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prototypelq · 9 months

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DMC Questions Anon here!

Create a crossover! What is Devil May Cry crossing over with? How does it work? How do the characters from each world interact with the characters from the other?

Hi Ember, thank you for a very creative ask!

This is simultaneously the easiest and the hardest ask out of all of them for me pfff. I am not really a crossover person, I’m much more an AU person. AUs heavily inspired by other medias or the like can be carefully picked to enhance the specific aspects of existing things in canon to tailor it to your liking. Full on crossovers to me looks more like… mashing dolls together to imitate kissing basically. Weird, forced and doesn’t really work? I’ll try thou

In terms of classic crossover definition the only one I can come up with, and the one that I found art for Right on the day you sent the ask (there are no accidents) – is with Darksiders. You know. Another series of games based on Angelic and Demonic imagery, which thematically hold family in high regard. Though, DMC doesn’t have Riders of the Apocalypse OR, more importantly, their horses. (I love darksiders for lots and lots of reasons but also like half of them can also be summarized by saying magic horse knights, it’s hard to put into words exactly how majestic powerful and appealing a war horse concept is to me, even more so because I’ve had some experience with them, a war horse is an actual Tank I am not kidding)

This will mostly work for laughs, because siblings bickering and demon trouble will be familiar to all the characters. I’d love to see them all spar actually, cause if anything can rival overpowered twins of DMC, it would be the Riders of the Apocalypse. Plus they could work as actually really cool bosses (imagine a combination of crazy hitboxes of Maplphas chicken rush attacks, with a finesse and speed of Angelo, and that would probably be the skeleton the Riders will diverge from, and the situation works in reverse, but the Lucifer fight from Darksiders 2 (actually my fav fight in the series gameplay wise) is pretty much already Dante&Vergil movesets combined – incredibly fast teleporting chains of attacks, and an array of ranged options to boot, great fight)

Actually, If I were to play against those I would probably be scared for my damn life if I saw War&Ruin rushing full speed to my location on screen, no matter how badass the character I play as would be. Have you seen Ruin? That horse is built like a goddamn truck, is just as powerful AND IS FAST. The only way to disrupt this attack would be to like perfect-parry War’s slash and powerful enough to dismount him, or at least dismiss Ruin (who can actually fight on his own too).

Sorry for focusing so much on War&Ruin, it’s just these two are an actual battering ram combined and that’s so cool. I love all the Riders and horses of Darksiders. You could probably see where my headcanons for ‘demonic pets au’ or the like come from. That said this is the only specifically a crossover I can think of.

Now, If I, per chance, were to take some Creative Liberties TM with the ask… and perhaphs add some AU thoughts here… Ooh boy

First of all, the family drama focus of DMC means that, story-wise you can insert them EVERYWHERE.

Pacific Rim copilots au where Vergil went missing during a last-stand kaiju fight and Dante had to operate the jaeger alone, Vergil to be found and rehabilitated by the locals but forgotten and lost to the whole operation, and Dante who managed to pilot the jaeger back to base alone, mourning his brother for the last 20 years, only to find out a nephew in a new pilot candidate? Done.

RDR cowboys on the run from the gang that had personal history with their family, constantly traveling and trying their luck where they can?Maybe with Nero growing up to join the bounty hunters that are looking for the twins? Done. (Rebellion and Yamato as horses...)

Dishonored AU because I really really want to see the setting of these games more but the story in them is always lacking? Twins trying to out-asassin each other? Or they could be on different sides of the conflict, or Anything it would be very cool!!!

Hitman games twins insert! The second twin is the bot you play against, and need to eliminate the target faster or prevent each other from achieving their goal. Vergil is the Silent Assassin, perfect eye sniper, Dante is the Master Infiltrator that can and will get past any security right under their noses.

Okay so wild fantasizing almost over, what crossovers/heavy au I can imagine that would benefit DMC?

Bloodborne or ResE, though Blodborne would be my preferred option, and my knowledge on ResE begins and ends with those twins insert skins.

I Love Love Love Love Love the family drama in DMC, but I wish the setting has also got some much, much needed attention, it is severely lacking is every possible area that does not concern the twins. Bloodborne AU fixes that. Suddenly twins are not overpowered to an extreme degree so nothing ever could present a danger to them, and this only adds pressure to the family drama we have going on (which is why ResE would also work). We get info on how other humans deal with the supernatural bullshit around them, background story for the demons and more information on them in general.

Bloodborne vibe is arguably what DMC5 was, at least partialy inspired by – the blood splashes that remain stuck to the characters, the blood fountain Urizen uses for teleporting around, the illusions the fruit created… Only body horror remains unused, but those Empusas certainly do try. Item descriptions are my least favorite narrative tool out of them all, however I would take even that for DMC, because right now we have bare minimum worldbuilding, which is held up by the fic writers and theories authors (Legends) more than the actual canon.

Gameplay-wise? I think just adding some unique mechanics from other slasher games would work nicely. Vergil could very much do with the slashing mechanics of MGRR, it would probably be the only thing that could make him even cooler than he already is really.

I would love to get some sort of Hi-Fi Rush or Audiosurf musical mechanic implemented, or add them as additional rhythm challenges. Dante Must Style kind of already does that – the mode forces the player to play not just good, but stylish and be effective about it. I can imagine a challenge mode where you get bonus points for executing certain moves in rhytm with the music. Or, a discount version of this – add Audiosurf algorithm so you could feed the game any song you like and the mod will layer it to work with the style meter. To be honest, I am not sure how coding-wise hard this task would be, but that never stopped modding communities before and I am honestly surprised there aren’t already mods like that.

Another thing DMC5 could benefit from gameplay-wise is additions to V gameplay. I have mentioned Astral Chain before, and I will again (partially because I am a little jealous of people who did play it), somehow Nintendo got their hands on a Platinum game and people are really sleeping on it for some reason (only a million copies or about sold what the hell???).

Astral Chain is built upon the concept of V – summons combat, and I am sure there are mechanics in that summon-exclusive game that dmc5 would benefit from (sadly I have a harder time pinning them down, but I know there are some parkour moves the player can do witht the help of their summon and there are combo-attacks with the summon so those would be a great start).

I could also add Honkai 3d (also known as the mihoyo anime lovechild, btw look up animatics for music for the game it is SICK, not all seasons of anime can reach this level of quality) to this section, because it has a great mechanic I really missed in my time playing genshin – ultimate attacks leave characters on the battlefield and will allow you to switch to another character without breaking the ultimate. (DMC5 COULD ALSO USE AN ACTUAL COOP)

This means you can proc BIG DAMAGE animation, enjoy it from the sideline and switch to another character while not losing your momentum and seeing your faves gang up on enemy – I think it’s not hard to see V could have been much more entertaining with this mechanic. This could be expanded into full on combo attacks between your summons (ex. launch enemy with shadow and cast v-lightning to proc a cool double attack move), or combo attacks with V himself. This could be animation heavy though, and might get repetitive to see, but I still think it will be a very solid addition.

This reply is all over the place, but I hope at least the Darksiders answer remained somewhat on point xD

#my inner horsegirl is showing lol #i just have war&ruin poster right near my pc right beside them is dante's too!#war horses are so cool guys trust me #someday i will muster the courage to try bloodborne myself and not just listen to horror lore before bed #i really liked this ask! wrote the reply down in just one sitting but it me think up a lot of ideas I have not considered before #so thanks ember!#also thanks to all the gif-makers in this one #no thanks to gif search engine it is still almost useless some things never change #dmc questions anon #dmc #guess its fandom tagging time #devil may cry #bloodborne #darksiders #astral chain #honkai impact 3d #mgrr #dishonored

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chordata-on-alterhumanity · 3 years

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The Chordata Guide to Otherlinking

Hello! This is a guide written from my own experiences, and a tiny bit of consulting with other ‘linkers. If you can think of ways to improve this, let me know, and I’ll update the original post. This is Version 1.1.

What is otherlinking? What is a linktype?

Otherlinking is the active choice of identifying as something. This sounds very vague, so let’s have an example: Imagining yourself as a lion makes you more confident, so you like doing that frequently. Identifying as a lion becomes a part of your identity.

For many of us, otherlinking includes consciously taking on traits of out linktype (imitating/“fake it ‘til you make it” OR strengthening already existing traits by focusing on them through a linktype). This is a form of mindfulness training. For example: I would like to be as calm and collected as insert-fictional-character. In stressful situations, I think “How would they react?” and try to act that way by imagining myself as them. If this revolves around already existing traits, a linktype can help amplify those traits.

Let's get some vocabulary out of the way first, for everyone who comes across this and isn’t familiar with otherlinking.

● Linktype / Otherlink / 'link- A voluntary identity a person takes on. I.e. I identify as a woodpecker because I want to. This identity can be of a real existing or extinct animal or plant, a mythological being, a fictional being or person, an object, a concept, et cetera.

● Otherlinker - A person with a linktype.

● Otherlinking - The act of having a linktype.

● Copinglink / C'link - A subcategory of linktype. A copinglink is a linktype created for coping with trauma, stress, et cetera.

● Copinglinker - A person with a copinglink.

● Copinglinking - The act of having a copinglink.

Requirements

You might ask yourself: "I want a linktype. What're the requirements to get one?" Well, you already got all the requirements down. To take on a linktype, you need to want one. Whether you feel compelled to take one on, or you feel it could help you in some way, or you decide you want to try this just for the heck of it, it's all valid. You want, you can.

How?

This is the trickier part, and it varies from person to person. I will give a basic rundown. Adjust this for your personal needs where you see fit.

1. Find your being/thing/concept.

2. Examine your reasons for why you want to call this yourself.

3.a. Your reasons for wanting the linktype might already be enough to make the identity feel right.

3.b. If you don't feel yourself clicking with the potential 'link, and struggle with identifying as it, analyze it to find the traits that don't resonate with you. You can change parts of the 'link, or view it through a different lens to make it feel closer to home. I.e. For fictional characters, it can help to disengage from fandom interpretation, or canon characterization, and instead put your own spin on them.

4. Once you've established a connection, you can reinforce it if you want to. A linktype can feel very faint at the start, so here are some examples for what you can do to make it feel more 'You':

● Wear clothing you can associate with the 'link.

● Inform yourself about new hobbies that you can associate with your linktype. I.e. If your linktype is an archer and you've never tried archery before, see if you can find an archery range open to newbies nearby.

● If you are a visual artist, create drawings of your linktype in a way that relates to your irl person. I.e. Draw the linktype in your clothes, or in irl places you've been in person.

● If you're a writer, write something including your linktype in a way that relates to you. I.e. Include them in a story inspired by real life events that have happened to you.

● Make the linktype your social media profile picture.

● Let people know they can use the linktype's name as a nickname for you.

● Change your social media alias/username to be related to the linktype’s name.

● Talk to people who will treat you as your linktype (and not just view it as roleplaying).

Don't be ashamed of expressing yourself in fear of other people’s opinions. Unless you're dependent on them (for money, safety, or other physical and mental health needs), it doesn't matter what they think.

Caution

If at any point in your journey you notice that a linktype makes you feel worse about yourself than you do without the linktype (i.e. feeding into anger, self-hatred), stop it. These dangers can already crop up during the ‘link creation process. Here are ways to go about this, and possible causes:

● Stop engaging with it. This sounds very 'It'll go away if I ignore it long enough', but that's exactly it. A linktype should fade when you don't engage with it anymore. Don't approach this by thinking "I'm not allowed to think about this anymore", but instead, every time when your linktype comes up, acknowledge it, and replace that thought with something else. If you struggle with this, examine what 'triggers' you to think of your linktype. Mindfulness is a powerful thing that often goes underestimated.

● Replace it with a different linktype that doesn't bring these problems.

● If your linktype started off without these issues, try to find out what caused it to change to become negative. Maybe there are other factors in your life that're putting stress on you and it shows through your linktype.

● Maybe you’ve outgrown your linktype. People can change over time, and your linktype could be preventing you from taking the next steps for personal growth, and this can negatively influence your well-being. Try letting go of the linktype. It might turn out the be a freeing experience.

● Talk to a therapist (, or, if you can’t access therapy, an understanding friend). Yes, tell them specifically about the linktype and the problems you have with it. A second person can shine a light on aspects you didn’t notice.

Good to know

A linktype can become an integral part to yourself, and at some point you might find it hard to separate it from yourself. Is this still a linktype? Is it a kintype (otherkin)? That is for you to know and decide. The lines can be blurry, and at the end of the day you are the only person who can decide what labels you want to use and what community has the most in common with you (if you even want to label yourself and interact with ppl w similar experiences). Unless it is harming you (or others), a linktype turned integral is nothing bad. Our environments shape us as people constantly, and a linktype over time can contribute similarly.

🐟

That’s it! If you have questions or need help, feel free to contact me through Asks or DMs. If I’m unavailable, search around a bit to find other otherlinkers who might be able to help you. ♡

#otherlink #copinglink #linktype #voluntary identity #otherlinking #copinglinking #otherlinker #copinglinker #c'link #quoiluntary #alterhuman #fictionlinker #fictionlink #otherlink guide #own post

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ckneal · 3 years

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Sometimes I need to remind myself that not everyone watched Supernatural with an ongoing gen fic happening in their head, all about the family life of the angels before Chuck’s disappearance and the rise of humanity. And as such, not everyone was constantly compiling stray details thrown out about the angel characters, clustering them together into this rubber band ball of ideas that was just so fun to play with.

I mean, for instance, not everyone took in the way the other angel characters seemed to look down their noses at the cupid characters (who, it’s worth noting, are never once referred to by their individual names, but instead by the human pet name for their category of cherub [which in Lucifer’s case, was certainly framed as an unflattering term], despite Castiel once boasting that he knew everyone in Heaven), and reason to themselves that it was surely because the other angels were jealous. Because obviously, the cupids are given classified information from God himself about what bloodlines he wants to see continued and merged for the sake of his Plan, putting these silly, non-combatant angels on par with the archangels in terms of secret knowledge about what was to come. For the first couple billions of years of existence, while the other classes of angels were sitting around with nothing to do, they all had to watch the cupids happily zipping around the earth, cooing over blue-green algae and gradually coaxing different species into existence with their magic love arrows. And every time a significant milestone was reached, they also had to watch as the insipid little harbingers of love scooped the newborn creature up and raced over to the nearest archangel to excitedly show them their progress, like a little kid with their first art project. And the archangel in question, regardless of which one, would nod encouragingly and smile as the cupid in question babbled about the tiny, tiny lungs this fish had, or the beginnings of feet at the ends of its fins. Even Lucifer, who would also add the additional suggestion to try and give the next one more teeth.

Additionally, not everyone looked at the way that Lucifer was able to just insert himself into Sam’s head from inside the cage, and considered how Azazel needed to visit a specific geographic location to communicate with Lucifer, and even then was only just barely able to do so, and thus came to the conclusion that clearly Michael and Lucifer must have come to an agreement to pool their powers to project Luci’s image into Sam’s head. Which explains why Sam’s special link disappears right after leaving the cage, and also why Michael didn’t interfere when Lucifer was freed, even though season 15 makes it clear that Luci did not sneak quietly out the backdoor. Michael was fully aware who was responsible for the jailbreak, thus leading us to consider that perhaps Lucifer was supposed to turn around and free Michael and Adam in turn, but did not. Thus leading us to imagine Michael spending roughly a year (Earth time) tapping his foot in the cage, until . . .

“He’s not coming back for us, is he?”

And Adam, cracking open a molecule-flavored soda (manifested courtesy of Michael), snickers. “Nope. Told you not to trust him.”

“Right. . .” Michael exhales, looks around for a moment, settles on side-eyeing Adam. Then, with an air of ‘fuck it’ says, “Want to make out?”

And Adam promptly chokes on his soda.

And not everyone heard Metatron specifically say that he personally tattooed the names of every prophet of the Lord ever on the inner eyelids of every angel, and immediately had the thought, “Poor Michael” spring to mind. Because of course Michael was the first one on the proverbial chopping block, trying his best not to flinch as his little brother gradually figured out how to handle the needle. (To this day, Michael is still not sure if the prophet after Chuck Shurley is named Kevin Tran or Rovim Frun). And all the while, Michael was probably also trying his best not to worry about how things were going on Earth while he was busy getting his eyes stabbed.

After all, Lucifer was God’s second eldest son, barely younger than Michael in the grand scheme of things. He could handle watching over their younger siblings for a little while. And Raphael and Gabriel were there to help. Everything would be fine.

However, Michael isn’t aware that about five minutes after being left in charge, Lucifer yelled, “HEY EVERYONE, CHECK THIS OUT!” And then promptly threw his grace into the body of a nearby pterodactyl. Possession being a new ability that Chuck had recently invented, the surrounding angels were mystified as Lucifer piloted the prehistoric reptile through a series of dizzying loop-de-loops that saw the poor creature—not suited to containing angel grace—explode midway through, leaving Lucifer gleefully giggling in the sky.

About half of the angels looking on gaped in horror.

Gabriel whispered to Raphael, “We’re still beta testing that, right?”

The other half of the gathered angels, however, like the impressionable young followers that they are, start grinning, because Lucifer is grinning, and he’s their cool older brother, and as Lucifer—relishing the attention—makes a beeline toward the earth’s one continent, Pangea, and an unsuspecting herd of ornithopods, these younger angels eagerly follow.

Soon, Earth is full of the anguished cries of cupids, watching their hard work blown to bits again and again. Swept up in the crowd, are Castiel and Balthazar. They watch Uriel and Zachariah excitedly throw their armored dinosaur bodies against one another in the moments before both vessels combust, after which Uriel and Zachariah excitedly dart off to take on new ones.

“Are we sure this is. . .okay?”

“Well, Lucifer is in charge. We’re supposed to follow his lead. . .aren’t we?”

Meanwhile, Raphael is frantically trying to stem the carnage. Several dinosaurs are levitating in mid-air, as Raphael tries to simultaneously keep them from exploding while also ordering the angels possessing them to vacate the vessels immediately. But none of them have ever taken a vessel before, and do not know how to get out of them without tearing them apart. Raphael keeps expanding their powers to more and more creatures as their young siblings continue to follow Lucifer’s example.

“GABRIEL, DO SOMETHING!”

“RIGHT!” Gabriel looks around, locates Lucifer running amuck in an apatosaurus that he’s forcing to walk on its hind legs, and fires off a lightning bolt to startle him out.

The lightning bolt misses its target in spectacular fashion, and several trees catch on fire.

Gabriel throws another lightning bolt.

“GABRIEL, THAT IS NOT HELPING!”

“RIGHT!”

Gabriel then grabs a giant meteor from outer space and begins trying to smother the flames by whacking it against the continent, to Raphael’s horror. More cupids begin to cry. Thick clouds of dust fly up, choking out natural light on the planet’s surface—now only illuminated by flames, as well as the magma that rises up out of the cracks that form in Pangea, as Gabe unintentionally creates the first tectonic plates from the sheer force of his assault on the planet.

Trees fall over. Fire continues to spread.

Lucifer is still in the apatosaurus, but he’s fallen onto his side, laughing hysterically.

“WATER, GABRIEL! USE WATER!”

“OH! RIGHT!”

Gabriel throws the meteor into a nearby sea, creating a tsunami.

It is at this point that Raphael abandons the dinosaurs to their sad fate, forgetting their solemn oath to not reveal any secrets regarding evolution and God’s plan, to broadly yell out to any and all of their angelic siblings who are listening, “QUICKLY, SAVE THE MAMMALS!”

And it is at this point, that Michael returns. Samandriel, clutching a dozen or so rodents in his wings, is the first one to spot him. All of Michael’s eyes are red and puffy from abuse. The cupids are sobbing, the Earth is battered, flooded, and scorched. Angels are getting into fist fights with reapers as they dart back and forth, trying to ferry as many warm-blooded creatures as they can find from the site of the catastrophe to the relative safety on the other side of the mountain range Gabriel accidently made when he bashed a crater into the planet—relative, as it turns out some of those new mountains are in fact volcanoes, and it took some trial and error to figure out how far away from an active volcano could be considered “safe.”

Nearby, Castiel and Balthazar are somehow both stuck inside the same mosasaur, beached from the tsunami, and loudly panicking as they struggle to de-possess it before it explodes. There’s a snapping sound, and then suddenly all of the angels still trapped (or willfully frolicking) inside vessels are ejected, at the same time that the fire goes out and the volcanoes cease erupting.

Consequently, everyone goes very still as Michael scans the damage and his bedraggled siblings. With humans not yet existing, the art of facepalming is not yet a thing. But looking at Michael, one might just expect him to invent the practice right then and there.

When Michael gets to Lucifer, he’s greeted with, “What? Pop’s 86-ing the lizard kingdom anyway!”

Michael promptly drags Lucifer off to Heaven.

The next day, it was made an official rule, written into the very fabric of angelkind: vessels could only be taken after obtaining explicit consent.

Additionally, everyone agreed to never, ever mention the existence of the dinosaurs or how they ended ever again. And, rather than fixing the damage to the Earth’s surface, the tectonic plate situation was just sort of left to do as it would.

Many, many years later, Adam was shocked by Michael’s reaction when the cage door suddenly swung open in Hell. Adam had immediately surged to his feet in excitement, ready to leave and never come back.

Michael, however, remained stationary on the floor, squinting at the doorway, wondering what dystopian nightmare must be waiting on Earth after leaving his siblings unsupervised for a solid decade.

“Michael? You okay?”

“Adam, before we go back to Earth, I think I need to tell you a story. . .”

#himbos all of them #except raphael #raphael's doing their best but there's only one of them #the divine shurley family #is this really what i'm putting out on the midam wedding day?#yep guess so #i just didn't get any good wedding thoughts today #all i could think about was how michael was once a very exhausted older brother #today was not a romantic day for me #but it was chaotic #and i have expressed myself #and raphael deserves a raise #midam #supernatural michael #my thoughts #What did the rest of you guys even do to get through the boring seasons if you weren't imaging stuff like this?

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amindofstone · 3 years

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Match up, No. 9

@starlightbydaybright hat gefragt:

Hello! Saw you were taking match-ups and I was wondering if I could request one. Only done one before for another fandom, and I was wondering who I’d align with for One Piece ^^

I'm an INFP and generally an introvert, finding it difficult to express myself when I'm around people I'm unfamiliar with or just not close to. I can be both quiet and shy; quiet when I have no interest in making good impression on that person (a stranger I'll see once and never again) and shy when I'm genuinely trying to make myself acceptable to them. But, I do trust easily, so it's not hard to get close enough with me that I'll open up about almost everything, so long as they understand have my boundaries (that'll shift depending on how close). I'm also very affectionate with people I'm close with, particularly through physical touch, since I've been pretty touch starved. If you're close friends with me, you can find me constantly looking for a hug, but I can respect boundaries since not everyone enjoys contact.

The situation would be a bit different romance wise, since I’d revert a bit back to my introverted side, but also very affection-seeking at the same time. I say affection seeking as in I’d crave time and activities spent together with them, but I’d be afraid to ask/initiate, at least during the early beginnings of the relationship. I’d be constantly seeking affirmation of their love, and since I’ve never been in a relationship before (but desperately wanted one), they’d be constantly receiving my love too ❤️

While being an introvert in reality, I find it much easier to speak with confidence online. as I actually have time to contemplate what I can say. It's when I'm either with close friends or on the internet, that I can go on passionate endless rants or show my passive aggressive side. I'm usually pacifist, but if something irks me enough, I can and will pitch in snide/sarcastic remark or two, or if it's more serious; I will write out whole sophisticated and well worded paragraph that'd sound all polite with a hidden snarky tone.

I'm pretty much a hopeless romantic, so there's lot of couple things I want to try when I find someone. Back hugs, bridal carry, tickle fights, you name it. While I do enjoy these displays of affection (comes with the happy kind of embarrassment aka. I feel embarrassed that others sees it but I’m happy because I know they’re not doing it out of maliciousness and because they truly love me), small gestures are appreciated too; a gentle squeeze of the hand, a passing smile, etc.

As for hobbies, I enjoy reading, writing, (occasionally) drawing, but most of all; probably singing. I enjoy a wide variety of songs, depending on what mood I'm in, but I particularly like songs about love. Looking for someone to sing the duet love songs with me, doesn't matter how good or bad they are at singing. They can be tone deaf for all I care, it's the thought that matters 😊

I'm very emotionally sensitive, and can both laugh and cry easily. A random stranger online wished me good day? I'll be in good mood for awhile. Watched a 'mildly' sad movie? (Extra emphasis on mildly) I better have new box of tissue on the side just in case. It'd be nice to have someone that can either comfort me or at least tolerate my emotions, so I wouldn't be irking them 😞

I don't really have a type when looking for significant other but being an INFP does make the romance thing complicated. It'd be nice to have someone that's far along on the extroverted side (just not happy go lucky and can be serious) since, despite being introverted, I like to experience new things. I'm just too afraid to try alone and prefer it if someone else recommends it first. Someone to prompt me and nudge me to do something, but won’t take it too far if I really looked uncomfortable. (I’m also a procrastinator so they gotta find out the right ratio between pushing vs. taking it too far 😅) In relationship, I'd value trust and loyalty the most, since both are important in keeping the healthy relationship. If both sides could equally trust and be trusted, then there wouldn't be place for insecurity or fear. This ties in with another part of me being an INFP; I want a relationship that lasts forever. While it's weird to decide how long lasting the love will be early in the relationship, I don't think I can fully commit myself to someone, knowing that it'll end (through the other side falling out of love with me, finding interest in someone else, etc.) (natural causes like death are fine, even though I will still be sad 🥲)

As for appearance, I’m a 5”4 female with slightly wavy black hair that reach nearly to my waist. I don’t think I’m particularly short, but then again, every anime character seems to be straight up giants XD (Man, I was born with the wrong genes) I’m overall very plain, with black hair, brown eyes, but I’ve always been told I had pretty long eyelashes and big bright eyes. Average weight for my height, and flat chested :’)

As for the preference for gender, I’m mainly attracted to guys. I had some (very few) crushes on a small selection of female anime characters, but that were very rare, like 3, compared to my (insert large number) male crushes

Thank you in advance and sorry for how long this is 😔

P.s. I feel like I need to emphasize I’m still an introvert, since the personality I described is only limited to my very small friend group

a/n:

Hey there? How are you doing? Thank you so much for requesting. First off I should be apologizing for making you wait so long. I hope you´re not mad at me but lately there is a lot happening in my life. In my private life but also in my college life. But let´s put that aside and get to your request.

I have to thank you for the detailed info about you because that helped me to choose a match up for you so much. Like I instantly could think of someone. Not only did it help me to match you up with someone but also to come up with a plot. So I came up with this little imagine/hedcanon… I really don´t know what to call my work for the imaginies so I go with work. XD Anyways I really don´t know what to do at this point. Your request and your personality gave me such a good idea for a plot that I tried my best to keep it short because I decided to turn this request and my ideas and thoughts that are flying around in my mind to an actual FANFICTION! AHHHHHHHH. I can´t stop thinking about it. The idea sounds so damn good in my head that it makes me smile like an idiot right now! Uff I can´t wait to find time writing it down. AHAHH, but I fear that I already gave aways so much with this!!!! *pouts Doesn´t matter I´ll do it anyways. AHHHHHHHHHHH Thank you so damn much for requesting!

Anyways! Back to my work now. If there is anything that bothers you or you simply hate please make sure to tell me so I can change it and give you whatever you´d like. Other than that happy reading my dear!

Match up rules can be found HERE.

Warning(s): Maybe grammatical or spelling mistakes since English is my third language and I´m still improving in every aspect (Please have mercy on that.)

!!! Please do not steal my idea or work. Credit me if this is shared or published in any other platform or any other way. Please respect me as the writer and my work. Picture is not mine. Credits to: I sadly don't know. Please tell me of you know so I can give credits. Thank you in advance. !!!

· I decided to pair you up with KILLER

· Like am I the only person that thinks that he is not getting the screen time and appreciation he deserves? Because that is the damn case! ODA GIVE THIS MAN THE LOVE AND APPRECIATION HE DESERVES. And while we´re at it I wouldn´t mind if I would get a bit more of Eustass Kid too… Thank you in advance. <3

· But that’s not the point. Please dear requesting beautiful human being give this man and me, your hopelessly dreamy author a chance. Thank you, I really appreciate. <3

· aNyWaYssssS.

· “y/n? Are you still awake?”, asked the blond man softly. “No worries I won´t make you carry me to bed again.”, you said with a giggle. You couldn´t see his face but you knew that he was smiling. “I don´t mind that you know? I like having you close to me without having to fear to see you hid under the blanket for who knows how long.”, you rolled you eyes and hit his arms. “That only happened because that idiot captain of yours annoyed the hell out of me. That was embarrassing Killer.”, you slowly put one leg over the railing and then the next one. Making sure you don´t fall down the ship. “What happened? Didn´t you drag me out our cabin to watch the stars?”, asked the muscular man who held you close to him while making sure you didn´t fell. “I did but now I´d like to look at something different. Something even more beautiful. Something that gives me warmth and happiness. Something that keeps me alive and always makes sure I am doing fine.”, talking to the blond pirate while sitting at the railing was one of the rare moments you were close to an eye level with him. “You mean my mask?”, asked the man with a tiled head that got you to roll your eyes and hit his chest. “Great you destroyed the sweet moment. I hate you. Make a step back so I can get down. I want to go back to bed and drown in regret of dating you.”, you tried to push him away but he was obviously stronger and threw you over his shoulder. “Of course you hate me. That was also the exact same thing you were moaning a while ago. Let´s go back to bed nerd.”

· As sweet and loving your relationship was now with the pirate it also started like that. Wanna know how? Alright let me get comfortable in my bed and get started. Story TIIMMMEEEE!!!

· An island well known for their universities and scientist. An island full of top ranked doctors.

· Physics, chemistry, biology, astrology was well thaught in the schools of the island. An island well known around the world. An island ruled by a powerful devil fruit user.

· An island in which every civilian had a talent in another field. And you? You sadly had an impressive talent for languages.

· Why sadly you wonder? Well the amount of times you had to run for your dear life because some pirates could come and kidnap you and make you read the poneglyphs is immense.

· Once even the infamous Red haired Shanks came and asked you with the hope to have someone who could read them. But sadly you couldn´t. You told him that you were done with pirates coming for you or your best friends. You regretted learning all of that and hated yourself for that. Shanks and Beckman to whom your were talking to really felt bad for you and claimed the island as their territory after they had a chat with ruler and made a deal.

· That was that saved you and your friends for years and made you happy. You were thankful to the red hair pirates and always treated them with meals and drinks when they came visiting the island. You were happy for 5 years. 5 years until these stupid reckless pirates came.

· And now? Now you hated yourself all over again

· You knew that not every pirate was like the red hair pirates. Nice and respectful. They didn´t kill innocent people and destroyed civilizations only to get some gold and diamonds. But these? These were horrible. Cold and cruel.

· “Someone make this btch talk otherwise I´ll do it by cutting her into pieces only stropping when IT actually starts to answer my god damn questions!”, screamed a tall and guy with red hair.

· You were scared. Tied on a mast on their ship, you feared for your life. Screaming for help was not an option since you were already on the sea since a while now.

· The man that was yelling at you none stop was now holding a blond man with a mask at his collar and growling at him. The man might have a mask on but you somehow had the feeling that he was talking to the man with the red fur coat. “Clear the deck! NOW!!”; yelled the man before he left inside the ship. Slowly every man on deck was leaving you alone. You wanted to ask them were or why the left but you knew that they wouldn´t give you an answer. You were a prisoner. A captive. A pathetic human they took on board. With the last pirate leaving you behind, a door that was located behind the mast you were tied on closed while the need to cry grew inside of you. How long am I here by now? One hour? Two or three? Was anyone missing me back at home? Were they already looking for me? Thoughts that occupied your mind were blurring your vision. You were looking right in front of you but also not. Your eyes were wide open but your vision was back at home. Home were you belonged.

· “Hey. Hey can you hear me? Hey you alright, woman? Hello?”, a man was squatting in front of you and waving with his hands in front of your face. You were deeply lost in your thoughts that you neither heard him coming nor saw him sitting right in front of you.

· But the moment he touched you tight you screamed and got back to reality. “Please don´t touch me. Please don´t hurt me. Please I beg you. Please.”, fear was written all over your face. You saw yourself death with a huge puddle of your blood. “Alright I won´t touch you. It´s just that I´ve been sitting in front of you for 5 minutes now and the only thing you did was breath and say no. Anyways here is something to drink. You´ve been her for four hours now. Half of the time unconscious and the other one either basically mute or in a trance.”, the guy in front of you was the same one who got the mad man to leave and clear the deck. It made you wonder who he was that he had such a power but you didn´t dare to ask. “Here I hold it for you and you drink.”, the glass was put on your lips and you drank. You didn´t knew how thirsty you were until your lungs were wetted by the water. Finished drinking he put a blanket over your legs since the position your were in didn´t allow you to cover yourself properly. And the fact that you were wearing a dress wasn´t helping at all.

· “Alright. You had something to drink I got you a blanket now tell me are you able to talk to me and answer my questions?”, you nodded. “Good. Now listen to me. There is this language that is called Krisanasy. As far as I know there is a tiny amount of people who are able to speak that and you are one of these. Am I right?”, you nodded. “How well are you in it?”, you gulped and looked at the man with the mask “I know the most important basics. I remember basic grammar rules and a good amount of vocabulary but I´m not that good in it. I didn´t worked with anything that included this language since years now.”, the masked man nodded and fully sat down now. “Would you be able to get back in it if you had some books and scripts to work with?”, slowly you understood where this was supposed to lead. You knew that if you said yes they would keep you as their prisoner and make your work for them. And if they had everything they would kill you because there would be no more use for you. But if you said no now and refused to talk to him he would probably also kill you. You were in a dilemma. You didn´t wanted to die but also didn´t wanted to die after you helped them. They were criminals. Feared and hated by the government and any human around the world. You looked down on your lap and let your head fall forward so your long black hair covered your face. “Hey I asked you something. Would you be able to do that?”, his voice was deep and rough but in the same time soft and gentle. That irritated you. it make you realize that him being nice to you now was just a way to get under your skin and make you do whatever they wanted. And then they simply would kill you in the most brutal and cruel way. “Hey, woman. Are you listening?”, you felt helpless. “I don´t want to die. Please let me go. Please. I beg you. Please.”, tears were streaming down you cheeks you couldn´t hold back anymore. He came closer and lifted you face. “Listen here you are a smart woman. Stop crying for fcks sake. If I would be you I would have made these pirates work for me. Use your damn brain and stop crying. Do you really think anyone in here would kill you? Heck no! They need your help. They need your brain because all of them are basically stupid. Like damn I need you to answer all of my questions before my captain with anger issues comes and beats the sht out of me. Now answer me woman. Are you able to get back in it if we got you some scripts to work on?”, you nodded while more tears streamed down you cheeks. You felt pathetic. You felt worthless and used. Helping them would turn you into a criminal too and ruin everything you worked on. Everything the emperor did for you and the island would be wasted. “See wasn’t that hard to answer.”

· The questioning went on for a while you didn´t know for how long but you knew that a long time passed since the sun stared to set. “Alright. Now I give you two options. One, stay here. Tied up on the mast no matter what kind of weather we face. Two you swear to obey me no matter what kind of order I give you and you will be able to sleep on a bed. You will get food and tomorrow you will start working on the scripts we give you. You choose.”, with your head hung lowly you said number two and instantly got released from the chains and handcuffs. He helped you stand up and covered you in the blanket before he led you into his cabin. “Wait here. Sit there and don´t do anything stupid as long as I´m not here. If you do anything stupid I won´t be able to help you. Got it?”, he didn´t even wait until you answered or gave any reaction he simply left and closed the door after him. So you waited while sitting with a lowly hung head. Minutes passed and he came back. “Your clothes are dirty. The bathroom is empty so you can take a bath or shower. Anything you want but I´ll be in the room with you. Because of one I have to make sure no one is coming in and secondly to watch over you and make sure you don´t do anything stupid. Got it. Fine. Take this towel and these clothes. We don´t have any female crewmates so you have to be wearing with my clothes until we dock on another island and you get to buy clothes.”

· The man with the mask took care of you for the rest of the day. He took you to shower and gave you fresh clothes. You had dinner with him alone in the kitchen when no one was around and got back to sleep. And no matter what you did he made sure to keep a respectful distance towards you. Whenever he had to come closer or touch you to take care of your wounds he would warn you. The day kept going like that. Nothing else was said about the following days and the thing they wanted you for. Only necessary things were said that were needed at the moment. And you only gave short replays or only answered with a head movement.

· Slowly the day passed by and the night took over with the moon putting the world alight. You were back in his cabin with him sitting on an armchair and you lying in bed sleeping with one hand tied up on the bed.

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j-amespotter · 3 years

Text

★ epiphany – r. l.

"with you, i serve. with you, i fall down."

Pairing: Remus Lupin x Nymphadora Tonks (if you squint)

x. x.

Summary: Throughout his life, Remus fought many battles. Only once was he ever on the brink of victory.

Genre/Warnings: angst, war, death, torture, mentions of lycanthropy

Word Count: 1.7k

A/N: i'm officially on summer break, so expect more writing from me!! this one actually took a lot of time and effort so please share your feedback. not a reader insert, just some canon character insight. i think about remus's last moments a lot :( let me know if you'd like to be added to my taglist!

masterlist

1978 - With you, I serve.

The moon was bright but not quite full. It shone on two boys, both fresh out of school and on the precipice of becoming men. As much as they tried to deny it, there was an aura of naiveté surrounding them, one that would soon deteriorate beyond their imaginations.

“Come here,” said Remus Lupin, a tall, tired boy, tugging his companion’s sleeve. “Behind the bushes.”

“It’s child’s play, this job. What’s Dumbledore playing at?”

Remus was paired up with James Potter, who was growing more and more impatient by the second. “Prongs, we are trainees. We’re lucky to have an assignment at all.”

The two friends were seated on a small hill overlooking a large, dreary house. It belonged to the Travers family, a family notoriously pureblood, notoriously Slytherin. A family most likely in league with the greatest threat to the Wizarding World in several decades—Lord Voldemort.

The severity of the situation remained unspoken between them. If caught, James and Remus would be killed within seconds. Remus silently wished he shared James’s conviction regarding the ultimate invincibility of the right cause. But there was something inside of him that would remain unconvinced for a long time.

“There’s no way Travers isn’t a Death Eater,” said James. “I say we attack. They know we’re careful. They’ll never see it coming.”

“Perhaps,” said Remus. “Although, I doubt they are unprepared. Stealth is the only path to success.”

James snorted. “Okay, Professor Moony.” Years later, the same voice on a nearly-identical face would be addressing him in the same manner, with an amount of long-faced sincerity that would destroy him. But Remus did not know that yet.

After a while, Remus broke the comfortable silence between them simply because of a lingering curiosity manifesting within him. “Do you really think we can win this?”

James turned toward him. When he spoke, Remus thought he sounded a little scandalized. “Of course I do. And even if we don’t, there isn’t a single part of me that won’t die trying.”

Remus hummed, though he could feel the hesitation brewing inside of him, the same hesitation he found himself constantly suppressing around his friends. It was not as though he didn’t share the same sentiment; that wasn’t the case at all. It felt blasphemous to let his thoughts wander at times, but he couldn’t help himself. The truth was loud and clear. Remus was fighting this war for those who wouldn't do the same for him.

Something about the setting and the shape of the moon kept him lost in his muddled thoughts. “Why did you become an Animagus?”

James looked slightly taken aback, running a hand through his hair. “You know why.”

“Indulge me.”

“Because, Remus, we care about you. We wanted to help you,” said James. “We still want to help you.”

“You have done more than enough, James.” And it was true. James Potters didn’t exist in the real world, and that was a fact that was becoming blazingly clear the longer Remus spent in it.

There was nothing more to be said after that. James only sighed, staring out with a strangely thoughtful expression. “You know something?”

“What?”

“Think I’m going to ask Lily to marry me.”

Remus swallowed. “Wow.”

“Yeah,” said James. “I haven’t told anyone.”

Remus found that hard to believe. “Not even Sirius?”

“No, not even Sirius. Just thought of it, actually. Besides, something tells me Sirius would laugh in my face.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” said Remus, though it was always hard to tell with Sirius. The idea of James getting married sounded so far-fetched, and yet, made more sense to him than anything ever had in his entire life.

“So, what do you think?”

What did he think? Honestly, he felt a twinge of envy that James had someone to propose to, that he didn’t have to think twice about it, that in all likelihood, when this war ended, James would live a long, happy, healthy life with his wife and enough children to form his own Quidditch team. “I think that you definitely should.”

James’s face broke out into a wide grin, one that made Remus feel warm inside. One that told Remus that it wasn’t actually a whim, that James had been thinking about it for weeks, and that when it came to Lily, he always seemed to turn to Remus. It was a bittersweet sentiment, but one that he had come to appreciate.

“Guess I’ll need to figure out who my best man will be,” mused James.

Remus rolled his eyes. “She hasn’t even said yes yet, Prongs.”

James harrumphed. “Of course she’ll say yes to becoming Mrs. Arrogant Toerag.” He puffed out his chest dramatically, only to lose his balance and fall forward into the bushes. “Wow, we really suck at this whole ‘stealth’ thing, don’t we?”

“Shut it, will you?” whispered Remus, though if he had known how few moments he had left to share with James, he wouldn’t have reprimanded him at all.

Suddenly, a scream coming from the direction of the house interrupted them.

“What was that?” asked James. Both boys had their wands at the ready.

“They’re torturing someone,” said Remus, suppressing a shudder. He winced at the sound of another piercing scream, one that shredded his insides with every resounding decibel.

James began to rise. “We have to go in and help them.”

Instantly, Remus grabbed his arm and pulled him down. “James, we can’t. We will blow our cover, we’re likely completely outnumbered, and we were told to call reinforcements if anything got serious. We are trainees, remember?” When James begrudgingly slunk down next to him, Remus nudged him again. “Send a Patronus to the Prewetts.”

As James retreated several yards into the woods to conjure his great silvery stag, Remus turned his attention back to the house in front of them. After hearing another scream, he was beginning to lose his nerve. We can win this, Remus chanted to himself like a sacred mantra. We can win this. We can win this. We can win this.

Three years later, wizards all over Britain would celebrate their victory over the Dark Lord. But with three dead friends and one a murderous traitor, Remus Lupin would have nothing to celebrate. And he wouldn’t for a very long time, not until he stared into a pair of startlingly green eyes in a train compartment several years later.

1998 - With you, I fall down.

His heart raced as he watched the silver dome shatter around the castle. A swarm of dark, hooded figures made their way towards them. With one hand over the photograph in his pocket, Remus thought of Teddy—his vibrant, turquoise hair, his soft coos, and the sparkly eyes that looked just like his own.

We can win this. We can win this. We can win this.

It is different now, he thought to himself, I have Harry. A son. A wife. For the first time in his life, Remus Lupin had a proper family.

We can win this. We can win this. We can win this.

He was able to see his reflection on a window. Under all the worry pooling his features, Remus saw the ghost of a smile that looked so achingly familiar— the weary but indestructible smile of a new father, the one he last saw during his final moments with James many, many years ago.

He thought of Dora, who, despite his desperate pleas, followed him to Hogwarts to fight what was beginning to feel like the end. After he righteously begged her to return to safety, she scoffed teasingly. “Honestly, Remus. You should know better.”

She was right, and there was nothing more to say. She kissed him hard before they went their separate ways for the last time. Remus weaved through crowds of warriors, gaze wandering from time to time for a glimpse of either his wife or his young protege. Any sign that Dora and Harry were alright would ease his ever-growing nerves.

We can win this. We can win this. We can win this.

He thought of a late-night in his dormitory. It was the end of his seventh year. The four Marauders were sitting on each of their four-poster beds, picturing this moment, having no idea what was to come, just the confidence that it would and that they would win.

“I think it’ll be at the Ministry,” said Sirius.

“Or Diagon Alley,” said Remus thoughtfully.

“With Dumbledore leading the charge,” added James, a note of excitement in his voice. “I’d give anything to see the end of him.”

“Me too,” grumbled Sirius, struggling to hide the bitterness lacing every word. It had only struck Remus then that Sirius would be fighting his own flesh and blood on the other side. He knew better than to mention it.

“We could die,” said Peter quietly.

“We could,” affirmed James. “But I have a good feeling about it. It’ll be our moment, lads.”

Remus had only heard of Wormtail's death from Bill, who heard it from Harry. Peter, so afraid of death, so willing to do anything to avoid it, killed by his own hand. The last of his friends to go. In his wildest dreams, Remus would have never thought that he would be the last Marauder standing. Alone.

But he wasn’t alone. Not anymore. He had Dora, Teddy, and Harry. Harry, brilliant Harry, the Boy Who Lived, the boy who, unbeknownst to him, changed Remus’s life. The boy who would carry out his father's dream. The boy who would win this for them all.

We can win this. We can win this. We can win this.

Remus heaved a tired sigh. His legs felt as though they were about to give out. Despite his unique set of skills, Remus spent more time sickly than able. Especially now, nearing the age of forty. No longer did he have the agility or stamina of his youth.

He was in the center of the fighting in the courtyard. Suddenly, Remus felt a sinking, silencing feeling inside of him. Swallowing it away, he turned around, grip on his wand accidentally loosening for the quickest second.

The man in front of him was smirking, a forthcoming light blinding any identifying features. Remus's wand slipped from his fingers.

The last thing he saw was green, consuming his vision like a swarm of Dementors closing in on him. The spell hit him squarely in the chest.

He always wondered what death would feel like, often equating it with the debilitating pain of his monthly transformations. But it wasn't like that at all. Death was like falling. An eternal, endless fall into nothingness.

Moments away from victory, Remus Lupin fell down.

Mischief Managed.

Taglist: @iwritesiriusly @sheismadness @she-seeks-magic @amourtentiaa @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @queenofblacks @duckie-dunham

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the-bees-knives · 3 years

Note

Hi yes hello. I saw that you rebloged the oc ask thingy and I'll be ordering for the whole table. Can I get a 2, 3 ,5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 32, 34, 37, 41, 45, 48, 50, 51, 55, 60, 65, 68, 69, 70, 73, 78, 83, 87, 89, 93, 96, 98, and 99? All for Biscuit. (IM REALLY REALLY SORRY I JUST WANNA KNOW MORE ABOUT THEM 😭)

This got real long... answers under the cut!

2. What are their favourite possessions? Why? (sentimentality, history, price, etc.)

His favourite possession... is you! ✋👁👁

Jokes aside, Biscuit isn't too materialistic. However, he does like the hairband he uses for his braid; it was a gift from his mother! The bow he wears around his neck is also a remnant of a modification of his uniform from his previous place of work. Biscuit used to work both as a mascot and a cook (it would switch depending on the situation) at his family's diner (restaurant? i don't know the term), and he added it because he thought it looked cute (also he couldn't do anything too feminine :( so this was the best he could do).

I will note that the cutlery embedded into him is not a part of his favourite possessions, despite his unwillingness to part with them. They're more like a part of his body, I guess?

3. Do They get jealous easily? If so, what usually causes it?

If Biscuit formed an attachment to someone and then saw them with someone else, he'd be wary of the new person, if not jealous. They'd have to become acquainted with Biscuit to ease him, though that might not always work. He'd still probably try to drag his companion away. Basically, he's pretty protective (possessive?) over those he likes.

5. What's their reputation like? Does this reputation contrast what they're really like?

I'm not sure how others would see him. Either it's "eccentric cosplayer (who's really in character)" or "weird dude". Probably the first one, as normal people couldn't survive with knives in their body for that long. Mostly Biscuit's just a weird dude though.

7. What's their "type"? What romantically attracts them to another person?

Biscuit doesn't really have a preference on appearance, it's more based on personality. Either it's someone who can care for him or someone who's just as feral/zero-braincell'd as him. He normally takes care of his victims, but he doesn't see that as attraction; it's more like caring for cattle before you eat it. If someone cared for him though, he'd be into it. As for the other one, it's just a feral power couple; both can be absolutely insane together (Run).

9. If they could change one part of their appearance, what would it be?

Spine that can turn 180 degrees. Reasoning: he has to sleep on his stomach because of the knives, but then his feet are bent uncomfy while on his stomach. Rotate spine for comfy feets. Plus, it'd be a cool party trick.

10. What's a simple thing that brings them joy?

Pets/physical affection. (Unfortunately, by unintentional design, this man is Unpettable.)

12. What's their position in their friend group? (leader, mom friend, chaos goblin, etc.)

The chill goblin: you can sit with him and have a nice hat, but if anything gets the interest of his one (1) braincell, he will go absolutely feral.

13. How forgiving are they? What do they consider unforgivable?

I think he's pretty forgiving, considering. If you attacked him, he'd probably consider it as play-fighting or something. He won't like it if you mess with his personal belongings, but he'll forgive you if it's for a good reason (for him) or if you give it back.

As for the things he'd find unforgivable, touching the two knives sticking out of his head is an absolute no-no. (The ones in his shoulders are sort of meh; he won't like it if you touch them, but he won't try to kill you for it.) The knives in his head are really sensitive, so he'll become agitated quick and snap if you try to move or remove them.

16. What food do they absolutely hate?

fish yucky >:(

17. Do they show a lot of affection, or are they pretty reserved?

If Biscuit had an s/o or a good friend (you know, people he's not interested in for food), he'd be pretty affectionate; he likes them and wants to show it! He might get a little close though, so make sure to set (and remind him of) personal boundaries.

19. What's their unusual quirk?

I don't know why, but I imagine that Biscuit can bleed infinitely. If you were to remove any of the knives embedded into him, the wound will just keep bleeding until they're inserted back in. I don't really have an explanation for this, but he is a human, so??? I just think it's neat.

20. Are they easy to wake up in the morning, or grouchy and sleepy?

While Biscuit does get up early, he's particularly lazy and groggy. It's kind of like those moods where you want to go back to sleep, but you can't because your body's awake.

21. What's their ideal date like?

Anywhere really, so long as his s/o is giving him attention.

32. What are they like at parties? Party animal, or awkwardly sitting in the corner drinking punch and reading?

Party animal, except everyone else is sitting in the corner trying to avoid him. He doesn’t really think before speaking, so he says whatever without any filter. (Plus, the knives don’t help. No, he won’t remove them.)

34. What’s their favourite drink? (Coffee, tea, juice, hot chocolate, soda, etc.)

Biscuit is a milkshake lad. His favourite is strawberry-banana!

37. Are they a hopeless romantic, or is that stuff just not for them?

Biscuit has a “love-at-first-interaction” mentality, like if someone shows genuine interest in him, then he wants to be with them and chases that feeling (and them).

41. What would they dress up as for Halloween?

Bold of you to assume that he’d even need a Halloween costume.

All jokes aside though, Biscuit has No Patience to put a costume together (or even look for one), so he’d probably just go with his normal wear. People have already mistaken the knives as cosplay/props anyway, so it’s just less work, instant results.

(He does have the old mascot suit, but he can’t wear it anymore without it hitting the knives.)

45. Are they always late, on time, or early?

None of the above, he forgot that event was today.

48. How dramatic are they?

Biscuit’s not the type to start drama, nor is he extremely emphatic (is that the word?) with his speech. He’s just kind of vibing.

50. Why would they be a good partner for a road trip?

Fun(?) to do activities with; will probably suggest random stuff to do if there’s no set itinerary (will probably suggest it anyway). If you’re looking for a spontaneous road trip, he’s your guy.

51. Why would they be a BAD partner for a road trip?

Will Never Sit Still; must be kept under watch constantly, otherwise he’ll run off to who knows where. (Just keep him on a leash or something)

55. Choose a vine you think perfectly encapsulates their character.

This video has pretty strong vibes of brainrot, so I think it's appropriate.

60. What sappy thing will they cry at? (romance movies, cute cat videos, etc.) Would they deny crying about it later on?

Biscuit loves all types of animals, especially furry ones (so dogs, cats, bats, rats… bean toes are a plus). So he’d absolutely cry if shown cute pet videos and gush about how precious and baby each one is. No denial either, if you confront him about it, he’d just justify it by gushing about them more. (He doesn’t have any pets of his own though. I wouldn’t trust him with a pet.)

As a side note, if he found out his victim was a beastkin or could turn into an animal or something, he’d be really conflicted on whether to harm them or not, but would ultimately decide against it.

65. Do they give people a lot of nicknames?

Biscuit isn’t creative enough to make genuine nicknames. However, if he forgot your name (and he probably would), he’d just name something off of your appearance (“pink jacket”, “shark guy”, things like that).

68. Are they easy to fluster? What would you have to do to truly fluster them?

Biscuit can only really be flustered by people he likes or people that he thinks are close to him. He’ll melt and nuzzle you if you surprise him with something nice, physical or otherwise :)

69. What’s their dream vacation like?

Go to the countryside and run around and be feral. Then chill in the evening and take a bath, because he needs to make sure his knives are clean.

70. Are they a good liar?

Biscuit doesn’t even try to lie. He’s really impulsive, and he doesn’t see what’s wrong with what he does. If he tried to lie, it’d be stupid/simple and obvious that it’s a lie, but he’d stick to his guns and insist that it’s true. Though, his voice/expression wouldn’t fluctuate, so you’d have to believe either in common sense or him.

73. Are they more book smarts, or street smarts?

Street smarts; this man’s head is empty (except for the two knives in there but).

78. What’s something they’re really bad at?

Almost anything that involves careful planning and concentration to complete. Things like puzzles or sewing; if it doesn’t give immediate satisfaction, then what’s the point?

The only things that Biscuit does pay attention to are cooking and, by extent, caring for his victim (as they’re a part of the cooking process).

83. What are they like as an s/o?

Loyal and (possibly) clingy. Will want to accompany you for days, then vanish out of thin air due to impulsiveness (will absolutely forget to feed his victim during this time, if he has one). Forgets about physical boundaries, but means well (trying to show affection).

Biscuit’s love languages are, in no particular order: physical touch, acts of service, and quality time. Personal hug-buddy that can cook :)

87. Do they like spicy food?

Yes he does! I like to imagine that he incorporates spice from time to time into his dishes. I don’t know what his tolerance would be though due to lack of experience (I will perish).

89. What would they get into a petty argument over?

Which animal is the best? Answer: it’s all of them. (Though he does have a preference towards furry animals, he tries to be unbiased in this argument.)

93. What type of movies do they like to watch?

Both gorey horror movies and feel-good movies (especially if they have animal protagonists). They’re just fun to watch.

96. What’s their sense of humour like? (Dad jokes, morbid humour, basic knock-knock jokes, stand-up comedy, etc.)

Physical humour, stand-up, and maybe surreal humour. Anything else might be too complex for him.

98. How competitive are they?

He’s not very competitive on his own, though if someone challenges him to a contest, he’s still going to try to beat them for the satisfaction of it. Don’t challenge him to a contest if you want to have chill times with him.

99. What would they wear to a formal event? Describe their outfit!

Biscuit has No Standards when it comes to social events, so he’s going as normal. If he had to dress fancy though (and if he had access to it), he’d probably just wear a simple pink dress shirt and dress pants + suspenders. Slick his hair back too. The knives stay.

(I don’t even think he can enter most shops with the knives, fake or not. I don’t know; I’ve never entered an establishment with visible knives before.)

This was a long post, so let me know if I missed anything;;

#i spent Too Much Time thinking about these answers #also sorry for the late reply; i kept getting distracted;;#is this man just a dog? maybe #biscuit oc #my oc #emi-bunni #ask #oc questions meme

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okurrroye · 3 years

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Ok all I wanted was to laugh about John getting curb stomped but the Ayo tag is a fucking nightmare like wow

Disclaimer I have shit memory so if I say something that doesn’t add up fact wise let me know. But I’m pissed off so here we go-

(FYI all of your opinions should be kept to yourself, so don’t comment if you fail to read my entire post so thanks)

I know this has been discussed, but there are things that have been left out of the argument, or hasn’t even been considered when it comes to the big I speak no I see no I hear no evil scene y’all making it out to be of Ayo disarming Bucky. So gather around here’s the part where you hear me out without scrolling off regardless of your stance on the situation, because I’m here for all opinions afterwards.

First off I can’t even understand why this is controversial at all considering the history that led to this moment. Oh wait I lied it’s literally because either you have your head to far up Bucky’s ass or because he’s a man or because he’s white, or because *ding ding ding * all of the above. And now you’re mad because how dare this black bitch have the nerve-the audacity to do that to poor little old Bucky (now insert the part where you either scroll off, or put your two unwanted cents in before I finish). And this is where you all want to use the empty ass belief that ThE aRm Is A gIfT, or empty ass excuse tHaT’s HiS aRm. Also someone else pointed out well if they didn’t trust him than they shouldn’t have given it to him in the first place. Which yes all are true, but also not at the same time. *Gasp* yes somethings can not be one or other, because ✨ grey area ✨.

Now I don’t know what world you’re living in where you think a gift can not be taken back, and I use the term gift loosely because you can’t even call it that honestly. Because in reality the whole reason he has the arm in the first place is because he needed a new one for infinity war like duh, why have crap heap that’s easily damageable when they can make an indestructible one, to live or not to live like it’s not a hard choice. Then he disappeared for five years so it would be kinda difficult to get an arm back that doesn’t exist anymore. But by the time everyone came back I think an arm was at the bottom of their to do list, or not to mention the fact well it’s already been made, and you probably don’t know how to properly function without both arms yet and can’t afford a normal one yourself so why not just keep it instead of wasting all the time, effort, and resources of making it, but idk I guess that’s a stretch. But since people likes using the gift excuse guess what, a gift is just something you couldn’t afford to do yourself so someone else was kind enough to do it for you (^^^), but in every other since of the word it really belongs to them not you. So let’s give an example shall we, now your parent(s) gave you something you wanted (shit someone else may have bought it for you) but you fucked around and got in trouble and now you’re grounded. Now depending on your parent(s) you’ll either get your ass beat or your shit will get confiscated, or both if you fuck up enough. Now do you think you have any right to say what they can or can’t do? -Yeah I didn’t think so and if you thought otherwise well here comes round two of another ass whopping or the first one if you’re lucky. Or on rare occasions some (white) kids don’t get physically disciplined, but you’re still going to pay the price regardless.

So same situation (yes I know I can’t compare an amputees arm to an object, but I only say that because Bucky is more than that, more than just a arm) but also very much not because in Bucky’s and Ayo’s situation it is much-MUCH worse obviously, but apparently it’s not obvious considering that there’s a debate in the first place. Or in other words you think Bucky’s feelings-FEELINGS are more important then Ayo’s and Wakanda the truth. Which is you’re lucky that it was only his feelings that got hurt, because she (and Yama) could have killed him and everyone else in that room easily so let’s all thank Ayo (and Yama) for her kindness and mercy first and foremost, also for not taking back both the arm and the shield completely. Because that arm and shield is Wakandan property ok so let’s get that straight, so she had every right to take it if she wanted to-whenever or wherever (which also falls into the part where the Dora does has jurisdiction there, and almost anywhere else since most likely every country wants or have vibranium now, and because Wakanda could literally flatten the whole world so yeah they’re going to have a legal pass because who’s gonna want to fuck with them) but she didn’t key word didn’t which should’ve been a clue they would never take the arm or shield back because he is disabled considering even after what Bucky (& John) did.

Not only is it the property of Wakanda but it’s from the only place that was willing, and did help Bucky in every way a person could be helped literally saving this man physically, mentally, and emotionally- like please. Specifically the royal family themselves firsthand which need I remind you is related to the former King that was killed by the man that Bucky escaped from prison without discussing it with them first. That same King, family, and country that Ayo is from, loves, and is to serve and protect. That she will-IS sacrificing and dedicates her life to...she failed them all-failed herself when T’Chaka was murdered like bruh- like that should speak for it self like that is the ultimate betrayal like he literally spat in their fucking face, especially Ayo’s considering she’s the one who gave Bucky back his mind, his freedom and after all that after everything they did for him they still didn’t trust him, and betrayed him by not telling him he had a fail safe in his arm?! Yeah-no big sike, anyone with a brain knows prosthetics because here’s the real kicker ITS NOT HIS ARM thus it’s O M G...removable. Yes you read that correctly r-e-m-o-v-a-b-l-e. Now put that together with the fact that Ayo is highly skilled and an overall badass I don’t think it would be that hard for her to fucking figure out how to dislocate it with a few pressure points considering that’s literally the whole point of striking a pressure point (if he still had his arm then that hit would’ve stopped it from working, but since it’s fake that mf popped right off). Pressure points are used to disable someone, thus Ayo disabling a disabled by disarming his arm to deescalate the situation go figure. It wasn’t a fail safe it’s just skill and common sense that everyone failed to have in the moment and used as a last resort because oh no Bucky’s face, like boo fucking hoo he did it to himself by breaking their trust first, and defending that bitch. Instead of him waiting for the Dora to have Zemo in custody first, what did Bucky do instead? He had the fucking audacity (and that’s how you use the word) to use that same arm against Ayo, against Wakanda. That speaks volumes considering out of respect as a friend or whatever close bond they have (because they definitely have a connection after what they went through together) Ayo still gave him a warning, and time to do what he had to do before they came for Zemo’s ass. Let it be known she didn’t have to do that at all because her loyalty is to and should be to her country first but in those eight hours it wasn’t, it was in the trust of their friendship so therefore she literally was endangering her well being by giving Bucky just that courtesy, and I don’t think you all consider her position in that predicament and thanks to Bucky she could’ve gotten her status revoked, thrown in jail, or worse killed for disobeying orders because let’s not forget Chadwick unfortunately has passed away, and thus it’s a fact that T’Challa is no longer in charge since Marvel will respect that with tampering with his character, so I don’t want to hear she would’ve been just fine because we’ve seen how the royal counsel has a big say on what goes and doesn’t go considering they did not give a single fuck about their own next of kin, Erik who has every right as them, but would have easily killed him just because he was an ‘outsider’ if T’Challa didn’t speak up for him (I mean they abandoned him while leaving him to fend for himself, killed his father and covered it up so wouldn’t put it past them). So if you think when Ayo fucked up again about retrieving Zemo because she trusted, and helped this outsider over her own kind she definitely would’ve been considered a traitor and be punished for her actions.

Can you imagine the hurt, and betrayal they felt? No apparently not, because it’s all about how he’s disabled and how could she take his arm (like uh she literally left it, and the shield for them to keep, and it’s not like he would’ve died without it to begin with unlike Bucky who was willing to sacrifice Ayo’s entire livelihood) when the fact that disabled people say constantly for others to stop putting their disabilities before them, and how they’re just as capable as everyone else. “They are a someone with a disability, not someone who is disabled,” which is absolutely true, because they’re more than that but everyone seems to forget that all of sudden when Ayo detaches Bucky’s arm (I wonder why) and all of sudden he doesn’t have control of his own body like what- he literally used his entire body nonbrainwashed to stab them in the back like miss me with that bs. Him spending five seconds without his arm doesn’t compare especially since they forgave him without even at least an apology at that.

Detaching his arm was a warning that he needed to learn, because they were letting him know, and I emphasize that that arm does not belong to him so how he dare try to use it against the people who gave it to him after they fed, housed, and freed him when no one else could, or would when he’s done nothing in return while as a repayment was being a fucking ingrate. All the while facing no consequences, not even the need for a fucking bandaid *mic drop*.

#and this is coming from someone who fucking loves bucky #and not to mention when ayo did remove his arm I had the same reaction as bucky did lol #like that shit hit me too ok but y’all are something else #I’m so sorry this came out longer then I expected #but like the racism in this fandom I just can’t #like it’s not that deep #but dumb asses and racists need a reality check #bucky barnes #ayo #wakanda #marvel mcu #the falcon and the winter soldier #captain america and the winter soldier tf #tfatws #caatws

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mediaeval-muse · 3 years

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Book Review

These Violent Delights. By Chloe Gong. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2020.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Genre: historical fiction

Part of a Series? Yes, These Violent Delights #1

Summary: The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery. A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal. But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule. Perfect for fans of The Last Magician and Descendant of the Crane, this heart-stopping debut is an imaginative Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shanghai, with rival gangs and a monster in the depths of the Huangpu River.

***Full review under the cut.***

Content/Trigger Warnings: violence, blood, gore

Overview: I love the premise of this book. A Romeo and Juliet retelling? Set in 1920s Shanghai? Sign me up! There was so much to love about These Violent Delights: the setting, the characters, the prose, the complexity of the social and political situation... so why didn’t I rate this book higher? Well, despite all the things I loved, I didn’t love the pacing and the plot. In my opinion, Gong had the tendency to kill a lot of suspense and over-explain things, which not only made the main plot feel slow, but I felt like I was being told a lot of things about characters instead of shown. Thus, it was hard for me personally to absorb the significance of things and become emotionally invested. Overall, though, These Violent Delights is an ambitious book, and I look forward to reading the sequel.

Writing: From the first page of the prologue, I was hooked on Gong’s way of describing the look and feel of Shanghai. I love the way she describes settings, using vivid imagery and almost poetic phrases to evoke feelings of seediness and poverty. Gong ensures that her prose doesn’t get too purple, however, so I think she overall strikes a nice balance between being literary and being accessible.

I do, however, think that Gong had the tendency to tell rather than show when it came to descriptions of the characters’ backstories, motivations, or other things, such as the bloodfeud between the gangs. We are told, for example, that there is a bloodfeud, and we get scenes where gang members bristle at the sight of one another, but we don’t really have any scenes where the bloodfeud serves as a major antagonist or threatens characters in a real, tangible way. Juliette’s and Roma’s pasts also don’t feel very laden with pathos, and I got the impression that we were supposed to feel sympathetic without really seeing how their pasts continue to affect them in the present. For example, we’re told that Roma’s mother was killed by Scarlets, but Roma barely ever thinks about her, doesn’t have any longing for her, etc. Perhaps some flashbacks would have helped make these pasts feel more impactful, or maybe a change in the way characters think and act, but as it stands, I didn’t feel like much of the violence was really “present,” so to speak, because everyone who dies isn’t really given a real presence in the novel.

I also think Gong had the tendency to interrupt the flow of her story by inserting unneeded descriptions or background information at inopportune moments. For example, when Roma and Juliette are running from the scene of a crime at one point, they agree to meet up at a restaurant nearby, and Gong proceeds to give us a paragraph on what that restaurant is like. It has no real significance to the action - the characters don’t really spend a lot of time there, and it never comes up again. As a result, we get some descriptive or expositional passages in the middle of a scene, which I think really slows down the book’s pace and removes a sense of urgency. In other words, form didn’t match function in places where it really mattered.

Lastly, I think Gong over-wrote some of her passages to the extent that the reader was being told things that could have been inferred. We would read, for example, passages where Gong would tell us why a character was speaking quietly or why a character was acting in a certain way, and some of those things would be obvious from context. I think Gong could have benefitted from pulling back a little bit and letting readers piece together some things on their own.

Plot: This book mainly follows Roma and Juliette, to heirs to Shanghai’s two most notorious gangs, as they track down a monster which has been causing a mysterious madness to sweep across the city. In my opinion, this madness/monster plot was a little weak - not only did I feel like the mystery itself wasn’t very clever, but I didn’t get the sense that the madness was truly a threat. As I mentioned above, violence doesn’t really have a tangible impact on our named characters - the gangs aren’t shown to suffer much from the impact on their operations (Juliette doesn’t have to make do with less income, for example, and she doesn’t seem all that connected to the common resident of Shanghai to be altruistic) and even if we just accept that Roma and Juliette want to solve the mystery to prove something to their fathers, I didn’t feel like I cared enough about their statuses in the gang to want them to succeed or fail. To solve this problem, I think I would have liked to see more stakes; if they fail, would the gangs be entrusted to more violent people who would do more harm than good? If they fail, would they be chased out of town or sent away? Something a bit more urgent, I think, to show us that. Granted, wanting to impress their fathers is a good motivation, but I wanted more urgency.

Characters: Juliette, our primary heroine, is perhaps the most well-developed character in this book. She’s the heir to the most powerful gang in Shanghai, but despite the nominal security of her title, she has to prove herself worthy because A.) she’s a woman, and B.) she spent a lot of time in America, which makes her too Western for her people’s standards, yet too Chinese for the Europeans living in the city. She’s also hot-blooded and impulsive, which gets her into some trouble (a flaw that I think Gong wrote well, as it felt like Juliette was being ruthless out of some sense of insecurity). I really enjoyed her as a character, and I think Gong wrote her well.

Roma, our primary hero and Juliette’s love interest, is somewhat less interesting. He has some qualities that seem good on paper: he’s an expert with a firearm and isn’t enthusiastic about violence. He also cares deeply for his sister and has a complicated relationship with his father. However, he didn’t have the same level of complexity as Juliette. He didn’t have any convictions about why he and his gang deserved to be in Shanghai, nor did his family’s history with the Bolsheviks seem to influence the way he responded to the communist uprising. I wanted a little more from him, and I wanted to be shown why Juliette was in love with him (other than their history and, supposedly, Roma’s ability to “really see” her).

Supporting characters were hit or miss. I really liked Rosalind and Kathleen, and I loved the dynamics they brought to the story. As sisters and cousins to Juliette, they have a complicated relationship with the Scarlet Gang - they’re family, but not family enough to have true power or protection. I liked that the sisters responded differently to this situation; Kathleen seems more desperate to do whatever Juliette asks, while Rosalind feels that people like her have to deal with all the fallout of the Cai’s actions. Benedikt and Marshall, Roma’s companions, also had a nice dynamic; Marshall is somewhat outgoing while Benedikt was reserved, and the two brought out new behaviors in the other that made me think they have a budding m/m romance. However, I didn’t really understand their motivations enough to feel invested in their stories. They felt more like sidekicks than characters in their own right - they wandered around Shanghai doing errands for their gang, but didn’t really seem integral in ways other than that.

Antagonists were somewhat bland, in my opinion. Tyler, a hot-headed Cai who wants to be the heir instead of Juliette, weaves in and out at convenient moments, inserting tension at random moments that didn’t seem to build on one another. I would have liked a more sustained storyline where he is constantly interfering and competing with Juliette, perhaps to raise the stakes. For example, if he had also been working to track down the monster, and the two had had more confrontations about their progress along the way, Juliette’s success might be a little more urgent. Dmitri, another hot-headed wannabe heir on the White Flower side, is barely present and doesn’t feel like a threat. I would have liked to see the same thing be done with him: have him investigating the mystery, but in a way that opposes how Roma does things (perhaps a way that exacerbates the blood feud). Even the people directly involved with the monster plot seemed to be stock characters, and I wasn’t entirely convinced that they were formidable opponents for our protagonists.

Romance: For a Romeo and Juliet retelling, I was surprised that the romance (or the relationship, at the very least) wasn’t more of a focus in this book. I guess if the book hadn’t been marketed that way, my thoughts might be different, but then again, many of the names are deliberately crafted to resemble the names in Shakespeare’s play. Even so, I think I liked that the romance didn’t take center stage all the time, as it allowed Gong to give us a retelling that wasn’t just the same plot points as the original play.

However, I definitely would have liked more tension or angst in the scenes when Roma and Juliette were together. We’re told (rather than shown) that the two have a complicated history, but when they’re working together, there’s no real chemistry that convinced me that the two still had feelings for one another. Juliette tells us in her POV that Roma sees her and understands her, but other than that, I didn’t get the sense that there was any passion or emotional intimacy between the two - just history. I would have liked to see more conflicted emotions in the places when Juliette or Roma are forced to interact so that there is a stronger buildup to the more intense emotions later in the book. But as it stands, the revival of their romantic feelings felt rather sudden, and I didn’t quite understand why the two were in love.

Themes: One major thing that I think Gong did really well was convey her passion about the state of Shanghai during the time period, especially when talking about politics and colonialism. Gong would have her characters meditate on the conflict between nationalists and communists, as well as the presence of Westerners and other foreigners who don’t bother to respect or engage with Chinese culture (or language). For example, Juliette often remarked upon how she felt like a stranger in her own country, and a lot of the ways she had to navigate racism and sexism reflected that. In my opinion, these themes brought out the best in Gong’s writing, as I could tell that she was invested in them and had a lot to say.

TL;DR: These Violent Delights has an intriguing premise and a well-developed heroine, and Gong is at her best when writing about these things while pushing back against colonialism in 20th century Shanghai. However, I ultimately didn’t feel like I could get emotionally invested in the gang dynamics, the romance, or the mystery itself, mainly because of the writing style and the lack of explicit stakes.

#book reviews

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animebw · 4 years

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Binge-Watching: Ore Monogatari, Episode 13-15

In which we get our first genuinely mishandled arc, an interesting point is let down by confused messaging, but things quickly turn around as Takeo becomes a teacher.

An Unpleasant Turn

Well, folks, we just hit an interesting speed bump: for the first time, Ore Monogatari has given me an arc that I don’t quite think works. After twelve episodes of pretty much the sweetest, most effortlessly wholesome rom-com imaginable, we spend two episodes on a side plot that hits this show’s first real sour note. It’s far from dealbreaking, and it’s honestly not that bad an arc in and of itself, but it’s the first time that Ore Monogatari’s storytelling has alienated me more than it’s sucked me in. And that’s not a pleasant feeling to sit with. It’s never a good time when a show you like does something you dislike, but especially with a show as comfortable and welcoming as this one, feeling it push me away is especially disconcerting. Hopefully this isn’t indicative of future troubles to come, because after how much I’ve loved this show over its first half, I’d hate for its second half to let me down.

So. The problems pretty much all stem from the new side character who’s introduced to be the driving agent of this arc’s plot. He’s a guy named Oda, and he’s got a crush on Sunakawa’s sister Ai, who, as we might remember, has a crush on Takeo. Ai has already turned him down and made it clear she’s not interested, but he’s followed her back home from college anyway to meet Takeo and learn about the guy his crush fell in love with. The reason why? He wants Ai to confess to Takeo so she can finally get over her feelings for him and move on, thus opening herself up to other romantic prospects- in other words, so Oda can make his move on her. Yeah, it’s exactly as scummy as it sounds. We’re constantly shown Oda pushing past Ai’s boundaries, contriving situations to make his plans work, and just overall taking advantage of Takeo and Yamato’s inherent kindness to insert himself where he clearly doesn’t belong. And it’s... weird. It’s weird and uncomfortable in a way I don’t think the show recognizes. Sure, Oda gets his fair share of ribbing, constantly freaking out at Takeo’s overwhelming size and ultimately failing to make Ai confess, but it feels like the show’s treating him as a nosy, but ultimately harmless dude who’s trying to help Ai get over her shit. Except he’s also ignoring Ai’s explicit rejection and taking Takeo’s battery out of his phone when he’s not looking to try and force a situation, and his inner monologue reminds us a lot how he’s doing this so he can get “his turn,” and it’s like... is this guy supposed to be genuinely overstepping his boundaries or just being kind of a prick? Because it doesn’t seem like the show really knows either?

The Jinx of Life

And that sucks, because it really throws a wrench into Ai’s development when the character drama behind it are so confusing. There’s a great conversation to be had in regards to crushing on people you know you don’t have a shot with, and how you go about dealing with those feelings. By far my favorite scene from these episodes comes when Takeo and Suna are riding the haunted boat tunnel and talking about how this amusement park supposedly has a jinx where couples who come there are destined to break up. But Suna points out that really, it’s less about a jinx and more about the fact that a good chunk of romantic couples just aren’t going to work out. A lot of relationships fall apart for all kinds of reasons, not because of some outside fate or forces, but because it just wasn’t meant to be, or they just weren’t right for each other. It’s a powerful, insightful conversation about the reality of romance, especially teen romance, that doesn’t always come up in rom-coms, especially not rom-coms as fluffy as this one. And in classic Ore Monogatari fashion, the philosophy goes down with a heaping teaspoon of hilarity as Takeo’s quiet thoughts are interrupted again and again by him screaming over the ride’s countless jumpscares. In that moment, you can see what this arc is trying to be: an exploration of the reality that some relationships just don’t work out, and when it’s best to move on when you know there’s nothing more to be done.

And honestly, I think Takeo and Yamato’s side of that story still works really well. It’s a simple enough metaphor, but it still tracks; there’s no jinx or fate that will determine your relationship’s path. If you want to make it work, then it’s up to both of you to do your best for each other, whether that’s as simple as finding each other in a crowd to watch the festival together or involves deeper questions. But I’m really not sure what I’m supposed to take from Ai and Oda’s side of the story. Am I supposed to be glad Ai didn’t tell Takeo her feelings? Does that mean she’ll be able to move on, or is she still holding on? Am I supposed to be thankful for Oda pressing the issue, or does the show really not realize how uncomfortable his lack of respect for Ai’s boundaries is? Neither of their feelings are any closer to being resolved, so whatever point it was trying to make with them is still in stasis. It doesn’t even serve as an effective parallel to Takeo and Yamato, because there’s no closure for us to understand how Ai and Oda’s situation is similar to or different from theirs. And it weirds me out that this show is usually so damn good at parsing out meaning from closure and letting characters come to realizations about themselves and their relationships that stick with them in subtle but noticeable ways from then on. So why did it drop the ball on this one? Were it not for how lovely Takeo and Yamato’s moments were, this would feel like something out of a different, much weaker show.

P-O-P-U-L-A-R

Thankfully, episode 15 immediately picks up from the previous arcs’ missteps and gets right back to the good stuff. The focus this time is on Takeo’s popularity with other girls, and it leads to some fascinating new dimensions for him. Takeo, in a rare moment of being perceptive of Yamato’s feelings, is quick to reassure her that he’s not really popular with girls, so she doesn’t need to worry about someone else stealing him away. But as Suna rightly points out, that’s not entirely true. Takeo is popular with a lot of people, boys and girls alike. He may be intense enough to weird people out, but like I said last time, his natural earnestness and desire to help makes people gravitate toward him just as strongly. Which is interesting, because despite Takeo’s desire to help people, he doesn’t always spend much time really thinking about them if they’re not in his immediate purview. Even something as simple as everyone being much slower than him is a realization, he’s never really paid attention to how fast other people run, or why some people might be dissatisfied with not being as fast as other people. The way he sees it, everyone just has their own pace, some faster, some slower, and there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s always been his greatest strength; he doesn’t judge people for not living up to some bullshit ideal of who they’re “supposed” to be. But it also means he’s slow to realize why these things matter to people so much, and how to go about helping those around him overcome them.

Which makes it such a beautiful twist when Takeo takes on the position of a mentor for the first time in his life. Now he’s not just helping his classmate Saijo by saving her from some bad situation, he’s actively helping her better herself by getting better at running. He’s not entirely sure going in what it means to be a mentor, but he figures out along the way how best to motivate her and commits to it. And he still doesn’t judge her for not being as good a runner as everyone else; after all, she’s no less worthy a person just because she’s not the most athletic girl in the world (Side note, I appreciate how the show draws her noticeably more chubby than most anime girls). It’s clear Saijo has a bit of a complex about her weight and thinks it’s something to be ashamed of, but Takeo never treats her as anything less than normal, because that’s just the kind of guy he is. You get the sense that he’s stepping outside himself in a new way, putting in the effort to meet other people on their level while still holding fast to his fundamental desire for good. It’s a step on the road to becoming more social, and once again, you totally understand why Saijo becomes so enamored with him as a result. But there’s another fantastic twist waiting: she’s not actually in love with him as Yamato feared, she just really admires his work ethic and wants him to keep training her so she can continue on the road to self-improvement. That’s fucking great. It’s an acknowledgement that there are more ways to be popular than simply being an object of desire. Popularity can mean people looking up to you, valuing your advice, recognizing you as someone they can rely on. And that all starts from understanding people and doing right by them, as Takeo has always tried to do and is only getting better at.

Of course, though, it doesn’t really matter to him if or how he becomes popular. He’s just doing what he believes to be right, making the world a better place in his wake. And as long as he’s popular with Yamato, that’s the only sort of female affection he’ll ever need. It’s a lovely sentiment to close out this episode, and it handily washes the bad taste of the previous arc out of my mouth. As long as Ore Monogatari keeps its heart in the right place, I think it’s gonna be just fine.

Odds and Ends

-”The ending was different from the book, but it was still entertaining.” Lol, there’s a mood.

-”We must be pretty good for a perceptive guy like you to be oblivious to all this.” snrk

-So I’m not sure how to react.” Man, I love Suna’s relationship with Takeo. He doesn’t even remember his own birthday, but his best bud is here to make sure he has a good time on it.

-ksdjfhsdkjf the fuckign pecs wiggling

-”I’d still love you even if you got buff.” What a dreamboat.

-Aaw, Takeo even respects big sis’ boundaries when she’s visiting! What a good egg.

-”That was straight to the point.” The Sunakawa family’s entire purpose in life is to clear up dumb teenage misunderstandings, and god bless them for it.

-”If we get separated, just use Takeo as your landmark.” askjdhaskdhask

-TAKEO IN CAT EARS. MY HEART IS SLAIN.

-”That was more violent than I anticipated.” Never underestimate the spinning teacups.

-”Sorry. I always seem to have the worst timing.” SUNA FOR FUCK’S SAKE

-Aaaaaw, even Takeo gets embarrassed to talk about how he finds Yamato cute! He’s human after all.

-”Did you fake it?” Pfft. Sometimes he picks up on things fast.

-”Towels are so fluffy!” Listen dude you’re adorable but you might wanna check u on your GF’s approaching mental crisis

-Okay, the comedic cuts in the “who gets to carry Saijo” scene had me cackling. Good lord, this show.

-wait a fuCKING SECOND WAS THAT A PARASYTE REFERENCE IN THE NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW GOD DAMMIT MADHOUSE

Man, what a roller coaster. See you next time!

#anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw #ore monogatari #my love story

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a-duck-with-a-book · 3 years

Text

REVIEW // Seven Blades in Black (The Grave of Empires #1) by Sam Sykes

★☆☆☆☆

Disclaimer: while I was reading this book, I found out that Sam Sykes has been accused by numerous women of sexual harassment. You can find more information about it below: - a post listing several accusations of misconduct - twitter post responding to the situation - one of the accusations against Sam Sykes - his quickly-deleted apology Suffice to say, I have no intention of continuing this series or reading any more of his books.

I have a lot to say about this novel, so I’ll begin by making a quick bullet point list outlining what I liked and disliked:

Liked:

Cavric <3

Lisette deserved better

Some interesting concepts in the world building

Disliked:

Sal as a narrator

Sal as an antihero

Sal as a person in general

Writing style

Constant interruptions

Meandering narrative

The “narrator knows something but the writer avoids revealing it until the end for the drama” trope

This is a Big Tough World and Nobody Gets To Be Happy

Lesbians written by a man who harasses women

Unnecessarily long

// image: official cover art Jeremy Wilson //

Let’s begin with the full review by starting with the (few) positives, shall we?

First and foremost, I genuinely enjoyed Cavric and Lisette. It is unfortunate that they had to deal with Sal for the entirety of the novel, but we’ll get to her later. If this book had been a buddy adventure with these two, in which Cavric slowly shows Lisette that she is in a toxic relationships and deserves to move on and find someone better for herself, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more. Secondly (and finally), Sykes introduced some genuinely interesting world building. The background of the Empire and the Scar was fascinating to read, but unfortunately did not save the rest of this mess.

Alright now let’s rant.

I have 35 notes and 52 highlights from this book, so this might get block quote heavy. (Go check out my notes if you want to see me slowly lose my sanity)

Sal is awful. I know she’s meant to be awful, but she’s not flawed in the way that I think Sykes was trying to write her. I believe she was intended to be a scruffy, lovable antihero who fought her way through a dangerous landscape with her sharp blade and even sharper tongue. A girl who had wrongs committed against her in the past, who did terrible things but is now on the road to an epic redemption arc. She shoots bad guys, she says f*ck and a*s a lot, and she is morally complex. That’s the character that Sykes was trying to make. The one he created, however, is a genuinely terrible person who I had no desire to see come out on top. I have a myriad of issues with her, but let’s outline a couple below: (1) She is incredibly toxic for Lisette. Am I getting a bit too heated about a fictional relationship? Sure. Was I happy to read a toxic lesbian romance written by a man who sexually harasses women? Nope. It kind of grossed me out, actually. Anyway, let me give you a run down of their relationship. Sal arrives. Sal and Lisette sleep together. Sal asks Lisette to give her weapons and or fix things for her. Sal sneaks away, telling herself no good will come of this relationship and they will only cause each other pain. Sal needs something. Sal comes back. Repeat over and over. She constantly says, throughout the book, that it would be better if they just left each other, but then again Sal is the one who goes back to Lisette over and over, causing her renewed heartbreak. I don’t know if Sykes thought that simply making Sal aware of how terrible this behavior was was enough, but it just made me incredibly frustrated. At one point Sal says:

”Intellect like hers is a curse. The more you understand of the world, the less of it you trust.”

Yes, Sal, that’s what’s giving her trust issues. Her intelligence. Nice. By the end of the book, it seems that they are on the mend-I’m getting end-game vibes from these two. But honestly, I spent the entire time thinking that Lisette deserved so much better than Sal. Like literally a chicken would have provided healthier companionship. I’ll end with this quote, in which Lisette outlines perfectly why Sal does not deserve her:

“What am I doing wrong that you’d choose this over me?”

(2) Sal is annoying. Really, really annoying. I kid you not, half of this book is made up of Sal’s snarky comments. She is badass. She has a gun. She is an outlaw. And she will never, EVER shut up about it. Imagine a quirky line after an otherwise dark or action-packed sequence. Funny, right? Might break the tension, make the narrator more endearing, etc. Now imagine one such line after every. Single. Paragraph. Picture a violent battle scene where the protagonist is fighting for their lives against a ruthless opponent. Now insert a snarky comment after every other paragraph and watch the entire flow of the scene fall apart with constant interruptions. That’s what this book is-which brings me to my next point.

The writing isn’t great. There are constant interruptions, meandering narratives, and the trope that haunts me in nearly every dark fantasy novel I read-This is a Big Tough World and Nobody Gets To Be Happy-is shoved repeatedly in your face. Let’s start with the interruptions, returning to my previous point (ie. Sal never shuts up), by looking at this sequence:

I followed the shrieking wind. I had come here prepared for something bad. But I wasn’t prepared for just how bad it was. I rounded the corner of the hall, came out atop a battlement. The wind struck me with a screaming gale, forcing me to shield my face and cling to the stone for purchase. My eyes squinted against the harshness of the light, the kind of offensive pale you only see in your nightmares. And through them, I could see the bowed shapes of towers sagging, the flayed flesh of banners whipping in a wind that wouldn’t cease, the shadows of figures frozen in a death that had brought no peace. And I knew where I was. There was nothing that had ever made Fort Dogsjaw special. It had never been crucial for defense, never a hub for trade, it hadn’t even been named for anything special—the commander just liked the sound of it. It lived its whole life a regular, boring Imperial fort on the edge of the Husks. It only got important at the time of its death. Over three hundred mages and a few thousand regulars had assembled here in one day—some to receive assignments, some to man the garrison, some to head back to Cathama on leave. They had been laughing, cursing, drinking when the news came that the new Emperor of Cathama was a nul, born with no magic. And then there had been a moment of silence.

I’ve bolded for emphasis, but do you see what I’m talking about? The paragraph-line-paragraph-line format is so annoying to read, I had to put the book down at certain points because of how frustrated I got. It interrupted the forward movement of the story, making the novel drag on and on.

You know what else makes this feel like the nightmare version of the Never-ending Story? The page count. I don’t mind long books-The Priory of the Orange Tree is one of my favorite reads so far this year, and it’s longer than this one-but they have to have a reason for being so hefty. As I mentioned earlier, a considerable chunk of Seven Blades of Black is Sal making her awful, awful, AWFUL asides. I literally cannot express how much I despise those comments. Okay, let’s move on before I get hung up on THOSE STUPID COM-*cough*

This novel is marred by unnecessary lines and a meandering plot that drag out the story. One instance is the amount of times that Sal is a second away from killing someone and, for some reason (usually not a good one), fails in her goal. She places a gun at someone’s head and goes through a whole monologue in her head until the person miraculously escapes. This type of subversion of expectations is fine every once in a while, but if you are going to build up to a crucial moment and then take away the satisfaction of the defeat of some villain (or mini-boss, as many of the antagonists in this book feel like), then you need to have a good reason for doing it upwards of twenty times in ONE BOOK. Secondly, if you spend almost the entire novel setting up more and more villains and stressing how hard they are to kill and how dangerous their powers are (and presenting them separately and isolated), then when you have them all in one place at the end, at which point the protagonists starts going through them like a plate of french fries at a seagull convention, then you’re kind of taking away the satisfaction of the death. Somehow, this book manages to do both. We are constantly teased with almost-kills, then at the end Sal just blows through everyone in five seconds, easy-peasy.

I’m almost done, I swear-just two more gripes.

So much of the tension of this book rests on the fact that Sal, our narrator and our main viewpoint into the story, knows something that we don’t. I’ll be upfront with you-I hate this trope. If our POV character, the one whose mind we are in constantly, is entirely aware of something that happened before the beginning of the novel, and the author keeps from revealing that something for the entirety of the story solely to add drama, then I will not be a happy reader. Where is the logic. We are in this person’s mind. Just show us already and add tension ELSEWHERE.

And FINALLY (as painful as it was for you to read this, it was worse for me to write it), another issue I have with a lot of dark fantasy (see my review of Nevernight) is that the author really, really wants us to know that this is an incredibly dangerous and dark world by filling it to the brim with edge lord narrators, Big Guns, and, usually, women being harrased-because why not force all your female readers to constantly have to read about women getting assaulted? Apart from Sal’s 300,000 comments explaining to us that she is an asshole, that the Scar is Dangerous, and that she has Killed A Lot of People, we as readers must sit through hundreds of lines of dialogue and exposition that beat us over the head with the fact that this is DARK fantasy. This isn’t your nice little fairy adventure-no sir. Here we have Swear Words and Violence and Men writing Queer Women. To emphasize just how blatant Sykes is with the dark part of dark fantasy, let me tell you about an exchange Sal has with three old ladies who run a criminal empire. In the 2-3 pages that these women appear in, we are told, in some form or other, that they are grandmas who kill people, a grand total of, I kid you not, ELEVEN TIMES. Here are some excerpts from that whole situation:

”“Now, now.” Yoc, old and white haired and sweet as a grandmother—if that grandmother also had people killed on the regular—smiled at me. “I’m sure she has a good reason for being here.” She raised the hand that had signed the contracts that had killed a thousand men and women and took up her whiskey glass. “After all, I’m sure she knows how much we don’t like having our game interrupted.”” *I counted this as one since it’s in the same exchange but technically he mentions it TWICE

”…one didn’t waste the Three’s time if one didn’t want to end up with their teeth pried out.”

”How often do you meet the three old ladies who have people killed for money?”

”I said we should kill her on principle.”

”“But you know how many orphans I’ve made, don’t you, dear?””

”“He’s not so unlike us, is he? A murderer, yes. A monster to some. But, at his heart, a businessman.”

”Theirs were the hands that signed a thousand death contracts a year.”

”When they could be bothered to look up from their game, they decided who lived and died with a stroke of their pen.”

”At a word, they could have me stripped, tied, tortured, and cut up…”

”the Three don’t lie. Their assassins do. Their thieves do. But they don’t.”

”I had already wasted their time and I knew the Three were being generous just letting me fuck off instead of having me killed for the effort.”

TL;DR - Sal is annoying, Sykes is a bad writer, and Someone should have stopped me from reading this book

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randomfandomimagine · 4 years

Text

Busy (Cloud x Reader)

Character: Cloud Strife

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII (Advent Children)

Categories: Gender Neutral Reader (they/them pronouns), Soulmate AU

Word Count: 2.5 k words

Requested by anon: Could you do an imagine for Cloud Strife for a Soulmate!AU whenever someone draws something on their skin, it shows up on their soulmate’s skin too? So reader is constantly busy and always has to write notes on their body. So of course the notes show up on Cloud’s skin too. Then they meet and Cloud for the first time and somehow, it ends up with Cloud doing a small favour for them and reader writes something along the lines of ‘the hot blond guy’s name is Cloud and we need to meet next week’

Notes: It took me literally months to write this (insert ‘it’s been 82 years gif’) because I had no inspiration but it’s finished!! I don’t even know if the person that requested it will see it, but I hope they enjoy it if they do and that the rest of you lovelies do as well :)

Links: AO3

REMEMBER THAT IMAGINES/ONESHOTS REQUESTS ARE CLOSED!

Cloud lied down on his bed, thoughtful. His blue eyes were focused in the ceiling above him even if he wasn’t really watching it. His mind was far away from the room, as he couldn’t stop thinking about his soulmate.

Almost like they had been thinking about him too, the blond felt a soft tingle in his arm and he quickly looked down to it. The round but messy handwriting of his soulmate was etched there once more. This time, just like the others, it read something that he couldn’t quite understand. ‘Baker 23’.

Most of the time, when he read what his soulmate wrote, he didn’t get it. Sometimes it was a combination of random words and number just like that one, other times it was phrases like ‘the usual, 2 big, J’ and Cloud wished it could tell him something about them. He had tried replying, writing something in his other arm so it hopefully appeared on the soulmate’s skin too. He never got any replies.

Hurriedly sitting up on the bed and picking up the marker that he kept on the bedside table, Cloud scribbled something in his left arm. The marker hovered over his skin for a moment as he thought what to write in case they saw it this time. He decided for something simple and wrote down the word ‘hello’.

Patiently waiting, Cloud thought about the situation. Did his soulmate not see his notes? Did they see them but were unable to reply? Were they afraid to reply? If only they knew how their particular bond worked, they would manage to communicate with each other.

The blond took a quick look at his arm again, but the words in his skin hadn’t changed. With a resigned sigh, Cloud lied back down and fantasized about meeting his mysterious soulmate.

Y/N grunted in frustration, being overwhelmed at how crowded the shop was once again. Sharing delicious food with people sure was great, and it was amazing that everyone loved the dishes so much, but it was incredibly stressful running such a busy business. Hopefully their new plan would work and someone would show up to help once for all.

With speed and efficiency, Y/N put the food in different containers and closed them, delivering it to the people waiting and loudly reclaiming their food. Apparently everyone was in a hurry, or rather they were just really impatient.

Crossing out names and dishes, Y/N then proceeded to take a little break. It was then when the improvised delivery guy appeared. He was just one of Y/N’s friends, who helped by getting the food delivered when they had the brilliant idea of not only serving food at the store, but also at the clients’ homes as long as they paid a little extra money. The only problem was that the ‘delivery guy’ didn’t have a vehicle and had to go everywhere by foot, which took too much time.

“No news from the ad?” He asked Y/N, who sighed and plopped down on a chair.

“Not yet” The aforesaid replied, noticing the establishment was finally empty after hours of serving. “Hopefully someone will show up soon”

“What if they don’t?”

“Then we’re screwed…”

Y/N looked down to the notepad, which everybody said it was ‘just your arm’, but it was better than actual notepads. Those you could lose or misplace and it ended up being a mess. It was easier to just write on one’s arm, even if with messy and hurried handwriting.

As they were about to scribble the word ‘AD’ to try and remember to check on any possible volunteers to be the delivery person as it was asked on the advert, something appeared on the other arm. The word ‘hello’ had appeared, making their heart race. Y/N’s soulmate had been trying to communicate, leaving little messages like those. But the diner was far too busy to stop and take the time to respond. If only they could meet, they could find out the true meaning behind the term ‘soulmate’.

Completely forgetting about that mysterious person who wouldn’t reply, or at least trying to, Cloud went outside on his motorbike. The skin on his arm seemed to mildly tingle still, and his blue eyes briefly fell on it. Two letters showed up on his wrist, ‘AD’. As usual, he had no idea what they meant.

He accelerated on his bike, trying to shove aside the obsessive thought of his mysterious soulmate. Cloud sighed in frustration. At least the familiar feeling of riding his motorbike made him feel free. The wind in his hair, the adrenaline running through his veins, the impact of the speed on his body.

But suddenly, Cloud had to bring his bike to a halt. He gasped when he saw a big poster that seemed familiar to him. He had seen those posters all over town, but paid no attention to them. Until the pieces seemed to click in his mind. It wasn’t A.D. as in letters or initials. It was ‘ad’ as in advertisement.

The blond quickly stood from his motorbike and swiftly ripped the poster off the wall. His blue eyes traveled through the words, assimilating them as fast as he could. A hunch told him it was important, that such poster could very well lead him to his soulmate. Once and for all.

“Help needed” He read again, silently mouthing the words he had almost memorized by now. “Delivery person for hire at our shop, access to personal vehicle required”

Folding it neatly like it was a treasure map, Cloud saved the poster in his pocket. He looked over his shoulder to his bike and walked back to it. When he started the engine once more, he knew he wasn’t wandering anymore. He now had a destination.

Even as the city was a blur around him, his bike didn’t seem to move fast enough. To compensate for this, Cloud’s heart was wildly racing inside his chest. His mind was running free, imagining the many scenarios in which he could met his soulmate. Finally. How they would smile at him when they were hit with realization. How their eyes would light up. The way they would immediately know one another as soon as they were face to face. Like they had known each other all life. Because they were destined to be together.

When Cloud finally made it to the address specified in the poster, his heart was still beating fast. He paused at the door, taking a good look at the place. He imagined a big restaurant, classy and expensive. He was almost relieved to see it was simple and humble. It was only a small establishment, still filled to the brims.

He walked in with determination, not letting that nervous feeling in his stomach to take over. A little bell rang over his head when he opened the door, gathering the attention from the people behind the counter.

His eyes wandered around, examining each person trying to determine who could be the one he was looking for. He felt himself shaking slightly as he advanced towards the counter.

“Hello” A person greeted him from behind it. “I’ll be with you in a moment”

“Alright” Cloud muttered, watching them in curiosity.

They wrote something on their arm and absently put the pen on their ear for safekeeping. Cloud’s heart skipped a beat when he noticed their arm was actually scribbled all over, words written with dark ink staining their skin. However, he told himself to calm down since that didn’t mean they were his soulmate.

He closely watched them as they hurriedly walked up and down, frantically taking orders and serving dishes. Cloud thought to himself that, if that were the one, it all made sense. They were probably too busy to reciprocate. But that could change. He was there now.

When they were finally ready, they approached Cloud again.

“Okay” They said, nearly breathless from all the movement. “How can I help you?”

“I was here for the… ad?” As he held the poster up, Cloud couldn’t help but to glance down to their arm, searching for that very word. It was useless trying to look for it in the sea of letters written on it.

“Really? Oh, that’s great!” Someone dinged a bell, earning their attention. They took a step away, already heading to their new customer. “You’re hired!”

“But…” Cloud uttered in astonishment, seeing as they were already leaving.

“Right now I’m swamped, but come back tomorrow, first thing in the morning!” They exclaimed over the pandemonium of voices. “Name’s Y/N, by the way!”

The blond gawked at them, rendered helpless as they were already gone. He still lingered there, watching in fascination how they attended the customers.

Resigned, Cloud sighed and took a step back. Maybe that wasn’t it. It definitely wasn’t how he had pictured it anyway.

As he was heading back for the exit, he tensed up with a familiar feeling. His skin was tingling like it had done many times, and soon enough something was appearing on his bare forearm. He immediately whipped his head back, just in time to see Y/N writing something down on their arm.

Cloud couldn’t help but to smile a little when he read the words ‘meeting the hot blond guy tomorrow morning’ as they showed up on his skin. The spark of hope had ignited inside his chest once more.

Y/N’s mind burned with thoughts. As they made it to their store, they yawned and shook their head. The remnants of slumber were still trying to claim them back. Or maybe it was the exhaustion of lack of sleep and working too much.

“Morning” A deep voice said, causing Y/N to look up in surprise.

The blond guy from the day before was already there. He was leaning down on his motorbike, parked right next to the shop. Honestly, they had supposed he wouldn’t be showing up until much later. Y/N didn’t expect him for hours, it was barely dawn.

“Good morning” They replied, heading for the door. “Let’s talk business”

“Actually…” He began, leaning away from his motorbike.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch your name” Y/N interrupted, already jittery for the day ahead.

“Uh, Cloud...” He frowned, looking down to his crossed arms.

“Well, Cloud, we got a lot to do” They went to open the big metallic door, which the blond helped to slide up with ease. “We already have a few deliveries to make”

“You’re not open yet” He replied, puzzled by their statement.

“Tell me about it” Y/N huffed in exhaustion.

“I was… actually hoping to talk to you”

“What about?”

“Well, I…”

“Look” Y/N shook their head, noticing his hesitance. “If it’s not work related, I don’t have the time for it”

“But…”

“I’m sorry, but I’m way too busy to think of anything else”

Cloud gawked at them and watched them get to work. Y/N was already inside, moving some boxes and opening others. They heard an annoyed sigh behind them and before they could turn around to Cloud, he had grabbed their arm and tugged at it.

“It’s important” Cloud urged them, bearing a grave expression.

“Okay…” Wary about whatever he had to say, Y/N faced him completely. “But please make it quick”

They couldn’t really think what was so important. Cloud was basically a stranger, a person that showed up in their lives not long ago. They had only met a day ago and exchanged very few words. What could he have to say with such urgency?

To their bewilderment, Cloud showed them his forearm. Y/N stared, baffled, at his bare skin. There was nothing worth noticing in it.

“Your arm?” They blinked repeatedly. “What about it?”

“It erased already…” Cloud clicked his tongue, now holding his hand up. “Can I have your pen?”

Y/N frowned, carefully taking the pen they always carried in its place tucked over their ear and handing it to him. Cloud’s brows furrowed in concentration as he started writing something down on his own arm.

Startled, Y/N jolted up when they felt something tingling. Butterflies flew in their stomach when they realized it was the exact same spot Cloud was writing in, although he wasn’t touching Y/N’s arm.

Feeling too shocked to utter any words, all they managed to do was look down at their own arm. Y/N then read the words Cloud had written in his, but replicated on their own. They read ‘I think we’re soulmates’.

Y/N shoved a hand against their mouth, staring at Cloud in awe. The both then locked eyes with them, but remained silent. Y/N wondered if he was experiencing the same as them. The racing heart, the shaking knees, the stomach in knots, the urge to smile.

Blindly reaching out, Y/N pulled out a chair without looking away from him and plopped down on it. They took a deep breath when the pressure was lifted from them to remain standing. It felt like too much at the moment.

Moving carefully as to not startle or upset them, Cloud did the same. He sat down on his own chair, right by their side. The silence lingered for several more seconds.

“I… I don’t know what to say…” Y/N finally uttered with a weak voice.

Cloud didn’t reply. Instead, he looked down and wrote down on his arms, right below the words he had previously scribbled and that were starting to erase already.

‘You don’t have to say anything’ He wrote with messy handwriting.

Y/N felt guilty when they recognized the calligraphy. They had seen it before, but had never tried responding to it. They had been scared to commit to their soulmate, but also too busy to focus on other thing that wasn’t work.

They took a deep breath and grabbed a spare pen from their pocket. Their hands were trembling as they began writing a response.

‘I’m sorry that I never spoke to you before but…’ Y/N paused, not knowing how to express themselves. ‘I’m glad I got to meet you’

They smiled, and with the corner of the eye noticed him smiling as well.

‘Me too’ Cloud wrote, not daring to glance up from his arm.

Even if the person he had been waiting for was finally sitting next to him. Even if they were so close that they could touch, but he didn’t reach out. Surprisingly, the moment was mildly awkward taking in consideration they were actual soulmates.

‘I can help you’ Cloud continued, still writing. It felt easier than speaking up. ‘That way you won’t have to be so busy’

‘I would like that’ Y/N replied on their arms. The silence returned, this time calmer. Simpler. More comfortable.

Y/N timidly scooted closer to him. Their sides were brushing now, but even if Cloud slightly tensed up at their sudden closeness, he didn’t move away. Y/N smiled and placed a hesitant hand over his. Cloud didn’t react for several seconds, but then rotated his hand so it was enveloping Y/N’s. When they dared to lean their head on Cloud’s shoulder it felt… perfect. For the first time in they didn’t know how long, Y/N didn’t feel frantic. They could breathe, they could take a break and relax. Now Cloud was there for them, like they would be for him. And they felt safe there with him now.

Tag list: @overpowered-insanity / @xionroxas / @dancewaterdance02 / @little-faerie-artist / @x-joie-x / @goodmorningawfulbye // If you want to be added or taken off the tag list for these fandoms or characters, let me know!! // Reblogs and comments are appreciated!

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thehollowprince · 4 years

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Imagine if Stiles stans did a mere *fraction* of the sensitive, thoughtful research they do to portray his Polish heritage accurately for Scott McCall and his Mexican heritage

Imagine if Stiles stans put even a fraction of the effort into understanding and empathizing with Scott as they did trying to figure out Stiles' name? Imagine if they'd spent even half the energy they've put in to villainizing Scott into something like calling out the behavior of the villains they love so much?

I mean, for a fandom that loves to "research" to the extent they do over the smallest of things, the fact that Scott's heritage (or Kira's or Danny's or whomever) is outright ignored by 90% of the fans is pretty telling. Its something along the lines of (insert negative Latino stereotype here) and (insert negative Latino stereotype here) and (Mexican food) and voila! They've put in the work! Meanwhile they're writing thesis-length metas on the possibilities of what Stiles' first name could be and how he could be Jewish just because he's Polish (not necessarily a bad thing. We need more Jewish characters, but they went about it in the wrong way) or suddenly becoming doctor's to talk about his neurodivergence and so on and so forth.

And I'm not saying they're all doing this intentionally. Fandom is influenced by the fandom itself. The Big Name Fans set the tone and everyone usually falls in line because we want other people to talk about the things that we love. We wouldn't all be here if we didn't like the show, even if only on the surface level. The problem comes when the desire to move beyond what's expected to be prioritized in the fandom is forgotten.

I myself wrote several Stiles-centric things back in the day, because I wanted to be included. But they never were fully realized projects because I quickly lost interest. I realized that the reason behind that was that I didn't really care about Stiles. At least not in the way that the fandom wanted me to. I was much more interested in Scott (a rarity for me, because I usually loathe the main character) and characters like Lydia and Danny and all these smaller roles that weren't being given any actual attention (both within the story itself and within fandom). But still, even to this day, three years after the show ended, we still have people who will intentionally ignore Scott's character and all that that entails to focus on the smallest of details about Stiles.

Just today there was someone in the Scott McCall tag hating on his character because of how he acted the first two episodes when he was literally brand new to the whole situation of being a werewolf.

That's why I work to talk about the racism in the fandom. Racism is like homophobia or antisemitism or misogyny. Its taught from a very young age to all of us, to an extent that we don't think about it until we actually think about it. What some of these people don't seem to understand is that just because they're not calling Scott a "sp*ck", doesn't mean they're not being racist with how they treat him. Just because they're not calling Lydia a wh*re doesn't mean they're not being misogynistic. Just because they're not calling Danny a f*g, doesn't mean they're not being homophobic. Prejudice is like a disease that you have to constantly fight to protect yourself from. It's not a once and done.

This got longer than I wanted (I was going to stop after the first paragraph), but my brain's like a floodgate. Once it's open, it all just comes rushing out.

#just imagine if they'd given even half the attention that they heaped on stiles to scott #the fandom would have been a much more tolerable place #teen wolf fandom problems #fandom racism #scott mccall defense squad #russianspacegeckosexparty

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sparkwhorunswithwolves · 4 years

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“The next day Scott apologizes to Allison, who’s a little bit upset. But hey, Scott’s a werewolf, so I mean, what are you gonna do, say no?”

Of all the things that confused me for a long time, among the most confusing was Scott/Posey Stans’ simultaneously held beliefs that Scott McCall would be the bestest werewolf ever and yet somehow remain a toxic human disaster worthy of pity. All the things that make Scott McCall that disaster – his insecurities, his lack of empathy, his bigotry, his hypocrisy, his abusive tendencies and behavior, his possessive instincts – also make him an absolute horror as a werewolf.

How many times did Scott lash out in anger at people he professed to care about just because they didn’t do what he wanted them to do? How many times did Scott lie and conceal important information from others for his own benefit? How many times did Scott’s mother, girlfriends and friends complain about not being able to help if they don’t know? How many times did Scott charge headlong into situations with no plan whatsoever solely focused on fulfilling his own emotional needs? If it wasn’t for Stiles and Derek, Scott would have been killed off by the hunters and by Peter Hale after exposing his own kind during one of his jealous fits/dick measuring contests with Jackson in Season 1. If it wasn’t for Stiles and Derek, Scott would have hurt Allison and killed Jackson out of jealousy.

Scott knew that becoming a werewolf gave him the power to protect the people he cares about (which includes managing their image of him) and the power to force said protection on them. Teen Wolf S5A and B proved that Scott McCall will lie and manipulate and cheat and gaslight and commit premeditated murder to keep things under his control until he can’t any more; then he’ll explode, whine, throw another one of his self important temper tantrums, and attempt to blame others for his own failures. Why do you think Scott McCall’s body count is higher then the villains’?

Remember how Scott reacted when he found out that Isaac liked Allison? Isaac was a goner the moment he interacted with “HIS” woman. Scott never ever had the slightest hesitation (or any regret) about physically punishing him. Dead man walking. In fact, the only reason Scott stopped abusing Isaac in front of Melissa was because he started preying on the new girl on campus and, quoting Tyler Posey’s own words, “Kira is a good distraction for Scott.”

Perhaps that’s what Scott stans mean when they wax lyrical over how much of an incredible wolf and ‘true alpha’ Scott makes in self-insert Scott McCall Supremacist fan fiction after self insert Scott McCall Supremacist fan fiction: they admire how many innocent people Scott murders and how many abuse victims Scott maims, abuses and violates while working out his delusions of grandeur, pathological jealousy and emotional issues.

Scott McCall had that 10-episode span where he plotted/conspired with Deaton and Gerard Argent against Derek Hale and his Pack behind everyone’s back; which culminated in self proclaimed hero and ruler of Beacon Hills Scott violating Derek’s boundaries, bodily autonomy and consent and committing premeditated attempted murder just because: “He threatened my mom! I had no choice!”

And yet, the Scott McCall defense squad trolls are adamant that Scott immediately flipped an emotional control switch and resolved all his issues. Of course Scott McCall wouldn’t lash out and savagely attack the moment his friends chose to kick his whiny ass to the curb for good or suggested that Scott didn’t have the right to make their decisions for them. Nope! Ice-cold control. Clear loyalties, superior morality and leadership skills. A good, nurturing friend, boyfriend and werewolf and a true blessing to the pack. /sarcasm

While canon shows us that Scott McCall is a flop wolf (even his only beta Liam and his girlfriend Malia called him a failure to his face in Season 5), everything in canon confirms that Stiles Stilinski would make a magnificent werewolf. Born Wolf Peter Hale has always known this – that’s why he offers Stiles the Bite in Season 1 and then shamelessly admits that he NEVER stopped fantasizing about biting/turning Stiles in Season 6.

In conclusion: if Teen Wolf had revolved around the Hale Pack and family and werewolf Stiles and/or Dark Stiles & Void Stiles like viewers wanted, it would have been a better and much more interesting show than whatever Scott/Posey crap-show we got (and it would have lasted longer, too.)

The Teen Wolf writers and producers should have killed Scott McCall off in Season 1 Episode 1 and replaced him with Vernon Boyd or Kira Yukimura instead.

~•~

https://princeescaluswords.tumblr.com/post/623259473284399104/another-thing-fandom-claims-a-story-about-the#notes There. Fixed it for you canon and reality wise @ princeescaluswords

---

Ohhh, do I have opinions about… all of those things. So, in no particular order:

Hale pack; Hale pack 2.0; werewolf Stiles; pretty sure I answered Boyd as the MC before; Kira;

Did I ever actually post that TW would have to deal with fundamentally different themes if Stiles/Allion were bitten instead or did I just go nope NaNo project?

Okay, let’s see, how would a show that actually focused on worldbuilding, werewolf dynamics/culture outside of “I’m the alpha now”, and pack-as-family be more interesting than a show about what is either the most hilariously bad excuse for a Good Guy™, or an unsatisfying good guy turned villain story that didn’t realise that we were actually interested in the character’s lives outside of Scott?

With the Hale pack 2.0, the show would be about rebuilding that, about human and werewolf norms clashing, and finding a middle ground that isn’t “you’ll heal/werewolves made them do it”.

Because TW does have so much potential for all those things, but Scott’s not interested in them unless it directly affects or benefits him; but we never see non-abusive pack dynamics.

And this might just be because I grew up with wolfblood/still haven’t finished the order, but actually seeing that kind of pack bonding/history outside of “let’s save the day” is so much more interesting.

Werewolf!Stiles is interesting, because I can and have seen it both ways with a pretty even split?

(I’ve also answered Stiles saying yes to the bbite at least twice now, and that answer hasn’t changed. Unless it’s time travel. post5a/b Stiles asking Peter or Derek for the bite would be hilarious.)

First off, “Stiles would kill everyone he lies about giving a shit about!1!1!” is absolutely hilarious, given that Scott was the one who tried to kill Stiles, hurt and only didn’t kill Jackson because Derek and Stiles interfered, hurt Isaac, because of “control issues”. But sure, Stiles is the one who would kill everyone on sight. /sarcasm

Okay, so. Stiles wants to be part of this world, does everything he can to learn about it and knows when you can’t do something because werewolves. He has also shown that he’s willing to make sacrifices (skipping the lacrosse game in 1x9(?)/Eichen House in 3b/the relationship with his dad) if it meant keeping people safe, because he knew not doing those things would hurt people more than they could benefit him.

(Meanwhile we have Scott “being bullied” into playing lacrosse/not caring if The Darkness™ hurt anyone— Isaac or anyone at school/lied to his mom, Allison, Kira constantly. Go figure)

Other than that, I honestly can’t tell how much control I would want canon!Stiles to have. Because with fic, I could go either way, for obvious I need to fixate on something other than adhd and werewolves, please, reasons, but canon? I don’t think perfect control on at least the first full moon is something that's actually possible given, you know, canon. And depending on if you go with Stiles being bitten instead of Scott, it’s not a particularly interesting story.

But everything in canon suggests that he would be self aware enough to know that, and not go to a party like a certain other person I will not name here.

But that’s one of the main— issues I have with this line of thinking. It’s always how would this compare to Scott. You always outdo the other, when you can’t really compare it in the sense they are both very different people, who are going to handle the same situation very differently. Scott’s go to response when Shit Happens is to avoid it for as long as possible by distracting himself with school/lacrosse/gf of the season; while, despite for that throwaway line, Stiles always needs to be there— he researches werewolves, stalks Theo, helps the Hales.

As I said before, neither is the most thought out or safe option, both are a normal response, but you can’t— It’s hard to compare them because Scott got bitten “because of” Stiles, and didn’t have any how to werewolf 101 he really listened to. While with Stiles it’s either a) him getting “himself” bitten that night and being excited about it, b) him wanting the bite, knowing what to expect, with a lot less trauma, c) getting bitten without consent but with that understanding of what is happening.

Now, Kira’s story is something I would pay good money to actually see done right. Because can you imagine of they did kill off Scott in 3a, and Kira had to navigate a) BH’s drama, b) coming into her own powers, c) actually dealing with not being fucking told about that, and d) not being fucking lied to end just getting yeeted into the desert?

#teen wolf #anti scott mccall #at least this one is under 1k lmao #idk if this makes sense my brain doesn't like words atm #on a completely unrelated note I'm two scenes from Werewolf Yoda™#and I can't wait to actuall write that tomorrow #Kira's part would have gotten longer but words are hard #and while wolfy stiles/hales have been an interest for a while #going into detail with her would be a whole new narrative that would completely screw over my nano #also who doesn't want domestic werewolves?#submission

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roominthecastle · 4 years

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@alma37 again, thank you for the reply! I only keep starting new posts bc I don’t want this to grow a mile long. now onto the points you raised:

It is so obvious ( to me anyway) at the beginning of TDC, when he sees Zoe, the look of shock and hope (or am I projecting again?), then the disappointment, but still a bit of hope, when he realises she is a descendant (same bloodline).

My thoughts exactly. I mean, everybody projects onto fiction, it’s inevitable since we are not machines and this is a way to connect w/ characters. But I think as he is trying to find his bearings amidst all the new and shiny things, his mask slips there for a moment and the way he looks at her + that “Agatha...?” is quite telling, imo. He is much more attached than even he realized (or allowed himself to realize before) but that’s Dracula for you: he perceives and rationalizes many things but rarely interrogates himself w/ the kind of ruthless honesty Agatha unleashes on him. Their interplay reminds me of that scene w/ Clarice and Hannibal where she says, “You see a lot, Doctor. But are you strong enough to point that high-powered perception at yourself? Why don't you look at yourself and write down what you see? Or maybe you're afraid to.”

I didn’t see the crestfallen expression when Renfield told him Zoe was gone. I’ll have to re-watch this scene. For me, he always seemed indifferent. His tone was, imo at least.

It’s yet again one of those “in the eye of the beholder” situations, but I do feel he is at the very least bothered by the fact that, as Renfield remarks, his lady friend will take no further interest in him. Then he even tries to console him w/ that universal hand-on-shoulder gesture but it isn’t exactly well-received.

It’s just my spin on this but I think he’s struggling to come to terms w/ his feelings about this whole situation, and, as you also noted, Agatha/Zoe is not there for a while to be a sounding board and to unpack things for him/us, so he/we are left to our own devices. I think this is what truly sets the first 2 episodes apart from the 3rd and that may be why some fans struggle w/ it the most, too. Agatha is almost like a “meta presence” constantly interrogating the story itself (via Jonathan in ep1 and via Dracula in ep2) but she is silent for most of ep 3. At least to me, this is the most notable difference and it does result in a pace and perspective shift that isn’t to everybody’s liking, I can understand that.

As far as we (the audience) are concerned, I think a lot can be inferred from acting choices and visual-narrative parallels that consistently run through the entire story and inform unfolding events in the final part. To me, nothing feels as though it came out of nowhere, the seeds are all there. As far as Dracula’s concerned, in ep3 he is getting high on the unique flavor of not-giving-a-shit to cope. He is alone, he misses Agatha (a feeling that must be rather jarring to him), and he is aimless in this brave new world where he doesn’t even have to hunt anymore. He secretly longs to die a proper death but it is denied to him, and now he thinks Agatha, too, has passed on to somewhere he cannot follow. This is what he talks about w/ Lucy at the cemetery where he points out the undead, the eternal sufferers imprisoned in their graves, then looks to her as some sort of antidote, but that experiment is of course doomed to fail. Then Agatha comes back for him and shows him the right way out.

This idea of freedom-via-proper-death is also present in Stoker’s book: “I know that you must fight [...] but it is not a work of hate. That poor soul who has wrought all this misery is the saddest case of all. Just think what will be his joy when he, too, is destroyed in his worser part that his better part may have spiritual immortality.” I think this is what we see in that closing image of Dracula and Agatha joined together as light swirls around them, and I still think it is perfect.

I am pretty sure the smile he wears is directly related to her drinking his blood. I hope I didn’t read that one wrong, though. But the editing makes it look like he feels the moment she drinks.

I think it leaves room for several interpretations: it could v well be that he feels it, it could also be his reaction to seeing Jonathan’s portrait in the hallway and it is intercut w/ her outside the facility, or this could also be from Zoe’s POV - her imagining him grinning just like he later imagines himself staring at Lucy at the club. I think this is also in the commentary where it’s mentioned that that whole dance club sequence is more of a stylistic insert of sorts and Dracula isn’t actually there, it’s all in his mind. But if someone told me the opposite, that they think Dracula is there stalking his next victim, I wouldn’t argue w/ that, either, bc that scene is ambiguous enough to carry that interpretation, too. And the same goes for whatever happens when Zoe drinks his blood. And I fully agree that it was not a surprise to him regardless of when exactly he realizes what she did.

I also wanna hard second this:

I would take a second season however the writers would write it, as long as both actors/characters came back.

#alma37 #musings #who am i kidding #at this point i would watch anything w/ dolly and claes in it #they are i t #bbc dracula

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eidolonlathi · 4 years

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The Issue with Gen’s wasted Character Potential

With the manga about to reach its end I thought it worthwhile to have a closer look at how Gen’s character has been written. And the conclusion I'm coming to is that things started promising but then ended with already established potential not getting used.

Let’s start at the beginning. I don't believe that by the time of their introduction, any of the Sato squad’s new members had a clear and finished backstory. Or if, that it must have gotten changed while the story was progressing.

At this point it is difficult to say what the initial intention had been. But looking at Gen’s introduction, I always had the impression he and Takahashi didn't use to know each other before, came to the meeting alone and met there for the first time, instantly developing sympathy for each other. Something of the body and facial language in their first panel just seems too distant for me to signal anything else. And taking into account that until chapter 66.5 it hadn’t been confirmed that they shared a backstory, I view an individual arrival still as a possibility. Gen stating some time after the Grant Pharma arc that he possesses no ghost is no contradiction; just because Kou was clumsy enough to attract attention and got caught doesn't mean Gen wouldn't have been able to attend the black ghost meeting undetected.

Either way, only moments later, as soon as Sato's plan was established, he and Takahashi were able to quickly adapt to the situation and work together in harmony. Be it because they used to already know each other or by forming an instant strong connection. This moment already established the pattern that functioning together came easy to them while with Tanaka in the equitation friction would develop easily. But interestingly on the newly formed team all disharmony vanished at first, the operation on Grant Pharma ending a success.

I think this is about the only time in the manga where Gen is completely on his own and it’s impressive how good his nerves are during this moment. He stays calm, analyses the situation and delivers the needed information. And he has to do all of this while Takahashi is constantly being killed right next to him, yet Gen doesn’t get nervous at all.

That kind of levelheadedness would last until into the Forge Arc. And then getting reduced for the sake of preparing a “twist” lacking any solid foundation. Regardless of what one thinks of Gen being human or him and Takahashi supposed to have been brothers all along, from a storytelling perspective it makes zero sense to hide this all away from the reader until the last second. Like, that’s it? That’s the twist? How is this supposed to be relevant again? One of the random sidekicks to the main baddy –who you always knew wouldn’t have a chance to make it to the end- died instead of having gotten captured. I doubt anyone but the less than 20 people who used to ship takagen cared. These characters were about to disappear from the story either way, the average reader wouldn’t care about the surrounding details because these two were not the kind of characters that were given enough relevance. Or more, after a strong introduction, relevance and focus kept getting taken away from them.

Because relevance is the second factor why the reveals at the end were a bad way to progress the story. Since it got clear that some intended surprise was along its way (being shocking for the purpose of being shocking always looks forced), Takahashi and especially Gen were shoved further away into the background of happenings, given little to do. And that was a waste, frankly, taking into account how active both of them were allowed to behave shortly after their introductions. Remember them both supporting Sato with their sniping skills during the Grant Pharma attack? Sniping is a task complicated to do right but both of them were proving to be capable. Together and on their own: The moment Takahashi was taken out by enemy snipers, Gen was perfectly able to calmly overview and asset the situation, like this gathering together the information Tanaka needed to advance further and deal with those threats.

So, you have these two characters who have proven to be capable during stressful situations with a reliable mind and then the manga just… shoved them aside. Not just by lessening focus on them but by downright ignoring the ways they would have been able to contribute to their team. Cutting their teeth and claws further and further, first by putting more of a focus on their drug using habits (edgy. Now we know they’re bad guys for sure. Don’t get me started on addiction getting used as an indicator of morality) and then taking this further until they were reduced to not much more than moving props clowning around in the background. Compare that to Okuyama, whose early established technical skills kept getting efficiently used to advance the plot.

The curse got broken. After years of silence chapter 59 finally allowed Gen to speak again. Unfortunately barely anyone still remembered he existed or what he had brought to the plot so far.

Letting all this potential go to waste, for what? Because more of a focus would have threatened to reveal those wannabe twists? Something that turned out as boring as “one was human all along but the writing never told us that for no good reason”. It is hard to imagine after all the Sato squad was unaware about this important little detail: Not with their habit to regenerate themselves or their injured comrades via shooting themselves back to life during operations. With this they would have needed getting informed about Gen not being an ajin.

And the sudden sibling status about to get introduced resulting in “Gen’s dialogue needs to get reduced into nothing, otherwise it would become too obvious he and Takahashi being brothers was a last minute idea, with them going against local conventions by not calling each other “brother”, instead using their last names ever since.” Yeah, how did that work out? Now we have actual implied canonical incest because Takahashi and Gen being related changed nothing about the fact they were giving off the most obvious couple vibes this manga had to offer, making it look they were actively hiding being related. Where did it go wrong? Was “Gen is human” installed as a possible twist last minute late in the game, kept nebulous in case some better idea came up? (The hints were always vague guesswork at best, supposed to be able to go both ways, and unlike the anime the manga didn’t have the foresight to prepare it as believable by keeping Gen out of the most dangerous situations and reducing this drug consuming habit to a zero. So, am I supposed to look at it as a deliberate suicide mission on his part in manga context? Was his nihilism this deeply rooted here?) And what about the sibling retcon? Was “he joined this non-human extremist group for the sake of supporting his friend” sounding too gay an explanation, so in an attempt to erase that away they were retconned brothers? Would at least explain why those two look absolutely nothing alike despite supposed to be related.

Ironically this accidental incestuous implication was the only element working here in favour of story telling and character development. Disillusioned incestuous couple disappointed with life drifts into nihilism and thus resonates with Sato's ruthless modus operandi? Now that's the kind of variation and originality I like to see in fiction.

Interesting how Gen just shrugs his shoulders and goes back to routine once told the hostages already served their purpose. Zero sentimentalities to be seen.

I’m glad the story at least let those two stay loyal to Sato until the end, keeping the last bit of relevance in place that differentiated them from their (former) teammates. Takahashi and Gen had bloodthirsty motivations long before they met Sato, so it makes sense those shared similarities kept deepening the bond of those three. It makes sense on a level of characterization and interpersonal relation as well: I’d go as far as to say that Sato was most likely one of the few (the first?) people who accepted them the way they were. Attentive as he was it is hard to imagine he would have missed any aspect of the nature of their relationship. Yet his demeanour towards them never changed, more, as time went on the three of them grew closer. Being met with this kind of acceptance, it is easy to see why Takahashi’s and Gen’s loyalty towards Sato would have strengthened over time as well. Add to this that those three had a pretty similar mind set and voila. A unit that could have had it all, hadn’t it been for the story’s need to play it safe and prepare circumstances so the “good” guys (anyone seriously believing the status quo of using captured ajin for experiments would have changed without outside pressure?) win because of reasons.

This manga has many strengths but the recent habit to insert plot threads that keep dangling and are leading to nowhere or constant retcons that backpedal on what was previous established are none of it. Seeing how the manga started losing its way shortly after the Forge Arc ended and how the plot is now stumbling around in an attempt to reach an ending has been a disappointment, exactly because the story already has proven so many times that it can be excellent under the right circumstances. Alas, hope gets snatched away last.

#ajin #takahashi #gen #takagen #satou #eidolonlathi writes #lathi writes ajin

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