#on the other hand she can see that he's in better spirits overall and isn't that better than how he was earlier? (it's not)

[aq2003]

the background piano music ends abruptly on a discordant note when hamlet says his father had died in the past two hours, which is when the idea gets put forward that his own perception of time/events might not be totally reliable

[areallycoolanduniqueusername]

Laurie Strode and Annie Brackett Evidence

Seeing as how I'm hyperfocusing on Halloween right now and no-one else online ships this (especially 1978 Laurnie) except for me and a handful of other people (shout out to this amazing edit on tiktok) I thought I'd give my pitch for it here.

First of all since I know a lot of you don't care about "canon evidence" and like ships more for the vibes I'll go over their dynamic for anyone who's uninitiated or hasn't seen Halloween in a while.

Laurie Strode in 1978 is a shy, sweet, probably autistic but that's a post for another day, 17-year-old girl. She likes babysitting, reading, knitting, and hanging out with her friends. She spends most of her time babysitting because she can never find a date (and apparently teenage girls in the 70s had no other hobbies XD).

Annie Brackett is one of Laurie's two best friends. She lives a few houses down from Laurie and they seem to spend a lot of time together. Annie is snarky, sarcastic, and witty. In the novelization she's said to always be in a rush for no discernable reason and she was apparently the first among her peers to lose her virginity.

Annie and Laurie have a lot of teasing banter throughout the film.

For my more concrete evidence, I have a few points I can make:

In the novelization, after making one of her jokes, Annie calls Laurie "cute" and ruffles her hair

Also in the novelization, when asking Laurie why she never goes out, Annie says "do you prefer girls? I'll try anything once"

When Annie calls her on the phone, Laurie laughs at one of her jokes while twirling her hair (although this is a stim Laurie has throughout the movie)

At one point, Annie feeds a piece of popcorn to Laurie in a vaguely homoerotic way

Now for some counterevidence:

Annie tends to poke fun at Laurie for never going out in most of their conversations. While these jabs do occasionally feel a bit mean-spirited, she does try to set Laurie up with Ben Tramer in what seems to be a genuine attempt to help her, but her refusing to back down from the arrangement is also a bit dickish.

Overall, because of what little screentime they get in the 1978 movie, it's hard to tell how seriously Laurie's friend group's teasing is. In the novelization the jokes and jabs are a bit more evenly spread throughout the group, whereas the movie tends to have a lot of jokes at Laurie's expense. I feel like "Oh great I have three options: watch the kid sleep, listen to Lynda screw around or talk to you" (a line from Annie) gives the impression that Annie doesn't like Laurie's company, which isn't great for the ship, or their friendship in general, but we do have to keep in mind she is in a particularly bad mood during this scene because her boyfriend Paul has just told her he's grounded and can't see her tonight. It's quite possible she's usually nicer to Laurie, particularly given their other scenes together.

The not-quite-picture-perfect friendship isn't a deal-breaker for the ship, though. In fact, the fact Laurie puts up with Annie's shortcomings might be a sign of a crush (although that's obviously not healthy, girl you can do better) and Annie is shown to genuinely care about Laurie.

Sashanne from Amphibia comes to mind when thinking of similar ships with toxic friend dynamics. I could see Annie going on a similar redemption arc (though obviously her behavior is not nearly as cruel or manipulative as Sasha's) and learning to appreciate Laurie more.

That isn't necessary though, as I could also see their interactions in the movie being perfectly harmless if given enough context (How long have they been friends? How often is Annie actually a GOOD friend to Laurie? Does Laurie tease Annie like this too? (we do see a little bit of this in the movie))

Now I bet you're wondering: But Mx Coolandunique, what about when Laurie tells Annie she wants to go out with Ben Tramer? Or Annie's boyfriend Paul? They're clearly interested in boys! To that I say: bisexual until proven straight, and honey, there ain't no proving these girls straight.

Annie and El Jerko are more casual than anything and Laurie might have mentioned Tramer to cover her much stronger, more embarrassing, and less socially acceptable crush (who she could NEVER ask to the dance in a million years unlessyouwanttowriteafanficaboutthatguyspleaseineedlaurniefanficitdoesn'thavetobethedancejustsomemore78laurnieimeanilike07laurniebutplease)

Overall, Laurie and Annie have an intriguing friendship dynamic with some homoerotic undertones, and would make a very interesting friends-to-lovers dynamic with lots of interesting bumps along the way. This is my pitch please someone write or draw these two they're such a rarepair it's a crime.

[kebriones]

Okay here we go.

Reviewing all old paintings of Alcibiades I can find, part 1

Starting off with the classics. THIS HELMET, I HATE IT I HATE IT. What is it supposed to be?? He's wearing it like one would wear a Corinthian helmet in rest (pushed back on the head rather than down over the face) or at least from the shape of the metal part I would assume it's a corinthian helmet, but all the golden thingies on its front?? Are you meant to be blind when wearing this thing in battle? New technique?? And anyways why is he even wearing it. And one last thing about the helmet which you'll see is a reccuring theme: why does it have feathers. Unless i am forgetting something, fancy helmet crests were made from horse hair.

Moving on from the helmet, i have to say that even though I don't agree with it, his color choice for the outfit is....brave. green with pink. It works I guess, because he looks so confident in it. The sash tied around his middle is kinda whatever but the way he's holding his clamys???? I'm swooning. Very good hand.

Socrates' color choices are also quite bold today. Were they going to a fashion show? Is he advertising IKEA? Who knows. His skin is vet nicely painted though, I like it a lot.

Now of course we need to mention the angel behind Socrates who has a bit of fire on their hair. Is that the holy spirit? Is this some criminal anachronism??!! The angel seems to be judging Alcibiades' "sinuous" pose (i learned a new word yesterday and I feel like I'm using it wrong but I wanted to use it okay. "Sinuous". Idk. Sinuses.)

Moving on to something different. Alcibiades and Pericles! How cute is that, they're bonding like family. Or they're discussing the grocery list. I like Alcibiades' chiton and his hair and how his hand is casually draped over a helmet. Speaking of helmets, look how nice and accurate these are. No feathers anywhere. Also Pericles is wearing his helmet to hide his weird alien head presumably, so this is very legal and we won't execute the artist for drawing Pericles with a naked head.

Here's one of many depictions of Alcibiades' death. The anatomy is good, I very much enjoy that. I also really really like his face. Dark haired Alcibiades works better in paintings imo. His pose is kinda wayy too dramatic, that or he slipped on some lube i mean olive oil on his way out. Anyways he's not doing a very good job defending himself. The lady is trying, I'll give her that, but she's not doing enough. The attacker guy is.... wearing pants, but his top isn't very Persian so that's off-putting.

And of course we can see the javelin sticking out of Alcibiades' side but in my professional opinion, if he was lucky he could survive that wound if it didn't pierce any major organs. He just needed some bed rest and he'd be good to go. Alas, he died. But yeah overall I like this one a lot.

Okay so this one I'm 99% sure it's Alcibiades, if I'm wrong let me know. The dark figure on the left is definitely Socrates, I would recognize him anywhere. I really like this even though Alcibiades looks like his twelve, because he's sitting on some lady's lap, surrounded by other ladies, as he's having his actual lesson with Socrates. Like he's taking notes and everything gfhdgsj he's raising his hand he has a question let him speak.

Also how cute is his hair?? Someone give this child some ice cream.

Here we have no Socrates, which is quite rare. BUT we once again have a very stupid helmet that makes zero sense. And a vey stupid sash that also makes zero sense. But at least we have some drama, like, what's going on here? Is she refusing him??? Is she offended?? Who knows. Anyways very cool fabric rendering but why is Alcibiades so.... barrel-chested. It's kinda scary. Also who's that snitch back there. Does she wanna join.

Overall, I like the colors and the environment here, and the poses are fun. Alcibiades looks like he's reciting poetry but he's so drunk the only thing he remembers is the ship list from the iliad, so that's what he's reciting, and his girlfriend is having a hard time enduring this torture.

Old painters really like putting helmets on head that didn't need them. Like they're IN A BEDROOM why is he in full tactical gear.

This one is one of the weirder ones. I don't know why the vibes are just weird. Socrates is holding his oscar. What did he get an oscar for. I like his outfit it's like he's wearing a shower curtain or a beach towel. Alcibiades on the other hand is straight up naked. Like, that's the level of confidence and comfortableness we should all aspire towards. But I don't like his face, they didn't even try to make him pretty.

Not to mention that Socrates fell into a tub of bleach apparently. Blonde Socrates is even more illegal that unhelmeted Pericles. Maybe that's why i find this piece so strange. This isn't Socrates, this is santa claus.

I do however think the pose is very Alcibiades-like. He would absolutely look at Socrates like that.

Last one for part 1, we have this one! The classic, beloved theme of Socrates taking Alcibiades away from his girlfriends. "Why don't you go play with the boys, Alcibiades? " said Socrates.

No wait wrong story.

Anyways i like this because it has some davinci-ness to the colors and faces and Alcibiades' hair is cute and the girl in white is really trying her hardest to pull him back.

I also like that gigantic column in the back, suggesting that these maniacs were planning on having an orgy right at a temple. They even brought a whole bed over there.

Last thing i like about this one is the way Socrates isn't even really holding onto him. Alcibiades has this haunted/far away look and Socrates can make him follow him just by touching his arm, rather than pulling on him like the girl is. That's because Socrates was half siren, his father had actu

[yellowistheraddest]

sending you my hcs that are varying degrees of quality but. eh. it's my media perception so i have no shame in them

1. obviously asd/autistic miles because that is the truest thing ever? i don't think it's something he discovers as an adult, more like he got diagnosed before dl-6

2. maya to me is a girl that wears leg hair with pride. i'm sorry i can't imagine her in any other way and i picture her chubbier than capcom made her just bc she deserves that powerful look

3. miles edgeworth is a quiet rebel to me. this hc started when i saw a post about how putting your hands in trousers pockets isn't proper etiquette and miles does it anyway so... i just think he does these small things to feel mischievous and like his own person, maybe he did them more in his youth. and i also think the steel samurai and watching it also feels like rebellion to him and gives him a certain thrill? idk if this makes sense honestly

4. i think i made fanart of this one before but i basically hc that the short animations we see before a case (esp the ones in aa1 revealing the culprit) are phoenix's dreams that he barely remembers but they guide him like an intuitive sense. because yk how in aa2 the animation we see is an actual nightmare of his... and he definitely has some spiritual ties there somewhere.. and in aa4 he deadass predicts the future ominously to apollo sometimes... and he goes through spirit medium training with maya bc she makes him.....it makes sense

5. pearly's aged-up design is way different in my eyes. like i'm sorry but she should rebel so much after the ways she was raised, let her have the most unfortunate haircut in the world and funky makeup and cool clothes

6. yeah that's it im not going to embarrass myself further 👍

damn, let me get my reading glasses (i don't have reading glasses)

1. miles is the final form in the evolution line of the autism creature, so agreed. although i think gregory is not around enough/too old fashion to notice it, and von karma is a dick and would purposefully avoid getting him diagnosed; i think he got diagnosed after moving out. overall a strong 9.5 out of 10

2. i can definitely see her with body hair, but idk about the body fat because she has to stand under waterfalls for days so the training probably requires a restrain from food (kinda how monks fast) but im not in opposition of her being chubbier. 7 out of 10, capcom give us more details about the training plsss

3. lets just say ive been planning to draw something related to this idea... so 10 out of 10, hes shy and unsure about it but hes still a rebel at heart.

4. i think he just smokes weed when he reads case files and we just get to trip with him (yes this chronologically doesn't make sense but idc). Brother is the plainest cringefail guy - hes the last person anyone should give magic powers to, theres like 7 billion people who'd be better off with them. this one is a 6 put of 10, im not big into magical powers.

5. i hate pearl. well more like i hate children and pearl is a child, but they failed with her so bad the design... 9 out of 10.

pearl, send me a dm and well go clothes shopping and get you a haircut so it actually looks like youve actually been affected by 7 years of no longer dealing with your bitch of a mom

6. 0 out of 10, be shameless its the internet noone knows who you are. just don't be a weirdo!

[litcityblues]

Doctor Whoquest Part Four: Tennant, Season 1

The debut season of David Tennant is an interesting one to consider. On the one hand, from my point of view, we've moved all the way back into the Russell T. Davies era of the show, which means that it's got a totally different feel to it now compared to Moffat or Chibnall. People forget that Doctor Who was originally designed as a children's program and while Moffat and Chibnall (at least from what I've seen of Chibnal so far) push the tone of the show into more contemporary, maybe even straightforward science fiction, Davies, I think, might come the closest to capturing the original spirit of the show- which given the fact that he brought it back to the air, to begin with, makes the most sense. You want to capture new viewers and not alienate the old- at least not too much.

On the other hand, there's a lot riding on this season. Tennant is the first regeneration of the Nu-Who Era and while even back that I would have rated him an accomplished enough actor that a sophomore slump would seem unlikely, it had to be on the minds of people going into this and you have to wonder what would have happened to the show had Tennant or the writing not been as good as they are throughout this season. There's a nice symmetry to it overall, as it starts with the first regeneration of Nu-Who, but ends with the first big Companion departure at the end of the season when Billie Piper's Rose Tyler is trapped in a parallel universe.

Where does this rank in terms of debut seasons? That's the real question, isn't it... I don't think you can count Eccleston's season as a debut, because it was also his last season, but leaving him out, I think I'd rank them thusly:

Smith

Tennant

Capaldi

Whittaker

To be fair, I don't there's a lot of daylight between Smith & Tennant or Capaldi & Whittaker-- they all turned in really solid debuts in the role, but for whatever reason, Smith's debut season just knocked my socks off. I think Tennant's debut is a hair's breadth behind his. Capaldi's was better and stronger than I remembered and I'll go ahead and call it: Whittaker's was underrated.

Full credit to Tennant here, though: 'The Christmas Invasion' was one hell of a debut and so successful, in fact, that it established the pattern/tradition of holiday specials that we see throughout the rest of the show.

Three Episodes I Liked:

'The Girl In The Fireplace': I'd have to double-check to be sure, but I think this might be the debut of Steven Moffat on Nu-Who and it's just excellent from start to finish. You've got a sci-fi mystery as the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey arrive aboard an abandoned spaceship which contains several time windows into the life of Madame de Pompadour and overlapping that, you've got a nice time travel angle as the Doctor has to travel back to Versailles to save her from clockwork droids who continue to stalk her, insisting she's not complete. The kicker might be the end-- when Rose, the Doctor, and Mickey depart, and it's the audience that gets the big reveal of why the ship has the time windows and the clockwork droids after Madame de Pompadour to begin with. Combining love, romance, time travel, science fiction, and horror into a perfect blend that fits Doctor Who so nicely, it's one of the standout episodes of Nu-Who and you can't top Tennant delivering the line "I snogged Madame de Pompadour!"

'The Impossible Plant'/'The Satan Pit': There's another two-parter in this season ('Rise of the Cybermen'/'The Age of Steel') that's a pretty solid reintroduction of the Cybermen to Nu-Who and sets up the events of the season finale, but I have to give the nod to this one. The Doctor and Rose arrive on a base on a planet that is somehow orbiting a black hole. The crew is served by a race of docile beings known as the Ood and the Doctor is puzzled by a language so ancient it predates even the Time Lords. When a quake strikes the planet and the TARDIS falls into planet and when the Doctor goes to retrieve it, they find a door- which opens, revealing The Beast who takes possession of a crew member and announces that he is free. The music is especially top-notch on this two-parter- there's a mournful undertone to it- not mournful as in sad, but mournful as it, 'impossibly old and alone at the edge of space' so full credit to Murray Gold for that. There are some nice nods to Alien when the Ood chase the crew through the air ducts and this episode touches on concepts of Satan, Hell, and the Devil in a really interesting way.

'School Reunion': The return of Sarah Jane Smith! (Elisabeth Sladen). I'll be honest-- I never saw any of her episodes from Classic Who, but I understood the excitement about her return and this was a great episode- at also helped launch her into her own spin-off of The Sarah Jane Adventures, so there's that.

Two Episodes I Didn't Like

'Fear Her': Was just okay. Possessed kid capturing people in the drawings she makes? Plus a weird Olympic subplot? It feels like a bottle episode- probably because it was as it lead into the two-part finale of 'Army of Ghosts'/'Doomsday'.

'New Earth': While I appreciate seeing the Face of Boe again and the Cat Nurses, I honestly don't care about the human trampoline, Cassandra. As a villain, she's awfully vain- which I guess is the point of the character, and even though there's a credible attempt to make her (a flat trampoline of a character) more three-dimensional, it just... doesn't land. The Face of Boe just hints at something big for The Doctor the next time they meet and thus seems... wasted? I don't know. Just kind of 'meh' for me.

One Episode To Consider

'Love & Monsters': This is actually a really off-beat episode as it's told from the point of view of people who get left behind and experience all the wild and wacky things that poor London has gone through and it gets a little weird at the end as the main character, Elton gets to start a relationship with his girlfriend, Ursula, who is, well, a paving stone. I appreciate the ELO. I appreciate the weird. I like a good episode that zigs when you're expecting a zag and this one works.

Overall: I do not like the Daleks. I'm over the Daleks. You've got sixty years of a show to dig through- find something else. However, I will say this: the Cybermen are interesting and when they face off against the Daleks in the Season Finale, it's pretty cool-- you've got two of the biggest villains in the franchise facing off against one and you can't really complain too much about that.

As a plot device, I would really like them to get away from the 'let's throw a random word into every episode and have it mean something at the end of the season' thing that they do in these early seasons. Once you get away with it once, it's hard to replicate it with any serious effect, I think. Bad Wolf works. Torchwood obviously plays a role in the season finale and yes, but Tennant's next season gets liberal references to Harold Saxon thrown everywhere. As foreshadowing goes, it's not subtle. Ideally, you'd do this and not have the audience realize the mystery until you unveil it and then they'll have to go back and piece it together for themselves- but at the end of the day, it is what it is. I forget I'm doing this in a back-asswards way, so these early tendencies tend to evolve as the show does, though I really would like at least a one-season moratorium on anything related to the Daleks.

My Grade: 8/10

[lavenderangeline]

She who holds the spirits

TW: Bodyhorror at the beginning (transformation from dragon into human), slight NSFW and flustered Yamato

Chapter 2 the thing with the cat in the doorway

The long body shrinked, from her mouth came a bit of blood as all the organs came back in place. Her spine cracked, almost looked like it's rotating into place through the thick skin and scales. Her massive claws pinning into the ground as she growled in pain. At last Anna was panting on all force, spiting blood out of her mouth, wiping a bit away on the side of month, looking up to the group of three, she still had sharp canine teeth, her horns on the forehead there shrinking back inside of her head. Eyes fixed on the reaction of the others like a predator, with her ice blue glowing eyes and the long cat like pupils it at least felt that way. She could feel, smell and see how they got goosebumps, shivers down their spine. They tried to look away but they didn't. Inside of Anna she were grinning. Some side of her wanted them to know how it was, being this way. But there was something else in their eyes. They there… Worried. If she was honest with herself the only time she saw someone worried about her in this state- was her mother. The only person that, till now, truly cares.

Shaky the stood up. Swaying from side to side. Her ears were ringing, slowly she shakes her head. Normally the transformation is smoother than that but she forced it back which makes it so painful. Holding her head she still feels how the golden horns go back. Her surroundings are dark, did the sun say its goodnight so fast or did the transformation took that long?

It seemed like Kakashi hold Yamato and Naruto back. Else they would've sprinted towards her but now they slowly approach.

Now that the power of the dragon goes back into it's sealing, it's like being surrounded by cotton, in a cloud wich isn't the 7th one. Just staying there, holding herself together. Feeling a warm hand on her shoulder. Not hearing clearly through the fog it's Yamato that tries to talk to her, Kakashi in the background trying to calm him. Like there wouldn't be any use of talking to her in hat circumstance of mind and body.

Just her saying, whispering even “I'm fine. It'll go away. “ staring into nothing as if her instincts are taking over just to reassure them. The little wound from the stretched flesh n skin heals. She feels so cold. As a dragon her body temperature sinks to minimum. A silent “don't do it ever again” echoes from her ear into her mind. A slight smile hushes over her lips. What a calming voice. Without noticing they all begin to move. One foot after the other Anna following, Naruto seems to help her now. Trying to talk to her here and there until he comes to the conclusion that she “just needs some ishirakus AMAZING miso soup and you feel better. I promise!” his grin was honest and happy. He had the chance to make a new friend after all. Anna huffed in amusement. “You seem to love promising things don't you.” she smiled. It hurts. Everything in her body hurts. But she didn't wanted to show her full vulnerability before her new comrades.

With every step it got better, until she got to walk alone yet again. Naruto and Anna had a really good conversation. But still she told him to wait until she could explain herself with the powers, it drains her just thinking about it.

Somehow he understood. Kept up the conversation with other things.

In the background Yamato and Kakashi were talking to each other more silent. “Do you think she could be dangerous to us? To him?”, Yamato asked calm but serious, looking at his senpai. Kakashi thought for a bit, looking at Anna. “She could be one. But she can control herself, she can control it. What do you think her intentions are Tenzo?” now looking at the younger man there's not much moving in his very limited seen facial expression. At first he pouted slightly, he shouldn't call him Tenzo! Then he sighed. “She's an overall friendly Human and seems to have an sweet personality. Anna basically threw all the information I needed towards me. Happily telling me about her future plans and what she wanted to archive as an medic here in Konoha. She was telling it with an specific spark in her eyes. As far as I noticed there was nothing that could be suspicious.” he scratched his head.

Maybe Kakashi saw the light blush on Yamatos cheeks. How he did in the dim light of the streetlights is questionable. After a little while Kakashi finally said something as he watched his old friend,

“Did it really took you one day to fall for a girl?”

This caught Tenzo so off guard that his face expression dropped, he freezed, unable to move just staring at Kakashi in pure disbelief. The silver haired man stood a few steps before him, again, watching his reaction closely. “I know you since we were Kids Tenzo and you never even dared to speak about a women in that tone. Friendly, of course, but there's something else in your voice.” Yamato, being shy and flustered as ever, tried to answer him. Beginning new sentences after the other, stepping over his own tounge as his head went from sunkissed to tomato red. “T- IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!” he's fiddling around with his eyes, shaking his head.

Kakashi chuckled, slowly approaching his friend from the side holding up an icha icha book wich he already read like a thousand times. He points on one sentence. “Didn't you said you'll be sleeping with her tonight? Why don't you two do that? “ suggesting what stands in the book. Yamato is done. He can't do this anymore and wobbles forward.

Kashi, seemingly proud of himself, claps the book close and follows the rest.

The chestnut brown haired man thinks a lot until they finally arrive at ishirakus. They all sit down, eat and talk. Yamato can't get out of his head what Kakashi just said to him. He watches Anna, looking at her face, the way her nose is a little bit crooked at her nostrils, how she smiles. Just now he actually notices every piercing she got. As she and Naruto have an little argument about the soup she sticks out her tounge. A little gem is on it. She has an tounge piercing. Yamato asks himself why she did that. If he should ask her now? No. He doesn't think so. Silently he sighs, looking into his soup, eating a little with blushed cheeks.

It got kind of late. They all said goodnight and walk home. Yamato, still being by Anna's side, is a little nervous. Thanks to Kakashi he just noticed that he indeed finds her attractive. Helpful is something else. How should he approach her now? She encouraged him being himself around her and honest if something is wrong. Told him that directly in the face as they walked to the streets this morning. Pulling himself together he wanted to ask her how she feels now but she was faster:

“Are you okay? You suddenly became so silent. I hope I didn't scare you” as she looked up at him, he thought he's gonna melt. Her eyes looked like a puppy, asking to get some pets. He blushed and smiled. “No. No worries. You didn't scare me. Well… I was kind of scared but just because I was worried. You seemed so full of pain transforming back and the aftermath wasn't fun for you.” he scratches his head.

Anna is kind of surprised. Feeling a kind of warmth in her chest. Thinking that this man is the cutest. “It's okay”, she explained further, “I forced the transformation back into a human. If that happens it hurts. Else it would go away over time but I can't walk through streets as a dragon or fly over konoha, scaring everyone. It was the only choice I had today.” Her heart makes a big thud as he places his big hand on her hand, caressing for a few seconds. “That is good to know. Just please… Don't do it again.” She nods in agreement. “I won't. Promise.”

They arrive by Anna's new home, go in and silently shut the door. It's late and Keiko is sleeping since an hour or two, Annaisha explained to Yamato. Going upstairs they find an little note of her mother on the kitchen counter.

Hello little Sparrow! I made room for Yamato in the office, the futon is still in your room. If you don't mind putting it into the room for him? I love you, goodnight and see you in the morning. Love, Mom

Anna sighed. “Well, seems like you're going to sleep in the office.” She smiled at him. His eyes seeming like two black holes in the nearly dark room. “I show you where it is.” “Sure.”,he answered.

They go one floor up, Anna goes into her room grabbing the rolled futon, pillow and blanket. As they go to office they hear someone snorring. The big fat cat lays in the doorway of the office. Anna's shoulders slughes in annoyment. “Oh Shu… Do you have to lay there??” She tries to wake the red cat up by nudging him. Letting out a even more annoyed sigh she let's her head fall into the soft it of her mother's cat.

“How did he even get up here…?” with an questioning face expression Yamato stared at the at. Anna rolled her head to the side, looking at him. “he can make himself tiny but he refuses to be tiny all the time. He said it's like being in “too tight clothes”” Yamato began to question everything he knows and believes in. “so he can…talk…” “yes.” “would he talk to us now?”Anna looked up with her eyes, thinking. She sighs “I don't think soooo…he's pretty stubborn. If he found a place to sleep he stays there until… He doesn't…” They both just stand there for a little while. “Do you wanna sleep in the living room? You wouldn't get a long sleep bc my mom is a early riser.”

Yamatos throat gets dry, he blushes by thinking of sleeping in the same room as her, it was still a possibility after all. Also something she told him today…. “If… if you wouldn't mind… I'd like to sleep in your room…He fiddles with his sleeve. “Mhm” is the only sound Anna makes, looking into nothing then begins to move again. “Fine, follow me.” She walks into her room as Yamato follows. Letting herself blop on the bed, looking at the young man, for a moment, just a slight second he watches her boobs jiggle, then fast looks away letting his gaze go around the room. “make yourself comfortable. If you need to go to the toilet, shower etc you can use my bathroom” she points at a door beside on the other side of her bed, “don't be shy. I only bite in dragon form” she chuckles.

Like a useless statue of liberty he doesn't know where to go until Anna says something. The awkward situation is even too much for her. “Well, you can either change in the bathroom or I do- nah forget it, I change in the bath.” She gets up, looking in her little closet for some clothes and dissappears in the bath.

Yamato sighs. The tension flows out of his body. He looks around for a bit before he finally lays down the futon, tidying it up and begins to get out his Shinobi outfit. Putting the headpiece on the desk in Anna's room, regarding to keep it nice and tidy. Giving himself only a little bit of space on the room.

Hearing the shower turning on in the bath, he's sure that she won't come out that fast. Sitting down on his futon, for now without shirt and in pyjama pants, he begins to read one of the architecture books he saw in Anna's bookshelf. Basically he couldn't resist bc it is one that he doesn't possesses.

As he looses himself in his book he doesn't notice as Anna comes out of the bathroom. Her naked feet tapping dull on the flooring as she walks around him, sits down on her bed and watches him smiling. “You like Architecture?” Surprised he looks up. “Oh- eh… Yes, yes I do haha” massaging his neck, smiling bit embarrassed. “Do you like it too? I mean- it's your book after all.” she leans forward, her tight top wich is hugging her body revealing her boobs in the cleavage. Fast he looks into the book. How are her Tits so huge…? He thinks to himself. “Well… Yeah. Kind of. I mostly need it for drawing ideas and all. That's why I have it.” Yamato stares on one word in the book.

Anna gets up. Asking herself why he acts so strange. Only hoping she doesn't make him uncomfortable. Maybe she should put on an oversized t-shirt. Pulling one out of her drawer, throwing it over her head. She likes him. He's nice and over all it feels comfortable with him. She knows that she tends to trust people fast, maybe too easily but with him she's sure that trusting him is the right thing to do.

Shia noticed black eyes following her movements. She looks at him and he gazes up, back at her. Smiling she opens her mini braid by her right temple, putting the little pearl and mini hairband into a dish by her desk. “We should go to sleep.” she says calmly. With her gaze still at him, he nods stands up to put the book away. Anna puts her night lamp out, watching Yamatos arm movement closely. It shakes a little. She noticed the whole day that there was something wrong.

“Yamato.” she walks closer to him. He turns around towards her. Blushes hardly as he notices how close he is right now. “Your arm. You're in pain.” He furrows his eyebrows. How could she notice? “I'm going to touch you.” she warns him, before he can say anything Anna takes his arm, feeling over it, massasing certain trigger points in the muscles. “You over did it. Did you lifted anything too heavy or holded your arm in a certain position wich was actually uncomfortable?” She looks so concentrated, as her eyes begin to glow again, the pupils wider but still yet again like a cat. Fascinated by how she looked he didn't answer and just watched her movements. Anna activated her medical Jutsu, tracing other his arm, shoulder and chest. “You… Don't have to…” he breathed. “it's my job.” she answered, “of course I have to.” “do you really have enough Chakra left after this evening?” For a brief moment she looked him in the eyes, than back at what she actually was doing. “I have more than enough. Can't explain why it is that way. Only can imagine it is bc if the dragon spirit.” A little grunt came out between Yamatos teeth as Anna found the point where his muscle hardened. Loosing it up with the Jutsu felt unexpectedly good. Like he could finally relax. A pleased smile came from the redhead. Knowing that he actually helped him makes her happy. Yamato traces her face in the slight dark again, her smile… How would her lips feel like against his…? “You were part of the ANBU?” As she was done with the treatment, her fingertips caressing over the Tattoo. Interested tracing over the red curved lines. Being out of his trance by staring at her lips he stammers: “wha- eh… Yes… yes I was. Lady Tsunade gave me then a mission to go with Naruto, Sakura and Sai because Kakashi was injured. And now I'm in Team seven I guess…”

Annaisha looks up into his eyes. She has questions. Many of them. But it's not the time for it. Also they are knowing each other for only a day. She doesn't want to put salt in old wounds just bc she's curious to know him. It seems like Yamato notices the curiosity in her eyes but they just both smiled at each other before Anna took his hand in both of hers, squeezed it slightly and then let go.

She turned around and sit down on her bed, pulling the shirt over her head and throwing it on the chair where even more clothes piled up, all of them tidyly folded. Ruffling her hair before, sliding her hand through it to set her bangs right. “Goodnight Yamato, sleep well.” He huffed happily, now feeling how tired he actually is, he sits down and goes under the blanket. “Goodnight Annaisha. You too.”

Her blanket ruffles as she rolls herself up in it. Internally screaming. Hoping she hid her emotions perfectly. Damn. Shit.

How-

Is-

He-

So….

Cute?!?!

The door opens slightly. A small head looks into the room, meows and Anna looks towards her. “Mellie!” slight euphoria in her silent voice and the cat answers with an another meow. Hearing Yamato chuckle makes this situation basically the best for Anna. “She says it's bedtime and wakes me up every morning. Come here~” Mel jumps up on the bed and snuggles into the blanket in the height of Anna's stomach. “That's cute.” Yamato comments and after a while everybody sleeps in.

[grackielechuga]

Fic Update | Sunshower, Chapter 3: "Rain and Lightning"

Mook's POV again! And not only do we get to see Gang Ho's opinion on Mook's relationship with Aru, but we get to see how this directly affects Mook in a push and pull sort of effect throughout the second half of the chapter, which you can read here.

I knew I wanted this chapter as soon as I began expanding on the idea for Sunshower. It changed POVs a few times, but overall I decided that I wanted it to be experienced from Mook's perspective. A part of me worried that I was writing it too soon, but I reminded myself that this is my fic and I can do whatever I want with it.

I do genuinely enjoy the fun aspects of Gang Ho and Mook's friendship, such as Gang Ho unintentionally being clingy towards Mook.

“Mook! Did you miss me?” Gang Ho snakes an arm over Mook's shoulder, almost knocking him over in the process.

Gang Ho's opinion is that Mook is getting himself in too deep when it comes to Aru again. We know Gang Ho, despite being the one to help Mook confess his feelings to Aru, had his qualms about their relationship towards the end of RHS.

The second part of the chapter is, as I said, a push and pull between Mook's desire to protect Aru and his desire to be with her.

Starting with push:

He's unsure if she really wants to be with him again, as he has never asked.

Mook never asked Aru what it was she wanted from a relationship. Not at Reincarnation High, not since she's been reborn. Sure, she admitted to finding him attractive and said they were friends, albeit both in roundabout, unintended ways, but she's never told him she's interested romantically.

She has her own life to be worried about, one that he's already meddled in.

She absentmindedly taps the railing, gazing down at the street below. “Sometimes it just feels like I wasn't meant to get this far.” Mook's stomach drops. Even without an explanation, he knows exactly why. Her lifespan was destined to be short until he meddled with it.

He's not only going to break his own heart again, but hers.

And here he is, dragging her along for what Gang Ho reminded him could be another heartbreak. He wouldn't just be hurting himself, but also her.

And he views his love as something unconventional.

To love isn't to own, but Mook would do damn near anything to keep her eyes on him and him only. This is what Gang Ho meant; this sick and twisted part of him is unsightly, grotesque even. And he's sure that if he stays, Aru will see past the facade of love and deem it obsession.

He's a spirit, and she's a human. He can't even touch her.

He's cursed to be a creature of the rain, once being made to hide away and now finding it a reprieve. The sun and the rain can only meet temporarily, two opposing states of being. Monster, human. Dead, living. Rain, sun.

Their time together is always cut short: gifts and flirtatious words don't mean anything if Aru can't feel his affection. He saved the love of his life, but something as simple as touch still evades him? How pathetic.

There are so many reasons for him to leave Aru and never interact with her again. However, he's always pulled back.

I just mentioned touch as being one of the things that separates them. Even Aru mentioned in the previous chapter that she wants physical affection from a partner. And, well, what better way to bring them closer together than by giving Mook a bigger reason to want to stay?

If he really loves Aru, he should be able to grab her hand right now. If not, he'll admit defeat and follow Gang Ho's advice to leave her be. And he does. He touches her. He's touching her.

He pulls her down by the small of her back; it takes little force for her to fall into his arms. Her knees knock against the concrete, the arms tucked close to her chest loosening to hug him back. “God, Aru. You have no idea how much I've wanted to hold you.”

So yeah. Chapter 3, and Mook and Aru can touch each other again. That will certainly lead to more chaos. Next chapter we get to see Aru's reaction to this in "Rain and Rendezvous"

[millythewolf]

Whumptober Day 11

Prompt: Hallucinations Rating: Teen Characters: OCs, Mentioned other people's OCs Tags: Pirates, Prison, Ghosts, Angst, so much angst, missing scene in a sense?, TW: Untreated injuries, TW: Dead Character, TW: Implied Pedophilia, TW: Emotions.

The prison itself was dark and damp. It reeked of rot, whether it be from animals or dead prisoners. It was humid too, though Marcy had no idea how. There was no sunlight in this place, after all.

Marcy's scalp felt like it was on fire, burning and itchy and overall unpleasant. She knew the back of her head was bleeding as well, because when she tried to scratch that itch her hands looked like she had just skinned a deer. Oh, not to mention the bruised and beaten thing.

The first mate just wanted to go home, not rot in a cell.

She missed Randy, and Rosa and the captian as well. She missed the entire crew, really. Marcy didn't even want to think about how many they might have lost at Grimcrest.

"This is not you, Marcy." A familiar voice echoed in the cell.

Her head shot up, glancing around in the dark until a blue figure showed itself. The person had one large braid with a ribbon laced through it, messy clothes and a bloody neck. They were almost completely see through, like some sort of ghost. "Lilith? Now you show your face, huh?" The pirate sneered, and would have crossed her arms if they weren't in shackles.

The floater sighed, and sat against the opposite wall. "Look, once you joined the bandits I couldn't help you anymore. I can't go on their ship Marcy, it's against the code."

"You know very well that isn't what I'm talking about," the tattooed woman growled, but didn't yell, "I'm talking about after I moved to Grimcrest. Where I was in constant danger, and the one time I didn't have Randy with me a man tried to..." She trailed off, snapping her jaw shut. That was years ago, she could get over it. She could.

It wasn't like that fully happened. She was able to fight him off. So why was it so hard for her to get over?

Lilith frowned at her words, a look of pity on her face. Marcy hated it. She always hated pity, she never needed it. It never helped in any situation. "Don't look at me like that." The short-haired woman turned away.

The former Seadog's frown only deepened at the comment. She cared about her student, she really did, but this wasn't what she was here to speak to her about.

"I saw what happened at the Day Festival. You let Randy kill two men, Marcy. This is not what I stand for. Have you forgotten the leasons I've taught you?" Her look of pity turned to a scowl.

"I did not tell him to do that, he did that himself. So don't you dare put the blame on me for it. Besides, they were Armada, they deserved it. You should know that better than anyone." Marcy glared at her, before moving her gaze to the line along her old mentor's neck.

Lilith rolled her eyes, "You let him draw blood, but did not draw blood youself? How is that any fair? Besides that, you fell into a trap, and left your friend's side with no knowaledge of where you had run off to? What is with you, Marcy?"

She was about ready to punch the old Seadog, the woman she used to look up to. It's a shame that would break the code if she did though, as well as her fist. "Don't shame me, woman! I already know I made mistakes, I don't need you to voice them. Just go, get out. Go back to your haunted old ship that nobody fuckin' sees!"

Marcy was seething, not even sitting down anymore as she stood over the spirit like a bear. Without a word, but instead a look of worry, Lilith faded away into a mist before vanishing completely.

The pirate felt tears starting to well up in her eyes, their salty smell a relief from the decay in the dungeon. She hated how much she felt like a scared little kid again in here. Marcy can defend herself now, she didn't have any reason to feel this way.

She fell to her knees, water streaming down her cheeks and into the cracks in the floor. Marcy didn't sob. She stayed quiet, not wanting any guards to hear her moment of weakness and take advantage of it.

Marcy didn't want to be taken advantage of again. Not again.

[casspurrjoybell-25]

The Healer of Shakkara - Book One

*Warning Adult Content*

Chapter 15 - Friends - Part 1

The boar trails were narrow, so they walked in single file, with Galen and his friends in the middle, Sev and Rea in the lead and Obi, Iksy and Zenir behind.

The three friends spoke quietly as they walked and as Triss and Behn caught Galen up on their own adventures, he felt his spirits rise along with the sun.

"Doesn't your dad need your help with the brewery, this time of year?" he asked Behn, keeping his eyes on the dusty trail at his feet.

The boars chose their paths for efficiency, not for human comfort and the narrow track was steep as a ladder in places, choked with rocks and roots in others.

"Yep," Behn answered breathlessly.

His round face was red with exertion and sweat glistened on his brow.

They'd only been on the trail a little over an hour but the climb was brutal.

"But I've been replaced."

"Replaced?" Galen frowned, worried he might've caused some rift between Behn and his father.

Behn nodded and answered between puffs of breath.

"He wasn't... happy with me going after you but... you saved my life, so... he knew it was the only right thing. Meantime, he figured he'd kill two birds with one stone. Your dad needs a place to stay. My dad needs... an extra pair of hands. With me gone... my dad's got an extra room and Harrald has..." he trailed off, flushing an even brighter shade of red as he realized what he'd been about to say.

"Well, Harrald can help out," he finished.

Galen laughed, as much with pure relief and gratitude as with the memory of his father's sense of humor.

Whenever anyone asked if Harrald needed a hand with something, he'd hold up his stump and say... 'As a matter of fact, I do.'

No one made that mistake twice.

"Harrald will love that," he said.

"He hates the idea of taking charity, so I'm sure he'll do more than his fair share."

He turned his attention to Triss.

"What about your duty to the Guard? Won't you be charged with desertion?"

"If I ever go back, maybe but I doubt it," she shrugged.

"Things were more confused than an ant's nest on fire when I left. I'm not the only one who 'disappeared.' Besides, with the way the temple's been worming its way into our business... I doubt I had much future with the Guard, anyway."

"What do you mean?"

She glanced at him.

"You know the way the temple zealots think. 'Women are supposed to stay home and make babies, not ride horses into battle."

Galen grimaced.

"But you're the best in your class," he said.

"And it's not uncommon for women to be the best archers and the most skilled riders. They can't argue with that."

She rolled her eyes.

"That's the problem. People like Darek think women shouldn't be as good, much less better, than men, so they don't like it when they see evidence to the contrary."

Rea glanced over her shoulder, having overheard.

"It's the same everywhere," she said.

"Though I thought Thryn was different."

Triss sized the other woman up with a keen eye.

"Thryn is different, overall," she said.

"But things are changing and not for the better. After they drive off the foreigners and 'witches' who will they blame for the troubles to come? People who don't follow the temple's lead and stick to 'tradition' that's who."

"But having women in the Guard is tradition," Behn argued.

"Goddess Thrynis herself is a warrior."

Triss rolled her eyes.

"It's not really about tradition. It's about..."

"Power," Rea said, nodding.

"Instability breeds fear and fear is a tool in the hands of those who seek power. Thryn isn't the only province experiencing unrest... it's happening all over the Empire."

"More tremors?" asked Behn.

"Not tremors. No... but other things," Iksy's deep voice came from right behind Behn, making the boy start.

"Unseasonable rains in Edraxis, a drought in Yuthraka, massive sandstorms in Abarra, strange illnesses in Naqqir. So far, Sakkara remains unaffected but for how long?"

"What's causing it?" Behn asked.

They'd come to a halt beneath the shade of a few shrub-like trees with twisted trunks and prickly leaves and took a moment to sip water and catch their breaths.

It was hardly an hour past sunrise but already the air was warm.

"No one knows," Sev answered, his eyes shifting from silver to dark gray in the dappled shade.

"But the people of Thryn aren't alone in their talk of 'imbalances' and the Order at Jana Val agrees. Magic is woven through the fabric of our world and something is disrupting it. They hope the P'Yrha will hold the answers they seek."

"And they think this 'P'Yrha' person is Gale?" Behn asked, brows raised.

"They will test him... yes... but I'm already quite certain that he is. From what I've heard, he healed you through sheer force of will... by channeling raw magic through himself. Only a P'Yrha could do that."

Behn looked at Galen and whistled.

"Guess you're gonna save the world, Gale. No pressure, huh?"

[teavalleytea007]

Try Out Some Steaming Cup Of Healthy Tea

Cup Of Healthy Tea

Nothing differs in flavour at all, even after having different types of tea. As long as it isn't tampered with, tea from every country or state will have the same flavour. Chai fans, do yourself a favour and treat yourself to a cup of Tea Valley's health and happiness. Tea Valley tea, one of the best strong tea in India, is regraded as a premium tea brand.

Whether you're drinking it in the morning, the afternoon, or before bed, tea has the power to lift your spirits no matter what you're going through. In India, the ritual of sitting down with a cup of hot tea and a crunchy snack is highly valued, and individuals will often go out of their way for special occasions just to have the chance to do so. Time to celebrate with Tea Valley, where authentic and 100 % Premium Assam tea is served at every gathering.

To what extent, then, does tea excel over coffee? By many accounts, tea originated in the province of China ruled by Shen Nung. The study participants were told that one day, while Shen Nung was wandering around his garden, he dropped a tea leaf into his mug of steaming water. The former emperor took a whiff of the perfume, tried some, and approved. This is the chain of events that led to the widespread popularity of tea.

Coffee, on the other hand, has risen in popularity, though not to the same extent that tea has. Here we'll find out why tea has become more popular than coffee among those who need their daily dose of caffeine.

Get Yourself Hydrated With A Brewing Cup Of Tea:

In the midst of a sweltering summer, many people choose not to drink tea. Most people believe that consuming too much of this drink will make them uneasy, although this is largely unfounded. When the heat of summer leaves you feeling drained and perspiring, sipping on some chai can be a welcome relief. It's also worth noting that tea is a wonderful choice for moisturizing your skin.

Possible Cures For Cancer:

Several preliminary studies have revealed that tea may help lower cancer risk. Green tea, in particular, has been cited as a possible anti-cancer beverage and regarded as the best tea for health. Some examples are:

Developing a stronger immune system that can successfully combat cancer.

Boost vitality, health, and overall happiness.

Purge your system of any poisons.

Help people take charge of their cancer and its treatment.

Make cancer your first priority.

Tea Serves As A Great Motivator:

Well, this is more than simply a drink selection; tea is the best option because of its low caffeine content. Once cancer cases have subsided, Chai will be in a better position to deal with a cardiac emergency. More so, this will enhance the following:

Losing weight has been shown to improve immune function.

Curb your cholesterol intake.

Help keep your mind sharp

It's even less complicated than brewing a cup of coffee.

During previous lockdowns, one particular type of coffee—Dalgona coffee—has reportedly performed exceptionally well online. But has the new type of coffee managed to wipe out the flavour of Chai, which we have all loved since we were kids? It could be that's not the case. Indians still prefer tea to coffee, and it's easy to see why when you consider how quickly it can be prepared using the fine leaves grown in Tea Valley.

Consuming Tea Aid With Weight Loss:

Shraddha Kapoor promotes a healthy lifestyle by drinking green tea, and we believe her because she appears in TV commercials saying as much. Green tea, an organic tea, has certain health benefits and is a light alternative because it's full of antioxidants. Some examples are:

Strengthening of Mental Capacity

Getting Rid of Extra Fat

Cancer-Preventing Measures

Protection against Heart Diseases

[angry-geese]

Blood Ties - Chapter Eight: The Shibuya Incident II

Soulmate au Choso x Reader

Warnings: some swearing. jjk manga spoilers. overall its sfw but theres some pretty graphic depictions of violence.

Word Count: 3.7k

prev - next

masterlist

“Would you rather kill a bunch of weak, mutated humans, or exorcise a single strong cursed spirit?” Mei Mei asks.

With Yuji's help you would stand a chance against that cursed spirit. The humans would be easier. But they're humans. Or they used to be. You can argue about if they are or not forever, but that would be a waste of breath. Whether or not they still are isn't for you to decide. This needs to be taken care of. The morality of it can wait.

You leave Yuji to decide. You don't feel strongly either way, but you have a feeling he’ll pick the second one. And maybe the second one is more bearable to think about.

“The mutated humans are wandering about and attacking civilians in B4F,” she continues, “I think most of the civilians are on the Fukutoshin Line Platform in B5F.”

“You think?” You ask.

“The crows I use get cloaked in cursed energy, I couldn't see inside myself. I guess the civilians inside had no choice but to flee to lower floors. They were being chased.” She says. “My crows were hunted down between B1F and B2F,

“It's hard to say why they’re there: they could be there to eliminate civilians trying to escape up the stairs. Or it might be a condition of the curtain.”

Yuji looks as if he has something to say. He stands abruptly, motioning down the stairs.

“He’s there, right?” Yuji asks. “Below here, that guy…”

“I couldn't say.” Mei Mei says. “But he must be, considering the mutated humans,

“It's a bad idea to split our forces. But if we hesitate too long, we’ll get everyone killed. We’ll use the 7th entrance to go directly to B4F. If things get rough, you run down there too,

“But honestly, when we reunite,” she says, “I hope that the curtain is raised, the civilians are rescued, and you’ve identified what the person in B5F wants.”

“Don't worry, Mei-san.” Yuji says. “I’m not gonna lose anymore. I’ve got it from here.”

…

Somewhere in the dark is a wet crunching noise. All but one light has gone out. Your hands feel along the cold tile walls in your best attempt to guide yourself through the dark. They tremble. Are you shaking? No. It's just dark and you can't see. You have only the faintest notion you’re going the right way. Cursed energy hangs thick in the air. It threatens to strangle you. It takes everything within you to not fall into a coughing fit.

Up ahead is a single light.

Your heartbeat drops off for a moment, before picking up pace.

It's unmistakably a curse. They're a lot uglier now that you can finally see them. It resembles a grasshopper in shape. It gnaws on a corpse. That explains the crunching. Blood drips down it's chin (mandibles???), staining it a bright red. Something metallic smelling hangs in the air. You pray it isn't blood, but your heart—and nose—tells you otherwise.

A shock of fear is sent straight up your spine. Grasshoppers are gross little creatures. Except not much about this guy is little. He's got the gross part going for him, though. Fear makes your palms dampen with sweat. Moving takes more effort than usual. Each action you take is forced, like you have to manually command your limbs to move, instead of going off muscle memory.

You can deal with curses, injuries, and a litany of other horrors the world of sorcery brings, but bugs gross you out. It's not like you can exactly help it. They're gross! And they have too many eyes!

It's a curse. Somehow that's better than it being a bug. Though those are a lot smaller, and a lot less harmful. If it's a curse, you can exorcise it.

"The fuck are you lookin' at?" It asks.

“Oh, you talk,” You say.

Do these things normally talk? Sure seems like they do. If it can speak, does that make it a special grade? It doesn't look that tough. But it can communicate, which is worrying.

“I didn't realize you were smart.” Yuji says.

The grasshopper stops, turning to look at you. There's something unsettlingly human about it's eyes.

"You're a… sha-shu-shaman right?" The curse isn't stuttering, so much as he's getting a feel for the word. He repeats it back to himself several times, like he’s feeling the words as they leave his mouth. "You're a shaman right? Of course I'm smart!"

"Have you seen the patchwork kid?" Yuji asks. "I mean the guy with stitches in his face-"

"I know what that means!" The curse replies. "I'm not stupid! Mahito is down," he points at the ground, "I'm protecting the curtain here!"

So that guy's name is Mahito.

Your gaze drifts to the left. Something nailed into the ground, wrapped in what looks like gauze, scrawled with runes. Stuck in the ground, a few feet behind the curse, is a post.

It looks important. You're gonna break it.

You suppose you could throw rocks at it. But having Yuji distract the curse while you run over and stomp on it is

"Mahito's jujuchu is no good," he says, dropping the corpse, "did you know that when a human's shape is changed, it tastes worse? See I'm smart! I know things."

"You sure do," you say.

Barrier techniques are hard. Yuji recalls a conversation he had with Gojo. Despite many sorcerers being strong, most of them can't do a barrier technique.

Gojo can do both, though.

You're the weaker target, but Yuji is a bigger threat. Ko-Guy can always kill you later. But getting you out of the way first would be smart too.

His attack is cut short when Yuji's foot connects with his chest, shoving him back into the wall. The sound of the bricks breaking reverberates low in your chest. It makes your teeth rattle and your ears ring. Your arms move to shield your face from the wave of dust and rocks.

"Bastards! All of you!" Yuji says, "I'd stop underestimating humans if I were you!"

Whether he’s focusing his cursed energy on purpose, or by instinct, you can't tell. But you know he's gearing up for an attack. You do the same. Pulling from your reservoir of cursed energy is hard. It's either all or nothing, especially without being hit. If there's nothing to absorb, then there's nothing to use. And though some lingers in the air, using it is difficult too. It's… bitter.

So it comes down to luck. And you don't consider yourself a lucky person.

The very nature of your cursed energy is moody, like you, Nanami would say. Your unpredictable nature is an advantage when it comes down to a fight. The enemy can't predict your next move when even you don't know what you're going to do. You're far from the strongest. But you are strong. Resilient might be a better word for it. Like a cockroach that can survive it's head being cut off.

Fights are nothing like they are in the movies. The scene doesn't slow down and give you time to think about what's happening. If anything, things speed up.

Yuji's feet are moving before his brain is even telling them to.

The grasshopper curse swings for him, his left arm (arms???) coming down hard to Yuji’s side. As he rolls aside, you replace him, jabbing the tip of your blade into the creature. Cursed energy courses down your arm, into your blade, and subsequently into your target. The tip, being broken and jagged, doesn't do any fatal damage. But it's enough to stun him, leaving an opening for Yuji.

"You're not smart!" Yuji says.

"You are?!" Counters the curse.

"Fair point." You say.

Yuji casts a scowl in your direction. You duck out of the way as the curse swings, stumbling a few feet backward.

"I doubt you can even tell what type of curse I am." Ko-Guy says.

"You're a grasshopper curse." You say.

His eyes widen. "This guy is smart!"

"And you're both idiots," you say, before adding: "sorry, Itadori. Now, can we get this over with?"

Yuji’s eyes narrow. His pride is a bit wounded, but he seems to understand.

"Did you know that in this world," the grasshopper straightens to its full height, towering nearly a foot above your head, "those who aren't smart DIE!"

His bite, combined with his use of his four arms, create a deadly close range opponent. He seems to want to keep things in close range combat. You doubt he’s going to use any sneaky tactics. That you can work with.

“So which are you?” He asks.

“Which what?” Answers Yuji.

“Are you smart or not?”

“People who are smart,” Yuji says, “usually don’t brag about being smart.”

The curse gasps and covers his mouth with his hands. His eyes widen in a mix of shock and fear.

The air turns static with the swell of Yuji’s cursed energy. His feels strange. It's different from the energy put off by curses. Cursed energy used by humans feels different from that used by curses. You don't know the reason why, you only know it is. Honestly you're making things up as you go, though, so does everyone else, if it's any consolation.

With inhuman speed, Yuji swings. His first hit connects. Then his second. With brutal force, too, nearly folding the creature in half.

You’re starting to wonder why they even asked for your help in the first place.

As if driven by some unknown force, Ko-Guy swings for you.

At the end of his abdomen is a black stinger, akin to that of a wasp. When it stops mere centimeters from your face, you freeze. Not on purpose. It's like some primal part of your brain is refusing to let your body move. You’re not sure if it's venomous, or primarily used to stab things. Either way, you’re not exactly happy to be at the receiving end of it.

You guess you can take back what you said about him not pulling anything sneaky. He may be smarter than you first expected.

That stinger will rip you apart before you even know what’s happened. At least it'll be a quick death. You can't tell if you're trembling, or if it's adrenaline making you jittery. Probably both. You can move out of the way, or you can attack. Neither of which you think will have a good outcome for you.

“I win.” He says. “Move, Yuji Itadori, and I will kill them.”

You take back what you said about having only two options.

You duck, bringing your blade up and into the abdomen of the curse. The force of the hit is enough to make your teeth rattle, and send a shock of pain up your arms. Even without the cursed energy behind it, it would have been a decent hit. With it; it's deadly. Foul smelling blood sprays out, covering your chest and arms, dripping off your skin. It's cold, and congeals quickly, taking on a clumpy texture.

Grimsever is stuck.

If you try to pull it out, you’ll likely be killed. But without it, you’re useless in a fight. Unless you can figure out how to use Rend without a weapon in the next few seconds, you’re doomed.

Your saving grace is Yuji, who slips between you and the curse, putting some distance between you. Ko-Guy is weakened slightly, and no longer able to dodge every hit. There's a gap between the two when it comes to raw skill. Yuji Itadori is powerful. Even without being Sukuna’s vessel, he’s a formidable opponent. You often consider yourself glad he's on your side.

“Any last words?” Yuji asks.

The curse never gets the chance to answer. His final blow lands with a sickening crunch.

Your sword clangs to the ground as the curse dissipates. It's soaked to the hilt in foul-smelling blood, though that will evaporate in time. At some point you should clean and sharpen it, but as busted as it is, you often find it hard to justify putting in the effort.

The post crunches underfoot as you break it. There’s no flashy lights or noise to indicate anything has happened. You won't be certain that the curtain has been lifted until you regroup with the others.

You give Yuji a once-over for injuries. Aside from scrapes, he’s fine. He’s always fine. He’s strong. Talented too. Yuji has a kind of raw, inborn talent that you haven't seen before. Even now you’re still impressed by his strength.

He should have joined his school’s sports club. A lot of this could have been avoided if he had taken track and field.

“Are you alright?” He asks.

“Don't worry about me,” you say, “he just caught me off guard. That's all.”

He nods. “We should go find the others.”

You motion for him to take the lead. You won't fall too far behind, but you want to look around.

Your—James’—phone has service. One bar. You doubt a call would go through if you tried. You’re not sure who you would call. Nanami? Gojo? Nobara?

It's a text. Not to your phone, but to his.

The area code is from somewhere in Japan. You recognize it. It's not the same number that was in his call history, but the area code is the same. Could be a coincidence. Or not.

There’s no logic or order behind the way things happen, they just happen. And that's not exactly the answer you want—or anyone wants—but it's the most people are going to get.

But you don't really believe in coincidences any more.

It only says “call me”. Being nosy, that’s exactly what you plan to do. Who knows how long you’ll have cell service for? You could enter the curtain at any moment.

“Hey Yuji?” You call out.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve gotta do something real quick.”

“Splitting up is a bad idea.” He says. “We should really stick together.”

Well that didn't work.

You could lie. If you said it was an emergency, you really can't see him refusing. He’s far too kind for his own good.

“It's not that,” you say, sucking in a breath, “I gotta pee like REAL bad!”

“OH!” Instantly his face turns red. “There's a-” he motions behind you, “bathroom over there.”

“Thank you! Sorry!”

You pick the first bathroom you see and slip in. It's the only stall with a light still on. The door shuts and locks behind you.

The phone rings three times before it's picked up.

The call is static-y, and you can barely hear anything on the other end. It feels like any moment it will be dropped. With only one bar, your time is limited. You’re far too close to the curtain for this to work.

“Satoru Gojo has been captured, and we are all going to die.”

You’re silent for a moment. There's too many thoughts racing through your mind for you to focus. At first you’re shocked, and a bit relieved. That quickly turns to anger. There's no rage quite like that directed at your siblings. Call it a Cain instinct, or whatnot.

“Oh, sure, no ‘hey, how are you? It's nice to see you SINCE I RAN OFF!’” You say.

James sucks in a breath. Whatever reaction he was expecting, it wasn't this.

“Where are you?” He asks.

“On my way to KILL YOU!”

“Very funny,” he says, “where are you right now? And who are you with?

“I’d really like an answer,” he says, “I’m risking a lot contacting you like this.”

“I’m with Yuji Itadori and a grade one sorcerer named Mei Mei,” you say, “I doubt you know her- she’s some weird chick with blue hair; has a creepy relationship with her little brother- that's besides the point. Right now we’re on our way to the B5F platform.”

“Don't go there!”

“We know about the mutated humans,” you say, “we’ll be fine.”

You pause for a moment. In the bathroom, the only noise is the faint dripping of water. A leaky sink. It echoes through the empty room.

“Wait, why the hell are you here?!” You grip the phone so tight you fear you’ll break it.

“Work.” He says. “It's… I don't have enough time to explain. Now I suggest you turn around and leave.”

“You're with…”

“Look, I know it sounds bad…” He’s not going to add a ‘but’ to that sentence, that's it.

You’re definitely snitching on him to mom.

“You better hope something finds you before I do,” you say, “because when I do, I WILL kill you.”

On the other end is static. The call has been disconnected. Either one—or both—of you have run out of service.

…

“Looks like we're too late,” Mei Mei says.

Despite the rest of the station being dark, the bottom of the stairs are well lit. A lone man sits with his back to a pillar. His eyes are wide, his pupils shrunk down to pinpricks. His arms cross over his chest as his body rocks back and forth.

“Train full…” he mutters, “train full. Didn't want me.”

Yuji kneels to be eye-level with the man. “Are you alright?” He asks.

His very being trembles. For being a normal civilian, cursed energy radiates off him in waves. It's as if there's something wrong with his very soul itself. You find yourself backing away without knowing why.

“Every one…” he says, “monsters.”

At first you think he’s going to scream. The man opens his mouth, but no noise comes out. His face twists, horribly so. It’s inhuman. The crunching of bones echoes through the station.

The patchwork kid was here. Mahito, Mojito, whatever.

He smells like a corpse before his body has even had the chance to decay. Maybe Ko-Guy was onto something about mutated humans tasting worse.

Yuji, seemingly unaware of what’s going on around him, slaps his hand over his ear. When he pulls his hand away, he holds a small, disc-like object. It vaguely resembles a face. Or that of a robot.

“This is Mechamaru from Kyoto High-” Yuji squeezes the disc so tight his knuckles turn white, “wait! Wait! I’m on your side!”

After a moment of thinking, Yuji decides to let him continue.

“We don't have much time.” He says. “Satoru Gojo-”

“Has been captured.” You interrupt.

Yuji’s face turns white. The Satoru Gojo? He’s the strongest. Yuji can't imagine anything bad ever happening to him. Because he’s always okay. No matter what, he’s always okay.

“If only you said that,” Mei Mei says, addressing Mechamaru, “I would find it hard to believe. But both of you…”

“How do you know?” Yuji asks.

“I don't have any proper proof, if that's what you’re asking,” Mechamaru says, “but the fact I’m here is proof enough,

“I was killed on October 19th by a special grade curse named Mahito. What I am now is nothing more than a contingency I planned for before I died. It was made under the stipulation that Gojo would be sealed. To avoid a malfunction, I limited the positions of these puppets to three possible locations,

“Yuji Itadori, out of all the sorcerers in Jujutsu High, is the least likely to be a mole. And I’ve eliminated Mei Mei, given the current situation. And you, the swordsman, as well.”

“Why?” Asks Mei Mei.

“Because your scouting crows were sent to Meiji-Jingumae instead of being used for covert operations in Shibuya.” He says. “As for you and Yuji, neither of you had a connection to the Jujutsu world until recently.”

“What if I was just refusing to follow orders?” Mei Mei asks. “Besides, I was the one trying to stop Itadori, despite his determination to come to Shibuya.”

“Then why are there curse users coming to kill you?” Mechamaru asks.

“There's what?!” You ask. You cast a glance over your shoulder, but you’re only met with suffocating darkness.

When Yuji does find it in him to speak, he swallows hard. Satoru Gojo has been captured, and we are all going to die.

Yuji senses something. You’re not sure what. If you hadn't stopped to focus, you would have ignored it, thinking it was residuals. Cursed energy is so thick in the air down here it's hard to tell what is what. You’re overwhelmed, and irritable. It only becomes more tolerable when you take off your glasses, but doing so for long is dangerous.

“One.” Mechamaru says, before quickly correcting himself. “Maybe two, Itadori, are they stronger than the curse you just fought?”

Despite the curse not being very strong—or smart, for that matter—it could still communicate. Which is concerning. No matter how low the estimate, it was powerful enough to be a semi-grade one at least. Enemies like that are appearing all over the place now.

“Let's ignore them, and keep going.” Mei Mei says. “We should check on-”

“No!” Interrupts Mechamaru. ”The situation in Shibuya has changed. The barrier techniques they’re using are far more advanced than first thought, and superior to ours.

“Curtain A traps civilians, curtain B traps Satoru Gojo, curtain C bars sorcerers from entering.”

“Well fuck,” you say, “so there's a curtain further down the tracks blocking our way?”

“Yes.”

“Well fuck!”

The sorcerers on standby are probably already in the curtain. Using a phone within a curtain is impossible. Or, at the very least, really hard.

“Not only that,” Mei Mei says, “I can't contact any of the managers either.”

She’s right. James’ phone is out of service. You thought you hit a lucky break with that call back there, but maybe it was a fluke. If James is in Shibuya, he must be outside the curtain. Or in a pocket, or something that negates the effects of the curtain, though you find that unlikely.

“Please,” Mechamaru says, “my contingency will wear off soon. Itadori and the swordsman head back to Meiji-Jingumae and proceed to Shibuya above-ground. You have to inform the others about what’s happened. Rescuing Gojo needs to be a collaborative effort,

“Mei Mei, please open a way for them to get through. After the curse users attack, I’d like for you to manage things down here. We can't be certain of how the enemy will engage,

“If Satoru Gojo disappears, not only will the Jujutsu world be upended, but the human one too. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to put your lives on the line here.”

“Everyone,” Mei Mei says, “they're here.”

[iamthenightcolormeblack]

My Thoughts on Pride & Prejudice 2005: Style over Substance

Kicking off my Pride and Prejudice adaptation review series with the most popular of all the adaptations: the 2005 movie. This film stars Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy.

1. GENERAL THINGS I LIKED

The cinematography and the soundtrack. Every shot is a painting, especially with the gorgeous landscape scenery. The music is beautiful and dreamy; I have listened to the soundtrack more times than I've watched the film. Both the cinematography and the soundtrack effectively transport the viewer back to the film's romanticized version of "the past," when life was simpler and people lived slower lives, waiting for their Mr. Darcy to sweep them off their feet.

Originality. The film takes a unique approach to the story by focusing mainly on the romance between Darcy and Elizabeth and emphasizing how the natural surroundings reflect the characters' mental state/emotions (pouring rain during the first proposal and stormy skies when Elizabeth hurries home after Lydia runs away). Though one can disagree with the creative changes made, I like how this film isn't just a remake of what came before it.

Elizabeth's walks through the countryside. The film expresses her desire for freedom through her countryside walks. For instance, the Netherfield walk is shocking to Caroline Bingley because it demonstrates Elizabeth's independence.

The comedic parts are great thanks to the creative additions made. For example, the "excellent boiled potatoes" joke isn't in the book, but it perfectly exemplifies Mr. Collins' poor social skills and pretentiousness, as he tries to make an overly formal comment about an otherwise mundane dish.

2. THE CASTING

The acting is good, although I don't always agree with how the characters are portrayed.

Keira Knightley. I like how she's the right age for Elizabeth, who is around 20-21 years old; Knightley was around 19-20 when she played Elizabeth, plus she has gorgeous eyes. She perfectly conveys the pride, confidence, and biting wit of Elizabeth, as she holds her head high in an imperious manner and has a direct, piercing gaze. However, I don't like how this version chooses to simplify Elizabeth's character into that of "free-spirited nonconformist tomboy," who is a nature-lover and runs to the countryside to console herself when things get tough (ex. running to the lake after rejecting Mr. Collins). This is a contrast to the Elizabeth Bennet as presented to us in the book, who acts like a typical "lady" for the sake of her social reputation; she mostly keeps her thoughts to herself except when talking to Jane or Darcy. Elizabeth is powerful not because she rejects society outright; it is because she does not submit to societal pressure to marry and makes her own choices (ex. rejecting Mr. Collins).

Matthew Macfadyen. His Darcy is cold, aloof, and remote, yet shows signs of a rich inner life and unrequited yearning for Elizabeth as a soulmate. I like how this version shows Elizabeth peeling away his cold exterior like the layers of an onion, until his heart of gold is revealed. While I think Macfadyen is a good actor, I disagree with the interpretation of Darcy solely being a lonely introvert, as it neglects his primary character flaw of pride.

Tom Hollander's Mr. Collins. Probably the best casting, as he perfectly portrays the bumbling awkwardness of the character and is more sympathetic than the gross Mr. Collins in the 1995 BBC miniseries. He is short, has a nasally voice and officious manner that makes him annoying yet fun to watch.

Simon Woods as Mr. Bingley. He's so friendly and eager to please, like the character is in the book.

Rosamund Pike's Jane Bennet. Utterly angelic and motherly, need I say more? The perfect antidote to Elizabeth's savagery.

Rupert Friend's Mr. Wickham. Handsome and dashing in a red soldier's uniform. It's easy to see how a girl would fall for him and ignore his debauchery, but also obvious that he is deceptive. For instance, he keeps claiming that he is insignificant and unnoticed, when he basks in the attention of Elizabeth, Kitty and Lydia.

3. OVERALL CHARACTER AND PLOT DEVELOPMENT

Since this is a movie, character development is a challenge, and the film relies on changes of outward appearance/dialogue to show character growth. For instance, we get to see Darcy's change from cold and remote into warm and loving, while Elizabeth admits that "she was wrong" about Darcy and slowly comes to respect him.

The first half (beginning to Darcy's proposal) is great because it effectively introduces the audience to the cast of characters (the family, Darcy, Bingley, Caroline, Wickham, and Mr. Collins). It also contains all the comedic parts and sets up the conflicts that drive the story. Overall, this half is more faithful to the novel because it has the social satire aspects of the story and sticks to the key plot points while developing the characters.

The second half is rather lackluster compared to the first because it focuses solely on resolving the plot points introduced in the first half. This part of the book contains important events for Elizabeth's character development (getting the letter, visiting Pemberley, dealing with the fallout from Lydia's elopement), but the film rushes through them to get Elizabeth and Darcy married. Instead of focusing on how Elizabeth overcomes her prejudice of Darcy and starts to love him, the film relies on aesthetic shots of flickering candles/landscapes to serve as quick transitions between the scenes. Though we have plenty of evidence that Darcy loves Elizabeth, we don't see much evidence that the love is mutual until the second proposal, only that Elizabeth starts to see him as a friend.

Another reason I don't like the second half of the film as much as the first half is the reduced dialogue. This second half has a lot of quiet moments devoted to nature scenery/Elizabeth staring in the mirror. Reducing the dialogue, with the exception of the letter scene, doesn't make sense because the plot/action of Pride and Prejudice is furthered through the conversations the characters have (after all, wealthy Regency women likely spent much time indoors/making social calls). While one can argue that the reduced dialogue is meant to show that Elizabeth is reflecting on her mistaken prejudice, without access to Elizabeth's interior thoughts, the audience doesn't get to see Elizabeth actively confronting her false assumptions about Darcy, unlike in the book, where she says out loud to herself: "Until this moment, I never knew myself."

Notable Scenes From the First Half of the Film:

The opening scene. It sets the tone for the whole movie with the beginning shot of a field at dawn, which ties in nicely with the second proposal scene near the end. By presenting Elizabeth by herself reading a book, it communicates to the audience that Elizabeth is "not like other girls," and it shows the imperfect, yet loving family dynamics of the Bennet household.

Elizabeth roasting Darcy after he dismisses her as "tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me." During a conversation the Bennet family has with Darcy and Bingley, Mrs. Bennet commits a social gaffe when talking about Jane's many admirers and how one sent her poetry. Elizabeth saves the situation by commenting that bad poetry can kill love, and Darcy comments that he regards poetry as "the food of love" and asks how to "encourage affection." I like that the film included this little exchange from the book (although it takes place while Elizabeth is visiting a sick Jane at Netherfield, and not during the first ball), since it was skipped over in the 1995 miniseries. The best part is Elizabeth's sick burn: "Dancing. Even if one's partner is barely tolerable," which is made even better when she walks away from him with a triumphant smile on her face.

The famous Hand Flex. After Darcy helps Elizabeth into the carriage (by holding her hand) so she and Jane can head back home, he glances longingly at her before wringing the hand with which he touched hers. It's an important hint of his growing love for her, as well as his struggle to repress those feelings. This is a wonderful bit of character development as it reveals that Darcy has a heart.

Mr. Collins having a meal with the Bennet family. The awkwardness is palpable as Mr. Collins tries to show off his social skills and give pro tips on charming ladies. This is all topped off with this amazing comedic joke: "These are excellent boiled potatoes. Many years since I've had such an exemplary vegetable." Another brilliant bit: after Lydia cannot contain her laughter, Lizzy, after giving her father a mischievous side-eye, slaps Lydia on the back to hide her laughter. Best line besides the excellent boiled potatoes: "Believe me, no one would suspect your manners to be rehearsed."

The Netherfield Ball dance between Darcy and Elizabeth. It is staged like a clash of personalities in the beginning, while the creative filming technique of separating the couple apart from the crowd of dancers foreshadows the budding relationship between them. I also like how sarcastic the dialogue is--Elizabeth is trying to win a battle of wits with Darcy but he successfully avoids her traps while reminding her that she doesn't truly know him and cannot make judgements about his personality.

Mr. Collins trying to introduce himself to Darcy. It's so comical because of the significant height difference between Mr. Collins and Mr. Darcy (Collins is dwarfed by Darcy). The height difference effectively represents the significant difference in social status between the two men and makes Collins, with his pomposity, look ridiculous as he fancies himself part of the nobility but cannot properly introduce himself.

Mr. Collins' proposal--one of the funniest scenes in the movie. Mr. Collins clumsily tries to flatter Elizabeth with a tiny flower, and it gets even funnier when he so obviously misreads Elizabeth's disinterest and outright exasperation (he doesn't understand that no means no!). After Mr. Collins bends down on one knee to propose to Elizabeth, the film emphasizes Elizabeth's towering presence over Collins to show that the two are a mismatch. The fact that the proposal takes place in the messy dining room reflects Collins' view of marriage as a business matter that he wants to get done with quickly, since the location of the proposal is not very romantic.

Elizabeth roasting Darcy yet again at Rosings Park. Elizabeth eagerly recounts to Colonel Fitzwilliam Darcy's impolite manners at the first ball; Darcy confesses that "I do not have the talent of conversing easily with people I have never met before." I like how the nervous and quiet delivery of that line shows to the audience that Darcy is an introvert, and it shows that he's an honest person, since he abhors "disguise of every sort." The scene effectively highlights Elizabeth's prejudice towards Darcy as the audience feels pity for him when Elizabeth tells him to practice.

"This is a charming house." During this scene, Darcy visits Elizabeth while she is alone and awkwardly attempts to make conversation with her. Macfadyen is a master of body language; Darcy says little but expresses a lot (ex. the nervous fiddling with his gloves). He tries to express his feelings for Elizabeth but gives up and abruptly walks out of the room.

The first proposal. What a climactic scene (but not very faithful to the book)! The music, thunder, and rain perfectly complement the volcano of emotions that erupts when Darcy cannot repress his feelings any longer. This scene has some of the best sexual tension ever; the two get closer to each other until they almost kiss. While this scene is great to an objective viewer, I don't like that the modified dialogue changes the original meaning of this scene (more about this later).

The letter. Elizabeth has a moment of introspection when she is forced to question her judgment, and Darcy delivers his letter. I like the shot of Darcy riding farther and farther away from Elizabeth, signaling that he is becoming increasingly out of her reach.

Notable Scenes from the Second Half of the Film:

Aunt and Uncle Gardiner arrive right after Elizabeth comes back from Rosings and they take her away to a vacation. I didn't like how they were introduced too quickly; I was thinking to myself "how did they get there and where did they come from?" Luckily we are treated to more glorious shots of the English countryside (the one with them under a large oak tree is my favorite).

Visiting Pemberley. I was puzzled by why Elizabeth laughs as soon as she sees Pemberley for the first time because in the book she was in complete awe of it. Also it doesn't make sense why she would touch his expensive stuff it's not her house...or is it? The good thing is that the embarrassment the two have upon meeting each other again is definitely palpable. Georgiana is sweet, but a little less shy than she was in the book.

Darcy smiles! After introducing Georgiana to Elizabeth, he smiles for a brief time at Elizabeth, and she smiles back. It's a great moment showing how Elizabeth has drawn out his goodness, and indicates that Darcy has transformed for Elizabeth. She also starts seeing him as a friend and her prejudice against him seems to have reversed in this moment of mutual recognition.

Lydia's elopement. Keira Knightley's fake cry was off-putting. Then Darcy only talks to her for a little bit and doesn't help her much (unlike in the book, where he asked her to sit down and got her some wine to make her feel better). I don't know why the aunt and uncle are in this scene because it's very important in developing Darcy and Elizabeth's relationship. In the book, the two are alone, and Elizabeth choosing to tell Darcy about Lydia's elopement is a sign that she trusts him, while Darcy's concern for Elizabeth further confirms that he still loves her. This extremely brief scene flickers quickly, and it takes only a few seconds before Elizabeth is crying in her carriage, while the sky is dark and ominous.

Bingley rehearsing his proposal with Darcy. This added scene, which is not in the book, is so funny because of how Darcy roleplays Jane, while Bingley has so much anxiety about her not accepting him. It's a nice glimpse into their friendship and it's also funny because Bingley is getting proposal advice from someone who failed very miserably at proposing.

Sunrise on the Moors. Another objectively beautiful and romantic scene that is definitely not faithful to the book. The two meet each other in a field in their nightgowns and profess their love to each other while blessed by the rising sun.

4. MAJOR FLAWS; OR, HOW THE FILM DIVERGES FROM THE BOOK

In earlier book adaptation reviews, I stated that I welcomed creative changes as long as they reflected what was already in the book (ex. literary elements and character development) or the author's intent, since film and books are different mediums and some storytelling techniques that work in books may not work on film. This movie is undoubtedly well-known for its creative changes, especially in terms of historical setting and dialogue. While these creative changes entertain the audience, I feel that they change the meaning of the story as presented by the book.

Here's the biggest issue I have with the movie: Darcy has no pride. The film interprets his "pride" as a misconception strangers get from Darcy's cold manner and inconsiderate remarks, but in the book he is an arrogant person who views his social inferiors as beneath him and treats them poorly. In the movie, his whole character is fashioned in the modern image of the "sensitive man," who is kind and considerate if only the outside world would appreciate his uniqueness. Thus, Elizabeth's prejudice against him is entirely without merit. While making Darcy a more sympathetic person highlights how wrong Elizabeth's prejudice is, the fact is that both of them have "pride and prejudice." Some fans have commented that Darcy is like a sad puppy at times. It's hard to see how he's a good match for this Elizabeth's fiery spirit, only that he wouldn't infringe upon her freedom to roam. A lot of YouTube comments I read were people expressing their desire to "hug Darcy" or console him after Elizabeth rejects him; this doesn't make sense because Darcy is an unsympathetic character until he is forced to change in order to earn Elizabeth's love. Apart from becoming kinder to Elizabeth and the Gardiners, Darcy never really changes in the movie; he still remains a socially awkward introvert.

The re-interpretation of Pride and Prejudice as purely a romantic novel: The emphasis on romance means that the other elements of the book--the social criticism, secondary characters and the dialogue--are de-emphasized for the sake of the romance between Elizabeth and Darcy.

The film's approach to the story echoes Charlotte Bronte's criticism of the novel: "And what did I find [in Pride and Prejudice]? ... a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but no glance of a bright, vivid physiognomy, no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen, in their elegant but confined homes." This version of Pride and Prejudice utilizes Romantic elements not in the book (ex. the storms, the landscapes) to increase the passion that the characters feel but cannot express.

Pride and Prejudice is perceived as a "boring" book because much of the drama takes place indoors (ex. Darcy's first proposal is in Mr. Collin's home), whereas in the film, there is greater emphasis on the natural scenery in keeping with its Romantic interpretation (lots of the "open country" that Charlotte Bronte desired). While the landscape scenes are beautiful, locating the action indoors, in the grand houses of the nobility, emphasizes the repressive, tradition-based nature of Regency Era society that Austen criticized (in a subtle way). These houses reinforce social hierarchy, for instance; the interior of Rosings Park is showy and stifling because it it represents Lady Catherine De Bourgh's wealth and power over those around her. Locating most of the scenes indoors visually represents the "confined and unvarying" lives of Regency era women and makes Elizabeth Bennet's independent streak much more significant.

Some of the social constraints that Elizabeth and Darcy face are removed. For example, Elizabeth is much more direct in her criticisms of others (ex. the "barely tolerable" insult), whereas in the book she largely confines these criticisms to her intimate friends such as Jane and Charlotte Lucas. While this effectively shows how badass she is, Elizabeth likely would not have taunted Darcy in such a direct way, as it would have been considered impolite and likely harmed her social reputation in a society governed by rigid adherence to social etiquette. And of course, Darcy likely would not have been walking around the English countryside in an open-chested shirt although we may have Colin Firth's wet shirt to blame for that. The importance of following etiquette rules is shown when Darcy offends the whole village by refusing to dance with anyone during the first ball. As a woman in a patriarchal society, it would have been even more important for Elizabeth to follow the rules, as her social reputation was important to her chances of making a good marriage. By de-emphasizing the rigid social norms that govern the characters, the obstacles to Elizabeth and Darcy's marriage are less significant, and it seems that the only thing standing in the way of their being together is Elizabeth's unreasonable hatred of Darcy.

Also, in many of Austen's novels, the hometowns of her heroines and its inhabitants are their own characters; the power of gossip in determining one's social reputation for the "marriage market" is de-emphasized in the film. In Pride and Prejudice, a major reason Elizabeth doesn't discover Wickham's bad character at first is because of the "general approbation of the neighborhood" and social popularity he has in Hertfordshire. After Lydia elopes, the family is in a bad situation with regards to marriage prospects because the village had "generally proved [the Bennets] to be marked out for misfortune." In the film, the role of the village is relegated to that of a place for entertainment and nothing more.

Others have noted that the film also exaggerates the social divide between Elizabeth and Darcy by turning the Bennet family into peasant farm-owners who have messy hair and wear plain, homespun clothing. This justifies Darcy's social prejudice against the Bennets, which undercuts Austen's message of morals, actions, and treatment of others being a better indicator of character than class rank (the rich people in this book, with the exception of Darcy, Georgiana and Bingley, are shown to be lazy or plain ridiculous). While Darcy may be richer than Elizabeth, and have better connections, they are both members of the gentry--after all, they do not have to work to maintain their lifestyles. Instead, we are presented with a conventional rags-to-riches story, where our poor but virtuous heroine is rewarded with a rich Prince Charming who takes her away from the squalor of her home to his great big palace.

Ultimately, the story is changed into an argument for love, specifically the passionate kind, triumphing over all; Elizabeth overcomes her hatred of men as "humorless poppycocks" to be with Darcy. Near the end, Mary reads out of a book claiming that a lady should give in to her passions and surrender to love, which doesn't make sense as the marriage based entirely on passion (Lydia and Wickham) is shown to be less than ideal.

While Austen does believe in following one's heart (ex. Persuasion, where Anne Elliot regrets rejecting Captain Wentworth because of his lower social status), others have commented that she presents the ideal relationship as a balance between mind and heart. Charlotte's practical marriage to Mr. Collins represents the traditional view of marriage as an "economic proposition," it is entirely logical and calculated, whereas Lydia and Wickham's marriage is the other emotional extreme, motivated entirely by sexual infatuation. Before Elizabeth acknowledges her love for Darcy, she must respect him as her intellectual equal. Here's the passage from the book where Elizabeth realizes she loves Darcy: "She now began to comprehend that he was exactly the man, who in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both; by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved, and from his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance." Elizabeth's decision to marry Darcy is not only a result of her heart's desire, but it comes after she does some thinking and concludes they are compatible and would be able to live with each other on a day-to-day basis.

Something else I find ironic is the director's (Joe Wright's) claim that he aimed for realism in the film, given that Austen already depicted Regency era life realistically by focusing on social norms, class, and wealth:

The director, in his quest for "realism," features the messy environment of the Bennet household, which doesn't make sense given that they are still relatively wealthy (when defending herself, Elizabeth tells Lady Catherine that she is "a gentleman's daughter"). Also, they have servants to clean things up, so why would the house be in a constant state of disarray?

Lastly, how is the second proposal scene is "realistic?" It is a moment of "psychic communication" between Darcy and Elizabeth which is out of character for the book. They both "can't sleep" and walked, in the words of Wikipedia, "across the moors" to see each other ok this seriously reminds me of Wuthering Heights. The scene is powerful because every woman wants to be told that "you have bewitched me body and soul" but "realistically," this doesn't happen (and this line isn't in the book either).

"REALISM" IS THE REASON WHY WE FUSS OVER HISTORICAL ACCURACY!!! HISTORICAL ACCURACY ALLOWS PERIOD DRAMAS TO BE REALISTIC!!!!

If the characters wore historically accurate clothing (different from the loosely inspired, modernized dresses/hair in the film), it would have emphasized the lack of freedom women had in Regency Era society and reinforced the importance of following social norms to succeed in a patriarchal society.

Bad Script Changes:

This film is known for its modernized script, which makes it easier for a mainstream audience to watch the movie. However, it also changes depictions of the characters in ways that undercut the meaning of the book.

Elizabeth Bennet, man-hater:

"Oh, they [men] are far too easy to judge. Humorless poppycocks, in my limited experience."

"And which of the painted peacocks is Mr. Bingley?"

"Men are either eaten up with arrogance or stupidity. And if they're amiable they're so easily led that they have no minds of their own whatsoever...No, they bring nothing but heartache."

I know these snarky comments are fun and reinforce the modern perception of Elizabeth Bennet as a feminist heroine. However, book Elizabeth doesn't rail against men as a whole; she just wants to find love rather than be forced into an advantageous marriage. Her idea that marriage should be based on love and respect, along with her unwillingness to compromise on that ideal, is what makes her revolutionary, not her complete apathy towards the opposite sex.

"Don't you dare judge me!" While it foreshadows Elizabeth's flawed judgment, this outburst is out of character for Charlotte Lucas, who in the book is level-headed and makes practical decisions. As with the majority of the bad script changes, it is too modern and doesn't fit with the 19th century style language used elsewhere in the script.

Darcy's lack of pride is shown in the modified lines of the first proposal (which were hard to catch because they were spoken super fast):

"I can bear it no longer. The past months have been a torment. I came to Rosings with the single object of seeing you. I had to see you. I've fought against my better judgment, my family's expectation, the inferiority of your birth, my rank and circumstance, all those things, but I'm willing to put them aside and ask you to end my agony. I love you. Most ardently."

These lines completely change the meaning of the first proposal. Apart from the famous opening lines ("In vain I have struggled. It will not do. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you"), Austen makes clear that Darcy still regards his higher social position and Elizabeth's inferior connections as obstacles to their marriage. His first proposal to Elizabeth is a means of getting rid of the suffering that his unrequited love has forced upon him; he still does not accept Elizabeth as his equal, which is why she rejects him in the first place. Clearly he is not "willing to put [social norms] aside" when it comes to "his sense of her inferiority." The modified lines also make Darcy much more romantic by having him state that he came to Rosings to see Elizabeth; the book does not specify that this is the case; he just came on a routine visit to see his aunt and Elizabeth happened to be there. As I said earlier, Elizabeth in the book rejects Darcy because of his lack of respect for her, but in the film, he seems to show nothing but respect for her. They even have an almost-kiss, which doesn't make sense given that she hates him so intensely at this point in the novel.

"He's so, he's so...rich." Elizabeth utters these when trying and failing to find a reason not to visit Pemberley. This declaration does not make sense because Elizabeth has formed in the very least a grudging respect for Mr. Darcy; without access to her internal thoughts, one might take this line as evidence that she still hates Mr. Darcy.

“Just leave me alone!!!” After confronting Lady Catherine, Elizabeth flees to her room to find some alone time. This doesn’t suit Elizabeth’s character because 1) she acts like a temperamental teenager and 2) she is estranged from her family. In the book she gets closer to her family after Darcy’s first proposal, not the other way round. In some JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America) articles I read about Pride and Prejudice, the authors observed that Elizabeth isn’t concerned about her family early in the novel; her motivations are largely self-centered, she keeps her head above their foolishness and doesn’t have intimate relationships with anyone in her family with the exception of her father and Jane. Only after she receives the criticisms of her family’s behavior from Mr. Darcy does she look out for her family; for example, by advising her father not to let Lydia go to Brighton (and she becomes right about it harming her family’s reputation). The film also makes Elizabeth even more isolated from her family by omitting the fact that she tells Jane about what happened between her and Darcy. Elizabeth learning to care for her family is an important part of her growth which the film omits.

5. CONCLUSION

I still think this film is worth watching, even though as a purist I disagree with the creative changes made, namely the emphasis on the romance over the social comedy. It is obvious that the screenwriter/director didn't strive to replicate the book exactly and aimed for a romantic re-interpretation.

The film has had a positive impact since it introduced a lot of people to Jane Austen, including me.

Here’s my story: when the movie aired on TV, my mother, who is a 1995 die-hard, started ranting about her hate for this version, so I picked up the book so that I could watch and compare.

As a romance movie it is excellent, because it has plenty of sexual tension and quotable romantic lines, along with a couple we can root for. The set design, music, and set design also make watching the movie an experience. It's very easy to love this movie just for the cottage core aesthetics (although aesthetics cannot cover up the flaws of this film).

On a side note, I find it funny that the Wikipedia article for this film states that it "failed to have the cultural influence" of the 1995 BBC miniseries. In fact, many people my age (17 or 18 years old) who have read the book consider this movie the definitive version of Pride and Prejudice and some don't even know that the 1995 miniseries exists!

Whether you love or hate this film, all I ask is that you don't call it Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

@colonelfitzwilliams @appleinducedsleep @obscurelittlebird @austengivesmeserotonin @princesssarisa @dahlia-coccinea @firawren @cobaltzosia

[patchun]

WBaWC Deep Dive: Part 2/2

In the game's preliminary description, ZUN describes it as "a shooting game that's darker than usual, full of animal elements, and just a bit aggressive."

Part 1 here.

Yachie Kicchou. Is this maybe the longest profile of any Touhou character? Yachie's profile gives us more information than anything else about the Animal Realm, so I'd highly recommend reading all of it before we continue. Scroll down and find her profile, then click "Expand." If you're on mobile, this will look pretty bad, so switch to the Desktop mode. While reading, keep this in mind: this profile seems to be just about the only instance of a perspective from a beast spirit. This isn't a neutral perspective, this isn't ZUN's perspective - this is the perspective of a beast spirit, though it doesn't seem to be Yachie's own perspective. I'll be giving my evidence of this later.

The Animal Realm, the ultimate survival-of-the-fittest world.

It's a world where the strong rule as they desire... or at least it was, until a few beasts that were just a little more clever and wily than others began to form organizations.

By now, a select handful of gigantic organizations dominate the world.

The thing about WBaWC is that it's very vague. ZUN does not come out and say "animal rights", he does not say "you should be a vegan", or anything like that. The only thing ZUN wants us to do, without a doubt, is to think about these things, in particular the power dynamic we currently have between humans and animals in the modern world. I mentioned previously the argument for humans to have moral rights because of sentience, and then because of intelligence - but there is another line of reasoning that is used frequently. "This is just the natural order. The survival of the fittest." Opponents of animal rights will say this. But ZUN makes it very clear here - this world no longer follows those rules at all. "It's a world where the strong rule as they desire... or at least, it was..."

Further in her profile, we learn that the beast spirits finally found peace when they gathered all the humans into one area like farm animals and made them into their slaves. So, ZUN begins the game by introducing three characters which cause us to question our notion of moral status, two of which (Urumi and Kutaka) are animals that humans mistreat on a massive scale today, and then, he flips it - puts humans on the other side - all to ask a simple question. "Do you like this? Are you happy with this?" When humans are the ones being dominated, are you satisfied?

Now, there are some really crucial lines here that indicate that this profile is not actually an accurate account, but rather, the situation as told by one of the lesser beast spirits.

Almost all of the animal spirits already have no chance of victory by themselves, and the only way to survive was to team up with one of these organizations and continue fighting as their slaves forever.

Even as everyone continues to fight to exhaustion, an organization can never be stopped.

Pre-Primate Spirit Garden. This is what indicates to me that this is not Yachie's direct perspective. This wouldn't be a beneficial narrative in order for her to maintain her status as a member of the ruling class.

The beast organizations' ruling classes created a shelter for the humans, so that they could continue to be used as ever-capable slaves without going extinct.

The shelter was called the Primate Spirit Garden.

Only when they looked over the Primate Spirit Garden, filled with humans who had no means of resisting, did each of the organizations forget about their conflict. The Primate Spirit Garden was a peaceful recreational facility for everyone in the Animal Realm.

The word here, "shelter" generally has a positive association, right? And look at the last sentence: a peaceful recreational facility for everyone in the Animal Realm? That doesn't sound right. Now, sure, this is interesting, but why am I bringing up that this profile is from the perspective of a beast spirit? What does that matter to our overall understanding of the situation? Well, because of this next line, also within Yachie's profile:

The human spirits intended to devote themselves to the divinity beyond the idols, but they actually came to worship the idols themselves.

As a result, it was only natural that these idols began to dominate the humans.

The idols took control of the Primate Spirit Garden, and the status of the human spirits plummeted to the bottom once again. In being dominated by idols, the Primate Spirit Garden became the most awful, out-of-control organization of all.

Because this, according to everything else I've read, is NOT an accurate description of what ended up happening. The word "dominate" here is particularly noteworthy - from the perspective of a beast spirit, who within this world only understand things from a lens of survival of the fittest, that is exactly what this situation appears as. The thing is, this is where the game's vagueness makes interpretation very difficult - but here's what we know. We know from Yachie's profile that the human spirits were miserable while being ruled by the beast spirits, so much so that they cursed their helpless existences and prayed to Keiki. And we also know this, from ZUN's SCoOW interview:

Q: What do the human spirits who summoned Keiki think of her?

A: The game doesn't mention even a word of that, after all. In that world, the human spirits are nothing more than "materials". Everyone's fighting to steal those materials from each other. Keiki doesn't think of them as anything but materials, either. The reason for that is because the humans in that world want to be that way. You could say they just wanted to become cogs in a better society.

These descriptions... don't really match up, right? You'd read Yachie's profile and assume that the situation got really out of control, that the humans were miserable. Even according to ZUN in the interview, it has gotten out of control to some extent, but... also according to ZUN, this is... what they wanted. So, all that to say, Yachie's profile is not an unbiased description. I thought that was pretty interesting, and it will be important to consider when we talk about the situation of the human spirits under Keiki.

But for now, let's go back to the beast spirit's story of what happened - humans were dominated by the idols and plummeted to the bottom once again.

Survival of the fittest - the law of the animal realm. It's what's natural. What's natural, according to the beast spirits, is good! There is actually a philosophical moral theory called "natural law", and it's kind of the basis for the survival of the fittest argument. But it's also usually used to argue against stuff like homosexuality, abortion, being trans, etc... so uh, I have yet to meet any actual philosophers who use that theory (though I'm sure they exist). In the end, natural law is kind of shaky - because you have to ask the question - if what is natural is what is good, then what exactly do we define as natural? For example, we can look at penguins and see homosexuality, does that mean that natural law can no longer be used to attack homosexuality? Vaccines aren't natural, right? Cars aren't natural, right? Modern technology isn't natural, right? So are these things morally bad? But that's the thing - those three things I said may not be """natural""" according to the general public, but how exactly are they not natural? Vaccines, cars, and modern technology, those things are all made from nature, one way or another. Homosexuality, even if it DIDN'T occur in "nature" occurs within humans for sure! And humans are natural! What we view as natural is fully dependent, more or less, on what we were taught to view as natural. At the end of the day, isn't everything natural? And this is where things get really funny, because in many instances, natural law has been used cynically to defend the status quo and oppression. People were taught that black people were lesser, so it was natural to have them serve us. They were taught homosexuals were unnatural, so keep believing in the church and giving us money. They were taught that animals are meant to be eaten, that's how it is in the wild, so factory farms are okay. These arguments tend not to say "the current power structure isn't natural, so we need to dismantle it" but almost always "the current way things are is the way things should stay." So when we look at Mayumi Joutouguu...

You may not like it,

But this is what peak performance looks like.

Unable to be harmed by anything spiritual, Mayumi and the other idols are invulnerable to the attacks of beast spirits, easily able to defend the humans from their attacks. In other words, in the Animal Realm... Mayumi Joutouguu IS THE FITTEST. Really let that sink in. The Animal Realm, where the strong rule over the weak. Mayumi Joutouguu is the peak of that strength - and yet?

"I shall liberate the human spirits (our prey)

from you accursed idols! Prepare yourself!

It's the law of the Animal Realm that the strong eat the weak!"

From Reimu(Wolf).

"The god of destruction who broke the laws of animal-kind!

Keiki Haniyasushin!"

And this is just two instances. On multiple occasions, Keiki is referred to as having somehow broken the natural law by the beast spirits. And I'm sure that's what the beast spirits believe, because, in Youmu's Otter ending:

"Youmu returns to the Primate Spirit Garden and finds Yachie and Keiki squaring off. Youmu is confused by this and asks if the two of them get along well. Yachie explains that there is no such thing as ‘getting along’ in the Animal Realm. Keiki is surprised by this, stating that she was willing to work with the beast spirits in the future. Yachie acknowledges Keiki as a worthy opponent, but she then states that Keiki must be removed in consideration for the struggle for resources. Keiki tells Youmu that the resources Yachie refers to are the human spirits. Youmu is disturbed by this. Yachie then points out that is another reason why Keiki doesn’t belong here. She states the animal spirits are resources too. In the Animal Realm, everyone is driven by selfishness. Yachie follows the natural order here. However, Keiki, who was summoned by the human spirits, had thought differently."

No longer is the natural law "survival of the fittest", but rather, "everyone is driven by selfishness." Natural law was only used as a justification for the power structures within the Animal Realm until the ruling class was displaced. This game, by and large, follows the narratives of the ruling classes, from the beast spirits to Keiki herself. In that way, the second half of the game is asking more questions about power than it is about animal ethics. It's likely that Yachie and the other beast spirit heads are the ones who present this narrative to the lesser beast spirits, who we have already established according to her profile earlier are miserable, "fighting to exhaustion as the slaves of the large organizations, which could not be stopped". Gives me some serious neoliberalism vibes, but because of the lack of structure in the Animal Realm, I don't think it would be easy to make a political comparison.

So yeah, it's really funny that Mayumi and Keiki aren't really breaking any rules. They're just the new fittest, and the beast spirit ruling class isn't happy with that.

Some side notes about Mayumi:

It's been predicted that the workforce of human and animal spirits will be gradually replaced by the more efficient haniwa, because they can be immediately repaired after they've been destroyed, they can't get sick, and they don't need any rest.

In the SCoOW interview, ZUN compares Mayumi and the idols to AI. He's kind of an old man about it, too, saying that the humans went from being slaves to the beast spirits to being slaves to technology. But if you recall, I mentioned labor when we talked about Eika, and I did so because, well... We don't really have any idea what kind of labor the human and beast spirits are doing, WBaWC is too vague, and doesn't give us much detail. But, ZUN presents this idea, and then describes the Primate Spirit Garden under Keiki as kind of an opposite extreme "dystopia". According to ZUN:

A real "civilization gone too far" situation, where it's becoming a dystopia in a really obvious way.

The way I see it, it's something where "they built objects to rule over the world with, and in the end came to be ruled by those objects." The same as AIs and the like.

But also remember earlier, where ZUN says that that's what the human spirits wanted. Here it's almost as if ZUN is kind of bringing up a WALL-E type situation, where humans will no longer have to work, and every need of theirs will be taken care of by their idols. A very old man thing to say, but what's funny is actually another line that was just a bit earlier in the interview about Mayumi and the haniwa.

Haniwa certainly are mysterious; you wonder why everyone was making them. Archaeology is quick to ascribe religious reasons to anything it doesn't understand, but if you think about it with today's moral values in mind, it might not seem that way. I've thought about things like that for a long time. Personally, I believe they made them just because they felt like it. That might not have been the initial reason, but the act of creation itself gradually became enjoyable, and they started making more variations. To fulfill their creative desires, you know?

Think about that for a second. ZUN has introduced a society with very little forced labor, and called it dystopian. But he has also just stated that he believes that the people who made haniwa worked on them because they wanted to. To be honest, I don't know if ZUN even realizes this.

Finally, Keiki Haniyasushin. Thanks for sticking with me so far. Taking a look at her profile, the main thing that stands out to me is this:

The idols she creates are excellent items that can gather faith, act as stand-ins, play with you, and decorate your home.

A very different description than what was given by the beast spirit, huh? Is this what Keiki thinks her idols are doing? Is it actually what her idols are doing, and the beast spirits simply see that as domination because they can't comprehend any other way? Or is this just a little joke? Or is it somehow all of these? WBaWC is too vague! I'm sorry, but I don't know! Without a human spirit perspective on this, we really just can't deduce that. All we know is that the human spirits for sure liked living under Keiki more than living under the beast spirits.

As for Keiki, I don't have all that much philosophical to say, but I did think these quotes from the Marisa endings were cool.

Marisa (Otter)

"Yachie then explains the story from the beast spirits’ perspective. Marisa thinks it would have been better if she was told this from the start. Yachie apologies, but she reasons that didn’t want to risk failure. According to her, if she revealed the plan to the humans, there would be a chance Keiki would hear about it. However, Marisa was unable to read Yachie’s true intentions from her words. It is suggested that Marisa just didn’t see Keiki as an evil god."

Marisa (Eagle)

To Marisa, Keiki didn’t seem like an evil god. She wonders why the beast spirits hated her so much.

While Reimu and Youmu viewed what they were doing as more like work, Marisa was just in it for the ride, and as a result, she had some interesting thoughts about Keiki when she reflected on what she had just done. Keiki is one of the few Touhou bosses to not recognize at all that she was doing something bad, because Keiki doesn't believe she was doing anything bad. It's mentioned multiple times that she planned to coexist with the beast spirits "so long as they started to respect human spirits". Which casts further doubt on the description of the haniwa in Yachie's profile, which almost made it sound like they were going around indiscriminately slaughtering beast spirits. Wouldn't that be unnecessary if they were invincible?

Keiki's relationship to human spirits could also be looked at as pet ownership, or more accurately, like animals at a zoo or preservation area, I think. Caring for their every need, protecting them from the cruel "survival of the fittest" world outside. I mean, I don't have a problem with pet ownership at all, but I do have a problem with people who own pets irresponsibly and don't try as hard as they can to meet their pets' needs. My cat is my son.

The last thing I'll say is this: Keiki is coming back. Probably in 17.5. This may not be news to those of you who have already looked into this, but let me inform you if not. Marisa (Wolf)'s Extra, after beating Saki:

Marisa: I got no idea what the politics of the Animal Realm are like...... But I can hardly imagine this family o'yours ruling it. There's no denyin' you guys are strong, but......

Saki: What is it?

Marisa: Keiki strikes me as the most dangerous person.

Somehow it seems like she can come at us with all her power again.

And in Reimu (Wolf)'s ending:

Afterward, Reimu learns that Keiki threw the Animal Realm into chaos through her idolatry. She had the feeling that not humans vs. beasts, not physical vs. spiritual, but a religious confrontation was approaching.

And in Youmu (Eagle)'s ending:

Later, Keiki Haniyasushin showed up on Earth. This wasn’t too surprising since Keiki was never a god of the Animal Realm in the first place. However, for some reason, it seemed eerily likely that the Animal Realm’s survival of fittest conflict would follow Keiki into the surface world.

And personally that makes me very excited. And we just got a game about markets?? Hm...

FINALLY. This game has heavy Buddhist themes, and I am no expert on Buddhism, but:

Saki Kurokoma, Prince Shoutoku's horse that was ridden around to spread Buddhism. I don't have much to say about this character, haha. But I figured you'd want to see her anyways, and it's my Buddhism segue.

As far as Buddhism goes, the "animal realm" is one of the realms of reincarnation. To go from the human realm to the animal realm is bad, it means you were probably a pretty selfish person. Which begs us to ask, what might these people have done in their past lives? Does that mean that they deserve the suffering in the unnaturally cruel Animal Realm of Touhou? And what does that say about the dynamic we have with animals in the modern world, the parallel to the Animal Realm? Well, in the (Buddhist) animal realm, according to some Buddhist teachings, you act only on instinct and only for selfish desire. This is because of the misconception that animals act only on instinct and for selfish desire, a theme that we've played with a bit in this exploration, and a theme that ZUN strictly opposes with the character of Kutaka. If you own any pets, you already know that this just isn't true. Just like with humans, animal behavior is complex, and to attribute it to pure instinct is accurate to a degree - but the thing is, you can do the exact same thing to human behavior (we're also animals). It's just another way of creating human exceptionalism, something this game is really challenging. Specifically, the Buddhist animal realm is not a place, though, it's just a cycle of reincarnation. It's not actually a hell, not even close, it just means you've been reincarnated AS an animal in the real world. And this isn't a negative thing inherently, but it is viewed as hellish because of how animals are treated, not only by humans, but also by other animals!

So, there's probably more to say here. When reading Yachie's profile you may say, "Everyone working to exhaustion as slaves to huge organizations owned by a select few? Wow, that sounds like corporate America!" and you'd be right, and there's probably something there, to be honest. But because the Animal Realm is extremely vague, it's difficult to make any connections like that.

I think there's probably deeper stuff to dive into. Like I said, I'm no expert on Buddhism, so someone who is may be able to find a meaning that I've missed here. But to conclude,

As ZUN said, if you look for something the game is trying to show you, you'll just find a world filled with satire and vague circumstances. But... if you look for what the game is trying to ask you... there's quite a lot.

What is the criteria for moral rights? Can we create a criteria that makes sense and only applies to humans?

What is our justification for our treatment of animals in the modern world?

How would you feel about it if that dynamic was reversed?

And well, we don't really get any answers. ZUN really just gives us two pieces of his personal view:

The survival of the fittest argument is bullshit.

Natural law is bullshit.

Our current relationship with farm animals is not healthy, and we need to create a more positive image for them outside of being just our tools for food.

Thanks for reading. Reblogs appreciated.

[larrythefloridaman]

Y'all like your deities with or without the shell?

Under the readmore is aaaaaaaaall color god observations and musings based on them, because I am studying to become the world's Premiere Chromatheologian and RGB Understander so under the cut is pretty much Oops! All Spoilers! up to the most recent episode of season 3.

Apparently Universal Color God Attributes:

Damage to their domain hurts them, but fixing the issue, or lashing out by using their powers destructively, can help them to repair the damage.

If they sustain enough damage, it can temporarily paralyze them and send them into a strengthened but 'exposed' state (chartreuse's spirit activation in the last fight of 19) and further damage after that will activate a failsafe, which is unique by domain but seemingly designed to give them the chance to balance things, but can get… very out of hand or backfire depending on circumstances. (see: cobalt’s failsafe sending mark's universe into a never-ending apocalyptic war because word of the cure for death became too widespread for the killing urge failsafe to affectively balance anything because every side could simply revive their fallen.)

Chartreuse's failsafe is something of a stopped time bubble quarantine where processes that require the passing of time cannot complete, allowing her the time to wear down the offending party to beat them to death or plan around finishing them.

Cobalt's is inciting war, the casualties serving to balance the scale. I'm not sure we know Crimson's yet- he's never taken enough direct damage without doing damage to compensate in order to trigger it, although i dont remember season one well enough to recall if any of the universe stuff in it tracks with the pattern bc season one is a bit fucky

Connected in a fashion that allows them to simply Sense the overall status of the others to some extent, although they don't know Why theyre in the state theyre in without asking (chartreuse [and by extension, folk, presumably on her information] confronting crimson via crimsonaut for pretending to be dead, Cobalt confronting both his siblings about how they are handling their duties improperly but not knowing about Folk. He knew about the constants deaths because hes a death god, duh, but he didnt use their names like crimson did, possibly implying they're erased upon death so thoroughly that only crimson and the constants can really recall a shattered constants' existence, not even the other guardians.)

Abilities of the guardians can be replicated by mortals through three apparent methods- through machines (dimensional bus, the time machine, presumably J0hn's part in Sephiroth's resurrection,) simply through advanced enough individual skill (Home MD curing death, potentially Dantoinette's universe portal travel, maybe Genwun's sped up time bubble that evolved them into Genfour? although that could very well have just been an illusion and theyre just like, a fuckin theater kid that was doing pretend character development for the Bit or something given GenFive turned out to be a zoroark) or through stealing some of the power of the relevant god (Dr. Order stealing Chartreuse's power, Dani maybe having stolen some of Crimson's when she beat his ass. Dani's one woman universal travel is like, wicked ambiguous)

Cobalt:

Can seemingly perceive or act through any living material. (The Tree. Cobalt instructed Larry to slap his hand on that tree, that shit glowed and he had a new deal tattoo without Cobalt ever having been physically present)

Can influence the resurrected by giving them a killing urge. Represented by an aberrant brainwave and a ringing in the undead's heads. This doesnt appear to be direct control- as the Grunk could clearly restrain himself from killing people that genuinely didn't deserve it (like nightly and cha cha, who WERE grunk event targets but not fatally so. Nagito was a crimson thing so it really doesn't count here. God poor grunk his life really is just a constant plaything in the hands of the gods huh) and Sephiroth very much had personal motivation to want to kill Folk. failsafe activates this ability on the scale of war.

Deals. The extent of what Cobalt can do with these is unclear but Iggy's god powers were taken from him as his part in the deal so what he can take isn't limited to physical things or things obviously related to his domain.

Weaknesses:

Deals. While this ability is impressive his preference for making deals for those that offend against his domain is potentially very exploitable- Larry's knowledge of the cure for death is, if word of it were to ever get out beyond Larry, wildly dangerous for this dimension, so technically the safest thing for the iron-fisted cobalt to do would be to nip the problem in the bud and get rid of him. But, fascinatingly, that wasn't even put on the table, the first thing Cobalt does is threaten J0hn, prompting Larry to make a deal. While Cobalt enforces death, he also doesn't like unnecessary death, and Larry demonstrably knows how to keep a secret for the good of the world even at great cost to himself and Cobalt is aware of this- easily clarifying to Larry the aberrant thing endangering the universe wasn't his timeloop business. So while he's clearly not letting his resurrection fuckery go unpunished, he's being pretty merciful when he doesn't have to be and from a strictly, brutally pragmatic perspective probably shouldn't be.

His control over the undead manifests as a ringing and an aberrant brainwave trackable by J0hn's equipment, and could probably therefore be accounted for and circumvented? J0hn has, wisely, largely sworn off fucking with people's brains after the sephiroth fiasco went So Wrong, So Very Wrong, Oh God Oh Fuck Someone Cool Almost Died, but if he hadn't, and if J0hn let his dislike for authority and keeping Larry safe outweigh reason like he let safety, spite and comedic value outweigh good ethical sense when reprogramming sephiroth, in theory Mr. 'hacked a time machine for breakfast?' could. y'know. probably do it. what is a god's authority to an anarchist, what better to challenge life and death than the cold and eternal machine, you get the point its a fun scenario

Olive Garden Breadsticks and Small Cute Dogs, apparently

Chartreuse's:

Time Clones: taps into parallel timelines to retrieve alternate versions of herself to utilize.

Time Travel: what it says on the tin. Travel to the past creates painful splits in the prime timeline, but through careful action and traveling back into the past, these can be weaved into a time loop. A split from the timeline is a wound, and a successful timeloop is the surgical scar it can become with attentive care, to use a medical metaphor. Carefully closed and healing. Keeping Folk here is essentially akin to chartreuse pulling out her stitches on the initial incision.

Time Stopping: creates a space wherein things that take time to complete cannot complete, where things can move, but everything within is in a perfect unchanging stasis until the bubble drops. This is the form her failsafe takes.

Timeline Creation: can create timelines from scratch.

Can fuse alternate timeline versions of the same individual to allow them to coexist. (Ryan's confirmed in the discord that Dantoinette experienced both failures in 20, because Chartreuse fused the two instances of her to save the post-raid instance from fading. Could... theoretically do this to Folk and save herself the pain, but while Folk and Therapuppy are the same person, there's seven years and untold amounts of difference deriving from the time and circumstance between them and the inherent cognitive dissonances that would result from attempting that would be wicked fucked up to inflict, and that's assuming there isn't some reason that it wouldn't be possible anyway. while the two Danis had like. A day or so's difference between them, so she could be safely fused with the only dissonant thing being that she remembers both being too slow to prevent order's time escape and beginning to dissipate post-raid, AND losing that fight to her pre-raid. RIP Dani, that perfectionism must be kicking her ass)

Weaknesses:

Unwilling to use her powers destructively in her pursuit of domain repair and thereby much easier to damage to the point of paralyzing her, making her particularly vulnerable to Power Theft

Morally Optimistic. At one point in 19, she briefly justifies Crimson's shitty evil actions to herself after experiencing for herself how Wack the kerfuffleverse is firsthand, ("and all he did was kill a couple people!" Chartreuse. Honey.) and when she fights Crimsonaut she seems to actually believe for a second that he's actually worried about her when Crimson asks if she's okay after he beats her. Additionally, as D+, she concerns herself with trying to understand doctor order's motive, and after Larry defeats Order, he makes a point of confirming she feels no remorse before making his request for what Chartreuse does with her, and appeals to the idea of letting Order fulfill her desire to be a god in a way which isn't a problem for anyone and Chartreuse is more than happy to oblige under these conditions after what Larry's done for everybody. Then immediately threatens to evaporate him for playfully teasing her about having a crush on folk. Fucked up a little bit

Crimson's:

Universe Shifting: Travel between universes.

Universe Correction: appears to replace an aberrant individual with the 'correct' version of themselves for that universe, presumably sending them back to their own. (Mario from super mario was universe corrected, but still seemingly exists in wario form as evidenced by smashup kerfuffle, and was simply temporarily replaced with his corrected universe counterpart. But like. The dimensional bus system is still active crimbo doing the Put That Thing Back Where It Came From Or So Help Me routine aint gonna work if they can come back with a shrug and bus fare. you're fighting the symptoms without treating the problem)

Universal Constants:

Three individuals per universe that serve as the pillars which stabilize said universe, created by absorbing red orbs Crimson creates. Becoming a constant grants power, but also makes the constant fragile, and death wipes them from the face of the multiverse, only crimson, those he's possessed and the other constants seemingly able to recall they ever existed, although some physical evidence is still left behind (Larry's record of Nagito's death, which is just as redacted as everything else relating to him but still is very much something Larry has. Kind of a Voidfish adventurezone type beat ironically enough? Taako really has seen all this shit before no wonder he peaced tf out)

To counterbalance the weaknesses the constants have, they have a sort of spidey-sense to alert them to danger, and an intrinsic bonded connection to their fellow constants, and additionally, Crimson apparently doesn't suffer any pain from the death of constants or the structural instability of a universe.

Possession: what it says on the tin! Seemingly can only be done with permission to living things- none of crimson's direct hosts seem to have entered that agreement unwillingly, Valentine lost a bet, Hamburger and Crimsonaut have been by all evidence intentional allies to Crimson- but electronics are fair game, as seen with The Guy's suit. Kinda curious how that rule applies to bitches that are half and half, like J0hn or the clonebot gang, as its unclear whether The Guy's suit was yoinkable without permission because it was mechanical or because its not sentient. could go either way but if it's the former that's potentially very frightening

Fusion: Two individuals from alternate universes can be fused into one shared body which can take on aspects of either depending on which is currently in control. (possibly allows someone who traveled into a given universe to become a fixed resident there without it being an issue for Crimson, whose job is to prevent interdimensional travel?) Monday Mark and possibly T.O.M. are our main examples.

Corruption:

Unpleasant As Hell and can even kill you instead of changing you if you cant handle it.

turns the corrupted individual into a twisted exaggeration of themself, allows them supernatural control over their shape, and makes them very difficult- if not impossible by traditional means- to kill, based on Garfield.

Subjects them to control by Crimson, but can be exorcised of this influence just like crimson's direct hosts can, although the supernatural changes to their physiology are seemingly permanent, judging from Shantae.

Notable Weaknesses:

Exorcism can be performed to free a possessed or corrupted individual of Crimson's influence. Its unclear how exorcism works/is learned in CPUK, but confirmed exorcists: dantoinette and yung papaya's snake dad, confirmed non-exorcists: folk

The universal constant orbs are physical objects so they are Very Stealable and they grant a power boost so theres literally an Incentive to beat his ass for anybody who wants to be strong and either doesnt know or doesn't care about the whole 'getting erased when you die' part

Crimson has lots of tools to create pawns, but all of them have drawbacks. Corruption could kill a potential pawn, possession generally seems to require permission, and he has no control over the constants' choices and actions

Manipulative bitch's highest stat is charisma and it shows. This motherfucker is selling snake oil. If he was mortal rather than a Whole Entire God he'd make an excellent ineffectual saturday morning cartoon supervillain and i think everyone, including him, would be happier for it, ngl

Something interesting ive realized that likely wasnt fully intentional, is that a lot of Dr. Order's creations, considering her motive, can kind of be sorted by a color god it appears to be a crude attempt at mimicking the abilities of. My Grunk is a poorly executed resurrection, the clonebot gang vs chartreuse's timeclones (this one deserves special mention because Chartreuse used this shitty attempted mimicry to her advantage with D+, very smart and ironic play, excellent job Treusy,) spirits are somewhat similar to universal constant orbs (orbs which can be absorbed to grant power, but which have physical repercussions- key differences being that spirits require activation and grow stronger while attuning to a user without being used, and having far less severe drawbacks, taking a heavy toll on the body, but only once they've worn off and without the risk of wiping yourself from the face of existence,) and she also augmented Perfect Spriteman and Larry, which kind of track as crude imitations of Crimson's corruption!

Garfield was an acerbic cat who loved food and hated mondays, now its an actively malicious ever-hungry amorphous entity whose only weakness is monday and whose only consistency in form is 'cat-like.'

Shantae was (to my extremely limited understanding of shantae,) a friendly heroic type who had to introduce herself often, and she became something akin to a biblically accurate angel that can *only* introduce herself.

The Grunks a tough but sweet and supportive single dad with stage presence and a tendency to fly off the handle when he or his family are slighted, and now he gets so hype in the audience when his son does well that he bursts into flames and ascends and we get random grunk events along with the associated murder charges when he gets mad and the target sucks enough that he doesn't hold himself back from killing them.

Perfect Spriteman and Larry fit the trend of exaggeration of already present traits- Spriteman fucking loves sprite and became something that only thinks about sprite, and Larry the Florida Man, characterized from minute one by unpredictability and who spent his first matches in the series pre-shapeshifter transformation staying alive keeping stocks for Shockingly Long even despite getting seventh, became literally physically random as well as developing the ability to regenerate, albeit with the ability to feel pain normally very much intact, unlike Garfield just... Soaking up damage like its nothing in his pursuit of Jon. The fact that Arbuckle legit defeated Garfield, even temporarily, is terrifyingly impressive honestly that dude is fucking built different for being so chronically bland

i dont think they're actually corrupted in any meaningful way we have to worry about, to be fully clear, Spriteman was cured with fucking antacids, i simply think they could be a fucked up attempt at making something that kind of seems like it from a functional standpoint, from the wannabe god doctor that brought us green clones whose only fundamental association with time was accelerated aging and who thought an actively rotting corpse thats just reanimated enough that it can throw hands was as good as curing death

[everafterkeiji]

Song: Easy to Forget Me by Cimorelli

Pairings: Tobio Kageyama x fem! reader

Word count: 2.8k

Summary: When the king's queen was out of his grasp before he can realize

Warning/Genre: angst, toxic friendship, anxiety attack

Symbols: Italics=flashbacks

A/N: um- im very much hurt

Kageyama pants as he runs, pushing his limit with his eyes scanning the street ahead of him. His chest heavily coming up and down with sweat dripping down his skin. Mind empty but theres a certain feeling in his chest that was urging him to come back to a certain period in his life or a certain someone.

As he passes by a certain store, he suddenly stops. The feeling of his legs as if it they were holding him back, restraining his every move along with a voice lingering in his head like a broken record.

"She wasn't there."

Like a rock thrown to glass, his heart shatters, the sharpness of it scattering around his body making him weak to his knees as he stares at the shop that brought back memories he should've cherished. Maybe he should've gone with you when you asked him, maybe he should've took interest in your stories that had you smiling for days.

Maybe he should've chosen to remember.

"Tobio! Please don't push me away." Y/N begs, as Tobio disregards your words as he locks the door, slamming it in front of you. It was right after the match of Kitagawa, where his teammates claimed him the King, leaving him stranded.

"Please.. I'm here. I'll stay with you, I promise." Y/N says, head leaned on the door as she desperately tries to talk to the boy who've built such high walls a person like her can never reach. Kageyama can hear her pleas through the door but only one scene was repeating in his head-the moment the ball dropped, not even a soul was willing to save it for him.

"Kageyama.." she whispers sliding down with tears in her innocent eyes, scared for the condition of the boy, even more scared of what was bound to happen to their closeness.

The door creaks open slightly, and she was off her feet wiping away her tears as she turns around to see the broken boy clutching his shirt. He collapses into her arms and she gladly takes him, both sat on the ground with her hands running through his dark locks. Tears in each of their eyes, Y/N holding onto him while he questions himself. All the words that slipped through her mouth was nothing but sweet whispers and promises, reassuring him that he was no king.

Just a prince surrounded in a kingdom he didn't deserve.

-

"T-thank you for yesterday. You're the only one I can..count on." He says through the phone and you immediately smile at his words, surprised he believed in your promise. You let your hand rest on top of your heart, gripping on your shirt feeling that your heart was too big to fit into your body with how your emotions were overwhelming you just because of one boy. You wonder how long it'll take for you to break under him, under the kings command.

"It's nothing, Tobio. I'll be here whenever you need me."

-

"Kageyama! Good morning!" You say as you gladly bring him his usual choice of milk. He nods to you as a sign of thank you, and you smile at him. You walk with him silently, admiring the pleasant air between you two. It was a coincidence you two entered the same school, or was it really just your instinct and you chose it to protect the boy?

"I heard about this new store. Do you wanna come with me? I've seen photos of it everywhere!" She rambles on yet it fell on deaf ears as Kageyama was only delighted about being back on the gym, able to play his passion. When he turned to her, even if she was talking, his slightest care couldn't be given to her. He'd only nod every once in a while to make it seem like he'd understood.

If your heart knew that he didn't care, maybe then you would've realized.

-

We're in the same town

But you're nowhere to be found

"She hasn't been around for days. Do you think she'll make it to our game?" Hinata asks as Tanaka hands him another ball. Tanaka sighs as he looks over to the empty bench. It was funny how they were all concerned yet one boy couldn't care less. The second year looks over to Kageyama who spiked the ball perfectly, seeing him cheer at his success.

"Worry less about Y/N, she probably has her own problems. We all know that she could never miss our game, especially when Kageyama is playing." Daichi says, looking over to the younger boy. Daichi can feel how cold the atmosphere was with just a glance. He tries not to interfere with whatever happened between you two but after the match no one saw you again. Yet he sees Kageyama, perfectly back in his mindset and not an ounce of suspense as to why you weren't present.

"Plus we missed her birthday! Can't we buy some gifts for her? She doesn't really seem okay to me." Sugawara say and Nishinoya jumps at the idea agreeing completely.

"Seems like he shouldn't be invited." Tsukishima says, pointing at their other setter. Hinata sighs beside him, before shaking his head, in denial of the tension.

"Let's just go after practice!"

-

He walks inside the record store, seeing a variety of albums and vinyls. He lets his slim fingers run over the texture of each album, wondering which drew his attention. The atmosphere of the store was enough to leave a weight on his shoulders.

It's you, isn't it?

He eyes a poster on his left, enjoying how the colors were spotlighted by the sunlight that was peeking through the window. All the soft hues, having a dark gradient at the bottom he couldn't help but feel how familiar everything was. He carefully listens to the song that was playing, concentrating on every lyric as if he was trying to find a connection.

This is her world.

He watches how everyone in the store was occupied in conversations. Conversing about their interests, debating about different eras, even singing in different aisles. He can only feel sympathy, alone in her world he didn't bother to acknowledge. He should know by now what music you like, what album you first bought, which band poster was hung on your wall, but when he tried he could only hear murmurs and whispers.

I wish I listened.

-

Do you ever miss me?

You wonder as you sat in your room, knees to your chest in the far corner, listening to the song playing in your earphones. You stood up, walking to your window and opening it, greeted by the cold air. You let you hands dangle from the window while your eyes landing on the night sky creeping a smile on your face at how comforting it was.

The moon stares down on you, feeling helpless for the girl who thought numbness was the right choice. She couldn't even mask the way her world was slowly loosing color. To her, music would always paint her skies with color. All she can do now is envision the colors but in reality they were all desaturating with every passing day. There's pretty smile set on her lips yet feels like a tug of force knowing it was hard to act civil when her heart lost the battle.

-

"This place is so cool!" Hinata exclaims, eyes sparkling at the sight of the vivid posters and overall aesthetic and aura of the store. Nishinoya joins him on the excitement. Daichi turn to Kageyama who looked like a lost puppy, eyes wandering everywhere. Sugawara taps Daichis shoulder quite cutely holding up a vinyl in his hands.

"This looks like something she'd like!" He says with a smile and Nishinoya joins the conversation, holding out his own album waving it in the air claiming it was more her type. Asahi laughs at the two while he continues to view the albums that were in front of him.

Kageyama glances at his seniors along with the second years. He sees the genuine care they have for her but why is that he feels empty? Like he was numb to any feeling. He did miss her birthday, not even bothering to greet her, focusing on doing better for the next matches.

Hinata notices the dismay from the boy but his lips form a thin line, knowing exactly why Kageyamas clueless. He wonders about the feeling of neglecting a person that's been by your side for years. Kageyama seemed like he was a pro for such things. He always took notice of how Y/N would look whenever he's decline her offers, the way she walks to class disheartened but when she sees the setter, she instantly lights up at the sight.

Seeing her cry that day was enough for him to keep a distance.

How can he even comfort her? The moment she turned her back to Kageyama, she had a hopeless smile on her lips, tears continuously rolling down her puffy cheeks. He could see the way she collapsed that way. How the queen finally let go of her duties from the king.

-

Kageyama laid on his bed with earphones in, hands to his chest focused on the melodies. It was ironic how he wanted to badly catch up on what he's lost. He was badly trying to find the trail back to you but he was unfortunate. It seemed like he was the one that changed everyone's destination.

The moment she stepped in the gym, so bewildered at the different personalities they had. Hinata was the first one to approach her, asking her questions about their "friendship." The following months went by and Hinata found comfort in her and so did the rest of the team, favoring her for her endless support, always hearing her cheers at each game. After every match, she'd always encourage the others, being the brightest sun to cast upon the team who was discouraged.

Yet he found this unnecessary?

He bites his lip at his old thought. He hated himself for thinking how useless of a habit that was for you. He believed that Daichi was enough to lift up the spirits of his teammates so the team really didn't need you. It's opposite for the others though. They truly appreciated each of your compliments, each pat on the shoulder or head. Even if you wanted to do the same for him, he'd always walk away before you could even reach him. Hinata and Yamaguchi would always try to make you forget how harsh the boy was.

He lets his eyes close for a while. For a second, he was at peace but then words started resurfacing.

"How could you just walk away?"

He tries to ignore the tone of her voice, trying to drown it out by increasing the volume, but his heart was panicking at the memory. Even if he tightly shuts his eyes, all he can imagine was the sight of the last time he saw her. He wanted to sit up, to avoid the anxiousness that was crawling under his skin, but his back remained on the bed, struggling to escape the encounter.

"Is it that easy to forget me?"

Y/N.

(TW! Anxiety attack. Do not proceed if this makes you uncomfortable)

He calls out to her like a whisper, clutching his pillow as he stares wide eyed at the ceiling. He feels the room swirl around him, the walls caving on him as every insult and memory came to him. He sits up and desperately tries to walk but he collapses on the floor, hands quickly reaching the hem of his shirt bringing it over his shoulders. Panting incredibly with his sweat covering his forehead as he tried to calm himself down but each second he was reminded of a moment in his life he could never change.

"Hey..Kageyama it's okay." Y/N tries to reach for his shoulder but he harshly grabs a hold of her hand, gripping it tightly in his as he stares her down with his dark eyes, locking on her terrified ones.

"We fucking lost! To Aoba! To Oikawa! How can you act like this when we lost?!" Kageyama shouts at her and she winces at the volume but she lets her other hand rest on top of his, trying to make sure her eye contact reminded him that everything was going to be okay.

"Tobio- Karasuno will come back and win again.. You have to trust that everything isn't set in stone. Failure-"

"FAILURE? I don't have any fucking time for more failures Y/N! You simply don't know what that feels cause all you've been doing is tagging along and being useless." He spat and you felt your smile crumble at his words. He removes your hands from his as he frustratedly runs his hands to his hair, feeling as if pins went through his hands, blaming it for their loss.

"Kageyama..you don't m-mean that. Stop. I know you're angry-"

"I'm disappointed Y/N for fucks sake! I could've done better! We could've won if I didn't slip up. Stop acting like you can fucking solve everything and leave!" She takes a step forward to him as he extends out a hand, blocking her from moving any further. The gesture completely draining the life out of her, her heart growing more and more in her chest, the admiration for the boy trying to erase his negativity.

"K-kageyama-"

"Fuck Y/N! Can't I have a day without you talking to me? Or even being around me? I don't need you. The team doesn't need you. No one else does.. so please just leave already."

He stares at her for a while before rushing off, annoyance and pride feeding his heart and mind. She sees him getting more and more distant as she lets her last smile fall on her lips. All the love and joy was erased from her heart, feeling how shallow and dark the atmosphere was inside it. It began to feel like every heartbeat was slowing down as her tears painted her a trail as she walked. The tears continuously flooded her cheeks as every function of her body was weakening with every action.

She feels the tension that there was in the bus, while she was stuck in the corner, silent.

Silent but the Kings poison consumed her.

Happy birthday to me then. She thinks bitterly.

She looks at the scenery beside her, appealing dull. She allows her heart to cry at the sharp pieces that went through it, as if it was like a balloon being popped or like the light from a fire was blown out.

There was a certain part of her that died that day. She wonders if it was her entirely, or just her ability to feel anything apart from the harsh reality. It was the mere feeling of hearing him say the exact opposite of the words you were badly used to. As the person who he counted on even back at Kitagawa, you should've believed it. But every word he threw were all words that should've never been brought to light. You were back to zero to say the least, back at the darkest corner of your mind. Touching in with your negative emotions drowning you with every replay of of his words.

Then she glances at him.

She lets her eyes linger on him for the last time before she sighs, hands forming a ball, nails digging through her skin.

I don't know you anymore.

Kageyama opens his eyes slowly, hands reaching for his phone as he dials a forgotten number. He was panting furiously, desperate to hear the sound of your voice he was late to miss. He dreaded the silence the surrounded him, he wished the silence would be killed by your voice, assuring him that all was forgiven and you were ready to come back to him so he can apologize for everything he's done.

On the other end of the line, you sighed sadly. You the see way your phone lit up the dark room, seeing a name you've yet to see in months. You carefully place the phone in your hands, trying to find the feeling in your chest when he was around. The feeling of excitement to see or hear him has vanished yet you wished that you had the ability to feel for him again.

Love has faded, no evidence, not even a trace.

So you put the phone down, done waiting to be found.

Kageyama hears the way the sound of the phone stopped, seeing his wallpaper flash in front of him. He lets the tears fall from his eyes as he calls out to you one more time, even if you broke your promise, still holding on to it but there wasn't a chance for him anymore.

And the queen left the kingdom, leaving the king to rule by himself.

[wordstrings]

I CANNOT believe I didn't think of that???? But I DID IT

Also, the reasons you didn't ask for:

Jack: Lawful Lee- hes so innocent and pure and still has the mind of a child. He doesn't understand the embarrassment that might come of just asking Cas, or Dean, to just wreck him cause he had a bad day. He has no reason to go it via retaliation (like some people *cough* Dean *cough* he just asks for it

Kevin: Neutral Lee- Kevin is the MOST embarrassed about being tickled, and will NEVER make a move to try to be on the receiving end. But when hes had a rough day with the tablets, or starts complaining a little too much, the brother feel they gotta take his mind off it. What better way than pinning him down and tickling the snot out of him. Kevin of course doesn't actually mind, and the boys know that, from the little to no heat his threats give off. But he'll never give them true verbal or physical verification.

Meg:chaotic Lee- ESPECIALLY in her later seasons when she decides to help the boys. A quick quip here, a jab at their egos there? A well placed death threat? And the boys and Cas are taking her down, just like she planned. (This ones a little shotty, I didn't really know who else would fit here, if you got ideas, lay em down!)

Cas:Lawful switch- I mean. Does this one really need an explanation? Yes? Well okay- much like his surrogate son, he's not overly shy about asking his boyfriend to be taken down. He does seek retaliation from Dean sometimes, but thats really just because he knows Dean likes that kind of play, and he's more than happy to endulge him. His ler side, is often kept for Dean (he will take down Sam or Charlie or Kevin when necessary, but only when necessary or asked). He's grown to learn Deans ticks and signs that he wants to be tickled. But being the good wholesome boyfriend that he is, always waits for those signs to show up cause he doesn't want Dean to ever be uncomfortable (although, he's kidding himself if he thinks Dean isn't always craving it, but thats beside the point)

Charlie: Neutral switch- Her ler side is more so quick jabs to sides, flutters of fingers up ribs, or spidering up spines. Enough to get a squirm and a gasp or giggle out of her assailant, but nothing more, unless of course the entirety of the bunkers residents are ganging up on Dean- then she'll join the antics, but otherwise likes to stay on the outskirts, and just tease everyone (shes a big reason why Dean gets into Lee moods a lot. You can't just give him a quick squeeze and move on! Thats like letting him have one bite of his burger and then taking it away!!). Her Lee side is also relatively secluded. When she's in a Lee mood, she focuses on one single assailant (usually Sam) to prod poke and flutter. They eventually get annoyed enough that they take her down, and reducer her to giggling mush. Her Lee moods are few and far between, so it took everyone in the bunker a while to figure it out

Dean: chaotic switch: the chaotic switch to rule all chaotic switches. When hes in a Lee mood, you'd better believe no one wants to be in the same room with him (and all have Cas on speed dial for this reason. Oh you thought it was cause he's an angel of the lord that could help with monsters? No, its to deal with a problematic Dean Winchester). He becomes /unbearably/ annoying until someone decides to FINALLY take him down. If he's been annoying enough, to enough people he'll earn himself a swarm of angry friends picking certain body parts to destroy, and it becomes a family affair. If Dean is in a ler mood, forget about not being in the same room. You should be in a different country yesterday. He is relentless, taking down anyone in arms reach. Even running after them down the hall, "you gotta keep your endurance up, what if I was a vampire Kevin, huh? You'd be DEAD". Cas is also usually called to clean up this mess. Although, if Cas in unavailable, a well placed threat about calling Gabriel usually gets him to mellow out until Cas can be his guinea pig (shameless throw out: petition for the boys to FINALLY get Cas a pet God damnit).

Sam: lawful ler- due to the years of torment he was subject to by his brother, he's not big on being on the receiving end, but that doesn't mean he's not afraid to dole it out. His "traumatic" memories leaves him being more empathetic to his victims, and only taking them down necessarily, or when they outright as for it, some actually asking, some... more around the bush (*cough* DEAN *cough*). He takes immense joy in tickling Charlie, because he knows he's the main person she goes to when she actually wants to be tickled. And he's always willing to lend that hand... or fingers.

Benny: neutal ler- you CANNOT tell me he did not take Dean down in purgatory at least once. And when he joins the family of the misfits, his first reaction is "why does everyone tickle eachother do damn much??" He finally realizes that its because their lives are so full of sorrow, death, destruction and overall sadness, its their way of brightening everyone's spirits when needed. Hes also realized its a common form of affection throughout the bunker. His first experience with it was Charlie goosing his side. He wasn't overly fond of the feeling, but was content with watching everyone take eachother down for a long time. It wasn't until a few months into living with everyone that Dean kept /pestering/ him nonstop for three days. It was Cas who eventually told him that Dean was trying to get him to tickle him. He obliged, somewhat hesitantly. He confront Dean about it afterwards, and Dean just blushed, and told him he wanted him to be part of the family, more than just a shadow around the bunker. After that, Benny started settling in a little better, and even joined in tickling others when he had the chance. The only one he allows to actually tickle him now is Charlie, anyone else will be tickled to hysterics immediately.

Gabriel: chaotic ler- Gabriel isn't around the bunker often. He'll show up for holidays, select birthdays, and hunts he's needed on. Otherwise hes pretty scarce, doing whatever gabriel/loki/trickster/whatever he is this Tuesday. Every once in a while he'll pop up on days other than those listed above. On the days he is around, everyone is always on high alert. Gabriel LOVES to mess with his new family, and his older brother complex trumps even Deans. And unlike Dean, no one sees Gabriel coming. He is not afraid to use his grace from the other side of the bunker, or pop up behind his unexpected victims to tickle them with his fingers and wings the old fashioned way. However... Gabriel is the most dangerous when summoned. Can you guess who's in the most danger? I'll give you a minute. Thats right, Dean freaking Winchester. And Gabriel does not like being prayed to on days he isn't planning on joining those in the bunker, and will surely dole out whats coming to to culprit of those forced to bring in backup (although, who is Gabriel kidding. If it got to the point they had to pray for him, he's really just feeding Dean what he wants)

Cliff notes: Dean is just a mess but everyone loves him

First of all, when did Tumblr let asks get this long? Not complaining – I just pride myself on keeping up on all the quirks here and this completely skipped my radar. It’s glorious.

I agree with so much of this, so hard, but I must acknowledge that the switch row is true Perfection. I’m with you on the chaotic lee conundrum, though - and the closest feasible replacement I can come up with is Garth. (Ideally, I’d still probably put him in neutral instead of chaotic, but whaddayagonnado.)