#ENJOY THIS I WORKED SUPER HARD DESPITE ITS SHORTCOMINGS

[findmeabowlofundertale]

UUUUUGGGHHHHH OKAY! PART 8.... point one. 8.1. Tumblr says I have too many text blocks so this is gonna be in two parts. hhh. 8.2 will be up shortly. [Prev] [Next]

This begins immediately following the last part. Like, immediately following.

There's a lot to say about this whole part, actually...

Firstly, that Asteri's friends have characteristics taken from my two closest friends irl, BUT!! They are NOT them. So, uh, if my irl friends ever see this, hey, just letting you guys know that for all the similarities, Asteri isn't me and these guys aren't you, so this isn't like... truly reflective of our actual friendship. I needed some conflict, and this was how it worked you with these characters I made up that borrow some traits from you guys!

Second, Asteri's got a lot going on. Just... putting that out there.

Third, one of those irl friends really does say "nonetheless" almost every time she trails off so that's in here as a speech quirk bc I think it's funny

Fourth, uhhhhhhhh I continue to have bad pacing. But too bad. I worked really hard on this so even though I know it's not great, I'm not going to be ashamed.

Fifth...... get ready for some emotional discussion. Read this when you have a lot of time, because there's a LOT, and it gets h e a v y.

OKAY HAVE FUN

- - - -

She wanted him to stay.

Comforting soup and good laughs aside, at the end of the night she was still afraid of that darkness. There was no possible way it could “get” her— she couldn’t have reached that place-between-places even if she wanted to— but it was a deeper, primal terror:

She didn’t want to be alone.

But she wouldn’t ask that of him. There wasn’t even a place for him to sleep. She, at least, could shift her magic around to fit somewhere; he was stuck being that tall. No, she wouldn’t ask him to stay, and he wouldn’t offer, but they both wondered if the other would mention it or if they should say something after all. But at the end of the night, neither did. He checked that she was alright and promised to be over at a moment’s notice if she texted him. She thanked him again for everything, and stood on her toes to tap their heads together, and failed to notice that he didn’t move away when she did, and she told him to be safe and text her when he got home. She watched him leave and waved and smiled reassuringly at him before watching him disappear with an unexpectedly silly noise and a dark blur.

And then she curled up in bed with all the lights on, tail tucked tightly around her, and stared at her phone to wait for his text. When it came through she breathed a sigh of relief and wished him goodnight, but then kept staring at the screen hoping he would say something else so she had a reason to stay awake. He wouldn’t, though, and didn’t, and so she just laid there until exhaustion forced her eyes closed.

She dreamt of the blue ceiling stars in their black rock, never moving from their places, always guiding the way home.

⁂

The next morning, she felt a lot better, but she still wished somebody were there with her. Unfortunately, of all her friends, she was the only one who didn’t live in the capital; nobody was close enough to come visit her on a whim. Even so…

She sighed and rolled over, reaching for her phone with her tail and typing out a message with a materialized hand.

Hey, good morning. Do you work today? <

It wasn’t until several minutes later that she got an answer.

> Ohayo! =^.^= (Thats good morning) no work today, just class > why? Did u get more of the japanese figured out??

Asteri sighed.

No, sorry. Not much more beyond what we worked out last time. <

> oh np > What’s up then?

Just wondering if you were busy. No worries. Have a good day at school! <

> oh… ok! Thanks!

Maybe she should try…

Are you guys busy today? Wanna hang out? <

Within moments, there was a response.

> Omg, YESSS! > Asteri! Finally! > I have today off, so we can meetup whenever

Wanna come over now? < I’ll make breakfast <

> Ough, you live so far away, though. You don’t want to meet somewhere instead? I could just do with some company. Idk if I’m up for going anywhere. I had a day yesterday. < > Omg? Are you okay?

Yeah I’m fine. Just… idk <

> That’s okay, gurl. We all get that Funk.

I appreciate it. <

> I have to help my brother with something, then I’ll come over. Maybe more like brunch? > If that’s okay??

Yeah that’s fine! I’ll make pancakes <

Sembie, you’re also welcome to come, even if it’s later <

> Unfortunately I’m busy until after that, but I’d really like to see you guys.

You can come by whenever! <

Rather than wait for them to arrive before getting started, Asteri rolled out of bed and got ready for the day so that she could get cooking. Pancakes were always a solid choice. She made whipped cream, cut up some fruit, and then prepped everything else. Once Kelinn text her that she was leaving, Asteri meant to start on the pancakes, but she had gotten distracted looking over her and Alphys’ notes on Japanese and lost track of time. Before she knew it, Kelinn was at her door.

“Ah crap,” she muttered when she heard the knock. She almost tripped over the chair in her haste to get to her feet. When she answered the door, she knew she looked frazzled but smiled hospitably anyway. “Kelinn! Hey! You’re here.”

“Yeeeaaaah!” the other woman cheered. “It me!”

Asteri blew a laugh through her nose at the wording. Together, the three of them were much more casual in their speech than she was with anyone else. With Alphys, who was still in college and therefore barely out of stripes, she wanted to look like a composed, has-her-life-together adult monster. With Gaster, a lot of her formality of speech stemmed from the fact that many of their conversations were spent on academic topics, so naturally she more easily defaulted to more formal grammar. Not that the way she behaved around either Alphys or Gaster was an act, or fake somehow. It was just different aspects of her personality.

“Come on in. I got distracted, so breakfast isn’t ready.” Asteri gave a grumbling sigh as she led her friend inside. “I had everything all prepped! And then got distracted.”

“Pfft, that’s fine.” Kelinn tossed her things on the living room couch and followed the shapeshifter to the kitchen. “It gives Sembie more time to get here.”

“That’s true,” Asteri conceded as she poured ingredients into a large bowl of flour. “There’s not much to do except mix everything and cook it, so you’re welcome just sit and do whatever.”

“Awesome.” The draconic monster had already made herself comfortable at the table anyway. “So, what’s up? You said you had a day yesterday. Or, do you not wanna talk about it until Sembie gets here? Not sure if you saw the group chat, but she said she was leaving about 10 minutes ago.”

Asteri shrugged. “We can talk more after Sembie gets here, I guess.” Sembie tended not to jump to conclusions as quickly, and helped balance Kelinn’s excitability. “Anyway, what’s been up with you? Is your brother alright? You said you had to help him with some stuff.”

Kelinn heaved a heavy, dramatic sigh. “UGGGH! Don’t even get me started.” She got started anyway. “Okay so here’s the low-down…”

Asteri listened as her friend told her about the mishaps of her brother and his kids, and that ongoing saga. The conversation eventually turned to lighter things, and by the time Asteri was finished cooking, they were busy talking about her friend’s novel that she was writing. Considering the distance from the capital and how long cooking had taken, they opted to wait a little longer to eat, until Sembie arrived.

They didn’t have to wait much longer, fortunately. When their ferret friend got there, they greeted her and ushered her to her seat so that they could eat already. It was almost noon, and all of them were hungry.

They made pleasant conversation and caught Sembie up with the goings-ons of Kelinn’s life, until eventually the conversation came back around to Asteri.

“So, see any more of the Royal Scientist?” teased Kelinn around a mouthful of pancake.

Their disbelief was getting annoying. Asteri looked her dead in the eye. “He was here last night.”

Her friend choked.

Asteri quickly clarified. “He walked me home after we got donuts.”

“Aw, that was sweet of him,” said Sembie.

“Wait, you actually believe that?” guffawed Kelinn.

“There isn’t any reason for her to lie. But nonetheless…”

Kelinn made a face. “I guess so.” She leaned her chin in her hand. “At least tell me he’s been treating you right.”

Asteri rolled her eyes. “We aren’t dating. We’re friends. But yes, he’s very kind, very considerate. Just a little absent-minded.”

“I still cannot believe you accidentally ran into him and then somehow started to just. Hang out.”

“Honestly, neither can I,” admitted Asteri around a bite of food.

Sembie spoke next. “So like, what kind of stuff do you guys do? Just talk, or do you have, you know, hobbies in common…?”

Kelinn gestured wildly until she had chewed enough to talk. “You think the Royal Scientist has time for hobbies???”

Sembie shrugged. “He’s got time to walk Asteri home on a weekday. Nonetheless…”

Kelinn narrowed her eyes and leaned her head back. “This is true…” she conceded, stroking at her chin and looking back and forth between them like she was a noir detective.

Asteri blew a laugh out her nose. “We usually go for a walk around Hotland and talk about linguistics or science, then go our separate ways home. Occasionally, we’ll go somewhere else. I’ve had him and another mutual friend, a lizard monster named Alphys, over here a few times. Yesterday, I agreed we could get donuts because he’s actually been eating real meals all week, for once. Like I've been telling him to.”

Her two friends looked at each other, then her, and giggled. “Wow, you’re really close, huh?”

She made a face. “What? No, we’re not... that close. I just…” Know that he doesn’t eat well so I make him sandwiches sometimes, and we meet up almost every week, and I told him about my insecurities growing up, and I probably know more about skeletons than almost anyone alive at this point, and he’s been to my house and destroyed my kitchen, and he showed me his SOUL, and I’ve told him about my parents, and he’s told me about his magic, and we can talk for hours and hours, and he knows I like lemon donuts best, and I know he likes the ones with sprinkles, and he saw me at my worst last night and took care of me, and…

“You take care of me too.”

She swallowed. “W-Well… I guess we have gotten a little close.”

Kelinn looked at Sembie. “We gotta meet this guy.”

“We’re not dating!! I’ve known him like, six months!”

“No,” said Sembie, more gently. “But you care about him. I’m not saying like that! But nonetheless, you do care.”

“Well… yeah. He’s my friend,” Asteri muttered into her glass of water.

“And that’s great!” Sembie encouraged. “It sounds like you guys must get along if you keep meeting up.”

“But AS your BEST friends!” Kelinn declared, “We gotta give him the what’s what!”

“The… what’s what?”

“Yeah!” She slammed her fist into her other hand with a big grin. “Gotta make sure he’s up to snuff!”

Asteri giggled. “Who even says that?”

“Us!”

“You,” corrected Sembie.

“Me! I say it!”

They all laughed.

“Well, alright. He doesn’t really like big groups, and you’re… a lot, Kelinn,” Asteri pointed out, “but I’ll ask him when he’s free to meet you. And you guys have got to update me on your schedules.”

They did so, and Asteri put a note of it in her calendar. The conversation settled, a little, and they went on to ask about other things she and Gaster had done. She didn’t mention the thing with green magic, or the teleporting, but she did tell them about some of her thoughts about speech and text magic, which they didn’t fully grasp but listened anyway because they loved her. They were always good about that.

⁂

“So why did you want company?” Kelinn asked from where she sat still at the table.

Sembie looked up from putting a plate away. “Yeah, you said you had a day yesterday, but then said you went out with Dr. Gaster yesterday…”

“Oh.” Asteri turned her head, a little farther than looked normal, to look at them while she did the dishes. “Oh, no. He- He didn’t do anything.”

Not on purpose, anyway. They wouldn’t understand, and his being able to teleport wasn’t her secret to share, so she couldn’t explain.

“Okay," Kelinn yielded, still a bit dubious. "But if he ever makes you uncomfortable—!!”

“He hasn’t,” Asteri reassured them both quickly. The SOUL thing was more that she wasn’t used to seeing someone else’s, and his ribs naturally had gaps. Yesterday it was just misunderstandings in the donut shop, she wasn’t uncomfortable uncomfortable.

“We trust you," Sembie said placatingly. "But we still want to meet him.”

“That’s fair,” Asteri conceded.

Kelinn shoved her last forkful of pancakes and whipped cream into her mouth before rising and handing the plate off to Asteri, and squinted in thought. After she finished chewing, she asked, “Hey what’s his name, anyway?”

Asteri made a face at the soap bubbles. “What? What do you mean? You know what his name is.”

“No, his first name.” Asteri looked at her, blank. She huffed and rolled her eyes. “Okay, everyone knows he’s “Dr. W.D. Gaster.” But what’s the W.D. for??”

“I… I don’t actually know,” admitted the shapeshifter with a half shrug. “I just call him Gaster. That’s what he asked to be called.”

Sembie raised an eyebrow from where she was helping rinse and dry the dishes. “You’ve been friends with him for how long now, and you don’t know his first name?”

“A few months… and no, but listen!” Asteri frowned a little and stood straighter to explain. “Skeletons’ given names are their fonts; Whatever font they speak in naturally, that’s what their name is. And he—”

“Wait doesn’t he like, not talk?” Kelinn interrupted.

“He signs,” Asteri confirmed. “That’s what I was about to say.”

“So does he just not have a first name?? Or what??”

She huffed at her friend. “Kelinn! It’s not my business. If that was something he wanted to share, then he would.”

“But aren’t you curious?”

“Of course I’m curious,” she huffed. Her frown deepened as she looked to the dragon monster again. “But if he can’t talk, don’t you think it’d be pretty rude to ask him what he’s “supposed” to sound like??” Kelinn was silent, so she continued. “It’s a lot more than just his name. It’s an identifier, a description. I mean, no, it’s not like there was a class system based on fonts—” Besides that one exception he had never elaborated on— “and your font didn’t define your personality or anything, but…” Ugh, how to explain this! Asteri blew a frustrated breath through her nose. “Something that personal isn’t my business. If he wanted to share that, then he would! But he hasn’t, so I’m certainly not going to ask. Who, if anyone, he entrusts that piece of himself to is up to him. So for the love of God, when you meet him, please do not ask him about it.”

Both of the other women were silent at first. A few moments passed with only the sounds of silverware and plates and the splash of water. Alright, maybe she was being a little defensive on his behalf. But Kelinn was asking invasive questions! Why didn’t she ever ask normal questions??

“He can’t talk, then?” Sembie finally asked, hesitant.

Asteri shook her head. “I’m not... actually sure. He can hum, and he makes sound when he laughs, or if you startle him. Sometimes he’ll say “Ah!” or something. But he never speaks aloud, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Huh…”

More silence. This was getting ridiculous. Asteri finally gave in; she needed to lighten the mood again.

“He likes sprinkles on his donuts.”

Kelinn immediately lit up and slammed her hands on the counter as she leaned forward. “OH MY GOD, YES!! A man who knows what’s GOOD!”

“Sprinkles are great,” chuckled Sembie as she wiped off a plate and set it aside.

“I made another friend, too, you know.”

“Oh, yeah! You said you met a lizard?”

“Yeah, her name is Alphys. She’s an intern, technically, but Gaster insists she’s his “brilliant and valued assistant.”” Asteri grinned. “It’s cute. They’re really close. She’s a pretty nervous person, but the three of us get along really well because we’re all prone to going off on long tangents. But we all like to listen to each other, for the most part, so it works out. Oh! And Alphys introduced me to a… a surface language, called Japanese. We’ve been working on trying to translate it and figure out how it works. It has a completely different alphabet! It’s definitely exciting.”

“Aww, that so nice,” Sembie cooed. “But, you said she was an intern? Isn’t Dr. Gaster sort of… really old?”

Asteri shrugged and sighed in resignation. This was something she had wondered, but never had the courage to ask him directly. “I don’t even know anymore. I think skeletons must just live a long time, because he doesn’t act like an old guy. Well. For the most part.”

“Well," acquiesced the ferret, "I guess it doesn’t really matter.”

“Omg, what if he’s secretly in love with his assistant?? Forbidden romance!!” Kelinn dramatically threw her arm up and bent backwards in a pose, hand on her forehead. “Kept apart by societal norms! Languishing in mutual yearning but unable to act!!”

Asteri snorted so loudly she startled herself, and swatted a wing at her friend. “Absolutely not. They don’t have that kind of relationship at all.”

“Maybe they’re hiding it!”

Sembie and Asteri shared a look and rolled their eyes. “You just like age gaps in romance stories.”

“It’s hot!!” Asteri gave her a look. “…In like an ace way.”

“You just have a thing for older men,” Sembie needled.

“I do because they’re HOT!”

""In an ace way?””

Kelinn crossed her arms and nodded sagely. “In an ace way.”

Amused by their antics, Asteri chuckled and shook her head. “Alphys sees Gaster as more of a father-figure than a peer. They’re still friends, but it’s not the dynamic you’re thinking. Which reminds me—”

She pulled her phone out with her tail and materialized a drippy green hand to type with. She needed to ask Alphys and Gaster about meeting her friends. Frankly, the three of them were overdue to simply have a group chat, so she made them one.

Hey, hoping this goes through. I figured we might as well have a group chat. I was talking to my friends, and they would really like to meet you both. I know big groups aren’t your guys’ favorite thing, so if you’d prefer, it could just be one of them at a time? Otherwise, you we could all meet here at my place (or wherever) sometime, when it’s convenient. I’ll send you the days they said they’re free, then just let me know what works for you guys and I’ll pass it along. <

She looked back up to Kelinn and Sembie after she sent their schedules. “I asked Alphys and Gaster when they want to meet you guys and how they want to do it. I’ll let you know what they say.”

“Sure, that sounds good,” Sembie agreed. “We would just meet here?”

“Yeah. Or, I guess, if there’s someplace in the capital. Then I would be the only one who has to travel. That might be better. I’ll ask.”

“I can do whatever, just let me know!” Kelinn affirmed. “I’m closer to Hotland.”

“Cool. And Sembie, normally I would say your husband is welcome, but…”

She shook her head, entirely nonplussed. “No. No. I get it. Lots of people.”

“Thanks for understanding.”

“Sure.”

⁂

They stayed a while longer and chatted about other things, shared funny things they had seen. Kelinn insisted, at one point, that they FIGHT. They hadn’t had a friendly FIGHT in a while, after all. No major damage was dealt, and afterwards they healed each other. It took maybe a half hour, just a few turns. Kelinn’s magic reminded Asteri a little of her own, with a few key differences that were, somehow, difficult to put into words. Sembie’s patterns were more thought-out, but less flexible, and occasionally utilized orange magic. That led to Asteri excitedly informing them of what Gaster had told her about colors and personality traits, which they found interesting, but not quite on the same level as she had, she could tell.

That was reasonable, she reminded herself. They had very different jobs and interests. Their lives had all led them in very different directions since they were in school together. Perhaps if they had only met at this point in their lives, they would not have become friends, but the many years they had known each other kept them close despite their sometimes drastic differences.

When they left, it was after 4pm. Asteri bid them safe travels and promised to text more, as well as to let them know about the plans for meeting Gaster and Alphys. Just like she usually did after spending time with them, she felt simultaneously exhausted and refreshed. It could be a little frustrating, how they didn’t quite understand her work (or, in Kelinn’s case, frequently offered unprompted suggestions to show that she was interested and listening, when in reality the suggestions just threw Asteri off more often than not), but they were supportive even though they didn’t always understand, and they had always been there for her when things were difficult. Differences in interests and hobbies and jobs and personality aside, her friends would take an attack for her without a second thought, would always be up front about things, and had pulled her out of the darkest depths of her mind more than once over the years. Those things were far more important to her than any petty squabble or disagreement could be. Their friendship was formed of things beyond similar interests or opinions.

They were good friends, Asteri thought. And she… well. She could be a better friend. They were patient with her; The least she could do is be patient with them whenever they didn’t understand something or disagreed with her. But that hadn’t happened today, fortunately. They all had a nice time together.

She should work on those Japanese notes, she thought then, and turned to go back inside. She had a lot to catch up on.

⁂

> GOOD EVENING. ASTERI > I WANTED TO CHECK ON YOU. AFTER LAST NIGHT. HOW ARE YOU?

She was climbing into bed when her phone went off. When she saw who it was, she smiled.

I’m doing much better, thank you for checking in on me ^w^ <

Alphys had taught her some emoticons recently. She wondered how Gaster would react.

> AH! A “CAT MOUTH.” ALPHYS. HAS TOLD ME ABOUT THESE.

She giggled to herself.

I think it looks like my mouth when I smile, because it’s pointy like my fangs. What do you think? Does it capture it, or should I use a regular smiley? <

> I THINK IT LOOKS. JUST LIKE YOU

The typing message came up again, so she waited, but then it went away. This repeated a few times until at last he said:

> UNFORTUNATELY. THERE ARE NO SYMBOLS. ON THIS KEYBOARD. THAT RESEMBLE A SKULL. > TRULY. A TRAGEDY.

She snickered.

A tragedy indeed. How am I supposed to imagine your face? With my imagination?? < > YES. YOU MUST USE IT TO IMAGINE. ME ROLLING MY EYES. AT THAT. Oh well that’s easy enough. XD <

He didn’t respond right away, so she added:

Turn your head to the left. <

That got an almost immediate response.

> OH! > I SEE. YOU ARE LAUGHING

She shook her head, thoroughly amused.

At you, specifically. Which I am now doing even more so. <

> OH NO. MY DEAR FRIEND! LAUGHING AT MY EXPENSE? HOW EVER. COULD YOU WOUND ME SO? > I SEE. HOW IT IS.

Asteri snorted a giggle and rolled onto her stomach. Her tail swayed in amusement, legs slowly kicking in the air.

XD < Truly, your drama knows no bounds. I can just envision you packing up your things in a red cloth and tying them to the end of a stick and then slowly walking away. <

> YES. PRECISELY. IMAGINE ME. DOING JUST THAT. Darn, Gaster's gone. I guess I’ll just have to eat all this soup myself :/ < > YOU MADE MORE??

That got a real laugh out of her. She had never seen him double up punctuation before.

Ah, sorry, no. But I’ll make it again sometime. < I should have you try grape leaves. < > IF WE GO. TO SNOWDIN. WOULD YOU MAKE IT AGAIN? You remembered that, huh? You know what? Sure. If you liked it that much. < > YOUR COOKING. IS DELIGHTFUL > IT IS NICE. TO EAT FOOD COOKED BY A FRIEND. AGAIN. Aww, I’m so glad you liked it so much. ^w^ < Again?" < > I HAVE NOT HAD THAT. EXCEPT. ON RARE OCCASIONS. SINCE THE QUEEN

Asteri’s eyes practically bulged.

You knew the queen??? < > YES. I KNEW BOTH. HER AND ASGORE BEFORE. THEY WERE. THE KING AND QUEEN. > WE. WERE FRIENDS.

She rolled over and got more comfortable. This seemed like a conversation that warranted a better position.

You must have been sad when she disappeared. < > VERY MUCH SO.

Yikes, what did she even say to this?

I’m sorry, Gaster… Do you want to talk about it? < > THANK YOU. BUT. IT IS ALRIGHT. > ON. TO HAPPIER THINGS Okay… but let me know if you ever want to talk. <

It took a bit longer for him to reply this time.

> TECHNICALLY. > I NEVER TALK > DO I?

It seemed like a joke, just like the ‘technically my stomach is always empty’ one, but somehow this one felt… different.

I mean, it’s not like I mind. You know that right? <

> YES.

> I KNOW. YOU ARE KIND. LIKE THAT.

> JUST. A LITTLE JOKE

She smacked her forehead with her tail. Of course it was just a joke!! Stupid! You made it weird by calling attention to it!! She was probably just reading into it because her friends had asked about his name, and therefore his font, so the issue of him talking was on her mind. He was probably joking about never mentioning much about his past, rather than commenting on whether or not he spoke aloud.

Right. Sorry. I’m a little tired. My friends came over today. < > AH. YES. I SAW. THE MESSAGE YOU SENT TO ALPHYS. AND ME. > I WOULD LIKE. TO MEET THEM SOON Whenever you guys are free < > THE END OF NEXT MONTH. WORKS FOR ME. Perfect! I’ll let them know. Can you send that to the group chat so Alphys can see too? < > YES Great! Thanks. < Well, I’m whipped, so I’m going to sleep soon. You should too! < > VERY WELL. I WILL SEE YOU. ON FRIDAY. GOODNIGHT ASTERI. Goodnight, Gaster. See you then! <

⁂

Friday came and went, Alphys joining them that time. Then another week, and they actually met up twice: once with Alphys, once without. The fact that a mostly weekly schedule had remained over the past however six or seven months, despite everything, was impressive in Asteri’s opinion. Every week, she met up with at least Gaster (and gave him a Sandwich of Passive-Aggressive Care or two for his lunches), if not both of them, and they talked, or she made dinner (and sometimes they watched anime with Alphys), or they went somewhere else. Like occasionally they went to get donuts, and the heavyset man who always used exclamation points would greet them all enthusiastically by name. His name was Carlope, she had learned this past month, and he did in fact own the place. Alphys came over sometimes, other days, to work on Japanese with her.

It was nice. And Asteri wouldn’t trade the pleasant routine they had for anything.

- [ APPROX. 3 WEEKS AFTER THE TELEPORTATION INCIDENT ] -

> hey sorry for not responding!! ive been swamped w finals coming up x.x No worries! I completely understand. I remember how college is. I’m not THAT old haha < Well not yet anyway < > LOL > at least you aren’t as old as Dr G

Asteri rolled her eyes. He was technically old, yeah, but he sure didn’t act like it a lot of the time.

How long do skeletons even live? Maybe he’s only old from our perspective. <

Alphys started typing, then stopped. Then started again, but a minute or so later, she stopped again. Asteri watched to see if she would continue, but she didn’t. It really wasn’t her business how old he was anyway. Old, if he had fought in the war. There were a number of types of monsters who naturally lived a very long time without being functionally immortal like Boss Monsters. Shapeshifters, like herself, were one. Even if she had been born the year the war ended, she would likely still be alive today anyway, if she took care of herself. Her parents had known the surface as adolescents, after all. As it was, though, she was born around 10 years after the death of the royal children, but was still a child when her parents were killed almost 20 years later. And it had been… what? 40? Almost 50 more years since then? And she was still fairly young. Not young like Alphys, of course… but aging slowed down considerably after childhood. Gah, had it really been so long since she had lost her parents? It really had, hadn’t it?

It made her wonder just how old Asriel and Chara had been. Something like early adolescence, right? Yes, she was about that age when her parents were killed, maybe a little older. It was difficult not to think about them, after having listened to Gaster reminisce during one of their last meetings. Yes, he spoke fondly of the royal children. He had helped tutor them in areas of science and mathematics, while the queen taught them everything else. He had been, of course, wary of Chara initially, he said, but they had grown on him over the years. They were, after all, just a child, albeit a troubled one.

She was still convinced that they were the only good human.

Her phone went off. Alphys finally replied.

> yknow im pretty sure ur right

What had they been talking about again? Oh yeah, Gaster being old.

I know every type of monster ages differently. TBH he doesn’t seem that much older than me < > Oh yeah? > 🕈︎ I told you those don’t show up on my phone. < > omg right sorry > PLS let me upgrade your phone to understand unicode I don’t know what that is but sure. < What did you mean to send? < > well it was better than this emoticon but thisll have to do > >;P

Asteri’s cheeks warmed.

Oh my god Alphys. < Stop trying to set me up with Gaster, it’s not like that. <

In the many months since their ill-fated meeting at the dump (she couldn’t believe it had been almost a year), she and Gaster, and often Alphys, met up more or less once a week. These last few weeks, though, Alphys had been busy studying for finals. So it had mostly been Asteri and Gaster, which was fine. But having more time just the two of them apparently fueled the rumor mill at the lab.

> if u say so~ I’m not dignifying that with a proper response. < > lmao ok ill stop > but itd be so cute

Asteri rolled her eyes and ignored the way that the sentiment actually pleased her just a little, even if Alphys was just messing with her. It wasn’t like that! It was just because they were good friends. Hmph. She had an idea of how to put a stop to this.

If you see him as a father figure, wouldn’t pursuing him make me your step-mother-figure? < > ……… > shit.

Asteri barked out a laugh.

Aww don’t back out now. Don't worry Alphys I’d be a good mommy to you < > AJKFSMXLSASDJDKDLSJHD;SKX??!?,?!1!??!!! > ATSERI > OMFG > u CANT jsut SAY THAT > I ALMSOT CHOKED ON MY RAMEN

She grimaced, shame swelling in her gut. Too far, given the relationship Alphys had with her mother. She should apologize.

Crap. That was too far, wasn’t it? I wasn’t thinking about your situation. I’m sorry. < That was in bad taste < > wait what

I shouldn’t have made a joke about being a good mother since you don’t have a good relationship with yours. That was thoughtless of me, and I’m sorry. <

Asteri rubbed the magic of her wings together anxiously while she waited for the reply. Stupid, stupid! She should have just let the joke go and let Alphys tease her! It was all lighthearted anyway! Obviously Alphys didn’t actually think she and Gaster would be a couple… It was all in good fun. But rather than let it go, she had gotten weirdly personal about Alphys’ relationship with both Gaster and her parents. Yikes, Asteri!! Have some forethought!

> OH > omg Asteri. Don’t Even Worry About It. > That’s not. Uh. What I was screaming about

Asteri’s eyebrows pinched together in confusion.

You’re not upset? What was that reaction about then? < > uhh > nothing don’t worry about it > i um. > thought you were making a different joke What? What joke? < > omg please just pretend i didn’t say anything > ANYWAY HOW ARE YOU

Asteri rolled her eyes and let it go. She caught up with Alphys about what she had texted her about to begin with, then let her finish studying. It was awfully ambitious of her to take on finals and then agree to meet Asteri’s other friends the following week. But good for her.

Speaking of her other friends, she had another conversation to reply to.

As was frequently the case, the three of them ended up talking for an hour.

…and so the IDEA is that other monsters might be able to detect differences in the text magic of a person’s speech, even if they aren’t a skeleton! < > That’s really interesting > How would you test it, though? See, that’s where I’m stuck. <

You guys know what I’m talking about, with Temmies and stuff, right? < > I mean, sort of? > I guess I don't really pay attention to that type of stuff?? > It might be just you…? But like only bc you’re so used to looking for that sort of thing? I mean I know what you mean, but nonetheless

Asteri deflated a little. She had been trying to work out this theory for a year now. These months of knowing Gaster had given her a lot of information, but it was like she always got derailed when she meant to ask him more about this… Well, actually, it was more that she wanted to have more to show before she presented the whole theory to him. Plus, she was sidetracked working on translating Japanese as a side project with Alphys.

It wasn’t like she had much to go off of, and really Kelinn and Sembie had just given her more information by providing their perspectives. So why did it feel like such a failure that they didn’t notice it like her? Did she just want to be right that badly?

I. Guess it might be… < > I thought you asked Dr. Gaster about this kind of stuff? Skeletons naturally see text as a person speaks. He can’t give me an outside opinion < > Okay but. If nobody else has ever seen people’s words, in all the history of monsters… I’m not saying other monsters can see speech text! Just that maybe we can sense it. Or intentionally change how our speech looks < Like! He said I use interrobangs < Y’know, like this: <

[ASTERI sent a picture] <

> Like in your speech? Out loud?

Yeah. When I ask something intensely. Like if someone kicked my door down and I was like, “What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” Apparently. < Anyway! What I’m saying is that the concept that a monster might be able to deliberately alter the subconscious parts of their speech, like unusual punctuation— as if it were written on paper, or a computer— has such INCREDIBLE potential for language! < > You said that HE said… that everyone’s speech has magic? Yeah. < > Well. Not everyone can manipulate their magic like you… Maybe it’d be easier for shapeshifters? You can change your bullets after all > Do you see what I’m saying?

Asteri wilted, the disappointment weighing on her like a stone. How had she never considered…?

Yeah. Yeah, no, that’s… never occurred to me. < I gotta give that some thought… < But that still leaves no reason for me to be able to pick up on how it sounds different. < > Maybe you’ve got a skeleton in your family!!

For some reason, the suggestion made her want to immediately end this conversation. There’s absolutely no reason for that, calm down Asteri.

No, my entire family is shapeshifters. My parents never mentioned any other kinds of monsters in our family < > Okay but like maybe there was a forbidden romance! That your parents kept secret! > The family shame!

> Two star-crossed lovers, kept apart by their families!!

Asteri’s tail flicked in further irritation against the floor. She did not like the implications of this.

Kept apart? < How would I exist, then? < > Well I’m not saying they STAYED apart There aren’t any skeletons in my family, Kelinn. <

This isn’t a romance novel < > ok but what IF There aren’t. That’s not it <

> But you can’t know for 100% > Tell me that's not cool to think about!! > Alright you two. I’m NOT saying there was some secret love child. But I mean none of us know for sure everyone who was related to us before the war… > I’m not saying that’s what the reason is. But technically you COULD have a skeleton ancestor.

Asteri clenched her jaw.

> I’m not saying you do! > But you’ve got to admit! It would explain a lot about your idea!! Okay you know what I am DONE with this conversation < Shut up shut up shut UP < Im turning my phone off just SHUT UP!! <

She needed to go for a walk. Before she threw her phone across the room or broke something.

What her friends had suggested frustrated her. She had lashed out mostly because they had made valid points, but she berated herself for being so immature about her response. That was not how a scholar reacted when confronted with evidence that contradicted their ideas. She was bitter. Ugh, but why?

Gaster had once said that bitterness was a means of coping with hurt, and in turn a sign of perseverance. Well, he hadn’t worded it quite like that. But what in the underground was she HURT about? Being wrong? No, potentially being wrong? Very mature, Asteri, wow. Fantastic.

She grumbled and kicked a rock into the river. Now she was mad at herself for being mad. Great. What a useful goddamn cycle of emotions!! She picked up another rock with her tail and threw it as hard as she could into the water with an angry shout.

“UGH!!” It wasn’t enough. She needed to burn energy, and throwing stuff wasn’t going to cut it. She glanced behind her to make sure she was alone, then summoned a flurry of bullets and let them fly at the cave wall. She did it again. And then again. Again. …She was out of patterns.

Stupid patterns, stupid bullets, stupid DAMN ASTERI! “Perseverance.” She scoffed bitterly. “Some perseverance I have!” She squeezed her eyes shut, body shaking with barely contained frustration. Subconsciously she wondered if she would shift in anger, something she hadn’t done since becoming an adult, but this felt different. For every word, she smacked her tail against whatever was closest.

“I! Can’t! Even! "Persevere!" Through! Being! WRONG!!” With every word she felt her SOUL grow tighter, her magic shuddering, coiling back like an antagonized snake, until the very end it released in what felt like a shockwave. Her eyes flew open with a gasp and she stumbled back. At first she didn’t see anything. Then, like gossamer threads, cords of violet magic caught the light. She turned. Circles, spaced haphazardly but concentrically around her, went straight outward for a few yards, then stopped. Purple magic. It was just like Gaster had told her. Magic in lines. There was no target though, no SOUL to be affected, so it looked like she had just…. cast the trap part? Now temporarily distracted from her anger by surprise, confusion, and curiosity, she leaned down and tried to touch one with her tail. It vibrated slightly, like a string on an instrument, and gave a strange, incredibly uncomfortable feeling of feedback in her SOUL. It was unpleasant in a way she couldn’t explain. So, touching them didn’t dissipate them like bullets… Oh right, bullets. She summoned a few and tried to send them somewhere above and between the cords. They flew to the lines instead like a magnet had pulled them, and careened along the circles for about the length of a turn, then fizzled out like usual. What did this even mean…? And how did she get it to go away? She was not familiar with casting anything much more advanced than fire magic; bullets were all she ever even considered attempting in FIGHTs, and she had never been particularly interested in FIGHTing. Actually, no, that was a lie. She had a time, following her parents’ murder, where she wanted nothing more than real battle training, and she put a lot of thought into bullet patterns as a means of protection. But that anger had soon enough given way to sadness— depression— and the other stages of grief. And she had moved on, at least as well as she could. Her HP had taken a major hit for a long time after, but as she had learned to cope, it had returned to a normal range for a shapeshifter, and then continued to increase as she got older and life got better. Last time she CHECKed, it was actually at an all-time high. But none of this explained her use of purple magic. And the cords were still there. She did not like how it felt to touch them, and she didn’t know what would happen if she tried to squeeze under them or move overtop of them…

She pulled out her phone and took a deep breath, then dialed a familiar number.

Surprisingly, it picked up. Instantly, she launched into rambling. “Gaster I know calling doesn’t work well for you I’m really sorry but can you come to Waterfall? Please?? I’m not by my house, I went for a walk to let some steam off, b-but I accidentally cast weird magic and I-I don’t know how to make it go away and you’re the only one I know who knows a lot about colored magic—” There was a startled noise at the other end. “Y-Yeah, um, I cast purple magic? I-I think? And I don’t know what to do, c-can you… can you help me?” She took a deep breath, knowing that babbling wasn’t going to help. Her eyes squeezed shut. “I’m really, really sorry to ask you away from work, I… I just, um.” She swallowed. “Can you, um, hum, I guess? If you can come? If not, I-I’ll figure it out…”

He hummed the same tune as when he’d calmed her down after the teleport.

She breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, so much. Here, let me tell you where I’m at from my house…” Less than ten minutes later, he came running around the corner. “I apologize for taking so long, I had to finish what I was working on,” he explained as soon as he caught sight of her. “What—” “Wait stop!” He froze, almost falling over mid-step. Asteri rubbed the magic of her wings together anxiously. “I don’t know what will happen if you step inside the lines. Can you see them?” She gestured to one with her tail. “They feel really weird when I touch them. I don’t know how to make them go away…” Gaster looked to where she pointed, then nodded offered a reassuring smile. “Do not worry. It should not affect me, and even if it does, the trap will do no damage on its own.” She swallowed, but nodded, and he came closer. When he reached the edge of one of the circles, he carefully stepped over it, lifting his foot high and then continuing toward her. She extended her tail toward him, which he held onto for balance once he was close enough, and with that she guided him towards her. Once he reached her, she inched backward to give him room to stand inside the innermost circle. There wasn’t much space to begin with. He put his hands on his hips and turned, surveying the surrounding magic, then nodded to himself and turned to her. “You are alright?” She nodded. “Good. Admittedly, I have not encountered purple magic since the war, so I am not completely sure how to deal with it. But!” He gave an encouraging smile. “It is very impressive that you cast this!” Looking around at the skewed, uneven lines, Asteri made a face. She still felt miserable. “Well. Thank you. It doesn’t feel very impressive.” Gaster managed to make a tutting sound and gave her an admonishing look. “Asteri, you must be kinder to yourself.” His expression softened. “What led up to this? You said that you went for a walk to “let off steam.”” At this, she turned away, embarrassed. “I had been talking to my friends, and they… said something. I don’t even know why it made me so upset. But I got angry, so I went for a walk. And then got angry at myself for being angry. Nothing was helping, though, so I just…” Her face warmed. This sounded so juvenile. “I… shot a couple bullet patterns into the wall. But... I… ran out of patterns, because I never practice. And then I got even angrier at myself. And then… this happened.” It was hard to look at him, but she had to in order to see what he said. She sighed quietly and turned her eyes back to him. “You are ashamed for feeling angry.” Yeah, nope. She wasn’t ready to look at him if he was going to psychoanalyze her. She swiveled her head away again, a persistent heat in her cheeks. The defensiveness clattered against the inside of her mouth like a rubber ball in a metal box, but she wouldn’t snap at Gaster, she wouldn’t. He had been nice enough to leave his job in the middle of the afternoon to come rescue her from her own problem.

The shame grew in her chest like a cancer. She heard him sigh, and the feeling doubled in size. This was a mistake, she just panicked, she should never have called him, even his patience had to have a limit, and this was it. This was all— “I cannot help you,” he signed with blue hands within her line of sight, “if you do not let me.” “I shouldn’t have called you, I should have just. Figured it out on my own,” she answered, too fast, too harshly, and immediately regretted that it came out like she had spat it. It felt like poison on her tongue, but her feelings were too sharp and cut into the tone of everything she tried to say. “It isn’t your problem.” (I’m sorry for pulling you away from your work.) “It’s my mess.” (I feel like I’m taking advantage of your kindness and desire for a friend.) “And I don’t need a damn therapy session.” (I’m too ashamed to tell you how I acted because if you judged me I don’t think I could bear it.) She glanced up at him, knowing that her anger at herself shot through her eyes like ice at him. He looked startled, then hurt (and god she wanted to wither away right then), then angry, and she jolted, shrinking a little. She felt herself slowly begin to melt, and it wasn’t voluntary but she didn’t try to stop it. That was it. Nobody in their right mind would put up with what she just pulled. He was mad at her. And oh, she absolutely deserved it, but it made her feel like the scum of the earth. Whatever he said next, she had coming, but knowing it was going to be the end of everything made her eyes sting. Stupid. Weak. You brought this on yourself by acting so childish, and now you have the audacity to cry? She tried to blink the feeling away and brace herself. “You,” Gaster began, and him just pointing at her almost brought her the rest of the way to tears, “are pushing me away to try to protect yourself.” ...What? “Whatever it is that happened has you so ashamed that merely mentioning the feeling immediately made you defensive.” He frowned even more. She looked away again, the sight of him angry enough to look at her like that making her melt even faster. He sighed, and she could practically hear the annoyance. Tears welled up in her eyes despite her angrily shouting at them in her head to not do that.

“Asteri.” She ignored him. “Asteri.” She turned her head away. He frowned even more and moved blue hands into her line of sight. “Asteri.” It was finger-spelled that time, he didn't even use her name sign. She squeezed her eyes shut. He couldn’t talk to her if she wasn’t looking, and that that HAD to be rude enough to make him leave. Silence, for a few seconds, then an almost-silent sigh, a strange, cartoonish sound, and a microsecond of heaviness. She opened one eye. He was gone. He was gone.

She dropped to her knees and let the tears well up as a truly pitiful little cry escaped her mouth. That started off a chain of hiccuping sobs as she held her head in her wings, and melted together like the pathetic excuse of a friend she was. This was truly ugly crying, the undignified sounds she made. “Asteri you i-i-idiot!” she bawled, “Now he’s never coming back!” She dissolved into tears, almost literally, and wept until she could finally think straighter. It felt like forever, but once she had calmed down a little, she opened her eyes and looked around. After all, she still needed to figure out what to do about the purple magic. She sniffled as she scanned the surrounding area numbly. Maybe, somehow, she could repair things with Gaster. Oh who was she kidding!? She ruined it. She would still apologize, somehow, but there was no way he would forg— “O-OH MY GOD YOU’RE STILL HERE!!!” The skeleton was standing against a far wall, on the other side of the river, but certainly still close enough to have heard and seen everything that just happened. She flattened all the way against the floor, now all but a blob, and in a brilliant move of pure, instinctual self-preservation, changed to the exact color of the ground and held perfectly still. There was that strange, objectively silly noise again, and suddenly he was standing over her. She squeaked in alarm, but then clamped her mouth shut and pretended he wasn’t there. He sighed and crouched down. His eyelights were tinged cyan blue. At least he couldn’t see where her eyes were. “Asteri, please talk to me.” When she did not, he continued. “I am not angry. I am frustrated, yes. But I am not stupid. You called me in a panic; When I got here, you were relieved. As soon as I mentioned shame, you immediately got defensive and told me to leave. I can piece together that you spoke in anger. I did not truly leave the area, because I wanted to ensure you were alright. I had a feeling that you needed to get some things out considering that me frowning at you almost brought you to tears.” Thank god she was already on the ground, because this was humiliating. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, his expression was softer. “Seeing you break into tears and berate yourself because you thought you had driven me off for good was more than enough confirmation that you did not mean anything.” He offered a tiny, awkward smile. “Frankly, though, nothing you said to me was especially cruel. I think you may be being hard on yourself because most of your anger was directed internally anyway. Even if I had not witnessed that, I would only have given you space, not abandoned your friendship.” His smile turned a little more genuine, eyes softening. “I am admittedly difficult to get rid of, unless you tell me directly. I am not good with subtext, you see.”

Suddenly he brightened, straightening, with a huge grin on his face.

“Only regular text!” He broke into laughter at his own terrible joke— it was barely even a joke, good grief— and Asteri couldn’t muffle a little huff of humor in time. He somehow brightened even more. “A laugh! Good!” She still didn’t want to say anything, though, or un-camouflage. Gaster’s excitement died down and his expressions changed to a more thoughtful one as he looked over the arrangement of purple magic. “Purple magic is trap magic,” he reminded her, though his attention was still turned to the surrounding rings. “It is also associated with perseverance. If you are angry, but feel that you should not be, the desire to persevere through something is there. It is not an ideal form of perseverance, but it is perseverance nonetheless. However…” He looked back down at her, silently noting that she was slowly returning to her normal lavender hue. “…Trap magic with no target can only do one thing.” She peered up at him through still-hidden eyes. “Purple magic, like perseverance, works best with others close to you as support. It seems that purple magic allows you to entrap what is causing you difficulty and analyze it, observe its behavior. But a good analysis needs multiple perspectives. And if your focus is internal when you use purple magic, then the only thing that will be trapped...” Asteri swallowed and found her voice. “…Is me.” Gaster smiled gently at her. “You cannot persevere through your own emotions. You will only sever yourself from others. In order to deal with them, you must ready yourself, then deal with them head-on—“ He summoned a green bone-shaped bullet and grinned hopefully— “with kindness.” She sighed, long and tired, and let her color come back, slowly reforming into something vaguely solid, though not quite her usual form. Most of her was still in a puddle on the ground. The last thing she wanted to do was look Gaster in the eye when he would look right back (because that would mean being seen, and in that moment nothing felt scarier), but she mustered the courage and met his eyes. Immediately, they lit up with a faint green, and he smiled at her with nothing short of pride. Green is absolutely the color of kindness, she thought, if someone can see me after everything and look at me like that. “There you are.” As if she were ever truly hidden, she scoffed inwardly. But just like always, he wore nothing but sincerity on his face. “It’s me,” she agreed ruefully. The worst friend ever. Making him come here, snapping at him, and then being so pathetic that she didn’t even allow him his rightful frustration, she made him put it aside to comfort her. “You do not seem particularly happy about that fact,” he observed. “I just think… you should be mad at me,” she muttered, eyes on the ground. “I think,” he began, forcing her to look up, “that you want me to be angry with you so that you can be angry at yourself.” “I’m already angry at myself!” she huffed. “Yes, because you think you deserve it,” he replied patiently. “Why should I add to it?” “Because I do! And because you didn’t- you didn’t even get to be upset, you had to come over here and coddle me!” Gaster raised a curious brow. “I had to?” Her face flushed, but she held her ground. “Y-Yeah!” He tilted his head and looked down his metaphorical nose. “I did not. I wanted to,” he corrected. “That’s… dumb,” Asteri grumbled. “I know you do not mean that you truly believe that my feelings or desires are motivated by stupidity,” Gaster signed seriously, though not harshly, “but consider what your self-hatred implies when you discredit others’ genuine desire to help you.”

Oh, his words cut deep. Deeper than any possible insult could have. It would have been so, so much easier if he had been angry. But instead, he was forcing her to confront herself.

“Why do you even want to?” she asked, the leftover defensiveness giving her words the effect of hardness but none of the impact. Like tinfoil on a cardboard box.

“Because you are my friend,” Gaster answered simply. “I care about you.”

“You shouldn’t…”

And there it was. ‘You shouldn’t.’ That was what it boiled down to, wasn’t it? That she believed, deep down, that nobody should care about her; that she did not deserve it-- not when she was like this. She should be better than this.

“Asteri.” She looked up. Gaster looked stern. She almost looked away again, but then he signed. “You are important to me. But you do not get to decide who I am allowed to care about.” Her eyes widened. “That is something no other monster decides. Only me. And no other monster can decide who you care about.”

She opened her mouth, but he cut her off. “If anybody alive does not deserve to be cared about, it is me. Do you know the things I have done? I am the biggest hypocrite of all. What are kindness and patience when you have slaughtered hundreds?” He looked down. “What is integrity worth when it has been broken?”

A long moment of silence passed before he sighed and looked back to her. “I do not like to think about this, but I do not hide these facts. You knew I fought in the war, and I have not failed to mention the ways I killed. But you care about me regardless of whether I feel I deserve it, don’t you?” “I… do.” She nodded, voice growing stronger. “Y-Yes, I do.” A small smile pulled at his face. “After the things I have lived through, and the things I have done, it will take much more than a few words spoken in shame to truly upset me. You must forgive yourself. Forgiveness is not the same as saying that a course of action was right. It is merely the decision to not let it poison your relationship. I do not think that the things I have done were right. Necessary, perhaps. But not right. Despite this, I make an active effort to forgive myself.” Her eyebrows furrowed together. “An active effort?” He nodded. “It is not easy. Forgiving yourself for something must be a continuous choice, or guilt will paralyze you.” They sat there in contemplative silence once more. Gradually, Asteri returned to her form, filling back into the clothes she had melted out of, until she was all the way there once again, knees pulled up to her chest and wings and tail curled tightly around them.

“That’s a lot to think about,” she said at last, quietly. Gaster saw one of the violet circles at the edge of the magic field fizzle away. “Yes. But it is necessary.” A sigh, and a small hum, and her eyelights flitted over to him for a moment before she allowed herself to lean over and rest her head against his shoulder. “You’re a good friend, you know. Way better than I deserve.” “You are better than I deserve, but we are both here, aren’t we?” Asteri smiled, just a little. “Yeah, I guess we are.” He shifted just enough to look down at her. “Do you want to tell me what upset you enough to cause this? I think it would help.” The way she immediately tensed did not go unnoticed, so he gestured to the edge of the rings. “Look. A few have already disappeared. Talking this through is helping.” “It could just be me getting distracted…” she tried, weakly, but knew even without the look she got in return that it wouldn’t work. She heaved a heavy sigh and let her head drop back against his shoulder. “It’s so stupid. I don’t even know why I was so upset about it. And that’s part of what made me more upset.” She paused, hesitant. “I… feel really childish. It was so immature. I don’t…” Another deep breath, and she confessed: “I don’t want to tell you, because I’m afraid you’ll judge me. Even though you say you won’t. You might not act any differently but your opinion of me could still change. I don’t…” It felt like her throat was shrinking, like her voice couldn’t get any smaller. She turned her head to hide her face against his shoulder. Like a child, she berated herself. ���…want you to think less of me.” Rather than answer right away, Gaster tilted his head down and tapped the side of it against the top of hers. “It is possible to disagree with a person’s choices without thinking less of them,” he signed when she turned her head again. “Yeah…” “Is it truly worse than having killed people?” Her cheeks warmed. Well when he put it like that…

She sighed in acquiescence. “My friends and I were talking about my work. They didn’t understand what I meant about being able to sense the difference in speech beyond pronunciation. It… It was a whole thing, but basically they said that maybe…” She groaned a little. This was going to sound far worse than it already was. “…Maybe I have a skeleton ancestor or something.”

She didn’t need to be looking at him to feel the eyebrow raise.

“NOT that that’s what I was upset about!” she clarified hastily. “I told them that I didn’t; all my family was other shapeshifters. Then one of them suggested that maybe, a long time ago, there was some secret… tryst or something, I don’t know. Basically that someone had been unfaithful, or there was some secret child with a skeleton or something, and I was unknowingly descended from them. Just because they didn’t understand! And- And obviously I don’t have any issues with having a skeleton family member!! But if I'm part skeleton, it would mean that… that my theory that other types of monsters can sense text magic is false.”

She faltered, for a moment, then launched back into it with the same frustration as before.

“How immature can I get‽‽ Lashing out at my friends just because they brought up a potential explanation that I didn’t like! Getting so angry that I trapped myself with purple magic— which I have never used before! Forcing you to leave whatever you were doing to come rescue me! Lashing out at you, having a literal meltdown, and then this! I’m a full-grown monster! And a scholar! What kind of scholar punches the wall when they’re disagreed with‽” Once she was finished, she slumped against Gaster again and grumbled to herself. “…You punched a wall?” “Metaphorically! With… with the bullets.” Gaster nodded. “Ah.” “To start with…” the skeleton began again after a beat, “it does seem reasonable to be upset over having your family’s integrity insulted.” “But—“ “Hold on,” he halted her. “I know you want to be angry at yourself, not be validated. But wait.” “Fine…” “From my understanding, you were irritated not only with your friends, but also the implications of what they said: that you did not discover this much about text magic on your own merits, rather that it is simply innate due to some hypothetical ancestor. Am I correct?” Asteri raised her head a little. “Yeah… I guess that is it.” A frown took hold of her expression. “But that still isn’t an excuse for getting that upset.” “The validity of emotions and their intensity is another discussion. I am not finished.” “Alright, alright.” “Your family— which is surely a sensitive topic— was casually insulted, then your accomplishments as an academic, which you have worked very hard toward, were dismissed and excused as being a mere coincidence of ancestry. Then, your feelings were brushed aside, either by your friends or your own mind, as being invalid because your friends “only” brought a new possibility to your attention. Instead of acknowledging your right to be upset, you instantly shamed yourself for having such a reaction, which only made you feel worse for being upset to begin with. Every attempt to brush off your feelings and simply push through them-- because you believe them to be a personal failing-- added to the shame you already felt. I imagine that taking a walk did not immediately remove these feelings as you had hoped, because you were not allowing them their place to be felt and then move on, rather you were feeding them to each other until they grew explosive.” Well. That would certainly explain why her magic had felt like that. But that didn’t mean she liked the fact that he was right. “It’s annoying how smart you are,” she grumbled. “Why can’t I just be angry at myself in peace?” “Because your anger was not peaceful.”

Asteri raised her head. He looked at her and continued.

“Your anger was violent toward yourself. It served no purpose, motivated no change. It was no longer anger; it was hatred.” That echoed in her like a shout off the edge of the pier. The words just kept repeating in her mind, in her SOUL. ‘Your anger was not peaceful.’ ‘Violent toward yourself.’ ‘It was hatred.’

Her eyes stung.

“I didn’t think I hated myself,” she whispered, at a loss. “I… I love myself. I love a lot of things about myself.”

“That is good,” Gaster commended her. “But I do not think that self-hatred needs to be all-encompassing to exist in a person.” “How do I stop feeling like this?” she asked the universe more than her friend. Fortunately, the universe had given her a friend to answer. “Practice.”

She turned to him with watery eyes. “Practice?” He nodded. “When you feel upset, remember that anger is not bad. Emotions are simply emotions. They are not moral indicators. The way one reacts to one’s emotions is what matters. But feeling something is not wrong, nor is it stupid.”

“I don’t know if I’m going to remember all of that when I’m upset,” she admitted.

Gaster smiled softly. “That is why it takes practice.” His attention turned to the space around them. “The circles are gone.”

So they were. She hadn’t even noticed. “Thank god,” she sighed in relief. “I’m exhausted.”

He stood and offered her a hand, which she took with her tail. “I am sure.”

Once on her feet, Asteri checked her phone to see the time. “At least I didn’t keep you too long…”

“Even if you had, the lab would not burn down without me. My followers frequently ask me to take more time off.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Your “followers”?” Gaster looked a little sheepish. “It is a joke between us. When my most trusted assistants were new, they followed me from room to room. They are always nearby, thank the stars. I would lose my head without them.”

He paused.

“Literally, come to think of it.”

That earned a chuckle from Asteri. “Oh, is one of them the guy you scared the SOUL out of?”

Gaster giggled guiltily and rubbed the back of his head. “Yes. He retrieved my head for me once I told him what room it was in, rather than try to lead my body there. He claims that carrying my skull is ‘the worst memory he has ever made in Hotland.’ I do confess that it was likely very uncomfortable to pick up a completely inert skull.”

Asteri snickered. “Did your jaw fall off?”

He perked up and pointed at her. “Surprisingly, no! Some active magic must have remained to hold it together.”

“That’s fascinating. I’m morbidly curious, but also terrified.”

Both hands braced on the sides of his head and lifted it off his neck while a blue pair of hands signed for him. “Are you sure you do not want to see?” he teased.

“Absolutely not!” she laughed, somewhat incredulous. “Put that back before you forget it somewhere.”

“I would certainly hate to teleport without it.” He set it back in place, then rolled it around on his neck to make sure it attached properly.

“Right, teleporting…”

She had given it a lot of thought since her bad experience with it. It seemed too useful and convenient to be afraid of. If he was willing, she wanted to try again.

“You teleported the short distance from here to the other side of the river in an instant.”

“Ah. That is because it is so close. However, teleporting any distance here in the underground appears almost instantaneous, although it feels like more time passes during travel.”

“How long is it in… travel… from here to my house?”

Gaster inclined his head and rubbed his chin, eye sockets squinted in thought. “30 seconds, maybe?”

Asteri rubbed her wings together, tail swaying nervously behind her. “You’ve already done so much for me today, but you mentioning teleportation reminded me: I decided... I don’t want to be afraid of it. So if you would be willing, could I come with you again, sometime? But just a short distance?”

His eyes widened slightly. “Of course! It is no trouble, really. I can take you home, if you are agreeable to trying it now.”

She nodded. “I think knowing what to expect will help.”

He held his arms out, and she fused herself into one mostly solid form, then stepped into his embrace and curled her tail and wings around him as he wrapped his arms around her. It felt good to be held, after everything, even if just like this.

“Ready?”

She swallowed and took a deep breath. It would be dark. She knew that. But he wouldn’t let go, and she would be safe.

“Ready.”

Blue, and then black, and then darkness. She shuddered, but didn’t panic this time. Gaster squeezed a hand on her back, then pulled her toward a speck of light just like before. But this time, it came towards them much, much faster, and it wasn’t even the 30 seconds he had predicted before they were stepping out of the darkness and into the tall grass.

Instantly he was facing her, hands on her shoulders while he checked her over with deep blue eyes that flashed with yellow.

“I’m okay,” she told him with a small smile, her tail coiling lightly around his forearm. He sighed in relief and visibly relaxed, eyelights fading back to their usual white. “Good.” “It isn’t so bad, I think, now that I know how dark it is.” Even the first time hadn’t actually been very long, only a few minutes, but the panic had made it feel like it lasted an eternity. “I am relieved to hear that. It is very convenient, no?” “Extremely. That was a 15 minute walk, otherwise.”

“I am never late to work, either.”

Asteri giggled. “Don’t you basically live at work?” Gaster made an indignant sound, though he wasn’t truly offended whatsoever. “I have been going home at least twice a week lately.”

She gave him a look.

“…I have extra clothes at the lab.”

“Go home tonight,” she urged. “Sleep in a real bed.” She lifted a wing to cup his head and bring him closer so that she could get a better look at him. “You’ve got bags under your eyes again, Gaster,” she admonished gently. He smiled guiltily and looked away. “I will, then, only so as not to upset you.” “I only get upset because I care,” she informed him, doing her best approximation of crossing her wings. “If you neglect your health even though other people want you to take care of yourself, isn’t that the same as me saying it’s stupid for someone to care about me?” That earned her an impressed but unhappy glare. “You are too clever for your own good.” She laughed, and he smiled at the sound, any mild annoyance that she had pinned him with his own lesson evaporating instantly.

“Thank you for cheering me up after everything.” She looked up at him and sighed softly before looking away. “I am bummed out about my theory being potentially invalid, but it wasn’t like there was any way to test it anyway. Not really.”

Gaster looked like he was going to say something, but hesitated.

She frowned slightly, eyebrows pinching together. “What?” “Your theory… is that monsters other than skeletons can sense text magic to some degree?” “Yeah,” she sighed once more, “But like I said, there’s no way to test it.”

“I have more to say on that,” he signed hesitantly, “but you are exhausted and I should return to work. May I come by later? No. Tomorrow. That would be better. Or whenever is convenient.”

Asteri blinked, a little confused, but nodded. “Of course. Tomorrow is fine. You’re welcome anytime, just so you know. That goes for Alphys as well. You can always come by, you don’t need an invitation.” “Thank you. I will see you tomorrow evening, then.” “Sure. And, uh, hey.” She smiled sideways and stood on her toes. “Thank you again, Gaster.” His smile loosened from being so uneasy, and he bent to meet her, letting their foreheads tap together. “It was no trouble. I am glad you called me.”

Nobody else she knew was familiar with colored magic like him (or could analyze it so quickly, come to think of it— he had said he didn’t know much about purple magic, and yet??) so of course she had called him. Still, she understood the sentiment behind his words: when she was in distress, she trusted him enough to turn to him for help. Indeed, how quickly they had moved on from that initial reluctance to reach out to each other. In less than a year they had grown close enough to speak so frankly with each other, to share awful things from their pasts, to see less-than-ideal sides of each other, and to have this, such casual touch.

Asteri’s eyes crinkled. “I’m glad I called you too.”

“Get some rest, my friend.”

“You too! And be safe.”

He nodded, there was a split second of blue, a microsecond of heaviness, a sound she could only think to describe as ‘doodly doodly’, and he was gone. Just like that. She blinked. That was still bizarre to witness.

She turned and went inside. That entire experience was exhausting, so she felt justified in having a bowl of ice cream instead of a meal. She needed to text her friends an apology, one that she was now more confident they would accept, but first she needed a nap.

_ _ _ _

OKAY SO UH. Tumblr said all of part 8 was too long, so this is 8.1, and 8.2 is getting edited next. So have this, and in an hour or two the next part will be up!! This also saves me from writing out the apology to her friends that I forgot to add. But listen. They have been through so much crap together. Kelinn and Sembie are gonna be a little upset, yeah, definitely, but this isn't the first time Asteri one of them has blown up at the other two. It's never fun, but none of them are the type to hold grudges, really, and they all have their own things that set them off. They're really good about communicating. What will happen here is that Asteri will text them and apologize (they probably tried to apologize after she blew up, actually, but she muted the conversation), and they'll talk about why she got upset, and she will tell them that what they said made her feel like they were discrediting her work. And then they'll discuss how to avoid this sort of thing in the future. That's how it's always gone for them. She won't bring up Gaster, or the purple magic, because she isn't about to admit she called the royal scientist and then had a meltdown in front of him. (also it would probably require explaining teleporting, which she isn't going to do.)

ANYWAY. Yeah so. Asteri's got some very internalized issues. BUT TECHNICALLY THIS CHAPTER WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT GASTER WHOOPS. More of him in 8.2. So in the meantime I hope you enjoyed Asteri's emotional trainwreck and Gaster's incredible damage control.

Oh also, he wasn't actually angry at her, when she was being difficult. He was a little frustrated, obviously, but not genuinely angry. That was just what Asteri assumed because she was having A Whole Thing.

Ah, one last thing. Kelinn’s repeatedly calling certain things “hot” and then clarifying “in an ace way,” is indeed a reference to the irl friend I borrowed parts of her personality from.

OK IM OFF TO WORK ON FORMATTING PART 8.2 I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING EVERY SINGLE THOUGHT ANYONE HAS ON THIS!! (seriously you could give me a play by play of your thoughts while reading this and I would be freaking over the moon about it)

#THIS TOOK ME FIVE BILLION YEARS #AND SEVERAL HOURS JUST TO FORMAT TO TUMBLR #UGGHHH #ENJOY THIS I WORKED SUPER HARD DESPITE ITS SHORTCOMINGS #gonna eat and then do 8.2 #more Emotions are coming your way #seeker writes #⁂ fic #⁂ gaster #⁂ #asteri #seeker oc #hope you enjoyed asteri accidentally and completely obliviously contributing to Alphys’s bisexual awakening #(jk im sure alphys already knows she’s bisexual)

[darknebula85]

26/2/2024, Log of DARKNEBULA85, 12:09 AM...

Fairy tail full series...

Heeeeeey people, it's been a while since the last anime log… Working in a company and being in university is hard. Well, I've watched Fairy Tail. It all started because I was very bored a few months ago, didn't know which new anime to watch, and the ones airing didn't catch my attention. That's when the streamer I follow to watch anime started watching Fairy Tail. Years ago, I had tried watching it on my own, but got bored and stopped at episode 3. But now, at 22 years old, I can say I've finished it, and I must say it's become one of my favorite series. In this case, I went in with the mindset of just enjoying it, knowing the complaints people have about Fairy Tail, so I knew what to expect. Honestly, I'm glad I went in with that mindset because I ended up enjoying it a lot despite its shortcomings. AND FOR SOME REASON, I had a dream of Elfman's fight against Baccus with Donkey Kong Country music playing in the background. That day I woke up and said, 'I adore Fairy Tail.' It gave me exactly what I wanted: fights, an interesting story, and a place to switch off my brain. I really liked the series; it helped me destress and have a good time. I didn't want a 100% serious anime with coherence; I wanted to see fights, and Fairy Tail gave me that. I wouldn't recommend it if you want to watch a series with a super well-developed plot, but if you just want to chill, I recommend it wholeheartedly. P.S.: Now I can say I also ship NaLu.

#fairy tail #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #gray fullbuster #erza scarlet #wendy marvell #happy fairy tail #juvia lockser #laxus dreyar #gajeel redfox #levy mcgarden #makarov dreyar #anime #natsu x lucy #fairy tail nalu #nalu

[planefood]

I actually got THREE, WHOLE, questions for you! (wow);

1st: I freaking love the fact that robots can be trans in your story, that's super dope, but how in general does gender work with robots in this universe?

2. How far can I dropkick Lithium?

3. Who is/are your favorite guy(s) to draw/write/etc. so far? And which character(s) do you want to explore more down the line?

I LOVE your work with all of my stupid, tiny, heart and can't wait to see more!

- 🔌

okay this will be wordy so I hope you guys don't mind a lengthy read. So for the first question I do have to say (if you're an adult and follow my toyhouse you probably learnt this the hard way) that my more modern robot characters do have genitalia that can assign them a certain sex after robot/human robot/robot relationships were more normalised in the 70s in the west. It does depend on where the robot was built, but since it's more a story writing tool than anything I won't get too in depth. But robots and especially queerness wise it is a lot more deep than just that: because of around the time robots were starting to be built (like 19th century around about) gender was usually assigned to them anyway by the humans around them that robots were expected to follow, even if it made no sense to the actual robot themselves. When queerness started being more accepted by humans and robots by proxy it was clear to see robots didn't typically stay within cishetero identities and over 30% of them were likely to identify themselves as queer and that number only grew as time went on. I don't have any characters this is overtly case for yet but some robots are built with a specific gender in mind and will find if the robot in question is trans that the robot will be stuck in an overly masculine or overly feminine body with nothing much they can do about it, it's not very pleasant for them. But on the brightside trans robots can change their voice almost instantly to something they feel more aligns to their gender identity if they want to. Robots do face a lot of the same discrimination that comes with being outwardly queer. Some people consider them not capable of coming to that decision themselves and is seen as them getting "indoctrinated" to try and "normalise" queerness.

In general even for cis robots gender is seen as a pretty flimsy concept that's hard to wrap their head around and it probably wouldn't take too much push for some of my cis robots to switch genders if they so pleased

For the second question You can drop kick Lithium as far as your soul is willing. He will make a lengthy google doc callout on you for doing that afterwards though. Third question to draw is a tough one, there's specific things I love and hate about drawing specific characters. For example I love doodling Sierra but generally not a huge fan of colouring her in if i'm not feeling it... There's no character I can think of that I enjoy drawing more by design alone its moreso just my interest in them that makes them fun to draw or not My favourite to write is a little more easy, I love writing Mikey. I've done some story writing in my free time and all of them so far have involved Mikey as the forefront even if he technically isn't the main, main protagonist. There's something about a character who is such a sweetheart and well meaning but is treated so poorly by others for his social shortcomings even by people who would say they'd accept someone despite it. He's an antithesis to Tandy who is viewed as a lot more witty and charismatic but has a lot of ego issues and insecurities that cause him to be shitty with people like Mikey. Mikey needs a lot of support from others but rarely gets it which causes all sorts of additional problems. Mikey also reminds me to take the time and be kinder to myself facing similar issues as well as other people. I love this little robot and I came up with him when I was having a particularly hard day at work, he is very special to me. As for characters I want to do more work on honestly I think more can be added and worked on for all of them, including Mikey, and the motivation for certain character writing comes to me randomly.

#ask

[yandere-sins]

A Father’s Care

Part 2 [Part 3]

»»————-———— ♡ ————————-««

Rating: Explicit Characters: Fem!Reader, Endeavor / Enji Todoroki, The rest of the Todoroki-Family, minus Rei Word-Count: 4906

Warnings: Dub-Con, Actions that could be seen as Cheating, Molesting, Lemon, Violence against the Reader

»»————-———— ♡ ————————-««

a/n: So I wrote another ten pages and told my self I had to split this even though I am not at the end yet. There’s... another part coming (and hopefully it’s the last omg...) For what it’s worth, please enjoy and proceed with caution, I added another Violence warning just to be sure!

»»————-———— ♡ ————————-««

After all this tension, you melted into your pillow, ready to crash.

Next to you, Shoto let out a few last heavy breaths, the tension falling off him too. Sitting up once more and peeling off your socks, you smiled, feeling his hand on your back, rubbing over it attentively. "I think it was fun," you noted, and he chuckled sadly, waiting for you to lie down again. Prompted by his open arm, you closed up the distance between you two, resting your head on his shoulder, looking up at him patiently. "Did you not have fun?" you asked, teasingly, and poked his cheek with your pointer finger.

"Well, you made it fun," he admitted, kissing your forehead while you giggled. "Come on, you did enjoy the food too! And the presents!"

"Oh, yeah. I really enjoy the-" lifting his head from the ground, he looked into the back of the room, with you sitting up too to see, reading one of the packages of his presents. "-’Super Trainer 5000'," he cited, and you laughed awkwardly. "Now, with more weight for the real experience." Wiggling an eyebrow at you, you could not hold your laughter over his presentation, giving him a soft punch to the chest.

"I am sure your dad put a lot of thought into it!" you scolded him, but he only grinned as he saw you not holding back your smile either. "Of course, he did." Leaning down, you kissed him tenderly, letting your hand drive over his cheeks, down to his shoulders. Flashbacks occurred to that very morning when you two had gone back to take a nap but didn't sleep as much as you thought you would. You had been just this close, only this time, his shirt was in the way of you being able to feel his defined muscles.

And there, the thoughts were again. With how loose-fitting his sleeping shirt was, you could barely make out your husband's prominent muscle lines. It was so different from when you had accidentally touched Endeavor's chest. Not that you didn't like it, but it left you… seeking more. Subconsciously, your hand drove beneath his shirt's collar, feeling up the comfortable, warm skin, which changed midway to ice cold. It too was lacking. Nothing like the raging warmth that enveloped you in Enji's presence.

But before you could even dig deeper, he shifted beneath you, his hand gripping your wrist and stopping you from going further. "I… would rather sleep now. This is all very tiresome to me. Sorry, [Name]," Shoto mumbled, apologetic, shooting you an almost sad gaze. But beneath everything, you could see the truth, his exhaustion, shimmering up in his eyes, and you felt bad for even initiating something without consideration. "Yeah, of course. I am tired, too, no worries!"

Smiling at him, you waited until Shoto reciprocated before lying down again, resting against his warm side and snug in his arm. Sure, it had been quite a special Christmas. Still, nonetheless, now that you were where you belonged again, it felt so far away already, the happy and funny times weighing heavily on your mind. Even with all the tension and weirdness, you could still proudly say that you enjoyed your time with his family, already looking forward to next year. With these thoughts in mind, you adjusted to Shoto switched off the light, sinking into the sheets with you, and you fell asleep in his hold, safe and secure.

It was just a matter of time for these good feelings to turn into a reason to never come back - or never leave at all.

For you, it was rare to have wet dreams. Ever since you married, you never really had a reason to, your husband satisfying you fully. Undeniable, there had been days you didn't have an orgasm, but you always thought that was just how life was. Today had been one of those.

You blamed it on Shoto not having managed to push you over the edge as you dreamed about big, bulky fingers gently caressing your lips. Their tips ever so often pushed against them, asking to be let in, and so you did, parting your lips just enough for two of them to slip in. It got agonizingly hard to breathe, but it wasn't like this was a big turn off for you. Eagerly, you worked your tongue, letting the fingers push, pinch, and pull at the muscle. They pushed in further, tapping at your throat before moving out - and your tongue willingly followed them wherever they went, humoring them.

A moan escaped your vocal cords as you felt another big hand drive down your body, easily holding it and letting it nails run down your skin. You couldn't help but sigh in disappointment as it passed by your breast, only for the hand to stop, bringing a finger up again. With your hand reaching up, you helped it massage the tender area, the skin of the fingers so rough in comparison to the angelic moves they made. It reacted so perfectly to your pushes and nudges, building a perfect team with your wishes.

Your top busy, the fingers playing with your mouth retracted, and disappeared, leaving you wanting more as you flailed lightly, restless for it to return, humming quiet pleas to whoever stimulated you in that conscience of yours. "Eager, are we?" it echoed all around you, a presence so far, yet so close but undeterminable where it was exactly. "Yes, please," you muttered, lips barely parting in this dream of yours.

Immediately, you got hit with a seething warm all around you, as if your skin was on fire, and the hand reappeared - this time, between your legs. "You want that?" the voice asked, and you nodded, whimpering in its grip while fingers seemed to burn into your body with how tightly clasped they were all around you. "Then, earn it."

And all of a sudden, everything was gone.

A thud tore you out of your dream, sending you straight back to the real world as you brought up a hand to feel the back of your head. It was like hitting the headboard at night, though impossible, as the pain was located more on the back- than upper side of your skull. Slowly, confused, you started to blink a few times, the darkness ever prominent all around you, making it hard to see. All you knew was that there was a resistance on your wrists, one, you did not know had been there before.

"Huh?" you mumbled, shaking a little in the hold as you felt a hand came down over your mouth, holding it shut. A hush grumbled down from above you, and instantly, a panic hit you. This was the Todoroki Family home, they surely had some enemies that would love to break in and cause havoc. That was - at least - what you thought was happening.

Instantly, you tried to wind yourself out of the grip, to scream and to flail, kicking your legs. But with a very cunning move, the fiend waited for you to open your mouth to scream, sticking two big, salty fingers inside instead, deeply enough to keep you from making another sound aside from gurgles. With the rest of the hand wrapping below your head, enveloping your throat tightly, you felt the shortcoming of air, only small breaths managing to get through with how panicked you were.

Precisely enough, the resistance on your hands stopped while you tried to reach out to Shoto, tap him awake if necessary, but the force used to lift you by only your head was enough to make you pleadingly put your hands on top of the one around your neck, patting it and letting out some whines.  You were concerned that Shoto didn't notice the ruckus, but who-knows-what had happened to him already.

"Let's see," a voice mumbled from behind you, deep and growly, much like the one from your dream. You had difficulties remembering who's it was. Still, there was a small idea already in your head as you felt how the free hand traveled down to your leg, gripping it tightly. That feeling was what you remembered, no matter how cruel it seemed to you now. "Sir-" you tried to splutter out, only receiving a further shove of the fingers down your throat, silencing you despite your whines.

"I told you not to take too much time to come for the decorations," he scolded, and you nodded your head as good as you could despite the pain it caused. "But you never came, so I thought I'd catch you myself."

One of your hands slipped off the one on your neck, your legs struggling to find halt on the ground and lifting your body so it wouldn't just be supported by his grip. With all the strength you had, you pushed down on the hand on your thigh, trying to keep it were it was - even if it was futile, his strength much greater than yours. "I'm sorry!" you tried to press out of your throat despite the restrictions. "I will go and-"

A shook to your body made you squeal and shut your eyes, fear rising with any second that you endured this harassment of your body. "Now's not the right time for that anymore, [Name]."

Brushing your hand to the side, you even tried to shut your legs close, but he was already between them, embedding his hand tightly against your most vulnerable place and clasping around your leg easily. "There was something very important I needed from you, and I will take you somewhere more quiet to get it now. Understood?" he asked - as if he needed your agreement despite everything. "Ple- Please-" you mumbled against his fingers, hoping to appeal to his rationality, but to no avail. A deep chuckle escaped his throat as he shook his head.

"No delay anymore, [Name]. Be good."

Another shook hit your body, this time though you could barely struggle as Enji lifted you up easily. Gravitation was a nightmarish helper in all of this, pulling you downwards despite you not wanting to sit on the hand buried between your thighs. But the more you tried to lift yourself up on your head or with your hands grasping for anything really, the less success you had escaping the hard bones of his fingers, digging into your slit like the wooden horse torture you had read about in a magazine before.

You couldn't help but weep as you noticed your situation growing even worse from the sensation on your clit, the rubs, and pushes hard to ignore when they were so prominent and sudden over and over again. You heard the sliding door open, suspecting him to have opened it with his foot while he transported you irritatingly calmly out of the room. You tried calling out for your husband again, but to no avail, your voice barely sounding into the night as you were carried out and into the back of the house, somewhere, no one would hear you anymore.

How he managed to roam the halls so quietly was a mystery to you. His footsteps were barely audible anymore, unlike how he usually walked through the house. All you could figure by the way he played with your tongue, letting it slip all over his fingers as he carried you like a porcelain doll rather than a heavy, human being, was that he seemed to be aiming somewhere special in delight. However, you lacked the proper knowledge about the floor plan of the house to determine where.

It wasn't like you didn't try to struggle in his grip, doing your best to ram your own nails into the skin of his hands and to scream if your throat allowed it, but even when you passed the rooms you assumed to be your siblings-in-law's, it didn't get anyone's attention as you hoped. "Endea-" you tried to call out to him, frantically patting his hand to which he gave your body a simple shake as if he was reprimanding a dog. That only caused you more uncomfortableness as it made you feel every joint of his fingers against your vulva, every muscle of his heated body against your back and reminded you of the sheer strength he harbored, effortlessly carrying you through the whole house without even a loud breath.

Only by the time you reached your destination was when you gave up your struggles, tears sullying your face in disgust regarding what you were going through. This was not a way to treat someone, not even family or ESPECIALLY not family, but he still pulled through with it. "There we go…" he mumbled, shutting another sliding door behind you with his foot, slowly approaching the middle of the room. From what you could make out, it was a large room, and the air was dense inside, complicating your breathing even more.

When he reached where he wanted, he slowly glided to the ground, finally groaning a little as he kneeled down. With the hand between your legs, he managed to prop them forward, not giving you a choice on how to sit on the floor with him, but you summoned some determination up to run the moment he let go of you.

"You're sloppy," he noted, pulling out from beneath you, making your body pulse with the sudden desire as there wasn't something close to your sex anymore. You did not see it, but he dried off his hands on your nightdress, making you guess just what had made it so wet. And by the feeling you had down below, it was exactly what you were thinking about.

"I will pull out my hand now, keep calm and still for me, alright?" he instructed, and you nodded slowly, his fingers mercifully going with your motions. Horridly slow, he took them from your mouth as you parted your lips willingly as far as you could for him, despite the struggle it caused you. Enji reveled in the momentary bliss of having your tongue work against him, but his fingers still getting another lick from it - if you wanted or not, until he slowed down over your lips, dragging the sensitive skin with him for a few inches before it snapped back and in place.

And the moment you were freed, you did what anyone would have done.

You screamed.

Loud.

As long as you could, you let your voice ring out while you imagined all the people you would wake, everyone who would come running to see what kind of monstrosity had occurred. And you screamed until your lungs gave out, first vibrating and eventually forcing shut, urging you to breathe instead. From one moment to the next, it got so quiet, so terrible, terrible quiet with only your own heartbeat in your ears. Until there was a sigh, and only that.

"Finished?" he asked, and you could barely keep yourself from laughing at that, if not for your complete lack of air in the first place. "No, and I will continue-"

The sting of pain that followed after the initial crack of bones was all there was to your sentence. At the same time, you felt yourself collapsing to the floor, head hitting the hard ground that barely gave away beneath you. "A pathetic scream. I heard my boys scream louder in this room before - and you are a girl."

Enji's presence faded as you slowly regained a grip on yourself, the ringing in your ears subsiding as you brought a hand up to your cheek, feeling the burning slap as you touched it. Hot tears breached over the corners of your eyelids, though you couldn't give them much thought at that moment while you tried to understand what just happened. You flinched as the light suddenly went on, flooding the vast room in brightness, and you blinked rapidly to adjust. With a lot of strength, you managed to support you on your elbow, allowing you to look around you if just a little.

"I trained them here all day, all night, from the sun to moon and back again. Eventually, I just had to install some sound-proof mechanics so my wife wouldn't come running because of every little scream and squeal," Endeavor explained, knocking on the walls. "You can try to scream as much as you want."

Speechless, you locked eyes with him, looking like a scared deer on the ground at best. What would you do now that no one could hear you? Make a run for it? Worth a try. But when you tried to jump up and get yourself into motion, you were hit with a sudden shakiness, your body not moving one inch while Enji casually prowled closer. Were you… afraid? So much, you couldn't move even if you wanted to? Even if you screamed and shouted while the man you were scared off watched you with an icy, but indifferent stare. As if he was expecting you to do something…

"Not going to run?" he asked, kneeling down in front of you again. Even with how hard you found it to move, you still flinched as his hand reached out, your eyes closing as the only thing doing anything. His hand reached behind your head, cupping it in its palm easily and burying his fingers in your hair. Squealing, you endured the yank as he pulled you upwards, whimpering in his hold while he adjusted you to look directly up to him.

"I'll let the matter of your manners slide. I guess you simply forgot about the decorations as you were fucking my son for your pleasure this morning. Still, we have some urgent matters to discuss."

Shocked, your mouth opened, but the words got stuck in your throat. You wanted to protest and insult him, but to save you, your body decided it was not the time for that. "W-What?" you stammered, helplessly trying to support your lifted body by stemming your hands into the ground. And finally, your limbs listened to you, working as they should.

But instead of an answer, you were met with painfully long seconds of silence while you could watch his eyes roam your body. Ever so often, they would stop and take in what they were seeing. Your lips, your shoulders, your breasts perking from your nightgown, your legs - you could watch them like a movie in the reflection of his eyes. "I was a little disappointed that you were never really introduced to me before the wedding," he mused, a sorrowful expression on his face.

"I-I'm sorry- We just didn't have time to-" You were harshly interrupted as his free hand came down to your hips again, gripping them tightly and helping him to move you around like a doll he was inspecting.

"I can see you are a pretty thing, but I would have liked to have a real talk to you first. I am Shoto's father. I need to take care everyone is making good choices and is well, after all."

Even more, confusion rose in you. Endeavor's words made sense, but they didn't explain why he would treat you like this. If he had wanted to know something, he could have just asked or invited you two over… For this right here, there was no reason at all. "I-It must have been a misunderstanding, Sir! We can just talk if you want that…"

"No," he said, shutting you down immediately. "That's not all."

Enji took a deep breath, a gleam of fire playing around his ear and disappearing as fast as it came up. Still, it reminded you of his quirk and how much of a power he could use if he wanted to. Hell, he could incinerate you with these flames until there was nothing left. Wide-eyed, you stared at him, shivering as you waited for him to talk again.

"[Name], do you understand?" he asked, and you mumbled a forced 'no' from your lips, holding back sobs. "I need to make sure that you are suitable for my Shoto. That you can help him on his way to the top, that you will support him and make him happy. It's my duty to make sure he marries someone fit for him, and yet, he went and married you without my consent."

His eyes went from you back to your legs, and you yelped as he suddenly yanked at your nightgown, tearing off the fabric from one of your shoulders. You struggled to keep everything covered and in place, but his hand was faster in securing a spot between your legs again, forcing them apart even with you trying to free yourself from him. "I would have needed to make sure you were a good fit, that you would make him happy in all and every way possible."

The next thing you knew was that your panties got torn off by a finger breaching the barrier the fabric held up. You screamed in surprise, clasping a hand over your shamelessly exposed parts, but your wrist got caught by his hand, tearing forcefully at it. "Most importantly, I really needed to make sure you'd be able to satisfy him. What about children, [Name]? Do you know how important it is that Shoto will get healthy, promising children?"

Pulling you back by your hair, he made your arch your back, and your eyes look up at him, when suddenly, without preparation or announcement, a thick finger pushed into you, leaving you to gasp in surprise and horror. No matter how horrible it was, you were glad for every bit of wetness you had emitted before, saving you from the bloody hell that could have been. "That's what I mean," he growled as he pulled out again, his fingers coming into sight, coated by your slick liquid and pulling threads as he rubbed them against each other and pulled them apart.

"You're nothing but a slut, getting wet from whatever happens to you!"

"That's not true! It's a natural reaction to protect me!" you protested, already regretting it as you looked back at him, meeting his unwavering, overwhelming gaze. "Protect you from what? Your own father-in-law? Don't make me laugh, you whore!"

The sudden release of your head made you tumble to the ground again, and you could barely keep up with the number of times you had hit your head by now. All you knew was that a big headache was incoming. It took you a bit to gather the strength to lift yourself from the ground this time, Enji having stood up by then and starting to make rounds around you. "This is worrisome," he revealed, and you found yourself close to tears again, barely able to know what exactly you were feeling by now.

"You would fuck anyone who touches you a little bit. You probably get off on doing it when Shoto doesn't expect anything and disgrace the family because you couldn't keep your panties on. Even more, you'd bring shame on my poor son, who wouldn't let me evaluate you before he took you as his terrible wife. You understand I have to take care that won't happen, right?"

"No," you sobbed, shaking your head slowly. "I would never do that! I love Shoto, I could never do something so terrible to him!"

"Of course you'd say that," he sighed, shaking his head sadly, while you still struggled with understanding what was going on. Another heavy sigh heaved off his chest before he came to a halt at your side, inspecting you for a second. "It's my duty as his father to make sure you don't bring anything bad over him."

For the next few seconds, time didn't pass you as fast as usually. The only thing you could think about was, 'What is he going to do... Will he hurt me? Dispose of me?' and in retrospect, you might have preferred that over what was coming. With a thin plead, you reached out to him, clawing your fingers tightly into his pants, muttering your words so quietly, you couldn't guarantee he would hear it. But when you weren't looking, a smile spread over his lips, and he was almost admiring you.

"P-Please…" Your body shook as you tried to speak, unable to look up at him, the person who was threatening you. And yet, all you could think of was Shoto, the love of your life and how much pain it would bring him if anything happened to you just because you didn't follow the proper etiquette and paid your respect to his father.

"W-What if we do the evaluation now?" you stammered, feeling ashamed right to your bones.

"Hm. It's quite late for this now. Say, [Name]..." he mumbled, squatting down to see eye to eye with you. With an almost gentle finger under your chin, he lifted your head up to meet his eyes, your gazed filled with a million sparkles as the tears streamed down your face. "Is it really so important for you to be with my son?"

"More than anything," you sobbed, biting your lips to keep yourself as composed as possible. "I'd go through every necessary step to be with him properly. I am sorry if I was rude before, but I- we can go through everything you need to evaluate me if it means I can stay with Shoto."

With a thoughtful hum, he brought a thumb to your shivering lips, driving over the line they formed while he thought. "I admire that… determination. Maybe if my children had more of it, they really would have become the hero's I wanted them to be." His eyes hesitantly loosened from your lips to meet yours, the tears slowly drying out. Something in his words was calming you, even if you did not wanted to. "I already learned the basics about you. I had every person I know search for information concerning you, so I know about you, [Name]. We don't have the time to go through all of this again, but there is still the family aspect… that bothers me."

Enji seemed to need a minute to tear himself out of his own trance as he got lost in your eyes, searching for a moment of wavering emotions, just a second of hesitations as he brought you the news. It was unsettling, knowing someone had done a background check on you. But it was not as bad as this situation now. You were ashamed to even think about it, but you recounted your last visit to your gynecologist, trying to remember if there had been anything relevant to confess now.

"I-I am fertile and Shoto and I were trying to perceive already."

"Do you think you can?" he asked and you cocked your head to the side for a second, thinking about what he could mean.

"Get pregnant? Y-Yes, of course, Sir!"

His brows furrowed with a wave of disappointment, washing over you. "No, satisfy. You think you can satisfy my son enough so he will give you a child even?"

Admittedly, that had not been your first thought on how babies were perceived, but gulping, you decided to roll with it. By this point, there was barely anything you wouldn't have done if it meant getting away from your father-in-law. "I-I am sure, I can! And I swear I will do my best!"

He gave you an appreciating grunt, and you could only figure it was from showing him more determination. But a small part of you celebrated inside of your head, knowing you had just gained his approval as little as it was. Letting go of you, Endeavor stood up, leaving you to scramble to a seat while he announced, "I will need to get a better picture of that."

Confused, you shook your head as you watched him slowly pulling off his shirt, a small squeal escaping you as you turned your head away when he stood there bare-chested. You could only hear the clanking of his belt as he undid it, pulling it out from his trousers. "What are you waiting for?" he asked, and you could feel the air make way for his pants as they fell straight to the ground, making you flinch.

"Pardon?" you asked weakly, not even wanting to hear what he had to say. A sigh escaped him, and with it, more disappointment that you so desperately wanted to keep at bay. "That irritating piece of fabric," he explained, and you gripped your already torn-up nightgown tightly, slowly looking up again to him with the intention to refuse.

All you found, however, was the words stuck in your throat, watching that massive, twitching cock erected right next to you, while Enji's massive form towered over you. He did not ask for your opinion on this, and it suddenly got all the more clear to you that there was no choice to refuse what you had started.

"If you don't take it off, I will," he offered, and you could only meet his eyes in shock, watching the triumphant gleam he got from your small, submissive body beneath him.

And suddenly, you weren't sure if you even wanted to live long enough to have him rip off your nightgown, while you could not move one muscle to save yourself.

#enji #enji todoroki #yandere enji #yandere!enji #yandere enji todoroki #yandere!enji todoroki #BnHA #Boku no Hero Academia #MHA #My Hero Academia #yandere bnha #yandere!bnha #yandere boku no hero academia #yandere!boku no hero academia #yandere mha #yandere!mha #yandere my hero academia #yandere!my hero academia #bnha writing #yandere #yandere x reader #yandere imagines #yandere headcanons #yandere scenarios #yandere fanfiction #yandere writing #Yandere TW

[system-architect]

Am i allowed 2 ask t4 for all of them.....

yOU ARE....... god............... T4 is a fun one to answer questions for because its a mixture of T4 headcanons and arkk himself headcanons

♥ - What does ‘love’ mean to them? hhJGKHD he’s...... Very Inexperienced with love so i think he’s still figuring that out............. the general concept of love is an exciting but very alien thing for him... i think he mostly just associates it w/ buzzy excited feelings and affection in general but still has yet to chew on deeper meanings

♠ - What are they afraid of? A Lot............................ god..... destabilizing, having his loop reset, never gettin out of Mists Hell Cage, and despite being aware that he’s an echo i think he’s still fearful he’ll like. never see his mom again or save her... i think he still wants that on some level

♦ - What is one thing about them that they are most proud of? he’s arkk.. he’s very proud of his Immense Intelligence and Immeasurable Genius and Undeniable Prowess........... additionally! weirdly proud of the innate stubbornness he inherited even if he won’t necessarily admit that he’s stubborn. but it’s gotten him through a lot of shit

♣ - What is one thing that they find embarrassing? (About them, others, things in general) t4/arkk is a Sore Fuckin Loser god i can see him turning beet red whenever tourists thwart him in fractals... and then lashin out with snark and overkill in reaction to his own embarrassment....... i think he also gets sort of embarrassed about his own shortcomings or moments where he’s more weak-willed than he wants to be... i think he goes through cycles where he flings himself at something pretty hard and doesn’t quite succeed and gets gloomy and embarrassed about it and then comes back to go at it again at least twice as hard

★ - Do they prefer daytime or nighttime and why? i think in general arkk prefers nighttime bc edgy BUT t4 just.. misses Both at this point. nightmare frac has no discernable time, his lab in SO is In Space and has no discernable time but glaring bright sun mismatched with The Void, and his and t3s chaos isles was and is day on one side and night on the other. the lack of flowing linear time and lack of proper solar/lunar cycles for sleep purposes is driving him really stir crazy by this point i think

☾- Are they prone to nightmares or dreamless sleep? both...... for reasons above and then also bc of anxiety/trauma/etc i think he often gets pretty terrible sleep and struggles with it a good bit

☼ - Something that/Someone who makes them happy. OH BOY all of the answers to this are Sappy.......... it’d take a lot to get him to openly admit it (yes) but t3 is definitely a.. welcomed presence and has helped him out a lot mentally and whatnot........ also simon is forever his beautiful lovely son and best pal whomst he is exceedingly protective of even though the simon in these boys’ canon belongs 2 t3.................... also, begrudgingly, he sort of enjoys the DDR-X’s presence. sort of. even though it’s a GIR-esque atrocity

☁ - If they’re caught out in the rain how do they react? im nnnot sure abt original arkk but i think at this point t4 wouldn’t wanna go inside honestly... he’d just. stand out there in it. he really misses Weather (the snowblind section of chaos isles doesn’t count)... i can see him finding rain very reassuring and soothing

♪ - Are they musically inclined? absolutely fuckin not

♫ - What kind of music do they enjoy? dubstep.. nightcore.. u kno... the works..

✓ - How do they react to praise? he’s absolutely fuckin thirsty for that sweet sweet praise and acknowledgement and gratification........................ he feels he Deserves it and acts that way all pompously at least outwardly but i think a bit more on the inside he gets a bit starry-eyed and just a tad.. like... ‘anime girl pushing her pinkies together’ esque............... he’s not gonna Admit That tho

✕ - How do they handle rejection? NOT WELL........... it definitely can depend on what the individual situation is but when it comes to stuff like “no, you can’t use inquest resources for that” “arkk no don’t rip a hole in the mists” “no you cant eat the last can of pringles” “hey no you shouldn’t attach that kind of laser to that kind of battery--” he has a very hard time taking no for an answer and is probably gonna get pissed and do what he wants to anyway and very aggressively do so in your face orrr slink off and do it behind ur back depending.. arkk/t4 does what arkk/t4 wants and thats the end of that

☺ - Do they prefer sour or sweet treats? i think he’s pretty blissfully neutral and will eat absolutely any junk food/candy you shove at him...... i can see him preferring slightly more sour stuff sometimes but that doesn’t mean he won’t stuff his face with chocolate either

❄ -  Favorite season and why? he just wants Any Season back........... tho im gonna say spring and autumn because that’s when u can get weather where u can wear a tank top outside without being too uncomfy in a binder and also Con Season u kno?????????????

☮ - Do they have an idol or someone they look up to? his mom is the obvious answer here!! but also.. he is indeed, unfortunately, a bit of a Scarlet Fanboy.. despite her wrecking shit and all that he can’t help but find her inventions super fascinating

❤ - Do they have a love interest? HMM

✖ - Who is someone they just cannot stand? gOD him and t3 sort of go at it constantly don’t they... but at the end of the day they’re Totally BFFs so i guess that doesn’t count huh...................................... i think rather than specific people he’s still always gonna be salty at Fractal Explorers Tourists.... regardless of them being hired by dessa or w/e... t4 in particular now too.. now that he’s aware that he’s actually a mists being/echo, on top of bein the son of the woman who literally created the fractals, he views the fractals and by extension the mists as sort of his Birthright almost... he really despises the tourists storming in and resetting other echoes’ loops and not allowing them to Live Out Their Lives and just.. causing endless pain over and over especially considering that fractal portal was originally established by the consortium who he undoubtedly loathes, presuming he’s aware of that............

♔ - Do they value loyalty? i think this is kinda hard to answer bc like.. who doesn’t??? i think arkk in general is a sort of lone wolf type who actually doesn’t generally like other people meddling in his work much and doesn’t quite enjoy having to rely on other people/have ppl be loyal 2 him, judging by his remarks at the brazen gladiator and about his.. probably inquest??? krewe in his journal entries and then ofc all the snark at the party during nightmare frac (though he had a lot of personal salt material involving batteries that motivated that).. i think he’s less of a “if ur loyal to me we’ll be Buddies and get things done together >:)” type and more of a “well i need you unfortunately so do what i say and do it well and we won’t have a problem and i guess i’ll owe you one, but stay out of my way after that” type..... he doesn’t enjoy involving other people in his plans and would rather do things himself especially to ensure it doesn’t get Mucked Up by someone else’s foolishness...... so i guess to that extent no he actually doesn’t ppparticularly value loyalty and won’t treat you special for adhering to his plans; for him adhering to his plans and then getting tf out is just the baseline performance you should be giving him

HOWEVER t4 is a bit of a special case because he does have t3 and despite all their bickering he values t3s cooperation a lot and is really optimistic about their partnership. i mean cmon.. TWO arkks! twice the brilliance! the ability to always be on the same page and not have to deal with the tragic shortsightedness and insurmountable ineptitude of not-arkk underlings! loyalty isn’t still quite a factor but he appreciates that they’re both on the same page on everything

♕ - Do they trust easily? hhghhrrhg no probably not...... he’s probably a bit bitter towards other people in general and closes himself off easily and doesn’t want them involved in his business

#long post #text heavy #ask meme #ask memes #t4 #t4 arkk #t3 and t4 arkk #I CANT REMEMBER WHAT HIS TAG WAS #here u go sasha thank u for the questions mwah this was fun #i love this disaster man

[aion-rsa]

Every Nintendo Console Ranked From Worst to Best

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There are some who believe that the best Nintendo console ever is the first one you owned. It’s an idea that speaks to the mark Nintendo has left on the industry and how you feel the first time you experience the latest entries in one of their classic franchises. Your first Nintendo console truly is something special.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about which Nintendo console is actually the best. No, there’s no way to convince everyone that one Nintendo console is actually better than the rest, but we’re looking back at Nintendo’s history of both home and handheld console releases (minus some peripherals like the Game & Watch) to give a little love to your first Nintendo console (whatever it may have been) and also talk about the Virtual Boy.

While this ranking was heavily based on the quality of each console’s games (which is arguably a device’s most important factor in terms of its legacy), any potential ties were broken by hardware quality, longevity, and intangible features that elevated one console over another.

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13. Nintendo Virtual Boy

Well, let’s get this out the way, shall we?

You have to give Nintendo credit for trying to make virtual reality happen in the ‘90s, but even if you accept that this console’s VR capabilities were always going to be limited (even for the time, much less compared to modern VR headsets), everything else about this device was a disaster. Its few “okay” games barely utilized its VR technology, and those games ambitious enough to explore that possibility were quite literally painful to play. It was also expensive enough to ensure that few people actually owned one, which was really for the best. 

More importantly, the Virtual Boy is the one Nintendo console that doesn’t seem to generate any nostalgia beyond being a relic of a specific time. Much like the Ark of the Covenant, though, this relic could burn a hole through your eyes if you looked at it for too long.

12. Nintendo Wii U

If it wasn’t for the Virtual Boy, it would be incredibly easy to name the Wii U the worst Nintendo console of all-time. 

Right down to its name, the Wii U always felt like Nintendo’s half-hearted attempt to answer the question “What comes after the historically successful Nintendo Wii?” The idea of making a home console slightly more portable was a good one (just look at the Switch), but the actual Wii U tablet was a terribly designed peripheral that was often tough to enjoy even when you found a non-Nintendo developer that bothered to properly use it in the first place.

Yes, the Wii U had some truly incredible exclusives, but the fact that Nintendo couldn’t wait to port most of them to the Switch really tells you all you need to know about this console’s fundamental design failures.

11. Game Boy Color

Despite its place on this list, I’d actually say this is the point when we’ll start talking about Nintendo devices that were at least worth owning. Actually, you probably either owned a Game Boy Color or you probably wished you could convince your parents to buy one.

So why is it so low? Much like the Wii U, the biggest problem here is that Nintendo and its development partners failed to really properly utilize the device’s core feature often enough. The list of true Game Boy Color exclusives is relatively small, meaning that many of us ended up using the Game Boy color to slightly enhance Game Boy games. 

While that’s not necessarily a bad thing given the quality of the Game Boy library, the Game Boy Color still feels like a missed opportunity that ultimately bridged two more notable handheld releases.

10. Game Boy Advance

It’s hard to fault anyone who thinks about really bad lighting whenever they try to remember their time with the Game Boy Advance. Nintendo eventually corrected that issue with the Game Boy Advance SP, but you have to wonder what could have been had the GBA hardware been ready for primetime (or, more accurately, bright daylight) when it was released.

Of course, a big part of the reason why people wanted to be able to see the GBA screen a bit better was that the GBA had so many great games. The GBA could have justified its existence if it was just a portable SNES (which it sometimes was), but here was a device that strangely inspired some of the industry’s best developers to really push the limits of handheld game design and start to explore what was possible.

Honestly, you could probably swap the Game Boy Advance and the next entry on this list depending on what mood you’re in, but the Game Boy Advance’s surprisingly short lifespan ends up being the fact that earns it a slightly lower spot. 

9. Nintendo 3DS

Ranking the Nintendo 3DS is difficult if for no other reason that than the fact it took a while for Nintendo to get the hardware right. Even then, the Nintendo 2DS is still one of the oddest pieces of strangely bitter “budget” device design this side of Apple. There’s also the matter of the handheld’s 3D technology which proved to be such a mixed bag that it’s honestly hard to blame anyone who never bothered to use it. 

However, the 3DS’ game library is simply one of the best in Nintendo handheld history. The 3DS boasts some of the best Pokemon, Zelda, Metroid, and Animal Crossing games ever, as well as a surprisingly strong lineup of third-party titles. 

It’s always been a little annoying that it’s so easy to recommend 3DS games but it’s been historically difficult to recommend the 3DS hardware itself. Still, Nintendo did eventually right this ship somewhat, which is more than you can say about some of their other devices.

8. Nintendo Wii

There are times when it feels like the Nintendo Wii was a fever dream. Remember when we were playing motion controlled bowling with our grandmas as we both marveled at the realization that we were indeed in the future? What a wonderfully weird few years that was.

That’s the thing about the Nintendo Wii. No, it’s motion controls weren’t always the best in retrospect, and yes, many of its games were sometimes too dependent on those controls, but the fact of the matter is that it’s hard to replace the memories that the Nintendo Wii gave us. 

You don’t need to put your rose tinted glasses on too tightly to look back fondly on the Nintendo Wii, but the console does start to fall apart just a bit the more critically you look at it. 

7. Nintendo GameCube 

You know, we can actually save a little time talking about the GameCube’s failures as we previously took an extensive look at the console’s shortcomings in an article focused on how the GameCube made Nintendo a little cynical. Check it out if you want to be reminded of the many ways this was not a perfect console. 

Then there’s the other side of the GameCube argument, which largely focuses on the fact that the GameCube’s library features one of the best collections of exclusive titles in gaming history. I mean, this is the console that gave us both Resident Evil 4 and Animal Crossing. This is the console that brilliantly reimagined the Metroid franchise and proved that Super Smash Bros. was so much more than a gimmick. 

The GameCube’s shortcomings have always been easy to focus on simply because it’s hard not to imagine what this console could have been if just a couple of the more obvious flaws had been addressed. 

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6. Nintendo 64

If you put the PlayStation’s best 100 games next to the N64’s best 100 games, the PlayStation would probably look like the better console. If you stack the PlayStation’s top 10 games against the N64’s top 10 games, though, then the conversation becomes much more complicated.

That’s the thing about the N64. While it reminds us of a generation when Nintendo started to lose some of their third-party support, that’s hard to focus on for too long when you realize that the N64’s best games were essential parts of their era. Can you imagine a world without Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time or going through the ‘90s without experiencing a proper GoldenEye 007 all-nighter?

Actually, in retrospect, the thing that puts the N64 over-the-top from a historical perspective is its status as arguably the best local multiplayer console ever. The industry changed shortly thereafter, and it’s always been a shame that more modern developers don’t recognize what makes the local multiplayer experience so much more than the predecessor to online play. If it weren’t for the console’s controller and a few missing/weird features, this one could rank even higher.

5. Nintendo Switch

It’s tempting to just leave the Nintendo Switch off this list for the simple fact that the console’s story is far from done. Yet, it’s a testament to the Switch’s run so far that it could pretty much fall flat on its face from here on out and still arguably rank relatively high on this list.

The thing about the Nintendo Switch’s gimmick is that it’s not really a gimmick. Instead, Nintendo simply recognized that the time had finally come to merge handheld and console gaming in a way that we used to only dream about. While the Switch’s portability is obviously one of its best features, what makes the console work is the fact that you could leave it plugged into your TV until the end of time and never feel like you’re somehow missing out on the way you “should be” using the device.

It’s honestly hard to imagine how Nintendo ever releases another console that doesn’t at least somewhat emulate the Switch’s design. Oh, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that the Switch’s library has been largely stellar so far.

4. Nintendo Game Boy

It’s easy enough to forget just how bad most handheld gaming consoles released before the Game Boy were and, for that matter, how bad many of the handheld gaming consoles that followed the Game Boy ended up being. We’ve often been willing to settle for less to play games on the go, but the Game Boy truly spoiled us.

Years later, it’s clear that the “secret” to the Game Boy’s success was the way Nintendo set a clear precedent that portable games would no longer just be lesser console games. The Game Boy occasionally dove into those waters, but many of the device’s best games felt like the kind of titles that wouldn’t have found a home on any other platform despite clearly being worthwhile (often great) experiences.

At a time when so many people still play games on mobile devices that too often boil titles down to their simplest forms, the ambitious Game Boy is more impressive than ever.

3. Nintendo DS

The Nintendo DS is another one of those Nintendo devices that can justify its high ranking on the basis of its library alone, but the thing that I don’t think gets talked about enough when we’re discussing the legacy of the DS are its touch screen features. 

At a time when the idea of touch screen gaming felt closer to a novelty, the DS treated the concept with a sense of joy that perfectly captured the thrill many of us felt when we realized that were able to control games in such a futuristic way. We said something similar about the Wii, but years later, there are DS games that make better use of touch controls than even modern smartphone titles.

The DS could have “just” been another Game Boy, and it would likely still be fondly remembered. What elevates it are the ways that it so perfectly showcases the benefits of Nintendo’s outside the box thinking.

2. Nintendo Entertainment System

You know, I’m pretty sure that everyone I knew who owned an NES eventually saw the console “fail” at some point. From broken loading trays to dusty cartridges, the NES may have been one of Nintendo’s least reliable consoles from a hardware perspective.

Like the old sports car that breaks down so often that you learn to love fixing it, though, the memories the NES gave a generation of gamers were certainly worth the trouble. Yes, the NES’ library is impressive, but what’s really impressive is how so many NES games are still playable to this day. Some of them are still seen as the gold standard in their particular genres.

You can debate which console was the best in any given generation, but it’s hard to imagine being a young gamer of a certain era and not having an NES in the house. 

1. Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Incredibly, there was a time when parents everywhere were convinced that the Super Nintendo was some kind of scam. After all, we already owned a Nintendo. Why would they ever spend a couple hundred dollars on another one?

Kids everywhere quickly figured out the answer to that question. Unlike other console follow-ups from previous generations that offered diminishing returns in order to score quick bucks, Nintendo built the SNES to prove to all the doubters that this really was the future of gaming and that the SNES was going open doors that many of us never even knew were there. 

As you’ve probably already guessed, though, the SNES spot at the top of this list was secured by the quality of the console’s games. With help from some of the greatest studios ever working at the top of their games (as well as more than a few notable contributions of their own design), Nintendo assembled a library of SNES classics that may never be topped in terms of quality, innovations, and diversity. This is truly the best Nintendo console ever.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[sirbadgerduke]

Retrospective Thought: Top Ten Games of 2017

Another year goes by, and another list of games that I thought were stellar, great and splendid to play. 2016 was a pretty alright year for games, but this year, with a myriad of stellar as fuck releases? personally blew the previous year out of the water with some stellar as hell titles, new IPs or new entries in existing franchises. As good as games this year might be, 2017 was NOT without its controversy, specifically the rise of Loot Boxes(thank you EA, Activision-Blizzard). Nonetheless, without further waiting, here’s my top ten games of 2017. 

10) Yakuza 0(PS4) -

I’m a huge fan of the Yakuza series, seeing it as the last bastion of good Sega Games made by Sega themselves, despite their continuation of fuckin up Sonic. Yakuza 0 is basically a prequel, set before the events of the original game and putting you in the shoes of a young Kazuma and a young Majima Goro. The action is ridiculously fun and over the top as previous entries, including a new Fighting Style that allows you to switch between styles for varying strategies against waves of foes. The story is still as crazy, funny, emotionally gripping and tense as one can get from a Crime Drama centered around the Yakuza. The characters are all larger than life, greatly developed and just a pleasure to see, whether its new guys just for this entry or returning characters at a younger period of their lives. Pick this game up if you haven’t played the Yakuza games, it’s a great starting point. Pick it up if you’re a fan of the series too.

9) Nioh (PS4/WIN) -

Tecmo Koei’s “Dark Souls” only it’s set in Feudal Japan, post Nobunaga. Originally, this title was expected to be out in 2004, but was kicked into development Hell until it’s re-announcement in 2015/16. Following the adventures of William Blake as he searches for Guardian Spirit who has been taken by the evil Edward Kelley. William meets many allies, some who may sacrifice themselves to help him help Japan’s Amrita problem. the gameplay is great and greatly fun, solid and responsive as it needs to be. It blends both the flashy badassery of Dynasty Warriors and the tense, pulse pounding grit of Dark Souls. While playing second fiddle to the gameplay and loot system, the story is delightfully cheesy and over the top, it’s hilarious in most parts and well worth getting engaged in. Buy it for your DW/DS/both DS and DW fix.

8) Resident Evil 7(PS4/WIN/XO) -

Resident Evil needed a dire rehaul, reinvention and a total reimagining from the ground up. RE6 was a dumpster filled with half ideas and lazy gameplay. Resi Evil 7 was teased, showing a rather stylistic change, possibly to jump on the hype left by Silent Hills, but nonetheless it ended up working for the better. The scares were there, more cerebral than ever whilst taking that traditional Resi Evil feel and introverting it into quite possibly the best RE game since 4. Get it if you’ve been wanting that AAA Survival horror atmosphere, definitely worth the price.

7) Pyre(WIN/PS4) -

from the developers of Bastion and Transistor, two incredibly stellar indie titles, Supergiant Games brings out Pyre this year. You are the Reader, you’re travelling with a group of exiles taking part in these “rites” to seek your freedom and return to the commonwealth. mixing parts of an adventure, an RPG and a fucking sports game of all things, these systems and mechanics are all solidly blended together in superb fashion. The story is also one to follow as well, dealing with redemption, rebellion and even death, this is a tale in which character’s mature over time, developing into whichever way you choose throughout the game. A fabulous indie game developed by a stellar indie developer, pick this up as soon as possible.

6) South Park: The Fractured But Whole (PS4/XO/WIN) -

Admittedly, I was not expecting much from this sequel, considering how great Stick of Truth was. But Whole is a fantastic follow up and quite possibly the best licensed game that I can really think of. You follow the story of the kids, Eric and co, as they decide to play Superheroes, hoping to find a lost kitty. In classic South Park style, everyone is not safe, everything WILL be mocked and made fun of, even the “Difficulty” slider is not spared from the same bout of vicious shit flinging. If you’re familiar with South Park, or at least the previous game and it’s brand of humour, then you’ll have a great time with this one, though if you don’t particularly enjoy South Park? You may want to avoid this title. Recommended for those who love offensive humour and South Park. 5) Assassin’s Creed: Origins(PS4/WIN/XO) -

Well it seems taking a year off, retooling and rebuilding the franchise has helped GREATLY with AC:O. Ubisoft are not the greatest of developers/publishers, but I commend them for actually crafting an AC experience that is on par, if not BETTER than AC2. You follow the story of Bayek, a Medjai who’s seeking out individuals of an Order after they had killed his son. While gameplay still has those “creed-isms” Such as stealth and assassinating, the combat, ranged and melee have both been redefined from the ground up for mostly better.While it has a rocky beginning, the story for the most part is damn great, with some really impactful moments here and there, the dynamic between Bayek and his wife ground themselves in a relatable way, giving the series another “good” protagonist in a sea of “bad” ones. If you’re a fan of the series, be wary of the changes to combat, but for the most part you will love it. Buy it to see how an open world is done right. 4) Pokemon Ultra Sun/Moon(3DS) - 

Sun and Moon are great pokemon titles and even good games in their own right, but their “updated” iterations make a good game fantastic. Sure, it’s really a remake, but the added stuff is enough to give a second journey through Alola. More pokes to capture, wider selection of wild pokes in the earlier game, new forms and even new pokes add a much meatier experience on the gameplay side of it whilst the story is vastly improved on with added scenes and characters, giving the UBs more importance helps to make their inclusion not so last minute. While it may be harder to recommend to a passing fan, it’s definitely worth picking up if you’re a pokefan through and through. 3) Injustice 2(PS4/WIN/XO) - 

I loved the original Injustice, even its mishaps, heck Mortal Kombat X was one of my GoTYs for 2015, and I still adore that game/series now. Injustice 2 takes a hard long look at it’s predecessor, looks at its shortcomings and decides to get rid of them, for better or for worse. IJ2 is a vast improvement by definition, more varied selection of fighters to choose from, a better written story plus a Villain that will make you go “Holy shit that’s dope” trust me on that. The game picks up from the last title; Batman is now running things after Dictator Chairman Supes is now put in a cell of kryptonite, whilst Supergirl wants to go rescue her cousin, Earth is in peril by the invading Brainiac, a Krypton Super-Computer who wants to collect all knowledge. The gameplay takes some elements from MKX and even improves upon them, especially the added loot system, giving you that chance to customise how your favourite DC Fighter(or Hellboy/MK/TMNT Fighters, yes even Hellboy and the Ninja Turtles are in this, take that MVC:I!). Varied roster, solid gameplay and a story that doesn’t have any right being as good as it is, a must buy for Fighting Game and DC Comics enthusiasts. 2) Persona 5(PS4) - 

The Persona franchise is one of those JRPG franchises that you either love or hate, I love it if you haven’t read my review on Persona 5. The fifth(Main line, that is) in the super popular gem that is Persona is a fantastic, well written piece of JRPG goodness with music that will blow your socks off, and a story that’s goofy, hilarious yet serious, dramatic and engrossing all packed together neatly. The gameplay while standard Turn Based affair is so solid and fun and with a surprising amount of choice, since you can potentially recruit enemy personas to your team. Each character grows and develops throughout the story, with tragedy and hope mixed in to give you a sorta mix of Persona 3 dark and Persona 4 lightheartedness, and that’s a good thing. Quite possibly my favourite JRPG of this by a huge, wide and long road between the other stuff. Recommend whether you’re new or a veteran to this series, god damn play this game now! Honourable Mentions: In no particular order, here’s a few honourable titles that I loved but haven’t included in my main top ten. Tekken 7, Yakuza Kiwami, Battlechasers: Nightwar, Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, Evil Within 2, Middle Earth: Shadow of War, Gravity Rush 2, Horizon Zero Dawn. 1) NieR: Automata - 

This game...this game is why I love games, stories and music, all in one. A fantastic experience from start to finish, a rollercoaster of emotions whilst using gameplay in conjunction with narration and to break the fourth wall on multiple occasions. You play as 2B and 9S, androids that are fighting the Machine menace to save the earth for humanity, by destroying them to pieces and dodging and moving through bullet hell like segments and even Shmup segments too. Seems standard affair right? Well the story really _really_ slowly reveals itself, giving even development to the bosses and enemies you face, no major character here is one note, at all. Platinum Games managed to get one thing they could never quite master right; an engaging, dramatic and heartfelt story/narration. Execution is far from perfect, but this game is so near perfect it deserves to be played by everyone. The music? There’s a few refrains and already established tracks from the previous game, but why fix something if it ain’t broken right? The music is heartfelt and really emotionally heavy. Yoko Taro is truly the Madman of Video Games. But his mad genius is executed for the most part, really great. Pick this game up if you desire something memorable, meaningful and fantastic. So there’s my list, obviously this is my opinion, you may think differently, or think the same way, it’s fine, everyone’s got an opinion, but this is MY list, so don’t hate because a game I like that you don’t like is here, it’s kinda pathetic. Hopefully 2018 brings even more diamonds.

#nier automata #injustice 2 #persona 5 #south park fractured but whole #nioh #nioh: complete edition #pokemon #pyre #assassin's creed #Yakuza #video games #games of the year #fighting games #action games #adventure games #rpg #JRPG #tekken #evil within 2 #horizon zero dawn

[wreckitrhino]

For the Describe Your OC meme, multiples of 5.

5. Their shortcomingsMara is a little naive despite living all of her life (all 23 years) on Amitola, an island whose culture is hyperfocused on the collection of knowledge. Amitola prevents its citizens from traveling outside of its island without the proper authorization and so her “real world” experiences are limited.

Mara also has trouble admitting when she’s wrong. She’s stubborn and will not move an inch if she thinks her actions or someone else’s actions will endanger others.

In addition, Mara has trouble being romantic. Although she has a girlfriend, the stories of knights (the topic of which she was assigned to study) doesn’t help one orchestrate a relationship after you save a girl from danger. Thus she feels very inadequate in the relationship (even if she doesn’t voice it), though she tries her best.

10: their fashion senseMara Valour isn’t afraid to look effeminate. She often has her long hair tied up in a top-bun, one loose strand of hair is braided.

She always wears her prescription glasses whose lenses are tinted purple and whose frames are made of gold. She has a beaded eyeglass chain connected so she doesn’t lose them in a fight. On the sides of the frames is the symbol of Deneir, the god of knowledge. One of the two gods she worships. She likes to wear clothing that flows and drapes well on her frame. Her favorite colors are pale pinks, blues, and purples. She regularly wears makeup, preferring red lipstick and pink blush.

Because she has taken the Oath of the Ancients, she often has flowers and plants tucked into her belts and sometimes her hair. Her armors are of a golden hue. If she’s wearing her casual clothing she has some armor on one of her arms with Helm’s symbol on the shoulder (the other god she worships, one of protection) and if she’s wearing her full blown armor Helm’s eye is on her gauntlets.

15: how they react to a brainfreezeShe wouldn’t try to make a huge fuss about it, keeping quiet but clearly showing a sign of discomfort on her face. She’s had worse such as being gored by an undead Minotaur.

20: their reaction to a mystery love letterMara’s first assumption wouldn’t be that it’s for her. Potentially from someone’s lover a long time ago never sent to their intended destination? Or a voice of longing because one’s love is unrequited?

She’d hold on to it to examine its historical value and also because she’s a romantic at heart even though she doesn’t know how to properly express it.

25: why you enjoy themShe’s a fun character to play. I’ve thought long and hard about how she’d respond to different “evils” we might encounter and create her in such a way that’d stay true to her paladin nature without making her a stereotypical paladin that tries to destroy everything that’s perceived as evil by the majority. For instance, she doesn’t care whether or not people perform necromancy or use eldritch magic. She only cares about whether or not it’d put others in danger. When our party ventured into a necromancer’s layer she was quicker to lecture on the importance of maintaining a lab because it was in a state of mess due to her negligence rather than what experiments she was performing.

In addition, her island is super interesting to expand upon. So far I’ve managed to make the other party members extremely nervous about it after it was revealed there were four tenants all citizens follow. One party member went from calling the island perfect to a fascist regime and I’m living on their mixed responses because only I and my DM know its inner workings (and a little bit of one of our party members cuz he helped me out with the tenants creation).

Finally, I’ve put a little bit of myself into her character as well as taking some inspiration from the character Darling Charming (whom I love with all of my heart).

In response to this ask: [X]

#mara valour #dnd #my ocs #ask #response #reply

[animesavior]

“Even an adventurous crew like this one deserves a calm and relaxing day now and then. How many years…no, how many decades has it been since I could just sit around and take an afternoon nap in the sun without a care in the world? While I wondered the seas alone, I would lay my head down, not knowing if it was day or night, and dream of my long lost comrades…and Laboon. However it was precious little solice for when I awoke the fleeting joy became a press of loneliness. Yet, what could I do but repeat the cycle again. In those days I could find peace neither in slumber, nor in my waking hours. But now, if I listened carefully…I can hear my new friends all around me. I know I died and I am now nothing but bones but…I’m so very happy to still be alive. […] I’ve no doubt that this time of quiet will soon be replaced by the roaring sounds of adventure, a prospect I welcome wholeheartedly. But now, it’s a moment to rest one’s bones. Laboon, it seems that the next time we meet, I’ll have quite a few stories to share, old friend. Until then, I’ll keep dreaming of you, and I hope you’ll keep waiting on me.”

-          Brook, One Piece (Ep. 384)

The Toonami Trending Rundown for March 18-19, 2017. A big milestone for the better cartoon show this week as Toonami celebrates its 20th anniversary. And it would be a night to remember with some great moments including Jack getting chased down by the Daughters of Aku, and while trying to excape he kills one of them, learning that Aku’s loyalists aren’t all just “nuts and bolts”. Meanwhile, Beerus ramps up his power, hoping to see the full potential of Goku’s SSJ God abilities, and we end off Toonami’s current run of One Piece as Brook settles down and attempts to fit in as the newest member of the Strawhats.

On Twitter, Toonami and every show would successfully trend in the US and Worldwide during their respective East Coast airings, in addition to both #Toonami20, which was a hashtag used to commemorate the 20th anniversary, as well as #SandWhaleAndMe, as Toonami showcased the first part of the 5 part miniseries by Production IG. In addition, being One Piece’s final night, fans would make sure that show would go out with a bang, as #OnePiece would trend from the duration of its East Coast airing to its West Coast airing. Samurai Jack would also produce a character trend for the very first time with Aku, as 50 years on and after destroying all the known portals back to the past and hoping he would eventually die of old age to no avail, Aku has pretty much lost all motivation to try and kill Jack.

On Tumblr, both Samurai Jack and Dragon Ball Super would reach its trending list in addition to Tokyo Ghoul, as Toonami showcased a promo for its upcoming debut next week.

Finally, in a first for Toonami programming in the social media scene, both Samurai Jack and Dragon Ball Super would make the top two positions on Nielsen Social’s top 5 most talked about shows on Twitter and Facebook, the 16th and 17th time a Toonami show has made it onto the list since we started recording this feat. This would also be the second week in a row for Samurai Jack to reach the list in addition to becoming the 2nd time a show has reached the #1 spot, meanwhile this would be the 9th time in the 11 weeks it has aired so far that Super has made it onto the list.

Among some of the other features to commemorate the 20th anniversary, Adult Swim along with Titmouse created this short film titled "Exquisite Corpse". You can check it out below.

As the Spa Island mini-arc comes to a close, it pains for me to say that unfortunately due to flagging ratings, high costs in airing the show further, and perhaps a need to shake things up programming wise, among other things, Toonami has pulled the plug on One Piece’s run on the better cartoon show.

Initially as One Piece made its grand return to the block in 2013, things were great as Toonami enjoyed great ratings and social media buzz for the show alongside its Big 3 Shonen Jump counterparts in Bleach and Naruto. But as time marched on, ratings began to lag for multiple reasons, and by 2015 One Piece fell all the way down the schedule from 1am all the way to 2:30am and eventually being the lowest rated show on the block besides the rerun (and sometimes even being out-beaten by the rerun). At that point, the signs were probably there that the show’s days as a Toonami show were numbered. Granted, despite its shortcomings ratings wise, we all thought it was at least doing well enough to stay, and it did for a while, though we know now that it was no longer the case.

Quite a few factors likely played a role in One Piece’s demise. Some blame One Piece starting on episode 207 instead of episode 1, as newer viewers didn’t get to experience the events in those earlier episodes. To use a recently aired example, when Brook recalled his days with Laboon, Toonami never got to showcase the Strawhats encounter with Laboon, so the emotional aspects could’ve been lost with some people. Meanwhile, some blame the show not being able to catch up with the pace of the most recent dub episodes, being aired once a week. And although this is subjective, others have also commented that the show’s “goofy” feel and artstyle, for lack of a better term, could make it hard for some to take the show seriously, especially in regards to the show’s emotional moments.

Of course, One Piece’s sheer length may have played a part in its eventual demise. The show is presently up to 782 episodes and counting, which is getting right up there among the lengths of soap operas, and combined with the franchise having some heavy continuity, no doubt that some have been turned away because of the commitment. I myself was even turned away initially into One Piece because of this until Toonami’s airing got me interested. And even for those that are committed, with Toonami so far behind from where Funimation is at with the dub, much less where Japan is at (we ended at 384), along with the show only airing once a week and the show itself having no end in sight, it would have been near-impossible to catch up. Hence, this is why many decided to binge watch the series at their own pace instead, and this would show in the ratings.

And on that same note, there has been a bit of a backlash lately in regards to the amount of long runners on Toonami. When JoJo came on late last year, every single show on at the time save for Gundam and the 3am rerun would last on Toonami for at least two years. That doesn’t really give much room for a turnaround to get newer shows unless an expansion is in the cards, which we are seeing with the 11pm timeslot. While long runners do help with consistency to the block’s ratings, and no doubt the reason these shows are long is because of their immense popularity and demand for more, it doesn’t help if the popularity and overall buzz of said shows wear down. Both One Piece and Naruto have had some ratings fatigue as of late for various reasons, which is partly why they ended up at the back end of the block for the last few years. Meanwhile Hunter x Hunter fans have pleaded to Jason and the crew to keep that show at least at 1:30am for fear that it could suffer the same fate. And while JoJo’s and Gundam are doing fine for now, we feel that they could be doing much better. If you want Stardust Crusaders and IBO Season 2 to come to town, giving those shows the ratings support will help.

While Jason has promised more shows are still to come, possibly with expansion, but in regards to One Piece, it might have opened the can of worms in regards to cost considerations. With the direction things were going, One Piece would likely have been pushed to 3am or later to make way for those new shows. With most fans too tired to watch past 3am unless they used a DVR, the programming department at Toonami likely unable to pay high costs for a show so late, and Funimation and Toei likely unable to lower the renewal costs, Toonami decided it just wasn’t worth it anymore.

The problem could also go all the way back to the show’s days when 4Kids was the distributor. First impressions can often play a big role if a show becomes a smash hit or not, and with 4Kids poor handling of the show, fans were understandably turned off, and those first impressions among newer viewers were squandered. When Funimation took control, it would be too little, too late, as Toonami cancellation and the days of CN Real was upon the channel, and One Piece had to go elsewhere to gain its fanbase. One Piece would eventually rebound and gain immense popularity through other means and eventually another Toonami airing, but in comparison, the likes of DBZ and Naruto each received much better first impressions from both the Toonami and general audiences and both franchises currently benefit from massive nostalgic fanbases to this day in the US, something which we are seeing with the continued success of Dragon Ball Super and the hype for the upcoming Boruto series respectively.

In the end, for one reason or another, One Piece just never caught on among the Toonami and general American audiences as much as we hoped and various factors each played a role in One Piece’s hopes of staying on Toonami unsustainable. Combined with the demand for more variety from viewers and the need to keep Toonami growing overall, it was no surprise that changes had to be made. While I’m sure One Piece’s Toonami viewers and even the Toonami crew themselves did everything they could to make the show work, there just wasn’t enough support to realistically keep the ship going without Toonami running into significant problems both financing and timeslot wise at some point. And as we all know, the growth and health of Toonami as a whole is much more important than one single show.

While One Piece is a beloved show to many of us, and will likely continue to be for years to come, the reality is that Toonami just can’t continue airing a show if millions of people don’t agree and watch it week after week on the better cartoon show. While the One Piece fandom is anything but a vocal minority, with millions continuing to enjoy the manga and the show on streaming sites and disc sales around the world, in regards to Toonami viewership, even Jason DeMarco himself has mentioned that “One Piece fans have been far more vocal about the show on the internet than they are focused on watching the show on TV”.

And as Jason himself has regularly said, television is a democracy and people vote with their eyeballs. It’s the reason why Naruto Shippuden, despite having the same issues with not being able to catch up with the dub and constant complaints about filler, wasn’t put on the chopping block as well, for now at least. It’s the reason why the likes of Attack on Titan and Sword Art Online have been big hits both inside and outside Toonami’s reach despite discontent from the vocal minority of detractors (as we have seen with the success of Ordinal Scale in theaters for instance), and will both likely be back at some point to air their respective sequels. And it’s a big reason Toonami mainly focuses on action oriented anime and cartoons, as the likes of slice of life, sports anime, and live action, while big on other outlets, were pretty much flops when Toonami experimented with such shows. In this case, while there were plenty of eyeballs watching, there just weren’t enough watching per week to keep One Piece running much longer.

Consider this to be a big wakeup call to fans of every current and prospective show on the block, that if a show makes it on Toonami, it has to pull through when it comes to both Nielsen ratings and overall buzz. If the show does well, all will be good as we’ll get to enjoy the show in its entirety, and if a sequel were to come, the odds will be good if not all but assured that the show will return. If not, changes will be made and another show will get its chance instead, as we saw with One Piece leaving and Tokyo Ghoul on its way. It doesn’t matter what the critics think of a show, or what your opinion might be. The moral of this story is that if you truly want a show to stay, continue to watch and enjoy, but don’t be complacent and not watch thinking it will be there forever. As the old saying goes, you don’t know what you got until it is gone.

Personally as a fan who got into One Piece via Toonami, it is pretty disappointing to ponder what could have been for this franchise, but what it did do for Toonami social media wise is one worth celebrating. During its nearly 4 year presence, One Piece would use its opportunity the best it could and no doubt fans made sure their voices were heard. The hashtag #OnePiece would trend in some capacity a grand total of 137 weeks including 19 times during the Long Ring Long arc, 29 times during the Water 7 arc, 39 times during Enies Lobby (including a marathon during Christmas 2015 showcasing the finale of that arc), 11 times during the Lovely Land arc, 35 weeks during Thriller Bark, and was a perfect 3 for 3 during the Spa Island Arc.

The show also produced 26 different character/in-show content trends, some of which occurred multiple times, including 19 characters (Arlong, Brook, Chopper (including Chopper Man), Franky, Foxy, Kuma, Laboon, Luffy (Including Afro Luffy), Nami, Robin, Olvia, Sanji, Saul, Shanks, Sniper King, Spandam, Usopp, and Zoro), 2 attacks, (Buster Call and Third Gear), 1 response to an event (RIP Merry), and 3 story arc names (Enies Lobby, Impel Down (Which we never got to), and Water 7).

No doubt One Piece is a part of that great legacy Toonami has made that made millions of people into anime fans and for their respective success, Toonami owes a lot for One Piece, and One Piece owes a lot to Toonami. Unfortunately, things weren’t going as well as we all hoped and Toonami decided it was best to part ways. While no show can be able to fully replace One Piece, we do hope you continue to support the block going forward or at least the shows you enjoy as it continues to showcase great anime to American audiences. Sometimes change can be good and if Toonami can use this opportunity to keep bringing in new shows, the loss of this show will at least sting less. And who knows, we could be seeing the next generation of top tier anime air here soon enough that could inspire fans both new and old like One Piece did for us.

That all being said, we have seen time and again that nothing is impossible for the better cartoon show and perhaps one day One Piece could return to Toonami stronger than ever. We saw it when Toonami first brought back One Piece back in 2013, and who’s to say it can’t happen again when conditions improve? For now, if you want to continue watching One Piece, check out the DVDs/BluRays and Manga as well as checking out new episodes on FunimationNow and Crunchyroll. Funimation is presently hard at work with dubbing season 9, and while Toonami won’t be there to commemorate One Piece’s future milestones at least for now, the franchise’s popularity looks a lot stronger than before Toonami joined the fray. It will be interesting to see where the One Piece franchise goes in the years ahead as the quest to find One Piece continues.

So on behalf of the Toonami Faithful, bon voyage, Strawhats and thanks for the memories. We’ll miss you.

Starting out as a mere idea by Mike Lazzo, Sean Atkins, and Jason DeMarco, Toonami has grown over the past 20 years to be a major phenomenon and has played a major role for why Anime is as popular as it is today. I personally started watching Toonami when I was a young kid around 1998-ish when I stumbled into Cartoon Network one afternoon as Toonami was airing Sailor Moon. While back then, it was strange to be enjoying a “girl show”, I was instantly hooked, and along with DBZ, the ThunderCats, and later Gundam Wing, I became intrigued and later became a fan with what would we all know today as anime.

We may or may not have realized it at the time, but Toonami turned out to be something special as it helped jumpstart a golden age for the anime industry as many shows were created and/or brought over to American shores partly in response to Toonami’s success. Of course, we reaped the benefits of this golden age, as we were introduced to a plethora of both anime and action cartoons, many of which we have grown to love, and some we still enjoy today. The four dark years when Toonami was off the air aside, the block was, is, and likely will continue to be a “gateway drug” for millions of anime fans, and perhaps more to come.

What makes Toonami successful, at least to me, is that it is not necessarily one show. What makes up Toonami is the 9 great action anime/cartoons that it presently airs now, plus the hundreds of shows that it aired in the past, as well as the many shows that will make its way to the block in the future (whether there are new franchises or sequels to popular Toonami shows), not to mention the packaging and adventures of TOM and SARA. From its smash hits to its underrated gems, Toonami has always had something for everyone. Add in the occasional music video, movie or animated short, game review, or other special feature Toonami has every week, and you got something millions tune in or DVR weekly every Saturday.

If Toonami taught us anything these past few years, it’s that nothing really is impossible. A few years ago, it was thought to be impossible that Samurai Jack would get a 5th season. Fast-forward to today, and here we are, talking about what’s next. Hell, Toonami returning was a miracle in itself. While many have sought a return during its hiatus, the dream never became realistic until Mike Lazzo and the Adult Swim crew decided to run Toonami and some of its past shows during April Fool’s Day 2012 and possibly see if there was interest. The response was a clear yes, and so here we are today seeing Toonami continuing to do as they do best.

And of course, the future looks bright for the better cartoon show in the months and years ahead. With Samurai Jack’s return continuing to impress and FLCL’s return also on the horizon, more original productions might be on the pipelines ahead. New acquisitions will also await, whether they are smash hits or underrated gems, each hoping to see their full potential in the west, including Tokyo Ghoul which begins next week. Previously successful Toonami shows including Attack on Titan, Blue Exorcist, One Punch Man and Sword Art Online among others will be among those to watch for in regards to Toonami potentially airing their respective sequels at some point ahead. And of course, barring any other dips in popularity and cancellations, the likes of Dragon Ball, Gundam, Hunter x Hunter, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Naruto each looks to continue to impress Toonami audiences for months if not years to come. Of course, if you have anything in mind for Toonami to show, we always recommend you sending your show requests on appropriate outlets (ex. their Facebook and tumblr message boxes). You may never know if millions of other folks, the distributors, and the Toonami crew will agree and try to make it happen.

The next 20 years or so will be one to look forward to and we could see a lot more to come ahead. And if you ask me, the success of Toonami, its partners, and even its competitors will all play a key role for the future prospects of anime and action cartoons in the west in the years ahead. Could we see a second season of another beloved Toonami show? Further expansion? A comeback for movies? The next anime boom if it’s not happening already? Or could it all just come crashing down in the end? Nothing is certain, but nothing is impossible, and we could be seeing some great things ahead. Of course, it takes two to tango, and if you do wish to keep Toonami going for another 20 years, keep supporting Toonami and the anime industry overall as always.

We continue on creating that legacy this Saturday, as Tokyo Ghoul will make its long awaited debut on the better cartoon show at 1am, while Gundam Unicorn will showcase its second half at its new time at 2am, and Naruto Shippuden will continue on at 2:30am. On behalf of the Toonami Faithful, thanks for all the memories, and here’s to many more.

Legend: The shows listed are ordered based on their appearance on the schedule. Show trends are listed in bold. The number next to the listed trend represents the highest it trended on the list (not counting the promoted trend), judging only by the images placed in the rundown. For the Twitter tweet counts, the listed number of tweets are also sorely based on the highest number shown based on the images on the rundown.

United States Trends:

Toonami/#Toonami [#4]

#Toonami20 [#1]

#SamuraiJack [#1]

Aku (From Samurai Jack) [#2]

#DragonBallSuper (Also during the primetime presentation) [#1]

#SandWhaleAndMe [#1]

#DBZKai [#1]

#JoJosBizarreAdventure [#2]

#GundamUnicorn [#1]

#HunterXHunter [#1]

#Shippuden [#2]

#OnePiece (Also during the West Coast airing) [#1]

#GhostInTheSHell [#1]

Worldwide Trends:

#Toonami20 [#2]

#SamuraiJack [#3]

Aku (From Samurai Jack) [#4]

#DragonBallSuper [#7]

#SandWhaleAndMe [#8]

#DBZKai [#8]

#JoJosBizarreAdventure [#8]

#GundamUnicorn [#7]

#HunterXHunter [#8]

#Shippuden [#8]

#OnePiece [#1]

#GhostInTheSHell [#7]

Tweet Counts:

Toonami [13.9k tweets]

#Toonami [7,729 tweets]

#SamuraiJack [10.2k tweets]

#DragonBallSuper [4,800 tweets]

#DBZKai [1,767 tweets]

#JoJosBizarreAdventure [2,027 tweets]

#HunterXHunter [2,259 tweets]

#OnePiece [6,100 tweets]

Tumblr Trends:

#tokyo ghoul

#samurai jack

#dragon ball super

Notes and Other Statistics:

#Toonami: @WhoTrendedIT reported that @blumspew and @adultswim started the trend in the US.

#DBZKai: @WhoTrendedIT reported that @FUNimation started the trend in the US.

#HunterXHunter: @WhoTrendedIT reported that @VIZMedia started the trend in the US.

Special thanks to @coreymbarnes​, @jmb70056​, @TheNextHokage and others I forgot to mention for spotting some of the trends on this list.

Eat Up. Only Toonami on [adult swim] on Cartoon Network.

#Toonami #Adult Swim #Cartoon Network #Toonami Trending Rundown #One Piece #Samurai Jack #Aku #Dragon Ball Super #Dragon Ball Z #DBZ #DBZ Kai #JoJo's Bizarre Adventure #Gundam #Gundam Unicorn #Hunter x Hunter #Naruto #Naruto Shippuden #Ghost In The Shell #Toonami 20 #Toonami 20th Anniversary #Sand Whale and Me

[singloom]

2016 Anime Challenge Revisited ~ January

Okay, loves. After a teeny, tiny delay, I'm slowly starting to revisit the shows I watched last year and reassessing my thoughts on them. We will be starting with January and working my way up, starting with Sword Art Online EXTRA EDITION, Sword Art Online II and Monster Musume. I also rewatched Attack on Titan Series One, Tiger & Bunny and Tokyo Ghoul in January.

Sword Art Online EXTRA EDITION

There is really no way to mince words here, it's a recap movie of the first series passing itself off as a film with a mini quest slapped on right at the end. No, really. Kirito retells his Aincrad and Fairy Dance experiences to a secret agent man for the benefit of the audience and guess what the girls do? Go swimming in cute swim suits and reminisce about their encounters with Kirito, the irresistible Powerhouse of the virtual world. Of course they would. What else would girls in an anime do? Personal character growth is for the guys, naturally. And learning how to swim to take part in an underwater quest doesn't count. And Lisbeth, what did they do to you? The short story at the end where the gang take part in a quest that involves taking to the ocean in search of a missing egg was the only new content, but it felt more like something that should have been an episode rather than an excuse to draw out an extended feature.

I really do have mixed feelings about Sword Art Online as a whole. I'm not a hardened hater of this series because I see great potential in the initial premise (death game in an online world) and the early days nailed that completely, but shortly afterwards, something happened. It became something different that threw me out of that experience of terror and fear, which blew the immersion big time. With a combination of asspulls that didn't belong, issues with pacing and personal dislikes that somewhat affected my enjoyment of the show, Sword Art Online is one of those shows that definitely rests in the Your Mileage May Vary category. I really cannot say I love the show, but I don't hate it either. When it's good, it's good, but when it falters, it does so big time and that can be hard to tolerate, especially with regards to the way it treats its female characters.

I think Sword Art Online is an anime I will continually revisit to try and make sense of it's shortcomings, but also what it does well, and I want to reassess aspects that can be troubling and major issues for viewers. Expect plenty of posts about this in the future.

Sword Art Online II

Personally, I liked SWOII marginally better than the first series. While it still has some issues like asspulls that seem silly, there was nothing that terribly hindered my enjoyment of it. I liked the Gun Gale Online Arc where Kirito once more takes to the virtual world to investigate claims of a player that kills other players in real life by shooting them in the game. We also get Sinon, a sniper girl, who plays GGO as a sort of immersion therapy after a traumatising childhood incident causes her to fear guns. The portrayal of PTSD is very interesting in the way it manifests. We also get two more minor arcs - the Calibur Episodes and Mother Rosario Episodes - which I quite enjoyed solely for the fact we get far more exposure of Kirito's friends. You want more Asuna? More Klein moments? You get them. This is what I feel SWO should have been, more fleshed out supporting characters rather than a One Man Show, adventures and quests with elements of danger and overcoming personal hardships.

Mother Rosario was definitely the stand out in Season Two with plenty of heart, a chance for Asuna to finally shine without Kirito hogging the spotlight and one of the most heartbreaking but inspiring storylines that center around a Guild with a personal goal. If SWO continued with this promising direction, I would gladly watch it and have a good time, but only time will tell. It's just disappointing that shows like this are considered the best despite their glaring flaws that are too troubling to overlook for overtly analysing bwees like me, while obscure niche shows with lots to offer are overlooked.

There, I said it.

Monster Musume

Very much a Your-Mileage-May-Vary sort of show given how racy the fanservice gets. It really does get uncomfortable in the more graphic scenes (especially the scenes with younger looking characters,) so it really depends on how you deal with that sort of thing. I also personally find some of the double standards in the show somewhat difficult to stomach and when things get into the Dark Comedy territory. However, I did enjoy the basic premise of Monster Musume, set in a world where humans and monster co-exist and a special Interspecies Bill bans harm between the races, but also bans sexual relationships. Enter Kurusu Kimihito, who ends up playing host to a group of monster girls - Miia the Lamia, Pap the Harpy, Centorea the Centaur, Suu the Slime, Mero the Mermaid, and Rachnera the Arachnid. All who really want to be with the unfortunate(?) boy. With an Interspecies Bill that forbids consummating relations between humans and monsters, and an innate ability to woo every single girl in the show without trying, what's a guy in a harem show to do? As mentioned before, I really like the premise of the show, as well as the attempt to really flesh out the biology and explanations to the behaviour of the different monsters. It's also surprisingly sweet at times and the lead boy is actually kind of refreshing. He isn't your chaste virgin, but rather a boy who's aware of his sexual urges and attraction to things that excite him, but he tries to remind himself of the consequences and practises responsibility (although, that more comes down to the fact he'd be arrested if he did anything.) If you're looking for a harem anime centred around cute monster girls with plenty of fanservice, this might be your cup of tea.

That and the theme song is quite cute and catchy. <3

Rewatch

In January, I rewatched Attack on Titan, Tiger & Bunny and Tokyo Ghoul, all in dubs. It was a first time watching Attack on Titan and Tokyo Ghoul in the dub, which were quite enjoyable (as for T&B, it's one of many, many rewatches, love that show.)

Attack on Titan

is all about human eating titans and the underdog humans that defend humanity from their bitey ways. If you've been on the internet at all, you'll have seen it at least one. THAT WALL. THAT GIANT STEAMY MUSCLE MAN CLINGING TO IT. AND ALL HOLY HECK BREAKING LOOSE. I still enjoy this show for its darkness, the characters you root for while faced with the very real possibility that they will be nommed on and those opening theme songs. They are perfection in sound and animation. Give it a watch.

Tiger & Bunny

. That show I name drop all the time in the hopes that ONE OF YOU WILL ACTUALLY MIND IT AND WATCH IT. I fell deeply in love with this show from the get go way back when it released and I'm still head over heels with those heroes and such a loveable cast of very real and flawed people. Super heroes endorsed by REAL COMPANIES compete for points by performing heroic duties for the entertainment of the city they serve to protect. Enter Kotetsu T. Kaburagi, a middle aged, widowed, single father, hero struggling to keep up with the changing times, and Barnaby Brooks Jr, an up and coming new hero with good looks and popularity. The two are forced together and an odd couple act ensues as they take to the city of Sternbild and clash more than they do with the villains. It's all very endearing and heartwarming, a perfect blend of comedy and drama that keeps viewers engaged and emotionally attached (I know I was.) I struggle to do this show justice because it's as close to perfection as it gets for me and it hurts that it doesn't get more love. Give it a try. You won't regret it.

Tokyo Ghoul

. What is it about flesh eaters this month? Another rewatch, Tokyo Ghoul is all about human hungry Ghouls that struggle to blend into human society and one boy who is thrust into this world against his will. Ken Kaneki is this poor soul who becomes half-human, half-Ghoul after a rather...unfortunate transplant operation. His attempts to hold onto his humanity and protect his only friend, Hide, are heartbreaking as things inevitably get a whole lot worse. Lots of bloody action and plenty of heart moments available here.

#anime #2016 anime challenge

[dumbofass-homo]

Okay so. Any tips on how to leave a toxic workplace?

Imma rant cause that's what I excel at.

So I'm an intern for a software development company and the internship has been....rough on me, because im an anxious mess lol

In the beginning, my boss and my coworkers were...okay. They weren't great, they weren't awful, they were okay. Not the kind of people I would willingly hang out with or consider my friends necessarily but they were good to work with.

But that was before I knew my boss always wants a scapegoat for his own shortcomings. I'm not SUPPOSED to know that cause on top of everything else, he's a mysoginist and considers me airheaded and oblivious, so he never feels obligated to inform me of things that happen in the workplace that directly affect me, like oh I dont know, my mentor quitting?

Evveryone in there is so nosy and always in my business. They're clearly bothered by the fact that I make it impossible for them to ask about my private life and thats soooooo hard for them to process that they have to go behind my back and tell my MOTHER that "they would all love it if i socialized more at the workplace". My boss indirectly knows my mom via his uncle - his uncle is my mom's older colleague from work. That man is the kindest and most adorable person I've met in my entire lfie and he is the one who brought me in for an interview in the first place.

I have no intention of continuing my internship NOR of working for them. All of my coworkers are passive agressive and i only realize that now, when my anxiety about new experiences has calmed down a bit. Theyre also very hard to talk to. No matter what I say, or what meme i show them, or what joke i make, it always ALWAYS falls onto deaf ears. They want me to "socialize" with them, but they dont even pay attention to me nor do they make me feel welcome...at all. And keep in mind, this is a SMALL company. Its not a big corporate giant or anything. Theyre all tight with each other and honestly that bothers me because theyre super unprofessional.

There's a lot more to it too - like the fact that theyre all mysoginistic and constantly make me uncomfortable with the way they talk about women, the fact that im considered naive and unable to out two and two together because i own a vagina and a hijab, and the fact that im compeltely friendless there. I dont have a single person to talk to. I dont like ANY of them.

Now normally i'm a bitch and have balls (not in pants unfortunately) and if me quitting only involved me telling my boss "i quit" and offer no further explanation, not only would i do that, i wouldnt think twice about it. But I know how they work. I know how they work and what they say about me behind my back and if i quit the """""wrong""""" way (meaning i say something that the small peanut they call a brain processes it as an insult instead of the truth) it could backfire on my contract. And also im a bitch who needs validation and injustice hurts me and i KNOW they would talk trash and lies about me to my mom's colleague and honestly i know that shouldnt hurt me but it does because he's such a nice and kind man and i wouldn't want him to think that im an embodiement of evil (cause thats what they do to people who leave. Thats how they present them to others, in a very passive agressive tone)

Basically what i wanna accomplish is to leave but without being the usual bitchy me. I wanna leave them on good terms because despite everything i wrote, my boss allowed me to put college first and not working for him first. He was always very understanding that im super busy as a student and that i cant spend as much time working for him and for that i really am grateful.

.....

Welcome to amis ted talk, i got 3 hours of sleep last night and have no idea what the fuckity fuck i just wrote so. Enjoy

#ik nobody will answer just let me scream into the void #ami rants

[bisexualplaygrounds-blog]

How to Date a Bisexual Woman: Tips and Advice

Found out that the girl you’re dating has a bit wider views on genders and relationship than you thought? We have a couple of tips that will help you deal with this situation.

Luckily for those whose loved ones are into both sexes, or a guy looking for a bi girl, our society treats ladies with non-traditional views much friendlier than it used to. In fact, its attitude is way better than the opposite way around. For some reason, bisexual women seem somewhat mysterious or even exotic to us, while guys with the same preferences are often treated with suspicion. But despite this, there are still tons of things one should take into account when building a relationship with a bi girl to avoid awkward situations and misunderstandings. So, here’s how to date a bisexual lady.

A man dating a bisexual woman: what's it like?

If you’re expecting some dramatic differences between this type of relationship and a traditional one, we’ll have to disappoint you. But to make sure that your new, exciting experience won’t turn into a mistake you’ll regret, you probably need to be aware of these facts.

You can completely rely on your bi girlfriend when it comes to trust

Bisexual girls are as faithful as any other woman. But this also means that they have the same attitude towards men’s ideas of having an open relationship or any other kinky suggestions. So no major differences here.

No one should use bisexuality as an excuse to cheat, and if you’re too worried about your girlfriend going crazy with someone else, you should deal with your thoughts first and understand why it’s so hard for you to trust her. But if she actually uses her bisexuality in this way, then she’s just playing with you, and it’s time for you to part ways.

You’ll have to get used to her funny stories about her ex-girlfriends

This is probably one of the weirdest things you’ll face when dating a bisexual woman. The thing is that a straight girl can share with you a cringey story about her messing up with her girlfriend’s bra hooks. Stories like this will make you feel like you’re having a chat with your old pal but not your romantic partner.

And there’s one more thing you’ll have to get used to – her lecherous comments about some of your friends, TV characters, girls from her job, and so on. You’ll just have to go along with it (at least until she totally loses control over herself). You don’t need to bother her with jealousy.

Bi girls don’t like being asked about their sexuality too often

There’s one last thing you should know about dating someone who is bisexual: bothering her with questions about her sexuality all the time, asking for some hot details of her previous sexual experience with girls or doing something else to make her flaunt her sexual preferences may start pissing her off one day. You should keep your interest to yourself and just let your girlfriend enjoy your relationship.

She can still be bisexual even if she hasn't tried it yet

This may come as a surprise, but you don’t need to sleep with a person of your sex to become bisexual. And a lot of people with such views have actually never have sex with the same gender. Usually, there’s something serious that’s stopping them from doing this, like a long-term relationship or simple shyness. Or they haven’t had the opportunity to do this yet. So if your girlfriend says she’s bisexual, she most likely is. She knows herself better than you, anyways.

Don’t expect your partner to be kinky

Typically, when it comes to bisexual woman dating, most guys assume that these girls are kinky just because they are bold enough to admit that they like both sexes. But we can’t speak for all bi ladies out there. Your partner may have nothing against trying a couple of new tricks in bed.

Having a bisexual girlfriend doesn’t mean having threesomes

No matter how wide your companion’s views on sexual relationships are, she may not be emotionally ready to do this with more than one partner just to fulfill your desires. Maybe, she fantasizes about having another woman in your bed, but the thought of you caressing and penetrating another partner may be too disturbing for her. You’ll just have to accept that your girlfriend isn’t that kind of a sexual partner.

So, now that you know what to expect, would you date a bisexual woman?

Bisexual dating tips

Now that you know how it feels like to date a bi girl, here’s what you can do to make your relationship work.

Major tips

Keep her secret to yourself. Sure, it may be super exciting to find out that your girlfriend is bisexual. Your head is probably full of questions and fantasies, and you’d like to share it with one of your friends or loved ones. Conversely, such news can make you really worried and concerned, making you want talk to someone even more. But it’s arguably the worst thing you can do when dating a bisexual woman.

If she doesn’t want everyone to find out about her sexual preferences, then you can’t discuss it even with the closest people, and she won’t be happy to find out that you told someone her secret. Having Besides, you never know how your buddies will react. They may start making fun of your girlfriend’s sexuality, and this can ruin your relationship.

Trust her. There’s a huge difference between bisexual and lesbian girls. Your girlfriend didn’t just decide to stick with you until she finds someone better and more attractive. Sure, she’s into both guys and girls, but it was you, who conquered her, and you’re the one she wants to be with. Have more faith in your girlfriend and never worry about her loyalty too much.

Tell her that you’re OK with her sexuality. If you want to avoid any possible issues related to bisexual women dating, the best thing to do it is to have a long and sincere chat about your girlfriend’s sexuality. Make sure that she knows that you understand that she’s not like the majority of girls out there, and you’re absolutely OK with that. Tell her that if she wants to discuss anything else regarding the issue, you’re always ready to do it.

A few practical tips

How to tell if your girlfriend is bisexual. Women typically perceive other women as rivals, criticizing them and pointing to their shortcomings. But if your girlfriend often comments on slender legs and hot butts of other chicks, then this can be an interesting symptom. Sometimes a girl herself can go clear about her preferences, especially if you ask about them while resting after awesome sex or watching soft lesbian porn. It’s difficult for girls not to blab it out in such a situation. And if she ends up angry after you ask, you can just make a joke out of the question.

If you’re not close enough to ask her directly, you can ask something like this: Which Hollywood actress is your favorite? Have you ever thought about a relationship with a girl?

What to do if it turns out that she’s really bisexual

Well, the first and the most obvious question you should ask yourself, in this case, is “should I date a bisexual woman?” When dating a girl who’s playing in both leagues, be ready for her leading two different lives. You'll never be her ‘only’, she still may have someone else on the side. If she doesn’t, this person may appear in the nearest future. And your jealousy will only make her mad because she’s bisexual. For her, everything is perfectly normal: one part of her is dating you, and the other’s dating a girl.

Be ready for the fact that she’ll not only keep you away from her girlfriend but will also be jealous of other girls. She has the right to date other girls, but you must belong to her entirely. Moreover, your girlfriend's girlfriend may not be happy having you as her opponent. Most likely, she won’t give a thing about you, but she may also try to spoil your relationship.

How to compete with your female opponent

If you want to know how to date a bisexual woman, you need to learn how to bring her pleasure. Know why some girls prefer sex with other girls? Because women always try to deliver each other a much brighter orgasm than men do. Guys often believe that the only thing you need for awesome sex is a penis (after all, even lesbians use toys), but this is another myth that comes from adult films. Porn and sex have different goals. In sex, the main goal is orgasm for you and her, while in the movie, the goal is to bring a person watching it to orgasm. But sex isn’t about monotonous movements; it’s about emotions.

Sex with every woman is unique, so what worked with your ex-girlfriend, may not work with your current one. There’s no algorithm in how girls are turned on. It would be cool to have a set of instructions for giving them the best orgasm in their life if it existed. Look for the most sensitive places on her body: it can be fingers, toes, and even her eyebrows. Oh, and don’t lie to her: don’t say to a plump girl that she’s slim. Just admire her luxurious breasts.

Bisexual dating sites

With these bisexual dating sites and apps, you’ll find yourself a companion to your taste and desires.

Bi Cupid

This bisexual women dating site is the oldest on this list. It became a thing back in 2001, becoming one of the first dating websites to offer its services to people looking for a partner with non-standard sexual preferences. With the audience of almost one million singles, Bi Cupid is the largest dating site for bisexuals out there. You can join the site for free. There’s also a version of the site adapted for mobile devices.

Bisexual Passions

This one is the second most popular bi dating site on the web. It combines online dating with social networking and offers you a chance to find a bisexual partner for long-lasting relationships. You can create an account on Bisexual Passions for free, though free membership has certain limits. You can try out the site’s search engine, but if you want to get in contact with someone, you’ll have to upgrade your account.

City Bi

This website provides a safe and fun way to find a bisexual companion. City Bi isn’t solely focused on bisexual women dating. It welcomes people with various sexual preferences. The site has two types of membership: standard and Pro. Choosing the first variant, you can upload up to 27 pics, use a country filter to find that special someone, and “wink” at girls you like.

HER

This dating app was created by LGBTQ women to cater for all your needs. You won’t find a better service for lesbians and bisexuals online. If there are bi girls looking for relationships near you, the app will show them to you. HER is more than a bisexual dating app. It’s a big community where bisexuals and lesbians can get fresh news and find new friends. One of the best advantages of HER is that it’s completely ad-free.

OkCupid

Everyone knows what OkCupid is. Its main advantage is that it’s free to join. When creating the account, you can choose your potential partner’s orientation. In case you’re interested in something more than a one night stand – this app is just for you. It doesn’t take longer than a couple of minutes to sign in. The app works with all major operating systems, so you shouldn’t have trouble running it on your device.

[jesusvasser]

First Drive: 2019 Audi RS 5 Sportback

MUNICH, Germany — I’m punching an Audi RS 5 Sportback-shaped hole through the damp Bavarian atmosphere at 257 feet per second, devouring the last few stretches of unrestricted autobahn before a wayward Golf forces me to slam the brakes. Until that head-bobbing moment of extreme deceleration, the entirety of my attention has been focused on everything forward of the tightly gripped steering wheel—the business end of the spear. It’s not till later that I remember I happen to be hauling five decent-sized pieces of luggage during the high-speed proceedings—not bad for indicated speeds above 170 mph.

We live in a wondrous time for ludicrously powerful luxury cars, or so the oft-repeated cliché goes. But in this age of headline-grabbing six-figure stunners like the 680-hp Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid and 603-hp Mercedes-AMG S63, the Audi RS 5 Sportback reps a sort of working man’s super sedan vibe, for $75,195 to start. We’re talking blown-out hot hatch for the premium set, not sky’s-the-limit, cargo-hauling hypercar.

The formula here is simple: stretch the RS 5 coupe’s wheelbase by 2.3 inches, add a pair of doors, and extend the rake of the roofline to transform it into a hatchback sedan. The resulting package adds just enough functionality to help justify this 444 -hp brute to your skeptical significant other. Everything forward of the windshield is identical to the RS 5 (hence the autobahn sauciness), but rear headroom grows 0.9-inches and legroom expands 2.4-inches to convert the back seats from cramped quarters to perfectly livable perches. Also more usable is the trunk, which doubles the coupe’s cargo capacity and when the rear seats are folded down more than triples the space to 35 cubic feet—enough to gobble five golf bags or four full-size suitcases. The performance penalty for that added practicality is 88 pounds due to the hatchback hardware and structural reinforcements, adding a tenth of a second to the 60 mph sprint, which now requires 3.8 seconds. Unexpected benefit: the weight gain is rearward, with the hatchback’s hard bits slightly improving upon the coupe’s 57.2/42.8 weight distribution (56.5/43.5 for the Sportback).

Though cleverly laid out, the Sportback isn’t without its dynamic dimensional shortcomings, among them the nose-heavy balance and a curb weight of 4,057 lb. For reference, a BMW M3 weighs 3,630 when equipped with an automatic gearbox, and a Mercedes-AMG C63 tips the scales at 3,829 lb. Despite the heft, the Audi’s portliness proves well concealed on Bavaria’s winding mountain passes, where it devours medium and high-speed corners with expedience. As with the RS 5 coupe, the Sportback’s behavior is managed via a mode selector that switches between Comfort, Automatic, Dynamic, and Individual. Don’t let the ‘Automatic’ nomenclature fool you: with the optional Dynamic Ride Control package, the Automatic setting selects a fixed middle ground between Comfort and Dynamic. When equipped with the Dynamic Package (which is bundled with Dynamic Ride Control, red calipers, and a sport exhaust), steering ratios are variable. As with the suspension setting, Dynamic mode (thankfully) keeps the steering at a constant ratio. Switching between settings triggers a palpable change in behavior; comfort smoothens out the bumps and chills out the drivetrain and steering, while dynamic creates considerably more bounce while upping the artificially augmented exhaust note. Here, the decibels are upped by a diaphragm that vibrates the windshield, transmitting low frequency sounds through the cabin and ups the ante incrementally with each mode setting. In Dynamic the sound is rather prominent, creating a low frequency resonance that can get a bit boomy at around 2,000 rpm. In its loudest setting, the vroom-vroom novelty gets old fast—I lasted about 30 minutes before switching to Individual mode to tone down the artificial sounds.

The RS 5 launches off the line briskly and the shortened first gear gets it up to speed so quickly that the 1-2 transition is the only gearchange that allows upshifts at redline when Dynamic and manual shift modes are selected. Unless you’re in the mildest Comfort setting, the ZF 8-speed shifts aggressively enough to make its cog swaps feel prominent, creating the opposite experience of a buttery smooth luxury car experience. Another piece of evidence supporting the RS 5’s more hands-on, involving focus: while fancier Audis like the A8 and Q8 embrace full glass touchscreen instrumentation, the RS 5 maintains its more conventional switchgear of physical buttons, knobs, and toggles, which are easier and more intuitive to operate at speed than their digital counterparts. The MMI system controls the bulk of these settings via a fixed 8.3-inch center screen, and it’s fairly easy to navigate via the control wheel that accepts handwritten gestures. Also welcome are two real, fat exhaust pipes at the tail which buck Audi’s recent trend of cloaking the rear with faux outlets.

Despite its prevailing sense of Germanic functionality, the RS 5’s cabin proves an easy place to while away the hours as evidenced by our two-day road trip through southern Germany. Our tester, equipped with standard massaging seats and optional Nappa leather with honeycomb stitching, was a fatigue-free zone despite an extended driving program that included an unscheduled sojourn into the Czech Republic. Once the RS 5’s thrusty G-forces grow tiresome there’s plenty of civility to enjoy here: a relatively well insulated cabin, a full-screen Google Earth view of your surroundings via Audi’s Virtual Cockpit display, and a Bang & Olufsen stereo that pumps decent enough sounding tunes over the long haul.

Our drive included a visit to Audi Sport headquarters in Neuburg, where we were the first crew of journalists to tour the facilities and stretch the Sportback’s legs on the facility’s wet tarmac course. The company subtext was clear—this is the marque’s nerve center for its highest performance offerings, where the team’s GT3 race efforts are supported and where motorsport-minded customers can receive high performance driver training. It’s also where some of the RS 5 Sportback’s more domesticated traits emerge. While its chassis felt planted and predictable on the wet course, a handful of laps on the road course in an RS 5 coupe revealed a bit of weightiness to its direction changes. Power comes on strong when summoned, with the sport differential allowing the rear end to step out controllably with heavy throttle. The rear differential and front brakes work to help turn-in, and though stable once settled into the mid-corner, the RS 5 doesn’t feel particularly flickable or remarkably agile. While that dynamic demands a bit of patience on the track, it’s less offensive when negotiating sweepers on a mountain road: the RS 5, despite its relatively un-sticky Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 2s, finds and holds a line easily enough, and offers enough stability and initial understeer to encourage healthy entry speeds. There’s still plenty of high-speed enjoyment to be had, especially since the twin-turbo V-6’s 443 lb-ft of torque peaks between 1,900 and 5,000 rpm, offering ample thrust in concert with the quick-shifting 8-speed.

Dipping into that powerband on the autobahn makes it easy to strafe the left lane aggressively, though the steering response starts feeling a tad laggy at speeds above 120 mph; at least its optional carbon ceramic front rotors do a commendable job of quickly scrubbing off velocity. Despite this RS 5 Sportback’s four-door, hatchback layout, there’s something about its solidity and stern sense of speed that endears. It may not be our first choice for an autocross or a top speed run—those duties are best performed with purer, more focused arsenals. But this is a car that counts silver linings as compelling benefits, among them the fact that its voluminous rear cabin actually invites more exhaust note into the cockpit, and that the rear seating accommodations mean more conspirators can tag along for high-speed escapades. Win/win? Well, not exactly. Those seeking uncompromising performance might find this heavier, longer wheelbase variant not quite scalpel sharp enough for their tastes. But for high-speed shenanigans wrapped in a generous swath of usability, it’s hard to find fault in this wonderfully packaged RS model.

2019 Audi RS 5 Sportback Specifications

ON SALE Late 2018 PRICE $75,195 (base) ENGINE 2.9L twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6/444 hp @ 5,700-6,700 rpm, 443 lb-ft @ 1,900-5,000 rpm TRANSMISSION 8-speed automatic LAYOUT 4-door, 4-passenger, front-engine, AWD hatchback EPA MILEAGE 18/26 mpg (city/hwy) (est) L x W x H 188.3 x 79.9 x 54.6 in WHEELBASE 111.2 in WEIGHT 4,057 lb 0-60 MPH 3.8 sec TOP SPEED 155 mph (174 w/ Dynamic Plus package)

#IFTTT #Performance Junk WP Feed 4

[jonathanbelloblog]

First Drive: 2019 Audi RS 5 Sportback

MUNICH, Germany — I’m punching an Audi RS 5 Sportback-shaped hole through the damp Bavarian atmosphere at 257 feet per second, devouring the last few stretches of unrestricted autobahn before a wayward Golf forces me to slam the brakes. Until that head-bobbing moment of extreme deceleration, the entirety of my attention has been focused on everything forward of the tightly gripped steering wheel—the business end of the spear. It’s not till later that I remember I happen to be hauling five decent-sized pieces of luggage during the high-speed proceedings—not bad for indicated speeds above 170 mph.

We live in a wondrous time for ludicrously powerful luxury cars, or so the oft-repeated cliché goes. But in this age of headline-grabbing six-figure stunners like the 680-hp Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid and 603-hp Mercedes-AMG S63, the Audi RS 5 Sportback reps a sort of working man’s super sedan vibe, for $75,195 to start. We’re talking blown-out hot hatch for the premium set, not sky’s-the-limit, cargo-hauling hypercar.

The formula here is simple: stretch the RS 5 coupe’s wheelbase by 2.3 inches, add a pair of doors, and extend the rake of the roofline to transform it into a hatchback sedan. The resulting package adds just enough functionality to help justify this 444 -hp brute to your skeptical significant other. Everything forward of the windshield is identical to the RS 5 (hence the autobahn sauciness), but rear headroom grows 0.9-inches and legroom expands 2.4-inches to convert the back seats from cramped quarters to perfectly livable perches. Also more usable is the trunk, which doubles the coupe’s cargo capacity and when the rear seats are folded down more than triples the space to 35 cubic feet—enough to gobble five golf bags or four full-size suitcases. The performance penalty for that added practicality is 88 pounds due to the hatchback hardware and structural reinforcements, adding a tenth of a second to the 60 mph sprint, which now requires 3.8 seconds. Unexpected benefit: the weight gain is rearward, with the hatchback’s hard bits slightly improving upon the coupe’s 57.2/42.8 weight distribution (56.5/43.5 for the Sportback).

Though cleverly laid out, the Sportback isn’t without its dynamic dimensional shortcomings, among them the nose-heavy balance and a curb weight of 4,057 lb. For reference, a BMW M3 weighs 3,630 when equipped with an automatic gearbox, and a Mercedes-AMG C63 tips the scales at 3,829 lb. Despite the heft, the Audi’s portliness proves well concealed on Bavaria’s winding mountain passes, where it devours medium and high-speed corners with expedience. As with the RS 5 coupe, the Sportback’s behavior is managed via a mode selector that switches between Comfort, Automatic, Dynamic, and Individual. Don’t let the ‘Automatic’ nomenclature fool you: with the optional Dynamic Ride Control package, the Automatic setting selects a fixed middle ground between Comfort and Dynamic. When equipped with the Dynamic Package (which is bundled with Dynamic Ride Control, red calipers, and a sport exhaust), steering ratios are variable. As with the suspension setting, Dynamic mode (thankfully) keeps the steering at a constant ratio. Switching between settings triggers a palpable change in behavior; comfort smoothens out the bumps and chills out the drivetrain and steering, while dynamic creates considerably more bounce while upping the artificially augmented exhaust note. Here, the decibels are upped by a diaphragm that vibrates the windshield, transmitting low frequency sounds through the cabin and ups the ante incrementally with each mode setting. In Dynamic the sound is rather prominent, creating a low frequency resonance that can get a bit boomy at around 2,000 rpm. In its loudest setting, the vroom-vroom novelty gets old fast—I lasted about 30 minutes before switching to Individual mode to tone down the artificial sounds.

The RS 5 launches off the line briskly and the shortened first gear gets it up to speed so quickly that the 1-2 transition is the only gearchange that allows upshifts at redline when Dynamic and manual shift modes are selected. Unless you’re in the mildest Comfort setting, the ZF 8-speed shifts aggressively enough to make its cog swaps feel prominent, creating the opposite experience of a buttery smooth luxury car experience. Another piece of evidence supporting the RS 5’s more hands-on, involving focus: while fancier Audis like the A8 and Q8 embrace full glass touchscreen instrumentation, the RS 5 maintains its more conventional switchgear of physical buttons, knobs, and toggles, which are easier and more intuitive to operate at speed than their digital counterparts. The MMI system controls the bulk of these settings via a fixed 8.3-inch center screen, and it’s fairly easy to navigate via the control wheel that accepts handwritten gestures. Also welcome are two real, fat exhaust pipes at the tail which buck Audi’s recent trend of cloaking the rear with faux outlets.

Despite its prevailing sense of Germanic functionality, the RS 5’s cabin proves an easy place to while away the hours as evidenced by our two-day road trip through southern Germany. Our tester, equipped with standard massaging seats and optional Nappa leather with honeycomb stitching, was a fatigue-free zone despite an extended driving program that included an unscheduled sojourn into the Czech Republic. Once the RS 5’s thrusty G-forces grow tiresome there’s plenty of civility to enjoy here: a relatively well insulated cabin, a full-screen Google Earth view of your surroundings via Audi’s Virtual Cockpit display, and a Bang & Olufsen stereo that pumps decent enough sounding tunes over the long haul.

Our drive included a visit to Audi Sport headquarters in Neuburg, where we were the first crew of journalists to tour the facilities and stretch the Sportback’s legs on the facility’s wet tarmac course. The company subtext was clear—this is the marque’s nerve center for its highest performance offerings, where the team’s GT3 race efforts are supported and where motorsport-minded customers can receive high performance driver training. It’s also where some of the RS 5 Sportback’s more domesticated traits emerge. While its chassis felt planted and predictable on the wet course, a handful of laps on the road course in an RS 5 coupe revealed a bit of weightiness to its direction changes. Power comes on strong when summoned, with the sport differential allowing the rear end to step out controllably with heavy throttle. The rear differential and front brakes work to help turn-in, and though stable once settled into the mid-corner, the RS 5 doesn’t feel particularly flickable or remarkably agile. While that dynamic demands a bit of patience on the track, it’s less offensive when negotiating sweepers on a mountain road: the RS 5, despite its relatively un-sticky Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 2s, finds and holds a line easily enough, and offers enough stability and initial understeer to encourage healthy entry speeds. There’s still plenty of high-speed enjoyment to be had, especially since the twin-turbo V-6’s 443 lb-ft of torque peaks between 1,900 and 5,000 rpm, offering ample thrust in concert with the quick-shifting 8-speed.

Dipping into that powerband on the autobahn makes it easy to strafe the left lane aggressively, though the steering response starts feeling a tad laggy at speeds above 120 mph; at least its optional carbon ceramic front rotors do a commendable job of quickly scrubbing off velocity. Despite this RS 5 Sportback’s four-door, hatchback layout, there’s something about its solidity and stern sense of speed that endears. It may not be our first choice for an autocross or a top speed run—those duties are best performed with purer, more focused arsenals. But this is a car that counts silver linings as compelling benefits, among them the fact that its voluminous rear cabin actually invites more exhaust note into the cockpit, and that the rear seating accommodations mean more conspirators can tag along for high-speed escapades. Win/win? Well, not exactly. Those seeking uncompromising performance might find this heavier, longer wheelbase variant not quite scalpel sharp enough for their tastes. But for high-speed shenanigans wrapped in a generous swath of usability, it’s hard to find fault in this wonderfully packaged RS model.

2019 Audi RS 5 Sportback Specifications

ON SALE Late 2018 PRICE $75,195 (base) ENGINE 2.9L twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6/444 hp @ 5,700-6,700 rpm, 443 lb-ft @ 1,900-5,000 rpm TRANSMISSION 8-speed automatic LAYOUT 4-door, 4-passenger, front-engine, AWD hatchback EPA MILEAGE 18/26 mpg (city/hwy) (est) L x W x H 188.3 x 79.9 x 54.6 in WHEELBASE 111.2 in WEIGHT 4,057 lb 0-60 MPH 3.8 sec TOP SPEED 155 mph (174 w/ Dynamic Plus package)

#IFTTT #Performance Junk Blogger Feed 4

[kevstreehouseisfull-blog]

Late to the Game: Ni no kuni Wrath of the White witch.

So a while back a buddy of mine was looking to shift ownership of his ni no kuni 2 revenant kingdom collector's edition. The thing came with a music box, art book and steel case for the game he gave me a fair price for the whole thing and I hadn’t seen him in a bit so I thought, “great two birds one stone.” I took a day off work hopped into my car and drove to his place which was 2 and a half hours from me. He let me check over the stuff told me to be careful handling the music box as it is fragile and then to sweeten the deal he tossed in a copy of Ni No kuni wrath of the white witch for free. It was a supremely nice gesture, (despite the fact he claimed he was really just trying to make space.) We enjoyed the rest of the day geeking out and shooting the shit before he had to go to dinner with his family and I started on the car journey home. I’m not going to lie I was excited to get home and start bingeing the crap out of both games. I got home let both games install whatever arbitrary updates they might need and settled in for a grand sprawling fantasy JRPG adventure.

Full transparency I feel I should note this is the second time I had played Ni No Kuni the first. Back when I was 18 or so I had bought the digital copy on sale and got fairly stuck into it. I got to the fairy island fought the boss there and headed to the next area and then I stopped playing. I had for some reason or another just neglected to play the game so much by the time I went back I had no idea what I was doing, where I was or who everyone was (aka the Game neglect effect). This isn’t a sleight against the game so much as it is my fault. I can’t remember how or why but for some reason I had gone ages without playing it, not cause I wasn’t enjoying it, but because life got in the way as it so often does. So when I got a second chance to play through this juggernaut of a JRPG I jumped right in. I mean seriously Ni No Kuni is probably one of the most highly revered JRPGs of the last decade, regularly making it into top ten lists of the best JRPGs of all time. I’ve even seen it top some of those lists from time to time. So my question is why do people ignore and elect not to mention some of this games massive shortcoming?

Okay so, disclaimer. I do not hate Ni No kuni and the wrath of the white witch. I actually enjoyed my time spent with the game however there are very real problems with this game that soured my overall experience and that prevent me from loving it. First let’s talk about the pacing and padding. The first and second acts of the game have tremendous flow both from a gameplay point of view as well as from a narrative one. You start the game get introduced to the characters, villain and struggle early on. The first town teaches you about combat the manner of which you solve quests by mending people’s hearts with pieces they’re missing from other folks with an abundance of that piece of heart. We get a dungeon, a boss, a few spells to enable progression, meet a new monster and recruit 2 new party members before we leave the first continent. Overall really great stuff. At each chapter of the story we’re given a clear goal e.g find the sage, learn from them, and cure the major npc afflicted by broken heart syndrome (It’s kinda like losing your soul in Yu-GI-OH.) Grinding is minimal or at least was for me especially if you’re doing the side quests which net niffty rewards not only by just completing them but by visiting the quest centers in the game and exchanging the brownie points for completing quest for handy quality of life changes to the game. For example every time you finish a side quest you receive merit stamps which go on a merit card, for each merit card you fill with stamps you get a single merit point which can be redeemed at quest hubs for stuff like faster walk speeds, more exp from enemies etc. It’s a stupid smart way of encouraging players to do side quests in order to make the game smoother and a little bit more manageable. However it what we might come to call the third act of the game this breaks down hard. The third act of the game in my mind occurs after Oliver and company obtain Oliver’s third wand the mornstar, Ni No Kuni’s equivalent of the master sword from Zelda. However the wand is incomplete. So we set out to find some pirates who have a map to where the stones to fix the stick are. You fight a dragon are forced to fix another dragon who you are then given ownership of fly to the island with the stones only to find they aren’t there. So we return to the pirates have a think about it try a bunch of spells on the map and find three more locations we need to go to and we’re off. So we go find the stones with 2 being in dungeons and one being on a ship.

Here’s where problems began. The first temple I visited was a shire to some evil snake dude who had turned a prince into an immortal frog man. We see his whole tragic backstory fight the snake demon and free the prince from his curse and reunite him with his lover. Overall it’s kind of a fun area in the game with a cool motif and a mechanic that turns your party into frogs that isn’t used as well as it could be but it’s still a bit of fun. The other two locations are nothing like this at all. The second stone is on a haunted ship which sounds as derivative as it is. If like me you stopped using the boat at this point because the game gave you a dragon to fly around on you’ll have encountered the same problem I did. You need to be on a boat in order to interact with the ship. The issue is if you fast traveled the boat returns to castaway cove which is a good bit away from the pirate ghost ship. So you have to go the long way round. If like me your boat is with the pirates that give out free dragons guess what that area is even further away. The ghost ship also moves at the same speed your ship does meaning you have to wait till it completes its forward movement cycle and turns to face you to catch it. even with the boat movement upgrade this is turn and the boat already feels like it’s swimming through syrup so It’s boring to be on the high sea. So we finally catch up to the boat and we get into a boss battle like a fully blown one. Except it’s not the real one. No after defeating the attacher the captain of the ghost ship a skeleton pirate fights you. it’s a little unfair seeing as how you have no way to replenish your health and mp before the fight unlike every other fight up until now, but fine yeah whatever. You beat the boss get the stone and are tortured with a cutscene of the disembodied voice of the captain bidding farewell to the crew of his ship. It’s suppose to make you feel for him and the crew but he mentions all the horrible stuff he did with them so it undoes any sympathy it was trying to gain as well as reminds you of the fact that; this dude was a prick before you fought him, his was a prick while you fought him and he’s a prick after you kill him.

okay so the third stone is in a temple in the snow lands which is good cause by now we haven’t seen any new environments or unique enemy types in awhile due to all this other stuff taking place in areas we’ve already been to. We fly to where the map points only to be guided to a village south of the dungeon to talk to a village elder or some such. Like seriously there’s nothing even you have to do other then that. Oh wait except talk to 2 completely pointless NPCs spend a night at the inn and then talk to the elder who gives your crew winter clothes. Like that’s the only reason. You then go through an ice cavern where it’s supper easy to use a lot on mp solving puzzles but the town does provide you with faire weapons which are super handy here. You find the boss beat them and hooray we can fight Shadar. Except on no we can’t cause the stones are too big for our wand. Apparently just making one item bigger or the other three smaller we have to return to one of the major cities in the game. Only to be told by the sage there he can’t do jack shit. So we’re given a new town to go to where we fight another boss fix all their problems and get ourselves a fully working wand. Now we’re ready to go. Except we’re not. We have to get a flute to lift the fog on the evil Wizards marsh. So we get some magic wood or some such from the second town which we can thankfully warp to, then go back to the first town only to have it stolen by a mouse. Turns out we have to fix the mouse’s shit before we can proceed so we find a dude fight a boss fix the mouse talk to a giant cat and then go to the third town for the 2nd time is like 2 hours. We get some drama about how the guy here can’t make the flute cause he doesn’t know how but the dude in our party is his brother and he knows how so it’s fine. We return to the entrance of the marsh and you’d think we’d be ready to go but you are wrong.

You see at this point my crew and I were level 40 or higher. Nothing had given us hassle or at least wasn’t one shoting us. That was until the dark wizards marsh. Turns out you need to be level 60 or higher to get any real damage done here. No problem I’ll just grind. Here’s the thing though the overworld monsters are notoriously stingy with exp even the higher level ones in the marsh give nothing. So unless I want to spend another 10 hours on a game that was already annoying me with all the backtracking I was doing then no thanks. A quick google search later revealed there was a rare monster which roamed the area outside the village beyond the marsh. These bitches gave out 2 sometimes even 3 levels for everyone one killed even at my late game level. The problem? The run away from you as soon as you get close and fade away before you can catch them. The solution? A spell which makes you invisible to monsters. Sorted? Nope. As I said this is a rare monster with a tiny spawn rate. Meaning I had to cast the spell run around to see if I could find one and if I couldn’t I had to reset the map by teleporting back to the village. This paired with some choice game grumps episodes and a few of my favourite podcasts was how I spent my next seven evenings. My free time became more like work. I knew I was in the last stretch of the game I just had to power through. Was I hit level 60 I’d bust the magical equivalent of a cap in that evil wizard’s ass.

I returned to the Marsh with a new found confidence the grinding I’d sone not only made me stronger but gave me chance to try some new monsters so I was riding high. I tore through the swamp reaching a boss. Whom I tore to pieces. Then a cutscene. More story. and we’re back to the village before the marsh! The boss I’d so savagely eviscerated had for story reasons returned me here to fight me again all so i could obtain a new spell I’d probably use like 5 more times throughout my playthrough. I returned to the marsh luckily there was a portal that sent me back to where I’d first encountered the bastard that sent me back a town. Before me stodd the Evil wizard’s palace. I scaled it along with my party felling demons and evil minions along the way however I was not prepared for more backtracking in the palace itself. I grit my teeth, I was close. I finally came face to face with the greatest evil in the studio ghibli generated world that had become my own hell. The battle that ensued was hard fought but was won nonetheless. And then Shadar pulled a Frieza and transformed. I was prepared for a second state, it was the third form that got on my nut. Not once but twice does this discount Voldemort pull the “This isn’t even my final form” shit on me. I kill him without thoughts of impending death due to my previous grinding. I’m treated to a serious of cutscenes of why Shadar wasn’t wizard Hitler for reasons that are weaker than the punches of an armless infant. I pretty much was skipping cutscenes now I just wanted to be done. After it’s over the castle crumbles the gang escapes and marches off with a severe lack of credits!

The game had not ended! No in actual fact the true villain had appeared. By which I mean plot I didn’t care about or want at this point happened forcing me to play another 4 hours of game. I now had to revisit each of the major cities in the game, AGAIN! This time with all the towns folks turned into zombies and with a boss where the monarch of the city should be. There’s was also more story revelations about the ghost girl who only I can see is but at this point Oliver’s main goal and drive is gone so I checked out and skipped all those cutscenes. we also get a new party member! Who is 20 levels below everyone! So yeah more headache then fun at this point. we go to a new palace fight some robots then another evil wizard, before coming face to face with the witch. Oh yeah the witch also has three form! If you're wiped out by any of them you have to start from the first one all over again. You don’t even level up between the fights so you have to carry on with all your low health and mp for all three fights, the last of which is between you a boss and all his minions. It’s annoying and aggravating and leads to my least favourite thing in the game, the combat issues.

So in Ni No Kuni you either control the human characters who are small and weak or the familiars who are small and strong? It’s kind of like the tales games but instead of being full 3d action RPG it goes for like a weird pseudo turn based action combat system. You move around the battlefield freely but all your actions outside moving have cool downs. Basic attacks refill almost instantly special attacks take a little longer to cool as does defense options. what’s bull shit is that magic despite have a plethora of spells shares one cool down bar. Meaning you could cast cure but you have to wait another ten seconds before casting literally any other spell. This is a major disadvantage to you due to be outnumbered in this fight by a mob of enemies the main focus of which is constantly casting debuffs and damage spells your way while the minions that it creates way to quickly physically block you from attacking the source. Not only that but there’s a handful of spells and attacks in the game  that have small cutscenes that literally interrupt the whole fight. So if you were say using an item to rez a fallen teammate guess what you wasted that turn and item cause that dick just cast sleep on everyone. This happened so often to me in the last boss fight I was actually screaming at my monitor. It took me 3 attempts to feel this beast going full out and I barely managed to bring it down. Hell I skipped the cutscene that followed just in case they tried to psych me out with another, another, another form but alas it had ended. Then the credits rolled. Then at no point was I given the option to save my progress before being prompted back to the menu screen. The White Witch lived.

My problem here is that the only proof I have that I finished Ni no kuni and the wrath of the white witch is my own word and maybe a psn trophy. This is one thing I hate in games. It ultimately raises the issue of why even finish the last boss, just watch the ending on YouTube, especially when beating the boss makes you feel this empty and hollow inside. That was how my journey with Ni No Kuni ended bitter and with nothing to show for it. I’d be hard pressed to recommend Ni No Kuni and even more conflicted to say it’s one of the best JRPGs of all time. It’s a fun coming of age story and if you love the work of studio Ghibli definitely check it out, just keep in mind there are definite flaws to this gem. Maybe just play this one and easy mode with a guide handy.

#ni no kuni spoilers #ni no kuni #jrpg games #video games #gaming #fantasy #studio ghibli #discussion #problems #complaining #gamerlife #reflection #nerd

[cashcounts]

Suroin Drop review | Leak-free and making a splash

Suorin Drop review intro

The Suorin Drop is a stylish refillable pod vape designed to look like the shape of a teardrop. It comes with a 2 mL empty pod with a resistance of 1.3 ohms, and a tight draw that works exceptionally well for MTL vaping.

Fitted with a low-capacity 300 mAh internal battery, the Drop measures a mere 73 mm x 49 mm x 12 mm – which fits easily into the 5th pocket of my jeans. But although the Suorin Drop is small in stature, it has a notable heft and at ~65 grams with a full pod.

Retail Price: $34.99 Empty Pods: $$3.99 Colors: Black, Yellow, Tiffany Blue, Brushed Gunmetal, Red

Suroin Drop gallery

Suorin Drop specs and features

Kit Content

1 x Suorin Drop battery

1 x 2 mL cartridge

1 x USB cable

1 x User Manual

Specifications

Size: 73 x 49 x 12 mm

e-Juice Capacity: 2 mL

Battery Capacity: 300 mAh

Resistance: 1.3 – 1.4 Ohm

Charging time: 45 min

Charging Port: Micro USB

Water-drop design with portable size

Air switch for easy vaping and operation

Notable Remarks

A drop of this, a drop of that

Being a bit of a sucker for vape novelties, I bought a Suroin Drop out of sheer curiosity. And, well, because I think it looks awesome! I just had to have it. Plus, of the five or so vape shops I got to, I was told these kits have been selling fast. That’s how I ended up with a Tiffany Blue Drop. Not my choice. Just what was left.

I’ve used it for almost two weeks now and have a few things to say about my experience with it. Spoiler alert: I like it a lot more than the Suorin Air! But all is not perfect. Hopefully this short review can help you make an informed decision about whether you want to buy the Suorin Drop.

Design of the Suorin Drop

That body! The flattened teardrop form of the Drop is akin to the Vype Pebble but with a much more solid feel and refined design. It’s finished with an easy-to-grip rubber coating which has a soft & smooth feeling. The Drop feels secure in the hand, especially because it has a button that gives your fingers something to grab onto. But the button has no real “button” function – it’s not even an LED. But I do like having it there. Still kinda odd though.

Onto the pods. They’re leak resistant, spitback-free, and devoid of hot-pops. They are filled best filled with needle-tip droppers. The plugs to access the chamber for filling are attached (like on the Air), so you won’t have to fear losing them. One interesting aspect to the pods is that they have two chambers that are separate from each other (that have to be filled separately). I can’t tell if this was intentional or just necessary for the design of the pods (making way for the air path), but it’s odd.

The two separate chambers are attached to one wick – but frequently only one side of the pod’s two chambers seems to be getting depleted. I have left it like that overnight and the pods do equalize, but I can’t say how long it took. Normally when I see one side empty, I just refill it. No need to risk a burnt hit. But that also means I have to refill after only using half the pod’s capacity.

A few more issues with the pods: The Drop’s dark tinted pods can be hard to see through unless holding it up to a bright light (despite how it looks in pictures). You can hardly see the battery-level indicator light unless you’re in a dark room looking in a mirror (the pod lights up from the bottom as you draw on it). And though the pods should feel secure in the battery, the pods do not click into place. At all! It’s mush. I can take a pod out of the battery with just my mouth. Not cool.

Performance

For my preferred style of vaping, the Drop has a top-notch hit. It’s a satisfyingly warm MTL draw. It’s not super tight (like on the Phix), but it’s tight.

The flavor is good too. It’s accurate, and the vapor is quite dense for the size (akin to a bulkier Aspire Breeze). In general, I love the vape from this thing. It hits kinda hard, so you might want to step down your nic a bit. Either way, it’s a great hit for salt eliquid.

But, I have had issues with the performance. Inconsistent hits, misfires, and it takes a little too long – over a second – for the device’s automatic draw to be activated from a cold state. The inconsistent hits could be all in my imagination, but the misfires are not! Every once and awhile, I go to take a draw – which is already a bit slow to be activated – and a few seconds in I realize I am sucking on air. Ugh!

Likes

No leaking

Can vape two juices at once

Refillable

2 mL capacity

Short break-in for the coils

Pass-thru

Top-notch MTL draw

Dislikes

Misfires

Typical battery life with only 300 mAh

Barely visible battery indicator light

Split second delay is annoying

Pods mush into the battery (no click)

Pods not very secure in the battery

The pods two chambers don’t deplete at the same rate

Did I say misfires? (Might need to be said twice)

Verdict

The Suroin Drop is more than an aesthetically pleasing design. It’s reasonably priced and a big plus is the refillable pods are only $3.99. My one pod has lasted over two weeks with no drop off in flavor or vapor. It’s a helluva vape.

But I think the issues need to get worked out… like in a version two. The unsecure pods, slow-to-ramp coils, the odd wicking of just one side of the pod, and especially the misfires are my biggest gripes. I am still able to enjoy the device though, like, a lot! I just wish I would’ve known about those issues before buying. I likely would’ve waited for a sale.

I recommend this device if you are a pod chaser and also a big fan of a tight MTL draw. The Drop gives good flavor and killer hits. If that’s not enough for you to look past its shortcomings, you just saved a minimum of $30.

What do you think about the Drop? Sound off in the comments section below.

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