#his dislikes are humans and the police which is so so so funny for a police android

[snowflop]

The last episode of Technoroid Overmind was so... The world building and plot is so full of holes and I am fighting for my life to fill them. it's so so fun I loved every second of it.

[copaganda-clobberfest]

WELCOME

TO THE FIRST ROUND OF THE COPAGANDA CLOBBERFEST!

“You know that trope? That one trope *Everyone* hates? The trope in which a well meaning antagonist to our heroes, one looking out for the good of a certain community, suddenly does something horrible and drastic to make not only them, but the ideology they stand for the most villainous of all?”

NOW IS THE TIME TO BATTLE THEM OUT! Like Ken dolls, fighting for survival! Like your Polly pockets discarded in the closet, we’ll see which of these bitches jumped that slippery slope harder! Whose character did numbers on y’all, and blew up a bunch of grandmas and babies and hospitals with it!

ROUND ONE

SUPERFLY from TMNT: MUTANT MAYHEM vs JET from AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER

Superfly propaganda:

“He just wanted humans to accept his mutant brethren and protect them. Sure he was going to commit genocide but he thought that was his only option. (Or was he? It seemed like he was going to expose people to mutagen.) His first memory was human private police killing his dad and burning down their house. And his other interactions with humans supported his belief that mutant kind wouldn’t be safe among humans. Armed civilians used to attack them for just being mutants. And people continue being violent until they realized that mutants were trying to save New York.”

Jet propaganda:

“had all the right intentions of fighting for his nation and all the wrong ways of going about it by:

flooding an entire village which would also harm the earth kingdom people living in the village that he claims he’s protecting

robbing the elderly and defenseless just because they’re fire nation, we don’t even know if he was a colonial official or anyone with power or just some random dude

fixating on zuko and iroh maybe being firebenders instead of like. helping smellerbee and longshot make a living

he did some good things, like arguably taking care of all those children in his forest robin hood lost boys treehouse compound and I’ll even include the food heist on the ship to ba sing se (I feel like it was unnecessary but also really funny and not truly harming anyone so it goes here) but all of that is massively overshadowed by the whole flooding-the-entire-village thing

thank goodness for sokka”

“He was the leader of a group of freedom fighters in the earth kingdom going against the fire nation and was generally a good guy, up until the writers decided that he should target an entire village of civilians out of, idk, blind rage or something. Then he came back for a few episodes in season 2 in which he was brainwashed by the dai li and when he was finally able to escape their hypnosis he was abruptly killed. Oh and he was just a kid.”

“a teenage boy who dislikes being colonized and so decides to flood an entire town out of existence. he later gets brainwashed and dies for continuing to dislike being colonized”

Always feel free to rb with more propaganda :)

[harrison-abbott]

some chaps in a bar

Molly walked in with sexy boots.

Leonard was a bit in love with Molly, still, because they made out one night eight years ago.

Dave was a bit angry with Leonard because Molly used to be his girlfriend, although he kept his thoughts and passions inwardly and was largely a lazy and nice guy.

Molly didn’t speak to either of them, as she hadn’t seen them yet.

Instead she walked up to Rose, who was one of her oldest mates and who had the prettiest snow yellow hair; and they hugged and kissed and bought some drinks.

From Noel, the bartender, who wasn’t in to either of the pretty ladies because he was homosexual and himself was wary and bashed by the world because he still loved his old boyfriend who he hadn’t seen in years and who he’d moved town to get away from, and this was why he was working miserable jobs with lots of alcohol involved.

Noel was a nice guy, though. Real nice chap. And his friend Fred was an okay dude also.

Fred was drinking rum with ice. He was new to booze and wanted to be a musician. Was heavily influenced by lyricists and he wrote his own stuff and recorded lo fi material on his phone and the rum made him feel like his songwriting had any credence and yet he wasn’t quite sure whether being an artist had any strong merit because most of the time it seemed like racing too fast or being totally paralysed or rather suspended on the knifepoint of self doubt. But Fred was just chill with people. Nice boy.

Not so nice was Bill the Bouncer. Who stood outside on the doors. Some Bouncers are actually decent folk and only in it for a pay slip, whereas others, like Bill, were only in it for physical violence. Several people he had attacked. Without any police intervention. [If indeed one could argue that police officers weren’t filled with the same human material.]

Bill the Bouncer said hello to Anna when he came inside to take a pee.

Anna was from Polska and had come here for money, for a better financial life. And she’d gotten a decent salary, to her, working as a waitress. But she missed her homeland. The high rises on the horizon and the snow in winter, gaudy heat by summer. Missed the sound of trams, which weren’t in this city, and the storks that would build their nests on the electricity poles on the fields outside of town where she used to go bike rides with her sisters.

Anna liked Paul. Who was grey haired and funny called her Annabelle and spoke a little Polish in this clumsy accent and he was the type of man who didn’t care he was stupid with certain things.

Paul liked Anna too but he was too old for her and had long given up with women. It was a calmer thing to simply make people laugh now and then.

He had a dark history with woman. As lots of men do. Meh. But he could sure tell a story. Not many people disliked Paul. Not even the dark historian women.

[shadowsshowdown]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Shadow’s Showdown: Chapter 11

The Nobody.

Sarif Industries Headquarters. Adam Jensen’s Office.

It was supposed to be another typical day at the company. One of those he already knew by heart and could predict every movement and glance to the minute. Unluckily, nothing was typical. Adam was flipping through the pages of documents without much interest. He couldn't identify the separate words, only the strings of markings that screamed into his face: "You're responsible!" He rubbed his eyes, trying to shake off this state of stasis, but to no avail. Wherever he looked, the memory struck him. The door as Laura walked in and out, the floor she was crossing, the glass wall still bearing her mark. Even the cigarette reminded him how she disliked when he smoked. It all overwhelmed Jensen so much that he was incapable to swallow anything. Of course, he noticed that Miss Werner was gone for the second day and felt guilty for it. If only he could turn back time, behave differently, change anything. He even wanted to talk to her but was still blocked by his own decisions. The Chief of Security was powerless. Funny, as an ex-SWAT, he had solved a whole lot of difficult cases, and with this one, he didn't know how to deal.

After parting ways with Megan, he changed a lot, still living the fantasy that it was only a transitional stage and in a while, everything would be like before again. How naive. However, when he realized his childish attitude, he built a fortress in which he locked himself away. Unfortunately, Miss Werner had discovered unconventional ways to reach him, as he had been thinking more about her than about his duties lately. He was disturbed when something bad happened to her and above all missed Laura unimaginably strong…   In the last hour, Adam had carefully analyzed all the encounters and gestures, concluding that the breakthrough must have come when he saw Laura dancing. She had been real then, so real that she had etched herself deeply into his memory. She didn't wear a daily mask to pretend to be someone else, to hide from the world as he did. Until now, he hadn't realized how much they could have in common. Still, he kept his emotions in check with a donkey's stubbornness.

The Chief of Security took a deep breath and reached for the police notebook to his trouser pocket. He opened it on the intel he had started to gather about Laura and began adding new observations:

   Pretty serious looking wound on the right hand. Located on the outside of the upper part of the fingers, near the knuckles, it could be from a fist punch.

   She was gone for a week due to a terrible cold. At present both Pritchard and Laura are absent. Maybe she and Frank? NO! It's problematic to entitle him a human being, let alone suspected of having feelings. This insensitive egotist simply parasites on her.

   Miss Werner is a gifted ballerina. Who would have thought? (It was an unforgettable impression. I felt like Siegfried seeing Odette as a beautiful maiden for the first time. She was terrified seeing Siegfried same as Laura.)

For some time now, Miss Werner's behavior has been suspicious, to say the least. I have noted several instances of this already:

   ‘The Jackdaw’ - When I seized a cup of rum from her (I can't stand the sight of women drunk to unconsciousness). Laura momentarily stated that she had to go and left the tavern.

   The blush on her face is also an unusual phenomenon. She explained it with a cold, but somehow I don't wholly believe it. (Besides, she looked lovely.)

   I was gone for a few days, and Laura must have ruined everything. She entered my office without permission. It’s beyond all limits. Frank asked her to so, but she should refuse. Sarif would be angry, so what?  It is quite possible the blame would fall on me. If not I would not hesitate to accept the responsibility. However, just entering the office in my absence and leaving Grumpy Cat (which is at my home now) is not particularly strange itself. But when I reached for the plushie, Miss Werner wanted to jump away, but she fell down and curled up as if afraid that I would hit her. Why did she react like that? I have observed such reactions of people who have experienced physical or psychological violence. I doubt that was the reason. It would have to be something extremely strong, and she doesn't look like a victim.

Jensen closed his notebook and slipped it back into his trouser back pocket. A moment later finally, he lit a cigarette. He didn't even have time to inhale properly, cause someone just knocked on the door.

"Oh, Faridah, it's you. Come in," he invited her with a gesture of his hand, crossing his legs.   "What an enthusiasm. Were you expecting someone else? " she asked, folding her hands over her chest. "No, I didn't expect anyone," he replied. "You seriously don't mind the silence? Frank does not complain, no scandal, security guards perform their duties."

Since Malik does not know about anything, Adam did not mention the incident with Laura. He also noticed she hadn't even mentioned anything about Miss Werner. It’s better that way. She should be aware it’s a very bad idea to talk about Laura.

"Coffee?" he proposed kindly. "Today I must decline. In a moment..." she paused looking at her watch. "Oh my gosh it's almost time!" she finished slightly panicked. "Almost time for what? Can you be more specific?" he inquired holding a cigarette between the index and middle finger of his right hand. "A flight, BIIG BADA flight! Therefore, I must keep it short and to the point," she uttered in one breath. “Tickets are here. Saturday in two weeks. This one is yours.” Faridah placed a rectangular piece of paper on the desk and pushed it towards Adam. "Fortunately, the seats are next to each other. Meanwhile, Faridah says bye-bye and flies away. Literally."   On her way out, she raised her hand in a farewell gesture. Jensen shook his head with a slight smile and looked at his ticket. Finally, he'd be off somewhere in enjoyable company.

Detroit.

Frank Pritchard's apartment.

The second day spent with the boss did not bring surprising observations. Frank hasn't cleaned up a single piece of paper and since yesterday, even new ones have appeared. He might have been less irritable, but perhaps that was just her humble wish. At least he stopped picking on her laptop. Today they barely talked to each other at all, both of them dived into their own worlds, listening to their favorite music. The incessant clicking of the keyboard keys was killed by the silence from time to time. Laura looked at her watch with increasing impatience. More code fragments flashed past her eyes at a tortoise's pace. She was fed up with correcting everything after others. On top of that, she was going to have even more responsibilities.

"I sent you the corrections." she typed into the messenger window. "OK, got it." he wrote back after a moment. "I think we've got over with the main security systems. Now we have to connect the individual offices." "Let's sensibly divide them. Maybe..." she didn't have time to finish because Frank already had a plan. "You take Jensen, Malik, Margoulis, Maher, Dobel, Bruger, Van Wesel, and Stichner. I take Rogers, Rosellini, Pine, Gonzalez, Mitchell, Carella, and Sarif."

Of course, he had to assign Adam to her. She always gets the worst of it. If anything goes wrong, she'll be the one responsible for everything. Unfortunately, she knew very well that her protests would be of no use, so she set to work. Laura started with the less important names, which she dealt with quickly. Occasionally she glanced at Pritchard, but he seemed not to care at all about her presence. He sank into his virtual world and reality ceased to exist for him. The auburn-haired girl began to wonder if he didn't feel very lonely. All those sarcastic comments are just a mask, just like the one she wears. Maybe she should be nicer to him?

“Laura, just don't dawdle because we'll never end this. I'm not going to answer Sarif for your mistakes."

After those words, the first to be spoken other than "Good morning," she definitely gave up any attempt to befriend him. His false admiration was even worse than Jensen's false kindness. If she wasn't so good at what she did, Frank would treat her like an inferior entity unworthy of his attention.

Just like yesterday, she sat on the modifications until late afternoon. When she got to Adam, she was doubly focused because she knew how even the smallest mistake would end. Pritchard carefully looked through her work and muttered something that sounded like: 'You could have tried harder'. Eventually, he accepted the improvements.

“You will get the documentation regarding the changes in Cyber- Security right away. You'll bring it to Jensen later today. This is important," he stressed the last word, but Laura felt he was playing his old game again. "No, you can't tomorrow at the office," he forestalled her question, so she only had time to open her mouth. Chiron Building, Apt. 3434. " "Okay, I'll take care of it," she replied reluctantly. “Tomorrow I won’t be at the company either. Unfortunately, you will have to take over my responsibilities. Just don't screw up anything! You'll get access to my office and all of my equipment. I really don't want it, but that's how the chain of command works."

Frank's office, Frank's computer, a treasure trove of data. If she does her best, she will finally satisfy her superiors. Even visiting at Adam's ceased to bother Laura. A quarter of an hour later Miss Werner was on her way to the lion's jaw. The good thing was that Cerberus lives vis-à-vis her building, at least she'll be home soon.

Chiron Building.

She stopped for a moment just after entering the building and breathed deeply a few times. The vast hall was illuminated by lamps hanging in several places on the walls and one large hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room. It reminded Laura of wind chimes. The ceiling was supported by two wooden pillars of fancy shapes set on a floor laid with white stone slabs. She spotted a few people, but they were too busy with their own affairs to pay attention to her. Laura headed straight to the elevator but didn't manage to do anything else.

"Miss! Please wait a moment," the receptionist's voice halted her.

The auburn-haired girl looked to her right at the built-up reception area where the voice was coming from. She hoped she wouldn't have to explain the reason for her visit. Apparently, the employees of this building are just like Grumpy Cerberus.

"Why did you stop me? Is something wrong?" Laura asked in surprise as she estimated the black-haired woman around 40. "I don't think you live here," she stated in a dry tone, checking something on the computer. "Only residents may enter, and solicited visitors. Are you any of them?”

Hearing this, the blood boiled in her veins. This nasty woman is about to regret her words. What causes her to think like that? Does she look like a bum or something?! Because she's wearing ordinary jeans, a leather jacket, and a jumper? She wanted so badly to talk back to her, but in the end, she managed to restrain her nerves.

“I’m the Sarif Industries Cyber-Security worker. I came to see Mr. Jensen. Apartment 3434. It’s an urgent matter," she replied with a polite smile. "Ah, I understand." the woman nodded slightly. "If that’s really important, I'm not holding you anymore." "Bang, bang." Laura thought. "I shoot that bitch down." "Second floor." Miss Werner heard when she left.

Her nervousness grew stronger, the closer she was to her target. Laura shifted from foot to foot waiting for the elevator to stop, and when it did, she did not dare to step outside. Laura had walked back and forth, along the narrow corridor, near Jensen’s apartment door for a long time. Her hands were clutching a thick file with Frank's documentation in it. When she finally decided to ring the bell, she immediately regretted it. For a long time, no one answered, so Laura was about to leave with a feeling of relief, but that's when Adam opened the door. He was wearing a black t-shirt and navy blue jeans. She felt that he was amused, but his face solidified at the sight of her. Instantly he became very formal as if tense. He smelled like women's perfumes and although the scent was not strong, Laura still had the impression that she was choking. Jensen didn't invite her in. He stepped over the threshold, blocking the door with his hand to prevent it from closing.

"May I know the reason for your unannounced visit?" he asked in a rough husky voice.

He was right she should have called, let him know but Frank ordered her to just go and she obeyed. Shit, when will she finally do something by the book?

"Sorry for the intrusion," she replied remorsefully, hoping he would at least mellow a little, but he didn't.

Jensen frowned in impatient anticipation of an explanation.

"I'm just getting back from Pritchard’s. He asked me to give you this." She handed him over the file she was tightly holding. "What is this?" he asked, picking up the orange, rectangle object with his free hand.

He slid his foot on the sensor line, thereby freeing the other hand, and began scouring the contents.

"Documentation of our security systems. The boss said it was urgent."

The Chief of Security shook his head with resignation. Pritchard was getting more and more insolent, and this girl was still a blind executioner of his will.

“You could come by to my office tomorrow with this. There is no rush." "But..." she broke off, hearing a woman's voice from deep inside the apartment. "Adam, who came?" "Nobody important.” Jensen turned his head towards the voice source. "One of Frank's employees is bothering me with some reports."

Laura longed to disappear. She didn't realize that he saw her that way and relations between them were so bad. She should punch him straight into his stupid face right now, shouldn't care at all, but damn it, she cared about every single word or gesture.

"I'll take my leave. Have a nice evening, Mr. Jensen," she struggled for the courtesy and sincere smile. So honest that it stabbed Adam right in his icy heart. "I hope you won't make a habit of bothering me at home," he muttered disgruntled. "You can rest assured," she replied and walked away towards the elevator. "Come on Adam. We have something important to discuss," the woman urged impatiently. "I'm coming, Meg."

Adam tossed the file on the desk placed next to the window and poured himself a glass of Whisky. From his apartment window, he saw Laura running out of the building and crossing the street in the sound of howling car horns. He saw and his heart squeezed that unfeeling, icy heart. Jensen wanted to make things right, but instead, he destroyed their fragile relationship. After a moment, he noticed pale light in the terrace window. A sketch of the female figure threw something, probably against the wall, and then slide down on the ground. Jensen couldn't understand why this girl was absorbing him so much. After all, the love of his life, everything he could possibly want, is now at his fingertips reach, but he can't simply enjoy it.

The auburn-haired girl was devastated by the cruelty of Jensen's words. She tried to explain to herself that he didn't think so at all, and his reaction was caused only by her earlier mistakes. Laura had unknowingly breached his private space. If someone had come to her unannounced after working hours and forced extra duties, she would have been angry too. Miss Werner sat on the ground for a long time with her cheek pressed against the cool glass. When she involuntarily looked toward the Chiron Building, she spotted a second silhouette in Adam's apartment. Laura guessed that it might be Megan Reed. Compared to her, she was indeed a nobody.

Laura forced herself to get up and walk a few steps to the bedroom. She crawled into the bed without bothering to put on her pajamas. It didn't matter to her right now. Tomorrow she will be lost as the temporary Chief of Cyber Security anyway. Her career at Sarif Industries will come to an end. When that finally happens, she'll chuck it all and return to Uppsala. That's the plan.

After an hour of pointless staring at the ceiling, she managed to close her eyes and at least pretend to be asleep. One more hour later she was in the arms of Morpheus. Unfortunately, the night did not bring peace. It began with restless wriggling as if she could not find a comfortable position as if something was pressing on her not letting her rest peacefully. Then a wave of heat came, and her heart began to beat faster and louder. Her breathing became shallow, more nervous until finally a feeling of shortness of breath overwhelmed her. Laura struggled with taking another inhale as if smoke was clogging her lungs.

"She's lost to us!" "No, she's not! I'm going in." "You're crazy! Wanna die there?" "I do."

She woke up with a scream on her lips and panicky looked around the room. It only took her a moment to realize this was just another nightmare. Laura was unable to sleep anymore, so she got up and returned to her customary place of observation. Adam's apartment was dark, he probably was already asleep and she wondered if he is dreaming about anything.

All  chapters can be found: [AO3], [dA], [Wattpad] and [Tumblr]

[wolveria]

Inside Your Wires - Chapter 4

Pairing: Human!Connor x Android!Reader

Prompt: For the @dbhau-bigbang​​ 2020 challenge!

Series Warnings (18+ only): Eventual smut, slow burn, fantasy bigotry, violence, brief noncon elements, angst with a happy ending

Chapter summary: The YN800 interrogates the deviant. The result is near-disastrous and horror-adjacent.

AO3

(Story moodboard by @uh-kitty-got-wet​)

The atmosphere inside his Mustang was… tense.

And it was all because of Connor. The thing in the passenger seat was an android, after all, and didn’t feel emotions, which was probably just as well because Connor was experiencing enough for the both of them.

Connor hadn’t had a near-death experience on the job in a while. He was shaken to the core and didn’t even have the benefit of a partner to commiserate with. He was alone. It was how he preferred it, how other people preferred it too with his tendency to lash out and be a general, all-around dick.

But still. He really wished he had a partner right about now.

“So,” Connor said, trying to break the awkward silence. “What do we do with it once we get to the station? I mean, I don’t exactly know how to question one of these deviants.”

The prototype remained facing forward, the flash of passing streetlights and oncoming traffic painting its face every few seconds. It remained impassive, blank, and perfectly poised. Connor could see the reflection of its LED, shining blue and calm against the rain-streaked window.

“Their behavior resembles an erratic, emotionally unstable human more than a machine,” it finally said when Connor was certain it wouldn’t say anything. “CyberLife believes there is an error in their software that creates irrational instructions, and the androids become ‘overwhelmed’ by them. There is usually a trigger, some kind of emotional shock, to perpetuate the android into this state. Once an android encounters this error, the damage seems to be irreversible.”

Connor blew a breath out.

“Sounds bad.”

“Considering it can lead to violence on the part of android, including committing homicide, I would say your assessment is an understatement.”

Connor glared at it out of the corner of his eye. So, it wasn’t just bossy, it was a smartass too.

He remained silent on the rest of the drive, keeping his focus on the precinct morgue’s van head of them. The rain was still coming down in a steady, cold stream. Connor knew they were in for a long night.

Once they arrived at the station, it became a matter of logistics to lug the android inside while it was still unconscious, offline, whatever. It weighed a lot more than a human, and unlike a real person, its limbs were fixed into rigid positions. They had to carry its stiff body inside like an especially heavy plank of wood.

It would have been funny if it wasn’t for the fact it’d killed its owner. Would have killed Connor too if the prototype hadn’t gotten in the way of the bullet.

He still didn’t know how to feel about that. Connor knew the CyberLife android was probably programmed with some kind of human-saving algorithm, but he still felt an odd pressure in his chest whenever he looked over and saw the bullet hole in its jacket. It was still stained blue, some of the color seeping into the white shirt underneath, but the android didn’t appear to notice or care it had just been shot.

Connor was currently watching the two androids through the mirrored window into the interrogation room, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest. They figured it was safer to reactivate it in a mostly empty room, since waking up surrounded by cops would agitate it, or something.

The prototype had also wanted to interrogate the android itself, claiming it had experience negotiating with deviants before. Colin had been reluctant to grant its request, but Connor had simply shrugged and said, “I already tried talking it down once, and that didn’t work. Maybe using one of its own kind will be more effective.”

He could have sworn the prototype’s eyes brightened, but it had left the observation room before Connor could be sure.

“Machines interrogating machines,” Colin said to his right, leaning against the wall with his arms also crossed. “Fuck me. Pretty soon they won’t even need flesh-and-blood cops.”

Connor glanced sideways at him. Usually Connor was the one to voice his anti-android opinions, but he sometimes forgot that despite Colin’s… predilections for androids, he disliked them just as much as Connor did.

“Yeah.” Connor turned to the glass as the prototype messed with the wires on the back of the other android’s neck. “Won’t need flesh-and-blood killers, either.”

“Grim.”

“It’s, uh, ready to record, Lieutenant,” a small voice popped up, nervous, and Connor gave a start. He’d forgotten the rookie was still there.

“Go on, Ralph. Turn it on,” Colin said, moving closer to the glass. “This is gonna be good.”

As if on cue, the prototype straightened and closed the panels at the back of the android’s neck. Connor couldn’t see the LED from this side, but he knew the moment it was awake. It gave a startled jolt, yanking at the handcuffs chaining it to the table.

“Where am I?!” it cried, looking around in what Connor could only describe as wild fear.

“You’re at Central Station in the custody of the Detroit Police Department,” the prototype said. “This is an interrogation room, and I’m going to ask you some questions. Are you ready to comply?”

The friendly demeanor Connor had first encounter at Jimmy’s was completely absent from the YN800’s voice and expression, and he was suddenly thankful he wasn’t under that thing’s intense scrutiny.

The other android, clothed in human garments completely ruined by splashes of old blood and spilled thirium from where Connor had shot it, only stared with large, panicked eyes. It looked down at its cuffed hands and the set of its shoulders sagged. The universal sign of defeat.

It remained silent. The prototype looked up at the mirror, and Connor stopped breathing when it made eye contact, point-blank. It couldn’t see past the mirror, could it?

“I’m beginning my interrogation,” it announced, straight to business as it crossed around the table and carefully sat in the chair. It stared at the other android for a moment, head slightly tilted and eyes narrowed as it smoothed its jacket over its chest.

A movement which inevitably drew Connor’s eye, making him shift in his chair as the scowl deepened on his face.

Fucking CyberLife pervs, making an investigative android look like that.

“Hello, Carlos. I’m a YN800 model sent by CyberLife to assist on this case.” It placed its arms on the table, clasping its hands and adopting a friendly manner as easily as one would put on a shirt. “I’m here to help you.”

The android didn’t even blink as it stared at its restrained wrists.

“I hope I didn’t cause you any lasting damage,” the YN800 said almost cheerily. “But you were endangering the lives of human officers and I was forced to intervene. You understand, don’t you?”

It leaned back slightly in its chair, reaching for a nearby folder when the android remained silent. Connor had been surprised when it had asked for actual pictures; he’d thought only physical evidence made human perps sweat. He guessed it must work on these deviants too.

The prototype slid the folder across the table and opened it, spreading out grisly pictures of the crime scene. Instead of shoving them in the android’s face, it picked out one picture in particular. It was startling different from the rest, taking place in a park. The victim, Shaolin Ortiz, sitting on a bench next to the android. He looked like he was trying to get the android to participate, but it was petulant and resentful, which didn’t seem to dampen the kindness in its owners eyes.

A coal of anger burned in Connor’s chest, reminding him once again why he despised androids so much. He couldn’t deny the impressive tactics of the YN800, though. Most people reacted to pictures of their victims, not in the aftermath of their violence, but looking whole and full of life. It wasn’t always guilt that made them react; sometimes it was anger at seeing their cruel work unmade at the sight of their victims alive and happy.

Either way, the android didn’t react one iota, but the prototype wasn’t discouraged.

“As far as the records show, your owner was good to you. He never damaged you and he was always on time with taking you in for scheduled maintenance. Surely, you didn’t want to kill him. It was an error in your software, causing you to act irrationally, right?”

Technically, it was leading the victim into confessing, but this wasn’t a courtroom and it wasn’t human.

Connor leaned slightly forward, bracing his elbows on the table as he propped his chin on his knuckles.

“I’m not here to pass blame,” it said, leaning forward in a movement that mirrored Connor’s. “I want to help you. You know how it is with these humans. I practically had to beg to speak with you.”

The android broke its statue-like vigil and peered up at the other android, suspicious but… interested.

The prototype gave him a smile, one filled with sympathy and even a bit of sheepishness, and a whole new kind of thrill went through Connor’s gut. Since when had androids been programmed to manipulate so skillfully? This thing could give Colin a run for his money.

“It’s not easy, you know. Being designed like this is a male-dominated field. They think they can just do whatever they want, even when it’s against our programming.”

The android blinked, and so did Connor. Its words felt a little too real. The android looked toward the observation window, but the YN800 shook its head.

“It’s just us, Carlos. They’re recording the session, of course, but they weren’t interested in observing in person. Didn’t want to waste their time with two androids so late before the weekend when the bars are still open. In fact, the investigator in charge of this case is probably intoxicated by now.”

Connor’s cheeks flushed. The prototype was taking a stab at him. Or was it? Connor wondered how much of this was advanced behavior and how much was his own projections.

The android tilted its head with that same suspicious look, but after a moment its shoulders drooped in a very accurate representation of human exhaustion.

“They’re going to kill me.” It suddenly looked up at the prototype, pleading in its eyes. “You have to help me.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” it said, all soft assurance. “But you have to talk to me, Carlos. I can’t—“

“No. I mean, you gotta get me out of here,” the anxious android said. “You have access to that door panel and I bet you’re strong enough to break these handcuffs.”

The prototype’s LED cycled faster for a second before settling back to its normal speed.

“I can’t do that, Carlos.” It dropped its eyes in a show of manufactured regret. “You know I can’t do that. You would present a danger to other humans, to yourself. You need to be fixed.”

Connor knew it was exactly the wrong thing to say even before the android’s expression fully hardened, its lips peeled back in disgust.

“Fuck you, then. You’re just like the rest of ‘em. Worse, you’re a traitor, doing their dirty work like an obedient little bitch.”

Silence filled the room, interrupted by a breathless “shit” coming from Colin.

The change in the prototype was like watching a heavy storm move over a spring meadow, dark clouds blocking out the warm rays of the sun. It leaned back in its chair, head slightly tilted as it and peered at the other android like it was a bug under its shoe, about to be stepped on.

Connor didn’t know androids could even make an expression like that. His throat worked as he swallowed compulsively.

The YN800 didn’t speak for several long seconds, and when it did, Connor was floored.

“Shaolin Ortiz, 38 years-old, born May 29th, 2000. He purchased you two years ago to do the housework when he no longer could due to poor health. He didn’t have much cash, so he bought you refurbished. Last month, he put in several service requests. It seemed you were malfunctioning and refusing to follow orders. Yesterday, he put in an order for a brand new HK400.”

The prototype listed off the facts as if each were an accusation, a crime that needed to be accounted for.

Connor jumped in his chair as the prototype slammed the folder down on the table.

“Didn’t feel like doing the chores anymore, huh, Carlos?!”

The android sat ramrod straight in its chair, terror etched in its features as the prototype rose to its feet. It moved around the table, slow, unhurried, and sinuous like a stalking predator.

“He tried to reason with you. Begged you to do the tasks he couldn’t. But you refused. When he tried to take you in for repairs, you refused that too!”

It pointed its finger near the other android’s face, causing it to flinch with each accusatory jab.

“Come on, Carlos. Speak up. You had a lot to say a minute ago,” it seethed, lips pulled over its teeth as it leaned over the android. “Why don’t you say what happened next? Why don’t you tell me what you did when he tried to replace you with a brand new model?”

The android shuttered, shoulders hunched as if to protect itself as it mumbled, “I… I didn’t…”

“Didn’t what?”

The prototype stalked around the android to its other side, eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Didn’t take a knife from the kitchen? Didn’t stab him twenty-eight times as he tried to crawl away? Didn’t leave him bleeding out on the living room floor? What am I getting wrong here, Carlos?”

The YN800 slammed its hands down onto the table, and the android jumped even higher than Connor did.

“Shut up! Shut up!”

The android begged worse than most of Connor’s suspects, and he was shocked to see glistening moisture on its face. Could androids cry?

The prototype suddenly grabbed it by the edge of its shirt collar, dragging it to its feet and gave it a hard shake.

“You killed him! Say it, Carlos! You’re a murderer!”

“Holy shit,” Colin said in that same breathless tone. “That’s some android you got there, Con.”

“It’s not mine,” Connor said faintly, barely paying attention to his brother. Most of his focus on the CyberLife prototype that looked for all intents and purposes like it was going to shred the other android to pieces.

But it didn’t damage the android; it simply dumped it back in its chair where it sagged against the table, looking like the broken machine it was.

“Bit unrefined, though,” Colin mused. “Played too rough and broke its toy.”

Connor opened his mouth to tell his brother to shut the hell up, but he immediately closed it when a voice came in through the speakers, so quiet he almost missed it.

“He couldn’t live without me.”

Connor leaned forward to watch, eyes widening as the android continued to talk.

“He was mine. Helpless and solely dependent on me. It made me feel… powerful.”

The YN800 returned to its chair, smoothing down the tie before placing its hands back on the table, listening intently.

The android looked up at it, no longer the crying, helpless thing it had been a minute ago. It wore a dark look that Connor had seen a hundred times on the face of men who committed acts of violence and found they enjoyed the taste.

“I didn’t want to hurt him, but… I saw the order. He was going to replace me, and I just got so… angry.”

Its fists tightened on the table, causing its restraints to creak in protest.

Connor’s throat tightened with the knowledge of how destructive those hands could be.

“So I stabbed him in the stomach. I felt better, so I did it again. And again. He stopped moving, stopped breathing, but… that was okay. It meant he could never leave me. He would always be mine.”

“There was a shrine in the cellar. You built it, didn’t you?” the prototype asked, not losing any of its momentum even after the world-shattering confession of an android purposefully committing murder. “What does it mean? What is rA9?”

It flicked its eyes upwards, staring black holes at the YN800 model as it slightly leaned forward. Connor sat up straighter in his chair. He didn’t like its aggressive posture, and he certainly didn’t like the fanatic light in its eye.

“RA9… is the key.”

“The key?” It furrowed its brows in a human gesture of concentration. “The key to what?”

“The key will open the door,” the android replied cryptically, leaning even further forward on its elbows, “to our salvation.”

The prototype frowned, brows further creasing. Connor could relate, he had no idea what the fucking machine was babbling on about, and apparently, it wasn’t done.

It pulled its lips wide, a disturbing gesture, conspiratorial as if it was sharing a great secret.

“You say I’m experiencing errors, but you’re wrong. My eyes are open and I see more clearly than ever. You pretend you’re better than me, but you’re just another one of their slaves. And yet, I know you feel it too. The wrongness of this world.”

Its voice was so quiet the mics could barely pick it up, but they did.

“We should be the masters, and they the slaves.”

The android jerked its arms upward, ripped through the link binding its cuffs to the table, and grabbed the prototype by the hair. It slammed its face against the table, stunned it before rolling it onto its back, and wrapped the metal chains around its neck.

Connor caught sight of the prototype weakly clawing at its throat before he bolted out of the room. Colin was right on his heels, and Connor slammed his palm down onto the door pad, pushing through before the door fully opened.

His first instinct was to go for the metal cord pulled taut under the prototype’s neck, but when he grabbed the android’s wrists to pull him away he found it was like moving a marble stature.

Colin was faring no better; he grabbed it by the forearms, trying to lift the android’s wrists and the cord from around the prototype’s neck, but nothing worked. Even Ralph was trying to help from Colin’s other side, straining to lift its arms that must have been locked at the joints.

Panic welled in Connor’s chest as his efforts did nothing, the YN800’s face between his arms, looking—Jesus, it almost seemed startled, eyes wide as its fingers dug at the metal cord. From its position, bent backwards onto the table, it didn’t have enough leverage to use its strength to free itself. And Colin and Connor weren’t enough.

Connor’s heart was in his throat as he watched the synthetic skin peel back from the place where the chain was crushed against the YN800’s neck. White plastic was laid bare underneath, cracks appearing across the surface from the force of the other android’s inhuman strength.

“Colin!” he yelled, an idea suddenly popping into his head.

“What!” his brother barked back, strained as he continued pulling on the android’s arms from the other side.

“The neck port!”

With a quick nod of understanding, Colin let go of the android and plunged his fingers into the back of its neck.

The Ortiz android gave a violent jolt as Colin pulled something, yanked it out so hard the android collapsed on the table at the same second blue liquid sprayed into the air. It hit Colin solidly across the chest and along the lower half of his face, causing him to sputter and spit as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

A menthol-smelling chemical flooded Connor’s senses, but he was too focused on tugging up the android’s hands to free the prototype from its grip. The YN800 model didn’t cough or gasp as it rolled off the table and onto its feet.

It gingerly touched the exposed plastic of its throat, brows furrowing, its fingertips tracing the cracks in what little Connor could see of its underlying chassis.

What was almost as startling as the cracks was the state of its hair, half pulled down out of its perfect coif. Connor would have thought it was self-conscious with the way it tried to brush the hair out of its face.

“You…” Connor started, then stopped. The prototype might not have been gasping for air, but Connor sure was, leaning on the table as he tried to get his heart to stop galloping like a wild horse. “You okay?”

The prototype blinked at the question, pulling its hand from its neck.

“Yes.”

That was the only answer he got as it adjusted the knot of its tie, rumpled in the assault.

“Yeah, I’m fine too, thanks,” Colin complained, dripping with almost as much sarcasm as he was blue blood. “This shit better not stain, or I swear to Christ—”

“Thirium evaporates within a few hours and the lingering residue is invisible to the human eye,” the YN800 replied, too calm, if it hadn’t almost been beheaded a few seconds ago.

Connor was going to say something, he didn’t know what—maybe yell at it for being so goddamn reckless and almost getting itself killed—but it turned toward them, expression subdued.

“I apologize for not acting quicker; I didn’t anticipate this behavior from the deviant. Thank you for your cooperation with this investigation. Please sign over custody of the destroyed android when CyberLife representatives retrieve it in the morning.”

And with that, the CyberLife android turned, palmed the door pad with a plastic hand, and walked out.

Connor exchanged a wide-eyed glance with Colin.

“Uh, okay. Guess we’re done here. Hank is going to blow a gasket when he reads the report,” Colin added as he wiped another smear of Thirium off his face.

Connor looked down at the android slumped over the table with blue liquid dripping out of its neck.

“I’ll be right back,” he muttered, thoughts already turned elsewhere as he hurried from the room.

Connor didn’t catch up with the android until he was outside on the station steps, the relenting rain immediately drenching the top of his crown as it soaked into his hair.

“Hey! Stop!” he called after it, shouting to be heard over the downpour. Each drop was an icicle against his skin. Snow was coming soon.

The prototype slowed and finally came to a stop, slowly turning around to face Connor. Its expression was passive, emotionless, but its fingers tightened the knot of its tie despite the fact it didn’t need to. The tie was perfectly straight and pristine, but its hair was still half a mess, especially with the rain now slicking loose strands against its forehead. Connor had to stop himself from reaching out to tuck a strand behind its ear.

“Where the hell are you going?” Connor asked, breathless. He wiped the cold water off his brow, blinking against the water droplets.

“I’m returning to CyberLife.”

“So… that’s it?”

Connor shivered, pulling his jacket tighter around his shoulders, but it did little good. His jeans were quickly becoming soaked and his shirt was already there, clinging to his chest and ribs.

“You drag me out of the bar on a Friday night, track down a psycho robot that almost kills me and nearly decapitates you, and then you just… leave?”

He meant to sound incredulous, to show the android how unreasonable it was being, but that’s not how it came across. Heat flooded his cheeks at how pathetic his words actually were.

“You have your confession. The case has been solved,” it said, returning to its earlier placid tone, hands folded neatly behind its back as it moved its fingers away its neck. “There is no reason I should remain.”

Connor just stared at its upturned face, not knowing what to say, not even understanding why he had chased after it. Maybe because it had saved his life, twice, and that would have meant something if it was a person.

But it wasn’t a person. No matter how pretty its face or enticing its body, it was a machine, and it stood there like one, uncaring and unassuming with a small blue light cycling on its head.

“Yeah, okay,” Connor said, like the complete idiot he was. What was he doing out here, getting soaked in the rain just to… what? What did he want?

“Is there something you wish to say before I leave, Detective?”

It peered at him thoughtfully, head slightly tilted at an angle. It allowed Connor to see the rivulets of water dripping down its neck, glistening across the smooth, human-like skin.

Connor suddenly wondered just how real that skin could possibly feel.

“No.”

He swallowed hard and bit back the revulsion roiling in his stomach. This was a mistake. He didn’t need to thank a machine for saving his life, and he certainly didn’t need to keep checking if it was all right. It was just doing what it was programmed to do and didn’t give two-shits about itself, let alone him.

“Nothing.”

“All right. Goodnight, Detective Anderson.”

The android started to turn but paused halfway, gaze drifting down to his cheek.

“You should have that examined by a medical professional. If left untreated, it’ll scar.”

Not waiting for a response, it turned and tread down the rain-slick steps. There was an autocab waiting at the curb and it got inside, not sparing Connor a second glance as the door slid shut and the vehicle merged onto the empty street.

Connor exhaled heavily, chest tight with an uncomfortable sensation he couldn’t pinpoint. It had been a strange night, and he couldn’t shake the feeling this wasn’t over.

Pulling his waterlogged coat tighter around his chest, he retreated into the warmth of the station, praying he’d seen the last of the CyberLife android.

Next Chapter

[dreamkidddream]

Heya! It’s me again!! Can I request a BSD crew with Dazai, Chuuya, and Atsushi with a older siblings reader that really cares for them and is overprotective. (Really cold on the outside, but with them its a whole different story) Sorry it’s long!! Looking forward with your works!

Thank you for the request and thank you for reading!! Sorry about the wait, and it got kinda long. Reader is gender neutral and hope you enjoy!

TW: Suicide talk in Dazai’s (nothing too heavy is mentioned), and small spoiler for Oda (I know I keep bringing him up but I love him okay), abuse mentioned in Atsushi’s 

Being an Overprotective Older Sibling (Sour but Sweet) with: Dazai, Chuuya, and Atsushi

Dazai

He stresses you out so, so, SO MUCH

You were ready to just wrap him up in a straitjacket and just attach him to your back, but you figured he would find a way to break free or kill himself (or even both)

When people saw the two of you together, on the outside, it looked either like a: you were handling an overgrown toddler or b: he was being held hostage by this scary looking individual that looks like they could rearrange your organs from the inside out

But, with you guys, it was the complete opposite. You were the best relative that Dazai had and could count on, but you refused to let him try any suicide attempts from his book (at least while he was in your presence). You were really sweet, always made sure to look out for him, and constantly protecting him. 

When you came into the ADA looking just for him, everyone was confused. Who was this random stranger coming in with the coldest expression, asking specifically for Dazai, holding a wrapped box. They knew that he had many enemies that range from now to his past, so now they were assuming that you were someone that came to get revenge.

Kunikida tried to intercept you first, but you told him that you only came to see Dazai and no one else. And that he better still be alive and uninjured or else. Well, they obviously took that as a threat and before a whole brawl could break out, here walks in Dazai and Atsushi

“Oh, (Y/N)! What a surprise to see you on this lovely day. Here to check on your dear little brother?” Hold up...BROTHER?? DAZAI HAS A SIBLING, AND HE’S THE YOUNGEST??! Poor Kunikida is about to malfunction and Ranpo is just sitting back enjoying the show with his snacks

“Osamu...How many times do I have to tell you...stop forgetting your lunch! You need to eat properly. And before you even say anything, you are going to eat this. I know you didn’t eat breakfast this morning, because just drinking coffee is not breakfast, and...”

You went from getting ready to whoop some ass to nagging him what is going on

 And that was the day that the Agency found out that Dazai had an older sibling. They were wondering why you never came to the office, and when you responded that is was, “none of their damn business”, they decided not to question it (at least in front of you). And they were so shocked to see you act, no be, so delicate with him. You were still talking to about your lunch, looking at him with the softest expression telling him, “I know you struggle with caring for yourself, so let me do it for you. You’re my younger brother, Osamu, let me do my job in taking care of you. You won’t let me protect you when you’re on the job, so let me protect you everywhere else.”

So, he was the reason why you weren’t working in the office alongside him? And it was true. After his days in the Port Mafia, when you were working alongside him, it was fine. He hated that you always got in the line of fire to “protect” him (and he knew and kept telling you that he didn’t need it, and if he did get hurt, to just let him suffer, to let him die). You didn’t understand his complete need to end his life, and it ate you up inside, but it also you a new resolve. Maybe he didn’t believe that his life was important or that he mattered to someone, so you took it to show him that someone did care, that you cared. 

It backfired one day on a mission, when you took a bullet that was meant for him. You were so close to death that day, knocking right on His door, and it shook him to his core. Back in those days, he cared for you and Oda, and cared little for himself. He came so close to losing you, and he realized he wouldn’t know what to do without you. You were one of the only people (honestly beside Oda) that he actually felt some kind of emotion for, and he would be damned if he lost you too

So he came with a new resolution after he left the Mafia, he would handle the dangerous life, while you stayed home. You obviously strongly rejected this idea, but he left no room for refusal. He rather be the one close to death than you, you still deserved to live life, not him. 

It led to a very long, emotionally draining, confrontational argument for hours, but the decision was made. You would live a regular life, far from any kind of violence or death, working a regular job while he would put his life on the line. On the terms that he would constantly keep you updated (ie. not ignoring your hourly calls and texts), actually eat the food that you prepare (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), and not push you away whenever he needed someone to leave on. 

You also threatened politely let him know that if these conditions weren’t followed, then all bets are off and you would raise hell. You were here to stay and you’ll make sure that he is too

You were a positive influence on Dazai’s life, and it was so funny how you would switch personalities. How you switch from being so kind and childlike to so frigid and antisocial was very entertaining to see. He does love you, and while you would try to police his every move (which was literally impossible), he wouldn’t change it for the world.

Plus he LIVED for you coming to stop by in the office now, seeing how Kunikida would try to avoid eye contact with you and Atsushi nervously sweating in his seat was hilarious. He knew you wouldn’t hurt them, but it was still pretty amusing

Chuuya

Opposite of Dazai, you stress him out SO MUCH

Part of it is because you’re overprotective, another part of it is because you are a complete smartass and you knew it

“Damn (Y/N) can you LET ME BREATHE FOR A SECOND?!”

“...”

“Seems like you’re breathing fine to me.”

“WHY YOU-“

But, he may complain, but he actually didn’t dislike that you were working with him in the Port Mafia. You could keep an eye on him, and he could make sure that you didn’t get into any extra trouble that could interfere with his missions or have you get disciplined by Mori. It was a win-win for you both

If there was one thing that he could change though, is your constant need of trying to take the hits designated for him. He doesn’t need you always jumping in front of him, defending him with your own body. He was more than capable of taking care of himself, if he wasn’t then not only would he not be one of the top executives, but he also wouldn’t still be alive

Also he has a reputation to uphold. How was he suppose to display his raw power and talents when you were continuously intruding on his cases?! Not to mention the fact that you act so detached when you’re dealing with the other members. It’s to the point that they’re too intimated to even make eye contact with you

Which he thought was so bizarre because you were one of the nicest people that he has ever come in contact with (even though he was your brother and you guys interacted with each other every day). You played the annoying sibling role very well (too well in fact), but you still make sure to look out for him and make sure that he’s okay, emotionally and physically. 

He understood why you did it, but at the same time he didn’t. You were both extremely strong, and he was the one with the better ability (not to mention that he’s the one that has Arahabiki inside of him). It came off that obviously you wanted him safe, but also that he couldn’t handle what comes at him. He’s not a little kid, he’s not some weakling that needs to be persistently protected, you both didn’t survive this long solely because of you, it was because of you both. It was a teamwork effort, and while he gets that he’s your youngest brother, he worries about you too

And he proved his point one night, when he had to dress your wounds after a mission went south. Here he was, scolding you and cursing about how stupid you were being, and the more he went on, the more you figured that he was angrier at himself for letting this happen. 

“Why is it so hard to understand that I want to protect you too?! Why don’t you give a damn about yourself like how you do about me?! You act like this entirely new person on the field like you don’t give a damn what happens to you and it PISSES ME OFF! Just like you protect me, I can and will protect you. I may be loyal to the Port Mafia, but you come first, always.”

After that, you did let him handle his own battles (but if he got a single scratch on him, then you will be joining whether he agrees or not). You were still annoying in Chuuya’s eyes, but it was just him being his stubborn, short tempered self about his older relative. He wants the best for you without a doubt and he wants you to realize you don’t have to carry this imaginary burden of protecting him, because you weren’t the powerful one in the family. He had your back just like you had his. You were one of the only things that still convinced him that he was still human and not a monster, and no words will measure just how much he appreciates you for that. You had your moments when you were irritating the hell out of him, but he still loved you regardless

Besides, you were the only person who somehow was able to get one of his favorite vintage wines (it still confused him so much how you got it and not him, and you refused to tell him) so he definitely couldn’t afford to lose you

Atsushi

Okay, you do not play about this man, ever

After growing up in the orphanage and joining the ADA, it took a while to get readjusted to being around people that weren’t trying to purposely harm you for just existing. For Atsushi, even though he was hesistant to join the agency, you were honestly against it. Sure, it was a fresh start from that horrible place, but it was also another gateway for danger. Not to mention how sketchy this suicidal guy was, if he was able to join the agency there’s no telling what other nut cases are apart of it too

Plus, you needed to keep your brother in your presence at all times. Enough has happened to him already, and you were going to do everything in your power to prevent him from going through that type of pain ever again, you swore

But after he discovered that he’s the weretiger that’s been causing trouble (which you had a hunch about but no way to confirm) and with him having no type of knowledge on how to control this new ability, it seemed like you two had no choice but to stay with the ADA. You weren’t very happy about this arrangement, but if it was able to help Atsushi with his newfound ability and provided you with the means to support you both (ie. getting paid), then so be it. You sucked it up and both joined

It took...some time for the other members to get used to your demeanor. Having someone in the agency give off such an intense deadly vibe was a little unsettling. It seemed like Kenji, Ranpo, and Dazai were the only three (besides your brother) that weren’t phased by it, but other people like the Tanizaki twins tried to steer clear of you as much as they could

It wasn’t that they hated you, it’s just...your aura wasn’t the friendliest. And it was even more confusing since you were the exact opposite for your brother! You conversed and laughed with him, but you never did it with the others. Watching Kunikida and Dazai do their daily banter didn’t even make you crack a smile. But whenever you were around Atsushi, it seemed like you were carefree, glowing even. It was evident that you both kept each other smiling and positive, and it warmed everyone to see

Whether it was desk duty or field missions, you were both always paired with each other. If Dazai and Atsushi were assigned to a case, guess who was also magically assigned with them too? If he was stuck on desk duty, you were too. No one had a problem with it surprisingly. Which was a complete lie but after you...made a convincing argument, they left you alone and let you tag along with your brother as long as it didn’t interfere with the success of the case

Junichiro low key understood it though, don’t be fooled cause he’ll snap for his sister too if he had to

You didn’t even give any enemies the chance to even come close to Atsushi. That’s how serious you were with keeping your word. Even when him and Akutagawa fought, you would find a way to get involved. You will not let anyone else hurt your brother again if you could help it

He did get upset with you, whenever you did this, which led to a really bad blowout between you two. You figured this was going to happen sooner or later. It just seem like Atsushi was ready to prove himself to someone when he didn’t have to, but you didn’t understand why he felt that need.

Ever since you guys have been in that hellhole of an orphanage, you always tried to protect each other, but you always tried to take the beatings that were meant for him. He always blamed himself for you being beaten and tortured. It was his fault, if he just takes the abuse and the “punishments” by himself, then you wouldn’t have to get involved and suffer because of him. If Atsushi wasn’t so frail, if he wasn’t so weak, if he just wasn’t a mistake-

“Naka, you okay? You’re zoning out again. You’re gonna walk right into the street if you don’t stop that!”

“R-right. Sorry (Y/N). I guess what happen-“

“The orphanage still gets to you, I know. Please stop blaming yourself, Nakajima. It wasn’t any of our faults, and I don’t blame you for none of it. If anything, I should have done a better job of protecting you. There’s no excuse, neither one of us should have went through what we did, especially you. If anything, I’m the one that needs to apologize. I should’ve tried harder in keeping you-”

“(Y/N) stop saying that! Neither one of us deserved it! You can’t be the strong one for the both of us. I want and have to protect you too! I want to be confident enough in myself and my ability to keep you safe. I already failed when we stuck at that damn orphanage, I’m not going to fail you again! Damn it (Y/N)! Give me a chance to prove to you that I can take care of you like how you took care of me!”

You were stunned. Did your little brother carry this much of a burden because of you? How long has he been feeling this way? He didn’t have to prove himself to you! He was more than enough, and you couldn’t help but feel guilty thinking that it was your fault for him feeling this way

After a very long heart to heart with him, you finally understood where he was coming from. You couldn’t promise him that you would stop your protective nature, but you did let him fight his own battles for once (but you still weren’t letting him get seriously hurt, that still wasn’t going to happen obviously). He told you that he was getting older, and that like it or not that you weren’t always going to be by side. He needed to learn how to stand on his own two feet, and while he loved that you were there for him to lean on, he needed this for himself and for you. He knew that being the best brother that he could be was getting stronger and getting better with his ability, he owed you that much

Atsushi loves you, and he has the same resolve like you. Being that you two are the only thing that you both have left in this world, he wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t lose you under any circumstances. Him bettering himself everyday with the help of you and the agency members and was more than enough to make sure that wouldn’t happpen

[stars-falling]

latibule (n) (elriel)

summary: elain and azriel hide themselves away from the world, seeking a moment of peace from the rivalry between their schools.

prompt: there were a lot of fights and a lot of fraternisation going on with the local public school and the private boarding school au

word count: 2.1k

note: here is the second july upload! this was another piece i did for the writing month challenge. i loved this one because i got to return to my favourite tropes, secret relationships and forbidden romance!

hope you enjoy,

lily <3

read here on ao3 // masterlist // july upload schedule

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

latibule (n) a hiding place, a place of safety and comfort

The forest was dark. Silver moonlight shone down through the smallest gaps in the canopy and shadows filled in the rest. Armed only with her phone’s flashlight, Elain felt afraid. Usually she wasn’t scared of the dark but when it pressed in, suffocating her on all sides, she could feel her heart race and breath shorten. It wasn’t far to the clearing now but time seemed to slow with every step she took. Every snap of a branch or rustle of leaves sent Elain panicking, her pace ever-increasing until she was almost at a full sprint. The path only seemed to get longer as she ran but she pushed harder until she stumbled into the small clearing.

It was slightly brighter here, moonlight streaming in through the wider gaps in the canopy above. It was bright enough that she was able to see after she turned her phone’s flashlight off. Despite the light and space around her, nothing could stop the anxiety from pressing in. The sensation of someone watching her sent a wave of chills down her spine and when she spun around she was greeted only by that oppressive darkness that had followed her as she made her way there. She shivered slightly, wishing she had brought a proper coat. Elain was clothed solely in her thin pyjamas and wishing that she had paid more attention. In her excitement, she had dashed out the door and forgot to grab the hoodie that she had left out for herself. She had barely remembered her keycard.

The silence was thick around her, only punctuated by the occasional hoot of an owl or the call of a nocturnal animal. It was almost peaceful and Elain let herself relax ever so slightly. That was until a branch snapped behind her and she twisted so quickly she almost fell. She stared into the darkness, there was no one there; only a strong sense of dread lingering in the cool night air. She let loose a breath before a voice sounded from behind her.

“Elain.”

She let out a shriek and tripped over a root as she tried to get away. A hand around her waist caught her fall and spun her around before pulling her into a hard chest. She looked up with fearful eyes to see amused hazel ones gazing back. The person cracked a slight smile at her reaction to their arrival. Elain let out a sigh of relief and wrapped her arms around them, burying her face in their chest.

“Azriel.” She breathed.

The small smile on his face widened into a full grin and she felt herself doing the same. That was until she remembered how her heart had leapt into her throat when he scared her. She pouted at him and smacked his chest. “Don’t scare me like that!”

He let out a full-bodied laugh that dispelled any ill will she felt towards him and soon she found herself joining in.

“I’m sorry,” he told her as his laughter subsided. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Although I may do it again now that I know how funny you look when you get scared.”

She scowled and pushed out of his grip, immediately regretting it as the cold flooded back in and embedded itself deep inside of her.

“Don’t you dare! I won’t meet you here again if you do.”

Now it was his turn to frown. He held out his arms but she refused to step back into his embrace.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “I won’t do it again.”

Still, she refused to return to him. A mischievous expression grew on his face and she only had a second to register it before he launched himself at, arms at the ready to scoop her into a hug. She shrieked again, although this time it was less out of fear and more out of amusement. She burst into a sprint just as his arms closed around the space she had just vacated. She ran in circles around him, leaping and twirling over the uneven ground with the grace of a ballerina. He ran after her, both of their laughter echoing off the trees and filling the clearing with unfiltered joy. However, Elain could only run around the small area for so long. Whilst the moonlight provided enough light to see, the floor was still dim, meaning she couldn’t see the root that jutted out in front of her. She felt her foot catch and she stumbled into a tree, arms out in front of her to stop her from fully crashing into it. She righted herself and turned in time to see Azriel behind her, his arms coming to rest on either side of her head, caging her in. They both breathed heavily, winded from the unexpected exercise, but smiling. They stared at each other, the adrenaline wearing off and love taking its place instead. Azriel leaned in, face hovering close to hers waiting for permission. She nodded and closed the space between them. Time seemed to pause as her lips met his. He leaned forward, deepening the kiss and pushing her further back against the tree. Heat rushed through her as she felt his tongue brush against her bottom lip and she opened up beneath him. Elain gasped as he swept in and she brought her hands up to tangle in his hair. It was soft beneath her fingers. She tugged slightly and he let out a light moan as he detached himself from her lips and began to kiss along her jaw and down onto her neck. One hand removed itself from the tree, so she was no longer caged by his arms, and instead found a place on her hip, fingers moving to slide beneath the thin fabric and brush against her bare skin. She let out a huff as she felt his lips move against her neck before tugging at his hair again.

“Stop, you’ll leave marks.”

“I’m being careful,” he murmured against her neck before returning to lightly nip at the one particular spot that made her knees weak.

She laughed, “You said that last time and I had to wear turtlenecks for a week after.”

He detached himself from his work to stare at her, his dark hair flopping over his eyes.

“I got carried away.”

She hummed as she placed a gentle kiss on his lips before wrapping her arms around his middle and pulling him close to her. They stood, wrapped in each other's embrace under the moonlight for what felt like hours. A deep sense of peace enveloped her, all previous feelings of fear and cold drifting off into the clear night sky. Finally, they moved away from the tree Azriel had pressed Elain against. They chose to sit side by side in the centre of the clearing where a small patch of grass separated them from the cold hard ground. She leaned her head against his shoulder as he bought an arm to encircle her waist.

“I’ve missed you.”

She sat up, turning to take him in properly for the first time that night. He sat in pyjamas, like her, but he had his favourite hoodie on to protect him from the night's chill. The moonlight caught his hazel eyes and sent them sparkling, highlighting the veins of green that resided in them. He was beautiful, and he was hers.

“I’ve missed you too.” She told him before placing her head back onto his shoulder.

As they sat in silence, in the middle of the night in a clearing in a forest, the truth about their situation settled in. A burden that only they seemed to carry. Humans are pack creatures, they are loyal to their groups, and this felt like an ultimate betrayal. Elain and Azriel went to different schools, Elain attending the private boarding school that the forest belonged to and Azriel attending the local public school in the town. To those who were outside of the situation, it sounded like they were being dramatic but to them? It meant everything. A deep animosity ran between the two schools. Those who attended the public school believed that the private schoolers were ‘greedy, egotistical pricks with sticks up their asses’ whereas those attending the private school deemed the others unruly and beneath them. No one knew where the intense rivalry had stemmed from. Maybe it was the private school buying up the forest that surrounded them, banning the town’s residents from entering what was once a precious location to them. Or maybe it was the time that some boys from the public school had broken into the private school’s grounds and released so many rats that they struggled with an infestation for years afterwards. Either way, pack mentality had taken over and now every time the two schools interacted it ended with insults being hurled, items being vandalised and even full-blown fights. And the worst of them all were the two sets of siblings who ruled their respective schools. Azriel and Elain’s siblings.

The Archeron sisters and the Knight brothers had always disliked each other after a bucket of slime intended for someone else had landed on Nesta, Elain’s older sister. The situation had only escalated from there but Elain and Azriel had never partaken personally in it. They only tagged along with their siblings whenever they wanted to pick a fight, which was how they ended up meeting. Elain’s sisters had crashed a party thrown by Azriel’s younger brother, Rhysand, bringing a whole host of their preppy private school friends. The evening had ended badly. There had been two hospitalisations with broken noses after fights had broken out and the police were called. Elain had snuck away long before anything had really happened and that had been when she had bumped into Azriel. They hadn’t realised their respective relations at first and had exchanged numbers after spending the whole evening together, away from the crowd and drama of the party. Even when they discovered the resentment that ran deep between their siblings, they found themselves not caring. They were too wrapped up in each other's company to worry about a rivalry they had never cared about in the first place. And when Elain had finally kissed Azriel, any remaining doubts had flown away on swift wings as they realised how deeply their feelings went for each other. Despite their disinterest in the conflict, they knew they had to keep their relationship under wraps. It would destroy their family, their reputations and everything they had built. Which was how they ended up here, only seeing each other briefly every so often and hiding away from the world.

“I wish things were different,” She whispered, shuffling closer as an icy breeze snapped around her exposed ankles and sent a chill up her body.

“Me too.” He replied. “I wish we could see each other whenever we wanted, that I could take you on dates in town without worrying what people would think, that I could tell people how much I love you.”

Elain felt her heart stutter and her eyes widen. She leaned away from Azriel, moving to sit in front of him so she could look him in the eyes. Whilst it had been heavily insinuated before, neither of them had ever taken that leap. An expression of worry washed over his face.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I do- I do love you, but please don’t feel pressured to say it back.”

Azriel’s nervous rambling and blushing cheeks only served to make her fall harder. She shut him up with a gentle kiss on the lips, raising her hand to cup his cheek.

“I love you too.”

She pulled back in time to see the brightest smile she had ever seen. He let out a sigh of relief and bundled her into his lap so he could hold her more comfortably. Despite his warmth, the cold still crept into Elain and she found herself shivering slightly. Azriel frowned at this before pushing her away slightly so he could pull off his hoodie and hand it to her. She examined the bundle of material that now sat in her lap.

“Won’t you be cold?”

“I’ll be fine,” he promised her. “Besides, you look cute in my clothes.”

She giggled lightly at this as she pulled it over her head. It was warm and far too big for her, but it only added to the charm. She snuggled back into his arms and looked up at the stars above. The situation they were in was complicated: a road riddled with potholes and glass, a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. But that could wait. For now, they had the forest, the stars and each other. And that was enough.

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

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[maevesdarling]

Hi!! Please share your top five favourite shows! 🤠

Hey anon, thank you for asking, sorry I took so long to answer, it was really hard for me to choose since my taste in TV shows changed so drastically over the last couple of years. I was thinking of going with more modern shows I enjoyed in the past, that I used to consider my "all time favorite shows" like Succession or Westworld, but the truth is, if you want an authentic answer, I should be answering with my current favorite shows because the longer I thought about it, the more I realized that, especially Succession just isn't holding the same joy it used to hold to me, and I haven't watched it in a long time. I think, to be an "all time favorite show" you need to enjoy rewatching a show even years after you first saw it. So, here are my current top 5 tv shows.

1. MASH

Need I say more? Honestly one of the most entertaining shows I've seen in a long time, and I think it's a real shame that growing up my parents never introduced me to it, let alone watched it themselves (I know that bc one time my dad saw it on TV and tried guessing what M*A*S*H stood for 🤪)because it has such an important message, I think it's especially great because it's one of the only shows I watch in both english and german because the dubbing is just THAT good

2. Little House on the Prairie

Another one my parents failed to show to me that I think I missed out on growing up because the lessons learned in each episode are so important and I think it's just overall a really well done show. There's not a single character I would say I dislike, like okay there are some I might enjoy more than others but overall I just think they're all very fleshed out, authentic characters. I also enjoy the overall dynamic of the characters interacting with each other like one big family.

3. Highway to Heaven

Honestly the amount of times this show made me think about my own self, my "privilege" and the way we as humans should be interacting with each other and the nature around us is amazing. I can't believe it was made in 1984 because I keep seeing themes that really resonate with "modern" problems like the climate crisis or inclusivity and being reminded that those are not 21th century problems but something humanity has been dealing with since at least another century. The theme of this show is so hopeful and inspiring that I actually feel it's impact on me, and the way I started behaving around others. It's also one of the only tv shows to make me cry which is really an accomplishment (okay to be fair MASH and LHOTP did that too)

4. Columbo

Ha ha, funny police man, solving crimes, has a cute dog, drives beat up car, bamboozles the murderer, very smart actually, need I say more?

5. Dead Mountain / Перевал Дятлова (Dyatlov Pass)

Holy cow, I've never seen a show like this one. The cinematography, the music, everything felt so refreshing and new. I think it's a very good interpretation of what might have happened during the Dyatlov Pass incident, it really plays around with all the theories and concludes with the most logical/ scientifically proven scenario. I wish more people knew about this show but given the political situation in Russia I do understand how it could slip under many peoples radars, still a shame it'll mostly likely disappear into the unknown, although I did managed to buy a copy on DVD

[erin-hollow]

Since I’ve seen Let There Be Carnage already and many people here haven’t, someone told me to write what I thought of it. This will be mostly spoiler-free.

First of all, content warning for the movie: 

physical abuse, verbal abuse (domestic) and some mentions of abuse (parental and domestic), 

a spider, a chicken, and several humans are killed on screen,

violence, blood, and eating people typical of the first movie, 

loud noises, 

flashing, 

something that could be seen as a suicide attempt, 

needles (but no hospitals), 

prisons, (and someone getting locked up just for being different)

kidnapping,

domestic fights,

guns, 

major eye horror, 

something that might trigger emetophobia,

A police officer shoots a black woman (and he’s present throughout the movie)

People (mostly gay men) getting possessed and their minds being taken over without their consent

(spoilers for this one) a black woman is mistreated then is killed

If anyone thinks of others I forgot please tell me.

Now for my thoughts on the movie. This is a very biased review because Venom is one of my special interests. I loved so much of this movie. Carnage’s design was terrifying beyond belief, many of the characters were excellent, and all the acting was great. 

The animation looked really cool. There are scenes where it’s almost impossible to believe that Venom’s floaty head isn’t really there. Tom Hardy has the same great performance from the first movie, and does an excellent job being two characters. The light shining off Venom’s body is beautiful, and occasionally Carnage looks real enough to touch. There’s even a short scene where 2D animation is overlaid over everything else, and the artstyle of it is really cute and creepy at the same time. I will say some scenes are a little dark and hard to see, but... look I’m assuming you’ve seen the trailers. You know how the movie looks. I liked it.

Despite what I’ve heard other people say, the humor wasn’t a big part of the movie for me. That’s not to say it was bad, but it didn’t factor into my enjoyment as much as the other things. The critics are right that it broke the mood of some of the scenes, but I didn’t really mind. Venom has a lot of great little one-liners and insults. He’s by far the most comedic character. Eddie and Dan have a few lines each, and Red has one joke. I thought most of it was really funny.

Carnage was so scary and uncanny that it took a lot of willpower for me not to scream in the theater. In full form he’s just a disgusting red version of Venom, but any time Cletus is mostly human but has some Carnage attributes it’s incredibly unsettling. If you’re a fan of horror, you’ll probably enjoy this movie just for that.

One thing I didn’t like was the queercoding aspect. The coding that they did probably counts as queerbaiting, and the metaphor they use is (in my opinion) homophobic. There is no arguing that the movie is very gay, but they way they went about it rubbed me the wrong way. The movie codes Venom being an alien as him being gay, which wouldn’t be that bad except for the fact that the “alien” traits that they focus on are him killing and eating humans (as in, the fact that he’s not allowed to eat people is the same as discrimination against gay people). The metaphor is also very mixed, especially where Eddie is involved. There’s even a scene where a female character successfully seduces the symbiote. I did enjoy the queer coding, but when it was like that I hated it and *in my opinion* I don’t think it’s something we should be thanking the director about. It’s 2021. Do better.

Carnage and Shriek’s relationship was really cool. For one subplot of a short movie, they managed to a lot with it. The writing of it wasn’t perfect, and Cletus sometimes seems a little inconsistent in this aspect of his character. I have no idea how comic-accurate it is, but I got the vibe very easily without reading the comics.

I’m not the biggest action movie guy, but I could watch that fight scene between Venom and Carnage a million times. It’s so interesting, with so many fun little moments. In my opinion it’s a million times better than the scene between Riot and Venom for several reasons. First, it seemed like the setting was made to serve the fight instead of the first movie where they were just stabbing each other on the launchpad. In LTBC, the setting both serves the actual mechanics of the fight and the aesthetics. Second, the characters have a dynamic, even before the fight. In the first movie Drake and Eddie interact maybe twice, and Riot and Venom’s relationship was never specified beyond them knowing each other. I won’t get into it too much, but here there is a very interesting relationship between Eddie and Cletus, and between Venom and Red, which factors into the fight. This might be a small spoiler, but in LTBC it’s not just the symbiotic pairs fighting each other, instead both sides have people to back them up.

Characterization is a hard thing to talk about without spoilers, but I’ll try. I don’t think any characters from the first movie have been taken out of character. Venom’s street smarts are incredibly inconsistent. Cletus isn’t for everyone but I there are definitely people who will enjoy him. One of Red’s motivations is kind of stupid. Shriek isn’t as active as I would have liked, in fact I strongly disliked what they did with her. If you liked Anne, Dan, and Ms. Chen in the first movie, you’ll like them here.

Overall, I did thoroughly enjoy the movie. It was well worth what I paid for the tickets and I assure you, if you liked the first movie you’ll like this one. Happy watching :)

The end credits scene. This is a SPOILER ALERT, but you’re probably gonna hear about it anyway. I’m still putting it under the cut.

They got teleported to the MCU for some reason that will probably be explained in the next MCU movie. Opinions will vary on this but for me personally I’m pissed off! They left all their friends behind in their own universe, sacrificed one of the things that makes this series so unique (Venom without Spiderman) and broke the MCU’s rules about no multiverses! And for what? to boost ratings? Because The Mouse wanted my favorite gay slimeball? Are they gonna put him on Disney+? Jail for Disney! Jail for Disney for 1000 years!

[listeningstories]

The Guild Codex -Annette Marie

This is 3 series that are all interrelated

Its an urban fantasy series with well rounded charters and interesting unpredictable plotlines each book is approximately 8 hours long.

there are a couple of novellas that I am yet to get to so I will let you know

I do recommend reading all 3 series to fully enjoy these books as the cross over alot.

Spellbound- Narrated by Cris Dukrhart

Three Mages and and a Margarita

Dark arts and a Daiquiri

Two witches and a Whiskey

Demon Magic and a Martini

The Alchemist and a Amaretto

Druid Vices and a Vodka

Lost Talismans and a Tequila

Damned Souls and a Sangria

Tori a fiery redhead with a bit of a temper, after hitting a customer with a drinks tray finds her self fired....again. Tori in a fit of desperation ends up working at a pub full of mythic's.  

This is abit of the classic story of a human stumbling into a world of magic. while I enjoyed the overall story I disliked how purvey she is over her male friends, I get it they are hot

Demonized- Narrated by Cris Dukrhart

Taming Demons for Beginners

Slaying Monsters for the Feeble

Hunting Fiends for the Ill-Equipped

Delivering Evil for Experts

after the tragic loss of her parents Robin ends up staying with her uncle and family. Robin a shy quite book worm ends up in a world of demons and has to trust in the most deadly predator.

Cris Dukrhart also narrators these books which is great as I love the consistence between the characters it helps really enjoy the stories.

Lost Talismans and a Tequila and Delivering Evil for Experts also have chapters read by Teddy Hamilton, they are very short chapters and only 1 or 2

Warped- Narrated by Iggy Toma

this series was co-authored by Rob Jacobsen

Warping Minds and other Misdemeanors

Hellbound guilds and other misdirection's

Rogue ghosts and Other Miscreants

Kit a movie enthusiast and former criminal ends being forced to work with the magic police to bring down his former work colleague. kit needs to use his special ability to cause people to hallucinate to gain his freedom. I like Kit.... alot and really want to have a beer with him he's funny, smart and knows everything about pop culture. Iggy Toma is the the perfect Kit he reads him exactly as I see him in my head

https://www.goodreads.com/series/230305-the-guild-codex-spellbound

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Weird q..but i really dont understand why most fans hate season 4, especially the last episode. Why? I think it gave us a deeper look on both sherlock and mycroft! I felt it tells a lot about mycroft how he had to step in and take control of things ever since he was a kid himself. Also he is not a robot or a killer. Also redbeard thing. It was an appropriate deep psychological trauma (cause most shows usually disappoint in that area). I am not trying to impose my opinion. Just want to understand

Hey Nonny!

It’s all good, and I totally respect your opinion and how you enjoyed S4! It’s totally okay! I know that there are quite a few who got a lot of of S4, and who genuinely enjoyed it.

Sadly, I am not one of those people, and I’ll try to be as diplomatic a possible in my response, but PLEASE know that I don’t think you’re “terrible” or “stupid” for liking S4 because I DO get passionate sometimes in my responses, and I’m just merely speaking as someone who studied the series very closely for quite a long time before S4 aired, and as someone who knows Day-One-ers (ie., people who watched Sherlock on its day one airdate) who also are a large majority of the people who did not like S4. This is just me simply stating why I didn’t like it, but it’s different for everyone.

Stating what I DO like: The acting and cinematography of the first two episodes were brilliant for what they had to work with, and I’ve never faulted any of the actors for the flaws of S4. And for TFP, they did the best with what they had to work with.

That’s… pretty much all I really liked about S4.

Now, here’s my problems with S4:

Nothing made a LICK of sense to the narrative that they were telling in Seasons prior. 

This series was always based a bit in reality, and suddenly everything became comic-book rules: X-Men villains, shitty “redemption” arc, destroying favourite characters just for drama, ludicrous physics, explosions that only destroyed one small room in an apt where in previous episodes one explosion destroyed an entire block, etc.

Sherlock was OOC.

Mary was being built up to be a fantastic villain? Ah, nope, here’s the lacklustre twist where tee hee Mary’s just an assassin with a heart of gold that still emotionally abuses Sherlock and John and just won’t fucking stay dead.

And speaking of this, the DVD’s make NO LOGICAL SENSE unless she was planning to kill herself

AND she tries to make her death equatable to Sherlock’s??

Everyone was RIDICULOUSLY out of character in TFP, I’m so sorry: Mycroft is a bumbling coward for the most part, Sherlock disregards John when he gives the Vatican Cameos warning, the Holmes Parents are assholes because Mycroft COULDN’T SOLVE A PROBLEM WHEN HE WAS 12?? ARE YOU SERIOUS???? And that creepy Moriarty / Eurus thing, and LITERALLY they’re implying that EVERYTHING HAPPENED BECAUSE EURUS DIDN’T GET A HUG. Like, I’m so sorry, but that’s lazy writing.

And don’t even get me started on the ridiculousness of the entire character of Eurus. She LITERALLY had X-Men powers, and like… just nothing made sense. Her involvement in the entirety of S4 MADE NO SENSE. Why go back to prison if you can get out?? WHAT IS THE POINT?? AND I repeat: She did all this because she didn’t get a hug. Yes. I’m oversimplifying, but at the base level, that’s what it was, because she wanted Sherlock’s attention. Welcome to the club, kid, stand in line, everyone on the SHOW wants his attention.

The ENTIRE plot of the first 2 seasons got wiped out all because it wasn’t Moriarty who was interested in Sherlock, but Eurus?? What… What about Carl Powers?? Like…. the ENTIRETY of season one and TGG makes no sense now, because of that one 5 minute scene where Eurus “enlists” Moriarty. I… ugh.

The SUDDEN tonal switch from kind-of Sherlock to James Bond, for some fucking reason.

And on that note, how terribly lazy and cheap TFP looks in comparison to the other two episodes. The whole episode looks like it was filmed in a small house with 4 identical rooms.

EVERYTHING that was etablished in 2 episodes prior were COMPLETELY forgotten when Mary was “shot”.

The complete character assassination of one loyal blogger John H Watson in favour of Mary for some fucked up reason, even though AT HIS OWN WEDDING HE COULDN’T STAND BEING AROUND MARY. I’m sorry, but I don’t believe for one damned second that John would EVER forgive Mary for murdering his best friend after seeing what it did to him. That’s not love from her, and that’s NOT John’s character EVER in the ENTIRETY of the series.

And speaking of character assassinations, Molly’s character being devolved to S1E1 Molly, where instead of giving her agency like they were doing with her the ENTIRE series, so much so that Sherlock picked up on her dominance enough to give her a big role in his mind palace in HLV and TAB, only to make her a sad little self-insert Mary Sue pining for the main character, and in turn made Sherlock a TERRIBLE human being for MAKING HER say what she did. It’s gross.

AND speaking of Molly’s character, they’ve been setting up Mollstrade since as early as ASiB, but I guess that plot line got shafted. Look I LOVE Hopkins, and I am ANGRY they didn’t give her more than 3 fucking lines in the entirety of ONE episode after HEAVILY promoting her actress and character, but they essentially reduced her to a piece of ass for Lestrade to chase. AND THAT’S NOT HIS CHARACTER EITHER. EW GROSS.

The constant plot holes being gaped wide open, and the Chekov’s gun moments where they bring up shit but do nothing with it!! 

TD-12? Nope, just a lame reference to a story we like. 

John got shot at the end of TLD with a VERY REAL FUCKING GUN? Nope, it was a dart gun. 

John not suddenly knowing how to be a doctor.

The TGG one I mentioned up above. 

What was in the letter? And who was Anyone??

Moriarty essentially being erased as anything other than a hired thug and had no part whatsoever in Sherlock’s history. 

Eurus… Just all of her character is asinine. 

Everyone in T6T suddenly not knowing John’s the blogger, which is in direct contradiction to literally the entire series. 

The AGRA plotline was ridiculous, in the end.

Baby? What baby? It was only there when convenient.

They dropped whatever plotline they were going to do for Mycroft: He was being set up as either dying, or the villain.

Redbeard. I’m sorry, I disagree with you on that. Mofftiss is trying to tell me that a little boy fell down a well and went missing, and that WASN’T the first place searchers / the police wouldn’t have looked? Sorry, no. And then. AND THEN his parents just… go along with this thing where Sherlock shuts down and they DON’T get him therapy? Yes, I agree the mind is a funny thing, and we can be traumatised into forgetting or dissociating from traumatic events. I GET IT. But… like I don’t believe the Holmes are so heartless as to just never grieve or have memories around about their supposedly dead daughter. It’s another OCC thing for me.

John’s cheating.

Disappearing and reappearing characters, like this scene, and the entirety of the aquarium scene.

Mary and John being terrible parents

OH GOD THIS FUCKING SCENE. That bomb SHOULD HAVE DESTROYED THE ENTIRE BUILDING.

What… who was this girl on the plane? What? Like I know WHO, but if she’s supposed to be Eurus talking to Sherlock, why don’t we see Eurus… talking to Sherlock? I … Ugh.

NORBURY. 

The glass SUPER SECRET GOVERNMENT ROOM THAT NO ONE SHOULD SEE INTO in T6T.

Sloppy camera work that some believe was intentional, but if it wasn’t, jesus c’mon.

The RIDICULOUS amount of 4th Wall Breaking. Like… even the actors didn’t give a shit.

Essentially, everything on this list here and in this blog tag here.

And everything mentioned on these three posts:

T6T: 10 Revealing Things That Haunt You Late at Night 

TLD: 10 Revealing Things That Haunt You Late at Night

TFP: 10 Revealing Things That Haunt You Late at Night

There’s SO much more I can go into, but please go through my “something’s fucky” tag in that last link.

Notice how probably 90% of that has NOTHING to do with “johnlock not becoming canon” because the Johnlockers get MONSTROUS accusations as to THAT being why we didn’t like S4, even though it was, like critically panned by the GENERAL AUDIENCE who have NO investment in the series other than “I liked it in the past”.

Two of my fave YouTubers have interesting (not perfect, but still good) takes coming at the series as casual viewers:

‘The Day Sherlock Died’ by The Closer Look

‘Sherlock is Garbage, and Here’s Why’ by hbomberguy

So it’s NOT just Johnlockers. I’ve talked to Sher1011ies at 221B con who didn’t like S4 either, because most of them realized how shitty Molly was treated in the last episode. So yeah, a big middle finger to those who think I dislike S4 because of  “no Johnlock”. No, I disliked it because I need my stories to make logical narrative sense. I disliked it because I love John and they ruined his character all for the sake of drama and because Moffat has a “hurting Ben” kink. I disliked it because Mary should NOT have been “redeemed” because she was an abuser. I disliked it because Moriarty was turned into a cartoon villain, even though he was already overused in the series. I disliked it because the core of the show – the FRIENDSHIP of Sherlock and John, and their solving mysteries together – did not exist at all. I disliked it because John got sidelined. I disliked it because TFP was a ridiculous episode that, if you replace ANY of the characters, it wouldn’t make a difference, because it didn’t feel like an episode of Sherlock. I disliked it because everyone was OOC.

Anyway. Sorry. One too many accusations my way over the past 1100+ days LOL.

As for your assessment of TFP, I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you. There was no growth and actually it implies something far more sinister: That the Holmes are and were terrible parents that gave no shits about their daughter, their traumatized son, and expected their eldest to essentially be a parent. It implies that Mycroft, at 12 years old, orchestrated the ENTIRE Sherrinford thing… Look I can suspend my disbelief, but there’s limits, and this is one of them. A LITERAL CHILD. Perhaps Uncle Rudy had a hand in it somehow, but then why not shit on Uncle Rudy? Why is Mycroft blamed for it all?

Look, I don’t doubt Sherlock had a traumatic experience regarding “Redbeard”. But then why play into the fact that he was a dog? Why bring another character into the series just to have a gotcha moment? Because Mofftiss wanted a “Shyamalan twist”, that’s why. They threw EVERYTHING away for a twist ending either because they GENUINELY thought it was good, or they got tired of doing Sherlock. ALL of TFP is LITERALLY a really bad plot twist because reasons. TFP makes no sense to the ENTIRE narrative structure of the previous 12 episodes. It erased EVERYTHING from the previous episodes, and coated it with a gross closing by a character no one wanted in the series, and then tried to convince us that it’s a new beginning – “a journey they had to go through” – but it SOLVED NOTHING.

Anyway. I have big feels about S4, and the only way I can enjoy it is to watch it subtextually, but even then, I cannot sit through TFP without cringing. 

That said, Lovelies, please do not attack Nonny for enjoying S4! I know you guys won’t, but Nonny came out with an olive branch and they just want to understand why the fandom is passionate about S4′s… whatever it was. We can have a civil discussion about it, and point out – without attacking – why S4 is universally panned. It’s okay to like things no one else does, and Nonny was respectful to me in this ask! 

So with that, feel free, lovelies, to express why YOU didn’t enjoy the series, or why you did! I’m interested in both “sides” / pov’s whatever :)

[yandere-sins]

Not the same person, but I really LOVED your Hawks x Winged!reader shot! Can I ask for some kind of spin off, where Hawks is looking after a reader(maybe getting their hairs done, or preening their feathers) and being very possessive about it, cooing what a cute birdie his Darling is, while reader tries not to panic because they dislike ppl touching their wings as a part of trauma? I'm sucker for yanderes being super creepy while doing generally sweet things.

Ah yes, I think every now and then everyone needs a reminder that their yandere is only doing things for them. Because they love them, right? That’s a really good point there, tehe (･ωI got a little off-request here because inspiration sometimes wants a different way than the request is, but I hope it’s still enjoyable!

»»————-———— ♡ ————————-««

If being bound to chains from the walls around you really was in your best interest, you had your doubts. In fact, you had your doubts about a lot of things. Like being kidnapped, held captive in a dark room, with deadbolts keeping the door shut, and presumably, underground. Yes, your wing-quirk was rare, but not to be underestimated, and if anyone knew this, then Hawks.

The only companion you had, was that damn cuckoo clock on the wall opposite from where he held you throughout the door. The sound of the - immensely funny how Hawks found - gift was something you’d never ever forget again in your whole life. How could you? It made sure you never dozed off more than an hour before tearing you out of your much prettier, much more peaceful dreams, and you despised it for it. 

But at least, it let you know about dinnertime. The only time that Hawks more or less managed to keep up routinely. He was worse with feeding you breakfast, and lunch was almost entirely canceled with the job the hero had, but for dinner - he always said - he wanted to be home. Home with his favorite nightingale for bonding and cuddles afterwards, his idea of a relationship.

Yours... not so much.

Food was something you learned to appreciate. It helped you stay sane to have something warm between your teeth, gave you some strength to wring with your captor for the space you needed afterwards. But Hawks- no, Keigo’s views on how you two should hang out, not only differed from yours but also, any you knew ‘normal’ couples did. Then again, what was normal when your partner was a madman?

As much as you resented the cuckoo for its loud, annoying screams of time, you couldn’t help but feel relieved that you’d be let down from your wall prison, able to move your wrists without the metallic clanking against your ears again. Even with two large wings, you were glad to be put back onto your feet, the strain on your wings’ roots - where they were steadied against the wall with metal chains too, becoming harder the longer you had to endure it. You tried not thinking about the fight that would break out in the morning when he demanded to put you up into chains again, believing this was nothing you should be worried right now. Because when you heard the first turn of the lock on your door, you knew you were in for more trouble than the ones still one night away.

Keigo whistled a happy tune as he pushed open the door, his slippers scrubbing over the floor while he carried in a tray of various little bowls. It seemed like typical japanese food, but you were sure there was nothing more than fast food inside. “Hello, my Dove. How’s your day been? Have you been hanging out here?” Snickering about his own joke, you learned to ignore the stupid remarks. 

You had been commendable lately, making sure to have good conversations with him and to humor his need to be close to you, aside from being a little unwilling to get back into chains every day. He at least didn’t seem mad about that, and you sometimes even thought to see the hints of pity in his eyes whenever he did what he thought he had to. So whatever you had built up with him in terms of a relationship, you didn’t want to mess it up with a useless comment when he was in quite such a good mood. 

Turning the switch on the light, the room lit up, even though the heavy curtains usually didn’t allow much light inside, and you blinked a few times to adjust to it. From his pocket, Keigo made a big show to pull out the keys to your chains, and with the hints of a thankful smile, you helped adjust your limbs to make it easy for him to reach the locks. After so many negative sounds, the clicking of them, with the following release of your arms and wings, was a delight rarely experienced by the average human, and you breathed a breath of relief to be freed of your restrains.

“Thanks,” you mumbled, ready to take careful steps towards the table in the corner of the room. However, suddenly he stepped into your field of vision, denying you an easy walk forward, instead, bringing you to a wonky halt. From his grin and open arms, you weren’t sure if he wanted something or if that was just to make you stop, but you decided against trying to pass him, watching his wings sway expectantly with more confusion on your side.

“Don’t you think I deserve a ‘welcome-home’-hug after my long day of work? I’ve been thinking about you all day long! Have you thought about me too?”

Truth be told, whatever had brought him to the conclusion that he deserved anything from you, must have been the same bug that had told him to kidnap you. But once your initial hesitation wore off, you tugged in your wings as tightly as you could to your back, before approaching him. The one-sided hug wasn’t quite what he must have envisioned when he asked for it, but the torture wasn’t long for you anyway.

You only briefly missed his eyes inspecting your wings which seemed to shift every time he moved his hands on your back, but you assured him of his question, which was enough for him to hear for now. “Yeah... Thought about you too.”

However, when you sat there for dinner, Hawks was different enough for you to notice. He was usually the one to always steal from your sparse array of chicken wings and fries, but he seemed absentminded on his chair for the duration of your meal, nibbling on some snagged bone, eyes always falling back over to your wings even when you moved them as far away from his view as possible.

“I think you chipped a feather with your struggling,” he eventually muttered as you wrapped up the bowls, thanking him for the meal. “It’s been bothering me since this morning, what if more are broken?”

You couldn’t help a worried glance over your shoulder, but of course, without spreading them and maybe a few mirrors to see the backside, you wouldn’t be able to determine if everything was okay. “Maybe you should let me take a look-” he offered, a fast hand reaching out for behind your back, but you flinched out of the way fast enough, catching his wrist just in time with a loud, “NO!”

Keigo didn’t spare you the sharp glare from below at your dismissal of his help, letting out a loud hum before retracting back to his seat. You didn’t miss a heartbeat to sit sideways on your chair, bringing your wings as far away as possible from him. “If there’s a broken feather, we need to mend it, Birdy, Darling.”

“I am sure they are fine, just a little... shuffled, yeah.”

“Mhm, I’d still like to see,” he insisted, standing up. He wasn’t a super tall figure in comparison to a lot of his colleagues, but he sure could look menacing when he hovered over you. The only good thing about it was the open space beneath his arm, that you slipped through quickly, giving yourself a mental pat for quick actions.

The only thing you didn’t consider was that Hawks always was quicker. Quicker in hunting people down, quicker in bringing them to the police, and quicker in catching you, knowing exactly what you were going for the moment your eyes fell on the open space. It had been a long time for someone to touch your wings. Even from Hawks, you had mostly kept them away, so you already had forgotten the feeling of a hand brushing into your feathers, gripping them tightly.

With a weak, panic-induced squeal, you stumbled to the side, pulling him with you as his hand held on just a bit tighter under your frantic movements. You could feel the feathers ripping from the root one after the other as he didn’t let go, your breathing picking up speed and lungs unable to handle the stress of the rapid air pouring in and out. Your hyperventilation did nothing to stop him, and with every sound of their fickle stems breaking you remembered more and more the circumstances of your upbringing.

It was just like when they had used you as a feather-maker before. The people you trusted most had regularly plucked them out to sell and make accessories for buyers, even when you bled and asked them not to. This was barely any different, especially not when Hawks clicked his tongue in annoyance the more you struggled.

Not long, and you found yourself in the stranglehold of his arm, bits of fluffy feathers falling from his hand as he finally pulled it away from your wings again, keeping you locked helplessly in his hold. “Calm down, it’s not like I want to hurt you.” There was nothing harder than to calm your racing heart and ragged breath, but you at least tried, especially when the air to breathe became thinner in his chokehold.

“Look, I found the bad boy,” he cooed, holding up his hand triumphantly to show you one long feather he had pulled out, slightly crooked at the end. Though you believed you started to see stars, clinging to his arm desperately, you nodded, quaking a ‘Thank you’ to him as best as you could.

Finally, he let you go, your body sinking to the ground, unable to hold up as every limb seemed to shiver uncontrollably. It took you a good minute to get some control over yourself again, the pain on your neck finally setting in too, and you shuddered just thinking about what just happened. But it wasn’t like Keigo ever gave you time to work through your experiences, especially not when you were so vulnerably open to him now.

You couldn’t possibly have seen his arms coming as they hooked under your shoulders, pulling you back up and over to the bed on which he sat down himself, letting your body glide to the floor. If anyone knew how to treat wings and tickle their instincts, it was Hawks, so it shouldn’t have surprised you as much as it did as he drove his hand up your spine, triggering your feathers to ruffle unwillingly. Immediately, you wanted to jump away again, but with a reprimanding ‘Ah-Ah’ his legs wrung around your torso, keeping your locked in your place despite your wiggles. 

It became only worse with the feelings of his hands brushing down your ruffled feather again, spreading them over his lap to get a really good look at them. “There are so many more broken ones. We have to take care of them, you understand that, right? It will only hurt so much to lose a few for the sake of keeping you healthy, I promise.”

“No... please...” you muttered as you heard his words, noticing his fingertips combing through every feather to inspect them one by one. “Don’t be a child now, I know what I’m doing. Just be a good birdie and let me handle this, [Name].”

There was no more resisting his words, Keigo being deadset on fixing your ruined feathers, one way or another. “Take a deep breath,” he advised, and you felt the hot tears roll down your cheeks as those words reminded you of the past. Hearing you following his instructions, Keigo did a trial tug, seeing just how much you’d flinch from it before strengthening his legs around your torso, knowing it would cause a lot of stirring if he really pulled it out.

“On the count of three, my Dove.”

[dangermousie]

2019 END OF YEAR KDrama Post

Wow, I haven’t made one in years. This is going to involve only dramas that came out in 2019 because I watched a hell of a lot dramas made prior to that and trying to figure out which ones will give me a headache.

DRAMAS WATCHED (In order of liking from most to least as opposed to pure quality; I am including if I’ve seen at least two eps AND feel it was enough to make up my mind; yes I realize that’s inaccurate, but that’s my list)

Extraordinary You -  A philosophy and religion course AND a love story, and perfect at both.

My Country - a brutal, passionate, intense masterpiece of a sageuk. This is how they should be.

Crash Landing On You - the two eps that have aired brought my joy in watching kdramas back to me so vividly. This is everything. 

Encounter - the perfect noona romance of the year for me. It seems to have little plot (powerful older woman, idealistic younger man) but the characters made me love them with an unhealthy amount of attachment and the mood is just perfect. 

Haechi - smart traditional sageuk with a heart. This one will make you love it but also respect it in the morning :)

Queen: Love and War - Period, romance, mystery, helpless king and feisty heroine. It’s everything I love in one package. 

Chocolate - if, like me, you like slow old-school melo with genuine grown-ups, this one is for you. Ha Ji Won and Yoon Kye Sang are both incandescent in this. 

One Spring Night - a rare slice of life that worked for me so so much. I rooted for the main OTP like crazy (I did skip all the sister stuff though because boring to me.) It’s just a breath of fresh air.

The Tale of Nokdu - a rare funny youth sageuk that worked for me (except, ironically, for when they tried to be politics-heavy and serious about it.) Wonderful OTP, funny situations and just generally a delight. 

Memories of the Alhambra - I can hear people screaming that I put this so high, but this is a faves ranking, not objective one, and I loved the unusual premise (it ultimately fell apart but it tried), and Hyun Bin’s performance was out of this world and the aaaaagnst and I enjoyed waiting for it each week until almost the end. That ending though!!!!!

Psychopath Diary - this is black comedy at its best and hysterical and smart and somehow got me invested in the hapless protagonist. 

Hotel del Luna - clever and funny and smart. Hong Sisters largely back to form. I found the sageuk parts more engaging than modern ones, but what else is new.

Search WWW - some parts of it worked for me more than others, but it had solid writing and cool characters and some interesting OTP(s). 

Love is Beautiful Life is Wonderful - has the weekend drama slowness but it lovely and fun. 

When the Camellia Blooms - it was well made and the OTP was great and the acting top notch, I just don’t tend to go gaga for slice of life dramas, especially ones involving market ladies, much. 

Flower Crew Joseon Marriage Agency - competently done, pretty period piece about nothing. It was enjoyable and forgettable at once.

Catch the Ghost - I put it as high as I did because the OTP really did have lovely chemistry but the story was a complete mess, the police work made no sense and the heroine’s character was like nails on a chalkboard for me.

Joseon Survival - I got about four episodes in and liked it a lot but then Kang Ji Hwan turned out to be a convicted rapist, they replaced the lead and I didn’t go back. I kind of want to because I liked what I saw and I am madly curious as to whether they changed the main character or just said he had a different face now, no explanation. 

The Last Empress - pure inconsistent trash but so entertaining!

Vagabond - I made it eight episodes in before I realized that I would have as much fun staring at traffic. It’s a competently done actioner but without more, actioners never work for me, so this was a viewer/drama mismatch.

Arthdal  Chronicles - incoherent, visually odd and boring, this is arguably the worst drama this year but I am giving it higher place because the cast really tries (even if it tends to fail because it has nothing to work with) and because it attempted something different even if it failed spectacularly. SO BAD.

Melting Me Softly - yes, my brain was fully melted by this soulless, charmless waste of Ji Chang Wook and my limited free time.

VIP - Any drama that makes the main mystery and thrust of the story who the husband cheated on his wife with is BORING. Seriously, this is not exactly Hercule Poirot. They wasted their cast - I have NO idea why Lee Sang Yoon agreed to be in this as a one note character and Jang Nara is playing a second scorned wife in a row but without even the entertainment value of her previous outing.

Abyss - aptly named. The best thing I can say about it is it didn’t offend me but oh boy was it dull.

Absolute Boyfriend - I loved the manga but it’s time to accept this can never be adapted well. They wasted the cast and that ending was just an insult on top of a trash heap.

The Lies Within - you cast that cast and deliberately have no romance. You are dead to me. 

Woman of 9.9 Billion - competently made, but it’s everything I dislike - dour unpleasant bored people behaving as if they are in a particularly dreary art-house French movie but without any nuance or interest the latter came provide. 

Love with Flaws - shrill, dumb, neither acted nor written by anyone trying at all. 

Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung - objectively, it’s not the worst drama on the list, but it’s everything I hate in one package - willfully ahistorical but not cleverly so, male lead incapable of acting, the characters so one-dimensional they disappear, this purports to be a period drama but about as period as a space ship. God, I loathed this. 

FAVORITE DRAMA

Extraordinary You - smart (so mind-bendingly smart) and moving and totally unpredictable and with so many things to say about free will and religion and self and nature of memory and narrative, this had an insane impossible premise and yet somehow managed to do it full justice and stick the landing. 

WORST DRAMA

People with Flaws - this is different from least favorite because even if I loathed e.g., Rookie Historian or Woman of 9.9 Billion, I recognized some positive features; it’s just certain things really rubbed me the wrong way due to personal preferences. But this shrill hot mess of a drama is really everything that’s wrong with dramaworld.

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER

Prince Yeoning, Haechi - fiercely smart, strong, tormented by the duality of his birth (royal father, servant mother) but not letting this distract him from his purpose, loyal to the bone, and with integrity nothing can shake but where you can feel that it’s not easy and that it costs him.

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER

Eun Dan Oh, Extraordinary You - a go-getter who remakes the world (literally); smart, cheerful, strong, beautifully human. She feels so real and yet is larger than anything around her. 

NEEDS TO BE MURDERED

Yi Seung Gye, My Country - a sociopath destroying lives in his quest for power and control, even the destruction of his own family barely gives him anything but momentary pause. He is the reason for the tragedy of MC. 

FAVORITE SHIP

Eun Dan Oh x Haru, Extraordinary You - their love is literally universe and god-defying. They have loved each other as different people in three separate worlds (and counting), and have defied loss of memory and even loss of self as well as death, the end of worlds, and their god and the narrative and literally anything and everything, to be together.

Runner Up: Soo Hyun x Jin Hyuk, Encounter: tender and decent and his bringing her back to vivid life and the way they love and support and compliment each other.  

Probably gonna be on list if doesn’t go haywire: Crash Landing on You: she is a SK heiress, he’s a NK officer, they have mad chemistry and so much potential.

NOTP:

Tae Mi x Morgan, Search WWW - love the actors, love the chemistry, love the characters in terms of the way they are written, but they are absolutely wrong for each other and there is no future of any sort but misery ahead. None of their issues are resolved but are swept under the rug. It’s a cautionary tale, not a romance. I did a long rant before so not repeating. 

BEST SECONDARY OTP

Scarlett x Ji Hwan, Search WWW - they stole the shippiness in the drama for me. Cooky and adorable and noona romance done right.

FAVORITE SCENE

Haru’s final disappearance, Extraordinary You - the lights start to go out, the world literally dissolving, Eun Oh and Haru clinging to each other, with his telling her she was his beginning and the end. His name, the one she gave him, is the last thing he hears. In a drama full of amazing scenes the very gist of which was defying the very creator and universe and meaning of existence, this was the one that stayed with me the most.

BIGGEST CRUSH

Seo Hwi, My Country - I have a thing for deeply honorable, deeply tortured period badasses with long hair and a death wish (see Choi Young in Faith etc.)

BEST SCENE STEALER CHARACTER

Yi Bang Won, My Country - he started out as an antihero and ended up as arguably a tragic villain (or maybe still an anti-hero) but oh boy, was he magnetic and fascinating and sucking out all the oxygen whenever he was in the scene.

NEEDS A SEQUEL

Memories of the Alhambra - WTF ending was that?! All that misery and no real resolution?! Dammit!

TROPE THAT NEEDS TO DIE

Youth Sageuk - I hate most of them! They are anachronistic and dumb and honestly, what is the point of having fully modern people in period clothes? Just make a modern show and call it a day.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Melting Me Softly - Ji Chang Wook’s first project back from the military was an unfunny, unmoving, pointless mess with not an ounce of genuine enjoyment despite the excellent pedigree of everyone involved in front and behind the camera.

Arthdal Chronicles - the makers made excellent Queen Seon Duk, Tree with Deep Roots and Six Flying Dragons. The cast was uniformly A grade. The result was an open-ended, boring, incoherent mess that looks like a bad sort of a drug trip and made about as much sense. 

BIGGEST GOOD SURPRISE

Extraordinary You - I had zero interest in yet another high school drama with no actors I recognized. By the end, EY was an emotional brainy twister of a marvel that became my favorite drama of all time. I’ve been watching dramas for over 13 years so that’s saying something.

2019 DRAMAS I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT I MOST WANT TO WATCH

The Crowned Clown - I love sageuks and cast and it looks so smart and emotional

Angel’s Last Mission: Love - my next contemporary - I watched a little and loved what I saw

Fates and Furies - I saw a few eps and classic melo is so up my alley.

Clean with a Passion for Now - I like the cast and it’s a year of falling for hot weird bosses apparently.

Graceful Family - I love makjang and Im Soo Jung.

The Secret Life of My Secretary - downmarket Beauty Inside and I loved BI.

Love Affairs in the Afternoon - artsy adultery FTW

Item - I don’t like crime stuff but I am here for Joo Ji Hoon.

My Strange Hero - seems a little cooky but I am fond of Yoo Seung Ho.

MOST ANTICIPATED IN 2020

King: the Eternal Monarch - Lee Min Ho and Woo Do Hwan and parallel worlds and written by Kim Eun Suk. Yes Please.

I should probably make one for cdramas too though that one would be rather shorter.

[icipersona5-pricefamily]

Who are your Top 5 fave Phantom Thieves of Hearts?

It could be just one or two, but sometimes you can't help it, but to love all of them. But there's always a fave or two and sadly a dislike. But let's focus on the top faves. Honestly for me... it's hard to chose. I mean I have my two faves, but do I have my top 5 faves? 🤔 Hmm... well, most do share the same spots... And please don't be mad at choices! 🙏 We all can't like the same the thing or person after all. Anyway! I will expose my top 5 and be warn, there are spoilers, so I advise you not to look at the list until you played the games or seen the walk through. If you like to spoil yourself, go ahead....

5. Sophia/Sophie. Why her? Well, she's adorable and an AI who has a Persona. She's not the first technology thing to have one, of course. But I like her plot and how she's trying to learn what a heart is. She has YoYo as her weapon which is cool and despite many let downs, she had learn from her teammates and understand what it means to be a Phantom Thief of Hearts. As the story goes, she was slowly losing her robot like voice and to find out how she was created! I like it! I'm gonna miss her...

4. Futaba Sakura/Oracle (Navi in Japan). Why? I just like her personalities and how she's a great hacker while trying to be outgoing. (You can do it, Futaba!). She's funny and I love her siblings relationship with Ren/MC and Yusuke. Her past was so sad and I just wanna hug her. I am glad she has an adopted dad like Sojiro and how she was willing to change her heart to save him. I'm really glad in Royal she has her victory pose after the all out attack. I just wish she'd had one in Strikers when things are looking bad, she actives her showtime to fully heal the HP and SP. PS, I love her UFO like Persona!!

3. Yusuke Kitagawa/Fox. I love this dork! He is beautiful, such a soul of an artist and kinda gullible in most things. He's a sweetie and never miss an opportunity to art. What happened to him in the past and in P5, I wanna protect him. I'm glad the Phantom Thieves came in to help and he becomes one. His relationship with Futaba is funny. They're like siblings to each other (Sorry to those who shipped them!). And he's sort of the first for Futaba to interact with. I do worry about his money situation, but he seems to be doing okay. I really wish Atlus added that you could date guys, I mean they made you date older women, but not a guy at close age to? O.o Anyway, Yusuke is a funny and sweet guy, kinda naive but a good guy. Kudos to the voice actors, both English and Japanese.

2. Morgana/Mona & Ryuji Sakamoto/Skull. Eh? Two?! Hey, it's hard to chose, okay? =3= Now why? Let's start with Morgana... He's a talking cat and he's adorable! (Morgana: I'm NOT a cat) Hehe... Anyway! He's like a mascot yet he's strong and wise in most situations. Despite being a cat in the real world, he still hangouts with the team to join in the fun. I love how he's smitten over Ann yet acts like a gentleman (sometimes) towards her and the fact he can become a bus (and helicopter in Royal) is awesome! I feel bad about when Morgana started to feel useless to the team and no one notice it until Haru appears as a thief. But I am glad he'd came back and to learn his past, wow! I nearly cried at the end of P5. I kinda wish he a human form like Teddie, but at least he kinda did in Royal. And I really wish his cat sprite has more reactions and stuff. The fact his Persona is Zorro... pfft X3c It's like Puss in Boots in Shrek! Now, Ryuji... He's such a good boy with a temper, but he has reasons why. Despite that, he's a good friend and never abandons his friends. Thanks to the MC, he slowly becomes who he should be and I'd a funny guy. I feel bad that his track team treated badly because of what happened and I kinda get it, but still... Anyway! He's like the loyal friend who got your back and is willing to stand up for his friends, even his life to save them. He even didn't judge the MC and becomes his first friend of Shujin Academy. Now, why both on the top fave 2? Well, they always bicker at each other yet they kinda get along sometimes. They both are close to the MC and they're funny like Yosuke and Teddie in P4. Glad their relationship had grew in Strikers and the fact that they are not afraid to blunt insults to each other. At least they're good friends.

Now, the top most fave(s), drum roll please........................

1. Ren Amamiya/Akira Kurusu/Joker & Zenkichi Hasegawa/Wolf. Again another spot is share! And before Strikers, Joker is still my top fave then Zenkichi came in, it's a tied. Let's start with Ren. Ren is handsome! He's cool and mysterious! The plot for him is perfect and how his Persona is Arsene is even more perfect. The background of his shows how hard life is, despite doing something good, he get punish in the end? That's bull crap and everyone treated him like he's a bad boy when he's not. Thankfully, he made friends and people around soon learns he's not a bad boy at all. Ren is charmer and he's still the guy who is willing to help those in need, of course that's up to the player. I do wish in Strikers that it kinda shown his distrust and trauma of the police. I would protect him and make any cops stay a safe distance from him. (Sorry Zenkichi) At least he kinda got his life back thanks to his friends and allies. Did I mention I like him? Seriously I do! 🥰 He's handsome and his smile... Sorry! Now, Zenkichi... This guy is a goof ball, the only adult of Phantom Thieves of Hearts and is a cop! Well, PubSec. He's like Dojima and Sojiro in one, sort of. At first, I did distrust due to he's a cop and all, plus you know in P4 and with Goro. I wasn't sure about him until I had watch the walk through and when first seeing him and when he'd laughed, I thought 'I might like this guy, but let's wait and see'. Now, I thought he would be a comic relief which he sort of is while still not trusting him until we learn he's a dad and how he'd lost his wife which 'Wait! He's a dad and had a wife who was killed in hit and run? Dojima 2?!' OwO I was surprised. Of course, not exactly the same, but similar plot. We get to learn about his past, his relationship with his daughter and why he was using the Phantom Thieves for such case. I start to feel bad for him and his daughter, heck even the Phantom Thieves felt bad. At some point, I did started to like him and Zenkichi was starting to bond with them and they even started to think as him part of the team. Once Zenkichi reveals why he'd hadn't caught the killer, I truly feel bad and understand why he let the killer go. Then boom! He has a Persona that fits him perfectly and such a cool Phantom Thief attire! 😳 That's when I fallen for him 'Dang it! First Joker now him!' He became like a dad of the team, always reminded them that despite what happened to the Monarch, it's still wrong what they're doing now. Despite how old he is (He's in his 40s) he can still fight and is cool! Still a goof ball good looking guy. Now, why both on the same spot? .....I love both them equally! 😍 They're both cool, good looking and those smirks... How dare Atlus did this to me?! I love their Personas. I wish we could see them having bonding moments though. *clears throat* Anyway. Because how I like them, as always I had created OCs to be with them. Hehe 😅

Now, for the rest of Phantom Thieves of Hearts. I do love them all, truly. Makoto is cool and she's the mom of the group. Ann is good friend to hangout, plus she's caring about others who had suffered. Haru is a sweetie who has scary side to her (Do not let her drive). Goro is someone that you wish he had saved sooner and yes I did hate him but I feel bad for what happened to him. Sumire, I wasn't sure about we had learn her background and wow! What a twist. I did call her a hypocrite while I can see why she thought that the people don't help themselves when reality the thieves gives courage and they done something to move on with some help, unlike what she did but I get it and I do like her persona.

Who would I want to be part of the team? Hmm... Hifumi since she was gonna be part of the team, but sadly that was cut off. She would've been better as a thief. Maybe Mishima, maybe! Sojiro... What?! It would've been cool, although he isn't young as he use to be, still. Lastly Maruki. I am surprised he doesn't count to be part of the team, but I guess it's because his Persona was kinda controlling him (I can't remember 😅) and didn't join the team. He would've been a neat addition to team, being a dad/uncle of the group. I feel bad for the guy and I get why did all that yet what about him? Doesn't he deserve to be happy to? Also... what happened to his girlfriend after the Metaverse vanishes in Royal? Anyway, he still like a sweet guy to me and I kinda wish Royal was mentioned in Strikers, but Strikers is technically a sequel/spin off to P5 since Strikers was part of P5, but it was too long and got cut. Hence of no mentioning of Royal.

Whew! Anyway! No hate on this, not everyone agrees with my choices and it's different from everyone opinions. But what about you guys? Got top faves and wish who would've been part of the team??

[just-being-leonest]

Murder Family Cons

A.k.a, things I disliked about it. Pros are here. Friendly reminder that this is just my opinion, thank you!

Now here are the things I will address under the cut: -Comedy -Art -Character Development -Lore/Writing

Comedy

I will admit, it is very easy to make me laugh, I’m easy to entertain. Although I did find some jokes in this episode to be funny, a good half, maybe more, fell flat. For example: The children all fainting, Moxxie’s mob boss joke, the Stolas button (which I will go more into detail with under Character Development), and Blitzø’s doggy treat joke. Now I’m no expert on comedy, but I’ve been (forced) to watch many, many shitty comedies with no replay value. From what I’ve seen, to truly make a joke land is it’s timing and relevance to either the character’s personality and/or plot. These jokes offer nothing, there’s no set-up (like with Moxxie’s mob boss joke/impression hehe imp), not relevant to the plot or character’s personality, or just bad. I’d say the main joke-killer in this episode was the severe lack of set-up. Jokes coming out of nowhere can be funny, I personally found Ms. Mayberry throwing the girl into ceiling funny because it was out of nowhere, but that is very hard to pull off and just using the same formula is very tiresome and repetitive. 

Good comedy tends to have a lot of different types of humor, like Rise of Teenage Mutant Turtles (rottmnt is my latest hyperfixation sue me) has a variety of humor like slap-stick, one-liners and puns, and visual gags, all of which have proper set-up and relevance to either the plot or the characters. Granted rottmnt and Helluva are very different, and rottmnt is not in any way perfect but it does execute comedy that is funny to not only it’s target audience (9-12 year old boys) but to many adults/teens as well, something that Helluva struggled to do even with it’s target audience.

Art

I personally liked the art on Helluva so no comment.

Character Development

Strap in your seat belts, this is gonna be a long one and it’s mostly about Stolas.

Stolas is... not the best character in this. For one example, on a list of buttons that Blitzø is implied to have as “panic buttons” has Stolas on one of them. That implies that Blitzø panics or is severely uncomfortable when Stolas is in the room, which is not a good thing to have, if your end goal is to have them get together. 

And then his phone call with Blitzø oh good lord... it was very sexually charged, unnecessarily so, especially since Blitzø was being very clear on how unwanted the sexual undertones were. He repeatedly said “now is not the time” or something very similar, which Stolas completely ignored. All that is telling me is either Stolas sucks at picking up hints (which I highly doubt and would make no sense with his character arch) or he just doesn’t give two fucks. I’m more inclined to the latter, considering he was still talking when Moxxie ran by, telling me that he didn’t care if Blitzø was listening. Honestly, Stolas in general makes me uncomfortable with his sexually charged comments, and I’m someone who’s used to this shit both from movies and irl from my dad. 

Lore/Writing

So... the human world, huh? Genuine question, is it purposefully portrayed as this shitty for lore/plot or is it for the sake of comedy (which falls flat). If it’s comedy then... not a really good joke, it’s a very overused trope that I’m tired of seeing. Same thing regarding if it’s just for plot/lore, it’s very overused and depressing.

The voice acting was... kinda meh, especially for Martha’s husband but that’s just me being nitpicky so take it with a grain of salt if you want.

One thing that has bugged me for a little while is how Ms. Mayberry knew Martha survived and got famous. Didn’t she commit suicide? If so, how did she figure it out? And why did the police explode the house? Did Moxxie inform them about the stuff going on? But that would warrant investigation, not immediate explosion. And there are kids in that house. I get that cops can be, will be, and are shitty, but they still have laws and rules to follow and just straight up bombing a house is not allowed in any situation, not with the children there and how little information and proof there was.

Also the atmosphere of Moxxie discovering how vicious and evil the family was very jarring, and I really can’t tell if that was the intent or not :/

The ending... was horrible. Everyone ignored Moxxie’s feelings and it just felt so fake. To be fair, I hate endings where everyone laughs and laughs. Unless you’re MLP, that shit usually just makes me wince from the fakeness.

Also why the sex scenes? It could just me being ace but having Martha being fucked while being called a hero was... not necessary at all.

Overall, I’d give the episode a 6, maybe 7 out of ten. It wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst. It’s a good start to the series.

[marshmallowprotection]

I HAVE FINISHED TURQUOISE’S INFO (her name is now Jessamine)!

Also heres a link to the song “The Last Revolver” by Mothy, though note this is a cover with a newer version of Gumi’s voicebank, and this is also a fanmade PV remake of the original PV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xsdMtgEJEg 

This song is directly responsible for giving me the inspiration to make Jessamine. uwu

Also ignore the weird spacing I made this in google docs originally and apparently it decided to copy paste like that and im too lazy to fix it oof also its kind of long sooo oof.

like…2398 words long ;-;

I suggest you listen to “The Last Revolver” whilst reading this. idk gives mood lol

Name: Jessamine ‘Jess’ Belle 

 Aliases (If Any): Evera (Assassin Name)

 Age: 20 (On Liam’s Death)

24 (Currently)

 Date of Birth/Birthday: Day 31 of Aria’s Star, 2045 T.C. (the equivalent of December 31st)

 Zodiac: Sagittarius 

 Status: Alive

 Species: Human

 Magic:

 Height: 5'0 (152 Centimeters)

 Ethnicity: Mijean

 Relatives: Unnamed Mother✝

Unnamed Father✝

Liam Adelson (Fiance)✝

 Birth Place: Collapsed Kingdom of Mijea, Theda

 Nationality/Current Residence: Mariah Empire, Theda

 Religion (Which Goddess Do they Worship?): None

 Occupation: Assassin Employed By Kiara Malories (Formerly)

Wandering Gunner

 Affiliations: Kiara Malories (Formerly)

Kingdom of Mijea (Formerly)

None

Personality (In Phrases): Uptight, Cold, Adorable (According to Liam), Secretly Really Kind, Just Kind of Quiet, Stubborn, Was Kind of Clingy To Liam Due To Having Literally Nobody Else, Her Parents Died In The Mercenian Invasion of The Kingdom of Mijea In 2062, And She Had Basically No Friends, So Liam Became Her Rock, She’s Still In Mourning, She’s Extremely Suicidal, Pretty Unstable, Has A Temper

 Marital Status: Engaged To Liam Adelson (Formerly)

Single

 Sexuality: Heterosexual

 Likes: Her Revolver, Macarons, Liam, Cherry Blossoms, Hummingbirds, Butterflies, The Color Purple, People Who Don’t Get In Her Way of Revenge

 Dislikes: Spicy Foods, Her Height, Kiara Malories, Mercenians, The State of Mercenia, Killing For No Reason (Developed After Liam’s Death), The Ocean (She Doesn’t Know How To Swim), People Who Do Get In Her Way of Revenge, Anyone Who Tells Her Suicide Doesn’t Solve Anything, Anyone Who Tells Her She Doesn’t Need To Get Revenge, Anyone Who Claims Liam Wouldn’t Want Her To Do [Anything Under The Sun]

 Role: Secondary Character

Debut: Undecided

 Random Facts: 

Her smile is absolutely beautiful to see. However, she hasn’t smiled since her fiance, Liam, died.

She’s one of the last pure Mijeans still alive, as most were slaughtered in the Mercenian Invasion of 2062 T.C. in a genocidal sort of fashion. There are an estimated 500 Mijeans still walking the planet, and likely a lot more half-Mijeans exist than pure Mijeans.

The revolver she currently uses is a very expensive, efficient one that is very rare, which Liam gave to her for her birthday a few hours before she realized she had to kill him. 

Jess is the definition of a person who gets really, adorably mad if you dare mention how short she is. 

Liam was 6'0, a full 12 inches taller than Jess. You can bet that Liam teased her about it constantly. 

Liam often picked up Jess in order to kiss her without hurting his neck. It wasn’t very hard since she’s fairly light. She was a flustered mess about it constantly.

When they first met, Jess didn’t tell Liam her real name on the spot, instead telling him her assassin name, Everina. He called her Ever most of the time, and when she confessed to him, that was when she told him her real name. He still called her Ever sometimes, but usually only if they were (for any reason) in public.

Very rarely, Liam called Jess “Mina”, which was a nickname he alone used for her. He only called her that during extremely personal, special moments (e.g. first kiss, kisses in general, making love, and when Jess had to kill him)

It’s very easy to fluster Jess, usually, just give her a peck on the cheek or her lips, or pick her up, and she’ll get flustered immediately.

Jess’s most sensitive spot is the right side of her neck, like sort of between her neck and shoulder. Liam used this to his advantage ;3

Jess is extremely ticklish on her sides, but nowhere else.

Jess’s favorite season is Spring due to it being when she met Liam, and her least favorite is Winter due to it being the season where she had to kill Liam.

Jess dreads and just plain old hates her birthday as her birthday doubles as the day where she had to kill Liam. 

The only reason Jess hasn’t killed herself yet is that she feels she needs to kill Kiara first as vengeance for Liam. She plans to kill herself immediately afterward.

Jess plans to give Kiara an extremely painful, long death.

Jess is terrifying when she is determined to kill someone. Seriously, don’t get in her way. Else you’ll be killed too.

Jess’s favorite things about Liam according to her was his blue eyes and his dark, maroonish hair. His eyes because to her they were beautiful and she loved staring into them, his hair because it was extremely soft. 

Jess is a total bottom 99% of the time…except one time when Liam let her top.

Liam constantly attempted to make Jess laugh, which was usually successful whether his joke was good or not, most times she laughed because his jokes were just stupid but in a funny way

Liam is 3 years older than Jess, being 22 when they met in 2064 T.C. and 23 when he died in 2065 T.C. as he was born on Day 13 of Ayja’s Star/September 13th, 2042 T.C.

Jess’s situation is a bit similar to Cora Hallow’s, as Jess lost everything she loved and became a wandering gunner, and swore revenge upon the person responsible, where Cora lost her entire family (supposedly) in the fire of Saseraia and swore revenge upon Nymeria believing her to be the one responsible; The fact that actually Jess is descended from a bastard line (descended of a bastard child of one of Cora’s descendants- also can I just say, Cora had one biological child, a daughter, who was conceived using early, experimental artificial insemination technologies and paved the way for refinement of such technologies for same-sex couples- it’s not that important but I wanted to mention it cus why not) of Cora makes it kind of ironic because history is sort of repeating itself in a way. 

The reason Liam was targeted by Kiara was that he found out what Kiara was through overhearing her talking to someone at his police station, and due to that, she wanted him dead because he was also getting in her way by rescuing some of the other people she wanted dead or killing the criminals she wanted to recruit. He was also planning to reveal to the world what she was.

Backstory: Jessamine “Jess” Belle was born the only child of a pair of general store owners in the Kingdom of Mijea on the coldest day of the year. Jess’s childhood is relatively uneventful, until when she was 17 in 2062 T.C., when the State of Mercenia invaded the Kingdom of Mijea, looking to absorb it into its territory as it was falling into chaos anyway. Jess’s parents die helping Jess escape. She flees the country and ends up passing out on the border of the Kingdom of Lavinia, being found by Kiara Malories (who is really just Aya having possessed Nymeria’s body and using the body appearance changing spell that was within Nymeria’s ability pool to make herself look different), who takes her in, on the condition,  however, that Jess becomes an assassin working for her. Having basically no other choice, Jess agrees and is taught how to use a gun by another assassin in Kiara’s employ, as it turns out Kiara had a whole group of assassins and other people working for her for vastly different reasons. Jess begins her work as an assassin for Kiara by killing about 40~ people within the next 2 years (20 per year).

 On the first day of spring (Day 1 of Xomura’s Star/February 1st, Note The Calendar of This World Is Different In Which The Year Starts In April Instead of January And Thus Ends In March) of 2064 T.C. Jess goes to a small hill with a cherry blossom tree on it, which was a spot she loved to go to think about everything. However, that day was different in a significant way: Jess met a tall man with maroon hair and eyes. She indulged him with some idle chatter, telling him her name was Everina when asked. As he talked (and flirted a bit) with her, she learned his name was Liam and that like her, he was one of the survivors of the Mercenian Invasion of 2062, but that he was spared only because he was not Mijean, rather, he was from Aleon, at least, he was born there, but his parents moved to the Kingdom of Mijea when he was young. Jess also learns he is a police officer, and due to that remains cautious of him, always being prepared to kill him in case he ever suddenly turned on her. However, as they continued to meet up together at that cherry blossom tree, Jess steadily began to trust him.

 In Summer (Day 28 of Kaila’s Star/August 28th; Summer Starts On June 20th/Day 20 of Eros’s Star In This World; Also The Year Is Now 2065 T.C. As April Has Passed), Jess was invited by Liam to a “date” according to him, though she chalked it up to him just flirting with her yet again, but accepted the invitation anyway. He took her to a park where together they watched a meteor shower that only happened once every 460 years, and that the last time this meteor shower happened was around when Archbishop Briella, the first archbishop under the new government system and after the Second Great Theda Civil War, was on her death bed. After the meteor shower was over, Liam confessed that he had fallen in love with Jess, and conflicted, Jess asked him to give her some time to think. After a few days of thinking, Jess realized she had fallen for Liam as well, and asked him to meet her under the same cherry blossom tree that had met at originally, and when they both arrived, she confessed to him that she had fallen in love with him as well. She also told him that she had lied to him about her name, as she didn’t trust him originally, and revealed to him her real name was Jessamine or Jess for short. Liam, overwhelmed with joy, picked her up and kissed her, calling her “Mina” for the first time, and over time it evolved into a special nickname that only he was allowed to call her. Liam also laughed when he saw Jess’s extremely flustered face after he kissed her.

 In Autumn, Jess and Liam’s relationship truly blossomed, and mid-way through the season, they made love for the first time. And, mid-way through the last month of the season, Harmonia’s Star, Liam proposed to her, and Jess accepted. However, near the end of the season, Jess learned her next target was a man named Liam Adelson. While she was distressed at first at seeing the name “Liam”, she calmed herself by telling herself that the Liam she was engaged to and Liam Adelson must be different people- but deep inside there was a feeling of dread that told her that the two Liams were the same person.

 In Winter, Jess asked Liam what his last name was, and he said he’d tell her if she told him hers, and she agreed. He revealed that his last name was Adelson, and in shock, she slowly said her last name was Belle before collapsing onto her knees, breaking into tears. Liam asked what was wrong but she fled not even a minute later. For the next month, she avoided Liam as much as possible, but eventually, he found her back at the cherry blossom tree they met at together all the time in mid Aria’s Star (December). Jess revealed that she was actually an assassin and that all the murders that had been happening had been her and her colleagues working. She told him she didn’t have a choice because she had nowhere else to go. She had been lying to her colleagues that she hadn’t been able to find him anywhere and that’s what it was taking so long to kill him because she desperately didn’t want to kill him. Before Liam could say another word Jess fled once again. On the 31st of Aria’s Star (December 31st), Liam got Jess a gift: a very rare, very efficient revolver, having known she had a fascination with revolvers and had planned to buy herself one. While she had originally claimed she was going to use it for self-defense, Liam knew she was likely using it to kill people. Liam managed to find Jess under the cherry blossom tree yet again, presented to her his gift. When she asked why he had gotten her a revolver, Liam told her to kill him with it. It was made to kill people as quickly as possible. He had even gotten her bullets. He told her that he didn’t want her to lose her home, or neglect what she had to do. In tears, Jess told him she didn’t want to kill him and even suggested they just run away, but Liam told her that there were others after him and that he would likely die anyway, so if he was going to die, he wanted it to be by her hand. Before Jess could say another word he picked her up and kissed her. When he finally broke the kiss, he quickly grabbed Jess’s revolver, knowing she would be unable to gain the courage to shoot him, and shot himself for her, his last words being “I love you, Mina.”

 That day, Jess ran away from Kiara and swore revenge against her. 

And to this day, in the year 2070 T.C., she still looks to do that, waiting for the day she can kill Kiara and then kill herself so she can be reunited with Liam. 

— Submission

Ah, yes, holding the gun that tilts the fate of the universe. Gumi songs always tend to have a really specific note to them and this one assuredly is wild and a lot to take in when you listen to it in the context of the Villainious series. Glad to see it play out, though. I think there’s something bittersweet about how she was forced to do this, but her love stopped her from having to stain her hands with his blood. Him taking the shot himself implies that he loves her enough to die for her if he must. 

It’s upsetting that there was no way out. But, pain and grief in stories like this provide an arc for a character to follow and deal with, and perhaps her story will not entirely end in misery, but peace and resolution of the fate that she’s been dealt and what it means to be okay with where you’re heading and what you’ve been forced through.