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thinkingaboutyoungroyals · 3 years ago

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Falling For You But You Are Worlds Away: Chapter 3

A/N: I had a day off from school and finished some of my homework so I had some time to write. Please don't expect this consistency, it's a rare occurrence lol

AO3

Simon’s stomach was in knots all day. Several times, he felt the urge to rush to the restroom and throw up.

His first couple of days in New York went fine. His aunt and cousin showed him around all the tourist areas, bought him souvenirs, and took him to their favorite restaurants. He even got a picture with Elmo at Times Square. (Why were there so many Sesame Street characters?!) They also got him a new phone number, showed him how to navigate the bus and the subway, and talked to him in English so he could practice.

Simon’s English wasn’t terrible, per se. He grew up watching shows and movies in English with Swedish subtitles. And he didn’t do too bad in his English classes. But, he never had to speak it 24/7 before.

So, when he walked into his new school with Ana, he was immediately bombarded with all the English words, phrases, and slang – it all made his head swirl. Ana introduced him to some people she knew, they spoke to him in English, and he stumbled through his answers. And, sadly, because Ana was a grade ahead of him, he was left alone to fend for himself when it came to time to go to classes.

He did manage to fake confidence, introducing himself to his classmates and answering a few questions. He could follow the lessons just fine and answered when called upon by teachers (except in American History, he definitely needed help there). But, for the most part, he stayed quiet.

At lunch, he sat with Ana, who introduced him to her friends. All three were girls. Two of them were Latina, Alicia and Luz, and one girl was white, Elizabeth (“You can call me, Liz,” she told him). They spoke to each other in Spanish (even Liz) and it was the first time all day that Simon felt the unease in him boil down to a simmer. It was still there but hearing the familiar language was a comfort.

And he now knew why Ana insisted they packed lunch – the school’s food didn’t look that appetizing. Even Hillerska had better food. (And thinking of Hillerska made him think of Wille, which just made him feel depressed again.)

When his last class of the day finally dismissed them, Simon was ready to go home and take a nap. He was exhausted – physically and mentally. But, Ana had other plans.

“Hello, everyone! As you can see, we have someone new joining us today!”

She gestured to him with a flourish and Simon blushed in embarrassment as many eyes focused on him – curious and interested.

“This is my cousin, Simon, he just moved here from Sweden. I hope everyone makes him feel welcomed. Please don’t scare him off.”

Simon awkwardly shuffled his feet as he waved. “Um… Hi… Um… I’m Simon. Sorry, uh, my English isn’t very good. But, I’m practicing.”

He was met with silent nods and Simon almost sighed in relief. Almost.

“You look familiar!” A guy with long blonde hair piped up from the back.

Simon’s stomach churned and he wanted to run away. No one was supposed to know who he was. They reassured him that the whole thing died down fairly quickly in America. How many of these kids have watched the video?! Did they know who he was as soon as he walked in?!

“You look like a Spanish version of Nick Jonas!” continued the guy.

The churning calmed a little.

Ana glared, placing her fists against her hips. “Shut up, Darren. Simon is not the Spanish version of anyone.” She paused and glanced at him. “But, if he is, he would be Harry Styles.”

“It’s the curls!” a girl with dark hair with pink tips called out with a grin. “They’re really cute!”

Before he knew what was happening, Simon was bombarded with compliments about his hair and face. He could swear he had never been as red in his entire as he was in that moment.

Soon, a different guy stepped up, willing everyone to calm down with his hands. “Okay, everyone, stop simping over Ana’s cousin. It’s time to start the meeting! We have a lot to talk about today!”

Ana nudged Simon and gestured with her head to the back of the classroom. Simon followed her. She took a seat next to the window. The empty seat beside her was across from the guy who spoke up earlier.

As the guy at the front (“That’s Dominic, he’s the president of GSA,” Ana had whispered to him) began to go over the agenda for the day, the guy next to Simon leaned over.

“Hey, I’m Darren,” he whispered with a toothy grin. “I’m your resident pansexual.”

Simon bit his lip and whispered back. “Simon. Do we… have to share our sexuality here?”

Darren chuckled and shook his head. “Nah, you’re not obligated to. Some people are here just as allies but a couple do end up figuring themselves out. So we tend not to label or share labels. But, I don’t give a shit, I want everyone to know they have an equal chance of dating me. So, that includes you.”

He winked and Simon, to his horror, felt himself blush again. He was just gonna end up looking like a tomato by the time he returned to Sweden if he kept this up.

“Darren! Anything you wanna share with the class?”

“Nope, prez. Just welcoming our new member. Please proceed, you know we love listening to your gorgeous voice.”

Dominic raised an eyebrow at him before getting back to what he was saying.

“I’ll get you to say ‘yes’ to me, eventually,” Darren muttered under his breath.

Simon couldn’t stop a chuckle from leaving his lips. Darren flashed him a grin and, for what it was worth, Simon finally felt a bit at ease.

He snuck a look at Ana, who caught his eye and smiled, encouragingly.

Maybe she was right. He could meet new people here and make new friends. Maybe, for just a few months, he could forget everything that happened in Sweden and just be... back to normal.

He was willing to try. If only this empty feeling inside him would go away.

.........

If Wilhelm thought that Christmas break without Simon was bad, being at school for a month without Simon was worse. Everywhere he looked and turned, he half expected Simon to be there, looking at his phone or eating a clementine or flashing Wilhelm a smile that made his cute dimples appear.

More times than he could count, Wilhelm had run after Sara, practically begging her for any information on Simon. The girl always refused him.

“Give her time,” Felice said to him one day after another failed attempt. “She loves her brother and she’s on his side.”

“I just want another chance to apologize,” said Wilhelm. “I want to make things right. And I want to at least be friends with him again.”

Felice wrapped an arm around him. “You will. Just give it time, okay?”

Wilhelm had agreed, if only to reassure himself that he was going to be fine. Maybe the longing would stop. Maybe he would wake up one day and just accept the fact that Simon was no longer in his life.

He knew it was all a big fat lie but it was okay to dream, right?

Which was why he decided to take his chances that one Saturday. Students were allowed to leave the school grounds on weekends to visit the town, if they so pleased, so Wilhelm took advantage of that. With Johan driving and Malin in the passenger’s seat, they left Hillerska for the day and headed to Bjarstard.

His stomach was filled with butterflies. Excitement or nerves, he wasn’t sure. Maybe it was both. He ran over various things to say in his head. But, when they pulled up in front of the familiar one-story home, he forgot it all.

Nevertheless, he raised his chin and marched with determination to the front door. He hoped Simon was home. That Wilhelm could finally see him. That they could finally talk. He just hoped he wasn’t overstepping any boundaries, that was the last thing he wanted to do.

Clearing his throat, he raised a fist and knocked, firmly and loudly, against the door. It took a minute but, eventually, it slowly opened, very slowly.

Linda peeked out, looking wary and cautious. But, when she saw Wilhelm, the guarded look switched to surprise.

“Wil… Your Royal Highness,” she greeted with a slight bow of her head.

Wilhelm hated it. He preferred Linda’s casual treatment of him as if he was any other kid. He supposed he didn’t deserve that anymore after what he did to her son.

“Wilhelm, please,” he said to her, managing a small smile. “Hello, Linda.”

The woman smiled, fondly, and she opened the door a bit wider. “Hello, Wilhelm. How are you, cariño?”

The gentler tone eased his worries.

“I’m… fine.” He cleared his throat. “Um… Is Simon home?”

Linda’s smile disappeared. “Why?” she asked.

Wilhelm flinched, hating that the guardedness in her voice was back. “I just want to talk to him. He left Hillerska and I… I just want to apologize again and… Please.”

He must have looked rather pitiful because he could practically see Linda’s resolve melting. She stared at him for the longest time, contemplating. Finally, she nodded and let him in.

Wilhelm’s heart skipped a beat and he had to hold himself back from running in and calling out Simon’s name. Malin, dutifully, followed behind him, shut the door, and stood guard.

“You can head on to the living room,” said Linda. “I’ll make us some tea.”

Wilhelm nodded and did exactly that. He made himself comfortable on the lumpy couch and looked around. The place looked neat and chaotic as always. A basket of Simon’s favorite, clementines, was placed at the center of the coffee table. He once told Wilhelm that it was the one fruit he couldn’t live without.

Then, he spotted a new addition against the wall that led towards the bedrooms. Well, not new per se but it was no longer in Simon’s room. (And, thinking of Simon’s room led him down a path of memories that made the longing in him increase tenfold. Where was Simon? Was he out for the day? Wilhelm would wait until night if he had to.)

“Here we are.”

Linda arrived with a tray filled with two mugs of tea and a plate of cookies. She placed it on the coffee table before handing one of the mugs to Wilhelm.

“Thank you,” he said taking it and looking back at the fish tank that was now placed against the wall. “Why did Simon move his fish out here?”

Linda, who was in the middle of placing the plate of cookies on the table, looked up towards the tank. A sad smile graced her lips.

“Well, I have to remember to feed them now so it’s easier if I see them,” she said, picking up her own mug and settling on the couch.

Wilhelm frowned, confused. “Why do you have to feed them? Doesn’t Simon do that?”

Linda looked at him for a moment, sad again, and took a sip of tea before placing the mug on the table. She tugged her wool sweater tighter around herself and crossed her arms at her stomach.

“Wilhelm,” she began. “I want you to know that… I’m not angry with you, okay? And, I’m sure that Simon isn’t either.”

Wilhelm’s stomach churned and he took a polite sip of the tea before following Linda’s lead and placed the mug on the table.

“What happened to both of you… you don't deserve it.” She reached out, probably to touch his hair, but refrained at the last minute. Instead, she patted his shoulder and pulled her hand back.

Wilhelm longed for her motherly touch.

“But, as a parent, I had to protect Simon.”

He swallowed the lump in his throat and brought a hand up to rub at his tightening chest. He didn't like her tone. It was foreboding. The gentle calm before the storm.

Linda’s eyes flickered to his hand and scooted closer. She placed a gentle hand on his cheek. Wilhelm leaned into it.

“Wilhelm… cariño… Simon left Sweden.”

Wilhelm’s world crashed.

“There were stalkers, they kept following him home. And the reporters wouldn’t stop asking him questions and one day… he got hurt.”

The tightening in his chest wouldn’t let up and he rubbed harder.

“I had no other choice. I had to send him away for his own safety.”

Stalkers... Reporters... Simon got hurt because of him. And, now, he was gone. No longer in Sweden.

“W-Where?” he managed to ask.

But, Linda shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you.”

Wilhelm’s eyes stung. “L-Linda… I-I’m s-sorry… I’m so… s-so sorry…”

Finally… Finally… Linda moved closer and pulled him into a hug. Wilhelm couldn’t help himself. He hugged her back and cried into her sweater.

She rubbed his back, whispering, “I know. It’s okay to cry, Wille. It’s okay.”

Wilhelm didn’t know how long he cried but, at some point, he did calm down. Maybe it was because Linda started humming a nice melody to him. Or maybe he was just spent and tired. But, not once did Linda let him go. Despite everything, she still chose to comfort him.

He had to force himself to move away from her arms, guilty and grateful at the same time.

She smiled at him. “Feeling better?” she asked.

God, it reminded him so much of Simon always asking after him that he wanted to cry again. It was clear to see that Simon got his gentle kindness from his mother.

“Yes,” he croaked. “Thank you.”

She picked up his mug and handed it over with a pointed look. He obediently drank the now lukewarm tea. It did little to soothe his sadness, but it was still nice.

“He won’t be gone forever,” said Linda with a smile. “When this all dies down… when the country forgets and moves on to something new, he’ll come back. Just… for now… I need him safe in a place where no one knows him. It’s what’s best for him.”

It made perfect sense. But, it didn’t mean that Wilhelm liked it. Simon was further away from him than ever. At least, if he was still Bjarstard, Wilhelm could still visit. He could still try to rebuild their friendship. And, when he was finally ready, he could ask Simon to give him another chance.

But, now, Wilhelm didn’t even know where he was. And Linda clearly didn’t want to tell him, worried she was about Simon’s safety. (A part of him wondered if she was also protecting Simon from Wilhelm. That thought hurt but it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.)

“Would you like to stay for lunch?” Linda asked. “It’s kind of lonely with just me now, with Sara at Hillerska and Simon...” She trailed off and sighed.

Wilhelm pressed his lips together. “I don’t want to impose.”

She patted his arm and offered a smile. “Not at all. Your bodyguards can join us, too. I have plenty. I’m still not used to eating alone.”

The temptation was too good to resist. Besides, he didn’t want to return to Hillerska and suffer through a meal where August only sat a couple of chairs away, always wanting to talk to him even though Wilhelm never responded.

“Alright,” he agreed, smiling back.

Linda beamed and stood up. “Okay, good. I’m almost done cooking. Make yourself at home.”

“Can I… Can I feed Simon’s fish?” he asked, nervously.

Linda chuckled. “Of course. Their food is right on top. You can just move the cover. Simon says four shakes is enough.”

With one last smile at him, she gathered up their mugs (she left the cookies on the table) and headed off to the kitchen. He heard her extend the invitation to Malin, who thanked her and promised to call Johan in.

Pulling himself together, Wilhelm stood up and approached the fish tank. A small container labeled “fish food” in Simon’s familiar print was on top. He picked it up before carefully moving the cover to the side. He counted out four shakes and watched as the little bits of food floated down towards Olle, Oski, Felle, and a fourth fish whose name Simon never told him (because Wilhelm had distracted him enough to forget).

“I miss him,” he whispered, watching them eat. “I bet you, guys, do too, right?”

The fish ignored him.

Were they mad at him, he wondered? Did they know what he did? Did Simon cry in front of them?

Sighing, Wilhelm put the cover back and the fish food on top of it. Then, he headed off to the kitchen to help Linda set the table.

It was the least he could do.

...

A/N: Yes, I went back to watch the scene and counted Simon's fish lol

#young royals #young royals fanfic #simon x wilhelm

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olivemeister · 3 years ago

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OKAY NEO THOUGHTS NOW THAT I’VE BEATEN IT AND HAD TIME TO MARINATE. no spoilers for another day bc i haven’t finished it yet, but i did go “no, why shan’t i? i have the internet” and watched the secret endings on youtube so those and the secret reports will be discussed. yeah. so here’s some thoughts. i’m going to talk a lot about the more contentious things, i think. and again i haven’t finished another day so nothing to do with that, but of course major ending spoilers for the main scenario.

these are my opinions both as a writer and a media consumer, so there’s kinda two levels here. it is very freeform “as i think of it” structurally so my sincerest apologies if it’s all over the place. i am trying to keep specific topics confined rather than splattering the same plot point/whatever all through the post, but it’s not like i’m posting a peer-revied academic essay here. it’s also fucking enormous and i would say sorry but that would be a lie.

the majority of the game, i actually really enjoyed. the localization was excellent and i can’t praise it enough. i know people threw fits over the “horrible overstep” of... teenagers using slang. but did you know, in real life, teenagers use slang? even in japan, there’s slang? wild but true! the dialogue was great, and while i can’t say much re: the jp cast since i played in english, the newcomers for the english cast were spectacular. i actually think the newcomers were, in some cases, stronger than the returning cast. even in characters where i didn’t like the voice (nagi had to grow on me, i admit it), they were a fantastic match for the character’s personality.

the emotional beats re: character deaths, typically, landed the way i think the writers wanted; kanon’s death in week 3 had me devastated even though i could see it coming a mile away. i think that’s a testament to the best parts of the writing; as soon as i understood how the current game was being run, i knew it was fairly inevitable that every other team would eventually lose. odds would be that, barring something like someone changing teams or a team merger, the majority of the other teams would be completely wiped out. i knew far in advance that kanon would likely not make it to the end of the story, but it still fucked me up when it finally happened not just because i cared about kanon, but also because of how much the other characters cared about her. some character deaths affected me far less, of course. i think kanon was the epitome of “this hit exactly as hard as the writers wanted it to”, but i do feel they fell short with others. ayano’s lack of development really hurt my ability to be saddened by her death, especially when it was so clear that she set up her own possession as a trap for shoka. it undermined things for shoka in general, because while she was devastated to lose ayano, the game did a poor job at making their relationship tangible and meaningful. i felt worse (not necessarily sadder, just worse) about motoi’s death, and i didn’t like motoi. speaking of him...

the biggest issue i have with the game is a chronic square enix issue. kubo is the Man Pulling The Strings, whatever, this is fine. the problem is that he, minamimoto, motoi, and arguably susukichi are the only characters in the game with dark skin. they are all morally grey at best. i don’t think i need to elaborate on why this is an issue. we’re not going to pretend that racism and colorism don’t exist in japan. i’m just going to say that all of the dark-skinned characters are either totally evil, excessively violent, and/or morally dubious. this is my biggest qualm, but i don’t feel it needs more elaboration. yes, i know motoi turns it around in the end. yes, i know susukichi ultimately changes sides as well, and he’s ultimately portrayed as sympathetic. minamimoto is........ his own beast. but the fact remains that we don’t get a single major character who’s darker and unambiguously heroic.

second big issue is that while i understand the decision to keep shiki off camera until the very end for emotional impact, i feel like this was to the detriment of the story and to the detriment of said impact. she was mentioned, sure, and she was briefly seen from the shoulders down in a cutscene long before her introduction, but i feel that this was ultimately for the worse. her absence in the plot made her a borderline non-entity that can easily leave the audience going “why should i care about this?” on what’s supposed to be a huge emotional cathartic moment. yes, people should know this is a sequel and neku and shiki’s friendship was a crucial part of the original game, and much of the endgame of neo makes no sense if you’re unfamiliar with the original, but their interactions in the ending felt incredibly shallow. and i think this is because of how little shiki appears and how isolated she is from her other friends. eri is unseen and unmentioned. she doesn’t interact with rhyme. she hardly interacts with beat, using him as a translator at best. her other relationships are just... stagnant at best, ignored at worst, and despite having had just as vital of a role in the first game as beat did, she does nothing of import onscreen. her only narrative actions are “fix mr mew (mentioned but not seen)” and “be sad about neku”. so, functionally...

for some reason (we know why) the story decided that the only thing that was important to shiki was seeing neku. but by holding off on this reveal of her, we lost the impact that their meeting could have had. because the game refused to show her it didn’t show how much his absence was affecting her, which leaves their reunion feeling incredibly hollow. shiki was gone for upwards of 90% of the game. if not for the first game, this reunion would mean nothing; the narrative does a terrible job of reminding the audience that neku and shiki have a strong relationship and i don’t know if it’s that they expected the first game to have done the heavy lifting, or they thought that what neo gave us was good rather than “good enough”. imo this was an enormous failure and i wish we had gotten more for her both as part of the plot and as a character.

this was an issue present with rhyme as well imo, though to a lesser degree. i think they should have given up the ghost much sooner on confirming that the shadowed figure was rhyme; it was obvious by the time they showed us her silhouette, so i don’t know why the narrative held off on showing her. they didn’t have to introduce her to rindo (or give her the name splash screen) yet, but people who played the first game and are paying attention know it’s rhyme, so why bother hiding her? most of what rhyme accomplishes in this game is off-camera as well, but she has double the screen time that shiki gets.

the shiki thing is another symptom of a common squeenix problem these days, which is poorly-handled implied romantic interests. and i think that was also present with how the end of the game treated shoka. rindo and shoka as an implied romance in general did not bother me; more than a lot of squeenix protags, and perhaps primarily because of the excellent job the english cast did, i actually was unbothered by the suggestion of budding romantic feelings because it felt genuine. they actually felt like a pair of teenagers who were starting to be interested in each other, trying to play it cool and prioritize. this, and shoka’s characterization in general, is really helped by the reveal of swallow’s identity; it retroactively heightens her closeness to rindo specifically and offers enormous insight into her decision to help the team covertly. however, i think this budding implied romance was severely undermined by having other characters comment on it, especially because it felt so out of place timing-wise whenever someone commented. it was never warranted; there are times where they seem to be... not flirting, but not doing a good job of pretending there isn’t an interest. this is not when comments come. the comments come when they are having a totally normal interaction that does not suggest any non-platonic feelings whatsoever.

up until the final day, i had fairly ambivalent feelings about the idea of them as the designated hetero pairing. i felt it was a vast improvement from recent shoehorned romances in squeenix properties. the ending made things much more contentious to me, specifically how shoka is vanished by joshua. the audience should at least have the suspicion that he’s reviving her, but the circumstances surrounding it are the problem more than joshua being a deus ex machina. it’s not the first time joshua was a troll re: reviving someone, but the context of why shoka’s revival is necessary is, well... unnecessary.

they barely foreshadow the shinjuku rules re: reapers, and i will freely admit it’s not remotely ooc for shoka to hide something like that until she can’t any more. but they seem to be just a contrived excuse for shoka to be taken away... and from the framing of it, not from the player, but from rindo. which, i don’t know that i need elaborate on why i wasn’t fond of that. and i won’t lie - i know everybody beefed it in those cutscenes, including beat and neku. but when the dissonance noise grabbed shoka it gave me the exact same vibe as the demon tide grabbing kairi in kh3, and i don’t think i need to elaborate more on why that would put a bad taste in my mouth and make me fearful for shoka’s future treatment in the game. i was worried that the narrative was going to yank her away from rindo like a prize being snatched from him, and it did! while i do also think it’s ic for joshua to fuck around the way he did when reviving her, it also seems contrived and brings up a major question.

if shoka is still playing by shinjuku rules, why does shibuya’s composer have the ability to overturn her erasure? yes, i know, shinjuku is gone, but its composer is still active. surely joshua having the authority to do what he did indicates that on a cosmic bureaucracy level, shoka is a shibuya reaper. the secret reports offer a potential that joshua exploited a loophole by waiting until the second after the shinjuku rules resulted in shoka’s soul being dissolved in order to snatch it up, so perhaps the explanation is that her erasure meant she was technically no longer a shinjuku reaper and no longer beholden to its rules. but that doesn’t answer a different question that honestly bothers me more than the admittedly sorta insignificant question of whether or not joshua overstepped in reviving shoka.

shinjuku’s game has ended because shinjuku has ended; why are its rules still in play for former shinjuku reapers? i am aware that shiba is the conductor “legally” and he has made changes to shibuya’s game, but they’re careful to specify that the “ex-reapers are erased at the end of the game” rules are from shinjuku and do not apply to shibuya reapers. is she considered by the higher plane to be joshua’s underling and not hazuki’s? the secret reports confirm that the transfer of personnel from the destroyed shinjuku to shibuya was authorized by the acting conductor (uzuki) and this is standard procedure, everything was done properly. so “legally” the formerly-shinjuku reapers are shibuya reapers, right? hanekoma notes in particular that it’s a culture clash leading to the shinjuku reapers being designated as such and that they’re only nominally shinjuku reapers. why are a defunct game’s rules still active?

the biggest issue is that shoka’s threat of erasure was unnecessary from a narrative perspective, especially given how quickly it’s introduced and resolved. what was the point of putting this in the story if five minutes later the issue is just dealt with, no effort, minimal tension, by a (narratively speaking, don’t come after me joshua fans) minor character who doesn’t even appear until after the plot is resolved? i honestly wonder if it was just the writers deciding joshua needed to do something so that his appearance in the ending wasn’t just shallow fanservice for people who wanted to see the original gang. joshua’s lack of action is also presumably going to be contentious with fans; i’ve read the secret reports, and i don’t feel that they sufficiently justify why he doesn’t make any moves to protect his city despite being positioned both in his own dialogue and the secret reports as someone opposing shibuya’s purification. i will talk about this a little later re: kubo’s motivations though.

i also think it’s kind of stupid that joshua sets up “find her and you win” and then... rindo doesn’t do anything in that regard. he just bumps into her in the scramble. i know i already said i hate the idea of her being a prize to be won in a game but if they’re going to set it up, why make it pointless in that regard? it feels so unnecessary. joshua portrays shoka’s revival/return as something to be earned, and unlike the ending of twewy there’s no recognition that he was actually just fucking with them.

this is similar to my mixed feelings about kubo’s defeat. on one hand, i wanted to smash his face in personally, i have hated him the entire game. on the other hand, having him jesus beamed and rewritten out of existence without any warning or chance to resist was fucking hilarious and i actually laughed out loud. my speculation as to why he didn’t get a boss fight is that developers worried about people having trouble suspending disbelief over the party being able to defeat an angel. ultimately i think the only way this could have been done was to have it be a boss battle where your victory doesn’t matter, like the week 1 fight with susukichi, and have hazuki curbstomp kubo in the post-battle cutscenes. ultimately, i feel like this was a lesser of two evils; i don’t think the “you lose in the cutscene” approach would have necessarily been significantly better than what we got, i recognize that “the battle didn’t matter and you lose in the cutscene after” is a contentious game trope. and i would understand people struggling to accept the cast defeating a being from a higher plane without intervention from said higher plane. the only benefit would be the catharsis of getting to slap kubo around, which admittedly i kind of miss. having him as a secret boss was an option i guess but i think it would bring more questions than it was worth.

kubo’s motivation is also just bizarre; i understand that it’s given as him getting overzealous after carrying out his orders to purify shinjuku, but why? i feel like this could have easily been fixed/rationalized by “shinjuku’s surviving reapers fled to shibuya, leading kubo to consider shibuya to be an extension of shinjuku”, but that’s solely speculation. i do not know why kubo decided to also start an inversion in shibuya. they didn’t give me enough information. his conflict with joshua is inexplicable and almost entirely offscreen via the secret reports. i do not feel like i have a grasp on why the plot of the game even happened. hazuki’s involvement is iffy; i can’t say whether he initially approved of kubo’s overstep and changed his mind, or if he just took his time collecting his errant underling. the secret reports suggest the former, and hanekoma noting that the contentious nature of the previous game’s events gives a speculative explanation for why no action was taken if hazuki was actually making moves against shibuya rather than kubo being out of line. hazuki could damn well have been lying, there’s a precedent for composers being full of shit and telling bold-faced lies to protagonists, though in the previous game these lies were all eventually uncovered. this leaves me to believe that ultimately, hazuki’s statements regarding kubo acting outside of his given authority were mostly honest. but what i don’t understand is why joshua took such a hands-off approach.

yes, he says he figured the main cast had it under control and would have stepped in had things gotten worse, but this appearance and statement comes long after rindo fails and shibuya is destroyed in multiple timelines. why did he not step in in the first timeline? i can speculate, but the game and secret reports do not do a great job in explaining why the proxy vs. proxy game even happened in the first place. kubo is hazuki’s underling, which makes joshua higher in the pecking order than kubo. if hazuki was capable of exorcising kubo instantaneously, why didn’t joshua just flick him off the board like a flea before he even got started trying to cause an inversion in shibuya? in the epilogue of a new day joshua is seen in conversation with hanekoma, who’s taking shinjuku’s inversion seriously, which seems at odds with how easily his fellow composer ends the problem.

retroactively, i guess i could rationalize this as him realizing that either shinjuku’s composer must be responsible for said inversion or that potentially shinjuku’s composer has been compromised in some way. and i can rationalize him failing to immediately jesus beam kubo as well - it’s possible that, as kubo was initially acting under the orders of another composer (assuming hazuki is still technically “legally” one/at the bureaucratic level of one), joshua’s hands were somewhat tied re: what actions he could take without potential consequences. it could be that joshua would get in big trouble if he took disciplinary action against another composer’s underling, but 1. the legal transfer of personnel should mean kubo is joshua’s underling, not hazuki’s, see the shoka problem 2. hazuki’s status as a composer is questionable given that his territory is now purified and its game is defunct 3. given that kubo was acting outside of his original composer’s turf and outside of his initial orders (purify shinjuku) at this point i feel like that isn’t likely. it could be that he was trying to avoid a conflict with hazuki himself. it may be that he considered it hazuki’s responsibility to retrieve kubo, but that’s at odds with him choosing a proxy to combat kubo’s and his claims that he totally would have done something, really, he swears. they don’t give us much info at all as to why joshua entered a game with kubo in the first place. i have reason to believe that something’s fishy in the secret reports, and i would like to see the japanese text, which i’ll mention again in a few paragraphs.

i know the absence of shibuya’s composer is partially, and perhaps primarily, “there wouldn’t be a plot if joshua fixed it”. but it really feels like they just kinda tucked joshua in the corner and hoped fans wouldn’t be like “hey where is shibuya’s composer and why is no one mentioning them?” that part is probably for the same reason we don’t see shiki until the very ending, teasing the audience by holding off on revealing him until the last second, but it’s jarring to me that shiki is mentioned but neither neku, beat, nor any of the reapers (!) think “we should contact the composer”. even if just to say “we can’t contact the composer, he is unreachable”! i guess it’s to avoid people remembering how significant joshua is and thinking too hard about it, because joshua is simply too powerful of a character to be running around freely. the plot falls apart when you have a character who’s so strong and, in his own words, kind of omnipotent, who could trivialize the conflict in an instant if he took action.

i feel like they surely could have given a more explicit reason for him to not be involved in the story, even if it’s a reason like “he’s in trouble with the higher plane”. which could have easily been set up! hanekoma is clear in his reports that shibuya’s impurification is highly contentious in the higher plane; people are big mad about it, potentially people higher in the chain of command than a composer. this could have been easily utilized as an explanation for why joshua is hands-off; he’s on a shit list and needs to step carefully as a result. but it’s just not addressed. hanekoma is unreachable according to his reports, and he notes that people are trying to contact him for help. are we just to assume that people have looked for joshua to ask for help in the past but it was so long ago that it isn’t even worth mentioning now to the newcomers? according to other reports, the higher ups are pissed with joshua about his game with kitaniji and are turning a blind eye to what’s happening with kubo in shibuya as a result. but this doesn’t explain why the members of the shibuya UG never discuss the composer. hanekoma’s reports have him confused as to joshua’s lack of action as well; he knows the context of what’s going on in shibuya but doesn’t understand why joshua is staying silent.

that said! the fact that hazuki’s motive for the destruction of shinjuku is never stated does not bother me too much. he’s placed in a position very parallel to joshua in the first game, and he even says he felt like he was following in josh’s footsteps. when you add his seemingly-genuine inability to understand why people care about shibuya, i feel there’s enough evidence to... not dismiss, but nudge this aside as “He Too is a misanthropic bastard”; shinjuku’s destruction is a parallel to the intended destruction of shibuya in the first game. hazuki just carried on where joshua had a change of heart. the secret reports complicate this; it might be that someone fucked up in transcribing, but the reports i read online state that shibuya’s composer, i.e. joshua, was responsible for the destruction of shinjuku due to a game with kubo. this does not make sense given everything else, including hazuki’s own statements and later reports, so i’m setting that aside for the moment as either an uncaught mistake either in translation or transcription online (most likely) or hanekoma not knowing the actual truth until receiving the post-purification shinjuku reports. hanekoma also suggests that hazuki’s goal was also the purification of shibuya, but as he’s not shibuya’s composer this is certainly not his jurisdiction so i’m curious as to what exactly happened there.

EDIT: i’ve been informed by a helpful anon that this is not a mistranslation, the japanese secret reports do state that it was a game involving joshua that resulted in shinjuku’s inversion. with that in mind, i have figured out how to rationalize this and it solves a lot of problems: if it was a proxy game between joshua and kubo, then joshua must have been the opposition to shinjuku’s inversion. though you could argue that joshua is responsible for the end result, he didn’t destroy shinjuku; his proxy lost, probably because kubo’s had the support of shinjuku’s composer. kubo’s overconfidence in running rampant in shibuya is now explicable and he may have been trying to rub it in that joshua lost.

if hazuki was still backing kubo post-shinjuku, this could explain why hazuki felt he could make decisions about shibuya’s fate and wander around it; joshua had already overstepped onto his turf to meddle in purification, so he was returning the favor. at this point in time, i figure that joshua’s proxy was either tsugumi’s brother (shinjuku’s conductor) or coco (she’s noted to have inexplicable powers for a rank-and-file reaper, but joshua’s opposition to her killing of neku throws this into question), and if we truly had a scrapped “shinjuku’s final game” plot then joshua’s proxy could also have been neku. kubo’s proxy was presumably shiba. this actually answers a few questions that i couldn’t rationalize when i assumed joshua was uninvolved (why would shinjuku’s composer be running a game against kubo when they wanted the same thing?), so i’m gonna chalk it up as an absolute win.

i think hishima as a character was... sort of nothing. he was just there. yeah, it was kinda funny how he dressed shiba down, but i don’t know that the plot needed him. his role in the endgame could have easily been given to tsugumi without much fuss, and i feel tsugumi deserved a much bigger part in the narrative given how much she was hyped up by solo and final remix. she was so prominent and anticipated that the fans called her hype-chan for years before we had a name for her. this could also be folded into the problem with hiding shiki until the very end; it feels like we missed a whole sequence with both of these characters simply because the narrative refused to show us shiki. instead, we’re told that shiki showed up and fixed mr. mew, and somehow this freed tsugumi. i think the fact that they don’t even give a flashback of this crucial event after shiki’s proper introduction is just a questionable decision. the story tells us that tsugumi’s release from the plushie is of the utmost importance and shiba can’t be swayed without her, setting it up as a vital event, but it happens offscreen with no real interaction with the main cast. it also only happens after multiple failed loops, even though rindo’s interference is what prevents the meeting between coco and shiki to repair the plushie. i don’t understand this from a logistical standpoint; if coco isn’t pulled to escort rhyme, she must have met with shiki and released tsugumi in timely manner, but tsugumi does not appear until after you replay to get coco back to her original schedule. you could wave it off as “she didn’t get there fast enough”, but i can’t accept that as a reason given the circumstances; it’s not like she would have to look hard to find shiba. this one’s flawed writing; i know in a meta sense why she didn’t appear, it was to build tension etc etc, but in-universe it’s a plot hole.

coco being so absent from the plot is also somewhat conspicuous. i wonder what reception of her was like in japan and if that influenced her lack of presence in the story. i honestly don’t even know if she was received well by the english audience, all i know is that i did not like her at all in final remix. not from an “i don’t like the villain because they’re doing bad things” perspective, from an “i don’t find this character compelling and i think they’re annoying” perspective. also curious as to whether or not her speech patterns changed in the japanese dialogue since final remix; i found her far less jarring and obnoxious in neo and i think it’s enormously because she stopped talking verbally in internet shorthand. overall, coco’s retool was imo a change for the better, but she’s barely there for me to appreciate how much of an improvement she was. it feels like there’s an entire narrative we were set up for by a new day, yet it’s almost completely missing. the ending of a new day laid out this framework for neku and minamimoto to be forced allies in an unseen future game. i had mixed feelings about this conceptually, but the narrative setup was fairly transparent. not only does this not happen, coco’s motivation in a new day and what ultimately happened were so lacking to me.

i feel like something got lost and we were originally going to actually see and perhaps play the shinjuku game that ended in disaster instead of just getting a summation and brief flashbacks of the survivors fleeing. this kinda ties in with my complaints about how hyped tsugumi was by solo and final remix, and then she turned out to have a very small (albeit crucial, via her trailer ability) and mostly unseen role in neo’s story. retroactively we learn that rindo’s visions are from tsugumi, but this is something she does entirely off-screen. all of coco’s scheming was for nothing, because joshua was a deus ex machina and whisked neku away the second he died. this feels to me like cut content or rewrites; there’s a whole game’s worth of story that just happened off-camera and we got to hear a little bit about it. it wasn’t enough, imo. i think doing it as a midquel is still possible, but it’s a hard sell to create a video game with a downer ending and we know shinjuku’s fate is already set in stone... even though a new day ended on the tragic cliffhanger of neku’s death, it’s a little different since it’s coming as an optional postgame sequel hook after victory rather than the entire narrative you fought through ending in failure. i suppose it could be done with a Distant Epilogue now that we know shiba and most of his surviving reapers will return to rebuild shinjuku. ultimately i really think that if not for the concern about neku overshadowing the new cast, shinjuku’s purification could and should have been the prologue to neo. it would be a tough balancing act, but i do think it could have been done right and it would have done a lot for narrative tension with his absence if we had a prologue following him that ends in a cliffhanger re: shinjuku’s purification. neku’s role in the story was done decently i think re: how big said role was, but a lot of circumstances surrounding his absence, legendary status, and reappearance leave much to be desired.

frankly, i just don’t like how much they glossed over neku’s three year absence. we’re given a vague explanation of what he was doing, but it isn’t actually an explanation. definitely again feels like a plot rewrite situation; there’s this huge blank space of neku doing nothing because there used to be a story that we were going to play through and it got scrapped for whatever reason. overall i feel neku’s characterization was very odd and perhaps a little inconsistent in this game; he didn’t have much of a personality at all, which i struggle to reconcile with the original game. we don’t see how he reconciled with coco, it’s just dismissed entirely as “no we’re good now”. how are we good? why did you forgive her for playing murder games instead of just explaining shit? i know he forgave joshua for his gatekeep gaslight girlboss behavior in the first game, but we had context as to why he made that decision. also what the fuck was keeping him from coming back to shibuya, i don’t feel like that was sufficiently explained either? for someone who was so hyped up by the narrative, i was a little let down by how insignificant neku ended up being to the plot as a whole. and again, his personality seemed very watered down and neutral despite the seriousness of the situation. why was he so mellow? the circumstances of his return i did really like, because... well, we’ll talk about character relationships i guess.

i already summed up my feelings on rindo and shoka and i think i’ll leave them on the note of “unnecessary elements dampened my potential for overt enthusiasm, but overall i feel neutral-positive about the suggestion of romantic interest” which is a lot more than i can say about a lot of (semi-)official pairings. on a broader and more platonic scale? generally i have positive feelings about the new cast and their interactions; i feel like their development is more understated than neku’s in the first game, his character arc is very in your face and the neo cast is not nearly as overt, but you can see the difference in how the team interacts across the three weeks. rindo and fret’s established friendship, not to be dismissive of it, does exactly what it needs to. i mean this in a completely positive way. it’s an established friendship, they feel like friends, and they serve initially as anchors to one another in the beginning of the game as a “you’re the only person i know in this chaos” setup. this contrasts neku in the first game in an excellent way because of how it highlights their biggest character flaws, which i’ll talk about later; it’s important to rindo’s fatal flaw that he has someone to fall back and rely on in the beginning of the game in the same way that it’s crucial for neku’s development that he’s surrounded by strangers who he must learn to trust and rely on in order to survive. rindo and fret can lean on each other in the beginning of the game, and as people who have known each other for some time, are able to recognize and appreciate each others’ positive changes.

i do love the development of nagi’s friendship with fret, particularly how it’s sometimes but not always remarked on when she shelves her initial aloof attitude with him. i prefer when a narrative is more subtle on that kind of thing; pointing it out every once in a while is okay, but i don’t want it shoved down my throat via dialogue that characters are developing an emotional bond. we can see that nagi is slowly becoming more receptive to fret and less likely to dismiss or disparage him. it seems like their initial relationship is that of two people who have opposite struggles; nagi is notably closed off in the beginning, but fret immediately approaches her with an unearned and offputting level of familiarity. their slow and understated (more noticeable with nagi than fret) development towards accepting each other as friends is mutually beneficial to them even outside of the context of their personal relationship; nagi opens up a little with everyone, not just fret. placing two people with very different perspectives on how to interact with new people in close proximity helped both of them grow. i’m sure other people have different perspectives, but i do not feel like they were being teased as a pairing which i enormously appreciate, i am tired of “pair the spares” shit. (minor note: i also appreciate how while fret’s crush on kanon was very overt and strong, she was also fairly clear that she considered him a kid and his feelings were never going to be reciprocated because of that age gap. i know, the bar is low, but thank god.)

i love how, despite nagi now having been confirmed as older than beat, as soon as beat joins the narrative he takes this hard stance of “i’m the one who’s already been in this hellscape so it’s my responsibility to help the newbies”. he really embodies the big brother role so well in this game; he knows a little more about what’s going on, this isn’t his first rodeo even if it’s not exactly the same, so he considers himself to have an obligation to protect the others. he serves as sort of a physical and emotional rock for the team from the second he joins, becoming an excellent support for them both as a combatant and an older brother figure. he has experience in being both of these things, and i think beat’s writing is some of the best in the game.

despite his position as a former player who’s back in the UG, he meshes with the newbies perfectly. he doesn’t overshadow the rest of the team despite having more lived (ha) experience in the reaper’s game, he doesn’t feel like he’s on a different level from them or anything like that. he fits in while serving an important unique role that he can only fill because of his prior time in the UG. it’s completely understandable and reasonable why rindo remains the team leader despite beat’s presence. he’s had a three year gap since his last game and doesn’t even understand how he returned to the UG. he’s not a fish out of water, he knows the UG and the game. but he’s really truly gotta shake the dust off, and he’s trying to figure out what happened to him in the first place because he knows he shouldn’t be in the UG at all. he didn’t have a huge bump in intelligence since the first game, but it’s hard to dismiss him as a complete idiot. he has both large and small perceptive moments where another narrative might have chosen to keep him as the dumb muscle. in fact, his firm convictions serve an important role for the others - beat knows he didn’t die and can’t be convinced otherwise, and his confidence that he’s a living player is part of how rindo and gang realize they also aren’t dead. he’s clearly not simply a comic relief character. another story might have positioned him as more of a mentor figure, but he plays to his strengths and serves to ground the team instead. beat is honestly a highlight of this ensemble cast to me. i’m unsure as to how much of that is simply because he was one of my favorites from the first game, but i really truly love beat in this game.

shoka and neku’s late introductions to the team mean they have far less “we are now firmly allies and friends” interactions with the rest of the ensemble for unavoidable reasons. i will say that the excellent casting and localization for the english version, particularly shoka, has done a lot to mitigate that issue; yes, the plot doesn’t develop her relationships with the team as a whole as thoroughly as some of the others, but the combat interactions with her are so genuine that i found myself shocked when writing this because, well, those combat lines did so much legwork making her role in the party seem earned and cohesive. i had such a strong sense of her place in the team that just isn’t reflected in the cutscenes, and i find that very interesting but i’m unsure as to whether it’s good or bad; i think it’s incredible that the combat dialogue did such a good job fostering this air of “we are a unit” for these characters and it really is a testament to the skill of these actors, but i do wish it was more prevalent in the cutscenes itself. beat’s established relationship with neku and their relaxed nature with one another does a lot to ease neku’s entry into the group; he has an “in” with a firmly established member and a well-written dynamic with him that helps him out here.

as a nekubeat appreciator i feel very fed and i hope there’s an uptick in interest for the pairing following neo. i love how beat, who throughout the game is constantly forgetting who people from 3 years ago are (doesn’t recognize his former superior bc she’s wearing a suit now and can’t even remember her name), immediately recognizes coco despite her changing her entire aesthetic specifically because he’s so angry with her for killing neku. he’s ready to throw down the second he sees her, which gives this feeling of “he’s been waiting for this moment for 3 years”. because the narrative never addresses beat’s change in style, particularly that he wears his hair like neku now, i choose to believe it’s because the last time he saw neku was immediately after coco shot and killed him. it could be that this shit’s been haunting him ever since neku died. my city now, if you don’t talk about it in the game i make shit up. both their cutscene interactions and combat quotes do an excellent job of maintaining the sense that these two have been close friends for a long time and distance hasn’t changed that. they fall right back into old ways with one another immediately.

even outside of the context of me being a nekubeat shipper, their relationship and continued partnership (UG game context partnership) feels very genuine. neku and joshua call each other partner, but it rings hollow. i’m sure it’s partially the lack of screentime that makes it so they don’t feel like partners any more than neku and shiki do, but the game doesn’t even try to push closeness the way it does for shiki - more on that in a minute. beat is the only one of neku’s partners that seems to have retained the same strength in their bond with him despite the three years; shiki and joshua are super absent in the plot, which really undermines their relationships with neku. i’ve already talked about my problems with shiki’s lack of focus and how i feel it harms her relationship with neku, but as for neku’s relationship with joshua, i think neo has taken an interesting approach that i feel will have a mixed reception.

it actually feels like neku and joshua ended this game on worse terms than the first one even though joshua was a far more benevolent figure this time around. neku is very clear about wanting to return to the RG despite this meaning he will have no access to the UG (outside of potentially text-based communication since rhyme paved the way for RG residents to bust into the RNS and... however it was that shoka’s fanGO account worked, since she and rindo were fanGO friends long before his entry to the UG) and doesn’t show any hesitation or reluctance in stating this desire. he seems quite content with not having joshua be a part of his life, as opposed to the first game’s ending where he extends an open offer to joshua to join his friend group. i understand how this would (and will) let a lot of people down, but i actually think it’s for the best. i have no real opinion on neku’s capacity for forgiving joshua after the first game, good or bad, but i think putting distance between them in this game is the correct move.

i take this viewpoint especially given that after the first game, joshua did in fact choose this distance - neku invited him in, and he did not take the offer. it was his decision to not join neku’s group in the first game’s ending and he continued to remain separate from it in the three year gap; he may have masqueraded as a fellow player and peer in age, but joshua is not and has never been an actual peer to neku, shiki, and beat. his life experiences are so different from theirs that i would struggle to suspend disbelief that they have enough in common to maintain a close friendship. he intervened when neku was killed by coco and placed him in a safe area and gave moral support in the ending, and i think this is the most we should expect of a reforming (not reformed but in-progress) misanthrope like joshua. he’s an enigmatic figure sure and largely benevolent if inactive in this game, but he isn’t a good person and he clearly considers himself to be on a different level from neku and his peers. hanekoma notes that joshua’s somewhat reluctant to continue to remain separate from neku’s group, but i think the narrative places him both objectively and in his own mind as someone who is just... from a different world. joshua chose distance, he chose to cut contact, and this is the consequence of that decision. i think that’s a good lesson to teach; it may not be a given, but it’s natural that sometimes a friendship you ignore will fade. it doesn’t necessarily mean the time you spent didn’t matter, but you shouldn’t be shocked if a plant you don’t water wilts away.

i feel like that wasn’t the intended takeaway, that it was just questionable writing that i’m reading too deep into, but that’s how i feel about the situation.

i’m also incredibly grateful that hazuki was introduced as an age-appropriate option for joshua and i hope they’ll draw attention as a bastard boyfriends ship, both because i think it’s very funny and because i have opinions about shipping joshua with the teens. i know it’s contentious and i’m not going too deep into it, so what i’m going to say is this. the secret reports state in plain objective text that joshua downtuning his vibes aged him down and his true appearance is older. neither the narrative nor supplementary info state anything about how old josh was when he died or how long he’s been a reaper/the composer (reapers ageing is ??? as well, we don’t know if it’s not a thing or if it’s optional or what). however, it is firmly canon that he is older than 15. if that canon upsets you then that’s your problem to either work through or ignore indefinitely. suffice to say, joshua and hazuki do not have the schrodinger’s pedophile issue and i wholly support and strongly encourage that over the alternative for this reason and again because i find it funny and think they deserve each other. i hate to say hazuki is a healthy choice for joshua because i think both of them are just walking messes, but they are actual peers on the same tier of the higher plane pecking order and more importantly the disaster they could be as a couple has infinite potential.

on the girls side of things, i am still mad about eri’s absence not just because it’s a relationship shiki had that just got ignored. i know the story wants us to believe that neku and shiki have something but shiki and eri had more. i’m sorry writers you made a more compelling f/f ship by accident in the first game and i am not invested in the one you weakly suggested between neku and shiki here. if you made shiki have more of a role in neo maybe i’d feel differently, or maybe you would have screwed it up worse. we’ll never know. i think it’s a shame that they couldn’t make me care about neku and shiki as a pairing, but it is what it is.

i was briefly worried that the game would try to suggest something between kaie and rhyme because sometimes people lose their minds when a boy and girl stand next to each other, but i was quickly set at ease with that one. they felt like two people who are starting to straddle that line of acquaintance/friend in a believable way despite how little interaction between them we see, and i appreciate that. i was also briefly worried that fret would develop a crush on rhyme based on his initial reaction at being introduced to her, but again quickly dismissed. can you tell i’m a little gun shy about strangled “him boy her girl” romances in fiction these days? yeah. i’ve been let down too much recently by bad writing.

i think all of the party members could have benefited from more development with one another outside of combat lines - i would like to see more interaction between nagi and shoka, or neku and fret, etc - but that would come at the expense of the narrative’s pacing. i think it could have been done by tweaking certain details, but ultimately i can accept this as a sacrifice made in the interest of keeping the narrative from getting bloated.

i wanna talk briefly about the new main cast a little.

rindo’s ups and downs re: development are much more subtle than neku’s were, but with the secret reports in mind i feel his arc is actually pretty excellent. i think we could have done with a little less of fret pointing out rindo’s increased confidence and how he becomes more assertive, i think the audience is smart enough to notice that on their own. but i’m a huge fan of how the narrative quietly places rindo in this position of a leader who fears that responsibility, but nonetheless has to grow and accept it. hanekoma’s reports may spell it out in plain text postgame, but the narrative already told us in our own way that rindo’s development stalled when someone else entered the cast who could take over for him and this is demonstrative of a(n understandable) lack of maturity and failure to grow. neku’s fatal flaw was his rejection of others, and so he was forced by the narrative into a position where he had to learn to trust them; rindo’s is that he relies too much on them and the narrative forces him to stand on his own.

while i think this is a little muddled (he was right in some instances to not make hard solo decisions; thinking specifically of ayano, it was absolutely the right call to ease shoka into this inevitable loss rather than forcing her into the situation unilaterally) and i wish we saw more consequences of his initial waffling behavior, rindo’s indecisiveness is an actual flaw that i think a lot of people can relate to and i think it contrasts him wonderfully with neku without being heavy-handed. rindo working through it from “relying on others to make choices for him -> still valuing the input of others but not wholly dependent on them -> capable of making difficult calls without anyone else to support him” was subdued and while it had realistic hitches in the form of other characters who he could consider authority figures, it was steady and imo very good. he’s a teenager coming into his own, stepping out of this world where others in his life - motoi as an0ther, shoka as swallow, presumably his parents, teachers, etc - have made the big, scary decisions for him or guided him through them, and into a place where there aren’t these people to guide him. he’s surrounded by people who either don’t know anything more than he does, or don’t care about his best interests; he’s clashing and changing and it forces him to grasp and accept his own autonomy rather than falling back and relying on someone else to fix things when it’s too frightening or difficult.

we can talk cultural differences re: the level of autonomy and responsibility that’s right for teenagers but i’m not really interested in drawing hard lines there. this is a coming of age story; as he approaches maturity, rindo is learning how to be an adult. i think that’s a classic and important narrative concept and it’s done well here.

fret, interestingly, is imo a case where the subtlety didn’t work out. to me, there wasn’t a huge distinction between flippant “telling you what i think you want to hear” fret and “genuine” fret. his initial interactions with kanon don’t seem different from their last conversation; maybe he comes off as less initally honest in the jp version, or maybe this one was a writing fumble. maybe it’s just me, and other people don’t feel the same way! he seems to be a far more static character in a strange way; the narrative tells us that he’s developing via other characters’ dialogue, but it doesn’t seem to support that. to me it’s a failure of “show, don’t tell” - i don’t take a hard stance on “show, don’t tell” as some kind of holy rule of writing, there are plenty of situations in a narrative where telling is perfectly acceptable and i think rigid adherence to showing and not telling can result in a bloated narrative, but in this case i feel like that’s where the narrative failed. it failed to support fret’s development outside of other people telling him he’s changed. i like fret, but i feel like in this ensemble cast fret and nagi kinda serve more as nominal protagonists and are more strong supporting characters than true leads.

as for nagi, i love how, despite it being low-hanging fruit, not only are there no real digs at nagi for being a vocal fangirl of a visual novel dating sim, it actually ties perfectly into her character as someone who understands people. dating sims are about people and relationships. how people interact, the importance of conveying your feelings, the consequences of bad communication; that’s what nagi is obsessed with. and rather than this being a detriment and making her avoid others, it ends up priming her to have healthy friendships because her gaming taught her to value knowing other people. it takes her time to actually open up, but rather than the video games closing her off to others they actually set her up to be an excellent friend. elestra in general could have been a subject of enormous mockery, but instead it’s viewed in a very neutral way and is given the implication of universal appeal by fret picking it up in the epilogue. nagi’s not in the spotlight for most of the game, but the payoff of her monologue to fret about being human was immense and was one of the best bits of dialogue in the entire game to me. it’s not going to be as iconic as hanekoma’s “open up your world” and “enjoy the moment”, but i truly think it’s one of the only parts of neo’s dialogue that approaches its level.

shoka is a character that i think is better on the replay, and i say this as someone who was very fond of shoka the first time around. i thought she had a lot of personality in her mannerisms alone, and i firmly appreciate how she wasn’t a one-note tsundere character. she had some of those minor elements, but subdued and with a reasonable context - she’s hot and cold with rindo and his team because she’s supposed to be working this rigged game to erase them, but she’s already rindo’s friend in a different context and is struggling to reconcile these two parts of her life. knowing her motivation as swallow gives so much retroactive depth to her actions; she was circumventing the game itself not just because she was exhausted by it or unease with shiba like some of the other turncoat reapers, but because rindo was her friend from before the story even began.

i will say that i didn’t actually fully call swallow being shoka simply because at first i had the impression that it would be rhyme (before rhyme’s role in the story became clearer), and admittedly by the time the climax hit the mystery of who swallow was had kind of dropped out of my mind completely, but i think it does a lot to develop shoka. whether this development being retroactive is strictly good or bad as an issue is subjective; neo is a game that has a built-in chapter select, so replaying the game and rewatching the cutscenes with the full narrative context is incredibly easy. however, for a lot of players, if you’re replaying the game it’s with a specific goal of getting something you missed earlier in-game, so you’re rushing through those cutscenes trying to get to that completionist bit. i think a line could have been walked re: giving more of a hint that shoka was swallow before the very end without fully giving it away, but i definitely think the rewatch value is more subjective and based on how you specifically play the game. if you’re here looking to watch all the cutscenes again now that you know everything, shoka being swallow is a huge treat regarding changing the context of her behavior - if you’re fast-forwarding trying to find a pig, it’s totally wasted.

i would have liked to see more of shoka’s backstory and interaction with the other shinjuku reapers for sure, and i wonder if this is another thing along the lines of “we were supposed to see more of shinjuku’s final game than we did”; if we’d gotten more of shinjuku, we certainly would have seen more of its reapers. i talked briefly about how i feel like ayano’s death didn’t hit the way i think it was intended to, but if the game had let us see more of her as a shinjuku reaper i feel like the entire plot would have benefited. it would have benefited shiba as well honestly; they tried to have him as a repentant “now i shall fix what i destroyed” character at the very end, but i don’t feel like they did a good enough job portraying that he had changed and he was brainwashed so it fell flat. if we’d seen more of shiba as the compassionate leader who deserved the loyalty of his reapers that they say he was, the contrast would have done a lot to help define the tragedy of his backstory. overall i think this is another “we lost a chunk of the plot in rewrites or something” issue, which i admit is not based in anything like interviews. it’s just my speculation because it feels like something that was supposed to be here got left behind - i can’t say if i’m right, or why it happened if so. it just feels to me like the shinjuku reapers besides shoka went fairly undeveloped not because of writing/lack of screentime alone but because we lost big pieces of shinjuku content entirely. it’s insane that we only learn in the secret reports how tsugumi became trapped in the mr. mew plush to begin with; to me, this screams “we had to cut something”, and the more i think about it the more convinced i am that we were originally meant to see more of shinjuku’s inversion. hell, the secret reports just flippantly inform us that tsugumi’s brother was shinjuku’s conductor and he’s why she survived - but he goes unnamed and unseen, mentioned only in a piece of postgame content that many players may never unlock.

shinjuku’s final game is just left as this incredible story that was never told, with a cast who we barely see. again, it doesn’t bother me that they never explained to us why hazuki purified shinjuku. but i do wish we could have connected with its reapers to see how they reacted to its impending fate; who was on kubo’s side, who was trying to protect shinjuku? who knew what was happening, and who was just swept up in the chaos? how did the purification affect them emotionally after their escape to shibuya? just from the secret reports we see that tsugumi’s brother is this tragic hero of another story, the conductor opposing the executor and fighting to save his city before ultimately sacrificing himself to keep his sister alive. this is enough content that it could have easily been a standalone, but it wasn’t. i think that’s a damn shame. i’m sure there are people who are already chomping at the bit to write about shinjuku’s tragic final game and it’ll make a stunning fanfic in the right hands, but this is a big gap for fanfiction authors to be filling in.

this was mostly a narrative thoughts dump, but i wanna say just a couple of things about the combat: overall i liked it! i was significantly overleveled for the vast majority of the game partially because i was having fun with the combat, i feel gameplay was very intrinsically motivating. because of how the food system worked, being overleveled didn’t mean too much since it only affects HP, but i also was eating constantly so i was in fact just OP for much of the game. so i suppose, take my gameplay commentary with a grain of salt because i was busted quickly. if i hadn’t been such a powerhouse from early on, i expect my gameplay experience would have been much different.

my biggest complaint: there were some significant issues in enemy design related to battles being timed and the timer having consequences. some enemies were a reasonable/intuitive pain, say, elephants being bullet sponges and chameleons having an invisibility mechanic. these things made them challenging, but in a sensible way. like, of course a big honkin’ elephant has a ton of HP. i think that chameleons in particular could have been tweaked; you have to be very close to them when they’re invisible in order to lock on, and i think this could distance could have been extended a bit to minimize frustration. likewise, it felt like party members that get grabbed by a t.rex were trapped for ages; i feel this could have been tweaked as well. i know a lot of people had issues with wolves for this same reason, but their comparative frailty and my pin choices meant that i quickly overcame wolves and they became a minor nuisance at best until endgame introduced a beefier wolf. even then, i found t.rex noise to be much more of an issue because of their sturdier nature and higher damage output. these are minor gripes; i didn’t like seeing these enemies, but i didn’t hate seeing them. no, here’s what i hate: rhinos and pufferfish.

to me, these are the most annoying enemies in the entire game outside of maybe a handful of bosses. i feel they were poorly thought out in general. the tendency for rhinos to put themselves against the arena walls and the delay on pufferfish exploding after their HP hits zero do not mesh well with that battle timer. i find myself very frustrated by these enemies because it feels like i’m being punished not for a lack of skill or bad decisions choosing weak pins, but simply bad luck. very few pins can circumvent the rhino’s front guard and the hitbox for their guard feels enormous, so i can’t imagine i’m the only player having difficulty herding them out of corners to actually damage them or get beat drops. there’s a postgame dive with a big noise rhino, and it was my worst experience with the entire game because it just kept backing into a corner. i quit that dive multiple times because of how much time i wasted with the rhino; i changed my pins like crazy trying to take advantage of elemental weaknesses or use pins that could circumvent the guard. but it wasn’t about what pins i was using, it was just bad luck with hitboxes. when i finally got the gold rank on that dive it wasn’t that i did anything significantly different, the rhino just didn’t park its ass in the corner that time.

as far as i know, and i hope i’m missing something that someone can enlighten me on, there is no way to prevent pufferfish from inflating and exploding outside of a killer remix. i have not discovered any way to make them explode faster. the amount of time it takes for them to blow up seems to vary not by species but by individual, i’m not sure if it’s being triggered by proximity to a party member or what but i know sometimes one of those little shits will inflate and chase me across the entire arena before finally exploding. in a chain battle, that wasted time adds up. the pufferfish issue could have been severely mitigated, if not entirely fixed, if the gap between HP hitting zero and explosion was just the time it took for them to inflate. that would have basically eliminated my needless frustration with them. but instead i just... don’t know how to make them pop faster.

in normal combat, your post-battle score is primarily just bragging rights/making yourself feel good to have gotten a good grade. but when it comes to dives, where the timer directly decides how many of the finite friendship points you get, the appearance of a rhino or pufferfish specifically is something i approached with dread and disappointment. i already mentioned the postgame dive giant rhino specifically being a nightmare, but this was a reoccurring element for me through the entire game with just normal rhinos. i know rhinos are a returning enemy and kept their front-guard schtick, but the shift to a 3D environment has made them a much more (imo needlessly) difficult opponent.

regarding the pin system itself, i was enormously disappointed to learn how the multi-pin input worked. it turns out that you can only have multiple pins using a single input no matter how many multi-pin wields you unlock; gone were my dreams of having 2 Y-input pins and two ZL input pins (i played on switch). the inability to multi-pin wield uber pins regardless of how many uber slots you have filled is also a huge bummer. i feel like in the postgame i should be able to be an absolute god of destruction, but this didn’t pan out.

this seems to be a switch issue, but autosave was the MVP of the game because i had a few cutscenes crash or freeze (the one with kubo’s reveal seems to be a common source of a crash on the switch version as it fails to load the 3D cutscene); this was annoying and needs fixing, but it was slightly mitigated by autosave kicking in immediately after boss battles. i was crushed thinking i was gonna have to go through the shiba fight again after kubo crashed my game, so the relief i felt upon loading up again and going right into the cutscene was immense. don’t get me wrong: cutscene freezes and particularly crashes are a big problem that a game like this shouldn’t have launched with, but at the very least i didn’t lose my progress on that crash. related, i appreciate the ability to speed through cutscenes you’ve already seen, but i do wish we had the option to skip them entirely because that would have saved me from the freezes that i had to manually close the game and lose progress for.

a more minor complaint that i admittedly am unsure as to how to fix (maybe utilizing the d-pad instead of having it be camera/target select alongside the right stick?) is that i do not seem to have much control over which character my camera centers on in combat. typically selecting the pin that’s equipped to them will focus the camera to them, but every once in a while i’ll be locked to someone whose pin is rebooting while my other party members are actively attacking on the complete opposite end of the arena. i have no idea why this happens. if i’m missing something please let me know. the static nature of the overworld camera took some adjusting to, at first i was offput but i got used to it quickly. if camera was fixed position in combat it would have been a nightmare, but it being fixed in the overworld isn’t the same beast.

this has gotten obscenely long, so props and condolences to everyone who has made it this far. i wanna end on a high note because i want to reiterate something: i have so many criticisms here and that’s actually praise. i enjoyed so much of this game that i’m critical of where it fell short specifically because it’s such a strong contrast to how much i felt it did right. the main story was pretty strong in general, though some character interactions were lacking. the plot itself i didn’t talk a lot about because i thought it was good. there wasn’t much to say, they did a good job! the dissonance noise being created from deleted timelines was great, i loved that. i don’t feel like predictability makes a narrative bad, so it’s not like i was upset when it turned out replay was (gasp) part of a dastardly scheme. for me, foreshadowing is an excellent thing even if sometimes i wish it was handled a little differently.

i vastly prefer this game’s vague sequel hook with minamimoto over how final remix ended a new day; that sequel hook i hated and it had me so worried about neo. thankfully a lot of my fears didn’t come true, and i am very happy overall with the game we got. if another game is greenlit, i would hope it progresses with a mostly new cast; as long as we stay in shibuya some supporting characters can and should be staples imo, like kariya and uzuki, and i hope to see more of what’s being set up with minamimoto even if not necessarily with him as a protagonist. but overall i think twewy’s worldbuilding lends itself much more to a rotating cast if it develops into a full franchise; that’s just the nature of the UG, and i would like to see further installments taking advantage of that and allowing characters to have a complete arc and then retire from the narrative naturally.

i’ve got some pigs to erase and some bosses to slap the pins out of, which i’m sure will take me some time. another day certainly has a secret boss and/or time trial boss rush, so i’ll take a look at that sucker soon as well. i’m looking forward to continuing my playthrough, and i expect to sink quite a few more hours into this game. i really truly enjoyed neo despite my qualms, and i’m leaving the main storyline behind for postgame stuff with almost entirely positive feelings and a hopeful stance on the potential future of the series. i know this was a long-ass post, which is why it’s beneath a readmore, but to anyone who cared enough about my thoughts to keep reading the whole thing... thanks for the time you spent, hope you got something positive out of it!

#neo twewy #neo twewy spoilers #this turned into a behemoth. im so sorry #I CHECKED AND IT'S OVER 11K WORDS #I'M SO FUCKING SORRY

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echoghost1 · 4 years ago

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The Paleontologist and The Princess

Word Count: 2218

For: @aggressivelyclueless

Summary: Danny had one true passion; Paleontology. So can anyone really blame him for getting excited when he thinks he comes face to face with a dinosaur? Even if it isn't a dinosaur after all.

You can read it on AO3 or down below the cut

"Actually, Dad? I wanted to be a paleontologist." Danny admitted as he tried not to squirm in his seat. Sitting this close to the portal felt weird.

It felt like all his hairs were standing on end and that he’d jumped into an ice-cold pool at the same time.

“You know, dinosaurs?”

Just because both of their fields involved dead things, didn’t mean he was at all interested in ghosts. The closest he wanted to be to death was the bones of the ancient creatures who used to roam the earth, not the spooky floating scary things that went bump in the night.

His dad prattled on about the inventions that might not even work. Completely ignoring him, as per usual.

Of course, ever since Danny had got the portal to work last month, his parents had decided that meant he was their lucky charm and he needed to be around when they turned on any and all of their inventions from now on.

He hated it.

Mostly because they were right and everything just worked better, or at all, with him around. Probably because the inventions kept picking him up as a ghost.

Somehow his parents just kept thinking it was a fluke. That he only had some minor contamination and it would wear off eventually.

He was pretty sure that wasn’t true.

Especially given how he had fallen through his bed this morning and had gotten his hand stuck inside his doorhandle when it had partially phased through and then resolidified before he could pull it back out.

That had hurt.

He flexed his hand at the memory and really just wanted all of this ghost nonsense to go away.

================================================

It had been almost two months since his accident and his powers had only gotten stronger. They definitely weren’t going away anytime soon.

Although, he was starting to see the silver lining now. With his abilities, he could explore underground areas and discover fossils and specimens that no one could reach before without disturbing a thing. That was definitely a positive with such ancient and delicate things hidden deep within the earth. It was like they were waiting just for him.

So now whenever his parents called him down to the lab to show off their newest invention he’d just think about how cool and easy spelunking would be with the perks of ghost powers.

“Hey, Danny! Want to try out the Fenton Fisher?”

“Fenton Fisher?” he echoed looking from his dad’s fisherman get-up to the open portal.

“Yeah! I figured fishing and hunting aren’t too far off and I already enjoy the sport anyway. Might as well combine it with my work, am I right?”

Danny just chuckled and shook his head. You couldn’t say his dad wasn’t creative.

“Here, hold this. I’ve gotta go!” his dad said as he jumped up from his seat, pressed the fishing pole into Danny’s chest, and raced up the stairs.

Danny readjusted his grip on the pole and stared into the portal. The swirling green was somehow both super off-putting and oddly inviting.

He wasn’t sure which thought was worse.

Before he could truly think that over, Danny gasped as his ghost sense went off, “Oh no,” there was a tug on the line

The line went taut and he felt the vibration and tug of something very large.

Without enough time to react, Danny just stood there, in the open lab completely exposed, as two large clawed feet stomped out of the portal. Then a large reptilian head emerged from the vortex. Its glowing blue scales shining brightly more from the light the creature produced than from the shine of the scales as they reflected the lights of the lab.

Danny blinked at the massive creature before him. He hardly reacted at all when it spit out the hook onto his head and snarled at him.

All he could think was that there was something that looks suspiciously like someone had mixed a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a Triceratops in his basement. Or at least, the ones depicted in movies anyway.

There was a real-life dinosaur in his basement. Or a real ghost dinosaur anyway.

He didn’t know dinosaurs could be ghosts. Or that ghosts could be dinosaurs?

He couldn’t suppress the manic grin spreading across his face as the beautiful creature snorted hot breath through its nose at him.

He was so going to die.

If Jurassic Park taught him anything it was that being eaten by a dinosaur was the S-tier death.

The creature took another step forward revealing that it had large leathery wings sprouting from its back.

“You’re a dragon!?”

Forget being dino-chow, dragons were way cooler!

The dragon tilted its head at him. Like it could understand him.

It could understand him!

“Hi. You’re amazing! Did you know that?” Danny said full of awe and wonder as he dropped the fishing pole and just took in the absolute beauty of the literal dragon before him.

The dragon’s features went from confusion to surprise and suddenly instead of a dragon, there was a girl.

She wore a blue dress that went down to almost the floor, or it would have touched the floor if not for the fact that she was floating a good foot above it.

Her blonde hair was done in a braid and her bright red eyes looked over him with a mix of confusion and apprehension, “You do not fear me?” she asked with an accent that reminded him of that old Shakespeare movie Mr. Lancer had played in class two weeks ago. The movie was so old that it was only on VHS.

He shook his head, “Why would I?”

“But I’m a cursed beast.” she implored almost as if she wanted him to be afraid of her.

“Well, who told you that?”

“My step-mother.”

“That wasn’t very nice of her.”

The ghost girl looked away, “she rarely spares me any kind words.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Still,” Danny took a step forward but stopped when she took one back, “If you want to talk about it, I’m all ears.”

If he didn’t have to fight he would gladly take that option. Fighting was exhausting and he always ended up getting knocked into a wall or something and his back was not at all enjoying the experience.

“You really wish to hear of my troubles? You don’t even know me?”

“That’s an easy fix,” he smiled, “I’m Danny, what’s your name?”

“Princess Dorathea of Mattingly,” she replied as she cautiously took his offered hand and just stared at their clasped hands as he initiated the handshake.

“Wow, I’ve never met a Princess before.” he chuckled as he let her hand go, “Or a dragon, but before today I figured my chances of meeting royalty were a bit higher despite not living in England.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Danny.” she curtsied and he scrambled to give a quick little bow back. “I do apologize for appearing here when I was so distraught. I do try to keep my temper in check, but sometimes it gets the better of me.” she clutched the amulet on her neck as her gaze went nowhere in particular, “But such is the curse.”

“You turn into a dragon when you’re upset?” Danny asked hoping he was interpreting what she was saying correctly. This fancy English was a bit difficult for him to translate.

“Yes.” she dropped the golden amulet back onto her chest, “But you are the only person outside of my family that does not fear the sight of my enraged form. Why is that?”

“Dragons are cool?”

She cocked her head to the side, “Cool?”

That was right, she spoke fancy English, she probably didn’t use modern slang. “Neat? Uh, awesome?”

“Do you find my other form more appealing?” she asked and her pupils flashed momentarily into reptilian slits.

“No, no! Both forms are great! You look pretty either way.” he said in a rush as he realized his earlier eagerness to die had left and he very much did not want to die in his basement.

Again?

“You think I’m pretty?” she asked as she blushed.

He blushed too because he’d never just said that to a girl before. Even if he had thought it. “Yeah.”

“That’s awfully forward of you.”

“Sorry! I don’t normally say stuff like that.” He wasn’t even sure why he had in the first place. “I just, uh, weren’t you upset about something?”

He grimaced at just how terrible of a transition that was.

“Oh right. Honestly, I shouldn’t have gotten so upset.”

“It’s okay to be upset about things.”

“Not if your me. Not if your anger makes you dangerous. And all over a silly ball.”

“Ball?”

“Yes, there was this wonderful ball I wanted to go to but my horrible stepmother forbade me to go.”

“Ah, I see she’s really trying for the Mother of the Year award.”

Dorathea just stared at him.

“Sorry. Sarcasm doesn't always work. My bad.”

“It’s quite alright. I just didn’t realize it was a joke at first. I think I get it.” She thought for a second and then smiled, “Yes. It’s funny because she’s terrible?”

“Yeah! It’s ironic.” he shrugged, “I really like puns and wordplay. Sarcasm is like my default setting.”

“There’s nothing wrong with using one’s wit. ‘Tis better to disarm thy enemy with a quick tongue than a hidden dagger.”

“Well ain’t that the truth!” he said with a smirk and a finger gun. Then he quickly dropped the finger gun, because it was both, kind of lame, and also she probably didn’t know what that gesture meant anyway.

He had a feeling that the Princess wasn’t just wearing that outfit because she was into vintage fashion.

“So a ball is like a dance, right?”

“Yes, there is dancing, and food too.”

“How come your step-mom said no to the ball? Besides just being the worst.”

“I had no escort. But it’s all moot now. The ball was ages ago. I’ve long since missed my chance to go.”

“There’s a dance at my school this Friday. It’s not the same, but-” he was cut off when she gasped.

“Are you asking me to go with you?”

Was he? “Yeah? I mean if you think she’ll let you. I don’t want to get you in trouble or anything.”

“Tell me everything!”

He walked over to the chair his Dad had previously occupied and pulled out a flyer from his backpack, “Everything you need to know is on here!” he said handing over the page.

She beamed in excitement and hugged the paper tightly. “Oh, I can’t wait! Thank you so much for this Danny!”

“Meet you here at 6?”

“It’s a date!” Then she flew off back into the portal.

================================================

The next morning Danny walked up to his friends and attempted to show off his best smile.

“What have you done this time?” Sam deadpanned before he even had a chance to get a word in.

“What makes you think I did anything?”

“No one enters this building with a smile that big. Now spill.”

“I,” he hesitated, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But you did do something, didn’t you,” Tucker added.

Who’s side was this guy on?

“I just have some news.”

His friends just stared at him.

He may be half-ghost but they certainly could give him the spooks, or Sam could anyway.

“You know how there’s a dance this Friday?” he started, hoping if he just came in real gentle they would be super understanding and not laugh in his face.

“Go on,” Sam said as Tucker looked between the two as if expecting a showdown.

“Well I got a date and I think it would be really neat if you guys came too so you could meet her.”

He smiled again and tried not to think about how much it felt like a grimace.

“Wait, when did this happen?” Tucker asked at the same time that Sam glared harder.

“Who is she?”

“Dora? She’s not from around here. I think she’s British?” he put a finger to his lip in thought, “Or at least I think that’s where she’s from. I didn’t ask, but she’s got the accent.”

“When did you meet a potential British girl?”

“Last night.”

“I thought you went home after school?”

“I did. That’s where I met her.”

“You meet a girl and immediately asked her to the dance?”

“Was she wearing a Land Before Time shirt or something?”

“No!”

How dare his friends think he was shallow enough to only ask a girl out if she happened to be into one of the best-animated movie series ever made. Although he probably would, now that he’s thinking about it.

“So what is it about her that’s so mesmerizing?”

“I didn’t say that! She was just upset because she missed this big dance a while back and I just invited her to ours to cheer her up. Plus she’s really nice.”

“And?” Tucker asked knowing him far too well.

“And she has this nasty little habit of turning into a giant dragon when she’s upset.”

His friends just stared at him.

“Also she’s a Princess.” he bit his lip and finally added, “and a ghost.”

#phic phight #phic phight 21 #Danny Phantom #aggressivelyclueless #alternate universe #tfw you accidentally ask your hyper fixation to the school dance #I'm playing off the idea that Dora is a teenager as well if she's that upset about missing a ball

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riverleyk · 4 years ago

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French vs English: MK: 12 Signatures

Part 3! Read part 1 and part 2 The translation differences, a more general look. First of all, we need to discuss actually speech bubbles. Not all bubbles were changed to fit the French text, but some were.

unchanged.

Changed. These changes were kind of rare and only happened if the text was important and really couldn’t fit inside no matter how hard I tried. And trust me, I tried a lot. Changing sentences so it would have the same meaning but still be smaller of fit different. I came on clutch. Often.

This translates to the same thing, but here’s a good example of Stella using more Quebec slang and speaking with a joual accent. Some characters who spoke with English slang had to have it removed or changed.

“OMG! Really!” Instead of:

All chapters have the same names. Certain names are in English, and others are in French. The thank you note at the beginning of the book, and the origin of the comic pages at the end are both bilingual, as organizing and setting things in different folders is just a hassle. Certain characters had a name change, except for Burgundy who ironically had the name of a color as her name and so it would have translated kind of easily... except...I thought “Bourgogne” sounded ugly. Andrew became André, a much more traditional French name. Edwin became Edward. ‘Édouard’ would have been the better French spelling, but in in this context, Edwin is actually anglophone, so have it be spelled the English way, but be more pronounceable to French speakers is the ideal here. Sure, Edwin might be a bit iffy on pronunciation but try Riverley K in French. My own name sounds hideous. I should have changed my own name instead! Dimitri is a pretty name in French, but unfortunately, DIMITRIUS is just a terrible sound in French. Luckily, it’s long and nobody calls him by his full name.

Speaking of Edwin being an anglophone tho, his ENTIRE CHAPTER is different and much funnier. In the English version, Edwin was a hard ass. Respectful, super Canadian, and polite, but still firm in not wanting to sign the contract, all until... ya know the plot twist. (Read my comic!!!) But if French, he’s all that and extremely bad at talking in French. Added dialog of him saying as much and apologizing is the icing on top.

“ I’m happy that you came, but she has passed away. I worry that nobody can sign these papers. pardon my French.” Notice how he says ‘je worry’. worry is an English word, he’s not saying it right. he should be saying ‘Je suis inquiet’ (I am worried) but even that isn’t right. I payed a lot of attention to my own French mistakes, and my biggest errors were using English grammar structure or sayings and applying them into French, which would create broken syntaxe and bad grammar. Language is complex, but I’ll keep it simple for the sake of this post not taking ages. Other types of errors/fun details:

Clearly, he just said an entire sentence in English. That's not French!

“That’s illegal. we are met now. You know me not.” He fails spectacularly to the point of this phrase barely making sense.

More anglicismes (using English words in another Language). Using ‘caller’ instead of ‘téléphoner’ (the verb, to call) and of course, using smart instead of intelligent or rusé.

“The money was (was?) - has been stolen.” I know this translation is wrong in English. Saying has is right for the context, but in French, Edwin questioned his own grammar and got it right! There are so many other mistakes he makes, but most of it is grammar related. He only used masculine ‘déterminant’ like Le and Un. In French, nouns have gender, and so there’s La and Une he’s not using. He also gets conjugation mixd up, using ‘est’ and ‘a’ incorrectly. This is basic stuff that’s very hard for new learners, but even then, Edwin is from Ontario, where English is still taught in school. Edwin is a himbo tho. Other small edits: ..or lack there of.

In chapter 8, Donovan’s hotel room is the name in either language. Mainly because I edited these directly on the image file itself. The hotel was actually my grand parent’s old folks home hallway. Their hotel room was the basement at my aunt’s house. I needed to edit out their address and names.

In French, Stella references her ‘info-man’, which is a popular comedy in Québec.

Certain sounds, like a gasp is not translated. Mainly cause I don’t know what a French gasp is...

Dimitri’s slang for ‘get high’ was translated to ‘défoncer’ but actually that means something much more intense. Basically Dimitri said “I’m gonna go get shitfaced.”

Beatrice also speaks in slight joual. Also, that’s my bedroom.

I don’t know why her swearing in French was censored....

“But Dimitri, it’s us the victims. he has abandoned us and our mothers too. Most of these kids don’t have dads and never received a #@$! black cent!” The world that would named the most sense in her sentence would have been “maudite”. thank you for reading about the translation process for the comic! I’m working on writing more articles.

#comic #characters #RiverleyK #mafia kids #mafiakids #12 signatures #12signatures #French #location #culture #accents #writing #writing process #localisation #translation #conceptdesign #conceptart #comics

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kisskissbanggang · 4 years ago

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I have been away from kpop for some months and have been trying to catch up with nct and I just now watched that terrible video where Johnny and Mark teach Chenle how to talk to Stephen Curry using Aave. They might just know it as 'internet slang', but what the fuck is with the blaccent? And I seriously doubt that they'd teach Chenle that same 'slang' if he really wanted to meet Taylor Swift. Do they talk like that to their black fans? Do they think black people dont understand basic english?

I was tired of the racism and stereotypes so I took a step back from kpop and I chose to watch Johnny and Mark content because I thought I'd be safe from disappointments like that with them. How dumb of me.

I don't know if I can support them anymore. I'm sure they didn't intend to hurt people, but ignorance isn't really a good excuse if they don't apologise and try to do better. As they probably aren't allowed to apologize for anything, ever, we'll never know if they do know better now. My only comfort is that Chenle didnt try to imitate them.

Ok, I kind of sent my last ask in the heat of the moment. I've calmed down now and wanted to add that I truly dont think that they wanted to hurt people or anything. They were probably unaware that people could be hurt over it. If I could I'd tell them and that would hopefully be that, because I believe that they're good people and wouldn't want to hurt anyone if they knew they were doing it.

And when I say I dont know if I can support them anymore I didnt mean them specifically, I meant kpop in general. I don't think I can continue to spend my time, energy and money on an industry that profits off other cultures and has shown again and again that they don't really care about fans from those cultures.

First of all anon, I hear you and I hear the disappointment and hurt that is completely valid to have when dealing with a situation like this. That video didn’t sit right with me either for similar reasons. Of course, my knee jerk reaction was to chalk this up to more stupid decisions from management, but let’s not excuse this as not being their idea or them being ignorant. If we look at the base observations, it doesn’t look great. It looks rude and debasing. Is this what the intent was? Probably not, but reactions like yours should not be unheard of. Especially when this comes from members like Johnny and Mark. I do not want to sling any conjecture at these men and what their backgrounds may or may have to do with their understanding of how representing culture like this can be harmful, but they need to understand the privileges they’ve been afforded and how coming from North America doesn’t make them experts in all cultures from their home countries, but it does make them representatives and it is an added burden of their jobs to act as such and do what they can to be educated and properly educate others.

#mail #anon #tough topics

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anotheronechicagobog · 5 years ago

Text

Ava Bekker x reader

Togther written by @anotheronechicagobog

Warning: TRIGGER WARNINGS, attempted murder, arson, being forced out of the closet, fleeing to another country, being rejected entry, corrupt police, fear of the police, compliance for fear or violence, swearing

Hope you like it @sasssystephden

@chimerahh

Belarus was your home, it was where you grew up, and it would always be a part of you. Unfortunately, you couldn’t be a part of it. You didn’t move to Chicago, you fled to Chicago. Being a lesbian was not something that people could ignore, so your only other option was to pretend that you were really just a spinster, it was something that they reacted violently to. You hadn’t even come out to your family, you were outed by your so-called best friend. She’d been invited to your family’s Christmas party, along with half the town, and she announced it to everyone.

It was like a scene from a horror movie, everyone turned to you in slow motion, darkness taking over their eyes. They didn’t even ask you if it was true.

You shook your head, not wanting to relive that memory. You turned back to your computer screen. You’d gotten a scholarship to the University of Dijon and gotten a degree in computer science, it made finding a job in the states much easier. You felt as though your boss, Sergeant Voight, was corrupt. He did a lot of the things the police in your home country did, and while it was clear he made you uncomfortable, no one knew why. You took your job at intelligence, not because you actually wanted to, but because Voight was interested and you thought he’d make you disappear if you said ‘no’. So you were back to living a good portion of your day in fear. The team didn’t understand why you’d never joined them at a bar afterwards and you were too scared to tell them.

You’d met Brian at your grocery store, a family-run Slavic grocery store and restaurant, you ran into each other so many times that you’d started to become friends. He was heartbroken to learn why you moved to the states, so he told you that he’d be your family. You’d been touched, and as a result, your brother-sister bond was forged.

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

It had taken a while for Brian to convince you to go to Molly’s because the team went there frequently, but he’d managed it. You put on a nice top, jeans, flats, a jacket, and headed to Molly’s before you could lose your nerve.

When you opened the ornate door you were met with warmth and laughter. “Y/N! Over here!” Brian was behind the bar, but there were women sitting on bar stools near him who waved at you. You sat on the seat in front of him and let out a breath. “Y/N, these are my friends, Sylvie and Emily, they’re the paramedics for 51, April, Maggie, Nat, and Ava, they all work at med. Guys, this is Y/N.”

“Hi, it’s nice to meet all of you.” Your accent was thick, something that all of the women noticed. Brian placed a glass of vodka on the rocks in front of you, which made Maggie raise an eyebrow and say, “are you Russian?”

“Belarussian, actually. I do speak Russian though.”

“Damn, I am not good at pegging accents. I thought that Ava was from the UK and she ended up being from South Africa.”

“I grew up in an area that had been heavily colonized, something that not many people are aware of.” You nodded, grateful that she answered your question without you having to ask. “So, how do you know Otis?” You must have looked as confused as you felt because Sylvie realized her mistake and spoke again. “Sorry, Otis is the nickname we have for Brian around the station. Sometimes I forget that’s not his name.”

“Oh, okay, well, we kept running into each other at the local market that we started talking, it was nice to speak to someone in Russian again.”

“Ah, so should we be seeing you around more?”

“I suppose so?”

“She’s insinuating that we have an emotional and/or sexual relationship.” Brian’s explanation was blunt and something you appreciated. Although you were fluent in English you didn’t understand all of the slang just yet. “Oh. OH.” You turned back to Sylvie and the other women. “Brian is a wonderful man and any woman would be lucky to be with him, but I am a lesbian, so Brian and I will not be in a romantic relationship.”

“Is that why you moved here?” Emily was closest to you and put her hand on your forearm, sympathetic smiles gracing the faces of all the women barring Ava, she had one of remembrance and understanding. “Yes. A woman I used to be friends with told my entire family and town at a party. No one reacted well.” Nat looked like she had a question to ask but Ava cut her off, “that’s terrible, Y/N. I’m sorry that happened. Do you want to talk about what happened?”

“No thank you, I don’t enjoy remembering that night.” Nat leaned back into her seat and bowed her head slightly. You let out a breath and felt grateful that Ava had intervened. The night went by smoothly after that, Nat had pulled you aside later and apologized, knowing that it was obvious she had wanted to ask an invasive question. “I would love to become friends and I’m glad that Ava stopped me from asking that question, I’m so sorry if I made you uncomfortable, I should have known not to pry, I am so sorry.”

“It’s okay Nat, you didn’t actually ask anything, and I can see that it was just a slip of judgement and that you will respect my boundaries. I would like to be friends with you as well.”

“Of course, Y/N, I-”

“Y/N? What’re you doing here? I thought you were visiting a friend tonight?” Detective Ruzek made his way towards you with the rest of your team, his tone was surprised and somewhat angry, causing Nat and your new friends around you to bristle. “I am. Brian is one of the owners and he wanted to introduce me to these lovely ladies.” You smiled, hoping to diffuse some of the tension. “What so you just hang out with him every time we’re not working?”

“Usually, yes.” Brian knew how you’d felt about your job, and had admitted to having negative run-ins with Voight in the past. He’d gone as far as introduce you to his Captain, Matt Casey, who’d gone over how he met Voight in the first place. The meeting was meant to ease your worries, but all it did was increase them. You could see your team growing angry, you knew it frustrated them that you didn’t want to get close to them, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to do so. Detective Burgess put her hand on his chest to push him back a bit, and then stepped right into your space, and since you were against the bar you couldn’t back up. “What the fuck is your problem?”

“Detective Bur-”

“I’ve told you to call me Kim. We have all told you to call us by our first names except for Voight. So why won’t you? Why do you avoid us? What the fuck is wrong with you?” You couldn’t bring yourself to say anything. This is it. They’re going to kill you. Escaping Belarus only bought you another year of life, and you didn’t accomplish anything in that time. Your hands were starting to get clammy, and your breaths were getting shallow. “Back off, Burgess.”

“Stay out of this Otis.”

“No. God, can’t any of you get your heads out of your asses? She thinks you’re going to kill her.” Everyone within earshot sobered immediately. “What?” Ruzek’s face had gone pale and Burgess stepped back. “She’s from a country that was part of the Soviet Union and is still heavily corrupt in law enforcement. She only took the damn job because she thought she’d be killed if she refused!” Everyone turned to you and you couldn’t take it. “Mne nuzhno idti.” (I have to go). You bolted out of Molly’s, ignoring those calling out your name, and that you forgot your jacket.

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

You broke out into sobs a few blocks from Molly’s. You startled when someone ran up behind you calling your name. You ripped a knife out from your jeans and turned ready to face whoever it was. It was Ava. “You forgot your jacket.” You didn’t respond, just breathed heavily.”Y/N, let’s get you home, okay?”

“I can’t. They know where I live.”

“How about my apartment, then?”

“... Okay. Thank you.”

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

Ava’s apartment was lovely. It was clean, classic, and homey. “Would you like something to drink? Water? Coffee?”

“Some coffee if you don’t mind.” She smiled and walked around the kitchen island to get to the coffee maker. “My mother tried to kill me.” You whipped your head away from some photos she had on the wall. “She invited me to stay at our family’s vacation house for the weekend after I came out, she had glued all of the windows shut, then locked and barricaded all of the doors so that even if I got out of my room, there was no way I’d make it to any kind of exit. She’d left a chair in my room, though, I threw it at the window and jumped out. It hurt like hell. The injuries and the knowledge that the woman I’d looked up to not only hated me so much that she tried to kill me, but that she was praised for it by the police when they found out why she set the fire.” A heavy silence hung over the room, choking you in the knowledge that you weren’t alone.

“My best friend told everyone in my town at my family’s christmas party. I didn’t even get time to deny it, even though it’s true, before my dad came at me with a knife. Everyone surged behind him and they were all grabbing weapons, anything sharp or blunt that they could get their hands on. I barely managed to make it to my room, lock and barricade the door. My parents, along with everyone where I grew up, were poor and so I didn’t have a lot. I threw my stuff in a bag and I climbed out the window. I fell on my ankle, but I just started running. I didn’t stop, I just ran to the next town, where there was a train station, I got on the first train to Minsk. I ran to the Canadian embassy first, because gay marriage was legal there when it wasn’t in the U.S., but I got denied entry. I applied to the U.S. right after and got in. It was so hard, just leaving everyone and everything I love behind... But... I had to do it. The only good thing that came out of being forced ‘out of the closet’ was that I didn’t and don’t have to hide anymore.” Ava nodded, she set down her mug and wrapped her arms around you. You wrapped your arms underneath hers, around her middle, and cried into each others shoulders. Crying over everything you’ve lost, everything you’ve had ripped or burned away from you. Encompassing each other in the knowledge that neither of you are alone.

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

Chicago became warmer after meeting Ava. You started dating a couple months later when you’d gone skating and she’d just stopped and stared at you. Her eyes went soft and her lips parted. You skated over to her to see what was wrong. “Ava?”

“Can I kiss you?” It came out in one tangled breath. “Yes. Please yes.” She held your cheeks in her hands, you held her elbows in yours, and leaned in together.

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

You woke up to Ava kissing your shoulder. A smile spread across your lips. “Goodmorning, Ava.”

“Morning, love. I was called into work, so I have to go, but I left breakfast on the counter for you.”

“Thank you, I hope you have a good day.” Ava smiled, stroked your cheek softly. A feather-light kiss was placed on your lips before she gave a whispered goodbye. After the front door closed you got out of bed and padded your way to the kitchen. You smiled when you saw a plate of fried sausages and eggs on the kitchen counter. Your heart warmed at the thought of Ava making breakfast for you.

It was the weekend so you didn’t have to work today, so you decided to spend the day baking and cooking since you knew that if Ava had been called in on her day off it was going to be crazy, and that cooking is the last thing she’d want to do. So you got dressed and headed out to the market.

Smiling you walked down the street. The day was cool and brisk, only light power on the ground, but it would snow in the afternoon if the weather forecast was to be believed. You made your way to a South African grocery store to pick up the ingredients for chakalaka, Ava’s favourite dinner. You smirked as you entered, your eyes scanning the store.

The house smelled like warm sugar and spices. In part from the chakalaka and in part from the ginger cookie recipe you got from Nat. You and Ava both really liked it and you wanted to make sure that a wonderful meal was waiting for Ava when she got home.

The door opened just as you finished serving the chakalaka, “Ava? How was your day?”

“Wonderful, just like that smell. Is that chakalaka? Oh my goodness, love, you made all this for me?”

“Yes, I hope that this is a good end to a hard day.”

“A wonderful end. I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

“I was thinking, Y/N, you spend so much time here, and most of your stuff is here, so... I just... I think we should move in together.” You smiled and wrapped your arms around her neck. “I would love to move in together.” Your foreheads touched and your lips brushed against each other. “Together.”

“Together.”

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lgcalec · 5 years ago

Text

HELLO EVERYONE this is alec son aka son seongjin, older brother of @lgcxjieun and he’s been a trainee since jan 2017, currently looking at the ACTING path and he is 22!!!

gonna put some info about him under the cut and some wanted plots!!! just LIKE THIS to plot hehe i will im after i finish going through the mlist :D fair warning i wrote a lot idk

okay about alec

he is formerly an athlete and he has one (1) braincell that only works half the time

he’s also rly laid back

but also like?? super high tension??? always????

there’s no in between

grew up in toronto canada (where my canadians at!!) so he speaks fluent english, tho he’s been in korea and using korean long enough that he has some weird accents sometimes and also uses old english slang bc he’s not Caught Up To The Times bc he doesn’t get told anything until months later by his old friends in the land of maple syrup

went to sopa!!!

an annoying Bitch

very impulsive like example one: he auditioned for lgc for fun bc his sister was and also got in???? what???? now he doesn’t know what to do tbh

he’s the epitome of the “can you please cite your source(s)” “source: dude just trust me”

doesn’t know when to shut up honestly he just talks a lot in general and will switch topics super fast like one moment ur talking about what’s for lunch today and the next he’s talking about a serial killer documentary he watched five years ago and then the next he’s going to tell u about his trip to the aquarium last week

he’s a Long Boi he’s like 2/3 leg it’s weird he’s V Long (i googled and he’s 185cm right he’s 114cm leg ... like ... Bro LITERALLY ~2/3 LEG!!!!)

wanted plots this is a mess i apologize ahead of time

best? friends???? people who alec would die for and vice versa (maybe not Die die but like ... u know get lectured by a coach w) he’s been in legacy for 3+ years now so people who joined then !!! or people who joined after and clicked well w him idk i ain’t picky

so you brought/made breakfast for the roommates right. you go to give alec his portion but BAM you pull back his covers to see??? mcdonalds??? what????? but are u gonna say no to hashbrowns no he didn’t think so

he’s been feeding the stray cat(s) that passes by the company on his way home from work at night and he’s named it but??? you also???? have done the Same Thing so now ur fighting over who’s name is better aka fuck you the name lucifer is way better than whatever you came up with!!

you’ve been watching him absentmindedly eat a sandwich and play with a stress ball and u just witnessed him bite into the stress ball while simultaneously throw the sandwich across the room and u just wanna know if he’s ok

also all he eats is ramyeon and convenience store kimbap someone check on him his life is a Mess™

is that a ghost in the dorm?????????? no it’s just alec in his olaf onesie dancing terribly as he gets water at 3am

but also he’s scared of ghosts so maybe u caught him freaking out over the curtain moving weirdly or the door moving weirdly and now he doesn’t want to be alone in this practice room anymore

your friendship is based off of the fact that alec is the Least Picky Eater ever and will eat all of the bits that you don’t like to the point that u seek him out to give him parts of your breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack that you don’t like and he’ll just [opens mouth] no matter what he’s in the middle of doing

you watched him get beat up by a girl half his size in front of the legacy building but when you ask him if he’s okay he pretends he doesn’t know what just happened .................. like is that a secret girlfriend??? no???? THEN WHO

FEMALE MUSE: since he works in an olive young (like a drugstore, think cvs, shoppers drug mart) you came in to buy pads and he was working the counter and u, awkwardly paid for them, and he acts entirely normal but slides a small chocolate bar in for free when he thinks ur not paying attention

you came into the olive young that he works at while he’s stocking the makeup section with lipsticks and since he’s a work u ask him to recommend “““generic makeup product””” and he just looks at u blankly like .... what I Am Sorry i don’t usually work in the makeup section honestly i don’t know shit

A CRUSH PLOT???? idk maybe alec’s been rly nice bc he’s just Like That and he’s given you the wrong signals and you confess???? and alec is just [waves arms around like windmill] WHAT

my brain is dying now but i’ll add more if i come up with any more LOLOL

if u reached the end pls have a cookie 🥴 and if anything catches ur eye pls lmk!!!

#( ooc. )

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sastrugie · 4 years ago

Note

my christmas break starts this friday as well! what’s up with your coworker? have her test results come back? is she doing okay?

alright, so my fav topics include:

- the russian revolution, as already stated :D

- the cold war (mostly from the east european point of view)

- the tudors

- victorian era england

i also really love peaky blinders (the show) and i occasionally enjoy reading about how different gangs operated back in those days but i don’t know much lmao

also, monarchy is just such a terrible system but i completely get your interest in the people! for example, i also adore reading and learning about the tudors and the romanovs but only as a part of history and not because i’m such a big fan of the monarchy? lmao if that makes sense.

and like, i lowkey get why the bolsheviks thought they needed to assassinate the whole family but it’s also really sketchy, dude ://

i think i like britain’s history just because it’s so rich and influential, but like we simply can’t ignore the fucked up shit they’ve done through the centuries. so again, i enjoy it but mostly because i love judging them for their actions lmao

and to answer your question, i don’t really know if i have many historical favs? i feel like i enjoy way too many problematic people lmao. nevertheless, the ones i’m most interested in atm are: lenin (shockers), anne boleyn, anne bonny, malcolm x - this list shifts constantly depending on my mood though.

oh shush you, i’m sure your style is bombing based on everything i just read :)

lmao i actually do that sometimes, but mostly in my mother tongue! but i also just love shakespearean insults in english, those are impeccable

and merci beaucoup! good luck with russian; maybe you’ll be able teach me a few phrases in the future :D

ooh what are you studying atm? if you don’t mind sharing, that is.

and me, i’d like to become a psychologist some day, so that’s pretty far from history as well haha but i never want the enthusiasm to die ever and i’m really loving how the two of us can just scream to each other about history in every single ask/answer :D

thank you so much for these beautiful recommendations, i’ll definitely check them out!!

here are some of mine:

books:

- maria stuart by stefan zweig (german author, so it shouldn’t be too hard for you to find it!!)

- red crosses by sasha filipenko (fiction about the stalinist regime)

- the age of light by whitney scharer (historical fiction again lmao; tells the story of photographers lee miller and man ray’s romance in the 30s with little snippets into wwii through lee’s pov; the writing was stunning)

- sapiens by yuval noah harari (basically the history of mankind; so informative and enjoyable, i adored it)

- the real peaky blinders by carl chinn (what the title says, really; the actual gangs of birmingham and their not so shiny careers)

these are the best ones i read in 2020 but i’ll let you know if i remember any of my other reads!!

i also haven’t read any actual books about the 1917 revolution because i haven’t really had the chance to go to the library yet and i’ve been busy doing my research on the internet haha (it’s a fairly new hyperfixation of mine, to be frank). however, i’ll hit you up if i find anything worthwhile <3

documentaries:

- the russian revolution (the title speaks for itself lmao)

- genius of the modern world (3-part docuseries about marx, nietzsche and freud)

- world war ii in colour (lmao just a classic, innit)

- secrets of great british castles

- the last tzars (tho i’m pretty sure you’re quite familiar with this one haha)

- forbidden history

- secrets of the six wives

- anything by lucy worsley, tbh

these are all off the top of my head but again, i’ll let you know if i remember any more!!

oml i apologise for the long message and i hope your week is going well :D

dont apologize for long messages! <3 im always happy to talk to you

sadly her test was positive UGH which means i have to get myself tested too (today) and if the worst case happens: i´ll have to spend christmas alone in my student flat bc then i obviously cant go home to my family (my grandparents live there..) so yeah, today 14:20 o clock... i have the test :( cross your fingers for me pls huhuhu

thats cool that we have the russian revolution and vicxtorian era as common interest ^^ i read a book recently its called “the ordeal” and its a triology written by alexej tolstoi during the times of the revolution. its a story about two sister and their love interests during the war times and its really good!!!

oh i barely know anything about the tudors! pls hmu

ah yes.. the cold war... i have to admit im rather interested in the music and sociology of the cold war times but the political stuff is super interesting too! esp as you said from an east european view, so we can talk about that too!

yep. monarchy sucks! i understanbd from like a logical point of view why they shot them all, but the human side of me thinks its just cruel.. i mean yeah tsar nicholas wasnt a good politician but he wasnt a bad person either. but yeah, a difficult topic.. tbh he´s the only romanov im really interested in (i really dislike his wife alexandra tho lmao) hbu?

leninnn :D i kinda excpected that! i havent really read much about him but he seems to be an interesting person! and who is anne boyd? malcom X yes! im really interested into the civil rights movement as well. I really like martin luther king jr.

englands history really fascinates me, and i honestly cant tell you why... but it is what is is hahhaa! nand duuudeeee omg they fucked so many shit up.. the british are a funny nation. but honestly none is unproblematic and every nation screwed up big time once:D judging is really important when youre intereste din history! like im interested in king george and queen mary but not solely for political reasons, more actually for their personal lives and victorian times and how they were as a couple, but i know... they did bad stuff too!

omg teach me some shakespearean insults pls! i only know a few victorian ones! and a bit of sixties slang :D

im gonna reblog this and add some russian phrases bc my russian keyboard in on my phone :) but i use duolingo so the sentences are ... really weird lmao

im studying physical geography in Erlangen right now and am in my 7th semester.) im actually writing my bachelor thesis rn UGHHHHHHH

ohhhhh psychology is cool!! im really intersted in it, sadly i cant ever be one bc i suffer from poor mental health too much myself, in fact i have an appointment my therapist in a few minutes haha BUT i think youre super trustworthy and nice and easy to talk to so these are really good qualities for a therapist <3<3<3<3

AHHHHHHHHHHH THANKS!!

i already read sapiens! its so good! and i know maria stuart by schiller haha but oml i love stefan zweig so imma add it on my list

ok and i will watch ALL of these (except the last tsars bc yeah i already saw it! and liked it ... kinda .. i didnt like the actor they chose for nicky, he didnt remind me of him at all)

i have alot of historical fiction books to recomment too:

if you like ww2 “a time to live and a time to die”

ww1: “all quiet on the western front”

russian revolution and war time “the ordeal”

“intrige” by robert harris is also good (france 1896)

oh and documentary wise:

they shall not grow old is a coloured ww1 docu!

thank you so much for everything again i love talking to you :) have a nice day <3 (sorry for typos i was in a hurry)

#r #anon #secret santa #nice ppl

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victorluvsalice · 4 years ago

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Happy Birthday SlyCooperandCarlosFox!

@slycooperandcarlosfox @weirdkev27 As requested, we return to the Lovecraft Jazz Universe and Gladys, with the gang having been called in by Gladys to investigate a curious new arrival to her world. . . Hope you enjoy!

----

"So you just – appeared in her dressing room?"

"I don't understand it any more than you do," Maud replied, playing with a fold in her skirt. "One moment I was in my own room, finishing getting ready for the day, wondering if we dared go to the theater with Mr. Sweetly – the next, I was in front of Gladys, more confused than I'd ever been in my life."

"Yeah – squeaked out an apology, then blurted that I was in some awful strange underclothing," Gladys added. "You should have seen the look on her face when I told her it was my dress!"

"Well, it hardly looks like a proper dress!" Maud shot back at her, going pink. "To me, all the ladies of this year are going around in naught but their chemise! It's – disconcerting, to say the least!"

"I can imagine," Victoria said, all sympathy. "Victor and I grew up in a tiny English village that never kept up with the times. And my family was poor, so most of my clothes growing up were resewn hand-me-downs from my mother. It was a surprise when we ventured out of Burtonsville and saw the newer fashions."

"They were a surprise to me at first, and I fancied myself pretty worldly," Emily agreed.

"I'm glad someone understands," Maud said gratefully. "I daren't speak my mind to anyone else on it. Or on anything else, really. I just smile and nod. I'm afraid people will talk, or laugh at me, or–" Maud scrunched up her face and shivered. "Worse."

"Smart – you don't want worse," Alice told her. "I lived worse for a little while, and I would not recommend it."

"I'm just glad I was able to get you out of Rutledge after only a couple of years," Lizzie said, patting her sister's back. Turning her attention back to Maud, she added, "But yeah, best to keep your mouth shut." She shook her head, lips pursed thoughtfully. "Funny to think that you've only been thrown about thirty-odd years into the future. A lot has changed since the Gay 90s, hasn't it?"

"Too much," Maud said, putting her face in her hands. "If it was just the clothes, I could just about take it, but – everything is so different! The music is louder, the people are louder, the streets are so much busier – oh, and those awful cars!"

"Gladys drag you into that bullet-shaped monstrosity of hers with ten friends hanging off the side?" Victor asked knowingly.

"It was just us, actually, but that was quite bad enough! I didn't know anything could go that fast! I was very nearly sick!"

"Hey, we're in a nice slow carriage now, ain't we?" Gladys said, tapping the side door. "Four wheels and a horse and everything? Don't say I never did nothing for you."

"I'm sorry – I am grateful for you taking me in," Maud assured her, hands clasped. "I really am. And I'm thankful that you thought to call these people in." Her eyes swept over the group. "She said you investigate cases like mine?"

"Anything of a magical or eldritch nature," Alice confirmed. "Admittedly, our usual case is going up against some terrible monster with more teeth, eyes, or tentacles than it should logically have, but hopefully that won't be the case here."

"Fingers crossed," Emily agreed. "I'd like to have a nice quiet one where the only danger is a random portal to the past. Or future, depending on where it actually opened up."

"We'll figure it out." Victoria nodded reassuringly at Maud. "And we'll do our best to get you home."

"And if we can't, we'll try and help you fit in here," Sam added, pushing up his hat. "I mean, there's gotta be something you like about our time."

"Well. . .it is nice to not have to worry so much about scandal all the time," Maud allowed, tapping her foot. "About being seen with a man in the street, or attending a perhaps saucy play. . .and I confess, the slang is amusing." She sighed. "It's just – so much to get used to. I don't know if I'll ever manage."

"Aw, Maud, don't talk like that," Gladys said, leaning against her. "You've made it this long, haven't ya? Yeah, you're a bit of a stick-in-the-mud, but you're tough. And hey, if worse comes to worst, you can always stay bunked up with me."

Maud went pink again. "You – you wouldn't mind?" she asked, tone anxious but hopeful.

"Nah, I got the room. And it's kinda nice to have another person 'round the place." Gladys drew circles on the carriage floor with her toe. "Got – kinda lonely sometimes, all on my ownsome."

Maud smiled. "You must be desperate for company if you're willing to put with my 'prudish nonsense.'"

"Hey, that was when we first met! And you are kinda a prude, don't deny it."

"I had no intention."

Victor watched the two of them go back and forth for a moment, then leaned toward Alice, dropping his voice to a whisper. "So – um – what odds do you want to put on Maud eventually deciding not to go home, if we find a way to send her back?"

Alice put her finger to her lips. "Not sure yet. But I think it's safe to say she might be having a second thought or two about her Gay 90s." She nudged him, then raised her voice. "All right, Gladys, how about we head back toward yours and take another look in your room? Maybe there's a clue there we missed earlier. . ."

#slycooperandcarlosfox #weirdkev27 #Happy Birthday #lovecraft jazz au #gladys and maud #I believe this hits all of the stuff you asked for!#I tried hard to keep it to your notes #also went back and referenced a couple of the old cartoons #just to keep it accurate #yeah poor Maud's feeling a mite overwhelmed #at least she's got some friends now to give her a hand #and if things go well with Gladys. . .#well we'll see XD #queued

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chibiauthorchan · 6 years ago

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The Hetalian’s Guide to the Galaxy

Wow, long time no post! I heard @alifeasvivid talk about a crossover between Hetalia (maining USUK) and the novel The Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy. The source material for this project I wrote for an English class back in high school belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya and Douglas Adams respectively. For those of you who have read the latter you will notice that yes, this is strikingly similar. But I had a lot of fun writing this when I did and putting in tons of fun Easter eggs. I hope you enjoy! (P.S. Tumblr messes with the formatting, sorry)

Contents: THGttG, Preface and about a fourth of Chapter 1 (it’s really long) Word count: 2,178 Warnings: Alcohol mention, aliens, impending destruction of the Earth Summary: Arthur Kirkland woke up hungover, thinking this was just going to like any other day. Well, it wasn’t.

This is the story of a terrible, stupid catastrophe and some of its consequences. All of which except said consequences happened on a Thursday.

This is also the story of a parody of a book named after another book that was dreamt up by an 11th-grade girl set in an alternate universe from both her own and the one of the original book named after another book. The book that the book was named after is known as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy- which is not a book that originated from Earth from any of these universes nor was it published on any of these Earths. The book named after that book is in fact found on earth, but only in the universe that this 11th-grade girl comes from as this is the only universe where such a book exists. This story that parodies the book named after the other book and shall be called The Hetalian’s Guide to the Galaxy because this girl is a lover of puns. You see, the universe this parody of a book named after a book has characters from one anime series known as Hetalia placed into the world of the book named after the book. It’s a pun as fans of this anime are known as Hetalians. A pun is a joke based off of wordplay that in fact does not originate from any of these Earths so the earth fellow who thought himself clever from inventing the joke form was, in reality, reusing a billion-year-old idea that had long died out everywhere else in any of these universes.

Nevertheless, the book that the book this story parodies is named after is a wholly remarkable book.

In fact, it was probably the most remarkable book ever to come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor- of which no Earthman has ever heard of unless one comes from the universe in which this 11th-grade girl comes from and that individual has also read the book named after the other book¹. Much of these first three pages this girl has found unnecessary to the plot and it is being skipped over. Thus one could say this is also an abridged parody of a book named after a book. The one only slightly necessary piece of information relevant to something that will come later is that there are two books. One known as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and one known as the great Encyclopedia Galactica which was only mentioned one other time in the entirety of the book named after the other book.

So, with that out of the way let’s get to the good stuff. Which follows as thus.

The story of this terrible, stupid Thursday, the story of its extraordinary consequences, and the story of how these consequences are inextricably intertwined with this remarkable parody of a book named after a book begins very simply.

It begins with a house.

¹The 11th-grade girl writing this project would like to apologize in advance for all of the ways this parody will take twists and turns and make no sense as it talks about parodies of books named after books and the different universes the worlds these pieces of the puzzle come from. It is not her intention to confuse, this is simply the format of the book named after a book that this story is a parody of. This parody will also include plenty of British English slang as in both the book named after a book and in this parody our main character is an Englishman. Yes, long only semi-necessary footnotes such as these are found in this book named after a book and the parody will follow suit in style.

This house stood alone on the edge of a small town. It wasn't very special. Thirty years old, made of brick, and had four windows with a size and proportion with the rest of the house that was anything but aesthetically pleasing. The only person to which this house held any special value was a man named Arthur Kirkland or is it Dent? For the sake of this parody and in order to prevent confusions between the main character from the book named after a book (who's first name just also happens to be Arthur) the main character of this parody is known as Arthur Kirkland. In the universe of this parody the main character's differences with the one from the original book this story parodies don't stop at last names. Arthur Dent is about thirty years old; tall; and dark haired. Arthur Kirkland, on the other hand, is younger, twenty-three on that particular Thursday. He isn't very tall either standing in at 175 cm (or 5' 9" for those who prefer the imperial system) and his hair is anything but dark being a shade of blond that was paler but certainly not dull, and when hit with certain lights his hair even gained a golden halo. His eyebrows, however... well the best way to describe them would be thick, expressive, and surprisingly well kept. Visually they were one of his more well-known traits. The similarities between the two didn't stop at first names. For starters both characters are English. Arthur Dent used to live in London and moved to this small house as London made him nervous and irritable. Arthur Kirkland outside this universe still lives in London, but for the sake of this parody he has also moved (his reason being escaping his siblings). Their personalities are similar too, both being never quite at ease with themselves and being prone to worrying. Arthur Kirkland just being a little fierier but an English gentleman nonetheless.

The night before this particular Thursday it rained quite heavily as it is known to do in England. The ground outside was wet and muddy, however, that morning the sun was shining bright and clear as it shone down on Arthur's house for what was to be the very last time.

See, it hadn’t properly registered for Arthur that the council wanted to knock his house down and build a bypass through the rubble.

That morning at eight o'clock Arthur woke up not feeling very well. He did not enjoy the sunshine. Instead, he wanted to crawl back in his blankets and curse the sun away as it was effectively making his morning much worse. Instead, he forced himself to get up which he did quite blearily. He got up, opened a window, caught sight of a bulldozer outside, found his red, fuzzy slippers and slipped them on, grabbed his favorite dark green dressing gown and slipped that on as well, then stomped off to the bathroom for a wash.

Toothpaste on the brushㅡso. Scrub.

Shaving mirrorㅡpointing at the ceiling. Arthur adjusted it. For a split second a second bulldozer could be seen in the reflection as it was visible through the bathroom window. He completely ignored this and with the mirror now properly adjusted it show Arthur his own face and his stubble which he promptly shaved off. Arthur washed his face, dried it off, then stomped off to the kitchen to find something to eat or drink for that matter.

Kettle, plug, fridge, milk, tea. Yawn.

For a brief moment the word bulldozer found it’s way into Arthur’s thoughts. He tried to find something to connect the word to.

The bulldozer outside the kitchen window was certainly a big one. Large enough to take care of a house.

For a moment Arthur stared at it.

“What an ugly shade of yellow.” He thought before stomping back to his bedroom to get dressed. He didn’t get very far.

Before he got back to his bedroom Arthur took a quick pit stop at the bathroom in order to fetch a glass of water to drink. Then he drank another. It was at this point Arthur began to suspect that he was in fact hungover. It wasn't uncommon for Arthur to wake up with an annoying alcohol induced headache but the question that crossed his mind is why? Of course in order to be hung over one had to have been drinking. So why had he been drinking? His thoughts were interrupted by a flash of color in the shaving mirror. "Yellow..." was all that was thought before Arthur proceeded to the bedroom.

In the middle of picking out his clothes memories of last night suddenly came rushing back. “The pub,” was the first thing that came to mind, “of course it was the bloody pub! Where else could it have been?!” After that short internal argument more memories returned but in a very vague fashion. He remembered being fairly upset about... something. He’d been complaining about it to other random pub goers in a drunk whining sort of fashion. The clearest visual recollection was of the glazed, drunken looks on the faces of others in the pub. What was it that made him feel the need to become absolutely smashed over? Arthur wracked his brain trying to remember. “Something... bypass...” He mumbled. Deciding that is wasn’t extremely important he resumed getting ready for his day.

Dear God though his hangover was almost unbearable. Whatever he did he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was forgetting something extremely important. Arthur caught a glance of himself in the wardrobe mirror, proceeded to call himself an utter twat for drinking too much yet again, then attempted to fix his messy hair in the mirror. It didn’t help much, his hair was naturally a mess. He settled for the usual level of tame which meant the choppy layers of his hair laid relatively neatly. The word yellow came to mind again and Arthur tried to find something to connect the word to.

Fifteen seconds later he was outside his house laying in the mud in front of a big yellow bulldozer that was advancing up his garden path.

Mr. Raivis Galante was, as they say, only human. Which meant that he's a bipedal carbon-based life form which shared a common ancestor with apes which live on earth. Mr. Raivis Galante more specifically was in his late teens to early twenties (though he looked to be around 15), short, scrawny, and worked for the local council. On a completely unnecessary note Mr. Galante was a direct male descendant of Alexander Nevsky. He really didn't look much like Alexander and was by no means a warrior type, in fact, he was a nervous, worried man. The reason he was particularly nervous and worried that Thursday morning was his job has something go seriously wrong as Arthur Kirkland's house was supposed to be demolished by the end of the day and Arthur Kirkland was laying in the mud in front of his house preventing the bulldozers from doing their job.

“C-come off it, Mr. Kirkland,” he said with a nervous stutter, “you can’t win, y-you know. I-It’s not like you can lay in f-front of the bulldozer forever.” The small man tried to look intimidating by trying to produce a fire in his eyes but it was near impossible for him to look anything close to intimidating.

Arthur lay there in the mud unmoving as he spat back with his usual English stubbornness.

“I’m game,” he responded confidently, “we’ll see who rots here first. I know it won’t be me.”

“I-I’m afraid you have to a-accept it,” Mr. Galante said fidgeting with the hem of his jacket, “w-we have to build this bypass, a-and we’re going to do it!” He ended up shouting trying to swallow his nerves, but the effort had no effect.

"Well this is the first I've heard of it," Arthur commented casually, "why's it got to be built in the first place?"

The smaller man’s hands balled into fists but he forced them to relax. He wouldn’t be able to hit Arthur anyways. “What do you mean why?” His stutter was gone thanks to his building frustrations. “It’s a bypass, you’ve got to build it.”

A bypass is a simple structure that allows people to get to one point to another and vice versa. Arthur lived in between these hypothetical points and found no use for the bypass. Raivis wanted to be far away from any of these points especially if it meant he wasn't dealing with Arthur. However, none of this justifies the young man's logic over why the bypass must be built.

Raivis shifted his weight around uncomfortable not being able to find a suitable balance. Someone hadn’t done their job right and he could only pray that it wasn’t him.

“Y-you were entitled to make a-any suggestions or protests back when it would have b-been appropriate, Mr. Kirkland.” The small man’s stutter returned along with his nerves. He avoided making eye contact with the Brit lying on the ground as he continued to shift uncomfortably.

“Appropriate time?” Arthur mused with fake interest. “Appropriate time?” When he repeated the phrase his tone was less amused. “The first I knew about this bloody construction project was when a workman just happened to pop by my house the other day. He was the first to tell me anything about your bypass by informing me quite bluntly that my house was to be demolished. Demolished, and at first I thought he was there to clean the bleeding windows! Which I might add that he did charging me a fiver before dropping that bomb on me.” Arthur was absolutely fuming. Even laying there in the mud in his dressing gown he managed to be frightening.

"B-but Mr. Kirkland, th-the plans have been available in the planning office for the l-last nine months." Mr. Galante tried fruitlessly to reason with the disgruntled Englishman in front of him but Arthur was having none of it.

"Oh, as soon as I found out I went down to your planning office to see them. I headed straight there yesterday afternoon. They weren't exactly somewhere a normal person could find them easily. Absolutely no effort was put into calling attention to them!" Arthur's words were dripping with venom and sarcasm.

“B-but the plans were on d-display...”

“On display?! I had to go into the cellar to find them!”

“Th-that’s the display department.”

“I had to bring a torch with me!”

“Th-the lights must have gone...”

“Yes apparently so had the stairs.”

“B-but you found the notice, d-didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Arthur said seething with rage, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.’ ”

Mr. Galante frowned slightly as a cloud passed overhead casting a shadow over Arthur and his house the former of which lay in the cold mud propped up by his elbow. He just couldn’t understand why Arthur would defend such a house so feverishly.

“It’s not as if it’s a particularly nice house...” he mumbled showing off his bad habit of saying the wrong things at the wrong time. It usually resulted in making someone angry, if they weren’t angry already.

“Well excuse me, but I happen to like it.” Arthur replied with an incredibly sarcastic voice.

“You’ll like the bypass!” Raivis tried to counter.

“Oh piss off!” Arthur spat. “Just piss off and go away, and take your bloody bypass with you! You haven’t got a leg to stand on and you know it!”

Mr. Galante’s mouth opened and closed several times as he wracked his brain for something to say in response to Arthur’s outburst. His mind for a moment was filled with visions of Arthur’s house being torn apart in the most horrific of ways some of which ended in a blaze of fire with Arthur himself running and screaming from the flaming ruin. Raivis was sometimes plagued with these dark thoughts but he could never act on them being too nervous and worried to do so.

"M-m-mr. Kirk-kland?" He stuttered trying to pull his thoughts back from the dark place they accidentally slipped into.

“Yes? What is it?” Arthur had no patience left in his voice.

“J-just wondering, do you have any idea how much damage a bulldozer would suffer if I just let it roll straight over you?” The small, trembling man had no actual intention of doing such a thing, he just wanted to see if it would scare Arthur off.

“No, how much?” Arthur asked.

“None at all.” Raivis responded with bravado before storming off.

By curious coincidence, “None at all” is exactly how much suspicion Arthur held over whether his closest friends was in fact not an earth native life form. This friend was in fact from a small planet far away from Earth somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse not from a Gildford as this friend usually claimed.

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shamchoices · 6 years ago

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A Midnight Escapade: Part 1 (Priya x Kamilah)

Summary: This takes place moments after the 5th portrait diamond scene in the 1920′s after Gaius reveals his plans to enslave the human population and take over the world as vampire overlords. The vampires discuss what they have to do. Kamilah and the feisty new member of their exclusive group, Priya, get to know each other for the first time.

Pairing: Priya x Kamilah

Rating: PG

Word Count: 2,083 words

Warnings: Alcohol, Language

Notes: I would like to apologize in advance at how terribly the 1920′s slang is written. It’s canon that Priya speaks in the lingo, and I like staying as close to the story as possible. But, that being said, I tried my best! Also, I understand a lot of people hate Priya, but this story is a telling of how she became the way she is in Bloodbound Book One (so please don’t hate me, and give the story a chance.) FEEDBACK IS WELCOMED AND ENCOURAGED.

Tagged: @ihavenoeffort , @ovoxotilweoverdose , (not sure, if you guys wanted to be tagged, but let me know if you don’t and I’ll untag), @kamilahspet

𝐼 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝓎𝓅𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓌𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓃 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓌𝒶𝓁𝓀 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝒶 𝓂𝒶𝓃, 𝐼 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓃 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒶 𝑔𝑜𝒹 𝒹𝒶𝓂𝓃 𝓂𝒶𝓇𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒷𝒶𝓃𝒹

As Gaius left the room with his new bodyguard, the remaining vampires looked uneasily at each other. Kamilah, Adrian, Vega, Lester, and Priya stood in a circle all of them pondering what the others thoughts were. Kamilah’s thoughts dwelled on how she had sensed the darkness brewing in Gaius even more than usual, but treating the humans as livestock was a line she couldn’t cross. It was hard to remember sometimes, but they were all mortals once.

Adrian was the first to speak up, after the tense silence in the room, “We can’t let this happen.”

“Not now, brother.” Kamilah replied hastily, her eyes shooting an ice cold glare his way. Despite how conflicted she felt, she owed so much to Gaius. It felt impossible to choose sides, even though deep down she knew Adrian was correct in the matter.

Lester, Vega, and Adrian glance among each other, Adrian again being the first to speak up, “If not now, then when?” His voice twitched slightly in desperation, making Kamilah’s heart drop lower in her chest than it was before, “When all the humans are dead? When Gaius destroys the entire planet for unlimited power? We can’t let that happen.”

“He seems a bit coo-coo, if ya’ ask me.” Priya cooed close to Kamilah’s side, it startled her for a second, as she didn’t notice just how close this new vampire was to her. She took a reflective step back, her eyebrows twisted in confusion at her new formation of the English language. Of course, she has heard all the ways that language has changed over the years, but the way Priya spoke still was one of her least favorite iterations, “That sap was givin’ quite an earful. We should probably take him for a ride, he shouldn’t have to be sittin’ pretty anymore. We could take his place easy.”

Priya gives Kamilah a playful nudge, which she returns with an even more desperately lost look, “I’m sorry, can someone translate what on earth she’s saying?”

Vega and Lester give a short chuckle, but Adrian seems to pay the comment no mind. His eyes on the floor, arms folded, concentration brewing on his features. Priya puffs her cheeks a bit, her face becoming less playful, “I’m just sayin’ we could take him out.”

“I’m not sure if you all recall, who brought us here or not. Who fed us, taught us how to live, gave us everything we could ever ask for. But, Gaius is our king, and I won’t forget all he’s done for us...” Kamilah’s words came out in a less than inspiring matter, every word straining her morals. The others all eyed each other nervously, but they could tell her heart wasn’t in the statement she gave, “Nonetheless... do you think any of you are strong enough to take out someone as powerful as him? Your blood runs in his veins, and you’re all but tiny fractions of his age!”

“You’re not.” Adrian replied hastily, “You’re powerful enough to take him out single-handedly. He trusts you... he loves you.”

Kamilah’s eyes widened, Adrian had never spoke to her in such a defiant manner before, “This is treason.”

“This is the right thing to do.” He scoffed, not giving her a chance to rebuttal, “Kamilah we need you on our side.”

She looked to each pair of eyes staring her down, and began to doubt her side of the argument, “Are you all in favor of overthrowing Gaius...?”

They all looked anxious to make their thoughts known to her, and with good reason, but Vega was the first to step forward. He seemed the most calm, but she could sense that underneath his exterior he was just as scared as the rest of them, “I’m tired of being told what to do, Kamilah. It’s rough hiding in the shadows, but I can’t let this stand.”

“Yeah! Do you know how demeaning it is to bow to a person?” Lester chimes in, arms wide out in defiance before letting them rest on his hips, “We live in America, land of the free, and we worship a KING.”

“The founding fathers would laugh at us.” Vega replied.

“Not so long ago, you wanted those founding fathers dead, Vega.” Kamilah rolled her eyes at his statement, “Or have you already forgot your days as a conquistador.”

“I admit, I wasn’t a fan.” Vega pulled his arms up, a small chuckle leaving his lips. His friendly demeanor was, as always, a farce, disappearing at the slightly inconvenience, “But, this whole freedom thing has grown on me.”

“You should be a politician with the way you change your opinions in your favor. You have absolutely no morals.” The corrupted officials running each city was something Kamilah despised, just about as much as Vega’s seedy behavior.

Vega obviously didn’t take her statement as an insult, instead a wide, devious grin consumed his face, “You know what, I think I would be a great politician.”

Fuming, Kamilah’s eyes flashed red, her hands balling into fists, “I think you are all forgetting who you’re speaking to.”

Vega’s smile dropped as he noticed how tense the situation had gotten. Adrian had a strong pout on his lips, a spark of disappointment in his eyes. Meanwhile, still by her side, Priya looked at her with a bewildered smile seeming to be absolutely fascinated with how intense Kamilah was.

But, to make the situation worse, Lester stepped forward with a shit-eating grin and a bellowing laugh, “Did you really think his perfect, almighty Queen would be on our side? Her whole life revolves around him, I mean, she’s nothing without him.”

“Lester!” Adrian scowled, his face twisted with anger.

But, Kamilah only let out a tight lipped scoff. Lester’s expression immediately turned to one of regret, as Vega stared at him with his mouth slightly ajar. A cool smile came across Kamilah’s face, as Priya seemed to burst of excitement next to her.

“Yes!” Priya cheered, placing a hand on her shoulder in encouragement, “Kick his ass!”

“Oh, I’m gonna do more than that.” She replied, Lester’s expression now one of complete horror.

“Wait! I didn’t mean it, I swear!” But, it was too late, Kamilah’s lightning fast movement put her in front of him in less than a second. He let out a high pitch scream that echoed off the walls around them. His eyes were tightly shut closed, his body twisted in a way to prepare for whatever was about to happen to him.

But, after a few seconds of nothing happening, his eyes slowly peaked open, only to see Kamilah inches from his face with a wide smirk. She let out a loud laugh, before stepping back, “That’s what I thought... Remember how scared you are of me when you speak to me next.”

He shook his head feebly, as a loud groan left Priya’s lips from behind them, “Aw come on! Bump him off!”

Kamilah turned around, her smile dispersing, “I’m assuming you’re asking me to kill him...” Priya nodded enthusiastically in return, “That’s not my style... I don’t kill my brethren, not without a good reason.”

“Are you saying we don’t have a reason to kill Gaius, Kamilah?” Adrian spoke again, with a deep frown, “We have to stop him.”

“I’m tired of this conversation, I need some air.” She replied, giving one last nod to the vampires around her before walking towards the exit.

“Kamilah...” Adrian spoke weakly, but she continued her hasty, frustrated gait not looking back, “Kamilah!”

The desperation in his final yell was almost enough to break her heart, but she needed to think. It was a terrible situation, one she wished to not be in. But she kept walking until she felt the cool night air against her skin. She slumped her body against the wall, a deep sigh leaving her lips.

It wasn’t long before she heard a pair of distant footsteps approaching. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with anyone, but when she saw the cheery face of the babbling, young vampire she let go of the anger she felt. It was odd, but the girl’s gentle, devious smile put her mind at ease if only for a second.

“You are really something.” She spoke softly now, taking a place next to her on the wall, “The bee’s knees, even.”

“If you must speak to me, can you at least speak normally?” Her tone was one of complete exhaustion, and it seemed to get the point across.

“I can try.” She chuckled softly as a comfortable silence enveloped them. The wind hollowed slightly as they rested against the rough concrete wall. The country landscape reached towards the mountains where you could just make out the lights of a bustling city.

As Kamilah stared off into the distance, thinking over her predicament, Priya lifted her skirt slightly to reveal a strap that attached a flask to her leg. Kamilah stared in amusement, as Priya knocked back a good amount of the substance in the shining silver tin.

“Do you want some?” She offered, extending her arm towards Kamilah, a kind smile in her lips.

“Now, I can really tell how young you are.” She let out a laugh, as she slightly shook her head, “To take the edge off, I need a lot more than that.”

“How old are you exactly?” Priya asked curiously, her eyebrows raising.

“Has Vega not told you anything?”

“Nah, he sees me as arm candy.” She shook her head in disappointment, taking another swing of the substance in her flask before hiding it up her skirt once again, “I don’t mind it, most of the time, but I’m more than a doll with a pair of nice gams, ya know?”

“I absolutely do not know.” Kamilah eyebrows crossed, but her smile was yet to leave her lips.

Priya chuckled, realizing her mistake, “I mean, I’m more than a pretty face. Not to toot my own horn, but I’m talented.”

Kamilah nodded slowly, “What makes you talented then?”

“I design clothes, I have a natural eye for art.” She smiled wide, a light blush coming to her cheeks as she spoke of something she was passionate about. Priya grabs the sides of her dress, twirling it slightly so she could see all the details, “I made this.”

“Really?” Kamilah turned her body towards Priya now, admiring the dress, but also giving the woman a good look over. She was beautiful and the dress was perfectly catered to her body. Her hands reached up to the sleeve of the dress, feeling the fabric. She could hear Priya’s breath hitch slightly as her hand slightly grazed her skin, “That’s… impressive.”

“Thanks.” She smiled from ear to ear, her eyes sparking as she looked deeply into Kamilah’s eyes, “You know what, you’ve inspired me.”

Kamilah chuckled, letting go of her sleeve, but keeping the intimate distance the same, “Did I?”

“Well, I told you... I have a natural eye for art.” Her smile turned into a sly smirk that Kamilah returned. It seemed as though this new vampire had taken quite the interest in her, and she didn’t seem to mind, “I was having a bit of a drought with my ideas, but just looking at you long enough has given me the perfect idea. Can I see you later this week?”

“I don’t see why not.” Kamilah replied, “I could use something to take my mind off things.”

“Don’t I know it.” As Priya spoke, Vega stopped out of the nearby doorway, an expression showing that he was on the prowl.

“Oh! There you are.” Vega practically shouted before noticing who Priya was standing next to, “With Kamilah, of course.”

He cleared his throat, before offering his arm for Priya, “Come on, we’re leaving.”

“I suppose.” She groaned, stepping forward and interlacing her arm with Vega’s, “I’ll see you around, muse.”

A flash of concern took over Vega’s features before he walked away hastily, “Let’s go.”

Priya turned back and gave one final wave, leaving Kamilah alone watching her leave in a car with Vega. As she pulled out of view, she noticed that she was still smiling. It had been a while since she felt as if someone was trying to woo her. Gaius might’ve at some point, but he was a tale of the past. One that might be ending very soon.

As the thought of her King came to mind, her smile disappeared. Her mind was once again consumed by the situation at hand. A miserable sense of dread consuming her.

#play choices #choices stories you play #bloodbound #kamilah sayeed #priya lacroix #Hope you guys enjoy!#my fic

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