#think i got the episode name wrong but oh well i’ll fix it later lol

[blaithnne]

Since @goldiejake11’s secret Santa was a no show, I replaced them, so here’s what I made-

Merry Christmas!

[high-functioning-lokipath]

SH - Sherlock & Greg Friendship - Prompt: How Greg and Sherlock First Met - Words: 1,637

A/N: Alrighty! So this written from Greg's POV. It's my personal headcannon of what Sherlock and Greg's first meeting might have been like. Please don't hate me if I got something wrong or if it's different than your ideas. Just my little thought. At the end of the story there is a little explanation of some of the references I made. See if you catch them 😜

I WILL ADD THIS: THERE IS DISCUSSION OF SUICIDAL THOUGHTS AND INTENT. HOWEVER, NO HARM COMES UPON ANYONE. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU FEEL YOU WILL BE TRIGGERED.

"Goodnight, Inspector," Donavon said, as we walked out to our respective cars.

"Good night, Sally," I replied. "Have any plans tonight?"

"Oh, nothing much," She replied with a smile. Anderson walked out and headed to his car too though I noticed he winked and waved at Sally as he passed by. "See you tomorrow," She told me. I nodded and got in my car. As I started my engine I saw Philip run back to her and hand her what seemed to be a key. I shook my head and pulled away. I didn't want to pry into the personal lives of anyone on my team but I made a mental note to keep an eye on those two.

"Oh, I'm exhausted," I groaned to myself as I drove home. I'd just received my promotion to Detective Inspector and the first case we'd gotten has proven to be more difficult than we expected. Deciding that my already distant wife wouldn't care if I was home another 15 minutes later, I pulled over for a smoke. The Waterloo Bridge was just up ahead so I got out for a little walk. As I walked up into the bridge I took out my cigarette and was just about to light it when someone spoke up.

"Those things will kill you."

"Who said that?" I called out, immediately pocketing my lighter and lowering my cigarette. Instinctively, my hand hovered near my holster.

"Nobody of import to you, Detective Inspector. I was just making an observation." I was speechless for a moment, surprised that whoever was talking knew who I was. Or at least what I was. My blood ran cold, though, when I finally spotted the illusive speaker.

"What are you doing over there?" I asked, attempting to keep my voice steady. I couldn't yet see his features but I could tell he was young, tall, skinny and had a head full of curly hair. The first thing I noticed, though, was that he was standing on the wrong side of the walkway railing.

"My plan was to jump," He stated plainly. I was quiet for a moment, surprised that he'd so easily admit such a thing. "Surprised I said it?" He asked, looking at me finally. I nodded and he smiled sadly. "No reason to lie to you. You're a smart man. You wouldn't have reached DI otherwise."

"How do you know that anyways?" I asked, walking up next to him, however remaining on the correct side of the railing.

"It was quite obvious. Your haircut implies your employment is of the upper blue-collar class which narrows the field considerably. Considering your age you couldn't be higher than Detective Inspector but no lower than Detective Sergeant. If you were still at Constable you would have quit. Also it was obvious from the fact you went for your gun when I spoke up. You're considerably tired, even for this late hour, meaning you probably were one of the last out. Though tired your gait shows a measure of excitement, pride, if you will. It couldn't be caused by anything at home. You stopped for a smoke on your way home and didn't light up in your car meaning your wife dislikes the habit. One of the reasons she's going to be leaving you, by the way. You certainly aren't expecting children any time soon so that would leave your job. You're excited about something that happened recently at your job. You're obviously exhausted from the case you've been trying to crack so that leaves one option. Promotion. I'd say at the beginning of this past week."

"Wow," I gasped. "You're quite good at that!"

"You're not angry?" He asked slowly, staring at me in surprise.

"Not at all."

"I just told you your wife was leaving you."

"I knew that," I chuckled. "She's been hinting at the matter for weeks. I've been trying to fix things but, with my new promotion, she seems more determined than ever."

"I see," He said, looking off down the river again. "Most people get quite upset with me."

"Well, perhaps depending on the situation it might not be welcome but I don't see what's so bad about it. You know," I said with a grin. "With your ability you'd make a fine DI yourself."

"Tried. Couldn't pass the psych eval," He whispered. "What you call an ability, they call a disability." I stayed quiet, waiting to see if he'd go on. "Doctors diagnosed me with Asperger's and ADHD.”

“Well that certainly shouldn't stop you! Have you considered becoming a private investigator?” He wrinkled his nose at the suggestion.

“I’m not a fan of that title.”

“Private detective?” I tried. He shook his head again. “I’ll think of something,” I said determandly.

“Why would you care?”

“You seem like a nice kid, I-”

“I’m not a kid, I'm 25,” He interrupted, causing me to chuckle lightly.

"Alright," I said, holding up my hands. "Young man. You seem like a nice young man. I want to help you out."

"Why?" He asked again, sounding awfully much like a 2 year old. "I grew up in the countryside with my parents and my older brother. I never had any friends in school. I’ve always been like this. It didn’t get any better when I went to uni. Everyone just made fun of me. Once I graduated, I moved in with my brother in the city. I worked with him for a few years but,�� He paused. "Let's just say that didn't go well. I tried to live on my own but I couldn't pay rent because I wasn't able to hold down a job. No one could put up with me. My brother would send me money here and there but he stopped after a while when he found out I had gotten involved in other things."

"Drugs?" The young man nodded slowly. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be somewhere else in his mind. "You know I could have you arrested for that," I commented.

"You wouldn't," He replied. He turned his head and looked straight at me, his eyes more intense than anyone else's I'd ever met. "Besides," He continued, looking away again. "I've stopped."

"For now," I said. "You'll stop until you don't have anything to do and then your mind will get too loud, too busy, too noisy and you'll try to quiet it again."

"How-"

"My cousin," I stated simply. "And also myself in a way. These 'help' me with my stress." I held up my package of cigarettes.

"May I see them?" He asked, holding out his hand. I nodded and handed them over. He looked them over carefully and then threw them into the river.

"Oi! Why'd you do that?" With a smirk and quickly hopped back over the railing onto the walkway.

"Try this," He said, rolling up his sleeve and showing me a patch on his arm. "When I have an especially bad day I'll go up to 3 patches. But one would probably be enough for you."

"Alright, I'll give it a try." He smiled abit haughtily. "But," I added, causing his expression to falter. "Only if you promise to give the private, personal, whatever you want to call it, detective work a try."

"After consulting with you, Inspector, I suppose I could attempt to give this idiotic world another try."

"That's it!" I exclaimed. "Consulting Detective! That's what you can call yourself!" He furrowed his brow in thought before smiling slightly.

"I think that just might work. But who would I consult for?"

"Well, you could set up a website so people can send in cases. Perhaps post something about how you do your deductions. It might take awhile for you to get enough customers so perhaps I can arrange for you to take a look at some old cold cases. What do you think of that?"

"I-" He paused, looking away in embarrassment. "Thank you, Inspector."

"You're welcome. And call me Greg, hm? Or Lestrade if Greg is too hard to remember," I joked.

"Alright," He paused. "Graham," He added with a smirk. I laughed loudly and clapped his shoulder.

"Well, I have the feeling this is going to be the start of something very special for you. Who knows where this will take you or who you'll meet!" He nodded, corners of his mouth turning up in a small smile. "Why don't you stop by my office tomorrow afternoon? I can get you some cold cases and who knows, maybe you'll even crack the case I'm working on now!"

"Thank you," He replied, suddenly sounding very nervous.

"Look, I know people are going to judge you for who you are and what you do. I wish I could change that. But keep your chin up. One day you'll look back and be surprised where it got you. Be confident in yourself. That'll help a lot."

"Like this?" He asked, standing straighter and giving off a well practiced authoritative glare.

"Something like that," I replied. "Here. Try this." I reached for his coat collar and turned it up. "Perfect. Now you look like a real professional." He nodded sharply, keeping up his vaguely disinterested air.

"I've done this before," He admitted. I smiled and nodded.

"Me too. I think you'll be just fine." I smiled at him, happy I was able to save a life tonight instead of investigate a death. "Do you need a ride home?" I offered.

"That would be helpful," He admitted.

"Alright, then, Mr.," I paused, chuckling lightly. "You know, I never got your name."

"Sherlock Holmes," He replied. I smiled and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Sherlock." I paused for a moment, thinking. "Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

I UNDERSTOOD THAT REFERENCE: A GUIDE

The key - Anderson is giving Sally a key to his apartment since they are having an affair. Not exactly a direct reference. Just a thought lol

Those things will kill you - I thought making that the first thing Sherlock said to Greg would have explained all the more so why Greg was so happy to see him again when he came back.

Sherlock's diagnosis - In one of the episodes (can't remember which, too lazy to look it up lol) John says Sherlock has Asperger's. One of my best friends has Asperger's and I've had other friends with ADHD. As a non-professional, I would say Sherlock definitely acts in harmony with those two disorders.

The patches - Greg was showing Sherlock his own patches in the first episode. Thought that was cute.

Graham - I personally think Sherlock has always known Greg's name and it's just an inside joke lol

So, if you noticed anything else, let me know! Please leave a comment (or two lol) if you liked it!!!!

Sherlock BBC Taglist

@lucywrites02

@delightfulheartdream

@bartv21

@another-crazy-fangirl

@ladylulu143

[waejinyoung]

Can’t Swim - EP . 2

word count: 4.6k+

a/n: thank you all for the great response of the first episode! im having so much fun writing up this series. as of right now there’s no certain direction im going in for the plot so it’s unpredictable even for me where this series will go but i can assure you guys that im putting in all my effort to make it enjoyable to read! see you in the next episode! 💚

warning: minimal swearing, mentioning of violence, typical dirty minded jaehyun lol

EP . 1 , EP . 2 , EP . 3 , EP . 4 , EP . 5 , EP . 6 , EP .7 , EP . 8 , EP . 9

It has been 6 days since your last encounter with Jinyoung. Tomorrow is Monday. To be honest, you thought he’d be on your mind more often than usual. He’d appear in your frequent daydreams and that’s about all. You praised yourself by giving yourself a pat on the back for not becoming attached to this mysterious being you had only met a week ago on one encounter.

Sunday afternoon was your favourite. A glass of wine looking out to Jinhae’s bay. You could hear the waves slightly crashing towards the parked boats. A deep breath in. and out.

Your mind drifted to Jinyoung again. You’ll be seeing him tomorrow. You did feel a little giddy about it but also reminded yourself, professionalism in the workplace. Max wasn’t happy about your ‘behaviour’ last week so you’ll need to be on your best behaviour or that pay rise will take longer to obtain. You didn’t need the extra money too much but being rewarded for good performance would be nice.

Alongside your wine you jotted down the things you wanted to teach for tomorrow’s lesson. You hadn’t introduced your dodgeball game to this group. Last time you played it was during your last lesson in Seoul. You loved water dodgeball. Main reason being that dodgeball is such a versatile game. All age groups enjoy it no matter how good or bad you are at the game. You noted to suggest playing it for the last 30 minutes of the lesson. Leaving the pen on the desk, you headed towards the shower to prepare for the busy week ahead.

Monday morning

“Good morning Jooheon!” you greeted boss/best friend.

“Wow Y/N you’re early for once. Good morning!”

Jooheon was scribbling down on his paperwork. Most likely got to do with the financial department.

“There’s always time for change Jooheon. For you, this is a good change. For me, well… it’s going to take some getting used to.” You waved around your hands showing a maybe sign.

“You’re spot on. I like the new energy, keep it up!”

“Will do, Sir!” You headed towards your locker to grab your suit and changed in the staff changing rooms. You checked yourself out in the mirror. Going good Y/N, you thought to yourself and headed back to the staffroom to catch up with Jooheon.

15 minutes later, Max and Soonbin walked in. Soonbin was absent last week. He took his week leave last week to take advantage of the summery weather.

“Long time no see Soonbin, how was your leave?”

“It was good Y/N, thanks for asking.”

Max and Soonbin are good friends. Opposites attract but, they are such complete polar opposites. You were surprised that they actually got along well. More than expected.

“Good morning Max.”

“G’morning.”

That wasn’t a typical Max response. Was he still acting like this because of last week? You questioned yourself. Jooheon gave you a look. He picked up on the strange response by Max too and you felt relieved to know that you weren’t the only one who thought something was up.

“What’s wrong with you three? Did something happen whilst I was gone?”

“No” “Yes” You and Jooheon declined but Max suggested that something had happened.

All 3 of you turned to Max waiting for him to continue.

“Y/N threw being professionalism out the window last week-”

“Max are you still thinking about what happened last week? Grow up, what is wrong with you? Just because Jinyoung asked me if I was single doesn’t give you any right to throw dirt on my name. What exactly did I do wrong?”

“Looks like I took my leave during a bad time. Max calm down.” Soonbin patted Max’s shoulder encouraging him to stop whatever he was getting at.

“Guys! It’s Monday morning. Can we please drop whatever it is between you two in the past and continue with your work? Y/N you have your swimmers in 15, go warmup.”

“Yes, boss” You eyed Max straight in his eyes and grabbed your register. You left the tension filled room with a loud bang.

Ugh, what is wrong with him? You thought to yourself repeatedly. You tried to shake off the bad start to the day. You didn’t want to reflect the bad energy to your students. You walked down the corridor as you reread over the plan you jotted down last night. Backstroke + dodgeball. Your favourite swimming style. You were always placed into the Backstroke slot during swimming leagues when you were younger. You would also bring back the gold medal every time too. Good old days.

You jumped into the pool and practiced backstroke for the next 10 minutes.

“Good morning to you too Y/N.” You had completed blanked your usual routine of greeting Jaehyun in the mornings.

“Ah, Jaehyun. I’m sorry. Had a rough morning. Good morning.”

“I’m always here if you want to talk about it.”

“Thanks, Jae”

“Here comes your lot!” Jaehyun pointed at all the kids waddling toward the edge of the pool with a tall figure behind them following along.

“Good morning everyone!”

“Good morning Y/N”

You smiled at Jinyoung with a welcoming nod. He reciprocated the same action back.

“How has everyone been since the last time I saw you?”

“Good, Miss” Jinyoung didn’t reply.

“What about you Jinyoung?”

“I’ve been well. And you?”

“Me too, thanks for asking.”

The warmup song and exercise didn’t change from last week. This time Jinyoung wasn’t doing the warmup alone though so you could tell he didn’t feel as uncomfortable as last week. You all finished up with a round of applause. Everyone entered the pool waiting for your instructions.

“So last week we introduced staying float and front stroke. I believe you all practiced the new things you learnt, right?”

“Yes, miss!”

“Great to hear. Now this week we will all be learning backstroke and then I have a surprise for the second half of the lesson.”

The kids started clapping like seals. It was always heart-warming to see the kids so excited over something so small.

“We all know the drill. I’ll first demonstrate what backstroke looks like and then you guys will attempt the new style purely on what it looks like and then I’ll come around helping you guys to correct where you guys are struggling on. Alright?”

“Yes, Miss.” And with that, you kicked of the wall and demonstrated backstroke to your group.

You came back to your group looking at you in awe. You knew you were good at backstroke but didn’t expect it to create this sort of reaction. Jinyoung started clapping and the minions joined him in seconds.

You waved your hands around trying to get them to stop with the exaggerated response.

“Guys, lets calm down. I’ve done my part. Now let’s see how good you guys will do backstroke. I’m sure you will nail it!

Ready, set… GO!”

The kids kicked and kicked with all their might and to your surprise Jinyoung was putting in the same amount of effort as the little munchkins. His muscular legs left the kids behind and in no time was back to your side leaving a large gap between him and the other swimmers.

“Good job. As expected you’re much quicker than the kids but your technique is a little off.”

“Lucky for me, I have a great teacher that can fix that.” Jinyoung smiled innocently despite the flirtatious comment.

“That’s what I’m here for.” You smiled back.

The kids came back all out of breath.

“You guys seem tired already. If that’s the case I have to reschedule my surprise for another day- “

The kids all shook their heads no and insisted that they were all fine. You laughed at the load of cuteness written across their faces.

Now began the individual tutorials. You seemed to have left Jinyoung last again. You still hadn’t gotten used to there being 9 students now. You just follow the order of the register and the newbie was obviously last on the list.

“Everything going well?”

“That’s up to you Miss.” Smartass.

“True, can you demonstrate your attempt at backstroke for me again? If you don’t mind.”

“My pleasure.” Jinyoung proceeded to start kicking his legs and must you say you thought you were facing Niagara Falls for a second. You were caught off guard with a load of chlorine water coming towards your face leaving you with no choice but to shut your eyes.

“Oh… Y/N!” You heard Jinyoung call out your name. Damn, did your name always sound this attractive when it fell out of people’s mouths or was this something only Jinyoung was capable of? You snapped back to reality to face a worried Jinyoung right in front of you.

“I’m fine,” you chuckled,” Maybe next time scoot a little away from the people surrounding you to avoid this from happening.”

“I’ll bear that in mind next time. Sorry.” He scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. Cute.

“Shall we try this again? With a little more distance this time.”

“Yes, sure”

You watched Jinyoung eagerly trying to solve what he had to improve. Was it his legs? Nope, he was kicking fine. Ah, you spotted it. He wasn’t moving his arms correctly. He was rotating but his arms had to brush past his ears as he rotated them backwards.

“Jinyoung!” He stopped swimming and saw you coming towards him.

“There’s just one thing that needs solving,” He nodded,” When you rotate your arms back they need to brush past your ear to reach the optimum rotation. The wider the circles you create with your arms, the quicker you will swim.”

Jinyoung listened with full concentration and seemed to have understood what you were getting at. He tried again and was showing improvement immediately. You thought to yourself, wow he’ll be in the next level group in no time. As you thought to yourself aimlessly, Jinyoung had reached back and realised you were in your own world.

“Y/N?”

“huh? Oh, right. You’ve understood my feedback. With a little more practice, you will have perfected your backstroke.”

“Thanks to you.”

You just smiled. You were losing your control. Why did he have to compliment you every chance he got? Was he like this with everyone? Was he simply trying to be nice? There were so many questions flying through your mind that you couldn’t keep up with your own brain.

You both re-joined the rest of the group. You noticed something was up with Woojin, but you didn’t mention it in front of everyone. Maybe it was something personal that was bothering him.

“Now that everyone has achieved a basic knowledge of backstroke, we can move onto the surprise I had mentioned earlier. For the second half of the lesson we will be playing water dodgeball!”

The kids were more excited than you expected. Many of them were clapping and smiling at each other. This is why you loved your part time job.

“Before we start we need to declare two teams. There is 10 of us so there will be two teams of 5. I’ll be one captain. We need another captain for the other team.”

Woojin splashed to get your attention. “Yes Woojin.”

“I think Jinyoung should be the other captain.” Woojin had a small smirk on his face. What was this kid up to?

You turned to Jinyoung to see if he was up for it.

“If I’m on the opposite team to Y/N then there’s no chance she’ll win. Do you want Y/N to lose?” Just a week ago this parrot was shy and now he’s acting cocky. Someone needed to be put in to place.

“I don’t think you know who you’re messing with,” you eyed Jinyoung. He was declaring a competition,” Right, me and Jinyoung are the captains. I’ll pick my first team member. I pick Woojin.”

You guys continued picking your members whilst Jaehyun brought the balls to the midpoint of the pool. Jaehyun found someone to cover for him whilst he conducted the game.

“If both teams are ready, when I say go members from both teams can head to the middle to grab balls for their teams.” Jaehyun bursted out laughing after reciting in his head what he had just said.

“Ya, Jaehyun! Stop being so dirty minded!”

“Sorry, noona! Ready… set… GO!”

Your team had planned to have you go fetch the balls and throw them back to your side. You were a very competitive person. Definitely wasn’t a fan of losing. So, you were willing to do anything to make sure your team won.

As soon as you heard the word “go” escape Jaehyun’s mouth you swam underwater to where the balls were.

You came face to face with Jinyoung as you surfaced from the water. It felt like the world around you both had slowed down and it was just the two of you alone in the pool. You both stared in each other’s eyes until you realised one thing. You weren’t going to lose your cool now. You grabbed a close by ball and lightly tapped Jinyoung on his temple and sent him a wave.

“Jinyoung, you’re out!” Jaehyun shouted in our direction.

You sent Jinyoung a sneaky smile and headed back to your team with 3 out of 5 of the balls. Jinyoung had discovered another side of you and he liked it. He liked how versatile your personality was. When you needed to be mature and serious you were and when you needed to be little more childish and patient you were. He made this conclusion today and realised how your flexibility makes you a really likeable person. Very likeable indeed.

The round ended quickly with your team winning the first round.

“If Y/N’s team wins the next round they are the winners so Jinyoung,” Jaehyun gave Jinyoung a stern look,” Show the world what a man’s team is capable of”

Jinyoung gave Jaehyun a solid thumbs up.

“Let your actions speak instead of your words lads, come on count us in Jaehyun.”

You and your team couldn’t apply the same tactic this round. It would be too predictable. Your tactic this round was to let all the kids go and get balls whilst you stayed back. They’ll throw the balls back to you for you to then get all the kids + Jinyoung out. Sounds simple but it’s going to be difficult considering the built up tension between your team and Jinyoung’s team.

Woojin managed to send back two balls but was hit with a ball from the opposition. The sad expression on his face was adorable but he was out.

“I’ll get the rest of them out for you Woojin, don’t worry!” you cheered at Woojin to keep him happy. He responded back with a bright smile which made you less worried.

With that, using the two balls Woojin had sent back, you hit two of the kids on the opposite team and Hyeji had gotten another opposition member too. Jinyoung took this opportunity to get Hyeji out and unfortunately it was a successful throw. Now it was Jinyoung VS you and Hyungwon. Hyungwon tried to swim towards a ball but failed miserably with Jinyoung getting to it faster and catching Hyungwon out immediately. It now meant 1 v 1.

“Looks like it’s just me and you, Jinyoung”

“That’s right miss. I would be worried if I was you.” Oh, he’s really confident.

Jaehyun and the kids that were out were watching with beady eyes eager to watch the final battle between the two adults.

“I wouldn’t speak so sure if I was you Jinyoung.” See, you had a ball behind you since the start of the game that no one was aware off. You were sure Jinyoung wasn’t aware of it too. To him it seemed like you had no balls.

“Y/N, you can give up now to make it easy for yourself.”

This could be the perfect timing. A bit of dirty play wouldn’t hurt anyone, would it?

“Jinyoung, fine let’s shake hands and call it truths”

“That was easier than expected.” He thought.

You both approached each other at midpoint to shake hands. Jinyoung was all for it. He was willing to compromise and call it a draw for this round. You on the other hand was a fan of dirty play. You approached Jinyoung and slowly reached out your hand. Just before you shook his hand, you raised the ball that you had hid behind you but Jinyoung was quicker than you thought.

Jinyoung had known you had the ball with you since it had dropped to a 1v1 battle. It was simple to figure out considering there were 5 balls at the start of the game and now only 4 to be seen and since he knew he didn’t have the missing ball then you must have it. He gripped your wrist before the ball could make contact with him.

For the second time in the 30 minute period, the world slowed down again. You were left starstruck looking into Jinyoung’s golden brown eyes. The eye contact was intense. Far too intense for your poor little heart to handle. You could feel it trying to leap out of your chest in the hopes to elope with Jinyoung’s. The grip on your wrist was gentle but strong enough to limit your actions. You were inches away from each other. A slight push and your nose would graze his. If you were honest, you would be more than happy if a kid would push you forward at this very moment but that was out of question.

“You surprise me every time Miss. Who knew you could be this sneaky? I need to keep an eye on you during future games.” You just looked him straight in the eyes and gulped. This effect that he had on you was dangerous but the little common sense that you had in you gave you an idea.

His hand was still on your wrist with the ball still in your hand. The ball being straight above his head. Bingo

You let go of the ball only for it to hit Jinyoung’s head lightly. You smiled liked a kid and Jinyoung let go of your hand realising the defeat. Your team cheered and their cheers echoed around you. You swam to your team only to be crowded with kids chanting your name.

You looked back at Jinyoung. “Better luck next time, Mr Park” He was left gobsmacked as you waved the kids goodbye and guided them to the changing rooms. The end of another Monday morning.

You came back to the pool to see Jinyoung and Jaehyun chatting.

“Lessons over, you can leave.”

“Jaehyun do you hear a sly fox around? I’m sure I just heard it say something like “Lessons over”.” Jaehyun bursts out laughing and Jinyoung joins him seconds later.

“An alliance being set up against me already, wow. Since when were you too such close friends?”

“Jinyoung hyung and I were just introducing ourselves to each other. It’s nice having a hyung around.” Jinyoung smiled at the appreciation of his presence.

“Am I not enough, Jaehyun? Do I not fulfil your needs at this side of the centre?”

“Hmm, Y/N noona. What needs are we talking about specifically?” Jaehyun had a smirk planted on his face.

“YA JAEHYUN!” You smacked his shoulder knowing what the year younger was referring to, “When did you become such a dirty minded child?” Jinyoung was trying to sustain a straight face whilst you two bickered.

“Well Y/N noona. As a male grows his needs add up. And some of those needs relate to the male’s bod- “

“Jaehyun, nobody asked for a biology lesson. Get back to work.” Jinyoung let out the giggles he was trying to keep in this whole time. You look at him with seriousness remembering the comment he made minutes ago.

“A sly fox? Is that how you should be referring to your teacher?” Jinyoung caught up with the stern look on your face and stopped giggling immediately.

“You are older than me Jinyoung but, that doesn’t mean you can talk in a friendly tone.” You were proving the analysis he made earlier on correct. You were a very flexible person hence being unpredictable.

“I apologise Miss. I took it a little too far. You’re right, I shouldn’t be referring to my teacher in such a disrespectful way and manner.”

…

You bursted out laughing. Did he really think you were actually pissed? This gave you more material to use against him in the future. Perfect.

It hit him that you were joking around.

“Wow, Y/N. I’m in awe. How can you be so sly consecutively in such a short period of time? You’ve blown my mind away again.” Did he just say ‘again’?

“Again? When else have I ever blown your mind?” Jinyoung’s eyes went wide. He may have just disclosed his growing interest towards his swimming teacher just like that. His mind was rushing, trying to find a lie to cover up his fuck up.

“The game?” The time Jinyoung was actually referring to was the moment he saw you for a couple of seconds before his first ever lesson. The corridor to be exact.

“Ah, right. You’ve been to only two of my lessons. There’s still a lot to learn about me.”

“I’m sure there is Miss.” He didn’t know why he switched between calling you Miss and calling you by your name. You hadn’t really informed how to refer to you, but you didn’t mind. Both worked.

Then it was just silence whilst you both stared into your eyes. Was this the type of eye contact films tried to portray? If so they were spot on. Although it didn’t last as long as you had hoped.

“Y/N…” Jaehyun’s sudden mention of your name drifted your eyes from Jinyoung to his face. He had an uncertain facial expression. You hadn’t seen it before and neither did it seem good. You looked back at Jinyoung and he had a really stern look on his face but not towards you. He was looking at something behind you just like Jaehyun.

You slowly turned around. It was Max. You couldn’t read what emotion he was expressing but it looked fierce. His hands had clamped into a fist. Both of them. He looked like a cheetah ready to pounce onto his pray but his target wasn’t clear. Was he going to start throwing hands at you, Jinyoung or Jaehyun?

You eliminated Jaehyun off the bat. No one would hurt Jaehyun. If he was going to fight you, you were pretty sure fists were not necessary. That left you with one option, Jinyoung.

Nope, this was not happening. Violence was not the answer, especially when nothing had happened directly between both sides. You were pretty sure that these two hadn’t even had a proper direct conversation before to even know if their personalities clashed.

Max’s sudden charge towards you and Jinyoung took you out of your thoughts. He was actually going to resort to violence. He was willingly to throw his well-paying job out the window over what? Jealousy? Jealousy my ass.

“Max” You yelped in the hopes for him to get back to his senses, but it didn’t work. But you won’t go done without a fight. Not a literal flight, but you get it.

Jaehyun dropped down from his lifeguard dock to help you stop Max from committing acts he would regret later. You hadn’t seen Max like this before and you weren’t a fan either. With Jaehyun’s help you were able to stabilise Max in his place before he could lay a finger on Jinyoung. He was still pushing but it wasn’t enough to get through the barrier you and Jaehyun had created. You weren’t the emotional type but if things triggered a bad memory from your past you became a bomb ready to blow.

Your family weren’t exactly the most harmonious. They didn’t really listen to law when it came to teach their children discipline. When we showed any form of disobedience, a beating in their minds did the job. My older brother was extremely disobedient. Especially after reaching his maturing stage (puberty) he wasn’t listening to our parents. More or less every night was the same scenario. You would be pushing your dad in the hopes of him calming down before he would beat the crap out of your brother for being a ‘brat’. It never worked but you always tried to stop him instead of just witnessing the wreck in front of you.

This scene you were in now hit deep. It hit your core. It’s cool showing the confident and cheery Y/N most days but everyone has their breaking point and yours was nearing as the heated collision continued.

Jaehyun was verbally trying to knock some sense back into Max but it wasn’t working. Similar to how your mum would try to get your dad to stop with your brother. What worked then worked now. Your commands for Max to stop and calm down was no more demanding, but fragile. Everyone noticed the vulnerable voice within the vicinity, and they were very unfamiliar with it.

You never liked showing this side of yourself. You always thought people would take advantage of it or put a weak label on you. So, you would always try your upmost best to present a confident steel woman in front of everyone. It was about time you hit your breaking point and let your feelings out. It wasn’t going to be healthy keeping it in any longer.

The 3 males’ faces dropped. The sorrow, the pity and the emptiness they felt. All at different intensities. Max felt pure guilt. Jaehyun felt a deep feeling of sorry and Jinyoung… Jinyoung felt useless. Yes, useless. The woman he’s being trying to discover more about had become a broken mirror in a matter of seconds because of a situation regarding him.

“Max, I be-beg. Can you please, please stop acting so malicious towards him? He hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s just my student. That’s it.” Ouch, that hurt Jinyoung a little bit. He wasn’t expecting you to be so straight forward with defining your relationship. Let alone describing him as ‘just your student’. He knew it had only been a week of knowing you, but his hopes were for changing the student-teacher relationship into something more meaningful.

You were still clinging onto Max from the barrier you and Jaehyun had formed earlier on although it was just you now. Max gripped onto your shoulders moving you slightly off him but still keeping you supported.

“Do you want to sit down?” Max signalled Jaehyun to bring a glass of water immediately as he sat you down on the bench. You were more or less out of it. Kind of oblivious to what was going on now.

“Go.” That wasn’t towards you for sure so you knew he could only be talking to Jinyoung. Jinyoung didn’t question it. He was definitely worried but going against Max right now wasn’t going to make the situation any better. He left without any noise through the common corridor. Max turned his attention back onto you once he saw Jinyoung leave for good. At least for this week.

It didn’t sit well with Jinyoung knowing you were in such a state a couple metres away. The least he could do was talk to you later. Whether it be face to face or on the phone an update from you and how you’re doing will keep him at ease up until next lesson.

Jinyoung slid into the staffroom having realised it sounded very quiet. His observation was correct. The staffroom was empty. He knew which desk yours was considering the form situation from last week. He grabbed a post-it note and jotted down his number, name and a quick message.

��Jinyoung XXX XXX XXXXX

I hope you’re feeling better, coffee?’

———

I feel like you guys might not like this ending but I have a great idea for the next episode so I apologise if you weren’t a fan of it. We’ve got to understand a little more about Y/N’s past. Max’s patience is being tested but for what reason?

see you next time!

writer-nim

[kaiowut99]

The Gang Freaks Out Over a Cell Phone

Judai and the others are now in their second year when a quiet freshman comes to duel Judai.  While the freshman’s deck wasn’t all too powerful, it was also an improvised 40-card deck hastily made beforehand out of eight packs in the store.  But even then, Archangel Zerato gets Judai’s LP down to 1200.  Mid-duel, he speaks with a mysterious man on his cell phone, feeling a lack of interest in this duel due to his prediction.  Shou and the others realize this is the well-known Star Duelist Ed Phoenix...

And after a bit too long, here’s finalized!53! It’s fun to finally be getting back into Season 2, since, later plot pacing issues and... questionable moments aside, there’s quite a bit to like about it.  One such thing being the dynamic between Ed and Saiou that we’re introduced to here (one of my favorites), as the concept of fate/destiny starts to become an ever-present theme.  Also, hearing Takehito Koyasu again for a while will be great now that I’ve actually seen JJBA and heard him as DIO. 😂 The animation/artstyle in this episode is also a nice touch-up from what we’ve been used to, and there were some great shots of Judai and Ed there.

So, part of the delay in getting this going since finishing 52 was getting my usual bells and whistles worked on for the translated hardsub; you’ll notice that the OP is fully translated, and not just with the credits--I wanted to do a thing I originally wanted to do way back when my first go-around but lacked the skills for and translate the character names that slide in! If you check out my “subbing-rambling” tag, you can see some of the work-in-progress posts I made showing it off as I worked on it.  As part of this, I also prepared textless versions of the OP’s V2 shots of Chronos and Ed, as well as made Shou in his Red jacket textless for use here; I’ll be sharing these new textless openings as I go through the season over on NAC. (It’s really a shame that we never got those versions officially released...) The ED credits were pretty much copy/paste from Season 1, with a change in karaoke coloring, since thankfully that stays the same, and I’ll also be translating the “Best Card” shots at the end of each episode (which for some reason I noticed Crunchyroll doesn’t include, despite them being on the DVDs?), though on a static screen with the card spinning into view since that moving background’s hard to get blank, lol.

But once those were all done, there were some 53-specific edits and fixes to work on! For the hardsub, I translated the article we see about Ed so that we can read what was visible in Japanese (ie, Ed making waves in August just before Season 2 at an event Kaiba Corp. sponsored!), while I also made a few card fixes.  Breakdown below the cut, as usual.

(UPDATE [7/9/20]: I reuploaded the episode because I realized I didn’t account for the different cards Shou has in his deck shot in the Opening in 53-56 vs 57-104; Gyroid, Cyclone, and Trap Hole in the former become Submarineroid, Vehicroid Connection Zone, and No Entry in the latter (all used in 56), which is what was used in the textless video I was working with while working on translating his name there.  That’s been corrected, and will be accounted for as I share the textless OPs on NAC.  I’m nothing if not consistency-minded. 💁🏽‍♂️)

Enjoy, folks! With 53 finalized, I’ll be giving my 5D’s Dub-Uncut Ep. 26 a quick lookover to see if I have to tweak anything before I work on making the Dark Signer arc episodes’ dubs more bearable, and then I’ll start working on 54.  It’s been a bit since Manjoume last dueled, and him dueling his mini-me in Gokaido should be fun, haha.

Fixes/Edits!

For the hardsub, as Chronos pulls out his issue of Monthly Duel!, I translated 月編 on it to “October” in Photoshop and spliced it in; this was an edit I’d already done for 52′s hardsub since it shows up in the preview for 53.

For the hardsub, the page Chronos has Napoleon stare at has been translated! The original text was vertical but I thought it’d make more sense to translate it horizontally for us; as such, I moved the text on the right about the “Exclusive” on the “Young Duelist Prodigy” to be above Ed’s photo, which I moved a bit more to the right to compensate.  I also added a little “journalistic” fluff to the translation I’d whipped up to make it fit well both on and off-screen, since I wasn’t going to be filling the whole thing with just “On August 7th, KaibaCorp sponsored a Dueling World League” lol.  But definitely made sure to keep the spirit and keep visible those little tidbits like the KaibaCorp nod and the date telling us when Ed started making waves that were visible in the Japanese text.  I did that editing in Photoshop for both this shot and the later shot with Shou’s copy of the magazine, but I warped the text in this one a little to match the slight page warp that Ed’s photo had going.  After that, I redid the zoom in Sony Vegas.  The text is also slightly blurred here since it was like that for the Japanese text.

Later in the episode, after the commercial break, we come back to a pan/zoom-out from Sanctuary in the Sky to Judai’s field, where we see Clay Guardman has his card facing the wrong way compared to where we see it in every other shot after.  I made a proxy for it, though it was a bit tough since we never get a good look at its card (thankfully, the card artwork was put up on the YGO site).  Though the dubified card confirmed for the Wikia that he has zero ATK and, like with Neo Bubbleman, shared the same Level as Clayman.  So, as I made a proxy, I recreated the Japanese effect text mirroring what Neo Bubbleman’s was and mentioning the burn effect as close to the game terms as possible--getting this in the end! Once I did that, I took a frame and placed it in in AfterEffects, masking in Clay Guardman’s feet over it, then took it into Sony Vegas, where I redid the zoom-out as it came into view.

Later on, after Judai explains Tempester’s effect, his face-down card goes away to activate it, but in that shot, Tempester’s not on Judai’s Disk! I made a new Tempester proxy (since here Tempester’s officially using the OCG art/text at the time), then slapped it on in AfterEffects (taking a cue from the dub about where to place it on his Disk).  Thankfully, since Judai stood still here, that’s all it took, lol.

After the duel, Shou realizes who Ed was all along! He rummages through his bag and pulls out his copy of Monthly Duel! and opens it up; like with Chronos’s, for the hardsub, I took it into Photoshop and recreated the color scheme to blot out 月編 and put “October” over it for the nine frames it moves in, then I just put each frame into the video in Sony Vegas.

As with earlier, for the hardsub, the article Shou shows everyone about Ed is translated, only with no text warp and slightly different rotation, so a little more of the text is visible on the left and bottom.  Recreated the less-rotation/more-zoom zoom-in on Ed’s photo in Sony Vegas.

As Judai thinks that Ed could use some more deck-building skills, Shou’s still holding up the magazine; “October” is there to translate 10月編 again, but because the “Monthly” in that shot of the magazine is inconsistent with its other appearances in the episode (we’ve seen it in black with white bordering, but here it’s just white text, along with the black 10月編  also being in white), I redid that as well in Photoshop so it matched.  I’ll be including just the “Monthly” fix in the Japanese DVDRip I’ll release on NAC.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

HypMic 7 - 9 | Maou-jou 5 - 6 | Akudama Drive 6 - 8 | I7 s2 6 - 9 | Taiso Samurai 5 - 6

HypMic 7

I will never not laugh at the content advisory, haha.

I like Kazuha already. Too bad he’s probably evil…

Oh, is it the day of the DRB in the series already…? Or maybe, because it’s the qualifiers, BB and MTC’s match is on a different day to FP and MTR’s.

Oh? Does Tom know Jakurai well enough to call him “Jakurai-sensei”? (<- middle ground between “Jinguji-sensei/Sensei” and “Jakurai”) Also, Tom uses “ore”.

Ooh, Iris is a motorbike rider, eh? Interesting. I thought they (<- not sure if Iris is a “she” or “he” with a really weird name) were more of a Saburo-type and didn’t bother with things like that, based on their appearance. Update: Someone on Yahoo Answers said based on Iris’s watashi, she is a woman.

Typo fixed! Good job, anime staff! Update: I’m referring to “…darkest hour is just before the down” (sic).

…bukkorosu = “f***in’ slaughter ‘em”. It’s not wrong…it’s just the subbers really like to abuse the F word for MTC. But you knew that already if you got this far…right?

LOL, Ramuda wants to “scratch [Rex’s] back” (figuratively) to…get SNS views? Hahaha.

This Studio Alita is probably a reference to Shinjuku Alta.

Yotsutsuji!!! That was the one big spoiler I got before watching the episode today and I’m so happy I got to see him animated!

(One of) Irihatoma and Degarashi refer to Jakurai as “Jakurai-sensei” as well. Hmm, I never noticed. Update: That’s Degarashi, because Irihatoma speaks to Jakurai alone later this ep.

There’s 50% chance I’m getting this wrong, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say Kazuha is voiced by a veteran VA…one I already know about.

Doppo calls Kazuha by his first name…That upgrade means their relationship escalated quickly (or this is a quirk of HypMic in general, since I noticed most characters are on first name basis with each other). Also, it’s cute Doppo finally has someone in his corner. No other part of the franchise has one, to my memory. Update: It might actually be “Kazuha-kun”…but I’m still surprised though. Update 2: It’s both, actually.

I’ve listened to the phrase “some random guy” several times from Hifumi’s mouth and all I can figure out is the “yatsu” at the end. (Doesn’t help my ears blocked themselves up again, although it’s less than it used to be.)

Harumi Wharf.

R? On a helicopter landing pad?

…uh oh. I was right when I thought Kazuha was going to be evil. Also, Doppler shift/effect. Update: “Doppler” is clearly a pun on “Doppo”.

Hmm? “Hey, Doppo” from “yaa”…it doesn’t have a name referred in there. It’s a small but odd thing to do. (I remember a professional translator was complaining that people with intermediate Japanese were giving them flak for translating things “wrong”, but what I do here is analysis for my future and edificiation. I’m not here to knock down pro translators’ doors and demand a refund, because I’m trying to go pro to atone for my sins as a scanlator.)

The soundtrack’s slightly sinister tone, plus the fact I figured the culprit well before Doppo did, makes me slightly scared…for MTR.

I realised they skimped on the budget…this “hot off the car chase” line seems more like an MTC line, doesn’t it…?...Yeah, it’s almost word for word for MTC in DRB+. Maybe the subbers rushed and used this translation (this link I put here) rather than their actual lyrics…? I will have to get to the bottom of this. Update: Turns out the translation is slightly different, but…yes, there is reference to a car chase in the start of Shinjuku Style. (Sorry, I don’t know every lyrics of every song off the top of my head.)

…wow, this got really Doppo-centric. I’ve never seen the leader relinquish their position when it comes to “leading into battle” before. It just goes to show the staff really do pay attention to how popular Doppo is.

Note “Doppo” means “walk alone”, roughly speaking, hence the “solitary” line.

This song is very, very faithful to its original lyrics, because I was trying to look at Hifumi’s “mixing paint” line and it pretty much matches.

Hifumi’s “my men”, LOL.

Kazuha = “one leaf”, hence the “leaves” in one of Jakurai’s lines.

I cringe every time I hear screaming coming from this episode, y’know…?

…oh dear. MTC’s plot actually bled into MTR’s.

I already knew from browsing Twitter earlier today that Kizuna was going to become FP’s today, but hearing it is another matter entirely.

Kosuke Miyoshi is Kazuha. Apparently, this guy also voiced Mashirao Ojiro (the tail guy) from BnHA, but that’s his only major role…so I was right in that I knew him, but wrong in that he was, again, a relative rookie in comparison to most.

Apparently FP’s sign is a peace sign sideways to represent an F, but…it’s just a sideways peace sign to me…

…how is Dice’s bead ornament attached to him? Is it on his hair, on his ear, on the skin behind his ear…? I was trying to replicate his outfit and got stuck on how to represent it, so I ended up opting for trying (and failing) to do a small braid on the right side.

IWGP shows up this season…it’s the song with the “hoo!” noise BB perform in this episode.

LOL, “Dead men tell no tales” is a perfect saying for MTC.

Akudama 6

Is there a movie called “Brother”…? There’s apparently one that’s the plural of that, but not that itself.

If HypMic likes the F bomb, then Akudama like the S word.

I-Is it just me or is the choreography sped up at some points in this episode…? It’s a bit disorienting to come back to.

I thought the kid was a robot…but close enough.

Oh no! Why does the teacher always have to die for the student to become stronger???

Kairaku/shugi -> pleasure/doctrine (if I didn’t somehow misunderstand the shark’s kanji combo),

The part after the ED looks a little too long…keep watching.

The Japanese says “Lost Children”, but the English says “The City of Lost Children”, probably referring to this French sci-fi film.

I7 s2 6

I like how Gaku is taking special offence to Yamato’s comments about him being a playboy.

Re:vale-san. I never noticed until now.

“I’m already looking forward to it.” That’s how I would translate Tsumugi’s “I’m already excited”.

“…who could possibly complain?��� – I think Mitsuki might.

The pun in the MEZZO show is that tai (group/squad) sounds the same as tai (want to ~). Rabbinsta is obviously Instagram + Rabbit (Chat?).

Oh my gosh! It’s the Yotsuba sister!

Mitsuki’s shopping trip OST is nice, man. This piano.

This episode has a really great sense of danger and foreboding for the future.

I7 s2 7

Perfection Gimmick. Never heard it in the anime before.

Even the ramen house’s name is a play on “Idolish7”.

LOL, Yamato sure turned that comment around.

The sign talking about beer says something about coupons below it. (It went by too fast and my CR app’s kinda fiddly, so I can’t really go back…)

Kimi to Ai na Night (pun on Idolish7, aka “AiNana”, again).

Mitsuki, no one hates you! You’re just imagining it all!

I7 s2 8

Momo hugely resembles Sasara, right down to the highlights on the hair…

“…you’re so handsome…” – I’m dying on the inside here, people! *laps up the BL pandering with a derpy smile on my face*

Banri and Tsumugi haven’t been focussed on lately…they’re clearly doing something regarding Banri’s ties with Re:vale, but I can’t quite figure out what that “something” is.

Why is there a basketball and a football in the back of the Takanashi office…?

Please don’t run in heels, Tsumugi…

“I love Idolish7!” - Ah, despite my quibbles, Tsumugi is good after all.

“making one’s best exertions” – Why do those words on the cup worry me a bit…?

Isn’t “I’m watching you” a creepy statement…?

Apparently Tamaki’s symbol is mp (mezzo pianissimo), hence Sougo’s words.

…my gosh! Aya’s foster father is Kujou?!

I7 s2 9

If I heard it right, Tenn’s line was “I can be your idol”, not “your prince”.

“Older Izumi” - …ah, poor Mitsuki.

“Damn you, sexy beast…” – LOL!

…aw, I think this is the first time my heart has been lightened by Tsunashi’s laugh. He’s a good boy.

The chibis…I’m still trying to get used to them…

As a song once said, “You can’t please everyone so you just gotta please yourself.” (Blah blah blah, something about garden parties…)

Takao what now???...okay, Takao Dayuu.

…You’re lucky that wasn’t Tenn doing Takao Dayuu. It would’ve been very “Gentaro does his courtesan voice” if it was.

Nagi doesn’t overpronounce things as much in this season. It’s…pleasant, actually. Give me more of that.

Nagi’s “Oh my god!” was hilarious.

Taiso 5

Ra (ら) and ro (ろ) look kinda similar in hiragana.

Even without the audio, I can guess the words were “yarubeki koto” (things you should do) -> shachihoko.

The texts are written in gyaru-moji. Gyaru-moji is basically indecipherable to anyone who doesn’t know how it works – kind of like the common teen vernacular, to be honest (LOL…?) – and so the subs actually kind of ruin the confusingness of it all, but they did slightly better when they went “UR”.

Movie shiritori! But…has it really been half a year since Leo started? I feel slightly robbed about that plotline with the Men in Black right now…(then again, HypMic is just as bad about important plotlines, if not worse, so…I’m going to be patient and not complain.)

July 5th…Rei is a Cancer…?

They’re…finally moving on this Men in Black plotline! I only complained two points ago! Thank you, staff, for listening to my complaints (…?).

Moon Land finished recently, so I wonder if I’ll lose interest in this anime from here on out…? There was a Pommel Horse Prince in that.

Moon Land taught me that gymnastics has a lot of skills named after their creators, much like the Aragaki previously. The score is out of 10 for both D (difficulty) and E (execution), meaning a 20 is the best you can do, but the judges can get really picky...

The word for “vault” literally means “leaping/jumping horse”…makes sense.

Some of these names are names I’m familiar with from Moon Land already…but I never remember what the skills look like.

…welp, Leo just proved he really is a ninja after all.

Dr Stone’s s2 had its ED announced to be “Koe?” by Hatena and “Yume?” here really makes a theme…does Hatena give all their song titles question marks on the end?

Taiso 6

Colour gangs? Like in IWGP?

It’s nice to see they’re (Jotaro and Rei) communicating properly for the first time in possibly this entire anime.

On the wall, that thing is an evacuation map…of some sort.

…I’ve always wondered: if a bird eats chicken, does that count as cannibalism?

This is like thw Makkachin incident all over again (in YoI).

“…there’s no reason for you to grin and bear it.”

…Leo and Jotaro, both are so dense! Boys *shakes head*.

BB? More like ET (LOL)!

Maou-jou 5

…I didn’t even notice the cast was all dudes bar the princess at this point.

Tatakau Onnatachi. It could mean “fighting women” or “female warriors”.

I’m still vaguely pissed that Kirito is here under my nose…darn Demon King!!!

One of the harpy’s recent worries was that she wanted to become friends with the princess…That’s kinda cute…

Didn’t Syalis already get the coffin that one time? Or did it get confiscated?

*eyes sparkle* Cloud…I’d like to sleep on a cloud…*dreamy look on face* Cloud.

This is basically Princess, ‘Tis Time for Torture in reverse.

Is it “make do” or “make due”…?

I don’t think I need to explain the joke where the harpy is happy.

Gendo pose!

I wonder if the bed or the sheets will talk to her (Syalis) someday?

Maou-jou 6

The New Gearbolt’s quote is “guruguru dokkan”, which is just a bunch of sound effects. It would translate to something like “whir-whir-thud”.

Underwear episodes are some of the worst episodes ever…they’re so juvenile…I dropped at least one series based on the underwear episode alone.

Ah! The seal on the ice monster’s shoulder! Too cute!

How can a mechanical princess mecha (…thing?) have worries?

LOL, never underestimate the hilarity of the teddy demons ganging up on the Demon King.

I like how the Japanese pointed out the demons only moved the princess.

HypMic 8

I thought the robberies were Kazuha’s doing…? Or is this a separate case?

Samatoki answering his phone with his feet up…LOL, there’s just something funny about it. It shows he’s just so badass, he can get away with it.

Riou’s hacking (?) skills come to the fore again. (Or is that listening to enemy intel?)

Ooh, Iris is sassy. I love her already.

…er, Samatoki? Blowing cigarette smoke into Jyuto’s face is just rude…

“…don’t hang up your gloves.” – Considering Jyuto has his red gloves…LOL.

What the heck is that backing track when the 2nd car moved out? That’s a cool track.

Ah! Iris is a Saburo-type…LOL, Saburo’s fake identity.

“a cop who’s in with the yakuza” - Wow, way to diss your own teammate, Samatoki.

For a guy who was only just in the water, Riou doesn’t even look wet.

“2 DIE 4” – Hmm? So did the anime staff know what Riou’s 2nd round song title was at the time…? Update: Judging by the name “Requiem” dropped in the next episode, I would say yes.

“…f*** the police…” - Wow, way to diss your own teammate, Samatoki. X2

Hmm? In Riou’s rap bit near the end, he goes “mad warrior” and that rhymes (in a very loose way of speaking) with “Mad Trigger”. The English didn’t keep that.

I remember seeing a spoiler which said that line (the one about slaves)…but seriously, Jyuto is such a “sexy revenge cop” (as someone once said – I think it might be Slug, or an anon to Slug) that literally nothing else seems to matter about him.

Why do they subtitle the laughing??? I still have no idea.

“Sgt. Iruma”? The guy just says “Iruma-san”. Is he a sergant or some other rank? Update: Yes. (As in, he is a sergant.)

I’ve never actually seen Ramuda sleep in a bed before, come to think of it. Does he not have a bed?

I would assume Gentaro is going…but he said he won’t be going, then negated that and then negated it again. Unless the 2nd time was him admitting it was a lie the first time…is he going or not???

“shinsetsu no human” – (Spoilers for later on/manga)…Yes, that’s actually what Ramuda says. It’s as if Ramuda subtly admits, right there, he isn’t human.

Nodo = throat…If this were translated more literally, it would sound pretty clunky.

“…rappa no inochi…paa!” – Yep, the subbers got the gist of the joke there.

Dice is basically a worm at this point…He’s squirming like one, anyway.

That “number of pips facing up” thing has got to be foreshadowing for something, y’know? Nothing in a story ever goes to waste. Also, it’s likely the dice are weighted or something…

…yep, there you go.

That voice Gentaro used for “I despise lies” was amusing…because it’s so different to his normal voice, and because Gentaro is a serial liar.

The 2nd song…which I already know is called “JACKPOT” from browsing Twitter earlier today…was a bunch of fun.

Udagawacho.

Hmm…emphasis on the candy. I wonder what that means? (<- already knows, I just want to keep it a secret from you, dear reader, if you don’t know it too)

ANIME SHOP is so clearly a pun on Animate, including the colours, that I can’t even…LOL.

FP’s Kizuna sounds distinctly different to the others…probably because of Ramuda. It’s mostly Ramuda carrying the tune there.

“Life is what you make it.” – Hmm, an interesting quote for sure.

HypMic 9

…welp, they don’t call it Fling Posse for nothin’.

I didn’t believe my ears, so I went and listened to it again. Sure enough, Ichiro calls Jakurai -san, not -sensei.

Ramuda’s normal voice! Things are getting serious~!

“Hifuming”? Is that a deliberate choice on the translators’ part? Or is it a mishearing?

…I’m laughing at how Samatoki called Ichiro a “hypocritical piece of s***”. I know the “s***” part is correct at minimum from the audio.

I believe Samatoki said -san, not -sama when he asked for an honorific. Hmm, interesting.

I knew this would get animated, but…I still can’t believe I’m watching it! Amazing…absolutely amazing.

If you’re wondering…yes, that long thing is her entire title and name. It’s said the name “Kadenokouji” is the longest Japanese surname in existence.

I remember reading a tweet earlier today that said somebody wanted “Altercation! Altercation! Altercation!” as a song title…and now I LOL, because the subbers made Gentaro say the exact same word.

Hmm…I only just noticed BB are the only ones with bags. They probably came last, but who took the others’ bags into Chuoku…? Update: Some of the others did have bags, I just never spotted them. For instance, Riou is carrying a large black rectangular bag, but Samatoki and Jyuto don’t have any. Jakurai has the bag from his TDD days.

The 2nd DRB brackets got announced today. BB vs DH, MTR vs BAT, FP vs MTC, rolling out across Japan (and Japan only due to COVID) in 2021.

“What happened between you and him?” - I was going “who?” in Cantonese (as I sometimes do), but turns out they’re just referring to Samatoki.

This is exactly as it played out in the drama tracks and manga…exactly what I was waiting for all this time! So good, dangit!

LOL, in the future, we will have camera drones working our concerts like they do in the DRBs…I think (?)

I wonder what Dice is thinking right now, seeing Otome on the screen…hmm…

…gah! Airhorn! Airhorn to the ears! *tilts to side due to sound*

I still kind of remember Slug’s take on the final battle…”The popo? More like the poopoo!” (or something like that). *sniggers*

The little barking bit after Jiro’s verse was…kinda cute, actually.

…ow, these are some burn-ass words. See? This is the power of the DRB!

…eh? Riou’s mic has his MC name on it. Don’t think I’ve seen that in any other part of the series.

Hoh, Riou even made references to Saburo’s character songs.

You can see “Hc” on Samatoki’s mic too…probably another case of his MC name, but partially obscured by his hand.

Aw, “Samatoki no sabaku toki” is a good lyric. Why couldn’t you try to keep that, instead of translating it literally to “judgement day for Samatoki”?

You can hear a thumping beat in the background when Samatoki prepares himself. That seems to be a similar way to how ARB treats this stuff.

“I’m THE Samatoki” – “Samatoki-sama da”.

I think it was really cool to show Samatoki handing the song over to Riou, but it also indicates there’s a disjunct in the lyrics that would cause such a thing. From this, maybe Riou is MTC’s weak link…?

Skeletons with katanas! Is that not cool?!?

…hey, that joined words thing Ichiro does…I would assume that’s what Rhyme Strike looks like in the HypMic universe?

Notice Samatoki took the word “signal” from Ichiro’s part and put it into his own one.

“Today is a good day to die.” – *eyes bulge* Oh…gosh. What a quote. Update: Someone theorised Ichijiku wrote these titles (the last 2), but someone else – like me – theorised this quote was what FP and M fans thought for this battle.

Akudama 7

…that’s one twisted kid.

Never threaten to kill a kid who can regenerate far better than you, Hoodlum.

Brawler is still in the OP…it’s kind of saddening to see him now.

I noticed a certain character appears on the Executioners’ hands if you pause at the right moment in the OP. It’s the first character in shori (management).

Bunny: set meal/Shark: roasted meat (yakiniku)

…This sounds a heck of a lot like the genbaku dome (Hiroshima Peace Park).

Bunny and Shark’s shirts together: Idiot -> Shark: Bone

Actually, this also reminds me of the Osaka Expo held in 1970. I loved writing about that event – it was just so fun to write about.

This anime is like Appare-Ranman’s sequel, except without the racing and crazy racial stereotypes (although there are still crazy stereotypes).

…whoa! This scene is going on the end of year list for sure. Just…have to remember this scene, where all the children disappeared, exists.

…”The City of Lost Children” is an apt title for this episode.

(HypMic spoilers!) I wonder if they’ll reveal that Ramuda is a clone in what’s left of the HypMic anime?

…oof, Doctor’s a filthy traitor!

Rule number 1 of fighting: never yell out “Smokescreen!” when the smokescreen is meant to cover you.

…LOL, dark censorship bar. Please wait for the Blu-Rays to see this scene uncensored.

What the heck?! The countdown went from 7 to 0 so fast!

Akudama 8

Black Rain, huh? *checks* It’s a movie about a pair of New York policemen who have to save a Japanese gangster from his death.

…don’t jinx it, Swindler!

Your brother isn’t on the moon, Sister. It’s just your dreams on there.

Notice “Neo Lake Biwa” actually has “Reiku” in its name, as opposed to, say, “mizuumi” or “ike” (the Japanese equivalent).

You can still see where Doctor stitched herself up.

What did Doctor “hold on to”?

Way to monologue through the whole morality thing… (<- not as satisfied as they would like from this scene)

I wonder if the seal is electronically tracked…

Tsubo = pot, vase…*thinks about drugs* (Not that pot.)

“…I’ll make you into a real man.” – More like a eunuch, LOL. (partially sarcastic)

I recall from Sarazanmai that “pair look” is the term for “twinsies” in Japanese.

Oh! Swindler kind of looks like the Executioner Boss now.

…I find it ironic that Swindler had long hair up until not too long ago.

Can to the eye! Ouch! That’s gotta be worse than a lightsaber…er, jitte to the eye!

This makes me wonder…was Courier a rich kid once…?

[kinetic-elaboration]

August 6: Star Trek 1x09 The Dagger of the Mind

Today’s episode: The Dagger of the Mind

Lol Kirk is the MOST competent person on the Enterprise, and that’s why he’s the Captain. This is like The Naked Time all over again. Must he does everyone’s job??

Mr. Berkeley, go to your room and do your homework.

But first secure the box!! I swear, no one listens to Kirk. He doesn’t even look like he’s getting a vault number, he looks like he’s just fucking around.

Hey dude, don’t open the box you’re in. Can’t you see it says don’t open on it?

Ah another episode with Jim and his heroes. I love how naive and good he is.

“Dr. Adams? There’s an emergency, but before we get to that, might I fanboy a little, discreetly?”

“When there’s no emotion, there is no motive for violence.” Well you got me there.

Excellent non-violent take-down maneuver by Kirk and Spock.

The Enterprise makes a u-turn.

Kirk just obviously making excuses to stand really close to Spock, and lean over him. “What’s so fascinating?”

“Enlighten me again.”

Spock’s expression this ep omg. Perfect. He doesn’t have a ton to do so he just takes advantage of all of his moments.

TRUST BONES’S GUT.

I love how they use their respective ship’s logs against each other, these regulation loving nerds. “I’ll write it in MY log and then YOU’LL have to answer in YOUR log, so THERE.”

Like honestly who thought ST was an action franchise that needed new actions movies??

Kirk’s man crush is insane.

Bones on Skype!

Spock just really throwing out the “Jim” for no reason today. He was much sluttier about the first name early on. Either that or fandom just misremembers this. Either that or I just misremember this.

Science lab Christmas party lol.

I am 100% certain that Kirk reacts the way he does to Noel (with a really quite extreme aversion and even rudeness that is not like him) because she made a move on him at the party that he didn’t like or thought was inappropriate. Because they aren’t exes, and she made it clear he didn’t cross any lines with her (so no reason to feel guilty) and yet he is ANGRY at her.

Another 1950s sci fi locale. (Correction: ... the same 1950s sci fi locale. Hello Delta Vega.)

Elevator, not turbo lift, I guess.

Oh no, Kirk’s cell doesn’t have service!

Any particular reason they’re drinking lol? Did people in the 60s just literally drink all the time?

They’re not very nice to Dr. Noel. She’s not really.... appearing very smart though... not the best female character on ST lol. Still, stop talking over her, you men!

This device is so hella suspicious on its face. At least Kirk kinda gets that.

This is a pretty good Spock and Bones ep.

We’re already at the introduction of the mind meld! I forgot it was this ep. I did remember how it was introduced as a very special, rare, private, dangerous Vulcan thing that definitely shouldn’t just be used wantonly and at a whim Mr. Spock.

“It’s a hidden, personal thing to the Vulcan people. Part of our private lives.”

...First that makes it sound like a sex thing. And second... I’m intrigued.

(I’ve actually always preferred general touch telepathy to mind melds specifically but.... when you put it like that.)

I think I like this original mind meld hand gesture more than the one they settle on later. It makes it look more like a physical manipulation of the body, which is what Spock describes here. I kind of forgot about that aspect of it (and perhaps everyone else did too lol).

I think this is also the first time they mention touch telepathy or any kind of Vulcan telepathy, in general.

McCoy is so disturbed watching this meld.

“I have no desire to damage my brain.” That’s good lol.

This is absolutely also the sort of thing AOS Kirk would do.

Kirk wanting to raid a kitchen is ADORABLE.

“Now pick some unusual suggestion.” What’s more unusual than the idea he picked her up and carried her off to his quarters, then ravished her like a bad boy?? People remember that scene but not that it was a woman’s fantasy lol. And a fantasy she knew was super fake and that he would recognize as super fake! Because it was!! Super fake!! No one talks like this and certainly not a captain to one of his crew and certainly not literal-opposite-of-a-bad-boy Jim Kirk.

Kirk’s so strong.

Lol she thinks he’s looking at her and he’s looking at the wall.

“Any training in high power voltage?” he asks, as if this were just a thing everyone had.

No? Well up in the air duct you go anyway. Touch the wrong thing and die! Good luck.

And in her defense... she does it and succeeds, so good on her.

Well it’s no Vulcan nerve pinch but Kirk knocks down those guys pretty well.

Spock’s expression when he sees Jim and Noel is just on a New Level omg.. Like “this is too bizarre to cause even me jealousy.”

Spock standing there over Adams’s dead body like “Hmmm, I wonder who turned the power back on? Who would do such a thing?”

So I guess Van Gelder’s okay now and Spock just fixed him lol. Very effective mind meld.

I wonder if Kirk already had a fear of dying alone or if this is what caused it--the “I always knew I would die alone” of ST V.

But then he looks at Spock to make him feel better, and Spock does. And Kirk has emotional security, the end.

Overall... I feel like I didn’t enjoy this ep as much as I remembered? I don’t know, I feel bad saying that. I thought the mind meld stuff was really great, and the story overall was pretty good. I guess a part of me wanted to go in more to this idea of a penal colony and why Adams was doing these experiments and using this machine. Like, obviously he’s making people docile, and then just experimenting like all power hungry people do--but there are two creepy things going on here, the memory erasure, and the memory replacement, and I feel like they got a bit conflated. Idk. I know Star Trek often presents questions rather than answers, but I felt like this one maybe could have gone farther.

Noel was one of those awkward ST female characters, where you can, like, tell they’re trying to be feminist but they just have their inherent limits lol. I didn’t want to find her annoying bu I often did. Also, I am quite convinced she made an inappropriate move, because I can’t imagine any other reason Kirk would be so upset with and about her. But since we never get the holiday party from his pov, it’s all left ambiguous. Her memory is of a pretty standard office party--they dance a little and he’s charming. But he acts as if it were something WAY more awkward. Like she did something that she didn’t think crossed a line, but he did. But tbh I’d be surprised if the intention was to imply a young woman sexually harassed the male captain, which makes me wonder what they were actually going for. That HE thought he crossed a line? Then it’s pretty obnoxious of him to be mad at HER. Plus, they make it canonically crystal clear later that he didn’t do anything inappropriate so.... puzzling.

OMG THE NEXT EP IS THE CORBOMITE MANEUVER ONE OF MY FAVORITES AAAAAAH.

[whenimgoodandready]

🎶It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A! It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A!🎶 Lol! Despite Disco being dead, we just can’t help but resurrect it from the grave cuz it’s just so.........so..........🌸✌🏻✨groovy✨✌🏻🌸. No matter the generation, 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s or even the 2010’s it’s always fun to celebrate the decade that made dancing feel good and hip. So let’s party!

*Party Crasher-Remember “Gigantitan”, the episode where it was mostly girl orientated cuz its main focus was all about Marinette and her girl squad trying to make Adrienette happen with a zany elaborate scheme, well now it’s Adriens turn to have himself a guy episode in which I like to call a “Bros Day Out”! Nino plans it out since Gabriel is “out of town” and has a few of his male friends to accompany him and bribe his bodyguard (with action figures) to give Adrien some well deserved free time from his busy schedule. That’s nice, except he made them all lie to the girl squad by making up excuses to why they can’t help them plant trees. Look, it’s wrong to lie, but who hasn’t lied in this show already!? We got two major heroes who make up excuses to why they’re always late and disappear, a part-time supervillain dad with questionable morals that makes himself look “busy” with his lies and a girl that officially went to the dark side who does it on a daily basis! ¯\_( ಠ_ಠ)_/¯ .

Anyways, word spreads like wildfire where almost every guy in the show and I mean EVERY GUY IN THE SHOW! Arrive and party like it’s 1970! Speaking of the 70’s, there’s a parody of The Village People as well as their hit song, “Y.M.C.A”! Lol! So while the biggest sausagefest in Paris, France was goin’ on, Marinette got suspicious as to why all the guys suddenly bailed out on her and her squad and went undercover to find out (poorly) disguised as “Marino”. Well, every sausagefest needs at least one “taco” at a party, huh? (Badum-tish🥁).

The party was great, except Maxes robot friend, Markov, hacked into the sound system to pump up the volume and make it loud enough to practically topple the Eiffel Tower and it also caused the underground lair in the Agreste mansion, where Adrien’s mother, Emilie, was in her comatose state, to lose its electricity and black out thus cutting off her life support glass coffin! Don! Don! Don! Gabe was there and he was freaking out! He transformed into Hawk Moth to fix this, but unfortunately for him, there’s more joy in his house than the Happiest Place on Earth! Wait just a minute! Looks like we’re short one guest in the park. Wayhem! Adrien’s #1 fan! (“Gorizilla”). The bodyguard was too distracted with his “bribe” to notice him outside and let him in leaving the poor guy heartbroken. Bingo! Hawk Moth, you can save your wife now!

Miraculers, meet the most fearsome supervillain Hawk Moth has ever created, Party Crasher! Don! Don!-(record scratch. Takes a good look at Party Crasher and sees how ridiculous, UTTERLY ridiculous he looks. Hysterically laughs) XD! Seriously!? He looks like a Disco Dan-esque weirdo! Disco balls for hands, a pink afro and a mustache! What’s his power? Making people Boogey Oogey Oogey ‘til they just can’t boogey no more!? Oh boy! (wipes a tear). Okay, okay, okay, so he crashes the party and his powers are actually capturing whatever he touches with his disco ball hands trapped inside of ‘em and analyzing the heroes next moves before they happen. Nothing Ladybug and Cat Noir can’t-(Ladybug gets captured). HOLY SH*T! LADYBUG GOT CAPTURED! LADYBUG GOT CAPTURED! LADYBUG GOT F**KING CAPTURED! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS!? IT MEANS NOW WE DON’T HAVE ANY ONE TO PURIFY THE AKUMA! DON! DON! DON!

Master Fu was at the party so he recruited Nino, Luka and Max as Carapace, Viperion and Pegasus (respectively) and WAIT! When did Luka and Max get miraculouses!? Oh I get it, we’re goin’ this again.........POORLY SCHEDULED EPISODE ORDERS! F**k whoever’s in charge of that! :P. I’ll deal with this later, anyways, it’s now up to them and Cat Noir to save Ladybug and from their powers (along with Viperions power:second chance and Pegasuses power:transportation), I’m sure they’ll save Lady-(they all get captured by Party Crasher)😳. Ah! C’mon! First Ladybug, now the superdudes! Who’s gonna save the day now!? Alya’s not there and Chloe’s retired, so I guess, we’re doomed!

In a desperate attempt, Master Fu finds out that Kim was one of the few guests that was still at the party (unaware of the danger) and gives him the monkey miraculous! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the holder of said miraculous, Lê Chiê’n Kim a.k.a. King Monkey! (trumpets sound). Huh, the monkey miraculous went to Kim.........I was still kinda undecided on which one he’d get, but it’s canon he gets that one. His Kwami is a monkey like being named Xuppu, his miraculous a headband crown, his weapon a staff and his power is “Uproar” in which he conjures up a random object to throw it at the person he’s aiming at and it makes their powers malfunction. Don’t worry Fu, you made a good choice. He helped save the day.

So Wayhem has become so obsessed with Adrien that he even dyed his hair like him! Okaaaaaaay, creepy fanboy there, but Hey, it’s common in real life too. As great as it is that he’s become friends with Adrien since his debut, it was sad he couldn’t get into the party and even before that, wasn’t even allowed in after what he did saving his life from his akumatized bodyguard and even unintentionally erasing Hawk Moths mind that Adrien and Cat Noir “aren’t” the same person. Nino’s plan to give Adrien a party with the guys had its pros and cons though; Pro:Making Adrien have a good time, Con:Lying to the girls about it when they promised to help save the environment. Why couldn’t they just tell ‘em they wanted to have some guy time? Gabriel was secretly at home and not “on a business trip” so that he can harvest his akuma butterflies! That’s how he gets them!? He actually grows them!? I thought they just appeared from magic with his miraculous!? Okay, weird. When Marinette got suspicious and went to investigate using her detective skills, I was glad she was doing this to get to the bottom of something on the whole dishonesty thing from the guys (she hates liars), I mean, sure she also got tempted to go to the “Guys Only” party just to see Adrien, but she went there first to uncover the truth. That black out almost killed Emilie! For reals! If that were to have happened, the sh*t would’ve hit the fan and Gabe/Hawk Moth would’ve had a bigger reason to get the miraculouses. Close call! I take back what I said about Party Crasher, he seriously almost sent the real miraculouses to Hawk Moth! (eat your heart out Dark Owl). He first only made a villain to bring the power back to save Emilie, but then he was all like, “Eh, might as well wait for those heroes to show up and really save my wife”. I don’t blame him, he practically had a heart attack! HE WAS FORCED TO SLOWLY WATCH HER DIE! A first ever in the show was that Ladybug, who has the most important job of all, was captured! Not Cat Noir, Ladybug! This emergency called for Carapace along with Viperion and Pegasus. This is clearly out of order cuz Cat remembers them and I know that Max will get the horse miraculous in “Startrain” (which is later) and Luka gets the snake miraculous in “God-knows-which”, but I won’t waste my trumpeters time until it’s their proper given superhero hour for me to get the full intell! Despite the rescue attempt, all the guy heroes unfortunately got captured too. Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! The one that really deserves an intro in their new superhero life is sports fan Kim! During the party, he saved Master Fu from falling thus earning him his respect. So I guess the protocol for getting a miraculous directly from Fu is just to save his old a** from falling. XD! By the by, Marinette was concerned on why he was at the party since in this episode, Hawk Moth found out about his identity (which I assume is in the later ep, “Feast” even though it’s already after that in this case), but I guess he couldn’t resist the whole “Bros before Hoes” jamboree (shrugs). Fu, watch yourself, you’re in enemy territory! I never thought Kim would have the monkey miraculous though. I always thought he’d either get the goat or the dog one, but come to think of it, monkeys are playful and chaotic which fits Kim’s fun-loving and recklessness along with the miraculouses power. Plus, monkeys are known to be wise creatures and this’ll help him learn to mature. Congrats Kim! You’ve finally got your wish to fight along side Ladybug and Cat Noir! (“Syren”). Y.M.C.A. saves the day and in the end, all that mattered was Adriens happiness. As we all know, Adrien has to live up to his strict fathers high expectations and be the “picture of perfection” and he can’t be badly influenced by others which is why he barely has friends over or even have fun :(. That’s why Nino did all this “Pre Bachelor Party” thing and after he and Marinette apologized for their dishonesty, it was for the sake of Adrien. Let the guy be happy!

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

More of the Misadventures of Aish rereading Misadventures and fixing typos, like a cowardly fool because I can’t sleep

chapters 21-25 oh no here we go

(actually I did this in like November on my phone but only just now remembered that I never posted it so here ya go, this is all weeks old)

Okay so with the chapter titles, I didn’t actually start naming them until about ch27 or so, but I had already nicknamed this chapter something like “IT’S FRIENDSHIP YOU COWARDS” bc this one got a surprising amount of notes on tumblr and I’m 99% sure most of the people who read it did not realize that this is in fact a Kimax fic

And also THIS CHAPTER WAS THE TURNING POINT. I could either have kept the fic rly lighthearted until way near the end, or decide to start shoving in the Angst much quicker. 3 guesses what I picked >:D

Oh highkey same Alix?? except for me it’s not superpowers or anything it’s just called “anxiety disorder”

The obliviousness physically pains me

I’m the guard who just blatantly lets Alix steal popcorn. also why was there just casually popcorn there. god I don’t even know what I was thinking when I wrote any of this

Oh yeah I remember!! I was mad at people setting off the smoke alarm while making popcorn in the middle of the night!! just uni things am I right

...why am I noticing now that the whole popcorn thing is just a metaphor for Kim’s entire love life I am going to throw this fic out of the window I swear

IT REALLY IS, UGH I HATE THIS, ARE YOU TELLING ME I DID THAT BY ACCIDENT

this is a freaking game of Civilization where one civ takes a runaway lead in the science victory while the rest are all still stuck in the industrial era

Kim is me watching dinosaur movies too tbh, dinosaurs are so frickin rad

well this is depressing

and adorable

I hate so much that I know what the Bad Dream means I hate it I hate it I h

IT’S OKAY KIM I’M PROUD OF YOU, YOU’RE MY SON AND I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

“It’s not up to you to question why people care about you so just roll with it” damn past me, that’s actually some really good advice???

Alix is a Kimax shipper even this early in the fic, btw. whenever she talks to them about each other she’ll always say stuff like “oh yeah you two are so close” or “he cares about you so much” without specifying whether she means that platonically... my dudes... she’s shipping it

Kim having an existential crisis in early hours of the morning is such a mood because it’s 2am and I’m having one right now

BAD FORESHADOWING, YES BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO START HAPPENING SOON LIKE ASSASSINATIONS AND STUFF, YOU WEREN’T WRONG

Alright chapter 22 now

the carriage guards!! my favourite characters in the entire fic!!!!!! they’re the BEST okay they just casually chill at school through the entire thing and only show up again in the last chapter omg they’re so amazing I love them??? absolute LEDGES

Kim’s parents being all like “yeah if our son doesn’t wanna come home from school then just KIDNAP HIM and bring him back lmao”

“Hey, do you want me to threaten your guards with my snake or something?” WAS THAT FORESHADOWING??? BECAUSE SHE VERY MUCH DOES DO THAT LATER. TO DIFFERENT GUARDS YES BUT IT’S LEGIT A THING SHE DOES

talking on the phone is stressful? yes it’s that good old “anxiety disorder” again, really a pain tbh

god I’m so proud of Kim, already that good good character development

also Kim’s grandma is me

omg I have to put Kim and Alix’s dumb chess games in the sequel, I came up with an entire thing about how they blatantly cheat etc and it’s ridiculous and Max gets a headache whenever he has to “referee” (aka make sure they don’t fight), it’s so great okay

me: *thinks about chapter 34 and throws up*

oh I’m the snake too btw. the snake also will hate chapter 34

Max holy moly repressing your feelings isn’t healthy??? stop that

hhhhhhh chapter Lila now, like literally that’s the entire chapter 23, it’s basically just Lila

this is just the damn Volpina episode

dupainchien!!!!! dupainchien!!!!!!!!!

I know this isn’t even that much of a big deal in this fic but like... can Marinette and Adrien just get together already lmao

hskdjhdkjfhgs for the record Lila and Kim is actually a pretty good ship?? but they’d both try to out-brag each other and it would be ridiculous so uh

hm anyways. time for CHAPTER AROACE

Kim’s like. ABOUT TO start falling for Max oh thank god, I need this

Lila: *just stabs Kim’s homework with a parasol*

Kim just... Did That??? WE STAN

(oh and later note: in this he just treats Lila like how Adrien treated her in Chameleon lol)

I remember at this point I wasn’t sure if Lila would actually really return in the fic, and then literally like 2 chapters later I brought her back already because damn that girl needs a redemption arc

do I hug Kim or do I hug Max?? you FOOLS, you ABSOLUTE BUFFOONS, I am going to hug ALIX for having to deal with all their romo bullshit

Max trying to get drunk on orange juice is the mood

JULEKA’S MAGICAL GAYDAR!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!

(also Juleka is absolutely wearing a Reflekta dress)

Juleka, outright: “Max. my dude. alix is aroace you dense idiot. you are all idiots. you absolute fuckwits.”

I’m still the snake btw

hhhhhhhhhh I wanna make a daisy chain now, or just go outside and sprawl in some grass, I can’t because it’s 2.30am and I live in the city and it’s winter, screw this fic for making me miss my school days

oh no I’m having an allergic reaction again

I mEAN IT’S CUTE THO, IT’S CUTE, BUT I KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN A BIT LATER SO THIS IS JUST PAINFUL

“You need more sleep” me calling myself out

I am going to hit Kim over the head,,

STOP BEING WEIRD JUST TELL HER YOU LIKE HER?? GOOD GOD I DON’T EVEN SHIP IT AND I STILL WANT YOU TO GET A BLOODY MOVE ON

oh good, he wants to smack himself in the face too

no nonono no Alix I think you are cute too. but you see, I mean it in the adopting way. but you ARE objectively adorable (source: the Reverser episode and also like all the other episodes) people just don’t say it in this au because of your TERRIFYING PET SNAKE

she offered to give him a telephone... lov that foreshadowing

*unimpressed* “are you in love with me?” OH FUCKING FINALLY

skdfhskdjfhsd avoiding people and having a heart attack when someone knocks on your door? I see the return of that anxiety disorder eh

Alix didn’t bring the snake (me) with her on purpose bc she knows Kim is still a bit scared of it at this point and doesn’t want him to be in a bad mood while she’s crushing his heart and soul

GOD YES I LOVE THIS SCENE

I hate myself because when I was writing this I was thinking “oh mood?? oh mood worm same hat???” and yet still. didn’t. realize. I’m. aro. *le sigh*

I’m gonna cry this is so sweet

“So are bossy, intimidating, hot girls your type?” no actually because Ondine is neither bossy nor intimidating (tho yeah she is hot) (and not particularly relevant in this fic unfortunately)

Alix is not in fact as oblivious as she claims to be btw, she just thinks it would sound mean to say “oh yeah I guessed you had a thing for me but I aggressively ignored it bc it annoyed me since I’m aroace lmao”

I’m genuinely going to hecking cry omg I remember now why this was my Ultimate Brotp for so long ugh it’s so good, @ ZAG LET KIM AND ALIX BE FRIENDS

I’m laughing?? so hard??? at the fact that their height difference is so ridiculous that literally like he has to kneel down??? god this is the funniest thing

oh also btw she was internally debating with herself like “should I give him the mistletoe kiss?? sounds gross but I feel so bad for him dammit” and decided to right there on the spot because she was lowkey curious anyway, which I’ll be honest is still an aro mood

OMG I’M ACCIDENTALLY SUCH A GENIUS OMG LISTEN NO LEMME EXPLAIN

SO LIKE. there are two (2) instances in this fic where I tried to pretend to be funny by dropping in the word “heartrate”. one is near the beginning, and the other is right here

in other words, the exact start and end points of Kim’s crush on Alix?? AND I DID THAT BY ACCIDENT OMG I’VE CHANGED MY MIND I’M PROUD OF MYSELF NOW

oh... oh no. uh oh. the dreaded evil Chapter Twenty Hecking Five

it’s called “Pain” for a reason. also my OG nickname for it was “Death”. also for a reason.

I even listened to Death Valley (the FOB song) on repeat while writing it (along with the next like 9 chapters lol) because the word DEATH just seemed so accurate

no really this is THE real turning point in the fic, where it stops being just a dumb teen movie and starts being all A N G S T Y

like this is the first chapter that has NO lightheartedness AT ALL

okay. here we go

this is all??? foreshadowing??? for dumb chapters like 30 and 34??? I Hate

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO THE SNAKE

I’M HAVING A HEART ATTACK JUST READING THESE WORDS THIS IS SO HORRIFYING ALEXA PLAY DEATH VALLEY

this is the equivalent of seeing a kwami die, for the record. like I know kwamis can’t die but THIS IS HOW IT WOULD FEEL

god this is even worse in hindsight knowing what happens later, bc poor Alix is all like @ herself “oh well it’s a nightmare so it’s not real” and I’m just like... oh dear. honey. sweetie. welp. I mean on the bright side you’re psychic so that’s kinda cool right

I love how Jalil is actually really sweet and a genuinely cool brother, you just never get to see it when Kim’s around bc he hates Kim lmao (I mean for good reasons..)

“I can’t live without this snake!” I MEAN YOU’RE NOT WRONG

these timeline powers are SO cursed man. why was I so evil and cruel holy actual shit

(the whole “some character deaths but not really” tag refers to all this clusterfuck btw)

okay it’s funny how this bit with Adrien is the Collector episode despite it not having aired yet when I wrote this, I guess I’m psychic too

Nathalie being sympathetic huh? not so much in the sequel when I get round to it...

Adrikins being all “I DEMAND TO SPEAK TO THE MANAGER” I’m dying

uh yeah there’s a difference between being grounded, and like, literal actual house arrest

damn... capitalism really is bad

so is imperialism

fix this damn typo thing where I used the word “soon” twice in one sentence like was that really necessary

DUPAINCHIEN

I love how Kim is so obviously bi that even Marinette notices and straight-up tries to set him up with a hot commoner boy

oh noes here comes The Death

Hi Aish Snekwami, I am afraid

god imagine how horrible it must be??? to have something traumatic happen in another timeline but you’re still aware of it in this one so you still suffer the effects even though nothing bad happened in this timeline????

Max shows up for two seconds this chapter to remind everyone that I have an anxiety disorder again and then hecks off, good for him

HOLY FUCK?!?!?! IMAGINE LITERALLY DYING ACTUAL DEATH IN ANOTHER TIMELINE AND EVEN THOUGH YOU SURVIVE IN THIS ONE YOU STILL HAVE TO LIKE. FEEL THE WHOLE TIME YOU’RE DYING OF GODDAMN COBRA VENOM HOLY FUCK WHY DID I MAKE THIS SO ANGSTY

I mean I think I remember writing this when I was on a very heavy painful period which full-on incapacitated me but like even that’s nowhere near as bad as fucking. snake. bite (ye I did some research, it was creepy...)

man this is so evil... I can’t

THIS IS HOW IT FEELS TO DIE

god that’s so haunting ughhhhhhhhh

honestly whenever I stub my toe etc I always think to myself “is this karma for that time I lowkey killed Alix off in chapter 25?” and yeah, it probably is

OKAY THAT’S ENOUGH FOR NOW

[yourjughead]

This Girl

Jughead x Reader

Requested:  “ Can you please write me a smut with jughead?? I don’t care what it’s about. Anything as long as it’s super smuttyyyyyy. Thank you!! (I love your writing😍😍😍😍)” by havensmommy12417 combined with “A jughead fic with another serpent girl would be nice. Like she would give him shit and stuff but would really care for him and would reluctant about him being of it. Idk just a idea” by annony.

Warnings: Smut and fluff.

Based off the episode where FP is released from prison and Betty and Jughead throw that party for him in the bar. 

A/N: requested months and months ago lol sorry.

—————————————————————————–

Jughead POV “Hey there Jug, how are things?” yn threw herself down next to me on one of the benches at the empty quarry. “Nothing much ynn” I had lot of on my mind and while I loved talking with my Serpent partner in crime, I didn’t feel a lot like talking. “Really? You weren’t in school, so where’d you hide the body” i smiled at her humor. “Nah its nothing, its just Penney” yn rolled her eyes at me. When i told her what I did, to say she was furious would be putting it lightly. “I told you so, such a witch” “There’s good news though…” “Really? Not a lot of that floating around this side of town” “My dad is getting out” “Oh my god Jug that’s amazing!” her voice reverberated off the walls of the empty quarry. She hugged me tightly, the smell of her perfume coursing through me. I’m happy she was the first person I told, it was nice to get a definite positive reaction. “So why are you hanging out here by yourself loner?” she separated from me again. “I was just thinking about what my dad is going to say when he finds out about Penny.” “Not going to lie to you jug, he’s probably going to be super annoyed-” i looked away from her. It was the truth but i didn’t want to hear it. She took my hand in hers and rubbed the back of it. “-but it’s going to be alright Jug, you’ve gotten through worse” i gave her a small genuine smile. This girl. This girl is as tough as the old boots she wears and just as reliable. My phone buzzed. “Oh bettys home from school…I should go tell her” “You should” yn gave me a smile that didn’t seem to be all there. - “That’s great news Juggy!” betty grabbed me into a hug after I told her the news outside of Pops. Shes awesome. “Why-why do you smell like perfume?” “Oh, must have happened when i told yn earlier, anyway-” “You told yn before me?” she interrupted me, pulling back from me slightly but still holding my arms. “Yeah…she came to check on me when I wasn’t in school, nothing major” “Mmmkay” she didn’t seem to convinced. Veronica and Archie seemed to be in an argument as they both came up behind us. I can’t wait to tell them, Archie will be happy for me while Betty seemed to sulk. “Umm I just remembered I have to do something, I’ll catch you guys later.” before i could object she took off. Ill just have to talk to her later. ~ 3rd Person. You and Toni were busy working your bar shift. Mopping up spilled drinks while the Whyte Wyrm hummed around you both. Betty walked in, with all eyes on the girl next door. You didn’t mind Betty, you had a neutral relationship, nothing crazy. Still you didn’t want to spend any time extra around a northsider than you had to, in the nicest way possible. You left the bar as Betty stepped to talk to Toni. As much as you tried to not listen you couldn’t help but overhear Bettys plan. You shook your head, neither Toni or you and many  of the girl juniors took part in that part of the initiation. You were all trying to phase it out of style and this northsider planning to do it wasnt going to help the cause. ~ Jughead POV My dads party was in full swing, it was so great of Betty to organise it and wow she looked great. Seeing her look so amazing made Pennys words harder to block out. “Hey Jug great party” the sight of yn caught my breath. She looked utterly stunning. “Listen Jug i have to warn you abou-” “-Jug! Come on Karaoke is starting” Kevin cut off yn and dragged me away. Wait what was she going to say?! Warn me about what?! ~ I broke my dad’s heart, I just broke my dad’s heart and now I just broke Betty’s heart. I can’t believe she thought that was a good idea. She broke my heart. I let her walk away, I made her walk away, it’s for the best and that hurts the most. I slid down the side of a car once she had gone and let the cold travel through me. What an absolute mess I have made. I wanted to scream and shout and physically tear my world down around me just so it could match what I felt was happening. “Jughead? Is there a reason that your sitting by my car-” she laughed but then saw my face fully and changed her tone “-Jug what’s wrong?!” I hadn’t even realised I was crying, I could feel the cold from the ground quickly being replaced by YNs warmth as she sat next to me. She slung an arm around me and pulled herself closer. “Tell me what’s happened” and I did simply that. I just rambled and rambled until my hand she held stopped shaking. I could tell this girl anything. “Sweetie its okay, it’ll be okay, you can fix things with Betty and I’ll help you with Penny” “No no I can’t drag anyone else down with me, especially you” “You’re not dragging me down if I go choose to go with you Juggy” she continued to rub the back of my hands while she spoke softly. I pulled a hand from hers and replaced it on her cheek, pulling her in slightly to kiss her tenderly. In that moment I forgot I was on the freezing cold floor of a car park outside of a bar, I was just completely melted into her aura. Then it stopped. “Juggy what are you doing?” she suddenly pulled from me and the cold air returned. “I-I-I-” “You just broke up with your girlfriend and as much as I want this to happen, I can’t have you waking up tomorrow and thinking oh god what a mistake” “I don’t think this is a mistake” i pulled her back in and it really felt like it killed her to tear back away from me. Tears started to form in her intoxicating eyes as she stood from the ground and backed away. Another broken hearted casualty. “Umm I have to- I have to go back to work and- Umm you should go home and text me when you get there and- and I’ll talk to you soon- im so sorry” her voice broke more and more with every word before she put her hands to her mouth and took off back to the bar. Back to the cold i had chosen to surround myself with. ~ 1 week later- Night - Third Person “Who is it?” you replied to the knocking on your trailer door but got no answer. You pulled the door open, a hand hovering over the bat by the door. Jughead let himself in, closing the door behind him without taking his wild eyes off you. He came chest to chest with you walking you back until you found your back against the back wall. “This isn’t a mistake” his warm breath sent shivers down your spine with his wicked smirk helping it along. A gaspy breath left you the moment his hands grabbed your hips and then it was taken away when Jugheads pressed his lips hungrily against yours. Your arms went around his neck and he reached to his hair, ripping off his beanie and then sent his hands to your ass to lift you. A whimper left you as you wrapped your legs around his waist and were pushed harder against the wall. His lips ran down to mark your neck hungrily as your fingers coursed through his raven locks. “Wait wait Juggy, what about betty?” you tried to gain as much awareness of the whirlwind situation as possible. “She’s not you, she was never you and I’ve always wanted you, I’m just sorry I took so long to realise it” his sincere eyes made your heart crumple and you both kissed again more gently.   “I’d follow you anywhere Juggy, I’ll help you with this Penny situation but just- just not tonight” your ran a hand through his hair again, tugging the back of his hair teasingly, his grin grew and he met your neck hungrily once again. The whirlwind countiuned as you found yourself thrown onto the bed and quickly stripping off any betraying fabric that would separate the two of you. His hands ran rampant all over every inch of our body which you simply craved. His teeth tenderly sinking into your chest encouraged by your soft moans. Your own hands helped Jughead to be guided into you. You both release groans and moans at the feeling of Jughead entering you. After adjusting he began moving slowly, picking up the speed as he went. He buried his face in your necks as your nails dug into his shoulder blades. Jughead sent one hand tracing around your thighs, the other bent and holding him up above your head. Your back arched further with every movement and groan that left Jughead. The feeling of your walls tightening around his member sent him into overdrive as he hit his peek, shouting your name and collapsing slightly on top of you. Only not pulling out and continuing to move sloppily until finally you hit earth shattering status shortly after with the band snapping, sending you swearing and screaming Jugheads names as your high is ridden out. Jughead rolled over next you in a huffing mess. He pulled your trembling body into his and covered you both before taking a moment to catch his breath. “Wow i regret that” you hit him into the chest at his breathless “No I really don’t, maybe we should do it again ynn-ie” you giggled at him while he rolled into you, kissing your neck. You pushed him back playfully before burying yourself in his chest, allowing him to wrap an arm around you. “Well that was fun but we really should try and sort this thing out with Penny” you sat up only to be pulled back down by Jughead. “Mmm tomorrow” he hummed against your skin with closed eyes as he traced little circles on the small of your back. This Girl is all Jughead could think of.

————————————————-

Xx

[wearetakingthehobbitstogallifrey]

Gotham 4x12 (*shrieks* SPOILERS)

Before we begin can I just say that Bruce better shape the heck up by the end of this episode and apologize to Alfred. And Harvey and Jim better make up

-Jim goes into a "respectable establishment" and I keep missing the name of the guy he is looking for because I keep getting distracted by his rough voice

-Oh Waaaait he was looking for Harvey :( he misses his brother :(

-aaah the birth of Poison Ivy. Tag yourself I am both the guy who says what the and the girl who is like DON'T TOUCH IT YOU FOOL

-NOOOO Alfred is haunting a diner because he has nowhere to go because my poor stupid lost son Bruce kicked him out

-sidenote: as cool as Jim's voice is, Alfred's voice is 10000000 times cooler

-uh oh these fools are gonna pick on Alfred. They are sooo going to regret that

-Lee being a leader and telling the people of the Narrows that they need to band together is da best and

-I like Ivy's voice too...OMG she just turned a guy into mOSS

-ALFRED SCHOOLING THE THUGS IN BRITISH LITERATURE IS EVERYTHING BUT THEN

"Wallet, watch, jewelry"

"Absolutely NOT. I mean, you're a big man, but you're out of shape. And what, you're three beers in already?" BAHAHAHAHA THEN HE JUST DESTROYS HIM

-the other guys are lucky that Jim shows up before Alfred can rearrange their faces too

-AAAAAH NOO THE LOOK ON ALFRED,S FACE WHEN JIM ASKS IF BRUCE IS WITH HIM :( he is upset and almost ashamed looking (maybe for Bruce? Or for himself because he wasn't able to father/guide/guard Bruce like he wanted to? UGH

-Alfred trying to be like yeah it's not such a terrible place to live, rent is cheap, and Jim's face and inflection of one in "You live here?" It's just like wtf happened when I was busy being hoodwinked by Sofia?!

-Ed being super impressed by Lee is my favorite thing look at his smile

-BOMB

-OMG WAIT WE HADN'T EVEN REACHED THE TITLE CARD YET THIS EPISODE IS GONNA BE LIT

-Lucius Fox is super brilliant I love him

-Jim is worried about whatever the heck is going on with the Alfred and Bruce situation and he promises to call Alfred and gives him a pat on the back and it just kills me because look Alfred is a bit of a recluse and for the past few years has lived almost solely for Bruce Wayne and like does he have any friends really? He has nowhere to go and no one to talk to :( please remember to call him, Jim

-LOOK I KNOW IT WON'T FREAKING LAST BECAUSE GOTHAM HATES LETTING US HAVE NICE THINGS BUT I LOVE ED SUPPORTING LEE AND I LOVE HIM PACING THE FLOOR FURIOUS THAT SOMEONE TRIED TO KILL HER (

-MY NAME IS BUTCH. BUTCH GILZEAN. OOPS

-omg Alfred is now the hero of the Narrows diner lol getting free drinks and the guy who just tried to mug him is like MAD RESPECT dude like you ran into a burning building to save people you ROCK and Alfred is like ?? ? Right, um, friends?? Aww and shares a drink with him

-Alfred then notices the waitress has a bruise on the side of her head. That she lies about. Someone is going down later, I can sense it

-lol Lucius and Jim on the case

L: you got a hunch

J: no, just a bad feeling

*creepy toy moves and makes a noise*

J: of course I'd happily be wrong

L, in a tone of the utmost disgust: who buys these things

-LUCIUS IS SO dONE WITH ALMOST GETTING MURDERED BY TOYS

-young guy: I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT MY FATHER WAS DOING

Jim, in THE flattest voice imaginable: there's a machine gun built into the wooden hand of this nutcracker here. Excuse me if I find that hard to believe

-ivy waking up in a new body with new powers and the first thing she does is find a sparkly dress and open a pint of ice cream nice

-uh-oh, wayne enterprises had a gas leak, betcha Ivy's gonna go after the company later!

-after she goes a after the sirens?! Wait does she hate all of them or does she remember that Selina is her friend?

-this girl is in love with Alfred's accent and I'm like SAME

-also I can promise you that Alfred is fixing to beat up the girl's abuser just watch

-EXCUSE YOU GOTHAM HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME CRY OVER ALFRED'S FRIENDSHIP WITH AND LOYALTY TO THOMAS WAYNE UGH MY HEART I NEED 575498 FANFICS ABOUT THIS AND I ALSO NEED BRUCE TO SHAPE THE HECK UP AND SEE EXACTLY HOW MUCH HE HAS HURT ALFRED AND HOW HIS DAD WOULD BE DISAPPOINTED IN HIM FOR THIS NOT FOR THE OTHER STUFF AND WHYYYY I CAN'T THE FEELS

-UGH HE TRIED ALFRED TRIED :(

-Lucius, sees poison ivy flourishing in a dead man's body: fASCINATING

Me: ... ... ..Gotham is a strange place with strange people

-OMG BRUCE IS BEING A COMPLETE IDIOT AND SELINA IS LIKE WHAT THE HELL. WHAT THE ACTUAL F. BRUCE WHAT ARE YOU DOING UGH

SHE SEES HIM AND SHE KNOWS HIM AND SHE KNOWS THIS IS LITERALLY THE OPPOSITE OF THE TYPE OF PERSON HE IS IN HIS HEART AND SOUL I HOPE SHE CALLS HIM OUT EVERY DAY TILL HE WAKES UP

-I can't stand drunk stupid Bruce who seems to think acting like a fool is gonna make him forget all the terrible things that have happened to him. I feel bad for him but good gravy son this cannot stand. At the same time I can see how this idiot playboy period of his life will ruin any conception people (maybe especially Jim) have of him as an intelligent, competent, intense young man who they might suspect of being the Batman

-Jim goes to Barbara for info, because that always turns out well

-OMG OMG OMG THAT ABUSIVE BOYFRIEND FRAMED ALFRED FOR MURDER WHAAAT HE KILLED HIS GIRLFRIEND AND THEN FRAMED ALFRED NOOO AND THE GIRL WAS SO SWEET OH MAN ALFRED IS GONNA BE DESTROYED OH GOSH HE JUST WANTED TO HELP

-IF JIM THINKS FOR ONE SECOND THAT ALFRED ACTUALLY DID THIS I'LL PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE

-I AM SO ANGRY RIGHT NOW

-OKAY I THINK JIM IS GONNA TRY TO HELP HIM

-WAIT ALFRED JUST PEACED OUT THE HECK IF THEY WERE GONNA TAKE HIM TO THE STATION ON SUSPICION OF MURDER WHY WEREN'T THEY GUARDING HIM. WHY DIDN'T THEY PUT HIM IN HANDCUFFS. IDIOTS

-aww Butch still loves Tabby

-BAHAHAHAHA I'M CRYING ED IS NOW LEE'S HYPE MAN MAKES UP INTRODUCTORY RIDDLES FOR HER LOL

-JIM'S FACE WHEN HE SEES THAT LEE IS THE DOC

-LOL ED CREEPS UP ON JIM AND STARTLES THE HECK OUT OF HIM

Jim: I should bust you right now

Ed: yeah yeah whatevs look your ex is awesome and I'm on her side now surprise

Jim: someone hired krank the toymaker to kill her

Ed: Krank? That is sooo Gotham

BAHAHAHAHAHA

-I love Jim and I love Lee and the angst between them now hurts so bad but...I don't see them getting back together and marrying...because Jim can be a knucklehead and Lee doesn't have patience for that. UGH WHYYY. maybe it will be this bittersweet thing where they will always be good friends and remember what might have been...or years and years and years down the road they might marry...but not now :(

-lol Ed in the background like um guys I am standing right here? Maybe don't talk about me like I'm in another room? Lol

-btw what is up with Ed's hair xD

-waaaaaait a second....

-OMG ALFRED IS GONNA MURDER THE KILLER BOYFRIEND OH NO HE IS OUTNUMBERED

-HELL YES!!! HARVEY TO THE RESCUE!!!!!!!! SORRY IT TOOK HIM SO LONG HE WAS IN THE JOHN

-Harvey: I love bar-tending, it involves two of my favorite things--drinking and ignoring people

HARVEY THAT'S NOT HOW THAT WORKS

-BLESS YOU THOUGH HARVEY I LOVE YOU THABKS FOR SAVING ALFRED'S BACON

-OH GEE IVY IS SUPER DANGEROUS NOW AND SUPER CRAZY

-OH BOY OH MAN OH GOSH YUP ED'S ALTER EGO THE RIDDLER HIRED THE GUY TO KILL LEE I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN

-JIM SHOWS UP TO SAVE ED BUT ED'S A STRESSED MESS AND HONESTLY THE WHOLE LONE WOLF THING SOUNDS DUMB AND JIM IS LIKE HUH YOU SURE ABOUT THAT

-OF ALL THE BEER HALLS IN THE CITY, HUH? (I love Harvey so much) aww he is drinking to the lady with Alfred my heart

-NOOOOOOOOO JIM AND HARVEY NOOO

Jim: I've missed you

Harvey: well I haven't missed you. Haven't missed begging you not to do something just to watch you go ahead and do it anyway. Haven't missed watching you bang Falcone's daughter while she uses you to get rid of Penguin

Alfred: *shifting in his seat* THIS IS SO AWKWARD

-UGH HARVEY IS LIKE YOU DON'T WANT ME AS A COP YOU WANT SOMEONE TO CONFESS TO YOU WANT ME TO BE YOUR PRIEST

AND JIM IS LIKE...HOW ABOUT ALL THOSE THINGS AND A FRIEND *HANGS HEAD IN SADNESS*

ALFRED CONTINUES TO DRINK AND WISH HE WAS ANYWHERE ELSE

LOOK THERE IS ANGST AND THERE IS ANGST AND I AM DONE WITH SOME OF THEM GIMME THE HARVEY/JIM BROTP BACK I MISS MY BROTHER COPS

-IN CONCLUSION ALFRED AND BRUCE ARE STILL ON THE OUTS AND SO ARE JIM AND HARVEY EVERYTHING HURTS

[theragamuffininitiative]

Winn Schott - He Protects the Stars (a S1 masterpost, part II)

The first post got too long, so here are episodes 11-20, the full second half, of Season One. :)

Me, rambling about my favorite cape-less hero, in chronological order. This is an appreciation post for anything and everything I can mention and that is all.

(the poor boy, he goes through a lot, and this is about the view of him we get this half. also, that gif is tagged as #winn schott #or is it jeremy and that is a legitimate question all the time.)

Episodic breakdowns under the cut again, enjoy!

This post will be reblogged as I add in episodes from E10 to the season finale.

1x11, Strange Visitor from Another Planet

a really mediocre title for an episode depressingly low in WinnContent

Kara: I miss my best friend, Alex.” We do too, Kara, we do too.

Winn. Awkward Winn. Upset Winn. At least coming to his senses enough to wish her a good day and smile, because even when he’s so unhappy, he’s never gonna stop caring about her the most.

Whenever they don’t actually write something for Winn to be in, but his desk appears in the background, they have his messenger bag slung over his chair so at least you know they haven’t forgotten about him. XD

You can tell he feels bad about shutting Kara down, initiating conversation the next time they see each other. “Space and time,” she offers. That smile he gives as the elevator closes tells you that they are going to be ok. :)

1x12, Bizarro

Another new tag added to the repertoire for this episode: salty cinnamon roll

Winn and Kara repairing their relationship, because heck, Winn will always care about her no matter what and I want to believe Kara will too. #supportive friend(s)

Cat found out from Winn what Kara’s favorite coffee is. I love all three of them so much. Winn doesn’t even use it to try and get back in Kara’s good graces, because he doesn’t like being manipulated and doesn’t manipulate the people he cares about, he just cares for them. Precious sunshine child. Please never change.

So offended by James’ questioning look. “I measured her for her suit!”

Is so observant of the people around him, he knew James was lying last time, and knows Kara is lying now. Also, these two opening scenes with them are actually very well written to break the ice, kudos to the writers for that.

even if the whole date thing is so awkward with James and Winn and Kara and all their recent/future history lol

but back to Winn. Calling James out on all James’ pretenses of “Adam’s great, yeah, who-hoo” - “You’ve never even met him.” XD XD #salty cinnamon roll

Reappearance of Winn’s bag standing in for a scene they didn’t write anything for the character, but need to remind us he does have a job there. *eye roll*

Two years. Two years’ worth of hospital/police records that Winn dug through to find Bizarro. And how long did it take him? Under 24 hours. #genius

I love that Winn is very quick to encourage James to not be the coward he was when it comes to Kara. Like, it’s incredibly awkward how everyone is crushing on her, but Winn putting his own feelings (now that they’ve been healthily addressed) to the side, and again calling James out on his crap as the dude is trying to date Lucy but more interested in Kara.... #supportive friend and #genius and just all around a good guy.

“Leave the bottle!” oh Winn. XD

1x13, For the Girl Who Has Everything

Look, the whole point of this post was to highlight that Winn is a true hero and honestly responsible for a lot of what goes right, it’s not my fault the show decided to focus so heavily on Kara’s love life, but here we go, back on track...almost.

He. Is. So. Concerned. About. His. Friend. that’s it - that’s the episode.

Winn telling the tick story to Cat is the funniest thing, also admirable how he’s the one trying to save Kara’s job like he and James agreed to do together. One thing I don’t think I can add to his Jack of All Trades list is lying. Concealing the truth? Yeah. Lying convincingly? Never.

Cat: “I have been watching you cover for her day after day, putting yourself and your job in jeopardy, and for what?” For a friend. For a person he cares about and would die for in a heartbeat. #supportive friend #hero

*sees an unknown person exactly replicating another and immediately wants to know the science of it* #nerd

“Hey Kara, wake up.” #supportive friend

Here we go! Winn being the one to hypothesize that the satellites being down could be something the invader’s are depending on. #genius #hero

Is the first one to realize Alex succeeded in saving her sister.

And is the only one present enough to talk to his friend and console her as she is jarred awake. #hero

With the gang, making sure she 1) could come back 2) save her job and 3) have a clean home to walk into and not be left alone. And being the one to crack jokes and make everyone smile. #supportive friend

Making sure that they are, truly, friends again. Yes. Good.

1x14, Truth, Justice, and the American Way

Not important, but the whole opening exchange between Kara and Winn is adorable and I love these two nerds’ friendship.

The arrival of Soiubhgsn

just pointing out the bag is standing in for Winn again while Cat is asking about Lord and Kara eavesdrops. #where is the boy

Aside: James is really good in this episode, more of that would not hurt.

More of Winn would be better though.

1x15, Solitude

#messenger bag (I don’t think that’s actually kind of bag, but it’s been doing a lot of stand-ins for Winn, and may I say, its acting ability is a s.e.v.e.r.e. downgrade)

“Toyman Jr.” never ever needs to be a thing

It takes Winn approximately two seconds to take Indigo’s traffic light remark and figure out what she’s doing, and then out of every single traffic light in the city, somehow finds the one with the most collateral damage and pinpoints it in time to decisively send Supergirl there and save lives. #genius #hero

-also, possibly is the one who hacks the traffic lights back to working order??? seeing as that’s the last incident and Kara isn’t in a panic to go save anyone else???

#cardigan hobbit

“He’s been mumbling to himself like that for over an hour, isn’t that the first sign of-” “Genius. Yes.” Thank you, Kara.

I appreciate the nerd vibes of Winn’s candy and popcorn, but heck. There are two coffees, a soda, and FIVE energy drinks. This guy is running on fumes, please someone fix him an actual meal???

Yes, let’s have the villain choke one of the characters, toss them across the room, and then have them jump up just fine and offer a snappy one-liner, because obviously they need zero time to recover from that. #protect him

Assisting Soudfgndf and listening to her when she opens up to him. #the most empathetic character on television

Really wants to help the DEO but checks with his friend first.

“You realize I’m learning an alien coding language in the time it takes to watch an episode of Doctor Who.” #genius

Not only helps the DEO reach the same conclusion as James, Kara, Lucy, and Clark’s information gets, but saves himself and the day by stopping Indigo by recreating a computer virus he accidentally made two years previously. #genius #hero

stands up to/comforts/??? Siobhan - we’ll get to her later.

1x16, Falling

Winn “computer droid” Schott Jr

“You are literally impervious to bullets and I’m worried about your safety right now”

Siobhan gets fired, Winn is again the only one to try and help (I promise I’ll address their relationship). #the most empathetic character on television

Winn and James’ concern for Kara, yes good.

Um, excuse me, but that is Winn putting a calming hand on James’ shoulder when he starts yelling at Lord. #supportive friend #priorities

The panic on many levels when he shouts “She killed Ms. Grant?!”

So, like, everyone remembers that Kara’s “best friend in the whole world” was very worried about her, even if he doesn’t appear at all in the last half of the episode, right? #where is the boy

1x17, Manhunter

Jack-of-all-trades #7: Assistant to Miss Grant. Open with Winn for the first time, if I recall correctly, being in on the whole group staff meeting in Cat’s office for breaking news coverage. Cat recognizes Winn as a valuable person to have around after recent events. Also, he has to remind her Kara isn’t there. XD (James helps, reluctantly.)

He is so supportive and encouraging to Siobhan?? Even when he knows she’s wrong?? And at the same time is getting her off Kara’s back??? #supportive friend and #the most empathetic character on television

Aside: Space Dad J’onn and Alex are good in this episode.

The way he stumbles to add “Jr” to his full name. Poor kid. #daddy issues is a tag I should have been using during “Childish Things”, but, well, that’s the entire episode.

Winn and Kara’s first meeting is a lovely moment. Platonic or romantic, if you don’t believe in love at first sight, you’ve never seen the way Winn looks after Kara as she breaks away for her interview. They are destined to be best friends.

Okay, but Kara’s shirt having snaps instead of buttons so she can easily become Supergirl in a second’s notice? That wardrobe design has Winn written all over it and you won’t convince me otherwise.

“Obsessive study of Kara for the past two years.” Cat doesn’t miss a thing.

Look at how disappointed he is, unhappy to tell Siobhan he found her out, and saddened that she would do that. #the most empathetic character on television

Someone please just keep this boy and his friends away from rooftops it never ever ever ends well and it’s going to give him a fear complex. #protect him

And his trying to help Siobhan. Again, always, never giving up on people and forever caring too much.

1x18, World’s Finest

His concern for both Kara and Siobhan is admirable, also, the times he and Kara get their best friends moments are always my favorite. She needs someone to confide in and he’s always there. #supportive friend

Ok. So. Winn and Siobhan never even had an actual date. Their entire relationship was built on her using him for her own ends whenever she needed something. Comfort, distraction, information, she got what she needed and invested nothing. It’s made very clear that she never cared about him. Now, on Winn’s side, it’s obvious he’s trying to move on from Kara in a healthy way. He just... finds absolutely the wrong person to be his girlfriend.

I CANNOT SAY ENOUGH ABOUT THE WHOLE ICECREAM SCENE WITH BARRY. THIS IS QUITE POSSIBLE THE BEST SCENE IN THE ENTIRE SHOW. THE COMEDIC GENIUS, THE COLORING FROM WARDROBE, THE CAMERA MOVEMENTS, AND ESPECIALLY WINN AND BARRY’S INTERACTIONS. #BLESSED

Noticed Winn’s little point at the powered on computer like he’s offended someone has been messing with his stuff. XD #nerd

Aside: I hope Barry paid for the ice cream???

Dynamic Duo (TM). MORE OF THEM PLEASE.

Winn is enjoying James being the jealous odd man out for a change, and I kind of love it, I think he’s earned that much in the very least. ;) #salty cinnamon roll

Being the one to try and stop Crazy Eyes Silver Banshee, not by force, but by simply putting himself in her way and trying to reason with her, offering her help, caring for her. #hero

1x19, Myriad

Winn doesn’t get a lot of screen time in the two-part season finale, but there’s some good content in there even so:

Thank you, CW, for going one step further in the wrong direction from #messenger bag to actually hiring an extra to play Winn at his desk who doesn’t even look anything like him.

Scary little Myriad-controlled smile.

Friendly reminder that Mr. Schott Jr. reeeeeeaaallyy Does NOT Like Heights, and that Myriad (with Indigo, who may or may not remember the computer geek who threw off her groove last time) is used to make him be the one to jump off a building for a change. Also, friendly reminder that Winn was aware of what was going on while under Myriad’s influence. If he wasn’t scared of heights before, he would be now anyway. #protect him

#”nice socks winn”

Not sure why Kara isn’t concerned that her two friends who were just forced to jump off a building are now nowhere to be seen??

that’s literally all the Winn we get in this episode, folks.

1x20, Better Angels

Jack-of-all-trades #8: just, like, really good??? I’m sorry, I don’t know how to word this, but Winn is literally the first person shown to snap out of Myriad’s control: first by Supergirl saying the enemy has attacked his freewill and individuality, and then completely when he remembers his friend Kara, who is saying “you let me be who I’m meant to be.” The others don’t break Myriad’s hold until Kara reminds them of their own strength and ultimately calls them to action. #hero

James being awkward and Winn gracefully (if dorkily) backing off. #supportive friend

Winn gets in on the staff meeting again. He doesn’t even have to be called in specially, or need an ulterior reason for being there, he just joins the rest of the crew because he has a place there now.

Taking medicine for the headache that’s left after Myriad. #protect him

“A Guide to Caring for Your Superhero Best Friend” by Winn Schott Jr: Step 1) learn to immediately recognize when something is trouble your super friend. Step 2) ask if she’s alright. Step 3) offer her food, this has been proven to be helpful in the past. 4) try cheering her up with a joke. Step 5) listen to her when she decides to spill her guts to you. #supportive friend #the most empathetic character on television

*****STEP 6, love her very much and be very concerned when she gives a pretty speech and then leaves.

The .2 seconds we see of Winn while Myriad is at 70-90% kill me. Absolutely kill me. Everyone else is clutching their heads and faces, the pain of the attack overwhelming them. Obviously the pain is affecting our boy too, but the look on his face is not so much pain as it is sheer terror. Winn is five minutes away from dying, and he is in pain, and terrified and please someone protect him, he did not ask for any of this. (Kudos to Jeremy’s acting)

I’m hoping somebody gave our hero lots of aspirin and hugs.

Winn’s smile and laugh at the end family celebration (yes. they. are. all. family.) is LIFE.

That’s it for Season One!

Season Two, we get Agent Schott. :D :D And lots more impressive hero work for our resident genius, jack-of-all-trades, precious sunshine child. ;)

[together-forevermore-blog]

Re-watch Wednesday: My Favorite “The 100″ Episodes – “Murphy’s Law”

Disclaimer: Since this is part of a re-watch that I’m doing between Season 4 and Season 5 of “The 100,” my comments will reflect that and range from reprimanding, praising, and laughing with/at characters to picking apart a line/scene. References will be made to later episodes so SPOILERS are plentiful. (Unless life gets too crazy, there will be 2 re-watches a week until the Season 5 premiere)

The 100: 1x04 – Murphy’s Law (aka the “Whatever the hell we want doesn’t work” episode)

Why it’s a favorite: It’s the beginning of Clarke and Bellamy working as a team, sets the foundation for Bellamy and Murphy’s relationship, and the repercussions from events and decisions made are still seen and felt in Season 4.

We start the episode to a pan of the blockade wall surrounding the dropship camp. Various pieces of metal – scraps and ladder, fabric and wood have been placed wherever they work or fit. It’s glaringly obvious that it was constructed by those who weren’t knowledgeable about construction. And while it’s astounding that they built anything of its scale, I can’t help but wonder: were they really naïve enough to think it would protect them? Or were they hoping it would give them a delay? Traps would’ve been a good idea. But did they know how to build any? It’s a sharp reminder of how ill-prepared they were. Only later do we learn about their Earth Skills training but I’m guessing they wished they’d paid closer attention now that they’ve landed, learned they aren’t alone on Earth and that they’re not welcome additions to the planet.

Clarke kneeling at Wells’ grave – It serves as a reminder of what happened in the previous episode. Not just Charlotte killing Wells, but also Clarke finally figuring out that Wells lied about who turned her father in to protect her from knowing the truth. Sacrificing their friendship and letting her hate him. And as the camera pans over to Clarke kneeling at the foot of his grave, we see her lost in her thoughts about Wells and more than likely, her regrets about how she treated him and the time they lost as friends because of her assumptions of his guilt.

Damn, Finn! You’d think by now that you would know not to sneak up behind people. Especially when the one you pine over is kneeling by the grave of her friend who was supposedly killed by Grounders!

The Art Supply Store – OMG! I’d completely forgotten that we learn about the Art Supply Store in this episode! And just like that, my excitement over remembering the significance of the place is smacked away with Clarke’s reminiscing about Wells giving her art supplies on the Ark. How he traded his own stuff to get her those supplies. . .And again, I have to remind myself that the book and the series are each there own entities and that at least I have the option of opening a book if I want to get a Wells fix. I digress.

“My mother killed my father.” – I’m going to get technical here. She turned him in which lead to him getting killed, but she knew that by turning him in that he would be floated. But she didn’t actually pull the trigger, stick him with a knife, or in this case – push the button that floated him. And I think that’s what eventually gets Clarke to move past this realization that her mom killed her father. And also the fact that as Clarke becomes more of a leader she faces decisions that make her realize that doing what is needed to survive sometimes makes you do things that you could never imagine, goes against your beliefs and sometimes your better judgement. But at this moment she’s hurt and angry and she finds the most effective way that she can make her mom feel her pain.

Ah, Murphy! You never fail to disappoint. Pissing on a guy who needed a water break, just because you can. All right in front of Charlotte. And they make it a point to show her expression as Murphy tells the guy to get over it and yells at everyone to get back to work. The look of someone disgusted and not happy about the fact that they can’t do anything to stop it.

My poor adorkable Jaspy! Octavia helps you to venture outside the protective walls of the camp, only to be confronted by a prank and then a couple of cut off fingers on the ground.

Kane: the busybody, the “I’m tracking everyone,” ready to stick it to everyone guy that everybody loves. . .well, maybe not. But at least he has the bad guard. What’s his name again? Oh that’s right. Commander Shumway. I bet they’re both a hoot at parties.

“The less you know, the better.” – The 100 equivalent to saying “This is going to blow up in our faces.”

“Like it or not thinking the Grounders killed Wells is good for us.” – I could go on and on about the comparison to this argument and the one Bellamy makes to her in 4x01, but I’ll save that for a later time. I do wonder though that if he’d gone about it differently; tried to reason with her about people forming a lynch mob instead of making it about needing people to stay focused on building the wall, he might have convinced her to heed his warning. Or at least make her pause before she goes out and confronts Murphy in front of everyone.

Yeah, this is where that “First son. First to dye.” declaration from 1x01 comes back to bite Murphy in his ass. And I think this is par for him. He constantly does stuff in the moment that makes him feel good and better about himself. Things that hide his insecurities, usually by trying to make others feel lesser about themselves. The “I’m in charge, can do anything I want and you can’t stop it.” mentality. Because he’s scared of losing it (power) and without it he won’t “belong.” And how quickly people remember all the things he’s done that point to his guilt. Trying to kill Jasper, bullying people into working, peeing on a guy that needs a drink of water. . .So when he tries to convince Bellamy that he didn’t do it, nobody believes him (or wants to).

From the look on her face before, you’d think Charlotte would be with the crowd in wanting to see Murphy get some kind of payback. But there’s only signs of worry and distress on her face as they carry and roll Murphy away. Her worry turns to disbelief as the crowd chants for Bellamy to kick the box out from under Murphy and Clarke pleads with him to stop it. It’s the disbelief that surprises me. It points to her moving past her acting selfishly and that’s surprising when you think about the fact that she killed a guy because his dad’s actions caused her nightmares. Only in the horror of this moment, of seeing the crowd turn on Murphy and him swinging from a rope is she able to think of someone else.

And then the look of realization that she’s probably next to hang after she admits that she killed Wells. . .The mommy in me comes out when I watch this happen.

“I need a pressure regulator.” “What for?” “Regulating Pressure.” – Lol! It cracks me up every time!

“I was just trying to slay my demons” – Charlotte “I was just giving the people what they wanted.” – Bellamy: Justifications for killing and trying to kill someone. I’ve got to admit, I’m conflicted a little with Charlotte because she’s arguably young enough to not fully grasp the consequences of her actions. And I wonder if that’s part of the uneasiness and reluctance from the crowd when Murphy suggests that they “see the real murderer hung up.” But Bellamy? He waylays into Clarke about how she confronted Murphy when he’s just as guilty of not thinking through his decisions. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a Bellamy fan. He’s my favorite character. But at this point I have a hard time liking him. Good thing for him that The 100 is big on character transformations.

OMG! I just realized that Murphy punches Jasper after hitting Bellamy over the head with a piece of wood. Not cool, Murphy! Someone please wrap Jasper in some bubble wrap.

Dun. Dun. Dun. – Charlotte’s escaped with Clarke and Finn. The old escape through the back flap in the tent trick.

Again with the “The less you know, the better.” declaration. This time from Abby. Y’all are tempting fate, you know that right? Or at least maybe The 100 writers.

Clarke refusing to hold Charlotte’s hand and then her reprimand: “You killed someone, Charlotte! Ended his life! Did you stop to think about that for even one second?! Look at me! You can’t just kill someone to make yourself feel better!” – The look on Charlotte’s face. It’s heartbreaking. I think this is when the consequences of her actions really hit her. Up until now, she could convince herself that everything would be okay even though there’s someone chasing them that wants to hang her. Clarke, Bellamy, and Finn will still accept her. After all, they’re trying to hide her from Murphy and keeping her safe. But that illusion evaporates when Clarke refuses to comfort her by returning her hand hold and then scolds her for her actions.

Hiding out in the Art Supply Store – I like how it allows for the opportunity for the characters to have a moment to slow down and reflect. Clarke admitting that Bellamy knew better than her and that there needs to be consequences for actions or this is just going to keep on happening. And then there’s Finn’s hope that they figure out how to resolve all of this “before Murphy kills us for helping her.” which Charlotte very much hears. Further pounding it in to her that there’s no escaping what she did and that she needs to take responsibility for her actions. Because if she doesn’t, people she cares about will get hurt, or worse, killed. It distressed her to witness the hanging of a guy who she didn’t care for and she feels guilty for it. How much more so would she feel if that happened to Clarke or Finn? People she actually cares about.

Kane has a mother? And she seems like a nice lady? Dude! What happened? Maybe he’s more like his dad?

“He’s here to see me, Vera. Go on with your mumbo-jumbo.” – I wish we’d gotten to see more of Nygel.

I also wish we’d gotten another beat before Clarke’s happiness of waking up with her head on Finn’s shoulder was stolen away. But at least there was a smile.

 Abby: always willing to do whatever’s necessary to make sure that they make it to Earth and survive. Including sacrificing her life so Raven can make it down to Earth and prove that living there is possible.

Charlotte’s fears come true – Murphy holds a knife to Clarke’s throat and threatens to slit it. I’ll admit that I held my breath when I first watched this scene. I didn’t know if Finn or Bellamy would miraculously somehow get Clarke away from Murphy or if Charlotte would give herself up to him. If Bellamy hadn’t have stopped her, I think she would’ve given herself up to Murphy. It was a standoff. Murphy wouldn’t let Clarke go, Bellamy wouldn’t let Charlotte give herself up. So she did what I never saw coming.

“I can’t let any of you get hurt anymore. Not because of me. Not after what I did.” – I’m not kidding, I think I sat with my mouth hanging open the rest of the episode when I first watched Charlotte jump off the cliff. The kid that killed a person to stop her nightmares sacrifices herself to save others. . .It was just so shocking to me. And I missed several things that happened after that because I was too shocked to notice them. Finn’s “Damnit!” expression. Murphy’s look of “I can’t believe it” mixed with “Holy shit!” as Clarke and Bellamy grieve over what just happened.

Bellamy’s grief turns to rage and Murphy’s face becomes the target and method of release from everything that’s been building up until that moment. He’s angry at what’s happened, blames Murphy for forcing what happened, Clarke for not listening to him, and, knowing Bellamy, he must blame himself too. I honestly thought he would kill Murphy as angry as he was. Thank god for Finn pulling him away.

And then we get to what Charlotte’s sacrifice leads to: they reject the way things are done on the Ark and decide to lead together. Not really having any idea what that decision will eventually lead them to.

I always forget until the end of this episode that it’s the one where Finn gets upset about the wristbands frying and has a meltdown that ends up with him and Clarke sleeping together. I think it’s a natural reaction for them. They’ve obviously had an attraction to each other and are scared that there’s no possibility of their loved ones joining them. Sadly, with all that happens with him, Raven and Clarke after this episode, this ends up being one of the last times that I look at Finn as the “Cool Finn” that we’re introduced to in the first couple of episodes. It’s not until we get to Spacewalker that his character makes it full circle (just my personal feelings about him though).

[roslinadama-sinequanon]

Major Crimes Re-Watch-The Deep End.

“Nicole wants to walk down the aisle with me and her step dad who she knows I can't stand so I'll just pay for the wedding which is all she wants from me and I'll look at the pictures later.” 

It sounds like Andy is feeling a bit sorry for himself here, but though we don’t know the whole situation it doesn’t sound like Nicole has handled this very well. It’s understandable that she might want her father and her stepfather to walk her down the aisle, especially if her stepfather has been a part of her life since she was a kid. My cousin did that with her father and stepfather and I’m not going to say there weren’t a few hurt feelings, HOWEVER, she did not drop this bomb on her father’s head the day before the wedding. That’s where I took exception. We’ve been hearing about this wedding for several episodes. Andy was meeting with his ex about it when he fainted. He’s been on the phone discussing things a lot, so he has obviously been part of the planning. And he is the one footing the ridiculous $30,000 bill, so there has been plenty of time for Nicole to sit down and talk to him about this in person, rather than throwing it at him over the phone the day before the wedding. 

Andy is an emotional person. He has a temper and tends to overreact at times and Nicole had to know that he would be hurt by this and that his hurt would manifest itself in anger. However, as stubborn as Andy can be, he does often come around after he has calmed down and had time to really process things. A mature, responsible person would have sat down with him weeks ago to talk through her reasoning for this decision thus giving him time to reconcile to the idea. If it wasn’t for Sharon and the case they were handling I’m not sure Andy could have worked through his feelings as quickly as he did.  

The case-Two Latino boys break into a famous swim coaches’ home. In the beginning, the theory is robbery. One boy is shot and supposedly, one got away. The press is in a frenzy screaming, “race” because the shooter is white and rich and the boys are Latino. What starts out as a kind of typical robbery/murder, actually ended up being a very emotional case that drew me in as much as the personal stuff—which if you’ve been reading my synopsis is not usually the case. 

“I agree. There is more to being a father than signing a check. It doesn’t matter because I'm not coming.”

“His daughter is getting married tomorrow and he's being an ass about it.”

“Andy, will you join me with the victim's parents.” 

Andy has been stressed about this wedding for a while now. Although he’s been part of the planning I think he feels a bit like an outsider. Like he’s just being used to pay for the wedding—tolerated because of that but not particularly wanted. He is also not looking forward to being around Sandra’s family who hate him, which puts him in a really tough and uncomfortable position. This decision Nicole has made only exacerbates those feelings in him. I feel like, while Andy could have handled this better, so could Nicole.

Sharon has always seen her team as people first, not just colleagues and she is interested in what is going on in their lives and trying to help them. She does this here with Andy. Andy is upset and distracted and she reels him right back in by having him in the interview with her. 

“Look, keep Raymond out of this, what are we doing here?” 

The look Sharon gives Andy, one parent to another is very touching.  Andy takes the cue and informs the parents that their son is dead. I noticed this time around that Sharon rests her hand on Mrs. Torres to emotionally support and comfort the woman. By having Andy join her in this interview she is showing him that he's lucky, his daughter is still alive and he still has a chance to make things right. Sharon is always so subtle with her little life lessons. 

Sharon and Andy aren't in clothing sync yet, but, after the Jack episodes where we had very little Shandy interaction, they are working as a team again. This episode is chock full of Sharon/Andy teamwork and lots of little glances and non-verbal communication. To me this illustrates the difference between the antagonism of Sharon/Jack where they were never on the same page and Sharon/Andy who work seamlessly together, are always on the same page and are able to communicate without words. 

"They started in with the questions and I answered them, you know, just trying to be honest. And then this morning they decided that Kris can no longer spend time with me outside of school.”

“Well, that's not really nice.”

“It's really not that big of a deal.” 

Oh, Rusty honey you did not play that one right. Sharon is SO right on to him, and with the look she shares with Provenza, so is old Gramps. When Rusty is truly upset about something, he reacts like Andy, with anger. If he were truly upset he would be ranting and raving about how unfair it all is, but by just shrugging it off Sharon can tell that this was an outcome that actually pleases Rusty. 

“A restroom, please.” 

I was surprised that Provenza sent Amy off to console Mrs.Torres. You'd think it would be Sharon who would have gone since she too is a mother, but it looks like Sharon wanted another crack at Mr. Torres who had already broken down saying it was all his fault. Fathering seems to be an overriding theme in this episode, with Andy having several moments of fatherly feels. In this scene, Andy gives Mr. Torres a rather sad look through the glass, a father commiserating.  

"Matty was a swimmer." 

Finding out that Coach Frey was Matty's coach changes things.  The case has gone from being a robbery to something more personal. 

“Captain Raydor is in a meeting right now but maybe I can help you. My name is Lieutenant Provenza.” 

LOL, Provenza is hitting on Kris's mother. Love the way the team is all watching him in action with amusement. 

“It's a video he was making, Captain. He saved it as a work in progress.” 

The team watching the video is extremely moving. I liked the way they had the camera constantly moving to get the reactions of the whole team and the sidelong glances they gave each other.  The music, the sadness, the teary eyes and the look that Andy and Sharon share when they watch Rusty walk away all combined to make it a very moving scene. 

“So let's protect him. Let's put out a press release saying the rumors of molestation are groundless.” 

Sharon has Andy's interest here. He seems to be impressed by her sneakiness in using the press to draw out other kids who had been molested. 

"Hey"

"Hey, I was just going to bed."

"Did you have dinner yet?" 

As soon as Rusty hears the door opening to the condo he quickly scoots down the hall but doesn't make it to his bedroom before Sharon enters the condo. He is trying to avoid a conversation about Kris but Sharon isn't letting him off the hook. 

“If you just want to be friends with Kris, you could tell her.”

“Oh come on, you're still married to a guy you haven't lived with in 20 years and you're giving me break up advice right now!” 

Rusty expects Sharon to shout back at him, probably because Sharon Beck would have, but Sharon R. just stares at him with a slight quirk to her brow and that de-escalates Rusty right away. He apologizes, telling her he doesn't know why he says things like that; he just got mad because she was acting like he'd done something wrong. Deep inside Rusty knows what he did was wrong, he knew better than to listen to Jack and he's really angry with himself so he takes that out on Sharon. Sharon is Rusty's conscience.  

“That kid Matteo, Matty, whatever his name is, he had a sad stack of cards in his lap. I mean 13 is really young for all that.” 

“15 is really young too.” 

There is obviously more that is bothering Rusty than the Kris situation. Seeing Matty’s video has brought out some emotions that he isn't sure how to process. Sharon let's him know here that he also shared that sad stack of cards and that he was just as molested at 15 as Matty was at 13. 

Jack wasn’t around for long, but his presence lingers with the bad advice about Kris coming back to bite Rusty on the butt and now the comment about the sad stack of cards which seems like something Jack would say. 

“I know there are things that you may not want to discuss with me but there are professionals—“

“No, no shrinks Sharon. Look, I’m not the one who needs a doctor, my mom needs a doctor, Philip Stroh needs a doctor, the men who came to me on the streets need a doctor. Okay? That kid Matty he needed one for sure. Look I know what I did and I know why I did it.” 

Because he wasn't physically attacked or overpowered and because it was his decision to prostitute himself, Rusty has never believed that he is a victim. He thinks what he went through cannot be considered molestation or a crime because he initiated the contact. He likes to believe that he was in control of the situation and because of that, he doesn't feel like he should need any help. He doesn't want to be lumped in with people like his mother and Stroh and the guys that paid for an underage prostitute, he views those people as “sick” and admitting that he needs help would make him “sick” too. I think the struggle with his sexuality feeds into this as well. He later tells Sharon when he comes out to her, “I can’t fix this.” So he does feel like there is something wrong with him, which is why it’s great that Sharon finds Dr. Joe to help him. 

“There is no pressure from me except to be kind and be safe.” 

Sharon never puts pressure on Rusty, which is why he is able to come to conclusions on his own and doesn't run from her. She is a far different parent with Rusty than she is with her other children. When she is upset with Ricky’s behavior about her adoption of Rusty, she doesn’t beat around the bush and try to let him figure things out on his own. Nope, she lays it all out for him with anger, guilt and shame. She lets him know just how disappointed she is in him then TELLS him exactly how she expects him to behave. She can do this with Ricky because she raised him. He knows that she can be angry and disappointed in him and still love him and Sharon knows that she can yell at Ricky and he isn’t going to run away and disappear from her life. I give her a lot of credit for understanding the difference in the way she has to parent Rusty. 

“We need you to understand that though your son’s story will be used as evidence in the trial we won't be able to charge Frey with Matty's murder.” 

Sharon closes her eyes while Andy tells Mr. Torres this sad fact. It’s a hard pill for her to swallow. It’s hard for all them when someone is punished, but not for all their crimes. In the episode where Sharon was bringing Andy home from the hospital, she laments the fact that although they caught the perp and made a deal they were unable to prosecute him for rape as well. 

"We'll get Frey in prison for the rest of his life, I promise." 

Andy firmly grabs onto Mr. Torres shoulder, again father to father, in the same way that Sharon placed her hand on Mrs. Torres earlier in the episode, mother to mother. They are definitely in sync. 

"And how does that help Matty? Where do I go to talk to him and say I'm sorry, I didn't know what you were going through?” 

and  

“Your son was a hero.”

“Matty was a hero and what was I? What was I?” 

Andy looks down at the ground. You know he is thinking about Nicole. He has the chance to be the hero here, to make things right with her, and he's going to take it however difficult the day will be for him, because this is her day. 

“My daughter’s wedding is, well, it's in three hours actually.”

“And you've decided to go.”

“Yeah, even though most of the people there hate me. Yeah, I uh, I think it's the right decision.”

“Could you use a buffer? Lt. Provenza has volunteered to take Rusty out for burgers and I like weddings.”

“Really? Are you sure? How would I introduce you?”

“How about as your friend Sharon.”

“So, it's not like a date or anything?”

Of course not Lieutenant. I'm a married woman.”

“Oh, well thank you, Captain...I mean, Sharon. I owe you one.” 

The first time through, I never noticed the little look Provenza gives Andy as he heads to Sharon's office. Love the idea that two people who care about Andy concocted this little scheme. I do wonder if Provenza knew what this was going to lead into if he would have been so smiling and happy about it. I doubt he ever thought this wedding "date" would eventually blossom into a romance and ultimately a wedding. There was a time he was not happy about the relationship and was probably kicking himself for helping light the spark. That said, this would be a great anecdote as part of Provenza’s toast at Andy’s bachelor party or at the wedding, if we had a hope in hell of seeing either event. You just know that despite his initial disapproval of the relationship, now that Sharon and Andy are getting married he’d definitely want to take credit for getting them together. 

One other thing before I close out--This scene makes it super hard when writing fanfic. I'd always felt that with Sharon having been separated for 20 years from Jack that there had to have been a couple men in her life—she was after all probably just entering her thirties when she and Jack separated and she’s a beautiful, healthy, vital woman.  Mary McDonnell also said in her podcast that she thinks Sharon had seen other men between Jack and Andy. However, this comment Sharon makes in this scene about it not being a date because she's a married woman kind of contradicts this. There is no way I can believe that Sharon Raydor would be okay with sleeping with a guy but not okay with dating him. So this statement here makes all that so hard to reconcile. So, my head canon is that Sharon finds Andy very attractive and since he's become her right hand man they have become increasingly close. However, he is also her colleague so when he asks her if it's a date, she says of course it isn't because she's married as a way of trying to keep something of a barrier between them. Also, Andy is under enough stress with the wedding, he doesn’t need the added stress of possibly being on a date with his boss. By saying she is attending as his friend it takes the date pressure off both of them and they can just relax and have a good time. 

The episode ends with Mr. Torres shooting Frey as justice for Matty and being led off to jail. I wonder what happened to him, if they were able to convict him of 1st degree murder or not? He did plan the murder, however, I have a hard time believing a jury would convict him for his actions giving the heinous crimes Frey committed against his son and so many other boys. I wish we had a little follow up.

[cest-toi-qui-vois]

Storytelling Convention

Last weekend I was in Barcelona - Castelldefels more precisely- for the Once Upon a Time convention. It was truly an amazing weekend, during which I’ve met some really great people.

If you’ve been following me last year, you might have read my recap of the FT4 convention in Paris I attended and I wanted to walk you through a few pretty great moments I had at this convention as well. (I’m not sharing any photo ops or autographs. Sorry. I will post my manips though but as usual, please refrain from reposting without credit).

I’ll start by saying that it was supposed to be my last convention… I now have to accept the fact that this will not be my last convention. This shit is addictive, I swear to God. Not only meeting the actors but the people as well -- it’s amazing.

I had a Spell Pass with autographs for all the regulars (Faustino Di Bauda, Beverley Elliott, Deniz Akdeniz & Sean Maguire), another autograph with Sean, one with Lana, a photo op with Sean, a photo op with Lana and the photo duo Lana and Sean.

I’ll start with Saturday.

I only had my photo op with Lana and the one with Sean.

Lana → I was strangely enough not that nervous. Don’t get me wrong, I was nervous alright but compared to what I felt the next day -- it was nothing. I wanted a hugging picture with her (and Sean as well) because I figured it was the only way I could get to hug them at least once. When it got to my turn, I walked up to her and asked her if we could hug to which she said yes. We took the picture and then I thanked her (at least I hope - at that point I blacked out. It was really impressive to be so close to her. I had met her last year but still -- I don’t think there will ever be a time when meeting/seeing Lana will not be a big deal for me but I’m digressing). I left with a big smile on my face (my smile is so big in that picture, I-swear-to-God! It’s embarrassing).

Sean → The photo op with Sean was right after the one with Lana and we were at the beginning of the line (I think there were maybe 5 people before me. I was a tad bit more nervous because, I think, I was still on cloud Lana and overwhelmed. It was slowly sinking in that I had met her and hugged her and now there was Sean and I - I could have used a couple of hours between the two photo ops so I could slowly find my chill. I managed to not be too awkward. As I told you, I wanted a hugging picture but I didn’t even have to ask because he was greeting everyone with a hug *insert “#dead” gif*. I walked up to him and I got a hug (still feeling all warm and fuzzy because of it). He was like “Hello! How are you? Thanks for coming” and of course I answered to all these questions, then we took the picture and he told me “Thank you, Darling”. Ok, I know Sean calls everyone “Darling”, that’s the British in him but let me tell you, it still makes your heart skip a beat when that happens to you.

Sunday.

I had all my other extras that day + the autographs included in the pass.

My first autographs were with Faustino, Deniz and Beverley in the morning.

Faustino → He is really nice. He asked me where I was from and I found out he had a friend who was Guadeloupian as well. He signs “Heigh Ho!” on all his autographs which I think is cute.

Deniz → I really wanted to meet him because he also plays in Jane the Virgin (you should watch that show if you don’t already) and I - well I like him and I made a bit of a fool of myself because of that. I walked up to him, he asked me how to say my name. I told him it was French and then he asked me how do we say “Where are you from?” in French. I told him and answered to the question. Then, I told him I was really happy to see him on Jane the Virgin and that I hope we will get to see more of his character. He told me that yes, we should in the next episodes. He asked me if I liked the show and I said that I thought it was a great show and  He then told me that Gina Rodriguez was amazing and I was like “she is great” (she is in the top 5 of my favourite actresses, she is more than just “great”) and then I said something like “but you’re pretty great as well”... (could I have been more obvious?! Bless my dark skin cause I would have been red like a tomato). He chuckled and told me I was kind. He signed “Thank you for being such a great fan” which has me smiling like an idiot still.

Beverley → At that point, Sean’s panel was about to start and I sure as hell didn’t want to miss that but I really wanted to meet Beverley. I had heard great things about her and they weren’t wrong. She is so nice. She just is a great soul and has - I don’t know how to word it, a great aura, I guess. She made me feel good. She asked me where I was from as well and she said she liked my dress. She thanked me for being a fan of the show (which most people that know me, know that I’m not anymore but of course, I didn’t say that plus it really didn’t matter. I love the actors and I was there for them).

Now onto some seriously emotional shit.

Lana → So I was in line for her autograph. Again, I was lucky (or unlucky, it depends) enough to be at the beginning of the line. I was dying inside. I was so nervous, my stomach hurt (in retrospect I realise that it was the stress) and my legs were like close to giving up. I don’t know why I was that nervous, I wasn’t feeling like that last year (not that much)… I don’t know. But, the point is -- inside, I was a nervous wreck. It got to the point that I started to try to convince myself that I didn’t need to tell her what I wanted to tell her, that I could just be quiet all along and that it wasn’t a big deal and that surely I wouldn’t regretted it afterwards (My ass! Of course I would have). My turn came and my friend was just before me so I was trying to calm my nerves while she was sharing her moment with Lana and then it was me. I stood before her, she took my picture which was a Regal Believer manip. She said that it was cute (three words and it still manage to make my legs even weaker). I did say “thank you” though and from that point on, I was like screw it - tell her what you want to tell her even if you’re babbling and embarrass yourself (you know, that “you only live once” motto lol). So I told her what I had to and she thanked me for sharing. I showed her my tattoo because -it’s not in direct link to her but there is a connection (if that makes sense)- and she said she liked it. She signed my manip with “you are where you need to be” - I didn’t even asked (oh tears are coming!) and told me “very nice to meet you”.

Sean → Just after Lana, we had to queue for Sean’s autograph. Didn’t even got one second to recover from the Lana situation but were further in the queue for Sean so I had a few minutes to relax. I got up to him, gave him my pictures to sign (a manip by Frivolouswhim that the convention gave us and my manip). I thanked him for coming to Barcelona, for meeting with us and all. I told him it meant a lot to get to meet him, to have this opportunity. He said how much they all love coming to conventions and meeting the fans and he thanked me and the fans, in general for showing up. It was a quick little moment but at least this time, words came out of my mouth (because none did last year and I was quite pissed at myself).

Sean/Lana photo op → Again, right after Sean’s autograph. Let me tell you that I was dying. My stomachache had doubled in intensity and my heart was beating so fast I thought I was going to pass out. I was actually asking myself if there was any way that I could discreetly leave the queue to throw up. But I knew it was all in my head and that I didn’t really want to throw up but I wasn’t feeling great. Before Lana and Sean arrived, Julie did and she started to push us into the line, the way she likes to and being Julie, basically lol. She is really amazing (she cheered (or clapped, I don’t remember), because we were properly queuing at Lana’s autograph line, it was fun and helped me relax for like 10 seconds). Anyways, Lana and Sean arrived as well as Bex and one knows they’re really (but really) overwhelmed by everything when even seeing Bex being adorable with a baby doesn’t help them relax. Bex left and Sean and Lana started doing their picture. The closer I got the more nervous I became. I was playing with my ticket and it was probably at that time that I chewed all of my right hand nails… Julie was there at the beginning on the line, fixing people’s hair and making sure everything was alright. I heard her say to one of the con people (don’t take my words for it, things come back in pieces and like I told you, my brain was a mess at that point) that she liked these moments because it was her opportunity to hug the fans and she cuddled the person before me (whom I realised much later was @cruellasdarling I’m sorry love but I was seriously out and unable to focus). Before, it was my turn, Julie asked me how I was (and I’m afraid it showed on my face that I was nervous. Gosh, I must have looked so stupid), she rubbed my back, then when I had to go, she gave me a gentle push and told me “Go ahead, baby” and it sort of boost me a little. (Again, like Sean and “Darling”, Julie calls everyone “baby” but ya know lol). I went up to Sean and Lana, asked Sean if he could stay in the middle, asked Lana to do a heart with our hands. We took our picture. I thanked them, looking at Lana, then Sean, then back at Lana on my way out - I wanted to say “I love you both more than you’ll ever know” but it got caught in my throat (Have I mentioned I was overwhelmed?! Haha). Lana smiled (I think she noticed lol) and I left.

I had a bit of time by myself after all of that and it allowed me to really just be there and enjoy and mostly appreciate all that had happened. Not many people get to share half of what I had with them and it might not be much for others but to me - it was just enough. Just perfect and much more than I could have ever hoped for.

I unfortunately didn’t get to see all the panels because a lot were overlapping with other activities but I saw the group panel, Lana/Sean’s panel, Bex’s panel Beverley/Faustino’s panel and Deniz’s panel on Saturday and on Sunday, Lana’s panel, Sean’s panel and a bit of Gil/Deniz’s panel. All were amazing but the Lana/Sean panel holds a dear place in my heart. It was truly great as I’m sure most of you have seen since the video is on YouTube. (I know the streaming broke down on Sunday but just like last year, my recollection of the panels is very limited with all the emotions I’ve had so I’m sorry for not being of much help but every panel that I saw were great).

I met some great people at the convention: Ana ( @acrazyaunt ), Paulina ( @paulrissarahany ), Timi, Lisa, Marica, Grace ( @optimistof30thstreet ), Ayla ( @reginasevilpanda ) whom I’ve met for the first time. It was so nice to see you guys and put faces on names and twitter/tumblr handles. Almost missed Paulina but thank God, she saw me! We have got to talk more often and see each other again and longer. I have seen Sophia ( @onceuponahappytime ), Eva ( @glindalovesshoes ) who shared her amazing cookies. I swear, people, they are delicious, Jen ( @starscythe ) and also Mags - it was so nice to see you guys again. Was sharing an apartment with the lovely Marie ( @thisisamadhouse ), it was so nice to spend that weekend with you! and Renata and Jade. (It’s entirely possible that I have seen some of you without realising who you were or perhaps I wasn’t sure and I was too scared to ask. I’m shyer in real life than on the internet so I apologise for that.)

I overall had a great time and I just wanna say to everyone: Meet your idols if you can. Truly, it’s worth it.

Cheers y’all and thanks for reading.

[canaryatlaw]

well today was alright. I tried to go to bed a bit early last night and I woke up feeling slightly less exhausted so I suppose that’s good (I say as it’s 11:52 pm and I’m just starting this). Got up, got dressed, got on the train you know the drill. I was shadowing the newest attorney in court today, although shadowing might not be the right word since it was more like assisting, lol. he’s the only one who’s been hired after me so far, but he took the bar in February so he’s already sworn in (though more on swearing in later) and can actually step up in court, so I was basically just helping him manage cases and courtrooms and such. the call wasn’t too crazy, some days there will be like 3 of us staked out in different courtrooms updating our people about what case they’re up to so they can run from one to the next while we fill out the orders for them, lol, so this was relatively calm which was nice. We finished at about 11 and as I was heading back to the office for some reason I really wanted grilled cheese, and I figured I could take an early lunch if I stopped by the Starbucks in the pedway underneath the courthouse. there’s the grilled cheese place on that walk as well but they generally take a little longer to make them and I didn’t want to waste time so I just went to Starbucks and picked up one of their grilled cheeses since they’re doing that now (they’re pretty good!) and my latest drink pick, which has been a berry hibiscus refresher made with lemonade instead of water. I suppose it’s something other people have ordered because they didn’t even bat an eye when I said it. It wasn’t actually my idea, when we were at the airport Starbucks the other day I ordered a refresher and the person was like “do you want lemonade with that?” and I was like ?? sure??? I didn’t know that was an option??? lol, but it’s quite good so I’m satisfied with that. Got that and took the train back to the office. I found out the deposition was supposed to sit in on had got switched to a different lawyer (they do that a lot) and been moved to by phone, so I didn't have to observe anymore because a lot of the point of having people sit in on them is having them observe their demeanor and how they would come off to a jury, so doing that by phone is kinda pointless. I was fine with this because it meant I’d have more time to work on the project that’s due tomorrow and I didn't know if I could finish in time if a deposition took a while. So I went back to my office and started tackling that. the underlying legal process is complicated so I won’t really go into it, but basically their cases of under-insured motorists where the person at fault’s car insurance limit isn’t enough to fully compensate the injured person, so the injured person then goes to their own insurance company, which usually fights them every step of the way because insurance companies are garbage, so basically we were just filling out a form assessing the state of the cases, but that requires going through like 100 or so documents per case with details scattered throughout, so you had to read every line. thankfully they’re digital at least so I didn’t have to deal with piles of paperwork (one of the things I did not appreciate while working for the government). So I ended up doing that for pretty much the rest of the day, I finished around 4 or so but didn’t email them in yet because the lady who assigned the task just re-assigned some to another guy and I didn’t want to get assigned more, lol. I ended up talking to one of the boss guys (I don’t know who the hell is my actual boss, everyone’s kinda my boss at this point, except the assistants at least, but this was the boss guy who likes me a lot and was one of the ones who interviewed me) about the blog post I wrote about the mass tort situation effecting a Chicago suburb right now (if you’re curious google “sterigenics willowbrook” but I’ll warn ya, it’s not pretty) and he read it and then said he thought it was excellent and that he was gonna talk to one of the head head people (one of the people who have the last name that the firm is named for, there’s a few of them, 3 I think? brothers) so I was pleased to hear that because I somehow get super self-conscious about my writing all the time even when I know I’ve been doing this shit for my dad since I was 12 and could practically write this stuff in my sleep, I feel like I lose perspective and I think if it wasn’t too difficult for me it must not be that good, but that’s not what’s ended up being true. so that was nice at least. I had to sort and count the folders for court in the morning which was fine, then I headed home. I got off the train at the stop by Target to pick up the prescriptions I dropped off yesterday since I don’t really have the time for Target trips during the week, getting on and off the train tends to be more practical. got the meds, and on my walk back to the train I ran into one of the lawyers who works at the domestic violence legal clinic that I haven’t seen in a few months so that was cool, I told her that I passed the bar and was at least employed (not where I want to be, but it’s money, and with the job market right now being what it is makes it even harder to get a public interest job) so she was very happy to hear that which was nice. I really did love working for their office, I found the work so fulfilling and I honestly used it as a way to talk about my skills and experience during a lot of interviews when it came to things like communicating with clients in tough situations who need your help but also your compassion, and I mean there aren’t many other situations where it’s just a law student and the client up in court, you’re the only emotional support they’ve got there, and if something goes wrong as it sometimes did, it was up to you to fix it, and I honestly feel like I gained so much knowledge from working those cases, and while I’m sure many would find the work depressing I always found it incredibly fulfilling and I was always itching to get back to working there when there was a new year or semester. but yeah, that was nice. I took the train the rest of the way home and from there changed into comfy clothing and got some dinner, then set up to watch the good place after chatting with my roommate for a bit about this past weekend in NY, shows and such. the good place continues to be hilarious, I laughed out loud for a solid 10 seconds when Eleanor called jury duty a “pointless group activity” because I mean?? she ain’t wrong lol. so that’s always enjoyable. when that was over I switched over to Iron Fist because I guess I’m this invested in season 2 already I might as well finish it. it’s not bad?? definitely better than the first season, though that’s not saying much, but also just not quite reaching the level you would expect it to be at which is disappointing. I’m currently living for Colleen and Misty teaming up and kicking ass, so as long as I get my awesome ladies I can deal with manboychild and his manboychild pain. After like an episode and a half (I had left off with half an episode left) I decided I wanted to do some kitchen organizing since I bought a lot of groceries this week in preparation for making more meals during the week, but since I wasn’t using anything right away I wanted to make sure it didn’t go bad, and I also accidentally got a 3 pound thing of ground turkey instead of a 1 lb thing (the perils of grocery shopping online) so I wanted to use my food scale to separate that into 1 lb portions, stick them in ziplock freezer bags and freeze them. so I did that, then I wanted to do the same with the frozen chicken I had bought (one bag of chicken breasts and one bag of chicken thighs because I’m trying to shake it up a bit) so I measured those out to roughly 1 lb portions which worked out pretty well, I had a bit left over from each bag that put together made about 1 lb, so I can figure out some way to use that. But yeah, did that, then went on my computer for a bit before getting ready for bed and here I am. oh, I said I was gonna take about swearing in. so I got the final all clear email today regarding the character and fitness committee thing for the bar that got dragged out way too long because the one person who still works at DCFS legal and could verify my employment there 1L summer was now on maternity leave, so I had to frantically message the woman who ran the family law center my first year (who now coincidentally works for the DV legal clinic) since she had knowledge of my internship and ask if she’d email her verifying it, which she very graciously did and I am eternally grateful, lol. but all of that to say that since that’s cleared I was able to pay the $50 licensing fee (leave it to Illinois to squeeze yet some more money out of you for the privilege of getting to practice law) and one of the bosses said today that as soon as we pay that we can go over to the appellate court and get sworn in, so that could happen like, next week??? there’s still like the formal ceremony and everything in the beginning of November that my parents are coming out for but this would just let me be able to practice until then so that’s like super exciting!! and scary haha but mostly exciting. okay, it’s 12:29 am, clearly time for me to go to bed so I will be doing that now. Goodnight dearies. Happy Friday.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Cells at Work! 13 (FINAL) | Double Decker! 2 | Slime Datta Ken 1 | Run with the Wind 1 | Bakumatsu 1 | Zombieland Saga 1 | DakaIchi 1 | Radiant 1 | SSSS.Gridman 1

Warning for discussion of 18+, potentially triggery things within the DakaIchi discussion...and the nature of that show being a yaoi will tell you whether you want to read that discussion in the first place. (There are full stops and lines around it in case you want to dodge that particular part, since Radiant comes right after it.)

...Otherwise, have at it.

Cells at Work! 13 (FINAL)

Apparently “distal” just means your extremities…

For some reason, I already knew about the fact that you can die from losing one third of your blood…because I read a Tumblr post that was meant to be for action writers and it was about blood loss.

…Huh? Was this a blood transfusion? That would explain why these new RBCs are so clueless about our RBC. Update: Yup, guessed it.

Come to think of it, there’s a WBC Nendoroid and a Platelet one but no RBC. That’s a bit disappointing…

The WBCs using that wobbly stick thing in the background are amusing, eheh.

Anyways, that was fun, even if I did get used to the routine of RBC getting lost and WBC fighting antigens in the end. See you next time!

Double Decker! 2

We’re now properly in the fall season, and of course now that the first drop’s out of the way, we’re starting with the best show this season (at least for the moment).

So does that mean if we’re NEETs we’re not paying for these detectives…? Is this an incentive for people to pay their taxes (LOL)…? (Okay, I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Sheesh.)

DD Partners…? Sounds…uh, partnery, considering what DD stands for.

Why is Travis blinking so much when he’s apologising…?

Snarky narrator is fun. I thought it was Kirill during ep 1 (or at least, it was for a bit), but now this narrator’s talking too much in 3rd person for it to be true. Maybe…it’s future Kirill. *collective facepalms from the peanut gallery* Or maybe it’s Kirill and a narrator, and Kirill will then break the 4th wall somewhere.

Now that’s monkeying around…LOL. *gets pelted by tomatoes* Oh c’mon, can’t I get in a decent joke around here?!

Well, as much as the can thing Doug does to Kirill is tropey for anime, I gotta admit this ain’t monkey busin-eh? You want me to stop with the jokes? Aw. Fine then, I’ll stop…

There’s something utterly relatable about having gone down the path of your dreams, only for it not to work out. In fact, I think I’m going down that path right now and I need to decide where to head next. That’s why I’m watching this episode right now – to make sure I don’t regret my future, by focussing on the present with a good anime.

According to this link to Google Books I got when I googled “ignis” and “desperatio” together, this might have something to do with a Panegyric of the Saints…something to do with hell, worms, fire and despair…? Uh, wuh? Am I just investigating this the wrong way?

Sanctus Bridge? As in “sanctuary”? Wow, that’s…ironic.

The rabbit police mascot…you can see it on Deana’s dashboard, LOL. Plus the bird police mascot that goes with it.

The name shots you get of these criminals aren’t nearly as good as “dick suck” (sic) in Kekkai Sensen, but they’re pretty close. Plus they actually do have correct Japanese translations, unlike “dick suck” (LOL).

Seriously, what’s up with Doug’s head prodding? Is it to stop him from trichotillomania (which is the pulling out of hair)? I can see it getting vaguely annoying when the excitement of a new season wears off…

The CGI is kind of awkward in this. You’d need to stare at it for a bit to realise it’s CGI and it’s not the worst effort I’ve seen (*grumbles* Tsukigakirei *grumble*) but it’s still pretty bad…

Oh! Those doors! Is Doug’s car…a DeLorean? (dramatic piano SFX in background)

Was it just me, or did Kirill’s face go funny for a second as he was moping about how he didn’t get to do anything…?

“Let me be your Double Decker!” – That’s what he says as a double decker bus goes by…clever wordplay, huh?

“One is poverty. The other is class.” – Okay, my studies tell me that’s pretty much impossible. Even in social situations, you have a clear leader and subordinates. Poverty is fine and dandy in regards to giving the boot – heck, that’s why things like the Millenium Development Goals exist (or rather, existed in that case, since those were replaced in 2015) – but class? That’s a bit of a difficult one, unless you want to resort to hardline socialist methods, Marxist methods…or communist ones. Not that any of those are bad, it’s just that I happen to like capitalism,even with its flaws and no matter what imbalances it causes to others. It’s just that not having capitalism would mean everyone’s equal, but then everyone’s worse off as a result…because if everyone has the same stuff, no one is different and no one is diverse enough to make anyone special. Get what I mean?

I think this episode sold me even more on the show, the premise…the everything. Except maybe that “I want to get rid of class” part.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 1

I just memorise this show as “Slime Datta Ken”, so if you’re wondering what that is…now you know.

What was that opening segment for, man…? This is just a boring isekai intro.

I’m laughing! He values his computer over his life? As much as I know I’m attached to my computer, you should prioritise 1) getting Mikami an ambulance, 2) stopping the blood flow or 3) just getting Mikami to preserve his own life. Not that I’ve ever been in a life or death scenario, but that’s common sense, even if it’s a bit nihilistic or unrealistic.

Seriously, there’s currently no pull but how intriguing these unexplained “acquisition” scenes are. Like seriously. Those effects are cool and somewhat intriguing in the same way as Juuni Taisen was.

The picture of a flower…where did it come from? A child? Hmm, interesting way to express such a though process.

The CGI of the reveal was actually really good. Like, Houseki no Kuni good!

Actually, this is very Houseki no Kuni. Reestablishing what it is that makes humans human and what causes a creature to live and all that.

I never knew a slime could be this expressive…

“I see you have guts.” – That’s probably something you shouldn’t say to a slime, LOL.

Oh! This reminds me of a writing piece I had to do one time where you had to tell a tale from a monster’s perspective and make them sympathetic. I wrote about a dragon, so there’s something nostalgic about this.

There really isn’t a lot of movement in this show. Not that I mind it – Juuni Taisen I used to love a bunch and that was based off a novel, but this is an LN-based show…the level of writing in this show is clearly from the LN camp, for one thing. How it got such great production values, however, is another question entirely…

The slime and dragon friendship that just formed made me wanna go “ET!”, just because the gesture they did to seal said friendship did kind of look like that, haha.

Mechasoft Doors MX…hey, I am getting my fix of anime OSs this season after all! Just…not in Gridman yet. Update: There are zero OSs in Gridman, not in episode 1 at least...

Oh wow! That fight scene was so darned cool! It makes me wanna see more already! And the fact he (I already know from promo material the slime’s name is Rimuru) uses his slime form and human form interchangeably…that’s even cooler!

The font down the bottom and up the top of the next episode box appears to say “Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken” (due to the frequency of one of the symbols that appears to be an S, then you do the same for E and you realise it works…then you realise the text is just stylised romaji). There are zeroes and ones on the left and right sides, which might correlate to Rimuru’s “analysis voice”…whatever that may be. Anyways, I’m pretty confident this’ll be something for my lineup, but it’s too early for judgement calls. It’s a keeper…for now.

Run with the Wind 1

Now here’s a show I didn’t expect to follow going in…I picked it up merely on ANN recs.

I’m laughing like a maniac! As much as it was a compelling opening, after the dude arrives on his bike and asks “Do you like running?” to a thief, I lost it. For some reason, I find it almost so unrealistic it became hilarious, in a stupid sort of way. Or maybe I just have a really bad sense of humour. Who knows?

That one guy running in the back in the OP is basically me every time I’m meant to do something physical. Even going up three floors via stairs gets me out of breath though and I live a fairly sedentary lifestyle, so I ain’t a good comparison.

That nickname “Shindo” puzzles me. I can’t think of a kanji combo that would result in wordplay with the characters for “god” and “child” using the name “Takashi Sugiyama”, but I guess maybe we’ll find out in a later episode…?

Thank…uh, goodness for the censorship on Musa…

Musa speaks unusually politely (because I noticed he used “gozonji desu” at one point, which is a keigo variant for “shitteiru”). Maybe it’s because they barely know each other that there’s keigo being flung about. That seems reasonable, at least.

There’s something authentic about this sense of camaraderie. I can tell because my extended family is huge, so gatherings are often like this but multiplied in scale.

“Tsuru no Yu” – Technically that translates to “Crane’s Bath”…”Public Bath” is the place’s purpose.

I was wondering why we’d somehow reverted to not having 10 dudes, but then they show this is actually Haiji’s perspective of the event from the start of the episode and show the scar on his knee. That’s gotta be important for later.

…and Haiji left his towel, LOL.

I still laugh every time I see Haiji’s stupid face (the one he makes when he asks “Do you like running?”).

I’ve associated the slurring of words like “yakusoku-ssu” to be for smol bishies like Yumoto, so having Haiji use it is a bit of whiplash. Then again, apparently that slurring is only used by men to assert their masculinity as far as I know…so, uh, yeah.

Actually…I’ve been wondering. How long are courses at this uni? Where I am, being a straight literature major is 3 years (assuming you also do other stuff that fulfils a straight Arts degree). Also, Fune wo Amu (by the same creator) is about a dude making a dictionary…hmm, so the creator really likes books.

Wait, as far as my short term memory operates, most of these guys at Chikuseisou do arts majors, aside from the law student and the smoker (who does engineering). They do literature or sociology, mostly. So if that’s correct…the author also likes sociology. I’ve been thinking about doing some sociology myself, it would really complement what I know about international studies.

As explained by Kyra, chiku – sei – sou. The sei means blue/green and the chiku means bamboo. Switching the two and reading them differently gives you “Aotake”.

Rent’s $300? Must be cheap, eh?

Also see Kyra’s post for information about the food-based suicide note.

The Kanto Gogakuren refers to this manga, Sakigake!! Otokojuku. It’s basically Again!!, but with more Fist of the North Star-style dudes.

Hmm…turns out you can refer to this show as KazeTsuyo. That’s going to make me confuse it with SekaTsuyo, though…(SekaTsuyo = Wanna Be the Strongest in the World!) Also, it turns out the character for “Kakeru” in this case means “to run” (normally it means “to dash” with a kanji normally used for flying). Wait…did I ever mention how much this show’s aesthetic visuals always look as if they’re a Powerpoint theme (see images below)? They do look like that, don’t they?

I still have no idea why Kakeru has a bad case of resting b**** face, but…uh yeah, forget I said that. The sound direction in this show’s really nice. It really takes advantage of quiet moment to insert natural sounds.

I think if you go “yes!” when Haiji says “I’m going to win over all the dudes”, then you’re sold on the show. I did go “yes”, just without speaking. You know those feelings you only get in your gut and heart? Yeah, like that.

Huh? I noticed a dude called Bruce Chiou is in the credits and he’s definitely on RErideD this season too…

Out of this one, Slime Datta Ken and Double Decker it’s ranked last, but this show’s still a pretty strong addition to the seasonal lineup. Only time will tell if I kick it out or not…

Bakumatsu 1

The only experience I have with this era in anime is Bakumatsu Rock, I think…and that means I don’t know much about it.

Actually…considering the OP, scratch that. I know a bunch because of Touken Ranbu and other similar historical shows.

A…boob window? On a man? I get the black skintight vest is meant to be sexy, but I can’t see the point of that diamond…it’s just something extra for the animators and the illustrators to deal with.

C’mon. Can we not have Dudes Swishing Their Swords at the 4th Wall as something meant to hype up the audience? It’s a cliché, almost as bad as the running scenes you often get in OPs and EDs…Seriously, I can’t believe I’m getting mad at 10 dudes swinging their swords like this (specifically I’m getting mad because they were all in succession – doesn’t matter if it was in time to the music or not).

Okay, who transplanted WWI into this? I know that’s the point of the show, but the sepia really sold the idea of “this is meant to be Old-Timey Wimey Stuff and whoever’s meant to be watching is meant to be a history buff so they can spot the difference”.

Part of the ep title is “Mou Ichido no Bakumatsu”, so a better translation is “The Bakumatsu (Era) – Again!”

Wait, I thought Kondo was meant to look hotter than this (especially because he had what appears to be a coin – or an old-timey family crest – on his head). The frumpy mouth doesn’t sell the goods, yo.

Somehow…I knew Katsura would have glasses. He has them in Bakumatsu Rock. But is it historically accurate to have glasses in the Bakumatsu era, though?

Come to think of it…something that controls time would be pretty hard to destroy, no?

I think I read on ANN that swords being too big to draw in ship quarters is accurate. Hmm.

If this is such an important treasure…then why not have more padlocks on it? Or more guards closer to it (although those guys probably ran away)? Or some other protection around it? Couldn’t this supposed Yoshinobu-sama fight for himself?...Then again, I think this is just a case of overthinking. (insert MST3K mantra here)

Puh-lease. As much as I want a kunoichi (lady ninja) in my shows, don’t make them Naruto run. That’s one of my pet peeves…

Uh…Hagi? That’s probably it, considering there’s a river in the show.

Kakesoba.

Kamaboko.

Tanuki soba.

Well, there’s something to be said about being able to steal Shinsengumi jackets while the men are eating noodles. At least it didn’t involve knocking them out though (weak LOL).

Okay…why do the Shinsengumi look like waiters now? As much as I like a dude in a waiter suit, if I wanted a waiter, I’d go to a fancy French restaurant…

I feel like I’m being clubbed over the head with themes in this show. C’mon, have more tact than that.

There’s basically no chemistry between these guys (Katsura and Shinsaku). How did they meet?

Wait, so Darker Blue is Sakamoto if Green is Katsura and Red is Shinsaku? Sakamoto (Ryouma) is the redhead in Bakumatsu Rock, isn’t he? Okay then. But who’s White?

Seriously, Shinsaku. Learn from the kunoichi and stay quiet and stealthy. I don’t need another shonen hero…

Oh man, Toshizou is normally one of the Shinsengumi I like best (or at least I recognise his name more) out of these kinds of shows. If he has Perma-Scowl, I can’t possibly like this version.

Oh goodness. Souji’s a friggin’ sadist. Come to think of it though, I think this (Okita) Souji looks like the one from Gintama.

Why does Toshizou sound a frigton like any given Touken Ranbu sword…?

If that katana is symbolic…Toshizou must be hecka masculine, LEL. (Note: A “LEL” is not quite a LOL, it’s mostly done in jest. If anything, it’s probably about half a LOL.)

If that blonde ain’t Abe no Seimei, Yoshinobu-sama or some other important historical figure I know the name of, I’m eating my hat! (Not that I’m wearing one, it’s a figure of speech.)

I like Sakamoto’s face here, but man, I get distracted by the man candy below it…(i.e. his abs and bare chest, LOL. What did you think I was referring to?)

Oh great. (sarcastic) Sanada Yukimura almost always has that silly helmet, ever since Sengoku Musou I’ve pretty much tried to run away from it. I’d recognise it anywhere.

Who had the grand idea of letting Sanada keep his horse, anyway?

Okay, as much as I like making snarky comments, I made one too many here, methinks. Time for the drop pile.

Zombieland Saga 1

I read spoilers just a little bit, so I know the main twist is “zombie idols that sing death metal” already. If you didn’t want to know that at this point…sorry.

Whoa! They killed their protag off the bat? Not that I didn’t know that wouldn’t happen (already knew it would), but that’s gutsy. Truck-kun, go back to your darn isekai shows already.

Okay, I know this is a schoolgirl, but can we not with Sakura’s Schoolgirl Run for Dainty Ladies? This is a zombie show, dangit. Run properly. Can we also not with the boob jiggle?

Well, that’s one way to defeat a police officer (or get yourself arrested): Spade to the Brain.

Otsumami appears to be the name for the squid in Kotaro’s pocket.

You can’t see Kotaro’s eyes, even behind those sunnies…hmm…

Wow. Miyano sounds like he’s having such fun voicing Kotaro, y’know?

From the flyer: “They are coming soon from the underground...” Yup, that’s right, alright. Zombies have already come from the underground.

Tae’s credited under ????. They’re still holding out on us!

It seems like a pretty good keeper, provided you can keep up with who’s who.

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DakaIchi 1

Yep, the BL anime. Thought I’d never try one? Think again.

As much as I do think I’d want to be hugged by Takato, his face…makes him look like he came out of Junjou Romantica…? Uhh…awkward.

Please don’t let this be a work full of sadism and BDSM. I’m not that kinky, y’know…?

Uh, if you ever knew “boundaries”, Azumaya, that would be great. Thanks.

LOL, what a way to win a dude over. $10! That is cheap for a star.

I’m still wondering if this all constitutes “assault” or some other illegal business. I mean, Takato agreed to everything under the influence of a bunch of drinks.

LOL, the director’s shirt says “concentration”. As in, “focus on the stuff you’re doing”.

Hey wait, how does anyone pull off a kabedon on an operation curtain?!

Uh…maybe it’s just my inexperience with the genre, but…what the heck was that scene with the feathers?

Dangit, Yaoi Hands. If I weren’t so aware of you already, you wouldn’t be breaking the immersion of this show!!!

Random Dance Ending? I so did not expect that, I’m laughing as a result.

Uhh…I cannot believe I did that. I watched an episode of a yaoi anime and coveredit without it ruining my pride! To think I watched 18+ shoujo ai before 18+ shonen ai is really something I cannot get my head around, though…not that I will ever tell you which shoujo ai show I watched. So…uh, it was actually pretty decent aside from the “I don’t get what the heck this scene is meant to be” bits which are probably staples of the genre.

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Radiant 1

Uhh…why do I feel like I’m watching Deltora Quest for the 3rd time? Not that Deltora Quest is bad, it’s just too stereotypically high fantasy.

Mahoutsukai. Literally “mage”, but could be “wizard” or “sorcerer” if you went with it loosely. Then again, the French word for sorcerer must be pretty close to the English one which should be enough of a guide for translators, right?

Eh? It’s an…elephant –cow? What is this, Avatar  the Last Airbender? (half-snarking)

I think as the show goes along, its comedic timing is actually getting…better. That’s something, huh?

The show’s just a tiny bit too heavy-handed with its themes of racism or whatever sorcerers stand for. Then again, this is a shonen show. It’s allowed to be this way.

Geez, stylised English really is the order of the day for anime these days, huh? Lessee here…Alma’s…uh, Observatory, I think it says…?

Uh…all this talk about grimoires is giving me bad flashbacks…bad, screamy flashbacks involving a certain Asta…

I just noticed Alma gets referred to that way by Seth. Are these two not related, even though they share the same house (?) and hair colour?

Oh great. (sarcastic) Toilet humour. One of my worst enemies, aside from fanservice…

What’s up with the bat (?)? It knd of seems to be Alma’s…

Hey, I…think I know this kind of story too well. It’s going to eventually end, after a long run, with an adult Seth and that girl from one of the key visuals together…or something. Shonen are weird like that. They always end with a happily ever after and an adult protagonist, or the “the adventure just keeps happening!” sort of thing…y’know?

The plural of Nemesis is “Nemeses”, but it seems the book Seth read said “Nemesis’ Egg”. So the plural is the same as the singular in this case.

Huh? They chose to put both fancily-written French and then Japanese under it, as a homage to the French origins of this work? Huh, interesting.

Tommy’s saying “Gyaaaaah!” not “Yaaaaaaah!” - there’s a difference between those two, y’know?

SSSS.Gridman 1

As a self-professed fan of heroes who never actually got into tokusatsu because I keep missing Power Rangers when it airs on local TV stations, this and Garo are filling in a genre space I never really had until I started wandering tokusatsu wikis...which was before the live-action Power Rangers came out, methinks.

Why do I feel like I’ve seen this font (the one “SSSS.Gridman” is written in)? I thought it was a Calvin Harris music video, since I have a few downloaded legally (due to a CD I found in one particular library), but Harris’s font is slightly different to this one…Well, after some experimentation, it seems to be Arial with extra kerning.

“Amnesiac” is starting to become an anime trope in itself…

Seven-Two-One, LOL.

Ahh, children in puberty. Can’t tell whether relationships are romantic or just platonic. (wistful)

If Utsumi isn’t the goth dude from earlier, I’m eating my hat! (Not that I’m wearing one right-oh, I’ve used this joke before, haven’t I?)

…dangit, now I have to eat my metaphorical hat. By the by, I thought Utsumi was an Ume sort of character (as in, the type who would usually get voiced by Yuichiro Umehara), but no, it was Soma Saito.

The girl with the purple hair reminds me of the Administrator (or whatever her name is, the AI) from Yakusoku no Nanayamatsuri.

Regardless of whether the scene was with volume or not, that awkward pause between Shinjo, Utsumi and Hibiki went just a weeny bit too long…

When Takarada approached Utsumi and Hibiki, the colours of her earphones and eyes really popped!

They seem to treat memory loss as something minor, like a cold. It’s a bit awkward, I think.

Utsumi, kid. If you think computers from the 70s and 80s are huge, you should see server rooms! Those computers are huge! Not to mention, the first computers filled up entire rooms (just like servers do). Even portable server units are about a good 160 cm tall with wheels…oh, you don’t want to hear me prattle on about this? Okay, moving on.

“This really is a pile of junk, huh?” I had to go back and check someone hadn’t skipped a word – they did skip the word, in fact.

T-This is what Trigger have held out on us for? A monster like this looks terrible in CGI, man. Even if it is one of the better efforts. I mean, the eyes don’t even look in the same direction…

Why does Utsumi refer to the computer as “Junk”?

The Ultra series? Y’mean Ultraman?

Let’s just say…Gridman looks much better than the kaiju here.

They didn’t even dispose of the kaiju head properly, LOL.

I feel like the battle didn’t quite get my blood boiling. (Probably because I was grumbling too hard at the kaiju and the parts where the execution got a little too silly.) I’ll put it on hold and see if it gets better in a few episodes, but I’m not holding my breath. Since this is Trigger, it could pull off some great stuff if it tried…it’s just this seemed a little soulless in comparison to everything else I’ve seen them do. Or maybe my increased consumption of anime this year has left me jaded...