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saiilorstars · 2 years ago

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Dare To Forget Me

Ch. 44: If I Was

Previous chapters // Montserrat’s masterlist

Fandom: SVU

Pairing: Rafael Barba x OFC

Warnings: Due to the nature of the series’ plots, I do have to rate this as ‘mature’ for constant mentions of rape.

Taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon�� @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @averyhotchner @abzidabzy @hellofutur @foxesandmagic

[If you’d like to be added to this specific OC’s stories/edits, send me a message!]

"...of course I understand. Do what you need to do…" Montserrat was finishing up her conversation on the phone when she walked into her apartment to find Gael and Damian sitting at the kitchen table. "I'll see you tomorrow night." She hung up and met her brother's curious look. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh, wow, what a greeting," Damian snickered beside Gael.

"Shut up," Montserrat waved him off as she discarded all her things on the couch. "What are you guys doing here?" She asked again but in a much more amicable tone.

"Thought we'd get you girls some dinner. Kara's been complaining I haven't been around," Damian said while Gael gestured to the Chinese food still boxed on the table. "And don't worry, I haven't eaten your fortune cookie yet."

"Right," Montserrat walked over to give her brother and Damian a hug. "Nice seeing you guys. I feel like it's been a while."

"You mean since I was exonerated from homicide charges?" Gael cocked his head to the side. His attempt at being casual was questionable.

Montserrat still softened. It was infuriating knowing that the real culprit hadn't been caught yet. "I know," she came back to Gael's side and gave him another side-hug. "I promise you that I'm still looking into it-"

"You don't have to and you shouldn't be," Gael said as she parted from him. "Pretty sure it's against the rules, actually. I'm fine, Montserrat. Just a little joke of mine."

"Well they suck so drop them," she grabbed the chair between him and Damian. "Where's Kara?"

"Coming from the salon," huffed Damian. "She won't let us start until she's here."

"Oh, well, thanks for remembering about me," Montserrat shot him a sarcastic glance.

He just smiled back at her. "I could never forget about you."

"But you sure took your damn time getting here," Gael said, leaning back against his chair. He was studying his sister at that moment.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom and when I come back I'm going to eat," Damian announced as he pushed himself up from his chair. "Whether or not my sister is here."

Montserrat chuckled at him. "She'll kill you."

"Not when I have New York's finest protecting me," he smirked then headed off into the hallway.

Montserrat shook her head at him but stopped when she noticed Gael's look on her. "What?"

"Who were you talking to on the phone right now?"

"Who are you? Dad?"

"No, but I am your big brother."

Montserrat snorted. "Was that supposed to mean something?"

"Seriously, who were you talking to?"

"What does it matter?"

"It just sounded like someone important."

"Just a co-worker," shrugged Montserrat.

"That you're going to see 'tomorrow night'?" Gael brought up his fingers to do air-quotation marks.

Montserrat awkwardly cleared her throat. Alright, maybe she'd forgotten she said that. Rafael had been too upset with himself for cancelling their dinner plans because of Evie Barnes' case getting in the way. Obviously she wasn't going to get mad at him for that but he didn't understand. She liked that he was that determined to keep their dates but she didn't want him to feel guilty about things that were out of his control.

"Are you seeing anybody?" Gael finally asked the question he'd been leading up to. He thought with enough jabs she would just tell him, but of course his little sister lived to make things more complicated.

Montserrat was reluctant to answer straight away. She then figured that maybe it wasn't that bad. She and Rafael had discussed the idea of letting others know that they were seeing each other (maybe not specifically each other but the idea was still there). Plus, the others at the precinct already found out because of the flowers Rafael had sent her.

"Montserrat?" Gael called again, eyes more narrowed. "Are you seeing someone?"

Montserrat ultimately nodded. "Yeah...I...I am," she said, purposely keeping her gaze on the table for a few seconds. She wasn't ready for her brother to hassle her for answers that were none of his business.

"Sooo…?"

"So what?"

"So who is the guy?"

"I'm not telling you," she immediately said. "It's new and I like it and I swear to God, Gael, if you try anything you'll regret it."

Gael made a face. "For something 'new' you sure seem ready to kill."

"Because it's new and good," Montserrat said loud and clear in case there was any misconception. She wasn't ready to spill everything; she just needed her brother to understand that she was happy and he shouldn't be trying to stick his nose where it didn't belong. "I don't want you ruining things, alright? This is only a couple months old and—"

"Months?" Gael repeated, sounding truly surprised. "Woah, hold on, was this going on while I was being charged?"

"Calm down, I got you out didn't I?"

"Montserrat Irene—"

"NO!" She suddenly yelled, silencing him. "God, what's the matter with you? You don't get to middle-name me because I chose not to tell you something about my private life. I haven't done that to you ever and I hope you extend the same courtesy to me as well. Besides, what are you so upset about?"

"I'm not upset, just surprised," Gael answered slowly albeit slightly calmer. Montserrat had struck up a point and the last thing he wanted to do was argue with her. "You haven't dated in forever. Plus, I'm just genuinely surprised…" A sudden smile took his face over, letting Montserrat dread what was about to come next, "...that someone willingly chose to deal with you."

Though she wanted to smack him for that, Montserrat smiled. She much rather preferred to hear these jabs because it meant that he wasn't angry and he wouldn't be making her life harder. "Shut up," she playfully hit his arm.

"So c'mon, will I get to meet this guy?"

"Yeah, of course, just not right now," Montserrat said. "It's too early. Plus, no one knows alright? So keep it to yourself."

"Yeah, yeah…"

"I mean it Gael," Montserrat shot him her warning look. "I mean no one, not Dad, not even Damian. It's not your right to say anything."

"I got it, Montserrat, sheesh," Gael rolled his eyes. "Don't have to get so worked up about it."

"Worked up about what?" Damian returned at that point and soon enough, Montserrat was shooting daggers at her brother to watch what he said. "Are you being an annoying brother again?" Damian grabbed his seat.

"I think so," Gael said, and he thought that was as close to the truth as he could get. "So, dinner?"

"Kara hasn't shown up yet," Montserrat's reminder didn't seem to affect either man as they started pulling out the take out from their bags. She rolled her eyes at them.

~ 0 ~

Evie's first day in court had finally arrived and it was clear as day that she was nervous about it. Her parents had refused to come support her but she insisted that she was fine and that she would do whatever SVU instructed her to do. It just didn't mean that she wouldn't be nervous about it.

"She is coming right?" Rafael had to ask as the timing crept closer and Evie was a no-show. Olivia, Montserrat and Sonny were with him in the courthouse break room while they waited for the rest of the squad to come in with Evie.

"Of course she is," Olivia assured him, though she did cast a glance towards the elevator in hopes that the next it dinged open, Evie would be on the other side.

"Ten minutes," Rafael reminded her, tapping the non-existent watch on his wrist.

Olivia rolled her eyes at him and gestured she would be making a call.

"I might buy you a watch just to see that again," Montserrat mused before shaking her head. "What am I saying? You have one but in your rush, you forgot it, huh?"

Rafael deadpanned her. Ten minutes before court started wasn't the place for her sarcasm. Any other time, he welcomed it. "She's supposed to be here."

"And she will be," Sonny said. "You and Liv talked to her already. You've seen that she's determined to come." Rafael's look on him was enough to shift. "You know what? I'll just go make sure Liv calls...the right number…" He was quick to get out of there.

Montserrat shook her head. "You're scaring people."

"Good, I wish they were afraid enough to be here on time!" Rafael huffed.

"You'll be fine," Montserrat said like it was an obvious thing. "But if you forget what to say, just look back at me and I'll tell you." That made him crack a smile. "There we are." She stepped closer to him and started fixing his jacket for him. "That's what I like to see. My intelligent, confident, snarky man."

Her words tugged a good, smug smile from him. "Really?"

"Careful," she was smart enough to avoid looking at him, instead focusing on that jacket of his. "I also said 'snarky'."

"That's still a compliment."

"Of course it is," she rolled her eyes. She pulled the lapels of his jacket and brought them closer to each other. "Now stop scaring people."

"Am I scaring you?"

She scoffed. "Please. You're more annoying than anything else."

He smirked. She always answered so perfectly. "You're just as annoying, you know? But it's okay, I've learned that these lips—" He brushed his thumb over her lips, "—can be just as sweet. Maybe we can do dinner when we finish the case?"

"I'd love that," she nodded. She kissed his thumb that seemed stuck on her lips, flashing him a smirk afterwards. "And I promise to say so many sweet things throughout the date."

"I'm going to hold you to that," he pointed at her warningly. "Now I guess I have to go see if Evie showed up."

"She will," she nodded. "Like Liv said, she was determined to tell her story. Now go help her do that." She pressed a kiss to his lips then stepped to the side so he could leave. He had his confident face on and she even got one of his smirks on his way out.

She hadn't told him but each time she was awarded one of those smirks she got the best types of chills. No one else got those smirks but her. If she wanted to get technical about them, they belonged to her. It's like he only made them for her.

She had to take several breaths before leaving the break room.

~ 0 ~

As promised, Evie Barnes showed up to court right on time. When she was given the chance to take the seat, she told her story just like she wanted to. It just didn't mean that Buchanan was going to let her stick to the story. He was, as usual, ruthless with the victim. He twisted Evie's story until it fit the narrative he wanted for the jury, but it was still not enough to dissuade Evie's stance.

When the detectives offered Evie the chance to stay away from the trial after her day was over, she outright refused.

"No, I want to be there when Daniel testifies, make him look at me," she gritted her teeth together. Her words carried from her as she walked in-between Sonny and Amanda down the courthouse hallway. They were to take her home.

"She's a strong one," Olivia said as the trio disappeared into the elevator. "She'll be okay. Meanwhile, how are we?" She settled a very specific type of look on Rafael.

He may have half-smirked. "Do you really want the answer?"

"Be nice," Montserrat couldn't help the words that tumbled out of her mouth. If subjected her to a brief glance from Rafael. He couldn't stop his smirk from turning into a full one.

"Yeah, I don't think he's capable of that," Nick remarked, earning a laugh from Montserrat.

Leave it to Amaro to ruin things, Rafael rolled his eyes.

Olivia motioned Montserrat to settle down, but it only took effect when Montserrat noticed Rafael's unamused stare. She would pay for that one later, she was sure.

"Fin, make sure that Matt is front and center for tomorrow," Olivia instructed. "We don't want to take any chances."

"The guy's not going back, Liv. Not if he knows what's good for him," Fin said

Before he could leave, Rafael called. "Bring him over. I want to make sure that he's thoroughly prepped."

"On it councilor," Fin gave a thumbs up.

"Getting nervous?" Nick shot Rafael a look.

He would never admit to that but the look on his face was close to an admission. "We have a long night." He subtly glanced at Montserrat and though he couldn't say it, she understood. A long night meant absolutely no plans for them.

Hours later, when she was having dinner with Kara, she would receive a text message.

I'm sorry for dinner. I'll make it up, I promise.

"Let me guess," Kara plopped down in the seat across Montserrat. "It's Rafael profusely apologizing for once again, cancelling plans?"

Montserrat rolled her eyes at the severe lack of understanding Kara had over their relationship. "Just because he has a difficult personality with others doesn't mean it's the same for me. Most of the time anyways." She smirked to herself while she answered the text.

"I don't know how you do it. I would be pissed off if Sonny cancelled on me two days in a row," Kara propped an elbow on the table, resting her cheek over her hand. "And he has."

"Because I understand why he's doing it," Montserrat put her phone down on the table. As usual, she had assured Rafael that everything was fine. All he needed to worry about was the trial. "There's a case and we need to win."

"But still, you're not going to tell me that you're not just a bit upset?" Kara held her index finger and thumb together.

"Yeah but not at him. It's not like he wanted to cancel," Montserrat shrugged. "That's one of the good things about being in similar professions. We know exactly how it is."

Kara shrugged. "I don't know. I would still make him take you somewhere extra nice or something."

"I'd rather just see him."

Kara rolled her eyes. "Wow, didn't know you could be sappy. I mean, it's been a while."

Montserrat smiled. For the first time in a long time, that type of sentence wouldn't unsettle her. As of late, she was trying not to make comparisons between the past and her present. If she did, that was just another way he won. Besides, why would she tarnish anything she had with Rafael with that?

"I can be whenever I want to be," she ultimately said. Her smiling lips curved deeper. The secret was that Rafael could, surprisingly, be just as sappy as she could be. She looked forward to seeing what he came up with the next time they were alone.

~0~

As she had promised, Evie was front and center on the day Matt was supposed to testify in her defence. Montserrat and Amanda were sitting on either side of her when Matt was brought in.

"Daniel told me that we were going to do a film with Evie and that she was cool with it. Even if she resisted, that was part of the act," Matt had started with the first moment he was given the floor to speak.

Rafael was right in front of him, strategically blocking the view to Buchanan and Daniel's family sitting behind them. "You believed him?"

"I did."

"But she was crying the whole time, and she ran out after. That's when Daniel told me that we'd actually raped her, but that if anyone asked, she wanted it."

"Does that mean, in fact, that Ms. Barnes never consented to have sex with you? "No. The two of us raped her. I feel sick about it. I'm sorry, Evie."

Evie felt a deep satisfaction when Matt met her gaze and she could see the guilt in them. Still, her eyes shimmered with tears.

When Buchanan stood up, the air turned. Matt visibly shifted. "Mr. Cooper, is it true you took a plea deal in exchange for your testimony?"

"Yes."

"You were charged with misdemeanor sexual assault. You face, at a maximum, one year in prison or maybe no time at all, instead of the 5 to 25 you were facing for rape I. Is that the deal you made?"

"Yes."

"At first, you thought the entire encounter with Ms. Barnes was consensual?"

"Daniel had told me it was…" Matt was having trouble keeping eye gazes off the floor.

"And she had responded the same way she did in the 18 with a bang video you had seen. Was that part of it?"

"I guess."

"And when the police first talked to you, you told them that it was consensual. But now that you're a prosecution witness with a generous deal, you're calling it rape?" Buchanan was quite strategic when he made the question. Rafael would begrudgingly admit that. "Does that sound accurate, Mr. Cooper?"

"I guess, but that wasn't when I…"

"You seem like a thoughtful young man. These days, college is a confusing place to experiment with sexuality. This was your first threesome, crossing lines you'd never crossed."

"Is there a question, your honor, or is counselor Buchanan on his soapbox now?" Rafael interjected when he saw Matt getting too shaky. Luckily, the judge agreed.

"Get to it, Mr. Buchanan."

"Mr. Cooper...if you weren't sure at the time about what had happened, and you have said under oath that you didn't think it was rape at first, isn't it possible that you're not sure, even now?"

Matt's mouth opened and closed several times before he was able to string his words together. "I don't know. I mean, I guess, but she says it was, so I think that…"

"Well put. Thank you," Buchanan returned to his seat with a far too smug face.

Rafael wouldn't stand for it. "Redirect, your honor?"

"I'll allow," the judge barely motioned him to start when Rafael already had the question out in the air.

"Mr. Cooper, yes or no: Did you and the defendant Daniel Pryor rape Evie Barnes?"

Matt's head ducked but he answered honestly, which was what Rafael presumed he would. "Yes. We did."

"Thank you." Rafael promptly sat down and let things move on. As simple as his question was, it served the purpose.

When Daniel took the stand, the air shifted yet again. Where Matt was shaky and nervous, Daniel was straight and confident. It was clear that he had his own plans and it didn't involve making himself the perpetrator.

"When Matt told me Evie wanted to do a three-way, I was flattered. I had never even met a porn star before," he spoke swiftly and without so much of a second glance at Evie in the room. "In the bathroom, she was acting just like she did in the video we saw."

"Easy," Amanda warned Evie who had subtly moved in her spot. The girl was positively furious at the lies coming out of Daniel's mouth.

"Although advised otherwise, why have you chosen to take the stand today?" Buchanan was asking the young man.

"I want to speak for all falsely accused men. People believe women by default, but false accusations destroy lives."

Evie shifted again and this time Montserrat cautioned her not to say anything. Evie sent her an incredulous glance, demanding how she could be asked not to do that when Daniel just kept going.

"I know, but we can't," the detective whispered. She could feel the fury bubbling inside the girl for it was the same type of feeling she once held for her own perpetrator. It certainly didn't help that they shared the same name.

She remembered the brief moments where she would warn Hallie D'Amico about Daniel's advances on her, setting things up so that either Hallie would remove Daniel from the site whenever Montserrat was around or simply move Montserrat herself. But nothing ever worked. Daniel would smooth-talk his way out of things and bring down the situation until it was more of a nuisance in D'Amico's eyes.

Montserrat took in a deep breath to calm herself down. It helped seeing Rafael take Buchanan's spot. She couldn't help wonder, though, what would her own case have been like if she ever had the courage to speak up. She knew that if someone like Rafael had handled that case, it would've been in good hands. Someone who wouldn't have embarrassed her for failing so miserably with an undercover mission, someone who would treat her like anyone else and who would've fought to win her the justice people claimed she deserved. But oh god she would never want Rafael to handle her case. She would never know what to do with herself if that happened. More than that, she'd seen the anger in his eyes when he learned the entire story. She'd always known him to be professional - it was both endearing and a source of problems - and to make him lose that for her was out of the question.

"Did you ever ask Ms. Barnes if she wanted to have sex with you?" Once more, Rafael was placing himself in front of Daniel to where he wouldn't be able to see Buchanan or his family.

"No, Matt did. I trusted Matt. Maybe that was my mistake."

"Then all you actually heard her say was, "no," and, "stop," and you didn't."

Instead of being shaken, Daniel looked at ease. This was like a simple conversation. "She said, "no," all those other times and still had sex, so…why would this be different? We were filming a scene."

"But she said, "no," correct? Do you believe that any woman, even a porn star, can decline sex?"

"Of course, I…"

Rafael cut the man off before he started going on another tangent. "So let's be clear. Did Ms. Barnes say, "no"?"

"She did-"

"In fact, she cried. She begged you to stop repeatedly. Isn't that correct?"

Now Daniel seemed a bit off his game. "Well, yeah, but…"

"You didn't stop, did you?"

"No, but-"

"Do you understand that what you have just described is the definition of rape?" Rafael's sharp question left a terse air for Daniel, but a win nonetheless. When Daniel couldn't answer anymore, Rafael backtracked to his seat. "Nothing further."

Montserrat felt a swell of pride in her chest. There was no doubt in her mind that Rafael had just won the case. She would never get tired of seeing it.

#ocfairygodmother #fd: svu #svu #law and order svu #rafael barba #rafael barba fics #svu fics #svu imagines #rafael barba imagines #law and order svu fics #law and order svu imagines #oc: Montserrat Novak #fic: dare to forget me

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moonlight-frittata · 3 years ago

Text

I Don’t Need a Mechanic

Overwatch: Dva and Brigitte (a few others make appearances)

Word count: ~5500

My take on when Dva meets Brigitte and the first month or so of them getting to know each other on base.

---

Six months Hana Song had been a part of Overwatch, and during that time she set a very strict precedent that no one, not even Winston or Athena the AI was allowed to touch her mech, Tokki. So seeing the back of someone inside the cockpit as she entered the Watchpoint Gibraltar hangar made her blood boil.

“Excuse me!! What the hell are you doing??”

The person’s body jerked, their head banging against the low roof of the cockpit ceiling they wedged their torso inside. Hana heard a short mumble of something incomprehensible and a long, thick ponytail of red hair retreated from the mech in a hurry. A very tall, buff young woman around Hana’s age emerged blushing with a sheepish grin.

“Ah! I’m so sorry, I couldn't help myself. I’ve always wondered what these Korean models looked like up close. But in hindsight I really should have asked first.”

Her accent was European, but it was hard for Hana to place with any real certainty. Could have been Scandinavian, remembering some of the players from Finland she competed against back in her pro days.

“Yeah, you should have fucking asked.”

The crimson hue on the tall, possibly Finnish trespasser’s cheeks faded and she held her ground, not scared off yet by D.va’s harsh tone.

“Right. Won’t happen again, I promise,” she said.

Dva scoffed a bit and pushed past the buff intruder to look inside the mech to inspect if anything was out of place. A moment of stuffy silence passed between the two and Hana hoped the other girl would get the message and leave.

“I’m Brigitte Lindholm by the way.”

Hana let out an audible huff as a familiar freckled face appeared looking through the glass on the other side of her heads up display.

“Oh. Yeah, Fareeha warned me a new girl was joining,” Hana replied from inside the cockpit while she busied herself checking Tokki’s systems.

“And you’re Hana Song, right?” Brigitte continued lightly, clearly unperturbed. “Or do you prefer to go by D.va?”

Hana paused at the mention of her gamer tag turned call sign.

“It’s Lieutenant Song, actually.”

Brigitte raised an eyebrow at the curt reply, her smile fading to a neutral expression. It only dipped for a moment though as she extended her hand.

It was an awkward gesture to shake hands from inside the mech, even though the front of the cockpit was partially open near the joysticks. Hana looked at Brigitte’s outstretched hand and gentle smile on the other side of the glass. Was this a joke? She pursed her lips and sized Brigitte up for a few tense seconds before reaching out. The grip was firm and Hana’s hand practically disappeared in Brigitte’s large palm.

“Lieutenant Song. It’s an honor to meet you.”

Hana sighed and rolled her eyes, a little of the bluster going out of her at the sincerity in Brigitte’s tone. Satisfied that no harm had come to the mech, she backed out of the cockpit.

“Just call me Hana. That rank doesn’t really mean anything here anyway. Lena will probably make fun of me if she hears you calling me Lieutenant.”

Brigitte walked back around Tokki to join her, a lingering hand tracing over the pink exoskeleton as she moved. “I’m surprised she doesn’t make you call her Captain.”

“Oh, she’s tried.”

Brigitte laughed.

“Sounds about right.”

D.Va chuckled for a moment, briefly disarmed by the new stranger, before she remembered how this person was rudely poking around her stuff only moments before, and snapped back into her gruff demeanor.

“Lindholm, you said? Like Torbjörn Lindholm?”

Brigitte sighed, clearly used to this connection.

“Yes. Genius engineer of Overwatch 1.0, founder of Ironclad Industries, husband to Ingrid, and father of way too many children, including yours truly.”

“So, you grew up in an Overwatch family?” Hana asked as her full attention focused on Brigitte for the first time in their conversation.

“You could say that,” Brigitte said. She picked up a silver ratchet resting on a nearby worktable, spinning the head around between her fingers and levering the handle back and forth, testing the weight distribution of the tool in her hand.

Hana could tell there was more to the story than her new teammate seemed willing to let on. She found it interesting that Brigitte, who had been all candid smiles a moment ago when she was caught somewhere she shouldn’t be and oversharing to someone she just met, was now hand waving around the subject.

Overwatch kids are pretty up their own asses about 1.0 normally. Wonder what her deal is...

This was what Hana was known for back in her pro days. Seeing a flaw in an opponent’s defense and breaking it wide open. But she needed to remember she only just met this girl, who would soon be her teammate. Maybe save that for another day.

“Well, Lindholm. As long as you stay clear of my mech, I don’t see a reason we should have problems working together. What’s your specialty?”

Brigitte perked up at the change of subject.

“Support. Both base level engineering support and in the field. I've got my bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, and I’ve been working on Reinhardt’s gear for over a year now. Angela - I mean, Dr. Ziegler, is training me to be certified as a field medic.”

“Tough job. Think you can handle the gore?”

A wry smile pulled at Brigitte’s lips, her head shaking back and forth in a small, bemused gesture as she placed her hands on her hips.

“You don’t pull any punches do you, Lieutenant Song?”

D.Va crossed her arms, holding eye contact with Brigitte who matched her gaze with amusement.

“The best shot caller in the world is just a loud piece of shit if her team isn’t up to the same standard. So yeah, I like to know who has my back and if she can handle herself.”

Brigitte regarded D.Va for a moment, her jaw working back and forth as if chewing on the approach she wanted to take in response.

“I’ve been patching up Reinhardt for a while now. If I’m honest though, I’m scared it’s not going to be enough one day. But that’s not what I need to focus on, and instead I’ll do the best I can to support the people here.”

The plain way Brigitte shared her apprehensions left Hana uncomfortable. She couldn’t imagine telling someone out loud she was afraid, especially on her first day. Though in truth, she herself felt scared shitless half the time while doing this work.

Brigitte’s smile was back. Did it ever leave that pretty face? It did suit her though, framed by the freckles and warm brown eyes. If this girl wasn’t built like a literal tank of 6 foot something muscle, Hana might have more apprehension about sending her out to fight Omnics and Talon.

“Well Lieutenant Song, I think I’ve taken up enough of your time with my intrusion. Fareeha and Winston will be missing me very shortly for the rest of their planned orientation schedule,” Brigitte said as she carefully placed the ratchet she previously picked up back on the workstation, breaking the spell of awkward silence.

D.Va smirked, feeling tension leave her shoulders to match Brigitte’s playful demeanor.

“Mmm, well now I understand why you were hiding down here.”

“Yes they are indeed quite enthusiastic and thorough with their material.”

She gave a wink and started to walk away, turning briefly to call over her shoulder.

“I noticed there was a small coolant leak under the left fusion cannon. Might get a bit sticky on the left hand.”

“Bye Brigitte, enjoy your 300 page orientation manual quiz.”

Brigitte waved once more and turned around, already so sure and familiar with the layout of the hangar and the base.

She’s just another Overwatch kid, and just another nosey engineer trying to get in my mech.

Hana lingered by her workstation, picking up the ratchet Brigitte had been fiddling with and thinking over their brief encounter again.

Would this girl be a liability on the battlefield? Brigitte looked strong on the exterior, but then, so did Tokki. If you took away the mecha armor, inside was just a squishy human target bullets and fire could cut through like paper the second she was exposed and vulnerable.

Hana took a deep breath.

She walked around to the left fusion cannon and did indeed see the signs that a coolant leak was backing up inside the casing. Pretty subtle to spot with minimal visible damage to the exterior.

Not bad, Lindholm.

D.Va pulled her headphones on, turning to her latest loop of pop songs to blast while she went to work removing the panels on the cannon to replace the broken coolant line. The task felt good, and helped her mind drift to thoughts other than her conversation in the hangar.

---

Hana didn’t see much of Brigitte the next few weeks. The new recruit was busy with training and learning mission protocols expected of field agents in addition to shifts with Mercy in the clinic to fulfill the certifications Brigitte was required to complete. Hana would see her sometimes at dinner, often in a spirited conversation with Reinhardt or Lena. It seemed to take Brigitte no time at all to fit in amongst the old guard, but it seemed that’s what being the favorite niece of pretty much every person here would get you.

Hana would half listen to their stories, always feeling awkward and out of place amongst their banter. Overwatch was like a family, but she was more like the stranger invited as someone’s plus one. Everyone seemed to have an ingrained familiarity with each other. A single word could trigger a whole series of anecdotes every person around had some personal insight to add on to.

Remember this!

Oh how is so and so?

Damn, that was 5 years ago already?

Even on her squad in Korea, she never had what they people here seemed to have. Dae-hyun was a close childhood friend and followed her into the MEKA squad, but the other pilots were a different story. There was always a bit of friction and distance with the rest of her teammates because of their history as pro-gamer competitors forced into an arrangement as teammates. It never really gelled beyond cordial coworker relationships. Hana’s celebrity status didn’t help either, only adding another barrier between herself and the others. The fame of D.Va closed her off in access to most people unless they were on the other side of a screen, and then they only saw a polished up version of herself.

Not exactly the best way to get close to people.

Sometimes she was curious to learn more when she heard the Overwatch stories, but she always stopped herself before saying anything. It was easier to pull out her phone and queue up a game. Easy to pull back and ignore them, and usually they left her alone to do it.

She was okay with that. She was okay with keeping Hana and D.Va separate. She was okay with only polite greetings and trite platitudes. She didn’t need to know about the times from before, or what her Overwatch teammates did on the weekends. She just needed them to listen to her in the field and leave her room to make her plays. Like every time she started a new game, she didn’t have to focus on the past, or what others thought, she just had to focus on the objective in front of her. It’s what got the job done and what kept her alive.

---

Brigitte kept her word to stay out of Hana’s mech. She set up her own work station on the other side of the hangar where she worked on Reinhardt’s gear as well as her own. Hana would sometimes see the blue flash of a shield out of the corner of her eye over the hum of diagnostic scans or smell the burn of sparks from welding.

One day curiosity got the best of her when she heard the loud, repetitive pounding of a hammer on metal and she wandered across the hangar.

“You’re doing that by hand?”

Brigitte stopped working when she heard the voice behind her, the deafening echo silenced on the metal shoulder guard she was beating against.

“On this armor I do. Reinhardt’s gear is special from the time it was made. It has to be maintained with some older techniques.”

“Why?”

Brigitte looked at her surprised for a moment then laughed, loud and warm.

“You know, I wondered the same at first. It’s a bit of the way this armor is made, modern techniques can be too harsh on it, interestingly enough. Too precise and it becomes too fragile.”

“That doesn’t sound true,” D.va said.

“Oh, questioning my methods huh? Well, maybe the truth is more I didn’t originally have the right gear out in the field, and Reinhardt didn’t have much modern tech either, so the only way to do it was by hand. But it’s nice actually to keep doing it this way, I like getting my hands dirty with it. Helps me relax.”

“See that I believe.”

“Well, I’m glad I have your approval, Lieutenant Song.”

D.Va rolled her eyes, but smiled a little.

“I told you before, you can just call me Hana. Although, I do like the respect of authority.”

“Lieutenant suits you.”

Hana smirked a little at the complement, turning to pick something up on a nearby table. She picked up one of Brigitte’s gauntlets, slipping it on her hand. Her arm sagged under the weight, the glove coming up well above her elbow.

“Is it exhausting wearing all this armor? How do you run around with it on? I can barely lift this thing.”

“There’s movement assist when the unit is turned on. But I mean, I think I can handle it.”

Brigitte smirked as she made a show of flexing her well defined arms, and Hana couldn’t help but gawk a bit before she turned back to fiddling with the glove.

“Um, yeah I uh, noticed you seem to be in good shape.”

“Oh yeah?” Brigitte was smirking, clearly enjoying the slight fluster she was causing in her new teammate. Hana put the glove back on the table and gave Brigitte a light shove on the arm.

“Oh give me a break, you know you’re buff. Do you even own a shirt with sleeves?”

“I’m very familiar with OW 2.0’s handbook, and the dress code is quite lax about on-base personal attire. But, mostly I just like hearing you complement me.”

Hana rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m glad you’re strong enough to move your ass around in this armor so you can protect my blindspots while I’m doing all the real heavy lifting.”

Brigitte laughed again. Hana couldn’t help but smile too at the warm sound. Brigitte’s whole face lit up, and her eyes crinkled around the edges. No wonder she was the favorite niece.

“Fair. I’ve seen your battle footage and some news clips when you were back in Korea. You’re so strong, I doubt you even need me.”

“Ah, another fan of D.Va. Well, who can blame you,” Hana said with a flick of her hair. She continued to walk around Brigitte’s workstation, picking up random pieces of armor. Brigitte didn’t seem to mind.

“Actually Reinhardt was the real die hard D.Va fan. We used to always have a stash of the instant noodles with your face on them in our rig. Great shelf life. I’m surprised he hasn’t asked you for an autograph yet.”

“Well he’s one to talk! Did you know, when I was a kid there was a Reinhardt special edition line of noodles? I remember I tried them once and they had such a weird flavor. It was like ketchup and curry powder or something. He had a pretty big fanbase in Korea actually.”

“Hah! I didn’t know that, but I’d believe it. There’s been so much Overwatch merchandise over the years, I’ve lost track. They were such celebrities back in the day.”

“Yeah.”

Hana knew a thing or two about having her image used for propaganda. She wondered for a moment what it was like for Brigitte, growing up amongst the same environment, but removed from the center of it. An image of her laughing in the cafeteria with the old guard flashed through her mind. She decided it must have not been too bad, and refrained from asking the question.

“Okay well, I’ll leave you to your meditative, hammer time. I need to get back to my mech anyway, I’ve got a mission tomorrow morning,” Hana said, turning to leave. Brigitte let out a long sigh, slumping into a chair.

“Oh, it must be nice to leave the base.”

Hana stopped in her tracks, curious again, hearing such an outburst from Brigitte. She turned around and poked one of Brigitte’s large muscles near her shoulder.

“Oh come on, don’t be dramatic. You’ll be done with your training block soon. Fareeha is just, really particular before she lets anyone out on a mission. It took almost two months, and me breaking every score in the simulators for her to let me out in the field.”

“I know, I know. It just sucks sometimes feeling like everyone is being overprotective of me. I can handle myself, I’m not a little kid.”

Hana couldn’t help but give a little hmphf sound, her lips pulling down at the corners.

“Yeah, I get that feeling. You can’t speed up time though, you just have to grind it out.”

Hana wasn’t normally one for listening to whining, but she thought Brigitte looked quite cute while she pouted, her arms crossed tight against her torso and her lip jutted out. It was hard not to laugh at the sight a bit, but Hana held her tongue. She really did know how it felt to want to prove yourself.

“Hey come on, there’s plenty of work you’re doing here that’s valuable. And when you’re ready, you’ll get called up and out there with the rest of us.”

Brigitte took a deep breath, seeming to blow out the negative feelings in one dramatic sigh. When she straightened up in her chair she seemed to be in better spirits, smiling at Hana again.

“You probably know better than anyone how to do that. Thanks Lieutenant, I’ll try. Let me know if my hammering gets too distracting. I can always go find something else to do.”

“It’s fine. I hardly noticed.”

“Well in that case, I’ll just be over here until dinner time.”

---

A few days later Hana almost threw her computer across the hangar.

“Why is this piece of shit so useless!”

The MEKA diagnostic program she used to keep Tokki up to date was crashing every five minutes when she tried to run a scan of the system. It had slowly been degrading the last few weeks and after the latest mission it apparently decided it had enough. She tried every trick she knew, both from working on the mech for years and everything she could think of on her personal gaming rig, but she only had rudimentary coding skills and was vastly out of her depth.

“Everything okay?”

Brigitte’s gentle voice called out from a few feet away as she had stopped her own work to come see D.Va’s meltdown.

“Everything’s fine. Except I’m going to have to go throw this piece of crap, and then myself, in the ocean.”

“Sounds like a costly solution. What’s going on?”

“It’s fine. I’m fine, I don’t need anyone’s help.”

She could feel Brigitte’s sympathetic look burning into her cheek and hated it.

“Okay no problem. I’m around though, just let me know if you want an extra set of eyes.”

Hana stared at the email she had sent to Dae-Hyun the day before that still had no response. She knew her mech’s hardware inside and out, but he was the one who really handled all the intense computer program internals. She was out of her depth here and needed him to call her so she could get this thing working again, but he wasn’t answering. Maybe he was deployed somewhere or too busy with a social life now that she was gone.

She had decided to come here for Overwatch. So maybe she should trust Overwatch.

“Brigitte, wait a minute.”

The other girl paused and turned, only having walked a few feet away from D.Va’s workstation.

“I could probably use some help here, if you’re still offering?”

Brigitte smiled, but it was more muted than her usual mega watt grin. Hana appreciated that she wasn’t making a big deal about it.

God, why is this girl so nice.

“Definitely.”

Brigitte walked around the workbench where Hana set up her computer station and listened to the general description of the problems. As Hana started clicking through screens to show the protocol she usual ran, Brigitte held up a hand to make her stop.

“I understand what you’re saying, but looking at the text, I can’t read Korean. Does it have a translation setting?” “I doubt it. This thing was only meant to be used by the Korean MEKA squad.” Hana felt her stomach drop at how quick her hopes of getting this programming running were already dashed.

“Well lucky for us, Overwatch has some very robust translation tech we can utilize.” “Really? It’s not the AI is it? I’ve been so resistant to letting her in my computer.”

“That would be one possibility, but there are some more localized options we have. I’ve had to do this once or twice on one of my papa’s projects.”

“How long will it take?” “Don’t know! Could take a while, I’m not going to lie to you, especially with your program already acting buggy. But don’t worry Lieutenant, we’ll sort you out.”

Hana groaned, already having major doubts about letting Brigitte mess with her tech. But she didn’t have a lot of options, and this was probably the least embarrassing choice on the table at the moment.

Brigitte moved back and forth between D.Va’s workstation and her own across the hangar, gathering cables and a laptop she would use to debug the system. Hana watched over Brigitte’s shoulder for a while, monitoring her work to get the translation program working on the MEKA diagnostic software.

“Where’d you learn to do this type of thing?”

“Back in college. I had to learn a certain amount of coding for my major, but I helped out Winston some in his lab on campus and he taught me a lot of tricks too.”

“Jesus, is there literally anyone on this fucking base you don’t have some personal connection with?”

Hana stepped away from the computer and dropped down into an empty chair with a huff, spinning the chair on its axis in erratic circles.

Brigitte stopped typing and watched Hana’s tantrum. “It bothers you that I’ve got a close connection to Overwatch?”

Hana did not reply, but crossed her arms and let out a frustrated sigh. Brigitte’s gaze held her for a moment but eventually shifted back to the computer screen as she seemed to weigh her thoughts on how to respond.

“Why did you leave the MEKA squad to join Overwatch?” she asked finally. “It doesn’t have the best history as an organization, you know.”

Hana stopped spinning to look at the side of Brigitte’s face, who’s eyes were still trained on the laptop screen. “Well it’s better to actually be in a fight than on the sidelines.”

Brigitte stopped what she was doing and turned to face D.va. “You’re the best pilot in the MEKA program. Why would you be sidelined?”

Hana let out a bitter laugh. “Best pilot? I was more than that. I was the face of the fucking Korean army! Which eventually meant I was too valuable to be an actual soldier.” Hana stood up walking to the end of the workbench, reaching out to touch one of her mecha’s guns. She couldn’t see Brigitte, but she could feel the other girl watching her.

“I got real banged up in a fight with the Gwishin. Like, probably should have died kind of banged up. I was out of action for months. After that, the army realized they couldn’t let the poster girl for their success stories die in an actual fight. So they moved me off the Busan base and deployed me to lead baby fights happening inland, but whose sole purpose was really just a photo op.”

Hana balled her fist in anger at her side, remembering how awful it hurt seeing images of herself on television in all those epic battle sequences, reporters singing praises of heroism, only to know the real truth that it was all a fabricated lie. She couldn’t stand it.

“So when Winston and Lena came to my apartment and asked me to join the new Overwatch, it was a no brainer. My piloting skills are too valuable to just be sidelined in a studio with a green screen.”

The MEKA squad team was fairly understanding when she told them. The same couldn’t be said for her commanding officers, but as D.Va, the amount of influence and money at her disposal proved sufficient for a smooth enough transition.

“I believed this was my shot to get back in the fight. So even if there’s some bad history there, this is a new chance for me, and I am ready to deal with any fallout.”

Text whizzed by in the background of the computer screen as the console spat out a continuous stream of logs from the program Brigitte fired off as she listened in silence.

“I never liked Overwatch. I still don’t,” Brigitte finally said.

Hana turned to face her, very confused.

“Really? But, you’re like, one of the legacy kids.”

“All that means is I know more of the gritty details and seen firsthand the way people I love were chewed up by this place.”

Hana’s brow furrowed in thought, crossing her arms as she focused on Brigitte. Hana had been so taken in by all the happy scenes in the mess hall and around the base, she hadn’t even thought about the implications and complications that must have been a part of Brigitte’s life. She was so good at always putting on a bright face, how could she have known?

Brigitte took a deep breath, looking weary as she took a moment to gather her thoughts.

“When I was a kid, it was like I was one of those audience members you talked about. I was told all the best stories about heroes and villains, and it so happened that my family were literally starring as those heroes. But when I was a little older, I started learning more about history, and the other side of things. The PETRAS act. In fighting and war crimes. Blackwatch. Angela’s medical tech weaponized against her wishes, by my own father it turns out. Winston and Tracer buried under so much red tape, I’m honestly surprised they were ever allowed to leave a military base of their own free will. And Reinhardt... He’s a lot like you, I think. Brave, loyal, too stubborn to be just the face of a movement without putting his own skin on the line. Not when there’s something bigger than himself he believes in.”

A deep sigh, and an almost painful expression crossed her face.

“So no, I don’t like Overwatch. But I also can’t sit on the sidelines while they risk their lives, knowing I can help them. They’re my family. So here I am. Family can be complicated, ya know?”

Before Hana could come up with something to say, the computer dinged behind them. Brigitte tapped on the keys, reading quickly when a smile crossed her lips.

“Look at that, perfectly legible Swedish.”

“It’s fixed?” Hana hurried over to look at the computer screen.

“Well, the translation program is running. Now I need to actually debug your diagnostics program.”

“Ughhhh, I’m never going to leave this place.”

Brigitte chuckled. “Don’t worry, we’ll get it done. Feel free to go get some dinner if you want. This will take a while.”

“No way I’m going to leave you here all alone!”

“I promise I won’t touch Tokki.”

“It’s not...it’s not that, Brigitte. I just don’t feel right strolling off to dinner while you’re stuck here fixing my shit.”

Brigitte smiled.

“Okay. I definitely don’t mind the company.”

---

Hana tried to keep up with what Brigitte was talking about as she debugged the code. And she could follow along, for a while. Eventually she was way too lost to feel useful, and didn’t want to distract Brigitte while she was fixing the issues, so she retreated to a nearby futon against a wall. It was well past midnight, and Hana’s eyes were starting to droop. Brigitte drank one of the Dva branded nano cola energy drinks a while ago and seemed to be completely in the zone.

The next thing Hana knew there was a strip of bright light in her eyes as the sun started to stream in through a window in the hangar. Hana stretched to pull out the discomfort her back protested with from not being in her bed, but it was really not that unfamiliar, considering some of the positions she’d fallen asleep at her gaming computer before. A blanket was draped across her body she didn’t remember picking up when laid down on the futon. She was all alone in the hangar and her watch told her it was just after 5am.

“Brigitte?”

No one answered.

She sat up, noticing an unopened water bottle and energy bar laid out on the ground beside her futon with a little sticky note.

“Give it a go, Lt - Brig”

Hana scooped up the rations and dropped in front of the dark screen of her laptop. When she started up the terminal screen, her diagnostic programming kicked off like it normally did. All in Korean.

The screen showed exactly where an electric circuit was tripping in the defense matrix grid of the mech, which had been glitching in the field the last few days. Hana noticed the parts and tools needed to complete the fix laid out on the workbench neatly, but when she poked her head in the mech, it remained untouched.

She smiled to herself.

“Kept her word to stay out of Tokki. These Overwatch kids are too much sometimes.”

D.Va pulled the panel off her mech and got to work.

----

At dinner that night, Hana spotted Brigitte in the mess hall with Reinhardt, Tracer and Winston. Brigitte gave her a wink when she noticed her. Hana got her meal and sat beside her, leaving her phone in her pocket for once.

“Thanks for the help with Tokki, Brigitte. Works like a charm now.”

“It was my pleasure, Lieutenant Song.” Brigitte’s smile was kind, her expression gentle and warm. Hana noticed this close up Brigitte’s eyes were lighter around the edges, and she had a few more freckles on her left cheek than the right.

“Did I just ‘ear you call ‘ana Lieutenant?” Lena cut in. “She’s ‘Lieutenant’, but I can’ get none of you to call me Captain? Double standards round ‘ere, I tell ya what.”.

“Well, Hana was a more recent officer in her respective position, while you have been discharged from the RAF for several years now.”

“Who’s side you on Win!? Those ranks don’t expire!”

Brigitte chuckled, whipping her head around to look at Tracer’s shaking her hand dramatically in the air, eyes downcast in an over acted, scandalized look. Hana also let out a small giggle.

“Your rank on the flight simulator scoreboard sure did,” Hana said, poking her tongue out with a playful smirk at Tracer. Brigitte, Reinhardt and Winston all laughed.

“She’s got you there, Lena,” Brigitte said.

“The youth of today. Ruthless.” Tracer grabbed a fist over her heart as if shot in the chest by a bullet.

“You know, back in my days of Overwatch…”

Reinhardt started in on one of his specially tailored stories for whatever situation was at hand, this case a very detailed recount of the first time he granted a field promotion in the Crusaders. Brigitte sighed, correcting inaccuracies she heard along the way, giving a wink to Hana when Brigitte’s presence in the story was pulled into the story much later on.

Lena took up the torch after that, remembering a time she accidentally flew into restricted airspace and managed to sweet talk her way out of being shot down. They all took turns sharing more elaborate one ups from their time before Overwatch. Hana even volunteered a story, sharing the time she convinced Dae-hyun to set Tokki up to stream a battle with the omnics. She broke her single day subscriber count in under one hour.

They all laughed well into the night, and for the first time Hana really started to feel like part of the team.

---

Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you enjoyed!

#overwatch #mekamechanic #dva #brigitte lindholm #laura writes #man I've been poking at this for ever finally time to just put it out in the world so I can think about something new ahaha #hope you like!#hana song #(also there was no 300 page onboarding manual until Pharah wrote it)

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houseisekai · 3 years ago

Text

House Miisekai Prologue: The Adventure Begins!

House Miisekai Masterlist Here

====

Our story begins in the land of Miisekaitopia! (No, I couldn't think of a better name.)

It is a world where everyone from both storylines and unholy amounts of AU's can live in peace without worrying about wars breaking out every 4 seconds.

At least it was.

The darkness came without warning, a great and terrible shadow threatening all of Miisekaitopia! An unspeakably huge dick came and stole everyone's faces! Then, to add insult to injury, put those faces onto monsters across the land!

But, we shall follow the perspective of Sara Valestein, Instructor of Class VII and the original House Isekai...

Sara casually strolled through the hills, enjoying the sunlight and wind blowing gently across her.

(Sara) "...Goddess I am so bored."

She had been kicked out of yet another bar recently for drinking too much.

Again.

Left with nothing to do, she decided to take a trip to nowhere in particular, going wherever fate took her.

Sara continued muttering to herself, mocking the established "rules" for drinking in a tavern until she noticed something flying in the air.

(Sara) "Is...that a face?"

She rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things, and saw the eyes slowly float over to a nearby butterfly.

(Sara) "Uh...?"

(Sara) "GAH!"

The horrific creature began floating faster towards Sara, which prompted her to run full speed ahead towards the closest town.

As she ran out of breath, she ran towards anyone would even take a minute to listen.

(Sara) "H-Hey, there's some freaky bug thing out there with a human face!"

BE-LOP!

Tiny lines of text ran down the guide's face.

It showed too many messages at once for her to properly read it, and the person remained completely still.

(Sara) "...Hello?"

(Everyone) "..."

(Sara) "...Right."

Sara moved to the next person she saw.

...

Sara saw a platypus with a name tag 'Perry' calmly sitting on the market stall.

(Sara) "Hello, anyone here?"

The platypus stared at her, not saying a word.

(Sara) "...What in the hell is with this town?"

Next try. That would probably work.

...

(Anakin) "What did we get ourselves into this time?"

(Obi-Wan) "I'm not sure but...I do not like this a single bit."

(Anakin) "At least you're in a taller body, my head barely reaches your stomach!"

(Obi-Wan) "It's not the first time."

(Sara) "Hey, excuse me ma'aaaaaaaaaa...What in the?"

(Anakin) "Listen lady, we got our own problems right now. We're not in the mood-"

(Obi-Wan) "What my young padawan means is that we unfortunately cannot spare any help if you need it ma'am."

(Sara) "...Evidently."

Sara nervously walked away from the two grown men in a child and woman's body.

(Sonia) "Did we get transported again?"

(Gundham) "By the works of dark magic, no doubt..."

(Sonia) "Oh, looks like there's someone over there. Hello ma'am, do you know where we are?"

(Sara) "Eh?...Huh. That's a good question. Where is this?"

(Sonia) "Oh well, I'm a bit more comfortable knowing that someone I like is with me here!"

(Gundham) "I...uh...er..."

(Sara) "That's cute. Ah, to be young again..."

Sara left the two to talk amongst themselves before finding the next...person?

It was an extremely fat rabbit that was grey and white.

(Sara) "What in the hell-"

BIG BIG CHUNGUS, BIG CHUNGUS, BIG-

(Sara) "Okay, screw that."

Sara finally saw the mayor and approached him, and when he turned she almost jumped.

It was a Piranha plant. She thought so anyway, it was covered in white polka dots and bright red.

(Plant) "Ah, welcome to the town miss?"

(Sara) "Uh, Sara. Sara Valestein. Listen, there's this weird face that attached itself to a butterfly outside your place! You're gonna do something right?"

(Plant) "Did...did you say a face float down? OH NO."

(Familiar Man's voice) "OH YES."

(Sara) ?

(Anakin) "Uh, master?"

(Obi-Wan) "I've got a bad feeling about this..."

The platypus, fat rabbit, and the discord notification looked up into the skies, getting increasingly alarmed.

(Gundham) "THIS DARKNESS...IT'S...IT'S OVERWHELMING!"

(Sonia) "His voice sounds grating like Souda's..."

(Plant) "COINS PRESERVE US! IT'S..."

[Imperial Will - Final Fantasy XIV OST]

(Dark Lord Chris) "KNEEL BEFORE YOUR GOD, AND OFFER YOUR FACES UNTO ME!"

(Sara) "...Faces? You mean like services or...?"

(Anakin) "Maybe that's metaphorical?"

(Obi-Wan) "I'm not sure I want to find out-"

(Chris) "NO, YOU REALLY DON'T. ALSO NO. I MEAN IT LITERALLY!"

Several faces began to fly off the townspeople.

First was the platypus's face, quickly followed by the discord notification and Anakin's.

(Obi-Wan) "ANAKIN!"

Then it was Sonia and the fat rabbit's faces that floated next to Chris.

(Gundham) "AAAAAAAGH!"

(Plant) "OH MY GOD, THIS IS HORRIBLE!"

(Sara) "Can someone tell me what the hell is happening?!-"

(Chris) "THESE NOW BELONG TO ME! NOW, GO TELL THE OTHERS WHAT YOU'VE SEEN HERE, FOR I WILL BE COMING FOR THEM NEXT!"

Chris flew off into the skies, the faces following closely behind.

(Sara) "What an asshole!"

(Plant) "ADVENTURER, PLEASE YOU HAVE TO HELP US!"

(Sara) "Right uh..."

Sara reached for her sword and pistol, which was nowhere to be found.

(Sara) "Well, that's just great..."

Obi-Wan struggled to walk over to here, still not accustomed to his body and looked at Sara.

(Obi-Wan) "Ma'am, I'm afraid I cannot go into battle myself to assist with this matter. And we don't appear to have our weapons either..."

(Sara) "So, what do you reckon I do? Ask nicely?"

...

(Sara) "Damn it."

OUTSIDE OF TOWN...

Chris was floating away from the town when Sara finally caught up to him.

(Sara) "HEY, JACKASS!"

(Chris) "...Oh, you mean me. I-I mean, OH, IS SOMEONE TRYING TO BE THE HERO NOW?"

(Sara) "Don't play smart with me you glasses wearing freak! Give back their faces!"

(Chris) "Or what? You're going to fight me?"

Sara cracked her knuckles.

(Chris) "...Oh shit. Uh, here have it."

The face slowly floated over to a slime, which reattached itself and began hopping towards Sara.

(Anakin's voice) "OH MAN, I THOUGHT THE KID BODY WAS BAD!"

(Chris) "Uh anyways, LATER!"

Chris quickly flew away from Sara, leaving her and Anakin's face on a slime.

(Sara) "Alright, LET'S GO!"

Sara drove her fist into the slime, which quickly bounced off.

(Sara) "...Oh right. It's a slime."

The slime retaliated by knocking Sara onto her back.

(Anakin's voice) "Sorry!"

(Sara) "Damn, my weapons aren't anywhere to be found either!

"I AM THOU...THOU ART I..."

(Sara) "Oh, what is it now-HURK?!"

Sara reached for her head as the voice boomed thunderously.

"THOU ART...Okay, no we're not rhyming. I'm your guardian spirit, Sara!"

(Sara) "Really now? And where were you during Erebonia?!"

"ANYWAYS, it seems you're in a bit of trouble! Do you need some help?"

(Sara) "It's either getting help or getting killed by a damn slime of all things, so...Yeah, sure."

"Good choice! Now, I bestow upon you the awesome power of the guardian!"

(Sara) "You're gonna explain later where I got this from, right?"

"That depends, do you want the plot to get moving? Our other posts are slowed down as it is, and this has gotten too meta in just the first few lines of this."

(Sara) "Ugh, fine."

Sara's outfit shined forth and became donned in armor, wielding a new sword.

(Sara) "Hey, you cheap bastard, where's my gun?!"

"This is a fantasy RPG, why would you get a gun? Just kill the damn slime already!"

(Anakin's voice) "WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?!"

(Sara) "Hold on, I'll getcha outta there, HIYA!"

[COOL QUIRK: WEAK POINT]

Sara took one swing of her sword and smacked the slime into the floor, it quickly disappearing.

Anakin's face floated off the slime and back to the town.

"That was..."

(Sara) "Really anti-climatic."

"You should uh...probably go back to the town and check up on Anakin."

INSIDE OF TOWN...

Anakin's face slowly floated back onto the child's body, making him trip over.

(Anakin) "AGH!"

(Obi-Wan) "So, how was it?"

(Anakin) "I was just put into a slime's body, how do you think I feel?!"

(Obi-Wan) "Same as usual, got it."

Obi-Wan turned to Sara, who now looked like a proper knight.

(Obi-Wan) "You have our thanks for helping us, Miss?"

(Sara) "Name's Sara."

(Anakin) "Thanks for helping me out there. What are you gonna do? We'd join you but our bodies would just get in the way."

(Sara) "I'm going to uh...Hey, what is the plan?"

"What do you think? You're the only hero in a fantasy land."

(Obi-Wan) "Is she alright?"

(Anakin) "Yeah, she started doing this earlier, no idea what's up with it."

(Sara) "Might as well go after the others, see what happens I guess. Anyways, I'll be back once I restored this town, until then!"

Sara held onto her sheathe and ran out of the town, those still faceless watching her leave.

(Gundham) "Please hurry. Sonia is...unsettling me."

(Plant) "Miss Valestein, you're our only hope...!"

(Anakin) "Think she'll be okay? That talking thing is really concerning me."

(Obi-Wan) "Probably...?"

[Chase Me - Faky]

(Sara) "Right so...do I just go forward?"

"Where did you see him fly off to?"

(Sara) "Was a lot more focused on trying NOT to get murdered by the slimes."

"It was just a slime, you've killed enemy mechs and demonic beasts like it was nothing!"

(Sara) "That's when I had my weapons and ARCUS unit!"

"..Still. Should've had no problem. I probably didn't even have to interfere."

(Sara) "Good goddess, am I going to be stuck with you? Actually WHO even are you?"

"The narrator! In a sense anyway."

(Sara) "What-"

And so begins the tale of Sara Valestein and her quest to defeat the Dark Lord Chris!

What friends will she encounter on the way?

How much of the meta can we break more than we have?

How many more jokes will the writer run into the ground as this series goes on?

FIND OUT NEXT TIME, ON HOUSE MIISEKAI!

(Sara) "...What?!"

STARRING:

And yours truly as the antagonist for this story!

Here's to some more god-awful written meme stories like this one, everyone!

#House Isekai #House Isekai ARR #House Miisekai

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bronanlynch · 4 years ago

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bi-ish weekly update

time sure passes huh. meant to do one last week but I wrote like 5000 words on Wednesday instead, and I’m not really sure what happened yesterday but maybe Thursday is my new day for these

listening: two for the price of one this week since I’m excited about both of them. first of all, obviously, is the Sangfielle theme by Jack de Quidt because it’s time for a new season of Friends at the Table. I love their description of this season’s music

the other thing I’ve been listening to is the new album from one of my fave bands, You’re Welcome from A Day to Remember. this is by far not the most musically interesting or complex song on the album but it is about, as far as I can tell, a bad breakup with a vampire and I love it for that just on principle, but also it’s fun! a fun pop punk-esque bop about breaking up with a vampire!

youtube

reading: since last time when I talked about many romance novels I was reading, I mostly just read more romance novels because sometimes that is all the brain can handle. shout out to KJ Charles for writing a historical romance with a nonbinary main characters, you really do love to see it. I appreciate that she puts trans characters in her books, and I hope that someday she writes one with a trans man as a main character, because that truly would be a book targeted directly at me.

I’ve also been reading the Kate Kane, Paranormal Investigator series by Alexis Hall (author of Affair of the Mysterious Letter, a weird fantasy queer Sherlock Holmes retelling that absolutely fucking slaps, highly recommend).

this is his author bio from the Kate Kane books, which really just sets the tone and also. what a fucking life goal

anyway. series starts with Iron & Velvet which is currently on sale, which is why I bought it, and it also fucking slaps. I’m like halfway through the last book right now but they have all been good and fun. Kate is like. archetypal disaster p.i. but done in an interesting way (i.e. the narrative actually addresses the depression and the alcoholism in a way that I personally really appreciated), and also pretty much every woman in the ~supernatural community she encounters is an ex or someone she will flirt/hook up with at some point, which is an accurate representation of every irl queer space I’ve ever been part of. she dates a vampire for a while. hot morally questionable vampire lady. the vampire power structure names positions after tarot cards it’s very fun and sexy and tailored specifically toward my interests. also she lives in the same part of London as my ex-girlfriend so it’s. fun to recognize place names and be like. oh I went there on a date once huh

watching: started watching Turn A Gundam because a twitter friend recommended it as being fun and also very different then any other Gundam series and they were right on both counts. the premise of it is ‘what if a bunch of people went to live on the moon and some people stayed on earth, the moon people got real into super advanced technology and the earth people are larping the 19th century, and now the moon people want to come back’ so there’s a fun mix of visual styles. would love to see serious analytical writing on this show by someone more versed in discussing indigeneity/colonialism than me though because there are things that I’m a little bit hmmm at but I don’t know enough to be able to explain why or know if that’s the right response to have

don’t know what’s up with the dude on the left’s sunglasses but my friend has promised me the fashion choices only get weirder

I know about the ‘wow cool robots’ meme but some of the mech designs are very cool and visually distinct both from each other and from the standard blocky humanoid shape that lots of mechs are, so that’s fun to see. and they’re all different sizes too, which for me at least makes it easier to get a sense of the scale of the conflict/threat. when they’re all the same size it’s easy for me to forget they’re like 40 feet tall but when some of them are 40 feet and some of them are like 10 feet it’s a lot easier to be like. oh. oh shit. these are big and destructive and scary as hell

there are mini versions of this big mech that are like. the size of one of its feet

also there’s some fun stuff about how the way society relates to a mech and what a mech is used for can change over time, which is part of what is maybe inspiring me to get back into trying to write games, because between Turn A and the fic I was writing about Integrity Friendsatthetable I was like. hey what if a hack of The Ground Itself by Everest Pipkin, a game about a place changing over time, except instead of a place it’s a mech

playing: finished Knife of Dunwall finally! please clap! I was kinda half-expecting not to keep to low chaos in the last mission because there are so many overseers but I did it! I did do a bunch of accidentally getting into fights, killing a bunch of people, and then reloading an earlier save so I could go back and not kill those people but it’s fine. anyway. fun game, fun level once I got the hang of it, and I do feel like I accomplished something a lil bit difficult so that’s a nice feeling. definitely harder than the main game. also, very sad about Billie and gay for Delilah. she shows up just to threaten you and then disappears again, and I think that’s pretty hot of her. also love the narrative parallels of having the choice to spare Billie and then the game ending with Corvo about to decide whether to spare Daud or not. I just think that’s neat

making: made some Thai green curry last week from this recipe, which was tasty and not too hard to make, but has just enough specialty ingredients to make it a lil bit too expensive to make too often. our grocery store only ever has lemongrass when we’re looking for things that look kinda like lemongrass but aren’t, and didn’t have any when we need it so we just used extra lemongrass paste and lime juice for the lemongrass, and for the kaffir lime leaves, which we were also supposed to substitute with lemongrass but. it’s fine it was still tasty

writing: a lot somehow, although it’s been over two weeks since last time I did one of these so I guess that makes sense. I wrote a couple of things for 15 Days of Friends at the Table, including Broun, Milli, and Thisbe cottagecore roommates, Clem and Gucci bickering/flirting, and an extended dream sequence that makes me very sad about Integrity (I’m very proud of the last one, I know it has a very small target audience because Sokrates/Integrity is very much a rarepair in an already small fandom, there are 6 works in the tag, 4 of them are by me, 2 of them are by the same other person, and one of those is a gift for me so. it’s mostly just me, but I think I wrote something pretty good)

also meant to write more for Persona 5 Girls Week, although so far I’ve only written one thing, a quick fluff fic which for once requires very little knowledge of the source material. meant to write something for today’s prompt but instead I had two job interviews and then cooked dinner for my household so that probably will not happen and I will probably watch more Gundam instead

#dreaming.txt #tuesday no problem extended universe #contains pictures of food below the readmore

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needs-to-stop-looking-at-valves · 5 years ago

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Character review!!(3/5):

Jack!!;

I just...ugh. okay, this one took me like a day to gather my feelings tbh. I HATED Jack in my first watch. Now, I dont hate him. I dont LOVE him, hell no, but my opinion of him improved. Jack is the oldest of the children, 16, and works at a drive thru. His partner is Arcee, and is surprisingly a good match for her. I liked him OKAY as a character, he cares about people, does his best to protect Miko from herself. But I really don't like the whole 'oh you're so special' arc that they gave him. It just felt so forced. And the usual white hetero teenage bullshit with the girls and the bullies and shit. I give him 6/10. And given that I HATED this guy the first time, this is a huge improvement. Tbh if they made him full emo, id love him.

June!!;

June, aka Jack's mom! As a nurse, June is often plenty busy, but despite this, she cares about her boy. Not just her boy, but for all. She's the hesitant mom that eventually lets her child be the hero (for jack thats saying way too much), but cares on the whole. She's charming, and is honestly a character that proves her metal, despite the entire situation. Hell, she told off Optimus PRIME because she was worried about their welfare. 8/10, wished she took over Jack's position. Id LOVE to see her team up with Arcee for scouting and shit.

Fowler!!;

Fowler was first placed as a sort of comedic relief character. And when his brain gets fried for one reason or another, he is. As american as one can be without getting lost in capitalism sauce, Fowler is competent in organizing, hand to hand fighting, and handling the government. He's the team's connection to the humans, often being called upon to commence an evacuation, less human lives be hurt. He gives the bots a hard time, but make no mistake, this doughnut loving man absolutely loves and cares for the mechs. Maybe not as much as jacks mom, but still, 8/10.

Now that we got the humans out of the way (the important ones at least), lets go to the big and bad decepticons!

Megatron!!;

There have been many a Megatron, but none so brutal, and none so goddamn thirsty. This Megatron is a past gladiator, full time attention seeker of Optimus prime, and quite the devilish fiend. Full of himself and refusing anyone but Optimus (and Arcee) respect, this Megatron is constantly facing assassinations, betrayl, all with a roll of his optics. 8/10, one of my more favorite Megatrons!

Starscream!!;

Star, screamer, stiletto heeled creep, whatever the name, treachery is Starscream's game. This Starscream has a lot in common with the g1 Starscream, in terms of pathetically needing constant validation, but with the need of attention bumped up to crazy levels. Starscream is intelligent on the whole, but hes his own worst enemy. When trying to do something for the sake of himself or the decepticons, he fucks up. A lot. HOWEVER. When he's faced with oppression, he survives. Starscream has a temper and a vanity that ends up being his vain, but like a roach, he just can't fucking die. On the plus side, hes a pretty, and VERY expressive boy. Possibly the most expressive bot in this series. 9/10.

Soundwave!!;

This Soundwave is possibly the furthest bot away from his G1 counterpart. He only has one line in the entire series, and is otherwise mute, or uses a recording of another voice in response. This Soundwave also doesn't have the classic g1 Soundwave clumsiness. In fact, without Soundwave, the decepticons would've been FUCKED. He's the most level headed, most competent, and possibly the most strongest on Megatron's force. A ride or die bitch, Soundwave ain't having your shit, and is pretty much Megatron's bff. 9/10, this guy is creepy and I adore it.

#jack #june #fowler #Megatron #Starscream #Soundwave #tfp #reviews

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lieutenantratte · 4 years ago

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Alright, I finished it, and hoo boy do I have feelings. This will contain SPOILERS for multiple Transformers series, so bear that in mind for reading forward.

As I said, I have feelings. Most of them revolve around Ratchet, because of course they do, so I’ll get those out of the way first.

I love this Ratchet. Even with the stupid ugly black chevron that’s bigger than his face. Even if he’s not a cranky old fart. The change to the red chevron was the best aesthetic choice that was ever made for Ratchet. Keeping the black is just... eh. Making him old and cranky was another great change, aesthetically (IMO, but I’m the fucker with the old man fetish) and just for general inclusivity. Old people do exist. I know in the past we’ve had old characters like Kup, who I also love, but he was more of a characature of an old veteran with no frags left to give. Ratchet was/is multifaceted, still has room to grow and change despite his advanced age. That said, I still love this Ratchet, and started crying when Impactor died. Looks like the only Ratchet who will ever get a happy ending is LL Ratchet. So far, anyway. I do really, really like the moral struggle he had here. Was probably the best thing in the entire chapter. But, I’m biased because I am the biggest Ratchet fanboy. I would marry that mech.

Moving on from my personal obsession, I did like how Optimus was emotional and desperate. Very different from what I’m used to; the stoic, distant leader. Yes, he is sometimes seen struggling with decisions and feeling emotions in other series, but it’s never been enough for me to really get into and form a bond with the character. It might be this time.

Can we talk about Megatron being black coded for a moment here? I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the main villain being given stereotypically “black” features, and being almost the only or the only one as such (in this series, others have Black coded characters. Jazz, in some continuities, Wheeljack in Prime, and we won’t talk about the Bayverse disaster...) Like, I love Megatron. He’s a character you love to hate, and in IDW, after his redemption arc, a character you really feel for. Hell, you can even feel for him a little bit before that because he just wanted to be free of a predetermined fate, but power (and other things) corrupted him. But I’m still just a little uncomfortable with him being the only obviously black coded character thus far.

In relation to the last topic - GOOD LORD THE LIPS ON THOSE BOTS. The faces were... not good. The women were unnecessarily soft, all of the important male characters who had visible faces had big ol’ DSL. The hips... that I can live with, but good lord the faces were atrocious.

The story was the same old shit we’re used to. I laughed, I cried, but I’m an emotional sort, so of course I did. It wasn’t particularly impressive, but it wasn’t bad, either.

I enjoyed seeing Elita One doing her thing. Despite her good ideas being ignored constantly, she filled a necessary role. I didn’t like seeing Moonracer, who I was super excited for, die after MAYBE two minutes at most of screen time. I didn’t like how Arcee was unnecessarily feminine, like... struggling with holding her arms up to shoot her gun. Really? After she held a whole assed man on her back with no issue? I guess Prime Arcee spoiled me.

All in all, it wasn’t bad. Not a fan of the G1 styling, but ya know. Solid 3/5, will keep watching. Will probably make a version of my OC to be with this Ratchet too because I’m a slut for Ratchet.

#wfc spoilers #transformers #war for cybertron #SPOILERS #ratchet #robot husbando #megatron #optimus prime #arcee #elita one #moonracer

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huntsman-ash · 4 years ago

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RWBY V8E5 LiveThoughts

And now for the last episode before the HUGE break they’re taking. Seriously, February? Damn, whats going on at RT?

It matters not. Lets see what this weeks episode has for us.

And here we see Aminety Colloseum, the place that Atlas SHOULD have weaponized the moment it rolled its way back here. Seriously look at it; floating free away from everything else...you could mount missile launchers and laser batteries and CIWS batteries on it, launch fighters from it, let dropships deploy through its base...a floating aircraft carrier of unprecidented size.

Or maybe turn it into a weapon...use its drive system to focus Dust energy into some kind of gravitational force...thats just me though.

Missed oppertunites...ah well.

You CAN see its been adjusted though, it looks less like the sports arena from its last apperance and more like a floating coms hub, with those dishes on the outside and the huge spire.

Intersetingly if you look in the upper right corner the moon is there but almost completely covered by the storm Salem summoned. Interesting.

Wait why is PEITRO out there? With like...no supports? Seems kinda dangerous to send the weak old dude out there...

...thats a bomb. A Dust bomb in pipe bomb style form but thats very much a bomb. Yes, Penny, danger indeed.

Atmospheric orbit. Ahhh that must be the low-level orbit path that they need to ensure it doesnt loose power. The part where you coast along with almost no drag. Like what the X-15 hit in our world, and punched through at least once.

WAIT WHAT THE HELL IS THAT. Thats some kind of loader mech. THATS A FUCKING UTILITY TITAN. WHEN DID ATLAS GET ONE OF THOSE?!

Also thats a jet engine.

And Maria’s piloting it. To quote Daimon Baird; I know wha thappens when you let an angry chick loose with a power loader.

Multiple bombs...wait. Thats the mine that RWBY fought in with the Aces, the one that almost blew the fuck up. They’re... Oh. I get it now. They’re gonna use the blast to fling Amneity into upper orbit and stabalize it. Clever. Not exactly SAFE, but clever. Just hope the mine doesnt go anywhere important. Those tunnels are going to turn into firestorms.

Cute, she thinks she can stay and help. Trust me, Penny. You’re better off running.

MARIA CASUALLY DOING THE MEXICAN GRANDMOTHER THING WITH HER MECH...THE HIP HAND. MY GOD.

Oh, and his chair has gravity restraints too. They...gonna handle the impact of the launch? I mean thats literally a fuel/air bomb under them. Dust/air...

Well Maria seems alright with it.

OH GOD DAMMIT. Its Cinder isnt it? Fucking bitch...

On the positive side if she DOES hitch a ride then they get a chance to give her the ol’ “Long fall special”. Lets see your maiden powers save you from a fall from near orbit.

Well then, she burned right through the floor. Interesting. Maiden powers or her own, who knows...I do admit seeing her ride the ship in like that is kinda cool.

The eagerness in Cinders remaining eye interest me. Also, even when using maiden powers, her dead eye emits nothing. So that whole parts just gone.

Secondary note, I think they’re standing on the...Shade emblem? Shade is the swords I think. Vale is the axes, Atlas is the staff, Havens the lamp. Doubt it means anything.

Ahhh, okay I was gonna say, that launch was...kinda lackluster. But the blast is being used as a BOOST on top of the four existing external thrusters. Like the yellow emergency turbines on the outside of the Pillar of Autumn in the end cutscene of Halo Reach

Dust explodes in its own individual colors. The blast under them looks like a Pride festival.

Also Penny just going WHAP like that amuses me, whereas Cinder just crouches. Guess she knew what was coming.

I dont see how the blast is helping through...maybe its the pressure wave and we cant see it right.

Now THAT is a command and control table!

Based on the image I can see, the map is showing “Atlas Mantle” in the middle in green, Aminety in red to the north, and the whale as its own red marker just off to the west a bit of Atlas/Mantle. So now we know where everything is stationed.

The scales all kindsa weird tho

Ah THERES the G-force. Emeralds literally stuck to the floor.

And because Cinders an unoriginal bitch, fire swords. Im not impressed ot say the least. On a side note that DOES mean that radiobandit was right about her powers, so theres that. I’d wager this is a combination of her semblance and the maiden abilities.

For those who follow me, Cinder’s blades here are similar in look to what Ash Vulcan can summon, minus the fire. His are more of a cooled obsidian look. They are, however, as sharp as these are, but much less sturdy. Ex; the one that pins itself to the wall by Penny’s head would have shattered on impact, which Ash uses as a secondary ability. Because no one likes a hundred glass shards in their eyes...

OH HELL YES. Maria with the mech. Now, Cinder...TASTE METAL FIST.

RT...I salute you. Angry mother figure piloting a giant robot screaming “get away from her you bitch”. ALMOST had it. Almost.

What smacked into her though. Neo?

Yes, Neo piloting their escape craft. Interseting.

Emerald looks completely useless and confused and Neo is suddenly very much in a realization shes inside a tin can and MARIA IS OPERATING A GIANT TIN CAN OPENER

Emeralds semblance works on Maria. Interseting, so it must bypass eyes. Effect the brain specifically. Note to self for Chrys on that...

WHY did Neo take Ruby’s form when shes fighting Maria? On that Maria seems very happy to brawl on the ground now. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Additional math note; “broadcasting range” is, by this numerical, 543.523 of...whatever Remnant uses as units. On Earth, the edge of outerspace is almost exactly 100 km, or 62 miles, straight up. So going by that measurement... (Doing the math here hang on)...1 km is equal to 5.43 of Remnants distance units. Lets just say 5.5. Assuming Remnants edge is the same (but everything we’ve seen so far hints that it is, or at least very close)

Alternatively, since we heard klicks used in V4, but miles used in After The Fall, we can assume this is one of those, meaning that either broadcast altitude on Remnant is ABSURDLY HIGH, because 500km is literally 5 times the edge of space on earth, and 540 miles is ALMOST 9 TIMES AS HIGH. Either way Im pretty sure this is the first measurement of Remnants units we’ve seen.

Alternatively alternatively, judging by the arrows we see, these might be required velocity to maintain orbit, which MAY make a bit more sense but it doesnt really fit. Low orbital velocity on earth for example is 17,000 KPH. Even with the math above, theres still a TITANIC difference.

And now we see the numvers going down again because CINDER BURNED A HOLE IN THROUGH ONE OF THE STABALIZERS. Bitch.

Again on th e weaponizing the colleseum; look at all this empty space. They didnt even remove it from when it was a consorse for the festival. You could put SO MANY weapon emplacements...the landing pads are still there!

Oh so now Cinders a Dawnblade from RWBY is she.

And exploding arrows too. Alright then, sure, why not.

Not sure what the point of this little bit was, aside from Penny trying to draw Cinder off and Cinder going back because...evil? Bait for Penny? Who knows.

Oh yeah, Marias having a GOOD time. Also, Neos face when she gets kicked in it; “NO, NOT THE SANDEL!”

Also the disrespect from Maria. Yes. Suck it, Neo.

Also theres some timeskippage, as there is NOT a 2 minute gap between when we see the clock the first time and when we see it now. I dont think, anyway. Im sure theres math to be done but it serves the purpose its suppose to, for tension.

Uhhhh...Cinder, please. Your Salem’s most bottom of bitches right now. She favors Hazel and Tyrian over you.

Did Cinder really just try for a does not compute moment. Or is she just out of ideas.

Cinder stealing the maiden powers reminds me of the Grip of the Devourer perk from the Necromatic Grips in Destiny 2. Mainly the green energy flowing. I know thats Pennys aura stuff but it does remind me.

Ahhh they got a plan with Emerald then. Interesting. Also Neo taking advantage of a distraction sounds like her.

And Penny ONESHOTS Neo. Lets be real here, without aura? She’d be LIQUID. Or maybe ash. Not sure how Penny’s funnels (THEYRE STILL FUCKING FUNNELS DAMMIT) works.

Annnnddd you forgot shes a robot and sees aura didn’t you. Again, without aura, she’d be dead. Actually, she might legit be dead considering that scream. That sounds like the noise someone makes as their organs are fried by high intensity radiation. Not too mention the MASSIVE BURN MARK on the back wall there.

Either way; GET FUCKED BITCH.

Very dramatic, Emerald, but really, come on. Penny has lasers. You would get maybe one more shot (from a weapon that has, at best from my viewpoint) a caliber equal to MAYBE a 9mm pistol. That stuff doesnt have the penetration power required.

If Penny wasn’t nice and more interested in saving Peitro...you’d be dead. Ripped asunder and Cinder made even worse.

A pity, really, Penny has a heart. But...hey. Real girl.

I feed upon Emeralds tears though. Mmm. Simpy.

What the HELL is hitting them. Grimm?

Oh boy here we go, more of this. Like...bruh. Just set down for a bit. Always gotta be dramatic dont ya

Aww. Touching. But pointless in the grand scheme of things.

Interesting note but she puts her gloved hand on his cheek, not the one with the glove burned off. For what thats worth again.

Holy shit, that map wasnt lying. That whale’s almost as big as Atlas is from this angle. Mind you, might just be a trick of the location but it would make sense if they were afraid of a Grimm THAT GOD DAMN BIG. I was just seeing it as like, about the size of a normal sperm whale, maybe as big as the Leviathan from the series of the same name, but even that was barely 150 feet long. This things HUGE.

Nope. Pretty sure its about the same size as Atlas is long.

Also the Moon seems smaller from this angle oddly enough.

Wait is she gonna superman this fucking thing?

Okay yes, the numbers were based on distance not velocity, as Penny is pushing the stadium UP, rather than accelerating it in proper stance.

The noises she makes...huh. Glad my sister didnt walk in on those. Sounds...not like someone straining.

Hey look, its clumsy shitface McGee. HES NOT DEAD!

Note about the message; whos the chick with the eye patch next to the faunus in the back left of Ruby.

Im going to assume the first place we see the message played is the Mistral Black Market. Seems fitting for how it is, and the design matches Havens ascetic.

OH MY GOD THE LITTLE EARED FAUNUS GIRL IN THE HOLE. OH NO. SHES TOO CUTE.

Also in that same shot we see the old Karen from two episodes ago, a mouse girl, Fiona’s mole uncle, and someone new I think. Plus the huge eared girls mom who has a fox tail. And also one of the thirsty moms and her kid maybe?

Hey, Sun and Neptune! Out in the middle of nowhere in Vacuo. So this is the first time we’ve seen it in the show.

And Ilia’s still alive too!

Hey and Goodwytch too. No voice, of course...she got fired ages ago.

Also hey, so this is where Ironwoods been. I love how Hare turns it off before Ruby finishes.

I will note that technically Ruby’s not wrong. Ironwood cant be trusted. But then, he couldnt before because (gestures to Atlas’s pathetic, scraggy SOFT “military” instead of THE CHAD FORCES OF...uh...) (Rapid sounds of shuffling papers and files labeled “UNSC” “Coalition of Ordered Governments” “SRPA” “GAR” and “Yukon Confederacy” fly off the table)

Several others. Yes. Lets go with that. (Accidentally bumps paper labeled “Vanguard” off the desk)

Watts is back out I see too.

Wait wait wait. Penny’s blades operate via chips...part of her, sure. So WHY does she need wires on them? AGAIN. WHY ARE THEY WIRE FUNNELS AND NOT SEPERATE ONES.

Interestingly the inside of the one Watts has resembles a Scroll...did Peitro commender that technology?

No focusing system for the laser. No chamber for acceleration or direction. Odd.

Salem looks oddly glad for this. Probably cause she thinks this is going to spread more fear.

And Ruby gets to the heart of the deal. You dont beat something that cant be killed. You capture it. Hurt it. BREAK IT. A sentient being can only take so much punishment before it shatters into madness and controllable fragments. You just. Need. To. Hit. It. HARD. ENOUGH.

Additionally Ruby’s got a point there too. Salem played the shadows until this moment when everything was going her way. So...whats she afraid of.

Annnnddd thats all it takes to hijack Penny? Seriously.

Fuckin god damn useless Atlas bullshit fucking...(LONG SUFFERING SIGH OF A TECH NERD)

Hey theres Taiyang. Where’s Raven?

Wait hold on a second. She catches fire literally two seconds after she falls? You gotta fall a bit more than that for shit to start happening. WHAT THE FUCK IS REMNANTS ATMOSPHERE?! Or is it just dramatic...

Also as a small note the way the coms between her and Peitro cut off like that is accurate to reentry; during the hottest part of a splashdown, a space craft creates such a huge trail of energy behind it, rattling and burning its way down, it creates a blackout with its own passage. So based on the massive Apollo style reentry fire cone shes already putting out shes most likely going to be out of coms until she slows down orrrrrr craters into Remnants surface with the force of a meteor.

And no. I dont think shes dead. The fact that, DESPITE being surrounded by the kind of fireball that worked its way into the fueltank of the space shuttle Discovery and blew it and its crew to bits on reentry, she was still intact...shes probably going to be fine.

Hacked, certainly, but fine. It takes more than that to finish her. Besides now that shes hacked, she has to fight Ruby. We all want that right?

Ahh good to see Winter in full armor now. Or...close to it. Im sure some of its a support rig for her injuries but I like to think this is the start of Atlas’s Specialist Weaponization Program.

Ironwood makes a good call here. Same thought process as mine.

Salutes in this world are the same as ours. Interesting. Must change that for the HKs

Annnndd of course Watts steals the busted Scroll because IRONWOOD IS A FUCKING DUMBASS

...um.

Im...not even going to COMMENT on what the FUCK this thing is that Jaunes detachment found.

Also why is there A TREE in the tundra?

Oh, caustic. Interesting.

Mmmm. (Pause. Fingers to lips)

Thats your plan, Salem? To literally leak liquid Grimm into Mantle.

More silence.

Ladies and gentlemen...Salem is, officially, THE WORST VILLAN. OF ALL TIME.

The level of incompetence and stupidity I have seen here today completely obliterates the LAST person to hold that title, President Snow from the Hunger Games.

The amount of unnececary back door work and seecret plotting here astounds me. Shes doing this because she can, Im SURE of it. Theres no other reason.

Unless...she kows in a straight out fight, she’d have Ironwoods metal arm up to her colon in seconds. Which I wouldnt be surprised about.

Either way uh...thats it. Thats the end of the episode.

Nice fight, at least.

See you all in Febuary!

EDIT: NOT FEBUARY, the break is a few more episodes after this

#spoilers #rwby spoilers #rwby #rwby v8

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notjanine · 4 years ago

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2020 in books!

the only kind of new year’s resolution i made as a naive baby last january was to try to read 40 books for the year. (i read 37 in 2019, for context.) well, with all of my commuting time eliminated and an increased need for immersive escapism, i ended up surpassing that goal three times over lmao (thanks library ebooks!)

idk how to summarize my year in books in a way that makes sense but

(f) = fiction, (nf) = nonfiction, (p) = poetry.

books that rewired my fucking brain:

braiding sweetgrass by robin wall kimmerer (nf)- GOD?!?!?! good. dr. k is right. ostensibly a book about plants, but actually a book about shut up and go outside. consumerism and capitalism are doing their damnedest to fuck you up, but you can just choose to value different things. take care of yourself by taking care of your environment. etc etc.

wasp by richard jones (nf)- lissen. when i got this book, my wasp-phobia was so severe that i had to put it away face down on a high shelf because there are wasps on the cover and i couldn’t bear to RISK even GLIMPSING them. now i am like... a wasp evangelist. (also due to the bugs 101 course on coursera it’s so good.)

wag by zazie todd (nf)- i have a dog, but i am NOT a Dog Person (i.e. i love my dog, but please keep yours away from me, thanks.) this book helped me understand my little guy better, plus it gives actionable tasks and activities to do with and for your pup! plus, y’know, learning about things you’re scared of helps to lessen that fear. i’d recommend this to anyone who has, wants, or regularly interacts with a dog.

a closed and common orbit by becky chambers (f)- is this series complete fluff? absolutely. am i fundamentally different after reading this one? maybe.

the best we could do by thi bui (nf)- this is so far outside of my personal experience but somehow still made me come to peace with my relationship with my mom?? and it’s barely even about that?? idk. this is probably objectively the best book i’ve read this year.

books that were just fun as hell:

mexican gothic by silvia moreno-garcia (f)- this book made me YELL out loud

death on the nile by agatha christie (f)- i grew up on agatha christie shows, but never actually read her before this year! she really was That Bitch. read this before the movie comes out

cosmoknights by hannah templer (f)- i read this in one sitting through the worst headache i’ve had in years. it is a goddamn DELIGHT. this book has everything: spaceships. mech suits. fighting the patriarchy. a perfect otp. fun art in bright colors with clean lines. onomatopoetic WAPs from before the song gave that hilarious context. 800 lesbians. this is an antidepressant in graphic novel form.

stiff by mary roach (nf)- ms. roach is like the 4th most represented author on my bookshelf because she 1. stays writing about shit i’m interested in and 2. manages to talk about gross and ridiculous things without resorting to sensationalism. it takes skill to write a hilarious book about corpses.

black sun by rebecca roanhorse (f)- excellent sexual tension between a horny siren pirate and a hot doomed... monk, kinda? set in the pre-columbian gulf of mexico with magic and shit.

cuisine chinoise by zao dao (? n/f)- this graphic novel about chinese food history/mythology is BEAUTIFUL.

the color of magic by terry pratchett (f)- you’d think a hardcore douglas adams stan would have gotten to this sooner, but no, i had to date a nerdy white boy to get here. it’s fun though! i’m not gonna read them all, but this one was good. bonus: contains one (1) great himbo.

gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir (f)- like 500 pages of action and mystery and jokes and space necromancy. harrow the ninth gets a special mention bc it has a meme reference that took me out so hard i had to close the book, lie down, and groan for an entire minute before continuing.

other minds by peter godfrey-smith (nf)- i love octopuses. on one tma bonus ep, jonny sims says that if a creature can choose to do evil, then it’s a Person. octopuses are People. but anyway frfr this has an explanation of the evolution of consciousness that is cool af. (this one is much better than the other recent popsci octo book which i will not name out of politeness.)

the perfect predator by steffanie strathdee and thomas patterson (nf)- i read this bc my microbiology prof recommended it and it’s cool as heck! it’s got adventure, drama, mystery, Science-with-a-capital-S. i’m biased bc i’m a bit of a microbes nerd, but i had a blast with this. (but only bc we know going in that everything works out okay; if i hadn’t known that, i would have been TOO stressed!)

books that were a little less fun but still very readable:

my sister, the serial killer by oyinkan braithwaite (f)- i couldn’t find this as funny as other people bc i, too, have a beautiful sister who’s an insufferable narcissist, so it hits a little too close to home, but. it is a wild ride.

piranesi by susanna clarke (f)- idek what to say! i went into this one blind just bc it had a cool cover and title, so i guess i’d recommend that for other people too.

the sixth world series by rebecca roanhorse (f)- monster hunting! a post-apocalyptic take that doesn’t feel tired.

the shades of magic trilogy by v.e. schwab (f)- easy escapism. some ideas feel a little first draft-y, but idk, it’s also a pretty simple premise (which isn’t a bad thing). it’s a decent urban fantasy set in ~georgian?-era london. very actiony. suffers from a bit of i’m-not-like-other-girls disease, but i didn’t even notice until book two or three, so.

the only good indians by stephen graham jones (f)- starts off a little ??? (and reeks of being Written By A Man) but picks up. the pacing’s great and there’s just a super fucking cool monster.

robopocalypse by daniel h. wilson (f)- this reads like a tv miniseries so much that i can’t believe it isn’t one yet.

confessions of the fox by jordy rosenberg (f)- not my usual cup of tea, fiction-wise, but still compelling. a fresh take on the white-male-english-professor-self-insert? but not insufferable. gets weird!

spinning silver by naomi novik (f)- rumplestilstkin, but make it interesting! a great, richly-told fairy tale, but like, large scale. good to read on a cold day while you’re wrapped up in a blanket with some hot tea.

interior chinatown by charles yu (f)- compulsively readable. a couple things bugged me, but not enough to make me dislike it. a fun companion piece to how to live safely in a science fictional universe. i like this guy’s style.

cannibalism by bill schutt (nf)- COOL. mostly covers the animal kingdom (fun), spends too much time on the donner party (less fun), ends with a SPICY take on prions that i cannot get out of my head!!!

buzz, sting, bite by anne sverdrup-thygeson (nf)- BUGS! broad but not overwhelming, neither dumbed down nor overly scientific, short enough to finish in a day or two. recommend this to literally everyone.

books that made me want to read everything else in the author’s ouevre:

the time invariance of snow by e. lily yu (f)- this FUCKS but it’s too short!!!

an unkindness of ghosts by rivers solomon (f)- okay this book is SO good and so well-written and interesting and blah blah blah all the good things, but... the whole time, i was just like?? why???? why is this what you’re choosing to write about??? (i did also read the deep and blood is another word for hunger after this one, and i did like them both, especially the latter, but i think they can do better! like i think they could write a perfect book and i am gonna be *eyes emoji* until then.)

the space between worlds by micaiah johnson (f)- a fine debut novel, but i want to see her do something a little more... idk, refined? i think she overreaches here, like it’s a little... idk looper? this is how you lose the time war? there’s a better comparison, but i can’t think of it, but you get the idea. and then halfway through it shifts gears to mad max. there’s something weird about one of the central relationships, like it’s not complex enough to take as long to resolve as it does. idk idk. there are just a lot of little nitpicky things. it’s not bad! but i think she can do better and i look forward to finding out.

postcolonial love poem by natalie diaz (p)- thinky! like i tried to read this before bed, but it’s not the sort of thing to parse out while you’re falling asleep, it requires more attention than that.

books that Learned Me Somethin:

smoke gets in your eyes by caitlin doughty (nf)- i am a self-professed death obsessed weirdo, fascinated by death and mourning, but i didn’t know all that much about what happens to a body between the dying and the funeral! this book isn’t big, but it covers a lot and doughty’s writing style is engaging and honest. it’s very memorable.

queer by meg-john barker and julia scheele (nf)- i’m gonna be totally honest and say Queer Theory is above my intellectual pay grade, but this book takes you by the hand and explains the basics.

vitamania by catherine price (nf)- LMAO my fellow americans, never take a supplement. this book is great and well-researched, but normal folks don’t need to read it, just listen to season two of the dream podcast, which definitely cribbed from this.

vegetable kingdom by bryant terry (nf)- this is a fine cookbook, my favorite of his that i’ve read so far. gets a special mention bc i had a religious experience just reading one of his kohlrabi recipes. absolutely gutted that i didn’t have an opportunity to try it this year, since the pandemic put the kibosh on all family bbqs.

the best american food writing 2020 edited by j. kenji lopez-alt (nf)- this really is just a great collection.

are prisons obsolete? by angela y. davis (nf)- yes.

i moved to los angeles to work in animation by natalie nourigat (nf)- before reading this, i had basically zero knowledge of how the animation industry works. now i know like three things.

the secret lives of bats by merlin tuttle (nf)- BATS! okay this book is more about the adventures of being a bat scientist than it actually is about bats, but there are bats in there. insectivorous bats basically shit glitter, you should know this.

books from valuable perspectives:

hood feminism by mikki kendall (nf)- a breakdown of who’s getting left out of feminist spaces, why that’s happening, and why it shouldn’t be happening.

all you can ever know by nicole chung (nf)- a (transracial) adoptee’s take on adoption and learning more about her birth family. the personal storytelling of this one really stuck with me.

motherhood so white by nefertiti austin (nf)- a single-mom-by-choice’s take on the foster system/adoption process. walks you through some things i always wondered about and some things i wouldn’t even have thought about.

this place by kateri akiwenzie-damm et al (? n/f)- i, like a lot of non- native americans, only know that history in broad strokes. getting this many highly specific stories in one dense and beautiful book felt like a lucky find. and taking that perspective into the future in the context of that history is v good.

empty by susan burton (nf)- eating disorder stories are important to me bc i care about food so much. this one is so relatable- not in its specificity, but rather its generality. it’s easy to empathize with her perspective because it’s like, Oh, i don’t have that exact problem, but i struggle with different problems in a very similar way. (feels like the opposite of roxane gay’s hunger, in a way.)

obit by victoria chang (p)- this exploration of grief is... woof.

short story collections are hard to evaluate bc you’ll never read one where every single story hits but i generally enjoyed these:

a thousand beginnings and endings edited by ellen oh and elsie chapman (f)

how long til black future month? by n.k. jemisin (f)

her body and other parties by carmen maria machado (f)

books i revisited:

the broken earth trilogy by n.k. jemisin (f)- i read the series backwards this time and like... i can’t really find any faults in these books, man. they’re just the best.

everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too by jomny sun (f... but is it really?)- half of this book’s sales are from me buying it for other people bc it’s the only way i know how to say i love you. i reread it every time just to make sure it still feels right and it always does.

other honorable mentions:

white is for witching by helen oyeyemi (f)- not to pit two bad bitches against each other, but this book does what akwaeke emezi’s freshwater was trying to do. it’s a little weird, a little haunted, a little of a lot of things. read this only in the dead of winter. (and with stephen rennicks’ score for the little stranger playing in the background.)

homie by danez smith (p)- there’s a lot going on here, but this just made me crack a smile a couple times in a way that no other book of poetry has ever done.

the murder of roger ackroyd and murder in mesopotamia by agatha christie (f)- That Bitch!

blues by nikki giovanni (p)- she sure has some Things To Say

the three-body problem by cixin liu (f)- interesting concepts, but... idk something’s missing? felt weirdly soulless to me. i’m probably not gonna read the sequels. but it did make some points!

the sisters of the winter wood by rena rossner (f)- i’m a slut for shapeshifting, okay. but this is a good fairy tale, it works!

parable of the sower by octavia butler (f)- i read this in march, when the pandemic was just kicking off and boy that was not the right time. def my least favorite of hers so far, but an octavia butler i don’t love is still better than a hell of a lot of other books. no idea when or if i’ll get to a good enough headspace for the sequel.

faves:

saturnino herrán by adriana zapett tapia (nf)- i got to learn new things about my mans and see some of his paintings i’ve never even seen online! GOSH.

on food and cooking by harold mcgee (nf)- yeah yeah, i’ve already mentioned this book half a dozen times on here this year, but i don’t care. this book lives off the shelf in my home bc i reference it like every other fucking day. this book is a part of me now.

#long post #final total for the year will be 120 by the end of the day!#and i had a pretty good hit rate. would probably recommend at least half #and only outright hated four

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botslayer · 5 years ago

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The questions raised in MK11′s story mode:

So here's everything as it came up in order, in my mind just as I was thinking of things, SUPER heavy spoilers ahead, I just want the fan consensus, please help a confused fan get his bearings, why does everyone praise this story mode when I'm just seeing more holes than a cheese grater? 1. If Gods are immune to Kronika's time tampering, How does she stop Shinnok's blood, which was still pouring from his neck, from flowing on that table? I know this one may be a bit nitpicky but that's just a little one that sticks out and is very visually present. 2. Where do the Kollector's people come from? Probably Outworld but pulling yet another species from thin air for that realm is kinda cheap, okay? 3. Why does everyone from the past look so different from how they did in MK9? It's like jarringly different, especially when Kung Lao JUST supposedly beat down the deadly alliance, something that is only established to happen in the reboot timeline. So what happened there? (Other cosmetic changes would take too long to point out individually, so I won't.) 4. Follow up, there must be a pretty big time gap for Johnny, Sonya, and Jax, because Jax has his mech arms but in the MK2 ark of MK9, he had to be rushed out of Outworld because Ermac blew his real arms off. 5. Follow up 2, why does Jax seem to have deaged? In MK9 he looked to be about thirty+ Whereas here he looks like a really big Twenty-something, his arms are even different. So what happened there? 6. Why does Dark Raiden vanish? The game throws out the explanation that "Immortals" operate on a different timescale, more or less, but if he's unaffected by other time distortions, how was he pulled forward in the first place? 7. Why aren't more people from either side, including Smoke, Quan Chi, Shang Tsung, Reptile, Ermac, Goro, Mileena, and Kintaro, ALL OF WHOM (Save for Smoke) are Loyal to Shao Kahn, not also summoned into the arena? And "She can only summon people who are still alive" isn't a workable answer because of Baraka, Skarlet and Shao Kahn himself. She later says that she's finding people not happy with the course of history, but I doubt two of the most ambitious characters in the series (The Deadly alliance) would be all that happy about being dead. Nor, I'd wager, would Kintaro or Goro, form the prideful warrior race of dragon people? 8. Why is future Erron Black completely mute? Yeah. In every scene he's in (a few different ones in the coliseum) he never says anything but past Erron has loads of dialogue. 9. How does Raiden know about there being other Temporal nonsense going on elsewhere in not just the realm he's in, but Earthrealm? I know he's Earthrealm's protector but how in the high heaven does he know? 10.As a Little one: How is it that past Johnny is sitting on the other side of the room looking at his nails and then is immediately walking by Sonya and Jax with future Johnny? She was looking in kind of the same direction but how quickly did this guy get up to pull that off? 11.Raiden says he's been getting the premonitions for "MONTHS" But MK9 established pretty roundly that he only got them night one of the 10th tournament. Now, by the time of the MK2 ark in MK9, no more than a week or two could have passed, at least as presented, so how does that make any sense? (I will elaborate if asked but this is already long enough) 12. Why does past Jade have an English accent and why does Revenant Jade not? (Other voice inconsistencies from within this trilogy would take to long to point out, so again, this is just persistent for all of them.) 13. The Cyber Lin Kuei (Who I will call "Tekunin" from here on out because I just like that better) are still a thing, Kronika pulled Sektor into the present too, I can buy that. But why not also try and recruit another realm like Seido? Imagine having Hotaru and the help of his forces. It'd make for some cool scenes, especially at the end when all the Oni are fighting Raiden's army, it'd make things a lot more chaotic, which would look cooler. Why not Chaos realmers? Zaterrans? Vampires? Centaurs? Kytinn? She brought the Tarkatans back completely so how hard would any of these other virtually extinct armies be harder to bring back and sway to her side in comparison? What about the Red Dragon? 14. Raiden apparently knows some of the history of this altered timeline which just makes me wonder how much he could realistically be briefed on, especially when he reacts with shock when he finds out that Sub-zero is friends with Hanzo Hasashi. And yes, the Cyber Initiative was a thing in MK9 but Sektor wasn't the grandmaster when that was going on or when Raiden and co were pulled from time. So what does he know and not know? And why did no one think "That crazy fire ninja is on our side" Was worthwhile info? 15. Why isn't Noob just the past one? He straight up says that he survived the soulnado, not that he's a different version. He never showed up live in the comics so it makes zero sense for him to have full stop survived. 16. How does ripping out two bundles of wire "Reformat" anything? 17. Future Kano references the idea of the Black Dragon being on top of "Not just the black market, Every market." What does that even mean? Is there gonna be a black dragon funded super corporation? That'd be cool, TBH. Shame that's never elaborated on. 18. When Kronika freezes time, is it only local? Or does it hit an entire Realm? Because in the scene where she's talking with Future Jax, and come to think of it, the one with Shinnok's head, What the hell is her bubble of influence? 19. Jade mentions Sheeva "Respecting Kitana's opinion more than anyone else's." Where, At all, in either timeline was that ever represented? Because up to now, if memory serves, their only real interactions were Sheeva telling Kitana to suck it up and die with honor in MK9. 20. What up with Jade's Retcon into being Kotal's girl? It's just kinda weird. 21. When and how did Revenant jade learn to control giant bugs? 22. What is Cetrion even the god of? Raiden, and later Kitana, mention she's a god of Virtue but why then is she able to control the Earth? "Elder god" Maybe but Raiden in the OG timeline got that title at the end of MK 4, then stepped down and he was no more powerful for it but that seems to be what happened with Cetrion, IDK. 23. How far back did Kronika have to pull Past Kano and Kabal from? Because Kabal is still apparently working for the black dragon, whatever age she got him from, but he still has his post-burn super speed. 24. What was the point of blowing Sektor up other than to just lose a major power player for your own side? 25. (Ultimate nitpick on this one) Why is Skarlet and one line from Baraka speaking Tarkatan the only ones that get subtitles? Why not just either A. Say it in English, which they seem to understand enough of, or B. Just not add these translations if they aren't translating the rest of the Tarkatan speech we see? What is the point? "So we understand it." I think you're underestimating people's ability to get the concept of "They said a thing, they did a thing, that must be what was said." 26. In the fight with the Tarkatans, How did Liu Kang and Kung Lao have the time to change back into monk clothes? Where was Kung Lao keeping his hat? 27. What the hell was Shao's last name? at a time "Kahn" was probably just the answer until it became retconned to mean "Emperor of Outworld." But what was his full name? I'm honestly curious, less of a nitpick, more of a "Hm." 28. Why does Future Kano feel a hit to the gut? I understand Johnny's Scar in one way or another, but a hit to the gut, painful as it is, especially when he's showing no sign of feeling any of Past Kano's minor injuries, shouldn't feel like anything after 25ish years. 29. Why does Future Kano have a delayed reaction to "Death by Missing hunk of brain?" The wound instantly manifests but he stands and seems to try to talk for a few seconds before collapsing into sand. Wouldn't it make more sense for him to rot into nothing really fast? Then again, Time travel is always a nightmare in any media that attempts to talk about it. 30. How does Revenant Kabal mistake Past Jax for Future Jax? 31. When Scorpion saves Hanzo, why didn't he just split D'vorah's skull with one strike? Two in a pinch? If he's putting enough force behind it to cut her stabby limbs off, or just generally be a useful assassin, why not just go for the neck even? (This one was answered on a reddit post I made, so whatever) 32. Why doesn't Scorpion just surrender when he goes to the Fire Gardens? Wouldn't it be best to just sit down inoffensively and wait for people to show up? Even if Sub-Zero wants to fight, he could just put his hands up and start disarming himself, Not beat the Holy Snot out of Sub-Zero. 33. If Kronika can just appear out of thin air, freeze all the humans in a given location, and pluck one from the ground, why not just use one of her minions like Geras or Cetrion to help kill them all while they're frozen? 34. Kronika mentions "Playing out all possible Scenarios." How many resets have you done, lady? Millions, I'd wager. How has your utter defeat not come up at least one other time? 35. Where are revenant Nightwolf, Sindel, Smoke, and Stryker during all of this? I find it deathly strange that Kronika couldn't find a use for FOUR undead super warriors. At least three and a bloke with military and police backgrounds that make things like strategy a bit easier, probably. 36.Kronika just MAKES a massive battleship or two, so what was the point of Cetrion building the bridge or asking Kharon to help in the first place? Just make a boat. Barring that, D'vorah mentioned that all she had to do was render Kharon unable to help Raiden's forces during Kharon's introduction. Why not just kidnap him, load him onto a boat, tie him to an anchor, and then just drop him in the blood sea? Rather than this "Slowly torture" BS. 37. How does Future Jax yeet himself onto the upper deck of one of the ferries? 38. Frost says that Raiden "Ignored her, her entire life." Since when is she the Tsundere of the MK universe? Or more seriously: Is this a line that only makes sense when you read the comics? 39. Why would the Tekunin be rigged to Frost's brainwaves? One good conk upside the noggin, or stab, shot, what have you, and what? Do they all drop dead? 40. Why does Past Kang live through having his own soul stolen, something that is always instantly fatal throughout the series? 41. How does Revenant Liu Kang yeet himself off a small boat and onto one of the ferries full stop?

And that's everything, any answers are appreciated. Am I being nitpicky with a few of these? Probably, Do I care? Not so much. I’m just getting sick of people praising this story when THIS MANY holes are present.

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mugen-monogatari · 5 years ago

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5 Quality Yet Accessible Tragic Anime You Should Watch

Let’s talk about tragedy in anime. Ain’t nothin’ like watching some sad anime boys experiencing sad things while I sit there and cry. I love tragedy in anime, there’s just a certain satisfaction in ‘dissatisfaction’. Sometimes, it’s far more meaningful for someone to lose a fight, to make a hard decision or sacrifice something. Maybe the hero never saves the girl, or a loved one just doesn’t make it. Yes, in a perfect world everyone ends up happy, but this isn’t a perfect world. People suffer, and sometimes it ends on a good note, sometimes everything goes to hell and the world burns. That gritty realism and human error adds a level of empathy and depth to many shows that would otherwise lack it. I personally think it’s worth talking about that, since I don’t think tragic anime get enough love.

So I thought I’d make a quick list of 5 accessible yet Quality tragedy series, ranging from pretty popular and accessible, to slightly more niche. Many of you have seen these series I’m sure, but with the continuous stream of shows being released every single season, it can be hard to either go back and watch older shows, or stay on top of newer ones. These are just a few picks that I would urge anyone and everyone to go and at least try.

I should also preface this by saying, when I say tragedy, it doesn’t mean the show has a depressing ending. By tragedy I’m referring to tragic events happening in a show regularly, be it at the end, the beginning or throughout. Simply putting something on this list, doesn’t mean it has a tragic ending, so you can rest assured there are still surprises to come when watching these.

Also, these are all my opinions, everyone is entitled to them. You can disagree or agree, it’s up to you, we can even discuss my peeps. Just don’t brutalize me for shows you don’t like or if one of your favorites isn’t on this list.

All of that being said, Here are 5 tragic series I think everyone should at least try:

1. Code Geass

Starting off simple we have Code Geass. What a show this was back in the day. Death Note, mixed with Mechs and sci-fi and chess and a whole lot of edge. For many people, they have already seen it, it’s almost guaranteed if you watched anime in the early 2000s. However, as time goes on, this series slowly falls into obscurity, many people being less attracted by its flamboyant art style and the ever growing age. It seems like Code Geass is slowly fading away with time, people online aren’t forgetting about it, but moving on, and many new fans are understandably detracted from a show like this.

But they’re all wrong. This series is incredible. It’s a fundamental “must-watch” show. Sure, it shows it’s age now, but that doesn’t detract from it’s plot and characters. With a very likeable cast, a constantly expanding story, high stakes, insane powers and mind games, politics and action, all of these make an insanely good series, one that warrants repeated viewing to this day. What starts as a boy being in the wrong place at the wrong time, blows up into a worldwide conflict. This is one of those series that sticks with you, there are scenes and moments in this you just never forget moving forward.

Some of the things I love is Sunrise’s mech designs, Lancelot as well as many of the Knightmare frame designs in the movies and show are still fun and vibrant to this day. Many old Mecha shows become redundant years later as the designs don’t hold up. This one though, certainly does.

I also really love the voice acting. Yes the sub is good, but the dub (fight me) is just mwah. Johnny Yong Bosch as Lelouch is nut worthy. Just watch the first episode where he gives his first command. Insta nut. I’m telling you.

I also love the endings of both seasons. I think the first is a really good climax, while the second season closes about as well as this could, while still coming out of left field.

Some things that I think detract people, definitely start with the art style. Sunrise’s designs for the machines and backgrounds and such is fine, it looks good, however Clamp’s character designs are definitely an acquired taste. They’re not for everyone. Everyone looks super slender, almost cartoon like in their clothes and proportions. Yes you get used to it, but they still look very “different” to the standard, even back when it first came out.

Another is sometimes, the show just goes to very strange places, for example having an episode to do with drug addiction that just came out of left-field. In the same vein, some people have very mixed opinions on season two, not entirely liking the direction it goes and some of the character developments. However, a lot of these things are subjective and I’ll leave them up to you to decide.

Spanning two, 25 episode seasons (you can definitely just pretend the movie never happened) as well as several spin off OVAs and Shorts (Those you actually can watch though), the series is a pretty long watch by today’s standards, but it’s definitely worth it.

2. Zankyou No Terror

Next up, we have Terror in Resonance. This one for sure is worth the watch even without the tragedy. This is one of those shows, which is so visually appealing to watch. It’s one of the most aesthetically pleasing shows I’ve ever seen. I guarantee anyone who’s interested in aesthetic gifs and images of weeb stuff, has seen shots from this show without even realizing it. It’s not exactly a niche show, but it’s a little less accessible than something like “Angel Beats”, with a much more serious and gritty tone. It’s not criminally underrated, but I just really wish more people had seen this, since it genuinely is a beautiful series.

Some of the things I really love about this show, is (as I’ve mentioned a thousand times) the aesthetic sense. Every shot in this series is screenshot worthy, with plenty scenes making for ‘straight-out-the-box’ gifs and icons and whatever it is you kids use screenshots for. Even the food, just like papa Gigguk mentioned, is just mwah, spicy stuff. I attribute this to the very well considered color palette, realistic lighting and designs, as well as just overall good cinematography.

On the less visible side of things, the story hold ups really well too, with some very genuinely emotional moments and scenes. Just like Code Geass above, this series has a very well considered ending, with a “Wholesome”(?) message at the end.

The only negatives I can really give for the series, is some pacing issues if you’re an impatient brat like me, as well as almost a complete lack of lightheartedness. The series can be sweet and touching, but it’s almost always dark and serious at the same time, with no time to relax or breathe throughout.

I think there isn’t as much to say about ZnT as there is about Code geass, as it’s not as subjective. It is an objectively high quality show, your own enjoyment of it is what varies. Unlike Code Geass, there isn’t many flaws, but it doesn’t take as many risks. To me, this show is a very safe bet. It looks gorgeous, is only 11 episodes (you big boys and girls can binge that) and tells a satisfying, self-contained story. A little bonus is that it’s directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, famous for Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, so hey- It has that going for it too.

3. Parasyte: The Maxim

Following on, we have one of the series that introduced me to tragedy, Parasyte: The Maxim. Let me tell you, this series is dark. And violent. Very violent at times.

When it first aired in 2014, the response was pretty good, it didn’t reach critical Acclaim, but had its own cult following, with the manga having been published from the late 80s to the mid 90s. For me, this was one of my first truly “darker” and more violent anime, having really only watched shounen and some seinen before that. This to me isn’t one of the best stories ever, the characters are fine, and the show looks acceptable. But while it doesn’t excel in anything, it does everything really well. To me, it’s the perfect bridge from Casual fan, to serious- or even as a primer for more dark and violent stories, such as Berserk or dare I say it Tokyo Ghoul (Read the manga, please don’t support the anime adaptation).

For me personally, I really Liked the main character, he drove the show on for me. Watching him develop into someone completely different from the beginning of the show, was a real draw to me. He’s likeable, relatable to an extent, and he had a complete character arc. Shinichi in the beginning is not the same character as in the end.

This character is also used to convey a deeper meaning about what humanity is and how we define the term. It’s a really interesting series about us as a race, with some genuine things to discuss and think about, which leaves a longer lasting impression than most shows. It’s the sort of series that makes you want to share it with other people just so you can talk to them about it. Ah- and it’ll hit you in the feels. This show is genuinely tragic through out, but still stays personal to the small cast, which to me, is the sign of a really good tragedy. Despite things going on in the entire world, they make you care about these few people specifically.

However, it has it’s own problems too. Art wise, it’s very faithful to the original source material, capturing the feel of it, the low key oppressive vibes. However, this also means, it can look a little… ‘Bland’? At times. The earthy colors can be a little drab, especially in an age were Studio Trigger, for example, can make an eye-gasm worthy scene using colours you didn’t even know existed.

The other problem, is some of the characters are very one dimensional. Take the love interest, she doesn’t really develop or change at all throughout the series, but I personally give this a pass as she’s not super relevant to the story anyway.

A fair warning though, this series has some strong violence, plenty of gore and mutilation, if that’s a problem for you, I suggest either giving this one a skip, or just trying to sit through it. It’ll be a good learning experience.

Spanning a fair 24 episodes, having aired in 2014, this series is both bingeable, and holds-up very well in the modern ecosystem of anime. To me, this is a pretty top tier show, a solid 8/10, it’s very good, a really well made show, It makes for the perfect bridge into far more serious and dark stories, such as maybe Berserk and Devilman, hence why I put it on this list.

4. Fate/Zero

For my second to last show, perhaps one of the most well known franchises, that is lowkey kinda niche. Fate is a series everyone knows the existence of, but not as many people have actually watched, especially not casual fans. To be frank, it’s intimidating. The series has no real easy entry point, and all the timelines are relatively interwoven, you can’t just bounce around. Everything spoils everything and it’s scary to even look at a list of fate entries.

That’s why I picked Fate Zero. To me, it’s the best entry point into the Type/Moon genre. For those of you who don’t know, it’s basically a battle royal between seven summoners who each have a servant of different classes. They all have to fight for the Holy Grail, an artifact that will grant them a single wish. Sounds simple right?

Well it’s not. The entire series is full of not only badass action, but plenty of mind games and ‘cat-and-mouse’ between the characters. It’s brutal, it’s tragic, violent and uplifting. Ufotable delivers some of the highest quality animation you’ll see in your life (they’re renowned for it), but it doesn’t just look good. The story is compelling, the characters are genuinely likeable and by the end, I wanted everyone to live and survive. Everyone has believable and compelling motivation, and even the objectively evil characters, like Caster, are still likeable, because you begin to love to hate them. The entire season honestly plays out more like a compressed microcosmic version of Game of Thrones, than a battle royal anime.

There are plenty of things I like about this series, the plot is really fun, the fights are pretty damn cool and it can be a very emotional show at times. I could talk about these aspects endlessly. However, the thing that really makes Fate for me, is the characters. Each individual characters gets some time and attention, and with the exception of a few, you really genuinely like and care about everyone. You want everyone to win, or at least survive, since all of them are either genuinely lovable, or have very compelling motivation.

The other part to it is, this is the best starting point for the rest of Fate, and I would actually argue that it enhances many scenes found in the subsequent (story wise) series, even if they aired prior to Zero. This series both introduced me to Fate, and got me attached and invested in the world, which is the sign of a good (technically) first series.

On the other hand, it has problems. First of all, it’s pretty interwoven with the later series. Those came before it and set up a lot of mysteries and ideas that Zero goes out of it’s way to explain, from character identities to events in the timeline, watching Zero will spoil a lot of those things, which may lessen the later experiences for some people.

The other flaw is despite being maybe the best starting point for Fate, it still isn’t entirely accessible. The show can be straight up confusing at times, at least for someone who hasn’t seen Fate. Many elements of the world aren’t explained and you’re just expected to go along with it, since it’s either just a part of this world, or explained in other series. Which is fine, but often lead to some rather “But wait… What just happened?” moments.

Ultimately, Fate/Zero is fantastic series for anyone looking for a really good character drama, full of magic and badass historical references. It’s not the best introduction but it’s the best you’ll get from Fate. Similarly to Code Geass and ZnT, the series has a really good conclusion in my opinion, with plenty of tragic moments sprinkled throughout.

For Fate, Zero specifically consists of two seasons of 12 episodes each, for a bingeable 24 episode series. For ideas where to go next from this, look for my upcoming Tumblr Post explaining the fate continuity.

5. Mobile Suit Gundam : Iron-Blooded Orphans

And Finally, we come to our last pick of the day. This is a series, I would urge anyone to watch. If I could make you watch one Single series from this list, this would be it. Throw away any views you have on the franchise or the genre, don’t be afraid of the name, just give this series a try.

Iron Blooded Orphans follows a small mercenary band of boys who just want to make a home for themselves in a galaxy strained by political unrest. The premise is simple, just people trying to survive and make a life for themselves.

Well what if I told you it was directed and written by the same Duo that made AnoHana, one of the most commonly acknowledged tragic shows out there. This duo write and direct stories about innocent children being put through immense hardship and this series is no different. This show is tragic, painful even. I sobbed as many times as I laughed and smiled in this show. We spend a season watching them come up in the world, only to watch everything get torn apart in the second season, and it is genuinely emotional and heart wrenching.

Something I love about this series, is the characters and how attached you become to them. Death is a genuine threat in this show, even if you don’t feel it in the beginning. When people die, it hurts, and that applies to IBO, where each death leaves resounding ripples on the people around them. It handles familial relationships really well, making you believe in these people and their emotions. When they suffer, you cry for them, and when they get brief moments of respite, you do too. I love how invested you become in this ragtag team of boys, making some of the later scenes all the more devastating when they happen.

Another thing I love is the stakes. Within the second season, the pressure to perform is on, the first season, while having threats and such, was never even close to season two. To be vague, one of my favorite moments is when a character has to land a decisive shot in the midst of a battle, and everyone’s lives are on the line. That entire confrontation is one of my favorite scenes in anime of all time. It is truly suspenseful and will take you on an emotional journey.

To top it all off, it’s made by Sunrise. If you like Mechs, well oh boy do they have you covered, and if you don’t- well oh boy, you will when you’re done. This show makes the mech Genre, and Gundam entirely accessible, you need no prior knowledge, you don’t need to be a fan to enjoy it. The fights are really fun and have genuinely cool moments, as cool as it can get for a mech anyway. The characters and story are well written and everything just comes together to make a very well produced show- Good job Sunrise.

It doesn’t go without it’s own problems though. The first 20 ish episodes, until they get to earth, are not pointless, but have some pacing issues, as well as low stakes. There are threats and people die, but you never feel that scared or intense. Then towards the end of season one, the show kicks into high gear. To counteract this slow start, the series has a phenomenal season two that I genuinely believe everyone should watch, as it’s a perfect example of character drama done exceptionally well.

The series is comprised of two seasons of 25 episodes each, totaling a measly (if you’re a big boy or girl) 50 episodes. There is several related forms of media, nothing worth mentioning though, for more Gundam, you’re better off watching other series from the franchise.

If I can only force you to watch one, please go out and watch Iron Blooded Orphans. To me, it’s 9- pushing a 10/10 series, with a undeniably slow start, but a fantastic heart felt, emotional ending.

So that’s it from me guys. Thanks for taking the time to read the ramblings of a mad man like me, but I hope this gives some people some ideas on where to go next or what they can watch now. If you enjoyed, make sure to follow me for more discussions and lists and whatever else anime related. If you have any advice, or want to discuss something with me, go ahead let me know, other than that- Leave, go outside, get some fresh air after reading all that.

#anime #discussion #Iron Blooded Orphans #Fate #code geass #Parasyte #terror in resonance #IBO #Gundam

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rwby-party · 5 years ago

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I used to really love the “Qrow is Ruby’s actual dad” theory but the more I see it the more I just... hate it tbh.

This isn't’ to hate on people who do like the theory AT ALL (which is why this is untagged and under a “keep reading” line.) but I just hate how nearly every moment of affection shared between Ruby and Qrow is a “Father loves his daughter” moment.

What I mean is, I saw a post about the theory that basically said that the worry Qrow had after catching Ruby from the mech’s arm was “only the love a father has for his daughter.” and it just irks me.

I guess, in a similar vein of “why can’t *popular ship* be just friends”, why can’t they have the relation the canon set out? Why does his worry for his loved one have to be a “father’s” worry?

I mean, I get it. There’s evidence for it.

Ruby’s heavily inspired by him design wise. Hell, she even has his windswept hair now.

He spends inarguably more time with Ruby than Tai does. Especially considering that every other member of team RWBY spent time with their respective dads during Volume 4, for better or worse, it’s fishy that she spent time with him and not Tai. “You don’t want the burden of my name.” could refer to him leaving Summer/Ruby.

I just hate the thought of the love between them “””having”””” to be a father daughter love. I just feel like it adds so much more to the story to leave it the way it is.

I like the idea of him just being a “good” (cuz we know Qrow’s definitely problematic) influence in her life the way it is.

Also yeah, when you outright ignore what the creators have said about the series, literally anything is canon, lol. which is fun. And creators have lied to their audience before, but like.

I feel like Qrow being Ruby’s dad brings almost nothing to the table. It brings something, obviously, but like, what I mean is that it doesn’t bring enough worth lying about it.

Spoilers for Steven Universe, but when the crewniverse lied about Rose Quartz being Pink Diamond, it was because it was a hugely SIGNIFICANT plot point in the show. It changed almost EVERYTHING.

Qrow being Ruby’s dad wouldn’t be some huge plot point. It’d just be a surprise that was kept for seemingly no reason other than to be a surprise. (Granted, RWBY’s pretty good at this sort of thing I feel like, with the moon and the silver eyes being examples LMFAO.) I’m all for adding development that doesn’t advance the plot, but I just don’t think it’d be a good thing.

It’d turn out that Yang and Ruby are actually blood related first cousins and not half sisters. Maybe Qrow felt that Tai would be a better dad for her with his bad luck semblance and wanted to stay out of her life, but why stay on the sidelines as an uncle? I understanding wanting to see her and spend time with her anyway, but doesn’t that seem risky and counterproductive to the point of staying out of her life? Why tell some random stranger that’s attacking Ruby to “leave my niece alone” if he really doesn’t want to get involved in her life? Why be as involved as he is in her life if he wanted to stay away? I get that it’d be more than likely because he wanted to be in her life anyway, but still. Why be an important figure in her life when you were specifically looking to NOT be an important figure in her life.

Why would Tai lie about it either? He never lied to Yang about Raven. At her age, he could’ve easily said that Summer was her mother to make things easier on her. He went out of his way to do his best to paint her as a good person and not be bitter about it all, despite having obvious tense feelings. (Which I guess, is a lie, but you get my point.) Besides Qrow trying to stay out of her life and failing, and the possibility of Summer leaving him for Tai or cheating on Tai with him (or polyparents), I just don’t think it adds to the story. Yang and Ruby being cousins instead of sisters would just be... weird. They’d obviously still view each other as sisters and that wouldn’t change, but yeah. Painting them as sisters for 6+ volumes just to turn it around would be weird. Her relationship with Tai would possibly change from there, but she would still view him as her dad too. She’d still have that view of Qrow as her Uncle as well. Would it change anything besides add tension between them?

I’m much more happy and interested in him being her uncle, and Ruby and Yang being half sisters . I think it brings more to the table than her being her dad. I love the love Yang and Ruby have as half siblings and the Love Qrow and Ruby have as Uncle and niece despite the fact Qrow isn’t blood related to Ruby more than I would love/like the idea of Qrow being Ruby’s dad

#This is just about a popular headcanon #and like I said it's not hating on anyone I just wanted to talk about it on my blog #lol

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animebw · 5 years ago

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Binge-Watching: Little Witch Academia, Episodes 17-20

It’s been far too long since I watched this show, but we’re back at it at last! And sweet buttery Christmas, what a fantastic stretch of episodes to return to.

I Love Amanda

There are few things I appreciate in fiction more than tough girls who could kick my ass any day of the week. Maybe it’s a reflex after suffering through so much of media’s ugliness when it comes to tropes like “defrosting the ice queen” (which anime still has plenty of, to be clear), but when a show allows its female characters to be legitimately abrasive and rough, with no qualifications or asterisks necessary, that always speaks very well to me of how much respect it’s willing to show its leading ladies. And Amanda is easily among the best exemplars of that particular trope I’ve seen in a while. She may not be the most complex character in the cast, but the focus she gets in episode 17 only drives home just how goddamn inspiring it is to see characters like her. She’s tough, she’s rough, she’s cool, she’s in-your-face, and she compromises for no one and nothing. And in a show this dedicated to the idea of forging your own path through life, that kind of individualist spirit is really able to shine. I could spend ages watching her spit on the shoes of the snobs at Andrew’s academy, drilling humility into them through sheer force of personality. In a sense, Amanda’s kind of the perfect distillation of the inner fire that drives Little Witch Academia. While Akko’s still struggling to brace against the outdated traditions of the magic world, Amanda just gets right up in there and breaks them. Her swordfight on the bridge is easily the best straight-up blade duel I’ve seen in a while, kinetic and ferocious and fun in the explosive way only Trigger can really be. And that’s to say nothing of her going full shonen protagonist and powering up to take down that creepy-ass demon armor. Bottom line, Amanda’s fucking amazing, and I hope we get to see plenty more of her fighting spirit before all is said and done.

Row Row Fight the Power

But Amanda’s not the only member of the side character team to get some welcome focus this stretch of episodes. Constanze the quiet tinkerer gets episode 18 all to herself and her inventions. And Jesus. Fucking. CHRIST. I know I said last time that it seemed like the second half of LWA was gonna go full Trigger madness, but I wasn’t ready for THIS:

If you told me going into this show that we were gonna have a straight-up Gurren Lagann ripoff, I don’t think I would’ve believed you. Even for Trigger’s self-referential sensibilities, shoving a giant mecha battle into a wholesome series about young witches seemed like a bridge to far. But they actually fucking did it. And they didn’t half-ass a single moment. From Akko’s attempt at the classic Gainax pose being thwarted by the ground opening up underneath her feet to the magic energy port all but looking like a spiral energy port to the incredible 2D mech animation to the dynamic-as-hell posing to the “faces layered on top of each other as they push forward screaming in determination” to parodying Lagann’s most famous phrase- ”Believe in the heart that believes in magic!”- this scene came right the hell out of nowhere and kicked so much ass that I think I’m still laughing from the sheer audacity of it all. Sweet buttery Jesus, this show is incredible.

But even outside the jaw-dropping glee of this episode’s climax, the time we spend with Constanze is plenty powerful in its own right. There’s a great lesson in here about how Akko needs to learn to respect the boundaries of others, as her over-eager attempts to make up the damage she caused only end up doing more harm than good (which Sucy perfectly calls out). Akko’s over-exuberant extroversion has always been her biggest stumbling block; the force of her personality is so strong that it often invades everyone else’s personal space without so much as a word of permission. It’s hard for her to leave well enough alone when she thinks she needs to get something done, which isn’t always helpful when a more hands-off approach might be the better course. And I relate a lot to Constanze in that whenever I set my mind on a project, I really like doing it alone. There’s something about being beholden to no one’s thoughts but your own that really gets the creative focus going strong. That doesn’t mean she can’t accept help, or that she can’t be inspired by having others around; just look at how literally fired up she gets at the prospect of designing Gurren Lagann. But she needs to accept that help on her own terms, and it’s on Akko to respect that space. In the end, she proves helpful to Constanze not by rushing in and trying to fix everything herself, but by doing what she can, helping out and contributing to the big picture while leaving the controls still firmly in her companion’s hands. And considering how long it’s taken her to learn that lesson, it’s inspiring to finally see her embrace it.

Cavendish

But the true test of this newfound willingness to respect other’s boundaries doesn’t come with Constanze at all. It comes in the following arc, as the story finally returns to the show’s best character and super-charges her arc into a pair of the show’s best episodes. I’ve loved Diana pretty much since the beginning; she’s such a fresh take on the rival character, someone whose antagonism is justified and genuinely works to make the hero a stronger, more mature person. So you know any episode that dived into her past was gonna be a winner for me. But my god, this was spectacular. This was everything great about Little Witch Academia in the space of less than an hour, all its biggest strengths working at full capacity to deliver a knockout punch of a character arc that leaves me singing this show’s praises harder than I ever have before. It’s been too long since I watched this show, but I couldn’t have asked for a better story to come back to.

It was clear from the moment that Diana made the decision to leave Luna Nova for her family’s sake that she was carrying a far heavier burden on her shoulders that appearances would lead to believe. Diana, of all people, the living symbol of academic success, deciding to leave school behind? There was no way this was what she really wanted to do. Whatever was drawing her back home, it must have been something truly important. And it absolutely was: her family name was at risk of being eternally tarnished by the irresponsible antics of her aunt, its current matriarch. From what we learn of the Cavendish family in these episodes, not only is Diana by far the most sensible among her living relatives (which makes Akko hilariously incredulous: ”Kindness? From Diana?”), but her streak of arrogance and haughtiness is actually against the norm for this noble line. The Cavendish family was a magic family based on kindness, dedicated to using their magic to help others. Ally or enemy, friend or foe, if you came to their lands in need, they offered a place to rest and a shoulder to lean on. But as all things magic in this world, the advance of the new tore away the foundations of the old, and that same stuffy selfishness that’s enveloped the rest of the magic world is descending over the Cavendish name as well. It’s no wonder Diana turned out so snobbish, despite her better intentions; even her maid isn’t above condescendingly sniping at Akko for her perceived deficiencies, making sure she hears every word. And the rest of her family, the family that currently runs the damn place? Woof. Let’s just say it’s a miracle she managed to retain any of her good graces.

But retain them she did regardless, and the justifiable fire that’s always driven her has never been stronger than when she finally stands up to her freaky-ass snake aunt and puts her foot down on claiming the family name back from her. Good fucking god, watching Diana snap and refuse their warped vision for the world of magic moving forward is amazing. As much as she clings to the past herself, part of her never lost faith in the magic her mother believed in, the magic that works for the good of all, the magic that Chariot inspired in her. There’s a reason she still keeps a card of the legendary witch locked in a precious box; much like Akko, she could never give up faith in the magic that Shiny Chariot made her believe in. And once again, I love how justified her desire to return is! This isn’t a scenario where she’s obviously wrong and needs to be talked down with the power of friendship, she has a legitimate reason to return as head of the family! And that reason is the same reason that’s driven Akko all this time: because she believes in magic. Because she wants to fight to make it something worth protecting. And if she can accomplish that by leaving her dreams behind and taking on the responsibility of fixing her family, then that’s what she’s gonna do. It’s courageous, it’s determined, it rejects the easy way out in a way that makes sense, it justifies the dark places she goes to... it is nothing more or less than pure Diana Cavendish. When she grows up, she is going to do her mother so proud.

I’ll Fight For You

Of course, for all Diana’s determination in the face of impossible odds, the fact remains that she can’t handle this trial alone. She’s fought so hard for so long to be everything her mother wanted her to be, but the influence of her darker family has still wormed its way into her. She’s stuck in a binary mindset, believing there’s only one option and only one way to go. There’s a fantastic moment during her argument with Akko on the school battlements where she chokes out that the Shiny Rod chose Akko, and only Akko, and she has to abide by that decision. Diana believed so much in Shiny Chariot, tried so hard in her own way to live up to that example. But her legacy was taken on by someone else, someone new to magic, someone who inadvertently snatched her dreams right out from under her. And if she wants to fight for the magic she believes in now, she feels that there’s no other option for her but to leave everything she hoped for behind and take on a burden she is in no way ready for. She’s trying her best, but she’s still trapped inside her own head. She needs someone on her side who can drag her out, someone who can break through her ingrained hang-ups and give her the perspective she needs to come to the right conclusion.

She needs someone... like Akko.

Because for as vastly different as they are in personality, Akko and Diana were always far more alike than either of them realized. They were both underdogs, struggling to learn magic from the ground up when it seemed like it would never come to them, putting their faith in this art because it was genuinely meaningful for them. They both know what it’s like to struggle against the constrains of their very being, even when all hope seems lost that they’ll ever get better. And despite everything, they see that strength in each other. It doesn’t even matter to Akko how antagonistic Diana’s been towards her; from the moment she hears about her leaving, she starts tracking her down, determined to make her stay no matter what. And when Diana’s family starts dismissing Akko for her imperfections, Diana’s the first one to take on her defense. Because they know each other. They’ve clashed and ricocheted over countless moments of almost seeing eye to eye, countless moments of recognizing the good in each other even as they’ve kept each other at arms length. And they’ve helped each other grow every step of the way. Diana’s thoughtful criticism has been one of Akko’s most important lessons in growing as a person. And now, Akko’s unbound determination is exactly what Diana needs to finally break free.

Because despite her naivitee, Akko’s faith in the power of magic is everything that Diana needs it to be. It’s not bound by rules or customs, not beholden to some stuffy idea of what magic is “supposed” to be. Her magic is free. More importantly, it’s freeing. She can hear all the perfectly justifiable reasons why Diana’s taken the path she’s on and still come away knowing that something needs to change, because when logic fails to make emotional sense, then logic needs to be cast aside. Because, as she so succinctly puts it as she dashes in to save her rival from an impossible situation, rules were made to be broken. You don’t have to be bound by what you think you’re supposed to be. Hell, Akko just had an entire conversation about that topic with Andrew back in episode 17, and no mouse has ever been more convincing in their arguments. These kids don’t need to be bound by the past. They don’t have to be beholden to family, or legacy, or destiny. They only have to be beholden to themselves. It’s Diana’s choice to become head of the family and protect its legacy, and Akko has to learn to respect that. But as Akko makes her realize, it’s also Diana’s choice to do everything she wants to do, to go to school, to learn about magic, to pursue Chariot’s legacy and carry on her hope with head held high. She doesn’t need to choose between them. She doesn’t have to choose between past and future. She can do both. Because between you and me, Akko knows that if anyone could manage such an impressive workload, it would be Diana Goddamn Cavendish.

Old and New

And holy hot dogs on a toaster, watching Diana finally crack before the sonic wall of optimism that is Akko is incredible. Watching her steely facade crumble, watching her realize how much this idiot’s determination means to her... this show’s always had god-tier facial expressions, but Diana’s flustered bewilderment at Akko’s support for her dreams was delightful on a level I was not prepared for. How liberating must it have been for her to be able to show that level of weakness. To show shock and uncertainty, to be panicked and embarrassed, to let herself finally be a person in the presence of someone she cared about instead of a walking symbol of everything laid upon her shoulders? For the first time in her life, she had someone whole-heartedly believe in her, someone willing to support her dreams and push her to be better, and she could not handle it. It’s amazing. It’s really goddamn amazing. And watching such a stoic character finally allow herself to break into an impossibly bright smile, offering her rival to come with her on their greatest challenge yet, was one of the most exhilarating moments in this show yet. I am so goddamn happy for Diana. I am so goddamn happy she and Akko have found each other. I am so goddamn happy that such a consistently invigorating character got such a triumphant closure to the pain that was driving them. From here on out, Diana no longer has to be solely the inheritor of her family name. Now, she’s Diana the legacy bearer, Diana the student, Diana the rival, Diana the dreamer, Diana the friend, and so much more all at the same time. She is Diana the old and Diana the new, all the best of both sides working together to make something really goddamn special. Because as this show is so fond of proving, when the old allows itself to evolve and the new allows itself to remember its roots, the point where those two connect is nothing short of magical.

This show is good. It’s really goddamn good. And I can’t believe I only have five episodes to go before it’s over. But for now, we leave off with Diana being the biggest tsundere in the world and Akko giving her endless shit for it as they ride home together, and frankly, I can’t think of a better stopping point than that.

Odds and Ends

-Okay but how the fuck is professor Croix still able to walk around unmolested after trying to steal Akko’s memories

-”This isn’t a trial at all, idiot!” Ah, good old Salem.

-”I didn’t know you were capable of regret.” kajsdhasdh oh my GOD

-YES FEED THE AKKO BY HAND

-Okay but is this entire episode gonna be nothing but quality Akko Screams(tm) because I would be 100% okay with that

-Listen LaCroix, I’m willing to accept you know what you’re doing, but man you’re a clog in the machine here.

-”Look, guys, I’m actually flying on a broom!” I’m so proud of my baby.

-Oh, that was a quality Akko face upon seeing Andrew. I swear, this prick pops up at all the best times.

-OKAY LISTEN YOU CAN’T JUST SMACK ME WITH DIANA IN CRICKET CLOTHES LIKE THAT YOU GOTTA PREPARE ME FOR SUCH PERFECTION

-Akko is me at fancy parties. Fuck manners, just get the food in my face.

-”This is nothing compared to Sucy’s poison!” When suddenly, The Princess Bride.

-Okay, but this broom is going so fast that Akko’s literally making chicken noises, and I love it.

Let the magic continue. See you next time!

#anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw #little witch academia #lwa

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percywinchester27 · 6 years ago

Text

Unconventional Roommates (Part-2)

Word count: 2.3K

Pairing: Dean X Reader

Warnings: None

Series Summary: Now that his brother is at Stanford, for the first time in his life, Dean does something for himself. He takes a step towards chasing his own dreams and moves away from Lawrence to start college, which is both thrilling and scary at the same time. Only catch, in this unknown town, he is stuck with the MOST infuriating female on the planet- the roommate from hell!

A/N: I really hope you guys like this part <3

Beta read by the amazing @deanssweetheart23. Thank you for putting up with me, love <3

Dean woke up late. Of frigging course.

He had set an alarm for 7, but somehow today had to be the lucky day when it didn't go off. Dean took the quickest shower of his life, threw on the first clothes his hands landed on in the unsorted pile of boxes, grabbed a bag and made his way out of the apartment, not paying a second glance to the door opposite to his.

In the hindsight, it was probably all her fault. Even thinking about her made Dean clench his teeth, and what bothered him more was that he didn't know why he was so bothered. For crying out loud, he didn't even know her name.

As he put his car on the road, another thought occured to him, but Dean didn't want to accept that girl could have been even a little helpful to him after all. But the truth was, if it hadn't been for her, he'd have spent the whole night worrying about today, and the University. However, the legendary conversation with her had driven everything out of his mind, and he'd spent what little time he had been awake, rerunning the whole thing in his head and regretting over the comebacks he could have used instead.

But that also meant he had had a better sleep. Childishly, Dean was satisfied again that he could, at least, blame her for oversleeping. Then, he was annoyed about how stupid the whole deal was.

His first thought as he parked his baby was how daunting and intimidating the campus was. It was probably bigger than the part of Lawrence he'd grown up in, but that also meant it was going to be hard to navigate his way around. Late as he was, he quickly got out of the car and hurried to the student's council office, asking his way around. The kid working the front desk was about Sam's age. He gave Dean a once over, then asked him to wait in the seating area.

Dean, however, couldn't sit still. He could see that his feet tapping continuously on the linoleum was annoying the counter guy, but that made him more nervous if anything. Everything about the place, the laughing youngsters, the fat books, the counter guy with his nerd glasses was making Dean feel out of place. This wasn't him. What if he didn't belong? What if this was all a big stupid mistake?

"Dean Winchester?"

Dean looked up to see a guy with deep blue eyes and black hair smiling down on him.

"That's me." Dean stood up.

"My name is Castiel Novak," he said, offering his hand. "You can call me Cas, and I'm your student counselor."

Dean shook his hand, feeling little better. The guy was, at least, his age if not a little older.

"C'mon. This way," Cas led him.

They walked along the main building as Cas checked up on the papers he was carrying. "So, this says you're from Lawrence, Kansas and you're enrolled in Mechanical Engineering with a major in Automobiles Design."

"Yep!"

"That's cool, man." Cas commended. "And directly into the second year?"

"Yeah," Dean said, not knowing what else to say.

"This says," Cas read on. "That you were a teaching assistant in the Mech. Department at the community college there for three years? Without a degree?"

Dean shrugged. "It wasn't official."

Truth was, it was more money. On the off chance that Sam hadn't scored that scholarship, there had to be some extra money, right? So, Dean had worked part time at the Automobile Lab in the community college for that. It was no big deal. He knew quite a lot about how cars worked from working at Rufus'. Cas' admiration was making him a little uncomfortable though.

"So, that's what got you directly into the second year, I see," Cas concluded. "This is good stuff."

Dean nodded again, choosing to stay quiet.

"Alright," Cas pointed to a building on the left. "That is the auditorium. Beyond that the library. What we just passed was the visitor's centre. I'm sure you figured that out for yourself." Cas smiled genially and Dean immediately took a liking to him.

"Are you an engineering student, too?" Dean asked. Life would be easier knowing that there was at least one person you knew.

Cas, however, laughed. "Hardly. I'm a journalism major. I'm the assistant editor at the college newspaper, too." Then something seemed to hit him. "Tell you what? You should totally join the newspaper. Anyway, you have to take an additional activity that isn't part of your course work for the extra credits. We could use someone new."

"Oh, hell no!" Dean put his hands up. The idea that he was any good with words was downright laughable. "I can't write to save my life."

"But that's the thing," Cas pursued. "You don't have to write. How good are you with a camera?"

"Not bad," Dean said cautiously. Sam had bought him a good camera as a gift for his birthday this year. He'd fumbled around with it, mostly happy with his pictures. But what did he know of critical photography?

"You should drop some of them at the newspaper office. Maybe it's something you'll find useful," he hinted. "As it is I'm guessing you have a lot to catch up with since you're a week late and joining in the advance class."

The rest of the campus tour was pretty interesting. Cas was meticulous about showing him every building. Giving him the inside scoop on the faculty and the general gossip about students. Dean was relieved to know that students his age weren't actually uncommon. That in fact, most of his class might be older than he was. Cas also told him that Mech. department had a couple of great kids he could definitely hang out with.

"Just think over the photography thing," Cas reminded him as he dropped Dean off in front of the Automobile Workshop. "Go find Professor Barnes in there. She's good. And if you need anything at all, you have my number. Just give me call. We all hang out in the quadrangle after classes, drop by if you want."

"I'll remember that," Dean nodded gratefully.

Professor Pamela Barnes was younger than Dean had expected, also way more attractive, but one look at her and it was clear that she was a no nonsense woman. She ran Dean through his schedule, going through his transcripts and work experience, but unlike Cas, her face showed no change in expression. There was no saying what she thought about him.

All she said was that she expected Dean to know his subjects because he had already been through them.

All in all, when Dean stepped out of the building and finally fell into his car, he decided that the day hadn't been a failure. Even though he still wasn't sure how well he'd fit in, he was sure that he, at least, wanted to try. Stepping into that workshop had made all the difference for him. One look around and he was home. He knew that stuff, and unlike Lawrence, here, he was allowed to make mistakes, because he was learning. Just like everyone else and that feeling was… thrilling.

Smiling to himself, he put the car in reverse, only to halt as his phone rang.

He smiled once more at the name flashing on the screen before pressing the answer button.

"Hey there, Sammy."

"Hey there, college boy!"

Dean rolled his eyes.

"Stop rolling your eyes," Sam said. "I know you are."

Dean laughed. It was so good to hear his brother's voice.

"How's it going?" Sam asked.

Dean shrugged, then remembered that Sam couldn't see it. "It’s good. Intimidating, but it looks interesting so far."

"You're a freaking genius, Dean," Sam urged. "One day you're going to see that, too. Maybe this place will help with that."

"We'll see."

Sam hesitated. "There's something else I wanted to ask you about."

"Shoot." Why did he sound so nervous? Was he okay?

"Well…" Sam tarried. "It's actually a girl."

"I'll be damned," Dean grinned. "You got yourself a girlfriend!"

"Hardly," Sam huffed.

"What's her name?"

"Jessica," Sam said, then added. "She's beautiful."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Of course she is. You even talk to her yet?"

Silence.

"Figured," Dean muttered. "Go, talk to her, you dumbass! Paralyzing yourself into a zombie isn't very attractive."

"Shut up!"

"You know it's true. Just go talk to her. Ask her out on a date or something."

"Alright." Dean could hear Sam's smile on the other end. "Take care of yourself."

"You too." The call ended and Dean pocketed the phone with a smile on his face.

By the time Dean reached the apartment, and opened the door, all his thoughts were dedicated to unpacking those boxes and finally settling in with some hint of permanency, but all those thoughts went out the moment he entered the living room. His roommate was passed out on the sofa. The TV was running a WWE match in the background while the girl was lying on her stomach, one hand under her head, the falling down to the floor over the edge of the sofa. A brown beanie covered her head today but the knitted sweater from yesterday was back. She had the most peaceful expression on her face. Innocent and child-like. A smile that was somehow enticing.

Then the wrestler on the TV slammed another wrestler onto the floor with a loud bang and she sat up straight, eyes wide, scanning one side then other quickly till they found him and then narrowed quickly.

"Why were you staring at me sleeping, you creep?"

"I just got in!" Dean defended.

"That's exactly what a creep would say!"

He could actually feel his blood starting to boil. "Lady, I don't know who the fuck pisses in your cheerios every morning, but it ain't me, so stop making me into something that I'm not. Jesus!"

She looked down under the pretense of adjusting her beanie and muttered from the corner of her mouth, so quietly that he barely heard it. "That's what a creep would say."

"Okay, enough of this crap," he said, walking close to her so he was almost in her face. "What's your problem with me?" Asking her upfront would, at least, get him some answers, because the prospect of facing the roommate from hell throughout the whole weekend was honestly disturbing.

"Problem? Problem?" She asked, standing up to face him. Despite being smaller than him in size and height, she demanded attention just by her stature. "It's you, Romeo! Didn't your mother teach you that invading women's personal space is creepy?"

Dean went stoned faced. There was nothing more to say to her.

He turned around and walked back to his room, shutting the door behind him. But in the split second, just before he turned, he saw the anger from her eyes slip, replaced by surprise. She'd expected him to come up with a sassier retort, but the complete lack of response had caught her off guard.

Dean couldn't care less. She hadn't exactly hit where it hurt, because he knew he wasn't being creepy, and that she was being weird and unreasonable. But there was some truth to her last sentence. His mother hadn't been around to teach him much about life.

Sam did it sometimes. Unknowingly, he'd say something that gave away how little attachment he felt towards their mom, and Dean would snap at him. She had been a good woman and she'd loved Sam. Of course, he barely even remembered her, being only six months old when she'd passed away, but Dean did. And then he wondered which of the two situations was better, remembering some of it, or not remembering anything at all.

But this girl wasn't Sam, she didn't know what had happened, so Dean couldn't even snap at her. Sure he was mad at her for being so difficult, but he couldn't logically hold her to what she'd said. She simply didn't know better.

Lying in the half-made bed with boxes all around, Dean stared at the ceiling for a long time as Metallica blasted through the earphones. He missed home. He missed his life from two years ago when Sam was around, when he'd known what to expect out of his life the next day. But Sam was in Stanford now living his life, and as hard as the change was for him, this was his life now.

The chords of Nothing else matters flowed through him and Dean closed his eyes

I never opened myself this way Life is ours, we live it our way All these words I don't just say And nothing else matters…

The light was shining too brightly through the window, and his first thought was remembering why there were no curtains. Groggily, he opened his eyes, staring out of the window to the beautiful view of the sea. This is good, he reassured himself.

He reached for his watch that was lying on the floor and squinted at it. 10:35.

"Damn it!" Dean cursed, sitting up in the bed. Then he remembered that it was a Saturday, he didn't have any classes today.

Running a hand over his face, Dean made his way to the bathroom. As his hand reached out to close the door, his fingers touched a paper. Curious, he looked around to see a single piece of parchment taped to the door. Written on it in a pointy handwriting was a single word.

"SORRY."

Astonished, Dean looked at the red door on the opposite side, it was locked. She wasn't home.

He smiled to himself, thinking maybe, just maybe life here wouldn't be that bad.

****************************

A/N 2: Please do consider reblogging my work and leaving feedback. Reblogging helps spread it, and also helps against the “best posts first” option tumblr has. The more the notes, the less chance of it getting buried beneath others posts. And the comments are what keep me going. I love you guys and I’ll be in forever grateful <3

Here’s my side blog @percywinchester27-writes. You can give that blog a follow and turn the notifications on to know about updates.

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#dean winchester x reader #dean x reader fluff #reader x dean winchester #dean x reader AU #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester reader insert #spn fanfiction #Ana writes Dean #Ana writes UR #anawrites #ur part 2 #q

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