#takes me back to sfv

[tisijoe]

„Yeah, thanks for beating the crap out of my kid back there, because I couldn’t be bothered to lift my sexy ass off this couch I thrifted at Bison’s base before it burned down, it was the only tasteful piece of furniture that ugly duck owned if I’m being honest, anyways let me explain to you the security measures that were the titles, because did you know that’s not my real name haha, and then i’ll tell you, a complete stranger, about why I was working for Bison.” 🌹🎭✨🍷

[remy2fang]

BIG Thought Dump on SF6 BISON, Shadaloo, and Gratuitous Amount of F.A.N.G

I actually plowed through the Bison stuff when he dropped. I wrote a few of my thoughts on Twitter X, but I’ll dump everything here on this post. Warning, it’s really really big and the end may have some speculative spoilers (font will be red as a warning). Here it goes.

Playing Bison

I’m no pro player, in fact I’m super casual, but Bison is hella strong! I didn’t look through all his command list because I just want to plow through arcade and World tour for the story. All I know is Psycho Crusher, Scissor Kick (turned motion instead of charge), and Head Stomp from previous games, so I just stuck to those lol.

Arcade Mode and Fighting Ground

Ok now for the story. The first thing I did when Bison dropped was Arcade mode and was automatically hit with some fan service in the beginning. Naked Bison. Capcom knew what they’re doing here lol. There were some guys making jibes at him and then he beat the crap out of them and stole their clothes for himself. And then he went on fighting other people he don’t remember through arcade mode. And then his boss rival is Juri. Ngl, I was super excited when I saw that. I was actually hoping to see this for a long time. In Juri’s SF6 arcade, the thought of her not having her revenge against Bison had been eating her up for years. She never moved on from that since SFV, so “probably” almost a decade had passed since then. Her seeing Bison again is her moment to have what she wanted. But it didn’t go her way. I can see why Juri fans didn’t like the outcome. For me it’s different. Yes, it would be nice if she got her revenge right there and then (as indicated with her win quote against Bison), or if she moved on from Bison after her fight with Chun-Li in her own arcade mode. But I have the feeling deep down she really wanted that revenge. Plus, she helped Neo Shadaloo’s efforts too, albeit for money reasons, and even said that she’ll take them down if they ever rise again. Now that Bison’s back, she’s no longer in the state of regret and now has all the chances to go against him and get what she truly wanted. She’s not aimless anymore. She has a real reason to fight now.

As for win quotes, some were fun and some were boring. Of course I was most interested in A.K.I.’s. For sometime before Bison’s release, I was curious on how A.K.I. feels about him. Would she have a favorable view of Bison because F.A.N.G admires him greatly? Or would she be jealous of him because all of F.A.N.G’s attention will go to him instead of her? Lots of people and I have been wondering about this. Now the cat’s out of the bag, this is A.K.I.’s win quote against Bison:

“You must be the one the master’s talked so much about. I must send word to him immediately.”

This suggests that A.K.I.’s sentiments toward Bison is neutral, but she wants to report to FANG about it because she knows that Bison is important to him. I can’t help but compare this quote to her Rashid one:

“You… You’re the one the master spoke of.”

F.A.N.G talked a great deal to A.K.I. about these two, but of course his attitude for the both of them are different from one and the other. F.A.N.G admires Bison and hates Rashid.

World Tour Mode

For World Tour, we see that it takes place after Bison’s arcade mode because he took over the secret ruined Shadaloo lab after fighting Juri. I was already at Nayshall when I started World Tour and I automatically got a message from Foo aka F.A.N.G. Ahh yes, I knew I’d see F.A.N.G again for the Bison update 💜💜. He has to take part in it because this the man he wants to work for.

This time we work with F.A.N.G much more extensively than before. Yes, we see more of F.A.N.G in the Bison update than in the A.K.I. one (but there’s no FANG illustrations except for one in the Bison quests). He’s a lot more active and involved this time. And we get to see his soft side too. F.A.N.G actually likes seeing cute animal photos, especially with the cat and the baby hippo 💜💜. This reminds me of how A.K.I. reacted with the pufferfish and snake. Hmm, I wonder if that’s the reason why F.A.N.G didn’t mind A.K.I.’s super cute messages with the Lolita bunnies and kittens? Deep down, does he enjoy AKI’s letters because of those cute Sanrio-esque characters?? Idk, but I think it’s super cute. Ahhh 💜💜

We also get to see the scope of F.A.N.G’s influence and reach, especially as his persona as Foo. At first it seemed that he only has A.K.I. as his assistant, but later on in the Akuma and Bison update, we see that FANG has Experimental Subject Lee, Neo Shadaloo mole Hahn, Minox from the Colosseo, and former Doll Changpa. Out of these aside from A.K.I., Hahn and Doll Changpa seem to work the most extensively with F.A.N.G. Hahn knows F.A.N.G’s deal. 2 salutes. Answer messages within 2 minutes. 2 sugars in his coffee hehe. Doll Changpa elaborates further on how she ended up working with Foo aka F.A.N.G in this update than in the Akuma one. Basically, she had nowhere else to go. FANG needed intel on Shadaloo remnants. Doll Changpa needed a place to stay. So they work together because of that. To her, it’s purely transactional. She insists that it was her choice to work under FANG, but she did hesitated on the thought that she may have went back to her Shadaloo life, even by choice. It seems she had mixed feelings. Nevertheless, a job is a job.

Back to Bison. He went face to face with his own phantom Bison and absorbed it. He regained some memories from it, but not fully. It’s said that if Bison absorbs more psycho power, he would regain more of his memories. But even with 100 bond points and max mastery at level 20, Bison still doesn’t remember everything. As I suspected, Bison still has a way to go before he reaches his peak. But it’s not like he cares anyway lol. He’ll just continue on quenching on power.

We don’t really get a clear answer on how Bison came back, but Bison heard from others that he’d often die and come back to life via spare bodies. He thought that’s how he managed to be alive in his current form, but that’s just his conjecture based on what others said about his past lives. F.A.N.G also had no clue on how Bison came back either, despite being the last person to have seen his “”demise,”” but he also questioned if this is in fact the “real” Bison (he is). According to the devs, Bison’s current body is actually the same one from SFV. The cracks and scars on his right side of his body came from Ryu’s final blow. So instead of disintegrating (his death was obscured by F.A.N.G and smoke in SFV), he lost his memories. Not sure if the game will reveal the truth of Bison’s “resurrection” in a later update tho.

Although his memories are still fuzzy, Bison has a major hatred towards Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Cammy, and Guile lol. He doesn’t know them by name nor does he understand where the hatred comes from. He sent the avatar to talk to these fighters and they all remembered him with disdain. They all may have an idea where the avatar learned such fighting techniques, but it seems they didn’t want to press on. When the avatar reports back to Bison, Bison basically said he doesn’t care about them because he doesn’t truly remember them…but he’ll gladly fight and dominate them lol

Other people that Bison hate are obviously Ed, Falke, and Juri. They all undermine him. Bison also hates JP. Hmm, I wonder why? For the past couple of months, people were mulling over whether JP is for or against Bison. For me, it’s really hard to read JP’s intentions and plans because he tends to lie a lot, but I also think JP is not trying to win Bison’s approval. JP is not a Bison fanboy lol. Even his quote against Bison said that he is incomplete: “Hm. Peculiar. Perhaps you are not your whole self just yet.” What is JP’s plan then? JP is not actively involved in the Bison update for World Tour. But if you talk to Doll Changpa at the Suval'hal Arena in Nayshall at night, she found out that JP is still plotting to do something with Ed and the “imperfect” Bison. From the sounds of it, JP is still the main antagonist for SF6 as he seems to have a grandiose plan for the both of these characters. We’ll probably see it unfold in the next couple of patches.

Bison eventually remembers Vega and Balrog and sends the avatar to find them. F.A.N.G, as Foo the messenger, offers to help the avatar in finding them. Hmmm I wonder if F.A.N.G ever contacted them after the fall of Shadaloo since he knows their whereabouts and how to get their attention?

To get to Vega, the avatar has to fight Ignacio in the most “beautiful” way. In-game, basically win with a perfect KO.

Seeing Ignacio, I was already curious about him. At first I thought he was Vega's son, but then the illustration scenes have him next to a very handsome butler with similar features, so I then thought that Ignacio might be a servant boy for Vega. I'd like to know how Vega gets to know these characters, and I'm wondering what their back stories are because they both have dark complexions and yellow cat eyes. I don’t know the butler’s gender, but I’m assuming male (looks very much like Sebastian from Black Butler). If it’s female, she would have worn a maid’s outfit instead. I know I shouldn’t assume and that characters can also present as gender-nonconforming, but most often times devs from Japan/Asia usually make their female characters “cute” or showing something that emphasizes their “femininity.” Very seldom do they actively make a female character have more “masculine” traits with their appearances. But then again, SF6 has been pushing the gender boundaries outside of the norm, especially with the avatar gear, the NPCs, and a few of their roster characters. That would be cool and it would be interesting if the butler is a woman.

Anyway, Kizer brought up something interesting and it led to some speculative conversations. On Ignacio’s brooch, there’s a Ken Masters Foundation.

But when I looked at the avatar gear that can be purchased in the Battle Hub, the same tie brooch with the Masters’ logo can be found there. It could just be assorted avatar gear just to create these interesting NPCs. But at the same time, I’m still wondering if Ignacio and the butler were affiliated with Masters Foundation. That’s something to find out in a later DLC. And I hope the relationship between Vega, Ignacio, and the butler is a lot more kinder in-game than what’s been speculated in the conversation. Even I’m concerned lol.

We also get to see an illustrated cutscene with Balrog in it. He still keeps in touch with Ed and thought about joining his group. But, which ever organization has more money, he’ll go to it. Good ol’ Balrog 😂😂. I’m sure he’ll share the wealth with Ed tho!

The only names Bison remembers are Balrog, Vega, and Sagat. But even then, he doesn’t really have the clearest memories of them either. In this illustration, all the Shadaloo officers were all wearing these curious uniforms. Bison mentioned about “brainwashing” them and they all worked for him. I didn’t think much of this scene at first except I got to see F.A.N.G on there. But a friend of mine said an interesting comment and I liked her interpretation more than anyone else’s. What the illustration depicted wasn’t an accurate memory. Because Bison’s memory is “foggy,” he actually meld the Kings, Officers, Dolls, and Soldiers into one conglomerate thing. I still believe the Kings and JP acted on their own accord. The only people that got brainwashed in the organization were the Dolls. As for the soldiers, I don’t know lol.

Bison really likes his horse, whose name is Rocinante, like the Don Quixote’s horse. Bison said the reason why he didn’t kill the avatar was because Rocinante took a liking to them. Bison came upon the horse in Mexico. He was on the brink of death and yet he hung on to life. Bison infused the horse with psycho power to give it strength to carry him. The scientist in the Ruined Lab said that most regular animals would run wild with psycho power and die. Rocinante lives and it has the strength to withstand it. Bison loves power, but he also respects any living thing with strength (and even better when they serve him). Learning about Rocinante’s story reminded of F.A.N.G’s first encounter with Bison in SFV. F.A.N.G and his former organization, the Nguuhao, were about to assassinate Bison, but Bison overpowered and killed nearly all of them except for one. Although losing, F.A.N.G stood his ground against Bison. Bison was impressed by F.A.N.G’s strength and will to live and offered him to join Shadaloo. After that, F.A.N.G worked his way up and became a Shadaloo King.

Unfortunately for F.A.N.G, Bison doesn’t remember him. At first it started off funny when he got flustered, but then I can feel the sincere heartbreak from his text. F.A.N.G became quiet and his tone turned solemn. Even though Bison’s return didn’t turn out the way he wanted, he still complimented the Avatar on a work well done, albeit in a bittersweet way. As subtle as it is, I don’t think I’ve seen this side of F.A.N.G before, not even from Toxicity. If anything, there’s many sides of FANG I never got to see before SF6. Yes, we saw him visibly upset when Bison “”died””in SFV, but it didn’t have the same poignancy that his message had.

If Bison were to encounter A.K.I. (and win), the story outcome would probably go into a different direction. This is Bison’s win quote:

“You shall tell me who your master is. If they have value, I will gladly use them.”

This sounds like it would go into F.A.N.G’s favor as he would gladly serve his Lord Bison…except Bison does not remember him. Would F.A.N.G be happy to serve someone who may be considered as a “fake” or an “imperfect” Bison? Perhaps not, even though it is the real Bison with his marred SFV body. Throughout the Bison missions, F.A.N.G questioned his authenticity. He also mentioned that it was “too soon” for Bison to come back. Hmm, how does he know the duration of a “perfect” rebirth then? This makes me wonder if F.A.N.G had anything to do with the revival of Bison himself and left him until he’s ripe enough for the “rebirth,” and then Bison ended up “waking up” earlier than expected? I dunno, I’m just speculating on this and maybe more info would come out later lol. Also, maybe the devs knew ahead of time that some Street Fighter fans would groan at Bison coming into SF6 too early lol. I still see complaints about it lol.

About Bison’s win quote against A.K.I., he refers her Master as “They,” because he doesn’t know the gender. I like that little detail. Also in the Japanese dialogue, Bison referred A.K.I.’s master as 先生, which is “sensei”and can be used for both men and women. But knowing A.K.I., she uses the word “xiansheng” (also spelled 先生 in Chinese), and that’s usually used for men. Basically, Bison said this to AKI:

"先生とは誰だ。

使える人間なら、使ってやろう。"

"Who is your xiansheng (teacher)?

If he is someone who can be used, I’ll use him."

As sad as it is that Bison doesn’t remember F.A.N.G, I think this is a good thing. If the Bison mission ended with him remembering F.A.N.G, then that could possibly be FANG’s happy ending and his story might’ve stopped there. But because that didn’t happen, it gives more reason for F.A.N.G’s story to continue in SF6. He can actually continue on fighting for what he strives for. F.A.N.G hasn’t given up yet and he said he would contact the avatar if he needs them.

Also, Only 1 unused FANG voice line was released for the Bison dlc. He said, “Oh my days!” in this one. There’s more voice clips that haven’t been used yet. If they haven’t dumped the rest of his audio in this update yet, I’d think more will drop in later DLC. Who knows how long F.A.N.G’s story will last in SF6 if they’re going to release one unused voice clip per update. If that’s the case, I hope they stretch F.A.N.G’s story for a looong time haha!

https://twitter.com/remy2fang/status/1806508555153146085?s=46&t=iEGeYIIN_aP028wRnoVcUQ

Even though F.A.N.G didn’t get what he wanted after the Bison mission, he at least accomplished what he wanted to do since the Toxicity story: Reviving Shadaloo. He took part in it by having the avatar track down Bison. He then sent the avatar to the Ruined Shadaloo Lab with the assistance of Doll Changpa. The avatar had to fight using psycho power in order to power up the residual memory machine, which caught Bison’s attention and he absorbed it. When Bison gained some memories back, he told the avatar to find Vega and Balrog. F.A.N.G helped the avatar in this regard as he knew the former Shadaloo Kings’ locations and how to get in contact with them. That in turn had Vega and Balrog interested in working with Shadaloo again. So yes, it was F.A.N.G that drove the revival of Shadaloo.

This is something I mentioned a long time ago on another post, but just because FANG has an NPC model, that doesn’t mean he’s deconfirmed to come back playable. Throughout the entirety of World Tour, not a single character mentioned the name F.A.N.G at any point. A.K.I. never said it and neither did F.A.N.G himself. Even as his personas Foo and Fang Fei, he never said his actual (code) name. He’ll hint at it and skirt around it, but never outright saying nor spelling it. The avatar hasn’t even heard of the name F.A.N.G yet. Foo pretends he’s not a former Shadaloo King and Fang Fei feigns that he’s only a humble medicine man. His personas Foo and Fang Fei aren’t fighters. That means Fang Fei won’t be fightable. If that’s the case, that means there’s a chance that F.A.N.G can be playable at a much later point in SF6. It’s funny how it works. Other characters who have yet to make it to SF6 have their names mentioned but do not have 3D models. F.A.N.G is the opposite in which he has an in-game model, but his actual name was never revealed except in the official website, in-game credits, and JP mentioning it in A.K.I.’s arcade mode. But for now, it seems that NPC Foo/Fang Fei will remain as it’s hinted that he’ll be contacting the avatar again in a later update.

I just want to say I really love F.A.N.G’s portrayal in SF6 💜💜. Not only does he have a cool new look, but his personality is made to be more endearing, especially with the Bison update for World Tour.

I know FANG is still very evil, but I can tell the devs tried to make him more likable. They wrote TOXICITY that delve into his backstory, made the amazing AKI be his biggest fan, have him working with the avatar, and showed many sides of him that’s not often portrayed in SFV.

Also it’s good to know that my dream from nearly a year ago got one thing right: F.A.N.G being an important NPC and we see (and talk to) him a lot as shown in the Bison update. 💜🥹💜🥹

Also, good on Capcom to release the Return of Shadaloo Battle Pass. If I see official F.A.N.G content, I’ll eat it up 💜😋💜😋.

FUTURE CHARACTER SPECULATIONS AND LEAKS. DO NOT READ IF YOU DON’T WANT POTENTIAL SPOILERS.

From what has happened in Bison’s World Tour Story, it’s hinted that Vega and Balrog would be DLC. I’ll tell you this. According to this leak here, Vega would surely come back. Yes, I remember people said it was fake…and then a few months later Bison and Elena became official DLC, and the leak’s description of them were accurate.

As for Balrog, it’s up in the air. I’m not saying he’s not gonna be playable in SF6, but i didn’t see his name from the above leak nor from this one (this actually mentioned Bison, Terry, Mai, and Elena as far back as April 26, 2024). But just because a character’s name is not on those lists, that doesn’t mean they’ll never be DLC. From what a Japanese fan told me, the devs want this game to have a long lifespan. Hopefully it would be longer than SFV’s so more characters would come in the future.

END OF SPOILER

[maxwell-grant]

Reading you post about Seth made me imagine a world where Ryu winds up taking Seth on as a student. I thought Ryu's journey to overcome the Satsui no Hado could give him insight on how to help Seth overcome their own hatred, and meta-textually, becoming the main character student is about as far from trying to be the final boss that you can be

Hmm, you know, that is frankly pretty damn inspired and I don't think it's something we've ever really seen before in a fighting game, a former final boss getting kicked so far down the ladder that they wind up being the main character's student. It's the kind of sheer indignity and downgrade that would destroy most villains, but also, you can't destroy or make Seth less dignified than they already are, and their SFV story opens up a number of possibilities to take them afterwards if brought back. There's even some existing parallels between Seth and Akuma that could be worked into this, and Seth's already dropped out of official villain status enough to not be missed as one.

Main issue I have with this though is that "Final Boss gets beaten by Ryu, changes himself to become more like Ryu, and becomes a redeemed pseudo-ally to Ryu while still being plenty intimidating and arrogant to stay in in-character and remind you they used to be a Final Boss" is already very much Sagat's thing and you are never, ever, on your best day, not coming up short next to Sagat. Honestly even Akuma started heading there a bit in V. And it works for them because their appeal as characters isn't really mandated by them remaining full-on villains, they are cool badasses who get to sit in more morally grey clubs. Seth's humiliated and tragic aspect is what sets them apart from all the other main villains and I wouldn't want to see it done away with, but you can't really have them stay static, especially with 6 being serious about developing and pushing all of the characters forward in a way the series never really did before.

I've never been super in love with the idea of Ryu sitting down and training a new character to take his place, part of why I'm glad that Sakura turned out the way she did and that both her and Ryu were freed from the burden of the most tired story idea you could possibly think of with them. But there is a world of difference between "Ryu mentors a rookie who looks up to him into a new fighter because, idk he's just nice like that", and "Ryu has to mentor a monster that once tried to kill him and lay waste to the world with his exact power, to help them as he was helped and try to stop them from being consumed by hatred just as he once was". The former is just, eh, you can get a decent version of that by playing World Tour, but the latter, well, there's a pitch there, there's stakes, there's a story worth telling.

Ryu putting himself on the line, abdicating from his journey, possibly getting on really bad terms with people he knows (Is Chun-Li gonna be okay with this after all the work she put into destroying Shadaloo for good? what about Ken, who's JUST had his life ruined to shit by Shadaloo leftovers, how's he gonna feel? At minimum he's gonna have C.Viper and Juri and Abel and Guile on his ass 24/7 because they are not letting this pass), to stop the Shadaloo-Satsui cycles of violence and help a victim of them who can't be trusted, but also can't get up on their own and has no one even trying to save them, no one. Ryu had Ken, he had friends, he has Sagat to eternally remind him of the consequences and push him to be a better man, he had Dhalsim, he had Gouken (which I think was too much, old man should have stayed dead, not a single story in the franchise wouldn't be better served by Gouken staying dead), in the manga he even had Birdie and I like that so it happened shut up, where as Seth has nothing and no one other than people who tried to use them, and people who very justifiably think Seth needs to stay dead and only endangers others by being alive.

Nobody on the planet is gonna think Seth is remotely worth the effort of saving, except for Ryu, who wouldn't wish what they're going through even on his worst enemy. There's like an interesting tension here, of whether Ryu is doing something incredibly stupid because he doesn't understand firsthand what Shadaloo scum are actually like and is just empowering a monster to kill them all eventually (something that Guile would probably say to him), whether he's just trying to help someone the way he wishes he'd been helped and not thinking about the risk, whether he's actually being very practical because redeeming Seth is a net positive for humanity that only he can achieve (well really it should be Dhalsim and Gouken's jobs but, they can't be fucked), how much of this is him acting from pure kindness versus a pragmatic understanding that he is in a position to stop the next Akuma or Bison from forming even if no one is gonna help him do it, the toil it takes on him, and so on.

Again, there's a story here. Not sure if I'd want this like, canonically, but there's something really good here. That could be as good a justification as there ever was for a story to remind us why Ryu is the Hero even when they're not actively at the center of things.

[sang8262]

AKI Update - Lore Summary and thoughts

following all the LORE that AKI's update brought us, and in eager anticipation of Ed's release, i wanted to make sure i had my facts organized before starting to speculate and what not

this post is a summary of key info from World Tour, but also AKI's arcade and Master skill/ bond conversations... so inevitably has become one of those loooooong posts lmao;;; spoiler warnings obviously! and take things with a hefty pinch of salt (as anyone should, when talking about JP...):

---- TL;DR

MY GUESS, IMO: is that JP is planning on reviving Shadaloo under the name of Neo Shadaloo, but is not trying to bring back Bison. He's planning on using Ed -- potentially to make Ed the new boss of the organization.

FANG, and his student AKI, are working on reviving Shadaloo as well, but are at odds with JP. Based on FANG's dedication to Bison, FANG and JP must disagree on who should lead the organization. It's still unclear what, exactly, JP would gain by making Ed the new boss, or how he'd benefit from bringing back Shadaloo at all (considering he did not seem to approve of their methods). But we can never be sure with this guy can we...

---- And a clarification: Within the world of SF6 so far, characters use the terms "remnants of Shadaloo" and "Neo Shadaloo" to refer to the same exact group, that being ex-Shadaloo goons working under JP's orders. We are currently unsure what this has to do with the 'Neo Shadaloo' group from SFV, that Ed and Falke leads. The following recap, basically the whole reason I needed to be so thorough in this post particularly, is to show what led me to this (frustrating and confusing) conclusion.

So anyway: ----

A quick recap of World Tour, regarding Bosch and Shadaloo.

((You're good to skip to past the screenshots if you already know about how Bosch got his Psycho Power, and JP/ Shadaloo's relationship to the tournaments)): 1. Bosch is part of the Resistance in Nayshall. Their plan is disrupting the Suval'hal Martial Arts Tournament to prevent the shady money laundering going on behind scenes, and hopefully, take out JP as well. 2. Bosch (and the Avatar) gets caught up in the Tournament, after being targeted by Juri. She's revealed to have been hired by 'remnants of Shadaloo', likely unbeknownst to her. 3. Bosch is captured by 'the enemy', but was given a chance to live because of his strength and will. He received "physical modifications" and enters the tournament in hopes of taking down JP during the awards ceremony. 4. Later, the Avatar wins the underground tournament in Nayshall's Lowlands and formally enters the Suval'hal Tournament as Metro City's representative. 5. Bosch is confirmed a fellow seeded fighter, but it's revealed he's representing a group calling themselves "Neo Shadaloo", cited as 'remnants looking to bring back Shadaloo'. 6. And just in case you didn't know, JP is the one behind forcing the Suval'hal Tournament to continue in Nayshall as a means to launder money. And he knows about Bosch's failure as a host for Psycho Power. He's likely the one who gave it to Bosch in the first place, considering he does the same to the Avatar. ----

And here are some screenshots where I pulled this info from just so it's there as ref:

---- SO WITH all that out of the way, the important bit is that:

In universe, "Neo Shadaloo" and "remnants of Shadaloo" are used rather interchangeably. Both refer to 'group of people with previous connections to Shadaloo, and are trying to bring back the organization'. This is... terribly confusing and raises some eyebrows since Ed and Falke's group is also called Neo Shadaloo. But their goals couldn't be further from the above: they broke free from Bison's grasp despite being experimented on to be his vessels. And, though they use Psycho Power, they'd never use it to harm others, let alone bring back Dictator. ---- The big question is: what the hell is JP planning?! Is it truly to bring back the organization and Bison? And is the use of the name 'Neo Shadaloo' intentional? What are his connections to Ed and/ or AKI? Now, thanks to AKI's update, we have the TINIEST bit more info to make speculations on:

----

AKI Arcade and WT Master content!!!

Brought with us some really wonderful characterization and background for AKI herself, which I loved!! Unfortunately, I'm skipping all that and focusing only on her connections to Shadaloo and JP;;; ----

Starting with her arcade mode: JP is her final boss! AKI's been tasked by her master (Fang Fei, or F.A.N.G., idk why they changed his name) to track down the remains of Shadaloo and find out what they're planning... and eliminate any obstacles to their own goals. This leads her to JP, and it reveals some interesting things:

She asks JP: "The remains of Shadaloo, experimental subjects like Ed... We know where all that money you have laundered is being funneled." In typical JP fashion he claims he hasn't the slightest clue what she's talking about, but does admit he's "acting as a treasurer of sorts. And all [he's] done is distribute the funds left by that organization accordingly".

AKI leaves JP with a warning that she can end his life whenever her master desires, and to "Leave the revival of the organization to the master".

Not the biggest surprise that FANG wants to bring back Bison, but it IS more shocking that it implies JP is also trying to revive Shadaloo! In JP's own Master/ bond conversations in World Tour, he does seem to find Bison's methods incomprehensible, brash, and far too violent for his tastes. Yet he also admires Bison's strength, and wanted to see the world from his point of view. Badly enough to obtain Psycho Power for himself.... We should remember this man lies as easily as he breathes, so we can't be 100% sure whether he 'likes' Bison or not, or whether JP wants to revive him.

From all this, my guess is that JP very well might be planning to bring back Shadaloo as an organization... but, not necessarily also bring back Bison. Because why else would FANG, Bison's biggest fan, find JP's efforts a hinderance? Otherwise, they'd be working together instead of having AKI threaten JP's life. And this is better supported as we look at the 2nd quest AKI gives us as we level up her Master skill:

She gives us this quest: "A.K.I.'s 'master' is curious about Shadaloo's current state and believes tracking down active remnants of the organization may provide some insight. But who could this mysterious 'master' be?" We need to "Talk to the contact in Nayshall while wearing a Shadaloo Soldier Helmet", essentially posing as a member of Shadaloo to get info out of their goons. And this is what the 3 members we track down have to say (the Avatar is Number 13 btw):

The summary is that: 1. The remnants of Shadaloo want to make Ed their new boss of the organization. 2. Definite confirmation that JP was the chief financial officer for Shadaloo. He's been using funds to restore Shadaloo bases near Nayshall, and is tracking down Ed/ trying to get him on board so that "Neo Shadaloo will be back for real". We come to the end of the quest by reporting back to AKI, and bringing her (adorable) report letter to Fang Fei:

So I think FANG's furious response is clear evidence that JP must not be reviving Bison. What JP's plans are with Ed, and why he even wants to bring back Shadaloo (as Neo Shadaloo apparently?) is... is unclear. Obviously we'll get more info once Ed is released, and I'm quite sure he wants NOTHING to do with neither JP nor FANG's plans.

---- Speculative Rants! Pinch of salt, heavily recommended!

Honestly, this is less of a speculation and more like, me complaining about JP lmao. Frankly it's quite hard to guess anything too interesting, since I or anyone else for that matter, has any clue what motivates JP to do... like, anything he does at all????

I keep saying this but seriously, what is his deal?! He's the head of a world recognized NGO, been publicly recognized and rewarded for his philanthropy, acts deathly allergic to both conflict and unnecessary attention, and even wields Psycho Power with no apparent negative effects quite SKILLFULLY at that.

He has an observant, analytical personality that finds morbid entertainment in The Human Condition™ and Struggle™, and is incredibly hard working for someone who finds meaning in nothing I might hazard a guess that he enjoys creating problems and situations to spectate how people act in response. It might be that he simply enjoys the thrill of getting away with crime, since he clearly doesn't want to be held responsible nor credited for any misdeeds.

But I still feel like he has some greater, more tangible plan. Something more than merely creating chaos as "light entertainment", as he often puts it. In fact, he doesn't particularly care about what becomes of his victims (Ken, Luke, Bosch, even the Avatar so long as we don't get in the way of his nondescript """"plans""""), so it's not even purely about causing suffering for the sake of it. He HAS goals just. Really really obscure ones.

But I'm also frustrated because... Why go after Ed? Surely he must know that Ed disapproves of Bison's cruelty, and would definitely disagree with JP's own amoral activities. I'm strongly speculating that JP doesn't want to use Ed as a vessel for Bison (otherwise, FANG wouldn't have been so upset), so what other reason could JP have in making Ed the leader of Neo Shadaloo?

---- In closing:

We just won't know... UNTIL ED RELEASES! I'm looking forward to his arcade and World Tour stuff to finally shed some light on what the hell is going on. This all felt a bit futile to 'analyze', since it didn't quite reveal as much as I'd hoped in the end.

But we'll see where Capcom takes the story! I only hope that JP doesn't end up disappointing in the end, that's probably my biggest fear right now;;; His whole allure is the mastermind, the schemer, the devilishly charismatic guy who gets away with it. He's "lost" to the Avatar once already, but he.. didn't "lose", yknow? He's a bit untouchable right now, and I want his defeat to be interesting!!! But how can we have a satisfying victory over an antagonist we understand so little about?!?!

Anyway. Long post is long. Everyone who's survived all this rabble, thanks for your time and attention <3 !!

[partyp00per]

"Hello there, wanderer. Welcome to Alpinia, I'm one of those who live here. I assure you, you'll be safe here."

!!OOC!! !!Long post!!

Hi! I'm the mod of this blog, please just call me by "Mod", I go by he/they/it pronouns. Come follow the life of a Partypooper. As the backrooms is different for everyone, I've decided to make this. Not everything will be lore-accurate, and may often take back different statements made prior. All things here are subject to change.

Current backstory: Main Character had treated a wanderer which stumbled into them, though they didn't realize what the wanderer left until the wanderer was long gone.

Tags+color:

#ooc - Out of character.

#Asks and answers - Responding to general asks

#Roleplaying - Roleplaying! "__" when speaking, regular text when not.

Boundaries!

Shipping content: I'm not too thrilled with shippers, but wanderer x partypooper or partypooper x partypooper asks are alright, just nothing sexual.

NSFW asks: General gore is alright, I'll mark it appropriately. Though, no pictures of gore, or any sexual behavior.

Roleplaying: Roleplayers please interact I wanna be cool.

Headcanon insertions: Replying to these will be marked /ooc, and I'll give my honest opinions!

Character Information

Entity 68 "Partypooper" - A well-known humanitarian entity, working to help wanderers who are in trouble. {Entity status: ENDANGERED} We've been studying this entity species for a while. Currently, they have an estimated total population of 200-225. We classify them as high risk for extinction, as they are currently in at war with entity 67, and those infected with SFV. We've classified them as extinct in the past, but we've been proven wrong at that. As of recent, we have figured out their average height is from 6'5" to 6'10", we currently believe they can reach up to 35km/h. From what we've seen from torn hoodies, they wear biker gear underneath their clothing. Usually, this consists of a baggy black hoodie, either loosely fitting "tights" or jeans, and dark sneakers. The mask which identifies them as entities instead of wanderers is bright blue. It seems to have an aura while in the dark, this does not work in Level 6, however, you shouldn't follow anything there that you can see. There's a painted on simple frowning face in black paint, sometimes there are chipping in the paint as well. They have an alliance with entity 3.5; Frowners. It seems as if Partypoopers will visit level Frown on the regular, either for a break or for fun. They are also in an alliance with wanderers, often bringing them to shelters established in levels. However, don't take them as pushovers, they're strong, and often heal broken bones within a few weeks, instead of the normal 3 months. ---

This certain specimen is young-aged, around the age of a 20-year-old wanderer. They are around 6'0, though exact height is unknown, please follow up with M.E.G database to help keep track of them. We're not sure on the gender yet, as Partypoopers don't really have gendered voices. However, this one takes on a Canadian accent, and seems to communicate in French with wanderers, alongside English. The mask they wear has a small smudge of black paint under their left eye. a crack in the lower right side. However, we are not able to get a clear look at their face so far. They wear the usual black hoodie, though what makes them stand out is that their right sleeve, right up to their elbow, is torn off.

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

Sources used, or sources I will use:

(Above is where I'll get maybe 75% of the information, from other guys who like to write about these sillies)

(Can't forget the freewriting wiki, I'll use this a lot.)

(Above headcanons will be sprinkled in, the post is made by beneathh-the-brine, and roboreblogs, as seen in the post!)

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

Updates

Added character description, ooc, tags, and partypooper definition. [2024-05-23, finished at 10:45pmPST]

Added first three sources [2024-05-23, finished at 10:50pmPST]

[matt-imagines-popcorn]

How about this, Seth (SFV) with a assassin chaotic neutral S/o? I like the idea of this S/O just finding Seth during their crazed rampages and takes them in and just teaches them to chill out.

Anon you are so lucky I was already thinking about writing this - though next time (and do forgive me if I sound like an ass here) I’ll appreciate it if you read if my requests were open or not! Also made it into a one-shot (or is it a drabble? Never knew the difference between the two) sorta deal. Just cause it's been a long while :P

Seth learns how to chill out [gender-neutral! Reader]

Rage, complete and utter rage filled every fiber of the robot’s being.  Its very core blinded on taking revenge, no matter who stood in its way. Many have tried to take it down and many have failed. 

Until you got involved. 

One of the best in your organization, you took on the mission with only one task: Kill it.  Simple enough, you killed many things, cheating spouses, rich CEOs, and even world leaders. Though this would’ve been the first robot you have assassinated.

Keyword: “would’ve”

You foolishly allowed yourself to get caught within its trap and were forced to fight it in hand combat.  Despite the disadvantage, you came out vigorous. Standing over the robot, you pulled your weapon just above it.  Its eyes stared intensely at you, a certain look in its eyes you have seen perhaps thousands of times before. 

Fear.

You hesitated - not only did you hesitate, but you also allowed it to live - you even befriended the robot, and you learned of its name: Seth.

Your organization allowed this to happen but not without a catch. You have to get Seth back to a stable state within a year. If not then they’ll be killed and you’ll be kicked out of the organization.

Wanting neither of those, you have been slowly trying to uncorrupt their code, while also showing them healthier coping mechanisms. Even if most don't really seem to click for Seth. And the one you are showing them right now seems to be more idiotic than the others.

“It’s called mediation,”  You explained, Seth gave you an odd look in response.  “Looks dumb,” Seth finally said, still keeping their eyes on you. 

“Probably is,” 

 “But it helps keep my mind clear before missions, might help you with all your ‘internal rage’.” You say the last part in a teasing way, mocking the higher-ups that said that to both of you. 

Seth grumbles something, most likely rude sayings, before sighing. “How does it work?”

Well, you breathe in,”  You, yourself, breathe in as well, holding it in.  “Then breathe out,”  You release a small breath of relief, the small burning in your chest gone.  Silence filled the room, Seth's expression becoming more confused.

“... And?”

“That’s it basically,” 

“What a mindless exercise,” Seth groans, pinching the bridge of their nose “No way I would be caught doing something so dense.” Seth sat down on the chair, watching you.

 “Well that's fine too I guess,” You lean back, “Not my life that’s at risk here,” Seth sent a nasty glare toward you, nostrils flaring up. You definitely knew you were playing with fire at this point, but you weren’t too worried. You already knew Seth had a soft spot towards you - despite denying it a hundred times over. 

With a sly smirk, you pat the ground next to you.  “Come on Sethy-boy, come join me,” A mocking tone laced your voice. 

After a few moments, Seth groans again, taking a seat next to you. “If you tell anyone about this, I’ll kill you,”  You just smiled. “Of course,”

It’s been unclear how long the two stayed like that, but it was long enough to the point you felt your legs turn to static and the warm sun transformed into the cold moon. You got up, quietly to allow Seth to continue (who, despite arguing against it, seems to enjoy meditating.) and got yourself a glass of water. But just as you go to take a sip of your cup, you heard the familiar feminine voice break the silence of the room.

You mumbled a swear under your breath.

You were able to shut down their more complex combat moves, but they still felt the need to fight anything they believed to be behind Bison. Calmly walking back to your friend, you sit behind them, stroking their hair.

“Don’t ignore it,” Your voice was gruff as you spoke, making sure they could hear you through their internal systems.  “Acknowledge it, then let it pass,”

Their breathing, after a short while, returned to normal, and Seth opened their eyes. “Can I be done now,” Seth's voice sounded tired if that was possible for them. You just smiled “Yeah, you did good,”

The room was a bit tense and quiet. Till you broke the silence. 

“You know I heard yoga does wonders to the-” “Pass.”

Halfway through writing, I figured out that I missed one key detail: Seth doesn’t need to breathe, I think. Nor do I think their body even can mimic breathing ... we can ignore that for a short while at least lol.

[gaymer-hag-stan]

Fighting Games is a genre that I have always loved because they allow for unique player expression like no other genre. You get a wide selection of characters to choose from hailing from various different countries and practicing different styles of martial arts or even wielding melee weapons.

We've been lucky to have gotten tons of different games to choose from, and I have personally singled out the nine most vital franchises to the genre; the pillars of the fighting game community, if you will. Unfortunately, I only get ten options per poll, so games like Killer Instinct, Marvel vs. Capcom or Injustice have been left out. But that's why the tenth option has been left free of choice, as I'm sure that some of you will have the most obscure niche options in mind and will immediately comment "why is X not here" so there.

I'm also not deliberately ignoring Super Smash Bros., I just have traditional fighting games in mind and it's kinda not. But it's very much still a fighting game.

I'm also specifically talking about series of games and not one offs so that's why no Skullgirls and so on.

Anyway, at the end of the day vote for whatever you like, just don't bust my balls about "excluding" your fave 🤣

Really wish I could add:

A. More options

and

B. Images to the options to make them look prettier.

But overall I think polls have been a great addition. Good job @staff 👍😁👏

Here's a few general thoughts

I have a weird relationship with Mortal Kombat. My earliest memory of it must be some older kids next to my grandma's house playing MK4 and letting me watch them play for a while. Then I definitely remember the PS2 era games' covers and the video store, the dragon logo is so cool, but I never actually bothered to pick any of them. Until I got the 2011 game when I had a PS3. I liked it a lot, I kinda liked the story but I never understood the normies obsession with it? And here's a hot take; NRS stories are not that good, certainly not any better than any other fighting game like Tekken or SoulCalibur. The only key difference is that they have relatively good writing, while the rest of the major game, which are mostly Japanese, have cringey anime dialogue that absolutely does not fit the dramatic NRS storytelling everyone has been trying to copy post 2011. I wish they would straight up drop it and go back to having a decent, eight-level minimum arcade mode with character endings and stop trying to do what NRS does, because it's not that great to begin with. Anyway, I have since developed a love-hate relationship with it. I got both X and 11, and while both are objectively good games, with 11 FINALLY even making the characters look not ugly for the first time ever, but I think I've kind of moved on from MK. I don't have any attachment to the overall plot, I only mostly care about Mileena, Kitana and co., I mostly prefer 3D fighting games in general and I'm not that good at it so... Yeah. Still a fan series though, both the Reboot Trilogy as well as the, mostly underappreciated, PS2 trilogy.

I was born in 1997 and arcades weren't really a thing in Greece? I remember only having seen a Tekken 5 cabinet at a bowling alley in my entire life, so I never got to experience the "birth" of fighting games with Street Fighter, and Street Fighter itself was almost completely absent from the PS2, save for a few Alpha and SFII rereleases I think. So I finally got to play Street Fighter during the later years of it's fourth iteration when I got Ultra Street Fighter IV for the PS3. I was VERY frustrated at the beginning like, I was used to Tekken, DOA and SoulCalibur style gameplay, all of which are 3D but also combo-heavy games. Street Fighter was not that at all and I thought this made it a bad game. But I decided to give it a second chance with Street Fighter V. SFV is, perhaps notoriously, more simplified in both it's inputs as well as it's overall difficulty, so it helped me appreciate the series a lot more. Most of the characters no longer look ugly too (heavy emphasis on MOST) so that helped too. What's more, I can now actually play IV a lot better, and I even had money to spare to get Super Turbo II HD and Third Strike for the PS3, though I do struggle a bit with those too still, Third Strike in particular. Street Fighter X Tekken is also my guilty pleasure, don't @me. My only real issue is that I seem to be mostly interested in the "less regular" characters in the series like Elena or Poison or Laura which means that I have to find a new main in every single game and... I really don't care for most of the cast, especially the ones who seem to be featured on most of the games and never skip an entry.

I've been playing Tekken since I was 8 or 9 years old and got Tekken 5, the first fighting game I ever owned and I've been obsessed ever since. I love the gameplay because I feel like the four-limb system feels so natural, you know? If you press the X button you get a left kick, if you press the Δ button you get a right punch. It's so simple. Nina Williams is probably my favourite video game character ever, after Lara Croft, and I just really the series as a whole. It's also the only game I feel confident enough to play online atm.

For some reason I was always vaguely aware of The King of Fighters existence since around 2010-2011 but I never felt the desire to play it? Mai was added in Dead or Alive 5 however and I absolutely loved her. I played so much as her. But as far as picking up her own games... Well... KOFXIV looked like shit and I'd heard that XIII, and KOF in general, was very difficult so that was a bit off-putting. After falling out of love with MK however, I had to feel the gap. And along came KOFXV! I was still not completely sold, but I had money to spare and I got the game and I now love the series so much? Definitely my favourite 2D fighting game series. I wasted so many years gatekeeping myself out of playing the games but, honestly, while I sometimes buy things on impulse, the money I can spend on games is a very specific and limited amount so I always try to actually buy things that I will actually play and enjoy. XV is fun, but it turns out the "ugly" KOFXIV and the difficult XIII are even more fun! Shout-out to KOF for having an amazing cast of characters too. Even with Tekken which has been with me since childhood there are TONS of characters I straight up hate or just don't care about. KOF has over 90 characters and the ones I actually hate are probably fewer than Tekken's. This is certainly not a quantity over quality case (the yearly release for the first decade of the series was insane though, I don't know why they thought that was a good idea)

SoulCalibur is another series I loved since childhood but this one I didn't personally own until my late teens. A friend's uncle had a Dreamcast however, and when he would visit him in the summer he would bring it over and we would play SoulCalibur a lot! I have several reservations about Namco basing the series entire marketing on "who's the guest this time?" and later on the character creation. The sole focus should be on the characters themselves, because SoulCalibur has the most detailed and complex backstories in fighting games. Period. But because SoulCalibur has devolved into an overglorified character creator and the guests get the only media focus the game is gonna get during its promotional period, I feel like the brand itself has lost its mainstream appeal. SoulCalibur I is one of the best fighting games, and it has zero guests and no customization, other than being able to choose different weapons for each character. Have your guests by all means, I personally had tons of fun with Ezio and 2B, and Haohmaru even peaked my curiosity for Samurai Shodown, and customization can be fun too, but don't make it your main selling point. It has evidently not been working as well as Namco wants it to. Tekken and Mortal Kombat have guests and customization too, but they're not the games main selling point, they only help bring in additional fans.

Dead or Alive is the booby pervy game, sure, but it's also a great fighting game? The fast-paced gameplay is extremely fun and satisfying, most of the cast is actually pretty interesting, despite the sexy outfits and bikinis and beach volleyball, and whenever there's a new DOA in the market it it will always be the best-looking fighting game available at the time. There's no contest. I had tons of fun playing DOA2 as a kid and I had tons of fun playing DOA5 as an adult, because since DOA became Xbox-exclusive for a while, I never actually owned DOA3 or DOA4. I wish I could have had more fun with DOA6 too but the game is just... Soulless, and that's a shame. The fact that both DOA and SoulCalibur are unlikely to get sequels any time soon is also very heartbreaking.

I was way past my anime phase when I became aware of Guilty Gear's existence, so I was at first hesitant of checking it out. However, a chain of events led me to eventually get Rev 2. See, Haohmaru was a guest on SoulCalibur VI, and Baiken was a guest in Samurai Shodown and I guess you see where I'm going with is. This is why guests should absolutely not go away, but it is much better they remain actual (fighting) video game characters first and foremost and not stupid horror movie characters that haven't been relevant for decades (fuck every single MK12 guest, but especially RoboCop) Rev 2 is so much fun. It's still hard however, so I'm not yet ready to fully embrace Guilty Gear, but Strive looks more and more appealing each day is all I'm saying. Jack' O and I-No may have helped.

Virtua Fighter forever revolutionized the genre by moving things for the first time in the third dimension. I only had a VF4 demo as a kid and I was creeped out by having to fight Shun Di, a drunken old creepy guy, in a dark cave on a raft as Sarah so I never touched the series again until 5. The game is really fun and I will forever be grateful for it because it eventually lead to Tekken and DOA's creation, but while MK having a "good" story mode does not automatically make it a good game, Virtua Fighter having NO story mode, not even arcade endings, doesn't help it's case all that much either.

I've been contemplating trying out BlazBlue lately, Rachel, Taokaka and especially miss Litchi look really promising, but I'm trying to let the thought mature in my mind first rather than making an impulse purchase. I haven't played enough of any of its installments to have an opinion on it, but I know tons of people love it so it must have a few things going on for it, right?

Shout-out again to Samurai Shodown, I love the "fencing" aspect of its gameplay, but I'm just not as invested to it's cast as I am in KOF's yet. I've also always wanted to try out Darkstalkers but Capcom seems to be hellbent on wanting to make this franchise DIE. I don't understand why they don't at least start adding it's cast in Street Fighter as "permanent guests", in the same spirit as Final Fight characters keep on coming back. Morrigan is too good a character to be left to rot. I'd also love to try Killer Instinct, but it's another Xbox exclusive so RIP. Finally, I do own the first Injustice, but American comic book super heroes have always been morbidly boring to me (except Spiderman and Batman & co.) so, consequently, both Injustice and Marvel vs. Capcom are of no interest to me at all.

[bribri21626]

Changing The World

—————-

Chapter 1- A girl that stares

   ●●|Kenny's POV|●●

  

  Another win against creed. Nothing new there. I'm in the last round of SFV and this one is for all the marbles. Of course, I chose Cody, and Creed chosen classic Ibuki.

Obviously, he didn't last long since I crushed him in the final round. After we all came to immense, I walked down the staged and noticed a light skin, dark eyes, black-haired woman looking at me.

This wasn't just a regular look, it was a look as if she likes what she sees from me. She's been staring at me during this whole gaming event but now it's starting to really catch my attention.

She looked beautiful but sadly I had to go and get on my next flight back to Japan.

I told the bucks goodbye as I was about to get in my car and I saw the woman again as she was getting ready to leave as well. Without hesitation, I walked over to her before it was too late.

"Hello," I said to her. She turned towards me and flashed a cute smile at me.

"Hi." She said. Wow her voice sounds more beautiful than I've imagined.

"I've noticed you were staring at me earlier. I didn't know if it was a creepy look or you were  just showing an  interest look." She laughed a little and started to blush.

"I'm sorry about the staring. Yes, I was showing some interest. You're very good at Street Fighter." She said and I started to smirk, trying not to be arrogant but she was right.

"That's very true. I've practiced a lot over the years." I said. She crossed her arms and smirked at me.

"I see. I play street fighter as well. You may be good but, I doubt you can beat me.." She was so confident in her answer. I just laughed. "Is that a challenge?" I asked.

"Yes, it is." She said. I smiled and crossed my arms while giving her a daring look.

"Oh, you're on. I'm supposed to be in Japan tomorrow but I'm up to take your challenge. Does tonight at eight work for you? I know a great arcade we can go to."

I was hoping she was available. I wanted to get to know this girl more. "Sure. Eight works for me. Let me give you my number."

She grabbed a pen and some paper from her car and wrote down her number for me. She handed it to me and got in her car.

"Wait before you go, what's your name?" I asked as she started her car and looked at me.

"It's Valentína Rose, but, you can call me Val for short." Her name is beautiful.

  "What a beautiful name. If you didn't know, my name is Tyson. Tyson Smith." She nodded her head and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Tyson.

Looks like I'll be seeing you later."

She gave me a wink and drove out in her car. Wow, looks like I got my hands full on this one.

A/N: Hello!! I’m new to writing on Wattpad! I written this story back in 2018 in my freshman year of highschool and I wanted to give it a try here on tumblr! Here’s to know about me I love wrestling, anime, and Kpop! I hope you guys enjoy this series. I got 8K reads on this book from Wattpad! It’s still in the works but I’ll be uploading chapters every week!🩷

[soul-sparx]

RYU’S SFV COSTUMES RATED

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve done one of these, but they were some of my favorite posts on my old blog before it got nuked, so I figured I’d do another just for fun, and who better to choose than the series main character, in his final outing in the role?

Default

9/10

Ah, Ryu’s typical look. What can be said about it that already hasn’t been said? Not a whole lot. Ryu has aged gracefully in the past more than 35 years, and is one of the characters least affected by SFV’s confusing, pseudo-realistic art direction. The only marks I have against this are the color of his gi, and his hairstyle. On the gi, it looks like he hasn’t washed it since the first SF game came out back in 1987. That thing crunches when he walks. I get they’re going for a worn, used look, but I feel like they pushed it a bit too far here. As for his hair, I was just never a fan of the black, spiked look. I much prefer the look from SFII-- dark brown and brushed forward, hanging over his bandana with some weight on it. Ultimately, though, these are small marks against an otherwise great take on an old look.

Story

7/10

“But Ava!” you may say, “Doesn’t this costume do exactly what you criticized the default costume for not doing?”

Yes it does, however a couple things make it far less appealing to me. To start with positives, the color of his gi and belt are much better, still looking worn and used but not outright dirty. This Ryu takes care of himself and his stuff. That said, in trying to replicate the Street Fighter Alpha look, they made some...odd choices. Lightening his skin makes him look paler, not sickly but...getting there. I’m not going to call it whitewashing, because I don’t think it is, but it is a strange choice. His hair looks...molded, rather than brushed, like a clay headpiece you’d customize a Lego minifigure with. Finally, they tried to apply an odd cel-shading look and, what little consistent artstyle SFV has does not work with cel-shading. Overall, I’d say it’s a good idea with less than stellar execution.

Battle

10/10

Now THIS is how Ryu should’ve looked by default in this game. Theoretically, Ryu’s story in this game is the culmination of his battle with the Satsui no Hado, and this haggard, worn-down Ryu comminucates that beautifully. The torn, dirty pants, the unkempt beard (which also shows him working to defeat the Satsui no Hado, bringing him closer to his master, Gouken, visually), the ramshackle sparring gloves made of nothing but tightly-tied sports tape, this is Ryu at his lowest, ready to reach his highest, and I’m so glad they based his appearance in SF6 on this costume.

B-Boy

9/10

Now look, I get it, this is goofy, this is out of character, this is just stupid. But... I kind of love it for that? Like, it’s so goofy and out of character that it becomes hilarious and I gotta love it for that. On top of that, it’s actually pretty solid? Functionally speaking? The silvery pants and coat mirror his gi, and the black shirt and black trim of his jacket keep the emphasis on his arms and legs, further emphasized by the red shoes, rings, and wristbands. Like...it’s stupidly fun AND doesn’t hamper gameplay. How am I supposed to get mad at this?

Halloween

6/10

Don’t get me wrong, this costume is VERY cool, but I feel like the everpresent stark red might betray its functionality. I feel like it’s at least inspired by Bishamon from Darkstalkers, but Bishamon makes up for his almost all-red color palette with gold trims and wide, open posing that makes every keyframe clear. This has the gold trims, but Ryu’s posing is very closed and guarded. I’m sure it’s still usable, but it’s not nearly as readable as, for example, the default or b-boy costumes.

Capcom Pro Tour 2017

8/10

I'll admit, my understanding of Japanese culture is limited, but this does feel like some kind of traditional festival attire, and to that end I think it's very successful and fairly in-character for Ryu. He strikes me as a traditionalist, and I'm sure he's very popular in the village that I'm certain lies just down the mountain path from Suzaku Castle. It also works well from a functional aspect. His exposed arms and red gloves contrasted against blue/white ropes bring proper attention to his arms for moves like the Hadouken and Shoryuken, while the black vest draws your eye downward into his blue, long, wide pants to prepare you for moves like the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku. I'm curious about the purpose behind the dragon on his back, if that serves as a cultural reference, but it looks cool without getting in the way of functionality, so I can't be mad at it.

School

7/10

I question the choice to make this costume in the first place, it seems odd, but it looks fairly cool and is perfectly functional between the rolled up sleeves, long coat, and tapestry lining the coats inside to keep the legs visible. Doesn't do anything for me, and is kind of weird from a character perspective, but it does what it sets out to do and I don't have any real gripes with it.

Arthur - Ghosts ‘n Goblins

5/10

I have nothing to say here that I didn't cover with the Haloween costume. I do appreciate the Ghosts 'n Goblins reference, but thst doesn't excuse bad readability.

Jin Saotome - Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness

4/10

Same as above, but I'd say it's even worse here. If you notice, his shoulders, elbows, knees, and feet are covered by a kind of metallic material. In artwork, as well as sprites in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Jin's only playable appearance outside of a mecha), those metallic parts are a starker, darker silver color in order to make his posing more readable despite his all-white outfit. In other words, they actively made the design worse for...seemingly no reason.

Mega Man - Mega Man

9/10

This is so goddamn funny to me. Like, Mega Man is this tiny little Astroboy knockoff, he's not even 5 feet tall. Meanwhile Ryu is this hulking, muscular mass of meat. It's so funny to me how much this doesn't fit. As for readability, Mega Man is already one of the best designed video game characters ever made, so this is perfectly fine functionally.

Kairi - Street Fighter EX

8/10

I'm not particularly familiar with this character, as I've only played SFEX once, but it's very cool to see them referencing such an obscure piece of SF history. Not to mention, it just looks cool. Not much to say beyond that.

Track Suit

5/10

Eh....if you remember my old costume reviews, you know I'm not a fan of these. They're fine functionally, but I have no idea why every character has one, and they just get boring and tiring after looking at them 14 times over.

BCRF

8/10

It's pretty cool. It looks oddly tactical, and I don't really get the asymmetrical look-- why bring so much attention to one arm over the other, it's not like Yamazaki's right arm in Fatal Fury/KoF, which contains the power of a god. Ultimately, though, it was for a good cause and it works well enough. Not gonna complain.

[artdecosupernova-writing]

Word Prompt

Word: Comfortable WIP: Darkspace Portent Timeline: sometime between the M31 and M33 arcs CW: None, really. Except for the end, maybe. It gets a lil cheeky. Word Count: 1,267 Additional Notes: so cool to look back on pieces that make no sense now lmao

***

"You would not believe the absolute shit show I just went through trying to get into port."

Thrive pried his eyes away from his desk long enough to perceive Warren flopping dramatically onto the sofa, arm thrown over his face and boot-clad feet swung up onto one of the cushions. "Oh," he said, blinking the intense focus from his brain and clearly just realizing someone else was there. "…Welcome home, Warren. Has something gone wrong at port?"

Warren shook his head. "Nah, it's fine. Technical hiccup. My SFV expired and I forgot to renew it."

Thrive tutted, dragging windows across the touchscreen surface of his desk with the pad of his middle finger. He resumed typing. "Space-faring vehicle registrations are the law for a reason. I'm surprised I wasn't pinged."

"Considering I'm a whole prince, I don't think they thought it was important."

"You're getting rather comfortable with that title." Thrive quirked an eyebrow.

Warren grinned, biting his lip in Thrive's direction. "May as well lean into it. It's been a long time."

"Mm. Or, more accurately, you're beginning to see the benefits now that there are benefits from which to take advantage."

"Damn, it's like you're intimately tuned into me or something."

Thrive returned the grin and leaned back to prop his own boots on the edge of his desk. "How long did it take you to enter Tournaltis this time?"

"Two hours," Warren groaned, picking a glob of sleep from his eye. "And I really don't appreciate the 'this time' tacked onto the end of that. Like, fuck, I'm trying my best here."

"Two hours is a record, isn't it?"

Warren sprang upward, planting his feet firmly on the floor. "I didn't come in here to be brutally attacked. I am an innocent baby and I never do anything wrong."

Thrive steepled his fingers together. "Perhaps the title of prince suits you more than I expected."

Warren laughed, reaching into his pocket for a nutrition bar. "Okay, fine, you win. Man, I missed you so much."

"The feeling has been mutual." Thrive ran a thumb over his bottom lip. "Incidentally, I wanted to discuss something with you the next time you were home."

Forced to put muscle behind pulling the stubborn nutrition bar out of his pocket, Warren glanced over at Thrive, only somewhat distracted. "Okay?"

Thrive double-checked the door lock from the control panel at his desk and cleared his throat. "Recently I have…found myself entering a period of my life where I think it would be beneficial for..." He paused. "What I mean to say is…that I..."

Warren temporarily abandoned his current task and met Thrive's eyes across the room. For him to be at such a loss for words meant something potentially serious was brewing in his mind, something he worried would conjure a bad reaction should he choose to bring it up.

Thrive dropped his gaze to the desk. "I cannot nor would I ever attempt to demand anything of you, especially if it wasn't in your best interests as you deem them to be." He tipped his head and lowered his voice. "…However."

"However," Warren echoed encouragingly.

"My time away from Tournaltis is few and far between these days. I spend months at a time here at home, consistently busy, yes, but without as many distractions as there once was. It's become more difficult to…function. I've become…lonely."

Warren's eyebrows sprang upward. "Really?"

"You tell me you miss me," Thrive sighed, "and I feel an inexplicable ache because I miss you more than I ever thought I could."

After a beat of silence broken by Thrive tapping his nails on the glass of his desk, Warren frowned, a swell of emotion rising in his throat. "Wh—…how long has this been going on?"

"Five years."

"Are you—what?! Five years?!" Warren took a breath to compose himself over the surge of overwhelming concern, like an electric current across his chest. "Thrive, why didn't you say something sooner?"

Thrive gave a quick grimace and fell into speaking in Solnai to be more at ease with voicing his feelings. "I kept silent because I know you have reached a point where you have a purpose, that your purpose is not to twiddle your thumbs waiting for time to come to a close. I wanted nothing less than to have a hand in you leaving that all behind."

"Do you want me to leave it all behind?" Warren asked in English once he was sure he mentally translated properly.

"The problem is not to ask you to leave it all behind, the problem is I have wanted to ask you to leave it all behind. I grow tired of the loneliness, but the loneliness is selfish."

"No," Warren interrupted. "Loneliness is natural, and for fuck's sake, you've been through it enough, haven't you?" He laced his fingers together and exhaled slowly. "If you want me to quit, just ask."

Thrive dropped the Solnai. "Warren..."

"I've been doing this for way too long. I love my job, but god, it's true, I miss you so fucking much whenever I'm gone. The times when I've had to find someone who can indulge me in fantasies—" He caught himself. "…Shit, I'm sorry. I know you don't like talking about it."

A pang of discomfort flashed across Thrive's face, but he nodded.

"Okay. Okay, if you want me to quit my job and stay with you, I will. Hell, I'll contact the Consortium tonight to get it out of the way. I've risked my life for the kingdom long enough, and if I need to go back in the future, then I will."

Thrive appeared to simultaneously take on and lose a weight from his shoulders, rolling them as he lowered his feet to the carpet. "I'd like you to sleep on it, first, please."

"I don't need to," Warren said firmly, jabbing a finger in Thrive's direction. "When you're unhappy, I'm unhappy, and it's gonna kill me to know this has been going on for five years."

Thrive regarded him in silence, a quality in his eyes shifting as if he'd seen him for the first time then. "I am recklessly in love with you."

Warren got up and advanced on the door. "I've gotta eat or I'm gonna pass out, but when I come back you'd better say that again directly in my ear, and you'd better be naked when you do it."

The corner of Thrive's mouth threatened to tug upward though the frown from their conversation remained. "Warren…I would really rather not fuck you in my place of work if it's all the same to you."

"Oh!" Warren bellowed, the nutrition bar already halfway stuffed in his mouth. His eyes widened, and a distinct buzzing droned in his skull at the shock and intrigue at Thrive's rare use of language.

Thrive lifted his eyebrows expectantly.

"Yo, Code Gold!" Warren darted into the hallway, sidestepping people attempting to mind their own business. "There are absolutely too many of you out here and in this building! Respectfully, make some room for a bitch to get his cheeks clapped, it is an emergency!"

Thrive watched him leave when Thoeala poked her head into the office.

"Hey, Dad. What's with Papa? I didn't even get to say hi. Should we know what Code Gold means or—"

"No."

"Ah. Okay. Cool. Glad he's back, then." She let loose a nervous laugh. "I'll see him later. Don't break him, please."

"I promise nothing," Thrive replied, taking ten whole minutes to finish the correspondence on his desk with a smirk alighting his features.

[captawesomesauce]

Thoughts at 7am...

I don't think anyone who lives outside of LA quite understands what it means to be "trapped" in various parts of LA.

When it takes 2 hrs to drive 7 miles - When a half mile trip to the grocery store takes 30 mins - When going ANYWHERE to do ANYTHING is an exhausting fight against time and distance...

You basically end up trapped where you are.

If you live in the SFV, you rarely leave the SFV. The thought of having to go through hollywood, downtown LA or the sepulveda pass is UGH! Not only do you have to fight the traffic on the way out, but you have to deal with the return traffic to!

And it's exhausting. It's exhausting to deal with LA's gridlock where you are constantly at either a standstill or damn close to it all day and all night. Other places have rush hour, LA will trap you at 2am just as much as 5pm.

So anywhere you go becomes a THING.... a whole production because you can't just go somewhere. You can't just get in your car and go willy nilly. Nope Nope nope.

You have to plan to avoid the WORST times... leave at 10am or 5am, return at 11pm .. maybe 2am? God help you if you leave at 8am and have to head back at 6pm!

Heading to the beach? Figure it'll take you about an hour or two to get there, even if you're just 12 miles away. So say its a good day - you drive an hour... you get there... find parking somehow... and ... now what? You know that you just spent an hour getting there and it'll take another hour to head back.... so you have to make the most of it... you can't just go and spend an hour at the beach for a 2 hr commute!!!!

Do you know how frustrating it is to spend 2 or 3 hours driving for something that only takes 10 mins to accomplish??? Drop off this, pick up that, grab something else.... it's quick, it's no big deal.. but you spent all that time stuck in traffic!

Thats why it's so nice to out of the valley, away from downtown, and closer to the places we want to go and want to be. It's a mental SHOCK ... don't get me wrong... but so nice.

W is still trying to adjust a bit. When we were looking at places, and I was plotting them out on a map, she couldn't comprehend it spatially/mentally. Things looked so spread out, she was sure it'd be impossible to go from A to B without it taking forever and being difficult. But having grown up near here, I knew that we could be at one end of the area to the other easily in less than 20 mins.

Also things are grouped near each other in ways that make sense. In the Valley, but if you need to shop for furniture or get parts for your computer or see a doctor.... man, it's gonna be an hour drive away and nothing is close to anything else! Here, we went to get a bed and there were 5 mattress and furniture stores all near each other!!! There are 2 markets across the street. The sams club and the walmart are in the same shopping center!

Things aren't all day productions. If you want to go to the beach, you don't have to leave at 5am and stay all day. We can go whenever it strikes us..... like at 3pm and just go walk around a bit.

W is so used to being a passenger princess. We go somewhere, and she curls up and sleeps while I drive. Wherever we go, she has that time to decompress and nap and recover. She needs it. When we get home, she needs that shutdown mode so she has energy to help carry stuff and put it away when we get back.

But that doesn't quite work out anymore.

Yesterday's trip back from the beach/pier meant that just as she got comfy and settled into her seat and started to drift off... we were home. She was like.. wait... what the hell... already?????

Our goal this weekend is to go to the farmers market..... it's just down the street and should be fun :)

[remy2fang]

FYI I started Arcade mode before World Tour, and I’m glad I did that because the story made more sense that way. I feel like the stories from Arcade mode takes place before the events of WT. That being said, here are my thoughts on the original World Warriors and other characters.

WARNING SPOILERS

WARNING SPOILERS

It seems that almost all of the original world warriors just want to settle down. Ryu found peace and doesn’t fall for the Satsui No Hado. He continues on with his fighting spirit. Guile wants to stay as a family man, Chun-Li wants to teach. Zangief, Dhalsim, wants to teach too.

E. Honda owns a Chanko restaurant in Metro City.

Things are also looking bright for both Blanka and Dee Jay. Blanka became a Tour guide because he wanted to make his mom proud. His work became well known that he even got a movie deal. He’s also passionate about rainforest preservation. Dee Jay has a great music career and he too got a movie deal with Fei Long.

Cammy is currently investigating on JP because of his Shadaloo association…but she also wants to settle down and be happy with Juni and her former Doll sisters. They’re all living happy lives now. RIP März tho.

Li-Fen is a lot more involved with the World Tour story. Honestly before the game dropped, I thought Li-Fen would play second fiddle to Chun-Li and would hardly do anything, but it’s quite the opposite of that. Chun-Li, like all the characters are taking a back seat, allowing the younger generation to shine. I like how Li-Fen developed as a character. We hardly know her at all in SF3. SFV made her into a shy computer prodigy. In SF6, she plays a much more active part in helping the avatar. And grew up to have a spunky personality.

Also characters like Sodom, Abigail, Poison and Hugo seem to be thriving. They all run legitimate businesses.

Retsu didn’t have much personality in SF1. There were depictions of his character in Japanese comics (I never read them), but I think SF6 fleshed him out the most. Looks like he has a sense of humor and is generally more lax and cheerful than one would expect. He continues on competing in tournaments and enjoying life. He also has a sweet tooth too.

I have a feeling that for many of the original world warriors, this may be their last Street Fighter. They’re happy and content. If there’s trouble, they’d have their protégés and the avatar to succeed them. Don’t quote me on this, this is just my take lol.

But that leaves Ken. He’s still in hiding tho. I wonder if he’ll eventually get his happy ending like the others.

Juri didn’t get her revenge on Bison and that’s been bugging her for years. It’s sad to think that she never moved on from that between the end of SFV, during SF3, and then into SF6. She may or may not have her peace, thus she’ll most likely be in future installments of Street Fighter. She hasn’t found her happy ending yet…

[tuxxydo]

OMGGGGGG I'm so excited for birdie to be in sfvi and shed some of the fatphobic tropes baked into his sfv characterization while STILL keeping him fat and sexy. Also my personal headcanon for why birdie gained weight regardless of what canon says is because eagle prefers fat men and he wanted to impress him and when he met eagle again, eagle was MORE than impressed (he entered a relationship with him afterwards)

Like come on birdie and eagle sound like a kinky gay leather couple, of COURSE birdie would willingly gain weight for him

Capcom put Birdie in this unlockable art for luke just to taunt me.

But yeah I also can't wait for Birdie to come. There's 3 details in the game that allude to him (to the point where it feels very suspicious) and it would just be nice to see. :') There's so much fatphobia built into his characterization in 5 and i rlly hope they dial it back; especially since, they laid foundations in 5 that can be built upon in 6.

And it's funny cus there's 3 characters I can think of that also had foundations in 5 that were expanded upon in 6: Luke, Blanka and Rashid.

Idk much about Luke but it seems he's carrying Guile's legacy (seeing as it's implied that Guile trained him ((correct me if i'm wrong))). With Rashid. He was basically the Ryu of SF5 and the main character and now in 6, while the stakes aren't as high he still seems to be a modern foil to Ryu; seeking out strong fighters to better himself (and live-streaming on the side. youtube/twitch king). And with Blanka—the blanka-chan dolls that were once a scam, have become so popular to the point blanka uses their likeness to push his jungle guide side-hustle to help his momma.

I talk about it in the tags of this post, but Birdie has the same thing going on; where he spent SF5 running from Shadaloo and eventually finding refuge under the kanzuki estate. But at the end of 5 he ditches Karin and goes off on his own—giving SF6 the perfect opportunity to build off of that in a meaningful way.

When If they plan on adding Birdie in I hope to god they actually do sumn. Luckily, based on the art at the top they do intend on keeping him fat (thank god), so stonks are looking good!

Also, I love your headcanon for Birdie's weight gain! I'll take ANYTHING over the actual reason we got...

[rosewood-multifandom-writer]

Reblogging this a second time this time on here because Capcom really has no clue how rapid aging works. So, for one, there is a difference between a growth spurt and rapid aging. And two, what doesn’t help is that Capcom selectively does not specify ages in characters. Specifically, in Street Fighter 6 from what I’ve seen, characters that are young without a specified age like Ed, Kimberly, and Lily are in the current roster without specified ages.

I’m just going off my own guesses/headcanons here. Going way back to SF4 and SF4 Ultra Edition, Balrog’s arcade ending, he saves an at the time, unnamed young boy that was a Shadaloo experiment. The young boy is 10 years old.

The boy that we then see in Balrog’s SFV arcade mode is Ed, who is (again, another guess) approximately 12 to 13. Then in Ed’s official roster debut in SFV Chamption Edition, he is about, give or take 18-19 years old. Keep in mind that Street Fighter has never had an underage character in the roster (that I know of because who knows what Capcom kept hidden in the past). Which brings us to Street Fighter 6, which takes place I’m gonna guess three to four years since Bison’s defeat. Which would make Ed in his early 20’s.

As for how he went from being tiny to being literally a foot taller than the some of the short people that love him? Growth spurt. Or… he just grew up.

Rapid aging does NOT stop at just making someone taller. Rapid aging would mean that Ed would be very unhealthy. Clearly, from how he looks, he is not unhealthy, nor does he have wrinkles all over, nor is he so stressed to the point of aging by a few decades (despite being constantly chased around by Shadaloo wannabes).

A minor detail, but in the character select screen when you go into Fighting Ground shows Ed clearly drinking beer. The legal drinking age in America is 21 (wow, look at me incorporating real life drinking age into my guesses and headcanons of a video game character lol), where Ed is mostly located in World Tour mode.

Also, back to Capcom… if Ed was underage, they would not make a body pillow of him as an April Fools Joke (look it up). Plus, Ed was intentionally designed to attracted more women to Street Fighter so him being in a revealing costume in SFV Champion Edition makes a bit of sense. And again, if Kimberly and Lily were underage, then they wouldn’t be wearing their default outfits.

You cannot look at Lily in Daisy Dukes and go, “oh yeah, she is still a kid.” In addition to that, Kimberly graduated high school, which would make her approximately 18-19, since the game states that she is a teenager, but she is not shown in high school, plus Kimberly would not be wearing revealing clothes either.

You also cannot look at Ed’s default design in SF6 and go, “oh, he’s probably much younger than he appears to be.” Dude, he’s walking around shirtless and he was literally designed to be a thirst trap to women. And it worked. I’m using this slutty M. Bison costume he had in SFV to prove a point here. It would be REALLY weird if Capcom made Ed younger than he looks but then they gave him this costume anyway.

Unless the ages of the characters come from the mouth of Capcom, I wouldn’t worry. Well, I still would not worry because Ed is literally pixels on a screen, so even if that were the case, it’s not like the creepy Taylor Lautner and Justin Bieber situations (if you know you know), because Ed is not a real person.

TL:DR, unless it comes from the mouth of Capcom, I’m not too worried about Ed and I will continue to say that he is in his early 20’s. Because ain’t no way Capcom is convincing us that Ed is younger than he looks when they clearly designed him to attract women (and possibly a few men).

sfv era ed was not 2-3 years old-

i'm sticking with the actual in-game dialogue because it makes more sense

[brutemper-a]

((ic, characer, verse and relation tags rehash))

self; i am the beast

aesthetic; spill your guts

headcanons; got no right to be bitching

about; grown too strong

characters

ryu; sat in the pouring rain

evil ryu; thats self destruction

ken; the sun in his eyes

violent ken; we could be friends

akuma; tear your enemies apart

sagat; new kind of enemy

verses

i main; i wanna see some fuckin shins break

ii sfv; just mad cause nobody wants to steal my soul

iii catsui; thrown off the backs of trucks and ambled up the yard to us

iv human; see this hand that pushed you into the creek

½ crack; *sticks my paws under your door* let me iiin

relations

ryu vs. kage; screaming out to take revenge

kageken; i’ll bring the fuel you bring the spark

[inky-escapism]

Today is a good day for slaughter

Summary: Hebaron wants blood. But wine is good too.

Inspo: I remember reading a part where Sir Nirta mentioned that he would hold a loud and noisy training session below Ruth's tower when they get back from a raid. (My first attempt on writing for UTOT. Came across this book from the instagram ad and now I'm hooked! Wished more people wrote about Hebaron): )

~~~ sfv ~~~

"RRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the knight roared from the bottom of the stairs. Apparently, the raging knight's hair wasn't bright enough, and fire was needed to emphasize his striking orange aura. His thumping footsteps got louder fast and his sabatons amplified the vibrations on the floor as he charged up the tower.

"I'm going to die here." a small whisper left the mage's lips.

"Today is a good day for slaughter." The knight snarled as he kicked the door open, only to reveal a petrified lady shaking like a leaf.

"My lady." Hebaron stood aloof, and took a quick deep breath. "Please stop hiding that son of a gun from me." Hebaron grunted with much restrain, his eyes darting across the wretched room. Piles and pyramids of dusty books, fallen and scattered across the room, with close to no lighting despite the high noon. Makes one wonder how does reading even take place in a room like this. "He has to die right here, right now." Hebaron pointed at his burnt carrot top in a rancorous manner while trying his best not to glare and curse at the Lady of Anatol.

"B-b-but.." Maxi stuttered as she pulled on the sleeves of her dress out of nervousness. 'H-H-How ca-n-n-n I ha-a-and Ruth-h ov-ver when I'm-m the o-one who-o se-t-t you-ur ha-air on f-f-fir-re?' Maxi was crying in her thoughts. 'NO NO! I AA-CCI-IDENTALLY s-s-set yo-our hair-r-r on-n f-fi-ire. Please don't kill me-e.' Maxi shut her eyes tightly, wishing her husband would just burst in at any moment to save her from his friend's wrath.

Earlier that morning..

~~~

"No, manipulating elemental mana is far too advanced for you." Ruth shook his head, scanning about the floor hastily. "But I can h-h-heal now, and and and.. I can c-create shields too! Please-e let me t-try, Ruth!" Maxi's dark desires, to become a sorceresses parallel to Princess Agnes started leaking out shamelessly. But her pleas drowned before they could float, as the unperturbed wizard found the perfect book as his blanket for his day nap.

"You may dismiss yourself my student." Ruth waved his hands at Maxi, signalling her to leave. " Thanks to Sir Nirta's deep compassion for my ears, I need to prepare myself for a long shift at the infirmary tonight." Ruth yawned as he snugged into the books, his white hair and brownish garments blended in seamlessly with the room.

Unwilling to give up, Maxi sat down angrily on the study room's floor, determined to wait for Ruth's awakening for another lesson. She grabbed a nearby book and started reading, lying down on the floor in many positions. Grabbing a book as her pillow, she laid on the floor and mimicked Ruth's way of sleeping.

"How is this even comfortable? He's worse than Riftan. How much does one have to love the smell of old musky books to sleep well in them?" Maxi scrunched her nose as she swept off all the books on her body. Resting her small torso on the wall, Maxi sat up and sighed. "When will I e-ever be ready to f-fight beside Riftan?"

"I-is my mana still not s-strong enoug-gh-h?" Maxi brooded over her disappointment whilst fidgeting with the mana stone in her pocket. She propped her lady legs up with a thick book close by, and played around with her mana in that small corner of the room. A zap cackled along her fingertips as she concentrated on the fire spell Ruth once demonstrated in the library. "Wow" Maxi whispered exultingly. Boosted with confidence, Maxi walked towards the window and got behind the curtains.

'Ruth says that mana concentration will be better in places where the elements are abundant.' Maxi thought to herself as she started practicing at the window. The little zap transmogrified into a small fume as she leaned against the window ledge, being extra careful not to draw the curtains. Her curiosity lead her to more practicing and after a few more turns, she managed to juggle a ball of fire in her palms. Maxi beamed as she looked down, her eyes fixated at a certain knight who was training below Ruth's tower.

'One day, one day I can go with you too. Then we'll never have to be alone.' Her heart warmed at the thought of staying by Riftan's side, and as if hit by cupid's arrow, Riftan looked up and saw Maxi at the window.

She waved excitedly and showed him her new trick. Riftan was instantly flummoxed and almost took a hit from his sparing partner. Getting the hint, Maxi abruptly stopped juggling and dropped the fire ball, which landed on the edge of Sir Hebaron's head, causing the boisterous knight to storm up.

~~~

H-how about-t I heal your hair, S-S-Sir Nir-t-ta?" Maxi suggested, not daring to look up at his face. 'Ohh-h g-god, I mus-st sou-u-und stupid to h-him. How do I even h-h-heal ha-air?' Maxi wished she could take back her words, at wit's end she started trembling even more and took a peek at Ruth. 'How c-can he sl-leep so s-s-soundly afte-er that r-rukus?!' Maxi shouted in her head.

A dark figure loomed over her, totally blocking out her vision in the dimly lit room. Maxi held her breath, but decided to confess her crimes and forced her face to look up. Her eyes still shut from fear, she pried a peek at the person in front of her.

"What are you doing?" Riftan frowned, looking down, squeezing Maxi's cheeks with his fingers. "I… I t-thought you w-ere S-Sir Heb-a-aron. And-d he was y-yelling an-n-d.." Maxi muttered diffidently, pulling Riftan closer to her, hinting for protection against the vice commander. "I.. I acc-cidentally d-drop-ped the f-fire b-ba-ll.. And-d-d" her soft voice trailed off as she pulled on Riftan's tunic tightly. "He's going-g t-t-to kill m-me!" Maxi whispered loudly.

"You .. What?!" Hebaron squalled, his large eyes widened scarily whilst he subconsciously walked towards Maxi, knocking into an already shaky book pyramid.

The tumbling of books finally woke Ruth, groaning as he stretched and yawned nonchalantly, unaware of his prior death sentence by an unhinged Sir Hebaron.

"Hebaron." Riftan stood firmly between his friend and his wife, his hand on Hebaron's shoulders were harshly swept off by the burnt knight. Maxi squirmed behind Riftan as thoughts raced through her head, 'R-R-Riftan is not-t ca-alling him N-Nirta. I don't-t-t w-want to di-e-e.'

"She's my wife. I can't just stand and do nothing." Riftan sighed at a displeased Hebaron. "Riftan Calypse. I am your comrade for 14! LOOK AT MY HAIR!" Sir Hebaron spluttered. "It'll grow back in a week." Riftan tittered. Hebaron with his burnt hair was quite a sight to behold. "A dozen kegs of wine came in this morning. Take them while your hair grows."

Raising his eye, Hebaron pondered on the offer. "Ulsin gets my shifts while it grows back?" In defeat, Riftan nodded as he pushed Maxi behind him, shielding her from Hebaron's anger.

Seeing how guilty the Lady was for this mishap, Hebaron acquiesced. "Well then, my Lady. I shall accept the kegs and off-duties as compensation for MY HAIR." Extremely satisfied that he dragged Uslin down with him, Hebaron left the room, shuffling his hair as he bolt down the stairs for his mid-noon drink. Trying to take advantage of the momentum, Ruth joined in swiftly. "And I am your wizard for almost 20. What will I get?" "Ulsin's shift on the walls." Riftan growled. "Ugh, just get out." Ruth grouched and Maxi swear she saw his eyes rolled back to the moon and back as he pushed them out to continue his lazy mid-noon nap.

As they walk down the stairs, Riftan softly asked, "If you thought I was Nirta, why did you close your eyes when you looked up, like you're waiting for a kiss from him?" Jealously filled the air as the Lord and Lady of Anatol returned to their chambers.