#But ultimately put that aside I'm freaking excited

[meraki-yao]

Woah...

Uhhh...

Okay Wow brain reboot please what the fuck

This... This might have awaken something in me????

Truth be told I've never been sexually attracted to something (idk if it's I'm on the ace spectrum or just lack of experience or whatever, trying to figure that out) even with guys or celebrities that I find good looking, including Nick as himself, who is fucking gorgeous

But my first reaction upon seeing this was

1, to throw my phone onto the bed and laugh, shouting "HELLO SLUT"

2, think "I wanna straddle him and bite his lip off"

... Yeah so I guess that's a thing now thanks George!

#mary and george #george villiers #nicholas galitzine #“the seducer” DAMN RIGHT #I feel complicated about M&G because of me missing what RWRB could have had #But ultimately put that aside I'm freaking excited

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Kaede Akamatsu VS Sara Chidouin [Danganronpa Survivor VS Your Turn To Die]

Hifumi: Kaede Akamatsu, the pianist parallel leader of the V3 Crew!

Leona: And Sara Chidouin, the mysterious lead player of Your Turn To Die

Hifumi: Sometimes, the most unassuming young lady can make for a great hero. Even the youth have the power to inspire others and give them the determination they need to push through the most trying times.

Leona: These two mysterious, fervently adorable cuties with amazing skills, always keep fighting, despite the inevitable and certain stare of death right in their faces! He's Hifumi, and I'm Leona!

Hifumi: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, talents and skills, to see who will win a DEATH BATTLE!

Leona: Well isn't this exciting? I think this is the first time we've covered someone from Danganronpa V3!

Hifumi: It's also the only time, at least for this season, so we need to make sure we do this right. 

Hifumi: Kaede Akamatsu has been playing the piano for so long that she occasionally forgot to eat and sleep as a child. People started calling her "piano freak" as a result. She soon started taking first place in competition after competition, receiving accolades from a wide range of sources and being dubbed the Ultimate Pianist. She has given performances in front of notable people like a European King, a Juilliard representative, and other well-known pianists.

Leona: Aside from the fame that came with her talent, Kaede Akamatsu, by all intents and purposes, was a fairly normal child...But...as most people seem to do if they're fairly normal children, she wound up getting swept up in a Killing Game!

Hifumi: It all started when Kaede, as well as 15 other young men and women with Ultimate Talents got inducted into the Gofer Project. The heads of state and government from every country in the world initiated it when a deadly virus was released into the atmosphere by numerous meteorites crashing into Earth. The government made the decision to put sixteen gifted students, who were part of the Ultimate Initiative, and who also just so happened to be immune to the virus, in a spaceship colony and try to save the last remnants of humanity before the Earth was destroyed.

Leona: Despite being chosen, Kaede and the other 15 participants had no intention of following through on the plan because they didn't want to abandon their loved ones. As a result, Kaede chose to forget her Ultimate talent and live her life as a typical high school student.

Hifumi: But that wasn't to last. During that period, an extremist cult gained influence, and they tried to halt The Gofer Project after learning about it and coming to the conclusion that the meteorites were a punishment that humanity had brought upon itself. 

Leona: Because of this, the sixteen students who were chosen for the Gofer Project were pursued and the "Ultimate Hunt" began to spread throughout the globe, and Kaede ended up on the run for her life.

Hifumi: In order to defuse the situation and stop the Ultimate Hunt while still protecting the students, the government then made the decision to pretend that the students had died. At that point, as meteorites were destroying Earth, the Gofer Project was launched. After traveling to space in the enormous ark—an institute also known as the Ultimate Academy of Gifted Juveniles—Kaede and the others were sent into a deep slumber that lasted for many years...

Leona: But something happened that the government weren't expecting. Eerily similar to how Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba did many many years ago at Hope's Peak, the leader of the deranged cult hid themselves among the students in the Gofer Project and snuck aboard the evil Monokuma and his 5 deranged children, which effectively forced Kaede and the others to participate in the Killing School Semester! Damn...as far as Killing Game backstories go, I thought a digital world was the peak, but now you're telling me that these guys are the last few survivors of humanity on a spaceship?

Uchui: I wouldn't be so impressed...After all, everything you've just said...is a PACK OF LIES!

Leona: Uchui, hey, you're back!

Hifumi: Ah, good timing! I was actually hoping to invite you on this episode as a special guest, mainly to help with all the metaphysical crap.

Uchui: It's what I'm best at. Anyway, I guess I should explain myself. To start with, and putting it extremely bluntly, Kaede Akamatsu is, from the perspective of us here in the room...an ALIEN.

Leona: WHAT!? She's like...a manhunter from Mars or something!?

Uchui: No. An "alien" is defined as a hypothetical or fictional being from another world...And THAT is EXACTLY what Kaede and her friends are. FICTIONAL CHARACTERS from ANOTHER UNIVERSE!

Leona: I'm...so lost...What are you talking about?

Uchui: To start with, Kaede Akamatsu and her friends AREN'T from OUR universe! She came here with the others after yours truly pulled them from their original twisted reality into ours, which is why they're here with us now. To make things even more interesting, the Kaede Akamatsu that we know now, is NOT the original.

Leona: She's like...a clone or something then!?

Hifumi: Mr Porosen, you're probably going to need to put it a lot simpler than that.

Uchui: I'm trying, ok? The REAL backstory is that in the world that Kaede Akamatsu and her associates, who we know by the moniker of "V3 Kids", is a world where the infamous Killing Games, like the First, Jabberwock Island, Demon Hunting and Final Killing Games...DID NOT HAPPEN. They were part of a long running anime and tv show franchise known simply as...Danganronpa! A series featuring Killing Games created by a team under the same name! And every famous event that happened FOR REAL in our world, is FICTIONAL in theirs! The series was so popular in fact, most of humanity was obsessed with it, and real people started to be put in the Killing Games as their own OC's! Including Kaede and her friends, who were part of the series 53rd Season!

Leona: 53RD!? Not even the SIMPSONS has that many season!? Well, not YET at least...Anyway, I...I think I get it...But then...if that's really true, who IS Kaede Akamatsu!?

Uchui: From what I can gather, she was just a regular girl who enjoyed classical music, and had a rather strenuous relationship with her family; not an Ultimate level student by a long shot. She was also a fan of Danganronpa. And following an event in which her twin sister Kaori died from a motorcycle accident, post a heated argument with her sister, Kaede WILLINGLY signed herself up for the latest season of the show.

Hifumi: Later on, Kaede disclosed that her desire to join the Killing Game stemmed from her belief that she had the ideal personality for it and that she had no faith at all in humanity. Remarkably different from the girl we all know today.

Leona: That's...kinda fucked...!

Uchui: It gets a lot worse. Once her application was approved, Kaede went through the fabrication process, in which all of her personality and past memories were made up from scratch, along with the other untalented 53rd Killing Game players. She was also given the title and talent of Ultimate Pianist; the goal of doing all of this being to please the global fan base of Danganronpa. Following the completion of the fabrication process, Kaede and the others formally entered the 53rd Killing Game season, also known as the Killing School Semester, when they enrolled in the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles, now all completely different people. Kaede Akamatsu especially, turned into a vivacious, humorous, positive, and happy person! When responding and making her points, she's typically direct, blunt, and forthright. An aspect that many can get behind, and that was kind of the point.

Hifumi: Her story began when Ms. Akamatsu awoke in a locker on the second floor of the Ultimate Academy, in a creepy classroom covered in vines. But before she had a chance to act, a boy staggered out of the locker next to the one she had been in when she had woken up. As the two got to know one another, the boy introduced himself as Shuichi Saihara.

Leona: Huh, cool! I wonder if THOSE TWO are gonna have some important connection later down the line~ wink wink~

Cut to scene of Shuichi and Kaede making out.

Uchui: Once all sixteen Ultimate students had gotten to know the self-appointed headmaster, Monokuma declared that they would all be taking part in a Killing Game. This announcement particularly infuriated Kaede, who told Monokuma and his kubs that neither she nor the others would ever submit to them.

Leona: Unfortunately, though Kaede personally took up the mantle of the groups leader and tried to steer them towards salvation and a potential exit, her methods turned out to be rather heavy handed, which only earned her scorn. The situation only spiraled out of control more when Monokuma started introducing motives for the first murder; that anyone who committed the first killing would be exonerated without a trial, and that if a murder did not take place within two days by noon, everyone forced to participate would DIE! Despite Kaede's best efforts, the majority of the group appeared to be too depressed to stay together, and with that, she reached her BREAKING POINT.

Hifumi: Despite Ms. Akamatsu's can-do attitude, she got kicked down and pushed back by the Despair so much that she resorted to doing the one thing she thought she could to end the Killing Game...KILL the MASTERMIND behind it...! Who thanks to Mr Saihara's detective work, she suspected was amongst them.

Leona: She didn't tell HIM that obviously. But things took ANOTHER turn for the worst when Kaede activated her trap, which involved rolling a shotput ball down a flight of books she'd set up earlier, luring the Mastermind towards them, and killing them with blunt force trauma! Ouch...!

Uchui: Ouch is right, especially for Kaede, as when she and her allies stormed the library, they discovered Rantaro Amami's corpse not far from the Mastermind's hidden door's position, who appeared to have been bludgeoned in the back of the head with Kaede's shot put, much to her shock and horror.

Hifumi: Soon after, Monokuma and his Kubs showed up and demanded that the offender come forward and claim their "First Blood Perk." However, Ms. Akamatsu refused, not wanting to abandon the others and believing she could use the Class Trial as a last-ditch attempt to expose the Mastermind.

Leona: As you might have guessed, it didn't work. Everyone was shocked and in awe that Kaede, who wanted to end the Killing Game and save everyone, could be the perpetrator. Despite this, she pushed Shuichi to reveal the entire truth about her plan, much to everyone's dismay, and was executed for her crime...Poor girl...

Uchui: Except for one thing...THIS was ALSO a HUGE LIE!

Leona: Again!? What gives with this other world and it's lies! WHEN DO THEY END!?

Uchui: In actuality, Kaede's scheme FAILED. The Mastermind of the Killing School Semester was the REAL murderer of Rantaro; who covered up and changed the scene of the crime to give the impression that Kaede's plan had been successful. In spite of this, Kaede was painted as the guilty party and the truth was kept hidden from everyone. Unaware of this, the participants looked for a truth that Monokuma and The Mastermind had covered up with lies.

Hifumi: And the perpetrator was the woman who would eventually go on to become Akamatsu's arch-nemesis...TSUMUGI SHIROGANE! Current leader of Organization Zetsubou! Thus, Ms. Akamatsu's story came to a close, being executed for a crime that she did not commit...Until this guy here was able to pull her and her friends into our world and let them live an actual happy life as a found family!

Uchui: Don't flatter me. I wouldn't exactly call what happened to her here "normal."

Leona: Yeah, as it turns out our world can be just as cruel, if not crueler than the V3 one, especially with Tsumugi still being around and with a strange hate boner for Kaede, doing everything she can to either kill her or make her life miserable...

Hifumi: Becoming a sort of "damsel in distress" for a while, it was only after Kaede Akamatsu was kidnapped and tortured by a brainwashed Kyosuke Munakata that she decided she had ENOUGH!

Uchui: Kaede realized that if Shirogane and her lackeys were going to keep bringing fights to her, she had to learn to HIT BACK! And who did she go for for guidance and wisdom in the art of fucking up your enemies? Who else but my best bud, Kuripa Kurafto!?

Leona: I mean, not to knock Big K or anything but I wouldn't exactly call him a professional warrior. Why him over someone like Sakura, or Peko or, Mukuro like Makoto chose to train him?

Uchui: Kaede wasn't especially shy about her agenda. Not only was Kuripa's style more casual, and replicating it meant she could go at her own pace, but her main goal was to put the HURT on Zetsubou, realizing that in order to get them to back off, she had to reduce herself to their level, a decision she made with a heavy heart, but a strong will.

Hifumi: While initially wanting to learn the arts with a sword, Mr Kurafto and Ms Akamatsu quickly discovered that she was far more adept at handling a longer ranged weapon like a polearm. And my did she become adept at using it.

Uchui: Indeed. From training with Kuripa, Kaede very quickly became just as adept a fighter as he was, though focusing on her own strengths. Kuripa is mostly durable and powerful, who focuses on outlasting his opponents in brawls and fights to the death by tanking hits and dishing out hits twice as powerful. Kaede on the other hand, relies more on her agility, and quick, powerful attacks to an opponents weak point in order to seize the victory.

Leona: Which helps a lot considering she managed to get this super sick flying spear weapon that she received from my buddy Maya! And she's way better at using it! Though...don't tell Maya I said that...

Hifumi: The weapon, originally known as the Electromagnetic Levitation Spear was originally developed by Fang Inc. and stolen by the Freedom Foundation. During an unfortunate spat in America where Ms. Akamatsu was forced to fight her mentor, she took this spear for herself and due to the weapons potential hidden in rapidly pressing keys in a sequence, she was able to make combative use of her PIANO skills of all things! Now however, it's better known as the Mozart Mk2!

Uchui: When Miu Iruma and Mona got a chance to take a stab at the weapon, they ended up UPGRADING it, making it even more powerful and adept, with 5 distinct modes of combat that Kaede can switch between on the fly. The basic function is a casual blade-ended polearm, but it also has a Bludgeon Mode where the end becomes round and hard to help bash an opponents skull in, or Javelin Mode which makes it really pointy and better for piercing. 

Leona: Hacker Mode turns the weapon into a basically very long version of the Future Foundation hacking gun, with all the bullets! See our previous episode for reference

Hifumi: The last of the modes is KILL Mode, and as the name implies, it produces a large, black blade from the end that is so sharp, it can carve through a person in ONE SLASH! However, not sharing her mentor's lethal code and violent disposition, Ms. Akamatsu has only ever used this mode on robots, not on people.

Uchui: Well...MOST of the time at least...

Leona: Eh?

Uchui: Well, while it IS true that Kaede isn't ever as psychotic as Kuripa can be, nor does she ever break her own code of refusing to ever kill again, Kaede has shown that when she's angry, she has NO QUALMS fucking you up; even going as far as to dismember you! And we know this because of her fights against Kanade Otonokoji and Himiko Yumeno!

Hifumi: Ms. Akamatsu's biggest challenge came in the form of a Zetsubou-controlled, abandoned Future Foundation laboratory, where Tsumugi Shirogane trapped her inside it to be a feast for the 5 Monokubs. But things didn't work out the way Shirogane expected. Kaede ended up BEFRIENDING the Monokub, Monodam, and with his help and the help of Mrs. Sora Kabuya, they worked together to take down the remaining Monokubs, where she was able to dismantle their Exisal mechas 

Uchui: Based on my mechanical calculations, the Exisal's each stand at about 4.3 meters tall, have a max speed of 200 mph, and a power potency equivalent to 203 grams of TNT; enough to obliterate a small wall at least. Though she's not known for her durability, Kaede was able to dismantle these Exisal's and tank hits from them. Quite impressive!

Leona: I guess when you're the student of a walking tank like Kuripa, it comes naturally to you.

Hifumi: Unfortunately for Mrs. Akamatsu, Despair has a neat little way of making its rounds on her. When Kanade Otonokoji stormed into the lab to kill her, she was able to escape the lab and rescue the deranged psycho's twin sister, Hibiki...but Monodam tragically lost his life at Otonokoji's hands...

Uchui: And Kaede...SNAPPED! She went completely ballistic on Kanade, so much so that the serial killer was basically TRAUMATIZED by the sight of her face! Yes, THIS cute face!

Leona: To be fair, Kanade also has a pretty cute face, and she's an evil lunatic...

Uchui: Bare in mind that this fight and these incredible displays of strength, like she showed when cutting off Kanade's whole LEG and stabbing her multiple times, was done AFTER spending the last 24 hours in almost non-stop fights with only limited backup and few chances to stop and rest.

Leona: Oh! And we almost forgot to mention that Kaede was able to brutally kill Monokid while in her UNDERWEAR! I love me a girl who fights in combat panties!

Hifumi: Not...COMBAT panties, just...panties...But yeah, basically she managed to wrestle Monokid with barely any clothes and no weapon, having little ways of protecting herself, yet successfully killing him by severing his head from his jaw. Now, we can't give an accurate calculation to Monokid's strength, but assuming his power level is ever so slightly lower than Killing Game Monokuma's, that would also mean that HER power level is slightly below that of Sakura Ogami, who MATCHED KG Monokuma.

Uchui: Actually, with her weaponry, it's very likely she's on par or even STRONGER, though we might be reaching...Killing Game Monokuma was pretty easily crushed by the Monokub Exisal, and Kaede was able to defeat at least 2 of THEM.

Leona: Ok, but I think you guys are forgetting to take something into account here. How about we talk about the time that Kaede STOPPED this giant titan mech's attack...PICKED IT UP...THREW IT over her shoulder...! SLICED it to PIECES, and smashed it's pilot THROUGH the ground!? How's THAT for a feat of strength!?

Hifumi: Yes indeed. Her latest and most impressive feat is her defeat of the Titan Puppet, developed and created as a last resort by Mikihiko Koyasunaga, which was originally piloted by Himiko Yumeno after he...removed her insides and...replaced her with a robotic endoskeleton under his control...

Leona: What the hell is wrong with these bad guys man!?

Hifumi: Mrs. Akamatsu did exactly as Leona just described, BY HERSELF in a matter of SECONDS! To pull this off, it proves that she must have been moving at LEAST at a subsonic level of speed and reactionary feats!

Uchui: Actually...there's one thing here I really want to cover quickly. Yes, Kaede was able to shoulder throw the titan, but in actuality, it was really her SPEAR that was doing the throwing. Because we kind of failed to mention this somehow...

Leona: Oh yeah, I guess we forgot to talk about that the damn thing can FLY!

Uchui: "Flight" is subjective. As it's namesake suggest, the Electromagnetic Levitation Spear uses the power of Electromagnetic Waves and stored Kinetic Energy that it generates through movement to levitate potentially hundreds of feet off the ground. It does this through simple magnetic interactions by increasing or decreasing it's own magnetism, leaning towards either positive or negative, and it can do this at any level in any direction so long as Kaede also possesses this glove that allows her to remotely control the spear's passage in the sky. It's like moving it with an invisible hand.

Leona: But don't magnets kind of need to be near metal to work? I know the spear itself is made of metal, but still...

Hifumi: Technically speaking, the magnet IS near metal. There are VERY FEW substances in the universe that DON'T contain traces of metallic elements. Iron is present in your blood, Lead and Mercury are present in the air, metallic ore lines the very ground we stand on, and a literal magnetic field surrounds the Earth.

Uchui: Which is what makes the MMK2 so incredible! Even if an metal has only a tiny magnetic pull, the spear can increase it's own so much that it can fly basically anywhere! Furthermore, the push force between the spear and the surfaces are so powerful, that the weapon can lift things that normally couldn't be lifted, like the Titan, and it can even Kaede herself!

Leona: So let this be a lesson to you all out there who want to defy the Future Foundation and cause rampant chaos in the world. This girl is OUT there, and if she finds you...God help you.

Hifumi: What Kaede Akamatsu will do next is anyone's guess and entirely her own decision. She's not playing by the rules or following the script any more, and with her friends, mentor, lover and everyone else by her side, she's always ready to save the world!

Uchui: Though the ranks of Future Foundation are home to many formidable warriors, very few can compare to the appearance and abilities of the youthful and upbeat spear-wielder Kaede Akamatsu!

Leona: Hey...do you know what a Majority Vote is? Sara Chidouin never really had to think about it, until one day, she learned a hard truth of the world. Life is well and good until you get kidnapped and put in a death game!

Hifumi: Can't say that's a phrase I've ever heard of before, but I suppose it rings true?

Hifumi: Sara Chidouin, also known as Miss Sara or Big Sis Sara, is a second-year student at Sanobeno High School; identifiable by her orange hair and her work ethic. She was average height, average build, but possessed a lot more intelligence than the Average Joe.

Leona: Literally, her very average friend Joe is right there next to her.

Uchui: Everything about Sara Chidouin was perfectly normal. She lived at home with her mother and her father, the latter of whom she was not biologically related to; as well as a cat that they adopted for a while, and a housekeeper, who Sara never really met. She was a normal high school girl who had her own likes and dislikes, and was all around a pretty standard example of a high-school girl.

Leona: But on a night that felt like any other night, her life took a dramatic and tragic shift in the worst way possible...!

Hifumi: Ms. Chidouin dozed off in a classroom after staying late for after-school clubs. When she woke up and saw how late it was, she went home with her best friend Jou Tazuna, also known as Joe.

Uchui: A figure emerged in the light of a street lamp as the two kept walking. When Sara saw them, she and Joe fled back to her house out of fear. Sara entered her home feeling as though she was being followed, but instead of finding her parents there, she was startled by how strangely quiet and dark the place was. Only to discover her mother, unconscious on the floor,  when she went into the living room and turned on the lights!

Leona: She desperately looked around for her father, and headed to her bedroom, but instead, she was met with these CREEEEPY GRABBY HANDS that reached out to grab her!

Hifumi: And the next thing she knew? She woke up to find herself and her best friend strapped to beds in an unknown location, with 5 minutes to escape the trap!

Uchui: Things would spiral out of control from there on. Sara and Joe found themselves trapped inside a mysterious facility alongside several other interesting characters of varying ages, shapes, sizes and backgrounds, with deadly collars strapped around their necks. 

Hifumi: Seeing no way out, they were forced to compete in a "Death Game" where the participants decide who dies next by taking the majority of votes in the "Main Game," subjecting them to the chaos of several lifelike dolls. With little choice, Sara and Joe obeyed their captors' orders and worked with the other characters to explore the facility, make it through the Death Game, and discover who was holding them.

Leona: More than just these creepy and...honestly kind of REALLY FRUSTRATING umpire dolls, and the deadly Main Game lurked within this establishment. The Death Game involved logical deductions, collecting of evidence, trading cards, bonding between "friends, lots of shouting (sounds familiar), FANSERVICE WOOO-!, and having her decisions affect the course of the deadly story that they had been swept up in.

Uchui: Not to mention that as time went by, Sara began to realize, with horror, that this game may involve her more than she initially thought it would...She came into a world where the fate of all these strangers around her were ultimately decided by everyone else's choice...I.e. by majority vote...!

Leona: I hate democracy...! Ahem...So I know what you're wondering. "When will it be Your Turn To Die miss Sara?" Eh? Eh?

Hifumi: Apparently, not any time soon. For you see, Ms Chidouin is surprisingly adept when it comes to the challenges the game throws at her!

Uchui: Sara currently, based on some thorough analysis and test simulations done by her kidnappers, has the highest chance of winning the Death Game of all the players, at 15.5% of the vote; and it's not too hard to see why. As a person, Sara is outgoing, independent, self-assured, good with children, and all around charming and competent.

Leona: And you know, she also knows how to use a sword and a gun!

Hifumi: Though she comes off as normal all around, she possesses many skills and feats, such as mining, hide-and-seek skills, arm wrestling, playing Yu-Gi-Oh, dancing, and is also a "kendo master" as she claims.

Uchui: I don't think Hifumi's really selling it, but all of this is important, we swear. 

Leona: So, we said this in a previous episode, and honestly it should be common knowledge for Danganronpa fans, but let's just quickly explain. Kendo is a modern Japanese martial art derived from kenjutsu that employs bamboo swords and protective armor in it's practices. Basically, Sara is like a samurai or...an Ultimate Swordswoman! ...Wait a second...

Hifumi: Yeah, maybe don't let Ms Kuzuryu hear you say that...

Uchui: It is true though that she can back up her rather bold claims. Though she seems unassuming, she's actually VERY strong and VERY fast. Let's look at the Runaway Minecart Attraction for example.

Hifumi: Miss Sara can avoid flying birds while riding in the mine cart at high speeds, and can also break down a solid wooden wall in a couple of hits. Let's do a few calculations to figure out how powerful that makes her.

Leona: Oh god, it's MATH time again...!

Hifumi: Based on the number of pixels, we can assume the wooden wall is around 46291.23cm², and a volume of 348850.73cm³. Assuming the wood is White Oak, In-game, it takes 20 hits for Sara and Sou Hiyori—or Gin Ibushi, depending on your partner—to knock down this wall. As Sara and Sou worked together on this, we'll also split the energy value in half.

Uchui: With that in mind, we can say that Sara's individual AP when landing a Violent Fragmentation, or a stronger hit than normal, comes to about 120.261 Joules of force. Which is equivelant to just over 2 tons of TNT. Enough to completely obliterate a wall at least.

Leona: Wait, wait wait! So basically, you just showed Sara breaking down a wall, and used the calculations to prove that Sara...can break down a wall? What was even the point!?

Uchui: H-Hey! It's nice to have numbers! Besides, that's not the only feat of power she's displayed! 

Hifumi: Quite right. In addition to the wall feat, in an arm-wrestling match, Ms. Chidouin defeated The Arm-Wrestling Dolls.

Leona: So? I can defeat Kouji pretty handily in an arm wrestling match. What good does that do her case?

Uchui: Fair enough, and I get why you're skeptical, but also, I'm pretty sure that Ito-san doesn't have the physical strength to crush a human skull. Which these dolls DO.

Hifumi: The average weight of the Skull is 997g, and the average density of bone is 1.6 g/cm^3. To break one with your bare hand like these dolls do would require a force of around 500kg, or more specifically, 34.96 Joules, which bumps Sara's strength, who was able to overpower them, to around 8 Tons of TNT!

Leona: AH! I get it now! She's hardcore!

Hifumi: To make things even more interesting when looking at her stat pool, Ms. Chidouin has proven that she's capable of TAKING just as much damage as she's able to put out. She is not only capable of defeating the Arm-Wrestling Dolls but also withstand multiple blows from The Charge Card Battle Dolls. The attacks that these dolls make with their special card abilities are shown to completely crack the wall behind her corpse in addition to completely disfiguring her in the game over screen. We'll talk more about the card battle aspects in a moment.

Uchui: I know it's weird to use a game over screen to show a feat of death, but bare in mind it takes MULTIPLE attacks with these cards to actually get Sara to succumb. Effectively, as Hifumi already implied, this feat shows that she's AT LEAST able to take hits on the same level of strength that she can put out herself.

Leona: But what is probably Sara's BEST stat, is her intelligence. Something VERY important when it comes to surviving death games, as I'm sure we're all well aware. As Uchui already said, she is statistically proven to be the most likely candidate to win the Death Game. She has a remarkably sharp wit and a major charismatic air about her, which causes her to frequently lead discussions in the Main or Sub-Games while only being matched in deductions by the likes of Sou Hiyori and Keiji Shinogi. Hey, don't we know that guy?

Uchui: Doesn't ring a bell.

Hifumi: I've never met him.

Leona: Eh, must just be me then. Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?

Hifumi: Regardless, there is a more...cynical side to all of these calculations. In the artificial intelligence candidate simulations, she would frequently murder other players and use their demise to elevate her own stature in the group.

Uchui: Joe Tazuna was specifically brought into the game with her for this exact reason. He acted as a handicap to stop this aspect of her, giving the other competitors a more fair shot at victory.

Leona: Pfft! An AI can't write shit! Why are we even still trusting simulations in this day and age! That girl's got a stomach of steel and a heart of gold! There's no way she could EVER succumb to such worldly issues, right?

Uchui: Eh...I wouldn't be so sure...Sara may be far more competent than she lets on, but she is still ultimately human and...has MUCH baggage to carry. And Joe's inclusion in the Main Game ended up nerfing Sara's capabilities FAR MORE than expected...

Hifumi: Mr Joe was nearly always there to lift Miss Sara's spirits when she is feeling down or confused. But destiny had other ideas for the two friends. It was revealed at the end of the first Main Game that Joe had the Sacrifice Card and would therefore be executed alongside Kai Satou, the player who received the most votes.

Leona: Who also, conveniently, was Sara's stalker! And her housekeeper! Huh? What's going oooon!?

Uchui: We'll be here forever if we go into the full situation. Anyway, bloodsucking tubes were fastened to Joe's body, and Sara pleaded with the first game master, Sue Miley, to allow her to replace him and be the one to die. Though Miley declined, she offered her a gadget that, if she presses it hard enough, might be able to save Joe by slowing the process of his blood being drained.

Leona: But all this really did was prolong Joe's suffering until he died regardless. Something that Miley, that BITCH, had done on purpose. And BOY did it get to Sara BAAAAD!

Hifumi: Sara Chidouin's confidence was completely destroyed after she added to Joe Tazuna's suffering during his execution, and she also lost her sanity, leaving it perilously close to collapse. Anything that even slightly reminds her of her best friend causes her to experience HORRIFIC visual hallucinations, and renders her completely prone and vulnerable.

Uchui: Also, while she can still sway others to her side with relative ease, it doesn't always work out that way. In fact, some of the other participants don't trust her because they realize that at the end of the day, she's still just an ordinary high school girl, and putting too much faith in her in a surefire path to the group's inevitable downfall.

Leona: So with all those strengths and weaknesses covered, why don't we close this analysis by taking a look at Sara's gear? Because again, surprisingly, there's a fair bit to cover.

Uchui: Sara can use any weapon or piece of equipment that she's provided in the Death Game, mainly in the Attractions in the second chapter. The obvious one to start with is a sword. As covered already, she's proficient in Kendo martial arts, and has been since she was a young girl. And a metal pipe for good measure.

Hifumi: She also has a revolver that's loaded with both non-lethal dummy bullets and VERY lethal real ones, and she's actually pretty handy when it comes to using it, despite not having much experience using guns in the past. 

Leona: She's also got a camera that can repel ghosts that she uses in the Spirit Shutter attraction. And as Hifumi said earlier, she's also in possession of these really powerful Battle Cards from the Charge Card Battle Attraction.

Hifumi: Depending on which card Miss Sara employs, she can increase the power of her hand, fire off laser beams, defend against all attacks, and create giant explosions that can down most enemies in a single blast! 

Uchui: And lastly is a special Lantern which is capable of limited Memory Manipulation. Sara can use it to stir up somebody's forgotten memories and bring the real memories to light. 

Leona: Damn...That's a lot of stuff that we just covered. And here I was thinking she was just another standard death game protagonist that we've all come to be so familiar with...

Hifumi: Miss Sara is certainly a hero and is happy to occasionally lend a hand to her new friends, despite her somewhat ordinary upbringing, enigmatic connection to the Death Game, and intense emotional trauma. Or, on rare occasions, BE the one in need of assistance.

Leona: SOMEONE GET THIS GIRL A BLANKET!

Hifumi: Alright, the combatants are set! Let's end this debate once and for all!

Leona: This one's all you Uchui, my dude!

Uchui: Huh!? O-Ok! GET READY FOR A DEEAAATH BAAATTLLLLLLEEE!

Kaede: *pant!* *pant!* 

Sara: Hey! Get back here!

Kaede Akamatsu is first seen running away from Sara Chidouin and Keiji Shinogi, who are in hot pursuit. She narrowly avoids Sara throwing a random hallway pot at her when she turns the corner.

Kaede turns the corner and randomly finds herself down a very long, dark hallway with a minecart on it. She looks back and forth between the minecart and the doorway where she can still hear her pursuers voices.

Kaede: Eh...Tempting, but...this is faster!

As Sara and Keiji round the corner, Kaede jumps onto her spear like a broomstick and flies very quickly down the dark hall. Sara growls as she watches her get away, but Keiji puts a hand on her shoulder.

Keiji: Sara, just leave it. It's not worth the stress.

Sara: I can't just let her go Keiji! She might be one of the people responsible for this! We haven't seen her face yet!

Keiji: We thought that about Alice too. It's not like you to be so rash.

Sara: Yeah, well, being trapped in this place for a long period of time does that to you...! And we found out Alice was cool once we got to question him.

Before Keiji can stop her, Sara leaps into the minecart.

Sara: Keep the others safe! I'll be back once I've... "questioned" her!

Keiji: Sara, wait! Don't be a hero!

Sara doesn't listen. She smacks the brakes off and the cart starts to rush down the tracks, and in spite of Keiji's protests, she starts to chase Kaede.

Kaede, who just begins to relax as she rides on her spear like a broom, almost falls off when a bullet flies past her ear. It just barely grazes and cuts her lobe and she looks back to see Sara riding the minecart, shooting at her with a pistol she procured from who knows where.

Sara: You thought I was done with you!?

Kaede: Oh great...!

Kaede rolls her eyes and, with little other option, lets herself drift back and brandishes her weapon as she flies towards Sara. Sara suddenly whips out a rather sharp sword from behind her back, and clashes blades with her opponent as the minecart carries her along rapidly along the tracks.

Kaede: HYAAGH!

Sara: Good thing I packed these...!

Kaede attempts to attack from above after flying upward, but Sara is able to block it with a Block Battle Card.

Sara: Huh!? Uh oh...!

Sara notices the tracks end up ahead as they continue down the tunnel. With quick thinking, she draws another Battle Card, this time a Beam, and uses it on Kaede.

Kaede: GAAGH!?

Not seeing the laser coming, Kaede is struck by a beam that knocks her off her weapon and sends her falling towards the ground, while Sara disconnects from her cart and falls down with her, pointing her revolver at her opponent.

Sara: Alright, I want answers!

Kaede: Heh...How about I give you the spear?

*WHACK!*

Sara: GUGGH! Agh! Ugh! Dahagh! Bagh! DAAGH!

With a wry smirk, Kaede pointers her fingers at Sara and flicks them to the left. Initially confused, Sara is then hit dead in the jaw by Kaede's spear, which flies towards her in bludgeon mode and knocks her into the wall!

Sara stumbles along the rock formation before she falls flat on their faces into another strangely colored corridor. When Kaede gets her spear and uses it to gently bring herself down, she lands on her feet and facing Sara as she crawls to hers.

Kaede: I know that probably hurt, but that was pretty funny on my end~

Sara: Yeah, yeah, keep laughing! Let's see you make a decent quip once I knock your teeth out!

Sara is evidently not impressed by Kaede's casual demeanor. She takes out a fairly sharp blade and holds it in a traditional Kendo manner. With a sigh, Kaede raises her hand above her head, summoning the Mozart Mk2 to her, catches it, and points Sara with the blade's end.

Kaede: Let's dance...!

Sara charges at Kaede, who hurls her spear in her direction. Sara deflects the weapon, tosses it behind her, and then swings the blade to drive Kaede back. But recalling what had happened earlier, she dodges in time to prevent the spear from whizzing back in her direction and striking her in the head once more. 

Sara: I happen to study Kendo you know? And I consider myself to be pretty good at it...! What have YOU got to say?

Kaede: I thought you said you wanted to ask me questions!? Didn't think THAT would be it!

Sara: HYAGH!

Kaede: RAGH!

As Kaede catches her weapon, they push off each other and square each other down from a distance.

Sara: Who ARE you really, and why are you here!?

Kaede: My name is Kaede Akamatsu and...your guess is as good as mine. I don't know how I got here or why, but it doesn't matter...Because I'm getting out of here one way or another...!

Kaede reaches into her pocket and takes out a small key. Sara grimaces upon seeing it.

Sara: You can't just leave! If you use that key, the rest of us will die!

She tugs on her collar.

Kaede: You don't know that! I don't have a collar, and I can go and get help! I can save you!

Sara: I don't trust you! 

Sara shows that she truly is a skilled swordswoman by launching a barrage of precise strikes and swings.

The Pianist parries her blow, then sends Sara hurtling skyward with a slash that sends her away with the blunt end of her spear! Kaede leaps and tries to slash at Sara from above as she runs back, but she rolls out of the way.

Sara: HYRRAGH!

Kaede: HACHAGH!

Sara: Eegh!?

Sara attempts to thrust at Kaede and sever her stomach with her sword, but Kaede counters with a blow strong enough to take the sword out of Sara's grasp. Put on the defensive, Sara uses her Block Cards to keep the Ultimate Pianist at bay while also dodging Kaede's ensuing swings with her polearm. She is forced into a corner and is about to take a powerful swing downward when she abruptly removes a metal pipe from behind her back to deflect the blow.

*CRACK* *CRUMBLE!*

Kaede & Sara: Huh!? AAGGGH!?

The force of Kaede's attack causes the floor beneath the two girls to collapse, and they fall down a hole. They once again both faceplant on the floor and crawl to their feet.

Kaede & Sara: EGH!?

They both look up in horror to see several twisted and creepy dolls staring at them, leaving them completely surrounded.

Sara: Oh...God...Dammit...

Kaede: Get away from me, you FREAKS!

Kaede switches her weapon into it's Javelin Mode and uses it to stab the dolls that get close to her. She barely ducks in time to avoid a laser beam being fired at her by one of Sara's beam cards, who carries a pack of them in one hand as she lunges at the girl with her pipe. Kaede ducks underneath it, making a doll behind her take the brunt of the hit, and she kicks Sara in the stomach with her foot.

Sara stumbles back into the arms of a Samurai Doll from the Quick Draw attraction, which tries to slice her in twain. However, Sara bashes it in the chin with the pipe and disarms it, taking it's blade for herself and running back towards Kaede, now duel-wielding an iron pipe and a sword.

Sara: Say CHEEESE!

Kaede: GAGH!?

Dropping a snide comment of her own, Sara grabs her spirit camera and flashes Kaede in the face with her camera, which both blinds the pianist and extinguishes some spiritual forms behind her.

Sara attempts to swing the sword at Kaede once more, but Kaede deflects it and returns her weapon to its standard mode. When Sara knocks the weapon upwards, Kaede elbows her while she's unsteady on her feet and almost instantly returns it to her hand. While Sara swipes her sword and bashes with her pipe, Kaede keeps switching the weapons mode on the fly to parry both Sara and the dolls. The two take down the approaching dolls while still attempting to harm and dodge each other.

Kaede: Give it up girl! You know you can't beat me like this!

Sara: Don't get cocky! Do you know how much I've had to fight to survive since I got wrapped up in this!?

Kaede: Heh...Well...

To Sara's dismay, Kaede throws her spear and totally destroys the pipe in her hand.

Kaede: Preaching to the choir on THAT one...!

Kaede is assaulted by a few more ghouls and goblins, which Sara uses to gain some distance. With everything at stake, she pulls out her last few Battle Cards and examines her hand. With a deep breath, Sara takes two Charge Cards and places them on her chest. They get absorbed into her and power her up. Seeing that she has two cards remaining, she decides to save it.

Sara runs back towards Kaede once she decapitates one last doll, and she looks up in time to see the orange-haired schoolgirl assault her. As they continue to clash, Kaede observes that Sara's attacks are becoming a little more potent. But Sara strikes with a powerful uppercut as the Pianist charges once more, sending Kaede hurtling skyward and screaming in agony.

Sara: I'd like to say it was nice knowing you but...it wasn't...!

Sara throws her Special Card forward, and Kaede is shocked to find herself in the middle of a massive explosion. She suddenly has no footing and is helpless, and Sara smirks as she watches her struggle. But...

Kaede: Hrrgh...! Is this...really...all...you've GOT!?

*BOOOM!*

Sara: HUH!?

Kaede: HYAAGH!

Sara is terrified as, despite the explosion being boosted by her Charge Cards, Kaede tanks the blast! Her skin, clothes and hair are all badly burned, but she grabs her spear and flies through at the speed of a bullet until she's right in Sara's face, whacking her so hard with her weapon, she rockets into the sky!

Sara: HRRGH!

Kaede: BREAK!

As a last ditch effort to survive what she beliefs is a finishing slash, Sara raises her last card to put up one more barrier to block Kaede. However, Kaede instead switches her weapon into Hacker Mode and shoots Sara with a break bullet...which makes DIRECT contact with her deadly collar.

Sara: Oh SHI-!

*KA-BOOOM!* *SPLAATTER!*

The break bullet Kaede fires hacks and prematurely detonates Sara's collar. It glows a bright light, and just as she acknowledges what's happening, her head detonates, sending her blood and brains flying all over the place; her headless body smacking back down to the ground.

Kaede: ...

Kaede is in a lot of pain as she hovers, but doesn't pay attention. She clenchers both her fists, the key in one hand and the spear in the other, with a look of uncertainty and regret on her face, saddened and despaired by what she just had to do...

Leona: Aaaawww! That's such a "fuck you" way to go out! I actually feel pretty bad for Sara here!

Hifumi: Sara Chidouin was a VERY interesting combatant to analyze. Given her abilities from her various tools and equipment used in the attractions, she had an incredibly versatile arsenal at her disposal.

Leona: And with the Battle Cards and her various weapons like the sword, pipe, and revolver, the girl had so much to throw at Kaede that even she could have easily become overwhelmed.

Uchui: Even with that against her, Kaede's overpowered weapon and superhuman proficiency allowed her to match much of Sara's arsenal. Sara may have had more tools to work with, but just having the Mozart Mk2 gave Kaede the advantage.

Hifumi: Aside from her Block Cards, which even then only defend her for about a second, Miss Sara really had no way of defending herself against ANY of Ms. Akamatsu's weapon modes, especially not the Instant Kill Mode which could take her down, well...INSTANTLY. Based on her defensive capabilities, it's likely she could survive strong hits from the Bludgeon Mode, but even then, that would only be for a time. 

Leona: And Kaede's defensive capabilities are just a lot greater, to the point where even Sara's strongest Charge Card attack wouldn't definitively take her down! Sara's body can survive being impounded into a wall, but Kaede has tanked hits from the likes of Kuripa Kurafto, Kanade Otonokoji, the Titan and the Exisals, which are all WAY stronger than anything Sara has had to take down!

Uchui: These battles also prove that Kaede is also stronger AND faster. Sara can overpower the Arm-Wrestling Dolls, but KAEDE can overpower the Exisals, which were so strong, they destroyed Killing Game Monokuma ON ACCIDENT by stepping on him! As a reminder, Killing Game Monokuma is able to survive attacks from Sakura Ogami, the strongest character in all of Danganronpa barring Izuru Kamukura.

Hifumi: She's ALSO been able to move AND FLY at the speed of sound using her weapon; completely above and beyond any speed feats Miss Sara has shown to be capable of. When it comes to general stats, Ms. Akamatsu knocks Miss Sara out of the water. Except perhaps, for intelligence.

Leona: Kaede is by no means dumb. In fact, she's actually an equally quick thinker and can adapt on the fly just as easily as Sara can. But with Sara constantly having to apply her mind and strategic prowess in the Death Game, and using her keen eye and observation skills to sus people out, she's shown to be far more capable in that regard. Kaede also doesn't compare to the likes of her boyfriend Shuichi, who is a literal detective.

Hifumi: Additionally, though it might come across as surprising, Miss Sara ALSO has the better mental fortitude of the two of them.

Leona: You know, I notice we don't really talk about mental fortitude in these fights unless it's between two mystery game protags...Not really that interesting or anything, just felt like I should point it out.

Uchui: At the point that Your Turn To Die is at right now, Sara is still alive and based on analysis and AI simulations, is the most likely to survive the game out of all the candidates. By such a significant margin in fact, that Joe Tazuna was brought into the game specifically with the intention of NERFING her intellectual capabilities for the sake of fairness. And even with her repeated hallucinations of her deceased best friend, she's yet to succumb to the pressure entirely.

Hifumi: On the other hand, when things began to slowly but steadily fall apart, Ms. Akamatsu wasn't unwilling to commit to brutal murder in order to assure her and her friends survival, and as shown in her fight against Kanade Otonokoji, being forced to witness the deranged monster kill her friend sent her into a savage and violent state with lethal intentions. If this was a battle purely decided by fortitude, Miss Sara would undoubtedly come out on top.

Leona: Plus, Kaede really didn't have any surefire way of triggering Sara's hallucinogenic states. Not only could she not innately know about Joe, and Sara's hallucinations related to him, but she didn't have any sort of paraphernalia or circumstance that could bring Sara into the state. Unless of course, she somehow got to talking about her own very similar circumstances, but that's not a likely outcome based on our analysis, and even then, it's a stretch.

Uchui: But when it comes to comparing their experience with battle and wielding weapons, Sara has a greater QUANTITY, but Kaede's yields a better QUALITY. Though the Kendo fighting style is more professional than the Kurafto Style, the latter doesn't rely too heavily on techniques so much as it does adapting and attacking on the fly, while also dealing outright savage blows. Because of this, it's unlikely even with her intellect and quick thinking, that Sara could glean a specific movement pattern from her opponent.

Leona: The Mozart Mk2 is just THAT powerful, and Kuripa's teachings are just that ridiculous! Kaede also just had a lot more interesting and effective ways of killing Sara than Sara does Kaede. In fact, even though the Hacker Mode doesn't ordinarily work on Biotic Lifeforms, and Kaede doesn't possess synchro-discs to get around this weapon like Komaru, it's still likely Kaede could use the mode to short circuit Sara's collar.

Uchui: It's unclear to us whether a shot from a hacking bullet would prematurely activate the collar, or just straight up detonate it like it does the Monokuma's, but regardless of what happens, Sara's end is basically assured assuming Kaede shoots the collar while it's around her neck. And since Sara can't willingly remove the collar, well, you get the picture.

Hifumi: Also, while Miss Sara's arsenal was vast, half of it was not very effective on Ms. Akamatsu. Only a third of the rounds in her revolver were lethal, while the rest were dummy bullets that just hurt a little bit. The Camera wouldn't work either since she's not a spirit, and it's unlikely she could make any use of her dart and lighter.

Uchui: Sara's most effective weapons against Kaede were the Battle Cards, but again, Kaede has survived attacks and weapons much more powerful than anything those cards could potentially do to her. 

Leona: And unlike Sara, Kaede has never shown to succumb to her tragic past and the terrible things that have happened to her, so even if Sara employed the light of her Lantern to bring these memories forward, it wouldn't really help her in the long run.

Uchui: Lastly, Sara does technically have more training than Kaede, having studied Kendo since she was a little girl, whereas Kaede has only been training for about over a year at this point. However, though first and foremost both are a student and pianist, Kaede is also a warrior, while Sara is not. Kaede constantly has to apply her combat skills to survive in the war against Zetsubou, while Sara survives the Death Game with her intelligence and silver tongue more than her physical capabilities, and has never had to properly apply herself in a fight to the death.

Hifumi: Miss Sara Chidouin fought valiantly and proved to be more capable and powerful fighter  than she let on. But Kaede Akamatsu's speed, strength, and raw unrivaled power ensured her Ultimate Victory.

Leona: "GAME! OVER!"

THE WINNER IS KAEDE AKAMATSU!

Next Time:

Part-human...Part-monster...ALL SAVAGE! But when their backs are against the wall who's the most savage of them all!?

#danganronpa survivor #danganronpa #kaede akamatsu #death battle #warriors of other worlds arc #Youtube

[almostjollyprince]

100ish Days of Productivity: I fell behind

I uh... fell behind on this. Not because I wanted to, but I'm being pulled in a number of directions and just not finding the time for this like I would have liked.

Day 12 - Jan 15 2024 This was a holiday. I studied a bit for my certification and then spent the rest of the day jumping between other games (Final Fantasy 14 was down for a day-long maintenance for the upcoming patch and infrastructure expansions) and planning out my D&D campaigns. I got an update from the artist I'm commissioning regarding the token I need for my Saturday campaign, and the work so far looks great. I'm excited to see the end result. There's a lot I want to talk about regarding games. Like how one of my friends reminded me that Palworld was finally entering early access later this week (he's super excited for it because he's one of the many people who are disappointed with the direction Game Freak has been going with Pokemon) or how Enshrouded was coming out next week. I'm hesitant on Palworld if only because PocketPair has a habit of making games but not finishing the polish on them. Like, excluding Palworld, they have 3 other games that have been in early access since 2020 (one game per year or something) and they still haven't fulfilled their promises for any of those games. For a game with a lot of promises and expectations, it'd be a real shame if Palworld fell to the wayside. Enshrouded on the other hand I'm neutral on what I'm hoping to expect from it. I dabbled a bit in their playtest but I didn't put in the full 8 hours available for the demo. Sure there's plenty to see, but... it felt empty? Not on the same scope as Pokemon Scarlet/Violet or Breath of the Wild. All their scenic environments are gorgeous, but I was hoping to find something interesting for going in some direction. Enshrouded has a lot of what I call "mountains and valleys". Your mountains are your safe points because the valley is where the shroud is and that's full of danger. But if you wanted to go to the mountain that's across the way from your current location in the hopes of finding something (didn't have to be lore-related), when you did finally make the journey to get there, there was nothing of interest. There's a healthy balance game devs need to find between oversaturating the overworld with points of interest (and handholding the players to get there) and just... not having anything of interest in that general direction. I guess I'm hoping Enshrouded will be closer to that ideal balance than say, Horizon: Zero Dawn and Breath of the Wild.

Day 13 - Jan 16 2024 I was reminded today at work that we have a new employee starting next week and that one of the other people we were hiring wasn't going to be able to start anytime soon for reasons I'm not allowed to discuss. Updated the work schedule to adjust for that information and just worked with the junior devs to get the project going. After work was... Final Fantasy 14's latest patch. The wife and I were talking about running the last bit of the Main Story Quest together, and we very much enjoyed the new character they introduced that'll be integral to the next expansion. I also wrapped up the new quests that dropped, collected the rewards, and... hm. I guess aside from gathering the currency for various things all that's left is achievement hunting. Not really looking forward to that. There's raiding, I suppose, but I don't have the time to commit several hours a night for multiple days of the week trying to face Savage or Ultimate content (both of which are among the hardest tiers of difficulty for various raids). The D&D campaign that I play in on Tuesdays was supposed to start today, but the DM pushed it back another two weeks. The DM that runs that campaign happens to be a player in my other campaigns and she looks up to me for DMing D&D games, so I'll have to do my best to meet and exceed her (and the other players) expectations.

Day 14 - Jan 17 2024 It is Wednesday my dudes. Work ended up being a lot planning, and the bossman who was supposed to come out this week to talk to the team in person couldn't make it, so there'll be a different meeting later in the week in regards to that. There's also talks of my project getting started up again, but we'll see where that goes. I honestly don't think I'll hear anything regarding it until later next month. After work, I played Monster Hunter World to get caught up to the wife who's already in Iceborne content. I'm... not particularly thrilled about rerunning this unskippable content again, and my thoughts on it can be found in a previous post. The big thing I'm concerned about regarding Monster Hunter has been Capcom's attitude towards their player base ever since a certain event happened involving a Street Fighter tournament a while back. I'll skip the details of what happened, but essentially their view is 'any modification to our games is a bad modification' and they've been installing anti-cheat software in all their games that have been released in the past couple of years or are still available on various platforms. This particular anti-cheat software is apparently causing significant performance issues, and when the issue was brought up, the response from the people who owned that particular anti-cheat software was... not that great. I didn't like the direction most AAA game companies have been going in for a while, but we've pretty much reached the point where those companies are now like "you don't own the games you buy" as a means of trying to stop people from developing mods for those games. I don't use mods for most games (at best I have a couple of mods for Lethal Company), but I get why mods exist as well as why companies are turning against the modding community. If you honestly need a hot take from me in regards to my opinion on modding, it's "don't change the rating of the game with your mods. *cough cough NSFW mods cough cough*."

Day 15 - Jan 18 2024 The team had a meeting with the bossman. He has high hopes for the team and is trying to get us more work. It'd be cool if we had more stuff to work on, but he also put a hiring freeze on the team. It was a weird choice and I'm wondering if there's corporate politics going on, but that's above my paygrade and not really my problem at the moment. Aside from the meeting, it was mostly working on setting up validation checks on our input boxes. There were some issues which I think I've managed to narrow down to it being that one of our component libraries isn't playing nice with the others. I have brought this up to the senior devs but I don't know if it'll get addressed or if we'll get direction on what to do regarding it. It would be nice if we had some sort of document that kept track of known issues (not necessarily bugs, but like... technical difficulties), but I guess the only way one will exist is if I make it. After work I played Among Us with some friends. For the uninitiated, you and a bunch of other players have to complete a bunch of objectives while also trying to identify who the killer is. There's a bunch of games out there with similar concepts (Town of Salem comes to mind), but this one is probably the best known one. I didn't have a particularly good time playing this last time (public servers are rampant with cheating that just leaves you in a bad mood at the end of the game), but I figured a private server with friends would be better. And to be honest, it was. It's not the usual friends I game with, but I've acknowledged that if I wanna play games that my usual friends won't play I'll have to seek out those friends that do want to play it. I had a blast playing with them, and I'm hoping we'll get to play again soon. If they're not going to be playing Palworld non-stop, that is...

Day 16 - Jan 19 2024 We got some unfortunate news regarding one of our juniors. The team's already pretty small but with their upcoming departure it'll be even smaller. It didn't seem like they had much of a plan about what they'd do or what living arrangements they had made since they were going out of state, however. I'm sure they'll be fine. The senior devs aren't particularly thrilled about it, but they have my blessing to go seek out what will make them happy. And hey, they can always come back if things don't work out for them. Our Hardware guy is also going overseas for some company work starting sometime next week, so the team had a breakfast together to get together one more time for the hardware guy. It snowed the night before so the roads were particularly tough to navigate getting to the diner. But everyone made it despite the challenges. The rest of the day was pretty slow and the team ended up playing Jackbox.tv games the rest of the afternoon. We're ahead of schedule and we haven't received any sort of direction for the project yet (they pushed the demo day back a few weeks), so this is mostly to break up the drudgery of not having much to do. Palworld entered early access today, and unsurprisingly it's the only thing being talked about in a lot of a lot of my usual hangout places. The game was surprisingly well-put together for a game in early access (minus the clipping and out-of-bounds issues that they're going to address. Definitely a better Day 1 than what Pokemon Scarlet/Violet had with the multiplayer bugs and glitches) based on some of the gameplay I've seen, but there's... a lot of drama for it as well. People are going after it for "ripping off Nintendo's IP" in regards to how some of the Pals look, but the reality of the matter was how game journalists spun the game. Since its announcement a couple of years ago, game journalists have been calling it "Pokemon with Guns" (they do this with a lot of games - Enshrouded is "Valheim with Dark Souls combat", for instance, as a means of trying to market what a game is to people who aren't following it), but the game itself is more than just violating the Geneva Convention against fantasy creatures. PocketPair never described their game as "Pokemon with Guns". The two big issues people had with the game was 1) 'Was it made using AI assets based off of a couple of messages on X that the CEO made some time back?' and 2) 'Did they rip off Pokemon?' Jury's still out on those answers. My take, however, is 'no' to the first, and 'undecided' on the second. For the 'no' to the first question, it looked like someone twisted the words of the CEO. I don't have the messages in front of me at the moment, but when I saw those messages circulating around, it sounded more like the CEO was interested in the direction games could go with AI (I'll talk more about AI later, but let's not forget that AI is more than just asking a computer to generate art using whatever teaching materials you give it). As for the second question... Original ideas don't really exist anymore. Just because some concepts look similar to another game's concepts doesn't mean they're stealing them. Some of Gen 1's Pokemon look similar to some of the monsters from Dragon Quest (and some ideas from later Pokemon generations seemed to be taking ideas from Digimon, but that's neither here nor there). Is using Elves and Dwarves as your fantasy races ripping off Lord of the Rings? Is using dragons and dungeons ripping off Dungeons & Dragons? All of these examples fall under the "Medieval Fantasy" category. Most of the content you consume in media has existed in some form or another for centuries or millennia. Everything draws on inspiration from somewhere.

Day 17 - Jan 20 2024 It's the weekend, but not just any weekend. It's D&D weekend. I had to finish some prepwork for the session (getting my notes up regarding the temple they raided last session, writing out some concepts that have been introduced previously but finally giving the players the necessary information they need for it now that they're encountering it, finalizing some ideas, etc), but I woke up too early and ended up with some free time between when I finished the prepwork and before the session started. So I picked up Palworld. The game plays more like Ark: Survival Evolved than Pokemon. Instead of dinosaurs that you capture and use for various purposes in the game, you capture these creatures called "Pals" and use them for various purposes in the game. You're less of a Pal Trainer and more of a Monster Tamer or Beastmaster since the only time you'll properly encounter humans in the game using Pals against you is in the various towers. Otherwise, you just have various factions wielding firearms and other weapons to combat the people and Pals in the game that you yourself can fight against or sic your creatures of mass destruction upon them. And I suppose the various Pals you can fight either by yourself or with your monster buddy in the overworld and in caves. I didn't get too far in the game since I only had an hour, but I had fun with the hour I did have. D&D went pretty well. Since the players had taken care of all the major events I had planned for them in that region in the previous session, today's session was mostly figuring out where to go next. It wasn't a particularly long session, but I set up enough to leave them with a cliffhanger for the next arc. I am... intentionally leaving my individual players with bits and pieces of relevant information based on where their characters came from. It's fun to see them come together and discuss between sessions what the hell they think I have planned for them. The artist I commissioned finished the piece I requested, and I paid them for their services with an extra bonus. I think I definitely made the right call sending them information about the character for the piece to look this amazing. I'll be sure to request them again when they have an opening and commission another piece. If you take care of your artists, they will take care of you in return. I won't get the same level of care from an AI model that generates art, and that's part of the reason why I'm against the current training materials that are being used to train AI. There's a reason why Public Domain exists. You don't need to steal other people's work to generate something just because you're not creative enough or don't put in the time to make something of your own. Use the Public Domain to train your models. Don't rob someone of their hard work.

Rest Day - Jan 21 2024 Played some more Palworld. Hung out with some friends and ran some content in Final Fantasy 14. Watched a couple episodes of wrestling with some buddies as a distraction (I think it was the qualifiers for the mens and womens' Royal Rumble from last year?). The Wednesday crew plays this week so I'll need to start finalizing some things for the session coming up.

Day 18 - Jan 22 2024 The new guy started today, but he was going to be coming in a little late. The team sat in on a demo at the recommendation of the bossman. We got the new guy up to speed pretty quickly to the point where he was like "Man I didn't think I'd be able to put my hands on code on the same day I start". Normally you'd be in processing hell for a couple of weeks in this industry, but our team's pretty good about getting new employees access to what they need if not the same day they start then the day after. I had plans for him to work with one of the senior developers all week so that he could understand all the processes but unsurprisingly the senior devs got dragged into doing other stuff. It's fine. He can sit with me and my buddy for the day. After work I did some work on finalizing some details for the Wednesday D&D session. I'm not sure what it is regarding some people and their original characters but I'm always reminded of the meme with the used car salesman. "This OC can hold so much trauma and emotional baggage". I don't usually talk about my plans for either of my campaigns, but the Saturday campaign was always a story of redemption. The Wednesday campaign was something I threw together in some of my spare time so while it doesn't have the level of polish that my Saturday game has, I do try to find something that appeals to each of the players and that's a character arc for each of them. Each of the characters has some sort of emotional trauma they carry with them that the players came up with when they made their characters. One character lost the love of her life, her crew and her ship to a rival pirate. She had since gotten revenge against the pirate and reclaimed her ship, but she had once again lost the love of her life. Another character had a bitter dispute with their father about their career choices and left to become a clergyman before entering piracy. They ran into their father again by chance and had to put aside their differences to work with him to save their family and their village from being sacrificed to a great leviathan. A character currently going through their arc was neglected by their family as the runt of the litter and was picked up by their mentor to commit criminal activities before being betrayed by him. Now, an opportunity has presented itself for them to get their revenge. Will they be able to do so? We shall see~

Day 19 - Jan 23 2024 I ended up having to write up more stories for the project to give to the other developers so they could have something to work on because the senior developer who is the project lead for it was working on other stuff. The other one is stuck writing up an article for a magazine as a means of advertising the company and the team. We're short-staffed, but man, I sure wish we had some more hands to free our senior developers. Work-wise we had to figure out some issues with input validation, so we wrote some tests first to figure out how to design the code. The team doesn't usually work with Test Driven Development (everything we do is dependent on the project), but at least we can say we have some experience with it. There's still a couple of issues we need to work out, but that's a problem for another day and another pair. After work, I realized I hadn't actually created a character sheet for the mentor that the players would be fighting against, so I spent my evening working on that. It was my first time building a Sorcerer, so I can only hope that it doesn't end up being too unbalanced of a fight. After that I did some cert studying and replaced some lights that had burned out over the weekend.

Day 20 - Jan 24 2024 I can't believe we're already a fifth of the way through this challenge that I'm having regrets about. The new guy was with me again today but he had to deal with some project-related stuff so he was out for the morning. I ended up creating the front end of a couple of pages on my own (having my buddy for the day the senior developer in charge of the project look over the visuals to see if everything lines up with how the original project looked and if the modernization matched our prototype Figmas even though he had to work on something else). When the new guy got back in the afternoon I worked with him to finish the design and layout of the other page I was working on. We realized pretty quick that the library component we were having issues with last week was causing problems displaying the data we want to display in our tables, so we'll work out something for that another day. After work, I did some final prepwork for the D&D session. Some people forgot we played today despite my reminders (I now have a general idea of who mutes the server and who doesn't) but everyone showed up on time. The session itself went pretty well. Granted, I had to improvise some ideas because the characters all split off to do their own thing in different groups, but I was told I did a good job balancing the seriousness nature of some scenes and the lightheartedness of other scenes. Next session, the character this arc is for will face the source of his trauma, his mentor. I also did a reveal regarding the NPC companion that was with the party for this arc that caught everyone off guard, but once they started putting the pieces together, everything was making sense for them. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, and it sounded like some of the players are ready for the emotional damage to hit them next time.

Day 21 - Jan 25 2024 The bossman is asking us for logos for the team so that they can get some corporate swag made, so guess who had to go help with that? That's right, not me and my buddy for the day because we lost the rock-paper-scissors game to decide who worked on what. Which, granted, was mostly because we only have 7 people on the team and our senior devs are doing things outside of their job scope due to a lack of personnel and we still needed someone to work on the projects we currently have. We rewired some pathing on some of the pages and reworked the placeholder visuals. We had a team lunch so it was nice to get away and enjoy a good burger. I was also asked to give some feedback regarding some of the designs that the other pair was generating for the logo (using Midjourney as a baseline to generate concepts that they would rework later) and after I gave some input it seemed like we would have something by tomorrow to give to the bossman. The 24th happened to be the day Enshrouded released into early access on some platforms, so I picked that up to play with friends. We got a server going for the usual crew and got into shenanigans for a couple of hours. Overall a good time.

Day 22 - Jan 26 2024 It snowed a good couple of inches in my area so myself and another person on the team weren't able to go into the office today, so we worked from home. My buddy for the day requested the day off so I mostly focused on certification study. I took a practice test to see where I was at, but the questions were... really vague. Somehow only got one question wrong, but I'm not going to complain. The logo designs were posted so we placed our votes on our top choices, and I think whichever ones everyone agreed on were gonna be sent to the bossman for swag. The evening was a mix of Final Fantasy 14 and Enshrouded. I think my biggest complaint regarding Enshrouded is that for a survival game, your only real danger is in the shroud. The game has a food buff system much like Valheim, but there's no worry of death if you run out of food/water like with other survival games that have a food and thirst meter. If the camp had to deal with random enemy raids I could see more of the survival genre aspect the game's being marketed for, but again, your only real danger is the shroud. We have removed the doors to our camp because everyone's struggling with the doors, but there's no serious danger in the mountains outside of the shrouded areas. At least tomorrow is the weekend.

#100 days of productivity

[thatoneguy031]

If anyone wants to know, I'm actually in Driftveil again, and I found Cherry, yay!

The Suicune actually decided to stay with me, which is both generous and surprising of him. But I get it. I got messed up in that one fight last night. I'm pretty sure my brain just repressed the memory of that butt-kicking, that's how bad it was. I was probably in that one death position from Rayquaza Ball Z by the end of it, you know the one.

Anyways. Cherry had a lot she wanted to say to me, and I had a lot to say to her.

Firstly, she nearly had a heart attack when she saw the Suicune next to me, and I had to explain the deal.

"Okay, so they're... Well, we haven't decided on a name yet, but-"

"Haven't decided?! What are you even talking about?!"

"I'm getting to that. So, they're deal is that they have amnesia, and wanted to travel the world to find some answers to why that is."

"That's fine and dandy, but... why do they look... dead? They look like they were supposed to be put in a coffin years ago."

That was so... so... out of pocket. What the heck, Cherry?

The Suicune's preparing an Ice Beam, now wanting to put her in a coffin, and I knew I had to nip this in the bud before a fight broke out.

Before the Suicune could fire it off, I dove in between them and Cherry to tank the attack. And can I say like, thank freaking Mew that they didn't have Freeze Dry or something. The Ice Beam, even with type resistance mind you, still stung like a Beedrill using Twinneedle.

By the way, the whole ice-arm-whatever the dist I'm dealing with, that was never fixed. I asked for some advice, and I was told to just pop a Yache and it'd go away, but I couldn't find any. Why I'm mentioning this? The Ice Beam not only screwed me up even more, but now my right arm's frozen from my shoulder, rendering it totally useless until I find a Yache berry. That was my dominant paw, too...

"Dude!" I shouted, at the both of them. "What the heck was that for?!"

Cherry raised her claws defensively. "I was only calling it as I see it... Anyways, what's kept you waiting, cheesecake?"

"Me? I was looking for you!" I ultimately decide that this is just wasting everyone's time. "Arrgh, nevermind, I don't have time for that! Suicune dude, this is Cherry, and Cherry, this is Suicune dude. Now, can y'all please try not to murder each other?"

Reluctantly, they shook hands.

"Good. Now, I have a lot to tell you. So, first things first, I have a plan, something that I really want to get done..." I took a deep breath. I've wanted to tell her this since we first met all those months ago, and I was worried about how she would take it. "...I plan on leaving the Unova region. And I want to take you with me."

I flinched, expecting her to completely freak out. Something like, "WHAT?! I have a home here, I can't just leave this place!!!", but there was only silence. At least, for a short while.

"...Where are you going?" Cherry sounded genuinely curious.

"I'm not too sure yet. I want to travel the entire world, but I don't know where I want to start. I also wanted to sorta, I don't know... Start a team? I'm sorry if this sounds really really bad but I wanted to do this since I was an Oshawott, please don't hate me!"

"Hate you? What do you think I've been wanting to do this whole time?" Cherry was excited, which calmed my nerves a little. "I'd love to do that, especially with someone else! When are goin'?!"

"I... also don't know. I never thought about it very far."

The Suicune looked at me with what I can only imagine is disappointment, and the longer I looked at them, the more I realized that Cherry had a point. They looked...

Sickly.

Broken leg aside, they had a very muted fur color compared to the Suicunes I've seen in fairytales and myths. A few more white(...I think?) markings on their torso and legs than normal, and their hair was more of an indigo, and the tips of them still covered in ice. Even their eyes were pretty dim, being a little more than dark voids with orange dots.

With a lack of better words, they look like they forgot to die last month.

Not like it matters now. "I want to do a bit of preparations before we head off, though," I tell Cherry. "Like, food, drinks, basic items and all that. It might be a while, so there's some time before me and Suicune head off. The three of us have time to kill."

---

I'm writing this as Cherry is asleep(At least, I can only assume she is. She's not with me right now), so I'm just doing this before things are started for real. The Suicune even promised to train me, both to "de-rust" me, I guess, and to try and teach me some new moves, just in case we run into some folks that don't take to us very kindly.

So... See y'all later, I guess?

#guy rambles #samurott #flygon #suicune #??? #Arc 2 #pkmn irl #pokemon irl #pokemon #pokeblogging

[angels-fluff]

Ok, so I noticed that your requests are open. I'm in dire need for more Husk x Reader. So, really, anything is cool with me. Especially fluff XD

Sorry that this took so long, I hope you enjoy it still! I apologize ahead of time as it's been a while since I've written a one-shot or at all, really. But I love Husk so here you go!

NOTE: This version of Husk is based off of a fan theory on his backstory where Husk fought in the Vietnam war. In this headcanon for him, he had been engaged when he was drafted. His fiance became upset that he had left her and cheated on him with his childhood best friend. Husk then drank himself to death and ended up in hell and made a deal with Alastor, at first asking that he take away his ability to love, something Al was unable to do for him. So that's a bit of this version of Husk's story! Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stuck...

It was getting late and while he knew he needed to turn in soon for some rest, Husk was still wide awake. It was hard being so far away from home, so far away from his fiance and family. Even with that aside, this war had been violent and letting your guard down for even a second could result in tragedy. Perhaps he’d instead offer to stay on look out while the other soldiers rested. Or maybe he just needed to unwind, read some mail and try to get some shuteye anyway?

Looking over to the small stack of still sealed envelopes, Husk shuffled through them a bit, stopping on a specific one that made his heart both melt and ache at the same time. Admiring the way their handwriting flowed across the front of the envelope. The one thing that he knew for sure in all of this uncertainty was that (y/n) would always be able to ease his nerves no matter where he was. Just thinking about them was enough to soothe him and put his mind to rest even for just a few minutes.

That was when he decided to open it the letter that he had been holding onto for the past couple of days. Eagerly, he opened the letter and carefully unfolded the pages that had been compacted to fit.

“Dearest Husk,

I hope you are doing well, I’ve been keeping busy myself. It’s been really hard to go on each day without you here. I started a new job, I’ve been enjoying it quite a bit.

I don’t really know how to tell you this, but I have moved on. I started spending quite a bit of time with Jimmy, I know you two have been best friends since childhood, so please don’t take this out on him. He’s kept me company when I get lonely now that you’re gone. He treats me good and I’ve fallen head over heels in love with him.

I’m sorry, but I just can’t keep my life on hold, waiting for you forever. It’s time for me to move on from all of that and pick my life back up.

I hope you’ll understand,

(y/n).”

As his eyes continued to reread each line, trying to make sense of the letter that he had just read, Husk felt his heart sinking further with every word. A small, emotionless laugh escaped from his mouth, unsure of if he should be more sad or angry.

This couldn’t be happening, this war couldn’t be taking them away from him too. He didn’t have a choice! He was drafted, it’s not like he could just say no to the government, not without serious repercussions. And his childhood best friend nonetheless, had he always had eyes for them? Even before he was drafted into this damn war?

His chest was getting tight, it felt hard to breathe, this couldn’t be happening, not now when they were what he needed the most. How could he possibly keep going after this? To keep living a life that wasn’t even worth living? A life where everyone left him no matter what he did to try to make it up to them?

“Husk! Sweetheart, wake up!” (y/n)’s voice called out, causing further frustration. Why was he hearing their voice? Why did he have to be this distraught over one person?

“Husk wake up, you’re having another nightmare, hun.” Their voice rang out once more.

That’s when the feline’s eyes snapped open, sitting over the demon with a worried expression on their face, sat (y/n). They were brushing back the messy fur that lay on top of his head as he breathed heavily.

“Hun, did you have another one of those nightmares? ...About her?” they asked, concern still laced in their voice.

“I uh-sorry.” Husk cleared his voice, sitting up and gently resting a paw on his partner’s hand to try to reassure them that he would be alright.

“Yeah, it was another like that, but…It was you.” He admitted, albeit sheepishly. “And before you go and freak yourself out, I know you’re not like that. I’m not saying you are, I just…” His other paw reached up to rest his face in, frustrated. “It felt real. The damn nightmares always do.” Husk huffed quietly.

“I know what you mean though, nightmares like that usually do. It’s what makes them so scary, you don’t know what’s real and what isn’t. You don’t even realize that it’s all just a dream most of the time until after you already wake up.”

Husk nodded as (y/n) spoke, it was true, all he could really do was endure that same pain all over again until he had woken up and realized that it wasn’t real. While the feline was well aware that his partner wasn’t the type to leave in such a cruel way or that he was no longer out on the battle field, there was still fear there. Fear and pain from the past that occassionally still ate at him, one that not even alcohol could really cure, even temporarily. The fear of losing (y/n) and having to go through another heartbreak would be way too much for him. His last heartbreak had been so hard that he had not only lost his life in the end, but also caused him to beg and plead with a certain overlord to simply just remove his ability to love. That, was not something that even Alastor was able to grant him, ultimately resulting in indulging further into his alcoholism.

(Y/n) knew their lover’s background and had quickly picked up on these fears, especially when the post traumatic stress nightmares had really started becoming more and more frequent for him. Yet they had been there by his side ever since they had fallen into hell.

“Well, I can’t change what I do in your nightmares, but I can prove that this isn’t a continuation.” (Y/n) smiled and left a small kiss on Husk’s cheek, his fur gently tickling them as they did so. The demon’s shoulders fell a bit, seemingly easing any tension that he had previously bottled up from the stress of the morning.

He uncovered his face, offering a small smile and a little nudge. “That’s definitely you this time.” he chuckled a bit.

“I brought you some coffee, the way I made mine last time! Because you said you liked it.” (Y/n) gestured over to the nightstand where a mug rested, filled with hazelnut mocha coffee, steam gently rising from it to show it was freshly brewed.

“Oh-Thanks. I’m surprised you remembered that I liked it.” Husk decided to let it sit a few more minutes before trying to drink it. The last thing he needed was to burn his tongue off despite admittedly being rather excited for the drink that his partner had made for him.

“Of course I remembered!” (y/n) smiled, their response making Husk chuckle once again. “And Husk?”

“Hm?” Gently, he picked up the mug to take a small sip and test the temperature.

“I know what she did to you, I know that it’s hard for you to do this sometimes, the whole relationship thing...But I promise that you’re stuck with me. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I’ve been really happy being with you, I love sharing stories with each other and you rolling your eyes at my jokes and you making me random drinks to try so you can laugh at me when I make weird faces about it. I love it more than anything and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, not even a ticket straight to heaven. Being here with you, I know it’s where I’m supposed to be and you can tell me that I can leave all you want, but I don’t want to. I want you, I want us, I want this.” (Y/n) held onto Husk’s paw, giving it a squeeze.

Husk set his mug down once again and leaned over to give (y/n) a small kiss.

“I want you too (y/n), as long as you want to be here. So I guess you’re stuck with me too then?” he smiled, the demon absolutely melting as his partner looked back at him.

“Till the end of time.”

#husk x reader #hazbin hotel x reader #oneshot #x reader #hazbin hotel husk

[letterstothemidnightsociety]

Alright, so if you've been following along with me, Supernatural season 3 starts out on a trio of episodes that are Really Fun, slides into some episodes that are Pretty OK, then takes a real nose dive into Bummersville. Hoo boy guys, I really hope that this season picks up. I mean, it won’t, but I can still dream. 2021 was maybe not the year to start watching this season. Fair warning.

The next three episodes for this season are just, like, real downers. First we get “Fresh Blood,” which, aside from the terrible title, starts out on a high note. Gordon (gross) somehow manages to catch up with Bela (HOW??) and threatens her if she doesn’t hand over the Winchesters. Bela, in all of her class and grace, won’t give them up because she has a high price point and Gordon is really lowballing her here. Just like, yes, ok, please stay forever, you’re amazing and I love you. And what a scene this is! You have two characters, one with a strict moral code (albeit one that allows for violence and winning at all costs) and the other with almost NO moral code, but an allegiance that can be bought with the best price and it’s such a fun back and forth until Gordon pulls out a gun. And then she pulls out her phone and just has Dean on speed dial and that’s maybe my fav part. Bela has run into the Winchesters twice and they maybe legit hate her but she’s very much like, oh yeah, my BFF’s the Winchesters, I love those idiots!

I love that we come back to this moment later in the episode when Bela, like, three days later, is like, Oh! I guess I should warn the Winchesters that some crazy guy is after them! She’s just so casual about it you kind of get the feeling that, even though technically Gordon was threatening her life, she doesn’t view him as A Threat. She gives the Winchesters a heads up just to be like oh yeah, you might want to watch out for this mild inconvenience, and she seems legit shocked when Dean freaks out. There’s this moment that plays across her face like, oh shit, did I...did I fuck up? And it adds a nice bit of depth to her character. She’s seems honestly worried, both for the lives of the Winchesters but also that Dean won’t like her anymore and that is just a charming bit of A C T I N G!

I am gonna miss her SO MUCH when she dies at the end of this season. WHY did we CANCEL HER???

But despite the fun beginning, this episode is about monsters and how people become monsters and how other people are probably the reason. Because our main baddie is a vampire who hunts to...well, listen if we look at the facts that he lays out in his monologue, it’s a little more tragic - he’s trying to replace the daughters that he lost hundreds of years ago, cool motive, still murder. In practice though, he goes around turning hot blonde coeds into vampires and then ?????? Who knows. I’d like to believe that this was a problem with the CW executives or maybe casting/directing and not with the writing, but it’s SPN and you really can’t be sure with anything. The fact is, this is a CW show from the early 2000’s and a lot of their extras are cast to type. And that’s maybe me exhibiting some girl-on-girl crime, but there are other episodes that did a much less blatantly gross job casting their extras/Very Special Guest Stars.

Anyway, the POINT of this guy is that he’s a monster because someone killed his daughter and he’s just been trying to fill that grief hole inside of him for centuries. This is not unlike Gordon, who ALSO has been trying to fill a grief hole that he’s had for decades, except he’s not killing people and resurrecting them as blood suckers, he’s just killing them. And then, when the Vamp decides to turn Gordon it’s a real sweet moment of comeuppance for like, a HOT second and then you’re like, awww dude, ya done f’ed up. That was a bad idea. You’ve made a HUGE mistake.

More importantly, our Vampire In Question finally runs into the Winchesters and get’s to say things like “I was desperate! You ever felt desperate? I've lost everyone I ever loved. I'm staring down eternity alone. Can you think of a worse hell?” and also “I just ... I didn't care anymore. Do you know what it's like when you just don't give a damn? It's like ... it's like being dead already.” and Dean’s v. much like, THIS IS TOO REAL ROY.

Sam may ALSO be feeling Too Real feelings because he is DONE dicking around with Gordon and honestly yes, I like this, this is good Sam development. It’s nice to know that Sam has a breaking point. And I admit I’m of two minds about this moment because 1) I love the idea of Dark!Sam this season and that maybe Sam’s decision to actually kill Gordon is just one step in that process but 2) I ALSO love the idea of Sam Lite finally having a breaking point and Gordon is IT. I don’t know which theory I like more in this scenario, but they are both good theories.

I think as much as this episode wants to draw parallels between the monsters and Dean (thank you artful editors), you can’t look at the “I’ve lost everyone I ever loved,” line and not think of Sam? Cuz he’s got one (1) person left in his life that hasn’t died horribly, so how desperate is he about to get through the end of this season? I’ve definitely been watching this season with eyes on all the ominous Dean foreshadowing, but the Sam foreshadowing is also there, just buried under the heavy weight of a thousand smulders and suicidal levels of denial.

And also, FUCK the tag on this episode! Guys, it is CUTE but it is also HORRIBLE. Dean starts teaching Sam how to fix the Impala and at first it’s all, “Oh! Adorable Brothers Being Brothers!” and I loved it but then I almost immediately hated it because you realize this is about making sure Sam can get along without him once he’s gone and Dean just accepts his own death with such casual ease that it’s just...INFURIATING!

This scene was rude and I HATE IT!

Cut to - “A Very Supernatural Christmas” Special!

Guys, I was so excited when I got to this episode. THIS is Classic Supernatural Shenanigans. Plus, you know a Holiday Special is the ultimate sign that this show has Made It, right? Or it could be a sign that they’re selling out, who knows, but I think we can say that at this point in the series, SPN is established enough to start having fun with their fans. That’s what this says to me. BUT THEN what we get is like...oh boy.

First - like, I’mma beat this horse to death, but what is WRONG with this FAMILY? John Winchester very quickly devolved into the sort of father that forgot about every single holiday and did not ever, even a little bit, make up for it. It’s not a surprise, but it kind of wrecked me seeing a flashback where Baby Dean is just so attached to a father who can’t be bothered to actually care for his children. I know he’s not in this episode because Jeffrey Dean Morgan was tied up in other projects, but the fact that John doesn’t show up at the end to button the flashbacks with a But then he DID show up for Christmas! just makes this plot line that more gutting. And despite Dean’s hero worship of their father, this is maybe the Christmas where Baby Sam stops believing in his own father. The only bright side to this is that it continues to enforce the fact that Bobby should have sued John for custody. Bobby should maybe STILL Sue for custody so that Dean at least would feel like someone wants him for once in his life, damnit.

And then we wrap this episode up with the Best Worst Christmas of all, because we see Sam start to...also?? accept that Dean is about to die? Cuz that’s what this episode is really about - Dean’s Last Christmas. And everything about that makes me ~ u p s e t ~.

So Sam decides to put his curmudgeonly grinchy attitude aside in order to make it a special day for Dean and ugh. UGH. UGHGHGHG. Season three is the worst guys, and I can’t believe I didn’t realize that until right this second now.

So let’s wrap this up with "Malleus Maleficarum", honestly an episode that is mostly forgettable until we get to, like, the last five minutes. Sure, witches and curses and selling your soul, woohoo whatever.

But then we get some real Ruby centric reveals and like, WHAT is happening?? First off, the scene where Ruby and Tammy have a moment is a real Moment. There is some baggage and tension here and it is heavy. And then Tammy drops the mic when she reveals that Ruby used to be human.

THEN, Ruby legit saves their asses by killing Tammy with a fancy magic knife. Ok, Dean does the actual killing, but Ruby brought the fancy magic knife. So between the hot and heavy tension with “Tammy” and her repeated attempts to keep the Winchesters alive, we’re left wondering what IS Ruby’s deal? I personally wonder how much of the show’s mythology the show actually has figured out at this point? Because interviews with Kripke definitely walk the line between “Oh we definitely have this whole thing worked out,” and “yeah, we’re sort of finding things as we go along,” which is maybe why it’s able to last as long as it does. More on that later.

Of course the big kicker is the final scene between Ruby and Dean. Dean is almost on board with Ruby at this point in the season, and much like his scene with the demon in “Sin City”, they share a kind of vulnerable moment together where Ruby admits that, yeah, she was human once and yeah, Hell will destroy you, body and soul, and yeah Dean’s worst fear will probably come true - he will become the thing he hunts, no ifs, ands or buts about it. And Dean knows that Ruby knows that Dean knows that there’s no way to save Dean from his fate, but they both agree that they can’t take Sam’s last ounce of hope away from him because, for both of them, Sam is their hope. Ruby and Dean both see the war happening around them and they know that with Dean gone, Sam’s maybe the last guy holding back the tide to save all humanity.

Which, honestly? Bull shit. Do you know how many hunters are out there? Neither do I, but this season seems to indicate that there are a LOT. We have barely scratched the surface on the hunter community and it’s a damn shame that they are all weirdo loners because there is a war going on. You know what works great in a war? An ARMY. Buncha mentally unstable, martyr-complex ijits who can’t put their differences aside for one damn MINUTE so that maybe, JUST maybe, the could actually defeat the evil they’ve spent their entire lives dedicated to fighting. And if Ruby and Dean wanted to help Sam, what they should probably do is get him plugged in to that community. I do believe that of all they backasswards, self-obsessed, painfully anti-social crazies out there, the Winchesters are THE WORST.

Listen tho, this was like, a solid scene between these two. Just a lot of work goin' into this and it paid off.

Anyway, back to the mythology for a hot second - This sort of loosey-goosey stumbling into your own world building is probably another one of those things that you’ll only really get in a show with this many episodes per season? It’s that room to play and experiment and just make stuff up as you go along. I think the slow drip method of releasing episodes ALSO helps in this scenario because you’re able to see what fans are reacting to in almost-real time. When viewers are binging episodes, I think you're less likely to see what specifically they’re reacting to and more wholistically they’re reacting to. And that’s not to say you won’t see those specific things that they like/love eventually, but by the time you get there, your season’s been produced in its entirety and you’ll have to bear that in mind for (hopefully) next season. But with SPN, they were writing and producing the show at the same time that some of the episodes were airing. That’s why they were able to make decisions on the fly, based on what fans responded to. And definitely by this point in the show, there was a sizeable and vocal fan base that made their feelings VERY well-known. We’re only in season three, but they’ve already had a number of con appearances and a pretty active online presence. That kind of feedback has got to be helpful, from a writing perspective, but it also allows for things like characters getting cut because nobody liked them for some dumb reason. BUT, if you’re fighting to stay on the air for 100 episodes or longer, responding to fan reactions is what’s gonna do it and that’s a fact.

#Supernatural #Supernatural rewatch #SPN #Sam Winchester #Dean Winchester #Bela Talbot #Gordon Walker #Ruby #SPN Season 3 #Fresh Blood #A Very Supernatural Christmas #malleus maleficarum #It's gonna lighten up on the next three episodes #I promise #I hope #Don't watch this season if you're still feeling 2020 #Is my personal opinion

[smartzelda]

Remind Trailer Analysis Part 1 (Warning Remind Spoilers!)

So, after I watched the new trailer, I found out it got leaked I felt really bad, but I really wanna talk about it cause it's got me screaming

So...here we go

First off, a lot of people are excited with the reveal that Final Fantasy characters such as Aerith, Yuffie, and Leon will be returning. Although I'm probably not as excited as most, I love how beautiful their renders are and can't wait to see how they fit into the story!

Okay, so Riku boi at Radiant Garden trying to figure out what happened to Sora (Riku boy looking for Sora!) I'm personally excited to see how everyone's trying to find Sora, and how everyone is taking Sora's disappearance

So, we get a shot of Sora at Ven's station of awakening, then a shot of Sora experiencing Aqua's hurt at the keyblade graveyard. It's pretty much been foreshadowed since Re:Coded that one day Sora will have to take in everyone's hurt, and even though I never wish hurt upon my boi, the angst is gonna be yes and I'm excited. Also, my guess is that Sora's going to the station of awakening of every guardian of light to feel how they felt and take in their hurt during moments in the keyblade graveyard. I've heard speculation that the reason all those anti-aquas are in the demon hurricane is that she has PTSD over being in the darkness for so long and those anti-aquas are what she saw right before being swept up in the demon hurricane. I support that theory because it's definitely plausible and I know I'd like to see how succumbing to darkness affects Aqua like we got to see how it all affected Riku during his character development.

I don't really know what to say about this. Apparently Terranort can see Sora?? I'd like to know more about the "forbidden path" and why Terranort can see him even though no one else seems to be able to while he's feeling people's hurt. Also, what is the ultimate sacrifice? I feel the sadness coming. It's probably going to be Sora disappearing from the world though

The wielders of light fighting the norts from Scala. This looks to be a cool fight and I'm excited to figure put how it fits into the story, but I don't really have anything to say about it

Seems to be continuation from an earlier Remind trailer

I hope this means we'll get to see what happens to the other characters after Sora defeats the enemies in a section. My guess is that Demyx just came to pick up the replica, so...good to know that the replica body isn't just left there during the final battle. Also, that replica body is probably going to be Naminé's, so maybe we'll get to see them bring her back?

There's a couple ideas for all the showcased battles. Some think they're data battles, but I think you might have to fight them either to enter stations if awakening or after you leave a station of awakening

OKAY THIS. THIS HAD ME SCREAMING AND DYING AND REJOICING.

So first off, that station of awakening is so freaking pretty like oh my gosh

Next, Sora talks about how everyone always told him to follow his heart, then follows it up with, "follow my heart...hearts are all connected". He says this while pointing his keyblade at what's probably (I'll say why in a sec) Riku's heart or maybe what he thinks is Riku's heart.

Okay, so Sora's station of awakening has him from kh1, so it's possible Riku's is too (just an idea), but this station of awakening shows com Riku. Now, when all the seekers of darkness die, they disappear in this darkness pillar. When Repliku and Replitwo die, the pillar is a darkness and light pillar. Based on this, I guess that Repliku might be a guardian of light. So, if you've read the SRT, part of the theory is that Sora brought back all the guardians of light in the original timeline, beginning the timeline we see in kh3. Part of the theory is that Naminé wasn't in Kairi's heart just based on some stuff chirithy says, so Sora didn't bring her back, meaning that she wasn't a guardian of light. I would say she isn't just because she doesn't do anything in the story and can't do anything to make her a guardian of light while in Kairi's heart (or didn't at least). We could say it's because Naminé was in Kairi's heart and Kairi was one of Sora's friends he knew he was bringing back, but this doesn't explain Repliku. Right before and after the first "drop" detailed in the SRT we have evidence that he is in Riku's heart, and this means that he was brought back by Sora at the end of the original timeline, because if he wasn't, he would be in the final world with Naminé, so he must be a guardian of light.

Where am I going with this? So what, Repliku might be a guardian of light, what does that have to do with anything? I'm going back to that station of awakening. It has Com Riku on it, and com is the game Repliku was introduced. So, my theory is...what of that station of awakening is Repliku's?

Now, I've heard a theory that the stained glass has Naminé in addition to Ansem and Mickey rather than Sora and/or Kairi because she, Mickey, and Ansem had an impact on Riku's life that lead to him being able to get the strength to protect Sora (it's no secret that Riku is the one that matters most to Sora). It's a good theory that's plausible.

Here's my theory though. What if Sora believes that station of awakening to be Riku's, but it's Repliku's? If Sora's connecting to the stations of awakening of the guardians of light, and Repliku might be one of them, he might encounter Repliku's. Repliku's fake memories were similar to Riku's, though they had him in love with Naminé, so he would've met Mickey and Ansem in his memories. AND since Repliku has feelings for Naminé due to his fake memories, it would make sense for Naminé to be on his station of awakening since he cares about her.

So...all that aside I'm dying cause Soriku. Also, you notice how the station of awakening is purple right? You know what color makes purple? Blue and Red. Based on trends and the secret ending, Riku is blue and Sora is red (like Yozora's eyes) so...

We're finally going to see how Sora saved Kairi!

Now, some people have pointed out them holding hands, but it doesn't seem like a romantic thing to me. It's pretty evident that they just arrived at the final world, especially considering Kairi's comment on how pretty the final world is. Sora would have to lead Kairi back since she died, and my guess the handholding is to make sure she doesn't get lost. If Sora has to use a keyhole or a portal like the DDD ones to get there, he'd probably (at least I think so) have to hold hands with Kairi so he can take her with him. It's to make sure they don't get separated I think, and I think Sora would be extra afraid of that happening cause he's trying to bring her back and because he cares a lot for all his friends, and, based on the Jap version of the scene where he goes to save her, he doesn't want to her (or any of his friends) to feel and be alone and he wants to bring her back so he can have all his friends alive and well

And....I'll have to continue on another post cause the 10 photo limit...shoot

#soriku #remind spoilers #kh3 spoilers

[punkscowardschampions]

Rio & Nancy

Rio: If you wanna head home 'fore nan and granddad are ready, you can always have a lift back with us Nancy: Thanks Nancy: I'm in no rush though Rio: Having a good time then? Nancy: Sure Nancy: It's not a classroom, I'll take it Rio: Yeah, I bet you're buzzing Nancy: You mean you can't tell? Well, that's devastating Nancy: I reckoned on it being so obvious, like Rio: I mean, your poker face ain't all that, babe, if you wanna be real about it Nancy: More of a resting bitch, I know Nancy: The good news must not have sunk in yet Rio: Give it a few Nancy: Yeah Rio: Anyway, can't do anything about it now Rio: May as well enjoy your summer Nancy: Like I said, I already am Nancy: Aside from the prospect of going home Rio: 👍 Rio: How bad can it be Rio: he's taken one for the team Nancy: No, he's made sure exams mean more than they did before Nancy: and made me the focus since he's a less than safe convo topic Rio: Well, your family's inability to communicate is longstanding and not my fault so I'm not gonna take the blame for it, nor is my baby Rio: Sorry, like Nancy: I didn't ask Nancy: It's not my fault that his fall from grace makes me their poster child for success now either, I definitely never asked for that Rio: If you're going to feel so sorry for yourself, don't be surprised when people feel it for you in return Rio: Oddly enough our decision to have a child wasn't exactly about you Nancy: I'm only surprised the pity party isn't full already Nancy: My brother tends to take up a lot of space Rio: Please Rio: We've got no reason to be sorry, either definition Rio: we're happy, if you lot wanna be miserable then the party is all yours Nancy: Does he know that? Does he feel it? 'Cause he sounded like he wanted me to be sorry for him many times over when we last spoke Rio: Like I said, you're all crap at communicating Rio: but thanks Nancy: Yeah, and he's one of the worst Nancy: If I feel sorry for anything, it's for you, for that much, like Rio: Fuck off Rio: I don't need your pity Nancy: Don't tell me to fuck off Rio: Why not? You've seen fit to talk to me how you please Nancy: 'Cause you're judging my communication skills like its your job, for one thing Nancy: And for another, I haven't said anything like that to you, ever Rio: You said in as few words as possible that you don't think Buster really wants our baby, implying that I don't know him and we don't talk, whilst you were at it Rio: but no Rio: the f bomb in response, so much worse, Jesus Nancy: No I haven't Nancy: All I've said to him is that his timing is ridiculous and when was the last time we even spoke, me and you? Before exams probably so Rio: What does it matter to you, or your parents for that matter Rio: He's still going to Uni, he's still doing everything they want Nancy: I don't care what they want Nancy: I care about him and how hard it's gonna be Nancy: I won't be here to help either of you, not even in the same country, so excuse me for being worried Rio: When ain't life? Rio: You can't let that stop you from doing what you want Nancy: You don't need to make it harder on yourself, Jesus Rio: Well that ain't how it's going to be, or how we see it Nancy: It's easy for him to see it that way when he never admits that he needs help or that anything could possibly be a struggle in the slightest Nancy: He's just perfect and everything will be, end of story Rio: I help him Rio: and I know that, I knew that before this even started Nancy: I know you do and you know I love you, yeah? I'm not saying this to be a bitch to you Rio: I know Rio: but I don't get why you can't translate your worry into supporting him, that is literally all he needs from you Rio: instead of the constant barage of questions Nancy: because I'm scared for him and he scares me Nancy: how little he thinks about anything Nancy: He just wants and he gets and I'm the only one who cares if it'll work out or not Nancy: you know that's what he's always been like Rio: It's going to work out Rio: even if you wanna talk worst case scenarios, we have to get divorced, yeah Rio: he'll still have the kid, I'm not that bitch Nancy: I hope it does Nancy: Genuinely Nancy: You know that Rio: I think I do Rio: but you don't always show it Rio: I know it's a lot Rio: but it's hard for him when none of you seem happy for him or even say it's alright, like Rio: why do you think he can't admit he needs help, when has he got it? Nancy: Do you? 'Cause when you got together I had to re-evaluate everything I thought I knew about him and you Nancy: He says he's loved you since he was a kid, I was there, I have almost the same memories Nancy: But I don't Nancy: at all Rio: Why does it matter? We were all kids Nancy: 'Cause all this time he was so unhappy and I didn't know, okay Nancy: I didn't do anything Rio: None of us did Rio: He didn't want you to know, anyone Rio: you can't take blame for it like you wilfully ignored cries for help but he's trying now Rio: he needs you now, okay Nancy: I'm trying too Nancy: I just Nancy: I don't know him, if I ever did Nancy: How am I meant to know what to do? Rio: You did Rio: You were close then, just because you didn't know this one thing doesn't mean you weren't Rio: You wouldn't tell him about every crush you had, especially if you felt shame about being gay or there was another reason you knew he could judge you for it, you know? Rio: Just, try and be nice to each other, simple and as stupid as it sounds Rio: that's all you gotta do in this world though Nancy: You can say wanting to fuck my teacher, that's pretty shameful, babe Nancy: Lord, did you really have to do the one thing that scares me most to test me Nancy: Babies are terrifying Rio: Well you know, I assume you weren't child thirsting after your reception teacher like 👌👌👌 nice cardigan miss Rio: Nah Rio: they're just people Rio: I guess that's kinda the problem though Nancy: Hey, she was cute! And very attentive Nancy: Well, not to be dramatic and turn this into a therapy session but the last time I was properly excited for a baby to be born, he died Nancy: And now we don't talk about him Rio: That isn't going to happen again Rio: and you could talk to Buster about him Rio: he's thinking about him too Nancy: Does he talk about him to you? Rio: Yeah, a little Rio: we're going to give the baby his name as a middle Nancy: Really? Rio: I should say we don't know it's a boy yet, we just think it is Rio: but I won't say 'if not, the next one' and freak you out further, like Nancy: Go ahead, I'm just out here openly crying at the beach Rio: I'm sorry Rio: you can use my ugly dress as a hankie if you wanna Nancy: It's not that bad Rio: It's years old 'cos everything I own now would leave no need to announce this Rio: tempting but probably not Nancy: You should have come to me, my wardrobe runneth over Nancy: Literally, I need to have such a huge clear out before uni starts Rio: You planning to reinvent yourself as a minimalist? 😏 Rio: local charity shops gonna be a goldmine, like Nancy: Reinvent myself, yeah, as that, no Nancy: I get it, not tempting to come over when I'm being a bitch Nancy: I'm sorry you have to suffer that dress as a result, babe Rio: Well you know, or we could say I was giving you space and time Rio: politer Rio: I'm not even sure it was ever mine Rio: maybe it was yours, the ultimately bitchery to get it out of my system Nancy: Not to be that bitch or lesbian stereotype, okay, but what's under it? Can you not just remove it now the secret's out? Nancy: Be you again Rio: 😂 Rio: Still got it, babe Rio: I guess I can now Rio: It's weird Nancy: Do it for my brother if not me Nancy: You think I need to sort my face, look at his right now Rio: Poor boy Rio: at least I didn't straighten my hair, then he'd really be devastated Nancy: 😂 Nancy: I wish you had, I'd have taken so many pics to post and tag him in Rio: 😏 Pure evil, like Nancy: Genetically, sorry Nancy: Not saying you should watch The Omen again or anything but Rio: 😲 How rude Rio: but if I remember correctly that fucker was adopted so it would've been more cutting to come at me with Rosemary's Baby, like Rio: slacking Nancy: Oops, horror movies not really my forte Rio: You should reconsider Rio: yeah the bitch always dies, but she's usually half-naked beforehand, like Nancy: Are you gonna put your arm around me when it gets scary though? I think not Rio: You know I would you just ain't vibing 💔 Nancy: Lies! I just told you to strip Rio: True enough Rio: There's hope yet then Nancy: I'm sorry for being a bitch this whole time Nancy: I've missed you, it feels like exams lasted years Rio: I know, it was stressful and I weren't even taking them so God knows how you lot survived Rio: How do you feel about them, genuinely? Nancy: I know you love him, but how much of a prick was he during his, like 1-10? To make me feel better Nancy: I feel bad but like, I always do about that stuff so Nancy: It doesn't mean anything Rio: Oh, 11, for sure 😏 Rio: no, it was hard though, he was stressed as fuck Rio: you'll have done what you needed to do, I know Nancy: At least you could play the pregnancy card, like DO NOT STRESS ME, BOY Nancy: I basically had to shut myself away to get the same effect Rio: I feel it, Junior looks like this is his first time seeing sunlight in years, he hasn't taken his sunglasses off Rio: know they're prescription but come on Rio: as for the pregnancy card, great for getting out of arguments you've probably caused being a crazy bitch, like Nancy: I don't think he remembers who any of us are 😂 Nancy: It's not too late to have some actual fun today, is it? Nancy: You need it too, Buster said you've been pretty sick Nancy: He's dramatic, but still Rio: Of course not Rio: Someone suggested going to the pub to celebrate but as I'm the one with the baby I can make sure they choose somewhere nice with a decent cocktail list and beer garden, not a grotty old man pub, like Rio: Just morning sickness but it was pretty shitty and lonely when he was at School and so was Indie Rio: but fingers crossed I'm over that now so Nancy: We have to do something about that dress first Nancy: Come with me before we go anywhere else Nancy: I will save you Rio: 🙌 Rio: If you take me near a maternity section, we will brawl Nancy: God no Nancy: I'd burst into flames Rio: 😂 Rio: You remembered suncream today though, yeah? Nancy: Yes, mum Nancy: Maternity clothes are actually disgusting and I'm not letting it happen to you Nancy: Or my niece or nephew, how embarrassing to look back on Rio: It's just not necessary either Rio: do you know how big most clothes go these days like Nancy: Thank you! Like be more creative than that Nancy: If you wear a smock I'm disowning you Nancy: I don't care if you're having twins in a heatwave Rio: You'll be glad to know it ain't, unless one of them was hiding real stealth, but I'd be much bigger, pretty sure Nancy: Yeah, you'd need more than that dress to hide behind, right? Mum was such a ridiculous size with us, the pics are actually like something out of a scary movie Nancy: Say what you like about her, and do, but she always looked good Rio: Honestly, poor bitch Rio: Feel her small girl pain in a way you can never Rio: feeling like a human ball some days and it is just the one Nancy: Why do you think I'm not taking you to a maternity section, they'd think I was the one with a baby on board Nancy: No offense but kill me Rio: Oh bitch no Rio: like, is daddy excited or terrified, Nance? Rio: straight girl bants Nancy: I nearly threw up in my mouth Nancy: Not morning sickness, sorry lads Rio: You keep down your breakfast if you getting in my car, thank you very much Nancy: Such a mum 😏