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stxleslyds · 3 years

Note

Jason doesn't show up in DC's animated series (though the does "spiritually" show up as Tim Drake in Season 2 of Batman the Animated Series).

Jason has a strong presence in the video games, though. So what is your opinion on Jason's characterization for Arkham Knight? He is a DLC for the Injustice games as well. Judy be warned that I did watch some clips of Arkham Knight and the torture was too gruesome for me.

RED HOOD IN VIDEO GAMES.

Hey there friend, thank you for the ask!

INJUSTICE 2.

I had to do some research on Red Hood’s appearances in the Injustice games because I was never really in touch with that story. Here is what I knew about it, there are two games for PC, one of them is Injustice and the other is Injustice 2, the games also have the comic books that give context/background to the lore of the game.

I used to play Injustice: Gods Among Us on mobile phone, and I had Jason as a playable character there, I also found out way too late that “Nightwing” wasn’t really Dick Grayson, it was Damian because he took on the mantle after he and the rock killed Dick in the comic (forever mad at that ridiculous death and the kinda scary art that comic had).

I looked for information about Red Hood’s backstory in wikis and all that because I refuse to read an alternate universe book written by Tom Taylor, there are things that I am just not willing to do.

All in all, I think that this Jason was in surface level, the same as his canon comic counterpart up until the time of his resurrection. Given that the world was at war and the League of Assassins wasn’t working openly, he and the others had to live in the shadows, he seems to have been trained proficiently by both Batman and the LoA so he is a very hardcore opponent. There are some bits of his story with Damian and a place called Gorilla City that I do not understand because I haven’t read the comics but I am fine without it.

The thing is that this Jason is pretty cool, he sticks to his morals and fights for what he believes is right, he doesn’t look like the kinda guy that takes sides in this war which is probably the best idea. Both Batman and Superman seem to be on the wrong side of history with they ideals.

What I did see and I loved eternally was the ending to Red Hood’s story, I will link the video here! But I will also copy and paste all that he says there because I think it’s really important and where I was able to see more of his characterization.

"That. Felt. Good. Titanium composite hollow point bullets with a C4 kicker. Fastest, most explosive ammo in the world. I made them myself. With the invasion over, Bruce and Superman started fighting again. I wasn't down with either of them. On the one hand, the Regime's right. Scumbag murderers and rapists deserve to die. But on the other hand, I'm no fan of government authority. Especially the dictatorial variety.

So, while the world's finest fight each other, I fight for the people. The weak. The innocent. Anyone who can't protect themselves. When they cry out for a saviour, I'll answer. As for the criminals that threaten them? They need to know that their actions have consequences. That the Red Hood is coming for them.”

This is excellent, I absolutely love this, this Jason knows his morals and doesn’t bow down to anyone and in the end, he is truly a hero to the people that need heroes the most.

Him saying that he believes that some criminals have to die but that he can’t really join Superman’s side because he cannot associate with it because he isn’t a fan of dictatorial ideas, I love this man.

I feel like this is a fair characterization for Jason, I believe that if something along the lines of what happens in Injustice happens in current continuity then Jason wouldn’t join any sides, he wouldn’t be neutral per se but he will fight for his own ideals. And his ideals in most universes are protecting people and I think that’s great. I love to see a world where Jason is seen as more intelligent and put together than the Batman.

Something that I find quite funny and interesting from this game is the dialogues that characters have with each other when they fight, I found this video compilation where you can see all the dialogues between Red Hood vs Robin (Damian Wayne), they are so fun and I love the animations too.

BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT.

Oh, ArkhamVerse Jason, my beloved.

He is, to me, the epitome of this meme.

I have actually watched the whole game playthrough, several times, and Jason had a DLC as the Red Hood for that game (Nightwing has one too and I will talk about it later because I love this version of him). And, yes, the torture scene is very gruesome, it was incredibly sad and it made me feel bad. But I also think that they made it that way so it could support the kind of storytelling they were going for.

The reality is that this Jason suffered his whole life, and was constantly introduced to lifestyles that he never wanted to be part of. The world around this Jason wasn’t kind at all to him and there is a long list of people who did him wrong.

Although ArkhamVerse Jason didn’t die, like his comic counterpart did, he suffered the most. And his suffering really drove him to be the best version of an unhinged Jason Todd. But it’s clear, his brutality and murder intent isn’t laced with his Red Hood persona or at least not on the same level as it is with his Arkham Knight persona.

This Jason’s characterization works to perfection, but it only works that way because he was well developed within the game lore and the comics. This Jason was extremely well trained, he is probably the smartest version of Jason, his mind and his level of preparedness are unparalleled when it comes to other Jason Todd variants (a little MCU Loki talk right there).

I would go as far as to say that this Jason would be an excellent match to peak Dick Grayson from before New 52 in comics. Those two would clash so immensely, but man, it would be one hell of an intellectual and physical fight. Two Kings doing what they do best.

Anyway, for now take my word for how well characterized Jason is in the ArkhamVerse, I will make a post were I deep dive more on his character both in game and comics. There is so much to say about him, he is truly interesting and very complex.

Now, I will be a little cheeky and I will use this ask as an opportunity to talk about my man, ArkhamVerse Nightwing aka Pretty Boy.

I love him so much! In the game when you get to meet him (I will link the video here! it’s five minutes long, and worth the watch) you get to see both Nightwing’s and Dick’s personalities. Nightwing is fun and relaxed, he is a little bit cocky and doesn’t let Batman be a pain in his ass, he is truly a beast. Although he is never seen without the mask in a moment when he is alone with Bruce you can really see Dick’s personality shine through. He obviously has had issues with Bruce in the past but there is also this palpable respect coming from both of them to the other. Bruce wants to protect Dick but he acts like a jerk instead of telling him what is on his mind. Dick wants to help Bruce at all costs, he refuses to leave Gotham until they solve something that he was already working on before Bruce needed his help.

There is also this sort of goodbye scene between the two (I will link it here!) that is extremely sad because Dick doesn’t believe Bruce when he tells him that he is proud of him. Dick cuts him off just when Bruce was trying to open up and I think that scene speaks volumes about how rough their relationship was. Dick never finds out that Bruce was “dying” after being infected with the Joker’s blood/gas, so it’s very bittersweet.

There is also the Nightwing DLC, where we get to see Dick being the best of the best, he is so skilled and funny and smart. It is amazing how much this game made me love their Nightwing even though he doesn’t appear much, his dynamic with Penguin is just perfect, Dick literally makes Penguin’s life very difficult. All of the people working with Penguin kinda fear Dick a little bit, some of them are even impressed by his skills.

Oh and, when Nightwing gets captured at some point in the game, Penguin’s men are saying something along the lines of “I was sure Batman will come in” “how come?” “what’s tied up downstairs and getting the crap beat out of it?” “Oh yeah, Nightwing” and that is so true, if I were Batman, I will also risk my life for Nightwing.

I just love Nightwing, he makes me so happy! He is the best here!

Anyway, enough of me loving Nightwing uncontrollably, I will make a separate post where I only talk about ArkhamVerse Jason so, yeah, be ready for that one because I love that Jason too, he is hot.

#jason todd #red hood #arkham knight #dick grayson #nightwing #arkham games #injustice 2 #arkhamverse #asksss

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phantomchick · 3 years

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Naruto Fic Rec Masterpost!

Adoption by Defenestration; or, A Family Can Be A Fox Demon, Its Jinchuuriki, and Three Dozen Highly-Trained Assassins by elumish Oneshot, Gen, Fluff, child neglect, Naruto gets unofficially adopted by his anbu guards and it’s incredibly cute Summary: He will not be the ANBU who let the jinchuuriki plummet to his death out a fourth story window. Let that be another ANBU’s legacy.

Being Over-Prepared is Impossible (and other mottos) by Pleasedial123 Longfic, Gen, Team Seven, team as family, Bamf Kakashi, Bamf team 7, au, kakashi pov, Complete but part of a three part series and the third part is still ongoing, still highly recommend, what team 7 should have been, Skilled Teacher! Kakashi Summary: In one world, Kakashi awoke, felt grieved at being assigned a team he sees his own in, and he let that grief make him a lazy teacher. He saw himself in Sasuke, Obito in Naruto, and Rin in Sakura. He woke, saw himself in them, and took a large step back, regretting accepting them as his new team. In that world he was quite hands off - merely a watcher because it was so very painful to watch. He saw himself and all his mistakes in this new team of his.

In this world, Kakashi awoke, saw the similarities, and instantly panicked.

He suddenly realised what he had done, passing a team. Kakashi was left scrambling not to repeat old mistakes and regrets. This team would not suffer the fate of his team.

In this world, simply put, Kakashi became a teacher. This is the beginning of a new team seven.

Something in the water by maldoror_gw Oneshot, Gen, Teen and Up for language, hilarious, Tsunade pov, fluff, mild crack, pre-shippuden post naruto,

Summary: "Sakura...what is that man reading?" Tsunade asked in a dangerous voice. Sakura's gaze twitched away from her ex-teacher to her new - and temperamental - mentor. "Erm...a book...written by a...well-respected member of the community...about...romance?" Tsunade noted with passing approval that Sakura was demonstrating both loyalty and quite a lot of imagination in defending her one-time team leader (who was now trying to edge around a pillar to get away from Tsunade's venomous glare).

backslide by blackkat Time travel, time travel fix it, mature, fluff, team seven, m/m, slow build romance, Naruto adopts himself, Uzumaki heritage, bamf Naruto, complete longfic, Summary: Naruto’s friends are gone, his lover is dying, Konoha is destroyed, and Madara’s second return has pushed the entire world to the brink. Hunted and harried, Naruto is sent back in time to upend Madara’s plan before it even starts, and sets about changing everything. Butterfly effect nothing: the world is at stake, and Naruto is hardly about to let it fall to ruin once more. Not while he’s still breathing.

Tobirama Kicks Some Sense Into Konoha by allseer15 Hurt/comfort, whump, emotional whump, time travel, fix it, time travel fix it, The ‘what if Tobirama came to the future saw an orphaned Naruto and adopted the shit out of him’ Fic, Iconique, child neglect, child abandonment, fluff, so much fluff, completed longfic, look I have a weakness for the time travel fix it trope at the best of times but this fic is good even looking at it without focusing on that! Prolonged Tobirama content, Senju lore, senju feels, Summary: The Hidden Leaf Village in Naruto's time seems to have forgotten just why the village was founded and have lost their way. Through a mishap with a hiraishin seal, Tobirama finds himself during Naruto's time and he is having none of this nonsense. His brother may be gone, but he won't stand to have Hashirama's dream trampled so. And if he has to cause a civil war or burn the village down to the ground? Well that depends on how much resistance he meets. All Tobirama does know for certain is that no child will suffer underneath the protection of Konoha and if he has to take them in and care for them himself, then he will.

Hardest of hearts by blackkat Oneshot, Gen, look I really like blackkat’s naruto fic okay, part one of a completed three part series, all three parts are great, Fix its are the best, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix It, Orochimaru redemption story, the sheer shadenfreude of one baddie fucking over another baddie, in this case Danzo, Obito has a ‘bad guy but not that bad of a guy’ solidarity moment with Orochimaru at the start and I loved it so there’s that, featuring a low key constantly horrified at this turn of events Minato,

Summary: Orochimaru gets one more chance. Just maybe, it will be enough to save him—and the entire world as well.

A Snake In the Grass, a Wolf At the Door by blackkat Mature, Completed ten chapter fic, Orochimaru redemption story, Orochimaru/Kakashi’s dad, you read that right, quality Sakumo content, Families of Choice, Humour, Fluff and Angst, somewhat crackish, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, baby Kakashi being a cutie Summary: Orochimaru is on the edge of breaking when someone unexpected pulls him back to solid ground. When the time comes, he returns the favour.

Nukenin by WhisperingDarkness Gen, dimension travel, team seven, team as family, Kakashi actually being a good sensei even when he’s not a sensei at all, possessive kakashi, Team Seven is his team, Kinda Fluffy, Protective Kakashi, the ‘this might as well happen’ adaptability is real, Kakashi adopts team seven and team seven adopts kakashi, even though he’s illegal, 4 chapter fic, marked as complete as author doesn’t plan to continue it, but even taking these chapters as stand alone this fic is great,

Summary: In the sealed scroll he finds a Bingo Book – his own page marking him as an S-class nukenin with flee-on-sight orders. “Ok. That is definitely different.” In his head he blames Naruto – even if his number one unpredictable student had been nowhere near him on this mission. When things go this stupidly impossibly wrong it must somehow be the future Hokage’s fault.

Ear to the Wall by Vodkassassin Ongoing, it’s really really good though! great Kakashi content, Minato is very stressed and I love him, Sickfic, Hurt/Comfort, whump, PTSD’d Kakashi gets to relive his childhood but gets a little bit of a real childhood along the way, ADHD Rin, time travel fix it, look I like what I like and what I like is fix its and time travel apparently, Kakashi adopts Orochimaru before he descends into douchbaggery, Orochimaru Redemption story, everyone is alive, Summary: The Minato-sensei beams at him, and replies, “Kakashi! I’m glad you’re awake,” and, yup, that’s Minato-sensei’s voice. Kakashi falls back down against the bed, closing his eyes. It’s too short of a way down, and he clenches hands that are too tiny and feeble and not his in dog-print sheets he hasn’t owned for decades.

How To Save The World With No One Even Realising by IncompleteSentanc (Erava) Gen, Teen and Up, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, time travel fix it, Canonically Accurate OP Team 7, SuperBadass!Sakura, SuperBadass!Sasuke, SuperBadass!Naruto, RegularBadass!Shikamaru, Canonically Violent Sasuke, Equally Violent Sakura, Saving The World One Murder At A Time, Various Jinchuuriki, Team 7 As Super Villains, Doing Super Villainy Stuff, Like Murder, And Professional Eyeball Removal, Poor Obito, Poor Minato, AKA The Worst Four Months of Minato's Life, And Everyone Else's Too, Dark Humor, Bittersweet Ending, Dark Comedy, Crack treated seriously, completed 3 chapter fic, Well worth the read, Team 7 To The End! Summary: Minato knows at the beginning of the week that it's going to be a hellish one. Mostly because it starts with the kidnapping of one of his two remaining students, only a year after they'd lost the first one. He just doesn't realise at the time that it's not going to be a hellish week - it's going to be hell for quite a bit longer than that. It all starts with Rin's kidnapping, and her subsequent rescue at the hands of a mysteriously appearing, monstrously strong, murderously violent woman. A woman with cotton candy pink hair. It only devolves from there.

Just Killing Time by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling) Gen, Oneshot, Short and Sweet, Classic of The Fandom, Ficlet, Team 7, Kids being Kids, Fluff, Fluff and Humour, Slice of Life, Cute Kids

Summary: After Wave Country and before the chuunin exam, Team 7 kills time while waiting for Kakashi to show up.

there lies a trail of fire behind us by BowAndDagger Gen, Madara is extremely confused but mostly on board, Time Travel au, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bamf Naruto Uzumaki, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Except Zetsu, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fix-It, Founders Era, clan wars era, Pre-Slash, POV Uchiha Madara, the Completed part one of an Ongoing/Incomplete series, completed 4 chapter fic, Summary: As he returns from a mission, Madara makes a strange encounter with an even stranger shinobi. Then, he’s summarily kidnapped to go on a quest to save the world by said weird shinobi. (He absolutely did not choose to follow the stranger on his own free will. He was kidnapped. He did not give chase. He did not.)

A Political Perspective by VJ Riddle / MueraRashaye Ongoing, Possibly (Probably) Discontinued, Teen and Up, Gen, Team 7, training montage deluxe, Konoha is a murder village, Good Teacher! Kakashi, AU, slowly developing into Bamf team 7, Bamf Kakashi, slowly developing into Team as Family, lots of fun ideas, not crack, Minor Spoiler: Zabuza and Haku get x’d before their character development gets its chance to shine in this fic, Sometimes people don’t warn for that in the tags and it can be a dealbreaker in fic for me as I love those two, not a dealbreaker in the case of this fic though! Really good fic so far, kind of verging on dry in places but it always stays fun in the end with lots of interesting elements, I enjoy the character insight from the pov switching, and also how much of a headcase Kakashi is, graphic depictions of violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence,

Summary: Hatake Kakashi was a shinobi, and as a shinobi, the only people who could give him orders were his military superiors. The idea that a Council made up of civilians and peers was under the impression they could give him orders...displeased him. Or: He was ordered to pass Team 7. He was fine with that, until they actually passed.

Integrity by Liz_Starling Oneshot, Gen, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Compliant, Integrity, Child Neglect, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Reflections on Naruto’s inner workings as a person, promises,

Summary: Naruto keeps his word. Some people are loyal to their families. Some, their orders. Naruto is loyal to the only thing he’s been able to count on; the promises he makes.

Foundation (Build It Higher, Bury It Deeper) by RayShippouUchiha Ongoing, BUT EXCELLENT, it made me cry, Naruto feels, 6 chapter fic thus far, Bamf Naruto, Bamf Tsunade, Naruto deserved better, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Mature, Team 7, Uzumaki Feels, Abandonment, Tsunade gives Naruto the personal talk he deserved instead of finding out from a chakra imprint when he was dying, so we stan, I love this fic

Summary: It’s just… he’d thought, given his fight against Neji and then his confrontation with Gaara, that someone would finally really acknowledge what he’d done. That beyond Iruka-sensei’s crushing hug and Kakashi-sensei’s absent pat, someone would actually notice that he’d won against both of them.

That he’d beaten a genius on his own and then had battled another jinchūriki to a stand still.

So while he hadn’t really expected to be promoted too he’d still ...

¦ part 1 ¦ part 2 ¦ part 3 ¦

#Naruto #fic rec list #fic recs #naruto fic rec list #fic rec masterpost #naruto fic recs #fanfic recs #team 7 #fic rec list masterpost #naruto fics #Uzumaki Naruto #subject to possible edits in the future #like if i wanna make a part 4 this baby's getting edited #believe it #lol #gen naruto fics

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strawberrynamjoon · 4 years

Text

our last summer

– pairing: taehyung & reader

– warnings: a bittersweet mixture of fluff and angst, taehyung being a cheesy romantic in love and a sweet shower scene!!

– summary: in order to rescue your failing relationship, taehyung tries to fight for you one last time and flies to paris with you to relive some of your favorite memories – desperately hoping that the city of love will remind you of how much you love him again.

– word count: 7k

– note: this is based on “our last summer” by abba aka the best song in the universe <3 like always, this is not proofread yet, i promise i’ll do it someday.

You weren’t sure if you felt like crying or like smashing plates but by now, just looking at Taehyung was enough to make you feel upset. It was heartbreaking to see how the two of you drifted away, especially when you always were so sure that it could happen to anyone but never to you. At least that’s what you thought for the longest time.

A constant battle was going on inside of you, a turmoil, completely overwhelmed trying to decide between staying for the old times' sake or leaving and trying to move on. Neither of these choices was the right one in your mind but in the end, you still had to make one.

Maybe, your relationship with Taehyung was teaching you that sometimes in life you have to make a decision between two options that both are awful.

As he heard the sigh that escaped your lips, your boyfriend of five years glanced up from the book he was reading on the couch in the living room only a few meters away. The expression in his eyes gave him away easily – he knew exactly what was occupying your mind.

The book was thrown to the side, Taehyung couldn’t care less about which page he was on when he was currently watching his relationship crumble right in front of him, and his tall and broad figure made its way up from the couch over to the dining table you were desperately trying to work on your laptop to get your mind off your real problems.

He sat down opposite from you, closing your laptop so you would concentrate on him.

Studying his face, you still saw the same handsome man he was when you first fell in love with him. Actually, he might even be more handsome now than he was before, his boyish features grew into more manly ones over time. It was still painfully obvious that Kim Taehyung was an attractive man, no question – but the spark was missing.

“What’s on your mind, buttercup?” he asked carefully, lowering his head a bit so your eyes were forced to meet his.

Not even the loving pet name he gave you in the early stage of your relationship made you feel anything anymore. Well, nothing but frustration. Frustration because after all these years you spent together it didn’t seem fair to you that suddenly it didn’t fit anymore.

Thinking back to the start you were so sure that no one would ever be a better match for you than him. The way his hand fitted in yours, the way his body seemed to melt into yours at night as if you were two puzzle pieces, belonging together. Your beginning was such a happy one.

But that was the harsh reality about relationships, the bitter aftertaste. The endings are never happy.

Shrugging, you ran your hands through your hair, trying hard to sound as unbothered as possible, “Just the usual.”

It was hard to say who was in the worse position: You, the one who is falling out of love and sooner or later has to break the other person’s heart or Taehyung, the one who still loves so much and will get their heart broken.

Well, thinking about it for a second both of you didn’t seem to be in the ideal position. It didn’t matter who had it worse, both of you hated the current situation, feeling helpless and vulnerable constantly.

Taehyung was almost reaching out for your hand that was laying flat on the table for a second but stopped himself before he actually touched you. By now he knew that even his touch alone was making you feel burdened.

Now he was the one to let out a sigh. Sighs seemed to be your most common method of communication over the last few months, “I’m trying my best to be the best boyfriend I can. Please, if there’s anything I can do to save this, just let me know.”

It hurt how hard he was trying because you knew he was indeed doing everything that was possible to make you happy again. But the more he tried, the more you distanced yourself. May it be a defense mechanism or just you feeling guilty, it was the sad truth, inevitable.

Both of you were hurting and both of you knew where all of this was going – in the end, you would break up.

Despite the younger versions of yourselves swearing that you would never ever lose feelings for each other, the current you knew better. It was just a matter of time until you would part ways.

Pressing your lips into a hard line, you nodded. You couldn’t count the number of times you sat down like this in the evening to talk about your failing relationship on one hand anymore.

“What if those feelings will never come back, Tae?” you asked him carefully what was burning inside your mind for the whole day. Every time you looked at him you longed for just a hint of the feelings you used to feel – but no matter how much you wanted to, you felt nothing.

On the more positive side, Taehyung has always been your friend. No matter what kind of situation, you never had to choose your words carefully or be afraid of him judging you. If there was something on your mind, Taehyung would be there to listen and talk you through it, regarding your relationship or not.

His gulp, followed by him pressing his eyes together was giving away how much it affected him. You saw him crying one too many times to not know that he was trying hard not to let those tears roll down his cheeks at that moment.

“Don’t give up on us just yet,” his pained request was nothing more than a whisper and you could feel your heart physically cracking a bit, “Let me try one more time to convince you that the feelings are still hidden somewhere inside of you.”

You reached out for Taehyung's hand, squeezing it lightly. The unexpected touch made him look at you again, eyes longing.

"Sure," a weak smile was all you could offer him, "I don’t want this to be over neither. I really want this to work out again as much as you, believe me."

Nodding, his lips carefully pressed a kiss against your hand that was still holding his, "I have something in mind, it just needs a bit of planning."

The curiosity inside of you rose in an instant, Taehyung knew just how nosy you were and his favorite thing since forever was to tease something and then not tell you what it was.

"You're mean," you let out a weak laugh, "But I'll wait. I know you won't tell me anyway."

“Just don’t make any plans for next weekend.”

You startled out of your sleep in shock when you heard the loud alarm clock. After all these years, you never got used to just how loud Taehyung needs to have his alarm sound in order to actually hear it.

But instead of being greeted with a sleepy Taehyung next to you in bed you instead found him standing in front of the bed, dressed in his most fashionable clothes, two luggage bags in his hand.

For a second, just the smallest second, your heart sank, the luggage making you think that he decided that he finally had enough of your constant mood swings and was about to leave you. Even though you played with the thought of breaking up so often, you never felt more vulnerable than in that second.

As soon as you saw him laugh at you though, you realized that he was not leaving you for good.

“What the hell are you doing?” you asked grumpy, stretching while sitting up, “Why do you have your stuff packed?”

“Actually, that’s not my stuff, it’s our stuff,” the proud grin never left his lips, “I have to go and get something quickly before we leave. You have thirty minutes, better hurry up.”

Now you were wide awake, wondering what Taehyung was going on about on this Friday morning.

“What do you mean, before we leave?” you yelled after him but you could only see his back as he was shrugging and telling you that it’s a surprise – certainly the thing he teased a few days ago back in the kitchen.

A part of you was afraid – you knew that he was just trying his best to make you stay with him, whatever the surprise would be, but you didn’t want him to be disappointed in case it wouldn’t work out. It would break his heart if he put the effort into something cute for you and it still didn't work out.

The other and luckily bigger part of you was excited. It has been too long since you felt this excited about anything – real excitement, not the one you feel when a new season of your favorite show gets announced but the one that grows deep in your stomach, almost thrilling.

Knowing Taehyung, his surprises always were a hit, and even though things are rough between you, it was definitely worth a shot. You trusted him enough to know that wherever he was taking you would not be a disappointment.

But before you could give in completely to looking forward to it you felt stress rushing over you, having to get ready within thirty minutes without even knowing where your adventure would lead.

Rushing to the bathroom you were surprised with a letter attached to the mirror with adhesive tape. It had your name written on it, a few red hearts doodled around it.

Sitting down on the edge of your bathtub you opened the letter, wondering what your boyfriend thought off for this weekend.

A small smile crept onto your lips as you read the letter. Taehyung surely knew how to be romantic, even after so many years.

But you had no time to gush about it, time was running and you had to at least look like a human before you were leaving.

Taking a quick shower and putting on concealer and some mascara in a rush was all you managed before Taehyung stood in the doorframe of your bathroom though, ready for the two of you to begin your adventure.

Turning around, you chuckled as you saw the croissants and strawberries he was holding up in the air, "Got us something for the flight."

"You're insane, Kim Taehyung. Taking me to Paris spontaneously like it isn't a big thing?"

"Anything for you," he shrugged slightly embarrassed and you could swear there was a blush creeping onto his face, "Are you ready?"

Nodding, you walked out of the bathroom with a smile on your face, "I'm always ready to go to Paris with you."

It has been some time since you thought about that trip to Paris many years ago but ever since you stepped into the airplane nothing else was on your mind.

The whole way from the apartment to the hotel so many memories of your first trip as a couple came back to your mind, each one of them making you miss how close you used to be.

Back then there was nothing more important than Taehyung’s and your relationship – you still remember how your heart skipped a beat seeing him fit in with the surroundings, not sure if he or Paris was prettier.

You couldn’t help but giggle like an idiot when Taehyung insisted to carry you through the door of your hotel room in bridal style just like he did the last time.

It was beyond you that he somehow managed to get the exact same room you were staying in back then – honestly, alone the fact that he still knew which one it was was impressive enough. It was typical for him to pay attention to the small details, one of the things you always adored about him.

In the back of your mind you couldn’t help but still doubt the intentions of this trip a little bit, fearing that not only it could become awkward but also that your precious memories of your favorite vacation with Taehyung could be replaced with worse ones after that.

But as soon as he insisted to carry you through the door bridal style you couldn’t help but giggle and promise yourself to push away all those negative feelings for at least this weekend.

After all, even if the love might be gone, Taehyung was still one of your closest friends.

“You know I could walk in myself, right?” you asked amused, your grin making Taehyung smile in an instant. It has been some time since he was the reason for your smile – your real smile, one that actually reached your eyes.

He shook his head while scrunching up his nose in the cutest way. Once again, you were blown away by how handsome he actually was. His tan skin, his wide chin and your favorite feature on him, his one double and one mono eyelid. All the things you were able to appreciate for hours back then.

All those pretty traits of him used to make you weak in the knees and you suddenly missed those feelings. Even though you weren’t feeling them right now, at least you started to miss them again. That was a good start, wasn’t it?

“You technically could but that would be pretty boring,” he laughed, kicking the door behind him so it would close while his hands were busy holding you. Your arms were wrapped around his neck and you wondered when you last were this close to him.

Walking to the bed, he gently let you down on top of it. The room didn’t change one bit, it was almost as if the time stood still since you last were here.

Taehyung raised his eyebrow at you, his eyes lighting up as something came to his mind, “I wonder if it’s still here.”

Before you could ask him what he meant he was already stepping outside to the balcony of the room. Curiosity took you over once again, following him out.

As you stepped after him, he was already squatting down, inspecting the lower part of the wall to his right.

“They painted it over,” he almost sounded sulky and you only now remembered what he was looking for.

Your eyes widened, “I completely forgot that we wrote our initials down here. Our criminal side jumped out back then.”

Laughter escaped your boyfriend’s mouth, shaking his head in disbelief, “We were so afraid to get caught. The whole thrill just for them to paint it over like it meant nothing.”

“It was so small, I bet they didn’t even notice it and just painted the whole wall because it needed a fresh coat of paint,” you assumed, remembering the little heart you wrote your initials in.

After the two of you put away your luggage and refreshed yourself a bit, Taehyung told you to get ready for today’s plan.

“Today, you’ll get the best out of reliving old memories and making new ones,” he informed you smugly as he was waiting for you to put on your shoes, standing in the doorframe, ready to go.

Your hotel was close to the centrum, surrounded by several cafes and bars. Taehyung has always loved the aesthetic of Paris, especially on a warm summer evening like this one. He didn’t care about the full streets and the traffic jam, he felt right at home in the overcrowded streets of France's capital.

All Taehyung cared for was the breathtaking views, the old architecture, and being with you. Also known as his biggest inspirations in life, even though if he had to rank it, you would definitely come first.

He always used to say that you couldn’t describe Paris, you simply had to feel it. Back then you thought it was cheesy and cliché of him to say but you knew how much Taehyung loved the city so you never said anything about it.

By now you felt the same way about Taehyung – it was hard to describe being with him, it was something you simply had to feel. And you felt it all, every positive emotion there was, over the span of many years.

You felt the comfort and joy of being loved by the man himself and once again he was proving to you that he was the best boyfriend anyone could have. It has always been like that. And that made it only harder to think of a life without him.

The two of you were walking under the pink-tinted evening sky, people were all around you, pushing and shoving, not caring if anyone gets run over.

“Are you okay?” Taehyung suddenly asked you, taking your wrist in his hand while hurrying to guide you through the crowded street, “I know this must be terrible for you since you hate crowded places.”

“I’ll survive,” you joked, appreciating the way he made sure to get you out of this mess as fast as possible, “Where are we even going?”

To your luck, the ending of the crowded street was right in front of you. The warm summer air was hugging you as you walked next to Taehyung and even though he let go of your wrist again, you took his hand in yours.

For most people that wouldn’t be a big thing but it must have been several months since you and Taehyung were holding hands in public – it almost felt like you were holding hands for the first time again.

“I thought we could start at the street with the cafe we always went to last time,” he immediately shot you a wide smile at your surprising action, squeezing your hand lightly, “I’m so happy to be back.”

You let out a laugh as the two of you were walking down the streets of Paris, “I thought you planned this to sweep me off my feet again but I see, you just did this because you missed Paris.”

It was nice to hear his laugh again, one without worries and filled with genuine joy, “Hey, I’m having the best of both worlds, just like Hannah Montana used to teach us when we were young.”

“Very wise. You’re an idiot,” you replied amused as you eyed the familiar café, a rather small one with the cutest tables out of green metal that reminded you of the ones your grandmother used to have in her garden.

“I agree,” he smiled while coming to a halt in front of the cafe, “But at least I’m your idiot.”

If any other men would say something incredibly cheesy as that it would have made you cringe instantly but Taehyung mastered the art of predictable flirting so well that you almost felt like blushing.

The two of you sat down outside of the cafe on one of the small, round tables as Taehyung ordered two café au lait for you. The ambiance was full of life as people were chattering all around you, enjoying their Friday evening just like you were. There were enough people around you to give the two of you a weird sense of privacy, everyone too busy with their own life to pay attention to anything else.

“I remember last time we were here a mad Jimin called you in the middle of our little date because you accidentally took his keys with you,” you reminisced.

Taehyung remembered that call too well, fearing for his life back then, “It’s been so long, I almost forgot I used to live with him.”

“To be fair, I snatched you away from him pretty fast,” you answered, “We moved in together so fast, once you moved in with Jimin we already made plans to move out again.”

Your boyfriend’s face was resting on his hand as his whole attention diverted to you, his eyes sparkling as he was listening to you talk about old times, “I remember your father wanting to kill me because he thought we were rushing things."

It was heartwarming to think about all the past memories, the smile on your face never leaving as you were talking about them, “You and my dad have come a long way. He might even like you at this point.”

“Well, it only took me several years of convincing him that I’m not leaving,” Taehyung was right. It was a fight for him to make your father like him but he never gave up, “I think as long as you’re not pregnant I’m fine for now.”

“If I’d come home pregnant he’d chase you down with a machete for sure,” the thought alone had you bit your lip so you wouldn’t burst out laughing, “I don’t think he would want to become a grandfather anytime soon.”

Agreeing, Taehyung nodded, "Thank god, I think us becoming parents now would be rather chaotic."

The two of you were having an easy-going conversation, a rare thing nowadays, for what felt like an eternity. He told you about his newest client that he disliked so much and you told him about the new band you discovered and instantly fell in love with. It was almost scary to realize how few things you talked about over the last time despite living under the same roof.

Two coffees each and several topics later, Taehyung and you decided that it was time to leave the café for now, even though you already agreed on coming back for breakfast the next day.

“Where are we going next?” you asked him, wondering what this night still had to offer for you.

As he was standing up he offered you his hand and you gladly took it, “Let me surprise you.”

About twenty minutes later you were sitting down on a picnic blanket on a grassy area close to the Eiffel Tower. Last time you were sitting there, Taehyung kept on insisting how sad it was that he already had kissed you several times before because he thought this would have been the most perfect first kiss to ever exist.

To this day you remember how whiny he was about it, not shutting up until you made him with a long kiss.

“Do you still remember how upset I was about the whole first kiss thing?” Taehyung asked with a smirk on his face while searching for something in his back.

Chuckling, you nodded, if only he knew that you thought about the same exact thing just a second ago, “I just wanted to enjoy the view but you kept on whining.”

“Stop making fun of me,” he laughed, handing you a bottle of wine and a corkscrew, “It was a missed opportunity. Imagine how cool it would be to tell our children about our romantic first kiss under the Eiffel tower. But no, our first kiss was an absolute mess.”

“Stop dragging it,” you insisted with a laugh, “It was perfectly fine.”

Scoffing, he got out a lunchbox filled with several croissants and some cheese, “Perfectly fine? We were drunk in Jeongguk’s bed with Hoseok and Becca spying on us through the window.”

“I loved it,” you assured him, laughing brightly. You did love it - it was perfect in its own way, “Maybe it wasn’t 'kissing under the Eiffel Tower while being wine-drunk' perfect, but it was enough to make my heart flutter.”

Taehyung's deep chuckle as he was thinking back to your first kiss was almost endearing, “I was so nervous back then. I kept on hoping that you wouldn’t try to hold my hand because it was super sweaty.”

Drinking the wine straight out of the bottle, you and Taehyung enjoyed the view as the sun was almost gone and the Eiffel Tower was shining brightly.

It was so easy to think of the old times, back when both of you had nothing to worry about ever because your relationship was the strongest thing to exist at those times.

“We were so much younger,” you laughed as you laid down, head resting in Taehyungs lap, “Just two college kids with no worries.”

Taehyung’s long fingers were playing with your hair as he was looking down to you – the sparkle in his eyes was still there, even after everything you’ve put him through. It never went away, not when you first told him you’re reconsidering you’re relationship, not when you started to sleep on the sofa, not even when you confessed that you weren’t sure about your feelings anymore.

How hard it must have been for him to watch you fall out of love right in front of him without being able to stop it happening – and still he never stopped fighting. This trip was just another try to save your relationship.

And honestly speaking, you felt closer to him right then and there than you did in months. As you were looking up into his eyes, in the city of love, with a thousand stars in the sky you almost thought you could go back to normal. But what would happen as soon as you were back home, the risk of your everyday life catching up and cursing you once again?

He offered you a breathy chuckle, not breaking the eye contact for even a second, “We’re still young, buttercup.”

“Why does it feel like I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders then?" you asked him with a pout, "It certainly wasn't like that in college."

"That's probably because we stopped drinking in the middle of the week," he joked, his fingers were slowly wandering from your hair down to your cheek, caressing it lovingly.

He managed to get out a chuckle from you, enough for him to be satisfied. Nodding, you agreed with him, "You might not be wrong about that. But that's what I mean. We couldn't just get drunk in the middle of the week because we're simply feeling like it anymore. We're too old for that."

Taehyung let out a laugh, shaking his head in disagreement, "Let me prove you wrong. Next week, I'll buy a bottle of your favorite liquor just for the two of us and we'll drink it in the middle of the week and the next morning we'll both call in sick."

"No way," you scoffed with wide eyes, "We can't just do that."

Your reaction was too cute for Taehyung to handle, he could swear he felt his heart melting at the shock in your face, "Of course we can. And we will."

"You're insane," you told him, "We can't skip work because we're hungover. We have responsibilities."

Taking your hand in his he brought it up to his mouth, kissing every finger individually, "Stop discussing with me. We can and we will. You're always overworking yourself and I bet it could help you relax. Just trust me."

Laughing, you realized that Taehyung was actually serious, "Alright, Tae. I trust you. Let's do it."

It was about 10 p.m. when you and Taehyung decided to end your little picnic and continued your evening in the form of taking a walk along the Seine, your eyes glued to the shimmering reflection of the city lights on the water. Your hand was held by Taehyung’s, exactly where it seemed to belong.

“Hey, stop, for a second” Taehyung suddenly stated, standing still and making you do the same. As you turned around, you saw him smiling at the sky with his mouth slightly open, reaching out to the sky with his free hand.

“What is it?” you asked with a laugh on your lips, wondering what Taehyung was so fascinated by. all of a sudden

Freeing his eyes from the night sky he looked at you, raising his eyebrow playfully before his arm wrapped around your waist and instantly pulled you close to him, your body stumbling into his as his hand found your face.

“I swear I just felt a raindrop,” his eyes were full of excitement like the ones of a child and it was almost funny to see him like that, “This is just perfect.”

“It’s not raining,” you shook your head playfully, amusement in your voice, “I didn’t feel anything. You’re halluci–”

You were cut off before you could end your sentence, your face now shooting upwards too after you felt a raindrop on you. Taehyung and you both were standing there, him holding you close as you were waiting for another one.

“I told you,” he laughed, “I just felt another one.”

And just then, you also felt one more raindrop on you. And shortly after, another one.

“No way,” you whispered amazed before looking Taehyung in the eyes, shaking your head in disbelief, “There’s no way it’s starting to rain right now. This can’t be a coincidence. You planned this.”

The smile on his face was replaced with sincerity in his eyes, the situation turned serious within seconds as slowly but surely, more and more raindrops hit you.

It almost hurt to look Taehyung in the eyes, the moment a bit too perfect to be true. His arm was pulling you a bit closer to him, closing the remaining space between your chests.

“Do you remember what I said three years ago?” he asked with a certain carefulness in his voice.

You only nodded in response, both of you awfully aware of the tragedy of the situation. Of course, you remembered Taehyung's promised last time it was raining while you were walking along the Seine.

“Due to the circumstances I will obviously not drop down to my knees now,” his voice was filled with pain, “But I want you to know that if we manage to get over this and one day come back here I’ll do it without a doubt.”

It always has been one of your personal favorite memories – you and Taehyung, in the pouring rain in the middle of the night, right where you were standing at that moment. A strong feeling of required love to the fullest between the two of you.

The way your heart was racing and your stomach was tingling when Taehyung promised you that the next time he would take you here he would come to the Seine again on a rainy night and he’d ask you to marry him.

He was so sure of it, so sure that it would happen. Ever since you started dating, both of you were sure that you'd end up getting married one day. Not only you but everyone around you thought so.

Back then, no one could’ve known that the next time you would come you were coming to save your relationship instead of taking it to the next level.

You didn’t have to look at Taehyung to know that his eyes were filled with tears, the way his voice sounded already gave him away. You tried hard to stay calm, a deep sigh coming from you as you once again longed for Taehyung's and your happiness.

By now the rain was pouring, both of your hair sticking to your face and your clothes draining.

“We drifted away from each other,” you repeated what you told him ever so often quietly, your forehead resting against his chest, hoping for some kind of comfort, “but I don’t want to lose you. You’re still my best friend and partner in crime. But you also deserve someone who loves you more than I am capable of right now.”

You felt Taehyung’s hand on the back of your head, holding your head close to your chest right before his lips pressed against your forehead. The two of you haven’t had that much skinship in a long time and you almost forgot how much comfort the broad man could give you.

“Well,” he laughed lightly through the tears, “I don’t want anyone but you. It’s always been like that. I just need you to want me too, that’s all we need to work it out.”

Another quick kiss was pressed to your forehead before you dared to look up again, a few of your boyfriend’s tears getting mixed up with the raindrops on his skin but even though the situation was sad you could see a bit of hope in his eyes.

"I don't know where we went wrong," he started talking again after realizing that you were at a loss for words, "but if you close your eyes and think of the future right now, don't you see me in it?"

You never thought of it that way. Closing your eyes, you tried to imagine how your ideal life would look like in five years.

The scenario in your mind was a clear picture – You, on your birthday, coming home from work. You moved out of your current apartment into a house with more space and more daylight, your parents were there, smiling brightly, your best friend was there too, you saw Jeongguk and Jimin playing with your nephew in the garden, running around like crazy and you noticed Yeontan, running after them.

And then you saw Taehyung – not as your boyfriend but instead as your husband, lighting candles on your cake with the brightest smile, just waiting to kiss you and tell you he's proud of you – with nothing but admiration in his eyes. As soon as you noticed him you felt a tight feeling in your chest, not necessarily a bad one though. It gave you a sense of home, a place you belonged to.

Of course, you knew that this was only your imagination, your ideal idea of the future, and that the reality most likely will be different but he had a point – even though it is hard, you haven't given up completely yet.

“You think we can still save this?” you asked him as you wiped the tears from his cheeks, “What if we go home again and fall into old patterns?”

Slowly, he shook his head no with a sigh before both of his hands found your face and you felt him come closer.

And a few moments later you felt Taehyung’s warm lips on you, the contrast to the cold raindrops sending shivers down your spine. The kiss was slow, romantic, and meaningful – it said more than any spoken words ever could.

It meant that he would take care of you, he would work through every problem with you, he would fight and would hold you close. All of the things you always knew, just forgot over time.

Taehyung was always there and he would always be, as long as you let him.

As he broke the kiss, his forehead still against yours he grinned at you, satisfied with the feeling he knew he just gave you. Taehyung felt it too, the butterflies that went right to your stomach.

“See,” he quietly laughed, “I want to make you smile for the rest of your life. That is if you let me.”

You shot him a smile, a real one, one you actually meant, “Let’s go home, Tae. I’m cold and I want to take a warm shower.”

And like that the two of you walked through the rain, hand in hand, talking about everything that came to your mind.

Taehyung, the gentlemen he was, shielded you from the rain by holding his jacket over your head the whole time, working hard as your personal umbrella.

Despite your feet hurting and the rain pouring, the way home was not bothering you at all. It was nice to see Paris at night once again, especially with Taehyung not able to keep quiet about every little thing he loved about it. Every few seconds he'd point to a building or a statue and one time even to a simple bus stop to tell you how pretty it was.

About twenty minutes later the two of you were finally back inside the hotel room, completely drenched and freezing. Even though it was rather late by now, you weren't feeling tired, the adrenaline of the spontaneous trip and all the impressions of today keeping you awake.

The warm water hitting your body as you stepped into the shower was much needed to prevent you from freezing to death. You suddenly became awfully aware of how tired your limbs felt, how exhausted your body was and how much you just wanted to lie down in bed, excited to share it with Taehyung again after such a long time.

Your thoughts were processing the evening – just yesterday you were still doubting that you and Taehyung could ever go back to normal but seeing him today, proving that he still is able to manage to sweep you off your feet, you felt positive.

It might take some hard work and a lot of changes but both of you were more than willing to do anything for your relationship.

As you heard the bathroom door open, you were torn out of your thoughts.

“I’m coming in,” Taehyung warned you with a giggle before the shower curtain was opening, your tan and muscular boyfriend standing in front of you, offering you a big smile.

“What are you waiting for?” you asked playfully as he was hesitating for a moment, not sure if you’d be okay with him joining you but he won’t let you tell him twice.

Hugging you from behind, he pressed a small kiss right under your ear. You almost forgot how sensational it was to feel his skin on yours, the feeling of it leaving a warm and burning desire in your stomach.

“I missed this so much,” his voice was almost whiny, pressing kisses to the back of your shoulder between every word as his hand was drawing circles on your hipbone, “Missed you so much.”

Turning around to face him, you gave him a small peck with your arms wrapped around his neck, “I missed you too. We should go to Paris more often."

“I’d love to just pick you up and kiss you wildly against the wall right now but the chances that we both slip and die in the process are too high,” he made both of you laugh.

"As sexy as that sounds, I'd prefer no broken bones tonight," you said before leaning in for a kiss. The water between the two of you was kind of distracting but you couldn't care less, just wanting Taehyung to hold you close.

This was the nicest shower you took in the longest time – while Taehyung was busy kissing your jawline, down to your neck, down to your collarbone, and so on, you were shampooing his hair, making him giggle as the kind gesture.

"This feels peaceful," he hummed with his face nuzzled into your neck, hugging you tightly as he was waiting for you to be done so the two of you could go to bed, "I won't let you stay on the couch tonight. Don't you dare to even try."

Turning the water off and reaching for the towels next to the shower you laughed, rubbing his hair with it playfully, the messy wet hair in combination with his puppy eyes being a dangerous combination, "I wouldn't even if you forced me to."

Both of you were slipping into your bathrobes, ready to go to bed after such an eventful day.

"Taehyung," you gasped as you opened the door to the room, your heart skipping a beat, "I don't deserve that."

You were greeted with lit candles all over the room, your favorite show on Netflix already waiting to be played and the biggest bouquet of roses standing on the nightstand.

His arms wrapped around you from behind and you could basically hear the smile he had on his face, "I told you tonight will be a mixture of old and new memories. We had all the old ones, now it's time to create some new ones."

He walked over to the bed, making himself comfortable, "Aren't you going to join me?"

Shaking your head, you told him to wait for a second, looking for something in your handbag.

When you found what you were looking for, you opened the door to the balcony, Taehyung following you, wondering what you had in mind now.

As soon as he saw you crouching down, close to the wall he knew exactly what was going on. Crouching down beside you he kissed your temple as he admired the new artwork decorating the wall.

"I love you still, so much," he almost sounded touched, the small action meaning a lot to him, "We'll get through this. I promise."

368 notes · View notes

morningsound15 · 3 years

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hi! i’m a major fan of yours across several fandoms (bechloe, fuffy, hermione/anyone 👀) and i’m always really impressed with your ability to jump around fandoms while telling these very complete stories with awesome characterizations. any chance you’d be willing to share what your process is like for preparing to write a story? thank you for sharing your work! really enjoy it.

asks like this are so so sweet! compliments AND writing process questions at the same time is just *chef’s kiss*

i got a similar question to this in a comment on one of my stories a few weeks back, i hope you don’t mind that i’ve lifted some of this from that answer!

when i’m starting a new fic, these are the 3 basic things i focus on (not always consciously, this is just how my brain works):

characterization (who is the story about/why is the story being told)

plot (what story is being told)

and form (how is the story being told)

(this is long! more under the cut)

CHARACTERIZATION: the first thing i do is try to get a feel for how the characters think and speak. so the first thing i’ll write is usually something light and banter-y between two main characters. i find that story beats, reactions, emotions, etc. (all important parts of scenes) flow from me much more easily if i have a good feel for the characters and how they interact with each other. for example, the first scene i record in a voice note on my phone or dump in a word document might be: character A and B are eating breakfast the morning after sleeping together for the first time. they haven’t talked about it yet. they are trying to hide what they did from the other people in the room while trying to subtly see how the other one is acting

writing a scene like this would help me figure out a few important things about my characters, like how they interact with each other when they need to be covert (are they embarrassed? flirty? ashamed? cold? nervous? blushing?), how their friends might or might not pick up on their dynamic, and most importantly it lets me practice the pace of how the characters speak and the basic nature of their conversation styles with each other (do they crack jokes, are they unnecessarily cruel, do they openly flirt, is there a competitive undertone, exasperated fondness, etc.?).

people should be able to understand everything important about your characters from the way they speak and hold themselves in a scene. having the characters’ voices, rhythms, and interpersonal banter down is really important in making sure that whatever is happening in your story is compelling. if the characters feel real, the plot will feel real, and you can hook people into reading stories for fandoms they otherwise wouldn’t.

PLOT: this is kind of cheating, since i GUESS technically ‘plot’ is the first step to preparing to write a story, but to me, the most fundamental thing you need to have down to write fic is an understanding of the characters. you can use whatever tried-and-true soulmate/fake dating/bed sharing/alternate universe tropes you want, but the thing that makes or breaks a story is its characters, so that’s why i put that part first.

but okay, talking about plot. for me what comes first is less ‘plot’ than ‘situation’.

here’s an example: i decided a while back that i desperately want to write a sansa x margaery hogwarts au. has it been done before? yes. does it sound fun? yes, and also, i love writing hp universe, and i love sansa stark. but the idea’s been done before, so what am i hoping to write that contributes to the genre/trope? what’s my hook? what’s my angle? what’s my read of the characters and how do i want to get them together?

i settled on this: Sansa is the first Stark in five generations to not be sorted into Gryffindor.

suddenly bam, i’m off and running. i’ve got a story universe, i’ve got a couple of characters whose voices i’m starting to settle into, i’ve got a whole cast of characters i have to suddenly squash into this alternate universe, think about what roles they should play, how THEY should speak and interact. suddenly i’m drafting scene ideas to make sure that i highlight the sibling dynamics i want between the starks, the tension between sansa and arya, sansa’s alienation and the family’s pride.

the next step is thinking about story beats. what are good tropes in hp universe stories (spell casting scenes, hogsmede scenes, quidditch scenes) -- how can i write some of these with a new fun twist? similarly, what are good tropes in romantic stories (jealousy/pining, being forced to work together when you don’t want to, romantic rivals) and how can i use these characters to pull off these tropes in a way that feels natural and novel? and of course, hugely important — when should the characters kiss for the first time? (every story’s gotta have a good first-kiss scene.)

i like my stories, generally, to have 2 main plots going: the romance plot between the two main characters, and the maintext plot/situational hijinx they’ve gotten themselves into. figuring out how to weave those storylines together (and ideally to have the Big Climax Scenes Converge Somehow) is tough. so i write in bursts, jumping around between chapters and paragraphs and scenes, cutting whole sections and shuffling them around constantly.

FORM: the first drafts of my chapters are mostly dialogue; i go back in and add actions and internal monologue as some of the last things that i do. scene transitions are also some of the last things i write, or beginnings/endings to scenes. that’s just a personal preference.

i don't tend to write linearly. i guess you could say i write in a vignette style; that’s why most of my fics are organized with individual scenes divided by a textual break, rather than long continuous stream of consciousness/linear time. this allows me a lot of freedom in my writing; if something isn’t working at the end of a scene, or if i can’t figure out a way to transition between moments/times of day, i can just add a text break in. easy as pie. it keeps my stories tighter (lol i know they’re so long who am i kidding) and lets me move things along.

while i jump around a lot, writing scenes that strike me when they strike me, filling in the gaps here and there as i go along, i do like to make some important decisions early on. i think about tracing the arc of the main relationship — are they interested in each other right away, what are the obstacles to them being together, is there going to be an issue with sexuality/queerness or is that a non-issue in this universe? — stuff like that. i think really important scene ideas to have early on (if i’m writing fic, obviously this applies strictly to writing fanfiction romance stories, which are already pretty trope-filled (that’s not a read i love tropes)) are the scenes that Change the direction of the story: the get-together scene and the plot climax. having an understanding of how those crucial scenes are going to play out means that i can make sure that all the writing before those scenes is building in the correct direction.

that doesn’t mean i stick to my outline, or that i’m afraid to change things up! on the contrary. i like to have an idea of where my story is going to end up as i'm writing, because then i can shape the characters and let them grow in a way that naturally arrives at the conclusion. but of course the conclusion is usually just an idea, a vague notion (‘they break out of the curse dimension’ or ‘they’re going off to college uncertain but hopeful’). i avoid writing the end of the story until the very end because the natural conclusion changes as my story goes through more drafts and i get a better feel for the characters. i also like to see how the readers are reacting to the story, what they're noticing, what questions they still have that i need to answer, if there are any scenes that aren't coming across the way i want them to, that sort of thing.

and one last note for fic writers -- this is what i always think about as i’m writing/about to write a story: why am i writing this story? what am i trying to say, how am i trying to better understand the characters or deepen my understanding of canon with this? am i adding to canon or just repeating it? is this personal catharsis, meaningless smut, a bittersweet fix-it?

readers are smart, and most importantly, they’re fans! they’re coming to fic from consuming the original product! they don’t want what they’ve just seen regurgitated to them. take risks in your stories! know the characters, dig deep into their relationships and get inside their heads. if you’ve got the characters down you’ve got everything you need to write a good fic.

mostly i just hope people come away from my stories satisfied by what they've read.

you all know me, i write for any fandom i want to with no rhyme or reason. i have a lot of ideas and varied interests. but i don’t speak a TON about my role as fanfic consumer, so i wanna do that.

fanfiction, for me, is a way of better understanding these things that i love. i come to fanfiction after i finish a show or video game, if i’m revisiting childhood movies or books. ao3 is one of the first places i go after i finish watching something, because i am enchanted by the way fans take characters that exist and with just a few twists of a word or a look, they change the meaning completely, elevate canon, or flesh out side characters that basically had nothing going for them. and because when i finish something i love i don’t want it to be over. sometimes that means i write, sometimes that means i read, but i always go to fic. i love it, it’s comforting and beautiful.

phew! that was long-winded. thanks for the ask!! sorry for the word vomit

(also yes hermione/anyone aka hermione/happiness)

#anonymous #asks #my writing #fanfiction writing things #long post

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one-piece-dumpster-fire · 4 years

Note

Fern: What flavor do you have for your wedding cake? Blue thistle: What do you and your F/O wear at your wedding? Feel free to provide pictures of wedding attire you would wear! (If you’re answering questions) Water lily: Do you or your F/O cry at your wedding?

This is gonna be a real long one, sorry Rae :'D

Fern: What flavor do you have for your wedding cake?

Well, the wedding cake is arguably the most important part of each wedding in the Charlotte Family, so naturally, we all made sure that it would be special and live up to Mama's expectations! Michelle really wanted to turn all the layers into some kind of, uh, story though.... At first I was trying to stop her, but she looked so adorable and excited with the planning... so I simply couldn't say no to her request!

...And it paid off! Your mother loved it!

Our wedding cake had nine layers altogether and each carried an individual flavor that was supposed to represent a certain stage in our relationship~

The bottom layer was Banana Cream, because I started out very clumsy and was constantly having slip-ups in Cracker's presence!

Then we had dark chocolate- our early relationship was very bittersweet and I didn't quite know what to think of him yet... haha...

The third layer was vanilla funfetti. Things are slowly starting to get sweeter and Cracker becomes... less creepy and more fun to be around!

Hey now!

After that comes Coconut Cream, aka the taste of our first kiss....

And then we got a Cheesecake Cookie Crumble, because, hoho, a certain Biscuitman was also starting to crumble~

I still can't believe that we wasted an entire layer of the cake just so you could make that comment to everyone...

Hey, we needed a cohesive story to go with our wedding cake, PLUS your sisters said it was pretty smart~

...aaanyways, the next layer was pomenagrate and orange-flavored because- well, things were eventually starting to get spicy👀!

Then I choose Devil Food's Cake for the seventh flavor, because when Cracker told his mother of his desire to marry me, it was as if he was making a deal with the Devil!

...luckily you didn't say that to Mama's face.

Well, I still wanted to live to see our wedding day, you know? Ahem, moving on~...

the eighth layer, which was themed after our wedding day, had Champagne in it!

And last but not least, the final one- aka a representation of our relationship as a whole- was strawberry-flavored with a hint of lemon and little sugar cookies mixed in the layer, for a crunchy and sweet suprise!

Mhh, good thing the layers were each so thick that you didn't have to eat them all together. Most guests just got to choose one part of the cake and a topping of their liking. As you can tell it turned out to be quite the tumultuous mix of flavors, and most of them probably wouldn't go too well together if you took a combined bite. But it was very delicious regardless and looked absolutely breathtaking! ...Just like my gorgeous bride that day~

Blue thistle: What do you and your F/O wear at your wedding? Feel free to provide pictures of wedding attire you would wear! (If you’re answering questions)

Aaalrighty, let's talk about my wedding dress for a moment- because me and my husband had very different ideas for what I should wear!

Cracker originally wanted something traditional and white, kind of like this-

...But I wanted something colorful and fairytale-like with lots of flowers and pretty accesoires!

In the end, me and his sisters found the perfect dress that sort of combined both of our wishes~ Angel said I still looked like a fairy in it, and if I'm being honest, I really felt like one too🥰❤

Hmm, I remember when I saw you walk down the aisle in that dress.... you looked absolutely divine. Like my own goddess floating over to let me have her hand in marriage~

Ahhh stop it, you're being too sweet! Now Cracker's wedding suit... ehm, it was quite unique as well! I don't think there is any picture that would do it justice though.... Don't get me wrong, it looked gorgeous! ...But it was a lot. Ahem, I guuuuess it kinda looked like this but in purple, and with a more opulent version of his pauldron and cape attached to it-

What the- come now Sugar Cookie, I did not look like that man!

Noooo I mean- I said kinda, Cracker! Of course, you were far more handsome and taller. Even when you were all covered in badges and golden shoulderpads and your cape and-

Our wedding was the most special event imagineable, so naturally I had to go all out! We were supposed to look like the royal couple that we are, and I simply made sure of that~

Water lily: Do you or your F/O cry at your wedding?

Oh, of course I did😅 Unfortunately I'm waaay too emotional, and the tears already rolled down my cheeks before I even reached the aisle.

How about you, honey?

Well.....

He did too.

#michelle answers things<333 #charlotte cracker #crachelle #my selfship<3 #me and my biscuitdaddy<3 #thanks for sending<333

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theeeveetamer · 4 years

Note

Any chance I can get some 3H omegaverse angst? Can really be about anyone.

Alright well to decide on the couple I was going to use I put my ships into a roulette wheel and, I shit you not, it came up with the DILFs five times in a row.

Soooo time to bring back the Queen Consort Rodrigue AU?

Quick recap because it’s been like two months since I’ve talked about this: In this AU Rodrigue and Lambert are officially wed, and Glenn, Dimitri, and Felix are all their sons. Please don’t ask me how Felix is only two months younger than Dimitri because I have a semi-elaborate headcanon to go along with that explanation but it’s too long to put here.

I imagine that Lambert is rather reckless, and Rodrigue is always about ten seconds away from having a heart attack because his mate insists on constantly doing dangerous stuff. Like, say, when they found out he was pregnant right before the battle of Eagle and Lion, but Lambert absolutely refused to sit out.

So he was absolutely, 100% against the idea of him going to Duscur with Dimitri in tow. Not only were the two most important people in the Kingdom going to be in a potentially dangerous situation, but Lambert was pregnant yet again. It took about two weeks of Lambert reassuring him that it’s just a diplomatic envoy before Rodrigue relents and gives him his blessing to go, but only if he and Glenn and a whole contingent of knights go too.

Then, hours before they’re set to leave, Felix has his first heat and Rodrigue had to stay behind to take care of him. Rodrigue hesitantly lets Lambert and Dimitri go anyways.

Obviously it does not go well.

I think Rodrigue blames a lot of people for this. Lambert for going even though he told him it would be stupid, Felix (even though it wasn’t in his control) for having his heat and making him stay behind, Glenn for getting himself killed, the people of Duscur, himself (mostly himself) for not being there and for not trying harder to stop them... He approves of the Duscur slaughter without a second thought, and then he spends the next two weeks hiding in his bedroom with a bottle. He doesn’t even realize Dimitri is alive at this point, the last news he heard was that he was horribly injured and near death. He only puts the bottle down when Felix, thirteen years old and already the closest thing to emotionally competent this family has, tells him that Dimitri survived and he needs to get his ass out of bed and put on some real clothes.

Then his son comes home with one of them. They think they’re being sly, but don’t think he doesn’t notice when they crawl into each other’s beds at night and hold hands under the blankets when they sit by the fire place. He’s so, completely, absolutely sure that Dedue is just trying to curry favor with the soon-to-be-king, and here he is leeching off of the royal family after his people murdered his mate...

Anyways I think we have two more Angsts running parallel to this: Dimidue and Sylvain.

Rodrigue is not a bad man, but he’s in a very bad place. He probably hires at least one person to make an attempt on Dedue’s life, because he just can’t get over his paranoia. This only stops when one of his attempts is almost successful. Dedue eats some poisoned food and Dimitri spends a whole week at his bedside sobbing. Rodrigue tries to comfort him but Dimitri just snaps at him, because he obviously didn’t like Dedue anyways, and he’s probably happy that he’s dying, isn’t he?

Rodrigue stops trying after that. Seeing his son so emotional (really for the first time since Duscur) breaks his heart, and seeing Dedue almost die really turns his stomach because Goddess he almost killed a kid.

Meanwhile Felix retreats from his family. It’s just too hard to watch them all fall apart before his eyes, so he travels up north and spends a lot of time with the Gautier family. It’s no secret that Felix has been nurturing a schoolboy crush on Sylvain since they were little, but the first time they meet as “adults” (AKA after they’ve both presented) is so Emotional and Charged and Bittersweet.

I think this is before Felix goes Full Tsun, so he’s not shy about running into Sylvain’s arms and just sobbing his heart out. Mom is dead, Glenn is dead, Dad is slowly but surely going off the deep end, and Dimitri spends all of his time locked away in his room with that boy from Duscur, or vacantly staring off into space whenever Rodrigue makes him come out. He just needs a good cry and for someone to understand.

And I mean. There’s rules on proper conduct for them now, since they aren’t kids anymore. Felix really isn’t supposed to be hugging his Alpha friend, or staying at his estate, or snuggling with him in bed, but they do all of those things. I think this is when they realize that they’re, like, In Love in this AU. Maybe not openly, but they both feel it.

Felix is a little young, but Sylvain wants to start officially courting him as soon as he comes of age (which I assume is ~15 in Faerghus, though obviously arranged marriages exist). It’s a real fight to get Rodrigue to consider it, or to consider Felix at all really, since he’s so occupied with Dimitri. Felix drops hints for two years about what a good mate Sylvain would make (and see, he’s even stopped flirting with women! ... Mostly.)

Rodrigue only seems to process about half of whatever Felix says, and somehow he misses the for me part of the “he would make a good mate” statement, so when Felix and Dimitri turn fifteen Rodrigue announces the courtship between Sylvain and... Dimitri. That really is the straw that broke the camel’s back between Rodrigue and Felix.

#queen consort rodrigue au #lambrigue #dimidue #sylvix #3h omegaverse #abo #the DILFs #Anonymous

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haila-wetyios · 5 years

Text

Raiding

Since it became a pretty long post, Imma just throw this under a Read More. It’s not about current tumblr drama fashion. So no popcorn scene for you peeps. Just my experience as a whole and to finally let go of a few feelings that kept weighting on me for a good while until my current team took me in.

The first time I ever advertised on a PF that I was seeking a raid team, was during the final months of ARR. I was a complete scaredy cat, anxious of whether I'd be good enough to work on a team that required more coordination than pugs to get things such as extreme primals or savage raids done. Off I go as a SMN main, panicked as my raid leader of that team joined my party for a brief interview. Afterwards though, during our first joint team efforts for HW content (Ravanna and Bismark extreme at that time) I discovered that I wasn't as bad as I thought. On the contrary, I was too perceptive of everything to the point I would rush to do mechanics assigned to our newbie healer who after several explanations would still not do the thing. Despite my huge insecurities of probably not doing the relevant rotations down to the last skill, my ego started to rise a bit when parsers started to take more and more of conversations between static members. And although I would never ask about my numbers directly, I would celebrate in silence when reading the overall party dps the moment I realized mine had been at the top even with a ninja and a dragoon in the party. That should have been a flag to me now that I look back for being a caster that was doing more damage than the melee. But I didn't know any better, and stayed with my group regardless throughout the entirety of gordias savage. Every week would be the same pummeling against the horrifying Faust dps check, then the first turn's boss, then the second turn until we finally hit the wall of jigglyman and disbanded. I didn't have much complains, despite how tiring it was, I had long since given up on those clears and instead turned each night into 'training to see how long I can last the moment shit hits the fan in any given fight'. And boy did I get a ton of experience down that lane.

The next times I started looking into content once more, I could only play the part of a sub for any group of people I trusted due to life and time issues. But I still took pride in being that one stable sub that could support any group on any extreme primal through HW. I still lament that I was never able to go through Midas and Alexander savage when they were relevant and merely watched from the sidelines.

Then SB came up, and I merely stood aside once more for the first Tier with Exdeath. Except this time, the frustrations of not having been there while I watched all my friends start doing EX's and savage content had finally gotten to me. And lo' and behold, suddenly I was back on square 1, trembling in fear while waiting on my PF announcement that I was looking for a group for Sigma (Kefka times). Nearly died the moment I had two people with interesting names join in my party and just grab me on the spot. I had no idea what I was getting into, they mentioned they just needed a caster slot for the new rag tag group they had built, but at least I had a team! Then the first day of raid came up, and right off the bat I was terrified at the fact that our raid leader was missing, being replaced just for that moment with the FC leader instead. Turns out my entire group save for the ninja, were a raiding FC with multiple groups going in through the week. And what was the first comment of the night pray tell? Well "No one should be here with X ilvl gear." Who was it aimed at? Well, to the only potato that for the first time was slightly outdated in 2 pieces of gear for not being active before the patch dropped. That was the moment that marked my spiraling down a rabbit hole that I wish I could let go of easily but still has a tight grip on me to this day.

I felt like crap, I fought my best and did research on how to be a better caster. Other than the FC leader's comment, no one berated me or spoke about me on a negative light. But it still left a mark in which I kept trying to prove myself and be useful. Suddenly I would find myself cursing at my skills. Hating how no matter how hard I tried with everything, I would never be able to even pass the goddamned Stone, Sky and Sea for savage raids. But we were still getting things done. Two new savage turns down in a single week of release? That felt incredible and also bittersweet. Because any time that my party members celebrated their purples and golds in fflogs, I would be in a corner, self destructing with greys. I kept trying and trying, until my coping mechanism ended up being "I'm just a fill in. But if I'm just this, I'm damn going to do a job stable enough to have a place here." Then things started turning out easier to deal with. I had noticed the goofiness of a lot of the members despite the numbers that dictated their runs, I gave up on my grey numbers and focused on getting their asses up if someone made a mistake. To support the healers as much as possible with mana shift and such. I started putting my experience of keeping the party alive to more use while I slowly tried to recover the confidence I had lost when starting the tier. Granted, they didn't care for the group as much as I did. No amount of hanging out after raid times or helping was enough for the few in charge to announce when we were done raiding after months of being together. They just stopped one day until their FC leader asked me if I was aware of the 'disbanding'.

Then it was time to switch gears, for the first time I thought my work had bore fruit when I was recruited into the FC leader's group instead, and all was well.... Until it wasn't, we kept having to replace members left and right, specially healers and tanks. Progress was slow, sometimes we’d clear Chaos and Midgarsormr, and others it would be a mess depending on the random team comp we had for the week. Things should have been better by the time we made it to Omega, half the party had cleared with their mains after all. Except that it was the point where everything went south in the background.

We had gained a good White Mage, who would complain about random jibber jabber every now and then, but that was fine, no biggie. Then they brought in their former co-healer from their previous static, a Scholar, and all was supposed to be fine. But then something happened that slowly started to wear us all out. For some reason, we suddenly were struggling some more with Midgarsormr, and then Omega.... Boy, even if we had previously cleared, suddenly the three days with 3 hours of raid time each went on on that goddamned turn, and then the final 15 min would go for Omega Male and Female and the reason was hard to tell at first, we were doing the same old after all. It wasn’t until nearly a month of wiping that probably the group had started to realize what was wrong. Our Scholar wasn’t exactly pulling his full weight.

This is what caused probably something that I should have seen coming and that stuck with me for a long while until now that I found this draft I worked on when the wound became fresh again from just thinking about it. It’s just frustrating, sad to a degree and I brought part of it on myself for trying so hard to be useful to no one. What happened? Well, the leader didn’t want to get involved into any drama by only kicking the Scholar because they were friends with the White Mage, so a disbanding was supposed to be the better way to end things. Except the leader decided to do it in a different and up to date still a very shitty fashion.

Right after we’d finished the last raiding night for the week, he posted an announcement about how people, aka his FC members were tired of constantly bashing their heads against Omega with little success and so they were gonna reform. By kicking the only outsiders of the static team. The White Mage, the Scholar, and me. There was no further explanation, no messages to me, nothing. I was just tossed like that after +6 months of knowing this FC and having raided and hung out with a good chunk of their members. I’d sacrificed so much for them. My time, my confidence to a degree, I had been a slave to their parsers more than a few occasions each time I heard them celebrating or complaining about their numbers. All because I wanted to feel like I could stand on the same levels as them. And I did to a good degree. I reached a point where I knew that my abilities weren’t as bad as the greys on my numbers showed me. But it meant nothing to any of them in the end. No message from the leader that up to that point had kept communication with me for raid times and other stuff. No reaction from the peeps I’d raided the most with.

The most ironic part that I still respect? The only person to apologize, the only one that actually took the time to send me a message after the whole group ‘disbanded’ was the dragoon that I had only ever heard speak about their golden parses and nothing else on discord. We hadn’t even talked up until then. But he still cared more than the people that had known me for longer in that group. Granted, I did get to throw at least a cent in the raid channel about what I thought before getting kicked, so he probably wanted to come out clean on that.

I am glad to no avail that I will never have to see them again, because the server splits sent them to a different data center. But it still left a deep mark on me when it came to XIV. I stopped logging in to do any content for a while, focused more on screenshots, on shady flower lady times until I could learn to love the game again. It probably took longer than I would have liked because all of this happened at the exact time that my friends from my crew had dived into raiding at a deeper level. I got to see them celebrate clearing the final omega. Then server transferring to be with their static before the great split or quitting. And then with Shadowbringers hearing “We’re not looking for a dps caster slot.” Each time anyone needed a fill in for their group.

All this left me at an odd spot, being the veteran that keeps up groups or dungeons on normal modes, but having a hard time trying to get back into my niches in the game. My way of getting through raid had been to think of myself as being replaceable or worthless, but still trying to keep my hope that I’m actually valuable. Getting through all of it alone is not the solution now that I can let go of that bitterness of not being appreciated even as a person. I just happened to get a random chance to try out filling in for a group for a friend. But it wasn’t that what helped me the most both to be back on raids and to have finally built back my confidence. They probably didn’t think that I would check, but I’m the curious kind. Specially when you join a discord that has brief mentions of you on the recent chat. And seeing them mention me, and then vouching over my skills as a player, and how I was their first friend in the server? Well, despite having trouble expressing any feelings myself most of the time, when I get to think of it, you have no idea how much it meant to me.

I managed to get back on what I like and enjoy most of what I do after deciding to take another leap of faith and join this group despite my stigma. Granted, mentions of parses and all will always be there. But not letting them define you, and believing in what you can and can’t do in content, I think is the best choice you can make to have a healthy experience and enjoy yourself as much as possible.

#personal #FFXIV #Raiding can be fun or leave a bad mark on you depending on how you go about it #long post #When I first wrote this it looked more like a rant so off it went to drafts #But its really just my experience overall now that I re read it and added two more cents in it

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westcoastbroadway1443 · 5 years

Text

Welcome to Falsetto Notes

aka my thoughts on Falsettos as I actually finally listen to/watch the whole thing for the first time. I love what I’ve heard of of the show but, like with a lot of shows, I haven’t had the time to actually just sit and absorb the whole thing. Probably nobody is gonna read this, but like what the hell, it’ll be fun to do. So here I go..

"Four Jews in a Room Bitching" – I don’t know what’s happening but I’m loving the beards and the shimmying. Also dig the set, I’m a sucker for a simple set.

"A Tight-Knit Family" – Hearing a lot of bitching but not a lot of funny there, Marv

"Love is Blind" – It’s nice to see the couples set up right at the top here. Mendel and Trina, Whizzer and Marvin, Jason and a chess board. Also where I begin to fall in love with Mendel, love the way he says “alibi” and “I admit I admire you”. Also Andrew’s face during “Hepatitis”, and having Marv and Whizzer just like low key making out in the background. Good job y’all. And praise to Stephanie J Block for having to rattle off super fast lyrics, my brain cannot. I’m starting to realize William Finn doesn’t fuck around here.

"Thrill of First Love" – The second song I ever heard from the musical because...well my two fav broadway guys are flirting, I looked it up. I am so very very gay, and Andrew Rannells is so pretty he sometimes makes me forget I’m not into men. This song somehow manages to make me feel “yipes, maybe you guys shouldn’t be together” and “marvin/whizzer 4eva” at the same time? Their chemistry is pretty fantastic and this is a hard relationship to portray. You see Trina so vulnerable in the last song and already feel bad for her and kind of hate Marvin and don’t know what the hell to feel about Whizzer.

"Marvin at the Psychiatrist (A Three-Part Mini-Opera)" – See this is why family members shouldn’t see the same therapist unless it’s family therapy. Also if I ever had a therapist do weird hypno-hands at me there’s like 70% chance I would not go back. Part 3 is probably my fav.

"Everyone Tells Jason to See a Psychiatrist" – Because of the bad quality of the video I can’t tell if Jason’s shirt is Saturn with a bunch of starts behind it or all of that plus a weird space wizard in the corner. Kids in musicals tend to annoy me, but I like Jason. He’s a little shit, but in a believable way. I wish we got more of him and Whizzer’s relationship to know why he’d want to talk to him, I mean maybe we do and I just haven’t heard it. And Whizzer’s nervous little wave to Trina is everything.

"This Had Better Come to a Stop" – Yes! Drag him! I would conservatively watch like 3 hours of just Trina and Whizzer drinking wine and shitting on Marvin. Songs like this make think of the fact that this was one of Christian Borle’s dream roles and he’s doing great, but I’m curious what drew him to it, I mean I only know him from funnier roles.

"I'm Breaking Down" – Somebody give Trina a hug please, and give Stephanie awards.

"Jason's Therapy" – This role is pretty demanding for a kid since you have to be on stage constantly and I think he does a good job. CONFIRM: There is a space wizard on that shirt. I also wish therapy was as easy as somebody snapping you into a trance, doing air sax, and telling you to feel alright. And Jason encourage Mendel is the cutest.

"A Marriage Proposal" – And I complete the process of falling in love with Mendel, and Brandon Uranowitz. For real this song is adorable and will probably be stuck in my head for awhile.

"A Tight-Knit Family (Reprise)" - NOBODY ASKED YOU, MARVIN!

"Trina's Song" – Trina, darling, go chill with the act 2 lesbians. Fuck these guys.

"March of the Falsettos" – ...ok

"Trina's Song" (Reprise) – Trina rockin a new outfit and new outlook. Rock on, girl

"The Chess Game" – I’ve heard William Finn being praised by Broadway peeps I like and I can see why, I love the way this song is just this verbal dance that keeps building. Also Whizzer’s face during the second chorus is perfect. As much as yeah, Marvin ain’t exactly mr popular in any viewers mind right now, you do see how both their frustrations lead to this point.

"Making a Home" – This is pretty and everyone in this song deserves good things

"The Games I Play" – I feel like Act 1 Whizzer is kind of hard to pinpoint as a character, what he’s feeling and what he wants, but this song was beautiful. I feel like I only ever hear Andrew doing like those big belting songs but this quieter and lower one is just fantastic. Have all the range, young man.

"Marvin Goes Crazy" or "Marvin Hits Trina" – Jason’s face through this song breaks my heart. Mendel, kick that man out your house and change the locks. But I also like that he just holds Trina and Jason, he’s focused on his fam. And Trina’s reaction makes me feel like it had happened at least once before, and Whizzer’s face made me thing with him it had happened a LOT before.

"I Never Wanted to Love You" – MARVIN, YOU LEFT! You’re in demand? Bitch, calm down

"Father to Son" – Jason things about boobies for the first time, and Marvin tries to say oopsie I love you after smacking his mom in the face. Ok, but I do like this song. And I do think this is Marvin trying to change and not be such trash. You get some points for effort.

"Welcome to Falsettoland" – This song is weird and all over the place but I kinda love it. And surprise lesbians! Always welcome!!

"The Year of the Child" – lol I grew up in a very Jewish neighborhood and this is just giving me middle school flashbacks. “The whole things voodoo and I know more than you do” - Mendel (my current fav). Jason’s wee prayer dance, that is all. Also I think I want to befriend my new neighbors just so I can dance into their apartment announcing myself as “the lesbian from next door”.

"Miracle of Judaism" – Hey bro, what happened to chess?

"The Baseball Game" – I had heard this song before and it made me cackle. My poor parents watching me play soccer as a small. And Mendel being the hardest cheerleader! Also how often to Jason and Whizzer talk? What do they talk about? I want these answers. And Marvin quit your flirting, you almost look cute.

"A Day in Falsettoland" – The first song I ever heard, cause Tony’s. Love everything of this song. No notes. Y’all keep being great

"The Fight" / "Everyone Hates His Parents" – I love how over it Mendel gets. His relationship with Jason is one of my fav things in this. “I’m a psychiatrist! Get lost!”

"What More Can I Say" – Who knew? If you’re sweet and not controlling things are nicer in your relationships.

"Something Bad Is Happening/More Racquetball " – DAMN YOU ACT 2 CURSE! WHY YOU ALWAYS GOTTA BE SAD! And hey, Tracie Thoms in a musical that actually shows some of the fucked up that was the AIDS crisis? First time for everything! (Ok that’ll be my only knock on Rent) And fuck you for reprising welcome to falsettoland, I wasn’t ready to get teary yet. Whizzer’s little “I’m sorry”

"Holding to the Ground" – One of the things I like about this show is it doesn’t make anything easy and it lets its characters be real people. Trina is in a fucked up position when it comes to Whizzer, but she still feels some concern and I like that there’s a whole song for how off everything still feels for her.

"Days Like This" – Songs this bittersweet shouldn’t be allowed to be this pleasant sounding. Everyone is just so kind in this song I don’t know what to do with it but I’m gonna keep staying in this sort of state of almost crying.

"Cancelling the Bar Mitzvah" – Ugh Trina and Mendel are trying so hard.

"Unlikely Lovers" – And then Whizzer got better and they all moved in together to be fantastic gay housemates. Yep. That’s what happened. Seriously how’d we get from Thrill of First Love to here?

"Another Miracle of Judaism" – God: the big psychiatrists in the sky

"Something Bad is Happening (Reprise)" - Look when I was mad at Marvin last act I didn’t actually want him to die..

"You Gotta Die Sometime" – Again not the kind of song I’ve heard Rannells do before and I love it. I think that’s what messes with me about this musical, it stars two people I’ve mostly only seen do comedy and now they’re fucking with me and making me cry, it’s rude.

"Jason's Bar Mitzvah" – Oh fuck you Jason. Not really, you’re a doll I just don’t like crying in my room alone at like 4 am. Son of Trina, son of Marvin, son of Whizzer, son of Mendel.

"What Would I Do?" – I was ok until Whizzer started singing too. Then I was less ok.

"Falsettoland (Reprise)" - Marvin finally falling apart was hard, and was he crying because he lost Whizzer or because he knows Jason is going to lose him soon too?

I really enjoyed this, I’m glad I finally listened to/watched it all. As somebody who used to really not enjoy musicals besides Phantom of the Opera in middle school, I always like finding more songs to love. If for some reason you scanned through this and want me to force myself to do it again with another musical, toss a title at me.

#musical #broadway #musical review #Falsettos

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heather-in-heels · 5 years

Text

getting the hell out of student loan debt

I lost my job at the tail end of 2014. I always remember, in vivid detail, spending the week after New Year’s at the airport waiting for a 7 AM flight. Happy 2015 to me! I didn’t have a job. I didn’t have an income. I was on my way to moving back in with my parents. Days prior, I had sold off most of my possessions and gave away the rest to a local Goodwill. And I was returning home saddled with student loans totaling then at $56k.

It felt like I had single-handedly destroyed my life. In retrospect, I think losing that job was the best thing that could have happened to me.

I was home, sheltered and surrounded by loved ones. I was able to mentally regroup again. In between submitting resumes and job applications, I started writing in the advertising space which later ballooned into a big column. Later that year, I went back to work again full-time.

I had more or less resigned myself in 2015 to the idea that my student loan debt would kind of be there forever. That changed in 2016, once I was working again and back on my feet. I started thinking critically about how I wanted to repay my loans. The minimum monthly payments, stretched across seven loans, totaled $653 a month. It was like a drop of water in a bucket. The account stagnated at $56k and didn’t move.

The only way out of this debt was to work, the hardest in my life, and to sacrifice everything. And I did it, to pay off $56k in under a year in full.

Let me share an important disclaimer now: I’m not rich. I believe money is a fluid object, I’m willing to work hard, and I love a good investment. Education is an example of a great investment. Since I first shared this story, I’ve noticed former colleagues examining my LinkedIn profile like hawks. I know it’s because of the dollar sign attached to an extremely tight timeline. I suppose it’s understandable. When you do a great thing, a successful thing, people want to know how you did it. But most don’t want to put in the work. They want the cheat codes.

The answer I made readily visible on social media the entire time! I was working. I worked nonstop. Working allowed me to create a series of nest eggs for myself. I lined them up in a row, knowing I needed each and every egg to go all in with my loan attack plan. I didn’t have much time, either. In mid-2016, I knew I wanted to stop making minimum payments and start full repayments in 2018.

I had two thoughts going in:

1) I was convinced I could repay everything under the 10-year loan timeframe.

2) I would later set a bet for myself, inspired by a conversation with a late friend in 2018, that I could do this, all of it, in under a year.

So, I had less than two years to prepare. Fun!

Rather than run through the laundry list of all the financial mistakes I made prior to hitting reset on my life (you name it, I did it), I’d like to share the best and worst things that happened to me during my repayment period.

BEST

I received an incredible bonus from my side hustle last year. It was for an event I worked myself brittle to the bone for months on top of my full-time job. I remembered being so nervous, thinking the event would be a bust. We sold out. It was a huge success. The bonus wasn’t something I asked for, just a thank you from my boss. I cried when I got it because it cleared one of my loans in full. It changed my life.

How quickly I shifted gears into thinking, believing, knowing I could do this. Once I got into the head space and knew what I had to do, I was ready to go all in.

The ever-present daily support, encouragement, and love from my friends and family. I don’t know how I would have done it without them. I really don’t. The core family unit was there for the good, bad, and ugly. My Mom encouraging me to pay off the largest loan first and my three brothers telling me not to give up. And the crazy pep talk my Dad gave me in late April that convinced me I could run up to my remaining loans like an unhinged, insane person and blow them up to smithereens.

He called me his champion after I was done. That made my year.

WORST

Deferring and defaulting on my loans when I didn’t have a job. (AKA the “all is lost” moment.)

Repaying the private loan of $26k. It was the biggest loan with the largest interest rate. My Mount Everest. You had to scale it bit by bit. I have likened the memory of it to chipping at a block of ice to create a sculpture. Every month, I threw a few grand at that loan while I tried to take out the little guys around it. It gradually decreased to around $12k and I paid it off in full then. This was not a fast process.

The massive wildfire I lived through during the bulk of repayments. That was like watching the “hold my beer” meme come to life. I joke about it now, but the Woolsey Fire was an absolute catastrophe. I had no way of knowing when I got into the thick of my loan repayments that I would be confronted with a natural disaster that came dangerously close to burning down my home. It was extremely scary to evacuate and watch your world hang in the balance for nearly a week. During the Woolsey Fire, I had no choice but to return to minimum repayments. I needed an emergency fund just in case — and this was the greatest emergency.

Doing it alone. Somewhere in the back of my mind I think I always knew I would be alone for this. I didn’t have cosigners. A white knight spouse was not going to save me. I had to do it for “her.” I had to rely on myself for everything, harder than anything I’ve ever done in my life. And even though I went in as prepared as I possibly could have, I did not get out of this without being mentally and physically impacted.

The sheer amount of discipline involved was far too intense. You had to be determined, disciplined, optimistic, and driven at all times. There wasn’t time to rest. I was frantically trying to kill an impossible enemy and keep up the pacing all the time. The physical toll on my health was bad. Very bad. I developed anxiety that impacted my gastrointestinal health and had to take medication to calm my stomach down. I think it will be some time yet before everything gets better internally.

The mental toll was perhaps worse. Everything about my day to day life was a series of dollar signs. I was perpetually at war in my mind where I fantasized about stopping to rest in the snow, but every bit of me screamed “DON’T DO IT GET UP!!!” Because, y’know, when you nap in the snow, you can die there.

I had all of these brain cells telling me to keep pushing ahead coupled with an insane range of emotions running through my head. The stress I was under was crippling. I cried during dinner with a friend last month. Straight up sobbing in public for over 30 minutes, unable to turn it off. It overpowered me.

I was so exhausted, on edge, and full of emotions. I couldn’t do anything about it — like get therapy or sign up for a yoga class — because that costs money. I wasn’t about to incur a credit card balance of any kind in my quest for financial freedom.

So yeah, it was a real mess upstairs. All alone... with my loans.

Would it ever end?

Paying My Loans Alone Might Have Been The Best Thing To Happen To Me

Yeah, you read that right.

I kept reminding myself about the why. Constantly. Asking myself little questions when the going was the roughest.

Why are you doing this? Because I don’t want to celebrate my 32nd birthday with a student loan statement.

Why are you doing this? Because I want my credit score to improve.

Why are you doing this? Because you can’t tell me I made the wrong decision to get an education.

Why are you doing this? Because I am in love with myself and will not let that girl get hurt.

Why are you doing this? Because I am losing my future to debt and I know it.

The more I kept doing this, asking questions and answering them, the more I realized that the answers contained really important granular details.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to grow old with student loans (although let’s be real — I didn’t). I was, and still am, changing on the inside. I knew it. This was an entire chapter of my life that needed to come to a close because keeping it going was preventing every other chapter from beginning. Sitting around with it was, essentially, my long death in the snow. On a less serious note, I’m fond of the pop culture tie-in. Game of Thrones is ending this month... and so did my loan payments.

I’d say it’s bittersweet, but it’s not. I’m not going to miss this part of my life. It’s time for the next chapter to start. If anything, I cannot wait for this part! This chapter will contain more journeys and adventures, unlike any other narrative I had before.

I want to write a book, something non-fiction that has multiple drafts on my desktop and has been a work in progress for years.

i want to get a ton of dental work. Priority number one.

I want to travel. I forgot how much I like to go to places! Italy and Monte Carlo, please. Miami for Ultra 2020. Travel will beget another kind of movement, too.

I plan to aggressively pursue true love to the extent I did with my loan repayments. In terms of personal goals, this one is going to be huge. After 10 years of dating, it’s time to get out of this single person clown car. I’m enlisting the help of my girlfriends, paying for eHarmony, and deleting the free dating apps for the real thing. Calling all soulmates — I’m debt free now and did it all on my own. That’s hot! (Serious inquiries only.)

Paying off my loan allowed me to return to my dreams. Now that I know what I’m capable of, I feel confident I can reach each one. I really do.

Living starts when you get the hell out of student debt. Do whatever it takes now, remember to keep asking yourself about the “why,” and do not give up until you’re running past the finish line.

Be your own champion!

#personal #student loans

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icharchivist · 5 years

Note

hey icha whats hypmic??

Heyaaa and ooooh dear where do i even begin…..

Erg so in very short it’s a musical mixed media story that have kind of a corny set up that is mostly an excuse to have fictional male characters of different background involve themselves into rap battles? Most of its content comes from songs and drama CD, even if there are a few manga adaptation covering a couple of the drama tracks (albeit all those covered are how the teams got together and all).

In a little more depth: Basically a group of 12 Seiyuu decided to band together into a principe of rap battle, that would also give a spotlight to multiple rap artists in Japan, as they do collaboration by writting/composing the songs. All of the Seiyuu play different characters divided in 4 divisions: Buster Bros!! for Ikebukuro, Mad Trigger Crew for Yokohama, Fling Posse for Shibuya, and Matenrou for Shinjuku. Each divisions/characters have distinct styles of music or text to differenciate them.

The idea is that, after World War 3 and a lot of the population dying, weapons causing harms had been outlawed, instead remplaced by what we call Hypnosis Microphone (or Hypmic), weapons that attack the brain via its sonic vibes, thus are more powerful depending on how savy you are with words and sounds and all of that. (like i said, it’s corny, it’s really just a pretext for the battles ahah)

The Government, that is kinda shady, took hold into Chuuouku, the center of the city, and the rest of the towns are left to fend for their own, indulging in territories battles. By the time the story start, 4 teams have taken a hand into 4 divisions where they try their best to low the crime rate and make life better, this sort of stuff. Recently however, the Government decided to keep a closer eye on the Rap Battle themselves, organizing huge Event in Chuuouku for the Divisions to fight each other, and the winner can therefore have major impact on what gets developped in the city and all.

It’s also important to know that the 4 leaders of the divisions, Ichiro, Samatoki, Ramuda and Jakurai, used to be in a band together, The Dirty Dawg, and they were very close - Something ended up breaking up the band (it is unsure what it is exactly) and left them with sort of bittersweet relationship with each other as they’re now in a position where they have to fight each other.

Again though most of it is mostly a pretext for songs and character driven plotlines for those 12 to fuck shit up:

youtube

(here a link to the translation, and here’s a link for the playlist of the songs they put on youtube - mostly previews except for the Ensemble songs - i can send the full songs/drama CDs but in private since it’s… illegal and all.You’ll find all the translations out on this website, and here you’ll find the drama tracks. And there for the solo songs only but idk how long this website will keep them up.)

(btw here’s the second ensemble song and here’s the third one - i tend to prefer them to the first one so here they are)

So like i said, corny, but character driven and i love those morons, and the songs are bangers, and i ended up loving it ways too much.

I’ll enter more in depth on the Divisions under the cut bc i do think knowing a bit the characters give a better idea but yeah kdjfhd my latest obsession rip.

If you’re reading this i’m so sorry i’m going to geek out over my 12 stupid sons.

btw (MC: ___) is their scene names, basically.

And erg while i try to avoid spoilers from the latest season, there’s a lot of “spoilers” from backstory exposition or information spreads through the drama tracks and the songs, so either just scroll to see the name and all or read at your own risks?

Buster Bros!!! representing Ikebukuro Division - in red, Ichiro Yamada (19yo) the leader,in blue, Jiro Yamada (16yo), in yellow Saburo Yamada (14). (Previews of their solo songs, preview of their first group song Ikebukuro West Game Park, their second group song: Ohayo Ikebukuro!)

Ichiro, Jiro and Saburo are brothers - they are orphans (unknown why but since Ichiro rejects any fathr figure p strongly i think it’s linked to their father) and Ichiro, the eldest brother, had taken care of his two little brothers most of his life to the point of being a delicant before being recruited by the Dirty Dawg. Before the story started the boys weren’t all that close, but by now, both little brothers want to prove their worth to their eldest brothers and when the Dirty Dawg broke up and Ichiro had to figure out which team to make for the Rap Battles, both brothers offered to help. Despite both being ways too young for this they still both ended up proving themselves. They also tend to fight for their big brother’s attention a lot.

Ichiro (MC Big Brother) himself seems to be a rather warm and friendly person - he works odd jobs all around town, kind of like a mercenary but doing just… any sort of work being asked of him, just not in the illegal stuff when he can avoid it. He’s rather hot headed. He used to be very close from the Dirty Dawg who took care of him when they met, especially Samatoki, but since the band’s break up, it seems there is a particularly sour relationship with Samatoki neither of them are over with. Ichiro often disses Samatoki out of nowhere in his raps lmao. Aside from that he’s a complete geek and loves manga and anime and video game - all the stuff you’d expect.

Jiro, (MC Middle Brother) the second, tends to follow Ichiro’s path a lot, being a bit in delincance and stuff, creating himself a web of contacts. He tends to copy Ichiro in his passions in order to impress him. He’s also very social and get friends very easily. He’s constantly bickering with Saburo who seems to see their “brotherhood” as a competition. They used to be very close when they were younger but now they’re always at each other’s throat.

Saburo (MC Little Brother), the third, doesn’t really want to follow the path of his brothers but he wants to be useful in his own way. Incredibly clever, he is a very good hacker and can find information very quickly. He also has some of the sickest burn of the lot but i’m biased. Unlike Jiro, Saburo is really not social at all and has very few friends. His whole world is about being the best he can be for Ichiro.He likes things that can stimulate his brian, especially board games and the likes.

Mad Trigger Crew, representing Yokohama Divison- Center in white, Samatoki Aohitsugi(25) the Leader - with glasses, Juuto Iruma (29), in military uniform, Riou Busujima Manson (28).(Previews of their solo songs, preview of their first group song: Yokohama Walker, their second group song: Dead Pools)

If The BB are linked by the fact they’re brothers, MTC is linked by being….. Involved in armed illegal activities? Samatoki is the second in command of a Yakuza family, Juuto is a corrupted cop who is close to Samatoki because of… work…. and Riou kinda ended up tagging along. Anyway they’re in charge of Yokohama which seems to be a part of the city that suffered pretty badly from the war and have high crime rates.

In more details, Samatoki (MC Mr Hardcore) is involved in the mafia. He explains in his personal song that his mother killed his abusive father before killing herself, leaving him to take care of his little sister, Nemu, which is what led him to a life of crime. His Yakuza clan seems to have a honor code though so they’re not involved in too much dirty stuff. Every sacrifice Samatoki did was for his sister. So obviously he saw a bit of himself in Ichiro when they originally met, and was one of the influencial force to keep Ichiro out of the crime life knowing pretty well where it’s headed. The Band breakup left a particularly sour taste in Samatoki’s mouth regarding Ichiro, feeling betrayed by whatever happened back then, and since then he tends to be. touchy. when it’s question of Ichiro. As in, almost caused a car crash while he wasn’t driving just thinking about Ichiro. He’s a mess. He’s also very short tempered.

Juuto (MC 45 Rabbit) is a corrupted cop: while he works with the police and all the stuff, he has ties with Samatoki’s yakuza clan and will do shady stuff in order to maintain this alliance. Mostly blackmail, bailing Samatoki out of jail, all this sort of things. He seems to have a specific reason to accept it, a necessary evil to get rid of wickedness in the city. Juuto’s backstory was only developped in the latest drama tracks so it would count as spoilers but let’s say he has reasons to do so.He’s generally more down to earth and more tongue in cheek. He knows how to pick up people’s weaknesses let’s say.

Riou (MC Crazy M) is an army man who isn’t aware the war is over. He has been living in survival mode in the forest of Yokohama for the past few years, having also one of the prototype Hypnosis Mic, with more raw power. His hobbies is to cook from… unusual sources. Samatoki and Juuto are terrified by his cooking. There isn’t much revealed yet about Riou’s backstory however. Juuto found out about him and put him in contact with Samatoki when it was question to develop MTC, and they have since then developped a companionship of sort.

Fling Posse, representing Shibuya Division (also they’re my favs❤ which will be obvious in two mins bc i rambled much more about them holy fuck)- In the middle with pink hair, Ramuda Amemura (24), with brown hair, Gentaro Yumeno (24), with blue hair, Dice Arisugawa (20)(Previews of their solo songs, preview of their first group song, Shibuya Marble Texture, their second group song: Stella (aka my most listened hypmic song that made me unhealthily obsessed with the series) )

I don’t even know where to start with them. Don’t be fooled by how cute they look, they’re the most shady group. Officially, they’ve all been recruited by Ramuda “only for the thrill of it”, “To kill boredom”, but it also happens that they are the three with the most ties to the government. But none of them tend to really talk about it. Not really. They are very “living in the present” kind of people, even if it comes with risks. Ramuda gathered them for his own agenda. Neither Gentaro nor Dice knew each other before Ramuda put them together and neither know why Ramuda gathered them aside as “for the thrill”. Gentaro however has major doubts over the kind of person Ramuda is.

Ramuda (MC Easy R) is their leader. He is a fashion designer. He was the one who put the Dirty Dawg together back in the days, and seems to have… weird reasons to do anything he’s ever doing. Honestly i don’t know how to even touch how shady he is, but he’s all shade of shady. He will however always sound super cute. The only person he seems to not bear the sight of is Jakurai, his ex-teammate from the Dirty Dawg. They used to be very close but now things are very tense in between them, mostly with Ramuda setting as much distances as possible he can and hardly managing to remain cheerful around him.

Gentaro (MC Phantom) is a writter and also a chronic liar. You litterally cannot trust a single thing coming out of his mouth, he’s always making something up. His personal song is supposed to talk about his past but there’s like, a big lie in the begining of it (”I was born in winter” yOU’RE BORN ON APRIL THE FIRST.). One thing that is certain about him however, is that he has a friend who is very sick and at the hospital and that it seems to be the motivation behind all of his lies, as he started to make up fictions to cheer up his friend and turned his own life into a fiction by extension. There’s more shady stuff about him and his past, i could discuss it for hours (he’s my fav kdhfd). But mostly, he’s just the kind to tease people a lot and to not really expect to have friends that stick arounds, considering himself a untrustworthy unredeemable trash. He has a weird dynamic with his own sense of self, always making up false selves. I legit could talk for hours about it kdjhfd. He tends to over-tease Dice because Dice falls for every single of his lies, and he tends to have a soft spot for him. He’s also extremely observant since he writes story he makes up from people he observes, so he catches on stuff more easily. Gentaro’s lyrics are often more inclined toward poetry or well, work of fictions (he wrote Stella in verse and Stella is kindof a Posse!Au of how Gentaro sees the Posse. Stellaaaaaa)

Dice (MC Dead or Alive) is… a professional disaster? Joke aside, he’s a gambler who tends to push his luck a loooot. (there’s a lot of implications about how he doesn’t have a stable place to crash in because most of his rent money go into gambling). His outlook on life are really mostly that he wants to live a life that gives him legit thrills. He hates being bored. It’s heavily implied that he comes from a rich, influencial family but threw it all away for his addiction. The only reason he agreed to join the Posse was for the thrill the rap battles would provide. He also kinda considers himself a lowrate trash due to the lifestyle he’s living.He’s rather guilible, falling for every single of Gentaro’s lies despite how obvious they are, and gets teased a lot by both of his teammates. He’s also fiercely protective and combative. He is also the king of bad decisions and of having to drag his posse in them. (well mostly Gentaro). He’s also loves the Posse in itself and is the one who’s the most likely to brag about how great his band is. He genuinely loves his teammates and it makes me so soft,,. He’s also very perceptive, realizing very quickly when his teammates are changing their mood. And again he protecc,,

Matenrou - Representing Shinjuku DivisionCenter with purple hair: Jakurai Jinguji (35), the blond is Hifumi Izanami (29) and the gingerhead is Doppo Kannonzaka (29)(Previews of their solo songs, preview of their first group song, Shinjuku Style, their second group song: Papiyon that wasn’t put on youtube yet but should in a couple of weeks)

Matenrou is the band with the darkest aesthetic, protecting the Shinjuku’s division that came to be known mostly for the health problems, if i understand well also because the only functioning hospital is located there. Jakurai is a doctor and Doppo is his patient, while Hifumi is Doppo’s childhood friend and roomate. They end up tangled together after Hifumi gets threats on his life pushing Doppo to reach out for Jakurai, who took an interest on them as possible teammates when everything unfolded.

Jakurai (MC ill-Doc) is… an interesting character i dare not to spoil the backstory of but let’s say he has some dark past. As a person however, he is fascinated by people’s psychee, how they work, what pushes them to do stuff, and is therefore attracted to “interesting people”, people that makes him want to explore human’s psychee. Back in the Dirty Dawg’s day, it was what drove Jakurai to be very interested in Ramuda…. Until he considered Ramuda’s humanity too lost to be saved after the band broke up, which Jakurai blames partially on Ramuda. Ramuda remains the only person to have ever made Jakurai lose his patience. Otherwise, Jakurai is a rather collected and a very kind man, who tries to reach out and help others when he can. But again, dark past and stuff and some shady stuff went on with Ramuda. He found an interest in Doppo and Hifumi as he got to know them and now is rather protective of the two of them, often going fishing with Hifumi and doing anything to uplift Doppo.He’s also a terrible drinker. Don’t let him drink.He has one of my favorite solo song though and he has a sort of goth existantialism vibe to him i just love.

Hifumi (MC Gigolo) is Doppo’s childhood best friend and roomate. Now Hifumi’s story is a bit huh.. particular. When he was very young he had had a very traumatic experience with women that led him to be utterly terrified of being even nearby one. When he reached adulthood, he considered he couldn’t keep going like that and forced himself into a woman dominated space by becoming a Host, to overcome his fear. It was so hard on him however that he ended up… coping by considering that when he was wearing the Suit of the Host, he was a complete different person. Not quite split personality, but autosuggestion mostly. He gets into all sort of troubles with the suit on however. The only person he relies completely on is Doppo, whom he knows from childhood and with whom he lives. Hifumi is a good cook, and is always trying to cheer up his friend. because…

Doppo (MC Doppo) is an anxious disaster of a man. He’s your typical overworked office worker, who is handling this life pretty badly. He feels like his whole life is something he should be apologizing for, which he does all the time. He’s honestly unhealthily anxious and that’s why he is Jakurai’s patient. He’s seriously a depressed, anxious disaster who’s only light seems to mostly be that Hifumi cheers on him all the time… when Hifumi doesn’t create a terrible situation Doppo feels like he has to apologize for. However Doppo is someone you can rely on, with a lot of frustration bottled inside him to the point of it becoming an amazing weapon once unleashed with the rap battles. He’s very quick and ressourceful when put into extreme lifethreatening situation, which got Jakurai’s attention a lot.

So this is the main divisions and characters. There are more developped via the drama CDs obviously, more plot and all, but that’s the gist of it. Honestly again it’s just a pretext for characters and songs that fits their characters.

I personally never expected to care about it that much - i have friends who had been talking about it for over a year and i just knew it a bit in passing until i started to casually listen to the songs - and then i went down the rabbit hole when i ended up loving the songs too much to not care for the characters. (Stella was my breaking point though. The moment it came out I was lost. This was the moment i dedicated myself to it. I could go on a full ramble just on Stella alone.)

And yeah it kinda shows i have a major bias but my favs are truly the Posse - both as characters and as music style goes. Close second is Matenrou though i love their aesthetics.

the first battle season is over, it’s easy to know from their youtube how it unfolded ahah. The first round was BB VS MTC, the second FP VS MTR. Each rounds came with drama CD setting up the dynamics of the characters in and out of their bands, which was pretty cool.

After the First Battle Season ended we were blessed with a drama track and song from the Dirty Dawg era which is why i cannot stop shutting the fuck up about it dkjhfd it makes me so sad to look back to how close they were and how they threw all of this away….

Now a new season is starting but this is where we’re missing translations so we just… wait.

There are a few manga that covers a few of the drama tracks but not all, and there will be a mobile game soon.

But yeah that’s. that’s basically the basis.

And it is far too entertaining to me kdjhfd

and i probably shouldn’t have written all of that with a killer headache but i,, love they,,,

so yeah this is all there is to know. If you’ve read it this far… i admire your patience. Thank u

And take care!

#ichafantalks hpm #ay ay ay!#long post for ts #if the cut doesn't work dkfhdf #draculater #ichareply

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shidoukanae · 6 years

Text

Ryoken Kogami/Revolver Character Analysis (Part 1)

Let me preface this by saying that, truly, I despise Ryoken’s character. I hold a variety of reasons why I hate him (and let’s just say that the fandom does not help) but for the sake of this analysis, I’m going to ignore my bias as much as I can. The fandom constantly pushes Ryoken as such a great and majestic character that I can’t help but think it must be true, if only to some degree. So, for the sake of sating my own curiosity, I’m going to go through literally every episode with Ryoken ever in order to try and piece together what makes him such a beloved and idolized character in this fandom.

This includes extensively and exhaustingly peeking through canon and critiquing what is said, and what is not said, what works, and what doesn’t about Ryoken’s character. In order to achieve this, I’m going to painstakingly write this analysis first as an episode by episode critique of Ryoken’s character (and its build-up) and then, afterwards, I’m going to piece together the pieces to summarize what is, objectively, the outcome of Ryoken’s character. My goal in this is not to appease any one side of the fandom (whether one loves Ryoken or hates him) but to sincerely discover what the VRAINS canon defines his character as and whether or not he’s as great as the fandom suggests he is.

So, that all said, let’s start with episode 1:

Episode 1 literally starts with Revolver’s (Ryoken’s, same diff) introduction. And, I must say, this introduction is done spectacularly. It’s a bit confusing the first time around, but it works. We see from the beginning what Revolver wants in life – the Cyberse and, therefore, the Ignises, gone from the world. Already, we start his character strong: he has a motive which he wants to fulfill and is working to succeed in his goals.

And, when Ai escapes, he continues to pursue those goals by persistently insisting on the destruction of the last Ignis. If Revolver lacked in determination, he wouldn’t have bothered to send his “army” off to kill the Ignis. Revolver shows no mercy to his opponents, and that is already highlighted here within the very first minutes of the show.

Now, moving on, the next scene that Ryoken shares some importance in is with Spectre a couple more minutes into the episode. There’s been a time skip, obviously, but, even so, Revolver’s mission hasn’t changed: he wants the Ignises. Why, for now, is unclear but that’s not the point of this scene. The point, rather, is to establish a variety of things:

For one, that Revolver has a relationship with a man (ok well boy) named “Spectre”. For another, Revolver is doggedly tracking down the Ignis and yet has failed for a time frame of 5 years. That’s a long time to have made not any progress in and it’s almost....unimpressive even. For Revolver, I mean. Because, after all, Revolver is leader of the Knights of Hanoi, an already-established terrifying hacker group. And, even then, it’s him (+ Spectre and the Hanoi Family and Kogami and the Knights of Hanoi) against one Ignis – how has Ai managed to survive one year much less five?

I know the Ignises are established in canon as a super advanced race of sentient beings but…even still…I feel like Ai having been able to avoid them this long is stupendously impressive, honestly.)

But, moving on from mid-writing tangents, there’s also a third part to this second scene: Revolver’s introduction to Playmaker. Granted, it’s not in person, but it’s still very much important. Revolver is made aware of the fact that Playmaker is interfering in his business and, while it’s a reasonable nuisance to him, Revolver waives it off because Playmaker’s name means so little to him at this point.

There’s also a fourth point too, but it’s very minor here. That point being that Revolver knows of SOL and seems to detest them for reasons that, again, are not made apparent quite yet in the show.

The next scene with Revolver isn’t very important. Revolver is watching over SOL’s actions as the security scan begins and then takes action to capture the Ignis (who he believes and accurately predicts will flee). Not much to note here other than the fact that Ryoken is prepared and ready at a moment’s notice to fulfill his ambitions.

Episode 2:

“We spent years getting rid of Cyberse users...but there’s still one left?”

Users is an interesting choice of word, considering that it’s the monsters that Ryoken’s talking about, not actual duelists who use Cyberse monsters, according to later episodes. Then again, this whole sentence is worded so weirdly I can’t make heads or tails of it considering what we know about how the Cyberses were created. Maybe this was an earlier idea that was scrapped? Or, perhaps, it’s just an awkwardly translated/phrased sentence considering what we know 40+ episodes later.

[Context here since this is relevant to a much later episode: The Ignises created the Cyberse monsters. It was never stated that these monsters were given to anyone else (nor explained how Playmaker himself got his cards). However, somehow both Takeru and Bowman have them. The latter likely does because of Hal and the stealing of the Ignises technology after the destruction of the Cyverse. The former you can say because he’s one of the Six Kids and it’s to be expected at this point, I guess. However, if the Lost Kids have Cyberse monsters and are therefore “users”...how is Takeru a Cyberse user if there’s only one left (aka Playmaker)? Did he somehow get under the radar this entire time? I have questions, show.]

Surprisingly, this is the only scene Revolver shows up in (unless I skipped something? I never once heard Revolver’s voice after this and I didn’t see him either so idk). It’s not much, but it does explain some things, however confusing this sentence is.

For one: Revolver does not want the Cyberse type to exist and apparently has eliminated any that do exist to the point that is surprised that there is “still one left”. Talk about going to the furthest extent to reach your goals, geez. If anything, this shows even more that Revolver is dogged about tracking down his prey, doing as much as possible to eliminate those who stand with the Ignises and in his way...

Episode 3:

There’s two parts to this episode involving Revolver, but the first one is obvious: Revolver sensing the Ignises presence from within the Link VRAINS world.

Now, I’ll admit, this scene is very well done and just…eerie. You have Yusaku and Shoichi freaking out as the world “glitches” and then Ryoken flies into view on his ace monster, red eventually painting the background as he looks menacingly into the camera.

I have many questions on how exactly Revolver knew that the Ignis was around that exact location. I don’t recall canon ever giving a proper explanation for this scene (except for “Link Sense” on Yusaku’s side and a lost “connection” on Ryoken’s side) but, given Revolver’s lack of a special sixth sense, I’m going to say that Ai’s malfunctioning led to some sort of signal flare that led Ryoken directly to the same area as Yusaku. How this works, I have no fucking clue. Perhaps Link VRAINS overlaps Den City somehow and, when these two things “merge”, a signal given off in the real world can be usurped and expressed in the digital world as well? I don’t know, and I doubt canon will ever explain, either.

Moving on, we’re introduced officially to Revolver as the Leader of the Knights of Hanoi. This does little except to confirm earlier suspicions that Revolver is, indeed, the commander of the Knights of Hanoi. Please, please, please keep this fact in mind because I know for a fact it’s going to be important later and impact so much of Revolver’s character.

Next scene with Revolver is more establishment. The connection to the Ignis is cut and, unable to find the thing he wants to destroy most. We see Revolver frustrated and…can I say, almost angry at himself for failing? It doesn’t come off that way directly, but that’s the general sense I’m getting from him.

Dr. Kogami is introduced next, though we know little about him at the moment. Revolver inquires to him about a “new project”, to which Dr. Kogami explains he needs more time. It can be speculated that this project is likely the Cage of Fire card seen later on in the show, though tbh the project really doesn’t feel much important here except as foreshadowing for later on.

“I don’t think they’re capable of analyzing the Ignis. But I don’t want to give them too much time.”

“I know. If you can draw out Playmaker, you’re certainly capable of defeating him.”

Then, there’s also an interesting back and forth between Revolver and Dr. Kogami. Revolver doesn’t want Playmaker to discover the Ignises’ secrets, so he wants to defeat Playmaker as soon as possible. In other words, Revolver wants to rush his way to the Ignis, seeing Playmaker as an obstacle he must defeat in order to reach his goal.

Cont. on from above:

[Alarm bell rings]

“I’ll leave now.” -Revolver

“Thank you.” -Kogami

[Transitions to Ryoken. Ryoken approaches his father and holds his hand]

“I promise to fulfill my father’s wishes.”

In hindsight, this is actually powerful. At the time, most of the fandom didn’t associate Dr. Kogami with the man in the bed. Now, however, there’s something almost bittersweet about this scene. Ryoken is showing his dedication to his father by attending to him in the real world, keeping him alive while promising to help aid his father’s wishes into fruition.

There’s also almost a kind of respect between the father and son with the first part of the exchange. Kogami depends on Revolver to keep his body alive and healthy, but he doesn’t at all force Revolver to attend to him. Instead, Revolver seems to take initiative, having an alarm system set in place that warns him of his father’s condition. And, when Revolver takes his leave, Kogami thanks him not as if it’s expected of Ryoken, but almost as if he felt Revolver was doing it of his own free will and that Kogami should show his thanks to Ryoken even despite the father-son boundary.

There’s nothing bad or abusive or inherently evil about Revolver’s and Kogami’s interactions. Instead, it seems like an odd and awkward balance. Dr. Kogami is Revolver’s father, a figure of power in Revolver’s, and yet we’re shown that he’s dependent on Revolver, needing him in the real world to keep his body and mind in-tact. On Revolver’s side, we see a wish to help his father, a desperate need to do his best to give his father piece of mind. They are also very much on the same page, referring to a “project” that Revolver is not kept away from and from which Dr. Kogami doesn’t try to hide from him.

I got the feeling that, in a way, both of Kogami and Revolver are on equal terms, both trying to reach the same goal but only in the ways that they themselves can do it in. Kogami is a mass of virtual bits and pieces so, naturally, he knows how to use Link VRAINS to his advantage as a hacker. Revolver is the leader of the Knights of Hanoi, a terrorist group so, naturally, he can use his numbers to help him find Playmaker and weed the man out. It’s a very interesting dynamic that I wish, in hindsight, was explored a little bit more because it certainly seems like this dynamic could have proved very interesting had we seen it more fleshed out.

[Ahhh, update on this. Apparently, it’s expected in Eastern culture for family members to take care of each other when they’re ailing. Therefore, it’s actually more believable for Kogami to expect Revolver to care of him. It doesn’t mean that Revolver isn’t still taking care of Kogami out of his own free will, but it’s definitely also a cultural aspect I was unaware of. Thanks to @haawkgirl for pointing this out to me!)

Episode 1-3 conclusion:

Is it too late to say that I really like how the show reveals Ryoken within the first 3 set of episodes? I actually don’t despise him at all here and still can’t despise him here despite loathing his character. He’s set up really well as this mysterious yet sympathetic villain and it’s such a great depiction. I can see why people like him from these episodes alone and can agree with the sentiment that he’s a Very Intriguing character at this stage in time.

However, that said, episodes 1-3 are the only episodes that ever made a strong impact on me in terms of Revolver’s character. Moving on from these episodes, I can’t guarantee that I’ll think any highly of him from here on out. My goal is to remain unbiased as I continue this analysis, but that won’t stop me from pointing out flaws, virtues, and what could have, perhaps, been done better.

Next up: Episodes 6-8

#vrains #yugioh vrains #Ryoken Kogami #Revolver #Playmaker #Yusaku Fujiki #Dr. Kogami #Kiyoshi Kogami #Ai #Spectre #character analysis #oh boi if you think this is long just wait #there is so much more and this is honestly the shortest section of this analysis so far #I Am Dedicated to seeing why people love Revolver so much as the fan favorite character #Very Dedicated

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jinwoostro-archive · 7 years

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The Lost Prince - 4

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Aka the Binu Prince au that no one asked for

The two had been travelling for what felt like an eternity.

Two moons had passed since he left the palace and the journey had somehow become harder.

Having never left the palace for more than a day in his lifetime, this entire shift made him constantly uneasy. He was a creature of habit and nothing about this fit in with his system.

The food he had packed was running scarce. He should’ve realised that the course would’ve last for a few days at all but the rolls of bread he had left was diminishing. This was one of those times where he cursed his past self, if only he brought his bow and arrow he could have hunted for food.

The Prince’s stomach growled. He slammed a hand to it and blushed fiercely. Once realising he blushed in the presence of no one…he blushed even more.

‘Really,’ he thought ‘Of all the undignified things I could’ve been cursed with.” As a child and a young teen his face was constantly stained pink, from eye contact with beautiful men and women to small slip ups. He’d flush and duck his head, a smile or frown fixated on his face.

He shook his head and hit his cheeks repeatedly, right now the priority was finding food for both himself and Bobo.

He dismounted the horse and patted Bobo’s neck, he always told him that he’d done a good job after a ride but now only a smile would suffice.

The darkness was rapidly sweeping through the grassy hills and the young Prince had 2 options. Either set up camp to protect himself and Bobo from the dangers of the night or to satisfy his hungers.

Deciding that setting up camp would be the best option he unclasped his cloak and laid on the back of his horse.

As he laid the cloak down he could hear something in the distance. It was a voice.

His movements became more slow, he unsheathed his sword from the and walked towards the voice, knees bent and in a ready fighting stance. As he got closer to the voice it seemed to be less like someone talking and more like someone...singing?

The singing voice sent his heart panging. It was a bittersweet feeling, hearing someone sing beautifully when he couldn’t do it.

He lowered his voice as he got closer to it. He could now see a silhouette of a man, from what he could make out the man was around the same height as him and had a very good build.

‘He’d be able to put up a fight then.’ He thought ’But how likely is it that he’ll show aggression?”

Thinking that it wouldn’t do any harm to introduce himself he reached out his free hand to tap the man on the shoulder and the last thing he remembered was a sharp pain on the side of his head and then nothing.

‘Get up slowly, no sudden movements.’ Was the first thing the Prince heard when he came to

A smiling handsome face was looking down at him. It was a smile that seemed pure and without lies, a smile that Eunwoo wanted to smile back at.

That was until he remembered what happened and sat up abruptly, colliding their heads together.

Both sprang away from each other, both clutching their heads, only one screaming in pain.

“You! You idiot!” He hissed through clenched teeth “I told you to no sudden movements. And what did you do? You decided to catapult your head against mine. Brilliant move.”

It seemed that his pain was forgotten and instead sarcasm took its place.

But the Prince had his hands clasped together around the back of his neck and his elbows pressed tightly against the sides of his head. He was on his knees and his back was hunched over.

The man stopped chastising him once he heard the heavy breathing coming from the hunched figure.

“Hey, um, you okay there?” He reached out a hand and rubbed the strangers back. From the little he had learned from people he saw in the streets, they usually comforted each other with close physical affection. But he didn’t think the man would appreciate a kiss to the forehead or a violent hug. He looked too delicate for it.

Instead, he put his hands just under the Prince’s elbows and lifted him up so that they were face to face.

The man’s teeth were grinded together and eyebrows knitted, it was clear he was in pain, an immense amount.

But as soon as he saw his face the pain disappeared and anger replaced his it.

Eunwoo pushed against the man with as much strength as he could, sending them both sprawling to ground.

“What is your problem?” The man huffed lifting himself up and scowling down at Eunwoo who was supporting himself up on his elbows.

“All I’ve done is try to help you and you haven’t once said ‘thank you’ or even showed you’re grateful in some way.”

Eunwoo’s angry look slowly dissipated and turned into a more confused look.

‘Who was this man? It seems as though he has no care for manners of address.’ He wasn’t used to being scolded by someone who looked the same age as him and he didn’t think he liked it.

“Even the people in the southern towns have more manners than you. The southern towns!” The man continued.

Considering the Prince had never ventured as far as the forests surrounding their palace he had no knowledge of their manners, or lack of it.

The man stood there breathing heavily while pointing a hand towards the south and staring accusatively down at Eunwoo.

It might have been a few seconds, or it might have lasted a minute. But the awkwardness and tension in the air made it feel more drawn out.

The prince let his stubbornness take over, maintaining his glare and refusing to back down. It seemed the stranger had the same streak of obstinacy because he mimicked the angry stare.

Eventually though, the man grew tired. He rubbed a hand over his face and reached out a hand to the prince.

“I’m Moonbin.” The prince made no move to respond. Moonbin sighed and tensed his arm.

“I’m. Moonbin.” He repeated, pausing between each word.

At the lack of response, he closed his palm into a fist.

“Usually, it’s considered polite manners to respond a greeting.” He squatted down so him and the prince were at eye level.

“I don’t know who you are,” he whispered. He lifted a hand and gestured at the Prince’s clothes, a slight sneer gracing his face. “But I have no care for nobles. You’re far from where you belong, and out here everyone is the same. Rank doesn’t exist. So I would suggest you to swallow your pride and talk to the commoners you deem unworthy of your time.”

He stood up, never once blinking. His face was impassive yet there was an energy buzzing around him. Like he couldn’t believe he finally did it, stood up to a bully, stood up to someone that had caused so much of his suffering.

“We may not have all your money, or all the advantageous that you have. But it doesn’t mean you’re better than us. Out here you’re like us, dirt. Common.”

The prince also stood up, drawing himself to his full height and puffing his chest. While he hated pulling out his royal status, there was little he hated besides being belittled. He opened his mouth and…silence. No words came out. No matter how much he tried to force the words out nothing came. The more he tried to force the words out the more it hurt. His already torn throat felt like it was on fire. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes and every rational thought was telling him to stop, telling him it was doing more harm than good. But he had to. He had to speak. He couldn’t not speak.

He fell to the ground, shaking arms being the only thing supporting him. Slowly, one by one, tears fell from his unblinking eyes, landing perfectly on the dry ground. Perfect, that’s all he was known as, right?

Perfect face, perfect student, perfect prince, the epitome of perfection.

Not anymore though.

He flinched from the sudden touch. The stranger, Moonbin, had touched his arm.

“um, are you okay?” All the fire that had captured his being had been doused out and replaced with concern.

It wasn’t Moonbin’s fault, he had no connection to the witch, Eunwoo knew that, but he couldn’t help but vent his frustrations on the man.

He grabbed the hand on his arm and threw it away with as much force as he could.

Trying to turn away was unsuccessful as Moonbins hand returned to his arm and had gripped it tight.

“Why won’t you talk to me?” he said calmly.

Somehow the calm was scarier than him raising his voice. Eunwoo shook his head.

Moonbin gripped tighter and raised his voice slightly.

“Why won’t you talk to me?”

Again, Eunwoo shook his head. This time squeezing his eyes shut.

Moonbin gripped his other arm and shook him once, now seething.

“Why won’t you talk?”

Eunwoo opened his mouth and shook his head slightly.

He flitted his eyes between each of Moonbin’s eyes, as if trying to explain everything just through them.

He must have understood something because the grip on his arms relaxed slightly, and the hostile look waned.

Eunwoo freed one arm and hovered his hand over his throat, using his other hand to point at it.

Thankfully, it seemed Moonbin wasn’t dim-witted for he realised that the reason the prince didn’t say anything was not because he didn’t want to. But it was because he couldn’t.

Moonbin hit the back of his neck with his palm, letting out an awkward laugh.

“Ah, I really didn’t know. Um, hopefully? Maybe? We can put this behind us?”

Eunwoo crossed his arms, raising his brows.

“Ah what am I saying… Um, I apologise for how I acted, even though you were acting jerk.”

Eunwoo bristled, even when apologising this man trod on every one of his nerves.

He was impossible.

“Wrong thing to say?” He gave an awkward smile, face flushed pink. “How about we start over?”

Despite the way he managed to irritate him, Eunwoo strangely found his clumsy personality endearing.

Moonbin gave a smile, his features softening instantly. He stuck out a hand, and said, almost too cheerfully

“Good day, I’m Moonbin. And who might who be?”

Eunwoo couldn’t seem to stop his lips curving into a smile. He reached out and gripped Moonbin’s hand.

He mouthed ‘Eunwoo’. Even still, at the back of his head, the fact that he wouldn’t be able to speak still lingered.

“Woo-woo?” Moonbin asked, head tilted questioningly.

The prince’s mouth widened into a silent laugh and his eyes formed crescent shapes. Between laughs he managed to mouth out his name again. This time mouthing each syllable carefully and slowly.

“Ah, Eunwoo?”

He gave a joyful nod at Moonbin finally getting his name right.

“Pretty name.” Moonbin said gleefully.

That was the catalyst for Eunwoo’s reaction.

It was unexpected to say the least, someone (especially a handsome stranger) complimenting you.

So for him to start choking on air was a reasonable reaction.

“Your face is red.” Moonbin cooed. “So are your ears! Wow you’re really red. Are you feeling okay?”

He was teasing him. Alarm bells were ringing in his head. He had to do something, he had to escape otherwise he’d make a fool of himself.

Eunwoo did the only thing that he thought appropriate of someone of his royal status.

He placed his hands together, mimed going to sleep and walked towards where Bobo was resting and laid on the ground.

Pretending to sleep? That was a form of tactical retreat. Wasn’t it?

He laid there tensely for a few minutes and waited until he heard Moonbin moving to relax.

“You’re pretty cute when you blush.” He heard over the sounds of the fire crackling.

#astro #astro fanfic #eunwoo #moonbin #binu #lee dongmin #a thing i did #the lost prince #i am...so sorry for how long this took me #but hey at least we have an update right??#so i made it extra long to make up for it #hehe

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sublimetravelerpolice · 5 years

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Opinions Like Kittens: The End Of Thrones

By Grant Johnson

All roads reach their terminus.

It sucks that it’s over, but alas, all good things must come to an end. True that may be, but it’s still difficult to swallow, because reaching the end of any journey is bittersweet. You left home, and ended up somewhere else, the new place may be exciting, but it isn’t home.

Naturally, the Game of Thrones conclusion was met with the inevitable backlash, and it was inevitable. People are almost always dissatisfied with the ending of TV shows. Sure, there are exceptions, for every Breaking Bad, Veep, and Justified, there is LOST, Dexter, and How I Met Your Mother (I’ll also throw in the entire second season of True Detective, because people destested that also). Now the latest finale on the chopping block is Game of Thrones. Sure, not all finales are handled with as deft a touch as Six Feet Under or Avengers: Endgame, but I think it has more to do with audiences not wanting any ending, than the ending itself. Maybe some endings get caught under the weight of the audience expectations, maybe it’s just the burden of wanting more, which, to me, means the story is ending exactly where it should. Leave them wanting more.

She was The Mother of Dragons.

Does that mean the Iron Throne should belong to her? As strong and powerful a character as she was, Dany was so caught up in her quest for The Throne, believing it was her birthright, that she never stopped to think why she really wanted it, she only knew her brother wanted it. Compounded by the fact that she never seemed to come to terms with the man her father was, or what he did, or would’ve done (if not for Jaime). That being said, I was still ready to back Dany, even after the burning of King’s Landing. It made sense to me, in a Fight Club sort of way, you have to destroy what was there to build something new. I think she would’ve been a great ruler, but maybe that’s the problem, she was always a conqueror, not a leader. She never quite nailed down the political aspect of the job. She repeatedly wanted to take King’s Landing by fire, and repeatedly, she had to be talked down by Jorah, by Varys, by Tyrion, and by Jon. Not to mention, she never seemed able to separate vengeance from justice. Her hunger for power could never be slaked, that’s even more dangerous when you consider she has the dragons, the equivalent of several atom bombs, at her disposal. Still, I would’ve liked to see Dany recreate the world as she saw fit. There’s a whole other story there (that’s where those few more episodes would’ve come in handy). Ultimately, I think her story is a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of wish fulfillment.

The Boy Who Would Be King.

Jon would’ve been a good King. However, he didn’t want it. If he had worn that crown, where would that lead? Would he have grown weary of it? Apathetic? Mayhaps. The idea of him being forced into the role of King doesn’t feel right. I want more for his character. Because he wanted one simple thing, to go back to that cave with Ygritte. After everything he’s been through, something resembling that end feels right for his journey.

Of Snow and Fire.

Dany and Jon are opposite sides of the same coin. One believed the Iron Throne was her birthright and was willing to take it by any means necessary. The other had the better claim to the Throne, but didn’t want it. Jon was willing to deny his claim for Dany, but Dany would, under no circumstances, reciprocate the gesture for Jon, or for Westeros. Because her entire ego had been built around the idea that she was the rightful heir to the Throne. Once her claim to the Throne was usurped, she completely lost sense of her identity. When everyone is celebrating after prevailing in the Battle of Winterfell, Tormund is applauding Jon for his valor, and for riding a dragon in battle. Dany looks over at Jon, her eyes filled with somber jealousy, and in that moment she becomes her brother, Viserys. Filled with anger for everyone giving Jon the adulation that she believes is owed to her.

Ultimately, no matter how much we should’ve been able to predict the trajectory of some characters, we didn’t, that, above all else, has been my favorite thing about this story. It’s hard to find a story that has been as consistently unpredictable as GoT. I’ll never forget my introduction to the TV series, a friend suggested that I watch the show because, “It has all the things that are great about the fantasy genre, but without the usual tropes.” I was sold from that pitch alone.

I didn’t read the books until somewhere between season 4 & 5, and fell in love with them, and George R. R. Martin’s sublime writing. On the Ink To Film podcast, Luke Elliot and James Bailey covered the first book and season of A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones (they also did a great postmortem of the show for a Patreon bonus episode). They discussed one of GRRM’s brilliant literary talents, his ability to subvert expectation. Whether it’s the reader’s expectations or the expectations of the characters, Ned will make it out of this, right? It constantly keeps you off-kilter, the moment Ned’s head leaves his body, all bets are off. No one is safe. That moment, that feeling, permeates throughout the series, much to our indignation. This is why I could never compete in the fan theory debates. What do you think will happen? Who do you think will end up on the Iron Throne? I don’t f***ing know. There’s no way I could’ve guessed, and it’s a good thing I didn’t place any wagers on my predictions, because that money would be long gone now. I was prepared for the Night King to eradicate everyone. But, at the end of the day, I’ve been happy to nervously watch it all unfold from the edge of my seat. I’ve appreciated the times the TV show has cranked the story up to 11, for instance, Talisa (AKA Jeyne Westerling) being present at The Red Wedding. In the book she stays back at Riverrun, therefore, she wasn’t present at the massacre. In the books she is still alive and...well, no one in the ASOIAF universe is doing well.

I’m not saying the final season is without its flaws, it certainly has them, no work is perfect. But I think it gave as satisfying an ending as this story would allow. George R. R. Martin has been very vocal about his love for J.R.R. Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings. He’s also stated he wants to emulate the ending of LOTR in Thrones. More specifically, its “bittersweet” ending. Although, even without that knowledge, if we thought Game of Thrones was going to have anything resembling a Disney-style happy ending, then we weren’t paying attention. Like Tyrion speaking of the corruption in King’s Landing, “If you’re looking for justice, you’ve come to the wrong place.”

There are still aspects that irk me, like Jaime pulling a full 180 (or a 360, depending on how you look at it), but I think Jaime is a self-punishing character, he doesn’t believe he deserves redemption, so he set about making sure to deny himself that redemption by returning to Cersei. The show runners could’ve given everything more time to breathe. Maybe they should’ve done a ten-episode season, especially since the writers wanted to pack so much into the season. Who knows, maybe if they had done a full ten, we’d all be sitting here talking about those four episodes where nothing happened. However, I think at least two more episodes of watching Dany unraveling, being a complete dictator would’ve solidified the arc. Some thought the Night King battle was pushed too far forward in the season, that he should be a final boss. The problem with that is, after dealing with the Night King, no matter what, the living still have to deal with each other. That being said, the final season did give us one of the most satisfying episodes (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms), and arguably the most epic (The Long Night). Sure, the season felt rushed, but that’s because we didn’t want it to end.

All of this makes me more eager for GRRM to finish the books. I’m curious to see how he closes it out. So let’s all wish him good health. I’ll be very surprised if the books end like the TV show, but hopefully we will find out.

Ultimately, If you didn’t like the final season, I get that, we all have our issues with it, it’s part of being a fan. We all think it should’ve ended this way or that way. It doesn’t mean the way it ended was wrong, just different from what we expected. Was the second season of True Detective bad, or did we just want more Matt McConaughey and Woody Harrelson? Time will tell. I think the second season was fantastic and in some ways superior to the first. When Sopranos ended, its finale was met with venomous contempt. Now, more than a decade later, it’s revered as one of the best finales. One of the finales that “got it right.” Maybe, after the dust settles, the Thrones finale will be re-examined, and maybe the public will feel different about it. Just don’t let the ending mar the story as a whole, because, “A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good.”

#game of thrones #hbo

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