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asktheplethaura · 11 months ago

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Total Drama: Liberation of the Slaughtered

((Authors Note: I'm waking up- - - to ash and dust- - - I wipe my ass and I slap ma nuts- - -))

Five years... and yet all of the events of he past still feel as though they had happened yesterday.

Stepping off a boat and looking over a bright thriving island as birds flew overhead, and people chattered to each other around the docking area. Fresh sea water and winding laughter as everyone made their first enemies or friends.

All of these bright memories were diminished with a dark shadow. A permenant membrance of pain and past agony.

Yet, with all these small, fond memories lingering in his mind, there were whispers of those awful days spent in a living hell that had only stopped when they had been rescued.

The dread that danced on his stomach, and the hours of waiting as time ticked by, wondering just who was unfortunate enough to be caught by the serial maniac that roamed the island and claimed 15 of their lives.

Brutal, hopeless... awful.

Disgusting.

. . .

Despite being over, it never really was over. Not to him. It never would be over, until there was closure.. and closer had not reached him. Not yet. There could never be closure with circumstances such as these.

~ ~ ~

Cody paces around the darkened room of his small 1-story house. He raked his hands through his hair as he looks around the darkened space, feeling both unwelcome, yet so at home in this awful room.

Barren, unlight, free of sunlight or warmth. Just like the days that followed the first death at Camp Wawanakwa. Everyday he was on edge, looking over his shoulder as he just couldn't help the feeling of being watched or just or judged.

The years following the rescue of him and the other 7 survivors were not pretty. Not for him. In a word full of pain, why would he of all people get it easy? Why would he have any freedom from these feelings that tormented him, and nagged at him still?

Ever since they were rescued... Cody had to admit he never kept in contact with the others. Everyone that survived... they didn't hate him. He didn't think so- but for most of them, he wasn't their friend. He was just someone else who somehow managed to make it out alive.

It was... rather funny actually. In a way. Cody Anderson, a so called puny dweeb and even arguably pathetic boy managed to survive such an event when tougher people than himself had been killed.

Perhaps it was the survivors guilt kicking him in the ass. Maybe it was just him looking for a reason to feel sorry for himself, considering how little he suffered compared to anyone else.

Cody had a knack for surviving. He just had this stupid motherfucking way of surviving a lot of what... would be considered impossible. Getting mauled by wild animals, getting harassed by others who antagonized him from time to time. Falling down ledges and carrying 3 other boys that were at least 2x his weight during one challenge.

He himself was an enigma. How had he even survived that long?

Perhaps... if he had died with the others... he wouldn't be as lonely as he was now. Contemplating his life, and remniscing over such traumatic events that he could have maybe opted to heal from years ago when help was being offered.

The others... they didn't quite move on. But they were coping better than he was.

Gwen dropped most of her gothic wardrobe, and started dressing a bit more like trent. Hell, she even managed to find a shirt exactly like his online a couple years ago... according to her social media page.

She works with her younger cousin in a pet care facility.

Good for her. She had her life... not together but back on track.

Because life goes on.

Leshawna changed quite a bit. She cut her hair considerably shorter, and eventually invested in reading glasses. She was now in computer programming. Working on putting a game toghether. The main character was a ginger haired geek, with 'sick ninja skills' last cody read.

Leshawna found a partner and he treated her well. They were making the game together, maybe? Cody wouldn't know. All he was sure of was that Leshawna was healing, as most of them were.

Because life goes on...

Duncan had found himself getting into office work. Something that no one ever saw happening. He never dropped his green and black hair, but over time- he let go of his piercings, and started dressing at least a little more casually.

Commemmorating Courtney with his changes- he wasn't quite happy... in fact... his life was quite dull. But he felt closer to the deceased. Confiding in organization and planning out his life, even if it was just a little bit.

He would get used to it... or... finish getting used to it.

Because life goes on...

Katie grew her hair out, and put on a little weight. She works with her mother in the sweets shop. She had found herself a girlfriend, and even adopted a child.

She had not yet come back to her usual chipper self- but she was trying. Visiting her best friends grave every single week.

Beause... life goes on.

Izzy vanished for a long while, only coming back recently after passing a clean bill of mental health from the local sanitarium. She had lost herself after the events of the island, and due to not having much of anyone by her side anymore- she had tried to commit.

She had a reputation for being crazy. Even if only a few episodes aired, she was looked at strange by many people after her rescue.

Thinking she may be the killer, who managed to get free of the rightful sentancing she deserved... or something. Her and Eva got together sometime after that.

Because... life goes ... on.

Speaking of Eva... she had been effected the least negatively, but it effected her all the same. Eva didn't have close friends during the events of the islands murder spree. She wasn't close to anyone because of her brash attitude and aggressive nature.

Even if she was inspirational.

She had her own regrets. She was a tough, scary woman when provoked. Facing Chef Hatchet on many occasions. Chef, who was not nice on most.

Eva was competant and capable... so... what stopped her from trying to kill or neutralize the killer?

Maybe it was the fact that... even if Chef seemed crazy or scary at times... there was also the lingering knowledge that chef would not purposefully kill or maim them. (At least, of his own accord)

The killer already took out several people before he would have been close to them. People that died not because they were SIMPLY stabbed to death or something.

The killer was a sadistic maniac. This maniac loved to cause pain and make others distressed. Dead bodies were playthings. Along with the lives of the innocent that stained their hands red with blood.

Even so, she couldn't help but feel guilty.

But... he got better.

Because...

be...cause. . .

____

No. Life does not just 'go on'.

Cody thought about the former camp mates that he forced himself out of contact with as he threw a glass bottle against the wall with a tired grunt of pain and melancholic misery.

No.

Even if life was always changing or 'ongoing' it never continued on.

Cody was stuck in his own box. His own box of regret, and overthinking everything that had happened. He did always get attached too easily... way... way too easily...

He brought his fingers up to the bridge of his nose, letting out a deep sigh. "Everyone's gone ahead and I left myself behind... now I'm alone all over again." he sighed, before leaning agaisnt the windowsill, barely bothering to peer through the blinds.

Still alone... out here in the outskirts of town.

Biding his time as he waits to hopefully allow himself to heal from this trauma. Half a decade of freedom, and he was still trapped in his own cage, fueled by guilt and denial.

In the end... the only reason he had not calimed freedom... was becaus he never let himself be free.

Perhaps... he never would.

Closing his eyes, he let his wet eyes rest as he flopped on his somewhat tattered cough with a low thump, a sigh escaping him.

With his exhaustion and lack of self care, he tired out quickly. Falling asleep where he sat within half a minute, his head lulled to the side and he found himself consumed by darkness.

((To Be Continued))

((IDEK if I will continue this.lmao))

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shrimpbytes · 7 months ago

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Fallout 76 SEASONS 4 years later

I spent a long time wondering if I should make this a video. Because I kinda don't want to put another 76 one on my channel, but my autism and desire to say "I told you so" is quite strong.

Then I remembered I have a blog I never use, so that.

Not to mention, I feel like I am less likely to accidentally get picked up by the worst defenders of capital here than reddit or youtube

Fallout 76 seasons is currently wrapping its 16th season. After somehow 4 years of this, I thought it would be ''''fun''''' to take a look back at how we got here and how depressing it all is.

SEASON 0

This journey actually starts before the scoreboard was made, what I will refer to here as Season 0. You see, for 76, the scoreboard wasn’t a brand new reward system from the ether, it replaced an already existing daily and weekly challenge system.

In the old days we were given challenges to earn atoms directly. No pussyfooting through ranks of nonsense. Just cold hard cash. Were the rates lower than the scoreboard? Not really. The weekly atoms one could expect 150-160 atoms free per week. When you consider dedicated players tend to finish the scoreboard in 8 or so weeks, that alone is pretty congruent with the atoms earned by the scoreboard…however. With daily challenges you can get 50-70 per week. Even if you only rolled 50 atoms per day, you could more than TRIPLE the weekly amount. 50*7+150 = 500 atoms per week 5 weekly challenges and 5 daily challenges. Let’s keep that 500 per week metric in mind. This is a small low-ball since some days would offer you more, but the challenges themselves were less engaging than the scoreboard, so 500 it is.

SEASON 1

May 2020. Everyone is happy and optimistic about Fallout 76 for the first time. Sure Fallout 1st came, but we also got Wastelanders. A story expansion with real NPCs, and a dialogue/skill system with varied ways to approach all kinds of checks that was arguably more in depth than previous Fallouts. And then Season 1 is announced and it’s not looking good as Bethesda gives us a set of numbers that don’t add up. You see obtaining the first rank would be 1000 score with each subsequent rank adding 25 score above the previous. So to get all 100 ranks you would need 220,275. You can otherwise get 7500 score from weeklies and 2000 from dailies for a total of 21500 score per week. Which given 10 weeks leaves you at 5000 short of completing the scoreboard. When this was pointed out Bethesda announced the repeatable score challenge for 10000 xp giving 100 score and that there would be double score events. So, not impossible but still a bit funky that they let us see numbers indicating they designed a system intending for us to fail.

Okay, shoddy math aside, what was Season 1 actually like? Well July 2020 rolls around and we finally get to see. I’ll lead in with the positives. Many of the annoying challenges go away. No more taking pictures of players or wearing specific cosmetic items to get your reward, but challenges otherwise stay the same. The format is more appealing as there is a fun little board game to help coax you through the grind.

What of the rewards then?

3 player icons 150

A bunch of junk

The single worst ui I have seen in a non-David Cage Game [Ammo converter]=500 atoms??

8 armor reskins 600-1200 each or 2000 for a bundle

6 weapon skins 500 each

1 pip-boy skin 500 ($5 for a pip-boy re-texture? Half the price of Nuka-World/Automaton/The Pitt/Broken Steel)

7 power armor reskins 600 each, 1200 for bundle

A brand new power armor skin and a reskin for it 1500? 3000?

1 chicken coop=500 atoms

9 camp decorations 300 each, 2000 for a bundle

1 deployable skin

2 backpack skins 1000

2 photo frames 150 each

2 poses 250 EACH

3,6,15, scrap kits 900?

3, 6, 15 repair kits 250+500+3*50? 900?

1 facial cosmetic item 300

2 jetpack skins500, 1000(bundled with their respective for 1800)

3 variations of the same outfit 1000? 3000???

39 lunchboxes: 1 = 50, 6 = 250, 15 =500, 40 =1000

1500 atoms

So if we take this favorably, we’re looking at 33.65k. Certainly nothing to sneeze at, right? Well..

Not at all

The above is a very generous way to look at it. One way that even Bethesda themselves wouldn’t.

After a season ends they try to recirculate the parts through either the bullion shops or the atom store. In particular, all of season 1’s tomfoolery can be acquired through bullion, or these two bundles: The captain cosmos bundle is 1800 atoms for just the jetpack and suit. In fact, less than half of what is in the Cosmos and Jangles bundle is even part of season 1. But let’s count the whole price anyways, why not? 1800+1800 is 3600, add in the atoms and now we’re at 5100 in ten weeks pretty on par with the old model, and I am just starting.

What of weapons? Well, what of weapons? Who is the person that uses specifically a bow, a hunting rifle, a super sledge, a combat rifle, a handmade, and a gatling gun? and uses them enough that they’d want a skin on each of them. But not a unique skin either, they’re really set on keeping them all the same theme? Yeah, pretty much noone. That’s probably why Bethesda sells so many bundles. They know you only want one or a few things so they trick you into paying MORE because it looks like a deal. If you get six skins for the price of two, you might think that’s really good even though you’ll only use one, so really you paid the price of two, for one. Like going back to the cosmos jangles bundle. The Default cosmos outfit alone is 1000 atoms. Over HALF the price of the bundle individually. The bundling scheme gets even more transparent when looking at armors.

Sure, you may use more than one type of weapon, but you will barely ever use more than one type of armor. Many armors are just de facto upgrades over the lower tier ones. Once you have Secret Service or T65 armor, there is barely a reason to ever drop down to a weaker set, save for like the excavator armor’s enhanced carry capacity. Furthermore, most people will either play with either power or unpowered armor, not often both. In fact, the jet pack skin unlocked in the same season itself invalidates the lower tier non-powered armors. it LITERALLY can not be used with any of those armors so including them together on the pricing sheet is pretty damn silly.

Believe it or not, the bundling scheme has yet to hit its stride, because if we could just take a moment to look at the consumable section. I have lunchboxes listed at barely more expensive than the scrap kits and repair kits, which well, they aren’t. They are exactly the same price in the shop. You get nearly double the amount of lunch boxes yet I rounded them to around the same price. Because lunchboxes get you one less than 40, so I rounded up to the 40 bundle for 1000 atoms, but the other consumables come out to 24, a weird number, that if I break apart using largest sums(ie the biggest discounts) ends up with 900 atoms. They are nearly the same price for nearly half the items. Because that’s how dramatic the bundle pricing is. Bethesda wants you to go for the big bundle every time, because it looks like you're getting more value, despite it not actually costing Bethesda a damn thing. Which raises the question, does that mean every consumable I unlock for free, the average price goes down? If I get two seasons worth of lunch boxes, totaling 78, is that like 1500 atoms instead of 2000? Well, something that might help this conundrum is to learn that scrap kits and repair kits are just useless. I have never once purposefully used a scrap kit in all my hours and boss fights just give you better versions of repair kits as well as many other goodies. They are ostensibly just bundled into the season to make it look more valuable than it really is.

The entire season pass is just one, big, bundle. If you actually sit down and look at what you want, you’ll likely find that even by the massively inflated 76 prices you probably would have gotten more under the old system. I wanted the marshmallow armor, something to put on my secret service armor. So for me personally, I would have to grind for 82 ranks to get something I actually wanted. Roughly 8 weeks or 4000 atoms in the old system to get a single skin that would usually be priced around 500 atoms, and I’d only have 1200 atoms thus far to show for it. The value being well under half of the old system.

I promise I won’t do this deep of a dive for every season, I just really wanted to hammer home that while the scoreboard system was more fun than the previous one, it has always been aimed at taking away our purchasing power. [foreshadowing]

CLOSING OUT 2020

Season 2 is not very noteworthy, although I do want to bring up again how artificial these prices are, with the Armor Ace bundle being 1400 atoms for some reason. The atoms earned was also bumped to 1850, which is nice, however 500, over ¼ are locked behind the final final rank. Once again hammering home the bundle method of putting what you really want at the end, so you’ll invest your way through everything else. All and all, a slightly better version of season 1 in my personal opinion. Which is probably why it’s the only one I actually finished. Oh. and it was 13 weeks, not 10. So in the old model that is now competing against an extra 1500 atoms when determining its market value. Oof.

Season 3 coincides with the Steel Dawn update. And as keen viewers guessed by the fact it is brotherhood themed, Bethesda’s worst traits begin rearing their ugly heads again. This is the first season to add 1st exclusive rewards. Meaning some content is just locked away from you unless you pay Bethesda $100 a year to artificially lock content from other players. This season drops the armor bundle entirely, so if you don’t use power armor, I hope you use one of the 5 weapons. What’d they make it up with? Uhh, just some camp amenities, most of which are just cosmetics…and two human beings. So is this season actually worth less than the previous ones, well as a power armorless hippy, I’d say yes, but it is hard to put value on a human life..

Okay okay. I know this really isn’t the point of the video, but I need to address this: You know how I mentioned some rewards can be bought with gold bullion? Well that means they’re purchased at one of the Wastelanders settlements. and idk, I just find it darkly funny that you can buy people from the settlers, who are the “good” side. What did Bethesda mean by this? Oh, and it’s 19 weeks long. So even if it had the exact same value as the two previous seasons, it would still really only be worth half as much, especially when you consider the classic system.

THE TEST

In my opinion, this is where the game begins its true death spiraling. Prior to now, 76 was known for two things besides its launch. Fallout 1st, Bethesda doubling down on their worst behaviors, and Wastelanders, Bethesda flaunting their best abilities. In hindsight, it’s hard not to notice that this one update both included another selling point for 1st, and a scaled down version of Wastelanders. Now would be a good time for Bethesda to see which avenue is more rewarding, and to be frank, Fallout 76 has a prosperity cult problem. That is to say, the most loyal fans believe the more money they throw at the multi-billion dollar company, the more rewards they’ll receive. So obviously, if Bethesda were to look at that data around this time, they’d see it makes more sense to milk 1st subscriptions than create quests that require significant resources.

And hoo boy, the milk is a flowing. TEST FAILED

You'll see after this time 76 starts getting given away, they no longer care about sales, only micro-transactions.

2021

Jan 2021, everyone celebrates as Nuclear Winter challenges are removed from seasons, and then they are quickly added back in

Season 4: Cold Steel. Not too much to say here, no more armor paints, but there are more outfits and some are early on for us normal armor peeps. To be honest, I greatly prefer outfits, because they can each be used no matter the tier of armor you wear underneath, so each one you get stands a chance of being used unlike wood paint. The 1st rewards are getting better though. Season 3 had a power armor paint job, but season 4 gets a brand new model and everything. That I guess uses some copy-pasted text. Because the description does not mention it can be used on either of the newer power armors. But hey, at least freebies still get 2ish new power armors right?

Season 5: Oh, never mind. Just one new power armor and it’s at the absolute max rank. great. The outfits in this pack are all Fallout 3 nostalgia…except the rank 98 uhh EVE Divine Cybermancy suit?

But that doesn’t matter, the notable part of season 5 is that it was released with Steel Reign and Finally implemented ranks beyond 100. Which I am going to use in defense of my season 3 'TEST' theory. Season 3 asked “More 1st bullshit, less story content?” and Season 5 said “More 1st bull shit, less story content.” Thanks 1sters! Oh, and it was 9 weeks long. The first season where you could technically keep earning atoms for additional play time like in the old days, is tied for the shortest season. The repeatable ranks are not worth too much. You can no longer grind repeatable challenges and you only get 100 atoms instead of 150 and nothing unique. So 100 atoms per 30000 or so score means 200 atoms per 3 weeks. Less than 1/7th of the olden days. Honestly, just take the time off and go hug your kids.

Season 6: The average length of seasons goes up from here, just under half exceeding 100 days, and all but one above ten weeks. Allows each season to take up less man hours and each player to get less stuff over time. Other than the aforementioned time skimping, I think the board itself is better than season 5’s, but I am also a capeshit enjoyer. (I also think it’s hilarious the power armor is based on the stealthy femme fatale hero)

2022-ish

Season 7: Generally average, but I can’t help but notice the clean blue suit which is quite literally the type of thing they give away in the atom store. Of note this time, you can no longer pay for ranks after rank 100. Not sure why you could ever do that, but props for taking it out…I think?

Season 8: A pretty bad season all things considered. Which much like the Brotherhood one, should have been obvious because they’re relying on vault tec again. Seriously, someone needs to confiscate Bethesda's nostalgia card.

The power armor paint is just yellow. It’s just yellow. There isn’t even one for T65 armor, the objectively strongest and thereby most used set for two years by this point. They brought back the useless low tier armor upgrades and 1sters now get a reward every 5 rounds instead of 10 including this Billy Bass mailbox.

This is it. This is what I will never forgive Bethesda for. Give me the bass Bethesda.

There is no unique power armor at the end and the rank 98 outfit? It’s a vault suit. With leather armor…really? And for some reason you get firehouse materials at the end in lieu of anything else. I guess Bethesda does care about the build community after all. In full honesty, a very obvious shift towards 1sters. Quite literally doubling what they were getting before (a reward every 5 ranks instead of every 10) and dropping a steamy one down our chimney. The fattest L yet, and what a way to end year 2. I look forward to many more years of quality seasons.

Season 9: Better than 8, but still clearly on the downward slope. Still shilling out useless armor skins and now having 1st rewards at yet again doubled rate(a reward every 5 ranks instead of every 10) , including locking this beaut away.

It’s no billy bass mailbox, but the Dullahan is nearly as fuckable and also this good boy.

Guess what? If you don’t pay for 1st(and grind to rank 100) you are spitting on Seymour’s grave.

SEASON 10

It got its own header, must be scary: This is the season that made me start working on this essay, because genuinely, fuck it. You see, Season 10 locks the Auto-Axe, a returning Fallout 3 weapon, and one of the best weapons in 76 behind rank 15.. As well as the union power armor, which for SOME REASON is split up like the pieces of Exodia

Forcing you to reach rank 75 before you are even allowed to finish the full set. Not to mention the plasma caster skin, a weapon I actually use is locked behind rank 92. Not that it matters since all of the skins in this season are just…brown. Well, you’ll probably be able to get them with bullion afterwards right? Nope, 76 instead adds another currency in the same update, stamps.

As before, it is really hard to explain why something is bad in 76 without explaining every other system in the game, but in short you need stamps to get these after the event and stamps were very hard to get. You could potentially get 20 stamps if you absolutely nailed one of two just two 10 minute long quests. It's been over a year and they added just two quests. You could only get the full 20 if you were the expedition leader, which you could only do once per day. Otherwise you can only get 10 per run. With each Power Armor piece being 800 stamps, that would mean 40 runs per part and I can not stress this enough: there were only two quests. Minimum runs: 200 in 200 days or Minimum Days: 1 in runs. Bethesda really hates Pittsburgh huh?

2023

Season 11: Same idea as the last few, the unique weapon is now locked to rank 85, a full ten ranks higher than exodia himself. But the paints are more interesting than rust

Feb 2023, Season 12 Rip Daring and The Cryptid Hunt adds rerolls. You get one per day and it allows you to change 1 challenge you got for a better one. Fo1st holders get a second one per day, the scoreboard drops some and you can buy them for 50 atoms. Okay, 50 atoms isn’t much and you get some for free, what’s the big deal. Well, remember those annoying challenges from Season 0? You know, say wear a specific armor while doing a specific tedious objective?

Yeah? Well, what if, we brought those back, but made you do them with ludicrously expensive or season pass related armor? Because that’s what happened. Some challenges were only completable with the Union Power Armor.

So now we’re setting up a precedent where lapsing on one season can cause you to struggle harder through the next, maybe even encouraging you to buy our brand new microtransaction. Fantastic. Also, when it first launched sometimes the rerolls would send you to do a seasonal event that wasn’t in season. This is more than 4 years into 76’s lifespan and what a way to cap off year 3 of season passes.

Season 13: This season we see that the 1sters are getting a lot less useless crap than they used to. Repair kits being swapped out for cute lil’ plushies. But do not fret freebie, there is a mothman plushie…locked all the way down at rank 97. The season locked weapon is thankfully only rank 5, but you also get a pipboy skin at rank 66? Ooh boy, don’t miss the rank 66 pipboy skin. It is also the only other 9 week season. They know the effect mothman has on people and rushed him to the atom store.

Season 14: Rank 5 gave us the second light machine gun skin ever. The first one coming out a full 4 years after the game’s launch. No I am not salty. Sidenote: giving an infamous nazi gun the “fight for freedom” paint job. What did Bethesda mean by this?(The only other skin is enclave..) There is not a single outfit skin, but at least we got winterized metal armor…That’s the worst chafe of your life. 1sters get an exclusive item that prevents spoilage entirely. Marvelous.

Season 15: I actually quite like the styling of this one, but it still curries the same bad habits. No real improvements to speak of save for style. I really wish I had more to say, with this being the last scoreboard, but it honestly just leaves on a brutal whimper

SEASON 16

Finally we arrive at the current season. Maybe this is the one where it will finally turn around. And I regret to inform you that

THERE IS AN ASSAULTRON IN FISHNETS!! 76 is back baby. 76 is ba-!

Oh no

In the interest of full disclosure, I was planning a 4 year retrospective well before season 16 was actually announced since I had more than enough solid evidence in my case(looking at you season 10), and let me tell you if that announcement wasn't just the most damn monkey paw curling moment of my life. All of these years one of my biggest problems with the system is that most of its “value” comes from things I never wanted nor used. So to see them say “we’ve changed it. Now You get to pick what you get. Just like the old days! ain’t that grand?” should be what I wanted right?

…If I may bring out the math once more, my point with the “you get to choose” of it all was that in the old system, it was much faster to save up for the handful of things you wanted rather than be forced through all these ranks., but you have to get to rank 100 anyways to have access to all the stuff, so the grind isn’t actually lessened.

You need 3,735 tickets to complete the whole thing, at 25 tickets per rank that means you have to reach rank 149 to get everything. There aren't even more rewards. There are a total of 140 rewards with 45 being locked behind Fallout 1st. That means only 95 items for people without 1st. Previous seasons had more than 100, with one reward at each rank and then a bundle at rank 100. So you're doing well over 50% MORE grinding for LESS reward

That said, the tickets you save not buying T45 might allow you to buy all the rank 100 rewards when you actually reach them. So, if you actively save up money, you can finish the scoreboard AT rank 100. I repeat, you have to intentionally manage your resources to “complete” the scoreboard with the same amount of grind. They also went back to their old strategy of not having armor skins, but they still have low rank power armor skins? I guess for collectors...except both the X01 and T51 skins are locked behind Fallout 1st. These are two of the most iconic nostalgia armors representing Fallout 2 and Fallout 1 respectively. They are even locked behind a higher rank than T65(a much stronger armor), proving that they are just doing it for aesthetic reasons, ie to bait collectors. Yet again, another clear instance of Bethesda strong-arming people into buying Fallout 1st/participating in SEASONS via nostalgia bait.

You know what else? It's not even possible to get all of the rewards just doing weeklies and dailies as a free player.

The tickets necessary to get all non 1st items is 3010 tickets I believe. So reach rank 121. Each rank after 100 takes 3,500 score. So with weekly score of 31k(300/day, 100/week) this would take you until the tenth week. This season was 11 weeks long, so it's possible until you remember that there are technically rewards at rank 150. Seeing as you can barely make it to 121...you simply can't get that far. There are ways to increase score gain, but players who have maximized that still find themselves coming up short. One reddit user only reaching rank 145 after playing as optimized as they could without outright grinding the early levels with just xp.

To place the final cherry upon this The Help Pie: atoms are just plainly and objectively less available in this season. For one they're not available as a repeatable after rank 100(and you have to reach 150 to get repeatables anyhow). There are 2200 available for 1st players and only 1200 for f2p. That's right, a full 300 down from season 1 4 YEARS AGO, 650 lower than most seasons and 800 less than the previous ones, but hey at least Fallout 1st subscribers get 200 more. So a 40% decrease in income for us peons and a 10% raise for the bourgeois...except no. Because if we consider the loss of repeatable atoms, even many 1st users have experienced a cut.

Wrapping up, and a Hopeful Future?

So yeah. Fallout 76, despite public opinion, has been gradually getting less worth money and time as the years go on. We get new content less often than we did back in 2020, and our time keeps being worth less in-game currency.

But I do have a slight ray of hope.

As I mentioned before, I have a hypothesis that the reason we stopped getting story content for nearly 3 years after season 5 was because of the 'TEST'. To explain it more thoroughly: The last big story content was 5 main quests way back in July 2021 and it coincided with adding 1st only rewards to the scoreboard. By adding both at the same time they could see if the sales of new quests could rival an influx of Fallout 1st subscriptions. That seems to have failed since it would take nearly 3 years for us to get another story update in March 2024, all the while season passes became more and more geared towards selling Fallout 1st.

But this new story content is important, because it released in conjunction with Season 16, the worst season so far with the greatest disparity between 1st and f2p atoms. More importantly, however, it released in conjunction with the show.

The Fallout TV Show brought a massive influx of new eyes to the series, and of course, its latest game. I find it hard to believe that such a radical change to the Season system and the first story expansion and three years were just a coincidence, this feels like another marketing test.

You see, Season 17 has been announced, following the same model as season 16, and along with brings the FIRST EVER IN 6 YEARS map expansion to 76. So they have a new mass of players, who may not be aware of the severe decline in season quality that, if steam numbers are to be believed, outnumber the existing population(who were there before 16) by a factor of around 4.

Maybe if the map expansion proves as a viable way to keep this huge population going, we could see many more similar updates in the future. However, if the new season pushes significant 1st sales, then it's likely we'll just see the same decline we have been for years.

Unfortunately, I am expecting the latter since we have seen a large portion of the new population already fall off. The thing is, at its core, 76 is still not a very good game. It's easy to forget that when old players all have builds that circumvent most of the problems, but to a new player, the issues will be glaring.

That said, I still believe in the potential. The team has some very clear talent even if it's so often hidden from us.

Some Sources:

Proof you can not reach rank 150: https://www.reddit.com/r/fo76/s/4wcIpN7aJz

Some Math:

Season 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/fo76/comments/gjom2q/score_rank_math_hours_played_and_cost/

Season 16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF0po3MfJ2w

Some Lies:

https://segmentnext.com/fallout-76-will-not-have-a-season-pass-or-paid-dlc-pete-hines-confirms-again/

#fallout #fallout76 #fallout tv series #actuallyautistic #rant post #late stage capitalism #robot girl

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unhonestlymirror · 2 years ago

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"There are attempts by russia to play on historical differences or the historical memory of Poles and Ukrainians. It is about the Volyn tragedy, the 80th anniversary of which will be celebrated in July. President Duda's statement indicates that Poles and Ukrainians will not allow themselves to be divided.

According to the Polish politician, the President of Poland emphasized that it is necessary to work for reconciliation.

"This statement was strong, it was heard, as well as President Duda's statement that it is necessary to work for reconciliation. We know that in June or July a historical event related to the past is being prepared. Among the people close to the Office of the President of Poland it is about the fact that the event can be prepared in a tripartite format, the third country will be Lithuania," Chech emphasized."

I don't really get what has Lithuania to do with the Volyn tragedy... but okay. Maybe Polish people think Lithuanians are still angry at them? for Commonwealth and stuff. It doesn't seem to be for me, but Lithuanians know better.

"The new Polish state, especially during the reign of Józef Piłsudski, took the form of authoritarianism. The Polish government considered Galicia and Volhynia as ancient Polish lands, so it tried to increase its influence there. For this purpose, colonization took place (settlement - resettlement of Poles in Volhynia on land that was taken from local Ukrainians, discriminatory distribution of agricultural land in favor of Polish settlers), pacification (repression against the socially active Ukrainian population), restriction of Ukrainians’ rights to education and radical polonization, destruction of Ukrainian churches (especially in Kholm region). The Polish regime of Pilsudski created the Bereza-Kartuzka concentration camp for political opponents. This caused the radicalization of Polish-Ukrainian relations, and in particular found a response in the terrorist activities of the OUN in the 1930s. The culmination was the murder by Ukrainian nationalists of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Poland, Bronisław Pięracki, in 1934. The OUN was able to acquire many supporters in the Polish-occupied Western Ukraine due to the anti-Ukrainian chauvinist policy of the Polish authorities.

The Poles helped Hungary occupy Carpathian Ukraine in March 1939 by sending subversive units to Transcarpathia through their southern border. Fighters of the "Carpathian Sich" (an armed formation that defended the region), especially natives of Halychyna who were captured by the Poles, were often shot on the spot without trial or investigation."

Considering that at those times Ukraine had to fight against communists and nazi troops as well, while trying to become independent, people just couldn't have handled it anymore.

"So, the first blow of the Ukrainian partisans was directed against the Polish employees of the Hitler administration, who worked in the services of forest protection and state estates (liegenshafts). Gradually, they also spread to the Polish rural population, and both to the colonists of the interwar period and to the older Polish population."

This gave the Poles a reason to burn Ukrainian villages even more actively.

Because it happened during ww2, it's impossible to tell how much people died because of whom exactly.

"According to several Ukrainian historians, attacks on Polish villages were also carried out by special units of the NKVD, dressed as UPA fighters, mainly intending to destroy the Polish underground, forcing Poles to seek contacts with the Red Partisans, stimulating cooperation with the Soviet authorities, and also initiating attacks on Ukrainian villages, which especially supported the UPA or served as their bases. Among these units were those whose ranks included former UPA fighters who worked for the NKVD. On November 30, 2007, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) published archives showing that until 1954, about 150 such special groups, with a total number of 1,800 people, operated in Western Ukraine."

It is believed that about 20,000 on both sides died from the Volyn tragedy. But it can be led to hundreds of thousands.

It is definitely not something Ukrainians are proud of. And, looking at today's politics of Poland, it is most likely something they are ashamed of as well. The only thing russians does not count on is that this tragedy in the light of (relatively) new information becomes a great reason to unite against russia.

#ww2 in general radically changed Polish mentality #and no matter how strange it may sound - for the best (from my Ukrainian perspective)#but still - what has Lithuania to do with the Volyn tragedy? Do i not know something? 🤨🤨 lol

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serene-victory-77 · 3 years ago

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Why The Crows Being Teenagers Is Actually Perfectly Realistic

There’s a TL;DR are the end because wow I like to rant.

I lightly discuss the general situations they’re all in to explore how they are frighteningly mature and competent, but it’s not particularly depressing or descriptive, it’s definitely lighter than the books

I thought about this post with a joke first: “People who think that Six of Crows is unrealistic because they’re so young clearly have not spent much time with traumatized honors students.”

It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the point stands.

But I decided that, hm, actually, I could make a point about this. I totally agree with the aging up of the characters in the Shadow and Bone show, but when people straight up say that the books are wrong or unrealistic for having a young crew, I get annoyed, and here’s why (other than me reading the books for the first time when I was 13 and thinking ‘Huh okay, I see it’ and now being lowkey offended when people say they ignore it for being unrealistic):

On Inej

- At first I thought Inej’s wisdom and general demeanor was one of the most unrealistic things in the book

- When I thought about it longer, I was like “Actually, she’s 16, right? I’ve sent some of the most lyrical philosophy trying to help my friends while in high school. My friends have done the same. It’s valid.”

- Frankly, teenagers love hard-hitting philosophical truths. They love repeating what they’ve read or heard in movies and in books and from family stories. They love sharing little bits of wisdom they have come up with

- Inej’s ability to hear and understand philosophy and wisdom that she was surrounded by for 14 straight years and then sit on it and elaborate it for her friends to understand, or even just to piss them off in Kaz’s case?

- Teenagers have that. They do it. So, Inej’s Wisdom passes, to me. It’s valid.

As for her being calm

- You know how everyone jokes that Kaz seems calm on the outside but when you get to his POV he’s like “What the fuck” at the Van Eck house or just straight up “Huh, is this revenge for making tree jokes” at the Djel River thingy in the Ice Court?

- Inej is like that, too. And she gets angry, and she gets confused, or exhausted.

- AKA every quiet kid ever. Like, are you kidding? Have you ever been in a situation in which it’s literally chaos all around you, people are screaming and things are being destroyed (think middle school classroom with bitchy long term substitute and even worse students), and you’re just, calm? You pick up your things, you do what you need to do?

- That’s Inej. Like, what else is she gonna do? She’s smart enough to know that panicking won’t help anyone, and so she just rides it out. Internally she might be like “Why is this happening” but frankly, her being quiet and controlled in most situations is probably a coping mechanism and I respect that

- Pretty sure this is also based on the fact that the Suli have no land for their own and constantly have to keep moving. It might align with generational trauma, I’m sure someone could explain it better than me, but being able to keep your cool while constantly having to change and adapt to new situations, in, say, a country with hellfire politics and no land to call your own? Seems like a hereditary trait that could be useful in Ketterdam, although it’s sad.

On Inej’s abilities

- Simone Biles started training when she was 6 and went to the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships when she was 16, where she qualified in all the events.

- There are videos of people walking over tightropes as young as three years old. We know Inej didn’t start that young, but not only was she naturally talented at it, but she spent a lot of time practicing. I think it’s valid. Plus, some of her family members do some pretty crazy things in her flashbacks, because that’s the whole point of what they do.

- Youngest person to beat American Ninja Warrior was 16 year old Vance Walker

- Inej has a variety of of tools that help her wall climb, and while it’s true that she started young and got good really fast, she already had a history of physical work that would help her, and from what we can gleam from the book, a surprising amount of free time in which she was actively encouraged to learn everything she could.

So that’s Inej! I think her skills are perfectly possible for someone with her history and situation. It’s true that she’s naturally skilled, but that’s not actually all that unusual. And her demeanor and wisdom do fit in with what a lot of teenagers are like and the circumstances she was brought up in

Onto Kaz!

- One thing I hear about is that Kaz is too smart for not having gone to school and also too young to know all that he does

- Do you all KNOW how many self-taught people there have been in this world? The word for people who are self-taught is autodidacts, and honestly a huge amount of famous people apply. Like many, many other people in history (there’s a whole list of them in Wikipedia), he had an vested interest in a field and he learned all he could. Sure, those fields were magic tricks and math, but still.

- Suddenly I have a lot of thoughts

- Okay, think, hyperfixations. That’s essentially what Kaz’s thing with magic tricks was, right? Have any of you ever spent time with an eight year old that clearly really, really loves dinosaurs? Those kids can spout names and facts and identify them by their skeletons and frankly know more than I ever will. Kaz’s was magic tricks. All kids are special.

- Kaz continued working on magic tricks and practicing them for years, so, I think that gets a pass.

- As for the math! Look, a Fact Of Life is that some kids are just Like That, whether it be possibly from neurodivergence or other factors:

- Flo and Kay Lyman are twins with Autism who basically have the calendar of EVER memorized. Kaz memorizing card decks is sensible, and these ladies don’t need to look up anything to figure it out, so Kaz doing sums inside his head seems plausible. His “photographic memory’ isn’t impossible, although the term itself might be incorrect.

- Katherine Johnson who worked at NASA (yes, the lady from Hidden Figures), was so good at math that she was in high school by age 10 and went to college at age 15. It’s true that she had some teaching, but 1. There’s no evidence Kaz had absolutely no schooling, even if it was just at home with books and 2. Kaz was 9 when he came to Ketterdam, and after Jordie died, when he wasn’t surviving, he was learning.

- Human calculator is a term that is applied to children a lot and there’s definitely plenty of videos showing how smart these kids are and them doing mental math easily, which he does in the books

- He had a LOT of pressure on him to figure out all he could, and if he wanted to move forward, he was going to have to learn a lot. He spent hours practicing magic tricks, for all we know he spent hours practicing math too. We know Jordie was a bit of a bookworm too, so Kaz from a young age probably already had a reason to learn. Personally, a lot of my love for books was inspired by my older sibling when I was younger

- Young people are adaptable. Kaz is incredibly adaptable. The term prodigy exists because of people like him through history.

- As for him being rational, there’s no other way to survive. Some of the greatest soldiers in history have been very, very young, and very, very smart. It’s true tacticians are generally considered to be older, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been very young ones.

- A lot of the generals I found were like, 19 years old, but Kaz is 1. not a general and 2. in a place where young people take up the mantle really, really quickly, and frankly it’s been like that for a long time. I still think this passes. This isn’t relevant but William the Conqueror was apparently called “The Bastard”?

- Frankly, underground communities of thieves probably don’t go around publishing their escapades so to me it makes sense that I can’t just look up “famous young thieves” and get anything that makes sense, but I did try

- Y’all I tried to do research on youngest escape artists since I think Kaz qualifies and I found myself in what I think is a magicians forum? It’s from 2002-ish and I feel like I’ve just found a relic. I can’t definitely prove they’re all saying the truth, but some of the people there talk about 10-11 year olds at magic camps, so, it’s not impossible for this to be a skill Kaz learned really young, particularly when he made a habit of following around magicians

- I think he passes the realism check overall

For the other Crows:

- Nina being so proficiently multilingual makes sense to me, because she’s been in the Little Palace almost her entire life with all the best teachers they could afford at her disposal. Some people just click with languages. One such would be Timothy Doner, who spoke 23 languages at 16.

- Nina is a child soldier. She of course can handle the battlefield, although I imagine there’s a degree of trauma that she has to deal with (although it’s true that most of her work was always meant to angle her towards being a spy).

- Jesper was taught to shoot from a young age by Aditi, who was likely incredibly proficient. Plus, there’s mentions of him and his father being on some sort of frontier at one point in the books, so, it’s likely that Jesper got his fair share of ‘being a child soldier” since he would’ve been 15 or younger. Plus, with being a Fabrikator, he gets a leg up

- Jesper’s smart y’all, he just also likes to have fun

- I am a little terrified by the fact that I looked up ‘youngest sharpshooter’ and found out about a 9 year old girl (Addysson “Addy” Soltau) who can indeed shoot guns, but uh, it does prove my point

- Matthias... I haven’t heard anyone really argue about Matthias. He’s the oldest at 18 and again, he’s essentially a religious child soldier. Of course he would be built af and know how to handle himself in a fight, and in a flashback about meeting Trassel, we’re told that he was actually distanced from the other boys and was the biggest and strongest/smartest of the group. Perhaps not compared to Kaz, but still

- We know how Wylan ended up how he is, so I don’t think i have to defend how he’s both a musical prodigy, good at math, and good at chemistry. Plenty of kids who can’t do one thing will immediately gravitate to a different field (think AP math students who can’t write essays, or those kids who could analyse a book and it’s metaphors in class but didn’t understand geometry).

- Granted he took it far but it’s kinda implied that his father ignored him eventually and what else was Wylan going to do

- I don’t really know how he did chemistry while not being able to read the symbols and stuff, but that’s likely because I’ve never had to learn the way he did and also I really suck at Chemistry, but I refuse to believe that it invalidates his capabilities

Final Thoughts:

- They’re Traumatized Honors Students

- People might say that “it’s unrealistic that all the smart ones somehow ended up together” but again they’re traumatized honors students and those gravitate to each other

- Of course the smart ones ended up together, they’re the ones in those crazy situations precisely because they are prodigies. Nina wouldn’t have met Matthias if she wasn’t skilled and a spy, Kaz wouldn’t have known Inej if she hadn’t been skilled at silence (I can’t explain that one but uh ninjas did/do exist and it IS still a fantasy world). Kaz would have never been a leader of the Dregs in a position to find Jesper if he hadn’t been so determined to rise to the top, and Jesper wouldn’t have been in Ketterdam if his father hadn’t thought that Jesper was smart enough to get that chance.

- You know how those fringe revolutionary artists for new eras end up knowing all knowing each other and even hanging out? That’s them.

- I have decided there is a strong basis for Autistic Kaz, someone who is more studied than me should feel free to explore this.

- I read this book a few years ago, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. It’s about this guy’s experiences as a boy soldier and it’s a painful read so I’m not sure I recommend it as a casual read, but he talked about these young kids being able to actually make competent military strategies and handle warfare. It’s an extreme example of what I’m trying to explain when it comes to them being able to handle the brutality of their situation, but it’s true, essentially

- They are definitely serious, but if you think they’re not teenagers I just, disagree so much. They have moments of lighthearted banter, they make light of their situation, they try to support each other Nina covers it so well in her farewell at the end of Crooked Kingdom: The little rescues of laughing at each others jokes or eating together and just supporting each other, is not only a very human thing, but a very teenager thing.

- Scary experiences that shape us happen all the time, and although for most it’s not the things that the Crows experience, picking each other up is a big part of why they do read as teenagers to me. I’ve seen kids be able to seriously converse about things like being questioned by the police, or being left to their own devices for days at a time, or the general impending doom they all feel, and it’s dark, but they’re also going to joke about silly puns 20 minutes later.

- Teenagers aren’t exempt from terrifying maturity and competence

- Finally: Despite all I said, it’s a fantasy story and doesn’t have to be realistic

In the end, everyone can believe what they want to believe, but this is my case for my opinion.

TL;DR The Crows are all prodigies and a lot of their achievements and capabilities are based in reality and there are real people who actually achieved things like what they’ve done. Messed up prodigies gravitate to messed up prodigies, hence how they all end up together. When it comes to their mental state, most of them have been brought up their entire lives in situations that required for them to problem solve and keep their cool even when things are going to hell.

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intergalactic-garbage · 4 years ago

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things i would’ve loved to see in hoo:

- trans dude frank

- more homoerotic interactions between reyna and annabeth (think about it - both children of the war goddesses of their respective pantheons, their wits the sharpest of their camps; then cj is attacked by possesed leo and reyna thinks annabeth, whom she trusted and came to care for in those few moments they shared, betrayed her)

- jason “raised by wolves” grace - dude straight up lived with lupa’s pack for YEARS and got raised by them during his formative years (when going on how normal human memories, he wouldn’t have even remembered his mother - his earliest memories would have been of lupa), and yet we never see him tearing at a steak with his face? he’s never tapping his foot, wanting to scratch an itch with it? this would’ve been perfectly in line with riordan’s humor, he missed an opportunity

- rachel elizabeth dare and grover playing an actual role in the plot, not just being seen in that one scene in hoh. the different povs in chapers should’ve been played around with more - give us a pov of someone from the camps, or rachel/grover - the seven were only one part of the many moving elements in the plot and the dream sequences hardly made up for it

- romance being either tied directly into the plot like in pjo or eliminated completely; not seen as a plot device (eg. reyna considering getting involved with octavian when confronted with the possibility of him becoming praetor)

- a villain who’s more than literally just “ehehe i am earth. am bad. want to kill you. no i don’t have a particular reason”. pjo had luke which was so good because he spent the first book establishing how nice he is, how he’s an older brother to everyone at camp, how eager he’s to show you the ropes and young me knew he was going to turn but i had such a hard time believing it. the rest of the books don’t make things any easier because luke is plotting this horrible thing, but is it really horrible? until today people are fighting about whether he was right or not. and they have to stop him but he used to be their friend. they used to care about each other so much and that care doesn’t just go away when he betrays them. so they’re faced with one impossible choice and they know what they have to do but can they? anyways hoo wishes it was half as complex as pjo

- the leo/sammy doppleganger situation should have been expanded upon more beyond the exuse for the leo/hazel/frank love triangle. no i don’t know how. but it just makes it look like rick put it in there for funsies and never did anything with it. my mind keeps going back to a time travel plot but i know this is the riordanverse and We Don’t Do That Here

- octavian being more than “i created this character so fans could have someone to hate”

- the author not feeling so needed to write a blockbuster epic story like the avengers or whatever was in cinemas at that time. it was supposed to be a continuation of pjo, but instead of expanding upon the characters we had met in it, we barely saw any of them, they were forgotten, only the few main were placed in the spotlight, along with a bunch of new characters we’d never seen before. the focus was on the seven and a few other characters

- “the gods decided to not interact with mortals” was a stupid decision, especially considering the ending of tlo. percy asked the gods to be more present in their children’s lives, they, albeit reluctantly, accepted. and the next time we see them they remove themselves from their lives. the central conflict of the previous series had arised because nobody knew of the gods, what they were up to. there was no lexicon of rules, they just had to wait; and they grew tired of it. the gods should have been visiting them, awkwardly integrating themselves in their lives, not the exact opposite. not setting up for another demigod uprising

- i know this is just wishful thinking but. there should’ve been more of the riordanverse. yes i know there were already a bajilion other plot lines and we had the romans introduced but. i would’ve been fine with even just a little nod. or a character from a different pantheon appearing. this is all in the same universe as the huge chaos snake and the other, world snake and i just think it should’ve been expanded upon more

- frank’s firewood should have had. a role. you set up your character to be “the most powerful” of the seven, all extremely powerful protagonists, and then decide to ignore him for the last book and a half?

- by far one of the things that irritated me the most was how everyone survived. this was supposed to be a sequel series to a children’s series that had one of the main characters stab himself after realizing that this was the right thing to do. a daughter of the goddess of beauty got acid spit in her face. tlo is my favourite of the pjo books because it’s the climax, and it lays it down as it is - not as some heroic fight scene of good vs. evil, but people, being people. making choices for the ones they love and making mistakes because they don’t know what’s right. in boo, there’s an attempt at this “great last battle”, but if anything, this was undermined by the fact that nobody died. (i did like how leo coming back was framed, even if i’m not a terrible fan of caleo, nico feeling leo’s spirit alive, leo having a “surprise” chapter at the end.. goosebumps man) (though i suppose jason could’ve died right there and there. “to storm or fire” and everything)

- more hazel/nico getting confused by modern technology - i just think it would’ve been funny to see hazel hear about some event that happened between the 30s and present day and be like “you said what-” it’s good humor and also characterbuilding

- however, if we’re so horribly set on having romantic relationships, valdangelo is right there. nico can’t face his queerness. leo understands machines better than people. they both carry an immense sadness within, but it made them totally different people. and the dynamic? everything you could’ve wanted

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joachimnapoleon · 4 years ago

Note

Why did Murat and Eugène hate each other? I didn't even know that they did until the recent posts.

This was actually the subject of a discussion I had recently with a friend of mine whose interest in Eugène is on par with my interest in Murat; and even though I haven't studied Eugène in great depth yet myself, we ended up drawing some pretty similar conclusions/opinions about their relationship based on what we knew about each of them. And we both agreed that "hatred" is probably too strong a word to describe their feelings about each other. I would say that Murat's feelings about Eugène were essentially a dislike borne out of envy. Eugène's feelings about Murat are a bit harder to precisely pin down. During the earlier years of their relationship--after he becomes aware of Murat's dislike for him--it strikes me as the sort of bewildered, defensive dislike you might develop for someone whom you've discovered dislikes you, without you fully understanding what you've done to merit their dislike. Later in their relationship, I think it evolves into a certain amount of contempt on Eugène's part, especially after the way Murat hastily leaves the army in January 1813 and then all the ensuing political drama and Murat's not-so-subtle negotiations with Austria throughout most of the rest of the year.

There's no indication I've come across of any immediate dislike between the two of them. I can't be sure when exactly the two of them met, but at the very least they would've been around each other in Egypt when teenage Eugène was serving as one of Napoleon's aides-de-camp. Their relationship doesn't seem to have taken a bad turn until the early 1800s. After Murat marries Caroline and becomes tied to the Bonaparte family, both he and Caroline (and the other Bonaparte siblings) grow increasingly resentful over the favor being shown towards Josephine's children by Napoleon. Here's an excerpt on the subject from Hortense's memoirs:

The Emperor, although he did not mean to do so, had done everything possible to inflame the jealousy his family felt toward us. He had for a long time treated me with special favor, because as he desired to adopt the son he wished the mother to be especially respected. How many times Caroline came and said to me: "I entertain the same way you do; I always act as you do, because I come and ask in advance how you are going to act; and yet the Emperor always holds you up to me as an example as though you were the only person who knows how to behave. Then too he is all the time saying to Murat and his [Napoleon's] brothers, ‘Look at Eugène.' How can he expect harmony to reign among us?"

Hortense writes also that "Murat would not suffer a younger man to take precedence at court over him. He broke his sword on hearing the news that the Emperor had adopted my brother."

The formal adoption of Eugène by Napoleon took place in January of 1806. Six months prior to that came something that had infuriated Murat just as much: Napoleon naming Eugène Viceroy of Italy. In the aftermath of learning of this, Murat sulked, and dragged his heels when it came to writing to congratulate Eugène on his new title. The exchange between them is a comical read. Murat claims he assumed a letter he'd written back in April--two months before Eugène's promotion to Viceroy--would somehow suffice to express his goodwill towards Eugène, and that he didn't feel he was obligated to write a new one since he'd learned of Eugène's promotion via the gazettes and not directly from Eugène himself. Murat writes that his feelings are hurt. Eugène replies that his feelings were hurt by Murat's silence and that, even if he'd learned of Murat getting a nice promotion through the newspapers himself, he would've still hurried to write to congratulate Murat. (The letters are posted at the end in their entirety for your reading pleasure.)

Murat's dynamic with Eugène is... not what you might expect, given that there was a fourteen-year age difference. And that, in my opinion (and my friend who studies Eugène concurs with me on this), has a hell of a lot to do not only with the personalities of each one, but also with each of their relationships with Napoleon. Eugène, of course, lost his his father during the Reign of Terror, when he was still a child. Throughout his life, when he gains an attachment to an older man, he tends to look to that older man as a father figure--from Hoche to Napoleon to his father-in-law King Maximillian of Bavaria., and even Marshal MacDonald. Ney, who was particularly close to him, names one of his own sons after Eugène. Eugène's biographer Kerautret concludes that Eugène spent most of his life as the eternal "fils," or as my friend sums it up, "The boy. Always looking for a father figure (and inspiring in most men the immediate urge to go all paternal over him), always searching for someone to look up to, to dedicate himself to, for someone whose appreciation he wants to win and to whom he wants to prove his worth." Eugène does not have this dynamic with Murat, and Murat, who was as paternal a figure as it gets, does not seem to have exhibited the slightest desire to have this sort of relationship with Eugène. Their relationship comes across more like a sibling rivalry than anything, even in spite of the large age difference. Maximillian even remarked to his son Ludwig at one point in 1810 that "The Viceroy and the King of Naples cannot suffer each other... but when together they tutoyer each other and to see them together one would think them the best of friends." Basically there had to be a hell of a lot of disingenuousness going on in their relationship, especially by 1810, since it was supposedly Eugène who had intercepted and forwarded letters to Napoleon implicating Murat in the Talleyrand/Fouché scheme to make Murat Napoleon's successor in the event that the Emperor died without an heir.

Now, as for how their mutual relationship to Napoleon related to their own relationship. Obviously Eugène looked at Napoleon as a father figure. But I've personally come to believe that, at least to some extent, Murat did too--Murat's being two years older than Napoleon notwithstanding. In numerous letters to Napoleon he refers to himself as "your pupil" and "your child"; in an anguished letter in 1810 he refers to Napoleon having "cherished" him "like a father, like my benefactor." And Napoleon very much tended to view himself as a father-figure over his subordinates. I can't help but look at Murat's relationship with Napoleon and think that Murat came to view Eugène as a sort of usurper in a way, as he grew closer to Napoleon and Napoleon heaped more favors and affection on him (and especially as Murat's relationship with Napoleon, by contrast, grew increasingly worse over the years, especially from 1809 on). So I think a certain amount of Murat's dislike for Eugène--most of it, in fact--was from this feeling of having been spurned by the man he revered, for a younger man whom Murat simply didn't feel deserved these proofs of trust and affection more than he did.

By the 1812 campaign Eugène was aware enough of Murat's dislike for him that he practically begs Napoleon to let him return to Italy rather than be placed under Murat's direct command. This is after Napoleon gives the command of the army to Murat because he knows perfectly well that Murat absolutely, beyond a shadow of doubt would've pulled a Jérôme and taken his ball and gone home if he had been placed under Eugène's command. Napoleon prevails upon Eugène to stick around, which was good in the long run, because Murat was not the man to handle a disintegrating army at the end of a disastrous campaign when he was already in a state of total demoralization anyway.

So yeah, by the time Murat's negotiations with Austria began in 1813, and he found himself corresponding back and forth with Eugène and, by early 1814, having to take the field against him after his defection, their relationship had long since deteriorated, and Murat's defection undoubtedly further reduced his standing in Eugène's eyes. That being said, Eugène was not completely without sympathy. In response to an agonized letter from Murat in early February, as Murat was staring the prospect of taking up arms against his country in the face, Eugène wrote the following reply:

I perceived by Your Majesty's letter, and especially by the few words added in your own writing, how much distressed you are by the situation in which you find yourself. These conflicts which arise in your heart do not astonish me; they filled me rather with a feeling of deep tenderness in reading them. It is impossible, in fact, that Your Majesty could contemplate without sadness the thought of seeing Frenchmen enemies to Frenchmen, who have always considered themselves honoured in counting them as fellow-citizens! I pray Your Majesty to listen to the promptings of your heart, and to reject the counsel which will result in nothing but bitter regrets for you. The Emperor has left Paris. In a few days the time of danger, or at least uncertainty, will be passed, and Your Majesty will find politics accord with the sentiments of your heart. [4 February 1814]

Unfortunately Murat's new allies did end up strong-arming him into taking the field against Eugène, and the rest is history. If Eugène left behind any remarks regarding Murat's tragic end, I have yet to come across it; nor has my friend who has spent a great deal more time going through his correspondence. It's a shame Eugène didn't leave behind any memoirs, which might have given us a better idea of his feelings regarding Murat. I've tried to piece it together as best as I can from what I know so far.

Thanks for the ask!

(Here are the full letters between Murat and Eugène that I mentioned above. These are from Volume 3 of Lettres et documents pour servir l’histoire de Joachim Murat)

***

Murat to Eugène 17 July 1805

To H.I.H. the Prince Eugène, Viceroy of Italy

I have been informed, my dear Prince, that you have deigned to notice that I was a bit late in responding to the letter that you'd done me the honor of writing me upon my nomination to the dignity of Grand Admiral. May it be permitted to me to tell Y(our) S(erene) H(ighness) that I had thought myself able to dispense with replying to it, being able to take your letter myself for an answer to that which I had the honor to write to you through Madame Ruga. It contained sincere compliments on your promotion to the dignity of Arch-Chancellor of State, and recommendations for that beauty; purely a formal recommendation, would a pretty woman ever have need of one with you?

I sincerely applauded the choice that H(is) M(ajesty) made of Y(our) H(ighness) for Viceroy of Italy; I did not speak of it to you, having only learned about it through the gazettes. I had thought that the unequivocal feelings that I have always manifested for you, would have earned me a communication of this memorable circumstance of your career. Your silence has affected me, I was sensitive to such a reserve, and I must be sure of finding this Eugène good and sensitive, to determine myself to complain to him about himself.

Now, my dear Prince, I pray you to receive my congratulations; they are sincere since I am addressing them to you. Make the attractive country that you have been called to govern happy, I will always applaud your success and its happiness.

I pray Y(our) S(erene) H(ighness) to accept the assurance of my high consideration and my attachment.

***

Eugène to Murat Milan, 28 July 1805

If Your Serene Highness was told that I had complained about the silence he had kept with me on the occasion of the new testimony of tenderness and kindness that I received from His Majesty, he was deceived. If I would have complained, it would be to Your Serene Highness himself that I would have addressed my complaints.

But if Your Highness was told that I was afflicted by his silence, he was told the truth. I admit to you, in this circumstance where I received from all parts congratulations that no letter of mine had provoked, it pained me to not find your name in the midst of all those who renewed to me their testimonies and expressions of attachment.

You thought I should have informed you of His Majesty's act myself... I thank you for explaining to me the reason of your reserve. I have no right to complain, but deep down does Your Highness think that if all the favors he deserved, and which I wish for him, were to arrive for him, it would not suffice for me to have learned of them from the Journal officiel, to hasten to tell him how happy I was for him?

If Your Highness does not share my opinion in this regard, I hope at least that he will find in the frankess with which I expose it, further proof of the importance I attach to having no injury towards him.

Now that I have said all that I have believed necessary to my justification, receive, I pray you, all my thanks for the new expressions of friendship that I find with so much pleasure in your last letter. Your Serene Highness will do me the justice of believing that I respond to the sincerity of his sentiments by all the sincerity of mine.

Will H(er) I(imperial) H(ighness) the Princess Caroline kindly receive my respectful homage the the assurance of my distinguished sentiments?

--Prince Eugène

***

#asks #Joachim Murat #Eugène de Beauharnais #Napoleon #Napoleon Bonaparte #Hortense de Beauharnais #Caroline Murat #Caroline Bonaparte

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jadelotusflower · 3 years ago

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Roundup - September 2021

This month: Saving Fish From Drowning, Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass, Anne Boleyn, Cruella, The Chair

Reading

Saving Fish from Drowning (Amy Tan) - I've always enjoyed Tan's work (particularly The Joy Luck Club, both the book and film) - Fish is somewhat of a departure, following a group of American tourists in Myanmar, narrated by their recently deceased friend Bibi Chen. The novel begins with a preface in which Tan explains she drew inspiration for the novel based on real events chronicled by a San Franciscan psychic's "automatic writing" channeling Chen's spirit (in truth a complete invention on Tan’s part, both literary device and metaphor).

Bibi is a compelling narrator, full of wry commentary of her friends as they bumble their way through their trip, the tone of the novel quite light despite some of the dark subject matter around the political situation in Myanmar (the novel was written in 2005 and set several years earlier) and the nature of intervention - the title referring to fisherman who "save fish from drowning" by netting them. It was at times difficult to keep track of all twelve (!) of the main characters and who was who outside of the few who get the most attention of the narrative.

An interesting read, about the stories we tell ourselves and others, and the fictions we believe for comfort and hope.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass and what Alice found there (Lewis Carroll) - I've been making more of an effort to work on my novel lately, which makes some reference to these works so thought it was due for a re-read. It seems impossible to consider these separate novels given how conflated they have become in pop culture - even the Disney film takes elements from both - they act as either a duology, or alternatively a single story told in two parts.

I personally much prefer Looking Glass, perhaps because I imprinted on the 1985 miniseries as a child (which adapts both novels, but we only had the second part on tape) - best known for it's celebrity cameos in silly costumes - including Sammy Davis Jnr, Donald O'Connor, Ringo Starr, and Carol Channing, among others, and the danger of the Jabberwocky as a manifestation of Alice's fears quite a nice idea that isn't found in the original text.

Perhaps Looking Glass, while remaining absurdist, is more cohesive than Wonderland with the chess motif and central motive for Alice to reach the Eighth Square and become a queen. I do however find the constant poetry tedious, and wonder whether both Wonderland and Looking Glass are better remembered for the concepts rather than the actual text.

Watching

Anne Boleyn (episodes 1-3) - I didn't think we needed another film/show about Anne, but I was always going to watch it. This series relies upon familiarity with history as it begins with Anne's final, doomed pregnancy - opening with the haunting words “Anne is the most powerful woman in England - she has just five months to live.”

There's nothing especially new here; rather a mood and character piece as Anne's isolation and desperation grows. It is of course built around the central, compelling performance of Jodie Turner-Smith, in every single scene and not afraid to shy away from Anne's sharper edges while remaining profoundly sympathetic, surrounded by a court of whispers, her existence on a knife's edge. We know only what Anne knows, and we see the smaller, heartbreaking moments usually passed over in other adaptations - in her grief following the stillbirth, Anne sits up in bed almost catatonic, milk leaking from her breasts, her attempt to walk back the infamous “dead man's shoes” comment, and the long days of her imprisonment.

Then there’s the beautiful costumes - in a court of dark furs, Anne wears bold primary colours and velvets that catch the light, that them become more subdued prints once she is in the Tower.

The other notable feature is the casting - described as "identity conscious" rather than colour-blind, representative of the othering of Anne and her relatives. Another standout is Thalissa Teixeira as Anne's cousin Madge Shelton, fleshed out as her confidant and the only one who remains true to her. It's a fresh perspective and a worthwhile watch, particularly for Turner-Smith's performance.

Cruella (dir. Craig Gillespie) - Spoilers. I wasn’t planning on bothering with this, but my sister wanted to watch it and I’d been told by several people that it was actually quite good. Look, I'm not saying they lied, I just think they were able to look past things that I was not.

Because actually, the core story has potential and the film has enjoyable elements (notably Emma Thompson), but simply falters every time they try and shoehorn references to the source material, and there are some truly egregious attempts - Roger is the Baroness’s lawyer for some reason? And writes the familiar Cruella De Vil song about how awful she is when she's just given him a puppy?

It doesn’t work as a prequel, or villain origin story, or even a reboot, since Cruella’s character journey is over by the end of the film (I have no idea what the purported sequel is going to be about) - in fact "Cruella" is just a persona Stone's Estella adopts (complete with a terrible affected accent), and there is no conceivable way for her to become the wannabe puppy murderer we know from the book or any of the film adaptations. Oh, and Pongo and Perdita are siblings! Well done, Disney. Slow clap for you.

Also, with a runtime of 2 hours 16 minutes it is Interminable and the whole thing is saddled with a terrible, unnecessary voiceover. Seriously, they should show this in film class to demonstrate when v/o hinders not helps.

They were likely going for a Maleficent-style re-imagining, but where that succeeded (somewhat) in a completely new retelling right down to a different ending to the source material, this wants to have it's cake and eat it too - it wants to have the Cruella aesthetic (the car, the hair, Hell Hall, the camp accent) but doesn't ever let her be a villain, or even the beginnings of a villain, but that's that's reason she's so memorable in the first place. It puts all the pieces in place for the story we know, and yet that story simply cannot happen with this version of Cruella.

In the end, it's a story of a fundamentally decent person who maybe goes a bit overboard in retaliating to bullies, and swindles a sociopath to reclaim what's rightfully hers. Cruella De Vil! I just couldn't get over this fundamental misapplication of the source material.

In many ways, it almost feels as if this was pitched as a sequel, with Cruella in the Baroness role. It would have fit a lot better with the aesthetic, the time period, and the concept of punk disruption of classic fashion. Or, it was a completely unrelated story of a plucky orphan who rises in the fashion world, that at some point was grafted onto the Dalmatians property. Either one would have worked better, frankly.

I am probably being overly harsh. If you switch off your brain and enjoy the clothes it’s fine. But honestly, if you want your live action Cruella fix, just watch the Glenn Close version, because it is superior in every way.

The Chair (season 1) - I watched this for Sandra Oh, and I was not disappointed, because I got to watch Sandra Oh. On the other hand...it's not that I didn't like it, I just...wish it had been better?

The story revolves around Ji-Yoon Kim, the first woman (let alone woman of colour) to become Chair of English at a "minor Ivy" university, as she tries to juggle the clash of old style academia and new, raise her daughter as a single mother, and deal with a series of controversies caused by one of her professors (and love interest). It's the latter I feel sucked up way too much time and was ultimately unsatisfying - particularly the end, which was played like a moral victory but really rubbed me the wrong way. If this gets a season 2, I hope they dump Jay Duplass' fuckup sadsack because hoo boy, am I sick of that kind of male character.

But Sandra Oh is wonderful.

Writing

The Lady of the Lake - chapter 5 posted, 4215 words (10,261)

Against the Dying of the Light 1954 words (11,976)

Here I Go Again - 414 words (12,948)

Novel - 1039 words (1484)

Total this month: 7,622

Total this year: 48,435

#roundup #reading watching writing #september roundup

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demauryss · 4 years ago

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for mtea @bluronyourradar. based on her tags on this post. i had minimum knowledge of how speed dating works so i wrote what came to me with the bit of research i did!!! i hope you like this and i’m sorry for taking too long!!

slow motion (i’m watching our love) 💌 | 3.9 k

in which there’s speed dating, some unexpected friends, a brief stint of matchmaking and a whole lot of sunshine smiles.

Lucas didn’t know what he was expecting to happen when he’d agreed with Mika to come to this … event or whatever it was. Because apparently Lucas was like a house plant Mika had got and forgot to take care of – and now it was starting to rot and needed someone to looks after it pronto.

That had been Mika’s analogy in trying to convince Lucas to try speed dating. Something he hadn’t heard of before. And with the promise of Mika buying all of Lucas’s groceries for the month if he came, Lucas had landed himself in this place. And it was the most recent thing he was regretting.

It’ll be fun, I promise!

It’s stupid, is what it is.

He didn’t know what to expect – but it was certainly not resorting to hide in a corner away from Mika’s prying eyes after talking with a total of four people – and being a witness to a very explicit kiss.

He wasn't thinking he'd get anyone when he had agreed to this, if you ask him. His thought process has been more towards getting through the evening with avoiding as much human interaction as he can. But in a succession of events, Mika had dragged him to a table, and Even, taller than nine of Lucases combined and eyes which was the reason why Lucas's tongue had forgot to form words, had approached him, and that was the first negative spike in his brain's specified compartment for dread.

They had talked for eight minutes before the bell rang and Even moved on to the next person. Lucas had learnt he was from Oslo; in his second year of college. He seemed nice, if those eight minutes were anything to go by, and totally someone Lucas would probably consider himself with.

But there was something nagging inside his brain.

So he'd smiled as Even had left. Totally chiding his brain for worrying about lost potential when there were more pressing matters to discuss. Like why the next person coming after Even looked like a live incarnation Jack Frost. His name was Sander, and he was a David Bowie enthusiast. And then had come Nico and David, one after the other.

And if it hadn't been for the way his stomach had crumbled at the thought of being with any of them -that he was slowly feeling his insides coming to his throat whenever he as much as smiled at them, that there was this empty hollow feeling inside of him as he sat talking to them despite his brain accepting them to be nice as the first thing it made sense of – Lucas wouldn’t be sitting here in his natural habitat being miserable at cursing his luck.

But as it happens – there was something nagging inside his brain. A black space. A variable entirely missing from the equation.

Lucas looks around the multitude of people all in an assortment of fading lights and a cacophony of voices all going over his head of people conversing. Lucas has never been good at that part, and that's why he finds it all so surreal to see. And it’s between that, hiding from Mika and cursing his fate, that there’s a mild commotion behind him. It would have been impossible to separate it from the discordance around him, had it not been for the way the reason the said commotion is created comes to where he’s sitting in the corner. Lucas, without meaning to, trains his ears on – he does a quick counting in his head – four people.

“I’m just saying,” One of them says, rubbing a hand over his neck. He looks like how Lucas feels after having to deal with a stupid customer on the phone – which is a story of a daily basis, “If you want to find a match, then maybe you should try and – I don’t know – talk to someone! ---

“Shut up Marti! This whole concept is stupid.” The one Lucas assumes to be Isak snaps. He looks tired, and Lucas really can’t argue with that sentiment.

“But it won’t hurt you to try?” Marti begins as a final resort. Isak only glares at him, “I don’t know what you think, but going on a date once doesn’t make you a relationship expert.”

“And especially when you call us in the middle of it to help you fake an emergency so you could run away.” The third person speaks, and Marti turns his murder filled eyes towards him. Lucas watches, heart somewhat lighter, as Marti just about digs the grave of the person in front of him.

“I like you better when you’re stoned, Matteo.” Marti grumbles, and the person in question turns starry eyed towards him, his tongue peeking out as he takes a gulp of the liquid in the glass he’s holding. These people remind Lucas of his own group of friends, those he hasn’t seen in months. With Yann and Basile both gone to spend the summer with their grandparents and Arthur on that science camp he signed up for ages ago – it has been quite some time since he last saw of them.

And now he misses them, terribly.

Marti looks at his friends disapprovingly as Isak and Matteo and the quiet friend whose name Lucas hasn’t got yet fail to hide their laughs at Marti’s distraught expression. He sighs, turning sideways and catching Lucas’s eyes. Lucas feels heat crawling up his neck spreading over his face at the thought of being caught in listening to someone else’s conversation. His initial reaction is to looks away, but his brain prevents him from doing so. Whatever, it’s too late now.

To his surprise, Marti addresses him like he’s talking to an old friend or something. “Please help me clear a point to these idiots,” he begins, “I’ll owe you forever.”

As if on cue, three pairs of eyes turn towards him in sync. Lucas gulps down whatever he was feeling earlier at being caught. “I’m sorry I can’t do that,” Lucas starts, feeling foreign being the subject of unknown gazes.

“Because you also think it’s stupid, right?” It’s Isak who begins with a hopeful cadence in his tone. Marti frowns at him, and Lucas sends a small smile in his direction.

“Well, there’s no denying that.”

The yell that breaks past Isak’s lips as he jumps in triumph raises several eyes in their direction. Lucas chuckles, apologetically looking at Marti who’s watching everything with a scowl on his face.

“I knew you were one of us,” Isak gestures to himself and the two people standing behind him. He looks out into the ground, pulling a sour expression on his face, “No sane person would be willing to spend an entire evening out there. It’s what I’ve been trying to tell this idiot here. But I think he gets it now. Do you, Marti?”

Marti, who has turned his head away from them, grumbles childishly, “Whatever. You guys don’t care for me.”

Isak laughs, and it’s Matteo who comes forward at that instant, wrapping an affectionate arm around Marti’s neck. “Don’t be like that, Marti. We do care for you!”

“Yeah. You’re the one who opens all of our jars when we need them.” The quiet one steps forward, and Lucas watches with Isak next to him. He heaves a sigh, before rolling his eyes, “Yeah yeah, now you can stop being a diva-” he turns to Lucas, “-he’s just being dramatic. Ignore him.”

Lucas laughs, now all unease under the guise of the nervousness which comes from meeting these people. Isak steps forward, taking a seat next to where Lucas is sitting. His friends follow, and soon he’s include in a circle of unknown people in a place he’d rather bolt out of.

“If we’ve reached an agreement here,” Isak pointedly says towards Marti, who is busy drilling holes in his skull. There’s light music present in the air around him, filled with occasional ringing of bell. Lucas ignores it and focuses on Isak. “I’d like to formerly make an introduction. I’m Isak, that’s Marti, Robbe and Matteo, and we’re seriously not having a good time right now.”

Lucas grins, “I’m Lucas, and you can count me in that.”

“Then what brings you here, Lucas?” It’s Robbe – the quiet one – who asks him that. His eyes have a kind look in them, and it’s accentuated by the light hanging over his head.

“My roommate,” Lucas sighs, “He works here, and he kind of convinced me to come and by convinced I mean he offered to buy my groceries for the month, so.”

They laugh, even Marti, who lets his annoyed expression slip for a minute before picking it up again as if nothing happened. It does occur to Lucas that he’s basically oversharing to a bunch of random people he just met. But the thought evaporates when they smile together, a familiar glint to all of their eyes. Lucas follows the warmth and soon, he finds himself getting enveloped.

Matteo smiles, “I was tagged into this Instagram post and someone thought it’d be a good idea to try this out.”

“And I still stand by it,” Marti somewhat grumbles. Lucas chuckles as Isak shakes his head at him. Robbe pats him on the back as Marti turns to Lucas.

“Please tell me you atleast talked to people before forming your opinion instead of criticizing from afar like some people here.”

“Hey!” Isak, Matteo and Robbe shout in unison. Lucas smiles, shaking his head. “Yeah I did meet some people but –“ Lucas shrugs, “-they were not someone I’d consider eating a pizza with brought from my roommate’s money.”

“That makes a lot of sense. Why didn’t I think of it before?” Matteo asks Robbe, who just shrugs. It Marti who bites back, “Because you’re stupid, that’s why.”

Lucas looks between them, as Isak raises his hand, high-fiving Marti over Lucas’s head. This night is going to be fun.

Some twenty minutes later, and Lucas is now a member of a groupchat with the four people whom Lucas can now almost call him his friends. (They’ve exchanged numbers, followed each on Instagram, exchanged pretty heavy details of their lives and exchanged some solid opinions on the people they’ve found mildly interesting.)

Now he and Matteo are surveying the crowd, finding someone suitable for Isak to go and talk to since his great epiphany seconds ago about not wasting any chance he’s presented with. (Marti had the most smug ‘I’ve been saying it for ages’ look on his face which Isak had wiped away with a middle finger raised in his direction.) Robbe and Marti were helping them, but it wasn’t up to any use since so far Isak had rejected hundred percent of the guys they had picked, all with the same monotonous ‘I’m not feeling it now.’

And Robbe had coughed a laugh with Marti hiding his face in Robbe’s shoulder, Matteo had whispered under his breath, that’s not the only thing you’re going to not feel tonight if you keep this up, and Isak had landed a smack at the back of his head – and it was when Lucas had realized his evening had turned out quite different from what he was thinking. He may not have found a match tonight, and Mika hadn’t said that he must find one. Atleast he’d be walking out with this memory with four new contacts – and the freedom from worrying about buying his groceries for the next month.

He looks out into the crowd dimmed with light. He doesn’t know if any successful match has been formed yet or not, but he doesn’t have to worry about that for more as he spots Mika sashaying towards him with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Damn Lucas,” he says. His eyes turn brighter as his gaze shifts from Lucas to the people sitting around him. “I thought finding one match would take you centuries but you’ve managed to snag four beautiful people from the crowd. I must be teaching you well.”

Lucas rolls his eyes as Mika goes on introducing himself to them. It’s when terms like Lucas’s gay guru and Lucas’s foray for the night are exchanged between the group, that he turns around, way past feeling embarrassed at his roommate’s antics. He’s so used to them now it’s not even funny.

“Okay Mika you can stop it now,” he says, watching as the guys including Mika act entirely too pleased at Lucas’s discomfort. “Sorry to burst your bubble but none of them is my match.”

“Oh he wishes he could get someone like me,” Robbe grins as Marti and Matteo fail to hide their terrible smiles. There’s a moment where Lucas remembers he called them kind, but that’s all gone now.

“Yeah. He was alone and miserable in the corner. If it hadn’t been for us he would have probably died from sadness.” Isak says, elbowing Lucas in his shoulder. Lucas musters his most perfect glare he could in that moment.

“I hate you all.”

“Oh but I don’t!” Mika laughs as if he’s having the time of his life. “I’m not pleased with anything Lucas does in his life, but I’m so proud of him for finding you guys!” He looks like a proud parent, Lucas would have felt to say had it not been for Mika declaring the sentiment himself. “I’ve work to do now, but you guys are welcome to come here anytime you want.”

Mika leaves, and Lucas glares at the four devils now grinning from ear to ear. Lucas rolls his eyes, scowling when their expressions don’t drop.

“Seriously?” Lucas asks.

“Yes,” they all reply in unison, and Lucas shakes his head.

“Now if you’re done being creepy can we go back to the task at hand?”

It gets their attention as Isak straightens up, a serious expression falling on his face. “I’ve come to a conclusion; I’m letting fate decide it for me.” as he speaks, he pulls out a coin from his inner pocket and puts it forward in his open palm in front of Lucas. “Lucas, take this coin and throw it in whatever way you want. If it lands on the floor somewhere, I’d go home and never try speed dating again. But if it lands on a table or hits someone on the head and that person turns then-“

He shrugs, and Lucas doesn’t see the logic in his plan. “It’s stupid,” Robbe says, to which Isak snaps in his direction, “Shut up I’m trying something here.”

So with one last hopeless look shared between Lucas and Marti and Robbe and Matteo, and a hopeful Isak jumping with glee, Lucas takes the coin, throwing it away and –

It follows a perfect projectile, a silver running through air, disappearing for a second. They all watch it and Lucas can swear they’re all holding their breaths. It’s silly, how they collectively exhale when the coin reappears into their vision before landing on-

Even’s table.

Lucas can tell he’s shocked when a coin lands on his table not far from them as he starts looking around. Lucas turns his head to the side, watching Marti and Matteo and Robbe do the same. But Isak- he stays with his stare focused on Even who’s now smiling at someone and Isak looks completely smitten.

“Um…Isak?” Marti waves a hand in front of his face, sharing a look with the three as Isak completely ignores him.

“Lucas you beautiful being!” Isak says, still in a kind of trance as he gets up from his chair. Lucas understands his intentions, and with a pat on his back, Lucas says, “Go on. He’s from Oslo too.”

It’s what sets the deal as Isak sets in motion. “I’ll catch up with you guys later,” he says off-handedly. They watch him make his way to Even, the crowd swallowing him just when he makes his way to the table.

Matteo turns to Lucas, “Is he one of the guys you said you talked too?”

Lucas nods, “Yeah he is – and come to think of it, I think I met some people you guys would like.”

And as Lucas plays matchmaker, he looks for the remaining three people he had met before. It’s funny really – this fate or kismet or whatever was going on when he met these people each of which bears a connection with the people he’d met earlier – and he spots Sander, his lighter than blond hair standing from the crowd. Lucas turns to Robbe.

“You see that guy over there? He’s Sander, and I think you’d be perfect together.”

It takes him a minute or two to find Nico and David in the crowd, and it takes him a minute as he convinced Marti and Matteo to go talk with them. Unlike Robbe who had fled straightaway, these two were difficult, and Lucas had resorted to quoting Marti’s own lines to him.

“It doesn’t hurt you to try, does it?”

And now he is left alone on their table as he tries to check up on his friends in the crowd. He had seen Isak disappearing with Even, and he’d shot him a thumbs-up when he’d met his eyes from across the room. The rest of them are still in the talking stage from what Lucas can see, even Mika, who’s now stood talking to someone much too familiarly – and Lucas can’t help but be envious of apparently how easy that looks for him.

He’s thinking of calling it a night after Isak sends a message in their newly formed groupchat, saying how he doesn’t think he’d be back anytime soon (which Lucas kind of guessed, by the way). The other boys reply in variations of same sentiment, and Lucas guesses his attempt at matchmaking was more successful than he thought it would be.

Lucas shakes his head, sending a message back into the groupchat, making sure the guys knew he won’t be missing them if they end up getting murdered tonight.

(But in all seriousness, he tells them to be safe, and he smiles when gets all affirmative responses in return.)

It’s when he’s beginning to leave that he feels a presence beside him. It’s a repeat of just a few moments ago, and he turns, expecting it to be Robbe or Matteo or even Mika and-

-and it’s not them. Not by a long shot.

For a moment it feels like one of Lucas’s daydreams as the light turning green and blue dances over the stranger’s head. His lips are curved in a smile, and Lucas really feels he’s tripped and transported into one of the universes he’s created during many of his bouts of daydreaming.

“Hi. You’re Lucas right?” The stranger’s voice carries over the noise of the club. It’s soft, sweet, and Lucas would have lost it had it not been for the stranger to be standing literally in a meter’s distance of him.

The stranger meets his eyes, and Lucas feels all the conversation skills in him reverting to zero. He was having no problem talking about his life to then-strangers just moments ago. Why does it brain have to be filled with hay now?

“Um – yes?” It comes out as a question, and the person smiles. Lucas feels his idiot brain transporting him to somewhere else – where it’s only him and the stranger, where the voices in the background aren’t filling his mind like white noise and where the sun is shining directly over him so Lucas is able to make out the colours lighting up in the stranger’s eyes.

Lucas’s heart beats heavily in the hollow of his chest.

The stranger cocks his neck to one side, “I’m Eliott,” he says. Eliott, Lucas rolls the name in his head. “And I’ve been watching you play matchmaker for a while and I’ve been meaning to ask -,” he takes a pause; Lucas hangs onto it, “-which of these beautiful boys do you think I’d match perfectly with?”

It’s a wonder Eliott doesn’t notice when Lucas’s heart tears his chest and lands on the table in front of him, beating so heavily it’s a struggle trying to calm it down. Eliott has been watching him. Eliott, who looks like he makes a living out of appearing on billboards and photoshoots, has been watching Lucas for a better part of his night.

Lucas wets his lips, thankful for the dim lighting of the café to hide his burning cheeks. What he wouldn’t give to-

“Do you have your eyes set on someone tonight?” Lucas mirrors the position of Eliott’s head. Eliott’s face lights up even more, and Lucas feels a shiver of unknown reason pass through the length of his spine.

“I do, actually. He has a nice smile and pretty blue eyes. And his hair is the wildest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Lucas looks around, confused for a moment, “That’s like, half of the people here?”

Eliott wrinkles his face adorably. Something jumps inside Lucas’s stomach at the sight. Eliott mutters something under his breath which Lucas fails to catch. And then he looks up, his eyes now gaining a glint which wasn’t there before. Lucas focuses – and it’s of nervousness.

“I suppose I should be more direct,” Eliott begins, taking a step forward so he’s just an inch away from Lucas, “If you’re free now then I’d like to take you somewhere.”

What?

Lucas chokes on the air caught in his throat at Eliott’s sudden statement, neck whipping towards him so fast it’s a wonder he doesn’t break it. Eliott himself looks taken back, and Lucas doesn’t know if it’s at his own words or something else.

“Wait no – that was so straightforward I’m sorry!” Eliott’s voice is frantic, and Lucas feels a beginning of something in his chest. “I – uh – I wanted to know if you’ve found someone tonight.” He says in one single breath. Lucas feels his face getting warm. The good warm you get after spending a day out in the sun as it washes away your sadness and takes it from you as it begins to set. He feels ants crawling inside him – those who begin from his heart and spread like a warm fire all around him with his blood.

Eliott looks like he might mass out when Lucas comes back. This doesn’t happen to him. It isn’t often that people actively seek him out. And here’s him – Eliott – in all his beauty sitting in front of hm. There’s something restless inside his arms, a nervousness which rises from the feeling which he’s refusing from letting it set in his bones.

“I haven’t,” Lucas’s voice is small, but it’s everything which brings a light to Eliott’s face which he can’t wait to follow. The warmth settles over him, and Lucas turns his head to the side when it becomes too much. He finds the guys, minus Isak, who have now taken the role of an audience for Lucas, and apparently look shameless when Lucas catches them staring.

(It isn’t like Lucas can judge them or anything.)

Lucas tries to convey a message to them with his eyes, and they get it, thankfully, as they turn to their respective partners, now forming a small circle which Lucas watches from afar. He turns to Eliott, his eyes in half-moons and smile in all suns. It really feels like a dream, and he wastes no moment in sending a prayer above.

“So – the place you wanted to take me?”

Eliott laughs, his voice soft and high. He leans forward, and Lucas meets him halfway.

#skam france #elu fic #lucas lallemant #eliott demaury #elu #penned #skam france fic

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ordinaryschmuck · 4 years ago

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Top 20 BEST Animated Series of the 2010s-5th Place

Up until now, I’ve been pretty iffy on which show went where on this list. However, from here on out, there is no doubt in my mind the ranking is almost perfect (or, at least, to me it is).

Just keep in mind, this next pick isn’t as cute and innocent as it might look.

#5-Camp Camp (2016-)

The Plot: Camp Campbell is a place where kids can go to do anything! Like space camp, theater camp, art camp, magic camp, and also other magic camp! It’s a dream come true...except for a little rapscallion named Max, who was forced to go there by his crappy parents. With the help of his two new friends, Neil and Nikki, the three of them will make it their life's mission to make life a living hell for their two camp counselors. Or, at least, it’s their life’s mission until the end of the summer.

This is the first and only web series on this list, and it is made by the (in)famous production company called Rooster Teeth. And trust me when I say that Camp Camp is the best show Rooster Teeth created ever since they started working on Red vs. Blue. And I can think of a couple reasons why.

Reason number one is the show’s comedy. Just like Rick and Morty, Camp Camp relies on being absurd and dark to get a laugh out of audiences. However, there is one thing Camp Camp has that gives it an advantage: The fact that it’s a show on the internet. There’s a lot of jokes that writers are not allowed to get away with on television. But on the internet, it’s all free game, baby! You want to make jokes about Hitler and the holocaust? Go ahead. You want a young cis boy to ask when he’s going to get his period? Go ahead. You want four kids to get scarred for life after catching old people having sex? Go right the f**k ahead. Because this is the internet. A place that is impossible to make kid-friendly, no matter how hard certain websites try! (And in case you’re wondering: Yes, all of those examples I just listed are actual jokes within the show. So have fun.)

With the benefit of having little to no filter, Camp Camp’s sense of humor allows it to go further with its jokes while having competent enough writers knowing the definition of “too far.” Because believe it or not, there is a limit that this show has with how far it’ll take its humor, and rarely does it feel like it crosses it (and it’s usually Kerry Shawcross’ episodes that crosses the line, oddly enough). Now, as I’ve established in my Rick and Morty review, not everyone is going to find these types of jokes funny. But for the most part, I personally think Camp Camp is hilarious. In fact, out of a fifty-nine episode line up, there is a total of ONE episode that I felt was low on the laughs. And like most good comedies, the best jokes come from who’s saying them and not what's being said. People need to remember that humor comes from the characters. Otherwise, when the gag goes to the wrong cast member, you’ll end up having people respond with, “but that’s not what this character would do or say.” In fact, the only time when a joke falls short in the show is when the wrong character says what is already a funny line that’s just misplaced.

And seeing as how we’re already talking about the cast, now might be a great time to mention that Camp Camp has the best group of characters Rooster Teeth made since the first thirteen seasons of Red vs. Blue. Like I said with Rick and Morty, I prefer to have a series with a moderately large cast of characters, as it offers writers enough room to work with so the series doesn’t become stale. And boy, does this show have a lot to work with. Everybody starts off with a personality that’s simple and serves the purpose of making a joke. But as the Camp Camp goes on, the more that these personalities grow and the audience gets to learn more about them. Even characters who seem like they’re only useful for the same comedic bit eventually become more complex as the series progresses. The best example is Dolph, who starts off as a source for Hitler jokes. But in the episode “The Candy Kingpin," we see that he’s also a little kid who’s just lonely and naive...while also still being the source of Hilter jokes. Now, at a glance, it might seem like there are too many characters, and it can certainly feel like it at times. Luckily the writers are smart enough to know which characters need more focus and which ones can be used for comedy. For instance, Space Kid doesn’t seem that complex in the slightest, but he’s a source for comedy, so he doesn’t need to be. Besides, the writers can develop any characters it wants whenever they want to. Because if Max and David are of any indication, this show has the best character development in any Rooster Teeth series.

I’m not kidding when I say that the relationship between Max and David is the best thing about the series. They start off with a simple dynamic: David is the happy go lucky optimist who gets in the way of Max’s pessimistic schemes. There’s nothing too noteworthy at first, and the majority of the episodes are just Max screwing over David and David keeping Max in check. However, the showrunners found a way to make their relationship more intriguing with each season. (Kinda spoilers ahead) Not only does Max learn that David understands how rough life can be, but, realizes why David has the determination to stay optimistic in the first place. And once David learns why Max is so jaded, he begins to work with Max through a new angle. In fact, the second they’re both on even ground, the two of them stop working against each other and learn how to work with each other (kinda spoilers over). Now don’t get me wrong. David still gets on Max’s nerves and vice versa, but there’s still a small amount of respect shared between the two. This is what I loved about their dynamic: Their development isn't blatant, but it still exists. In Red vs. Blue, it feels like Tucker’s development seems to take a step backward and forwards with every other season. And in RWBY, it feels like Yang is a different character after experiencing a traumatic event. This is understandable given what happened to her. But seeing how her having a sense of humor, which is everything likable about her personality, left after this one moment, it can be a bit disappointing (especially since Yang seemed like a person who hid her trauma through comedy). As for Max and David, everything that is likable about their personalities is still there, only now seen through a different light. This may not seem that impressive, but considering how Rooster Teeth has handled character development in the past, it’s pretty great.

Here’s another thing that may not seem as impressive as it really is: The show’s animation. I am amazed at how this series manages to have a television-quality of effort. Now, that may not sound like a compliment, but considering that this is a web series, it’s pretty darn impressive. Most online animated shows barely stick to a weekly schedule and the ones that do only manage to have episodes lasting for 3-5 minutes. So, seeing as how Camp Camp can have 12-24 minute long episodes once a week AND still managing to look good is a testament to how far internet animation has come. There’s also a surprisingly large amount of detail added into the show. I’m not talking about the characters themselves, as they have pretty simple designs. What I am talking about are the little things that the animators added in. If you pay attention to the props, backgrounds, and even things they wrote in, you’ll notice a whole lot of things that would have flown over your head otherwise, such as great jokes, continuity nods, and even sublime foreshadowing when it comes to season three.

So as you can tell, there’s a lot to like about this series. So you’re wondering why it’s only #5. Well, my reasons are more pitiful if I’m being honest. You see, Camp Camp is aimed at adults, but it doesn’t feel like that at times. Like I said with my Final Space review, most writers think that for a series to be considered for adults, you have to use sex, drugs, violence, and cursing. Now, in all fairness, those aren’t really meant for kids. And understandably so. However, if you take all of that stuff out, then what’s stopping this show from becoming kid-friendly? Not a whole lot, especially since there’s a handful of episodes that have plots I’ve seen in other kids' shows (“Jermey Fartz,” “Eggs Benefits,” and “Night of the Living Ill,” to name a few). Personally, I believe that for a show to be for adults, it requires two things. One is to have writing that may seem boring to kids but interesting for adults. It's also important to have stories/plots that kids are not ready to fully understand yet. If you fail to do both, then there’s nothing stopping a twelve-year-old from watching your show and enjoying it just the same. And I should know because I was twelve when I started watching Rooster Teeth’s content in the first place.

Also (and this next complaint is less pitiful and more problematic), it's not good with how whitewashed the voice cast is. I get it. A voice is a voice, and the color of the actor's skin shouldn't matter...except that it does. Because if you're going to go the route of having a diverse cast of characters, then you might as well go all the way by having their voice actors be people of color as well. And don't get me wrong, these actors do a perfect job for their respective roles, both for the dramatic and comedic moments. But, as this series started coming out in 2016, long before current events, it still bothered me that a character like Nerris--

--was voiced by a woman like Barbara Dunkleman:

Yeah...That’s a big yikes.

So while it may not exactly be the best example of an adult series and definitely needs some recasting, Camp Camp is still one of the best shows in the 2010s. It has impressive animation for an online series, has hilarious comedy, and even better characters to enjoy. And seeing as how this is only #5, that can only mean that the shows can only get better from here.

(Side note, is it bad that two seasons of this show made me connect to the characters much better than the first six seasons of RWBY? Because I certainly think so.)

#top 20 of 2010s #camp camp #rooster teeth #what i thought about #screw rwby

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michellejgaskill · 4 years ago

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10 Ways to Better Understand Your Husband

I’m sure you are aware of the ways you and your husband differ in your background and personalities. You may also have different ideas about how to spend your evenings, what kinds of movies you each prefer to watch, and what your ideas of an adventurous weekend would look like. But when you add to the mix their uniquely male qualities, it surely could be a case for your girlfriends that your husband is from a different world than you are.

1. Remember he's a man.

This should go without saying. Yet, I’m amazed at how many women expect their husbands to be just like their girlfriends and talk about everything, listen intently, and “go deep” with their feelings. Men are not wired for “chick chat” and the biggest mistake wives make is interpreting this to mean their husbands don’t care. Well, they don’t. But that doesn’t mean they don’t care about you.

You can understand your man better when you realize he approaches life differently, tending to focus more on the detail of fact, while you tend to focus more on feelings. While you tend to ask for help, advice and directions, he often will not. When you offer sympathy, he offers advice and analysis, and while you desire to understand problems, he is driven to solve them. Instead of thinking If only he’d be more sensitive, or If only he’d be more interested in what I l like, try changing your perspective to I appreciate the way he brings balance to our marriage

2. Realize his need for respect.

Countless studies have affirmed that a man would rather feel respected than loved. While women long to be cherished, loved, and pursued, there’s a sense in which a man can live without love. It’s respect he can’t live without.

It’s interesting to note that in the Bible, husbands are commanded to love their wives. And wives are commanded to respect their husbands (Ephesians 5:22-33). Have you ever thought about why a woman isn’t commanded to love her husband in return? We are commanded throughout the Bible to love one another, and that includes our husbands. But when it comes to this passage, which speaks specifically about the marriage relationship, God apparently knew a woman desires more than anything else to be loved and a man desires more than anything else to be respected. God must have known that as we respect our husbands, we are demonstrating love to them in a way they can more easily see and appreciate.

3. Recognize his need to succeed.

Your husband is wired to be competitive, and therefore winning, succeeding and advancing are extremely important to him. If your husband feels he is in a no-win situation or is failing at something, it will show in his attitude of feeling stuck or wanting to give up. If your husband isn’t succeeding at something, he at least needs to feel like he’s winning. Let him know he is succeeding in the areas that are most important to him and to you. And if what is important to you isn’t necessarily important to him, let him know every now and then how well he is doing in that area, and it just may become an important area to him after all.

Many a man will give up altogether and go passive when it comes to parenting if you are insisting your parental skills are better. A man may stop communicating if his wife lets him know he is a failure at communication. To the contrary, if you are praising his efforts—even if at this point they are just efforts—he will likely want to continue to please you. Treat him like a winner at home, and he’ll want to be there more often. Praise him for his handiwork around the house, and you’ll find him offering to be your handyman. Encourage him and tell him how good he makes you feel in the bedroom, and he’ll be more likely to initiate intimacy. Encouragement goes a long way. And making your husband feel like a winner will make him want to be around you— especially if you’re his No. 1 fan.

4. Allow him time in his "blank

Sometimes it’s difficult for us to understand how our husbands can sit on the couch with the TV on, not particularly watching it, and not hear a word we say, nor be capable of responding. I call that my husband’s “veg box.” Some wives call it their husbands’ “blank box.” And when you ask him “What’s on your mind?” or “What are you thinking?” and he stares off into space and says “nothing”—it really is true; he’s in a “no words, no feelings” box.

Women, on the other hand, constantly have thoughts swirling around in their heads. We are continually connecting events of yesterday to situations today and drawing conclusions. Our husbands appear clueless at what we’re doing, because they are. They don’t understand how we think and we don’t understand how they can be thinking of nothing. Allow your husband to spend time in his blank box doing nothing and thinking about nothing. It’s his way of decompressing so he can come back and re-engage with his wife and family again.

5. Ask him about his dreams.

Proverbs 20:5 says “The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.” You can better understand your husband when you can draw out of him his dreams and desires. When your husband has unmet dreams, it might affect how he is processing life or whether or not he is enjoying it. Whereas you and I might conclude he has a bad attitude, he may be dealing with feelings of missing out because he isn’t living from his heart.

Ask your husband what he’d love to do if time or money were no object. Give him permission to dream and don’t discount his ideas if they don’t sound practical or realistic. You can understand what makes him tick, what he secretly longs for, and even how you can share in making some of his dreams come true when you take the time to ask, learn and discover the dreams on your husband’s heart.

6. Treat him like a king, but not your God.+

There’s a difference between treating your husband with the respect and loyalty you would give a king, and depending on him like he’s your God. Many women marry with high expectations, only to be gravely disappointed shortly thereafter when they discover their husband can’t possibly meet all of their emotional needs.

Because your husband is a man, he will never be able to meet your needs for sensitivity and understanding like another woman. Because he’s not your dad, he can’t make up for what you might feel was lacking in a father-daughter relationship. And most important, because he’s not God, he can’t possibly fulfill you in every way. Instead of looking to your husband to be God in your life and fill your every need, look to God as your spiritual husband (Isaiah 54:5). There is nothing that will free up your husband to love you more than taking your emotional expectations off of him and leaving them with God. Your husband can then love you in the best way he is able, without feeling he has an impossible task in front of him. (For practical ways to live this out, see my book, Letting God Meet Your Emotional Needs).

7. Acknowledge his singular focus.

Unlike women who appear to multi-task, men function better with a singular focus and they have a way of compartmentalizing their thoughts and actions. Like his ancient ancestors, your husband is, by nature, a hunter-gatherer, so it’s easy for him to zero in on—and stay focused on—a single topic (Picture a cat sitting by a window watching a bird – he doesn’t move, but is totally fixated).

As you are sensitive to this single-focus characteristic of his, it may help you understand his response—or lack of response—to you when you go from topic to topic in your conversation or are tending to “merge” the areas of your life when he prefers to keep them separate. For example, talking about finances just prior to intimacy will confuse him. If he’s in “finance mode,” he will not know how to transition well to “romance mode.” Likewise, if you are talking about the kids’ schooling problems or your aging parents’ needs while he’s trying to set up the tent on a camping trip, he will likely not respond to your words, let alone hear them.

8. Allow him sexual pleasure with his wife.

Men are designed, physically and physiologically, to enjoy sexual pleasure with their wives. Your husband wants to enjoy that activity and experience with YOU. And you are the only one he can enjoy that with and still be right and pure before his God. And he knows that, even more than you do.

In Ecclesiastes 9:9, Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said this: “Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given to you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.”

King Solomon wrote a whole book on the meaninglessness of life. And among the few things he found meaningful for a man to enjoy were a good meal and pleasure with his wife. Now think about that! When you prepare a meal for your husband, isn’t it your desire that he enjoy it? Similarly, will you prepare yourself for him, physically, as his reward after dinner? God paid you quite a compliment when He gave you to your husband as your husband’s reward. God considered you a great prize to bring pleasure—in many ways—to your husband. That should make you and I want to be our husband’s reward, not his consolation prize.

9. Accept his love for good food.

Do you ever find yourself wondering why your husband constantly thinks about food? Or how it is he can down a whole steak in minutes when all you feel like eating is a salad? Your husband, if he’s like most men, loves to eat. He’ll prefer a meaty meal to your low-calorie morsel every time! And get thisenjoying food is biblical! In Ecclesiastes 2:24, the wise King Solomon says, “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.”

For a man to be able to sit down and enjoy dinner—or a hearty, messy barbecue lunch—is one of the ways God rewards him for his work here on earth. So let him eat. And don’t knock him when he does. It’s one of the simple pleasures in life he was designed to enjoy.

10. Be patient as his priorities shift with age.

Your husband typically values different things at different seasons of life. In his 20s and 30s, he may prioritize making money and advancing his career because he is in his prime “provider/achiever” mode. When he approaches his 40s and 50s, he may be more concerned about making his life count and not “wasting time” doing something that doesn’t matter in the long run. When he reaches his 60s, he may value slowing down to enjoy life or attempt ambitions or “bucket list” items now that he has more time.

Keep in mind, though, that even when his priorities shift with age, he’s still the same man you fell in love with and married. His priorities just change through the years, as do yours.

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#relationship #couple goals #love story #my husband #secret obsession

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justlookatthosesausages · 5 years ago

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Lol that actually gave me an idea, a time travel prompt with Anna and Elsa witnessing the day the spirits cut off the enchanted forest and see their parents before their lives changed forever.

Oh my, the FEELS. This is going to be so much fun to write dundundunnn

=======

Elsa blinked, looking around. That flash had blinded her a bit, and when she looked around for her sister to make sure she was still near and safe, she saw by her flickering eyes that she was as startled as her.

“Uhm… What the heck just happened?” Asked Anna.

Before the blonde made any speculations, she frowned and scolded her sister.

“I told you to not touch that rock.”

“But it was shiny!” Complained Anna, and she had a sorry pout. Her curiosity had led them in a weird situation... And it wasn’t the first time it did.

Elsa sighed, then looked around as she thought. “I know those woods by heart now. I’ve never seen this rock before. And it was emanating a big amount of magic.”

“It was glowing a lot. I can easily imagine it was.” Nodded Anna.

The Snow Queen tried to understand what happened. Her younger had bent to pick up the rock, and then suddenly a flash covered them, but… Nothing seemed to have changed. The woods around them looked the same, and they were still standing at the same place.

Elsa’s eyes narrowed when she then noticed something.

“Wasn’t that tree… Way bigger when we passed by it?”

Anna turned at her gesture, and nodded. “Yep.”

The redhead then pointed at the sky. “The clouds also completely changed, for some reason.”

Elsa lifted her hand and didn’t notice much difference, yet trusted her. She hadn’t paid attention to the sky, and on that, she congratulated her sister for her sense of observation. Anna also knew the name of the different types of clouds. Even if that knowledge came from years of boredom due to the isolation, it still was impressive. She nodded.

“Yeah. The clouds are different. It’s weird. Did… Time pass? Did we faint?”

Anna held her chin as she thought. “I don’t remember falling down. I was getting up when the flash happened, so it’s not that. Also, the sun still has the same position, no?”

“It does. You’re right.”

The Queen smiled. “Look, I’m sorry for touching that magic rock. But we’re both safe, so maybe we should go back to the camp and ask if they saw something different.”

Elsa agreed with her decision. They walked back to the Sami camp from where they had taken a walk, and the Fifth Spirit heard a tinkling between the trees on their right. She also felt in the air that it was Gale, and she smiled.

“Maybe we could ask Gale if they noticed something.”

They walked to the Spirit.

“Oh, they’re playing with a kid.” Said Anna.

The sisters now were a hundred meters away from them, but they still hadn’t noticed their presence. The Wind Spirit and the child, apparently a girl, were too busy having fun to do so.

“Wait… I’ve seen that face somewhere.” Frowned Anna, bending her head in confusion. “Is she one of the Northuldra kids?”

She tried to remember where she saw that child’s face before, and as she was playing with Gale and moving around in flips, it was hard to look at her face.

Then it suddenly hit her. And apparently, it hit Elsa at the same time. They instantly stopped walking.

“It’s Mother.” They both exhaled at the same time, and gasped in disbelief.

There was no doubt. She looked exactly like the ice statues of her they had seen again and again in Ahtohallan on their regular visits.

“Elsa, it’s…” Started Anna, a smile stretching her lips.

She was about to say ‘miraculous’, but her elder ended the sentence in another way.

“…Impossible.”

They turned to each other, and exchanged a glance.

“What do you mean?”

“How… How is she here? It can’t be.” Now whispered Elsa, to make sure that Iduna wasn’t hearing them. She also made sure that her magic was low, keeping a full control on it, to not warn Gale of her presence.

“It can’t be? Come on, you were born with magic. Anything is possible. Look! It’s amazing!”

She pointed at their mother, for now only a teen, and she was giggling in the distance with a melodious Wind Spirit who also shared her joy.

“How are we here then?”

“Well, we probably time traveled.”

“Time travel doesn’t exist, Anna! We’re not in one of your fantasy novels!” Blinked Elsa with a frown, trying to keep things logical and facts-based.

Anna shook her head with an eye-roll. “You’re able to see memories of the past, but this surprises you?”

She walked forward. “Come on, I’m done whispering. It’s Mama right there, I’ve always dreamed of this moment! We can talk to her!”

“No, no no no.” Forbid Elsa, placing her arm in front of her younger sister.

“What? Why?”

The Snow Queen couldn’t believe she was asking that question.

“Have you never read time traveling novels??” Grumbled Elsa.

“You just said earlier that I did. Of course I did. You’re contradicting yourself now.” Mocked Anna, even if she knew that it was rhetorical.

“Then you must remember that in every story, when the hero interacts with past events, it alters the future.”

“Yeah, in stories.” Underlined the Queen.

“No, you don’t get it! In life too! - I can’t believe I’m stating this, but…” Interrupted herself Elsa. “…Anna, we can’t talk to our mother right now. We just can’t. We shouldn’t. Otherwise, everything will change in the future. In our future. Maybe… Maybe even none of us will be born.”

Anna considered each of her words, taking the news in. She was right… But not completely.

“…Then why are we here?”

“Because you touched a magic rock!” Reminded Elsa.

“No, I mean… Why are we here, alive? If changing the past changes the future, our present time, then we can’t exist in our version, right?”

The blonde opened her mouth to reply, then closed it. Then opened it again, then closed it again. “Oh.”

“Is it a time paradox?” Understood Anna.

“It totally is a time paradox.” Sighed Elsa, closing her eyes.

“Don’t go dramatic. It’s good news. It means that we can intervene!”

“No, it doesn’t really work that way…” Started Elsa.

Suddenly, it was like the air snapped. Something completely changed. In one second, the whole situation flipped.

Elsa’s head quickly turned when she heard the familiar - too familiar - sound of steel from swords getting drawn.

“Oh no.”

“What?!” Worried Anna, who also felt that something was happening, but couldn’t tell what yet.

Gale had stopped playing with Iduna, who got dropped on her feet to the ground, and left behind by the Wind Spirit who hurried away. Some yells and grunts were heard in the distance, but it was too far to see what it was.

“It’s today.” Muttered Elsa, her eyes filling with tears. Sad, panicked and powerless tears.

The Queen frowned, then gasped when she understood. Iduna frowned in confusion at why the Spirit had left her, and heard the noises from afar, so she followed them.

“No, she shouldn’t go where the fight is!” Exclaimed Anna, way too loud.

Iduna jolted at her voice, closer than the noises she heard before, and quickly turned to where the sisters where standing. Elsa gasped and strongly grabbed Anna to drag her behind a thick tree. Thankfully, they were far enough for their young mother to not spot them.

“Elsa! What are you– hm-hmmm!” Got muffled Anna, Elsa slamming a hand on her mouth.

“Shhh!” Warned the blonde, her eyes wide.

She peeked behind the tree to see if Iduna had walked closer, and the girl still was searching where the voice had come from.

“E-hah!” Tried to say Anna, her mouth still under Elsa’s hand.

Her elder gestured her to stay silent with a finger on her own lips.

“E-HAH!” Insisted Anna, gesturing at the hand Elsa had on her face, and trying to get free of her hold.

“SHHHH! Will you shush up? You’re going to get us caught!” Whispered Elsa on the lowest tone possible despite her panic and anger.

She looked at Iduna, but thankfully, though for the worst, she got distracted by the growing sounds of battle and ran to go help.

After making sure that their mother had ran away and they were alone in that corner of the woods again, she let go of Anna’s mouth. The later gasped of relief as she did so, panting.

“What is wrong with you?” Frowned Elsa. “She almost saw us! Why were you wriggling like that?!”

The redhead intensely rubbed her cheeks and mouth with her hands, trying to heat them.

“Your hand was SUPER COLD!”

Elsa’s eyes widened at the sudden realization.

“Oh my goodness!! I didn’t notice, I… I was so stressed that I made magic in my palms, and… Oh Anna, I’m so sorry!!”

She hurried to check her state.

“I’m alright.” Assured Anna, still rubbing her face however. “This just feels like I plunged my head into the fjord. This is fine.”

Elsa had a worried and sorry eyebrows expression, and clenched her fists to take all magic off her hands. She then rubbed them along her younger sister’s arms, apologizing in loops.

This made Anna laugh, but her laughter stopped when they heard the fight between the Northuldra and the Arendelle soldiers getting closer.

They looked at the fight that was playing a crucial part in their common past.

“Come on, we have to hide.” Advised Elsa, showing bushes a bit further. “We’ll wait here for now, and then cross the mist on the other way once it’s formed. We’ll just have to hold hands and it will part.”

“Wait, you want us to leave?!” Blurted Anna, eyes growing wide.

“We should. The forest stayed this way for more than 30 years, and we can’t change the course of events by hiding inside… What do you think?” Elsa inquired, trying to build a plan.

The redhead wasn’t responding, her eyes still wide and staring at the fight. She had just spotted their parents in the battle now arriving close. She also recognized the Arendelle soldiers in younger versions of themselves, and some Northuldra people as well.

But she gulped when she saw how events turned.

Mattias was struggling to protect Agnarr. Even if she knew that he would make it, according to the future, she couldn’t help but worry. And Iduna looked panicked, frantically looking around and confused at why the Arendelle soldiers suddenly attacked.

That was too much for Anna. Her natural and legendary impatience forced her body to move. She turned and already launched herself for a sprint.

“NO, ANNA!” Muttered Elsa, her voice strong but wheezing to keep it as low as a whisper.

Anna got restrained by a hand holding hers firmly, and her whole body stopped in one jerk at Elsa’s force. She almost lost her balance, surprised by her sister’s strength.

“What are you DOING?” The Queen said through gritted teeth as she twirled around.

“Preventing you from doing a big mistake.”

“But we can HELP! We can save them!”

“NO, we CAN’T!” Insisted Elsa. “Imagine what would happen if–”

“If we change the future? Yes, I got it. But if we’re alive, it means that we made it. Nothing changed.”

Elsa shook her head. “No. Nothing changed because we stayed here and did nothing. Nothing changed because we will do nothing.” She clarified.

Anna looked at her, and there was a long silence between them as they stared at each other. Only the distant sound of battle punctuated it. Elsa sighed with a shaking breath.

“Anna, you have no idea how much I want to change the past too. When I saw Mama, I just wanted to run to her and take care of her. But…”

The redhead had thought that Elsa was getting bossy and a killjoy, but her eyes now were filling with genuine tears.

“…We can’t. I’m sorry.”

Another silence filled the space between them.

“Don’t. Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault. I’m actually sorry myself for pushing you.” Murmured the Queen.

She turned to the battle, a sad yet decisive expression on her face.

“Okay, where’s your hiding spot?”

Elsa smiled at Anna’s choice of vocabulary to light up their mood.

“Over there. Nobody will see us.”

They crouched on the grass, Elsa in lotus position and Anna sitting with her legs bent and her chin on her knees.

“And now we wait?”

“And now we wait.” Nodded Elsa.

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semi-imaginary-place · 4 years ago

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rewatching decadence

ep1: so... indoctrinating kids that they life their life in service to an upper class. also like, the way deca dence takes care of giant gadoll is to punch it like no giant sword or laser canon or anything just the power of a giant mountain sized fist. this show actually has some good foreshadowing from seeing Natsume from the perspective of Kaburagi’s hud, to Natsume’s dad (Muno) finding the Solid Quake logo at the beginning of the episode and the logo again being shown in the last shot at the announcement signs off with have a profitable day which is a weird public safety announcement but makes sense as a company slogan. I’m still not sure what the “TIME 1:00 POINT SE,07,G” means. I didn’t write it down last time because I was unsure of myself, but my first thought when the cyborgs showed up was VR chatroom for the upper class.

ep2: yeahs that’s totally an advertisement that plays right after natsume realizes the human costs of war as the tankers pay respects to the fallen. I realized what it was with the cartoony designs, the bright colors and patterns, the funky shapes of all the structures aboard the space ship, it looks like a tv show for toddlers. inoffensive and deliberately cheerful to distract from the horrors of a corporation owning your person. the eng subtitles are confusing here it should be “real death(simulation) awaits” in that the company is advertising being able to experience death but not have any of its permanent consequences as a feature of the game. The cyborgs are corporate wage slaves being compensated for their labor in company credits and the only other things we seen them do outside of work is play the company’s mmo, or recreational drugs. “I should be proud of my function and to be scrapped” as property of the company. aaaa that’s terrible. aaa. what are cyborg cores??? and why are they valuable. Solid Quake has no control over the core, only the cyborg’s housing. Is it that they cannot produce more? Considering the others on the team got executed for sentenced to an eternal forced labor camp with appalling conditions, Minato really did pull some strings for Kaburagi. ooh so “time until scrapping” and “operational limit near are two different warnings. the first is a general reminder of lifespan and the second is because oxyone levels are low. now its “TIME 20:00 POINT SE,05,I”. all those new gadoll events probably wreck havoc on the tanker economy. its 400c now and i think it was 500 for 2 earlier. First time through I wasn’t paying attention and totally thought kaburagi was an assassin, but no he’s just clean up crew. ahh yes, come spend you wages at the company run stores. micro transactions... wait so where were people getting the number 13 from?

ep3: ah yes Solid Quake charges to use the media center, truly a micro transaction hell. Natsume’s character arc is about whether to push herself or not. Here Fei acts as part of a continuing dialectic saying that Tankers have no place outside of Deca-Dence, that sooner of later Natsume will die from it, and once again highlighting Natsume’s right arm. In the other level of this though, tankers shouldn’t go outside because that’s not their role in the solid quake mmo, and those who would disrupt the mmo are killed. I like how you can see Kaburagi switch from videogame logic (oh she’s low level so let’s just stick her in the tutorial zone) to real life (what skills and experiences would help in fighting). So several corporations took advantage of desperate people to sell them a service that would augment them with mechanical parts. I get that pipe in a little outfit is funny, but does no one really realize its a gadoll, i meant natsume recognizes it instantly. like the scene where Natsume talks about her right arm, the anime does a good job of showing how her feeling about it are complicated. She’s lived with that arm for years, but it also hinders her sometimes, and people will comment about it. there’s this specific type of humor that pops up in this show and given how its the same joke, my guess is that its the same person behind it. The “joke” being that Natsume is put in a position that references sexual assault. The first is with fennel where she makes up an excuse of having to go see kaburagi to get away from him. And then there’s this episode. There’s also a few stray lines here and there that alarm me in that they imply Natsume has dealt with the threat of assault before. Since they didn’t do anything meaningful with this, I’d rather it just not be there. Minato is in on the secret of Pipe’s existence and by the way the two talk, they’ve called each other before in the last 7 years. Its good to know that Kaburagi wasn’t JUST brooding for 7 years and that the two of them stayed in contact.

ep4: Natsume after having gained confidence in herself takes down several gadoll and earns her place in The Power. Its a fulfilling payoff after seeing her train for several episodes. Natsume is where she always wanted to be, fighting gadoll in the Power. gahh It really is a patch release trailer. Ohh so I assumed that the other structures on the cartoon earth were other corporations, but in this episode we see one of them (the white and red striped cone thing opposite the deca-dence dome) and the cyborgs there are talking about the game (MMO LARPing lol), so either Solid Quake owns multiple of those structures, or these cyborgs are customers not owned by Solid Quake and playing of their own volition. that would makes the cone cyborgs where solid quake is deriving its profit from since its not like it pays its workers. reading comments online, a lot of people missed that because a ranker was found to be cheating (mikey), the rankings were abolished. In the present time, gears/players are not ranked. Ah so Kaburagi was transferred to the maintenance department from the warrior department. Wow reassignment is so much better than the poop jail. I remember it being said, armor repair, doctor, and weapon shop could be employee(cyborg) run so I wonder if the medics and that one armor shop guy are tankers or not. So this anime already snuck in a sex joke with the when the poop gang swapped kaburagi’s avatar with a sex toy, so i wonder if the safetyprivatemode was made so that the mods wouldn’t have to listen to robot sex. I really wish this show could have had 24 episodes. The trend for the past 20 years has been shorter and shorter shows so I know it would have been likely impossible to get the clearance and funding for 24 eps but oooh in som alternate universe maybe... i brought up fleshing out minor characters and character relationships before but there also stuff like Natsume’s right hand almost clamping on ... Mindy? Which usually would be a narrative flag but is completely dropped because of the episode limit. And the confidence Natsume gained last episode come to work against Kaburagi trying to keep her from the suicide mission. Its only from this point on that Kaburagi starts to really change, as of this point he is still a loyal cog to a machine that does not care about him. Kaburagi and Natsume in the 2nd half of the episode continue the same dialectic that runs through the whole of the show, about giving up and learning to try again, about pushing your limit, about why someone bothers trying. On the collectivist versus individualist spectrum, Deca-Dence is on the individualist side with assertions of the importance for deciding for yourself what you will do with your life. Its an interesting counterpoint to The Twilight Mirage (Friends at the Table) which I am currently listening to in that The Twilight Mirage is a western production and strongly collectivist with one of the antagonist being sort of kind of an embodiment of independence/individualism while japanese works as a whole tend to be more about the whole over the individual than western ones. Kurenai talking about why she fights is very good and very important for 2 reasons, first it help flesh out not only her but offer a very needed other opinion on what its like to live as a Tanker, second it segues nicely into Natsume’s memories of her dad telling her about the outside world and him being the only one to believe she can do it (fight in The Power) as contrasted with flashbacks of all the other characters telling her she can’t. This culminates in Natsume gathering her resolve to fight not because of something grand like changing the world or the fate of humanity, but something very personal scale: changing herself and proving to herself that she can do it. The is also the climax of her character arc, the point of no return.

ep5: If last episode was natsume’s point of no return, then either this episode or episode 7 is Kaburagi’s. Rationally speaking, the optimal scenario would have been for Kaburagi to stall long enough for the Tankers to escape before pulling back himself, but emotionally and narratively, there’s no way he couldn’t. After all the build up of deciding for yourself how to live and pushing your limits. Its appropriate that here in defense of the girl that inspired him to live and choose for himself rather than just continue existing in the default of what Solid Quake demands of him, that Kaburagi chooses to release his operational limiter (literally pushing him limit) and derail the company’s plans. How did no one realize purple dude was breaking imprisonment to play on a hacked avatar. Like he’s still as purple and bloodthirsty as ever. He acts and speaks the same. Someone would have totally seen him and gone “eyyyyy [i forgot this guy’s name] is back” and talked to people about it and someone should have heard. So I remember reading comments from various idiots who were mad because they mistakenly thought the anime took place in a virtual space and that Natsume was made of lines of code. And first off even if that was true there’s a difference between objective reality and the lived experiences of a person and what’s to say her experiences and emotions would be any less real than yours. And second, did everyone forget The Hunger Games? Like its just another game that plays with real lives and doesn’t care who gets killed. Solid Quake is just using humans as a stage prop. Man this episode is jam packed. Its like getting punched in the face 4 times. The pacing of the last 4 minutes was really good. The quiet scene as dawn breaks acts in direct contrast to the high energy of the Stargate takedown that preceded it. After time and against not listening to him, Minato still calls Kabu to check in with him. There’s also his certainly that it was Kaburagi that saved the Deca-Dence mech (i need to be clearer when I’m talking about the physical fortress city mech, the mmorpg game, or the deca-dence system itself). And then when the world state gets reset is just so good because it make it clear that the gadoll were never the true enemy. The tankers could kill as many gadoll as they want and nothing would change. Kaburagi’s at an interesting point here, in that he’s no longer in a state of having given up like he was in episode 1 just waiting to die and following along with Solid Quake’s orders, as of this episode he has deliberately gone against the company’s rules, and yet he’s still believes that nothing will actually change. He’s broken a rule and resigned himself to punishment instead of say for example getting rid of the punishment all together. He’s still a good little employee that hasn’t rebelled against the system. And then the “Take care of Pipe” and Natsume turns around and he’s already gone, is sooo good. The final shot too of his avatar face down in the snow! The “This world needs bugs” is in direct contrast to Hugin/Fugin(?) repeating that this world must be rid of bugs, and the same phrase Kaburagi repeated 7 years ago when he was transferred to the Maintenance Department instead of being killed. I wonder how much the cyborgs feel in their original bodies vs. how much they feel in their Gear avatars. Kaburagi doesn’t seem to care about food and no food stalls were shown in the Gear area so maybe they doesn’t have much sense of taste? The avatars also have a lessened sense of pain. And then the limit release sequence shows connections increasing between the two bodies so does it make the cyborgs more attuned with the avatar’s senses?

ep6: eh so this is another example of what I mean when I say some of the humor in this show is in bad taste. They probably put the oxyone port where the ass would be just to make this joke. But this is better then doing to it Natsume. The animators even had a gleam censor for the over where the capsule was inserted as if it wasn’t obvious enough what it was suppose to look like. Spurned on by the the promise that one day if they work hard and behave (”rehabilitated”), the cyborgs will get let out when in actuality its a forced labor camp so that Solid Quake can squeeze just a little more labor our of the cyborgs for even less compensation. The cartoony style here helps offset just how horrific there working conditions are. And Kaburagi still the good little employee (iiko) tries his hardest to play by the rules and win. Except in this game, there is no “win’ written into the rules. So finally he is forced to move outside of the system Solid Quake has made. I still can’t believe they let Donatello keep the gun... Maybe cyborg cores are brains. In 5.5 Kaburagi’s core is in the top half of his metal case, and Donatello’s is also in his head. I’m still not sure what that sequence where Kaburagi takes the head fin and an image of a cyborg core is overlayed, means.

#deca-dence #deca dence #anime #i think too much #reviews #writing

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altumvidetur · 5 years ago

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Haikyuu!! Fic Recs (KuroDai)

Fic Recs Masterpost

Moving on with my ongoing trend of sharing all of my fic recs to help give people stuff to read while isolated at home, it’s time for another of my Haikyuu!! OTPs, KuroDai!

Of course, these cater to my own tastes, so you may find stuff you don’t like around here. I never include works in progress. The Mature and Explicit works will be in italic. I ask you to READ THE WORK’S TAGS before continuing, so you won’t find anything that makes you uncomfortable.

Let’s go!

will you stay with me my love, for another day?, by amaanogawa

“Are you a Shinigami?”

The man raises his brows, clearly surprised. “What makes you think that?”

“You appeared out of thin air, you’re dressed in all black, you have a notebook with my name in it that tells you I’m sick, and you said that it was my time.”

“…alright, I guess I was a bit obvious, but in my defense you’re not supposed to be able to see me. And the black is a personal choice, really.”

Kurodai Weekend 2k17, Day 1 | August 25: Spirits ( Shinigami AU | Yokai and Exorcist AU )

breathe me in (like the air tonight), by amaanogawa

"Kuroo learns that he’s never wanted to kiss someone as badly as he does now, when Sawamura’s face is bathed in moonlight on the streets of residential Tokyo."

Kurodai week 2k17: Sports Swap AU / Same Highschool AU.

Not entirely scientific, by Ellessey

Kuroo is totally accustomed to the feel of Daichi’s body, but even so, it hasn’t gotten old. The broad bare shoulders that he leans on sleepily in the morning, or the strong thighs that support him when Daichi’s classroom is empty and Kuroo can’t resist getting on his lap and calling him Sawamura-sensei (and every other filthy thing he can think of to turn his husband’s cheeks bright red).

But especially, on nights like this—wintery ones when the walk home from the train station is frigid and dark—he has not, in any way, lost his appreciation for Daichi's warmth.

A small study of the heat of Daichi's skin, as told by Kuroo Tetsurou.

Take the Long Road Home, by pepperfield

When Azumane Asahi goes missing before his engagement meeting with Kozume Kenma, what other option is there but for Daichi to impersonate his brother and fake his way through a first date with Asahi's fiance?

Okay, let's be realistic - there were probably at least four other options.

Unfortunately, Tetsurou couldn't come up with any of them either, so now he's here flirting with Kenma's future husband while trying to keep his web of deceit from collapsing.

It's going to be an eventful day.

like a properly calculated algorithm, by astroturfwars

Kuroo’s got a hand in his hair, pushing it out of his face so he can read properly, and one of the first non-calculus thoughts Daichi has all night is: well, that’s a nice change of scenery.

The second non-calculus thought Daichi has is: shit.

warm, by raewrites

It's at the very edge that Daichi finds himself reaching desperately for the flames licking his skin, and it's always Kuroo who pushes him over.

hey now, the past is told by those who win, my darling, by momitchi

"Quit focusing on the past, Sawamura," Kuroo said, smirk evident in his tone. "If you keep doing that, how can you expect our teams to play each other at nationals?"

do you want to die together, by roisale

(the things you gain when you are in a jaeger: one of them is a time bomb tied with the noose made of hope around your neck, but the other is the guarantee that when you are side by side with your partner, there will never be anything left unsaid.)

"do you want to die together?" - the time they do, and the time they don't.

the faster we’re falling, by raewrites

Sawamura Daichi is really hot.

But also so much more.

And it’s a huge fucking problem.

see: fond, by raewrites

Kuroo brings flowers to their first official date.

Okay, a flower. One he had picked on his way there, growing out of a crack in the sidewalk, probably stepped on at some point.

The flower is a dandelion, specifically.

(“A weed?”

“It’s not a weed, it’s a flower! Look at the…those little yellow bits are considered petals, right?”

“It’s a weed.”)

And Daichi (embarrassingly enough) falls in love with him right then and there.

play in the petals, by tsuruko

This time, he buys red roses without looking up a meaning.

ride, by astroturfwars

In which there are cars, kissing, and cute dogs.

I’d Follow, by magic

When Daichi’s given a new chance at life, it comes at a price. He figures it’s worth it.

dialogues, by inverse

a series of conversations. for kurodai week 2014.

Be Good to Me, by tinycrows

“Not only am I into that,” Kuroo says slowly, perfecting the razor sharp smirk that he knows turns Daichi on--even if he has never admitted it, “but I guarantee you’re going to love it even more.”

catch and release, by evils

"Sawamura-kun, don't tell me you're actually a virgin?"

Daichi flushes a deep red and Kuroo's grin turns positively wicked.

made me give in to you, by astroturfwars

Kuroo’s always been one to take opportunity where it presents itself, if she thinks it’s worth the risk and the effort and the time, and she’s almost sure that Sawamura, with her small steady hands and lightning-flash smile and peculiar unassuming slyness, is worth the risk.

(A series of drabbles, wherein Kuroo is bad at flirting and Daichi is, somehow, very much charmed.)

let’s conspire to ignite, by downmoon

Kuroo likes to pretend the squeezing around his heart isn’t from the way Daichi shifts his awkward gaze from Oikawa to him, and he doesn’t overanalyze the smile that creeps across Daichi’s face, the warmth that lights up his eyes.

It’s just a trick of the light.

Probably.

manage me, i’m a mess, by raewrites

Four times in which Kuroo Tetsurou makes Sawamura Daichi question everything he’s ever believed in, and one of the (many) times it clicks.

accidentally on purpose, by drifloon

“Calm down,” Tetsurou said. “It’s not like she’ll fail you.”

“That’s true, “ Sawamura said, exhaling again. “If she does, I’ll complain. Thanks, though.” He lifted his hand for a one-armed hug.

“No problem,” Tetsurou said, and when they separated, he kissed Sawamura chastely on the lips.

Shit, he thought. His face was very warm.

eleven centimeters to infinity, by raewrites

Infinities, Kuroo thinks, exist in these increments of eleven centimeters, increments made surpassable when Daichi tilts his chin just enough to defy them, just enough to overcome a distance Kuroo had thought insurmountable for so long.

in between being young and being right, by cenli

Everything is lit up rippling-blue and smells of chlorine and sounds like the incessant hum of a filtration system and Kuroo is looking right back at him, eyes soft.

Daichi lets Kuroo convince him to sneak into their college's outdoor swimming pool at three in the morning.

such a kiss, by Metis_Ink

“…Can’t you do that anywhere else?” Daichi asks, trying to focus on the music sheets in front of him.

“Sorry, you took the best seat in the house,” Kuroo says, nodding to the window, where the sunset swept over Daichi from above the rooftops. He smirks. “You’ll be happy to know that you’re a lot more photogenic than that mini-fridge I was planning on putting in that spot before you threatened to feed me your rosin.”

Goodnight, Good Morning, by kythen

Training camp arc. All Daichi wants is a good night's sleep, which is impossible when Kuroo keeps coming up with increasingly ridiculous excuses for why he should let him crash with him.

heartbeat, by squidmemesinc

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

Daichi shifts over on the bed a little more. Kuroo’s shoulders are so broad, even when he’s turned sideways like he is. Hospital beds really weren’t made for two people.

The Fourth Time, by kiyala

Another weekend, another open day, another talk about the benefits of this particular university's engineering program. It's not like Tetsurou actually plans or even intends to bump into Sawamura at these things, but this is the fourth time it's happened in a row so far.

Location, by tastewithouttalent

"Daichi’s very sure that no one would expect to find him where he is: in the darkest corner around the main gym, hidden by shadows so deep they might as well be a curtain, pinning Nekoma’s captain to the wall by the hold Daichi has on his shoulders and the press of their hips together." Daichi and Kuroo linger where they shouldn't be.

small magics au, by kythen

(Summary by me: two fics, KuroDai with powers, Daichi has the ability to grow flowers wherever he goes, Kuroo is so smitten there’s barely a word to explain just how smitten he is)

Roman Numerals, by notebookthief

A study of the progression from rivals to friends to lovers.

Mounties, by notebookthief

Daichi spends his summer locked in his apartment with Kuroo, curled in their own hazy world. Sequel to Roman Numerals.

If I Could Change Your Mind, by tookumade

“I’m kind of excited to meet him,” Bokuto says, roughly an hour before Karasuno are scheduled to arrive. “He sounds interesting.”

Kuroo raises an eyebrow at him. “I just told you that there’s not a lot about him that stands out—how is that interesting?”

“You’ve told me a lot about how he apparently doesn’t stand out,” Bokuto replies easily. “You don’t usually talk about someone so much."

(Or, Sawamura Daichi shows up like a breath of fresh air, and Kuroo Tetsurou doesn't stand a chance.)

the world stops turning for us, by kythen

(we've got all the time in the world)

Post-Christmas lazy days. Daichi isn't exactly sure when he started living out his entire life with Kuroo.

Pucker Up, Lost Boy, by svedone

Kuroo Tetsurou and his stupid kissing booth are going to be the death of him. At least Daichi's not lost anymore.

Gross, by kythen

Going by all laws of logic, the both of them shouldn't look this cute together.

light, by kythen

A study of a crush, as seen through the eyes of one Kuroo Tetsurou.

one touch, by Recluse

It is a promise from the universe that opportunity will come, that there is a hand you are meant to hold.

Boyfriend-Jacket Style, by whatcaniwriteinthis

Daichi likes wearing Kuroo’s jacket- it makes him feel small and also cozy. He also kinda likes the way Yui chokes on her spit when he shows up to class.

boyfriend shirts and thigh highs, by kythen

Smut practice that somehow developed into a domestic sex series.

Personal Space Invaders, by kythen

Kurodai Week Day 4: Confessions/Mutual Pining

Training camp arc. Kuroo has no sense of personal space and Daichi has a problem.

Lifeguard Dude, by surveycorpsjean

It's spring break.

Everything is going great, until Daichi looks up and sees the hottest lifeguard he's ever seen in his life.

“That’s a good look for you”, by tmntransformer

Kuroo had told him, multiple times in fact, that there was no need to ever visit or pick him up from his new part-time job. Which of course meant that Sawamura had to go and visit him at his new part-time job.

distance, by WildKitte

Daichi knows to expect the call. Kuroo has always been a romantic at heart.

proximity, by WildKitte

Set directly after chapter 325, so HEAVY SPOILERS FOR MANGA! Two very exhausted teams are gathered on the bleachers, crows and cats huddled together. It gains stares and surprised second takes from the spectators of the previous game - but there they are, Karasuno and Nekoma, sitting all mixed up together.

A sequel to distance

Bad/Bed Hair Day, by kythen

After Kuroo moves into Daichi's dorm room, Kuroo's hair undergoes a transformation. Cue an identity crisis and Kuroo and Daichi's many attempts to make things right again.

My piece for the Domestic Kurodai Zine: Midnight to Morning Coffee!

Hypothetically Speaking, by Ellessey

'Kuroo's door looks just like Daichi's, but a more faded brown. Daichi lifts a hand to knock, considers turning around and leaving, and then mentally shakes himself. You can do this. Kuroo is a good guy. Just go in there and be normal. Understand statistics. Chill the hell out.

He knocks and the door opens almost immediately, and Daichi cannot chill out. He cannot chill out at all.

Kuroo's chest is bare. And wet. A towel is wrapped low on his hips.

"You're kidding me," Daichi says.'

Daichi needs help understanding two things: Statistics, and Kuroo Tetsurou.

Seen a Million Faces (but I’ve been waiting for you), by Hyeyu

In all his time as a dance instructor, Kuroo has had his fair share of newcomers walk into his classes at Nekoma. But there were dance newbies, and then there was Sawamura Daichi.

(aka the Dance!AU in which Kuroo teaches dance, Sawamura tries his best, and circumstances keep getting in the damn way.)

Smile For Me, Baby, by kiafeles

Perhaps he chose grape because subconsciously he wants to punish himself for such awful thoughts, and really, he can’t change his mind now, because that would just draw more attention to how awful he is at talking to his dentist.

First Sparks, by kythen

Shapeshifting AU. A territorial dispute between the crows and the cats, and its aftermath.

Alternatively, Daichi meets the new neighbours and Kuroo finds the hardest way to form a friendship.

dissonance in stability, by amaanogawa

dis·so·nance /ˈdisənəns/ noun

· a tension or clash resulting from the combination of two disharmonious or unsuitable elements.

"It's absolutely ridiculous, really, two grown men lying on an elevator floor, chewing bubble gum side by side at 5 in the morning. Daichi would never have thought that he'd be here, doing something so unbelievable.

And yet, here he was."

many names for home, by kythen

Summary by me: space!AU where Kuroo is MIA and Daichi is desperately trying to find him.

Don’t Send Me Anymore, by orphan_account

“I can’t stay, Kuroo. I’m compromised,” he says, and he doesn’t meet Kuroo’s eyes. There’s something in the way that he says compromised that makes Kuroo’s heart fall to his stomach.

Daichi and Kuroo talk circles around one another.

naked fools, by sweggscellent

“I heard him jerking off last night,” Daichi is lamenting to Suga the next day over milkshakes.

“You what?” Suga asks, and Daichi groans, putting his head in his hands. “That hasn’t been a problem before now?”

“No,” Daichi whines. “Well, I mean, yes. But last night he left his door open.”

Suga snorts. “That sounds like a sign if I’ve ever heard one.”

Rainy with a Chance of..., by kythen

The things that happen when it's raining and you're alone in Tokyo.

aetate mirum, by Hyeyu

A series of drabbles/fics set within an RPG-like alternate universe that's (indulgently) populated with knights, mages and the like.

kick drums on your bedroom floor, by farseersfool

"You sent me pity nudes."

"I did, yes."

the second our eyes met (baby i was yours), by kythen

Prompt:

"Hey remember when I said it was 'just a crush' and that I would 'literally never fall so low'?"

"Yeah?"

"I was wrong. I'm entirely screwed. Help me, please."

The Wrong Number One, by PandorasBox

“Tell me why everyone’s staring at me.”

“That’s not your jersey."

(Accidental Jersey Swap)

come a little closer, by phanatics

“Shit, bro, I think you killed him.”

“Bokuto, I swear to God, that’s not even funny.” Daichi is pulled a little further back into consciousness as cool fingers flutter across his face. “I can’t believe I’m a murderer at 19. That’s too young to go to jail, man.”

Daichi wishes that he could pretend to be dead a little longer, so he doesn’t have to face whatever idiots are hovering above him right now, but instead he wrenches one eye open with a weary sigh to accept his fate like a man.

In which Kuroo isn't nearly as smooth as he thinks he is and Daichi believes that he really doesn't deserve this.

(Day 1: first meeting / next time)

something good can work, by phanatics

In which Kuroo meddles and Daichi becomes his unwilling sidekick.

(Day 4: blind date / shotgun wedding)

Something Just Like This, by kythen

Kurodai Week Day 1: First Meeting / Next Time

But she said, where'd you wanna go? How much you wanna risk? I'm not looking for somebody With some superhuman gifts Some superhero Some fairytale bliss

Just something I can turn to Somebody I can kiss

(Something Just Like This - The Chainsmokers & Coldplay

teach you a thing (or two), by Spring_Emerald

“Are you dating Kuroo-sensei?”

For KuroDai Week 2017 Day 2: Sport Swap / Same High School

Eager, by Ellessey

'Daichi focuses on the direction of the entrance again, waiting for someone to come in with black hair and a red tie. These seem like really insufficient details to go on, now that he sees that fucking everyone here is wearing a tie. (Including him. Suga tied it for him.)

He's just about to pull his phone back out and check the time, when he catches a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. A slim red tie, on a slim, tall man, and a set of dark, angled eyes that are scanning the tables until they land on Daichi.'

Daichi doubts Suga when his friend sets him up on a blind date, but once he meets Kuroo he realizes, as he has before and will again, that Suga is always right.

nothing ventured, nothing gained, by kythen

Kurodai Week Day 3: Childhood / Adulthood

Kuroo wants to make Daichi come without touching his cock.

Kurodai Week Day 7: Free Day

Daichi wants to make Kuroo come however he wants.

Perks, by Ellessey

The first thing Kuroo wants to do, after every game, is see Daichi. Sometimes this is really easy, when he’s playing close to Tokyo, but other times it can take hours before he gets to talk to him. He still does, though—win or lose, four o’clock in the afternoon or nearly midnight. As soon as he can manage it he’s on his phone, or his laptop, or sometimes even a payphone, so he can hear Daichi’s voice and decompress. So he can feel like he’s home.

Tonight he’s on his laptop and it’s close to one in the morning, but he’s not going to sleep yet, not without this.

Kuroo and Daichi find (slightly filthy) ways to stay close to each other, even when they have to be apart.

to the ends of the earth with you, by amaanogawa

(Summary by me: Apocalypse AU, with a lot of angst but ultimately a happy ending.)

the shield and the spear, by kythen

Kurodai Week Bonus Day 8: Mythical Creatures / Super Powers

Daichi finds himself on a journey, his memories gone and a man with beautiful golden eyes as his only guide.

Sense, by Ellessey

'“What are you—felt what?” Daichi asks.

“This,” Kuroo says, and he lifts one hand, waves it carefully through the empty space in front of him, and paints the air with color. Bright lines of orange and gold and red appear in the path of his fingertips.

Daichi’s mouth falls open.

“Yours is cooler,” Kuroo says, smiling wryly.'

Daichi has never met another person like him before, someone he doesn’t have to hide his abilities from. But the first day at a new school, surrounded by the same normal faces, he finally meets someone different.

hold me (very) close, by symphorine

At the time, it seemed like a good idea.

Scratch that. It was never a good idea. Kuroo is good at a lot of things, but not enough to fool himself into thinking that inviting his ex (who he may or may not have lingering feelings for) to stay with him, even just for a few days, is anywhere in the vicinity of smart.

But hey, he's a grown adult, and so is Daichi, and he's just doing him a favor! It was staying in Kuroo's apartment or finding a cheap hotel, and at least, after two years of rooming, and dating, in college, they know how to coexist.

Daichi, now an author successful enough to be interviewed for a TV show, needs a place to stay for the occasion. Kuroo offers his apartment before he realizes the flaw in that plan.

It's just a few days of living with Daichi again. Everything's gonna be fine.

Before You Forget, by kythen

Spirited Away-inspired AU. There are some memories that always stay with you.

While moving back to Miyagi, Daichi loses his son in the forest and goes in search of him, only to find himself in a different world altogether where he meets a certain shadowy spirit.

by your side, by kythen

Keep your friends close but your frenemies closer.

blink if you love me, by kythen

Daichi notices something about Kuroo when they kiss.

did you receive my wink?, by kythen

Kuroo needs help asking Sawamura out. Obviously, he turns to Bokuto.

shot through the heart, by kythen

Daichi only has one chance to take Kuroo Tetsurou down.

all the lives we’ve lived (were for this moment), by kythen

In all of the twenty-five lives Kuroo has lived, Daichi has always been there. This life is no exception.

Kuroo just needs to meet him first.

The Neighbourly Thing, by kythen

Scene: Bokuto in front of Daichi and Kuroo's apartment with a basket of fruit.

lingering, echoing, by kythen

Those who we love and lose never really do stop loving us.

me, you, me, you, by kythen

Daichi and Kuroo and their eternal rivalry through the years.

Youkai and Exorcist AU, by kythen

Summary by me: wherein Daichi is an exorcist, Kuroo is a nekomata, and, together, they fight crime. I mean, other youkai.

i like the way you work it, by Spring_Emerald

“Always a professional, Sawamura. And here I was excited to finally get some.”

Daichi gives him a dry look. “You won’t be getting some, if you don’t pay attention.”

Kuroo winks. “I’m all yours and ready, baby.”

Daichi lets the blatant innuendo go, as it’s serving a purpose at the moment.

“Good boy.”

For Kurodai Weekend 2017 Day 2: Action (Undercover Agent AU)

Happiness is where you find it, by kythen

Kurodai Weekend Day 3 - Family: Established Family AU / Single Parent AU

Family life in the Sawamura-Kuroo household, home to two dads and one baby girl.

i’ve got you, darling, by kythen

Daichi has a bad day and Kuroo is there to comfort him.

When Summoning, Please Use Caution, by kythen

Kuroo was definitely not the demon Daichi expected to summon.

Viewfinder, by blueacorn

(Summary by me: cute bakery AU where Daichi is a baker, Kuroo is a photographer, and they’re both corny. There’s cute IwaOi in there too.)

chosen, by ryekamasaki

Prompt:

Kuroo in the bushes with cat food.

hope will take its toll, by Spring_Emerald

Kuroo doesn’t want to think about it. He doesn’t think that Daichi’s affection for him, or his affection for Daichi, for that matter, is fickle, that something like winning or losing a match could change. He has more faith in their relationship than that. He has more faith in himself and Daichi than that. But, that doesn’t mean that he isn’t part terrified for what’s going to happen tomorrow.

slide show, by Spring_Emerald

“Good afternoon, gentlemen. I’m here to present a pitch about ‘Why Sawamura Daichi,” he points at Daichi, who is sitting at the foot of the table, for emphasis, “should date me’”.

forever starts from now, by Spring_Emerald

Daichi shakes his head, but smiles at the sentiment. “After today, you won’t get rid of me anymore.”

“I could say the same to you,” Kuroo says back. He then leans forward and rests his forehead against Daichi’s. “I don’t ever want to be rid of you.”

“Good,” Daichi replies in a whisper.

i’d still say yes, by Spring_Emerald

Kuroo covers Daichi’s hand with his and it is as warm as Daichi remembers. “I missed you, Sawamura,” he admits, eyes trained on Daichi seriously. Daichi is lost in Kuroo’s eyes that he couldn’t even control himself when he replies with a soft “I missed you too.”

Kurodai Kinktober 2017, by kythen

A collection of kurodai smut oneshots for Kinktober 2017.

Good Game, by byesweetheart

Working for a gay porn production company for a living—also known as fucking other guys on camera in a room with ten bored crew members for a living—had about as much drama as you could expect, with nearly 40 actors working together in various ways (and positions). That is to say, there was drama always.

to the scars on your fists, by amaanogawa

"Sawamura has power, has foundation, but Kuroo’s strength lies in his speed and flexibility. And just as Sawamura has countless hours of practice marring the skin on his fists, Kuroo has the same, as do the rest of the fighters here today, all for the same goal.

Victory. Nothing but that."

Kurodai Weekend #2, Day 1 | December 8: Ennoshita Productions ( Haikyuu Fighter | Final Haikyuu Quest )

your hand in mine, by kythen

Kurodai Weekend Day 2 - Celebration: Birthday / Wedding

Today is the first day of the rest of their life.

if you travel through the woods, by kythen

There is something out there and Daichi can sense it, even if he can’t see it. Daichi has always felt at home in the forest, filled with trees and plants and animals, all familiar to him, but these woods are different. None of them have ever been this far away from home and these woods are strange to them.

Daichi leads his group through the woods in search of safety.

Simply the best, by Poteto

Ladybug is gone and Chat Noir is the only hope the city has. Daichi thinks that's enough.

Under Night’s Veil, by Kath

Rumor has it that young Lord Sawamura is protected by the darkness itself. Nobody knows he is in love with it.

Birthday Wishes, by kythen

It‘s Daichi's birthday so he can be a little bit selfish.

words can’t espresso how much you mean to me, by amaanogawa

"(Long story short, Kuroo slipped into Daichi’s life where he fits like a puzzle piece, like he was always meant to be there, and it had all somehow started with a cup of overpriced coffee and a lopsided smile.)"

me and my heart (we got issues), by Spring_Emerald

For the prompt: "Can't decide if I should slap you or kiss you"

-----

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Kuroo asks softly, a bit unsure.

“Looking at you like what?”

“Like you want to kiss me,” he says easily with a smirk.

try me, by lances

Having company was nice, even if they were perfect strangers with different study goals in mind. It was a shared peace that Kuroo could appreciate, a tacit encouragement—

“Shit, 'kaashi!”

—and if asked, Kuroo could name the exact moment Sawamura’s fingers fossilized over his keyboard.

(or: akaashi tires to get a rise out of kuroo, but all it does is get him a date instead)

paved with good intentions, by Spring_Emerald

The note details the time and place for the said date, and below is a line that says ‘Be there or else…’

-----

For KuroDai VDay Anthology 2018

I’ll love you for a hundred years, and then more, by kythen

Kuroo thinks Daichi would like them, even if Daichi has never expressed a particular fondness for roses. Or, he would have to like them because Kuroo has already purchased an entire armful of them, an entire army of red roses, a hundred buds strong.

For Kurodai VDay Anthology 2018

till it be morrow, by Spring_Emerald

“Kuroo, for the last time, we’re hardly Romeo and Juliet. Drop the act.”

-----

A pair of “star-crossed” lovers take their time.

waking the dreamer, by kythen

Daichi dreams.

why don’t you meet me in the middle, by amaanogawa

Based on this popular tumblr post.

"the reason i don’t go to the doctor anymore is because i went once and the medical intern was super young and super hot so naturally i got nervous, and when he measured my heart rate he said ‘hmm it’s…faster than average’ and then he smirked. cos he knew. cos i’m not subtle. cos i’m a dumb motherfucker. anyway imagine your OTP"

Daichi goes to the hospital and gets more than he expected.

i’ve got a crush on you, by kythen

In the autumn of his seventeenth year, Kuroo is afflicted by a crush that never quite leaves him.

got a better solution, by Spring_Emerald

For the prompt: "When it comes down to it, it's just a game."

-----

“Is that how a winner should act, Sawamura?” He lightly elbows Daichi. “First you don’t approach me, and now you’re ignoring me? That’s breaking my heart, you know.”

i feel your warmth, and it feels like home, by peaches

in which Tetsurou and Daichi share a college dorm, and all the feelings that come with it; a story told in seven parts.

you will always be my dear, by amaanogawa

"So one thing led to another and here they were, all of them crowded into a small yakiniku restaurant on some back road in Tokyo with Daichi feeling vaguely like his heart was about to beat out of his chest.

He hasn't seen Kuroo since they broke up 3 years ago, tear stained shoulders and a bittersweet smile on a windy platform as he boarded a train that whisked him away to the other side of the country in a matter of hours."

Kurodai Week 2018 Day 2 | May 7: Getting Together | Post Break-up

pancakes, bacon and eggs, by kythen

Summary by me: ABO KuroDai, with Alpha!Kuroo and Omega!Daichi, mating cycles and they somehow still manage to be dense as rocks.

there you are, i’ve been looking for you forever., by amaanogawa

"It's a story that he loves to tell every chance he got, about how Daichi opened his mouth and starlight bled out like water colours on paper, filling in the hollows of Kuroo's previously monochrome world."

A story about finding one's soulmate- because when you know, you just know.

Kurodai Week 2018 Day 5 | May 10: Music

The Sea and the Shore, by kythen

Summary by me: Mermaid!AU, with Daichi as a mermaid trying to deal with his attraction to human!Kuroo.

it’s hard when you’re young, by kythen

Kuroo is doing well in high school. His volleyball team is on track to Nationals and his grades aren't even slipping that much. Why his mom thinks he needs a tutor is beyond him.

A story about growing up, moving out, and falling in love.

(let me stay) by your side, by kythen

Kuroo fractures his dominant arm. Luckily, Daichi is there to look after him.

(No, they aren’t dating.)

falling another moment into your gravity, by amaanogawa

"Nothing beats Daichi on the court. He’s a force to be reckoned with on any day of the week, but the minute he stands on the court there just isn’t any question left at all. A powerhouse of stability, of strength, and a quiet kind of terrifying. People are left breathless in his wake.

Kuroo is always one of them."

if you ask, by murphym

Three months.

Three months and Kuroo's still not over Daichi.

between us captains, by owlsshadows

Kuroo feels thankful now for the rigorousness of this weekend camp, the tension of each practice match claiming his focus entirely, dragging his eyes away from certain thighs and placing them on the ball instead. The intervals, he finds a bit harder – sweat glistening on Sawamura’s temple and dropping from his square-shaped jaw, water bottle held by strong fingers, lifted to delicious-looking lips by strong arms – and he escapes more and more frequently to the corridors, marching down to the furthermost of restrooms to wash his face.

It's Kuroo's birthday, and he is called out by Sawamura for some captainly advice.

Touch You Not, by kythen

(Summary by me: ABO!Teacher!AU KuroDai, with Alpha!Kuroo and Omega!Daichi, and so - much - pining.)

Illuminated, by Ellessey

' “Are you going blind?” Daichi asked on the eleventh night, when the situation had not improved at all. “Will you trip if you don’t have the light of a thousand suns to show you the way?”

“A well-lit home is a well-loved home, Sawamura,” Kuroo told him so solemnly that Daichi thought this might be an actual saying, until he googled it while lying in bed and found that Kuroo was just full of shit. '

After weeks of Kuroo leaving all the lights in his and Daichi's apartment on, their electricity bill (and their living situation) is in peril. But even with all that illumination, there may be something about his boyfriend that Daichi isn't seeing...

flower, flour, perish, by pepperfield

Tetsu and Daichi used to rule the streets of Torono together, but fifteen years apart changes some things.

Their feelings for one another isn't one of them.

Breakfast & Dinner & Me & You, by basilsprout

"Daichi figures the two of them must look ridiculous right now, crouched in the middle of the kitchen, snickering and weeping and frantically seeking relief from the chemical warfare of a farm vegetable. But seeing Kuroo like this, snorting unattractively with snot beginning to dribble from his nose, makes him realize that this is a side of Kuroo that only he has the privilege of seeing, and he wouldn’t have it any other way."

It's been a week since Daichi and Kuroo have moved in together, and they spend the day doing domestic things.

all wrapped up in you, by kythen

He never thought that he would become this clingy, this needy, but after spending years with Kuroo by his side, living alone has become unfamiliar to him.

Kuroo stays away from home for a work experience programme and Daichi adopts a new habit involving his boyfriend's clothes.

express hospitality, by Spring_Emerald

“Daichi, babe, my handsome whirlwind,” Kuroo says forcefully, staring down at him and waits until he’s got Daichi’s full attention. “Calm down.”

“Auntie is coming and this is the state of our apartment,” Daichi gestures frustratingly around them, “I can’t calm down.”

Peach, by carriecmoney

(Summary by me: Bokuto has a dog, and his dog is a matchmaker. Also, Daichi in a firefighter uniform.)

“I’ve always been yours,” by kythen

It’s February 14th and I owe you a poem, but all I can think is: your hands and your mouth and your hands and oh, god your mouth. — “2/14” Trista Mateer

hey babe, are you garbage ‘cause i wanna take you out, by pepperfield

A collection of short standalone kurodai fics, each based on a trope/prompt!

I'm trying to get in the habit of writing short fic again; throw a prompt my way and I'll see what I can do!

Wet Dream, by kythen

Daichi has a wet dream about his alpha boyfriend, Kuroo. Thankfully, he is already in Kuroo's arms when he wakes up.

Staked through the heart, Stuck in my veins, by jadehqknb

Being the Chosen One shouldn't be so complicated. See vamp, stake vamp, go home and try to get homework done and sleep. So why is it, when it comes to Kuroo, Daichi's the one who ends up getting staked... in more ways than one?

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, by kythen

Kurodai Week 2019 Day 7: Just Married / Childhood Friends

When Kuroo was a young boy, he lived in Miyagi and loved a girl with beautiful brown eyes and a smile like the sun. Fast forward eight years and when Kuroo’s father takes him back to Miyagi on a business trip, Kuroo jumps at the chance to reconnect with his first love—only to find out that his first love isn’t a girl at all.

yours, forevermore, by amaanogawa

They made a grave sin somewhere along the way, where loyalty morphed slowly into desire over the years and when Tetsurou had leaned in, somehow soft and sharp all at the same time Daichi had fallen headfirst into everything he was, blinded by his own love that he had once thought he could never receive in return.

But now it is time to reap the consequences of his weakness, for Tetsurou is a man destined for greatness and Daichi is a mere tool to be used in his quest for it.

#haikyuu!!#kurodai #kuroo tetsurou #sawamura daichi #fic recs #the underlying message of this page is READ KYTHEN'S FICS #otp: he's the shrewd type #please warn me if any links are broken #and reblog it if you can so more people will see it

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