#take a series that is so incomprehensible and make it even harder to understand

[michillangelo]

Just finished listening to Nona the Ninth and I am so full of love and confusion ❤️

Anyway, if anyone has any recs for tlt lore blogs I would be very grateful 🙏

[apoptoses]

WHY did Anne not include Daniel and Thorne in Marius’ painting at the end of Blood Communion?? Did she just forget??

The fact that she didn’t include Tarquin Blackwood and Mona Mayfair I already expected, because it was plain she did not want to follow up on their story’s at all because she disregarded their characters completely in the first two prince Lestat books (while introducing 200 new characters who I personally didn’t care about)

But did she literally just forget Thorne and Daniel? Daniel!!! He was kind of the reason the VC came into existence, is he not? And Thorne! Who even has actual lines in last three books!?

I love Anne’s writing dearly but some choices she has made regarding these books are utterly incomprehensible to me. I’ll never understand.

Ah man, I hate it too but I feel like there were a lot of reasons. And idk if you wanted to mutually vent or wanted my Actual Thoughts but I always kinda look at it like-

Anne sucked at continuity lol Which happens if you're writing a series for over 40 years! Lestat's eyes have been blue and grey and violet, his age has mortal age changed, and he was her top blorbo so like you'd think she'd nail down the facts about him perfectly? But sometimes she goofed or changed stuff. Which is why I never sweat too hard about exact canon facts, if Anne herself didn't have perfect continuity and I can make up a reason for a little change that makes sense in my narrative idgaf I'm gonna do it.

I think Daniel was hard for her in the same way Louis was hard for her- they both are avatars of dark times in her life. Louis was her depression over her own daughter's death, Daniel she poured her struggles with alcoholism into. And I can get her side lining them both because of not wanting to revisit that headspace and those memories. Which sucks for fans of those characters but it is what it is.

I also get the impression that she didn't really know what to do with a mentally healthy vampire that doesn't have shitloads of baggage? Like when Daniel comes out of his rough years in PL he's really on top of things, and Anne's happy place is developing new tragic backstories so...for better or worse that's what she did lol

And re: the hundreds of new characters, there's a whole chapter in Conversations with Anne Rice where she talked about wanting to explore the stories of mature adults, specifically older men. The loss of her father weighed heavily on her and drew her to create characters like David Talbot, and to lean harder into the story of guys like Marius who was 40-something in mortal body but thousands of years old in spirit. So you really see that with her later books, outside of Benji and Sybelle (who also get sidelined) and Rose and Viktor (who...same) she zero'd in on older vampires because that's what held her interest.

NOT THAT I DON'T ALSO HATE IT, I mean, obviously Daniel is a top favorite of mine. So take all of that, add in the fact that she didn't really use an editor and thus did exactly what she wished for all her work, and I think the conclusion is that she just lost interest/couldn't get a story going for them and so she left them out of the mural.

But god do I feel your pain, my kingdom for more content about established characters like Daniel, Bianca, Riccardo, Thorne and less random characters that didn't have enough page time to really develop 😢

[silversatoru]

play-thing — part one

gojo satoru x getou suguru x f!reader

t/w: nsfw 18+, dark content, drugging, manipulation, noncon/dubcon, oral (f!receiving), nipple play, this story contains very dark themes so please do not read it you’re sensitive to any of these topics

synopsis: suguru and satoru are missing something in their lives, and who better to manipulate than an lonely, impressionable girl who just moved to tokyo from another city. they’re willing to take extreme measures to transform you into their perfectly submissive little play-thing. 

wc: 1.9k

suguru and satoru do everything together; live in the same house, work at the same company, even share a closet of the most expensive clothes, but something was missing. they both felt it, the empty space between them, and they were determined to find the perfect piece to fill the gaping hole in their lives.

and you practically fell right into the palm of their hands, in a local grocery store of all places. a pretty little thing with a freshly broken heart who’d just moved here from a neighboring city. no friends, no family nearby, anxious and impressionable and desperately in need of a couple capable men to show her around. it all started with an innocent question: “hey, sorry to bother you guys, but could you tell me where the baking aisle is?”

how you ended up here you still weren't quite sure. 

“let us take you on a tour of the city tonight,” satoru had cooed at you.

“there’s a few really nice bars, we could grab some drinks,” suguru added, both their voices smooth and terrifyingly persuasive.

but they seemed nice enough, and you weren't in any position to be picky with making friends right now — after all, you’d have to get accustomed to the city somehow, right?

wear something pretty, satoru had winked at you before you parted ways and continued your shopping, and for some reason you were very inclined to do as he said. they were both intimidatingly attractive and you weren’t exactly sure what their dynamic was yet, but you decided that if you ended up in bed with one of them tonight, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

you’d chosen a short and silky black dress, something elegant but classic that would absolutely catch the eyes of both men. and it did, satoru’s eyes glazing over your body several times before he even bothered to say hello to you. suguru was less obvious, his dark eyes giving you a quick once-over before giving you a warm smile and wrapping his arm around your shoulders as the three of you entered the first bar.

it was small, dimly lit with a few lanterns and packed tight with people. a little too crowded for your level of comfort, so you stuck closely to the sides of suguru and satoru as they led you deeper into the pub. the dark-haired male gestured towards an empty seat at the end of the countertop, the two of them standing on either side of you after you slid into it. satoru spoke with an impressive level of charisma, ordering three of the same drink from the bartender — who he seemed to know quite well.

taking a few sips of the liquor did wonders for you initial anxiety, and the casual conversation with both men was helping you to settle in as well. 

so, where are you from? 

what made you want to move to tokyo?

what do you do for a living? 

you were painfully oblivious to how the conversation stayed entirely centered around you; you still hadn’t learned anything about the two men, but they were learning everything about you. 

an hour or so in, a warm dizziness began to swirl around the inside of your head, slowly exacerbating until you felt like you were about to tumble out of your seat. you’d only had a couple drinks, and you normally handled your alcohol fairly well, so why did you feel absolutely sloshed right now? 

“guys, i think maybe-” you turned towards your two tour guides and crashed forward into suguru’s chest without warning. 

“think you went a little heavy, toru?” he scooped his hands under your plump ass and lifted your unconscious body into his muscularly arms. 

“not my fault she has no tolerance,” satoru shrugged, throwing some cash on the counter, “might be easier with her like this anyway”. 

“i suppose,” suguru clicked his tongue off the roof of his mouth, “stupid girl, didn’t your parents teach you not to trust strangers so easily?”

the two of them casually made their way out of the bar together, making jokes about how poorly you handle your liquor to anyone who gave them a questionable look — but the bar was so loud and jam-packed with people that they made it out without any incident.

you were slow to come out of your sleepy haze, head nodding up and down as you struggled to maintain consciousness and take in the scenery around you. in a futile attempt to brush some hair out of your face you realized your hands were tightly secured behind your back. panic immediately flooded your system, chest tightening and hot tears brimming at the edges of your eyes. 

“just a precaution, angel,” suguru came walking into your hazy vision, a warm smile on his face as he tucked the loose strands of hair behind your ears, “how are you feeling?” 

“wha-, whaaat happen- ed?” your words were garbled, your brain barely able to form them. 

“don’t worry about it,” satoru appeared next to suguru, “you just drank a little too much, but we’ll take good care of you, won’t we suguru?” 

“of course, no need for you to worry about anything anymore,” he gave an affirmative nod. 

“i don’t think-” you wracked your brain for any recollection of what had happened tonight, but you found nothing, “i don’t th- think i — understand”. 

“you will soon,” satoru flashed a bright smile, but it wasn’t nearly as inviting as the first time you saw it. this time it was eerie, evil, threatening — what exactly was he talking about? 

your brain was quickly turning to absolute mush, your vision getting darker and foggier than it already was as you tried to hang on to the sound of their voices.

just relax

we’re gonna make you feel good, you wanna feel good, princess?

you want us to make you feel better?

“mhm,” you gave them a slow nod. you did want them to make you feel better! you felt groggy and confused and nauseas! so of course you said yes! that is what they were asking? right?

you felt the bed shift around you, several hands tracing over your skin and gently pushing you onto your back. you tried to question them, tried to form the words, but your brain was unable to produce a single word or movement at this point.

a hot tongue connected with the side of your neck, lips latched onto the skin and sucking gently on the sensitive area. another mouth was on your inner thigh, sucking a little harder and undoubtedly leaving a small marking. you subconsciously let out a squeaky, shaky breath, the warmth of their tongues eliciting a response in your doped-up body.

goosebumps raked through your body when you felt a pair of slender fingers slip under your dress and brush over the thin material of your panties. it was satoru, his middle and index fingers prodding at your clothed cunt and sending jolts through your legs. meanwhile suguru continued to cover your neck in sloppy kisses, one of his large hands groping at your covered breasts.

your brain had gone numb, from the drugs, the confusion, the terribly intoxicating pleasure. you hated how clueless you were, how useless your body was right now, but what you hated most of all was that you weren’t even trying to fight back. their touch felt good — too good for you to ask them to stop.

it wasn’t long before satoru’s fingers were replaced with his mouth, his tongue running up and down the fold in your panties and absolutely soaking the material with his saliva. he groaned from the taste, getting just as much pleasure from this as you were. he was quick to push the fabric to the side, sliding his tongue against your sticky folds with hunger and urgency. he lapped at your cunt, flicking your clit with the tip of his tongue and evoking a series of twitches from your lazy body.

“be gentle with her” suguru’s voice sounded far off in the distance as he mumbled into your chest.

satoru heeded to the other man’s instructions, slowing his pace and going more gentle on your sensitive, puffy clit. suguru found your hardened nipples through your thin dress, rolling them in his fingers and enhancing the already blissful feeling you were getting from satoru’s tongue.

the two of them working together was incomprehensibly euphoric, your stomach coiling into tight knots with each swipe of his tongue. without warning he dove even deeper, his tongue shooting into your cunt while his nose rubbed against your throbbing bundle of nerves. between that and suguru giving your nipples a sudden tug, your body was crashing with waves of pleasure — strangled moans and pitiful whimpers the only sounds that your mouth could produce.

it was a near-holy experience, the feeling of the sedatives pumping through your veins as satoru tongued your pussy and suguru massaged your breasts through your heightened orgasm. you felt like you were floating, the room was spinning, and then everything went dark.

a real shame that you wouldn’t be able to remember any of it by the time you woke up.

bright sunlight pierced through your eyelids the following morning, forcing you awake and causing you to jolt up. you were laying in a large bed that was situated at the back of a rather large room, fitted silk sheets cool under your skin. confused of what happened and where you were, you stood from the bed and made your way to the door, feet patting on the soft carpeted floor. 

when you opened the door you entered a long hallway that led to a wide stairway covered in the same fluffy carpeting. two voices were laughing and talking beneath you, and curiosity fueled your motivation to walk down the stairs and into an open-concept kitchen and living room. 

satoru and suguru, the two men from yesterday were busy at the stove, pancakes and bacon sizzling away on two cast-iron pans. they wore matching aprons, suguru’s reading chef daddy, and satoru’s reading mr. good-lookin’ is cookin’. 

who the fuck were these guys?

“feeling better?” suguru was the first to notice you loitering at the edge of the room. 

“yeah, how are you? didn’t picture you to be such a heavy drinker,” satoru laughed, flipping a pancake with grace. 

you didn’t remember much, nothing past sitting down at the bar with them. you weren’t much for getting wasted but you were plagued with more stress than usual lately — maybe you really let yourself go last night. 

“ah, sorry about that, I don’t even remember what i did, honestly,” you shrugged, “thanks for looking out for me though, where’s my stuff?”

“in a hurry to leave? stay for breakfast,” suguru brushed off your question with a captivating smile, his eyes squinting together in the most adorable way. 

“we insist,” satoru chimed in, humming as he continued to focus on the sweet-smelling food. 

and so you stayed, which was probably the worst mistake that you’d made in the past twenty-four hours of countless terrible mistakes. 

part one | part two

a/n: im on a yandere/dark content kick today i cant help it. anyway if u wanna be tagged when i post part two lemme know :) and if u want some yandere megumi go read @katslutski​ ‘s tell me 

(ily kat <33 so happy to have someone to get into very specific obsessions with)

[hailene]

Blood Red Running Hood

𝖜𝖊𝖗𝖊𝖜𝖔𝖑𝖋!𝖜𝖔𝖓𝖜𝖔𝖔, 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍!𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟐.𝟑 𝐊

𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓀 𝒶𝓃𝑔𝓈𝓉| 𝓋𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝓊

The cold foggy morning was sending chills down your spine, the coldness reaching all the way to your flesh, to your bones. It was about to rain, you could tell. But nothing could stop you from going to your granny's house, in order to take care of her like you always said you would.

The thing is granny was dead.

You found her months ago, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth, sheets stained. You were horrified, not having seen anything like that before. But back then, a tiny little part of you sighed in relief. Granny was dead. The evil witch you had always been forced to take care of was now dead.

More than that, however, granny was murdered. And as you locked gazes with the murderer minutes after you found your grandmother dead, you body froze. You had heard about werewolves, you knew they existed, but the villagers had always tried their best to protect themselves from such creatures by going on patrols at night, killing anyone and anything that was out of the common. Your village was a small, simple gathering of poor houses. But it was tinted with so much sin and blood that it seemed like the village itself was cursed.

You had heard about werewolves. But you'd never believed you'd actually see one with your eyes. And more than that, you had never thought they would look so... human.

Probably, you would have never been able to tell the man sitting in front of you wasn't exactly human if it hadn't been for the steel-like glint in his eyes. And for the blood smearing at his lips.

For a moment, you were frozen, fear pumping through your veins and making it hard for you to breath. Then, you blacked out.

When you woke up, hours later, you thought you were in heaven. You were sure, absolutely sure that you were dead. But the first thing you saw when you opened your eyes were the steel-like eyes from earlier... except this time, they held some sort of warmth.

You looked around, realizing you were still at granny's, in her bed, with a new mattress, her lifeless body nowhere to be seen. The man sitting on the side of your bed smelled like rain, like mud, like the cold woods and the ashes in the chimney.

"I am Wonwoo," he said.

And you realized the smell was calming you down.

It's been a few months ever since then, a few months ever since you have started lying to everyone around you that you were taking good care of your beloved granny. When, in fact, you were obsessively visiting the small cottage just to meet Wonwoo. Again and again and again.

"What if they find out?" You remember yourself asking in fear one night, between two desperate kisses.

You remember him looking at you with so much love in his eyes that you could feel yourself melting, you remember wanting to pull him closer, closer... even though there was literally nothing between the two of you anymore, physically.

"Then I'll burn the whole damn village down," he answered before starting his hot work on you for the nth time that night.

Just to save you, you knew.

He was driving you insane.

Maybe that was why you couldn't help but come back to him. Again and again and again and...

When you enter the house, you find Wonwoo standing next to the hob, the delicious smell of food tingling your senses. You hum in delight as you close the door and take off your red hood, softly stepping towards the man. You hug him from behind and he lets the pots boil on the hob as he turns around to face you, kissing the top of your head gently. He smelled like rain, like mud, like fire and cold water. He smelled like home.

"I missed you, love," you hear him humming, filling you with warmth.

You haven't had a proper dinner in so long. You didn't have time for that, since you were always busy collecting the mail from the villagers and writing replies in the name of your beloved dead granny. She has always been seen as the wise woman, everybody was asking for advice from her. You knew everybody's secrets, you held way too much power for a little, young, unskillful witch.

But they didn't have to know that.

You occasionally told Laurette, your care-giver, that you'd stay over at your granny's. The woman was obviously glad that she wouldn't have to make sure she gives you any sort of dinner. You didn't quite stand her either. Ever since your parents passed and you and Kai, your younger brother, were given to Laurette to take care of you until you'd be able to take care of yourselves, your life had been a never-ending series of cloudy days. Kai used to be the only one able to cheer you up after a long, tiring day.

But now, Wonwoo could do much more.

A soft whimper escapes your lips as he goes down on you after the dinner, the dim light of the candles painting his skin in godly shades of gold. He was a murderer, an evil, a beast according to the villagers. That's why they didn't have to know about him, they didn't have to know about the two of you.

You had to admit that despite his humanly appearance, his werewolf features were showing sometimes, especially in bed. Sex with him was amazing. He was teasing, rough, but extremely good and even though you could have been scared of the extra-terrestrial strength of his choke-hold, you couldn't help but feel lured in towards him. You were obsessed.

"You should stop coming around for a few days, love," Wonwoo whispers after collapsing next to you.

You knew why. The full moon was coming.

He kisses you softly as you drift away to a sweet sleep. He was gone when you woke up the next morning.

When you returned home that day, you could feel that Laurette's gaze on you was different. Even if you didn't want to pay attention to it, the tiny drop of magic that was running through your veins was making it impossible for you to ignore it. It was almost like you could taste the fear in the atmosphere at home.

"What's wrong, Laurette?" You ask as she passes by your room with a heap of rags in her arms.

She looks at you for a few moments, as if she was surprised that you took notice of her behaviour. Then, she shakes her head, rushing towards the kitchen like she'd seen a ghost. You frown, unable to understand her behaviour. Did something happen while you were with Wonwoo last night? What could it be?

The answer, however, was about to be given to you in the form of Kai hastily waking you up the following night, incomprehensible cries and panicked whispers escaping his lips.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong, baby boy?" You ask while cupping his puffy cheeks, sleep still clouding your judgement.

"Fire, Y/N, they fire," your little brother cries.

You frown confused, rubbing your eyes to wake up.

"What fire, baby?" You ask as Kai starts crying harder. "What are you talking about?"

"They're coming, I've heard they want to burn the witch on a rug, Y/N!" He cries and your blood runs cold.

They can't possibly know, can they?

"Witch, baby boy? What witch?" You ask softly, trying your best to hide the panic.

"I-I think they were talking about y-..." he tries to say but you cover his mouth softly, your limbs already shaking.

"What else did you hear, baby?" You ask, trying to keep your voice steady.

"They w-went to granny's h-house," he cries softly. "One of them wa-was... killed by-"

You didn't need anything more than this.

You get up from your mattress and put some clothes on, helping Kai to dress up as well. You take your blood-red hood and put it on, kneeling next to your brother afterwards.

You could already hear loud voices outside.

"You go to the water wheel and hide there until I come to get you, okay?" You speak, holding him tightly. "If I don't come by dawn, you run and never come back here, okay?"

"B-But, Y/N–"

"Y/N loves you, baby boy, Y/N loves you so much," you whisper as tears come streaming down your face.

Kai starts sobbing too. It breaks you.

"Chin up, baby, okay?" You say, trying to get a hold of yourself. "Just have faith and trust Y/N."

Before your brother can say anything else, you jump out the window.

You run through the night, far away from the angry voices and fire torches. You run through the woods, mindlessly, only having one thought in your mind.

Wonwoo.

Was he okay? Did he kill yet another villager? You were aware of the fact that he was so far from being a saint and that it wasn't the first time he'd kill one of the people in your village, but that only made you love him more. You weren't much of a good character either.

As you reach the cottage in the woods, you realize it was vandalized. The few pieces of poor furniture were broken, pots, candles and papers thrown on the floor. The few remaining potions, herbs and spell books you had stored were all torn open, pulled out from the secret places you thought you had secured them in. It was all a mess, a bloody, ruthless mess and the deep animal scratches on the wall weren't making it any better.

No sign of Wonwoo.

As you look around more carefully, your blood runs cold. You shouldn't have come here.

It was a trap.

"The little witch is here," the man in front of you shouts and you here footsteps coming from the outside.

Before you can turn around and run away, more men enter the cottage, blocking your way, and panic rises from the pit of your stomach, your vision getting blurry. Seconds later, you feel something hard hitting your head from behind, letting you fall in a dark abyss.

Before you open your eyes, you feel warmth, heat. You feel fire. And as you open them, you realize why. Your body was tied to a wooden rug, surrounded by a circle of flames. It was hot, almost unbearably.

"The witch woke up! It's time to burn her back to hell!" You hear someone screaming.

Your eyes meet Laurette's figure and you feel your whole body filling with so much rage that you swore the flames around you started burning brighter. And then you see it, the whole village gathered around you in hateful circles, looking at you as if you killed their families. Maybe you did. But not intentionally.

Rocks and sticks were being thrown at you, curses and words spit in your direction, but nothing that your mind and body could cope with. Your time has arrived, you were getting the fate that you deserved, so now, you could only hope that your brother and your lover were going to be okay.

You are a witch after all. You are evil. And you have been too stupid, too careless to keep on living. You deserve to die. You deserve to be burnt on a rug.

As one of the villagers approaches you with a lit torch, you hear a freezing growl, not that far from where you were. Moments later, the fire surrounding you starts reflecting in different places. You think it's your mind going insane, you think it's your vision getting damaged by fear, by defeat, by the unnerving warmth the flames were attacking you with. But as you hear the growl getting louder and the panicked screams of the villagers running around, you realize something went wrong in their plan.

You can't help but laugh as the villager who was coming towards you starts running for his life, screaming as the grey wolf with fire in his eyes starts chasing him. You couldn't be afraid of the wolves. You couldn't be afraid of Wonwoo.

People slowly disappear, corpses taking their place, the fire slowly starting to take over the whole town. You were surrounded by a realm of flames and you felt like you were on fire yourself, but you were laughing like a maniac, unable to control yourself.

Your curses worked. This God-forsaken village was now burning to fucking ashes.

You feel something or someone untying your wrists and ankles from the wooden rug and as you turn to look next to you, you meet the steel-like gaze of the man you were so in love with. He picks you up from the torture place and rushes out of the fire, running and running until you can actually feel the cold night wind whipping your bare skin.

Wonwoo turns around to look once again at the burning village, the fire contrasting with the dark night in such a sinfully-pleasing way. You adored that.

"It's finally gone," he whispers, your mouth watering at his hoarse voice.

I'll burn the whole damn village down, you remember.

You pull him by his torn shirt and he looks at you, warmth shining in his eyes brighter than that goddamn fire. You kiss him hungrily, tasting the smoke, the blood and the mud on his lips. It was all sweeter than honey, more addicting than any sort of herb you've seen before. This was Wonwoo, the forbidden taste you have always, always been longing for. Now you had it. And in the devil's name, you regretted absolutely nothing.

"The water wheel," you choke out as you pull away, your lips swollen, tinted with blood. "We have to find Kai at the water wheel."

[mostlysignssomeportents]

A weapon of mass financial destruction

Some things are hard to understand because they're complicated.

Some things are complicated so they'll be hard to understand.

The harder you look at the finance industry, the more evident it becomes that the complexity is deliberate, a means of baffling with bullshit.

Private equity is one of those baffling and mysterious phenomena that only gets worse with scrutiny: how is it possible that a handful of companies are able to borrow vast sums to buy up and then destroy successful businesses? Can that really be their business-model?

Yup.

"Private Equity at Work," Eileen Appelbaum and Rosemary Batt's 2014 analysis of the social consequences of private equity takeovers. It identifies many destructive PE practices, but singles out one as especially deadly: "club deals."

https://www.russellsage.org/publications/private-equity-work

In a club deal, "two or more PE funds join together to acquire a huge enterprise, and share ownership." The presence of multiple marquee names on the deal (like the Toys R Us acquisition, with Bain, KKR, and Vornado in a single "club") puts billions on tap from lenders.

Club deals' easy access to credit made them hugely popular, constituting 40% of leveraged buyouts in 2004. But the uncritical fortunes showered on club LBOs emboldened a series of increasingly destructive grifts that caused club deals collapse in popularity.

The "save businesses, fuck workers" Trump stimulus sent trillions of Fed dollars sloshing into the finance world, fuelling multiple asset bubbles, from cryptos to single-family dwellings - even a violent trading-card frenzy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/business/pokemon-cards-target.html

To that list, we can now add Club Deals 2.0, with billions being marshalled by PE alliances who are bidding against one another to acquire Medline America's largest manufacturer/distributor of medical supplies, serving hospitals and doctor's offices.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-06/top-buyout-firms-said-to-club-up-for-jumbo-lbo-of-medline

As Appelbaum writes for The American Prospect, this is cause for alarm. To the PE clubs, Medline is an asset, used to secure debt financing that can be handed out to fund managers and investors. To the rest of us, Medline is a matter of life or death.

https://prospect.org/economy/private-equity-club-deal-coming-to-a-pension-fund-near-you/

To remind us of the awesome destructive power of PE club deals, Appelbaum provides us with a rundown of their terrifying history:

The 2006 $5.4b Tishman Speyer/Blackrock deal to buy Stuyvesant/Cooper Village in order to undo its rent-control status, evict its tenants, and go condo. Tenants organized, and the fund went bankrupt in 2010, dodging the $200m it owed tenants for illegal rent overcharges. Though the fund managers made out fine on that deal, its investment partners weren't so lucky: "the Church of England, the government of Singapore, and three public-employee pension funds in Florida and California, lost a total of $850 million."

The 2007 $48b KKR/TPG/Goldman Sachs buyout of Texas energy giant TXU (AKA Energy Future Holdings). Bankrupt by 2012. PE extracted $538m from the deal, and millions more in "fees" to oversee the company's implosion. Investors lost 95 cents for every dollar they put in.

The 2004 Cerberus/Sun/Lubert-Adler/Klaff buyout of Mervyn's department stores: asset stripped, bankrupt by 2008, liquidated, destroying thousands of jobs and stiffing suppliers, kicking off a wave of knock-on bankruptcies.

The 2006 $30.7b Apollo/TPG buyout of Harrah's (now Caesar's): eliminated much of the 30,000 unionized employee workforce and cut the IPO offering from $17/share to $9 in 2010. Investors lost 40% of their cash.

The 2000 Caxton-Iseman/Sentinel acquisition of Buffets Holdings (Ryan's, Hometown Buffet, Old Country Buffet, Tahoe Joe's, etc). Bankrupt by 2008 after the PE extracted more than $250m. Thousands of jobs gone, forever.

PE firms claim that they are Good at Business in ways that the people who run profitable companies that employ people in good jobs that do things other people value simply are not.

With leveraged buyouts, PE firms borrow billions by putting up the companies they're targeting as collateral (like nonconsensually buying someone else's house by taking out a mortgage that puts their house up as security!).

Credulous lenders - your pension fund, your government, even your church - put up the money, accepting deals in which the key assets of the business are immediately liquidated to pay huge management and special dividend fees to the PE company.

PE rakes in hundreds of millions - even billions - and saddles the company with vast debts whose interest payments drain its profits. Meanwhile, the company is forced to lease back the capital assets the PE company sold off, exposing it to rent shocks and price hikes.

While the PE barons who devised this Excellent Business Strategy charge the company millions more in "management and consulting fees" in exchange for yet more of this species of commercial wisdom.

It's a (terrifying) sign of just how stupid big money has become that club deals are back. A leveraged buyout of Medline puts the whole medical system in jeopardy (raising a question: why didn't antitrust regulators prevent Medline from becoming a single point of failure?).

There is no credible case for PE making Medline a better company. As Appelbaum writes, "it's a highly successful company with no low-hanging fruit in the form of operational, marketing, or business strategy improvements requiring PE’s secret sauce."

Sticking Medline with $10b in leveraged buyout debts and saddling it with millions in payments for "management and consulting" will necessitate massive junk-bond raises and a spiral towards inevitable bankruptcy.

As Appelbaum writes, that doesn't mean that the funds bidding for the company (Advent/Bain/CVC, KKR/Clayton, Blackstone/Hellman) won't make out like (literal) bandits on the deal.

For decades, we've been sold the narrative that wealth is the reward for brilliance, in a concerted effort to overturn Balzac's maxim that "behind every great fortune there is a crime."

We've been told that we're not qualified to comment on finance matters because we don't understand its complexities, the underlying, unquestionable axioms that make it somehow necessary and valorous to destroy productive businesses in the name of capitalism.

We've been told that economic malaise is the result of workers demanding a living wage (especially through unions) and "burdensome regulations" that put the incomprehensible genius of billionaire saviors in shackles, to the detriment of us all.

Reality has finally come for that self-serving myth. At a time in which American union membership is at historic lows, support for unions is at historic highs, and our trust in big business has plummeted:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/13/americans-are-more-pro-union-and-anti-big-business-than-at-any-time-in-decades

Starting in 2012, and for first time in half-century the history of the American National Election Studies, public sentiment moved for unions and against business (historically, trust for unions and business rise and fall together).

The latest ANES data shows the most intense divergence ever, with all age groups and political groups hold "record or near-record positive views favoring labor over big business." Republican support of unions, which has grown since 2012, is at an all-time high.

The PRO Act, a landmark pro-union bill, is currently before the Congress, with strong support from the Biden administration. It presents the possibility that public sentiment will turn into public policy, making lasting change to our politics:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/07/pro-act-class-war/#sectoral-balances

Billionaires have always been sterling exemplars of class solidarity. Even when their private equity funds result in wealthy investors losing hundreds of millions of dollars, they stick together and argue for preferential treatment for capital gains and finance deregulation.

Today, we see serious signs of class solidarity among the rest of us, the first in many decades. All it took was decades of hugely destructive financial engineering, a nation brought to the brink of collapse, and a planet on fire, all in the name of "efficiency."

[davidmann95]

Comics this week (7/14/2021)?

Anonymous asked: How’s the comic-booking been this week?

comics-and-videogames asked: Comics this week?

X-Men #1: Actually just plain forgot about this last week, and this was a lot of fun! Trying to do the post-Hickman version of 90s X-Men comics as drawn by Larraz, and it turns out I like that pretty well. To my surprise definitely sticking with it.

Iron Man #10: Thinking I'm finally gonna drop this soon - thinking the time is coming to drop a number of on-the-bubble books.

Captain America #30: My dad wanted to check this out and obviously a lot of it is incomprehensible because it's the final issue of a run I jumped off of over a dozen issues ago, but the central Red Skull confrontation is solid. Even without context though, there's an unavoidable feeling of anticlimax here.

Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow #4: Expanding the breadth of the idea significantly, and I'm very curious how radical the 'changes' in the wake of it will be - will our boy Pete triumph over the worst in himself, or rocks fall and everyone dies in the traditional fashion? I guess that question is the charm of making What-If? longer than an issue as a time.

DIE #18: I suspect this is an issue that'll hit harder when I can sit down and reread the series as a whole, but it still hit pretty damn hard.

Haha #6: Well this book ended up a disappointment. Ice Cream Man itself may face accusations of being a one-trick pony, but it's a lot more inventive with its trick than this ever got. Did laugh at the cheap bit with Arty though.

6 Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton #2: "He was the actual worst person who ever lived, genuinely not a single redeeming quality, absolutely biblical in his petty devoted vileness" shouldn't be a gag that can deliver these kinds of returns when he's not even around in the story built around him but here we are.

Rorschach #10: Liked it.

Infinite Frontier #2: An excellent cross-section of the DCU, in that here's cool pretty stuff starring interesting characters in interesting situations, and here's the JSA and Roy Harper doing the stuff they do in the parts Xermanico doesn't draw.

Wonder Woman #775: Increasingly ambivalent on its take on Diana - worried they really were only letting her have fun because of the amnesia - but everything surrounding her remains interesting. So weird seeing the 'classic' post-Crisis version of Olympus where people are still acting like she's Zeus's kid though.

The Joker #5: This felt a little off and seeing Rosenberg cowrote at the end explained it, but it's still Tynion and Francavilla doing Year One-era Gordon so of course it's good.

Batman: Urban Legends #5: Lead is as good as it has been from the beginning, Batgirls and Grifter stories are fine, increasingly angry at the Tim Drake story because plain and simple WB is not going to allow a story where Robin says he likes boys - even Bendis as I recall clearly got it spiked - so what the fuck does this think it's playing at.

Justice League: Last Ride #3: I don't understand how Zdarsky is doing character-defining work for a character who's been around for almost 40 years and had an ongoing for a decade of that as a feature in an anthology title, while the standalone Justice League perennial mini he's doing at the same time is...fine. Nothing wrong in here but it could come out any number of C-tier DC writers were ghostwriting this and I'd barely flinch at the revelation.

Action Comics Annual 2021: Even with the added space this felt like it was crying out for room to breathe, especially for some of the concluding beats, but this was a really fun issue with a crew of characters I'm happy to see used again; even if they somehow don't end up playing into the megaplot I hope PKJ can keep finding excuses to show what the House of El is getting up to. And of all the figures to apparently turn out to be the big bad of the whole run that's a deep cut even for ME, I imagine it won't even register to a lot of readers as an existing thing and they'll assume this is an entirely new piece of mythology.

[daretosnoop]

If Henry Bolet continued to work with Nancy after CRY: A Series (can be taken as both platonic and romantic)

MID - last one guys, thanks for reading

- so because Nancy’s case goes from Germany to Salem, I’m going to say that Henry was with Nancy in Germany

- when Nancy asks him to join her to Germany, Henry starts sobbing uncontrollably and speaking incomprehensible words

Henry (sobbing): NANCE! NANCY DREW! You’re ALIVE?!?! Where have you been!??!? Everyone’s been looking for you for 4 years now! You just disappeared! No one could find anything (sobs)! We all thought (sobs)! I thought I lost another p-(sobs harder) Your father —. Whenever we asked for an investigation we just got summaries of all the previous cases you’ve been on, like what the hell is that!?!?

Nancy: so, about Germany....

- it isn’t until the plane ride to Germany that Henry realizes: “Nance? What happened to your voice?”

- when Nancy gets the book stolen by Jason: Henry chases after him cause military boy, Nancy does not yell “stop” cause that’s freaking dumb. And then Jason puffs off, Henry:

- when Henry meets Teegan and Deirdre:

Nancy : why are they swaying so much?

Henry: they’ve been possessed

- when Henry meets Mei:

Like they’re going to hit it off cause Henry just gets that “stick it to the man” energy, but initially it’s just a stare down

- when Nancy sees Mei’s room and comments how she shouldn’t go in:

Henry: right, need me to distract Mei while so you can snoop?

Nancy: no, that would be wrong.

Henry:

- when Nacy goes to town and meets Olivia, Henry has a full own rant to express how much he hates the capitalist construct of Halloween and turning moments of tragic history into a ghost tour. Like Henry seems the kind of guys who values the history more than the “spooky legends”. Probably bonds on Teegan with this and is able to get more clues out from her than Nancy.

- When Henry meets Judge Danforth:

Henry: how is it possible to lock yourself into a room??

Also,

Henry: these are the type of people who make you wait for endlessly while on hold

- neutral on Alicia

- loves the graveyard area. It’s small but beautiful and cozy at night. Will definitely light a candle and put it on the grave.

- loves the path of Hawthorn house. Freaks out with the jump scare. His scream alerts Lauren, not Nancy suddenly fading out

- instantly reminded of Renee, little weary but also a little sad cause he’s reminded of home and the mess that ensued. Gets a little homesick. Romantic potential here to have Nancy pick on how Lauren’s herbal work might bring bad memories to Henry and console him as they walk back to the Parry house.

- excited to see the Hardy boys. First time he’d be seeing them, they hit off right away. Probably closer to Joe cause Joe would accept him right away while Frank would be a little awkward at first

- makes the pancakes. I have a persona headcanon that he’s great at cooking seeing as he went to boarding and military school, he learned to take care of himself. So much early morning fluff potential here with Nancy if romantic

- is not into making herbal remedies, leaves that to Nancy as he snoops around

- kinda let down by the Hawthorn house, it’s not as cool as he thought it would be.

- cries when he sees the museum and library cause this is all they have? This? The Salem witch trials have sparked so much studies and this is all they have to show for it? Bruno Bolet had more stuff in his library that these guys! Takes out his frustration on carving pumpkins, then goes and gets the research material for Nancy

-when calling Teegan’s boyfriend:

Henry: they’re dating?!? Like even Henry knows somethings odd

Also, on the topic of phone calls

- if this was romantic, I don’t think Ned would call it Nancy would mind so much if she heard *that woman*

- if this was platonic this can go two ways:

1. Henry overhears and tells Nancy to focus on the case to distract her mind, meanwhile he’s aggressively texting Ned to explain himself and call Nancy back

2. If Henry has a crush on Nancy, oh this has so much angst potential where he wants to console her and ask Ned what’s up but he also wants Nancy to dump Ned and be with him...

Also, I have a personal headcanon that the woman in the phone was Summer, cause he and Ned went to the same college, and Summer knew Henry from college so there’s like some interesting potential to explore there. Maybe Henry panics and tells Ned about Summers true personality!?!?

- that moment with Deirdre in the car with the music that sounds similar to Daft Punk Get Lucky:

Henry: awkward third wheel in the back

When Mei happens to be playing this song and Nancy tried to be buddy buddy with her:

He just pushes her aside and takes over. Knows Mei is hidding something but can’t for the life of him understand why

- doesn’t like how secretive everyone is being and how they are all being careful and soft around Mei. Almost wants to gather everyone and yell at them for keeping grudges and secrets

- So MID gave Deirdre the best turn around, he gets along with all her sass. Laughs when she insults Jason.

- does not like Jason

- opinion on Alica changes with the home cooked meal metaphor. Cause GROSS woman! Also, Ifnthus was romantic, Nancy would have to change her metaphor cause Henry, sweet as he is, is not a home cooked guys unless you’re part of the Adam’s family.

- i get the feeling that Henry knows a lot of random knowledge, especially on dark or morbid topics. So I feel he would know quiet a bit on the Salem Witch trials and brings up things like mugwort poisoning, sexual assault, land grabbing, etc. There are a lot of theories behind the Salem trials, you guys should check it out.

- if Henry goes with the Hardy boys there’s potential for bro bonding in a cemetery to occur. Or idk, maybe Henry had a crush on one of the brothers and thinks investigating ghosts in the cemetery is a great place to get closer.

- if romantic with Nancy, he goes back to the Parry house and they bond over discussing the case.... or Neds behaviour

- the whole ergot poisoning can also have some hurt/fluff potential. Person A gets sick Person B panics and heals them. Person B gets mad at whoever poisoned Person A

- when he learns about the whole trio friendship and the fire and how the town blamed Mei cause she’s a “bad kid” he gets really pisses off

Ranting to Nancy: how is this legally possible?!? How is it possible to plan a crime ON A MINOR who wasn’t even involved. She was just there at the time. Hello!? Who did the freaking investigation?!? What’s their number? I just have some questions!

- really doesn’t understand how Salem is able to get away with these things. Like ya ya he gets the connection to the witch trials but bitch this is the 21st century! We have laws to prevent witch trials!!

- doesn’t understand why Lauren’s guardian didn’t just give Lauren the stupid deed for the burnt up house

- when investigating Olivia’s store: mutters about how this is ruining the true Halloween aesthetic! Also concerned with how she’s earning money cause if I remember correctly, she doesn’t charge for her tours and gives iPads away without making sure people return them?!?

-feels that Nancy spends way too much time talking and less time snooping

- doesn’t understand how the Judge can’t figure out who broke into the court house

- when he finds out that Mei has been covering for Jason.... is just like... dude, you do know you can get a record for aiding a criminal??

- when he learns Jason’s reason for stealing the book and helping Alicia: 😒

Henry: can’t stand rich people

Nancy: you’re rich

Henry: but you don’t see me commiting crime

Nancy: what about selling Bruno’s property before it was yours to sell? What was it you told me? I was naughty....

Henry: do not make me remember 😳

- when he learns that Alicia was the one who set the house on fire and caused everyone to get ergot poisoning, and her reason for doing so: okay he can go along with this, it seems in line for a ND villain

- but when he learns about TEEGAN MOTHAFUCKIN PERRY and what she did:

Nancy has to hold him back from unleashing his anger

- really worried for Mei here. Half tempted to offer her a place to stay at his manor:

Henry: listen the downside is that there’s a cemetery attached. The pros is that none of the people buried have any intentions of framing you

Also tells Deirdre that she’s quite sane compared to her extended family

- with the whole underground tunnels Henry’s like:

- given Henry’s propensity for ghosts and gothic, there could be this cool second story where he can communicate with the dead women and they help him help Nancy solve the case and they are the ones who help Henry lead the group out of the tunnels

- the end game “party” is cool for like 5 min. Then Henry’s slipping out ✌️

There’s so much romantic potential with this end because it could be him and Nancy or one of the Hardy boys walking off together, there could be a romantic confession/angst scenario

And that’s it for Henry guys.

[veronicamarsconfessions]

When Hulu announced it was reviving the cult favorite Veronica Mars for an eight-episode fourth season, the new episodes were initially referred to as a limited series. But in the year 2019, the phrase "limited series" also holds no meaning. If a show is successful enough, a network or streaming service will find a way to bring it back. Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas has been vocal about his desire to continue Veronica's story beyond this new season, which Hulu refers to as Season 4, while series star Kristen Bell would be happy to play the show's eponymous sleuth until "until everyone in Neptune is dead." And for most of Season 4, that felt like a real possibility.

Although the show may never again reach the exciting highs of that first season, for a little while, simply being in Veronica's orbit again was enough to keep viewers happy and entertained. However, in the wake of the shocking, and frankly unnecessary, death of Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), whom Veronica married in the finale and who was a key part of the show's enduring legacy, it's difficult to see how the show can continue with the same level of fan support that twice brought it back from the dead. And yet, Thomas is still hoping it will.

"The hope we have going into these eight episodes is that we get to do more of them. And my belief is that those will be better with Veronica Mars as the lead of a noir detective series who does not have a boyfriend or a husband," Thomas explained to TV Guide. "In order for us to keep doing these, I think it needs to become a detective show — a noir, mystery, detective show — and those elements of teenage soap need to be behind us. I sort of viewed these eight episodes as a bridge to what Veronica Mars might be moving forward."

Thomas said he wants to continue Veronica Mars as a Sherlock-esque series, one that can hopefully return with new seasons whenever Thomas and Bell can make their schedules align. This hypothetical version of the series would find Veronica solving different cases around the country, and a significant other for the show's heroine apparently doesn't fit into that plan. But the power of the Logan-Veronica relationship and what it meant to fans of the show should not be underestimated. To assume that viewers would even be interested in a Logan-less Veronica Mars almost feels like a fundamental misreading of the fandom.

Of course, this isn't meant to suggest that Veronica Mars cannot exist without Logan — that would be to belittle Veronica and her many achievements; although Logan clearly left an indelible mark on her, Veronica has accomplished plenty on her own without him, and she will no doubt find similar success in the future, especially if she stays in therapy and learns healthy methods of coping with her trauma. But at the same time, Logan is still a major character who was both deeply loved by Veronica and greatly beloved by a number of the show's fans. His sudden death and the reasoning behind it feels like a betrayal that becomes even more painful when you consider Logan's secretive military career would have been an easy way of writing him out of future installments without piercing the hearts of fans everywhere.

Further explaining the difficult decision to kill off Logan, Thomas revealed he worries that whenever a show reaches a romantic conclusion — like, say, a wedding — it also reaches a finale of sorts, and he's not ready for Veronica Mars to be over. This argument not only feels a bit dated, but it also feels a little misguided when a show like Friday Night Lights has already proven that a happy couple in a lasting, loving relationship can make for compelling television, or when series like Bones, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Parks and Recreation have shown us that will-they, won't-they couples can get together without signaling the end of the road.

Knowing this, Logan's death feels needlessly cruel like it was a narrative decision seemingly meant only to further torment Veronica and leave her cold and isolated. While you can argue it serves to once again show just how resilient Veronica is in the face of adversity, how she always gets back up after the world has knocked her down, how much pain and heartache does Veronica have to go through before saying enough is enough? It's honestly exhausting. So, if fans are tired of seeing Veronica constantly having to endure a painful existence to somehow prove she's a great heroine and they choose to no longer watch the show because of this latest development, it's perfectly reasonable. And if fans are angry that Logan is dead and choose to no longer watch Veronica Mars because of this, it is pretty understandable too. However, even if fans can somehow stomach the idea of a Veronica Mars without Logan Echolls, Thomas' vision for the show's future raises more issues. Mainly, new seasons would find Veronica alone, separated from the town she knows and the people who call it home, and this would mean erasing yet another fundamental part of the show.

For four seasons (and a movie), Neptune and its inhabitants have added depth to its rich and rewarding story. Creators love to describe the location of a series as if it's a character in the story, and this is most often a frustrating sentiment that has lost all meaning through overuse, but Neptune is truly an example of a location that has played a major role in shaping not only the show's characters but also its ongoing narrative. Although the town is no longer the same as it once was — the class war and accompanying social commentary that dominated the series from the start is over after these eight episodes, as the town's wealthy elite have succeeded in pushing the working class out — that doesn't necessarily mean the best course of action is for Veronica to skip town and solve cases around the country. Like many shows before it, Veronica Mars is the story of a specific place, and if the show is to continue beyond these eight new episodes, it probably should remain committed to telling the stories of Neptune — at the very least Southern California — if for no other reason than the fact the show owes a lot to the exceptional supporting cast that calls it home and has brought its story to life since 2004.

After all, if Veronica leaves Neptune, where does that leave her father, Keith (Enrico Colantoni)? Thomas said the character may not make an appearance in hypothetical future seasons of the show, and that almost feels incomprehensible. Veronica's relationship with her father is the bedrock upon which the series has rested since the pilot. Even when the show was at its most uneven you could count on Veronica and Keith's powerful family dynamic to ground the story emotionally. And although Veronica is now an adult in her 30s, their relationship is the single most important relationship in her life in the wake of Logan's untimely death. To remove him from the equation entirely threatens to disrupt far more than the status quo, which is what Thomas's intention is by taking Veronica on the road. A Veronica Mars without Keith's stabilizing presence would make for a shell of a series, one that would only be further harmed if Veronica's chosen family — Wallace (Percy Daggs III), Mac (Tina Majorino), and Weevil (Francis Capra) — were to suddenly disappear from her life as well.

Now, the show hopes to minimize this instability by essentially skipping over Veronica's grieving period. As Thomas said, one of the reasons the season includes a flash-forward is so the series doesn't have to spend time actually depicting Veronica's grief. "Our bread and butter is being quick and funny, and I'm not sure it'd be to our benefit to living a year in Veronica's grief on our show," Thomas said, noting that by the end of the season Veronica is actually getting her feet back under her.

But even if Veronica has recovered from her latest trauma, Logan's death is still raw for viewers, and it's painful enough without having to consider that every familiar source of comfort could be ripped away at once in the potential next season. Even beyond the show's core supporting cast, Veronica Mars is home to a memorable motley crew who have brought Neptune to life, and their presence in future installments, no matter how small, would be a cool balm on fresh wounds. Plus, what does the show look like without them? Ryan Hansen's self-centered party king Dick Casablancas, Max Greenfield's charming Leo D'Amato, Ken Marino's skeezy private detective Vinnie Van Lowe, and Daran Norris' reliable public defender Cliff McCormack have all become fan favorites. They each play a necessary role in the show's ecosystem, much like the Fighting Fitzpatricks or the PCHers have done over the years.

Veronica Mars has excelled at building out its little corner of the world by populating it with unique but believable characters, and it's not to suggest that a version of the show that exists outside the world of Neptune won't be able to successfully reach the same depths or recreate that magic in the same way, but it will have to work a lot harder to do it, especially if future seasons once again have a limited episode count. Furthermore, even if new seasons turn out to be good, the truth is that a Veronica Mars outside of Neptune, one without any familiar faces in sight, would feel like a very different show, one that threatens to not feel like Veronica Mars at all.

Veronica Mars helped to usher in the tidal wave of revivals and reboots that is still washing over Hollywood some five years after the fan-funded feature film hit theaters, and when this second revival was first announced last year, I wrote that the show should also be the series that puts an end to that trend too. It was a plea in favor of originality at a time when original ideas felt about as impossible as a unicorn. I still believe this should be the end of the revival trend, but now it's because this is a classic case of the writers thinking so much about whether or not they could do something that they didn't stop to consider if they should. In the end, we got eight more episodes of Veronica Mars, but it came at a deadly cost, and now we live in a world where Logan Echolls is dead and Veronica Mars is leaving Neptune. Was it really worth it?

[myaekingheart]

You’ve Got Kudos

Written for Day 1 of the Kakashi Lounge Discord Server's September Event. Prompts: Fanfic Writer!Kakashi | Social Disaster | Modern AU | Roommates/Neighbors 

[Read on AO3] Pairing: Kakashi x Rei (OC)  Rating: Teen and Up @the-kakashi-lounge-blog

Kakashi has a dirty little secret and it's in the form of an AO3 account. No one is allowed to know that he writes Icha Icha fanfiction--especially not his library tech neighbor Rei. (Standalone companion piece to The Scarecrow and the Bell, Modern/College AU)

               Kakashi kicked off his shoes at the front door and slumped into his favorite chair. Tutoring wasn’t necessarily his favorite thing in the world but it looked good on resumes and put a little extra cash in his pockets, so he supposed he could tolerate it for a little while longer. If only his students hadn’t been quite so insufferable, that is.

               If anything, tutoring reminded Kakashi how much he hated underclassmen. His three protegees were all naïve freshman whose energy stores had yet to drain. Naruto was enthusiastic but slow on the uptake and it was hard to get him to properly focus. Sakura had potential but she was far too engrossed in her Instagram rivalry with fellow student Ino Yamanaka to make any real progress. And Sasuke was constantly brooding, there not by choice but rather because his professor threatened to flunk him if he didn’t seek outside help.

               Perhaps it would’ve been smarter to book them each separate appointments but with the way everyone’s schedules worked out, it was easier to just create one big study group. It was more efficient that way, anyway. Kakashi much preferred to kill three birds with one stone than chip away at his sanity little by little. And so every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, Kakashi trudged to the library to pore over used textbooks and incomprehensible scribbles in an attempt to explain simple concepts to brains that could not understand. This was fine. He didn’t need a social life anyway.

               Kakashi rubbed his tired eyes and checked the time. It was 5:30pm. He had no idea what he was going to do for dinner, nor did he really care. Sighing, he reached for his laptop and went straight to his email. At the very top of his inbox was a notification from Archive of Our Own: Comment on Icha Icha Bloodline. Kakashi’s heart jolted. In the solace of his apartment, this was his one saving grace: fanfiction.

               He admittedly felt a little ridiculous about the whole thing. What college guy not only wrote fanfiction, but for romance novels at that? He knew exactly how his taste in literature appeared. So few people truly understood the nuance and artistry of the Icha Icha books, writing it off as just cheap porn. Those books, however, gave Kakashi exactly the reprieve he needed. Within their pages, he could disappear from the stress of everyday life to instead revel in the throes of a dramatic fictional romance. His love for this series knew no bounds. His heart ached to share it with someone but if college had taught Kakahsi anything, it was that people never really change and are more than willing to judge you the minute you express any personal interests. High School: The Sequel, if you will. And so Kakashi had come to learn that there were only ever two places where he was safe to unapologetically indulge in his favorite series: within the comfort of his own home and on the internet.

               Fanfiction was never his original intention. Rather, it was the end result of a long string of unfortunate circumstances. The latest book had ended with the heroine caught between two very tempting suitors, a cliffhanger of epic proportions which left Kakashi itching for a resolution. A few months after publication, the author, Jiraiya, passed away, taking his secrets for the series’ finale with him.

               Kakashi had tried so hard not to think about it but the lack of closure ate away at him. He needed a valuable outlet through which to ramble, a way to confide in someone as invested in the series as he was. For a moment, he had considered joining a book club but all of his attempts failed. The only clubs that ever focused on books like these were run by sexually frustrated middle-aged women who sneered at the mere thought of letting a man into their circle. On recommendation from a friend, he turned to the campus library community for help but was met with nothing short of disaster, which thus introduced the second point of contention: Rei.

               The library check-in desk was notoriously run by volunteers, most of which were majoring in library science themselves. One such volunteer was Rei Natsuki, a junior with fiery hair and a chronic resting bitch face. It wasn’t that Kakashi didn’t like her, necessarily. Actually, every time he saw her he got this horrifying fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach that insisted he was about to throw up. He felt as if her eyes were on him constantly, studying his every move. This fact only furthered his gratitude for lumping together all of his tutoring appointments. The less time he spent in the library, the less often he would have to see her.

               Not that she was necessarily easy to avoid. Just his luck, she lived three doors down from him in the same off-campus apartment complex. At least if he timed things just right, he could avoid running into her in the hallway. Their mutual existence was like a very carefully choreographed dance on perilous terrain. They were constantly at risk of colliding with one another, a harrowing and horrifying fate.

               Their first encounter was in the fall of his freshman year when he snuck into the erotic fiction section searching for the Icha Icha books. As he skimmed the titles, he felt a pair of mossy eyes burning holes into his back like a cryptid whose domain has been intruded upon. When Kakashi turned around, he caught her peering around the edge of the bookshelf. Her expression was one of harsh focus and concern. “Looking for something?” she asked. For someone so small—she was roughly a foot shorter than he was—she was certainly terrifying.

               Kakashi’s face turned beet red, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “No, not particularly!” he exclaimed. “Just looking around!”

               “Hrmph” Rei huffed, unconvinced. “Well, if you need anything, I’ll be right over there” she pointed to the help desk at the front of the library. An older woman, one of the librarians, winked at her across the room and Rei’s face turned bright red. Without another word, she scurried off back to her station, grumbling under her breath. Once gone, Kakashi sighed and leaned back against the shelf. All of the books directly behind him tumbled to the ground with a loud thud. Rei immediately whipped around to glare at him but by then, he had already dove into the nearest study room. Frustrated, Rei stomped over to assess the damage and begin reorganizing the shelves. Kakashi apologized to the group he interrupted before booking it out of the building. It was in that moment that he officially decided: from that point onward, Icha Icha would remain his dirty little secret. Literally.  

               And thus came along the internet. At least there, hiding behind his computer screen, he could retain some sense of anonymity. He could disguise himself with a pen name much like wearing a mask. No one needed to know who he was. He pored over various forums, reading but never interacting. As refreshing as it was to find a sense of community amid other Icha Icha fans, his joy quickly faded when he realized one fatal flaw: no one knew what they were talking about. They all misinterpreted the characters, the relationships, the actions the heroine took to get to this point. Perhaps Jiraiya’s novels were too nuanced. Perhaps there was no hope for him after all. It was then, deep into a Reddit thread, that it dawned on him: the horrifying promise of writing fanfiction.

               At first, Kakashi refused. He would not stoop so low. The harder he resisted, however, the more appealing the idea slowly became. At least in this way, he could help people to better understand these stories in a way that he was familiar with. Not that he was an avid writer himself but he hoped he was familiar enough with the conventions of fiction to understand how it was done. As if running on autopilot, he ventured to Archive of Our Own and created an account under the pseud “CopyNin.”

               His fanfiction, Icha Icha Bloodline, introduced dramatic new themes and conflicts to the story he loved, expanding on the love triangle with a depth and sincerity that he hoped would make Jiraiya proud. It hadn’t gotten many hits yet, but that just made every kudos and comment feel that much heavier. As his cursor hovered over his inbox now, he almost questioned whether he even wanted to know. Every shared thought had the capacity to make or break his motivation. But if he didn’t look, he wouldn’t be able to contain himself. He needed to know. He pulled up the latest comment and his heart leapt into his throat. It was from LittleBell.

               LittleBell was, for lack of a better word, iconic amid the Icha Icha fandom. They were one of the first writers Kakashi had encountered when he first considered fanfiction as a possibility. Their name appeared in dozens of forum posts, attached to both praise and criticism alike. By the time Kakashi looked into them himself, they had already written 100,000 words worth of fic with the longest piece nearing 100 chapters. It was clear why they were so popular. The cadence of their sentences, their detailed characterization, and their dynamic plot points all made Kakashi’s heart sing. He could only hope to one day be as great a writer as they were.

               Kakashi had lurked through fifteen chapters before, in a fit of sleep-drunken gumption, he had decided to leave LittleBell a comment. It was short and sweet and afterward, Kakashi groaned into his pillow second-guessing every sentence, but he awoke to an encouraging response that firmly cemented the allure of writing a fic himself. And now here he was, faced with a comment from them on his own work. How could he ever prepare himself for something so huge? He instinctually expected scathing criticism. Your characterization sucks. You’re writing them all too flat. Her suitors would never say XYZ or do ABC. Have you even read the books? This is trash. Kakashi’s hands shook as he tried to shove those negative thoughts out of his mind. LittleBell had been so kind before so, realistically, why would their response be any different? Kakashi scratched the back of his head, knowing that the longer he waited, the more maddening this was going to become. Without another moment’s hesitation, he forced himself to view the comment.

               This was so great! I love the way you write these characters—I can tell you have a really deep understanding of the heroine, especially. It’s so refreshing to read a fic that not only retains the romance of the originals but also emphasizes it in a way that’s super meaningful rather than cheesy. My favorite part was the scene where she’s fixing his watch. “It’s really an exquisite watch. Such a shame that it’s stopped working.” “I guess that just means that we’ll have to stay in this moment forever” “What will everyone else say? They’ll get tired of waiting.” “Let them wait. I’m always late to everything anyway. What’s another eternity?” My heart! You can really tell just how much he loves her, and it makes that love triangle all the more tense and heartbreaking! You’re really just doing an incredible job with this and I can’t wait to read more!”

               Kakashi’s cheeks burned as he buried his face in his hands. It was all he could do to hide the grin on his face. Not that anyone was there to tease him for it. Pakkun was fast asleep on the couch and likely wouldn’t have cared anyway. Alone in his apartment, Kakashi was exploding. To think that someone so talented and renowned within the fandom not only noticed his work but enjoyed it was mind-blowing. This was a high he would surely be riding for the rest of the week, if not the rest of the semester. Nothing could be better than this.

               Once the debilitating excitement wore down a bit, Kakashi was then stuck with the battle of writing a response. He knew there were some in the community who considered responding a controversial topic—something about trying to increase your comment count—but Kakashi enjoyed replying to every single person who took the time to say something nice. And this was certainly something very nice. How could he possibly put into words his overwhelming gratitude? He had no clue. Kakashi stewed over the prospect for a solid ten minutes before his growling stomach urged him to hurry up. He had completely forgotten he was hungry but now his body was not going to let him forget. He considered stepping away and replying later, after he had time to chew it over, but then quickly shoved away the thought. He couldn’t afford to put this on the backburner at the risk of forgetting about it entirely. No, he needed to do this now.

               Kakashi typed, paused, considered, then backspaced and typed again. When he was finally at least mildly pleased with his response, he sucked in a deep breath and pressed Comment.

               Huffing in relief, Kakashi stretched out and leaned his head back against his chair. All that was left to do now was wait. Would they even respond back? He didn’t know. Sometimes a comment began a whole conversation, other times it was a singular instance like a comet in the night sky.

               But for now, he was going to try not to dwell on it. He received LittleBell’s praise, and if they were to respond back then so be it. It was all up to fate now. Kakashi slipped on his shoes, shoved his phone, wallet, and keys into his pocket, and headed out. As he locked his apartment, he heard without listening as a door down the hall creaked open. The sound reached his ears but his brain did not register what it was until it was too late. Turning around, he abruptly bumped into her.

               A gasp fell from Rei’s lips as she collided with Kakashi’s chest. Her half-open backpack swung on her shoulder, spilling its contents onto the floor. “S-sorry about that!” he croaked, clearing his throat. Kakashi’s hands shook as he leaned down to help gather her belongings, all the while fearing her wrath. Among the used textbooks and stuffed notebooks was a green paperback with a big prohibition sign on the cover. The little bell charm attached to Rei’s keychain jingled and automatically Kakashi was punched in the gut with a realization of Pavlovian proportions. Little Bell.

               “I-I’m sorry…what was that…?” Rei stammered and suddenly Kakashi realized he had, in fact, spoken aloud. Her voice, in response, was so much quieter than he had ever thought she was capable of—filled with the striking fear of being vulnerably and intrinsically known. Unmasked.

               Kakashi’s eyes widened as he shuffled to gather as many of her books as he could manage. “I-I didn’t know you liked the Icha Icha books” he murmured. He could hardly make eye contact as he handed her back her things.

               “Yeah…” she said, slowly accepting them, “They’re, uh…they’re my favorite.”

               Rubbing the back of his neck, Kakashi chuckled nervously and replied, “Mine, too.”

               She wasn’t sure what it was about him but in that moment, a sickening feeling filled her chest, a nauseating suspicion that she couldn’t shake. There was really only way to confirm whether or not those suspicions were correct. At the risk of looking like an idiot, she cleared her throat then and said, “You know, that’s a really exquisite watch.” Kakashi froze, his eyes gently skating down to his wrist. He wasn’t wearing a watch. His heart pounded in his chest. Rei bit her lip, dropped her eyes to the floor. “It’s, uh, it’s a shame it’s stopped working.”

               Kakashi’s mind was reeling. None of this felt real. Suddenly Rei was a completely different person to him now. He saw her not as the terrifying, impatient, and indirect girl from the library but the extremely talented, encouraging, yet perhaps unfortunately shy writer that he had spent so much time idolizing. If only he had known of the bond they secretly shared over the past few months. He could hardly fight the grin on his face as he murmured back, “Then I guess we’ll just have to stay in this moment forever.”

               Rei’s cheeks burned as she hugged her books to her chest. She could feel the laughter rising up in the back of her throat—this was so ridiculous, and yet at the same time this was everything she had ever wanted. If only Kakashi had truly known how much she had suppressed over the years, since they first met in the library. The way the old librarian encouraged her to speak to him when she caught him perusing her favorite books. The way she’d hide out in her apartment whenever he left for class, watching from the window too scared to approach. The way she channeled all of her unrequited love and inner turmoil into the very story she now knew he idolized. She felt so strange and vulnerable but also for the first time truly seen. It was the most bizarre and lovely sensation.

               She had no idea how long they actually stood there in the hallway like that, reveling in this newfound connection, but all too soon reality suddenly hit her. “D-do you have somewhere you’re supposed to be? I don’t want you to be late!” she exclaimed.

               Kakashi, however, still entranced, shook his head and replied, “Let them wait. I’m always late to everything anyway.” Rei brushed the long bangs back out of her face, completely incapable of stifling her laughter. Kakashi joined her—the breadth of his smile, the bravado of his voice, the way his eyes squinted when he laughed, all were enough to make her weak in the knees. “Are you hungry?” he then asked. “I was just about to get something to eat. You should come with me.”

               Sliding her books back into her backpack, Rei smiled and replied, “I would love that.” Swinging her bag back over her shoulder, she walked alongside him down the hallway. Their fingers itched to interlock, their hearts pounding out of their chests. He opened the door for her and together they stepped out into the autumn air. Nothing else mattered. In that moment, all that existed was them: CopyNin and LittleBell.

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felszabadított: 2021-03-24 Runtime: 0 percek Műfaj: Akció, Sci-Fi Csillag: Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Kyle Chandler, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry Rendező: Terry Rossio, Eric McLeod, Ronald R. Reiss, Sarah Halley Finn, Owen Paterson

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its somewhat ironic that a movie about time travel can’t be reviewed properly until your future self rewatches the movie. It’s bold of Nolan to make such a thoroughly dense blockbuster. He assumes people will actually want to see ~Tenet more than once so they can understand it properly, which some may not. This movie makes the chronology of Inception look as simplistic as tic-tac-toe. Ergo, it’s hard for me to give an accurate rating, without having seen it twice, as I’m still trying to figure out whether everything does indeed make sense. If it does, this movie is easily a 9 or 10. If it doesn’t, it’s a 6. It’s further not helped by the fact that the dialogue in the first 15 minutes of the movie is painfully hard to understand / hear. Either they were behind masks; they were practically mumbling; the sound effects were too loud; or all of the above. The exposition scenes are also waayyy too brief for something this complex — a problem also shared with Interstellar actually. (Interstellar had this minimalist exposition problem explaining Blight, where if you weren’t careful, you’d miss this one sentence / scene in the entire movie explaining that Blight was a viral bacteria: “Earth’s atmosphere is 80% nitrogen, we don’t even breathe nitrogen. Blight does, and as it thrives, our air gets less and less oxygen”). I guess it’s a Nolan quirk. Hopefully, a revision of the film audio sorts the sound mixing out. I do like the soundtrack, but it’s too loud initially. I liked all the actors. You think John Washington can’t act at first, but he can, and he grows on you as the film progresses. And Pattinson is his usual charming self. Elizabeth is a surprise treat. And so on. Its worth a watch either way. See it with subtitles if you can. And definitely don’t expect to fully understand whats going on the first time around. Its one hell of a complicated film. It will be very hard for an average viewer to gather all the information provided by this movie at the first watch. But the more you watch it, more hidden elements will come to light. And when you are able to put these hidden elements together. You will realize that this movie is just a “masterpiece” which takes the legacy of Christopher Nolan Forward If I talk about acting, Then I have to say that Robert Pattinson has really proved himself as a very good actor in these recent years. And I am sure his acting skills will increase with time. His performance is charming and very smooth. Whenever he is on the camera, he steals the focus John David Washington is also fantastic in this movie. His performance is electrifying, I hope to see more from him in the future. Other characters such as Kenneth Branagh, Elizabeth, Himesh Patel, Dimple Kapadia, Clémence Poésy have also done quite well. And I dont think there is a need to talk about Michael Caine Talking about Music, its awesome. I dont think you will miss Hans Zimmer’s score. Ludwig has done a sufficient job. There is no lack of good score in the movie Gotta love the editing and post production which has been put into this movie. I think its fair to say this Nolan film has focused more in its post production. The main problem in the movie is the sound mixing. Plot is already complex and some dialogues are very soft due to the high music score. It makes it harder to realize what is going on in the movie. Other Nolan movies had loud BGM too. But Audio and dialogues weren’t a problem My humble request to everyone is to please let the movie sink in your thoughts. Let your mind grasp all the elements of this movie. I am sure more people will find it better. Even those who think they got the plot. I can bet they are wrong. ~Tenet is the long awaited new movie from Christopher Nolan. The movie that’s set to reboot the multiplexes post-Covid. It’s a manic, extremely loud, extremely baffling sci-fi cum spy rollercoaster that will please a lot of Nolan fan-boys but which left me with very mixed views. John David Washington (Denzel’s lad) plays “The Protagonist” — a crack-CIA field operative who is an unstoppable one-man army in the style of Hobbs or Shaw. Recruited into an even more shadowy organisation, he’s on the trail of an international arms dealer, Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh in full villain mode). Sator is bullying his estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki) over custody of their son (and the film unusually has a BBFC warning about “Domestic Abuse”). Our hero jets the world to try to prevent a very particular kind of Armageddon while also keeping the vulnerable and attractive Kat alive. This is cinema at its biggest and boldest. Nolan has taken a cinema ‘splurge’ gun, filled it with money, set it on rapid fire, removed the safety and let rip at the screen. Given that Nolan is famous for doing all of his ‘effects’ for real and ‘in camera’, some of what you see performed is almost unbelievable. You thought crashing a train through rush-hour traffic in “Inception” was crazy? You ain’t seen nothing yet with the airport scene! And for lovers of Chinooks (I must admit I am one and rush out of the house to see one if I hear it coming!) there is positively Chinook-p*rn on offer in the film’s ridiculously huge finale. The ‘inversion’ aspects of the story also lends itself to some fight scenes — one in particular in an airport ‘freeport’ — which are both bizarre to watch and, I imagine, technically extremely challenging to pull off. In this regard John David Washington is an acrobatic and talented stunt performer in his own right, and must have trained for months for this role. Nolan’s crew also certainly racked up their air miles pre-lockdown, since the locations range far and wide across the world. The locations encompassed Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and United States. Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography is lush in introducing these, especially the beautiful Italian coast scenes. Although I did miss the David Arnold strings that would typically introduce these in a Bond movie: it felt like that was missing. The ‘timey-wimey’ aspects of the plot are also intriguing and very cleverly done. There are numerous points at which you think “Oh, that’s a sloppy continuity error” or “Shame the production design team missed that cracked wing mirror”. Then later in the movie, you get at least a dozen “Aha!” moments. Some of them (no spoilers) are jaw-droppingly spectacular. Perhaps the best twist is hidden in the final line of the movie. I only processed it on the way home. And so to the first of my significant gripes with ~Tenet. The sound mix in the movie is all over the place. I’d go stronger than that… it’s truly awful (expletive deleted)! Nolan often implements Shakespeare’s trick of having characters in the play provide exposition of the plot to aid comprehension. But unfortunately, all of this exposition dialogue was largely incomprehensible. This was due to: the ear-splitting volume of the sound: 2020 movie audiences are going to be suffering from ‘~Tenetis’! (LOL); the dialogue is poorly mixed with the thumping music by Ludwig Göransson (Wot? No Hans Zimmer?); a large proportion of the dialogue was through masks of varying description (#covid-appropriate). Aaron Taylor-Johnson was particularly unintelligible to my ears. Overall, watching this with subtitles at a special showing might be advisable! OK, so I only have a PhD in Physics… but at times I was completely lost as to the intricacies of the plot. It made “Inception” look like “The Tiger Who Came to Tea”. There was an obvious ‘McGuffin’ in “Inception” — — (“These ‘dream levels’… how exactly are they architected??”…. “Don’t worry… they’ll never notice”. And we didn’t!) In “~Tenet” there are McGuffins nested in McGuffins. So much of this is casually waved away as “future stuff… you’re not qualified” that it feels vaguely condescending to the audience. At one point Sator says to Kat “You don’t know what’s going on, do you?” and she shakes her head blankly. We’re right with you there luv! There are also gaps in the storyline that jar. The word “~Tenet”? What does it mean. Is it just a password? I’m none the wiser. The manic pace of ~Tenet and the constant din means that the movie gallops along like a series of disconnected (albeit brilliant) action set pieces. For me, it has none of the emotional heart of the Cobb’s marriage problems from “Inception” or the father/daughter separation of “Interstellar”. In fact, you barely care for anyone in the movie, perhaps with the exception of Kat. It’s a talented cast. As mentioned above, John David Washington is muscular and athletic in the role. It’s a big load for the actor to carry in such a tent-pole movie, given his only significant starring role before was in the excellent BlacKkKlansman. But he carries it off well. A worthy successor to Gerard Butler and Jason Statham for action roles in the next 10 years. This is also a great performance by Robert Pattinson, in his most high-profile film in a long time, playing the vaguely alcoholic and Carré-esque support guy. Pattinson’s Potter co-star Clemence Poésy also pops up — rather more un-glam that usual — as the scientist plot-expositor early in the movie. Nolan’s regular Michael Caine also pops up. although the 87-year old legend is starting to show his age: His speech was obviously affected at the time of filming (though nice try Mr Nolan in trying to disguise that with a mouth full of food!). But in my book, any amount of Caine in a movie is a plus. He also gets to deliver the best killer line in the film about snobbery! However, it’s Kenneth Branagh and Elizabeth Debicki that really stand out. They were both fabulous, especially when they were bouncing off each other in their marital battle royale. So, given this was my most anticipated movie of the year, it’s a bit of a curate’s egg for me. A mixture of being awe-struck at times and slightly disappointed at others. It’s a movie which needs a second watch, so I’m heading back today to give my ear drums another bashing! And this is one where I reserve the right to revisit my rating after that second watch… it’s not likely to go down… but it might go up. (For the full graphical review, check out One Mann’s Movies on t’interweb and Facebook. Thanks.) As this will be non-spoiler, I can’t say too much about the story. However, what I can is this: ~Tenet’s story is quite dynamic in the sense that you won’t understand it till it wants you to. So, for the first half, your brain is fighting for hints and pieces to puzzle together the story. It isn’t until halfway through the movie that ~Tenet invites you to the fantastic storytelling by Christopher Nolan. Acting is beyond phenomenal, and I’d be genuinely surprised if neither Robert Pattinson nor John David Washington doesn’t receive an Oscar nomination for best actor. It’s also hard not to mention how good Elizabeth Debicki and Aaron Johnson both are. All around, great acting, and the dialogue amps up the quality of the movie. The idea of this movie is damn fascinating, and while there are films that explore time-travelling, there’s never been anything quite like this. It has such a beautiful charm and for the most part, explains everything thoroughly. It feels so much more complex than any form of time-travelling we’ve seen, and no less could’ve been expected from Nolan. Oh my lord, the score for this film fits so perfectly. Every scene that’s meant to feel intense was amped by a hundred because of how good the score was. Let me just say though, none of them will be found iconic, but they fit the story and scenes so well. In the end, I walked out, feeling very satisfied. Nevertheless, I do have issues with the film that I cannot really express without spoiling bits of the story. There are definitely little inconsistencies that I found myself uncovering as the story progressed. However, I only had one issue that I found impacted my enjoyment. That issue was understanding some of the dialogue. No, not in the sense that the movie is too complicated, but more that it was hard to make out was being said at times. It felt like the movie required subtitles, but that probably was because, at a time in the film, there was far too much exposition. Nevertheless, I loved this film, I’ll be watching it at least two more times, and I think most of you in this group will enjoy it. I definitely suggest watching it in theatres if possible, just so you can get that excitement. (4/5) & (8.5/10) for those that care about number scores. At first, I want to ask Christopher Nolan one question, HOW THE HELL YOU DID THIS? Seriously I want to have an answer, How did he write such as this masterpiece! How did he get this complicated, fabulous and creative idea? What is going on in his mind? The story is written and directed perfectly, the narration style was absolutely unique. I have no idea how can anyone direct such as this story, that was a huge challenge, and as usual Nolan gave us a masterpiece that we’ll put beside (Memento), (Inception) and (Interstellar) The movie is so fast-paced in a good way, there was no boring moment. The chemistry between John David Washington and Robert Pattinson was great and funny and both of their performance was really good. Elizabeth Debicki performance was the best in the movie because she had the chance to show her acting abilities and she cached up that chance and showed us an A level acting. The music wasn’t unique and distinct as the music of Interstellar for example and I think this movie needed the touch of Hans Zimmer, I’m not saying that Ludwig Göransson failed but Hans Zimmer in another level. If there was something I’d say that I didn’t like it in the movie would it be that Nolan discarded any set up or characters backgrounds except Elizabeth Debicki dramatic story but it wasn’t that bad for me, I didn’t care about that, the exciting story didn’t give me the chance to focus on it. But the actual problem was the third act, it was really complicated and I got lost and I convinced myself to discard the questions that were in my head and enjoy the well-made action sequences and Elizabeth Debicki performance. I think this kind of movie that gets better with a second and third watch. I honestly don’t quite know where to begin with ~Tenet. I love Christopher Nolan’s work but I have never seen a more complicated film (and I understood Memento). ~After nearly three hours, I came away from ~Tenet not knowing myself, my mind reduced to nothing more than piles of ash. Was there time travel involved? Hmm, there was definitely something about time inversion. I mean, does Nolan even understand what he wrote? Look, I give credit to the director because he’s one of the few directors left who knows how to create a compelling and intelligent blockbuster. ~Tenet is full of Nolan trademarks — the gratuitous Michael Caine cameo, a loud, really loud score, complete with stunning cinematography and slickly

[juki227]

{||~1080p-HD~ ]] Regarder C'est la vie  film complet [[2020]] en Franacais

29 avril 2020  / 1h 43min / Comédie De Julien Rambaldi Avec Josiane Balasko, Léa Drucker, Alice Pol Nationalités Français, Belge 29 avril 2020  / 1h 43min / Comédie De Julien Rambaldi Avec Josiane Balasko, Léa Drucker, Alice Pol Nationalités Français, Belge

PLAY==> http://ver.yess-movie.com/movie/tt9162090/c-est-la-vie.html

Its somewhat ironic that a movie about time travel can’t be reviewed properly until your future self rewatches the movie. It’s bold of Nolan to make such a thoroughly dense blockbuster. He assumes people will actually want to see C’est la vie more than once so they can understand it properly, which some may not. This movie makes the chronology of Inception look as simplistic as tic-tac-toe. Ergo, it’s hard for me to give an accurate rating, without having seen it twice, as I’m still trying to figure out whether everything does indeed make sense. If it does, this movie is easily a 9 or 10. If it doesn’t, it’s a 6. It’s further not helped by the fact that the dialogue in the first 15 minutes of the movie is painfully hard to understand / hear. Either they were behind masks; they were practically mumbling; the sound effects were too loud; or all of the above. The exposition scenes are also waayyy too brief for something this complex — a problem also shared with Interstellar actually. (Interstellar had this minimalist exposition problem explaining Blight, where if you weren’t careful, you’d miss this one sentence / scene in the entire movie explaining that Blight was a viral bacteria: “Earth’s atmosphere is 80% nitrogen, we don’t even breathe nitrogen. Blight does, and as it thrives, our air gets less and less oxygen”). I guess it’s a Nolan quirk. Hopefully, a revision of the film audio sorts the sound mixing out. I do like the soundtrack, but it’s too loud initially. I liked all the actors. You think John Washington can’t act at first, but he can, and he grows on you as the film progresses. And Pattinson is his usual charming self. Elizabeth is a surprise treat. And so on. Its worth a watch either way. See it with subtitles if you can. And definitely don’t expect to fully understand whats going on the first time around. Its one hell of a complicated film. It will be very hard for an average viewer to gather all the information provided by this movie at the first watch. But the more you watch it, more hidden elements will come to light. And when you are able to put these hidden elements together. You will realize that this movie is just a “masterpiece” which takes the legacy of Christopher Nolan Forward If I talk about acting, Then I have to say that Robert Pattinson has really proved himself as a very good actor in these recent years. And I am sure his acting skills will increase with time. His performance is charming and very smooth. Whenever he is on the camera, he steals the focus John David Washington is also fantastic in this movie. His performance is electrifying, I hope to see more from him in the future. Other characters such as Kenneth Branagh, Elizabeth, Himesh Patel, Dimple Kapadia, Clémence Poésy have also done quite well. And I dont think there is a need to talk about Michael Caine Talking about Music, its awesome. I dont think you will miss Hans Zimmer’s score. Ludwig has done a sufficient job. There is no lack of good score in the movie Gotta love the editing and post production which has been put into this movie. I think its fair to say this Nolan film has focused more in its post production. The main problem in the movie is the sound mixing. Plot is already complex and some dialogues are very soft due to the high music score. It makes it harder to realize what is going on in the movie. Other Nolan movies had loud BGM too. But Audio and dialogues weren’t a problem My humble request to everyone is to please let the movie sink in your thoughts. Let your mind grasp all the elements of this movie. I am sure more people will find it better. Even those who think they got the plot. I can bet they are wrong. C’est la vie is the long awaited new movie from Christopher Nolan. The movie that’s set to reboot the multiplexes post-Covid. It’s a manic, extremely loud, extremely baffling sci-fi cum spy rollercoaster that will please a lot of Nolan fan-boys but which left me with very mixed views. John David Washington (Denzel’s lad) plays “The Protagonist” — a crack-CIA field operative who is an unstoppable one-man army in the style of Hobbs or Shaw. Recruited into an even more shadowy organisation, he’s on the trail of an international arms dealer, Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh in full villain mode). Sator is bullying his estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki) over custody of their son (and the film unusually has a BBFC warning about “Domestic Abuse”). Our hero jets the world to try to prevent a very particular kind of Armageddon while also keeping the vulnerable and attractive Kat alive. This is cinema at its biggest and boldest. Nolan has taken a cinema ‘splurge’ gun, filled it with money, set it on rapid fire, removed the safety and let rip at the screen. Given that Nolan is famous for doing all of his ‘effects’ for real and ‘in camera’, some of what you see performed is almost unbelievable. You thought crashing a train through rush-hour traffic in “Inception” was crazy? You ain’t seen nothing yet with the airport scene! And for lovers of Chinooks (I must admit I am one and rush out of the house to see one if I hear it coming!) there is positively Chinook-p*rn on offer in the film’s ridiculously huge finale. The ‘inversion’ aspects of the story also lends itself to some fight scenes — one in particular in an airport ‘freeport’ — which are both bizarre to watch and, I imagine, technically extremely challenging to pull off. In this regard John David Washington is an acrobatic and talented stunt performer in his own right, and must have trained for months for this role. Nolan’s crew also certainly racked up their air miles pre-lockdown, since the locations range far and wide across the world. The locations encompassed Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and United States. Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography is lush in introducing these, especially the beautiful Italian coast scenes. Although I did miss the David Arnold strings that would typically introduce these in a Bond movie: it felt like that was missing. The ‘timey-wimey’ aspects of the plot are also intriguing and very cleverly done. There are numerous points at which you think “Oh, that’s a sloppy continuity error” or “Shame the production design team missed that cracked wing mirror”. Then later in the movie, you get at least a dozen “Aha!” moments. Some of them (no spoilers) are jaw-droppingly spectacular. Perhaps the best twist is hidden in the final line of the movie. I only processed it on the way home. And so to the first of my significant gripes with C’est la vie. The sound mix in the movie is all over the place. I’d go stronger than that… it’s truly awful (expletive deleted)! Nolan often implements Shakespeare’s trick of having characters in the play provide exposition of the plot to aid comprehension. But unfortunately, all of this exposition dialogue was largely incomprehensible. This was due to: the ear-splitting volume of the sound: 2020 movie audiences are going to be suffering from ‘C’est la vieis’! (LOL); the dialogue is poorly mixed with the thumping music by Ludwig Göransson (Wot? No Hans Zimmer?); a large proportion of the dialogue was through masks of varying description (#covid-appropriate). Aaron Taylor-Johnson was particularly unintelligible to my ears. Overall, watching this with subtitles at a special showing might be advisable! OK, so I only have a PhD in Physics… but at times I was completely lost as to the intricacies of the plot. It made “Inception” look like “The Tiger Who Came to Tea”. There was an obvious ‘McGuffin’ in “Inception” — — (“These ‘dream levels’… how exactly are they architected??”…. “Don’t worry… they’ll never notice”. And we didn’t!) In “C’est la vie” there are McGuffins nested in McGuffins. So much of this is casually waved C’est la vie as “future stuff… you’re not qualified” that it feels vaguely condescending to the audience. At one point Sator says to Kat “You don’t know what’s going on, do you?” and she shakes her head blankly. We’re right with you there luv! There are also gaps in the storyline that jar. The word “C’est la vie”? What does it mean. Is it just a password? I’m none the wiser. The manic pace of C’est la vie and the constant din means that the movie gallops along like a series of disconnected (albeit brilliant) action set pieces. For me, it has none of the emotional heart of the Cobb’s marriage problems from “Inception” or the father/daughter separation of “Interstellar”. In fact, you barely care for anyone in the movie, perhaps with the exception of Kat. It’s a talented cast. As mentioned above, John David Washington is muscular and athletic in the role. It’s a big load for the actor to carry in such a tent-pole movie, given his only significant starring role before was in the excellent BlacKkKlansman. But he carries it off well. A worthy successor to Gerard Butler and Jason Statham for action roles in the next 10 years. This is also a great performance by Robert Pattinson, in his most high-profile film in a long time, playing the vaguely alcoholic and Carré-esque support guy. Pattinson’s Potter co-star Clemence Poésy also pops up — rather more un-glam that usual — as the scientist plot-expositor early in the movie. Nolan’s regular Michael Caine also pops up. although the 87-year old legend is starting to show his age: His speech was obviously affected at the time of filming (though nice try Mr Nolan in trying to disguise that with a mouth full of food!). But in my book, any amount of Caine in a movie is a plus. He also gets to deliver the best killer line in the film about snobbery! However, it’s Kenneth Branagh and Elizabeth Debicki that really stand out. They were both fabulous, especially when they were bouncing off each other in their marital battle royale. So, given this was my most anticipated movie of the year, it’s a bit of a curate’s egg for me. A mixture of being awe-struck at times and slightly disappointed at others. It’s a movie which needs a second watch, so I’m heading back today to give my ear drums another bashing! And this is one where I reserve the right to revisit my rating after that second watch… it’s not likely to go down… but it might go up. (For the full graphical review, check out One Mann’s Movies on t’interweb and Facebook. Thanks.) As this will be non-spoiler, I can’t say too much about the story. However, what I can is this: C’est la vie’s story is quite dynamic in the sense that you won’t understand it till it wants you to. So, for the first half, your brain is fighting for hints and pieces to puzzle together the story. It isn’t until halfway through the movie that C’est la vie invites you to the fantastic storytelling by Christopher Nolan. Acting is beyond phenomenal, and I’d be genuinely surprised if neither Robert Pattinson nor John David Washington doesn’t receive an Oscar nomination for best actor. It’s also hard not to mention how good Elizabeth Debicki and Aaron Johnson both are. All around, great acting, and the dialogue amps up the quality of the movie. The idea of this movie is damn fascinating, and while there are films that explore time-travelling, there’s never been anything quite like this. It has such a beautiful charm and for the most part, explains everything thoroughly. It feels so much more complex than any form of time-travelling we’ve seen, and no less could’ve been expected from Nolan. Oh my lord, the score for this film fits so perfectly. Every scene that’s meant to feel intense was amped by a hundred because of how good the score was. Let me just say though, none of them will be found iconic, but they fit the story and scenes so well. In the end, I walked out, feeling very satisfied. Nevertheless, I do have issues with the film that I cannot really express without spoiling bits of the story. There are definitely little inconsistencies that I found myself uncovering as the story progressed. However, I only had one issue that I found impacted my enjoyment. That issue was understanding some of the dialogue. No, not in the sense that the movie is too complicated, but more that it was hard to make out was being said at times. It felt like the movie required subtitles, but that probably was because, at a time in the film, there was far too much exposition. Nevertheless, I loved this film, I’ll be watching it at least two more times, and I think most of you in this group will enjoy it. I definitely suggest watching it in theatres if possible, just so you can get that excitement. (4/5) & (8.5/10) for those that care about number scores. At first, I want to ask Christopher Nolan one question, HOW THE HELL YOU DID THIS? Seriously I want to have an answer, How did he write such as this masterpiece! How did he get this complicated, fabulous and creative idea? What is going on in his mind? The story is written and directed perfectly, the narration style was absolutely unique. I have no idea how can anyone direct such as this story, that was a huge challenge, and as usual Nolan gave us a masterpiece that we’ll put beside (Memento), (Inception) and (Interstellar) The movie is so fast-paced in a good way, there was no boring moment. The chemistry between John David Washington and Robert Pattinson was great and funny and both of their performance was really good. Elizabeth Debicki performance was the best in the movie because she had the chance to show her acting abilities and she cached up that chance and showed us an A level acting. The music wasn’t unique and distinct as the music of Interstellar for example and I think this movie needed the touch of Hans Zimmer, I’m not saying that Ludwig Göransson failed but Hans Zimmer in another level. If there was something I’d say that I didn’t like it in the movie would it be that Nolan discarded any set up or characters backgrounds except Elizabeth Debicki dramatic story but it wasn’t that bad for me, I didn’t care about that, the exciting story didn’t give me the chance to focus on it. But the actual problem was the third act, it was really complicated and I got lost and I convinced myself to discard the questions that were in my head and enjoy the well-made action sequences and Elizabeth Debicki performance. I think this kind of movie that gets better with a second and third watch. I honestly don’t quite know where to begin with C’est la vie. I love Christopher Nolan’s work but I have never seen a more complicated film (and I understood Memento). After nearly three hours, I came C’est la vie from C’est la vie not knowing myself, my mind reduced to nothing more than piles of ash. Was there time travel involved? Hmm, there was definitely something about time inversion. I mean, does Nolan even understand what he wrote? Look, I give credit to the director because he’s one of the few directors left who knows how to create a compelling and intelligent blockbuster. C’est la vie is full of Nolan trademarks — the gratuitous Michael Caine cameo, a loud, really loud score, complete with stunning cinematography and slickly inventive action set-pieces. This time around however, Nolan has finally managed to ‘out-Nolan’ himself: the palindromic plot, whilst creatively ambitious, is simply far too complicated for its own good. C’est la vie is overlong, overstuffed, pretentious and too exhausting to comprehend in its entirety — it makes Inception and Interstellar look like Peppa Pig by comparison. I’m aware of the technical wizardry and creative mastery in this film and lord knows I’ll have to watch this again. For those who want a puzzle, C’est la vie at least provides a unique cinematic experience. But to actually enjoy solving it Nolan wants you to work

[writinginstardust]

Chance

Pairing: Nikolai Lantsov x reader

Warnings: implied sexual content

A/N: Fictober day 22, prompt “We could have a chance.” I apologise but this is angst and not the type with a happy ending.

Word Count: 838

*

“I can’t let you do this.” Nikolai grabbed my arm and stopped me walking away. 

“I have to.”

“No you don’t. You could get yourself killed.” And sure, he was right, but really I didn’t have much choice. We needed someone on the inside, someone to get close enough to spy on the Darkling and report back. Someone, even, who could kill him if the chance arose. I knew it should be me but Nikolai couldn’t be convinced. 

“Come on. You know someone has to do this so why not let it be me.”

“You know why.” And I did know but the same reason he wouldn’t let me me was the reason I had to do it. 

“Just let me go, Nikolai. You know I can handle myself and this way we could have a chance.” A chance to win the war. A chance to stop the Darkling once and for all. A chance to be together when it was all over. Nikolai was heir to the throne and we all knew he’d take it one day and he’d need a queen. A queen who was loved and respected and powerful. Not one like me. A heartrender who many might think a traitor to the country and who was, for all intents and purposes, not even Ravkan..

I was born poor, to parents who didn’t want me drafted into the second army and turned into a killer. They wouldn’t risk the grisha examiners discovering my power and fled to Ketterdam where I grew up. An incomprehensible series of events led me to being part of “Sturmhond’s” crew and it didn’t take very long for me to fall in love with my captain. It was foolish but I couldn’t stop it. And Nikolai, quite unimaginably, fell too. But as things stood there was no future, much as we wanted it to be otherwise. If I did this, became a spy for us, I could help stop the war, save Ravka. Then maybe we could have a future together. I’d told Nikolai as much but he wasn’t having it.

“No.” 

“Nikolai please. If I do this we could finally have a future.”

“If you do this you could lose any kind of future.” There was so much pain in his eyes that I had to look away. I knew it was unbelievably risky but I’d face down the Darkling, his armies, and the Nichevo’ya alone if there was a chance to keep Nikolai safe and prove myself worthy of him.

“It’s a risk I have to take.”

“It’s not and I won’t let you. I’m not losing you. Not like this.” I studied his face for a few moments. There was no way he was ever going to back down, I wouldn’t win this argument so what was the point in trying to. I’d have to find another way.

“Fine,” I sighed and relief spread across his face. My stomach clenched at what I was going to do later.

“Thank you.” I tried to smile as he pulled me into his arms but couldn’t make it reach my eyes. He kissed me then. I let myself melt into it, memorising the feel of his lips, the way every touch shot sparks across my skin. When he finally took me to bed I committed every detail to memory. The hard lines of his body, the softness of his hair running through my fingers the sound of his breathing when the heat engulfed us. The way his body felt against mine would come back to me in dreams while I was away and I needed it to feel real. Remembering what I was doing this for, what I was coming back to, was all that I could hold onto. Nikolai would be my lifeline.

When he finally fell asleep I let myself watch for only a few more minutes. I had to go but I needed to savour this. I slid out of bed, fortunately not waking Nikolai, and got dressed again before walking over to the desk and writing a quick note. What do you write to the love of your life when you’re sneaking off in the dead of night and might never see him again? There’s no words for that but I tried to find some anyway. In the end I settled for telling him where I was going and why. That I was sorry for doing it this way but had no choice. I cried as I wrote and my tears smudged some of the words but I didn’t have time to write it again. Finally, I told him how much I loved him and that I’d do everything I could to stop the Darkling and come home to him.

I left the note on my pillow and left without another glance back at him. Every step away from him was harder than the last. I didn’t want to go but I had to, I only hoped he would understand why eventually. It was our only chance.

*

Tag Lists: (send an ask if you want to be added!)

Everything: @wonderfilledness @writingbychelle @ad-astraaaa @moderngenius94 

Grishaverse: @chiefqueenenthusiast @unconditional-love-and-support

[thecleverdame]

All Teeth and Bad Intentions

Pairings: Alpha!Werewolf!Sam x Omega!Werewolf!Reader

Summary: Sam gets jealous...pretty much just filth with a touch of fluff.

This is set right after The Brown Bottle, One More Time and The Morning After (read those first). They are listed in my master list. 

Warnings: NSFW gif, dubcon(kinda), knotting, mating, breeding, dominance, claiming, fingering, unprotected sex, biting, dirty talk, rough sex, ownership, manhandling, jealousy, cum play

Words: 5200+

Beta: @moonlitskinwalker

-

Sam’s hands are everywhere, palming your ass while slender fingers pluck at hard nipples. His mouth at your neck, licking with the flat of his tongue before sucking the skin until it stings. The weight of his body relaxes on top of you as his lips seal over yours in a series of messy, open-mouth kisses that elicit a stir between your legs.

“Sam,” you manage breathlessly before he kisses you silent, his mouth harder than before. Placing both hands on his chest you gently push back, but he doesn't budge. “Hold on,” you mumble in protest. It doesn’t stop him, instead, he rolls his hips between your thighs and the head of his cock pokes the swollen lips of your sex.

It’s been seven days. Seven days of non-stop fucking and Sam doesn’t seem the slightest bit sated. You suspect his rut is coming. Claiming you set certain things into motion, so, in addition to the horniness of being newly mated, he’s also fueled by his cycle building in momentum.

He reaches between your bodies, grasping his dick to line himself up before thrusting forward, his cock sliding deep until his balls rock into your ass. He snarls, nipping at your jaw. “So fuckin’ tight.”

“Ow,” you hiss digging nails into his biceps.

That seems to be the first word that registers for him because he stills, shoved inside your pussy, lifting his head up to look down at you. He’s come to recognize a symphony of moans and whimpers that tell him what you need, but this is something he hasn’t heard before.

“What’s wrong?” His lip curls, eyes sweeping down across your breasts, and then further, sneaking a peek at his cock splitting you open. He rolls his hips, pulling out just a little before nudging deeper than before. When you respond with a pained whimper he grimaces and stops. “What is it?”

“I’m sore.” You respond, biting your lip as your cunt throbs around his manhood.

“Where?” Sam asks thoughtfully, propping himself on his forearms, shifting his weight.

“Everywhere,” you confess.

Sam looks confused but it’s only for a moment before realization washes over his face. You think he might apologize and pull out, but he doesn’t. He just looks you dead in the eyes and says “tell me where.”

Truth be told it would be easier to list the parts that don’t hurt. Your scalp is tender from Sam’s hands twisting and yanking fists of hair and your backside twinges at the thought of him spanking you again, your round little ass can’t take much more. But you have a faint idea of what’s he asking, he wants a starting point. So you give him one.

“My mouth.” You’ve sucked his cock for the better part of a week, letting him come down your throat like a porn star. “And my jaw.” He pauses to grin, giving your effort the appreciation it deserves and then kisses your lips with a feathery light touch before traveling to your jaw with just the brush of his mouth until he’s made his way from ear to ear.

He lifts his head, looking down at you. “Where else?”

“My nipples.” Sam loves to pinch and tug on your nipples as foreplay but he really loves to suck on them while he’s fucking you, biting down until you squeal and claw at his back “They’re raw.”

“I didn’t realize,” he mumbles, cupping a full breast in his hand and closing his mouth around the stiff bud. He doesn’t suck, just runs his tongue, warm and wet, back and forth with gentle precision before moving to the other.

“Alpha,” you moan, writhing. His cock is still inside you eliciting a conflicted mix of pleasure and pain as you feel the tug of his thick shaft.

“Where else?” he looks up. His lips ghosting, just fluttery pecks over the swell of your breasts.

“My hips.” Your hips are the one area he already knows about. He’s tried to be gentle. You’re sporting black and blue fingerprints around your entire waist, reminders of how hard he grabs when he’s really in the moment, fucking you like an animal.

Without so much as a sigh, he pulls his cock out of your pussy and slides down, dragging his nose over your hip bones. He kisses each bruise, slowly and deliberately, until he’s given them all equal attention.

“What about this?” Sam asks. He’s between your legs now, two fingers oh-so-tenderly slipping between the wet, puffy lip of your cunt and opening you like a flower. “Do you ache here too, Omega? My cock too much for this perfect little pussy?”

“Yes.” You wrench your eyes shut, head tipping back. He’s popped his knot inside you more times than you can count over the last week, you’re walking like an overworked jockey. He’s had you in positions you didn’t even know were physically possible, fucking hard and deep as his hips slapped into your ass.

Sam’s tongue scoops over your clit, slow at first until you’re groaning like a whore and shoving yourself into his face. He speeds up, lapping the bundle of nerves as you rock from side to side, thighs clamped around his head. You’re not even sure if he can breathe down there, but you don’t give a shit as your orgasm creeps in.

He’s gone down on you plenty of times before, but this is different. Normally he wants control, he holds you in place, keeps you pinned to the bed. forcing your legs wide. But not this time. This time you lock your ankles behind his neck, thrashing back and forth until you come like a freight train. grinding your pussy into his chin. Your empty cunt pulses around nothing, but you can almost feel him inside, like the pain of a phantom limb.

He draws out every inch of pleasure possible, swirling his tongue in broad circles around your clit until your orgasm leaves you nothing more than a pile of raw connections, twitching and grasping at his shoulders.

When your legs fall apart he stands over you and strokes his cock, jerking himself until he comes in pearly white ropes. He groans as he spurts warm seed over your breasts and stomach, then down farther to shoot the final vestiges over the mound of your pussy.  

“Fuck,” he groans holding his dick, a predatory smile pulls his lips over his teeth. “You look good like this.”

“I feel like a mess,” you tease, propping yourself up on bent elbows.

“Still,” he tilts his head before climbing on the bed to lie beside you, carefully bending your leg at the knee, leaving your sex exposed. “Seems like a waste.” With two fingers he swipes across your sullied stomach, coating them in his spunk before slipping inside your sensitive pussy. He doesn't push in too far, just a couple inches, gently stroking with shallow movement.

“Baby,” you whimper, clenching your legs around his hand.

“I know, I know,” he rubs his nose into your temple. “You need a break.”

--

Chad’s in his early twenties. He’s as tall as Sam, built like a brick wall and definitely a newly turned Alpha. You guess he’s a couple months old and stupid as one would assume. There’s no doubt in your mind that he’s the one who’s turned all four of his buddies, two of them are also Alphas, the others Betas.

All five of them are at your bar, making a scene and acting like idiots but you don’t really mind. As long as they don’t get in a fight or piss off the regulars you let it slide.

“Look at you baby, fuck that ass looks tight.” Chad bites his finger as his friends snicker behind him. It’s clear he’s the sad little king of his own sad little world. Your turn around, smiling and setting down five shots followed by five beers.

“Your mother know you talk like that?” You sling Chad a look and crack a Miller Lite for one of your regulars, Toby, who’s sitting at the end of the bar doing his best to stay upright.

“She’d understand if she saw you.” He grins, his eyes unabashedly staring at your breasts. He notices the scar at your neck for the first time and pounds on the counter turning to his friend. “And she’s one of us! I knew you smelled special.”

“Keep your voice down.” You lean in, covering the bite with your hair as he oggles you like a turkey leg in a Wile E Coyote cartoon. “You even know what this means?”

“It means your like us,” He licks his lips. “Like me. I’ll take good care of you if you give me the chance...Omega.”

“I said, keep your damn voice down. Not everyone here is in on our little secret.” You hiss. “And I already got someone to take care of me, so why don’t you boys go buy that table of questionably dressed girls a drink and free up the bar.”

“Ouch,” he groans with his hand over his heart as if you’ve wounded him. He leans forward with his forearms on the counter, when he grins it’s all teeth. “But I like you so, so much.”

“Yeah, well if you’re staying you better tip well.”

And he does.

It’s a couple hours later when Sam, Dean and the rest of their crew barrel through the door. They take over a table at the back near the jukebox and Benny heads to the bar.

“Hey.” Benny nods.

“Hey back,” you smile. “Usual?”

“Yup.” He looks from you to Chad and friends. “You need any help?”

“They’re harmless.” You wave a hand.

“Don’t be so sure.” If Chad’s good at one thing it’s inserting himself into your conversations. “I could tear you up.”

“Hey,” you snap, slapping the counter with an open palm. “What’d I say about say about that kind of shit?”

-

Sam wonders if you’re pregnant yet. You casually swipe a hand across your flat belly, exchanging a smile and comment with the old drunk at the end of the bar, and all Sam can think about is what you’re going to look like when you’re swollen with his child. He can imagine your round stomach in such vivid detail it makes his balls ache.

You never leave his mind, you’re always there; mentally if not physically. It's just incomprehensible. You’re the one stable force, his one stability in a world filled with chaos that he didn’t know he needed. Two weeks ago if someone would have asked if he wanted children he would have dismissed the idea outright, but then you came along and now it’s the only thing he thinks about.

Sam’s not an unreasonable person, but he’s the pack Alpha, this is his territory and you’re his Omega, but none of that is stopping the blonde guy at the bar from coming onto to you like a back alley hooker.

There’s something about the way he’s is looking at you that’s making Sam’s blood pressure rise. It doesn’t help that he hasn’t fucked you in two days. He’s on the cusp of a rut and all he’s wanted for the last twenty hours is to pound you into the mattress. But you, understandably, needed a break, and you’re gonna to need it.

His eyes narrow as you laugh big and wide, engaging the douche-bag and making conversation. As soon as you have your back turned he’s elbowing his buddy, slapping each other like cavemen as they stare at your ass.

“Why do we even come here, man?” Dean asks, resting his elbows on the table “She’s a bartender, it’s gonna happen.”

“Fuck you.” Sam grunts, tipping back beer.

“I’m just sayin’, there’s no reason to torture yourself.” Shrugging Dean turns his attention to the scene unfolding before him.

“That anything I should be worried about or just some college kids?” Sams ask Benny as he arrives with a tray of beer.

“She says it’s fine,” he looks back at the bar.  

“Human?” Sam presses.

“Nope,” Benny points his bottle toward Sam. “He’s an Alpha.”

-

“I got one more,” Chad bellows, vying for your attention. Despite the fact that he’s kind of a pig you are enjoying his repertoire of filthy jokes. He’s actually pretty funny. “What do the mafia and pussies have in common?”

Oh lord. “I don’t know, what?”

“One slip of the tongue and you’re in deep shit!” He finishes and half the bar is laughing right along with you.

“Alright,” you set down a rag and place both hands on the counter. “I’ve got a one for you.”

“Hit me with it.” He motions toward his chest.

“What’s the difference between your dick and a bonus check?” He shrugs and you finish “Someone’s always willing to blow your bonus.”

The entire bar erupts and you take a bow. Still chuckling you glance up, suddenly aware that you have a very intent audience. It’s not that you’re doing anything wrong, but you wouldn’t know that by the way they’re looking at you from across the room you. Benny, Dean, the scary little brunette and a bunch of other guys you’ve never officially met are watching silently.

Then there’s Sam. He’s just sitting in his chair with his hand clenched around a beer, his eyes are locked on you with a scowl that drains the color from your face.

“What’s wrong sweetheart,” Chad glances back, and then reaches forward, his hand covering yours. This kid really doesn’t understand, he doesn’t even recognize a pack when he sees it. If he were a more mature Alpha wolf he’d be able to easily smell others of his kind, but newly turned wolves have fucked senses. “I’m not your only fan, huh?”

“Don’t touch me.” You hiss pulling your hand away but he holds firm. You pull back again and he yanks you forward in turn. Not aware of his own strength your ribs connect with the counter. Chad lets you go immediately, oblivious to the impending doom that’s headed in his direction because Sam was out his chair the second Chad laid his hands on you.

You dash around the bar, trying to intervene as Sam whacks him on the shoulder. “Hey, asshole.”

“Sam,” you try to slink between them, placing a hand on his chest. “He doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

Sam glares at you, it’s a frightening look you’ve seen before, but never been the on the receiving end of. “Get out of the way,” he instructs, blinking emotionlessly.

“I got a pretty good idea what I’m doing.” Chad stands up from his chair and his friends follow suit.

“Sam-” You stop as Sam’s fingers curl around your wrist.

“I’m not gonna tell you again, Omega. Get out of the way.” He’s never given you a command before, yeah, he’s bossy when he’s fucking you and you always do what he says, but he’s never spoken to you like this outside of the bedroom.

There’s a part of you that wants to tell him to fuck off, because you don’t like being ordered around like a child; but he’s your Alpha, marking his territory, and you don’t have a death wish, so you take a step back.

“Over here sweetheart,” Dean’s hands are on your shoulders, pulling you away from Sam, and slipping in front of you.

“I didn’t know she’d just do what she’s told.” Chad snickers, stepping up to Sam. They’re roughly the same size, but Sam’s in his prime and headed into a rut; he’s lethal. Not to mention he’s got a dozen other Alphas who’d die for their pack leader in the blink of an eye. Any hope of Chad getting wise and shutting up goes right out the window when he adds “I would have told her to get on her knees a while ago.”

“You hear this guy, Dean?” Sam tilts his head, his lip curling.  

“I heard him.” Dean crosses his arms over his chest. “Not a smart move kid.”

“You come into my territory, touch my Omega, and then have the fucking nerve to talk to me like that?” Sam’s a breath away from Chad’s face. “She’s mine. You shouldn’t touch things that don’t belong to you.”

“What? Did you piss on her? As far as I can see she’s free to do whoever she wants.” Chad spits, looking rather proud of his comeback.

Before Sam was your Alpha, he terrified you. Sam, Dean and their merry little gang aren’t the kind of guys who do a lot of talking when it comes to disputes, they settle things the old school way with their fists. Over the past week and a half you’ve become complacent. Sam’s your mate and lover and you forgot the side of him that scared the shit out of you, until now. You don’t have a shadow of a doubt that he’ll kill Chad and he’ll do it right here in the middle of your mother’s bar.

“Sam, he doesn’t know, he’s a baby.” You try to sneak around Dean but he catches you, holding you back. “He doesn’t know the rules.”

You watch Sam process your words as he tilts his chin up, scenting the young Alpha who’s too stupid to stand down. His mouth twitches, and you think he’s going to rip Chad’s throat out but instead, he turns away, grabs you by the arm and hauls you out of the bar.

-

“What the fuck are you doing?” You try to twist away, but Sam’s got a vice grip on your arm dragging you through the parking lot.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he spits, walking faster as you scramble to keep up with him.

“Sam, stop” you attempt to dig your feet in and stumble, but Sam keeps you from falling.

“We’re leaving.” He snarls.

“I don’t want to go anywhere with you right now.” You protest.

“Hey buddy, maybe you should listen to her.” A guy puffing on a cigarette next to his truck steps forward. “It doesn’t look like she wants your hands on her.”

“I’ll put my hands wherever the fuck I want to. Mind your own business buddy.” Sam sneers and releases your arm taking a step toward him. Dean’s trotting toward you, ready to back Sam up. It won’t be a fair fight, this guy is nothing but a human who has no idea what’s getting himself into.

Shit.

“Okay,” you grab Sam’s arm. “Let’s go, take me home Sam. Come on.”

--

“You don’t just get to tell me what to do. I don’t respond to commands.” You sneer, it’s the same fight you had on the way home, just moved to the kitchen.

“I’m your Alpha,” he slaps his chest with his palm. “You’re my responsibility.”

“That doesn’t mean that I just blindly follow orders.”

“If I tell you to do something, I expect you to listen.” He counters.

“Well, good luck with that. I’ve never been very good at listening to anyone. You don’t own me.”

“What do you think that mark on your neck means? You belong to me.” He’s deadly serious.

“I don’t belong to anyone.” You know that’ll piss him, it’s why you say it.

“You know what a claimed Omega without an Alpha is? A whore. Is that what you want? To be a bar slut for the rest of your life. You’re already halfway there.”

“Fuck you!” You slap him, hard.

He stares at you, flabbergasted as his face stings red and then he grabs you by the hair, twisting a fist full of it between his fingers. Your neck arches back and you whimper, “you’re hurting me.”

He releases you immediately, hissing like you’ve burned him. “Shit, I-” he runs both his hands through his hair, breathing deep and slow. He bends down, resting his hand on his knees, still shaking with anger. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Y/N. You have to help me because I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I don’t know how to be a mate.”

“All you have to do is trust me, Sam.” You step toward him, “I’ve got three guys a night like that asshole, accidentally touching my ass and asking for my number. It was happening long before I met you and it still happens.”

“Perfect,” he shifts his jaw, standing tall.

“I would never let someone touch me, I mean really touch me. There’s this invisible line and ninety-nine percent of the time people don’t cross it. When someone does, you’re welcome to step in and beat the shit out of them, but until then you’ve got to let it go.”

“You were defending him.” Sam squints at you like you’ve betrayed him. “Why are you even worried about some asshole getting what’s coming to him?”

“I wasn’t worried about him, I was worried about you. You’re all amped up Sam, you’ve been spoiling for a fight for days. What happens if you beat that guy in the middle of the bar? What happens when you hurt him or worse, and you do it in front of a bunch of humans? I’ll tell you what, you end up in jail.” He hadn’t even thought about that, all he could see was you protecting another Alpha...but you weren’t.

“Did I hurt you?” Hesitantly he steps forward, waiting to see if you’ll let him near you. When you don’t back away he reaches out and grabs your waist.

“I’m fine,” you place your hands over his.

“I shouldn’t say those things to you,” resting his chin on your head as he pulls you into an embrace, he’s still on edge you can feel it. He’s not capable of relaxing, not yet anyway.

“I shouldn’t either,” leaning back you look up at him. “I’m sorry I slapped you.” Taking his wrist you pull his hand up to your neck, covering the scar.

“I just have all these thoughts running through my brain. A thousand different scenarios where I end up without you.” Sam pulls you to him, wrapping his arms around your shoulders.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m here with you.”

-

As a general rule, Sam is dominant. Half of it’s the Alpha in him, the other half is just his personality, but tonight he relinquishes just a little of that control. He lets you fuck him.

He watches you bouncing up and down on his cock with an enthusiasm reminiscent of a strung out cheerleader.

You lean forward to kiss him, running a hand up his chest and Sam meets you halfway, trailing fingers down your arm. All of the women he’s fucked were at least a little scared of him, most of them knew who or what he was and none of them ever kissed him the way you do. He thinks he might be getting soft because fuck if he doesn’t live for the way you look at him like he’s your whole Goddamn world when you press your mouth to his. You’re not the least bit intimidated, instead, you just keep kissing him like you’re two kids making out in your parents' basement.

He’s not sure why he’s never done this before because the view is absolutely amazing. He gets to watch your mouth fall open, pussy clenching in pleasure. From this vantage point he’s got a spectacular view of your breasts jiggling and the shaft of his shiny, thick cock disappearing into your pussy. Two big hands cup each of your breasts, pushing them together. “God, I love these tits.”

Sam wonders if this is what it feels like to be in love. He doesn’t believe in sappy shit like love at first sight, but this can’t be far off. Logically, he knows it’s all hormones and base instincts, you’re his mate now and this bond is like nothing he could have previously imagined. It has to be close to whatever love is, and he thinks he might get to experience the real thing soon enough.

“So fuckin’ tight, Omega.” Sam sits up, nipping at your throat. When your pace slows he gives you proper motivation to keep moving.  “Don’t stop” His hand comes down on your butt cheek with a crack and you yelp, sliding a hand around the back of his neck for leverage as you pick up speed. “Keep fucking yourself on my cock, baby...yeah, just like that. You like the way I feel inside you?”

“Yes,” you moan, finding his mouth with yours. You’re sweaty, really fuckin’ sweaty, drenched like a marathon runner as you ride him and skin slips over skin. He feels bigger than before, it’s only been two days, but having him so deep inside reminds you of just how good he makes you feel, so stretched out and unbelievable full. “I fingered myself thinking about you in the shower this morning. I’ve been thinking about you all day and then tonight...how mad you got...all I could think about was your knot.”

“Good girl,” he growls, his lips smiling into the skin of your throat. “Gonna come so deep in this pussy.”

“Jesus, fuck Sam-” He grabs a fist full of hair, snapping your neck back.

“Alpha,” he corrects you, his free hand curling around your jaw.

“Alpha.” You pant, trying to maintain the rhythm.

“You want me to fuck you?” He grits, teeth sinking into your shoulder. He yanks your head back even further so that your back is arched, leaving breasts on display right in front of his face.

“Yes.” Breath rattling in your throat you reach out, desperate for anything to hold you earthbound. Your fingers curl into the skin of his bicep, nails sinking into skin.

“Tell me.” Both his hands move to your hips, pulling you down onto his cock until the lips of your sex meet the short hair around his shaft. He doesn’t let you move, just keeps in you place stuffed full as you wiggle around searching relief.

“Sa-Alpha, please fuck me. Please, I need you.”

“Yeah?” He smirks. He moves one hand from your side to rub his thumb your clit, sliding in fast circles. You buck around as he holds you in place, working into a frenzy with his cock so deep it’s tapping your cervix when you squirm, drawing little shooting pains that mix with building pleasure. “I could make you come just like this, hold you down on my cock and rub you until you fall apart.”

“Please,” you’re begging, your voice an octave higher than normal. “Please fuck me.”

He releases his hold on you and taps your hip like he’s tapping you out of a fight. Lifting yourself off his dick you immediately roll over, pushing yourself up onto hands and knees. Both his hands curls around your side, fingers fanning out over your ribs. “Turn over, Omega. I wanna see you.”

God help him, he wants to fuck in the missionary position.

As soon as you’re on your back Sam’s settling between your legs, grabbing his own cock and pressing the swollen head into your pussy. In one thrust he’s buried to the hilt. He doesn’t waste a second before pulling out and sliding back in again, the sensitive head of his cock dragging along the clenching walls if your wonderful little cunt. “Keep your legs up,” hooking a hand under each thigh he bends your legs until your knees are pressed into his sides. He can feel the ring of muscle around the base of his dick thickening as he thrusts into you. “So good at taking my cock,” he praises, his hips make hollow smacks that echo off the walls of the bedroom as he pumps into you. He doesn’t say anything else, just listens to his own grunts, your breathy moans and the squishy, gooey sounds of sex that seem incredibly loud.

His knot swells quickly, you feel it pushing into your folds with every thrust. Grasping his ass you pull him closer, begging for release. “Please baby, I need it inside me. Need your knot Alpha.”

“You sure you can take it?” He lifts his head, a bead of sweat rolling down his nose and dropping onto your breast.

“Stop fucking teasing me and let me come.” You growl, bucking under him.

Sam gives you exactly what you’re asking for, he grinds his pelvis forward, his cock unrelenting as he forces his knot inside your pussy with a wet pop that triggers your orgasm. The pleasure is so great you want to hold it in, but there’s no holding back as the damn snaps and gluttonous satisfaction racks your entire body.

Sam keeps shoving his hips forward despite his inability to really move as he watches as your eyes rolls back in your skull and you start to shake. Your legs go stiff around him, breath starting and stopping. When you come it’s like watching someone die and come back to life.

Just as you’re calming down from the high Sam’s balls tighten and he comes with a grunt. He drops his face to your neck, teeth sinking into the ruined skin of his original bite. Rutting forward, he fucks you down into the mattress as he fills you so full of his spunk that it leaks around his knot, dripping down the crack of your ass.

“Fuck.” He groans, sucking at the fresh bite. He grinds into you once more before dropping his weight onto your hips. You’re both a mess of sweaty skin and twitching muscles and not much more.

“Ohmygod,” you whimper, clenching and unclenching your fists.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you.” He lays open mouthed kissed across your collarbone, slow and steady. Then moves down as his lips press across the curve of your breasts.

“I forgive everything you’ve ever done.” A lazy, exhausted grin spreads over your face.

Sam chuckles, his breath hot as he sucks at the hollow of your neck. This is the unexpected part of sex with Sam, the part when your bodies are trapped together and your strong, rough Alpha worships you slow and sweet, like a love-sick schoolboy. He lifts himself up, resting on his forearms and gazing down at you like Galileo when he first saw the heavens. You never see these moments coming, just a peek at the tender affection that he doesn’t even know he’s capable of until it pours out of him. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”

“You think so?” He’s fucked you in every position possible. Seen parts of your body that you didn’t know could experience pleasure clench and tremble, but none of that makes you blush the way you are now.

“You should see yourself.” His eyes roam over your face, as his fingers stroke the line of your jaw. “You’re perfect. You’re mine.”

You kiss him, squeezing your legs around his hips. “I’m yours.”

Sam is your other half. The feeling is so strange; it stretches throughout your whole body. It’s overwhelming, yet makes you feel complete. It has no bound nor length nor depth; it’s just absolute.

[cloudyyoonji]

The Lovers Dance

Hwang Hyunjin X Reader 

BASED ON ANON REQUEST 

Summary: Being a trainee is burdensome, but when there’s someone to help share those burdens, you begin to see the lighter side of things. 

 Genre: FLUFF!!!! 

__________________ 

“Y/L/N, Y/N.” 

Breathing a well-held sigh of relief, you step forwards, traces of a smile on your features as you try to suppress your excitement. 

You made it through again. 

No matter how many times your name is called first, you still feel that same excitement; as if all your hard work had finally paid off. 

The trainees around you chorus into claps as you’re bowing respectfully at all the managers. 

Your body shakes with so much excitement, almost in a state of euphoria, despite having been through this so many times prior. 

You’re one step closer now. One step closer to becoming a singer. 

Of course, that was a long way off, after all, you’re only a trainee - and will be for god knows how much longer. 

But this almost stupid number one spot, a spot you’d never even dreamed of getting, made you feel like you were on cloud 9. 

It had bought so many new opportunities for you over the years, meeting idols you had looked up towards for years on end, wishing that you’d be there someday too. 

And somehow it felt like you’d be there. 

Felt. 

The last three years had been anything but easy, a series of countless trials and failures. 

It was hard to get back up at first, but now you were just so used to it. Bouncing back became almost routine. 

If you kept afloat you’d have to get somewhere, right? 

It was undeniable that the idol experience had its perks, meeting so many JYPE Idols that you bonded with, but of course, every high comes with a low, and perhaps this was your low; realising that you're stuck in a vicious cycle of validation and not going anywhere with it. 

Every manager says the same thing; 

‘You have so much talent, why have you not debuted yet?’ 

Your answer never changes.

‘Because there are things I need to improve on.’ 

Your euphoria melts away through the day, the disappearing high leaving you with a sense of absence, restlessness. 

You’re barely concentrating on your studies, slinking off during lunch to the nearest dance practice room to do more practice, as if 6 hours a day just wasn’t enough. It's stupid, you know that, but you just can’t help it. 

Everything needs to be perfect. 

You’re engrossed in the music, becoming one with each note as your body reacts on its own, each move memorised. 

“Yah, Y/N!” 

The shout sends you flinching, almost slamming into the mirror as you swing around to see the door opening, a familiar face sticking through the crack with a large toothy grin over his features. 

The mischievous Kim Seungmin. 

Rolling your eyes at the boy, you place a hand on your heart. 

“Come on, we’ve talked about spontaneous yelling!” 

“Right, sorry about that,” the boy says sheepishly, pushing open to reveal a line of members gathered around him. “But we’ve sort of reserved the studio Y/N.” 

Immediately you’re bowing at the band, a sorry slipping from your lips in such a formal way as they all enter the room. Even though you’d known Seungmin for years, it was hard to not be intimated by the group as a whole, after all; they are idols. 

“C’ mon Y/N you can drop the formalities, we’ve known you for ages.” 

Hyunjin nods at Chan’s words, a wide smile on his features. 

Your heart swells at the sight of his smile, your features mirroring his in an instance. 

Hyunjin was lovely, almost too lovely. 

You hadn’t expected that they would all be so lovely to a trainee, especially when they were so busy most of the time. 

“Chan! Can Y/N-ah stay? We could teach her some dances!” Godbless the maknae and his easygoingness. 

Every inch of you wants to stay, but you know that you probably shouldn’t. Shaking your head, you’re quick to swipe up your belongings. 

“It's okay! Sorry for cutting into your practice time!” You’re almost at the door when a hand catches your arm, turning you to face them. 

Breath hitching in your throat, you stare wide-eyed at a soft Hyunjin, who seems to realise your close proximity, releasing you in an instance. 

“Please stay! We heard you ranked number one again! We could teach you some more advanced things if you’d like!” 

Eyes wandering over all the remaining members, who seem just as enthusiastic as the boy in front of you, you give in, bag slipping from your shoulder and into your hand as you place it in the corner. 

“Okay, but if I’m too much of a nuisance, please tell me and I’ll leave.” 

The next few hours that follow are some of the most useful lessons you’ve ever had. It wasn’t too easy, but it's not too hard either. 

Your all smiles as you’re all packing up for the day, bags bring roughly repacked with jackets and water bottles. 

“You should dance with us more often, you’re a natural.” Minho comments, patting your back as he passes you. 

You thank him, ignoring the tinge of pink on your cheeks as the remaining boys pile out of the room. 

“Y/N!” 

You spin around at the sound of your name, seeing Hyunjin jogging over, bag slung over his shoulder. 

You raise your eyebrows at this. Just what was he doing. 

Letting out a small breath, the boy suddenly looks quite nervous, a hand making his way to the back of his neck. 

“Look,” he begins, looking towards the door for split second. “I think that you’re a talented trainee, and I’ve been thinking about this, and if you’d like some lessons, just like today where we joke around and dance, I’d like to offer to give you some. I mean, that’s only if you’d like of course!” 

He’s not looking at you now, rather everywhere but you. 

You ignore your beating heart, an embarrassed smile creeping onto your lips. 

“I’d like that Hyunjin.” 

The boy seems to sigh in relief, smiling widely at you now. 

“Good! Great! I mean, yeah! We can start tomorrow if you’d like? Maybe just for an hour? Or whatever...” he trails off, a little too excited at the fact you’ll be practising together. 

Placing a gentle hand on his arm as a source of comfort, despite your nervousness. 

“I’ll meet you here at about 6, Hyunjin. I'm looking forward to it!” 

“Yeah, so I am I! Imagine it now, two awesome dancers training together!” 

You laugh, shaking your head at the boy. 

“Let’s do it!” 

The days are quick to turn into weeks and the weeks to months in the blink of an eye. Despite Hyunjin’s busy schedule, he always shows up without fail. You try to ignore the pound of your heart, and the turn of your stomach when he walks through that door, hair a little shaggy. 

You had to keep your relationship strictly a friendship, a friend that was just helping you dance more, sing more, be more. 

A friend who made you feel completely worthy of your number one rank. 

A friend, and nothing more. 

He filled that small void of uncertainty, sharing his struggles as a trainee and offering you unconditional support as you continue training. 

You sigh, looking down at your watch as you make your way to the elevator. Your dancing lessons had gone over time, cutting into the time you danced with Hyunjin. 

Anxiously, you’re pressing the button to the third floor once you're in the elevator, foot bouncing unconsciously as you wait. 

Your body is exhausted, but you can’t let the boy know that, or he’d want to stop the lesson that kept you going through your 6-hour long dance class. 

Floor one. 

Floor two. 

Floor three. 

Racing out of the elevator, you rush towards the practice rooms, opening the door to see a slightly sweating Hyunjin stretching. 

His eyes flick to you in the mirror, a wide smile on his face as he drops his arms to face you. 

“I thought you wouldn’t come.” 

“No!” You exclaim, throwing down your bag to join him in stretching. “I’m sorry! My singing lessons ran over.” 

He nods understandably, helping you up from the floor as l himself stands. 

“Let's do some dancing.” 

And so you do, starting with some easy dances and working your way to some harder songs. 

Your legs hurt with every movement, energy completely draining as you try not to slow your painful expressions in the mirror. 

Taking a breather after running through the choreography for “Miroh”, you reach down for your water bottle, legs almost giving out as you do so. 

Your visions a little blurry, but rest can always fix that. Right? 

“Can we go again?” You ask, standing up after a few long minutes, itching to do something to preoccupy your beating heart and your blurry vision. 

“Now?” He asks, watching you incredulously as you return to the centre of the studio, looking for a song on your phone. 

You nod at him through the mirror, settling on “DNA”. 

As soon as that first move had passed through your body, you knew that you weren’t too well. 

It’s not till halfway your vision truly becomes incomprehensibly bad. 

Your movements become sloppy, delayed even. You don’t know if he notices them, but when your ankle rolls, body hitting the floor like a ton of bricks, he is right beside you in an instance, helping you sit. 

“I’m okay! It’s fine really, I just misstepped!” 

His eyes search yours, and it’s soon crystal clear he knows. 

“You’re exhausted. You need to rest. You shouldn’t dance for more than 8 hours without refuelling your body, Y/N.” 

So he knows. Well shit. 

“I saw you dancing before this. The door was open and I saw you as I was walking past. God, you’re so damn instant on the harder dances.” 

You shrug, a lazy smile on your features. “I like the challenge.” 

He smiles, shaking his head at you. “You’re crazy you know that right?” 

He’s quick, you’ll give him that. 

“Lucky I like you!” He exclaims, passing you the bottle that had been in his bag a second before, a granola bar in his other hand. 

It seems that time stops for a second, you both freezing as your fingers make contact on the bottle, his words settling in. 

“Oh shit.” 

It’s barely above a whisper, but you still hear it, eyes going wide as your skin flushes scarlet. 

“You... you like me?” You splutter, a little confused at the accidental confession.  

“I mean, there’s no use hiding it now,” he’s not looking at you, rather the bar in his hand, fingers tapping nervously. “But yeah I do like you. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way. Oh god, I just made things so awkward. I’m sorry-” 

“It’s okay,” you interrupt his ramble, avoiding his eyes. “Because I like you too Hyunjin.” 

“Oh.” 

Time feels still for what feels like months, both as awkward as each other as you estrange awkward glances at each other. 

“Can... can I take you out? Like on a date, not a dancing session. I mean we can do another dancing session if you like-” 

You cut him off with a gentle hand on his and a sincere smile. 

“Hyunjin I would love to go on a date with you.” 

He sighs in relief, finally looking at you. “Well good. How’s tomorrow night at 6? I’ll wait for you outside the dorms.” 

You nod, looking down at your slightly intertwined hands now, a red tinge on your cheeks. 

“That sounds perfect.”

[hellyeahheroes]

“If you are poor how do you have an iPhone”

This is something that was gnawing at me for several weeks by now. Very recently comicbook twitter has gone on an anti-piracy outrage when one of the indie creators found out their comic book, that same one that had to change from selling in floppies to only selling in trades due to low sales, had hundreds of thousands of views on a pirate website. Due to the respect I have for that creator, I want to preface that what I am about to discuss is not a defense of piracy per se. it is not an argument that even applies in a large scale to indie scene that by far avoids some of the issues I will be talking about.

While I would never openly condone piracy, I have found myself playing devil’s advocate on that day out of sheer anger at one very specific argument that I have seen being thrown around by people condemning piracy. The exchange usually went like this - someone would go and try to say that comics are too expensive and that person would then be mocked for posting from their iPhone or another company equivalent. Every time I saw such behavior I have called it out. In some cases, people would apologize upon me explaining why this line of argument is out of the line. But in one a person had gotten furious I dared to question them, quickly devolving to childish insults and outright toxic behavior (the fact this person is an editor at Geeks World Wide made me completely give up on that website). But that is beside the point.

I want to just make it very clear that this “argument” is rooted in classism and, quite frankly, doesn’t even work. Let us explain the latter first

1. Why You Cannot Just Buy A Single Book

First I want to give the benefit of the doubt to the people using this argument. So we will do something dreadful and talk about math. For the purpose of this argument, I’m even going to go as far as not address the fact that even if you buy an iPhone through installment payments, at one point you are supposed to just have finished paying for the hardware. Meanwhile comic books expect you to keep buying if not one title, then hopefully another effectively forever. This fact in itself breaks the whole line of argument; A person could have wrapped up paying for the iPhone long before they ended in a financial situation where they cannot afford even comics. I will be ignoring this to address what I believe to be a steel man version of the argument - the strongest possible interpretation I can imagine. But even if we assume we live in a capitalist nightmare of endless payments, the rhetorics do not hold water.

Currently, on Apple official store, the newest iPhone11 costs you 30 dollars a month, while iPhone11 Pro is for 25$. In theory, the comparison that is presented should therefore work. After all, if you can afford 25$ dollars you can easily spare $5 for a comic book, right? For that price, you could buy as much as 4 comic books each month. Except that this assumption comes from a perspective that in order to read a single comic book all you need to do is buy that one comic book. Which is not the case. Or rather, it might be a case if we’re talking about independent publishers or markets like European or manga. But is certainly not one for Marvel and DC. While the problem is better than it once was we still regularly end in a situation where, in order to understand what is going on in a single Big 2 book, you need to read several others. This is a common case with big events. Let’s take a look at recently finished Absolute Carnage

This event had the gall to ask you to buy seven books and then upped it to nine. Nine comic books roughly 5 dollars per issue is 45$. To buy all of it would be to spend the equivalent of your iPhone11 Pro fee for five months.

Someone might now say that you obviously do not need to read the entire event. But the truth is, you do not really know that when it comes to making preorders. The event comics are deliberately constructed in such a way to trick people into thinking they have to buy all of it to understand what is going on. It was true when they were humongous, reaching even a hundred issues like the first Civil War, and it is true now. And while veteran fans have learned that usually you only need to follow main series and tie-ins written by its writer, even that can be a strain on someone’s budget. It might be that this person could only afford this one, single comic book. So when they suddenly find what might be their only source of entertainment incomprehensible without paying more money, they may face a dilemma. Deny yourself your one source of joy for any duration of time from a month to half of a year. Or quickly pirate that one book you never wanted to and was never interested in buying in the first place until you had the title you were paying for effectively held hostage.

I want to underline this is not just events. The most outrageous case of this issue right now is the X-Men line since Jonathan Hickman’s takeover. Which has become so self-referential you need to read all the titles in order to understand any single one. Without doing it the books become incomprehensible. This is me speaking from experience here. I was only interested in a single title from the initial launch. But the moment I saw characters talking about events from another book in a way that assumes I’m up to speed, I dropped it. 

In order to get into this so-called great new jumping-in point as it launched fans needed to first spend around $20 a month to buy two miniseries for 3 months. And as Dawn of X rolled in, the number of books rose and keeps rising. X-Men, X-Force, bi-weekly New Mutants, Excalibur and Fallen Angels already request you to invest an equivalent of the monthly price of an iPhone11. And they soon shall be joined by Wolverine, Hellions, Cable, X-Men/Fantastic Four and possibly monthly Giant-Size X-Men. Those keeping attention to the math part might have noticed we are a single series (and we are lead to believe there is more than one coming) from X-Men becoming an investment equal to paying for two separate iPhone11s each month. It is proof that the Big 2 has adopted a “more eggs, fewer baskets” mentality. This customer-unfriendly approach to storytelling seems by design prone to weeding out and turning away all but big spenders who can afford to regularly buy multiple books. it is not different from the exploitative systems we find in video games, designed to prioritize so-called “whales”, as the industry came to call people who can blow ungodly amounts of money on a game, over regular customers.

2. The Rhetoric Itself Is Flawed

However, even if the hypothetical scenario presented by people using the “why do you have an iPhone” argument was true, we need to recognize how toxic this argument is. First of all, this whole line of reasoning is out of touch and assumes that a working iPhone is a luxury, while more and more times in modern society it becomes a necessity. I live in Poland and have not encountered this issue yet, I keep hearing of people who simply cannot get a job without having an iPhone. It’s because more and more fields require you to have working company apps or use them to find new workers in the first place. The miniature computer in your hand has become such a utility tool it now is actively getting harder to operate in modern society without affording it. This line of argument only betrays that you are out of touch almost as much as a similar argument being used to claim people who have flatscreen TVs are not “really poor”. Currently, flatscreens are only TVs being produced and sold anymore, cheap for purchase and cheaper to maintain than a full-sized TV long time out of use and with spare parts likely no longer produced.

Moreover, you don’t really know how exactly that specific person’s financial situation is. It may be that yes, they can afford an iPhone out of necessity but it does require them to be on a tight budget. Maybe the phone itself is actually passed on from a family member - speaking here as someone whose every phone ever was such a gift. It may even be that the person had to work extremely hard and save up a lot to afford this phone and simply is not able to expand on their profits anymore. Or, as mentioned above, that they once could and finished paying for the last installment but have fallen on hard times ever since. The list goes on. The crux of it is that you do not know other people’s stories and have no right to hold them to some arbitrary standards without that knowledge.

Which brings me to my final point - the whole argument relies on perpetuating a myth of “properly poor” people. The made-up image of nobly suffering poor who deny themselves any and all form of luxury in life (and remember, we established that the whole argument relies on seeing modern phones as a luxury, not a necessity they have become) to save money to get themselves out of poverty. Not to mention a similar myth of “kindhearted poor” who gladly give up what little they have to help others - the kind media love to perpetuate to distract from how bad the state of society is to lead to this situation in the first place. This not only does mispresent how the whole capitalist system is rigged to make it easier to save money the higher up the financial ladder you climb, but it also does not understand human nature. Human beings aren’t machines and it is impossible to really go through every single day without some sort of relief. Sometimes it may be a video game or a dinner at a fancy restaurant. Sometimes it may be a smartphone. Or a luxury item you never plan to use but just want to have to remind you what your goal is.

Yet our society made a game out of shaming and being judgmental to every poor person who spends even the tiniest amount of money on escapism, on any sort of relief from how stressful poverty is. And, speaking as someone who had panic attacks caused by sudden financial expenses wrecking my monthly budget, it is stressful. We expect people to act as all forms of entertainment and escapism aren’t also contributing to one of our human needs, the need to simply be able to wind down for even a moment, and thus not worth spending money on. Then we judge them if they resort to illegal means to fulfill that need. 

I would go as far as making the argument this is a self-perpetuating problem. This very line of thinking, that poor must be at all times miserable and them spending even the slightest amount of money on anything nice is worth scorn? it is what actively encourages them to resort to piracy even if they could afford to buy comics. They are being constantly told by society they shouldn’t buy themselves anything not essential. And then the society acts surprised when they then fulfill their needs through illegal means to save money. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

I am not making this post to defend piracy. But I think we need to seriously consider what kind of rhetorics is being used to condemn it and what it actually says about people who use it and those who silently nod in agreement.

- Admin

[sazorak]

Every Game I Played in 2019, Ranked

 2019 sure was a year that happened where I happened to play some video games. Here’s the ones I played enough to form opinions, in a rough ranked order of preference.

It’s kind of weird that I’ve done this for five years now, but hey. I like to talk about things that I like / dislike. Hopefully you’ll empathize with my complaints, and give ones I enjoyed a try.

As a bonus, I also tweeted about the anime I watched and enjoyed this year.

2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018

Orm & Cheep: Narrow Squeaks – 1985 – ZX Spectrum – ★

How far would you go for a joke? For the sake of a joke, I spent an hour beating an incomprehensible, shitty ZX Spectrum Game about Orm & Cheep, an 80s British children show I only know about from a Trash Night video making fun of it.

Orm & Cheep: Birthday Party – 1985 – ZX Spectrum – ★

… and also this one, though Birthday Party is marginally better than Narrow Squeaks. Marginally. Extremely marginally. Congratulations to Orm & Cheap: Birthday Party.

16. River City Girls – 2019 – Switch – ★★★

The style of River City Girls is great. I like a lot of what it’s doing in terms of look and sound. It’s just that… well, River City Ransom’s gameplay was interesting something-like 30 years ago. Gameplay wise, this game hasn’t evolved that much from OG RC Ransom. The combat certainly feels better, but as far as it controls… I can’t tell if it’s not taking advantage of modern controllers and just sticking too close to the original’s control scheme, or if side-scrolling beat-em-ups are themselves just so staid and dated these days that there’s not much to be done. I just wasn’t having much fun, and the RC Ransom progression of new techniques and stat boosting didn’t exactly make me want to keep going.

It’s a real shame because in terms of pure aesthetics and concept, the game is amazing. I just don’t actually enjoy playing it. Oh well!

15. Baba is You – 2019 – Switch – ★★★

The core gameplay concept of Baba is You is fantastic. The way you manipulate nouns and verbs to construct phrases that operate as equations in a physical environment is super interesting. The early goings of the game were quite fun.

The problem I have with this game is that when you hit a wall in it, that wall can sometimes be impenetrable. I found that Baba is You is at times too subtle with its attempt to “teach” you tricks or onboard you into approaches to puzzles; it’s possible to come to solutions without taking away the lesson the designer intended, which can make later puzzles basically impossible.

The difficulty curve feels all over the place; I was extremely high on this game early on, but after getting completely blocked moving forward for hours on end, with the only real recourse being to either look stuff up or stare at past puzzles to try to figure out what apparently crucial lesson I missed despite coming to my own solutions, I ultimately decided to just do something else.

14. Cadence of Hyrule – 2019 – Switch – ★★★

Zelda has great music. Crypt of the Necrodancer has pretty good rhythm-game action. Combine them, and you get… well, it turns out you get a pretty OK procedurally generated Zelda-game with Necrodancer mechanics, I suppose. The appeal is easy to understand, though I’m personally not sure I care much for the final product.

I enjoyed the original Necrodancer well enough as a simple run-based, short-ish rhythm dungeon crawler. The brevity of each given “run” (stemming in part from my own inadequate skill, I suppose) worked well with the style of gameplay, in that it never really became much of a chore.

Meanwhile, I enjoy Zelda as an extended puzzle adventure game where there’s an innate unthinking flow to the actions. I’m not typically thinking much about the moment-to-moment about the actual mechanics of the action; the brain’s desires flow directly to the motion on the screen, as it were.

Combining the two results in a Necrodancer experience that’s way too long, and a Zelda experience that is way harder to control. Add the fact that the procedurally generated world isn’t that interesting and I’m just rather lukewarm on this. Meh!

13. Super Robot Wars T – 2019 – PS4 – ★★★

It’s fantastic that Super Robot Wars is finally getting proper, high-quality localizations again. It felt like a dream to finally be able to play this franchise again after being forced to stop after the DS era. Playing through the rather roughly translated, and somewhat monotonous SRW OG: Moon Dwellers was good because the OG games tended to have the highest production values and narrative quality (missing out on 2nd OG may have also helped). SRW V was my first foray into the more recent non-OG games, and so shined as something rather fresh to me.

Two years on, and two Super Robot Wars releases later, it’s plain to see that Super Robot Wars’ current annual release cadence is not great. It results in incredibly repetitive, monotonous games that rely heavily on asset reuse— both between games, and even within the same game. Part of the problem is that the derivativeness doesn’t feel additive. It’s not like SRW T is SRW V + SRW X + New Stuff; it’s more that SRW T is a reskinned SRW V, with some heavy series-asset reuse to boot. I think it’d be a bit more tolerable if it felt like these games were building on each other, but every single one feels exactly as slight and mechanically weak.

Super Robot Wars’ combat have not been particularly good from a tactical sense for a long time now. The original OG games were probably the last time the combat was particularly interesting for me, as it presented an actual challenge and difficulty curve. Nowadays, they are entirely fanservice cakewalks, even on the hardest modes. Hell, they’ve apparently decided that increasing the difficulty of the game means you don’t get to chase the special challenge goals, which actually can paradoxically make portions of the hard-mode actually easier than the normal. Bizarre!

 I guess the idea is “well, folks are playing this to see the bits, so if it’s hard they won’t!” Which… I disagree? If the gameplay is deeply unsatisfying, why wouldn’t I just watch the damn series? Crossover shenanigans don’t mean much whey you don’t do much with it. Fanservice talking heads ain’t enough!

The addition of Cowboy Bebop and the return of GaoGaiGar and Gunbuster should have had me onboard. The series list for this game is fantastic. But what they do with it is so flat that about 30 chapters in, I just… stopped. It wasn’t worth it. I’d plainly seen all that it had to offer. Easy, slow, and repetitive gameplay isn’t appealing to me, even if I do get to see Spike Spiegel doing sky donuts to take out a Zaku.

Additionally: stop putting Nadesico in these games. The units are boring, the plot is boring. Stop devoting so much time to it! It sucks!!

12. Ape Out – 2019 – Switch – ★★★★

Ape Out is a game where you’re a big ol’ gorilla murdering guys with guns while dope ass percussive jazz drums play to the action. It’s cool, it’s short, it could honestly probably do with being somewhat shorter, but whatever. I enjoyed it.

BattleTech – 2018 – Steam – ★★★★

Despite being famously a “mecha guy”, BattleTech has never really been my thing. While I’m not opposed to mecha-as-tank-analog, it’s not my primary focus in the genre; I like my robots to be fast, really. I like mecha getting into melee and fucking shit up. Mecha for me is a power fantasy. That’s not really BattleTech / MechWarrior’s thing. That all being said, I quite enjoyed my time with BattleTech, the PC-game rendition of the tabletop thing. It’s a neat turn-based tactical robot combat RPG with an interesting overarching campaign structure… to a point.

The first issue I had is pacing. While the game is turn-based, the combat and movement plays out in real-time. And given how lumbering these robots are, this means that a single mission can take aaaages. Think 45 minutes to an hour for a single mission. It took me about 20-30 hours to get to the campaign’s halfway point, which is when the game really started to sour on me.

The second issue is one of variance. Let me run you through the fundamental loop of the game. You are a mercenary captain that has a ship of mechs and mech pilots, and you fly around from planet to planet taking on jobs. You need money to pay for your ship to keep going, as well as to pay your pilots. It’s expensive to outfit your mechs, and severe damage to them can both REALLY eat into your budget and also take weeks in-game to repair. Missions are rated based on difficulty, and you are expected generally to field a greater “tonnage” of mechs in excess to that difficulty. This all plays out pretty well.

The game starts with you possessing mostly lighter mechs, and as you progress, you’re presented more and more missions in the campaign that require increasingly beefier mechs with more armor and more guns. Whereas in the tabletop game there’s presumably a kind of “point” system by which players are given a limited amount of tonnage that they can field on any given mission (for purposes of balance), there’s no such limit in the game; as such, you’re encouraged to field the four-ish beefiest robots you have, as they’re the most likely to kill everything fast while coming out with the least damage.

How do you get these beefy mechs? Well, you don’t buy them; instead, you’re aiming to kill opposing pilots and leave their robots as much intact as possible so that you can salvage or steal them. It’s kind of amusing; your entire gameplan after a point becomes “how the fuck do I shake this robot around a bunch such that its pilot dies???” It makes sense in practice, but if you think about it for even a second it comes across rather silly. Given you need good mechs to progress, you don’t have much other choice other than just running tonnnsss of missions and hoping you eventually get enough mech fragments to reconstruct some of your own. But beefy-ness isn’t the whole story, as some of the robots you can get just plain suck, regardless of their tonnage. You’re basically rolling dice again and again hoping a robot worthy of stealing shows up so you can kill its friends, and try to kill its pilot as gently as possible. You go through this cycle four times, across the four different weight-classes, until you’ve got what you need in terms of a team of class-appropriate mechs.

The fundamental lack of variety in what you field combines with every single mission really being “how do I kneecap everyone” instead of the given mission objective to make the game quite samey. Mission types don’t vary much, and the environments don’t constrain you all that much, either; the only ones that are particularly interesting are moons and Mars-like planets where your mechs’ ability to regulate their heat become much more constrained, which can necessitate loadout changes.  

I enjoyed the story enough for what it was, but honestly? After 30 hours, I was pretty much good. I had a good time with BattleTech, but I’d had my fill.

Mortal Kombat X – 2015 – Steam – ★★★★

In my ongoing adventure of playing the Mortal Kombat games for their goofy plot / story modes and nothing else, I played Mortal Kombat X. I’m not sure there’s much to talk about these other than “Hey I enjoy their dumb ongoing narrative; I wonder where they’ll go from here!”

11. Mortal Kombat XI – 2019 – Steam – ★★★★

Ditto. The plot for these games are getting sillier and sillier, and the ending of XI may be the most ridiculous yet. In a good way.

10. Devil May Cry V – 2019 – Steam – ★★★★

Character action games are heavily predicated on the question of “How do we spice the game up over time so that it stays interesting… without overwhelming the player?” Devil May Cry V’s answer is “well, we’ll slowly give them more characters with their own expanding skill sets, that’ll be neat!”

It is neat, but I’m not sure it was actually a good idea. The three protagonists all have extremely different move sets, meaning that the forced switches between them on a chapter-to-chapter basis results in you never really mastering any one of them. Each character has a ton of depth, but… take, for example, Nero, the “main” protagonist. He has a sub-mechanic involved with revving his motorcycle sword to boost damage. I never actually figured out how to get to work. Never really had to, because he had so many other mechanics that were also effective, and I never had much time with him alone to dial in the weird motorcycle thing.

DMCV also does probably my least favorite gameplay gimmick of “introduce new mechanics in a boss battle!” Like great, you gave me a whole new move set here, and are now going to rate me on my performance when you’ve never given me a chance to learn these skills? Oh wait, you’re giving me new mechanics in the final boss battle!?! Fuck off. That sucks!

Also, I think I’m an outlier, but I actually preferred playing as V, the control-three-characters-at-once-while-reading-a-book guy. Just felt like I dialed his move set in easier. Weird.

9. Untitled Goose Game – 2019 – Switch – ★★★★

I’m not going to pretend that this is a deep game, or an enduring game, or even necessarily a great game. But I had a lot of fun with it, I have a lot of good memories thinking about it, and I am glad that so many people out there are now wrestling with the fact that birds can be both terrible and also good. Untitled Goose Game carries a powerful message about avian kind. You would do well to learn from it.

8. Super Mario Maker 2 – 2019 – Switch – ★★★★

Mario Maker 2 is such an incremental upgrade to Mario Maker that it hardly feels like it earns that “2”. That being said: Mario Maker 1 is pretty darn good so it’s not like that’s all that bad. The additional mechanics and story mode are good, granted, but like… I had been wanting more than just Mario Maker 1.5.

As is, it was pretty easy to get bored with Mario Maker pretty quickly, given it was mostly a game I’d already played quite a bit before. The addition of the campaign held my interest for a fair amount of time, but I’m not exactly coming back to this all that often. Hopefully the content updates they seem to be rolling into it keep up.

7. Kind Worlds: Lo-Fi Beats to Write To – 2019 – Steam – ★★★★

This is less a video game and more a sort of vague pen-pal application masquerading as a game, but man… the existence of this thing is neat. It’s just a program where folks write letters about their problems, and people send them stuff back. That’s it.  It’s kind of a sweet thing to just exist.

I’m not a person with what would one term especially Heavy Problems, but just going through other folks letters and giving them an encouraging word is itself nice.

6. The Outer Worlds – 2019 – Epic Game Store – ★★★★

Having been deeply disappointed with the quality of Fallout 4, I was very happy to see Obsidian come back to do their own Fallout-a-like. The Outer Worlds isn’t perfect; I wish it had a bit more of a bite, the gunplay was… fine, the environment design was kind of dull, and the gameplay loop did not outlast the length of the game itself. But I had a fun enough time with it.

That said, I think the dearth of me having much to say here sort of speaks to how… rather unambitious the writing and design ended up being. There’s not a ton to say about it. It’s more responsive than a Fallout 4, to be sure, but even that caps out at a point. It doesn’t necessarily offer much in the way of RPG-style different “paths” to develop your character in terms of who they are or how they behave, beyond the sort-of four-way axis of “grouch to nice” and “corporatist to socialist.” The skill tree ends up being pretty flat, and you can basically become a master of everything by the end.

Shruggo.

5. Pokémon Sword – 2019 – Switch – ★★★★

Pokémon Sword/Shield is a bizarre thing— its design is constantly fighting against itself. There are tons of ease-of-use improvements– but it somehow has some of the worst online in the series. It gives you dozens of complex, half-explained systems— but also feels the need to hold your hand lest you get lost in its incredibly linear, dull story. It adds challenging Pokémon raid battles that you largely need to team up with other players to beat— but also has one of the most trivial progressions in the series. It has a huge and varied open “Wild Area” where you can catch hundreds of Pokémon before ever facing the first gym— but that wild area largely exists as a world unto its own separate from the traditional Pokémon “routes”. It doesn’t want to have a plot up until the very end when it decides that gee, I guess we have to, even if it makes no sense.

Let’s go into these in more detail.

Sword/Shield introduces a ton of gameplay improvements. Auto-saving, while problematic in places, is super useful. The ability to move Pokémon directly from the box to your party is great, and removes a lot of process headaches. Single hand controls are a godsend for both improved accessibility and general ease of use. Items are way easier to get, Pokemon are easier to raise, and this is probably the easiest game in the entire series to breed and raise “high tier” Pokemon for online battling.

On the other hand: despite your friend list being loaded into the game, you are forced to use a bizarre password system and request system that is super confusing and prone to issues. You cannot directly trade or battle or play with friends except through this, which occasionally results in headaches anytime someone uses the same four-digit password as you and your bud. The Max Raid battle system is super poorly explained in-game in terms of how you find and join others raids— I only divined it by a tweet someone made. They did away with the “GTS” trading system they had used for the past decade that allowed global Pokemon bartering, presumably in favor of encouraging more natural trades— but didn’t give any way to actually communicate with people in game what you want to trade for. It encourages more in-person interaction, but that’s once again playing into Game Freak’s obsession with the Japanese mode of gaming.

Sword/Shield perhaps has the most sheer amount of systems in any one of these games. It’s not necessarily all good, but in terms of “wow, you’re not babying us huh” it is at least interesting. There’s Pokemon that evolve based on absurd, never-explained conditions like “number of crits in a single battle”, “pass underneath this specific rock when they’re at low health”, “spin baby spin.” The wild area has tons of mechanical stuff that they let you explore without forcing your hand much, and they let you explore it freely without really railroading you. There’s a separate wild-area specific currency system based on raids / dens that you just stumble upon unprompted, really.

On the other hand, the core story progression of the game though… is perhaps the most infuriatingly patronizing thing I’ve experienced. Cutscenes happen every 15 seconds, often-times forcing your movement, and are almost of zero consequence beyond someone going HEY YOU SHOULD GO THAT WAY. The game is completely unwilling to let you get lost when going through the story. It’s constant, it’s unrelenting, it’s maddening. It literally made me mad.

Pokémon Raid battles are super interesting. The battles themselves aren’t necessarily hard, but the kinds of things they present— in terms of providing access to unique Pokémon, rare items, and the fact that they’re not as “rinse-and-repeat” as normal battles— gives the system and game increased longevity. It’s a pretty deep system, with meaningful rewards. A five-star battle is time consuming and you run the risk of failing, but if you pull it off you can get items like TRs, EXP candies, even bottle caps (super useful items that let you increase the baseline stat “DNA” of your Pokémon), and the captured Pokémon can have unique moves you’d normally have to breed and possess extremely high baseline stats. You can even get hidden secret abilities! Nice!

On the other hand: the core game progression is so piss easy and straight forward. The game’s leveling curve is all out of whack, in part because their introduction of a forced “always on” EXP share. In older games, you’d only get EXP from actively battling and beating a Pokemon in a fight, or having participated in a fight. Now, your whole team gets EXP just from being around, and you also get EXP from catching Pokemon, making curry, and all sorts of other small activities. All of this is fine or even good in the abstract as it makes raising stuff easier, but the game isn’t well balanced around it. Encounters don’t scale, which can result in you steamrolling the game if you engage with any of the game’s other systems prior to beating the game. I had to compensate by stretching my normal party of six into a party of 10, constantly swapping members out to keep the average level across the party down. Additionally, the only non-PVP reason to train and breed pokes, the Battle Tower, is so trivially easy this time that… why bother??

The wild area system is brilliant. A big criticism I’ve had with this series in the past is that the kinds of Pokemon any given player is bound to encounter and capture tend to be pretty similar. The limited amount of Pokemon that tend to be put on a traditional Pokemon route, and the limited means you have to encounter them (“hey I walk through the grass, we’ll see what pops up”) doesn’t trend towards players ending up with very different party compositions, just because there’s not a ton of options at any given point. The wild area completely tosses that out the window. As an open space, the types of things someone encounters will vary wildly— and it’s further varied by player-specific weather conditions that dynamically change the encounter tables. It completely opens up the kinds of Pokemon one can encounter early on, presenting hundreds of appropriately leveled options for players. It’s brilliant. The intermixing of both grass-only, overworld-visible, and raid-specific Pokemon also increases the range of encounters. It’s the accomplishment of the core Pokemon concept of “explore and find everything.” Finally.

On the other hand: the wild area is actually kind of boring to explore, visually speaking. It’s basically the Ocarina of Time field with sporadic patches of grass. There’s little actually diversity or mechanics to its exploration, especially when compared to the fact that… the game still has normal routes. They still behave as they always have, except that by the total remove of “Hidden Machine” mobility moves, the ability to explore geographically has been severely hampered. There’s no “gee, I can’t get there yet, guess I’ll have to come back later” except for a single mobility mechanic (the ability to go over the water, introduced very late in the game). It makes revisiting past areas mostly a box-checking exercise, and in general feels like an odd juxtaposition. They either should went all-in on the wild area or better merged the concepts together, because as is it feels… weird. Especially because the wild area could have done with being bigger and more diverse looking.

The game spends most of its time having no story at all, which is kind of boring. Juxtaposed with the railroading stuff where there’s still constant cutscenes with their mostly mediocre characters who don’t do all that much, it almost comes across as padding than anything. There are good characters (Piers and Marnie are the best, the gym leaders in general are good) but man do they try too hard to put Leon over.

But then at the end they introduce the story super quickly and it’s very dumb in a way that made me laugh out loud so congrats I guess.

All in all, I rather liked Sword/Shield. It’s no Sun/Moon— which innovated in tons of places and had an extremely charming story, cast, and progression— but the places that it innovates, and the ease-of-use improvements that they’ve put in the game, are great improvements to the baseline formula. While it’s caused a ton of drama online, the Pokédex and Pokémon Bank stuff are not huge impacts on my personal enjoyment of the game. It kind of stinks a bit, but the overall package is still quite good and fun. 

 The Legend of the Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Master Mode – 2017 – Switch – ★★★★★

Breath of the Wild was my favorite game the year it was released. The harder Master Mode is something that had interested me as something to check out for a replay, but I decided to wait until the shadow of my previous playthrough loomed somewhat less. Breath of the Wild is, after all, both a monumental game and also a monumentally large game. Going back to it for Master Mode would mean (by way of my own obsessive brain) 100%ing it all over again, which is extremely time consuming, even if I don’t go after the all the Koroks.

There was also this sort of reticence in my behind to confront the creeping suspicion I’ve had in my mind that some of the DLC additions have made the core game worse. Which, I would say… is probably somewhat the case. Certain DLC gear items extremely imbalance standard play and really fuck with the exploration of the game (specifically, Majora’s Mask basically making you not have to fight multiple enemy types). Still, I knew I could ignore those, and just focus down on the core experience of Master Mode: harder enemies, regenerating enemy health, and the introduction of floating platforms.

Turns out, BOTW is still fucking amazing, and while the additions Master Mode make aren’t essential, they do make for a fun second run of a fantastic game. The harder enemies make the early parts of that game WAY HARDER (making you really have to get good at using your bombs and stealth), and while that difficulty ramp doesn’t keep up throughout (which, honestly, the platforms are somewhat to blame as they make getting certain bits of higher-level loot earlier easier), it’s still just a great game to go back to.

Breath of the Wild remains my all-time favorite game. Hyped for BOTW2.

4. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – 2019 – Steam – ★★★★★

Sekiro is in a sense the purest expression of the Souls formula. Stripped away of the jolly co-op, the PVP, the stats, the equipment, and most customization to speak of, Sekiro asks the simple question: can you do this? Can you learn all the systems in this quite challenging game, and engage with it on its own terms?

In its mechanical simplicity, I found Sekiro to be my favorite game of that lineage, as it has allowed them to really polish the gameplay by its singular focus. It just feels amazing to stealth around and backstab dudes, parry everything, and triumph in nail-biting sword duels. While you do gain new skills and equipment (in the form of the ninja tools), they are just supplementing the fundamental systems of the game, rather than acting as diverging ones. So really, most of your time is spent not learning wholly new methods of combat, but instead improving your mastery of the core one.

And the feel of mastering that combat is incredible. By the end you feel unstoppable; normal enemies that would have been challenges early on are nothing. Even a lot of the bosses become trivial as-time goes on, bar the few ‘mastery test’ bosses interleaved throughout the progression. This isn’t some “hey I got more EXP and now over-level for everything!” thing, either; this is me, the human holding the controller getting skilled enough to become a Sekiro master. It’s an amazing feeling.

I beat every single boss in the game, including the hidden ones, and enjoyed the hell out of it.

3. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night – 2019 – Steam – ★★★★★

I’m very much on the record as being a huge IGAvania partisan. I fuckin’ love the core loop of that permutation of the Metroidvania formula. Koji Igarashi no longer being able to make Castlevanias hurt me. A lot. Over a decade of time spanned between the last IGAvania game, Order of Ecclesia, and the release of Bloodstained. I was a bit worried.

Thank god Bloodstained is really, really, really good.

Bloodstained is extremely “one of those.” You move about a 2D interconnected world, collect items and abilities until you find the stuff that let you move forward in a new area. It’s kind of an eclectic hybrid of IGA’s past titles. The castle design feels very Aria of Sorrow. The shard mechanics feel close to Aria/Dawn of Sorrow’s soul system. The weapons feel very Symphony of the Night meets Portrait of Ruin. The overall mechanics of movement feel most akin to Order of Ecclesia. All in all: a good mix.

The game is massive. There’s so many weird one-off mechanics (something I appreciate), bizarre callbacks, goofs. There’s an in-depth alchemy system (mostly used for cooking, which is funny). The shard system is a bit boring in places— some shards are extremely simple and forgettable mechanically— but the shard leveling system is kind of hilarious in how broken it can become. The familiar system from SOTN is back and has been essentially perfected by making it a dedicated slot so you can just hang with a fairy or sword pal.

I wish the game had more enemy diversity, and the story left something to be desired. Many shards just aren’t very interesting. But the game is just so dang fun. The core gameplay loop is just so compelling, and the game just feels so dang good. I’m glad they took all the time to polish the gameplay feel because hooooooooooo boy.

Looking forward to those DLC characters for some additional playthroughs.

2. Outer Wilds – 2019 – Epic Game Store – ★★★★★

“Space exploration”, “cosmology”, “archeology”, and “sociology.” While these are certainly not the only fields that dominate much of my attention, they are some big ones. The Outer Wilds is a space exploration game where you explore the structure of a strange but exquisitely constructed solar system, and dig through the remains of a mysterious vanished alien species. Also, you’re stuck in a Majora’s Mask-like apocalyptic time loop ‘cuz the sun keeps exploding. Should probably find out why that’s happening.

I went into this game completely blind, entirely based on the way Austin Walker was raving about it on twitter. Austin’s interests in heady space shit is pretty similar to my own, and turns out? Worked out quite well for me. I blindly explored this solar system for about twenty hours over the course of a couple weeks, and came away from the experience misty eyed at the ending. Outer Wilds is fantastic.

It’s a surprisingly touching and cozy for a game that mostly about you going off into space on your own, all alone. And that’s because you’re not, really. Outer Wilds is less about the science of exploration and archeology and the meaning of it, why it matters even in the darkest moments. Why do we explore? Why does science matter, divorced from the parasite of industry and markets? What value does it give to us, to future generations?

The game is built on the notion that even as we individually wander, explore, and discover, we’re all together collectively building on something that may outlive us, even outlive our species, the pursuit of a collective knowledge that transcends personal enrichment and individual accomplishments.

You are but one a few alien explorers, each on their own adventure. As you adventure, you catch their signals as you cruise across space. The things you learn and do are further built on the relics and messages left behind by the Nomai, the species that came before. This sense of a personal and emotional connection in the act of discovery is the heart of this game. We’re not standing on the shoulders of giants; we’re holding hands with those before us and those after us to build a bridge to a future that we may not live to see.

It’s a positive message of hope in the face of oblivion. 

1. Fire Emblem: Three Houses – 2019 – Switch – ★★★★★

I’ve been really on-and-off on Fire Emblem over the years. I first got in on the franchise with Awakening, which I rather liked for its anime-ass sensibilities— though not without criticism. I found the combat kind of obnoxious in its tendency to get muddied down in the Oops You Done Fucked Up, Time To Reset junk. It was too anime-ass in some places, not the least of which being its incredibly one-note characters who had little bearing on ongoing events so as to support the permadeath system without too much wasted effort on the developers’ part. Fates, the follow-up on Awakening, only amped up these criticisms, becoming convoluted, stupid, and kind of obnoxious to play.

I had hopes that Three Houses would be an improvement. Initial impressions made it seem way more serious, way more grounded, with a lot of improved systems. Turns out: it was better than I could have dared of expected or hoped. Three Houses isn’t improvement, or even innovation; it’s a revolution.

Three Houses is great. It’s long, it’s got so many different systems going on that I hardly know where to begin with describing it, but… it’s great. It’s the platonic ideal of what I’d like out of a Fire Emblem. Things feel like they matter. The setting feels weighty, the plot is actually good, and the characters are absolutely marvelous.  

No, it’s not perfect— its handling of representation could DEFINITELY be better. Some of the narrative is hokey as hell in places. Certain routes seem to have gotten more attention than others. The class-based specialization systems could do with more depth such that so many characters don’t end up mostly identically specialized to each other.

But… I found the combat extremely enjoyable.  The charge-based rewind mechanic removed the feel-bad gotchas of unanticipated troop appearances and bad rolls etc. The characters are fun, and they’re kept relevant all the whole way through via creative framing of events. The ability to roam an actual physical space via the monastery made the world feel more alive, and made everything feel more real.

The writing was actually interesting and nuanced, exploring things like faith, race, social classes, feudal politics, and romance. While the three routes are largely similar, it’s interesting just how different the underlying messages of each of them ends up being. I appreciate that in this game where you otherwise spend most of your time hanging around with nobles in a church ends just short of you rolling out the guillotines by the end.

This is a tactical RPG in 2019 that I have put something like 150+ hours into, having beaten only two of the four routes. I was, and still am, deeply invested in everything that is. I’ll probably go back to the other two routes when the final DLC is out next year.

SAKURAI, PUT EDELGARD IN SMASH