#also i gave her moles <33 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

isngh8n · 3 years

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my good little girl — sunghoon.

pairings : hard dom!sunghoon x fem!reader

genre : smut, suggestive

word count : 3.9k

category : from @enhoesnetwork first event : 7 deadly sins, lust.

warning/s : stripping, alcoholic beverages, overstimulation, breeding kink, (slight) dry humping, oral (both receiving), masturbation (male), cuffing, unprotected sex, thigh riding, face fucking, dom and sub dynamics, degradation and pet names. minors dni.

a/n : i had fun thinking of this plot and writing it, this is probably my longest smut as of now, it took me a few days to finish the whole of this as I worked along with personal stuff. if you see typographical and grammatical errors ahead, please don’t mind it, I literally write my works in the middle of the night. happy 600 followers, thank you so much for the love, i love you all so much <33

Today’s Saturday and you’re currently preparing for an event because you’re bored and has nothing to do. Putting makeup just enough to highlight your features and you’re ready to go to the venue.You drove to the club and immediately met with Nova and the rest of the group. “Here,” she gave you a plastic bag with a sexy pair of clothes and a mask inside. “All you girls have to do is just go with the flow with them, go change now!” she said excitedly.“Y/N, wait, yours is different,” she faced you after the others left. “Spy for me, if you see any of these girls try flirting with my fiance, tell me immediately, or if it’s the other way around.”

“Alright, Nova. Well, let me enjoy it atleast or find a guy to be with,” you both chuckled as you left the spot and changed in one of the stalls nearby. The silk dress fit you perfectly and matched your makeup for tonight.

Apparently, Nova is about to get married and you mentioned to her that you’re bored and want some fun, as her maid of honor, she suggested you this act in her fiance’s bachelor’s party, thinking it’s a nice idea for you to also get some guy.

music playing : earned it – the weeknd

And that’s how you found yourself walking to the entrance and winked at your friend before putting on your mask. You are met with a huge hall filled with dancing club lights, eventually lighting up every corner of the area.

You searched for the other girls and went with them as the party is already starting. You walked towards the center where you can see the guests clearly. Dancing and swaying your hips to the beat, you stared blankly at the groom seeing if he’s enjoying the scene in front of him. Good thing, he’s not.

So you looked at his friends one by one, until you locked eyes with someone. To your surprise, he have this slight smirk plastered on his face while watching you intensely. ‘A staring game, I see,’ you thought.

And so you swayed your hips sensually, until he leaned back on the couch, legs spread apart, completely enjoying the show you’re giving him. His eyes traveling down your body as you dance against the pole behind you.

You walked towards him and boldly sat on his lap and grinded down on him teasingly. You noticed him bite his lips as his eyes darken with lust. When you felt something poking your thigh, you giggled and left his lap as the song ended. The guys clapped and cheered. “Ladies, feel free to grab a drink on the counter!” Nova’s fiance, Brian, announced.

I looked at the attractive guy earlier to find him still looking at me while his arms are crossed, his fingers playing with his bottom lip. I smirked at him and walked towards the counter just to provoke him.

“Give me your best cocktails here,” I said. Not too long, you felt a presence beside you. You looked at your side and saw him with a sly smile on his face. Seeing him up close is a lot more nice. His thick eyebrows, long eyelashes, tall and pointed nose, sharp jawline, his long, pretty neck, and his pretty lips. The moles on his face made him a lot more attractive.

“Hi, you did amazing back there a few minutes ago,” he casually said while getting a glass of tequila. You got fluttered, you didn’t expect him to compliment you in your first conversation. “Thanks, glad you loved it, Sir.”

“Sunghoon. My name’s Sunghoon,” he lend his hand for a proper introduction.

“Y/N,” you accepted his hand and flashed him a smile.

Once your hands touched and eyes locked, you felt the sexual tension earlier come back, much intense this time. Sunghoon stared right through your eyes as his expressions went dark and serious.

He leaned in, his clean and elegant scent engulfing your sense of smell, you gulped nervously. “I believe we have an unfinished business, Miss.” Your brave demeanor earlier suddenly vanished.

“Mind finishing what you started, hmm?” he said as he start caressing the side of your arms, sending electricity to your nerves. His scent is intoxicating your mind, but despite of that, you silently shaked your head before responding, “Show me your way, then.” Faking a brave expression, but deep inside, you’re a nervous wreck who’s anticipating what awaits you tonight.

He stood up and took his jacket off to cover your body as the two of you are about to leave the club. You don’t know what’s gotten into your mind, why are you following a complete stranger to his car to finish some business.

As you both went inside the car, the drive usually seemed so slow. “Sunghoon, do you do this usually?” you asked, not being able to control your curiosity. “Depends, why’d you ask?” a smile appearing on his face.

“You seem like you know well how to work your charm,” you chuckled.

He chuckled which made you look at him, catching a glimpse of his dimple. “You’re beautiful.” You unconsciously said out loud. He looked at you and clicked his tongue, “I bet you’re more beautiful… when you’re underneath me.”

A small whimper escaped your lips as his words are starting to affect you. That definitely affected Sunghoon’s aura as his eyes got darker when he stared at you before the traffic finally moved, he drove fast towards his house and in a few minutes, you both arrived.

You were about to get out of the car but he stopped you. The gentleman in him is still there as he went out first and walked to your side, opening the door for you as he assisted you to his house. As you both entered the area and secured the locks, Sunghoon didn’t waste any time and kissed you immediately.

music playing : tonight – zayn

You were surprised by his sudden actions, yet, you kissed him back with the same amount of hunger and lust. He pulled you closer and you instinctively wrapped your arms around him to deepen the kiss. Later on, you felt him biting your lower lip which made you gasp and took this as a chance to enter his tongue on yours.

His tongue played with yours for dominance, you on the other hand, is getting dizzy with the mixture of the taste of alcohol, mint, strawberry and the taste of himself. You cannot help but moan against his mouth as he sucked on your tongue, hands caressing your sides.

“You’re so addicting,” he told you. You’re too occupied with your own pleasure as he moved down to your jaw and neck, leaving marks and immediately finding your sweet spot that got you moaning a bit louder.

Sunghoon pulled away, “Jump, babe,” he said and so you did, he catched you and wrapped your legs on his waist, walking towards a huge door. He opened it quickly and threw you on the bed, hovering on top of you.

“One wrong move and I’ll punish you. Your safe word will be red, you understood, slut?” he asked, his voice hoarse and deep than earlier. You nodded furiously, excitement containing your nerves.

“You have to use your words next time I ask you a question.” He said with no emotions. He stood up and sat on a chair, leaving you confused. “Stand up and strip for me like the good girl you are,” he commanded.

You get where is this heading to, and you cannot avoid getting wet every damn time he speaks. Scared of what punishment lies around, you immediately stood up and slowly unclasped the clips in your clothing.

Once done, you started to remove your clothes one by one while watching him watch you with hungry eyes. You can see his bulge creating a huge tent in his pants but he didn’t pay it any attention. When you’re completely naked, he stood up and changed the lights of the room to red and got a few things from his cabinet.

You saw a leather handcuff, a blindfold and a rope. You knew you’re in deep shit. Sunghoon side-eyed you and smirked at how your face is unexplainable at the moment. “Say, are you scared, princess?” he asked while he’s fixing the stuff he’ll use against you.

“N-No, Sunghoon…” Wrong.

He snapped his head in your direction with a glare. He walked towards you and grabbed you by the jaw, causing you to face him and look into your eyes closely. “That’s not my name…” he said in gritted teeth.

You remembered what you called him earlier before he introduced himself to you. “S-Sorry, Sir…” you whimpered, he then released you and went back to his stuff.

Few seconds later, he walked up to you with the handcuff and blindfold on his hands. “Turn around,” he commanded. Sunghoon covered your eyes with the cloth, before guiding and laying you down the bed. You felt him pinning your arms above your head as he cuffs it to the headboard.

After finishing his set-up, Sunghoon went back to kiss you, passionately with a mix of hunger. Since you can’t see anything, you only feel him kissing down to your neck, down to your chest. “You’re so beautiful, all sprawled out for me, love,” he praised before giving your nipple kitten licks. He licked, sucked and slightly bit your nipples as he massaged both of your tits, making you moan to the pleasure. After playing with the left one, he did the same thing with the right one.

Following the line of your body, he kissed every inch of your skin from your chest, down to your stomach, left a few marks there as well before going down on your pelvis. Sunghoon pushed your thighs wide apart, the cold air hitting your wet core. Until you felt a hot breath, fanning over your clit.

“Hmmm… So wet for me, such a whore.” He talked. You didn’t mind the names he call you, all you care about now is Sunghoon and his pleasure.

Your thoughts were cut off when Sunghoon licked your clit, teasing you a bit which made you tremble, before sucking on it as if he’s been starving. You couldn’t contain the immense amount of pleasure to keep your legs open by yourself, so Sunghoon helped you with it by gripping on your thighs hard enough to leave bruises the next day.

Your moans filled the room as Sunghoon lapped and sucked your juices, eventually thrusting his tongue inside your cunt a few times.

“Sir! That feels… so g-good, please!” you screamed when he circled his tongue on your clit and inserted two fingers in your entrance.

“Yeah? My slut loves that?” “Yes, Sir!” you responded.

Sunghoon kept thrusting his fingers inside you and curls it to reach the perfect spots. You practically screamed when he found your spot, he chuckled without humor in his tone and continued curling his fingers to reach that certain spot.

“Sir…! I’m coming…” you announced. Only a few licks and pumps left and you’re about to cum, but Sunghoon stopped eating you out and pumping his fingers inside your pussy.

“Why? Do you deserve to cum tonight, huh?” he asked. “Such a slut, humping and grinding on a stranger the first time they met. Now tell me, do you still deserve to cum, Y/N?” he pointed out.

You shaked your head in disagreement, knowing that it’s what he wants to see. “No, Sir…” you whimpered. He nodded, mocking you at your state with a wicked smile plastered on his face. “You must work hard for it, baby girl, you know that, right?” You nodded.

You heard ruffling of clothes and faint footsteps walking towards the bed, you soon felt Sunghoon move your blindfold to your forehead so you can see him. You looked at him and saw he’s already topless. Eyeing his perfectly toned body, how pale his skin is and how small his waist is.

“Like what you see?” he asked you with an amused grin. You smirked only, intentionally not responding to his question.

The grin on his face faded when he realized you only responded with silence. He got irritated and marched towards you with an annoyed face, yanking your legs wider, tying them to the both sides of the bed.

Sunghoon leaned down to face your cunt, blowing air to it making you shiver and squirm in your place. He then started carressing your slit in the very lightest way making you buck your hips to his hand.

He gave your cunt a few slaps, earning a moan from you, “You’re so needy and desperate,” he clicked his tongue. You watched Sunghoon as he takes a few steps backward, him completely centered between your legs through your perspective.

“Let’s make a deal,” he starts unbuckling his belt. “I need you to stay quiet as I get off, you’ll watch me as I pleasure myself and I shouldn’t hear any noise coming from the filthy mouth of yours, do you get it?”

“What do I get in return?”

“You’ll get to cum tonight more than planned.” Sunghoon answered as he unzips his pants, pulling it off along with his underwear, his cock springing into life.

Your mouth waters with the sight, his tip in a pinkish shade and leaking with pre-cum. You nodded immediately and Sunghoon seems to get what you’re trying to tell. He kicked his clothes to his side and grabbed his cock while staring right at you.

He gave it a few pumps while eyeing your body. Soon, his pace went fast right when his eyes landed on your wet core. The show in front of you is so good, Sunghoon looked so pretty while his mouth’s apart, eliciting moans from it, sending chlls right to your core.

You tried so hard not to moan while watching him get off himself, you bit on your lip so hard that you can actually taste the blood. Your core dripping wet from what Sunghoon is doing.

You feel dizzy, wanting him to fill you up already but he hasn’t finished yet, you kept clenching on nothing, desperate to feel something as Sunghoon continues to jerk in front of you, stares switching from your eyes and your pussy.

“Ah, fuck, I’m gonna cum,” Sunghoon announced.

You watched him intenly, eyes burning with hunger and lust. He stroked his dick faster, desperately chasing his high, his moans getting louder and louder. Sunghoon’s eyes closed, mouth widens apart as he craned his neck backwards, showing off his sharp jawline and long, pretty neck as he shoots his come towards your direction, but it never landed on you

Once he regained his state, he looked up to you and chuckled, “You’re such a good girl,” he cooed, “That wasn’t so hard, wasn’t it?” … “No, Sir.” He only hummed with your response.

Sunghoon went up to you to untie and uncuff you before sitting at the edge of the bed, urging you to come close to him. Being the good girl you are, you crawled to him with a confused look on your face.

“Ride my thigh.” He commanded.

You felt your face turn hot but followed him immediately, in a small span of time you both were together, you realized he has a short patience. You set yourself on his left thigh, your bare cunt making contact with his skin felt so good which made you sigh.

Sunghoon’s hands automatically gripped on your hips, slowly rocking you as you grind down on his thigh, your clit creating friction with his thigh. You both moaned at the feeling.

Few seconds later, you found yourself grinding and rocking your hips against Sunghoon’s thigh, not minding the mess you’re making as you get close to your limit. You gripped his broad shoulders tightly.

Sunghoon must’ve noticed your pace slowed down so he started guiding your hips and constantly clenching his thigh muscles, after a few more, you warned him. “I’m gonna cum, Sir!”

“Make a mess on me, slut.” And that was your cue to cum, you moaned right at his ear as Sunghoon slowly continues rocking your hip against his thigh, helping you rock your high.

He was looking at you the entire time, so when he noticed that you’re calming down already, he scooped you and threw you back on your spot before, cuffing you again, but this time, not including your feet.

You whimpered at the sudden action, everything seemed to move fast around you. You snapped out of your trance when you felt Sunghoon’s tip tracing your slit, spreading your wetness against his shaft.

“Sir, please…” You frantically begged.

“Please what, doll?” he continued teasing you, circling his tip around your clit.

“Please fuck me, Sir,” you breathed out.

Without hesitation, Sunghoon thrusted his cock in you, strecthing your walls out. “You feel so good and huge inside me, Sir,” you moaned. Sunghoon slowly thrusts into you, giving you enough time to adjust to his size.

“Yeah? Am I making my doll feel good?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir! Please, fuck me hard-Ah!” your beg was cut when Sunghoon started thrusting fast, his cock rubbing against your walls, making you scream.

“That’s right, baby, let them know who owns you and how good I fuck you.”

Your moans and the sound of skin slapping against each other filling the room. Sunghoon put both of your leg on his shoulder and leaned down on you, bending you to a position where he can thrust deeper inside.

“Fuck,” you released high-pitched moans, close to screams, as Sunghoon thrusts deeper, the tip of his length repeatedly hits your g-spot. Sunghoon groans against your ear, the feeling of how tight you hug his cock sent him shivers down the spine.

Cumming before, you felt a knot form again in your stomach, “S-Sir, I’m going to cum,” you managed to say.

Sunghoon looked at you, tears welling in your eyes because of the intense pleasure, he reached in between your bodies and rubbed circles on your clit, sending you to the edge.

“Cum for me, babe,” Sunghoon whispered in a deep voice. You cummed on his dick, clenching uncontrollably around Sunghoon which made him groan. He kept thrusting into you, hitting your spot perfectly, making you shake underneath him.

“S-Sir…” you moaned, the overstimulation making you unable to form coherent words, your eyes rolling to the back of your head. “I knew you’d be a lot prettier underneath me,” he groaned.

Sunghoon then dips his head down to your neck, licking and sucking on your skin, leaving several marks on different areas. You held onto the chains of the handcuffs for dear life, as your third cum for tonight is nearing. “I’m gonna… gonna cum again,” you breathed.

Your eyes snapped open when Sunghoon’s fastened into an animalistic pace, his tip hitting your sensitive spot harder than usual, triggering your release by surprise making you scream curses. “Fuck, I’m close,” he said.

As you have already cummed, you trembled under Sunghoon as he helped your ride your high, his member literally throbbing inside you. His hold on your waist tightens when he shoots his load inside you after one last hard thrust. Both of your moans filling up the room, the feeling of his cum spurting inside you made you feel weird.

Once Sunghoon calmed down, he kissed you passionately, as if his kisses were full of affection and gratitude, you kissed him back with the same intensity, not until you feel him hardening inside you again. Sunghoon, the cheeky ass he is, he starts thrusting slowly into you, earning moans from the both of you as your tongues fight for dominance.

He is the one to pull away just centimers from your face, “Show me how good you are, doll,” you muttered an ‘Okay’ and Sunghoon went down the bed. He pointed the spot in front of him, signaling you to position yourself there. Once you got there, his dick is standing tall and painfully hard.

“Kneel,” you understood what he meant, so as soon as you knelt down, you grabbed his member giving it a few strokes before licking his tip. Sunghoon’s breath hitched as you took him slowly, inch by inch until the tip of your nose reached his skin.

“Oh, fuck, you’re so good for me,” he moaned out loud. His praises encouraged you a lot, you start bobbing your head up and down as you suck him on a steady pace. Sunghoon, a man who doesn’t have a long patience, grabs the back of your head and thrusted him in your mouth without notice, making you gag.

“Mmmh, that’s right, choke on my cock, slut,” he said in between his grunts. You let him fuck your mouth, his tip reaching down your throat. Sunghoon then guided your head around him, collecting your hair so he can see clearly how his dick disappears to your mouth.

After a couple of thrusts, he pulled out, a string of saliva connecting your mouth and his length is seen. ‘That was hot’, he thought. Sunghoon pulled you up and made you bend against the bed, your ass facing him.

You felt him enter you again causing you to moan his name, at this point, Sunghoon doesn’t care anymore if you call him by Sir or by his name. He thrusted into you in a fast pace, the new position making you feel like your organs are getting rearranged.

He watches from behind how your face changes into a pleasurable expression as he pounds you from the back and how your skin slaps against each other. “I’m close, fuck,” he announced.

“Please, cum with me, Sir.”

He went faster, an unimaginable speed, hitting the perfect spots consistently. You felt your legs tremble as you cum for how many times already. “Sunghoon!” you screamed his name and clenched around him.

“Fuck, Y/N,” he moaned out your name as he cums along with you, your releases colliding against each other. Sunghoon can’t help but thrust a few more before pulling out, making sure to remember how you felt around him before giving you a smack in the ass which made you shriek.

He laughed and put your panties on. You climbed up at the bed as you watch him wear his boxers, cringing at the sticky feeling in your core. “Keep it in there until later,” he said before laying down beside you, pulling you close as he combs your hair, both of you immediately falling into deep sleep, not minding how to face a new day tomorrow.

m.list

#enhypen smut #enhypen suggestive #enhypen hard hours #sunghoon smut #sunghoon hard hours #park sunghoon smut #enhypen #sunghoon #enhypen imagines #enhoesnet

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nishihii · 2 years

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As a person with “weird” eyes myself, I appreciate that you gave Mabel a lazy eye. Not many people do this with their ocs. I’m also obsessed with how strong her jaw is on the first art. Idk why but it looks so attractive 😳 Oh, and lastly I really love that you draw Adeline with freckles and a lot of moles. These features are just small details, but they’re very cute!

happy to hear that! <33 this is why representation is so important and i feel very accomplished to hear someone felt seen by my art- thank you anon!! (and yess the freckles/moles are crucial. not only are they beautiful but also fun to add)

and yeah i really wanted mabel to have one because i found it fits her

here's a strong-jawed mabel for you <3

#bloodborne #ask #mabeline the selfless #oc #nishart

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jonnnysuh · 3 years

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Never Not - Park Jinyoung

Pairing: idol!Jinyoung x gender neutral reader

Summary: Your bad day is turned around when your childhood best friend, Jinyoung, returns to your hometown and takes you on a tour of your favourite memories together.

Genre: angst, fluff, friends to lovers

Warnings: suggested sexual experience

Word Count: 4.3k

Requested by: Anon

A/N: Hi guysssss. I took a small break from tumblr bc I got super busy with work. I haven’t written something like this in a while, but I actually loved how it turned out. I recommend listening to Never Not by Lauv to get into the mood <33

Effort was hard to make these days. Even the way you walked had an unmistakable slouch. Your exhaustive strides were just a shallow reminder that there used to be a hop in your step. Five more minutes and you were free from the shackles of work. Free to figure out what to make for dinner, and appease the gurgles of your stomach.The seconds on the point of sale system didn't seem to move fast enough as you folded the customer's final item and shoved it into a bag.

When you were a kid, no one told you how exhausting being an adult was, and thus it became something to look forward to. You were so caught up on getting that first kiss, sneaking out to go to parties, seeing people that your parents didn't approve of, that you didn't realize that life didn't slow down from there. It was like you blinked, and you were no longer 16. Instead, you were twenty-something perpetually feeling like life was just an endless pit of "what ifs" and building up the courage to make something of yourself. Another mindless "Have a good day." escaped your lips as you bid a customer bye for the nth time that day. You wondered how many of your years would waste away telling others to have a good day, when you yourself hadn't had one in a while.

You pressed your fingers against your temple to sooth a small growing headache. Working in retail for as long as you had, you knew that the s-curved line of people didn't stop for your discomfort. With a fake smile on your face, you welcomed the next few customers as your eyes wandered around the store looking for the person who was going to take over for the next hour. Fifteen minutes past the hour, your replacement finally came. Externally, you wanted to scream and ask them what took you so long? but you knew that would only make you as good as the worst customer. Graciously, you nodded at them, before walking away to the back room to fetch your things and head out.

...

You stood against the wall at the bus shelter shivering from the cool summer breeze that was disguising just how rapidly autumn was truly coming. Today probably wasn't the best day to forget your coat. You rubbed your arms for warmth, taking micro footsteps in place. The pain in your feet made you romanticize the comfort of the sturdy old bus seats as a place of rest. You felt your phone in your pocket vibrate, but you let it ring out. You were determined to get a seat on this bus. A deep sigh escaped you as you surveyed the density of the crowd on the platform- the ride home was definitely going to be longer than usual. When the bus arrived, you queued behind a long line of people. Your phone rang a second time, at this point the crowd was getting larger and you knew you weren't going to get a seat on this bus.

PRIVATE CALLER

"Hello?" you pressed your phone to your ear. Sometimes your mother used phone booths to reach you, so you expected her voice to be on the other end of the line. "I'm offended I had to call you twice for you to pick up." The voice was much deeper, and the delivery much more lighthearted than anything that would've came out of your mother. The absence of a greeting was distinct and direct, but no matter, you knew exactly who this was.

You felt the tenseness of your shoulders drop with just the sound of this voice. "If I had definitely known it was you, I wouldn't have picked up, Mr. Private caller." you jest with the phone pressed between your ear and the crook of your shoulder.

"You know, I was gonna suggest that I pick you up, but just for that comment, I change my mind."

You poke your tongue at your cheek, coyly. For all the changes that occurred in your life, for some reason you could depend on Jinyoung's quick wit and humour to hit the spot even after all this time.

"That's fine, I just finished work so I was thinking of just going home anyways." You had no idea he was even back in South Korea. Last you heard, he was on tour somewhere in North America. More than that, you couldn't even remember when the last time you actually talked was. You were curious about what he was up to these days, but you you knew any hint of urgency in your voice would lead to incessant teasing on his part. The line progressed slightly, but you still didn't feel any closer to the entrance of the bus.

"I'm about to get on a bus home."

"Well, don't get on."

"If I don't get on then you're gonna have to repay me for the fare I paid to even get here." You eyed the bus reaching its capacity, and stepped aside. You twisted your fingers in hope that he was being 100% serious, otherwise you were going to have to wait out for the 6:30pm bus.

"I can't believe the cost of your attention is only $2. Do better." the voice quipped.

"Okay, Jinyoung I guess I'll just get on, then." you threatened, although you had no intention of boarding the departing bus.

"Fine, fine. I'll pay for your fare. Just wait for me."

...

The sky had darkened tenfold since you hung up from Jinyoung's impromptu call. The streetlights glowed gold against the lavender backdrop of the sky. You sat on the bus shelter bench, swinging your feet back and forth as you waited for him. If he took even a minute longer, you vowed to somehow become the president of the Park Jinyoung hate club. Of course, you wouldn't actually, but the idea became more appealing the longer you waited.

You weren't one to go on spontaneous outings- at least not since your teenage years. Recently, you followed the strict routine of work, home, sleep, and to stray from it seemed pointless. But the fact that he even thought of you when he came back home to South Korea was still not something you could wrap your head around.

In the distance, a glow of headlights appeared, stopping perfectly adjacent to your bus stop. The window rolled down, and there appeared Jinyoung's face in all its glory. To say all the words in your vocabulary disappeared would be an understatement. A part of you doubted he would even follow through. Without missing a beat, he returned a look to you. "You just gonna stare at me, or are you gonna get in the car?"

...

Your backpack was sitting atop your lap, bouncing with the movement of the car. Jinyoung hung one hand over the steering wheel. The orange and purple of the sky twisting, and creating a brand new colour that only seemed to grace the skies at this hour. The music was unidentifiable, but the volume was low enough that you didn't even bother trying to figure it out.

"So what'd you do today?" he asked.

"I worked, I told you that." you replied, matter-of-factly.

"And how was it?"

"I honestly can't tell the difference between this week and last week. Or even last month. Same old, same old. Annoying customers, stale lunch, forgot my jacket at home even though it's 15 fucking degrees outside."

"Do you still work at that clothing store you started at when we were 20?"

Your eyes shifted, following the ever-changing scenery of the highway. No idea where he was bringing you, and yet you were brought to comfort by Jinyoung's habits. You knew he didn't have a drug deal, or a random party planned. Jinyoung was always the type to be home before midnight. He was a self-proclaimed goody-two-shoes, but you weren't completely fooled. You knew he could bend the rules if it seemed to serve him.

"That exact same one."

"Anything else?"

You looked at him, the shock settling in that he was really right next to you-- no longer just a figure on a billboard that you used to know. The changes of his physicality were subtle; his face was more defined, but his cheeks still carried the baby fat that had been there since childhood. The shadow of his facial hair loomed on his smooth skin. The mole on the top of his lip, not necessarily gone, but faded. He looked older, but the aura of his presence remained the same.

"And then I was dumb enough to get into a car with a stranger because he said he'd give me $2."

Jinyoung side eyed you, causing you to erupt in laughter. His glare was also unchanging. "Stranger? Your memory's fading already?" He shook his head disappointedly. "I thought you still had a few good years left."

"Oh yeahhhhhh. Sorry Jinyoungie. Didn't recognize you with all the fame." you pinched and pulled on his ear- both things a relic of your grade school years. When you were kids, you never let him forget the age gap. Granted, it was only 3 days, but that gave you the freedom to refer to him however you pleased, while he was stuck with the honorifics.

As you let go, the curve of his ear flushed red. "OWW.” he cried, swatting your hand away. “You’re lucky I’m driving otherwise I would pull your hair.”

Being raised with Jinyoung meant that you were inseparable but kind of in the worst way. If Jinyoung got a good mark on a test, his parents would immediately flaunt it to yours. If you wanted to sneak out, he was on your tail telling you to go back home. And if he knew you liked someone, then that person would know soon enough by the words of Jinyoung. All of that warranted ear pulling, and if you did something in retaliation he would pull your hair.

He was one of the few people in your life, who encapsulated a certain time of your life. The time in your life when you were young, and the world felt so big and everything was possible.

The car rocked back and forth as it shifted into the elevated ramp of a parking lot. Your eyes widened as you realized where you were. He lingered in his seat before popping his seatbelt off and exiting the car. You followed him, swinging the passenger door open.

"So you randomly called me because you wanted to hang out at the...convenience store?" you gestured to the old, orangey building. The bricks were chipped, and the fluorescent lights illuminated the outside through the big glass window. You remember the days when you and Jinyoung would sit on the parking blocks and split a bag of chips until you were chased off the property by the owner. He pulled on the store door, pressing his back to it and letting you enter first.

"Well, I wasn't going to come here until you started yanking my ears. That's when I knew you were hungry."

Without stopping, you weaved through the store until you reached aisle 3- the snack aisle had become a home to you and Jinyoung when you were growing up. In grade school, you were both fearful of what was beyond the boundaries of your home and school so you indulged in after school snacks at the convenience to talk about the latest happenings in your life. As you aged, it became the place of solace after exams, or the meetup location for last minute plans.

He picked up a package of gummy worms, and shook them in your face. "Do you remember what happened the last time we ate theseeee?" Jinyoung smirked. For a moment, you were taken aback by how much he had grown. In your teens, you and Jinyoung met eye to eye. Now, you felt like you had to look up at him in order to be taken seriously.

You crossed your arms, "Yeah, we ate them in the parking lot and you made me confess who I had a crush on."

"Chan, right?"

You nodded, with a sulk as you reminisced. "That wasn't fair."

"Why? Do you still have a crush on him?"

"I haven't thought about him in so long. You really think I'd have a lingering crush on a guy I haven't seen in years?"

Jinyoung shrugged, and shifted his feet. "You had a huge crush on him, though. You even stared at him like this." He rested his palm to his cheek, letting out a deep sigh while trying to maintain an enamoured expression. You snorted, hitting him on the chest. "You'd write his name all over your notebooks AND you bullied me into giving you one of my new ones." he added.

You let out a belly laugh. "And then I wrote his name all over that one too."

Jinyoung rolled his eyes. "They were premium quality notebooks. My aunt sent me them from the states!"

"You had a kabillion of them. Besides, you pestered me for-like-ever to know who I liked, but you never even told me who you had a crush on." You grabbed the bag of gummy worms from his hand and placed it in your shopping basket. Your attention shifted, as you realized you should be in search of your favourite chocolates. You knew that you were far too old to be eating junk food for dinner, but there was something familiar about being hyped up on food that you knew would rot your insides. Your eyes landed on the top row of the wall, and before you could grab your favourite chocolates, Jinyoung stripped it from the wall and dropped it into the basket. He piled on a bag of sour cream and onion chips, and then you both ventured to the drink refrigerators.

Both of you stared deeply at your drink options. On each level of the fridge, stood several different colourful drinks. If you knew Jinyoung, then you knew he would pick a Coke- it was something he swore by in your younger years. You hummed, mentally deciding between an iced tea or a vitamin water. You weren't sure why it bothered you when Jinyoung picked up a Sprite, but you tried to hide your dismay. With an ice tea in hand, and a basket full of both of your favourite things, you made your way to the cashier.

At the last moment, Jinyoung placed a bright yellow umbrella on the checkout counter. He looked down at you, surely, “You never know when it’s gonna rain.”

...

The following car ride to your next destination only lasted about 3 minutes before he parked on the side of the road and dragged you down the street, with the plastic bag full of your foods in hand.

"I should've known you were going to bring me here." you said, strolling down the familiar gravel pathway towards your elementary school. All colour in the sky had disappeared now, finding it hard to see anything but the outline of each other and some features.

Both of you settled on the grass field, onlooking the tall school building that was the foundation of your formal years. As soon as you opened the bag of chips, you found yourselves deep in conversation, talking about what life had been for him the last few years. You couldn't help but be in awe when he explained the rush he got when he got on stage, and how he got anxiety when he thought he wasn’t doing his best. The candidacy of his thoughts drew you in and you were surprised that he trusted you with his secrets.

All these years, you had always wondered what he was up to, if he was living a life far better than the one he left at home. To everyone else, he was this huge pop star that had travelled the world 3 times over, but to you, he was your best friend who left home at 16. You had seen him through the bad hair phases, the adolescent temper tantrums, the voice cracks, and the questionable fashion choices both your parents had put you in.

He leaned back on his arms as he gazed at the school. "Are you afraid of change?" You were silent for a moment as you thought. "On a scale of 1-10?" you rocked your head back and forth. "It's a 15."

Jinyoung raised his eyebrows. You held your legs to your chest, and looked at him. "Why?"

He opened his mouth, but quickly closed it and looked smugly in the other direction. "Heyyy." you poked him repeatedly. "You can't just ask me that and not tell me why."

He enclosed his hand around your finger, forcing your poking to come to a halt. It felt like he was studying your face. Never in your life had you ever felt like you were under the scope of Jinyoung's gaze. The darkness of the sky acted as a mask, hiding your blushing face.

"It was the last thing I asked you before I left." he admitted. "I asked you that when things were about to change big time for us… I always wondered if you resented me for leaving you behind."

The last day before Jinyoung left to become a full-time trainee, you two snuck on to this very same field. Both of you ran across the grass, picking up dandelions; believing that if you gathered enough and blew on them, that they would fuel your wishes.

“You thought I could resent you?” He nodded. “Well, for starters, I hate your guts.” You replied sarcastically, causing him to look at the ground with embarrassment and your face softened at the sight of it.

“You know what I wished for on all of those dandelions, Jinyoung?”

“Not to fail the math exam.” Even in a soft moment, he couldn’t help but be sly. “No!” You exclaimed.

“Well, you should’ve. You got a 48.” He sensed your killer look on him. “So what’d you wish for?”

You played with your fingers. You thought you’d take this secret to the grave. “I wished that you’d be successful in whatever you chose to do.” His eyes enlarged, alarmed at your confession. “but maybe I should’ve wished for the math thing.”

Jinyoung giggled, inching closer to you so your legs were pressed against each other.

“What did you wish for?” You asked. He smiled with the side of his mouth, shaking his head.

“I wished that I’d always find my way back home.” “Oh goddd.” You gagged. “you’re so corny.”

“What about you, huh? You used your wish on me!” he bellowed, his voice echoing against the school playground.

“Hey, I might just be the reason why you’re famous.” You fought back.

You flipped your phone over, 7:53, the brightness of it only barely illuminating the dark. You thought about what you would be doing at this moment if you weren’t here, if he hadn’t picked you up. Mmm probably falling asleep to a tv show. Probably dreading tomorrow. Probably not as happy.

"But what did I say? You know… the first time you asked me that question?” You couldn’t even begin to imagine how 16-year-old you answered.

"You said you were excited to see who we were going to become.” The words of your younger self were so hopeful, yet your current self felt hopeless. Your expression sank, and Jinyoung offered a small smile to revive it. He felt guilty having asked you the question in the first place.

You sat in silence for a bit, dwelling on the excitement for life that you once had. Where was it? And how could you get it back?

“I feel like I’ve let myself down. I don’t even know who I am now.”

Jinyoung blinked slowly, watching his childhood best friend crumble. He rested a hand on your shoulder. "I just look at you, and in so many ways you're the same. I still know what makes you laugh, and the way you say things. I can still pick out your favourite snacks, and know you’re gonna pull my ears when I do something to piss you off.” he yanked on yours softly. "Everything about you feels just how I left you. I feel my youth when I'm with you. But at the same time I’m comforted by how much you’ve changed.”

“I don’t think I’ve changed much.”

“You don’t see it, do you?” You shook your head no. “Do you remember how scared you were to even leave the house when we were kids? Now you live on your own. You never took anything seriously back then, but you’re now one of the hardest working people I know…” his voice softened. “And you let yourself be vulnerable with me when it used to take hours to drag it out of you.” You laid on his shoulder, and he rested his head on top of yours, snuggling closer. “You fear change, yet you’re changing right before your own eyes. And maybe one day, I’ll come back here, and I won’t even be able to recognize who you’ve become.” You sniffled, the idea of Jinyoung not remembering you broke your heart. You held your chest. “But if that day does come, it’ll be okay. Because I know that the person that you’ve become will have it all figured out. I’ll always be rooting for every single version of yourself even if it doesn’t include me.” You sobbed quietly, interlocking your fingers with his. He held your hand tightly, rubbing his thumb against the back of your hand. For once, there was an action not done out of habit or relic. It was an action evoked just for this moment, and it was a change that you didn’t mind.

…

Jinyoung held your hand, leading you down a narrow road a few minutes away. The sound of crickets, barking dogs, and distant vehicles could be heard as you stood in the middle of the road of your childhood neighbourhood.

You hadn’t been here since you moved in 2016. You looked up at the large modern house that sat on what used to be two lots. Yours and Jinyoung’s childhood homes were purchased by a wealthy business man and demolished to build the business man’s dream home. You stared at the foreign house that sat on the place of your childhood dreams and frustrations.

Jinyoung placed his hands on your shoulders and stopped you at the exact halfway point between what was once his house and your house. You rubbed your arms as a gust of wind rushed by. Without thinking, Jinyoung slipped off his hoodie and placed it on top of your shoulders.

“I remember racing you down this street.” You piped up, pointing down the end of the road. Jinyoung always won that race. No one was faster than him on this street.

“I remember finding that stray puppy and fighting over who got to keep it.” He responded.

“It should’ve been me.” You bickered. Jinyoung laughed, amused at how you were always one to hold a grudge.

“Do you remember that day when it started raining soooo hard and we had to walk shoulder to shoulder under my umbrella?”

You nodded. “Ya, that was the same day with the gummy worms, you dummy.”

“So do you remember what happened right here?” He pointed at the exact spot you were standing. You racked your head for a memory, but nothing stood out to you clearly. You shook your head no. “We always said bye to one another here...but…?” you trailed off.

He took a step forward, both of you standing directly under the streetlight now. You watched his face light up as he likely played the moment back in his head. “So that day, standing under my umbrella, we were about to go our separate ways. You turned into me.”

He took another step closer, popping open the bright yellow convenience store umbrella and holding it over your heads.

You could see it now. It was drizzling so hard, even your hair wasn’t protected from getting soaked. You wrapped your hands around the handle, just like how you did back then. Chest to chest, huddled under the umbrella. Jinyoung locked eyes with you, your heart beat faster.

“And you looked at me, and I swear I was going to say everything I wanted to tell you right then and there.” Your mouth opened in shock. “This was the place where I almost told you I loved you.”

You studied the eyes of the boy you watched grow up. He looked scared, but sure. There was no doubt in your mind that Jinyoung meant what he said. He lowered the umbrella, not letting his gaze veer from you.

Your life was just a build up of what if’s and trying to gain the courage to make something of yourself… but you didn’t want that anymore. With your heart beating out of control, you leaned into him, taking the risk and kissing his lips. He wrapped his arms around your waist, deepening the heat of the kiss.

A round of thunder boomed above you, and little by little, raindrops began to pour from the sky.

You and Jinyoung separated to look up at the sky. “I did say, you never know when it’s gonna rain.”

You both ran for the car, shoulder to shoulder, under the umbrella. From your heads to your toes, you were soaked in the rain, but neither of you cared. You silently thanked the world for every bad thing that happened to you today that led to this.

…

You blinked your eyes awake, surveying the damp clothes strewn across your living room floor, and the heat of the bare body laying next to you on the couch. You stared at your sleepy childhood best friend, a smile spreading across your lips. This was a change you were ready for.

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commentaryvorg · 3 years

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Digimon Savers Commentary Episode 5 - Break into the Digital World! Drimogemon’s Trap!

In this episode, both Tohma and Masaru separately enter the Digital World to resolve unfinished business with the Digimon they failed to stop last episode. While there, they meet up in a perilous situation and end up bonding, learning to respect each other and work together at last.

Since this episode follows on directly from the events of the last one, we start with a recap of last episode. This is a rare thing for now as most of these early episodes are self-contained events, but it’ll soon become very regular once we get into the series’ overarching plot.

There’s nothing particularly interesting about the recaps; the narration is done by a non-character narrator, and they sometimes tend to show far more clips than necessary to remind people of the relevant things that happened. I often just skip them, though since for the purposes of this commentary I’ll be obligated to watch every single part of an episode to comment on the full experience, I will probably end up moaning about how unnecessarily long they eventually shift into being.

Narrator: “To fulfil his duty, Tohma went to the Digital World to chase down Drimogemon.”

It’s interesting that the narration frames it this way, since disobeying very strict orders isn’t exactly what one would usually consider fulfilling a duty to the organisation that gave him those orders. And yet, this also is to do with Tohma’s very strong sense of duty and need to complete every job perfectly.

Anyway, as we get back into events happening in the present, please appreciate this Very Done Yoshino Face as she realises that Tohma’s gone and endangered himself by going to the Digital World alone and she’s going to get in trouble for it.

As it happens, Masaru and Agumon have got the exact same idea into their heads of disobeying orders and sneaking into the Digital World to finish things with Drimogemon. While Tohma was legitimately very good at the stealth aspect of this plan, Masaru and Agumon’s idea of stealth is, uh… not so great.

Masaru: “Successful infiltration!”

Agumon: “We’re so smooth, Aniki!”

Yep. The smoothest.

Yoshino: “What are you doing.”

Naturally, Yoshino has very much noticed them. The subs put a question mark here, but I’m using my judgement to not include it, because her voice is so deadpan and I love her.

Masaru: “Tohma did a Digital Dive? Damn it, he got away before us!”

Yoshino: “Before?”

Agumon: “Nothing, he’s just talking to himself.”

Yoshino does seem to be genuinely rather wrapped up in trying to deal with the Tohma situation and bring him back, because she doesn’t appear to pick up on the obvious implication of Masaru’s slip-up here (and the obvious only reason they’d be sneaking in in the middle of the night like this in the first place).

Yoshino: “Doing a Dive when the equipment hasn’t even been tested on humans…”

Huh, interesting. I guess this particular version of the Digital Gate equipment that DATS has is newer, then, which tracks.

Yoshino manages to detect the signal from Tohma’s Digivice, but before she can use that to bring him back, the signal is lost.

Masaru: “Really. Well isn’t that a pity.”

Masaru sounds so incredibly (not) concerned here. Though I’m sure this isn’t him genuinely not even caring if Tohma dies; he just assumes Tohma can handle himself and doesn’t see this as his problem at all.

Yoshino: “Listen to me! It’s dangerous!”

Masaru: “That doesn’t matter! I’m just going there to settle my fight!”

Yoshino: “Who cares about your fight? You’re just going to make things worse!”

I mean, it seems like Tohma cares about this fight just as much as Masaru does, actually, if in a somewhat different way. We have two stubborn idiots refusing to let this go here, not just one.

Masaru wanders into the Dive chamber, and, naturally, doesn’t have a clue how to start it up. Yoshino seems quite willing to leave and not help him with this, until he and Agumon start the appropriately Masaru approach of hitting the machine to try and get it to work. (We saw how successful that approach was last episode.)

Masaru: “You think I’ll just sit back while that guy gets all the action?”

Obviously, Masaru is not exactly thinking this through here; he just wants to somehow get to finish his fight before Tohma can do it for him, damn it!

Since Masaru and Agumon are clearly not about to be sensible and stop trying to break the equipment, Yoshino has no choice but to give in.

Lalamon: “Yoshino, are you sure about this?”

Yoshino: “Letting him have his way is better than a broken machine and Tohma stuck over there…”

It really is only because Tohma went first that Masaru is able to get his way here. A broken machine that can be fixed later would be better than Masaru throwing himself into the unknown, but a broken machine while Tohma is stuck over there is not okay at all.

Yoshino: “Listen! I’m sending you the co-ordinates where we lost Tohma. Make sure to bring him back, okay?”

Masaru: “Whatever, just do it!”

Yoshino is making the best of this she can and at least using Masaru as a way to try and ensure Tohma is safe. Masaru acts like he doesn’t care – but note he also isn’t explicitly saying he definitely won’t try to help Tohma and will leave him to fend for himself no matter what.

Yoshino: “I can’t help you when you get to the other side.”

Masaru: “Like I even need it.”

Yoshino: “Oh, really.”

Obviously. Masaru is a tough independent fighter who can definitely throw himself into a completely different world without a clue what he’s doing and manage just fine. Being a liiittle cocky there, Masaru. (Exactly as much as Tohma was when he sent himself over knowing he’d have no backup.) And I love how Yoshino isn’t buying it for a second.

Yoshino: “Return to where you first entered by 0500. That’s where I’ll bring you both back.”

Apparently they need to be in a specific location in order for the Dive equipment to work in reverse (since there isn’t a big handy machine with a chamber in it on the Digital World side). Yoshino was briefly attempting to pull Tohma back earlier before she lost his signal, so I guess that was when he was still within the range of the reverse-transport?

Masaru: “Bah, it’s like having a curfew.”

Haha. Something Masaru is probably quite used to, since he is only fourteen and his mother must worry about what he gets up to a lot. He did mention having to sneak out of the house to come to DATS last episode, which I surmised was not because DATS was a secret to Sayuri but rather just because it was late.

Masaru looks at his Digivice, which has a clock feature telling us it’s 0:33 right now. Yoshino apparently expects him to navigate a completely unfamiliar world, find Tohma (and also defeat the Drimogemon because she knows he’s going to want to do that even if she’d rather he didn’t bother), and get back to where he arrived, within four and a half hours. That seems a little bit tight – why couldn’t she just let him have as long as he needs and just wait to pull him and Tohma back whenever they appear back in range?

The reason, I imagine, is that she’s really hoping she can get this all wrapped up before the morning shift at DATS starts and Satsuma finds out what’s been going on here. I don’t blame her.

Agumon: “Aniki, I’m kinda nervous…”

Masaru: “Don’t get scared now, idiot.”

I like how Masaru is admonishing Agumon for getting scared not as if he’s being a coward or anything like that, but just as if he’s being an idiot. Obviously if they let themselves get scared and hesitate, that might get in the way of them winning their fight! It’s like Masaru is thinking of “getting scared” less in terms of the initial emotion that you can’t help feeling, but in terms of whether you choose to let it control you, or you just push it aside and press on anyway. Anyone who wouldn’t want to do the latter is an idiot, right?

Agumon: “You sure this is okay?”

Masaru: “You think I know?”

As the countdown to transfer gets close to zero and the energy starts swirling around them, I love the tiny little hint that Masaru is actually just as nervous about this as Agumon is – he has no idea if this is gonna be okay or not either! – and is just very stubbornly refusing to show it.

As we briefly see here, moving from one world to another involves travelling through a trippy computery in-between void. Future trips to and from the Digital World in the series will (usually, with one notable exception) skip over this part, but we can assume that it’s a thing that happens every time.

The opening also contains a shot of the characters going through this void between worlds. Yoshino doesn’t head to the Digital World herself in this episode, of course, but she will in time.

Masaru: “This is the Digital World? Cool… The sky and the ground are upside-down!”

I like how Masaru is totally willing to buy that the Digital World really is this weird.

Agumon: “Aniki… You’re the one who’s upside-down.”

Masaru: “I knew that.”

…Rather than the much more likely option that he’s just a huge ridiculous dork.

(The subs say “I knew that” like Masaru’s trying to save face, but the word he says in Japanese could also translate as “Oh, I see,” as if he isn’t even trying to hide how he genuinely thought the Digital World was upside-down for a second. That doofus.)

Agumon: “It’s my first time seeing it, too.”

Masaru: “But you’re a Digimon, aren’t you?”

Agumon: “Yeah, but I’ve been in DATS all my life.”

Yep, just like he said in the first episode about not remembering anything but being in DATS. Seems like, unlike the rampaging Digimon they deal with, Agumon came to the human world while he was not exactly “alive”, as such.

They wander through the Digital World for a while, marvelling at some of its weirdness. Circuit board patterns in the sky! Pixelated rivers! All sorts of Digimon walking and bouncing and flying around!

Masaru: “We’re looking for that mole thing. If we keep walking, we should come across a clue or something.”

Man, Masaru, you sure thought this through and planned things out real good.

Agumon: “What about Tohma?”

[cut to the DATS control room]

Yoshino: “‘Leave him, he’ll figure something out on his own.’ …If he said that, what’ll we do?”

Lalamon: “You’re overthinking it.”

[cut back to the Digital World]

Masaru: “Leave him, he’ll figure something out on his own.”

Oh dear. Yoshino has already got Masaru pretty figured out and knew full well he wasn’t likely to take looking for Tohma that seriously. Though, to be fair, it is pretty reasonable to assume that Tohma can figure something out on his own. Masaru wouldn’t admit this just yet, but this is him having faith in Tohma’s capabilities! If Masaru had reason to believe that Tohma was definitely in life-threatening danger he couldn’t get out of by himself, I’m sure he wouldn’t be so nonchalant about this.

As Masaru and Agumon explore more Digital World weirdness – more stuff in the sky! Digital plants! A crystalline colosseum-looking thing that’s actually a Chekhov’s Gun for this episode! – a particular piece of BGM is playing that evokes a sense of grand exploration and discovery, as you’d expect for this moment. This piece happens to be called Savers’ “Main Theme”, which was a little surprising to me when I saw its name on the soundtrack. You’d expect this series’ main theme to be something more actiony, in fitting with all the focus on fighting and the way Masaru is. But maybe a more discovery-like piece is actually quite appropriate for what the overall themes of this story are.

Agumon: “But it feels kinda nostalgic.”

An interesting comment from Agumon here. Though he doesn’t consciously remember anything about the Digital World because he was born in DATS, it seems like he has a subconscious sense of familiarity with it. As we’ve seen every time DATS defeats a Digimon, they don’t die and are simply turned into eggs and “reborn” – so maybe this is a sign of Agumon’s previous life, in which he did live in the Digital World, still vaguely there with him even though the conscious memories of it are lost.

As fun as showing off Digital World weirdness is, we soon get to the point as Drimogemon happens to pop out of a cliff face nearby. Which, yes, is kind of arbitrarily convenient. But I will take this any day over them wandering aimlessly having unnecessary filler adventures for episodes on end before getting to the actual point that the story is here for.

It also may make some reasonable amount of sense, actually. Masaru was sent to where Tohma was last seen, and it’s likely that Tohma deliberately sent himself somewhere near where he could detect Drimogemon. Tohma sending himself over here with absolutely no idea where to find a single Digimon among an entire world would have been incredibly stupid, after all, and I don’t think he could have justified that to himself even with his determination to fix his mistake. Given that, it’s not so unreasonable that Masaru would have run into Drimogemon at some point, since it was going to be somewhere near to where he arrived.

Also, while the other Digimon they’ve seen were just kind of wandering around naturally, the Drimogemon straight up crashed out of a cliffside. It’s still rampaging, exactly as they were worried about last episode, and therefore it’s even more likely that Masaru would have noticed it sooner or later with all the commotion it’s making.

Drimogemon tunnels into the ground, so naturally Masaru heads straight after it – and back at DATS, Yoshino loses his Digivice signal just like she lost Tohma’s. So apparently these signals can be picked up through the boundary between worlds, but not if someone is in another world and also underground. Uhhh, okay then.

This also means that presumably the reason she lost Tohma’s signal is because he went underground while trying to track Drimogemon, not because he was necessarily in any severe danger.

Lalamon: “This may be the worst…”

I’m amused by Lalamon borrowing Yoshino’s catchphrase, but hedging her bets on it a little bit. Maybe it’s not actually the worst! Maybe.

Satsuma: “What are you doing?”

Yoshino: “Searching for an idiot! Geez, why me?”

Yoshino is so focused on frustratedly searching for Masaru’s signal that she doesn’t even register that Satsuma and Kudamon have shown up at first, which is probably the exact thing she was really hoping wasn’t going to happen until Masaru and Tohma were back. Nope, turns out this definitely is the worst.

Back in the Digital World, Masaru’s tried-and-true strategy of tracking Drimogemon down by simply following it through its own tunnel has led them into a huge underground cavern.

Masaru: “Doesn’t matter where this is! Let’s go, Agumon!”

As before, Masaru doesn’t care about the location so long as he gets to fight! Or, perhaps, he’s trying to tell himself the location doesn’t matter, because on some level he’s realising that Drimogemon is very much in its element and has the advantage here. Which it does, as Masaru and Agumon quickly learn they’re not very good at Whack-a-giant-Digimole.

Bear in mind that Drimogemon is not saying a word, just like it hasn’t since it grew bigger last episode. It’s still in that mindless rampaging state, and so it seems to have no issue with straight-up collapsing the ground underneath Masaru and Agumon. That would be going a bit far if this were a Digimon that was still properly in control of itself.

Agumon: “Aniki!”

Masaru: “Idiot, don’t get scared over something like this!”

Masaru is still trying to set an example for his follower and insist that there’s no point in getting scared, even though being in an underground cave-in is in fact a pretty legitimate reason to be scared right now.

They both fall into a pretty deep-looking chasm but manage to somehow land reasonably unhurt, because shounen anime. Agumon’s awkward legs-in-the-air pose he landed in is pretty cute.

It turns out that Tohma and Gaomon are down here too. Seems like Drimogemon took the same approach when it was faced with them.

Masaru: “What’s this? Does that mean the same thing happened to you?” [he and Agumon burst out laughing] “I see, you’re just like us!”

I really like Masaru’s reaction here. He’s not trying to be mean-spirited; if you listen to the tone of his laughter, there’s nothing malicious or mocking about it. It’s just such a huge relief for him to finally be seeing proof that Tohma’s human. He can fail sometimes and mess up in ways as equally ridiculous and undignified as Masaru. He’s not actually some kind of infuriatingly perfect walking supercomputer who can never do wrong like Masaru’s kind of been resentfully seeing him as. He’s just a person.

The relief of that realisation comes out as laughter not because Masaru’s really trying to mock Tohma for failing, but just because of the elation of finally being able to see Tohma as an equal. “You’re just like us”, indeed.

Tohma’s response is also great. He’s not getting frustrated and snapping back at Masaru like he often would in the previous episode, because he must be able to tell that Masaru isn’t actually trying to insult him here. He’s just embarrassed to be unable to deny the fact that he really is more of a fallible human person than he would have ideally liked Masaru to see him as.

Gaomon, meanwhile, the good dog that he is, has been carefully excavating rocks and found a potential way out. As Tohma heads towards it, he stumbles, because his leg was injured from the fall.

Masaru: “Hey, you’re hurt!”

Tohma: [grimacing] “This barely counts as an injury.”

Tohma clearly doesn’t want to give Masaru even more reason to think he’s human and fallible and might need help or something. But Masaru doesn’t care about Tohma’s stubbornness and immediately moves to put himself under Tohma’s arm to support him.

Masaru: “Here.”

Tohma: “Stop that. I don’t need you to help—”

Masaru: “When you’re a man… When you’re a man, there are some things you just have to *do* despite yourself.”

I love Masaru so much. This is the first time we’re getting to see that his manliness thing is about a whole lot more than just fighting. It’s about honour, and integrity, and simply being a good person. The “despite yourself” is because he still doesn’t really like Tohma just yet and there’s a part of him that stubbornly wants to continue to be irritable and contrary towards him for the hell of it – but since Tohma’s injured and needs help, Masaru’s principles about doing the right thing in this kind of situation are more important to him than anything, so he can put that petty stubbornness aside. And these principles of Masaru’s come from exactly the same place as the reason he always gives it his all in fights!

(All those parts earlier in the episode where I confidently asserted that there’s no way Masaru actually wouldn’t have cared if Tohma had got himself killed, and that if he’d believed Tohma was in genuine danger then he wouldn’t have just left him to his own devices? Yeah, this is why. Masaru is Good.)

Masaru’s manly speech was mostly about himself, but it also works as advice to Tohma in this situation. He could continue to try and be stubborn and prideful and insist he doesn’t need help from anyone, but when there’s someone right here offering to help him – someone who was until recently at his throat, no less – what kind of a dick move would it be to reject that offer? Accepting Masaru’s help is the right thing for Tohma to do as well, despite his own pride. And he does.

Agumon: “You’re making me cry, Aniki!”

Agumon also approves of his aniki’s manly principles, like a good follower should. Aniki is teaching him so much.

Masaru: “Let’s get outta here first. Then we can think about other things.”

Implicit in Masaru’s statement here is “then we can get back to arguing with each other if we want” – but I like how he isn’t even mentioning that here, because right now it isn’t about that. Their lives are in danger, they need to help each other and work together to get out, and so nothing else matters for the time being.

This turns into a brief cute montage of the four of them helping each other make their way through the tunnels, which turn out to be quite the underground labyrinth. A lot of time implicitly passes here, and while I doubt Masaru and Tohma are saying very much to each other, this is no doubt making them bond a bit. They’re finally spending some time seeing each other as a person and an equal, rather than as some kind of infuriating representation of everything opposite to their own approach that brings out all their insecurities.

Meanwhile at DATS, Yoshino is indeed getting fiercely chewed out by Satsuma.

Yoshino: “But that was all I could do…”

It really was, or Masaru would have broken the equipment and left Tohma stranded there! She did the absolute best thing she could under the circumstances! Alas, Yoshino doesn’t seem to quite have it in her to stand up for herself and more clearly express this.

Kudamon: “Instead of berating them, we should find out where they are quickly!”

At least Kudamon has the right idea. And I imagine Satsuma understands this, too – he’s probably only so furious at Yoshino because he’s worried about Tohma and Masaru. He likely would have chewed them out if he could, since this is absolutely far more their fault than Yoshino’s. But they aren’t available for him to yell at, so poor Yoshino got the brunt of it instead.

Masaru: “Hey, why didn’t you evolve Gaomon and break out?”

Back in the Digital World, Masaru asking this suggests he’s been thinking himself about, naturally, the most straightforward way to get out of here – he’d just evolve Agumon to GeoGreymon and smash their way out, if only he could!

But it says a lot that Masaru is then also applying his mindset to Tohma and assuming that he’s probably thought of the same thing, hence asking why he hasn’t done so, since Tohma can evolve his partner more easily. Masaru’s starting to empathise with Tohma and see him as a person!

(I guess technically Masaru might be able to get his Digisoul by turning around and punching Gaomon in the face? But it’s entirely possible that it wouldn’t work against a Digimon that’s not actively trying to fight him. Or, even if it did, that’d be a dick move to suddenly punch someone who’s not ready to fight and defend themselves, so I doubt Masaru would want to do that.)

Tohma demonstrates why he didn’t just evolve Gaomon by asking Gaomon to punch the wall, showing how dangerously unstable these tunnels are. Which is, uh, something he really could have just explained with words rather than taking a risk like that. But then again, Masaru is definitely someone who learns things better through actions rather than words, so maybe this is Tohma beginning to appreciate that!

They reach another fork in the tunnel and disagree on which path they should take. Tohma explains that the path he’s choosing isn’t random; he’s been dropping coins on the ground as they’ve been moving, and the path Masaru picked has a coin in it, indicating that they’ve been that way before.

(This is a 100 yen coin, by the way, which is roughly equal to one US dollar, and Tohma’s apparently been dropping loads of them. Could he not have used, I dunno, just 1 yen coins? Someone has more money than he knows what to do with.)

Masaru: “Hey, you’re pretty smart!”

I like how Masaru remarks on this like it’s the first time he’s noticing this, as if he wasn’t already infuriatingly aware that Tohma’s a straight-up genius. This is Tohma displaying his smarts in a low-key, down-to-earth way that a regular person like Masaru can understand and appreciate is a useful way to go about things, rather than a way that makes him just come across as incomprehensibly, unreachably perfect.

Tohma: “As I said, I’m not like you.”

Tohma’s still taking a little longer to warm up to Masaru and acknowledge that they might actually be similar to each other in a lot of ways, since he insists on stressing this point. Come on, Tohma! Masaru’s already started to admit that maybe you’re more like him than he would have liked you to be a day ago; you should start closing that gap, too!

Masaru makes a face in response to this comment. Apparently he’s agreeing with my sentiment about Tohma being a little too unnecessarily uptight here.

Agumon: “Aniki… When are we gonna get outta here?!”

Masaru: “Don’t worry! Keep up your spirits and we’ll use it to work this out somehow!”

Tohma: “Spirit has nothing to do with it, but we *are* heading up.”

I love the contrast between Masaru’s baseless emotion-driven optimism, and Tohma preferring to base his optimism in actual facts. Both are good ways to be optimistic!

Masaru: “You’re really unbearable.”

Tohma: “You too.”

They say this, but they both sound a lot less vitriolic about it than they did in the previous episodes. They still have huge differences in their approach to things that inherently frustrate each other, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be beginning to respect each other anyway!

Masaru and Tohma reach an opening into a wider cavern, but they’re too high up for it to be safe to drop down into it. They’re about to turn back when Drimogemon shows up in the lower cavern.

Masaru: “He’s out of luck to meet us here! Let’s go, Agumon!”

Yes, out of luck, this is definitely the least advantageous possible position that Drimogemon could be meeting them in. Masaru is still being Masaru and paying no heed to the environment; he sees Drimogemon as being out of luck to meet him at all, because hey, this means they don’t have to go searching for it later!

Tohma points out the incredible disadvantage they’re at, including reminding Masaru that it’s not safe for their partners to evolve in here, and insists they should keep heading for the surface and leave it be for now. But Masaru is having none of it.

Masaru: “Not gonna!”

I absolutely adore his ridiculous grumpy walk towards Tohma. It’s so perfect for getting across his stubborn attitude here. No. Masaru is gonna fight the thing and no amount of logic or safety is gonna stop him.

Masaru: “I’m not gonna run or hide! A man takes his fights head-on!”

Also, running away at a time like this isn’t what a man does, according to him, and it’s already become pretty clear just how important sticking to that principle is to Masaru.

So he pulls Tohma with him to the edge of the tunnel and straight-up leaps down onto Drimogemon’s back, with Agumon and Gaomon frantically jumping after them.

(Tohma grimaces in pain as he lands on its back. Yeah, considering his leg injury, ouch.)

Masaru: “Yo.”

Masaru climbs forward onto Drimogemon’s head and has this delightfully audacious moment.

Then, realising they’re there, Drimogemon goes mad trying to shake them off. When they keep clinging on, it rushes towards the nearest wall trying to tunnel away. Masaru tugs on its fur like reins to redirect it to tunnel where he wants it to – in a more upwards direction, since they soon emerge out on the surface.

(It’s a little questionable how Masaru and co. aren’t just utterly crushed between Drimogemon’s back and the earth as it digs its tunnel, but then again it’s questionable how Drimogemon’s drill even manages to drill out a tunnel big enough for its entire body through what seems like not earth but solid rock in the first place. Shush, it’s anime physics; it’s fine.)

Tohma: (He… Did he plan all of this from the start? But wait…)

And here’s Tohma applying his mindset to Masaru, imagining that Masaru might have planned this! He’s, uh… not precisely correct on that one, but it says a lot that he’s even considering it at all.

Rather than jump off its back and fight it here, Masaru keeps pulling on Drimogemon’s fur to direct its panicked running.

Masaru: “Yahoo! This is just like a rodeo!”

(And he’s having a whale of a time while doing it, too, the huge dork.)

Tohma: “Where are you taking us?”

Masaru: “You’re the one who said to think of a good battleground!”

Look at Masaru actually thinking about this and applying a decent amount of strategy! He’s really not that bad at doing so when someone prompts him to actually consider it; he’s just usually so raring to jump straight in that it doesn’t occur to him to do so.

The “good battleground” in question is the crystalline colosseum Masaru noticed earlier – just the kind of place where Drimogemon won’t be able to dig. Inside the crystal arena, Masaru gives it a nice big punch before leaping off its back, and its evolution time.

…Except, it turns out, it’s also about to be evolution time for Drimogemon. For some reason. It starts twitching and shaking like it’s having some kind of adverse reaction to something, but I cannot come up with any possible reason why it would be doing so. The robbers who may or may not have been (read: they definitely were) responsible for it growing bigger and rampaging in the first place back in the human world are long gone and out of the picture. This does not make any sense to me. Maybe this is just something that happens if a Digimon that’s grown bigger but not evolved is left to rampage unchecked for long enough? I don’t think we see any other instances in the series that would contradict this, but this is definitely me reaching here.

Meanwhile at DATS, Miki and Megumi have also been called in to help search for the two reckless idiots, and they finally manage to relocate their signals – probably because they’re above ground again now. But they also detect Drimogemon evolving, which, for some reason, activates DATS’s alarm. You know, the one that’s supposed to be for Digimon appearing in the human world, because it’s hardly like a Digimon evolving back in the Digital World is usually anything they need to worry about.

Drimogemon finishes evolving, and it’s now… a Digmon. (Dig, without the second “I”; yes, this is very easy to awkwardly misread as just Digimon, I know.) And, uh, Digimon evolution level facts: this shouldn’t be a stronger Digimon.

If Drimogemon, an Adult-level like Gaogamon and GeoGreymon, had evolved upwards like you’d expect into the next proper evolution level, it’d have reached Perfect level. And, as I’ve mentioned with regards to evolution levels, they are each ridiculously exponentially stronger than the last, to the point that even GeoGreymon and Gaogamon working together would not have stood a chance against even a single Perfect-level.

So, well, obviously that couldn’t actually happen here, because Masaru and Tohma need to win this fight. Instead, Drimogemon just evolved sideways into a bonus gimmicky evolution level called Armour level, which, from its appearances in other series, seems to be roughly just as strong as Adult. This is not actually any significantly more of a threat at all.

Tohma: “It’s Digmon. He’s far more powerful and has a higher mobility than Drimogemon.”

I guess we’re meant to assume that Armour levels work somewhat differently in this Digimon universe and are in fact just a little bit stronger than Adult, while not nearly as much so as Perfect? Sure, I guess; the general mechanics of Digimon don’t always work exactly the same in different universes.

(Still, Tohma conspicuously does not mention Digmon’s evolution level and explain the fact that it just evolved more sideways than upwards, because the writers don’t want you to notice how awkward this is.)

This whole thing, nonsensical DATS alarm and all, is a hilariously transparent attempt by the writers to inject more artificial tension into this situation, and, I dunno, to maybe showcase a different Monster of the Week since we’ve been dealing with Drimogemon for two episodes now. It’s very silly. Drimogemon should have just stayed as a Drimogemon and everything would have been fine.

At least this does mean, thanks to Digmon’s apparent higher defences and mobility, we get GeoGreymon not winning the fight in a single attack. (Though my brain looks at Digmon and sees something that’s clearly a Bug/Steel-type and is very bothered by how an obviously Fire-type attack like Mega Flame doesn’t harm it at all. Shush, I was raised on Pokémon; I can’t help but see things this way.) It puts up a decent fight for a while, dodging or withstanding their attacks and hitting back, which at least is a refreshing change from the one-attack victories we’ve seen before – because there’s a narrative point to be made in this fight that wouldn’t work if they won straight away.

…I still think this could have been made to work just fine with Drimogemon turning out to be tougher and have more mobility above ground than they’d been expecting, though. It shouldn’t have needed to evolve sideways for this fight to be a challenge.

So anyway, after a little bit of them not getting anywhere in defeating it, Tohma reminds Masaru of the part last episode where GeoGreymon and Gaogamon’s attacks collided from opposing directions and cancelled each other out.

Tohma: “But what if the opposite happened?”

Masaru: “What’d happen?”

Tohma: “Let’s find out!”

Look at Tohma getting into the Masaru spirit of things! He has an idea, but unlike his usual carefully-calculated strategies, he doesn’t know exactly how this one’s going to play out. And yet he’s going for it anyway!

Tohma: “Isn’t that your style?”

Masaru: “Now you’re getting it!”

Not only that, but Tohma knows this is him pulling something Masaru would pull, and he’s okay with it! And of course Masaru enthusiastically approves.

Believer kicks in here, by the way, not earlier when they were evolving. We’re still hearing it every episode for now, but even then, the music directors know better than to just blindly throw it in the moment an evolution animation happens, regardless of context. They’re deliberately saving it for the actually triumphant moments, like all “evolution” songs should be.

Masaru: “The timing has to be perfect.”

Meanwhile, Masaru is taking a leaf out of Tohma’s book and caring about little strategic details like timing! Look at them both go.

On their command, GeoGreymon and Gaogamon fire their Mega Flame and Spiral Blow attacks together in the same direction at the same time, which turns them into a huge flaming tornado that engulfs Digmon and overwhelms it.

Tohma: “The opposing attacks didn’t clash… they fused! Their combined powers enhanced each other and became amplified to more than before!”

Which, though I don’t know if Tohma himself quite realises this or not, is also a very fitting metaphor for his and Masaru’s methods, just like what happened last episode. If they oppose each other, all they do is get in each other’s way and achieve nothing at all, but if they work together, they can each complement the other’s skills to become something greater than either of them could be on his own!

Masaru: “Who cares about that? All that matters now is… he dies!”

Meanwhile, of course Masaru doesn’t care about figuring out the sciencey logistics of how this is working (and he certainly cares even less about possibly making some kind of metaphor). He just knows that it’s awesome and it means they win.

(The “he dies!” is, uh, rather dark, especially considering it’s only being turned into an egg, but I’m pretty sure that’s a subs thing and that Masaru doesn’t actually directly reference death here. The subbers were probably just going for something that sounds a bit snappier than “he’s defeated”, which I imagine is closer to what Masaru actually literally said.)

As Masaru starts celebrating their win like the adorable excited dork he is, GeoGreymon and Gaogamon give a small smile to each other, and it’s cute.

Tohma, meanwhile, isn’t quite the type to join in with Masaru’s loud celebrations, but he has a smile to himself and is obviously happy about this outcome as well, in his much more subdued way.

We cut to sun…set? Huh, now that I think about it, I guess this part of the Digital World runs on a different timezone to Japan in the human world, because it was daytime the whole time over here while it was night in Japan. Maybe this world even has an entirely different day length.

Masaru, Tohma and their devolved partners are heading back to the recall point – with Masaru still supporting Tohma’s walking, because he is still good and Tohma probably still needs it.

Tohma: “When you jumped down towards Drimogemon… Did you plan right from the start to use him so we could get to the surface?”

Tohma only asks this now even though they’ve been implicitly walking back from the fight for a while. It seems he tried to tell himself that it probably was all planned, but the thought kept nagging at him – was it really, though? This is Masaru, after all – that he eventually just had to ask and confirm it.

Masaru: “Nah, that was just spirit! But the result was great, wasn’t it?!”

Aaaand of course it wasn’t all planned from the start. Of course not. But, hey, there was still deliberate intent and strategy involved as it was happening. It seems Masaru can be pretty good at the whole seat-of-your-pants, make-it-up-as-you-go type of strategising when he needs to be!

Tohma: (I hate to admit it, but I can’t analyse his ability with my intellect.)

And that’s okay, Tohma! This is Tohma acknowledging that Masaru’s approach is nothing like his, but that it still works just as well and is just as valid a way of going about things. He’s opening his mind to more than just his very rigid way of thinking!

Tohma stops in their walking and… offers Masaru a fist-bump. I really like how he’s the one to offer here, after Masaru was the first to offer support to Tohma earlier and Tohma was still being kind of hesitant about fully accepting Masaru as being similar to him. He’s making up for that now and closing the rest of the gap himself, just like he began to do in the battle when he suggested a Masaru-like risky strategy!

Masaru accepts it without question, of course. He probably already felt like they’d grown enough of an unspoken bond from their experiences that it didn’t need to be said, otherwise I imagine he’d have already made this gesture himself sooner. But I like that it didn’t occur to him, so that we could see Tohma be the one to choose to initiate this.

They are friends now and it is good!

Agumon: “Aniki’s got himself another follower!”

That’s, uh, not quite what this is, Agumon. But it’s adorable that Agumon jumps to seeing things that way, because to him his aniki is just The Coolest and he can’t imagine anyone else ever being his equal. So if Aniki’s gained the respect of someone new, that must mean he’s also become an aniki to them, right?

Gaomon: “Master is no follower!”

Meanwhile, maybe Gaomon feels pretty similarly about his master, too. He is, after all, a very good dog.

Safely back at DATS, Masaru and Tohma and their partners have the grace to look appropriately sheepish about this whole thing as Satsuma yells at them. Yoshino is also there and also looks like she’s getting yelled at along with them, which seems unfair to me – she already bore her share of the blame earlier, and it was far less her fault than theirs!

Kudamon: “You were able to make it back this time, but did you think about what would’ve happen if you’d failed? You still know nothing of the Digital World!”

It’s pretty interesting that Kudamon says this to them, considering that he knows far more about the Digital World than anyone else in this room and yet hasn’t ever thought to inform his agents about it in case something like this ever happened.

Satsuma drops his anger and turns his back to them before finally complimenting them on managing to return. Despite his sternness, he does care about his subordinates! I really do think he was only so angry because he was worried about them never making it back. Going there in the first place was monumentally reckless on both their parts, but Masaru and Tohma did at least handle things quite impressively while they were there, and that deserves to be acknowledged.

(Speaking of worried, I imagine Masaru is very much not planning on telling his mother about how he nearly went and got himself stranded in another world, which is definitely for the best. Poor Sayuri would be terrified just thinking about how close that came to happening.)

Overall thoughts

When I first watched Savers, I think there was a part of me that expected the Masaru-Tohma rivalry to drag on unnecessarily long, like for ten episodes or more, and probably become kind of stale and tiresome before it finally got resolved. But no! Savers doesn’t waste any time with this mini-arc. We’ve seen Masaru’s insecurities brought out by Tohma; we’ve seen Tohma’s insecurities brought out by Masaru; now it’s time to shove them into a situation where they can learn to get along, so that the story can move on with them actually working together.

And, really, it was never going to take Masaru and Tohma that long to reach this point. They always had so much in common along with their differences, and they’re both fundamentally decent people despite their tendency to be very stubbornly insistent about their own way of doing things. All it took was putting them in a situation where they can come to see the other as a person and not have their own issues brought out by the other’s very presence, and each one was always going to see that there’s plenty about the other that he can respect.

So I like this episode a lot, because I think it pulls this off really well. There’s a lot more to it than just the basic premise of “put them in danger so they’re forced to work together” – there’s all sorts of little moments I’ve talked about here that show each of them is slowly beginning to see the other as human and come to understand and respect his different way of thinking. The writers really thought about this, and about these characters. Savers’ character writing is great.

And yeah, the Drimogemon evolving into Digmon is pretty silly, but that’s only a small thing. The conclusion of the metaphor started last episode with GeoGreymon and Gaogamon’s attacks is a narratively appropriate way to end the fight, at least.

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[Dub comparison]

#digimon #digimon savers #masaru daimon #tohma h norstein

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baoshan-sanren · 4 years

Text

Chapter 50

Emperor Wei WuXian And His Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Birthday

Nie HuaiSang wrinkles his nose at the smell.

It has been some years since he has descended into the dungeons, but the damp air seems heavier now than it had been in the past. They are not meant to be enjoyable, the dungeons, and more pleasant accommodations would defeat the purpose of using them as a form of punishment. Still, HuaiSang does not understand why nothing can be done about the smell. The fan does precious little aside from moving the sticky air across his cheeks, and he folds it irritably, tapping Song Lan on the shoulder.

“Are you certain that torture will yield no results? I assure you, Madam Yu has made quite an art of it over the years. I think she takes pride in obtaining confessions without spilling a drop of blood.”

Song Lan shakes his head. They have spoken of this before, but HuaiSang knows that his voice will carry to the nearest cells. Perhaps Xue ChengMei cannot be tortured into a confession, but there is no harm in issuing a threat.

The boy is on his feet long before they reach him, forehead pressed against the bars, a mischievous grin etched across surprisingly attractive features. HuaiSang understands that a monster’s appearance will rarely reflect their inner monstrosity, but even he has to admit that this is slightly ridiculous. The boy looks fifteen years old at most, short in stature, small in build. The only vaguely threatening features of his appearance are the white, sharp teeth, but even those are made more menacing by their surroundings. Had the boy grinned at him in a well-lit courtyard instead of doing so in-between the bars of a cell, HuaiSang would have thought him cute, rather than dangerous.

“The Royal Companion,” the boy exclaims, “what an unexpected pleasure! I am a great admirer of yours.”

“Is that so?” HuaiSang says, “Do not spare the detail. I am always willing to be admired.”

Xue ChengMei’s eyes glitter in the darkness, his grin unwavering, “I should have known you would make no pretense of false humility.”

“Not precisely the way I prefer to be flattered.”

“It is your deeds I admire,” the boy says, “Tell me, does Sect Leader Su still believe that his son perished from a snake bite? Do you not think it extremely unfortunate? To be bitten by a yellow tail in MoLing?”

The boy taps his lips with his finger, issuing an exaggerated wink, “What a studious, sturdy snake that must have been, to have traveled all the way from QingHe just for a taste of the Young Master Su.”

HuaiSang mirrors the boy’s movement, tapping his lips with the fan.

Interesting. And potentially problematic.

“Your performance was not nearly as impressive,” HuaiSang smiles, “Such a common poison, with such an easily obtainable antidote. Surely, you did not expect that plan to work.”

“Ahh,” the boy sighs, pressing his cheek against the iron bar, “not all of us can be masters of the art I suppose. But the resulting chaos was quite entertaining.”

“Tell me about the Emperor’s potential,” HuaiSang says, “Tell me about achieving greatness.”

“Oh, but I have a much more interesting story to tell.”

“I am bored now,” HuaiSang turns to Song Lan, “let us go back.”

“Your father,” Xue ChengMei says quickly, “was no older than myself when the Empress took the throne. Such a young age, to be handed such great responsibility. Are you sure that you do not care to hear the story?”

HuaiSang’s fingers do not clench around his fan. He is calm as still water.

“You will like it,” the boy goes on, excitedly pressing himself against the bars, “it is a story no one else knows, but I am willing to share it with you.”

“Most of his words are deranged nonsense,” Song Lan says decisively, “there is no need to humor him.”

“Might as well,” HuaiSang says, glad to hear himself sound unaffected, “He seems anxious to tell it.”

“I am,” Xue ChengMei exclaims, “It is a fascinating tale. Many, many years ago, there was a mad Emperor who had a gift for demonic cultivation. But trying to control resentful energy comes with a cost. In order to continue using this infinite resource without harming himself in the process, he decided to store this energy into an object. The object would be capable of concentrating and directing the energy, but the process of creating such a thing came with a cost as well. He committed endless atrocities, slaughtered thousands of people, burned towns, rivers ran red with blood, so on and so forth,” he waves his hand impatiently, “You know that part of the story I am sure. Temples and cities obliterated, Sects decimated, advisors strung up by their toes, blah-blah.”

The impatient wave of his hand is such a perfect mirror image of Wei Ying’s own frequently used gesture, that HuaiSang is both alarmed and nauseated to see it.

“This part is known to all; the Emperor’s little niece, his favorite creature in the world, decides that the Emperor must be replaced, and murders her own uncle in cold blood. This is a story told and retold. Every child can recite the details. The Emperor’s experiments had failed, the Emperor was killed, the Empress took the throne, years of peace followed. But,” the boy presses his forehead to the iron bar, “this story is wrong.”

“Is it?” HuaiSang says, more and more convinced that this creature is dangerously unstable, “How so?”

“The Emperor did not fail in his experiments,” Xue ChengMei whispers conspiratorially, “He had succeeded. He had managed to create an object which can store infinite amounts of resentful energy, an object which can be used by any of his descendants. Any descendants, that is, who posses a particular affinity for demonic cultivation.”

HuaiSang feels his stomach turn, “The sword.”

“The sword,” the boy confirms, “Now, this is the interesting part of the story. The Empress, having grown up at court, did not have many trustworthy friends. But she did have three close confidants, two sworn brothers and a sister, peers she explicitly trusted. One of them, your father, was entrusted the sword. He was to place the sword in the Nie family's Ancestral Hall, where no descendent of YanLing DaoRen could lay their hands on it again. Can you guess what happened next?”

HuaiSang no longer cares that the boy can see his tight grip on the fan.

“Enlighten me,” he says coldly.

“Your father did not follow the Empress’ order,” Xue ChengMei grins brightly, “and who can blame him, truly? A young girl, not a full day in possession of the throne yet, asking him to hide such an object? If she were to lose her seat within a year, who would stand in the Nie Sect’s defense? Who would believe that the Nie Sect had obtained such an object for the sake of protecting the throne, instead of personal gain? You may think yourself a rare creature, Young Master Nie,” the boy winks again, “but I think you will find that the Nie Sect Leaders have always been pragmatists at heart.”

HuaiSang ignores the jab, his mind a whirlwind, “What did he do with the sword?”

The boy offers an exaggerated shrug, “Pawned it, sold it, given it away. What difference does it make?”

He is lying; HuaiSang knows this. He had made no effort to make it sound like the truth.

“How did you get it?”

“A friend gave to me,” Xue ChengMei says, blinking innocently through the bars.

“A friend who is still in the Immortal Mountain City?”

“Maybe,” the boy says, “Maybe not. Maybe he is no longer a friend. One cannot always trust those they call friends,” his grin is a sharp, sickly-sweet thing, “I believe this is a lesson the Emperor has yet to learn.”

HuaiSang wants nothing more than to take a hot, fragrant bath, and forget that he had ever spoken to this creature.

“You wanted the Emperor to become another YanLing DaoRen. To what purpose?”

“Wei WuXian would never be another YanLing DaoRen,” Xue ChengMei scoffs, “He would be so much more. A perfect vessel of destruction. A divine entity. Chaos personified.”

Well.

That answers that question.

HuaiSang taps his fan against his leg, thinking.

“Your attempts to eliminate the Lan Sect. You did not want the presence of those who can cleanse the Emperor of the resentful energy. But the Lan Sect is still here. The Emperor will recover. Your plan has failed.”

Xue ChengMei does not seem upset by the revelation, “Plans fail on occasion. There is always tomorrow.”

“You must have a great deal of confidence in your friend, who is maybe no longer a friend, if you intend to live long enough to see tomorrow.”

The boy only smiles in response.

It is an empty threat.

HuaiSang hates making empty threats.

A Jin Sect disciple cannot meet an accidental death in the Immortal Mountain City dungeons; not unless HuaiSang means to cause a diplomatic disaster. The situation at court is still too tense, too fragile for such heavy-handed solutions.

HuaiSang also cannot reveal the reasons for Xue ChengMei’s imprisonment. Such an accusation would result in a swift death, with no opportunity to draw out the accomplices he must have in the Immortal Mountain City.

No, the boy is infinitely more useful alive, although it sets HuaiSang’s teeth on edge to have this creature anywhere near Wei Ying.

There are many more questions he could ask, but the smell is unbearable, and for the time being, he has the majority of the answers he needs. The boy’s revelations may have been sparse and unpleasant, but HuaiSang has never needed all the pieces of a tangram to discern its shape.

Only when he is climbing the stone steps, does one particular sentence come back to him with full force, and he finds himself shaking his head in disbelief.

Chaos personified. As if Wei Ying had ever needed a demonic sword to be worthy of such a title.

#the untamed #cql #mdzs #ficlet #m #wwx emperor au #okay so i mixed up the order last time #this is xue yang's creepy story time #wangji's pov is next #ily chickens

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ramblings-of-a-mad-cat · 3 years

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do u think ur love triangle theory is still likely to happen now that yr 7's started and we have a better idea of the plot?

At this point, my answer is actually no. I really don’t see it happening. But that’s going to depend on how things play out, on if there are any changes to MC’s dynamic with Penny or Merula once they get back from the Ministry in the chapters to come. And given how Year 5 was 33 chapters and Year 6 was 45, I mean...it’s safe to assume that we’re a long way from the end. That there’s plenty of time to re-establish romantic tension and whatnot. MC and Penny have never re-visited their conversation about MC fancying her, despite Penny promising they would. And there will need to be some kind of equivalent conversation for the players who didn’t choose that option. Likewise, Merula’s crush on Jacob hasn’t been mentioned in a while. And whether or not MC expressed jealousy, I feel like that conversation and that dialogue choice or going to be referenced again. There are so many hints in the story that Merula has a crush on MC or that the two of them have romantic tension. It’s the classic “tsundere.”

But on the other hand, the story, at least for right now, is in such a place that I find it difficult to guess where they’d fit a love triangle in there. The majority of MC’s friends have stepped back from the story, and Penny was the spokesperson for that decision. The adventure has taken its toll on her, so I don’t really blame her for that, but she’s still withdrawing support at a time when MC is probably going to need it the most. On Merula’s side, the problem is obvious. She’s the Hogwarts mole, and we have no idea how that’s going to play out in the future or what her agenda is. Even if she defects and rejoins the light, the betrayal alone would be a lot for her and MC to get past, particularly since she’s not very good at apologizing. The final issue is that Penny and Merula don’t really have an established relationship of their own. Despite how frequently they both appear, I can count the number of times they’ve shared dialogue on one hand, and it was never anything that meaningful.

But the groundwork has still been set. Penny and Merula remain the only characters that the player is given the opportunity to express romantic interest in while playing through the main story. I feel like that has to mean something, I feel like that’s not just because they’re the developer’s favorites. The choice to fancy Penny was very early on in Year 5′s release schedule, so it was before her overexposure had gotten as ridiculous as it has. And Merula? The subtext has been there for a very long time. Well before Year 5, but Year 5 also gave us the wonderful “Merula Snyde Infatuation” scene, like that isn’t blatant shiptease. They’re both characters from the Original Four, and given that the developers likely knew all along that Rowan would die and seem to have a different plan altogether for Ben...I wonder if Penny and Merula weren’t always intended to be the end-game “canon” love interests. Not sure where that leaves MC’s who only like boys, though...I mean, Rowan and Ben were love interests once, but that was scrapped long ago...

#HPHM Theory #Penny Haywood #Merula Snyde #HPHM Jacob's Sibling #Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery #HPHM Year 7

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parkerpeter24 · 4 years

Text

Quizzes End Up In Kisses ~ Peter Parker💕

Part-7 of the Eight Days Of Valentine series

Part 8

Warnings: fluff, thank you.

Sorry for I'm late. Also, I don't know anything about schooling system in the U.S. so forgive me.

Middle school was exhausting, not to mention stupid, and you dreaded going to High school. Going everyday to a place for nearly your whole life, a prison called school, was never on your checklist. It was a pretty basic list and all the things you would want to do one day were mentioned in it.

And Peter Parker had managed to get on the top.

Entering Liz's house, you were met with loud noise and kids scattered all around the living area. The snacks and drinks were placed neatly on the kitchen slab. You sighed before moving in and placing your small gift in the pile that was placed near the christmas tree. You were invited to the party by Liz and you had nothing better to do on a Christmas eve and maybe you would find Peter here too. MJ was in the extreme corner of the room which was illuminated by a bright lamp under which she read a book. You smiled at her and her book choice, 'Great Leadership by Kimberly Davis.'

You moved towards the kitchen where you spotted Liz greeting her friends. The party went on, you stuck to MJ in the back until she needed to get back home and you didn't.

Few people were still left, probably close friends of Liz, when you spotted Ned and Peter near the window, whispering something to each other. You moved towards them setting aside the glass of juice.

"Hey Peter, Ned!" You greeted cheerfully. Ned waved, greeting you back while Peter straightened a bit, the soft light hid the mild blush covering his cheeks. It wasn't hard for you, or anyone for that matter, to figure out that he liked you. He wasn't good with secrets.

"Hey, (y/n)." He replied when Ned cleared his throat . You didn't want to seem desperate by asking him out or truth be told, you were shy yourself and didn't want to convert your friendship into awkwardness.

The room was starting to clear and you were now having a proper conversation with both the boys, majorly about school and homework when a loud voice pulled you out of the on-going topic.

"Hey losers!" Flash yelled, indicating the three of you."You need to come here." He called out, you rolled your eyes but nonetheless moved to where everyone left was gathered in a small circle. You sat beside Liz as everyone settled down and Liz started talking, "So, I have a game for everyone." She grinned and then you zoned out, staring at the boy in front of you. Brown eyes squinted slightly in concentration as he tried so hard to steal a glance at you whereas you were, absentmindedly, full on gaping at him. Only, you, Liz, Betty, Flash, Ned and Peter were left in the room.

"(Y/n), you wanna put something in?" Liz asked, popping your Peter bubble.

"What?" You asked, not having listened to a word she said.

"You wanna put something in the bag?" She pointed to the small bag placed in the centre. Where would it even come from, "And since you're the last one, you get to have the first chance." She grinned. By now, it wasn't really hard to guess that the group was playing seven minutes in heaven.

You grabbed the bag and got up, throwing your bracelet in when no one was watching and shaking the bag. You fished the bag and pulled out a small keyring which was way too familiar. A blush covered your cheeks as you realised whose it was. A small Darth Vader keyring that you gave Peter on his birthday. You looked to Peter who looked like a reindeer caught in headlights. You heard Flash laugh, "Do you think these guys are going to hold hands?"

Soon you were pushed into a room, Peter just behind you as Liz locked the door.

You sat on Liz's bed and Peter stood against the wall across you, the tension was undeniable. A few minutes were passed in silence before Peter cleared his throat and sat beside you on the bed. You watched him in anticipation as he ran his fingers through his hair, "(Y/n), you know, we don't have to do anything just because Flash would probably never leave this."

You felt a bit disappointed but you couldn't let Flash tease Peter for this, "Yeah, I know how to shut Flash up." You smiled.

You told Flash that you had made out with Peter and the look on his face was precious. Maybe it would be the other way around and instead of Flash teasing Peter, you would tease Flash for Peter had his first kiss before him. No one has to know that he didn't.

.•°☆°•..•°☆°•..•°☆°•.

It's been almost a year since then and everybody but you had forgotten that night. And you could never.

You saw Peter leaning against your locker as you made your way through the sea of teenagers.

"Hey!" You greeted your best friend, "Where's Ned?"

"Maths." He answered, shrugging. You smiled at him as you pulled out your Chemistry textbook.

"I'm already bored seeing this textbook." You complained walking beside Peter as you began your trip to the classroom.

"I know, Mr. Smith can be tough on us kids at times." He laughed, watching as you rolled your eyes at no one. "By the way, you prepared for the test?"

"Nope." You replied as soon as the question left his mouth, popping the p in the word.

"Well, you need to. This test makes up 33 percent of our total grades this semester." You sighed at this, nodding your head in understanding as you reached the class.

.•°☆°•..•°☆°•..•°☆°•.

You were at your desk for the past one hour, staring at your Chemistry textbook. Oh how you hated the subject. You were dozing off when you heard a series of knocks on your window. Although knowing it was the one and only, you were shocked and awakened from your sleep.

You ran to the window, unlocking it and letting your masked friend inside before locking it and pulling the curtains. Peter was always careless, not at all good at hiding his identity considering that you figured out, but you saved his ass.

"I'm so jealous of you." You complained and his eyebrows furrowed.

"Why?" He asked.

"You know, you get to do all cool superhero stuff and you're still gonna face that test tomorrow!" You exclaimed, burying your face in his chest and taking in his warmth as he wrapped his arms while laughing, "My mom is gonna kill me." You sighed.

"Okay, let's practice together then." He stated, moving towards your study.

"Aren't you tired?" You asked.

"Not for you, I'm not." He replied shyly and turned away from you to hide his own blush as a faint pink covered your cheeks.

Studying with Peter was rather distracting, not that you haven't done it before, but with time it seemed to have become difficult to focus on the subject and you were more interested in the pout that formed on his lips when he didn't understand something, or the way he squinted his eyes to focus, or the way his fingers played with the pencil when he was thinking something, or the way his eyebrows creased when he got an answer wrong. You were so busy admiring him.

"Okay, I got a good question for you." Peter said, pulling you out of your own little world.

"Shoot."

"And element X is divalent -" He started but you groaned, cutting him off.

"Oh, I hate X and Y questions!" You whined.

"Come on, you don't even know the question yet." Peter replied, "You need to practice if you want to get good grades on that test."

"Okay, I'll study. But, I have one condition." You said, smirking and Peter gulped. He knew that smirk. Something bad was going inside your mind whenever you did this. Before he could ask anything, though, you said, "If I answer ten of your questions correctly then you have to kiss me." You said. Your heartbeat was incredibly fast but your face showed the same smirk as Peter's cheek turned a crimson shade.

"Okay." He said, "I got some questions for you." He smirked, choosing the set of questions that he knew you would be able to answer easily.

"First question." He started, smiling at your nervousness as you tapped your fingers gently against the table. You wanted this as much as he did, "The number of moles of solute present in one kilogram of a solvent is called as…" He trailed off waiting for an answer.

You smiled, "That's easy. It's molality." You answered sweetly, batting your eyelashes at him.

"Correct. Don't get too excited (y/l/n), it's just the first question." He replied, mocking your tone which made you giggle.

"Your impressions are hilarious Parker." You teased, laughing as he smiled proudly.

"Wait till you hear my Thor impression." He beamed, "Anyway, the next question, The metal used to separate copper from a copper sulphate solution is?" He asked.

"Ferrous." You replied.

You didn't expect the questions to get harder but what do you expect from Peter Nerd Parker. You were on the ninth question and you were getting more and more nervous, "What is the chemical name for baking soda?"

"It's, Sodium something… Sodium Carbonate?"

"No. It's-"

"Sodium Bicarbonate!" You yelled, making him laugh at your eagerness.

"Oh, shut it Parker!" You scolded, nonetheless smiling.

"Okay, so are you ready for the last question?" He asked and you just nodded. This was a perfect and probably the only chance you'd get to kiss the boy you'd had a crush on for the longest time. "Now, (y/n). Which radioactive element is used in heat pacemakers?" He asked.

Shit!

Elements were your weakest part. You stared straight into his eyes, pleading for a hint as you rack your brain for the answer. At this moment, both of you knew that Peter would kiss you no matter what, but you wanted to get it right.

"Plutonium?" You mumbled a question. Peter, having heightened senses, heard that and stood up from his seat, making you stand up and follow him to the centre of the room. He sighed, facing you with furrowed eyebrows, "Was it wrong?"

He just stood there for a moment before suddenly pulling you flush against him. Your hands instantly wrapped around his neck and a yelp escaped your throat before you felt his lips over yours. Moving at a slow pace. It was sweet, it was all you needed. Your hands tugged at the curls behind his head and he pulled you closer, resting his forehead on yours, "Correct."

You smiled so wide, your cheeks started to hurt. Suddenly you couldn't help what you said out aloud, "Kissing you was on my checklist since Middle school." He laughed at this.

"The infamous checklist?" He asked. Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"You knew about it?" You asked back for his answer.

"You're not good with secrets either. I heard you and MJ talking about it." He replied sheepishly.

"And you didn't tell me?" You asked, smiling.

"It was an accident." He said in a small voice, parting from you slightly and you shook your head softly as your gaze fell on the wall clock.

"It's nothing." You smiled, "Hey, I think you should go. It's getting late." He nodded, giving you a final peck on the lips as he grabbed his mask, moving towards your window.

"Peter." You called out. He turned back to face you, waiting for you to say something, "Don't forget about the Spanish quiz day after tomorrow." You smirked and he knew that smirk.

Taglist:

@harrysbbby @overly-obsessed @luckyfiction17 @avengersgroupchat @ollieologys @afictionaladventure16 @hollandraul @clqudsparker @spider-manholland @screamholland @angelhaz11 @farfromhaz @drunklili @spideyyeet @fairytaleparker @venusparker @dazzling-rubabe @kitkatd7 @hazmyheart @angelic-holland @littlekidsteve @audreylovespidey706 @ironholland19 @lauras-collection @spideyyeet @cherryredparker @ploont @cucumberfingers @angel-spidey @spideygirl2003 @greatpizzascissorstaco @the-crazy-fanfictionist @lovabletomholland @lovelytholland @parkerdrabbles @parkers-fidelity @tom-holland-is-spiderman @tomsrebeleyebrow @hollandcuddles

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embracetheshipping · 5 years

Text

Just a friendly reminder that Danny “Danno” Williams:

1. Graduated from college with a minor in business 2. Posed for a charity calendar 3. Solved 87 homicide cases during his time in Newark 4. Worked a Russian mob case 5. Testified in court against his corrupt partner, Rick Peterson 6. Took out the drug dealers who killed his partner (Grace) by thinking quickly and breaking free of his restraints 7. Gave up his life in New Jersey to follow Grace to Hawaii 8. Endured workplace bullying during his initial time at HPD 9. Helped Adam Charles a.k.a. Toast get leniency from his petty crimes and brought him on as valuable C.I. 10. Made the connection between Hesse and Doran before Steve took over his father’s case 11. Believed in Meka’s innocence when no one else did 12. Solved Meka’s murder and uncovered a mole in HPD 13. Continued to work in the field with a torn ACL 14. Saved Grace from Rick Peterson 15. If you count the air quotes, was the first to say “I love you” to Steve 16. Adopted the orphaned dog of a murder victim 17. Saved Steve from North Korea 18. Helped Rachel deliver Charlie while not knowing it was his son 19. Took photos of Charlie for Stan 20. Learned to surf even though he’s not fond of the ocean 21. Ran Five-0 when Steve took off with no warning except a letter 22. Helped Max exonerate an innocent man and solve the mystery of his mother’s murder 23. Along with his team and NCIS, helped stop an outbreak of smallpox that could have killed millions of people 24. Chased down a terrorist who had a bomb strapped to his chest 25. Stayed with Chin when he had a bomb strapped to his neck 26. Kept the Aloha girls safe and calm when they were locked up in a bunker 27. With help from the Aloha girls leader, found and saved Steve and Lucy 28. Took in his wayward nephew, called him out on his behavior and got him a job working in the lab 29. Gave up Pro Bowl tickets to go with Steve to the hospital for treatment 30. Traveled with Grace to Japan to return a puzzle box to the family member of a deceased girl 31. Opened up to Steve about his anxiety issues 32. Helped his parents reconcile when they were having problems and on the verge of divorce 33. Traveled to Afghanistan to make sure Steve is found and rescued 34. Figured out where his brother hid the money he’d stolen from Marco Reyes 35. Bought Steve a guitar and encouraged him to play again 36. Went to a Columbian prison in order to protect Grace and Steve 37. Competed in the tough mudder race despite not wanting to (and also probably still dealing with the revelation that he has a son and his ex lied to him) 38. Recovered his stolen car (with help) and took out the criminals 39. Landed a plane on the beach in order to give an injured Steve the best chance of surviving 40. Gave Steve half of his fucking liver 41. Took out half the terrorists at Grace’s Winter Formal on his own (at one point crawling through a duct and dealing with claustrophobia in order to do so) 42. Confronted his sister about her almost affair with her co-worker 43. Goes with the team to Mexico to help Chin save his niece 44. Actively tries to help Stan and Rachel with their marriage problems 45. Consoled Adam after his divorce from Kono

Danny is by no means a flawless or infallible character. In fact, his faults and mistakes are a major part of character; it makes him interesting and well-rounded. But ever since about Season 4/5, his character has become less dynamic, often relegating him to the role of a comic relief or cranky side-kick. But there’s so much more to him, and he doesn’t deserve the poor excuse for writing that’s been going on in Season 6 and beyond (especially these last two seasons - bleh!), so I wanted to make an appreciation post to remind the Five-0 fandom what makes him awesome and why he really is “the heart and soul” of the show.

Feel free to reblog and add more notes, as this is by no means a conclusive list.

FYI - this is not the “Assassination of Danny Williams” post I mentioned I wanted to do a while back. That’s still a WIP.

#h50 #hawaii five 0 #danny danno williams #bamf danny #danny is a brilliant cop #and a wonderful father #and son #and brother #and friend #he's smart #and strong #and i wish the who and certain parts of the fandom would stop treating him like a joke #or stop treating him like a side kick to steve #he's damn great detective on his own

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kitsune-kirei · 5 years

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Neverending Survey: Kirei Meztli

RULES: Repost, do not reblog. Tag 10 blogs! (Or as many as you’d like)

Tagged by: @lightofthecrystal, @elegie-de-sang, @ataki-yuuto, and @lillies-n-lilacs, thank you for tagging me, It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these!

Tagging: @gaillaffxiv, @infiniteleftdoesffxiv, @sparrow-ffxiv, @fensa-valehart, @mai-takeda, @seina-kurokiba, @gaggle-of-dorks-ffxiv, @jorandalkitor, @thesinsofgreed

BASICS.

FULL NAME: Kirei Meztli ( @kitsune-kirei )

NICKNAME: Kitsune, Kitsu, Rei, The Firefox.

AGE: Unknown, looks in her 20′s or 30′s.

BIRTHDAY: Unknown.

ETHNIC GROUP: Half Hyur, Half Doman .

NATIONALITY: Ul’dahian, Doman.

LANGUAGE/S: Hingan, Eorzean.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual.

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Quoiromantic (thank you for this term Spurrow)

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Complicated as fuck.

HOME TOWN / AREA: Yanxia, deep within the bamboo forests.

CURRENT HOME: A hidden cave in the Mists. The location is unknown, except to those Kirei has become dedicated to.

PROFESSION: Flower arranger/seller, deliverer, information broker, exorcist, spy.

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: Curly, wavy, and messy, fire orange in color, recently cut to cheek length.

EYES: Peculiar lavender eyes.

FACE: Almost doll-like and delicate in appearance, sometimes covered in dirt.

LIPS: A bit pouty, rarely wears lip-paint.

COMPLEXION: Olive, dewy.

BLEMISHES: A mole on the left side of her chin.

SCARS: Small, barely noticeable scars mar her entire body.

TATTOOS: None, sometimes Kirei will mess with Henna.

HEIGHT: 5′6, pretty tall for a Miqo’te.

BUILD: Skinny, lanky, tall.

FEATURES: Foxlike ears and a foxlike tail.

ALLERGIES: None.

USUAL FACE LOOK: Neutral, melancholic, bright, friendly, ever present smile.

USUAL CLOTHING: Practical clothing on the skin-showing side.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR/S: Losing sense of taste, hands and feet being cut off, feeling trapped.

ASPIRATION/S: To liberate every single slave under the Echion slave branch, to understand what it means to be human.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Empathetic, helpful, friendly, dedicated worker, passionate, self sacrificing, able to look at the bigger picture, peacekeeper.

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Self sacrificing, self pitying, generous to the point of poverty, feral, half truths, holds too many secrets.

TEMPERAMENT: Phlegmatic- individuals tend to be relaxed, peaceful, quiet, and easy-going. They are sympathetic and care about others, yet they try to hide their emotions. Melancholic- individuals tend to be analytical and detail-oriented, and they are deep thinkers and feelers.

SOUL TYPE/S: The Shaman- This type of soul is wise and old. They can give great advice as well as truly connect with people around them. Others often feel better in their presence.

ANIMALS: Fox, Deer, Otter.

VICE HABIT/S: Smoking, drugs every so often, having strong urges to dig holes in the ground out of nowhere, toxic relationships, succumbs to feral instincts every now and then.

FAITH: Loose faith in Kami/ Shinto.

GHOSTS?: Yes, Kirei can communicate to spirits and sense ones nearby.

AFTERLIFE?: Yes.

REINCARNATION?: Yes. Kirei has brief episodes where she gets feelings from her last lifetime, and rarely, will share a familiar feeling among people she had been acquainted with in her past life.

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: Neutral.

EDUCATION LEVEL: Taught to read and write, self studying.

FAMILY.

FATHER: R’ihan Meztli - Estranged, Keeper of the Moon. Kirei traveled with her father in Thanalan for a while before he ultimately sold her to a slaver. Spent his life work searching for a powerful Kami in the east.

MOTHER: Leiote Sekai - Deceased, Doman Hyur. Leiote was a Geiko in Hingashi, and was well known for her ethereal presence, beauty, and kindness. She was ultimately charmed by the outsider R’ihan Meztli, and they both moved back to her home village in Yanxia to start a family.

SIBLINGS: Kaeyu Meztli - Half sibling, half Keeper half Seeker. Kaeyu and Kirei don’t know the other exists. Kaeyu has a reputation for being rather rambunctious and a trouble maker.

EXTENDED FAMILY: Kirei has family on her mother’s and father’s side, but she doesn’t know anything about them, or there whereabouts.

NAME MEANING/S: Kirei (きれい)- The Hingan word for ‘pretty’, or ‘beautiful’. It has been heavily implied to Kirei by others, that she was named after her mother’s beauty and kindness in hopes that she would inherit these traits.

HISTORICAL CONNECTION?: None.

FAVORITES.

BOOK: A Hingan child’s book called ‘The Tale of Mohatsu-Otome’, otherwise known as the Eastern version of Rapunzel.

DEITY: None.

HOLIDAY: Moonfire Faire.

MONTH: Fall seasons.

SEASON: Autumn.

PLACE: The astral plane, various hidden nooks and crannies throughout Eorzea, Doman bath houses, hot springs.

WEATHER: Sunny with a chill in the air, warm desert days, rainy.

SOUND / S: Ethereal singing, the singing of lesser nature spirits within the woods, wind chimes, ocean waves, water, the rustle of leaves in the wind.

SCENT / S: Incense, tobacco, fresh unpicked flowers, old tomes, herbs, fresh baked bread, tea.

TASTE / S: Peaches, apples, fresh sweet cream.

FEEL / S: Soft and bristly fur, warmth, fresh snow, crunchy leaves, fine sand, hot rocks, pebbles.

ANIMAL / S: Goobbue, Tortoises, smaller creatures.

NUMBER: 3, 6, 9, 33.

COLORS: Rich purple, pink, light/bright blue, green.

EXTRA.

TALENTS: Dancing, healing, cooking, making shitty looking but durable furniture, sewing, manipulation, twin daggers, aether control.

BAD AT: Lying, drawing, staying clean, writing.

TURN ONS: Charming cockiness, depth, intensity, shoulders, meaningful words, white eyes, dark eyes, smirks, someone who can figure her out, making her laugh, a nice voice.

TURN OFFS: Simple minds, tunnel vision, someone who doesn’t listen to her words, racism, un-needed/careless violence and aggression, calling her a ‘cat’, unflattering colors, self absorbed.

HOBBIES: Flower frolicking, cooking, traveling, swimming, making junk, people watching.

TROPES: Girl next door, Hippie, Undere/Yandere

QUOTES:

“I want to understand... The weight of a human life.”

“We need to keep moving forward. We have our eyes in the front for a reason after all, there is no point in looking back to the past.”

“I take a hold of my fate with my own two hands. I will not leave things to chance.”

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1 : If you could write your character your way in their own movie, what would it be called, what style would it be filmed in, and what would it be about?

A1 : I’m not sure about the title, but it would definitely have to be an animated film. And It would probably be about Kirei’s backstory and about her parents. There’s a lot of details about her past that I don’t get to touch on too much in RP.

Q2 : What would their soundtrack/score sound like?

A2 : Something that would invoke a lot of emotion if possible. Ghibli/Disney-esque would be awesomeeee.

Q3 : Why did you start writing this character?

A3 : Long story short, something happened to me while visiting Japan that gave me inspiration to write Kirei. Close friends know the entire story, but its a bit long and wild. I’ll just say it involves a Fox shrine I ran into!

Q4 : What first attracted you to this character?

A4 : Besides the thing that happened in Japan, I wanted a character where I was able to express my interest in things like shamanism and the spirit world. I also was really attracted to the idea of writing a character that was still kind to others even though she has no reason to be, due to the rough life she lived.

Q5 : Describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse.

A5 : I’m a really open person who likes to approach people to start conversations, but Kirei is the opposite of that. It makes it a bit harder to approach in RP since I wrote her to be a wallflower. She’s also much more reserved than I am, so if there’s a wild scene happening in RP that I would like to get in on, I really can’t on Kirei since she’s not one to participate in things unless asked.

Q6 : What do you have in common with your muse?

A6 : Probably too much in hindsight rofl. Kirei is the first RP character I ever wrote, so I gave her a lot of commonalities from myself so it would be easier to write her and learn how to RP.

Q7 : How does your muse feel about you?

A7 : She would probably tell me that I’m trying my best, but she thinks that with most!

Q8 : What characters does your muse have interesting interactions with ?

A8 : A whole other side of Kirei comes out if she interacts with manipulative/cunning characters, and I really enjoy writing that darker side of her that appears.

Q9 : What gives you inspiration to write your muse ?

A9: A big inspiration for the core of Kirei is Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket (if you couldn’t tell but all the fruits basket stuff I reblog). I just loved how she was written, and how she stayed kind despite her hard life, and I loved her layers and how she viewed others. Tohru gave me a lot if inspiration to be kind to others growing up, Kirei is really just a homage to her.

Q10: How long did this take you to complete ?

A10: TOO LONG, I worked on it on and off throughout the week.

Thanks for reading if you stuck around this long!

#ffxiv #ffxiv rp #ff14 #ff14 rp #kirei meztli

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three-of-swords · 4 years

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Animal Crossing Countdown

I didn’t find this post until today, so I have to do a LOT of questions in a very short span of time, namely for my own amusement and the two people who care. But I’m gonna put it under a read more because no one needs to see a post this long in the actual ACNH tag.

1: Do you prefer making up a new name for your villager, or using your own name?

I tend to use my nickname, because I share my name with one of my favourite villagers, so it gets confusing and annoying.

2: Do you use the first map you’re given, or do you reset for layouts?

I reset for layouts, but I’m not terribly picky. I reset more because of fruit than layout.

3: Do you use the face you’re given, or do you wait for guides and choose your favourite?

Guides. Me not knowing that your face is dependent on some arbitrary questions was the cause of me immediately restarting my first town.

4: Favourite town/island name?/Have you a name picked out for your town/island?

I’ve only ever played New Leaf, and my town’s name was Wishfall. I’m not sure what I’ll name the island yet, but Wishfall is definitely one of the options.

5: Will you be sharing with friends/family, or is your island going to be all your own?

No. Mine. Though I will be inviting people over, no one will have a house but me.

6: What’s a new feature you’re excited about?

Redirecting rivers. Terraforming. Placing villager houses. Anything that will help me maintain and mold the island into what I want it to be.

7: Favourite fruit?

Apples. Second favourite are cherries, but only for looks.

8: Least favourite fruit?

Probably pears, which is funny, since Wishfall’s town specialty were pears. I don’t like how they look, and I’m also allergic. Second least favourite would be oranges.

9: Favourite area? (Beach, campground, shopping district etc, from any entry in the series.)

The museum.

10: Where do you like to like to put your house? Do you like that level of customization, or do you prefer to have some things decided, like in older entries?

I don’t have experience with the older entries, but I know I’d prefer to make a choice on where my house goes. I like it to be a little away from other villagers, usually backed up against a cliff.

11: Favourite grass pattern?

Triangle.

12: Least favourite grass pattern?

Circle, but it’s not that I don’t like it. I just prefer it less.

13: Favourite villager/s?

Whitney. Julian. Pashmina. Drago. Merengue. Bam. Merry. Apollo.

14: Least favourite villager/s?

Jambette. Cobb. Chops. Frita.

15: Did you like doing Tom Nook’s chores, or did you find those to be a pain?

I mean. I like tasks. But having only played ACNL, I can’t say I HAD any chores besides “Pay your loan!”

16: Favourite NPC/s?

Kicks. Blathers. Crazy Redd. Katrina. Isabelle, obviously.

17: Least favourite NPC/s?

Zipper. Chip. Pave.

18: Do you use paths? Are you excited about the new path tool?

Yes, and fuck yes.

19: Favourite feature from an older entry?

I would have liked to see what the Celeste constellation thing was about. I’ve heard about it, but I don’t know any details. But I like the idea.

20: What was your first Animal Crossing game?

New Leaf was the first game I played in depth and actually owned, but I did play a little of a game on a DS when I was in high school. Probably Wild World. I really only remember shaking trees.

21: Favourite activity (fishing, bug catching, fossil hunting, other)?

Collecting museum donations.

22: Least favourite activity?

The arbitrary rules for the bug or fish tournaments, or the randomization of rewards given in any events at all. The events themselves would be fine, if they made any damn sense.

23: Favourite bug?

Emperor Butterfly. Birdwing Butterfly. Orchid Mantis. Oak Silk Moth. Walking Leaf.

24: Least favourite bug?

Fucking Mole Crickets. Not a fan of the House Centipede or Tarantula either.

25: A quarter of the way there! How’s the wait?

Impatience. So much impatience.

26: Favourite fish?

Goldfish. Sea Butterfly.

27: Least favourite fish?

Giant Trevally. That thing is fucking ugly. Napoleonfish, too.

28: Favourite fossil?

Fern Fossils or any skulls, but I actually don’t have any strong feelings one way or another.

29: Least favourite fossil?

Coprolite. ...Why.

30: Favourite furniture series?

Don’t really have one, though I’m partial to the Regal and Exotic series.

31: Least favourite furniture series?

Lovely. Don’t like it. Don’t like Kiddie much, either, though it’s cute for certain villagers like Kitt or Stitches.

32: Favourite soundtrack? (Gamecube, DS/Wii, etc)

New Leaf, since it’s my only experience.

33: Least favourite soundtrack?

None.

34: Favourite wallpaper?

Lunar Horizon. The Forest Wall, too.

35: Do you have a nice memory of the games/community etc you’d like to share?

When Pashmina moved in next to me, I was irritated. I’d specifically placed my house next to Re-Tail, but not too close, and she moved in between the two buildings. ...But now she’s my favourite goat, my favourite uchi villager, and honestly, I love her to bits. First impressions apparently don’t always matter too much.

36: Least favourite wallpaper?

Industrial, probably.

37: Favourite carpet?

Palace Tile, I suppose? Though it doesn’t go with everything.

38: Least favourite carpet?

Closed Road, probably.

39: Favourite furniture item?

Whichever grasshopper it is that goes in a cute little bamboo cage.

40: Will you be buying a Switch for Animal Crossing, or do you already have one?

I have one already, sadly. I’m sending it out for repairs, though.

41: Least favourite furniture item?

There are some uuuugly ass furniture items, but it’s impossible to remember them, so I don’t.

42: Favourite flower?

Black or pink lilies, blue and purple violets, and blue and purple roses.

43: Least favourite flower?

Meh. I like them all okay. If I had to choose, I’d say I’m not overly fond of the Cosmos.

44: Favourite hybrid?

See above.

45: Least favourite hybrid?

I don’t care much for the orange pansies.

46: Favourite shirt?

Night-Sky Tee.

47: Favourite dress?

I don’t wear them.

48: Favourite accessory?

Feathers.

49: Favourite hat/helmet?

FEATHERS.

50: Halfway there! How’s the wait going?

IMPATIENCE.

51: Favourite shop?

Kicks, I guess. Even though I don’t go in there. I love him. And the sign squeaks.

52: Do you collect amiibo cards/figures? Would you like to see them used in the new game?

I have a good amount of cards, both real and fake. Some figures, too. I wouldn’t say I collect them, but I try to have them just in case. I’d like them in the new game.

53: Fishing Tourney or Bug-Off?

Fucking neither, but if I HAD to choose, Fishing Tourney. At least in New Leaf. I like catching bugs more, but it seems totally random if they’re lackluster or not. I don’t prefer fishing, but at least all you need is the damn size to tell you if it’s a good fish or not.

54: Do you like making your own clothing patterns?

Nope.

55: Did you streetpass with many other ACNL players, or is it a feature you didn’t get much use of?

I streetpassed a bit but eventually turned it off after getting too more undesirable villagers from other people. Frita and Chops will always be two of my most despised villagers for this reason.

56: Favourite villager species?

Wolves.

57: Least favourite villager species?

Gorillas.

58: Favourite nickname from a villager?

Darling, but I liked that Merry called me Pop Star. It was charming coming from her.

59: Least favourite nickname from a villager?

Big Y. Indeed. Big why.

60: Do you try to collect everything in the game, or just try to get your favourite bits and pieces?

I try to collect everything eventually but I’m not insane about it. I like to fill my catalog.

61: Favourite villager personality?

Smug. But it looks better on some villagers than others. Cute on Julian or Lopez, AWFUL on Chops.

62: Least favourite villager personality?

Jock, but again, while it’s cute on Bam, I loathe it on Cobb. It really depends on the villager, somehow.

63: Do you “plot reset” for villager house placement, or do you let them move in wherever they want?

I plot reset a bit, but only if they moved somewhere particularly undesirable.

64: Are you excited to wear any of the new accessories (like the bags etc shown in the E3 trailer)?

Of course I am!

65: What season are you most looking forward to seeing in New Horizons?

Fall. The mushrooooooms.

66: What’s your favourite season?

Fall, though I loved how the cherry blossoms were carried on the river in spring.

67: Least favourite season?

Probably winter, just because it starts to look uninteresting after awhile.

68: Which game’s events/holidays do you like the most?

I’m partial to Halloween. Also, I have to cheat during April Fool’s Day, but the villagers’ reactions to Blanca are cute. I also begrudgingly like Bunny Day, but I can’t say I love it because Zipper creeps me out. I love collecting the eggs from all over the place, but he gives you totally random items, so. Eh.

69: Which game’s events/holidays do you like least?

Love feathers. Hate Pave. Seriously. Can’t stand him. He’s super annoying to me. I like the feather-catching portion and that is IT. I also believe I’ve already expressed my dislike for tournaments.

70: Do you have another nice AC related memory you’d like to share (in-game, of the community, etc)?

Weirdly, this is related to Pashmina again, but once I visited her after I got my face destroyed by bees, and she gave me medicine. I know now that uchi villagers in particular are likely to do this, but I’d never seen it happen before, and I was touched.

71: Do you prefer the “live” versions of K.K. Slider’s Songs, or the airchecks?

Yes.

72: An NPC you’d like to see more of?

Kicks. Sable. Katrina.

73: An NPC you’d like to see less of?

Chip.

74: If you could have any piece of AC merchandise, which would it be?

I dunno. A big comfy hoodie, maybe? A mug? I’m not particularly materialistic. I like useful things.

75: Only 25 days left to go! How’s the wait?

You know, I’m really glad I spent the last few months hyped for games that came out over time. It’s been bite-size chunks of releases that were only a little ways away. Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Concrete Genie. Pokemon Sword. The Cindered Shadows DLC. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. I can’t imagine this having been the only game I was looking forward to, or I would have died by now.

76: Will you be downloading the game, or getting a physical copy?

Physical copy. As much as I’d love to play it right at midnight, I like not having to wait for download time, or take up a lot of space in storage. I’m hoping my GameStop does a midnight release, but I’m not counting on it.

#THAT TOOK FOREVER #acnh #julian rambles #about me

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