#since hes technically there and the main focus for like two panels

[spitinsideme]

wanted to draw angel and vaggie together, i feel like vaggie MIGHT wabt to rey out thwt idea angel suggested .. for personal reasons ..

[astro-break]

I've been sitting on this ever since the chapters came out but Kiriwo vs Iruma and Azz was actually a really good section? Both from a technical and a storytelling standpoint it was top notch and is an excellent case study of how far Osamu Nishi's writing has come

First off, its the first time both Iruma and Kiriwo are meeting face to face after the events of the Battler Party. And it only took 300-ish chapters. Of course its going to be impressive, but I kind of want to focus on what I really really love about these two chapters.

From a technical analysis, I absolutely adore the double page spread with Kiriwo breaking the panel to lean over and devour Iruma. Demons are the most powerful when they are their greediest and not even the foundations of the medium can stop Kiriwo. I also absolutely adore how the hand pointing into his mouth lands right over Iruma's terrified face, the outstretched hand as well boxing him in with no way to escape. It breaks the natural flow of reading manga, forcing readers eyes to jump from the first panel to the last immediately. Even the speech bubbles which also break the panels to bleed into the next are boxing Iruma in, leaving only Kiriwo as the only option. He's right. Right here. Into his mouth. That's the only direction the manga allows him to go. Not even Azz, who is logically right behind Iruma on the other side of the barrier, can't be seen. Its just them.

One thing that Mairuma likes to emphasizes is eyes. Nishi likes putting in a lot of close ups of the face but eyes specifically is something she puts a lot of focus on. Of course, eyes are the only reliable way to tell if someone has returned to origins but eyes also change according to wicked phase. They are the windows to the soul, and whenever a hype moment occurs, the eyes are almost always a focal point to enhance the action.

The latter half of 303 really ramps this imagery up as eyes become one of the main focus points of the sequence. Iruma's watery eyes when he asks if its really Kiriwo, the concealment and subsequent focus on Baal's eyes as he looms over Princes Shura revealing his motives (also Shura covering her face up till Baal "saves" her is an interesting symbolic choice i might write about), the ever present return to origin markings on Kiriwo's eyes after declaring his intentions, and that final page is all about eyes. My favourite is the hiding of Azz's eyes as he breaks the barrier only to reveal them as he boldly says he'll stay by Iruma's side, eyes finally coloured in when up till that point in the chapter it was left white.

Speaking of panels though, Kiriwo is allowed to break past the gutters and invade other panels. His single minded devotion to consuming Iruma allows him to bend the laws to manga and lean right over. So logically, the next page where Azz saves Iruma, Azz who is consumed by devotion and is perhaps even more enamored with Iruma would do the same, no?

Nope.

Despite everything, Azz is still trapped within the story and its confines. Not even his words break through the boundaries. The best he can do is close the gap between the gutters, squeezing the panels together as close as he can. He still lacks critical information and Kiriwo has and no matter how much he tires, without that he will always be a step behind his senior. Even all the power in the world will not change that Suzuki Iruma is a fragile, fragile human.

As if to rub salt into an already gaping wound, Kiriwo's speech bubble at the end of the chapter literally shuts down Iruma's protests. Kiriwo is in control of the situation and his words take over the page. He's also drawn to be taller than Azz who is canonically about 10-15 cm taller

Control seems to also be a big theme/determining factor for whose words are allowed to transcend the metaphysical boundaries boxing them in because who else would be the one to quite literally dominate the next climatic moment than the unpredictable agent of chaos, Clara herself? The ringtone from her call quite literally cuts both Iruma and Kiriwo's words in half, drowning them out in her silliness. I remember seeing that a lot of people were upset that Clara interrupted Kiriwo but I argue that Clara is the perfect person for this? Master of funtimes and such a wildcard that she managed to seduce Raim through pure innocence? You can not tell me that you didn't laugh at the stupid fonts that Misfit Scans used for Iruma's ringtone. (Thank you Flare, whoever you are. Because I laughed. So hard.)

Also KiriAzz's faces when they look at Iruma? Peak visual comedy

Clara calling is also just the breather that the story needed. Yes, she inadvertently protected Iruma's secret, but she also the most emotionally mature out of the Love Trio which I think so many people forget. Clara is super smart when it comes to her boys, she knows that off on their own, they're bound to get caught up in their own heads worrying and agonizing in silence. Clara knew to call her boys after the Devilculum because it would had undoubtedly been stressful mingling among the upper ranks. Of course she was lonely and wanted to know how her soulmates were doing but even if she knows it or not, she is their emotional center and grounds them when they drift too far into their own self flagellation. But more importantly, she grounds the story in its genre. Lets not forget, Mairuma is a comedy series. Devilculum Arc was quite uncharacteristically somber for the series which runs on comedy of errors and misunderstandings galore. Sure, the beginning of the Arc was kind of funny but once everyone stepped into the venue, comedy became secondary to the plot.

Would it have been interesting to see what would have happened if Clara didn't call? Of course, yeah. But I think thats better left explored in fanfiction. At the end of the day, they're the Love Trio, they are a tripartite. Do not separate. And even unknowingly, Clara's protecting Iruma in her own way. And because of that, she is given the power to take over the page, filling it with images of Magitools Batara and her own silly creations, flower shaped speech bubbles framing the members as they work towards their own ambitions. She is the one that reminds Iruma of his own goals, who reminds him that there are demons at home who are waiting for him, and who he too is waiting for.

On a more aesthetic note though, I do like how Iruma's necklace this arc mirror's Kiriwo's collar. Its a very nice parallel but also acts as a way for Iruma to be connected to the people he's attending Devilculum with. The frilled collar on Ameri's dress and the Amosdeus Clan's rose brooch that both Azz and Amu have on their suits.

Idk how to end this ngl but I am completely normal about ch 303+4 the writing and set up is so so so good. I remember Misfits being so mad that others were translating the human part and I agree. Its so vital for the Love Trio and their relationship that their secrets are theirs to tell and not anyone elses. And the way these dynamics are portrayed through diegetic story telling is just perfect, I will never get over how good the KiriIru double spread is. Like those two pages specifically is my Roman Empire. I think about those pages on a hourly basis. I love that spread so much but 90% of what makes it so great is the surrounding context and the proceeding events. One day Nishi will probably top this and make me slobber all over her artistic storytelling but for today, I will continue to be consumed with thoughts about these two chapters.

One last thing but the fact that Iruma's secret got cockblocked from being revealed twice because of a phone call is just hilarious. Once is good enough but Narnia prioritizing a work phone call over warning his brother about what he sees as a great evil? He's so silly actually.

[deepestblizzardcomputer]

So, I Have been thinking. . .

Spoilers below

.

.

.

.

about this dude right here.

and why did he actually acted the way he did.

at first you would think this Miles is all evil cause of how cold he acts toward Miles's needing of help like he didn't 'care' but what if there was more behind his action? and even if he was evil as it seems what would be his motive, like what would he really benfit?

So, as it hinted in the first spider-verse movie, the comics that flips it pages actually shows you hints of how things would play out in the scenes.

The first page isn't clear who is speaking, it could be earth 42' Miles to Miles or Uncle Aaron, but the next one shows it our Miles answering to whatever Uncle Aron told him.

Am guessing it has to do something with killing a guy? But why is that you ask?

Simple, revenge. He still didn't kill the guy who killedchis brother. that's why he responded to Miles being meaning he was NOT a good person because his wound for his brother was still fresh and all he wanted was to HURT (or how it seemed for me) and as we see here,

it is now clear that 42' Miles is the one saying this to Miles, "you and I are going to take care of a bad guy. a real bad guy"

He wants his help, that's why he didn't want to let go off him just yet, with his abilities as 'spider-man' he would do them a lot of help much faster. if I am right, he wants Miles to help him take down his father's killer, by killing him, himself.

and of course, Miles would refuse for two reasons. one, our Miles's father's issue still unsolved and he would fear to be too late to save his father and two, he wouldn't let his other self do that. it was just wrong.

Which brings us to what these two would be disccusing in the next movie. Miles here asking genuinely what happened to this Miles to make him the way he is.

And am sure that will bring up a backstory of why he was doing this in first place. which will make Miles show his Empathy toward him saying he went through the same grief when he lost his uncle in his universe.

am guessing here 42' Miles would be curious of what did this Miles did when he knew and saw the murderer of his uncle to which Miles responded. (As i guess) that he ran away. (Which technically happened) as 42' Miles would respond with.

I am not sure if the one who killed Uncle Aaron would be the same person who murdered 42' Miles father but if that was the case, sheesh.

That would explain why this panel is here BEFORE the "you ran away?!" One

It could be the flashback of 1610' Miles.

42'Miles and uncle Aaron would possibly be confused of why didn't this Miles just kill the man since he had the chance since he was more powerful with his spider powers. to which again, Miles would probably responded with something along those lines, that real good people don't do that, it was wrong and he was just a kid.

How could he be able to murder somone that easily? he was sure the other Miles wouldn't be capable of such thing as well. (Maybe) he still had a caring heart and he wasn't completely evil.

(Which encourages the '42 Miles being Vigilante' theory)

If you look closely, there is an apparent saddnes in his eyes. a boy who lost alot of things. it might have been subtle but 42's Miles was actually relieved when he knew his father was alive somewhere.

But so why would he coldly dismiss Miles's help like that?

" If I don't get out, our dad is going to die—"

" your dad. "

he is actually distancing himself from hope. that out there somewhere, his father is safe and well. He doesn't want to feel this 'hope' even when he was relieved of that fact. He still wanted to keep those anguish feeling inside, to push him forward toward his revenge.

If 42' Miles let himself relax he might let his focus and motive slip out of his main target and he didn't want that.

My theory here, is they might get their epic fight but in some point they could reach to an understanding and help eachother in the end.

Again, if that the murderer who kill 42' Miles father, there could be a chance that they would find another collider in this universe, who knows?

Also, I have a feeling this 42's Earth doesn't have a spider-man but am going to get to that in the next post.

Also! Other panels that i am not sure where they actually are connected: (one of them could be Uncle Aaron speaking with 42's Miles thougj)

[thecomicsnexus]

TMNT: THE LAST RONIN - RE-EVOLUTION #1

March 2024

By Tom Waltz, Kevin Eastman , Esau & Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop, Luis Antonio Delgado, and Shawn Lee.

With the resistance running low on manpower, it's up to the new turtles to rise and save the city.

SCORE: 9

You could say that, because this is a pretty much reimagined version of the turtles, there would be enough room for bold creative choices. But some of these choices, well, one in particular, was the reason the Turtles weren't well received on ocassions.

My concern, right now, is that the Turtles seem to be having "special abilities." In this issue we found out that they can use telepathy, something that was always kind of implied to exist but never abused, for the sake of storytelling. Did they learn this ability through the Splinter journal? If that's the case, why didn't Mikey use this ability in the previous two stories?

Another special ability came up at the end of this issue, which reminded me of the issue where Miles Morales debuted with a unique super-power.

Apart from that, this issue finally acknowledged one of the main points of this version. That the Hamatos and the Orokus had a feud. This was already present in "The Last Ronin," but because they didn't spend time to explain it, we only had a couple of interviews that detailed it.

Well, the feud feels a lot like the Mirage version, but with some unique characteristics that fit better in the Roninverse. I am talking about Nagi being Saki's father.

Now, this on itself brings additional questions. If Nagi already had a full-grown son, why was he after Tang Shen? What happened to his wife? Or is this a case of the unreliable narrator?

Another big question is how Splinter knew ninjitsu, as it was never explained, like in other versions, that he imitated his master. We shellheads can assume that was the case, but I guess the Turtles simply didn't know about that.

Another significant detail in their narration, was the bit about the ooze. They never explained what it was, so perhaps there is a story behind it that will be explored in the future?

Perhaps the best moment of the issue was when the Turtles were finally put into action. It took some time, but they are finally here.

Now, you could read this book and think. These are basically the same turtles with different looks and names. And technically, I wouldn't be able to deny that. There are some slight differences, like Uno being more overconfident than Leo, or Moja being more passionate about injustice than Raphael. But... they are very similar.

But this story is just beginning, so perhaps they will start becoming their own characters after this.

I appreciate having April still around, but I feel like this book should have a maximum percentage of panels dedicated to the parents (April and Casey), hopefully below the 40%. I kind of want to see stories about teenage mutant ninja turtles, not Huntress Jones. So I really hope that they start becoming the focus of the story in the next few issues. Sure, give me storylines involving all these characters, but don't forget who the readers are buying the book for.

Other than that, I saw many improvements when compared to the last two stories in the Roninverse. There are no oddly-positioned flashbacks, the story is more linear, and the world feels a little bit more familiar now (and expanded).

I want more stories in the Roninverse, and I am wondering it this should continue being mini-series, or if it should become an ongoing series. I guess that, since the Roninverse is such a big hit, writing for the trades is the way to go, so either option would work.

[studentofetherium]

here's some thoughts on stuff that's in Jump right now

ive been doing my weekly Jump rankings for about six months now but i don't actually talk about Jump manga all that often so i'm going to try and fix that so here's a bunch of thoughts on everything i'm reading weekly right now

Akane-banashi

young Skane seeks to become a rakugoka to make better on her dad's failure years before. this is consistently one of the best manga in the magazine. i always appreciate when stories focus on niche subjects and rakugo is certainly that. framing it through an apprentice means that the audience gets to be led into things slowly. a lot of praise needs to be given for the way its able to translate rakugo, a spoken art form, into a print medium, but it does so really well, with fantastic art and paneling. this series feels really unique, yet at the same time, wholly familiar and approachable. highly recommended!

Ayakashi Triangle

technically this one isn't even in Jump anymore but it still comes out on Sundays so i count it. Matsuri finds himself transformed into a girl through supernatural means, and wants to find a way to transform himself back, while at the same time this leads him to reconnect with a childhood friend and possibly lover. this is by the author of To Love-Ru and you can really tell. it was too horny for Jump and eventually got cut and put online, and since then it's only gone on the deep end more and more. so a warning for that. but at the same time, the stories it tells and its characters are genuinely fantastic and the entire thing is entirely queer. over time, Matsuri feels more and more like a trans character, and Suzu, his childhood friend, has to come to terms with her own sexuality as it relates to her possible boyfriend-turned-girlfriend. it also has a lot of fun action, as well as a great side case for the slice of life moments. the series has a lot of different moods and genres it traverses and all of them are incredibly fun and good. highly recommended, but do know what it is before going in (that is, an incredibly horny manga)

Blue Box

80+ chapters of pining and angst. also there's sometimes basketball and badminton. two teenagers end up living together for a time when one's parents leave internationally. this leads both to realizing that they have a crush on the other, with no way to know how the other feels. also, they both play sports. Blue Box really excels with both its writing and its art. while the characters can sometimes feel like they're trying to get a good grade in therapy, their characterization and angst is incredibly compelling, and the dynamic between the main two is incredibly effective. Miura is a fantastic artist and in particular i love the way she draws motion. even for people who don't like sports manga (i usually don't) this is great. highly recommended

Cipher Academy

set in a cryptography school, Cipher Academy follows Iroha as the token boy in the school as he gets caught up in a plot involving trillions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency. this series only has three chapters out so far, so it's a little hard to say where it's going, but its writing, by NISIOISIN, is certainly fun. the focus on buzzles gives the protagonist a lot of odd stuff to work through, so there's a lot of potential here for atraditional battles with clever solutions. i also love the art and designs, although they're less notable compared to the writing. highly recommended

Elusive Samurai

from the same mangaka as Assassination Classroom (a manga i haven't read), a feudal era war story focusing on Tokiyuki Hojo as he seeks to redeem his family and bring them back to power. this has a lot of interesting fights which are complimented well by the art. however, characterization is lacking and a lot of the humor can be scattershot. when this series is good, it's really good, but there are also a lot of times when it feels a bit more lacking. still a recommendation, but with less enthusiasm than the manga before

Fabricant 100

the newest story in the magazine, Fabricant 100 is a story about a boy from a family of rich, long-lived people who all got killed by an artificial person. now he wants to kill all of those artificial people. since this is only in its first week, i can only say so much about it. the art is fine, and while there's a lot of exposition in the first chapter, it's conveyed well, but i'm not sure the story has a lot of legs in the future. there's a clear goal (kill the other 82 fabricans) but it sort of runs past a lot of the concepts in its premise which i imagine might be explored later. if this sounds interesting, check it out, it's only one chapter so far, so it's not a huge time investment

Ginka & Glüna

a young girl living out in the mountains comes to know a walking snowman who claims to be a great wizard. after training her for several years, they set out to reconstruct his body. i love love love this series. its art is great, its character designs are all very strong, and there's a lot of creativity present in the world. the story itself has been rather simple so far, with the two titular characters traveling around, meeting friends, and getting up to adventures. simple, but good. another high recommendation

Ichigoki's Under Control

this series is awful. i do not recommend it

Ichinose Family's Deadly Sins

from the author of Takopi's Original Sin comes a manga about an entire family who wake up with total amnesia. as they try to adjust to their new lives, they realize something may be up with their history. unpleasantness ensues. i find it hard to talk about this because it's clearly a mystery that's still setting itself up, and at the moment it's a lot of unpleasantness as the characters find themselves in a world which is cruel to them for reasons they don't know. the art is good, but it's a tough read so far, and without knowing what the payoff is, it's hard to recommend. i love Takopi's Original Sin and i think this has a lot of potential as well but only time can say

Mashle

the worse manga in Jump at the moment. it had an incredibly promising start as a One Punch Man-esque series about a kid without magic in a world of magic, who uses his sheer strength to make do and achieve magical feats. however, the last six or eight months have been nothing but one long fight scene. i'm not sure why anyone is fighting. the main character has been missing for most of it. it's meaningless. it feels like a parody of other shounen action manga that will have long extended fight scenes, except that if this is a joke, it's an incredibly unfunny one. it doesn't even have good action, as the focus on magic gives it a poor sense of continuity. i'm hate reading this. there's no way i recommend it

PPPPPP

PPPPPP is frankly a bit of a mess. the art is unique and striking, but it often distracts from the story, which isn't a problem because the story its telling is rather minimal. i think that's to its strength tho, and it comes together well sometimes. it's certainly an enjoyable read, but mostly for the art and i don't think it's as good as its contemporaries. recommended, but lightly

Tokyo Demon Bride Story

a guy reunites with his childhood friend, who turns out to be a demon, and now he has to marry her. over time, he comes to meet other supernatural friends of hers. this is a mix of romance, action, and slice of life akin to Ayakashi Triangle and while i don't think it's as good as that, it's still highly enjoyable in its own right, especially for the interesting designs and also great characterization. it has its ups and downs, but i usually have a lot of fun with it. recommended

Witch Watch

Witch Watch is... inconsistent. it's about a witch and her bodyguard, and theoretically, it's a romcom focusing on their relationship, except the series has a massive side cast each with their own supernatural gimmick and powers. what this means is that chapter to chapter, the series can vary wildly depending on the characters involved and what's being done with them. when this series is good, it's really good, and when it's bad, it's really bad. hard to recommend this, even if i do enjoy it

[notdonesimpin]

Sorcery ~r.s.~

ceo!ryomen sukuna x gn!reader

warnings: sukuna in a suit??, fluff

synopsis: [request by @draconic-dumbass​ ] “two unlikely people bound together by what some call fate, but to them, it must be sorcery” OR the reader doesn’t take care of themselves and sukuna has to do it for them.

a/n:  For fic purposes, Sukuna has his own two armed body. I wanted a CEO!AU where curses don’t exist, okay? Sukuna’s just a man who looks great in a suit. The curse aspect isn’t really needed in the way it’s portrayed in the show so i don’t wanna think about it😣 don’t hate me.

The door opens as you peek your head in the hallway to see Sukuna roughly loosen his tie with a huff and unbutton the top of his shirt as he takes off his shoes. 

“Long day?” you ask.

“My assistant cried today if that tells you anything. They overbooked me, and didn’t realize it until this morning.”

Your eyes narrow, “What did you say to the poor thing? She didn’t cry for nothing.”

Sukuna throws his hands up defensively as he walks over to you with a teasing smile, “I didn’t say anything! Though, I wanted to say a lot. I think she got the message when I sent her home.” The last part came out in a mutter, but you heard it well.

You hit him in the chest, “This is why you can’t keep an assistant! You’re too aggressive. I liked that one, too.”

“Well, I had an amazing assistant for years, but they quit when their husband told them to focus on art. My days ran so smoothly, and I had a beautiful sight all hours of the day,” he says, wrapping his arms around you as he continues, “Was I too aggressive with you?”

“You could barely say a sentence around me when we first met, Ryo. Don’t get cocky.”

Before he could say anything else, there was a knock on the door and you moved to answer it.

“It’s just Nao. They’re being my other model for today! I can’t model and draw myself, so I needed an amazing stand-in. How about you rest for a bit and I’ll do Nao’s solo poses and get you when I need you?” you suggested as you opened the door.

“It’s been a while. Good to see you, Y/N. Sukuna,” Nao says, giving Sukuna a wave and you a small hug.

“Nao, don’t fuck up while I’m not there,” Sukuna jokes, turning around to walk towards the bedroom.

“I’ve been doing this longer than you. I think I got it.”

“Don’t take those clothes off! The more wrinkles, the better!” you call after him.

~

You softly shake Sukuna. “Ryo, I need you to model for me now.”

He groans, opening his eyes to see you beaming at him. “It’s not fair, your face makes it hard to say no.”

“Then get up, so I can finish for today!” you urge.

He follows you to the living area with sleepiness still extremely apparent on his face. 

“No wonder you chose him to be your muse for the King of Curses. He’s like The Walking Dead right now,” Nao laughs, earning a glare from Sukuna as you drag him to the spot you want him.

“You still haven’t told me anything about your art show,” Sukuna reminds you. 

“Hands in pockets please…” you gesture to your own pockets when you make the statement and Sukuna lazily complies as you continue talking and telling him what to do. “My theme is Sorcery. Take a step but don't step… There! I wanted to do three bigger panels for my main showcase. They have the King of Curses- AKA you- and the ruler of blessings- aka Nao but Nao is just modeling so I can shade the pose right and put myself in it. Then the middle panel will be them together. Look at the ground. Now, only bring your eyes up the look at me… Perfect! Stay still. Basically it shows two unlikely people bound together by what some call fate, but to them, it must be sorcery.”

~

You yawn, waking up the sound of Sukuna roaming around the penthouse. You check your phone to see the time. 4:36 A.M.

You suddenly find yourself wide awake and decide to get up and work on your rough sketches. 

You go out of your shared room, rubbing your eyes as you adjust to the light and walk to the kitchen.

“Where the hell is my…” Sukuna’s muttering comes to a stop when he sees you sitting at the island, drinking a glass of water as you wait for the coffee pot to get ready.

“Good morning,” you softly say with a yawn.

“Why are you up? Did I wake you?” Sukuna asks, buttoning the cuffs of the shirt and walking over to you.

“I need to work on the rough sketches anyways since my canvases come in today. I’m so behind,” you groan, “What are you looking for?”

“My passport. I swear I grabbed it from home before I came here.”

He watches you tie his tie for him as he tries to recall where it might be.

“It’s definitely at home on the kitchen counter. I saw it before I left. I meant to grab it for you. Sorry, Ryo.”

He tosses his head back in frustration, “Why is this penthouse so inconveniently located. I have to go in the opposite direction of the office and the airport to go home and get it.”

“You’re the one that said my apartment was too small to be my studio.”

“I know.”

“And that I should separate home from work.”

“I know.” He squeezes your cheeks to stop you from talking. “I don’t regret buying this penthouse for your work. You get an ocean view and you have an entire space to do your work. I’d buy you the entire building if you needed it.”

He lets go of your face and you say, “Okay, Mr. CEO. All you had to say was that you love me.”

He chuckles and pours two cups of coffee, handing you one of them. “This business trip is pretty short, so I should be back around afternoon or tomorrow night at the latest.” He checks his watch, “I should go, so I don’t be late with my detour.” 

He grabs his blazer off of the back of the chair, sliding it on as he walks towards the door with you right behind him. He slips his shoes on and turns to you, giving you a soft kiss.

“Be safe. I love you.” you say.

“I love you. Don’t overwork yourself while I’m gone.”

As soon as the door closed, you muttered: Sorry, Ryo. That’s exactly what I’m about to do.

~ 

A few hours later, you get a call from Sukuna and immediately answer.

“How’s the new assistant, Ryo?” you immediately ask.

He paused, glancing at the assistant beside him. “So this was your doing. I can’t say that I’m surprised. This one seems a lot more competent.”

“Don’t run him off. He knows how to run businesses well since he grew up with his father.”

“I got it. Mx. CEO,” he taunts, “How long have you been working?”

You glance at the time on your phone. 10:32A.M.

“Technically five hours but only been diligent for the past four hours. I finished my sketch for the King of Curses panel about an hour ago. So, I’ve just started drawing it on the canvas.”

“So, what I’m hearing is that it’s time to take a break and eat something,” He suggests, but you both know that it was a command. 

“I’m not going to pass out on you again, okay? I can take care of myself.”

“As you’ve proven on multiple occasions, you can’t. I’ve got to go. I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”

“I love you. Make good decisions!” You hang up and get back to work.

You didn’t know how much time had passed or how long you’d been actively moving around and working until your regular Wednesday at 11:30 alarm went off. 

Wait… Wednesday??? You’d only been up for a couple hours. How has an entire day passed without you even realizing it?

At the same time, you received a text from Sukuna: I have to stop by the office before heading to you, so I’ll take you wherever you’d like around one. 

“Shit!” you exclaim, typing back a quick response before rushing around the penthouse to clean and change your clothes.

Sukuna couldn’t know that you haven’t slept in the past 31 hours. 

By the time you cleaned up and got dressed, Sukuna was already at the penthouse, leaning against the kitchen counter and holding a glass of bourbon in his hands.

“Let me see your hands,” he requests.

You stick out your hands, trying to calm them down because both of you knew that you get really bad tremors when you haven’t slept in a while.

“I didn’t think you’d be back so early,” you softly spoke.

“Darling, I texted you. I guess it makes sense that you don’t remember since you responded with a jumble of letters,” he sighs, sticking his hands in his pockets as he shakes his head, “What am I going to do with you?”

“I just got really focused. I’m so close to finishing the King of Curses panel. I started the Ruler of Blessings panel as well… I gotta keep the ball rolling while it’s hot,” you explained.

“That isn’t healthy. How have you been painting? With the way your hands are shaking, you shouldn’t even be able to hold a paintbrush straight.”

“I was focused! And before you say it, I’m not tired, so I’ll just get back to work.”

He looks at you in amusement as you walk away. “Still as stubborn as ever.”

“I’ll stop after I finish the curse panel, okay?”

Before you could even get out of the kitchen, Sukuna had picked you up by your waist and started walking away.

“Ryomen Sukuna! Put me down!” you exclaim, “I told you, my feet stay on the ground!”

He laughs and continues walking, “I told you that if I want to pick you up, I will. If you think you’re heavy, then you’re wrong. You’re like a feather compared to what I lift at the gym, okay?”

You fall silent, letting him carry you all the way to the bathroom. He sits you on the counter and starts running the water for a bath. As you wait for the bath to fill up, he stands in between your legs, bringing his hands up to your face and lightly grazing underneath your eyes.

“They’re puffy…” he looks at you with a hint of sadness, “I understand that the art show is very important to you, but this is the third time in the past few months that I’ve had to physically stop you from overworking yourself. If you don’t take care of yourself, your art will suffer, too.”

“I know. There’s just a lot of big names coming this time. I really want it to be good.”

“It will be because you’re an outstanding artist,” he reassures.

You give him a small thank you as he turns to stop the water and you shed your clothes, getting in and closing your eyes and enjoying the warmth.

“You see how nice hot water feels?” You could hear the teasing in his voice.

“Yeah, yeah. Self-care or whatever.” 

Sukuna begins to wash your body for you, humming a soft tune and lulling you to sleep.  He finishes washing you up and takes you to bed, putting one of his shirts on you and crawling in beside you, letting you wrap yourself around him to steal his warmth.

He softly smiles to himself and gives you a soft kiss on the top of your head as he whispers, “Sweet dreams.”

[lostsoulaltair]

OnS Chapter 99 - Deep analysis - Love

Hello everyone, I hope you’ve been well; remember to take care of yourself everyone!

The new chapter is out, and of course,analysis and theories will come but, there’s something I want to talk about which was discussed with two friends from discord.

Therefore, let’s begin!

One of the things this chapter carried was “Love”. And many might say or state it’s the cliché of undeveloped romance but, the issue is, that’s not the central point of the story, how can I say this?

In one of the Afterwards Kagami released that sadly it’s not translated and I asked my friend which translated the raw chapters each time they were released to translate it; Kagami states the value of family and love, but for that, let’s talk about it on how that applies towards the story.

First of all, Kagami Takaya stated long ago that Romance wasn’t the main theme of the story; which so far has been true until the doubt that was born during the current chapter. But there’s a huge issue everyone dismisses, what could it be?

The issue is, love takes many forms, it’s not only romantic love or yearning for another person; how can I say this?

Within each chapter, we’ve seen love countless times among humans; and this isn’t romantic wise; it goes to the small shape of caring for another, it goes to worrying for the well being of another:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 20

It might seem like it’s a common panel with comedy but actually, that’s the first time Shiho Kimizuki shows love and affection in the shape of caring twards a friend, towards family; towards someone who supported and encouraged him to take a decision in way more early chapters.

It’s true the squad is young, it’s true they’eve spent at least 5 months together due to how the story began; but yet, they slowly started to take care of each other in their own ways without stating it clearly.

Another proof of such emotion is this:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 23

Another view of this is back in chapter 23 when Shinoa was going to tell Yu about the incident that happened when he became a seraph for the first time; but before that, the squad wanted to make a peaceful dialogue first and for that, they started to do it like a family would; Shinoa and Mitsuba aimed to cook for the guys that technically are the strength of the squad when it comes to defense; but of course, both ladies don’t know how to cook and this ended up depending on Shiho Kimizuki to cook a breakfast for the whole squad, therefore, what’s the point to this?

Correct. Love isn’t romance alone; love is caring for each other, making sure to deliver an appropiate notice to someone you care and that’s what the squad did together; they worry about Yu and true, they might not express it towards words but they can do it through actions:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 35

Yoichi used something Yu repeated to them and that goes to what Mika taught him back when they were in the vampire capital; they became family, they took care of each other’s back and this applied to Mikaela as well not due to him being an important person to Yu but rather because they care about Yu’s happiness and well being; they care for a person that means a lot to someone within the squad and it’s reflected a lot on Mikaela when he showed distrust towards Yu’s friends.

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 56

Another form of love despite the picture uploaded is the fact that Guren loves deeply his friends and specially Shinya, does this mean it’s romantic? 

No. Shinya was the very first friend Guren had, a friend that supported his idea to destroy the Hiragi Family so they could be free from their graps ever since the events before the Catastrophe; they trusted each other in order to find out what they Family planned along what Mahiru aimed; both were partners in arms to check each other’s back and eventually, those two started to find more friends which later on became Mito, Goshi, Sayuri and Shigure; and the reason for Sayuri and Shigure to be friends was because they’ve been loyal to Guren; they were supporting pillars but they saw themselves as followers from the Ichinose household until that slowly changed; they saw each other as equals and friends as well.

Even when the world was going to end, they raced towards it bravely even if it meant dying in the process, but of course,Guren couldn’t withstand such event which lead to the Resurrection.

Is there any other form of love?

Of course there is:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 58

While it’s true the scene displays Kureto struggling agaisnt Shikama Doji and relies on kissing Aoi; it’s true that Kureto does harbor feelings towards Aoi but the fact that the shadow of his father, the shadow of the whole Hiragi Family was casted on each member; this only made that Kureto couldn’t express such feelings at ease, but such emotion of love could be seen back in the last volume of the LNs of the Catastrophe.

After the fight Kureto had with Mahiru; Kureto dialed his father to ask if this was also aware of everything to which Tenri replied that it was; that everything was proceeding according to certain plan.

And of course, during this conversation, Aoi Sangu became Tenri’s hostage since he ordered to shot Aoi; Kureto of course worried about her and made Aoi use her cursed gear to heal herself; and you might wonder, where’s the love within this?

The love in there as it’s pure form is the fact that Kureto does care about Aoi’s well being despite her being the least enjoyable character to see within the story by what the fandom has expressed so far and. Kureto despite having a cold demanor cares a lot about Aoi and it’s well seen in the fight against Tenri, when he goes and protects her.

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 5

Another form of love is the one that displayed Mikaela Hyakuya towards Yuichiro Hyakuya, a selfless love that was born from the very bottom of his heart:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 90

Correct. Mikaela told Yu he loved him; such form of love it’s the purest because Yu meant the world to Mikaela; Yu became his light to fight all the things his heart endured, Mikaela wanted to see Yu happy, he wanted to see him safe after the events of Ferid killing their family in front of them without mercy.

Yu and Mika have had a strong bond with all the time they’ve spent together; they knew what bothered them along when to scold each other whenever was uneasiness.

The love Mika displays towards Yu is a sincere form of love, the one that aims or seeks to see the well being of an important person; a love that aims the total security of said person but within this, it does not only focus on that; Mikaela despite being a vampire was able to keep lingering emotions since his reason to live was still alive; he was aware of Yu’s nature and yet, he did his best to ensure his safety despite adversity; but within this, he was aware Yu was in good hands, he had a family that cared about him, and of course, may might say chapter 95 was the opposite of it but, chapter 99 really striked down on such beliefs:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 99

Shiho and Yoichi were the first ones to get triggered by Yu’s easy emotions of just hearing Mikaela will be saved.

They doubted Guren for his actions and how it delivered to Mikaela’s death. They’re young, they don’t know how to express the form of love that goes by embracing someone or giving support words but one thing they do display is through actions; they care about Yu and care about what Mika held dear as well; they’ve lost their important ones in the process and they’re not willing to lose more.

And lastly, the love that confessed Shinoa Hiragi to Shikama Doji; while it’s considered quite surprising and even as something manipulated; in fact, that’s not really the case; Shinoa wanted to have a normal life, being a normal girl but she was aware she wouldn’t be one from the beginning and specially after remembering the events on which Mahiru ended sealing her emotions:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 99

I understand very well that this might be unpleasant to some, or joyful for others; as the writer of this analysis, I don’t find it joyful nor unpleasant; everything is held within a neutral point of view; and what it’s displayed in said chapter is actually Shinoa accepting what her heart feels. She’s aware her heart does beat fast when she’s close to Yu but it doesn’t mean she’s obsessed with him nor means she lusts for him; but rather, just like Mikaela; she wants to see him happy, that for once he manages to have a happy life, that he is safe just like the squad does too.

The main focus of the story asides from defeating the First Progenitor isn’t about creating romance; but rather to show that love takes shapes, love is built with time, it can go for appreciation, respect, careness, happiness for the wellbeing of someone that changed a life.

P.S: Analysis are held within a neutral view, they don’t support ships nor anything. The choice of shipping goes only to each respective reader.

The purpose of this analysis is not to justify or say Kagami is enforcing romance but rather, he is aiming to show that adminst catastrophic events, “love” is the key to keep standing, to keep fighting even if the reasons to live may be silly. 

And just like my favorite lore story which is Honkai Impact 3rd, they always state: “Fight for all that’s beautiful in the World.”

That is applied within this chapter as well. A fight against a being that has a God complex. 

What do you think dear readers? Do you agree love takes different forms? Let me know.

GIF belongs to hopeymchope

[bakugoukatsuki-rising]

I'm. The new covers, op. The new covers. Gosh. Both of them hold so much symbolism. And technically they both are canon, they are both original ideas that could perfectly be valid. Horikoshi simply found something better. But anyways, I'm going to go ahead and ramble about it because Im- Op, prepare for a long ask! Hope you like it!

So!

On the one where Katsuki's the one in the picture, he's not on his knees like he is in the other two covers. Instead, he has his face down, body forward, one hand on one leg, the other one holding out for something...He's bowing. Bowing in Japanese culture is a pretty big deal. Hes not just tilting his head a bit, his head and body are on full on commitment.

Such a tilted bow means a LOT, specially from THIS guy, Mr dont let anyone walk in front of me. Even more when hes not just bowing, but accepting such an open display of given help, Mr shonen anime lone wolf. Accepting something he always has trouble admitting to. Accepting the past, accepting the wrongs. Accepting Izukus help means so much, and that's what these three covers have in common.

His hand is sctretching out. He's ready to say yes to that hand out in the air.

(Ps. I wonder if he's watching his own reflection on the water in this panel, as well?)

Hes in middle of the picture with those childhood friend at the back, which means audience. It means letting people see what hes done, what he's sorry for. He is being open and exposed and vulnerable. That's no fighting stance.

Remember guys, in case you haven't noticed before, Horikoshi puts lots of metaphorical value in his manga and on his covers. Sometimes you've got to dig in deep and think to get the bigger picture. And in this case, the bigger picture screams regret and wanting to make things right from the start.

This cover occurs in the past, at the moment where everything started, and Katsuki fully remembers this. Katwuki has thought of this, is thinking about this. He's had eye bags for gods sake, he's clearly troubled by all of what it means.

These three covers are the visual explanation of what's going on inside Katsuki's head, because this is clearly focused on him and his perspective.

(Ps. Rivers symbolise the massage of time. If that doesnt add to everything else, I dont know what to tell you.)

So! Next!

Wow, if this isnt one of my favourite things ever. Okay. Christ.

I have two options here. Scratch that, three options. Scream into the void, scream into this post, or actually make a good presentation of my inner turmoil. I'll have to go by the third option. (Haha. Just like horikoshi did. Dont # me, I'm funny in my head.)

This cover melted my insides, froze them all over, and hit me with them like a hammer.

I know they're kids, but let me get this straight-so kids seriously look at their friends with these looks in their eyes and think "ah, yes. This is my very good friend. This gentle smile and kind look I'm giving him as if he was my whole world? Well, hes just a very good friend."

I looked at my childhood crush this way, I dont know what to tell you.

Anyway, let's actually jump to the information at hand.

This panel seems like it's making a reference to what Katsuki wishes could have been. And if that's not absolutely soul-crushing...this cover is Katsuki's feelings, guys. These are probably his very thoughts. This scene has gone through Katsuki's head at some point.

We've got Izuku in his stuck up pose all over again, in just an awkward angle. It's like katsuki isnt looking AT this katsuki right now, but at the spot where the actual past Katsuki, at some point, was. As if this Isuku is frozen in time. Dont believe too much in this paragraph, I still have my doubts about that, but I feel it's a possibility. Izukus eyes seem to be focused on the water, while Katsuki is just the tiniest bit back, reaching for Izukus hand. And gosh.

I dont think I've ever seen older NOR child Katsuki have this look plasted into his face before. He's...sheepish. Kindly, awkwardly sheepish. No hate, no anger, no shame, no nothing. His face is clear and sweet and has this "Whoops. You got me. But thanks." kind of expression on.

The hand behind his head, just the tiniest but embarassed? That little smile? It's all so soft.

Rambling about softness though- I really liked the hand scene in this particular panel. If you close up your view, you realise that theres no effort to pull anyone out of nowhere. In this panel, they are simply holding hands in frozen time for no purpose at all.

Katsuki has his hand around Izuku...simply holding there.

Again, because the angle is awkward, it's kind of messy, but you get the point.

It's all simply beautiful. Horikoshi clean likes give me life.

And lastly. The actual cover.

I screeched so hard when I saw this. My first instinct when seeing this for the first time was to straight up go trigger happy fingers and write about it to my friends. Christ.

Everything is so...SOft. horikoshi made a good decision by mixing both previous drawings in one. We have parts of the two covers in one, which is amazing. In this one, Katsuki isnt alone, as Izuku's there too. But we dont have the audience either. Probably because the main focus on this panel is no one else except them two.

Again, Katsuki looks like he's bowing, but instead of looking all the way down, he's in the middle. Not looking at Izuku nor looking at the ground, like it shows in the previous covers. Instead, Horikoshi found a middle ground. He's looking at his hand. At the gesture.

Hes not holding hands quite yet, but his hand is there. At arms reach. Not close enough but there. Wanting.

Theres so much regret and again, softness.

Again, like you Op said a bit bad, the angle is off here. This is present Katsuki remembering his past. The angle is off because this Izuku isnt holding out for our Katsuki. This is a memory. A wish. Katsuki's wish.

(Ps. Izukus trousers drenched in the rivers water. This detail was so nice. It's a subtle action that describes Izukus characterization so much. Izuku went in the river with Katsuki in mind, not caring if he got his clothes soaked in the process too. For Izuku, only Katsuki was there. And for Katsuki, only Izuku is.

As a plus, I can't believe the cover of this is literally called Bakugou Katsuki rising. They named the entire thing after that one chapter. Actually, I very much, totally believe it. It's the moment so many people have been waiting for, after all. The moment so many scenes have been amounting for, little by little.

*dreamy sigh*

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this little thing, I had to get it out of my system and dont want to bother my dear friends anymore than needed.

Have a good day, OP! I'll stay updated!

You kinda just...took my heart and curb stomped it, not gonna lie. Your observations are so beautiful and so accurate. The sketch with little Bakugou taking Izuku’s hand is so...raw, and yeah, that expression is definitely one of love. Those eyes, the way he is HOLDING Izuku’s hand, not TAKING it. He isn’t taking it to stand up, he is literally just...holding it. 

That isn’t the way you take someone’s hand when you’re trying to pull yourself up. It’s an awkward angle and just...wouldn’t work right. No, he is literally just holding his hand, and that’s exactly what Bakugou wishes he did all that time ago. He wishes that he not only took Deku’s hand, but held onto it. Held it as if it were something precious, something to be cared for and protected. 

These are Bakugou’s true feelings expressed in these drawings, and I think Horikoshi released them on purpose, to show us more of what he wanted Bakugou to be feelings through all of this. Since after all, we know that Bakugou expresses himself in action, not so much words. And because Horikoshi is an absolute genius, he thought to give us these other glimpses in how he feels through these actions. 

And the other sketch with him bowing his body to Izuku, and the way the log looks like it’s on his back with his ‘friends’ on top of it. 

The pressure of needing to be the coolest, the strongest, the best. Those kids put that kind of pressure on him, even if they never realized it. They encouraged his behavior and fed his ego, and it never allowed him to see how he was wrong. But now he is realizing it, and he is bowing himself in light of that acknowledgement. He is lowering his head and putting his pride away, so he can get back what he lost all those years ago; the opportunity to take Izuku’s hand.

To take the hand of the only one of those kids that ever loved him unconditionally. Who never pressured him or expected him to be invincible. Who saw all of his flaws and was completely prepared to support him despite all of it. The only one. 

I’m just a mess over all of this, and I am so incredibly thankful to Horikoshi for creating this beautiful relationship. AND IN A SHOUNEN MANGA, NONETHELESS!!  

Thank you friend, for your beautiful thoughts. I think they’re spot on, and I am so emotional all over again because of this. 

[rainofaugustsith]

Rain Plays SWTOR: Veteran Star Fortresses, Revisited

I thought it would be fun to take a more in-depth look at how to solo the Veteran Star Fortresses. As you know, these give you six different companions, some titles, cartel coins, armor and decos.

I posted this before with videos of the solo battles with the Exarchs, and the post was hidden for some reason. So I’ll try again. Let's talk about some basics and then focus on the Reactor Core, the last set of rooms.

Voss and Nar Shaddaa are notorious for being the most challenging VSF to clear solo. If you can beat these Exarchs, the others might feel simple to you. That is my experience anyway!

How to choose which Veteran Star Fortresses to do? If you want…

The companion who influences main story: Voss. Rokkuss is a good all around companion, so from a gameplay standpoint you’ve chosen a good one. However, he’s also the only SF companion to figure at all into the main story. If you’ve completed his SF missions and earned him as a companion, he’s mentioned briefly in chapter one of KOTET and a bonus mission will auto complete for you.

The companion who subjectively is the best in combat/healing: Nar Shaddaa. Veeroa Denz is a dual saber wielder and she’s very, very good, especially if you get her to influence level 50. Even if you have her on heals she can destroy mobs.

The chest piece for the Star Fortress armor: Alderaan. Choza Raabat is IMHO the least effective SF companion. He swats things with his lightsaber once and then stands there with that incredibly annoying Jedi hand signal. But - Alderaan is the SF to complete if you want the Exarch armor chest piece.

Another caveat: some of the random armor drops on Ossus look a lot like the Exarch armor - but it's no guarantee at all that you will come across one. A good all around companion: Belsavis. K’khrol holds his own and has some cool healing skills, and the Belsavis Exarch isn’t nearly as challenging as the ones for Voss or Nar Shaddaa.

The achievement for doing the VSF without specialists’ help: Belsavis.

The achievement for defeating all the different Paladins: Don’t even go into VSF. You can clear the Paladin achievement in the SOLO/STORY Star Fortresses, which are far easier. If you defeat every single Paladin on every single SF you get a very cool title (Fallen Knight) and some decos, so this one is worth it, but again, you really don’t have to put yourself through a VSF for that.

Decorations: If you want the ones that are given out by the specialists/completion of all the VSF, you’ll have to do all six, with specialists’ influence over 10. However if you are talking about the other decos that drop from Paladins and bosses, like the Zakuulan floor lamps, shiny gold panels and computers, those drop in STORY/SOLO too. Again, you don’t need to do the VSF fir that.

SF companions:

These companions are really good: Veeroa Denz, followed by Rokuss, K’khrol.

These companions are so-so: Hemdil Tre

These companions are honestly not going to help you much in battle in my experience: Leyta, Choza Raabat

General advice:

1. 306 level gear, or as close to it as possible. Some people like various set bonus armors, like The Victor. I prefer to put armor on my characters that gives them three small set bonuses for Mastery, Endurance and Alacrity.

2. Level 50 influence companion, or as close to it as possible. People have varied preferences for ranged vs. melee, but I typically go in with either Lana, Kira or Veeroa, all of whom are melee.

3. Life Warden tactical. This will heal you in a pinch. Since there are no kolto stations in the SF take all the help you can get.

4. Raise your Alliance specialists’ influence to at least 10 and interact with the blue clickable console in the first room to receive buffs to Mastery, Endurance, Presence, etc. that are substantial. Each of the Specialists will also leave you a special ability in a ‘cache’ in the bonus rooms (two on each level. Two have Paladins. One just has a mob. One has a bonus mission that will raise influence with the SF companions).

If you only raise one specialists’ influence: Oggurobb (Medical cache). Oggurobb gives you a kolto probe. There are no kolto stations in the Star Fortresses so you will need this.

Two: Oggurobb and Bey'wan Aygo (Military cache). Aygo gives you a small turret that can be set up in a room to fire on the enemy. It can be a game changer with mobs or gold level NPCs and it can also distract the enemy NPCs. On several occasions I’ve seen Exarchs completely ignore my character and just wail on the turret.

Three: Oggurobb, Aygo and Sana-Rae (Zakuulan Knight cache). Sana-Rae gives you a groundquake ability. This can come in really handy during the mobs in the sun rooms, but I’d get the other two first.

I don’t find the cache from Hylo Visz to be useful and will bypass obtaining it if I have the other three. By all means, raise her influence to 10 to get the buff, but I wouldn’t waste time fighting a Paladin to get her cache.

There’s an achievement for getting through the VSF without the specialists’ assistance. I honestly feel if you’re just going through this once to get the companion and finish the mission, you should make it as easy as you can for yourself, and forget about this achievement. If you decide you want it, you can always repeat the VSF.

I’m going to assume that you already have the basics of how to get through the Star Fortress itself and will concentrate on the final set of rooms. After defeating the mobs in the EMPHERMIS room, you get on an elevator and rise to a circular structure, the Reactor Core.

The goal in these rooms is to end the fights as quickly as you possibly can.

Room 1: Several skytrooper mobs. They should hopefully drop some dampening shields to protect you as you venture forth. Note: The medical droid at the beginning of this section also sells the shields for 1000 credits each. After a run where I literally got two in total from the mobs, I started buying a few from the droid as insurance.

Use your dampening shield by clicking on it. Look for the grapple hook on the top of the next platform, click it and grapple across. Do NOT try to grapple across without the shield, you will probably get zapped, fall and die. Also: be careful when you land on the platform. In a few cases Viri has landed facing the wrong direction, started running and tumbled right over the edge. Don’t be like Viri at that moment.

Room 2: The Exarch (who you will not be able to kill) and two gold NPCs. Run DIRECTLY to the blue, clickable console and click it as fast as you can. That ends the battle and sends the Exarch fleeing.

Another grapple, and there will be some mobs on the platforms to defeat.

Rooms 3 and 4: The Exarch, two gold NPCs and a lot of mobs. The Exarch will periodically wake up one of the two photoconduction droids in the corners. As soon as the droid wakes up and the nameplate turns red, beat them down as fast as you possibly can. They will drop a yellow power cell. It will show up on your ability bar or in your mission inventory tab. Target the Exarch and click that yellow cell to drain their power. You may have to do this twice. The large console will light up and turn blue and clickable. Get your butt there ASAP and click it. Keep clicking it even if you are interrupted. That’s the only way to end the fight.

If you are unsuccessful the cycle begins again - kill the droid, get the cell, drain the Exarch, click the console.

While you’re doing this, the mobs of skytroopers and the two gold NPCs will be attacking you and your companion. This is the time to pull out any and all stops you have that can stop a lot of enemies in their tracks. Put up Bey'wan’s turret. Use Sana-Rae’s groundquake. Orbital Strike. Vengeful Smash. Whatever you possibly have that will kill or stun the mobs.

My order of attack in this room is:

1. Set up Bey’wan Aygo’s turret in a corner of the room.

2. Go after gold NPCs

3. Go after the photocondution droids, even if the golds aren’t dead yet, while throwing AOEs or Sana-Rae’s groundquake at the mob

4. Drain the Exarch’s power

5. Click the console

After this, you’re going to grapple up to the Exarch!

When you grapple up to the edge of the platform, the Exarch will not see you. You do not have to start the fight right away. I personally prefer to call the repair droid and wait until every single skill, heroic moment, unity and the specialists’ abilities have cooled down. Take a minute or two to get ready.

Overall:

1. Start with a turret right by the entrance to the platform. It may distract the Exarch long enough for you to do some significant damage.

2.You’re going to do best with the Exarchs if you keep moving. The only exception to this is if the Exarch is completely distracted. In the Alderaan and Belsavis videos you can see the Exarch isn’t even looking at Viri and Lana, and isn’t reacting much when Viri and Lana keep attacking.

3. Any skill that requires you to stand still to channel is not the one you want to throw here.

4. Use ranged and AOE skills instead of getting up close and personal.

5. Try to keep your back to the doorway and away from the edges of the platform so you don’t get flung over the edge of the platform by a knockback.

All the Exarchs have a few skills in common:

1. A very wicked knockback. Remember your character is technically on a platform, and you can get flung over the edge, so be mindful about where you stand. I try to keep my characters in the middle or closer to the back of the platform by the door, so when they get thrown they are not going over the edge.

2. Orange exploding circles that deal substantial damage.

3. The ability to disappear during the fight and reappear with a very damaging attack.

4. The windows. As the fight goes along, the Exarch can shatter the windows on the platform. If you stand in the radiation pools, they will deplete your HP. There’s an achievement for killing the Exarch with this radiation, but again, if you’re just going through once for the companion, you might not want to get fancy and try this on your first attempt.

Beyond that, each of the Exarchs is a slightly different flavor of poison.

Voss: Andur Melor

Melor is subjectively the most difficult Exarch to defeat. They have self-heals and attacks that can take your HP down to about 60% in one blow.

Nar Shaddaa: Lesin Tyn

Tyn also has a self-heal, Aviela’s Avarice, but you can interrupt it. They can also be distracted. In Viri’s runthrough, she put down a turret and the Exarch spent half the fight attacking it.

Alderaan: Zar Draya

Once again, the turret was an effective shiny to completely distract the Exarch. Draya calls these “Mental Apparition” ghosts to help, but from what I’ve experienced, they mostly hover around and don’t really do very much. You can one shot them if you’re nearby or completely ignore them. You can see this is a far easier fight than the Voss or Nar Shaddaa battles.

Belsavis: Forta Gair

Again, able to be completely distracted by the shiny turret and Viri and Lana were able to get them down to about 50% HP before they even turned around.

Tatooine: Tarso Gren

Not as much of a pushover as Belsavis, and a great fan of the knockback, but still easier than Voss or Nar Shaddaa.

Hoth: Jom Vanten

More or less on par with Tatooine.

[amaya-chwan]

Takeaways from Therapy Game: Restart Chapter 09

HELLO FRIENDS! And we’re back at it again with chapter 9 featuring our favourite dorks, Shizuma and Minato! ❤️💛🎉

Sensei was kind enough to post the first page of this chapter on her Twitter!  🥰😍😘

“I thought you understood, but men who fail to keep their promises deserve punishment, okay?!”  --- The text next to Minato.

That’s just 🔥🔥🔥🥰😍🔥🔥🔥

Let’s get right into the takeaways, shall we? It’s a shorter chapter this month, but it is very focused on Shizuma’s residency journey while juggling his house hunting schedule with Minato, and with that, a lot of dialogue. There was also a lot of technical terminology I had to keep looking up ;A;

In this chapter:

Minato is an angry, scowly boy when Shizuma doesn’t keep his promises!😭

Poor Shizuma, he’s torn between keeping his promises and his work. 😭 😭 But I’m proud of you, Shizuma! 👏👏

Minato, my son, I am glad you are getting the simple happiness you deserve! Your patience really is a virtue! 🥰😍❤️

Onodera... really lacks person skills. Is she a recluse? Or someone with poor social skills? I hope we find out?? And she honestly... is so stoic. I cannot read her at all. 😅😅

SHIZUMA, I CAN FEEL YOUR DEDICATION TO AND LOVE FOR ANIMALS THROUGH THE PAGES! You are so very capable of being a vet and I’m glad you are getting the experience you wanted and needed to succeed! ❤️🐶🐱🐹❤️

Also, your k*nky thoughts during work really bit you in the butt, didn’t it, Shizuma? 🤣

Shizuma’s smile makes everyone weak. 🥰

And that’s it for this chapter’s takeaways! For a more detailed breakdown/summary of this chapter, please continue after the cut! As always, I promise there is a surprise (or two) at the end!  😉✨

Our chapter begins with a grumpy Minato sitting in a cafe. The shop attendants peg him as a celebrity of sorts because of his good looks, even though his face is hella scary to them.

We find out that Minato is annoyed and upset because his and Shizuma’s house hunting date (set for Shizuma’s next day off) is cut short since Shizuma is observing an operation in the morning on that day. In a flashback, he tells Minato that he should be able to make it in time for their afternoon appointment.

In that same flashback, Minato recounts his plans to Shizuma of going to a hotel and having a quickie with Shizuma to alleviate his pent up frustrations before heading to their appointment. He then continues to vent his pent-up frustations on Shizuma, saying “Will you take responsibility if my desires reach their limit and explode during our private house tour?”

Shizuma is caught in a bind and really wants his surgery to finish sooner, to which Minato responds by saying Shizuma isn’t the only person who can do this surgery. Nevertheless, Shizuma knows this is an invaluable opportunity for him, and promises Minato that he will make it in time for their 2PM private tour. Minato, still looking a little annoyed, tells Shizuma that he’ll be waiting in the cafe in front of the real estate agency and to meet him there. He warns Shizuma that if he is even a minute late, he’s will go home and never house hunt with him again. Shizuma then promises that he’ll be there!

The flashback ends, and we realise that today is the day of their house tour. Minato is caught up in some “Super Narrow-Minded Time” and worries if he’s going to be all alone with a girl, only then to remember Shizuma openly confessing to his colleagues that he’s dating Minato and that there’s no need to worry.

Minato looks over at the real estate agency and, in deep thought, reflects on how he never thought he’d be living with someone and, despite it being a weird feeling to him, he didn’t think he’d be able to have such an ordinary, simple “happiness”. He smirks to himself and says that he should be nice to Shizuma when he gets to the cafe.*

The scene changes to Shizuma, who will be our main focus for the rest of the chapter. He is observing Onodera in surgery along with her brother. They go through what happened with their patient (i.e. the dog belongs to Onodera’s brother’s daughter. The doggo ingested skewers and it appears to have gotten stuck in the dog’s throat/stomach). While talking about the suggestions from the neighbouring clinics on how to treat the dog--trying to get the dog to vomit and if that doesn’t work, they’ll have to do invasive surgery--Shizuma, having encountered her brother before, didn’t know they were related at all since they have different surnames.

Her brother goes on and vouches for his sister’s amazing skills as a vet, cutely calling her by her name “Akira”, to which she clicks her tongue at him. They have some short sibling bickering afterwards, and Onodera then reveals to Shizuma that he’s mainly there to keep her brother in check (i.e. babysit) and not so much hands-on experience.

With Onodera’s brother being a chatterbox, Shizuma is unable to ask critical questions during the procedure and wonders why he is even there at all.

We then see Onodera extract all the contents stuck in the dog’s throat (?) without having to do invasive surgery. Her brother is overjoyed, but she is appalled that the dog ate so much trash and hair. She then tells her brother that she won’t be helping next time unless they take better care of their dog and their house (so the dog doesn’t eat so much dirt and trash). Onodera then tells Shizuma, who she again calls Iijima-sensei and not Ikushima-sensei, to clean up.

Fast forward a bit and Shizuma is happily looking after the dogs being treated at the hospital/staying overnight. There is a thunderous roar and two dogs approach Shizuma to be hugged, to which he obliges. Knowing he has a lot of time to spare and will make it to the appointment, he thinks back to Minato and wonders if he is afraid of lightning. He then thinks of some naughty NSFW thoughts, imagining an X-rated scene in which Minato is scared of thunder and lightning and that affects their love-making session (in a good way 😉).

Another thunderous roar is heard, much louder than the first, and the dogs are so scared, they wet themselves... and pee on Shizuma’s scrubs and pants. (Also, we find out Minato isn’t afraid of T&L).

Going to the locker room to change, Shizuma is being nuzzled by the dogs, who appear to be very apologetic to him. He awkwardly smiles while thinking that the dogs peeing on him was punishment for his NSFW thoughts at work. While changing into his pants (but not scrubs), Onodera walks in and sees him in his boxers. Very flustered, he tells Onodera she’s walked into the wrong room. She then takes Shizuma to get his clothes washed, all the while the awkwardness in the room continues.

Breaking the silence, Onodera applauds Shizuma for his work in the OR, thinking he’d be more annoyed by her. He then tells her that it’s all thanks to the teachings from Hayami-san and everyone else at the clinic and from Onodera during the operation earlier that day. Onodera comments that he’s getting along with everyone in the clinic, to which Shizuma responds with how things were off to a rocky start at first, the nurses were scary and hostile, but now they can talk and are even going out for flower viewing together.

Onodera reveals she wasn’t invited to that and hasn’t heard of it until now, and Shizuma just sits there feeling bad. He then invites her to join them next time for a drink together. But she just says all his efforts in befriending everyone at the clinic would go to waste if he does that.

Before Shizuma can react, an elderly-ish woman and her daughter hurrily enter the clinic with their sick dog. They are Nakajou-sensei’s patients, but it is her day off today, so Onodera asks what she can do for them while telling Shizuma he can go home. The dog has been in labour for a couple of hours and the last puppy hasn’t come out. Onodera berates them for not bringing their dog in sooner.

The women are taken aback, with the elderly one clapping back at Onodera, expressing her worries and inexperience in a situation like this. Onodera, with her lack of people skills, essentially tells her to be quiet, saying a C-section is the only option for them--a natural birth isn’t possible at this point anymore since the dog has been in prolonged labour and is exhausted.

The elderly woman, angered at Onodera’s stoicism and bluntness, says she will go to another hospital if Nakajou-sensei can’t come in. Before anything escalates any further, Shizuma comes into the room with the patient records and diffuses the situation. With his very personable approach to the women, he speaks to them calmly and introduces himself as he was with Nakajou-sensei during their last consult. He pets their dog, named Hana-chan and praises her efforts**, while also calming down the women, telling them he understands their worries while sharing his own dog’s birthing struggles, trying to build that rapport with them.

He explains that given their dog’s current state, it would be wise for them to reconsider taking her to another hospital and keeping Hana-chan here, vouching for Onodera’s skills and assessment as a well-experienced vet. He asks them to believe in Onodera. The elderly woman thinks about it, and then tells Shizuma she will leave her dog in their hands ONLY if Shizuma stays with Hana-chan the whole time.

Shizuma, knowing that he might miss his private house tour and anger Minato, is resolved to helping his patient and says he will definitely stay to help.

And that’s it for this chapter! It’s a bit of a long read again and we get a slightly suspenseful cliffhanger here... will Shizuma make it or not? Will Hand-chan safely deliver the last puppy in her litter? Will Minato see Shizuma soon? I guess we’ll find out in the next chapter! 🥰

Since Minato and Shizuma don’t really have a lot of panels together, please enjoy two little snippets from this chapter~ ❤️💛

(*) Minato, thinking in the cafe

(**) Shizuma with his patient, Hana-chan

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR READING! 💜 📢  As always, please support Hinohara-sensei by purchasing her books and CDs! 📢

The next chapter will appear in next month’s Dear+ (the December issue) out in November and the cover page will feature our adorakble pair! ❤️💛

🎉⚠️🎉 ALSO in next month’s issue, there will be a Therapy Game Mini Drama CD 🎉⚠️🎉 Sensei is treating us a lot this year!

If you wish to order the magazine, I’ll be more than happy to let you know where I purchase mine, so please feel free to message me/comment here and I’ll let you know! 😁

As always, stay safe during these turbulent times and look out for each other and for your loved ones! 💜

[leapingtitan]

The Final Season - Episode 1 Thoughts

I've watched the first episode around 3 times on my own and over a dozen times from anime-only live reactions on YouTube. Those are always something to have a field day with every season, and are part of the whole enjoyment post-watching the episode on your own.

Obviously I'm only reviewing this based on the first episode, so it's way too early to judge The Final Season as a whole. However, I will say that my strategy to keep my expectations low definitely worked. I was very hyped, don't get me wrong, but after Season 3 Part 2, I realized that production and scheduling has never been this show's strong suite and things behind the scenes were always chaotic. And it was my mistake to realize it this late and have unrealistically high expectations of the manga's adaptation.

But enough about that. I'm just gonna say it right now. I absolutely loved this episode and was completely blown away by it. It was a rollercoaster ride from start to finish and boy, the staff wasn't kidding when they said the first episode was like a movie. It definitely felt like that, and it went by in a flash. Now, on to the individual points.

Story/Adaptation

Flawless. Everything was executed perfectly and went beyond my expectations. The thing that stood out to me the most was how many things were changed from the PV in terms of scene construction, camera angles, and overall storyboards. There was only one shot that we reused from the PV, namely the one with Zeke and Reiner inside the airship where they're referred to as the spear and shield. Everything else was redone, which was a huge surprise. Wit was always very faithful to the original manga panels with how they used them as a big reference for most of their cuts, but this one changes them up a lot. Personally, I am 100% fine with it and as someone who has read these chapters in the manga dozens of times over the past few years, seeing them like this was a pleasant and very welcome surprise.

The anime-only additions here are notable and also quite welcome. Falco's line in the beginning in particular stood out the most in the long-run, but the addition of the Eldians' terror being shown as well as the scene before the ED was very welcome. I would like to assume that this was Isayama's doing as whenever the anime usually adds/changes up things, it's his request to do so. He sort of considers the anime to be the "definitive" version of the story that he, for one reason or another, couldn't do in the manga himself when that particular chapter came out. Season 3 Part 1 (The Uprising Arc) is a prime example for this. Once again, I'm very content with what was done here and I trust MAPPA will do the story justice.

A small but very neat thing is the fact that we got to keep the title cards and the info eyecatches mid-episode. Really added to the whole sense of consistency.

Animation

When the initial trailer came out, many people were concerned about Shigeki Asakawa (Director of Photography)'s odd and excessive usage of blur filters on top of the scenes and were wondering if they would remain in the final product, given her track record with other shows like The God of Highschool. Luckily, that is not the case here as the scenes look very clean and the minimal blur on top adds a bit to the muddy/gritty atmosphere of what's going on. Personally, I don't mind it at all and I barely notice it anyway. MAPPA's biggest strength to me is the usage of effects like blood and explosions. You feel the impact of everything and with such an action-packed episode, it made everything so much better.

The usage of 3D CGI for the Titan Shifters has been the biggest controversy surrounding this first episode. When I first watched it, it didn't bother me at all. Personally I care more about a model fitting in the action sequence rather than how it looks for the most part. Right now I would say I'm neutral. It's not the greatest CG ever conceived in anime but it definitely does not look out of place and is pretty decent. For the Jaw Titan, I couldn't tell what was CG and what wasn't for the most part. For the other Titans it's more obvious, but it's not too jarring. Obviously, if it was up to me and the production committee/NHK didn't push their scheduling shenanigans onto MAPPA, I would have gotten every Titan in 2D, but you can't have everything. If they choose to focus on more important scenes later on and cut corners in this first episode as a result, that's understandable. I can live with it. And again, even then, it's not that bad in my eyes.

Now, the character designs are just absolutely stellar. In multiple interviews, it’s been stated that they wanted to stay true to Kyoji Asano’s designs at Wit while also being consistent with Isayama’s style in the manga. And boy did they absolutely nail it. It’s exactly what as they said. Tomohiro Kishi could not have done a better job with the characters we’ve seen so far and I am beyond impressed with his work. I look forward to seeing the rest of the characters in this arc.

Sound

I've been following Kohta Yamamoto's works for a few years now, ever since he started working with Sawano (and being mentored by him to an extent) in early 2017. Although he's been involved with AoT before, particularly with the character songs in Season 2, whenever those two would collaborate on a project it would usually be because Sawano is too busy to compose a full soundtrack. So what usually happens is, Sawano does one track and variations of it (think ShingekiNoKyojin, ThanksAT and T-KT), and nothing else. Meanwhile, Yamamoto handles the rest of the music for the show. On top of that, Yamamoto's style as a composer is different from Sawano's as he comes from a rock/guitarist background as opposed to Sawano, who is a pianist and is classically trained. My biggest concern for The Final Season was that we would get a similar case as with the other shows where Sawano doesn't put in too much effort, while Yamamoto essentially becomes the main composer. Although it looks like this is in fact the case after this first episode, let me explain why I don't think it's a bad thing.

After the premiere of the first episode, both Sawano and Yamamoto tweeted that it was in fact Yamamoto who is handling the majority of the Marley Arc's music. And after this first episode, I have to say I'm impressed. His initial track that he made for the PV was a bit off-putting to me because it sounded like every epic blockbuster Hollywood trailer background track ever, but after the way it was used in this episode alongside a few other tracks, I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. It fits what's going on, and overall delivers a fresh sound to the show that is very appropriate given the massive change in narrative. Back during S3 Part 1, Sawano stated in an interview that he was already burned out and had trouble coming up with new music for AoT given how many tracks he had already composed for it. Given how few new melodies were in S3 Part 2;s music, I think this should be clear. Especially now that we're going into yet another season. To summarize, I think Yamamoto's work here is a result of three conditions that just happened to line up perfectly. The change in narrative, which the new composer style reflects. Sawano being busy. And Sawano being burned out with AoT. Now personally I still believe we're going to get at least one new original Sawano track with variations of it for the big climax moments this arc, and he may compose more music for the 2nd half of this 16-episode season, since that's technically a new arc. But we'll see. As a whole though, I'm satisfied with what I've heard from Kohta Yamamoto in this first episode.

The last point to make in regards to the sound is Masafumi Mima who, apart from Sawano, the voice cast, and some freelancers, is the only one from the previous seasons' staff members to return here. And once again, his work here is absolutely phenomenal. The mixing and usage of sound effects in this episode was stellar and truly felt like I was watching a war movie. It enhanced the action tenfold and I could not want it any better. Music usage is something that goes through the director (Yuichiro Hayashi), but ultimately the sound director is the one who implements the track (instrument layering/stem editing) and does the mixing. The usage of Kohta Yamamoto's music here was very well done, and although the track from the PV repeated quite a bit, it didn't get repetitive at all. Also, the sound director remaining consistent here means we got to keep things like the titan transformation sound effects, which may be a small thing but was very welcome and added to the whole consistency.

Opening/Ending

I'm gonna wait until Shinsei Kamattechan releases the full version of the opening in a single or album to fully judge the song, but boy do I love this opening. Although I'm not sure if the TV-size version is my favorite AoT opening yet, I have to say that it's without a doubt the most fitting OP this show has had until this point. It perfectly showcases the themes of war that this arc focuses on and has this lowkey disturbing eerie vibe with the dissonant chords and mixing of the vocals that feels just as "mysterious" and "tense" as the show itself. I love it so much, honestly. Now, Isayama was a fan of Shinsei Kamattechan prior to them doing the S2 ED, and was the one who got them on-board to do it. Although that song isn't really my thing it's also a perfect fit, which leads me to believe that Isayama himself most likely chose the band again, namely to do this OP. And it's fantastic. I love the song. The visuals also have a very distinct style with all the colors and white backgrounds and I love how it's more metaphorical and symbolic (I guess "abstract" as well?) rather than flat-out just spoiling everything like the last arc's OP did.

The ED by Yuko Ando is fantastic. The first time I listened to the full song on its own I couldn't stop getting chills. Love the production aspects of the song and it's just really nice altogether. The visuals are quite interesting especially towards the end and I also like them a lot. Not much else to say about the ED. It's amazing. Go listen to it.

Conclusion

As a whole, I kept my expectations extremely low prior to the premiere despite my hype. As a result of that, not only were they exceeded, I was absolutely blown away by this first episode in pretty much every way. It may still be too early to judge, but from what has been shown here so far, I am absolutely looking forward to see MAPPA adapt the rest of this amazing story, or about as far as they can get with 16 episodes.

[immortalcoelacanth]

Among Us and Prey (2017) Crossover: Among Prey

Daily reminder I still love Prey with a burning passion and could not stop myself from writing this crossover. The potential is immense.

Word count: 1544

Summary: At approximately two o’clock in the morning, the cameras observing Morgan’s room glitched, fizzing out before coming back online. Of course, a quick inspection showed that nothing had gone wrong, that it had just been a technical error. 

But that did not explain the strange, shadowy blur that had dashed towards Morgan’s bed…

Power outages were a rare occurrence on Talos I. The extensive solar panels, multitude of backup generators, and the constant storing of power in case anything failed. Of course the wiring might occasionally give out here or there in some of the less important sections of the space station, plus there was that one light bulb in the main lobby that just kept flickering, but other than that system failures caused by power outages were rare. 

And if they did occur, sabotage was one of the more likely suspects, and had been in the past. 

This meant that when the power to the cameras observing Morgan’s room cut out, the cameras themselves glitching and fizzling out, security had immediately been alerted, as had Alex. Fortunately, the power returned a moment later and an inspection done by both security and electrical staff showed that there was no foul play to be suspected, that a technical error had just occurred. 

A slim possibility that was the only explanation for the power suddenly going out. Alex had, of course, been less than pleased to hear this, especially since there was no conclusive evidence that a technical failure was the definite cause. The older Yu sibling had huffed and puffed in aggravation, but ultimately concluded that the neuromod tests would continue the next day despite the strange occurrence. 

Not before informing Dr. Bellamy to keep a close eye on Morgan during the examination, of course. 

However, there had been one piece of information present on the recordings that had been overlooked, assumed to be nothing more than part of the error that had caused the cameras to lose power in the first place. 

There had been a dark, indistinguishable smudge that had raced towards Morgan’s bed. It had been visible for less than a second and seemed to just appear before disappearing, which is why the sight of it had been dismissed. 

Merely a symptom of the camera becoming fuzzy before fully going out, nothing to be worried about. No Typhon had broken containment, everything was fine. 

After all, they only had the Typhon to be concerned with…

Right? 

The next day, Dr. Sylvain Bellamy felt… off as he watched Morgan Yu slowly make her way over to the testing chambers. He had felt tense ever since he had first woken up, the scant bit of sleep he got was plagued with nightmares. Images of dark shapes and screaming-

God, he needed a coffee. He had already drunk three cups and the day had barely begun. 

And yet, the jittery feeling that had slowly taken over him was not from the excessive amounts of caffeine. Caffeine never made him feel this way, he had gotten used to it a long time ago. This feeling was caused by… something else. 

Perhaps it was how tired Morgan looked, her eyes shadowed and face looking strangely blank. 

Every single time they had this test, the Yu sister had always been excited and energetic, happy to work with Alex and help wherever she could. There had been a spring in her step, a light in her eyes. 

A light that was ominously vacant. 

Bellamy sighed and took another sip of his coffee, barely able to steady his hand enough for him to lift his drink. He needed a break, needed a nap. 

Needed to finish this test as soon as possible and get away from this place, this feeling. 

So, after getting the go ahead from Alex, Bellamy introduced himself and the tests that Morgan was supposed to do. For once, during all the times he had repeated this script to himself and to the Yu sister, he found himself faltering. 

His voice was not as smooth nor professional as it always was, he fumbled and stuttered over certain words, occasionally pausing as he struggled to recall what he was supposed to say next. His hands felt sweaty. 

He needed another cup of coffee. 

He missed the concerned glances sent his way by his fellow researchers and the hushed whispers shared between them. All he could focus on was wrong, wrong, something was wrong, have to run-

As each test progressed, that foreboding feeling in the back of his mind grew stronger. He watched as Morgan listlessly tossed boxes out of the circle, appearing unmotivated during the test, and knit his hands together as he watched her stare at him when she was supposed to be hiding. 

Staring with those empty, blank eyes. 

Something was wrong, he knew this, he knew something must have gone wrong at some point. He needed to tell Alex. 

The second the final test was complete, he would tell Alex. 

Bellamy repeated this mantra over and over to himself, using it as that last bit of motivation to get through to the last test-

And, of course, this was when that foreboding feeling manifested into a nightmarish reality. 

Room C had proved to have the same results as the prior two tests, Morgan technically completing the required goals but not at all using the neuromod that had been installed. In fact, just before Bellamy had moved to stand in front of the final room, he swore he had seen-

Morgan, drool running down the corner of her mouth as those blank eyes stared at him. 

Run, run, run, run-

“Dr. Bellamy, are you alright?” Lucia Jimenez asked, leaning over and whispering to him so the speaker did not pick anything up. He instinctively nodded, feeling all the more disconnected to his surroundings. 

“Yes, I just… have something very important I need to mention to Alex later.” He replied. 

Run, run, the darkness draws closer-

“You sure?” Marco Simmons added, taking a step towards Bellamy and narrowing his eyes in concern. “You’re pale and sweating. You got a fever or something?”

“He was fine earlier.” Jimenez commented, her worry growing as well. “Should I get a trash can or something?’

“No! No I’m… I’m fine.” Bellamy exclaimed as he lifted his hands up and offered them a shaky smile. “Just… coffee withdrawal, you know.”

Neither of them seemed all that convinced by his explanation, but they did back up and allow him to start up the next, and final, test. Simmons went to go organize some of the data while Jimenez took a seat at the computer, ready to look over the questions and Morgan’s answers. And as for Morgan…

She was, thankfully, seated at the table and seemed to be focusing on the screen in front of her. The sight of her acting so normal was welcome among all the strange behaviours he had seen earlier, but he still needed to talk to Alex. He let out a sigh and picked up his mostly empty coffee mug. What a talk that would be-

Without warning, the lights went out. 

Panic immediately broke out among the group as they each struggled to figure out what was going on. The sounds of glass breaking and something heavy striking the ground, making it shake, only intensified their terror. 

“No, no!” Bellamy yelped as he stumbled around in the shadows that had overtaken the room, hearing shouting and fighting breaking out around him. What was going on?! 

Another step backwards resulted in him tripping over something, falling and landing heavily on his back. His head cracked against the ground and he saw stars. 

Bellamy hated space, hated the void that surrounded them and how far they were from everything else, the isolation. His research kept him sane. 

As did Morgan, once upon a time.

“F-Fuck!” He spat as he struggled to regain his footing, one of his hands landing on something warm and wet. He slipped once more, leg bumping into whatever he had tripped over. 

White in the darkness, a flash of a badge-

Lucia Jimenez’s headless corpse. 

Bellamy screamed, he screamed, and screamed, and screamed as he scrambled to back away from the body, the heavy stench of copper permeating the air and making him gag violently. She was dead, dead, dead, dead!

What was going on? What was happening? Why were the lights still out? Where was security? 

Footsteps sounded out nearby and, in a moment of hope among despair, Bellamy crawled forwards on his hands and knees as he desperately tried to find the owner of the steps. It had to be Marco, they could make it out of this hell together. 

He would live, he would survive. 

Please, please, please-

What does it look like, the shape in the glass?

A hand grasped onto a boot and Sylvain Bellamy found himself looking up, staring into the face of death. Morgan loomed out of the darkness above him, skin twitching and seizing before ultimately splitting apart, a maw of teeth and gore cracking and breaking open-

I used to wish we weren’t alone in the universe.

Not-Morgan lunged, body splitting and breaking further as tendrils pierced the suit that had clothed her, it, and Bellamy screamed. 

All around Talos I, alarms broke the silence as guards scrambled to gather their weapons. There was an alien among them, something other than the Typhon. Something far different, far deadlier, and as for Not-Morgan…

They want to live inside us, like a disease.

Well, it was among prey, now. 

                                        xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I would pay solid money to see which would win in a fight, an Imposter or a Typhon.

I hope you all enjoyed reading!

- ImmortalCoelacanth

[martellthemandalor]

Assistance - Chapter 2

Pairing: Din Djarin x F!Reader (No Y/N, reader is nicknamed)

Warnings: Swearing, violence, mentions of drinking

Rating: 15

Word Count: 3.4K

Summary: You and the Mandalorian gear up for your journey and Mando gets into a tangle with some guild members.

A/N: Told you the chapters would get longer! As always I’m open for feedback, enjoy :)

Masterlist!

You had stayed in the cantina a while longer, silently tinkering with the tech in your cuff, wiring in the tracking fob and transferring all the data across to your internal tracker. Technically speaking this was illegal within the guild, the storage of any information regarding quarry’s was strictly forbidden ever since the Dinatchi incident, but sweet maker did it make your life easier. It meant that instead of playing hot and cold across (and a couple of times beneath) the surface of a planet, you had a much easier map to follow. 

The Mandalorian was still sat opposite you, he never spoke once, just stayed patiently still, almost brooding. You had glanced up from your work at him once or twice, gauging him was difficult as you couldn’t see his face, but his posture spoke loud and clear. Leant back, arm extended over the back of worn booth, the other resting (you assumed) on his thigh, taking up as much space as possible, his chest out, open, so strong and commanding. 

And yet he was so closed off. That helmet, all shine and intimidation, shielding him from the world, cutting off senses and making him rely solely on instinct and tech. Definitely a Mandalorian through and through. Silence was good for you, and having a Mandalorian sat at the same table meant that staff and drunk, nosy patrons left you well alone, which allowed you to work fast and in peace. 

With a flick of your wrist you closed the interface, finishing your task. Slinging your bag over your shoulder you shuffled out the booth. He mirrored your movement, following you in a way that was dauntingly in sync. “Before we set off I need to go back to my ship and get together supplies, we’re going to be travelling a long distance on foot so I suggest you do the same.”

“I’ll come with you,” He stated.

You blinked a couple of times. “Okay.” Showing a complete stranger, whose face you can’t even see, your very beloved ship would’ve normally been against every instinct you had, yet here you were. You turn your back to him and go to make your way out of the dingy building, you’d made exactly two steps when something grabs your arm. Your stance changes on instinct, feet in an L shape, knees braced, fists tensed at your sides, then you freeze. You turn your head to face the wastoid who was gripping your bicep. He was smiling at you, a disgusting grin that made your skin itch. 

“Sweetheart you can’t leave with a frown like that, come sit with me and I’ll cheer you up,” his tone dripped with false charm. You flashed your fakest smile back at him.

“I’m in a committed relationship with my ride, now get your hand off me before I break it off,” You exhorted, loudly. You braced yourself ready for fists to fly, when his eyes flicked to the silent statue of armour behind you. The pressure on your arm disappeared as your assailant backed away slowly, mumbling apologies to the ground. 

Relaxing your fighters stance you rolled your shoulders, adjusting your bag to sit comfortably again. The atmosphere in the cantina had become tense, you hadn’t realised how quiet it had become in the moment. With a final glance around and a nod to the unhelpful bar keep, you resumed your exit path, the Mandalorian following close behind you.

What happened in the cantina had made you prickle, it certainly wasn’t the man who had grabbed you to blame as you usually dealt with pricks like him all the time, and had been kicked out of plenty of cantinas for doing so. It was more to do with the fact tin can behind you had bailed you out without even needing to lift a finger, without saying anything at all, and you couldn’t understand it. He followed you without a word, quietly trusting your knowledge of the way as you led him through winding streets and dodgy back alleys towards where you had landed. You were constantly aware of his presence, always a couple of steps behind, completely soundless, cape sweeping behind him as he strode after you. Stars even his steps were quiet. 

The dusty blue walls of Detsak’s outer city buildings boxed you in and when you gazed up you could just see the burning sun peeping over the apex of the surrounding roofs. One final sharp turn brings you to your destination, the rusted metal gates of the ship keep raised up in sharp points in front of you.

“Rathca! Ent vi lok sey vey” You yelled through the gates.

“You speak Datsey?” The Mandalorian asked suddenly.

“Very basic Datsey,” You responded “It was a long journey here, and it’s surprisingly easy because it’s got a lot of Huttese roots.” He just nodded at you, so you turned you attention back to the gates as a small droid rolled up to them. You produced the flat matte black disc out of your bag that had been given to you on arrival and presented to the droid. A small probe extended from its chest and poked into the hole at the centre of the disc. After some whirring the droid retracted the probe and turned to the lock on the gate, the red light flashed green and you pushed the gate open, stepping inside the compound. 

You held the gate open for the Mandalorian, expecting him to sweep in after you. Instead he just stood for there for a moment, you raised your eyebrow at him in a silent question. 

Another moment passed before he moved, “I don’t like droids,” he grumbled as he went past.

“It’s a good thing they’re not looking after your ship then,” you remarked, a teasing smile playing briefly across your lips. The gate swung shut as you released it, clanging behind you as you swiftly followed the droid. 

The big intimidating Mandalorian didn’t like droids, why? You glanced behind you, eyes skimming over his form, searching for a change in body language. Given you were now surrounded by various droids doing different tasks you would have expected a change if he were afraid of them. But nothing did. So he if he wasn’t afraid of them, what was it? 

You shook your head slightly and turned your focus back to following the droid through the compound. To say the place was a mess was to put it lightly, parts of ships were piled up in jagged metal peaks, chunks of hull leant against the walls and a rainbow of wires carved out the path you were walking along. Between the hills of metal various ships were parked, some being repaired by the droids while others just sat peacefully within the chaos. A few more steps and then you saw her, your gorgeous ship.

“Cey na vi depa mey,” (The ship is staying here) you told the droid. It beeped at you, its head jerked forward in a nod and then turned and rolled away. You turned your attentions back to your ship, typing a command into your cuff you watched as the underbelly panel disengaged and sank to the ground, a ramp extended out welcoming you home. You grinned and ran up it, heading straight up to the cockpit. The Mandalorian followed suit, and you closed the ramp up behind him. Settling into you pilots seat of the cockpit, you began manipulating the controls. “Yes honey I’m home,” You said gently to the control panel when it bleeped at you softly. You brought out a wire from the main interface and, after removing the armoured cuff from your left arm, plugged it into the port on the cuff. 

“What are you doing?” The Mandalorian asked.

“I need an updated map of Detsak transferring to my internal tracker if we want to be successful in bringing this quarry back alive, there’s also some software I need to transfer as well that will be invaluable to us, especially on this planet,” You replied “you can thank me later.”

“Why.” He must be joking. You don’t come to a planet like this without knowing what’s on it first. You stood up and maneuvered  around his frame. This cockpit had definitely not been made to fit two people comfortably. You dropped down the ladder into the hold of your ship and started putting together your supplies, food and drink first. 

You placed 6 dehydrated food packs into your bag, along with water pouches and a couple of Gethan peaches, that should be enough to keep you and tin can alive for the mission, med packs were next. You only had two med packs left, you sighed as you packed them, surely he had some as well, he must have, because you knew one of you were going to hurt more than once here. 

Finally your favourite part, weapons and trap tech. Walking to the armoured cupboard you pressed the open command and password into the keypad and stepped back as your glorious collection was revealed. “Nice stash.” His sudden presence made you jump, again, how the hell does he move so quietly?

“You really need to stop doing that,” you remarked “but thank you, I’ve put a lot of love into these.”

“You weren’t joking were you?”

“About what?” You queried.

“What you said back in the cantina. Being in a committed relationship with your ride.” The Madalorian stated.

“Is there a point to any other relationship? She has everything I need, she’s reliable and she’s gotten me out of trouble more times than any person,” You knelt down next to your bag and carried on packing quietly, aware of the fact he was wandering around the hold, taking in the various panels and items you have stored “I could have gotten out of that trouble myself Mandalorian.”

“I know.”

“Then why did you step in?”

“I didn’t, the guy must have thought I was your ride.”

“Why on earth would he think that.” you paused your packing, the two of you stared at each other for a few seconds before he spoke again. “I don’t know,” he answered, your gaze dropped from his helmet and back to your task, while his roamed the walls of your ship “what’s her name?”

“Astrid, her name’s Astrid. Otherwise named the greatest ship in the galaxy,” You told him, smile plastered on your face as you looked up as him.

“Nice name,” He took another lap around the hold before saying “I’m going to go get supplies from my ship, I realise I will need some.” You nodded, thank the stars he decided that, otherwise both of you didn’t stand much of a chance of getting out of this.

“Give me 5 minutes and I’ll come with you-“

“No.”

“I’m sorry?” you snapped

“I don’t want you coming with me. We’ll rendezvous in half an hour at the outer city gates,” he answered steadily. He’s a Mandalorian, they’re the most closed off people in the galaxy, of course he doesn’t want you to see his ship. You nod understandably and stand up. 

“Okay,” you say simply, extending your right arm to him “half an hour, outer gates.” He reaches out and clasps his hand around your upper forearm, your hand doing the same. Then he disappears.

You finish up packing and head back up to the cockpit. You unplug your cuff and secure it back around your arm, then you take your headset out of its holder, hooking it over your right ear and placing the earpiece in, then adjusting the eyepiece to sit comfortably over your eye. Pressing the button on the back of the earpiece you watched as the screen on the glass came to life, sending an initial scan across the cockpit. You looked down at your cuff and pressed the button again, watching as the sync progress bar moved quickly in front of your eyes. SYNC COMPLETE. 

Okay, change of clothes and you’ll be ready to go. You left the cockpit and headed to what you called the living side of your ship. It was kitchen, bedroom and living room all in one, with a small bathroom off to the left. You shed your armour, starting with your torso, then piece by piece moving down your body until you felt weightless from the lack of it and quickly changed ready to replace it all. You always felt wrong without your armour, all vulnerable and exposed, so whenever changing clothes speed was always a priority for you. 

You were about to grab your bag ready to leave when you caught your reflection in the mirror. You walked up to it, peering at your own face, your fingers skimmed over the white tattooed line that extended from your forehead, skipped over your left eye and finished half way down your cheek. Dots were spaced at equal points down the length of it. 

You turned your head to examine the other tattoo. A similar white line that slashed across your right cheekbone, this time lined with dots either side. The tattoos began as purely functional, but now you loved them, a unique part of you that you couldn’t hide. You smiled at your reflection, then grabbed your bag and left.

-

Tin Can was supposed to be here 20 minutes ago and he didn’t seem like the type of person who would be this late. It made you uneasy, very uneasy. After another 5 minutes of waiting you made the decision to go after him. You didn’t care if you found him and he got mad for it if nothing is wrong, but instinct told you there was something wrong and you were normally pretty sharp with this stuff. 

It was times like these you loved your tech, when you had done your forearm shake your cuff took a reading of the signals the Mandalorian’s own cuff was giving off, signals like that are unique and therefor traceable. You instructed your cuff to track the Mandalorian and started following the signal showing on your eyepiece. It didn’t take long to find him really, especially when you starting pursuing the sound of blaster fire which unsurprisingly took you right to him. 

You took a moment to take in the scene in front of you, the Mandalorian was in the centre of the chaos, three figures, on in a helmet, one in a face mask with goggles and the third conveniently covered by a hood surrounded him. He was doing quite well, he’d taken out one of the assailants as evidenced by the limp body lying a few feet from you, but even for him three on one is tricky odds to beat.

A mass of blast fire and punches blurred as you shed your bag to the floor and began to run towards the fight, producing you blaster pistol in one hand and drawing your favourite blade in the other. You beelined towards the guy who was about to spear the Mandalorian with an electro staff, with a sweep of  your leg you knocked his foot from under him, swiping your knife in his direction and digging it into his shoulder as you turned your gaze and blaster to the hooded figure running towards you, firing three shots in his direction. 

You see it hit his arm as a blaster shot whizzed past your ear, causing you to flinch away as the guy you had just stabbed made a run up with his staff. Dodge, dodge, blaster shot, knife swipe, kick to the floor, you lined up your final blaster shot as a dull pain exploded across your left bicep, the force of it knocking your knife to the ground. 

You rounded on the masked attacker, discharging shot after shot at him, he was fast, faster than you at dodging, but not fast enough to dodge all the beams, one struck him in his shoulder, incapacitating him long enough for you to turn back to shoot the hooded man as he was starting to get up. The blast cleared his chest and you watched as he slumped against the floor, staff skidding away from him and powering down.

 There wasn’t any time to breathe before a fist was flying at the side of your head, swinging your forearm you struck the fist away and landed two punches to his gut with your other fist, sweeping his leg he knocked you to the ground, blaster slipping from your grasp and sliding away across the cobbles of the street. Shit, when did he pick up that staff? You jerked your head to the side as the electrified end slammed into the ground mere inches away from your face. You kneed up into his crotch and pushed all you force against his chest shoving him off you, and rolling over you pushed yourself off the ground and ran for your blaster. 

Your fingers closed around the handle and you swung it round to point at masked man now charging at you. Heat flared next to you, a stream of hot licking flames extending just shy of your face. Fear shot into your stomach, crawling over your skin and weakening your knees, causing you to collapse to the ground. Looking in the direction of origin you saw the Mandalorian, arm extended, flames spewing from his wrist. 

And behind him- fuck. A bloody figure drew up and pointed his blaster at the back of the Mandalorian. A shot. Yours, skimming past the silvery armour of the Mandalorian and striking the dark helmeted figure behind him. The flames stopped and both of the final assailants crumpled to the ground, unmoving.

Your breathing was heavy, your arm ached and your stomach felt tight. The Mandalorian was sat on the ground too, you were both studying each other, watching and catching your breath. The adrenaline was slowing dissipating from your body’s and as the high dropped, so slightly did your guard. “You really need to watch where you point that thing,” You joked shakily.

“Yeh well, I don’t normally have people I’m not supposed to hit,” he observed.

“You’re welcome, by the way,” you added, cocking your head.

“I didn’t need your assistance.”

“Yeh it certainly looked that way,” you snapped, rolling your eyes and jumping to your feet. You holstered your blaster on your hip, glancing across at the Mandalorian who was rising to his feet as well. You scanned the ground for your dagger, grinning when your eyes landed on the silver and gilded gold blade. It was lying next to the masked guy, whom you approached and bent down next to in order to pick it up when something caught your eye. 

On the man’s belt a little red light flashed up at you, blinking steadily. A tracking fob. First placing the knife back in its holder on your armoured calf, you reached and unhooked the tracker from the body. “I need to check something, head to the outer gates, I’ll be there in 5,” The Mandalorian stated. 

You looked up at him to see him walking away from you. Stars above Tin Can, he better not make a habit of this. You began to walk towards your bag, when a thought hit you. If one of these bodies had trackers on, then the rest of them could as well. And when you searched each of them, you found you were, as usual, correct, all four of them had trackers, all blinking at exactly the same rate. They were all for the same person then. 

You popped the backs off each of the trackers and deactivated them manually. Once wiped trackers can be sold on for quite a few credits, and right now you needed all the credits you can get, so you put them in your bag and started your way towards the outer city gates. So that’s why he can’t go to the guild, he’s being hunted by them.

You had reached the gates before him, you watched for him approaching. When he appeared he had a bag slung over his shoulder and it looked like he’d polished his armour, it was glinting away under the hot sun. Even you had to admit that it did look good, it must be fairly new, except for the fact it didn’t bare his signet. He nodded to you as he drew up beside you, “Ready?” he asked.

“Let’s go.”

Next Chapter

[merinnan]

The Rescue Job

If anyone had asked Zhao Yunlan this morning how he thought this day would go, kissing Shen Wei would not have even been suggested. He would have thought about it, of course, since kissing Shen Wei was something that he thought about frequently; he’d even kissed the man before, but those were quick, light kisses as part of a job, done just to keep up their cover of being boyfriends, or husbands, or whatever that particular job had them pretending to be. Those kisses were almost worse than no kisses at all, precisely because they weren’t actually real, not in the way that truly mattered – although they were real enough to make him hold on to the memory of every single one like a dragon holding onto its hoard, each scent and warm breath like a gold coin, each brush of soft lips a sparkling jewel.

But to be actually kissing Shen Wei, to have arms wrapped around him and a hand in his hair, bodies pressed so close together that it was hard to tell whose pounding heartbeat was whose, hot mouths exploring each other until they were forced to stop in order to breathe again? This was something Zhao Yunlan had only dreamed about.

He was fairly sure that it wasn’t another dream, however, as these dreams were usually set in his office, or in one of their apartments, or in the park that they sometimes took a walk in, not in a bare concrete room so far below ground that there was no natural light. These dreams didn’t involve Shen Wei covered in his own blood. And they certainly didn’t feature Ye Zun in the background, making gagging noises and ‘get a room’ gestures.

No, this morning Zhao Yunlan had expected the team to go in, do the job they’d been planning for the past week, and get out. The day had begun with them going to do exactly that, and it had been going according to plan up until everything went to hell.

***

Nine Hours Earlier

It was a beautiful, sunny day, just on the cusp of spring and summer – the sort of day that made its way into a myriad of books, or the screens of every rom-com or teen movie when the script called for the protagonists to have a perfect day. Fluffy white clouds drifted across blue sky, not even a single drop of rain threatened, and a light breeze kept the temperature just this side of overly warm. Their mark couldn’t have picked a better day for his garden reception if he’d been able to engineer the weather himself.

Not that Zhao Yunlan was able to properly enjoy it, of course, since he wasn’t at the reception. He wasn’t even outside, enjoying the pleasant afternoon in any way. Instead, he was back at the team’s HQ, sprawled back in his chair with his feet up on his desk, one ankle crossed over the other, tongue working the lollipop in his mouth as he watched six screens showing the feeds of six pinhole cameras, and vicariously experienced both the day and the reception through them. If his eyes happened to linger more on five of these screens whenever a particular blue suited figure appeared on one of them, who was to tell?

“Do you think you could pay attention to more than my gege?”

Well. One man could tell. Zhao Yunlan’s current third-least favourite person in the world lounged in a nearby chair, twirling an ornamental cane in one hand. Zhao Yunlan offered him an easy grin around the lollipop.

“Aiyo, Ye Zun, of course I’m paying attention to all of it. Who do you take me for?” Even as he spoke, a flicker of blue drew his eyes back to the screen showing the feed from Guo Changcheng’s camera, Shen Wei walking past the grifter with neither of them even giving a flicker that they knew each other. Zhao Yunlan couldn’t help but feel a flicker of pride for how far the kid had come, along with a flicker of something that was decidedly more heated than pride at the figure Shen Wei cut in that blue suit, the clothing somehow managing to make him seem both perfectly innocuous with his sensible business shoes and round-rimmed glasses, and also just so undeniably…

“Disgusting.” Ye Zun’s voice drawled across his reverie. “Any minute now you’ll start drooling, and I really don’t want to see that.”

Zhao Yunlan didn’t even have to look up to pull a lollipop from his desk drawer and throw it in the vicinity of Ye Zun’s head. This was an interaction that had repeated far too many times for his taste. While yes, it had been his insistence that Ye Zun was never to be left unattended in the HQ even if he was, technically and officially, now part of the team, he hadn’t anticipated that he would be the one most often on Ye Zun duty, which invariably meant Ye Zun mocking him mercilessly for his hopeless crush on Shen Wei. Zhao Yunlan felt both relieved and regretful that none of their recent jobs had involved Shen Wei and him going undercover together as a couple – while those jobs always left him on even more of an emotional high than successful jobs normally did, buoyed by additional memories of touches and kisses to hoard and wish for something he couldn’t have, they also led Ye Zun to kick the mocking up several notches.

He wasn’t surprised to hear Ye Zun catch the lollipop, rather than the far more satisfying sound of it lightly thunking against his head, or the follow up sigh and the sound of a crinkling wrapper being undone.

“Gege could do so much better than you.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Zhao Yunlan scowled, then pulled the half-eaten lollipop from his mouth and waved it at the screens. “Looks like the party’s winding down. It’s supposed to finish at 2:30, right?”

He knew damn well that that was when it was supposed to finish. He and the twins had pored over every scrap of information while crafting this plan, and at this point they probably had the reception schedule more thoroughly memorised than the host. It did, however, successfully switch Ye Zun’s focus to the screens, and allow him to take his own attention away from just how much better than him Shen Wei could do, and all of the other reasons why a gremlin like him and the perfect man that was Shen Wei would never be anything more than just good friends and colleagues. No matter how much more he wanted.

He leaned forward and pressed a key on the keyboard. “Lin Jing, have you found it yet?” Lin Jing’s screen showed wood panelling, the hacker’s hands running along it.

“It’s got to be here somewhere,” Lin Jing replied. “From the map, it should be…”

“Here?” Da Qing suggested. The wood panelling on Da Qing’s feed opened, revealing an electrical panel.

“Yes!” Lin Jing cheered quietly, then quickly began to get to work.

“You’ve got 22 minutes before the reception ends and security starts looking for stray guests trying to overstay their welcome,” Ye Zun warned them.

“Xiao Guo,” Zhao Yunlan adds, “ready to cause a distraction if they need more time?”

Back outside with the main party, Guo Changcheng makes a noise of agreement that the woman he’s talking to takes as agreeing with whatever she was talking about. Zhao Yunlan glances at the other three camera feeds – Chu Shuzhi’s shows him hovering in Guo Changcheng’s general vicinity, while Shen Wei and Zhu Hong are closer to the mansion’s entrance, ready to slip in to help Lin Jing and Da Qing if needed. All where they should be.

“Zhao Yunlan,” Shen Wei says suddenly, his soft voice as clear through the comms as ever. “There’s something wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“Too many guests have left.”

Zhao Yunlan and Ye Zun both sit up straight and lean towards the screens, studying them.

“Gege, there’s still a lot of guests there,” Ye Zun says, eyes flitting from screen to screen. Shen Wei’s camera feed slowly turns as Shen Wei does, allowing them a view of more people.

“They’re wrong for guests,” he says. “I think…”

Whatever it was he thought they didn’t hear, as his and Zhu Hong’s comms and cameras went dead. A moment later, Chu Shuzhi’s and Guo Changcheng’s followed suit.

“Shen Wei!”

Zhao Yunlan had barely finished the name when the last two comms and cameras went out. He pulled out his phone, jabbing at Chu Shuzhi’s number, only for it to go straight to voicemail. He tried the next number, aware of Ye Zun doing the same thing beside him. All of the phones went to voicemail.

“Wang Zheng!” Zhao Yunlan shouted, pushing away from his desk. Within moments, the ghostly pale young woman appeared at the door. “Keep trying to call the team through every avenue you can, and tell Lao Li to make sure my car’s ready for an extraction.”

He hoped it wouldn’t come to that, and he was confident in Shen Wei and Chu Shuzhi’s abilities to get everyone out regardless of what had just happened, but still…the way the cameras and comms had all cut out like that left him feeling uneasy, particularly since Shen Wei had thought there was something wrong.

“And call Cheng Xinyan,” Ye Zun added from where he’d taken over the keyboard, his fingers flying over it. He bit his lip in a way that was just so Shen Wei that Zhao Yunlan was left speechless for a moment. For all that they were identical, the twins generally had such different mannerisms that it wasn’t at all difficult to tell them apart, especially not once Ye Zun grew his hair out to collar-length while Shen Wei kept his short. Every so often, though, one of them would do something that reinforced the fact that the similarities between them weren’t limited to just looks.

“What’s wrong?” Zhao Yunlan asked him. If Ye Zun was suggesting that they bring in a doctor, then he, like Zhao Yunlan, had a very bad feeling about this.

“I can’t activate any of their trackers,” Ye Zun said, not looking up from the screens. “To be more accurate, I sent the activation codes, and nothing happened.”

Zhao Yunlan frowned at that, shoving the lollipop back in his mouth and going back to trying to get through to any of the team’s phones while Ye Zun tried to bring the comms back online.

One minute passed. Then five. Then ten. To Zhao Yunlan, each one might as well have been an hour.

Thirty eight minutes after Shen Wei’s comms went down, two cars screeched to a halt outside, and car doors slammed. Zhao Yunlan was halfway to the door when it opened, and Chu Shuzhi staggered inside, his arms slung over Guo Changcheng and Zhu Hong’s shoulders as they half-carried him. Red blood smeared Guo Changcheng’s shirt where Chu Shuzhi leaned against him, and streaked across Zhu Hong’s face where she’d evidently rubbed a bloodstained hand. Behind them, Da Qing supported a deathly pale Lin Jing.

Zhao Yunlan stopped and looked them over, icy fingers creeping up his back. Something had certainly gone horribly, terribly wrong. Wang Zheng and Sang Zan raced forward to help get Chu Shuzhi and Lin Jing to the back room that Cheng Xinyan used as her infirmary whenever they needed to call her in, and Zhao Yunlan was dimly aware of Ye Zun joining them as he looked behind the group. Out the door, the two cars were haphazardly parked on the lawn, silent – and empty.

Zhao Yunlan looked at his returned team again, five where there should be six. When he spoke, his voice seemed so distant to his ears that he almost didn’t recognise it.

“Where’s Shen Wei?”

@trensu

AO3

[twistedtummies2]

Gotham’s 31 Most Wanted - NUMBER ONE

The first month of the new year ends today. Ladies and gentlemen…undecided…fellow geeks and nerds alike…the hour has come. Today marks the end of Gotham’s 31 Most Wanted. All throughout January, I’ve counted down My Top 31 Favorite Batman Villains of All Time. Now, the time has arrived for me to unveil the wicked fiend at the top of the criminal heap. If you haven’t guessed who it is by now – especially if you know me fairly well – that’s quite a shock. But if you need a hint: he can’t be killed, that’s why they cast a Phoenix to play him. (And again, if you got that reference, you are awesome.) MY NUMBER ONE FAVORITE BATMAN VILLAIN IS…The Joker.

Now, for MOST of you reading this, this is probably neither a surprise nor a disappointment. The Joker – The Clown Prince of Crime – has been Batman’s nemesis practically since he was first created. The character first appeared in the first issue of Batman’s title series in 1940; the character had only been around for three years, and most of his villains prior to the Ace of Knaves never really “stuck,” so to speak. However, despite apparently dying in that first issue, the Joker was, at the last minute, given a second lease of life: someone on the team making Batman recognized the potential of the character, and a final panel of the comic was hastily slapped together, revealing that the Joker wasn’t actually dead. This began a long tradition for the character: over and over and over again, the Joker has seemingly died in horrible ways. He’s been stabbed, shot, electrocuted, drowned, torched, blown to bits, hit by automobiles, and has fallen from great heights, just to name a FEW of the ways the character has seemingly kicked the bucket…but, inevitably, the character pops up again, usually with no real explanation of HOW he survived, just to cause trouble once more. However, one could argue this also marked the beginning of a trend that, in recent years, has been seen more and more frequently: the OVERUSE of the Joker. You see, after that initial appearance in Batman #1, the Joker appeared over and Over and OVER again in multiple stories that followed, almost one after the other. And to this date, the character has appeared – both in and out of comics – more times than any other Batman Villain out there. Counting only live-action standalone theatrical films (and you will note how VERY specific that category is), the character has appeared in movies no less than FOUR times. In direct contrast, looking at the same category, most Batman Villains who have even gotten a CHANCE to appear in such movies don’t get more than one or two appearances. I think the only ones who have come close so far are Catwoman and Scarecrow, and in the latter’s case, that was because he appeared in all three “episodes” of the Dark Knight Trilogy. So, technically, there’s only one version of Jonathan Crane in this sector. And let’s not even THINK of other media beyond that, like animated features, TV shows and their spinoffs, direct-to-video movies, video games, et cetera and so on and Scooby-Dooby-Doo. (Literally, since he’s APPEARED in Scooby-Doo…multiple times…see what I mean?) As a result of this constant popping up over and over again, the character has, in recent years, received a bit of a backlash. It’s probably been around for a while, but the time when I heard it becoming most vocal was when the “Arkham” games came out. In “Arkham City,” you see, the character died, and many fans felt it was one of the best “True” deaths the character had. It was even meant to cap off a career, as it marked – at the time – what everybody thought would be the inimitable Mark Hamill’s last time playing the role. But just as he has in comics before, the Joker – and Hamill as the Joker – returned in later installments of the series, and many felt the Clown Prince was starting to poke his pale nose into places he really didn’t belong. More and more people were saying that the Joker was, while perhaps not necessarily OVERRATED as a villain, certainly OVERUSED: people wanted other Batman Villains to get the same focus and attention he was getting, and for DC to stop falling back on him as a way to get sales going and get fans interested. I must confess, despite my placing him here at the top…very recently, I’ve started having similar feelings. I needn’t discuss the…well…EVERYTHING that was Jared Leto’s Joker, and while I personally liked the TV series “Gotham,” the way they handled Joker/The Valeska Brothers is actually one of my personal biggest upsets with the series. Those are just two examples. However, it doesn’t annoy me as much as the overuse I’ve mentioned from his (ex?) girlfriend, Harley Quinn, who really, REALLY gets on my nerves with how she keeps popping up in places and in ways she really shouldn’t. It's for this reason some may feel that me placing the Joker as my favorite villain is too predictable, and perhaps not even fully deserved. But here’s the thing: being overused does NOT mean the character, by default, is bad. Do I wish other Batman Rogues would get more attention? WELL, DUH. I’d love to see a more comic-accurate take on Two-Face, or a film with Scarecrow as the main bad guy, or, heck, ANYTHING with Jervis Tetch on the silver screen. GOD. PLEASE. JUST….SOMETHING WITH JERVIS TETCH. But that doesn’t make me like the Joker, himself, any less. The ways he works and the reasons he works have been analyzed, argued, and even essayed upon so many times, I think not even HE would find it funny at this point; he’s a character who opens up discussion very easily, and you can see why his fate as the Dark Knight’s arch-nemesis was so quickly set. With all the horrible things he’s done to Batman over the years, no one is truly a more personal threat than him; sure, Bane broke his back, and sure, Catwoman and Talia have had many a romance with him, but it’s hard to say any of them have CONSISTENTLY proven to be as big a pain the neck as the Joker. He’s crippled friends, murdered allies – occasionally allowing them to return as villains themselves – and done numerous other atrocities that are pretty hard for ANY Batman Villain to top, not only in terms of how high the body count ranks, but in just how HORRIBLE the actions are and how meaningless the reasons frequently tend to be. He is, very simply, one of the most evil characters in literary history…and yet also one of the most entertaining. The genius of the Joker, generally speaking, is he makes you laugh and grin…but then you realize what you’re laughing at, and you almost feel nauseated. He is the Master of Dark Humor. Ever since I was a little boy, the Joker was pretty much always my favorite Batman Villain. And as time has gone on, that feeling has never truly wavered, and I doubt it ever will. In fact, as time has gone on, instead of liking the Joker less, I’ve only seemed to like him more and more; as a kid, I liked the character for his dark sense of humor, his eye-catching design, his zany gadgets and tricks, and his flair for the dramatic. As an adult, I find the philosophy of the character fascinating, I like seeing how different people interpret his origins, and I love to see how people continually toy with the twisted relationship he has with the Dark Knight. Much like Batman himself, he’s another one of those characters it’s just really hard to ruin…though Lord knows certain reimaginings have done their best to attempt THAT. Is he perhaps too popular and too focused on for his own good? Oh, almost undeniably…but at least he’s popular and focused on for a good reason, at the end of the day. It's better him than Killer Moth. The Joker: forever and always My Favorite Batman Villain…and, very possibly, my favorite villain of all time, period. “Laugh, Clown, Laugh.” Thank you all for joining me during the course of this countdown! I don’t know if I’ll do another one in the future; not sure what topic it may cover or what event it could be for. XD We’ll see what happens, but in any case, hope you all stay safe, and let’s hope 2021 shapes up better than 2020 as the New Year Rolls On…

[jabbajambler]

5

Powerless

The Mandalorian/Din Djarin x f!OC

Word Count: 2,115

*GIF by @pixelahsoka​*

         It felt like I sat there for ages. Din was an excellent hunter, there was no way it took him so long to find this lady. I doubt she purposely ran away, so she wasn't evading him. In fact, she was his easiest target thus far and yet, I still sat waiting for him. I had half a mind to get up and find him if I knew he wouldn't throw a fit over it.

         The snow continued to fall in light flurries, decorating the ship in a blanket of white frost. It had been a long time since I'd seen snow, I forgot how magical it could be. Just watching it felt like a dream.

         If only it weren't so damn cold.

         After spending most of my life in unbearable heat, it was difficult to adjust to the freezing temperatures of wherever we were. I pulled the blanket tighter around me, trying to lock in all the leftover warmth my body was producing. I think the temperature inside the ship was colder than outside.

          It would've been warmer with Din here. When he pulled me into his side, it was like sitting next to a fire. Not only was he warm, but he was comforting to be around. Being around him felt natural, like being at home. I didn't want to admit it, especially with him only realistically being gone about an hour, but I missed him. It was lonely sitting in the ship all alone.

         Would I ever admit this to him? No. But it was nice to think about, I suppose.

        A low rumble shook the ground, quickly followed by the zing of blaster shots from the tunnel. I sighed quietly and slipped my gun from its holster. What kind of beast could they have found on this iced over wasteland? I didn't think anything could survive out here.

         More shots were fired, their blasts echoing through the icy halls and then a quiet explosion, if there is such a thing. I stepped out from the ship's hull, patiently awaiting whatever disaster Din was bringing with him.

        The frog lady came first, croaking and lunging towards the ship. Then Din emerged, holding the child tightly in his arms while an army of white spiders ranging in all sorts of sizes followed him. He shot at them with little success in depleting their forces, only angering them more.

          I sighed and raised my blaster, firing a few shots at the kryknas. "What were you thinking?" I hissed as he came closer to the entrance.

         "You think I meant to do this?" He growled and pushed me back into the ship.

           "Well, you certainly never seem to avoid these conflicts," I huffed. Din passed along the child and the container of eggs to the lady while we shot at the spiders from the opening. "In fact, you seem to chase right after them! So yeah, I think you meant to do this."

         He grabbed a spider as it sprung towards my face, crushing it in his hand and tossing it back to the ground with a grunt. "Get to the cockpit, now."

         I rolled my eyes and climbed the ladder as fast as I could while trying to help Din, but our efforts were hopeless.  He climbed up after me, pushing his way into the cockpit and blasting the kryknas while we struggled to force the doors shut.

         "Well, we haven't done this before," I smiled up at him, receiving a subtle shake of his head and a very quiet chuckle.

        Several of the little spiders squeezed past despite our efforts, the frog lady even snagged a blaster and started to fire at them. What a trio, us three against hundreds - if not thousands - of little creepy spiders.

        "Watch out," I stepped back and held my hand out to the door. Din must've been looking at me like I was insane. Sometimes I thought I was. Nonetheless, I focused on the door, hearing the hiss of fire before it slammed shut.

          "Myrah," Din panted. His hands gripped my shoulders, giving me a slight shake before my eyes shot open. He let out a breath of relief and dropped his hands, breathing out a quiet, "good job."

        "Teamwork," I shrugged with a smile. "We're good at that sometimes, you know."

         He huffed out a slight laugh and nodded, "yeah, sometimes. Is that part of your - uh - Jedi powers-"Din was cut off by a growing tapping. It sounded like a stampede of very tiny beasts.

            We turned towards the windows as the kryknas started to climb up and swarm the ship. I guess I wasn't too far off from my original assumption.

         "Strap yourselves in," Din quickly sat down and tapped at the control panel. "This better work," he mumbled to himself.

         I would've been more concerned about his doubts if it weren't for the threat of thousands of pests taking over the ship. I pulled my belt over my chest faster than I ever thought possible and held the child tight in my lap.

          "I've got limited visibility," he sighed. "It's gonna be a bumpy ride."

         He pulled back the engine, which seemed to power up just fine. We were breaking free from the ice and slowly rising into the air. We were going to get away just fine, a little rough, but fine, until a giant krykna landed on top of the Razor Crest.

          It stabbed it's daggers through the windows, barely missing the frog lady and I, and sending glass flying through the cockpit. It peered through the window and as much as I wanted to comment on how ugly it was, I couldn't think of anything else but our impending doom.

         It's mouth smacked against the glass, displaying it's rows upon rows of teeth as it dragged them across the window. Din's hand flew back and rested on my knee as he leaned back in his seat. My fingers brushed against his hand while I squeezed my eyes shut. If I could focus hard enough, I could destroy it.

         I didn't get that chance.

         The sound of blasters interrupted my concentration and knocked the beast off the ship. Red flashes shot through the air, firing relentlessly at it. Din stood quickly with his gun drawn and despite his light touches, telling me to stay where I was, I followed him down into the hull.

        Webs and spider corpses filled the area. We snuck through, taking care of any leftover kryknas as we left the ship.

         A pair of X-Wings sat in the snow, their lights blinding as they finished off the spiders from their ship. They seemed to stop as they noticed us, lowering their guns to their hips. I let out a deep breath of relief and placed my gun back in its holster. Din was still guarded, holding onto his but with a little more ease than before.

       "We ran the tabs on the Razor Crest," one of them spoke. His voice was familiar, along with the orange paint that surrounded the X-Wing. Great. The cops again. "You have an arrest warrant," he continued, "for the abduction of prisoner X-Six-Nine-Eleven. However, onboard security records show that you two apprehended three priority culprits from the Wanted Register."

         I cringed as he revealed that there was footage of what we'd done. It wasn't the Empire so I wasn't a priority target anymore, but I certainly hoped they skipped over whatever mess I may have caused. I can't even imagine what would happen if someone knew there were more than a few Jedi out in the galaxy.

        "Security records also show that you both put your own lives in harm's way to try to protect that of Lieutenant Davan from the New Republic Correctional Corps," the man continued while Din holstered his gun. "Is this true?"

          He sighed, "are we under arrest?"

         "Technically, you should be," he paused, letting his words dissolve in the air. "But these are trying times.

         "What say we forgo the bounties on these three criminals, and you two help me fuse my hull so I can get off this frozen rock?" Din suggested. It didn't sound like too bad of an idea, but I doubt they would willingly help us. Not after our little stunt earlier.

         The cop scoffed, "what say you fix that transponder, and we don't vaporize that antique the next time we patrol the Rim?" They both shook their heads and settled back into their seats, firing up their engines and shooting off into the sky.

         "New Republic Forces have never been much help," I rolled my eyes and looked back at the mess that was left. "Now what?"

        Din sighed, "fix up whatever we can. We can get it done sooner if you care to help," he nudged me slightly with his arm before leaving for the hull again.

       I smiled as he left, remembering a similar situation on Arvala-7. It wasn't as bad, I suppose, but we only had two people this time. As long as we got a little bit of work down, we could make it to Trask.

        Hopefully.

        "Alright," Din started as I stepped into the ship, "We're gonna repair the cockpit enough for us to limp to Trask. There's nothing I can do about the main hull's integrity, so we're gonna have to get cozy in the cockpit. It's the only thing I can pressurize," he sighed, "if you need to use the privy, do it now. It's gonna be a long ride."

         We climbed up into the cockpit, both Din and I fixing up whatever we could to get the ship running again. At least enough to get us where we needed to go. Sparks reflected off his armor in brilliant shots of yellow and white. I caught my staring this time, but I didn't make any move to stop it.

         "Hand me that," Din pointed to the toolbox he brought up, but continued to look at whatever he was doing.

         I hummed, "you gotta say please first."

         "Myrah, stop messing around," he grumbled as he patched up the broken windows. He held his hand out, waiting for me to place the tool in his hand. A few seconds passed before his head fell forward with a sigh, "please."

        I beamed and placed it in his hand while I leaned against the wall. "You're oh so very welcome, Din dearest."

        "I should let you just fly out this window," he finished off the sealing and tossed the tools back in the box, closing it up after several hours of work.

        "But you would never let that happen," I watched him pack the box away silently until he sat in his chair. I expected us to lift off, to test our work and see if we could truly get off this icy wasteland, but instead he turned to face me.

         "No," he held my chin between his fingers and cocked his head to the side, "I couldn't. I should, but I couldn't." He pulled his hand back and spun around towards the controls again while the frog lady crept into the cockpit, "let's see if we can get this thing going once and for all."

         The engine resisted at first, struggling to lift with the dead weight of the krykna on it, but we were eventually up in the air once again and far away from that monstrous planet. The ship sputtered and bumped in the sky, but it was enough to get us where we needed to be. Trask wasn't too far and while it wouldn't be the comfiest journey, it would be a decently quick one.

        Din set up the auto pilot and leaned back in his chair, "wake me up if someone shoots at us. Or if that door gets sucked off its rails."

          The frog lady croaked in concern while I breathed out a quiet, "Mando."

       "I'm kidding," he turned towards the lady enough to address her before resting in his seat. "If that happened, we'd all be dead. Sweet dreams."

         I rolled my eyes and lifted the child into my lap, holding him close. His eyes drifted shut, but remained focused on the eggs in the lady's arms.

        "No," I whispered and shifted him away from them in my arms, "we can get you something on Trask, okay? Why don't you get some sleep, you little beast." I smiled and gently poked his nose as his eyes finally closed.

       We were going to make it to Trask just fine.

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