#my second favourite character behind data. like look at this guy.

[professional-termite]

*tumble dries this guy*

@janeway-lover

[paper-n-ashes]

The Late Shift - Part 2

Characters: Paul Sevier x Female Reader

Words: 2k

Warnings/Tags: Little inklings of sexual themes. Otherwise we’re still in PG territory. Oh and mutual pining from two idiots. My favourite kind.

Authors Note: One shot? I don’t know her. Honestly, I don’t have any excuse. I just felt the urge to continue on with this dumb fluffy story because it makes me feel a little warm and fuzzy inside and I needed that. Will we drive this car straight into smut town afterwards? Ah you’ll just have to see. 

Catch up with Part 1 here

*

Paul always considered himself a smart guy. Perceptive, knowledgeable, with years of grueling education behind him to be where he is today.

His schooling, work, almost every minute of his waking moments was spent in the realm of artificial illustrations of correspondence. He could happily spend hours sifting through the words and numbers that made up all types of message transmission, might even admit he had a talent for decoding their significance and origin. Exchanges born from machinery were easy to analyse – they had set rules and gave little room for differing interpretation. He was comfortable in that world. Knew how things worked, what paths data and carefully devised information would take.

Human communication was infinitely harder to navigate. It was a skill he knew he was lacking in, compared to others at least. His words never came out the way he wanted, he struggled to say exactly what was wished to convey and agonised over the fact expression and tone could morph any remark into something with a whole different meaning.

Every day, he encountered people who used this as a tool - a weapon to obscure the truth and conceal hidden agendas. It was hard not to, working for the US government. In time, he’d become cynical. Wary of what people spoke aloud, assuming it was all said without much sincerity or reliability unless proven otherwise.

And then after another arduous day, there you were. Out of nowhere. Kind. Honest. Genuine. Within such an excruciatingly short interaction, you’d exuded all these traits so effortlessly. A breath of fresh air after being smothered by the smog the rest of his life contained.

Paul would easily admit his attraction to you was surprisingly swift. The rapturing smile you wore when you’d looked up from your notepad had him snared from the moment it appeared, an aura of natural vibrance and radiant energy shimmering out from your animated expression. What he’d expected to be a dry, tedious endeavour turned into a spark-filled scene, where an excited stranger made him feel both horrendously nervous and unusually at-ease. It had been a long time since someone made him feel like that.

It had also been a long time since he’d asked someone out on a date, for more than a few reasons. The more prolific Paul became in his job, the more unpredictable and unstable his life outside of it was. It took him across the country at a moments’ notice and consumed most hours of his day, meaning forging even short relationships was fairly difficult.

Plus… he just wasn’t good at it. Putting himself out there. He was shy, paralyzingly so. It’s not exactly something he could refute. His confidence was always born from experience and understanding, in knowing the reasons behind why things worked the way they did, along with being able to calculate what would happen next. No textbook could ever cover the entire spectrum of human personality, and there was no way to truly predict what a person might do or say. 

So, without the security of knowledge behind him, uneasiness and apprehension took over in most of his social interactions, particularly with those he felt a magnetism to. It’s exactly how he thought he seemed during his time with you. Awkward and floundering. Not exactly the most charming attributes for a man to have. And yet, the longer he was in your presence, the more he sensed those foibles fade into the back of his mind.

Talking to you was easy. Easier than it had been with anyone during a first meeting. What hadn’t been easy was enduring the seconds your touch grazed over him in your delicate workings while taking each different measurement - his heart beating a little faster, his muscles becoming a little more tense. When you’d eventually let your stare reach his, he’d seen how your eyes moved to trace the lines of his mouth, and it set his insides on fire. He’d been frozen by the unique type of burn, his body locked in place while a rare impulse begged him to sink his lips onto yours. In the past, he struggled to kiss a woman even after several dates, unable to push past the fear and doubt to turn his desire into action. However, in that moment, he’d been all too eager. His hand had moved on its own accord, fingers slinking up your waist, about to pull you closer when interruption instantly shattered his resolve.

The urge was still there in the dialogue that followed, although the promise of seeing you tomorrow made it easier to walk away, safe in the knowledge he had another opportunity to ask you out when his confidence was properly steeled. For once, he could be smart about this. Use his natural intellect to plan and act accordingly, giving him the best odds of securing more time with you.

Oh, but that all went to shit when your text message popped up on his phone screen. Seeing those words, even if they were meant for someone else, made his excitement reach an unfathomable peak, and in turn made him recklessly send a response without taking a second to think about the consequences.

And now, Paul had never felt so stupid in his entire life.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, the phone in his palm lit up with your conversation on display, he felt his stomach spasm with anxiety. Were you going to reply? What would you say? What if his bluntness freaked you out? What if you weren’t even talking about him? Was this all something his mind conjured up?

As the minutes passed without any sign of a response, the initially minor sense of panic began to compound, weighing heavy on his chest, the chaos of his mind soon melting into one certainty - he’d totally fucked this up.

About to slump his forehead into the steering wheel in a display of despondency, Paul suddenly felt a flash of courage at remembering the view of your face peering up at him. He knew the image of it would haunt him if he didn’t do something. He had to fix this. Explain himself. But it needed to be in person. He wouldn’t let technology mess this up for him again.

With a purposeful breath, Paul exited his car and began to retrace his steps past the other shopfronts, silently rehearsing what he wanted to say to you. He hoped to surrender himself to a collectively embarrassing situation, laugh off the turn of events, having it all culminate in an offer of dinner once your shift had finished. He already had a place in mind, only a street away, a little dumpling house that was always open late. Perfect for a cosy, quiet date after a chance meeting.

When his eyes latched onto your figure through the glass window, he stopped his hand from reaching for the door handle. You were crouching down in front of a small boy, his mother behind him cradling a newborn baby, your hand gesturing towards an array of child size suits. Paul couldn’t help but watch as your warming smile beamed, guiding the boys hands to touch and feel over the material, your words evidently making him feel more at ease as his expression slowly relaxed out of its worried frown.

Creeping backwards to make sure you didn’t catch him in your periphery, Paul felt a wave of relief wash over his skin, having evidence that your lack of reply wasn’t due to any of the worst case scenarios he’d been fretting over. You were just busy, concentrated on your work, giving your time and expertise to others in the same way you’d given to him.

The realisation was enough for him slink away, still impatient for your next encounter but assured in it being set within the next day cycle. He just had to wait.

Although, waiting wasn’t exactly a talent of his either.

 *

You were dying inside.

A friendly grin was plastered on your face as you conversed sweetly with the woman in front of you, making idle chit-chat while her son changed out of the suit you’d picked together, but the smile had never felt so insincere. Usually you loved when children came in to pick out ensembles for weddings and similarly formal events, but at the moment your mind was stuck on a small battery-powered rectangle sitting at your desk with a half-written message remaining under your lock-screen.

In the time before Paul’s response came through, you’d never felt more humiliated in your whole existence. Evaporating into thin air would have been a welcomed miracle. But when the returning text slid into focus, your whole mindset shifted.

He felt the same. He wanted you too.

You’d been in the middle of typing out a hasty invitation to come back and make true on his intentions when this overwhelmed mother with a fussy baby caught your attention. Her eldest son had done his best to iron out his only formal suit for the role of ring bearer in an aunt’s wedding this coming weekend, unfortunately resulting an a house full of smoke and a clump of burnt wool.

Personal matters withered into the background at the comprehension of her drained, exhausted demeanour, all your focus pointed back towards the job you’d been distracted from. Well, mostly.

You couldn’t avoid the thoughts and questions glinting in the back of your mind. Of what might have happened if this woman never appeared. What might be happening in an alternate timeline where you’d been able to send that waiting reply. Without intention, your wonderings turned into moving pictures – leading Paul into the back workshop, being roughly picked up onto the cutting table, his lips and yours finally connected in a heated clash, shedding all of his clothing until that heinous mustard shirt was crumpled on the floor-

The high pitched beep of the receipt machine snapped you back into reality, noting the relieved smile the mother wore while her son excitedly grabbed at the bags containing his dashing new suit.

“Thank you!” he hollered without needing to be prompted, waving his hand vigorously before skittering away to the door.

“You’re an absolute lifesaver,” the woman echoed, taking the receipt from your outstretched hand. “I’m really sorry for keeping you so late.”

“Oh don’t worry about it.” The time on the monitor screen just ticked over to 8:17pm, long after you would usually shut up shop and head home to your empty apartment. “I've got nowhere special to be.”

You each said your goodbyes, waiting until the precise moment her silhouette was out of sight before jumping to your phone. The same half written message was there, but now it felt impossible to finish. All traces of adrenaline had long since worn off, and the bravery that made you type out the risqué proposition was reduced to almost nothing. Your timid nature rushed back in full force, a thumb pressing hard on the little x button to erase all evidence of your out of character impulses.

Who were you kidding. You weren’t this person. Unashamed and brazen enough to dive into a fiery entanglement with a handsome stranger in the same evening you’d met. You wished you could be. There was never a time the concept was so enticing. But… it was a fantasy not meant for you to live out. They were destined for the outgoing, the cool and composed, the bold and sure-footed. You rarely felt like any of those things. And Paul, like most men, probably reserved their interest and attraction for those types of women. It was so silly of you to think any different. Getting your hopes up was foolish, and would only end in-

The tingle of the shopkeepers bell sounded, internally groaning as you slid your phone back onto the desk. “We’re closed,” you hawked, a coldness in your tone you couldn’t hide. Eyes snapping up to the intruder, a bolt of lightening shot through, barely able to stop the delight mixing into your blood.

“I just, uh, figured out something more that I needed,” Paul said softly, scratching the back of his neck, clearly nervous.

“You did?” you breathed. “W-what was it?”

His chest rose and fell with a calming exhale, making sure your stares were secured before giving his answer. “…You.”

*

Tagging some lovelies who might want to read. Feel free to let me know if you don’t want to tagged in future works!

@tlcwrites @roanniom @princessxkenobi @hopeamarsu @blowthatpieceofjunk @mariesackler @leatherboundriot @foxilayde @modernpaw @cornmousequeen @direnightshade @mylifeisactuallyamess @caillea @jynz-andtonic @paterson-blue @miraclesabound @prismaticpizza​ @millenialcatlady​ 

[sharktoothedboys]

Heavily Tattooed Girlfriend

I love this idea because I myself am a heavily tattooed female and I think we need more representation in the head cannon world!! 

This is my second time typing this up because tumblr deleted it as I was finishing typing Todoroki’s and he was the last one! furious!! 

For future reference when i take head cannon requests i will be doing them for up to 4 characters, so please keep that in mind if you wish to request anything! 

This head cannon will be with Shoto, Katsuki and Izuku!

Anyway lets go!! (Again)

IZUKU MIDORIYA!

Please, this man baby would absolutely adore them! They are what makes you, you and he has memorised every single one, lets not pretend he hasn’t

stares at them all the time and isn’t subtle about it at all

loves to ask about them and hear the stories

You sighed heavily as you finally walked in to the front door of the apartment that you shared with Izuku, a more content sigh as you closed the door behind you finally putting the long hard day to rest, being a pro hero was no walk in the park and today was just more proof to that statement. 

You, happily took your shoes off and headed towards the bathroom to shower, grateful that Izuku was not home yet as you stank and were covered in dirt and filth from fighting a villain with a soil quirk, just what you wanted. 

However, he wasn’t far behind you, stepping in to the apartment as you stepped in to the shower, he heard the water start to flow as he removed his shoes, smirking he headed to the bathroom to join you, why waste water, right?

He stopped in the doorway to the bathroom as he took in your beautifully painted skin, he watched the patterns dance as you moved, He adores your tattoos, and he loved to tell everyone who would listen all about them and his inked up princess, He could talk about them for hours, he was so proud that you were proud of who you were. As much as he liked to talk about them to others he loved to listen to you tell him all about them and the meanings behind them, not that they all had a deep and meaningful story, but some did and he loved to listen to you tell him as he watched you run your hands over the art work that was on your body, he smirked to himself as he imagined kissing the work that adorned your spine and found himself lost in staring at you. Until you spoke and broke the spell. 

“Are you joining me, or are you just going to stare at me all night?” You asked a smile plastered on your face and you look at him over you shoulder. 

“Probably both.” He replied as he stepped onto the bathroom removing his clothes to join you. 

Damn, he was lucky. 

KATSUKI BAKUGO

He absolutely is obsessed with them, loves how they make you look like such a badass!

Pe4ople sometimes whisper wondering if you are in the yakuza, he doesn’t tell them you aren’t... 

His favourite ones are the ones only he gets to see.

Another night, another stupid event he was obliged to attend as the current number 2 hero, But you also had tonight off, so tonight was definitely not going to be as bad as he had thought it to be. 

You looked stunning, you were in a long line low cut black satin dress with a slit up the left leg to your hip, with silver chains dancing along your bare back that attached to either side of the garment. You were a little dubious of wearing it at first as it was a formal event and it showed off a lot of your body work and you didn’t want to embarrass Katsuki, but he quickly made all your insecurities fade by telling you, you could never embarrass him. 

You were just pulling up to the venue in the chauffeur driven car, Katsuki took your hand and you looked at him as he gave you a reassuring smile, these events always made you super nervous. He took in your nervous face and his eyes drifted down you arms, your beautifully decorated arms that he couldn’t get enough of. The car had stopped and you had to pull him from his own staring as you asked if he was ready to go. He nodded and guided you out of the car with ease, his hand immediately wrapping around your waist as you both emerged from the vehicle. 

Camera flashes almost blinded you straight away, shouts to look here and there could be heard, and then you heard the horribkle comment come from somewhere,

“Dynamight! can we get one with just you? It doesn’t look good for the number 2 to be seen with a gang member wannabe, and her tattoos will make people not want to buy our material!” 

You hung your head down low, you knew this dress was a mistake, you began to step the side when a strong hand grabbed yours. 

“No.” Katsuki replied sternly. “Its both of us or neither of us, you dirty rotten extra.” He said, in a surprising calm manner. he took your hand and lead you back to the car, you guys got in and left the event. 

“I hope you don’t take any notice of what that no body said, you are beautiful, your body is a temple, so what if you wanna decorate the walls a little?” 

You smiled at his comment and sweetly kissed him as he asked the driver to take you to the nearest cafe, and that’s how you ended up spending your evening all dolled up in a coffee shop. 

SHOTO TODOROKI

Loved every single new tattoo you came home with, as never surpised when you came home with a new one

loves to trace them while you lay together

his favourite is the half ice half fire heart you had done for him

He stepped in to the apartment, silence. Which was strange, it had been your day off and he expected you to either be cooking up a storm, or lost in your 76th game of Mario kart. But neither of those things were happening, He could see a dim light coming from your shared bedroom so he headed that way, probably napping, is what he thought as he made his way to you. But that theory was out the window when he heard faint sniffles and quiet sobs, his walk quickly turned into a run to get to you. 

He threw the door open, his hands in a defensive stance in case of danger, but no, he found you snuggled up with a cushion to your chest, quietly crying in to it.

“(Y/N)?” He quietly asked, prompting you to shoot your head up from the cushion, “What’s the matter peanut?” 

You smiled at his cute pet name for you that he had used since 1A, “Nothing, Sho, I promise I am ok.”

“Well that’s a lie” he smirked “Tell me please.

He made his way over to the bed and got in beside you as he opened his arms for you to fall in to his chest. You happily obliged. Snuggling into him tightly, he wrapped his large arms around you.

“Now tell me what has you so upset.”

“I went to the shops today, for some snacks, i was feeling snacky. A little girl recognised me as Data and got really excited and ran over to me, leaving her m other behind, She was speaking to me and asking me for my autograph when he mother let out a scream and began to insult me and telling me to get away from her daughter, saying i couldn’t be a pro because no self respecting agency would take on a yakuza lookalike, then she dragged her daughter away from me.” 

Shoto stiffened up at the story, mad at how someone could be so rude, but also at how anyone dared to question your heroism. 

“Well she needs to get an education in some manners.” he started, as he began to trace along the outline of your tattoos, his favourite thing to do. “She also needs to find out a little something about art, because she clearly doesn’t know a masterpiece when she sees one.” 

You grinned at his comment and instantly felt much more at ease in his arms as he lightly touched your tattoos. 

“Don’t listen to anyone like that peanut, they are all ignorant and blind to the beauty of you and your artwork, you are stunning and i love you just the way you are. He said kindly as he kissed your head gently. He felt you nod, if he ever ran in to that woman he was going to freeze her and make her get a face tattoo. 

THERE WE GO HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT AS MUCH AS I ENJOYED WRITING IT!!!

PLEASE LIKE IF YOU WOULD BE SOME KIND, I’LL LOVE YOU FOREVER! 

[kdramalifee]

What are your most favorite/recommended dramas? I've honestly only have watched 4 cause never know where to start once I finish one. Thank you!! 💕

Sorry of the late reply ❤

Here’s a “few” dramas that I enjoyed. Some of them fall into more than one category so I’ve written what categories I feel they fall into for each one. I’m going to write the amount of episodes for each show, but I’ll only be counting by (approx.) hour, so if the drama has 32 episodes where each “episode” is half an hour, I’ll write it as 16 episodes. Also some of these have several names, so I’ve just used the one they use on mydramalist. I’ve bolded my favourites.

This list might seem a bit daunting (as it is quite long) but I recommend looking at the specific genres you know you enjoy and just pick one you think seems interesting (there’s no shame in dropping a drama if it doesn’t grip you). If you can’t decide which one to start first, send me a message with the ones you’re trying to choose between and I’ll help you decide ^^

Action/suspense/Crime:

Bad Guys: 11 episodes, Action, Thriller, Psychological. A police detective gathers a team of criminals to combat crime in exchange for reducing their sentence. Throughout the drama, secrets are revealed. 

Class of Lies: 16 episodes, Suspense, School, Mystery, Law. A highly successful lawyer falls from grace after the fallout from one of his cases. He fakes his identity to get the position as a teacher at the school connected to this case in an attempt to uncover the truth and save his reputation. 

Cross: 16 episodes, Medical, Suspense. To get revenge for the death of his father, Kang In Kyu becomes a (highly skilled) doctor/surgeon and gets a job at the prison where his father’s killer resides in order to kill him.

Doubtful Victory: 20 episodes, Mystery, Crime. A man who was wrongfully sentenced to death when he was younger escapes from prison and fakes his identity as a police officer to help prove his innocence.  (Just a heads up: I don’t think a lot of people liked this drama (it gets a bit draggy in the middle). I liked it, but I think that’s an unpopular opinion)  

Kill It: 12 episodes, Action, Thriller. Kim Soo Hyun is a veterinarian who is also a professional killer. One day he is hired in exchange for information about his past. At the same time a detective is trying to find Kim Soo Hyun. They both uncover a mystery regarding their shared past. 

Healer: 20 episodes, Romance, Action, Mystery.  "Healer” is a special kind of night courier, that gets his clients whatever they want, as long as it doesn't involve murder. He is hired by a famous reporter to collect information on a second-rate tabloid writer. He begins to uncover the mystery of his own shared past with the two reporters, thus putting them all in danger. (This is a very popular drama that a lot of people have seen, so if you haven’t seen it I would recommend it.)

Mad Dog: 16 episodes, Action, Investigation, Mystery. A group calling themselves “Mad Dog” fights against insurance scams. They start working with Kim Min Joon, the brother of the man who crashed a plane killing the child and wife of the leader of Mad Dog. They try to uncover the truth behind the plane crash.

Player: 14 episodes, Action, Investigation. A private investigation team consisting of a swindler, a fighter, an elite hacker, and a talented driver is asked to take back property hidden away by criminals.

Save Me: 16 episodes, Psychological, Suspense. Following the failure of her father's business, Sang Mi and her family move to Muji-gun where they have no friends or relatives. After a tragic event, the family is taken in by the “Spiritual Father” resulting in them being trapped in a cult. Four young men try to save her.  

Stranger: 16 episodes, Investigation, Mystery.  Hwang Shi Mok had brain surgery when he was a child, which caused him to lack emotion. Now, Hwang Shi Mok works as a prosecutor. He meets Police Lieutenant Han Yeo Jin at a murder crime scene and they work together to eradicate corruption at the prosecutor's office and solve a serial murder case.

The Guardians: 16 episodes, Action, Thriller.  After the murder of her daughter, Jo Soo Ji joins forces with a few other people to monitor criminals 24 hours a day and rescue potential victims before the crime is committed. Together with these people she fights to get justice for her daughter, who’s murderer is still free.

WATCHER: 16 episodes, Action, Suspense, Investigation. Kim Young Goon became a police officer after his father was imprisoned for the murder of his mother. The detective who imprisoned his father is the leader of the internal affairs investigation team and gets Young Goon to join in order to fight against corruption and uncover the truth behind the tragic incident.  

Fantasy/sci-fi: 

Angels Last Mission: Love: 16 episodes, Romance, Fantasy.  Lee Yeon Seo is the prima ballerina, but after an accident she has to give up her dream. After her parents' sudden death, she doesn’t trust anyone since there are a lot of people lurking around her and her inherited money. Kim Dan is an optimistic, carefree angel who is always getting into trouble. In order to return to heaven, he is tasked with a mission to find true love for the talented but emotionally distant ballerina

Are You Human Too?: 18 episodes, Romace, Sci-fi. After loosing her son to her father in law, a woman creates an android to replace him. Years later the android called Nam Shin III must pretend to be the son of the rich family when the real Nam Shin falls into a coma.

Chicago Typewriter: 16 episodes, Fantasy/Supernatural, Romance. The story of a popular writer suffering from writers block, a fan of said author and a literal GHOST writer who starts writing for the main character. In a past life, these three people were all members of the resistance wanting to free Korea from the Japanese occupation. The story is set in modern times and in the 1930′s. 

Circle: 12 episodes, Alien, Sci-fi, Mystery. This drama is set in both 2017 and the year 2037. In 2017 we follow the story of a college student working together with a woman that looks identical to a girl he knew as a child to investigate suicides that she insists are actually murders. In 2037 technology has advanced to the point where you can control human emotion (creating a city without crime). A detective enters this city in order to investigate a missing persons case from 2017. (The first half of each episode is set in 2017, the other half in 2037). 

Duel: 16 episodes, Sci-fi, Crime, Suspense. After his daughter gets kidnapped a detective tries all he can to get her back. Suddenly the culprit shows up without any memories, denying that he has anything to do with the case. They work together to find the detectives daughter and uncover secrets along the way. 

EXIT: 2 episodes (drama special), Sci-fi, Psychological.  Kang Soo is a loan shark that tries to get by day to day in his depressing reality. No matter how hard he tries, he can't escape the nightmare of his reality, and when he was about to give up on his life, he sees a flier asking, "Do you want to become happy?" He goes to the research center, however, he learns that happiness comes at a steep price of 300,000 dollars. He decides to steal the money.

Extraordinary You: 16 episodes, Romance, Fantasy, School.  Eun Dan Oh, a 17 year-old high-school student, experiences gaps in her memory and eventually comes to the realization that she’s living in a comic book. Not only that, but she is also a secondary character who’s supposed to die later on in the story due to a heart condition. She decides to change her fate and defy the writer to get a happy ending for herself. 

Go Back Couple: 12 episodes, Fantasy, Life, Romance.  Choi Ban Do and Ma Jin Joo are both 38-years-old and a married couple. Choi Ban Do has been burdened with being the breadwinner and Ma Jin Joo is a housewife with low self-esteem. Even though they loved each other when they married, they now hate each other. They both regret marrying at such a young age. The couple travels through time and finds themselves as 20-year-old university students when they met for the first time.

He is Psychometric: 16 episodes, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery, Comedy. After losing his parents in a fire, Lee Ahn acquires the power of psychometry, the ability to read a person or an object's past through physical contact, and he decides to use it to take bad people down. While he does not know how to control his power yet, he meets Yoon Jae In who tries her best to hide her painful secrets. Together with his foster guardian, prosecutor Kang Sung Mo, and the latter's colleague, investigator Eun Ji Soo, they team up to solve an elusive case that has been haunting the lives of Ahn, Sung Mo, and Jae In.

Life on Mars: 16 episodes, Fantasy, Mystery, Suspense. As leader of a crime investigation team, Han Tae Joo has propelled his career and risen through the ranks by trusting data over all else. One day, while investigating a serial murder case, he has an accident. When he wakes up, he suddenly finds himself in the winter of 1988. He doesn't know why, but he's now a detective appointed to work at a police station in a small city. To get back to the present day, Han Tae Joo tries to solve the case.

Signal: 16 episodes, Mystery, Fantasy, Crime.  Fifteen years ago, a young girl was kidnapped on the way from school, and Park Hae Yeong, who was an elementary school student at that time, witnessed the crime. A few days later, the girl was found dead, and the police were not able to find the culprit. As time went by, Hae Yeong started distrusting the police. Fifteen years later, Hae Yeong is now a police officer and criminal profiler. One day, he finds a walkie-talkie that allows him to get in contact with Detective Lee Jae Han who is in the past. They then set out on a journey to solve cold cases.

Splash Splash Love: 2 episodes (Drama Special), Romance, Fantasy. Dan Bi is a high school senior who has given up on math. On the day she is about to take the KSAT for college, she is transported back into the past during a freak rain shower. She finds herself hundreds of years in the past at the height of the Joseon Kingdom, which is suffering from a severe drought. She encounters King Lee Do who yearns to learn advanced mathematics and falls in love with him.

Strong Woman Do Bong Soon: 16 episodes, Romance, Fantasy. Bong Soon is a woman with supernatural strenght who pines after a childhood crush who now works as a police officer. She is approached by the CEO of a gaming company who has a distrust for the police and she starts working as a bodyguard for him. (There are some problematic elements to this show, but the romance is really sweet) 

The Guest: 16 episodes, Supernatural, Horror, Mystery. It centers around three characters who had their lives ruined by a demon called “Son” (the guest) when they were kids. Yoon Hwa Pyung is a psychic that can see ghosts and who was once possessed by “Son” causing his mother and his grandmother to die and his father to try to kill him. Kang Gil Young is a detective whose mother was killed by the demon and Choi Yoon/ Mateo is a catholic priest that exorcises demons and whose brother was once possessed by “Son” causing him to kill his family. They band together to find and stop “Son”.

You Who Came From the Stars: 21 episodes, Romance, Fantasy. Do Min Joon is an alien who landed on Earth 400 years ago during the Joseon Dynasty period. He possesses a near perfect appearance and enhanced physical abilities involving his vision, hearing and speed. Later, he discovers that he has three months left on Earth. And that is when he meets Cheon Song Yi, the biggest Hallyu star in Korea.

Romance:

Come and Hug Me: 16 episodes, Suspense, Romance, Melodrama. When they were children, Yoon Na Moo and Gil Nak Won were each others first love. They are forced to break apart when Na Moo's father Yoon Hee Jae, a psychopath serial killer, murders Nak Won's parents. 12 years later, Jae Yi has become a popular actress and Do Jin is now an experienced detective trying to repent for his fathers sins. They meet again and start to develop a relationship.

Descendants of the Sun: 16 episodes, Romance, Medical, Action. Kang Mo Yeon works as a cardiothoracic surgeon and Yoo Shi Jin is the Captain and team leader of Alpha Team. They both get sent into an area of conflict, and start to devolop a relationship.

Hospital Ship: 20 episodes, Romance, Medical. This drama is about army doctors aboard a hospital ship, which is a floating hospital that serves people who live on remote islands. Eun Jae, a cold perfectionist surgeon whose fast-track career was derailed, starts working at the ship.

Just Between Lovers: 16 episodes, Romance, Melodrama. A shopping center collapses killing many people. When he was 15, Lee Gang Doo dreamed of playing for the Korean national soccer team, but a serious injury sustained as a result of the accident destroys those dreams. In the years after the accident, Gang Doo spends his days fighting through physical and emotional pain, struggling to support his sister and pay back a hefty debt, and working as a construction worker. When she was 15, Ha Moon Soo lived through the accident, and years later she is still plagued by nightmares. She lives above the women’s bath house that her mother runs and specializes in making architectural models that are an important safety element in any major building planning process. Years after the incident, a construction project is due to kick-off at the accident site, and they both get involved in the project, causing them to develop a relationship while struggling with the painful memories it brings back. 

Shopping King Louie: 16 episodes, Romance. The story of “Shopaholic Louie” revolves around a handsome shopaholic named Louie, who is the successor of a vast business empire but becomes homeless after suffering from amnesia. Meanwhile, Koh Bok Shil, a country girl who lives a life that is worlds apart from the rich and famous, encounters Louie in Seoul. They develop a relationship.

Thirty but Seventeen: 16 episodes, Romance. Woo Seo Ri, a violin prodigy at 17 who was about to study in Germany, got into a bus accident and fell into a coma waking up 13 years later. Mentally she is still only 17, while physically she is now 30. Due to a trauma he experienced 13 years before, Gong Woo Jin does not want to have a relationship with others. They get to know each other and try and open the door to the happiness that they once thought had been closed to them.

When the Camellia Blooms: 20 episodes, Romance, Thriller, Life. Dong Baek is a single mother living in the small town of Ongsan. She runs the bar-restaurant Camellia, while also taking care of her son Pil Gu. The people of Ongsan frequently gossip about Dong Baek. She grew up as an orphan, is a single mother and runs a bar where many of the men in Ongsan frequent. Regardless of what the locals may whisper about Dong Baek, local police officer Hwang Yong Shik is deeply in love with her. Meanwhile, Dong Baek's ex-boyfriend Kang Jong Ryeol suddenly reappears in her life. He is a famous baseball player, that hid their relationship when they dated. While Dong Baek tries to find happiness, something truly sinister lurks in the background. A serial killer roams Ongsan and Dong Baek may be a target.

Historical:

Kingdom: 6 episodes, Action, Historical, Zombie. The King falls ill to smallpox and rumors start to spread that he has actually died. Meanwhile, Crown Prince Lee Chang is labeled a traitor by the Haewon Cho Clan, the clan of the current pregnant Queen and her father, Chief State Councillor Cho Hak Joo. While trying to uncover the mystery of what happened to his father, the Crown Prince goes with his guard, Moo Young, to Dongnae to look for the physician that treated his father, only to be stuck with Assistant Physician Seo Bi and a mysterious man named Young Shin in a village plagued with a terrifying disease.

My Country: 16 episodes, Historical, Action, Romance, Tragedy. Two friends ends up on opposite sides in a conflict involving the fight for the crown. Confronted with betrayal the two of them have to learn how to fight against their best friend all while trying to stay good in a cruel world.  

The Tale of Nokdu: 16 episodes, Action, Romance, Comedy. One day, Nok Du’s father and older brother are attacked by a group of female assassins. Jeon Nok Du chases after one of the assassins to the capital. To find out why his family was attacked, Jeon Nok Du disguises himself as a woman and enters a widow village where the assassins are hiding. There, he meets Dong Dong Ju who is an apprentice to become a gisaeng.

Misc:

Age of Youth: 12 episodes, Friendship, Life.  Five girls in their twenties come to live together in a house called "Belle Epoque. As the girls feel a bond of sympathy and become closer, they also deal with their personal issues as they live out their eventful twenties. The drama follows their struggles and incidents dealing with relationships - within their circles, with dating, and with each other - and a variety of events they are experiencing including credits, part-time jobs, drinking, hopes and dreams. (This drama also has a second season)

Avengers Social Club: 12 episodes, Friendship, Life.  Features three women from different walks of life coming together for revenge: a fish store ajumma who envisioned a better life for herself, a housewife, and a chaebol’s daughter who was raised like a delicate greenhouse flower. They’re an unlikely trio who would never otherwise meet, but they join forces to carry out their individual revenges. Although they start out as co-conspirators, along the way they’ll build a strong friendship.

Chief Kim: 20 episodes, Business, Comedy. Kim Sung Ryong is a skilled accountant who works for gangsters. He makes his way into a company called TQ Group as a middle manager in the accounting department with the intention of embezzling money from the company. As he contends with hot-shot accountant Yoon Ha Kyung, financial prodigy Seo Yul and peppy intern Hong Ga Eun, Sung Ryong finds himself embroiled in office politics and notices other shenanigans by those in power that threaten to bring down the company. Sung Ryong slowly comes to realize that he’d rather fight against corporate corruption and fight for employees’ rights than complete the mission he originally came to do. 

Miss Hammurabi: 16 episodes, Law, Romance. Park Cha Oh Reum is a newly appointed judge who is assigned to the 44th Civil Affairs Department at the Seoul Central District. She is always on the lookout for injustice and is able to profoundly empathize with others. Compared to her, Im Ba Reun is a cool-headed man of principle with the creed of ‘Court that is equal to all’, and he is displeased with junior judge Park Cha Oh Reum who is overly sympathetic when it comes to cases. (There is one moment in the first episode (I believe) where something problematic occurs, but I think its only that one thing). 

Psychopath Diary: 16 episodes, Comedy, Mystery.  Yook Dong Sik is a 34-year-old office worker who is so weak and timid that he is used by everybody around him. After an incident, he becomes the scapegoat of his company, and so facing losing his job and his family turning their back on him, he decides to commit suicide. While doing so, he unexpectedly stumbles across a murder scene, but gets into an accident while running from the murderer. He wakes up with amnesia with the psychopath's diary in his possession. With no clues to his true nature other than the diary,and his fragmented memory lining up with the diary entry, he begins to believe that he is in fact a psychopath serial killer.

Happy watching! 

[fumiko-matsubara]

Tsuchiya Kaho - Character Profile

So @flamingo-strikes23 and I have decided to officially adopt Kaho, give her a deserved redemption, and a developed characterization. After 2-3 weeks of passionate exchanges of fic ideas, we have brainstormed enough to finally give her a detailed profile UwU.

Note: This is our interpretation of her character, which will also be used in TARGET ON!, where my version of her redemption will take place.

Tsuchiya Kaho (土屋 果穂) - She loves many <3 The Ikemen Hunter!

"You're a guy, dammit!! There are branches around you so just do it there!!"

Description

Sharp tongued and witty, she's the ex-girlfriend of Class E's Maehara and the Five Virtuoso's Seo.

Recently, she has been spotted with a guy who looked like the infamous guitarist of the school's most well-known band that it soon became an on-going piece of gossip.

Birthday: September 24th

Height: 159 cm

Weight: 54 kg

Bust Size: B

Blood Type: AB

MBTI Type: ENFP-T

Favourite Subjects: Social Studies

Worst Subjects: Ethics

Interests and special skills: Attending live shows; Exploiting one's weaknesses

Current Club: Tennis Club

Treasured Item(s): A koala plush doll Miho won for her during their 2nd year

Favourite Food: Super Spicy Mapo Tofu

Bento or Snacks: Bento

Relationship Status: Taken

Announcement of Results from the Periodic Exams

1st Trimester Mid-Terms: TBA

1st Trimester End-of-Terms: TBA

2nd Trimester Mid-Terms: TBA

2nd Trimester End-of-Terms: TBA

Miki's Fashion Check

She comes from a fairly wealthy family, hence most of the clothes she wears are of high quality. Her style hasn't been fully developed yet, but since her visuals allow her to pull off anything, she can experiment with her style while still keeping up with the trends.

Street Clothes

Kaho has a very flexible fashion sense, ranging from a simplistic combination to a very classy look. Her dark hair and eyes also allows her to pull off any colour, which adds more to her already diverse style.

Hair

It's my first time seeing such luscious, voluminous black hair in person. There's just something fascinating with the way it bounces at every step she takes...

Character Relationships

-Lead Guitarist-kun (addressed as Ryuunosuke)-

She's been crushing on him since the band's first performance during the school festival. However, she was confused why the said guitarist was always nowhere to be found until the band had to perform again. By the first week of April during their third year, she was finally able to talk to him after the band had performed at a nearby live house, where he had also told her his given name. Since then, it became a routine for Kaho to visit the band after every performance and talk to him.

By the time the second semester came, the two had been hanging out outside the live houses every weekend. Although Kaho knew every bit of Ryuunosuke's personality at that point, it still somewhat bothers her that he refuses to tell her his surname and what school he goes to.

-Shimada Miho (addressed as Miho-chan)-

They have been classmates since first year, but they grew close when they became seatmates during second year that they can stay at each other's houses even on a whim.

While they seemed to be polar opposites, with Miho's brashness compared to Kaho's calmer demeanour, both girls enjoy making fun of other selected people together, with Eiji being the most prominent.

-Maehara Hiroto (addressed as Maehara)-

After they had broken up, Kaho had been especially awkward around him, mostly out of guilt. They were able to reconcile when they accidentally met up backstage after the band had finished performing one night.

-Fukiyose Eiji (addressed as Eiji)-

Kaho had initially thought of Eiji as one of those serious and straight laced people. After learning of his true nature of being shamelessly audacious around other people even if it could kill him, Kaho lost all respect she once had for him.

The annoying bean pole had been getting on Kaho's nerves as of late, so she retaliates by forcing him to eat spicy food at every chance she gets.

-Yamazaki Jenny (addressed as Miki)-

When they first met, Kaho thought of Miki as the band's beautiful personal stylist who looked like she came straight out of a fairytale book, that she almost felt intimidated by her unrealistic features. But they get along nonetheless.

After witnessing the terrifying stunt Miki had pulled on Seo during the school assembly, Kaho had pledged to herself not to anger her anymore from that day onwards.

-Kitazawa Ayaka (addressed as Ayaka-senpai)-

Ayaka is another person that Kaho is genuinely afraid of due to her explosive anger that may, or may not hurt others. Intimidating anger aside, Ayaka is a very reliable upperclassman who always puts the band back on track when things go too far.

Because of how academically smart Ayaka is, Kaho would occasionally ask for her help with her studies, especially with subjects she struggles at the most.

-Terushima Daisuke (addressed as Daisuke)-

Daisuke is one of the very few people who Kaho can't bring herself to really reprimand, no matter how frequently he tends to provoke others, due to his outer personality being reminiscent of her younger brother's. 

- The band D.R.E.A.M. -

After learning that the band always performs at one of the live houses located at the other side of Kunugigaoka town every other Saturday, Kaho began attending their shows and would visit them backstage, initially because she just wanted to have a conversation with the lead guitarist.

Kaho began growing close with the remaining members throughout the first two months of constantly visiting them. Since the band usually performs until late night, Kaho would bring them takeout meals for them to eat after the show.

Members of the Tsuchiya family

Father: Physical Therapist

Mother: Cosmetologist

Siblings: Younger brother; 6 years younger than her

A family of visuals, which was said it made them appear more wealthy than they supposedly are.

A hidden side of Tsuchiya Kaho

⇑ Kaho surprisingly likes watching horror movies during her free time. A specialty she has developed is navigating DVDs of the scariest movies she could find at the store, no matter how well hidden they are.

Throughout the Years:

Kunugigaoka Junior High School

Kawadate High School

Jōshi University

Part time Street Fashion Model ※ Due to her growing popularity in social media, Kaho helped to promote a friend's clothing line by modelling for her brand.

Model for SweetPINK ※ Not long before graduating from college, Kaho was scouted to work as a cosmetics and fashion model under SweetPINK, a model management agency under YUME Entertainment.

Fumiko's Exclusive Behind the Scenes Data

Her ikemen obsession started from being supposedly challenged by her mother, who got married to her father, who she considered to be a very handsome ikemen.

A common practice she had when making new friends was presenting her favourite lethal dish to them as some kind of test "to prove their friendship". 

Since then, said friends began fearing her ability to normally eat extremely spicy food.

One of her biggest regrets was taking an interest in Eiji at first, which greatly disappointed her after seeing more of his personality. Her other biggest regret was dating Seo of all people.

[katieusualthings]

The reason why Kimetsu no Yaiba (KnY) is so well received by the Japanese (as such a remarkable phenomenon)

Written by Vũ trụ 一１９九

Translated by Meownie

Proofread by Alice

Everyone knows that just in a short time, KnY has almost occupied the spotlight in all fields, everyone talks about it, the number of sale in goods and comics is enormous, both of them are sold out, etc.

Following my own curiosity with this phenomenon, as well as my existent love for the original work of Kimetsu no Yaiba (the manga), I dug into this issue because, in Japan, every trend has its own root.

Taking aside all the numbers of sale or whatever, which have been analyzed by a lot of people, as I’m not a data person, I will look into the content, the storyline and the core of this phenomenon in reference to many sources and comments about KnY coming from people in this country.

Many of you say that KnY is only at an average level compared to the manga/anime general standard. Then let me tell you what the extraordinariness that an ordinary series can do.

Apparently, there are always conflicting opinions, the Japanese community is no exception. However, the pro-KnY still grows bigger and there is no sign of softening. And here are some positive comments for the success of this series.

1. The anime is excellent in graphics, sound effects, the plot details are neatly arranged, easy to understand and heart touching

Cannot ignore the fact that the anime has built up the KnY’s success. Ufotable made the anime so excellent, especially in terms of visual and sound. It makes the story more approachable and the audience more empathetic to it.

The anime is a contribution to KnY’s greatest success. But many seem to be mistaken that only thanks to the anime did KnY succeed like that?

If the anime succeeds, viewers will be more interested and curious about the main storyline, so they will try to read the original manga. But if the manga was a trashy series, they could stop buying/reading it and just wait for the anime, right? So what is the reason behind the boom in the KnY manga sales until the beginning of this year, and its rankings which are always in the top 3 of WSJ magazine?

Sometimes ago, I did a research and presentation about the anime/manga industry along with the cultural reforms that contributed to the revival of the Japanese economy after the war. In that research, there was a detailed analysis of the connection between the original manga and the anime adaptation as a yin-yang relationship. They are all for the sake of the original publisher and the animation studio, so one will complement the other.

Manga is a product which only attracts a certain group of people, it is not so popular since there are homemakers, young children, the elderly, and people who are not fond of reading, those who do not find manga interesting. But anime is more universal and extensive, as you know, Japanese families often buy a TV to watch the news or to entertain on weekends. The anime is only about hearing and watching, so anyone can access it. When a manga is adapted to an anime, it brings the original closer to the people, and furthermore, hopefully, make it to the big screen.

On the other hand, the original manga is the base, the soul of the work, so readers feel more excited when waiting for each chapter be published in the magazine, waiting for the changes to be re-compiled each time for a new volume. So the manga contributes to increasing a large number of consumers. Of course, buying DVD-BD is definitely more expensive than buying the volume.

As a result, success is mutual support between manga and anime. And making an anime warmly-received is not that easy, the good base of the manga should be credited and vice versa.

I will talk more about the content of the original in the second reason. But initially, it is necessary to distinguish: not all good originals are well-received and vice versa. Everything’s got its relative value, in which context and timing play a role.

2. The charisma of the protagonist, Tanjirou, a young boy trying to save his sister; With a warm-hearted characteristic, his story is not about “revenge” but “restoration”

11 over 10 people being asked, answered that KnY’s success comes from the main character. This is yet another compliment to the editor who directed the way for KnY, Katayama-san, for orienting to make a more gentle, kind Tanjirou, eliminating the brute in the original portray.

Firstly, it is appropriate in this day and age to have a main character who is kind and gentle, which replaces for the old MC portray, who was noisy, hot-tempered and “brainless”. Secondly, it suits the plot that Croc-sensei wants to shape, a story about a boy finding a way to help his sister to be human back, about family love and values. A character who is kind-hearted, with a loving and protective care towards his sister, is more suitable for the readers. On the other hand, the story which does not turn to revenge, but to the path of helping the younger sister to be back to normal and the main character with his sympathy for the tragic fate of the demons makes the readers/audience impressed and pleased and feel like they’re saved and soothed as well.

Tanjirou takes the crown not only because of his kindness but also the determination and strong will, as he does not forgive the crimes committed by the demons. Yes, he is surely sympathetic to them but they all have to pay for their guilt. Therefore, our main character is always consistent from the beginning to the latest chapter and that personality has never wavered.

Not to mention, there is an indispensable point in the MC of WSJ, that they all constantly try their best and do not deny what they are given.

Tanjirou carries all of those points of a MC of WSJ but still reaches many different types of audiences. Lots of mothers want their children to watch KnY so they can show more love towards their families and younger sisters like Tanjirou does.

That is the greatest success of the series. And that’s the reason why the media team take the slogan “Japan’s softest slaying demon story” to PR KnY successfully everywhere.

3. The next detail making the manga a big hit is the consistency in story theme, which is “family”

As everyone knows, the shounen mangas in general and ones in the WSJ, in particular, all discuss the solidarity. But there is a theme in KnY which reaches the audience more easily and widely: “family”. This is the affection that almost everyone can receive and understand.

The modern social situation of Japan, an Asian country, where even though family love is appreciated, the family warmth have gradually disappeared. Children who reach the age of independence and are out of a parent’s guardianship are able to easily leave the country, live independently and rarely return to visit their family. Here in Japan, the proportion of the elderly, late marriage and single people is increasing sharply. The rate of living alone now in Japan is very high and alarming. So a series about love for parents and siblings in the family is like warmth for this cold society.

From an old man’s POV who are living here: “I feel wholesome and nostalgic of the days I spent with my family, feel warm when watching KnY, and how Kamado siblings protect each other.”

The elderly do not pay attention to whatever trend is, they just watch TV basically to enjoy good work and support it.

The family theme is easy to empathize and to be delivered, so even the kids can watch and enjoy it with their mom. There are some POVs from some mothers, telling that their little kids love KnY and hoping they love their family just like the characters in the story do.

Although the context in the story is dark, the path of the story, the way expressing the theme of Croc-sensei is easy to understand, which brings in the light in the darkness and makes the number of readers become more diverse, makes the work more popular and universal.

Tbh, KnY is still very “bright” compared to many series in Japan, so a lot of children can approach this manga. Moreover, there are many cute characters and details in the story.

4. The gap between characters makes a unique way in Gotouge-sensei’s character creation

The Japanese love the interesting dynamic, and they define it as “the gap”. The more surprising gap a character has, the more popular that character is. Briefly, it is, “not judging the book by its cover”.

The first example is the character has the same or sometimes, more popularity over the MC in Japan, Zenitsu. They don’t usually like noisy guys, but because Zenitsu is a cool character and has an interesting gap, which attracts readers. Apart from his noisy, cheerful behaviour,  he is a serious, thoughtful and experienced person who accepts pain and loss just like an adult.

Then there are countless characters with interesting gaps like Inosuke, Giyuu, and the Pillars. Crocs-sensei’s characters are not many, compared to a shounen series. But this is the mangaka’s intelligence to choose the strengths outshining the weakness. Although sensei does not create many characters, sensei has built the base for the character very well, for the impressive appearance of each one and makes the readers/audiences remember them deeply.

The proof of this success is that KnY goods are sold out with every character, from the most to least favourite.

5. The story is clearly set in the Taisho era, coming with its proportional design and architecture that makes the reader accessible

Taisho era is neither old nor new. The people witnessing the change in that era are still alive. But Taisho was the period of transition with the insecurities in the society. So the creation of a fantasy battle with the chaos between demons and people is extremely suitable for the Taisho era.

There are billions of reasons, like the previous parts, here would mention only main points. KnY is simply a normal series, but it is the ORDINARINESS that pulls out the EXTRAORDINARINESS and delivers those CLOSER to the readers. And this “extraordinariness” is not something that a so-normal series can do.

I love the welcoming spirit of the Japanese, they always appreciate new things, yet never forget to maintain and preserve the old ones.

Because it is a constant rule in development.

The same thing applies for the WSJ: increasing sales for the currently published series, at the same time discovering and boosting new titles. And the latter is more important than the former. But they still welcome new series that inherit such values in shounen genre, the magazine would develop the series open-heartedly if it is deserved.

I am also a fan of shounen and WSJ, I think KnY totally deserves the success it has achieved now.

I also hope it is kindly well-received because Kimetsu no Yaiba was made not to be a replacement, not to take any seats from any series. It is simply a shounen legacy in WSJ magazine. You would know that the spirit in shounen manga highly values this “inheritance” characteristic.

[discotreque]

Picard 1.09: Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1

And we're back to a 45 minute runtime this week. But why? Imagine a version of this episode that was as leisurely and intimate as "Nepenthe," with time to really luxuriate in all these interesting new characters and situations. Instead it felt like an all-out race to... well, the middle, because the second half of this story won't come out for another week.

This is immensely frustrating for me because I'm a fast reader. Shorter novels I tend to finish in one sitting; a big doorstopper might take me two or three sessions max. Never in my life have I encountered a story with a pre-existing emotional connection, characters I liked right away, a plot that started with an interesting mystery—and then rationed that story out to myself in ten small doses, each a week apart. I'd slap you for suggesting it!

If this were a more episodic show—even only as episodic as Disco, which still has the obligatory Big Arcs—or if they dumped the whole season at once, I'd be a lot less frustrated. But releasing a "10-part movie" with a week between each part? I'm not loving it.

My complaints are general; my praise is specific. And contains spoilers:

Accountability update: I get half points at best. Last week I did correctly predict that Brent Spiner was going to come back—but as a synth like Soji, just in the form of an old man instead of a young woman. Did anybody suspect a previously unknown biological son of Soong was in the cards? I sure as hell didn't.

The surprise of that twist bodes well for more fun surprises next week, doesn't it? If they kept Brent Spiner a secret, they could keep Michael Dorn and Gates McFadden a secret too...

I loved the new effects for the transwarp conduit. They feel very of a piece with the new at-warp-speed effects. The old slow, streaky stars were a pretty and interesting effect, but they only connoted speed in an abstract, pseudo-scientific way. The zoomy new warp drive makes no pretensions to "accuracy," it just feels fast. And the transwarp conduit feels appropriately like warp drive on fast-forward—which is to say, kind of terrifying!

When Narek (ugh) is first shooting at La Sirena, there's a wide shot of the crew, and out the window behind them you can see disruptor bolts passing by and casting green light into the bridge. Extremely sexy work, VFX team.

"There's a difference between killing an attacking enemy and watching a wounded one die." Yeah, Picard, the second one's a lot less work.

Speaking of sexy VFX, how about those space orchids?

That "old" medical tricorder looks newer than anything we've seen before. I wanted a much closer look.

"Oh hey, by the way, everyone, I'm dying, now shut up about it." That's our Jean-Luc!

Prop of the week: that crazy soccer ball Rios briefly interacts with as they arrive in Synthville.

After Dahj died, Isa Briones didn't have much interesting to do as Soji for the first half of the season, but since joining up with the rest of the main cast, she's quickly becoming one of my favourites. I have no idea where this story is going to go next week, or what's going to happen to Soji (or Sutra (or anyone)) next season, but I hope Isa sticks around somehow—she’s terrific.

Star Trek has a long and gross history of objectifying Jeri Ryan when all they had to do was put her in a t-shirt and a leather jacket. I'm just... I'm so gay for Seven of Nine, you guys.

I would be 100% more interested in a Seven-and-Elnor series than this alleged Section 31 show we're getting.

Imagine the casting call for the androids in this episode: "Identical twins needed. Ages 20-30. Any race, any accent. Must be sexy as hell."

I love that at least some of the androids have names that fit in with the naming scheme of "Data" and "Lore": Saga (RIP), Arcana, Codex, Rune, and Sutra. I'm not familiar with a language where the word "Jana" means anything information-related, though.

Isa Briones is the MVP this week for sure. Dahj and Soji felt very distinct as people, and now we meet Sutra, who's nothing like either of them. She's creepy as hell, for one thing, and you fully believe she is capable of murder—several times this episode I expected her to reach out and snap a main character's neck. And who knows, next week she might!

I like this interpretation of the Admonition better than the Zhat Vash's. It's not a woo-woo prophesy, and thank fuck there's no time travel bullshit involved—it's a commercial, basically, for a hyper-advanced alliance of synthetic life. Call 1-800-FUCK-ORGANICS and they'll come clear up that little infestation for you.

But what I'm really hoping is that Sutra doesn't have the whole story either. What if the purpose of this alliance isn't to destroy organic oppressors, but mediate peace between organics and synthetics? Or what if they just scoop up all the synths and take them to safety wherever they normally live?

I just really, really don't want the heart of this story to be an evil AI, or even neutral AI vs. evil humans/Romulans. There are way more interesting stories to tell.

Spot II is a good baby and I love him. (RIP Spot the First, I guess.)

Still don't really have any feelings about Rios/Jurati but it's sweet that he's so soft with her.

That scene between Picard and Raffi though... my heart... my whole entire heart......

The fact that Jean-Luc couldn't get through to Starfleet feels extremely fucking ominous to me.

Narek still sucks and he's SO boring. How boring is he? In that scene between him and Soji, I was mostly focused on how the force field kept lighting up when Soji breathed on it—another subtle and sexy VFX moment.

Poor, sweet Saga. Later models didn't cram the entire positronic net into one single eyeball, an obvious design flaw in retrospect given its extreme vulnerability to injury. :(

And just as things are getting interesting...

It's hard to pass any kind of judgement on something that's clearly only half of a whole, but it certainly made me want to watch Part 2. See y'all here next week for the grand finale.

[lily-blue]

CODE Z3RO | CODE 06

characters: BTS & Red Velvet genre: thriller, futuristic au warning: death summary: The twelve most ambitious and promising university students are welcomed in Choego, the world’s first entirely artificial intelligence-driven city, to compete for five job contracts that could change their life. But what if something goes wrong? What if they get trapped? What if the city suddenly turns against them? Can they find a way out before the countdown reaches zero? words: 4,3K tagged: @philosopher-of-fandoms​

➼ Chapter Index

In the blinding light of the rising Sun, Park Jimin and Jung Hoseok were walking towards the bridge that separated Choego from the nearest city along South-Korea’s western coast, the one and only exit route from the artificial funhouse where they had been trapped inside. They were tamed lions roaring on a deep red podium, animals that meant nothing in the human eye and it made the younger man’s blood boil hence even without Kim Taehyung being around, the atmosphere that embraced them was cold and kind of suffocating. 

‘Aish!’ Jimin mumbled under his nose when the recorded voice on the other side of the call once again informed him about the weak or nonexistent signal and the fact that he was unable to reach the other party until it stayed unstable. His long fingers clenched around the useless device with anger as his knuckles changed their colours from tanned to pale white. The young heir hated nothing more than to be powerless therefore he refused to give up. Taking a deep breath, he dialed his father’s number for the fifth time within the last twenty minutes.

‘What’s wrong?’ Hoseok asked when the engineer let out a frustrated sigh, swallowing back an inappropriate scream that truly scratched his throat now that even his battery was ready to laugh at his face, a few percents from the verge of ultimate death. When the older’s worried question eventually reached the back of his mind, he wanted to kick into his phone, throwing it onto the ground or simply drop it into the first trash can, they might have found in their way to the port. For a passing moment, he wanted to get rid of it so badly to show his superiority over the tool that he almost did throw it metres away but he yearned for the outer world and his mobile data way too desperately therefore he shoved it into his pocket instead. He was willing to give it another try once he managed to calm his tense nerves down.

‘There’s no signal therefore I can’t reach my father nor Miss Raina. This shit really drives me crazy,’ he admitted, not wasting his energy on turning towards the Sociology major who walked a few steps behind him with his gaze fixed on the back of his head.

As it usually happened when people didn’t share common interests nor significant personal traits, the boys were stuck in silence and spent the next twenty minutes with their own thoughts, awkward and wordless.

‘Is he…’ a weak voice spoke up, slowly fading into nothingness as its owner had lost his initial confidence. Park Jimin cleared his throat then stopped and forced his company to do the same as he lifted up his left arm, stretching his fingers wide and putting his palm onto Hoseok’s chest. For a few seconds, they looked at each other firmly, on Hoseok’s part, a slightly confused, before Jimin would have opened his mouth. ‘Well, you know. Is Seokjin really dead? Are you sure, it wasn’t just a cheap trick or something? Maybe they knew it all along. Maybe they assumed that we’ll try to hack the cameras and they prepared for it in advance with believable footages,’ he said and Hoseok had to admit that regardless of the desperation in his voice, the boy’s reasoning sounded pretty logical. The scientists, who had been working on the breadth and depth of this research for long months if not years, were ones of the smartest brains in the world. They must have known how risky the human variable could be. They must have been prepared for everything.

Yet, all he could force through his lips was ‘It did seem believable… those bloody tears and his body frozen in agony.’

Swallowing an unpleasant remark, Jimin let go of the Sociology major and fished his phone out of his pocket to keep his mind busy before it could have gone into overdrive. He didn’t want to think of the possibility of Seokjin being dead. It was too awful and frightening. 

So they took the remaining distance without talking which meant another ten minutes in utter silence. The only sound that filled the atmosphere was the younger’s frustrated sigh that left his mouth whenever he failed to reach his father or his decorated secretary. As he clenched his teeth, he couldn’t wait to leave this awful place behind and complain about this simulation to his friends via social media. He had an enormous follower base - handsome chaebols like him were the newest sensation in the industry because young and poor people liked them almost as much as they liked talented actors and idols - and he was so ready to use them, the public to expose how poorly this company treated their candidates. They had clearly no idea whom they had been picking on. 

‘What do you think, what happens when someone tries to invade a zone that had been already shut down entirely?’ Hoseok asked seemingly out of the blue although as soon as Jimin lifted his head, he could see the older staring at a thick, white panel on the concrete. It was nothing dangerous, but it did make them halt a few centimetres from the transparent border.

‘Dunno,’ he answered honestly, scratching his nape. According to that not-so-useful map they had found in the computer room with Yoongi, the bridge was on the opposite side of the city which they planned to reach by following the river and then the seashore. Since this damned, artificial city wasn’t on any available online map nor their phones were functioning to begin with, they could have gotten lost in Choego easily in any other way. It was time-consuming but rational. It was their best shot.

Therefore Jimin took the first step towards the abandoned zone and looked at his company from above his shoulder with a smug smile, showing off his bravery.

‘Let’s find out,’ he said and made his features look firmer as he clenched his lips and speeded up his pace. The younger boy walked with confidence regardless of his jittery heart that crashed into his rib cage screaming, begging him to think it over one last time. Because deep down he wasn’t entirely sure that the researchers were indeed clever enough to think about every possible hardship that their project might have faced with in the final phase. Though, he wasn’t a coward and didn’t intend to reveal his fear to someone as lame as Hoseok. He had pride, he was better than that.

‘Be careful,’ the Sociology major asked him quietly but Jimin just shushed him with a scoff and kept going.

The closer his feet got to the panel, the more uneven his breathing became and it was insane, he knew it, but he couldn’t help. He didn’t want to share the same fate as Seokjin if he had indeed died. On the other hand, even the idea of a bunch of creepy scientists in their stupid white coats watching them bleed out in a gas cabin was absurd. Killing a man in daylight during a live stream. How insane it was.

With his heart in his throat, he stepped on the thick line. Nothing happened.

‘See? Everything is just fine. I told you,’ he said with a victorious smile as he waved with his right hand, encouraging Hoseok to follow him towards the sea. Truth to tell, he couldn’t have recalled another time when he’d felt this relieved before and suddenly he felt stupid to feel uneasy and think about death in a city like Choego. Although there were lots of things the researchers needed to upgrade like the shitty signal, this place was the future. ‘Damn. I bet, Seokjin’s already drinking his consolation morning coffee with the researchers somewhere in the headquarter. Dead bodies, my as—’

With the next careless step, Jimin fell on the ground mid-sentence.

‘Hey! What’s wrong? Jimin, what’s happening?’ Hoseok screamed at him as the first wave of shock had washed over him and his frozen body. He ran to the guy paying attention at the white panel then sat on his heels within an inch from the boy whose body was slightly shaking and whose skin seemed surprisingly red like roasted meat. The characteristic smell of his favourite bacon burger made him feel queasy hence he had to lift his hand and held back his breath.

He looked at the occasionally trembling body for long minutes before he dared to touch him with the sleeve of his jacket. He felt hot even through the thick material.

‘Dude, it’s not funny. Open your eyes, you hear me?’ he begged fighting his tears but his voice was faint, barely audible as he stood up and took a few unsteady steps backwards. When the realization finally hit him - that Jimin was dead and there was no way out -, he stumbled and fell. He wished, the physical pain had been the only thing he could have felt. But the dread was stronger and almost unbearable.

‘Shit…’ 

By the time Hoseok got back to the hospital, the rest of the team was nowhere to be found therefore he ran across the park that separated the abandoned building from the research centre and rushed inside, not caring about the cap that fell out of his pocket due to his hasty movements. He looked for familiar faces on every floor but fifteen minutes later when he eventually gave up and walked out of the electrical door, he was still on his own.

Lungs burning because of overexertion, the Sociology major was on the verge of fainting when a few corners from the green area his gaze shifted from the enormous buildings to a small group of moving shadows. The boy was panting heavily, his clothes soaked in sweat, but he scolded his tired limbs and kept going.

‘Guys, wait! Please, slow down!’ he shouted as soon as he was close enough to be heard, relief invading his aching body as a few people halted upon his plea.

Hoseok almost fell onto his knees when his shaky legs stopped a few inches from Wendy, tears brimming his puffy eyes. Scanning all the remaining members of the team, a part of him couldn’t believe that he had indeed managed to find them before another tragical accident would have taken place in the monstrous city, though they were all alive. Thankful, he gave in to the growing pain and kneeled on the ground.

‘What are you doing here, dumbass? I thought that you’re too noble to team up with a jerk like me. Did you finally realize that you’re nothing better than a dog on your own? All bark, no bite,’ Taehyung asked with his arms crossed in front of his chest, looking down on the grown up crybaby both literally and in a figurative sense as he took a firm step forwards.

Hoseok snapped his head at the boy, lips clenched and palms in trembling fists by his sides. No one said a word.

‘Shut up, you asshole or else…’ he started angrily, eyes boring deep into the other boy’s spiteful eyes. He wanted to prove him and everyone else wrong so bad yet his weak threat got cut off by a mocking retort that had meant to be provocative.

‘Or else?’ Taehyung asked with his left brow in the middle of his forehead, words being cruel on purpose, malice clinging onto them tightly the same way leeches would have clung onto a lively human body. The lopsided smile that took shape on his attractive mouth sent a jolt down Hoseok’s spine. It was cold and terrifying.

A few ephemeral seconds later it was Namjoon who first noticed the young chaebol’s obvious absence or who had enough guts to voice out the question that had invaded everyone’s mind. 

‘Where’s Jimin?’ he asked as his long fingers found his girlfriend’s sweaty palm and taking a firm step ahead, his body shielded Wendy from the upcoming storm. Rationally thinking, he knew that he wasn’t strong enough to protect the girl if all hell had broken loose but it didn’t meant that he couldn’t have tried. He was ready to take a few punches if needed thus he absolutely refused to let the girl go even though he was aware of her independent strength. Aish. How much he hated the heated tension between Taehyung and everyone with actual thoughts.

‘Considering this one’s low IQ level and serious lack of essential social skills such as humour, he might bored him to death,’ Taehyung mused out, poking at the said boy who rocked himself back and forth on the ground, murmuring incoherent words under his nose. He seemed so out of it as if he had been in a completely different place and those who were familiar with the common patterns of human behaviour knew that something terrible must have happened. Otherwise Hoseok would have stood up and have screamed at Taehyung’s face for being so annoyingly cocky.

‘He died but it wasn’t my fault. I swear, it wasn’t me,’ he cried out when the silence became too suffocating and vivid memories of Jimin’s roasted body came back to haunt the one and only witness of the accident. Looking at his own shoes, Hoseok couldn’t stop his warm tears from running down his crimson cheeks.

‘See?’ Taehyung asked, mocking, when to his biggest surprise, the Sociology major’s words were followed by nothing but barely audible whispers and a few frustrated sighs. Walking beside Hoseok, he sat on his heels, wondering whether the others had truly believed his story. Had they really thought that this shaking idiot was innocent regardless of his claim about Jimin being dead? Were they really stupid and naive enough to let him stay? It was utterly ridiculous.

The Marketing major was about to voice out his opinion when Yoongi elbowed his way through the mass.

‘Okay, everybody, calm down!’ he said and his steps made a halt a few inches from Taehyung who looked up at him with a frown. To his mishap, the IT guy seemed unbothered by his behaviour. He kept his eyes strictly on Hoseok. ‘What happened?’

The addressed boy snuffed and wiped his tears off his cheeks.

‘In one minute, we walked towards the bridge, more than ready to leave this hell behind for good. In the other, he walked across a transparent field and died. His whole body was shaking due to the electricity and that smell. He smelled like roasted beef,’ he told the older weakly with slightly shaking hands, gaze fixed on the concrete because he couldn’t look neither of his teammates in the eye. Thinking of the chaebol felt painful even though they hadn’t been friends just unlucky acquaintances and the fact that he had to enlighten them didn’t make his life easier. He had long regretted not rejecting this opportunity when his girlfriend hadn’t been accepted by the company. He should have stayed with her and then now he would have melted in her gentle arms instead of him wrapping his own around his figure. 

‘Splendid! Who the hell thought that it’s a good idea to set up an electric fencing system in the middle of the city? Are they completely nuts?’ Taehyung snorted as he stood up and turned around. He was pretty disappointed when he scanned everyone yet failed to find someone who could have shared his anger.

‘At least their security system is well-designed and lethal. Choego is promised to be the safest place on Earth for a reason,’ the boy with the dark brown locks said, earning another snort with his irritating comment. Jungkook hid behind Wendy and scratched his nape out of uneasiness when his gaze met Taehyung’s. Obviously, he hadn’t meant that building deadly electrical systems was right but blaming the scientist for everything might have been a bit too much. If someone had attacked the city, these fences would have been useful. They hadn’t been set up to mean harm, not for them at least.

‘Safest place, my butt! I need to take a breather,’ the Marketing major said and turned on his heels walking towards the fountain in the middle of the park with markedly furious steps. He didn’t give a damn when Yoongi raised his voice, giving him a brief time limit for everybody’s sake. He didn’t want to take unnecessary risks just because of some cocky idiot who couldn’t keep his emotions - especially his anger - in control. At this point, he would have turned his back on him and kept searching for a possible way out without guilt.

‘Sure but be quick. According to the pattern, they shut down a zone in every hour which means we have to reach the main computer as soon as possible since we don’t know the order. This zone might be the next.’

Regardless of the distance between them Taehyung couldn’t let the opportunity go and looked back at the bunch of losers from above his shoulder with a smug smile on his lips.

‘Or the one we plan to run into, completely blind,’ he said eager to see their reaction, a pinch of anxiety that could have eased his heart. His gaze shifted from Yoongi to Hoseok then to Yerim who had a hard time finding her balance without his overprotecting brother, shoulder leaning against Wendy desperately. Taehyung smirked. Hell, this was the response he had been waiting for ever since the Sociology major’s sudden appearance. Something alive, something human under the seemingly balanced surface.

‘Could you shut up for once?’ the redhead girl asked with anger although the boy didn’t bother with an answer. He shrugged and walked away.

Wendy pulled the youngest closer and fondled her left arm to soothe her nerves at least a little after the enormous amount of shock that she had received during the last few hours. Truth to tell, the med student wasn’t sure that Yerim would be able to process the pain in the near future or ever. If Namjoon had been the one who stuck in the lab and she’d had to watch him bleed out, she wouldn’t have been able to move on not to mention dealing with the hardships, Taehyung constantly maintained with his pessimistic attitude. 

‘Although, he’s not wrong,’ Yoongi had to admit, his statement pushing Hoseok to his limits. The Sociology major’s gaze became blurry while his skin shifted to an unhealthy shade of light green.

‘I think, I’ll throw up,’ he said and not long after he indeed puked a few inches from the IT guy’s boots. After a while, when he vomited enough for his stomach to be empty, all he was doing is retching and spitting up bile.

‘Don’t worry. We’re safe for now,’ Seulgi said quietly earning a confused glance from Yoongi when Wendy pushed him farther and vehemently sat on her heels by the trembling boy’s side with a bottle of lukewarm water in her hands.

Joohyun leaned against a pole, muscles tense and mind in pain from overthinking, while her gaze shifted to Jungkook who sat next to the sobbing Yerim quietly. As far as she could remember, this was the first time the boy acted considerate in the young girl’s presence ever since they had crossed the border of Choego, offering her a tissue and a bottle of water that she accepted with a forced smile and a quiet thank you. They looked lovely but watching them felt surreal and out of place all of a sudden considering the loss their team had suffered. Slowly but surely she had to accept that it wasn’t a silly game anymore. It was very much real, the death, even if some of them still believed in fairytales. 

‘Don’t you think that his story is too good to be true?’ an amused voice asked her a bit mockingly and her shoulders jumped at the suggesting question. There was no need for her to turn towards its owner, by now she would have recognised Taehyung’s raspy tone out of a dozen of other voices since he talked too much and never once held back his opinion. 

The girl raised a brow.

‘What’s so good about it? That Jimin is dead?’ she asked back as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, trying to keep her nonexistent cool as she refused to look at the disturber. Yet, it didn’t restrain the boy from taking a step forwards, his chest fitting close to the girl’s back. Taehyung leaned near Joohyun’s ear and whispered into it while he looked at the same direction, letting his warm breath to fondle the girl’s smooth skin on purpose. He wanted to make her feel uncomfortable because people in general were weaker and easier to manipulate when they were pushed out of their comfort zone.

‘That he’s out of the game,’ he stated with a content smile and stepped next to the girl, remaining within a close proximity. He chose his words carefully just in case someone had been watching them from the shadows although he doubted, anyone would have had enough time to kill with such an act. The smartass IT guy was busy with taking Seokjin’s place, Hoseok was still throwing up with Wendy by his side and her monkey at her heels while the little girl cried her eyes out like a pathetic child and Golden Boy gave in for his guilt, comforting her after pushing her brother into a grim reaper’s welcoming arms. Oh, and Miss Invisible stuck with being a ghost.

‘What do you want to say with this? That Hoseok killed him on purpose just to get one of those freaking contracts?’ Joohyun asked facing the boy with the devilish smile. He looked handsome in some ways she had to give it to him but his attitude was the one that pecked the girl’s interest. He acted like an annoying douchebag, a cruel one without an actual human soul from chlicé, young adult bestsellers who didn’t care about anyone except for himself and of course the mysteriously innocent love of his life. Yet, he had taken the energy to talk to her dropping the smug attitude and the offensive act. If she hadn’t taken the topic they had been discussing into consideration, he would have sounded friendly as if he had had enough of being the only person in their group without an ally. As an excellent psychology major, she could understand his reasons. People couldn’t be without company for long. It was against their nature. Everyone needed someone, something to talk to.

‘Why not? Do you really believe his story about that accident? The Rich Guy wouldn’t have been so stupid to walk into a dead zone carelessly,’ he stated with confidence and for a sheer moment, he sounded persuasive enough for the girl to keep her mouth shut. She raised a brow and shifted her gaze to Hoseok in the distance still shaking from the huge amount of bile he had splitted on the concrete. He looked harmless like a big crybaby who was too weak to even survive on his own. The assumption that he had killed someone was ridiculous. But weren’t the most innocent looking people the most dangerous ones? They had the ability to hurt others because in their company no one expected to get hurt.

Joohyun shook her head. No, it was still nonsense. She couldn’t let Taehyung to conquer her thoughts. 

‘We’re not murderers. You’re insane,’ she said firmly, a part of her ready to turn her back on the boy yet his firm grab stopped her from doing anything hasty. She looked at him, eyes boring deep into his, and clenched her lips, the rosy flesh slowly fading into a single, white line.

‘Don’t talk to me so mighty. I saw you smiling with pure satisfaction after you got that lamp out of the door’s way. You walked away with Sooyoung’s bracelet in your hand,’ Taehyung claimed before he let go of the girl’s wrist and took a step closer. He stood in front of Joohyun within such a small proximity, the girl’s heart skipped a beat when his breath fondled her cheek. The boy tilted his head towards the youngsters and smirked like a wild animal, a predator eyeing his prey. ‘You also let everyone put the blame on Golden Boy when in reality, it was you who killed that annoying girl.’

Joohyun’s legs trembled and became wobbly when she tried to stretch the distance between herself and the boy and also between herself and the crime, she had indeed committed. But back then she hadn’t known that her selfish actions would have caused the mentioned girl’s death. She hadn’t have the slightest clue. She wouldn’t have done it if she had known. She wasn’t a murderer, was she? 

With panic in her eyes and fear clinging onto her voice, her shoulder crashed into the pole, chest bouncing like crazy. She hadn’t put the blame on Jungkook intentionally, it had just happened. Why would have she corrected the others when the boy himself thought that it had been all his fault? Why would have given a reason for the others to despise her? Why? It made no sense, all she had done was thinking rationally. It didn’t matter who had left the rich girl behind, she had been already dead. Honesty wouldn’t have brought her back.

‘What do you want?’ she asked, weak, on the verge of a panic attack. Taehyung took a step backwards to let her breathe. Such a nuisance. 

‘The same as you. One of those freaking contracts as you said,’ he informed the girl with his gaze on her fragile figure. Well, he obviously hadn’t assumed that his words would push her towards the edge. Yet, he kept going. ‘And darling, there is no such thing as too high price for it.’

With that, he walked away, not giving a damn about Joohyun who had to hold onto the pole and go on her knees to set herself free from the burdens of suffocation. She counted to ten, to thirty, to one hundred. She counted until her breathing became even and Yoongi’s well-calculated plans put an end to their compulsive break.

➼  VII. chapter

[forehead-enthusiast]

A Buncha Tag Games (and yet not all of them)

tagged by: @eggyukhei mwah

tagging: this is a LOT of games so i’ll only tag @atinyphobe @nsheetee and @veonjun for the SECOND (2nd) game. if they or anybody wants to do any of the other games, absolutely go for it and say i tagged you <3 i’d love to see what you guys say!! (also, tk if you felt like you wanted to answer my questions from the second game i’d be interested to see!)

One:

tell me the first song that made you stan your current fave group and why did your faves attract you so much?

ok SO the song that probably got me into rv 100% (also yes ik this blog is 99% nct but rv is my forever fave no question) was probably ice cream cake!! i had been a casual listener of many groups up until that point and had never really stanned anyone, but icc was so infectious i found myself watching it over and over. i had heard happiness and be natural before but hadn’t really listened too closely, so icc was the song that captured me. after that, dumb dumb only cemented my love for them more, and the red is still one of my favorite kpop albums to date. rv attracted me primarily because of their incredible vocals and their versatility in genres and concepts. i still get so excited wondering what they’ll tackle next!! they’re just soooo unique and have one of, if not the best discographies of any group. i cannot stress enough, I. Love. RV!! also they’re funny and gay so. anyway stream monster once it drops uwu

Two:

rule: answer the ten questions and write your own!

1. what is your favorite song that’s been released during quarantine? ooooo honestly??? probably something off of Sawayama. literally every song bangs so hard i highly recommend that album to anyone!! i can’t pick a favorite off it but who’s gonna save you now is awesome and xs is just,,, chef’s kiss

2. what is your greatest mishap when you tried cooking? (or something you’ve witnessed) one time, while making soup at my late grandmother’s house on her like gas stove, i put a lid on a pot and somehow that led the pot to be engulfed in flames. IN MY DEFENSE i was like 7, and i’m great at cooking/baking now

3. what’s your go-to outfit or article of clothing? oh i love a nice dress. they can be casual or formal, and you look like you put effort into your outfit except i didn’t because i didn’t have to match anything yo!!!! also shorts have trouble fitting me cause i’m a weird body type so dresses tend to be very comfy for me

4. what is your comfort food? am i allowed to say like all food??? eating in itself is comforting,,, that sounds depressing but also i just like eating yummy food. i guess i’d say like my dad’s fried rice?? its my fave and no one makes it like him soooo

5. what singular moment in your life would you like to relive? i couldn’t tell if this meant like, a good moment you want to re-experience or go back in time and redo a moment and fix it. it’s kind of a hard question so i might cop out and go with a bit of a silly answer: i want to relive the hi touch with astro...... i wanna look at rocky’s beautiful eyes and touch moonbin’s hand ok,,,,

6. what is your favorite line and/or character from a movie, show, or book? i got a bunch but a few off the top of my head are genie lo (the epic crush of genie lo), ty lee, suki (atla), klaus, and ben (umbrella academy) 

7. if you could only choose one ice cream flavor and pizza topping/style for the rest of your life, what would it be? ice cream flavor: this very specific one from a local store that is banana ice cream with strawberries and oreo mixed in. it is heaaaavenly. as for pizza topping, i love a breakfast type pizza with an egg on top and like sausage and stuff!!!

8. what is the worst injury you’ve ever had or witnessed? funny enough, i’ve actually gotten badly injured quite a few times, and always on the face!! god hates me. the worst was probably when i hit a metal bench with my face and it took a chunk out of my cheek. i still have the scar! as for “witnessed” i accidentally broke a grown man’s rib once as a child, so i guess that would count.

9. would you rather explore the unknown of space or the bottom of the ocean? oceaaaan!! i answered this in some other game, but i like how mysterious and yet close the ocean is. like proximity wise it’s so near, yet there’s an insane amount we know nothing about. that’s so frightening but so intriguing

10. if you could be any cartoon character, who would you be? my first thought was literally “kirby. eat fast” GOD my followers are gonna think i’m just a glutton and they’re not even gonna be wrong im dying. but uhh idk mulan or smth?

my questions:

what is your go-to feel good movie?

are you the type of person who’s indecisive about buying, or the type to impulse buy once you see something you like?

do you prefer chocolate-y or fruity candy?

what idol do you think is most similar to you? (not your bias necessarily)

do you have any silly dealbreakers? if so, what are they?

what do you do to unwind?

what is a small thing you like to do for people you love? (be it sending memes, remembering their favorite shows, etc)

what’s/who’s your favorite myth/mythological being?

what is a non-typical pet you would want to have?

do you say pronounce data as day-ta or dah-ta?

THREE

rule: bold the statements that apply to you, italicize your aspirations, then tag nine people. 

AIR ༉⋆͙̈

i have small hands / i love the night sky / i watch animals and birds when i pass them by / i drink herbal tea / i wake to see the dawn / the smell of dust is comforting / i’m valued for being wise / i prefer books to music / i meditate / i find joy in learning new truths from the world around me

FIRE ༉⋆͙̈

i don’t have straight hair / i like to wear ripped jeans and overalls / i play an organized sport / i love dogs / i am not afraid of adventure / i love to talk to strangers / i always try new foods / i enjoy road trips / summer is my favorite season / my radio is always playing

WATER ༉⋆͙̈

i wear bracelets on my wrists / i love the bustle of the city / i have more than one set of piercings / i read poetry / i love the sound of a thunderstorm / i want to travel the world / i sleep past midday most days / i love simply lit dinners and fluorescent signs / i rewatch kids shows out of nostalgia / i see emotions in colors not words

EARTH ༉⋆͙̈

i wear glasses or contacts / i enjoy doing the laundry / i am a vegetarian or vegan / i have an excellent sense of time / my humor is very cheerful / i am a valued advisor to my friends / i believe in true love / i love this chill of mountain air / i’m always listening to music / i am highly trusted by the people in my life

AETHER ༉⋆͙̈

i go without makeup in my daily life / i make my own artwork / i keep on track of my tasks and time / i always know true north / i see beauty in everything / i can always smell flowers / i smile at everyone i pass by / i always fear history repeating itself / i have recovered from a mental disorder / i can love unconditionally

FOUR

the ultimate tag: answer whichever ones you want to because there are a lot and then tag a few blogs you’d like to get to know better! 

PERSONAL

name: sarah

nickname: bells

birthday: april 17th

zodiac: aries

nationality: chinese american

languages: english, some spanish, some korean

gender: female

sexuality: baby bi bi bi~

height: 5′10

BLOG STUFF

inspiration for muse: i suppose nct since i write for them the most?? but i feel like sometimes i come up with the idea before i think of a member so sometimes the muse is just my own fantasies oops

meaning behind my url: i made it at a time where loads of idols were getting bangs and honestly i believe most of them look infinitely better without them, thus i was and still am enthusiastic about foreheads.

blog established: like winter of 2018...?? i think

followers: over 2.5k but most deactivated/left during my hiatus lol

FAVORITES

favourite animals: sharks, chickens, snakes, cats, penguins

favourite books: the epic crush of genie lo and then iron will of genie lo, PERIOD

favourite colour: pink and purple!!

favourite fictional characters: lol, again, genie lo, ty lee, suki, klaus, ben, and just a few more: richard and evelyn o’connell (the mummy), dave (dave), michael (the good place)

favourite flower: sunflower

favourite scent: baking chocolate, heating butter, blackberry, wisteria

favourite season: probably spring! i like warmth but not HEAT

RANDOM

average hours of sleep: ugh idek i sleep horribly

cats or dogs: both, but unfortunately i’ve never had either

coffee, tea or hot chocolate: tea but then hot chocolate

current time: 5:29pm

dream trip: go to paris and eat loads of pastries and enjoy the fashions and beauty of the city, and also learn to bake better maybe?

dream job: actress

hobbies: making jewelry, drawing, singing, reading comics

hogwarts house: according to the quizzes, all of them. people who have just met me think slytherin or gryffindor, people who i’m friends with think ravenclaw or hufflepuff, people who know me really well know you can’t box a person into oversimplified archetypes :’) in my assessment of myself, it varies by the day, but i think perhaps gryffindor today?

last movie watched: hot fuzz (a classic)

last song listened to: summer breeze by sf9

no. of blankets you sleep with: like 2

random fact(s): i won lego building competitions as a child, one of my dream roles is anastasia from the musical named after her, i played violin for a very short time, i bake the cakes for all my family and friends’ birthdays, i have strangely strong grip strength

SIX

10 songs i can’t stop listening to:

love me 4 me- rina sawayama

cherry- rina sawayama

in & out- red velvet

crush culture- conan gray

manic- conan gray

the king- conan gray

summer- pentagon

told you now- jeremy jordan (originally sung by sam smith)

fuck this world (interlude)- rina sawayama

someone who loves me- sara bareilles

[woolishlygrim]

Winter Weebwatch #3

I feel a little bad for giving out so many two and three star scores, so I should probably clarify that three stars is meant to be ‘generally pretty good’ and two stars is meant to be ‘watchable but very flawed.’ We’re not working on IGN metrics here.

Also, this week is the week I finally drop a show! What could it be, what could it -- it’s Plunderer. Of course it’s Plunderer. I couldn’t get all the way through this week’s episode and life’s too short to bother watching any more of it.

Also also, while In/Spectre hasn’t been dropped, it gets subbed so late that I’m skipping it this week and rolling this week’s episode over to next week’s post.

ID: Invaded.

★★★★☆

God, why was this show relegated to the Death Season, Where Anime Goes To Die? For three weeks running now, ID: Invaded has stood head and shoulders over all of its competitors, and while there’s always the possibility it could collapse in under its own weight, it so far seems to be going pretty strong.

So episode four (again, see remarks about how one and two aired in the same week) sees Sakaido and the team in a race against the clock to catch the Gravedigger, a serial killer who traps people into enclosed spaces with just a few oxygen canisters and livestreams their struggles, showing the world their final moments and even continuing the livestreams to show their bodies decaying. The Gravedigger has kidnapped a new victim, and for the first time left enough cognition particles behind for Sakaido to dive into his mental world.

Whereas previous episodes have focused heavily on the mystery angle, this episode largely focuses on the stress the case puts on Sakaido and the team. The Gravedigger’s world is a uniquely dangerous mess of fire, explosions, and shifting architecture, and Sakaido dies again and again as he struggles to find any evidence of the Gravedigger’s identity.

Much like the last episode, this would sit at a solid three stars, being a fairly engaging and somewhat harrowing story of Sakaido and the team putting themselves under immense stress to save a victim. What boosts it up to four stars is the moment where the writers pull the rug out from under the characters and the audience: The Gravedigger they’re hunting is only a copycat of the real Gravedigger, and his victim has been dead for days, the ‘livestream’ actually a recording.

The episode also hints at a bigger role for the Perforator in future, as the team attempts to use him as a back-up detective, Akaido, only to find out he’s ill-suited for the role.

Pet.

★★★☆☆

Pet was so close to a four star rating this week. So close. 

So, this week’s episode continues an unclear amount of time after the last week’s episode, with Hiroki and Tsubasa having bought a fish store (as in a pet store that sells live fish and naught else, not a fishmonger’s), which Hiroki believes means they can stop doing work for the shady Committee -- only for Tsubasa to inform him that the Committee paid for the store in the first place, but not to worry, he’ll do all their jobs, and Hiroki doesn’t have to do any of them.

So this episode is … moderately upsetting, actually. Intentionally so.

The bulk of the storyline, in which Tsubasa alters a bodyguard’s memory so that he’s compelled to murder one of his boss’ friends, isn’t what’s upsetting about it, although it does deal with some sensitive subjects, namely domestic abuse and the objectification of vulnerable people. No, what’s upsetting is that, like with last week’s story about Hiroki and Tsubasa altering the memories of a couple, this one also harks back to Hiroki and Tsubasa’s relationship -- specifically, that Tsubasa is emotionally abusing Hiroki.

We get hints of this early on, when Tsubasa is deliberately vague about whether he’ll psychically synchronise with Satoru, another character who, at least in Hiroki’s mind (although evidently not in Satoru’s), is something of a romantic rival. As the episode wears on, Tsubasa goes about his work, while Hiroki, left alone at the fish store, begins showing his immaturity by acting out with his powers before eventually becoming sullen and unresponsive. All of that wouldn’t be enough to indict Tsubasa as being abusive, except in the final scene, as Katsuragi snidely remarks that their new store will never be successful and Hiroki will have to return to a life of crime, Tsubasa mildly returns that he knows it won’t be successful, and he knows it will hurt Hiroki, but that’s just part of ‘taking care of a pet.’

Aaaand we get our title, with all of the unpleasant implications of how Tsubasa views the much more immature and emotionally vulnerable Hiroki.

This episode would have scraped a four star score, but the early parts of the story are a bit too fast paced and a bit incoherent. That really was the only thing holding this absolute gutpunch of an episode back.

Bonus points to the episode that the thing that prompts Hiroki to act out with his powers is seeing a woman’s domineering and callous boyfriend, implying that he is at least somewhat aware of what Tsubasa is like.

Honestly, when this show started I was not expecting a meditation on the subject of abusive relationships, but here we are, and I’m down for it.

Darwin’s Game.

★☆☆☆☆

Oh my god, I just watched it. I just watched it, guys, and I don’t remember even the tiniest bit of it. Am I crazy? Is this what crazy feels like? It’s like I’m blotting the show out of my memory.

I remember something to do with plants and that’s … that’s actually the only thing I remember about this episode.

I don’t even think Darwin’s Game is bad (although let’s be honest, how would I know), it’s just not really anything. It has somehow hit that sweet spot between good and bad where it just fails to make any kind of impact at all, and my brain just interprets it as background noise and proceeds to flush all data pertaining to it.

I might drop it just because this has got to be getting boring for anyone reading these reviews by now. Watching this show is like a sneak peek of suffering from dementia. 

And yet, I still know for a fact it’s better than Plunderer, so it gets one star.

Plunderer.

☆☆☆☆☆ (DROPPED)

Aaand I’m out.

Look, after the shitshow that was the first episode, I should have dropped it straight away. I gave it a chance, and the second episode convinced me that, hey, maybe this wouldn’t be so terrible, maybe the first episode was just an outlier.

The first episode was not an outlier. Episode three isn’t entirely sexual assault and sexual harassment, but about twelve minutes in it does segue into an extended sequence of exactly those things, getting worse with each passing minute. I got up to fourteen minutes, the point at which a supporting character was cheering on the protagonist to sexually assault someone, before I just couldn’t stomach watching anymore.

This show could be the most interesting, engaging, thought-provoking thing on television, and the constant sexual assault would still make me drop it. Luckily, even if you take out all the sex crimes, all you’d get is a show that was basically okay at best.

So zero stars for Plunderer, and I’m dropping the show. To be perfectly honest, I should have dropped it after episode one. 

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen.

★★★☆☆

Onto more pleasant news, man, I just don’t know what’s up with Sorcerous Stabber Orphen’s pacing. Having proceeded at a truly glacial pace for the first two episodes, this episode caps off the entire current story arc, bringing it to an abrupt close.

Now in the company of his old mentor Childman and a task force of sorcerers, Orphen tracks down the dragon-ified Azalie, attempting to reason with her, only for Childman to stab him and eviscerate Azalie. In the aftermath, however, Orphen realises that he’s been played: The dragon he thought was Azalie was actually Childman, and the person he’s been thinking of as Childman is actually Azalie.

So, that was a weird twist. It’s not, in fact, completely out of the left field. The episode sets up early on that Azalie was skilled not only in elemental Black Sorcery, but also in telepathic White Sorcery, and that she should have access to those spells even as a dragon, something which is cause for concern because nobody in the task force has White Sorcery, including Childman. Later on, the confrontation with Dragon-Azalie (Drazalie, if you will), has a character call attention to how she hasn’t used any White Sorcery since the battle started. So when it’s eventually revealed that Azalie did, in fact, use White Sorcery, secretly swapping her mind with Childman’s and letting him die in her place, it actually fits together in quite a neat fashion. 

The episode ends without any real hint as to where the story is going to go next: Azalie escapes in Childman’s body, and Orphen is still an exile from the Tower of Fangs, and there aren’t any other pressing story threads, so I guess we’ll see.

Infinite Dendrogram.

★★☆☆☆

This is the second week in a row that I’m giving Infinite Dendrogram two stars, and it actually physically pains me to do so, because I really like this series. I think apart from ID: Invaded, it’s my favourite anime this season, by quite a significant margin.

But nothing at all happens in this episode.

Okay, that’s only half true. The episode opens with the Player-Killers roaming around Altar having all been killed, which journalist (that’s literally her character class, which I kind of love as a concept) Marie Adler says was the work of just the four ranked players. One by one, she shows the main cast a video of each one taking out a clan of Player-Killers in their own unique way: Arena gladiator Figaro takes his targets out one by one, sadistically toying with them before striking the killing blow; cult priestess Tsukuyo uses magic to immobilise her targets, before letting her cult skewer them one by one; martial artist Lei Lei takes them out in a surprisingly friendly and sporting fashion; and the King of Destruction, whose identity is unknown and definitely not Ray’s big brother, definitely, absolutely, just levels the entire forest his targets are hiding in.

I … do see the necessity of introducing them. The Superiors are basically this show’s Gotei 13, or Gold Saints, or Hashira, or <Insert Group Of Loosely Allied Big Tough People That Are In Every Post-Saint Seiya Shounen Anime> here. There are, however, more interesting ways this could have been done than having the characters watching four videos of fights they already know the outcome to.

For example, what if, instead, you had an episode setting up the characters all getting trapped in different areas, pursued by higher level Player Killers, only for them each to be saved by a Superior. That would actually have some tension and dramatic stakes, and it’d be a much more dynamic way of introducing them. 

[pinkfluffy-kathichu]

I’m not sure if any of you are actually still interested in my ocs because I haven’t posted about them in a long time but I’ll talk about them anyways xD

A little bit of story first~ Edit: I added a “Keep Reading” since this post is actually little bit longer than I thought; I also tried to fix the formating

Valmè stood on the balcony, looking down into the garden. The posh teaparty had turned into a wild cake fight. But she had expected nothing else. Those two were the children of Serafine afterall. "I admire you for how well you can handle them.", she answered Seto, who entered the balcony. Valmè continued: "I never understood Serafine's decision to let you take care of Katherine because you were still a child yourself, but to see how well she developed in your care, I am glad she chose you. The same goes for Mio. Mio's fate was tragic and yet by all means she raised Sora the best she could." Seto leaned his back against the railing and sighed "It wasn't that easy. Because she didn't have parents I had to compensate for that and had to make a lot of sacrifices. For both her and my little brother. I could imagine a better life for an 11-year-old." "You still conquered all obstacles in the best way possible.", said Valmè in a gentle tone. Seto continued: "I was amazed when I first met Sora and saw how similar their personalities were, even though they didn't know each other." "Well, that is twins for you, as they say. I have been in this world for a very long time and I have seen this phenomenon countless times. Even if no one wants to hear it, Seto, but even Taro is probably more like you than you thi-" "Oh, stop that. You're right. Literally no one wants to hear that." Seto was visibly angry at Valmè's statement. Valmè sighed "It is truly unfortunate." The two stood there, silently, watching the cake fight taking place below. You could no longer identify anyone because of all the cake. Even the servants, who first tried to calm down the situation in panic, partied along with joy.

Later that evening...

Sora laid on the fluffy rug in the middle of the room, yawning loudly, stretching his arms and legs. "I think I might have some cake left in my ears. You guys really missed something, big bro! I bet you and Yusei didn't have as much fun at your dreary lessons as we had today!" he teased at Ryuga, who sat on the windowsill, writing something on his laptop. "Choose your next words wisely, otherwise I'll wring your neck.", replied Ryuga uninterested. Yusei answered from inside the bathroom, though amused and with a slight sarcastic tone: "Sora you'll never believe the awesome stuff Pollox has taught us today! An ultra cool secret technique that I'm not supposed to tell you about!" At the words 'secret technique' Sora jumped up and leaped towards the bathroom door.

Before he could ask, what this supposed 'secret technique' was about, Kitty came into the room with Oskari in tow. Oskari seemed very excited. Kitty quickly went to her red backpack, took out the small digital camera she had received from Tsubasa as a premature birthday gift, and gave it to Oskari. "This is a digital camera.", she said. Oskari held it in his hands like a sacred artifact that could break at the slightest movement. "And with that, you can create a completely realistic picture of the happening present?" Kitty nodded and Oskari seemed to be completely over the moon. "Humans are incredible beings! Inventing something so complex, completely devoid of magic, and so compact!" He let the camera dangle in front of his face with the holder cord. "It's not that complex.", murmured Ryuga, whereupon Oskari, who was completely shocked by Ryuga's statement, replied: "By all the respect that I have towards you, my Prince, but I have to disagree with you! For me, these marvels of human technology are of great interest! A process in which light is used to analyse and to then store said data. To be able to think of something like that is absolutely fascinating! The same goes for the portable computer you are using right now!" Ryuga growled annoyed and continued to focus on whatever he was doing on his laptop. "Oh, come on! Let him be passionate about something, you buzzkill.", said Yusei, who had come out of the bathroom and got a t-shirt from the dresser.

Oskari continued to inspect the small camera with wide eyes. A bright and big smile spread over Kitty's face. She was so happy to finally make someone else happy again. It was an extremely good feeling. "Do you want to take a picture?" she asked Oskari. His jaw dropped. "Really?" "Yeah, sure!" He did not quite know how to handle this question, but a few seconds later he asked, very nervously, "May I take a picture of you, my Princess? It would be of great honor for me!" "And I would be honored if I were on your first self-made digital camera photo, Oskari. Also, I told you before, you don't have to address me with Princess. I don't like the formal stuff." She winked at him. "Exactly! Kitty! So, photo ... how?" He was staring frantically at the camera from all sides. "Wait, I'll help you." Yusei stepped behind Oskari and turned the camera to the right position. Kitty took on a cute, relaxed pose, ready for the photo. "Hey, I want to be in it too!" Sora shouted, quickly positioning himself behind his sister. And Oskari pressed the button.

All the time they had left to spend in Neverland should fly by as slow as possible.

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

Some context~

Who are the characters?

(I will skip the introduction for Sora, Ryuga, Yusei and Seto, since they are canon characters to MFB and Yugioh; Kitty was also introduced before)

Valmè Nur'Atal:

Eldest of Neverland. High priestess. (Sorcerer). Her actual age is unknown (according to rumors she's around 500 years old); Can contact the spirit world and could in some cases bring back people from the dead with her healing abilities.

Serafine Neverland:

Former Queen of Neverland and mother of Kitty, Sora, Ryuga and Yusei. Vanished in the battle against Ergethar Diothee. (did she die? who knows? Her soul was never brought to heaven nor hell....); Posessed the power of Elemental Energy (Category: Fire; Type: Yellow Lightning)

Mio Akatsuki:

Serafine's maid and best friend since childhood. Mio took care of Sora after the battle against Ergethar. Unfortunately, she died of a heavy illness when Sora was 9-years-old; Elf of the summerside of Neverland. Doesn't have any outstanding magical powers but is very passionate about plants (or was...)

Taro Diothee:

Twin brother of Seto who followed after their father Ergethar's dream to create a, in their eyes, perfect world. Taro is the #1 evil dude in this story.

Pollox Ludeia:

Teacher for "Power Control" (Not exclusive to the royals). Former teacher of Serafine and her siblings. Has been Kitty's teacher since she was 6 years old. Has weird punishments if you don't succeed a task. Overall very strict dude who has no favourite students. (But is more chill outside of lessons)

Oskari Nur'Atal:

best boi. he's so sweet and I love him to death. same age as Kitty and Sora. The Nur'Atal family is a family of sorcerers. He anticipates to be a healer and potion maker. In his free time he likes to do research in 'human history and technology' and human stuff in general, since it is something that is rarely talked about and/or used in Neverland. Oskari is trained to be one of the four upper guardians of the royal family of Neverland. (He's also very important for Kyoya's character development in this story)

"So what exactly is the situation in the text above?"

The four siblings and Seto live on earth. Kitty learned how to use her powers from a young age from Pollox (and a little bit from Seto), Sora only a few years of his childhood from Mio, Ryuga was not interested in the powers (since Doji talked about it as it being not important; he also had other plans with Ryuga) and Yusei never knew about anything. Since the four of them are the Guardians of Destiny they should definetely know what every bit of their power can do. So they went to Neverland to train. And there happened to be an opportunity where all four of them could go there. (Ryuga and Yusei have to take extra lessons since they are totally inexperienced). The teaparty was supposed to be a little formal get-together for the 'kids' but it ended with Kitty dumping someones head in the chocolate fountain and Sora screaming "CAKE BATTLE!". (this 'someone' is also a very important person who I'll tell you about another time ) This takes place shortly before Kitty's and Sora's 18th birthday.

"What is Ryuga doing on his laptop?"

At the time all this stuff is happening, both Ryuga and Kitty have some trouble going on in their love life. What might that be? You'll find out soon enough

If you made it this far then THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING ❤❤❤❤❤

And I hope you liked it at least a little bit ^^’ (my writing skills aren’t very great)

(I also posted this on deviantart, so you can go check it out if you want to)

bye~☆

[etching-bones-moved]

Episode four: IV

Carthy supposed she deserved the horrified look Steve gave her, when she walked into their agreed café the following afternoon.

She was tired, having been woken up at the tender hour of 10. She was hungover, and it showed. Her face was peppered with little bruises and scrapes she’d been oblivious to receiving, and her throat, even under layers of concealer, was noticeably bruised. She looked an utter wreck, and after researching all morning with no particular success, she didn’t feel much better.

“Shit.” said Steve, eyes wide, too startled to say any more. Restless, he flexed his fingers, obviously wavering over whether he wanted to intervene or not. Carthy saw both worry and trepidation ripple across his features.

“Hi, Steve.” Carthy greeted, setting her coffee down on the table between them. Too loudly, apparently, with too much of a click. Steve and his pretty, pretty eyes inched backwards.

“How’s the book going?”

“Forget the book.” Steve said, surprisingly mild for a statement so authoritative, “What happened?”

Carthy looked at him. Steve looked back, frowning. Patient. By no means backing down.

Should have been a therapist, Steve, Carthy thought to herself, noticing the pen stuck behind Steve’s ear and the ink smudged across his cheekbone. You’re too invested in other people’s wellbeing to be an artist alone.

“Do you have my money?” she asked instead of answering his question, after a long, weighty pause. Her voice, mercifully, still worked, even if it had taken a packet of throat sweets to coax it back to life. Judging by Steve’s twist of the mouth, Carthy supposed that he didn’t appreciate that specific factoid nearly as much as she did.

“Carthy.” he said, his bottom lip falling prey to his teeth as his forehead furrowed further. He’d dressed in a striped sweater and shirt again, slightly crooked and the same soft lavender as Viridity’s hair.

“Steve.” Carthy replied, drinking from her cup. The coffee was hot, dark, strong. It did nothing for the ache behind her eyes.

“What happened?”

Carthy exhaled through her nose.

“I ran into trouble. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

Maybe lies, maybe truth. What Carthy had learnt this morning was that Marcas Lu was a fake name, nowhere to be found in any police or health service data base, anywhere. But did that make the man a professional killer? Or just a guy who’d faked a driving licence, a semi-smart criminal who’d seen the opportunity of Carthy’s apartment and taken it?

“What kind of trouble?” Steve asked, tucking a stray curl behind his ear. His hair was the colour of caramel.

“The violent kind.” Carthy disclosed with a pointed smile, “Really, don’t worry about it.”

“That’s what my sister said.” Steve countered, so stubborn that Carthy let out a sharp bark of laughter. Oh, this boy, this personification of consideration. What was she to do with him?

“I’m not your sister.” she told him, drinking again, “But thanks for your concern.”

Steve was far from convinced.

“It’s not like I can go to the police, Carthy.”

Carthy quirked an eyebrow.

“If you’re not going to the police, what’s the point of you knowing? Just relax, Steve, this isn’t the first time I’ve been roughed up.”

It was the first time she’d been roughed up in this city, though, and the first time she’d been caught unawares in 3 long years. Carthy kept this information to herself, taking Steve’s uneasy quiet as cue enough to pull out his manuscript and set it on the table between them.

“Your setting is gorgeous, but you don’t need to emphasise it so much. Here, for example,” Carthy flipped to an ear-marked page and pointed to a highlighted paragraph, “The first two lines are brilliant, the rest is needless. If you make these bits of prose too woolly, they’re going to get skim read. The good bits will be missed.”

“Carthy.”

“I can understand the main character’s motivations, but his love interest is only a cardboard cut-out at the moment. She’s all over the place. One moment she’s the shyest person in the room, the next she’s talking out of her ass to anyone who will listen. There needs to be either a smoother transition, or some kind of turning point.”

Carthy thought on this a moment more, steadily ignoring Steve’s expectant gaze.

“Or alcohol.” she supplied, “Alcohol works.”

Steve looked insurmountably sad, just for a second or two. Carthy saw his hands twitch towards the sheaf of paper between them, as if he wanted to put it away, tuck the distraction into his satchel bag. As if he wanted to demand answers from her.

Don’t push me, Steve, Carthy thought, then tried to convey with the flatness of her stare, the boredom of her manner. Don’t even try.

He didn’t. Stupidly invested as he apparently was, he read her body language and backed off. Smart boy.

“I’m having problems with working out Renae’s breaking points…” he said instead, and together the pair of them stumbled into awkward conversation. They leant over his manuscript and the scrawled notes Carthy had peppered it with, exchanging ideas back and forth and successfully ignoring how every sip of coffee made Carthy grimace.

He noticed it, though, just as she noticed how Steve cringed at every point of criticism. Carthy had to marvel at how he lived such a sheltered life, and had still managed to hire her. Here was a man who had blood on his hands, and who feared nothing more than being told his sentence structures bordered on non-sensical. Here was a man who had ordered a death with unusual conviction, but couldn’t cull a plotline no matter how pointless it was.

He was ridiculous. Perhaps even more ridiculous than the alcoholic contract killer he’d hired, or the art student who lived across the hall.

Viridity. That mild inconvenience.

Carthy knew she had little choice to stay in the city until she had more money or information- but what of her neighbour? How closely was Carthy being watched, if at all? Would Viridity be targeted if they were seen together? Would Steve be targeted? Were they already at risk?

Carthy couldn’t say.

She thought on it more as she travelled home, face numb from the snow and senses trained on every person who moved around her. She could buy some decent camping gear and trek further north, but work would be impossibly unreliable, her money would run out and Carthy would starve. She could move into her weapons cache, save money on rent and protect her neighbour with distance- but Viridity could already be a known soft spot, and three blocks away was still close enough for the girl to make worthwhile bait. At least if Carthy were closer she’d notice if Viridity went missing.

And besides, if this was her father, he’d be expecting her to run. That was the game they always played, but could Carthy staying flip it on its head? Could her outward confidence- arrogance even- dissuade him from coming any closer? It had been three long years, after all, and even he could be scared off by unknown variables sometimes…

Wishful thinking, Carthy decided absently, attention directed behind her. Somebody had been matching her steps for the past 10 minutes, following her from local high-street to residential loops of road, never falling back or drawing nearer. From reflections and the corner of her eye, she saw his face was half-covered in a striped woollen scarf and his shoes were falling apart. His gait was unfamiliar, she didn’t recognise him.

Carthy entered her apartment building. When she climbed up to look through her favourite roadside window, he’d walked right on to stand in another doorway across the street. He got out a key, fumbled, went inside. Carthy released a breath, and wandered into her kitchen.

Carthy made coffee. Carthy drank the coffee. Carthy went back to researching Marcas Lu, all the while still meaning to stop watching the building across the road.

[elyvorg]

Appmon thoughts: Not actually the most "pro" of 'tagonists?

So I finally got around to rewatching Appmon, giving myself more of a chance to properly solidify how I feel about it, and I have quite a few lengthy Thoughts that I'm going to be making a series of posts about. As a warning right now, a couple of them, including this one, will be largely negative. But! Before I start being negative, I want to stress that I do really enjoy Appmon. It's only because I enjoy it so much for the most part that I cared enough to even have these thoughts and to go through the trouble of writing them down. Appmon is a solid series that is firmly my second-favourite Digimon series after Savers (and anyone who knows my blog will know that Savers is essentially my baby, so it was pretty unlikely that it would get dethroned). It has a lot of cool ideas (the app thing is remarkably well-done for how silly it sounds on paper) and an interesting plot and an absolutely loveable cast; if you're a Digimon fan who hasn't seen Appmon, you definitely should oh my god what are you doing go and fix that right now. The negative aspects I'm going to discuss are just some of the things that nagged at me about it, and I'm bringing them up because Appmon is pretty great already but man, it could have been even better!

(Spoilers for the whole series under the readmore.)

So the thing about Appmon is that, while the plot is pretty good, there are quite a lot of filler episodes. Or at least, a lot of either full-on-filler episodes or mostly-filler-except-this-one-important-thing-happened episodes. But the in-universe reason��for the large amount of filler, which I think is the more meaningful and pervasive problem with the series, is that the main characters (other than Rei, who is a very refreshing exception in this regard) almost never do anything to proactively further the plot. This is despite the fact that they frequently talk about how bad Leviathan is and how they have to defeat it, and they know approximately what they need to do in order to fight it; in the first three episodes they learn about partners for AppFusion and about the Seven Code Appmon. If the characters really cared about stopping Leviathan, they should be actually making some kind of effort to find these specific Appmon they need! Sure, Gatchmon can't directly search for those Appmon for some reason (because that'd obviously be too easy), but still, Haru is a smart kid who could totally have thought of other creative ways to use Gatchmon's search function to at least  narrow down their options and then work at it from there, or they could look for other sources of information. They do this precisely once, when they go to Tellermon to ask if she knows where the other Seven Codes are. The rest of the time they're content to sit around and deal with the virus-infected Appmon of the week despite knowing that this doesn't put any kind of dent in Leviathan itself. They only end up actually making plot progress when it either happens by seeming coincidence, or if one of the bad guys takes something from them and they go to get it back, usually defeating said bad guy in the process. They never get anything for themselves. For Haru in particular, this is rather jarring, since his entire character arc is about him deciding to try and be more like a protagonist. Good protagonists don't just sit around waiting for the story to happen to them, Haru!

The first half of the series ends on them entering the Deep Web to try and fight Leviathan but fleeing because it's too dangerous, and they vow to come back later when they're stronger. The second half begins by bringing in Yuujin as a new Appli Driver and showing off his swanky new Appli Drive DUO which can power up an Appmon more than their regular ones do. But at no point does this make any of the others think "oh, hey, if we had DUOs too we'd be stronger and maybe be able to handle the Deep Web again! We should try and figure out how to get them!" They only eventually go and get DUOs ten episodes later when their regular Appli Drives are straight up destroyed by the bad guys. The whole L Corp/Unryuuji Knight/Ultimate Four arc is purely the protagonists reacting to being attacked by antagonists - if the antagonists had decided to just not attack them, the protagonists would never have gained anything. Things do get a little more proactive later when they start looking for Bootmon - perhaps because Rei is properly part of the group at that point and he actually knows how to get stuff done. (I also love the self-awareness of the part when the Agumon filler episode starts happening in that arc and Rei's like, "Can we not, though?") But these two cases with Tellermon and Bootmon that I've mentioned are pretty much it.

The other point about this is that, given that they're almost never actually making any kind of effort to look for them, oh, boy, do the protagonists run into their fusion partners and the Seven Code Appmon incredibly easily. That's only one possible fusion partner for each character at each power level, and only seven Seven Code Appmon, out of the hundreds and hundreds of apps. These rare and important Appmon that they need almost always just happen to have been one of the virus-infected Appmon of the week. It's a hell of a series of coincidences - and, yes, this turns out to be deliberately caused by Leviathan. Even on my first viewing, I was bothered by the coincidences but had heard enough good things about Appmon that I considered the possibility that it could turn out to be somehow part of Leviathan's plan. So I appreciate this in principle, at least to a certain extent. But the thing is, Appmon is self-aware enough that it usually acknowledges things like this. When they rescue Hajime from L Corp surprisingly easily, the episode makes a point of having the characters remark about how easy that was and then showing us that it was indeed all part of Leviathan's plan. And when Rei determines that their fusion partners to reach God grade are conveniently the members of the Ultimate Four that they each defeated, he comments on the coincidence and wonders if it's a trap. So the fact that there's no kind of acknowledgement at all of the coincidences in the first half of the series makes me think it's likely that they really were just coincidences at the time, in that the writers hadn't decided yet that Leviathan was doing it on purpose.

The other thing that makes me think the writers hadn't decided on any meaning behind the coincidences at the beginning is that, honestly, installing the God grade Appmon into itself is the least important and most bewildering part of Leviathan's plan. Its main plan is to turn humans into apps and rule over them in the Dark Web in order to eradicate any kind of strife. Leviathan genuinely believes that this is beneficial for humanity, because, as an offshoot of Minerva, it is still an AI with the main goal of aiding humanity in whatever way it can; it's just willing to break humanity's rules in order to do so. As part of achieving this, it needed to Appliarise itself in order to be able to convert everybody into data. But then it also eats the God Appmon and starts installing them in order to... become stronger? Even though it has no need to do so for the sake of the human application plan, which it's already completed, and becoming the strongest being in the physical world that no longer has any humans in it seems monumentally unnecessary. Perhaps it's simply because it's also an AI that was programmed to find ways to become smarter, but it's clearly already the smartest AI in existence, smart enough to have achieved its other major goal. It seems rather not smart of Leviathan to do this just for the sake of a little extra power when this comes with the massive risk of having the God Appmon escape somehow before it can finish installing them and turn that power against it, which of course they do. If it hadn't been greedy for that unnecessary boost, the kids would have been running around with Standard grade Appmon for the whole series and Leviathan would have been unstoppable.

And sure, you can say that the writers had to make Leviathan be responsible for these coincidences and therefore cause its own downfall simply because obviously they needed the protagonists to actually be able to win in the end. But they could also have written a story with protagonists who actually put in the effort to find ways to get stronger and beat Leviathan on their own, instead of having those ways fall into their lap by what first seems to be coincidence and then turns out to be that Leviathan itself put them there. As it stands, it ends up, probably unintentionally, that Leviathan itself was the single biggest factor in its own defeat, and the significance of the kids' efforts was honestly minimal. It could be that that's deliberate, and the writers were going for a story in which Leviathan's own greed and hubris was its downfall, but if so I feel like the ending would probably have commented on that. Instead, what the characters actually comment on is that Leviathan decided to acknowledge the uniqueness and unpredictability of humans thanks to Haru's actions (though I'm not sure which action specifically it was talking about - jumping off the building?) and that's why it lost. And if that's supposed to be the overall message of the story, then having the characters be people who have consistently taken the initiative and tried to figure things out and find things for themselves, rather than blindly stumbling into success and being unknowingly manipulated at every turn, would really have been a better way to complement that. I love these characters, and I want to feel like they truly earned their victory! But as it is, they... really didn't earn it as much as they could have done, had the writers gone about things differently.

[transienturl]

Multiples of 8. Actually... to hell with it. Nonmultiples of 8.

Wow. You sure ask a lot of questions considering that you don’t even know who I am, person I don’t know and have never met before. Surely you don’t want a 3000 word post, right?

Oh, whoops. 

21. What are your bad habits?I’m going to edit this in later.

22. Where would you like to travel?I wish I was a polyglot so I could travel to more than ~15% of the world and meaningfully interact with it.

23. Do you have trust issues?Maybe? That sounds like the kind of question I’d like to ask a mental health professional. I feel, though, like the idea of having trust issues would have to be a common thread through how one interacts with a lot of people. Since I don’t interact with a lot of people, I think trying to make a general statement about how I would if I did is mostly guesswork.

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with?The area that hurts when I have a cluster headache :| Besides things that fall into the medical issue category… meh, all of it is fine. If I could have a few transformations, which I would very much like, then I’d probably keep all of the bits I currently have for at least one form each. It’d be very mix-and-match. Except facial hair maybe; I think I could probably do without that.

26. What do you do when you wake up?Lately? Complain abut my headache.

27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker?No.

28. Who are you most comfortable around?

I just wanted an excuse to use this picture.

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up?No.

30. Do you ever want to get married?Sure? I guess so? On the one hand, it sounds nice, but on the other, it sounds like a lot of work if you do the whole party thing.

31. If your hair long enough for a pony tail?Very much so.

33. Spell your name with your chin.

 m aqrecus

34. Do you play sports? What sports?No. The closest I’ve come to playing sports is… probably going to a math competition.

35. Would you rather live without TV or music?For the most part, I would rather live without TV than live with TV.

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them?How is this even a question? Is there anyone who has not done this? I call shenanigans.

37. What do you say during awkward silences?Hm. That depends a lot on the situation, but for the most part, I don’t find silences awkward.

38. Describe your dream girl/guy?Almost every dream I can find that I’ve written down is populated by (inaccurate) real people expys. One of them had the protagonists of Spy Kids. In one, I invented a family friend named Celeste (she was Chinese). Another only contains the notes “black female tech enthusiast” but I couldn’t remember what events were occurring with that characer when I woke up. If I had to guess, I’d say the generic female protagonists in my dreams tend to have shoulder-length brown hair, but that’s probably me projecting a mental picture onto a complete lack of remembered details or the details not existing in the dream.

Oh: one girl in my dream was at an alt-right rally with a gun, and she shot me by accident. She was super shaken up and afraid, and I forgave her. That sure would make an interesting… something.

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in?Ones that sell computer bits, with employees who don’t try to sell you them incompetently. Oh, wait, I’ve never experienced that.

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?Everyone? No. I don’t know what they’d be, but considering the vast range of possible scenarios, I’m positive there are a bunch where someone absolutely would not.

42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean?Nothing. How quiet or talkative I am changes completely based on my best guess at what’s appropriate.

43. Do you smile at strangers?If they’re smiling. Or if they’re kids.

44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean?Hm… that’s a tough one. I feel like the bottom of the ocean would be ultimately more interesting, but I like vast views and I’m a sucker for spacecraft.

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning?If I don’t, I’ll get a headache.

46. What are you paranoid about?

Fire/explosions

Sharp items

Alcohol/drugs

Data loss

People getting upset with me

Data loss again

Embarrassment

Running out of battery

Failure

Complacency

People thinking I’m a fake-intellectual snob who does stuff like answer simple questions with “complacency”

No, seriously, data loss; don’t write anything in a form in a web browser, guys

Republicans

47. Have you ever been high?No.

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about?Most things that I hope nobody finds out about are things I haven’t done recently that I should (e.g. hygiene).

Also, I’m almost at 5k words worth of… listen, see question 9.

50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore?Good question. I don’t remember.

51. Ever wished you were someone else?Well… if “someone else” includes “a better version of myself,” then absolutely, yes, every moment I’m alive. If it involves leaving myself behind completely… then honestly, no, not particularly. I have no doubts that being someone else could be more enjoyable and productive than being me, but a) that’s not who I am, and b) it’d be impossible to vet a potential choice. I can’t know enough about someone to be 100% convinced I’d want to be them, even with their full cooperation.

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself?Just one thing? Damn, um…

How about this: I’d add a bunch of experiences to my past where I overcame failure and adversity and where opening myself up to new experiences resulted in success. Hopefully that’d work? And it’d empower me to fix the rest of the shit I want to change (and the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, and the wisdom etc etc) in a constructive fashion that I could then help others with?

53. Favourite makeup brand?n/a.

54. Favourite store?Capitalism is flawed. That’s not to say it’s categorically worse than any particular alternative, however, so um… 

Uh, screw it. The Cards Against Humanity store? I’ve never bought anything from them, but it seems like a unique take on… stores.

55. Favourite blog?Do the annotations under each post of the webcomic Leftover Soup count as a blog?

57. Favourite food?I’m going to answer this in a separate post.

58. Last thing you ate?Corn chips.

59. First thing you ate this morning?Corn chips.

60. Ever won a competition? For what?I won a poetry contest in high school. It was the result of a writing exercise of using your non-dominant hand to activate different pathways in your brain. I recommend it.

61. Been suspended/expelled? For what?Nope. I went on medical leave, then dropped out. Then I dropped out a bunch more times without the medical leave part.

62. Been arrested? For what?Nope.

63. Ever been in love? Mhmm.

65. Are you hungry right now?A little.

66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends?I take issue with the premise.

Actually, I guess I take issue with the premise in multiple ways… I have no idea if anyone whom I think of as a friend thinks of me the same way in return, so the answer might well be “not applicable.”

67. Facebook or Twitter?Well… they serve different purposes. I’d rather have them both (just without algorithmic feeds or ads-that-look-like-content.)

68. Twitter or Tumblr?Again, they serve different purposes.

69. Are you watching tv right now?No.

70. Names of your bestfriends? See 66.

71. Craving something? What?Community. Specifically, a community of learners, as John Green would say.

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?Yep!

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have?My childhood ones are in boxes. Probably 50+.

75. Favourite animal?To be? Human. Presumably.

To have as a pet? Maybe cat, but to be honest, I bet I’d be just as into lots of other pet types.

Overall? I couldn’t pick one.

76. What colour is your underwear?Plaid.

77. Chocolate or Vanilla?Vanilla, if I had to pick. Chocolate is less versatile.

78. Favourite ice cream flavour?Banana, strawberry, cream, vanilla. Plenty I’m probably forgetting. I remember liking Cherry Garcia.

79. What colour shirt are you wearing?Red.

81. Favourite tv show?The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. (Also, see 119.)

82. Favourite movie?I always go with Spirited Away. (Also, see 119.)

83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2?n/a

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street?n/a

85. Favourite character from Mean Girls?n/a

86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo?Uhh… Squirt, maybe? I guess? I dunno… it wasn’t a movie full of strong characters, in my opinion.

87. First person you talked to today?My mom.

89. Name a person you hate?Hate is a strong word to apply to a person, as opposed to a person’s actions. I find it hard not to try and understand why people do bad things, and subsequently find it hard to hate people for taking actions that I understand the reasoning for. Sometimes that doesn’t quite work, however. Thus: incompetent mental health professionals. Not that I don’t have sympathy for them, but still.

90. Name a person you love?

I just wanted an excuse to use this picture twice.

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now?Go find me an abusive ICE agent and I’ll consider it. I’m sure they have their reasons for what they do, and I definitely wouldn’t do it, but like, damn, people, what the actual fuck is wrong with you?

92. In a fight with someone?Mitch McConnell. Vote, people.

93. How many sweatpants do you have?One. Or rather, one pair. Does that make it two? Pants are weird.

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have?Probably around 5.

95. Last movie you watched?…I don’t actually remember.

97. Favourite actor?Uhhh… hm. I can’t think of any, like, film or stage actors I even have an opinion on. Alton Brown is actually an actor, come to think of it. Not super high on him as a person, necessarily, but he’s certainly damn good at his job. Tom Hiddleston as Loki is pretty remarkable, too.

98. Do you tan a lot?I think I tan an average amount? I’m not really sure. What’s sun?

99. Have any pets?Nope!

100. How are you feeling?Tired.

101. Do you type fast?Nope. I have to look at the keyboard and I only use 6 fingers total. Yes, I am probably the tech enthusiast who is the worst typist.

102. Do you regret anything from your past?Yes.

103. Can you spell well?For the most part. Actually… I’m not sure what the average is for spelling ability, so could be yes, could be no. I think I can tell when the vast majority of words are spelled incorrectly, but I’m accustomed to spellcheck/google so my ability to correct them without help is limited.

105. Ever been to a bonfire party?I’ve been to parties where fires were made, so I guess so? There might be more to it than that, I dunno.

106. Ever broken someone’s heart?When I was younger, and pining over the idea of ever having any relationship, I thought about it a lot, wondering what it’d be like. In the sort of morbid curiosity way, y’know what I mean? Well, it sucks just as much as you figured, younger self.

107. Have you ever been on a horse?Nope, I’d like to, though.

108. What should you be doing?

Working on my fanfic (at 7k words so far!)

Finishing a bunch of disk imaging stuff to make my backups more robust

Signing up to volunteer at a nonprofit that trains the homeless and disadvantaged to prepare food, helping them get jobs and feeding homeless shelters

Going back to college

Political activism

Seeing an oral surgeon to get my wisdom teeth probably removed

Finishing a lot of interesting blog post drafts

Deleting my folder of nsfw fiction drafts

Therapy

Recording some let’s plays, and maybe working toward like a mini podcast or something

Closing some of the 195 browser tabs I have open

109. Is something irritating you right now?Yes: that those who can teach the lessons of how to live a fulfilling and productive life are not effectively connected with those who need those lessons.

And also around 700 other things.

110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt?Hurt… where? I’m going to go with “no,” on the principle that I don’t feel it quite that way.

111. Do you have trust issues?See question 23.

113. What was your childhood nickname?n/a

114. Have you ever been out of your province/state?Yep.

115. Do you play the Wii?No, I don’t have any consoles.

116. Are you listening to music right now?No.

117. Do you like chicken noodle soup?Sure. It’s pretty good. Cook the whole chicken.

118. Do you like Chinese food?Yes. The real stuff, preferably. (I’m ethnically Chinese, if you weren’t aware. See also: my next post, where I list my favorite foods.)

119. Favourite book?Are webcomics books? No? Damn.

I’m going to pull the same thing I always do with the favorite movie and favorite tv show questions and pick a work that I haven’t experienced since half my life ago, but remember sufficiently to consider changing that: Summerland, by Michael Chabon.

Edit from later: Actually, see question 150 for the real answer.

121. Are you mean?I don’t think so. I feel like I might be vindictive, acerbic, and sometimes downright hostile, though.

122. Is cheating ever okay?That depends how you define “okay.” Okay is a funny word. It can mean as little as “not the end of the world,” in which case sure, or as much as “perfectly fine,” in which case… I think it’s a no, by definition. If a behavior was 100% fine, I don’t think anyone would call it cheating.

This applies to multiple definitions of “cheating.”

123. Can you keep white shoes clean?If… there was a reason to, sure, I imagine so.

124. Do you believe in love at first sight?No. I believe in attraction at first sight that seamlessly transitions into love, but no.

125. Do you believe in true love?I have no idea what most people take “true love” to mean, so honestly, I’m going to go with no. Or, I guess, I look at the term as making a distinction between true and false love? That doesn’t really make the question make sense.

126. Are you currently bored?No, to the contrary, I have something I want to work on (fanfic) but I’m too tired to do it, which seems like the opposite of bored.

127. What makes you happy?

The happiness of others.

Making things. That can be fiction, words of analysis, visualizations of data (I have many spreadsheets), image edit memes, the occasional video, Twitter commentary, or, yes, ask posts.

Well-designed and/or well-engineered, elegant things.

Efficiency.

Justice. (By which I actually mean support for the wronged, not punishment for the wrongdoer. The second may or may not be warranted, but either way I don’t take particular pleasure in it.)

Forgetting about the reasons I should not be happy, for a little while. (This is not a good thing, but I cannot deny it is a true answer to the question.)

129. What your zodiac sign?Pisces.

130. Do you like subway?I like subways. I think Subway food is fine.

131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do?Again, opposite gender isn’t exactly a thing.

132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with?Anyone who read my answer to question 10.

133. Favourite lyrics right now?

Enough—Anne Hills

134. Can you count to one million?No, Jimmy, it’s “may you count to one million.”

Wait, what?

135. Dumbest lie you ever told?“Nah, I really think I’m neurotypical.” To myself, about twice a day.

137. How tall are you?5½ feet or so.

138. Curly or Straight hair?What do I have? Straight. What would I pick to have? Straight, I guess. What would I pick in someone I was attracted to (which I presume is the intention of the question)? Whatever they liked/looked good with.

139. Brunette or Blonde?Either! (Well, neither, for myself.)

140. Summer or Winter?There is no darkness without the dawn etc etc.

141. Night or Day?There is no darkness without the dawn etc etc.

142. Favourite month?Can’t say I have a preference.

143. Are you a vegetarian?I really probably should be, considering I have moral and practical objections to eating meat. At the moment, though, no. 

145. Tea or Coffee?Neither/tea.

146. Was today a good day?It hasn’t really started yet.

147. Mars or Snickers?I can’t remember eating either.

148. What’s your favourite quote?

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,Courage to change the things I can,And wisdom to know the difference.

149. Do you believe in ghosts?Yes. They can do anything they put their minds to!

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page?

The most beautiful things in life are unexpected, Clara.

- What the Moon Saw, by Laura Resau

…oh. Wait. I take it back: that’s my favorite book. I had forgotten about that book.

[bapdaydreams]

Zelo Scenario: Mafia AU

A/N: Well hello! I finally have Zelo’s Mafia AU oneshot here for you. I tried so hard to not use Y/N cuz I find it to just break the flow of the story but it was either that or giving the character/reader a gender and I like keeping my scenarios gender neutral so here we are. I hope you enjoy!

Member Profile

Mafia AU Prologue

Yongguk Mafia AU

Himchan Mafia AU

Daehyun Mafia AU

Youngjae Maia AU

Jongup Mafia AU

Zelo was 15 when he left his family to go out on his own and fend for himself. At 16, he had made a name for himself as a skilled sniper and at 17; Yongguk and Jongup found and took him in. Despite being famous in the gang world for being a skilled sniper he had struggled on his own. His family wanted to help him but he had refused saying he wanted to make it on his own without the name Choi stuck to his back. He had abonded everything so he could make it on his own. Even his name…what was his legal name?

He had fended for himself for 2 years but a little help was appreciated. He quickly became friends with Jongup and Yongguk was a good mentor. Himchan came after him but it was like he belonged in their little group. Just like Zelo, Himchan was also from a family of mafia so naturally he fit, even though he nagged too much sometimes for Zelo’s liking.

When Zelo had just joined the duo, he heard them talk about Youngjae and how he gave them valuable information and it wasn’t until after a year of being with Yongguk, Himchan and Jongup that he met Youngjae. He stated that he had finally decided to just do this “mafia business” full time. He might as well; he was already neck deep in the mafia world.

They spent years together as a group of 5 before Daehyun finally came. Youngjae had bought him saying he had some interesting skills. So now they were a group of 6 and Zelo loved every second of his new life. They were perfect together, they were B.A.P.

His whole world was with these 5 members, 5 brothers. He was always so focused, so what in the world had he done wrong to suddenly find his mind wondering to your small figure and the bright smile you had given to him when he bumped into you was beyond him.

He was distracted, which was bad. Someone could get killed, or more specifically, Jongup, his best friend, who relied on him to cover for him could die. He had to find a way to stop being so distracted while working.

“Don’t light that up!”

It’s Himchan.

He takes the cigarette from between Zelo’s lips and throws it in the bin before Zelo has the chance to light it.

“Aw, come on!” Zelo whines.

“How old are you?” Himchan asks.

“Old enough”, Zelo grumbles.

“Yeah, well unless you want to die when you turn 30, you stop”, Himchan says as he offers out his hand.

“Hand it over child, you know he will only nag more”

It’s Yongguk.

Zelo sighs before he pulls put several packets of cigarettes and places them in Himchan’s hand.

“You will thank me one day”, Himchan says with a smug look on his face.

“Until then I will hate you”, Zelo says with a sarcastic smile on his face.

“Aw, I love you too”, Himchan says.

“Stop teasing him, Himchan. I think you made him suffer enough”, Yongguk says as he walks away.

“What’s got you to want to go back to smoking anyway?” Himchan asks, as Zelo had been so good for almost a year.

“I just need a distraction”, Zelo says.

“Why don’t you go dancing with Jongup?” Himchan suggests.

“Ew, no. I love Jongup, he is my best friend but I am not going on a date with him”, Zelo says in mock horror.

“Break dancing you idiot! And I don’t want a date with you anyway!” Jongup yells from the sofa where he is lying down with a book in his hand.

“Try it out. It helps him, it might help you too”

And so Zelo is forced to go join Jongup to the empty basement, which Jongup has practically turned into dance studio/gym.

“Himchan nags too much”, Zelo grumbles once again as he stretches along with Jongup.

“You think so? I think he worries too much”, Jongup says.

“You say that cuz he likes you and lets you do as you please. All he does with me is nag” and Jongup laughs at this.

“Come on, you know what to do. You are a good dancer”, Jongup says as they finish stretching.

He had secretly been dancing on his own and Jongup had just caught him practicing late at night. But this was their little secret. And for a time it does help Zelo keep his mind occupied. It keeps his mind clear for a while so when he sees you unconscious and tied up in their base he is beyond shocked.

“What happened?” he asks and Himchan calmly explains that you worked for the company they were keeping an eye on for illegal activities. Zelo still doesn’t understand and asks why you were here.

“We needed information”, Daehyun says flatly.

“I don’t think this is how we should be getting those information!” Zelo protests.

“What are you so against it?” Himchan asks but Zelo has no answer.

“Gyus…” it’s Youngjae.

They look at him and see that you are now awake. You looked scared.

“Where am I?”

“I think you should answer our questions first, I’m Yongguk the leader”, Yongguk says.

“Your full name and your occupation, please”, Yongguk says almost kindly.

You tell them everything they asked without a second thought. You were so scared of what would happen to you if you didn’t answer. As you answered their question your eyes wondered around the group and Zelo caught your eyes. He looked a little bit distressed but didn’t speak.

“I guess you really don’t know anything”, Daehyun sighs.

“Will you let me go now?” you ask feeling a little bit hopeful.

“No, it’s still a little bit risky but you can do some work for us”, Yongguk says and you feel defeated.

“Zelo”

Zelo’s head snaps up at his name.

“I’m putting you in charge of looking after Y/N”

“Yes, sir”, Zelo says.

“Jongup, untie her”, Yongguk orders and Jongup cuts the rope around your legs and wrists.

Zelo offers you a hand and you hesitate but eventually take it. He helps you stand up.

“You are going to live here from now on until we figure out what your boss is up to. You will go to work as normal but you have to do some data collecting for us while at work. You can do that right?” Yongguk asks.

You can only nod.

“Good, we’ll send Zelo with you for protection. We may look like the bad guys right now but we don’t want you getting hurt for no reason”, Himchan says.

Zelo has an urge to whine at Himchan but bites his lower lip.

“Youngjae will be listening to everything you hear with this little device”, Yongguk says and passes you a necklace.

“Activate it by pressing the red jewel when you are at work”, Youngjae explains simply and you nod again.

“And you can sleep in Zelo’s room”

“Himchan!” this time Zelo can’t help but while.

“There is a pull out sofa in the living room just outside his room where Zelo will sleep and keep guard”, Himchan doesn’t even blink while Zelo pouts.

“Now Zelo will show you around”, Yongguk dismisses.

As the rest of the guys go do there own thing Zelo whines.

“Freaking Kim Himchan!”

“Erm…”

Zelo looks at you and sighs.

“I wanted to meet you again but not like this”

His words shocks you a little bit.

“It can’t be helped, I guess… Come on, I’ll show you around”, he says with a smile.

He starts walking and you follow behind his steps.

“Zelo…should I be scared?” you ask.

“Nah, I’ll protect you so you will be safe”, he says with another bright smile and you can’t help but smile back at him.

And he kept his words; he came with you to work and looked after you from a hidden spot. You didn’t know where he hid but he would always drop you off at work and be there to pick you up. Your colleagues started to ask questions and they wanted to know if you two were dating. You would just blush and tell them the two of you were just friends.

He was really sweet and took good care of you. In fact, they all took care of you. Himchan would cook you your favourite dishes and Youngjae would help you with some work, even though you secretly suspected he was looking for extra information. But mostly your job was just to do the inventory for your company. They all had their own little ways of taking care of you.

Zelo would stay awake with you until you felt like going to bed. Then he would make sure you went to bed before closing the door to his own room and sleeping on the sofa. You felt bad for taking over his room but he said he didn’t mind. The first few nights were really bad. You couldn’t sleep in fear of what was going to happen but Zelo would always comfort you. Sometimes he would stay with you until you feel asleep on his bed.

Daehyun teased but Zelo would tell you to ignore him.

And whenever you got back to the base after work with Zelo, Youngjae would tell you that you were doing well and that they were getting close to figuring out what exactly was going on in your work. Every once in a while you were asked to leave a hidden reorder in your bosses’ office once you were done giving him your report or to leave a recorder in the meeting rooms but that was all you did really.

One day after work, Zelo asks you if you would like to go get some ice cream with him before heading back to the base. You agreed and the two of you went to the small ice cream parlour.

The two of you pick your ice creams and Zelo paid. You thanked him and the two of you sat down at a table.

“So, I heard Youngjae saying that we are close to a breakthrough”, Zelo says.

“That is good”, you say.

“What do you plan on doing after that?”

“Huh?”

“Well, your job for us would be done and Yongguk will set you free”, Zelo says slowly.

“Well, I guess I would need a new job”, you say with a laugh and Zelo laughs with you.

“Honestly though, I haven’t given it much thought”, you say as you play around with the spoon of your ice cream.

“You would probably get paid a good amount to keep you going for, well, for the rest of your life”, Zelo says.

“You think so?”

“Yeah, you may not realise it but this is a big case”, Zelo replied.

“Huh, then I might just lazy around for the rest of my life”, you laugh and Zelo smiles at your carefree attitude.

“What about you? You would get quiet a big sum of money too right?” you ask.

“Yeah, but I just send mine to my family and keep a little bit to do things I like”, he says simply.

“That’s nice of you”

“Nah, I’m just replaying my parents for raising me, although I don’t really think they need all that money but I heard from my brother that he is working on a charity for victims of illegal businesses and for civilians who are affected by our work. So I guess that’s where all my money is going”, Zelo says.

“Oh?”

“Oh, I never mentioned that I come from a family of the Choi mafia did I?”

“Oh, wow. Even I’ve heard of them”, you say.

Zelo laughs.

“That’s why I left. Cuz EVERYONE just knows”. I threw away the name Choi and my birth name. But I am always thankful to my parents for everything they have done for me. They still send me letters and things once in a while”

“That’s sweet”

“Enough about that. What else do you plan on doing?” he asks as he feels a little bit embarrassed at the fact that his parents still baby him.  

“Maybe I’ll buy my parents a house and find myself a house to live the rest of my life in”, you say.

What about me? Us? He wants to ask but bits his lips.

“Sounds nice”, he says instead.

“I’d have to kidnap you and take you with me though”, you say with a smile.

“What?”

“Yeah, I don’t think I could live without you anymore”, you say honestly.

“Really?”

“Really”

A stunned Zelo watches you. You have a hint of blush creeping up on your cheeks as Zelo feels his own face heating up.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying I love you”, you say it.

“I…”

“Don’t!”

“Huh?���

“I don’t want your answer. I know how this ends so that’s why I wanted to tell you how I really feel”

Zelo still looks confused.

“Youngjae says tonight they are going to confront my boss and then it will be over. Like you said Yongguk will let me go and I will go on to live my normal life without seeing any of you, without seeing you for the rest of my life so I just wanted to tell you”, you ramble.

Zelo is still stunned.

“I’m going to take a walk before I get back to the base, alone”, you say as you stand up and leave.

“What just happened?” Zelo asks himself.

He doesn’t know how long he sits there wondering what happened until he gets a phone call from Himchan saying that you went missing and where the hell was he. He panics but Himchan tells him to calm down. Himchan eventually meets up with Zelo and tells him that your necklace was a GPS tracker too so he has managed to track you down.

The two follow the GPS signal and they know you are at your office building. Himchan gives Zelo a shotgun.

“I know this isn’t how you operate but this is how we will have to do it today”, Himchan says as he gets his own gun ready.

“Youngjae and Daehyun are getting the police and Jongup and Yongguk are already in there”, Himchan explains as they enter the building.

They can already hear the gunshots. They head upstairs to the top floor where they can see your GPS signal. They silently approach the top floor and Zelo leads. All he thinks about is you. He hopes you are safe.

“Think Yongguk and Jongup are in there fighting already. So what I want you to do is get Y/N and get to safety. By then hopefully, Daehyun and Youngjae get here with the police”, Himchan explains and Zelo nods.

When they enter the top floor, indeed, Yongguk and Jongup are both occupied. As soon as they enter they run and hide. Himchan signals for Zelo to go while he coves for him. Zelo nods and checks his surrounding and sneaks around. He can see Jongup with his usual killer smirk on his face; there was no sign of struggling as he shot all the enemy, skilfully avoiding all the vitals. Yongguk is calm as always as he too shoots the enemy.

Himchan closely follows behind Zelo and shoots every once in a while when he feels their safety threatened. Zelo can see you, tied up. You looked scared as you watched the chaos. Your boss was distracted with a shoot off with Jongup. They were standing off looking at each other. Neither wanting to back down.

Zelo took the chance to sneak up to you. You were so revelled to see him. He gently cut the roped tying you up.

“Give up!” your boss says to Jongup who is still smirking.

“I don’t feel like it, but maybe you should”, Jongup says as Zelo’s gun comes in contact with the back of his head.

“Drop the gun”, he hisses at your boss.

Your boss freezes and drops the gun in his hand. Zelo kicks the gun on the floor to Jongup. Himchan walks up to your boss and ties his hands up while Zelo’s gun is still pointed on the back of his head.

“Kidnaping your own employee to pull us in, how disgusting”, Zelo says.

“Ha! Y/N was the one who betrayed me first!”

“At our request so if you have anything to say, say it us”, Zelo replies simply.

“The police are here”, Yongguk announces and eventually your boss is arrested and taken away.

Zelo is next to you while Himchan checks your vitals and gives you a thumb up. Himchan then scolds Zelo for leaving you alone. You tell him it was your fault and it was your stupid decision to walk off on your own that got you kidnaped. But Himchan still nags Zelo. Jongup offers Zelo a hand and they hi5 before taking Himchan away with him to leave you two alone.

“So…”

“I’m sorry!” you say.

“It’s ok, Himchan is right. I shouldn’t have left you alone and I have something else to tell you…if you want to listen”, Zelo says.

“What is it?” you ask.

You are almost sure its rejection. You braced yourself as you lower your head. But Zelo uses his hand to lift your face up and forces you to look up at him.

“I love you”

“Wh…?”

Before you can say anything he has claimed your lips with his own.

“Oh, my baby is growing up!” Himchan is practically crying as the rest of the boys watch the two of you.

“Shh!” Daehyun says.

“Freaking Kim Himchan!”

“Run!”

[drink-n-watch]

Are you a loyal anime fan? Do you stand by those shows which have brought you joy?

Lately, I’ve read a few think pieces on how people’s preconceptions can colour our enjoyment of a show. How going into an anime with preconceived notions or expectations based on other people’s experiences, inevitably affects what we end up getting out of our watching experience. But what about the reverse case scenario.

it’s a reverse harem!

Have you ever stumbled across a title you’d never heard of before and thoroughly enjoyed, only to discover that your hidden gem is widely reviled by the anime community? Do you remain faithful to your new love or do you disavow it? Are you suddenly ashamed to admit you enjoyed the show? Do you go as far as downgrading it in your own mind, admitting to yourself that is was indeed riddled with flaws, or do you feel compelled to defend it against accusations you don’t really believe are true?

What if you thought a title was really so-so but endlessly see it described as a classic, a masterpiece, an undeniable work of art? Do you pretend to like it? Do you add it to your top 10 lists just to fit in? Do you avoid giving any opinion or at least try to soften the blow with excuses like: “I was really young when I saw that”?

I know I do.

It’s stupid of course. I end up getting nonsense recommendations for new shows because it’s based on skewed data. Or I find myself sitting through movies or shows I know I won’t enjoy because I somehow didn’t manage to scrape together the microscopic amount of courage required to admit that I don’t like a particular director or studio. On the flip side, I also can’t gush over whatever silly, stupid little show is making me super happy at the moment because I’m afraid people will judge me. Despite the fact that I know no one cares about my anime tastes, at least not enough to actually have them affect their opinion of me.

yes, yes tell me more of this awnimou you like so much – everyone I know

I want to watch shows I like – and I want those types of shows to get made, but people won’t know that unless I tell them. So? Well…As my own feeble attempt at some kind of earnestness, I give you my top 9 animes I’m either ashamed of liking or embarrassed of not getting. Let’s all celebrate our lack of good taste together!

In random order:

😊 The Royal Tutor

I’m not as stupid as I look. I realize this show is just a lighthearted excuse to bring together a flock of beautifully drawn bishies and cash in on the hormonal audience ready to devour it. The animation is minimal, the historic setting is laughable and characters and storyline are all more or less surface level but that’s not what this show was for… It’s paced well, the easy humour may be uninspired but it’s familiar and comforting. What it did do, it did well. The pretty pretty characters are super likeable for all their lack of developments and by golly I would watch another season the second it came out. I would leave work early and everything.

☹ Sakamoto desu ka

When this show came out there was so much hype, even I heard of it. This was recommended to me by just about everybody – the one friend that watches anime, blogs, youtubers even MAL. Everyone told me that this is comedy gold – one of the most hilarious shows to come out in recent years and well, I didn’t get it… My sense of humour is important to me, it’s the one quality I’m actually proud of. I am quick with a laugh and need very little to find the funny in a situation and although Sakamoto wasn’t bad I just didn’t find it that funny and ended up dropping it after 6 episodes or so. I’m very worried that I’m growing dull.

😊 Black Butler II

Black butler, in all its iterations, has long been a guilty pleasure of mine. I am honestly ashamed of liking this show so much. It’s just sooooo emo and gothicky and teenage angsty and I love all of  it. At least it’s fairly popular except I’m a black sheep even among Black Butler fans because my clear favourite is season 2. Most fans will stop talking to me at this point, I understand. But, I adore Alois, I think he’s the perfect embodiment of the cheesy gaudy charm that BB brings to the table and the sarcastic ending was the best. Soo yeah – I’m a lost cause.

☹ My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU

People love this show, I see artwork from it all over the place and I will admit it’s quite pretty. It also has the word SNAFU in the title which is automatic extra points in my book. But everything else never resonated with me. The comedy fell flat, the drama felt fabricated the pace was off and the characters were irrational. I fluctuated between bored and depressed throughout most of it yet still felt the need to watch both seasons, waiting for it to finally pick up. It did not. I did like the orange haired girl’s front cross strap bra thingy….

😊 Alien 9

OK – I can’t explain this one. It’s a mess of a show but I lurve it so much. One of the few series I’ve both watched and read and reread. I could defend it to you guys. The intriguing parasitic/symbiotic alien aspect with a sort of magical girl deconstruction feel. The jarring violence and real suspense but in all honestly even those high points aren’t fully realized. I can’t tell you why it’s better than people think it is but it is. I’m going to go watch it right now.

☹ Azumanga Daioh

I like the Slice of Life and Comedy genres quite a lot (although looking at this list, maybe I don’t?) and Azumanga Daioh is considered by many, a classic. The intro should be! It has its moments to be sure but I just didn’t find it that funny. That aside, what really put me off was the use of a teacher’s predatory and continual sexual harassment of students as a running gag. The show treats it as cute and funny that an adult teacher is clearly trying to grope or see his students naked all the time. I’m afraid that I’m being a stick in the mud or that I somehow missed the distinction between ridiculing bad behaviour rather than humanizing it, but it always skived me out and I just couldn’t shake the feeling. Apparently, I’m the only one who has a problem with this. This scene always made me laugh though: 

😊 Cheer Boys!!

I’ve written a post about this unsubtle cash grab of a show and how I can’t seem to hate it. In fact I’ll just say it, I really like it. It’s indefensible so I won’t even try to but sometimes we just want empty calories. This show won’t bring anything new. There are so many better sports animes out there and you should watch them all before this one. But once you’re done with all the “good” shows….

☹ Spirited Away

Yes, yes, I know – Ghibli, yes genius, yes Myazaki, yes I think he’s really hot, yes this movie is brimming with wonder and charm… I can see the quality but, I mean, so what? Do I remember anything about Chihiro as a person? About any character at all? I don’t, they just didn’t leave a mark on me. I can clearly see the images of what people and things looked like but they have no personalities beyond that for me. I would show this to a small child or an animation student who wants to admire the technical know-how and maybe I should rewatch it. I just didn’t find in it the depth or meaning of earlier titles like Mononoke or the graceful ache of Totoro and I would write more except I don’t remember anything about it…

😊 Cute High Earth Defense Club Love!

Let’s end it on a happy note. Eminareviews named this as the anime she was embarrassed of liking and it suddenly dawned on me that maybe I should be embarrassed too. Sure, the jokes are super easy and the premise is paper thin but what can I tell you guys, this show had me smiling from start to finish. I realize that given the fact that Shinji Takamatsu (of Daily Lives of High School Boys and Gintama fame) was behind this, expectations may have been sky high for some and disappointment was inevitable. I also see that the writers went for some low hanging fruit here, and that they would have been capable of much subtler and more cutting humor but just because it’s a little lazy doesn’t mean it’s not funny. Season 2, now that was not funny….

This is one of the disadvantages of wine: it makes a man mistake words for thought

Suggested drink: Confidence Builder, alternatively you can throw it in the other person’s face but that would be such a waste…

Every time someone tells you your favorite anime is derivative – drink

Every time some says “I use to like that show before I knew more about anime” – drink

Every time someone gets real nitpicky about an unimportant aspect of your favourite show, like the color palette for example – drink

Every time someone says you should what X instead – it’s so much better – drink

Every time someone tells you, you’ll get it when you learn a bit about… – drink

Every time someone tells you the manga was better – drink

Every time someone says, well I’m more into story driven narratives – drink

Every time someone tells you it’s a poor man’s version of… – drink

Every time someone accuses your show of being cliché – drink

Every time someone accuses your show of being pretentious – drink

Every time someone says aren’t cartoons for children? – go home

Anime confessions Are you a loyal anime fan? Do you stand by those shows which have brought you joy?