#maybe it's projection but I really love analysing it

[reiding-writing]

Heyy i was wondering if i could have a workshop session? Also congrats on reaching 2k i literally lovee your posts.

So i had this idea about early season spencer and a movie director reader, so basically sorta like the episode with lila archer except reader is really famous and makes mostly sci-fi movies or something spencer would watch, and someone on her set is a witness for a crime or connected to one and now that they dissapeared the BAU sent spencer and maybe derek to ask reader about what they know. But spencer is lowkey kind of silently fan girling lmao like when he first met rossi. I hope this idea isn't too cringe but its just something i thought of, and also its like 3am so my brain isn't functioning properly. Anyways thank yeww

STARstruck — SPENCER REID!

Spencer is a nerd who appreciates accurate scientific knowledge in the media he consumes, and you, are his literal idol in that aspect.

s1!spencer x fem!director!reader | 1.2k | fluff | 2k book fayre !!

a/n — this idea is so cute bro i love it

main masterlist. | event masterlist.

The late afternoon sun filtered through the towering glass windows of the Hollywood studio, casting a golden glow over the sleek set design.

Cameras, lighting rigs, and intricate models of spaceships and futuristic cities filled the massive room, the scent of freshly brewed coffee and slightly burnt popcorn lingered in the air.

Spencer took a deep breath as he stepped onto the set, eyes wide with a mix of awe and nervous excitement.

“You okay, pretty boy?” Morgan smirked as he nudged Spencer in the arm. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”

Spencer quickly adjusted the messenger bag on his shoulder, fiddling with the leather strap. “I’m fine,” He mumbled, although his gaze kept drifting toward the bustling crew members setting up for the next scene.

It wasn’t just the high-tech equipment that caught his attention; it was the fact that you was somewhere on this set. A literal legend in the movie world who had created some of Spencer's favourite films, the mind behind the intricate worlds he had spent years analysing and rewatching.

Not just a famous director, but one of the most influential minds in science fiction cinema, with a literal PhD in theoretical astrophysics, your movies weren’t just blockbusters—they were intellectually stimulating.

Films layered with complex theories of time travel, quantum physics, and human evolution. Spencer had spent hours after screenings debating the logic behind your plot twists, tracing your influences back to classic literature and obscure scientific studies.

He might have even written a paper about your work for one of his side projects.

Maybe.

“Alright, fanboy, whatever you say,” Morgan chuckled, clearly noticing the star-struck look on Spencer’s face. “We’re here for business, remember? We need to talk to her about the missing witness.”

Right. The reason they were actually here. One of the set designers from your latest film had disappeared. They had been linked to a crime scene across town, and now the BAU was trying to piece together their whereabouts.

As the two made their way past towering green screens and actors in elaborate futuristic costumes, Spencer’s heart rate quickened. There you were, standing near the director's chair, deep in conversation with a producer.

Morgan was the one to actually call your attention, flashing his FBI badge. “Excuse me, Doctor, I’m Agent Derek Morgan, and this is Dr. Spencer Reid, we’re with the FBI.”

Your eyes widen momentarily, before settling in understanding. “Pleasure to meet you both,” You motion for the two to follow you away from the busy set for the impending conversation.

Spencer tried to find his voice, but it was like his brain had short-circuited the moment you looked at him. The woman who had crafted entire galaxies and explored the intricacies of human consciousness in film now actually knew he existed.

“I—uh—” He stammered, glancing at the wall behind you before meeting your eyes. “I just wanted to say I’ve been a huge fan of your work for years. Your understanding of nonlinear time theory in Chrono Rift was... incredible—”

Morgan’s grin widened, and Spencer could feel his cheeks burning. He was not making a good first impression.

You, however, smiled warmly, your expression softening. “Thank you, Dr. Reid. It’s always nice to meet someone who appreciates the science behind the ‘science-fiction’.”

The way his eyes seem to soften in the wake of your thanks is endearing, matched with a pink flush to behind his glasses he attempts to brush a stubborn lick of hair from his eye.

It’s a natural attractiveness, one that’s sweet and a little awkward.

“But I assume you didn’t come here just to talk about quantum mechanics?”

Spencer cleared his throat, refocusing on the case. “Right, yes uh— We’re trying to locate one of your set designers, Adrian Moss. We believe they may have been involved with a recent crime, and they disappeared shortly after. Did Adrian mention anything unusual to you? Anyone they seemed nervous around?”

Your brows furrowed slightly in concern. “Adrian? No, they seemed fine. A little… distracted maybe, but I thought it was just the stress of the shoot. I had no idea they were involved in anything criminal.”

Morgan took over to save himself the second-hand embarrassment of Spencer’s stammering, smoothly steering the conversation. “Is there anyone on set Adrian might’ve had conflicts with? Or someone who seemed to be paying them too much attention?”

You paused, considering the question. “Not that I can think of, but I can ask around. The crew is like a family you know? People talk— if Adrian was in trouble, someone will have noticed.”

As the conversation continued, Spencer slowly found his footing again, chiming in with more questions about Adrian’s behavior and their role on set. But every now and then, his mind drifted to the fact that he was standing in the presence of one of his idols. And not only were you brilliant, but you were also kind.

After wrapping up their questions, you pulled out a small business card, handing it towards Morgan. “If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to give me a call. I’ll make sure the crew knows to cooperate fully with your investigation,”

Morgan pocketed the card with a small nod. “Thanks for your help. We’ll be in touch.”

As they turned to leave, you called out, “Oh, Dr. Reid?”

Spencer froze, turning back to face you. He genuinely felt like he might explode.

“If you ever want to debate time travel paradoxes or poke holes in my logic, I’d be happy to grab a coffee sometime.”

Spencer’s brain went blank for a second, and all he managed was a stunned, “Uh, yeah! I mean—yes, that sounds great.”

With a smile, you waved them off, returning to your work.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Derek clapped Spencer on the back, laughing. “I’ve never seen you like this, man. Fanboying over a director? That’s a new one.”

Spencer gave him a sheepish grin, although not one that tries to dispel his accusation. “She’s not just a director, Morgan. She’s a genius.”

“Well, genius, genius or not, you might actually have a shot there. But let’s focus on finding this missing designer before you start planning your first date.”

Spencer chuckled, still a little dazed but ready to get back to work. He couldn’t help but feel that, no matter how this case turned out, his emotional outcome was going to be a net positive.

[iridescentis]

is it just me or is this song kind of perfect for Constance?

I think it's a really cool way of seeing her snap after spending so long catering to Ocean and trying to please her constantly, like she's finally admitting the toll that pretending and keeping up the agreeable always cheerful facade had on her and the resentment towards Ocean that came from that

And that top line? How she didn't tell Ocean about the guy in the porta potty and never intended to? It works so well and it's devastating

[doctorbunny]

MILGRAM Hallucination Booklet Translation pt.1 (Yamanaka and DECO*27 Interview)

Context: This interview was from a booklet handed out at the MILGRAM Hallucination live show on the 21st January 2024 (if you want a copy you can buy it here) This translation was made possible by the generosity of @maxpawb sharing images of his booklet with me This translation is mostly my own, but @maristelina helped me with some sections. Now without further ado:

Q.01 Introduce Yourself. I'm Takuya Yamanaka. I'm the creator/planner/screenwriter for MILGRAM. I'm DECO*27. I work as the music producer for MILGRAM. I like Hatsune Miku.

Q.02 What reactions from the guards have been the most surprising so far? Yamanaka: There are a lot of guards that were born overseas, aren't there? Even though it's created with rather Japanese sensibilities, overseas audiences didn't seem to mind at all. Though the countries and sensibilities are different than what I anticipated, votes have become more multifaceted, it's very interesting, isn't it? DECO: To forgive or not forgive the prisoners what do you do, whether it goes as you expected or the result turns out to be quite the opposite, its fascinating. Maybe your nationality affects the kind of criteria you use to make judgements? I've been thinking about something like that.

Q.03 Is there anything you didn't imagine would happen at the start of the trial? Yamanaka: I didn't write it with a large overseas audience in mind, because from the start I wasn't worrying about popularity at all, I simply didn't think I'd be watching over so many guards. Milgram was developed as a more underground project, but it's popularity is a good surprise, isn't it. DECO: There were more people who got into MILGRAM without already caring about my music than I imagined, it was surprising. I feel like MILGRAM has spread further beyond than what I thought it would. I'm very grateful!

Q.04 So far, what's made you the happiest? Yamanaka: Everything. As a creator it brings me great joy to see a work that existed in my mind, take shape and be enjoyed by so many people. Other than that, because I also love the characters I've birthed, seeing all the guards talking about them and sharing their thoughts, both positive and negative, has to be the best feeling. DECO: It makes me happy to see lots of people analysing the meanings I put in my songs! The theories get pretty close to the truth too, I think... the power of all the guards is really cool.

Q.05 So far, what has been the most challenging? Yamanaka: Because I have to change the script in accordance with the audience's decisions, I can't create the entire story in advance. Furthermore, as of the second trial, there aren't only individual character storylines, the prisoner's verdicts begin to emerge and they influence each other. That is to say, I can't start writing until after everyone's results are out. Willingly subjecting myself to doing something this unreasonable, is what I feel is difficult for me. But because DECO*27 is also going through the same hell, we're holding on to some semblance of sanity. DECO: The story changes in accordance to all the guards' choices, and the music has to be written to match. I think this is harder for Yamanaka-P, who writes the script, than it is for me... But though its tough, I feel its really worthwhile, It makes me really happy to be able to communicate with everyone through my songs!

Q.06 Do you have any regrets like "I wish I had done it differently back then!"? Yamanaka: I've thought it over quite carefully, but there's nothing in particular. I think everyone involved in the project is giving it their all and its a really passionate environment. DECO: Nope! I've been able to put all the things I've thought of into my songs.

Q.07 Which prisoners are the easiest to write dialogue/music for? Yamanaka: If I had to pick one, it'd be Fuuta. He's the type of person that's pretty easy to write because his brain never shuts up. Other than him, Yuno and Shidou are relatively academic kids in theory, so they're easy to write because they're very clear when it comes to what they want to convey. [TL note just because its funny, the idiom Yamanaka uses is lit. "There is barking in the inside [of Fuuta's] head] DECO: It went smoothly for all of them!

Q.08 Which prisoners are the most fun to write dialogue/music for? Yamanaka: Muu's lines were the very fun to write~. I'm fascinated by her approach to life and can't help but envy how fun it must be to behave like that. Yuno and Amane are my runners up. I enjoy writing the kinds of characters who plainly state their ideas and speak eloquently. DECO: Mahiru! From the start writing about the relationships between men and women has been what you might call my forte, its enjoyable to make. I feel like this is also why I find Yuno easy to write for.

Q.09 Which prisoners are the hardest to write dialogue/music for? Yamanaka: Overwhelmingly, Haruka's dialogue takes me the longest to write. I have to use the parts of my brain that I wouldn't normally use to figure out how to not just directly convey what he wants to say. DECO: None of them!

Q.10 What's your favourite combination of characters? Yamanaka: Amane and Shidou. They're on completely different wavelengths about everything, and the best part is that there's no getting around it. My second pick might go to Yuno and Muu. They don't get along at all so their fights are never just superficial squabbling. DECO: I always like the interactions between Es and the prisoners. I'm liking how over the course of the voice drama interrogations, Es seems to be gradually coming to understand the prisoner's humanity. Especially Es + Mahiru!

Q.11 Do you want to be friends with any of the prisoners? Yamanaka: Shidou and Kazui. I like the idea of being friends with professional people. I think that people who choose to go into something specialized, its clear they have a kind of resolve and that's charming, isn't it? DECO: Yuno! I feel like she'd be easy to talk to. She seems like she's used to friends who maintain a good distance from each other. [note: while 'good' here can mean a fair amount of distance, in Japanese relationships the concept of boundaries is also built into the idea of distance, so in English you might talk about someone who is a close friend but still has good boundaries, but in Japanese this is someone who has the 'right amount'/ちょうどいい of distance from you, so this could mean Yuno doesn't have any close friends or that Yuno is just a good friend because she isn't going to turn up to your house unexpectedly and eat all the food in your fridge]

Q.12 Do you want to date any of the prisoners? Yamanaka: I love all of my characters a lot, but, well... how should I say it... I don't think I would date any of them. [TL note: I had to shift the wording to be more natural in English but the Japanese Q is more like 'which prisoner would you want to be your boy/girlfriend?' curse english for not having an exact equivalent to koibito, so Yamanaka's answer is more like 'I think would break up with all of them' its a nominal difference but my friend said to mention it bc its funny] DECO: I'm sorry.

Q.13 What's your favourite line/phrase? Yamanaka:

[Scene from Muu's first voice drama Crying B, TL taken from MILGRAMMER]

Es: Judging from your facial features, are you what they call “half-Japanese”? [lit. haafu/Half] Muu: Yeah… I’m biracial. [lit. daburu/Double]

It would have to be that wouldn't it? I got goosebumps when I wrote it it. DECO:

"It's not my fault"

I think that single phrase was able to represent Muu's character really well, if I do say so myself.

Q.14 Are there any prisoners that you think its good they're in MILGRAM? Yamanaka: All of them. Without these 10 people, this Milgram would be a complete failure. DECO: Without these 10 people, MILGRAM wouldn't exist!

Q.15 Is there anything the guards aren't aware of yet? Yamanaka: Of course, there may be some minor details, but I don't think there are any major points missing. The mysteries have already disseminated, I feel the full picture will be clearly revealed if the theories and wild speculations, which have been shared around the world, come together. As expected. DECO: There are! I hope you look forward to the gimmicks I wanted to put in my songs that will come out in the third trial!

Q.16 Is there anything you haven't been able to do up to now, but you want to try doing after this? Yamanaka: I want to do a stageplay. Every performance would be a different story set in Milgram. If anyone reading this is involved with stage productions, please contact me. [I can't find it now but I swear a while ago Yamanaka tweeted something similar like "I'm interested in doing stage adaptations of Caligula Effect or MILGRAM, if anyone is involved with stage production please contact me" I hope he does it, a MILGRAM stage play would be awesome] DECO: Fortunately, I'm already doing everything I want to do! Writing the trial 3 songs couldn't be more fun.

Q.17 Represent "MILGRAM" in one word. Yamanaka: 『人』 "People" DECO: 『噓』 "Lies" [This one is both simple and interesting so as a preview I'll share how akka and DMYM answered] akka: 『幻』 "Illusions" DMYM: 『信』 "Faith"

Q.18 Give a brief comment about the future of "MILGRAM". Yamanaka: There have already been plot developments that I personally wish I didn't have to write. The guards have all chosen a very intense path. It's frightening. I've also been ready to obey these choices since the start of MILGRAM, so I think we all should enjoy this story that can only be told once together. DECO: I've already started writing the prisoner's songs. It's hell. Please prepare yourselves. Q.19 A message for the guards. Yamanaka: Thank you for always looking after the prisoners. Milgram is a work that involves the participation of everyone, including yourself. The thoughts you had, the actions you took, the joy, and resentment you felt towards this prison, all this became a part of Milgram too. I would like you all to please live healthily in your realities alongside Milgram. DECO: Thank you for your hard work as guards. Although MILGRAM is full of troublemakers, we would be grateful if you could continue to watch over us for a long time to come. We will do our best to meet your expectations.

[A link to part 2 will be posted here when its ready]

(Japanese transcript under the cut)

Q.01 自己紹介を。 山中拓也です。 ミルグラムでは企画・原作・脚本をしています。 DECO*27です。 MILGRAMのサウンドプロデューサーを務めています。 初音ミクが好きです。

Q.02 これまでの看守たちからの反応で驚いたことは？ Yamanaka: 海外にもたくさんの看守が生まれるていったことですね。とっても日本的な感性で創っているので、海外ウケとかきにしていませんでした。やはり国が違うと感性も違うものだと思うので、より多面的な投票がされて、とても面白いですね。 DECO: 囚人が赦すor 赦さないのどっちになるか、と自分で予想していたりもしたのですが、結構それが逆の結果になっていることがあって興味深ったです。もしかして国民性で判断基準が違ってくるのかな？とか考えたりしました。

Q.03 審判開始時点では思い描いていなかったことはあるか？ Yamanaka: 海外ウケ気にしたことないと書きましたが、そもそもウケ自体あまり気にしていなかったので、シンプルにこんなにたくさんの看守の方に見守っていただけるコンテンツになるとは思っていませんでした。もっと、アンダーグラウンドで展開するつもりだったんですが、嬉しい悲鳴ですね。 DECO: 想像以上にDECO*27を知らない方にもMILGRAMを観てもらえたことに驚きました。自分の思っていた以上にMILGRAMが広がったなと感じています。ありがとうございます！

Q.04 これまでで一番嬉しかったことは？ Yamanaka: 全部です。自分の脳内にしかなかった作品が、形になり、たくさんの人に楽しんでもらえること自体がクリエイターとしては大きな喜ぶです。あとはやはり僕は自分が産んだ登場人物のことが大好きなので、プラスでもマイナスでも看守の皆様が彼らについて語って、想いをぶつけてくれいることが最高に嬉しいです。 DECO: たくさんの方に自分が音楽に込めた意味考察してもらえた嬉しいです！かなり正解に近い考察もあって、看守の皆さんのパワーすごいな…と思っています。

Q.05 これまでで一番大変だったことは？ Yamanaka: ユーザーの選択によって、シナリオを変更をするので、あらかじめ制作することができないということです。しかも二審からは個人のストーリーラインだけでなく、他の囚人の結果による影響も出てくる。ということは全員の結果出てからじゃないと制作できないということです。そんな無茶を勝手に自分でやりはじめて、勝手に自分で大変な思いをしています。同じ地獄をDECO27も味わっているので、なんとか正気を保っています。 DECO: 看守の皆さんの選択に応じてストーリー変化し、それに合うように音楽を書くことです。これは僕よりもシナリオを書く山中Pのほうが大変だろうな…と思いますが…大変ではありますがとてもやりがいをかんじていますし、曲を通じて皆さんとコミュニケーションが取れていることが嬉しいです！

Q.06　「今思えばやっておけばよかった！」のような後悔はあるか？ Yamanaka: よくよく考えてみたんですが、特に無いです。制作に関わる全員がベストを尽くしてくれているとてもアツい現場だと思います。 DECO: ないです！思いついたことはすべて楽曲で出力できています。

Q.07 シナリオや音楽の制作がスムーズな囚人は？ Yamanaka: 一人あげるとすればフータでしょうか。頭の中でわんわん言ってるので、かなり書きやすいタイプです。あとはユノや、シドウあたりの比較的理論的で偏差値高めな子たちは何が伝えたいかが明確なので書きやすいです。 DECO: みんなすんなりでした！

Q.08 シナリオや音楽の制作が一番楽しい囚人は？ Yamanaka: セリフを書いていて一番楽しいのはムウですかねぇ~。こんなふうにふるまえたち人生楽しいだろうという憧れすあります。次点でユノやアマネでしょうか。思想がはっきりしてて、弁の立つタイプは書くのが楽しいです。 DECO: マヒルです！自分が元々男女間の関係性を描くのが得意ということもあって、楽しく制作しています。そういった意味ではユノも書きやすいなと感じます。

Q.09 シナリオや音楽の制作に苦労する囚人は？ Yamanaka: 圧倒的にセリフを書くのに時間がかかるのはハルカです。彼が伝えたいことを、伝わらないようにする調整に普段は使わない脳を使いま���。 DECO: いないです！

Q.10 お気に入りの組み合わせはあるか？ Yamanaka: アマネとシドウ。すべての要素が噛み合わなさすぎて、どうしようもないところが良いです。次点でユノとムウかもです。表面的なケンカにならないだけでかなり気が合わないので。 DECO: エス対囚人の絡みは須く好きです。ボイスドラマの尋問によって段々とエスが囚人の人間性を掴んでいく様が気に入っています。特にエス＋マヒル！

Q.11 囚人を友達にするなら誰か？ Yamanaka: シドウとカズイ。友達にいてほしい職業の人たちです。なにかのスペシャリストを選択する人たちというのは、何かしらの覚悟が決まっている人だと思うのでそれだけで魅力的ですね。 DECO: ユノです！話していて気楽そうだなと感じます。お互い良い距離感を保てる友達になれそう。

Q.12 囚人を恋人にするなら誰か？ Yamanaka: 僕は登場人物のことを全員最高に愛してますが、まぁ、なんというか、全員やめとこうと思います。 DECO: ごめんなさい。

Q.13 お気に入りのセルフやフレーズは？ Yamanaka: 「その顔立ち、ハーフというやつか？」「うん...…ダブル」ですね。書いてて鳥肌でした。 DECO: 「悪くないもん」 1フレーズでムウのキャラクターを上手に表現できたなと我ながら思っています。

Q.14 ミルグラムにいてくれてよかった、と思う囚人は？ Yamanaka: 全員です。この10人でなければ、このミルグラムになっていないので。 DECO: MILGRAMはこの10人がいなければ成立しません！

Q.15 看守たちにまだ感づかれていないことはあるか？ Yamanaka: もちろん、些末な部分はあるかと思いますが、大きいところだとないんじゃないですかねぇ。既に問題はバラまいたし、世界中に発信された考察や妄想を組み合わせたらきっちり全貌が明らかになる気がします。さすがです。 DECO: あります！第三審で僕が楽曲を通じてやりたかったギミックが出てくるので楽しみにしていてください！

Q.16 今できていないが、今後やってみたいことはあるか？ Yamanaka: 舞台がやりたいです。毎公演、コンセプトの異なるミルグラムで行われる舞台。舞台制作に関わる方が、読んでおられましたら是非山中まで。 DECO: 有り難いことに、やりたいことは全部やれています！第三審の曲を書くのが楽しくてしょうがないです。

Q.17 「ミルグラム」を一文字で表せ。 Yamanaka: 『人』 DECO: 『噓』

Q.18 今後の「ミルグラム」について一言。 Yamanaka: 既に僕が個人的には書かないでいたかった展開が確定しています。看守の皆さんなかなか強烈な道筋を選びました。恐ろしい。自分もその選択に従う覚悟をしてミルグラムをスタートしているので、一度きりの物語を皆さんと一緒に楽しもうと思います。 DECO: 既に楽曲を書き始めている囚人もいます。地獄です。覚悟しててください。

Q.19 看守たちへメッセージを。 Yamanaka: いつも囚人たちのことを世話してくださってありがとうございます。ミルグラムとは、参加する皆さん自身を含めてミルグラムという作品です。この監獄に対して感じた思い、起こした行動、喜び、 憤り 、それらすべてが作品の一部になります。是非ミルグラムと共にある皆さんの現実を健やかに生きてくださいませ。 DECO: いつも看守としてのお勤めご苦労さまです。曲者ばかりのMILGRAMですが、これからも末永く見守っていただけると幸いです。期待に応えられるよう、尽力してまいります。

[smahell]

i miss otaku fm with all my heart and soul and i've been patiently waiting for satoshi kada (leviathan's va) to get back into the studio, and interview everyone all over again. i miss the live drama recordings, the stupidly funny plots, the realistic slip-ups and quirks from each of the cast members. i miss a toast in hell's kitchen and genuinely learning and listening about the talents behind the game, and people's amiable messages and questions towards them in Tell Me!

honestly i'm on my knees begging for a third season where maybe he interviews the vas for thirteen, mephisto and raphael since i haven't seen/heard much from them too in terms of personal messages to fans.

satoshi kada, with his radio, acting and tv experience is such a sweet and soothing personality who brings such warmth to every single project he works on, including obey me. i just wish solmare really really recognized how impactful these podcasts were, no matter long or short, and the abilities of this main cast because goddamit..in such a time where nightbringer is being scrutinized and obey me itself is falling in popularity, absolutely none of the voice actors have forgotten or even brushed aside obey me.

"oh it's because they're working for the game, they'd get fired if they criticized it"

//NB: ik this video is sort of old but i have plenty more proof that the vas still play the game, I thought this was just the best example.//

fuck, most (if not ALL) of the vas play the game??? they get the exact same experience as you and i!! and every boys in the house clip i see them happy to be there together, praising and celebrating the game and just having fun man. it's honestly so touching.

i miss the anime episodes: the ideas shared between the vas and the writers, and every episode seven with the va's analysing their performances and characters makes me laugh till my stomach hurts. you *should* consider how entertaining the anime is; it's obviously rather low budget but you can really tell ( even though this wasn't the obey me universe we know and love) it still kept people on their feet and entertained me like some twisted ao3 crackfic istg. you can tell that the anime was made with fans in mind, and that's where the writers for it really flourished. to this day I still see people talking and sharing screenshots from it..

basically.. let's try not focus on the fact that "obey me is getting worse", let's all look to a future and try and be positive about things, yeah? because behind this silly little demon dating sim are talented writers, artists, coders, ambassadors and fans that have kept the game alive for 5+ years.

i wish obm does flourish more in the future, and the devs focus on creating a game(s) and content that inspire, enlighten and make everyone smile.

please, as a ty, take my silly photos of my favs. I must spread the word..

[2500ji]

alright, that’s it.

i’m sick of seeing hate against people who don’t read the project sekai stories. this fandom has a lot of problems and this collective hatred of anyone who doesn’t dedicate hours upon hours to read the stories is one of them.

first of all, the event stories are fucking long.

each episode can be anywhere from 15-30 minutes if read as the game intends (with auto on). multiply this by 8, and you’re talking possibly 2-4 hours PER EVENT. this doesn’t even account for mixed events, which have 2 extra episodes.

not to mention, there are 137 events on the japanese server (and 101 on the english server) at the time i am writing this. 3 hours average times 137 events equals a total of 411 hours. that is 2 and a half weeks of solid content. to say that’s daunting for people who started playing the game any sizable amount of time since its release is a massive understatement.

not to mention, the events, if viewed in-game, take a massive amount of storage space. not everyone’s device can handle the insane amount of space needed for this game’s events (even moreso if you plan to listen to the voices)

not everyone plays the game for the events, and they’re NOT needed to enjoy the characters.

i get it. if someone who hasn’t read the events is trying to have in-depth analyses of the characters or the groups, they’re bound to mischaracterize. the thing is, nobody’s really doing that.

not everyone downloaded the game because they wanted to read 400 hours of stories. yes, they are a fundamental part of the game. i’m not trying to deny that. however, so is the rhythm game. i don’t see any hate towards people who hardly touch the shows. because they’re not for everyone.

you should be able to talk about, write fics for, and roleplay as the characters without needing to read the stories. yes, people may mischaracterize. but reading the stories doesn’t make you exempt to that either. i’ve read fics from people who read every story for the group the fics were about that still managed to get so much wrong.

the events can be serious triggers.

i’m a HUGE niigo fan. i buy nightcord merchandise, i’ve played almost all their songs, and i love the characters. i have not read a single solely-niigo event. you know why? because they are extremely triggering for me — the most blatant example being the most recent event on ensekai; “farewell, my mask.”

project sekai’s stories are beautiful. but if one’s writing is always light-hearted, it will not touch people as dearly. (i mean, for christ’s sake, No Seek No Find revolves around this exact statement.)

and project sekai is no exception — their stories unapologetically dive into extremely heavy topics, including but not limited to emotional abuse, grief/loss, and being hospitalized. reading the nightcord stories as people have tried to genuinely harass me into doing would result in some extremely bad feelings.

and i’m not the only one — many people i know, some who have even reblogged and expressed agreement with posts hating on those who don’t read the stories, have shared my sentiment. you cannot insist people read the stories like i’ve seen many people do, because you have no clue what might trigger someone.

what should we do, then?

first of all, build up some tolerance. not everyone is going to read the stories, and some people may mischaracterize the characters. did someone make a character analysis that ignored a big aspect of a character? scroll past the post. did someone write a fic making a character say and do things they usually wouldn’t? hit the backspace button.

second of all, try to be open-minded to the opinions of people who haven’t read the stories. maybe they get their content through the commission song lyrics, or maybe they diligently read the area conversations. or maybe they don’t! maybe they just want to talk about their fave.

if someone’s misinterpretation is genuinely harmful or bigoted, call out the harm and bigotry. that person who called ena an abusive sister despite akito acting similarly? call out the misogyny. this goes for any harmful interpretation of a character or group.

and finally, try to have some fun. this is a game. we’re all fans. if you do nothing but perpetuate hatred, nobody’s gonna wanna play toys with you.

[tubbypeddle]

Hi again!! I loved the matchup thank youu!! Now I'm wondering though if you maybe have any headcanons for what the part 5 characters (Bucci Gang and/or La Squadra 🤭) would be like with an autistic s/o 👀?

Hi again!! and how cutteeeeee <33 I'm autistic myself, so honestly i'm just projecting here how i want them to treat me teehee

(author's notes: credits to gif owners, of course <3

Without further ado, hhehehehe

Bruno Bucciarati

He doesn't always understand why you do the things you do, but he always always makes an effort to be patient.

He'll eat the food you can't, he'll listen to you ramble and ramble and show genuine interest. He's basically the perfect partner.

Sometimes, when he's out running errands and finds something related to what you're hyperfixated on, he'll get it for you if he has the cash.

When he's making food for you, he's careful to make only food that you'll enjoy eating. Many chicken nugget and mac and cheese dinners.

He's a little firmer with you than he is with the rest of the team, when it comes to you getting hurt. It's because he worries more for you than he does about everyone else. Not only are you his partner, but he feels responsible for your safety. If something happens to you, it's because of him.

Leone Abbacchio

Honestly, he might make you feel a bit bad at first, but it's not on purpose. He doesn't know what autism is, or how to handle people who have it.

But he learns to. Because he feels bad when Bucciarati tells him that he made you feel awful.

So he goes out of his way to research how autistic people feel, why they act the way they do.

Because of his (kinda outdated) research, interactions with him might feel so so scripted. He means well, though.

When you're feeling overstimulated and like every little touch could set your bones on fire, he's happy to just sit in silence with you. As a silent reassurance that he's still here for you. Or even if you want space alone, he'll let you know that his door is unlocked for you, if you want to come to him later.

You're his favorite person, he wants you to know that he's here for you.

Giorno Giovanna

He's autistic himself, even if he doesn't know it.

So he understands you a lot better than everyone else will.

He lets you talk whenever he's available for you, and he often makes time for you in his schedule too. He does a great job making you feel special to him.

Often times, the two of you will sit in relative silence, just existing in each other's presence. But sometimes, when he feels especially jittery, the two of you will infodump on each other about your special interests. He just rambles on and on about the Mafia and what he plans to do with it, and then he'll listen to you ramble about whatever it is you're interested in.

He has a bad habit of eating foods that he doesn't like the texture of, leading to him shutting down or feeling gross afterwards. Mostly because in his childhood, it's either he ate what his house had or he starved, autism be fucked.

It's something you slowly nudge him out of, with much stubbornness on his end. Internalized ableism is so fun, huh. /s

Pannacotta Fugo

He definitely already knows he's autistic himself, so he often does things for you that he himself would enjoy happening to him.

He gets you gifts for your special interests, or he'll research your special interest so he can talk about them with you.

He's very anxious all the time, scared he might hurt you or do something to hurt your feelings. You might have to reassure him very often that you're not scared of him.

His favorite thing to do with you is read together. Like a little book club with just the two of you. Or even writing little essays about things you like so you can read his thoughts and analyses on them. Or drawing with you, even if he's really bad at it. Art composition was his worst subject when he was in school, after all.

He didn't have any hyperfixations before he met you. Which was a little boring for him, even if he spent most of his time trying to survive the mafia anyway. But after meeting you, you became his favorite person. And then you become his new hyperfixation, and you're all he can think about ever.

It's very infuriating for him sometimes. (in the good way)

Narancia Ghirga

Another case of "doesn't know he's autistic".

He's the loud kind of autistic. Socially unaware, but emotionally available to everyone. It's no surprise that he feels himself drawn to you.

He'll talk if you don't want to, he'll eat everything you don't want to (even if he doesn't like it). He just really wants you to like him.

He absolutely lets you indoctrinate him into your special interests. He likes whatever you like, and more! He might accidentally talk over you, just because he's so excited to finally have someone to talk about his interests with.

He means well, though.

Absolute cuddler, all the time. So if you're not that big on physical touch, he'll find another way to cuddle you. He'll put a big body pillow between the two of you and hug that instead, just so he can still be next to you and still hold onto something like that.

Never say that Narancia doesn't have his moments.

Guido Mista

He's very open-minded most of the time, so he handles you being autistic very well.

He handles all of you little "quirks", as he calls it, very well, too. His mentality is "if you don't like it, you don't like, and if you like it, great."

So if you don't want to eat something because of texture issues, that's fine, he'll take it. You don't want to hear something because it feels like glass on your skin, he'll turn on something else.

It really is that simple to him.

He just wants for you to be happy, and if anyone gives you trouble for something that you can't help, he'll shoot them. Easy as that.

[scoobydoodean]

Hi! I just wanted to start off by saying that your analyses on the characters are awesome and they really helped further my understanding of the show, so keep up the good work! :D

I was wondering, if you don't mind answering, what did you think of about Dean giving permission for Gadreel/Ezekiel to possess Sam in season 9?

I'm still a bit on the fence about how to feel about it and I thought your particular brand of wisdom might be able to help me out.

Dean had just a few pieces of information at the hospital in 9.01.

Dean knew that Sam had every intention of surviving The Trials in 8.14 and in fact Sam promised he would survive them and show Dean to the light at the end of the tunnel, because Dean was suicidal: "I'm closing the gates. It's a suicide mission for you. [...] I want to slam hell shut, too, okay? But I want to survive it. I want to live, and so should you. You have friends up here, family. I mean, hell, you even got your own room now. You were right, okay? I see light at the end of this tunnel. And I'm sorry you don't – I am. But it's there. And if you come with me, I can take you to it."

Dean observed that Sam became suicidal over the course of The Trials and that this culminated in Sam forsaking his promise and his desire to live and falling into a tailspin where he wanted to die to make himself "pure". Disturbing dialogue from 8.21: "Knights of the Round Table. Had all of King Arthur's knights, and they were all on the quest for the Holy Grail. And I remember looking at this picture of Sir Galahad, and, and, and he was kneeling, and— and light streaming over his face, and— I remember... thinking, uh, I could never go on a quest like that. Because I'm not clean. I mean, I w— I was just a little kid. You think... maybe I knew? I mean, deep down, that— I had... demon blood in me, and about the evil of it, and that I'm— wasn't pure? [...] It doesn't matter anymore. Because these trials... they're purifying me."

Dean pleaded with Sam not to kill himself in 8.23, and Sam agreed, asking, "How do I stop?"

These are the details Dean has prior to Sam falling into a coma. He believes that his brother wanted to commit suicide, but that he did change his mind and decide he wants to live.

Two other notable details:

First, Gadreel earns Dean's trust quickly by risking his ass to help Dean, and then on the phone (after being given the fake name "Ezekiel") Cas, relieved and pleased, vouches for Ezekiel. So Dean has no reason to suspect anything nefarious (and in fact, at this point, Gadreel doesn't have particularly nefarious intentions besides staying in hiding away from other angels).

Second, Dean is not the one who pleads with Sam to live in the dream sequence, getting him to say "Yes". It can't be Dean, because 1) "Dean's" face morphs into Gadreels which is clearly intended to indicate to us that this wasn't Dean speaking 2) If Gadreel was somehow projecting the real Dean into the conversation to give that speech, then Gadreel wouldn't be the one receiving the consent. It would truly be Dean receiving it and not just Gadreel pretending. Those words HAVE to come from Gadreel's mouth for the possession to work—not Dean's. We've seen angels morph into loved ones and mimic their voices perfectly several times.

With all that in mind:

After Gadreel pitches his plan to possess Sam, Dean immediately says it isn't his call to make—it's Sam's. It's after Gadreel shows him Sam falling back into the same suicidality from 8.23—wanting to die so that "no one else can get hurt because of me"—that Dean wavers. Still—at the end of the day, whether Sam agrees to live or not was never Dean's choice, and this is something I often see people get mixed up about. Dean doesn't get to choose whether Sam dies or not. It is still Sam who chooses to live. Sam does this by saying "Yes" to Gadreel. This could not have happened if Sam hadn't changed his mind about living. He doesn't know he's going to be possessed, but he has once again beaten back his suicidality and chosen to live. Sam still had hope in a good future.

Sam chose to live. He did not know he was going to be possessed. That's the issue. However, Dean did not intend to keep Gadreel's possession from Sam after it happened. Dean and Gadreel have this conversation upon leaving the hospital:

DEAN So? How's it look in there? EZEKIEL IN SAM’S BODY Not good. There is much work to be done. DEAN Yeah, but he's gonna wake up, right? EZEKIEL IN SAM’S BODY He will. DEAN So, what he does – what, is he gonna feel you inside, triaging his spleen? EZEKIEL IN SAM’S BODY He will not feel me, no. There is no reason for Sam to know I'm in here at all. DEAN You're joking. No, this is – this is too big. EZEKIEL IN SAM’S BODY And what will he do if you do tell him he is possessed by an angel? DEAN Well, he'll have to understand.

This conversation suggests that Dean's initial thought process was "We perform supernatural life-saving surgery". He just wanted to get Sam to a point where he'd wake up and they could talk. Like any situation with a relative in a coma, that person in a coma can't consent to surgery. The next of kin is the one who gives consent, because their loved one can't. They can only consent to a procedure if awake to do so. So Dean doesn't stop Gadreel from performing life saving surgery, but his intial belief and intent is that they'll put all of this back in Sam's hands when he's awake.

Up to this point, I don't actually have a problem with what Dean's done based on his knowledge. It's here at the end of the episode, where Gadreel convinces Dean to depart from his intial intent and stall, that in my opinion, the "Dean doing something wrong" part starts:

EZEKIEL IN SAM’S BODY And if he does not? Without his acceptance, Sam can eject me at any time, especially with me so weak. And if Sam does eject me, he will die. DEAN Then we keep it a secret for now. Or until Sam's well enough that he doesn't need an angelic pacemaker or I find a way to tell him. I - I... As for him being in a hospital, I'll have to figure something out. EZEKIEL IN SAM’S BODY I can erase it all, if you like. He will not remember any of this.

Dean doesn't feel good about it, but he agrees to keep quiet, because he's scared Sam will yet again make a suicidal play. Dean is riddled with guilt in the following episodes over lying to Sam, and in 9.08, Dean tries to tell Sam he's possessed, but Gadreel takes over Sam's body and stops him. Dean comes clean again in 9.09, only for Gadreel to stop Sam from receiving the news again.

So. Dean's mistake is lying to Sam. He shouldn't have lied to him. Point blank. At the same time, had Dean pushed the issue, would Gadreel have been willing to be expelled? Would he ever have allowed Dean to tell Sam the truth, from the moment he was... installed? Or was Dean screwed from the beginning, and was the idea that he got to choose any of this—any bit of it—really just... an illusion to keep Dean compliant with the possession that was keeping Gadreel under the radar?

Think about it for a second. Why did Gadreel ask Dean's permission? He didn't ever need Dean's permission to do any of this. He didn't need Dean's permission to trick Sam. He didn't need Dean's permission to remove Sam's memory of the hospital. He didn't need Dean's permission to keep the fact that he was possessing Sam a secret. He could have done every bit of this without asking. The problem was, Dean probably would have caught onto the disappearing angel act, and Gadreel would have had to get violent, and for the first part of season 9, Gadreel doesn't want to get violent! He just wants a place to lay low, and sees an opportunity to prove he's a good angel who helps humans—not just the angel who let the serpent into the garden. Getting Dean's "consent" might ease his own conscience about nonconsensual possession or be a way to keep Dean compliant or both, but ultimately, these are more questions worth weighing imo, because Supernatural loves to toy with the illusion that Dean has power in situations where he doesn’t, and in this case, he doesn't... actually have any power at all... does he?

That said, when it comes right down to it, Dean still did something wrong by helping keep the secret—by not trying to tell Sam the truth immediately because he was scared. And well. Okay. So what?

This is a show with characters who have good intentions but still make mistakes. As Cas will say about this later, "You were stupid for the right reasons". We get some great insights into the pitfalls that lead Dean down this path, and it's interesting to watch that happen and then later, see a broken mirror as Sam endeavors to prove through season 10 what Dean is willing to do can't touch what Sam is ultimately willing to do to keep Dean around.

Here's the thing—I don't believe for a single second that Sam wouldn't do the exact same thing in 9.01 had their positions been reversed. Sam and Dean have a conversation along these lines at the end of 9.13 "The Purge":

DEAN All right, you want to be honest? If the situation were reversed and I was dying, you'd do the same thing. SAM No, Dean. I wouldn't. Same circumstances...I wouldn't. 

This genuinely wounds Dean and gets brought up a few times, but then in 9.23 when it's brought up for the last time in another context:

DEAN What happened with you being okay with this? SAM I lied.

Sam never gets the chance to do the exact same thing to Dean, but he has already gone behind Dean's back to try and save his life before. He's used Dean's death to justify doing things Dean begged him not to do on his behalf. He kept the case they were actually on under wraps as he inched toward a plan to turn himself and Dean into Frankenstein's monsters in 3.15 (and really the only reason it didn't work is that Sam got captured by Doc Benton and Dean had to save his ass, and then Sam morosely helped dig the grave). Sam went behind Dean's back directly against his wishes to threaten a crossroad's demon in 3.05. In season 10, he violates Dean's consent by removing the Mark of Cain from Dean's arm using the Book of the Damned, which not only requires an overt human sacrifice of Oskar and gets a woman named Suzie killed in "The Werther Project" because Sam refuses to heed her warnings, but also results in the apocalypse... and all of this was something Dean asked Sam not to do, and Sam did every bit of it to get his brother back, and while standing in the wreckage in 11.01, echoed Dean's line from 9.13, saying, "I would do it again". Dean signed the supernatural possession next-of-kin consent form, and the fallout was Kevin and Sam. Sam violated Dean's consent and tens of thousands of people died and he said he'd do it again while they died around him.

[cool-fancier]

Cherries of Mystery

Synopsis: Fans were left in a state of speculation as you and Bada subtly hinted to your relationship on Instagram with cryptic cherry-themed posts. You two took joy in the anticipation as fans analysed every aspect, knowing that the cherry symbols meant for your humble and wonderful love for one another.

Even the slightest actions can excite fans in the world of social media and K-pop idols. Keeping your relationship a secret had become somewhat of an art form for you, a famous K-pop idol, and Bada, her equally famous choreographer and secret girlfriend.

You made the choice to have some fun one nice afternoon by subtly hinting at their relationship on Instagram. You uploaded a picture of yourself with a sneaky, amusing grin on your lips and said, "Lips taste like cherry." You and Bada were making a small inside joke, so it was meant to be mysterious.

Bada, who was aware of the situation, couldn't help but chuckle when she read your post. She made the decision to join in and start her own rumour. Bada took a photo of herself with a cherry-flavored lip balm, the brightly coloured container shining in the dim light. With the caption "Trying out some new lip products today! 🍒💄  #CherryKiss #NewFavorites," she posted the photo to Instagram.

Fans started making connections in only a few minutes. Comments began to flood in on both of their posts.

@Y/NLoveNotes:"Did anyone else notice that they both posted something about cherries today? 👀"

@BadaDanceLovers: "I smell a conspiracy here! 🕵️‍♀️"

@DancingLovebirds: "OMG, my shipper heart can't take this. Are they trying to tell us something?"

@BadaxY/NAdmirers:"I'm convinced there's more to this cherry story! spill the tea, queens!"

As fans examined every aspect of the posts in an effort to figure out the secret message, the interest and excitement reached an all-time high. Even if it was vague, the cherry symbolism was enough to spark their imaginations. It was a clever method for you and Bada to tease fans without drawing attention to your relationship.

The cherry-themed mystery held fans attention throughout the day on social media pages. They investigated Bada's and your posts more and more, getting more and more engrossed in the puzzle.

@BadaEnthusiasts:"Okay, hear me out. What if 'lips taste like cherry' means they've been kissing? 👄🍒"

@BadaSecretAdmirers:"I see you with that theory, but what about Bada's lip balm pic? Is she hinting that she tasted cherries too?"

@Y/NMagicFans:"This is like a K-pop Da Vinci Code. I'm invested!"

You and Bada, meantime, found the fan theories and the amount of attention their posts were getting to be very amusing. You had a nice laugh over the situation in a private.

You: "Babe, it seems like they've onto us. The cherry game is strong."

"Haha, we're turning into quite the mystery queens," said Bada.

You: "But seriously, I really like how they're enjoying themselves. And they have no idea how much fun we're having too!"

Bada: "Our secret is safe, and they're none the wiser."

The mystery behind your and Bada's cherry-themed social media posts only grew as the days went by. Fans couldn't resist acting as amateur investigators in an effort to unravel the meaning of these cryptic messages.

@Badaismine:"Okay, guys, new theory! What if they're just messing with us? Maybe there's no hidden meaning at all!"

@Y/Nwife:"But why the sudden cherry obsession? There's gotta be something more."

@Bada_isY/nwife:"I heard they're working on a new project together. Maybe it's related?"

The speculation ranged from the plausible to the utterly fantastical, and you and Bada couldn't help but smile at the frenzy you had unintentionally created.

You say, "Babe, our cherry posts are the talk of the town!"

Bada: "I find it unbelievable that they are still trying to solve it. It's just too much fun."

You: "Should we drop a hint for them? Or do we let them keep guessing?"

Bada: "Let's keep the mystery alive a bit longer. We'll watch to see how inventive they can be."

And so, the cherry-themed mystery continued to swirl in the K-pop fandom. Every aspect of your and Bada's posts relating to cherries was argued, theorised about, and examined by fans. Was it a humorous tease, a sign of their secret love, or just a joke between them?

The cherry saga was not resolved as the weeks passed. The real significance of those cherry posts may never be revealed to the public, but Bada and You understood that they stood for your love, which was sweet and unassuming like the cherries yourself. That was ultimately all that mattered to you both.

[mrs-monaghan]

Hello Shaz

I would love to hear your opinion on 3D and all the talk around it

My thoughts on the talk around it is; "wow, well this is a load of garbage" (no offence to any friends I may have who don't like the song I just disagree that its a terrible song)

Alright. 3D. Let's talk. My thoughts. First, what's with the fucking homeless trousers??

I hate rich people 😭😭😭😭 if I wear this people will wonder why I didn't go back home to change after I fell in mud 😪

Anyhu, before i even say a thing. We should probably all try to remember that JK said this

(Thanks @chicknbunny13)

Yeah sure, even if he doesn't write a song, he may resonate with it. But not everything he does is a reflection of his actual life. This one, is for the Jikook antis btw. This is why my anons are still off. People, I dont have the energy for antis rn. JK sang 'girl' so what? This topic is super old and tired and consider it officially retired from this blog. I'm sooooo over it 🥱����🥱🥱

Now that we have that out of the way let's tackle the fact that our JK is a grown, grown adult. I don't need to bring back the live where he told people he's an adult and he is almost 30 and he will do what he wants to do. And if he wants to sing about this, that's exactly what he will sing about.

Oh my,

Even Jimin knows all about it

Tweet

BAHAHAAHAHAHA!!!

Let is be known i am choosing to take that sentence literally. I think JK just means him, the girl, with champagne and confetti. I really don't think it means anything else here. But, seeing as this is another sex song, I won't put it past him.

Anyone else notice a recurring theme here?

Okay then. 😳

Also shout out to this random kid with the horse

I can't be the only one who has no clue what his point was 😂😂😂

While we are on the champagne topic,

I mean....

Make no mistake, SEVEN and 3D are singing about the same thing. If SEVEN was in your face, 3D is subtle. But they are both just talking about sex here. Which is why it doesn't make sense to me why people are so upset??? As a person who likes Harlow and has heard his songs before, this did not shock me one bit. There is nothing wrong with this song. It is meaningless and shallow but guess what, thats the type of music the GP is listening to rn. I understand why Asians have an issue with this line

And I can respect that. I don't have to understand it, but if Asians say its offensive, then its offensive. In which case I think that's just ignorance on Harlow's part. The people behind the song and JK himself are not going to okay something degrading. So it is of my opinion that people are reading too much, way too much into something that aint even meant to be deep.

It's a song, about sex. The only thing deep about it, is the holes that will be getting penetrated.

This song doesn't require to be analysed. Okay, maybe when trying to decipher the analogies being used but that's it. JK has one agenda and one agenda only; release music that the general public will devour, get his name out there and be a huge pop star. And it is working.

Cue Boracity's new video about each member and who their target audience are for each solo project

JK did not write these songs. If he did I'm sure they would have more meaning. But that's not what he's aiming for rn. Right now the man just wants to put out something that he knows will sell. Wants to put out something that will be a hit. And 3D is exactly that. Just like SEVEN. Mans was asked for the meaning of the song and by his answer, I'm not sure even he knows.

What??

Did anyone understand that???? If you did, break it down for me coz I did NOT understand that 😂😂

This song has no meaning. Its shallow, catchy, easy to remember and move to. Enough with trying to complicate shit! It ain't that deep. Period.

JK cared more about the choreo.

While Jack is calling himself a whore for wanting 4 women, JK is busy dancing throughout. So I will listen to JK and enjoy the song and choreo. Because there is nothing in the lyrics and there was never intended to be.

Idk why y'all mad when we stan a consent king:

Personally I dont have time to be angry because 1) i see no reason to be, and 2) i am too busy admiring JK's body proportions 🤤🤤

Damn, Jimin's man is hot!!!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[monstersandmaw]

First time romancing Astarion, and I'm all aboard the ace-spec interpretation of Astarion that I've seen floating around. As someone who's ace, I definitely resonated with him in this scene anyway. That hug reaction from Astarion. Oof.

And the fact that if you also romance Halsin, one of the dialogue options Astarion can give you is to say something like: 'it's not because... we haven't... in a while... is it?'... My heart cracked painfully at that, I'm not going to lie. I have spoken almost exactly that sentence before, worrying that just kissing and physical affection is not enough for someone who's not ace. To have that validated by Astarion was really special for me.

(aka, I really didn't get to know Astarion very well in my first playthrough because he didn't approve of my absolute doormat of a Tav (Kaerlyn the drow) and I didn't spend much time with him, but now with my sassy monk...? I get it. I totally get why you all love Astarion so much).

EDIT: additional dialogue from Raphael talking about Cazador indicates that it might be linked to vampirism (my own headcanon for vampires anyway is they can't get aroused without having fed recently, not just BG3 vamps, but in general)

[some poly-ace-astarion thoughts under the cut too]

I'm not 100% convinced that Astarion is really ok with the consensual poly situation in-game, because he famously doesn't say what he actually wants and is the king of manipulating others, especially in sexual situations (e.g. what Cazador sent him out to do, and how). I'm not sure if I'll reload a save and just have Halsin as a friend...

The dialogue when you check in with Astarion before the Halsin scene is... strained? Odd??? Maybe it's just me over-analysing it. He sounded strained though - his tone high pitched and more grandiose than he'd been in previous cut-scenes, where he was more softly-spoken. It sounded more like early-game Astarion to me...

Also, my dialogue options may have been totally randomised the next time I approached Astarion after a steamy night with Halsin, but they sounded kind of strained there too, and I got the 'I can never say no to you' one, which set my ace people-pleaser alarm bells ringing...

As someone who's poly-romantic but asexual, I can project/imagine here that Astarion has come to care for Tav a lot (more than he ever expected, for sure), and he genuinely wants Tav to be happy. He trusts Tav enough to know that Tav respects his autonomy and right to decide things for himself, and values Astarion for who he is, so Astarion is intellectually/conceptually happy for Tav to get something from Halsin that Astarion is not providing (sex), but perhaps emotionally that additional fact and dynamic is harder to deal with.

That could totally be me projecting though, because that's how I'd react if my husband (not ace) and I (ace) were in that situation (we've discussed it between us, actually XD). Feelings of guilt and inadequacy around sex itself are apparently very common with us ace folks, even in very healthy and happy relationships.

Anyway, that turned into a ramble I didn't intend on a rainy Sunday afternoon. I'm not looking to start any discourse about this though. If you don't see Astarion that way, or had a different experience and interpretation, that's all totally valid and I'm not trying to invalidate it in anyway.

[thequeenofsarcaasm]

I love talking about Geto because he’s the type of character that has so much discourse around his nature that it makes him even more interesting. It just makes you want to analyse and dissect him to know what he really is.

Some people see him as pure evil that just needed an opportunity to reveal itself as such, while others see him as a complete and total victim who sunk into darkness because Gojo “failed” him. Then you have those who see he’s a fully grey character whose story is one of exploitation (even after his death).

When you leave that side of the conversation and dive into another subject you have those who project hypermasculine traits on him because that’s probably what they’re attracted to in real life, those who see him as woman lite and those who understand that it’s a little bit more complicated than that. Though Gege uses several tropes and traits that are usually associated with female characters or femininity in general (which is such an interesting thing to do to be honest. It adds so much flavour to the character and solidifies his partnership with Gojo who’s supposed to be the pinnacle of masculinity but also does it in a way that is truly HIS), he remains a full fledged male character the author has worked really hard on in a way that makes him not a plot device at all. That’s a privilege he certainly got cause he’s a male character tbh. Not everyone had that chance (ahem). Anyways. What was I talking about? I think it’s brilliant that Gege added such great nuance to his back story, the way he presents, the way he expresses himself and his masculinity (Not one dimensional, soft even, despite being a very powerful man), the way he loves and hates, the themes and motif he represents, that he can be analysed in so many ways. Everything about him gives fluidity (funny for someone who sees the world in black and white).

Maybe he’s a little bit too human.

[intoapuddle]

Tell us your dnp opinions 🎤

Am I boring if I say I don't feel like I've seen enough of them to have a fully formed opinion? The honest truth would be something like that, but I do have stray ideas and concepts. Don't take this as me not watching though. I watch everything they post, every video, every tweet, every ig story, the works (even if I'm not as active on here as I've been in the past). They just aren't giving us a lot recently. And in the small things they have given us, they haven't really told us their plans.

BUT if there's one thing about phannies it's that we are LOOKING, we are analysing, and we are relentless LMAO. So despite not having a lot to go on, after thinking for a bit I've come up with a theory:

Ever since covid hit, Dan and Phil have been *waiting*. Waiting to be able to perform again, waiting to move house, and now waiting for the house to be fully finished. Not that they haven't done things, but I honestly think this is one of the reasons for why they've delayed some youtube things? This could be just a shot in the dark but I feel like I can see this pretty clearly as being "a thing". Having things need to get done at home and being around workers a lot I think honestly affects their youtube stuff, and as we already know about them they love to wait until "the time is right". Which, obviously, is for better or for worse sometimes.

I think they want to do a joint project together again when they feel they can, and I think it's gonna be sooo much fun (like everything they do together is!!). I don't know if it's going to be a podcast, or a video series, or gaming channel/talky youtube videos or anything, but I do have this inkling that Phil is giving us tiny hints. And we know they love to give us tiny hints.

I think Dan's projects, the book and the tour, were because he's been so tired of waiting. He's told us as much, just maybe not in exactly those words. And Phil has done what he always does: going along for the ride and trying to keep his youtube channel alive through the means he has under the circumstances he's in (illness, anxiety, big move).

So in conclusion, my opinion is I think things are on the horizon for the lads and we aren't all just here for nothing. Something will happen! And that's gonna be great!! \o/ xoxo dapg delulu lifer since 2018

[baskeigh-ball]

Ahhh, sorry minor thing (has to do with your body swap comic) just thinking about the Mikey sensory overload bit. I saw this thread on it talking about his sensory issues and it hasn't left my mind since. It basically was a bunch of clips showcasing those issues in the show so seeing it in a comic is such a woah moment. Basically I was just curious on your thoughts on it.

yooo there's a whole thread about it? i haven't seen that but now i really want to omg if anybody has the link or something lmk

ok anyways rant under the cut lets go

I have a Few Thoughts about the bros and their neurodivergencies, both the ones headcanoned by fans and the ones actually confirmed

And these are the two main confirmed ones from the writer/producer of the show! Donnie's was a given just by observing how he's characterized in the show, and Mikey's became obvious once you recognize how hyper and impulsive he can be sometimes.

That one scene in Donnie's Gifts perfectly encapsulates how his brain works for me, where he forgot to mention a famous chef turned into a pig mutant live on television because he wanted to make sure the food he was making at the time turned out right and literally just forgot about the whole ordeal right after lmao

I'll be honest, a lot of the characteristics of ADHD he exhibits for me are mostly personal headcanons since I never took much notice of how his actions in the show can be recontextualized with the knowledge he's neurodivergent, but the one thing I DID notice is how often he goes into his shell.

Obviously it's a box turtle thing, his species is more inclined to hide in their shell since the carapace can actually close fully, making it a viable survival tactic. And with ADHD, I imagine any kind of unpleasant sensation or a sensory overload would trigger this escape mechanism, since being in his shell is equated with safety and control for him. It keeps the Bad Vibes out and lets him recenter himself

As for what would cause a sensory overload for him I have no clue, maybe it wouldn't be anything specific and I don't want to just project my own sensory issues onto him so I shall leave that open ended for now.

Though I do imagine food would be a big thing for him. It seems like one of his bigger special interests, so I'd find it to be an interesting dilemma for him to have a limited palate despite his interest in cooking. He would definitely make it a personal mission to experiment and try as many things as possible just for the chance to find new stuff he finds enjoyable, but in the process end up finding out a bunch of other foods are practically inedible for him.

If anyone has other thoughts on this feel free to add them, I love these kinds of discussions on character analyses and trying to see how their neurodivergencies are portrayed within the context of the show :]

[chaifootsteps]

Armchair Psychology Anon here (not a real psych just see patterns)

I've been lurking around in that Discord server and just read the ask about how Stolas is Viv. How she pays a lot of money to see Broadway stars then keeps getting closer and closer to them. How she wants to take them away and talk to them about "her books" (her ideas and projects)

Perhaps Stolas as a child is actually her most vulnerable thoughts and feelings about herself. A lonely, sad rich kid who didn't have many or any, true friends outside of her relatives.

That... that might be true. Even if Viv is writing that subconsciously, what does Stolas say to keep Blitz around the first time?

"The one who wants me, is my first ever friend!"

Remember how I speculated that Viv is incapable of maintaining real friendships with people? That she has to lovebomb them over and over until she doesn't have to keep trying anymore?

It's actually really sad the deeper you dig into the shows psyche.

I've also been watching more interviews with Brandon, and Blitz is basically Brandon. (Seeing Stars literally just confirms Blitz is an impsona of himself). He also says "Imps are the lowest of the low but he's really trying to make something out of himself." Which Brandon said he relates to a lot (See his Class Acts poster).

Brandon also looks a lot happier at this anime con they're at right now because... could it be because Vivs not around?

If Stolas is Viv's self insert (especially since she goes out of her way to like tweets saying Blitz is the one who could've stopped at any time, and Stolas is the victim), and there's jokes about her having dick envy, as well as her blatant fetishisizing of gay male relationships...

Chai, I really think Blitz x Stolas is her way of Brandon x Viv.

It's possible she also sees herself as Ozzie, and guess who plays Fizz? As well as Adam, and Pen?

(Less evidence for that, but Ozzie is also rich and powerful).

I know she knows Brandon is gay. Obviously. But... she created a rich, sad, powerful male character to be hopelessly in love with someone who clearly is uncomfortable with him. And they obivously butted heads about it. Brandon certainly seemed uncomfortable at the anime panel where she was saying, "They'd make a cute couple..."

And maybe she's not attracted to Brandon necessarily, but obviously maybe wants to be a man in a gay relationship. But she is transphobic of transmen, so she'll never become what she hates.

I dunno Chai, it just keeps getting weirder and weirder the deeper you go....

I also think the lovebombing of Blake as of late is really creepy too. Especially the "cum" comment.

It feels like a grooming tactic. Older adults saying and slipping little "jokes" here and there to make the victim used to it... not mention the song is about "choking and dying of poison" at the hands of Angel's abusive rapist pimp.

Viv... she's very troubled. I feel very bad for Blake and Brandon as of late.

Michael and Ashley and others really dodged a bullet. Goose seems to be keeping Viv at a distance as well. I'm sure Goose knows everything M&A went through and it's a delicate situation for sure.

Armchair Psychology Anon, know that I'd happily watch a 12 hour, muti-part series centered around your Viv analyses. I really would.

[neerons]

Hey, how are you?? I hope you are doing great. I love all of your masquerade kiss posts and everything else you write because you put so much effort into them. You explain the MK characters in such a deep, fascinating way that it's admirable, and I kinda miss your analysis, lol. I have a question, tho if you are interested and free to answer. What is one thing you personally hate and love about the MK mc and the LI all 4 of them and if their is anything you would like to change about the game??. Like any route incident or character trait?? I believe their is a lot to say where MK is heading personally for the characters, both good and bad, tbh I would love to know your answer. Anyways, take care and have a great day ❤️

Hey ❤️ I’m doing alright even though I’ve been sick since yesterday, thank you for asking! I hope you’re doing good as well

Thank you for these thoughtful words. You always make my days whenever you say such nice things 🥹 I’m glad if my analyses are appreciated or helpful, I try to be as faithful to the representation of the title as I can while I give my own thoughts. Telling me I do it well and in a fascinating way means so much to me, thank you again ❤️

Things I love and hate about the Masquerade Kiss characters? Anything I’d like to change about the game?

To answer your question, there are many things I love about the characters and nothing I hate, or particularly dislike. Hatred would be a big word to use and if I hated anything about the title, I would find it hard to read it to be honest. I think this title is perfect for me as it has everything I love within it, which is why I’m really passionate about it. The things that tend to be "less good" about the characters are aspects of their personality that represent their flaws, so it’s only natural to like them less, and I have to say, I think their flaws are very well chosen. Maybe I sound like a simp for the title haha, but then so be it 🤣

The Masquerade Kiss MC

What I especially love about her character is that she successfully represents what I had always hoped to see in a MC. I personally was often used to seeing MCs that, while very lovely in their own way, were very "flat" and not especially interesting with their personality. Due to the fact that writers try to make sure the readers can self insert and project onto the MCs, earlier MCs were somehow very bland, or "weak", and submissive in a bad way for the sake of the self insert and LI. With newer titles, this problem seems to be less present though!

When I say they are weak I don’t mean their physical strength by the way, but rather the fact that they are so kind they are completely selfless. I think that if done right, such a representation can be beautiful, but more often than not, I saw MCs who were so "kind" their character was being crushed by their LI and they completely lacked anything that could be relatable to most readers, if that makes sense. It was in my opinion bad writing, because it was very one sided and only served the purpose to go faster with the story to learn more about the LI.

Compared to that, the MK MC is sooo well written in my opinion. She has everything, and without any extremes. She’s an independent and capable woman with a strong and kind personality, but she doesn’t reject others or love nor does she act as a man hater (thankfully, she didn’t fall into that annoying type of feminist writing). She’s extremely strong both physically and mentally, but she can still be sensitive, cute and have her weaknesses at times. She’s all about justice and doing what’s right, but can admit her own mistakes and adapt her judgment when she sees that what she believes in isn’t always right. Despite her intelligence, she can be a bit silly especially with the right crowd. She fits in very well with the 3S’ due to that reason and is often either as exasperated as Yuzu, or takes part in all their weirdness and banter

She’s also extremely beautiful, which is a breath of fresh air for me because the amount of times that I’ve read stories where the LIs often mentioned that the MC was plain looking or ugly at first… I actually don’t think it’s bad to have an average looking or "ugly" MC, but after the other titles or games that I’ve played, it was good to finally have a MC all the LIs could basically admire and compliment like she’s a literal goddess. Especially if the reader is supposed to project onto the MC (it’s nicer to be expected to look like Venus rather than Gollum…🤣) To be honest, whenever I read titles, I always imagine the MC to look like my OC, so it hurts to see the LIs think she’s not especially pretty at first 🥹

As for what I don’t like about her, nothing really in particular, but there are things I wished I could have seen more. In her character introduction in the app, she’s described as a sort of sister figure to other women, but I’ve never seen that yet.

I’ve seen women either be friendly, or jealous, but I’ve never seen her have a sort of sisterly role towards any females. Given her career, it wouldn’t be odd for her to be admired by other fellow agents too so I kind of wish to see that. I actually really hope we can even see her actual family and have her meet her younger siblings. We had a few interactions with her parents and especially her mom, but I hope we get to meet her brother and sister as well. It would bring a lot more characterization to her.

Some people could also argue that in Kazuomi’s route, she’s often left aside to give place to Kazuomi who’s always a few steps ahead of her, and therefore her talents and character isn’t as fully explored compared to other routes. Personally that doesn’t bother me a lot, because it’s already been clear how good she is, and Kazuomi is definitely the main guy with a lot of depth to his own character, so it makes sense that it’s tougher for her to shine when she’s against him. That doesn’t remove any of her greatness. Her being the way she is is already exceptional if we take into account that a lot of other MCs never reached her level of characterization

Kei

There are many things I like about Kei. His story, first of all, which I didn’t expect to turn out this way at all the first time I’ve read his first season. Seeing his growth and changes have felt like going on a journey. If he’s potentially not interesting to read as a LI, I’d say he’s at least great to read simply for the whole character development and story building. He’s slow burn, which may not be appealing to many, but it feels worth it whenever we reach the stages we have wished to see.

I would argue that the writing of his route make him one of the best, if not the best, story among Voltage titles. I say this despite liking Kazuomi’s route the most, because I can only bow down to such a beautiful route. It’s so unique and difficult and confusing at the same time. It’s like you’re experiencing what he feels about love alongside him. He has so many sides to him that give him a lot of depth, and I didn’t expect to witness this type of character before.

His trauma and story telling is handled in a very bold way. I had never seen Voltage write such a tragic background story before. It’s not like I’ve read every title out there, but from everything I could see, it seems like MK overall is very unique. I also love his sense of humor and his playful attitude. He’s a big tease, which is perfect to enhance Kazuomi’s own playfulness and to get on Yuzu’s last nerves

Something I wish would have been different in his story however would be how Caleb was handled at the end of his arrest once they managed to stop him. I just wish it would have been more spectacular. The final fight wasn’t bad, but it could have had more impact, more spice to it in the fighting scenes ✨

Yuzu

He’s great, and so are his flaws. I always think about how his qualities and flaws are perfect combinations, he is pretty relatable and realistic. I once heard something that approximately said that, in a given trait, all our qualities have a "trap", and that these traps basically lead to our flaws. In this case, I always thought how Yuzu’s perfectionism can turn into stubbornness and lead to frustration. Just like his sensitivity is hidden and shut down by his rationality a lot of times. I think he can be very relatable, especially to those who struggle to open up and communicate their feelings, even with themselves.

I really like that he uses his knowledge about technology to face his problems, such as saying that when he and the MC argue, they have a "bug" that needs to be fixed. It’s really cute and adds to his hard working or nerdy nature. He obviously always tries to do his best and while it’s hard for him to admit it, he’s very fond of his closed ones and will always be there for them. I also love how he is intelligent in many ways. He’s not narcissistic or condescending to those who appear less intelligent than him, he always wants to do better and takes others’ opinions into consideration if they matter.

As for what I’m hoping to see in the game for him, I’d say more interactions between him and Kazuomi. Maybe due to having the same writer, it seems Yuzu and Kei are shown to be especially close but we know they all share a deep bond with different dynamics. It would be nice to see more key moments that would show the type of bond they have as well, since Yuzu is said to respect Kazu a lot in his own character introduction

Kazuomi

Of course there are way too many things I love about this man since he’s my favorite. I love how confident he is, how he always manages to stay in control of things, and how fun he can be. He’s the type of character that makes you think everything will be alright in the end. I also love that this personality he has might not be his actual one, and I’m only looking forward to seeing how he really is. He’s really mysterious at times, and his past seems to be deeply present in his mind even now. He’s the only one who is the most discreet when it comes to opening up about it, so it’s really making me curious to know what happened.

What I love the most is how good and unique his relationship with the MC is. They’re at the same time completely compatible personality-wise, and at the same time, their work make their relationship hard to operate like a normal one. I don’t especially wish anything from his route would be altered, but I’m hoping to see he and MC finally reach a sort of stability in their relationship where they can settle down without thinking that what they have might be temporary. With MC’s job and Kazuomi’s tactics that will make him reveal himself to her one day, we don’t know what will happen between them, but I’m optimistic about their future. They were basically made for each other

Seiichi

I absolutely love him, which is why I will take this opportunity to expose my love and rant about all the things I need to rant about. There are a few things that should have been explored before stopping his stories, which is why I’m mad that they decided to stop writing for him. Things such as seeing more of his older sister, who was implied to appear again to fight back against Seiichi and MC, if I remember correctly. In the end, we won’t know what she would have done if they had decided to continue more with his stories. We also needed to know more about him. About how his grandparents raised him, getting more PoVs of his past, etc…

Something that I’ve found very weird is that when you play Kazuomi’s Ultimate Vacation, you can decide to get a PoV of the Boss. If you choose it, Boss then quickly has a thought about his past, about how the island he grew up in had marijuana plantations, and then you learn that his island ended up destroyed as a result. I didn’t understand why they discontinued his story only to reveal things here and there in other routes. I don’t want breadcrumbs about him, I want the whole bakery (and I say that as a French 😡😂)

Really though, I don’t know what was the point of doing this, I love learning more about him, so it’s all fine with me, but why in Kazuomi’s route? Why make a PoV option for him when you’re only going to show a few lines about his past and then move on to Kazu’s story again? I found all this very interesting and mysterious. Maybe they couldn’t follow with his story since he was the least read of the bunch, so they decided to expose what they had planned for him in the other routes for the fans.

Maybe my only wish was that he wasn’t made out to be such a jerk to MC in Kei’s route S1. I don’t mind that he can appear as an antagonist at first, but this really seemed to have killed a lot of readers’ will to try out his route due to that, when he’s actually a great character with good morals. Lacking readers for his route is most probably the reason why they decided to stop writing for him, too.

There’s something else I wish (maybe?) could have been different in his story. There’s the fact that the EAC is, depending on the route, either depicted as controversial in their way of handling things, or as a good agency that wants to bring justice. It would have been good that in the end, MC didn’t become a senior agent for the EAC in my opinion. I was pretty disgusted by the agency to be honest. It was made clear that the EAC higher ups would have never promoted MC to a senior agent position if it weren’t for Seiichi faking his death (and we never knew why they never wanted her to become one in the end), and it was revealed later on that the EAC lacked agents after Seiichi made sure to "take care" of the agents who were rotten.

Technically, we learned that the EAC they were working for had their bad apples as well. Even if Seiichi took care of them after disappearing, I felt pretty bitter to see MC become a senior agent for the EAC when they didn’t have the intention to choose her willingly at first. And of course I was also super sad because Seiichi wasn’t here anymore, which led her to live without him for a few years before finally reuniting again. I loved their reunion, but I just felt sad that things had to turn out this way for them. I’m thinking that this ending wasn’t planned at first, and they they came up with it as a last resort to end his route earlier, because there are quite a few plot holes that were supposed to be filled later on in future stories.

Aside from that, I loved his route overall and only dislike that they treated him "badly" compared to the other LIs. He’s really mysterious which is what made me so obsessed with learning more about him at first, and then made him my second favorite. I also loved how he protected MC against the EAC when they wanted to pin her as a criminal, and how in other routes he also seems to care for her, even if it’s very subtle.

I feel like with his type of characterization, he was made for readers to interpret his acts a lot. He loves to confuse MC at times and they have this sort of banter where they won’t admit their feelings and will unmask the other, which I really love. I love that he yearns for her quietly and will only show her a fraction of it to tease her, and possibly to indulge himself too

Thank you for the ask, and sorry if my answer was long! Take care as well!! ❤️

[attempt-at-fanfic]

The Other Angel

Michael and Max sat at opposite ends of the table in the motel room, not glaring at each other just watching. Analysing each other, waiting for the other to have the smallest reaction. There was no hate between them more a… distaste. Michael didn’t really like humans (apart from Adam) and Max wasn’t a fan of archangels. Funnily enough after dealing with both Lucifer and alternate reality Michael, she didn’t really feel like hearing, seeing or talking to anymore archangels as long as she could help it.

Adam, who wasn’t in control of the vessel right now, was astral projecting sitting on the chair between them trying to not laugh at how ridiculous they were. He should have known this was going to happen, they were practically identical (guess he had a type). Deeply loyal to a fault but also very untrusting of strangers, protective of what (or who) they care about. So ,in theory, they should get along but the reality wasn’t looking that bright and Adam wasn’t sure how much more he could deal with this bizarre throuple’s therapy.

“So…we all just going to sit here in silence all day or…” he tried to start. Max tilted her head to the side, still watching Michael, she smirked. Adam knew what she was doing, she did this to every annoying customer she used to get at the diner, she was trying to get a reaction out of Michael, baiting him. Adam sighed “Cmon guys, we need to make this work. And to do so you guys actually need to talk. You both promised you would do that?” They both huffed. “I’m willing to talk. If she’s willing to listen.” Michael said. Max shrugged “Maybe I would listen, if you had anything interesting to say angel.” Michael clenched his jaw showing his annoyance, this made her smirk widen.

Adam shot her a look, it was hard to be annoyed at her though. He cared for Michael but his love for Max never stopped, and after all this time seeing that she hadn’t fully change. He missed her, during the 10 years in hell and last few months felt like a dream to be back with her. After everything they had been through, they were still those dumb kids staying up to ridiculous times at night watching TV, and eating way too much candy, while his mum was at work. “Michael, why don’t you start then, since you’re actually being cooperative” Max scoffed, glaring at Adam “Why do you not like Max?” Michael rolled his eyes. “Cmon buzzard, the quicker we do this the quicker it’s over.” Max said moving in her seat. She tilted her head to the other side “Then we can go back to our mutual hatred.”

Michael looked her in the eyes “Why didn’t you try to get to the cage?” This took Max by surprise, she opened her mouth but nothing followed. “Because the way I see it, you keep saying how much you care about Adam and how you missed him yet, you never even attempted to get him out. Not once.” Max remained quiet. It was Michael’s turn to smirk “I guess you are just like the Winchesters. Family matters until it becomes inconvenient. How long did it take until you forgot about the cage completely?”

“You son of a-“ “Max!” She stood up out of her chair, she looked like she wanted to hurt Michael. “You have no right to question me like that!” Michael glared at her “No, actually I have every right too.” Max glare down at the angel “Listen here you over-grown, magic turkey. I don’t have to explain myself to you! You and your fucked up family have been screwing me over from day one, and you’re here acting all high and mighty! Well you know what Mike’s, at least I didn’t throw my brother in hell! At least I didn’t tell the other to fuck off! And at least I didn’t leave one to deal with my shit in heaven after getting myself thrown in the cage!”

This caused Michael to stand, his eyes glowing blue. “Watch your mouth!” She smiled “Don’t even start that shit. Trust me after dealing with Luci, I can assure you, you are not even close to being scary.” The two of them glared at each other. Adam cleared his throat to get their attention. “Can you both sit back down and calm it.” He looked between them expectantly. Michael begrudgingly took his seat again but Max remained standing, glaring down at him.

“For your goddamn information, angel! I did! I looked everywhere for an answer! I tried everything! Nothing worked! And the winchesters-“ Max paused to stop her self from crying. “I asked Sam and Dean, they told me it was impossible! Even Castiel said it wasn’t possible!” She leaned forward on the table. “So don’t you dare try and throw that in my face.” Adam sighed “Max, sit down please.” She glared at Adam but sat down anyway. Adam looked at Michael, glaring at him to apologise. “I’m sorry I didn’t realise.” Max’s gaze landed on the floor as the uncomfortable silence returned to the motel room.

“Max, why do you have a problem with Michael?” She looked between Adam and Michael. “Aside from the obvious stick up his ass.” She looked over at Adam, who wasn’t impressed. She sighed “Let’s called just ‘bad experiences’ with Archangels, especially ones called Michael.” She looked at Michael again just glaring at him. He had a confused look “What does that mean?” Max looked away, tears quickly forming under her eyes, she shook her head. Adam and Michael look at each other. “Babe….what’s wrong?” Adam leaned forward, towards Max. She calmed herself down, “I…don’t wanna talk about it.”

She sighed, sat back and then looked at Michael “Look… I’m not gonna trust you, not for a while. I recognise that’s on me cause I know you’re not your brother or the weird alternate universe Michael. Don’t ask. I just……I just need time. Please. Can you give me that?” Michael looked at her, scanned her face, and for the first time since Michael met her, she was vulnerable. It shocked the angel, he wasn’t use to that, the open vulnerability. “Ok” he said quietly “I will try my best to not make that worse for you.” She smiled, before turning to Adam “Happy?” He smiled at both of them, “It’s a start. A good one”

Alex stood up “Good, now I’m hungry. I’m going to get food, if you boys want to join you can.” She walked out. Adam turned to Michael “That means she wants us to go with her but doesn’t want to asks. Michael stood up “I will never understand that.”

Adam laughed “You will.”