#love a good trauma/character development hair cut

[sylustra]

Photo dump evidence, I felt guilty that I have no good photos with Xavier so I played around for him today.

[dialovers-lover-xoxo]

Mukami Brothers as Dads Headcanons!

Context is after their character development in later games where they're in a relationship with Yui but still taking into account their general personality and lasting trauma

Under a cut cuz it's long

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

Ruki

-------

- Ruki didn't want them to be like he was as a kid. He was spoiled past the point of Dudley Dursley, he was physically abusing servants

- He's a loving and supportive parent, but firm as well

- His kids learned pretty quickly that when Dad says something, he means it and nothing will change his mind

- He'll do what he thinks is best, even if that means unintentionally disregarding his kids' needs or wants

- Over time he becomes much more open to listening to them but he remains pretty strict and controlling

- They never doubt his love for them. He makes it crystal clear how much he loves them

- He liked to have them in his lap as kids while he read them bedtime stories

- He liked having them with him when he cooked but he was kinda overprotective, even as they got older he didn't really want them near knives or fire

- Very imposing to his kids' friends, the parent of your friend that isn't warm or friendly, just polite

Kou

-----

- Quit his idol career. He wanted to be there for his kids and he didn't want paparazzi invading his childrens' lives

- Of course just because someone's no longer an idol doesn't mean they're automatically forgotten

- Kou had to threaten some paparazzi

- Because he grew up with nothing, his parenting is mix of wanting to give his children literally everything they ask for and wanting to teach them to be grateful for what they have and generous to others

- He eventually finds a decent middle ground but he never gets rid of his doubts about that completely

- Very affectionate and calls them his little kittens

- Cheerful with their friends

- Protective in a way where he'll have a familiar follow them or he'll see into someone's soul with his eye to make sure they're not a threat

- He'll get violent if his kids get hurt or might be hurt

- Hates yelling at or arguing with them but understands tough love is part of parenting

Yuma

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- Piggyback rides, tickles, ruffles their hair a lot

- Refers to himself as "yer old man"

- Less aggressive than you'd assume, still very protective, but in a more secretive or subtle way

- Yuma actually doesn't mind if his kids don't want to get dirty in the garden. What Yuma wants to teach his kids is the value of hard work, it doesn't matter where they channel that hard work, as long as they do hard work

- He doesn't exactly have trouble showing his affection, he will, but he might get a little blushy

- Generally friendly with their friends, he'd be considered the cool nice dad by his kids' friends

- But he is still not one to be messed with. If you hurt his children, you will regret it

- Likes to tease them

Azusa

--------

- Even though he can be very worrisome, Azusa is very intuitive, and as a result he can trust when his child will make good decisions

- Of course that doesn't mean someone else won't make a dangerous decision that'll affect his kids so he still worries

- Really sweet and affectionate

- He never wants his children to feel unloved and worthless, he drowns them in love

- He gets soooo excited when his kids bring home friends and doesn't understand why he kinda creeps them out with his knives and slow talking

- The only time he will ever yell is if his kids did something that put themselves in danger

- Not very good at discipline but not exactly a pushover, they listen to him. Something about his soft words carry more power than an angry parent yelling or talking strictly would

- Has his familiars follow them on occasion

- If they're ever fighting and his kid lashes out and says they hate him just in a generic fight it will destroy him even when he knows they don't mean it

- He stares at them a lot because he's just so happy they're there and he loves them so much

- Doesn't push them to have ambitions in life, he just wants them happy

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

I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading!

Feedback and reblogs appreciated! ❤️

Sakamaki Version Link 👇🏻

[loganofthenorth]

Ight Folks. Know what time it is?

Catra in my Shera Swap AU, that’s what time it is.

(For those that don’t know I’m making a Shera Swap AU where Catra joined the Princess Alliance and became Shera instead of Adora. I’m designing the characters in Hero Forge since I can’t draw.)

Anywho here’s Catra

(Full body versions and more info under the cut. Warning for spoilers in case I write this as a story.)

So in this AU, Catra discovers the sword and is chosen by it. Basically Light Hope was originally looking for Adora, but determined that she wouldn’t be able to activate the weapon when the time came. So instead she chose Catra.

At first Catra, like Adora, looks a lot like she did in cannon:

(Forgot to give her freckles in the full body pictures but you can see them in the zoomed in face one. Also gave her more accurate hair in that one..)

But as time goes on, Catra is taking better care of herself. She learns proper hair care for her hair type, wears better quality clothing, eats better quality food, etc. This, along with a healthier personality due to healing from trauma, changes her appearance as years go by.

Still has ripped jeans though cause she’s very physically active.

Probably would have scrapes on her knees and elbows honestly.

After joining the Princess Alliance, Catra is basically adopted by Castapella and lives in Bright Moon.

Scorpia is the Princess of a nearby Kingdom and visits regularly since she was the one to bring Catra to Bright Moon (and she has no other friends)

Catra is personally offended that Scorpia has no friends so they go visit the other members of the Princess Alliance under the guise of Catra needing to meet everyone. (Really Catra’s mission is to make them respect Scorpia because she doesn’t expect to be accepted by the Princesses herself.)

Catra is very confused when the Princesses (and Prince in Sea Hawk’s case. More on that later.) accept her and respect her as Shera. She develops an understanding that she’s only accepted because she’s Shera, meaning that whenever Scorpia accepts her regardless of if she can use her powers or not Catra is incredibly confused.

I’m probably going to have a lot of fun writing Catra as a good guy because ‘tsundere Girl Boss that heals and becomes a good person’ is way more fun to write than ‘tsundere girlboss that gets worse and becomes a horrible person but don’t worry she’ll get better later’.

That’s just my opinion.

Also Entrapta becomes her sister when she switches sides and is also adopted into Brightmoon by Castapella. Which is great because I think Catra is the only one that’s actually genuinely nice to Entrapta in the Horde. Entrapta makes sense. She’ll be your friend if you help her with her science stuff. Catra finds Entrapta’s unique mindset refreshing. They also sass each other off a lot due to being very intelligent but in different fields. (Catra is emotionally intelligent but scientifically she has difficulties. Entrapta is the other way around.)

Castapella and Catra bond over their mutual hatred of (and secret desire for approval from) Shadow Weaver

Catra will cry a lot in this AU because she isn’t used to receiving love and acceptance

Every fight with Adora will consist of her trying to convince Adora to switch sides. Whether that be through reason, force, threats, or flirting.

Catra is a gay disaster and will complain about it constantly to anyone that will listen.

Bright Moon’s guards are often turned into her personal sound boards.

Castapella spoils Catra rotten and is very desperate for Catra’s approval. Catra is extremely confused by this until she realizes that Castapella had lost all of her family and friends to the Horde. They form a very strong bond from this and Catra vows to figure out what happened to Bright Moon’s former rulers.

Catra becomes extremely loyal as time goes on. Anyone she deems a friend she refuses to leave behind regardless of the cost. Because of this she will get extremely frustrated whenever she has to choose between two friends.

She’ll start accidentally calling Castapella Shadow Weaver sometimes but Entrapta assures Castapella that it basically means Catra is accidentally calling her Mom.

Catra will proceed to try and murder Entrapta.

Glimmer is the only person on Adora’s team that Catra will actually try to kill. The others she’ll hold hostage but she’s too conflicted to actually kill them. She refuses to hurt Adora but will lash out at her in self defence. When she leaves lasting injuries on her former friends she proceeds to shut down in her room for days and have guilt induced nightmares.

Catra has nightmares very often. Perfuma and Castapella will probably make dream catchers for her to try and prevent them.

Catra and Mermista become great friends. I think she’ll also get along well with Frosta.

Catra will see Sea Hawk as very annoying and complain with him alongside Mermista. However he grows on her and if anyone hurts him she’ll hurt them back. Also she becomes his wingman when she realizes Mermista has a crush on him.

Perfuma and Catra won’t get along at first. It will take a long time, even after she and Scorpia get together, for them to get along. Perfuma will help Catra a lot with healing once they are on good terms, but her attempts to help Catra only aggravate her before then.

Also here’s full body pics of Catra’s Shera Form since I forgot to add that

No I did not have the “Mommy, sorry. Mommy? Sorry…” sound playing in my head while making this and I’m offended you would ask. 😤 /j

I’m also thinking that at some point near the end of the story, Catra turns into some monstrous version of Shera due to a mental breakdown and some fuckery going on with Etheria’s magic. This will probably be what prompts Adora to get her own Shera form so she can help Catra out of that state.

The new Shera form she gets after the weapon is destroyed will be a bit more true to her like Adora’s was, but I haven’t designed it yet. I saved my progress with each of these designs so I’ll probably make more designs for this AU in the future.

I think her outfit in the new Shera Form will have something to represent Scorpia, Entrapta, Castapella, and of course Adora. Maybe she’ll have some red scales in her armour that represent Scorpia, gears and some technical features to represent Entrapta, stars for Castapella, and maybe Adora’s iconic jacket.

I think that’s all the info I have for now. Next up will be Scorpia!

[mayandjuly1811]

WHY HUNTLOW IS A FORCED AND UNREALISTIC  SHIP.

1. First impressions:

Raeda has the most amicable meeting. About Lumity, Amity shook Luz's collar and almost got Principal Bump dissect her. It stems from misunderstanding, because Amity doesn't know Luz is human but a strange non-Abomination that Willow used to cheat. About Huntlow, Willow seems to be violent for no reasons at all. Hunter disguises as a Hexside student so to Willow, he's just a student that she doesn't know. He's not a threat at all. Yet she summons the vines to wrap him tightly and drags him down the ground so hard that the asphalt gets damaged. Treating strangers like this is not fine and out of character for Willow.

Also, when Hunter is about to leave again, Willow drags him down the ground and takes him to the field without asking his permission. This crosses boundaries a lot. In comparison, even though Amity sees Hunter as an enemy in Eclipse Lake, she just simply uses Abomination magic to capture him, not dragging him down violently like Willow.

2. Understanding:

Raine and Eda have a genuine common interest in music, magic (Eda is interested in wild magic and Raine supports her). Luz and Amity are both interested in Azura, the idea of being not enough for anyone, the idea of being accepted and loved for who they really are. Amity is also interested in Luz's glyph magic and she learns to draw it many times. 

About Huntlow, I don't see any common between them besides flyer derby. The whole “Half a Witch” is forced. Half a witch means a witch who is not powerful enough. Willow is a powerful Plant witch, her fathers just didn't realize her real magic talent and put her into Abomination track, which isn't her forte. If you're only good at Maths, but not Chemistry, does it make you unintelligent overall? Of course not. 

About Hunter, first off, he is not even a witch. He's a Grimwalker with no bile sack, his pointed ears were adjusted to look like witches’. Also, he's skillful at using magic staffs so no one sees him as powerless. He's the elite Golden Guard, one of the most powerful figures under Belos. No one dares to call him half a witch, even if they do think he's weak. And how he quickly recognizes the illusion of Willow in S2ep18 is unrealistic. How come Gus, Willow's long-term friend can't figure out before Hunter? The fact that Willow seems to be scared of Hunter is understandable. Last time, he literally locked her and her friends up, then kidnapped them, he also worked for Belos. Who knows if he's gonna do the same?

Hunter and Willow know little about each other. It's one sided. Hunter knows Willow is a strong and independent person, a caring and selfless girl. But Willow knows too little about Hunter compared with Luz, Gus and Amity. They never have a serious talk about Hunter's trauma caused by Belos, only a short scene of Willow cutting his hair. In Thanks to Them, Hunter has a deeper conversation with Luz and Gus than with Willow. With Willow, he just blushes even though nothing happens. Gus and Hunter's bond makes more sense than Huntlow to be honest. They both like Flyer Derby, they both like Cosmic Frontier, Gus knew about Hunter's being Grimwalker and his conflict with Belos, Hunter comforted Gus when he felt sad in Labyrinth Runner and when he missed his Dad. Hunter's screentime with Gus is even more than with Willow. Their platonic bond is stronger than Huntlow's forced romantic one.

Feeling development.

The way Willow and Hunter like each other is too rushed and unexpected. Starting with Hunter, he met Willow only one time in ASIAS and started to have a crush on her? He only met her once directly and already blushed? And Willow, she treats Hunter the same way she treats everyone. Only until Hunter has power and saves her does she fall for him. It's so rushed all of the sudden. Some people say they live together in Luz's house for months so they have feelings for each other. But there are no bonding moments between them besides the cutting hair scene. Even though the show is cut short, from Willow's scrapbook, she and Hunter don't have any bonding moments between the two of them.

Comforting.

It's one sided again. Hunter is understanding and sympathetic towards Willow. Meanwhile, how Willow tries to comfort him is questionable. He just lost Flapjack and Willow isn't understanding at all. She gives him the Flapjack picture, causing him to feel grieving again. He's been struggling to hold back his grief to focus on helping others. This backfires really back. She should have waited until Hunter brought things up about Flapjack first, just like Gus. He knows Hunter is a Grimwalker since the Day of Unity, but he doesn't bring anything up first and waits until Hunter says it first. He thinks about Hunter's emotions after being traumatized by Belos 

Also, when Hunter looks upset, Willow should have stayed to continue to comfort him?! Instead, she acts like she's the one who is hurting and leaves. Imagine you're feeling sad, someone tries to comfort you. You haven't felt better since you need time, they feel sad and leave you. Now you feel guilty because you can't be happy to make them happy. This is making things worse. Hunter can't even make himself feel calmer after Flapjack's death, yet now he'll feel guilty because his own sadness and grief makes Willow feel sad! Also, when Hunter calls out, she keeps walking and ignoring him. 

In conclusion, Willow and Hunter are better off as friends. They don't have any romantic chemistry or deep understanding. The ship is so forced and rushed.

[conkreetmonkey]

So. I'm tinkering with something that will probably not pan out in the end. Rather than try to create an OC character for my latest Fallout 4 playthrough, instead I just went with fully vanilla Nora, down to the name, who I've never played as before, and am attempting an rp run where I try to act reasonably and realistically, and I'm recording the whole thing in hopes of putting it on YouTube eventually. I want to evolve her character over time, and reflect her evolution visibly with looksmenu as her tale unfolds and her character develops, for example adding scars after a big fight in which she sustained damage, cutting her hair for a big moment of emotional catharsis, or making her visibly buffer as her strength stat increases. My thought is it might be cool for the Nora that the story ends with to look completely different from the original, with sick sci-fi gear and battle scars and shit, despite starting out fully default. Of course, there are already some issues with this idea (longie under the cut):

The first episode (yk, the important first impression one) will be boring as hell, simply because everybody has seen the intro to Fallout 4 at this point, and watching somebody play through it as vanilla as possible as a default character will probably be very uninteresting. Even people who haven't played the game know the plot of the intro.

This being a decade-old Bethesda game, the animations are janky as hell, and so as early on as the pre-boom intro segment it's hard to remain immersed. Objects appearing and disappearing, characters bugging out and clipping into walls, voice lines constantly getting cut off... you never realize how unpolished this game is until you try to record "cinematic" and "immersive" footage of it. Codsworth cries upon realizing Nate and Shaun are really gone while half clipped into a doorframe.

The story of Fallout 4 is, let's face it, kind of nonsensical. I know some love it and some hate it, as with most things about this very controversial game. For me, personally, I love the aesthetic and art direction, and while the vanilla building system is pretty limited, with a few modsit quickly becomes ridiculously good. But the story? Wasted potential incarnate. I love the idea of synths and the Father reveal and all that, but the stakes never feel real, both because, unless you speedrun the game, your character gets sidetracked in their quest to find their infant child, who was kidnapped by their spouse's murderer very quickly. That's some of the strongest motivation imaginable, especially when from Nora's POV the murder-kidnapping, as well as the end of the entire fucking world, the death of everyone she ever knew, and travelling 200 years into a nightmarish future, happened like 30 minutes ago. Like... lady, you just experienced 5 lifetimes worth of trauma. You just saw the city you live in get nuked, and escaped the blast by mere seconds. Then you got locked in a pod, frozen, thawed out, helplessly watched as your husband was shot in the face while trying to defend your can't-even-crawl-yet, still-breastfeeding infant, and then your baby was literally ripped from his cold, dead hands and abducted by nasty looking men. Then you got frozen again, before finally being ejected from the tube, dumped hacking and coughing onto an ice-cold linoleum floor. Your beloved husband's corpse limply slumps over the edge of his pod, still covered in frost, and all your neighbors are dead. In fact, everyone in the vault is dead. You, a lawyer, have seen like 25 dead bodies within 15 minutes. And then you were attacked by terrier-sized cockroaches, narrowly escaped a slow death in an abandoned bunker with no food left by sheer luck, and emerged into a dead world littered with bones. You just stepped over the sunbleached skeleton of your neighbor to see your house dilapidated and overgrown. You enter to see your baby's crib, pristine the last you saw it, now an empty, battered husk, his toys scattered and broken, the cheerful wallpaper you saw just minutes ago long since having rotted away. All of this, from your point of view, happened within like half an hour tops, and you'd just woken up. You never even ate breakfast. AND YOU JUST... SHRUG THIS OFF? Lady. Lady. I'd have vomited from stress and had a gibbering, scream-crying, wall-punching emotional breakdown by the corpse part, like Jesus Christ. No wonder the emotional stakes in this game don't feel real. Codsworth, your off-the-shelf, basic model robot butler (which is kind of a problematic thing to "own" btw, especially considering that the game's plot), has a far stronger reaction to this than you, despite being a series of ones and zeroes with the computing power of a pregnancy test. He cries, despite lacking tear ducts or a face to emote with. Despite believing all three of you were dead for the past century or so. Meanwhile, you, a human mother who just had her baby stolen, don't shed a single tear or shout one expletive over any of this. But you do immediately risk your life leaping to the aid of a bunch of American Revolution larpers without even understanding the context of their plight. You've got your priorities straight I see, mama bear.

Finally... the game is very clearly written around Nate. It at least makes sense that a seasoned veteran could withstand the sight of mutilated corpses and gore, and immediately know how to use guns and power armor. You've done all of this before! You've seen active combat! You executed resistors in the invasion of Canada (you piece of shit)! WHY would Nora, a lawyer, immediately know how to hold, aim, and reload a pistol with no guidance, let alone a suit of power armor or a fucking aircraft-grade minigun?? Ma'am, you are an academic. You fight legal battles. Prior games established that you need special training to operate power armor, which makes sense because it's basically a lite mech that quadruples the width of your fingers, removes your external sense of feel, adds two feet to your height, halves your FOV, adds two tons to your net weight, and superimposes a UI over your vision. It makes sense for the devs to bypass this by making the MC already experienced with power armor, and to establish this in the opening cutscene so the player doesn't question it. BUT ONLY ONE OF THE POSSIBLE MCS, THE ONE THE OPENING CUTSCENE ASSUMES YOU'LL PICK, HAS THIS BACKSTORY. The other is basically an emotionally healthier Kim Wexler. Her ass ain't ever held a rifle. Get real. It's like if Pokémon Red and Blue had an opening cutscene where the player character talks about how much they love their charmander, and THEN you get to pick your starter, and throughout the story people reference your love of fire types and charmanders, and you're inexplicably able to start fires at any time "thanks to your pokémon partner!" It's just bad writing when picking one of the gender options is going against the narrative grain, especially when older games were able to handle it seamlessly.

Regardless, I think I'm giving this a try. I'm still at the stage of recording footage and installing mods, but maybe I'll have something to show for it in a few weeks? Or maybe the project will piddle out or prove itself unviable. Who knows!

[socra-time]

Socra’s Liveblog, Ep. 101-110

Ep 101:

-aw I like seeing the whole squad being dumb kids together (especially Sasuke, bro’s been going through a lot lately)

-I guess Kakashi could just hide his face when he eats but have the kids really never seen him eat before?

-the random ninja’s voice is so stupid-sounding

-this episode is so weird but im kinda here for it

-the Team 7 trio are really cute in this episode! We’ve been following just Naruto for a while so it was nice to see them all together again

-also I live for Kakashi being a troll

Ep 102:

-I know that Team 7 has Sasuke and Naruto on it but maaaaaybe three genin shouldn’t be sent out alone on a potentially A-ranked mission? Like at least send a chunin with them or something

-I’m not sure how old this Idate dude is but I really didn’t like how he was flirting with Sakura

-the animation of Idate running was kinda hilarious

Ep 103:

-the Councilman guy looks and sounds so pompous

-Jirocho is kinda goated actually

-OH SHIT THE ILLUSION GUYS FROM THE CHUNIN EXAMS ARE BACK! That’s actually kinda cool, I never expected to see them again

-there was actually good teamwork between Team 7 working together to catch Idate when he fell off the cliff

-I somehow haven’t mentioned it in this entire series but I just gotta say that I find the classic Naruto running pose hilarious

-ah I kinda missed Sakura roasting Naruto

-I love how when they were talking about the chunin exams there was just a random cut of Naruto punching the shit out of Neji. Rip Neji.

-oooooooh I wasn’t expecting Idate to be related to an existing character, much less Ibiki. I actually thought something about his name was familiar when he first said it but I didn’t make the connection

-can the boys PLEASE give Sakura an active role instead of her being a lookout/guard

-wait was the fire in Idate’s memories how Ibiki got most of his scars???

-I really wanna know what Idate’s ninja-related trauma is

-OKAY LET'S GO SAKURA!!!!!! Her ripping the mast out and clobbering multiple clones with it was actually pretty great

-I know this Aoi guy is evil or whatever but I like his hair and face, he’s kinda slaying (his outfit totally sucks tho)

Ep 104:

-I know that this is filler but it’s cool to see the rasengan carrying over from the last canon arc

-Naruto carrying Sakura out of the water was good, I like when it’s shown how much the kids care about each other

-but also the threat of Naruto attempting mouth-to-mouth being what revived Sakura was hilarious

-Aoi’s voice actor is doing a very good job of being a smug asshole

-Idate’s race opponent really stopped to take a break? It’s giving The Tortoise and The Hare lol

-okay so between Aoi and that guy who tricked Naruto into stealing the scroll in the first episode (oh and also Orochimaru), the Leaf village REALLY needs to do a better job of psychologically screening their ninja

-wow for being filler, this is actually doing a good job of showcasing Naruto’s character and how his past experiences have affected him

Ep 105:

-Naruto hauling someone bigger than him up a gazillion steps is actually kinda impressive, bro’s strong as shit

-damn Ibiki really didn’t need to be so cryptic about answering Idate’s questions

-Idate says that his brother failing him and telling him he could never be a chunin made him lose trust in ninja but like…….. I really think that Aoi tricking him is a much bigger deal

-Aoi’s sword is literally just a lightsaber (sound effects and all lol)

-wow Aoi is somehow more evil than I thought

-also Ibiki is metal as hell

-oh Sasuke is PISSED

-also I just realized that Sasuke has lost way more fights than he’s won so far-

Ep 106:

-yay for Sakura saving Sasuke! She still hasn’t gotten to do too much tho:(

-Naruto is Shonen MC-ing once again

-the animation of Aoi spinning after Naruto hit him with a rasengan was so bad but also so funny

-Idate letting Naruto use his prized knife was a good character development moment

-it’s actually a good touch that Idate mostly does the classic Naruto run while his opponent runs regularly, it shows that he used to train as a ninja

-the lord pulling an Uno Reverse card on the opposing family head when he tried to use a photo to disqualify Idate was hella satisfying

-I’m assuming Ibiki pretended not to recognize Idate because he didn’t want to have to arrest him as a traitor or something like that

-oop Sasuke’s got a pretty intense inferiority complex going, sure hope that doesn’t lead anywhere hahahahaha-

-that was actually a pretty good filler arc! It had some nice character moments, and it was good to see Team 7 doing a mission before stuff inevitably goes to shit

Ep 107:

-oh shittttt Naruto and Sasuke are gonna fight??? I’m excited but also very scared bc if Sasuke loses it’s gonna be BAD

-awww Shikamaru got promoted!

-Sasuke needs to get his ass to therapy ASAP, that shit is years overdue at this point

-I do kinda love Team 10’s dynamic. They do a lot of kinda sibling-like squabbling and teasing, which I enjoy (Choji and Ino fighting over the last piece of meat was so good)

-…highkey Team 7’s dynamic as a team interests me the least

-Shikamaru reassuring Choji that he can get girls and that he doesn’t need to change his ways was actually really nice, he seems more mature already after his promotion

-I feel like we needed more of an organic buildup of Sasuke’s inferiority complex and frustration. The level of aggressiveness he has towards Naruto/in general seems really out-of-place, ESPECIALLY if the viewer didn’t watch the previous filler arc. I guess the curse mark is involved, but it still just feels like an abrupt shift in his character

-wow Sasuke didn’t even bother to put his shoes on to fight Naruto

-so Naruto has absolutely zero tact but he’s also able to immediately AND accurately assess that Sasuke is ashamed of being “weaker” than him, which is actually pretty impressive

-these kids are full-out brawling on the roof (most notably Sasuke spewing fire everywhere) and no one is coming to stop them? Aren’t there ninja on watch or something? Kakashi we need youuuu

Ep 108:

-I still need an explanation for why one of Orochimaru’s goons has SIX ARMS and one of them has TWO FUCKING HEADS????

-yay Kakashi’s here to knock some sense into these little idiots

-actually nevermind, Kakashi is NOT equipped to handle this so can he force Sasuke to get counseling or something

-does Konoha not have patrols and people watching its perimeter???? Why are Orochimaru’s goons able to get in so easily

-Kakashi please give Sakura a hug. Kakashi stop talking to Jiraiya and comfort your fucking student. Kakashi please.

-okay he at least gave her some comforting words. Good job Kakashi you did the bare minimum for one of your three students.

-goddamnit I just wanna hug Sakura. She keeps having to deal with the boys’ shit

-I’ve decided that besides Orochimaru himself, literally none of Orochimaru’s followers (aka Kabuto and the four goons) have any drip. Orochimaru himself is only saved by his hair and makeup, because his outfit is just as ugly as the others’

-Kakashi’s lecture to Sasuke actually wasn't too bad but I wish he hadn’t left him so abruptly

Ep 109:

-once again this show is making me crave ramen

-oh I completely forgot that Naruto didn’t know about Sasuke’s curse mark

-Sasuke seriously can’t get a break from taking constant Ls

-heeey Sasuke I know you have a boatload of unprocessed trauma and are also only 12 years old and thus are not the most reasonable and logical of people, but maybe DON’T go to the guy who bit you and cursed you and literally killed the leader of your village-

-god this scene with Sasuke and Sakura is breaking my heart.

-see I was liking what Sakura was saying until she started talking about her love for Sasuke and how him leaving would make her feel completely alone. Sakura honey you deserved better writing

-I did like that Sasuke’s last line to Sakura before he knocked her out was “Thank you for everything”. That hit unexpectedly hard for me

Ep 110:

-I can’t believe Tsunade is sending Shikamaru, a freshly-promoted chunin, on a potentially SUPER dangerous mission. No pressure I guess?

-Shikamaru summoning Choji with chips was hilarious. I kinda love them

-damn I wish we could have gotten Shino on the squad. I wanna see him kick ass more

-YAY LEE’S OKAY (I knew he would be but yippee for Lee!)

-also aw Neji was helping Lee walk

-anyways I’m mad they didn’t bring any of the girls >:( (Tenten especially could have used screentime to show her stuff)

-I like that Shikamaru’s plan is laid out like a Shogi board, that was a cute detail and gives good insight into his thought process

-wow Shikamaru is actually doing a great job

-god can SOMEONE GIVE SAKURA A MOTHERFUCKING HUG

[fastenwick]

I recently started rewatching Dangonronpa game plays with my brother and it reactivated my feral love for the characters.

Sooooooo character rant, spoiler alerts for all 3 of the killing games below the cut.

Best Boi from the first game? Byakuya Togami.

What an asshole, I love him. Not only does he go through some Very Nice character development, but he's such a twink looking guy. I love the idea of him absolutely baffled over the fact he has friends. Also you can't blame him for being so mean to Toko when she LIKES it. Yeah he makes the killing game unnecessarily complicated at first for fun, but then a nice dose of Trauma whips him into shape real fast and he becomes a really cool dude :P

Best Babe from the first game? Kyoko Kirigiri

Poor girl got it soooo rough, no one believed her ever except for Makoto. His luck probably saved her tbh. Her design is PEAK omg, it's so pretty. She's a genius and sooo chill and mysterious. Also the fact that she risked her life so many times to save others and gently taught Makoto/the player how to figure things out was so cool of her to do, im love her.

Honorable mentions

Chihiro Fujisaki

THIS POOR BABY, HE NEEDS A HUG AND ALL THE BLANKETS he deserved better

Makoto Naegi

Hope hope hope, enough said. He's a very encouraging kid, although he does annoy me a littol with his "I'm so normal" stuff, he is a good character all the same. He deserves an cookie 🍪

Toko Fukawa/Genocide Jack

SLAY BITCH my favorite serial killer ever that was just AWESOME in Dispair Girls. I love her design, and the fact that she's a writer, and just everything about her. Mwah.

Sakura Ogami

This BEAN deserved BETTER. This absolutely ANGEL of a human being. Her sacrifice nearly made me cry, she's so sweet and awesome. One of the only people that kicked Monokuma's ass and escaped punishment.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru

His relationship with Mondo is so sweet, this guy needed so much therapy. I was kind of relieved he was murdered because after losing Mondo, he was just suffering. Killing him was sad but it at least put him out of his misery. Poor guy.

Leon Kuwata

His design is so cool, honestly wish he got to stick around more. Poor dude. He should have run away instead of pursuing Sayaka, rip man. I hate Sayaka tho.

Best Boi from second game? Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu

Not only his design just amazing, but he's such a tsundere. And I LOVE tsunderes. His relationship with Peko is the saddest and sweetest thing ever, definitely my favorite sub plot from game 2. The fact he tried to rescue her too... and he begged and cried that she'd be spared, even told her to let him take the fall. And then after that, he became one of the most loyal men of the game. And one of the most traumatized. Rip Fuyuhiko's eye, sister, and his childhood best friend. I was worried he'd just be suffering like Kiyotaka, but he survived and he deserves so much pats.

Best Babe from the second game? Peko Pekoyama

I actually don't like most of the girls from the second game, they're just kind of meh to me, so Peko is the only one I actually can admit that I like because of her relationship with Fuyuhiko and her amazing design.

Honorable mentions

Gundham Tanaka

His design and his voice, omg amazing. Also poor Sonia, they would have made a cool couple.

Hajime Hinata

He was a really nice contrast to Makota imo.

Kazuichi Soda

I love his design soooo much, and his character is fun. Even if he is creepy. Tbh, maybe he's what inspired me to get pink hair.

Nagito Komaeda

This creepy twink is just so much fun. No matter how twisted and weird he is, I could never bring myself to dislike him, he's just too much fun. And has an awesome design.

Ultimate Imposter

This poor guy deserved better. He didn't even get a real name 😭

Best Boi from the third game? Kaito Momota (and best Boi in the series)

I started wearing my jacket like this guy without even realizing it because of how much I liked him when watching play throughs for the first time. His design is pretty nice but his character is so encouraging and hopeful. AND HE'S THE ONLY CHARACTER TO HAVE A FAILED EXECUTION! I literally cheered, Monokuma was so mad. Even though I was sad he died, his character arch and death was just perfect. So well done.

Best Babe in the third game? Maki Harukawa

She's a sweet tsundere, and I love tsunderes, of course I love her. Also she's bad ass.

K1-B0

BEAN BABY BOI PROTECT HIIIIIM this little bot deserves the world. He looks awesome and is such a sweetie.

Shuichi Saihara

ALSO A BEAN BABY PROTECC BOI He's so sweet. He misses his girl (I do like Kaede but not enough to ramble.)

Kokichi Oma

Oooo a little bitch boi that I wanna trap in a room with Fuyuhiko or Nagito, he's such a little asshole. And a shit head. I love him.

Gonta Gokuhara

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY BEAN BABIES IN THIS GAME GONTO DESERVED BETTER he's so sweet and caring.

Miu Iruma

Honestly I just love her design. It's sooooo cool. Super bad ass. Even if she is a slut, I love her XD

Rantaro Amami

🥑 Avocado :3

I wish he lived longer tbh

Ahem, and that's all for now :P

[mamawasatesttube]

I don't know that much about superboy so forgive me if this is a silly question but what's the deal with Magdalene Visaggio?

not a silly question, dw!! if you haven't read many kon comics it probably doesn't look particularly noteworthy but OOF. OOF.

the tl;dr of it: despite being paid to write him once, she also hasn't read kon comics and it really, really, really shows. i'm talking geoff johns levels of flagrant disregard for the existing character - maybe even worse than geoff? which i say only because i know geoff did read sb94 even if he didn't act like it. but that's off topic; this isn't a geoff hatepost. this is a magdalene hate post.

under a cut for length, lets goooo!

so we start out with her canonizing supermartian. already off on the wrong foot - that's a ship out of yja the tv show which is a completely separate continuity from main comics and a completely different kon than main continuity kon. despite supposedly knowing that, she still shoves them into a relationship in main continuity, despite them never having actually interacted on page in main continuity.

she then goes on to characterize kon as angry and entitled and uncaring, and also in high school again. not only does she directly contradict all of his preboot existing characterization (which is important because kon-el never got reset during flashpoint - he was in another universe and thus dodged that bullet. current kon-el is canonically the same kon-el as pre-flashpoint/postcrisis kon-el.), but also she directly contradicts both young justice (2019) and superboy: man of tomorrow, which are in current continuity, leading one to really wonder if she has read a single comic kon appeared in at all. it's also worth noting that the asshole with anger issues characterization is, once again, much truer to the young justice animated tv show than any comic kon.

also worth noting is that the infamous red hair dye streak? well, uh...

yeah..............

on her twitter, she once said something about kon-el not being a good name because it's "still a name someone else gave him", called him "the jason todd of the superfamily", and insisted that the meaning of a trans narrative is "burning down your life and reevaluating your place within it":

kon-el is a name gifted to him to signify his acceptance into his family (superboy (1994) #59) and he was so overjoyed to receive it that he cried. overall, the superfam are very supportive and loving, and introducing strife just to make him run off and live with jinny hex instead of them just because she thinks one can't transition and retain previous relationships is... not it, lol.

her pitch also contained some outrageously egregious christianity bullshit, like villains named "saint", "shepherd", and "savior", as well as direct comparisons between clark and jesus christ. this is... sorry i really just have to say this is Fucking Cringe. i guess the more polite way to put it would be "incredible gauche" (considering the jewish origins of the superfam) but i just can't call it anything else. This Fucking Sucks Dude. i won't even get into the weirdness about genetic bullshit she leans into by introducing kon's "brother" who's also part luthor, part superman, but "luthor-dominant" (lol?) (do you know how genes work even a little bit).

she has quoted the one panel from reign of the supermen where kon says "don't ever call me superboy" a few times, claiming it's the first thing he ever said and no one listened. to me this essentially reads as her going "i've read one of his appearances and i would like to throw out the like 200 issues of character development he had since then in favor of making him my own self-insert to explore MY transition and religious trauma".

basically she doesn't seem to know how to write a story that's not about herself. as a trans person with a positive relationship with my given name (because as a first-gen kid of two diasporic immigrants, it provides an important tie to my family's cultures, to me) and with trans friends who involved their parents in picking new names and so on and so forth, i honestly find it very reductive and white to insist there's only one trans narrative and only one good way for trans characters to be named. i also find her putting her own christian religious trauma into a superfam story off-putting and . well. fucking cringe. i understand and respect that that is her story, but it sure ain't universal and i won't be able to respect her as a writer until it becomes clear she gets that.

[ecargmura]

A Condition Called Love Episode 1 Review - The Girl Who Doesn't Know Love And The Boy Who Loves Too Much

A Condition Called Love gets the platinum trophy for achieving the confession-to-dating transition in world record speed in shoujo manga land. They managed to beat My Love Story!! in terms of confession-to-dating speed. I’m amazed. The first episode is just confession and dating from beginning to end. That means the rest of the story is just them trying to gather genuine feelings for love as they date, even if it’s just trial.

The story is about Hotaru Hinase, an ordinary high school girl who has never experienced love, witnessing the popular boy from the class next door, Hananoi, getting rejected by his girlfriend. After giving him her umbrella to shield him from the snow one day, Hananoi believes she is fated for him and confesses to her. While Hotaru isn’t too keen on how fast he’s going in terms of confessing, as she spends some time with him, she starts getting curious about him. After seeing how much he dedicates himself to someone he likes, she decides to try dating him to see if she will develop feelings for him.

Hotaru as a character is quite a relatable one. She has no interest in love and never fell in love. Instead, she loves food more than the idea of love. However, seeing the kind of person Hananoi is around her gives her a lot of emotions she never expected to have. She got angry when he looked for her hairpin in the snow as he could’ve gotten frostbite. She feels like an aromantic person, but that doesn’t mean aromantic people can’t fall in love; she wants to know what it feels like too. I do like that while she is curious about Hananoi, she does call him out on his rather pushy behavior, from cutting his hair, losing his earring to searching for her hairpin in the snow. I do hope that Hotaru continues to be able to step her foot out when it’s necessary.

People say that Hananoi feels like a red flag. Like, I can see it from how unnecessarily devoted he is to Hotaru after she helped him out. He can be a bit pushy too. From how I see it, he has his issues. I’m surprised that while a lot is given out for him, there’s still a lot not known about him. I’m predicting that his odd way of loving someone stems from trauma from his younger days or the lack of affection from his family. Right now, I’m going to be neutral on Hananoi’s character as it is the first episode and I don’t want to rush on waving a flag this early. Also, I’ve seen people saying that Hananoi looks better with long hair, but I honestly have no inherent attachment to the long hair because it has less screen time than Hotaru’s hairpin and the pork bun combined. To me, he’s just Hananoi with or without long hair.

The animation is rather nice. It’s a shoujo manga anime adaptation, so the colors are pretty. I do like how everything and everyone moves. Nothing feels too choppy or stiff. East Fish Studio was the animation studio that was animating the Ten Count anime before it got cancelled. I honestly never seen their stuff until now, but it’s not bad.

The opening song is a rather bizarre choice for a shoujo manga song. I didn’t expect them to go all J-pop boy band with this shoujo love story. It’s not a bad song, but I need to get some time to get used to it. The opening song is sung by Sexy Zone. The ending song was very jazzy and I loved it! It’s sung by Mina Okabe. I love her vocal tone! It’s husky, but trendy too!

The voice acting is really good, though. Kana Hanazawa voices the protagonist Hotaru Hinase! A rather unusual choice given that shoujo manga prefers rising stars, but it’s HanaKana. She does an amazing job whatever she does! The last time I heard her in a shoujo anime was in Orange where she voiced Naho. I think Hanazawa does a great job showing off Hinase’s kindness but also her nonchalance when it comes to the topic of love. Chiaki Kobayashi voices Hananoi. Given that I’ve heard him in three different animes last season, hearing him as a rather obsessive love-stuck boy is rather new on my part, but given that he is talented, I think he can do well. Two voice actors shocked me in this episode. First is Maaya Sakamoto voicing a side character in Hotaru’s friend Shibamu. I didn’t expect to hear Maaya Sakamoto as a gal pal as she normally voices hot older women, tomboyish girls, complex women or young boys, but I don’t mind because it’s Maaya Sakamoto. The second voice actor that shocked me is Mikako Komatsu voicing Hotaru’s mom? Sister? That’s a rather crazy choice given the already stacked voice actor list. I didn’t expect to see her name on the credits list at all. Dang.

There are two paths this story can take and I just hope it doesn’t crash and burn in whatever route it takes. If you have read the manga of this, please let me know if there is anything I need to keep an eye out without spoiling too much. If you have watched this episode or are a fan of the manga, please let me know your thoughts!

[pynkhues]

sorry if you've talked about this before, but all the recent asks about adapting auvergne-era lestat got me wondering: how do you see them approaching portraying younger lestat in s3? in addition to aging sam down with makeup/hair (tho he does have a bone structure that's hard to age down), i'm wondering if they might cast a child actor for young lestat, depending on whether they want to further shuffle the timeline and push certain events (e.g. both runaway attempts) to the younger end of the scale. i feel like a lot of lestat's auvergne-era traumas need to take place at ages younger than 20s (which is the limit they can go to age sam down i think) to build his character, and simply retelling them might not have enough impact. but casting another lestat would be such a herculean task even if it's just a child/tween/teen version of him. once again i'm just sitting here marveling at how they truly lucked out with finding sam and rolin's bravery to adapt this insane magnum opus of anne rice

Your ask just made me think of them putting an emo-cut wig on Sam to show he's a teenager like they did for Michael C. Hall in Dexter, anon, haha.

But yeah! I've actually been wondering about that myself a bit lately. I don't think it's as easy as having Lestat simply talk about it in the way Louis and Armand have both done now in terms of their younger selves, just because these moments are so vital to Lestat's telling of his own story. They provide so much foundational character information, but also a lot of context for Lestat's relationship with Claudia in a way that Rolin and Sam have both alluded to the new season exploring.

And you're right - Sam can't play a teenager. I don't think he looks old by any stretch of the imagination, but he does have a maturity to his bone structure which is hard to age down - he just looks like a grown man, not a boy, really. I do think it's pretty likely we'll get a very young Lestat (so, kinder/primary school aged) because I think we'll get the scene of his hysteria at the site of the witch trials (it ties too well into Mayfair Witches to be cut, frankly, but it's just such a good character beat and obviously plays into his and Nicki's reconnection), and I think that also opens up the chance to see the Marquis at his most menacing before his health declines, and Gabrielle at her most neglectful (rightly or wrongly, I do think it's easier for an audience to see a teenager denied love than it is a small child).

I think it's likely we'll get a teenage Lestat though too for the exact reasons you said. That desperation to escape being beaten out of him does feel like it needs to happen when Lestat's younger, especially because it's so foundational to Lestat's inability to leave situations and relationships that are broken, but I also think it could lend itself to a feeling both of arrested development and familial oppression that will help the audience to understand why he can't just leave. (I suspect the other thing that will come into play there is both a desire to protect and be with Gabrielle, and, later, familial obligation to his father as his health deteriorates).

This is a roundabout way of saying that I do think we'll probably see two other actors playing Lestat in s3, but who knows - it could be more, it could be less - they might keep it dialogue-focused like they did for Louis and Armand. I'm not sure! What do you all think?

[miraculosus]

Fandom Response to Miraculous Ladybug 514 “Derision”

Reception of the episode “Derision” upon airing appears mostly positive. That means it won’t create a dramatic rift as some of those who saw the leaks had feared, and the status quo of the fandom seems more or less undisturbed on the surface. Perhaps it pumps a bit more gas into the righteousness tanks of some and sours opinions of Kim (but those who really cared about him were few to begin with). Most are integrating the new information into their understanding of the characters, which may be a bad thing if you don’t like this new information and prefer to stick to “earlier versions” of them.

My own personal feelings on the matter are neither here nor there because the discourse is the main course. I’ve written three mock-reviews based on all the posts I’ve seen: positive, negative, and mixed. Let’s go!

Positive

What an enlightening look into Marinette’s past. My poor baby girl! I love her so much, and it hurt my heart to see how much she suffered in the past. This was a deeply moving and impactful depiction of the horrors and effects of school bullying, and even the systemic inadequacy of the adults response was realistic. Some parts hit a little too close to home, haha! It recontextualizes so many of Marinette’s past behaviors big and small all the way back to Origins in an amazing way. Her view of Chat Noir in season 1! Her reaction to Adrien in Puppeteer 2?! So many dots are connecting I’m going crazy! How can people say these writers aren’t good at long complex plots and foreshadowing? I’m eating this up!

Adrien’s responses really blew me away. I’ve always wanted to see him stand up and fight like that, and for it to be out of protectiveness for Marinette? So romantic! I love when a character is so devoted that they’ll go murder-mode instantly on anyone who tries to hurt their beloved. This dark side of Adrien is awesome! Seeing him finally cut off Chloe once and for all was super satisfying too. And in the end, he was just so patient and understanding of Marinette. That’s true love! Who could ask for a better boyfriend?

Socqueline was super cool, and it’s adorable how Marinette got her pigtails from her. That makes Socqueline dressing up as Ladybug such a sweet full circle moment!

This episode added a lot of depth to both Marinette and Adrien, and showed great development for Adrinette. They are so cute, and things are only getting better for them!

Negative

It’s glaringly obvious that this episode was a late-stage retcon created predominantly out of spite, and boy is it ugly. Somehow, they managed to ruin every character.

With Marinette, they try to prove her haters wrong and make us feel bad for her by showing her past actions were due to trauma, but all this does is tell us those things we laughed about as comedic cartoon exaggeration like her Adrien calendar, obsessive celebrity research, keeping his hair as a souvenir, sneaking into his house and sniffing his pillow, stuff like that… was actually genuinely problematic, creepy, and bad. Then they say don’t blame her for it, blame Chloe!

Could they leave Chloe out of it for once? I’m so sick and tired of the weird vendetta the writers seem to have against Chloe and her fans. They made her sympathetic by giving her that backstory and those genuine moments, now they punish us for not buying wholesale that this 14-year-old abused child who was never equipped to learn to be a decent person, is the root of all evil? We get it! Shes fucking sociopathic and malicious from womb to tomb! She’s worse than Gabriel ShadowHawkMothNarc Righteously-Enslaves-His-Son Agreste! I can accept the show will never give her a redemption arc, but this is exhausting. Love or hate Chloe, wouldn’t we all be better off if they just left her alone and wrote her out already? Every Chloe focus episode gets worse and worse.

Moving on, now they’ll make everyone hate Kim which was completely unwarranted. He already had his background arc from being a bumbling insensitive twat to a lovable goofy himbo. He may have been worse last year, but he denounced Chloe already after Dark Cupid. Plus, Kim and Marinette always got along just fine! Don’t try and tell me her trauma with him was just repressed until now? Kim was a great and fun side character that subverted the bully jock trope, and they had to go and ruin that for cheap points.

Adrien already had realistic and compelling character flaws they now refuse to address, instead going with the edgy murderous rage angle that completely goes against his whole established character and should have been left behind in bad OOC gender-roley fanfiction. Of course the Adrien Salters will never let this go, and then there are the Stans who think this glaring red flag is romantic. I get that some like the violently overprotective boyfriend trope, the guy who abandons principles of human decency out of passion and love, and takes care of all the girl’s emotional needs so she never needs to worry about anything, but it came out of nowhere. That’s not the kind of character or romance that made me like this show.

Finally, we have to mention how horrifically incompetent literally every adult looks here. Tom and Sabine didn’t do anything about Marinette’s suffering at school for years. Neither did any of the teachers or the Principal. They’re all rotten!

An utterly unnecessary and trash episode that proves the writers completely lost the plot and devolved into petty vengeance against insatiable fans they never should have paid any mind.

Mixed

School bullying can absolutely be traumatic and its effects should be taken seriously, and this backstory for Marinette does flesh out her character in some interesting ways. However, this episode or any involving Marinette’s past would work better earlier in the series. When placed this late, it can seem more like a response to a certain sect of Marinette critics in the fandom, which diminishes its value as part of the story. With all the other high-stakes plot left hanging, another one about the mean girl doesn’t feel like the most effective use of airtime. Moreover, a different one-off character (Gorgeous Nathan from the Gym Club, anyone? Or maybe one of the others shown in last year’s picture from Reflekta) would have worked fine in Kim’s role in the episode, and wouldn’t create the continuity issues that using Kim here does. But the contrast between his apology and promise to change and Chloe’s refusal and doubling down worked for the lesson.

There wasn’t buildup to Socqueline having such a major role in Marinette’s past, so that makes it feel shoehorned in as well.

Many apparent inconsistencies can be explained though. Marinette’s hang up is not about falling in love but about confessing and saying “I love you”. Luka never asked that of her. At first, Chat Noir was not a viable option because she could never know him the way she told herself she had to, but later, she realized she truly knew him through all the trials they endured together. But Adrien is a uniquely difficult target because he was friends with Chloe. The circumstances of their meeting was enough to sow seeds of doubt that were difficult to shake deep down. Marinette gave her all, but things kept going wrong. Now that she finally knows why, she and Adrien can work through it together. He already knows she loves him and will patiently accept whatever affection she’s able to express, so it’s not the end of the world.

As for Adrien’s violent outburst, as far as he knows, Monarch is still in ok condition. So he may believe on some level that cataclysm is not an instant kill but something rather less severe than that. He did lose control of his emotions for a moment, but it’s good for a character to have such flaws, especially one like Adrien who has repressed his negative emotions to be a “perfect son” in the past. His anger management issue and impulsivity could be building to something truly dramatic. It could be something that gets addressed in his character arc.

So there are things that bothered me about this episode, and it does seem to have been inserted fairly late, but overall it was alright and not nearly as awful as the reactions to the leaks made it seem.

[tsunael]

🐾🤺 & 🖤 for the writing wishes? <3

Writing Wishes | accepting!

🐾 Favorite duo/group dynamic trope(s)

Oh man... battle couples? Fighting back-to-back? Or just like... two people that have known each other for so long that they know exactly what the other is about / thinking. The important part is that they're not involved or dating but they might as well be. I'm channeling Akimitsu (P3) and Balfran (FFXII) for this clearly LOL. Fran is an especially insightful character but her line: "You've let your eyes betray your heart." just lives with me.

🤺 Favorite antagonistic trope(s)

Yeah I guess I'll just be answering more than one for these because I can't stop yapping and have decision paralysis. Anyway. I very much enjoy an immortal villain that is obsessed with / in love with the protagonist, and who has loved them for lifetimes. It's one of my favorite storylines in the 1998 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console XENOGEARS... ... because said antagonist loses their love interest to the MC so there is that love and loss and jealousy. Ugh. Ughhhh. I think that's also what makes FF8 so good if you entertain the 'Ultimecia is [redacted]' theory. MMMMMMMM tasty.

🖤 What's an angst plot you'd like to write?

LOL. Hell. It's another one that I have made gposes about (and somehow have about 7975 words written despite there barely being a plot) but it's something to bridge the gap between the end of 6.0 and 6.1 because I think Zenos + Endsinger combined would have truly fucked up the WoL. So, Tsuna nearly dies, gets her horns broken, and is bedridden for... I dunno... months. During that time, she's now forced to sit with her newfound trauma of everything that's happened which brings up all sorts of hang-ups of feeling worthless and alone, and confronting her own mortality. And because I am diseased and can't write anything without inserting my trash ship into it... I think she would get secret nightly (platonic!!!!) visits from Thancred because he knows she's ailing, and it's the one thing she starts to look forward to. A rare, soft and quiet intimacy with the two of them that may or may not ever happen again 😔 I need to read up about how Blasphemies work again because I don't want there to be a threat of her to turn into one but she would be feeling the same kind of hopelessness. A major part of the plot was going to be an attempted s*icide but I would want to treat it semi-realistically and thoughtfully so I stalled out on writing it 🤷🤷🤷🤷 For what it's worth... these events are why Dawntrail was going to be healing for her (lol). And was another reason for her cutting her hair.

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

When Sun Shines Again Chapter 4: "To Lead A Better Life:" Part 3

⛅CHAPTER 4⛅ "To Lead A Better Life" Part 3

Chapter Description: When Hero visits Basil one last time before returning to college for the fall semester, Basil gives him a letter that forces him to confront bittersweet memories, painful truths, and the complicated feelings that Hero had tried so hard to bury.

This Chapter is Hero & Basil's Friendship-Centric.

Chapter Word Count: 6700. Link to Chapter 4 on AO3.

Description (for the entire work): When tragedy struck, Hero lost not only his dearest friend but also his dreams for the future. Even years later, Hero doesn't know what his "forever" looks like without Mari in it, but somehow he finds the strength to carry on and build a new life for himself. With his family and friends both old and new by his side, Hero struggles through life's ups and downs--the joys and sorrows he faces in a world without Mari. In the beginning, he's only looking to survive it all, but somewhere along the way, he might find a purpose, a reason he's still here. Maybe there really is a way he can learn to be happy again, and maybe, just maybe, when he's least expecting it, he might even find himself slowly opening his heart to love again--he might even find himself believing that even the darkest, stormiest of times will eventually pass and the sun will shine again.

A Hero-Centric story spanning 15 years of his life post-good end. Focuses on Hero finding healing & building a life for himself after the loss of Mari. Eventually includes him learning to love again after an extremely slow burn. All pairings are tagged upfront. Rated T for heavy themes & some language. Reading the prequel is recommended.

⛅Tags For The Story As A Whole (So A Lot Of These Are "Eventual" Tags):

Romantic Relationships: Main Ships: (Past) Hero/Mari and (Eventual) Hero/OC. Side Ships: Brandi/OC and a brief mention of Mikhael/Bebe are the only side ships involving canon characters.

Platonic Relationships: Hero & Brandi Friendship, Hero & Original Characters Friendship. Some Hero & Kel Siblings Relationship & Brotherly Friendship. Hero & Aubrey Friendship. Hero & Basil Friendship. Hero & Sunny Friendship. Hero & His Family.

Characters: Major Canon Characters: Hero (POV Character), Brandi [Intimidating Girl], Mari and Mari's Memory, & Kel. Major Original Characters (Hero's college friends): Kyle, C.J., Zoey, Tamra, and Lorraine. Other Included Canon Characters: Sunny, Basil, Aubrey, Sally, Hero's Parents, Bebe (Short Haired Girl/Fountain Girl) & Mikhael (The Maverick).

Genre: Hero-Centric Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Slice of Life, College Life, Lost Love, Finding Love Again, Finding Healing After Grief, Slow Burn, Developing Friendship, Developing Relationship, Greiving, Catharsis, Heart-To-Heart Chats, Hopeful/Happy Ending, Post-Good Ending, Hero Needs A Hug, Hero Deserves To Be Happy

Rating: T for some heavy themes and thematic elements (i.e. grief & healing from grief and trauma. Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death & Implied/Referenced Mental Health Issues including depression & suicide. Mentions of Underage Drinking & Partying). Some language.

Warnings: Major Spoilers for OMORI! Heavy themes and thematic elements (i.e. grief & healing from grief and trauma. Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death & Implied/Referenced Mental Health Issues including depression & suicide. Mentions of Underage Drinking & Partying). Some Language.

Link to Entire work on AO3.

⛅ Link to the "When Sun Shines Again" Masterlist. ⛅

Full chapter text below the cut. Thank you for reading! ⛅

“Do you have any sevens?” asked Kel.

Twisting her mouth to one side, Aubrey frowned at her cards, but she shrugged her shoulders. “No. Go fish.”

Curiously, Hero glanced down at his own hand, then at a nearby clock on the wall. They had been playing Go Fish for nearly an hour, and Hero couldn’t for the life of him understand how no one had managed to win yet. Even thinking back on the many rounds of Go Fish he and his friends had played in their youth, he couldn’t remember a game that lasted more than half an hour, at the most, but it seemed that ever since they had started playing cards with Basil whenever they visited him in the hospital the games were growing longer and longer.

Hero wondered if that was on purpose—if his companions were somehow purposely dragging the games out so they would have something to do, something to keep Basil distracted so he wouldn’t start crying again. After all, their first couple of visits had mostly consisted of Basil weeping in tearful apologies, and Hero was certain he was not the only one who wanted to avoid that going forward.

Something ached in Hero’s chest whenever he thought of how emotional things had been in the beginning—how fragile Basil had been and that heartbreaking look on his face like he was always on the verge of tears. If Hero was being honest, it scared him, and though it made him feel overwhelmingly guilty to admit it, somehow he couldn’t help but wonder if that’s what his family had seen every time they had looked at him after Mari had died: a shaking, shivering shell of a person they had once known and loved. It was painful to watch, and as much as his heart ached seeing Basil suffer, he could only imagine that his family had suffered even more in watching Hero, himself, suffer in the same way. Knowing he had put his family through that… It was nearly enough to make Hero not want to get out of bed in the morning.

There was something surreal in being on this side of it all. Even having gone through a similar period of deep depression himself—even knowing firsthand how painful and hopeless that darkness and numbness could be, Hero felt completely helpless when it came to Basil and his suffering. He had no idea what to do—if there was even anything he could do to make Basil feel better. This feeling of helplessness coupled with the sickening, twisting feeling in his gut whenever Basil burst into tears at the mere sight of him had given Hero a new and incredibly painful appreciation for Kel and what his brother must have been through these last couple of years stuck on the periphery of his loved ones’ collapsing world. But maybe that was Kel’s strength. He could be so supportive and attentive to the needs of the other people around him, and he just had this way of knowing what might help someone, even someone at their lowest, feel better. It had been his idea to start playing cards to cheer up Basil, after all.

After a long and ongoing debate about whether or not the three of them should just stop visiting Basil altogether, Hero, Kel, and Aubrey had sat down with Polly to discuss whether or not their visits were actually helpful or were just hindering Basil’s recovery, which, Hero knew, was the last thing any of them wanted. When Polly had told them that she thought that it would be much more hurtful to Basil if his friends never came around, Kel had suggested that they try to think of activities to do when they visited so Basil would be too busy to think about being sad.

It turned out Kel was right. They soon found that their visits with Basil at the hospital went much more smoothly if they all did an activity together—sometimes a puzzle, other times arts and crafts. They quickly settled into playing board games or, more frequently, cards just like they used to when they were kids.

As time went on, Basil seemed much happier, especially when he was distracted. The color slowly returned to his face. He started tending some flowers in the hospital’s garden and even started taking some photos again. Most promising of all, the last time they had visited, Hero saw Basil laugh for the first time in possibly years at a silly joke Kel had told them about a pirate’s pet parrot of all things. It was good to see Basil beginning to heal and come back to his old self again. Still, they didn’t want to undo any progress so they kept playing infinite games of cards which, if Hero had to guess, they probably did drag out on purpose, at least on a subconscious level.

“Are you sure you don’t have any sevens?” asked Kel, pulling Hero out of his thoughts. His brow furrowed as he glanced over at Aubrey with narrowed eyes.

“No,” she huffed, growing more exasperated. “I don’t have any sevens, Kel.”

 “I—I have sevens,” sniffled Basil “You—you can have my sevens…”

“Sweet!” exclaimed Kel, reaching across the table to take Basil’s cards, but Hero gently stopped him with a pat on the arm.

“Kel, that’s not fair. You can ask Basil for sevens on your next turn.”

Basil sniffled again, pulling his sweater tightly around his shoulders. “It…It’s okay. I don’t mind. Kel can—”

“You’re ruining the game!” Aubrey interrupted with a huff. “It’s just Go Fish. There’s no reason to get so competitive about it!”

“Competitive?” Kel repeated so loudly that Basil practically jumped. “If anyone’s getting competitive, it’s you!”

As Kel and Aubrey began to bicker, Hero looked over at Basil with a certain concern in his eyes. Hero had always known that Basil was almost as conflict avoidant as him, and it was obvious from the way he cowered at Kel and Aubrey’s bickering—twisting his hands and biting his lip—that he would give just about anything for this fight to be over, including an entire hand full of sevens, if he’d had them. If Hero was being honest, he felt the same way.

“C-c’mon now,” Hero gently interrupted, trying to keep the peace “This is just supposed to be fun. We’re here to visit Basil and spend time with him. There’s no reason to start fighting.”

Kel and Aubrey stopped—each letting out a heavy sigh as they stared down at their hands of cards. “Hero’s right,” said Kel “Who cares about this stupid card game—we’re just happy to see you Basil. We can even do something else if you want.”

Basil’s eyes widened, but a smile twitched in the corners of his mouth. “I don’t care what we do—I’m just glad you’re here. It’s really good to see you guys.” Basil paused and sighed. “It gets…kind of lonely here sometimes.”

Something ached in Hero’s chest, and his expression softened. He couldn’t help but feel sorry for Basil all alone in the hospital far away from his family and friends. Even if he knew it was the best thing for him and was glad that he was getting the help that he needed, it made Hero sad to think that Basil was going through such a difficult time alone.

Hero sighed. He supposed Basil had been suffering alone for a very, very long time, and regardless of the complicated feelings that Hero himself may have been feeling towards Basil and everything that had happened, it was more important to him that Basil wouldn’t have to suffer by himself anymore—that he would never have to suffer by himself again.

He supposed Aubrey had eventually realized she felt this way too. It wasn’t long after their conversation about Basil and her complicated feelings towards him a couple of weeks ago that Aubrey had started visiting Basil again. She had never talked to Hero about it, but he could only assume that, like him, ultimately the love, friendship, and concern she had for Basil far outweighed her own hurts and feelings.

It meant a lot to Hero to see Aubrey offer Basil forgiveness, even when it was hard, and he knew how much it meant to Basil that she was there for him—that they were all there for him, even after everything that had happened. These days, it felt like the only person who hadn’t forgiven Basil was Basil himself, but Hero knew that would be the hardest part of all.

“Don’t worry, Basil,” Kel reassured him, patting his arm. “I’m sure you’ll get to come home really soon.”

Basil bit his lip but nodded as he quietly admitted, “I hope so…I uh…I’ve been really worried…about my flowers.”

“Oh you don’t have to worry about those. Hero has been taking care of them for you!” Kel beamed at Basil, giving him a pat on the back.

Basil’s eyes widened, but his hands began to tremble as he turned towards Hero. “Oh…you didn’t have to do that.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” Hero gently insisted with a slight smile. “Your house is on my way home from the pool, so I stop by on my way home from work. It barely takes any time at all, and it’s nice to have a hobby. Besides, Polly has been doing most of the work.”

“Aubrey and I have been helping out too,” added Kel. “But we’re not as good at gardening as you or Hero.”

Basil cleared his throat. “Well, thank you—all of you. I really appreciate it. I just…”  He paused, biting his lip and staring at his twisting hands. “I just…hope it’s not ruining your summer or taking up too much of your time.”

Aubrey, Kel and Hero quickly glanced at each other with somewhat awkward smiles—silently agreeing not to tell Basil that this had probably been one of the worst summers of their entire lives even without having to look after his garden for him. Hero had spent most of it working long hours at the community pool, cleaning his house, tending Basil’s garden, going for runs around the neighborhood, and desperately looking for anything else that would take his mind off of things. He craved being busy, but more than that he craved a distraction from his crumbling world. Sunny had moved. Basil was in the hospital. Kel and Aubrey were struggling. Everything in Hero’s life seemed to fall apart again this summer—collapsing under the weight of the truth. He could only imagine that Aubrey and Kel felt the same way. They couldn’t wait for this summer to finally be over…but they could never say that to Basil who stared up at them with frightened but hopeful eyes.

“How—how are you all doing?” Basil stumbled, in what Hero could only guess was a desperate attempt to fill the silence. “Is there…anything new and exciting in Faraway Town?”

Hero wracked his brain, but he couldn’t think of even one piece of good news to tell Basil. From the look on Aubrey’s face, it seemed she couldn’t think of one either. They both turned to Kel, who twisted his mouth to one side—his brow furrowing thoughtfully as if he, too, was scrounging to think of something positive to say.

“Uhhh… Hero got a postcard all the way from Venice, Italy.”

“Well…that’s pretty cool” said Basil with a slight smile.

Hero shrugged his shoulders. He supposed it was kind of sad that the most exciting thing that had happened all summer was that he had gotten a postcard from Italy, but his family, Kel especially, had been very fascinated by it. They had never gotten something in the mail from somewhere so far away before.

“It was really cool!” exclaimed Kel “It had a bridge on it.”

“Who was it from?” asked Basil.

“My friend from college, Kyle, sent it to me while his family was on vacation there,” said Hero. “It has the Bridge of Sighs on it. Kyle said he always buys postcards with bridges on them because one of his best friends is a civil engineering major and wants to build bridges someday. He gets her postcards of local bridges from all of his vacation destinations, but he had an extra one this time so he sent it to me.”

Basil smiled. “That was really nice of him. I think my parents went to Venice once. I saw pictures of it, and it was really pretty. I’ve always wanted to go someday”

“Then you should!” interjected Kel “We should all go. Someday when you get out of this place and we’re all grown up and stuff, we should all go to Venice—and then we can ride on those cool boats they have there!”

“They’re called gondolas, Kel,” Aubrey corrected with a huff.  

Kel rolled his eyes, but he beamed at Basil. “Sunny can come too. It’ll be an adventure!”

Aubrey sighed. “It’ll be years before we’ll be able to go to Venice, Kel. We might not ever be able to go there.”

“Well…” said Kel. “In the meantime, maybe Hero can bring his postcard to show Basil the next time we come to visit.”

“Oh wow!” Basil’s face seemed to light up as he smiled at his friends. “I’d love to see it.”

With a shrug of his shoulders, Hero tilted his head and gave Basil a bittersweet smile. “I’d love to show you my postcard, Basil. I’m sorry I didn’t bring it. I didn’t know that you wanted to see it. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to come visit you again because I have to go back to college next week.”

Basil’s face fell, but Hero could tell he tried his best to smile at him. “That’s okay” he said. “The doctor doesn’t think I’ll have to stay in the hospital for too much longer anyway. He hopes I’ll get to go home by the time school starts again.”

“That’s awesome Basil!” exclaimed Kel, and Aubrey nodded in agreement.

“I’m so happy to hear that,” said Hero. “I’m sure Kel and Aubrey will take really good care of you and help you get settled back in when school starts.”

“Yeah,” agreed Kel “And if anyone gives you weird looks or something, Aubrey will just beat them up with her nail bat.”

“Kel!” huffed Aubrey.

Before anybody could say anything more, however, the nurse came by to tell them that visiting hours were almost over and that they would have to leave soon. Aubrey and Kel both got up from the table to go to the bathroom before their long drive back to Faraway Town, leaving Hero and Basil alone.

“Are you excited—to be going back to college?” asked Basil.

Hero bit his lip. The honest answer was yes. In fact, he had never been happier to go back to anywhere in his entire life—though he supposed that wasn’t an entirely fair statement. It wasn’t going back to college that Hero was looking forward to—it was the idea of this long, horrible summer finally being over.

He didn’t want to upset Basil by telling him that, however, so he merely shrugged with half a smile and said “A little. It’ll be hard to leave my family again but…I missed school and my friends in the city. Plus, I made plans to see Sunny”

“Really?” asked Basil.

“Yeah. I called him last week and asked if I could take him to one of my favorite coffee places near campus. It’ll be nice to see him again and see how he’s settling in after the move.”

Basil’s expression softened, and he smiled. “I’m so glad to hear that. I’m sure it will mean a lot to Sunny that you want to visit him.” He paused, fumbling around for something in the pocket of his sweater. “That reminds me, I have a letter for Sunny. Do you think you could give it to him for me?”

Hero nodded. “Of course”

“I have one for you too,” Basil continued, handing Hero two envelopes. They were both heavy and lumpy like two small packages rather than letters. Whatever letters were inside must be several pages long.

Hero swallowed hard—trying his best to calm himself with a deep breath. He could only imagine what his letter said, but the truth was, he didn’t want to imagine it. He wasn’t sure he even wanted to read it.

For the entire summer, Hero had been trying his absolute best not to think about what Basil had done. He hadn’t lied to Aubrey when he told her he wasn’t angry with Basil, but he knew there were still complicated feelings, hurts, there under the surface. He supposed he had been running from them—pushing them aside like a kind of self-preservation or, perhaps more accurately, a somewhat desperate attempt at triage.

Triage, Hero thought. That certainly seemed like a good word for it.

In a medical ethics class he had taken last semester, Hero had learned about disaster triage or how to prioritize individual emergencies during a large-scale disaster. It was the best metaphor he could think of for how this summer had felt, especially as far as Basil was concerned. Whatever Hero may have felt or may have been dealing with on his own—it was small and inconsequential compared to Basil’s well-being when he was so fragile and such a danger to himself. Hero knew that he, himself, was hurting. He accepted that, but he couldn’t accept that that mattered, so he had buried his own complicated feelings so deep that he wasn’t even sure what he felt anymore. As he stared at the envelope in his hands, however, his stomach coiled and twisted with the sickening, sinking feeling that as soon as he opened that letter, he wouldn’t be able to run from it anymore.

“Do you…uh…want me to read this now?” Hero stumbled with a crack in his voice. He tried not to sigh too loudly in relief as Basil shook his head.

“It’s kind of long… You should probably read it when you get home. Or uh…”—his voice hitched—“you don’t have to read it at all, if you…”

As Basil’s voice tapered off, Hero reached out to gently pat his twisting hands. “No, um…I will. I’ll try to read it tonight. Thank you.”

“I have letters for Kel and Aubrey too, but I’ll see them when I get to come home so…” Basil’s voice trailed, but Hero nodded.

“I’m really glad that you’re going to get to come home soon, Basil. I’m sure Aubrey and Kel will look after you, but I’m always here too. If you need anything, just call” He reached for a nearby pad of paper and a pen, which Aubrey had been using to keep score during their card game and wrote down his phone number “This is my phone number at college. Feel free to call me anytime.”

As he handed the piece of paper to Basil, Basil smiled and muttered a quiet but grateful, “Thank you.”

Hero sighed. From the look on Basil’s face, he knew that Basil was never going to call him. If Hero had to guess, Basil was probably thinking that as soon as Hero read whatever he had written in that letter, he would regret giving him his phone number and would never want to speak to him again. Hero wished there was a way to reassure Basil that this wasn’t the case, that there was nothing that Basil could possibly say that would ever make Hero abandon him, especially when he needed him most. But as it was now, Hero just didn’t have the words…so he hugged Basil goodbye, wished him well and headed back home to Faraway Town, where he spent the rest of the evening staring at that thick envelope wondering when he would ever have the strength to open it.

When the clock at the bottom of the stairs chimed 8:00 PM, Hero, finally, tentatively reached towards the letter. He held his breath—biting his lip as he carefully opened the seal with trembling hands, bracing himself for whatever might be inside. He pulled out a dense stack of notebook paper which he slowly unfolded counting not two or three but ten pages filled with small, delicate script on both the front and back sides. Thankfully, the pages were numbered.

Hero swallowed hard and staring down at the paper in front of him, began to read.

Dear Hero,

This is the fourth time I have tried to write this letter. My doctor suggested that it would be good for me to be honest with you about my regrets to try to make amends and move forward. I don’t think I’ve been doing a very good job of that, and I’m really sorry if I, or this letter, am a burden to you.

I want to start by saying that I have always looked up to and admired you. I’m sure you know that my family wasn’t ever really around. For a long time, it was just me and my grandma. I never had any brothers or sisters, but I had you and the rest of our friends. You were all like a family to me, especially you, Hero. If I ever had a big brother, I imagine he would be a lot like you—always looking out for me.

You are one of the kindest people I have ever met in my whole life. You always think of everyone else before yourself and try to take care of everybody. Even now, when I know that you’re really hurting, you’ve still come to visit me. You still talk to me and take care of my garden. That really means a lot to me, more than I have the words to say, but I want you to know it’s okay if you’re angry with me. I know I would be. I really hurt you—hurt everybody with what I did, and I am so, so sorry.

I know there’s nothing I can say or do to make amends for what I’ve done, and I’m not writing you this letter to make any justifications or excuses. I only want you to know that you mean so much to me—that my whole life all I ever wanted was to be like you. I never meant to hurt you and knowing that what I did hurt you in ways that I can’t even imagine breaks my heart. But what hurts even more is knowing that even now, even after everything I did, you’re still trying to protect me like you always have.

But you don’t have to do that anymore, Hero. If after you read this letter, you never want to forgive me and never want to talk to me again, I completely understand. There are certain things that can’t be fixed with apologies and regrets. I have a lot of regrets—one of the biggest is hurting the one person in the world I knew would always be there for me. I am so, so sorry…

Hero’s breath got caught in his throat. His eyes burned. He couldn’t read anymore.

“I’m going on a run,” he choked out—frantically reaching for his running shoes. Kel looked up from the video game he had been playing with a confused tilt of his head.

“You’d better bring a jacket. It’s cold out there. I heard on the radio that there’s supposed to be a cold snap tonight.”

Hero nodded, but he couldn’t say Kel’s words really registered with him until he was running against the chilly wind. He wished he had listened to his brother and grabbed his jacket, but at the time he had just been so desperate to get out of there—or, he supposed, more accurately to get away from that letter. There was perhaps something poetic in literally running away from it, but Hero hadn’t really been thinking of that at the time. His jogs were his one lifeline—sometimes the only thing that kept him sane, kept him together when he was about to fall apart. It seemed like the only thing he could cling to now.

As Hero turned the corner out onto the main street again, a cold gust of wind blew past. He shivered. It was far too cold for this time of year. Cold snaps weren’t particularly common in Faraway Town, but they generally happened in the spring rather than the fall, at least as far as Hero could remember. He couldn’t recall a lot of cold snaps. As much as it pained him to admit it, a lot of his memories from before Mari had passed away were becoming hazier and hazier, but he could remember a particularly nasty cold snap from about five years ago…

*-*-*

“And watch out for that unexpected cold front,” said the disc jockey on the radio. “Temperatures will drop to the low 30s and below tonight, so you’ll want to get your coats and sweaters back out for the morning.”

“So much for that spring weather…” huffed Aubrey shaking her head as she stared at her hand of cards. “Also, go fish.” 

Kel groaned seemingly upset about both the upcoming cold snap and the fact he was losing at cards. “I don’t even know where my coat is.” 

“I’ll help you look for it,” said Hero patting his brother on the arm. “I think I just saw it hanging up in the closet.”

As Kel just shrugged and reached to draw some cards from the pile in the middle of the table, Hero felt a hand tugging at his shirt sleeve. Sunny blinked at him then motioned to his coat in the corner where he had left it weeks earlier, back when the weather had finally started warming up.

“That’s very nice, Sunny, but you don’t have to loan Kel your coat. He has one at home, and you’ll need it yourself tomorrow.”

Sunny nodded though his eyes widened in surprise as Mari snuck up behind him wearing his coat and wrapped her arms around him. She giggled as she playfully waved the sleeves around, and Hero stifled a laugh as she teased, “This coat is a little heavier than usual, isn’t it?” 

A slight smile tugged at the corners of Sunny’s mouth, and he let out two quick, heavy breaths—which Hero knew meant he was laughing. Seemingly pleased with herself, Mari’s smile widened, and she ruffled her brother’s hair before slipping out of the coat and handing it to him.

“I already boxed up my coat,” said Basil, nervously twisting his hands. “I think it’s under my bed. I’ll have to go home and check.”

Hero tilted his head at him. Somehow Basil seemed more nervous than usual. Mari seemed to notice as well as her face softened, and she gave him a reassuring smile.

“How about I walk you home?” she suggested. “So I can help you look for your coat.”

“Thank you, but you don’t have to do that, Mari,” sniffled Basil. “I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

“I don’t mind at all. It’ll be easier to look for it with several people helping.”

“I can help too,” said Hero. “After I walk Aubrey home, I’ll stop by and help you look for your coat.”

Basil’s eyes widened, and he held up his hands. “Oh no. You don’t have to do that. It’s really not a big deal at all.”

“And you don’t have to walk me home either,” huffed Aubrey with a slight frown. “I just live a street away.”

“But it’s dark out. I just want to make sure you get home safely.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes, but her mouth twitched in the corners as she shrugged her shoulders. “Alright, fine, but we should probably get going, huh? It’s getting late.”

As they all started to say their goodbyes for the evening, Hero watched as Mari gave him a reassuring smile and a look that said, “Don’t worry. I’ll find out what’s bothering, Basil.”

Hero sighed. Of course she had noticed there was something bothering him beyond just his lost coat. Mari was so good at reading people. She always knew when something was wrong and what to do to make someone happy again. It meant a lot to Hero to know that Basil was in such good hands—though he was sure he would feel a lot better once Aubrey was home safely and Mari had helped Basil work through whatever was troubling him.

After dropping Aubrey off at her house, Hero headed to Basil’s house where he was surprised to see Mari and Basil, who was now wearing his winter coat, out in the yard.

“Basil is worried that his plants will get too cold overnight so we’re going to cover them with some tarps and old picnic blankets,” Mari explained. How she had managed to get Basil to tell her this in such a short amount of time amazed Hero, but he supposed that was just Mari’s way with people. He always admired that about her.

Hero reached for one of the tarps and covered a nearby flowerbed. The cold wind biting at them, loosening the coverings as soon as they had been placed, made the task more difficult than it needed to be, but eventually every flowerbed in Basil’s garden was properly covered, warm enough to survive the cold night.

As the three of them surveyed their work, Basil sniffled. “Thank you so much for helping me. You really didn’t have to do that, but it means a lot.”

Hero smiled as Mari threw her arms around Basil and hugged him tightly.

“It was no trouble, Basil,” she said. “We’re always happy to help. That’s what family’s for.”

Tears pooled in Basil’s eyes as he choked out, “Family?”

“Of course. You’re like our little brother.” Giggling, Mari beamed at him and gently ruffled her hand through his hair. “If you ever need anything, we’ll always be here to help you—no matter what.”

Hero nodded in agreement and patted Basil’s shoulder before giving him a hug himself. Wiping the tears from his eyes, Basil sniffled again before saying his final thanks and goodbyes and heading back into his house.

As Hero and Mari started to walk home, Mari reached for Hero’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Hero smiled at her, but watching her shiver in the wind, he immediately let go of her hand and tried to disentangle himself from his jacket.

“Here, you can take this…” he said holding out his coat to her.

Chuckling, Mari wrapped the jacket around her shoulders and playfully teased, “What a gentleman! Thank you.” She took his hand again—intertwining their fingers. “You’re always so sweet, Hero.”

Hero blushed. He watched his feet shuffling on the sidewalk as his face grew warm. “You’re sweeter,” he gently insisted. “What you said to Basil back there was so kind. I could tell it really meant a lot to him.”

Mari’s expression softened, and something bittersweet passed over her eyes. “I feel so sorry for Basil. It’s just him and his grandma. He must be so lonely…and he’s such a gentle-hearted person. I…” She paused. “I worry about him sometimes. He needs somebody to look out for him.”  

Hero nodded solemnly, but he gave Mari’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Hero?” As Mari looked up with him with wide, kind eyes, Hero’s heart could have melted. A smile twitched in the corners of her mouth as she quietly continued, “Promise me…that we’ll always take care of Basil…?”

As Hero nodded, a bright smile once again spread across Mari’s face. “Of course, Mari. We’ll always take care of Basil…and his flowers too.”

*-*-*

Hero stopped. Basil’s flowers. What if it got too cold for them and they froze before Basil even got to come home and see them?

Rubbing his hands together for warmth, he took off running towards Basil’s house where he found Polly out in the yard putting tarps over some of Basil’s flowerbeds.

“Hi Polly. Can I help?” asked Hero with a slight smile. “I was out on a run when I remembered Basil’s flowers and…with this cold snap coming in…” His voice trailed, but Polly smiled.

“Oh that’s so sweet of you, Hero,” she replied. “I’m just about finished, but if you want to cover that flowerbed over there”—she paused, motioning to her left—“that would be a big help.”

Hero nodded, and he reached for a nearby tarp. His brow furrowed as he turned towards the flowerbed—his chest aching at the sight of the clusters of lilies. Lilies had been Mari’s favorite flower, and Basil had always used to say they reminded him of her. When they were kids, Basil had had flowers that reminded him of all of his friends. If Hero was remembering correctly, his flower had been roses—though he had never felt he deserved it.  

Hero’s eyes narrowed, and he tilted his head. There were rose bushes in this flowerbed too. When had Basil planted these?

“This is one of Basil’s favorite flowerbeds, you know?” Polly said quietly. “When I first came to work here, I once found him curled up in it in the middle of the night during a cold snap like this. He had covered the plants but was worried they still weren’t going to be warm enough, so he took the blanket off of his bed and dragged it out here and curled up next to them himself.”

Polly sighed. “When I tried to tell him that they were probably warm enough now and he could come back inside, he wouldn’t. He said he planted these flowers for his big brother and sister, and he wasn’t going to leave them. I was so confused because Basil is an only child, but…after everything that happened this summer…I started thinking…”

Polly stopped and turned to look at Hero. She didn’t say anything more, but she didn’t have to—Hero knew what she was thinking. He was thinking the same thing.

With a heavy sigh, he sunk to the ground. Something coiled and twisted in his chest as he thought about what these last four years must have been like for Basil. Not only was he grieving the loss of Mari, blaming himself for her death and everything that had come after, but he was grieving the loss of his family too, worrying that as soon as they knew the truth, they would see him as he saw himself: unredeemable, unforgivable, and unlovable. Hero could picture him shivering in the garden, desperately clinging to his few remaining memories of the only family he had ever known—waiting for the other shoe to drop, for them to learn the truth and leave him behind forever.

As Hero stared at the flowerbed, the carefully tended roses and lilies that had always reminded Basil of him and Mari, Hero’s eyes burned and his vision grew blurred and misty. He could hear Mari’s words, “Promise me…that we’ll always take care of Basil…?”

Hero watched as Polly’s eyes widened in concern. As she leaned forward with an outstretched hand, his brow furrowed. He reached up and touched his cheek—cold from the chilly wind and damp from the tears that had finally struggled free.

*-*-*

“H—Hero?” stammered Basil in surprise as he walked into the hospital’s common area.

Hero gave him a slight smile. “Hey, Basil. How’s it going?”

“I…I thought you were going back to school.”

“Yeah…I…I leave Thursday, but I…” He paused—twisting his hands around the handles of the gift bag he had brought with him. “I wanted to see you one more time. I hope that’s okay…?”

As Hero’s voice trailed, Basil blinked at him with wide eyes, but he managed a brisk nod.

“I brought this for you,” Hero continued, handing Basil the bag. “They’re from your garden.”

Basil pulled out a jar filled with roses and lilies that Hero had carefully picked from his garden with Polly’s permission of course. Hero stared down at his hands and took a deep breath. “Polly told me that flowerbed was one of your favorites. It’s still in bloom and really pretty. I hope you’ll make it home in time to see it before the Fall.”

Basil nodded again but sniffled. “You…you didn’t have to do this. And you didn’t have to come either. I…I know you’re really busy.”

“I always have time for you,” said Hero with a smile. “And after I read your letter, I just…I wanted to come see you because…there’s…something really important that I have to tell you.” He swallowed hard with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “I tried writing it down, but I just couldn’t find the right words and I—”

“It’s okay,” Basil quietly interrupted him with a wavering voice. “You can…say whatever you need to say. I’m ready.”

“No. Uh…um…Basil…I—” Hero stopped abruptly. As he watched Basil tremble, watched the tears pooling in his eyes as he braced himself for the worst, his heart ached. He completely forgot all the words of reassurance he had planned to say and practically leapt forward, wrapping his arms around Basil and holding him tightly. He could feel Basil’s shoulders stiffen—could feel him gasp in surprise.

“He—Hero?” choked Basil—his voice cut off by a strangled, garbled sob in the back of his throat. As he started to shake, Hero knew he was crying, and it broke his heart but not as much as his whispered, “I’m so sorry…”  

Hero pressed his chin to Basil’s shoulder as tears began to prickle in his own eyes. He hugged him tighter—hoping that simple gesture would say everything he didn’t have the words to until finally, at long last, he took a deep breath and said, “I forgive you.”

“What?”

“I forgive you, Basil,” Hero repeated in a trembling voice—taking a deep breath to brace himself for the next part, the hardest part, of what he knew he had to say. “I…what happened…it…it hurt me.” He paused—suddenly struck by the weight of those words and of finally saying them aloud. “But…but that doesn’t make you unforgiveable and that…that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you anymore. I forgive you, and I know it’s probably not my place to say this but…I think…Mari would forgive you too and…she’d want you to forgive yourself. It’s…it’s what I want too.”

Hero’s throat grew dry and burned, but he took a long, shaky breath and continued, “You’ve suffered enough, Basil—punished yourself enough. I know you think that’s what you deserve, but that’s not what Mari would want for you. She really loved you, and all she ever wanted was to take care of you. Beating yourself up about what happened, only hurts you…It’s not going to bring her back. I…I”—his voice hitched— “I know that better than anyone. Believe me…if it did, she’d be here.”

Hero stopped—a lump forming in the back of his throat as his eyes burned with tears. “Mari—Mari isn’t…here…anymore…” he stumbled over his words, until finally he pulled away from Basil, placed both hands on his shoulders and met his teary eyes. “But I am, and I will always be here for you.”

At these words, tears began to pour down Basil’s cheeks as if he had never needed to hear something more in his entire life. He threw his arms around Hero and broke down sobbing. Hero’s face softened, and he pulled Basil close. As he gently patted his back, as he often did whenever he comforted any of his siblings, he caught sight of the jar of flowers on the table: the much loved lilies and roses. Hero sniffled, wiping a tear from his eye, as he thought of Mari and her wish: “Promise me…that we’ll always take care of Basil…?”

“I will always take care of you,” Hero gently whispered. “For both of us…”

[kvlarnet2]

Reptile Movie (Review) and Film Summary

Benicio Del Toro slinks and weaves through Grant Singer’s debut thriller “Reptile,” but the film struggles to develop a confident personality around him, ultimately coming apart at the seams. Clearly inspired by David Fincher’s meticulousness—Singer too is a music video vet and has worked with The Weeknd, Skrillex, Sam Smith, and many more—“Reptile” is overly mannered and precious with its details, but its biggest misstep is its failure to understand that procedurals need to get narratively tighter and not just more convoluted. Del Toro always brings it, and this is actually one of his more intriguing performances in a long time, but one consistently wishes that it was in a movie that knew what to do with it.

Will Grady (Justin Timberlake) is a Scarborough real estate mogul dating an agent named Summer (Matilda Lutz). They flip foreclosures on expensive homes in the area under the watchful eye of Will’s mom, Camille (Frances Fisher), and there seems to be some brewing tension in the relationship. One day, Will meets Summer at a house she’s showing and finds her brutally murdered.

The suspects line up quickly for Detective Tom Nichols (Del Toro) and his partner Dan Cleary (Ato Essandoh). First, Grady couldn’t be creepier—Timberlake leans way too hard into the slimy silver spoon kid background of the kind of dude who lines up a new girlfriend who looks a lot like his dead one almost immediately. Will is clearly into some shady shit, but he found the body, right? Or did he? Could it be Summer’s soon-to-be ex-husband Sam (Karl Glusman)? He, too, is sketched as a few cards short of a full deck, introduced on CCTV footage cutting a stranger’s hair so he can turn it into art. Yeah, he’s weird. That’s not it! The cavalcade of creeps on the suspect list also includes Eli Phillips (Michael Pitt), a guy whose dad got screwed on a Grady deal. Did he kill Summer to get revenge?

As if that trio of potential murderers isn’t enough, the script by Singer, Benjamin Brewer, and Del Toro himself fills out a massive cast with the people in Tom’s orbit, including his wife Judy (an effective Alicia Silverstone), who helps him work angles on the case in some of the film’s best scenes. She’s fearless and intellectually engaged in discussing the mystery. She knows and loves Captain Robert Allen (Eric Bogosian), Tom’s boss, who is introduced receiving an MS diagnosis. Yes, this is one of those scripts where everyone has an instantly identifiable trait that tries to take a traditional character just a bit left of center. It's all over-written, exaggerated stuff that only reminds you that you’re in a movie.

Of course, it’s perfectly fine to be aware of a writer's voice and director’s eye—no one would say someone like Fincher quietly observes—but the problems of “Reptile” comes down to style vs. vision. There’s plenty of style here, but it never feels like anything coheres into an actual vision. The great Mike Gioulakis (“It Follows,” “Split”) slides his camera through these imposing spaces, but to what end? Does it mean anything? The abundant style of “Reptile” is increasingly hollow as its overlong 134 minutes unfold. "Reptile" tries to hold onto too many things at once and lands none of them, leaving subplots unresolved and characters inconsistent.

And yet, there’s that performance in the center. Del Toro is so good here, capturing a man who has seen it all and just wants a peace that won’t come. He doesn’t overplay trauma or experience; he just allows those elements to influence his body language and the stares from those unforgettable eyes. It’s also a playful performance at times as Tom uses elements of his journey into real estate to influence his home remodel. There are some decent turns in the ensemble—Silverstone, Bogosian, Pitt—but Del Toro is on another level, existing in his own space. A space that belongs in a much better movie.

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[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Character opinion bingo ask: Kyouka and Akutagawa?

~ Note

Hi Note! :D

Omg... Kyouka and Akutagawa my beloveds...

Kyouka:

They are sooooo cool looking: Kyouka's outfits are excellent and she looks great in everything. Ok so maybe it's more pretty/cute but still. I think it counts.

Wasted potential: Sigh... ok so this might be an unpopular opinion, but while I think she's fine in the main series I felt her role in Beast should've been more significant. While it made sense that her and Atsushi would end up unhealthily over-reliant on each other in an environment where they're the only ones they have... I think it would've been more intriguing to have Kyouka take a bigger role there, since she was so important to the sskk dynamic in the main universe. Also I was under the impression that the whole reason she bonded so strongly to Atsushi was because of his helping and inspiring her... so idk. I wish she had've left the Mafia in Beast and stayed out but didn't get found right away. Maybe Akutagawa is forced to reassess his role as an older sibling based off their interactions (early indications that his and Gin's relationship won't be magically repaired once he finds her). Maybe Kyouka is constantly conflicted between her desire to get out from the Mafia and her desire to not see Atsushi get hurt. Maybe Akutagawa is faced with someone who can't decide whether or not she is helping or hindering him, someone he doesn't know well enough to reach but knows just well enough to feel uncomfortable with the notion of cutting her down. I just think more could've been done than using Kyouka as a means of forcing Atsushi's hand. Plus it would've meant Atsushi and Kyouka angst as she tries to reach him and he tries to reach her and they both, due to acting out of their own trauma and fear, fundamentally miss what the other really needs. Anyways. Sorry for the rant. To clarify, I don't hate what was done (Beast is really good!) I just. Yeah, wasted potential.

They're deeper than they seem: I mean that was the whole point of my "Kyouka's impact on sskk" post. But more than that, she actually has a lot of depth to her. She's clever and competent, as well as childish and snarky. She's easily taken with simple joys and also capable of unshakeable focus. She has issues trusting people and real, honest, believable reactions to her own pain and seeing others go through it. Slowly but surely, she comes alive. She's a whole person!!! And her development is still one of my favourites in the series.

They work better as part of a dynamic: I would love some solo Kyouka focus but it's funny because much as Kyouka isn't intending it, for some reason her mere presence means that someone around her is getting some realization or character development. Seriously. She kickstarts sskk, her choices are at the crux of Kouyou's story and development. Her conflict with Higuchi affirms Higuchi's loyalty even in the face of severe injury, and Mushitarou starts taking advice from Yokomizo when her and Atsushi go to save him. Even Dazai has a moment of genuineness when he's talking to her about people changing for the better - he's thinking about Oda and I'm pretty sure Asagiri confirmed those were his honest thoughts. So, yeah, I love Kyouka as a character individually but also whenever she shows up it means we're getting some good conflict and scenes with other characters too. Which is awesome and compelling.

They've never done anything wrong in their life: yeah :)

Akutagawa:

They are sooooo cool looking/Why do they look like that: I. I want to roast him for what he's wearing and his hair but sometimes he really does look legitimately cool, especially in the manga. I don't think I will ever get that one panel from the Fukuchi fight out of my head - the one where he creates essentially Rashoumon spider limbs out of his shirt - I have no idea why he dresses like a goth victorian edgelord but props to him for somehow pulling it off. (This panel btw. Gosh he's so cool.)

If they were real, I'd be afraid of them: I mean, I think this is a valid thing to feel.

Didn't get enough screen time: Ok so I know that sounds weird but for his importance he actually doesn't get that many scenes... surprisingly? Like, he shows up at key scenes and then basically dips lol. For a deuteragonist and foil of the main character, idk I guess I was just surprised when I started reading at how little he actually appeared. Especially since the doa arc started. Where is my boy Asagiri??? Can he maybe... not be a vampire anymore? K thanks.

They work better as part of a dynamic: Well, clearly the sskk dynamic is top tier. And I love his relationship with Gin and would like to see it expanded on, plus the complicated mess that is his dynamic with Kyouka. His dynamic with Dazai, uncomfortable though it is to see, is very intriguing as a reader and I desperately want to know more. However... tying back in with what I said about the screen time, I really want to see more of just Akutagawa. The Hawthorne/Mitchell fight is so good to me because he's the only character we really know in advance at that point, and a lot of the fight is him thinking over Atsushi's words. I would like to see more of Akutagawa on his own tbh, and I'm hoping that's what the whole vampire thing builds up to.

[chonidale]

how would you rank the characters in s7 i assume cheryl and toni take the top 2 spot but everyone else?

yes, they are top two, always.

cheryl: forever my fav, but i think what they've done with her this season is so, so good. the way they've used the 50s to show cheryl's growth is on par with how well they're using it show choni's. i do think the difference in her is also a result of her not having jason related trauma, but it's also obviously showing how much she's matured over the course of the show. i'm just so proud of her every week and pray they can keep it up for just nine more eps.

toni: her best season, bar none. they've finally figured out how to write her and write for her, and it's both so satisfying to finally see and frustrating that it took them this long to do it. but this is the toni i always knew she was, and seeing her perspective and struggles has been so nice. my single complaint is that she's missing so many episodes. anyone that has a bad word to say about her this season is dumb and nasty and has no empathy for black characters.

tabitha: no we haven't seen much of her but i love her so much and i miss her so much and i just can't rank anyone else higher than her, sorry.

reggie: we haven't seen much of him yet but i already love him so much. it's so interesting to see such a different version of him and think charles is doing a great job. best boy for sure.

archie: i do not find most of his plots interesting and he's been kinda meh in the last few eps, but i can't deny that i've found him really endearing for the first time in seasons. i do wish they would pull back on the straight savior stuff a bit, but still. i'm charmed most of the time.

kevin: it's been nice to see him get some meaty stuff to work with again, and to not be made a villain for once. i wish the writers would give his relationship with clay more onscreen development, but i'm glad kevin's journey has at least gotten some focus and has been taken seriously. i really hope they take the time to show that it helped him with his internalized homophobia in the present.

midge: listen is it unserious of me to put midge so high? yes, but i think she's cute and i love her dynamic with cheryl and toni and i appreciate her existence when it comes to fangs and i don't care which way they choose to bring her back to the present (there's a lot of ways i can think of), just that they do.

clay: i really like this guy and think he's sweet and a great match for kevin and a great fit on the show and in the gang. i wish we knew more about him and still think he should have been a topaz to give toni a family as well as kevin a love interest, but whatever.

veronica: i'm happy to see her with a bit of her spunk back, but i will just always struggle to find veronica or her stories interesting. i think she started the season off strong but now she's just fallen back into boring business and family related plots or mooning after boys with betty. meh. still, gets point for variety.

betty: i usually love betty, but find her kinda meh this season. i understand what they've been trying to do with her and i think lili is doing a good job, but it just feels so repetitive every episode, omg. we get it, betty is horny and wants to fuck the patriarchy both literally and metaphorically, can she come up with something else?

fangs: i don't mind him this season at all and i appreciate that he shaved and cut his hair so he doesn't look like the nasty man he was last season, but it's not like he's gotten anything to do for me to enjoy. but i don't hate him so good for him.

jughead: ranking him below fangs... look how they massacred my boy. i grew to love him at lot in the time jump, but i guess i'm just never going to like high school jughead because woof. the fact that i completely forgot about him until i almost hit publish says it all. completely isolated from the rest of the cast, with the most boring storylines on the show that's largely just him and guest stars... it's bad for him. not even tabitha could get me to pay attention to him.

julian: he does his job as a villain well and nick seems lovely, but obviously he's last. the one good thing i can say about him is that i'm glad they went with him over jason because i hate jason and think they've beaten that dead horse more than enough, and i'm actually intrigued by the dynamic between julian and cheryl.