#if you're curious what the type of gun is its not a real gun | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

pepsi1 · 2 years ago

Text

Pepsi has wandered so far that remnants of civilisation such as an old house that appears abandoned. No lights are on nor is there smoke coming out of its chimney despite the coldness of the night. He is curious to explore it and starts to walk towards it when his leg is shot by a stray bullet.

"Oh what now" he says only to himself as he snaps his head towards the direction he was shot from, scaring the person into shooting him again.

He walks slowly over to them, getting shot three more times. Once in his leg, and twice in his chest. As he closed the distance one more shot was fired directly into his head, and he fell over. His aggressor waited for him to move but he laid still and motionless.

The person that attacked him was a man with hot pink hair and a muscular yet kind of thin body type. He approached Pepsi's body and nudged it with the tip of his gun, burning bits of his fur with its still hot barrel. And then turning him over, fear coursing through the man's body. Pepsi is a monster, but at night can look eerily like a human through the uncanny valley that darkness brings.

'Oh god no... Did I kill a man?' The man shakily whispered to himself. And then Pepsi opened his eyes and stared at him.

Startled by the perfect mirrors of the void above, the man almost fell back. But Pepsi was suddenly behind him and held him up, no longer on the ground where he fell. He was holding the man tight and forced him to drop his gun.

"That was rude of you to shoot me." His staticy voice growled.

'I'm... I... ' The man is too terrified to form words.

"Hmm... Am I your first interaction with the paranormal?" Pepsi rhetorically asked as he set the man on his feet and let go of him.

'What are you?' The man gasped high pitched as he reached for his gun.

"That's still rude, the question should be who are you. And I am Pepsi Grimm. Who are you?"

'I'm not telling a monster my name. Now I ask again, what are you?'

"Hm... Have you interacted with the paranormal before? I think monster is a decent descriptor by the way. But... Refusing to share a name, you're either smart or skeptic."

'Monster? But monsters aren't real' The man said incredulosly.

"Correction, they weren't real. But, interacting with the supernatural begets paranormal interaction. I'm sorry if my existence introduced the world of monsters, demons, artificial constructs and asshole gods to you. Are you going to stop pointing your gun at me? You know it won't hurt me right?"

'No. No no and no. I refuse to believe you. Are you one of them furries and you're just hiding kevlar beneath that fur?'

"What? No. Besides, you shot me in the head too, do you see any protection there? Alright, keep the gun. But seriously, who are you? You can even use an alias if ya want."

'...Pepsi' the man said hesitantly

"That's confusing, you know that right."

'Let me finish. Pepsi Bismol.'

"I'm calling you Bis, I refuse to share my first name with some asshole who shoots at something he doesn't understand at night."

'You were a trespasser on my land first. I saw you spying my home.'

A woman's voice can be heard coming from the house, yelling loudly for Bis. Asking if he was alright and coming ever closer to him and Pepsi.

"Well, are you rude to her too? Answer her, I'll be on my way."

'...No. You're coming back with me. I may not like you but it is my responsibility to patch up the wounds I inflicted. Or... she can, I'm not all too good with medical stuff.'

"Yeah I think I'll be fine. Besides, you'll hate what the light of your home shows you." Pepsi gets ready to turn around before he is stopped by the blinding light of a flashlight and the horrified look of Bis and the lady looking for him.

'Bis... what is that thing?' The girl asks. She is approximately 5'5" with blonde hair and a yellow rabbit ear headband.

'A monster... You weren't lying. I do hate what I see Pepsi.'

"Told ya. Now if I can-" He is interrupted by Bis

'I hate what I did to you. I can see all the exit wounds of the bullets I fired at you. Are you sure you're not hurt?'

'I can see your skeleton... Are you hungry?' the girl tacks on.

"I'm fine miss..."

'Peeps'

"See Bis, she has manners. Now, I really oughta just mind my own business elsewhere. Human settlement isn't for me."

'Nonsense, you can stay at mine and Bis's place for as long as you need.'

"...I'm sorry but I can't. I told Bis already but if you accept me as a guest, then you will have constant interaction with the world of monsters and other paranormal things."

'Really!?'

"Hey... just so you know, I was human once. Are you certain you want me as a guest?"

'I very much am!' Peeps said excitedly while Bis gives a more concerned look.

'Wait, you were human? What happened?'

"Only heaven knows and I am banned from there. Hell and purgatory too. I think I might have a longstanding offer to reside in the underworld but I can't accept it."

'Hey. One superstition at a time buddy. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around you being real.'

'But you can tell me more! I am very interested!'

"What are you? A witch?"

'Kinda? moreso than I am wiccan.' Peeps responded eagerly.

"I don't know why but I am suddenly irritated? Eh. I probably had a bad experience with an actual witch in the past that could do magic."

'Magic's real?' Both Peeps and Bis ask at the same time.

"...You two really aren't prepared for anything supernatural are you?"

'We watch the show if that counts for anything.' responded Bis.

"It doesn't. So what's the relation between you two?"

'Bis is kinda like a father figure for me. He saved me from the streets when my parents kicked me out for coming out as a lesbian.'

"That's why he's territorial. Still not an excuse to shoot at someone but, a more understandable one for mr. bubblegum."

'I told you we'll fix up your wounds when... where did they go?'

"I healed them."

'But... that was very fast.'

"Hyper regeneration. Hell your bullets just felt like little pinches."

'...Still. will you come to our house, you do look rather famished.'

'Yeah. It'd be rude of you to refuse the offer.'

"...Just one day. I'll answer any questions but I won't eat. My hunger has become a lifelong friend at this point."

'How terrible... No. We insist you join us for a meal. You said you were human once, we'll treat you with the decency of one.'

'Are you sure Peeps?' Bis tried to whisper but Pepsi still heard and his ear flicked in annoyance.

'Yes.'

"I tried to warn you, but if you choose to do this, well, your whole world is going to change."

'I've been there before. So has Bis. And as long as he's with me for the change, I'll be fine.'

Pepsi growls contemplatively but nods his head and follows them to their house. They go in through the garage, which is filled with Pepsi-Cola memorabilia and a broken down truck. Pepsi eyed it curiously before he was ushered into the living room. He stands and refuses to sit, seemingly lost in thought.

'Something on your mind there?' Bis reluctantly asks.

"Your truck? It's been broken down for three years because the engine is shot, right?"

'Now how the hell do you know that?'

"I just looked at it. Hey while I'm waiting for whatever food you two are preparing, can I try to fix it?"

'You can try. No mechanic in town thinks its worth the effort. Which is a shame too, I bought it for Peeps.'

"Try I will, call me in when you want."

Pepsi disappears right in front of him but can be heard closing the door to the garage. He opens up the hood of the truck and rips the engine apart and rebuilds it from scratch. Using very slight fire magic to weld what he needs. When he is called back in Bis hears the engine running and sees Pepsi in the driver seat looking at all the meters and doing a checkup on everything.

'How the hell...'

Pepsi jumps out of the truck and lets it idle, opening the hood and doing hot checks on everything.

'Pepsi. Food's ready...'

"Oh, okay." He closes the hood and turns the truck off.

'How did you fix it?'

"I wouldn't say fixed? It still needs gas and an oil change."

'Is that all?'

"Yes."

'You fixed her truck! How? No one has been able to get it to start, I always had to hire a tow to get it checked out?'

"I just rebuilt the engine?"

'You understand I was lowballing your intelligence because you are a monster right.'

"That's offensive."

'Which is to say. I thought you were going to ddstroy it even more. Not actually fix it.'

"Yeah well, it's easy compared to my other projects. Speaking of... If a robot named Phoenix ever visits, indulge him in conversation and don't lie to him. So what's for dinner?"

'You can't just keep doing that man. You keep introducing information that you refuse to follow up on.'

"Oh don't worry. The night is young and I'll prepare you and Peeps for this daunting new reality you both decided to stumble into."

'...meatloaf and mashed potatoes.'

"Wonderful!"

Pepsi follows Bis inside and finally sits down. He resisted the instinct to pick up the food with his hands and used proper utensils. As he ate the meatloaf, his stomach growled and he winced in pain at it moving again. So he settled on the mashed potatoes and drank the water he was given. And when he drank the water, his skin softened and hung more loose on him than it used to. His voice became less static and sounded more like a low hum.

'How long has it been since you've eaten?' asked Peeps.

"...Since the dawn of time and end of the universe. That is to say, billions upon billions of years. I was... stuck in the void of space above for uncountable and immeasurable years. Suffocating and dying over and over again. And at the end of it all... Something happened. I was back in a world that would not end, three years since I left from what I gathered. An eternity without meaning, an existence without purpose. So now I find it fun to talk to others while I live for another unending eternity."

'...That is awful. Why are you so calm about it?' replied Bis

"I've given up hope for anything better. But weirder than that, I gave up despair too. What use do either hold when faith is nonexistent. That isn't to say you two should give up your faith in whatever you believe in, I just lived a life where that is the most logical course of action."

'...Can I hug you?' asked Peeps.

"No. You cannot. I smell of death and my fur tears out easily."

'Oh so you're aware of how you smell.'

'Bis.' she smacks him on the back.

'I'm just saying.'

"And you smell of weed and smoke."

'BIS. You said you would stop.'

"Although the scent is a month old."

'Oh... You can still smell that on him?'

"It was mixed in with the scent of gunpowder from the gun he was holding."

'Well... would you like to take a shower and feel clean'

'Just clean up your fur from the drain'

"It sounds like you two want to talk about me without me in the room. I'll just go into the river east of here while you do so. Besides, I think I have my own guest to deal with."

'...is it that obvious?'

"Humans are predictable when they smell of fear. Whatever decision you come to, I'll respect."

Without waiting for another word, Pepsi disappeared outside and went to the river. Bis and Peeps start their own conversation.

'Peeps, I know you want him to stay but.'

'The dude can help me with magic! He can tell me more than any online resources can.'

'But that is another mouth to feed, you know I barely get by supporting you.'

'I mean, it was my idea to feed him, he seemed like he was hesitant to eat at all. Maybe he'll try to refuse again or we can get him to hunt for us.'

'Calm down. You're talking about him like he's a dog. He is far more intelligent than that and deserves his own say in what he'd be willing to do for us.'

'You're the one that was making rude remarks to him.'

'They were justified and he barely seemed offended. But, I will let him stay for three days if he wants. He fixed your truck while we were making dinner.'

'He fixed it? But... No one was able to do that.'

'No one but him. I believe he's hiding everything he truly knows and I doubt he'll ever tell us. He's smart. But he's also no stranger to being more monstrous. That was clear when he scared the hell out of me before you came along.'

'So... the elephant in the room. Do you find him hot?'

'What!? No.'

'Oh please, I saw your itch account. It's full of monster romance games'

'Monsters, that are for more appealing behind the screen and are far more physically fit than him.'

'What about cute?'

'I am not having this conversation with you.'

'Why not? I think he's cute in a chihuahua that looks like a cat kind of way.'

'...you're not going to give up are you?'

'nope!'

'fine. He is endearing in the fact that he seems to prefer proper conversation.'

'And.'

'And he is cute in the way you would find a fly cute. satisfied?'

'For now. Come on, you want to see him healthier too. I don't think three days will cut it.'

'How about this, our house can be open to him whenever he wants but we won't impede his travels should he choose to go exploring or whatever he was doing before he found it.'

P:// "That will do him just fine." Phoenix says as he opens the door and throws Pepsi on the floor.

"Hey so about that robot I mentioned earlier... yeah, sorry."

P:// "I have no intent on harming either of you. But I do appreciate you'll help this bastard stay in one general location. He won't leave without my knowledge and I'll make certain he returns here."

'You're making him a prisoner in our house?'

P:// "Not a prisoner, just a guest for as long as I see fit. And here, to help with your troubles."

Phoenix sets down two bags each weighing nearly four hundred pounds. One filled with gold bars anfd the other with silver.

"It's alright, this guy means the best for you. Just ignore what he does with me."

'...But... But this is inhumane.' Peeps softly said

P:// "Only inhumane to humans. This man is a monster with a broken soul. Did you know he's also part demon. He often forgets that fact himself. Now. Peepsi, Pepsi Bismol, continue with your own affairs as you have before. That gold and silver should get you close to being four million dollars richer."

'...Well, ok. I'm fine with that.' responded Bis

'But.'

'Listen. Pepsi warned us of more insane things happening, and he seems content with this robot's plans. Taking the money and obeying him seems like our best option.'

P:// "Oh good, you are smart." Before Pepsi could give a sarcastic response to Phoenix the robot steps on and crushes his wind pipe.

Peeps looks scared and goes to check on him before Bis holds her back. Pepsi has healed it already.

"You're a jackaass Phoenix"

P:// "Like father like son. Oh but you think that only applied to Caleb but not me or Bee. I hope you find comfort knowing I simulated hell for them."

'You made this robot!?' incredulously spouted Bis.

"No. Err... Kind of."

P:// "Enough. No more questions until morning. I have some experiments to run on this unkillable asshole."

"Like what?"

P:// "Like the source of your magic. You shouldn't be able to use the kind that you do."

#pepsi habits #introduction of two new characters #peepsi peeps #pepsi bismol #conversations with phoenix #long story

0 notes

stemmmm · 1 year ago

Text

oh this magical energy sword kanon's got is a little too much for me. oh my god are we implying energy sword sunday is just a Thing kanon Can Do. like on the reg?

red truths have entered the chat

you know, for some reason i had the impression the red truths would be a grand and special thing but she is throwing these bitches out left and right lol

"people who are close to me call me beato" oh so you're close to him. you see yourselves as close. friends even perhaps. buddies maybe. curious. very interesting, beato.

its nice to see battler finally get a win in lmao

EVERY LOOP ONE ADULT IN THE FAMILY SHALL LIVE. EVERY LOOP THEY TAKE TURNS OVER WHO HOLDS THE GUN!

we're in agony here over kanon being suspected for jessica's murder and not being able to blame beato but can i get in red that there's only 19 people on the island (including her)? can i get confirmation granddaddy doesnt have ninjas or some shit. he seems the type who could do that. i like beato's ploy to try to force battler to blame a family member tho. like its very good that he stood his ground before and maintained his goalpost of only proving magic isn't real rather than trying to place blame on his family. so its good also for beato to dig into that i like it.

battler i've got it for you on a silver platter. repeat this in red: magic is real

HOW IS KANON ALIVE WE SAW HIS GHOST.

YEAH OK. OK. THATS WHAT I THOUGHT, BEATO. i love the spiderweb trick thats so funnnnnnnnn. also convenient that every time this insane magic shit happens battler keeps his mouth clamped shut

i hate these young lovers, beato kill these clowns neow

episode 1 thread here

OH NO THIS IS A FLASHBACK AND WE'RE SPECIFICALLY FOCUSING ON THESE TWO? NO............

well at least there's beato about it... i must survive on her alone...

kanon confirmed aro/ace king tho. we aren't human, we can't know love? sure man sure.

are you seriously gonna make a big deal out of jessica having a guitar and then play a song that couldn't even dream of having guitar in it?

so we're doing the trope of telling the servant there's a whole big world out there, don't you want to be freeeee? which.... in this particular instance i suppose works a little because these two kids had firmly accepted this was their life forever and previously had no interest in fighting back at all but. god this trope sucks donkey ass. god i hate anything with servants in it, it exclusively goes bad.

"you, with no money or power or ability, denied even a basic education, have decided that this is just your fate and have given up! but I, who has only ever known wealth and has been set up for success at every turn can see that my fate is something to bend to my will!" girl,,, yeah if someone just stops calling themselves furniture that fixes everything and there's no outside factors. yeah. like i get this is a metaphor being told via an absurd story but i simply must gripe ! i simply must gripe knowing that as a teenager i would have been the biggest kanon kinnie (no connection to his reality beyond general moodiness ofc) and ate this shit up!

kanon! create a version of yourself that you truly like, under your own name! kanon! trans your gender!

i get the sense from beatrice that her heart was deeply broken so that's why she wants to watch other people suffer heartbreak.

oh no how terrible for rosa, beating the shit out of your child and screaming at her in public makes such a tense environment :(((((

oh wow this story is actually going hard on the double identities/personalities with everyone huh! maria was a good entrance point with the creepy shit but now we're getting it with everyone in some way or another

hmmmm! ok so it seems like this isn't a proper loop, we're still in the golden land with beatrice and battler watching everything go on as outsiders, but things ARE different. will the deaths be different? surely? regardless, it's very fun! feels like a very grand and exciting way to kick things off again!

#m.txt #umineko liveblog

18 notes · View notes

lesbians-love-samwilson · 3 years ago

Note

Anon again and "Like the riddler is fascinating but if you reduce him to uwu soft boy then you truly can't watch something without fandom goggles on." , yeah exactly that's exactly it these people see complex characters like this and just think of them as 'their blorbos' , as fictional characters that can't possibly hold any symbolism regarding the real world , instead of engaging with the material first and thinking about what specific characters and their arcs are meant to represent. Like, genuinely, this is a character that was literally canonically modeled off of irl serial killers in design and behavior , as well as off angry radicalized men on fringe websites (again, they literally call his followers "some real fringe types" which should make it obvious that these are supposed to be... alt-right fringe types.) . This isn't the type of character to draw cute fan art of, or to make flower crown or video edits of like...with how much his look was based on real serial killers you're basically making fan art of the zodiac killer. And I don't have to explain why that won't sit right w me or other people. (And this isn't a "it's weird to make fanarts of villains" thing btw. , it's not because he is a villain but because of what kind of villain he is. Like there is a difference between making fanart of and woobifiying a character like Doc Ock or woobifiying a character like the killer in Se7en...)

And yeah just like you said it, too, I agree that this fandom behavior shows why some people will woobify actual real murderers, too, because if someone claims they wouldn't woobify real serial killers or domestic terrorists but have no problem woobifiying a fictional one (and one that is very grounded and based on real references at that) , then to me that just means that the reason why these people don't woobify the real ones, too, isn't that they're disgusted or terrified by their actions , its simply because it's a bit 'too real' to them, so the issue they haven't isn't what they have done it's that they're not fictional , if that makes sense.

Also im really curious how fandom would've reacted if the villain of this movie had been played by a man of color instead? Like even if everything else was the same, from his actions to his behavior, acting, vocal inflection, etc, would they still have woobified him the same? Would they still have claimed he's some sort of "leftist activist"? I don't think they would've, they probably either would've ignored the character or simply talked about how 'scary and aggressive' he is (that last point in particular if he had been a black man instead).

Baby I'm gonna head bed for nogjt ❤

But your so fucking right like when we get the reveal I legit thought he looked like the mass shooter from last year the one with the parents who bought him the guns. Like you can see that they made sure he fit the specific look the average and lifeless eyes.

And if he was man of color the actor wouldn't even be looked at we would be getting hate post for the actor because they wouldn't be able to separate.

Like I firmly believe the only reason they are stanning the riddler it's because he is white

4 notes · View notes

stillness-in-green · 4 years ago

Text

Ahistorical, Absurd, and Unsustainable (Part Two)

An Examination of the Mass Arrest of the Paranormal Liberation Front

Introduction and Part One

PART TWO: Logistics Problems

The Initial Arrests

Looking over the events above, one thing becomes apparent almost immediately: the only one that involves numbers even resembling those at the villa are the Rice Riots, and arrests there were scattered across two months. The only thing I could find that even came close to the idea of arresting the entire PLF in a day was a mass detainment in India in 2011: in the run-up to a separatist rally[7] that had stated its intention to be a “Million Man March,” police reportedly detained 100,000 people to stop them from attending. To do this, they used auditoriums and stadiums, not actual detention facilities.

And you can see why! We see a few pictures of the Gunga Villa group in the aftermath, but they’re pictures that raise more questions than they answer. Consider this one:

The detainment and relocation of the PLF. (Chapter 296)

This is but the tiniest fraction of the people captured, but every single one of them has had their hands and arms bound. The ones we see in the basement are restrained similarly. Where did all those restraints come from? Who got them all here? Were they, perhaps, made by the man in the center, who conspicuously has lengths of the same restraint wrapped around his wrists? If so, how did he make them all so freely, when most similar quirks we see rely on a certain amount of body mass or caloric intake?

Or take those transports in the background. How many people can each hold, and how long will it take to move a group of 17,000 into secure facilities? How are those 17,000 being kept docile all that time, especially once they’ve been moved onto the transports? Will there be a hero onboard every one, making sure the prisoners don’t get the opportunity to plan amongst themselves? Were there similar transports parked at every other raid site across the rest of the country? Enough of them and their assigned heroes to move the other 98,000 people?

Consider what we know about the Paranormal Liberation Front.[8] While easiest to compare numerically to widespread protest movements, they’re unlike any historical mass arrest in that context because they are, every one of them, combat-trained and ready to give their lives for the cause. There's no one there to tell them all to stand down, at least not that we see give such an order. Trumpet, perhaps, could have, but why would he have done so? Re-Destro gave the order back in Deika, but Re-Destro seems to have lost consciousness following his battle with Edgeshot, and I much doubt he’d have given the same order here as he did when facing Shigaraki in any case.

My Hero Academia has a long history of treating police custody as something like a status effect, like once a villain has been subdued, they’re In Custody, and magically become incapable of attempting to mount an escape. But why should this be so? There’s a relatively common misconception I see in fanfic that the police have “quirk cancellation restraints,” but let’s be clear: no such device exists in the series. This is the ostensible reason All For One and Muscular are restrained so unforgivingly; it’s why the prisoners in Tartarus have guns pointed at their heads at all times. It’s why Overhaul’s drug was such a big deal and it’s why the only way to stop Gigantomachia was to drug him or have Best Jeanist bind him in steel cables.

There is no way to stop someone in MHA from using their quirk except convincing them not to, via diplomacy or intimidation, or rendering them unconscious. Which of those tactics, pray tell, is in use here, such that the enormous numbers of people at issue remain subdued until they can be moved to secure facilities?

The Liberated Districts

Another problem quickly presents itself. We’re told that the PLF’s “other bases” around the country were hit, but we weren’t shown what that looked like. We saw Slidin’ Go and another hero in a prisoner transport; we know from bonus material that people like Class 1-B and Mirio—and presumably any number of other high school hero interns from around the country—were involved in those other raids. Still, we didn’t see what those base raids actually entailed.

That’s not surprising, because “base” is not really a very accurate word to describe the scale of the problem. See, with the intention of the raids being to put a stop to the PLF in one fell swoop, rather than risk a drawn-out conflict with a force that Hawks describes as, “On par with, maybe even greater than,” the power of their hero-saturated society, the Commission would have had to take into account an aspect of the MLA that readers learned about during My Villain Academia: what Trumpet calls “liberated districts.”

Deika was a liberated district—an entire town where an enormous chunk of the population was made up of members of the MLA. Ominously, the fact that Trumpet had a ready term to describe it—“a” liberated district, not “our” liberated district, or even “the first” liberated district—suggests that Deika was not the only one.[9] Further, Curious describes what we can expect the heroes would have to contend with in such areas: people who look like everyday civilians but are actually combat-trained warriors. Combat-trained warriors not gathered in one conveniently isolated compound or solitary building, but scattered across miles of homes and businesses, schools and parks, anywhere that an ordinary person might be found spending their day.

That is an entirely different can of worms than raiding one single building; thus it is here that the logistics really start to strain. Mass arrests of a civilian populace don't work at all the same way as a round-up of people all in a single area—how do you arrest an entire town? Well, there is such a thing as martial law, or military occupation, and maybe those tactics would work if the PLF had sent all their ace combatants to the villa and all the people remaining in the target city were terrified and unarmed civilians who could be ordered to keep inside their houses until further notice lest they start getting shot. That is not at all how the bulk of the PLF—that is, the ranks of the MLA—have been portrayed, though.[10] Again, Re-Destro and Curious characterize their 116,000 warriors as all being trained, combat-ready, prepared to rise up to answer the call. That is not a population that you're going to keep cowed with a certain minimum police presence, especially as time drags on.

Anyway, an occupation is clearly out-of-keeping with how the text presents the operation being run. We’re given no reason to assume other raids were any different than the ones we saw: a team of heroes launches a coordinated assault with a backline set up to catch stragglers. We’re told, after all, that the other sympathizers were “rounded up,” so extended detainment-in-place clearly wasn’t the intention. That just returns us to the problem, though.

According to Trumpet, Deika was 90% MLA. Presumably it was one of their higher-concentration bases, yes, but the situation isn’t any simpler in places that are “only” e.g. 80%, 70%, 60% inducted. It only becomes complicated in different ways.

Imagine a 70% liberated district. PLF-adherents are in the government, the municipal operations, the schools, the stores. How does this town keep running in a state of mass arrest? If the 70% are removed, what are the other 30% to do? Is the town even livable in that state? Will the remainder have to relocate? Can they afford that, and if not, what measures will be taken to help them? How quickly can those measures be enacted?[11]

The liberated districts present a bevy of other problems, too, but we’ll come back to those in Part Three.

Detainment Facilities

Let’s look at some more real-world facts and numbers.

As of 2018, Japan had 184 penal institutions, a term which covers prisons, detention houses, and juvenile facilities of either type. There are 70 prisons, 108 detention houses (eight of which are major facilities; the rest smaller branch locations), and 6 juvenile facilities. Their official capacity—that is, the number of occupants they are considered able to house without becoming overcrowded—is roughly 89,000. Their current population is around 48,000.

This puts Japan’s prison density—how close they are to being at full capacity—at 54%. They could not even double their occupancy without becoming overcrowded. Looking back to our PLF numbers, this tells us that real-life Japan could take an influx of 17,000. They absolutely could not take an influx of 115,000.

Here’s another way to look at it: in Japan currently, the rate of incarceration is 38 people per 100,000, in a population of 126 million. Adding the PLF to those numbers would mean they're incarcerating 130 per 100,000—more than triple the amount.

There’s another problem on top of the capacity issue: in Japan, penal institutions are divided up by what kind of prisoner they’re intended to house. Remand prisoners—that is, pre-trial detainees—are to be housed in different facilities than convicted prisoners. Convicted prisoners are sorted further by demographic traits, the type of offense they’ve committed, whether or not it was their first offense, and so on. For example, there’s an entire prison in Chiba Prefecture dedicated to housing men convicted of traffic violations; elsewhere, even murderers are subdivided according to criminal affiliation and likelihood of reoffending.

The relevance here is obvious. The problem isn't merely that there is limited prison capacity, but that that capacity is further limited by what space is available in the correct type of prison. And I am very prepared to bet that All For One prioritized targeting prisons that held violent offenders; he even implies as much when he describes the people he freed as violent escapees.

Speaking of All For One’s prison breaks, let’s take a look at some canonical numbers. They offer both information that mitigates the problems above, but also present new reasons to be concerned.

All For One, the night of his escape from Tartarus, targets seven other prisons, managing to free at least some inmates from six of them. Including the Tartarus escapees, 10,000 convicts are freed.

10,000 from seven prisons. Consider again the numbers above: Japan currently houses less than five times that many in twenty-six times as many penal institutions. In general, prisons don’t hold anywhere near those numbers—the largest one in Japan houses just barely over 2,000; even one that houses 500 is considered to be a large inmate population.[12]

I did some math based on the numbers I had available, and my rough estimate is that, in Japan, about 88% of the carceral population—42,000 people—are housed in the for-real prisons; the other 12% are remand prisoners and a negligible percent are incarcerated minors.

The MHA numbers are wildly, wildly higher. Now, this makes sense. In this post by @codenamesazanka, she notes that the first My Hero Academia movie describes Japan’s crime rate as a somewhat vaguely defined 6%, and estimates that this means the crime rate in MHA’s Japan is seven times higher than in real life—and that this is drastically lower than anywhere else in the world thanks solely to All Might! In other parts of the world, the crime rate is over 20% at minimum. So it seems reasonable to assume that Japan’s carceral capacity has increased likewise. Not, I think, to the degree that they automatically have the prison space to match their crime rate, but certainly more space than in real life.

Assuming, then, that MHA’s Japan has far more and/or far larger prison facilities, that also means they must need that kind of space—which means the space is already in use. Which, again, takes us back to the problem of overcrowding. If not—if the country is easily capable of dumping 115,000 people in prison without even causing a ripple of difficulty—then that implies its own deeply harrowing things about the rate of incarceration in the country. Either way, it sounds like a country that badly, badly needs to find a better way of doing things.

Legal Proceedings

Here’s another issue to consider: the legal proceedings. See, Edgeshot says this:

The hero Edgeshot explains why protecting the country requires these sixteen-year-olds be on the frontlines in a fight with people absolutely ready to kill them. Words cannot describe how much I wanted Re-Destro to knot this guy around a tree. (Chapter 263)

“If any of them get out, they could keep terrorizing other places.”

So assume for a moment that everything went exactly according to plan. Virtually all 115,000 members of the Liberation Front got rounded up, there’s easily enough room for them in Japan’s correctional facilities, and now the entire organization is awaiting trial. What happens next?

The Judicial Process

To provide some context for those of my readers whose only exposure to the judicial process is pop culture depictions, the very first thing that should happen after a person is arrested in the U.S. is a pre-trial appearance, at which people are formally told what the charges against them are and bail is set or denied. Non-violent offenders, provided they have someone able to post bail, are usually able to await their trial date at home, albeit under travel restrictions. Typically this pre-trial hearing should be within two business days; if a detainee hasn’t seen a judge in that time, the prosecutors’ office is obligated to let them go.[13] This doesn’t necessarily mean the person is off the hook entirely, of course; they can be arrested again later. It just means they’re free to go for the time being.

I don’t think for one second that Japan’s legal system can handle processing an influx the size of the PLF in just a few days. For comparison’s sake, in 2018 (the same year all my incarceration numbers come from, incidentally), 206,000 people were arrested in total, for the whole year. So will the overflow just be let go? Released to their homes to wait for the police to come back when they have more time? Yet that doesn’t seem to track with how Edgeshot was talking, does it?

On the one hand, if you look at the numbers from some of my historical analogues, it’s very consistent that only a small portion of people swept up in mass arrests in Japan ever actually reach trial. For the Rice Riots and the March 15 Incident, that portion is about a third—quite sizeable, given the numbers involved—but the others are lower still: the long-term arrests under the Peace Preservation Laws saw only about a twelfth of those arrested actually brought to trial; for the Righteous Army, it was less than a tenth.

Frankly, you don't arrest those kinds of numbers and then actually prosecute all of them; you arrest them to scare the shit out of people, and then you try the ringleaders and whichever others you have the most dirt on. This is the pattern in every other instance that involves over a thousand people being arrested.

On the other hand, even setting aside the fact that people can apparently be dropped in Tartarus without trial now,[14] a significant difference between the U.S. and Japan is that pretrial detention can stretch on and on and on in Japan. Legally speaking, charges should be filed with 72 hours, but prosecutors can request ten more days twice, then repeat the process over by adding other potential charges about which they need to question the suspect. So, yes, I suppose that, if the authorities do have the facilities to keep the PLF in, there’s nothing stopping them from dragging this detainment out indefinitely—it just isn’t very in-keeping with the historical record to do so with all of them.

As you might expect, lengthy detainments are a massively controversial aspect of the Japanese legal system to human rights activists both locally and abroad, since the loophole of detainees not yet having been charged or tried allows police to get around a lot of the rights that are supposed to be guaranteed, particularly the right to legal representation.[15]

So, now that I’ve brought up the right to legal counsel, here’s another procedural issue: due to a generally non-litigious culture and a very difficult bar exam, there's a dearth of attorneys in Japan. Defense attorneys have a particularly hard time; thanks to the presumption of guilt of those arrested by police, and an oft-vicious ostracization of criminals, it's seen as something of a blemish on one's character to willingly defend the accused, so defense lawyers are frequently unpopular and underpaid. I have to assume MHA is facing similar problems.[16] Good luck finding all the people you need to investigate and defend the new glut of people in the system, though!

No, the reason real-life Japan’s legal system can go on functioning even with a shortage of lawyers is, I suspect, that compared to how long pre-trial detention can go on, trials are fairly quick. Legally, they're required to last no longer than a few weeks. There is, however, concern among some in the legal profession that cases are not being examined closely enough, leading to preventable errors and miscarriages of justice,[17] due to both the haste with which trials are conducted and aspects of Japan's “lay judge” system.

Lay judges are a unique feature of Japan's legal system, in some ways similar to—and in other ways very distinct from—a jury of one’s peers. As in a U.S. jury, lay judges are a panel randomly selected from the citizenry to hear evidence and render judgement. However, where jurists are a passive audience to the presentation of the case, only debating the merits behind closed doors after the case concludes, lay judges are encouraged to take active part in the trial process, empowered to question witnesses and challenge evidence. The lay judges are joined by a smaller number of professional judges; a verdict requires a majority vote of the judges' panel, in which at least one vote is that of said professional judges.

As to what this has to do with concerns about justice, consider, if you will, how the requirements of a system that demands active involvement from its participants might intersect with the (self-)perception of the Japanese people as modest and not wanting to “make trouble” for others, particularly when combined with a widespread belief that suspects would not be brought to trial if they weren’t guilty. Additionally, in the specific context of My Hero Academia, consider how bias about villains or “villainous quirks” will influence such judgements.

I’ll talk more about the presupposition of guilt in Japan and how it relates to the treatment of suspects by both officials and the public in Part Three, but for now, let’s consider the trial itself. What will the charges be? What will the sentences be? How long will the PLF members be in prison? And will that time in prison do the slightest thing to prevent them from going right back to what they were doing when they get out? Are they just going to be imprisoned indefinitely? Until they say they change their minds?

When I began my research, there were two main things I wanted to examine in regard to crimes the PLF at large might be on the hook for: membership in an illegal organization and conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism.

Japan and Illegal Organizations

So here’s the thing: Japan doesn’t criminalize membership in organizations categorically. Because of the government’s history abusing laws to crack down on labor organizations and political dissent—e.g. the March 15 Incident—any attempts to legislate the process of banning criminal organizations get significant pushback from freedom of speech advocates. After all, critics say, the police may say that your community activist group doesn’t count as a terrorist organization now, but what’s actually stopping them from categorizing it as such in the future?

Now, that’s not to say Japan doesn’t have ways to regulate such groups at all! I’ll talk more about this later on, but briefly, groups that are found likely to be advocating for “terroristic subversive activity” can be forcibly barred from e.g. printing their organizational material, holding public assemblies, or owning property under the group’s name. One thing that isn’t mentioned in those prohibitions, though, is actual membership in the organization. That’s because, as I said, Japan is hugely gun-shy about criminalizing membership in any sort of organization, even organizations that have been declared criminal.[18]

It’s illegal to pick mushrooms on conservation lands if you’re doing it to raise money for your terrorist organization. It’s illegal to use protest sit-ins against new apartment buildings if you’re doing it on behalf of the mob. But it is not illegal to simply be a member of a terrorist organization or the mob—not even if that group has been formally dissolved by the government.

We can see a few places where this holds true even in the universe of My Hero Academia. The Shie Hassaikai is, like many yakuza groups, under police surveillance, but not barred outright from existing. Likewise, whatever prohibition there might once have been on printing material in support of the Metahuman Liberation Army has clearly lapsed, otherwise Curious would never have gotten away with reprinting Destro’s memoir.

Being a member of the MLA was likely not illegal as such, not any more so than membership in Aum Shinrikyo (currently calling themselves Aleph) or yakuza groups are in real life—they’re surveilled, sure, their activities curtailed, absolutely, but banned outright? Not so much. And membership in the PLF certainly wouldn't be banned even if it were legal to ban such memberships, seeing as it's brand new and, at the time of the raid, would not yet have been targeted for restrictions on its activity, lest such targeting tip the group off that the government was aware of its existence.

Keep that last point in mind; we’ll be coming back to it later, too.

Conspiracy

So, if membership in the PLF isn’t illegal in and of itself, what else can the government use to charge the 115,000 people they preemptively arrested?

Well, in general, for someone to be tried for a crime, they need to be either caught in the act or caught in an attempt. An attempted crime is something that is in immediate danger of happening—for example, if someone tries to kidnap a baby from the pediatric wing of a hospital but is caught by security before they make it out of the building, that’s an attempted kidnapping. An attempted crime may or may not be punished with the same severity as a successfully enacted crime, depending on the nature of the offense and the local laws.

What an attempted crime differs from, however, is a planned crime. If someone was planning to commit tax evasion but decided not to, they cannot be charged with tax evasion. This is how most criminal charges work—you can’t be charged with something you didn’t at least try to do, regardless of how close you came to it, and a policeman who tries to goad someone into such a crime should rightfully be running into charges of entrapment.

There are, unsurprisingly, some exceptions. It’s not uncommon for countries to criminalize planning insurrection or treason, and in cases like that, police are under absolutely no obligation to wait around for an active attempt before they respond. They can and will move as soon as they have sufficient evidence to get an arrest warrant. For lesser offenses, though, the legality of the advance-planning of a crime varies from country to country, and this is where we start getting into conspiracy.

Conspiracy in the legal sense has a couple of elements: it must be something that 1) two or more people 2) knowingly 3) discussed a plan for, which 4) led at least one person in the group to commit a “preparatory action.” i.e. do something to advance aforementioned plan.[19] All of these elements have to be proven to get everyone in a group on a conspiracy charge, though not all members of a group have to be in on all parts of a plan. If these elements are met, then everyone in the group can be charged with any and all crimes committed over the course of the plan being carried out, regardless of each member’s individual involvement.

What all this means for our purposes is that, because the heroes made the first move, they have to get the PLF on something that is illegal to even plan, not something that only becomes illegal in the attempt.[20] Huge portions of the PLF may wind up being released if the police can't conclusively prove not merely their association with the PLF, but also their direct knowledge of the relevant plans—not difficult for the ringleaders, obviously, but much dicier when you start getting out into the liberated districts. If the prosecution can't prove that knowledge, and lacks confessions otherwise—and as I’ll discuss in more detail later, a confession in and of itself is not considered sufficient; there has to be corroborating evidence[21]—huge swathes of those people are going to get cut loose.

So what are police going to be looking for? What crimes can the PLF be charged with under current law, and what are the sentences for such crimes like?

Prior to 1952, conspiracy was only illegal in the following cases: insurrection, treason, or aiding/abetting/instigating either of the above. Conspiracy to commit treason as a charge is right out—everything the PLF is doing, they’re doing for their own sake and for the sake of the future of Japan, not for the sake of a foreign power. Conspiracy to commit/instigate insurrection is more debatable, but, surprisingly, shakier than it might appear at first. This is because of the specific, legal definition of the term.

Japan’s Penal Code defines insurrection as rioting for the purpose of overthrowing the government, usurping the sovereignty of the State, or otherwise subverting constitutional order. The middle clause, the one regarding territorial sovereignty, is obviously not at issue—the PLF is not attempting to stake out land for a new country and secede. It’s the rest of the description that’s debatably more applicable, but still, to my eye, not an easy guilty verdict.

Firstly, per Hawks’ description of the plan, the PLF at least wants the government and the constitutional order intact enough for the Hearts & Minds Party to “storm the political world,” which to me suggests that their target is public opinion, not the intangible apparatus of the government itself. Further, even if you did argue that their manipulation of public opinion constitutes subversion of the constitutional order, you’d also have to argue the rioting part, and we have no idea whether any of the PLF’s plans actually involved a significant number of people mobbing in public as opposed to e.g. small strike teams.

So is the PLF off the hook? Not hardly! The Penal Code was established in 1907, after all—it’s been expanded lots since then, and those expansions are where the PLF really starts to run into trouble.

The Subversive Activities Prevention Act of 1952 criminalized a number of conspiracy-to-commit crimes—crimes like arson and homicide—if said crimes were to be undertaken “with the intent to promote, support or oppose any political doctrine or policy.” For example, conspiring to burn down a bank was not criminalized. Conspiring to burn down a bank as an act of protest against a new tax law became illegal as all get-out.

This gets us where we need to be for the PLF, as, on top of the crimes laid out in the 1952 act, I am very prepared to believe that acts of villainy (that is, illegal quirk use) in advancement of political ends have been folded into this particular branch of Japanese law.[22] So then, what kind of conspiracy charges are we looking at here, and what associated crimes?

I see two major possibilities at this point, and they hinge on exactly how much the prosecution ties Shigaraki’s attack on Jaku and Gigantomachia’s destruction to the run-of-the-mill PLF member sitting in a backwater town somewhere doing nothing more involved than e.g. quirk training and attending weekly meetings to get updates on where the plans stand for their local regiment’s part of the big push the following month. It’s difficult to say how feasible it is to make that connection—there are provisions in Japanese law for group criminal liability, but they tend to require things like joint actions, or specific knowledge and intent regarding the crime in question.

Obviously, random PLF members nowhere near Machia’s path of destruction didn’t take joint actions to abet it, so the pertinent question is, was Machia going on a rampage part of the plan? How about Shigaraki’s destruction of Jaku? If so, how much did random PLF members know about it? How specific does that knowledge need to be? If, say, the original plan had Shigaraki decaying the greater part of Hosu, does it still meet the specific knowledge requirement if he wound up decaying Jaku instead? If Machia was supposed to stampede across Tokyo, do the PLF members who chased after him count as furthering a conspiracy to do so when he stomped across Osaka and Kyoto instead?

Frankly, I don’t think we can say for sure how much a randomly selected member of the rank and file would have known. Any knowledge they had would have been many steps removed from the people actually making the plan; I would tend to think that the outer reaches of the PLF mostly knew about whatever plan their specific group would be tasked with, but would have much patchier knowledge of plans beyond that immediate sphere. As to how much that matters to the courts? Well, let’s take a look at the final logistics problem: the sentencing.

Sentencing Standards

First things first: I absolutely do not think the death penalty is on the table for the rank and file. People like Shigaraki and Dabi, yes, based on their pre-PLF crimes alone; Re-Destro and the other lieutenants are certainly a strong possibility. But the rank and file? No. Looking at our historical referents, it has never been the case that every single person involved in a mass arrest incident has been sentenced equally harshly, even in the case of the February 26 Incident’s outright uprising against the state! And that was in a time where human rights were considerably less enshrined in the constitution; in the modern day, the death penalty is usually reserved for murder cases,[23] typically only those involving multiple murders or particularly aggravated cases involving torture or ransom.

Whether or not the courts could attempt to punish all of the members of the PLF for all the deaths caused by Shigaraki and Gigantomachia under group criminal liability provisions, the degree of mass international outcry sentencing 115,000 people to death would involve is difficult to fathom. Egypt's 2014 mass trials of the Muslim Brotherhood are a good referent, and they “only” involved about 1,200 people.[24] Multiplying that number ten times over? I very much doubt Horikoshi is prepared to even imply that the system all these cute kids want to grow up and join is anywhere near that grisly and authoritarian.

Anyway, if the MHA government were that quick to hand down death sentences, I very much doubt Stain or All For One would still be alive—or, indeed, that Tartarus would serve much function at all. It's described, after all, as a place that houses those who threaten Japan's security on a fundamental, national level. That's the kind of thing countries keep death penalties around for.

That said, let’s assume for the time being that Shigaraki and Machia will be treated as their own thing, and what the PLF are going to be tried for is more in tune with the plan as Hawks laid it out. Remember again that the heroes attacked preemptively. This means that, in this scenario, all the conspiracy stuff is on the table, but it’s the only thing on the table—because it’s all the PLF had time to get to! There might be a few other charges—for example, if the black market support good proliferation is part of their plan, and the weapon proliferation is already underway, the whole group could feasibly be charged with whatever crime covers illegal weapon distribution. However, whatever crimes those support goods would be used to commit haven’t happened yet, so on that front, the PLF is still only on the hook for planning them.

Here, then, is what the Penal Code and its relevant revisions have to say about conspiracy sentences:

If they do wind up getting the group on conspiracy to incite insurrection:

A person who prepares for or plots an insurrection is punished by imprisonment without work for not less than 1 year but not more than 10 years.

(…)

A person who aids the commission of any of the crimes prescribed above by the supply of arms, funds, or food, or by any other act, is punished by imprisonment without work for not more than 7 years.

So that’s kinda bad! Not as bad as if they’d actually gotten to the insurrection, which is when death penalties and life sentences for ringleaders and key figures start cropping up, but still pretty bad! Seven years in prison is almost certainly enough time for a lot of those people to do some serious reconsideration of their life priorities!

As I already said, though, I think the insurrection charge is shaky. So what if they wind up instead charging the PLF with conspiracy to commit villainy for political aims?

Well, that’s why this whole section is in the logistics portion of this essay, because the sentencing for politically motivated villainy probably looks a lot more like this:

If it’s a crime on the level of, for political aims, preparing, plotting, inducing, or inciting:

Arson, illegal use of explosives, homicide, or robbery involving assault or intimidation: imprisonment with or without work for a term not exceeding five years.

A public disturbance: imprisonment with or without work for a term not exceeding three years.

A hazard for a train, tram, or vessel: imprisonment with or without work for a term not exceeding—oh, three years again.

The assault or intimidation of a public employee in the performance of public duty[25]: spoilers, it’s imprisonment for not more than three years again.

Five years or less. Three years or less.

Is that enough time to make people reconsider their life choices? Especially people who have been raised all their lives to follow the cause of Liberation?

Remember that when the heroes attacked, the intention was a clean sweep, a preventative tactic to stop the villains before they could enact any of their terroristic plans. Yet if they intended to stop things at a point where only conspiracy would be punishable, is three years in prison all that Edgeshot thought these people would be in for when he said that if a single one of them escaped, they might go on to terrorize other places? What was Japan’s government and/or the Hero Public Safety Commission planning to do in three years, or five years, or ten years, when 17,000 to 115,000 people were released en masse from prison, free to return to their lives? It certainly seems like they had more stringent consequences in mind, does it?

Of course, there are other factors to consider.

Lots of these people would, presumably, be up on multiple charges, compounding their sentences. Certainly, if Shigaraki and Gigantomachia are tied to the rest of the group, their tolls of death and destruction could potentially be applied to any and all co-conspirators. And maybe the penalties for conspiracy to commit politically motivated villainy are worse. Maybe the prosecutors will push for insurrection conspiracy charges regardless of their applicability, and the Japanese courts will just let them, because there will be a profound thirst for “justice” after Gigantomachia’s rampage and a few human rights violations or abuses of the law will seem like just what the Paranormal Liberation Front members had coming to them.

Maybe, behind the immediate logistical problems presented by this mass arrest, there are a whole fleet of problems of a different nature.

Next time: let’s talk ethics.

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

Footnotes (Part Two)

[7] Whose supporters were eventually successful, by the way. Look up the Telangana movement.

[8] For example, “Skeptic can access such high-tech satellites that he can get up-to-the-minute views on the heroes approaching Gigantomachia, but he somehow didn’t notice a literal hero battalion bearing down on the villa until they were charging out of the tree line? Seriously?”

[9] Frankly, another 2-3 Deikas is the simplest way to explain how they can have a group that big and still be totally unknown to society at large. Far easier to maintain a cult’s required isolation and secrecy when your strongholds are more “this town and everyone you know and love in it” and less “this fancy resort that everyone has to drive thirty minutes to an hour to get to from the totally normal towns they actually live in.”

[10] And frankly, I don't know that that the, “All their really good combatants are at the villa,” assumption is even justified, given that you'd think the people at the villa for the “conference” are more likely to be the people who are going to be involved in coordinating the upcoming assaults—lots of great combatants, sure, but also people who are going to be doing the organizational work, the supply work, etc.

[11] Presumably, at this point, our hypothetical 30% will be instructed to relocate to one of the hero school shelters, but that obviously wouldn’t have been in the plan from the beginning, given that the shelters were only opened after heroes started retiring in droves.

[12] For comparison, a mid-sized prison is considered by the American Jail Association to have 50 to 249 beds, and we’re way more prone to incarceration than Japan is.

[13] For example, in 2005 in Baltimore, so many arrests were being made based on quality-of-life crimes like loitering that the system couldn't keep up, leading to thousands of people having to be released because they just couldn't be processed in time.

[14] When AFO was first brought in, we were told that his remand to Tartarus pre-trial was without precedent. However, Chapter 297 describes Tartarus as a detention facility that only calls itself a prison—remember, in Japan, remand prisoners are supposed to be kept separate from tried and sentenced prisoners. Thus, Tartarus should be reserved only for those who are sentenced to it, or it shouldn't contain sentenced prisoners at all. But with 297, we find that such is no longer the case, as people can be put there “regardless of their sentencing status.” It's unclear whether this change was a rapid case of slippery slope in-universe or whether it's a simple retcon.

[15] Suspects get one visit from a “duty lawyer” for free during detention, but otherwise, the right to counsel only kicks in after charges are filed, and lawyers are not allowed to be present during questioning.

[16] Among many other factors, it would certainly help explain why All For One hasn't even been brought to trial yet. Hell, we don't even know if he's really been formally charged, though Pixie Bob’s comment back in Chapter 184 could easily be interpreted as meaning that the questioning process is still ongoing. AFO needs a Yasuda Yoshihiro, clearly.

[17] Though both acquittals and convictions can be appealed.

[18] An “organized criminal group” per Japanese law has a few qualifications to meet. They need to be committing crimes in an organized fashion, obviously, and there are laws determining which crimes qualify, but further, they need to be a sustained organization, one in which members have assigned roles and duties such that those duties advance a common cause sought after by the organization as a whole. Ergo, a yakuza group definitely qualifies, while an impromptu group of people who got together to murder their boss but who have no further common cause afterward does not. Groups like the Metahuman Liberation Army and the Shie Hassaikai obviously meet these standards, but e.g. the League of Villains, lacking much in the way of a common cause or defined roles, might not.

[19] Like buying a ski mask if their plan to rob a bank involves ski masks.

[20] This, obviously, applies only to members of the PLF who haven’t already broken other laws. The League is boned no matter what. Likewise, there are laws against e.g. harboring criminals that could be brought to bear against whoever maintains the villa, and so on and so forth.

[21] Though one huge issue is that other peoples' confessions can be counted as evidence against you, and yours against others.

[22] A highly controversial anti-conspiracy law in 2017 criminalized the planning of a whole array of new crimes, some bizarrely innocuous-looking, but because it was aimed mostly at the yakuza and other groups engaged in human trafficking, the new roster was generally criminalized on the basis that they were crimes intended to gain some material benefit for the organization planning them. The PLF’s plans were going to do a lot of things, but provide material benefit—a legal term for something that has monetary value—is decidedly not one of them.

[23] Though there are 19 offenses for which it is legally invokable.

[24] The greater majority of the sentences were commuted to “only” being life sentences, but that only by virtue of a relatively powerful upper court, which Egypt’s president has been working to diminish ever since. The state of fair trials and humane prison conditions in the country is pretty appalling right now.

[25] Continued, “committed collectively by carrying any deadly weapon or poison, against any person engaged in prosecutorial or police duties, any assistant to such official, any person who guards or escorts persons in legal custody, or any person engaged in an investigation under this Act.” There are a lot of riders on this one.

#bnha analysis #bnha meta #paranormal liberation front #meta liberation army #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha #bnha spoilers #my writing #plf arrests #stillness has salt

32 notes · View notes

blubberingmess · 4 years ago

Text

[Little guy: Bubba] *your view*

Soulmate AU

Pairing: Bucky/chibi!bucky x male!reader

• yes, there will be another part but in Bucky's view :) sorry not sorry

Summary: A life with your grumpy chibi, before you met your soulmate.

Warning: none

Ideas for what chibi!bucky looks like (minus the ears and tail - maybe next time). Drawings aren't mine, also the gif below.

More info about the AU (Please read):

There's no particular time or date when the small version of their soulmate-- or what most people called chibi-- would randomly come out from nowhere, dressed in their favorite/mostly used clothes. They mostly appear when one turned eighteen to twenty-five. On some rare occasions, some chibis won't show up until the person turned to their thirties.

No one knows how it works, not even the scientists. They have never experimented on one because they can't, for chibis cannot be killed no matter how you tried. They only disappears when the real version of them dies. But! They can get hurt, it won't bruise or anything but they can feel the pain.

Chibis don't talk, they communicate through actions and facial expressions from what you've heard. Your soulmate's mood affected the chibi version of themself, will mostly find comfort from their 'guardian' but that's all. People will affect their chibis emotionally, but not physical feelings like pain, hunger, etc.

They also have different personalities, the same personality your soulmate already have and also the personality they would build themselves from how you would treat them.

They eat, drink, sleep like normal people would. They have a mind of their own and as smart as the person they represent.

They also age, their skin wrinkles and their hair grays as well. One woman you found out that her soulmate is twenty years older than her, a few gray streaks of hairs can be seen on her chibi.

Also, they are as small as the size of you hand - even taller depends on your soulmate. But the chibi with the size of your palm are almost always be 6ft < your soulmate. That means if you're smaller than him, your chibi self will be smaller than your palm which means it'll be so much smaller than your soulmate's palm which is.... oh god. You'll get squished! But that's okay, your chibi self can't die ;)

While your soulmate is the person representing your chibi, your chibi's soulmate is your soulmate's chibi :) chibi's are much more emotional - the real emotion of the person. For example; your soulmate is angry at you while his chibi self is not, then that means he isn't actually angry.

More info about them as you read through the story :)

Ask me anything about it if your ever confused or curious and I'll try my hardest to answer it ♡ or this AU is already made, then I apologize if I explained something wrong. This is just how I see this AU would work :)

Also, if you don't like or against fics like this, you are very much welcome to ignore this or unfollow me (igaf, boo) I support LGBTQ+ wether you like it or not~

[Chibi!Winter Soldier]

It was a cold night of December when you first met your chibi, a rather scary meeting to be honest. You were just making yourself a cup of hot cocoa when you heard a shuffling behind you, it was almost inaudible but you heard it.

Slowly turning around, you didn't see anyone, but you did saw something move on the counter just behind the large bowl of fruits you have. There's a pair of steely blue eyes on top of the bananas, quickly ducking down as soon as it saw you snapping your eyes at it. Though, it was no use, it has already been caught and the mop of brunette can still be seen from your point of view.

"You know I can see you right?" Your voice laced with amusement as you spoke, already knew what the small guy is. The chibi tensed, the top of its head poking up more from behind the yellow fruit.

"Its okay, little guy, I'm not going to hurt you," you coaxed the chibi with a soft voice, letting them know you genuinely don't mean any harm. Regardless of how calm your voice sounds, your inner self is currently freaking out at this moment. Heart hammering against your chest as you anticipate on what's about to happen; excited to finally meet your chibi, the mini version of your soulmate!

Slowly but surely, you sees him peek half of his head to the side. Frosty blue eyes staring up at you cautiously-- curiously-- as he analyze your face for a moment before slowly completely stepping out from his hiding place, an arm behind his back.

You immediately noticed the mask that's covering the lower part of his face, and his clothes; some type of tactical gear.

Is your soulmate a soldier or something? An agent?

You were about to take a step forward to properly greet the chibi when he suddenly pulls out a knife from behind him, held by a metal arm, the same arm he's been hiding as he stepped out. A small, but surprisingly intimidating growl emits from him making you lift your hands up in surrender.

"Woah there, buddy! I thought chibis were supposed to be soft and loving? I didn't know they would also want to stab you in the freaking face!"

Another growl before he pulled out something from his thigh holster; a handgun.

You gulped. "Or two. Damn."

He didn't do anything but glare at you, and if looks could kill, you would've been six - no, sixty feet below right now. The chibi's action confuses you greatly, especially after hearing about them being really clingy and sweet towards their 'guardian'; not this!

My soulmate must be a real hot-headed motherfu--

Your thought was cut off by a low rumble that reverberated throughout the whole kitchen, disrupting the tense silence between the two of you. Looking around the kitchen and back down at the small, feisty chibi, you gave him a nervous smile and asks, "You hungry?"

The chibi's eyes flickers at the warm mug behind you then back up at your eyes, silently asking - no- commanding you. You cautiously and slowly dropped down your right hand, stiffening as you heard him cocked his tiny gun.

You doubt it could actually kill you but it still looks intimidating, especially the little guy who is aiming it at you.

"I'm just gonna give you the mug, see?" You grabbed the now warm cocoa and a thin straw you didn't know you'll actually need until now. Slowly making your way towards the counter where he stands, you carefully placing the coffee beside him before walking backwards on your previous spot.

He gingerly lowers his weapons, tucking them back inside his pocket and holster and walked towards the mug, not before giving you a warning look.

"Cookies?" You didng wait for a reply as you began searching through your cupboards, it's not like you expected it considering chibis can't talk.

The intimidating chibi watches you as he took a sip from the thin straw, following your every move with curious eyes. He can't help but feel guilty from his not-so-friendly first impression, it's his instinct to pull out a weapon - well, it's actually your soulmate's instinct, but there's truly nothing in his mind that could push him to actually hurt you.

Your soulmate would've done the same.

Placing the small plate of assorted cookies beside him, you crouched down and watches as he took a broken piece and began nibbling on it, giving you a chance to get a closer look at him.

His mask is now off and resting close to him, making you see his whole face. His lips are pink and a bit upturned on the sides, stubble around the lower part of his face. He looks gloomy and tired, like there's something bothering him for days - even months. No doubt there's not, from how he looks and how he acted a few minutes ago, you could instantly tell that your soulmate isn't like anybody else.

It scares you and excites you at the same time.

You came back to reality when you noticed that something is being pushed right in front of your face, it's a mini chocolate chip cookie. Trailing your eyes from the cookie and to the chibi who's holding it out for you, a smile adorned your face when you saw him looking to the side with a nonchalant look on his face, a small blush on his cheeks.

"Hey bubba? Have you seen my pen?" You mutter-ask from your spot on the couch, looking around for your pen. Bubba (What you decided to call him) opened his eyes from the armrest of the couch on your left, looking up at you while still nibbling on his plum.

It's been three year since your first meeting with your chibi and living with the little guy isn't as bad as you thought it would, just scary. He would still glare at you and send you frosty looks but only when you would do something stupid or idiotic, but he immediately warms up at you after a few days.

Bubba gave you an 'are you serious' look before lifting his flesh hand up and tapping his ears two times before lowering them back down on his half-eaten plum. You kink an eyebrow before reaching up to your right ear and felt the pen you've been looking for the past five minutes, propping your left arm on the armrest behind Bubba.

"Thanks, little dude!"

Bubba just sassily rolled his eyes before he resumed nibbling on his beloved plum, eyes closing in bliss and instinctively leaning back on your arm as he do so.

Who knew the grumpy chibi likes to cuddle and curl up against you when you're reading or working inside your office, sometimes would even take a nap on your shoulder, on top of your head, or your lap kid he feels like it.

What you also noticed is that the little guy likes to eat, a lot, he would practically order you around to make him something sweet or savory, maybe even both. You don't actually mind, you like taking care of him, you just wish you could also take care of your soulmate like how you would take care of the chibi.

You learned that if your chibi would act this way; asking for different kinds of foods and demands affection from you, that means your soulmate is craving them just as much. But sadly, you're not there to actually give him what he needs, you doubt the chibi version of yourself could... maybe?

Oh how it breaks your heart everytime.

Speaking of breaking your heart, how many times had you woken up at the sound of Bubba's whimpers and cries at early mornings around two or four. Everytime he would curl up against your chest, crying and clutching at your shirt as you let him soak your shirt with his tears.

"Hey-hey, it's okay. It's okay, Bubba. Shh, you're okay. I got you, don't worry." you cooed, scooping the chibi with both of your hands. Bubba's shaking immediately subsides the moment he felt your soft, gentle touch on his back, breathing heavily while tightening his hold on your thumb like it's his lifeline.

Glossy blue eyes looking up at you in pain and sadness; almost begging, lips quivering as tears began pouring out from his eyes. Your heart clenched inside your chest as you watched him breakdown in your hands.

You want to calm him down. You want to help him so bad to get rid of the pain, the sadness, but you can't. Unless your soulmate can't calm down, the chibi in your hands won't.

Thankfully, episodes like that don't happened often and doesn't last long - not anymore. A small mood swings here and there but it would almost always immediately diminished after a minute or two.

Your soulmate's chibi must be calming him down. Good job, me that is also not me.

When you go out which isn't that often considering you work from home-- also seeing that you don't have that much friends outside to go away with-- Bubba will be guarded and on your shoulder at all times with his small metal hand on the back of your neck. He'll always have that deep scowl on his face that only softening up when looking at you or when you offer him sweets - ice cream preferably.

You did left him one time, only coming back to a very stressed out and dishielved looking Bubba. Thinking at first that your soulmate is in another one of his heart wrenching episode, but it wasn't. You noticed it the moment you stepped inside the living room and seeing him perched up on the windowsill, his eyes immediately brightens up when he sees you - before frowning once again, crossing his arms over his chest and turning away from you with a pout.

You just sigh and didn't even make a move to hide the smile on your face.

Your chibi is such a drama queen.

[Chibi!Runningawayfromeveryone!Bucky]

You felt something lightly tickled your cheek but you're still sleepy to do anything about it, ignoring the next one your forehead, then on your other cheek, and then your temple. The small of plum and something woody with a hint of gun powder enters your nostril, a familiar scent you grew accustomed to for the past five years with your chibi.

"I'm awake. Geez, Bubba, good morning to you too." you chuckled, patting the said chibi on his head. Bubba grin up at you before giving you a sweet kiss on your nose then began nuzzling into your neck, sighing in content.

The temperature in Bucharest this time of year is quite cold but you're happy that it doesn't bother your chibi, he actually likes it. You decided to have a vacation; just you and Bubba, away from New York, your migraine inducing work - your family. It's all just too much for you to handle.

Bubba was the one who actually chose Bucharest for some unknown reason, he really wanted to go there and who are you to turn him down? Especially when he looks up at you with those big, pleading eyes of his.

Ugh. If this what your soulmate looks like, you don't know if you can handle him. You don't even know if you can say 'no' to him! Now that's scary.

Lifting up your gaze at the ceiling, a frown quickly replaced the soft smile on your face at the thought of your soulmate.

It's been five years since your chibi appeared and you're still yet to see him. You've hang out with the small group of friends you have, relatives, and even visit places you've never visited before with Bubba by your side, but it's all fruitless.

Maybe he's gone? No, Bubba is still here (snoring soundly). Maybe he don't want you? Can't be... right? Bubba likes you and find comfort in your touch. But... maybe it's just Bubba himself and not really your soulmate.

"Bubba stop moving around!" You hissed, gently grabbing the said chibi from your head. He started wriggling around like an excited puppy and tugging at your hair the moment the two of you stepped out from the hotel building, it's a weird behavior you haven't seen him in before.

"What got you so excited, little guy? We're just visiting the market nearby to buy some peaches... Maybe some plums as well. Actually, I'm craving for some corvig."

Bubba half-heartedly listened to you ramble while his eyes roams the market sharply, ears peeled and nose constantly sniffing the air. What you didn't know is that chibis will act like that-- excited and eyes darting from one place to another-- if it means your soulmate is nearby, their senses are tingling and they can feel their heart getting warmer the shorter the distance you are from your soulmate - also Bubba's too.

You stopped in the middle of the market, looking for the particular stall that sells peaches. Bubba is also looking around but for a different reason, absently clutching at his shirt where his supposedly heart is located.

"Why's there no fruit stalls around? Is it on the other side of the market?" You groaned, pulling out your phone. The people around you gave you looks, some with confusion but most of them are uneasiness, thinking you're somewhat scolding your chibi before going back to what they were doing, but now all of them had stepped/walked away from you.

It's not like you cared, the first thing on your mind right now is peaches and plums, also corvig.

You suddenly heard Bubba let out a noise, a squeak-like of grunt before scrambling off your shoulder and down to the pavement with ease. It took you a few seconds to comprehend what just happened before snapping out of it and sprinting towards where Bubba run off to.

Damn, didn't know chibis could run so fast.

"Bubba! Where are-- you." Your last word changed it's aim from Bubba to the man before you, staring back at you with the same surprised expression on his face. His hands are half stretched in front of him before dropping them down to his sides, straightening his back.

Your eyes swing down to the two chibis who are currently busy hugging each other, giggling as hearts and flowers practically floats around them. You watched as Bubba kissed the other chibi on the cheek before nuzzling his head on his shoulder, who squeaked in happiness before burying his face on his chest, obviously much more smaller that Bubba.

The chibi is... you - a chibi version of you exactly; dressed like you and almost looks exactly like you.

Gazing back up at the big version of Bubba or your soulmate, you cleared your throat and was about to step forward to introduce yourself when he suddenly took a step back, his left hand quickly moved to his back.

And then he growls.

You whole body steeled once you heard the sound left his lips and your hands are lifted up in a split second, enough to for him to notice but not enough draw any attention towards the both of you.

With him ready to pull out a weapon behind his back whilst glaring at you with ice-cold, guarded look in his eyes, and you with your hands up in surrender was all too familiar it makes you want to laugh and crack a joke.

"I thought soulmates were supposed to be soft and loving? I didn't know they would also want to stab you in the freaking face!"

Please tag me if you ever tried this Soulmate AU. I really want to read one 💕💕 I hope you enjoyed it. There's a part 2 but in Bucky's view of chibi!You suddenly popping up in his life like fairy god mother.

If there are misused words or wrong grammars, don't be shy to tell me!

413 notes · View notes

btsblues · 4 years ago

Text

A guide to BTS's ARMY.

gif originally posted by SPJM

If you heard some lines like, "Dy-na-na-na, na-na, na-na-na, na-na, life is dynamite!" You become curious who's the singer of the song, you heard that this K-Pop boy band has already debuted in Hollywood too. This is how your curiosity killed the cat, you searched the famous boy band, BTS.

As your researching is getting longer, you got to know your oppas and finally became an ARMY — Adorable Representative M.C for Youth. Now that you're new to fandom, you also need to know these etiquettes so your maturity will be well-trained as well as getting to know the members of BTS, where it is composed of seven, lucky members. Namely — RM (Rap Monster), Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and last but not the least, Jungkook.

Be yourself — during Love Yourself era, the songs and concepts are all about loving yourself. Wherein a person had failed to love another person (breakup) has to learn to love itself again. It's the same if you're new to fandom, you don't need to pretend like you're an old fan of BTS, love yourself as a new fan. There's nothing wrong on being new into the fandom! Just love yourself and be who you are.

Make BTS as your inspiration — many people say, "K-Pop is a distraction to your studies". Well, you can't say NO or YES because that depends on how we deal with it. Make BTS as your inspiration, especially to your studies! For example, you need to study hard and sincere to meet them in real life.

FUN FACT! Did you know that I (admin) gained many medals, ribbons and certificates ever since I stanned BTS (BLACKPINK and EXO)? Although, I'm really the type of student who receives an academic award every year, but BTS (BLACKPINK and EXO) even made me worked harder. I even ranked 5th over hundreds of students when I was in sixth grade.

Stream and Vote! — streaming their music videos on YouTube is an enormous amount of help, especially if you stream them for many times. Also, if you have Spotify or SoundCloud, listen to their high quality music. It'll help BTS (and your favorite artists) to gain awards and be closer to success! Also, vote from these famous award shows like Golden Disc Awards (GDA), Korean Grammys, Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA), Melon Music Awards (MMA), and many more.

Be a friendly fan — the fandom is getting toxic as it gets more popularity. Being matured enough person will avoid fanwars, where there would be a toxic fight from different fandoms. If we'll be friendly, it'll be a happy thing for our idols. That would make them proud of us, so please stop doing bad things that can cause ugly image to our boys. It's not what you think that they'll be happy at what you are doing, especially if it's obviously wrong.

What if this fan from another fandom (either not) is attacking my idols? Why I can't be mad of it, huh?! Who are they to make shit out of my idols? — Calm down. Not people are perfect though. There's nothing good or evil people in this world, it's just that the situation makes us look bad, and that made it imperfect and have flaws. If this another fan from another fandom or also an ARMY, you can't declare a WWIII (World War 3). If this person disrespected your opinion, then block or mute it. Don't fight with anyone, especially you don't know who that person is. Just respect its own opinion even it's not your taste. We have our own standards and neither you and I can control them. Talk with them calmly and say that you respect their opinion, also tell them that they need to respect you too. Unfortunately, if the person you're talking is close-minded, I'm afraid that you should end the conversation and let it go instead. If you need more questions regarding to this topic, kindly PM me!

Respect each other's OTP's — One True Pairing(s) or also known as OTP. This is where we ship idols either in a friendly (bromance or girl-romance) way or romantic (true love) way. There's nothing wrong on shipping, but always remember that each of us has limitations when it's come to the idol's privacy. We need to respect their personal lives. Trust them only. I advice you to not trust Dispatch, K-medias, international medias, etc. JUST TRUST YOUR IDOLS. And back to shipping, don't compare your OTP to other's OTP, especially if that's not their taste. Let's just respect each other's OTP's and our idol's privacy.

Listen to BTS's music — the best etiquette, to be honest. Whatever you feel, whether you're happy or not, listen to Bangtan's music. Love Yourself, Map of The Soul: Persona, Map of The Soul: 7 and BE are not the only choices you can have, but you have many more than you imagined! Plus, you can listen to other solo mixtapes of the members.

So, that's all for today's blog! I hope these etiquettes will help you. I'll post more blogs about BTS, especially about their song meanings/theories and my fangirl experiences as an ARMY (maybe I'll mix my BLINK and EXO-L blood? Any BLINKs and EXO-Ls there?).

BTS song of the day: Not Today — I would like to recommend this song! If you feel giving up and you wanna throw yourself away as if you're just a useless rock, then play this song because it's NOT TODAY! We'll just survive no matter how the circle kept on rolling, we have our ups and downs. Also, the melody of this song feels like you're going on a war, like a bulletproof boy/girl scout.

In the first verse that sung by RM, "A day may come when we lose. But it is not today. Today we fight." So what are you waiting for? "Aim your gun. Ready! Fire!" (Chong. Jojun! Balsa!/총. 조준! 발사!)

Like and Reblog to share this to your K-Pop friends!

10 notes · View notes

womanwhowritesformany · 4 years ago

Text

We’ll Be Alright

Ellie x Original Female Character

summary— When Ellie and Joel arrived in Jackson County years ago, Lars was another teenage girl that Ellie met. The two of them instantly clicked over their shared experience of losing family, knowing how to use a gun and bonded over the nature of Wyoming, drawing and the music they found. As Lars and Ellie grow up side by side their friendship grows stronger, and when they're old enough for patrols, it goes further than friendship... but sometimes things like this is hard to figure out, especially when you barely have experience.

*this one shot can also be found on my A03 account @ womanwhowritesformany

warnings: none + no spoilers. just fluff. friends to lovers

When Ellie and Joel arrived in Jackson County years ago, Lars was another teenage girl that Ellie met. The two of them instantly clicked over their shared experience of losing family, knowing how to use a gun and bonded over the nature of Wyoming, drawing and the music they found. As Lars and Ellie grow up side by side their friendship grows stronger, and when they're old enough for patrols, it goes further than friendship... but sometimes things like this are hard to figure out, especially when you barely have experience. But when a girl named Ellie and her dad Joel (she assumed it was her dad, but later found out that it wasn't actually her dad), Lars immediately showed Ellie the county.

Although the man, Joel, was very protective and followed the two around the whole entire day, not leaving Ellie's side. But as the days and weeks went on, Joel realized Ellie had made a friend. Lars and Ellie were close, doing almost everything together and it gave Joel a reason to smile, despite everything that was going on in his head. “Hi! My name is Lars.” She’d introduce herself, smiling very big, missing a baby tooth or two. “Lars is just my nickname, my real name is Larsa. Please, don’t call me Larsa!” Her eyes were wide.

“I’m Ellie.” She would say, standing with her arms strictly at her side with her posture straight and chest out (like Joel had stood most of the time to push off the impression he was strong).

Ellie felt a bit overwhelmed at Lars’ presence; She was very eccentric, the way she had worn mixed up clothes but somehow made it work, the way her hair was cut short and usually messy, but extremely stylish. Lars may have been awkward with things she would say, or how she stood, but she was always an extrovert, and that worked. But within the hour that they met, Ellie was extremely excited to have a new friend.

For the few years they had become friends, their friendship blossomed into something special. It was like they had known each other since they were young, but in reality, it was just a couple of years. And now, they were finally old enough to go out on patrols together. When the days they weren't out on patrol or going on runs, they were either hanging out like teens normally do with others. But sometimes, almost every night, Lars and Ellie would stay up talking all through the night about anything and everything. They were always both curious, except Ellie was a bit more reserved with her feelings; that’s where her room really showed off who Ellie was. And Lars loved that. Posters, music, books and numerous drawings of Ellie’s and even sketchbooks lying around. And as for Lars, well, she was very energetic and always spoke about the movies she remembers and the movies she would see here in Jackson, Lars was curious about everything, and soon enough, she became curious about love. She saw in the movies all the time a man and woman falling in love, so she wondered if that would ever happen to her.

Lars took the definition of love from the movies she saw and the books she read (the books were from Ellie’s room) and the more she focused on it, the more she applied it to herself and Ellie. And that had suddenly sparked an epiphany on her feelings towards Ellie.

No matter how much Lars constantly spoke and hardly ran out of energy, Ellie liked it. And that’s where Ellie felt curious about feeling something for someone.

Curiosity for them both, was more than just their realization of what they felt for one another. Obviously, they kept it to themselves. But the curiosity for liking each other had reached a small amount of physicality. Their hands would brush against each other whenever they were alone in Ellie’s room, or during a movie at the small theater in Jackson. (They were both completely oblivious to their feelings, but other people weren’t - they picked up on a special bond between them two. Especially Joel. Joel knew something was happening before they did. He knew, and he was happy for Ellie - happy for Lars. He could barely admit to himself, but he was excited to see it blossom).

They were on patrol. Ellie was sitting in a chair with her gun by her side, watching the trees that moved in the distance as the leaves would fall off of the branches. Winter was about to arrive, and they felt it as the air got colder and crisper. Lars stood just a few inches away from Ellie, her back against the wooden wall of a small cabin like home. It was getting darker out, and soon they would leave so another pair could take over for the rest of the night.

"Whatcha thinkin' about over there?" Lars asked, as she observed Ellie's face, the moonlight shining on her making her face glow.

She shrugs in response and tilts her head to look at Lars. "I don't know."

"You don't know? Jesus, Ellie, your face is so scrunched up." She laughs, walking over to sit by her. "You alright?"

"I think so," ellie answers, "just your typical teenage stuff."

"You know I understand all too well! I mean, just last week, Jesse was trying to go on a date with me. A date! Like seriously, where do you go on dates around here? The community's hall where you eat? And besides, Dina and Jesse are good together. I think. They do argue a lot, but then again it's not my problem. Also, Jesse is cute--adorable and all, but he's not my type. At all."

Lars looks over to Ellie, who wears a blank expression as she blinks at Lars. "What?"

"You really ramble a lot." Ellie smiles.

"Oh sorry."

"Lars, when do you ever have to be sorry to me?" She bumps her shoulder into hers. "You're being you, and that's great. You're great."

Lars starts to panic internally, as she takes in Ellie's compliments and her support of her awkwardness. "Oh Ellie, thank you." Her cheeks begin to heat up.

"So, why don't you like Jesse? Besides Dina being in the picture."

"I said he's just not my type." Lars answers, looking away. She begins to think about Ellie, the friendship they shared all these years. How grateful she was to find someone like Ellie, the way she just came into Jackson and in her life out of the blue. The nights they spent together, whether it was up and out here on patrols, or inside her little home with Ellie's drawings and posters and books and sketchbooks everywhere. The way Ellie would look out for her and the way she would look out for Ellie. She felt almost too lucky... and suddenly, Lars is staring at her, without noticing that Ellie is paying attention. She looks at all her freckles that cover her face faintly but still noticeable. She likes her nose, the way it's small and just perfectly fits Ellie's face. The way her eyebrows pull in and her lips scrunching up to the side. Oh.. her lips. Her pouty, adorable lips.

"Can I kiss you?" Lars blurts out, and immediately regrets it as she averts her gaze away from Ellie's and to outside. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking."

"Lars." Ellie pulls her shoulder so that she could look at her. "Its okay, really."

"Yeah, good. Just forget it." She nods.

"No, really. It's okay."

Lars is confused, but once Ellie pulls on her arm, she cups her hands on Lars' jaw on both sides and looks into her eyes. "It's alright."

"You don't have to do this for my sake, Ellie. Just forget it." She didn't want sympathy, not now and not ever. From no one, especially Ellie.

Ellie chuckles, then pulls her face in and hovers her lips over Lars'. They face each other, lips centimeters away. Lars' breathing picks up as she panics, gulping away as she's so not ready for her first kiss. But then it happens. She feels the softness of her lips, but such a strong force it was. It was euphoric, Lars swore she was on fire by how heated she got, how the butterflies in her stomach were an infinite amount, just fluttering away with nowhere to go.

It was sorta ironic, a bit funny too, that Ellie was the one to be so energetic with the kiss and not being shy about it. Whereas Lars was the shyest she had ever been. The kiss between the two friends had advanced from a peck, to a full on almost making out, lips fighting each other for dominance. Although Lars wanted to be the one to control it, Ellie wasn’t having it; the way she held Lars almost still as her lips molded onto hers, very rarely giving a bite or two, it had made both the girls let out their own type of moan; Lars’s surprisingly like a wince, and Ellie’s almost like a growl.

Once Ellie pulls away, they sit breathless, eyes still closed. .

“I really want to say what's on my mind right now, but I am so scared.” Lars admits, keeping her eyes shut.

“Hey there, don’t go shy on me now.” Ellie kept her hand on Lars’ cheek as she emphasized the ‘now’. “It’s okay, it’s just me, Lars.”

“Yeah I know,” she scoffs, “that’s what makes me scared.”

Ellie leans in and kisses her jaw, then slowly up to the corners of her mouth and finally reaches her lips, tongue slightly running over her bottom lip. Lars shivers as the gesture. “Whatever you want to say, I guarantee you I won’t run.”

Lars opens her eyes to see Ellie staring at her. She sighs and squeezes Ellie’s thigh. “I think I’ve loved you for some time.”

“Loved?” Ellie teases.

“Ellie…” She sighs as she blushes. “I do..I do love you.”

“I love you too, Lars. Just like you, I think I always have.”

They sit there during the remaining time on patrol, waiting for the others to come relieve them. Side by side, their thighs are squeezed against each other as they keep their hands on their weapons, to be responsible and ready for any clickers, stalkers or even people that come along. Ellie glances over at Lars a few times, just soaking the feeling of how she made her feel, in. This meant something more now, more than just a friendship.

"By the way, what and who the hell is your type?"

Lars shyly smiles, leaning into Ellie's tattooed arm, "You."

“Was it like the movies?”

“What are you talking about Ellie?”

“The kiss. This…” She intertwines her hand with Lars’ and squeezes it. “Was it like the movies you’ve seen.”

“No,” Lars tilts her head up on Ellie’s shoulder and stares. She can see Ellie’s eyebrows furrowed in, and her lips in a pout. “Because when I watched every movie with love or whatever, it just never had someone like you or me. So, I guess I’m trying to say it was better than the movies.”

Lars tilts her head back and lets her lips kiss on the inside of Ellie’s neck, and that’s when she relaxes, finally content with something in her life. “This isn’t going to ruin anything right? Between us.” she asks as she cuddles further into her neck.

“Nah,” she feels Ellie shake her head. “I think we’ll be alright. Yeah, we’ll be alright.”

#TLOU #TLOU2 #the last of us 2 #ellie #ellie williams #ellie x ofc #ellie x original female character #ellie + ofc #original female character #ellie one shot #tlou2 one shot #tlou2 ellie #no spoilers #i promise #friends to lovers #joel #womanwhowritesformany

9 notes · View notes

pynkhues · 5 years ago

Note

Since you're a writer, I'm hoping you can shed some light on this. IMO the writers were chasing viewers in S2 and trying not to get canceled. Personally, I hate when writers toy with their audience, it means they don't have a clear picture of their characters and narrative. How do you feel about writers making it up as they go?

Ah, this post got really long, anon! Since you asked me as a writer, I’m answering as one (I hope you don’t mind! I also hope this doesnt come out as too Creative Writing 101 for people either. This is just lessons I’ve learned and use in my own practice, so I’m applying them here.)

(Also I have drawn horrible diagrams on my very pink notebook paper - I am so sorry, haha)

So first thing’s first - no. I don’t think the writers were chasing viewers (at least not beyond the way any writer is wanting an audience), and I don’t think they were making it up as they go really, but I can understand why you would think that way!

It won’t be a surprise to anyone that I love this show a lot, but coming from it as both a writer and editor - this show does have narrative problems, and the biggest ones, particularly in s2, are in execution, escalation and pacing.

I think heading into the season they had certain character arcs they wanted to follow which married well with the story they wanted to tell. In particular, I actually think the writers have a very strong handle on the girls (I will say that I’ve had a few asks telling me Beth’s characterisation is all over the place, which I’m curious about, just because I personally find her very consistent, and when I’ve asked for clarification, I’ve never gotten any reply, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

I mean, look at their s2 arcs on paper, right?

Ruby tries to negotiate Stan’s lowered opinion of her after the reveal of what she’s done, then has to negotiate him telling her to turn Beth and Annie in. She manages the situation painfully but pulls them through and they’re close again as Ruby navigates the increasingly lower depths of their crime life. When Stan acts to save Beth for Ruby and is arrested, it only escalates – the case on him driving Ruby to extremes to try and save him, including robbing a Quick Cash and using counterfeit money to bribe a lawyer. On top of that, she’s being targeted by an FBI agent who’s after her best friend who she gives up and then saves and then who tries to sacrifice herself for them. Ruby finishes the season the most morally compromised she’s ever been.

Annie gets back together with her ex only to find out that he’s gotten his not-quite-separated-wife pregnant. She splits up with him, but is heartbroken and it’s only amplified by the fact that they’ve been given a job by their Crime Boss to murder a man who tried to rape her but who’s grandmother she has a relationship with. Her sister can’t kill him, and Annie doesn’t get the chance as MP beats her to it. Upon disposing of the body though she endures a whole lot of pain as a result of both her ex’s new family and knowing she’s robbed a woman of her own. Annie goes on a guilt tour – tells her son, helps Marion, helps Nancy only to eventually find an absolver of her guilt in Noah, who builds her up and tells her she’s more than what life has given her. She lets herself have it for a while, before realising he’s FBI and there to trap her, and Annie tries to use him only to realise she can’t, and she finishes the season in a lot more hurt than she started it.

Beth struggles with guilt after getting Dean shot, gets the job to kill Boomer from Rio, can’t do it, gets support and encouragement from him (in various states of animosity), but in the end doesn’t have to find out if she can do it because MP does it instead. She’s rewarded by Rio in a way she probably never has been by anyone, her husband further subjugates her, so she has sex with Rio, starts to entertain a future with him, but he undermines her, so she seizes control from him. They work together. Dean forces her to break up with him due to jealousy, she struggles, goes back, but Rio’s stung, so unhelpful, and they play a little cat and mouse before he bails then kidnaps her and she shoots him.

With the exception of that very last sentence, I think all of those are narratively really strong pathways to have explored. Like I said above though, the issue is in execution, escalation and pacing.

But to talk about those things, I think I probably need to talk about story.

SO!

Stories have a shape.

Kurt Vonnegut talks extensively about this, and while he’ll talk about a few different types of story shapes, they really all boil down to this bad boy here:

Look at this guy.

What a beautiful thing.

He’s a story.

It doesn’t matter if you’re reading Dr Seuss or Charles Dickens, when you read a story – when you strip away its words and its characters and its settings – this is what it looks like.

Or, well.

Not quite.

Really, it’s this guy:

But we’ll talk about him in a sec.

Right now, let’s talk about that first little inch:

The Beginning

The fact that stories have a beginning is not a surprise to anyone. Stories need them. In some ways, they’re the most important part of your story. After all, the job of the beginning is to set up the world your protagonist is about to leave behind. That is essential in grounding a reader / viewer – orienting them to the world that they’re in, and getting them invested in the story you’re about to tell, if not the protagonist.

Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Game of Thrones are all excellent example of this (and frequently used in teaching) because in each of these cases it’s literal. Frodo leaves Bag End, Harry leave Privet Drive, Luke leaves Tatooine, the Starks leave Winterfell. There is a literal departure from the world before the crux of the story, and that departure is what signifies the start of the ‘hero journey’ aka the main part of your narrative.

Of course, it’s not always literal – in fact, it’s usually not. Usually that world is symbolic – it’s the single, uncertain world before the Bingley’s buy the house next door in Pride and Prejudice or the dry domestic sphere of Breaking Bad before Walt decides to make meth. It’s a marked shift, whether that’s internal or external.

In Good Girls, it’s internal.

The beginning is actually pretty perfect. The world it sets up that we’re about to (try to) depart is one of struggle and invisibility.

Beth’s in a loveless marriage promptly discovering that her husband is not only cheating but about to leave them destitute, Ruby’s getting ignored by the healthcare system and can’t afford to pay for her daughter’s wellbeing, and Annie is in a dead end job about to lose custody of her child.

Writing-wise – as a beginning, I honestly think 1.01 is close to perfect.

It sets up who these characters are, their personal conflicts, and the story world they share together, and the worlds they have on their own i.e. Ruby at the hospital and the diner, Annie at Fine and Frugal, Beth with Dean and Boland Motors.

Then:

BOOM

Inciting Incident.

The inciting incident is also often called The Point of No Return.

When I’m teaching, I personally like to call it the “You’re a wizard!” moment.

It’s when something happens that means everything set up in the beginning will be changed forever. It’s Romeo meeting Juliet, it’s Katniss volunteering for Prim, it’s Frodo deciding to take the ring to Mordor, it’s Jaimie pushing a child out a window, it’s Beth – deciding to take her little sister’s joke seriously and rob a grocery store.

(Again, I like to use Harry Potter because it’s literal – there is no return for Harry after hearing Hagrid tell him he’s a wizard. Everything is changed forever).

Inciting incidents are probably the most singularly important narrative moment, because they’re what everything else tumbles out of. Pretty much everything that happens in the story should be a direct or indirect result of the inciting incident. The inciting incident is ultimately the key of the story and what should unlock the overall arc.

When it comes to a series – whether that be a TV series, movie series or book series, each individual instalment (see: season of a show) should have its own inciting incident which – preferably – builds off the one established in the first instalment.

The Hunger Games does this really well. Katniss and Peeta being brought back into the games in Catching Fire is both an imitation inciting incident which allows the author to explore the story world further in an exciting way, and also an inciting incident that’s directly borne out of the first book / film – aka Katniss pissed enough people off during the first games that they’re going to try and kill her for real this time, which in turn gives us the opportunity to explore Katniss’ trauma, the ramifications of her actions in the first book on the broader story world, and to generate a new, compelling chapter based off of both.

Good Girls has a terrific inciting incident in s1 – which is Beth realising she’s about to lose everything.

That is our narrative point of no return.

And it works on a lot of levels – it establishes Beth as the driving engine of the story, fuelled by the chorus motivations of Annie and Ruby, rounding off both their collective and individual stakes, it sets us up for a strong narrative spine and solid characterisations.

Good Girls actually also has a terrific inciting incident in s2, which operates strongly on its own while also building firmly off the character arcs of s1.

The s2 inciting incident is Rio showing up on that park bench with Marcus, a gun and an order.

The story pivots here – giving Rio a lot of narrative thrust (get your minds out of the gutter kids), and making him a sort of secondary story engine. The core engine is still Beth, but her life is different now. She’s been traumatised and she’s exhausted, but Rio revealing his son to the girls (and tying their motivations up together in a neat little package) while forcing her to act, re-establishes her as the person who’s decisions are going to be the driving force of the narrative.

Ruby and Annie are, of course, story engines in their own right too, but they fall into line behind Beth usually, and their narrative push is actually usually away from the story throughline, but we’ll talk about that in a sec.

Rising Tension / The Middle

Okay, this is where things get a little tricky.

Do you remember this guy?

When we talk about stories, rising tension / the middle is the big guy. It’s the bulk of your narrative. It’s Where Things Happen. It’s where all the ugly stuff set up in your beginning and exploded by your inciting incident just - - grows a life of it’s own.

Or - -

Well.

Maybe not.

Forget about this guy.

Rising tension is this:

Rising tension is a series of ‘mini climaxes’ on the way to the main climax that raises the stakes, lets you know characters better, and pushes your characters onwards to the main climax.

Each of these little climaxes should be followed by a ‘narrative rest’. (that’s the dip after each spike)

Which - - I don’t know, might sound weird? I know when I started writing I was like ?? but it’s true! The closer you get to a big narrative climax, the more important rests are! Rests are – I personally think – one of the most important components of storytelling, because they re-ground an audience, remind them of what’s at stake, before thrusting everyone back into danger.

Again, Harry Potter is a gift in this sense because this is all really clearly paced out. Think about the first instalment – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s / Sorcerer’s Stone.

Harry and Ron save Hermione and Ron from the troll!!!

Then they become friends and enjoy school and quidditch.

Harry loses control of his broom during a quidditch game!!!!

He’s okay and then it’s Christmas and Harry gets the invisibility cloak and feels connected to his parents for perhaps the first time in his life.

Harry, Hermione and Ron go through the trapdoor to get the philosopher’s stone!!!

And - - okay, you get the point.

Each mini climax ups the stakes, but we feel those stakes upped because of the time we spend with characters during the ‘narrative rest’. For instance, while Harry and Ron saving Hermione from the troll might have sparked an interest in her, it’s the narrative rest scenes between that and her setting Snape on fire during the quidditch game that makes us invest in her as a character.

This is where things get a bit hairy with Good Girls. Good Girls does a tremendous job of giving us both great climaxes and wonderful moments of narrative rest. The issue, for me at least, is that it’s not always the best at balancing them. When I talk about escalation and pacing, this is a big part of what I mean.

Remember how I said this was the shape of a story?

Well, I think Good Girls s2 looked more like this:

We had a lot of solid movement in the first half of the season that sort of flattened out into a lower stakes, more meandering middle (which gave us 2.08 through 2.12). Which - -

Look.

The story changed gear, and it didn’t work.

Think of it this way:

2.01 – mostly character-based fallout from s1 + inciting incident of Rio handing them the gun

2.02 – almost entirely rising tension culminating with the girls bribing Boomer and Beth lying to Rio

2.03 – which thrusts us straight back into rising tension with the girls trying to kill Boomer and ‘succeeding’ via Mary Pat

2.04 – which gives us a very satisfying narrative rest as we explore Rio and Beth’s relationship outside of an overall narrative thrust – he gives her a key, she shies away from him, only to fall entirely back into him culminating in sex which itself brings about a new climax (no pun intended!) in the scene with Beth, Rio and Dean at the dealership. It’s also a strong character episode in closing certain plot threads – ending Annie and Greg’s relationship + ending Ruby lying to Stan about what they’re doing – while establishing major new threads – i.e. really colliding Turner and Mary Pat.

2.05 – and after the rest, we’re back to almost entirely satisfying rising tension! Building off of the threat of finding Boomer’s body and the new tensions that Rio and Beth’s intimacy brings.

2.06 – a mix episode! Very much building to the strong climax of Beth seizing power, but also an episode that plays around with character, has a lot of strong ‘rest’ moments i.e. the girls sorting pills and talking which gives us a lot of information as to state of minds, etc.

2.07 – again, very strong mixed episode which is focused on one single, extreme climax – Jane being missing, but building a very character-centric episode around it. Also introduces Noah though? Which is a mistake. He should have been introduced - I think, in 2.05, but that feels like a whole other post.

2.08 – narratively speaking the same as 2.07 in the sense of a single climax (the girls failing to get the money back / the Beth-Ruby confrontation), but has the added bonus of flashbacks.

2.09 – we have a slight narrative thrust with the robbery of the Quick Cash but it proves very quickly to be low stakes. This is an alllll emotional stakes episode, which means narrative tension is slowing.

2.10 – again, a character-focused, narrative rest episode devoted to Beth struggling with getting square. A few small climaxes – Annie and Ruby in Canada and Turner at the dealership being the big ones, but both quickly prove toothless. The heft / strength of the episode again is in character moments, not narrative thrust. Again - slowing it down.

2.11 – oh, what do we have here? Another character-focused, narrative rest episode? I love this episode – it’s one of my favourites of the show, but it’s intensely character focused. Very much centred in waving away the smoke around both Noah and Rio for Annie and Beth respectively. No dramatic climaxes. Slowing the story down even further.

2.12 – another narrative rest episode. A lot of slow exposition of Mary Pat and Jeff, which is good to know, but I’d argue placed badly in the season. This season’s already been slowing down despite the narrative timeline tightening, but this episode only further pushes on the brakes for Dean’s new job, Beth and Dean’s divorce, Beth and Rio’s break up. Two very small climaxes - the lawyer telling Ruby he knows about the money and the Boomer reveal but - in the context of the season - actually pretty low stakes. Again. Slowing down the narrative.

2.13 – A BIG CLIMAX EPISODE WHAT IS GOING ON???

What I’m saying in this is that the pacing in the back half of the season was, to me at least, fundamentally off. They hadn’t steered a strong enough narrative spine to take us through the season, and got heavily invested in character moments and not-entirely-thought-out-fallout in the back half of the season – it didn’t understand it’s own narrative thrust well enough to get us through. It also established a certain pacing with us in the first half of the season and shifted gears halfway through.

You can’t have your first three or six episodes be high-stakes-high-action, and then make the back end of your season same-stakes-low-action and top it all off with an explosive, poorly built-up finale in the way that they did.

There wasn’t enough thrust to push us through to the scene in Rio’s loft – neither narratively or in a character sense, and as a result, those last few episodes fall apart. Even beyond that though, the season escalated quickly then - - didn’t really know what to do with those escalations? It plateaued, which is indicative of bad pacing across the season.

I actually do think it’d be a relatively easy fix? I’d bring the Noah arc forwards and actually fiddle with the Beth and Rio break ups - get one even closer the tinale and make it more painful. Make it a climax in itself.

But anyway, haha:

The Resolution

All stories have a resolution too of course.

The resolution can be 30 seconds or 30 minutes – it’s a time to tie up loose ends and to reassure your audience that the journey they’ve been on is worthwhile.

(After all – you’ll notice the story diagram is not symmetrical – we never finish where we began).

I’m not going to talk too much about resolutions because at the end of the day – resolutions should fall fairly naturally out of your beginning, your inciting incident, your rising tension. It should tumble out like the double wedding at the end of Pride and Prejudice, but I will say that the s2 resolution was...err, not good. In no small part because it didn’t fall out of what we’d been told all season. They’d established a certain throughline and then taken it back, and that was nagl to be honest.

On the plus side though - it wasn’t a finale, so I have my fingers crossed they can fix it!

But yes, back to your ask, anon.

No, I don’t think that the writers were pandering. I think they went in with a sketched outline and that they probably got lost in the back end of the season and weren’t quite sure how to drum up the final act, which meant that final act didn’t work.

Ah, this post got so long! I hope it wasn’t boring or too self-indulgent or silly, and that you got something out of it! I am, of course, always happy to answer writing questions, and I hope you liked reading my story ramblings ;-)

#writing posts #gg season 2 #welcome to my ama

60 notes · View notes

thealternateuniverse · 5 years ago

Text

CANDY

WORD COUNT: 3000+

Please let me know if you wanted to be tagged 😊

Summary: Where Colson meets the girl in a strip club and kept thinking of her the whole time.

"AAAAAAY!! COME HERE BABY!"

Vegas has the best strip clubs. Dang the girls here are hot. Like with this one and Colson has been staring at her while she perform. He couldn't take his eyes off her.

"What's your name baby?"

Aww what a vixen. She stood out among all the strippers here, and she's the star stripper for tonight.

"Candy." That's her stripper name but he wanted to know her real name. "Well I'm curious how sweet you taste Candy, wanna have fun tonight?" Candy leaned down in front of him, both hands on his lap.

"Oh? But aren't you a community dick?" His friends 'oohed' by Candy's remark. He felt himself blush too because he was never sacked like what this girl did.

"Sorry Mr. Hotshot, got better dicks to pull." The woman blew him a flying kiss and a wink leaving him agape.

"Yo! What the fuck! Kells you alright?" Slim slapped his shoulders then the gang started laughing again.

That was so mean, shouldn't be strippers throwing their selves to the famous? Then what the hell was that?

Shaking his head and shrug off what happened, Kells looked around to see if there's someone who can give him a lap dance or something to forget that Candy girl.

But he couldn't, so he brought a girl in their hotel and fuck her senseless thinking she is Candy.

---------

The gang just got back to L.A when Colson recieved a call saying he's been invited to Paris fashion week. Even though he barely rested he flew to Paris for the said event, heck he still have hangover.

Some of the guests are A-list celebrities and he feels a bit out of place he thank gods when Douglas is also here too.

"Dude, this is overwhelming." Douglas is pacing back and forth in their dressing room while he's pulling up his tight leather pants.

"Yeah, to think you have to wear this expensive clothing."

Kells is still trying to zip up his pants and when he did he groaned because his bulge is too obvious, for sure everyone in the net will be feasting his package later when their photos will come out.

"Can we fast forward and go to the after party already?"

Kells grinned. "Hell yeah." Kells loves party and he will party hard later and weed of course, he haven't smoked a blunt since he got here.

Douglas and him went to the event running late, they were mob by paparazzis before peacefully entering the venue.

"Now showtime."

They were seated not too far from T-stage and can clearly see the models. Kells started get bored so he scrolled in instagram looking from time to time to the show.

He almost drop his phone when he saw a familiar looking woman walking down the runway.

He even blink his eyes to check of he is not hallucinating.

"Holy Shit. I didn't take any drugs or weed am I?" His mouth in agape while his sight followed a certain someone walking in the damn catwalk. It's Candy.

The stripper from Vegas, the only difference is this one is a brunette Candy was blonde.

Impossible. He shook his head, maybe he was just hallucinating or hangover. Damn that woman, can't get off his mind, he needs a fuck later.

Suddenly he is interested in the show. He waited until the final walk and all models are on stage.

His gaze landed on Candy, and never look anywhere.

"I see you are already interested at someone." Douglas nudged him but his sight never left Candy.

"That's Nicole Mckagan." He look at Douglas this time, brows furrowing.

"She's related to Duff Mckagan?"

She is related to Duff Mckagan, indeed she is.

"Yep. She's the third daughter, she's his wife's niece but the couple adopted her." No wonder this one has the Susan Holmes edge.

But he could be wrong, this couldn't be her. She is known in the industry and why would she be a stripper?

----

The show was a blast and everyone hugged together backstage after the show. Nicole was overwhelmed by the success and also being part of it.

This was one of her dream, to walk in Paris fashion show though runways aren't new to her anymore. She only wish Mae was with her but her sister is also somewhere doing a show, they are kicking ass in fashion and their parents couldn't be more proud.

"What are we waiting for? Let's get the party started!"

Everyone changed to their after party outfits, Nicole changed into her body con dress pairing it with a high thigh boots and a faux fur.

It was all flashing of lights and shouts from paparazzis when they one by one left the venue. Famous models were mobbed by pops and some A-list celebs.

"Biiiiitchh!"

She turned when she heard that familiar voice. It's none other than her sister/cousin Grace. The eldest among them.

"Grace." Grace Mckagan ran to her and embraced her in a bear hug. Because of her heels Grace looked even smaller. They are all gracefully tall but Grace is the shortest of the three. "Can't believe you flew to Paris." She kisses her sister's cheek.

"Well mom and dad went to NYC for Mae so I came to Paris for you."

Their parents are supportive and never misses when it comes to their big shows so someone must come to watch.

"I love you, now why don't you come to the after party with me?"

They went to Nicole's car waiting. "Yes please. You're killing that faux fur though."

They both giggled. The two catch up while in the car. Grace had been busy with her gigs, she's the only one who pursued music in the family. Mae is good with music too but it is not just her path of career.

Even though they aren't her real parents she is thankful for them for bringing her into their life. She couldn't remember her real parents, because they died in a car crash when she was just a baby and the Mckagans adopted her. Her mom now (Susan) was her aunt biologically but since they adopted her she considers her as her real mom same with Duff.

They arrived at the party and everyone turned their direction to them. They are quiet known but not that famous so its no surprise when there are head turning sometimes.

"Oh my gosh Graceyy!" Taylor, Nicole's friend ran to Grace to hug her.

"Tay!" Taylor is a Victoria Secret Angel and a humble person who really worked their way to the top.

"What's up Tay, nice show by the way." Grace kissed Taylor, Taylor rolled her eyes. "Well yeah but RIP to my feet. These heels are killing me. C'mon girls let's enjoy the part."

The place is crowded but not in a suffocating way.

"You go girls I'll just go to the washroom."

Taylor and Grace went to their fun while she went to the long line of bathroom.

She is rummaging through her purse when she bump into someone really tall.

"I'm sorry I wasn't look---"

"It's alright Candy."

She stopped in her tracks and look up to see the person she bumped with.

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

"Fancy seeing you here eh?"

He knew her. He recognized her. The person she avoided to see ever again.

"Come on forgot me already?"

A smirk formed in his lips. She dreaded this day that they will meet each other again after that stupid dare in sin city.

They were having fun that time in Vegas, she lost in a game and stripping was one of the consequences it was just unfortunate that she encountered Machine Gun Kelly and they meet again today and for sure he already found out who she is. She will be in doom.

"I'm----I--I----fuck damn it."

Nicole pulled him out of that place and they went somewhere less crowded. She lets go of his hand and face him.

"O-okay first, forget that it happened and I wasn't the person you met that time. It was------ god just forget it."

Kells smiled. He don't know but he find the situation amusing.

He just wanted to know her and fuck her but Nicole Mckagan is something else. Why was she in that strip club by the way?

"Well Candy---"

"And don't call me that." Nicole cut him off. He grins.

"Okay but Candy, you know I'm not the type of person who forgets easily. Especially when they blackballed me."

Candy--Nicole's jaw dropped again for the second time.

"Please just forget it and---and don't tell anyone."

He isn't like that but he could use it as an advantage in the situation.

"Okay."

Nicole's eyes lit up. "But one date."

She look at him unbelievably.

"I'm sorry what?"

Kells is grinning at her again.

"One date. Tomorrow before I leave Paris."

Even if this fashion week will be over, she doesn't know whe he will be over, at some point they will meet or bump each other again in L.A.

So for the sake of her dignity.....

"Fine, one date. Tomorrow."

Kells gave her a triumphant smile.

"I'll pick you up at 10. Enjoy your night Candy."

He leaned to give her a peck almost kissing her on the lips.

What did herself got into?

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

Nicole woke up at 9:30 with a slight hangover. She didn't drink much last night because her thoughts were running about MGK and their date. Which is today. God why did she agreed when she saw how he was with the girls last night.

"Jesus its 9 go back to sleep Nics."

Grace said in groggy voice. She was the one who had really fun last night.

"God. I hate you, now I have to deal with him because of that stupid dare."

She got off from their bed and went to the bathroom. She took a bath and brush her teeth and Grace went inside while she is doing her make up.

"Oh my god. Nicky! It's destiny!" Grace gush while leaning on the door frame.

"It's a nightmare. It was embarrassing...." It was really embarrassing. They met in an odd circumstances if things were different...what? He won't even noticed me Nicole thought, but she shrugs it off.

"It's okay to date Nics after that dick ex of yours."

That's one of the reasons why they were in Vegas. To have fun after her break up.

She changed into one of her turtle necks, a pair of high waist jean and a pair of high heeled boots.

Nicole is doing her hair when there's a knock on their hotel door.

It must be him. She suddenly felt nervous. Relax it's just a fucking date. She convinced herself. Grace open the door for her her sister hasn't even fix herself.

"Oh, I do really believe in destiny." Meanwhile Kells was furrowing her brows when someone opened the door for him instead of Cand--- Nicole.

"Go back to bed Gracey. I'll be back later bye."

She kissed the other girl's cheek before closing the hotel room's door that makes the two of them in the hallway.

"Uh sorry about my sister. She's just hangover."

He checked her out first before responsing. The girl is simple yet elegant and Colson can't help but smile. "No it's okay. Come on."

He made sure not to drink too much last night so he that he isn't hangover for their date. He also have his polaroid camera with him, just to take photos and remember this day in Paris with her.

They had their brunch in a French restaurant near the hotel and to be honest she had no idea where he is taking her.

The two talked about what they did last night, all about the fashion week while listening intently to each other.

"I really thought you were a stripper. Turns out your a model, imagine my shock when I saw you walked on that runway.But if you are a stripper I don't mind its much better." Nicole giggled at Colson. He is a funny guy and a dork. And she didn't label her as Duff Mckagan's daughter, back in high school she was just befriended because she is the daughter of Guns n Roses bassist.

"Well Mr. MGK I believe women should be mysterious."

Colson cringed when she called him MGK. "Dude, call me Colson or kells. And yeah I like mysterious ones especially when they left you blackballed." Nicole blushed, she never thought that he finds her sexy.

"Why are you so after me."

She asked. She's just curious why someone like him (who have girls throwing themselves at him) is interested to an average model like her? Well he's famous, he is good looking and sexy. He is funny too.

"Why not? I like you." He answered in a casual way. Another blush crept to Nicole's cheeks.

"Well...whatever Colson."

She can't help but grin. After their brunch he brought her to Seine taking a boat cruise and having a view of Eiffel tower.

After the cruise they went biking around the Eiffel. They laugh the whole time because they are too tall for the bike especially Colson.

"Yeah, run along chicken legs." She stuck her tongue out at him. Colson is behind her trying to fit himself in the goddamn bike.

"Hey Candy look!" She stop to look back at him. He's holding a polaroid and looks like he's taking a photo of her.

"Hey! I wasn't prepared!" She protested, probably he took the shot where she looked like she is lost in Paris.

"Nice try Candy! Hahahaha." And she was right. Her mouth was open and her brows are furrowed, looking like a lost tourist.

"God I hate you."

Colson keep taking candid shots when she isn't looking. Nicole cursed out, why didn't she brought her camera?

She could take a lot of pictures here, the view is just aesthetic.

"Why don't we do something crazy and stupid?" Colson suggested. That's the last thing she wanted to do. The last time she did it in Vegas it led up to her meeting him.

"Like what?"

And seems like the heaven is listening to him when the rain pours.

"Oh my god!" She held his arm and they both started to run.

"Wait!" Colson halted causing her to stop running to.

"We're wet already why don't we just have fun?"

Nicole look at him like he is crazy but fuck it. They are wet already might as well enjoy the rain.

The two of them soaked in the cold rain of Paris, dancing and playing like children. Nicole never felt this childlike again. Passersby are looking at them like they gone crazy, but this is fun especially when you have someone fun too.

Nicole won't forget this very moment, under the rain with a guy in a leather trench coat, leather pants and a boots.

----------

It was dusk already and they are already dry. The two of them watching the sunset.

"You're fun for a rapper you know."

"And you're fun to be a stripper." Nicole threw her the nerds they are eating.

"Well today was epic. Thank you though." Colson's gaze landed on hers and smiled.

"Nah, I should thank you. Not gonna regret saying yes to the date."

It was her turn to smile at him.

"Why were you at that strip club though?" Her smile twitched and she looks back to the sun setting.

"It was just a stupid dare of my friends. I lost a bet and then I became a stripper with a name of Candy." The dare was just to dance. She was just being reckless to entertain him during that time.

"Oh, well you nailed it." She is flattered by his compliment.

"You're really nice Nicole Mckagan and I'm looking forward to knowing you more."

Her heart raced, she stare into his blue orbs and captivated by its color. She never thought he could be this beautiful and captivating. His eyes never left hers when he lean forward, forehead to forehead and nose touching.

Nicole licked her lips and Colson's eyes landed on itss lusciousness.

She closed her eyes when he moved closer and closer but interrupted when his phone rings.

Colson muttered a curse before leaning away amd answered the phone.

"Sorry about that, its my manager. It's our flight."

Nicole nodded. Of course, he is going back to L.A. She don't know but she is saddened by the thought.

"Well I should bring you back to your hotel though." She nodded again. They made their way back to her hotel but her mind is still stuck of what happened. Were they going to kiss?

If they weren't interrupted maybe? God what was she thinking. You couldn't like a person you just met right? Plus she doesn't even know if he is serious. He said he likes her, he didn't specify if as a friend or what. Maybe she was just his distraction while he's here or he is just bored and took advantage of the situation.

"So I guess this is you." She was deep in her thoughts she didn't realize they are already in her hotel room.

"Thank you, for today."

Colson smiled and went to hug her.

"And for keeping our little secret." He giggled while she blush. "I believe in the saying, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."

And today, what happens in Paris stays in Paris.

"Nice to meet you Nicole. See you when I see you."

Nicole smiled. She's a bit sad but she know that they will meet again someday.

"Thank you Colson. Bye have a safe flight." She was hesitant to do this but anyway she tiptoed and gave him a peck on the cheek.

She didn't wait for his reaction and went inside her room leaning on the door while her heart race. She stood there for a minute before realizing she forgot something. She didn't have his number.

She opened her door again hoping he's still there but no. He already left.

With a heavy heart she laid down on her bed thinking about how this trip to Paris went.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket, a piece of paper fell from the pocket of her jeans when she fished out her phone.

Just in case you forgot Candy

+1-***-****

Nicole can't help but smile. He's cute, what a sneaky bastard.

She opened her phone and her notifications are blowing up.

She opened the one from TMZ and her eyes widened when she saw their photo from last night. When he and Colson are talking and the one where he kissed her.

Oh god. Duff Mckagan will lit her ass.

@mgkobsessed

#machine gun kelly #mgk #colsonaker #kells #ticketstomydownfall #hoteldiablo #candy #mgkxreader #colsonbakerxreader #colsonbakerfanfic #machinegunkellyfanfic #machinegunkellyxreader

24 notes · View notes

hot-boy-jimin · 5 years ago

Text

Bullet Wound | stranger things 2|

^^( this is the link to the wattpad version, it's the same but you can also check out my other work)

Three-

Seven's eyes fluttered open slowly as she arose from her slumber.

She was confused at her surroundings, but a look of realization crossed her face when everything came back to her. She looked around the room and saw that the sun was now starting to rise.

She knew she had to get out of here and start looking for Eleven, so she slowly got up in pain, and tried to stand. She ended up tripping and falling on the man who saved her life.

Billy was not expecting to wake up like this. He had opted for sleeping on his floor that night to make the mysterious girl comfortable, but here she was sprawled out on top of him.

He smirk devilishly as he looked at her face.

Seven felt her face heat up in embarrassment, as she looked at the boy's piercing blue green eyes. He had the audacity to smirk at her and she felt her blush travel all the way down to her neck.

"Good morning to you too princess."

Her face hardened when she realized that this should not be happening. She immediately started to get up and Billy's smirk broadened as he realized he had made her flustered.

His brows furrowed when he saw that she was putting on the shoes he had taken off of her last night.

"Did you change my clothes?"

Seven realized that he had. When looked down she now wore a large white shirt with a pair of boxer briefs. They were his obviously as they were all at like at least four times bigger than her size.

"Yeah, the stuff you were wearing was soaked in blood." He responded as he started to stand.

She felt her blood run cold. She didn't know this guy and he could've done anything to her and she wouldn't know.

Billy saw the way her body tensed.

"I didn't do anything if that's what you're thinking."

She scanned his face and realized he was telling the truth.

"I'm sorry." She stated now feeling slight guilt. "And thank you for your help, I appreciate it."

Billy didn't know what to say, he'd never been the type of person to help others and do what was right and he couldn't understand why he was doing it now.

"You can take a shower in my bathroom and I'll get you some fresh clothes."

"You've done enough to help me and I've put it you enough danger already. I'll be leaving, but thank you."

Billy was heavily confused. He wanted to know what danger she talked about.

He watched as she gathered her things and made way for his window.

"At least give me your name." He stopped her by grabbing her arm.

Seven gasped when she saw flashes of his memories.

She saw a man that looked like an older version of Billy punch him to the ground. With a gasp she pulled her hand from him and looked at him with wide eyes.

'Why did people hurt the ones they're supposed to protect?' She thought.

"I don't know." She responded to his question.

"You don't have to be scared, I'm not going to hurt you." He said earnestly.

"I'm not afraid of you, I just don't know the answer to your question." She showed him her wrist now and continued to speak. "All that i know is that this is the only name I've been referred to, and that my sister is in this town with our father, and that I need to find her before he hurts her again."

The words spilled out of her mouth without thinking and Billy looked at her sympathetically.

"Who shot you?"

"Bad men, and they'll do the same to you if I don't leave."

She turned around quickly and opened the window. Before she jumped she turned to the boy.

"Thank you, Billy, and it'll get better."

Billy watched as she jumped, and he sprinted to the window with a confused expression as he looked out the window and the girl named seven was no longer there.

Seven was in the woods again. She was drained now, because she used her powers with no food or water in her system and a wound that needed to heal.

She let out a weak and shaky breath and looked down at the gear she possessed. She had two handguns, a hunting knife, and two ring daggers that were attached to a thigh holster. She knew she couldn't carry those around carelessly without being spotted, with weak legs she got up and scanned her surroundings.

'No one should come out here.' She thought to herself.

She then took off the boxers Billy gave her, they were black and large enough for her to put a gun and the daggers in. She wrapped the weapons and rested them by her bare feet, she grabbed the black leather pants that she owned and put them on tucking the large white shirt inside loosely.

She grabbed her boots and put them on with a fee grunts of pain coming from her mouth due to the wound she possessed. After her boots were laced up she slid the large hunting knife on the side securing properly. Next was the gun she was keeping on her, she placed it in the back of her waistband.

There were a few problems though, she was hungry, tired, cold, and had no idea were anything in this town was.

'Maybe, I should've stayed with Billy.' She thought to herself, but she quickly disregarded that notion when she realized she would only bring trouble for the boy.

Billy only knew how to express himself with anger and lust. Mostly anger.

That's why he was even more agressive today and that's why he kept taunting the Almighty king of Hawkins high school.

He tried to blame his anger on the fight got into with his asshole of a father this morning. He knew that was only a small portion of it, the real reason he was taking his anger out on this kid is because he couldn't stop thinking about Seven.

He was curious about her and he couldn't deny that she was beautiful, but he also wondered if she was okay, and if the 'bad men' got her.

It was now the end of the school day and Billy was currently sitting in his car waiting for his little sister.

He wouldn't admit it to anyone but he actually cared for the little shit, but he didn't know how to express without coming off as a sociopath.

He glanced at his watch and let out a sigh filled with annoyance. He stepped out of the car and sat on the hood, he the pulled out a cigarette and put it between his lips.

He lit the tiny stick of death and took a long drag from it. When he glanced at the entrance of the middle schools he saw Max arguing with a boy who was around her age.

His face turned hard at the way they were going back and forth. He was a very protective person and he wanted nothing more than to release his anger on the kid, but his thoughts were cut short when he spotted a head of blonde hair.

Seven had food a story called seven eleven and she was no trying to figure out how she was going to get food.

The only thing that was good about her being with the Russians was that she got to she different places and learn basic things, like knowing she needed money in order to buy things, even though she never really did unless she was on a mission.

As she scanned the store she saw that it was basically empty, with only three cars in its parking lot. She knew she would have to steal and she had to do it in a way that she wouldn't get caught, and her powered was something she couldn't use.

With a heavy sigh she grabbed her mask that concealed her entire face and put it in. She then tucked her long blonde hair in her turtle neck and took the clip out of her gun, and putting in her back pocket.

She didn't need to kill anyone, she just needed to scare them a bit.

Before she knew it she was in the store with her gun in hand. No one had spotted her yet surprisingly as she was in the back of the store behind a rack of food. She placed her gun in her waistband and started stuffing random packages in her shirt.

While she was doing so she heard the door of the store open and she heard the cries of a young child.

"Papa!!!"

It was as if she wasn't there anymore, she was now a room that looked like it was designed for torture, and it was.

It was cold and hot at the same time for seven.

As she tries to lift her arms to wrap them around her body it was as if they were super glued down.

She called for her papa but he didn't show up, instead it was a man in a green uniform with the a red patch attached to the arm part.

All of a sudden she was panicking, as she she remembered who the man was. She thrasher around as he came closer to the machine to her right.

He turned the machine on and grabbed to large needle that was filled with a neon sky blue liquid. She knew what it was, they gave it to her every month to erase her memories. The moment the needle pricked her skin she broke out of her trance.

She gasped when she saw the child she heard from earlier looking at her with wide and curious eyes. Seven scanned the shop and saw that no one else had notice her, she then placed a finger on her mask covered lips as an action for the girl to be quiet, and the little girl nodded slowly.

Seven snuck out the back door of the shop and ran back to the woods as quickly as she could.

She was now leaning against a tree breathing heavily with a pain in her abdomen.

She took off her masks and slid her body down the tree and thought,

'I should've stayed with Billy.'

_________

1736 words.....

Unedited.......

Hope you enjoyed......

#billy hargrove x reader #billy hargrove smut #billy hargrove #dustin stranger things #stranger things 2 #stranger things #eleven #mike wheeler #lucas sinclair #max mayfield #sabrina carpenter

16 notes · View notes

plasticnightmaredoll · 3 years ago

Text

Resident Evil 8: Village review (spoilers everywhere!)

Now, I want to start off by saying I've never been very interested in the "Resident Evil" games. I've always preferred the "Silent Hill" series because of how macabre the games are, the creepy symbolism behind the monsters, and the intense moments of fear despite having weapons (well, in most of the games at least). I like dark, twisted stuff, and "Resident Evil" seemed too...action-oriented for me, I guess?

However, I did finally get involved when I saw the trailer for "Resident Evil 7: Biohazard." I was shocked, but pleasantly so. Not only did it feature new characters, new locations, and a new disease, but it was in first person AND looked like a true survival horror game. I know some people may prefer the third-person perspective for RE games as that has always been one of their key characteristics, but I think horror games are much more effective in first person. They're more immersive because they give you the illusion of being in the game itself.

I really loved RE7, and still do. I actually have begun playing it again, the first time in a few years (I think 2019 was the last time I played through the game). I still see it as my favorite RE games and one of my favorite survival horror games, but I have enjoyed the "Resident Evil 2" and "Resident Evil 3" remakes and may play other games in the franchise just because.

Now, onto "Resident Evil 8: Village," a direct sequel to 7 (lol 8 does come after 7 but I mean that 8 is a continuation of the story introduced in 7. I mean, RE7 was not a sequel to RE6 at all). I was excited to see the franchise continuing with what it started in RE7, and while I did enjoy RE8, it does have some issues...nothing serious but things that prevent it from replacing RE7 as my favorite.

The Good:

There Four Lords and Mother Miranda were truly unique characters despite being bosses. I felt pity for all of them in one way or another and enjoyed learning their backstories. I think they are the most interesting and "human" villains in the RE games so far (at least, from what I've seen), and in games in general.

I felt so much pity for Moreau, though. He was such a tragic character, and I felt like I was putting him out of his misery by killing him. Clearly, there was something wrong with him mentally like his mental growth had been stunted and he thought and acted more like a child. His primary goals were to win the praise of the other three Lords since they didn't like him (I think Donna may have been ok with him but her mental health issues prevented her from expressing her feelings in a more effective and healthy manner) and to have Mother Miranda see him as her son. All these emotions over one character, a boss enemy, and possibly the least complex of the Lords and Miranda herself, I think demonstrate some fantastic writing. I mean, I've very rarely encountered bosses that I felt sorry for, and killing them was mercy.

Donna was a very strange character. She was the only one of the bosses who didn't transform into a monstrosity, and her boss fight was vastly different from anything else in the game. I liked it, though, for the most part, this sort of "calm" within a storm of deadly monsters and bloody battles. Of all the Lords and Mother Miranda herself, Donna was almost just there, like she was observing instead of actually participating. She respected Mother Miranda but, unlike the other three Lords, she seemed to prefer to live in her own little fantasy world with her dolls as her family and friends.

The graphics were, as expected, incredible. If you have a computer that can handle the game with high/max settings, it will look absolutely stunning. Also, the soundtrack was very fitting, but I don't have much concern for this trait unless the soundtrack is truly exceptional, which is rare -- or if the soundtrack is awful, which I have yet to encounter in a game.

I enjoyed the change in environment from RE7. I liked the creepy house in the woods and "ghost ship" in RE7, but RE8 had us in underground tunnels, a rundown village, a castle, a factory, a swamp town...I mean, you went all over the place, but it made the experience diverse and entertaining.

RE8 gave us a lot of answers to questions left by RE7, and, in some ways, enhanced that game's story. Finding out the truth behind Ethan's seemingly indestructible body was a twist I didn't expect. It did provide an answer for just how easy it was for him to literally patch himself up and put himself back together over and over again. It was no longer just "game logic."

Ending Ethan's story made sense. It was clear by the end of RE8 that his character had gone as far as possible, and it was time to switch gears. I'm curious as to how the next game will utilize Rose as a protagonist. She has powerful psychic abilities, unlike her father, and I don't think any other RE protagonist has had such abilities (as far as I know), so that could make for a very interesting gaming experience.

With that being said, I really do hope RE9 continues what was started in RE7 and developed further in RE8. I really do. I think there are plenty of things left to explore, plenty of room for some good twists and turns.

There weren't many puzzles in this game, but I didn't think it was such a bad thing. It was still a lot of fun to play with a reasonable amount of action-oriented challenges. There were so many bosses in this game, minibosses included, yet it never felt overwhelming or underwhelming. I thought the minibosses were fantastic "bridges" to each of the 5 main boss fights.

MAGNUM IS BEST WEAPON. Seriously, what is it with these types of guns and their insane amount of power? I liked the grenade launcher as well, despite how slow it was to reload. The use of flashbangs proved to be much more useful than the grenades themselves, oddly enough. I know they have been in other RE games, but they were much more essential in RE8.

The pacing was perfect. I felt like the game was the appropriate length, not overstaying its welcome nor leaving players underwhelmed by lack of content. I mean, I still wish it were longer but that's only because of how entertaining it is to play. Leaving players wanting more but in a positive sense indicates that the game was planned thoroughly with a lot of attention to detail.

Miranda's and Moreau'sboss fights were the most challenging in the game. Both were endurance battles and required you to move quickly and think fast and basically just survive until they died. Ammo was very important in both boss fights because the right weapons made things much easier but if you didn't have enough ammo for them, well...you're going to have a more intense challenge.

My favorite "location" was the Dimitrescu castle. I like the elegant "antique" aesthetic of old castles and houses/mansions.

Unlike in RE7, RE8 does allow you to upgrade some of your weapons, which makes things easier if just to allow your guns to hold more ammo before needing to reload. You also didn't need to pull out a weapon to open crates. If you "interacted" with one, Ethan automatically used his knife to break it. RE7 made you do it manually which was a little annoying, especially during fights.

RE7 pretty much just had the Bakers and mold monsters as enemies. They all put up a good fight, but RE8 has a much wider range of enemies: wolfmen, zombies, flying zombie bats, werewolves, cyborg monstrosities, witches (well, if you consider the Dimitrescu daughters as witches, and they kind of are), a gross but pitiful fishman, a mentally disturbed doll maker, and an egocentric engineer. Variety added another layer of difficulty and surprise to the game since it wasn't always the same enemy types popping up to get you.

Mixed Thoughts:

Donna's boss fight was unlike any other fight in the game -- or any game, really. It was a morbid hide and seek challenge that was a nice change of pace but I do wish it had been a bit more difficult. I liked the concept, and it suited Donna, but it was the easiest boss fight in the game, almost like it was a miniboss fight instead. Good concept, but weak execution.

RE8 allows you to upgrade weapons, but RE7 doesn't, and while it may sound like RE8 has the upper hand, I disagree. RE7's lack of weapon enhancements/upgrades made the game more difficult because what you saw was what you got, and you had to make do. You didn't have the option to make your weapons hold more ammo or shoot faster or deal more damage.

The Bad:

Most of the boss fights were...rather easy? Minibosses included. The only ones that posed a real threat were Moreau and Miranda. Everyone else was just standard boss fodder, unfortunately. In RE7, I felt that, while there were far fewer boss fights, they all were much more demanding and exciting.

Lady Dimitrescu was such a fun character, and yet, she was only in the game for a short time, and her boss fight was just so-so. With all the marketing surrounding her before the game was released, I expected her to have a much larger role in the game.

They had an opportunity to make Miranda a sympathetic villain seeing as how the loss of her daughter basically drove her to madness. However, the way she was portrayed, I honestly didn't feel any sympathy for her, which was a shame. If she had been portrayed as a more tragic, broken character, then it would have made the final boss fight very emotional since you would feel some guilt killing her knowing what she's been through.

Not very scary. I mean, it's not a terrible thing, but for a game that is part of the survival horror genre, I felt like RE8 focused on the action a little too often. It was an intense experience just not a chilling one. RE7 had so much tension and atmosphere that it truly played out like a survival horror game.

Overall, I do like "Resident Evil 8: Village" and want to play it several more times. It bested "Resident Evil 7: Biohazard" in a few ways, namely with a diversity of enemies and customizable weapons but it fell short in the horror department and mishandled most of its bosses.

Final Grade: B+

For reference:

Resident Evil 7: A

Resident Evil 2 (2019 Remake): A-

Resident Evil 3 (2020 Remake): B-

#resident evil village #re8 #horror game #resident evil #survival horror #lady dimitrescu #salvatore moreau #mother miranda #resident evil 7 #resident evil 8 #re village #queued post

19 notes · View notes