#seriously imagine how insane it would be if they were more careful with their dialogue in every instance in S2?

[pokckygamewithbatman]

Parental Figures in Arcane, and How S2 Both Maintains and Hurts this Aspect of The Show

The kinship that Zaunite "families" feel for each other is shown countless times throughout the show. Claggor and Mylo aren't Vander's kids either, but he loves them just as much as the girls, and the Zaunites who had been imprisoned and were rescued by Jinx in S2 immediately want closeness to her. When Jinx cares for Isha they never address or label their relationship to one another, or to us. They're all on the same side, and it doesn't matter if they're related or not, or even if they're close. They're all fighting and surviving together.

Arcane also made it clear how important parental figures are, but they didn't touch on the importance of titles in that relationship between a parent and their children because that was never important. There was always something more pressing happening. Only at the very end could someone admit their love and bestow a title as sacred and important as "dad" or "daughter".

So why do Vi and Jinx both call Vander their dad so easily in S2?

In broad, broad terms, the thing I don’t like about the lack of nuance of Vander as a father figure in S2 is because of the immense nuance in S1. In S1 Vander is never referred to by Vi or Powder/Jinx as “dad.” He is a guardian, definitely, but when they’re young they’re not yet ready to accept him as a father, which is probably in part because of the nature of Zaun; when you’re all trying to survive together and everyone’s bringing whatever they can to the table (almost as equals, even if some are literally children), parental figures and titles of that sort are lost, especially in this case when Vander and the girls aren’t blood related. They may still remember their biological father (though he's never mentioned) and aren't ready to replace that person in their life. They at most see him as a close uncle or family friend of their mother. And from this point up until he dies that doesn’t change. They never call him dad in S1, and that really helped the theme of "love transcends time and class" so why does he gain this title in S2 after they haven’t seen him for 10 years(?) and thought he’d been dead this whole time. No extra bonding happened between the girls and Vander, and there was never any indication that their relationship with him, and how they felt about it had changed from a beloved father figure and guardian, to "dad".

Sure, they miss him, and you could assume that in a flurry of emotion they spring the title onto him, but complexity, detail and subtly are where the show really shines, so why did they feel the need to straight up tell us how the girls feel about Vander instead of just showing their love and affection for him?

This happens in S1, Jinx feels a deep connection with Silco, but only shows it through her actions; helping him in his mission, hugs, cradling his face when he’s dying. And he in turn only refers to her as his daughter right before he dies, yk “you’re my daughter, I’d never forsake you”, which he says in conclusion to his decision that he'd never give her up, even for the freedom of Zaun. That line finally signifies to us that she is the most important thing in Silco's life. Before this scene the audience could still be on unsure whether he'd actually be willing to give her up for his dream. She's literally his new dream. Throughout the rest of the show he shows his love through his actions; he trusts her with administering his medicine even though he's fully capable of doing it himself, but he knew she needed to feel useful (and it's really cute that after a while he's incapable of doing it himself because he's let her do it for so long), he made her a big part of his plan to free Zaun because he had faith in her abilities and knew she wanted to help, he keeps the fact that Vi is alive from her in order to protect her (don't come at me with that "manipulator Silco" talk, he also thought Vi was dead, and when he found out he didn't tell Jinx because he saw how much it hurt her to even remember Vi and think about her. He reminds her of their goal and gives to a task to help keep her mind off the hurt she's feeling). Although we as the audience are like “mk they’re clearly father and daughter” it doesn’t feel like the writers are shoving it down our throats which is why it’s really impactful when Silco finally says it in the last episode.

After Jinx picks up Isha, or after Isha inserts herself into Jinx's life, a shift between "older sister/guardian" to "parent" happens after Jinx saves Isha from Stillwater. When they hug and Isha starts crying we see on Jinx's face the realization: "oh. She's the most important thing in the world to me" but the show never has to tell us that. Isha clearly has lost a parental figure already because of her insistence on keeping her miner's hat, and Jinx also recently lost her father figure, Silco, so they both know the meaning of losing someone they love, but don't need to label themselves as "mother" and "daughter" for the audience. And it evident that Isha meant as much as she did to Jinx because of how much her death crushed what was once an outgoing and confident Jinx. Once again, they never say it, Isha never calls Jinx mom (even in her own way (you could argue that she actually does in the prison scene before Jinx is attacked by Warwick, but even if she does that's a valid place to bestow that title: her guardian is in danger and Isha can't get to her, so out of desperation she calls her "mama", but this is never mentioned again so it's just as likely that Isha was just screaming)) and she doesn't need to.

While it doesn’t ruin the dynamic between Vander and the girls in S2 and they don’t say it a ton, it makes their relationship feel less deep. Instead of them not knowing who they are to each other, or not caring because they just love each other so much, they instead bestow a title that pinpoints their degree of love for Vander. They spell it out for us, ‘he is our father, and that’s why we love him. Period’ and I think that’s harmful to how we’re supposed to view these characters. Vi and Jinx aren't ones to give out such titles easily, Vi is hesitant to admit her love for Cait, and Jinx is hesitant to call Vi her sister, and yet this man who they haven't seen for so long, who initially tried to kill them, gains this title as though he's been guiding and protecting them the whole time?

This is not Vander slander, let me assure you, I believe just as fiercely as the next person that he is their dad, that man is a father, but the fact that they casually through the title around so easily is baffling to me.

Let me just put this picture in your minds: How impactful would it have been if the first time we get a glimpse of how much they truly love each other is when Vander gets his humanity back and the first thing he says is "don't touch my daughter". Remember that scene? Imagine how much more it would've hit if the audience and the girls were still unsure of how they wanted to call Vander and how he thought of them. If they only started calling him dad after getting like, confirmation that he felt the same about them and always had. Vi and Jinx, who are terrified of being wrong, and choosing wrong, should not have given Vander the title of "dad" when he was Warwick.

This is just a little nitpick of mine, and I've never seen anyone else talk about this, but I feel like it's small details like this that made the second season more... shallow?

[very-straight-blog]

This might sound funny and cringey, but I feel like I lost something I cared about and now it's just sadness and depression. Like it's a TV show, I get it, but we waited 2 years and for what? To get the two worst episodes imaginable. I'm really starting to believe that Sapochnik was responsible for everything good in s1, bcz Condal and Hess ruined this show. S1 wasn't perfect and I didn't like a lot of things in it, but it still managed to keep me invested so I hoped that in s2 everything would be improved. And yet, I'm so terribly disappointed. Alicent's characterization makes no sense anymore, like they want so badly to show her as a bad mother and a hypocrite and really - after ruining bnc with Alicole sex now it had to follow with her not being able to console her son but hoping on Criston is a must do?? What sort of degenerates write this??

Aemond is also ruined for me and I would love to erase that crappy brothel scene from my memory. What was it for? To show his mommy issues, vulnerability... Idc. The dialogue was bad and they did him dirty with the angles and the pose. And now he's apparently going to be there *again* in e3 and we'll get full frontal nudity. Idk why the actor agreed to this since they are obviously making a joke and meme material of his character. Not to mention that he straight up lied in the promos about being loyal (if the RR leaks are true and I'm almost 100% sure they are). I get that they are told what to say, but a more general answer would have been much better than a lie. In brief, one of my favourite s1 characters is also destroyed.

Then Cole. My god, I only waithig for him to look at the camera and say "do you hate me enough already hahah?" He's the writers punching bag atp.

Helaena barely exists.

Otto is Viserys' fanboy and ofc, appalled by his grandson. It's not as he just has lost a son and was forced to take the crown in the first place by him and his mother, no less.

Aegon got more screentime and I love Tom's performance, but I'm not fooled. He is still depicted as weak, politically inept and rash. And he'll still be a bully, apparently. Just to justify his brother's treason. F*ck you Condal, Hess and whoever else is responsible for this mess.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I just don't get how anyone can seriously praise this shitshow anymore. It could have been great, but the creators are obviously not up to the task which is now painfully obvious. I wouldn't mind the greens as villains, but don't write them as a walking joke. I'm quitting the show and would like just to forget about it. This adaptation of the Dance was a huge mistake.

I feel you! By the way, I haven't participated in any fandom life, I think, for 10 years or more, but thanks to HOTD, I started this blog, I write some critical (well, kinda) reviews, and English isn't even my native language. I've been waiting for the second season for two years and now I just feel tired and empty. So far, the only thing I've liked about these two episodes is Aegon's storyline, that's all. Everything else is bad, very bad, and judging by the leaks, it'll be even worse.

Firstly, the series has a very strange pace of the narrative. We didn't get a bunch of important plot scenes, and even those that remained were shown in a hurry, but at the same time we have many scenes like "Rhaenyra stares at the dust for three minutes", unnecessary dialogues and PAUSES between lines.

Secondly, again, an insane amount of important plot details are left behind the scenes and this is absolutely wrong. Aemond's return home, the family's reaction to what he did. Aegon's reaction when he learned of his son's death. Aemond's reaction when he finds out what his actions have led to. And so on and so forth. Many of the characters' actions are shown without context. Alicent fucks with Criston - cool, but can I have some additional information? How long has this been going on, what feelings do they have for each other, how have they developed, like, anything? The same can be said about the scene in the brothel - no context.

Thirdly, it's unclear what's going on with the characters, as if the screenwriters decided to make the greens the most unpleasant people in the world. So far, I only like Aegon and Helaena. I can't even say anything about Aemond, because his only dialogue scene is built around Daemon and Luke, damn them. I just can't.

Everything annoys me except Aegon lol. So yes, I understand you.

[dragonflight203]

Mass Effect 3 replay, Leaving Earth:

-Is there a reason you can’t set your difficulty level during character creation like in ME1 and ME2?

That’s a trap for new players that want an insanity trophy.

At least I remembered to reset my character points before importing my ME2 save this time.

-ME3 has so. Much. Damn. Autodialogue.

ME2 had some, but ME3 takes it to the next level. This is ridiculous.

It’s very clear that Bioware envisioned ME3 as a cinematic shooter, and they weren’t about to let conventions set by past games stop them.

-There’s zero explanation why Anderson’s an admiral if you made him the human councilor. You have to dig into the Codex later to figure that out.

Another example of Bioware putting critical information in supplemental material and not explaining it in game.

So much for the importance of your choices.

-This scene is a tad amusing for how much exposition it throws at you, but it’s not the worse example out there. It still could have used another pass or two to make it more natural

-I’ve always disliked how the Defense Committee are treated as fools.

It’s a cliched writing convention to make the main character look better by making everyone around them – especially superiors – be idiots.

Imagine how much more impact this scene would have if the Defense Committee were serious, prepared, authoritative… And still completely overwhelmed by the Reapers.

That would make Shepard stepping up to lead even more powerful.

-Speaking of, Shepard’s dialogue in this scene does not impress me. We need to survive! We fight or we die! We need to stand together!

Yes, Shepard, I think they figured that out. They’re asking you HOW. Are you suggesting the Reapers can be defeated if everyone’s handed a pistol and shoots them? I think a bit more strategy and tactics will be required. And just how are you planning to get the other species on board to stand together?

-The Reaper’s attack would be more impactful if I had any attachment to this city that I’ve never seen before.

-I understand that the kid is supposed to be a symbol, but he’s a poorly done symbol. His dialogue does not feel natural.

It’s also odd that Anderson walks in, sees Shepard crouching by a vent with a hand offered out, and just tells her to move on instead of asking who she’s speaking to.

-The kid should have come with Shepard and Anderson. Maybe help out at some point so the player grew attached. Then the kid dies as Shepard boards the Normandy because of a mistake on the Alliance – perhaps a shuttle attempted to provide a distraction and failed.

That would have given the players a reason to care about the kid, made Shepard’s failure to protect him more scarring, and given Anderson stronger motivation to stay behind on Earth.

At least it would have explained why the kid haunts Shepard’s dreams throughout the game.

-Over all I have a hard time taking Leaving Earth too seriously. It feels more like a level out of a generic shooter than Mass Effect. The vibes I get are closer to War of the Worlds.

It also highlights the struggle ME3 will display throughout. On the one hand, Bioware clearly wanted to make a war game. They wanted to use the standard tropes of ground battles, air support, the sacrifices required to win, etc.

On the other, their hands were tied by ME1 and ME2 being about eldritch abominations more powerful than this cycle’s ability to fight off. Those two games are centered around the Reaper’s invading being an automatic loss scenario and this cycle needing to find a third solution.

The solution Bioware came up with was to have a deus ex machina discovered in the first couple of hours of ME3 and built in the background for the rest of the game so Shepard can be the protagonist of the war game they actually wanted to make.

So the game has this strange dynamic where most of it is standard warfare and alliance building, with scattered mentions of how the eldritch angle will be dealt with.

Taken on its own terms, that’s not necessarily bad. There are many good moments in ME3.

However, as someone whose a huge fan of eldritch fiction and clever solutions to forces beyond humanity’s ability to fight directly, it’s disappointing. I would have preferred playing a game more similar to ME1 where Shepard was an independent agent whose goal was to find and execute a third solution to eliminate the Reaper threat.

-The scene where Anderson chooses to stay behind is well done.

The scene where the kid is blown up does not work for me. It evokes more of a “Really? They’re being that blatant;y manipulative?” response.

-I continue to bang my head against a wall as I attempt to decipher how spectres work.

Anderson says Shepard is a Council Spectre as he and Shepard go to the Normandy.

Then on the Normandy, he throws Shepard’s military tags at them to reinstate them into the Alliance military.

Shepard later says Anderson ordered them to go to the Citadel. Spectres don’t take orders from anyone except the Council.

This can be taken as Shepard obeying Anderson out of respect for him. However, in game the implication is that since Shepard has been reinstated that Anderson is their superior.

-Also, where did Anderson get those dog tags? Liara gave Shepard their tags back in Lair of the Shadow Broker.

I’m just going to assume their a new set Anderson’s been carrying around to give Shepard at the first available excuse.

-James’s anger at Shepard is understandable. He’s in shock at Earth being attacked and sees Shepard abandoning it. He was not there when Anderson ordered Shepard away.

I also appreciate that Bioware has him push back against Shepard so early on in the game.

Since he’s a new squadmate, it would have been easy to make him just support Shepard blindly in hopes this will make players like him.

However, by pushing back he demonstrates he’s his own person. This also avoids the trap of assuming players will care about a character because he’s been designed to be likable. James is very much intended to not be liked here; this scene was included to show his growth later when he agrees Shepard was right to leave and seek allies.

Codex

-Harbringer is believed to be the largest and oldest Reaper. He’s leading the attack on Earth

When was that decided and why? What, are the officials left on Earth meeting with him for afternoon tea to discuss what order to process the cities in?

-The Codex entries about cultures are missing.

This just cements how this game feels more like a war game than a science fiction opera.

[gothicprep]

so, you might have seen this tweet or some parody version of it. it went insanely viral last week.

i'm not all that interested in litigating the substance of it. i just want to talk about the poster, because he has an interesting backstory.

so, his name is johnathan perkins. he went to uva law. in his third year, which would have been in 2011, he wrote a letter to the virginia law weekly claiming that he had been harassed by campus police while walking home from a party. he's black and he claims he was racially profiled. from it:

The race problem in America persists. In most aspects of society (education, housing, employment, etc.), black people and white people live in two different worlds. As a result, most Americans are raised in racially sterilized environments. Oftentimes when race is brought up, white people are accused of being prejudiced, insensitive, and out of touch, while black people are accused of having chips on their shoulders, playing the victim, and race-baiting [...] I am writing this column not to complain, but to share a story. It is a story that is all too familiar to black Americans but it remains foreign to many of my white classmates.

he then goes into immense detail about this encounter, including dialogue. he writes:

It was clear at that point that the officers were toying with me for their own entertainment. When the officers discovered my UVA I.D., and informed them that I was a law student, they looked at one another and sarcastically said, “Oh, he’s a law student.” The fact that I informed them that I was in law school made the situation even more tense. [...] At that point, one of the officers spun me around, pushed me toward their car, and placed my hands on the rear of the vehicle. Imprinted on my mind was the police treatment of Oscar Grant Jr., Amadou Diallo, and Abner Louima, so naturally I did not resist. Standing there, I saw dozens of people staring at me as they returned home from last call.

then there's more detail, and he ends with, "I am writing this column because it is important for my classmates to hear a real-life anecdote illustrating the myth of equal protection under the law."

so as you can imagine, this letter caused a big ole stir at uva. the university conducted an investigation. here's the press release, which is available through the atlantic's reporting on this:

On May 5, after a thorough investigation into allegations that University of Virginia police officers had mistreated an African-American law student, the individual acknowledged that his story had been a fabrication. “I wrote the article to bring attention to the topic of police misconduct,” he said in a written statement. “The events in the article did not occur.”

wait, though. it gets even weirder.

uva decided not to press charges on him for false reporting. here's the police chief's response, also reported in the same atlantic piece:

I recognize that police misconduct does occur. Pressing charges in this case might inhibit another individual who experiences real police misconduct from coming forward with a complaint. I want to send the message just how seriously we take such charges and that we will always investigate them with care and diligence.

he had an honor trial, and was acquitted. he went on to practice law, then he got a job at harvard, now he does full time DEI.

HOWEVER, the story doesn't end there. six years later, in 2017, he wrote an article for the marshall project called "A ‘Routine’ Stop Almost Ended My Career Before It Started" where he claims that after he wrote that letter and the university announced their investigation, he was contacted by the FBI.

I expressed surprise that the FBI had become involved. The agent responded that he had been sent by the head of the FBI’s Richmond Division and that the bureau planned to open a civil rights investigation. But instead of asking me to recount my story as one might expect, the agent laid out a set of consequences if I continued to press my complaint. He said that a swarm of FBI agents would descend upon Charlottesville to question my friends, family, and classmates. He said that agents would visit the office of the Philadelphia law firm where I had a post-graduation job lined up. He explained in no uncertain terms that these consequences and others were inevitable so long as I maintained my allegations.

he goes on to say that he signed the letter recanting his statement under pressure from the FBI. he writes, "I yielded and agreed to sign a statement, dictated by the agent, that recanted the facts set forth in my letter to the editor. Doing so has been my life’s chief regret."

basically, over this complaint about campus police harassment, the federal gov't got involved and threatened to destroy his life unless he dropped it and that they were working with the local police to do this.

so, it sounds shady as shit to me. i'm assuming it does to you as well. but the cavalier daily, which is the uva student paper, did a pretty thorough investigation into this, and it's not conclusive. there's no public records that turned up any corroborating evidence. they don't have any FOIA request that proved his story beyond a shadow of a doubt. the local police and the FBI didn't respond to requests for comments. but perkins named the FBI agent and he provided the paper with what he claimed to be a voicemail that the FBI agent left for him.

Perkins said he returned Hilland’s call, during which Hilland notified Perkins he was waiting for him at his car in the Law School parking lot and wanted to speak with him. Perkins said Hilland was accompanied by two UPD officers tasked with investigating Perkins’ claim of harassment against the UPD — Capt. Melissa Fielding and Lt. Michael Blakey.  According to Perkins, the three of them went into a meeting room in the office suite of Martha Ballenger, then Law School Assistant Dean for Students Affairs, for an interrogation.

so, it's not dispositive, but the story he's telling is so spectacular that i'd need way more evidence than that. he does name the names of the people involved, which does lend a lot more credence to this. and if this hadn't happened, i feel like the FBI would deny it.

like, i just feel like there's something missing here, man. crazy law enforcement shit has happened in the past, but the initial event is such small potatoes. think of the risk the FBI would be putting themselves at by bringing the hammer down on something like that. it's such a weird story, but now i want to get to the bottom of it. there's something going on here, i'm just not totally sure what it is.

[a-snow-decahedron]

Learn to Dodge

Ok but imagine being Frisk and sucking at dodging bullets

it's 3 am im not apologizing for this.

warning for Frisk cursing a lot, because they deserve it and also because it's really funny to think the only reason they don't have dialogue is because it would change the rating of the game

sans: haven't i done a great job protecting you?

sans: i mean, look at yourself, you haven't died a single time

sans: hey, what's that look supposed to mean? am i wrong?

Frisk: That's such bullshit.

sans: language, bucko.

Frisk: No you shut up! I died so many times i can't count and you didn't do shit a single time.

sans: you did what-

Frisk: yeah you fucking heard me. I get to swear all i want after that.

sans: *realization hitting him like a brick* look, kid, there's a lot to unpack here. but first, when did u die?

Frisk: Oh now you care, don't you? Pretty much everyone's killed me at least once. I died like 10 times to Undyne alone and you were fucking napping!

sans: *lowkey feeling regret at his words* wait... everyone? even my bro?

Frisk: nah, Papyrus' cool. Still scared the crap out of me the first time he captured me. He's a little lost about humans but he's got the spirit.

sans: the dogi?

Frisk: 3 times

sans: Greater dog?

Frisk: twice

sans: alright, i guess that's valid. but i can't think of anyone else that could do some serious damage kid. seriously, did ya die to some teens? to jerry? to a woshua?

Frisk: Say that last name again and i'm throwing a chair.

sans: oh boy, how much didja die...

Frisk: Sans, look at me in the eyes. I'm opening them wide for you. Look at me, at my armor.

sans: what about it.

Frisk: you know temmie village?

sans: yeah

Frisk: Tem sells this armor for so much money you could pay your tab at Grillby's

sans: did u pick up a fight to get the money. come on kiddo, of course you got hurt doing that.

Frisk: I'm not done yet. So outside the village there's this dark as fuck maze and it's filled with Woshues and Moldbyggs and all. But every time I died, Sans. Every time you let my soul break into little tiny pieces. Temmie sold the armor for cheaper.

sans: how the he...ck would temmie know how many times you died?

sans, to himself: i could visit the village for research, bet they know something i don't

Frisk: Hey bonehead, wanna know how much it cost?

sans: sure, go ahead

Frisk: it started at like 4500 G. I already died a few times beforehand so it was probably more expensive than that. But that fucking maze is worse than my old neighborhood in the surface, man. I died so much the price got to 1400G I think.

sans: holy crap.

Frisk: it was still too much yknow, every time I died I lost my progress so I had to keep saving every penny I got. Anyways, see what I'm wearing? How much do you think it cost?

sans: uh... 500G

Frisk: close enough, 750, it didn't go lower than that. Before you ask: no, I did not die on purpose to find out.

sans: ...

sans: how many HP do humans have?

Frisk: I learnt what HP was like yesterday, I don't think I can tell you. I have 20.

sans: ok yeah that's low. i figured you'd have like 200 at least

Frisk: I know that if I kill people it somehow increases but that's awful so next time I came back to life after dying I was back to before I murdered someone. I chose to do as much as possible to never kill again on purpose or by accident.

sans: wow, kid. you really are, uh, determined.

sans: hold on, so you can travel back in time

Frisk: *shrugs* I guess? Still hurts a fucking lot when it happens after I die. but I think I can try at will.

sans: buddy, let's do something. you can come back to a few minutes on the past right?

Frisk: Yeah

sans: ok, so hear me out. i made a codeword some time ago, so if someone tells it to me i know they're a time traveler. get closer (whisper, whisper)

Frisk: Sans what the fuck.

sans: i hope you come back and tell it to me.

--one loaded SAVE later--

Frisk: hey you told me to tell you this and if it's a fucking joke i'm going feral.

sans: language, bucko.

Frisk: (whisper, whisper)

sans: who told you this? what a liar. *Frisk's eye twitches* but yeah that's a codeword. come closer, to really gain my trust you need another code (whimsper, whimsper).

Frisk: Oh for fuck's sake.

--Another loaded SAVE file later--

sans: hey, kiddo what's with that look

Frisk: This better be the last fucking codeword or I'm going insane

sans: language, bucko.

Frisk: *says the codeword*

sans: oh, so that's what you meant. It kinda explains a lot.

Frisk: Sans listen, I'm so fucking done of doing this. Let's just go eat, ok? Time traveling doesn't help wtih my hunger, and I reaally need to take my time to just explain what just happened because I know you got questions.

sans: *mentally preparing* here we go

-- some eplanations later --

sans: wow, kid. i'm impressed. for one thing i believe you. you knew what i was about to do before i did it.

sans: and, uh, guess i can't really make the past go away for you even if i don't remember that happening but... i'll do better, ok?

Frisk: Can I really trust you?

sans: you said your stats were low, mine are even worse so it's not like i can defend u without dusting myself in the process... but we can practice dodging, until you get better. and that armor's gonna help a lot too.

Frisk: For real?

sans: yeah, i made a promise after all. i gotta do a better job at keeping it.

sans: hey, buddy... you have not told this to anyone right? you haven't told the door lady.

Frisk: No fucking way. She also killed me once, telling her would destroy her. And I think she was trying not to hurt me too but somehow I managed to walk into her flames.

sans: ... why do you trust her?

Frisk: I don't know... it's complicated. She has good intentions. Better than some people on the Surface, anyways.

sans: you are a special kid, you know that? alright buddy, we can keep talking outside. let's take a breath and then do some training. even folks with low HP like us can find a way to survive. howzabout that?

Frisk: I guess... that's alright. Yeah, that can work.

* * *

[badwithten]

dialogue 34 + scenario 13 + touch 21 + jeno

〉jeno x fem!reader

〉warnings swearing, fighting

〉word count 1.3k

“Where are we going?” It takes all of your courage for you to be able to ask such a simple question, even then you get no reply. Jeno continues to focus on the road, knuckles attached to the steering wheel and jaw clenched. “Jeno”

“Would you shut up already?” He finally snaps but still denies you eye contact. You slump back into the seat, making yourself feel even smaller. You sigh rather loudly, hoping that your annoyance will come off to him nice and clearly, yet he doesn't bat an eye.

You could throw a tantrum right now, the silent treatment is driving you insane. If this was the day you would be fine with driving around as you had a sense of direction. But it's pitch black outside, the street lights only lighting up your surroundings for a second before being swallowed back up into the night. You'd be lying if it didn't scare you a bit. Driving in an unfamiliar place with an angry man, it would be your worst nightmare. If this man wasn't Jeno.

You often felt bad about the relationship that had been created between you and Jeno, he started to hang around you because of a certain crush he had. But you could tell that his crush soon vanished when he realized what type of person you were. Maybe he was too tired looking after you and fixing up your mistakes to keep chasing after your heart.

“Seriously Jeno can we go home?” He takes a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves.

“No we can't just go home, mum will freak”

“I meant let me go home”

“I'm not letting you go home like this”

“Why not?”

“For fuck sakes” He slams on the breaks so aggressively, your body flying forward. Tomorrow there will be a burn where the seat belt bruises into your skin.

“What the fuck Jeno” After the initial impact your sit back up and rub your neck, whiplash from the violent movement. Jeno seems unbothered by the intense stop, more upset at you. He almost tears off his seatbelt, letting it fling back and snap into the leather seats before shoving open his door only to slam it shut once again. You can barely see the outline of his frame, pacing around the side of the care, hands in hair. You're too tired to really care at his point just wanting to go home and get this night over with. It isn't until you feel the car shake and see that his arms are now on the roof, smacking into it repeatedly. You repeat his actions of removing your seatbelt, but less aggressively and storm round to the side of the car where he is.

“Can you stop? What has gotten into you?” You scream at him, trying to hush your voice while still making it carry the anger inside of you.

“What's gotten into me? What about you?” He steps away from the car, eyes piercing into yours filled with just as much fury as you. “Hanging out with those kids, getting yourself beat up”

“I was fine, you just had to come and interrupt”

“Fine?! Look at yourself Y/N, you're covered in bruises” You don't need to look to know what he's saying is true, you can feel the sore spots of your body pulsating, muscles feeling tender and raw. The smell of blood still rich in your nose, iron in your mouth.

“And why does it matter to you?”

“Are you serious?” His arms fly forward, graduation plaster on his face, but you're stubborn and don't back down. “Because I care about you Y/N, I know you like to do the whole self-pity thing but if you stopped feeling sorry for yourself for one fucking second you would realize not everything is shit!”

His words sting a little and you can tell he regrets them as soon as they leave his mouth, he goes to say something more, maybe apologize. But once again, you're stubborn. “You think I do this because I’m feeling sorry for myself? I do this to belong dick, sorry I don't have a fucking perfect family.”

“Y/N that's not what I mean-”

“What did you mean then Jeno? Because apparently to you all I do is self loath” You can feel tears burning your eyes but they are from frustration rather than being upset.

“I care about you Y/N and it frustrates me so fucking much that you cant see that! It frustrates me that you think I'm doing this to ruin your life more and it frustrates me that you don't look after yourself!” A wave of guilt floods over you as you realize how selfish you've been, not just tonight but in general. Jeno was always there to look after you and you took that for granted. You can't even imagine a life without him watching over you.

You go to speak but your voice cracks and you can't bear to look at him, too ashamed of your actions. Instead, you move back around and sit in the car. Wanting the seats to eat you up. He follows suit, sitting back down in the driver's seat. He takes a deep breath and looks over at you. He's staring for a while before you look back at him, but his eyes don't leave. You expect them to still be angry but it's mainly just sad.

“Why do you do this to yourself Y/N?”

“I don't know” You mumble under your breath. You know why you know all your flaws and everything you've done wrong. But you're not sure you're able to talk about it. Jeno must notice this because instead of pushing on he grabs your hand and drags you closer to him. “What are you doing?”

“Making you feel better” He ushers you onto his lap and although he was your closest friend, you had never been this close to him or his face before. Feeling your weight rest on his made your heart race as you were scared of what would come next. He grabs your hand again but much gentler this time, he brings it to his face and places a kiss on your bruised knuckles. He counties up to the piece of skin under the scrap on your arm, then another one above and under the eye that's beginning to bruise. A kiss on the tip of your nose that had been bleeding. The next one is your busted lip but he hesitates for a second before looking into your eyes for permission, you nod gently and he doesn't hold back anymore. Although he rushes to get there his touch is soft, he moves against your mouth with ease, gently moving to not irritate your lips anymore. It sends off sparks in your heart as you try to resist the urge to kiss him harder and deepen it. As much as you are enjoying the kiss and you want this to grow into something more. Is it what Jeno wants? It's clear he no longer has feelings for you but is he doing this because he wants to or because he feels bad? Either way, you make it last and savour the feeling.

When you finally pull away you rest your head against his, taking in his breath as you both try to calm ourselves down. “You know I never stopped liking you Y/N?” You cringe slightly, thinking back to the first time you turned him down.

“You didn't?” You feel bad making him stick around this whole time, as just a friend where you were sure his heart was aching.

“Just because you have issues or problems or whatever is it you think is wrong with you, doesn't mean you're not worthy of love”

“I know but this is hurting you Jeno, I'm a lot to handle”

“I've been handling it for the past few years”

“I suppose you have”

“So what do you say? Wanna maybe…” He stops himself trying to bring himself to say the word but he can't seem to do it.

“Yes,” His eyes go wide like a puppy, his bottom lip coming out in surprise.

“Yes?”

“Yes”

[legionofpotatoes]

alright here’s ma thoughts on that flick I mentioned

we hatewatched a*my of the dead because we were CONVINCED “zombies in las vegas” would be an impossible concept to screw up, but in so assuming we obviously invoked a holy wager with the universe and got reminded, once again, that hoping for improvement from someone who’s dependably put out bad art is never a wise choice 😐

but we were honestly kinda roped in by the marketing??? and expected a goofy fast-paced flick with the odd traditional undead metaphor thrown in, framing some sort of relationship drama maybe or hell even nothing at all! we’d have taken pure indulgent storytelling, idk italian job with zombies in las vegas, I don’t know fucking anything but??? whatever this was???? spoilers below for it is time for One Of My Rants

I mean the main reason I really want to write all this and complain. this film here probably has the most unappealing cinematography I have ever experienced in my life and that is saying something. who the fuck signed off on that CONSTANT shallow-ass depth of field that imprisons your eyeline and turns every shot into bokeh paste???? and I mean every shot almost!!!! I promise if you think I am overreacting just throw a dart at the seek bar and watch twenty seconds from wherever it lands. it is horrifying to look at. at least it gave my girlfriend a good visual shorthand for what it’s like when I lose my glasses

why was sean spicer in this movie. did they pay him to be here. was sean spicer paid hollywood money for his scene in this film because fuck everyone who was involved in that decision

the legitimately baffling hints at the extraterrestrial origins of the infection that went absolutely nowhere and had no dramatic or plot-level bearing. we love to see the franchise sprouts fellas

yet another big budget waste of everything hiroyuki sanada has to offer. and bautista too I guess? I like him but man was this an odd career move

what was the crux of his conflict/resolution with his daughter btw. I understand it was rooted in miscommunication over their forms of grief irt mom but uhh… it was all rather clunky and didn’t land for me. I tried I really tried to buy in but something was wrong fundamentally with the groundwork there, it did not click and their catharsis felt unearned. I know there’s massive amounts of tragic baggage being projected there from the author so I’m not slapping any judgment down really;

but again it would be an easy thing to wave off if they just had a vibrant cast of lovable simpletons with good chemistry and the kinetic sense of plotting the trailers promised (and this premise never discounts good drama, either). but instead it was just two and a half (!) hours of meandering into situations the filmmaking instincts had no idea how to flow in and out of

to wit. I know talking about “bad pacing” is associated with armchair bullshit but consider the example of the scene were dieter does an out of nowhere little dance after childishly screaming but then still-killing a zombie, with the film framing this as a micro character triumph, and not a second later the bg soundtrack instantly fades into an orchestral score dramatizing a nearby mcguffin reveal, completely 180 degreeing the tone without a semblance of deft insert shot stitching or even I dont know a fucking jump cut maybe. now imagine this whiplash for 2.5 hrs uninterrupted

I will keep complaining about the length yeah because this was not a story requiring this much real estate to be told. Uhh in my humble and personal opinion, of course

[man sees zombie tiger] “this is crossing the line!” you can in fact write dialogue that is not utter nonsense that falls apart once you drill down its single fickle layer of referential meta winking. what line are you talking about. you have rules in this insane situation you’re in? total nitpick moment I know but it got burned in my brain for some reason. like a microcosm of the mismanaged dramatic instincts paired with weird writing that dots this movie. I am sure the director calls this either satire or genre deconstruction. I am SO sure

tumblr domino meme that goes from “dude getting sucked off while driving” to “entire las vegas literally nuked”

tig notaro is always great to see but once you know she’s been filmed as a separate greenscreen plate months after photography wrapped - cause she had to apparently replace some abusive asshole but that’s a whole other pig not worth fucking - it becomes impossible to unsee her odd detachment from everyone else in the movie lmao. it doesn’t really “ruin” anything on its lonesome but it is hard to unsee

why. was. sean. spicer. in. this. movie

a very simple key ingredient missing from fully turning lip service sympathy for main uruk hai dude into actual empathy that would generate meaningful conflict with hero family would be to spend a bit more time articulating what he internally wanted the most. because he was obviously trying to do something here with pointed agenda. a family, to have kids, build a caste system, save his wife’s head, return to his planet??? all of these could represent the bigger context in his psychology that spurred his vengeance but none of them are dramatically emphasized long enough for you to cheer him on. I’m not asking too much I promise. Articulating interiority of a mute character is pretty doable with deft cinema language, just gotta linger and hold a shot here and there for a few seconds, frame as his POV, donezo. I know this is also one of those like. “who cares” moments but the movie does, very evidently so, in making this guy an actual character. you can kinda piece it together and create a framework of sympathy for him, sure, but then again he ultimately becomes a foil to be killed and not defeated, so. Ehh whatever

quarantine zone stuff was not a wildly childish covid allegory quarantine zone stuff was not a wildly childish covid allegory quarantine zone stuff was n

the rooftop helicopter fakout at the end was such an ass-backwards, manufactured moment of what could be a simple setup/payoff it just pissed me off??? you gain nothing by giving sad dad five seconds of pointless crisis that flips right back to previous status quo ANYWAY, except for a weaksauce waste of runtime, which could be used instead to get inside notaro’s head and actually SHOW the remorse form as she took off, literally maybe even a frown playing on her face as she’s headed for safety right before we cut back to drax and the kid. just a simple-ass, minimal, momentary setup for what is the most basic filmmaking trick of creating macro catharsis moments. Just???? g o d if you can’t even land that shit why are you even doing any of this

that lil run final pam did was very very charming and super choreographed in a way that was the tiiiniest bit overdone

the whole intro with the simul-backstories and posing with family photos was just… oddly motivated. what was the goal? “here’s what we’re fighting for” vignettes? why? it’s not a functional setup in that vein. what was all that

also I am sorry if this is insensitive but the reasons most characters end up articulating to justify going back into the hell that destroyed their lives makes them sound seriously insane

I dont like complaining about CGI (honestly) but so much of it in modern movies can achieve higher fidelity if the animation is simply subdued. Do not overengineer and over-apply 2D cell methodologies and kinematics to each tiny twitch and movement in a hyper 3D model and I promise you. it will look a thousand times more natural. look at thanos in those last two movies. your rendering and detail are absolutely perfect with the tiger you just have to let stuff sit instead of constantly simulating swaying hair strands and firing off all facial muscles at once. great moment at one point where makeup zombie horse and CG zombie tiger are both in one shot together and just by unnecessary amounts of movement alone you can tell who doesn’t belong. again; detail, rendering, compositing, lighting, all picture-perfect; but y’all just gotta let the animation breathe sometimes, and chill it out

plot holes don’t really matter to me but it was kinda funny how lilly decided not to mention the enormous wrinkle in intel pertaining to an actual territorial tribe of intelligent zombies that require human offerings to let you pass, just so that reveal could play out in real time through the joyous punishment of the cartoonishly misogynistic dude

total chad move for mister uruk hai and final pam to rule from a rusted swimming pool complex

the ending with vanderohe oh my god. with the. cash stacks at the airport register. and specifically them working in his favor. that is literally something you do to get arrested under suspicion of theft. it was almost played for laughs and I respect that. coulda been goofier. make these movies goofy ya dorks

anyway, weird, weird movie. bad marketing. message unclear (something something sins of the father???), baffling editing instincts, literal worst-looking cinematography I ever laid eyes upon. Confidently dying on that last hill

[cassyapper]

OKAY IVE ACTUALLY PLAYED TWO SESSIONS SINCE MY LAST POST SO IM GONNA COMBINE THEM HERE SORRY FOR THE LENGTH BUT,,IVE COME SO FAR I DONT WANNA STOP NOW

this is gonna be very messy cause i WILL be jumping back and forth as things come back to mind so uhh pls enjoy this absolute ramble <3

anyway. i continued playing omori and boy do i have some Thoughts

so first session; i went through the pyre(something i forgot the full name sob) forest/sprout mole village/sweetheart’s castle in one go and let me TELL YOU. DOING THAT WAS FUCKING INSANE I WENT NUTS holy shit.

so anyway.

pyre forest!!!! the lil race against the big spider coming after u for disturbing the smaller spiders mechanic was very fun i had a lot of fun figuring out the best routes to take. i know normally mechanics like that lead to ppl getting frustrated cause u have to keep retrying but i had a lot of fun!!!! sum annoyance but good natured type, th kind that just makes u try harder u know? i just enjoyed it JKFN;FN; candles in the foggy forest....now That is an aesthetic

the rare bear scared the fuckin shit out of me i remember it didn’t attack me straight away so i was like “aw (:” but then when i press x on him it takes me to a BATTLE SCREEN AND SUDDEN THAT MF IS TERRIFYING I WAS LIKE WHWHWHWHWKJDNJ. very funny i honestly wished i recorded my reaction

also omori is afraid of drowning...................................i am breathing heavily. i think whatever happened to mari is related to at least one of the things omori is scared of. so either heights, spiders, or drowning it seems. spiders doesnt seem super likely as a contributor to her death, and while falling from a height is more realistic, such a senseless way of dying doesnt seem to rlly fit ? with the vibe i get from the kiddos in the real world. which makes me think maybe drowning/otherwise suffocating is how she died...but we’ll see. also due to the forgotten library part, we know omori explicitly feared spiders/drowning before mari died so it’s also probable im jus talking out my ass here but still,,,,thoughts

also this motherfucker?

literally fucking terrifying. IT’S BODY IS MADE OF SUCC’D SPROUT MOLES...i still have no idea what exactly it was doing to them but jesus h christ!!!! evil and fucked up. do not feel bad for curbstomping it

sprout mole village!!!! very cute, im v excited to send that one dude his brother’s care package. i like how, when theyre not lost, sprout moles can be real endearing lil guys,,,theyre not my fav lil enemies but (:

also for some reason omori is the first game ive played where i really care about getting achievements ? so i literally did the back and forth on my save file just to get all the season sprout mole achievements JKDJFJ;. i ended up sticking w spring tho before moving on for real cause spring is my fav season irl (:

also i felt SO BAD for cutting down that one sprout mole’s chistmas tree he was just trying to celebrate but i wanted to see that present and coincidentally becoming a christmas ruiner was an achievement so all’s fair in love and war i suppose

ALSO. th fuckin plant monster thing under the scientist sprout mole’s room. major little shop of horror vibes from the design, absolutely adored it!!!!! originally i did  just cut the wire holding the piano over it, ending it in one go, but i was very curious abt it so i reloaded a save file to actually fight it and

i know it only spread that gas to make the kiddos happy cause being happy reduces attack i think ? it decreases attack/defense but seeing the kiddos smile so much was nice (:

however

omori...sunny....son boy.........u good ?

and now. sweetheart

the way the sprout moles completely adore and depend on sweetheart gives me such awful evil vibes and combined with such a luxurious background was fucking incredible

sweetheart herself, speaking of. bitch (sorta affectionately, certainly not derogatory)

i talked to every sprout mole in the audience before taking my seat and i literally dont know why. even when i picked up the pattern of where the unique dialogue could be found (usually the sprout moles farthest right) i still talked to all of them......just in case ? i have no idea. i dont know why i did that. i feel it’s important that i note it tho

LMAO SO WHEN SPROUT MOLE MIKE DID THE MINUTE OF SILENCE FOR YE OLD SPROUT MOLE

I LITERALLY FELT SO FUCKING BAD LMAO I WAS LIKE OH MY GOD NO!!!!!! I DID THAT!!! I KILLED HIM!!! OH MY GOD!!! I WONDER HOW AWKWARD OMORI KEL HERO AND AUBREY FELT IN THE AUDIENCE HOLY SHIT THEY HAD FRONT ROW SEATS TO SPROUT MOLE MIKE’S MOURNING!!! MY GOD FJKFN;;

also sprout mole mike describing 3′7″ inches as ”towering” was the FUNNIEST shit i have ever seen. also i have to wonder, since sweetheart made up the whole show of sweetheart’s quest for hearts in the first place, if she was seriously down to marry a sprout mole if one suited her fancy. jus v funny to me honestly. SPEAKING of sweetheart’s dating patterns I NOTICED THOSE FEM SKELETONS IN THE DUNGEON!!!!! BI SWEETHEART!!!! SHE’S JUST AS DOWN FOR GIRLS AS SHE IS BOYS

i know TECHNICALLY not everyone is in the dungeon for failing to be a good enough suitor but STILL...COME ON. THIS WAS BEFORE WE KNEW THAT. SWEETHEART BI I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL

anyway

when the lights when out and lightning struck the third contestant, i knew Immediately something was gonna go down. and when the mustache sprout mole was like “oh yes!! u!! in the striped pjs!! u absolute beast ur perfect!!!” i KNEW hero had just been selected as the replacement i was goign completely fucking nuts i was like OH MY GODNFNG; HIS HEART IS ALREADY TAKEN BY MARI!!!!!!! STOP

i ended up taking so many screenshots during this part cause i was going feral so here take a glance just cause i love, uh, hero

OUR HERO IN SHINING ARMOR DJLBH;KFJB

also GOD FUCKING DAMMIT IM SHORTER THAN HERO

hero shaking on the stage when he was introduced...oh my HEART....IM SO FOND FOR THIS BOY WTF!!!!! DKJDN;N

this is not really NEWS to me since it’s implied hero is tall but like come ON..... sorry just every time i find out a character is explicitly taller than me i need to huff about it, moving on,

HERO FUCKS

sorry i just have so many screenshorts during this aprt cause i was going fucking crazy but

literally terrifying! sweetheart bathes in that shit!! christ!

is blood good for ur skin? i imagine, so long as like...gore isnt in it and it’s solely blood it cant be BAD necessarily......but good ? regardless very fucked up. besides the fact that well, uh, BLOOD, blood is also sticky as hell. ur telling me sweetheart willinglhy bathed in that shit? disgusting. at least thin it out

anyway I HAD SO MUCH FUN DOING THE PUZZLES AT SWEETHEART’S CASTLE....FROM THE DUNGEONS TO THE KITCHENS TO THE BALLROOM TO THE LIBRARY TO THE GARDENS JUST EVERYTHING!!!! IT WAS SO FUN I ENJOYED FIGURING IT OUT SO MUCH IT WAS LITERALLY DELIGHTFUL...I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH THE GAMEPLAY IS SO FUCKING EPIC I LITERALLY HAVE SO MUJCH FUN.......OH MY GOD I JUST. INCREIDBLE!!!! FUCK

also the lil sir maximus bit.........i honestly felt really awful over having to kill them ): i think i even tried running once but it wouldnt let me...it hurt man ): they were just a family....

um but anyway,

i think it was rlly sweet how aubrey protested to the wedding cause she was worried abt sweetheart,,,like i cant rlly explain it idk how to put it into words,,like sweetheart is clearly not mentally well and having an episode, and aubrey being the only one to say “hey what ur doing is self-destructive and isolating” just mmmh. she cares a lot,,,and *i* care aubrey

also sweetheart’s battle theme fucking SLAPPED...SO GODDAMN HARD IM STILL QUAKING OVER IT....FUCKING BANGER YO!!!!!! INCREDIBLE

ah but alas

BASIL........I NOTICED THAT IT WAS HIS GHOST/SHADOW DURING THE EXIT FROM OTHERWORLD AS WELL BUT JUST FUCK

im so worried about basil ):

and it being so obvious that none of the others can see...........them asking omori if he’s okay.....oh my god. i go nuts

and then...the forgotten library part

i literally cried, again, oh my fucking god

these kids loved each other so much they ADORED the time they spent with each other and im QUAKING to know WHAT HAPPENED TO MARI......HOW DID THE FALLOUT GO. I NEED TO KNOW I NEED TO KNOW I NEED TO KNOW

i know there are multiple endings to this game and on god i am not QUITTING until i get the happiest ending there is for these kids im literally a goddamn fuckign mess oh my god

MARI SHWOING UP IN THE LIBRARY AT ONE POINT AND LEADING OMORI...........IM LTIERALLY GOIGN INSANE OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD HE LOVED HIS SISTER SO MUCH HE’S SO CLEARLY LOST WITHOUT HER I CANT FUCKING DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. I NEED TO KNOW I NEED TO KNOW I NEED TO KNOW

GOD

okay sorry i just. ive said ti before but the grief in this game is so real and palpable and it aches, it aches so bad. also the white egret orchids in the library...i see u

but regardless.... session two real world electric boogaloo

LOVE that kel is like “so i need to run errands but u wanna come with me right? of course u do!” like fuck i rlly do. kel is just so delightful i would literally do anything to spend time with him

ALSO i noticed u can just refuse to open the door both times kel’s knocked now and it makes me wonder....if u could choose to ignore kel ? and then venture out urself or just ? i wonder what would even happen if u chose to not open the door. im CERTAINLY not doing it myself at the very least not this playthrough but i am curious...i bet that’s how u get a bad ending, by not talking w kel

but anyway....

aubrey and her gang not saying anything in the pizza parlor........i jus think abt that is all

ALSO!! pet rocks!!!!!!!!! LOVE this lil thing it’s so cute. jus rock paper scissors it babey

speaking of lil bits, love all the mini quests in the real world...it’s just rlly fun and builds up this cute lil town........it also makes me think that whatever happened to mari cant have been anything except an accident, bc no one comments on what a tragedy it was to omori. like if it was murder, there’s no way such a horrific situation wouldnt engulf the town for a bit and sweep over it for weeks at least, but that just doesnt seem to have happened. this is def me reading too into it tho;; point is neighbors nice (: also i got the seashell necklace and i go apeshit

ALSO......THE FUCKING...........CHURCH. I VISITED WITH KEL ON A COMPLETE WHIM CAUSE I WAS CURIOUS IF THE PASTOR WOULD TALK MORE ABT AUBREY BUT NO. INSTEAD HE TALKS ABT THE WEIRD VIBE FORM THE GRAVEYARD HE’S GETTING!!! AND THE DUDE WHO CHILLS IN THE GRAVEYARD SAYS SHIT ABT THE SPIRITS GETTING READY FOR SOMEONE TO JOIN THEM!!!! BITCH WAHT THE FUCK

THERE’S NOF UCKING WAY THIS ISNT ABOUT BASIL. THERE IS NO!!! WAY!!!! I SWEAR ON GOD IF BASIL DIES I WILL LOSE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ESP CAUSE THERE IS LITERALLY NO OTHER WAY HE COULD DIE EXCEPT SUICIDE THAT’S WHAT IT HAS BEEN IMPLYING OVER AND OVER I GO NUTS I GO APESHIT NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

FUCK

OKAY SORRY I JUST. HHHHHHHHHHH

baby has acquired baby

kel’s family is rlly cute,,,,v heartwarming. i trust them

i do worry abt like...the stark difference between recognizing kel’s accomplishments and hero’s...i just idk. i just keep thinking abt that bit in kel’s story abt hero’s depression when his parents focused on hero and ignored him, and i just. kel’s family is good People but i worry if kel has a good support system...i jus........): i am watching

ahh THE BASIL MISSING PART MADE MY HEART LITERALLY FUCKING DROP..I WAS SO FUCKING PANICKED I WAS LIKE OH MY GOD THIS IS IT BASIL IS DEAD

THANKFULLY HE WASNT BUT HOLY GOD HOW THAT WHOLE SITUATION PANNED OUT MADE ME GO NUTS!!!!!!! BASIL...AUBREY...HER GANG.......FUCK OH M YOGD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

THANK G O D I SNOOPED AROUND KEL’S HOUSE BEFORE LEAVING I WOULD HAVE H A T E D TO FIGHT THEM ALL AT ONCE IM GLAD I WAS ABLE TO JUST PEPPER SPRAY THEM JESUS CHRIST

oh my god kim like asking for aubrey all concerned before deciding to trust her and leaving.....kim i diagnose u with lesbain

the whole fucking. basil almost drowning scene. i seriously feel like ive changed like as a person over it. i am thinking . i am thinking. i am only evee thinking about mari and how omori just loved her so much and how the thought of her gave him strength. th pic of her ghost holding omori’s hand in the water made me cry

MMMM BUT. HERO!!!

I DIE I DIE I DIE HE’S SO PRETTY FUCK ALSO HIM PICKING UP BASIL WOOOOOOOO THIS IS WHAT IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THAT’S WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT YEAHHHHHHHH

god i feel so bad about leaving aubrey tho. shes so clearly not okay and she so clearly did not mean to push basil in and oh my GOD I JUST...PLEASE....PLEASE CAN WE JUST TLAK TO HER I NEED TO TLAK TO HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEED TO FUCK

the ghosts of omori and aubrey on the swings made me cry out like i had been physically assaulted

AHH BUT THEN TAKING BASIL HOME AND WHILE HE’S IN HIS BED HE JUST SAYS “oh sunny...there’s not way out of this...is there?” I LITERALLY GO BUCKWILD APESHIT INSANE STUPDI!!!!!! BASIL YOURE PUTTING UP A LOT OF ALARMING FLAGS HERE!!! PLEASE DO NOT FUCKING DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!

FUCK. CHRIST. HELL. SHIT. THIS GAME IS DRIVING ME FUCKING CRAZY

GOD

oh my god but the day ending with hero and kel sleeping over at omori’s house...im kdnd im jkdim im not uhm okay THEY BUILT A BLANKET FORT PLEASE..I LOVE THEM

goddd hero going into the piano room....playing sum........and then asking omori abt the song he and mari used to play on violin...and then THE TITLE SCREEN MUSIC STARTS PLAYING....HI. HI HELLO HI YOU CANT FUCKIGN DO THAT HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK YOUFBJFGJNGN;EJNE; IM GOIGN NUTS

also the name omori comes from the piano.............interesting...i wonder why sunny likes being called omori in the dreamscape...

god but omori not having a srs hallucination cause he’s w his friends and he feels safe...im gonna sob

However. i did glance into the bathroom mirror. AND INSTEAD OF THE EYE MF IT’S A DISTORTED AS HELL GHOST MARI???IM SO FUCKIGN SCARED. IM SO SCARED. WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK? CREEPY AS HELL!!!

ohh my god this GAME

so finally i ended up in whitespace again. do NOT like that omori is completely alone in the world!!! what the FUCK!!!!!!!! I AM SO SCARED AT ALL TIMES. im literally about to go play sum more tho after dinner so i will see what happens. god i jsut......this game is so fucking good it has me by the balls dude. SO glad i decided to play it bruh

anyway thanks for reading all of this if u did, it’s an absolute monster ik and ur a real one

[wondereads]

Personal Review (08/08/21)

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Why am I reviewing this book?

I'd been looking forward to this book for a while, and I think it's really good for a debut novel. Also, it's just really sweet, and I think people should read it.

Plot 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Yadriel has been out to his family as trans for a while, but they still refuse to acknowledge him as a brujo, a man who guides spirits to the afterlife, but Yadriel knows he isn't a bruja, a woman who heals through magic. In an attempt to prove himself to his family, Yadriel tries to summon the spirit of his recently deceased cousin, only to accidentally summon Julian Diaz, his delinquent classmate. Yadriel still tries to free Julian's spirit to prove his talents to his family, but Julian and his cousin's death herald something much worse to come.

The plot was fairly predictable; I knew almost immediately who the villain was and what they had done. However, I think the characters more than made up for it, which I'll talk about later.

There's so much Latin American culture wrapped up in this book. To be honest, I don't know enough about it to know how much was changed to fit the plot, but it felt immersive and authentic.

I was very invested in Yadriel's connection with his family. I wanted them to accept him, but I also wanted him to realize that he doesn't need to apologize for or tone down who he is for them. The ending was very sweet, and I was very satisfied overall.

Characters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Yadriel, Maritza, and Julian are such compelling and genuine characters. All of them are a bit odd in different ways, and I loved that their unique aspects were emphasized but also (except Yadriel's desire to be accepted as a boy) weren't made out to be these huge problems. Maritza is vegan and refuses to use animal blood, so she just doesn't practice magic. Julian comes from a parentless, low-income family, but it's hardly ever brought up except to develop the relationship between him and his brother. Things like that.

Yadriel and Julian's relationship came about very naturally, and I was rooting so hard for them. While it is expedited over only a couple of days, it's a very well-paced progression from allies to friends to lovers. It's obvious they each have the utmost respect and admiration for each other–Julian wholeheartedly supports Yadriel being trans (when he fixed his name in the yearbook I squealed), and Yadriel doesn't care at all about Julian's background. That kind of acceptance was very nice to read, and it made it so easy to love their romance.

Finally, Yadriel's family was tough to get along with. They're not bad people, they're not transphobic, but they really struggle with it and obviously don't take it seriously, and it's easy to see what kind of effect that has on Yadriel. It was nice to get a happy ending with them, but I hope Yadriel sets some boundaries with them after the fact so the years of misgendering won't just be brushed under the rug.

Writing Style 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Thomas' descriptions are great. The scenes that incorporate Latin American culture are are so beautiful to imagine, and it was very easy to picture it all in my head. There were some places that felt a little clunky, but, like I said, this is a debut book, and I'm already loving their writing style.

One thing that particularly stood out to me was that there was quite a bit of Spanish mixed in to the dialogue. Spanish that was then not translated. I had to have Google Translate pulled up while I was reading, but I actually loved it. People living in the US that speak another language are always told to make it "accessible" by translating to English, and there's actually so little tolerance for Spanish in particular in today's society. Of course a book about a Latinx family is going to have Spanish in it! Yadriel certainly isn't going to translate it; he understands it! I just really liked that bit.

Meaning 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Yadriel's struggle with his family is tough; it's never easy to have the people you love invalidate your identity. While it may not end this way for every trans kid, I liked that Yadriel's story in particular had a happy ending. That message of familial acceptance is really important for younger LGBTQ+ people to read about.

Overall 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The fact that this is a debut book is insane. The plot is a little predictable, but the characters, romance, and writing are all pretty amazing. It works well as a standalone; I don't feel the need to know more about these characters, and there are no outstanding questions or plot points. I'm glad lots of people are reading this book because it's got a super sweet romance and great representation. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy paranormal stories, LGBTQ+ stories, and golden retriever boyfriends.

The Author

Aiden Thomas: American, trans, also wrote Lost in the Never Woods

The Reviewer

My name is Wonderose; I try to post a review every two weeks, and I take recommendations. Check out my about me post for more!

[ziracona]

hey zira, what are your hot takes on all of the fo4 companions?

Haha, I don’t know how hot they are, but I can give you a speed run! (Also I am very excited to get this. FO4 was the first open world game I ever played and just the concept of that and the hugeness of the world and branching story & sudden feeling changes towards me in companion characters totally blew my mind, & it still lives rent free in my heart).

Ada, Old Longfellow, and Strong I /still/ haven’t maxed despite having too many hundred hours to want to list on this game—the former bc they were DLC, Strong because honest to god I left him at a nice settlement and then completely forgot about him and remembering that I am the energy in this Ryan O’Flanagan video but abt leaving my super mutant in a tiny settlement alone. I will get there! To max affinity I mean. But anyway, I don’t truly know those three, so my takes are incomplete. So far though, I really like Ada. She is a good girl just trying her best. Fucks me up I can tell her to self destruct. Even though I feel sure she would ignore me, I cannot imagine ever saying that to her. It was really sweet she was willing to forgive the Mechanist and move on with her life. A good girl. Longfellow I am maxing rn (was last time I played anyhow). I enjoy him. Gruff grumpy old man but he seems quite decent and I like his idle banter and when he sings to himself a lot. Seems like he’s had it rough. Strong I liked. He’s wild, and I loved how insane meeting him was, and am worried about him eventually understanding poetry and how that might mess up his sense of world understanding. But he’s a chill dude in his own way and I am glad they gave us at least one nice super mutant.

For the companions I actually do know like the back of my hand, the speedrun:

Nick Valentine: Best man on earth. One of two fictional characters I ever called husband. I would die kill or live for him. I want to be 1/4th the man Nick Valentine is. One of the best characters ever period and I adore literally everything about him. It fucked me up early in game where right after he offered to basically risk destroying his mind to help a stranger look for her son, he asked me how I was doing. First character in the entire game to do that. His first companion dialogue is abt how you’re doing TuT. The man is very kind and forgiving and fair, but knows when the draw the line and take no shit. Emotionally mature, kind, caring, longsuffering. Incredibly damaged and broken by life, but holding on and living kindly and to help others anyway. One of the four most marryablen fictional men I’ve ever seen.

Preston Garvey: Brave, kind, sweet man. I would defend him with my life. He really just wants so bad to make the world better and life has been so hard, but he’s still trying. A beautiful and underrated companion and I would throw hands for him on sight. I adore how he whistles. A true and gentle and loyal friend. Take him to Quincy and let him get his justice it’s what he deserves. People who hate him because he tries to get help helping civilians in that game are weak. I love him so much... please give him enough time to reach max affinity he’s so worth it.

Deacon: *To the tune of You Are My Dad* You are my friiiiend! You’re my friend! (Boogie woogie woogie). Initially, he pissed me off bc he lies all the god damn time, but after we got close enough he actually trusted me, he stole my heart and I would also die for Deacon. He’s a really good person who thinks he’s shit because of who he was on his past. Also him 🤝 Preston: massive survivor’s guilt. They should be friends. Poor Deacon has been the last member of the Railroad like four times, and it’s awful. Help him. Give him love and support. He’s one of my all time faves. Also, Railroad hands down best faction and if you kill them for any reason other than like a walkthrough route video and I ever get the chance I would 100% clock you in the face as hard as I can, like going for losing teeth, and feel no guilt. I know it’s a game and that’s wrong, and I’d be wrong, but I’d still do it. Also, Ryan Alosio (his VA) saw me do cosplay for Deacon once and told me it was great and it filled me with even more love. Anyway Deacon is great. Also, his whole “There are other organisations out there. And, in time, I'm sure they're going to spoon-feed you their own patented form of bullshit. Ignore the verbage and look at what they're doing. What they're asking you to do. What sort of world they'd have you build and how they're going to pay for it.” Is one of the like, two most iconic quotes in all of FO4 & just super good in general.

Hancock: Hardcore badass man but also a good dude and a champion for the people. Man really puts his money where his mouth is and you gotta respect that; another favorite companion for sure. Big fan of the way he stabs a guy for you upon meeting, and is a cool leader who organized his crime and does a decent job actually leading. He works hard to help people and bites back hard. Social justice advocate, dangerous man about town, not afraid to cosplay a revolutionary war hero 24/7 & u gotta respect the no fucks given attitude. A chill dude. Like that he fights the institute, hates the Brotherhood, helps the Railroad, and is friends with Nick. He’s legit af. Also, his VA gives a different answer every time someone asks him about the voice he did for hancock and they’re funny af.

Piper Wright: A cool spunky lady. Lois Lane on the case, kicking butt, and taking name. She’s nice but also hardcore and smart, supportive, fun. A good person. You always get points if you like Nick (which most companions do), and they’re good friends. She’s funny and I love her. A good heart.

Codsworth: He’s great. He’s family. He’s like my...weird brother. Getting to max affinity is heartwarming and also makes my heart go :’-] . Great early-game companion bc he kicks ass and doesn’t need stims to heal. I love getting called by my name and think that was a great feature (well, my PC’s name). He’s a wonderful funky little robot dude and I am so glad he likes me.

Dogmeat: Amazing. A good boy. Doggo of the year. His actor deserved the game award she won. Cute, full of love, and plays with a teddy bear if you give him one. 100/10z

Cait: I like her a lot. She’s been through so much shit, and it makes sense she is how she is. I like they actually gave her an emaciated and messy (though still pretty) design, since she is a drug addict. And that they make her main quest about taking that seriously and wanting to get help, and that she’ll call out the player if they fuck around and do drugs in front of her after she gets rehabilitated. Her relationship to the PC if good is really sweet, and I am a fan. I like that while she’s not sympathetic to synths and thinks they aren’t people, she forgets that every time Nick walks into a room and is like “Oh hey Nicky : )”. She’s a good girl who has been through a lot and still needs time to heal and find herself, but she’s making great strides.

Robert Joseph MacCready: Human disaster (loving). Homeboy a goddamn /mess/ but I love him. He tries so hard to be cool. I love he makes you pay him to come with, then chickens out and gives it back lol. A fool ball of anxiety and bad decisions and what he thinks brovado is. I wish he, Preston, and Deacon would quit fighting, bc I am always like “ :’-] </3 Boys Please” when they swap out, but I love them just the same. He’s doing his best, he’s just stupid and a fool. Like Philip J Fry. Keeping his goddamn soldier toy, which somehow is listed as junk instead of sent to Misc with quest items where it would be fine, safe?parylizes me with fear. I’ve lost 2 hours of gameplay reloading an old save bc I accidentally lost it.

X6-88: A more complex one to answer about. He’s bad, but like, I’m pretty sympathetic to how he got that way. He was created in a lab and had his emotions mostly dragged out of him in intense psychologically damaging training so he would be a weapon and view himself as an object. I was relieved he chose me over the institute even if he wasn’t a fan of the chocie, and think that means there’s a lot of hope for him. Wish he’d chill the fuck out and quit intimidating civilians for 6 god damn seconds, but I like him. I bring him fancy lad snack cakes home from travels all the time, bc Synths are supposed to like them. Really like that he’s the /most/ sympathetic companion towards Danse in Blind Betrayal, even though he should not be programmed for that, and Danse hated him and made it clear any time they interacted.

(EDIT) Curie: I FORGOT HER BABY IM SO SORRY. I like Curie a lot, despite the fact I temporarily forgot she existed. I stg I thought she was in here. Uhhh, okay. Curie: like her character and personality, HUGE un-fan of both the way her desire to get a synth body is to be ‘more real,’ as if Codsworth isn’t a fully realized person while the same robot type she is, instead of just like. Because it would make her happy. ALSO hate how much of a Born Sexy Yesterday she is, even intentionally in not-determinate affinity talks. It’s gross. But her herself, I like a lot. She’s my daughter and I will protect her. She works at The Castle right now as their on-site medic.

Paladin Danse: I know I’m gonna take heat for this but honestly? He didn’t do much for me. I like that he looks and sounds kinda like Buzz Lightyear, and that’s fun, but idk at all why people think he’s so hot. He’s very boring & generic looking to me. Like you’re valid! Taste all be different. But he doesn’t do it for me personally in looks or personality. I don’t at all like, hate him. Or even dislike. Tbh I am fairly neutral on him. It was funny making affinity with him though. Every other companion I had maxed, I liked more and more with each affinity talk. They’d be like “So my dad was a minuteman and died and I want to honor him” or “I just want to really feel like I’m a person, for real, myself, and I am glad I met you, because the good we have achieved together is ours, even if I can’t be sure of anything else,” or “My brother threw the cultural minorities out of our city for clout bc the rich citizens were all racist, and I tried to help—I snuck them food to the unsafe ruins they set up in for weeks, but eventually, they just vanished, and I still bear immense guilt and self-hatred over not having stopped that.” And Danae’s would be like “One time a buddy of mine got kidnapped by super mutants. They turned him into one of them, and they’re all abominations, so I killed him and it made me really sad.” And I was just like “...Oh danse. I really wanted to like you more. But what the fuck.” His relationship to Haylen is sweet though. And ofc I saved him in Blind Betrayal. I blew up the Prydwin so he’s safe now too, and he lives in the garden by my house and tells me how glad he is we’re friends, and I’m p into that. Overall, my feelings on him are not strong at all though.

Porter Gage: Not a fan. Like, I appreciated he helped me kill the old boss, sure. And bc I owed him for that, I went to max affinity to see what there was to him as a person. And like, as far as raiders go, he was okay. But he wasn’t deeply sympathetic, and he’s a slaver, and if you try to liberate the slaves he and the others own, he /will/ turn on and attempt to murder you immediately, no matter how close you were, so he made his choice, and it was to be a bad person and an asshole to the last. Really enjoyed the VA’s work a lot on him tho.

And there you have it 👈👈😎. Thanks for asking!

[abitscrewystein]

Metal On The Brain

A rework of an old one-shot!

Warnings for: Blood Self-experimentation Self-harm Depression Separation anxiety Intrusive thoughts Trauma Hallucinations Heavy dissociation

The majority of the fight was a blur for him. He should have been more careful, thought through it more thoroughly. He should have factored in the sudden rainstorm that had passed only a half an hour ago. Marie was worried, he could feel that much from her soul alone.

The kishin egg they were hunting looked just as unsightly as the rest he’d faced thus far. In all, including those he collected with his previous partner, he had captured a hundred and twenty-five. This would end just as the rest had. They would stop its rampage, collect its soul, and move on.

He was only eighteen, even then only barely. Marie, his current weapon partner, was only a month or so younger than him.

The thing was about as high as a two-story building, bearing claws and jagged teeth, its flesh just barely clinging to its bones. Its spine jutted out like cracked spikes, only putting more strain on its already-stretched flesh. Disgusting, but he’d still enjoy tearing it apart.

He was angry. He should have listened when Marie suggested they take a while for him to calm down. He didn’t listen, and he’d regret it for the rest of his life. Any time he looked into her eye.

He glared up at the creature and took note of all the data present.

Blind bloodlust; Advantage to Stein Large equates to slow; Advantage to Stein It had rained; Disadvantage to both sides He was angry; Advantage to the kishin

It had eaten so many souls by this point that it had begun to go berserk. When it finally noticed Stein, its full attention was turned from its intended victim. Stein rolled his head, cracking the joints, adjusting the grip on his weapon. Not loose enough. Too tense. Too angry. 

He’d lost all that work for what? Some woman Spirit won’t last a year with. Damn that woman.

Stein charged the beast, using his advantages. His speed, delayed reaction response from the kishin. He was able to keep most of his friction on the ground, making a conscious effort to step on the drier of stones in the cobble street. He slammed his weapon into the back of what might have been a knee once and jumps back as the thing tumbles to the ground.

It would have been the perfect position, but there was one problem. He misread it. It wasn’t as slow as he thought it would be.

It backhanded him, like swatting a fly. Humiliating. Degrading. Taunting. The young meister flew through the window of a crumbling shop and slammed into the counter. He wishes he’d have woken up faster, that he’d come to his senses quicker. That wasn’t the case.

When his eyes opened he saw Marie, kneeled in front of him, worriedly looking him over. He had plenty of glass embedded in his back, and what he’d guessed to be at least a mild concussion. He groaned, his eyes finally coming back into focus.

Some part of him wished that they hadn’t. He saw the kishin’s hand —at least seven feet in length— reaching in through the broken window. Stein tried to reach out, push Marie out of the way, try to tell her to change back into her weapon form. Too late. Too slow. Not enough time.

It grabbed her by the head, dragging her outside. It held her daintily, taunting him as he staggered and nearly tripped over the edge of the window. He warped his wavelength, felt it buzzing under his skin, ready to send a burst of force into the creature. Too late. Again.

He felt his stomach churn as one of its claws stabbed through her eye. Popped like a grape. He still remembers her scream, echoes of a nightmare of a mistake. One damn mistake, one miscalculation, one stupid decision, and there she was. Hanging from its claws, passed out, tears streaming from her remaining eye.

He jumped onto its back, grabbing those spikes of bone and tearing across the skin with his charged wavelength. Its arms were long enough to grab him as well. Another miscalculation. Too much anger, not enough room to process before the fight. 

Stein grimaced, feeling its bladed claws slice easily through his clothes and his flesh. Agony. Marie. Rain, water, pain. Pain. PAIN— No! Think. Strategize. Rationalize. Where did it hit me? Concussion... Abdomen, chest, back. Metal claws. Metal.

He took a breath as far as he could considering the grip the thing had on him, and reached inward. His wavelength surged, crackling with energy saved from Marie’s own soul. The blast was more than enough to shatter its hand and make it drop his partner.

Another wound to add to the count. Sprained ankle, potentially fractured talus and metatarsal bones. A shockwave of pain shooting through his leg. Can’t stop. It wasn’t dead yet, and he only barely caught Marie before she would have hit the ground.

He set her down and dodged an angry swipe above his head. He grabbed onto its wrist and ran up its arm. Good thing he always keeps something extra. A scalpel. Versatile, small, easy to conceal. Easy to use, as well. It’s quick enough to slice across the kishin’s throat.

Stein staggered and fell when he hit the ground, the monster’s form dissipating and compressing until it was nothing more than a floating red orb. That was far less important than making sure his weapon partner wasn’t dead. He couldn’t lose another one, not so quickly after losing the first.

Once he had confirmed she was alive, he promptly passed out.

He was vaguely aware as agents from the DWMA came to collect them, the lights of an ambulance, hospital ceilings. All covered by a hazy, painless fog. All he could think of was Marie. Was she alright? Would she live? Considering his rather extensive wounds, he probably should have been wondering about himself as well.

When Stein was finally somewhat lucid —at least for his standards— he noted that his bed was next to Marie’s. The nurse explained that she’d been asking about him, exasperated and worried. He learned he’d been asleep for nearly a week. Understandable. Bodies need time to heal, and do so best when resting. If he hadn’t been asleep, he probably would have made it harder on himself. He hated doing nothing.

They stayed in the hospital for quite some time, though Marie was discharged earlier. She spent most of her time with him, quietly muttering apologies when she thought he was asleep. Why would she feel guilty? Why did he feel guilty?

Weapons are trained and willing to die for their meisters. How fucked up is that...

Worse than that, how could she forgive him? He was reckless, he lost her an eye because he was angry and didn’t listen to her. It was her. She was always there for him, always willing to help. Stabilize, quiet the insanity of his internal dialogue. She wasn’t afraid of him. He couldn’t blame her, really, she’s an incredibly powerful weapon. Named for the legendary Mjolnir. Though, she’s a tonfa. Not a hammer.

She made his recovery easier. She brought him food, helped him remember how to laugh and smile. Sort of. He could still feel the weight of everything in his chest. For the first time in his life, he regretted his actions. It was a disturbing new feeling, and he hated it.

He started getting anxious when she left to do other things. Fell into dissociative states, filled with anxiety at the lack of her presence. A doctor and two nurses ended up rather bruised, and he ended up strapped to his cot. Frustrating. Annoying. Too many memories. Something could happen. Anything could happen to her, and he would be helpless. Useless. Pathetic.

Of course, nothing happened. She would come back, same as always, worried when she noted his distress. There was something else, though. He couldn’t put his finger on it. Maybe she was finally getting tired of it. Tired of his constant panic attacks when she would leave. When he would beg her to stay just a little longer.

It was such a relief when he was discharged. He didn’t want to go back to his apartment with her. There was a pang of overwhelming guilt when he looked her in the eyes. Eye. One eye.

He started to take missions more seriously. Controlled himself, though only barely. He slipped back into other old habits, instead. Finding animals to gut. Gouge. Slice. It felt... helpful.

He made her a Death Scythe at twenty-two. He was proud, more so of her than himself. They were a team, but she consumed the souls. She absorbed their power, something he could never imagine doing. He took some pride in his work, but he was more happy for her. What he felt for himself was... Fear.

What would he do? She was going to be transferred to Oceania. She told him she wanted something simple, something easy. As if life for anyone from the academy would be either of those things. Still, he told her to go, that he was happy for her, that he’d be fine. He was lying.

Stein found himself with random episodes of anxiety. Voices creeping around in the shadows of their now-empty apartment. Everything about those rooms was wrong, now that she was gone. It was too lacking. She’d brought most of the furniture with her, which made sense. Most of it was hers anyway, not really his style.

When he tried to ignore his emotions, the anxiety, the depression, they just came back stronger. He had no one to go to. Spirit was married, they had a daughter back when they first got together. So young. Not to mention, Spirit was terrified of him and his wife always glared daggers when he saw them.

He had to stop thinking about her. She’d send him emails, voicemails, which he started to ignore until she just stopped. Somehow, that made it even worse. He couldn’t get any of it out of his head. He needed a barrier. Something, anything to make it better.

He moved out. Bought some broken-down building with what he’d saved up. He busied himself, fixing it up. No one really came out there, so it was perfect for a man hiding from everything. A hermit. Closed off in more ways than one. He refused the offers from Lord Death to keep working for him. Finished several degrees online.

It kept getting worse. He kept getting worse.

He needed a barrier. Something between him and the rest of the hell in his head. Finally, after four years without her, without anyone... He snapped. The walls warped around him, his vision swam, his head was filled with images. Blood. He needed blood. No one to slice, no one to alter. No experiments to carry out.

He pushed himself into a corner, heaving breaths that felt like lead. His stomach churned, the whispers didn’t stop. He wanted it to stop. Needed it to stop. He stumbled as he stood up, leaning on the wall as he walked. He wasn’t quite sure where he was going. He could stop it. He had to.

It’s all in your head. All in your head. In your head. Something between me and my mind. In my head.

“In my head.”

He’d collected enough scrap metal for another hobby, made little trinkets and gadgets. He found something that seemed fitting. Ironic. An oversized screw. He had plenty of medical supplies —dubiously acquired— . Drugs, sutures, stitches, scalpels, pliers, bandages...

He spent so long in that over-lit operating room tearing himself apart. Putting himself back together. Pull apart. Stitch together. Over and over and over. Gave himself several more scars. The last of which was heavy and metal. He’s not sure how he survived. Maybe his soul was too spiteful to let him die.

That was something else, entirely. Altering his own soul. That’s something he doubts he’ll ever remember. He didn’t record it, didn’t take notes. Couldn’t, really. He could hardly breathe, much less speak. It was all so oddly numb but fascinating to watch, see his own blood pooling beneath him.

When he came back from the brink, he noted the mirrors. So many of them propped up everywhere, just so that he could operate on himself. He studied his reflection, his hazy eyes, the fresh stitches across his face and his chest and his arm. The moment he saw the screw embedded in his head was the moment he fled from his body. It felt like a camera had zoomed out to show him his broken flesh.

Somehow, he survived. Lord Death called on him, said he saw what happened. The shinigami insisted he continue working for the DWMA, if only to keep himself in check. He could run the lab like a clinic, if people dared to go inside. Mostly he did autopsies.

He adjusted. He got used to the occasional migraines, found that turning the screw readjusted his thought process. It became a strange little habit, but one he felt calming and helpful. He began to enjoy himself again, just a little bit, a new spark in his life.

Or in someone else’s lack of life. Poor Sid, someone he remembered from school. Stein hadn’t interacted much with the other students, but Sid was a good man. A good a person as any for such an odd experiment. Even if it was commissioned by Lord Death. A human soul and a corpse was an odd package to find on his doorstep. Never a dull moment, he supposed.

He had some fun tormenting those students for their remedial lesson. He remembered how good it felt to be in control, to be intimidating.

Things felt normal. He became a professor. He liked teaching.

Then a witch infiltrated the academy. She woke the kishin, Asura, from his eons-long slumber.

But that’s another story.

[emeraldsiren19]

Open letter to Star Wars fandom post-Tros

The insanity of the SW fandom has truly peaked. And people wonder why outsiders don't touch them with a fifty foot pole. 

There are not enough expletives (btw 'kriff' doesn't exist in the GFFA but that's a topic for another day) in the English language for the disgrace, mockery, idiocy and so on that has permeated what could be an otherwise great fandom. I have been a SW fan my whole life and will continue to be forever, but there are hills I will die on.

All of this "JJ ruined SW forever and Terrio is a saint, etc!?!" bullshit combined with "oh don't pick on poor Daisy..no one told her anything about her character" makes the folks who regurgitate the drivel appear to have their hostility set in the wrong place. No one can possibly believe what they are preaching to be fact.

Everything is clearly mapped out as it happened and nothing is cryptic. It would smash you into the pavement like a bus for how blatant it is. Obviously people believe what they want but presenting lies as law does no one any favors.

JJ.didn't.write.shit. Repeat it out loud as many times as necessary. Everyone and their dog in Hollywood knows that. How he and Terrio are not blacklisted for their extensive career bombs when anyone else wouldn't get away with it remains a mystery. Everyone knows he stole writing credit from lots of people. That's just from SW without the rest of his 'filmography'. Don't ever him credit for being *anything* other than having sand for brains. If you think he's the fucking mastermind behind anything, he's got you exactly where he wants you, wrapped around his finger. That's how hacks operate. He is responsible for the shit editing job of TROS where the editing crew was threatened with their jobs if it was not done in a certain way under a certain unrealistic time crunch. That is why TROS was so choppy and nonsensical, not taking into consideration Terrio's very explicit hate for anything in the franchise not related to Luke or Rey. He is responsible for forcing Adam Driver to do ADR dialogue in his own fucking closet out of sheer vindication. 

There is hypocrisy and disrespect to levels that it's impossible to recover from. DLF went out of its way, above and beyond even, with gaslighting and erasure to destroy the entire franchise in one film. In December, people said they were done with SW because DLF had crushed them and they would never recover but they would still love it.

Funny how that took a spin in the opposite direction since people hate it with a white hot passion. Only SW fandom would choose to not abandon something they hate in favor of unhealthy hatred.  'Fans' directing their anger toward boycotting the entire franchise instead of ignoring the bad film as any other franchise does. It is done with such vocal energy that it has become the popular vote and anyone who doesn't agree with the hate is an outcast. Essentially becoming the angry antis that they claim to hate in the same breath.

And don't even start on the utter bullshit of Rey's parentage. The latest conspiracy theory, advocated by DR herself, would have you believe that she has equal sand for brains and doesn't know shit about her own character, and that Rey Nobody of Jakku was nothing more than Resistance propaganda and never existed. That TFA and TLJ are figments of our imagination and the highly respected Rian Johnson is not only a slave driver but a hack who knows nothing. He knows a hell of a lot more than Terrio and JJ combined. If you seriously believe that Daisy knows nothing about her own character when every other actor knows more than the writers, you're equally conned. Daisy didn't pay attention or didn't care because that meant working, which she bitched about she shouldn't have to do. Like JB, she wants to be seen as the poor abused victim. 

When TFA and TLJ were at the forefront, no one had any issues whatsoever with Rey of Jakku being related to no one. Rian even said as much. But he and George Lucas who created the franchise know nothing. Neither does Lawrence Kasdan and his cowriter Michael Arndt. Lucas explicitly said during PT filming that Palpatine had no offspring, and people who aren't even involved in the fandom know that the Dark Side tells you anything you want to hear. Why the bloody fuck anyone with functioning braincells would take anything that TROS claims to be true as gospel fact "because it's onscreen which makes it true". 

It fucking cancelled 9 previous films and people choose to accept with open arms the same literal pile of shit they said destroyed them over the 9 films that have almost no flaws by comparison. Cancel out any love, family, fairytales, hope, because a shit for brains writer (Terrio) chose to annihilate them to become the tale of St Luke and the Virgin Rey. 

Why? What is the logic or purpose behind the Stockholm Syndrome which DLF initiated that TROS is Gospel Law, everything else is heresy and Rey Nobody never existed? 

I can tell you right now without any doubt that Carrie Fisher and Peter Mayhew are both rolling in their graves at the utter hurricane of disrespect and mockery that has swept over the franchise. George Lucas is likely regretting his choice to sell LF to Disney after the atrocity of TROS. Why are people giving the antis/fanboys whom they claim to abhor as much power as they have? 

That's not even touching any widely publicized offscreen drama involving the actors. Adam made the wise decision to cut all ties. DR and Reylos were harassed by JB. They probably don't recall boycotting him as a result. Kelly Tran was harassed by fanboys and thrown under the bus by JB and JJ. In addition, neither JB nor DR can find work after their stunts (she trashed Adam and Rian at a full cast press conference for making her actually work during TLJ). Now he's hoping people will conveniently forget what an ass he was to everyone. Interesting how Adam, Kelly, and the rest of the cast are having zero issues finding work. 

In a nutshell, Rey may not be my favorite character by a long shot. Kylo deserved better. The Force thought they belonged together. But NO ONE (actor or character) deserved the fucking lazy bullshit copout story that was given to them by hack 'writer' Terrio and 'I can't finish any story' director JJ. Carrie was a script doctor and would have beaten the shit out of Terrio. The extent of her revenge on JJ would be haunting him but he isn't even worth that much effort. 

People have forgotten that or they don't care anymore. At which point move on. But that doesn't give someone license to trash an entire fandom with blatant lies out of spite as retribution. Don't create conspiracy theories that experts (the writers of TFA/TLJ and actors) have explicitly said are the opposite. 

[jaybug-jabbers]

Pokemon Prism Review

Well I’m currently finishing up the post-game content of Pokemon Prism.

Dang.

What a fun game.

(what follows is an informal review of the game. it got a little long, lol. it has some spoilers for the game, of course.)

My background

To give you a quick idea on my perspective on Pokemon, I grew up with Pokemon Red on the big grey brick Gameboy. After Red, I pretty much stopped playing for many years. My little brother had a Gameboy Color and had Silver, but I never got one myself. Wasn’t ‘til years and years later I found some emulators and played through several generations of Pokemon at once. So, Gen 2 really isn’t nostalgic for me. It’s close enough to Gen 1 to hit some nostalgia buttons, though. I am admittedly somebody who feels Gen 1 is the best gen of pokemon. I don’t care of people laugh or say I’m a genwunner for believing that. Gen 1, I feel, had the raw creativity and charm of the original idea, and it simply sets my imagination alight far more than any other gen does. Those simple pixel designs for those little virtual creatures just opened up a world in my mind. THAT SAID, I did play and very much enjoyed all the other gens of pokemon. I do not shun things just because they are new, and I am not one of those people who says the new designs of pokemon are stupid. I adore plenty of modern pokes.

Blend of Old and New

Anyway! Pokemon Prism, for those unaware, is a ROM hack of Pokemon Crystal. It essentially delivers a brand-new Pokemon adventure for the Generation 2 games. It’s a really neat blend of classic gameplay and modern features. You’ll find species from modern games all the way from Gen 3 (such as Breloom) to Gen 6 (such as Sylveon) but their sprites perfectly integrate them organically into the Gen 2 environment. You’ll get many modern pokemon moves and conviences but also plenty of throwbacks to older experiences. Miss crafting pokeballs from Apricorns? It’s there. Enjoy a simplier time when there weren’t any Natures? Well, there ya go. Really want to call Joey and talk to him about his Rattata? Well, err, no, you can’t do that, but let’s face it, the telephone feature was probably one of the most hated features in Gen 2. :P

But Prism isn’t simply about updating Gen 2 with some modern pokemon, moves and game features. Not in the slightest. It’s full of original mechanics and gameplay concepts, and has tons of original areas and an original storyline. Pokemon is known for experimenting with new gameplay ideas, so it’s really fitting and enjoyable to see these take shape as you play the game. Mining and crafting is introduced in the game, for example, and there are a couple new pokemon types. There’s even a few sections where you can play as your pokemon, Mystery-Dungeon style. Do all of these experiments with new concepts work? Probably not ALL of them– when you try something new, not all of them will work out as amazing as you’d hope. But a lot of them are welcome and fun additions. And the game is bristling with these new ideas! It’s a joy to see so much creativity and novelty.

Sprites

It should be noted the spritework for these games is A+ and utterly fantastic. There is perhaps 3 or 4 out of dozens and dozens of new sprites that I thought were a tad off? Seriously, they look AMAZING and their animations are perfect and they fit in with the style so well I found myself briefly getting confused as to which were originally from Gen 2 and which weren’t. Saying these sprites are good is no small thing, because they are such a vital part of the game. The backsprites were not shafted, either– something even Gamefreak often shortchanged on back then.

Music

It should also be noted the music in this game is really damn good and has a huge variety. There are tons of classic songs, classic remakes of modern pokemon songs, remixes, and original tunes. There were like one or two tunes I was a bit iffy on, but considering that’s only a few out of so many, that’s impressive. The new bike music and Surfing music are probably my favorites, and they are SO GOOD, and those are especially important ones to sound good, because you typically hear those a lot.

Writing

The writing in this game is fairly solid. Not A+, but still not bad. It suffers occasionally from slightly rough and confusing grammar, and the climax of the story is definitely anti-climactic and very weak. In addition, the post-game story basically does not exist, but that can be excused since most likely more story was planned but they ran out of time. (C&D)

I also felt that at times, the story felt out-of-place within the world of Pokemon and went “too far” in the darker direction. The entire prison sequence, especially, and the frequent mention of inmates being mistreated, pokemon being abused, etc., just felt a bit much. Because this game was largely concerned with replicating the feeling of a true Pokemon game (some hacks intentionally focus on making a story that would never take place in the Pokemon world, like zombie survival horror stories or whatnot), I find it relevant to mention that. All of that said, though, its darker departures were at least not *too* extreme. We don’t get the very jarring and frequent problem of some ROM hacks where it’s full of cussing all the time or intense violence. Compared to those it’s still relatively subtle. And while the NPCs in this game I felt were rude a little too often, (holy crap, it felt like 95% of Naljo and Rijon were crankyass people) I do appreciate the attempts at making people a little more “real” and not quite so freaking happy and idealized all the time like Nintendo tends to do. The dialogue often made me chuckle. It did go a tad overboard with that “realness” (because, hey, a variety of people exist in the world, you know, both rude and polite, optimistic and bitter) but oh well.

So yes, the writing had its drawbacks. But overall, it felt like it was progressing a pokemon-style narrative with some interesting ideas, and wasn’t simply a dreary rehash of the same basic tropes Pokemon has been regurgitating for ages now. I just think if the writing were cleaned up a bit– the grammar cleaned up in a few sections, the plot threads clarified a bit more, and the climax reworked– it could take a “decent story” and make it a great one. There’s definitely some neat ideas there, it just needs polish.

Maps

As to the different towns and locations in this game to explore, there are many. This game is ambitious AF. As I said, it’s FULL of new ideas, features, things to do, and places to explore. Naljo is the region you explore in the main game, but post-game you can wander a whole new region of Rijon (the featured location of an older ROM hack, Pokemon Brown) and beat all the gyms there. In addition, there’s a few towns in Kanto and Johto you can visit (I believe they originally planned to open up all of those regions eventually), AND one town in ANOTHER new region, Tunod. The game’s ambitiousness occasionally outpaces what it delivers, but that’s quite acceptable in my mind, since updates with additions to the game were originally planned. So, yes, there isn’t much to do post-game, but that’s largely because a lot of stuff was going to be added.

Back to the locations, though! It’s an important aspect of ROM hacks. Not everyone is good at designing a good town, with logical building placement, intuitive layouts, aesthetically pleasing locations, and interesting things to explore so it doesn’t feel totally plain and lacks character. I’m pleased to say this game does a great job of it, though. I should point out I have a terrible sense of direction and bad spatial memory. Despite that fact, I found myself remembering important features and where they were located– oh, the Move Deleter house is in Phacelia on the left, the bullet train is in Torenia– and that’s a good sign. Physical travel was not a sloggy chore, and it wasn’t bogged down in a confusing layout. Towns were memorable and fun to explore.

Pacing/Level Curve

Another thing ROM hacks can screw up, because it’s a tricky thing to do, is the challenge pacing. How many trainers? What teams do they have? What levels? Are the Gyms challenging without being insane? I actually Nuzlocked the main part of the game. In my opinion it was well-paced. There’s probably fewer trainers overall in this game than a standard Pokemon game. But it did not take me much extra grinding in the grass– and I was only doing that to play it safe for the Nuzlocke. And that’s GOOD. You shouldn’t have to do tons of grinding in the grass all the time just to have a reasonable shot at the gyms. Pokemon Uranium, sadly, seems to suffer from that issue. So, yeah, the pacing was very reasonable to me, good balance of fair and challenging.

… with one important note. Once you reach the League? Well, we could have used higher-levelled wild pokemon in the cave that served as the victory road. The highest in that cave was level 34 or so, and you were facing trainers with teams ~level 55. That’s a huge gap. Not everyone has the same play style. Some people like to do extra grinding before the Elites. Some people are Nuzlocking and may do extra grinding as a safety buffer. Some people might want to adjust their team & add a new pokemon to their team and need to grind them up from a lower level. For those cases, you NEED decently-levelled wild pokemon to grind on. So, yeah, I really do think the Seneca Caves wild pokemon need a level buff. It would also help with the level gap for the post-game. Trainers in Rijon are suddenly at levels 70ish and higher, and for some folks playing, that’s a bit much and they’d like to do a little grinding first.

Puzzles

This game has puzzles. You have been warned, lol. Apparently a lot of people found the number of puzzles a bit frustrating, or felt that some of them were excessively tricky or annoying. I find it very funny, because usually puzzles are my least favorite part of a pokemon game. But I really enjoyed the puzzles in Prism and didn’t find it annoying or offputting at all. I was sick with a cold through most of my play of Prism, and yet even in my dumb brainaddled state, I didn’t find the puzzles too difficult. I solved them all at a pretty average length of time, even the ones some people traditionally found a little unclear or confusing. (the Ruins puzzle often confuses folks, apparently, but I really didn’t have a problem with it at all.) I was briefly confused on one of the switch puzzles (and it contained an element of bad puzzle design imo– there’s a gap that you can leap down into when normally a gap of that size just gives the ‘run into wall’ sound and is not passable) but not for too long. Even the ice slide puzzles, which I traditionally hate with a passion, were not bad!

All except for one thing. The Magikarp Puzzle. Anyone who has played Prism knows what I mean. Haha, fuck that puzzle man. Even the creator of the ROM hack himself has acknowledged the puzzle was not great, heh. To be honest, I find it kind of hilarious, in a way, though. I mean, obviously it’s a nightmarishly difficult and frustrating puzzle and is intensely exhausting to look at, let alone try to solve. But it’s also kinda glorious in its demonicness. I didn’t spend too much time on it before just looking up a solution to it. It’s tedious and not fun at all, and hey, that’s OK, because even the creator realized that.

pls nerf magikarp

But seriously, outside of the magikarp puzzle, I didn’t just enjoy the puzzles in this game– I felt like they were an important part of what gave this game its character.

Fakemon

There are even a few fakemon in this game! Which I was excited to learn because I thought there weren’t! All of the fakemon are Legenderies. Unfortunately, I don’t care for most of their designs. Like, at all. I think Varaneous and Libabeel’s sprites look really, really shitty. They’re ugly and don’t match the style of Pokemon at all. This feels weird to say, since I love so much about this game, but man, there’s just no way around it, I hate ‘em. Everyone has their own tastes, of course. There’s a couple fakemon I have yet to capture– I’m finishing that up now and the very very last of the post-game. But one fakemon I did capture and ADORE LIKE NO OTHER is Phancero.

I happen to know about Phancero’s designer, because I saw their design years ago. They apparently were approached by the team and were asked permission for the use of the design, which is awesome. I won’t rant again about Phancero here because I already ranted about it before, and literally could keep ranting for pages. :P But yeah, it’s a totally creative and awesome pokemon both in idea and execution, and by FAR my favorite fakemon ever created.

Conclusion

This is the best ROM hack I have played in years and probably ever. I haven’t played hundreds of ROM hacks, but I have probably played dozens over the years. I think they are a creative and wonderful expression of the pokemon community, but let’s be honest. There’s a lot of really bad ROM hacks out there. There’s even more ROM hacks that have a lot of potential but are never finished or anywhere near completion. (And that’s perfectly understandable. People run out of time, they have real life get in the way, etc.) The fact that not only did a ROM hack of this caliber get made, but was 95-99% completed? Is fantastic. It was an intensely massive project and I cannot begin to imagine how much work it must have been. Pokemon games are normally developed by an entire team at a company, and folks are paid to do it. The comparatively small team of devs who made this game in their spare time and implemented these amazing things had to do it all on their own. It’s no wonder it took as long as it did for them to finish it; and the amount of effort SHOWS. There is so much loving attention to detail and polish to Prism. (I mean, yes, there’s still some bugs and the occasional unfinished bits, but of course there are, those were going to be finished, but then the C&D hit)

Most ROM hacks are just strong in a few areas, because it’s one or two people who have strengths or interests in a few things. So, you’ll play a hack with a really good story but terrible fakemon and mapping, or you’ll play a hack with fantastic designs of new areas, but no new story, etc. Prism kinda has everything, though. It really did feel like playing a new Gen 2 game.

(It’s now almost 11pm and oh god where did the time go. I have a problem with being concise. :P This was far longer than I intended but thank you if you’ve read this far!)

This is a repost on a new blog. The original post was on Jan 17, 2017.

[lonicompound]

80 Octet-Themed Dialogue Prompts

how could i have made prompt lists for the other malloysicals but not this one? anyway since last month, i’ve been replaying octet again and again, those harmonies are so, so, Good.

note: prompts can also be used aside from dialogue i just put the word dialogue there because personally, i struggle with dialogue.

“I danced like a beautiful fool one time, some time.” 

“There is a monster, and I am a monster.”

“It’s starting to get to me.”

“I was okay once, I can be okay again.”

“I’ve not gone crazy just yet.”

“I know what helps, and I know what hurts.”

“I had been doing really good, you know?”

“I had an urge and I said, ‘Why not? One peek won’t hurt.’”

“Fuck context, right?”

“Is that my face?”

“Just refresh. Make my head feel clean.”

“But we all have to come back, so I came back.”

“The mob never forgets. The mob never forgives.”

“No, you’ve no fucking idea what you’re talking about!"

“It’s hard to get close to new people now. I don’t go out much.”

“I don’t think we’re wired to handle this.”

“No one around can stop me.”

“Someone’s bitchin’ but I don’t care.”

“Watch the numbers go up.”

“Did you know how much mathematics you can get involved in the games I play?”

“But they’ll never ever know how dark it gets.”

“I am merely coasting through the world.”

“I don’t care if I die. How else could I be wasting so much time?”

“We don’t sleep well, my husband and I.”

“He doesn’t take care of himself.”

“God, I wish he would scream.”

“What if you let something go? Just for the night, would that be alright?”

“All those suffering souls that you cannot control, and you invite them all in our bed?”

“Well, what if I’m not big enough to take in so much pain?”

“It beats on my brain, I am going insane.”

“I am going insane, right here, in this bed, next to you.”

“You’d see it if you weren’t so lost in the stale pale glow.”

“Yesterday, I heard someone somewhere did something somewhat awful.”

“Are you outraged?”

“I am obsessed with my monster.”

“It’s a new kind of monster.”

“Will the monster finally go too far?”

“As you watch the monster, it digs deeper in your brain.”

“Your practice makes you master of the monster.”

“Your brain is chemically changed.”

“I am sane, and I am telling you, the monster is real. And we’re in trouble.”

“I am the most miserable man that you can imagine.”

“I could be so good at love.”

“Do other people get to feel this all the time? Woah...”

“I can’t hold on.”

“When will I get lucky? When will I get my shot?”

“I just have to turn it on, fall into the screen, and I’m gone.”

“No one fucking honors that!”

“There’s no fucking equivalency here.”

“So anyway, I’m doing good. Mostly limiting my time.”

“I guess I’m seeing a lot of grays right now.”

“It’s just a matter of digging a little deeper, just a matter of getting underneath what’s up in there.”

“You think you know anything? Seriously?”

“Have you seen the code?” “No, no one sees the code, we are not in control.”

“It’s all fucking rigged.”

“We don’t get the figures. We don’t get the reports. All we get are scraps, man.”

��Expand your thinking, how do you distinguish between good and bad?”

“Focus. Follow the crumbs.”

“First, they poisoned the water, then they poisoned the sky. And now, it’s our minds.”

“We’re all getting stupider, man! I can feel it.”

“Believe in your bones that we’re riding the greatest timeline in existence.”

“I feel very far from myself right now and I don’t trust myself anymore.”

“It’s all sort of the same thing to me right now.”

“I’m sorry about last night, this is probably a more normal way to talk to you.”

“I can do some things, but I’m not sure if I’m actually God. I was hoping you could run some tests, and see if these are miracles?”

“We had hypotheses.”

“Breathe and sing with me, and drink your tea.”

“Give yourself a little bit of time and a little bit of space.”

“Only once you’re bored out of your mind will you see the monster’s face.”

“For so long, I saw myself so badly.”

“She noticed me from across the sea.”

“I just have to trust where my heart goes.”

“She says there is light inside me. But sometimes, all I see are the shadows.”

“You fool, it’s all within yourself.”

“And I found her, and she found me, in the lonely ugly chaos of the Internet.”

“This ugly thing lets me sing so beautiful.”

“There is a field, I will meet you there.”

“Let the morning hours pass, ‘til the words you and I fall away, and there’s nothing left to say.”

“There were never two things. There is only one thing.

“Don’t go back to sleep.”

[rvnclwrites]

First Date (Charlie Weasley x Female MC)

A/N: Okay, so don't hate me for taking a quick break from the Romania 1999 series (I'm still going to try to post part 4 soon), but in light of the latest dating side quest, I just had to write this fic. I did change things up a little because I didn't like some of Jam City's dialogue and rearranging scene order helped my plot, but I hope you guys like it!

Warnings: Minor angst because teenagers are stupid.

Word Count: ~5000

"Wait up, (L/N). What's your rush?"

Charlie’s gaze darted past Tulip as he overheard (Y/N)'s name. The redhead hadn’t seen the Curse-Breaker all morning, so he felt a twinge of excitement when he caught sight of her, but his smile wavered as he noticed Merula blocking her exit with a sneer.

"I just didn't want to interrupt the laugh you were having with your… friends?" (Y/N) answered, indifference threaded in her tone.

"Friends?" Merula looked offended. "Of course not. They're just other witches and wizards I have something in common with."

"Let me guess, they're all 'the most powerful witches and wizards at Hogwarts', too?"

Despite only being able to see the back of her, Charlie could easily imagine the look of annoyed exasperation on (Y/N)'s face. He knew her facial expressions better than anyone's.

Merula’s eyes darkened at (Y/N)'s mocking tone. "No, they just enjoy a spectacle- like the one I was just telling them about in Potions class earlier." An amused glint sparked in her eyes and she started laughing. "The look on your face when Snape read your note… 'Is there any chance you like me as more than just a friend?' Seriously? What came next, circling yes or no? Or did you draw them a box to check?"

Charlie stilled and his eyebrows ratcheted up, disappearing beneath his bangs. Did he just hear that right? He vaguely remembered hearing scattered whispers about (Y/N) earlier but didn't think much of it. Students talked about her all the time because of her brother and the Cursed Vaults. But... did she really write that?

“Come on, Charlie, I need your opinion,” Tulip groaned, snapping Charlie back to their conversation. She had been in the middle of asking him if Hiccough Sweets or Whizzing Worms were better to use on Filch.

"Sorry, but do you know what they're talking about?" Charlie asked in a whisper.

The prankster cocked her head past the fountain's columns to see what Charlie was looking at and gasped. "Didn't you hear? Snape caught (Y/N) writing a note to her crush during Potions and read it aloud in class."

Disappointment hit Charlie like a Bludger to the chest. No matter how hard he tried, Charlie couldn't seem to get over his crush on his best friend. He hated admitting it, but a small part of him always wondered if they would ever be more than friends- perhaps that's why he was delusional enough to hope for a fleeting minute that that note could have been meant for him. But he wasn't in her Potions class and he definitely didn't receive a note or even talk to (Y/N) today for that matter. "Oh." He tried his best to not let the unfamiliar feeling show on his face. “No, I didn’t. Is she okay? That's low even for Snape."

Tulip shrugged. "I'd say she's handling it pretty well. I mean she's embarrassed of course, but she seemed a little better after we talked to her in the library."

We? How many people had (Y/N) talked to? A heavy weight settled in Charlie’s stomach, and he felt guilty for not being there for her. How did he not know this happened? And why hadn't (Y/N) come to talk to him about it? They told each other everything.

"And before you ask, no- she wouldn't tell us who the note was for," Tulip added before a strike of enlightenment flashed through her eyes. "Wait a minute- you're her best friend! Do you know who her crush is?"

Charlie frowned and shook his head. "No, she never told me about having a crush." His eyes flicked back to where (Y/N) had been standing, and he was even more disappointed to find she was no longer there. "I'm gonna go talk to her."

Charlie looked high and low for (Y/N) for the next half hour but couldn’t track her down anywhere. Resigned, he decided to go to the only person he felt like he could confide in.

“Mind if I sit?” he asked his pink haired friend in the Great Hall. 

Tonks glanced up from her lunch plate and smiled at him. “Of course not, Weasley. What’s up?”

“Not much…” He took a seat across from her at the Hufflepuff table and grabbed an apple from the tray but merely fiddle with it. He was far from hungry. “Have you and Tulip decided on Hiccough Sweets versus Whizzing Worms yet?”

“Whizzing Worms,” she answered after swallowing a mouthful of food. She set down her fork and rested her chin in her hand, quirking an eyebrow at him. “Now, why don’t we talk about why you're really here?”

A mixture of anxiety and embarrassment bubbled inside Charlie's stomach. Despite having told Tonks about his crush months ago, he still hated it whenever she brought it up.

“Oh, come on. Tulip told me what happened in the Courtyard.”

Charlie sighed, twisting the apple’s stem back and forth between his fingertips. “Why didn’t she tell me about it? It seems like I’m the only one she didn’t come to and I thought we were best friends.” 

Tonks frowned. “Have you asked her about it?”

“I’m trying, but I can’t find her anywhere.”

“I think she went to Hogsmeade with Bill," Tonks answered, rubbing her chin.

A newfound sense of panic washed over Charlie and his insides twisted. “Bill? Is he… I mean he's not...” He could barely manage to stomach the idea let alone say the suggestion out loud. Thankfully, though, Tonks seemed to understand.

“Oh no, I think he’s giving her advice. They were just leaving the Great Hall when I got here."

Charlie let out a breath. "Oh."

Tonks grinned. "You know, despite being a redhead, green is not a good color on you."

"Shut up," Charlie muttered.

"Just out of curiosity, have you considered telling (Y/N) how you feel?"

Just the thought of it was enough to make hives break out on Charlie's skin. He didn't know how to date anyone let alone his best friend. He'd mess it up for sure. "Of course not."

Tonks hummed before standing up and turning toward the entryway. "Well, if you don't want to tell her, I guess all we can do is track them down and see what's going on."

-

"That's actually an interesting idea, Bill…"

Charlie froze as he reached the top step to the upper level of the Three Broomsticks. (Y/N) was right there in front of him, sitting across from Bill. His stomach contracted as he realized they were probably talking about her crush. What had Bill told her? And why did he care so much?

Spotting the look of panic in his eyes, Tonks took the liberty of giving Charlie a little push toward Bill and (Y/N)'s table. "Come on, loverboy," she whispered, patting him on the shoulder. "Too late to turn back now."

Wanting to make it clear that they hadn't been eavesdropping the whole time, Charlie decided to break the ice the best way he knew how- by picking on Bill. "My brother has an interesting idea?" he said, approaching their table. "That's gotta be a first. Do tell."

Color stained (Y/N)'s cheeks as she turned to look at them, and she laughed- a sound that automatically eased the knot in Charlie's chest. "Just when we needed a laugh."

Bill raised an eyebrow at Charlie, an unbearably smug smile tugging up the corners of his mouth. "What luck that you picked today to develop your sense of humour, Charlie."

As (Y/N) turned back to Bill with curious eyes, Charlie shot him a death glare. He had never told his brother about his crush, but Bill figured it out anyway and teased Charlie about it every chance he got. Why did older siblings seem to know everything? "What? I'm funny sometimes."

"If you really want a laugh, you should see Bilton's new inventory at Zonko's," Tonks chimed in. "We've just come from there."

Charlie glanced at Tonks, unsure why she said that since they definitely had not just come from there. He would have to ask her later. Right now, Charlie was dying to know what advice Bill gave (Y/N).

"So, what idea of Bill's was so interesting?" Charlie asked. He hoped he sounded casual. He had a feeling he sounded pathetic.

(Y/N) stared down at her empty Butterbeer glass, refusing to meet anyone's gaze. "I'm, uh, thinking of asking my crush out on a date. Bill thought it might go more smoothly if I plan the date first."

Charlie hesitated. Did that mean (Y/N) never gave the note to her crush?

"Exactly!" Bill said with a smile. "Plan for success."

"Yeah, we heard about Snape's dramatic reading in Potions class…" Tonks said, rubbing the back of her neck, but Charlie could barely hear her over the pounding in his ears.

"So the note never made it to your crush, then?" he blurted like an idiot. Luckily, (Y/N) didn't seem to notice.

"Uh, no..." Her eyes stayed trained on the table, and Charlie hated himself for the glimmer of hope that flickered inside his chest. "Which means I would have time to plan before I do the actual asking." She glanced out the window across the room. "Hogsmeade would be a good place for a date, right?" 

Charlie hated himself even more for the spark that surged through him when (Y/N)'s eyes met his. She's asking all of us, not just you, you nimwit.

To his relief, Tonks spoke up so he didn't have to. 

"All of Hogsmeade? No, you'll have to narrow it down." She turned to Charlie with a grin. "Looks like we showed up just in time."

"What do you mean?" (Y/N) asked, and Bill laughed. He and Tonks appeared to be having some horrible, non-verbal conversation.

"I think Charlie and Tonks just volunteered to help you pick your date spot," Bill explained, crossing his arms over his chest and looking way too self-satisfied for Charlie's liking.

Charlie felt the color drain from his face. Were they insane? This was the absolute last thing he wanted to do.

"What?" (Y/N) said, looking as alarmed and apprehensive as Charlie felt.

He forced a smile, not wanting to make (Y/N) feel even more uncomfortable, and Tonks beamed. 

"Let's get started!"

-

"We'll find you the perfect spot for your first date," Tonks said as she led the way into Zonko's joke shop.

"Potential first date," (Y/N) corrected. "I haven't even asked my crush yet."

"Minor detail," Charlie muttered, hoping she would stop using that word. He wanted to kill Bill and Tonks right now.

(Y/N) looked around the shop. "Do you think Zonko's would be the best place for a first date?"

Charlie looked to Tonks and a lump lodged in his throat when she merely raised her eyebrows at him. He swallowed hard. "We'd rather know if you think Zonko's would be the best place for a first date…"

He felt silly asking. Having been friends with her for nearly two years now, Charlie knew (Y/N) wasn't into pranks as some of their other classmates were. She apologized profusely after pranking him with Frog Spawn Soap and was miserable the entire time she had to impress Peeves for the Cursed Vaults portrait. He was almost certain she'd say no ...unless she was crushing on Tonks, Tulip or Jae.

(Y/N) thought for a minute and Charlie wished more than ever he knew Legilimency. "No, I don't exactly see Zonko's as a fun date spot." 

"I would have to agree with you," Tonks said with a gleam in her eye as she glanced to Charlie.

What was Tonks playing at? So what if he didn't like Zonko's either? Did Tonks really think they could convince (Y/N) to ask him out instead? Talk about pathetic.

Feeling his head start to hurt, Charlie tried to relax a little, at the very least relieved he still knew his best friend like the back of his hand. "Yeah, all it would take is one mishandled Dungbomb to make your date a literal stinker."

"I can hear you Mr. Weasley," Bilton said from behind the counter. "And we haven't had an in-shop Dungbomb incident since… Last Tuesday, I think!"

Tonks sighed. "I already apologised, Bilton. And the Dungbombs fell out of their boxes, I did not bump into them!"

(Y/N)'s forehead creased. "Wait- if neither of you think Zonko's is a good date spot, then why did you bring me here?"

"To brighten your mood and settle your nerves!" Tonks boasted, her excitement evident.

(Y/N) rubbed her chin. "Settle my nerves at Zonko's? Interesting…"

Charlie could tell (Y/N) wasn't remotely excited about the idea, and the second reminder of how well he could read her was like a kick in the gut. "I don't find Zonko's calming, but what do I know. You two are the mischief masterminds." It came out colder than he meant, but he was getting annoyed. 

"And (Y/N) has the Peeves hat to prove it!" Tonks added quickly, undoubtedly sensing his frustration. "You're overthinking this outing with your crush. Browsing Zonko's will help clear your mind."

(Y/N) still looked skeptical. "Why are you two so invested in helping me plan for a potential date, anyway?"

Charlie's palm curled into a fist at his side. Great. Not only were he and Tonks going to help (Y/N) plan some extravagant date with someone else, but Tonks was totally going to blow his secret.

"You're asking a lot of questions," Tonks pretended to scold, pushing (Y/N) towards the wall ahead. "Shop first, chat later!"

Charlie pretended to show interest in a jar on the table while (Y/N) and Tonks looked at the main display. When (Y/N) asked Bilson about an item on the top shelf, the pink haired backstabber scooted next to him.

"What the hell are we doing?" Charlie whispered.

"Shopping?" Tonks offered with a hopeful smile until Charlie's eyes narrowed. "Okay, you said you didn't want to tell her, so I thought this was the next best thing."

"Planning her a perfect date with someone else? Yeah, real fun."

"No, I meant being involved. You said it yourself that you were upset she didn't tell you. Plus, it still could be you. We don't know who her crush is yet and hey, if it is you, you'll get to find out what she likes."

"I already know what she likes, and it's not this place."

Tonks smiled. "Just another thing you two have in common. Doesn't hurt to remind her. Now shush and pretend you're enjoying yourself. No one likes a sourpuss."

-

"Okay, we shopped," (Y/N) said, as Bilson handed Tonks a gift bag. "Now tell me why you both want to help me plan my date so badly."

"What I'm hearing is the plan to clear your mind with joke items has backfired," Charlie said, shooting Tonks a look somewhere between annoyance and I told you so.

"But I've picked up my Whizzing Worms for Filch, so it's not a total loss," Tonks said, proudly gesturing to the plastic bag in her hands.

"Out with it," (Y/N) interrupted. "Why do you want to plan this date?" She crossed her arms, and Charlie noticed her attention was trained on Tonks. "Because if this is some ploy to get me to tell you who my crush is-"

"We don't care who your crush is," Charlie snapped. He didn't mean it. In fact, he cared far too much about who her crush was and it was killing him. He didn't want to be there and he certainly didn't want to find out who was lucky enough to be fancied by (Y/N). But the look on (Y/N)'s face made him regret the words instantly. 

"Oh," she said quietly. "Why not? All of our other friends seem to want to know."

Charlie swallowed. "We just care about you and know dealing with the gossip has put you in a rough spot."

Tonks nodded. "Yeah, if helping you make date plans makes life any easier for you, we're in. And I figured I might be able to help- you know, since I was the one to ask Tulip out."

"Okay..." (Y/N) bit her lip, and Charlie could tell she wasn't one hundred percent convinced, but Tonks seemed ready to persevere anyway. 

This was going to be a disaster.

-

Charlie tried to not let his feelings get the best of him. The usually resilient Gryffindor found that rather hard, however, as they visited places for (Y/N)'s potential first date. His stupid subconscious thought that maybe if (Y/N) couldn't find the perfect place, she wouldn't go on the date at all. Tonks was right, green was not a good color on him. He was pretty sure he had never complained so much in his life.

The Three Broomsticks was far too crowded and loud. They could hardly get a Butterbeer. Would her date really like waiting two hours just for a drink? And there were way too many antlers on the wall. He even had the nerve to suggest the Hog's Head Inn as an option, but Tonks hurriedly cut him off with a laugh and said he was joking. 

For a brief, delusional minute as they walked around Hogsmeade, Charlie thought his plan might actually work. But as the trio stepped inside Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, he knew he was doomed. 

It was perfect. Quiet and cozy. Different, but not too far out there. He would love to take (Y/N) to a place like this, and he could tell by the look in her eyes she would love to go there.

"We're not even sure if it's open, Tonks," Charlie tried, but Tonks didn't seem phased.

"It wasn't locked, was it?"

"What is this place?" (Y/N) asked, eyeing the round tables and stack of tea mugs in front of them.

Tonks beamed. "A first date spot if I ever saw one."

"You know… I agree. This actually might work," (Y/N) said before turning to Charlie. "What do you think?"

Charlie's heart pounded so loud he was worried (Y/N) would be able to hear it. "It's better than The Three Broomsticks, at least," he offered, looking around the room so he could stop staring at (Y/N)'s beautiful eyes.

"Or the Hog's Head Inn," Tonks said with a pointed look at Charlie. He ignored her.

The best complaints he could come up with were "cramped" and "pink", but (Y/N) clearly didn't consider those dealbreakers.

"I can't believe we've never noticed this spot before," she said, turning to admire every inch of the frilly tea shop.

The lump returned to Charlie's throat, and it was becoming too much to handle. He felt like a lovesick puppy.

The next half hour was a blur as (Y/N) talked to Madam Puddifoot and they made their way back to Hogwarts.

"Well, do you feel more prepared now?" Tonks asked as they walked down the corridor. 

"I guess," (Y/N) said, but her tone left Charlie unconvinced. "Now I just have to face the hard part."

Tonks patted her shoulder. "You can do it, just let me know how it goes. I'll catch you guys later!" 

Charlie's anxiety grew as Tonks skipped down the stairs to her common room. Both he and (Y/N) were heading up.

"Thanks for all your help today," (Y/N) said once they reached the landing.

"What are friends for," Charlie answered quietly, the word leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. 

(Y/N) frowned. "Is everything okay?"

He rubbed his face and forced a yawn. "Yeah, I'm just tired and have Quidditch practice tomorrow. Good luck on your... date." He turned to head to the Gryffindor common room, but (Y/N) caught his arm.

"Hey, Charlie?"

His pulse quickened as her fingers brushed his wrist. "Yeah?"

"Have you ever had a crush on anyone?" 

Charlie felt as if he was falling through the disappearing step on the Grand Staircase. (Y/N)'s context was clear. He could tell by the tremble in her voice and the worried look in her eyes that she was wondering if he understood what she was feeling. Boy did he ever. But now he would either have to lie to his best friend or potentially ruin their friendship forever. Why couldn't she have asked Tonks this question? She had obviously had a crush before since she was dating Tulip.

He racked his brain for a response and as (Y/N) peered up at him with her wide, curious eyes, he realized he could never give up their friendship. Even if it meant setting aside his own feelings.

"Dragons are all I care about," he said with as convincing of a shrug as he could muster. "Who has time for dating when there are so many different breeds to study?" 

"Oh." (Y/N)'s hand dropped back to her side. "Okay. I just- I, uh, thought I might be able to return the favor sometime. Nevermind." 

Her words cut Charlie like a knife. The closest he'd ever get to going out with her is a double date with her crush and some random student Charlie could convince (Y/N) he fancied. It was the worst feeling in the world. His whole body ached, so much so that he barely registered (Y/N)'s quick goodbye as she left for her common room.

-

Charlie spent most of the following day trying to avoid (Y/N)- it seemed that swallowing your feelings could be as detrimental to friendship as admitting them. It was fairly easy at first since he knew her schedule so well, but the problem was she knew his too. So as Quidditch practice came to an end and he saw (Y/N) waiting for him, Charlie knew he was in trouble. 

"Hey," he mumbled as he exited the changing room. He gripped his Clean Sweep Broomstick tighter for support.

"Hey." She didn't make eye contact, but merely fell into step beside him.

He eyed her makeup-less face and (house) robes. "Everything okay?" Charlie asked. "Thought you'd be getting ready for your big date."

(Y/N) frowned, rubbing her forearm as they continued toward the castle. "No, I don't think that's going to happen after all."

Charlie went rigid and nearly dropped his broom. "Why not?" he asked as calmly as he could.

(Y/N) looked away, and if Charlie wasn't mistaken, her eyes looked red and watery. "He, uh, wasn't interested." 

An onslaught of different emotions hit Charlie all at once. He was somehow simultaneously furious and relieved. He wanted to hurt whoever hurt her. Really, really hurt them. He wanted to hug (Y/N) until she felt better, but he also wanted to yell at her for not liking him instead. This must be what people meant when they talked about teenage hormones. It was utterly miserable.

When Charlie didn't say anything, she added, "Sorry for wasting your time yesterday."

A spark of anger flared through him and Charlie's brows knitted together. Spending time with her was never a waste- at least not to him anyway. "Really, that's what you think I care about?"

"I just feel bad making you guys do all that work for nothing."

Charlie shrugged, trying not to care or at least make it seem like he didn't. "It's not your fault. The guy's an idiot. I'm sure the next one will be all over you." The words came out before he could stop them, bitter and tense.

She grabbed the sleeve of his jumper, forcing him to stop and look at her. "What has gotten into you? I'm sorry if I'm annoying you, I just thought I could talk to you about this-"

He tugged his arm free, unable to contain the emotions boiling inside him anymore. "Really? Because you sure didn't seem to want to yesterday."

His heart broke as the first sign of fresh tears shone in her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

He let out a frustrated breath. "Why didn't you tell me about the Potions incident yesterday? Why did I have to find out from Merula of all people?"

"I- I was embarrassed," (Y/N) began, clearly flustered.

"Apparently not embarrassed enough to talk to nearly everyone about it before me. I thought we were best friends. I thought we told each other everything." Charlie shook his head and started walking again but (Y/N) ran to keep up.

"Charlie wait-"

"No," he snapped, rounding on her. "Sorry that I don't want to be your shoulder to cry on right now. It's one thing for you to not feel the same way I do, it's another to completely disregard our friendship the second you get a crush."

(Y/N) blinked at him, her eyes going wider than Charlie had ever seen, and it dawned on him what he had just said.

And before a response could leave (Y/N)'s lips, Charlie made a break for the castle.

-

Charlie spent the following day in the comfort of his dormitory, safely tucked away from nearly everyone. He knew he was being immature and began wondering how he had ever been placed in Gryffindor when he couldn't even get the courage to face (Y/N)- not yet anyway. 

He didn't attempt to leave the Gryffindor common room until it was nearly curfew. Thankfully the halls were quiet, letting him sneak away to the Courtyard relatively unnoticed. He perched on the fountain ledge again, admiring the starlit sky and wondering how so much could have gone wrong in one day. He was able to relax there for a little while, enjoying the fresh air, until a familiar voice brought him back to reality.

"Can't sleep?"

Charlie held in a breath for a moment before shaking his head. "No." He turned to look at (Y/N), and despite everything, his heart still leapt.

She approached him slowly, the way a cat would a mouse- fearful her next step might make him flee again. Taking a seat at the other end of the fountain, she muttered, "Me neither."

He looked down at his hands, suddenly hating himself for the way he acted yesterday. He couldn't believe he had yelled at her like that. She didn't deserve that. "I'm so sorry," he whispered. 

When his gaze returned to (Y/N), he was surprised to see her smiling at him. She inched closer before extending a folded piece of parchment to him. "Don't be."

He eyed it skeptically. "What's that?"

She extended it further. "Just read it."

Sighing, Charlie took the parchment, unfolding it carefully and smoothing it out. As he registered the words in front of him, he grimaced. It was her note from Potions class. "Why are you showing me this?" he asked quietly.

"I'm not showing it to you," (Y/N) explained, scooting closer. "I'm giving it to you."

Charlie's eyes darted up to meet hers. "What? Why?"

"Because I wrote it for you."

Charlie's attention shifted between the parchment and (Y/N). Is there any chance you like me as more than just a friend? Charlie's heart pounded painfully against his ribcage as he considered the possibility. "But- but I thought you said your crush wasn't interested?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "And I thought all you cared about was dragons."

He looked at her incredulously as her words from the previous night echoed inside his brain. Have you ever had a crush on anyone? "Wait- you mean... last night on the steps, you were going to..." he trailed off, not able to form the words correctly, and she nodded. 

“That’s why I didn’t come to you about it. I didn’t want to lie to you, but I wasn’t sure if I should tell you either.”

Feeling like his heart was about to explode, Charlie dropped his head into his hand. How stupid could he be? Why did he have to be so oblivious? "Bloody hell, I'm such an idiot." 

His words were muffled by his palm, and he stayed like that until a soft, gentle hand rested on his forearm. Goosebumps shot down Charlie's arm as (Y/N) pulled his hand away, encouraging him to look at her.

"Apparently we're both idiots," she said, a sweet smile lighting up her face. "Maybe that's why we're best friends."

His breath caught in his throat as he stared down at her. She was so close to him and still holding onto his arm. "Do you really fancy me?"

Instead of answering, (Y/N) slid a hand behind Charlie’s neck and brought his face down to hers, kissing him gently on the mouth. 

It was as if someone set off a dozen Filibuster Fireworks inside Charlie’s chest. He rested his forehead against hers as they pulled apart, and they both were beaming as their eyelids fluttered open. As Charlie regained his ability to think, he remembered something. 

“Does that mean I can take you to Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop next weekend?”

(Y/N) grinned and laced their fingers together. “I was hoping you’d ask.”

[patisilence]

Audrey meets Captain Hook

Audrey wasn't really sure what she should expecting about Harry's house - or a boat. Yes you heard that right. After barier broke capitan Hook take his boat closer to Aradone to have eye on Harry and his sisters who started school. Even after month of dating Harry she never go to his house, she doesn't really has to since, like a lot of students, he live at school at the time of learning. Today is weekend so he goes to meet his father, it also they date so he decide she should go to him and meet his father.

She wasn't gonna lie, she was nervous. It's not every day you meet the biggest pirate of time that actually live especialy when this pirate is your boyfriend father. When she got to the port she saw a boat with flag that have skull and a pirate hat on it.

'Yep, it's Capitans Hooks' she throught 'okay just relax if Harry could meet your granny you can meet his dad. After are he said by himself she was scarier than him.'

She walk on a boat and knock to the door, a moment of waiting then she hears the sounds of walking on other side and finally the doors opens. Capitan appear on the other side, he's long curly hair were pulled in ponytail, his coat was red as blood and on his other hand was placed his famous hook. The man look at her and begun look little confusied. 'Harry doesn't tell him I'll come?' she thinks.

"Oh, e, hello my name is Audrey. Is Harry home?" It's looks like he realize something. "Audrey the Princess?" "Yes." He looks at her for a moment like he might be judging her. 'Great, just great'. After the whole Queen of Mean situation she hates judging, she can see a lot scaried looks on people who don't know her well. "Well Harry isn't here yet" 'Wait, what?' "but you can come in. He should come in short time." "Oh, thank you." She said while slowly stepping into boat. 'Why Harry isn't here? He wouldn't forgot about something like that.'

She looks around. Other than the fact it was boat it looked like a normal house. There was a small dinner room, a sofa with a TV in front of it and more doors to other rooms. Captain Hook still kept looking at her, he doesn't meet her before because he doesn't know how long they will last. He still remembers when Harry told him about his new girlfriend.

~Back in time~ "Dad I have a girlfriend." "I'm not suprised." It wasn't uncommon for Harry to have relathioships, he likes pretty girls (and boys). They never really last long, even if he looked for them, he just wasn't interested enought in long term relathioship, especialy since he was passioned about being a first mate. So Captain take his words like always but them he look at him and see him being all nervous and realise it might be about something else. "So who is this girl?" If she can make HARRY nervous she has his interest. "Audrey." Audrey? Audrey... It rings some bells but still he can't remebered who she is. "Which side of Isle she is from?" "She is not from Isle." "What do you... You're dating Auradon girl?!" "Yeah it sounds weird but I'm not the only one." "That doesn't mean you have do to that! Why don't you choose Uma? I thought you have crush on her." "I have but she only see me as a friend and then I dance with Audrey and Uma even try you put us together, and it's just happened." "What about Gil?" Harry look at his father like he was the insane one. "Are you serious?" "Come on every one knows you also like boys. If I remember correctly you even kiss him." "It was just one time other than that he is my friend maybe even brother." "Ok I get it. Who are even her parents?" "Sleeping Beauty." Now something finally click in his mind. "Daughter of the biggest enemy of Malificent and a girl who almost destroy Auradon!? I know you like challenges but come on!" "Ok first Malificent is still a lizard so I don't see problem there second she wasn't fully herself when she attack everyone. Just give her a chance." Captain sigh. "Only if you stay with her for at least a month. I know how your relathioships looks like." Harry smiled. "Thanks dad." ~End of memory~

Well looks like they still together. He was not going to lie he was suprised. Especialy because he doesn't see what Harry likes in her. She looks and acts like a typical princess.

Audrey sits on a chair not sure what to say. "You and Harry, start dating month ago right?" Hook asked. "Oh, officialy yeah." "Huh, and how it's looked before you two started dating? Because I remember that sometimes he acted differend." She couldn't help but smile at this. Her family noticed that too and were even asking who is that boy. "We sometimes hang out in a group with our friends, try kinda talk to each other and honesty I feel Uma, Ben and Mal are the ones that got us together." "I can imagine what royal family was thinking." That make Audrey stop smilling. Of course from all of subjects they start talking about them. "Mom was just worrying that I might go too fast into another relathioship, but she liked him, dad start being overprotective since Ben and grandma..." she stop there not sure what to say, even after Hades situaction her granny doesn't like villains "she's just herself." He was looking at her for a moment like he was trying to figure out what she was thinking about her grandma behavior. "Yeah, I hear some stories about her. You don't have to worry about what she say. But still I'm interested." Audrey looks down and squeezed her hands in fists. "She starts the whole dialogue about how I still have time to find a prince  and don't completly trusting villains. Yeah, he just help save Auradon not biggie." Talking about it make her angry, thanks to talks she realise how her grandma treating of her was unhealty even if she was trying her best. Now she find someone that actually cared for her and  of course her grandma doesn't understand it.

Hook meanwhile look at her with true interest. He saw her eyes and could tell she was really annoyed by old queen's words. She has stronger character than he thought. He also liked the words that says Harry was basically a hero. 'Maybe he doesn't choose so bad.' "Well I was a little suprised about that relathioship too. Harry's dates don't last long so fact that you are together for that long make me must meet you. It's not seem so bad." He thought his words would make her relax but instead she got questioning look on her face and then looked like someone just slap her in face. 'What the... It was suppose to comfort her. What did I said?'

Harry wasn't into relathioship that last month? Why in that case she was the first girl that he last so long? It's because she was first girl from Auradon he was dating? He just wanted to show his dad he can? Was he even interest in her in first place?

"So" she said while looking directly at Captain "how long do you think he would stay?" That make him seriously suprised and concerned. Just because his son stay with her longest she thought he would break up with her soon? Like, Harry said him about the fact that Beast Boy break up with her in front of a lot of people but he wouldn't think that has some impact other than her being piss off. 'Ok Hook think, If you gonna screw up this your son won't hesitate to attack you.' "I don't see a reason for him to go away. He has obsession on you. Last week  I saw him with a rose and when I asked why he get it, he said 'It's just remind me of Audrey'. I wasn't sure if it was him." Audrey cheeks turns red. "Really?" "Really, and believe me even after the first excitacion fade the... love wouldn't. So don't care about what others thinking if he stays he care. I know my son." Audrey just stay silence for like a half minute and then just says "Thank you." "You're welcome. Now it's your's time for questions."

~~~ Harry run as fast as he could. He had to help Jay with some team activides and now he was late. He really hope Audrey wasn't there yet, he couldn't imagine what would happened if she stays with his father alone. They would probably argue, Audrey would get scared and then... they would laught? What? He wasn't sure if his eyes are working. His girlfriend , a princess, was sitting casually in front of his father while they both laugh about something. His father finally see's him. "Oh hi Harry, I was just chatting with your princess. Well looks like it's over." He stands and then take Audreys hand and kiss it. "It was presure to meet you." 'Is this some kind altenative universe?' Harry throught while looking at this scene. "Same for you " she turns to her boyfriend "ready for our date? " "Yeah, I go after a minute." After she leaves he look at his father. "What was that?" "Let's just say you choose good." That make him smile widely. "I told you you'll like her." "You were right on this one alright. Now go to your date." Harry walk out of ship and take Audreys hand while they were going. "Ah, the young ones."