#while he makes Vi responsible/in charge of them and the other 3 all know this
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queenofthursday6599-blog · 11 months ago
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You know, when I think about Arcane I can't help but think about the fact that I'm not a huge fan of how Vander handled things.
I mean his heart was definitely in the right place, he wanted to protect his children and his people, but to be honest there were moments where I felt like he was very confidently doing the wrong thing.
Specially in a child rearing sense. Now I just want to put it out there, that we the audience are shown a biased depiction of Vander.
Just about every scene he's in he's surrounded by his people who (mostly) look to him for protection, his children who adore him, or his enemies who are literal drug lord gang leader bad guys and corrupt policemen. Who are not humanized by the story until after his death.
For one there's Vi's pretty obvious eldest daughter syndrome, which Vander does nothing to try and curb. In fact I feel like in most of their scenes together Vander is treating this unhealthy dynamic as Vi being her sibling's leader and that she therefor needs to take more responsibility for them.
Even though I feel like Vander teaching Vi that way of thinking caused a lot of problems for all of the kids.
Sure it's great when your kids can work together, but there shouldn't be a pecking order among them, and if there is you shouldn't encourage it.
Vander fully expects Vi to take responsibility for Powder(which makes some level of sense considering she's 4-ish years younger than Vi), but also Mylo and Claggor, who are both the same age as her.
Meaning that if Vander trusts Vi to look after herself (and Powder) I feel like he should be able to trust Mylo and Claggor to look after themselves.
Vi should not be saddled with the responsibility of being in charge of her siblings, who are literally the same age as her.
If Vander is going to be reprimanding Vi for getting into trouble, he should be getting on to Mylo and Claggor just as much.
Sure Mylo and Claggor mention that Vander is going to be upset, but it's very obvious that the majority of the responsibility rests on Vi's shoulders.
Which, sure they look up to Vi and listen to what she has to say and what she thinks they should be doing.
But if it's to the point where Vander thinks it's gotten to the point that they will literally blindly follow Vi into dangerous situations because she said so. Then I feel like it's time for Vander to have a sit down with the rest of his kids and have the very important "Thinking for yourself" talk.
It's- You can't raise your children to just blindly follow their oldest sibling their entire life, and raise the oldest child to be the caretaker of the rest of their siblings their entire life.
Yeah, Vi needs to think things through a bit more, because the other kids look up to her a lot, and will go along with whatever her plans are, because they think she knows what she's doing and they trust her.
But also the other kids need to know how to assess things for themselves, rather than just blindly follow whatever it is Vi says, no matter how much they look up to her.
Like this man fully thinks that his 15 year old daughter, who clearly has problems with her temper and being impulsive herself, should also be responsible for her two adoptive brothers who are functionally the same age as her [one with a pretty obvious superiority/inferiority complex], alongside her younger sister who already has problems of some kind of anxiety.
Mylo and Claggor are just fully not held to the same standard as Vi in spite of being the same age, and literally getting into the exact same trouble. Their choice to go along with what Vi planned, is put onto Vi's shoulders when it shouldn't be, because if Vi is old enough to know better in Vander's mind, so are Mylo and Claggor.
If it was just Powder I could somewhat understand. She's younger, more impressionable, she idolizes Vi, she's not as strong or fast as the other three and if Vi forgot that at some point Powder could have gotten left behind or hurt.
You know the general "You need to be a good role model for your younger sibling because they look to you for guidance" stuff.
Like the fact that Vi feels the need to fight Piltover in order to secure a better life for Powder in Act 1 tells me so much just how parentified Vi is when it comes to Powder's care.
Which I do think originated from before Vander adopted the girls, to be fair to Vander. Vi gives off the vibe of looking after Powder having always been her responsibility.
To be unfair to Vander, I don't think he did anything to try and undo Vi's over responsible and over protective mindset when it came to Powder after adopting them.
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dindjarindiaries · 4 years ago
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10 Underrated Quotes from Season 2 of The Mandalorian
As previously seen with season one, I’m here with another list of underrated quotes from The Mandalorian—this time, from season two. I’m going to highlight some of my favorite quotes from the season or quotes that stick out to me and why I think they’re noteworthy.
I don’t own any rights to content from The Mandalorian and, if you haven’t watched season two yet, potential spoilers are ahead!
1. “Pay attention when a superior addresses you.” (Chapter 15: The Believer)
While this scene certainly isn’t underrated, I believe this line spoken by Valin Hess when he finally catches Din Djarin’s attention by the Imperial terminal deserves some reflection. It’s interesting to think about how responding to Hess’ first call of “Trooper” is something Djarin just... wouldn’t think to do, or is something he thought he could get away with. It seems that Mandalorians, while they value their leadership, don’t focus on hierarchical structures in their society, so Djarin isn’t used to having to obey orders like that. It’s even worse that he has to deal with this unfamiliar situation without his helmet for the first time since he was a child. It really draws our attention to how little Djarin knows about the Empire and other organizations outside of his covert.
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2. “This is the Way.” (Chapter 11: The Heiress)
I think many of us can agree that the first time this statement is uttered in this episode, we’re less than pleased about it, thanks to Bo-Katan’s ridiculing tone. When it happens later on, however, there’s so much meaning packed behind the words. First, from Bo-Katan, who has witnessed Mando’s bravery firsthand and has likely realized how wrong she was making assumptions about him based off his covert and his traditions. In return, Mando’s response of the phrase is strained. Why? Well, it’s up to interpretation—but to me, I think it’s because Mando’s in awe of the idea of these Mandalorians who have already proven their abilities to him actually coming to respect him and the Way he’s known ever since he was a child. It was a great moment of reconciliation.
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3. “Is he speaking? Do you... understand him?” (Chapter 13: The Jedi)
Something I love about this line in particular is the way it’s delivered. There’s such desperation concealed behind Mando’s modulator that tells us so much about what he’s been thinking while pacing the forest floor nervously. This desperation also tells us how eager he’s been to communicate with his child. Mando and Grogu have been together for a long time, now, and we know they’ve had plenty of one-sided conversations. I’m sure Mando has longed to know what Grogu’s been thinking in return, and now that he might have an opportunity to, we can really hear that sheer curiosity and desperation in his voice with this line he offers to Ahsoka.
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4. “Jet back, you’re faster that way.” (Chapter 12: The Siege)
I’m sure we all have our mixed opinions about the season one Nevarro crew, but this moment in particular really strikes the depth of their friendship and companionship. Once they’ve all heard about Moff Gideon’s return and his request to get the child once again, there’s no doubt in anyone’s minds that Mando wouldn’t be going back for him immediately. Even though the job isn’t completely done and Greef, Cara, and Mythrol all still need a way out, they don’t even try to ask for Mando’s help. Instead, Cara insists that he gets back as fast as he can, even if that means the three of them don’t make it out themselves. I really love how that shared understanding and dedication to the child in all situations shows their deep friendship amongst the trio (and Mythrol).
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5. “I’ve spent much time on Tatooine. I never saw a Mandalorian there.” (Chapter 9: The Marshal)
Mando’s response to Gor Karesh insisting that he knows of a Mandalorian on Tatooine could potentially be telling us more than we’re aware of. As far as we know, Mando’s only been to Tatooine once—and it was only for two days, tops. But here, he’s saying he’s “spent much time” there, which means it’s possible that Mando lived on Tatooine for a time while the Bounty Hunter’s Guild still operated out of there. If you think about it more, Mando knew exactly where to go for some work in Chapter 5, another hint that there’s more to Mando’s time on Tatooine than we’re aware of. The same thing could be said about his knowledge of Tusken and his friendship with the Sand People. Any time we get a potential hint of Mando’s backstory, I’m excited about it!
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6. “Am I under arrest?” (Chapter 10: The Passenger)
This line comes quickly in the midst of Mando’s conversation with the New Republic pilots in Chapter 10, but I really love it. These few words say a lot about Mando’s character and how he responds to praise. He’s just been told all about his heroics in Chapter 6, when he risked his own life for Lieutenant Davan and reprimanded Mayfeld, Xi’an, and Burg—and when asked whether it was true, Mando offers no confirmation. He doesn’t even own up to his good acts. Instead, he simply acts this question, remaining the practical man we know him to be. This truly shows us the humble nature of Mando and how he tries his best to focus on the present rather than dwelling on things he’s done in the past, good or bad.
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7. “... talent without training is nothing.” (Chapter 16: The Rescue)
On the surface, this seems like a very practical statement that many Jedi make throughout the series (see Ahsoka talking to Mando in Chapter 13 and Obi-Wan talking to Luke in Episode IV: A New Hope). When you think about it more, especially in context, you might be able to see Luke hinting at something much deeper. Luke heard Grogu’s cry for help from the Seeing Stone where it’s very possible Grogu was talking about his desire to protect his father by strengthening his abilities. Luke knows all too well what happens when you abandon training in an attempt to protect those you love—as for him, it didn’t go well. Yoda tried to warn him but he didn’t listen. Now that he’s learned his lesson, Luke can offer this wisdom to a Grogu who wants to keep his father safe. He knows that training first will then allow Grogu to protect himself and his father to his heart’s content, just as Luke was better able to protect his friends in Episode VI after he finished his training.
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8. “Okay, I’m gonna protect you.” (Chapter 14: The Tragedy)
The scene in which this line is delivered is what truly establishes this episode as a tragedy. Mando’s tried three times to break through Grogu’s Force-field—not because he wasn’t thinking, but because he was so desperate—and now he has to come to terms with the fact that he’ll only hurt himself more if he keeps trying it again and again. Mando’s voice is pretty shaky if you listen to it closely enough in these lines, reluctant to leave his child atop the mountain alone but eager to protect him somehow. We know Mando doesn’t like to feel helpless, but we can sense he feels that way in this moment. He doesn’t even know if Grogu can hear him, yet he keeps speaking to him with such fierce protectiveness and reassurance. This is a promise he doesn’t fall through with, even if Grogu does fall into the Imperials’ hands for a time.
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9. “Give it to me.” (Chapter 15: The Believer)
This is the moment where we all really knew what was about to go down. What I love about this quote is that Mando says it with no remorse. He says it firmly, insisting upon doing whatever it takes to get those coordinates and get to Grogu. He’s already made up his mind. Despite the fact he gave his word earlier about not showing his face, Mando’s going to do what he has to for his son. The firm way this line is delivered proves that, especially when he shifts from taking a backseat to Mayfeld to taking charge again as he pulls the data stick right from Mayfeld’s grip. I just really love Mando’s determination in this scene, despite the circumstances.
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10. “I’ll see you again. I promise.” (Chapter 16: The Rescue)
Do I particularly think this line is underrated? No, not the direct meaning of it. But when you watch Star Wars Rebels and think more about the genius of Dave Filoni, there’s a whole new layer of meaning attached to these words. For those who may not have watched the show yet (you definitely should!), Kanan and Hera are two people who care very much for each other (wink wink) who once had to exchange a goodbye very similar to Mando and Grogu. Kanan was about to go on a very dangerous mission without Hera, unsure of what would happen to him, when he delivered these words: “We’ll see each other again. I promise.” This is almost exactly what Mando says to Grogu in the face of their temporary separation. The good news is Kanan and Hera did get to see each other again—but Kanan was changed forever. Will this happen with Mando or Grogu? It’s possible. But it’s just another one of those moments that makes me yell “FILONI!” in Darth Maul style.
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hunterguyveriv · 4 years ago
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Hidden Beauty
Here is my submission for Days 1(First Sunrise/Set) & 2(Late Night Adventure) of Kacxa Week I had this plan to do quick ficlets for these 2 days but no matter what I did they merged into one and Kind of ties in with “The Promise.”
This post would have been up sooner, but I kind of pepper sprayed myself. Harvested hot pepper seeds from plants I grew earlier and apparently I didn’t wash the oils off well enough xD xD xD 
Anyway, here is my submission for days 1 & 2 titled Hidden Beauty
"Let me take you somewhere in which you will feel young and take your mind away from all this..."
It was nighttime on Verolgah-VI. The two planetoid moons did their annual dance across the evening sky as shooting stars streaked the upper atmosphere. The devastated planet's temperature was chilly, but nothing like what most of the Paladins were used to, save for one.
He looked to the lions with 3 out of the 5 charged up, Red was in the final stages of charging up. He let out a sigh; some things were going to plans, but he had to remain on edge as the leader. Shit tends to hit the fan when one least expected it, and with friends still about 2 maybe 3 more days away, anything could go wrong.
Since they first landed on, well, more or less crashed when the lions collapsed from low energy, the Paladins all slept in the cave with Acxa. But tonight was different; it was cold enough to drive them to the lions that were charged. Hunk, Lance, Shiro, and Coran were sleeping in the Yellow Lion. Allura, Pidge, and Romelle were sleeping in Green, with Blue-Powered down to preserve power. Krolia and Keith's wolf were snuggled up in Black, which was somewhat comfier than the ground from the Star-whale, but nothing close to temperature.
Keith only grabbed his red & white jacket from Black's storage locker, from when he grabbed what little belongings he left on the Castle when he took a sabbatical from the Voltron-Force. Krolia was ready to get some sleep when she asked if he would turn in. His response was he had too much on his mind and was going for a walk. When his mother saw Acxa walk out of the cave, she gave him her sly "mother knows all" smirk and responded with "you kids don't stay out too late" before turning and taking his wolf with her.
Blushing and stammering at her, he turned to see Acxa wearing something similar to an Earth styled tank top in the moons' light, which her blue skin radiant. When he got within range of her, she gestured her head to follow her. He threw his jacket on which even over his Paladin Armor slightly loose. He put his belt with his Marmoran blade on and started walking with her. She took him to her favorite spot in silence. It had been three long years since she saw him last and even though she had so much to tell him, opening up was something relatively new for her. Even taking him to a spot she had grown to love in her mind was a huge gamble, that she was surprised she was doing.
It was one of the most stunning sights next to her that he had ever seen. It was a massive valley with a small creek like waterfall leading into a small shallow lake. Further behind were some of the most gorgeous mountain ranges he had ever seen with millions of stars. Even the nearby Argola nebula was just barely seen. Its blues, greens, purples, & reds intensified by the planet's atmosphere. His mouth agape, Acxa finally broke her silence. "I found this place about a year and a half after I was left here by the coalition."
Keith walked forward, taking in the beauty of the water, reflecting the moons and stars. The water droplets flying into the air reminded him of fireflies he used to catch with his father when he was a small boy, "It's beautiful." She walked up to match his location, slowly wrapping her arm around his. She sensed him tensing a little and then relax, but she knew he was much like her. Both introverted warriors, just starting to let their feelings show on the surface. "In the morning this spot reminds me of my homeworld, before it was officially... 'indoctrinated' into the Empire."
He looked to her, seeing a sorrowful look on her face. "Tell me about it?" She looked at him softly, smiling, seeing the sincerity in his eyes. She started to sit down, but he stopped her taking his jacket off, laying it on the ground gesturing for them to sit on it. She slowly sat down on his coat. She looked at him. "Won't you get cold?" He shook his head, "Nah, I grew up in the desert for the most part. I am used to brutally hot and brutally cold temps."
Acxa nodded and looked up to the stars and looked back at him. "From what I remember, it wasn't like this planet. For the better part of a deca-phoeb the planet was a relatively fridgid planet, but it was no barren froze wasteland. My mother's people were born in a region in which it was neither barely above freezing or frozen. The closer you got to the planet's polar region the darker blue their skin got, towards the equatorial sections they were either a lignt blue almost white color almost like that little girl & those two Alteans. But regardless of our skintone we all loved Aaenergola..."
Keith continued to listen to the Acxa tell him of her homeworld. The architecture, the lore, some of the history, the customs, and so much more emphatically. But when it came to the story of the Empire coming to her world, her demeanor and tone changed. Her planet had fought the best it could but ultimately was indoctrinated into the Empire.
She revealed her father was a doctor and her mother a Galra Lieutenant who he had saved from dying. Both harbored no ill will towards the other's race. When she was born, both parents wanted her yo have a decent education despite being a half-blood. But it wasn't until she got to her parents' death when she was 9 that she became bitter. When Aaenergolan Terrorists executed her parents for helping Galran citizens while Aaenergolans were starving. She trailed off as she remembered coming out of her hiding place. Finding her father brutally murdered, protecting the area she was hiding.
Keith, for the first time, saw tears streaking down her face and her lip trembling. He placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to scoot closer to him. He had asked if she wanted to stop, and she nodded her head, wiping some of her tears away, asking about his homeworld.
As she did to him, he told her of Earth and his life on the distant planet they were trying to get back to. Of the blue skies and oceans, everything that made the planet one of the most beautiful he has ever lived on. Growing up with just a father before he died fighting a fire. His life before his adopted brother Shiro came into it.
Keith told her it wasn't until he was on a Blade mission did he learn who his mother was and later on in the Quantum Abyss, the reasons why he grew up without her in his life. Just hearing his voice caused her to relax and snuggle up to him. He felt her wrap an arm around his waist, prompting him to wrap an arm around her shoulders. When he stopped talking about Earth, she was fast asleep, snoring softly on his shoulder. Not long after, he fell asleep after repositioning, so her head was on his chest armor.
Many Vargas later, Acxa sat right up as one of the suns started to rise. She was expecting to be alone, which typically happened when she let her guard down, showing a side people typically never see. But was relieved seeing Keith still sleeping next to her. She pulled her legs to her chest and started watching the suns rise.
He started to stir, feeling the warmth on his face. When he woke up, he saw Acxa sitting up, his jacket draped over her shoulders. He slowly sat up and beheld one of the most stunning sights as the twin suns started to dance across the sky. The water, especially the waterfall, looked like it was molten lava. Like the sky, the vegetation itself looked like it was ablaze, swaying in the wind with colors of reds, blues, greens, and purples.
Both half breeds talked a little while enjoying the beauty of the sunset heads perched against each other. When the bottom of the second sun was just barely over the distant mountains, they decided it was time to head back to the group. But before leaving, he took one last look at their surroundings and turned to her.
She had a nervous look on her face, "About last night..." He had a delicate look on his face and softly smiled, "I want to thank you for last night. You bringing me to this beautiful place was as if you were opening your true self to me." She closed her mouth, being a little surprised at being thanked; she started to blush purple. "It takes great courage and trust to open up to someone, and I hope I am worthy of both."
Almost 2 hours later: The group was starting to freak out that Keith was nowhere to be found, nor was Acxa. Most of the group was searching the compound, while others were searching the immediate area. Some were worried that the pirates took them, one worried that their host handed him over to the pirates, while another knew all too well where they were. She refused to answer anyone's questions about why she wasn't worried. But Coran soon put two and two together, once being a parent himself.
When the group regrouped, it wasn't until his wolf snapped his head up, ears perked that everyone put their attention elsewhere. With their leader and hostess missing, The Paladins drew their bayards ready for anything. If it were an ambush like last time, they'd be prepared to fight.
Two figures were walking towards them with the suns at their backs, nearly blinding everyone. When the wolf bolted and teleported, everyone got on edge, waiting for the inevitable attack. But it never came. Instead, they could barely make out one figure stopping greeting the wolf and the three of them walking back.
As they got close, enough everyone realized that it was Keith with Acxa wearing his jacket. But what really caught their attention was that they were both holding hands and that their demeanor was different. It was no longer of two socially awkward Galrans who tried hiding there was something there to clearly having broken the ice with each other.
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bangcrizpychan · 5 years ago
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Tainted Daisies | iii. Click!
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Chapters: | prologue | i | ii | iii  | iv | v | vi | vii | viii | ix | x | xi | epilogue |
Genre:  psychological thriller, angst, mystery, crime, rich kid!stray kids au, college!au, slow burn
Word count: 2.5k
Ratings: 16+
⚠WARNINGS: graphic gore, violence, blood, character death, mentions of drug usage, swear words
Note: Flashbacks are in italics. Also thank you @mikoto-ica-fics​ for letting me add you in this story as a character, wuv u <3
Tainted Daisies Masterlist
Tag list: @nightshade-minho @mikoto-ica-fics  @momochiiiiiiii@nowimyourdaisies @ravenlilshots @channiesmixtape @skzmnho​ @yutacchin​ @minnieflowers​ @xxbluestrifexx​ @mxxndreams​ @hshhj0620​ @kpopwritist​ (If you want to be added to or removed from the tag list, please let me know).  
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You woke up in cold sweat, thirst burned your throat as you hurried towards the refrigerator, knees feeling like jelly. You gulped down the entire glass pitcher as you slowly slid down with your back against the fridge.
Everything seemed like a blur to you, confusion filled your mind as you finally realized that you were back home. You looked at the clock and it read '15:05'.
'Was that all just a dream last night?' You thought.
Your eyes traveled down to your wrists and they widened in horror, red marks that were clearly caused by friction were etched on them. You clutched your head as small pieces of memory started to form in your brain.
----
The feeling of nausea flooded you as you slowly opened your eyes, you wanted to hold your head but your hands seemed to be restricted. You waited for your visions to clear up and you saw that you were at an unfamiliar place, there was a raggedy old bed in the corner, a table next to it, a small television, and a pile of clothes by the door that was ajar. The place was small and the only source of light was the lamp hanging above you.
"You're awake," a raspy voice came from the door and you blinked many times to focus your visions.
A man emerged from the shadows and you felt like a bucket of cold water was poured over you. The clothes he was wearing was the same as the one you glimpsed at yesterday on the busy street, you felt tears trickle down your face as he walked closer, taunting you with every step.
He stepped into the light and you finally saw his face, it had a huge burn mark on the right side, he was smiling at you but he had a missing tooth on the front, although it was his eyes that sent shivers down your spine. It was empty, cold, but most of all, it had  a deranged look in it.
"Why are you crying? You knew that I will be coming for you," he said as he reached out his slender hand and touched your face.
"Please, why are you doing this?" You choked, tears streamed down your face as fear finally took control of your body.
"Oh, you are getting good at this," he said and released a maniacally laugh that echoed all throughout the room.
"Y/n!" your train of thoughts abruptly stopped when you heard your name, you looked at the distance and saw Seungmin, with Jeongin by his side walking towards your way. You quickly turned on your heel and scurried away from them, you thanked the crowd of students that drowned you. It was Saturday but you were required to come back to school for the freshmen orientation and introduction of different clubs and orientation, which made you wonder why they were even here in the first place.
You did not pay any attention to the orientation at all because you mostly found these kind of things tedious, when the president of the university finished giving off his closing remarks, you were instructed to go to the lobby and were encouraged to join clubs and organizations. You have decided to stay for a little while and tried to avoid your friends as much as possible.
As you were strolling around the lobby, taking a look behind you once in awhile, you suddenly bumped into someone and a sound books hitting the floor rang in your ears, you rubbed your head and looked at who you just hit.
"Oh, you're Rei, right?" you said at the girl, as you remmbered her as the one Seungmin mentioned yesterday.
"Um, yeah, and you're the new girl," Rei said, biting her lip and tucking a strand of her brown hair behind her ear.
"You're classmates with Sengmin, right? So that means you're not a freshman," you said as you helped her pick up her books.
"Yeah, we're in charge of the photography club so," she said, looking down, and you noticed that her shy demeanor was the sign that she no longer wanted to have a conversation with you.
You decided to not pry anymore and let her go as you handed her the rest of her books, she trotted away and you thought about checking out some of the other clubs. You felt an arm grab yours which caused you to release a yelp and follow your instincts by pushing the person away.
"Woah, it's just me," Chan raised his hands up in surrender and gave you a toothy grin that showed his dimple. You muttered an apology and took a deep breath to steady yourself.
"Are you avoiding someone?" Chan asked out of the blue which caught you off guard.
"No, why would you say that?"
"You have that look of paranoia written all over your face," he said and you couldn't help but release a laugh because you felt that you really were bad at pretending.
"Chocolate?" Chan offered you a piece and you gladly took it, you looked at Chan and the world seemed to stop around you, the shuffling of people were blurred and your focus was only on Chan.
You realized that you did not really take a good look at him during your conversation with him at Felix's party yesterday, but with him standing only a meter away from you, it was his eyes that caught yours. It was dark, cold, and mysterious, but it only made you crave to know him even more. You caught yourself thinking about how his eyes would ravish you and your cheeks turned crimson red.
"Your face is red, do you have a fever?" Chan asked as he raised his right hand to touch your forehead. You backed away and played with the hem of your shirt while biting your lower lip, you opened your mouth to say something but Jeongin's voice cut you off.
"Hey, Y/n," you looked behind you and immediately looked down, ashamed of what he would probably think because you avoided him and Seungmin the whole afternoon.
"I know you're avoiding us, if we ever did something wrong, I'm sorry for that," Jeongin said and guilt pervaded you.
"No, you didn't--"
"If you're ready to talk, just call us," he continued and showed you that cute smile you like so much. Jeongin was like a baby brother that you never had and hurting him in any way pains you as well.
"I'm sorry, I promise I'll explain it," you said and rubbed his arm as a sign of comfort, he nodded in response. You looked through the glass walls of the university and you noticed that it was already dark.
"Are you heading home?" You asked Jeongin just before he was about to turn his back from you.
"No, Seungmin and I are going with Rei to meet a reporter, she have to describe what she saw that night."
"Oh, I bumped into her earlier, I guess I'll see you on Monday," you said and the both of you bid each other goodbye.
"If only I know where to find her though," Jeongin whispered to himself as he continued his search for his friend.
"Why are you avoiding them?" Chan's question surprised you, you have forgotten he was there with you.
"I am going to kill you, Y/n, but not now. I still need you to restore everything that I have lost," your captor said.
"I-I don't know w-what you're t-talking about," you cried, struggling to get out of the ropes that were tied around your wrists.
"Don't even fucking try, you bitch! It's all your fault! It's all your fault!" He bellowed and threw a bottle against the wall which earned a shriek from you.
Your captor grabbed a knife from the nearby table and brought it over your face, the cold metal touching your cheek, he slid it down, and stopping at the crook of your neck.
"I am going to kill you in the most horrendous way possible," he taunted, pushing the knife a little deeper in your skin, nipping it. A thick red fluid flowed out from the new formed wound, making you hiss.
"And I will start by destroying those you hold dear," your captor finished before releasing a baleful laugh.
"Oh, it's nothing," you said, shaking off the memory and taking the last piece of chocolate from Chan. The both of you decided to call it a night and went on your separate ways.
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A cold breeze made Tanaka Rei shiver as she pulled her sweater closer in hopes of it keeping her body warm. Wisps of of silver grey smoke curled their way through the hazy air as it escaped the mouth of the young woman. Rei released a chuckle, imagining what everyone would think if they found out that the quiet girl in class smokes the hell out of her lungs.
She watched the city lights blare like fireflies, being on the rooftop at the extension building offered her some sort of comfort that she never found in anyone else. Rei dropped the remains of her cigarette and crushed it beneath her foot, smiling to herself before deciding to meet with Seungmin and Jeongin.
She turned away from the railings and was met with a pair of eyes, before she could react, Rei felt her body being thrown to the side. Blood spurted out her elbow as the skin scraped off as she hit the ground; she hissed as she held her elbow to her chest, checking her wound.
"Why the fuck would you do that?!" She screamed at the figure in front of her, the moon was the only source of light and no matter how hard she squinted, she could not figure out who her attacker was.
The attacker slipped their glove-covered hands to their bag, pulled out a razor-sharp knife, and walked towards Rei's defeated state with a cackle.
"No!! Please... I don't want to die," Rei pleaded as her attacker mounted themselves on top of her.
The knife plunged into her chest, causing her to scream out in pain as she tried to pry the attacker off of her. The sharp instrument met Rei's soft and pudgy flesh, again and again, making a satisfying squish as the knife went deeper into her skin. Thick blood flowed freely from her gaping holes, her whole body trembled, blood coming out of her mouth as tears streamed down her pale face. She saw what the secretary had seen that night; the same bloodlust filled eyes before her chest became as still as a monument and met her own demise.
"Hey! you have reached Rei, I'm busy at the moment so please leave a message after the tone," a beep followed the recorded message, causing Seungmin to grunt.
"Where are you? The reporter is waiting for us at the cafe, call me back." Seungmin slipped the phone back into his pocket and  started playing with his camera.
Seungmin sent Jeongin first to the cafe so he can entertain the reporter. The presidents of each club were almost finished packing their stuff which made Seungmin realize that it was already late. An empty can rolled to his feet and he quickly picked it up, he held it and went to give it to the janitor when a thought popped into his head.
"The extension building!" Seungmin said, dropping the can into the trolley, before sprinting his way towards the said building.
When he reached the door to the rooftop, his chest was heaving up and down from being out of breath. He swung the door open and was about to call out his friend's name when he saw something moving in a distance. Darkness filled the place and the moonlight did not really help his sense of vision, he walked closely towards it and the sounds of squishing filled his ears. As he got nearer to the object, the sound became louder and he could finally make out that the thing were two persons. His shaking hands reached to the camera that was hung around his neck, he pulled it up and snapped a picture.
*Click*
A flash filled the empty rooftop and the lifeless body of his friend was on the cold floor, her own blood making a puddle around her. 
*Click*
His eyes shifted the person who had their back against him, who had stopped with their bloody activity and slowly stood up to face Seungmin.
A series of clicks and flashes emitted from his camera as he backed away when he saw the attacker's face. Seungmin turned his heel and prepared himself to sprint for his life when a sharp metal jerked all the way into his back, he dropped to the ground, face first, and screamed in pain as the attacker pulled out the knife. He took this chance to kick the murderer which caused them to stumble backwards.
Seungmin fumbled with his camera and before he could stand up, the assailant grabbed his leg and he fell again, hitting his nose against the floor, the tang of his own blood filled his nostrils. He turned around and the attacker immediately straddled him, with knife raised to the air, ready to strike.
"Please, stop..." Seungmin pleaded as his eyes became blurry from his own tears.
He let out a guttural chokes mixed with an agonized cry as the razor teared his skin, he could see the shiny metal disappeared inside him and the black handle pushed against his broken skin. He felt the attacker's gloved hands grab his head and banged it against the ground while they released an animalistic roar that became muffled sounds to Seungmin as his  head was being repeatedly thudded on the cold stone.  
The banging stopped and all he heard was the sound of his camera hitting the ground,and its pieces scattering all over the place. Seungmin felt his consciousness slip in and out, the last thing he heard were the sound of sirens before darkness took over him.
-------
"Two people were stabbed at the rooftop of Yellow Wood University! And one of them was our key witness!" The chief of police yelled, sat down, and rubbed his temple.
"This damn serial killer is on the loose and we still don't have a single lead!" He continued as the young cadet, Changbin, stirred the cup of coffee and laid it down on the chief's desk.
"I'm sure we'll get something soon, Chief," Changbin said, fixing his uniform.
"One of the victims had a camera with him, I already had it sent to the forensics team," a woman's voice drew the attention of the officers.
She had her dark brown hair on a tight bun that showed off her physical features well, most importantly; her striking blue eyes.
"There you are, Mica!" Changbin said, giving the woman’s huge smile.
"That's Detective Lee to you, Cadet Seo," she said while rolling her eyes at the young man.
"Well, at least there's good news, thank you, Detective," the chief said and took a sip from his coffee.
"Just doing my job, Chief Wang,"
"Would you like a cup of coffee?" Changbin offered to which the detective politely declined. The YWPD became busier as the night progressed, trying to figure out who is behind of all of these manslaughter.
A person took off their bloody garments and gloves, leaving them naked and covered with blood that had become brown and dry. They put it inside a bag to which they intend to burn later, and stared at the mirror with a menacing grin etched on their face.
"It has begun."
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celestialholz · 5 years ago
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A Good Day To Die
Hello, dear Qcard squad - happy slightly belated Tapestry Day! <3 I’m SO SORRY this is a little late, though for once it’s absolutely not my fault! I’m visiting some family up in northern England, and there’s been a hell of a storm that’s outed several power lines locally - they’ve only just reconnected this morning, so I’m finally able to pop this up as my laptop now has some charge! I shall be reblogging all your lovely contributions with commentary tags today too. <3
Let me tell you a quick story before the actual one though, friends, of a girl on a Saturday afternoon playthrough of TNG for the first time, about six years ago now; already a huge fan obviously because we’re in series six, already very much in love with Q and the indomitable captain, but I’d wondered here and there: why was Jean-Luc so special? Sure, he was clever and wonderfully diplomatic, even a bit nuanced, and a nice change of pace from Kirk, who I also loved - but where did this spark come from? Why was he a rebel sometimes, when he seemed to play so much by the book most of the time?
... And then we get to this. A fascinating premise right from the word go of an immediately deceased/critically injured Picard, going into the fascination of a void space, a god cloaked in white with his usual wondrous enigma, and what’s always been to me the single finest piece of character exploration in the whole of the Trek canon. It’s intelligent, deeply amusing, philosophical, psychological, fascinating... we watch this man fall apart and rebuild and learn his lessons, and all the while we have this gorgeous chemistry, this blatant and beautiful homosexual coding, between our two stars, with Q’s ambiguous motives and goddamn, I was enchanted. 
... Honestly, it’s my favourite fucking TV hour of all time, and it’s my pleasure to finally celebrate its anniversary properly. My great thanks to @q-card​ for taking my idea and running wild with it, you marvellous being you. <333
I’d planned to make something much grander and mad for this accordingly, but... well, you know how it is. Very long week, depression... eurgh. So instead, please accept something a fair bit shorter but no less lovely: a parable of ancient Egyptian culture, a delicious dose of angst and love, and the promise of forever from a man who really can’t understand the meaning of the word, but wants nothing more than to offer it anyway. Set during STP, and I for one think this would be a lovely way to end it all...
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It’s fitting, Jean-Luc, he thinks serenely as he disengages the autopilot with a pang of adrenaline, a silent resignation, stoicism etched into his weathered features. Everything has its time, dear man, and you’ve had more than most.
There’s no real other method of death he’d have been content with, if he’s being honest with himself. It’s explosions, fireworks, heat, when he’s too old for any of it physically, when he’s exhausted mentally, but can still lay claim to the most youthful and adventurous spirits, the very soul of a captain; it’s plunging into a supernova at sub-warp to take out the rejuvenated Borg fleet in the resultant fire, beings he abhors so profoundly, is still so very haunted by all these years later, still has nightmares of his time amongst their number.
The protests of his newfound crew echo through his mind, the panic of five minutes prior naturally fresh; a simple plan, ultimately, forged days after he’d discovered their real enemy. Emergency transport, patterns already established, ready for the simple verbal command of a destination within reach; his friends enveloped, incapable of escape without the certainty of scattering to atoms, horror absolute.
“Admiral, you can’t be fucking serious - ”
“This cannot be how our quest ends! I will never forgive you!”
“... No, no, I know that look - JL, you can’t , you bastard - !”
“They took you once, Captain; we’ve won, dammit! There is no need to prove it further!”
He shivers with their regrets, jaw setting in defiance of his actions - it isn’t about proving anything, and he’d imagined Seven of all people would know that good and well. It’s about setting the universe to rights, ensuring continued prosperity from a species who deserve simply to be left in peace, who had been through more than enough to last them multiple lifetimes... to perhaps finally repaying a fraction of the debt he owed to the dead, the assimilated, of Wolf 359. It will never absolve him; nothing ever could.
But he can ensure it never has to happen again - not to him, not to another living soul in this quadrant. This is their last stand, and he will eradicate them. He isn’t a threat, of course - why would he be, in his tiny vessel?
Resistance is not, and never has been, futile, he acknowledges coldly, teeth beared in disgust. You wanted me to lead you, didn’t you? Allow me to make it so.
“Warning: recommend immediate retreat. Heat shields at thirty-one percent integrity; collision course with Elphoric Supernova in three minutes, thirty seconds.”
“Computer,” he announces frostily, “cease warnings.”
“With respect, my dearest admiral, perhaps you’d do well to pay attention.”
His mechanical heart skips several beats in the same moment, frenzy racing up his spine in anger, anticipation, anguish -
He hasn’t seen the speaker in four years, but he’ll turn up for the last three and a half minutes?
The flash claims his vision, the signature ping resounds, and the air falls immediately silent as he stares at eyes that read eternity and burn solely for him.
“Would you mind explaining what the hell you’re doing?”
He takes a full ten seconds of his remaining few minutes to simply absorb his husband’s presence, the faint lines that crease his forehead, the unspoken despair and the silent love and the carvings of exhaustion, and it’s as though something snaps once more back into place in his soul; as though he’s finally returned home after a solid millennia of travelling, embraced instantly by recalled warmth and comfort and precious, precious familiarity.
... Perhaps he ought to be less furious.
“... War’s over then, I take it?” His voice cracks through the stagnant bridge, and for the briefest of moments, he forgets entirely that he’s voluntarily crashing to his own destruction.
Q’s gaze flickers, stricken, and he regards his spouse with disbelief, crouching before him.
“Hardly the moment.” He curls fingers around shaking ones, squeezes tightly. “Honestly, I leave you alone for five minutes -”
“Four years,” Picard intones, hollow, charcoal eyes ablaze. “Four, dammit.”
Q winces, digs finely manicured nails gently into aged skin with sorrow. “Bit difficult to keep track when the universe is falling apart, though I thought my dearly espoused was rather above the ultimate display of tragic hubris.”
“This isn’t arrogance,” Picard snaps in response, suddenly furious.
The god raises a brow, turns from him for a moment to consult the cosmos; he analyses the situation quietly, eyes falling shut before they wrench open in horror.
“... Oh,” he realises aloud, returning a pitying gaze to his husband. “Well, I was planning to take you for dinner, celebrate our reunion, but... it had to the Borg, of course. It was going to be magnificent, you know. All candles, oysters, Risan teal whiskey - imagine you’ve grown a little weary of the family vintage by now -”
Picard’s internal chronometer, borne of years of starship clockwork efficiency, ticks over to ninety seconds, and he’s kissing him with desperation, with the misery of parting, the anxiety of war, the coldness of a universe where no one else can ever quite understand -
It’s brief because it has to be, given the circumstances, but it’s no less intense for it, shot through on both sides with passion and need and loss and reestablished harmony; they break eventually, slipping back to rest foreheads together, and Q is breathless with pain as he whispers.
“My universe has already shattered once, Jean-Luc.”
Picard blinks against the tears that threaten, the anguish that engulfs him at the very thought.
“It’s the Borg, Q,” he explains simply, voice woven with apology.
“... And it doesn’t count for anything that I could click them to dust, I imagine, stop them threatening anyone ever again?”
He smiles warmly, bitterness rich - not at an entity who has been trying to save his people, he could never be angry at that. He’s trying to do the same, isn’t he? Always has. 
No, life is merely unfair, and it has to end eventually. 
“‘Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it,’” he quotes gently, and a rasp of a sob trips from Q’s tongue.
“Stupid, noble, self-sacrificing idiot,” he breathes, thumb running over the wedding ring unconsciously. “The shen ring, Jean-Luc; you’ve always admired the ancients. The symbol of eternal protection.”
A single tear slips down his cheek, a stammered exhale follows, and he locks eyes to his in true dread. “Please, darling - tell me we can still go for dinner.”
Everything in creation drowns in silence, even as the console roars at him that he’s thirty seconds from death; nothing matters but his words, his long-spoken promise - that his husband absolutely comprehends them.
“I’d be offended we didn’t, frankly,” he whispers. “Haven’t seen you in years, we’re rather overdue a catch-up.”
He kisses his brow tenderly, physically feels the permanence of the relief that bursts through the god; he has to make sure, nevertheless.
“Perhaps tomorrow, we could watch the meteor shower on Tansid VI.” He softly pulls Q’s thumb back to the wedding ring, to the tangibility of what it offers, the vow it proclaims, and runs his own preciously across it. “Croissants. Champagne. Different region, different grapes - I’m not quite bored of that one yet.”
“And the day after?” Q’s voice cracks, brittle as sand.
“Oh, moons of Tanothry Prime, I imagine. Driver’s choice. Though I’d quite enjoy a trip to the Magellanic Clouds, perhaps in a few centuries.”
Another sob, profound this time, raises, stuttered, from his immortal spouse.
“I reserve the right to make it hurt less.”
“Oh, please do, my love. My Thoth.”
Q stifles a laugh, so wondrously enamoured. “The Egyptian god of the dead, of magic and wisdom.”
“‘As for Thoth, he crosses the sky in my presence; I pass safely.’“
“Yes, you do,” the deity vows, adoration warming the severity of his features. “Nothing will ever have to hurt you again, darling.”
It’s a strange experience, dying without fear. He’d been so certain, so determined, but so very afraid.
“Ten seconds to impact,” the computer chimes, emotionless.
“I have a dog,” Picard tells his husband, eyes falling closed. “You wouldn’t much like his name.”
Q smiles tightly, clings to him.
“I do hope it isn’t mine,” he replies dryly, and the human chuckles as the ship ignites around them.
“Oh, it’s so much worse.” He beams tenderly at him, braces for impact. “I’ll tell you later.”
“Yeah,” Q breathes, caressing his ring, and together they burn.
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onisiondrama · 5 years ago
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Greg & Newsweek Guy Stream (Stream 1 of 3 from 3/30/20)
Re-upload
Summary
Greg / James says Newsweek guy wrote an article about his dad and step mom and asked him for a comment. Greg responded “Go fuck yourself parasite.” Newsweek guy asks why he said that. Greg says that was just the mood he was in. He says gets asked a lot for an interview and after a while they seem like parasites because they make money off of drama.
NWG asks when was the last time Greg talked to his father. Greg says it was in Oklahoma City at a restaurant. He says he had bad fries. Says he was serving at tinker air force base in 2005. His father paid for his meal.
NWG asked why it’s been so long. Greg said because his father is an accused pedophile and because his father lied about what happened when he beat him up when he was 15. That destroyed their relationship and made Greg realize he was a liar and made him believe someone who was a child at the time who said they were a victim of his father and his two older female family members who have said they were molested by his father.
Greg says his father choked him, he beat his father’s ass, then his father lied to the police and other family members about what happened. NWG points out his father says he didn’t choke him. NWG asks how could his father have chocked him if he was in the front seat? Greg points out he has talked about this incident step by step in videos. NWG says he’s watched them all. Greg says NWG can know if he’s lying because NWG can base it off his head, but he (Greg) has to base this off memory. (I’m not 100% sure what he means by this, but I’m guessing he means since NWG recently watched all of Greg’s videos talking about this, he can see if Greg changes his story?)
Greg goes through the events. He’s blasting Rob Zombie in his ears. Greg wanted to finally fuck his girlfriend that weekend really badly. Debbie (step mom) decided to go on an impromptu trip to Tennessee. NWG asks didn’t Greg know about the trip for weeks? Greg says he did not, he even made plans with his girlfriend. They didn’t allow him to call her to let her know because it was back in the landline days, you can’t text. Just, “get in the car we’re going.” He was pissed off about it.
They were making their way to Kentucky. Greg says his dad is like Ned Flanders from The Simpsons and asked him to turn down his music. Says his dad is a real dorky guy, Ned Flanders is probably cooler than his dad. Greg flips him the bird with his left hand. He says he was either in the middle seat or the right side seat in the back. His dad asks, “what’s your problem?” Greg says, “it’s your fucking bitch wife. She fucking ruined my plans.” His dad contains his anger, pulls off the highway. He had a white Nissan. He pulls into the parking lot, takes off his seat belt, flips around, starts choking Greg but not enough where he can’t breathe. He was still able to talk and his voice was nasally / altered.
Greg says he ended up in juvenile hall his adrenaline was pumping so much that he was crying and incoherently saying “I think he hit me” to police. Says his brain was scrambled. They cuffed him and he said they were fancy handcuffs and they said “yeah, they’re new.” He says that was stupid.
Greg says his aunt and uncle adopted a Korean girl and a Korean boy. Brian, his Korean cousin, said Greg’s dad told him Greg hauled him off and punched him.
NWG says in the article, his dad said he placed his hands on Greg’s shoulders. Greg says at least his father admits to initialing physical aggression. NWG says, “well, he’s your parent.” Greg says you can’t be psychically aggressive with your kids. NWG asks where is the line between psychical aggression and psychical comfort? Greg asks if his father was comforting him after he called his wife a fucking bitch? NWG repeats he was trying to put his hand on Greg’s shoulder. Greg says that was satirical.
Greg asked his dad to stop choking him a couple times, then he warns him a couple times that was was going to fight back. He’s still choking him and not saying anything. Greg says there’s a lump on his neck and he doesn’t know if it was from this incident or he didn’t notice it until then. He had the doctor at juvenile hall check it out and they said it was nothing. Greg was wearing combat boots and he stomped him to the dashboard of the car. Stomped him on his neck, chest, and face.
Greg guesses his father was 195 lbs and he was 15 and 130 lbs and they’re the same height. NWG asks if he’s sure he was 15 at the time. Greg says positive because his girlfriend was the same age. NWG says his father said he was 17. Greg laughs about it. Greg says 9/11 happened when he was staying with his dad and does the math to prove he was 15. Says he was at Miamisburg High School in Miamisburg, Ohio. They rolled a TV in the room and showed them the planes hitting the towers. NWG questions Greg’s recollection, suggests he misremembers where he was during 9/11. Greg says he stayed with his father for 6 months. He was there the end of the last school year and in the beginning of the next. NWG questions him again. Greg says when he was 17 he was at Lakes High School in Lakewood, Washington while going to Pierce College. He roller-bladed to college.
NWG guy says according to Greg’s father and step mother, after Juvie, Tammi tried to get custody of him. Greg agrees and says initially it was either Tammi who wanted him out of the house or himself. NWG asks if Greg remembers why he left. Greg says he doesn’t, says his mom would know. He wanted to live with his father and his mom let him. NWG asks if it’s possible Greg was aggressive and punched a dry wall in Tammi’s house. Greg says no, but his mom attacked him with a large flashlight. She smacked him on the leg with it while he was laying in a bed. He pushed her away with his feet while she hit him on the hips. She later on said to Damon, who was his sister’s boyfriend, that Greg hit him. Greg says his mom can't keep her story straight. He defends himself from his parents with his feet. He guesses he was 13 or 14. Says this was at the Bluffs Condominiums in Lakewood, Washington. 
NWG asks what Greg’s relationship with Tammi is like. Greg say it’s alright. He didn’t talk to her for 4 months because she mentioned a lawsuit against him. She believes she’s not allowed around certain people she’s related to. He says it’s not true. He doesn’t want her to be alone with them because of her life decisions. She was more responsible when he was a child and now she’s letting her freak flag fly, which she has a right to do. Doesn’t want that to be experienced by people who are younger. He won’t let people drink alcohol around them. A lot of him family members are mad at him about that. He wouldn’t let people hold a baby he was in charge of while they were drinking alcohol. NWG asks when was the last time Tammi saw those people. Greg says last family event. Says his mom is a cool creative person, but they butt heads sometimes.
NWG asks if Greg butts heads with a lot of people. Greg says of course. NWG asks what he means by “of course”. Greg says, “you know who I am.” He butts heads with people all the time on Youtube. NWG asks why. Greg says a classic example is when he made a fake meltdown video with Cyr. People think they’re real so he has to posts the bloopers. NWG asks why he feels the need to make a fake narrative. Greg says because it’s fun. NWG asks if monetization plays into it. Greg says not these days, Youtube demonetizes it all.
NWG asks if that’s why Greg agitated Chris Hansen recently, because views have been down? Greg says allegedly he heard Chris Hansen tried to sell a coronavirus cure. NWG says that sounds like him. NWG asks who are the people that told him. Greg says one if someone that worked with Chris Hansen and the other is someone that follows everything Hasnen does online to tell Greg. There is a third person that does the same thing. Greg says after hearing about the coronavirus cure, he wanted to confront Hansen for being fake. In the past, his spouse told Greg not to talk about anything publicly or he’s leave him. It got to the point where he said if you’re going to leave me, leave me because he had to talk about it. Ever since then he’s been empowered.
NWG asks if Greg would be open to having a relationship with his extended family. Greg says, fuck no.” Says his father is a molester. Says this person is an adult now and still stands by the fact they they were molested. This person is private and isn’t trying to get views. Real victims sit in the shadows and if anything go to the cops or family members. When Greg asked them if they were violated, they changed the subject because they can’t talk about it. Greg says his dad is acting like the victim but can’t get basic facts. Doesn’t even know when Greg was there.
NWG asks if Greg’s sisters would talk to him. Greg says, “no, fuck you dude.” Says they’re private people. They don’t want to talk to a reporter about their molester dad. NWG says, “fair.” Greg says it’s amazing NWG would talk to a literal molester, child rapist and act like he’s right and then harass their family. NWG asks, “harassed?” Greg says something about his mom, but I can’t really make it out. NWG says he send a Facebook post.
Greg repeats himself, then says NWG is a scumbag for talking about people who were violated as children, making money off it, then asking to talk to them. Greg asks what they would have to gain for re-living what their dad put them through? Greg repeats himself, more aggressively this time while NWG says “yeah, yeah” “ok”.
Greg says NWG should have gone to the police instead of contacting his family members. He should have went to the police and told them to get in contact with them. NWG says that’s now how it works. Greg keeps going.
NWG asks if he’s going to keep yelling, because he could stop this. Greg says, “it’s already done bro.” Greg says he’s already said what he needed to about NWG preying on child victims and making coin off of them. NWG says, “the irony is palpable good sir.” Greg asks how. NWG says no. Greg mocks him for not backing up his words. He asks again what he meant by that. NWG says nothing.
Greg asks is there’s anything else. NWG says that’s everything he wanted to cover. Greg asks if they really covered everything? He’s sure there’s more. NWG says Greg is really enjoying this. Greg says he is. He likes seeing a scumbag get his ass handed to him. NWG says he’s not the first interviewee to say that. Greg says then maybe he should find a better job instead of making molestation victims relive their trauma for money. NWG says, “that’s quite the narrative.” Greg points out NWG asked in the interview if his sisters wanted to talk. NWG asks if they’re done. Greg says he didn’t even finish the story about beating the shit out of his pedophile father. Greg asks if he wants to finish. NWG says “no, not really.” They say bye. NWG leaves and Greg ends it by saying, “that’s Newsweek everyone.”
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scumerage · 5 years ago
Text
How could "World War I" actually happen in One Punch Man? A social, legal, and military breakdown:
[Credit to /u/shadowii66 on reddit for all his great insight and debate regarding what many, myself included, believe to be an upcoming Superhero Civil War (even if he disagree and argues it won't happen). Much of this will be a rehash of our long in depth discussion, so I will try and summarize.]
#I. What is necessary for a civil war to happen?
(A) Both sides need to be partially justified/have partial public support:
If one side is presented as too unjustified/too univerally hated, then they can't actually fight, example, if the HA or Neo-Heroes attacked the other simply to seize power, not only will society turn on them, but most of their own heroes will refuse to fight on their behalf. Remember, the majority are not soldiers but heroes, they fight for individual reasons, not blind obedience.
(B) One side needs to declare war on the other:
Even if both have justification and at least some public support, one or both sides needs to take the step to act on it, to decide that, else it will simply continue to compete with popularity, funding, and public discourse. They need to take matters into their own.... and destroy the other Association by force.
(C) The majority of heroes on both sides need to fight:
Even if both sides are partially justified and one side makes the daring to declare war, the heroes still need to fight. If one sides heroes refused, it would simply be a coup, a manhunt, or a bloodless revolution and political takeover. Not a real war.
(D) Both sides must rival each other in military power:
If one side has an insurmountable and overwhelming power advantage, the war will end the minute it begins, with one side demolishing the other in a single battle. So the only way a war can actually be waged is if it is competitive, if victory and defeat hang in the balance for each group of heroes.
#II. How COULD the Civil War happen?
(A) Neo-Heroes declare war on the HA on charges of corruption, inefficiency, and endangering humanity:
The Neo-Heroes claim the HA leaders are criminals that need to be arrested for their crimes (and they would be right): money laundering+bribery+monster black market trade/putting a donor's son before humanity itself/nearly all their best heroes defeats by a single human teenager, the hero hunter/heroes like Bofoi and Tornado causing massive collateral damage through incompetence/any heroes who defend the HA are supporting the corruption and criminal collaborators.
 The Neo-Heroes march on City A to arrest the HA execs, the "Old Heroes" refuse to let them, an all out battle breaks out. Presumably the Neo-Heroes are driven back (else the HA would fall and the war would be over), maybe the HA launches their own attack on the Neo-Hero HQ, in any case, the war continues.
(B) Either Metal Knight is framed as a villain, or the Organization/Neo-hero ties are made public:
If the Organization can frame Bofoi as a villain, either by having replica Metal Knight drones attack the Neo-Heroes or even civilians, or better yet, frame Child Emperor as a HA terrorist seeking to destroy the Neo Heroes. Since Child Emperor is too smart to eat up the war propaganda of the Neo-Heroes (Edit 1), AND he will be investigating the Neo-Heroes from the inside, which the Organization does NOT want.
But if the Organization/Neo Hero ties are made public? The HA can justifiably say the Neo-Heroes are working for villains, allies of the MA, AND illegal arms dealers/criminals. The corrupt, desperate HA leaders would be all too willing for an excuse to attack the Neo-Heroes, who threaten their very existence, especially by stealing donors and hero recruits. Same scenario of one association attacking the other, just with attacker/defender reversed.
(C) [Argued by /u/shadowii66] A Civil War cannot happen:
 The Old Heroes won't fight to protect the corrupt and criminal HA execs.
The Neo-Hero members won't attack other heroes on false charges.
The Old Heroes saved the world from the aliens and MA, so they cannot simply be labelled as criminals and villains to justify fighting them.
[/u/shadowii66 If there are any major reasons I mistated/left out feel free to correct me]
#III. What events CANNOT happen, which would nullify the Civil War?
(A) Blast, Tornado, or Metal Knight join the war:
They are too powerful, and would give the HA too great an advantage. Thankfully, Blast has chosen to remain absent so far, and the other two have been discredited and will likely not take action.
(B) The Organization launches an attack on the world prematurely:
That would unite the heroes against them, and force them to overcome their differences and work together to fight them. Also, the Organization would lose the brilliant strategy of using the Neo-Heroes as cannon fodder to take down the HA/gather battle data on all the Old Heroes+Neo-Heroes+human fighters in general (and maybe have the Neo-Heroes go after Bofoi to force him to reveal his robot army prematurely).
(C) God or the Ninja Leader become public villains too early:
While they very well may be playing a large role on the sidelines, perhaps manipulating the war for their own benefit, and may even show up at the end, there can’t be a main villain too early. They are in a similar bind as the Organization, if they are too open and threaten the world too greatly, the heroes would ally to fight them (though it would still be glorious if one of the battles between several S-Class and Neo-Leaders is cut short by the Ninja Leader showing up and curbstomping all of them in an instant... they wouldn't even know how they were defeated).
#IV. How COULD the Civil War end?
(A) The Hero Association falls:
This is the Organization's whole purpose for the Civil War... to destroy the HA with humanity's own fighters, and also gathering a complete database of all the strength, style, and abilities of every hero. Meaning that even the S-Class will be utterly crushed by whatever perfect matchups the Organization creates to defeat them (not simply mix and matching random monsters like Psykos did). With all the heroes, both Old and Neo, as good as defeated, only Bofoi and Blast (maybe King as well?)(Edit 3) will be left to oppose them. and then... THEN they will strike.
(B) The Neo-Heroes fall:
The Organization's plan fails, the HA remains standing, though obviously greatly weakened, multiple cities in shambles, the heroes even more demoralized and worn out than they were from fighting the monsters. Still beneficial to the Organization, but not the great victory they had hoped for.
(C) A Third Side defeats/unites both HA and Neo-Heroes:
Could be the Hero Name Victims Association, could be the Ninja Leader, could be Blast, could be a disciple of God, could Blast, hey, crazy idea, could be the Organization or Bofoi for all anyone knows. The main issues is that the Third Side can’t take the spotlight til late in the Civil War (preferably when either it is clearly a stalemate or one side is clearly winning/losing). That way the Civil War conflict can actually be fully fleshed out. And either has an army wide reaching and effective enough to defeat both groups, or does not and the heroes on either side align.
(D) The HA and Neo-Heroes make peace:
Errr... possible? But both the HA and Neo-Heroes are hopelessly corrupt in their very structure.... based on support from either opportunistic morally unscrupulous businessmen... or foreign technological civilizations who have their own ends in mind. They cannot accept the degeneracy they both share, deny responsibility for... and accuse the other of having. Even a theoretical alliance in corruption would be doomed to fail sooner rather that, when their usefulness for each other is gone.
#V. What will happen after this Civil War Saga is over?
By “over”, what is meant is simply that the themes and story of the Civil War is fully tied up, that would include, say, when the Ninja Leader returns or the fallout from one or both Associations falling has had its impact. That the Civil War Saga is over, and a new saga is beginning. And the next saga is obviously the Organization Saga. The Civil War, successful or not, is over, there is no more use to be gained out of staying in the shadows. The time has come for machines to overshadow mankind, all the squabbles between chaotic monsters, naive martial artists, arrogant heroes, and greedy mercenaries will be nothing compared to the two greatest military powers the world has ever seen (Edit 2): Dr. Bofoi/Metal Knight, with his legions of mass produced, stockpiled, and obedient battle drones… and the Organizations elite, freshly upgraded, and intellectually genius AIs and cyborgs. Oh, and Genos is there too!
#VI. Final Notes:
Edit 1: Child Emperor explicity stated he doesn’t trust the Neo-Heroes and wants to keep an eye on them.
 Edit 2: The HA, MA, and NHA were all mostly dependent on random, biological prodigies. Which is great in the short term, they collected the best fighters they could find available and put them to work doing what they do best. However… they can’t actually produce talent reliably (even Psykos was lucky to get Orochi and then Garou to grow exponentially, just as the HA was lucky to get Genos). Whereas Bofoi and the Organization? All the need is data, raw materials, and time… and they can produce an army. And they both have had plenty of all three.
Edit 3: The Organization may decide that King is purposely hiding his fighting style, therefore they don’t seek him out... and lo and behold, he doesn’t come after them and wipe them out!
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livesbeneath · 6 years ago
Text
the end of all things.
pairing: noah x female mc (harley blanco)
summary: it’s three am, and her laugh is in his head. it almost makes him want to live.
word count: 2.8k.
author’s note: i decided to try and revert back to my old epic poem-esque style for this work, and i have to say, i am extremely excited about how it turned out!  this piece has been a labor of love for me, and i really hope you all enjoy a brief journey across canon with a little added perspective from noah and mc.  i wrote this fic mainly while listening to  the end of all things  by panic! at the disco, hence the name. i highly recommend giving the song a listen since it’s gorgeous - and really helps set the mood. i apologize for any grammar / sentence structure issues, as i tried to proofread the best i could, and thank anyone who takes the time to read!  feedback in any form is deeply appreciated!  (and a big thanks to @gayvathewitch for being my first set of eyes <3)
disclaimer: i do not own these characters / some of the dialogue present. creative liberty has been taken to make this story unique, and i do not intend to use it for profit in any way.
whether near or far, i am always yours. any change in  time, we are young again. so lay us down. we’re in love.
i. bravery
She asserted herself as the bravest in the group at age seven. She picked up worms after rainstorms, rode her bike without a helmet, and tried a new vegetable every month. She jumped into the public pool without holding her nose and didn’t wear swim goggles.
Despite being a pup, Harley led the pack. She was destined to grow into her claws.
ii. cowardice
He always looked slightly anxious. He was cautious, moody, protective. He often hid under his covers at night when he heard the wind blow through his window. It was broken, and refused to close all the way.
Noah wasn’t a wolfish young boy. He was more the shadow that hung behind the sun.
iii. third
He decides eight o’clock in the morning is too early to be awake. Noah suppresses a yawn, eyelids drooping. His mom says that he’ll be able to walk to school after he turns twelve. Until then, he’s stuck on the bus.
“Where’s Jane?” Harley asks quizzically, her Monsters Inc. lunchbox sat on her lap. The two girls always sat together. Noah usually took the seat across the aisle from them - but today it had been claimed by Grant Warner, and he was a fifth grader.
“She has a fever.” He frowns as he stares at the empty space beside her. “Can I sit?”
“I don’t know-” she grins, pulling on one of her own pigtails. “Can you? Do you know how to sit, Noah?”
“Shut up.” he grumbles as he plops down. She knows he doesn’t mean it, and that only makes her giggle harder. The sound makes him want to shove her lunch onto the floor. That is, until he hears his mother’s voice in the back of his head.
You know, boys only pick on girls if they like them, Noah.
Frowning to himself, he sinks lower into the seat, not bothering to shrug his backpack off his shoulders. Her voice was too loud for such an early morning.
“Are you nervous?” she answers before he can even take a breath. “I’m not nervous. I can’t wait to tell Jane all about it!”
“Third grade is gonna be just like second grade, y’know.”
Her spirit is seemingly indomitable, as she simply cheers in response. Her second grade year was a blast - and his was filled with butterflies. Annoying butterflies.
Butterflies he’d like to squish.
iv. sleepover
Mrs. Marshall had packed her children a travel-sized bag of cheesyfish, their own separate flavored toothpastes, and mismatched pairs of socks. She didn’t stop at the front door of Harley’s house to see her children off. Her migraines were getting worse - and a quiet night free of her kids was just what the doctor ordered.
Noah was shocked when Harley’s father answered the door. He didn’t see her parents much. In fact, he was pretty sure they were supposed to be in Boston on business in a week.
Immediately, the twins were whisked to the backyard where the rest of their friends were waiting. Andy was ripping clumps of grass out of the ground and throwing them at Lucas, which was highly amusing to the other children.
“Harley!” Jane says from beside him, a sly smile on her face. “Tell Noah to stop being such a big baby about Mr. Red.”
Harley’s mouth forms an o-shape, her eyebrows raising. “You don’t want to go play with Mr. Red tonight?”
“I’m not a baby! I just think - what if your parents see we aren’t here?”
“That’s why we have a tent, silly! And blankets and pillows to make props! We know Mr. Red can’t really play with us in the light.”
He bites his lip. “It’s gonna be really dark.”
“We can bring flashlights!” Harley smiles. “Or, we can stay here. I want to go to help protect everyone, but you remember the playtime rule, don’t you?”
A few feet away, Jane breaks a twig in half with a clean snap!
“Everyone plays together!”
v. whispers
Her first mistake was not making it to the gym early. If she had, maybe she could have snagged a seat at the top of the bleachers, somewhere high up, a corner against the wall where no one would bother her.
She’s all too aware of his lazy eyes. Tired as they may be, they burn into her back as she stands there like an idiot, contemplating a daring escape out the closest exit.
“Hey, Harley! Sit your stupid ass down unless you wanna watch from the garbage can!”
To her chagrin, Noah makes no move to assist her as she stands there. She doesn’t expect him to, but it would have been the most efficient way to make Cody shut his mouth.
“Hello? You’re blocking our view, and there’s a spot right there!” Jocelyn blurts, waving a hand towards the only seat left open in the whole place.
She exhales before turning at a snail’s pace to meet Noah’s eyes. He sits there expectantly, and Harley assumes that he already knows his answer to her question before she’s even asked it. Swallowing her pride, she offers him a reluctant smile. “Hey, Noah. Do you mind if I…?”
Can you? Do you know how to sit, Harley?
“Knock yourself out.”
He takes his time scooting to the side. Harley shoots Cody and Jocelyn one last glare before stepping up and squeezing beside Noah, crossing her arms across her chest as she plants her feet firmly on the platform below. Any attempts at small talk will be futile, and yet-
“So… what’s been up with you? We haven’t really talked since…”
His voice is a flatline. He shifts uncomfortably in his spot. “Yeah, I know.”
Harley shakes her head slightly as she glances around, her eyes not exactly focusing in on anything, not even Lucas as he approaches center floor to begin the assembly. The gymnasium rumbles around them as the students welcome their class president. Both stay still, letting the vibrations from over a hundred feet stomping madly drown out the rumbles of awkwardness situated in their stomachs.
They fall into a steeled, not-quite conversation. Occasional jabs at Lucas’ discovery of hair gel and Stacy’s cheermates inch them closer and closer to dismissal. After the bell, they’ll hopefully never have to do this again.
“Why do people like her so much?” Harley huffs offhandedly, eyeing Britney in the sea of pom poms before them. “They’ve got to know how horrible she is.”
“And?” Noah begins. “She’s hot and she can do flips. We can’t compete with that.”
She turns to look at him, a curious half-smile on her face as he shrugs. It’s somewhat comforting to know that they remain similar despite the ten years of radio silence between them.
It isn’t the same with everyone else, though. Some of them are still stuck in the gutter of the social pyramid, some of them seemingly free from it, parading around the gym like they own it.
“Huh. Andy actually made the team this year.”
Harley can’t help but grin at that. “Good for him! I can’t wait to see him play.”
Noah yawns as the basketball team captain takes the podium, his speech a carbon copy of every other student-written rallying cry, right down to the obnoxious Westchester Wolves howl.
However, one element manages to catch them both off guard: the flickering of the gymnasium lights.
Then, a plea from Lucas to stay seated. A microphone full of feedback. A broken stereo system.
With a loud BANG!, the doors of the gym fly open, and the lights flicker back on.
She feels a hand clamp around her arm. A shiver up her spine.
“God! What are you-”
He speaks with a frightening concern. “Shut up! Do you hear that!?”
“Hear what?”
“Ssssshhhh!”
The music sputters and dies as the lights shut off completely. A voice, completely alien and horribly familiar.
A whisper.
“Everyone… plays… together.”
vi. resurgence
They all started spending time together, but only out of obligation. It wasn’t as if cops could just arrest Redfield.
She understands Noah’s anger, but it doesn’t make the sight of his face twisted in rage any easier to see. It’s a constant reminder that maybe they could have spared themselves years of loneliness if one of them had been tough enough to speak up.
Harley wasn’t going to stand back anymore. Not after the assembly. Not after finding Dan. Not after what he had told her in the hardware store.
“Mom blames me, y’know. For Jane… and for dad leaving right after.”
“I’m sure that’s not true.”
“It is. She’s said it to my face. Regularly, actually.”
It’s moments like that, like him looking so paralyzed when a monster charges at him, which spark up remembrance in her. They not only make her realize how much she’s missed him, but how much she’s always wanted to be there for him. To protect him. Something about him ignites the hero in her.
She finds where he sits at lunch and plops down.
He wonders why she didn’t ask before doing so.
vii. effortless
The cobblestone around Britney’s pool proved to be terribly unkind to any kind of shoe that required balance to walk in. Decked out in gold and heels, an ensemble that was a giant leap from her normal bomber jacket, it almost made Harley wish that she hadn’t agreed to take a walk with him.
Almost.
Jocelyn’s laugh and the rest of the party fades out behind them as they reach the edge of the backyard, the gentle lapping of the pool water calming Harley’s nerves.
She feels the urge to reach down her throat and rip her heart from her chest in an attempt to silence it. From the moment she had seen him in his natural habitat, gracelessly tossing potato chips into the pool, her heartbeat had been on the fritz.
Nevertheless, she appears just as collected as ever, even as the two of them share a grin. She takes note of how much lighter he looks when he does so.
“So I gotta ask-” she begins. “Why’d you decide to come tonight.”
He looks her over subtly. His hands begin to sweat. “It’s dumb.”
“I bet it’s not! What if I tell you something dumb?”
“Depends on what you got.”
She runs through multiple replies in her mind. There’s “I think you look nice with your hair long”, along with “I felt my stomach lurch when you laughed earlier”. There’s also-
“I got points off my language arts homework because I misspelled orange.”
His lips turn upward, and he doesn’t work to suppress a chuckle. “You mean the most phonetically sound word in the English language?”
“See? Now that was dumb.” she watches him shake his head, taking a breath.
“I came because…”
Because you would be here. Because she made things a bit easier to bear. “Well, being with your friends in a place you hate is still better than being alone, right?”
He drifts from her in that moment, the grill a few feet away giving him something more stable to think about. She approaches - relentless as always - a smile on her face. He wishes he could be so easygoing.
She speaks so easily, and he doesn’t think she realizes the impact of the stuff she says. Noah doesn���t know what it is about her that makes her so much easier to talk to. So easy to snap at, and then confide in seconds later. He knows she deserves better than his polar opposites. She would have a much better time playing spin the bottle with Stacy’s brother.
And yet, she doesn’t go. Not when he digs up skeletons from his past, not when he mentions his wishes for the future. He barely realizes he’s talking about Baby Jane’s, something that he’s never mentioned away from pen and paper, until the words leave his mouth. Until she happily asks “Will you let me be a waitress at Baby Jane’s someday?”
Something about it is so effortless. Something about them is so…
“Now, what do you say we go back to the party? See if Britney has any hot dogs?”
He shakes his head as music begins to blare from the house. “You go ahead. I like how quiet it is over here.”
Harley’s face practically glows as she recognizes the song playing, and she turns back to him, enthusiastically sticking her arm out. “Are you sure? Come on, come dance with me!”
“Hey, I bet Andy would dance with you.” he can’t help but smile, pointedly trying to ignore the adorable way she bobs along to the bass.
Instead of replying, Harley decides to kick off her heels, one of them landing in the pool as she goes. She shakes out her hair, brunette tresses falling over her shoulders and down her back, moving from side to side as she begins to groove along with the sound.
Laughing, she extends both her arms, making grabby hands at him and calling out. “But it’s fun! And it’s Franz Ferdinand! You know Take Me Out, right?”
He doesn’t bother to recall if he knows the song or not, and smiles as he playfully waves her away, standing only to go and fish her shoe out of the water.
Sticking out her tongue, hips swaying, she turns and dances off to where Andy is sitting.
He watches her go, a blush spreading across his cheeks as he marvels at just how plucky she is.
Some things never change.
viii. reverse
He made a bold move of his own a few days later, bell ringing overhead as he showed up unannounced, joining her for all things coffee and Redfield related. She had initially been alone, probably for a reason, as it jostled him to see her so worked up.
After a particularly tense session of rehashing the past, the sound of her pencil furiously scribbling away in her notebook dedicated to Mr. Red is the only thing between them. He shuffles his feet as he sees her violently wipe tears of frustration from her eyes. A sickness pools into his chest as he realizes how much of this she’s taking on by herself  -  and in that, he sees his own reflection.
“I don’t know what to do.” she huffs, dropping her pencil to tug on her hair.
Unwilling to hash out the future in its entirety, his hand grazes hers before pulling away. Instead of something to hold, he gives her a small smile.
“If all else fails, you can always wait tables. Baby Jane’s is gonna need staff members.”
It’s a nice thought.
ix. sidestep
The night was young as the teens celebrated their victory. After spending what seemed like years fearing every shadow that fell beside them, the strobe lights at homecoming seemed almost too good to be true.
Noah drifts off to the side as a slow song begins, feeling his stomach begin to churn as the clock keeps ticking. No matter how he tries, he can’t will the hands to move any faster.
Harley also feels sick, but mainly because she’s just polished off her fourth cup of punch in fifteen minutes. That, and the fact that they’re the only two who haven’t found someone to dance with.
Neither of them work up the courage to make a move.
Maybe he could have if he didn’t know what was coming.
x. betrayal
What was coming could only be better than what had gone.
He tells himself this as he watches her, dress ruined, drenched in Cora Pritchard’s blood and riddled with tears, leave the dogs to deal with the horde closing in on the ruins. This is what they - what he - had to do.
This only makes him sicker as he leads her inside. No amount of hope will ever dull the knife in his pocket. The way he feels about her only makes it sharper, only makes it more painful as she grapples with it against her throat. He thinks it remarkable how valiantly she fights. She thinks it horrific how this is when he finally decides to grow some balls.
Her survival instincts briefly overtake her heart. “Noah, you traitor! Let go of me! If Redfield has hurt any of our friends, I swear-”
The venom in her voice shatters him inside, but he keeps his focus on his sister, on how sweet it will be to finally free her.
He thinks of how when he dies, he won’t ever feel the pain of hurting those he loves again.
xi. together
But as always, she has a plan of her own.
When there is no one left but the two of them, both staring confoundedly at the puff of smoke that was once Redfield, her mind begins to race.
Harley watches his feet drag across the floor as he approaches her, his appearance that of a boy dissolved by his own actions. Noah wants nothing more than to dissipate. He wants nothing more than to make things right. To be brave for once.
Unfortunately, bravery is all she has left.
xi. bravery
So, she sacrifices herself.
xii. cowardice
And as for him?
He runs.
in these coming years, many things will change. but the way  i feel will remain the same. so lay us down. we’re in love.
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ilirimaer · 6 years ago
Text
Animus Online (Chapter VII)
Summary: With the invention of a virtual reality device that allows you to explore an open-world MMORPG you are able to experience a brand new world like never before. Are the captivating members of the Bangtan Guild whom you meet during your adventures truly the strangers you expect they are?
Genre: Science Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Comedy, Friendship and Romance
Rating: T; Violence, some adult themes, and occasional foul language. Rating may increase in the future. A/N: Long wait, and I have no excuse other than life... but I sincerely hope you guys are satisfied with this chapter. I will definitely edit more later, but I wanted to get this out ASAP! Please let me know your thoughts. <3
Chapters: [ I ], [ II ], [ III ], [ IV ], [ V ], [VI], [VII]
Member outfits for the curious
Chapter VI: The Ranger
Word Count: 5,824
Chapter Playlist: (Charli XCX - Track10, BTS & Zara Larsson - A Brand New Day, Pentagon - Nothing)
You flinch as a small branch scratches your arm during your unsteady trek throughout the city trails. The path you are travelling through is unpaved, but manmade waste has found its way there anyway. You utter a disgruntled noise, rubbing the stinging line on your arm as you walk toward a pile of crushed soda cans lying on the grass. 
You position your steel trash grabber over one of the cans to grasp the item, holding open trash a bag to deposit the can inside it. The stinging lessens into a dull pain as you take care of the rest of the aluminum cans. 
Pausing for moment to yawn tiredly, you cover your mouth to preserve your dignity, despite being almost completely alone. Although you had accompanied the environmental science club on this clean-up project, you hardly knew anybody well enough to join their group.
As if on cue, raucous laughter interrupts your thoughts, making your chest tighten in an ugly way. You breathe out slowly and glance toward the source, watching Taehyung and Jimin attempting to prod each other with their trash grabbers. The rest of their fraternity brothers from Beta Theta Sigma gathered around them, cheering their antics on. 
Sighing in exasperation, you place your trash grabber and modestly filled trash bag against a tree. If the BTS boys could catch a breather, then you suppose you could as well. You wander even farther from the paved trail and trudge toward the lake, twigs and dead leaves crunching under your feet none too quietly.
As you reach the edge of the lake, you back into a large tree and slump to the ground, resting your back against the rough bark. You gaze thoughtlessly at the glistening lake, admiring the illuminating blanket provided by the morning sun. The tension leaves your breath as you observe the minute ripples on the lake’s surface. Their concentric radiation lulls you into a calm hypnosis.
Closing your eyelids, you rest your head against the bark of your welcoming host. The cool warmth of its shade envelopes your body reassuringly. Seconds become drawn out as you surrender to the lulling calm of nature.
“[Y/N]? Is that you over here?” a deep voice calls out, breaking your hypnosis.   You jerk upright, turning quickly to face the stranger. The sunlight obscures a majority of his features, but the curve of his lips seems familiar. The brightness makes the soft peach fuzz on his cheeks prominent and illuminates the glowing tawny hair on his head. His eyes squint as he examines you as well.
“What are you doing over here? The group was moving on, but we noticed you weren’t around,” he voices with concern, stepping closer to your shade.
Realizing the stranger is Taehyung, you can’t help but lower your eyes before shaking away the strange hollow feeling away. 
Taehyung crouches down at your side. “Are you alright? You seem disoriented,” he murmurs softly, placing the back of his hand against your forehead. 
You open your mouth to respond but are unable to think of any coherent responses before he moves on to scan the rest of your body. 
He quickly grasps your elbow, pulling it up to examine your arm more closely. “You’re bleeding! Or you were… it seems dry now. What happened?”
Your eyes widen in surprise. Had the scratch really been that deep? You incline your head to examine the wound for yourself. An angry red gash surrounded by a dark red crust stares back at you accusingly. 
“A tree back there scratched me. I hadn’t realized it was that bad. And I just needed a breather, I was a bit tired,” you mumble, dropping your gaze to your lap. 
“You should be more careful, [Y/N],” Taehyung frowns, lowering your arm gently. “Nobody saw you leaving you either.”
You give him a weak smile. “Ah, I would have been fine.”
He drops his gaze to dig into his canvas shoulder bag and you look back down at your arm, absentmindedly brushing the dried blood crust from the wound. “Ah here it is!”
You look up, slightly startled, to see him holding up a small bottle of hand sanitizer and a band-aid. Your face breaks out into a smile you can’t help, ‘Of course he carries that kind of stuff around.’
“Let me clean that up for you!” Taehyung urges, leaning forward to grasp your arm again. You bite down on your lip silently, anticipating the sting before feeling it. He smiles at you apologetically as he unwraps the band-aid from its wrapper. Your heart flutters in a strange way as he carefully lies the bandage down to cover your wound. 
“Looks like we’re going to need a few more,” he declares after examining that the lateral edges of the wound were still exposed. As he dips his hand back into his shoulder bag, you stare in amusement at the cartoon Pomeranians decorating the band-aid. 
“Hey Taehyung, have you found her?” a low voice calls out, before a lanky figure comes barreling into your sight from the cover of the trees. You turn to see Namjoon bending over, his hands resting on his knees for a moment before he turns to face the two of you. His face appears to brighten when you make eye contact. “There you are, [Y/N].”
Your breath hitches at the sight of him and you turn away, raising your free hand to partially cover your mouth as you listen to loud footsteps and yelling signaling the arrival of the rest of their friends. ‘Had they sent a whole search party?’ you squirm uncomfortably as Taehyung lays down the last of the bandages.
Dead leaves crunch under Namjoon’s feet as he walks toward you with better composure. You lower your hand and reluctantly turn to look at him. When he reaches your side, he leans on his knee while extending his other hand for you. The sunlight reflects from his blond hair, framing his face like a delicate golden halo. With a dimpled smile, he encourages you, “Come on, [Y/N]. We’re all waiting for you.”
Normally you would snub his offering and rise on your own. You were tempted to but something about the several pairs of eyes around you, including Namjoon’s crescent moon eyes, forced you to grasp his hand reluctantly. His hand was uncharacteristically smooth as he pulled you up to your feet. You release his hand as soon as you’re steady on your feet, feeling uneasy about the physical contact with your one-sided arch-nemesis. 
Much to your surprise, Taehyung easily loops his arm around yours, breaking the soon-to-be-awkward silence. “Come on, let’s go before they leave us behind!” he exclaims, pulling you toward the main trail, where the rest of the environmental science organization were located. 
“Thank you, Taehyung,” you blurt out, suddenly remembering your manners. 
“Don’t worry about it,” he flashes you a boxy smile, patting the uninjured part of your arm.
As you walk by his side, you turn to look at the rest of his six friends, who are laughing amongst each other, happily in their own bubbles of happiness. Your eyes leave their energetic forms to capture the sight of the form of Namjoon still standing beside the tree, his eyes turned toward the lake as he basks in the serene glow of the morning sun.
______________________________________________________
“Are we almost there yet?”
“V, we just left the city,” Jin exclaims with exasperation, his fist swinging and narrowly missing V’s shoulder when the younger boy side-steps the attack.
“Why are you grumpy, hyung? Who took away your dinner?” V protests indignantly. 
“I’m grumpy because I had to wake up early on a Saturday because of you, you brat!” Jin yells as he aims a kick at the boy’s legs. 
V jumps to narrowly avoid their impact. “It was for a good cause!”
“For the love of God, can both of you ever shut up during an excursion for once?” growls Suga, charging his staff with mana.
“Seriously, you guys keep scaring away all of the prey! How else am I supposed to collect hides for crafting?” Kookie interjects, swinging his Warhammer haphazardly around him. 
You look on with amusement as the boys stop in their tracks and begin to argue about whether or not yelling actually scares away the creatures in the forest. A nudge at your side makes you turn to acknowledge Eunhye, who is glancing from you to the quarrelling boys repeatedly. “Are they always like this? And you say I’m exhausting,” she asks not so quietly. 
“I heard that!” shout Jin and Kookie simultaneously.
“That’s it,” Suga cuts in, swinging his charged staff downward. Black and purple flames erupt in the middle of the forest clearing, clearing away to reveal a dread zombie with strips of flesh hanging from its leathery body. It emits a low moan as it staggers forward in the direction of Jimin and J-Hope.
J-Hope screams upon catching sight of the rotting corpse and deftly scales a tree to avoid it. Your mouth drops as his movement on the branches causes loose leaves to fall to the ground. It had never occurred to you that it was possible to climb trees in this game. 
Before you can ask about it, Jimin breaks the silence while fidgeting with the pommel of his sword and backing away from the zombie nervously. “H-hyung, can you get rid of that?” 
Suga rolls his eyes, holding his staff loosely in his grip as he crosses his arms. “We’ve been playing for how long and you guys still think that thing will attack you?”
“It’s ugly!” Jin interrupts indignantly, glaring at the aimlessly wandering creature, as though its very existence were an insult to him.
“Some may even say that about you, but we all still allow you to exist anyway,” Suga drawls, waving his hand to dispel the zombie in a short blaze of dark purple flames. 
Jin sputters in response, reaching behind his shoulder to lift his lute, wielding it by its neck as if it were a sword, “How dare you! Take that back immediately, or I will bash you with this lute, even if it gets blood all over my clothes!”
Before Suga can turn and response, a loud explosion from a gunshot startles all of you except Namjoon, who stands calmly with a smoking gun pointed at the base of a tree ahead of your group. The splintering of bark surrounds the encased bullet and sawdust circles the impact area for a few seconds before dissipating. 
“While this has been… amusing… we should really hurry to get to the next town,” Namjoon smiles slyly as he holsters his gun. 
Before you can fully admire his effectiveness, your attention is diverted by the thud of J-Hope’s feet hitting the forest ground with a thud. “Seaside, here we come!” he declares happily and take off into a run toward your destination, the port town Ostia Antica. The rest of your group follows him with equal fervor. 
______________________________________________________
After a long trek throughout the forest made short by the antics of Bangtan (Boy, do those guys love to trip each other, you thought with amusement), your party found itself on the shoreline of the Ostia Antica beach. Hardly a word was spoken before Kookie and J-Hope ran off into the water, their hands flashing in front of their bodies as they switched out their questing gear for swim trunks. The rest of the guys wander off in different directions.
“Did ancient Romans even have swim trunks?” you muse, eyes crinkling with a smile as you watch them splashing each other with water. 
“Actually,” a deep baritone voice thrums beside you and you turn to see V leaning toward you. “Ancient Greeks and Romans preferred to swim in the nude,” he winks salaciously before running off toward an NPC. You gape after him, watching him kick up sand. 
“I get why you’re stuck like glue to these guys,” Eunhye jabs your side with her elbow, voice laced with provocation. “They’re very fun.”
You snort in response, opening up your player menu to look for swimming gear. “You’re just happy you have new people to flirt with without the need for commitment.”
“Hey, a girl’s gotta eat somehow,” she murmurs with a smirk, finger jabbing into the air in front of her. Her heavy armor questing gear is instantly replaced with a low cut two-piece bikini. 
You roll your eyes at her admission. “You do realize they could look like hideous trolls in real life, right?” 
“Hey, we start off with a template that looks like us in real life, and guys are lazy,” Eunhye grins. She twirls ostentatiously, “I mean, my own body looks close to the real deal.”
You quickly scan her body and grin in agreement. “Whatever you say. Some of them are a handful, if you ask me.” With a quick flash, your questing gear changes into a one-piece bikini. You look down in interest at a body that’s not quite yours, the swell of your breasts peeking out from behind the bandeau.
Eunhye whistles. “Oh, I love that on you. Come on, let’s go tease them and see if they blush,” she whispers mischievously, wrapping her hand around your arm to tug you forward.
You match her pace toward the sea and turn to raise your eyebrow. “I thought we were here to do quests, but alright.” 
She leans into you, “I already have a quest, and it has to do with that smoking gun over there.”
You follow her gaze to see RM strolling down the beach with a small pile of seashells in his hand, the warm glow of sunlight illuminating his form. Your gut wrenches inexplicably. 
“O-oh yeah, he’s pretty attractive,” you admit, feigning a noncommittal tone. 
You see Eunhye pause for a second, before leaning her head toward you. “[Y/N]? It’s okay, right? Or were you eyeing him already. I’ll back off,” she says with a serious expression. Her thumb grazes over your forearm soothingly.
“What?” you choke out. “N-no, don’t worry about it. Honestly, I don’t really have my eye on anyone. I just came here to escape from the world a bit, and I think they’re easy-going people,” you blurt out quickly. 
Eunhye eyes you for a moment, looking hesitant. You squeeze her hand gently and she finally nods slowly. She grins widely, “Alright, then! What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
As she tugs you hurriedly across the beach, you stifle an uncertain smile. You had barely spoken to RM, but something about the sight of him leisurely collecting seashells and admiring nature made you perk up with longing nostalgia. Still, it was no reason to bar your close friend from pursuing him. As you and Eunhye begin wading into the lively waves, you are smacked in the shoulder by a large object. 
“Hey!” you blurt out, indignantly rubbing your shoulder even though the sensation faded away quickly. You see a red beach ball floating on the water and quickly pick it up before it can be carried away by the waves. Then, you look toward the source of the throw, seeing the remaining members of the Bangtan Guild laughing. You quickly scan their faces and find the odd one out, V, looking sheepish and rubbing the back of his neck guiltily. 
“Let’s destroy them,” Eunhye whispers maliciously, eyeing the ball in your grasp with a covetous gaze. 
You bite your lip, holding back a smirk as her energy sways you. Taking a second to morph your expression into a vulnerable pout, you turn to look at V. “I’m so sorry, [Y/N], rea-“ his panicked apology is cut off by the slap of rubber against into his bare chest. With an exaggerated flail of his arms, he falls over backward into the water with a big splash. 
If the boys were laughing before, they were absolutely howling now. “He absolutely deserved that,” Hoseok asserted between fits of laughter. “He’s been initiating us all into this game by hitting us with that ball.”
You and Eunhye exchange amused looks and nod, deciding to wade closer to the group of guys. "You guys are going down!"
______________________________________________________
Eunhye manages to knock V into the water for the fifth time, much to the delight of the rest of Bangtan. You watch in amusement as V resurfaces and spits out water before launching into yet another tirade about feeling targeted. 
“Hey everyone,” a deep baritone voice calls out enthusiastically from the shore. You tune out V's rant and turn around to see Namjoon wading in slowly, holding up a perfectly formed sand dollar. A huge grin is plastered on his face, highlighting his deep dimples. “I just found a bunch of these and an NPC paid me quite a pretty penny for them. Kind of wanted to keep one though, since they look so nice. You guys are such a sight, causing all this ruckus.”
Your heart clenched in a strange way at his casual admission of sentimentality. Before you can think of replying to the silver-haired leader with anything, Eunhye boldly swims up to him. 
“Took you long enough! Say, do you want partner up for a chicken fight?” Eunhye asks in a coquettish tone, tucking her hair slowly behind her ears so that her breasts rise above water ostentatiously. RM notices the effect of her movement and you notice his ears quickly turning red.
“O-oh, I don’t know,” RM stutters out, his eyes snapping back up to her face quickly. “I’m not that strong, maybe you should ask Kookie.”
“Ahh… you should go ahead, RM-hyung,” Jungkook gives him a sheepish smile, flashing his bunny teeth. “I have absolute confidence in you.”
RM’s eyes flash with a dark look at the maknae before he quickly shakes it off, turning to give Eunhye a polite smile. “Alright, I’ll try my best.”
Eunhye’s expression morphs into that resembling the cat that swallowed the canary. RM seems to notice her smugness and seems to shrink back hesitantly, swallowing nervously. If Eunhye notices, it only emboldens her further. She turns to face you. “[Y/N]! Pick a victim! I’m challenging you!”
“Victim? Yeah right,” Suga scoffs. 
“I heard that!” RM grumbles, crossing his arms defensively. He turns to look at you, likely determined to look at Eunhye as less as possible. 
You feel like shrinking back at the sudden attention for some reason, your arms crossing over your chest in a similar gesture. “I, uh,” you mutter with uncertainty, biting your lip. 
You turn to scan the faces of the guys, who are displaying varying degrees of enthusiasm.  You notice Kookie shrinks back behind his older friends, despite his apparent superiority at the game. J-Hope looks at you with an eager and friendly smile. Jin wears a pleasant, confident grin as he watches you. Suga looks between the three of you with a neutral expression. Jimin and V step forward, both looking eager to jump into the fray. Between the two of them, you decide V intimidates you the least. 
“I want V,” you blurt out, catching the surprise of everyone else. As the guys turn to comment to each other, you feel like burying your face in your palms from your unfortunate wording. 
“No fair, why reward him for hitting you with the ball?” Jimin grumbles as V walks past him with a smug smile. 
“Don’t mind his jealousy, [Y/N]. I’m perfectly capable of leading us to victory, even if I’m not a strength-focused player,” V asserts confidently. “I’ll make up for earlier, too.”
You smile hesitantly at your first friend from Bangtan Guild as he flashes you with a familiar boxy smile. You turn to gauge the reactions of Eunhye and RM. A speculative look crosses RM’s face before it is replaced with a flustered expression as Eunhye narrows the distance between them even more.
“Let’s go, then! Winners treat the losers with sweets at tomorrow’s opening festival!” Eunhye exclaims, bouncing on her toes impatiently.
“You heard her,” V grins, patting his shoulder. “Come on, get behind me and I’ll squat so you can climb on.” 
“W-wait!” you interrupt in a panic, making no move toward him. “I’ll be the bottom!”
“Uh, are you sure?” he asks in confusion. “I’m sure I’m heavier than you.” “Y-yes! Girls can take that role, too!” you assert with sudden boldness, puffing your chest up in challenge. 
V backs down, waving his hands in jovial surrender. “Okay, just making sure it’s what you want!” 
You nod insistently and turn your body with your back facing him. He approaches and places his palms on your bare shoulders. You note that the sensation is dulled, unlike that which you would experience in real life. When you crouch down into the water, the pressure of V’s hands on your shoulders increases as he leaps in the water to wrap his legs around your neck. Once you feel that he has stabilized himself on your shoulders, you turn to face Eunhye and RM, pointedly ignoring the jeering catcalls from the rest of the guild. He is heavy, but surprisingly lighter than you had expected, although this was likely due to the game. 
You turn around with V in tow, immediately catching sight of the reddening face of the group leader, who is trying his hardest to ignore the fact that Eunhye has been leaning forward, letting her breasts rest against his head. He shoots a nasty glare at the rest of the guys, who have been snickering at his predicament with no ounce of subtlety. 
"Eunhye, go easy," you call out warningly, with double meaning. Your best friend pouts for a second before straightening her posture to relieve RM of his humiliation. You shoot RM an encouraging smile, which he reciprocates sheepishly.
You approach the pair until there is only a foot between you. 
"Ready? On three," Jimin calls out, stepping forward to moderate. Your grip on V's legs tightens as you stare at Eunhye's feral grin. V ruffles your hair gently. "One, two… THREE!"
There's a flash of limbs above you as both Eunhye and V lunge to grab each other. As the two wrestle you struggle under the constant pushing, swaying your own body in an attempt to keep V on your shoulders. You hear an outcry of pain from RM as Eunhye hooks her thigh across his neck to stabilize herself and uses the other leg to wrap it around V's waist. Her action causes you and RM to stumble forward until your faces meet close enough for you to feel his breath on your face. 
Your rowdy friend begins to tickle V under his armpits, causing him to flail uncontrollably with laughter. "V! Get yourself together!" you scream as his movements force your face to smash against RM's. 
Your left hand releases V's leg so you can push against RM to keep his face from yours, but this proves to be a mistake when Eunhye suddenly shoves V backward. As you begin to tip over, you grab onto the nearest object for stability, which happens to be RM's T-shirt. As a result, both he and Eunhye fall forward into the water with you. 
As a large body slams into you, you feel a hard kick to your head from V as he flails in the water. The force of the kick knocks your head into the other person's, and you groan pitifully, feeling a stream of bubbles escaping from your mouth. You blink past the subsiding pain while reaching to rest your hands on the body in front you to push them away. 
As your vision begins to clear under the water, you feel a pair of hands over your chest. Your eyes widen in bewilderment to find that it's none other than RM, whose eyes are still screwed tightly shut from the blow. With little forethought your hands begin to charge with ice magic. His eyes open to meet yours in response to the cold for a split second before he is launched backward out of the water with an icicle impaled through his chest.
Without the extra weight, you are finally able to swim to the surface. You take a breath before the game can start to deduct health points from you for being underwater for too long. As you relax and float in the water, you take in the raucous scene before you. 
"I can't believe you just got speared in the chest!" J-Hope was shouting, clutching his chest as he doubled over in laughter. The rest of the guys and Eunhye were crowding around a disgruntled RM, whose chest was still impaled by an glassy ice spear. 
As you swim toward the group, you notice the health bar above his head had barely decreased. You note with disappointment that there was no continuous damage, at least that you could notice from his health bar. Unable to help yourself, you complain, "Hey, that icicle should have been way more effective!" 
RM's eyes widen and meet yours as he sputters indignantly, "Are you kidding? Is that all you have to say?" The rest of the group burst into even louder laughter. 
"O-oh, right! I'm sorry!" you exclaim, face flushing with warmth and you reach above water to tuck in your hair.
RM paddles forward aggressively. " 'Sorry'?! You attacked me and launched me right out of the water for no reason!" He exclaims with a beet-red face as Jin places a hand on his shoulder in warning.
You visibly deflate under his accusation. It figures that you would somehow get under the skin of the gentle, rational leader. 
"Hyung! Please don't be mad at her," V calls out, deflecting everyone's attention from your vulnerable figure. "It was my fault that everyone fell over and I think I also kicked her head on the way down."
You nod weakly in response. "I-I felt hands on my chest and I was so disoriented that I just acted. I'm sorry!"
A chorus of 'Ooh's breaks out and now it is RM's turn to become flustered. His stance loses its aggression and he seems to shrink within himself. "I-I thought I felt something s-" he pauses midsentence, before shaking his head vigorously. "I apologize deeply for touching you that way. It was a complete accident, I'm so sorry!" he bows as deeply as he can, his face nearly sinking fully into the water.
"A-ah, don't worry! Let's just forget all of it and put it behind us," you stutter out nervously, wringing your fingers through your wet hair strands. As RM straightens up from his bow, you notice his flustered grimace. He nods slowly. 
You smile weakly in a pathetic attempt to re-establish rapport with the silver-haired gunman. His face twists into a pained smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. 
The awkward exchange is interrupted by V swimming forward toward you. "Now that that's out of the way, do you want to go see to that thing I promised to show you?" he asks you with an easygoing smile. Your eyebrows furrow in brief confusion. Your eyes glance from his friendly smile to the awkward smiles of the rest of the group. V leans forward, his eyebrows twitching upward as if signaling something.
"O-oh yeah! That thing! I remember. Let's go!" you exclaim as you realize his intentions. You reach forward to grab his arm and pull him away from the group before remembering your manners. You turn quickly toward the guys and Eunhye, "We'll be back in a little bit, see you guys!" 
As you turn back around and swim away with V, he leans over and whispers into your ear. "You could really work on that subtlety, [Y/N]."
You flush under his words. "I don't really function normally under weird social situations."
He laughs gently in response, ruffling your hair again. "Neither does RM, despite how cool and collected he usually seems. Once a pretty girl enters the picture, he doesn't really know how to behave," he says, glancing at you slyly.
"Oh my god, stop it," you exhale through an awkward smile, turning away from him. He laughs in response and smacks your shoulder.
"Come on! I need to go show you how to shoot!" he insists, repeatedly splashing the water in front of him. 
When you process his words, you turn around to face him in confusion. "Umm," you murmur, "V, I don't know if you've realized this but we're in the middle of an ocean and pretty far from the shore."
"Perfect time to learn how to use a bow, I'd say," he asserts cheerfully. As he waves his hand to summon his menu, you stare at him.
"Are we going to shoot the arrows into the ocean?" you ask and look down in to the water, trying to see if there are any fish below you.
V snorts beside you as a bow materializes into his hand, as well as his quiver containing his arrows. A player menu appears in your vision prompting you that he is requesting a trade. You hesitantly press on "ACCEPT". An additional screen appears listing a bow and set of arrows. You glance at V questioningly before dipping into your inventory to slip a cookie into your offer and quickly concluding the trade. 
He whistles excitedly. "Sweet! I was about to say that you could just accept without offering anything, but no take-backs now!"
You roll your eyes before allowing a smile to slip onto your face. V was so uncomplicated even when he was being confusing, and it was something you appreciated deeply. 
"Go on," he encouraged while munching on his cookie, "equip them."
Your hands wave across you as you quickly equip the weapon. You had no idea what this guy was up to, but he seemed to have an idea of what he was going to show you, so you were happy to allow him the reigns. He had equipped a bow on himself and was now nocking an arrow, scanning the air carefully. 
"Normally," he starts as his arrow scans the sky, "I would have problems with hunting animals. But since this is just a game, I can dissociate from the idea."
Your eyes widen as you consider his words. It was true that it was much easier to dissociate from many of the things that would normally bother you if they were to happen in real life. It was much easier to let go of your shy nature and embarrassment of being in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. You could impale people you didn't know well with an icicle spear without worrying about it really affecting your relationship. Not that it would ever happen in real life in the first place, but it was an amusing thought. 
"Ah!" V interrupts your thoughts with a loud whisper. "Watch this." You take a glance at his target, a soaring seagull with blue feathers. Not a second later, his arrow shoots into the sky. Its path takes a slight arc before it makes contact with the bird's body, halting its flight. The creature pivots downward, creating a small splash as its body lands in the ocean.
"Let me guess," you interject after a brief moment of silence, "a piece of cake, right?"
He brightens at your words, either not recognizing your sarcasm or not acknowledging it. "You've got the right idea! Go ahead then."
Smiling wryly, you lift the weapon into a similar position as his. Hesitantly, you reach toward your quiver to retrieve an arrow. 
"Wait a second," V stops you, swimming closer. You look down as you feel the warmth of his hands adjusting your shoulder and arm placement. "Now you can shoot. Wait for the seagull to land on the water, though."
After watching him retreat with a smile, your gaze returns to the sky. Spotting another seagull, you chuckle. "I guess the realism doesn't extend far enough to make them fearful of us even when we hunt their friends down right in front of them," you explain after V utters a small noise of confusion. He giggles and you smile at the sound’s baritone quality. 
It takes another few moments for the seagull to land in the water for rest. Nocking your arrow, you aim at the creature and look toward V for approval. He scans your posture quickly and nods silently. You look back toward your target, taking a moment to adjust your aim to account for the arcing caused by gravity. After a few beats, you release the arrow. It whizzes over the bird's head, frightening it into taking flight.
You sigh, relaxing your arms. "Don't worry, that was great! Most newbies would forget to account for gravity, so their arrows would end up in the ocean before even reaching the bird. So it's good that you have the right idea before having me tell you," V assures you with a lilt of excitement in his voice. 
You brighten considerably upon hearing you had passed an unspoken test by the archer. "You mean I can quit my day job soon?" you ask with an exaggerated smirk. 
"You bet! Just an hour, and a class change may be in order, all thanks to the great tutelage of V," he smirks back. 
You roll your eyes with a playful smile before turning back toward the sky. Several attempts and only one stricken bird later, you are preening over your kill regardless. V manages to shoot down a handful of seagulls, collecting several blue feathers that you knew would be useful for alchemy. 
The two of you call it a day, unequipping your weapons and beginning the swim back to the shore. As you pad alongside him, you take a second to look at his side profile, illuminated with the luminous flow of the sun. 
"You know," you muse out loud, surprising yourself momentarily before deciding to continue. "You really are a good tutor. Thank you."
V's eyes widen slightly as he turns to face you. He seems to scan your face for a second with a thoughtful expression on his face before grinning. "I may or may not be one, you know?" he offers teasingly, before turning back to face the nearing shore. 
Your eyes become fixated on the back of his head, a strange tug of familiarity overcoming you as you examine the chestnut locks subtly streaked with green. A moment later, noticing that the distance between you was increasing, you shake away the thought before increasing your pace, your toes finally grazing against soft sand.
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douxreviews · 6 years ago
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Star Trek: Discovery - ‘Project Daedalus’ Review
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Spock: "We will never relate as equals, so long as you continue to pretend that every burden is your own."
By nature I love brevity: A very good episode taken by itself, but in the context of the larger show it both highlights and compounds one of the show's major issues, and the episode's impact suffers for it.
I complain a lot in my reviews of Star Trek: Enterprise that the only characters who get developed nearly enough are Archer, Trip, and T'Pol. From the amount of development the others get, particularly in the first two seasons, one might even assume that they weren't main characters at all, and were simply part of the background. In most episodes, they get one or two lines each, mostly in the regular performance of their duties aboard the ship. Sound familiar? While Discovery may not have the same problem when it comes to main cast members like Tilly or Stamets, or even Ash Tyler, it does suffer greatly from its failure to develop the secondary cast. It is notable that at least some effort is being made this season - we do now actually know all their names - but not enough. Even the more prominent bridge crew members like Detmer or Owosekun get little tidbits and nothing more.
I think the main problem, and the main reason this happens, is that this show is so laser-focused on its plot that it doesn't have time to develop their characters. This is by no means to say that it couldn't have time, but I think that it doesn't have the time right now. It just doesn't seem like it's a priority for the writers. We have so much development for Saru, Tilly, Stamets, Burnham, and even now Tyler and Culber, that I now care about each of their characters (to varying degrees, of course; Shazad Latif turns me off of Tyler and I don't find Burnham compelling). But while little nods like 'Owosekun grew up in a Luddite community' or 'Detmer has had her pilot's license since she was a teenager' help to ground their characters as humans, they haven't been developed at all as characters in this show. I don't have a sense of Owosekun's emotional state, or Detmer's motivations. And the reason I say the show could very easily make the time for those characters is because it did so here.
Airiam's development here is quite good, and I found her backstory compelling enough. The problem is that it was all shoved into this one episode. That short a span of time is not enough to get to care that deeply about a character. It's not even like it had to be complicated in previous episodes. Maybe a scene where Airiam logs her memories, or a brief little dialogue exchange between her and Burnham to establish that they were friends. If the show had made a conscious effort to sprinkle little bits of Airiam's character throughout the season, it would have made a world of difference for this episode's emotional impact. As it was, director Jonathan Frakes and all the actors brought everything they could possibly have brought to the scene, but it just didn't have the impact it needed because what had come before wasn't compelling.
That said, I am glad Airiam got something of weight before her departure, and it did lead to some further characterization of the other bridge crew, Detmer in particular. I don't think I've seen them feel more human than they did here. The shots of each crew member's horrified blank expression at the death of their friend, combined with Frakes' emotional direction and Jeff Russo's suddenly understated music, really drove home the emotion of the scene, even though I didn't feel it myself because I had only just been given the opportunity to become attached to Airiam.
We have other stuff to touch on, so let's get into it. First, let's get the main plot out of the way. The story worked just fine, and the reveal of Control's complete, well, control over Section 31 was well done. They've dropped hints of the evil AI in charge of 31 throughout the season with just the right balance; it was enough that the audience understood what it was and that it was there, but it wasn't heavy handed enough that it made me groan with how obvious it was. I think I like the direction they're taking it, with a few caveats. If things continue the way they seem to be continuing, I anticipate that we will find out for certain that the conflict in the future is between the evolved Control and the rest of the universe. This could be good for a couple of reasons. The first is that it gives the whole story a sort of connectivity that the two half-arcs last season lacked, and the second is that this could very easily be the reason that Section 31 drops under the radar by the DS9 era. Maybe 31 collapses almost completely at the end of the season, and Starfleet shelves the project, but then Georgiou secretly starts it up again independent from Starfleet. That would also give the announced Section 31 series some sort of direction to go in.
Here we come to the biggest thing that makes all shows sink or swim - the characters and their relationships with each other. In what is becoming a nice trend for this season of Discovery, the writers continue to provide us with pairings of characters that make us think and, for the most part, work. This episode the highlight was Stamets and Spock. I really enjoyed their little scene together in Engineering. I really like that this show is starting to slow down enough to have scenes like that, where characters make their connections and have moments that would fall by the wayside in the middle of an action or plot-driven episode. Stamets gave Spock some very human advice to his problem that logic has not been able to solve. Likewise, Spock provided Stamets with a much-needed outsider's perspective on his relationship with Culber, lending him an objectivity that he would never reach on his own.
The other relational dynamic, that of Spock and Burnham, is less interesting but still of worth. As with last week, their relationship is deeply broken and fractured, and their issues aren't just going away. Spock's criticisms of Burnham are valid and cut deep, but at the same time, her evaluation of his current state rings true. Spock is still struggling madly to wrap his head around the problem before him, and nothing is working. As the chess game shows expertly, Spock has just about given up. As he said last week, both logic and emotion have failed him. He has nowhere else to turn, and his dejected resignation shows in Ethan Peck's performance.
There's a lot to recommend here. I ended up liking it a great deal. I just wish they'd laid the groundwork better earlier down the line.
Strange New Worlds:
No new planets this outing, but we did see part of Section 31 HQ.
New Life and New Civilizations:
Confirmation that Airiam is a human with cybernetic augmentations after she was critically injured. it also struck me that a significant portion of our cast has some sort of augmentation using technology. Detmer has her eye, Nhan has her breathing piece, and Stamets has those things in his arms that allow him to connect to the spore drive.
Pensees:
-Another appearance of Admiral Cornwell. I like Jayne Brook, so that's always fun to see. It was also good to see her using her background as a therapist.
-The ship looked brighter in this episode, and at some points significantly less blue. I wonder why; could it be Frakes?
-Every single time they say 'logic extremists' I want to burst out laughing because the name sounds really dumb.
-The Federation doesn't permit the use of mines at this point in the timeline.
-There was a distinct red glow on the scattered chess pieces at the end of that scene. Interesting...
-Faith interpretation of the week: Faith in your own abilities.
-Some definite parallels to Star Trek VI with the magnet boots in zero gravity, and the floating blood.
-My viewing group guessed that Admiral Patar was dead about ten seconds before the episode told us.
-Saru can see heat signatures, even through subspace. Cool.
-So Airiam downloaded all her memories into Disco's mainframe? Is that just opening the door for her return?
-Burnham using Kirk Fu is amazing. That's really all that needs to be said.
-Other Trek references - Kadis-Kot and 3-D Chess
-I can't help but feel like they had Nhan kill Airiam just to absolve Burnham of the responsibility.
-For some reason, something kicked out our ads and our teaser for next episode when we watched it on Amazon.
-Next week's episode is called 'The Red Angel.' I guess this is it, folks! Final theories in the comments below!
Quotes:
Stamets: "Can one of you say something? I don't like hearing myself talk when I have an audience." Burnham: "We're thinking." Stamets: "Think louder." There's good old grumpy Stamets again.
Pike: "Giving up our values in the name of defense is to lose the battle in advance."
Burnham: "I express myself through my work and my choice of decor." Spock: "Clearly."
Burnham: "If there's a logical reason to sacrifice your rook, I don't see it." Spock: "Perhaps I simply dislike rooks."
Spock: "I understand now. If only I'd taken your pawn, the mystery would have been solved."
Spock, to Stamets: "Perhaps he needs distance from you not because he no longer has feelings for you, but because he no longer knows how to feel about himself."
4.5 out of 6. Would have been 5, but the poor context drags it down.
CoramDeo picked a lousy day to wear his contacts.
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hapalopus · 6 years ago
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Hey, you know a lot about cows and animal welfare, right? Well, I've got a question. I just read an article (Danish) at DR about Anima & Arla, and that Anima wants to know how Arla treats their animals. That includes wanting to film the separation between a cow and her calf & their reaction for a few days. Idk. Something about the way Anima paints it (as quite 'demonic') makes me angry at Anima, but I don't know enough about anything to know why. Do you have time to read the article & clarify?:)
Arla actually responded already! But as far as I’ve seen it’s only been published in an agricultural newspaper so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯The dialogue down in the article is ridiculous [Here’s a link]. I’m gonna make a longer response, though, since Arla’s response mainly focuses on Anima’s juvenile tactics (which, yeah, no, I honestly don’t think Arla is someone to speak here, considering their childish [anti-mylk campaign] earlier this year). It’s basically a kindergarten slap-fight between milk producers and animal rights activists.
Anima is a Danish animal rights group, to those who don’t know. On the level of extremity they’re somewhere between HSUS and PETA, but their ultimate end goal is the same - global veganism. On one hand most of what they say can be easily refuted if you’re in the know, but on the other, the majority of people aren’t in the know. They’re frustrating to deal with they banned me from their facebook page after i questioned a video they made about coyote trapping. But enough rambling, [here’s the article]. It’s in Danish, so apologies to anyone else reading this, I’ll do my best to translate the important parts and add the original quotes at the bottom of the page. Also, I’ve been working on a project about hip dysplasia all day, so if my citations suddenly look kinda professional, that’s why, lol.
Anima’s chief of communication, Thorbjørn Schiønning, starts off by saying that “Nowadays we have a milk production that is extremely industrial, where the animals are pushed to the limit to milk every last drop from the cow.”[1]
It’s not a wrong statement, it’s just very emotionally charged and thus a bit misleading. Milk production is very industrial because it’s an industry and cows are (by breeding, not by mistreatment) being pushed to their biological limit in how much milk they can produce. Schiønning doesn’t explain why this is a bad thing, though, and I assume that he expects the scary words (”industrial” “pushed to the limit” “every last drop”) to be enough to get people hooked. Knowing the general public, I’m afraid that assumption is right.
He continues: “When a cow is born, it’s separated from it’s mother after just 12 hours and put in isolation where it’s fed milk replacer. It’s done simply to get as much milk as possible out to the consumers, so they can produce as much milk for as cheap as possible.”[2]
What he’s saying here is just a repeat of the usual anti-animal-ag misinformation. To start off, a newborn is a calf. A cow is a grown female who has calved at least once. Semantics, but it’s a pet peeve.
Unfortunately, the thing about having to wait 12 hours before separation is true in Denmark. According to our law, conventional calves must stay with their dams for 12 hours and organic calves 24 hours (something Schiønning left out, presumably because the public assumes that more time together equals better welfare). Contrary to popular belief, studies have shown that the longer you wait before separation, the more stressful it is for both cow and calf and that the quicker the separation, the less stress both parties experience[3].
The reasons why cows and calves are separated in the first place is that, for starters, dairy cows are really bad mothers that will very often ignore the calf, accidentally step on it, or (rarely) outright attack it[4]. They just have very lacking maternal instincts. Putting calves in isolation likely isn’t the optimal solution, but it’s the best method we’ve developed to limit disease, ensure survival[5] and make sure they get enough colustrum within their first few hours.
Colostrum (’råmælk’) is the milk a cow produces the first few milkings after calving, which is full of antibodies. The calf’s ability to absorb antibodies stops after roughly 24 hours and it can’t produce its own until it’s about 3-4 weeks old, so this is a vital process. Even on farms that house calves and cows together and let the calves suckle, it’s highly recommended that the calf is bottle-fed about 3-4 liters of colostrum (depending on the breed’s size).
Which leads me to the next point that, no, calves are generally not fed milk replacer. While it is slightly cheaper than milk (because milk replacement producers track the market religiously to make sure their replacer is just a tad cheaper), it’s also impractical. Milk replacer often has a higher content of dangerous microbes, and because it’s not pasteurized, there’s a higher risk of it being contaminated. In Denmark Calves are most often fed pasteurized colostrum or whole milk (’sødmælk’)[6]. Even so, I fail to see how feeding a clean and well-balanced milk replacer is supposed to be a bad thing.
Calves are not separated so the farmer can get more milk out of the cow, as I explained above. In fact, cows produce up to 20% more milk when they’re kept with their calves because the frequent suckling stimulates milk production [7]. So since farmers are just feeding them milk from their own cows anyways, they actually have a monetary incentive to keep the two together. It’s purely for health and survival that they’re separated.
There’s one more thing I want to address. “Anima wants to be allowed to see how a worn out milking cow gets sent to slaughter 20 years before it’s natural death.”[8] It’s very difficult to find any scientific reports of the natural lifespan of cattle. Most animal rights sources cite 20-25 years, but most animal welfare sources cite 10-15, so it depends on which site of this debate you want to believe. Diary cows in Denmark are usually sent to the slaughterhouse when they’re around 5 years old because their fertility drops and they become more susceptible to disease right around this time[9].
1. Original quote: ”Vi har en mælkeproduktion i dag, som er ekstremt industriel, hvor man presser dyrene til det allerhårdeste for at malke den sidste dråbe fra koen.”
2. Original quote: “Når en ko bliver født, bliver den skilt ad fra sin mor allerede efter tolv timer og bliver sat i isolation, hvor den så får mælkeerstatning. Det gør man simpelthen for at få så meget mælk ud til forbrugerne som muligt, så man kan producere så meget mælk så billigt som muligt.”
3. Hopster, Hans; O’Connell, Janet M.; Blokhuis, Harry J. (1995) Acute effects of cow-calf separation on heart rate, plasma cortisol and behaviour in multiparous dairy cows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 44 (1995). Pages 1-8. Available online: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/016815919500581C
4. von Keyserlingk, Marina A. G.; Weary, Daniel M. (2007) Maternal behavior in cattle. Hormones and Behavior. 52 (2007). Pages 106–113. Available online: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b769/09afb82991b8322808e289a73662058c4af1.pdf
5. Gulliksen, S.M.; Lie, K. I.; Løken, T.; Osterås, O.(2009) Calf mortality in Norwegian dairy herds.Journal of Dairy Science. 92 (2009). Pages 2782-2795. Available online: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19448012
6. https://landbrugsavisen.dk/kv%C3%A6g/afsl%C3%B8ring-kun-m%C3%A6lkeerstatninger-har-topkvalitet
7. Krohn, C. C. (2001) Effects of different suckling systems on milk production, udder health, reproduction, calf growth and some behavioural aspects in high producing dairy cows — a review. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 72 (2001). Pages 271-280.
8. Original quote: “Anima ønsker også at få lov til at filme, hvordan en udtjent malkeko sendes til slagtning tyve år før dens naturlige død.”
9. https://professionel.maelken.dk/dyrevelfaerd/koeernes-levetid#hvor-laenge-lever-en-dansk-malkeko-i-gennemsnit
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zellybelly · 6 years ago
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Shaken To The Core
Ello! On a clouis high, but then, when am I not? They are so fucking cute. I’m sorry Vi! I love you both! <3
Warnings: Angst, Death, Tears. Lots of tears. 
Summary: What happened after the bomb blew?
Side note: In a universe where Clem and AJ stayed with them for a few months before Marlon turns full asshole. Just cause it would make more sense for all of the emotions flying.
You can skip this, but I changed up the timeline a bit so it would fit better.:
The car crash, all of the beginning of the episode until the second morning they were there. Clem went hunting with Aasim and Louis. She hunted, wanting to be able to catch some food but eventually joined up with Louis for some batting practice. Seeing that they had a greenhouse, Clem pushed for them to restore it, offering to take charge of it, since everyone else seemed hesitant. She got it up and running again with Brody and Ruby’s help. One day, while hunting, more like batting around with Louis, who she had grown close with, they found out someone fucked with their traps. And that’s where the rest of the episode kicks off. However, when the confrontation happens in the courtyard, Ruby and Louis were on Clem’s side, to begin with, knowing her to not be that kind of person.
Episode 2 kicks off. And everything is pretty normal, plot-wise, except when Clem and AJ are brought to the edge of the safe zone, she had a heartfelt goodbye with Louis, giving him one final hug. When they get back, Louis and Clem talked while AJ recovered, eventually sparking in a romance one night. (I moved the Louis romance scene to before the 2-week flash forward).
After that... everything is pretty much the same. Lily is dead in this. AJ shot her.
Well, got all that? Okay, let’s get started. 
I might just rewrite the series, with this, I dunno
The river looked like it was on fire. From the opposite bank, where the dock was, it was like the water had been lit ablaze. Many walkers were attracted to the sound, but many of them ignored the kids, only a few caught sight and those that did were taken care of. 
Louis was the only one still there on the shore. Ruby, with Aasim and Omar, had gotten the horses and hay, taking them back to the school. And according to the plan, they burned some of the supplies, while they took the rafts when they were distracted.  
As soon as they had heard the bomb, Louis just had to go back. He wanted to make sure they were okay. When he got there, he didn’t see anyone. As he waited, Tenn and AJ had shown up, helping each other make it to the shore. 
But there was no sign of Clementine. He looked everywhere, but there was no sign of his girlfriend, not her amber eyes, not even her signature hat. 
“Clem!” He resorted to calling out. The fire on the boat blazed to life, the large metal floaty sinking into the dark waters. “Clem!” His voice was cracked and hoarse.
Eventually, he couldn’t take it, he ran into the water, up until his knees. The water splashed against his waist. It chilled his skin, feeling like it sunk to the bone almost instantly. “Clementine!” He cried out into the empty air, only to get no response. 
He saw movement. He couldn’t see who, but he ran towards them, ignoring the stinging pain of the chilled water. He grabbed them, and help to pull them up. They had someone else with them. Louis, being well, Louis, helped them get to the shore. They were coughing, both of them. To his relief, but also his disappointment, it was Violet and Minnie. They were soaked to the bone, no doubt freezing. “Vi!” He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. He felt her do the same, but also quickly pulled back. “Violet?” He whispered, looking into her pained green eyes.
“The fuck did she do...” Violet looked behind her, towards the boat, which was almost fully sunk. But her gaze wasn’t mournful, but filled with hate and disdain. “She almost got us all fucking killed.”
“No, she didn’t.” Louis defended. “She tried to get you all back, and she did. You’re all fine. No one from the school died.”
Violet looked away. “Yeah. Look at what has happened around us. She let us be taken.” Her voice was bitter, though it was wavering. 
“She couldn’t save everyone. At least she didn’t willingly trade people away.” He snapped. Marlon was his best friend, but what he had done left him feeling bitter about his actions.
“What’s the difference?”
“She at least tried to prevent them from getting in.” His voice was weak and tired now.
“And look how that turned out.” (I’m making Violet an asshole. I’m sorry. I love her, but this is going off Louis’ route. And she was pretty bitter, even admitting that she would kill Clem if it came down to it.)
He just stared at her. Then back to the boat. “You’re not even sad?” He couldn’t look at her. “After all that she has done, in an effort to keep us safe... you’re not even somewhat sad?” His voice rose.
When Violet looked up at him, her eyes sparkled with surprise. Louis’s eyes were full of pain, he was biting his lip to keep the tears from flowing. “Maybe.” She admitted, “but-”
“Clem!” Louis cried, seeing another person emerge from the water. It was James, and in his arms was the dark-skinned girl he loved. He dashed forward, back into the water, towards them. He stumbled, getting his shirt wet, but he didn’t pay any mind to it. 
She was pretty beat up. Bruises, and small cuts on her arms. One scratch was under her cheek, surrounded by a purple bruise. She still had her hat on, the D showing off in pride. He took her in his arms, holding her limp body to his chest. 
“Oh god, Clem.” He whimpered, leaning his forehead against hers. She was breathing, but it was weak. He walked back to the shore. Louis crouched down, setting her on the ground, kneeling beside her. Her hand was in his, stroking his thumb over her bloodied knuckles.
The others joined by her, even Violet and Minnie. Though Minnie only probably came because Violet did. 
AJ sat on her opposite side, looking down in horror. Tears were streaming down his face. Never before had he looked more like a young boy then he did at that moment. 
Her eyes were barely open, but from what he could see, they were dull. Though she was breathing, they were shallow, and it was like they were shortening and becoming more shallow. 
She coughed, her body jerking with the gasps and chokes. Louis slipped a hand under her back, bringing her closer to him, in an effort to keep her warm.
“She won’t make it.” James' voice was hollow. They all looked to the young man in horror. His back was turned, his dark hair dripping. He turned to them, and his face was scrunched in emotional pain. He knelt by her, fishing out duct tape from his pocket. Without any words he wrapped a decent amount around her wrists, binding her. 
“What are you doing?!” Louis cried, pulling her closer.
“She’s going to turn.”
“No!” Louis wailed. He looked down at her. He could barely see her chest move. She was... she was dying. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” He whispered, looking at his girlfriend in panic.
That was nothing compared to AJ though. Once it was heard, he had fallen to his knees, in shock. His eyes were just locked on Clem. His protector. His family.
Violet and Minnie moved away, giving Louis and AJ, who was being comforted by Tenn, to say their goodbyes. 
“What will you do?” Louis looked up to James who was looking down at the woman in his arms with sorrowful eyes.
“Excuse me?”
“Are you going to let her turn?” Louis’ eyes widened in horror. He looked down at his girlfriend. Her breaths were almost none. She didn’t have much longer.
“I... I...” He couldn’t answer. He didn’t want her to turn, but he didn’t think he could... put her down.
“She doesn’t have much time, you need to say your goodbyes,” James spoke the obvious, though if he hadn’t, Louis probably wouldn’t have done anything. 
The dark skinned man leaned his forehead against hers. He placed his lips on hers, in one final kiss. The last goodbye. Her hand weakly moved up to his chest, gripping the material.
That was it for him. Tears fell down his face, his sobs echoing, striking everyone to their core. “I love you... your Majesty.” He cracked a pained smile, affectionately calling her by the nickname they’d given each other. 
He stood, and backed away from her body. Her breathing had slowed, until her body gave a shudder, before going limp. Louis placed his hand on AJ’s shoulder, bringing him back too. The small group of people stared at the body. The once lively and expressive girl, ready to defend anyone she cared for, was gone. 
He closed his eyes once he saw her body shifting again, gurgled groaning filled the night. 
He pushed AJ towards the group, finally opening his eyes. 
He wished he never did.
Her once beautifully dark skin, now pale and gray. Amber eyes glazed over in a milky haze, unable to focus on anything. Her mouth moved around, awful sounds erupting from her throat. When her eyes made contact with his, her efforts to stand doubled snapped her jaws at him. He just stared down at her. A burning tear fell down his cheek, onto hers. It caused her to pause momentarily. She groaned, staring up at him. Almost like she was admiring him.
His bit his lip to hold back his whimpers. He dug out the knife from his pocket, holding it tightly. He kneeled down by her, and avoiding the teeth, caressed her cheek one last time. “I’m sorry...” He whispered.
He plunged the knife down, and the groaning stopped. It was silent.
Yep. Clem dead. This is my sick twisted mind, but I always like finding an ending where the character died, just to see what would happen.
Now, I don’t want Clem to die, obviously, but I do want to seem some sort of reaction when say... death scenes happen. Especially if it’s right in front of other people or something.
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snkpolls · 6 years ago
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SnK S3E04 Poll Results (Manga Reader Version)
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The poll closed with 407 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!
Please note that this is the results of the manga reader poll. Anime only watchers are suggested not to read if you do not wish to be spoiled about certain events! Anime only viewers, click here to view your poll results!
Rate the episode
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Overall, respondents gave the episode high ratings, with 90% total feeling that it was at least very good. The pollsters are very happy to see these ratings improve!
The episode felt short. I wanted more after watching it :)
The pacing of this episode was much better than the first two
We're only on episode 4 and about to enter the climax of the arc, not sure how I feel about this.
Very good. I hope that the skipped scenes appear in a later episode.
It was pretty neat. Sometimes stuff is a touch slow, but I know it’s all a lead up to what’s to come, and like, it’s important to have stuff that is slow sometimes so the big stuff feels even bigger.
This recent episode found a little boring to me. I feel like there's wasn't much action less Levi
Bruh I need the next episode like rn
Did you notice the subtle changes made to the animation in the OP this week?
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Less than a quarter of respondents initially noticed that there was something different about the OP this week. However, just over half noticed them upon a second watch or seeing it pointed out by others.
I didn't notice the changes in the opening because I always skip it.
Which of the following scenes were your favorites?
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Hange and Moblit taking out the MP’s won by a good margin. The runner up is Spider-Hange. Levi and Mikasa reacting to Kenny’s last name, Levi interrogating the Central MP and Jean testing Marlowe and Hitch were also very loved moments!
The moments between Jean and Marlowe is one of my favorites. That was really fantastic and Marlowe is going to be a wonderful SC member. Too bad he will die later. I was really upset about it while reading the manga. He was such promising and brave guy.
I enjoyed the moment when Erwin asked Nile about Marie. It felt like he still had some feelings to her. I wonder if they're going to go back to this topic later (in flashbacks). Probably not.
This episode was so fucking amazing after the exposition heavy episode 3! I have literally waited years to see Hange taking down that MP animated, shit, the way she just casually like ducks away from the bullet... I used to keep staring at the badassery in that manga panel and now I am watching it on repeat, Wit got that scene so perfectly right!!
My whole life has lead up to this moment with Hitch and Marlo!!! Bless WIT for doing so good by my precious MP!
It was hilarious when 3MPs ran on the ground to chase Flegel while they are equipping ODMG. It was even funnier when one of them cried for joy catching Flegel without using ODMG.
Faithful to the manga with a healthy combination of action and world-building. LOVED Flegel's "I'm the boss" scene.
Erwin’s VA was superb! I was close to tears during the scene when he and Nile were talking.
Who made the best face when ambushing the MP base?
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Connie won by a landside! There was no contest here, folks. 
How bangable was Levi this episode on a scale of 1-5?
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As expected, over half of respondents would love it if Levi totally wrecked them. Although there are still quite a few of you who would rather he not. 
LEVI DADDY PLEASE STEP ON ME!
Levi in the moonlight was everything I never knew I needed.
Levi cutie crazy ass bitch
Levi. Le-vi. LEVI.
On a scale of 1-5, how distressed were you to see Erwin beat up and chained?
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More than half of respondents are anxious to see Commander Handsome out of chains and cleaned up! 
How Erwin can kneel before them on his own? When he knows how horrible they are that they made decisions that killed his father? How can he be like that? Oh just take my heart away already! It's not that I need it…
Also, seeing my husband all beat is tragic and seeing him hanging was far too distressing and I know what’s going to happen in this season, but I want to pretend it isn’t happening and that he might be happy when he reunites with Levi
Erwin also manages to look hot not matter how beat up he is, which isn't even fair.
I love Erwin and he deserves the world.  That is all.
Are you feeling better or worse about the season so far?
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Most voters either felt great about the season from the beginning or have started to warm up to it a lot more! There is still a small percentage of those who are still unsure or unhappy, however. 
Feeling alright overall about it but disappointed about some parts being rushed/skipped
I did not like the first two episodes, but now that the pacing has slowed I’m starting to like the episodes better. Still salty about the first two though.
I knew I was going to love it just because it's AOT, but I won't know how much I love it until I've seen how they handle the RtS arc
I havent feel good, still dont feel good but its better than before, so a combo of the 2nd and 4th option
I'm loving the episodes, but I'm still unure about some of the removed scenes, specially the ones involving Historia and Levi COS i swear to dead Marco if they do not animate Levi's smile im gonna riot
I'll wait until this arc is over to cast any judgement. However, I do wish they would've expanded the Reeves' storyline. It kinda fell flat for me in the anime.
Was unsure at first with all the changes from the manga, but have come to accept that some things are gonna be different so I'm just gonna enjoy it as it is. At the end of the day, it's still Attack on Titan so I'll always enjoy it.
I’m just happy we’re getting this season at all
I never thought they could make the uprising arc funny and interesting
Instead of attacking the Centrap MP HQ, Squad Levi ambushed a small outpost on the outskirts of Trost instead. Did you like this change?
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Nearly half of respondents were okay or even preferred this change. 36% are let down that there was no slicing and shooting though. Chin up guys, the cave is coming soon! 
I always thought it was a little confusing that squad Levi would go all the way out to the central base, so I think this made more sense because of how they're still on the run. The anime version feels a lot more like they could be caught at any second, which is great!
I was looking forward to the 104th's subtle distressed reactions after having done what they had to do. But I guess the anime is not for subtle.
I'm not sure if replacing the newfound edge from the SC by a lulzy moment was a right choice. I feel like we're losing the grim aspect of the SC not being good guys anymore.
I didn't even remember how the manga handled that, so I didn't notice the change.
I honestly like both situations
While i did want to see the gang cut up peoples legs,  the anime version made more sense and I'm down for any Springlestein.
While the cart charge was hilarious, I'm not sure why a small outpost would know anything about Eren and Historia's location.
I quite honestly didn't notice the difference, the real attraction was Levi fucking the old boy's shit up
While I hopedd they'd make it bigger, after watching the episode I grew to like it, it makes sense both geographically and in terms of the scale of the event.
Oh lol I totally expect them to go ahead and get the Central MP HQ next. I mean, didn't they also do that so that the MP's couldn't mobilise and come to Kenny/Rod's defense later on?
Were you expecting there to be more focus on the press?
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Most respondents were expecting to get Hange’s talk with the press prior to exposing the Military Police. A few are certain it’s lost not, while a good 30% are hopeful that we’ll still get it in another way. 
By making the newspaper Trost local, their presence didn't need to be explained, and some aspects from their talk from 60 can be merged with the little moment from the Rookie from 61 after Erwin's trial so as to not be redundant.
The talk with Hange and the press will no doubt happen next episode.
Having a flashback would be good, but I don't have much faith in them doing it
Indifferent to it, doesn't make much difference to the overall plot.
we will get them though not in a flashback half the arc has been rearranged remember.
I NEED Hange brooding on a desk in the press office, it's an important part of my spiritual development
I hope we get more Peaure :(
Which scene from the PV are you most looking forward to next week?
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At 41%, the largest group is most anticipating getting a flash of Frieda in the mirror. It’s about time we get to see her in anime form after all these years, right? The remaining three scenes are at an even split. 
Since we’re getting Frieda in the mirror, do you think there will be a flashback to the conversation about Eren’s experiments?
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To build off of the previous question, over half of respondents are anticipating the potential for the bedside flashback to happen after all. 35% are optimistic that it will definitely happen, while 11% believe we’re getting Frieda flash in another way. 
I'm hoping the Frieda content doesn't come across as too rushed in the next few episodes. In the manga, almost a year passed between the first Frieda flashbacks and Rod's full story in the chapel underground, but it seems Frieda's anime debut will be only an episode or two before the story. Still looking forward to how it all plays out!
Where do you primarily discuss the series?
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Additional thoughts on the episode?
*chanting* STICK! STICK! STICK! STICK!
the changes are fine, doesn't stray too far from the manga. Maybe also makes the anime less of a drag.
Connie had goofy hat. All my stanards has been pleased.
Finally the pacing slowed down to a human level. I'm happy to see so much of Erwin, but it still pains me how he is characterized.
HITCH WITH THE STICK HOLY HELL. Honestly that whole fight scene between Hitch, Marlowe and Jean exceeded my expectations (hopefully not sounding too much like a worshiper). I just love it (probably too much).
Hanji can punch me and I’ll thank her
I MISS EREN AND HISTORIA
I can't believe Flegel sat on the dude's face lol.
Why did Not!-Marco not look like Marco at all?
I don't have a great memory of manga events but I'm feeling shocked - as though the anime is really rushing through events, so I feel worried now!
I love it. The animation when Hanji and Moblit attacked the MP was spectacular. The animators have continuously outdone themselves this season so far.
I'm not sure about my feelings and impressions about this season so far. I got disappointed before with other mangas adaptations, and now, I don't feel like trusting WIT for the moment, until I see some logical modifications.
When it was announced that there would be changes made I was skeptical and thought that the manga was perfect the way it was. Oh boy was I wrong. While I am still angry about some scenes, others just make more sense. I think wit is doing a great job.
Only thing that makes me sad is that Armin's glorious gesumin expressions weren't animated till now.
Honestly so excited to 24 episodes this time not 12. But still proper sick episode.
I've mentioned it on Tumblr before, but while I like how things have been centralized around Trost in this version of Uprising, it does cause an issue. How did Erwin, his captors, and Nile all get from Trost to Mitras in the space of a single morning? They military police either has teleporting tech or an underground bullet train. Or Isayama really wants to replicate S7 of Game of Thrones with characters teleporting all over.
NEXT EPISODE WE’L GET OUR ACKERTALK!!!!!! Eeeeek!!!
No Kenny?! So what kind of episode was that?!
I enjoyed this chapter a lot. Can´t wait to see Eren again.
Well fuck. Manga readers, we know what happens at the reiss chapel
Thank you to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again on Monday! 
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shahadaye · 6 years ago
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5 TIPS TO PROTECT YOUR LAPTOP WHILE TRAVELIN
I've always been lucky myself and except for charging cables and boxer shorts I've never been stolen while traveling. However, many stories tell me that you should protect your technical equipment well. Joe explains in this guest post how to double and triple secure.
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I am completely honest with you. My lack of bad experiences and my belief in the goodness of people (or call it naivety) ensures that I handle my technical equipment while traveling partially negligent.
It is quite easy to protect yourself and your laptop while traveling. What possibilities there are (from easy to extreme) shows you guest author Joe Görbert, I recently met in Berlin.
Curtain up for Joe!
For many of us, the laptop is at the heart of our work as digital nomads. One of the biggest horror stories is losing his laptop and possibly being restricted to working weeks for weeks, or even worse, losing irretrievable data.
Many of us may also have legal risks in case of a theft, because as a service provider you are responsible for the security of your customers' confidential data and passwords.
While some afford no-brainer and lose their laptop, on my travels I often see people suffering the loss of this important device (and sometimes other expensive items on occasion) due to less predictable circumstances.
In this article I want you as a long-standing tech Traveling  business plan copywriter who lost themselves for over € 5,000 of equipment during burglaries, robberies, pilfering (secret opening of luggage, such as during bus rides or layovers) and Trick / pickpocketing has my Give the best tricks to you, so you never have to do this terrible experience.
# 1: CHAIN IT- USE ALL THE POWER OF THE LAPTOP LOCK
A laptop lock is part of the basic equipment of every digital nomad. Only in the safest of all accommodations is the laptop left unlocked without supervision.
Above all, combination locks are suitable so that you do not lose the key. Incidentally, you should definitely write down the combination / take a photo somewhere. You do not want to know how often I sat in front of the castle after 4-6 weeks break with blackout.
If there are no objects or pipes in the room (bathroom checked?) To which the laptop can be plugged in when absent, it might be a good idea to connect the laptop to the suitcase.
This also makes the theft difficult, as thieves on the one hand prefer short "in-and-out" operations on the other, but they do not want to have to transport large, visible loot.
Also: If you still have one or the other valuable device lying around, it may be enough to satisfy the thief, and the laptop will stay with you. The less other stolen goods, the higher the likelihood that thieves attack the laptop or even destroy it out of frustration if they do not get rid of it.
# 2: TRY 'N' THREATEN!
If there is absolutely no way to secure the laptop in this way, you can make eye-catching writing notes for a potential thief in English or local language.
The note warns of a built-in GPS tracking and impregnation with artificial DNA, with which the device is traceable. This has already saved me in at least one case.
The affected HP in this episode was second-hand and had therefore incorporated an emblem of a magnet in the cover, which at the time went back to the monitoring system of the previous owner, a company. The thieves have left the device behind, but when they broke into my hotel room, they let other equipment worth over € 900 go along.
Of course, artificial DNA is, by the way, also a very interesting thing, especially if the theft occurs in a country with a functioning security system or there are indications of the perpetrator. Some of the DNA tracking products are very difficult to wash off and they are provided with an additive that is visible under UV light.
# 3: JUST PUT IT ON - BECAUSE MORE IS NEVER WRONG
In the meantime, cut-resistant bags such as the PacSafe , which are also secured with a wire lock , are also available for smaller electronic devices . Of course, all wire locks for a small hacksaw are only a matter of minutes of sawing, but most thieves are occasional thieves and poorly equipped.
A small bike lock and a good suitcase with a smart suitcase lock can also help protect the laptop in places with poor security.
When transporting: shoulder bags are easier to tear away than a backpack, but this can be opened in busy places unnoticed from behind. So think about when choosing your equipment.
A small cable lock is easy to weave on most backpacks through the zippers, but also signals the presence of valuables. It may therefore be useful in certain scenarios, to hang a few plastic bags or a towel on / over the backpack, so you do not come over as possible, someone who transports valuable.
Excursus: Preventive data protection in case of theft
Of course, the importance of protecting personal information and passwords is beyond question. The general access password should be as long and complicated as possible. Absolutely critical information is encrypted ( Truecrypt is unfortunately no longer reasonably continued in the course of the NSA affair, which is why VeraCrypt is  recommended today).
Also, you always need a USB stick or maybe even a written list of passwords that require a password change after a lost laptop (Paypal, email account, etc.).
I also still have somewhere inaccessible hidden a 500 GB hard drive, where again critical work files are on it. I'm trying to update this disk on a monthly basis.
Of course, in this context, it must also be mentioned that there are already lucky people who have moved completely into the cloud these days and manage the majority of their digital treasure (but of course under the permanent supervision of the secret services) in a completely mobile way and one or more potent computers from can control and serve anywhere in the world with good Internet.
They have other data leaks to worry about, but in any case, the loss of their hardware would, in most cases, make them less harsh - provided of course they have protected all access.
# 4: READ YOUR ENVIRONMENT
If someone decides to rob someone else, he needs an opportunity and he has to look for it. You have to search with your eyes. If you are able to spot a potential thief or robber before he or she recognizes you, you have very little chance of being robbed (especially if you've made some preparations that we'll cover in the later stages) to come speak).
In different environments, there are various ways to attack someone openly or to steal by hand or ambush. Always be aware of your surroundings and move accordingly. Do not be lectured or distracted in any other way.
A skilful laptop theft that happens at train stations in Buenos Aires is the push of a person carrying a bag between their legs, just after a key has been thrown from the other side. Most people do not wrap the loop around their legs (highly recommended in principle, especially for physically inferior people).
The victim looks in the direction of where the key was thrown, is pushed from the other side and the bag is torn away. After that, the perpetrators disappear in the labyrinth of the bus station. There are no cameras, there are not even mirrors (would probably bring nothing). The biggest frustration remains.
Only those who are in the mood for even more nerve destruction or equipment insurance should decide to file a complaint with the Argentine police. That's important for the statistics, so one of the policemen said to me on another occasion. The perpetrators are no longer apprehended in this life.
WHEN IT GETS DIRTY - EQUIPMENT FOR DEFENSE
Sometimes, the circumstances, budget, or stupid ideas in the life of a digital nomad dictate that he has to carry expensive equipment in situations that are totally inappropriate.
In order to make the high risk both neurologically-psychological and in the worst case of the pure superiority of firepower manageable, I advise each digital nomad two things.
Once you are familiar with the principles of armed combat (attention, this link has a fierce image of a knife injury), best Krav Maga .
Secondly, you should always have basic self-defense equipment  that will suit your fighting style and physical condition. For many women, this is irritant gas and for men mostly the combination of a strong laser pointer and a small folding knife.
It is not a matter of hurting the offender, but of being able to lead more bargaining power in a dispute , so that a critical damage can be averted.
However, the situation must be read correctly: With an open or suspected hidden supremacy of more than 1 in 3 and the use of firearms, resistance is without question lethal. In the vast majority of cases, however, one is equipped and willing to protect one's stuff, in principle a good opportunity to avert at least the worst by negotiating or responding quickly.
I once knew someone who has built a device in his laptop, which he not only GPS track (see also the following article on built-in GPS tracker ) but allegedly could detonate via Internet command and which in this case destroys the hard drive.
Maybe also an option, if you want to belong to the Extrakrassen. I do not know if the colleagues at the security check it up, but I found it worth mentioning. By the way: Remote Data Destruction Software is also available and should work pretty well.
Conclusion: Some of the hints mentioned here seem to be somewhat violent. But I believe that we are sliding into a future in which we can count less and less on the security forces of the state. At least when it comes to protecting us as ordinary citizens from those who are hungry, hungry and in a laptop of great value.
For us, however, the laptop still has the largest (and immaterial) value. Therefore, we should use all methods of protecting the vehicle of our freedom and prosperity with the utmost care and determination. If you are looking for more information about hp touch screen laptop. visit hp touch screen laptop right away.
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shipcestuous · 7 years ago
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Incredibles 2
It was really exciting to see so many messages about Incredibles 2 in my inbox! I'm sorry that some of them had to sit for a while but I saw the movie a few days ago so the good news is that I’m ready to talk!
(This is NOT SPOILER FREE.)
Anon #1:
Hey, so I sent a message a while back about how, based on their character descriptions, the two new siblings (Winston and Evelyn) seem like they might be shippable. I just saw the movie and WOW, WERE THEY SHIPPABLE! The first scene especially could easily take place between love interests, and they spend a lot of time invading each other's personal space and alone in small rooms together ;) I don't want to say more because spoilers but they were VERY good.
Anon #2:
Saw Inc2 and honestly Dash and Vi being like mini-parents to Jack Jack is my jam. My entire aesthetic. Theyre so great
Anon #3:
I just saw the Incredibles 2 w my family and, without going into too many spoilers, I really enjoyed it.
First of all, I’ve got to talk about the new characters, sibling team Winston and Evelyn who play a huge role in Helen getting back into heroing again. In a lot of ways their personalities conflict, but in the end, it’s obvious from both ends that there’s a lot of love there.
Now, Dash and Violet! Of course we already loved them from the first movie but we got plenty more sibling moments in this one too. They bicker as most siblings that age do, but they make a great team and come together when it counts.
There’s also a couple moments when the Parr family is around Violet’s crush and Dash is obviously doing his best to embarrass her in front of him and taking a lot of glee in it. (I like to imagine he keeps doing that w any of her future would-be datemates, going out of his way to sabotage her love life and only realizing WAY belatedly that there might be an ulterior motive behind his actions.)
Also—in hindsight it’s already apparent in the first movie too, but this movie really cemented the idea in my mind that they’re like younger versions of their parents. Violet and her mom are similar in some ways, and even more so with Dash and his dad. In a lot of ways, Violet and Dash’s dynamic echoes Helen and Bob’s, and that of course makes it seem shippy to me even if it’s unintentionally so.
Anon #4:
Just watched the incredibles 2 and I think the villain and her brother are super shippable. I thought she was his wife at first and then when I got to know she was her sister and an artist meanwhile he was a business man, I mean, wow they are the other's half so perfectly.
Anon #5:
There's a scene in The Incredibles 2 where they go to a diner, and Violet spills water out of her nose upon seeing her crush work there, and Bob says, "I'm sorry, she usually doesn't drip like this." Apparently - according to some viewers' reactions - this line was meant to be innuendo.
Bob and Violet:
Lmao. I never would have interpreted that line that way and maybe I’m too innocent but I sincerely doubt it was intended that way. BUT that’s hilarious and I love it. I love the dirty minds of animated fandoms. 
Dash and Violet:
These two were great once again. I got giggly over all the times they were put in charge of Jack-Jack and had to work together like parents, trading him off and then teaming up to figure out how to handle him. I really love in both films that they ended up on their own and had to use their powers and minds together in order to win the day. I also 100% agree that they in so many ways mini versions of their parents - personality wise, looks wise, dynamic wise. The parallel game is strong. 
I also noticed that Dash - probably just in typical comedy little brother fashion - didn’t seem particularly interested in making sure Violet got her crush and was more likely to actively sabotage the effort than help. 
I also think it’s a little suggestive that when Violet finally got her date at the end, her entire family was there in the car, and then Violet ran off with them and abandoned her date. I’m sure it’s the beginning of a pattern in which crimefighting and being a super - a secret and a responsibility shared with a very limited number of people and most importantly and especially her family - always come first. 
Winston and Evelyn:
Even though we had talked about these new characters being siblings some time back, I was not expecting them to be so shippable! We saw how they are the perfect team - Evelyn is the creator/inventor, Winston is the seller/business end. They complement each other perfectly and have obviously made a great success of everything they have attempted together. It seems like they spend most of their time together and despite being middle-aged, neither one of them appears to have married. I totally agree that they were in close physical proximity a lot of the time - definitely noticeable to someone who was looking for it (like I was, ha). 
Plus Helen and Evelyn had that long conversation in which Evelyn’s relationship with her brother was quite explicitly paralleled with Helen’s relationship with her husband. 
The ending really showed how much they loved each other, and they overcame a lot of the unfortunate tropes involving villain sibling(s). Evelyn thought Winston was a “child” for thinking that bringing supers back was a good idea and she obviously had at least a little contempt for Winston’s side of the business, even if she had to respect and admire how good he was at it. But aside from crushing his dream of bringing supers back, her beef was not with him and she didn’t want him to get hurt. And then Winston was grateful when he learned that Helen had managed to stop Evelyn without killing her. He still loves her very much. 
Good stuff. I really want to watch the Evelyn/Winston scenes again. 
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bloodberi-arts · 7 years ago
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Ranma and Akane Moments
My favorite Ranma and Akane moments in the anime. Though there are tons of amazing episodes, below are my ultimate favorite scenes. Sweet moments that are too cheesy to ignore.
Season 1 Episode 1: The Strange Stranger from China
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Akane and Ranma’s unforgettable awkward meet cute.
Season 1 Episode 6: Akane’s Lost Love… These Things Happen, You Know
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Akane gets depressed about Kasumi and Dr. Tofu’s relationship, Ranma tries to cheer her up with his crazy antics…
Ranma: “You’re Really Cute When You Smile”
Season 1 Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl’s Hair is Her Life
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Akane finally sorted out her feelings for Dr. Tofu who on the other hand now finds her shorter hair attractive, this brings Ranma into deep thoughts and realization…
Ranma: “I Like You Better in Short Hair”
Season 2 Episode 21:  Close Call! The Dance of Death… On Ice!
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Mikado kisses girl type Ranma causing him to rampage, charging Mikado like a madman. Ranma felt humiliated after the incident.
Akane: “You Got Kissed So Easily”
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Ranma confidently declares in front of the public that Akane is his fiancee.
Ranma: “Akane is My Fiancee”
Season 2 Episode 39: Kissing is Such Sweet Sorrow! The Taking of Akane’s Lips
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Akane has been chosen to play the part of Juliet. Upon hearing that the person who plays Romeo gets to see China, Ranma vies for the role too.
Akane: “I’ll Send You to China”
Season 3 Episode 43: Sneeze Me, Squeeze Me, Please Me! Shampoo’s Recipe For Disaster
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Ranma is under a hypnotic command, who unwillingly hugs anyone who sneezes near him. To make matters worse, Akane is coming down with the common cold. 
Ranma: “She’s Got Thin Wrist”
Season 3 Episode 47: Transform! Akane the Super-Duper Girl
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Akane accidentally eats the “super Soba noodles” made by Happosai, which is made to give anyone who eats it super strength.
Ranma: “Whiskers Look Cute on You”
Season 3 Episode 53: All It Takes is One! The Kiss of Love is the Kiss of Death
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Learning about the love pills, Shampoo seizes the moment to make Ranma fall for her. However, things doesn’t always end up as planned…
Ranma: “That’s a Love  Potion?”
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Akane accidentally swallowed the lifetime love pill, Ranma felt the responsibility of saving her from a disastrous future and so….
Ranma: “Are You In Love With Me?”
Season 3 Episode 58: Two, Too Violent Girls: Ling-Ling & Lung-Lung
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After going through a lot of trouble with Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung, the two sisters of Shampoo, Ranma comfortably chats with Akane about relationships and engagements…
Ranma: “I’m Off The Hook”
Season 4 Episode 68: Eureka! The Desperate Move of Desperation
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During the lowest times of Ranma, Akane does her part and try to help him continue fighting. However…
Ranma: “I Never Wanted You Here”
Season 4 Episode 69: Showdown! Can Ranma Make a Comeback?
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Akane is caught up in the whirlwind while trying to secure the moxa-burn chart to help Ranma…
Ranma: “I’ll Get Akane Safely to the Ground”
Season 4 Episode 84: Mousse Goes Home to the Country!
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Akane and Ranma talks about how Mousse’s love for Shampoo. Ranma being Ranma remains oblivious of his surroundings.
Akane: “You Never Were In Love”
Season 4 Episode 86: Kuno Becomes a Marianne
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Ranma and Akane spent the day spying on an odd couple Azusa and Kuno…
Ranma: “I Won’t Hafta Worry About Y…”
Season 5 Episode 100:  The Frogman’s Curse!
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Ranma became restless when a strange old man who has abilities of turning men into frogs suddenly showed up…
Akane: “You’re Not So Brave Are You?”
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Akane shields herself to prevent Ranma from turning into a frog…
Ranma: “Akane! Don’t Turn Into a Frog!!!”
Season 5 Episode 102: Ranma the Lady-Killer
Under the influence of a magic love-potion bandage, Ranma starts to flirt with every girl in sight and that includes Akane…
Ranma: “Why Didn’t I See It Before?”
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Ukyo and Shampoo attempts to get Ranma for themselves to the point of causing trouble towards others…
Ranma: “You’re Cute When You Cry”
Season 5 Episode 110: Nabiki, Ranma's New Fiancée
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Furious at both Ranma and Nabiki, Akane tells them to go marry each other. Things get complicated as Ranma realizes what Nabiki's true intentions are.
Ranma: “I LOVE YOU!!”
Season 6 Episode 114: Enter Gosunkugi, The New Rival!?
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Just when Akane was about to give up on her pursuit to becoming a better cook, Ranma comes into action..
Ranma: “Make Sure You Read It”
Season 6 Episode 115: Ranma’s Calligraphy Challenge
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Ranma wants to challenge the Calligraphy Master Sotatsu, before doing so he has to learn the basics of calligraphy…
Ranma: “What About Your Penmanship?”
Season 6 Episode 125: A Xmas Without Ranma
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Ranma tells Akane to head back home during their Christmas shopping at the mall. Worried about him, she begins searching for him around town…
Ranma: “Snow’s Kinda Perfect Right Now”
Season 6 Episode 127: Akane Goes to Hospital!
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Akane spent a few days in Dr. Tofu’s clinic. Everyone comes to visit her, with the exception of Ranma, inasmuch as being indecisive of what to say to her...
Ranma: “The Humble Approach”
Ranma: “Maybe I better keep it things light.”
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On the day of Akane’s discharge, Ranma waits outside Dr. Tofu’s clinic. Akane is overjoyed at Ranma’s surprise…
Ranma: “I Messed Up. Sorry, Akane.”
Season 6 Episode 129 : Legend of the Lucky Panda!
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After Genma’s adventure in an unfamiliar place, he suddenly appears in front of the bickering Akane and Ranma…
Akane: “It’s Lucky I Didn’t Fall for You”
Season 6 Episode 132 : “Ukyo’s Secret Sauce - Part 2
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Following Nabiki’s suggestion, Ranma spends the night at Akane’s room in an attempt to convince Ukyo about their “true” relationship.
Ranma: “Is This What I Get for Bein’ Nice?”
Season 7 Episode 145 : Let’s Go to the Mushroom Temple
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During a fungal training at the Mushroom Temple, Ranma and Akane absentmindedly ate the poisoned mushroom which enhances intimacy.
Ranma: "Won’t You Marry Me?”
Season 7 Episode 149 : Wretched Rice Cakes Of Love
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Akane urges Ranma to taste one of the sakuramochi in order to find out if he’s the one destined for her.
Akane: “I Guess I’ll Still Have to be Your Fiancee”
Season 7 Episode 153 : Gosunkugi’s Summer Affair 
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Akane and Ranma are both caught in the middle of Kogane and Gosunkugi’s strange love affair…
Gosunkugi: “Akane, Don’t Do That!”
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Ranma tries to convince Gosunkugi to continue pursuing Kogane even if she is a ghost to the point of indirectly confessing or realizing what he feels…
Ranma: “If You Love Her, What Can You Do?”
Season 7 Episode 161 : Boy Meets Mom - Part 2: Someday, Somehow…
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Akane schedules an appointment between Ranma and Nodoka.
Ranma: “Will She Know I’m Her Son?”
OVA Episode 2: Tendo Family Christmas Scramble
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Amidst ruckus during the Christmas party at the Tendo Dojo, Ranma and Akane got their lone moment and exchanged their gifts with one another.
Akane: "Thank you, Ranma. It means a lot to me."
OVA Episode 8: Reawakening Memories (2)
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On their way home, Ranma reaches out for Akane’s hand as she apologizes for making him worry.
Akane: "Sorry to Have Worried You.“
OVA Episode 11: The Two Akanes! ‘Ranma, Look at Me
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The possessed Akane takes Ranma deeper into the woods. Trying to seduce him in an attempt to put her vengeance in action. 
Akane: “Ranma, Close Your Eyes.”
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As Ranma wipes the dirt off the doll he remarks that it resemble Akane and then suddenly notices tears coming out of the doll.
Ranma: “You’re Cute In a Tomboy Fashion.”
P.S. I will continue adding the screencaps and links for each conversation as I publish each.
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