#maybe its just sheer coincidence though lol

[fishareglorious]

Cloud Retainer: These edibles taste the same as one remembers... but where are those that share the memory?

From this line that was apparently terribly mistranslated into english. The CN voiceovers were “desserts” instead of edibles but I’m never gonna let Hoyo’s ENG translation team live down Cloud Retainer doing weed and the adepti blunt rotation joke ever.

After all, they don’t call her an illuminated beast for nothin’

[honeytabbies]

OKAY YEAH SO THE PRE-EXISTING CHARACTERS WITH CURSES WERE ONES I WAS HUGELY CONSIDERING FOR CHIMERISM FIRST

henry's story is actually another thing i Super wanted to adjust; as someone who's also physically disabled and chronically ill, i love and relate to him a lot and wanted to add more details about his condition.

henry's illness isn't fully a curse. the part where he absorbs other people's mana uncontrollably is the curse, but the weakness and illness he experiences is a disorder that he was born with. i've been calling it MRAD (mana-related autoimmune disorder), and it occurs when a person's body recognizes its own magic as a foreign body and attacks itself. luckily, his curse and illness sort of coincide, where he's able to absorb other people's mana and use it to reinforce his body. he needs to be in proximity to other people at nearly all times just to survive.

i think that henry's visible chimera features would be pretty minimal, though faun features would be very cute on him lol

charlotte's features would also be pretty minimal because her curse is generational! i think that she'd be human enough to pass in day-to-day living, but there's always just been something ... off about her. maybe her eyes glint weirdly in the light, perfectly manicured nails just a little too sharp. her uncanny perception when someone is watching her for a bit too long. just little things, but never enough to throw anyone off entirely :)

(CORRECTION as was pointed out to me char's curse is Not actually generational so i may make some adjustments later)

would anyone fault me if i used chimerism as an excuse to just make william a dogboy /j

no but seriously, similar to henry i'm sorta projecting in my adjustment of characters with disabilities. i think that his facial scarring would cause a visual impairment, especially as one of the most common forms of curses are those that impair/alter one's senses. i also think that his soul-bond with patri would also impact his chimerism, sorta influencing his appearance. as he grew older, i'd imagine his ears becoming just a bit pointier, and after the whole elf incident is over and done with maybe he'd have a tail similar to patri's too!!

some other characters i've considered chimerism for so far are zora, grey, and rill! nacht also counts as a chimera to me, just due to the sheer amount of devil contracts he has :D

[charmspoint]

Mars Red: Anime vs Manga pt 1

Alright so I promised myself that I would do my best not to compare the anime and the manga too much because the anime isnt the adaptation of the manga but the adaptation of the stage play and since I haven't watched the stage play I don't know which one is staying more loyal to the original and which one is adding stuff in/cutting stuff out. That being said if anyone did watch the stage play and can answer these questions please come talk to me I'm very curious. So that being said I'll do my best not to mention too much manga only scenes like Suwa's backstory, Takeuchi, Yamagami and Suwa doing slice of life lab stuff, or the conflict between Suwa and Kurusu. The anime may get to this stuff later, it might not I wont judge it for not including it rn even if I feel that the conflict between Suwa and Kurusu should be developed more consistently what did we have maybe one scene? That being said while I can't compare it on different scenes I sure as hell can compare it on scenes they share with each other. I may not know which one is more loyal to the source material but I sure as hell can say which one is more effective tl;dr: It's the manga, read the manga its more effective and it only has 9 chapters so far, please join me in hell under the cut

That being said I'll be comparing the execution of two scenes

1. Conversation between Suwa and Akesato

So the conversation between these two is mostly fine honestly, though the reason Suwa even went to see her (that she reminded him of someone he knew as a human and which turned out to be his little sister) is missing, which kinda gives the whole scene a slightly different tone. The manga has a much slower, softer pace to it, Suwa really comes across as more somber instead of coming in here to sleep in some girls lap, in the manga he keeps his distance for the most of the conversation before sitting next to her when he starts opening up about his past.

Like I don't think it's bad for anime Suwa to have sought out some human contact but it does leave quite a different impression about him. Manga Suwa leaves a much more thoughtful, mature impressions, he never once asks to touch Akesato in anyway and mostly refers to her as a child, but doesn't patronize her. It very much comes across as a tone of a dotting older relative because you know, she reminds him of a family member he had forgotten. Idk I just like the image the manga paints of him better, he comes across as this distant person but also a kind and mature one, which isn't the Suwa we often get to see on the field. I just don't think anime brought across the same feeling. To me it just made it feel like his very goal was to come in here and lay in someone's lap whereas Suwa in the manga is v much there to scout and meeting Akesato is a sheer coincidence based on his hazy memories and so a long lost feeling of attachment.

Anyway, lets talk about uh

In the manga Suwa has yet to be unmasked. And for a good reason. The anime doesn't set it up very well I think that 'I'll lose control' line is the only set up we get and far too late considering it's happening now. In the manga we have a whole lil slice of life chapter in which multiple different things are introduced, one of which is the fact that Suwa constantly wears his mask because he spent a long time as a feral vampire and if he smells human blood he will go feral. It's kind of...very disappointing to see this moment that I felt would be rather monumental in the manga (cuz feral vampires are way scarier in the manga I'll talk about that later) just kinda...pass here. Suwa unbuckles his own mask too??? And then at the end of the episode he takes it off willingly??? In a district very much swarming with humans??? Some of which are people he works with??? I think the screen writers forgot that the idea of 'a character takes off his mask to show his true emotions' doesn't really work if said character will go on a murder frenzy if he has his mask off. This is what I mean when I say that the manga takes its characters more seriously and is more impactful. The manga simply thinks more about how its characters would act and react to things. In the manga Akesato doesn't even take off his mask, she just hugs him and that gets her close enough to him that he freaks out, because his mask isn't as thick as usual. Just to that much he reacts somewhat violently in pushing her away and it leaves you wondering what would it be like if it was completely off. It really makes the anime Suwa just plopping on her lap out of his own free will even more meh :/

dw he immediately apologizes after this cuz he seriously didn't mean to hurt her he just lost control.

But that's what I mean, the manga makes this scene feel so much more serious, it puts so much bigger threat behind Suwa taking off his mask. It leaves you with a feeling of 'fuck, he lost a bit of control just by a human being close, if he was to take it completely off he would really lose all reason' While the anime just makes you feel 'oh he can control himself for a few moments after the mask is gone? That's good lol' It just minimizes the threat Suwa could pose when unmasked n seeps out so much tension out of that situation. Double especially when he just fucking takes it off at the end of the episode.

WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT LOSING CONTROL YOU STUPID FUCK (tho I did like him asking Takeuchi to teach him some songs, that was a nice addition.)

Anyway my last and least complaint cuz it was just kinda...funny

WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH AKESATO FALLING ASLEEP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CONVERSATION??? THAT WAS SO FUNNY WHAT WAS THAT??? SHE JUST FALLS ASLEEP LIKE THAT SITTING UP, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CONVERSATION, EXACTLY AS HER PATRON IS STARTING TO YELL AT HER JKBBHJ???

Its so weird cuz in the manga we get this soft ass moment

Like jhbhjkbhj that's just a completely different vibe. I think this ending scene actually best shows off the vibe Suwa has in the manga. Gentle, caring, distant but affectionate. Compared to the anime where the similar scene almost ended up looking like a gag jnjkbkj idk man like the anime mostly has the same dialog, aside Suwa dunking on western influences which i enjoy, but the atmosphere is all over the place and it kinda feels too fast, idk. I dunno if I explained this well but here we are.

Part 2: Kurusu vs the vampire mob

[mightbewriting]

Friday and September :)

hello! i thank you for the distraction! my word sprints are Not Going Great and i haven't really earned this yet but here i am!

friday: most self-indulgent fic you have ever posted?

i mean, pretty much everything i write is incredibly self indulgent because i write what i want to read lol. but probably bone mortar? just an excuse to make draco a hot scientist interested in early hominids and how hermiones hair spirals like dna? bickering over a classroom? a stupid amount of rock related metaphorical language? its very silly and very fun.

september: share a comment or review which still warms your heart?

omg. my first thought was literally anything written by @ambystomatidchanterelle because she is like, the most thoughtful and engaged reader and then somehow knows how to articulate her thoughts in a beautiful, wonderful way. for example, her comment on Well Said, Hermione melted me: 

Okay, I know I'm ages late on getting to this gem but good lord! What have you done??? Even knowing what you were working on and a little bit of how people reacted to it, almost everything in this story was unexpected for me, in the best possible way. Being inside this Draco's head was fascinating - by turns pragmatic and sentimental, snarky and romantic. This may seem like a strange thing to love but I was really into how game he was. This felt like a Draco who operates fairly instinctually. Maybe it's how completely the connection to Hermione (and her connection to his words and his voice) bowled him over but there's something cathartic about watching a character who's pretty steeped in self-preservation maintaining that self-preservation even as its goals change completely. In the beginning he's out to help himself survive a meeting. In the end, he's out to create a connection to Hermione because the one-off wasn't nearly enough. He doesn't really seem to have any trouble accepting how dramatically what he needed had changed, which felt strangely refreshing.

The way the quotes themselves operated in the story was so interesting too. I loved that the first quotes were coincidence. Shakespeare CAN be really conversational, especially when the right person is speaking it! Oh to be in Hermione's head when Draco utters the first recognizable line and that little bit of thrill zips up her spine. You can almost watch her wondering, talking herself down - he couldn't possibly have quoted what she thought he'd quoted, could he? And then, "Well said, Hermione" and that just CAN'T be a coincidence.... can it?! Watching Draco's relationship to the quotes was highly entertaining too. There were moments when it was clearly a means to an end ("I can only memorize so many quotes on such short notice. Less than a week from revelation to this."), although not in a self-sacrificing way. He's tempted by her and she's tempted by the way he says these particular words, so he's going to make sure he has plenty at her disposal. But there are also moments where he seems to get into it, sucked in almost helplessly, except that he's still going to give as good as he gets (“I do desire that we may be better strangers.” “No, you don’t.”) I think the other thing, though, is that Shakespeare always SOUNDS more romantic to me than it maybe is, especially when it's at its snarkiest. For example and featured here, much to my delight, many quotes from my beloved Much Ado About Nothing which is supposed to be the height of snark but which just makes me sigh happily. (case in point: “While she is here, a man may live as quiet in hell as in a sanctuary.” - NOT a romantic line but catch me melting anyway).

Also, the sheer sexiness of all of this cannot be understated. I have literally never thought about the bar on an emergency exit door before but I will NEVER be able to look at one without blushing again. I was very into a Hermione who caught distinct subtext, and walked in to make an appointment with said subtext, an appointment designed to help her with her needs and specified to her wishes and boundaries. This is a Hermione confident enough to make the approach, confident enough to meet Draco's incredibly sexy demands in regard to her attire (“Wear something green for me”—I ignored her disbelieving scoff and forged on—“something you’d like to be fucked in.” Holy shit.), and confident enough to fully give in to the pleasure of his words and their time together. Also, when Hermione tells Draco to use a feather weight charm and he responds “You think I’m not willing to work for it, Granger?” I CANNOT.

Because of all the fabulous sexiness, I was really unprepared but completely delighted by how romantic the end was - Draco taking her to her bed, praising her, giving her a massage and a glass of water and options for how she wants to handle all this. It felt affectionate and soft but also no less passionate or intense than any other part of the story. This is also the second time you've completely blind-sided me by how many emotions I have over Draco gently tying back Hermione's hair. It's so intimate and gentle but also a little bit possessive and I'm just... very into it. Yet another button I never knew I had before reading your fabulous works!

Finally, I cannot help but mention that I (perhaps unsurprisingly) got very attached to the plight of the Snidgets. I can understand why Hermione might not have the strongest motivation to work on their conservation and why she might not be particularly attached to them but I desperately need to rely on how important it is to her to do her job well so that I can stop worrying about their little fuzzy selves nesting on the edges of skyscrapers. The conservation project was such a creative way for Draco and Hermione to connect and I love that the Snidgets reappeared throughout the story! I'd like to think they become a bit of an inside joke and a critter of affection to Draco and Hermione after all this.

Thank you for sharing this loveliness! <3

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Time for my feels dump thoughts on Diabolical Box...! y’all, this game. this game. I don’t think people give it enough credit for... a lot of what it does, despite the messiness of the plot reveals... but it’s so special and unique, in ways I’m only now appreciating. also this is gonna be really REALLY fucking long I am so sorry, but I have a Lot to say about the ending parts... i just love this game so much...... so i wrote a fucking novel bc of course i did.

also i played this in October, completely unintentionally, so that’s noice.

The amount of voice acting and cutcenes in this compared to CV is amazing, I love it so much, even if it is funny sometimes the dialogue they choose to voice and then abruptly cut off a few lines later.

I had COMPLETELY forgotten about Luke jumping on Chelmey and trying to rip his face off and it’s just the funniest fucking thing omg; Hershel in the background going “NO LUKE THAT’S HIS FACE” is comedic gold.

Will we ever know what Hershel was going to say when Chelmey asked him what Luke’s relationship to him was... dammit Luke why’d you have to cut him off.

Hershel calling the hamster “generously proportioned” is amazing. also “I’ve always said that helping rodents in need is among the duties of every true gentleman” Hershel... please tell me what other situations have made you say that... please...

Why is there an entire subplot about finding this Karen’s dog, just to make Chelmey look like even more of an idiot? if they needed to pad the game out more, they definitely could have done it with flashbacks or in places that I’m... ahem... emotionally invested in

Flora’s treatment in this game is so infuriating to me, like... why did they think this was a good idea? What was the point of bringing her into the plot for NO other reason than to be kidnapped and impersonated? Was it literally just because they needed a way for Hershel and Luke to run into Don Paolo and get the box back from him??? Why couldn’t, idk, Katia run into him in Dropstone and get the box from him and save Flora, that would still get the box to her and keep Flora in the group, and it would tip them off to Katia being related to all this even earlier, and Don Paolo could still be shown there if he absolutely has to make an appearance in each game. I know it’s because he has to be built up and then revealed, and because Hershel always has to have a dramatic point-n’-reveal every game, but whyyyyyy does it have to be at the expense of Flora. :))))) It would have been interesting to see her reactions to Folsense and Anton and everything, and not have Katia be the only female involved in all this; maybe she could, you know, actually have a personality!! hahaaaa who am I kidding...

beluga: “it’s already been a year since she passed away” me: whythehellyoucryingsodamnloud.jpg

Anderson talking about Dropstone and the sacrifices made to found it and how it can’t die out like “other towns”... with the song playing... whythehellyoucryingsodamnloud.jpg

The sheer coincidence of Katia going to Folsense on the same day that Hershel and Luke would end up in Dropstone and then there, and on the 50th anniversary of the town... not a likely one.

Didn’t some versions of the game come with a real version of the train ticket to Folsense? I want it D:

i also want a real Elysian Box, like can i commission someone to make one minus the whole you know actual gold, please, i’ll pay aNYTHING- *sobs*

LUKE HOW COULD YOU FORGET THAT HERSHEL IS AN ARCHEOLOGIST, AFTER ALL THE ARCHEOLOGICAL SHIT YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH

Hershel to “Flora”: “you’re as white as a sheet!” Don Paolo, minutes ago while the others aren’t looking: *furiously powdering his face mask or some shit*

Why was Anton’s diary lying in the street though... it doesn’t make sense that Katia or Beluga would have it, and they couldn’t open it anyhow. probably just a gameplay thing that should go unquestioned but I want to knowwww lol. Also wish Hershel and Luke had reactions to the entries.

Ilyana tho. Also bootleg Clive asdfghjkl

I LOVE THE TOWER OF HANOI PANCAKE PUZZLES

Am I the only one who doesn’t understand the obsession with the tea set... like yeah it’s fun to serve tea when you actually get it right, but I’m stuck with like two recipes missing and getting frustrated just trying and trying countless ingredient combinations on end because some of the npcs are NOT helpful enough in telling what to make :))))

Obviously Katia can’t reveal anything or say anything about why she’s there at all to keep the suspense till the end, but it would have been cool to see her working together with them and making a plan to get into the castle and help Anton aka I just wanted more scenes with Anton being nice and not flying into a rage over a misunderstanding ugh

It’s honestly pretty impressive some of the deductions/connections Chelmey makes in this game, despite his... other incredibly stupid ones lol

“iSnT iT oBvIoUs?”

WHY DOES HERSHEL RISK KILLING LUKE (AGAIN) WITH THE BOX. And why tf does it not do anything to them since they assumed it would...?

The biggest mystery of the series is how Pavel gets where he does, truly

The music in the forest is truly one of the best osts, god I love it. I also adore the Herzen Castle ost now, I never really noticed it before but it is WONDERFULLY creepy and heavy and melancholic and just... idk, those harpsicords go hard. damn.

Opening the Elysian Box is the best puzzle in the series, because of the meaning behind it. Or at least, it’s my favorite for that reason :^)

Alright folks so I’m gonna be completely, unabashedly honest here, and reveal myself to be the superficial, shallow fucker I am lmao: Anton is super hot and I’m still attracted to him even now, and I hate that we get so little time with younger him dklslskdfkflssd I AM SORRY I CAN’T HELP IT OKAY. BLAME THE VOICE ACTOR, HE HAD NO RIGHT TO SOUND SO UNEXPECTEDLY DEEP AND INCREASE ANTON’S HOTNESS LEVEL BY 1000%... just. god damn. damn. the dining room scene. the lighting. the way he puts his hands down and closes his eyes at one point. the way he says Herzen. the freaking sass with “chalk it up to my bad taste then.” the little clap. his entire design which just oozes Victorian era anime bishie beauty. kudos to the character designer who was like “well they said make someone cool and handsome and i wasn’t sure what to do but i tried and i guess it worked out” GOOD SIR BOY DID YOU SUCCEED. how dare this man turn me on so much, fUCK. And I know it’s super shitty of me to not like his old design as much!!! but just!!! why the beak nose.... why.... he was so gorgeous and then you give him the Bronev nose treatment..... i’m already so sad over the ending but you make him look so much sADDER, THE SADDEST POSSIBLE DESIGN FOR OLDER ANTON. It’s not that I mind him being old, I just wish he looked more like himself... there didn’t need to be such a drastic change. But I know I’m just being petty lmao. anyway stan Anton for most beautiful PL character always 🙏 Descole and Clive’s hotness have nothing on this man

*ahem* But to get back to serious topics, replaying this now when I’m older, with the ones after it in mind, I think I finally realize why this game stands out to me so much from the others, making it my favorite. To put it as best I can, Diabolical Box, to me at least, just has a different feel from all the other PL games. Yes, it’s still definitely a Layton game, you still investigate a mystery, there’s still puzzles everywhere, it still has a relaxing city or country feel to the atmosphere, there’s still lots of charm, but once you hit Folsense and the climax and the ending reveals, the tone sort of... shifts? Not drastically, but enough that’s different from any point in all the other games that I can remember; I feel like Last Spector might have the closest kind of atmosphere to Folsense at certain parts, but even then the plot of that game is nowhere near to having the same tone as this one. Diabolical Box, when you really look close at it and think about it, is dark. Dark in a way that none of the other games are, despite the darkness some of the others do have. And I think part of that is because almost every other game/movie is connected to the overarching story involving Hershel’s past and people involved with him, and so the drama and angst is very much grounded in London or other places Hershel would be/was, and in his time, but Diabolical Box is unique in that the story and characters in it have nothing to do with him. And to reflect this, Anton and Sophia’s story is based in the early 1900′s, the Victorian era, in a city so far separated from, again, everything to do with Hershel, that if you were to just watch their story by itself and take the professor and Luke out of it, and you knew nothing about the series, you could reasonably argue that it isn’t from a Professor Layton game at all. What I mean is that Anton’s story could be an entire anime all on its own surely it’s not obvious how badly I want that, nope, not at all, completely separate from this series, and it would work; it could be its own period era-esque drama series, still with all the supernatural shit intact later on. I can think of a few existing anime similar to what I’m imagining. 

And I really do think it would be amazing, because like I said this story is terribly, terribly dark, and sad; as a PL game, like a lot of the other ones, it can’t go deep into the nitty gritty of what makes Anton’s story so fucking depressing, but just like... Imagine it. Imagine being alone, for so long in that castle, so long that you don’t even know how long it’s been anymore, with virtually no one, after having your heart broken and being abandoned by the person you loved the most, and who you thought loved you, and getting no closure about it. This long post goes a ton of detail about Anton’s character and things he was probably feeling/reasons for his behavior, but in short, Anton’s mother is never mentioned, so combined with how distant he was from his father and the fact that he feels alone in his role in society and that no one truly sees him as a real person, it’s quite possible that he clung to Sophia unconsciously as a mother figure, and, in general, she was the only person who made him feel seen, and loved. The only exception was Beluga, but Beluga leaves the town and Anton behind after quarreling with their father, so... It’s just extremely apparent when you read the diary entries and his dialogue (with the voice acting) that Anton was always alone and terribly insecure, and that Sophia made him the happiest he ever was - and so her leaving him was devastating to him. He was alone for fifty years (and who knows how long it actually felt, to him), in a lonely castle and emptying town, his entire family either left or dead, his body slowly aging without him even knowing it, while he had a daughter and granddaughter born without even knowing it, and all the while he’s left with the misunderstanding that Sophia might have loved someone “better” than him all along, never getting answers, having to live with all that grief and guilt and blame and jealousy and self-hatred over a situation that wasn’t even entirely true. Imagine what your MENTAL STATE would be like, jfc it’s a miracle he’s as sane as he is in the game!! Not to mention everything that crashes down on him within TEN MINUTES AT THE END. Yes, Unwound Future and the prequels very purposefully heap the angst on with Clive/Dimitri and Descole respectively, like “we are trying so hard to make you feel for this guy cry cry cry” and I fall for it like the trash i am love them too, don’t get me wrong, but Anton’s tragedy is much more understated but in my opinion is by far the absolute saddest of them all. I just... i’m crying y’all, this poor man. give him a fucking HUG. Anton Did Nothing Wrong 2k20; he doesn’t even hurt the people he lures in with his vampire scheme!! he lets them go without a scratch!!! what a guy... give him a hug and blankets please i love him so much, him and Sophia- *sobs*

and also as a side note, I honestly think Descole/Desmond would fit perfectly into this game for a lot of these reasons, in the trend of “trying to fit Descole into the first trilogy”; he’s got the right Aesthetic™ for one thing, but mainly just he and Anton have a LOT in common...! actually, now that I think about it, Randall and Anton do too, but I much prefer the notion of Descole and Anton interacting. honestly, I’m toying with the idea of an AU where Desmond and resurrected Aurora end up in Folsense and solve that mystery themselves instead of Hershel and Luke; i think it’d be fascinating.

However, by the same token, as much as I LOVE this game and characters for all of those reasons... it also makes no fucking sense ahaha. How the FUCK does the gas work. The illness that started killing people when the ore was first unearthed and is the reason everyone starts leaving, is THAT from the gas I assume?? but like why?? cause eventually it just turns to making the town appear as it was years ago and keeping people young, so...? ARE ALL THE TOWNSPEOPLE NOT ACTUALLY THERE, OR THEY ARE AND ARE JUST YOUNG LIKE ANTON; I’m still not clear on this!! because Hershel at the end says they’re illusions, and yet when you talk to the npcs so many of them complain about being tired and feeling old, so what is the truth!! It would make sense if newcomers see the town as it is in the pictures, but there’s no reason for them to not age... in fact, I don’t understand where the not aging thing comes from at ALL, since if the idea is that the gas makes what you think will happen happen, how tf did that even come about in the first place??? There’s no way everyone who inhaled the gas would think the exact same things and have the exact same hallucination. And if fifty years passed in reality, how long did it feel like to Anton/others; surely it couldn’t have been that long if they never questioned why they weren’t aging? If the gas in the box put Schrader in a coma, what was his theory about what would happen? Why does nothing happen to Hershel and Luke upon opening it when they clearly assume something will happen? Related to other things, how does the box become the source of a rumor, and how does Schrader even get it? Do people just assume Anton is dead or otherwise gone, or do they know/assume he’s still in the castle but don’t try to see him because of the vampire? Does Beluga know Anton is still there, if he does it’s pretty shitty of him to ignore him, and why does he think the box has to do with the fortune of all things if he possibly knew Sophia wanted it and knew it had something to do with her and Anton (seriously I don’t understand Beluga, I really wish they’d done more with him; he looks so shitty even if you give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he knew the least amount possible)??? Did Sammy know that the drugged flowers related to getting into Folsense? Did Katia know how to get into Folsense, and what was she planning to do if she never found the box in order to prove she was who she said she was? Why do some of the npcs act like they know the deep dark secret of Folsense and keep saying Hershel and Luke don’t need to know, and keep talking about the town being cursed, like do they really know the truth?? Or not??? LEVEL-5 I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS AND I’M TOO DUMB TO FIGURE OUT THE ANSWERS. EVEN LAYTON VS. WRIGHT’S STUPID REVEALS MAKE MORE SENSE THAN THIS AAAAAHHHH

anyway DB best game anton hot Even with all the weirdness though that makes this game the most Layton the Layton series has ever Layton’d lmao, I still love Diabolical Box so damn much. I love it so much, guys. It’s not part of a huge narrative, it’s not connected to the main characters; it tells its own little story and it does that perfectly. It’s so unique from all the rest, like I said, the plot has so much depth I don’t really see talked about, Anton and Sophia’s story is so beautifully tragic and underrated on a mature level that none of the other games really reach, and despite how upset I am we don’t get to see more of them, their love story is so impactful and emotional just from what little we do see, despite some of the oddities of how it plays out... they’re so sweet together and I cry so damn much over them ಥ⌣ಥ Iris is one of the most beautiful and touching songs in the series, too, and my favorite. And I’m a sucker for the Victorian era and cute romance lmao, so it just gets me like nothing else does... it’s so wonderful. saddest PL game, I will die on this hill. Even if I seem to talk a lot more about some of the other games/characters simply because there’s more content to talk about and there’s more to say about the more flawed content. you can’t improve perfection *chef’s kiss*, deep down, I think, this game will always be my favorite. ❤️

[foolgobi65]

careful man’s careless daughter

@philtstone prompted: Anne/Gilbert babysitter au fake dating prompt #5 let’s go laydees “you have the emotional capacity of a brick. that slate I broke over  your head.” (we’re pretending people still use slates now....american schools have no money...its possible ok) 

k so i was trying to figure out how to work in the babysitter + fake dating and ... like a flash the plot to this old telugu/tamil movie i love missamma/missaimaa came to mind -- its not quite the same because they’re two people pretending to be married so that they can make money as school teachers/live in tutors for a wealthy family’s daughter but it works just enough that i decided to roll with it lol. 

this technically isn’t the actual babysitting, nor the fake dating which I actually turned into a fake marriage lol, but i hope u still like it, even though it is all over the place and a general wreck because i wrote it straight through without any editing or thought towards pacing/characterization bc i havent written in forever lol!! im not even sure what the time period setting is lol, and i dont think my translating of the anne events into a semi modern day even works but w/e lol. 

u are the truest of friends, the light of my life, and have certainly heard more than your share of my mental breakdowns both in the last month and the last few years lol. u deserve all the good things, all the good fic, all the time. 

title is a perversion of a tswift lyric because it came up on youtube. if anyone wants to send in prompts from here

---

“You owe him how much?” 

Anne sighs, crossing her legs to hide how uncomfortable she is in this moment -- here she is in the park, fifteen thousand dollars plus interest in medical debt for Marilla’s eye surgery and being hounded by Roy Gardner, ex boyfriend apparently turned loan shark who was on his knees proclaiming both love and loan forgiveness should Anne just accept his proposal. 

Here Gilbert Blythe is, sitting on a park bench after two years without contact, watching the whole thing. 

“Marilla doesn’t have health insurance,” Anne says, eyes on the ground as she uses the toe of her shoe to grind a leaf into the sidewalk cement. “Even when I was teaching, the union plan didn’t let people add parents on as dependents.” She sighs. “With everything happening with the farm, she couldn’t afford to put money towards a plan and so when her eyes got bad....” 

For a moment, there is silence. Anne can almost hear Gilbert’s jaw clench “That’s just wrong.” 

Anne laughs, and because her eyes are averted she doesn’t see Gilbert flinch. “That’s America, Blythe.” 

“Well,” she hears him say, tone just dripping with what Mrs. Rachel would call the Blythe Stubbornness, “It shouldn’t be.” 

She won’t ever admit it, but there’s something Anne has always found deeply compelling about Gilbert when he gets into these moods -- all righteously indignant in a way that Anne feels inside of her own body. Or felt, before Matthew died and left behind debts not even Marilla had known about, and Marilla’s eyes worsened around the the time Anne was let go from her teaching job and even if she had had the job it wouldn’t have mattered, she knows, but still. Beautiful, wonderful, beloved Diana had offered to help, of course she had, but Anne knew that Fred’s business wasn’t yet where it should be and that the parents Barry were still unimpressed with their son in law to be’s financial acumen. So she’d had to go to Roy, who had of course lent his beautiful Anne the money, and of course had arranged for Marilla to be treated at the best hospital in Toronto, of course had set them up in the apartment of a friend of his right in downtown where the rents were a thousand maybe two per month. He’d popped the question for the third time the second Marilla had been released back into Anne’s care. 

Almost as if he can hear her thoughts, Gilbert speaks -- “Gardner shouldn’t be harassing you like this either. Who ever heard of charging interest on a loan to a friend? And what on earth does he think he’s going to take from you if you just don’t pay?” 

Anne burns. This, she hasn’t told Marilla, nor even her darling Diana. For some reason, it seems alright to tell Gilbert. “The farm,” she mumbles.

Gilbert snorts. “I’m sorry, I must have misheard. Are you saying that Roy Gardner, heir to one of the biggest fortunes in Boston and your ex boyfriend, took your home as collateral on a loan for money you needed to pay for your mother’s surgery?” 

Anne says nothing. She still hasn’t looked up at him, hasn’t been able to meet his gaze since she sat down on the bench and told Roy to get up off his knees and wait two months for either his money or her affirmative answer. She blinks, having mercifully forgotten that Gilbert was present for that last bit. She hopes he’s forgotten too. 

“And wait, before he left you said....” No such luck. “Anne!” Anne’s sure her entire head must be flame as she closes her eyes, bringing her knees up on the park bench and burying her face into her own lap. “Anne you said you’d marry him if you couldn’t get the money!” 

“There’s no debt between spouses,” Anne mumbles. “We’d get to keep the farm, and I wouldn’t ever worry about Marilla’s health again.” 

“But you don’t love him!” She doesn’t know if she’s ever heard Gilbert sound so scandalized. 

“I used to!” she tries to retort, but even Anne knows that her voice betrays her when she tries to speak this lie. “I used to think I was,” she amends, “and maybe that’s as close as I’m allowed to get -- he’s rich, handsome, he even loves me! What more could I ask for?” 

“Coercing you into marriage, demanding interest on money that we all know is just pocket change for someone like him...that’s not love,” Gilbert Blythe responds, with all that....that all-knowing Blytheness in his voice that Anne has hated since she was 13 years old and the new kid in a class of people who had always known each other just as easily as they had known themselves. “Love is selfless, Anne, strong and kind. It makes you better for giving away your heart, even if the one you love doesn’t give you theirs in return.” 

Gilbert Blythe, always acting as if he knows something Anne does not. He speaks as if he’s been in love, at some point over the years since he was last in Avonlea and for some reason Anne absolutely burns with that knowledge. Ooh she just hates him, now at 24 just as easily as she had at 13! 

“And what exactly is love worth if it means I just lose the farm trying to pay for Marilla’s surgery, and still have nothing for the next time she’s sick?” Suddenly Anne is on her feet, hands on her hips as she glares at Gilbert looking quite alarmed as he still sits on the bench. The words she has kept locked on the inside, too private to even be written in a diary, come pouring out in one big rush:

“Three of my four parents are already dead, Gilbert Blythe.” Her voice hitches, to her horror, her sudden fury vanishes as she has to blink away the tears she has kept at bay since she and Marilla buried Matthew. Damn Gilbert, for bringing this out of her as well. “I can’t...I couldn’t bear to lose anyone else.” Her lips thin, and with a breath, her voice steadies. “I don’t care what you, or anyone else thinks about my choices if it means that I can take care of Marilla.” 

Gilbert’s eyes have the sheen of his own tears when he stands, his own lips wobbling just slightly. “I...” he swallows. “Of course, Anne.” Something Anne recognizes as self hatred passes briefly over his face, but she doesn’t understand. “I wish I had money like Gardner to give you, I really do.”   

Anne gentles, even if something inside her twists to be the object of the long-old guilt mixed with pity, much less Gilbert Blythe. Since Matthew’s death, every person in Avonlea it seems has sat with Anne and Marilla and offered their deep condolences, their absolute shock at the pair’s financial state of affairs, how much they wish they could help but sadly cannot, what with the way the bank’s collapse has hit their own finances. Only families like the Gardners survive economic crashes with money to burn. 

“I wouldn’t have taken it even if you had,” she offers instead, shrugging casually. 

His eyes flash. “But you took Gardner’s?” 

“I thought he loved me!” Anne closes her eyes, somehow feeling her cheeks flush even deeper. This is why she’s avoided all mention of Gilbert Blythe so strenuously since high school graduation, because more than anyone else he is the one who drags out the words she is always learning to keep inside. Here he is, somehow pulling confessions Anne hadn’t even dreamed of telling Diana, confessions that make her seem small, and stupid, lost in a world so much more complicated and treacherous than she can handle all on her lonesome. 

Well, she thinks, in for a penny -- 

“I thought he loved me,” she says, “and that he had the money to spare. I didn’t realize...” She looks away again, so that she never has to see him react to her folly. 

“Oh Anne,” Gilbert says, for some reason so soft and stricken that Anne’s knees go weak with her sudden desire to fall to the ground and weep. “You deserve so much better.” 

And now she’s angry again. “What would you know about what I deserve?” Anne spits, “you haven’t even been home since you started med school!” Vaguely, Anne thinks that Gilbert hasn’t been home since she and Roy had gotten serious, serious enough for her to bring him to Green Gables and show him the place that had been her very first love. Coincidences can be so strange. 

“It doesn’t matter,” she says, glaring again at the ground. “None of this matters. I’m just going to go home” Anne clenches her jaw, knowing that when she gets back to Green Gables she will go into her room and play every excruciating part of this conversation back in her head, again and again until she throws up or passes out at dawn from sheer exhaustion. Maybe both, if she’s lucky. She leans back slightly and manages to turn around on her heels, a trick Gilbert Blythe had always pulled at school and had had girls thinking he was so cool.

She’s five minutes away from the park bench when suddenly she hears him call out her name. 

“Anne,” he shouts again much closer, bending at his waist to balance his hands at his knees as he pants. “God, it really has been two years since I was on the university football team.” 

Despite the roiling emotions of five minutes ago, Anne’s lips quirk. “I can’t imagine you all practiced very much to end up near the bottom of your league every year.” 

Gilbert’s eyes widen, and for some reason he flushes. Maybe he’s so out of shape that it’s from exertion? “I didn’t realize you kept up with my matches.”  Ah. Anne, it seems, will experience nothing else but one long sustained flush as long as she is in front of Gilbert Blythe. “You know,” she tries to say casually, “you hear things here and there. Diana told me the village gossip.” 

Gilbert opens his mouth, but then suddenly shakes his head, like a dog trying to dislodge water from its fur. “I have...” he frowns. “I have a proposition for you.”  Anne raises what she hopes is an elegant eyebrow. “Oh?” 

He grimaces. “There’s a boarding school, a Catholic one, that’s asking for teachers over the summer for a few of their select students who want to be coached for college admissions. Essays, standardized tests, everything. They’ve got heaps of money, and are willing to pay salaries up front. Plus, they cover all your expenses while you’re there!” 

Anne blinks, feeling the beginnings of hope gather as kindling at the very dredges of her heart. Once, both Anne and Gilbert had competed so well against each other that they had both gotten into Harvard. Then, Matthew had died, and Anne decided she could just as easily get a teaching degree at the state school and stay closer to Marilla too. Gilbert alone had had the distinction of being the first from Avonlea to reach such heights, and had reached even higher when he had been accepted again to Harvard Medical School. 

But at one point, both Anne and Gilbert had taken their SATs. They’d both written their application essays. They’d both gotten in. Anne, even, had been offered a full ride compared to Gilbert’s only partial scholarship, so there could even be an argument that of the two, Anne had been the one on top. 

And if nothing else, Anne is even better at teaching than she was at taking tests. 

“I’ll do it,” she says firmly. “Where and when do I need to report, and how much money are they offering?”  For a second, a bright, dazzling grin paints Gilbert’s face. “Really? Ten--” he coughs, “Twenty thousand.” Anne frowns. 

“Each?” It sounds like a dream come true. Five thousand more than Anne needs, and paid upfront. She could save the farm, and put away five thousand towards the farm’s debts. “That sounds....exorbitant.”  He nods, suddenly more confident. “Yep! Twenty thousand for sure.” He laughs. “I know Gardner was supposed to be slumming it at state school, but you really can’t be surprised at how much money rich people are willing to throw at a problem.” 

“The problem being...their children.”  Gilbert’s grin turns wicked. “The problem being their children’s SAT scores, and lack of compelling anecdote to base an admission’s essay on, yes.” 

Anne laughs, wicked in this moment as well. She wishes in this moment, fiercely, as she has many times over the last few years, that she had been able to go to university with Gilbert at her side -- as the friends they had slowly begun to be after years of one and two sided enmity, before time and distance had turned them into near strangers. She doesn’t regret staying back, not really, but there is a part of her that no one had ever understood half as well as Gilbert Blythe, who had, after the Harvard interest meeting, drawn and pinned up a schedule for practice SATs that took into account both his and Anne’s often conflicting life schedules. 

“What’s the catch,” she asks, grinning when Gilbert chokes “come on, Blythe, there’s always a catch with offers like this. Is it across from a waste manufacturing plant? Is the principal a pervert?” 

Slowly, Gilbert Blythe is turning red. “Ah,” he says, shuffling like he never did even when he was an errant schoolboy. “Well,” he says, and....is that his voice cracking? 

“Gilbert,” Anne says, trying to reassure him, “I grew up in the foster system, I can handle much worse than bad smells and pervert principals, I promise.” 

He frowns. “It’s not that,” he says slowly, “but basically they’re looking for two teachers, a man and a woman to manage the boys and the girls while the rest of the staff go on vacation.” 

Anne smiles, trying to ignore the jolt of her heart at the thought of an entire summer with Gilbert, studying like they used to but as friends. Her old dreams, finally coming true. “That’s perfect then, you take one job and I’ll take the other! It’ll be like old times, kind of.” 

He smiles faintly, as if, even after locking horns with the best and brightest at Harvard, Anne is still the person he wants to be trading barbs with over the heads of high school students for months on end. “I’d like nothing better, he says, except...” 

“Except?” 

Gilbert inhales. “ExceptTheSchoolWillOnlyHireAMarriedCoupleSoThatTheyDon’tHaveToWorryAboutOutofWedlockSexorTeachersHavingSexWithStudents.” All in a rush, and now Gilbert is the one who can’t apparently handle eye contact.

“What?” 

“The school,” Gilbert says to his shoes, “since it’s Catholic, and also since they’re lazy, only want a married couple so that they don’t have to have anyone watching to make sure the teachers aren’t having sex with the students. Or each other.” 

Anne blinks. “But we’re not married!” 

Gilbert grimaces, opening his mouth, but then just biting his lip. They could be, Anne thinks, only a tad hysterical. Only all of Avonlea was matching them up all the years of high school, and even the years after until she’d met Roy. It would be so easy to get a certificate. They could get a divorce by September, even annul their marriage since they definitely wouldn’t be having sex. 

Twenty thousand dollars. 

“So what you’re saying,” Anne says slowly, her lip curling of its own accord “is that after all that talk about what love is and isn’t, and telling me that I shouldn’t marry Roy for the money he’d give me, your blockheaded solution is instead, for me to marry you?” 

Gilbert looks up. “Well when you put it that way--”  Anne sees red, even as she already sees herself in one of her old white lace dresses, standing with Gilbert at the courtroom and signing. “Gilbert Blythe I don’t believe you! Sometimes, I think that you really do have all the emotional capacity of that slate I broke over your head!” 

“I know,” he says tone heavy with something so sad that Anne’s hearten softens a bit of its own accord. “But you really need the money, and I promise we’ll get a divorce by September.” He smiles, but there’s something bitter at the corners that Anne has never seen before -- she almost raises her hand to rub the strand of emotion off his lips. “And you’re not the only one who needs the money. Will you do it?” 

Twenty thousand dollars. The farm, Marilla, an end to the eternal pity of Avonlea. And also, a small part of her suggests, an opportunity to finally spend time with this new Gilbert Blythe who went off into the world and left her behind. 

She sighs. “I vote that you be the one to tell Mrs. Lynde.” 

[bravadoseries]

tell us about your braudrey wasteland baby analysis

this ended up being long and angsty i am sorry . if u want i can analyze songs from his other album in a happier way to even it out lol

“nfwmb”: 

“when i first saw you / the end was soon” - audrey and bruce met on the helicarrier and i think when they fought in new york they both knew they might not come out of it.  audrey was inexperienced and way out of her depth, bruce was really against turning back into the hulk again.  

“Give your heart and soul to charity / ‘Cause the rest of you, the best of you / Honey, belongs to me” - they both give parts of themselves away for the greater good and feel most human with each other

“Nothing fucks with my baby / Nothing can get a look in on my baby / Nothing fucks with my baby / Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing” - when hozier wrote this song everyone thought it was about how nothing fucks with his baby because he protects her but he said actually nobody fucks with her because she’s extraordinarily powerful and scary.  i think both of these apply to braudrey—nobody fucks with bruce because audrey protects him, and nobody fucks with the hulk because he’s giant and terrifying 

“moment’s silence (common tongue)” 

“When stunted hand earns place with man by mere monstrosity / Alarms are struck and shore is shook by sheer atrocity / A cure I know that soothes the soul, does so impossibly” - this is related to an upcoming ~chapter~ lol but basically audrey and bruce go on a retreat upstate that’s supposed to give him the opportunity to hulk out and like scare some squirrels in the woods but while they’re there, audrey and the hulk become good friends ? and so that’s why she’s able to reason with bruce when he turns

“almost (sweet music)” 

i would place this one as post aou when audrey thinks bruce is dead.  

“i’m almost me again, she’s almost you” - after a bit, she starts dating again but she’s still very much grieving and hung up on him 

“i wouldn’t know where to start / sweet music playin’ in the dark / be still my foolish heart / don’t ruin this on me” - audrey becomes good friends with wanda and pietro after age of ultron and they haven’t been around long but they ask her to talk about it because she sits in her room playing the same song every day and crying and they’re like … ?

“I got some colour back, she thinks so, too / I laugh like me again, she laughs like you” - i think this is just audrey letting herself be close to people again. it’s not the same but it’s not so lonely

“movement”

“I still watch you when you're groovin’” so this song i think is about like someone dancing and being really seductive and sexy but this reminds me of bruce watching audrey dancing really terribly w tony at every avengers function.  audrey literally cannot dance for shit and it’s endearing to bruce 

“When you move / I can recall somethin' that's gone from me / When you move / Honey, I'm put in awe of somethin' so flawed and free” - i think bruce gets kind of fixated on watching audrey spar and fight; like partially because it’s hot but also because he sees her as very powerful and finds it magnetizing 

“no plan” 

i’m gonna go ahead and place this as ragnarok/infinity war 

“for starts / what a waste to say the heart could feel apart / or feel complete, baby” - audrey and bruce reunite on sakaar and it’s a very emotional scene; it’s a waste to say the heart could feel apart because she knows she’s not less without him but there’s this understanding, this thing that’s been off that’s finally righted when they’re back together

“My heart is thrilled by the still of your hand / That's how I know now that you understand” - this applies to a very specific moment in ragnarok before they go to fight hela where audrey puts her hand over bruce’s and he looks at her and she’s unable to tell him that if they die right now she loves him but he knows anyway

“There's no plan / There's no race to be run / The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun / There's no plan / There's no kingdom to come / I’ll be your man if you got love to get done / Sit in and watch the sunlight fade / Honey, enjoy, it's gettin' late / There's no plan / There's no hand on the rein / As Mack explained, there will be darkness again” - so this is all very apocalyptic and not to flex but i was at a concert and hozier talked about this line and how the whole song was written about the doomsday clock and a time when it was closer to zero than ever; it’s a song about throwing caution into the wind at the end of the world and i think that’s fitting.  there’s a period where audrey realizes that they’re not gonna beat thanos, and that the snap is gonna happen, and she takes a breath and notices everything around her and just thinks about how she’s lucky to have had it at all.  

“nobody”

“You know when it's twelve o'clock in Soho, baby / It's gin o'clock where I'll wake up, I don't know / And I think about you though everywhere I go / And I've done everything and I've been everywhere, you know” - this just reminds me of when audrey is away on missions and bruce is still at the base; she’s been everywhere in the world because she’s been alive for so long and she’s been around for a lot; the one thing she’s most grateful for her lifetime to have coincided with though is bruce 

 “i’ve had no love like your love / from nobody” - this is just them lol they understand each other on another level

“I'd be appalled if I saw you ever try to be a saint / I wouldn't fall for someone I thought couldn't misbehave” - this is audrey 2 bruce … she would be appalled if he ever tried to get rid of the hulk for good; i think that it’s such a significant part of how they see and understand each other 

“If I had the choice between hearing either noise: The excitement of a thousand or the soothing of your voice / At first chance, I'd take the bed warmed by the body” - they just choose each other.  they choose to be with each other.  this reminds me of the “give your heart and soul to charity” line in nfwmb because it’s like if they had to be heroes without each other they wouldn’t be happy 

“as it was” 

there’s a conversation bruce and audrey have at the safehouse in age of ultron where bruce is saying he doesn’t feel the same since wanda fucked with his head bc of the vision he had, and he’s worried abt whether or not audrey can continue to care for him when the chaos the hulk created wasn’t for any good or if she’s changed her mind and she has to assure him that she hasn’t; there are a lot of lines from this song that remind me of that

-“whatever’s here that’s left of me / is yours just as it was”

-“Just as it was, baby / Before the otherness came / And I knew its name / The drug, the dark, / The light, the flame” 

-“its holds had the fight of my baby / and the lights were s bright as my baby / but your love was unmoved”

-“the sights were as stark as my baby / and the cold cut as sharp as my baby / and the nights were as dark as my baby / half as beautiful, too” (unrelated sidenote but this line gives me chills always)

then the second verse of this reminds me of audrey and bruce in ragnarok: 

“Tell me if somehow Some of it remains How long you would wait for me How long I've been away The shape that I'm in now Your shape in the doorway Make your good love known to me Or just tell me about your day”

“shrike” 

so audrey has a really really hard time saying i love you after bruce leaves at the end of aou, to anyone—she says it to steve maybe once, but she can’t say it besides that one time, and it’s part of why she’s so torn up about peggy dying because she didn’t tell her she loved her enough in the months leading up to her death.  

but also, when bruce comes back, audrey still can’t muster up the ability to say them out loud, and so at the end of infinity war, she’s left without telling any of the people she loves that she loves them.  when she comes back in endgame, she’s able to overcome that to tell them.  this song reminds me of that 

“I couldn't utter my love when it counted / Ah, but I'm singing like a bird 'bout it now” - this is when she comes back

“The words hung above / But never would form / Like a cry at the final breath that is drawn / Remember me love when I'm reborn / As the shrike to your sharp / And glorious thorn” - this is both; she couldn’t say it, but she’s “reborn” during endgame and she realizes that the worst has already happened countless times; there’s nothing else to be afraid of that she hasn’t survived

“Then when I met you, my virtues uncounted / All of my goodness is going with you now” - this is just audrey when bruce leaves

“talk” 

ok this entire song is just both audrey and bruce when they like each other but don’t wanna say anything about it.  

I'd be the voice that urged Orpheus When her body was found Hey yeah I'd be the choiceless hope in grief That drove him underground Hey yeah I'd be the dreadful need in the devotee That made him turn around Hey yeah And I'd be the immediate forgiveness In Eurydice Imagine being loved by me

I won't deny I've got in my mind now (Hey, yeah) All the things I would do So I try to talk refined For fear that you find out (Hey, yeah) How I'm imagining you

I'd be the last shred of truth In the lost myth of true love Hey yeah I'd be the sweet feeling of release Mankind now dreams of Hey yeah That's found in the last witness before the wave hits Marvelling at God Hey yeah Before he feels alone one final time And marries the sea Imagine being loved by me

“dinner & diatribes” 

i think…..this doesn’t match up exactly but the new year’s eve chapter…..Yeah

“Let there be damage ensued and tabloid news / And that kind of love / That's the kinda love / I’ve been dreaming of”

“would that i” 

okay buckle up this one is a lot

“True that love in withdrawal was the weeping of me / That the sound of the saw must be known by the tree / Must be felled for to fight the cold / I fretted fire but that was long ago” ok this i think is bruce’s perspective; love in withdrawal was the weeping of me = the isolation he put himself in following becoming the hulk was a very bad spot for him even though it was safest.  the sound of the saw must be known by the tree = gotta risk it for the biscuit! must be felled for to fight the cold / i fretted fire but that was long ago = i used to be afraid but now i’m not; it’s worth the risk 

“Oh, but you're good to me / Oh, you're good to me / Oh, but you're good to me, baby” bruce is just continually confused and surprised by the fact that audrey isn’t scared of him 

“With each love I cut loose I was never the same / Watching still living roots be consumed by the flame / I was fixed on your hand of gold / Laying waste to my loving long ago” 

-with each love i cut loose i was never the same = bruce has cut off everyone he’s been close to since the hulk happened and he’s not the same when he’s alone; he thinks he can make it by himself and he probably can but he doesn’t have to

-i was fixed on your hand of gold / laying waste to my loving long ago = this is actually nice bc the gold imagery specifically matches up with what audrey’s powers are, and so there’s that connection to be made 

“And it's not tonight / Where I'm set alight / And I blink in sight / Your blinding light” this also just matches up really nicely w audrey’s powers lol

“sunlight” 

“I had been lost to you, sunlight / And flew like a moth to you, sunlight / Oh your love is sunlight” i think this would be bruce after age of ultron ? he’s been lost to audrey, but when he sees her he gravitates back toward her immediately; he sees her love as sunlight

“the tale is the same / told before and told again /  soul that's born in cold and rain / knows sunlight, sunlight, sunlight” - bruce is the soul that’s born in cold and rain and audrey is sunlight

“Each day you rise with me / Know that I would gladly be / The Icarus to your certainty” - i think he’s just devoted to her 

“wasteland, baby” 

okay going line by line for this one lol buckle up!

“All the fear and fire of the end of the world / Happens each time a boy falls in love with a girl” - when they’re fighting thanos audrey is actually reminded of bruce; how losing him felt like the world ending, now it’s for real

“Happens great, happens sweet / Happily, I'm unfazed here, too” - when audrey goes at the end of infinity war, she goes smiling 

“Wasteland, baby / I’m in love, I'm in love with you” - they just love each other

“All the things yet to come are the things that have passed / Like the holding of hands, like the breaking of glass / Like the bonfire that burns / That all words in the fight fell to” - everything that has happened has led them to this moment; loki, ultron, hydra, etc. without that they wouldn’t have each other, but they also probably wouldn’t be dealing with this mess.  it’s not good or bad, it’s just the way things went.  

“Wasteland, baby / I’m in love, I'm in love with you”

“And I love too, that love soon might end / Be known in its aching / Shown in the shaking / Lately of my wasteland, baby” - they know it’s over before it’s over; they can tell what’s going to happen before it happens, and they’re just paralyzed in that moment 

“Be still, my indelible friend, you are unbreaking / Though quaking, though crazy / That's just wasteland, baby” - when audrey goes bruce pleads with her to stay

“And that day that we'll watch the death of the sun / To the cloud and the cold and those jeans you have on / And you'll gaze unafraid as they sob from the city roofs” - in the years after the snap, bruce has the most vivid dream almost every night where audrey’s . like . ghost comes to him and takes him to the top of a hill and they watch the world end around them.  it’s terrible and every time he wakes up he misses it.  

“When the stench of the sea and the absence of green” - ok lol this just reminds me of how the hulk wouldn’t come fight at the end of infinity war 

“Are the death of all things that are seen and unseen / Are an end but the start of all things that are left to do” - the world ends; half of everything is dead; but they’re still left.  bruce and steve and everyone have to go on living still.  

“Wasteland, baby / I'm in love, I'm in love with you / (That's it)” - this abruptness just reminds me a lot of the snap; that’s it.  there’s no going back.  

[faemoria-arch]

okay so a few days ago i received a mysterious anon asking ‘ how do i draw the characters ’ && given the context of what had been previously posted i assume this was asking for advice on how i draw tooth , jack , && pitch specifically . so this is . . . that . starting with toothiana . this isn’t like a step-by-step guide on how i draw her character so much a bunch of rambling of things i keep in mind for what i feel is right to communicate my portrayal of a character that was not fully designed by me . which means i don’t know if it would really help anybody else actually do anything , but maybe it’s interesting to consider when it comes to making choices for your own characters && stuff  ? idk . w/e here we go .

okay so really basic fundamental strictly relevant to drawing her is that i treat her feathers like clothing which means i always draw her basic body shape first && then add them on . pushing gestures is extra important for characters who’s bodies are padded with other stuff because the clothing/feathers/fur/etc. will tame it down a lot , which can lead to them looking stiff if you don’t overcompensate to start with .

i hate that drawing WHAT A GOOD START . another small thing i try to keep in mind is that i actually draw her line of balance as though she is standing from her shoulders to her hips , && in most drawings only shift her legs to show that she is not , this is because at some point i realized that unless i’m trying to make her positioning seem awkward or draw attention to the fact that she is flying , it’s just really jarring to our eyes to see a humanoid exist upright in a position where they should not be able to balance . the movie does this too ( although it liked to position her more as though she’s sitting in the air really ) , which is why one of the more memorable shots in the movie is this :

because it’s really throwing in our face that tooth is not bound to the laws of gravity like we are && she is very accustomed to that . it’s impactful because she’s not constantly seen in poses like this . it is also not a coincidence that this is shown when she is reflecting on the supernatural reality of her work/life && playing the role of a mentor . my tooth in that scene would probably look more like this , because personality wise she’s obviously different in some ways . i studied && adapted a lot of the body language tooth displays in the movie for my portrayal ( why wouldn’t i , i still feel like it’s one of the most gorgeously animated movies in terms of its characters ever ) , but ofc it’s still not an exact match if i put my version in the same scenes .

movie tooth looks like she’s holding herself for comfort , almost like she’s cold . legs brought together , she’s trying to make herself smaller as a result of her uncertainty . my tooth is more aggressive in nature , so when she is anxious && talking about something that makes her uncomfortable she’s more likely to cross her arms over her chest which is still a subconsciously defensive gesture but a far more stand-offish . her legs are rarely poised in unison because she’s more than happy to take up more space . on the other hand :

my portrayal of tooth is also hyper-empathetic so talking to someone else about what’s hurting them ? she’ll subconsciously express her understanding of their hurt through something like placing a hand over her own heart . anyways my portrayal of tooth is still supposed to be petite but she’s also more curvy than the movie’s version in some areas ( something i decided to emphasize when i realized movie tooth is supposed to look like a young teen body-wise apparently ?? )  , so even though she usually ends up looking less bodacious in the end , this is pretty much her body shape if you took all those feathers off .

by default tooth is meant to be an exceptionally graceful looking character . i try to portray this in pretty much any situation of course , but one of my favorites is portraying it in the context of battle-readiness / battle-motions , because it gives a really stark && dramatic visual contrast to draw attention to it . a.k.a. her weapons .

i’m pushing curves as much as i can where i can . the motion through her body should seem as fluid && light as possible like she’s in the middle of a dance until it comes to the taut energy being held in her weapons . her blades are harsh angles in the midst of everything else  - it’s something i over exaggerate all the time by making them literally nothing but straight lines . that is what spells out ‘ all her anger && tension is right here , in this sword . ’

( yeah don’t worry i’m gonna get to my thought process on drawing that asshole later ) it’s a useful norm on its own for another point of contrast to explore : when toothiana is in the mindset where her entire body is displayed as a weapon , more feral && wild . then it’s angles everywhere i can get away with it because the tension is everywhere , while still following the general ‘push && pull/squash && stretch’ rule of curves in drawing ofc .

in the movie tooth fights strictly with her wings ( && bunnymund’s boomarangs for a scene but she seems to use them like melee weapons )  so they do the same thing when she’s hostile at all . it’s just a visual storytelling shorthand for our society : whether its fangs , claws , bristling fur , a knife . sharp = dangerous . you want your character to look dangerous ? one way to do that is to make ‘em sharp !

lol butt . her crest of feathers on her head also flares out when she’s angry in the movie , which is something i used to have a good gif of their testing for but i can’t find it now . it’s another thing that gives the impression of being more sharp && jagged even just from a sheer consideration of silhouette , while also mixing in a more natural feel to the fact that she’s covered in feathers if she expresses herself through them .

last but not least , all that personal stylization really is in anything - drawing , writing , graphic design , whatever - is knowing the rules well enough to figure out how you can break them the way you like . i fudge things in how i draw toothiana all the time , but it’s always an intentional design choice , && i’m consistent about it , && that’s all it takes to make it go past the radar of suspended disbelief . for instance i never show toothiana’s ears with her feathers no matter how realistic it would be to see them . the golden ‘earring’ feathers are always covering them no matter what .

why ? because i tried to show her ears once && i didn’t like how it looked && that’s it that’s all the excuse you need . another thing i once realized was how difficult it was to position toothiana’s wings when she was sitting or laying down . so now when they’re at rest i act like they’re a cape && make them magically flexible . problem solved , thematic , && way more fun to draw .

&& that’s what matters in the end . your character should be fun to portray !

[vyvesvi]

vyvesvi’s long awaited yesstyle review lmao :-)

ugh the keep reading isn’t working on mobile rip y’all sry

>a few Important things:

i just moved into my dorm yesterday so everything abt the pics and reviews to follow is a hot mess + i misplaced some stuff + didn’t bring it to my dorm bc it didnt work out (so i don’t have pics)

I’m not being sponsored in any way by yesstyle, i just don’t think there are enough black reviewers of yesstyle goods (but what does race have to do with anything, you may ask??? well, ppl come in all shaoes and sizes and the overlap between east asian sizes and body types and black body types is um. well. slim. that being said, i’ll give you some deets on me: i legit have no idea how much i weigh but im generally thin-ish with thicker thighs and a tummy pouch; height: ~169 cm, generally a US size S - M/4 - 6))

bc im not being sponsored, im not providing any (affiliate) links, just product names, sorry if that’s annoying

every yesstyle member (you become a member when you buy stuff) gets a reawrds code that takes a % off of my next order and the order that the code is used for, but I think it’s only like. 2% or smthng. message me and i’ll try to unearth my code if ur interested)

I ordered this stuff in two separate, similarly sized orders and the delivery time went like this (#1: ordered on-  2019-07-05 01:33 AM; split into two packages for some reason, received on like...july 22ndish? for some reason the tracking info isnt showing the delivery info. the 2nd part of this order, which was shipped a day later, arrived on the 19th. #2: ordered on-  2019-07-30 10:04 AM, received on  08/20, wasn’t expecting much bc it was shipped from hong kong during the protests but it was basically the same as the first order)

>the actual review part

i rly didnt wanna make a long post so just click for better quality sry lmao

edit: rip the quality if y’all want better photos @ me lmao

Dreamkura - Short-Sleeve Embroidered T-Shirt, Black - L

4/5- weird shape (really long sleeves for a short sleeved shirt, and really boxy too), and if you compare the placement and size of the patch vs. the one in the picture it’s not 100% accurate. still a cute shirt though so it’s fine

I sized up for an oversized look but I probably didn’t 100% need to

the black one is currently unavailable :/

camikiss - Seamless Under Shorts, Black - One Size

5/5- i wear these shorts too much. im wearing them right now. the ultimate safety shorts

the one size was a Risk but these shorts stretch well. maybe dont get them if you’re an XL and above in US sizes though

Lemongrass - Distressed Denim Shorts, Dark Blue - M

4.5/5- better quality than primark which. wow, did not see that coming

you have to cut the button hole (they seal it to show they they’ve never been worn apparently)

the button kinda like...jingles if you shake them vigorously, but it doesn’t happen when the pants are on, so it’s fine. still funny tho

im bad at wearing ripped shorts but if ur not i highly recommend

INKLEE - Round Buckle Faux Leather Belt - 105CM

5/5- kinda cheap but it does what I want which is hold my pants up lol

i could’ve sized down but that has way more to do with me not knowing my waist size lmao

Gwendolyn - Off-Shoulder Ruffle-Trim Blouse, White - One Size

4/5- i bought this bc it made me think “flyy like a butterfly” and all that jazz

it’s not my normal style but i really like it! it’s VERY sheer though

but I also got white so what did i really expect?

one-size was a risk once again but this shirt is pretty roomy, although it’s also kinda short...like not crop top short, but slightly difficult to tuck in short.

i would buy it again in black so i guess that says something

also i have like. freaky long arms (i can wave my hand over my shoulder with my arm behind my back and my elbow parallel to my torso...that’s such a weird description but uh. just know that my arms are long okay) and it didn’t look too indecent at the top to have the sleeves pulled down to my wrists! it’s a win!)

Moon City - Drop Shoulder Cardigan, Black - One Size

4.7/5- smelled weird when i opened it but I washed it and it’s fine!

one size risk but this one was also roomy af

the sleeves fit!!! god bless!!!

Edise - Couple Matching Elbow-Sleeve Embroidered T-Shirt, Black - L & White L

5/5- The white one was perfect and I love it! I sized like 2 sizes up for it to be a oversized but I would say it’s only abt 1 size oversized, if that makes sense? but I actually like it the way it is so cool lmao

3.7/5- the black one was really badly sewn on, but i reported it and got a new one for free so go me go yesstyle! they didnt give me tracking info *i think* and i wasn’t really waiting for it so it feels like it came fast lol

the moon is kinda a more awkward shape in person i think, but the stormy clouds were high quality and perfect!

i really like the material of the shirt!s it’s thick and soft and smooth? i’ve legit never felt a tshirt like that but im into it

DIYI - Plain High-Waist A-Line Skirt, Black - M

4.7/5- im wearing the outfit pictured right now and *TMI* the sewn in shorts are giving me a very very uncomfortably large wedgie tbh

it fits perfectly otherwise though

i feel like it’s one of the cheapest feeling things that i received, but it’s about forever21 quality but for only $11.45 so i’m 100% fine with it tbh

TREEZIN - Plaid Mini Skirt, Dark Blue - M

4.7/5- it’s very cute and fits perfectly! kinda shirt though and there was like 1 loose thread

the brown in the skirt isn’t super noticeable which i don’t really mind...overall i’d say that they lightened the photos considerably, which effects the color of the skirt

no safety shorts but idrc

pretty thick material

the final stretch thank god

Manicotto - Mock Two-Piece Sleeveless Mini Dress, Check - M 

3/5 pretty cheap material. the skirt is true to size, but the top is like two sizes too small (i don’t have that much boob but it was still too much for this poor, poor, top). they come as separate pieces, so i brought the skirt to school with me and left the top at home. im not sure what i would tell someone who wanted to buy this abt sizing, bc of the dramatic discrepancy btwn the sizes.

A’ROCH - 925 Sterling Silver Dinosaur Earring, 1 Pair - S925 Silver - Gold - One Size 

4/5, very cute, VERY small (dainty, sure) and good quality! my only complaint is that either it’s not real silver or whatever it is that they used to make them look gold is something that im allergic to. my ears got itchy

A’ROCH - 925 Sterling Silver Ear Cuff1 Pair - Cross - Silver - One Size

4.7/5, definitely 100% silver. i’d love to wear them but with my move i can’t find either pair of the earrings

they only sell them as 2 of the cross cuffs or 2 of the parallel cuffs which is annoying bc they’re pictured together but they’re good enough and cheap enough that i’d buy the parallel ones in a separate order

Euphrasia - Oxford Crossbody Bag, Black - One Size 

5/5 one of my best buys hands down

its ugly cute but it’s so useful

it has so much storage space for such a small bag

im in love

Jansi - Set of 3: Heart-Embroidered Socks, Black + White + Blue - One Size

4.5/5 i wanted the dark gray that’s pictured but they edited the hell out of that photo so the blue that i ordered is actually the gray sock pictured

really comfy and cute! esp with the tops of the hearts peeking out over the tops of high top converses??? i love it sm

i have big feet and they fit me, so they’d fit most ppl i think

Ashlee - Cuffed Denim Shorts, Light Blue - M

2/5, a horrible disappointment part 1

maybe i shouldve sized up more but the critch area just fits SO BADLY i left these at home

i would return but im not paying for return shipping to hong kong so i’ll donate them

they’re also cute really badly like they don’t taper in at the waist at all

no human person is shaped like that pls ashlee

they get a 2 bc they are shorts and they sent me the right color

Rosehedge - Pleated Mini Skirt, Black - S

3/5, a horribly disappointment part 2

i shouldve sized up idky i didnt

i can actually fit into them and zip them up and everything but it’s so so short that you can basically see my entire safety short covered butt and it kinda bulges between the top of the tiny sewn in safety shorts and the actual skirt

wow thats a weird sentence sorry but you get it

has thousands of good reviews though, way more than anything on this list so that must count for something right?

3 bc it’s kinda my fault

Regalia - Faux Leather Wallet, Black - One Size 

5/5 beautiful lots of storage space but still very compact, would buy again

the “forever young, made in korea” is kinda ugly but what can you do?

Prinsis - Printed Socks, Dinosaur - White - One Size

3.5/5 they’re cute, but the design is so but that you can see halves of it on the front of the sock, which is very ugly

notice how on the site every pic is taken from the side? not a coincidence

they fit fine and are comfy though

>okay that’s it thank god!

>lmk if you have any questions!!!

(@gowon-yyxy)

[angmarwitch]

A/N: In honor of the opening of The Phantom of the Opera in the Philippines, I give you this fic. I hope you enjoy! (the title is taken from Masquerade from TPOTO)

Summary: 

When his half-brother dragged him to attend a Halloween party, Orm thinks that he will have a terrible night. Well, that's until he found someone with a matching costume.

(Or Orm dresses as Raoul de Chagny from the Phantom of the Opera in Bruce Wayne's Halloween Party and he meets you, who is dressed as Christine)

Warnings: None so far, but maybe just a little fluff and some occasional angst from Orm. Also, a bit OOC(?)

Perhaps of all the things Orm Marius hated in the surface world, there is nothing that can compare to the sheer loathing he felt for parties. Even when he was still the former King of Atlantis, Orm never enjoyed parties and was only forced to partake in the feasts and banquets in order to fulfill his duties as a King and to appease his subjects and the Atlantean nobles. For him, such events were too loud and annoying and simply an inefficient way to interact with people so he avoided them as much as he can.

So when his obnoxious King of a brother asked, no, forced Orm to accompany him to a party, the younger royal refused, violently. He even went as far as threatening to kill Arthur, for real this time, if the half breed would continue pestering him with such a stupid notion.

Yet, all his efforts had gone to waste when Atlanna asked him to go, saying that it would be a good way for him to assimilate with humans and learn more about their culture. Not wanting to disappoint his beloved Mother, Orm relented and accepted another defeat.

It was the reason why he is here now, standing awkwardly in the corner of a stranger's house (apparently, the owner had been one of his brother's allies in their little group called Justice League, he recalls Arthur calling him Wayne or something like Batman) in an equally uncomfortable costume his brother got him. Inasmuch as he hated socializing with these low-life surface-dwellers (humans, Arthur would correct), he does want to admit that a few of them actually had good taste and upbringing. It's a shame that some actually befriended his beloved half-brother.

Shifting, he tried to fix his ill-fitting clothing, his costume. At first, he really didn't understand the prospect of wearing this ensemble but Arthur patiently explained that they were attending a Halloween party. It was a surface tradition to wear such attire to celebrate the event. If he were given the chance, he would have just worn his normal Atlantean regalia but his brother pointed out that it was a human event, thus Orm ought to wear human clothing.

The now King of Atlantis even offered to choose his clothing. Skeptical of his brother's ability and tastes though, Orm demanded he picks his own clothes. He was thankful that he did for Arthur had almost dressed him in a dragon costume so that he might match Mera and Arthur's "Game of Thrones" attires. The dragon was supposed to be Mera's pet or child. Orm refuses to degrade himself further like that. The Prince was a perfectionist and if he had to attend this Halloween party, his clothing would need to be as perfect and dignified as he is.

In his short stay in the surface, Orm had gone to enjoy some of the mediocrity the humans had invented and produced. One of the things he had come to love here was music. His home had never lacked gifted musicians and composers, however, it appears that the same can be said with the surface dwellers (he wasn't a keen fan of modern music though). A music lover, Orm absolutely became engrossed with the works of Chopin, Beethoven, Vivaldi, and Bach. He also admired the beauty of operas, musicals, and theatres, one from which he took the inspiration for his Halloween garments.

Scanning the crowd, he tried to look for his idiot half-brother to ask him how long he needed to stay here before he could return home. The incessant prattle of people was grating his nerves and he doesn't think he can stand another woman try to coax him into a conversation.

But instead of finding his brother, his eyes landed on a familiar figure, one that seemed to have been caught in the same predicament as he is.

You stood out amongst the sea of people that surrounded you. You wore nothing but a simple gown of white, a wedding gown, a design that he knows by heart. Your hair was styled with little waves, fanning around your heart-shaped face, and appeared to be bouncing each time you moved. Your face had been devoid of all the freakish colors, makeup as Arthur called it, other women had covered their faces.

Orm can sense your nervousness and unease from across the room. He wasn't an expert in reading surface-dwellers but he feels that like he, you were also dragged to attend this event without any say. This night was supposed to be for fun. An idea came into his mind, perhaps he could remedy that. The question is if you would humor him, given that the two of you matched outfits. It was truly coincidence but not an unwelcome one.

A shy smile graced your lips and a beautiful shade of pink dusted your cheeks as soon as you met his eyes. He waited for a hint of recognition in your features and when your eyes widened, he knew that you finally realized why he had taken a particular interest in you. Smirking, he walked slowly towards you,  in a non-predatory way, afraid that you might leave. He always had that effect to other surface dwellers.

You didn't though.

"Hello, little lotte," he greeted, his eyes lighting with amusement, closing the distance between you. He bowed his head a little, copying the actions of gentlemen in those lousy romantic movies Arthur and his Mother had forced him to watch, and it was working.

"Monsieur," you replied, giggling softly as you dipped into a curtsy. Smoothing your skirts with one hand, you offered the other to him which he gladly accepted.

Orm, who had the mind to thank Arthur later (for the first time and hopefully also the last), bent to press a kiss on the back of your hand. He was immediately rewarded with a modest laugh from you and he thinks that he likes the sound of it.

"Waiting for your Phantom, I presume?" He asked, straightening himself, your hand still remaining in his. You smiled sheepishly, tucking a stray strand of hair behind your ear, the color of your cheeks deepening prettily. Now that he had a clear view of your appearance, he believes that you looked even more enchanting. How can a surface dweller have this much allure? He mused. Recalling the musical he had based his guise on, he now understands why Raoul and the Phantom had fallen for Christine.

"No, I don't think I need to anymore, Monsieur," you said, shaking your head, eyes transfixed on your connected hands. "My Vicomte has finally arrived."

Grinning as he offered you his arm, Orm concluded that surface parties and its dwellers may not be that bad at all.

And yes, he will definitely thank his idiot half-brother later.

More A/N:  *I wanted to add a picset but unfortunately, my computer is malfunctioning.

*Little Lotte is the nickname Raoul had given Christine. It was from the story her Father used to tell them when they were younger. 

*Vicomte is Raoul’s title it is the equivalent of Viscount I think. 

*The Game of Thrones reference is a bit lousy/cheesy but I had to do it. lol

[justatiredasfuckwriter]

Chapter 5 - The Meeting

Contents, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4

(tw: suicide baiting, bullying.)

Previously:

The answer was quick. “ There’s a bar close by. ‘S called God’s Broth. Meet on the roof of it at midnight. If you try anything, I won’t hesitate to take you down. Can you do that?”

“ Of course,” Kibo said. “ Will I have to, uh. Show my identity?”

“ Fuck nah. I mean, you can if you want, I’m not.” They breathed out a breath. “ Cool. Cool, uh so... bye then? Thank you, again.”

He shrugged and stopped at the side of the roof. “ Bye, dumbass.”

As he leapt off into the night, he barely caught a muttered, “ It’s Kibo, asshole.”

Huh. So the dumbass can swear.

Izuku was panicking. It wasn't even a usual panicking - 'I won't be able to escape these bullies today', 'how's mom?', 'i forgot my homework'. This time, it was panic, but it was... lightheartenned?

(Can you even say that?

... Fuck you, now he can. )

By lightheartenned, he meant there was a good side to the panicking. Not that it made much sense, but nothing did anyway, so who honestly cares?

He was excited, because he'd be able to help lives. But he was also dreading it, because what if he wasn't accepted? And so, boom; lightheartenned panic. He'd panic over whether he'd be allowed to join the quirk trafficking case, but then at the same time he'd think about how sneaky could he be in following the case despite a negative answer?

He'd panic over if he heard the meetup time and place wrong, before resolving that it didn't really matter - he'd search the whole neighbourhood for Valour and probably find them, since his neighbourhood was quite small. He'd panic over if his personality would scare them away, then consider how the vigilante obviously didn't really care and had a scary personality themselves.

And he panicked over if Valour was right. If him trying to join the case would only endanger lives. But, then he thought that it wouldn't come to that. He wouldn't let himself do that. He won't endanger lives, he'd only save them.

" Dek- Midoriya!"

Izuku's head snapped up, facing the teacher. " Pay attention and stop doodling. Need I tell you this again and again?"

Izuku stopped himself from pointing out that really, he had been the whole time, and he was just note-taking for a second. Of course, that wouldn't have done anything and only given himself a detention.

" S-Sorry... Sir," he said, no more than a murmur, face emotionless and posture tired.

His teacher turned and went back to teaching the snickering class. Izuku hated it.

He knew that in only a few moves he could have the whole of his class knocked out on the floor (save Kacchan, maybe). Then, who'd be the one laughing, taunting? Of course, he'd never hurt them (too badly. He'd definitely be up for a few punches or kicks). They were, well, sort of innocent. They didn't know who they were messing with and the extent of their actions.

Izuku bet, that if he did do what they told him to do everyday ('Go kill yourself, Quirkless!' 'Seriously, why are you still alive, freak?!' 'Y'know, I bet the world would be a better place if you jumped.'), they'd immediately regret it. They'd never killed someone. They'd never been faced with something as terrible as the feeling of it.

When Izuku got home (after visiting his mom, of course), he had his job to attend to. Izuku dressed into some more comfortable clothes - a shirt that read exactly that, shirt', some jeans and a hoodie - and left his apartment.

The convenience store wasn't all that far away - just a couple of blocks. He walked quite quickly anyway, really not wanting to be late. His manager was already impatient with him because of his quirklessness and that one time he'd been late because of his, ah, daily beatings.

He walked, and looked at his surroundings lazily. But then his eye caught on something. It was a poster, strapped to a streetlight. He walked up to it out of sheer curiosity.

Missing - Have You Seen This Child?

Under it was a picture of what looked like a five year old girl. She was beaming and wearing a pink shirt. Her brown hair was loose, down to her shoulders and her greenish-brownish eyes sparkled.

Izuku looked at the information under the photo.

Hina Yamamoto was last seen on April, 20th wearing the same top showed in the image above and blue shorts in Musutafu Park. She was six years old - Quirk; the power to control and solidify shadows.

If you see her or know of her whereabouts, please contact us, at xxx-xxx-xxx. Anyone who finds her will be rewarded with a negotiable amount.

Then, in small handwriting at the bottom, it read;

Please. We just want our child back.

Izuku frowned sadly and, on a second thought, took out his phone and took a picture. It couldn't be a coincidence of what that guy from the alley had said yesterday.

'... scowled at the ground, " If- If you look at where kids have gone missing lately, y-you'll realise that they disappear around a specific location and time...'

The date on the poster that she had gone missing was April 20th. That was five days ago. He'd have to keep an eye out for any other posters around here.

His shift at the convenience store was short and had no hiccups, so by the time he was out he was in a good mood and it was just getting dark.

Perfect.

He hurried home and put on his vigilante costume, making sure no one saw when he exited through the backdoor. It was only 11:28, and he had around half an hour until his 'meeting' with Valour, which was at midnight.

Izuku walked along the roofs for a while, before deciding to find the bar Valour had mentioned - God's Broth - in advance, just in case he wouldn't be able to find it at the last minute.

It took a few twists and turns, but eventually Izuku found the bar. He crouched on the side, looking down at the floor below for a while. People walked by and the music from inside the bar was muffled, but still there. Men walked out of the bar every so often walking in any direction but straight and hollering gibberish, so it was obvious they were drunk.

Izuku thought that it might be a very common occurrence of a fight breaking out anytime soon.

Something white caught his eye; another poster strapped to a lamppost. He hesitated, before scaling down the side of the bar wall and making his way across to read the poster. It was another missing person case - a boy called Hiro Takadashi, seven years old with a quirk that allowed him to sense when someone was about to use their quirk a few seconds before they do (though it was said that it only worked on emitter types).

This one had apparently been last seen near a toy shop just down the road from the park in which the other girl had been. Izuku was getting a bad feeling about all this. He didn't have his phone on him, so he just tried his best to memorise the important parts of it.

He then walked back to the bar and scaled the building again. He checked his watch. It was already 11:56. Midnight was approaching quickly.

He started to pace, waiting for Valour. His legs were full of adrenaline, nervous for how the meeting was going to go and he really didn't want to get on the bad side of the vigilante by going behind his back and interfering anyway if he got a negative answer.

He heard the sound of shoes hitting cement and whipped around.

" Dumbass. You aren't late," Valour said as they walked towards him, thumbs hooked in their belt loops.

" Yeah," Izuku coughed and cleared his throat when it came out in a higher octave than normal. " Uh, y-yeah. You, uh. You showed up."

Valour scoffed. " Give me some credit. I'm gonna turn up if I make the meeting."

" Yeah, of course," Izuku said. An awkward silence draped over them.

Valour broke it, " Well anyway, you still wanna join or what?"

" Yes," he replied, not missing a beat. " I do. What's your answer, then?"

For Izuku, it felt like the world was holding its breath as Valour tilted their head up to the sky and thought for a second. The sound of muffled music from the bar below sounded distant, and so did the jeers people did from inside. Only the wind whistling at his ears felt real.

" You've been training as a vigilante for a while, right?" Valour finally said.

" Yeah," Izuku said. " Around three years. Doesn't sound like much but you do learn quick."

" 'Aight," they replied slowly. They paused and hummed. " You said you know shit. How d'you help a bleeding wound?"

" Apply pressure with cloth - preferably clean - which could also be a piece of gauze, some tissue, whatever," he said quickly.

" How do you knock someone out?"

" Well, there's no safe way to do it, but hitting them in the pressure point on their neck, their temple, their jaw or the back of the head usually works. Or just choking them - that works too."

" Do you know how to use that staff?"

Izuku smirked and reached his hand up, gripping said weapon. He slid it out of its holder and swirled it in his hand, swapping to the other hand while still turning it. It cut through the air silently yet quickly but he knew that it would definitely hurt if he hit someone with it - as he'd designed it to do.

" That answer your question?" he said slyly.

" Not really, anyone could do that with a few videos from the fuckin' internet," Valour replied, arms crossed.

" Well, what's your weapon?"

Valour smirked - or at least, Izuku pictured them to. " My main weapon? Don't honestly have one. I fight with whatever I've got. I do have knives though, and I can throw them well, so there's fuckin' that."

Izuku hummed. " Are you good with them?"

" Let's see."

He cocked his head. " ... What do you mean by that?"

" I mean, you're allowed to join the fucking case. Only if you don't mess up in the following minutes," they said.

" The following minutes...?"

" Yup," Valour said. " C'mon, I wanna see how well you fight. Let's go patrolling."

A/N:

Hi! Fifth chapter is finally out! I'm pretty sure it's longer than the others but anyway.

So, we see a bit of Izuku in a school environment. It hurt writing that honestly lol. And... missing people posters? Hm, better try and remember those for the future... Anyway, Katsuki's let Izuku join the case, so now he won't have to go behind his back!... Uh, *cough cough* not that he would... totally.

In the next chapter, we'll finally see them fighting in action! Reblogs are appreciated! Have a great day, bye byeee <3

[paganchristian]

The neighbor cat and its friend, sibling?  We were playing with them, and they were chasing this bag, racing, leaping around the grass. The one is more dominant and the other stopped visiting us.  Maybe because the one is jealous and intimidates the other from coming.  :(  Even though they’re both so sweet.

We had a fire last night, again.  We have much firewood, coincidentally, because we a big oak tree fall on our property recently.  And the cat came and visited us, and sat beside us for hours.  But this time he seemed to be more aloof.  I’m not sure if he even has an owner, and I fear, I hope he’s ok, well-fed, safe, but I don’t want to steal anyone’s cat.  As far as I can see, he’s not too thin, but he’s a little on the thinner side though, it’s hard to say with cats, with fluffier ones, maybe, especially it would seem that under all that fur maybe they’re thinner than they seem. He just laid there or sat there instead of being so affectionate the whole time, like before.  Then I think he fell asleep and slept for hours as we watched our fire and time slipped like sand by some meditative change of perception or something, how it is that time slips pleasurably away, without knowing where it went.  

And we’re not even talking much, just watching the fire, and we’re not sleeping.  It’s like a time warp.  Few things can calm and soothe me like that, but spending time with a playful, affectionate cat, is one thing that also makes time disappear, and doing artistic crafty things too, sometimes.  Dance, yoga, qigong and tai chi and pilates.  Visions of love from spirit, when they save me from life’s stress.  Many things that work like this for others aren’t the same for me, gardening, music, movies, reading, walking in nature.  It’s not that I can’t enjoy them sometimes, even a lot of the time, with some of it (like walking in nature), but it doesn’t swallow time in a quickly elapsing hourglass of hours turned into minutes...  

And so with those other sorts of positive “time-wasting”, relaxing things, ...  With these other things, they don’t seem to be a safe haven in which I am able to lose myself..  Worries still writhe their way in, take over, destroy my peace, if I don’t have someone else to hold me in check, like my daughter, my husband, whose emotional stability keep me from abandoning healthy pursuits in favor of obsessive and escapist, addictive, imbalanced, fretful, self-destructive things, how it was when I was a housewife, before my daughter grew up into a relatable creature.  I was miserable before she was born and I was tormented after she was born, not happy as a mom of a baby, either, but I tried my best, and she did bring me much joy and love and I gave her much love too.  But still, I wasn’t happy, because I never did mean to become  a mother and was too depressed, ill and confused to manage well.  But after she reached a certain age, I had been gradually healed over many years of her loving, patient, childlike, unself-conscious, peaceful, patient, joyful, playful life,... 

Because I learned to become more and more of my inner child through her good example, and find the parts of me that can patiently, calmly enjoy fun things without feeling bored or guilty to be spending time just having fun. 

And spirit healed me over those years too, and that helped me become able to just enjoy life, without a torture of guilt and fear and meaningless anymore, bit by bit, without a heartless leaden weight consuming and casting itself like a drowning weight, keeping me mired in the mud.  Spirit still helps me like this, and more and more with this new Christian path, these new groups, the pagan-Christian compromise path I’m making for myself too, now.  

Spirit beings, over the years, ... they healed me with energy, with ideas, with spiritual practices, and bliss poured over me, and changed the cells of my being, in a chain reaction.  I don’t know how.  It changed me, my heart, my mind, my soul, without my conscious participation, as a feeling of sheer love just soaked through my being and changed me.  It was God, but before the Judeo-Christian God, it was in the form of Hindu deities, and before the Hindu deities, it was spirit guides and it was visions of beings, and sprits, other humans, astral projecting to heal me, at least that was what I experienced, not that the people ever said they did any such thing.  But all I know is it changed every fiber of my being.  Spiritual practice and ideas and philosophies too, changed every core of my being.  Every core of my being?  Well, I think so, ..

I think,..  I seem to have multiple beings, or multiple cores, a changing, oscillating, spiraling self, an orbit of selves.  Not multiple personalities, or dissociative identity disorder, but something else, more like aspects of the self.  That are very distinct and separate from each other.  And that need to be healed in different ways, and each have their time to come out and express themselves, or they will fester and mental illness, and physical illness and overall disorder will come from them.  That sounds weird, maybe, but it works for me. I was thinking why did I say, cores of my being, and I thought, as often my weird wording and other such odd coincidences happen for me, I find deep, satisfying and uncommon meanings and answers inside them. 

  And anyway, my daughter grew up to become more and more someone who is able to relate to my interests, ... whilst I was changing, becoming more of my inner child and learning to relate better to her interests, ...  And now we’ve come to a point where we kind of met in the middle, and now I’m a grown up mom who is still very childlike.  I hope she doesn’t outgrow me.  Lol  I want to help her to keep her inner child alive and well and thriving and maybe we’ll always have this inner child fun relationship together even once she is grown and we can connect that way,...

But yeah, these good and relaxing things that aren’t pure mediation for me , like the fire can be, those other things, they’re really at risk for being derailed,...  Even with the things that feel like meditation, I seem to need a companion to help to keep me from abandoning it.  

Worries and pains do melt away from me, somewhat, when we walk in the soothing nature and wilderness, yes,...  

But,...  it’s not that thick gloop of cooling, erasing pain feeling, pure meditation.  These other things are just meditative, without being pure meditation... 

But sometimes I don’t need pure meditation.  So I often prefer a less mellow thing.  I spend much time on many days doing walking, divination, doing homeschool with my daughter, that keeps my mind more engaged but tones down the worry spiral and keeps it under control and spiraled down into a coiled up snake that is just ever waiting to explode wildly when something can trigger it.

Why is it all these other things that are meditation for others aren’t for me?  I guess we all have our preferences and different things that work for us for different things.  And sitting meditation and breath meditation and no-mind, no-thought meditation, I do enjoy but these days I like something more to be going on in my meditation but in the past I would slip into these for hours, these meditation nothingness, no-mind places I could disappear from my self and worries and the world into them.  But being meditative or pure meditation is helped by the prayer, the continual background prayer that I do all day, almost, these days.  

Anyway, once the fire was done, last night, the cat woke up and was so very talkative, and I was so sad we had to go indoors and it was our bedtime.  It never talked so much before, continual little mrrr sounds, high pitched, adorable, sweet and eager.  What was it saying to us, anyway?  I think maybe, it was surprised it could sleep and wake up and there we still were.  It’s nice to sleep beside someone you love and wake up there with them.  There’s something magical.  It was purring all through its sleep too, sometimes sleep is so happy and rejuvenating.  A sleep filled with loving energy and dreams.  But I don’t know what it was thinking, I wonder. 

I feel like my life is boring, it is riveting and joyful to me, actually.  I feel my life is nonverbal, and mute, but for my daughter who spends most of the day with me, we actually talk about things through the day, but if I try to connect to my loved ones, then how will I connect?  I feel like I’m a boat lost at sea, so far away, so distant.  And if other boats pass by I feel I can’t reach out.  I’m in my own little boat.  I don’t know how to relate to them.  I am scared they need me.  When the people in the other boats shout out, I can’t answer.  I not only cannot bring myself to say much, as my mind is blank.  I even feel sad and weary to even hear them, to see them.  

I am an island, my little boat of my immediate family only, here with me in this boat of ours. My husband peripheral and I can’t talk to him either much, even if he’s in the boat and we spend a fair amount of time together, but distant and coldness is inevitable with our history and present as it is.  With the pain that can’t be erased, probably, ever.  So it’s mostly me and my daughter in my boat and my husband is just a peripheral navigator, taking us where we need, and he is sometimes a practical companion for certain things. A frightening character who we might need to leave behind if things ever get too crazy and his warning signs ever become something worse and realer, more dangerous, as they have been, in the more distant past, several years ago, for many years, when my daughter was very young and then before she was born, many years of horrible hell.  But for now, we live in the river and he’s our only boat and we have no boat without him, and may as well drown because I don’t think I can do it without him.  The depression might destroy me finally then.  Might, and I don’t want to test that theory, so I stay and I pray it away... Thinking this humiliation might be a design from God, a test to make me stronger through conflict and challenge, like I have written of before. 

And yet, with my other family and friends, still,...  I can’t shake this deep feeling, this yearning feeling, this eager and hopeful feeling, there is a promise and there’s a surprise and there is a secret here, waiting for me to unveil the present in it...  There is so much I have to offer, I know it, I know it.  And so I feel surely there is a way I can reach and share with them, my loved ones.  But how?  

My life is full and overflowing with joy and beauty, to me, to my daughter, but it feels our joys and beauties and pleasures and meanings aren’t something others can really get and appreciate, or how can they?  I don’t know how to share these homey, slow, childlike, tacky, cringey, dumb and simple things with others, even if to me they are beautiful, fulfilling, the height of meaning, love, beauty, creativity, intuition.  For me, but again, what works for one is not what is even tolerable to another.  How can I reach them?  How can I tell them to even be near them more often than just a few times a year,... that more time together with them than that overwhelms me, ...

Or how can I,... Or, can I change this horrible, sad reality of isolation and being such an island to those closest to me, except for one person, one child?  

And,...  How can I find what lets me bridge the gap to ever feel not drowned by another language I can’t speak, suffocated into silence and neglect?  Because that is how I feel around others.  Their sun wilts my self.  I don’t enjoy it all that much, but especially if I feel ignored and unable to speak my own voice.  I don’t feel they would really care that much about my self, I can’t reach out.   And how can I teach my daughter to learn how she can reach out to others, relate, connect and enjoy other peoples’ company as well, since we both need to have others who we can relate to in the real normal modern world so we’re not doomed to isolation and loneliness if we don't’ always have each other this close and so what do I do I wonder?  

But ...  Speaking of loneliness, .. 

I am much less lonely without the other people than I was, back then, when I depended on them and tried to reach out.  I never found solace and joy in them, try as I might.  Well, actually that is not entirely true, because in high school I had friends who were a lifeline in my otherwise completely miserable lost depressive existence, totally depth of despair day by day life.  But I was different then, they were different then, we were both teenagers, that was another world, another self, another life.  I can’t apply it to who I am anymore at all. 

[tumblunni]

Speaking of nb characters in video games is it just me or is yellow and green becoming the nb character colors, i mean chara, pluto (uranium), and corlal are connected with yellow and green. frisk and niko both get purple(?) in their designs (also nice colors) which breaks the lil pattern, but I still think its an interesting color association!

Yeah, its very odd! There’s so many greens!I think maybe it might be due to common gender stereotype colours for the binary? Like its a visual shorthand to pick a colour between blue and pink (purple) or one that’s still a common primary colour but unrelated (green). Tho also there’s the less common but still weird that it appeared twice thing of just having blue and pink together in stripes or patterns. Both Frisk and Quina had that.Or like..the agender flag is green and grey and the nonbinary one is yellow and purple, but those arent colours that commonly mesh well in a character design so maybe people smooshed together half and half? This is probably not a likely answer lol.

So yeah I highly doubt it was on purpose but that’s the only explanation I can think of if it was accidental? or it could just be sheer coincidence, I mean we only have like a literal handful of characters to judge this on XD And two of them are by the same person and two of them are modern characters who came out around the same time and might have shared influences. And also Pluto doesn’;t exist in a vacuum, the other two gender options use red and green too, just in different parts of the outfit. And the dad character in that game has a green outfit and the mom has green hair, so was probably just meant to resemble them. *shrug*

Anyway lol now i will never unnotice this even though it probably was never meant to mean anything XD

[gulescamisade]

Minnesota:  Day 4

JAKE: -Another night is going by, he's pretty sure. And he's so sweaty, hungry, and thirsty. If their captors had left food or water for him, Jake promptly turned it down as he felt was the NATURAL THING TO DO. He heard what became of those mushroom tests from LOWAS. None of this was exactly ideal... He groans miserably, rubbing his tum of awful hunger pains. The headaches and dry throat.-

JAMES: -continuing his meditation and fasting. Energy continues to be conserved and though he is hungry, it's not the worst he's experienced. He only hopes the fact that it's gone quiet these past few hours can only be a good thing. No news is good news, James tells himself. It's the only thing he can do.-

ROXY: =Things seem quiet..... she leans against her wall and tap tap........ who's next to her. TAPS=

JAMES: -The only one who is paying attention is James. Leans back to the wall and taps in response.-

JAKE: -curled up in a ball, having cried himself into another headache nap.-

ROXY: =Baby no........ she taps out [HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTT] in morse code then POOFs over into the next cell.=

JAMES: -sitting crosslegged with his whole button up and slack combos. Professional even in these dire circumstances. James looking a little haggard what with his hair out of place, but still alert. Ready for action if need be.- ROXY.

JAMES: ....I AM RELIEVED TO SEE YOU.

JAMES: YOU ARE NOT HURT, ARE YOU?

ROXY: =She's definitely been sweating but she didn't wanna flaunt her powers too much since they expect shit of her but... she can't just. Let them go without. Whoever else is here. She rushes over to him too= glad 2 see u too im fine

ROXY: u gotta grocery list? im ur gal call me target cuz wal marts 2 trashy and im the height of supermarket class

ROXY: not whole foods class tho thats borderin in2 pretentious

JAMES: -knits his eyebrows.- ...ARE YOU OFFERING FOOD?

ROXY: anythin u need that u can hide and food definitely

JAMES: -nods promptly- WATER. DRIED FRUIT. CRACKERS. PROTEINS. ANYTHING WITH NUTRITIONAL VALUE.(edited)

ROXY: gotcha =she finger waggles up a storm dropping two sturdy sacks of water, dried fruits in thin bags along with crackers and little bite-sized pieces of protein bars=

JAMES: -seems to be wiggling something out of the sole of his shoe.-

JAMES: -as it turns out, it is a single playing card. Flips it over the supplies as kind of single-slot emergency sylladex and stores it away.-

JAMES: I CANNOT EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE. BUT QUICKLY.

JAMES: TEND TO THE OTHER PRISONERS. JAKE IS HERE.(edited)

ROXY: =That's so cool... and a good idea= hope u dont mind me stealin ur idea.....

ROXY: =gestures to the other wall= is he over here u think? =taps??? TAPS=

JAMES: IT'S QUITE POSSIBLE. -What with hearing him yowl up a storm before.-

JAMES: TREAD CAREFULLY.

ROXY: never but ill try =two finger salute and BLIPS into the cell next to James'=

JAKE: -lying huddled in his corner like a sad dog, his back turned towards the door. Something about the BLIP stirs him awake, however, and he begins to wake up. Squinting with a bleariness around.- ....Rock and rolloxy?

ROXY: .....baby...... :C

ROXY: i gotta make it quick but do u need a hug?

JAKE: -it even hurts to cry but he's doing it anyway, rolling up to sit.- Yes... 8'C

ROXY: awww cmere =quickly shuffles over to give him a big strong hug=

ROXY: tell me wut u need and we can work it out... idk where we are and idk how many of us are in here....

ROXY: idk where everyone else is

JAKE: -weeps into her shoulder. Two smelly baras hugging it out.- Ive no idea either. Its—

JAKE: Cant i know if my sons are alright?? Oh rox its so cruel.

ROXY: i... wish i knew jakey boy.... if i could id get us a thing to try n get in2 this system but... that needs time and theyd be onto me lol...... not lol

ROXY: but well get outta this mess

JAKE: -scrubs at his face, so blotched and red with tears.- Well... well bust out of here! I know we will!

JAKE: And when we do they wont even know what hit them!

JAKE: Id do so right now if you gave the word. -looks off.- Maybe...

JAKE: Someone can help us?

ROXY: maybe but right now we can help each other =cups his face and kisses his forehead= ROXY: ill go scopin later.... try 2 see whats up

ROXY: maybe i can find every1

ROXY: but rn tell me what u need

JAKE: -smiles for the first time in a few days, warmed by the gesture. But then remembers what he's doing.- Shit uhh—

JAKE: Water and substantial edibles i think is a good start. -rubs his sad empty tum.-

ROXY: its the best start =smiles back at him then gets to work just giving him the same supplies she gave James= just hide em when someone comes u kno

ROXY: prison smugglin drills

JAKE: !!!

JAKE: Cripes this is just like magic...

JAKE: ... -looks around his cell.-

JAKE: Where ought i hide it?

ROXY: mmm ..... i might hafta steal a idea i saw from james hes ur neighbor btw

ROXY: =focuses......... tries to make the one dump sylladex card= this might work i think slip it in ur mustache lol or just like somewhere discreet

JAKE: Holy moly! -accepts the 1 dump sylladex card if she manages it.- Is this what i think it is?

JAKE: -Automatically believing that it's a 1 dump sylladex card so whether she DOES manage it, the card is already what she intends it to be.-

JAKE: -giving it a look over- :D

JAKE: -tucks it into the safety of his back pocket. Sitting on it now.-

ROXY: =bless u jake= good beans bby

ROXY: ill be back sometime keep ur spirits up ok?

JAKE: Yes ma am o whamma! -salutes her swiftfly. His spirits are in much better places than they were before.-

ROXY: good! =poof, she's outta there=

JAKE: -brimming with hope now and makes swift work of these dried fruits. Chugs what he can of the water.-

JAKE: -wiping off his mustache, he feels his willpower RENEWED. Better than ever.-

JAKE: -And if Roxy can pull her magic off, why the blazes can't he??? Jake rolls to stand, channeling that spark of hope to manifestation.-

(DIRK): -he puts the MAN in MANIFEST. extends leg, here is brain ghost dirk.-

(DIRK): Hey, that's the first time you summoned me consciously and not as the result of a homoerotic fantasy. Good job.

JAKE: -jumps as his voice comes up but brightens his scruffy self up immediately.- Dirk!

JAKE: Brain ghost! Youre here!

(DIRK): Yeah.

(DIRK): What are you gonna do with me now that I'm here? -lol and then what-

JAKE: -swiftly whaps the ishades off his face.- Give me that!

(DIRK): What the fuck. -covers his face. DON'T LOOK AT ME. he's being ironic mostly-

JAKE: -thrusting them onto his own face. Instant computer.- Hoo. Alright now. I need to contact the crew.

JAKE: Mind if i hornswoggle you of your pester client? Of course you do! -logging into his account.-

(DIRK): My pester client is imaginary, but alright.

JAKE: Huh? No its not? -It's not, Dirk. Look at it working. How??? Magic is how.-

(DIRK): -fucking incredible-

(DIRK): -obnoxiously hovers behind him-

(DIRK): It's almost like you have the ability to make anything a reality.

JAKE: -typing frantically, heart hammering as it actually DOES seem to work.- Shut up will you???

(DIRK): A dude summons you into his realm of existance just to tell you to shut up. Nice one.

JAKE: -Seeing everyone online makes his insides lurch painfully so he's only half paying attention to BGD. His franticness making his eyes water again as in the middle of the message, the connection severs.- Its—

JAKE: Its breaking up! -says with his concentration fizzling.-

(DIRK): Well don't give up.

(DIRK): Do something about it.

JAKE: Im trying damn you! Cant you see?? -says, clutching at the shades.-

(DIRK): And I'm telling you to try harder.

(DIRK): You have it in you to do this.

JAKE: -practically choking with frustration and wills the last bit of connection out of sheer spite. The last message gets through before cutting off completely.-

(DIRK): ...

(DIRK): There you go.

JAKE: -He is just never going to stop being tearstruck at this point. Obligatorily hands BGD his shades.-

JAKE: -His vision is swimming as his hand drops, looking at brain ghost now. Dirk knows Jake loves him doesn't he? Of course he does, a voice tells Jake predictably. It's what he wants to hear, it's the truth that he knows deep down in his heart and it's what BGD was basically scripted to say.-

JAKE: -So why was he still so miserable? He's gotta ask anyway.-

JAKE: He knows i love him right? Id do anything for him?

(DIRK): ... Of course he knows that.

(DIRK): He's probably driving himself up a wall cuz he can't tell you the same thing.

JAKE: -wipes at his nose.- I miss him something tremendous.

JAKE: You would think dodging near death experiences on a regular basis would make this easier to bear. But it doesnt.

JAKE: It really doesnt.

(DIRK): They're coming for you, you know. -he knows this because jake has to know this.-

(DIRK): ... -offers jake his hand to hold-

JAKE: -takes the hand, too dried up to cry in earnest anymore. His shoulders only sag.- At least i have you.

(DIRK): You'll always have me.

JAKE: -keeps their fingers twined together but gives up once their shoulders brush. Just rests his head against BGD, tired all over again.- Jeez louise dirk....

JAKE: Youre always so.

JAKE: You.

(DIRK): It's no coincidence. -leans on him too-

(DIRK): That's the way you want me to be.

JAKE: Shucks. Then i must be stock full of good ideas. -lets his eyes start to drift closed...-

(DIRK): Must be. -yes shhh sleep. it'll get better soon. just believe in that, jake-

JAKE: -having close company to fall asleep with is infitintely better than sleeping alone. Jake has decided this here and now.- 

[tumblunni]

Hashtag relateable protagonist yo

Gonna give some comments on Red String Of Fate as I play it! You can get the game here and it’s actually free to play. So yeah, even as I criticise parts of it, keep that in mind! Its really great for a free short lil slice of cuteness.

Oh, but the font size is weirdly small for some reason so I’m gonna be mostly doing cropped screenshots so you can see it thru tumblr auto resizing. Also the character sprites are very basic tbh, its like one pic that never changes throughout the game except eyes closed/eyes open and stuff. Like a lot of visual novels dont do much body language but the faces are very awkward here too. But yeah this isn’t a huge criticism cos I mean its free! Its impressive they managed to pull off this much in a quick project! I’ve seen way worse VNs on steam getting huge price tags, so i honestly don’t think this one should have been free, even if I have some complaints about it.

Anyway, onward!

We’re introduced to the premise of the story- that our heroine has the magic power to see red strings that show who your true love is. And by sheer coincidence during an exam she bumps into someone else who has the power! ...aaaand also she has a best friend, I guess. Seriously I feel kinda bad for Aaron, he’s not in on the secret or anything and if you take Luke’s route he’s just like comic relief the whole time. I wish there were more of the scenes where the three of them actually hang out as buddies.

I actually really liked the interesting ideas they had about how the red string could work! It’s just a shame that with the static character sprites you like.. literally never see any red strings at all except on the title screen. i wish I could have seen these cool ideas!

Oh and here’s a full screenshot so you can see the two love interests! Luke is on the left and Aaron is on the right. Luke is the mysterious other guy with the same power, Aaron is the adorable best friend who gets sidelined right away unless you pick his route. Like, I went for Luke route first cos I liked Aaron better and figured doing the best route last would be better than in DDADDS where i left the worst for last. I guess I can just hope that maybe Luke is equally sidelined on the other route? I wish neither of them were, tho, the game is best when they’re all playing off each other as the super besties team! Oh and like lol their personalities are very simple, but again it makes sense for a short free dating sim. And a LOOOOT of big paid dating sims have equally stereotypical roles, so yeah! But anyway just remember that grey guy is Books and yellow guy is Vidyagaems. Everything about them revolves around their hobbies, in that way that doesnt happen outside of basic children’s cartoons. MAN I am being too harsh on this game, lol!

Again, interesting uses of the red string thing! And it also makes Aaron instantly more intriguing than Luke. I mean, just to me ‘hey wow a thing that should be impossible according to my superpower and maybe we can find out the mystery behind it’ is more intriguing than just ‘another guy with power’. Like you at least have a frame of reference on how that plot will generally go, yknow? Also I’m intrigued cos I would have just guessed that a broken string means ‘he’s promiscuous and doesnt want to settle down’ from the context of this scene. But its curious to think that it could mean he had a soulmate once and they DIED??? And like what, does that mean your personality changes when it happens or something? Like is it not his own fault he’s flighty and has a lot of girlfriends, that just happened cos supernaturalness? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND

Okay this is kind of a weird thing. The first scene says they’re all in a philosophy class, but then their group assignment is science? And its just like.. make a presentation about LITERALLY ANYTHING YOU WANT. And for some reason they pick evolution, and think that everyone will pick evolution???? And Aaron says some very basic stuff about Darwin and then protagonist is like ‘I CANT UNDERSTAND THESE COMPLEX SCIENCE TERMS’ like.. literally the word Darwin... Basically, its a good old classic ‘school life as plot point, without showing any of the school life’ setup. We never see any other students or hear the name of the place or get much of an idea about what’s going on. And sadly we don’t even get to see their presentation even though that was a main plot point for 75% of the game! Just timeskip to the end and they’re all like Hey Do You Remember That Thing That We Did Offscreen... ANYWAY, MOVING ON!

A random moment I liked- protag and Luke talking about the stress of this superpower and exchanging tips on coping with it, that kinda seem like a depression or anxiety metaphor.

This is kinda the start of a very weird recurring plot thread for the protagonist.. Like.. she wants to find her soulmate but she REALLY wants to find her soulmate! She obsesses over it really melodramatically as if her life will have no purpose without love, and we hear about how she’s been doing weird self destructive and kinda jerkass things in the name of soulmate searching. Like she’s planned her WHOLE LIFE around it! She’s been working four jobs for years to save up to move to another country she knows nothing about and doesnt speak the language of, just because ‘my soulmate must be far away’. And she’s apparantly dumped everyone who’s ever tried to be in a relationship with her because if they dont have the string they aren’t ~really real love~ Like wow girl I am not sympathising with your perspective, this is really messed up. I hope the game actually brings up some of the problems with this and the ending isnt just finding the soulmate and everything is fine!

Aaron is cutie patoot This is like the most emotiony the sprites ever get, lol!

AARON IS CUTIE PATOOT: PART 2 also you see what I mean about them being strangely defined by their hobbies as personality

????????? That’s a ‘stupid chinese thing’?? Not just a normal thing everyone would do? Which is called maternity leave?? There’s a few weird moments of stuff about china in this VN, and then they like only say at the last minute that the protagonist is half chinese. Like you put the context an hour after the thing that required it...

Randomly I like that they did a splitscreen effect for talking on the phone.

Its conspicuously weird that they have no character portrait for this guy, he gets no dialogue, and he really does nothing in the plot. So it makes you wonder why they even mentioned him?

Also look at protag’s cool bedroom!

Also look at Luke’s cool bedroom! The background design is super good in this game!

WHO DOES THIS??? Its weird that Luke finds it cute and charming when I’d just call her rude and be super embarassed at people ruffling thru my things without asking Anyway he has A Bunch Of Rare First Edition Books and also A Library Room because He Is The Books Man But it is a nice bit of backstory that he got the rare books as a gift from his deceased grandpa. I MOURN YOU ALREADY, MYSTERY GRAMPS

YOU DID WHAT seriously.. what?? you can’t sexualize eating candy, game

AWW! Every now and again they actually do have pretty good chemistry! ‘But I just want to be friends!’ *mumble mumble* ‘we’re friends’ Grumpy shy book man does care!

Though as of this point they haven’t really had much else of chemistry, it all moves very fast and I feel like this scene maybe should have been earlier? Like seriously we go straight from ‘I just met this guy, all I know is that he hates having his superpowers and I love it’ and then they get put on a group project and then Friends Now. The game has a lot of soft timeskips that’re never really indicated, which causes a bit of confusion. There is a bit of nice continuity here tho, cos you get the choice to either keep arguing about the superpowers or drop it and try and just be friends. Either way the game follows the same conclusions, but you get a lil bonus bit of dialogue mentioning how things were super tense for a while but eventually you became friends anyway thanks to the group project.

This Scene Is Weird Apparantly one of protag’s billion jobs is at a library, and she sees Luke checking out books and makes fun of him? And like from this response I thought he was checking out lesbian porno or something but apparantly he was just checking out poetry? What the hell is wrong with a LITERATURE STUDENT checking out poetry?? When did poetry become a no men thing, was it around the time it was a male dominated field, like novels? >_> And its all kinda pointless cos she ends up being perfectly nice to him about the poetry later and even talks about how she likes poetry too, so wow hypocrite much

There is a nice dialogue choice tho, the two of them talk about a poem and the different interpretations of it, and you get to choose which you prefer as the player. Luke prefers if you agree that the satirical interpretation is better, cos apparantly he Hates Love And Such Which leads us into...

...what. Seriously this game is so weirdly melodramatic about love, even for a visual novel! the whole main conflict of the protagonist is about ‘wah what if i never fall in love, my life would have no meaning’ and also dumping everyone no matter how much you like them cos ~magical destiny is the only real one~ and now we’re like OH GOD WHAT A TRAGEDY THE ONLY REASON SOMEONE COULD WANT TO BE SINGLE IS BECAUSE A DEEP TRAUMA MADE THEM STOP BELIEVING IN LOVE like seriously dude just has a mild amount of skepticism towards overly cheesy romance novel depictions of love, thats like a minor and super common difference of opinion, not a deep plot twist

...seriously? ‘you cant read books unless you read books about love’ like yo i wouldnt even say books are remotely near the top ten most sex-obsessed mediums of all time. music and film are way worse!

Again weird comments about china. Is this really a thing that happens? High class chinese people visit chinese restaurants more often than poor white people? Like, I dunno, I just feel like uninformed white folks who undervalue the work that goes into making foreign food and reduce its reputation to takeaway-only are SLIGHTLY the majority of customers you’d get...

Again, melodrama. Not much has actually happened yet except we met the two boys, we got put in a study group together, and we chose to study with Luke instead of party with Aaron. But like interspersed is a whole bunch of Drama that feels a bit forced, with the lack of real situations causing it. like here she’s just walking through the park and wants to cry because she.... sees that straight people exist. Me too, lol. no but really she just sees that One Other Couple Exists In The World and she starts wanting to cry in the middle of the park and like.. the only thing keeping you from dating someone is your obsessive belief that they cant be your real love if they dont have this magical signal of destiny. And then she just reiterates her crazy ass plan to drop her studies and fly off on a world tour to test her string against every other human on earth and find her soulmate...

SEE THE SCENES OF THEM BEING BESTIES ARE AWESOME I’m way less invested in this love triangle and more invested in them just succeeding in their group project!

NO, I REALLY WISH I COULD HAVE seriously we dont see ANY of the group project, it just timeskips to them celebrating their victory. and this means we dont get to see many scenes of luke and aaron interacting, sadly :(

LOOK AT THEM THEY ARE SO CUTE ALL TOGETHER I LOVE AND SUPPORT THEIR FRIENDSHIP also its kinda funny that the game barely has any changes on the character sprites yet it has really great and detailed CG images. I feel like maybe if you prioritized these less it could have led to a more consistant experience?

FINALLY SOMEONE IS CALLING HER OUT, GEEZ

NOOOOOO Thats not the POINT, game! The point is that it’d be stupid and self destructive even if she succeeded! And she probably could have had a happier life if she didnt do this, even if she succeeds! AND SHE PROBABLY WILL HAVE BETTER HEALTH AND NOT BE IN DEBT AND NOT BE DEPRESSED COS SHE’S OBSESSED WITH THIS DESTINY SHIT

Just to prove that this is indeed the actual plot of the game, she really is planning to fly across the world for the sake of this shit

Also this line raises a lot of questions. Do asexual people not exist in this universe? or just people who never want to get married and only want casual sex or whatever? or does it mean they still have red strings but they look different? Also this game seems to define it pretty distinctly as only heterosexual destiny strings here, so like would gay people not have strings or would they have differently coloured strings? or is she just assuming all soulmates are the opposite sex simply because she’s straight and she didnt think about the alternative? or cos the writer didn’t? or maybe the writer did and it was just awkwardly written so it raised these questions in my head...?

^ and here’s the bit where she mentions she’s part chinese suddenly at the last moment, and also he’s part japanese too. Which made me a bit worried actually cos she mentioned asia as one of the random places she was gonna search first for her soulmate, and I thought maybe this means he’s her soulmate. But thankfully thats not the way the plot went and it actually does discuss the topic of destiny in more detail!

also that is cute