#i felt like her death was due because she was so op for team black

[start-anywhere]

finally some good fucking food.jpg!!!!!

hotd: team green or black? (or?)

rhaenys thoughts?

rhaenyra x mysaria…???

house of the dragon asks! VERY LONG ANSWERS AHEAD:

1: team green or black?

there's two answers to this - the intellectual answer, and the team sports answer.

the intellectual answer is that this isn't really "the point." both sides have (and will) lose a great deal. there are no winners in war, only survivors. a petty conflict between the rich will result in the death of many.

on a broader, thematic note, my impression is that a big point of the entire "song of ice and fire" is that the unjust hierarchy of monarchy and feudalism hurts people. especially the lower classes. they are affected when lords flex military might, when they put their own survival above the realm, when they act petty, selfish or cowardly, which they frequently do. the rare "peaceful" ruler does not justify the system. the lower classes also suffer the most in war. but the system hurts everyone - even the royals themselves. they are literally killing each other for power.

THAT. BEING. SAID.

i actually disagree with the take that you can't have some fun with the team sports aspect. this is a fictional television show. Fun is allowed. it's drama! murder! crying and screaming!!!

so while HotD has overall thematic messages, the show encourages you to enjoy the back-and-forth between the characters. i don't begrudge people for their stan wars on twitter. we all know this is a fictional show - and its okay to be ruled by your emotions when watching fiction.

so. with that said? team black, 100%. i think they have more compelling characters and reasoning for their cause. fundamentally, their cause is to put a woman on the throne in a society ruled by traditional patriarchy.

look, i love alicent for her complexity. she is a well-written character who makes sense with her society... but she is not a girl's girl. she is trapped both by external forces of patriarchy and its effect on her own mind. she is stuck fighting for men and fulfilling wifely duties - never fighting for herself.

she seems pretty miserable, at the end of the day.

yes, rhaenyra is also complex. she's often a bad person - but sometimes, i like seeing a strong woman on a dragon do some crimes :) especially one who has had to fight for respect as often as rhaenyra. that's compelling tv, even if Monarchy Bad.

the greens have A Point somewhere, about stability > rhaenyra, but they are also clouded by self-interest. they didn't even TRY supporting a woman. (also, remember, this is emotion/vibes-based.)

the "aagon's dream" misunderstand was initially frustrating, which also makes me side against the greens a bit more. i like when characters are compelled by real, sincere differences in opinion. i dislike when it's just a misunderstanding that can be easily quelled.

and alicent DID have real motivations, previously! she was right that rhaenyra would have reason to kill her children to claim legitimacy - even if that's more of a Matter of War now than a real intention of hers early on.

oh well. one good thing about the misunderstanding is that it didn't actually convince anyone other than alicent. it seems mostly that it was a good tool to further their cause, not something that actually convinced the masses on a deep, personal level. you can also make the case that alicent "heard what she wanted to hear". it doesn't really matter because nobody was going to suddenly switch sides. the material reality is more important: alicent wants to secure her children's safety. the war is already happening, so alicent's misunderstanding being cleared up doesn't change anything.

and it causes alicent to realize she doesn't really have much power. society around her will keep turning, and her influence is very limited. the rabble may hate or worship her, and she has little control over it. she may be important in the council, or dismissed from it. which is leading her on a compelling arc that i'm interested to see where goes.

2: rhaenys thoughts?

very few! uhh... she seemed nice? i like her death scene?

the show seems to use her symbolically as a shorthand for "what a good woman ruler could be like" for the kingdom. but i don't know if it would've played out that way. it is hard to tell, because if she WAS queen, the society she lives in could have turned against her. or maybe she could have found a way to earn their trust. maybe viserys would've been chill enough to support her claim (probably?). but we don't know. she's The Queen Who Never Was (tm).

3: rhaenyra x mysaria?

ok so, i do actually have a hot take on this, cuz i've seen some call it "rushed." it may ruffle some feathers. here we go:

i dont think every gay kiss has to feel like an "earned" 50k slowburn fic. it's well-established that instant or near-instant attraction is a thing. i dont think it will be "endgame," but i dont think it needs to be.

i think sometimes - often in this show - you see a man and a woman meet and fuck the same night. people tend to just accept that. not every case of attraction has to be based on a Deep Bond of Many Years. sometimes, a man and woman on this show have no real bond, yet as soon as they Walk Close to Each Other, it's accepted "they will fuck that night."

i would also suggest that not everything is literal. it's addressed in canon that rhaenyras' attraction to daemon came hand-in-hand with what he represented to her. which was, in a word, freedom. she wanted to BE him more than anything.

if we take a non-literal approach, what might mysaria represent?

right now, i think its rhaenyras desperation for someone to listen to her. her council belittles her for being a woman. it protects her like a "daughter" rather than a ruler. mysaria both listens to her, and plots with her on equal level. in a way, she represents (and yes this is a somewhat cliche thing in gay pairings, but not for no reason!) a sense of equality and mutual understanding in a patriarchal world.

they are not "literally" equal in terms of rank - but again, it does not have to be completely literal. mysaria feels Treated like an equal by rhaenyra. she's trusted (and given agency), and earns rhaenyras trust (+expands her own agency) in turn.

mysaria additionally seems to represent a different idea of rebellion against patriarchy - an involuntary one. because she cannot perform its most core obligation of (presumed cisgender) womanhood: she cannot bear children. she must find other forms of "worth" in the world. she has no choice.

rhaenyra herself desires to take up sword, rule in a "masculine" way. so being the only other woman there + both of them standing outside patriarchys desired paths for them + being able to help/depend on each other... seems, to me, to serve the Themes of rhaenyras repression vs liberation well.

not to mention, it's interesting in light of rhaenyra being kinda gnc-coded in... other ways!

anyway. like i said, i Highly Doubt these two will be any kind of "endgame." but that's okay. sometimes, you dont need an eternity together - you just need a moment.

i think there's a certain breed of fan who sees many things only through shipping. so if there's not a long, "satisfying" arc of these two developing feelings for each other, it's a "badly written ship." especially for gay couples. and i don't think this is even conscious homophobia, i think its (partially from queer viewers!!) because they WANT to root for those ships. they WANT a gay ship to feel perfectly "right" in a heteronormative world.

well i'm sorry to say, this show is not a romance. it is not about ships or the idealized, perfectly developed couple. sometimes, people find an attraction to one another in ways that are not ideal. shit happens. people get lonely. people find relief in the only other person there who seems to understand them. sometimes it's quick. sometimes it's the opposite of a 50k coffeeshop slowburn AU.

but that does not mean it's bad. it's just reality.

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

“The Suicide Squad” movie review:

Short review:

It’s better than the 2016 movie. I give it a solid A rating.

Long review: 

I’m going to approach this movie from a different angle than my usual reviews. For me to really talk about this movie, I have to go back and discuss how I felt about the 2016 movie. First and foremost, let me just say that I hate the 2016 Suicide Squad film. It was clunky, pointless, and felt like a bunch of scenes stapled together rather than a cohesive picture. What’s interesting is that a big reason why the 2021 movie succeeds is that it fixed a lot of what I felt were the 2016 movie’s problems. 

This is why I have to take a different angle for this review. To really talk about the good points, I gotta go into what I felt were problems in the 2016 movie and explain how the 2021 movie rectified those mistakes. Alright, let’s begin.

1) The mission is more appropriate for this type of team. I felt that the 2016 movie went about the wrong way by sending the Suicide Squad in to stop Enchantress from conquering the city/world. I know that it was more so to rescue Amanda Waller, but I felt that the mission in the 2016 movie was more suited for a Justice League-type team. 

The Suicide Squad is a black ops team made of imprisoned supervillains that is sent in to do Waller’s dirty work. They should be doing shady shit that rubs the audience the wrong way. And in the 2021 movie, that’s what they’re doing. The mission is objectively horrible since it’s the US intervening in a South American country to cover up their illegal actions (insert real world parallels here). That’s far from heroic, but it works for the movie since that’s exactly what the Squad should be used for.

/

2) The movie actually lives up to the “Suicide” part of “Suicide Squad”. If I recall correctly, only two members of the Squad and some rando Navy SEALs died in the original film. While I generally frown on stories just killing people off for shock value, Suicide Squad is an exception since a high body count is to be expected for this team. Heck, even Deadshot called out that there’s a high chance most of them will die during the mission. So yes, most of the team dies in the 2021 movie, but it’s fine since it’s being true to the story and the comics.

/

3) The movie did a better job at portraying the team as villains being forced to do another villain’s dirty work. Deadshot repeatedly says in the 2016 movie that they’re bad guys, but the movie didn’t do a good job showing that. It’s Will Smith, the audience knows his character is actually a good man on the inside. And that’s not even covering Diablo, the tragic man who is trying to repent for his past actions, or Katana, who isn’t even a supervillain.

In the 2021 movie, it’s a lot more clear that the characters we’re following are horrible people. Bloodsport is a shitty father who competes with Peacemaker over who can kill the most creatively. Peacemaker is Captain America but if he was a crazy, right-wing monster. Ratcatcher 2 is an apathetic bank robber. Polka Dot Man is basically Norman Bates. And Harley Quinn is...Harley Quinn. While the team does get their hero moment, I like that the Squad was actually portrayed as supervillains being forced to do good. 

/

4) Way better characterization for Amanda Waller. While 2016 Amanda Waller was no saint, 2021 Amanda Waller is straight up an irredeemable monster. And that’s good because the concept of the Suicide Squad (forcing prisoners to do illegal operations for the government) is vile to begin with. 

/

5) The found family dynamics feels more earned in this movie than the 2016 film. I already wrote this in another post, but it’s not enough to just tell the audience that the team is a family. Harley Quinn can say her teammates are her family all she wants, but it’s not convincing since there were barely any scenes of the 2016 team just bonding. Yeah, they had that scene at the bar, but most of that scene was dedicated to Diablo’s backstory. Other than that, the team were just sorta together. 

In the 2021 movie, you actually believe that the Squad is a found family just based on how they interact. What’s the big difference? Well, the team actually...you know...interacts with each other. This is where James Gunn really shines through since the “Guardians of the Galaxy” vibe really works for this type of story. You can’t just tell the audience that the team is a family, you need to show it, which Gunn does. 

/

6) The movie utilizes the team way better than the 2016 film. A big problem I had with the first film was that the story didn’t really justify why the Squad had to be the ones to handle Enchantress. The US government already had the Navy SEALs. Plus, there were several members who didn’t really contribute to the mission. I kept forgetting that Killer Croc was there, Captain Boomerang wasn’t given that much to do, and Katana was completely wasted.  

The 2021 movie did a better job justifying why each member of the Squad was important. Yes, most of them died, but the deaths established just how expendable the team was. And for the final battle, each member contributed in taking Starro down. I never felt that there was a teammate who could’ve been left out of the movie. Even the members who died early on were more memorable than the 2016 roster. 

/

Okay, that’s a good stopping point. To sum up, this movie feels like James Gunn read the negative reviews for the 2016 movie and used them as a reference in directing the 2021 movie. Even though Warner Bros and DC don’t want to call this movie a reboot, it really does feel like one due to how much it feels like a do-over. And you know what...I’m fine with that since the end result was a much better, more cohesive story.

[volfoss]

how about ranking bucciarati's team?

regret to inform you that ur gonna get a very long answer bc i have passionate feelings about them all! also trish is in this bc she is part of the team and no one will tell me otherwise and will also include some rambling bc it is me and i have so many feelings towards these characters and none of them r cohesive

under the cut just in case (post writing yes it was long)

Giorno Giovanna:

way way more complex than ppl normally give him credit for (i will not go into feelings on how a majority of the fandom treats him unless ppl want me to then i will in fact make a very long ranty post and will not be stopped)

mildly op (esp at the beginning with how hes kind of able to just use his stand really well w no problems altho i think thats true of most of the jojos that we have seen animated?)

i am emotionally attached to him and want to give him a big hug

hes just a kinda goofy kid and is maybe a bit not good with figuring out hey this is a semi dangerous situation maybe i shouldnt be taunting him (leaky eye luca for example)

has the actual best theme

i love how he works off the rest of the team so well (even w members who do not like him)

is in my top 3 jojos i love this kid sm i would adopt him if he was real

7/10

Bruno Bucciarati:

the fucking way his character develops from licky man to best dad material is my favorite thing

his outfit is so so so good i would die to wear it

in general this man is one of my fave jojos characters and i get a lot of comfort from him

hes just really neat and has a good taste in music

he did his fucking best and i will always love him for that

imo the way that his death was drawn out was genuinely one of the most heartbreaking deaths in the entire series and fucks me up each time i think of it

i feel like he really is the one to hold the team together in a way that everyone feels cared for and saved

def has a savior complex tho for sure

dilf but im ace

also manga superiority bc he either makes the stupidest faces or looks very nice (anime has a lot of weird animation in regards to his face) and also because its lingerie there instead of a tattoo that changes thickness and placement every second

10/10

Leone Abbacchio:

guilty pleasure liking man

i am obsessed with his vibes and wish to become him

i cannot physically express just how much i love him but hes one of my faves of all time (not obvious by my theme at all wdym)

i miss his manga palette but also the colored manga isnt my beloved but also black lipstick abba

hot take maybe but anime abba looks better than manga minus the lipstick debacle

hes so so tall and i will steal his height in a nice way

his past man his past it fucks me up

his death fucks me up normally but when i was rewatching recently, i saw he gave this tiny lil smile after helping the kids get their ball and i could not take it anymore

him and brunos relationship (canonically and out of canon too) is one of my favorites in the series

also fandom hot take as i guess i am doing those for everyone- but ppl either have him as cosntantly trying to murder giorno or being like good son and v out of character, and it is really weird? not sayign that ill do better when i write them but also like im convinced some ppl havent seen the show or smth

i will steal both him and bruno and marry them both <3

this man is beloved i love him to death

10/10

Pannacotta Fugo:

i cannot spell his first name to save my life

also fandom take- ppl make him constantly only angry boy all the time and it really irks me. ik araki did not give him 2 much to work w in terms of canon personality but its frustrating

the light novel purple haze feedback is so so so good and adds sm to his character and i really like it for that!

fugo is one of those that imo deserves a lot and didnt get that

genuinely the vibes between how he treats narancia is v interesting to me, like its clear he cares about nara but nara not doing great w math really frustrates him

i love their interactions and how he is genuinely a kind person at times

the manga colors r superior here, my strawberry boy <3

i just really love and appreciate him a lot and wish that ppl gave him more love

i keep getting assigned him on kin quizzes

very smart good boy

ALSO ok fugo did not do any wrong by leaving

unsure if thats a hot take but i genuinely dont blame the character one bit for leaving and again purple haze feedback really delves into that and why he did it

if ur a fugo fan go read it

his past is really upsetting esp in the anime i will cry over it

his stand is adorable and i wanna hug it

his vibes r fun and i wanna gift him strawberry dangly earrings

8/10

Narancia Ghirga:

this boy i am also adopting (i am adopting most of them sorry)

i really hate how ppl act as if hes stupid bc bad math skills do not equal stupid like did ppl not see the fight w formaggio??

the way he just fucking dove into the water after the boat and how brunos face went all soft and happy it will never not make me cry

he is constnatnly making me wanna cry if i think too much about him for 2 seconds i love him sm

how can anyone not adore him when he set an entire street on fire yk

hes just happy despite his past and it makes me sad i love nara sm

torture dance is one of my favorite memes from the show

ALSO ok the way he died so suddenly absolutely broke me bc the remaining team members r really just seeing everyone die in front of them so quickly

his goofy and laid back moments r my fave

i love just how loyal and caring he is to his friends

his stand is really cool and again the fight w formaggio was so fun to watch

8/10

Guido Mista:

probably my least favorite member of the team for a semi good reason:

the jokes towards trish are really really uncomfy and how fugo doesnt wanna be involved but he is pushing him to do something that makes him uncomfortable did not make me like him a lot

hes goofy but not goofy enough for me to be ok with the repeated jokes about that esp in the body swap episode (ik it was supposed to be funny but it just felt off)

his vibes r good but i wish we got to see his hair

the fandom interpretation is normally pretty good of him overall?

despite not loving him a lot, i really enjoying writing for him (one day might open up headcanon requests or smth but unsure)

hes someone id wanna watch movies w but his taste in movies and mine r very different

love how he and his stand get along

honestly has very very good comedic potential

i really like how he and giorno interact as the series goes on (in a platonic way i need to clarify that i love their friendship)

again him in purple haze feedback was really interesting

probably a 5/10?

Trish Una:

beloved and deserved better

her first outfit in the manga > outfit in the anime

actually in general i believe in manga trish superiority like her hair in the manga looks so cool

her stand her stand her stand i love sm

if u dont include trish in the group i am murdering u <3

HER CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!!! IS SO GOOD!!!!!!

fandom gripe is how people either pretend she does not exist or has the trish first introduction thing where shes using her defense mechanisms and acting a bit spoiled

OK but her in purple haze feedback!!! mild spoilers but how bruno was taking care of her post the ending of vento aureo makes me so happy each time i think of it

very mad that she canonically didnt really get an ending and yet again PHF my beloved actually gave her that

how spice girl starts out as a stand thats helping her thru a very stressful situation is so cool and i love it

DAD BRUNO DAD BRUNO DAD BRUNO *frothes at the mouth*

but more seriously how she leans on bruno and begins 2 trust him and nearly point blank is referring to him as a father figure always fucks me up

esp because of the resulting fight afterwards

and the very ending of the arc that ends w bruno being like bye gonna go in the clouds and look ethereal now, oh man it makes me so sad

bc giorno is the only one that knew what happened and people that were closer to bruno due to knowing him longer didnt

i wanna see how trish coped w that personally

despite being introduced not at the beginning i think her arc and character in general were as well paced as it could be!

9/10

finally done! sorry that took so long but oh man i have so many feelings towards these guys its not even funny

[lunasilvermorny]

Maria Black - Harry Potter OC

Introduction:

This is my HP OC that I created a long time ago, when I was around 12-13 y.o.  (so, you know... it’s been a while!)

Over the years I’ve developed her story more and more, changed it as I got older and basically kept the headcanon alive for years - but I never wrote about her. Everything I had I kept inside my head, and all the potential stories remained as nothing but a day-dream.

Until today! (or a few days ago, when I came up with the idea.)

It’s time to document this headcanon, even if it’s not going anywhere serious other than some stories and drawings.

I can’t emphasize it enough - I made most of it during the mid/late 2000′s, waaaay before the Cursed Child. So please don’t associate any part of my HC with this terrible excuse of a canon. JKR already proved that her judgement is questionable, so for me the only thing that is canon are the books and my headcanon relates to them and nothing else!

Anyway, let’s dive in!

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Bonus drawing from baby-OP:

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General plot:

Maria is the daughter of the Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange and was born a few months before they were sent to Azkaban. Her aunt Narcissa took her in and she was raised by the Malfoy family.

When she was about 5/6 y.o., she went to Azkaban to see her mother. (in the headcanon, her father died in Azkaban). She got scared by the Dementors and when she tried to find the exit, she came upon Sirius’ cell. This encounter changed her life and made her realize that her family is one of the “bad guys”, and she’s decided to leave the first chance she gets.

The day she left to Hogwarts was the last day she spent with her family.

Since it’s a HP OC-insert kind of headcanon, she befriended Harry, Ron and Hermione and was practically the 4th member of this friend group. So most of the plot of the headcanon correlates with the plots of the books, so I’m going to focus more on the individual parts that doesn’t relate the regular plot.

Before she got to Hogwarts she asked to be referred to as Maria Black and not Maria Lestrange. In the future she’d also legally change her name.

Because she’s decided to never go back to the Malfoys ever again, she was basically homeless for the first two summers away from Hogwarts. She mostly relied on magic (around other wizards, so no one will know she’s a minor using magic) and some friends that let her stay with them every once in a while.

(The is a LOT more, so if you’re interested, keep reading ^^ )

After the 3rd year was over, one of her friends that was an exchange student from Beauxbatons, invited her to spend the summer at his house in France. The reason he wanted her to come over was because his father was a coach for the French junior-league Quidditch team and wanted him to let her into the team, so in the future she’d be able to become a professional player. He knew that she plans on filing for Emancipation of minors, that will strip all the legal rights from her family and free her from them - but for that she needed a sufficient income. Her friend’s father was glad to help and after she showed him her skills, he let her into the team. When she was 15, she got into the professional league. (I based this part of the HC on the fact that Viktor Krum was also a student, when he became a Quidditch star.)

Sirius was the most important figure in her life and became like a father figure to her. Through him, she also felt that Harry and her (although not by blood) were related.

For a long time, the ending of the headcanon was that Maria killed herself after Sirius was murdered, but in recent years I’ve reversed this decision and kept her alive for the duration of the book and beyond that.

During her 6th year, after her mother already escaped Azkaban, she was forced to hide in Hogwarts (she wasn’t allowed to keep her role in the Quidditch team anymore), because Bellatrix made it clear that she’s going to kidnap Maria and force her to join Voldemort’s side.

She was able to avoid this fate only up to the plot of the 7th book, that’s when she was finally captured and held hostage in an attempt to force Harry’s hands and save her. However, before she was kidnapped, Maria asked from the Order and Hermione that if she’s ever to fall captive, to prevent Harry from saving her at all cost, since it’s an obvious trap.

Frustrated by the fact that the trap hasn’t worked combined with Maria’s general resistance, Bellatrix tortured her daughter for the entire duration of her incarceration, mostly by using the Cruciatus curse on her over and over again. At a near-dead state, Bellatrix used the Imperius curse on her to try and make her fight on Voldemort’s side at the Battle of Hogwarts, but Maria was too weak and wasn’t much of use to her in the end.

After the fight, Maria was in a coma for a few months and even after she woke up, she had a very long recovery period. The worst expression of it manifested in her PTSD from the Cruciatus curse that caused her to scream in agony almost every time she went to sleep. At some cases she was in such bad shape that no one was able to wake her up.

After a partial recovery, she returned to her pending career as a Quiddich player.

Her relationship with Fred Weasley:

Maria was fairly popular and had dated a few people (in a non-serious way, due to her age), but her first love was Fred Weasley. They’ve started dating in secret when she was in her 5th year.

During the 6th year, she has prepared him for the possibility of the kidnapping and asked him not to come rescue her if it ever happened.

In the summer after her 6th year, to reassure her that they will both survive the war, Fred gave her a ring and told her that after it’s all over, they’ll get married. (It wasn’t a proposal per se, but an attempt to give her hope when she was sure she’s going to die.)

Maria wasn’t aware that Fred died since she almost met the same fate herself at the Battle of Hogwarts, and found out about it from George after she woke up from the coma.

Her relationship with Neville Longbottom:

At the beginning, no one knew she’s Bellatrix’s daughter. People were suspicious of her during year 3 (after all, she is Maria Black) because they thought she was assisting Sirius (and at some point there were rumors that she was his secret child), but it wasn’t until year 5 that the news about her being Bellatrix’s daughter has spread out by Malfoy.

Maria considered Neville a close friend and was afraid of his reaction once he finds out, but even though he had to get over the initial shock, he told her that he knows that she’s nothing like her mother, that she has proven she’s on their side and that he’s not going to judge her over something that is out of her control.

After the Battle of Hogwarts, during her recovery, she’s met Neville’s parents and also spent time with them while she was admitted. The fact that she was tortured by Bellatrix too was a bonding factor and made her and Neville even closer.

After a few years, Neville and Maria have started dating, but their future together in unknown.

PTSD and irreversible damage:

I mentioned that due to the torture she experienced, Maria suffered from PTSD, caused primarily by the Cruciatus curse. She would have recurrent nightmares that caused her to scream and cry in agony, as her body turned and twitched, as if she was under the curse.

In most cases people were able to wake her up, but in more severe cases, she was able to stay in that state for hours. The worst case was a day and a half without a break. She was taken to the hospital by apparition, but the snap switch in location has severely worsen the situation and she was taken to the ER (or a magical equivalent of an ER), where she was under treatment for days until the outburst finally got under control. She was in a coma for two months after that and had to go through the long recovery once more.

In addition to that, Maria also suffered an irreversible damage in her reproduction system. Bellatrix knew she doesn’t share her purist views, so to make sure she doesn’t “taint” the family legacy with a mixed-blood offspring, she completely destroyed the system, to a point that it was almost impossible to reconstruct, even with magic. Maria went through many treatments, but was eventually considered infertile.

Her relationship with the Weasley family:

Maria was accepted as one of the family back when she was still in Hogwarts.

Even though her relationship with Fred was a secret - Molly, George and Ginny knew about it. After Fred’s death, Molly has told Maria that she still views her as a daughter and said she’s always welcome at their house.

She usually spent the holidays with them and came to visit Molly and Arthur almost every weekend. She usually brought game-tickets to anyone that was interested, especially when she’s started playing for the biggest teams. (Nothing will make me do the proper research of all the Quidditch teams, so let’s just suspend our disbelief just a bit more, because I don’t have a specific name.)

Her relationship with the Malfoy family:

During the year she was Bellatrix’s prisoner, she was held captive at the Malfoys’ mansion. Even though Bellatrix showed nothing but cruelty to her, Narcissa secretly tried to help her, mostly by giving her food during starvation punishments, clean her room and at extreme circumstances - heal her wounds.

Even though she hasn’t set her free, Maria appreciated the fact that Narcissa risked herself by helping her, so after she heard about Lucius’s death, she agreed for a reconciliation.

Although there were some push-backs (especially from Ron), she accepted an invitation for dinner at the Malfoys’ mansion, where she reconnected with both Narcissa and Draco.

After that she came to visit every now and then, although not as frequently as she visited the Weasleys.

Maria and Harry:

As I mentioned before, Maria is basically an OC inserted into the main plot, so she’s best friends with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Harry and Maria always had a sort of sibling connection, that was reinforced by their connection with Sirius. After his death, they referred to each other as the only family they’ve got left. (Even though Maria technically had Tonks, but that’s a story for another time.)

Maria and Ron:

Their friendship was a bit more complicated. Although not romantic in nature, they had a mutual crush on each other at a certain point (but nothing came out of it), and they always had a certain tension afterwards.

They also have very different personalities and got into many conflicts. Ron usually accused Maria of being a fake friend, because she was very friendly in nature and had many friend-groups other than the main three characters. Maria in return accused him of being too judgemental and had a hard time taking him seriously.

However, with all the flaws, they also had many things in common - their love of Quidditch, their disregard to the rules and in general they had a lot of fun hanging out with each other.

Maria and Hermione:

Probably have the rockiest friendship out of the three main characters. They are almost opposites, aside for their academic approach. Maria is more reckless and easy going, and she usually can’t handle Hermione’s stiffness.

Maria was especially sensitive to any criticism of Sirius, and they had many fights over it during their 5th year.

But even though their friendship wasn’t ideal, when it came to real struggles, they were there to support each other, especially emotionally.

Her special connection to Sirius:

Sirius was the catalyst that made her realize that she was born to a dark wizards family. She’s met him only once (before the events of the 3rd book), but it was a strong enough impact that affected her entire world view.

She put Sirius on a high pedestal and saw him as a parental figure. He was the first in the family to openly rebel and she followed his footsteps when she left the Malfoys’ household. This is also the reason why it meant so much to her that she was sorted into Gryffindor and not Slytherin.

During the 3rd year, everyone suspected that she helped sneak Sirius into the castle and was covering for him, since she refused to accept the accusations against him. She didn’t have any proof that he’s innocent and Sirius never told her that he is, but she was determined that he’s a good guy.

After Sirius escaped, he hasn’t kept in touch with her as much as with Harry, but it didn’t discourage her. She had a feeling that he’s hesitant to accept her because she’s still Bellatrix’s daughter and never resented him for it. However, after his death, Lupin told her that Sirius was very proud of her and had greats hopes for her - he just didn’t know how to show it.

Dobby:

Since she grew up with the Malfoys, she has known Dobby her entire life. They were pretty friendly toward each other, but they were instructed not to talk with each other.

Once, she tried to give Dobby clothes to set him free, but because she wasn’t technically a Malfoy, it didn’t work. After that, Lucius forbid Dobby from ever interacting with her again.

AUs:

Did you really think I don’t have like 200 different AUs for this headcanon? Of course I have! I’ve been building this headcanon since I was a literal child!

My favorite AU is the one where Fred didn’t die in the Battle of Hogwarts, and he and Maria got to be together after all. They usually get married (although there is a variation where she broke up with him instead), and in one AU in particular, healers are able to restore her fertility and they have a child together.

Maybe in the future I will make more posts about these AUs.

HPHM

Since Luna is very close with the Weasleys too, in most AUs Maria gets to meet Luna and the two become friends. Luna is also Maria’s private healer, since Maria gets injured a lot during Quidditch games.

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

There is so much more!!

But I will leave something for future posts :)

[thevoidable]

Why did Dabi let Hawks into the League? (major manga spoilers ahead)

This is a question that’s been plaguing my head ever since Dabi proudly announced to Hawks that he’d known all along that he was lying.

If that was the case, what was the point of bringing him in? Surely Dabi must have seen this coming by enabling Hawks to continue his infiltration? What exactly was Dabi’s end-goal here???

It’s unclear whether or not if this will get explained eventually, but after giving it a lot of thought, I think I have a pretty good answer to the question regardless. Essay under the cut.

What is Dabi fighting for?

First, we have to address Dabi’s motivations. They run deeper than just making Stain’s will a reality - he’s taking steps that Stain never even considered to make, because even he was blinded by something that Dabi despises more than anything: hero idolization. Stain saw All Might as a true hero, someone worthy of the title, but in Dabi’s eyes, All Might is one of the biggest contributing factors to why there is such a huge problem with the hero system, and aside from All Might allowing other heroes to become complacent, it’s all because of Endeavour.

Hawks and Dabi are two sides of the same coin when it comes to the new no. 1; Hawks grew up seeing Endeavour’s ambition to surpass All Might as impressive and heroic, mostly due to the fact that Hawks himself lacks the drive to become so great, because all he wants is to live life comfortably. But for Dabi, Endeavour’s need to surpass All Might was nothing but a blinded greed for power, the need to be the best of the best for his own selfish desires rather than to actually save people. It was a path that led him to horrifically abuse his own family in order to achieve it, because he saw Quirk breeding as the only way to fix his own flaws. As such, Dabi, AKA Toya, suffered greatly at the hands of it. He knows firsthand just how much the hero system is unjust, allowing for people with unhealthy mindsets like Endeavour to gain positions of power. He knows that people admire Endeavour for his heroism, but are unaware of the monster that lurks behind closed doors, even when his temper comes out during public patrols. This is a man who is the very definition of a false hero, a man who let his eldest son die and traumatized his entire family.

Dabi goes on to claim in chapter 267 that there are no true heroes - this, however, does not mean that true heroes cannot exist. All he means is that there are simply no heroes currently present and he plans to change that, because in the system that society has right now, it’s near-impossible. Hero idolization forces heroes to become perfect images that people can admire, and it also enforces the mindset that only the greatest heroes can come from schools like UA and Shiketsu. This results in a flood of people longing to become heroes for reasons other than saving people. Uraraka, for example, while she is gentle and kind-hearted, is still only becoming a hero so she can support her family. It’s a well-paying job, and that kind of promise will most certainly lure anyone in who is desperate enough. Yes, she has good intentions in mind, and she does want to save people, but saving people is not her ultimate goal. So, by Dabi’s definition, she is not a true hero.

Becoming a hero should also not be as easy as it is, and becoming a hero certainly should not start at such a young age. UA and the other hero schools are putting teenagers between the ages of 15 - 19 at severe risk, and we’ve seen worst-case scenario results of this twice over the course of the series, and it’s terrifying to think that there are most likely more that we haven’t heard of.

First you have Shirakumo who died before he had even graduated, an incident that led him to becoming a nomu working for the League, who would then go on to cause the second result.

By placing children in such a dangerous training course, it automatically places targets on their backs for villains before they even get their licenses. The League proved just how incapable the staff are at protecting their students by not only successfully attacking a location within the school, but also kidnapping one of said students later on, even after UA’s attempt at keeping the location of the training camp hidden and Dabi himself had revealed their basic plan to Aizawa.

This is all fuel for Dabi’s fire in his journey to rip hero society apart at the seams, and while he is absolutely planning to kill every false hero he comes across, he also has a secondary plan in mind, and that is for the students.

In One’s Justice 2, Dabi has this particular voice line to Hawks: “We’re working for the glorious future where those UA kids are hollowed, and brought down to earth. We’ll have to see what you’re working for.”

Dabi knows that while they are all still young, there is still time to prevent them from falling into every hero’s brainwashed mindset: villains bad, heroes good, no matter what either of them do. 

Something extremely important that the MVA and the current war arcs do is flip the black and white narratives on their heads, showing us just how human and empathetic the villains can be, while the heroes are doing nothing but making unheroic choices and opting for making the violent move first. We’ve seen all of the heroes do nothing but dehumanize Shigaraki, calling him “it” and “thing” like he’s just some monster that they have to kill. We’ve had to watch Hawks murder Twice in the name of “justice” simply because Twice refused to come quietly and be forced back into a life he felt miserable in. Even X-less chose to focus on the machinery next to him rather than getting a near-dead Shigaraki medical attention, and we all know how karma decided to treat that.

And this is where I would like to bring your attention to Tokoyami.

We’ve seen multiple times before how Dabi seems to have no interest in actually harming the students - initially, anyway. He leaves Aoyama alone even though he saw him; he taunts Shoto but doesn’t attack him to get him away; and lastly, Tokoyami first showing up to rescue Hawks actually calms Dabi down. Dabi shows no intent of hurting them because they’re still just kids, not heroes.

Calling back to how the heroes are currently being depicted as the ones making all the disturbing decisions, Dabi doesn’t hesitate to be the first to call out their decision to bring the students into what is essentially a covert-ops assassination mission that has turned into an all-out war. He first recognises that the boy in front of him is just that: a boy, and instead of attacking, Dabi gives Tokoyami a chance.

But what chance, exactly? To escape? Absolutely not.

The first thing Dabi does is make Tokoyami aware of the crime his so-called mentor just committed, and carefully wording it so that the stakes were made clear.

Twice was trying to run away to protect his friends.

But Hawks still killed him.

Dabi is giving Tokoyami a chance to recognise that the hero system he admires hides many skeletons in its closet, and is something that is severely corrupt. He’s giving Tokoyami a chance to rethink his working relationship with Hawks and everything Hawks has taught him.

But Tokoyami doesn’t take it.

As soon as Hawks speaks up again, Tokoyami returns to being obedient, ignoring everything Dabi just said and focusing only on the task at hand regardless of the moral dilemma presented before him, and that’s when Dabi’s intention for Tokoyami changes, because as Dabi put it, “You’ve stopped thinking for yourself.”

And indeed, Tokoyami has. Tokoyami is now cemented in the brainwashed mindset, blindly putting his faith in that Hawks’s decision to kill Twice was right, simply because Twice is the villain and Hawks is the hero, and Dabi realises this.

Tokoyami is now a false hero, and thus on Dabi’s kill list.

So, we have established that Dabi fully intends to wipe-out existing false heroes, while simultaneously trying to save those who have the chance to recover/escape from the brainwashing before it’s too late.

“Keigo Takami!!”

It’s no secret that Dabi clearly knows exactly what kind of situation Hawks is in. The fact that he knows Hawks’s real name alone tells Hawks that Dabi knows far more than he is comfortable with. So, seeing as Dabi was able to see through Hawks’s lies so easily, let’s assume that Dabi knows most, if not all, of what we the readers know about Hawks and how the HPSC groomed him.

Considering that Dabi came from the no. 1 hero’s household, there’s a high chance that he knows quite a bit about the HPSC and just how shady they actually are, especially if the theories are true that they had a hand in covering up his own death. Dabi is well-aware then that the HPSC is responsible for the hero system being so broken, and the reason they do nothing to fix it is so they can stay in power. They are not afraid to make questionable decisions which they know is only making the villain situation worse, because villains are what’s keeping them in business. And what’s sad about this is that even when the decisions they present are clearly morally wrong, the heroes are in no position to argue, because the HPSC is in complete control of their jobs. The HPSC governs the hero system, so whatever they do must be just, right?

Well, Dabi definitely knows the answer to that.

The HPSC deliberately manipulated the heroes to believe that the UA students were needed on the front lines for this mission, and so far, we’ve seen that they really weren’t, actually. The evac team remains the best place for the students to be, because while the pros with all the combat experience can focus on the villains, the heroes-in-training can focus on the smaller task of getting people to safety. Sure, Kaminari, Tokoyami, and the other front-liners helped, but the pros absolutely overwhelmed the PLF on their own. All the front-liners did was just kind of...pave the way, make things easier, and then they were sent back to rejoin their classmates. And the heroes didn’t question the decision at all.

What’s even more disturbing is that the students weren’t even aware of what they were getting into, and most of the pros weren’t aware that the students weren’t aware.

But, as mentioned before, Dabi doesn’t hesitate to call this out.

It’s highly likely that he’s able to connect that the HPSC were the ones who organised this attack and sent the kids out onto the battlefield, which also means that he’s unfortunately no stranger to the HPSC reducing talented children to nothing but weapons, a concept he is also personally familiar with.

Toya was bred with the intent of creating a Quirk superior to Endeavour’s, and then put under extremely harmful training that abused both his mind and his body. We already know that Dabi is heavily against valuing a person’s Quirk over their individual worth, thanks to his fight with Geten.

And in the world of heroics, this unhealthy mindset is unfortunately in abundance, especially in Hawks’s case.

What makes Hawks an especially tragic character is that he started out with the same longing to be a great hero that every child has. He wanted to be a comforting sight to those in need, and his innocent mind thought that the HPSC would help him make that reality.

Instead, the HPSC presented him with a life-changing decision that a child his age has absolutely zero mental capacity to consent to, and it’s heartbreaking that Hawks’s grooming began right from the second they met. The HPSC forced a child into intensive training at an age even younger than students training at proper hero schools, and they ever-so-gradually began chipping away at Keigo’s hopeful dream, starting with the erasure of his own name, the first step in disconnecting him from who he once was.

Over the years of the hero Hawks growing up under the HPSC’s wing, he had been stripped of his childhood and moulded into the perfect image of a hero, one that is loveable to the public, obedient to his handlers, talented in his work, and completely self-sacrificing to his missions.

The HPSC has successfully groomed Hawks so that his selflessness is now their trump card that they hold over him - instead of using his selflessness to save others no matter who they are, he’s been manipulated to believe that he has to give up everything in his life to be a great hero, that he’s not suited for being a “shining light”, thus bringing about his new goal of creating a world where heroes have free time, a goal that he is unfortunately pursuing in the wrong way. He’s been brainwashed to not think about villains too much, to not sympathize with them and dig into where they came from and why they became villains, which is why he’s targeting the wrong problem when it comes to making his dream a reality. He believes that he has to solve every case as fast as possible, and eventually there will be virtually no more villains left to hunt down, but the League has already shown us that the roots of villainy stretch much further down than that.

We catch a glimpse of how Hawks even acknowledges that he’s being held down by hero society, caged, and yet he does nothing to change it.

The result of his grooming has left him stuck in a thoughtless state, where it’s easier to believe that everything he is doing is right, and the villains are wrong.

And this is unfortunately something that he has spread to Tokoyami, as evidenced earlier.

Hawks is a hero who was groomed and manipulated from a young age, being thrown into training just so he could become a tool for those in power to use.

Sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it?

Dabi can read Hawks like a book

It’s wonderfully ironic how Hawks prides himself in being capable of fooling anyone and everyone, making himself the hardest person in the room to read while simultaneously being able to read everyone else, and yet the one person that he couldn’t predict ends up being the only one who knows him better than anyone else.

Throughout all of their interactions, Dabi has always been two steps ahead of Hawks, able to catch him off-guard and ruffle his feathers. Keeping in mind that Dabi had known all along that Hawks was faking his desire to join the League, it’s interesting just how long Dabi kept stringing him along. Was he simply doing it for his own enjoyment?

Maybe a small part of him was, but in the long run, Dabi was absolutely still testing Hawks’s worthiness. What makes this great, however, is that Hawks was unaware that Dabi wasn’t testing him for what he originally thought.

Loyalty was absolutely out of the question for Dabi, since he knew from the start Hawks wasn’t planning on being as such. So, what exactly was Dabi looking for?

Looking through the tests that we know Dabi put Hawks through (the battle with Hood, and taking out a hero of Hawks’s choice), we can analyse what Dabi was impressed with, and what he wasn’t.

First off, there’s not a lot that Dabi didn’t like about what Hawks did. The most he complained about was Hawks simply bringing along Endeavour to the Hood fight instead of someone else.

It appears that he also complains about Hawks not letting anyone die, but Dabi is always quick to point out when heroes are prioritising lives, and this will become important later.

Then, we have Dabi asking Hawks to take someone out who isn’t the no. 1. When Hawks brought him Jeanist’s body, Dabi was genuinely surprised, but pleasantly-so. 

Now, Jeanist’s death here serves multiple narrative purposes:

It shows us that Hawks won’t hesitate to kill for a mission (RIP Twice),

It shows Dabi that Hawks is capable of killing anyone, not just villains,

And lastly, it serves as blackmail for Dabi in his pursuit of bringing down false heroes.

(There’s also Bakugo’s whole thing with his hero name, but this isn’t about him.)

That last point is what granted Hawks access into the League, contrary to Hawks believing that the only reason he got in is because the merging of the League and the MLA suddenly made it easy to do so. 

Dabi wasn’t going to let Hawks in without making sure he had a backup in mind in case Hawks tripped up.

But, blackmail wasn’t the only thing that Dabi was looking for. If anything, it was just a bonus.

What the Hood battle and Jeanist’s death showed to Dabi were the two sides that Hawks possessed: a bird of prey that isn’t afraid to kill for a cause, and the innocent child who just wanted to help people. Dabi was searching for both of those qualities within Hawks, because they’re both qualities that Dabi himself has.

Dabi relates to Hawks

As previously mentioned, there’s no doubt that Dabi is aware of how Hawks was trained and forced into a life he didn’t want. He’s very aware of how much Hawks longs for freedom but still wants to help those in need, but what separates them from each other is that Dabi has achieved the freedom that Hawks wants and is pursuing his dream in a way that works.

Dabi kills for his cause, but that cause is ultimately to prevent the future suffering of innocent lives at the hands of false heroes. In his own twisted way, he too wants to save lives. He wants to stop the possibility of another him from being created. He is choosing to be the unfriendly reminder that something is very wrong with the current system, and it needs fixing ASAP.

And that is exactly why Dabi can see through Hawks’s lies, because he recognises that Hawks too is a victim of the same system.

Dabi’s plan for Hawks

With Hawks presenting himself in front of Dabi, it offered up a multitude of opportunities for him. Dabi not only had a new connection to Endeavour through Hawks, but here was a hero who was prepared to get his hands extremely dirty just for a way to bring down the League. 

Dabi’s prior knowledge of Hawks and his past allowed him to constantly have the upper hand, but not in case Hawks attacked.

Through testing Hawks to see what qualities he possessed, Dabi was able to see if Hawks was worthy not for joining the League, but for undoing the brainwashing he’d been subjected to.

Dabi let Hawks into the League because he was giving him a chance, the same chance he gave to Tokoyami, to see hero society for what it really was and decide to do something about it. Dabi saw the potential in Hawks to be a true hero, to return to the boy he once was and save people for the sake of saving them. He saw Hawks’s potential to kill false heroes and that he wasn’t afraid to do it, and the idea of someone thinking the same way as Dabi, of understanding him and his goals wholly, would have absolutely been enticing to him.

Dabi claims to not care about the League, but even if that were true, Dabi recognises that the other League members are important to each other, especially when it comes to Twice and how eager he is to make friends. Dabi introducing Hawks to the League was his chance to show Hawks that they’re all human, and gain sympathy for them and what they stand for. It would have been the ultimate power move on Dabi’s part for Hawks to turn on the heroes and go villain, undoing what hero society did to him, providing him the freedom he always wanted and ultimately proving Dabi and his ideals right.

But, unfortunately, that wasn’t how things went.

How Dabi’s plan backfired

When Hawks first joined the PLF, it was obvious that Dabi was sticking close to him, both to keep an eye on him and to be genuinely friendly and accepting.

It’s rare to see a smile like this on Dabi when he’s around heroes, and he never smiles around the League, but for Hawks specifically, Dabi is always smiling. I think it’s safe to say that Dabi did genuinely enjoy Hawks’s company and that he was the only one Dabi actually liked, which is probably what led to him being comfortable with leaving Hawks to his own devices for the next few months, especially when he started a budding friendship with Twice.

Dabi must have been confident that Twice would be the one to break through the last of Hawks’s walls, because if we were seeing genuine smiles from Hawks, then Dabi must have seen them too.

However, it’s clear that Dabi severely underestimated Hawks’s capability to kill anyone. 

Hawks leaked the information to the heroes, an attack was launched, and Dabi immediately knew why.

And he was, understandably, incredibly pissed.

Upon confronting Hawks and hearing how he was about to kill Twice, Dabi used what he’d learned about Hawks during the Hood fight to his advantage and triggered Hawks’s rescue response, prompting him to subconsciously save Twice from Dabi’s flames, because Dabi knows deep down that a hero is who Hawks really is. What he was most likely hoping was for Hawks to maintain that response, but he instead made a mistake and directly caused Hawks to go back into mission-mode.

And it’s just a downward spiral from there, with all of Dabi’s last-ditch efforts falling flat. In one last desperate attempt to reach through to Hawks, he called out his name. His real name.

Dabi’s final chance to bring Hawks to his senses was to try and reconnect him with his past self of whom the HPSC had carefully erased, and it almost worked. Dabi let Hawks know that he knew everything about him, everything that he once was, but just like with Tokoyami, Dabi learnt the hard way that Hawks was beyond saving.

With Twice’s death, Dabi completely lost it, scolded Hawks for not focusing on him, and dropped one last bomb on Hawks before ending yet another false hero.

Until, yet again, that too backfired due to Dabi’s hope that he could save an innocent mind from the hero system’s brainwashing, and Hawks escaped with his life.

We get a glimpse of Dabi’s defeated expression, the knowledge that he can’t cry, and that he just lost two friends within the span of just a few minutes.

What next?

Honestly, if there’s one thing that is going to break Hawks, it’s knowing the truth about Endeavour. My hope is that Dabi is going to have a chance to make his reveal public to the entire nation, and exposing Enji Todoroki for the abuser he is will really shake things up.

At the moment, it’s still not clear exactly what Dabi told Hawks in his redacted bubble, but it was obviously something relating to his identity. Only time will tell what Hawks knows once he regains consciousness.

[larawinter]

you might know her as Mason Hawthorne’s mother, or the ‘teen mom’ of the Winter brood who’d once been in love with that Quinn Hawthorne. she’s the girl that after 10 years stopped trying to make a future together work. but rather than letting her be known by who she’s associated with, here’s a look into Lara herself:

with a slight revamp due to faceclaim and biography change, i felt it best to repost this with the appropriate edits. SO without further ado, here’s mama winter: my dreamer, my litany of light Miss Lara Christina Winter.

*changes to her biography are bolded

General Information

Full Name: Yua “Lara” Christina Winter

Nickname(s): Lar, LC

Gamertag/Twitch: IseeLara (a play on the word ‘icy’ in reference to her surname… and with how great she is with an SMG)

Age: 33

Date of Birth: April 13, 1987

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Tarot card: Temperance

Place of Birth: Crescent Harbor, WA

Current Residence: Crescent Harbor, WA

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: Japanese

Gender: female

Sexual Orientation: bisexual

Religion: n/a

Occupation: social media manager for an esports organisation, Seattle Triumph

Faceclaim: Satomi Ishihara

Personality

Positive Traits: creative, self-sufficient, dedicated, imaginative, team-player

Negative Traits: protective, escapist, repressed, self-critical

Hobbies: jewelry-making, video games

Likes: espresso shots, hoodies, sleepy sunday mornings, movie nights, roses, hiking, horror films, video games, traveling

Dislikes: Mason driving, being without her phone, spiders, being underestimated or misunderstood, almond milk, sitting in the passenger seat, losing pens

Enneagram: Type 6

Temperament: Melancholic

Moral Alignment: Neutral Good

About:

// triggers: teenage pregnancy, pregnancy, overdose, addiction, death

— ‘There is no such thing as perfection, but what matters is that you try.’ is the unofficial Winter family motto.

— Tetsuko “Tess” Matsui had married her best friend Michael Winter in a seemingly whirlwind romance back in the fall of ‘87. It’s a bit of a secret between them both, however, that Tess had been seeing someone while living in Seattle, but before she could tell him that she was pregnant, they’d been robbed and killed on the way home from work. 

— Tess had subsequently birthed Lara out of wedlock, and it was sometime during that first year of her life, Tess and Michael had gotten together and married. Everyone assumes that Mike is her biological father.

— Although her birth name is ‘Yua’ the nickname ‘Lara’ was quickly adopted by the family. It wasn’t until she’d begun school that Lara realised that ‘Lara’ wasn’t her birth name.

— Grew up surrounded by siblings as her parents frequently fostered children as well as adopted and had their own (with Lara being the eldest of their children until Brandon joined their household). Despite how large the family is, they are a close knit bunch. 

— She had dreams of traveling the world and having a lifetime of adventures, and you could often find her hiking or wanting to go to the beach, even making up her own worlds as she played in the backyard as a child. The dreams of traveling and adventure came to a grinding halt, however, when she fell pregnant with Quinn’s child at sixteen and became a mother by seventeen.

— Was able to finish high school on time and finished her bachelor of science in marketing in six years. Definitely has not finished paying back her student loans.

— Her life the past sixteen years has revolved around the well-being of her son, especially with Quinn in and out of rehab as he struggled with his addictions.

— As much as Quinn’s vices have affected her life and Mason’s, Lara’s always been open to and cooperative with having him present in their son’s life. However, she maintains a distant/lukewarm relationship with the father of her child.

— She considers herself the reason why she and Quinn are no longer together, because she didn’t have it in her to continue ‘trying’ after having found him when he overdosed at the age of 26. The fact that she had shown up to drop off Mason largely contributed to the decision to end things for good, breaking the cycle that she’d viewed as toxic for herself and their young son.

— She and Mason lived with her parents until she was 27, having saved enough money from her various positions in sales and administrative work to buy a decently sized (and safe) home with a backyard.

— It was at the age of 28 that she had taken a risk to apply for a position for a video game developer as they had an opening for a game design script assistant. To say that Lara fell in love with the industry would be an understatement: games and fantasy lands were one of Lara’s only ways to travel, and discovering a new work environment was, to her, like finding a new favourite candy.

— Hired as a social media manager for an eSports organisation based in Seattle at the age of 30. This job allows her to both go into the office and/or work remotely depending on the day.

— Her job is what she thinks to be the best thing that’s happened to herself and Mason, and she’s incredibly proud of where she’s been working the past few years. It’s afforded them the ability to travel and move into a nicer/recently renovated home. Mason especially loves that he gets to go to the events with her (even abroad) and play video games more often.

— As of January 2021, due to the events that had taken place a month prior, Lara has put her foot down on reverting to pre-approved supervised visitation of their son. No word yet on when this will change.

Misc. headcanons

— Constantly glued to her phone and/or laptop because of her job, and commutes to Seattle and back most days of the week.

— Unresolved trauma is the root of her issues, so much so that she’s somewhat lost her sense of ‘self’ as her focus shifted from herself to doing everything/anything for Mason at a young age.

— She essentially has a streamer/content-creator’s set up at home consisting of a powerful PC + 3 monitors. On any given night you can find her playing Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War or Escape from Tarkov, and maybe streaming as she monitors Twitch streams/Discords of those signed to her eSports org for clips to post on the social accounts. She’s planning on giving Mason a dual monitor setup for Christmas as most gaming now happens on PC (but he did get the PS5 as a late birthday present).

— Athleisure and hoodies/sweatshirts only. She’s been mistaken as Mason’s cousin/sister because of the informal way she dresses on top of her youthful appearance, which is mainly due to the casual setting of her workplace (being gifted merchandise with every merch drop) and one of her sisters being an aesthetician who reminds her to keep up with her skincare.

— Roses are her favourite flowers.

— Although she doesn’t particularly like to drink or even use over-the-counter medications, every so often she does enjoy a glass of sweet wine or mead.

— Keeps/updates a photo collage in her bedroom of all the places she and Mason have travelled to as well as photo albums.

— Only recently has she picked up the hobby of metalworking, more specifically jewelry-making. There aren’t too many days off with her position, but every now and again she’ll find time to tinker around with some gold or silver to make some jewelry for herself.

[myaekingheart]

115. Exalting the Comrade in Arms

read the scarecrow and the bell on ao3 index | from the beginning | < previous | next > 

               Rei sat at the kitchen table staring off into the distance, coming to terms with this new, sharp turn her life had taken. Kakashi glanced at her over his shoulder as he cleaned up dinner, throwing whatever leftovers they had in the fridge and wiping down the mess. Toshio followed dutifully behind, desperate for scraps. No longer able to deny him, Kakashi tossed the dog a stray noodle before securing the lid on the container and closing the fridge. When he looked back once more, Rei remained pensive. “Are you okay?” he finally asked. He knew she likely wasn’t, but at least she had stopped crying.  

               Nodding slowly, Rei murmured “Yeah…yeah, I’m alright.” Her mind focused less on her menstruation—it was over, there was nothing else to be done—and more now on what was to come the next morning. How could she possibly face Lady Tsunade after all of this? Did she even still want this? But she had already accepted the promotion—in a daze, yes, but accepted nonetheless. There was no way she could back out now. Besides, this was what the universe clearly wanted. If it hadn’t been, she never would’ve gotten her period. Fate made the decision for her, whether she liked it or not. Now all that was left to do was face this strange, new future. “Hey, Kakashi…?” she whispered after a long stretch of silence. Kakashi raised a brow, sitting beside her, giving her his undivided attention. “Can you…I mean, you’re more experienced with this than I am so, um…do you think you could give me some…advice?”

               “Advice?” he repeated. Rei gave him an affirmative, pleading look. “What kind of advice?”

               “I don’t know” Rei replied, “Just…tell me what it was like for you. Being captain, I mean. Were you scared? Did you ever feel like maybe they had made a mistake? How did you cope with the pressure?”

               Kakashi sucked in a deep breath. He didn’t really want to think about the darkness that encumbered him back then, the emotionlessness of it all. He was so cold and unyielding. Truthfully, he never coped at all. He merely buried everything deep inside of himself, taking on the brunt of the responsibility with seemingly no issue only to take out his frustrations on others. He thought of the many he had killed, the corpses that littered the ground after each mission. Back then, he would not hesitate to kill anyone who so much as looked at him the wrong way. In retrospect, he couldn’t fathom how he could have ever been so cruel. His love for Rei had made him rather soft, he supposed. The thought of love, however, dug up nasty feelings about the way he handled himself back then. Nauseating memories of Konoha’s red-light district, of a woman in a satin negligee who he used and abused once a week. Things he never had the guts to admit to Rei. This woman had meant nothing to him, after all. She was only a vessel, an empty space, an object. And when he was finished and they’d lie together until her next client came in, all he could think about was Rei. That was his coping mechanism: taking his frustrations out on an innocent bystander and all the while imagining someone else. There was no way he could ever tell Rei of his transgressions. He was young and dumb and overflowing with unbridled angst. He would have to find a way around the truth to answer her question. He would, unfortunately, have to lie.

               “Being a captain…” Kakashi started, “was a lot of responsibility. While I may have been skilled enough for the job, I don’t think I was emotionally prepared for it so I don’t think I coped as well as you will.” Okay, so perhaps it wasn’t a total lie. He did have faith in her ability to not only do this job but to do this job well. She had proven herself, hadn’t she? If Tsunade thought she was prepared, then who were they to question her judgment?

               “I feel so pathetic for being scared” Rei replied.

               “Well, this is a big step in your career” Kakashi assured her, resting a hand on her forearm. “You have every right to be nervous. If it means anything to you, though, I think you’re going to do just fine.”

               Rei eyed him curiously, wanting to believe him, but it was so hard to take the compliment. “Do you really mean that, or are you only telling me that because you feel obligated to as my fiancé?” she then asked.

               Kakashi leaned back, almost offended, and shook his head. “If I didn’t think you were cut out for this, I would tell you” he replied. “You know I would never let you step foot into something you were unprepared for, especially something that comes with so much danger.”

               It was that word, danger, that stuck out to her the most. This was dangerous. A dangerous job and a dangerous new set of responsibilities. Every time she was put in charge of something, it seemed as if Rei attracted nothing but danger. Nothing but death and disaster. She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath as the image of Naru’s dead body flickered in the back of her mind. “I just need to know that I won’t be leading people to their deaths” she whispered. “I just…I can’t go through that again. I can’t have that on my conscience.”

               “Rei…” Kakashi murmured. He shifted his hand to her back, rubbing gently. His heart broke for her. He knew all too well the specific brand of pain she was facing, the way that here, even four years later, she was still utterly and completely traumatized. “I know it’s scary, but that was just one mission out of how many in the past eight years?” he started. Rei hated to admit that he had a point. “Maybe you weren’t prepared for a leadership position back then, but things are different now. You’ve grown so much and worked so hard. And besides, if it makes you feel any better, you’ll have a lieutenant working by your side, too.”

               On one hand, the promise of a lieutenant brought with it a sense of relief. The power would not rest solely on her shoulders. She would have someone to conspire with on battle tactics, someone to fight alongside her and share the brunt of the responsibility. On the other hand, however, this further brought up yet another point of contention: who, exactly, her lieutenant would be.

               There were really only three options: Yugao, Mikazuki, or Tenzo. Rei tossed and turned all night weighing the pros and cons of each. The whole of her morning commute was spent further dissecting their merit.

               Yugao was strong and capable and had worked under Kakashi on Team Ro so Rei believed deep down that she was trustworthy enough for the position. Her and Yugao had worked together plenty of times, but Rei had yet to see her in any real position of power. Would she even be up to the task? Could she handle the pressure? She had been so stoic since Hayate’s death, almost even resolving to simply riding the wave of someone else’s leadership rather than taking the reins on her own. Rei wasn’t even sure how much passion she still felt for her career after losing her love. She would never be able to live with herself if she had forced Yugao into a serious commitment like this without her utmost dedication and approval.

               Mikazuki was a formidable opponent, highly intelligent and possessing a powerful dojutsu. Out of everyone in the ANBU, Mikazuki was the one that Rei probably considered herself the closest with which meant that their chemistry would likely benefit their leadership capabilities. As incredible as the shinkantazagan’s power is, however, it’s also rare and valuable. Mikazuki’s innate abilities not only made her easily identifiable but could also turn her into a target for the enemy. She had already been captured once before. Rei wasn’t sure she had the strength to risk losing yet another dear friend on the battlefield.

               And then there was Tenzo, a former member of the Foundation who had been a part of the ANBU for heaven only knew how long. Rei knew very little about his past but it seemed as if he ate, slept, and breathed the black ops. As if he knew nothing else, had never lived any other way. Another former member of Team Ro, Rei knew without a shadow of a doubt that she could trust Tenzo in a position of power alongside her. The only issue was that, interpersonally, she did not know him well enough. She had never bothered to spend enough time with him to become well-acquainted with who he was and even how he worked. Was his merit worth jeopardizing their leadership abilities due to faulty compatibility? Rei wasn’t sure.

               Tsunade tented her fingers and smiled softly as Rei stepped foot into the hokage’s office that morning. “I hope you’re still up for that promotion” Tsunade replied. “We need ANBU captains now more than ever, and I can’t think of anyone else more fitting for the role than you.”

               “That’s a pretty hefty compliment” Rei murmured, rubbing the back of her neck anxiously. “But I appreciate your faith in me” she quickly added so as not to sound ungrateful.

               Tsunade picked up on Rei’s uncertainty, cocking a brow in suspicion. “You’re not getting cold feet now, are you?” she asked. Yesterday, Rei had seemed so bright and optimistic. It was that attitude that further confirmed Tsunade’s comfort in promoting her. Now, however, she wasn’t so sure. If Rei wasn’t confident in her abilities, then Tsunade couldn’t be confident in this promotion.

               Rei’s eyes widened, holding her hands up in surrender. “No, no, no! Absolutely not!” she stammered. It wasn’t a complete lie, at least. No matter what, she could not reveal to Tsunade her overwhelming anxiety about this. She would just have to bury it deep down, put on a brave face, pretend like this was exactly what she had been longing for. She felt her stomach clench as if in response to her lie. Straightening her back, she composed herself with a serious expression and asked, “What are the next steps that need to be taken for this?”

               Shuffling through some paperwork, Tsunade explained, “I’ll assign you a team of new recruits fresh out of Ishoku next week.” Ishoku. Rei had nearly forgotten about the training subdivision. She wondered who was training her new team now. It made sense for Kakashi to train her when she was inducted—he had already been captain for years. None of this was necessarily new to him. But Rei was fresh meat, inexperienced. Teaching was not her priority—leading was. She wasn’t quite sure which she may have preferred. “In the meantime” Tsunade continued, “it would be worth your while to brush up on your own training and find someone to act as your lieutenant.”

               “Right, of course” Rei nodded. “Kakashi brought that up last night, actually.”

               A small smile tugged at the corner of Tsunade’s mouth. She wasn’t surprised in the slightest at the mention of Kakashi’s involvement. In fact, she had fully expected him to guide and assist her as she navigated this new role. That was part of the reason she felt so comfortable with promoting Rei in the first place. Kakashi was a legendary shinobi and his time as captain served as a model for the rest of the ANBU. With him as her mentor, Tsunade knew that Rei was in good hands.

               “Now, picking a lieutenant isn’t a requirement” Tsunade explained. “Kakashi certainly didn’t have one when he was a captain. With that said, for someone new to this position of power such as yourself, I find it helps to balance out the responsibility a bit. Lieutenants can help alleviate some anxiety and provide support for when you’re first starting out.”

               Rei nodded. God, did she understand the importance of that. “If it’ll help me make the best possible decisions” she started, “then by all means, a lieutenant would be best.” Especially if they keep me from leading innocent people to their deaths, she thought to herself. The thought of having someone there to stop her if she was about to make a leadership mistake was truly comforting.

               “Consider your options carefully” Tsunade warned. “And try to have an answer for me by Friday morning.”

               Rei gave a single, affirmative nod before departing for headquarters. Friday morning. That gave her three full days, counting the present, to make her decision. As she descended the stairs an stepped out into the light, she felt her throat tighten. The pressure was overwhelming. If only someone could make the decision for her, if Tsunade could just assign someone to work alongside her, but Rei knew that that wasn’t right. If she was to be in charge, she needed to start making smart and clear-cut decisions. This was her first test of strength.

               The minute she stepped into the ANBU headquarters, she caught sight of Tenzo walking down the hall with a few other men that Rei did not recognize. Sucking in a deep breath, she reached out and called his name.

               “Rei?” he asked, almost as if he was confused to see her there. There was a look of such deep focus on her face, a strong sense of purpose. “Is everything alright?” They never talked outside of missions, so her flagging him down certainly struck him as odd. The confusion on his face was, perhaps, meant to be a warning sign that this was a bad idea.

               “Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine” Rei reassured. “I was just wondering, uh, do you have a minute? I wanted to talk with you about something, if that’s alright.”

               Tenzo glanced to his comrades, who made faces at each other as if he was not actually in a relationship. He considered his options a moment before urging them to go on without him. He seemed, however, mildly disappointed he could not continue on with them and Rei began to reconsider her plan but it was too late. Once they were alone, Tenzo turned his attention back to Rei. “What did you want to talk about?” he asked.

               In this newfound privacy, Rei felt a jolt of ice slither down her spine. How was she even supposed to start this? We don’t really know each other that well but hey, want to be my lieutenant? Ridiculous. She stood there opening and closing her mouth for a moment, trying to find the right words, but none of the options seemed to fit right in her mouth. They all sounded so abrupt and strange, so inappropriate. Finally, after she was certain Tenzo was about to combust with concern, she croaked, “H-how long have you been in the ANBU?”

               “Uh, as long as I can remember” Tenzo chuckled nervously. “Why do you ask? Are you writing some sort of tell-all for the black ops newsletter?”

               “Oh, no, I just—” Rei started, but her mind quickly snagged on something else. “Wait a sec, there’s a black ops newsletter? Since when?” Tenzo blinked despondently, realizing the joke clearly went over her head. Rei considered the idea for a moment, almost offended that no one had brought this up to her before, but quickly dismissed the thought. She shook her head, swatted at the air, tried to refocus. “Whatever, it’s not important” she muttered. “What is important, however, is that—”

               Before she could finish her sentence, she felt a strong gaze boring holes into her back. Turning slowly, she caught none other than Mikazuki approaching. “Hello, Tenzo” she said, eyes downcast. She quickly leaned up to place a shy little peck on his cheek, then nodded towards Rei’s direction. “I hope I didn’t interrupt anything. What, um…what were you both talking about?”

               It suddenly became horrifically clear to Rei that perhaps Mikazuki had misinterpreted the situation. The laughter, the awkward joking, it was all too suspicious. Rei in no way wanted to appear as if she was trying to steal another woman’s man and getting on Mikazuki’s bad side was a recipe for disaster. The weight of that little list in the back of Rei’s mind grew heavier.

               “Rei was just asking me about my experience in the ANBU” Tenzo replied. Immediately after he said this, though, he began to second-guess himself. Rei’s intentions were ambiguous at best and suspicious at worst. What was her angle? What was she really after? He wasn’t sure he even wanted to know. Clearing his throat anxiously, he added in a mutter, “Or something like that.”

               Mikazuki pursed her lips as she gave a minute nod. “That’s nice…” she murmured.

               “Yeah, I’m just, uh…” Rei started, awkwardly. She searched the air for the proper excuse, the best way to get out of this. Tenzo was a bust and if she was to have any chance of salvaging Mikazuki’s potential, she needed to save face. “Just writing an editorial for the black ops newsletter” Rei jested, forcing a friendly smile.

               Tenzo stifled a chuckle as Mikazuki looked to the two of them, completely lost. “Th-there’s a black ops newsletter?”

               “Hmm? Oh, no! No, it’s just, uh…just a joke” Tenzo replied, rubbing the back of his neck. Mikazuki clearly remained skeptical and suspicious.

               “So, uh, I better get going” Rei started, shoving her hands in her pockets. She slowly backed away as she spoke, trying to appear as charismatic and unaffected as humanly possible. “Oh, hey, here’s an idea! Why don’t you guys join Kakashi and I for dinner one of these nights? Does barbecue sound good? I’m sure Kakashi would love to see you both. It’s been a minute, right? Just let me know when is good for you guys and we can all sync our schedules! I’m thinking Friday nights, but whatever works for you, you know? But whatever, we’ll iron out the details later!” As she departed, her back slammed into the door to the women’s locker room. The doorknob hit her right in the spine with a sharp, shooting pain. She groaned through her smile, presenting a tense thumbs-up, before turning into the solace of the locker room. Once alone, she sunk down onto one of the rickety wooden benches and dug the heels of her hands into her eyes. “Motherfucker” she groaned.

               “Rough morning already?” a voice asked from overhead.

               Rei squinted past the glare of the ceiling light to find Yugao looming over her. A sly grin touched her lips, hands planted firmly on her hips. “You have no idea” Rei complained.

               Skirting around the bench, Yugao took a seat beside Rei and asked, “Do you want to talk about it? Or is it the kind of stuff you don’t really want to bother other people with?”

               “No, no, it’s fine” Rei sighed. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her sore back, leaning forward to rest her forearms on her knees. “I’m just…in a weird place right now. Forced to answer questions that I don’t know the answer to. It’s like…it’s like that feeling when you stay up all night studying for a classic lit test only for the teacher to hand out a biology test instead. You feel totally blindsided and unprepared.”

               Yugao laughed softly and shook her head. “I trust you with the classic lit” she commented. “But biology? Not so much.”

               A bittersweet laugh broke past Rei’s somber, stressed exterior as she raked her fingers through her bangs. “I’ve got a big decision to make and not a lot of time to make it” she sighed. “I don’t feel like I’m cut out for this sort of thing, and it scares me. Like whatever I decide is going to have a profound effect on the way I handle things moving forward, and my reputation as a shinobi. Peoples lives could be at stake and I just…don’t know if I’m ready for this. It just all feels so heavy.”

               A fizzle of something profound surged between them in that moment, a shared understanding about loss and grief. Yugao sucked in a sharp breath. “I know what you mean” she sighed. “You tell yourself not to think about everything that could go wrong, but in the back of your mind it’s always there nagging at you. That squeaky little voice asking ‘what if you fuck up? What if someone else dies?’”

               “Exactly” Rei nodded. “I just hate feeling so unsure of myself. I don’t want to make a mistake, but I feel like I already have by getting all mixed up in this.”

               “What exactly are you mixed up in?” Yugao finally asked.

               As much as Rei had wanted to keep her mouth shut, she couldn’t keep it to herself any longer. The secret was stewing deep within her chest, raring to eat her alive. Sitting here with Yugao like this made her feel trusting anyway. Whether or not she should embrace that trust, however, she did not know but much like a surge of vomit, she couldn’t stop it from coming now. Rei toyed with the bandage at her thigh as she explained, “Lady Tsunade has promoted me to captain.”

               “She did?” Yugao replied. There was a sense of disbelief in her voice, but pleasantly so. “That’s so great, I’m so happy for you. But also, god, that’s such a huge responsibility. No wonder you’re anxious.”

               Rei had never expected the strength of relief she felt in finally admitting the news. Sure, Kakashi knew but he knew everything. She was not afraid to be open with him. She knew he would never judge her and besides, he was not within this circle any longer anyway. His knowing was inconsequential. A bittersweet laugh broke past Rei’s lips. “I still don’t even know if I’m ready for this” she admitted. “But at least the leadership won’t be entirely on my shoulders. I’ll have a lieutenant.”

               “Of course” Yugao nodded.

               “Lady Tsunade is giving me until Friday morning to take my pick” Rei replied.

               “Do you know who you’re going to pick?” Yugoa asked. There was never a hint of insinuation in her tone, never a lurking persuasiveness begging for Rei to pick her and in tht, it seemed Rei’s growing suspicions had thus been solidified.

               “You know…” she started, toeing the groutlines in the floor. “When I woke up this morning, my answer would’ve been a solid no. I had ideas but no real plan. But now…now I think I know exactly who I’d pick.” A surge of anxiety coursed through Rei’s veins—she never expected to be so nervous about the proposal. She wondered if this was how Kakashi felt he when he asked her to marry him, even if this wasn’t quite the same. Rei could feel Yugao’s expectant gaze awaiting her answer. She couldn’t afford to screw this up. She couln’t afford to waste anymore time. Looking Yugao in the eyes, Rei replied, “I was thinking it should be you.”

               Yugao leaned back a moment, considering the offer. This was truly a monumental request and she was honored that Rei would even consider her as an option. They were not the closest of all the girls in the ANBU, but they worked well together. They had a chemistry that was highly important in positions such as this. After a few moments of deliberation, Yugao gave a single nod. “Alright” she said. She tried to remain dignified and composed—after all, she was now face to face with her superior—but she could not fight the pleased smile threatening her lips. “I humbly accept.”

               An incredulous laugh bubbled up from deep within Rei’s chest, the relief washing over her like a wave at high tide. She, too, remained composed, however. She extended a hand for a firm handshake, which Yugao dutifully reciprocated. “I look forward to working with you, Ms. Uzuki” she smiled.

               “And I to you, Ms. Natsuki” Yugao replied. “Or would it be Mrs. Hatake?”

               “Well, I’m not married yet” Rei laughed.

               Yugao swatted at the air and shook her head. “Oh well, it doesn’t matter” she replied. Her laughter toned down then as she looked Rei in the eyes, and in her gaze was a certain sincerity, deep and moving. “Thank you, Rei, for this opportunity. I can’t think of anyone better to work alongside.”

               “I can’t think of anyone better to be my lieutenant” Rei replied. The sirens blared down the hallway, a sign that their time was up. Sentimental exchanges would have to wait. They had work to do.

               Rei strapped her gauntlets to her forearms and secured her boots to her feet as Yugao made her way toward the exit. With a hand resting on the doorknob, however, she hesitated before looking back over her shoulder. “Hey, Rei” she called. Rei looked up expectantly. A tender smile touched Yugao’s face. “I think you’re going to make a really great captain. Honestly.”

[seoulsister98]

Dissonance (Ch.1) | jjk (m)

⭄ Pairing: Jungkook x OC 

⭄ Genre: Superhero!au / Enemies-to-lovers 

⭄ Warnings: explicit language, minor character death, mentions of blood, mentions of violence 

⭄ Word Count: 2,955

⭄ Disclaimer: Hi, everyone! This is my first ever attempt at writing a BTS fanfic so please be nice. I’ll probably continue the series even if this doesn’t get many likes. I wrote this based off a dream I had, but it is also inspired by X-Men and the show The Boys. Enjoy! :) 

Mutants have been living among humans since the dawn of time. Across all cultures, religions and legends, mutants were seen as gods and miracle-workers. Overall mutants were viewed as benign, altruistic beings, gifted with special abilities. However, in this modern social and political climate, the world now perceives mutants in conflicting ways. Some people feel entitled to their gifts, given to mutants through the alterations in their DNA. They expect mutants to use their powers for good and to protect human-kind from the dangers of the world. However, others consider mutants freaks of nature and even menaces to society. Political leaders spew mutant versus human rhetoric, only fueling the hatred that humans feel towards mutant-kind. This ideology is derived from fear of the unknown. Although most mutants are capable of killing humans, most of them wish to pursue normal lives. Like getting an education, finding a career, blending into the crowd. Most of them. Until recently… 

Mutants often face discrimination and even violence from humans because of their fear-derived convictions. This has led to the formation of radical mutant groups, rallying up their bloody masses and promoting the belief that mutants are far superior to humans and should be treated as such. The government has deemed these groups as terrorists and a threat to the general public. Because of the immeasurable powers some  mutants possess, human strength nor human weaponry stand a chance to eliminate this threat. With this in mind, the government has initiated a military-trained task force called the Mutant Special-Ops (MSO). They are given mutant-related assignments that would otherwise go unchecked. Government collaboration with mutants is very controversial in the media. Some believe mutants have a duty to fight the bad guys while some think all mutants are inherently evil, and will turn against mankind. 

---

☽ Bangtan City. District 7 Railway. 1:42a.m.☾

Nara. ID number 5407. Telekinesis. These were the only three things listed on her MSO portfolio along with the red letter ‘M’ in the corner, signifying her mutant status. She never understood the need for this distinction, as if the word ‘telekinesis’ didn’t give  away what she was. She also couldn’t wrap her mind around what had become of her life. It felt like yesterday that she was just 17 years old, disowned by her family, homeless, with no prospects when a government official had approached her. A sleek, black car pulled up beside her as she walked along the sidewalk. The back, tinted window was rolled down. A man wearing a suit peered at her over his sunglasses. “Get in,” he had said. Wanting no trouble with the law, Nara cautiously entered the vehicle. She pressed herself against the leather seat across from him, attempting to put as much space between her and the man, and stared at him warily. “Don’t worry. You’re not in trouble,” he said with a slight smile. Knowing how mutants were systematically killed by law enforcement, Nara still felt doubtful about the man’s intentions. “What is it that you want from me then?” she asked. The man’s smile grew wider, “I have a proposition for you.”

That day had changed Nara’s life for the better. Along with the rigorous 4-year military training and the scientific experiments she had undergone, she had also been given a home, a family, and a purpose in life. Now she sat beside two of her fellow teammates, Jimin and Taehyung, several feet away from the city’s train tracks. It was very dark out sans the lights illuminating the track. Nara looked up at the starless sky; the city lights swallowing up their light. A cool breeze lifted Nara’s midnight hair off her shoulders and she relished in the feeling. Although she had been assigned missions countless times, she still felt on edge. 

Taehyung sighed and glanced at his cellphone again for the nth time that evening. “My patience is wearing thin. This train was supposed to be here 10 minutes ago,” he said in annoyance and slipped his phone back into his pocket. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared off towards the tracks in the direction the train was supposedly arriving from. Jimin placed a hat over his head in order to cover his silver blue hair, a phenotypic mutation that came along with his powers. Although it wasn’t too strange to see a younger man with unnaturally colored hair in the city, the team was required to look as ordinary as possible. “Complaining about it isn’t going to make the train come any faster, Tae. Besides, where do any of us have to be right now?” Jimin asked. Taehyung shrugged and smirked, “I was hoping we could grab drinks after our mission. Maybe enjoy a night for once.” They were about to kill a man, a fellow mutant, and Taehyung was thinking about grabbing drinks as if they worked in some stuffy office all day. With each completed task, these things became easier and easier to do. The only solace they shared was that all of this was for the good of humanity and the rest of the mutants who didn’t want a bad rep because of a few sour apples. 

Nara placed her brown color contacts over her violet eyes. She glanced over at Taehyung who was sporting his signature pedestrian garb, all black clothes topped off with a leather jacket. Mutants often exhibit physical abnormalities like Jimin with his natural blue hair and Nara’s violet eyes. Taehyung, however, was blessed with black hair and brown eyes, making it easy for him to pass as human. He never needed a disguise while on missions or in life for that matter. “Let’s go over the mission one more time,” said Jimin, pulling up the file on his phone. “Target is on board a District 7 high-speed train heading east-bound towards Bangtan City to meet with the mutant terrorist group: Supremus. Target is mutant, but powers are unknown so execute the mission with caution. Target is in possession of top-secret information disclosed in a briefcase. Assassinate the target and retrieve the briefcase without any human casualties. Dispose of the body.” Jimin slips his phone back into his pocket. “Easy enough,” Taehyung said nonchalantly. 

The rumble of the approaching train pulled them out of their thoughts, “It’s here.” Taehyung groaned as he stood, “About time.” Jimin and Nara stood as well and they stealthily made their way towards the train. As they approached, the wind from the speed of the train whipped their hair and clothes, making Nara wince. “Which car is he in?” Jimin asked nonchalantly as he began to stretch his limbs. “According to Namjoon, he should be in car sixteen,” Nara replied. Taehyung groaned again, “When is Yoongi gonna stop this train?” Yoongi, the MSO’s hacker and shapeshifter, was tasked to hack the high-speed train’s operating system in order to stop the train instead of letting it take its intended route. A few seconds later the train came to a gradual halt. “We shouldn’t enter car sixteen immediately. We should enter from the back, it’ll give us enough time for a distraction,” Nara said. Jimin nodded in agreement. Taehyung sighed, “We’re just wasting more time by doing this! Why can’t we just kill this guy and get it over with?” Jimin nudged him and gave him a look which seemed to silence him. 

Nara approached one of the back cars, most likely empty due to the time of night. She raised her hand towards the train door. Using her power of telekinesis, she forced the door open and stepped inside. Jimin and Taehyung followed closely behind. “How’d you three get on here?” The three whipped their heads around to face a man in a uniform, most likely someone who worked on the train. Dammit, Nara thought to herself. She only considered the possibility of passengers seeing them, not an employee. However, slip ups such as this were easily fixed by Taehyung, possessing the power of memory manipulation. He approached the man and waved his hand in front of the man’s eyes, in a calm voice he said, “You never saw us here. Continue with what you were doing.” The man’s eyes seemed to glaze over as he nodded and turned away from us. Taehyung turned around and smirked at us, “Still got it.” Nara rolled her eyes, “Get serious, Tae. That could’ve blown this whole operation.” Taehyun tsked at her and shook his head, “You have such little faith in me.” Rather than contributing to their bickering, Jimin began making his way towards the sliding doors, separating them from the other cars. Nara and Taehyung followed behind as they all made their way towards car sixteen. 

The team finally came upon several confused passengers. Jimin, feigning concern, asked a couple why the train had suddenly stopped. “I don’t know, but someone came back here and told us it would start running again shortly.” They’re window of opportunity was narrowing. “We need a distraction,” Nara whispered to the others. “I have an idea,” Jimin replied, “but let’s get closer to our target.” They continued walking and slipped into car sixteen. Nara scanned the area and noticed a man, sitting by himself, holding a briefcase. He seemed inconspicuous enough, passed as human, except for the gills he was attempting to hide under his shirt collar. He could have the ability to manipulate water or even the ability to swim at inhuman speeds. Either way, he was potentially dangerous and the team needed to execute this perfectly. “Get on with this grand plan of yours Jimin, we don’t have much time,” Taehyung urged. Jimin glanced at Nara, “You got this?” She nodded. Jimin sat down close to a window and the others sat beside him. Jimin placed his hand against the side of the train, shooting volts of electricity from his fingertips. All of the lights on the train sparked and busted, encasing everyone in complete darkness. Passengers screamed and ducked for cover. This was their chance. The man with the briefcase, seeming to know something was off, shuffled out of his seat quickly. Taehyung and Nara followed after him. The man sprayed water from his hand onto the floor, causing Taehyung to slip and fall. Nara easily avoided the water and jumped over Taehyung. “Dammit! Get him, Nara.” The man clutched his briefcase to his chest and ran to the next car. Nara chased after him, shoving away distressed passengers trying to run the opposite direction. Outstretching her hand, she forced him in place. He grunted and struggled in her telekinetic grasp. She approached the man and withdrew her knife from her boot. The man’s eyes widened as if she was squeezing them out of his head. His gills seemed to be gasping for air and sweat dripped down his temple, “P-Please don’t do this. I’m one of you!” Nara felt her stomach churn at his words and grimaced, “You are not one of us,” she said and slit his throat. He made a gurgled sound as blood spurted on her face and chest. Losing her concentration, she released the man from her hold and he fell to the floor with a thump. She wiped her face and looked down at her hands. It was dark on the train, but she could still see the man’s blood on her hands. She felt sick to her stomach from the sight. Taehyung and Jimin finally reached her and lifted his lifeless body. “Let’s go.”

 In their hysterics, the passengers had run to the opposite end of the train so thankfully no one had witnessed the man being killed. Nara pried the door open with her power and helped the other two drag the man’s body out. “What should we do with the body?” Nara asked. “Let the train run over him. That should be sufficient enough for disposal,” Taehyung said and shrugged. Jimin grabbed the suitcase, “This is all we need. Let’s get out of here.” As the train began to move again, the team ran away from the tracks and into the city. 

---

“Thank god this bar stays open late!” Taehyung exclaimed as he downed his drink. After the mission was completed, the team reported to their leader, Namjoon, and delivered the briefcase they were asked to retrieve. Getting the thumbs up from Namjoon, Tae believed celebratory drinks were in order. Nara glanced at her phone, it was 3 am. Most human bars were closed by then, but mutant nightlife lasted much longer, sometimes into the early hours of the morning. Mutationem, a popular mutant-only bar in the city, was a place the team would frequent after missions. Nara sipped her beer and chuckled as she watched Tae flirt with the bartender. She turned to her left and noticed a fluffy grey cat sitting beside her on one of the barstools. “Hi, Yoongi” In a blink of an eye, he shifted back to his human form, clothes somehow intact, “Hey.” Yoongi preferred walking around as a cat, little chance for any verbal interaction but a lot of chances for petting. “That hacking thing you did was pretty convenient. I thought we might have had to jump on top of the train to get in,” she said with a laugh. Yoongi shrugged, “It wasn’t too hard for a genius like myself. Run into any other problems?” Nara shook her head, “Other than having to listen to Tae complain, it went fine.” Yoongi scoffed, “Figures.” Nara watched as she swirled the contents of her bottle around, curiosity consuming her, “So what was in the suitcase?” Yoongi shrugged, “I don’t know. Namjoon didn’t tell me and I didn’t really care to ask.” Nara thought this was strange; it wasn’t like Namjoon to keep things hush hush from the team. As if Yoongi could read the concern on her face, he said, “I’m sure it’s nothing too important. Probably just some info on their next move.” She nodded. “Anyway, I think I’m gonna go back to the base. I’ll see you later.” And with that, Yoongi transformed back into a cat and jumped down from the barstool. Before leaving, he rubbed his head against her leg, making her smile. Nara looked back at her bottle which was still almost full. Deciding it was time for her to go back to base as well, she chugged it and exited the bar. 

She regretted her decision to down her drink so quickly, feeling her head buzzing from the alcohol. Base was only a few minutes away so she decided to walk instead of calling for a government vehicle to pick her up. She shivered as the cold, night air whisked her hair around. Wrapping her arms around herself, she began walking in the direction of the base. As she walked along the sidewalk, Nara could sense someone trailing her. She couldn’t tell if they were actually following her or if her tipsiness was making her paranoid. Deciding to take a shortcut home, she made a b-line to an alley. As soon as she turned the corner, the man following her grabbed her around the waist from behind. Thanks to her military training, Nara easily broke free from his grasp and used her telekinesis to push him back several feet. Stunned, the man fell to the ground and stared at her as if he saw a ghost. “Fucking freak!” he yelled as he scrambled to his feet and ran off. She winced at his words as she watched the man run away. She knew she should be used to this kind of treatment by now, but interactions like that always left a bad taste in her mouth. And these were the people she had sworn to protect, she thought to herself and continued walking back to base. 

---

☽ Bangtan City. Supremus HQ. 3a.m.☾

The small room was dark except for the lamp that illuminated the desk. The mastermind behind Supremus, Bang Si-hyuk, sat broodingly behind the desk, a scowl on his face. Jungkook lounged across the leather couch situated in the shadowy corner of the room, watching the other man that just entered the room. 

“Intel has just informed us that our assailant from the group outside of the city is dead,” he said to Si-hyuk. “Fish boy?”

“Yes, sir.” The man behind the desk scoffed. “Of course he got himself killed. He was one of the weakest among us. I can’t believe they trusted him with such an important task,” Si-hyuk rubbed his face in exasperation. “What about the supplies?” 

“Gone, sir.” Si-hyuk slammed his fist on the desk. Jungkook closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “God dammit! MSO?” 

“Yes, sir. Three of them.” Jungkook sneered at the mention of the MSO. He couldn’t comprehend why any mutant would risk their life for the sake of humans. Humans all had unwarranted arrogance about them even though mutants were obviously the more powerful beings. They exploited these mutants for their own personal gain and still treated them like dirt. Jungkook didn’t understand and he never would. That’s why he had decided to join Supremus. They were considered terrorists by the state, but he didn’t see it that way. It wasn’t a question to him who was more superior. 

“We need the supplies back. If they figure out exactly what we’re doing, the government is going to crack down on us even harder.” 

“What do you suppose we do, sir?” Jungkook stood from his position, “I can get them back.” Si-hyuk eyed Jungkook and shook his head, “No, you’re too valuable of an asset.” Jungkook smirked at him, “You underestimate me.” Si-hyuk considered Jungkook’s words carefully, “I trust you, Jungkook. Do what needs to be done.” 

“Yes, sir.”

[bltngames]

Review: Lloyd the Monkey 2

Back before TSSZ News imploded, I would often do write-ups for many of the games at the Sonic Amateur Games Expo (SAGE). SAGE is an annual online expo that I started all the way back in September of 2000. I personally ran SAGE for over a year, and remained deeply hands on for at least another two years as it continued to grow. The main focus of SAGE was primarily to showcase fangames, in particular Sonic fangames, but the event never limited itself to any one type of game. It's never been uncommon to see original games appear in the lineup -- especially now, given the modern indie scene. 

One such original game was Lloyd the Monkey, a bit of a strange game, written in Javascript of all things and run through a webpage. That by itself was notable enough to stand out from most of the games at SAGE, but Lloyd was also a completely original product created by someone who possibly seemed to be young and new to game development. Making games is no easy feat, especially when they’re written in Javascript and you’re doing tons of original artwork yourself. Taken as that whole, the game impressed me, even if it was more than a little rough around the edges.

Now we have Lloyd the Monkey 2, written in Unity. The developer, Noah Meyer, sent me a Steam key in order to review the game. Up top, I just want to say how I think it’s kind of brave to go all the way in putting the game on Steam and everything. It felt like just a few years ago, newer indie developers sort of had to work up to releasing their game on Steam, usually getting a few releases under their belt first. People view games differently when they’re asked to pay for them, and critics may not be so willing to let circumstances influence their review. It can be a harsh world out there for a beginner.

Lloyd 2 is a much bigger, more ambitious game than the first. Whereas the original Lloyd didn’t even have sound effects, Lloyd 2 introduces voiced cutscenes, some of which are full-on animated cinematics. Quality is about what you would expect -- I would assume the developer sought out friends and acquaintances to voice characters in Lloyd 2, leading to wildly varying audio quality due to differences in recording hardware. Lloyd himself sounds fine, but some of the other characters are a bit quiet, while others have clear background noise. Nothing I heard was unlistenable, however. 

The story is also a little hard to follow. Not much is done to refresh our memories as to who anyone is or what’s going on, we’re just kind of thrown into the middle of things and turned loose. On one hand, it’s nice that the story doesn’t slow the pace of the gameplay down too much. On the other, you’re given a map screen with different objectives to clear but there’s very little context as to what you’re doing or why. At one point I made my way to the end of a Power Plant level only to confront what appeared to be an evil monkey. Despite a whole cutscene involving a conversation between four or five different people, this evil monkey never seemed to say a single word. He just stood there in total silence with a sinister smile. Then I killed him.

I suppose maybe I missed something, however. With greater ambitions comes a number of unfortunate bugs in Lloyd 2, one of which happened not long after our monkey and his crew landed on planet Grecia. I entered what appeared to be a castle to talk to the Queen, but I think the game expected me to take a lower route, where I was apparently meant to overhear the Queen making secret preparations before my arrival. Instead, I took the direct route straight to her chambers, and triggered the cutscene with Lloyd standing in front of her while ominous music played, even though the camera was still clearly focused on the next floor down. I apparently still had some amount of control, because midway through her dialog I touched a teleporter that sent me to the game’s map screen before she was done talking. If that cutscene was meant to give context to what I was doing, I didn’t get a chance to see it.

That was one of the more harmless bugs in my time spent playing Lloyd 2. Harder to ignore was the fact that, within the first 30 seconds of getting control, I soft locked the game. Lloyd 2 opens with a short prologue section where you play as a man with black hair. If you decide to ignore the obvious and go left instead of right, you quickly run out of solid level tiles and begin falling indefinitely. Later areas feature invisible walls presumably to prevent this exact scenario, but for whatever reason they weren’t implemented in the prologue. 

For the most part, Lloyd 2 seems to be a co-op game. Many levels see Lloyd teamed up with an alien princess named Lura, with gameplay vaguely reminiscent of Mega Man X crossed with the tag mechanic from Sonic Mania’s Encore Mode. At the touch of a button, you can switch between the Swordsman Lloyd and the more projectile-based Lura… assuming your partner is still alive, I guess. While playing alone, your partner is controlled by artificial intelligence, but it’s incredibly basic and prone to accidentally committing suicide. That wouldn’t be such a big deal (considering Tails in Sonic 2 never acted in self-preservation either), but once your partner dies, they stay dead. Your only option to bring them back is to either restart the stage or hope another cutscene triggers, since they’ll magically spring back to life in order to say their dialog (though, again, usually only seconds before they fall back into the next death pit). 

This might not be much of a problem, depending on your viewpoint. There’s not much incentive to switch between Lloyd and Lura, so once you pick whoever you think works the best, chances are, you’ll just stick with them. You do unlock special team-up attacks after beating each boss, but this just reinforces the idea that Lloyd the Monkey 2 is meant to be experienced with another person holding a second controller, as most of the team-up attacks require both characters to do something specific that the single player artificial intelligence usually can’t interpret. Regardless, the team-up attacks never seem strictly necessary to progress, so they can be safely ignored if you’re playing solo.

I understand this is a pretty negative review I’ve written here. Lloyd the Monkey 2 aims high and tries to the best of its ability to get there. I assume it was a struggle to get even this far. Making games is hard work, and like any skill, takes practice to get good at. Just because this is Lloyd the Monkey 2 doesn’t mean Noah Meyer, its developer, is automatically an expert. I'm sure he's doing his best, and, quality aside, this game has a lot of heart put into it. This isn’t something cheap, quick, or lazy. It’s really, genuinely trying, and that matters. 

I’ve said a few times here and there that I see pieces of myself in the releases of Lloyd the Monkey, and I still see them here. I remember, for an early SAGE event, I was working on a fangame project of mine called The Fated Hour. I was probably already a year or two or maybe even three deep in the game by now, and after a lot of hyping up the community, this was their first chance to play the game. I spent months and months coding this iteration of my engine, and by my standards back then, it seemed like bleeding edge technology. I felt like I was going to blow everyone's minds. 

It was a mess. Few were impressed. Even worse, the game straight up didn’t even run correctly for some people. What followed was multiple patches, and even rebuilding some entire areas from scratch. My ambitions got the better of me and I unintentionally cut corners -- not because I was trying to cheap out on doing proper development, but just because I simply didn’t know any better. I may have done the best I knew how to do, but I was running faster than my body could keep up with and I stumbled.

When I see things like the missing invisible walls in the prologue, or how easily partner characters commit suicide by accident, I think back to that demo for The Fated Hour, and how I've been in this exact place myself. There’s even a side quest in Lloyd 2 where you have to track a floating girl as she drifts through a level -- there was a nearly identical set piece in The Fated Hour, where you were chasing a robot. It’s a very strange feeling to see something like that and think, “I’ve been here before.” Like looking through a window at a younger version of yourself.

It’s true that I stumbled, but I didn’t let that stop me. I learned by doing. I kept going. Three years later, a game of mine was featured on TV, leading to more than a million downloads. The mistakes of past projects did not weigh me down and I soldiered onwards, newfound knowledge in hand. 

So where does that leave us with Lloyd the Monkey 2, then. Well, it's not exactly a game to compete with Super Mario Odyssey, but given the circumstances in which it was created, I don't think that's necessarily the point. As a learning experience clearly made for the fun of its own creation, I think it's a success. And who knows what awaits in the years to come?

[langwrites]

Lang Plays Fire Emblem: Three Houses

So a while ago I said I was planning on playing the story routes in this order: Blue Lions, Black Eagles, Church of Seiros, and then Golden Deer.

The Golden Deer made a liar out of me.

So, here’s an approximation of What Happened During Verdant Wind.

So many spoilers below the cut, you guys. I do a lot of route comparisons.

Okay, I’ve been staring at the “which house do you want” selection screen for an embarrassing amount of time.

This shouldn’t be hard. I had a plan.

But no.

I clicked the Golden Deer, just like that. What the fuck, Claude. I blame you.

Immediately upon talking to this rop of students again, I can feel the difference in the social group from what the Lions were like. The latter were really a bunch of noble kids around their prince, and they felt really tight-knit. Classic Fire Emblem starter crew.

The Golden Deer is the fucking Scooby Gang.

First impressions of individuals:

Raphael, thank goodness, is the one character who absolutely has his shit in order. Sure, he’s bad at book work and thinks everything comes down to MUSCLES, but all of his emotional issues are handled by the time he arrives at Garreg Mach. He’s the brightest of sunshines.

Ignatz needs some more confidence in his art, and also I want to see his painting of Seiros. Now, if only both of his offensive stats and growths weren’t incredibly bad.

I was so close to making him my dancer. Just because he sure as hell wasn’t gonna be useful anywhere else.

Lorenz! I don’t like him. His haircut is a monstrosity.

Leonie! We are going. To be. Besties. Even though the timing of your support conversations are incredibly bad.

Marianne no please don’t be sad everyone loves you

Hilda is the greatest enabler I have ever seen. By which I mean she enables other people to do all her work for her.

Lysithea is going to have the last word with God. And especially he Death Knight.

And finally Claude! Teamwork makes the dream work, so obviously meme work does the same.

I’m sorry.

PRE-TIMESKIP

Mock battle! Marianne’s great and I love her and also the only healer oh god.

OKAY. I have access to New Game+ bonuses. What do I do first?

Immediately crank the Professor Level stat to max to avoid ever having to run short of activity points again.

Next, raise all skills I can’t easily get to at least Rank D+. HEAVY ARMOR IN PARTICULAR.

Third: Boost supports with people whose support ranks are an absolute pain in the ass to earn. Lookin’ at you, Rhea.

Also, put glasses on Byleth (named “Yuri” for this playthrough). Glasses are the bomb. I am the evil genius.

LEVEL GRINDING TIME.

It’s a lot harder with Blacksmith access being story-locked, but I can do this!

As a direct result, every single battle after this point is a complete curbstomp in my favor. Because the grind don’t stop.

I broke a lot more weapons than last time, though.

I will befriend Leonie and Ferdinand if it’s the last fucking thing I do. I will befriend everyone, and I will not get timeskip-locked out of supports! >:(

Ferdinand was my first recruit. Oh dear.

Okay, there are like five born cavaliers in this game. Leonie, Ferdinand, Lorenz, Sylvain, and I guess Dimitri if you’re on the right route.

Last time, Sylvain was a great paladin and a decent Dark Knight before he started getting one- or two-stat level ups for like thirty levels. Similarly, Dimitri was great until all his ultra-secret-awesome promotions didn’t use a fucking horse.

Contrast Leonie who, despite sitting out 99% of the game out of spite from me getting locked out of her support chain, went to endgame with a ten-level deficit and still rocked.

Ferdinand didn’t count since I failed to recruit him last time and he died. These two facts are directly related.

I didn’t use Lorenz at all; I recruited him to keep from having to kill him later.

This time, Lorenz straight-up sucks, Sylvain did the terrible level dance for like the entire game, and Dimitri’s not recruitable.

Contrast, again, Leonie. Her support chain with the player character is hot garbage, but she plowed through most of the game as a mainstay of my team and made it to Bow Knight first out of anyone.

Bernadetta and Ashe as Bow Knights don’t even come close to being as durable as she is, except for Ashe’s absolutely bananas Resistance. 29?! WHY?!

And Ferdinand is also awesome. His only real weak point is Resistance, but he doesn’t need it. He dodge-tanks everything, is faster than Leonie, and has two Saints’ relics he unknowingly stole from Seteth.

He still talks in MLA format, though.

I started putting off recruiting people so I wouldn’t have to level-grind them up to par with the rest of my team.

But if these people wanna join, of course I’m saying yes.

Lord Lonato’s rebellion and Miklan yoinking the Lance of Ruin feel way less relevant on a Golden Deer playthrough than on a Blue Lions one. None of the Herd really know who the hell these people are.

I say that despite having already recruited Sylvain for this playthrough and deploying him in the relevant level. He wasn’t treated as there by the game’s preamble cutscenes.

At least the Holy Mausoleum stuff feels more...handled? Claude actually asks questions about rebellion and about the “assassination plot,” where Dimitri didn’t really.

OKAY SO there’s this whole plot thing where Flayn goes missing for a month. With the Blue Lions, this is handled like a manhunt. Dimitri’s seriousness about the issue rubs off on everyone except Sylvain, and Felix actually correctly identifies the culprit almost instantly. He doesn’t know he’s done it, though, because basically everyone is just throwing out accusations. Manuela is the real MVP.

CONTRAST THE DEER. The very first meeting reads like a Scooby Doo episode, when they’re piling up clues and throwing out suggestions like the gang of goofball teenagers they are. Claude’s got this group running like Persona 4′s Investigation Team. None of them are jaded or frantic, they’re just doing this.

Why did Rhea entrust the investigation to a herd of teenagers.

Anyway, the rest proceeds as usual.

I don’t know why the game tries to drop the same set of hints for each route. “OoooowoooooOOOOoooo, your house leader might be the FLAME EMPEROR.”

The Flame Emperor wears heels. And is still too short to be either Claude or Dimitri. Especially Dimitri. Who the fuck let this kid get so tall.

The only real result of all this bullshit is that my wyvern-riding sniper of doom is not available during the first map where Yuri personally beat the Death Knight into the ground.

Which, by the by, was hilariously cathartic.

It doesn’t exactly matter, since the only unit who can make real use of the Dark Mage and Dark Bishop classes is unrecruitable, but bragging rights.

Remire Village’s drama is about as bad while playing as the Golden Deer. One of the foreshadowing cutscenes, though is excellent:

Claude actually finds a book that depicts The Immaculate One before its debut, only to have it confiscated by Seteth and learn that it wasn’t a library book at all; it belonged to “Tomas.” Like, all of his suspicions--which he shares with the player--start lining up. Censorship! Monsters! Sword of the Creator! What the hell is going on here??

Dimitri’s version of the cutscene involves him being caught investigating Lord Arundel by the player and Sothis. Which--since his route doesn’t meaningfully deal with the Morlocks faction aside from steamrolling them as incidental opponents--seems kinda useless.

Kicked the Death Knight into submission again out of spite.

Sylvain was useful! Mostly because I had him sit there and distract the incidentals while Claude and Lysithea cleaned house, but still!

Claude is the only lord character who seems to understand that the transforming Morlock faction probably needs to be taken more seriously. For the remainder of Part One, no one does so.

Rhea you’ve got some ‘splainin to do.

Marianne’s my team’s dancer this time. She’s a sweetheart. She seemed happy to be asked and to pursue the lessons, and being able to use Physic is a good trait in someone who’s nearly always going to be waaaaay behind the rest of the group.

Dad-stabbing happened.

Again.

Boop boop Solon’s dead.

Again.

Dear diary: I learned the definition of irony and set the Flame Emperor on fire.

I kid.

But Claude took her out in one completely overpowered shot, because crits are a thing, Flame Emperor class skills don’t reduce damage enough to survive it, and his Dex stat is through the fucking roof. And he was on a wyvern at the time because fuck it, why not.

Claude’s reaction to all of this is a minor letdown compared to the fully-rendered cutscene in the last route.

This would become something of a trend--taking out OP bosses with unexpected critical hits.

I didn’t expect to like Lorenz and now I do. How.

This is hilarious simply because he seems to be the only character that Mercedes hates. What the fuck, man.

Once again, Edelgard invades! Once again, I drop someone unexpected on her head!

Not really. It was Yuri.

Yuri does the timeskip shuffle and we’ll see everyone again after a nap.

FIVE YEARS LATER.

Aw, Claude was waiting for Yuri to show up. Adorable.

The post-meetup fight is actually harder than it was in the BL route, despite excessive level-grinding. This is due to three factors:

Claude is automatically on a wyvern, meaning that he has inherent class vulnerability to archers on a map with at least five of them. And less range than they did, for some fucking reason.

Lorenz and Ignatz started out on the same corner of the map and both of them are shitty offensive units who could barely kill a mage between them. (Neither of Ignatz’s offensive stats cracked 20 for another thirteen levels.)

I don’t have Ashe and his personal skill Locktouch, and nobody started with a Chest Key or Door Key, which meant I had to keep various enemies alive long enough to steal all of their stuff. And the enemy item drops came up one short of the number of chests on the map. I want my stuff, dammit.

LET’S MAKE A SCENE.

Randolph, as a boss in Verdant Wind, did not get any better at figuring out when he’s outmatched. Therefore, I killed him with Raphael again.

At least he straight-up died this time.

Claude didn’t even get to set the damn place on fire.

Ingrid is turning out to be way better of a unit this time than she was last time. She’s a little slower, but a lot stronger.

FELIX, WHERE THE FUCK WAS ALL THIS STRENGTH HIDING LAST TIME. YOU’RE TEN POINTS AHEAD OF THE GUY WHO HAS STORY-BASED SUPER STRENGTH.

AND SPEED.

Iiiiiiiiit’s JUDITH!

She only shows up on one map in the entire Azure Moon route, and that’s a damn shame. She’s so cool in Verdant Wind.

A lord-class character who isn’t also a Lord! WOO!

Also her spies are better than anybody’s apparently.

I am choosing to believe that because Ingrid’s family is related to Judith’s, her badassery in this route is the direct result of meeting her distant cousin and absorbing badass radiation.

There’s something funny about having to pull one over on Lorenz’s dad to get anything done. The Great Bridge falls not to power, but Claude baiting Count Gloucester’s entire army to be somewhere else. (FEAR THE DEER.)

As a result, Ladislava dies alone. (As opposed to taking Ferdinand with her due to plot shenanigans.)

Lysithea and Ferdinand’s paralogue was really quite sad, for all that the only named guy who died was deeply unsympathetic. Ferdinand’s dad was an asshole, but he wasn’t the asshole for this particular scenario, and now both of his parents are gone. :(

Felix...hasn’t heard from his dad in a while. Worrying.

Oh, and Caspar’s uncle is still dead, in case we were keeping track of that.

Dorothea’s happier with Ferdinand alive. She did an impression of the Gatekeeper. :3

Gronder Field! FUCK.

I delayed playing this chapter for two solid days because I already knew what was gonna happen. Specifically: Edelgard gets injured and evacuated, and Dimitri drops of exhaustion just in time to get run through like ten times by the Emperor’s rearguard.

I eventually got my shit together enough to do the thing.

Marianne, Raphael, and Ferdinand went after the Kingdom army first. Leonie and Felix hung back and then reinforced them after taking out the archer on the central hill.

Claude killed everyone in the center of the map, which meant Edelgard set the entire hill on fire and if Bernadetta had not been recruited she would’ve burned to death there on the spot.

Ahem.

I sent Yuri to clear the entire left side of the map by herself.

She succeeded.

Raphael KO’d Dimitri with a luck Gauntlet crit, got blasted down to half health by a Warlock, then plunked ineffectually at Dedue until Marianne used her Levin Sword to sort him out.

Ferdinand killed everyone else on that side of the map.

Claude once again got the kill on Edelgard with a lucky crit, after Yuri had killed everyone else (up to and including the Demonic Beasts) single-handedly.

And then the plot moved on. Hilda’s account of Dimitri’s death was awful, Dedue’s reaction was worse, and off we go to punch Edelgard’s teeth in.

Again.

Annette’s dad is probably dead now.

Felix’s, too.

(I THOUGHT WE WERE DONE WITH THE DAD-STABBING.)

FOOOOOORT MERCEUS.

No matter how many times I think about it, Claude’s Almyran army reinforcements only make so much sense. How the hell and fuck did he manage to sneak an entire foreign army across a whole country to help with one battle?

But hey, they’re here, and Claude almost admitted the reason why he could do that. And the arrow greeting between him and Nader was cool.

(Spoiler: On top of being the Alliance’s leader, he’s also the crown prince of Almyra!)

The Death Knight had the gall to run from my army.

Yuri punched his ticket for the third time, which was not the charm.

And then Fort Merceus took an intercontinental ballistic missile and suddenly defeating the fort’s garrison feels a lot less triumphant.

Spot the miscolored eyes in this cutscene!

Welp. Fuck it, we’re off to Enbarr. Time to also punch Hubert this time! What a change of pace.

Eyyy, it’s the Enbarr map. I totally forgot to bring Seteth and Flayn along to check out the opera house, despite a whole bunch of characters talking about how they totally wanted to check that place out at some point. No room for deadweights in a map that has SO MANY ARCHERS.

Managed to get the special dialogue between Ferdinand and Hubert, and now I’m sad again.

Killed Hubert with Claude.

And because this is a two-part map, we immediately run off to chase down Edelgard. Due to the player army not doing a really weird 180 in the middle of the plot to kick Cornelia out of Fhirdiad, she didn’t have time to turn into a giant demonic thing! She just has WAY TOO MANY MAGES.

Strategy: Forget what Door Keys are, split the team by Avoid rating, and go to town.

Claude nearly died thanks to a critical mass of Gremories and Mortal Savants (and still, what the fuck is that name), but Dedue-as-guest-character didn’t, so I count that as a win! His defense was so high that the Giant Demonic Beast couldn’t even scratch him.

Claude, Petra, and Ingrid all having Alert Stance as a skill means dodge-tanking is hilariously easy.

Also, Ingrid was supposed to just take a chunk out of Edelgard’s HP bar for the final assault and ended up crit-killing her on the first attack. With a bog-standard silver lance.

Weird as the situation turned out, I guess that means one of Dimitri’s friends really did avenge him after saying they would. Even if Dedue was the only one who had a special cutscene about it.

We rescued Rhea! And the characters being happy about it doesn’t mean I’m happy about it. I want answers, same as Claude, and being forced to RP Yuri being oh so worried about Rhea’s safety felt incredibly disingenuous.

Claude actually yells at her over the “...” she seems to think is an explanation. THE TIME FOR SECRETS IS PAST.

WHY DID ALL THIS SHIT HAPPEN.

WE’VE BEEN AT WAR FOR FIVE YEARS.

A WHOLE BUNCH OF PEOPLE DIED HORRIBLY FOR BASICALLY NOTHING.

Incidentally, this is why I didn’t end up playing Edelgard’s route as planned. Her logic for kicking two other sovereign countries in the balls felt incredibly self-centered.

At least Catherine’s happy. Same with Alois and the rest of the Church crew.

They are soon going to be not as happy.

I’m filling out the ENTIRE support log before endgame. I have absolutely no idea what characters are going to end up together as a direct result.

The last conversation? Seteth and Manuela’s A+ support!

Because so many of the support conversations are romantic at A/A+ level, I guess we’ve managed to turn this ragtag army into a polyarmory.

Oh boy, Thales sure is a sore loser.

I say, as though I didn’t kill EVERYONE he knew over the course of an hour and also split his skull open under Seteth’s axe. His racism would have keeled his ass over before death set in.

That sure is a ICBM.

GOD DAMMIT RHEA, THERE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A Q&A SESSION AFTER THIS.

WHY DOES EVERYONE WHOSE JOB IS EXPOSITION UP AND DIE.

Meanwhile: THE UBER-DEAD PEOPLE.

Claude, your route is batshit. What is this genre anymore?!

I wanna point out that, despite seeing Rhea/Seiros do the dragon thing, the player character never told Claude what the fuck that was about. I feel like one of the first things I would have done after the class reunion would be going, “By the by, did anyone else notice the fucking dragon?!”  WHO IS ALSO THE POPE???

Bah.

ANYWAY. Looooong-overdue exposition time!

I notice that Rhea didn’t out Seteth or Flayn, which was nice of her.

Claude, she can turn into a fucking dragon. I don’t think immortality is that far from being plausible.

GOD DAMMIT NEMESIS, CAN YOU FUCK OFF FOR TEN MORE MINUTES.

Uuuuuuugh fine, fuck everything, I’m putting your head on a pike.

CLAUDE, THE SWORD OF THE CREATOR LOOKS LIKE A SPINE.

OF COURSE IT’S MADE OF BONES. A BUNCH OF THE HEROES’ RELICS MOVE ON THEIR OWN!

The frantic music is not helping.

Time to kill a bandit king.

“My flabber is completely gasted by now.” Okay, that made me laugh.

Nemesis’s boss mechanic is pretty neat. To kill him at all, you need to kill all of the minibosses in the level and take down his friendship-based-plot-armor.

Or it would be, if I didn’t already make a habit of steamrolling everyone else on the field before tackling the boss at the end.

CUTSCENE.

Cutscene lesson: “Fuck honor duels.” It’s time for CHAIN SWORD LIMBO.

Claude, your bow shoots LASERS. SINCE WHEN.

Also getting kicked across the field by a dude twice his size didn’t seem to actually affect his mood much.

Awww, Yuri smiles now. Adorable. :D

AND THAT’S A WRAP.

Pairings: Yuri/Sothis (mostly to get them out of the way and see what everyone else would do), Claude/Petra, Raphael/Marianne, Catherine/Shamir, Lorenz/Mercedes, Ashe/Annette, Felix/Sylvain (bad end; the former straight up disappears), Seteth & Flayn wander off, Manuela/Dorothea, Lysithea/Linhardt (again), Leonie/Ignatz, Ferdinand/Bernadetta, Caspar/Hilda, and a couple of people are alone. Cyril gets to actually be a student after the story’s done, though!

Whew, that was fun. Gonna mix up the pairs a bit next time I play through the endgame and see what happens.

[angel-phantomhive]

Winx Club Villains Rewritten

Strap the f*ck in because I’m about to take you into a realm of ‘if the villains were a little more fleshed out in Winx Club’

Shadow Phoenix

I feel he was the most WASTED villain the series had. He didn’t even come back, which would be true to his name ‘Phoenix’. I also felt like the Dragon Flame was basically the series’s equivalent of The Phoenix, so he just didn’t feel at his fullest either, plus he was working with the Trix, who could have given him a mega advantage, but they weren’t worth the tag team.

Rewritten: Lord Darkar/The Shadow Phoenix was a part of Domino’s royal soldiers before he died horribly to Valtor’s vicious attack on the planet. The royal family had been working with Valtor for years, which infuriated him, but he kept silent. All for the sake of heiress Daphne and his Honor, something he valued along with his life. Every so often, he’d see Daphne and would push aside his rage, but when he died, he felt stolen from by the royal family. He was given a second chance when the Phoenix put itself inside him and amplified his dim fire powers. With that, he ruled over the shadows as the ‘Shadow Phoenix’ a name coined because of his black armor that was scorned from Valtor’s flame. Daphne had once warned Bloom of him, but she never took into account that over his years of ruling, he stole fairy magic and other magical powers to amplified his already OP powers. His defeat was brought on by his greed of power and want to kill Bloom before he’d take over the omega dimension. But he would seal his powers away when defeated to resurrect in a later season to get revenge over both Bloom and the Winx.

Tritannus

He was honestly one of the worst villains. He could have been used better, but due to Nickelodeon’s involvement, he just lacked luster. And he, too, was with the Trix, which could have been used better than it already was.

Rewritten: Tritannus had heard about Aisha’s fiance’s death and decided to use that against her. After trying to claim the throne and failing, he threatened Aisha using Nabu’s name, which forces her to search more into it, to which he tells her that they were close friends, which they never were. He’d tell her that Nabu wouldn’t want her to do this to him. While he’s out getting his ‘precious’ toxins with the Trix and the Winx are trying to stop him every step of the way, Aisha is always reluctant to fight him because she’s torn up inside. Seeing Tritannus and thinking of Nabu, who she’d been so close to, just breaks her heart. The Winx are so worried about her that they even get The Specialists to talk with Aisha about how amazing Nabu was and how he would never want her to feel threatened or caged because of an enemy, and she gains the strength to fight back with him, ending with a 1v1 with her and Tritannus, where he lies through his teeth and tries using his newfound power to kill her, but she manages to get the upper hand and basically wound him before letting the legal courts do with him. It won’t satisfy her, but at least she’ll be at peace with herself about Nabu. 

Meanwhile, during the season, Tritannus uses the new powers from the toxins to create a sort of humane form of himself to get to the other humans to acquire more toxins such as pollution rigs and oil rigs to dump more, dig more, and just make Earth a hellhole. He even goes to the magical courts to start up discourse, which only makes them argue more and not resolve anything, ample chance for him to have the Trix steal from the pillars and get him what he needs. He won’t need them in the end, so he’ll just admit that they were just being used and strip them of their powers, effectively making them rush away to get air. He is defeated because of Aisha and she overcomes his manipulation and lies.

Selina

Oh, f*cking boy!

Rewritten: Selina was the Royal Advisor of Daphne. When her parents sent her off with her sister during the attacks, Selina felt betrayed. She’d grown so close to this woman that when she escaped with her sister, she was filled with jealousy due to Daphne not taking her with her. A jealous rage that she took out on Bloom by coming to Gardenia to pose as a human and got close to her. Bloom loved her from the start. When Bloom leaves to Alfea, it’s like losing Daphne again. She schemes with Acheron for the longest time before he persuades her to join Cloudtower to enhance her dark arts, which she uses on the headmistress, and summons The Trix to protect her. Selina soon poses as a student of Alfea and uses her position as a student to talk to the Winx, basically pitting them against Bloom and Daphne, making them wonder if befriending them was horribly wrong. She tells them nasty tales and exaggerates the bad things Daphne has done and things Bloom will do, which pushes Bloom to do something heinous, maybe nearly getting a friend killed because she moves out of the way of an attack or something like such. That cements their feelings.  The group starts emotionally debating while the Trix take Bloom and Daphne, where Selina has her ‘big bad speech’ while the Winx are attacked by the newly resurrected Acheron at full power. She tells them about herself and then admits that she had feelings for Daphne, but, of course (because Daphne has a fiance), is rejected and Bloom uses her Bloomix powers to attack her. Selina is ultimately defeated when the Winx gang up on her after they had enlisted The Trix’s help (shocker) when they (Trix) learn they were just guinea pigs for Selina and Acheron’s plan, but Daphne is the one to tell them that she forgives the advisor. Kiss kiss, make up. It gives the audience a lesbian character, and Selina gets somewhat what she wanted. To be with Daphne. 

Valtor is perfectly fine for me. He’d be better off without sidekicks, but he is better off. The Wizards were just fine. And season 7 villains are just not my taste. 

Bonus: 

The Specialists’s arcs

They could have been more important. Especially with Tritannus’s and Valtor’s villain arcs. They felt like Ken to Barbie for me. They maybe had something that could flesh them out, but not enough for us to feel invested completely with them or even feel they are relatable. Like Riven could have had a tragic home life which is the reason for his negative attitude. Brandon was always spoiled and felt so mighty about it and being around Stella, a spoiled princess, kinda made him think about himself and how he is spoiled. Timmy could try fighting his anti-socialness, just like Helia, but Timmy’s arc could possibly play out like Pidge Gunderson from Voltron: Legendary Defenders. He’d have to have a reason to follow The Specialists and The Winx (aside from Tecna). Helia could possibly feel neglected from the Headmaster of Red Fountain’s eye and want attention, but he’s been so isolated from his feelings that Flora just brings them out. He's confronted by the headmaster and he tells him that ‘You’ve never loved me like you cared for me.’ Sky, well... He’s already had a pretty decent arc. Maybe more on his relationship with his dad?

I digress. Before you start commenting that ‘It’s a kid show’, this show was meant for pre-teens and teens. Complicated arcs and more fleshed out characters are something we as teens would have loved to see from a big named show such as this one. Kids can be included. The show could have dove deeper into things such as Musa’s pain from losing her mom and seeing other moms such as Bloom’s or Gardenia moms, Aisha’s PTSD from being with Lord Darkar/Shadow Phoenix, Bloom having to integrate between her biological family and learning customs and her old family and keeping them well informed. I’m leaning more in-depth, not just an episode and it’s swept under the rug. For Ra’s sake, Bloom turned to the dark side and it wasn’t used to the full extent and Aisha even joined the dark side in Believix. We could have seen more from their perspective and how they felt about it. 

This was just an opinion from an old 2011 fan of Winx Club. Have a good day and thank you for reading this lengthy rant.

[overcaffeinated-creative]

33-40 for the trash trio

Another super long ask so it’s going under a cut!

Lumi Kirrin

33: In what ways is your character like you?

For better or worse, I fee like I can be as frosty as Lumi is in regards to things. There’s just a level of apathetic toward other people that I just have. Like, I don’t want to see something bad happen to them but I just don’t want to deal with them. I’m also really snarky myself and straight up savage. But, I will melt for those I care about.

34: What is cliche about your character?

Gorgeous, ass-kicking Twi’lek, super skilled Jedi, and totally badass pilot.

35: What is unique about your character?

Her beauty is the last thing on her mind and she does not attempt to use it to her advantage. If anything, she actively dislike people who comment on her being gorgeous. She’s got this cold logic that makes her a perfect candidate for Black Ops, which she excels at. Lumi’s a warrior that looks like a warrior with muscles abound instead of being an inexplicably strong waif. Her and Wonder Woman could arm wrestle for funsies. Plus, her body has this gorgeous Nebula look (plum skin, dark blue strips on her lekku and right torso where the stripes ombre with her skin instead of being well defined, lots of flat,dark purple moles scattered around everywhere, and startling silver eyes.) that melts minds basically. She’s also Mace Windu’s Padawan but her views of him soured as the war went on.

36: Does anyone want to harm your character?

The Empire, Kamelia Malo, the Separatists during the War. 

37: Do people have justified grudges against your character?

Yeah…she doesn’t go out of her way to be personable to most people.

38: What role does your character play in their story?

She’s one of the heroes of course and Solus’ right hand. On the battlefield they’re The Team.

39: What would be your character’s niche on Tumblr?

Aviation and Space.

40: What would be your character’s favorite school subject?

Physics.

Solus Vetra

33: In what ways is your character like you?

We’re both INFPs so we sort of process the world the same way. She’s also consciously written to have anxiety because what’s the fun of writing a character if you don’t project a little onto them? For better or worse, we both also get an idea, that’s worth sticking to, we hold onto it come hell or high water. It’s a sort of stubborn pride thing.

34: What is cliche about your character?

Beautiful spy who is from one warrior culture, raised by a sort of peaceful warrior culture, and is kind of royalty. Also amazing pilot and sometimes teetering on which side is really the right side.

35: What is unique about your character?

She’s a spy with an actual heart. Solus makes heartless calls because that’s what the Mission needs but it does hurt her. A lot of her motif harkens to death and ice imagery but she’s the opposite in many ways. She has strong maternal instincts and eventually becomes an excellent mother. Despite being bathed in death she becomes an accomplished healer, often going into the field as a combat medic. Due to her teetering between sides she personal vows to never lead more than her Clan because “If I could justify joining the Kyr’tsad what else could I justify before I found my line in the sand?”. It takes a strong person to turn down power (in this case the hinting was she could become Manda’lor if she really tried) because she doesn’t trust herself without oversight that could stop her. Also, for someone with so much power, who could do so much, she has such simple dreams: live on Krownest, raise a family, help Mandalore, and care for her Clan. 

36: Does anyone want to harm your character?

Kamelia Malo, the Empire, the Shadow Collective, 75% of Nar Shaddaa and wherever else she spied, and the Separatists. 

37: Do people have justified grudges against your character?

Spies don’t make many lasting friends. Nor does attaching explicit illustrations of the depraved holosmut (the series star’s a Hutt and has at least 30 volumes) to your reports because “If I have to translate this garbage you get to see it too assholes”. New Mandos don’t care for her since she has a lot of unkind things to say about them.

38: What role does your character play in their story?

She the motherfucking heroine! Also, one half The Team with Lumi!

39: What would be your character’s niche on Tumblr?

Mandalorian or Art History (probably both combined) or pictures of her Strill, Cabur.

40: What would be your character’s favorite school subject?

History hands down.

Jazari Naaji

33: In what ways is your character like you?

Jazari supports and takes care of her friends, which I honestly try to do to the best of my ability. She’s maybe too tolerant of issues hoping they’re resolve themselves. Or, she straight up instigates shit/let’s it happen because “This is going to be hilarious” despite knowing it’ll become a mess she has to clean up. Also, we’re both idiots for cuties and just happen to find like everyone cute. I’ve pulled a bunch of all-nighters and survive on junk food too. There’s some days she worries she’s too plain or too not enough for her fantastic friends and just same. But, she would die to protect people. We both have metal bits helping out bodies work right! (She’s got a cybernetic arm and I’ve got a stint in my heart!) Jazari also tries really hard to let people’s actions make them beautiful instead of seeing only the beauty, which again I try to do.

34: What is cliche about your character?

Sexy hacker chick with a biker babe aesthetic and low voice. Skilled warrior.

35: What is unique about your character?

When she loses her arm instead of agonizing over the cybernetic replacement she rolls with it. Because, “I’m not happy I had to have a limb amputated but at least I’m still alive.” For most tech based characters this would be the signal for them losing their humanity but she stays the most organically warm. Jazari also doesn’t carry the typical spirituality associated with Mirialans nor does she have the traditional tattoos or wardrobe. She’s also a Clone Wars based character who saw remarkably little combat, instead being sequestered to Coruscant running tech. It made her antsy to not be in the thick of things helping because she felt like it was too much favoritism. Why should she be safe when others weren’t?

36: Does anyone want to harm your character?

The Empire, the Separatists, this one asshole who she’s thoroughly trounced during every tech argument ever, Kamelia Malo.

37: Do people have justified grudges against your character?

Yes. Look, she cheats like a mofo at cards/computer games/arguments/etc and knows it. You know it too but you can’t prove it. Also, there’s a lot of accounts she hacked, entirely to be a hacktivist, who intensely dislike her but don’t know who to dislike.

38: What role does your character play in their story?

She’s one of the heroines! Also, keeps The Team focused and guides them and supports and loves them. Really, they’re all a mess of a relationship but it works.

39: What would be your character’s niche on Tumblr?

Technology. You know that blog that’s written entirely in binary because someone wanted to illustrate a point? That’s hers and she reads it just fine. Or, landscape pictures. I could really see her digging landscape pictures because nature is nice.

40: What would be your character’s favorite school subject?

Coding.

[aes-k]

The Murderer From Block D

Characters mentioned: Min Yoongi, Jackson Wang, Park Jimin

Genre: Thriller(?)

Summary: A wide-eyed boy begins his new job at the SDC, little does he know there’s a big storm that lies ahead.

Words: 2K

‘In Korea's most populated maximum security prison, Seoul Department of Corrections Facility, there are four blocks separating inmates based on their offenses.  Each block is guarded by a team of special ops specifically trained for the area and is on watch by both men and security cameras 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.  They are listed as followed:

Block A:  Inmates are placed here for minor offenses, such as theft, tax evasion, and traffic-related incidents.

Block B:  Inmates are placed here for offenses such as robbery, DUIs, B&E, and drug related charges.

Block C:  Inmates are placed here for charges related to assault, sex trafficking, and gang related violence.

Block D:  Inmates are placed here for battery, assisted suicides, terrorism, and the most popular of all, murder.’

"God dammit, I'm going to be late!!" the boy huffed, throwing his arms up in the car as traffic was at a standstill, once again.  Normally, he wouldn't care too much about it, but today was completely different.  Today was his first day of his new job at the Seoul Department of Corrections Facility, or SDC for short.  After graduating from the military service, he applied to be a police officer in his hometown of Daegu to be closer to family.  But after evaluating his training and paperwork, the police academy decided to transfer the boy to something that would suit him better.

He sighed, putting his left hand forcefully back onto the wheel as he took a sip of his coffee, relieved that traffic was beginning to move slightly, but at the same time not at all.  The radio wasn't going to calm him any, especially since all that was playing at this time of the morning were talk shows, and the fact that he woke up past his alarm didn't make things any better.  He made a mental note to take the alternate route tomorrow.

When he finally arrived, he quickly grabbed his things and rushed out the car door, locking it with his keys as he ran to the door of the facility, careful not to drop any of his scorching hot coffee onto his shirt as he's done once before.  He approached a help desk window, bidding the woman good morning.

"How may I help you, sir?"

"Hi, I'm the new guard, Min Yoongi," he introduced himself, feeling his heart calm a little more now that he was physically inside the building.

"Ah, yes, Mr. Min, I'll grab the Warden for you so you can go through the paperwork and get your uniform, after that you'll be assigned to your qualified block," she smiled, holding up a finger as his sign to wait while she paged the warden.

"Just breathe, Yoongi, it's alright.  You'll only get assigned to some middle aged guy that stole a pack of Viagra from a gas station or something," he mumbled to himself with a slight chuckle, but also found it funny because it might actually be true.

Footsteps caught his attention as he saw an average height blond in uniform walking towards him with a warm smile on his face.  "Are you Mr. Min?" he asked, holding out a hand, "Jackson Wang, I'm the Warden of SDC, it's nice to finally meet with you," he greeted, shaking the pale boy's hand so firmly he thought it might fall off.  "Right this way, if you please," he guided and Yoongi rose, following him into a separate office and taking a seat across from the man's desk.

"So, I see you've done military service, actually a top member of the bomb squad," he raised his eyebrows.  "I never would have imagined."

Yoongi shrugged with a faked laugh.  "Just because I'm small doesn't mean I can't handle a big package."

"Well, it looks like you're more trained in physicality than we thought.  You earned an honorary medal, your record is completely clean, and excelled in the physical training as a cadet.  I'm impressed," Jackson commented, setting aside Yoongi's file and opening up a laptop that had every guard on file and their placement.

"It looks like Block A and C are completely filled, so you'll most likely be assigned to B or D, depending on where the hours are needed.  But in the meantime, I'll grab your gear for you and let you get changed in the locker room.  When you get back, I'll have your assignment."

Yoongi nodded and grabbed the uniform from the taller man and walked across the hall to the locker room.  He eyed himself in the mirror with a face full of pride as he put on the black pants and shirt matching in color.  His shoes were shined, and belt neatly tucked in, making him feel like he had just won the lottery.  Putting his things into an unclaimed locker, he headed back into the office where Jackson laid out a few things on his desk for the other.

"Here is your gun, a taser, a pair of handcuffs, pepper spray, a bat, and a walkie.  Oh, and don't forget this," he added, handing Yoongi a gold pin with his name engraved on it, attaching it to the pocket of his left breast.  Now it felt official.

"And it looks like you'll be assigned to Block D, Mr. Min, good luck, and your higher up will meet you near the security room to handle your training hours."  He bid farewell, shaking hands with Yoongi for the last time and leading him out.  Yoongi, being at the SDC for the first time, approached the window near the entrance once more.

"Excuse me, could you direct me to Block D?" he asked with a smile.

The lady's eyes widened, which sparked sudden fear within the boy as she eyed him up and down.  "Down the hall, take the fourth right and you'll hit it head on," she explained.  He bowed and thanked her, but before he began his trek he heard a door shut behind him and fast heels clicking on the floor to see the woman holding out a vest to him.

"You're going to need this for Block D," she looked at him with a worried expression, holding out the vest to him to which he was confused.

"Is this for the training?" he asked with a cocked brow, putting it on and adjusting so it fit tightly.

"D-Do you know what Block D is?" she questioned, almost unable to form words.

Yoongi shook his head.

"It's the murder block.  Death Row."

Pounds were heard on the solid doors that decorated the halls of Block D in response to a sinister laughter that seemed to be heard almost every single day.  The laugh was one of almost a child's, mixed with a pure evil that only few people in this world contained.  It was never directed at anything particular, but it seemed to create only one thing for the person it came from: happiness.  

"Will someone shut him the hell up!"

"Someone outta kill this motherfucker before I do it with my own two hands."

"Park!" yelled an aggravated guard, slamming his baton across the bars that covered the window of the psychopath's door, "shut your damn mouth before we send you to the hole."

More laughter echoed from the room in response, this one was a sound of humor.

"You think I care?  Take me there, tighten those handcuffs around me tighter this time, I like feeling helpless," he teased with a wicked smirk on his face, grabbing the bars around the door.

"Keep laughing, Park," another threatened, "it's one day closer to your execution; we'll see who'll be laughing then," which instantly cut the laughing and caused the boy's jaw to tense.

"I'm glad I won't have to deal with this shit anymore.  Damn fool's making me go insane..."

"What's that?" the inmate tilted his head with a smile, "I'm getting a new toy?"

The guard rolled his eyes.  "I've heard this one's a veteran, Park, he won't play any games with you."

He licked his lips at the thought of some fresh meat entering his territory, already conjuring up plans on how he would mess with the newbie to make him quit his job.  Once he flirted with a new guard and made him so flustered and uncomfortable that he quit the day after he started, much to his accomplishment.

The inmate's name was Park Jimin.  He was in for life for the murder of three people, put on Death Row at only age twenty.  He hadn't committed the biggest crime of Block D, but he was infamous for his mentality; causing everyone around him to lose their shit within minutes each day with his sinister laugh, permanent smirk, and his tendencies to make people undeniably uncomfortable.  

He had pale skin, black hair that almost covered his eyes, and noticeable arm muscles that caused the sleeves of his uniform to tighten around his biceps.  His plump, dark pink lips were constantly chapped due to the amount of times a day he licked them, not having any access to chapstick.  He was only allowed outside for one hour a day, and his meals were brought to him through a slot in his cell door, the only window in the whole room being the one facing into the hallway, never getting to see the light of day until his one hour of daily freedom.

Due to his crimes, Jimin wasn't allowed to have a toothbrush with a handle, nor a razor, nor anything to write with or on.  He was considered highly dangerous, guards near and for his cell always carrying automatic weapons and bulletproof vests, ready to take action in case the boy were to suddenly snap.

He hadn't been in contact with his family since his trial two years ago, and often found himself thinking about them.  He had a younger brother, Jihyun, who was most likely into his second year of high school, and two happy parents who always gave them the world.  If there was one thing Jimin regret about his crimes, it was definitely throwing away the privilege of seeing his family.

Jimin perked up at the sound of two voices and footsteps nearing his cell and he rose from his bed, peaking out the window to find the origin of them to see the Warden and an armored guard nearing him.  A smile grew on his face as he scanned the appearance of the new face, subconsciously biting his lip as he took in his beauty.  He looked very thin and vulnerable, despite his weapon and him being experienced with such a thing, but Jimin couldn't help but think of all the things he would do to the small blonde.

"Park, this is your new assigned guard, Mr. Min," Jackson introduced, patting the shorter on the back.  Yoongi gulped as he made eye contact with his inmate, immediately feeling powerless against the criminal.

"Park Jimin," he introduced himself, smiling even bigger after they were left alone while the other guards prepared a practice range for Yoongi.  The new guard stood directly by the door of Jimin, properly holding his gun without sparing the raven a glance or another word.  To this, Jimin chuckled and leaned towards Yoongi's ear.

"I'm going to have so much fun with you."

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

48 Hour Lockdown by Carla Cassidy

Tactical Crime Division #1

Sandhurst School for Gifted and Talented is a place underprivileged highly intelligent young people are gifted with scholarships. Analise Taylor is a teacher at the school when it is invaded and soon surrounded by police. She is with three students in one classroom unsure who else is also in the school. Her job will be to keep her students safe while also trying to find a way out of the situation.

Evan Duran is a hostage negotiator for the Tactical Crime Division and when he hears Analise’s name he is ready to go immediately. Sure, he has a need to save the children but he also has history with Analise. He thought she was his forever woman until...she wasn’t.

Will the team be able to save the students? Will they break the bad guys and resolve the situation and if so,  will they do it without bloodshed? Also, will Analise and Evan have a second chance and this  time get it right? Perhaps ;)

What I liked:

* Analise: strong, intelligent, caring woman who did what it took to keep her students safe. She also was willing to go out on a limb to state her feelings.

* Evan: strong, intelligent, dedicated law enforcement person eager to make the right decision in negotiating the safety of those being held hostage. He is willing to, eventually, address some of his emotions and reach out for a possible HEA

* The TCD Team: want to get to know them better

* Sadie: One tough little girl

* The resolution and getting the bad guys in custody.

What I didn’t like:

* The bad guys, of course…

* That Evan and Analise wasted time apart that they could have been together

Did I enjoy this book? Yes

Would I like to read more in this series? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars

BLURB

48 Hour Lockdown by Carla Cassidy (on-sale March 17, 2020)

Book description: The Tactical Crime Division—TCD—is a specialized unit of the FBI.They handle the toughest cases in the most remote locations. When TCD learns of a school invasion turned lockdown, every agent is ready to engage. With children in jeopardy, the stakes couldn’t be higher. But it becomes personal for hostage negotiator agent Evan Duran when he learns Annalise Taylor is one of the captives holed up with the students in a school for the gifted. He’ll need every resource available at TCD and every ounce of his expertise to turn this disastrous situation into a rescue mission—and if he succeeds, maybe reunite with the woman he never stopped loving.

Purchase links:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50217728-48-hour-lockdown

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hour-Lockdown-Tactical-Crime-Division/dp/1335136398

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/48-hour-lockdown-carla-cassidy/1133889963?ean=9781335136398

Google: https://books.google.ca/books/about/48_Hour_Lockdown.html?id=DS6zDwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781335136398

Harlequin.com: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335136398_48-hour-lockdown.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGQTOGlXW-c

Excerpt

Excerpt, 48 Hour Lockdown by Carla Cassidy

A new miniseries from Harlequin Intrigue.

Stopping criminal activity wherever it happens. The agents at the Tactical Crime Division are ready for anything.

More and more, federal law agencies have to mobilize to remote locations to address large-scale crime scenes and criminal activity—terror, hostage situations, kidnappings, shootings and the like. Because of the growing concerns and need for ever increasing response times to these criminal events, the Bureau created a specialized tech and tactical team, combining specialists from several active divisions—weapons, crime scene investigation, protection, negotiation, IT. Because they are a smaller unit, they are more nimble for rapid deployment and assistance to address various situations. This joint team of agents is known as the Tactical Crime Division (TCD).

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Evan Duran—Special Agent Duran is a hostage negotiator for the Tactical Crime Division, a specialized branch of the FBI.

Annalise Taylor—A teacher held hostage at a private school. She’s also Evan’s ex-lover. She’d broken his heart several years before, and now he holds her life in his hands.

Jacob Noble—Is he the leader of a charitable church or the dangerous leader of a cult?

Gretchen Noble—Jacob’s wife, who is not afraid to abuse or kill. Will she kill Annalise before she can be freed?

Hendrick Maynard—Brilliant tech agent for the Tactical Crime Division. Will he be able to get the information Evan needs or will he be destroyed by old painful memories?

Walter Cummings—Chief of police in Asheville. Would his incompetence be the death of the hostages?

***

As he drove he made a few phone calls, and he finally pulled up in front of the nondescript brick building where TCD’s offices were located. He parked, got out of his car and hurried inside. As he strode down the hallway toward the main meeting room, he could hear Director Jill Pembrook apparently still conducting the morning meeting.

The main conference room was the heart of the office. It was where assignments were handed out and situations were brainstormed. The agents sat at a long, highly glossed wooden table. On one wall was an oversize FBI logo, and opposite that was the TCD emblem. A large, digital flat screen was mounted on the far side of the room, and a tablet lay at the head of the table.

Evan burst through the door. Director Jill Pembrook looked at him in surprise. “Agent Duran, how nice of you to join us on your day off.”

The director was an attractive, stylish woman of substance with cropped steel gray hair and a penchant for dark, custom-tailored suits.

She’d been with the FBI for over forty years, and she was definitely a force to be reckoned with. Her blue eyes could be warm and friendly or they could frost a puddle of water into a sheet of ice.

“I just saw the news out of Pearson,” he stated. “I need to get there… It’s Annalise.”

There was a collective groan from some of the other agents. Evan ignored it. “I’ll need you to arrange a plane to be ready for takeoff. Also, I’ll need Hendrick’s help on this. And I’m taking Agents Brennan and Lathrop with me.”

“Call off the SEAL team, Duran is on the case, everyone,” “Agent at Large” Kane Bradshaw murmured as the three men headed for the door.

Evan ignored him. While he liked Kane okay, there were times in the past they had butted heads when Kane could sometimes be a bit of an arrogant jerk. Director Pembrook though tolerated his glib attitude. And while Kane had no official rank as an agent with the bureau, he had an extensive background with deep black ops.

Hendrick Maynard, the tech guru nodded. “You got it,” he answered without hesitation. “Heading to my desk now. I’ll send you any relevant info ASAP.”

The director narrowed her eyes, and Evan felt the frost radiating from her. “Agent Duran, you are way out of line.” She paused and continued to hold his gaze. “Ten minutes ago North Carolina state officials called for federal help…” She paused and he was wondering if he should offer to submit his resignation. “You will also take Special Agent Rogers along with the others. This is an all hands on deck situation. Rowan as usual will accompany you and provide team support.”

Rowan Cooper, an attractive woman with long dark hair who worked as a liaison between the local police departments and the TCD team members, also rose and followed the men out the door. She accompanied any crew that deployed to a different location. Her specialty was smoothing over any personality difference or turf wars among different law enforcement units on scene. But her main responsibility was arranging overnight accommodations and making sure the agents had what they needed in order to remain focused on the task at hand.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied to the director. He knew he’d overstepped boundaries by barging in, but he’d felt the need to act immediately when he’d heard about the situation… About Annalise…

“Plane leaves in twenty minutes. Now go,” Di-rector Pembrook said. To him she added, “Duran…don’t pull this kind of stunt again.”

Evan would have offered to quit after the assignment if he met any resistance from the director to him heading up the detail due to his personal connection to Annalise. Nothing was going to keep him from negotiating this hostage situation.

“Never,” Evan replied before turning to leave.

***

AUTHOR BIO

About Carla Cassidy: Carla Cassidy is a New York Times bestselling author who has written more than 125 novels for Harlequin Books. She is listed on the Romance Writer's of America Honor Roll and has won numerous awards. Carla believes the only thing better than curling up with a good book to read is sitting down at the computer with a good story to write.

[lastexodusrp-blog]

YAEL SABINE GASKO · 30 · WEAPONS SPECIALIST: HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT · THE DEFENDER · TAKEN

"What am I living for and what am I dying for are the same question.“ – MARGARET ATWOOD

ORIGIN:

Honolulu, Hawaii

TRAITS:

+ Charismatic, Generous, Brave - Stubborn, Paranoid, Impulsive

BIOGRAPHY: tw death

THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS;

Born at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, a U.S. Air Force installation in Hawaii, Yael Sabine Gasko grew up knowing that a duty to serve was in her veins. Both her parents, along with three of her uncles, proudly served for a combined one hundred and ten years. As such, Yael was raised on several bases and learned the importance of her family’s profession at a young age. The whole concept of protecting her country fascinated her and the amount of travel the job entailed exposed her to many different cultures.

Her mother, a British pilot serving in the American military, always made sure that she was aware of the culture and history of wherever they were stationed. Whether that meant exploring the city when she was off duty or simply trying all the native foods, Yael was never short on unique experiences. Her father, an Israeli naval general who’d met her mother during a visit to Florida, imparted Hebrew and the importance of empathy. "Everyone is going through something, Yael, you must never forget that.” And she didn’t, not even when her mother was gunned from the sky on her thirteenth birthday.

The loss of her mother reinforced Yael’s faith in the military: her mother had died doing what she felt was right, and it seemed wrong not to honor her with that same faith. Eighteen and convinced that the way to save the world was with a just government and a structured military, Yael enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Throughout her training, jokes were made about her identity —mocking her on the basis of serving in the American military without having American parents—, her accent, and her looks, but a jab at their fragile.

NOT WITH A BANG, BUT A WHIMPER.

In two short years, Yael found herself in Montreal on an important espionage deployment. She was tasked with locating and retrieving a time-sensitive file for a Valeris Project launch. One of the main computers crashed so she had to travel, undetected, to the vault where the original, hardcopy was kept. By the time she returned, the riots had worsened to the point where her superiors were advising the Marines to view rebellions as enemy forces. Towards the end of 2207, Yael was made team leader of a special ops unit, Force Recon, stationed at NASA’s RSFC.

As a staff sergeant, she managed to find the perfect balance between nice and strict. Those under her leadership felt understood and valued, both respecting her decisions and fearing her wrath should anyone make any derogatory comments about anyone else. And Yael honestly felt like she was making a difference, too blinded by her pro-military upbringing to see the corruption seeping into the operation.

Yael first began to rethink her idealistic view of the military when the Torchlight Rebellion took control of Colorado Springs.

Her training told her that she was meant to support the stance of her superiors, and a younger version of herself argued that the military would do what was best. It was a rebellion, after all, and aggressive rebels couldn’t be reasoned with.

Then came the Molotovs.

The attack struck her as such a lack of regard for human life, the death count horrifying her. There were innocents within the city, children, and yet they had all been considered casualties of war. Yael’s view of her part in history changed that day, and she went into 2217 skeptical of the people around her.

A few weeks before the last shuttle for the Civ-Belt-1 was due to depart, Yael’s unit was amongst the other elite groups being offered the chance of a lifetime. Her work ethic and combative prowess made her a standout amongst her peers, and her unit’s success rate had impressed the right people.

The decision weighed hard on her: should she disregard all the doubts she had about Valeris’ focus and go into space or stand up against what was rapidly proving itself to be a corrupt system? She tried to think of her parents would do. Was this not everything that her colleagues wished for? They had earned themselves a shot at survival based on their own hard work; they were the best at what they did and were being rewarded for it.

It was on an unusually quiet night outside of the base that the decision was made for her.

Her nightly training session had ended early, by almost an hour, so she opted to take a long way back. The air was warmer than she’d come to expect from the end of times, it almost reminded her of the summer she spent on the sands of Puerto Rico alongside a woman called Esperanza. Yael was nearing the wall when she heard the shuffling of feet. A nearby torch revealed an older woman, wrapped in a tattered shawl with tangled gray hair, hobbling towards the front gates. The soldier had seen beggars before, had seen the things the environment was capable of doing to people, but this was different. The woman had her hands raised, an offering of peace and surrender. Yael looked hopefully to the guards on duty, one of them having been in her platoon at The Depot back when they first enlisted. He was kind, had taken her on a six-mile hike just to introduce her to Twinkies. Surely he would help this ailing woman.

She was wrong, and in watching her friends take out that elderly woman, something in Yael died. There was no good in the government, there was nothing noble about what this disbanded military was doing, and the world wasn’t becoming a better place because of them. They were an elite, corrupt group of murderers tarnishing the longstanding Marine Corps motto of “Semper Fidelis” (“Always Faithful”).

The realization hit her like a kick to the gut, a single tear rolling down her cheek as she turned and went to collect her things. On the way, she rounded up her team to inform them of her decision and offer them an out. She couldn’t guarantee their safety, but knew that it was important that they knew what she was doing; she couldn’t abandon her team. They understood and, while they agreed with her rationale, they’d risked too much to get where they were only to give up now. A guaranteed chance at survival was an opportunity they weren’t willing to refuse, and she understood. Maybe leaving wasn’t the smartest decision, but to her, it was the right one.

She left a note announcing her resignation on her superior’s desk, stole a jet black Zero MMX, and set out. Six months later, Yael, lives with quite a few regrets, the greatest being how long she remained blind to the government’s corruption. Now she does her best to make up for so many years of standing by while atrocities were committed, despite knowing that her ledger will always be stained in ways she can never erase. One thing that her military experience yielded was a thorough knowledge of combat, hand-to-hand being her specialty. So she puts her skills to good use, divulging combat techniques to those who seem dedicated enough.

FACECLAIM:

Gal Gadot

[setsunaofthemomentofdreams]

TOP 10 GREAT AND EMOTIONAL ANIME

This blog is my personal thoughts! I repeat my thoughts as well as a review! This doesn’t look like a formal blog I kinda say I have play a lot of words in here so I hope you all wouldn’t mind ^^ and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it. 😊 P.S. this contains spoilers so if you haven’t watched the anime, just read the title and not the content 😊

1.  Hyouka

Genres: Drama,Mystery,School

Gonna start with my top 1 which is hyouka. I think this is the dramatic romantic anime I’ve ever watched! I finished watching this the other week and it took me 3 days to move on xD. I’ve tried watching this way back 2013 or 2014? I stopped in episode 3 because I think it was boring (I was just 16 years old at the time and I don’t appreciate mystery anime) but I’ve decided this year to rewatch it again until the final episode. And fate is very cruel to me that I’ve been surprisingly depressed in the ending I just want a season 2 >< first of all the first hit me in the feels is what Hyouka’s true meaning “I scream” seriously? Even now im typing I wanted to cry again :’( and second the two supporting characters Mayaka and Satoshi in Episode 22, I’d expect that satoshi broke the chocolate because he didn’t love Mayaka at the slightest, but I was completely wrong! He is afraid that he might get “obsessed” and omg the feels hit me hard again :’( it was just too sad at the same time is beautiful because he truly loves Mayaka ❤ third when Chitanda told Oreki in The Doll that took a detour, "Take a look, Oreki-san. This is my place. All that's here are water and soil. The people are growing old and tired. I don't think that this place is the most beautiful. I also don't think this place is full of potential. But.. I wanted you to see it, Oreki-san." – omg!! I cant explain is adgsadfadarfhewp super hard to explain but the feels hit me again! The way chitanda confess to Oreki although it was not indirect was sincere and true love! Like she was proposing to Oreki like Oreki will be her husband uugh ❤ Fourth! "By the way... About the business side you gave up on... How about I take care of that for you?" – oh my gosh! This was just so touching that it burst me to tears! Although Oreki din’t say this out loud but it was again! PURE AND TRUE LOVE :’( and fifth! "Is this how Satoshi felt back then?"  - I have lost of words and wantt to cryyy :”( ❤ this was just beautiful how Oreki realize it ! its not like other typical romance its realistically SINCERE! All I can say is this anime is REALISTICALLY SINCERE AND PURE ❤ I bow down to author-san Yonezawa Honobu and kyoAni! Thank you so much for this bittersweet amazing anime! But im not completely satisfied ☹ I want a season 2! This wasn’t enough but currently im reading the novel 😊 this is the first anime that I want to burst my tears into. Hyouka just get me lost into words that makes me cry ❤ Oreki is right for Chitanda and Chitanda is right for Oreki ❤ the both of them are amazing in their own way ❤ Oreki is handsome, smart and will do everything for Chitanda ❤ while Chitanda looks like an Angel, pure sincere, beautiful, modest, rich, and has the kindest heart ❤ the both of them deserves a happy ending at the end of the novel 😊 or probably in a season 2? (onegai ☹ )

2. Koe No Katachi

Genres: Slice of life, School, Romance

-          The best slice of life anime I’ve ever watched! Don’t get me wrong I’ve watched many slice of life anime like Orange (relatable because of regrets) Anohana (I sympathy the anime but I kinda not relate on it because of a dying friend), Charlotte ( the MC I sympathize him a lot specially the ending he has amnesia ☹) Angel Beats (It didn’t hit me hard on the feels I only like the last episode) Kiznaiver (I like Chidori very much!) Your Lie In April (kinda a little bit frustrating in the end but also beautiful) Clannad and many more!  In the trailer and plot itself, it really gets you emotional :’( in the beginning of the movie I see myself crying and hating Ishida-kun but later on as he grow up he matured I immediately like him xD  well Everything happens for a reason, by Ishida bullying Nishimiya he realized that bullying wasn’t good and that change his attitude, I still hate his friends to the end because they’ve abandoned Ishida like they’re not really friends at all when they were in elementary , well Ishida reaped what he sow he deserves the treatment but too much is not good. Nishimiya on the other hand, I really like her. well she’s bit dumb for always want to have friends but it’s a optimistic kind of attitude and she attempted suicide im thankful for that scene because of that, they’re parents are on good terms ❤ all in all this anime is amazing! All about bullying and friendship, this is a good watch for bullies though lol there’s little bit of romance and some indirect confession :3

 3. Fukumenkei Noise

Genres: Slice of life,Romance,Music,School

-          The anime isn’t even finished yet but the feels are hitting me! The 3 main characters just bring me to tears :’( Alice for me is kinda annoying. She keeps searching for Momo when its already 6 years since he left! Yuzu is the right man for him. Yuzu purely loves Alice and composing music for Alice is just so touching ❤ :’( on the other hand Momo , this guy is amazing also, but the fact is Fate doesn’t want them to be together due to Momo’s circumstances ☹ there destined to meet but not fated each other. (lol im like concluding that Alice will end up with yuzu xD)

4. Anthem of the Heart

Genres: School,Slice of life, Romance

I’ve haven’t gone through the middle of the story but it made me fall in love with it❤ the typical unique story ❤ beautiful music ❤ and unrequited love which is realistically depressing -_-

5. Kono Bijustsubu  Wa Mondai Ga Aru!

Genres: Comedy, Romance, School

-          The typical underrated anime 😉 fluff, fluff and more fluff! This anime is cute ❤ romance/school/comedy that will lighten up your mood! This anime is the perfect genre for me to watch ^^ each of the characters are unique ❤ and I ship hard with UsamixUchimaki baad and the ending is more baad but its good at the same time :’( well im currently reading the manga to ease the pain 😉 and im praying for Uchimaki to develop feelings for Usami because the both of them are cinnamon roll ❤

6. Hunter x Hunter

Genres: Shounen, Action, Adventure,Supernatural

-          In those 148 episodes that made me stay awake 2:30 am like those days were good and refreshing ❤ seriously when I first watch the 1st episode, omg this is gonna be a masterpiece and another amazing and unique anime! Each of the characters are likeable and I have so many like like characters but top most is Killua ❤ well who doesn’t love killua? xD the ending kinda get me depress though cuz Gon , Killua , Kurapika and Leorio will separate again! Like seriously they’re the best team! Like the best! And I hope for more Phantom Troupe battles in the near future and we need a seaon 2 ._. (though I know the author’s condition 💔)

 7. Fairytail

Genres: Action fiction, Adventure fiction, Fantasy, Magic

Gonna say this is my favorite anime and it made me an otaku! But i’m confused if it still my favorite or not after watching Hyouka :/ well this anime doesn’t have romance more on family and friendship which is good also 😊 waiting for another season! ‘cause the last episode is super sad ._. hope lucy, natsu and happy will find their members ☹ (Hiro Mashima-san don’t let us down! ❤)

8.  Wolf Children

Genres: Slice of life, Family, Fantasy

-          After I’ve watched this, yeah that’s reality ☹ my heart aches when I see the title of this anime ._. can’t believe in the end the wolf children separates from their mom like seriously is super depressing and reality truly hurts ☹

9. Tamako Love Story

Genres: Romance,School,Slice of life

-          I’ve watched this first after tamako market x) this is my favorite romance anime! So kawaii thank you KyoAni for this ❤ the ending was super cute and happy! Tamako revealing her feelings to Mochizou like seriously both of them are cinnamon roll also ❤

10.  Death Parade

Genres: Supernatural, Slice of life, Mystery, Psychological Thriller

-          Please make a seaon 2! I can’t believe Chiyuki was given judgement like hello how about Decim? Haha meh =_= well seriously speaking I love this anime so much ❤ and what makes me love more is the OP ❤ I really listen to it like a million times ❤ ow! And don’t forget the story , the story is amazing and realistically good ❤

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SO that’s it folks! 😊 I know they’re a lot of amazing anime out there but these anime are so good! ❤ we have different taste and opinion though 😊 mostly great anime are slice of life ❤ konobi is the only one that isn’t slice of life but it’s really funny and cute you just can’t resist liking the anime ❤ they are still great anime that is in stored in the future and I’m gonna add this list 😉 I really want “Violet Evergarden” in the list but it hasn’t aired yet and I have this strong feeling that the anime is good and it’s from KyoAni :3  ok this will be all ^^ ja ne! and have a great day 😉 and if you have questions Anime related  ask me or submit your thoughts :* i would love to hear it <3

ALSO ONE OF MY FAVORITES AND RECOMMENDED: INU X BOKU SS, DUSK MAIDEN OF AMNESIA, ZETSUEN NO TEMPEST, ELDLIVE, SOUSEI NO OMYOUJI, KIZNAIVER,AKAME GA KILL,MIRAI NIKKI, AKATSUKI NO YONA,AMAGI BRILLIANT PARK,ASSASINATION CLASSROOM,BLACK BUTLER, ERASED, BLOOD LAD, DANCE IN THE VAMPIRE BUND, DATE A LIVE, DEADMAN WONDERLAND,GEKKAN SHOUJO NOZAKI-KUN, GUGURE KOKURI-SAN,GOSICK, HIMOUTO UMARU-CHAN, HITSUGI NO CHAIKA, MAGI, SOUL EATER, TONARI NO KAIBUTSU-KUN, TOKYO RAVENS, THE WORLD GOD OLY KNOWS, TOARU KAGAKU NO RAILGUN, PLASTIC MEMORIES, SANKAREA, SAIKI KUSO NO PSI NAN, YOUJO SENKI, INTERVIEW WITH MONSTER GIRLS, NANATSU NO TAIZAI, KAMISAMA KISS, KAMISAMA NO INAI NICHYOUBI