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nextwarden · 4 years

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Webtoons are good for the soul [Long post] [but worth it] [hopefully]

Bit of a long one (for a change...), sorry.

I haven’t read that many that’s a lie but here are my favs!

Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe [ongoing - every Sunday]

or when Hades met Persephone. It’s a love story, fluffy yet deep and sad at times. Very well told and with incredible art (as you can see from the cover ci-dessus), in a pastel/watercolour fluid style, as is the storytelling. It has compelling characters, character growth, love, funny moments, and basically the best you could ask from a romantic story. And it had enough material to get you through good number of hours of reading before you have to break down every sunday in wait of the following week like the rest of us.

mah-hart-mah-sole/10

Love Advice From the Great Duke of Hell by unfins [ongoing - every Friday]

Paul is in love with a cute girl who works in a café nearby. But Paul is shy and can’t work out how to go ask her out. So Paul does what anyone would do and summons one of the Great Dukes of Hell in order to get better at fumbling his sentences and blushing at beautiful maidens. It’s about discovery of one’s true self and how getting deep into shenanigans will lead you to find so much more. Also, sister. (You’ll understand when you get there.)

It’s funny but also compelling and serious but still incredibly funny. I don’t think I’ve laughed as much reading any other webtoon and yet the story is also really cool. It strikes a perfect balance, or near perfect. The expressions and the action scenes are just incredible too.

chenandeler bong/10

Suitor Armor by Purpah [ongoing - every Friday]

In a land with magic and war between humans and fairies, Lucia is the princess’s lady in waiting and her only goal in life at the moment is to get her Lady to have the wedding she wishes for and deserves. But then she gets a flower from a magic armor and everything changes. Also, she’s a fairy.

It’s well drawn, characters all seem unique, varied and personnality-driven. The art style is beautiful. It’s also deeper than what I expected, with inklings of different types and levels of drama.

Alright, I’ll say it, it feels like a ‘promising new Lore Olympus’. By which I mean not to compare but simply to say I felt as taken by the story as I did with L.O.

Modeus/10

Facing the Sun by ArtbyTesslyn [ongoing]

Aarya reaserches the intricacies of dobotics and artificial intelligence with her companion robot Liza who's expiration is long everdue. Things change with a hardware update. One can’t live without the other, and neither can the other.

It’s dark but beautiful, both in the art and in the story. The sci-fi elements aren’t overwhelming and pieces of lore bring begin to pain a picture over time. It’s a slow burn but oh lord! if it isn’t going to be blazing hot...

I Robot/10

Spellbound by Ronce [ongoing]

Eglantine joins a new highschool midyear and finds herself paired with a refractarian roommate. She does her best to fit in to her new school despite not conforming to all the expectations that others might have of her. Or of her strange but likeable roommate.

It’s a cute and queer little romance, very underrated in my opinion. The art is wonderful, it’s black and white in the beginning and starts having touches of colour here and there before going full blown coloured, and I didn’t even realize it had until many chapters into it... The characters all all diverse and interesting. Also did I forget to say it’s set in France and it’s a wizarding school? Because it is!

conseiller principal d’éducation/10

180 Angel by King Katbird [ongoing]

Chloe is an angel, she lives in Heaven and goes to school in the hopes of becoming a delivery angel one day! However her plan are compromised by her inability to do anything well except halo manipulation. Even flying is not easy for her. But a fateful meeting with a reaper sends her on a trip to Hell and back which changes her. Or is it that she had always been different?

It may not seem much from the banner but I tried it and I got hooke. The art is great and still improves over time, the plot takes a bit of time to set in - I’m still not sure it’s fully set in yet - but it’s worth it, and the characters are visually deep. It sometimes jumps weirdly between scenes or sequences but not so much it completely loses you.

LAMP/10

Letters on the Wall by JaelynGs [ongoing]

Tara comes back fom spain after a five years abroad to find things have changed and others haven’t, to her equal pleasure and dismay. This is how she and her friends deal with these old relatioships that they are now reviving.

Everything doesn’t go smoothly despite each and every character deserving them to. The art is good to begin with and manages to improve over time, as well as the storytelling. Where it might have been a bit hectic before, it smoothes over time. It was for the longest time the only reason I would stalk Webtoons everyday to see if there was any updates. Also each chapter has a colour in the name and that’s just cool!

If Da Yomanville Gang [see below] got me to come to Webtoons, this sealed the deal for me to stay. [And then there was Lore Olympus.]/10

Not So Shoujo Love Story by Curryuku [ongoing - every Tuesday]

Rei Chan-chan loves Hansum, the chin chin chinny goodest looking student, more than she loves her shoujo manga. But gorgeous Hannah is in her way and won’t seem to let her get her way with him. Why is that? Well, gaybe there’s a secret hidden behind her motives? Read it to find out...

It’s funny, it’s cute, and it’s so, so stupid. I love them all. It’s dumb but so much fun to read. There aren’t that many chapters yet but enough to get into it. Also, sisters. (You’ll understand when you get there. Bis) So this is what the spring of youth feels like, huh...

chips/10

Always Human by walkingnorth [completed]

Sunati, a young engineer in training, fan of all those mods you can add to change your appearance, meets Austen, a beautiful yet modless girl who she’s been admiring from afar for a while now. She thinks the girl’s beautiful, but sdly she’s refused when she asks her out on a date, and for rather good reasons.

Now watch as they gravitate around each other and how it influences them both.

It’s a slow-burn quite realistic lesbian sci-fi story about finding love and accepting oneself and others in the midst of life and all it brings upon us. It’s cute, it’s fluffy, and it’s heartwarming despite broaching serious subjects - in a good way -, and it’s finished so you can read the whole thing! (It has enough chapters to give you a few hours of reading)

hay fever sucks/10

Da Yomanville Gang by Jason King [ongoing - every Tuesday]

Layla moved recently, to get away from a dose of angst she didn’t want to have to deal with. She meets new people, fun and friendly people, but it seems the angst can’t quite seem to leave her alone. Alone is what she’s not to deal with it anymore, however.

This is the one, long before Lore Olympus, which brought bme over to Webtoons. It’s not the best drawn, not the most compelling, but the strong point and what made me love it - beyond Layla’s chara design - is the depth of most of the characters, how not all good is good and all bad is bad, and reality often lies in the middle - and how they evolve over the course of the story. Definitely worth a read.

wheelbarrow/10

Love Bot by Chase Keels and Miranda Mundt [ongoing - every Sunday]

In the near future - the year is (Blade Runner) 2049 - technology has advanced enough to creat pseudo-artificial intelligence and thus lovebots. Xada mods and repairs those emotionnaly intelligent robots for a living. What brings this story about is him toying with a less-than-friendly client’s bot so much so that he finds himself in quite a pickle when the bot ‘wakes up’.

It seems to be BL. Let it be BL, please! The art is very nice, the story feels dark but the pitch give way to many interesting possibilities, and, well, the characters are quite nice to look at, I’ll admit... Also, angst. I don’t always enjoy it but when I do, I do.

Not many chapters but it’s getting there.

i’ll let you bot my love/10

Mage & Demon Queen by Color_LES [ongoing - every Thusday]

Malori is the best and the most promising mage student at her school. Aided by Cerik, her best friend and swordsman party member, she attempts to conquer the last floor of the demon tower, reigned over by the ferocious Velverosa, the demon queen, whose defeat will bring glory and richess to those who defeat her. But all is not quite as it seems and, what is that, might it be a crush I see over there? Oh, wait, no, that’s just our protagonist getting squished by the weight of her love...

Once again, it’s fun and stupid (a pattern? noooo) but it’s worth a read.

LES/10

Down to Earth by Pookie Senpai [ongoing - every Tuesday]

Kade live alone and depressed in spite of fleeting relatioships since his big breakup, content with simply going by life while he works in retail. One day, an alien crashes into his backyard. Zaida’s an alien but she’s cute, seems innocent, is unfamiliar with everything, so he agrees to help. Thus begins a slice of life story of them roommating in his appartment until, maybe, one of them crashes into the other’s heart?

It’s cute, heartwarming, and I sort f relate with the main character. Although I don’t know if’d prefer a cute alien, a dragon or a stalking neighbour... [that’s an inside joke, I’ll explain if I ever make a list of the good yamete onii-chan! I’ve been reading] It’s a slow burn with enough depth to hook you up. Some characters are still uncertain in my eyes but that makes me curious.

loner/10

The Remarried Empress by Alphatart / Sumpul [ongoing - every Wednesday and Sunday]

Navier Ellie Trovi is an empress. Perfect and perfectly content in every way with her life until the day a mistress enters her husband’s life. Things sort of go downhill from there. Or do they? For she also learns about herself and what she might actually want out of life to be happy. Breaking the status quo might be the way.

It feels like one of those poor quality isekai comics or manga in which the MC is brought back to a time where she has the power to change her life and decides for emancipation and revenge, but it’s not. It’s more ‘yolo’ and had interesting characters, especially the MC - no pushover - and a slow-burn plot. Don’t expect to see the flash-forward in the first chapter quite yet, but come to experience the whole affaire in detail and in the most satisfying of ways! Also the art is cool!

divorce/10

Muted by Miranda Mundt [ongoing - every Friday]

On her 21st birthday, Camille fails the ritual to become a full-fledged witch and is isolated from what remains of her old and successful family. This leads to her discovering truths about herself and her powers that will change her and those around her.

By the same author as Love Bot. I haven’t read the whole thing yet but the designs are good, the plot is interesting, the characters have depth and personnality, it has witches, magic, romance [I guess, still unsure of the details though], a bit of angst, and it’s set in Louisianna. All good points.

plant magic/10

Cursed Princess Club by LambCat [ongoing - every Monday]

Gwendolyn and her sisters, each a princess in their own right, are set to be betrothed to three princes of a neighbouring country after living all their lives happy and sheltered with their father and brother. Unfortunately, Gwendolyn is not like her sisters - and brother, for that matter - in that her beauty is... less than conventionnal. Devastated by what outsiders think of her she escapes into the forest and meets kindred spirits in the form of the Cursed Princess Club - non-gendered, they also have that one prince there! - and it might just help her grow into the confident woman she is destined to become.

I clicked for the funny hahas ‘because she’s ugly’ and cursed princess trope, I stayed for the genuine laughs and smiles and the heartwarming good nature of most of te characters. Also, haha, funny characters are funny. So, yeah, I started this with a bias - still haven’t caught up yet - and have been seduced by this lesser known webtoon. Don’t let the visuals fool you, it’s really good!

respect wahmen/10

Andy Bass by KenneDuck / Gia [ongoing - every Friday]

Andy Bass is our average highschool girl. Litterally. She’s half human, half fish, a real mermaid but vertically. That leads to less-than-friendly looks and reactions from others. However, the arrival of a new, and frankly very cute, transfer student might change all that.

Haven’t read it all yet, not that there are many chapters out, but it feel fun and promising. Also, physically imperfect characters are best characters. Down with the reign of beauty and up with 𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔪𝔲𝔫𝔦𝔰𝔪!

Chin Hansum 2.0/10

For the Sake of Sita by Haga [completed]

A medical student passionately falls in love with a fallen goddess during his volunteer abroad in Nepal, and he desperately tries to fight off destiny to save his love. [the actual summary]

Okay, I’ll be honest: I haven’t quite read that one yet. I’m guilty of only having looked at the beginning and the end to see if it seemed worth it and, oh my gorsh! it does. The art is beautiful, the story seems sad yet beautiful too (I had tears reading the last chapters without knowing much of the rest) and it’s short, so jump on it!

[I’ll probably come back to that later when I’ve actually read it completely]/10

Us Right Now by yurineseventeen [ongoing]

Rina's long-term girlfriend, Noa, decides to run away from home. Rina has limited time to find her.

Not much more to say other than it’s sweet and it feels real. I like the beginning, haven’t read the rest yet, but will definitely soon.

keep going/10

New Normal: Class 8 by Youngpaka [ongoing - every Sunday]

Dongwoon has a big head. It does not make life easy. But what if he wasn’t alone being so... different? He discovers it is the case when he joins his new school a special class full of people who are different. Things get weird fast but also better and fun.

I haven’t read this in a long time, it’s on my list though. But until the moment I stopped at least, it was fun, funny, and interesting. It’s slice-of-life comedy, often ligthearted and stupid, sometimes more serious, but globally a pleasure to read.

sensei/10

The Witch and The Bull by Moonsia [ongoing - every Thursday]

Tan's job as the King's royal advisor has nothing to do with his hatred for witches, but it does make him a prime target for a curse that turns him into a BULL! The only way to undo this hex is to rely on the beautiful witch, Aro. Can her kindness turn his feelings around, and break this spell? [the actual summary]

There are two bulls and they have to ask it questions to know which is the real bull? I dunno, I haven’t read this one... But it’s been recommnded by @berigolote so it’s worth a try I guess? She did recommend Lore Olympus to me, so it’s on my list anyway.

to try/10

The Right Knight and Our Days in Lumain by buttersphere [completed & ongoing]

A fun short comic about a play on the ‘knight comes to fight dragon to save princess in her tower’ trope and it’s sequel. The sequel is not finished yet (seems on hiatus) but they are worth the read for cute, funny, fluffy knight and dragon/witch romance and grumpy princesses.

need more/10

NetOL by Forever9Nine [completed]

A slice of life comic about a veeery shy cat-girl (not literally) falling in love with a warm-tempered bookshop employee ( and NOT her colleague), and all the shenanigans that ensue. It’s short, it’s fun, and it’s cute. What more to ask?

oh wow sports/10

Susuhara is a Demon by Soya S. Holm [ongoing]

The usual romance storyof perfectly perfect girl meets absolutely bazongers delinquent and reluctantly carries her unconscious ass to her appartment to help her after witnessing a gang fight between multiple idiots and her (future) idiot and saving her from a knife attack by bashing the last standing dude with a wooden shop sign. Legend says there’s a demon in K-city, I still am unsure of whom it might be.

fun/10

It Stems From Love by Soya S. Holm [competed]

A short story about a girl who loves flowers and finds herself unexpectedly coughing them up dramatically whenever she’s jealous of those around her crush. It’s short, it’s cute, a bit dark at times, but definitely worth a read!

bouquet final/10

Lesbiampires by fabarts [ongoing]

So, yeah, lesbian vampires. Nuffin’ ta add.

Well, anyway, it’s cute, it’s funny, it’s serious too, it makes me root for antihero type characters who actually murder people for fun (but in a fun and respectful way, I swear!) because, well, love./10

Perfect Harmony by bluebloodtanuki [ongoing]

An Overwatch fan-comic about Symmetra and her disaster roommates.

I don’t play Overatch but I like the lore and got dragged into fanfiction and shipping (by myself, mind you), so a fan-comic about similar dynamics AND it’s funny? Gimme.

Roadhog & Junkrat best duo/10

Love Doesn’t Talk by Ann [completed?]

A misunderstanding is fine. Two? Hmmm. Three? Surely that’s fate, no?

A cute love story unfolding before your eyes with no dialogue, only pretty pictures. I’m not actually sure it’s completed but even if it isn’t, the ending doesn’t feel disappointing in the least.

no words/10

AntiSTALKER by VOKIVORMOK [ongoing - every Thursday]

Humans, vampires and werewolves all cohabitate in this freaky highschool, despite tensions between the three races. A bittersweet yet fun love story between a fake stalker and his amnesiac prey...

Eugene wants Kira’s heart, she wants his head.

who?/10

Kiss It Goodbye by Ticcytx [ongoing]

Two lesbians in love recount to their drunk friends the story of how they met. It’s fun and cute, both in story and in art.

delinquent x prim&proper/10

Avril and the Divine Being by Charlie Genmor [ongoing]

Avril is a waitress, Cat is a reccuring client. Feeling blossom before they even exchange words and when they finally do, embarassment ensues.

I got hooked by the art style for this one and I have yet to be disappointed. Not many chapters but keep it close.

sunny/10

Sunflower by EtoileKonijn [ongoing]

Wednesday, an art student, meets Sophie, a friend of a friend. Feelings ensue. It’s beginning to have a good number of chapters (even if they are short) and it feels like it’s actually the slowest burn of them all. Very much worth a read though, for the art style especially.

cute/10

It Takes Two by love_of_pi [ongoing]

Common art style: imperfect but improving. Classic story: normal girl meets famous girl by accident and leave a great first impression. Shenanigans and romance ensue. However the tints of drama, the fun interaction between characters, and the smooth plot make it worth it.

Honolulu latte/10

A Mild Flavor by Ru-rin [ongoing]

A slice of life of different couples. One with a compromised relationship and bittersweet reflections of the past, and the other which is hidden from plain sight, at different times if life. It is not perfect but it managed to worm its way into my heart nonetheless.

tasty/10

The Greenhouse by Viesallon [ongoing]

Another one I haven’t read, but from the extracts I’ve seen the art is compelling, the story seems worth it - definitely deserves the drama tag it seems - and I keep it on my shortlist until I have time to read it.

supernatural/10

My Masochistic Boss by Arisas_Art [ongoing]

Debuting goth writer meets hellish boss of editing company about her new book. Disagreement and tensions ensue. It starts with a slap and might very well end in bed, stay tuned!

This one rebooted recently and the art is soooo beautiful, moreso than before is I may say.

sexy/10

Still Alive by Comic Kat19 [ongoing]

Half-zombie girl meets emo boy, baby ensues.

After the zombie apocalypse, they have to survive, and despite their differences, maybe together is better?

This I classify in the ‘Yuuutsu-kun to Succubus-san‘ category: a somewhat rough art style that I have come to love and enjoy greatly. Also the story is fun.

cat creature/10

The Biggest of Treasures by Aixn [ongoing]

That smile, that damn smile. It’s what got me to try and it got me to stay. The art style is beautiful and the chara designs is too. The plot? Not much to say yet, but cuteness is enough.

bright/10

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And there you go for now. These are my picks. I haven’t read everything on Webtoon, I haven’t even read everything I’ve subscribed to, but if I had to recommend anything I have tasted, here it is.

Sorry if I missed any you deem worthy; feel free to harass me and mock my lack of culture by flaunting your own.

Maybe more later, in the mean time: keep scrolling, scrub!

PART II

#webtoon #webcomics #comics #lore olympus #recommendations #yes i like cheesy romance stories so what?#about wlw #but not only #yes i also have a dumb child's humour #all of them deserve more views #long post #mega thread #look at what i'm doing instead of working on my finals #help

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melodyalanaroster · 3 years

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To answer some Fanfic Questions...

So, this is my response to @broxklynn‘s post... I decided to make this its own post... So that It can be properly answered.

1. How and why did you start to write? Is there some kind of story behind it?

I started writing in general when I was in elementary school... Back when I just had a Platform 9 3/4 journal, not many friends, recess, and a desire to immerse myself in the world of Harry Potter. I enjoyed writing, and even joined the Writer’s Club in High School (but I eventually left to join Anime Club and Divergent Thinking Society). As for writing MCL fanfiction, I began writing Sam’s and Alana’s stories as early as when I first got into the fandom, back in 2013. Alana’s story started out as “A Fresh Start”, had a one shot called “When I Wake”, then turned into “Let The Dawn Be Broken”, and is now “The Melancholy Of Melody Alana Roster”. The final product barely has any hints of the first 3... In fact, Sam’s story, “Fighting Darkness”, has been completely debunked due to what I’ve decided to canonize in “The Melancholy Of Melody Alana Roster”. Writing MCL fanfiction has been a major help in distracting me from the depression that was caused by family issues, severe abuse, Stockholm Syndrome, my mom’s disease and her death, as well as working at several shitty jobs. Writing has helped me escape reality and keep myself sane enough to not be a black hole of hate, anger, and sadness to my friends and boyfriend.

2. What do you struggle the most with your writing?

There are 2 major things I struggle with... 1 is Timing. I often set deadlines for myself that I never meet and it makes me so frustrated that I miss them... There are currently things in my drafts that were meant to be “Holiday Specials” for Valentine’s Day and Halloween 2020 that are still unfinished... It makes me feel like I’m letting my readers down, when its more of me letting myself down... The other thing is Inspiration. Because I hate my job, I often think about Alana’s story in an effort to not be completely consumed by the fact that I do hate my work... Due to that, I often come up with ideas for my story that I think are FANTASTIC for my story... But, by the time I get home, I’m either in too much pain or too tired to write, or I’ve forgotten the ideas...

3. What is your favorite genre to write?

I love writing Romance with a bit of Slice of Life and a hint of Action/Adventure...

4. Slowburn or “Flame”/PWP?

Slow burn any day.

5. How do you overcome writer’s block?

If I absolutely can’t write... I work on other stuff I need to do... Typically, something around the house, or something online I need to do... I also look for cool stuff to add to wish lists... I’ll occasionally play videogames or read comic books... In an effort to subvert writer’s block, I like having multiple chapters in my drafts at once. If I’m not in the mood to work on one chapter, I can work on a different one.

6. What kind of thing you dislike the most, when reading a fanfiction? (for example: particular plot, grammar mistakes)

One thing that makes me upset (and it makes me madder when I do this) is misspelling... Especially when it looks like its almost blatant... You have autocorrect, USE IT! Or when a fanfic is so awful, yet the author acts like their work is a gift from god... I don’t mind a “bad” fanfiction... Hell, the concept of “My Immortal” is so bad that its hilarious... But Fifty Shades did a lot of damage and E.L. James acts like she’s bigger than Jesus... Seriously, she wrote Twilight fanfiction, changed some minor details and names, people who have no knowledge of BDSM ate it up, and she acts like she’s a “Sex and Relationship Guru”...

7. What’s the biggest issue for you, when writing a Beemoov fanfiction?

The biggest issue for me is finding out when to allow for Beemoov’s writing and placement to take place in my story. I don’t like a lot of the events of UL and LL, so I’m often finding myself in a position where I have to watch video playthroughs and go “Okay, how can I omit this character, but keep this scene?”. I’ve had to do that A LOT with Alexy and Rosalaya.... Although, to a certain extent, I’ll often cut their scenes out altogether. I really hate what Beemoov did to them. They were great characters in HSL, but became utter shit in UL and stayed shit in LL. To make up for Beemoov’s writing style, I’ve created my own characters, added in old characters (like Kentin and Armin), added in bits from the manga (like Viktor, Severina and their fathers), and gone off on my own storyline. The Melancholy Of Melody Alana Roster is close to MCL at times, but often veers off onto its own road.

8. Have you ever created a character based on person in real life? (celebrity, someone that you know, etc)

YES!!! A LOT of characters in my story are based on real people! Alana’s step-father, Nate Films, is closely based on Nathan Fillion. A lot of her family members are based on members of my own family, just changed a bit to fit the story. Lynne Roster, Alana’s mom, is what I had always dreamed my own mom would be... Hell, Alana’s cat, Sylvester, is based on my own childhood cat, Luna.

9. How do you feel about your own characters? Do you think of them as your babies or have rather love-hate relationship with them? (And, do you have favorite one?)

I love most of my characters. I do hate 3 in particular... But, you’re supposed to hate, or at least not respect, them... That’s why I poured my hatred into them... Those 3 are Carol, Kai and Azrael. Carol has aspects of my abuser in her. You’ll see more of her when I finally post the HSL related chapters... And understand what I mean... Kai is based on one of my real life cousins that I’ve not been happy with for years (the one who my bf has deemed “the family failure”). You mainly see him in the Cousin Mels chapters, and in the Christmas Special... Azrael is the one who is seen the most in the UL chapters, and she is a main adversary for Alana. She is the one who broke her the most, the one who ended Alana’s relationship with Nathaniel, the one who truly traumatized her. As for ones I love... The one I love the most is Alana... I know, she’s a reflection of me, so that’s kind of vain... But, she’s a part of me. When I do finish her story and am at the point where I need to say “Goodbye”, it will hurt....

10. Enemies-to-lovers or friends/bestfriends-to lovers?

Definitely friends/best friends to lovers. I also like toying with what happens when best friends turn to lovers, but circumstance parts them and one moves on...

11. Is it easy for you to get inside your character’s head? Can you empathize with them? Is there’s some similarities between you and your main character?

It is VERY easy for me to get into Alana’s head... Like I said in #9, she is a reflection of me. She looks and acts like how I’d like to in a lot of situations... Her life is more interesting, traumatized, and more well off than mine... But, she is still me in major ways...

12. Who has been the biggest supporter of your writing?

Definitely my boyfriend. He doesn’t really understand the game itself... But, he likes how happy it makes me and he respects how much of my heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears that I’ve poured into writing my story. He loves listening to me read passages from it to him while I’m working. He gives me advice and his opinion is highly valued... My family knows I’m writing a large story, and have seen some of the images that I’ve gotten commissioned, but they don’t really know or care about the game. They do respect the fact that I am writing. They love the fact that I’m slightly following in my mom’s footsteps in that regard (she wrote 3 books and several poems). My online friends have been very supportive as well! I’m constantly updating them on what I’ve worked on each day in my Discord Server and the words of encouragement always help.

13. How do you handle criticism?

Not well. Due to the abuse and family issues mentioned in #1, for a good amount of my life, I’ve gotten nothing but harsh criticism... So, now that I’m away from all that, at 26 years old, I’m just now getting to a point where I’m starting to take it better... But, I’ve got a long way to go.

14. Do you like giving your characters trauma? Why/why not?

I hate sounding like a sadist... But, I’m going to anyway, so fuck it... Yes. I have done awful things to Alana over the years. In A Fresh Start, she got sexually assaulted and ostracized. In When I Wake, she gets into a car crash, put into a coma, and in her dream state murdered by Francis in front of Nathaniel. In Let The Dawn Be Broken, the plan was for her to end a war. In “The Melancholy of Melody Alana Roster”, her childhood cat dies, her mom gets sick, she gets abused by Carol, her best friends get ripped away from her for a bit, she gets sent to a country halfway around the world alone, she gets assaulted and ultimately turned into a weapon of mass destruction.... I’ve even thought of killing her mom off at one point... But decided against it...

Now, granted, A Fresh Start and Let The Dawn Be Broken never saw completion, but happy endings were planned for them...

I do this, all while giving Alana happy endings in each story because “If Alana can go through utter hell and make it through, then so can I.”... I know, I’m “god” in that regard and I can control how Alana’s life is.... But, the fact that in my writing, she ends up standing tall, happy, with everything she wants, after everything she goes through does make me feel better....

15. Are you proud of yourself? When you look at first piece you wrote and compare it to the latest one?

Yes. If you look at A Fresh Start, you can tell it was written by someone fresh out of High School. There’s no real depth to it. Let The Dawn Be Broken isn’t much better... But, The Melancholy of Melody Alana Roster has become my magnum opus. It is the largest piece I have EVER written, and will probably remain the largest piece I write. I am very proud of what I have created... And when its last word is written, and I am ready to get it made for it’s place on my shelf, I will feel very bittersweet about it... That being said, my original plan for a sequel involving Nathaniel’s and Alana’s daughter, Aurora, has been discarded. I don’t believe Aurora could ever have as much of my heart that her parents do...

And there you have it! Some insight into my world, writing, and history!

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laceymorganwrites · 4 years

Text

birthday fic <33

A/N: this is a birthday fic for lovely @miyaniacs!! I hope you have a wonderful day today and are celebrated just like you deserve!

Word count: 1,970

Pairings: Gojo x Bea, Getou x me (I couldn´t help myself ehehhe), no tags since it´s just for you anyway <33

Another A/N: okay ever since we had that talk about Gojo being an embarrassing boyfriend and double dates...I just HAD to (tho I wish I could´ve executed those ideas better also the ending sucked cause I literally had no idea how to end it, BUT I still hope you can somewhat enjoy it <3333)

YOU´RE AMAZING; THANKS FOR BEING MY FRIEND; I CAN´T WAIT TO MEET YOU!!!

It was still early, the sun just rose, painting the sky a beautiful rose gold.

Getou was already up, he enjoyed the silence of the early morning.

Everything seemed to be at peace in those moments, no matter how little they lasted.

It didn´t matter to him anymore, he was at ease with Ace next to him.

His boyfriend´s presence calmed him down immediately and somehow the small boy always knew how to put a smile on his face.

They were like two popcorn kernels in a pot, nobody ever had any expectations for them but still they managed to exceed them, working harder than most people would recognize.

Working on yourself was always harder than it should be, but it was work that needed to be done.

Gojo was really proud of him for doing so, being afraid of what would happen to his friend if he didn´t.

Ace arrived at just the right time to give him the light he wanted to shut out of his life so bad.

Getou was glad he didn´t.

He found his missing puzzle piece and he´d never let it go, he had sworn to protect him at all costs.

The man stretched a bit before slowly getting up, careful not to wake the sleeping figure next to him.

It was routine at this point. But he liked it. Both men needed structure and routines in their life to be able to function. Even though they got better at being spontaneous, it was still hard to do overall.

Getou and Ace had the same sleeping pattern, preferring to go to sleep early and having the most energy in the early afternoon.

They also both had trouble sleeping, always waking up after a few hours and being unable to go back to sleep. It was easier now though, it was nice to know that there were always arms ready to hold. It was nice having someone there when you went to sleep and woke back up, it was the warm touch that was missing in both lives.

Getou prepared some coffee for himself and already cooked some breakfast. Meanwhile he was updating their grocery list and checking if anything else needed to be done.

Today was a big day, it was Bea´s birthday and Ace was beyond excited. It had been a while since they had last seen her and Gojo.

To be fair, Getou always tried to avoid double dates since Gojo could be quite exhausting.

After a while Ace slowly woke up, groggily sitting up in bed and yawning and stretching thoroughly.

“Good morning, love” he smiled from the kitchen counter as Ace slowly dragged himself to sit next to him, laying his head on his shoulder. “Morning, baby” he mumbled tiredly and slowly started eating his breakfast and drinking his tea.

Getou had helped him wrap his presents for Bea just yesterday since Ace´s wrapping skills were quite underwhelming to say the least.

The two talked for a bit and once they finished eating, they started cleaning the apartment, getting groceries and everything else they needed.

After a while they were done and just enjoyed the last few quiet minutes before the other couple would arrive.

The morning routine in the Gojo residence looked quite differently.

First of all, Gojo didn´t have a residence, he just liked calling his apartment that since there would be no way in hell a sorcerer of his caliber would live in an apartment building with others, normal citizens nonetheless.

However sorcerers didn´t get paid that well, no matter whether or not they had the six eyes. Gojo always had the little conspiracy that the elders cut his paycheck extra short.

And somehow he got off on it, he´d prove them all wrong anyway. He didn´t need them, he didn´t need anyone.

Only that the last one was a blatant lie.

He didn´t know he needed anyone until Bea came into his life.

She was quite something, so beautiful, made him laugh like no one else ever did. With her he didn´t have to hide anything, he could be himself.

And more than that: he could finally find out who that even was, he had time to think about those things now and not push everything aside like he did usually.

No, he wasn´t perfect like everyone thought, like he told everyone so that they´d leave him alone.

He was just a man.

A damn lucky one at that, being able to have her by his side.

Bea was new to the sorcerer world, but she had great potential, he took it upon himself to train her, though it really was just an excuse to get to know her.

She had her own issues, he could tell. But he wasn´t an asshole to pry on them.

Instead he asked her out immediately, because yes, he was one to rush things, following his heart.

To this day he asked himself why she said yes.

Somehow they got along incredibly well, so well in fact that he got to take her home.

Gojo never believed in falling in love but she just made it way too easy.

But it scared him, he never had been in love, not this way at least, never truly.

It was always a game to him, someone he´d hook up with and then never see again.

It was fun while it lasted and then left a burning, aching hole inside his heart that was just too sad to look at so he drowned himself in alcohol and did it all over again.

Bea was the first one he went on multiple dates with, the first one he tried to be a decent human being with.

Since both didn´t want a relationship in the beginning, both being too scared of rejection and hurting, they didn´t put a label on it.

They just fucked, went out, sometimes she stayed over at his place, that was nice. And sometimes she´d even laugh at his dumb jokes, that was even nicer.

Nice wasn´t the word to describe her though.

It was so much more than that, an incredible kindness and warmth that he only felt with her.

She made him feel special in a different way than all the others did and for the first time in his life he believed it.

Gojo wanted to make her feel the same way too and so he tried really hard, he tried to come up with exciting date ideas, take her to places she´s never seen before and show off like he always did.

But he always had this hopeful look in his eyes that she really saw what cool thing he did (which in reality was just dumb, but in his world it was cool).

And she gave him compliments.

Damn, did he love them.

He knew he was somewhat attractive but despite showing off he never really paid much mind to it.

But when the two of them were alone in bed, her tracing her fingers all over his body, those irresistible eyes looking down on him, that damn smile as she told him: “You´re so fucking beautiful, do you even know that?”.

“Right back at you” he´d grin, averting all of his attention to her so she wouldn´t comment on the fact that he was blushing.

They had quite the different relationship (once they finally admitted their feelings and called it that, so far everything went more than just perfect) than Getou and Ace, theirs was more fun, Gojo said.

Bea and Gojo always had the most fun, they always teased each other and could laugh a lot, as well as tell each other their darkest secrets without being judged.

“This isn´t a competition, you know?” Getou commented on that, but Gojo just grinned, to him it always was. And he always won.

He thought that Getou should be more grateful, after all he hooked him up with his boyfriend.

Gojo didn´t like Ace. He was so quiet. He didn´t like that about people.

However when Bea was around it was like he bloomed, suddenly he wouldn´t stop talking.

And that was annoying too.

Which is why Gojo always wanted to avoid meeting him.

But for her birthday he´d try to get along with him. For her.

The two of them had been on a mission yesterday and slept in now since they got home pretty late.

They somehow always woke up at the same time though which was more than just convenient. Gojo was mesmerized at how cute and pretty she looked even in the morning, he himself of course always looked dashing.

“Good morning, birthday bunny” he grinned, kissing Bea lazily but still taking her breath away.

“Why bunny?” she laughed, Gojo would always give her some cute nicknames that were quite random at times, but she never got used to it.

It was weird, having this affection without any intentions, just because he loved her.

“It fit” he grinned, he would embarrass himself in front of her a thousand times if it meant seeing her smile for only one instance.

She shook her head giggling and buried her head in his chest, his warmth was so comforting to her, she never wanted to get up.

“By the way… wanna have your first present?” he smirked, hands wandering down to her hips as he leaned closer to her to give her some neck kisses.

“Let´s wake up the neighbors, shall we?” he husked.

Meanwhile Ace was checking if the cake was already cold enough to decorate, which to his luck it was.

Ever since meeting Getou he baked more, they also baked together a lot.

Decorating wasn´t his forte, but Getou helped with that, he had steady hands and a good eye for those things.

“You know, wrapping a plushie isn´t as easy as I thought it would be” he laughed slightly. Ace loved his laugh, he was one of the few people who ever heard the real one.

“I´m sure you did great” he grinned and stood on his tiptoes to give him a quick peck.

Indeed the presents looked amazing, Getou even put on a little bow on the wrapping paper. Ace got Bea some manga volumes, a plushie and some other merch he hoped she´d like.

Now it was time to wait.

An hour later the other couple finally arrived.

“Sorry we´re late, we had important adult stuff to do, you two wouldn´t understand” Gojo announced grinning as he entered your apartment.

“Satoru! Shut up” Bea blushed and playfully punched his shoulder.

Getou just sighed and shook his head, why was he like this?

“Happy birthday, Bea!” Ace rapidly stood up from the couch and greeted her with a hug.

He gave her her presents and they talked about all sorts of things while their partners were in the kitchen to slice the cake and prepare the plates.

“I don´t want to hear it” Getou sighed. “Huh? I haven´t even said anything!” Gojo pouted, albeit feeling caught. Of course he was going to taunt his friend about his relationship, he of course never spared enough details to hurt anymore, but just enough to make everyone just a tad bit uncomfortable with embarrassment.

He couldn´t help himself, he had the best girlfriend in the world and everyone should know it.

The rest of the day wasn´t anything special, after all in the current situation you couldn´t do much.

But still, it was nice to meet up with friends, eat cake and have nice conversations.

They all ended up on the couch watching some movies and being too full to order proper takeout.

Though that was the fun in it, Bea was happy, she wasn´t alone like Ace feared, that was all that mattered.

He hoped her next birthday would be more eventful.

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imgoingtohellsofuckit · 5 years

Text

His Love

Jasper x Human! Reader

Warning - Mentions of blood, angst

Summary -In your final moments Jasper must decide if he’ll turn you or not

Her first thoughts in her last moments was of him. How he'd be able to handle her death, how she could convince him it wasn't his fault. There was no way he could have gotten there faster. No way he could have stopped it.

His first that was in shambles of pure terror at the thought of losing his lover. As he kneeled beside her bloody figure he could feel the burning sensation in his eyes. The venom mocking his tears he stopped shedding long ago. If he could cry he knew he'd be sobbing. The sight of his manga led love before him was something he couldn't bear. He wanted revenge to tear apart the attacker. He wanted them to feel 1000 levels of fear and heartbreak just as he is right now.

Suddenly all she could think of how they first met. Two moves after Forks lead the Cullens to rainy Portland. It felt nice for them to be on west coast again. And as for Y/n well she had only been there for a bit to attend the college. The two met at the university in a Astronomy class they both shared. He sat beside her and she gushed about how she loved the stars at night. Hearing her speak made Jasper realise that she was the one. He needed her. 6 dates later he confessed his secret of what he is. She wasn't as shocked as he would have imagined. Her mother apparently was a practicing witch that filled her mind with stories of all sorts of creatures. So when she heard the impossible words they somehow made sense. Her eyes trailed over his face noticing his eyes shifting between the gold and black. He was suffering and she could tell. Watching her bleed out fuelled his vampiric thoughts of devouring her.

"It's going to be alright love," he says more convincing himself then her. He pulls her into his arms. With the action he took notice of the blood mixing with the puddles of pouring rain around them. Her blood was spilling at an alarming rate. He could feel his stomach turn in disgust at his own inner thoughts of bloodlust. All that mattered to him was her and the terror in her mind at the though of dying.

She knew she wanted so many things from life. Hence why she was waiting to be turned. She wanted to travel the world and have a family. To live her life for herself and her love. But as she bleeds her future slowly melts away.

The vampire is presented with two options. Turn her and live the rest of his eternity with her but knowing he made her a monster, or let her die in peace and lose her. It was an impossible choice. He didn't want her to suffer as he did. He wanted her to live the life she wanted. However the thought of losing her was something he didn't want to imagine.

"Jasper do you remember the night we got engaged?" She asks weakly. Her mind no longer on the prospect of dying. She's decided she wants to focus on him. Her final moments with him.

He couldn't believe how calm she was with the words? Even straining to speak she seemed so beautiful and collected. But with her urging he allowed himself to revisit the memory. The young couple took longer to get to marriage then Edward and Bella. Dating a total of five years before even getting engaged. Unlike Bella the thought of ageing didn't scare Y/n and the volutri weren't on their case. Meaning they were free to take their time. Something both are grateful for. "It was Venice," Jasper says, "I was so nervous. You had on that blue dress you love. You looked absolute stunning." Her face turns into a smile. "I stumbled over every word. And I didn't know you were going to propose to me to."

Her mind wanders to the night. She thinks of the cool breezing shifting her dress as they walk through the city. The weight of the ring in her pocket as she practiced her lines for how to broach the subject with her lover. In the end Jasper made the first move but with Y/n seconds behind him. They both laughed at how in synch they were. The story would be told a hundred times and every time it got better.

He can't enjoy the memory anymore. Her shallow breaths keep him here with her instead of in the memories. He can feel her pain. All of it. She wants to scream he can tell. Yet she's staying composed for him. Why would she do that? As her eyes met his he knows she doesn't have much time left. He has to make a decision. She raises her hand cupping his cheek.

"The sun is setting on us," She says softly, "it's a shame. I had so much more I wanted to do with you."

"It's doesn't have to," he says desperately, "I can just try just let me."

However she knew it would be to late. She thinks for a moment. Her final words to him shouldn't be arguing.

"I love you," She says. It's airy. A struggle for her to get out.

"I can- I can handle it please just let me try," he whimpers. She doesn't respond. "Darlin?" He watches waiting for her lungs to raise in another struggle of a breath. But it doesn't. She stays completely still. In his own pain he lost the connection to hers. He moves sinking his teeth into her wrists hoping for her to suddenly open her eyes. Tell him it all will be fine. He pulls back looking over her lifeless form. He was too late. Dry sobs escape him as he feels the weight of her death. Pain fills his senses. How would he be able to move on? He was supposed to give her everything she wanted in life but he lead to her death. Just his association was another to call for her execution. He cant do anything. He just stays by her side holding onto her. Watching as the blood moves with the water. He combs through her hair as he sobs. She used to love when he would play with her hair. He wishes he would have done it more. Told her he loved her more. When did he last say I love you to her? Hours ago. And he'd never be able to say it again. He doesn't get an after life with her. Vampires don't go to heaven or hell they just stop existing. Who would she see in the afterlife? Her father? An old boyfriend? Would she wait for him into eternity? Waiting for someone she'd never see? Jasper decide that was the most depressing fate for his lover. He'd rather her spirit rest easy. Then again he couldn't know if there's was an after life for humans either. He hoped there was. The thought of this being the absolute end for her was too much.

It wasn't long before the rest of the Cullens finally arrived.

"Jasper!" Alice yells as she runs towards them. She's worried. All she sees is Y/n in his arms covered in blood. She thought the worst first. He wouldn't hurt her would he?

"Jasper is she..?" Bella asks trailing off as the family stops before him.

"She'll rest easy," Edward says breaking the news to the rest of the family. Carlisle moves to his adopted sons side trying to comfort him.

"You did all you could," Carlisle says. Emmet takes the body from Jasper. Various words of comfort and support fold Jasper but he can't handle it. In a split second he runs away from the family making a point to make his leave dramatic. He cant think clearly. All his mind is telling him is to get out of this place he shared with her. Don't do anything that would remind him of her. He wants to grieve. He wants to kill. He doesn't know what he wants.

Alice back at the site assures the family that he'll be fine. Sadly she looks at the girl she considered family. "We should tell her mother," Alice says to them, "she deserves to know."

"A funeral," Bella says, "we need to have a funeral."

"Right," Esme says as she clings to her husband. It's a solemn time in the group.

The attack made its way all the way to the news. People in the town knew the sweethearts. So when the news dropped that Y/n had passed the entire town seemed to want to check on the boy. But he still hadn't returned. The family made sure to keep tabs. To keep him updated to know about the funeral. At funeral day he still was nowhere to be seen.

Her mother stroked her late daughters hair. The large black casket and stone cold body made it all real.

"She had so much more to give," her mother says sadly. She looks to the Cullen's smiling sadly. "I'm sure you guys did all you could to save my baby."

Despite the truth in the words the family couldn't help but feel guilty. They could have found a way to do more. To prevent it. To make sure she wasn't caught alone.

"I can't believe it," Rose whispers to herself, "I thought she would have turned."

"I know," Emmet says as he tightens his grip around his wife, "I've just been waiting for her to open her eyes. To do something."

"How's Jasper handling it?" Her mother asks. The Cullen's exchange a knowing look.

"He ran off the night it happen," Esme says breaking the news, "he hasn't been back since."

"Don't speak so soon," Edward says as his eyes go to the door. In walks a stone faced Jasper. He doesn't look at anyone. He just moves to the casket. As he reaches the body his eyes stay on her. The family waits for a reaction. But he stays expressionless. He just looked like his normal pained self. Everyone stays silent backing up to give him his space. Suddenly he reaches cupping her check.

"She wanted to go to Pairs," He says with a shaky voice, "she was taking French lessons. Making French food. Anything to hint that she wanted to go. I bought the tickets and had everything booked." He stops talking. A sob escapes his lips. "I love her so much." Alice places a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "I don't want this to be real." Everyone is quiet. All sharing the same opinion. It shouldn't be real. They didn't deserve this. Both had such hard lives and even in the end she can't get a happy ending. "She used her last breath to tell me she loved me."

"I'm glad she had you," Her mother says to Jasper. His eyes met hers. Her and her daughter had the same ones. It was hard to see them.

"I let her die-"

"No you made her happy," She says to him, "before she met you I was worried about her. She had nothing that made her happy anymore. Then all the sudden I get a call from her about some boy she met in class. She talked about you for hours. She really did love you." He drags his thumb across her cheek. "You did her well."

He looks down to the girl laying still. He hopes he did her well. He would make sure to not remember her like this. But to think about the day they met and their engagement. When the spark of life in her lit up a room. He'd remember how she demanded a rooms attention with her bright smile. How she'd trip over nothing. Her angelic laugh. How when they fought she'd pout. Her perfect body. Her soft snores. How she'd make him enjoy the small things in life he lost in his hundreds of years. He'd remember her. He'd love her until the end of his life. Their love was a tragedy and he would do anything to have just a second of it back.

#jasper hale x reader #jasper whitlock x reader #jasper hale #jasper whitlock #twilight #twilight x reader #jasper x reader #Jasper x human!reader

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ackervida · 4 years

Text

Flames of Nirvana, ch 1

Hello there, everyone! I’ve wanted to join the fandom and the Levi love bandwagon for the longest time, and since quarantine started I was like why not. So I wrote this bad boy (all day every day for the past month and a half might I add) and I hope you guys like it! The story is all written out, and updates will be every Sunday.

TW: This story will contain strong language, canon-typical violence, implied/mentions of rape, mentions of suicide, abuse, suicide attempts and explicit sexual content. It is manga compliant up until chapter 128, so there will be spoilers!

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23990044/chapters/57707902

Summary: In the heat of a never ending war, Levi finds himself recruiting a compromised spy. But the war outside is nothing compared to their own inner battles, and hand in hand, they find the strength to conquer them one by one. And the world follows.

Pairing: Levi x Reader

Chapter 1

Levi swirled the tea in his cup pensively. It was still so strange to him, how the Marleyans drank their tea – sweetened and diluted with milk, leaving little room for the subtle, herbal flavors. He’d spat it back into the cup the first time he tried it, and in the following months, the Eldian Captain adopted the habit to request his tea plain, as much as it attracted odd glances from shopkeepers.

This particular teashop, however, was quite to his liking. Quaint, small enough to be peaceful, yet spacious enough to allow him to blend in with the other customers without being recognized, despite the telltale scars on his face. The tea itself wasn’t exactly what he remembered from home, but it came with free cookies and the Eldian old lady who usually brought his order was sweet, bubbly and never disclosed the fact that she knew exactly who he was.

Levi’s identity wasn’t as much of a problem as it used to be when the remaining Scouts permanently relocated to Marley’s capital, but there was still a level of dissent among the Marleyan citizens. After all, Eren’s near genocide had yet to be forgotten, and the new war put a wholly new strain on Marleyans’ views on Eldians.

Taking a tentative sip of the hot brew, Levi sighed. In his own way, the Captain had wearily come to terms with the fact that Eren had turned into a lost cause, yet he still couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe the idiot wouldn’t have done what he did if he’d been aware that peace still wouldn’t be an option. Yes, the Colossal titans would have crushed Marley.

What would have happened once they reached Starke?

It didn’t matter now, Levi mused. Whether the Starkans would have been able to fend off was irrelevant. What mattered was that this technologically superior nation suddenly entered the war and helped the Jaegerists seize control of Paradise Island; now, they’d joined forces against Marley and Hizuru, seeking the so-called spread of ‘civilization’ and ‘evolution’ through conquest.

Any hope that Levi might have had about seeing the carnage come to an end had been squandered.

“Is the tea not to your liking, my dear? I was excited to get this new mix, but I know you’re a fussy one,” Matilda, the shopkeeper, stopped by Levi’s table. Her mouth and eye crinkles spoke of a lifelong determination to smile, even though Levi knew better than to assume she’d led anything but an easy life in the Eldian ghettos. She’d never spoken to him of family, and the Captain had never asked.

“It’s not bad,” the brunet replied, taking another sip. His prosthetic fingers felt strange around the steaming mug – they couldn’t feel heat. “What was it called again? Robos?”

“Rooibos,” Matilda smiled, wordlessly setting another plate of sugar cookies on the table. Levi lifted a hand in protest, but the older woman shushed him quiet. “It’s on the house. If you’re worried about your silhouette, why don’t you share them with the pretty young lady back there? She’s been looking at you since you came in, and I don’t want to be insensitive but you do look like you could use some company.”

She winked to indicate precisely what kind of ‘company’ she was implying, and subtly tilted her head towards a table on the opposite side of the establishment, where a lone young woman was eating a bowl of soup. Levi met her E/C eyes as soon as he glanced her way and was inwardly surprised that the girl didn’t immediately avert her gaze. Instead, she held his stare for a few intense seconds, after which her eyes suggestively flitted to the seat in front of her.

Levi served the oblivious, but well-intended shopkeeper a half-hearted scowl, yet the Captain rose from his chair, having understood that the woman’s interest was not in any way hormonal or sparked by recognition. Matilda still leapt for joy – after all, Levi normally arrived and left alone, except for the rare occasion where he agreed to bring Hange or his former squad with him for an unnecessarily obnoxious lunch break. The bubbly shopkeeper took great care not to forget the cookies, setting them between Levi and the mysterious lady with a much too enthusiastic smile.

“So what’s your deal?” the brunet got straight to the point, leaning back and crossing his legs. Contrary to what he was expecting, the young woman broke into a quiet fit of giggles.

“You’re as charming as I’ve heard. You really must be the famous Captain Levi Ackerman.”

Though relieved that she hadn’t said it loud enough for the entire shop to hear, Levi snorted in annoyance. He really didn’t want to blow his only precious break with one of those air wasting assholes who liked to coat their point in useless pleasantries.

“Oi. Just spit it. What the hell do you want?”

The girl gave him a cool smile that lasted just a second too long for it to be natural, before resuming her eating. “Well, I… you don’t know this, but you saved my family when you coordinated the evacuation from the outskirts during the Rumbling. I wanted to thank you and… maybe treat you to some lunch?” she asked shyly, curling a strand of hair behind her ear in what appeared to be a coy gesture. However, Levi got a glimpse of the device attached to her ear and understood her message. She couldn’t be straight with him – she was being listened to.

The Captain downed the rest of his tea and politely asked Matilda to come over. “I guess I wouldn’t mind it. I’ll have what she’s having.”

He endured the conversation the girl seemed to produce out of thin air and ate his cauliflower soup diligently – even though, whoever she actually was, she was weird as fuck for liking something so bland. He figured that some of the questions she was asking were being dictated to her through the earpiece, so Levi offered vague or fake answers, silently hoping that whatever her plan was, she would get on with it faster.

“Oranges, you say? I don’t think I’ve ever had them,” the Captain commented almost absentmindedly, yet the woman’s eyes lit up with genuine joy and what seemed to be relief.

“Really? Never? You can come by my parents’ orchard anytime and you won’t leave without a full basket,” she laughed. “Actually, here, I’ll write you the address. If you have the time and, of course, if you want to… you can visit me. All the exotic fruit in the world won’t be enough to repay you, but this is the least I can do,” she opened her little bag and ripped a piece of paper from a notebook, scribbling furiously. “Not to mention… I’ve really loved your company. You seem to be a very gentle man, Levi. Can I call you Levi?”

“Be my guest,” the brunet replied, stuffing the paper in his pocket without looking at it and leaving their consumption’s worth of cash on the table. “You can make it up to me with that fruit basket,” he said when the girl began to protest, making her flash another one of those fake smiles. If she hadn’t made it obvious, Levi doubted he would have been able to tell, yet now that he knew that all her reactions were fake, he couldn’t help but dislike that forced smile on her otherwise beautiful features. Questions about who was employing her and what she was trying to gain from her interaction with him were swirling in his mind at miles per hour, way more interesting than any mundane topic of discussion.

The Captain made a point of ignoring Matilda’s cheeky grin as he led the young girl towards the exit and reciprocated her goodbye wishes. As she walked away, sundress flowing with the wind, Levi remained there for a while, a foot in the shop and a foot outside. After making sure no one was observing him, he fished out the note.

Once he read it, his hand flew straight to his own earpiece.

“Hange, get all the brats ready. We’re moving out as soon as I get back to base.”

“It’s still warm,” Hange said, her hand gripping a coffee mug. “They must have just fled.”

“Shit,” Levi cursed in frustration, dropping his rifle. The information the woman had given him was true – upon breaking into it much too easily, this produce farm was indeed a concealed military establishment belonging to the Starkan army. The note had also informed him that the Starkan commander, Victor Baal, would be present, so Levi had prepared an entire assassination operation at the speed of light – which made the complete bareness of the place even more of a disappointment.

It was also annoyingly pristine and unassuming at a first glance. The small room they were in looked like nothing more than a quaint, family-style common area, with hand-crafted rugs, a large wooden table and an attached kitchenette, where the coffee kettle still rested on a gas stove. Levi’s former squad, now led by Jean, as well as Reiner, Pieck and Annie had needed to very nearly demolish all the hidden chambers in order to discover the vast array of training areas, supplies and, most importantly, technological equipment.

“They appear to have left all equipment behind, including fuel and computers,” Armin confirmed as he walked back in, Jean, Connie and Mikasa following suit. “There is a massive storage room below us, fully equipped. At least that’s a good thing, right?”

“If they’re not laced with explosives that’ll paint the walls with our brains, then yes. Terrific,” replied Annie, who had given up any and all exploration upon realizing they’d been outrun, and was lounging casually on one of the chairs. Mikasa glared at her for the sarcastic way she’d talked to Armin, but the blonde merely rolled her eyes as if to say there was no other possible response.

“I already asked Magath to send tech support our way. Until then, if there’s nothing else, I suppose we can’t do much other than try not to get too depressed,” Hange sighed, rubbing her temples. Despite her words, the cat-and-mouse chase this war consisted of was really jarring – they’d finally gotten a good lead, they were so close, and they blew it.

All heads in the room whipped up, however, when one of the doors slammed against the wall. Reiner barged in, along with Pieck, both of them wearing distressed expressions.

“All of you need to come down to the storage room, now!”

“There’s weapons, Reiner, we know already-“

“I found a trap door,” Pieck interrupted. “We haven’t opened it fully yet, but… it smells like death.”

Upon walking into the spacious area, where the walls were laced with rifles and carefully attached explosive devices, as well as labeled boxes piled neatly behind pillars, the soldiers collectively covered their faces with their elbows. They were all used to the smell of corpses, but this level of decay and putrefaction could make anyone dizzy. Connie gagged almost instantly, not even reaching the top of the staircase before spilling the inside of his stomach.

“Do you need him for this?” Mikasa tilted her head towards her retching teammate while addressing Pieck. The brunette shook her head no, so Mikasa turned towards him fully.

“Connie, go and bring some wet rags. Take your time.”

“And clean that up,” Levi mumbled under his breath, upper lip curled in disgust. “Only other stench we need now is someone’s shit.”

Hange only graced her friend with a patient look, coughing into her fist. Her bespectacled eyes were inspecting the floor intensely, focusing on the small dent in the tiles. She hadn’t been in this room before, but it looked as though Reiner and Pieck had moved the asymmetrical tiles around in order to create the opening.

“How did you start opening it?”

“Better yet, how did you even see it?” Jean asked Pieck, holding the collar of his shirt over his nose. “Is that what happens when your face stays real close to floors for a long time?”

Severely unimpressed, the brunette merely pointed at the tiles lining the floor. They varied in shape and shades of grey, almost forming a pattern and yet not quite.

“If you press on them with your… hands, these tiles move. Also, the Starkans’ army symbol is a grey wolf. I figured I’d try arranging them to get that shape and… I got that small opening.”

Levi clicked his tongue. “So we’re going to have to play puzzle here?”

“No,” Armin replied, walking around the room with his eyebrows deeply creased in thought. “Based on the stench, and since we know that Starkans burn their bodies like we do, I think whatever is down there is a mass grave for prisoners and traitors. It would then have to be impossible to open from the inside, but-“

“Easy to access from the outside,” Hange finished his line of thought, very quickly deducing where Armin’s hypothesis was headed. “Also – have any of you found a possible way for an entire platoon to escape without being seen?”

Reiner huffed negatively. “You’re saying that’s what they used to flee?”

“That’s right,” Armin nodded, sharing a meaningful glance with his former Commander. “That makes it even more important for this trap door to open easily and quickly.”

The blond man crouched to the floor, his sky blue eyes gazing back and forth between the tiles with dashing speed and the wheels in his brain vigorously turning. No one spoke for a few pregnant moments, and they all held their breaths when Armin gently touched one tile, then pushed it with all his strength, huffing with the effort.

A loud machinery noise echoed in the room, and they all had to regain a sense of their footing as the floor moved with them. A gaping hole appeared in the floor, in the place of a grey wolf’s howling mouth.

“Holy shit,” Connie, who’d just begun his descent down the stairs, gaped. Instantly, though, he had to cover his nose and mouth with one of the wet towels he’d procured, promptly throwing the rest of them to his teammates as the stench became very nearly unbearable.

Levi turned his flashlight on and took the lead, overcome with a sense of impatience – after all, if the Starkans had escaped through this passage, there was still a chance they might be able to catch up if they moved quickly. “Let’s go.”

The first thing the Captain stepped on was a pool of moisture, and then something squelched beneath his foot. So much for shit being the last thing they needed. There seemed to be lightbulbs on the ceiling, yet inconveniently they weren’t functional. Levi pointed the light towards the wet floor and, unsurprisingly, he was met with floating bones, as well as feces and decomposed flesh that had not yet fully disintegrated.

It was a good thing Marley never had sewage overflows, though it might be a good idea for them to check for corpses – or the enemy - from time to time.

“They seem to have gone either forward or backward. Reiner, do you have any clues?”

“I’m not exactly familiar with the sewers, but my guess is they went towards the ocean. The other way leads to the water filtering facilities.”

“And they never mentioned having to filter human bones?” Jean replied bitingly. Out of all of them, he had the hardest time warming up to the idea that now they were working and living with their former enemies, still holding a grudge on Reiner in particular.

Reiner sighed. “No. But since a Starkan spy is what got us here in the first place, it’s safe to assume they have spies in plenty of other places, and they’re not as helpful as the one Captain Levi met.”

“I wonder what’s going to happen to her,” Armin voiced sadly, trying his hardest not to stare at the decay around him or reply to his own question.

Levi kept silent, but the matter was twisting his gut as well.

“Do you guys hear that?” Connie asked quietly, bringing the team to a full stop. Indeed, from a few meters away, they could hear… moaning?

“Oi! Is anyone alive in here?” he broke off into a sprint, despite his comrades reaching out to stop him. Mikasa darted to run after him, yet she yelped after tripping on a very sturdy obstacle. Her reflexes prevented her from falling, but she gasped loudly when the flashlight revealed what had tripped her.

A battered man wheezing for air.

“Hange, I need the first aid kit!”

“Me too!” yelled Connie, who was trying to bring the body of a woman into an upright position, wincing as she broke into a violent coughing fit.

“Same here,” Annie called out, her arms fully submerged as she lifted another breathing person from the filthy waters.

The soldiers scrambled to offer first aid, at the same time trying to figure out if there were any more survivors that needed it. Something caught Levi’s peripheral vision, causing him to leave Mikasa and Pieck to tend to one of the victims by themselves.

“Levi, is there anyone else?” Hange questioned, but the Captain didn’t reply, cautiously approaching a patch of rippling water. He turned the flashlight to its brightest setting, and the breath promptly left his lungs.

The woman from the teashop made eye contact with him immediately, just like last time, but now her bruised, swollen eyes showed despair instead of quiet confidence.

“…Run,” she choked, her voice barely coming out. Levi could see the extent to which she’d been beaten – no, tortured – even through the water and dim light. Her plea almost failed to register.

“Dammit. All of you, grab the survivors and head back!”

“-evi… no… run, now,” she begged again, and this time Levi fully understood the urgency in her tone. The entire corridor was slowly becoming brighter. Squinting, the Captain realized with utter horror what the source was – the bulbs on the ceiling weren’t light bulbs. They were concealed grenades. And they were all exploding.

“Move OUT!” he barked, just as the sound of the explosions caught up with the light. Levi threw the girl over his shoulder, momentarily unable to care about the state of her injuries, and ran back along with his comrades. A string of curses left their mouths when the corridor boomed, almost throwing them up into the air from the force of the sound alone – there was no way they’d make it in time.

The last grenade exploded, and everything turned white.

“Good call, Reiner,” Hange breathed, slumping against the carcass of the Armored Titan. Reiner simply nodded, not having the energy for anything else – protecting everyone from the explosion without bursting through the ceiling with his titan form had momentarily winded him.

“Oi! Are you alright in there? There was an earthquake in the entire capital!”

That was Magath’s voice, and it was safe to say most of them had never been so happy to hear him.

Thankfully, he’d had the insight to bring a medical unit as well, which promptly began stabilizing the four survivors they’d managed to collect. No one wondered if there may have been any more – there was little point in doing so, after all. Even the foul smell had been replaced with grenade fumes.

“They knew we’d figure the trap door out,” Jean sighed, holding a pack of ice over the minor head bruise the explosion had gifted him with. “Dammit. Every enemy we face, it seems like they’re always a step ahead.”

“And yet they obviously didn’t expect Reiner to have such good control over his titan form,” Pieck countered. “I really doubt they were planning to leave all this equipment intact.”

“That may very well be so, but so far it looks like we’re going to have to learn how to use it all,” Hange mused, feeling a rifle up. The tech support unit had, so far, confirmed her fears – this weaponry was more advanced than anything produced in Marley. Their allies from Hizuru would be of great help, but although they could measure up to the Starkans regarding their technological prowess, the two countries had very different methods and approaches. “Add to that the modifications we’ll have to make so we don’t end up being predictable… it’s going to take a lot of time and resources before we can actually use any of it.”

“Maybe not,” said Levi, surprising Hange to a degree. He’d been so quiet ever since they’d escaped the sewers – she knew something must have happened in there for the brunet to become so uncharacteristically lost in thought, and the scientist knew him well enough. She glanced his way inquisitively.

Despite his indifferent façade, the Captain’s eyes were fixating on the four survivors still receiving medical attention. The woman from the teashop in particular, though he had yet to reveal to his comrades that the small, nearly broken form currently getting bandaged from head to toe was the one who’d revealed this place to them.

“Maybe they can help with that.”

A shared look of surprise was shared amongst the group, with Magath silently snorting through his nose. “You think they’d be willing to help us?”

“Is that so far-fetched? We saved their lives, and their previous employers obviously haven’t treated them very well,” Levi said casually, arms crossed and back leaning against the wall. He then eyed his former foes pointedly. “The Starkans have been one step ahead of us all this time, and these four might be our one good chance to finally penetrate their defenses. Plus, it wouldn’t be the first time someone had a change of heart.”

Magath, Reiner, Annie and Pieck averted their eyes, the Captain’s point obviously striking a chord. Hange, however, was not entirely convinced, yet she didn’t question her dear friend’s suggestion in front of everyone else.

“One of them is conscious, sir,” a doctor came up to Levi, and the Captain turned around so fast Hange thought he would strain a muscle. He noticed that the other woman they’d rescued was sitting up against the wall, and the brunet’s shoulders minimally slumped, but he still approached her with a confident stride.

This time, Hange did dart after him.

“Don’t you think we should at least get them to a proper infirmary before asking them to join us?” she whispered aggressively, grabbing Levi’s arm. “Or maybe figure out who the hell they are in the first place?”

Levi raised a brow. “No and no. They’ll have the mental clarity to think of more reasons to refuse once they recover, and it doesn’t really matter much who they are. They’re Starkans. That’s already an advantage for us.”

“Kiyomi won’t like this at all.”

“Kiyomi should have admitted the Starkan forces were overwhelming her troops in Shiganshina before they seized control of the city. She may just have to deal with this as a small compensation, not to mention she isn’t due to visit for two months.”

Hange sighed. “Why are you so convinced about this?”

He didn’t verbally reply, but his eyes involuntarily flitted to the young girl from the teashop. Both of her arms had needed to be popped back into place, all of her fingernails and toenails were missing and there surely must have been a lot of internal damage that he couldn’t see, based on the severe bruises littering her entire body. Hange followed his gaze and drew in a sharp breath.

“…Is that her?”

Levi let her draw her own conclusions and knelt in front of the conscious woman. She seemed to be about his and Hange’s age, maybe a tad older, with a dark complexion, a sturdy build and the curliest black hair the Captain had ever seen. Her plump lips were dried out, with a deep cut that reached her chin and had needed stitches. It would likely leave a long scar. Levi felt a pang of sympathy – after all, he was lucky to have regained his eyesight, but the marks on his face would stay with him forever.

He opened his mouth, no doubt to very directly get to the point, yet Hange beat him to it.

“Hey there. How are you feeling?”

As always, she backed him up even when she didn’t necessarily agree with him. Levi gave the scientist a brief, but grateful look.

Dark brown eyes moved from one to the other, and the woman put in an enormous amount of effort to lift a brow. “…Like I almost died surrounded by shit.”

Levi let out a snort, and Hange shook her head, rubbed the bridge of her nose and rose to her feet. “I’ll… leave you with him. I think you’ll get along.”

She walked away, likely to inform their other comrades about what the plan of action was, which left Levi to grace the woman with a nod meant to inform her that he meant no harm.

“A long ass scar… short as all hell… oh, fuck me,” she chortled, bursting into strained laughter. Her Marleyan was a bit choppy and not at all as perfect as the teashop woman’s, but then again she didn’t seem like a proper type of person. “Don’t tell me you are who I think you are.”

“I am. And you are?”

“Anya. Anya Murphy. How the hell did y’all manage to find this place?”

Levi sighed. “With some… help.”

Anya squinted in thought for a couple of seconds, after which her face formed a grimace. “Shit. That’s what they were questioning that poor little thing for, huh.”

“They?” Levi prompted her further, to which Anya sighed, wincing at the sting of her injuries. He couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like she’d been whipped.

“I don’t know how much the doll told you, but this is where the counter-espionage unit operated. So any and all unlucky bastards who did something behind big daddy Victor’s back would be dragged here, have all information tortured out of them and then be thrown in the sewers to die. Today was supposed to be me and a few others, but they’d barely gotten started when Victor dragged her in. Beat the hell out of her, she still didn’t talk. Then he got a call and ordered everyone to leave everything and flee. That includes me,” she said, gazing left and right. “And whoever else you managed to drag out of that hellhole alive.”

“So Victor Baal works directly with his counter-espionage unit?” Levi asked, ignoring the dread settling in his stomach. Increasingly, he felt like somehow this near failure of an operation was his fault.

Anya groaned in his face. “Listen man, I ain’t born yesterday. I am gonna work with you, I didn’t kill my entire fucking squad because I love Baal or his cocksucking Jaegerists. But for fuck’s sake, let me breathe, will you?”

In Levi’s book, that was a by-the-book success. Only when he agreed and rose to his feet did he notice the entirety of his former squad staring, with equally stupefied expressions.

Well, except Mikasa. She was more amused than Levi had ever seen her – at least since Eren died.

“Fuck are y’all looking at?”

“N-Nothing,” they stuttered collectively, reverting to their brat persona (as Levi liked to call it in the safety of his own mind) and scampered away. If the Captain was amused, he didn’t let it show – he’d never once reacted to anyone talking shit in his face, yet the brats still had the impression he would wreak havoc on the realm if such thing happened. It was funnier than it should be.

“Adam has agreed as well,” Hange appeared by his side.

“Who the fuck is Adam?”

The scientist gestured towards the older of the two men they’d rescued. He’d apparently gone right back to taking a nap after speaking with Hange, which was understandable considering the massive concussion he must have had, as well as his age. He looked well into his fifties, if not early sixties.

“Adam Tesla. He worked as a military engineer for the Starkans. He wanted to retire, but then realized that his wife had died without him being notified, and his two daughters were sold on the black market – he’d thought that producing weapons for the military would offer his family protection from Baal’s regime, but the army had conveniently ‘forgotten’. So he hacked all of their systems trying to find his daughters’ location, and ended up here.”

“You got all that from him in such a short time?” Levi asked in mild surprise, masking the sheer disgust the man’s life story evoked in him. For a nation that justified its ambition for dominance through a supposed spread of ‘modernity and civilization’, that sounded awfully primitive.

“You have your talents, I have mine,” Hange nudged him, her face turning serious after only a second of playfulness. “We should really head back now and let the tech team relocate all this equipment. I’ll take care of the other boy when he wakes up and you can talk to your spy.”

Levi sighed. “Right.”

Levi instantly knew the girl was awake, since she announced it by breaking into a very violent, rattling coughing fit. He tried not to wince – based on the medical report, she had several broken ribs. Breathing must have been painful as shit, let alone coughing.

Predictably, she keened in pain, gasping for air. The Captain rose from his chair and approached her bed, grabbing the glass of water from the nightstand. He pulled her up into a sitting position and went to make her drink immediately, but he was left blinking in stupefaction when she spat the liquid in his face.

Levi sighed.

“I’m not poisoning you. You need to drink water so you’ll stop coughing.”

At the sound of his voice, the girl opened her E/C eyes. They were bloodshot and squinting, yet he could tell that recognition hit instantly. She accepted the water this time, her features contorting in discomfort as she swallowed, and took a heaving breath while Levi carefully rested her head against the cushioned headboard.

“…Sorry,” she said hoarsely, watching him wipe the liquid off his face with a napkin. The Captain was a bit taken aback by the fact that she decided to speak Eldian, but somehow that made him involuntarily release some of the tension in his shoulders. It had been so long, after all, and even the former Scouts had taken to speaking Marleyan nearly 24/7 since it had become the norm.

“Don’t sweat it. I should have expected it.”

She hummed noncommittally, flinching as she tried to adjust her position in order to face him better. He couldn’t quite pinpoint the expression on her face, perhaps because almost half of it was bandaged, but it was something akin to deep regret – a stark contrast to the fake, but bubbly smile she’d greeted him with in the teashop.

“Did you all… make it?”

“Yes. And three other survivors we managed to rescue.”

“I see…Thank you,” the girl muttered, averting her gaze. “You didn’t have to… but I’m glad you’re all safe.”

Her Eldian was as perfect as her Marleyan, he couldn’t help but notice, but then again Levi figured he shouldn’t be so surprised – she was a spy.

“What’s your real name?” he changed the subject. He got the feeling that she required a much more delicate approach than Anya, so the Captain tried not to comment on matters which could very easily upset her further. It was plain to see – whatever had been done to her had left her in pieces.

“F/N L/N.”

Silence reigned for a while. Levi’s initial plan had been to make sure all four agreed to join their cause first and then deal with whatever happened afterwards – and yet, ever since he’d locked eyes with her in the sewers, there was a gnawing feeling in his chest that bothered him no end. No doubt, it would continue to eat at him until he received an answer, so the Captain decided to just throw it out into the open.

However, F/N spoke sooner than him.

“There is something you want, isn’t there?” she asked softly, and Levi realized she’d been studying his features. “You don’t have to worry. I’ll give you all the information I have.”

He sighed. “Before I get into any of that, I want to know one thing. How did the Starkans find out about what you did?”

His gut instinct had been right – F/N’s wistful expression turned into complete heartbreak. She closed her eyes and heaved a deep, yet uneven breath. Levi couldn’t take it back, however, so he simply waited for her to reply.

“I wasn’t sure at first… I planned every little thing and I was so, so careful. But I think I messed it up at the end,” she spoke, gazing into his eyes with a fragile inquisitiveness. “I should have kept you nearby until you were completely out of range. You said something through radio station after I left, didn’t you?”

Levi’s eyes widened minimally. He offered no reply, but he was beginning to understand the crucial error that had been made. That reaction was all the confirmation F/N required anyway.

“There were signal interceptors installed throughout the shop. I assume that your team employs codification, but it would only take the Starkan tech units a few hours to decipher it at most. I’m so sorry,” she shook her head, visibly ridden with guilt. “Your comrades almost died because of me – and for nothing. I guess Victor managed to blow up the base too.”

“…Shit,” was all Levi managed to say, his form hunching in the chair, forehead leaning into both of his hands. A wave of remorse and frustration washed over him – he hadn’t taken her seriously enough. He’d been approached by so many frauds in the past months, but that wasn’t an excuse. He’d allowed his mind to wander during their exchange, thinking of possibilities and motives, yet not safety. Only the contents of the note itself had revealed the actual significance of the risks this girl had taken, and then Levi had been too focused on acting upon the chance he’d been given to consider the danger of compromising her.

His gaze roamed her up and down, this time taking everything in. Joey, the other boy, had been lucky enough to get out of there with no injuries, and the other two had patterned, methodically attained wounds – whipping, stabbing injuries. F/N had been treated with no such methods – Levi had seen plenty of wounds before. He could reconstruct the entire incident if he put his mind to it: they’d started by ripping her nails off. Then they’d broken her arms. Then, in sheer anger and impatience, followed ruthless, aimless beating.

She’d trusted him with important information and that’s what she’d received in return.

“…The base and all of the equipment stayed intact,” Levi voiced. That seemed to snap her out of her haze, for F/N blinked in mild surprise.

“Oh.”

“The tech and engineering units have already begun their work on the equipment. We’re converting the establishment into a base of our own. All Marleyan employees in charge of water filtering are going through security checks. We managed to save three people who would have otherwise been dead and forgotten in filth. All of that is thanks to you. You have no reason to blame yourself for what happened.”

F/N stared, tears welling up in her eyes at his words. She wanted to say something, but her throat was too tight. Instead, she blinked the moisture away from her eyes and offered a small nod. Levi rose from his seat, fully intending to leave at this point – after all, it was the middle of the night and he needed to process this information so he could be functional once sunrise rolled along.

“Levi?”

He turned around.

“You really are a gentle man.”

#levi x reader #levi ackerman x reader #levi ackerman #levi ackerman fanfiction #aot levi #aot x reader #captain levi #captain levi x reader #snk levi #shingeki no kyoujin fanfiction #attack on titan

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1358456 · 4 years

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Review Response, July 26 - August 1, 2020

Two updates this week!

SC #018

1) Oh my god this is so cute I love this so much baby moon is so precious. Poor thing living on the streets. This was very fun to read keep up the good work

Hehe. Li’l Moon! I guess all the female Dex Holders are super adorable when they’re young. ... Still bummed that we never get to see a young Platinum in the manga. We got ONE panel of a 9 year old Platinum in ORAS and that’s it. And 9 years old isn’t that young in Pokemon Special. Boo.

2) Aww, this backstory really is sweet. And that was a very good idea of Platinum's - it does a pretty good job covering Moon's bare necessities. I like the picnic scene in particular! Moon as a kid is cute to see, but somehow that picnic scene was just nice to read overall. Heh, no wonder Moon ended up so devoted to Platinum. This really is a way better backstory than the manga. Overall, this is a superbly written chapter. Looking forward to the remaining ones!

I thought about how Platinum was going to care for Moon in a plausible manner. I mean, the best way for Platinum to provide for Moon is to simply get her to live in the mansion. But... I’m fairly certain that the Berlitz Mansion would not allow a random ass kid from off the streets to live there. That’s why Platinum doesn’t offer Moon to live with her. And so, with Moon staying with Diamond under his care for a bit, she naturally develops fondness for him, which would result in building a foundation for a scrambled pairing later on, or Moon taking Diamond’s side in certain situations. Hehe...

3) Great story, as usual (you are my favorite Pokémon writer and one of my favorite overall writers of fanfiction), but I do have a question. Why do you mention Green so rarely now? He appeared a lot in your earlier series, but he appears only twice (by my count) in this collection. I also checked on Tumblr and Green is absent from all of your recent rankings, lists, and etc. Do you just really dislike him now or something? Thank you for the wonderful work.

Well... I assume you’re relatively new here. To put it simply, after the pairing shift, Green plummeted in my preference, and then to compound the issue, he made a random ass appearance in XY that ruined a lot of things. I absolutely hated his appearance there, and so he simply stopped existing for me.

But of course, the seething hatred had passed a long time ago. The reason why he doesn’t appear nowadays is because there’s no point for him to appear anymore. Like... where is he going to appear? DE? He’s not paired with anyone, so no. SC? SC is going to die in two more updates and both chapters are focused on the juniors. Heart or Wings? Neither focus on the senior cast. Legacy? Well... Green’s presence f*cks things up there. So... he’s not going to be appearing ever.

Do I really dislike him now? Not anymore, no. Now it’s a strong indifference. Just like with Silver.

4) Also, to elaborate, I am happy to see that you swapped to Lucky shipping rather than Oldrival, I just wish Green made appearances more often as I think you do a much better job writing him than all of the grammar school dropouts that create the majority of the fanfiction writer base. As for ships with Green... I prefer Feeling (as Green and Yellow could easily just spend an hour staring awkwardly at each other, which would be funny... and the Yellow could be squashed by a piano that fell out of the sky (no big loss there. Just kidding. Kind of, anyway.)) or my favorite pairing, Jade Crystalline, not even so much because I think they would be good romantic partners as the fact that I despise Gold, and at least Green is intelligent. (To be honest I have never seen any reason whatsoever for Gold and Crystal being together, as Gold has very few redeeming qualities, and Crystal, while kind of generic, is at least a good person) Thank you.

Eh... maybe. But... I’m still not going to be writing anything with him.

Pairing him up with Yellow? ... Why would I do that? The biggest issue with me trying to force Red & Yellow to work back in the days was that I didn’t give a damn about Yellow and that dragged the pairing down so much. ... AND the issue with Red not really feeling anything there. Pairing up Green with Yellow would mean I would pair my least favorite male Dex Holder with my least favorite female Dex Holder, both of which are my absolute least favorites. So...

Despise Gold, huh? Well, everyone has their own preference. At least Green is intelligent? True. But he’s kind of a bastard. He doesn’t really give a damn about anyone. While Gold pretends that he doesn’t care, but he actually does.

5) Another great chapter I really enjoyed the moon's backstory I thought it was really good. I also quite like moons undying loyalty to platinum I just wish she could interact more with the rest of the Sinnoh gang.

I guess I should squeeze in more interactions between Moon and Diamond/Pearl. ... Though I have been doing that already. ... Mostly with Diamond, but hey.

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... Will it ever go past 8? It’s official, though. First half of SC all got 8 or higher. Second half never reached it.

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Heart #006

1) Interesting how Moon jumped straight to the idea of Diamond deepening his relationship with Platinum first...I hope she's not taking sides at least lol. Poor Platinum, though. Now she's really stuck between a rock and a hard place with having to decide, hm? I wonder what her thought process will be, honestly. I'd expect her to at least try and start by taking a logical approach to the issue first, though that probably won't get her very far. Awesome work as always and can't wait to see how this plays out!

Hehe. Hopefully Moon isn’t biased! Poor Pearl. Platinum is leaning towards Diamond, Moon is leaning towards Diamond, and the author is leaning towards Diamond. Maybe even White and Y too!

Oho, of course Platinum is going to try the logical approach first, and of course it’ll fail. Hehe. The torment next chapter would be interesting~!

2) Thought it was cool to see platinum figure out that diamond and pearl were lying. While reading this chapter it reminded me of Special Lives as this was what diamond was worried would happen. Which I think is cool as it’s like a what could’ve happened but with less doom. Can’t wait to see who she chooses.

... Do not mention that story. ... Of course, I realized the comparison before Heart even existed. But... well, I think the turmoil in Heart would be handled better than the disaster that was SL.

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... I’m so glad I spent all that fucking time working on this instead of playing a new game that I’ve been waiting for months now, that came out on the 30th. I literally spent hours working on the chapter while looking at the fucking icon on the television screen. Fucking hell.

#qna

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natsunoomoi · 4 years

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Finished Main Story of SVSSS....

So yeah, I did that. I still really liked the story overall. Some parts are a bit problematic in a way, but also in a satisfying way that is complex and I think can refer to some real life relationships and complexities of that because not all relationships fit nicely into the little boxes and labels that we make and that’s my take away from the ending.

-Don’t like the in-story “original author” still, but also don’t dislike him as much as I did when I started the story now that I got more of his perspective. MXTX posted all of this for free not thinking it would go anywhere really, but it’s true that some people do have careers where they make a living off of their webnovels and fans buying chapters, so that pressure is there. I’m sure that because MXTX is also a fan of D. Gray-man, she’s aware of the similar pressures that even mangaka at JUMP face. Like BLEACH basically ended early because it fell out of popularity with the fans just as Airplane mentions happens to some novel works. To be fair, BLEACH also lifted an entire plotline from another popular supernatural manga including carbon copies of the lackeys of the villain for that arc, so some shade was also deserved. Like Yukio is just Amanuma Tsukihito with a PSP instead of an arcade system or Super Famicom. D. Gray-man itself has also been on hiaitus several times due to health concerns and such. Same as Hunter x Hunter and other prolific manga. The pressure is real and some ways the original author is kind of a mood. He’s also still a huge coward and that’s annoying.

-I feel worse for Shen Jiu than when I did when I was just reading his backstory off of the wikis and stuff from just wanting to see Shen Qingqiu’s beautiful face. Like I felt bad before, but after knowing more and witnessing some sentiments that would have been gut punches if Shen Jiu had heard them, I feel so bad for him. I don’t condone what he did, but I also get it and wish I could hug him. Basically about the same level of thought as I put into how much I like Emet-Selch, but I think overall in the end I love Emet-Selch more because the 5.3 patch update for FFXIV broke me. Man, that MSQ. Like I’ve never been opposed to liking villains and always thought some villains were cool. Like my sister worships Sephiroth from FFVII for instance, but like I was never really into Sephiroth’s motivations in that he’s cool, but his identity crisis didn’t quite strike me as like actually 100% believable that torching Nibelheim and trying to rescue Jenova was justified or a natural reaction someone in his position would have. I like him more than Cloud cuz Cloud is a hot fucking mess of a person and he’s overall just cool, but as a villain his motivations didn’t resonate with me. A lot of people also really liked Kefka because he’s just straight up insane and like chaotic evil, but that kind of evil just isn’t compelling to me. Emet-Selch though straight up broke me and I thought about him for like months after the initial end of Shadowbringers when you do the fight with Hades. His story is ripe with meaning and nuance and the Tales from the Shadows stories adding more nuance and color to his eternal living torture of seeing remnants of people he cared about constantly without a break or a way to really “forget” and heal. That just stuck with me because I’ve lost people in my life too, and I remember what that was like and how hard it was to even live the day after let alone the following few years. I remember it well even today because it fundamentally changed me as a person, but I was able to find some relief and escape from music and entertainment and going out to have new experiences and travel. Emet-Selch could not, so his story really broke me internally. I bring this up just to make a comparison because I love Shen Jiu as well, but for nowhere near as dramatic a reason as I love Emet-Selch.

Spoilers under the cut

Okay, so since I was just talking about Shen Jiu, and maybe it’s partly because I actually find him to be gorgeous as well, but just reading his story did genuinely make me sad. I found his child form to be a little bit jaded already only because he was an older child already by the time he was bought by the Qius. When Yue Qingyuan was parting with him through the door he was being kind of manipulative there for extra sympathy initially, which isn’t really great. How severely the brother beat him though was hard to take. It was so extreme, like wtf? And perhaps the part where Qiu Haitang said that he’d been “freed” and the part where he was engaged seems to be true-ish, but yeah her brother is kind of really fucked up in how he still talks to him even though he is supposed to be his brother-in-law soon? Like what the hell. But like, the summaries of what he did online and even what Haitang had said also made it sound even more cold than it was. Like once he got going yeah, the onslaught was kind of cold. But he still had a moment of shock where like he didn’t really realize what he’d done right away and needed a moment to process. But after that it was like, well, it’s already done and people came to try to help the young master and he had to get out too. So the other people on the way out after that don’t sound nearly as consequential and it was really striking that not only did he not attack Haitang, but he spared all the other women in the house. Like Jesus Christ, were *ALL* the men in the house including the male servants and other slaves they had assholes to him too? Just, wow. But we don’t get a lot into what else happened there, but if the head of the household is bad and hurts him, it’s believable that other people join in just as Ming Fan joined in because Shen Jiu was complicit in allowing Binghe’s suffering. Really key though is the commentary of both the young master and his first evil master about his age.

That is such a huge chip on his shoulder because everyone keeps bringing it the fuck up. Including Qingge in another memory later on when he’s already Peak Lord. I know they don’t like each other, but that was really mean. I realize Qingge probably doesn’t care and that was the point to throw salt in his wounds because they don’t like each other, but seeing how much it affected him by him breaking his fan with his hands after hearing that. I’ve had people do similar to me where they make an insensitive comment to try to hurt you without understanding the actual circumstances. My sister did that to me once and I reconciled with her for a bit, but decided not to talk to her anymore again because of some other bullshit with her friends being childish. But when she did similar to me, I never really forgave her for it either. My story is not nearly as dramatic, but basically I had quit a job where I was being bullied by coworkers at the start of the recession and I was looking for jobs, but no luck with anything I was qualified for even though I went on a few interviews. There actually weren’t many listings posted around that time, so I would only be able to find a couple to apply to and by the time my sister came home I’d be playing games to pass the time cuz I was bored out of my mind waiting for something to happen. So then we got in an argument for I forget the initial reason anymore, but she brought up how I “wasn’t looking” for a job and just seemed to be “being lazy” and I just got so pissed and yelled at her that she had no fucking idea what I was doing everyday and that I am looking and there isn’t anything fucking there. I also lost it and threw a stool at her. I’m not proud of it, but I totally get the mood of what it feels like for someone to use something that you are struggling with as a negative to throw in your face even though you are trying *SO* hard to do your best. I especially don’t want to hear that from someone who gave up on their desired career that they were actually good at and making a decent living at for money and also can’t tell when their friends are kissing up to them and crossing a line and won’t stand up to them for being shitty people. Teapot meet kettle, and don’t throw stones if you live in a glass fucking house. I don’t like low blows like that.

My personal family issue aside though, I felt a lot of empathy for Shen Jiu in that moment. Seeing how he interacted with Binghe on their first meeting after that though, like I was sad for Binghe too, but I can also see where his misunderstanding happened on top of his insecurity. I also kind of wonder if Qingge’s comment also kind of encouraged this situation to happen. I still like Qingge because he makes up for it a lot later, but yeah that was fucked up.

The gut punch later was when Qingyuan was seemingly dying and tried to apologize to Qingqiu, but all the words and the things Shen Jiu needed to hear. His years of misunderstanding and not knowing and being in pain and thinking he was abandoned. That was painful. Shen Jiu is gone. We don’t know where he is. Maybe he’s dead. No idea, but those are things he can never know. It’s already too late, and that’s crushing.

I still just really want to know more about Shen Jiu and I feel really sad that there wasn’t some kind of redemption for him or anything. Even if it’s like Shen Yuan going into the recesses of his own mind and finds Shen Jiu locked in a box somewhere so actually the both of them share the same body and he’s just watching in a tiny TV what Shen Yuan does with his body. He’d be really frustrated and would probably scream at him a lot with his screams completely unheard, but at least he’d get to see people liking him more and would be able to hear the words that Qingyuan spoke. I mentioned in an earlier post that I saw a theory about OG Qingqiu transmigrating into Shen Yuan when Shen Yuan takes over his body, and I think that’s possible because Shang Qinghua says that when he transmigrated he was born there and was since a baby? I was thinking maybe it’d be more like OG dies when OG Binghe kills him and then becomes Shen Yuan, but who knows.

I mean, also I just crave more information about him. He’s so unfortunate, and I like wish more went right for him so that he wouldn’t be so miserable. Like when you see a character where their life is just shit on, you just wish that you could do something to take away their pain.

And with that sentiment, that’s also why I found the ending to be satisfying but probably a little problematic. Like Shen Yuan is just a good guy and he has that same sentiment for Binghe just because he’s a poor kid with a shitty hand in life, but he’s also like really clearly not gay himself and not actually attracted to Binghe in that way. To be clear, the book does seem to discourage this kind of relationship in that it works in the way the narrative unfolded, but it isn’t one that would work in real life really. That’s part of the depth of it though. Like SY emotionally cares for him and he even remarks that he feels kind of more like his Dad, but the physical side of their relationship is more on Binghe’s side than his, and he acquiesces to it because he feels bad for him because this poor child has no one. And yeah, fine this works in an actual book that we’re all reading and this works within the system within the book where the MC is in a book himself with really screwed up logic rules, but I don’t recommend this method of getting with someone you like in real life. It will not end well. If someone you like is not into you, emotionally manipulating them and crying and also stalking them until they give their body to you out of desperation to console you is not the road to happiness. You also won’t have a pressure timer of life on earth ending by combining with actual hell to push them into bed with you. The fact that SY resorts to this in desperation in order to try to help Binghe to get control of the demon sword is admirable in the narrative of the story in that he’s doing it because he cares so much about this person and that’s fine, but it’s a red flag if anyone did this IRL and put their wishes aside to appease someone else. There will be a breakdown in the future as one person puts aside their needs for the other one completely. Partnerships that work are healthy and equal. That’s not what this is. In the story, the two characters have an understanding though that makes it fine, but I have second-hand anxiety for the idea that anyone would try to replicate this. This is not normally healthy.

But at the same time, the fact that the characters have an understanding to that is unique to their personal choice is also realistic in a sense that life is sometimes complicated and a similar situation could come about, but it is the choice of the people involved. With constant communication there’s a slim chance that maybe it could work out, but it’s hard. The main level of complexity I’m thinking of is that there’s different ways to care about other people or rather to just feel about other people. Like you can have like an intellectual attraction to other people in that you just like talking with them and you’re good friends with them because of that. You can be romantically attracted to someone, but also not feel sexual attraction too. Of course you can also feel physical attraction to someone, but not really care at all about them emotionally or even intellectually. SY has emotional feelings for Binghe, but it’s more on the parental side or even just human in not wanting him to suffer. If this were a points meter, his values for his emotions and just caring about him would be at max, while physical attraction and even romantic attraction are basically zero. Like he also just like cares about him in principle? Like as an all seeing reader you look at everything and are just like, wtf with this shit? How can one person suffer so much? As empthy or even sympathy you feel for them so then if the other person is more not asexual or aromantic that can trigger some feelings which is what happened between these two characters. The reason I say it isn’t necessarily bad, but some shakiness on execution too. But like say like an asexual person is romantically attracted to someone who isn’t asexual, but they still want to be with them. Like the non-ace person has some needs sometimes and even if the ace doesn’t feel it, because they care about their partner they acquiesce to their partner’s requests because they just want them to be happy. This kind of very personal choice situation I think is really similar to basically what ends up happening between SY Qingqiu and Binghe where SY isn’t really interested, but at the same time cares about Binghe’s well-being so much that he actually just wants him to be happy and reluctantly is okay with the situation. IRL though Binghe would be REALLY FRUSTRATING to be so unreasonably needy and like narcissistically abusive in wanting him all to himself an isolating him from his friends and being jealous of them. In comparison, Wangji and Wuxian are a great deal more balanced in comparison, but I also really like this book for the original idea and the complexity of SY’s ultimate choice because I feel like it’s also a bit more real that some people do make that kind of choice. It’s not healthy or guaranteed to be a success or happy experience, but it’s in the realm of possibilities for the kinds of personal choices people can make because the other person’s happiness is worth the minor discomfort.

Ah, I just have a lot of thoughts about this. Part of it stems from myself being ace also and what that means for me. But also getting to the end, I think Qingge is a fellow ace and also similar to me, just serious about his job and loyal to his crew.

I’ve read some of the extras obviously, but I haven’t delved that deeply into the extra materials.

Oh also, I laughed so hard when Mobei-jun just tossed Shang Qinghua over like a chicken. It said like a chicken and it was hilarious. XD Like imagining that panicked sound of hucking chickens in Ocarina of Time.

Oh and ho-shit the alt punishment system came up for SY Qingqiu for screwing up his points. Got to live through half the process of becoming a human stick very painfully.

I guess part of me is still kind of just wondering how Binghe grew to be SO needy. It’s to an unnecessary degree, but I guess without any real emotional or social guidance in the Endless Abyss that could happen?

Zhuzhi-Lang though is a really frustratingly annoying character, but I also like him at the same time. I’m confused by him.

The only other thing I’m like confused a bit about is like, so the 4 sects that are depicted with Cang Qiong Mountain being the top one are like the great four sects, but like...where are they? I’m just asking because of the kind of meta general landscape of what cultivation and Taoism is like some of the events that happen I would think actually would call down some interference from actual Heaven. Like in the classic lit, whenever there’s huge disturbances down in the Human World, like the Heavenly Palace and like the Jade Emperor are like, “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?” and go send people. I find it really hard to believe that such a disaster as the combining of two realms would be ignored by the armies of Heaven and like Nezha, Erlang Shen, and other notable actual deities up there would come down and be like, “The fuck you guys doing down here with these shenanigans?” Also, Journey to the West is like one of the most like influential books in the canon of Chinese lit and is regarded as literally one of the Four Great Classics. But none of these fools in these “great four sects” know how to stamp a floor and call up the local deity to tell you what the hell is happening in Jinlan City instead of sending your disciples to die? Sun Wukung did that at like every damn city and then also threatened to beat them if they like weren’t doing their job properly. Those minor deities are on the payroll for Heaven, so like...use them? Like I feel like they would know this too because like the ultimate goal for cultivation is to be able to become an immortal and end up on the payroll? I know Qingqiu is supposedly like mid-level or something, but like I think they should like know-ish where they’re going? Like in the future they would become one of those minor gods making records? Are they like not high enough to even talk to them? Maybe not, but I do think like Nezha, Pagoda Bearer Li, or Erlang Shen would definitely come down and be like, “Hey, what’s going on?”

Also like, Shen Jiu isn’t a great character and how he treats his disciples is bad and what he did was bad. But like, also, what is the standard to judge him really? Like Nezha was a dick when he was a child too. When he was 3 he went to a river and was swimming and liked killed all the fish and then a dragon prince came out and was like, “WTF? Why are all the fish dead?” and then Nezha instead of answering him kills him and guts him and then takes his tendon home to turn into a belt. Then like his Dad gets a complaint from the Dragon King like, “Hey, my son is dead! Your son did it. Hand him over so I can kill him or I destroy your town.” So then Nezha’s Dad goes to talk to him and is like, “What’re you doing?” And then Nezha answers him and tells him exactly what he did like it was no big fucking deal that he killed the local Dragon Prince and made him into a belt. Obviously there’s an argument and like Nezha basically rage quits his life and is like, if you’re so concerned about this bullshit I return this body to you and kills himself to cut off his ties to his parents. He was a rude little shit. Then he went into his Mom’s dream and threatened her until she built him a temple so he could get prayer requests until he could be reborn again. His Dad found out and wrecked the temple, so then he went up to go find his master who had him be reborn using lotus flowers. After that after being reborn, Nezha’s first order of business was to go back to his family and try to kill his own father for fucking up his temple and chased him down EVERYWHERE until other powers in Heaven, decided to send down Nezha’s older brothers with a pagoda to give to their Dad that would trap and burn Nezha everytime he tried to murder him. Is this better or worse than what Shen Jiu did? This is an actual god that people worship. A quite prominent and very famous one. Nezha is also one of my favorite deities and I had a huge crush on the Nataku from Fujisaki Ryu’s Houshin Engi manga who has mostly the same backstory as deity Nezha, and I just loved him in high school. He was a good guy. What are the standards here people? I don’t think anyone in any story in China can really judge someone like Shen Jiu doing an understandable level of murder as a response to trauma and severe abuse when they worship a deity that suffered nothing and tried to commit patricide and had a severe disregard for other life. In the cultivation world, potentially, this could be their future boss. I think arguably, he could be worse than Shen Jiu, but he’s a canonical real deity.

The above tirade for me is like a thing I feel like I would have said if I was in the position to be alive in Jinlan City and wanted to defend Shen Qingqiu cuz WTF.

Further, I’m a huge fan of Jigoku Shoujo and Enma Ai did much the same after her cousin saved her from being sacrificed, the villagers found out, buried her a live, made her cousin help bury her alive, and then she came back as a vengeful spirit and set the whole village on fire and killed everyone except maybe her parents who had their souls as prisoners by Enma himself? Can’t 100% remember. But like, on the scale of characters I like that have done terrible things, Shen Jiu is actually relatively low and under some people that are good guys.

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roastedstix · 6 years

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The Dark Harvest Episode 1

Oooohh snap, it’s finally done.

youtube

So as you may know, I’ve been working on this shit since the dawn of man. Took me a while to finish it because I’ve been working on college stuff and also I’ve been animating for Tsioque. Hell, I’m surprised I finished it at all this year. I didn’t quite make it in time for halloween, but that was my fault because the cartoon was already done but I refused to upload it because I keep seeing small mistakes here and there....oops.

Look, I’m just gonna get out the self deprecation part right now because I always say the same thing...so, yes I think the plot could be improved and the dialogue and whatever akfjaksfj...I do like the visual a lot, however, so there’s that.

So okay, onto production. I started writing this episode in 2015, and began to animate it by the end of the year. The script went through many revisions before turning into the final thing. What sucks is I kept changing stuff AS I’m animating it, so I had to cut a bunch of stuff and re record lines and whatnot. Sometimes I even had to improvise and use existing recordings and just fit it in the scene with my dark magic...There’s a lot of unused dialogue and cut scenes because of this. I might upload the original animatic so people can see the difference and so the extra recordings won’t go wasted. My voice actors Anairis and Patrick did an amazing job and really brought my characters to life with their talent, and I love them both!

This time, I drew all of the backgrounds in Manga Studio this time, to make use of textures to achieve that painted-looking style, which was what I was going for. A little similar to the backgrounds in Samurai Jack actually. Originally the episode took place when the sun was still up, but I changed it so it take place at night so there’s a bunch of backgrounds that went unused. It’s a good thing I like drawing backgrounds, otherwise I’d just curl up into a foetal position and cry.

I also changed Markus’ design in the middle of production. I changed his jaw to be less pointed. It’s a good thing I animate using symbols instead of frame by frame so all I had to do was update the head and all the other scenes would use the new model.

I feel like I’ve been animating so much faster but at the same time slower because I think I have a really good workflow now that I can animate a scene in a short amount of time, but at the same time I keep animating more details and secondary movement, which is a good thing, I suppose but it takes longer. I’m pretty proud of the animation in this, though I wish the poses and angles were more dynamic. Still learning how to do that...I made all of the music here too. I think I’m improving, but I still wouldn’t call myself a musician.

I have been working on this on and off, which is the main reason why it took so long to finish. I had to constantly put it off so I can work on either college, or the game I previously mentioned or just to do commissions so I’ll have money. I’ll be finishing college this December (that’s the plan, anyway), so next year hopefully I’ll have more time to work on stuff again...unless I run out of money and I’ll have to find work idk.

Something I want to try is bringing more people on board especially animators in order to speed up production. And since I’m broke as fuck, I won’t be able to do that yet, but it’s something that I’m always open about.

I’ve already been writing the next episode since last year. I’m trying my best to make it more substantial than the first episode. It features a new character, Clair. It’s going to be more action-heavy which I’m dreading, but hopefully it’ll look cool. Here’s concept art for the next episode:

Hopefully I’ll be working on it for real soon. I’ll be posting updates when I can!

~bryanv

#art #animation #dark harvest #cartoon

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bitob · 4 years

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4 , 9 , 17 , 22 !

four: who is your most-used fc?

of the characters that i’ve played in the last... half a year to a year, i’d say there’s a pretty good mix, i don’t tend to favour one fc over the others... but long-term it’s definitely yoongi.

nine: tell me about your favorite group you ever joined

so this wasn’t on tumblr because a solid 9/10 of rps ive been in on tumblr have died way too fast for me to get attached, but there was one rp i was in in like... 2018? where i had a few rlly iconic plots including a one-sided rivalry to lovers, we-like-each-other-but-hes-always-in-another-country-and-also-im-a-coward (which lasted across like 5 diff groups and also was angsty but had moments of meme-y-ness such as how one of them woke the other up at like 3am when they were teens for an ‘emergency’ which was actually abt manga), the ‘babies’ (they were all like. 17-18. and bullied each other about crushes constantly), the ‘seize the means of production’ gang (dont ask it was so ridiculous sjgkshdk), the twelve idiots who spoke about three languages each and had equally many braincells between them (and one of them keeps harassing the rest with images of terrifying australian bugs). sometimes i go back and read through the threads just for fun bc i miss it that much.

edit: icb i forgot the star-trek-but-not-because-i-literally-had-no-knowledge-of-it-at-the-time group with the duct tape cult that one was also excellent

seventeen: name an fc you wish people used more

like,,, all of victon,,, why r there no gif icons of sejun from the last two years,,, i thought the rpc liked pretty people,,,

twenty-two: do you have any rp horror stories you’d be willing to share?

i have a very small handful but there is one that stuck with me for a long long time and that i’m still bitter about.

so on the site where my favourite rp occurred, my least favourite also occurred. i don’t recall when it was, but i think it was like, 2017? maybe 2016. and it was a high school rp, because of course it was, the plot was something like there r the regular kids and then also the delinquent kids who r there because no regular school will take them iirc, and it started off pretty good — i had characters i liked, plots i enjoyed, and i was helping to admin the rp — running the character & fc masterlists, things like that. and then the main admin dipped. so i was essentially running this thing on my own for about two weeks. and it was going great. and then she came back, and it all went to hell. because she appointed a few extra admins — and on this site that comes with actual privileges of moderation. and one of them i was cool with — she was a friend (at the time, bc the conglomeration of rpers who knew each other that joined that rp split apart in like... 2018? over some nazi apologist or not respecting people’s triggers). the second one, though, i didn’t know and she wasn’t officially appointed as a moderator? and she was going around changing things up and like. she had permission to from the main admin, which is fine! but the main admin didnt bother to like. tell me, the person who had been running the rp for the last nearly three weeks, that this person had the authority to do that. because ‘oh we’re childhood friends’. but then things settled down again, and everything was going well,,, until these two (the main admin & her buddy) thought it’d be fun to enact a plot along the lines of ‘these two people really hate each other, how about one of them shoots the other’ which got the group flagged by the site as 18+ bc fucking yikes and i was like. 15? small anyway. so naturally the website was like ‘no this group is adults-only u cant see it’ so i had to change my age on my profile to be able to actually see the group,, brought this up to the main admin she was just like ‘oh sorry lmao i cant do anything abt it’. so i got the fuck out of there after the other admins started getting on my case about not doing anything for like. a week. because like. i had put so much work into that group - formatting masterlist posts in html, generally running things (accepting characters, updating pages, etc). and i wasnt being acknowledged or respected at all. so yeah, bye.

another time she was running another group and me n one of my friends who had also sorta fallen out w her over her bullshit but were still pretending to be friends w her made a plot together that was basically ‘look if her and her friend are going to have their cliquey plots that affect the whole group why cant we’ which like. in hindsight was maybe not a great decision. but it was therapeutic and probably what she deserved.

#answered #ynkkoo #long post /#g*d that site was terrible #ppl say that the tumblr rpc is bad #but it rlly is nothing compared to that site

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comicteaparty · 4 years

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March 28th-April 3rd, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from March 28th, 2020 to April 3rd, 2020. The chat focused on the following question:

How many hours do you work on your comic per week, and how do you manager to balance that with other responsibilities?

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

heheh So we are.. cheating a bit Both me and my coworker are unemployed, and is working on hour comic, like was it a full time job. It is our passion project, and dream that we can work and live of makeing comics. In Denmark you can apply for grants from the government, but you need to have releashed a book before that is possible. We are useing the comic, to show potentional clients in the future what we can do. For now we are working on it from 09:00-17:00 ish (with a long lunch break) while applying for other kinds of grants, and also does all the things we are supposed to to get our unemplyment money, and searching for jobs, and freelance gigs, gathering the courage to start our own small company (not right now though) and yeaah time will tell

carcarchu

@Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS that doesn't sound like cheating to me? more like using the tools at your disposal to turn your passion into a viable career

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

hehe it feels a little like cheating! there are some debates about if it is okay or not, but we think that strengthening our skills is a good use of our time

eli [a winged tale]

Haha also not cheating! It’s great you’re using the time to chase the dream I’m curious what’s your breakdown for those time working on the comic? As for me, usually 1-2 hours a day with a bit more on the weekend if time permits. These days with the quarantine it’s about 2-3 h a day

DanitheCarutor

Since I'm unemployed until who knows when I've been working on my comic between 40-50 hours a week about 6 to 7 days a week... most weeks. Some days, like update day or chore day, I hardly work on the comic or don't work on it at all. Admittedly I'm not the best at balancing drawing with other responsibilities, sometimes I get so into it that I forget about daily house chores, other weeks I do the opposite and only do house chores which makes me totally behind of comic stuff. I can't seem to find a good middle ground, it always turns into completely focusing on one or the other.

eli [a winged tale]

Yeah when I get in the zone, time flies and life gets put to the wayside

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

So I have no school or work, so the webcomic has become almost a fulltime project for me

I average about 10 hours per day working on it, not counting on chores and exercise

Another thing I worry about is the possibility of carpal tunnel syndrome, which is why I've been relentless with exercise, too

I guess it's just a combination of relentless reminders and also sheer willpower that gets me to do other responsibilities haha

@eli [a winged tale] also I know that feeling

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

So since my school had to cancel, I have to be more responsible for my online course. Sometimes I give myself 2 days off each week to work more into my upcoming webcomic but I have to switch my mind for school work, online classes. Also extra time for food. I need to get back into exercise or I feel exhausted more easily. I keep a wall schedule so that I make it a routine to write what I'll do every 3 or 5 days, to keep my active brain reminded(edited)

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I spent the majority of last year (fun)employed (partially by choice, partially not! my previous job let me go rather unceremoniously... and I needed a hiatus anyway... so it worked out) so I poured a lot more hours into that chapter of Phantomarine than I usually did. I worked on it almost every day - at least for a couple of hours, but sometimes up to a full eight-hour day. That number has dipped tremendously since I’ve gone back to work, but I’m spreading the same amount of time out in a broader way. I’m trying to get a good buffer during my hiatus, so I can work and draw in a healthy balance. I don’t have crazy overtime at my current job like I did at my last one, so that’s already a comfort. I’m confident I’ll be able to hit a good stride once the comic returns in June (edited)

eli [a winged tale]

Can’t wait Lady!!

Feather J. Fern

Two part time jobs, and school killed my comic, but I been working on getting one panel done a day, which is around 30minutes to an hour if possible.

eli [a winged tale]

My routine used to be rendering on the commute but now just once in am and once pm until this limbo time is clarified

That’s awesome Feather! It’s so rewarding when everything comes together after putting effort everyday

Feather J. Fern

Once school is done in two more weeks I will be more free to do things so I hope to get maybe two panels done in a day XD

Online school, stupid quarantine

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Due to the pandemic im mostly off school and my part time job so i spend like 4-5 hours on my comic per day. Still would like try to get a page done per day but lmao digital painting is slowwww

eli [a winged tale]

What’s everyone’s tips for breaks/stretches/balance? I feel like I certainly need to revisit these to avoid burnout and continue feeling motivated!

Feather J. Fern

Actually there was a cool manga artist who's tip was literally he only worked working hours. His mornings are free and since manga was his job, he worked form 12-6, giving him 2 hours to do other work he needs to get done, and takes morning walks and stuff.

Another person I know had "No working weekends" as a thing becuase they are a freelancer.

I personally have try to make sure I ahve a routine, and actually, stretch before drawing.

Streetch before, during a break, and then after, to keep that body nice and warmed up

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Health-wise there's this hing for your : every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. I'm not good at following this, but when I do it, it helps a lot.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Despite the current pandemic, my work-life hasn't changed much (unless you count stress getting in the way). I am currently "unemployed," but I do consider comicking my full-time job. I am also not very good at balancing work and life. Something's always gotta give. Last year, I worked at a job that basically ruined my ability to work on my comic. I worked 30-40 hours typically, ruined my sleep schedule, took work home sometimes, and was constantly exhausted. This is what resulted in my year and a half long hiatus, and it's what drove me to work like hell on my comic when I quit. Now (when I'm in the groove and not suffering from art block), I typically spend 60-70 hours on my comic and get 2-3 pages done: - 30 hours sketching (I know, ridiculous) - 5 hours filling in base colors - 20-25 hours painting - 5 hours adding text, speech bubbles, sfx, and finishing touches - 1-2 hours formatting for Webtoon I also spend some time throughout the week typing up the script, doing concept art for things coming in the future of the comic, and preparing for conventions, but I can't tell you exactly how much time.

eli [a winged tale]

Thanks for the breakdown! I’m always keen to learn from everyone and seeing how the workflow is like for different people

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

oh don't forget to do wrist stretches!

eli [a winged tale]

Ahh formatting time is always so tedious for me!

Yes wrist exercises! Any recommendations?

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

hmmm well the easiest one is literally just shaking it out

like every hour

and I also like to hold my arm out parallel, point my fingers up and using my other hand to pull the fingers back so i'm stretching the wrist

then I point the fingers down and pull on the fingers until my wrist is stretching

eli [a winged tale]

Awesome. Will be adopting those!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I'm pretty fast. 2-6 hours per page, depending on how detailed it is. Average of 3-4. I could probably do 2 pages/ week easily enough, but don't want to do more than that. I'm the kind of person who always needs to be doing a million different things. I need to leave time for my other hobbies and my paintings and my academics and extracurriculars. Otherwise I'd get burnt out doing one thing only

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

@eli [a winged tale] So since it is both me and @Q (Wayfinders: Off Course) working, we start with working on a rough each, our goal is one step (so rough, ink, color) for two pages pr day, pr person. So in a weak the goal is four finished pages a week, and then we upload 3 pages per week. So it is divided that in the morning we start at 09:00 in the morning, maybe checking mail, being practical or whatever. Then we work until 12:00 were we eat lunch, go for a long nice walk and then we go back to work between 13:00 and 14:00 ish and then work until 17:00 when we begin to prepare dinner. Then of course breaks inbetween

Q (Wayfinders: Off Course)

It’s pretty wild to be able to dedicate your entire day to comics like that

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

damn you all work fast

do you guys have any tips on how to work on a webcomic faster?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Lol, I wish!

Still looking for those magical secrets

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

@shadowhood (SunnyxRain) You know the 80-20 rule? You can get 80% of the result with 20% of the effort? My comic is very messy if you zoom in. I don't spend time making sure the linework or the coloring is perfectly clean. Also, I'm pretty fast at drawing figures. I used to practice figure drawing a lot by rushing to draw strangers irl before they moved, or by drawing a bunch of fast figures from the free figure drawing model websites online. I've also taken a figure drawing course (didn't even have to pay because it was part of my university! Even if you don't have that option you can probably find free life drawing sessions on Meetup or similar!) which really helped me streamline my process for drawing people

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Oh I see! Yes, I used to take life drawing classes too! And your response makes me feel a lot better

I tend to be a bit messy with inking, and since i'm a perfectionist a lot of my time is wasted on editing/clean up

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I've seen cronaj draw, and while I think the results look excellent, I think her method is a kind of inefficient. She draws like a printer, nearly finishing one detailed body part before moving on the the next. I think maybe if she drew in a more classical way, going from a gesture drawing to progressively more detailed, it might help her be faster and her poses more cohesive and dynamic. Maybe working on 1 or 5 min figures would help? Practicing things like this?

eli [a winged tale]

Yeah I try to do figure practices for efficiency

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

I heard that there are some online life drawing vids you can follow too

but what are your experiences with online life drawing vids versus the real thing

like is there a real difference?

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

found some of my old 1 minutes

To me there's not too much difference

I've heard some people say that life drawing is either way easier or way harder though. Because of your depth perception when looking at a real person

But the bruises on my legs can attest to my horrid depth perception haha. That might be why I don't notice a difference

Actually those previous sketches might be 30 seconds? I don't remember

I would recommend you try both but right now we pretty much only have the online option haha

eli [a winged tale]

Yeah I’ve done both and I think irl creates complexity with depth and the interactions with others etc is helpful but online is my go to for flexibility

I think having a process streamlined will make things more efficient. The downside is that it might feel tedious and I do switch it up from time to time for variety

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Might feel uncomfortable but that's how you know you're improving

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

There is a TON of difference for me. I HAVE to look at a physical model in front of me.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Can't get better if you always do the same things

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

This is what my brain does.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I wonder- could drawing yourself in a mirror be a decent substitute?

If youre lucky you might also be able to ask an SO or roommate to model for you. Should probably pay them back by cooking for them or something though

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Brain: sees a real model in front of me Brain: translates 3D to 2D, result: drawing Brain: sees a photo/video of a model Brain: SHIT. That's supposed to be 3D, isn't it? Brain: Translates 2D to 3D (basically re-constructing it in my head, or attempting to re-construct) so that it can translate it back to 2D Brain: BSOD

There's some online resources out there that have "3D" photos... you know, two near-identical images side by side, so if you look at it cross-eyed, it becomes 3D?

But I can't do those because I get a headache X'D

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Just thinking about drawing from that makes me dizzy

eli [a winged tale]

Oh interesting!

Yeah maybe looking out the window to draw people would be the way to go...

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

But maybe figure drawing in VR exists?

eli [a winged tale]

Balcony figure drawings

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I live on the top floor so those are going to be some very small figures

eli [a winged tale]

For ants

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Once this coronavirus thing is over, there's lots of ways you can do gesture drawings from just random people -- bus stops, cafes, museums (I have not done this, but people who have done this report this is really good because others assume you're drawing the artworks. XD)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I've done this a lot

Sometimes I've even shown people drawing of themselves if they've turned out particularly nice

They've always taken it well

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

I like drawing my professors because they use hand gestures a lot when they talk

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Airport was REALLY good for finding people stuck in one pose indefinitely

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

they alwayas laugh when I show them

eli [a winged tale]

Shadow omg I do that too

Draws classmates

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

yeah the only issue i have with drawing classmates

is that they're always doing the "i'm using my phone" pose

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Become the master of drawing people on their phones

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Maybe try drawing children on the playground?

This works better if you're a woman

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

oh thank jesus

I also like going to the zoo or the museum

or the aquarium if i'm feeling adventurous

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I am a University student so I also have some pretty interestng drawings of people asleep in weird poses

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I really need to start going to weekly figure drawing sessions once this is over (there's one here... 20 min drive... 8AM Saturdays )

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

ditto or just go to the park and draw

and @Eightfish (Puppeteer) I've had some.....weird poses from all my profs

one guy was incredibly hard to draw; he was VERY enthusiastic about showing us knife skills

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The parks here are too spacious, to a degree where it's weird to get close enough to people

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Bring binoculars

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Don't worry ma'am I'm an artist

nothing sketchy

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

(except my sketch)

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

A+ pun right there

another place to go for figure drawing

theaters

like.....opera/plays

I once tried drawing the men dancing in the Newsies musical

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Tried that once, but it took me out of the performance

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

same i was dazzled by dancing men

aaaaand then i abandoned sketching at all when they started throwing newspaper strips into the audience

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

But they were giving you free paper!

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

THEY WERE

i'll take what i can get

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) While I agree that my method of drawing is "inefficient," I do not draw like a printer. There are videos of people drawing like a printer and it's not what I'm doing. I have done gesture drawing before, but it always looked incredibly abstract, and not quite like people, which is fine, but not what I'm going for. I treat gesture drawing like a warm-up exercise. It doesn't really do anything for my end result, but gets my drawing muscles stretched out.(edited)

eli [a winged tale]

Gesture drawings are definitely a good warmup!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Perhaps it was an inappropriate analogy. What works for me I guess wouldn't work for everyone. I was trying to offer advice because whenever you talk about how much time you spend on art and you work life balance it's commendable but also dismaying. I hope you find something that works for you in the future

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Oh god.. I sometimes work 6 hours a day. I guess thats like 30 hours a week? Crazy to think about, it's like a full job

Oooh you guys are sharing figure drawings... I swant to show some of mine

Behold

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

My figure drawing usually breaks down into like, medical anatomy study. I feel like I understand body shapes better by including the muscles & bones

carcarchu

ABS the most important figure study

Deo101 [Millennium]

ah figure drawing? I love figure drawing ^^

I do like a lot but this kinda thing is most of it

anyways as for the question at hand, I do a lot of different things for my comics weekly. My millennium pages take me 2-6 hours i would say, but I also have patreon things I need to do so I'd say i spend 10-15 hours on it a week. for my other comic, I spend about 6 hours an update, and it updates every other week. but honestly, all of my free time goes to assorted comics. If i'm not working on school work or chatting with people, I'm working on things for patreon, potential merch, or other comics I want to start sometime.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Oooh nice poses!!’

Deo101 [Millennium]

thanks!! I have a ton of gesture/figure drawings but these ones are my most recent that I have saved to my computer i think

10 minutes im pretty sure. very good for speeding up

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Those look really nice, good values

Deo101 [Millennium]

thanks ^^ I really hate working in charcoal honestly, it kinda always winds up hurting my body somehow, but its very quick sooooooo

kayotics

My answer for the prompt question has changed a lot since I started quarantine lmao... I used to do about 10 hours of work throughout the week on my comic page (usually after work, I have an office job) but ironically it’s gotten harder while I work from home. I’ve been struggling to find time since I don’t have a separation between work and home now, and putting the boundaries up of “I’m not always available” to coworkers is difficult.

Also on figure studies: they’re a great way to practice speed. I use the concepts of figure drawings all the time.

RebelVampire

@kayotics As someone who always works from home doing remote contract work, I have to say I think this is something a lot of people underestimate about work at home life. In that it's sometimes really difficult to establish boundaries with ppl and make them understand you aren't always available and also aren't gonna work billions of hours of overtime. So I'm sorry to hear that's affecting your comic work.

Shadowmark Productions

I work anywhere from 6-8 hours a day on comic stuff. That’s an average though. Sometimes I slack and need to pull all nighters to make up for it. Yes, I am terrible at time management. They say entrepreneurs are the only people willing to work 80 hours a week for themselves so they do not have to work 40 hours a week for someone else. I guess webcomic creators are the only people willing to work 80+ hours a week so that they can... go to work for someone else afterwards

AntiBunny

4 days of procrastinating, 1 of procrastinating and hating myself, and 2 of actual comic drawing seems to make up my weekly comic making schedule. :p

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I can only imagine how stressed I would be if I forced myself to update weekly

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

This is a hard question to answer because it varies a lot depending on my energy levels. Ideally I’d spend several hours a day on comics, but realistically I draw as much as possible when I have the energy (5+ hours a day for as many days in a row as I can handle it) and then go weeks or months too tired to do comics. On average, barring any long periods of exhaustion or other interruptions from RL, I spend about 20+ hours a week making pages for my comics.

sagaholmgaard

I prefer to work on my comic for about an hour ever morning and maybe 2-3 hours in the evening, that's the ideal routine for me. Right now I sadly have a lot of schoolwork to do (writing my thesis) so i might get less than 30 minutes in the morning and then feel rlly tired in the evening so I dont get as much time then either. but oh well!

I can still work for 4-5 hours on the weekends so I manage ^^(edited)

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

The whole stay-indoors order's currently completely wrecked my pattern, but before that I did between 3-4 hours a day.

Shadowmark Productions

Can’t imagine the stress of a daily or even weekly posting schedule. Hats off.

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #creator babble #creator interview #comic creator interview #comic tea party #ctp

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makeste · 6 years

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BnHA Chapter 177: Construction Site Clash

Previously on BnHA: Deku confronted Gentle outside of a tea shop. Gentle sprang into action and revealed his quirk: elasticity. Basically he’s Monkey D. Luffy but instead of making himself stretchy and bouncy, he can do it to anything he touches, including the ground and even the damn air. Deku charged at him and promptly got flung waaaay back, but Gentle and La Brava realized how strong he is (and La Brava recognized him from his batshit insane fight against Todoroki in the sports festival where he broke all off his fingers just to prove a fucking point) and tried to run, not wanting to go toe to toe with him. Probably a good call, because after getting bounced into the air, Deku -- thinking about Eri and Jirou and everyone else who’s been looking forward to the cultural festival -- unleashed his new long-range Delaware Smash: Air Force attack. Then he grabbed Gentle by the collar and flung him into a fucking building. Damn, Deku.

Today on BnHA: Deku has a weird conversation with Gentle while the latter dangles from a construction beam. Gentle tries to reason with Deku and explain how his plan is somehow going to be a win-win situation for everyone. Deku calls bullshit and then lies and says the authorities are on their way, so Gentle cheerfully leaps back into action and starts using his quirk to springboard all over the place Gran Torino style so that Deku can’t get in a clean shot. He then tries to drop a giant steel beam onto a hapless old man, forcing Deku to jump in and save him. While he’s occupied, Gentle and La Brava take the opportunity to flee. We get an update on the time -- it’s now 8:45 a.m., t-minus 15 minutes to the start of the festival -- and then we cut back to Deku, who gets real mad and lifts the beam with only one fucking hand while aiming another air gun attack at Gentle with the other. La Brava is all “oh shit this kid doesn’t give up” and says that she’ll have to use her quirk.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 202 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

you guys. it’s February 3rd 2019 and I’ve just watched the worst, most mind-numbingly boring Superbowl in history. wtf was that. BnHA please help me wash the bad taste out of my mouth please and thank you

lmao oh my god

do you guys remember that scene from Avengers where Bruce Banner wakes up in an abandoned building and Harry Dean Stanton thoughtfully gives him some pants. for some reason this reminded me of that. “well then, son, you’ve got a condition”

now La Brava’s running over from a nearby roof and she’s all “DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT POPS”

she says they’re just shooting a film, and she’s asking him to let the neighbors know as well

well this is the most transparent lie of all time

(ETA: or is it just transparent enough to work!)

and even she’s thinking that it’s probably not going to buy them much time and that their plans have basically been foiled and they have to retreat

and now we’re cutting to inside of the building

on the one hand, it’s a cool setting and conveniently empty so that no one will get hurt! but on the other hand, this looks like the perfect place for someone to land the wrong way on a rebar and get accidentally impaled. please no one get impaled. we had enough impalings in the last arc

Deku’s thinking grateful thoughts about Mei and flashing back to when she gave him the details about his new gloves

yeah I’m just going to post this, not even gonna try and sum it up

(ETA: might wanna think about using a different font in the future if you want to avoid any confusion when typing out the word “flick”, Jaimini)

she sure knows a lot about his OFA capabilities, huh? thankfully she’s the type who gets so caught up in whatever she’s currently focused on that she would never in a million years note the many, many similarities between Deku’s quirk and All Might’s

also, interestingly, Deku is thinking a “thank you” to Mina as well!

because he apparently incorporated her “special dance training” into his attack?? omg what. “dance-off, bro. you and me”

Gentle is such a wacky fellow he might actually do it too

oh my lord

see what I mean

also hush, Deku. it’s called “flair” okay?

now Gentle is grinning like a loon and saying that he’ll execute his plan no matter what. “this is my resolve”

your resolve is stupid, Gentle. there, I said it. I love you but you lost this one pal. stop trying to attack a bunch of teenagers who are just trying to have a fun and wholesome time at school

Deku’s yelling at him. “you’re no gentleman!”

wow, harsh Deku

now he’s asking what Gentle is planning

meanwhile La Brava is hopping the fence and entering the construction site, and this overly trusting man from earlier has been completely fooled

lol she should just make something up. “uh...” [okay, just be cool, La Brava. just pick something reasonable] “...Animal Planet.” [nailed it]

now she’s sprinting over to where Deku and Gentle are and getting ready to film again

lol

so Deku is telling him that the school is on high security alert and the alarms will sound even before he can get in and he’ll definitely be caught, and on top of that the festival will be called off

this motherfucker is genuinely trying to negotiate with him lmao

Deku’s all “THAT’S EVEN WORSE” and Gentle is all “lol yeah I guess” omg

and now he (Gentle) is all “well, so that’s my plan, now if you don’t mind I’d like to get back at it”

oh snap

well at least he’s a better liar than La Brava

uh oh, Gentle is activating his quirk again it looks like

he’s springboarding off the floor and shouting “BEGONE, STUDENT OF U.A.”

outstanding use of the word “begone”, Gentle my good man

anyway, so he’s bouncing around and Deku is watching and trying to predict his movements

and Gentle is getting ready to springboard again

that probably isn’t good for the building

-- oh for fuck’s...

so all that time training with Gran Torino was for nothing?

wtf, now what??

did he just get hit? what’s going on

Gentle is saying “if you can use an air bullet, allow me to counter with an air barrier”

wait, what? so is the idea to reflect Deku’s attack back on him?

oh wait. or did Deku just walk into an elastic patch of air and get bounced back? is that what it is?

La Brave is telling Gentle that they need to retreat, and yeah they really should

but instead, Gentle is removing a bolt from one of the beams

did he do that with his bare (well, gloved, but you know what I mean) hands?? just like that? either this construction is shoddy as hell, or else this is the single most unrealistic thing I’ve ever seen in this manga about kids with superpowers and bird heads and astronomical high school entrance exam budgets

anyway, now he’s bouncing on the beam and it’s vibrating

he says he can’t consciously deactivate his quirk

interesting. also potentially pretty dangerous and certainly inconvenient

but objects turn back to normal given a little time

and that’s what’s happening with this beam oh snap

well but I mean, as soon as you manhandled that screw loose -- did he use his quirk for that? is that why it was so easy? -- it was pretty clear what you intended to do

and by the way, dropping a steel beam onto a 16-year-old is pretty damn metal for someone who’s supposedly a gentleman villain

oh shit wait

damn, dropping it onto an unsuspecting old man who’s not even a fighter is even more metal

but thankfully Deku is Deku

nice, Deku

now he’s getting all outraged and “DID YOU JUST TRY TO DROP IT ON THAT INNOCENT OLD MAN”

oh, Gentle

c’mon, Gentle. c’mon. you tried to kill a dude. just admit it. that was not nice

(ETA: is La Brava still filming all this?? did the cops eventually get this footage? Gentle’s gonna be put away for attempted fucking murder. sorry dude)

now the old dude is finally running away, and meanwhile Gentle seemingly intends to just leave Deku here...?

ffff now he’s making the crane bendy??

and he’s telling Deku he’s sure someone will find him. lol what the hell is he going to do

Deku’s thinking to himself that they’re going to infiltrate the festival at this rate, and he has to act

omg yay we’re cutting back to 1-A!

lmaooooo Kaminari really didn’t end up sleeping a wink, huh. he was so hyped up

BAKUGOU, PUT ON YOUR T-SHIRT!! WE MADE IT JUST FOR THE OCCASION!!

I wish I could read what they say underneath the A? Toko’s shirt seems to start with “BN” (if they say bnha I s2g), but Momo’s shirt looks different. maybe an error though

(ETA: so as we eventually learn, they say “A Band”, and the delightful story behind this exceptionally creative name is the topic of today’s omake!)

the dancing team is also getting dressed, and they’ve got their own special costumes which are cute but I’m not gonna post the panel because Mineta is ruining it. how come no one ever drops a steel beam on him

Shouto is wearing one of the class A t-shirts, so I guess the staging team is rocking those too

anyway he’s asking where Deku went, and Aoyama says he went to buy rope

and now Shouto’s “is my boyfriend in danger” senses are tingling

this is a reasonable concern because as we all know, if you leave Deku alone for more than five minutes he will inevitably run into a villain. in hindsight they never should have let him leave

meanwhile Aoyama is already thinking about backup plans, oh damn

fully serious, if you combined Aoyama’s ingenuity with Mina’s they’d make a pretty unstoppable team. these kids are creative as fuck

ohhh, Gentle was just using the crane to launch himself and La Brava into the air towards U.A.

damn, dude doesn’t even care that Deku supposedly put out the alert. he says that if they make it in even with U.A. on the lookout for them, his name will become even more recognized

what are you trying to accomplish though, dude, in all seriousness? do you know what’s going to happen if U.A. suffers another break-in after all of the security measures they supposedly put in place, and after they insisted on holding the cultural festival despite police objections? they’ll be fucking shut down is what. this will be the third villain incident in less than six months. people are not going to be happy about that. best case, they’ll be allowed to stay open but with a ton of restrictions in place. basically you’ll make it harder than ever for them to do their job, when right now the world needs them more than ever. they’re raising the next generation of heroes here, and this is a post-All Might world. so maybe just cut them some slack, jesus christ

and now we’re cutting back to Deku, straining under the beam

come on Deku, you got this. powerlift this bitch

LOL OHHHHH SHIT

WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST PUT IT DOWN YOU NIMROD LMAO. “LOOK AT ME, I’M DEKU, ALL MIGHT’S SUCCESSOR! I CAN LIFT STEEL BEAMS WITH ONE HAND AND FIRE AIR CANNONS AT VILLAINS WITH THE OTHER”

oh damn. and it seems we’re finally going to get to see La Brava’s quirk! about fucking time. bring it

BONUS: what should we name the band?

“Electric Spark Kids”, Kaminari? really?? you really do just blurt out whatever the fuck pops into your head huh. (actually tbh this is my favorite name out of all of them)

Tokoyami has a fucking obsession with banquets. I really want to know how he ended up latching onto this out of all the “___ of darkness” things he could have possibly chosen. fwiw I did find out there is a song called Banquet in the Darkness which I haven’t actually listened to because the album art alone is frankly terrifying to me and I somewhat regret having looked this up

there is also a band called Ore, though I assume it’s intended to be the English definition of the word rather than Bakugou’s intended meaning. but it just goes to show you that it’s impossible to be original anymore no matter what you do

and then Momo is just... it’s a band... representing class A... band... A... band... A Band? and Jirou is just like OMG THAT’S THE GREATEST IDEA EVER despite the fact that it clearly is the most half-assed idea anyone has ever come up with. she just loves Momo that much. and is also desperate to stop the boys from coming up with any more suggestions lmao

by the way I just want to say that all of the kids are absolutely adorable in this sketch and it’s easily one of my favorite omakes for that reason alone. so stinking cute omg

#bnha #boku no hero academia #midoriya izuku #gentle (bnha)#la brava #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #makeste reads bnha #I honestly don't know why todoroki is the only one going 'but guys where's midoriya'#it's like they haven't learned a damn thing #something important is about to happen and deku's missing?#what are you all waiting for #sound the alarm #spoiler alert: it's villains #some villains are up to no good yet again and deku is involved because of course he is #maybe one of these days they'll figure this out #in the meantime you keep honing those instincts shouto

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overdrivels · 5 years

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hey torby do you think a one column or multi colum tumblr is better, portfolio wise? im not looking to apply to any artist alleys or whatever any time soon but im curious

Personally, I like multicolumn. I can see your art in a single instant without needing to scroll or make it overly complicated for myself. Some other judges might be cool with single, but everyone has their own opinion.

Though I would be careful about using Tumblr to showcase your art for artist alley. If you do, make sure your Tumblr only has your art and nothing else. Some people have literally just given me their main and left me guessing as to which is their art and which isn't. I don't have time for that--over 100 portfolios an hour, Duck, 100 an hour, that sort of speed is illegal in some states--and some judges will ignore it even if you have a 'my art' tag or something on the side. Make it easy for us to review your stuff.

This goes doubly for Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or any platform not made for solely for art. (But to be fair, even a few of those platforms are really rough for me to go through. The best I saw which I don't recommend because some people might not react well is someone creating their portfolio on imgur solely for the application. That was so easy to scroll through. But some judges don't like that, so YMMV.)

I had an applicant where they linked their Facebook page and the first six posts we're about them getting rejected from artist alleys. I couldn't move past that to find their art. And when I finally did, there was only an image of their table and some merchandise at really hard to see resolutions.

There is a surprising amount of thought that should go into portfolios, but just some minor points:

Should be semi-professional and contain what you feel is your best work up front. I hate link hell where I have to click through 5 or 10 links to get to your images or there is a link for every category that shouldn’t be a category. (e.g. Site > Works > choice of pencil/charcoal/oil/Photoshop/Adobe/Maya/whatever > Fanart > TV Shows/Anime/Manga/Movies/Comic Books > Dr. Who/Supernatural/etc. YOU GET THE POINT.) Not to say that you can't have sketches or doodles or need a paid website, but just make it easy for me to determine what you're trying to showcase or sell as your product.

Test loading times. If it takes forever to load your images, you may want to resize, lower resolution, or use a different file type (unless it seriously compromises your image quality).

Too small or too low of a resolution. I know what I said in the previous point, but if your image is so small that I can't tell the quality, chances are I'll think you stole it or have no idea what you're doing. If you don't want it stolen, you can watermark the shit out of it.

I love seeing people showcasing their specialty instead of what they think is popular or what might sell. There was an applicant who is skilled, so fucking skilled, at drawing plants. So much plant theme. It was in almost every piece and they did it so fucking well. I didn't care it wasn't anime, but it showed they knew what they had confidence in and what they were doing. They made that a centerpiece and I'm like, '...yeah. YEAHHHHHH.'

More than one or two pieces, please. I can't tell your skill level or what you plan on selling from just one piece or picture. Please, give me some shit to work with.

Please update and clean up your portfolios. I see portfolio where there's been 3 gorgeous pictures in the last year and then there's work from 6 years ago immediately after where the art is miles apart. That gives me whiplash. Don't give me whiplash.

I don’t recommend putting your art in chronological order. For the same reason as above. Best works first.

There’s a lot that goes into this stuff and I sometimes wish I could call these artists and be like, “Hey. Your link is broken” or “Hey, I would love it if you could display some of your [specialty] stuff because it showcases your talents better” or just give general advice on what to do so that they have a better chance. but I can’t do that for several hundred people. So this is all I can do.

#ask #aliceinmisanthrope

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squeemcsquee · 5 years

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Anime Central 2019, Day One (Friday)

So, our Friday got off with a slightly rocky start. Some of us had to go claim badges still, some just had their usual morning routines delayed, etc. So in the hours between waking up and hitting the con proper, everyone was doing something different. @shbumi and I started off with Pokemon Go.

I had signed all of us for an escape room hosted by Experimental Gamer. And the time slot I chose? 10:00 - the exact time when the various areas of the con opened up.

Yeah, in retrospect, waiting a little may have been a better option. But sadly, it didn’t matter. Because we walked up to the room and got some bad news.

Although they were all set up, they were having computer issues. We were offered a refund right away, or the option to reschedule for later in the con - with the understanding that we would be refunded if things couldn’t be worked out. We still wanted to give the experience a shot, so we opted to re-schedule.

But then it became a “What do we do with ourselves?” In my case, I went back to the Hilton to grab my phone battery, which I’d forgotten. I figured I would snap pics on the way there and back. The others all scattered off to do their own things.

Once I had my battery, I went to a basic wig care panel with @el-draco-bizarro that was hosted by Oriana Peron - she had awesome tips. Sadly, as often as I have attended these panels and taken notes, stuff doesn’t stick. That would probably be why I have yet to wash the hairspray from my Catra wig from Acen...oops.

Still, my inability to remember wig care tips that I write down isn’t anyone’s fault but mine and I highly recommend Oriana’s panels if you can attend one.

During the panel, I was getting email updates from the escape room team. Our group was able to reschedule for noon. We’d chosen a sci-fi scenario for our escape room.

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We got into the room area, and it was a wee bit cramped for 7 people. Actually, we had 8 people, since the rep from Experimental Gamer was sometimes in there with us. The room was functional, but not at 100%, so he was there in case we hit bugs that weren’t part of the scenario.

This poor lighting is honestly how things were at first - one of the first goals for any group is to get the power up and running. And, partly due to tech issues and partly due to our group splintering into smaller groups that weren’t always communicating, it took forever to get the lights on.

We kept stepping over each other but it was a very cool setup. Once we did get things running, we started making decent progress.

There were even weird specimens in jars and we got to play scientist!

Normally, you get 45 minutes to solve the puzzle. Because of the tech issues and, I think, because it was a slow day, the Experimental Gamer rep very kindly allowed us double that amount of time. We did finally solve the room in a way that allowed us to escape.

I would love to try their horror-themed room or even to do that room again, with everything working correctly. I hope ACen brings them back. I also hope they get advertised better, too - they were never listed in the guidebook app, and were announced only a week or so before the con, so they weren’t in the physical program book either.

From the escape room, we diverged again. My next event was rather educational.

Some of what was covered was common. Vampires as a way to explore forbidden aspects of sexuality, etc. But I wish I had taken notes, as there were a few aspects regarding werewolves that I had not considered. And they also spoke about Frankenstein’s monster and the impact of that story on culture. It was all super fascinating. I really am a fan of both of these individuals and when they pair up for an education panel, I know I’m going to enjoy it.

Afterwards, it was time to explore a bit. The Exhibits Hall (aka dealer’s room) was in the same area as it’s been since I started going to ACen in 2016, but that isn’t a bad thing. The layout gets tweaked a bit each year, though. Still, as usual, it had all kinds of merch and industry booths.

The Fate/Grand Order USA Tour was also making a stop at ACen. They had a really cool booth set up to explore.

The Bang Zoom! voice acting auditions were at Anime Central again, and as before, they were in a portion of the Exhibits Hall. This year, they were auditioning for parts in the Sword Art Online: Alicization arc and boy, was I actually tempted to go up. But there’s something intimidating about auditioning in full view of thousands of others. Still, I sort of regret not trying it. Especially as one of @lechevaliermalfet and I’s nieces has gotten into SAO - auditioning would have been a cool memory to share with her.

Eric Maruscak was back to do his usual thing. Like last year, he was in the Exhibit Hall. His art always turns out super awesome, and it’s fun to keep checking in on it through the weekend.

After wandering around, acquiring some merch (I now have a Gatomon plush and I am so happy!) and stopping back at the room at the Hilton, it was time for another panel.

(I didn’t realize until I started doing the write-up, but we went back to the rooms more than I thought we did. Well, we had to eat, and that’s where the food was stashed! Though coordinating someone making dinner in an instant pot for 7 people is...difficult.)

This was the first of two Crispin Freeman Q&A panels during the weekend. This one, titled, Why We Love This Stuff So Much, was focused more on anime and fandom in general. And @lechevaliermalfet stepped up to ask a question regarding Crispin’s work as Shannon in Scrapped Princess.

From there, we briefly wandered into Helen McCarthy’s panel on The Manga Beatles. I wish we had stayed with @shbumi to the end of it. It was interesting, although I admit that I was starting to tire a little from the day’s events. It was getting on toward 2100 when that panel started.

Being at a distance where I couldn’t fully really the slides + late hour (for me, because I have a job that requires me to keep stupid early hours usually) = tired @squeemcsquee. And we had to leave early to get into line for Anime Hell (though @shbumi stayed to panel’s end and actually got seated not too far from us, all things considered, even though she lined up wayyyy later).

The usual pre-show slide shenanigans were in play. And when the videos started...well, I have some odd searches and moments from group chat saved to my phone. For an example:

After the insanity that was Anime Hell, it was time to turn in. Day One ended on a high note. I also want to mention that Day One was also the day Pokemon Go released the new lure modules and Eevolutions, so I made sure to get a Leafeon and Glaceon ASAP. I even snagged shinies, since i’d saved some back from Eevee weekend!

All Anime Central 2019 coverage:

1. Day Zero Report

2. Day One Report (current post)

3. Day One Cosplayers, Part 1

4. Day One Cosplayers, Part 2

5. Day Two Report

6. Day Two Cosplayers, Part 1

7. Day Two Cosplayers, Part 2

8. Day Three Report

9. Day Three Cosplayers (current post)

#anime central 2019 #acen 2019 #prose and cons #convention review #convention report #acen #anime central

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into-september · 6 years

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Banana Fish episode 20-21

The short version is that the only things I even like about this show any longer is Max and Yut Lung.

So chalk this up to the proud tradition of watching-stuff-just-to-complain-about-it, because I've invested enough time in this show to be talking about it at length anyway. There's going to be too much to say about its existence as an adaptation, about the timing of the release, about the inexplicable fact that they updated the setting but didn't update the content. If sullen complaints are going to be what it takes for me to get through the last four episodes, then complain I shall, and I'll be sharing it with the internet so that maybe some other lost soul might find comfort in it.

Sailor Moon's ending was spectacular, by the way, by which I mean that I would never have gotten over it if I'd watched the show when it was actually airing and I was actually smack in the middle of the intended audience. But I really loved it a lot okay, and certainly more than this contemporary.

Seriously, guys. Go watch Sailor Moon instead. It's funny and charming and way more entertaining and there are ACTUAL GAY PEOPLE BEING GAY AND SAYING THEY LOVE EACH OTHER AND INDISPUTABLY BEING IN A RELATIONSHIP AND ALSO WOMEN.

Oh, screw it all. I just realised that there have been no named women on this show who were around for more than two episodes (Max's wife and Ash's stepmum. Shorter's sister was at least named in the manga, and possibly Dr. Vegetable's housekeeper who was really working for Yut Lung was, too). I'll be re-watching this with my sister come Christmas break, and I swear I'll COUNT the number of women who aren't background extras because the last woman I recall having lines the nurse who tried to kill Ash some six or seven episodes ago.

EPISODE 20

- ugh WHY did you have to sully Canon's good name by putting it into this anime and putting it into DINO'S PARTY of all places. Maybe the cellist owed him money.

- I'm pretty sure this whole thing about people adressing Dino as "Monsieur" was just something the mangaka came up with halfway through and introduce because she thought it was cool, and then the anime didn't realise that adaptations are where you take the chance to fix the fuckups of the source material

- Cute how this is America and a mob-boss with more enemies than George Soros and yet no-one thought to pat down the staff and oh, Eiji, showing off that gun is not a good idea if you're trying to be undercover. Mostly I'm just disappointed that the show thinks it needs to remind the viewers that this gun existed, as if EIJI of all characters requesting one at the end of last episode is something we just forget

- Eiji runs at Dino with a gun drawn, is shot down before he gets within ten metres of him. Dino is arrested and is locked up for life. Max adopts Ash, who goes on to use his genius to find a way to cure climate change and cancer. Ibe returns to Japan owing Eiji's family some explanation. Yut Lung lets go of the ghosts of his past. Sing lets go of avenging Shorter. I can quit this anime reasonably satisfied, and turn my attention to re-reading the No. 6 novels and probably moan about the weird pacing or something. WELL THAT WAS A HAPPY ENDING BOY AM I GLAD THERE ARE NOT FOUR EPISODES AND TWENTY MINUTES LEFT OF THIS SHOW OR NOTHING HA HA HA ha

- And there goes Yut Lung with his Eiji hateboner. I KNOW it won't happen but let me hope for the miracle where he gets his wish granted and gets to shoot him in the face personally.

- Yeah Sing, IDK, maybe someone's should've told the civillian to stay home or at least wait behind the wheel of the getaway car so that someone who had fired a gun before could've not missed the child rapist trying to take over the country standing a metre and half away from him.

- Also: Most anticlimatic shootout ever. I thinkthey spent more time talking about the super important party last episode than on showing us the super important party in this one.

- WELL FOR SOMETHING THAT IS GENUINELY INTRIGUING: How upset Yut Lung is about Blanca's betrayal and how emotionally invested he is in whatever the hell it is he wants with Ash. I'm pretty sure he's in a position to get rid of whichever brothers of his he hadn't already killed, and whatever reason he has for cooperating with Dino, it sure as hell isn't because he LIKES him. So why exactly he's got such a personal vendetta against Ash is pretty much the only thing I honestly care about at this point.

- I like this entire "oniichan" thing between Ash and Eiji, and probably for all the wrong reasons. Just let me compare it to Digimon Frontier, which similarly established the "Takuya-oniichan" dynamic between Takuya (parted from his younger brother) and Tomoki (parted from his older one). Was it profound, on any level? No. Was the relationship between Takuya and Tomoki notable outside of it? No. But the fact that they on some level treated each other as the brothers from which they were parted gave their relationship this little flavour of some more profound psychological issues at hand, even if it was probably just to foreshadow and highlight the Kouji-Kouichi disaster. And even if it's a stretch to apply the same to Ash and Eiji, it would at least explain something if the two of them saw each other as the absent family members: If Ash saw Eiji as a chance to have a Griffin-who-lived, if Eiji saw Ash as subtstitute for his younger sister, then that would go a long way in explaining why the hell they're so irrationally invested in each other's safekeeping. I mean, it makes absolutel no sense because even goddamn Digimon Frontier had more elaborate sibling relationships than Banana Fish has, but let me pretend a bit, okay? Because even oniichan jokes lend more narrative logic than the absolute silence that has been entertained about the love that dared not speak its name in 1892 but if you're going to tell that omg cencorship, LET ME REMIND YOU THAT THIS AIRED ON JAPANESE TV IN 19 FUCKING 92

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- Oosa still lives on in our memories

- Oh good, I can appreciate Ash just waking up in time to instantly tear into someone for not being a feral genius child like him

- Eiji takes off on another ill-adviced suicide mission, and Cain speaks for all of us when he knocks Ash out

- Not that I question Cain's decision to have Ash tied up on the bed here, but ouch being tied up on beds is not the thing this boy needs to experience ever

- Other things to be counting upon the re-watch: Ash's body count, now increased with at least one

- On the one hand: How the hell did he just get into that museum just like that. I mean, surely there must be guards? Alarms? Locks on the doors that require more than blunt gun-induced force to open?

But on the other hand: IS THIS ZOOTROPOLIS OR IS THIS ZOOTROPOLIS and I'm fully on board with this if it's going to end with Ash pretending to be hit with Banana fish and fake-killing Eiji in front of Dino's eyes while secretly recording his premature bragging about his evil plans for using this drug to take over the world

- I can't believe I'm seriously hoping they shoot Eiji. What have this show reduced me to. I used to like him.

- oh good, I was hoping that Ash would just shove Yut Lung head first down the stairs and for once the show did not disappoint

EPISODE 21

I don't think "torture porn" is the right description for this story, and I'm getting the definite impression that The Manga Is Better, but someone being lippy in other fora means that I've got some expectations that I've no doubt will come about, given the story's previous track record. But my orchestra is having the Christmas programme from hell tomorrow and I sure won't be doing this after getting home from that past midnight, so let's just get it over with, shall we.

- Not to get into the fandom's internal debates or anything here, but Eiji ridiculing his sister's doki-doki good luck charm is a pretty good indication of the status of Eiji/Ash and "super canon confirmation" is not it

- I don't know the Japanese word for "hitman" but I sure perked up at recognising it here anyway. Thank you, Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens, a far dumber anime that was ultimately a far greater joy to watch, and which also had a better track record at depicting gay men than Banana Fish has this far, with a good 100% of them being depicted as a) relatively nice guys since they’re the allies of the hero, b) not rapists, c) not pedophiles.

- My god is Sing actually going to have some plot relevance what is this trickery

- I just realised that we never learn enough about Eiji's babysitters for their names to be worth remembering. Because I actually do think these names were mentioned at some point, but don't ask me what they were. As far as I can tell, they're Scrawny Guy, Black Guy Who Was Somehow White In The Manga, and Not!Oosa

- In no news, I suppose, Yut Lung is seriously the only thing I'm enjoying about this show all the time Max isn't around, and I'm immensly enjoying his getting his own hands dirty and also his hear being wild and free to symbolise his deteriorating mental control

- Sing's plot relevance lasted for a full minute and half

- DADDY IS BACK

- And now also a sugar daddy. I approve.

- Oh this darling show, this is... what, the third? Yeah, the second or third time it's mentioned gay men, and all of them have been when showing us child rapists. Such representation, much progress.

- The one guy I'd LIKE to see Ash kill, and Max stops him. Boo.

- Ash kill count: +1

- It's sad how they just mentioned the French Foreign Legion and my interest just perked 20%, isn't it

- Max goes down like Dr. Marco and Ash, couldn't you just... you know... CALL HIM, THIS IS 2018, YOU HAVE SMARTPHONES

- Ash kill count +2

- A woman? In MY Banana Fish???

- Jesus, I completely forgot that Max is a goddamn Iraq veteran

#banana fish spoilers #sailor moon #digimon frontier #hakata tonkotsu ramens #banana fish #let's watch cartoons

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