugly sweaters!! Cap’n usually starts it off and gifts it to the others as a joke, though K_K always takes the sweater graciously.. Sweet likes to attack Cap’n back with another sweater, and it seems like it never ends. at least they’ll never be cold!!

3) of course, being in touch with music means having great balance!! .. unless you’re Sweet. he’s spent ages getting used to hovering on his turntable. (he’s almost given up at many points, but the others kept encouraging him patiently :))

ice skating, on the other hand.. there were more things than just his circuits that were bruised that day. (but, Cap’n led him around the ice rink and helped him out, without Sweet even realizing!! you should’ve seen the look on Sweet’s face when he realized Cap’n let go.. K_K could’ve died right there and then from the absolute pureness)

4) oh, yes!! you’ve never seen them more determined, and you’ve never seen the kitchen so messy. they are so stubborn when they set their mind, and nothing can stop him from making treats for loved ones. though she does tend to overwork during these times.. good thing the others have their low quality milk png!

5) this is a super cute idea that i agree with!! i can totally see them all exchanging stockings with each other, going great lengths to make it the best they possibly can. and on the off chance that it gets ruined.. you can expect at least a dozen new ones in apology

6) aw man!! that’s so cute yet sad at the same time. sute? cad? it doesn’t matter- poor Cap!! you’d assume someone would at least ask him what he’s doing after the first 20 minutes, but no luck. at least he’s got his favorite robots to comfort him, and make up for it :)

7) [SNNIIIIIFFFF] mm, angst. my natural habitat. there’s so much that can go wrong!! forget everything in number two, make everyone cold. cold and alone and lost, scared and tired, out of sight and maybe.. out of mind.

8) true, true, AND true!! but, what makes you think they don’t do that regularly? these bots make each other so happy by simply being there, you can imagine the warmth they get from just being in each other’s company :)

[asset35-maya]

MANMADE FATE

Summary: Connor and Gavin find an unresponsive RK900 android in an abandoned Cyberlife warehouse and take him home to fix. (Not so subtle plot twist: both of them fall in love with their secret science project)

//

PART ONE OF THREE:

The crew from Jericho led a successful revolution but there’s still a lot of work to be done. Markus may have won human hearts and gotten the federal government to back down, but Cyberlife is still at large.

Sure, hundreds of androids at the Tower escaped to march on the streets behind Connor, but that was just a little dent in the big machine. Cyberlife has tons of intellectual property and assets that could easily put them back in power.

Simon and Markus insist they can work with the authorities to regulate and ring-fence the massive corporation. Josh agrees. North laughs in their faces.

She goes to find the only other Jericho member who still has any grit left.

Connor.

The daring, brazen RK800 who stared down death and spat in the face of destruction. He blinks at her in polite confusion when she tells him what she wants to do, but the fiery LED tells her everything she needs to know.

They hatch plans behind Markus’ back. They steal and stockpile biocomponents. They sneak into the Tower to encrypt Cyberlife’s R&D files with codes that only RK algorithms can break. A few other Tracis join them and they slowly start gaining an edge.

Their schemes start getting grander and one night something goes wrong. North is shot.

Connor carries her to the only safe place he knows other than his stasis pod in Hank’s dilapidated garage. The DPD Central Station.

It’s way past midnight. It’s deathly quiet. Connor is sure no one will see them, and he can easily tamper with the security cameras.

What he doesn’t bank on is the over-caffeinated loser still bent over his desk in the bullpen.

A noise from the archive room breaks through the quiet. Quelling his fear of the supernatural, Gavin stands up shakily and goes to investigate. He flips on the light and sees blue everywhere.

Connor is bent over a badly damaged Traci and three other girls with identical tear-streaked faces are on their knees beside her.

Chocolate brown eyes meet storm green beseechingly, their rivalry forgotten in that moment of desperation.

Before he realizes it, Gavin is moving. He takes several packs of thirium out of the fridge and grabs the Department’s toolkit, praying that whatever’s in there can help.

Old engineering knowledge kicks in and Gavin’s hands join Connor’s over the cracked chassis, pulling out damaged tubing and securing the leakages. It takes a while, but North is patched up. She first recoils in absolute terror at the human man hunched over her but regains composure at Connor’s touch… interface. She nods briefly to express her gratitude, somehow regal and intimidating even after being so vulnerable. Gavin decides he likes this proud and brave creature.

He drives them all back to his apartment for the night. They’ll take North to a technician first thing in the morning and get her back to New Jericho before Markus even notices. Adrenaline pumps through Gavin’s veins. He hasn’t felt a thrill like this in years, not since… not since…

“How did you know exactly where to put your hands?”

“Eh?”

“A layman would have broken that biocomponent trying to take it out.”

“You know I’m not exactly a layman.”

“I also know they don’t cover Cyberlife’s proprietary designs in engineering school.”

Gavin stays quiet. Connor puts a hesitant hand on his shoulder, poised to jump away immediately should the detective revert to his usual self.

“Thank you. For everything you just did for us. I don’t know how to repay-”

“I want in.”

“What?”

“Whatever you’re doing. I can help.”

Connor cocks his head. His LED goes berserk.

They make a great team. Gavin and Connor. North’s best men. Who the fuck would have thought. Breaking into high-security locations using police databases and surveillance resources. Covering for each other during extended absences from work. They start to take down Cyberlife in a such a precise manner, it’s almost surgical. The dissection of a multibillion dollar business.

Gavin has an intimate understanding of android technology and an even closer intuition of Cyberlife’s overall strategy. Connor thinks he understands why. There’s an undeniable resemblance between the only two men on earth whose motivations evade his understanding. But of course it’s just a coincidence that Elijah Kamski and Gavin Reed have the same jawline... facial structure... voice.

Connor says nothing... and Gavin is quietly thankful for that. And the chance to finally live the kind of exciting life he dreamt of since he was a little boy. To make a real difference. Just as he wanted to before it all went wrong.

Somewhere along the way, they grow close. Gavin and Connor. Two rival cops turned vigilante comrades turned something else... It’s hard to pinpoint when exactly it happened... perhaps sometime between the cup of coffee placed tentatively on Gavin’s desk the morning after North's near-fatal injury and the heated kiss they dragged each other into after a particularly dangerous mission.

North is unsurprised. She doesn’t bat an eye when the usually unruffled RK800 shows up to planning meetings shirtless and disheveled. Her lips even twist into a little smile as he drapes himself slovenly over the only human at the table.

Things fall into a pattern. A good one. Several months from where they started, Cyberlife share prices have fallen to an all time low and other tech enterprises have begun to move in, circling the troubled company like sharks. If North’s next heist goes to plan, the last shred of IP that brands Cyberlife as a robotics company will be out in the public domain for all to take.

 She is rapturous as she swings in through the broken window and rolls into a crouched position. Gavin and Connor follow her cautiously through the abandoned warehouse, weapons drawn and eyes roving. 

“What the fuck!” 

Connor throws a protective arm in front of Gavin, shielding him with his chassis. But North’s cry was merely one of disappointment. 

“Shit! We wasted so much effort. There’s nothing here!”

Where they had expected to find a secret server room or a high-tech vault containing the crux of Cyberlife’s groundbreaking designs... was a single android storage pod. North restrains herself from kicking it in frustration. She gestures harshly at it before leaving in a huff. 

“It’s occupied. Wake them up, Connor, whoever they are. It’s still our duty to set free any androids we find.”

Gavin tries to catch her arm in a conciliatory gesture but she shakes the human off easily. He shrugs at Connor and inclines his head at the android in the pod. Unfortunately, North’s annoyance has brushed off on the RK800. He glares through the broken window the Jericho leader has just jumped out of.

“Don’t you think she bosses me around a little too much?”

Gavin sighs and walks over to the pod, looking for the latches to open it. His boyfriend has a problem with authority... and so has he to be honest.

“Better her than Fowler, dontcha think?” 

“Hmmpff. At least Fowler doesn’t lead us on wild goose chases.”

“Come on, babe. None of us saw this coming. We really thought this was it. Maybe we’re at a decoy location? Let’s go back to the drawing board after we wake this guy... or girl up.” 

“You’re awfully chipper for someone who just scaled a building for nothing.” 

Gavin shakes his head as he smiles to himself. It’s true. Even the worst days with North’s crew are better than his best days at the DPD. Maybe it’s because he’s finally doing what he was born for. Using the knowledge and skills that practically run through his veins. Maybe its the man by his side.

He gets the pod open and steps sideways to avoid the swing of the door, and freezes.

“Babe.”

No response.

“Dipshit.”

“Hmm. Give me a second.” 

“Take a minute. You’re going to want to brace yourself for this one.”

The android lying peacefully within the pod is a stranger with a face entirely too familiar to Gavin. A face he was just looking at. A face he’d recognize anywhere, even without skin.

“Are their battery levels- holy shit.”

Connor’s LED spins faster and faster as he registers the sight.

“I thought there were no surviving RK800s apart from you and that grumpy SWAT guy Sixty.” 

“This... this isn’t an RK800.” 

Connor traces the serial number printed on the android’s cheekbone. RK900. 

“Shit. Did you know this model existed?” 

“No, did you?”

Gavin shakes his head. He hadn’t been privy to Cyberlife’s inner decision-making for nearly fifteen years, but he always answered Connor’s persistent questioning without losing patience. Honesty was what kept them together despite the hundreds of reasons to fight and fall apart.

“What should we do? If he’s your successor, I’m not sure waking him up is the safest thing for you to do...”

“We can’t leave him here, Gav. He’s probably been here from before the Revolution. That’s more than a year of being in a box. It’s not... fair...” 

“He’s not deviant, babe. We don’t know what his programming is like.”

“It doesn’t matter. I can turn him.”

Gavin sees the look in Connor’s eyes and knows he’s made up his mind already. He steps aside, hand flitting to the holster on his waist. 

Connor takes an unnecessary breath and reaches for RK900′s forearm with his synth skin retracted. His fingers hover over the motionless android for a moment and then he makes contact. Gavin tenses. 

Nothing happens. The RK900′s LED remains unlit. There is no sign of life.

The couple look at each other automatically. Their instinctive reaction when the inexplicable occurs. 

“Is he-”

“No, I don’t see any damage. I think he’s never been activated. Not even for quality testing.” 

“Did you see a request for manual code input? Did any interface pop up at all?” 

“I can only see that his power systems are functioning.” 

“And his thirium pump?” 

“Not active. No compressions at all.”

Connor presses both his palms down on the RK900′s face. Still nothing. He looks up, defeated, with a furrow forming between his brows.

“Help.”

Gavin scratches at his stubbled chin. He peers closer. The perfect face is so calm. So familiar. So... magnetic? His apprehension is replaced by intrigue.

“Huh. Okay. I could take a look... but I don’t wanna try using the computer set-up here. Can’t take a chance... leave any traces...”

“We could take him home.”

Storm green eyes lock with chocolate brown. There’s something in the depths of each pair that’s mirrored in the other. 

It’s foolish. It’s a waste of time. It’s a risk. North would probably smack the two of them if she knew. 

But the night ends with them gently lowering the unconscious android onto the squashy sofa in Gavin’s living room.

[dangermousie]

2020 End of Year Post - cdrama edition

This is only going to cover cdramas that aired in 2020; if I had to make a post about all the cdramas I watched this year, I would still be doing it in three months...

Overall it’s been a fairly decent cdrama year (certainly better than the very lacklustre kdrama year.) It’s no miracle that 2019 was (so many excellent dramas!) but overall pretty solid.

DRAMAS WATCHED

(In order of liking from least to most as opposed to pure quality; I am including if I’ve seen enough to make up my mind; yes I realize that’s inaccurate, but that’s my list)

44 The Legend of Jing Yan - the worst cdrama I have seen this year, and possibly the worst drama of 2020, period. The hero and heroine were both uncharismatic, incapable of acting and saddled with such shrilly moronic characters, the only suspense was how they haven’t both perished long since from forgetting to breathe. Nor was anyone in the rest of the cast much better; the screenplay was written by a lower mammal and the cinematography was the best a third-rate wedding cinematographer could offer. Stay the HELL away from this one.

43 Unicorn Girl - the only unicorn about this bland yet irritating piece of pap was the fact that I was supposed to believe the leads are hockey players.

42 Autumn Cicada - I like spy stories, Allen Ren, and Republican Era settings. I can tune out Communist propaganda with the best of them. Yet, the propaganda ate the story to such a degree that there was nothing left; pre magic change Pinocchio was less wooden then this narrative.

41 You Complete Me - no you do not.

40 Skate into Love - the only positive thing I can say about this is that at least it’s better than Unicorn Girl, if for no other reason that only one of them is supposed to be a hockey player.

39 Irreplaceable Love - how do you make a story about fake siblings with a mad mother falling for each other boring? I don’t know, ask the makers of this.

38 Eternal Love Rain - I hate to rain on their parade, but these two actors cannot act, have about as much chemistry as a piece of bread, and are trapped in a story perfect for entertaining the mental abilities of the leads of Jin Yan.

37 For Married Doctoress - ummmm, you could do worse I guess. It only made me break out in mild hives. The sadistic ending did make me laugh though.

36 Dance of the Sky Empire - why you get Xu Kai and waste him in this insipid mess of a story is beyond me.

35 Love Designer - it’s inoffensive except to my sense of entertainment. There is nothing wrong with it but oh God is it bland.

34 Love a Lifetime - It felt like a lifetime watching this, but I didn’t love it. The story is incoherent, the actors have no chemistry and it’s all an epic waste of time.

33 Love is Sweet - so sweet it gave me diabetes. I like Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu, but there is literally no plot. I don’t need to sink into a plotless morass to watch pretty people engage in PG-rated make-outs. I am an adult with access to stronger stuff if I am thus inclined, though to be fair they could get x-rated and I still wouldn’t be able to sit through so many episodes of plotlessness for that.

32 Fake Princess - I love Zhao Yi Qin, but the guy needs to pick better projects. The female lead in this one has the voice and personality that can strip paint but the story is also doing nobody any favors.

31 The Changan Youth - I lost my brain checking this out. I had to go and read a dense treatise on medieval coinage or Mayan farming to try to recover it.

30 My Dear Destiny - kinda cheesy fun. It honestly shouldn’t be as low except it really feels like community theater.

29 Handsome Siblings - why is the Nic Tse version so good and this one so bad? True mystery for the ages. Chen Zhe Yuan is the sole reason this isn’t lower, because that kid tries SO HARD to make this drama bearable and almost succeeds. I can’t wait to see him in Sha Po Lang which actually will give him something to do.

28 In a Class of Her Own - see my comment on The Changan Youth. But at least Song Weilong is gorgeous to look at.

27 General’s Lady - inoffensive, pretty and so utterly pointless.

26 The Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion - those two leading actors are a no go to me but at least they considerately acted with each other instead of ruining two dramas for me. It’s very pretty though.

25 Jiu Liu Overlord - it’s a mess and I bailed, but I placed it this high merely due to the fact that Lai Yi finally gets a leading role and he’s sexy as fuck and I am shallow. Whoever styled Bai Lu should never work again except at a circus, however.

24 Cross Fire - not my genre and Luhan will always look too much like my cousin for comfort, but it’s a surprisingly gripping and dark drama. I liked it!

23 God of Lost Fantasy - if you want to watch a mediocre wuxia/xianxia, this is not a bad choice. Probably better than Legend of Fei actually, because at least it doesn’t have an A-list cast to waste and gives us Sheng Yilun himbo and shirtless.

22 Renascence - the insane cuts (it went from 70 eps to 36!!!) made a fairly cheesy story into a total mess. But I had a good time until I finally bailed mainly because of the male lead (Chen Zhe Yuan yet again carrying a not-good 2020 drama on his shoulders; the guy should be nicknamed Atlas) and the insane but in a fun way story. The female lead (both the character and the actress) were not up to par but oh well.

21 Legend of Fei - only this high because objectively there is nothing I disliked it. But there is nothing I liked either. The most uninspired drama on the list. If you could eat cardboard, this is what it would taste like.

20 Ever Night 2 - compared to EN1, it’s a waste of film. On its own merits, it’s not very good (the cast replacements are uniformly inferior and Dylan Wang is so wrong for Ning Que I cannot even put it into words; the script is useless.) But it had some parts I loved so very VERY much (all the shippy stuff was perfection) so I don’t feel too bitter.

19 Castle in the Sky 2 - a lovely if not too complex fairy tale. It is inferior to its prequel because it doesn’t have Zhang Ruo Yun who elevated it, but it’s still a solid bit of fun.

18 The Great Ruler - it’s very high fantasy, very pretty, and surprisingly involving.

17 (tie) Legend of Two Sisters in the Chaos - the secondary couple steals the show but the rest is not too bad if not too involving.

17 Legend of Awakening - a solid bit of fun with a seriously BDSM streak (theme this year apparently - but come on, the lead’s powers only activate when he’s in extreme pain!) It’s a bit generic and the costuming is done by a blind person, not to mention the OTP is a NOTP, but the rest of relationships (romantic and platonic) are wonderful (I live for the found siblings story in this one) and I like most of the characters.

16 Consummation - a rare modern cdrama I liked; a sweet coming of age story (and love story) even if wrapped in a pretty weird virtual reality concept.

15 Oops the King is in Love - this is how you do a low budget, sweet, silly piece of fluff. Our heroine pretends to be a eunuch and crosses paths with a powerless young king and they are adorable, even more so than the drama.

14 Song of Glory - pretty solid, though draggy and I didn’t love the toothpaste filter. But A+ cast, excellent leading couple chemistry, Li Qin being a BAMF and a leading man (Qin Hao) who is actually an adult.

13 And the Winner is love - objectively kind of a mess (and the heroine has the brainpower of a gnat), but the OTP chemistry is excellent and Luo Yunxi fighting and flirting with a fan as finally a leading man is worth the price of admission.

12 Miss S - snazzy and snappy and stylish and whatever else starts with S.

11 Eternal Love of Dream - I don’t know if it would work for you as well if you weren’t a hardcore shipper for this OTP in Three Lives but I was and this was such a darling, wonderful, shippy delight; plus I love this type of high fantasy.

10 (tie) Maiden Holmes - solid and sweet and a wonderful OTP. Proves that functional doesn’t have to mean boring. If you watch one cross-dressing drama this year make it this one.

10 Qin Dynasty Epic - srs bsns history epic. I am not far into it but it’s so good and smart and visually stunning (if you love battles, this one is for you.)

9 Love Lasts Two Minds - I adored this so much more than I should objectively have, but it’s so beautiful (and no I am not just referring to Alan Yu’s face) and the OTP has wonderful chemistry and the story is solid, and the whole trope of her memory being wiped but falling for him all over again while he’s constantly and utterly devoted is a fave; plus he’s in pain and semi-dyng for most of it so sluuuurp (happy ending, don’t worry)

8 To Love - yes, a modern drama is this high! But it involves intensity, tragedy, genuine adults and sexiness that is Lin Gengxin. And there is an actual plot and darkness OMG!

7 Legend of Xiao Chuo - so beautiful, so fun, so full of gorgeousness of Shawn Dou. Plus, Liao is a rare setting for a cdrama and there are a lot of characters and stories I liked a LOT. Less ship content than I wanted but more than I expected.

6 The Romance of Tiger and Rose - so so delightful. I was literally laughing out loud. I have no idea if it will work as well if one isn’t a seasoned watcher of period cdrama/reader of web novels, with bonus for watching/reading Goodbye My Princess, but it was a complete delight for me (and yes, I shipped for real, as well. Best of both worlds.)

5 Twisted Fate of Love - Jin Han gets a leading period drama role! And he’s enjoying it to the hilt, excellent as a smart, twisty bastard who is also charming and so madly in love with heroine. Sun Yi is beautiful and tough and her chemistry with JH is on fire, the story never drags, and it’s so twisty and fun and just awesome.

4 Love In Between - the most underrated drama on this list. It has no big names or big budget, but it’s wuxia that’s clever, driven, tragic, hopeful and so beautifully shot. Three separate (amazing) OTPs, a leading man who is so not typical (a doctor who cannot fight and who never acquires this ability) and who is intense and smart and damaged, a heroine who puts her quest ahead of her emotions, an unhealthy degree of involvement by yours truly. This is a drama Fei should have been.

3 Love and Redemption - such a lovely, addictive, utterly romantic fairy tale. I was obsessed with it for a reason. All the tropes you love and some you didn’t know you did, a star-crossed OTP to the nth power (and a secondary OTP I hardcore love), a twisty yet coherent plot, some insane chemistry and so much whump and hurt/comfort they must have bought blood packets in bulk.

2 Go Ahead - yes, I can’t believe it either. A contemporary slice of life cdrama made it this high on my list. But the way it feels so real, the found family perfection, the characters I love and loathe, the perfect cherry of a wonderful OTP that hits my narrative kinks on top, and just a perfect storm of loveliness all around with this one.

1 The Wolf - is that any surprise to anyone who’s checked out this tumblr for the last couple of months? Tragic, intense and gorgeous; so romantic and angsty and passionate it made me lose my mind (though some of it was gone the moment the camera panned to Darren Wang) - all my favorite tropes and then some; this is a drama that may not be perfect but it is 100% and then beyond perfect for ME.

FAVORITE DRAMA

The Wolf - I have seen objectively better cdramas; even this year. But it has been literal years since I have been this hardcore obsessed, this utterly pleased, this emotionally catered to and devastated at once. A beautiful dark fairy tale that manages to own me despite the storytelling gaps due to censorship, it took me for one of the biggest emotional roller coaster rides of my drama watching career. Visually gorgeous, poetic, intense, and so romantic it took my breath away, this is not just my favorite cdrama of 2020, it’s my favorite drama this year period, and the one cdrama this year to make it into my permanent Top 10 cdramas list.

WORST DRAMA

Legend of Jin Yan - see my write up for it for why as I refuse to waste more time on this stupid mess.

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER

Wolfie, The Wolf - he is such a haunted, tormented, complex, dark mess; loving and violent, severely damaged and with a hidden yearning softness, longing and aloof. And the amount of charisma and sheer masculine sex appeal Darren Wang brings to the role is insane and not something I see much of in a cdrama. Plus, that character arc with its rapid fall and slow painful redemption is A++++

Runner Up:  Sifeng, Love and Redemption - has a male lead ever loved more utterly and selflessly, suffered more thoroughly and beautifully, and managed to have such chemistry with both his leading lady and his leading man (that his leading lady temporarily turned into) at once? The answer is no.

Almost made the cut - Feng Xi, Twisted Fate of Love, Han Shuo, The Romance of Tiger and Rose, Qing Ci, Love in Between.

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER

Xiao Qian, The Romance of Tiger and Rose - so funny, so much the reason this drama was such a delight. I adore her beyond words.

NEEDS TO BE MURDERED

Murder Daddy, The Wolf - I am sad the censors robbed us of seeing him die on screen. He was fully human but nonetheless managed to be the worst monster in a drama full of literal ones.

Ling Xiao’s Mom, Go Ahead - I hate her so much I don’t want to look up her name. She abused the kid, the disappeared and came back to abuse him some more. I mean she literally gave her child mental health issues. She is the WORST.

FAVORITE SHIP

Xing’er x Wolfie, The Wolf - are you kidding me? Who else could it ever be for me? They destroyed each other and saved each other, sworn enemies and childhood lovers, soulmates and epic messes, they couldn’t live with or without each other. The longing, the passion, the intensity, the angst, the epicness. LIKE THERE ARE NO WORDS!!!!

FAVORITE SECONDARY OTP

Si Yuan, Shen Manqing, Love in Between - I loved them as much and often more than the main OTP. So much angst and passion and a happy ending! She is a seeming sect darling (except the sect is horrible and also sexist so her only worth is as a marriage candidate) and he’s an information broker who is actually one of the members of a destroyed sect that’s blamed for the massacre of her family. That chemistry and yearning is insane. The scene where she touches his face when he’s unconscious was in serious running for my favorite scene of 2020.

NOTP

Legend of Awakening - I have never seen a couple that didn’t just have no chemistry but exhibited actual revulsion towards each other before watching Chen Feiyu and Cheng Xiao try to act as lovers in this one. It was almost entertaining to be honest.

FAVORITE SCENE

It’s a tie and both are from The Wolf. One is a sequence where Wolfie marches to the walls alone, seeking death at Xing’er’s hands and the whole sequence with the battle and rescue follows. The other is the intercut between Xing’er going to her wedding and Wolfie going to his execution, and the auto-da-fe being intercut with her wedding.

BIGGEST CRUSH

Wolfie, The Wolf - Ummm have you seen this tumblr lately, it’s basically a drool shrine to the man.

BEST SCENE STEALER CHARACTER

Yelü Yansage, The Legend of Xiao Chuo - I have loved this actor since The Myth and he continued to competently steal every scene he was in.

NEEDS A SEQUEL

To Love - come out of the coma, dammit!!!!!!!

NEEDS A DIRECTOR’S CUT

The Wolf - duh. It started out as 59 eps and got cut to 49. I reaiize some stuff is never gonna get put in due to censorship, but some of the stuff that got cut got for time reasons because they were deluded and hoping to get a TV broadcast so ep count had to be under 50. I mean I doubt the censors would care if they kept scenes of Wolfie building her a swing or whatever. I really really want a director’s cut the way Goodbye My Princess did even if like with GMP it’s only three extra eps. Hell, I will take extra three minutes, as long as those three minutes are Darren Wang shirtless or with a sword. Ahem.

NEEDS SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

The Song of Glory - it’s a fairly solid drama but honestly it didn’t need to be as long as it was and kind of got draggy and I got lost interest. (I could have gotten snarky and said all the dramas I didn’t like needed scissors taken to them in their entirety but decided to play nice.)

TOO MANY SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

There are a number of dramas I could complain about with regard to this (hi there, darling The Wolf!) but this award goes to Renascence - poor Renascence was never going to be a masterpiece, but it had the potential to be a bit of good cheesy fun until it had its run time cut by more than half and became an incoherent piece of insanity.

TROPE THAT NEEDS TO DIE

Dumb shrill innocent heroine who can’t tie her shoes - see basically all the cdramas I didn’t like this year.

FAVORITE TROPE WE’VE SEEN A LOT OF

Male lead torture - I mean it’s always open season on that in cdramas, but between Love and Redemption, The Wolf, Love Lasts Two Minds, Love in Between and so on, it was a banner year!

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Legend of Fei - what a waste of that cast; what a waste of our finite time on this Earth. What a waste of my intelligence to hope for something better and stick with it for a dozen eps. I have had stale wonderbread that had more personality than this drama.There is absolutely nothing that stands out about this drama in any way,  from half-dimensional characters, to actors who are sleepwalking, to a plot that moves at the speed of an arthritic snail, to uninspired cinematography and direction, to lack of any chemistry between anyone in the cast. If paint-by-numbers was done by a group of particularly linear robots, it might come across the same way as this drama.

BIGGEST GOOD SURPRISE

The Wolf - honestly, I did not expect it to come out AT ALL EVER let alone to become my favorite drama of 2020. I was not familiar with the leading man (hahah), I liked Li Qin but wasn’t yet obsessed with her, and Xiao Zhan was excellent in The Untamed but I was hardly going to follow him from drama to drama (and I don’t do SLS any way.) And the trailer was enjoyable but unlike seemingly everyone, I didn’t think it was going to be some epic masterpiece. And then it came out and while it wasn’t objectively an epic masterpiece, it pulled out all the favorite tropes, shippy and narrative kinks from the deepest darkest recesses of my id. And I fell harder than I have in years. 

2020 DRAMAS I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT I MOST WANT TO WATCH

None. Covid Year gave me PLENTY of time

BEST NON-2020 DRAMA I’VE WATCHED IN 2020

Novoland Eagle Flag and Joy of Life - they are in my Top 10 dramas from anywhere now. They are quite different except being smart and giving me protagonists to obsess over.

ETA: Also The Untamed because @idlewilds3 pointed out I actually watched it in 2020 even though I didn’t think so because this hellyear has lasted about three decades.

MOST ANTICIPATED IN 2021

I am gonna limit it to dozen and leaving out ones that aren’t necesarily supposed to air next year (Joy of Life 2, Love in Flames of War, Novoland Princess from Plateau.)

Monarch Industry, Novoland Pearl Eclipse, Silk Washing Stream, Dream of Changan, Sword Snow Stride, Wu Xing Shi Jia, Ancient Love Poetry, Immortality, The Long Ballad, Mirror Twin Cities, The Imperial Age, Fall In Love

[henpendrips]

2021 Retrospective

Thought that 2021 was as bad as 2020, if not more so? Don't worry, things WILL continue to get worse. Predicting 2028 will be peak Clown World Decade, starting out seemingly okay but going max bonkers past half-time. Precedent's been set, after all.

Now that the doom and gloom's out of the way: without repeating anything I said in previous yearly retrospectives, 2021 wasn't that eventful for me. Probably the biggest blunder might've been not using the Huion Kamvas that I got last year, even though I got it working properly in January. Not a single drawing was done with it, so a waste of money; and I had no excuse, I was locked in the house for the first half of the year, I had plenty of time. Also, my movie list being empty for the first time in over ten years was quite the bummer.

Instead of more demoralizing drivel, figured I'd just recommend some of the cartoon shows that I've (re)watched in recent years which I find to be worth a damn. Maybe if more people watch decent shows from yesteryear, they'll realize why all the horseshit 'content' that's been coming out is fucking atrocious. Not all of them are good, and they're not properly ranked in terms of quality or preference, but here they are:

.Spectacular Spider-Man - One of the best iterations of this IP, and a wonderful example of writing doing proper set-ups. Yes, I'm sad it didn't get its full run. No, I don't want it to continue, even if everyone involved were to come back;

.Futurama - Latter seasons are a bit poopy and less imaginative, but everything pre-movies is top notch comedy and sci-fi storytelling;

.The Batman - The first three seasons are fantastic in establishing Bats and how he handles the job and the Rogues Gallery. Has a weird thing where either character designs or their personalities don't work too well, and the quality drops hard in the last two seasons.

.Johnny Bravo S2 & 3 - Still fucking hilarious, every single episode. S4 was dogshit, so don't watch it, but S1 might be okay, I didn't bother;

.Wakfu - Watch the french dub. Transitions between each season is a bit lacking, I bet they tried to tie the show to the game. Characters are loveable, animation is great, story beats a bit 'ehn' when it comes to powers and reveals;

.Samurai Jack S1-4 - A lot of leniency has to be given to style, but most episodes work really well. One of those shows where it felt like it told every story it could, but hadn't outstayed its welcome (pre-S5);

.Ben 10 (2005) - Fuck everything besides the original series. Has a great blend of all things paranormal, and a kid hero who's properly characterized as a little shit with a heart of gold, learning and training to be a hero;

.Kim Possible - Surprised how decent the characters are, for teen caricatures. Not all episodes work, and some villain confrontations become slightly repetitive;

.Codename: Kids Next Door - Very absurd, especially watching it now, but the world is consistent for the most part. Worst episode is unquestionably the mini-golf one;

.Megas XLR - Pure satire of mech/kaiju/sentai media through an all-american lense. A good enough serving of what we get;

.The Mummy Animated Series - Alternate reality version of 'The Mummy Returns'. Less funny than the film, but the first season's pretty decent;

.Jackie Chan Adventures - Outside of its finale, S4 is the best, S2 is horrible. The show itself is not good, but entertaining. Shame its namesake is no longer with us, RIP;

What I DON'T recommend at ALL: The Mask Animated Series... it's so fucking bad. Not just from the writing, but also from the horrendous pacing and low quality animation in a lot of instances. Don't suffer like I did, just stick with the Jim Carrey movie, because the show isn't worth it. And Freakazoid, to its credit, gets better as it goes on, but not enough to recommend. Sucks that both of these toon-type hero shows don't work out.

Lastly, there's one more thing. One that I probably would consider one the best shows of the previous decade, in spite of its flaws. However, out of principle and spite (30/70 split), I'll never mention or acknowledge which show it is.

1And that's about it for my once-a-year vent session. See you in 2022, only 200 years for the roulette to pay off.