#the main things i didn't cover i'll come back to at another time though

[holocene-sims]

next // previous

july 11, 2021 11:00 a.m. skygarden cafe

[imthepunchlord]

I think that the main problem with Marinette is that she always gets blamed for minor things, but her bigger mistakes are ignored.

She also gets blamed for things that aren't her fault. Like Reverser I blame Nathaniel and his extreme expectations, and Refleckdoll, it was Alya who was making things worse for Juleka while Marinette was trying to help. Gamer's another as she did play fair and square, and won fair and square.

But yeah, ML has an issue with priorities. With the mindset that ONLY Marinette can be at fault, which has her at fault for things that actually aren't her fault or are minor things when there are bigger faults with others; and that, for Marinette's actual faults and issues, they don't focus on the actual problems.

For one thing, Marinette is a perfectionist, in her work and responsibilities, and in how she helps people. This leads to her being meddling and controlling. With good intentions but she can take it far. She even has this idea that only she can be the solution, though more in an Atlas complex way than being egotistical.

Which I'll give the show this, by how it's set up, Adrien and Marinette kinda feed this bad aspect of their dynamic into each other. Adrien goofs around as a hero or doesn't take situations seriously with his flirting at bad times, so Marinette feels like she has to step up more as leader and responsible one, and Adrien doesn't get a chance to take things more seriously or be the leader as Marinette doesn't expect him to, which leads to his frustration of not being as valued as a partner like he wants and he acts out, and Marinette sees she can't rely on him as much and it just cycles.

I know the show sorta tries to address this with the insistence that Marinette can trust Alya and doesn't need to shoulder everything, which is great, if they didn't take it back right away validating Marinette in being right in not trusting Alya.

Which man, that's one of Marinette's actual big issues, and you address it, and then take two steps back and reverse and vindicate the flawful mindset.

Another big issue is her over involving herself in this she doesn't or shouldn't get involved with, meddling included. She could do to ease back, let others solve their own problems. Like, Darkblade comes to mind (though there may be a better example). I do think it was a good episode, but you got Marinette admitting she's already busy, and doesn't want to be class rep, but steps up as no one else is. This is just an added responsibility she doesn't need but does so because she's involving herself in others problems.

This also leads into the other issue: Marinette's tendency to overpile onto her plate. They even focused on this in Gamer 2.0 but instead of doing a lesson of learning to ease up, take a break, and have fun (which Adrien could've been great for, heck, could've had them bond over a busy lifestyle); but nope, she passes Max off to her parents and continue being busy.

And of course, there's the big issue of her crush.

Like, they're 13-14 yos dealing with first crushes, they're going to be cringe and crazy as they don't know how to handle this, but they just take it way too far. And the extremes it's taken isn't even funny but concerning.

Marinette having his schedule.

The hoard of pictures.

Jealousy that spirals to extremes.

And having rose colored view of Adrien, to thinking he can never do wrong and feeling like she needs to protect and assist him, even at the risk of herself (Collector).

Part of the worst part about this is that this exists for the writers' amusement, taking it to unlikable extremes and not portrayed as really bad flaws that need to be addressed or have lessons about; which leads me to question what's the exaggeration and what can be more accurate/reasonable for the cringey, dramatic crush. Some of which could've been fine issues to fault her for and for her to get called out and learn from, but we don't get that, all we get is unpleasantness.

Oh! You could also cover Marinette's lack of prioritizing herself, and may not knowing how to take a break and have fun. Cause I don't know if this girl knows how to relax. And she definitely doesn't behave like a kid, but much older. Could even delve into the friendship problems she has not really connecting with her friends as well because she doesn't know how to be a kid, how to mess around and goof off.

Marinette has a good number of issues and flaws that can be addressed and worked with, but they pick the wrong ones to focus on.

[quaintii]

The CEO

A/N: the strip club scene from the movie, "Alice" and my dirty fantasies made me write this. I stood up for 4 hours revising this over and over so if there's mistakes, pls comment 😭 Hella long too 😭 word count is prob 4k?

Contents and warnings: breeding kink, hair pulling, choking, spanking, blackmail, remote-controlled vibrator, workplace setting, very very filthy smut <3

HEADER CREDITS ARE @mmadeinheavenn

Summary: You worked as a secretary to your CEO for a couple of months now and he was very cold to you and everyone else. You have a secret: you work as a stripper in a prestigious strip club.

You work at Alchemax main building, you're a main secretary for Miguel O'Hara, the CEO in charge. You always greet him with a happy energy every morning, though he doesn't bother to return it back. You find him very cold. You try refusing that you didn't want to take a bite out of him or for him to break you because of his tone and stern glare whenever his eyes would meet yours. The tension between you two was thick. But you ignored it. You still kept your composure whatsoever whenever you would glance at him being furious, he would lash out his anger back at you whenever a meeting didn't go through. Deep down, you enjoyed the degradation, rushing hot blood to your cunt, pulsing."Ms. L/N, seriously you have to keep up with the latest specific studies, you can't keep coming in here turning in reports that were beyond due! Are you sure you're staying focused on this job, Ms? I will have to fire you if you dare make me lose another opportunity for growth of this company." He said with an angry sigh. "Sorry, Mr. O'Hara, I've just been busy with personal issues lately and I don't mean to push aside my work, ever! I'll make sure to meet your expectations next time." You say with confidence. "Okay, one last try. Or you're fired. Get out of my office."

He said while keeping his eyes on his computer. You nod and excuse yourself, walking towards the door, he turns his eyes to your body. Eyeing you up and down. He once again sighed angrily. He wanted you badly even since you first walked through that door. He would jerk himself in the middle of the night, wanting to thrust inside your pretty cunt til you were cock-drunk. Wanting to feel your hot walls wrapping around his cock, sucking him in like a vacuum. Begging for more. He couldn't stop thinking of you. On the other hand, you still push through his grumpy side, just for the money. Besides working this job, you have a small side hustle to gain more money. You wouldn't say you're greedy, you're just meeting your own needs. You thought to yourself if you possibly had an exhibitionism kink…probably.

At midnight, you work at a high prestige strip club, teasing men with your lascivious body. You wore almost nude outfits, begging to be ripped off your brown skin. Tonight you were by far exhausted from the calculations from work, and working as a stripper helped you ease down. You would keep your identity hidden with a wig and do your makeup a different way. You placed on your blonde wig in the dressing room, you wore some black and red lingerie that was decorated with soft silky satin finishes. It was completely exposing, besides your nipples - which had nipple covers on them, hearts to be exact. One of your companions on stage came up to you, "Hey girl, guess who we have today?" "What? Those musty middle-aged men again?" You laugh off. "No..we have a vip here. He seems really hot." She giggled. "Penny, you know that VIPs wear masks right? How could one be hot while wearing a masquerade mask? I'm pretty sure you're just bluffing, don't be a tease, babe." You said while sighing. "Whatever you say, just giving a heads up that I'm going to take him tonight." She said with a squeal.

You were waiting in line for your turn to perform, though things changed as your boss said you had a pole stage all to yourself. "You're one of my favorites and I think you'll lure in the VIP, this is very big for this company, so do well." He said and walked off. Only the best could perform on this stage, as a teen you practiced a lot of flexibility and dancing. Who would've known it'd taken you here, at this moment. As you walk past the curtains, you lean by the walls, posing yourself. You walk slowly to the spotlight by the pole and do some spins and a split, opening your legs to your clothed cunt towards the audience.

Lots of woahs echo in your ears, afterall you were the best one here. You tried to remember what the chick from earlier said, you kept trying to find a man with a masquerade mask but you couldn't. Until you faced your eyes towards the low, lighted bar. He was focusing on your body and face. You sneakily changed your position to face him, swaying your hips to the song, seductively going lower and lower. You raise yourself by your legs hanging on the pole, doing some twists. The man takes a sip of some alcohol then signaling you to come towards where he was. You finished off your show and a lot of groans were heard. As you approached the man in the mask, everyone's eyes were on you. You finally see this man's figure and he was towering. You almost stumbled back because he seemed so frightening. He grabbed your wrist harshly and headed towards the vip lounge rooms. To the last row at the very end is where you were taken. "Quítate la ropa," he said with a grating tone. (Take off your clothes.)

You disobeyed him as it did seem too fast for you, so you did a little teasing. You faced your ass upfront to his crotch. Straddling him slowly with your hips. You heard light groans but nothing more than that. You figured out a way for him to get more pleased. You started giving him a lap dance. Moving your ass upfront to his face. Arching your back on the table that you laid on top. You would move your hips to the side, still teasing, but you stopped as soon as you heard a rough voice whispering in your ear, "No me hagas eso muñeca, yo no la haría si era tu. Quiero ver tu coño." (Don't do that to me doll, I wouldn't do that if I were you. I want to see your cunt.) He said while nibbling your ear. Shivers were sent down to your spine, doing so, you removed your panties and spread your legs at him. "Feliz?" (Happy?) You said in a low tone. "No, quiero que volteretas tu coño y culo a mi, corazón." (No, I want you to turn around and face your pussy and ass towards me, love.) He said with a grinning smile.

Those nicknames drove you wet to your core a bit, so you decided to push his limit. "Y que me pasó si no lo hago casó?" (And what will happen if I don't listen?) You said giggling. You suddenly gasp as you keep his bodyweight laying down on yours onto the satin sofa, feeling his crotch, a huge bulge against your ass. "No te va gustar mucho, amor." He rubbed his hips against yourself, you pushing your ass to his hips, hoping to relieve some friction on your cunt. He moved himself and slapped your ass harshly. You yelp out a moan. "¿Quién te dijo que puedes hacer eso? Yo soy quien mando, cariño. Te gusta eso?" (Who said you could do that? I'm the one in charge here, love. You like that?) He said while snickering softly.

You turn your head around and nod slowly. You bite your swollen lip, your cunt now dripping in slicked wetness. The mysterious man then placed a finger, moving them to your clit. You moan in relief. "F-fuck, please fuck me sir, please…" "Look how wet you are for me..you're such a dirty slut." He said while landing another slap on your ass, making you jerk forward and whimper. "Turn around for me." You do as he said, biting your lips, hoping for something exciting. That is until you notice his mask is off, and your blood runs cold. Your face burns up with embarrassment and you covered your cunt with your hands. "Mr.O'Hara, I didn't know it was you, how did you even find me here, I-i." He placed a finger on your lips, quickly shutting you up. "I know everything about you. Here, take this and wear it tomorrow for the presentation. If you don't, I'll have to fire you for moral turpitude. Looking like dirty, fucking, slut at night and working at my office in day like a good girl." He said, whispering into your ears.

His hot breath and voice once again sparked fire down your core. He quickly left you alone in the lounge room, leaving you to your own rapid thoughts. You couldn't stop hyperventilating from what just happened, you can't afford to get fired! Your whole record would be ruined for doing something so indecent. You couldn't hate yourself more than right now. Round the corner, a red box catches your eyes. You proceed to open it and it's a remote controlled vibrator, though the remote, you assumed, he had. You placed the pieces together and realized you had to wear this to the next presentation meeting. You couldn't let your record get ruined, let alone knowing your boss telling others of what you do at night. You had to face it and put up with it.

The next day, you kept staring at the vibrator. You were nervous, sweat droplets spreading across your face. What if it falls off during the presentation? What if someone could hear the vibrations? You kept wondering about so many endless scenarios about the 'What if.' You took a deep sigh and placed it in your cunt. It was cold against your warm pussy. It felt quite uncomfortable. As you walked to Mr. O'Hara's office, you couldn't gather the courage to even knock on his door nor look at his face after last night. But you did so anyway. "Here are the reports for today, Mr. O'Hara. I made sure they're all good for the presentation soon." You said timidly. "Perfect, thank you Ms. L/N, I hope you remember what I told you last night. Let's see how well you do today, if you fail I'll just have to fire you." He said with a cold tone but with a hint of amusement. You audibly gasped and faced him. His eyes already magnetized onto yours, eyeing you up and down.

You felt yourself getting aroused again, his sculpted features drew you in further. Your mind brings back how his crotch felt against your hips, he was rock hard and it felt heavenly. "I-I made s-sure of that, Mr. O'Hara." You kept stumbling over your words, causing you to scream inside. "Great, you can head out now." He said while grinning. Still eyeing you. You excuse yourself and quickly get out of there, you felt like there was no air in your lungs, you placed your palms on your face wondering how bad this could possibly go. You cursed under your breath.

The presentation was starting, Mr. O'Hara was doing the first couple of slides then you had the rest to yourself. Unfortunately, the presentation was 10 slides long. Many prestigious men entered the room, greeting one another. You sit by Mr. O'Hara's chair, his chair being right in the middle in the very back, facing the board. About 20 minutes pass, and it's your turn to present. "Welcome to Alchemax, I would like to provide you guys with an amazing proposal that would benefit both sides of our companies." You said while switching your eyes with the representatives and Miguel. You see something shift in his suit, and you jolt as you feel the vibrations on. You almost stumble on the floor by the unexpected vibrations. "Sorry about that, probably something I ate this morning. Stomach ache!" You say trying to brush off your jolting. You start with your first slide, glaring at Miguel whenever he would turn on and off the vibrating.

Your cunt was dripping wet. You wanted more vibrations even if you were to embarrass yourself right now and risk your job. You tried your best to pay no attention to how Miguel's eyes would light up dark red, giving you an erotic stare. As if he was unclothing you with his eyes. Watching you break all over something small, he wondered how badly you'd break around his cock, using your body like a a slut you are. As you kept speaking, the vibrations kept increasing which caused you to stutter multiple times. "Excuse me miss, is something ok?" Asked a representative. "Oh I'm sure it's just nothing, don't worry." You smile softly. You then glare at Miguel, for embarrassing you during your big project. But deep down, you enjoyed it. You coughed and continued your presentation. The vibrator started fastening more, your clit becoming sensitive as time went by. It felt like the slided wouldn't come to an end, you felt wobbly to your knees.

You tried your best to not fall and keep your professional composure. Small tears streaked down your cheeks, you had hoped they were unnoticed. You felt like coming until it finally stopped. You let out a small growl, staring at Miguel in dissatisfaction. You were finally done with your presentation which felt like ages. The moment you sat down, Miguel increased it to it's highest speed. You jolted, your nerves and blood rushing through your system. You let out a stifled moan, and proceeded to play it out as a cough. Now that you're sitting, the vibrator is hitting your clit even harder. You felt like the pleasure was going to leave you unconscious because it just felt so good. You had half-lidded eyes looking at Miguel, begging for him to stop but he just smirked at you. You bit the inside of your cheeks, drawing out blood, you kept holding in your moans and breathing heavily.

You felt like your eyes were rolling back to your head. You just rested your head on the chair's head support. Your throat felt like it was about to let out a loud moan and you choked on your saliva. You couldn't hold it in anymore, so you hurriedly left the room and ran to the bathroom. Miguel still kept the vibrator on it's highest setting which made you stumble on the way onto the floor the moment you made it to the bathroom. You placed your arms on the sink, holding yourself up as you felt your cunt pulsing and spasming around the device, finally letting out your moans. Your legs were wobbly and you finally came.

Your breathing became unstable-like, you tried your best to regulate it back. You started at yourself in the mirror, how could you do something so foolish and be caught up in this situation? You pulled off the device and flushed it down the toilet. You finally thought it was over and you could keep your job. That is until you open the door, Miguel immediately barging in and grabbing your waist towards his chest. He closed the door behind him. "God you should've seen how you looked squirming, princess. You looked adorable, you're such a good girl y'know? You should be rewarded." "Miguel, please let this be over…" You gave out more moans as he massaged your breasts. "Todavía no, cariño. Te quiero conmigo, quiero usar tu cuerpo y saber tu precioso coño.." (Not yet love, I want to be with you, use your body and taste your pretty pussy.)

He gruffed as he sucked onto your neck. "Mhmmf.. M-miguel, please…" You whimpered out. "Be a good slut for me, do that for me." He grabbed a hold of your throat, lifting towards his face. His eyes lit up with lust. Your brain was starting to fog up. "Si..Miguel..mmhgfm fuck, please fuck me Miguel." You say with a strained voice as his fingers grip your throat tighter. "Tenga cuidado con lo que pides, amor. Porque ya no puedo detenerme más." (Be careful with what you ask for, love. Because I would be able to hold myself back anymore.) You jumped and wrapped you legs around his waist and hips, his arms holding you up as you wrap your hands around his neck.

The both of you kiss hungrily each other, as if your life depended on it. Both of your lips finally left go to breathe. You stare at his lips and eyes with your lust filled, low lidded eyes. "Miguel, put your cock inside of me, p-please.." You whimper and suck on his neck. He leans his head back and he groans which makes your cunt pulse. "Sé una buena chica para mí, cariño. Quiero que me la chupes. Dios, tengo tantas ganas de cogerte ahora mismo. Mira lo que me haces muñeca.." (Be a good girl for me, baby. I want you to blow me. God, I want to fuck you so bad right now. Look what you do to me doll…) You obey and go on your knees. You lower his zipper and his boxers.

His cock springs out, the base is dark brown while his tip is a pinkish brown. It was leaking with pre-cum, begging to be sucked on. You kitten-licked the tip - teasingly by giving it small kisses on the head. Miguel looks down at you, he could barely control himself to the point he wants to throat fuck you til you can't breathe. You then take half of him in your warm mouth, swirling your tongue around his length. He grabs ahold of your head and leans back on a wall, keeping himself standing. "Mierda.. tu boca.." (Fuck.. your mouth.) He cursed under his breath. You hollow your cheeks and you take more of him as your throat relaxes. He reluctantly bucked his hips, causing you to choke. You loved how his cock tasted, how it felt full in your mouth. You started fastening and Miguel lost full control.

He grabbed your hair and bucked his hips harshly. Hid hips spasming."F-fuck your mouth feels like heaven, amor. Fuck you're taking me so well…such a dirty slut." He moaned. You looked up at him with teary eyes, the sound of sucking echoed. You were squirming and pressuring your thighs together. When you moaned, he loved how tight your throat would get. You felt that he was about to come so you hollow your cheeks even more. He looked down at you, and he finally pumped his semen down your throat, it felt hot and bittersweet. You finally detach your mouth from his dick but licking all of him clean.

It caused something in Miguel to completely break. He grabbed you up and removed your skirt and panties. He bent your back, you arched it even further as he slapped your ass harshly, making you jerk forward. He placed you In Front of a tall mirror. "I want you to look how I fuck you..how good I fucking make you feel. No one will ever make you feel this good. Your pussy is fucking mine." He says while biting on your shoulders with his fangs. He removed all of his clothes and removed your top. "Look at your fucking tits, all of me. Mierda..." He drew out blood and sucked it dry. He lines up his dick In Front of your cunt, teasing it. You couldn't wait anymore, you were too desperate for him to pound you without mercy. Making a complete mess of you til you couldn't walk.

He pinched your perked nipples, making you shiver and bite down on your swollen lip. You look at the mirror, he keeps eyeing you, he would never remove his eyes off of your body. He slapped your ass and moved his mouth to your breasts. Sucked them like it was the last time with you. You let out loud moans."M-miguel please, I want your fucking cock inside of me..please I want you inside of me so bad. P-please..f-fuck." You whimper. He smirked devilishly. "Where do you want me, cariño.." He huffed out. "Inside of my fucking pu-." You were interrupted as he slams his cock inside of you, keeping a steady pace, your throat chokes continuously on your moans, it felt so fucking good. All of the air in your lungs left, you felt him touching your insides. Your cunt pulsing and squeezing him while he pulled out and thrusted into you even harder. You placed your hands onto the mirror, gasping and moaning.

Chanting Miguel's name incoherently like a prayer. You wanted him to ruin you, you wanted to be his cum dumpster. "F-fuck mmhfm m-miguel please stop..s'too much. Fuck..aughmmhffm…" You moaned out in gasps. "Look how slutty you look, taking in my cock so good like a good slut. Such a good girl, your pussy keeps sucking me in princessa..f-fuck.." He moans. He grabs your throat, making you face yourself In Front of the mirror. Your mouth was agape, eyes rolled back to your skull, making erotic sounds that caused Miguel's cock to harden even more. Both of your bodies were sweating and heaving, making the room atmosphere thicken. You were so cock-drunk, your brain couldn't form coherent thoughts, let alone words.

The only thing you could think was his dick inside of you, deep. You arched your back even more, allowing him to dig deeper inside of your warm pussy. You felt like you were going to fucking collapse by the amazing pleasure. That was until he pulled out. "F-fuck.. I want everyone to see what a dirty slut you are." He huffed and kissed you hard. "M-miguel, what if someone sees us." You said with a worried tone. "Don't you like that? Don't you like to be seen being fucked by me, all inside your pussy, amor?" You nod and whimper. "Y-yes Miguel.." He opens the bathroom door and heads to his office, gathering all the clothes and placing them on his couch. Fortunately, no one was on the floor. He grabs you by the throat, gripping it harder. He slammed your body onto the desk, causing paperwork to fall but you couldn't care less now. Your face and tits were planted on the cold desk, sending shivers down your spine.

Miguel pulled your hips upward, making you arch. He used his fingers to separate your lips and see your glistening cunt. He inserted his fingers inside your pussy and you moaned. He took them out to taste them and he almost came from it alone. You tasted so sweet, like a forbidden fruit. Your pussy pulsated and clenched around nothing, begging for some attention. "Miguel I want your cock inside of me again, please.." You whimpered. "Be a good girl and wait." He licked your pussy up and down and rubbed your clit. You stretch your neck, feeling so good and moaning that your voice was so strained. He slaps your pussy, making you jolt forward. He then grabs you by the waist and pushed your body against the sky high windows. "I want everyone to see how good I'm fucking you..you like that don't you?" He said while smirking. "Y-yes Miguel please fuck my dirty pussy already. Fuck me til I can't breathe." You groaned.

He slammed into your cunt once again, suddenly making you let out a loud strained moan. You kept cursing and yelling his name. Your moans would only get louder as he rubbed his thumbs up and down on your clit, pressing on it hard. His other hand pinched your nipples while his mouth landed on your neck. Your back arched back to his chest, causing him to reach your soft, squishy walls that you thought were unreachable. You could barely control your body's weight. Miguel grabbed both of your hips and bent your back even more. Your face against the window causes it to fog up. His cock slammed harder inside of you, deeper. His claws deepened on your hips. He slammed up into you at a much faster pace than before, hitting all the places he knew you loved. “Eres mia... Mia y mia solo,” (You're mine, mine and mine only.) Miguel whispered into your ear before kissing the skin below it.

His voice had lost its cold underlining, whining out as his hips stuttered. Miguel's hips rocked still before he let out a soft sigh, his cum painted your walls perfectly. You writhed under his large body, riding your own orgasm as he continued to rub your clit. Coming down to a stop you sighed as your body shook at the intensity. "You're my little cum slut, aren't you? Yeah you like it when I fill your pussy up with my cum don't you?" Miguel slowly pulled out, shoving his fingers into me immediately, making my back arch. He pumped his cum back inside of my pussy. You collapse from overstimulation. You wake up a few hours later on a soft bed. An arm wraps around you. You felt warm and cared for. You look up and see Miguel sleeping. He looked beautiful. You want something to happen between the two of you and hopefully become a couple. You moved closer to him and placed a kiss on his cheek and he suddenly placed one on your forehead.

[lilacmingi]

FULL MOON

My works are 14+ ONLY. If you’re under 14 DO NOT interact with me or any of my works. And please don’t spam-like!

Pairing: Werewolf!Chan x Vampire!fem reader

Word count: 5,000

Note: I’ve been STRESSING about not having any completed imagines for Halloween but I was able to finish this one. It’s fluffy and sweet but also there’s a steamy kiss at the end oop 🫢

The light of the full moon shone down on the dew-covered grass outside as you sat inside on the couch, cuddled up next to your boyfriend, Chan, who felt particularly warm and cozy as the both of you watched a movie together. On the screen, the end credits rolled, your eyes momentarily following as each name passed before lifting your head from Chan's shoulder.

"Another?"

That one word gained a nod from your boyfriend who took the remote and started scrolling for a second film to occupy your time. Both you and Chan were major night owls and enjoyed staying up into the AM hours, often having movie marathon hangouts when you were both nothing more than good friends. Other times were spent indulging in late-night ramen and having pointless conversations that led nowhere. You were a good match, perhaps even perfect.

Since you started dating four months prior, things hadn't changed much, other than the fact that your hangouts were now called dates. And then there were the cuddles and kisses that took place during these dates of yours.

Chan pressed his pillowy lips against your temple as a small display of affection while flicking through suggested movies on the screen, not really paying attention to the time. Normally, he wouldn't let it get away from him, but with you around, it was easy to get caught up in the moment. It wasn't until that all-too-familiar feeling tugged at his chest that Chan realized what time it was, his eyes darting to the living room window where the full moon shone down outside.

He forgot.

Picking up on his change in body language, you glanced over at him, brows tugging together in mild concern.

"Is everything okay?" You inquired, placing a tentative hand on his bicep, rubbing it in a soothing manner.

Chan's heartbeat increased rapidly as he fought to maintain a straight face. He didn't want to reveal his true form to you, but he knew he couldn't hide his secret forever. Though he had managed to keep it under wraps throughout your friendship and, so far, four months of dating.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He responded, giving you a forced half smile. "I'm just a little tired, that's all." It was the worst excuse he could possibly come up with, but it's what slipped out of his mouth.

"Mr. I Stay Up Until 5 AM is tired?" You teased him lovingly. It's something you always did when you were still just friends. Teasing was a big part of your relationship.

He rolled his eyes at your playful remark. "Maybe I'm trying to get my sleep schedule back in order."

Though you considered hitting him with another teasing comment about how he'll never get his sleep in order, you chose to be serious.

"Alright, alright. I'll cut the teasing. Let's put on another movie and if you get tired, you can sleep in my lap." You offered.

Chan's expression softened at your proposition and he hoped it would be a good distraction from the effects the moon was having on him. All he needed was something to calm him. Surely that would do the trick—right?

"How can I refuse such a sweet offer?" He grinned, using the remote in his hand to select a movie from your shared watchlist.

The both of you settled back into the couch as the opening scenes played on the screen, the background music filling the room as the main cast's names flashed over the backdrop. Things were peaceful, but it didn't last long. Roughly five minutes into the film, Chan became tense again, his hands clenching into fists where they rested on his knees. That feeling in his chest was getting stronger and he wasn't sure how long he could hold back his true nature before it came out and reared it's ugly head. If he let that happen, your relationship would change forever.

He slowly laid his head on your lap to which you immediately accommodated, letting him get situated before running your fingers through his soft brown curls. A sigh left him at the gentle and calming sensation your fingers caused, sending waves of relief throughout him with each caress. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to tame the beast within trying to break free. The moon was really starting to effect him and not even your calming touch could help. He couldn't suppress the creature trying to break free from within; the transformation was inevitable. Chan knew he would need to make up an excuse to leave the room soon or things wouldn't go well. His worst nightmare would come true.

He let out the faintest strained noise as he was overcome with another wave of discomfort, sitting upright and getting to his feet.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom. Don't worry about pausing the movie." The words left his lips hurriedly, his urgency barely concealed.

You nodded, assuming he wasn't feeling well, not thinking too much of it as he scurried out of the living room.

The door was pushed shut behind Chan hastily while another wave of discomfort twisted his insides. He moved to the sink, letting out a heavy sigh and hoping he didn't raise any suspicions with his exit. The other part of him, what he was, had slowly started to take over now, his eyes flickering from their natural warm brown to a golden hue as he tried his best to repress it.

"No, no, no." He hissed under his breath, clenching his teeth.

This was not supposed to happen.

With the way things were going, he had no choice but to let nature take its course. He mentally cursed himself for thinking he could have a date with you on the night of the full moon and for failing to keep an eye on the time.

The bathroom was small and cramped, which meant Chan could accidentally hit or break something during the transformation process, but he didn't care at this point. The urges within him were much stronger than his worries and the aches were only getting more intense.

A familiar tingling sensation prickled at Chan's hands and he raised them to find his nails growing longer, slowly forming sharp claws. It was a sight he was accustomed to, but not one he wanted to be seeing on this particular night. His breathing became labored, leaving him in heavy huffs as he gripped the edges of the sink, leaning over it while the last shred of humanity within him resisted, but it wasn't enough to stop the inevitable from happening. He inhaled a sharp intake of air, his eyes fully shifted to a golden hue, glowing softly from the intensity of his transformation. He stumbled a bit and doubled over as his ears grew into points, his clenched canines elongating to form sharp, pointed fangs that could easily tear through flesh. He leaned against the wall with a thump and a groan, pushing himself off to try and stand up as the agony slowly came to an end. A growl rumbled in the back of his throat, his clawed hands trembling as he tried to steady his breathing, but his body was on high alert for some reason and he was finding it hard to relax. He panted heavily, hunched over the sink while fighting off the urge to burst out of the bathroom and go outside to hunt.

You were seated in the living room on the couch, your worry for Chan rising by the minute. He had been in the bathroom for a while and you wondered if you needed to check on him. He could've been sick, but something in your gut was telling you it was more dire than that. Pausing the movie, you stood up with the intention to see if your boyfriend was alright. That's when you heard a thump down the hall, assumably from the bathroom where he was. Your instincts flared up immediately, knowing that something wasn't right.

You stepped forward, moving down the hallway. A faint mumble of some sort could be heard from the bathroom followed by a low and rough growl. A feeling—or more like a scent, hit you. There was a werewolf in Chan's house. Your immediate thought was that your boyfriend was in danger and your body went into protect mode immediately.

Due to that sudden spike in emotion and the fact that you were close to a werewolf, your eyes shifted to their vampiric red that you kept hidden so often and your fangs lengthened, your defenses kicking in full force. Revealing your true identity to Chan was the last thing on your mind as you slinked towards the bathroom door, preparing to strike. Your top priority was making sure he was safe and if you had to show your true nature to achieve that, then so be it.

You wasted no time grabbing the handle, which wasn't locked, and pushing open the door with urgency.

"Chan! Are you alr—" The sentence was left unfinished as you froze, your red irises meeting his golden ones.

He was the only one in the bathroom. Your stunned gaze took in his appearance: pointed ears, sharpened canines, and even sharper claws. You were dumbfounded.

Chan, equally as shocked by your own appearance, let out a little exhale of disbelief, frozen in place due to the magnitude of the situation. Despite the bombshell revelation, he didn't feel threatened, that tenseness in his body loosening a bit at your presence. Even the urge to hunt was diminishing.

"Chan, you're..." You didn't even care that you had exposed yourself as a vampire. You were more shocked to find out your best friend—your boyfriend, was a werewolf.

Your voice pulled him from his stupor and he nodded. "Yeah. I am. And you're..."

"Yes." You responded, your hand falling off the doorknob. "I... I was worried. I heard noises and smelled a werewolf, so I thought you were in danger."

You weren't sure how you didn't figure out what Chan was sooner. This whole time you thought he was a human, as he never showed any signs of being anything but.

The fact that you were concerned for him made his heart soften.

"You came to check on me?"

You nodded. "My need to protect you was greater than hiding my identity. I was ready to burst in here and kick some mutt to the curb, but it's just you."

It's just you.

Those words echoed in Chan's mind and struck him right in the chest. You weren't bothered at all by what he was. What's more, you were ready to protect him and you revealed your identity to do it.

"That's so sweet." Chan's expression softened.

Like you, he never really thought about you being anything but a human so this was certainly a huge shock for him. He was stunned that he never once picked up on you being a vampire, which was quite embarrasing on his end.

No more words were exchanged for the time being, both of you stunned to silence at this revelation. Stepping forward, you cupped Chan's cheeks, his eyelids fluttering softly at your touch which calmed the beast inside of him.

"You're beautiful." You murmured in awe, your crimson eyes scanning over his face and taking in his new wolfish features.

"So are you." He responded in an almost breathless manner, his heart hammering in his chest.

There was a fluttering in your own chest, a new emotion blossoming within, something you couldn't quite describe. Though if you had to explain it, it was something akin to immense love. Finding out Chan was a supernatural being like yourself made you feel closer to him in a way. You stepped forward and embraced him in a hug. Revealing your identity to Chan one day had been a concern of yours, but you knew you couldn't keep it secret forever and would have to be honest with him at some point, but now that you knew he was like you, you were relieved—happy.

"I still love you, y'know. Even more so now."

Chan's heart leapt at your words and he wrapped his arms around you, returning the warm embrace. The tension that was in the air just moments earlier had vanished completely and was replaced with a sense of comfort.

No longer would you two have to hide your identities from one another. You could be your true selves now without hiding.

"I love you too." Chan murmured, his palm rubbing up and down your lower back. "So so much."

You hummed softly, nuzzling into the crook of his neck and taking in his scent; a mix of morning dew and musk.

"You smell nice." You breathed.

"Yeah?" A small smile played at the corner of Chan's lips, his heart fluttering.

"Yeah. Comforting."

He closed his eyes and inhaled, taking in your scent which was a pleasant mixture of roses and fresh berries. "You smell nice too."

The both of you stood in each other's embrace for a few moments, relishing in each other's comforting scents and allowing it to overtake your senses.

After some time, you turned your head towards the bathroom mirror you and Chan were stood in front of, catching a glimpse of your reflections.

"Look at us." A small chuckle of amusement shook your shoulders at the sight that was before you. "A werewolf and a vampire."

He tittered at your comment, gazing fondly at the both of you in the mirror, finding that he quite liked how you looked together.

"What a deadly duo." He smirked. "I like that."

You mirrored his amused expression. "I like it too."

He turned to you, his golden eyes taking in your mesmerizing features that seemed even more beguiling now. "What a dangerous and beautiful combo."

A small grin tugged at one side of your mouth. It was true. Two different supernatural creatures together was something else. Your hand came up to caress his cheek, your captivating crimson eyes taking in his subtle wolfish features once again, unable to deny how attractive he was like this. You still couldn't quite wrap your head around all of this, but you truly couldn't be happier.

"Now I know why you're always so warm."

"You noticed?"

"Mhm. Especially tonight. That's why I was cuddled so closely. You were like my own personal heating pad."

"So you were just using me, huh?" He teased with a dimpled grin, his upper and lower canines on display.

"Hey. I may be a vampire, but I get cold sometimes. Besides, it's not my fault you feel so nice and cozy."

A breathy chuckle left his nostrils in response.

"Well, I guess I don't mind being your portable heater."

The light laughter you shared died down as you thought about what Chan went through just moments ago, transforming against his will.

"How are you feeling?" You asked him, delivering a gentle caress to his back. "Do you feel well enough to get back to our movie night?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "Doing something calming is a good idea. When I'm like this I get these urges to go run around in the woods to blow off steam and hunt, but I don't wanna do that. I wanna stay with you." He nuzzled his nose against your jaw, making you chuckle softly at the slight tickling sensation that followed.

"Alright then. Let's get back to it." You took his hand and led him back into the living room where you reclaimed your spots on the couch. The movie on the screen was resumed, though you weren't paying much attention to it due to the questions that lingered in your mind. Questions relating to your boyfriend and his not-so-secret identity.

"So, how long does this last? A few hours or until the sun rises?" You inquired.

Being a vampire, you knew about werewolves and their transformations during each full moon, but you never knew the details of it.

"Until the sun rises." He responded. "I'll be back to normal by morning."

You hummed, nodding as you took in the information. "I can stay up all night if you need me to."

Chan looked up at you, his golden irises glimmering like those of a puppy. "You'd do that for me?"

"Of course I would. Besides, it won't hurt me if I don't sleep. I'd much rather stay awake and keep an eye on you until I know you're relaxed."

His expression softened and you could hear his heart thudding faster in his chest.

"Thank you, love."

"You're welcome." You pulled Chan closer so he was resting against your chest, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. He let out a soft hum, leaning further into you. The warmth he emanated was felt even through the fabric your shirt, seeping into your skin. You brought a hand up and caressed Chan's hair, absentmindedly playing with his soft curls as you watched the movie. Another hum of contentment vibrated against you as your digits twirled strands of his brown hair. A calm like he's never felt before settled over Chan like a cozy blanket at the gentle actions. Those urges he mentioned earlier were fading away, slowly being replaced by the need to be close to you. While there was a tinge of animosity between most vampires and werewolves, Chan couldn't possibly feel that way with you. Most of his kind would be tense around a vampire but he was the complete opposite. Your presence soothed him and calmed those animalistic urges within.

Your red eyes moved from the TV screen down to your cuddly boyfriend whose eyes were closed.

"You sleepy?" You inquired softly, tracing the shape of his pointed ear.

"Mhm." He hummed. "You think we could stay like this until I fall asleep?"

Your heart softened at his sweet request. "Of course we can, bub."

Bub. It was a nickname you often used with Chan during moments like these where he was being a big cuddle bug.

He sighed softly at your gentle caresses, snuggling further into your lap like an overgrown puppy and it had your heart swelling with immense adoration. As you sat there with the movie long forgotten, your focus solely on your boyfriend, your own eyes started to feel heavy. The coziness of the situation was relaxing you to the point of slumber, your eyelids drooping little by little until you dozed off.

The sun's morning rays seeped into the window of Chan's living room, light spilling into the area stirring you awake. You winced, not being a big fan of the offensive light of the outdoors due to your vampiric nature. However, that mild discomfort was quickly pushed aside as you caught sight of your snoozing boyfriend sleeping peacefully on your chest. It appeared you two had shifted during your slumber and you no longer sitting upright, now stretched across the couch with Chan laid on you.

The sight caused a smile of adoration to pull at your lips, your hand moving to card through his curly locks. He hummed softly in his slumber, his eyes moving around behind his lids. It eased your mind to see Chan resting so peacefully, now back to his usual appearance. Though, you couldn't deny he looked rather attractive the previous night in his werewolf form.

Chan's eyelids fluttered open and he squinted a bit at the sunlight coating the room, grumbling softly.

"Morning, sleepyhead." You greeted in a soft whisper.

He chuckled drowsily. "Morning. How'd you sleep?"

"I slept well. You?"

"Really good." He hummed, nuzzling into you. "Thank you for being with me last night. Your presence was calming. I've never felt that way during a full moon."

Your heart swelled at his words and you were certain he could hear it thumping loud and clear with his werewolf senses.

"I can't tell you how happy that makes me."

Your gaze moved to the window where the sunlight filtered in, a thought crossing your mind.

"I'd like to be here with you every full moon. Or whenever you need me. That way you don't feel so alone and maybe my presence can help your transformations easier." You spoke aloud.

That offer alone made Chan feel overwhelmed with love and adoration for you. It was wish a small thing but it meant the world to him.

"I would really like that." He spoke softly, his sleepy voice muffled slightly due to his face being pressed against your chest.

"Then it's settled. I'll keep a close eye on my calendar and I'll be here every time. I promise."

The atmosphere was comfortable and cozy, so you and Chan stayed where you were, latched to one another, basking in the warm glow of the sun and the comfort of each other's embrace. After a few minutes of bliss, you got to your feet and stretched.

"I should probably head home. I need to shower and change clothes."

"It probably wouldn't be a bad idea for me to do the same." He huffed out a soft laugh, hooking his arm around your waist and pulling you into a hug. "Thanks again for staying."

"Of course." You pressed a soft kiss to his temple. "I'm here for you always."

With that, you saw yourself out and headed home.

In the following weeks, you and Chan visited each other and called or texted when you were apart, going about your lives as usual. There was an obvious shift in your relationship since the night your secrets were exposed. Your bond had become stronger and in turn, you'd both gotten closer emotionally.

Before you knew it, it was time for the next full moon and you were at Chan's house just like you promised, having been keeping track of the days. The front door swung open to reveal an already smiling Chan, who more than likely sensed your presence before your knuckles even hit the wood of the door.

Immediately, you were pulled into a warm hug, his nose nuzzling into your hair affectionately.

"Hey, sweet thing." He greeted, his breath fanning your ear and making you shiver.

"Hi, darling. I missed you."

"I missed you too."

You stayed locked in Chan's embrace as he pulled you inside, kicking the front door shut, not daring to let go.

"What are your plans for tonight?" You asked him, allowing your clingy boyfriend to guide you towards his room.

"I'd just like to lie down with you and cuddle if that's alright."

"Of course it is."

Chan dropped down onto the bed, taking your hand and pulling you down with him, his arms snaking around your waist, making you giggle lightly.

"So clingy." You teased.

"Can't help it." He murmured, pressing his nose in the crook of your neck. "I just love you so much and having you here tonight means a lot to me."

Your heart melted at his words and you found yourself holding him tighter, turning your head just enough to press a kiss to the tip of his pretty nose.

"I can't imagine having to go through this alone without someone by your side."

"You get used to it."

"Yeah, but I would've been here for you if I'd known."

You and Chan were best friends before you started dating and to even think about him being forced to shift and not have someone to keep him calm made your chest hurt.

As if he could sense your sadness, he lifted his head, his brown eyes starting into your e/c one's.

"You're here now. That's all that matters."

His words brought a comforting smile to your face.

"Right." You nodded, resting back against a stack of pillows on Chan's bed. "When does your transformation usually take place?"

"Midnight."

Glancing at the digital clock on the nightstand, you took note of the hour. 11:00 PM. One hour.

You passed the time by talking with Chan about his life as a werewolf, letting him share stories that he used to keep a secret. In turn, you shared your own experiences about yourself and it felt good, not only to be able to talk about these things so openly, but for there to no longer be anything hidden between the two of you. You laid there with him while keeping an eye on the time, watching as the minutes ticked away and it neared midnight.

"How are you feeling, my love?" You asked him, playing with his curls.

"I'm alright for now." He raised his head to glance at the clock.

11:50 PM.

"Do you think you could keep holding me when the change starts happening? I think it'll help me stay relaxed."

"Of course." Your thumb traced his cheek lovingly, taking in his features that were uniquely him.

The next ten minutes passed by in a blur and Chan gave a glance at the clock that now displayed 12:00 AM.

"It's time." He noted aloud, his body tensing.

"It's alright." You soothed, rubbing up and down his arm. "I'm here."

He let out a breath, nodding his head. As if on cue, his nails began to lengthen, growing into pointed claws. The sight didn't startle you in the slightest, in fact it was quite the opposite. You were entranced, watching as his brown irises swirled with a golden hue that overtook his natural eye color. Chan breathed through the whole transformation and allowed his ears to extend, coming to a point at the tips, his fangs elongating while you caressed his arm, melting away the tenseness in his muscles.

"There he is." You smiled softly, cupping his cheek as he looked up at you. "You made it through."

The clock was at 12:02 AM, the transformation process being quick and easy thanks to your presence.

"Thanks to you. Things were much easier this time. I hope you know how much I appreciate you doing this for me."

"I do and I'm glad I could bring you some comfort." You smiled softly. "So how are you feeling? Any urges to go hunt?" You asked him, playing with his hand and admiring his long claws.

"None. I'm feeling very at ease." He shook his head. "You seem pretty fascinated with my nails."

"They're pretty."

"Pretty dangerous if you ask me." He chuckled.

"They may be dangerous, but I'm not scared. They'd never cause me any harm."

"Of course not. Your safety is my top priority. I'll always protect you."

Your heart softened at his vow to keep you safe. Though he knew you were a vampire and could handle yourself, he still wanted to protect you and that meant the world to you.

"I know you're the one protecting me, but if ever there's a time where you need protection, I'll give it to you."

Chan lifted his head to gaze at you with a loving expression. "Thank you, sweetness."

Your hand released his, moving to cup his cheek, entranced by his supernatural features.

"Can I confess something?"

"Yes."

"I think you look hot when you're wolfed out."

An amused smirk played at Chan's pillowy lips. "Is that so?"

You bit your lip, nodding.

"Well, I think you look hot when you're all vamped out."

Just to be cheeky, you let your eyes flash red.

His expression shifted into something more sinister when you did that, a spark of something primal igniting within him.

"Go on, sweet thing." He encouraged.

At his sultry words, you revealed your true form to him and he couldn't help but think you looked even more enchanting now than you did the last time.

"Exactly like that." Chan growled out, leaning forward to press his lips to yours.

A small noise left the back of your throat at the force behind the kiss, your arms wrapping around his broad frame and pulling him closer.

Chan grunted softly against your lips, anchoring his knees into the mattress to hover over you, one of his clawed hands cupping your cheek while the other helped to keep him propped up. Your fingers slid into his curly locks, unintentionally brushing the tips of his pointed ears which sent a shiver down his spine.

"I love you so much." He spoke breathlessly between kisses.

"I love you too." The words were returned almost immediately.

Your closed eyelids fluttered at the sensation of his plump lips encasing yours, your fingers curling to grab a handful of his hair to ground yourself. A rough sound left the back of Chan's throat in response and the pace of the kiss picked up, his fangs clashing and clicking against yours amidst your heated lip-lock. There was something so passionate and perhaps animalistic about the whole situation that had your head spinning, and having Chan's earthy musky scent filling your nostrils wasn't helping in the slightest.

The full moonlight cascaded in from Chan's bedroom window, casting a pale glow on the both of you tangled together on his bed. There was something so romantic about it, kissing under the bright beam of the moon. It was fitting, especially for two creatures of the night like yourselves.

Chan parted ways, resting his forehead against yours while panting heavily in order to catch his breath. His tongue darted out to lick over his swollen lips, savoring the taste of you that lingered on them. Your fingers ran lazily through his hair as you gazed up at him adoringly.

"I have a new date night idea."

"Do tell." Chan murmured, placing a few kisses down your jawline, nuzzling the tip of his nose just under your ear.

You let out a soft exhale, your eyelids fluttering at the pleasant sensations that rippled down your neck.

"Maybe one night you and I can go running in the woods together, hm?" You suggested.

Chan pulled away a bit, an excited gleam in his golden eyes.

"I think that would be romantic."

Masterlist ᝰ — enjoyed this imagine? reblogs & comments are very much appreciated!

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[luboy7rt]

After Mission Drinks - Keegan P. Russ x GN!Teammate Reader

(A bit of angst, no happy ending, sorry, feel free to ask for one though and I might write a part 2? Keegan and teammate Reader have feelings but they are on the same team and both know it is indeed against the rules to be in a relationship with someone on their team.) (I tried only using you/your pronouns)

Keegan was quiet as usual as he sighed, Hesh had gotten shit-faced during a celebration bar trip, poor Elias and Logan attempting to ‘ease’ him so they left early. Just him, Merrick, Kick, and you now. Less people to worry about as he sipped his beer, Kick and him were placing ‘bets’ on what would happen next between some woman and her boyfriend..? Keegan assumed he was her boyfriend with the way they were bickering. Kick placed down a bet that he was willing to pay for a whole round if they broke up by the end of the night after he caught the guy checking out another girl. Keegan bet against it though, it was a simple glance, after all, the guy hadn't done anything that bad. Keegan glanced away from the fight to an agitated Merrick, who seemed ready to leave, having had spent enough hours at the bar. “..Getting ready to leave already?”. Keegan pondered under his breath, adjusting his mask over his nose, as he glanced over at you as if to question if you were also leaving.

“Hm?” You glanced away from the fight, zoning into the conversation while making eye contact with Keegan. A bit too intense for the many years you both have known each other. You held it for another beat of silence before breaking it to look at Merrick who spoke and Kick who was also shit-faced and stumbling.

“Fuck yeah. Thinkin’ about heading off now. Text me when you all are finished, I'll pick you up” Merrick offered, as he was one of the designated drivers tonight, seeing as Elias had already left. Merrick was their best shot at getting back to the barracks tonight. Kick shot up to go join the other man, claiming something in incoherent drunkenness for Merrick to come back, placing five bucks..? Five bucks wouldn’t cover a round but Kick placed it on the table for Keegan. Who simply slipped it into his wallet, he wasn’t paying for a round but he would indeed keep the five.

“Yeah, Thanks” You waved him off to busy peeking your head noticing everyone was now gone, leaving just you and Keegan. “...My entertainment…” You murmured under your breath, everyone leaving meant not seeing any more stupidity between them, like Logan and Hesh getting shit faced and babbling on about their childhood stuffed toy that Elias 'kidnapped’ years prior, and Elias just sighing at his sons’ dramaticness (Elias didn’t even kidnap the toy, one of those two lost it and refused to admit such a thing). 

“If that's your entertainment I think you need a hobby” Keegan deadpanned to you, cracking his neck as he waved Merrick and Kick off, the bar suddenly seemed dimmer, as if all the lights faded softly as you became his main focus, as he chuckled quietly under his breath. The bartender had shifted away from the two of you to go serve other customers. 

“I have hobbies. Something about you tells me you don't” You raised an eyebrow under your mask, glancing over Keegan's form. Earning a look from Keegan, You were basically saying Keegan didn't have a life outside of being a soldier… which was maybe true but you didn't have to say it like that.

“Oh yeah? Bold coming from you.” The two of you made eye contact once again, as Keegan traced the edge of the glass he was drinking out of, his gloved hand grazing over it as if to capture your attention who took a deep breath. As you two didn't cut eye contact, like a million times before.. You both held it deeply. Both of you knew… subtly that your relationship was..  complicated. 

The secret looks, glances, how well you both truly know each other after so many years of working together, the bond and trust you both have built up together. Just.. everything was so difficult. Keegan was the first to break away, deciding he didn't want to stare into your pretty eyes for too long. You kicked him out of his thoughts, your leg nudging Keegan's under the bar stool, quite harshly actually. “You're in your mind again” You ‘informed’ him, as rested your hand on Keegan's shoulder. “Whatcha thinkin’ about?” You questioned him gently, settling comfortably where you sat, your hand pulling Keegan's shoulder to face each other once again.

“Nothing. Don't you have a drink to finish?” Keegan huffed back quietly, forcing his face back into his own drink, faking being distracted by drinking as if to not answer your question. You only rolled your eyes in response but did pick up your drink once again, your hand slipping off Keegan's shoulder, painfully slow as Keegan stiffened.

You both were always like that, back and forth, snide comments, maybe even subtly flirting. Yet you both had a tension that could only be seen as romantic interest in one another, it made Keegan's blood boil. How could he fall for a teammate, you both knew the rules. Yeah, Task Force Stalker bent the rules sometimes on missions and shit, but never like this… Keegan knew he would never have the guts to.. do anything with this knowledge.

Keegan’s hand grazed your own hand as you both attempted to grab the water on the counter. Your gloved knuckles brushing over each other, both of your breaths catching in your throats and you both made eye contact once again, staring into each other's eyes without a word between you, neither having the voice or words to say anything. But.. they both knew, you knew. You both knew how you felt about each other yet over the decade you have known each other you both never once voiced it and never will.

“..Are you alright?” You asked, tilting your head as you leaned forward against the bar counter as Keegan took a swig at the beer, his heart.. racing? That was new. He needed to end it, thinking of anything to do so, imagining you doing something downright embarrassing or stupid to try and lose feelings. This never worked though, and never will.

“Yeah, yeah.” Keegan scoffed back, crossing his legs over each other as he sorta.. blocked you out. Why did it have to be you? was all Keegan could think about, his eyebrows furring as he did so, eyes glaring at the counter of the bar. Keegan knew the rules well, no romantic/sexual relationships with teammates. It was a fair rule, rules were needed within the military's strict protocols, and it could put a lot at risk. 

Keegan knew he would never voice his thoughts to you or anyone in this world. He was willing to take this ‘confession’ to his deathbed. But… It was comforting to know you might feel the same way, your fingers still touching, but it was hidden by Keegan’s jacket that rested on top of it… How you both hesitantly took your hands off each other when someone came too close, it was almost painful when your fingertips grazed over his own, yet you both backed away when you and Keegan deemed it inappropriate.

Were you both... Content? No. Keegan wasn't content, he wasn't actually sure how you felt. The man was hard to read, well over the years, it had gotten quite hard for you to understand Keegan. Maybe it was these feelings clouding his judgment. Keegan… wanted more, so much more. He wanted you.. but for now? He was willing to simply be your battle buddy until the end. Perhaps in another lifetime, you both would be something more.. permanent, but for now. You were only co-workers and friends, you will never be more. Keegan swallowed deeply at the thought of it all, a bit of sweat dripping under his masked jaw, he was.. even hesitant to lock your pinkies together, yet he did it as it seemed.. natural. Keegan's lips thinned into a straight line as he frowned as he felt like his heart hurt...  But you both knew you would never do more than these unspoken acts and glances. 

(NOTE: Please Do not repost my work on this site or any other site, I prefer this stays to my account only, thank you, and feel free to comment, reblog, or like though!)

(I know this isn't like my usual content (As I usually post headcanons, but I felt like writing a one-shot, I'll be back to posting my usual content soon, this is my first time writing a full story-ish thing, so feel free to give advice! Thank you, it would be welcomed. :)

[beah388love]

Ron needs you

18+ Minors DNI!!!

Full Masterlist Legend Masterlist

Pairing: Reggie Kray x Fem!Reader

Summary: Ron has an episode and he needs you…

Warnings: schizophrenia,Swearing,bad language!!! (please tell me if I missed any!!!)

Reggies POV-

Y/n was staying at her nans house for a couple days for a family thing, I didn't really listen to that part.

Y/n told me goodbye and left, she hadn't said her goodbyes to Ron or even mentioned she was leaving because Ron was busy sorting out a new club.

It was a couple hours later and I was sitting in my office trying to find where the money issue happened but I was failing miserably, usually y/n would do this stuff.

I heard a crash and I went out into the main area of the club, it was late so the club was shut.

I saw Ron he was furious, he was throwing chairs at the walls one by one and he aimed most of them at leslie, pat, Ian and Albert.

"Oi! Ron Stop! What's goin on?!" I yelled as I pointed my finger to Ron.

"Where's Y/n!" Ron said threateningly.

"She's fine, she's staying with her family for a Week" I said calmly to Ron as I slowly walked over to him.

He still had a chair in his hand so I slowly helped him out it down.

"Let's put the chair down.." I said slowly and he slowly put the chair down with me.

"I. Want. Her. Now." Ron said frustrated.

"Let's talk it out, calmly Ron" I said and Ron nodded stiffly.

He always wanted Y/n when he got overwhelmed and anxious.

"He's following me" Ron said stressed as he looked at the empty corner of the room.

I looked over and saw nothing, Ron was having an episode.

"Ron there's no one there mate" I said but he grew more stressed and angry.

He threw another chair at the corner of the room and he even went to grab a glass bottle.

"Woah woah!" Albert said as he covered his face worriedly.

"Ron..put the bottle down" I said lowly and Ron looked at me.

"I'll get Y/n" I said and Ron instantly relaxed.

"Y/n’s gone! Leave her be" Leslie snarled and Ron threw the glass at him but missed by millimetres.

"You fuckin TWAT!" Leslie yelled and Ron went mad and punched him in the face causing his nose to bleed. It was definitely broken.

Leslie began shouting obscenities so Ron began shouting back.

"Everybody shut up!" I yelled and everyone went quiet even Ron.

"Ron let's go mate" I said softly and took him into my office and he followed me worriedly lookin at the corner of the room still.

I reassured him there was nothing there and it was a shadow.

"I want y/n" Ron said repeatedly.

"Okay okay hang on" I said as I called her.

It rang for a moment and she picked up.

"Hello?" She said and I relaxed.

"How long will it take you to come back?" I asked her and I could tell she was confused.

"What?" She asked and I sighed.

"Ron is uh, Havin a moment and he needs you" I said and she sighed.

"I'll be about an hour" she said and I sighed in relief.

"I'm sorry dove, but Ron won't listen to me" i said and she understood.

"It's alright Reggie, I've already spent all day with my family today" she spoke happily and I smiled even though I knew she couldn't see me.

"Im still sorry, be safe" I said and she reassured me she would be.

———

"Reggie? Ronnie?" Y/n said as she walked into the club to be met with Albert giving Leslie tissues for his bloody nose.

The tables and chairs were broken and then down everywhere along the floor there was broken glass scattered everywhere.

"What happened?" Y/n asked them both and Leslie was mad.

"Ron! Ron happened! He's a fuckin Prick!" Leslie yelled which made Ron and me come out.

"What all the commo- " i said but got cut off by Ron yelling.

"Y/n!" He yelled and ran to y/n and enveloped her in a hug but he didn't stop in time and pushed her to the ground still hugging her.

"Ron! Careful!" I scolded him and helped her back up but ron still wouldn't let go of her.

"What happened Ronnie?" She asked him as she cradled him In Her arms.

"He's watching me" ron said paranoid.

"Remember what I taught you, in...out...now what do we do?" Y/n said and Ron thought for a moment.

"Ask someone if they can see it too" Ron said and she nodded.

"And then we take our pills" she said and he paused he had realised he didn't take either pills today.

"Where are they?" She asked him and I pulled them out my pocket.

"There here" I said and handed them to her.

She smiled and handed them to Ron whilst I poured him a water to help them go down.

He swallowed two and he instantly held onto her again.

"It’s alright" she smiled to him and he couldn't help but relax in comfort.

Y/n’s always given the best hugs, i loved how she didn't care how horrible anyone was she still always saw the tiniest bit of kindness in people.

"Sorry you had to come all the way over here" Ron muttered and y/n frowned.

"Don't be, it wasn't that fun over there anyway" she smiled which made Ron smile.

"While your here do y'a mind?" I smirked playfully as I held the papers I didn't understand.

"Hand em over" she giggled at me and began to read them as I sat down next to them both.

[shinestarhwaa]

okay babes for the prompts i got something i think you’d really like🤭

wooyoungie with 2, 3, 17, 22, 25 + 26, 30, 45, + 52, 68

i hope its not too much though

Girl you're such a freak LOL, so many of them :0

^^ this is me pretending to be shocked. I narrowed it down to one line (I used line 30) since they can only be used once but I used similar ones instead for the others! X

anyway, I hope u enjoy it babes

YOU&ME || JUNG WOOYOUNG

Genre: Smut

Pairing: Wooyoung x Fem reader

Word Count: 1.4K

Tags/Warnings: Friends to lovers AU, Non-Idol AU, biting kink, marking, hairpulling, lingerie kink, overstimulation, dirty talk, fingering, oral sex (f receiving), doggy style, missionary, namecalling (slut, whore, but its loving rlly <3), squirting, unprotected sex

Taglist: @anyamaris @a-soft-hornytiny @whatudowhennooneseesyou @wooyoungmybelovedhusband @pyeonghongrie-main @woosanbby @dreamlesswonder86 @changbinslovelylegs @jonghostie @lovjensoo @1-800-shedevil @glintneon123

ENJOY!

"I'm just saying, I'm pretty good as sex. I give you orgasms, you know," Wooyoung grinned. You threw your head back as you laughed, hair falling back.

Wooyoung watched your every move, feeling mesmerized by the way you looked. You knew Wooyoung had a thing for you by the way he always flirted with you and looked at you, but you always told him to just be friends. You knew there was no harm intended in his flirtations, so you let him.

Yet tonight the chocolate strawberries and the champagne started to sound like "I want you to fuck me all day, like every day."

"Excuse me?" He muttered. You gasped and covered your mouth. You did not just say that out loud. "Well, well, well, so that means you're finally giving in, Y/N?" "N-no, I just-"

His finger rested against your lips, shushing you. "You're not getting out of this one, Y/N, if you want me to fuck you all day long, every day, I'll be glad to do so."

Seconds later you were stumbling through his apartment, hands and lips everywhere. Suddenly he was like all you ever needed; you were a bee addicted to his nectar; the way his lips tasted drove you crazy. There was still a hint of the rich chocolate and fresh strawberry on his tongue.

''Feel what you are doing to me,'' he grunted out against your lips as he took your hand and made you palm the growing erection in his jeans. You moaned into his mouth as you kissed him again. Clothes flew off left and right and soon enough the both of you were half naked, standing in front of each other.

Wooyoung licked his lips as he looked at you in your red lingerie and many filthy thoughts played his mind. ''I cannot wait to fucking taste you, I want you coming all over my face,'' Wooyoung panted as he kissed your neck and collarbones, biting your skin. You winced and dug your nails into the flesh on his hips. ''Fuck, Wooyoung,'' you moaned. "You sound so hot moaning my name baby," he grunted.

He kissed your chest, the exposed part of your breast above your bra, biting down on it again, leaving a darkred mark. ''Fuck, bite me baby,'' you moaned as he got on his knees, facing your soft thighs. He left marks over your thighs, just biting down on them, nibbling slightly every now and then. "Is that a tattoo?" "Now's not the time Wooyoung, fuck, get a move on it."

Wooyoung got up again and removed his underwear His hard cock was nearly leaking with how horny he was, the tip red and angry. It was bigger than you would've expected it to be. You would be lying if you said you hadn't ever thought about it before, what would be inside his pants and now it was right in front of you.

His length was big, veiny and somehow gorgeous, something you had never expected yourself to think about a penis. You expected him to grab you and make you suck him off (you wanted to tho) but he laid on the bed and gestured you to come to him.

"Come on princess, I want you to sit on my face."

Your heart nearly stopped beating as he said that but you didn't waste another second. You took off your lingerie and got on top of him, hovering your wet pussy above his face.

''When I tell you to sit on my face, I do not mean hover. Sit the fuck down,'' Wooyoung complained from underneath you. His hands grabbed the flesh of your thighs and he pulled you closer to him. You didn't let yourself go for 100% but you relaxed as you felt his tongue slide through your slit.

You moaned out his name as his tongue zigzagged through your folds and circled around your clit, collecting all your wetness. Wooyoung fucked you with his tongue, reaching sweet spots inside you that you didn't know you even had. He licked your clit and sucked on it roughly, earning loud moans from you.

In a matter of minutes your body was trembling, coming undone on Wooyoung's tongue. He rode out your orgasm and he laid you down gently as you came down from your high.

"You're such a dirty whore, aren't you? You came pretty quickly." A blush creeped up on your cheeks as you watched him smirk at you. "Only your dirty whore..."

Wooyoungs fingers slid between your thighs, playing with your sensitive clit. "W-Wooyoung!" You moaned out. He bit in your soft skin again, attacking your breasts. "Y-you fucking like that biting thing, huh?" You panted out. He grunted as he kept abusing your clit with his fingers. "Don't fucking kink shame me," he joked.

"You're so wet baby, so slick," he smirked as he pumped 2 fingers into you, "so fucking smooth." You were moaning uncontrollably as he picked up his pace, hitting your g-spot repeatedly as he curled his fingers just right.

"Harder," you moaned out. Wooyoung laughed and smirked, tongue poking into his cheek as he did so. He couldn't get the smirk of his face as he felt your arousal drip down his hand onto the sheets.

"Are you a squirter baby? Is my darling gonna squirt for me?" "Yes! Yes, fuck I can do that for you, Woo, I promise, I'll be good, I'll do it for you!" "Good girl, go ahead then, squirt all over my hand for me angel."

You let go and did as you were told, squirting over Wooyoung's hand as he got you through another orgasm. You panted loudly, trying to recover but Wooyoung never stopped moving his fingers. "You take my fingers so well, don't you babygirl? Look at that, keep on going angel, that's it, fuck, yeah that's it."

You couldn't stop, arousal kept leaking from your abused pussy, body shaking and tears forming in your eyes. "I love the way you look with my fingers inside you, angel."

"P-please I can't anymore!" You cried out, so fucked out from the overstimulation. ''Give me one more baby, one more, cum for me, be a good girl and say thank you,'' Wooyoung smirked as he fucked you hard with his fingers. ''Yes! Yes, thank you thank you thank you-'' you cried out as you felt fireworks in your body and you came so hard you swore you saw stars.

Wooyoung helped you calm down from your sweet relief but he was quick to slide his leaking cock in immediately. "W-Woo!" You whined out as he filled you up completely. You clenched around him as he fucked you hard and rough, hands gripping at your thighs and hips.

"O-oh God, fuck!"

"Such a needy fucking little thing, aren't you?" He grunted as he kept thrusting into you, slowly losing himself in the motion as well. Soon enough you were putty in each other's hands, bodies melting together as the moonlight shone on you, highlighting your beautiful teary eyes.

''Wooyoung it feels so good!''you screamed out as he pounded his hard slick cock into you. ''Yeah, baby, I know, I fucking know, it's so good!''

He suddenly pulled out of you and before you could protest he had you flipped over with your ass up. He slid into your cunt from behind and thrusted hard. "Fuck!" You screamed out.

Wooyoung's hand gathered your hair, turning it into a ponytail and he pulled it, hard, making you scream out his name. He pulled you up against his chest as he pounded into you, one arm around your waist, holding him against your body, the other still pulling your hair back.

"Yes! Pull my hair, pull my fucking hair, make me your slut, fuck, I'm your slut," you cried out.

"Yes you are, my fucking slut, you're my fucking cockslut, taking me so well. And you're gonna cum for me, okay? You're gonna fucking cum for me."

"Yes, Yes I'm cumming, I'm cumming for you! All for you! F-For your cock only!" You moaned loudly. "Good girl, that's it baby, that's it, you and me, you and me," he growled in your ear.

For the last time your body trembled as you came around him, a tear falling down your cheek as the pleasure became too much. Soon enough Wooyoung released inside you too, moaning your name as he did so.

"Good... you're so good," he panted as he laid you down, in his arms. He held you for what felt like an eternity before he spoke up again. "Maybe I'm a bit selfish... but I don't want anyone else to touch you. Only me. Only you and me."

You nodded and caressed his cheek gently. "I love you and me," you smiled. ''Next time you're sucking my cock tho, okay?''

[diakittyau]

Theme of Kuchizuke's story.

Hello. (￣▽￣)ノ I wanted to talk about the themes, personal experiences and fears I put into the first part of Deluding Moonlight AU, Kuchizuke.

First of,

! spoiler warning for the animation ! Please watch it before reading.

And second, the topics that I'm going to cover, as well as some scenes from animation, may be unpleasant to some people. I'll be covering: abuse, unhealthy relationships, depression and death.

With all that out of the way, let's begin.

Here's a fact: I'm not into shipping, even though the story of Deluding Moonlight is heavily tied to one character having an infatuation for another. I don't care about fanon romanization, kissing stuff or anything like that. I have favorite duos, such as Sonic & Amy, Knuckles & Rouge, Shadow & Maria, none of which I see in the romantic relationships and just enjoy their canonical dynamics. Some of them are funny, some comforting, I don't need to see them kissing or something. So if that's the case, how did I get to making this story? At first the idea of vampire Rouge just randomly came to mind when I listened to the song "BUCK-TICK — Kuchizuke". I thought it might be an interesting idea to make an animation of it. But since the song is heavily implied of love, obsession and passion, I had to think of a plot line that can accompany it. When it comes to characters, for me it's always important to keep their initial characterizations without significantly changing it. I probably should add that I'm only into Japanese Sonic, so I'm staying true to their original Japanese characterizations. Not including anything from the American side, as comics, tv shows and even dubs. And yes, there's no official Sonic couples (I'm talking games only) and I'm not going into fanon. What should I do? Well, there is one thing I can work with, and that is one-sided love. And thankfully, Rouge has it. On multiple occasions she's shown to have interest in Knuckles, flirting and mocking him. And as I said, I enjoy their fun dynamic.

So now on to building up the story. We're talking vampires, so deception and no mutual love were main points that I focused on. And that's where my personal stuff comes to play. The first one is:

Fear of abusive relationships.

As a child born in Russia, in a typical fashion I saw the horrors of dysfunctional family. I never got physical abuse myself from it, but I've been neglected by one parent and saw the suffering of another. Since the early childhood I didn't have normal ideas about love and relationships, because I simply didn't saw any. My psyche was affected, and I live with the trauma and fear ever since. I've never been in a relationship. All my life I could only analyze it by looking at others, which gave me an idea about what love is and that entering into a relationship with someone was a very important step. This cannot be neglected and done haphazardly. This is a union of two people, and understanding, compromise, and consideration of personal interests are important in it. Otherwise things can end up pretty badly.

Isn't that right?

And that's the part of me that's been reflected on Knuckles, but more on that later. First, we need to understand what parts of me were reflected on Rouge, and it was:

Depression.

I was in a depressive state for at least seven years. While depressive episodes have occasionally faded away, they reached their peak two years ago. That's when I succumbed to seclusion, intensive self-flagellating, imposter syndrome, feelings of rejection and uselessness. And for the first time I felt desperate for love. I have had a difficult time understanding my own feelings before, but back them it just got 200 times worse. I didn’t understand whether I felt love for the first time or was it something else completely? Did I really want to love, or did I just want someone to pity and comfort me? Do I really have friends and people I can trust, and do they accept me or just use me? I didn't know myself anymore. It's been hard and long way of figuring myself out, and only the huge possibility that I had autism explained everything that had happened to me throughout my life. That's when I accepted myself and was able to climb out of this deep hole that seemed bottomless. There's also another thing that really bothers me since my early years:

The fear of time passing.

I don't like changes, I don't like growing old and fading, I don't want to lose something or someone because their time has come. I fear death, future, the unknown. I never wanted my video-game characters to die and my own stories have always been stuck at one particular time without much moving forward. That's why I have always had a deep connection with vampires. That and the aesthetic, of course. That's should be all the main point, now let's see how all this falls on the characters. Starting with Knuckles.

Now I should mention, that out of all the Sonic character I can relate to Knuckles the most. His worldview, his social skills, his dedication to his life's work, his short-temper and so forth. And this is perfect, since it is so much easier for me to stay true to his character. Back to the personal stuff: several times I was in situations where some people wanted to date me. The thing was, I hadn't felt any attraction to any of these people, it was simply beyond my understanding. Not to mention I didn't know them for a long time, but after a few short conversations it seemed like they were seriously considering me their girlfriend. I treated them quite indulgently and friendly at first, but very soon I caught myself thinking that they just irritate me, and my attitude towards them was already beginning to border on hate. I just wanted them to leave me alone with their imposition of relationships. That personal experience pretty much resonates with Knuckles' role in Kuchizuke. He's been forced to fall in love with Rouge by her dark magic, and the latter didn't even took his own feeling into consideration. And his personal boundaries were not taken into account either.

To Rouge, Knuckles just been the possession. This approach to getting his love only led to hatred and ended up in the tragedy.

I kept Rouge's mysterious nature with her own goals and ways to achieve them. Back to the personal stuff once more: as I established before, I have a hard time understanding my own feelings, and at the peak of my depression I didn’t know how to deal with negative emotions at all. Perhaps that's why I felt the need for a soulmate for the first time. But was it love? Now it seems to me more that my special interest simply fell on a certain person who filled the voids in my soul and brightened up the endless stream of negative thoughts. Even so, I find my past self quite selfish, because I only wanted my own happiness with that person, even though the feeling obviously weren't mutual. However, it is also worth clarifying that I didn't have enough courage or social skills even to make any moves, most of the times simply living in my own world of illusions. But when I got out of depression, this not-love of mine simply vanished. So, this is were the theme comes from. Obsession and the desire to be with someone who can fill your mental emptiness. Of course, regardless of the opinion of this very person. The romanticized scenes of a "dream date" were mear delusion, having nothing to do with the real feelings of a person she loved.

I will explore Rouge's character more in the future, so keep in mind some of the stuff I said.

In conclusion.

Through this tragic tale of one-sided love I really wanted to say something simple yet very important:

Love is not a fairy tale.

and relationships are a very serious step for both parties, where understanding, compromises and trust are important. Love in this story is a complete self—deception and manipulation, with selfish motives and a sad outcome.

[om-chats]

(forget for a moment that i abandoned this account because i got lazy but came back for this big announcement)

While I was expecting for the original game to eventually perish to the ground due to Solmare abandoning it and making the decision to branch it off with another brand new app, Obey Me! Nightbringer, which that in itself is a huge outrage the moment it was announced because it only benefited Solmare and not its consumers also. I kindaaa wasn't expecting their still brand new game to also meet the same fate in a year and a half.

I know that this isn't exactly the end yet for the OM! series because of their mentions of 'new forms of content' coming soon. But you know what? Just like how when you know when it's time to stop, I'm content that it's now ending.

Other people who are still playing OM! won't share the same feeling considering that I dropped it months ago, so I'm not feeling the same attachment others are feeling right now. But one thing that I WILL shed tears over is the story and the characters potential.

I'll keep it short but both SWD and NB had something in common, their beginnings of their story had potential to build up to something grand that'll keep you both invested in the plot and interested in the characters, but as it progressed it 'kinda' lost its shine. Sorry but it started to feel like an anime that published a few filler episodes. The same goes for events and cards—even when it had its moments—the quantity was big and the quality was still little. I did like Simeon's card where it was an AU where he was a broken puppet/doll though.

And I WILL turn this around and make it all about Barbatos and Nightbringer.

I like Nightbringer. I like Nightbringer. I like Barbatos. I like Barbatos. Did I already mention I like Nightbringer and Barbatos? Which is why I was absolutely DEVASTATED at their lack of involvement in anything further down the lessons. It was like jingling shiny toys in front of a baby and then hiding it never to be seen again. I like mysterious characters but I didn't mean being a mystery to character impact.

I dropped OM! so I don't have any impressions of how the story is progressing now but I know well enough those 5 lessons left until Lesson 60 won't cover those two bastards or even WHY Nightbringer sent MC into the past and instead just show MC with the main cast being all lovey-dovey, give a good-bye kiss, and then bye-bye! End scene. Cut.

Either they atleast show Barbatos being creepy and acknowledging that he knows MC went somewhere they shouldn't have, or show Nightbringer having a 'lovely' chat with MC and explaining what and why he did those things at the beginning of the lesson. Even if they were to give an explanation there's still alot of things OM! needs to unpack that 5 lessons probably won't cut it.

TLDR: Let it die 2x the tree has been failing to harbor fruit for months. I want Barbatos to act like a silver-tongued horror character while romantic tension still continues. creep me out while turning me on. Nightbringer the benefit you give to me is that you're mysterious but now the disadvantage is that your lack of information makes others not care about you, I still love you anyway.

[panie-wanie-dean-bean]

Ok, sorry, I just need to rant about my version of Swap Sans

So, to me, the main building blocks of Underswap is that the characters who are swapped swap both their vibe and their place. What does this mean? Well, the place thing is easy, it just means that whenever you're supposed to meet a character you will meet their swapped counter part instead (That's why Asgore is in the Ruins) The vibes thing is a little trickier

I say vibes rather than personality for a reason, they don't swap personalities in my version of the au. Sans still loves puns, Papyrus is still a little obsessed with humans and puzzles, and Asgore still loves to garden! Their vibes are just a little different. Sans actually has the motivation to get up in the morning, Papyrus can now sit still on occasion, stuff like that. But they're still themselves, and that's what I find so fun about them

See, when you get to Snowdin town the boss you have to beat to get to Waterfall is Sans, as you may expect. But this Sans is still the Sans you meet in Undertale proper, and we all know how he can fight when he goes all out. So he doesn't!

So long as you're doing a neutral or pacifist run his fight is more like a test! He straight up tells you that he has 1 HP and any hit will kill him, so you'll need to show him how good you are at ACTing and talking your way out of fights. This is for a few reasons, but one I'll mention is that he's still really close to Toriel in this au. And some part of him wants to hope that maybe, maybe if you're skilled enough, his friend won't have to kill another human and break herself down even further

So it's a pretty easy fight, about as easy as the Papyrus fight in Undertale. He even offers to take you on a date for all the trouble, which is just as silly as the Papyrus date. But all of that is assuming that you play along

If you take your chance to attack him during the fight, he'll dodge out of the way. He'll scold you but chalk it up to butter fingers and let you off the hook. Do it three times though, and his eyelights go out. His smile drops. and he lets out a great sigh

"Huh, I don't know what I expected. Jokes on me for thinking it might be different this time I guess. Alright kid, you want a fight? I'll give you one"

And the fun little fight you were supposed to have early in the game goes full genocide run. He does not hold back, he does not show mercy, and he will taunt you about how many times he's killed you if you try hitting him again once you respawn. This Sans is VERY aware of your timeline shenanigans and unlike Undertale Sans, he has the motivation to cut your little game short before you can do any real harm

If you're doing a geno run he doesn't even pretend to like you once Pap is out of ear shot. He wants you dead, and the only reason he waits at all when he sees you step out of the Ruins covered in dust is because of how much faith he has in his brother. Surely someone as nice, and confident, and cool and Papyrus could get you to turn your ways around, right? If you were doing a geno run but don't clear out all the monsters before you fight Sans he'll have something to say about it

"Wow, look at you. Honestly, I didn't think it would work, but look at you! You've changed a lot huh? Sure, all that dust won't come out easy, but you haven't added to it since you got here. Want a medal? Look, I still don't trust you, but you've shown me there's at least some part of you that doesn't want to murder anything that moves. So I'll let you pass though to Waterfall, we don't even have to fight. Just hit that Spare button and we walk away like none of this ever happened"

He's true to his word too. You can go on a neutral run from here. But if you take this moment of Mercy to show Sans your true colors, he isn't prepared for it. Your attack hits him hard, bringing him to his knees as he starts to bleed. He laughs, telling you he should have expected as much from you, giving you one last warning to stay the fuck away from his brother before walking off screen. Getting to the tree line before his dust scatters into the snow, only leaving his little blue bandana for Papyrus to find later

[contrasting-realities]

A while ago I planned out a story called the Many Sides of Schrodinger's Coin, but I don't think I'll ever finish it. The reason why is because it was originally conceived as a fanmade Ace Attorney game but I don't feel like writing anything for AA at all, and Phoenix's perspective is instrumental to everything else, since that is the chronological perspective with the major plot twist and the other chapters covered the perspectives of everyone else as the plot unfolded.

The first chapter is up on AO3, but that's all there is, so I'm going to summarize it here since I like everything except the AA elements.

That chapter can be read here:

Spoilers for every fandom listed

First off, this story was a crossover between Ace Attorney, Shadows House, Hero Has Returned, Angels Of Death, Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Devil Is A Part Timer, and the SCP Foundation.

The main plot was about Lee Seongjun turning Kate into a demon lord so that he could die since he and the entire multiverse is trapped in a time loop dependent on his return on death ability and a demon lord is the only thing that can kill him permanently. Hero Has Returned is about Isekai protagonists coming back to Earth and either going rouge or fighting against those who have turned to the dark side.

In Hero Has Returned, he turned another person named Minsu Kim into a demon lord since Minsu killed everyone he tried to turn into one and Seongjun killed him every time they fought. So, why did he use Kate instead?

Well, the first chapter has Minsu die at the hands of Edward who like Kate, is from Shadows house. Minsu dies because of a very specific weakness that Seongjun never discovered, he needs to use vocal commands to summon any of his weapons, armor, or blessings, and Edward has an ability that messes with sound. So, he used that on Minsu and killed him, but that wasn't who he was supposed to kill.

A month beforehand, Kate was banished to Earth with absolutely nothing to her name and a problem, retrograde amnesia that activated every three days. Eventually she met Minsu at a homeless camp and he effectively became her caretaker after the camp was shut down by the police. Minsu became very close with her as he had lost everything after coming back home, and Seongjun unfortunately now had to kill Kate since she was getting in the way of his plans.

That was until the night Minsu died, when he realized that she was incredibly close to turning into a demon lord, as in she would only need the negative karma from killing two people as opposed to killing several thousand. Edward called the cops on Kate though and got her arrested for 'killing Minsu' which is where Phoenix came in since Seongjun didn't know how Minsu died and didn't want to risk being unable to kill him again.

Seongjun adopted Kate after that incident so he could have better control over her, but someone else from Kate's world eventually came to kill her as well: Anthony.

Now I'm betting that you have a lot of questions, like why is Kate close to being a demon lord? And why is everybody trying to kill her? Well, in this AU Shadows House is just another world in Hero Has Returned that summons people from Earth to deal with their demon king, but nobody ever comes returns... under normal circumstances at least.

That's because the hero always becomes the demon lord after defeating their predecessor, who also is their summoner. It's been like this since the first demon lord tried to take over the first hero in a desperate attempt to survive their final battle, but died to the hero's will, they create a new shadows house and summon a hero to destroy everything and restart the cycle to minimize the impact the demon lord has on the world, since otherwise a lot more damage would occur since all realities aside from Earth must have a demon lord.

Kate began turning into one because she violated the rules of her world, which only the hero and demon lord are allowed to do, specifically that shadows can only have one 'face' (read: they can only possess one human body at a time). What happened is that Edward invited Kate instead of her Friend Louise. Invitation is the practice in which a shadow absorbs the body of the human (or 'living doll' as they're called), but Kate already had her own face due to having been born as a shadow/human hybrid. Edward was actually trying to kill her since he saw her as a threat to the house and overdosed her on a drug called Fragments of Grace which are used to help with unification. But Kate didn't die since she already had a face, since Edward didn't know this he kept giving her a stupid amount of the drug until she basically lost her mind. She became susceptible to brainwashing used on her doll, Emilico, which Emi chant a phrase which encouraged a shadow to take over the doll's body. Fragments of Grace also amplify the powers of shadows and can make them go out of control if too many are ingested at once, Edward eventually locked Kate and Emilico in a box for the unification and Kate eventually did try to absorb her doll. Normally, she would have died but all the fragments of grace gave her the power to actually do so and as a consequence, she started turning into a demon lord.

The current demon lord, Joseph, eventually realized what was happening and had Kate thrown into the canyon between the two halves of the shadows house, which interrupted her transformation. That canyon is actually a rift that leads out of the world of shadows and randomly switches destination worlds, and it's impossible to tell where it leads at the moment. They hoped that she wound up anywhere but Earth, but thanks to the power of one of the shadows who directly served under the demon king (aka the third floor) they learned exactly what they didn't want to hear. So, they pretty much told Edward off for what he'd done and also explained everything about the demon lord to him since nobody really knows about that aside from those who need to. Edward was then sent to Earth to make up for the damage he caused, but failed so they sent Anthony next.

Anthony, originally Christopher, is actually the current generation shadow hero, and ironically the only son of the noble house which Joseph took over and replaced. His father, Alfred, fell through the rift and into Earth alongside his friends and Joseph's daughter, who wasn't supposed to be at the house that day but she disobeyed her father, 60 years ago to 1960s America. Alfred had Anthony in 1997 with Joseph's daughter, she died soon after, and Anthony got isekaied in 2009 when he was 12. Alfred and his friends were looking for a way back to their original world since they got stuck on Earth and Anthony was always told that he would be the one to retake the house and save them, which is why he was given his original name. When he did return, he was pretty much a violent and entitled brat who just wanted to kill Joseph there on the spot. Joseph had some complicated feelings about having summoned the son of the man he betrayed, but he managed to explain why he did it to Anthony and over the years he calmed down and accepted his role as the next demon lord... before learning about Kate and Seongjun that is.

Joseph could see the area around Kate due to the ability which let them see into Earth being attached to her eyes and ears, he overheard a conversation between Seongjun and Phoenix which Seongjun said that he could see into the future and that he was also a hero. They used the same power on Anthony and told him that they would be sending him back to deal with Kate since they needed a hero to deal with another hero. Anthony had figured out by this point that Kate was his half-sister and he was pretty surprised once he learned about it, but accepted since a demon lord appearing on Earth would be a death sentence for most of the multiverse.

When Anthony did confront Seongjun, he realized that his intel was slightly wrong and that he couldn't see the future. He also realized that Seongjun was determined to turn Kate into a demon lord at all costs. So he stopped fighting and took a different approach and tried to reason with him, and it actually worked. Anthony got a lot of info out of Seongjun and told him the actual damage of what would happen, Kate, even if she was killed, would likely come back in 100 years and destroy the world. Then Anthony explained that he could potentially kill her permanently due to his powers as the shadow warrior, and then could kill himself before he became a demon lord so that fate could be avoided. Seongjun agreed to this since Anthony was offering to mitigate the damage and didn't intend to try and stop him.

After this, they started planning things out, deciding that Edward and a girl named Chiho Sasaki would be their targets. The first is obvious but the second is more complicated. Around midnight when Kate is about to lose her memories, she enters a suggestible state where she regains her abilities as a shadow and can remember everything that has happened to her since arriving on Earth. Their plan was to have Kate in this state kill their targets and then frame the murders on other people, with Phoenix being the one to do so thanks to his reputation of finding out the truth (Anthony messed with the memories of everyone they framed so that they believed what he wanted them to, he can do this because of his power to use the abilities of anyone he's absorbed). This is where Chiho comes in, Seongjun wanted to frame Gabriel (devil is a part-timer characters) for her murder since otherwise things would become more complicated. The SCP foundation is aware of what Seongjun is doing and of his situation, but have been unable to help him at all, so they tolerate his plans while trying to create a counter to the monster he will make. But they have their limits and will counter anything that is dangerous and unnecessary to ending the time loop. If Seongjun just killed Gabriel, and angel from another planet in the same universe as Earth, more angels would show up to either complete Gabriel's mission or take out the one who killed him, since he was supposed to take the demon king's second general (Ashiya/Alciel) and the hero (Emi/Emilia) back to their planet (Maou is just the king of demons, he is not the king of demon lord that could kill Seongjun, and their planet 'Ente Isla' also exists in the universe where there is no demon lord). This could result in an all out war which could end the world, and framing Gabriel without jumping through a few hoops would also be a pain because he has no legal identity on Earth, and would also likely break out of jail using his magic which would force the foundation's hand and they would kill him, leading to the above scenario. Just leaving Gabriel alone isn't an option either since by this point not all of the heros have returned yet and the South Korean government is going to be very hesitant to use them against the rouge heros, meaning that they and Kate will have a lot of time to cause damage to Seoul, early on in other timelines when Gabriel was unable to kidnap anybody this was prevented by Maou and Emi, but everyone from Ente Isla will leave to rescue Ashiya and Emi for a few months. They decided to find a way to limit Gabriel's powers and the make the angels think he brought getting stuck on Earth and out of the way on himself (i.e. getting arrested) so they don't realize what's really going on. Chiho was chosen because she is close to Maou and Emi but isn't from Ente Isla and has no notable powers and it would potentially be feasible to make up a story about Gabriel killing her to try and lure Maou's loyal general back to their world for revenge. (Maou was in Korea in the first place because the store he worked at was out competed by a rival store and upper management was pretty cruel about moving their low ranking workers to another country).

Seongjun had an idea of how to do restrict Gabriel's powers and planned on doing so while Anthony gathered information about Edward independently, but he ran into the person Seongjun planned on recruiting. Abraham Gray, from angels of death, was working at the jail Edward was staying at as a priest for some prisoners, but it turns out that he was also an old generation faith hero. He has a fascination with human belief and created an experiment where he would trap religious people in a building full of serial killers to observe how they would react. He knew what he was doing was wrong after observing the growth of Rachel and Zack as friends (He once thought that Zack was a pure being with no desires except a lust for blood) and decided to try and kill himself and destroy all the evidence of his crimes as a form of repentance, thinking that he would die having little to no power left, but he was wrong and was never implicated in the incident.

Gray agreed to help Seongjun and Anthony after he heard about the former's plight and the need for someone to help deal with the damage which would be caused by Kate and the rouge heros, it was also a way for him to repent by saving the world. Outside of his abilities to cause hallucinations and mess with people's heads, he can also seal the abilities of others away, which he did on Gabriel. Anthony and Seongjun then manipulated Kate into killing Chiho and framing Maou first while Anthony also controlled Gabriel so that there was enough 'evidence' that Phoenix could shift the blame onto him once the time came.

Edward was next, and the reason was very easy, Kate could be manipulated into wanting revenge on him. They decided that Lucy, another character from angels of death (she died in canon, but survived in this AU and was forced to change her identity by her employer because she tortured prisoners alongside another character named Cathy), because framing her would be easy. Around midnight, Gray manipulated some of the prisoners into starting a riot and during the chaos got Kate in there and had her kill Edward before framing it on a death row inmate named Lee Sookyung, who had been imprisoned for killing her abusive husband to protect her son, Kim Dokja (she was also cellmates with Zack).

Of course, Phoenix found out the 'truth' and Lucy was revealed as the 'killer' but more happened in that trial. Sookyung requested that Phoenix check up on her son since he had been moved from his relative's house to a psychiatric facility after somebody called the cops on them for abuse ('someone' aka Seongjun). Rachel also stayed in the same facility and had gotten somewhat close with Dokja, and Phoenix eventually realized that Sookyung was lying. She didn't kill her husband, Dokja did. He revealed this at some point during the trial to try and prove his client's innocence to disprove the notion that she was a killer. And Gray had to stop a double suicide between Zack and Rachel because Zack promised to kill her once they got out of Gray's experiment but both were on the fence on whether or not they wanted to die at that moment since Zack was already on death row and Rachel had started to recover from her issues.

Outside of Kate regaining her memories, there was one more thing Songjun had to do. A girl named Han Sooyoung was killed not too long after the trial and Kate was arrested for murdering her due to having seemingly broken into her apartment. At the same time, the web novel Dokja was obsessed with and which had given him hope when nothing else could stopped updating, with a final message being left by the author's killer. He nearly killed himself, but Rachel stopped him.

Phoenix came back to defend Kate again and figured out that Seongjun had killed Han Sooyong, but claims he did it to save the world, since the web novel being finished would destroy everything. All throughout this, the foundation has been helping Seongjun from the background and cleaned up after him, turning a blind eye to his actions. But in this case they had gotten involved to ensure Sooyoung's death since they are very well aware of what would have happened if that story was finished. Slightly before all this, Kate's friends figured out what happened to her and a shadow named John and his doll, Shaun, had both entered Earth to find her (They didn't know anything about heros and demon lords). Unfortunately, by the time they did Kate had been framed for killing Sooyoung and both were forced to stand as witnesses, which Seongjun insisted on because both needed to encourage Kate for her to successfully fight off her amnesia. The foundation didn't like this but were busy preparing for the inevitable broken masquerade scenario (the public becoming aware of the supernatural) that the hero crisis would bring. Both of these factors led Phoenix to realize that Seongjun wasn't really alone in this murder and that a lot of people were helping him (John's identity as a shadow was hidden, but eventually exposed by Kate and Phoenix).

This caused Anthony and Gray to break into the court room since Seongjun was broadcasting the trial's events to them. Anthony then explained to Phoenix that Kate had been responsible for the last two murders he had defended clients for, and provided evidence that they were telling the truth. Phoenix realized that all of it made sense but was in denial that it was real, John and Shaun had a similar reaction. In their first meeting, Phoenix noticed black psyche-locks around Kate when he asked about her amnesia, which he found out later with Dokja, indicated a secret stuck in someone's subconscious. He figured out how to break them earlier and tried to do the same with Kate, John and Shaun deciding to help him since Phoenix would need to come to her with answers and not questions. John and Shaun needed to be there so that Kate would resist the influence causing her issues and overcome it... which turned out to be Emilico herself.

Emilico died when Kate remembered everything and regained control over her powers, but Kate didn't want to lose her like she did with Minsu. So she diluted herself into thinking that Seongjun, Anthony, and Gray had trapped her inside her own mind and that none of this was real. That is when she fully transformed and blew up the courthouse. Seongjun had gotten trapped under the rubble and she begged him for an answer to why he did this to her, but he refused to give her a straight answer, so she killed him after telling him to go back and save Minsu, but he just died and the time loop was broken.

Phoenix had also gotten trapped under the rubble but was protected by a barrier made by Seongjun, John and Shaun also survived but were slowly being crushed by the weight above them. Nobody came to save them and John eventually lost his mind to hunger and tried to eat Shaun, leading to an unintentional unification that gave John the strength to get out of there (unified shadows have stronger powers than normal ones).

At the same time, the sorcery hero snapped and blew up another part of the city, before finding out about Kate and mistaking her for another rouge hero, not a demon lord, he played into her delusions and made her think that he was here to help her, with the other rouge heros doing similar while also looking up to Kate and sorcery since they were the ones who inspired their rampages. A certain SCP also sensed the awakening of a demon lord and broke containment in Japan to fight Kate, SCP-682 aka the old demon lord of the Earth.

Like before with some other interruptions, Maou, Emi and Ashiya went to try and deal with the threat, but realized that this was nothing like what they'd seen in Ente Isla and they were far more cautious with their methods, mostly Emi evacuating civilians while Maou, Ashiya and another demon general named Urushihara or Lucifier actually fighting the heros since their powers are based on the amount of fear around them, and obviously there is a lot of fear with isekai protagonists destroying everything.

Anthony and Gray escaped from Kate's rampage and met up with the foundation, who assisted everyone on the front lines while pressuring the Korean government to allow the good heros to help deal with the crisis. Korea refused at first because of their close ties to the Global Occult Coalition (A group similar to the foundation that focuses on destroying the supernatural rather than containing it). But the GOC eventually agreed with the foundation after taking a look at the situation, and the defense begins.

Gray eventually gets killed by Kate defending a ship of refugees from her, but he uses the last of his powers to create a weapon for Zack, who is still in jail with Sookyung, so that he can rescue Rachel and keep her safe, Sookyung goes along with him and saves Dokja as well. Zack originally liked and respected Sookyung a lot since she was extremely open about her crimes but that changed once Phoenix revealed that she was a liar, and Zack hates liars. But Sookyung argues right before the scythe arrives that otherwise her son would have been a social outcast for the rest of his life, and she tells him that not all lies are bad before they get interrupted.

Gray's body was absorbed by Anthony after his death so that he could use his 'face' to manipulate Kate, he did the same thing to Seongjun's corpse as well. The time hero, who uses his lifespan to power his abilities, had agreed to be absorbed by Anthony due to him only having 6 years left to live and Anthony being able to use his abilities more due to having multiple 'faces' with different lifespans. The shadows house also sent several shadows, both fused and not, to help Anthony gain power including one of Kate's friends named Patrick because he had an ability that canceled out the powers of other shadows.

Anthony does eventually fight and kill Kate once all the other heros were dead, and he absorbed and killed her before the other heros took him out before he turned into a demon lord. So basically, Hero Has Returned finally gets a happy ending.

Edit: Forgot to mention that Kate, in her delusions, mistook a boy named Jeongsu Park and his little sister Dabin for Minsu and Emilico, she saved them from the iron arm hero after killing their mother and then kidnapped them to keep them safe. Jeongsu is not pleased.

[fandom-trash-xl]

EPISODE 8: TAMAGAMI

Was dealing with another show's angst today so I felt this would be quite fluffy by comparison

We start off with the Tamagami fight! I'm kinda bad at commentating on fights to be honest, but I'll try. Honestly, something about Tamagami Three is giving me Jiren vibes with the beady eyes and the deep voice (I'll look up the VA later, not counting on a match though).

We got some good old Nyoibo action! That material has to be really tough. Was it ever stated if it can be broken? Is it made of even katchier Katchikachin?

Goku's got all sorts of tricks, he's using to brace himself when he gets knocked into the canyon.

We got some full-fledged Super Saiyan fighting (is the aura flare sound a bit higher-pitched?) and a KAMEHAMEHA FOR ONCE! An amazing amount of extension (could it bend in that state?) when it pushes the Tamagami back.

Goku manages to best the Tamagami- not necessarily destroy him, though who knows if he would if the Kamehameha wasn't bounced away- and earns his respect.

Dabura couldn't defeat this thing, but standard SSJ's Kamehameha could. How we feeling power scalers?

However, the TG (I am already tired of writing the name, bear with me) has one final test- THE HECKIN CUP BALL GAME. I knew this had to have the Toriyama flavor, so I knew the "final battle" would be absolutely silly.

Proof that Goku still has sharp senses from high-speed battle- thought this would be a test of his ADHD attention span. But, bro locks in, he notices the Dragon Ball getting thrown behind him at a speed that the animators don't even let us see (I reviewed the footage, I checked).

Looks like the Dragon Balls can float on their own- or perhaps the Tamagami at work.

As everyone celebrates and Panzy questions Goku's stomach capacity, Glorio has a phone call to take from Arinsu (somehow no one hears this). Still no clear indication of the exact plans, but they do need the Dragon Balls.

The TG even waves goodbye as they set out on their way- meanwhile, he's practicing the Kamehameha hands, which is honestly, very cute.

Goku explaining his ki stuff to Panzy, who thinks it's magic: "Well, I guess it's a kind of magic!" One might say it's... Dragon Ball Magic (Sorry).

Glorio seems to be smiling a bit more on his journey with Goku and crew (I audibly squeaked). Who knows if he gets his eleventh hour redemption later down the road when the Arinsu scheme comes to light?

Meanwhile, Degesu and Gomah realize their Demon Royal projection screens are stuck on the Buu Saga recap channel, so they're reviewing the footage- but now they've found Arinsu collecting a piece of Majin Buu (hope that wasn't important) in the background!

Side note: Seeing Gomah's profile view is reminding me that he has the mascara glare eye plus the line down the cheek face design I like. Alas, there's the clown lips, unfortunately.

We tune back in with Arinsu, who's consulting with Marba- who has been retconned into a Girlboss (Womanboss? She's on the old side) Win as the actual creator of Majin Buu. Bibidi just put in the request.

Arinsu, on her very... hookah-like vaccum cleaner broomstick, stops by to supply the Buu essence to make her own Majin. Add a little saliva and boom- increased loyalty in your Majin. Maybe that's why Buu backfired on Babidi. He didn't have Bibidi's spit.

"It took me a great risk to get this." Was it a risk of blowing her cover to potential enemies or did she time travel? I do get Towa vibes from her.

Looks like she's aiming for ruler of the Demon Realm!

Before we get all of the answers, let's tune back in with Team B. They're going to meet up with the main group at the Warp-Sama. King Kadan is in such a good mood that he'll let the gang splurge at their hotel. Hybis wants some mud-colored (and mud-flavored) wine.

Vegeta's very pushy about wanting to know about the Demon Realm Dragon Balls, but he gets forced to say please by being called arrogant and Hybis presses the "you're no king" button- Vegeta manages to keep his cool, as much as he's growling and going red.

Next episode: Pajama party! Also, thieves, but... PAJAMA PARTY!

EPISODES WITHOUT KNOWING HANVI'S WHEREABOUTS: 8

This counter will go the whole series, won't it?

Also, unrelated note, I never noticed how much of the score is giving me JRPG vibes? Dragon Quest homages? This really is the Toriyama spirit.

[shockersalvage]

Danganronpa 3: Future Arc Rewrite (Part 1: DISTRUST Life)

Now this has been something that's been about years in development. Okay, for this Rewrite in particular, it would probably be about a year and half, but since 2016 I've always wanted to try my hand at a rewrite to DR3. For me, while it is not the worst in Danganronpa's entries (that honor goes to Killer Killer) it is still not exactly my favorite for a variety of reasons. Personally, while it does have some good moments in there, overall I do not really believe that it ends the Hope's Peak story on a satisfying note to really end things on. That isn't to say anyone else can't like it, it's just some of the writing decisions it made just didn't land home for me. Throughout the rewrite, I'll be gradually going about each decision when I feel it's a good time to discuss it and why I changed things the way I did.

This is rewrite is essentially how I would go about things, with a pretty big one just off the bat. In this version, instead of alternating between a Future and Despair Arc, it's just simply a 24 'episode' outline that covers Future Arc with Despair Arc elements acting the new 'main story' of DR3.

I've done it this way because I believe that, while it was an interesting decision, the current format of DR3 lead to both sides characters, story and concepts being underdeveloped as it bounced between a killing game and trying to give the full-ish story of the Tragedy. So I thought it was best to give each their own section, with Despair Arc being its own thing for a separate date.

Regardless, I hope, at the very least, this becomes a nice read for you all! Happy New Years!

Distrust Life 1-12

(Episode 1)

Now this starts off with the first major change being Asahina being promoted to Director of the 13th Division. Now one of the issues, on the minor scale, was the 13th Director never showing up and being seemingly forgotten. Nowhere in media concerning DR3 do they ever appear. So off the bat, we’re rectifying this by just having Hina be the Director upfront, with the explanation that its a recent promotion.

As for the former Director, who I will call ‘Yoshiko Yoshino’ (who is the old PE. Teacher shown briefly in DR3 - who got blown up by Junko. Here its the other PE Teacher, yes there were 2, that gets blown up instead)  she had been heavily injured in an attack prior to Hina coming onto the Division. Yoshiko is retiring after chronic pain still persisted. She compliments Hina for her efforts that have been non-stop since she arrived and how she genuinely feels she can leave the Division to her hands.

We get a flashback to Hina watching over the reunion of her friend's loved ones who were Targets in the Demon Hunting Game (except Komaru whose still in Towa). Though upon learning that her brother, Yuta, didn’t make it out of it, she smiles and wishes them all the best before eventually slinking off. Tears down her face, and blaming Junko’s forces for it. With an urge to do more surging through her veins, she tranfers over to the 13th Division to deliver supplies to areas still incredibily afflicted by Despair's wrath. Through a montage, we see Hina going about wrecked areas of Japan dutifully giving supplies, fighting off foes and being kind to those who need all. All while keeping the image of her brother in mind. In the present, by the time she leaves her office, nervous yet determined to give a speech to her new underlings, she is instead greeted by Togami and she gets the news that Naegi has been arrested.

Another flashback shows that once Makoto, Togami and Kyoko has arrived back to FF mainland, Kyosuke had arranged to have Makoto taken away in handcuffs and taken to Division 6th Detention centre. Kyosuke, Juzo and Chisa were there in person to greet the trio on the docks. Kyosuke and Juzo, naturally, were both furious concerning the whole ‘Makoto taking the Remnants’ incident and were it not for Makoto’s popularity, would have killed him on the spot. Instead, the Ultimate Hope is being confined.

Concerning Kyoko and Togami, given their positions as both Director and Vice Director of the 14th Divison, as well as being celebrities for going against Junko, they can’t just fire them outright. Instead Kyoko is temporarily suspended from her duties and kept under watch by the 5th Branch, for questioning and to keep a close eye on her well. Since only one ‘Director’ is needed present with the 14 Division, Togami is sent back but is a close eye is being kept by Kyosuke’s forces.

Thus, the only one who can realistically visit Makoto to help him is Hina (Hagakure got kicked out due to both not being a Director and because the prison staff is sick of dealing with him & his antics normally). Though at the moment, despite being a Director, she is barred from the facility given her connection with Makoto. Now Asahina has been thoroughly out of the loop for a while now, so Togami catches her up to speed with the basic summary of the Havoc Crew, barring her, Toko and Hagakure (though the latter two got to know, eventually during the operation itself), having initiated a plan meant to rehabilitate the Remnants. The results of which are shaky at best (to Togami anyways). She’s shocked and a bit hurt given such a secret was kept from her, but tries to push that down. She needs to check up on Makoto. But, the only way she is getting into the facility is with permissions from seven other Directors of the Foundation, which came from the prison staff themselves when she visited in an attempt to try to sway them.

Thus leading to the scene where storms out and runs smack dab into a drinking Koichi Kizakura to end the first episode.

(Episode 2)

Now this stretch is what I like to call the ‘Directors of the Week’ episodes! Where each episode we get to learn a deal about the Directors, ideally that being two an episode. In this case, Koichi is our handy-dandy support that shall assist Hina in her (mis)adventures. Truth be told, she’s kind of weary of him wanting to pal around with her for a time since she knows since back from her HPA days he’s kind of a weak alcoholic. He wins her over with him dangling his knowledge of the the Directors in her face and his promise to hand over his recommendation from the get-go. It’s also him that suggests meeting the others in person since the Directors would likely be on their feet or busy with personal matters more often than would be sitting back reading emails a whole lot. Koichi had been in the area getting a drink from the nearby pub, but running into Hina like this, he believes it must be fate working its hand.

In terms of dynamics, the idea behind Asahina and Koichi being together, is for Koichi to be essentially the enabling drinker and bit a of cheeky teaser, with a touch of a manipulative side, to Hina’s impulsive, hot-blooded and cheerful attitude. That said, this is a Hina that has matured since her DR1 days and will have no problem snipping back at Koichi’s intentions and being more aware of the seedier side of humanity.

First stop Great Gozu at the 12th Branch via helicopter. Now with Gozu, his focus would concern fleshing out a bit of a peculiarity that the original DR3 didn’t go into. Namely, how come a Wrestler is in charge of public restoration efforts. In addition, despite revealing he’s been with the Foundation since it was first established, why is he apart of the 12th one? Well, in this case, he notes his status as Director of 12th Branch is more because of his ‘image’ than anything. During the heyday of the Tragedy, any attempts at restoration was stopped by criminals, from petty thugs to Remnants seeking to keep chaos. It was believed that Gozu, who got into more than his fair share of fights against the Remnants and criminals, being named a Director could essentially work to scare off such threats, thus allowing his men to work in peace. Of course, both Gozu and an armed security detail are always deployed as well - just in case scaring off people doesn't work. To prove a point, the episode would show Gozu suplexing some poor troublemakers trying to cause havoc at a youth centre Restoration site.

This episode would also address something that was never brought up in the anime: His relationship with Tengan and his backstory. During his talk, he explains how he was a rising star of a professional wrestler back during his youth and Tengan happened to be watching his shows. As such, he got scouted by for Hope’s Peak. He became Tengan’s bodyguard as a means of repaying such a debt, and is a bit worried about the old guy since taking up the Director mantle since he can't do his old job as much. Concerning the Makoto debacle, while he's doing hold some reservations given that it was the Remnants being taken, he decides to trust in Makoto since he likes his attitude and sees him as being a worthy Symbol of the Future Foundation - as its Ultimate Hope. Thus, he’s willing to give support to Hina by handing her a Rec Letter. He also decides to come with her to meet with the Director of the 11th Branch.

The next part is Daisaku Bandai focused…yeah. Now, in the original, he’s sadly the most forgettable ‘just there for the body count’ participant ever, lasting one episode and a few minutes. So what can we do with him? Well, in the relationship charts, Bandai is listed as being apart of two neutrals in the Foundation, alongside Miaya. So, this version has said neutrality and mediator nature be more pronounced. If Gozu is the friendly giant that’s willing to fight you for his ideals, Bandai’s the gentle giant whose going to want both of you to sit by the fire and talk things out. In addition, as for his sayings, his intent with them is to say their meaning is for something you have to figure out yourself (better than him just saying they're meaningless).

As for why he’s in charge of the 11th Branch despite also being with the Foundation from the start, originally Bandai didn’t want to be caught up in the drama concerning politics that comes with being an official Director, and even then Junko’s forces made getting a formal Branch set up for his duties a pain. Following her death, and the mass suicide of good chunk of her followers, that chance of peace had him finally cave to the higher-ups requests and establish a formal branch. In general, he sees the Foundation’s inner turmoil as being a thorn he very much wanted nothing to do with, especially since he prefers everyone elected to bury the hatchet and be good comrades working for the goal of Restoration.

His meeting with Hina has him hug it out with Gozu and both just really enjoying each other’s company, with Gozu trying and failing a bit to figure out Bandai’s sayings and Bandai agreeing to wrestle with him during their off days (what kind of wrestling will leave that to one’s disclosure). His meeting Hina has all four in his branch's personal garden rest area that he always tends to, full of fruits, water and, in general, just having a refreshing atmosphere anyone (even the most uptight of people) could enjoy. When it came to getting his Rec Letter, he’s pretty willing to give it to Hina no strings attached. Though its with him, we get his view on the matter.

On one hand, he also wants to give trust to Makoto since he doubts someone who would stand up and stop Junko Enoshima of all people could do something nefarious. That being said, he also fully recognizes why other Directors might be angry - bringing up the Remnants status as wanted criminals that did hurt the world. It’s then that Bandai brings up a question to Hina: What does she think of her friends trying to rehabilitate the Remnants? 

Hina, try as she might, struggles to even open her mouth as the question brings conflict to her mind. Flashes of her dearest friends, no, her only family…and the thought of her dead brother dying because of them. Ultimately, Bandai hands over the letter and tells her that, by the time they do meet again, she should take a step back to clear her head and form her own opinion on the matter. Not as a Director or even a friend of Makoto, but as Aoi Asahina. Taking in such advice, both Hina and Koichi wave off the burly Dads as they head to the 10th branch.

(Episode 3)

Ryota Mitarai is the Director of this branch and we see that he spends most of his time cooped up in his personal office. Blinds closed and hunched over drawing his weary eyes out only for him to yawn, look back and see a perky athletic woman and a semi-drunk wingman looking at what he was doing from behind his shoulder. Needless to say, he freaks out. Now, in this episode, while Mitarai isn’t trying to be difficult about it, if they’re needing to get that letter first things first is ensuring Mitarai takes care of himself. After some coaxing, they get him to at least lay back a bit while they get him some proper food. 

He’s extremely grateful for the food and introduces himself, though a thing sticks out in Hina's mind. Namely, that Mitarai was a part of the 77th batch of Hope’s Peak students. While no one blatantly says anything, he is aware of the stigma of being a survivor of the bunch since he knows almost all students in said batch besides him were murdered during their tenure at Hope’s Peak or had defected to Junko Enoshima’s side. There have been some odd rumors from others and even within his own branch of his own loyalties. Something that clearly gets to him as he showcases his desperation of trying to do better and show he can help fix the world just as much as the others.

Hina comforts him and begins trying to uplift his spirits, showcasing more of a big sisterly attitude with him (even though she’s younger, but hey, some people have that energy to them). It’s then, after Mitarai hands over his Rec Letter and is asked about his thoughts, does he get a bit nervous. Truth be told, he doesn’t really want to get involved too deep with the whole affair with Makoto and Kyosuke. So while he gives up the letter, he even requests not to involve him in that, though upon Koichi reminding him of the upcoming trial with the other Directors, he flinches. Hina presses both for more and Koichi spills the details that Hina never gotten. (Mostly since she never read the email, but that’s neither here or there...)

At the end of the month, Makoto is to be put on a secret trial with the other Directors. Depending on the majority vote, it could mean Makoto might walk free or more than likely get convicted of treason, thus leading to him either being imprisoned, executed, or altogether exiled from Japan. Depends on how things’ll play out. This just makes Hina anxious more about getting to Makoto quickly before that happens. Anyways, Mitarai goes to head out, but upon it dawning on Mitarai that they’ll be going out and about for the other Directors, he asks if he could come too. Chances are that they’ll meet someone he has business with and it’ll probably save him time tagging along with them. Eager, Hina takes her new friend by the arm and goes about running along to their next venture.

Sonosuke Izayoi, in this version, his strong silent type attitude takes prominence. Mostly since I feel a non-verbal attitude, strangely enough does work better for him being remembered than when he speaks occasionally. It just needs to be presented in a way that he doesn’t fade in the background. For example, he can be very visibly expressive, with his features becoming colder or even cartoony depending on the situation.  In Team Hina’s talk with him, he’s slow to anger, but has his limits. Limits that Hina completely breaks because she keeps bugging him for his letter as he tries to do his job. Koichi, being the dutiful scout that he is (and mostly to give Hina some insight) explains that Sonosuke Izayoi was from the 76th batch and came from a long lineage of blacksmiths that was pretty cushy with the former government and potentially underworld for their forges.

When he became Director, he reestablished the ties that remained to put them to usage for Future Foundation weapon development. Eventually, after being annoyed to the brink, he goes to kick them out, but is stopped after Hina pulls out a donut to eat.  His sweet tooth wins out, and he begrudgingly joins the team for a quick snack break. In truth, following a donut, he does seem more friendly and approachable, even muttering his iconic ‘dewicious’ here. 

However, he refuses to part with his letter at least, not until they win favor with his lover. At least, that’s what Mitarai guesses, which Izayoi gives a thumbs up in response. Hina tilts her head in confusion. Lover? But, it was the truth and that was someone they had to deal with next. As she’s the Director for the 8th Branch. 

(Episode 4)

Ruruka Ando rules over the 8th Branch with a surprisingly large amount of popularity. Izayoi tags along and the crew greet Ruruka at the doors to her branch. She immediately and lovingly embraces him. As Team Hina follow the couple, they witness just how pleasant and friendly her subordinates are to her, even going ecstatic over just being in her presence (something that gets Mitarai somewhat jealous). Hina is astounded by her popularity, though Koichi is scratching his chin at the sight of so many people liking their boss. Or, rather, worshipping her.

Eventually, all four reach into her office and Ruruka begins trying to get Hina to eat some of her sweets. In addition, she also happily explains her past as apart of the 76th batch of HPA students, though claims that was small potatoes to her famous bakery that was even known worldwide. However, Hina is quite reluctant about accepting the food since she just had her donuts, up until Ruruka offers one of her own. Hina happily accepts it, but Koichi reminds her of her mission. Hina asks about getting a Rec Letter from her, but she flat out refuses. At once, the bubbly, friendly woman from before is now narrow eyed and looking pretty stern herself.

She speaks for both herself and Izayoi in that she sees Makoto as absolute scum for trying to help the Remnants and probably would have executed him on the spot had she been in charge of the Foundation, his status as Ultimate Hope be damned.

“Dealing with one rotten traitor is bad enough…but several leading the divisions? Rotten food needs to be tossed out.” Hina is confused over the first traitor spiel, but Ruruka had made her stance clear and orders both to get out and takes Hina’s donut from her! Concerning Izayoi, in this version, he looks conflicted on refusing the matter with Hina and Koichi, but sighs and continues to back up Ruruka.

With that failure, the duo heads towards the 7th branch office - directed by Miaya Gekkogahara. Now given her involvement in making the Neo World Program that was used by the Havoc cast, by the time the trio arrive she is understandably both stressed and frazzled. She had been interrogated pretty intensely after they found out the Havoc Crew were using her technology like that. Were it not for Miaya’s role - finding ways to negate despair among one of them - and her contributions to FF, there was a high chance she’d be arrested as well. Likewise, running into one of Makoto’s friends puts her back on edge, though she still tries to be friendly after a bit. It helps that Koichi is there, which she is grateful for and a bit exasperated with at the same time. She’s speaking through her high-tech wheelchair and using her Usami Vtuber avatar to speak. She has a hereditary disease that affects her legs, making them rather weaker than usual, so she uses her wheelchair to compensate. 

Concerning her story, back during Hope’s Peak, Miaya was the school’s guidance counselor - in name. In practice, as much as she wanted to help, she was swamped with work from the late Steering Committee and didn’t have much time to really help people as much as she'd like. Especially since, well, its an old wound. She laments being unable to really help the Reserve Course from rioting and taking their lives. Any attempts at counseling or trying to pacify those students were blocked or ignored. Koichi reveals that she’s from the 65th Batch of Hope’s Peak Academy students (putting an end to the weird plot detail of no one knowing what class is supposed to be in, and her counselor explaining how she could still go about her NWP activity with Chihiro and Yasuke). He tries to raise her spirits, though that only gets her exasperated since his alcoholic breath gets on her face. 

As she gives the duo a tour, a familiar face pops up during so - Alter Ego. Hina eagerly greets her friend who had helped her during the Killing School Life. He is also happy to see her again, though is apologetic to Hina after hearing how Makoto was arrested. AE informs her of his role in the rehab plot and how ashamed he was to let the Junko AI takeover.  Both Miaya and Hina try to comfort him, but it gets Hina thinking on why he’s with Miaya now. 

Here we learn of Chihiro’s involvement with Miaya with the Neo World Program, and how both were co-workers to help create it. With her friend and protege dead, Miaya ‘took in AE’ so to speak, being the one to salvage him from HPA after they rescued the Havoc Crew and receiving him once FF apprehended Makoto. Hina pushes on to ask the obvious: Why create the Neo World Program?

Well, for Miaya - her life’s goal is to find a way to rehabilitate anyone. She wanted to help people so badly from their own issues that drove to the pits of despair and vileness, but while she can help anyone with a large degree of success, there were the sort that just were too far gone. The NWP was made to ensure even the worst of the worst or the most badly hurt of them all could have a second chance. It being a concept thought up way back when she attended HPA. However, while she got the resources over the years and even approval from FF to initially put that dream to reality it soon became clear that the consensus was that criminals, especially the Remnants were to be put down instead of saved. That such a high-cost procedure was both too long and too ‘inefficient’. Thus, her project and JW Island was left abandoned and she was forced to back to square one….

Up until she had gotten into contact with Makoto who learned about the project from a list of scrapped projects that the Future Foundation organized. He was really interested in it and he shined with so much determination and genuine optimism for the future that Miaya disclosed its location to him and even gave him the reigns to the facilities that the Havoc cast would use. It was risky, but she could just feel she could trust him. As such, she gives Hina a Rec Letter, believing she could bet on the swimmer too. That being said, she also advises against bringing her into the conflict during the trial since, yeah. That’s way too scary for her heart to take!!!

Next up is someone all three are dreading as they arrive to his branch: Former Hope’s Peak security guard, Ultimate Boxer and real pain in the ass for most - Juzo was running Division 6.                                                                                                                    

(Episode 5)

Now, when Hina arrives, she’s combing all over the building, but Juzo is nowhere to be found. During her search, she meets several of his underlings: Ikue Dogami, Mekuru Katsuragi and the Ultimate Make-Up Artist. They explain that Juzo tends to be out and about often, but thanks to Mekuru, they direct Hina to wait towards the main lobby for him. It should be noted that, aside from those three, most of his other employees seem nervous or on edge when he’s mentioned. 

When Hina finally meets Juzo, naturally, he’s aggressive and has no patience for her. Likewise, he refuses to hand over a Rec Letter to Hina since he is an avid supporter of Kyosuke’s ideals and is enraged over Makoto’s actions. Now, Hina actually does remember Juzo a bit - where we now get a flashback of him acting as HPA’s most aggressive security guard.  She had witnessed him being rough concerning students relating to the Reserve Course, so she isn’t surprised he’s being a hardass now. Being reminded of the discourse concerning that time, Juzo is getting more pissed off and looks ready to throw down before an idea occurs to him. Of course, this being Juzo, he decides to give her a ‘chance’ to prove herself. In the ring. 

So Hina takes on Juzo in a five-minute exhibition match. If she manages to last until the time limit, Juzo will hand over the Rec Letter. If she fails than, well, nighty night! Hina, determined and unwilling to backdown, opts for it. Koichi, naturally, is concerned by this move, but she reasons that she wants to get to Makoto as soon as possible. If she can just last five minutes, she’ll be able to do that faster (not trying to think about the setback she would make if she would fail).

Juzo is confident he’ll win and toys with her early on, allowing to go for some strikes, effortlessly dodges them and proceeds to wail on her with jabs. Enough to knock her down and he thinks she’ll quit, but she gets up. A bit annoyed he tries to do the same thing, but Hina has found her rhythm. She has had multiple experience dodging attacks from scattered Remnants and criminals as a member of the 13th Divison. Thus, she’s now found a footing where she can stay, if barely, ahead of Juzo. She even manages to get in a solid hit or two!! Things are looking up and there’s a few seconds left on the clock.

Enraged, Juzo is trying his damndest to score a hit, but nothing seems to be working. A crowd has gathered, cheering for Hina and Juzo, eager to see who will win. For a moment, Hina remembers both Sakura and Yuta, strengthening her more to see things through to the end and prove herself useful - that can she be of aid to someone she calls family!! But, it also distracts for a split second, and in that moment Juzo scores a devastating haymaker. Hina is knocked down and eventually falls unconscious. Juzo is the victor. Koichi and Mitarai goes to Hina, trying to rouse her whilst Juzo walks off, not feeling particularly good about this win.

In the meantime, scene shifts to Kyoko working in her office when she meets Chisa again. Considering what she knows about Juzo and Kyosuke, Kyoko is naturally on guard against Chisa who is trying to be friendly with her and have some tea. We also get a bit of insight concerning Kyoko’s situation: armed guards all around her and she also voices her good guess of the room itself being bugged. Naturally, the only thing she can really do is read and try to prep Makoto’s case from inside her ‘cell’. Namely, getting knowledge of the prior incidents of the Remnants, rehabilitation efforts with the Neo World Program and others that were scrapped, and in general just learning more about the other Directors. Anything to give her side the edge concerning the trial.

Speaking of which, she does ask where the trial will take place. Now, given the severity and whose life is at stake, Chisa reveals that it’ll be on an island meant originally to be the new international Hope’s Peak branch. However, with the Tragedy causing HPA to close down, it was instead refurbished into a private separate office of sorts—meant only for high profile usage. Like a trial for treason! Kyoko asks, if only for confirmation, given Chisa’s closeness to Kyosuke as being one of the first Directors of FF and his former classmate, if she herself also holds intense hatred of Despair.

Now to this, Chisa is quick to differ. She loves Kyosuke and goes along with him because she trusts his judgement and heart - that he makes decisions trying to fully bring peace to all afflicted by the Tragedy. Thus, she goes along with the decision and believes in that Hope. However, even if she goes along with it, she does hold a different stance concerning the Remnants…

How she can’t help but still hold love for her dear students.

(Episode 6)

Hina wakes up, finding herself in an infirmary. Koichi informs her of her loss and who managed to treat her - Seiko Kimura. Now Seiko is constantly fretting and checking up on Hina given the situation concerning her knockout. Thanks to her drugs, any concussions should be healed up pretty quick, and Hina is pretty grateful for the support. Seiko happened to be in the 6th Division’s office by chance, so Hina should be lucky she was on site to help ensure she didn’t get put into a worse position without her fast action.

Once Koichi reminds her that Seiko was a Director, we get a formal introduction of her, including her class. We also learn that Seiko was the daughter of the head of Kimura Pharmaceuticals prior to the Tragedy, though she notes that was water under the bridge now.  Hina, remembering that the 76th class also had Ruruka and Izayoi, asks both were her classmates. Instantly, Seiko’s face darkened and she glared at Hina. She asks her not to mention their names. Ever. Hina gulps and takes the hint.

Trying to move the conversation along, Hina brings up the topic of getting a Rec Letter for her, thinking Seiko was so nice she would agree to it. However, after a bit of conflicting thought, Seiko firmly refuses. Her loyalty lies solely with Kyosuke and she knows for a fact that he wants them dead. For good reason too, and she has personal stake in seeing the Remnants dead given how long she’s spent trying to treat their victims and seeing some die. She apologizes, but her mind is made up, and she personally shouldn’t expect much from her concerning Makoto’s trial.

She leaves, though outside waiting is Juzo, who was overhearing the conversation. She informs him of Hina’s condition. How it’s going to be stable though is curious why he still stuck around. Annoyed, Juzo pokes at her forehead in like a mean big bro-esque way, much to her chagrin, telling her to mind her business before prodding off. Still, with yet another Director refusing to hand over a Rec Letter, Hina is getting desperate and runs off to the 5th Division - Chisa’s workplace.

At said workplace, Kyoko is a bit shocked after hearing about Chisa’s ties to the Remnants. Well, Chisa quickly clarifies it was really only for about just some months and she could really be described more along the lines of their Advisor. You see, the Remnants of Despair back when they were in Hope’s Peak gained a bit of a reputation for being ‘delinquents’, whether intentionally acting out or not, and so these teens from various parts of the 77th batch were assigned to attend a ‘mandatory’ Student Correction Program (was not quite a fan of the series having Class 77 all be Remnants from the exact same class. The change, in addition to other plot developments in the future, is to get the group together, while having them be scattered across the 77th Batch).

The program was meant to at least get them to mellow out and not either wreck the school or harm others. She looks back fondly over the time with the fifteen of them…hm? Fifteen? Kyoko is wondering about her current connections and if anyone else knows about it. Chisa is quick to assuage her concerns. Her connection with HPA is well known by every other Director, though following her dismissal with the Remnants, she was assigned to the Reserve Course, which clearly didn’t end well for the other students there. Something shown by how upset she looked concerning their collective suicides. Chisa tries to quickly perk herself back up. 

Anyway, she explains, while she doesn’t quite understand why Makoto really decided to risk his neck this much to help pretty much the worst of the worst, but given how such a procedure could have given her students back, she was at least grateful for the attempt. While she won’t ever betray Kyosuke, she might be willing to offer a hand to at least get him to see a bit more reason. Though, Chisa is curious.

Why is Kyoko, logical woman incarnate, siding with Makoto in saving the Remnants? Surely someone like her would have wanted to see them dead, right? Well, for Kyoko, her decision was based on logic. The world, while its making steady efforts, is still struggling quite a deal both internationally and even locally. From pollution, to food management, to the obvious  factor of stray Remnants and criminals wreaking havoc. While the spearheads of Ultimate Despair may be gone, it would take decades before the world could ever hope to get back to how it was pre-Tragedy. If they could reform the Remnants with the Neo World Program, even just the mooks of them, they can add to the Restoration efforts to get the world back faster. The fact that the initial Remnants they gathered happened to be Ultimate were a solid coincidental bonus. Luck…though given what nearly had happened, it couldn’t really be called good luck, right?

Chisa nods her head and seems to accept this…though has to wonder how much of it just trying to honor Makoto’s wishes. After all, she wasn’t that different from Chisa in that they were trying to support the Hope of their lives and not just in terms of being the Ultimate Hope. But Hope to their own respective groups as well - Makoto was the glue that helped keep them together after all. In that same vein, Kyosuke was the glue that kept Future Foundation and his own core group stable as well. She recollects a time before she got to know him. In order to raise money for her sick single mother,  a teenage Chisa Yukizome became a housekeeper and was hired by the Munakata Family. A wealthy family that was notorious for raising leaders in almost every industry of the world, their mansion was quite the chaotic mess of people at each other’s throats and too busy to ever really care for an insignificant girl that was tidying up behind them.

Yet, Kyosuke was different. He aided her when everyone else ignored her or treated poorly because she was ‘the help’. He went out of his way to lighten her load and even work to see her smile. It was his assistance that allowed her to truly want to shine as a housekeeper and got her scouted. He was literally her Hope back in those horrible days. It’s why even now she’s that devoted to him.

Kyoko asks her to get to the point.

“Everyone is chasing that Hope - that reason to keep on going. But it’s also good to be aware of who represents that Hope as well. A lesson all of us can learn ,hm?” She glances to the door and it turns out Team Hina was there, eavesdropping. Chisa welcomes them in and doesn’t hesitate to give Hina a Rec Letter. Even if she’ll go wholeheartedly with Kyosuke’s choice, she figures its nots a bad idea to at least let one of Makoto’s friends check in on him.

From there, Hina goes to see if Kyoko was okay, but the detective waves her off. She’ll always be fine, what’s vital is bouncing info off each other. So they get each other up to speed with what’s happening, with Hina’s Quest and the upcoming trial. Kyoko is more than aware that their case seems pretty hopeless given whose in charge and the influence he holds. Hina is a bit more optimistic since she feels its an even split, except its not. Kyoko reminds her its more of 6 against a number of neutrals who could easily be pressured to go with the other side if an argument is weak enough or the enemy is convincing enough. The other half’s loyalty is not guaranteed. It’s then that Hina glances at the two allies she had befriended so far. Mitarai is looking as shy as ever but Koichi, after a swig, shrugs and merely says they’ll have to see. Though if it’s anything to what he would have wanted, well, he’ll do his best to get an outcome that Kyoko would find favorable. Complete with a friendly smile, though Kyoko tries her best to ignore him. 

In any case, Kyoko says its best for Hina to get the last letters as quickly as possible but just before Hina leaves, Kyoko does stop her briefly. Her wounds from fighting Juzo is clearly visible and even Kyoko could obviously see how winded the swimmer was. In her own way, she’s concerned and does apologize to Hina for putting her through all of this. But Hina quickly brushes it off. Their friends, well, more than friends!! Family even!! The Havoc Crew looking out for each other is a no-brainer!! It doesn’t bother her! With a deal of optimism, Team Hina leaves, leaving Kyoko in her thoughts once more.

“Huh, didn’t know you could lie like that.” Koichi said and Ryota gives a concerned look to Hina. She’s leading the charge, but the camera never points to her face. Her voice, though, is shaky. “I don’t know what you mean…it’s time for the next stop.”

Episode 7

The next destination for Team Hina? Why it was Koichi’s branch! The atmosphere for his place was rather casual, with many people at least on goods terms with him enough to even tease him a little about his drinking habits. Koichi allows both Ryota and Hina into his office, which resembles more of a host lounge than anything. Bottles of alcohol was scattered everywhere, there was a large couch off to the side, and large amounts of paperwork lay on his desk.

Both Hina and Ryota criticize Koichi for his messy office, but he waves it off as him being busy with meetings with Jack Daniels and Gin!~ Hina rolled her eyes and gives glances towards all about his office as Koichi fishes to make a Rec Letter. During this time, Hina finds something. A photo of Koichi with Jin and a little Kyoko.

Koichi confirms at this point that, yes, he was best friends with Jin and wouldn’t have minded being considered an ‘uncle’ to Kyoko prior to her getting raised by Fuhito Kirigiri, her grandfather. When asked more about Kyoko’s family, Koichi just waves dismissively. It’s a long story full of drama that he himself isn’t fit to tell.

He does go into detail of him meeting Jin back when they were kids and still keeping in touch when Koichi went to HPA...eh? Koichi was an Ultimate? Turns out he was the Ex-Ultimate Talent Scout, though is dismissive of such things. He himself doesn’t feel like its anything special and requests that they just refer to him as a regular talent scout. Honestly, he himself only agreed to be a talent scout because his best friend, Jin, really requested him when he began working with HPA in earnest. Throughout it all, Hina can see Koichi give a melancholic smile and relates to his quiet pain with her own losses. She reaches over to put a hand on his shoulder, but he smiles and waves it off.

Well, no use dwelling on the past. Koichi hands over his Rec Letter and waves at them goodbye for now.  He advises that if the options are just Tengan or Kyosuke left, then yeaaaaah, its best to try and win Tengan’s favor. He’s a lot more reasonable than Kyosuke…or, rather? 

He’s more coolheaded? He wants to be alone for a bit. Getting the hint, Hina nods and they begin to walk out. However, not before Hina stalls at the door, asking if he’ll support Makoto at the trial. Koichi informs her that he can’t make any solid promises, but is willing to hear him out. Once Ryota and Hina leave, he leans back in his chair. Thinking about Jin, he vows he’ll protect ‘her’.

Now down to a duo, Team Asahina starts wondering about Koichi, whether he’ll truly be alright. Hina is concerned, but Ryota says its best if they just leave him be to focus on Tengan. Now, its here that Ryota reveals his connection with the Chairman - namely how Tengan personally saved and recruited him back when the Tragedy was rampaging. Right when he was about to be killed by some Remannts, Tengan appeared on scene to fight them off. Hina is very impressed since she knows Tengan is kind of old, though Ryota mutters how he can be strong and frightening when he wants to. Anyways, he’s been working closely with him and believes that there’s a solid chance. Though he does warn Hina to watch what she says.

When they arrive, they noticed the hallway of Tengan lined up and down with various people in visors. Ryota introduces them as being the best of the Ultimate Elite Taskforce. As their names suggests, they are the very best gathered from the remnants of Hope’s Peak alumni’s that serve as The Special Forces needed for only the most intense or important assignments. Each of them are more than strong enough to give anyone, even an Ultimate Remnant, a run for their money.

Granted, with the 77th Batch of Despairs seemingly gone, these days all they really seem to do is just guard Tengan in Gozu’s absence. A fact that gets them to give Ryota a bit of a dirty or hurt look before he frantically starts waving his hands, trying to say he didn’t mean it. Tengan allows the two to enter and he pretty much gets right to the point. He’s received news of Asahina going about the other Directors trying to get their Rec Letters and from both sides he’s received calls to let her have one or to not give her one.

With that in mind, he’s willing to hear from the source concerning her motivations. Taking a deep breath, Asahina explains she’s worried about her friend and is really trying her hardest to make sure he’s alright. She knows that charges against Makoto are heavy, but she expresses her faith that everything he does is only to help everyone, not hurt. He’s not a traitor! By the end, she’s looking quite desperate, pleading with Tengan to give her the time of day.

When he speaks, Tengan murmurs about personally witnessing this fire of Hina for those she holds dear resurfacing. He says for her to simmer down and that, by now, he’s already thought this situation through to the best of his abilities. Offering Hina butterscotch, he explains that, yes, what Makoto has done is shocking and, at the moment, he can’t blame anyone for being angry or thinking he might be a traitor…

But he also states his belief in the Ultimate Hope that blossomed during that sixth trial. That optimism that he showcased and used to beat back Junko Enoshima and helped spurn the world in its current Restoration efforts. Yes, Tengan does believe that Makoto isn’t trying to be malicious and knows that he ‘is going with what he believes will be the right move’.  He goes on to ramble a bit about Makoto coming along ways from tangoing with a petty thief to humanity’s Symbol. Something that confuses Asahina, but Tengan brushes it off.

Yes, at this point, he’s more than just a little aware of the younger generation following their ambition and deciding that what they believe is right for all. Chairman or not, he has come to terms that he can’t match the passion of the others and is more than willing to take a backseat to give their ways a chance. After all, that’s essentially what he has been doing with Kyosuke. At this point it probably won’t be too long until he figures Kyosuke will organize an ‘intervention’ to pressure Tengan into stepping down. He already has the support of the public and agents all across the branches for his decisive attitude and on-hands efforts that Tengan had to retire from.

Oh! He apologizes for rambling and hands over the needed Rec Letter to Asahina. With that, she’ll be able to visit Makoto. Tengan wishes him the best of luck. Now, while he did order for the guards not to harm Makoto, if a Director decided to do something, well, he urges her to check in with him at her earliest convenience.  Asahina nods and thanks Tengan for handing over the Rec Letter. She asks if Ryota was coming as well but he declines. With a hug of support, Hina leaves. Still in the office, Tengan chuckles and asks if Ryota was finally getting out there, much to the animator’s blushing dismissal! Hina’s just a friend!! To this, Tengan merely chuckles in amusement. Before the scene ends, he questions if Ryota  has made a decision of sorts for the future. Ryota opens his mouth…and the episode ends.

(Episode 8)

The episode, and next day, opens at the prison Makoto is being held at. He has bandages and scratches on his face, looking a bit down on his luck as he recalls what happened to get him to this state.We get a flashback back to when he was initially arrested and seperated from Togami and Kyoko. He get’s thrown into his cell and has to deal with the brunt of a beatdown from a very angry Juzo. Kyosuke stops him before he could ever really go too far on Makoto but it is brutal. From there the scene switches to Makoto, patched up and at a table. Kyosuke is at the other side, looking coldly at Makoto.

Kyosuke, half-heartedly, apologizes for the actions of Juzo, though he does cut off Makoto when the lucky student tries to tell him its no big deal. Instead he asks: Why? Why help the Remnants of Despair? Why not just turn them in so the world can be done with them? Straight to the point. 

From Makoto’s point of view we get flashbacks briefly to what had occurred concerning him finding Izuru, learning of the Remnants identities and him firmly choosing his resolve when Kyoko and Togami await an answer for him. Back to the present day, he states that he understands everyone being angry and that, if he were in their shoes, he’d be furious as well. But, his decision has to go back towards faith. The potential to save others from the awful influence that gripped them in the past.

A flashback shows the Havoc Crew walking throughout their new branch with Kyosuke and Tengan giving a tour of the place. Tengan gives the background that, with reports of UD members killing themselves, they wanted a Branch that can effectively reach and focus on spreading FF’s message of hope. And who better to lead that than the survivors who inspired loads to carry on and beat back Despair’s effects. 

Togami is a bit miffed over essentially being the public relations branch, and that Kyoko was their leader, but she notes such power is really just a formality between the two of them. Plus, it might have to do with their ‘performance’ during the killing game. Hiro, Asahina and Togami have proven to be ‘problematic’ and Toko is only really allowed as an intern for being Genocider Syo. While some might want Makoto in charge given his role in the final class trial, he truly didn’t want the power/isn’t quite suited for leadership of an entire division. Hence Kyoko winning by default. 

While Togami begrudgingly admits defeat, both Hiro, Toko, Makoto and Asahina are astounded over their new headquarters. Makoto in particular is quick to bring them back together, speaking on his confidence that, with all six of them together, they can really help make a difference. One that clearly resonates with his friends and is noticed by the FF leaders. As both Tengan and Kyosuke leave, Tengan smiles as he notes that Makoto really reminded him of Kyosuke back in the day and that the Foundation is lucky Makoto is with them. Kyosuke quietly clenches his fist, and gives a brief look back at Makoto. The lucky student notices, but is dragged away by his pals long enough for Kyosuke to leave. 

A montage shows off Makoto and others helping out in the communities under Future Foundation’s protection, all clearly trying their best when, in the last shot, Makoto is suddenly pounced upon. It’s a Remnant of Despair, and by that I mean just a regular one that seems to have had better days. Makoto’s guards easily are able to pin down the Remnant and even remove his mask. As he’s being taken away, Makoto asks why he’s still trying to hurt others. Junko’s dead so what gives? It’s then that gets a good look at this Remnant - or rather his expression. Miserable, frustrated, utterly sad, and, well, hopeless. “Because there’s no point in trying to rebuild for someone with no future...” 

These words haunt Makoto and he’s gets to thinking. Is there a way to rehabilitate even the Remnants? He goes through files and asks around concerning Future Foundation rehab techniques and finds the plans for the Neo World Program. Delighted, he goes to Kyoko and Togami to get their opinion on trying to rehabilitate the Remnants? Their answer? 

“You’re an absolute buffoon.”

“This…is certainly a plan, I suppose?”

Yeah, he isn’t too surprised Togami is more harsh with his rebukes, but Kyoko also isn’t holding back with her criticism. The Remnants are dangerous criminals that put them through the Hell in the Mutual Killing Game. Why bother trying to save them? 

To this, Makoto asks this in a quiet voice: If they had connected more with Mukuro or Junko back then, would they have stopped both from destroying the world? He says its silly, but he can’t stop thinking about it. The friends they lost, would they still be alive if he bothered to spend more time trying to get to know both to get them help? Noticed Junko’s warped mental state beforehand? Get Mukuro to reconsider going along with Junko’s plan? The soldier didn’t seem completely convinced during their free talks during their killing game. Anything at all? 

This had both fall silent for a deal before Kyoko gives her thoughts. Personally, she believes that both Junko and Mukuro were too far deep by the time they met them. When she had the time, she looked into a bit of their background, finding evidence of the twins causing atrocities, like a massacre of a junior high school. That was covered up from either corrupt police or some other shady means. She believes that if there was to be some way to help the Despair Sisters, it would have to have been years before they even reached Hope’s Peak. She goes on to say he shouldn’t be harsh on himself for the horrible actions of other people, nor feel responsibility for why they turned out that way.

Yet, Makoto just can’t seem to let the thought go. His mind flashes back to his talk with Mukuro during her days as Junkuro. How she admitted she wasn’t sure that the path she was on was right. It’s a thought like those that gets Makoto in being unable to fully write off the Remnants that were still around. If one of the leading figures of the end was still having seconds thoughts, maybe the others could be as well, deep down. And, if the Neo World Program works as intended, they could be potentially rehabilitated into becoming allies to fix what their wrongs! It’s this optimistic outlook that ignites Makoto’s passion. While reluctant, both Kyoko and Togami eventually concede to at least try Makoto’s idea.

Makoto is happy and the next scene shows him heading to the site of the destroyed New Hope’s Peak Academy building. Apparently the 12th Branch was going to begin its plans for its demolition? Well, if that’s the case, he thought it would be best to leave ten flowers for those he lost and explore it one last time. What was left of it anyway.

Only to see Izuru Kamukura standing in a classroom with his own flower in some ruined classroom.

(Episode 9)

In this episode, we see Makoto, Kyoko and Togami looking after about fifteen ‘survivors’ sitting around in their offices. They were dirty, covered in either old cloaks and bandages, and looking around with intense gazes. Some of whom looked to be in quite the awful conditions, being either malnourished or very sickly. Yet they were all intent on refusing medical treatment from any staff offered.

It had only been a few days after Makoto met Izuru - or rather? Hajime Hinata - that’s what Izuru told them instead of his actual name at that point? Allegedly he was a survivor affiliated with Hope’s Peak that had just come back into town to pay respects to the dead. Following that, he explained that he was apart of a group of survivors who had been traveling the wastelands and it just so happens these survivors were upperclassmen of the 78th class. Students that came from various parts of the 77th batch that barely manage to escape the destruction of the Main Course building, but circumstances had them flee into the unknown as much as possible because of the riots. Given what they’ve experienced, they are very weary against even help from the FF and its prone to having them on edge.

Makoto is actually ecstatic to run into survivors of that incident, since he knew many of the 77th batch perished or went missing.  However, Kyoko and Togami are rather suspicious of the situation. In particular, seeing these fifteen for an extended period of time has her leave to check out some files.

Concerning the Remnants themselves, the more Makoto interacts with them, either by trying to give them supplies or wanting to know them better, he’s either ignored or given cold blank stares. Just like that one Remnant from before. Maybe…

Still there is one that acts friendly to him, Nagito who usually kept one of his hands wrapped. He’s appreciative of the Ultimate Hope and grateful for his efforts, glad someone ‘insignificant as him’ could be in Makoto’s presence. Makoto, being the humble guy, denies ever being that important and that he just wants to help others. He believes everyone is indispensable and tries to get Nagito to see more of himself in a brighter light. Though, similar to the others, the despair Nagito is in is quite evident and he believes that a guy like Makoto should really not bank his hopes too much on the fallen. As Makoto goes to pull him back as he leaves, he notices some of Nagito’s bandages are slipping…and, hm? Was…was his nails painted under there?

As they separate, he runs into Kyoko who takes him to Togami’s office. Kyoko shows Makoto a database of ‘suspect Remnants’. A nurse wearing a surgical mask, a group of masked Monomafia lead by masked people with similar hair styles to Fuyuhiko and Peko. A concert with a thin singer in a gas mask taking spotlight. In Novoselic, a Monokuma controlled country, forces were being lead by a masked figure in a cloak, but a few locks of golden hair could briefly be seen. Evidence upon evidence…

They didn’t just take in survivors - they took in the Remants of Despair. It wouldn’t be long until the higher-ups, who were informed of such survivors existence, would realize this as well. Yet, would it be fast enough to arrive to intercept fifteen dangerous criminals?  As it stands the Remnants doesn’t seem aware that they knew their cover was blown. If they were going to act, they needed to do this quickly. Togami suggests getting their security forces to immediately apprehend and put the remnants in holding cells of their division, but Kyoko notes the possibility of good number of forces being killed in this attack given how notorious the Remnants were when it came to fighting against even the Directors. Togami then suggests that maybe drugging their food could work best and the others seem on-board with this idea.

It’s then that Makoto suggests his own idea that, once they were all knocked out they don’t put them in cells. Rather, they put them on the boat intended to take them to Jabberwock Island. Togami really asks if Makoto is serious about having these Remnants - Ultimate Remnants - be the ones that they opt to save, but Makoto is dead serious about it. After all the NWP is supposed to be capable of saving even the worst of the worst. What better way to prove to everyone that it works and that it is viable if not by saving the literal worst of the worst. Both Kyoko and Togami are hesitant, but eventually both opt to go with Makoto’s plan. After all time is of the essence still.

The scene transitions to the boat, where the Remnants have been place in cells containing two each (or three in Mahiru, Ibuki and Hiyoko’s case). Their cloaks and bandages have been stripped away and we've got to see what a few had of Junko’s body, classic like Fuyuhiko getting Junko’s eye and whatnot. Over an intercom, Makoto announces his Foundation’s intent to take them to Jabberwock to put them in the NWP…

“Just like what the intelligence said…” Kamukura mutters to himself as the scene transitions to show of the Remants being worked into their pods and of brief flashes to the Island Killing Game, where Makoto is horrified over seeing history repeat itself, but flashes to determination  from both him, Kyoko and Togami. As the screen flashes to them entering the simulation we cut back to Kyosuke.

“In short…” said Vice Chairman. “You went on an operation, risking it all for criminals that should be executed on the spot…and came back with nothing.” Makoto refutes this saying he believes it worked out from what he saw of the survivors. But Kyosuke is pretty adamant about this position. How can Makoto be sure they were not faking or they’ll revert back to who they were? How can they be trusted to not go down that dark path again?

In truth? Makoto admits he can never be 100% sure, but he has faith they won’t go back. How they resolved to keep moving forward – he was sure that was going to still be a reality. Kyosuke shook his head, looking disappointed. 

“To think people ever had high hopes for you. A naive foolishness like that can never be called Hope.” Standing up, he announces, he doesn’t want to even look at Makoto again until the trial to decide his fate. And may mercy be shown upon this blind soul. All while Makoto looked at Kyosuke with his own frustration, but even sadness. Is there no way for them to reconcile or come to an understanding?

The flashback ends when we see the present Makoto shoot up from a knock at his door. It’s Asahina, who came in the very next day, who quickly goes to glomp her poor buddy whose been through a lot. Asking him how he’s been and growing angry over the fact the guards had taken to hurting him. As they both catch up on what’s been going on - Hina finally asks that’s been flowing through her mind:

“How come you all didn’t trust me?” she asked, referring to the fact that half of Crew went off to do their own thing while leaving the others in the dark to carry out the Remants rehab. Makoto, looking super remorseful, apologizes. He, Kyoko and Togami didn’t want to put the others at risk, especially if this operation failed. Concerning the operation, Hina goes to ask Makoto why he bothered to help the Remnants, when an explosion gets out.

A loud alarm blares through the building.

“People are raiding the prison!! All personnel on deck! Stop the prisoners from going free!”

(Episode 10)

This is a chaotic battle that has invaders, mooks of the Remnant forces, all rush through the building, attacking anyone with bats, pipes, even a few guns so to speak, as they pushed through. Throughout the facility, electromagnetic locks on the cells are disabled and prisoners rush to join in on the riots. The main attackers were also incredibly organized, ordering about the freed prisoners to help free more them and ordering more of their forces to go in deeper. “They’re in there!! Get them at any cost!! Don’t waste our chance!”

Hearing this, Makoto wants to help, but Hina remind him that 1. He is also a prisoner and 2. People would really be gunning for him at the moment given his status, so its best that he stay put in the cell where he would be safe. Makoto wishes her luck as Hina dashes out. Outside of Makoto’s cell there are four other occupied cells in his block: The maximum security block. Luckily, once Hina leaves it’ll be placed on lockdown that only a Director could have access to with their key card. Grabbing a baton, Hina rushes out and saves a guard from being killed by a prisoner before joining in the fray. 

Bodies are flying and more people are being released.  Hina is holding her own but the number of people able to handle this is dwindling: until a cry of pain is heard and a prisoner can be seen tossed into a wall. There is the Great Gozu, Juzo and Kyosuke backed by reinforcements. Tengan is at the furthest back watching the proceedings. Kyosuke leads the forces into subduing the prisoners and invaders, eventually getting it all under control. Though during this chaos, Kyosuke can’t help but wonder about the odds of a jailbreak occurring on the day when Makoto gets a visitor and four other Directors wanted to visit it. “Luck tends to be perplexing…” Tengan says.

By the end of it, most of the prisoners have been suppressed, but when they head into the max block, the prisoners from there have escaped, except for Makoto. Juzo and Gozu are ordering the staff about, sending out red alert for all units to be on the lookout for the escaped. The ones who escaped are known as the Four Sinners in Future Foundation and represent the Four Horsemen. They were previous Ultimates that graduated from Hope’s Peak but had gone rogue  during the Tragedy.

Plaguebearer - Former Ultimate Exterminator: Jun Ueda/Pestilence(Gas Mask Man)

Immovable Force - Former Ultimate Sumo: Daisuke Tomioka/War (Sumo Wrestler Design)

Dead Walker - Former Ultimate Lab Assistant: Harue Yuki/Famine(Zombie Girl)

Spawn of Malice - Former Ultimate Criminal: Shiori Hikari/Death (Ultimate Criminal beta)

With everything over, Asahina checks in on Makoto who was unharmed. Kyosuke arrives and announces that, given how this prison is clearly compromised, Makoto will be moved to another location effective immediately and has Juzo escort him out. Hina wants to talk to him, but the other Directors refuse to hear her out, with Makoto only reassuring her that things will be fine.

The news of the attack is relayed to Togami, & Hiro, the heir already suspicious of the whole affair. He finds it way too unlikely that this was just a random attack on dates where both Asahina and the other Directors were supposed to arrive. This was planned, but by whom and what do they gain from freeing the Four Sinners other than general unrest?

Kyoko hears the news as well and, in private, and theorizes that, yes, this was definitely planned. But there was so many oddities. Why attack on the same day that high-ranking, strong Directors were arriving there? Wouldn’t have it been safer to do so when it was just the regular guards to deal with?

Conclusion that she and, soon even Kyosuke (at another location) reaches: The Mastermind behind it wanted it to be known that there was someone orchestrating this. Furthermore, from reports from the guards, the attackers were highly organized and mentioned something about ‘someone’ giving them a ‘chance’. “But why?” asked Juzo (He, Kyosuke, Chisa and Seiko were gathered together) What do they gain out of this risky mission? Could it be….

“Fear…” Tengan muttered alone in his office. An irrational emotion made to throw people off as the Trial for Makoto’s fate draws nearer. Regardless if the attackers succeeded or failed, the fear and paranoia they would leave behind would be irrefutable but of what kind of fear…

Simply put…a Traitor amongst the Directors. Someone had to give the attackers an access card to open the max cell block, after all. A conclusion all leaders of Future Foundation seem to reach as it flashes by to all fourteen of them.

In a dark location, the Four Sinners are standing in line looking at a large monitor that shows Monokuma’s head looking at them. A garbled voice announces the need for the Blights services.

After all, the next game is soon to begin!

(Episode 11)

A traitor…

A word like that hangs heavy as Togami meets with Asahina and Hiro, in Hiro’s room (because why would anyone bother with Hagakure). It’s one thing for a mole to be in something like a killing game, but a Director possibly going rogue? It could lead to disaster for not just the other Directors but the entire world. Asahina shudders, though wonders about the possibility of it being a Sakura situation: where her family was threatened. But Togami is quick to shut it down. No use in pondering the motivations of a possible Traitor when they still haven’t caught them yet. He stops Hiro from just barging out to ‘investigate’ and reminds Hiro that he can’t just go out and do whatever he wants. If he tries to grill the Directors, chances are he’ll just get thrown in the slammer for being a nuisance and just worsen the situation.

Instead, Togami has informed both he’s sent some of his own private personnel on the case. While any Directors or the Havoc Crew would be on clear suspicion and be monitored, would anyone bother keeping tabs on Togami’s butler or his eyepatch wearing secretary? Not likely. So he’ll leave it to them.

Asahina asks about Makoto, and what they should do for him given the incident. Togami believes at this point they should forget about seeing him until the Trial. Makoto has been taken to a private holding cell in the 2nd Division Branch. With the max cell compromised, he’s staying there under Kyosuke’s watchful eye. Until then, its best to focus on other matters. For example, if this incident comes up during the trial, it would be best to gain some sort of evidence to be on even footing during it. But, all knew if they tried, chances are Kyosuke might get his goons to chase them away. But, Asahina realized that, even if they couldn’t she could probably get someone to not only help them out, but even inform Kyoko. 

The scene shifts to Kyoko’s room and there its revealed Koichi was the one to help out, handing over a good deal of evidence from the crime to her. ‘A gift from that charming swimming lady’ Koichi mentioned, though Kyoko is as stoic as ever. Koichi tries to get closer with Kyoko more, showing more of his concerned side from her (and even a brief scene of him seeing Jin die during the KG), Kyoko brushes him off. If he really wants to help her, he needs to support Makoto’s side. Koichi chuckles. Kyoko’s as blunt as ever. He walks off, claiming he’ll think about it over a drink or two!

For Team Munakata, Juzo and his branch are investigating the scene of the crime, looking pissed about what happened still. While they had managed to suppress the truth of the incident, there was no telling what could be leaked. Seiko responds that, despite using the truth serum on the surviving invaders, they couldn’t tell much about who was organizing them to do this. They can only say that they were ordered by someone in a cloak who was connected with the former Remnants. Who warned them that their actions will spurn on the Third. “The third killing game…what nonsense.” Kyosuke orders Seiko, Chisa and Juzo not to spread this info out to anyone for the time being. Doing so without all the facts would just lead to chaos brewing. When he asks for further details about where the escapees could be, Chisa informs that they have all unist on the lookout for them, but there has been no signs of where they went. One of the transport vehicles is missing so its likely they took that to make their getaway, but the footage for that period is missing due to the attackers managing to get inside the security office. How convenient. But nevertheless Kyosuke is confident that they can defeat whatever plans Despair has for them. “Security measures will be increased tenfold and for the Trial…we’ll invoke the usage of the Elite Taskforce. No matter what - judgement will reign on those who stray from the path…” His crew nod alongside him, albeit to varying degrees (Juzo is smirking and pounding his fists together, Seiko is a bit nervous but hurriedly agrees with him and Chisa looks rather solemn before she nods as well).

We get some brief cuts to what some other Directors are doing. For Ruruka and Izayoi, she feeds him a macaron, with her (and by extension his) minds made up: Makoto is clearly guilty in her eyes and sooner they axe a traitor the better. Miaya is talking with Alter Ego, the latter wanting to do something to help Makoto. He can’t let someone he saved get hurt or sentenced to die, right? Miaya tries to reassure him that things will turn out okay, and that AE did enough already for Togami recently, but hears a knock at the door before she could really finish. Bandai is at his office seeing a text from Gozu on how the wrestler would be coming back a bit late given he’s with the Chairman. As for Ryota he’s nervously going between his phone and the e-mail. Obviously conflicted on something.

We finally shift to Makoto in his cell, unable to to do anything. Can’t investigate, can’t be with his friends. All he can do is wait...huh? Entering his cell is Tengan with Gozu accompanying him. Due to Tengan’s status as the Chairman, he’s able to gain clearance and visit Makoto. 

He comments on the misfortune brought about Makoto recently, and laments that the trial has to happen at all. Makoto asserts his innocence, that everything he’s done was truly meant to help people. That is something Tengan has no doubts on and even finds it a commendable dream to work towards. Even at his old age, his reason for joining FF is to bring the most aid to humanity as possible. He was just the same when he was younger and laments that Makoto is in such a position now. Being stuck trying to follow your heart and being obstructed by others is a frustrating balance to tow.

Tengan remarks on what Makoto plans to do at the trial. Given the severity of his crimes, there isn’t much hope that he’ll be freed. If Tengan is to be frank, were it not for Makoto’s Ultimate Hope status, anyone else would have been prosecuted immediately and likely executed. What’s Makoto endgoal?

For Makoto, he responds earnestly: his goal is always the same as its been. He’s nothing special, he just wants to help people that need it. He completely understands why people want to kill the Remnants, why those who are in the know thinks he's being foolish or even traitorous. But if there's a chance that even the worst of the worst can be rehabilitated and gain a second chance to make things better, then shouldn't they at least try to take it?

Tengan chuckles. Yeah, the same Makoto as he saw back during the sixth trial of Danganronpa 1. Even Gozu seems impressed with his resolve. Both leave the room, Tengan mentioning that when the trial comes: while he can't make any promises, he'll at least try to ensure Makoto has a sporting chance. Makoto sighs as he leans back in his cell. A chance is all that he’d ever want.

Back to Asahina, she’s left brooding in her room. There wasn’t much else she can do now, except wait and try to prepare her own defense for Makoto. The trial. Hina’s recalls Bandai’s words and the statements from all the Directors, friends and foes, come back to her. What does she think of this entire thing? 

She was left out of the loop and is now trying to catch up to a story that’s she’s never really been apart of. Having to risk it all for the sake of the Remnants? Who ended up getting her brother killed? Can she really do it? No doubt Makoto and the others hearts are in the right place, but could she truthfully still say she has no misgiving about it?

If only Sakura were here, she’d know the answer…

After the credits, time skips to the day of the trial. The scene is in a shadow room and there is a figure typing on a computer screen, sending messages out.

‘The pieces are in place. Let the third mutual killing game…begin.”

(Ep 12)

Now this episode is somewhat sort of the same as Future Arc ep 1, with a few twists. For example, the Ultimate Task Force is littered around the headquarters, watching for potential threats. Hagakure is actually let inside (and not on the helicopter pad awkwardly) for instance. Well, at first anyway! He’s not allowed in the meeting room so is just wandering about the rest of the building.

Asahina is looking between Kyoko and Makoto, words from Bandai still echoing in her head. How does she feel about this. She wants to support her friends - her family - through thick and thin. But, these guys helped get Yuta killed and is the reason their class is now down to six in the first place. Can she really vouch while so conflicted? Both Makoto and Kyoko grow aware of her looking so down, but can’t really be afforded the time to help her as they are called into the meeting room.

Kyosuke calls the meeting to order: This is the secret trial to determine the fate of Makoto Naegi - member of the 14th Division of Future Foundation - who is accused of treason and harboring dangerous criminals: the Remnants of Despair. This is the first time we now get to see the Jabberwock Crew in their Despair forms, unobstructed, with Kyosuke explaining that such intel was scrounged up and provided during the DR2 killing game, after FF realized they were the Remnants. A fact that Kyosuke is rather bitter about, but presses on with the matter at hand:

“Makoto Naegi - how do you plead?”

With a Not Guilty verdict in hand, the trial shifts, metaphorically, to be reminiscent of a Class Trial. Together with Kyoko and Hina, Makoto is doing his best to shoot down incorrect or slanderous claims about his situation. For example, claiming he had something to do with the jailbreak, which he couldn’t go given his confined state at the time. For Team Naegi, they’re arguing the Remnants can be saved and, for those that were awake, they deserve at least a fair shot at proving that they were rehabilitated. For Team Munakata, they’re arguing that no matter what form the Remnants take, they are still a danger to others and need to be eliminated. Both sides are at an impasse, and the others begin to chime in their thoughts as well.

Gozu, Miaya, Bandai, Tengan and Koichi do at least want to give testing the Remnants a shot. In Koichi’s case, when its mentioned that he did scout out the Remnants, its in the vein that he should have a grasp on the DR2 crew in spades. While he’s confident that, if given another shot, they’d be alright, he also admits he may or may not have been a biiiit too drunk that day and maybe can’t remember approving a good chunk of them? (Hina sighs and calls him out for being so irresponsible). Yet, there was still those like Ruruka or Izayoi who were adamant that the Remnants couldn’t be saved, and Ryota was too meek to say where he stood.

Eventually, a vote would commence. Kyoko and Makoto aren’t allowed to vote given their involvement in the matter, but Hina is allowed since she was away during the debacle and, at least to Tengan, she should at least be given the benefit of the doubt. A majority of seven would decide Makoto’s fate. Each Director gives their vote until its a split between Guilty (Kyosuke, Juzo, Seiko, Ruruka, Sonosuke and Chisa) and Not Guilty (Koichi, Tengan, Ryota, Bandai, Gozu and Miaya)

The only person left to vote is Hina and she’s feeling happy. She’s the tiebreaker and can save her friend’s life! She can help him! She can get him out of this situation! They’ve won! But, Kyosuke wasn’t done just yet. He chuckles and remarks that Hina must really be a strong woman. After all: she’s sparing the left of someone who saved those who got her brother killed.

Hina freezes and the room falls silent, except for Kyosuke. He gets into Hina’s head, reminding her of all the damage that the Remnants done. Because of Ultimate Despair, millions of people are dead and the world was brought to ruin. Because of them, her little brother, Yuta Asahina, will never come back. He’s another casualty; a victim who has never received justice for the crime brought to him! To Kyosuke, he’s not trying to be the bad guy - he doesn’t want to do this, especially to the ‘Ultimate Hope’ who helped stopped the Mastermind behind that terrorist organization. But what else can he do when the last major executives of the worst organization in human history were prevented from their just punishment for their actions? And doesn’t Hina want that? Want them to pay for blowing up her brother, whose remains are still at the bottom of the ocean? Does she really want to them off the hook for someone who values the lives of 15 murderers than her own flesh and blood?!

At the end of it, Hina is in tears and her conflicted mindset comes to a boil. She can’t think straight and has broken down, overwhelmed with such an awful choice to make. Both of her friends rush to her to try to get her to calm down, but as soon as Makoto touches her arm, she shirks away from them and runs out of the room. Something that causes Kyosuke to call for a temporary recess. Makoto is stopped from leaving by Juzo, but Kyoko is permitted to go after the swimmer. The rest of the Directors shuffle off, though Tengan wonders out loud if Kyosuke truly had to bring up the deceased just to sway the vote. For Kyosuke? He remarks that it’s better for Hina to truly understand her choices. Lest she makes one that she’ll live to regret. As for Makoto, he’s carted off to a nearby room to be treated by Chisa after Juzo handled him a bit too roughly. It’s there we get her revealing her past to Makoto as well, a condensed version of it, and her beliefs right to the luckster. Of both Kyosuke and Makoto coming together to create even bigger Hope for the world. If Kyosuke was the Hope of Justice- one that promises punishment to sinners who wronged others, then Makoto was the Hope of Faith - that promises that there was respite even in the worst of times. She encourages him to see Kyosuke’s point of view and meet somewhere in the middle with him.

Kyoko would go on to find Hina, sobbing bitterly in the girl’s bathroom. Hina apologizes for her actions. After all, Makoto’s life is on the life. She should have just ignored Kyosuke and voted for her friend’s safety! But, Kyoko shakes her head and tells Hina not to be sorry. After all, what was done to Hina can be considered a genuine betrayal given what UD have done to Yuta and what half of her friends did in spite of that. None of the others ever contacted her about it, nor even discussed it with Hina. They let their friend remain hurt for so long…and for that, Kyoko, kneels down and can only offer her humblest of apologies - even offering Hina to hit her if necessary if it means getting everything out of her systems and making amends.

But Hina doesn’t want that. She gets out of the stall, and just hugs Kyoko, crying into her shoulder. A while pasts, and Hina calms down, now willing to head back to the trial. They head out, only for Kyoko to notice something. The door to the supply closet wasn’t fully closed. Hina went to shut it, but finds the security guards of the place murdered. She freaks out and that’s when chaos ensues.

By now we get to see the Elite Task Force luring away guards, and quietly murdering them.  During this process, Hagakure, is strolling on by lost, getting back from the men’s restroom when he opens the wrong door and sees some operatives stuffing the dead into body bags.

Hagakure ends up running away, which leads him to escaping the building right before the shutters close on the roof of Future Foundation. During this time, the scenes cuts to Togami whose in a meeting with his secretary and Aloysius. They have a flash drive containing some secret information concerning some hidden email they managed to dredge up with help from a special program A.E. gave to Togami some time ago. Secretly, they planted a special virus in each of the 14 Branches meant to automatically track any suspicious emails or files and send it straight to Team Togami. The fruits of their labor lies in that drive. Taking it and placing it into his laptop, Togami begins rummaging through all suspicious files and his eyes hardened considerably:

“...The third mutual killing game…and…a nation wide att-!!!” he gets up and orders both to make preparations. The scenes shifts throughout the various branches which are facing attacks from various agents of destructions, from rogue Remnants, to criminals/hitmen to even the likes of various operatives in the division going rogue out of nowhere and killing their own. It was complete chaos and no one can reach the Directors.

Back at Future Foundation HQ, the main cast are in a state of panic as they find themselves trapped in and reports of the guards being dead come to surface. Like in the original show, they are knocked out by sleeping gas. When they wake up, however, they find themselves in a rather demonic, yet regal looking area with monitors all over. The monitors come to life with Monokuma alongside four other mascots. He announces that these five are the MonoKast - hosts of the third mutual killing game!

Monokowl - a white and grey owl in a cowl and a graduation hat. Vice Headmaster of the MonoKast

Monokan - a white and orange kangaroo wearing a black apron. The teacher that helps runs the ‘school’.

Monokrown - A white and purple bee with a tiny crown. The security guard that keeps things safe.

Monokrony - A black and dark brown vampire bat with a gold star. A teacher’s assistant that helps out. Or tries to help out at least.

But if the Directors refuse to believe that they’ll kill each other, Monokuma is proud to announced that this killing game has already started. Everyone is confused, but it suddenly clicks to Kyosuke. Where is Chisa? The cast look up and see her murdered on the chandelier before it crashes, leaving Kyosuke just as distraught as he was before in the original.

DISTRUST LIFE - END

---

This ends the first part of the rewrite!! I'm open to questions concerning it if needed and hope anyone that read this got some enjoyment from this rendition! Who know when the next part will be up, but will try to make it for at least this year!

[thoughts-of-insufferability]

imma copy what I wrote alr and paste it and I'll send you yours too so we have them to refer back to (and then I'll respond to that)

**********

okay so

stereotypes are usually harmful, because they can perpetuate a lot of untrue and mean things about people, especially back in the day when lots of caricatures were made of different cultures(Rn I'm talking specifically for America) especially with how black people were portrayed

but that's only one type of stereotype that people talk about, and even though racial stereotypes are very important and a main problem when it comes to the topic in general(it also plays into some other stereotypes as well) I think we need to talk more about the stereotypes we make off of how people dress

cause I think that plays a BIG decider into where you fall into in the world, and everyone is guilty of it, including me

For instance, when people say "don't judge a book by it's cover" it's a true statement, but at the same time it's also bullshit

because how else do you decide to talk to someone or not? how do you decide if they're dangerous or not? if you think you'll mesh well together or not?

every single human interaction is based off of sizing people up one time or another

for instance, if there were three girls standing right in front of me, and I had to choose one of them to be my friend, the first thing I'm going to do is look at them to see if one of them seems more likely to mesh with me or not

but then because I do this, I'm putting them in a box, just based off how they look(this has to do with stereotypes stay with me)

like I'll be honest, if I was new at school and I saw a white girl wearing Lululemon, I would immediately peg her as someone I didn't get along with, based PURELY off of stereotypes of both race and how she dressed

for me at least, when girls are like that at my school, they're usual fake mean girls who talk shit about people behind other's backs

like the new versions of Regina George

so now if I see a girl like that, I'll usually assume they're like that and distance myself, because 1. we would have absolutely nothing in common and 2. why would I involve myself with someone who would "probably" be mean

but at the same time, when others do it to me, I'll get upset and say "why didn't you just talk to me, I'm nothing like *insert whatever stereotype/assumption they made about me based off how I look*)

and this is what I'm getting at

stereotypes are harmful, but they're also what match people to other people of common interests

cause if you group yourselves based off of these, you usually think you'll get more friends of common interest bc you're more similar

even though sometimes that's not always the case

Sounds good!

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

Every week I will post various reviews I've written so far in 2024. You can check out my Goodreads for more up-to-date reviews HERE. You can friend me on Goodreads here.

Have you read any of these? What were your thoughts?

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385. Always Mine by Laura Pavlov--⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I'll admit that this was a complete cover buy for me. This was a special edition and the synopsis sounded really cute with some tropes I love, so I couldn't resist. And honestly, for the most part, I don't have any regrets.

ALWAYS MINE was one of those cute and fluffy reads that went by super quickly. The connection was already built in because of the friendship that was obviously going to turn into something more eventually. The sexual tension ramped up and we got some spicy scenes added to the mix. Overall, the writing was light, quickly paced, and kept me wanting to read the next chapter.

My issues come from some of the funnier aspects of this book. Mainly, the crying. Man, it's a good thing these characters live by a lake because damn can they cry. I'd blink and suddenly the phrase "tears streamed down [their] face" was being used. It was a very popular phrase. If I played a drinking game with this book, it would be "take a shot every time someone cries in your book." I'd be gone and drunk by the middle of the book.

Other than that, I liked the suspenseful edge to the book and how it was prominent, but didn't overtake the main storyline. I find that I really enjoy romance books like this that have that extra twist to make the story more compelling.

I loved the side characters (mainly the sisters, especially Dylan) and this book DID succeed in making me want to read the rest of the books in this series since they are all for each sister.

Though the romance was built on the back of this lifelong, will-they-won't-they best-friendship, I still found that it moved a bit fast. I wish they'd given themselves a bit more time to adjust to their new reality. But I WILL say that other than one little moment that I'll let go of because it felt very realistic, the communication between these two was great.

I know it's winter right now (in North America--Canada, in my case), but this book is an excellent romance novel to read in the middle of the night in summer--even if it takes place in winter. It just has that binge-worthy vibe that would fit best in the summer.

ALWAYS MINE was quick, cute, addictive, and didn't have a third act break-up.

___

386. My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

MY DARKEST PRAYER isn't my favourite Cosby book, but it still holds that sense of exciting possibility that I'm really growing to love in his writing. That dark level of revenge, mixed with some cool action scenes, is vivid in this one and to make it even better, it's all washed in that gorgeous noir writing style that Cosby has perfected.

I thought, of all the books I've read by Cosby, the MC in this one had the most interesting job that had a lot of potential for future detective-like, high stakes mysteries. I liked the connection between the MC and his cousin and how it led to show us what certain family love looks like. The way he was pulled into the mystery was great, especially because we see him having to confront his old coworkers from when he was a police officer. Which is another thing I like about Cosby's writing--he's presented us so many different aspects and relationships Black people have with the police in all of his books. It's eye opening and so important.

I loved the female character in this because even though she's presented in a way society would deem demeaning, I loved that she owned who she was and was completely unapologetic about it. So many people tried to take her identity from her, so watching her own it was powerful. Which by the way, I didn't like how the MC revealed a dark experience of hers with someone else. It wasn't his story to tell. And that and some of the commentary on women made me uncomfortable. If there's one thing I wish Cosby did better was his treatment of female characters in his books. The one female character in here did own her identity, but I don't know if this was intentional or a positive coincidence.

Overall, I liked this for what it was and the mystery had me hooked. I think this would make a fantastic movie--especially since so many of Cosby's books feel cinematic. There was also an interesting Easter Egg in here regarding one character that appears in another book!

___

387. Fearless by M.W. Craven--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

FEARLESS is one of those books that just scratches a specific itch in my brain that I didn't know I had. These adventure/mystery/main character hero-complex books are like honey to my bee--I can't explain why they get me every time. AND this book was self-aware? LOL. There were some very pointed comments about REACHER that had me cackling.

I also love books where the MC is severely underestimated (think John Wick) and then goes and proves everyone wrong. And since this guy is literally fearless, it made this part of the book so much better.

The story itself was fun and I liked the mystery and how it took the MC on a wild chase around the US. There were some choices that were made that made me side-eye where this story was going, but it still had some exciting and entertaining moments after the questionable situation. This could also make a great movie and you know what? I'd watch the hell out of it. Or a TV show.

What did take me out of the story was the continuous mention of a certain place. I get it from a government employee perspective because they ARE military experts, sigh, but of all the places to choose. WHICH, if I rant about this: I have read so many books that will casually drop the name of this place when you could literally pick ANYWHERE. It runs deep, even in literary works. Ugh. /endrant.

Anyway, other than that, this was an exciting story with some fun twists and some badass moments. I loved the whole concept of a fearless action-hero detective. I want to read the next one!

___

388. The Suspicion by K.A. Applegate--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THE SUSPICION felt like a filler book. This honestly felt like one of those books where the author needed to meet a deadline and had to have content ready for her publisher, but needed more time to cook for the main storyline. It was like a side-quest.

I liked the adventure and thought it was hilarious, but it felt like those episodes of shows that pop up just because they needed more content to appease viewers. Especially because of how over the top and ridiculous it felt. There was a moment that could have ended everything and saved the world, but of course, it's too early to end the series.

I thought it was interesting though because it shows us more alien beings not affected by the enemies of the series. It DID challenge the MCs' sense of anti-war thoughts for a bit there, though. That was interesting and made me wonder if there would be a limit at some point in the series where pragmatism would have to override their anti-war mentality. In this book, it felt like they only remembered their moral compasses near the end.

And even though this definitely felt like a filler, it made me more curious about what else we will see in this series, what other challenges the MCs will face, and how they will overcome their inability to cross that line they straddle so often. But realistically, these are children and it is a children's series. Not that I haven't read children's books that have crossed that line many times.

Onto the next one!

___

389. Lights Out by Navessa Allen--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you like audiobooks and romance, do yourself the biggest bookish favour of this year and listen to this. It is absolute gold and I would recommend it to everyone who likes their romance with a lick of darkness and a lot of spice. The voice actors KILLED it and gave this book so much life.

LIGHTS OUT was absolutely hilarious. It was dark, but so completely self-aware. I had to go out and buy a physical copy because I absolutely needed this in my personal library.

One of my favourite things about this book was the cat and how he was essentially a character in his own right. He was the pride of his parents and the most welcoming little asshole to his new dad. The way the MMC talked about him made me love him even more.

This was a dark romance, but not to the extent that made me nervous. I've seen some of the dark romances out there and while this had some themes and the potential for it to be really dark, this was actually strangely wholesome? I mean, besides the stalking and murderous father, of course. I actually loved the connection between the two MCs and how much communication they had. Their reactions to certain situations were realistic and so were the moments they took to talk themselves through their emotions.

Where this book took a darker tone was so unexpected, but also entertaining. It added a whole other layer of hilarity and surprise that I was NOT expecting.

Also, please, the one-liners from the characters? Absolute gold. I'm so glad I finally gave this one a shot and I absolutely can't wait for book two! This is definitely one of my favourite books on the year.

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390. Brother Odd by Dean Koontz--⭐️⭐️⭐️

BROTHER ODD is not my favourite book in this series so far, simply because I thought it felt a bit…boring and long-winded. It also felt a bit random and I had to check to see if I had missed a book between the last one and this one. Regardless, I thought it was interesting and had it's entertaining moments, especially the paranormal turn it took. That aspect alone makes me excited to see what else Koontz puts into this series.

I loved that grief was more explored in this, especially since it was one of my comments about the last book. I definitely think Odd is experiencing the different stages of grief with these last two books. This one felt like Odd was definitely caught more in his grief and wasn't numb anymore. And it was certainly interesting seeing that grief manifest itself both through his abilities and how it affected those around him.

I liked that he was outside of his small town and bodes well for the rest of the series. While I liked the little town that the first two books took place in, I also know that I'm in for some entertaining adventures as Odd makes his way through his road trip. He both needs to experience that outside world he felt so apathetic towards in the past, and needs to learn more about his abilities and what else exists out there.

I also like his sassiness. I always like Odd's sassiness and how it comes out of nowhere, or in the most inappropriate times. Makes me think a lot of how this was a characteristic of so many main characters in the early 2000s, especially in this genre of fiction.

I want to read the next book because I want to know what else Odd experiences! Hopefully the next book is a bit more exciting (even though this one had some creepy and unique situations).

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391. Ends of the Earth by Keira Andrews--⭐️⭐️

I LOVE this author, but this was probably the weakest one for me so far. It lacked that sense of urgency I sometimes get with her writing, which leads to me binge reading it (which I usually do with her work, but this one just didn't grip me the same way).

I liked the characters, but this was one of those insta romances that was a little hard for me to swallow. I get that surviving a horrible situation can bond people--much like we've seen in other books by Andrews, but this one lacked a bit of believability for me. I couldn't wrap my head around the immediate attraction that led to such intense feelings and, technically, sacrifices from the characters after they spent the majority of their adult lives not wanting to do the very things they suddenly decide to do for each other. There is a lot of potential here, but it was just all so quick. I think if this book was a bit longer; if the story had cooked some more, it would have held more of an emotional punch, which is what I usually love about Andrews's books.

I love a good age gap romance and save for some side-eye worthy moments, I liked this aspect of the story.

ENDS OF THE EARTH took a bit to get to the main event, which is fine because we're building those connections and setting those scenes, but then it was over quicker than I was expecting--which isn't a bad thing, but this added to the sense that this book just had a slight problem with pacing. I wish we got to see the two MCs together as a couple for longer than just that happy ending. I want to care for them and connect with them, but it just didn't feel like it was long enough for me to love them.

i think thats the main issue--it was too quick. I wanted more. And while I enjoyed this story for what it was, I think it could have been more. I'll still check out more of Andrews's work because she's still one of my favourites, but this one was a little bit disappointing.

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392. Lost & Lassoed by Lyla Sage--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Lyla Sage does it again with another cute addition to this wonderfully satisfying series! I must have the next book. I MUST HAVE IT.

One of the things i love about this series is how low-angst/low drama the stories are by the end. I can just enjoy them knowing that these characters won't be idiots when it comes down to it and there isn't a third act breakup waiting for me. I just want a love story--whether it's an enemies to lovers or something else--that is simple and enjoyable, and this delivered.

I knew sparks would fly between these two characters because we've known since book one that they "hated" each other. For a good chunk of the first half of the book, we see this animosity in effect--almost to a detrimental level? The MMC was really mean. His judgment of the FMC had my hackles up for a bit and it took me out of the story a bit. But I did like seeing how the relationship between the two characters changes as the story progresses and I like that though this is a short novel, it still takes its time in growing this relationship organically.

The MMC's daughter is adorable and I loved the relationship she has both with her dad and with the FMC. Which brings me to how much I loved the FMC. She loves her best friend and the people she cares for so fiercely, that it immediately endeared me to her. I also felt her emotions of how she felt so forgotten while everyone around her experienced such big changes. I think one of the reasons why I liked her so much was because of how honest Sage was in writing her character and her conflicted emotions. Also, that battle of "what will I do with my life?" runs super deep. Of all the FMCs in this series so far, she's my favourite.

Finally, this was SPICY. Holy crap. It wasn't dark romance spicy, but for a traditionally published contemporary western romance? Phew. Yes, ma'am, get your man. I had to wave my hand in front of my face.

I know the next book will probably be the last in this series, but I will be so sad to see it end. I love these characters and their simple but comforting lives in their small town.

___

Happy reading!

[borrowedtimeandspace]

Does the doctor ever meet other borrowers/sprites in Wellwood like Vel?

I answered a similar ask to this one here, and the answer is still mainly the same with regard to the sprites. The Doctor hasn't met Vel in particular, but there is a short that you've reminded me that I wanted to post in which he does interact with some young sprites! It's not related to our crossover Borrowed Magic, but it was a very fun time to write. Keep an eye out for that, it'll probably show up very soon once my cowriter and I have another look over it.

As for other borrowers... You do make me realize I haven't really written any meaningful interactions between the Doctor and borrowers that aren't Zepheera since Episode 3 which isn't even fully canon anymore. The new shortform style I've adopted lately lends me to rely on the familiar dynamic between Doc and Zepheera, who is definitely one of my comfort characters.

It's something I'd love to explore, I just haven't had the inclination to lately. I'm always a sucker for a good first meeting trope in g/t, so I'll be kicking that one around, anon.

If it's any consolation, some of the stuff I'm working on and building toward will start to include some more interactions between the Doctor and other borrowers. There's a reason Syzy and Hinge and our as-yet-unnamed friend are around...

As a little tease, here's a snippet of Things To Come™️!

~~~

Syzy cautiously peeked around the edge of the box while her brother came down from the brush with panic. There still wasn't a solid plan for how to get out of this, but the main idea was to keep hiding until the human finally left the room, and then they could make a break for it.

The problem with that was the human's continued insistence on being right there!

His waist came into view just as she glanced out, followed by his hand. She stiffened, grip tightening on her dagger once again, only to watch that hand reach for the bowl of Smarties.

A thoughtful hum rumbled from overhead as the man scooped up a few Smarties and that hand flew up and out of sight.

It hesitated. Syzy held her breath. Surely he couldn't possibly have noticed a relatively tiny number of the sweets missing from the entire bowl. Humans were so rarely that perceptive.

Then he suddenly turned his back and stepped toward the back door, and Syzy saw an opportunity. The toaster was next down the line, an appliance big and sturdy enough that Syzy felt confident that it wouldn't be moved as readily as some of the other objects they'd been hiding behind. If they could get there, they might be able to keep under cover until they could make their escape, without having to worry about being exposed.

The issue was the two-inch gap between the toaster and the box. Everything else had been close enough to sneak behind, but with the man’s back turned, it seemed like they had a chance to get across unseen! So Syzy once again got her brother's attention, and they hurriedly jumped to duck behind the huge toaster.

As soon as they did, the man went still. A horrible silence fell.

“...Hello?”

Syzy and Hinge tensed up instantly. Had he really seen them?? They thought for sure he was turned away!

The deadbolt of the back door clicked, and the twins’ blood ran cold to hear him slowly coming back toward them. “Someone there?” he tried again.

Even Syzy could feel herself shaking. Though he didn't sound angry or suspicious, the very idea of being addressed by someone so massive when they were trying so hard not to be noticed filled her with terrible dread.