#and if I could erase the impact we had on each others lives I would in a fucking heartbeat and feel no remorse

[foranpo]

ੈ˚☆ genshin characters as types of love.

fandom: genshin impact.

characters: childe, zhongli, xiao, kaeya.

reader: gn!

genre: headcanons.

content: fluff.

word count: ~230 each // 900 total

 ੈ♡˳────── enjoy the reading <3 ──────

˚ʚ childe. safe place.

all you needed was a hug; just a simple hug for the whole world to disappear. everything became insignificant when you were with childe, all the problems and the world itself becoming too light to be able to reach the mantle of love and tenderness that came from every time childe wrapped you in his arms.

nothing could separate you, nothing could prevent your love from continuing to bloom between the cracks of your hearts, destroyed so many times. bandages were finally being placed on the two of you, lovingly bridging all the slits of past loves and recent disappointments.

finally, hope. in childe's arms, between caresses and passions, between flowers and bandages, a new feeling was born. a hope for a new tomorrow. a belief that the next day would go better than the present, a trust that there would be time, there would be goodness, there would be happiness. there would be a tomorrow.

all because childe hugged you with his strong arms, protecting you over and over again from the cruel world we are a part of, guaranteeing, always and every time, that this tomorrow he promised you would come, no matter what the cost.

 ੈ♡˳─────────────────────

˚ʚ zhongli. soulmate.

“in the meantime, I give you my love. I know it's not much for who we are, I know this promise is insignificant in the face of all our memories that will be erased from us. but I give you my love. in this life and the next. I give you my heart and my soul. now and forever.”

but zhongli's promise was not insignificant. the words he whispered to you as you fell asleep in his arms weren't false. laden with passion, wrapped in a thick cloak of love, zhongli's words lingered for endless eternities.

you didn't know it, not least because no memory was clearly seen by the two of you, but the promise of zhongli was repeated in all your lives. when you lay down before the storm, when you snuggled into each other's arms, zhongli repeated the same words, not knowing they had been used so many times by him, not even suspecting that they were true.

because, in the entire universe, there were no souls more united than yours who, carrying with them the purest love existing, insisted on meeting each other in all lives. and all the stories you lived were marked in the infinite sky, each constellation lighting up the galaxy to be tinged with the promises of an eternal love, a love that would never be broken no matter what.

 ੈ♡˳─────────────────────

˚ʚ xiao. twin flame.

it was cruel the way the gods separated you, the way they ripped you from each other's arms and forced you to walk incomplete endless eternities. it was cruel the way the gods envied you, how they wanted a connection as deep and genuine as yours. it was cruel the way they did everything to keep you from meeting again, too angry to witness your love once more.

“I think I know you.” five words. five words and the your entire destiny was rewritten in a matter of seconds. five words spoken by xiao that dictated a whole new path in your lives; for now that you have finally found each other, after lives of grief and anguish over losing something you didn't even know you had, nothing would be able to tear you apart.

the comfort of his arms, the kindness of your words. the blossoming of a new love that had long seemed withered. finally you two had arrived home. finally the two of you had found the peace and happiness you had been looking for so long.

you were his better half, the good part he begged to still possess. you were the hope that was stolen from him, the certainty of a doubt that insisted on remaining in the back of his mind. you were part of xiao, you were a need he was looking for so much. but above all, you were part of xiao's soul that was torn from him. you were his passion. the eternal love he would never lose, not again.

 ੈ♡˳─────────────────────

˚ʚ kaeya. first love.

it just happened. and none of you even tried to stop that friendship that had haunted you for years from turning into something more frightening. love. how had you allowed something so big to rise between you? how did you and kaeya let your whole friendship be carried away by the warmest winds of spring and blossom into something so complex?

love. the first love. the first time you would feel the nervousness of being around someone. the first time you were going to learn how to love someone. the first time you were going to learn what it was to be loved by someone. the first love.

you knew nothing: love was a totally devastating and frightening world when mentioned by other people; you had no knowledge of how to love or be loved. you were lost. scared. too fearful to really explore the magnificent vastness of loving someone.

but it was the first time. the first love. and that is never planned, never deliberately exploited. and, without you noticing, the courage to love the other arose in you with so much affection and care that you didn't even see it. without you noticing, love poems were already declaimed by both of you, tender caresses to snuggle you in the scariest nights. without you noticing, you were already experiencing your first love. a love that would last a lifetime.

 ੈ♡˳───── feedback is appreciated <3 ─────

#;genshin impact constellation; #childe x reader #zhongli x reader #xiao x reader #kaeya x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #childe x yn #zhongli x yn #xiao x yn #kaeya x yn #genshin x yn #genshin impact x yn #childe x you #zhongli x you #xiao x you #kaeya x you #genshin x you #genshin impact x you #childe x gn reader #zhongli x gn reader #xiao x gn reader #kaeya x gn reader #genshin x gn reader #genshin impact x gn reader #childe headcanons #zhongli headcanons #xiao headcanons #kaeya headcanons

[anxiety-elemental-kay]

TriMax Volume 4 Thoughts

I don’t have any big overarching analysis or thoughts for this one, but lots of pieces parts. Apologies to anyone who might’ve covered these already, I have a tiny brain and tiny attention span. ANYWAY, TIME FOR THINKY THINKS:

FIRST, MIDVALLEY AND HOPPERED! I really like these two as characters and as an unexpected team-up. All the other Gun-Ho-Guns we’ve seen so far (minus Wolfwood) have been pretty gung-ho (hehe) about doing violence, just in general. Then there’s Midvalley who, though he’s not a good person and is generally pretty chill with mass murder including innocent people, is super NOT okay with being a part of the human genocide thing. Twice he’s tried to escape, once by shooting Legato, but didn’t even try to hide it so he got pretzel’d (bad plan bud), and secondly trying to sax Knives while he thought Knives wasn’t paying attention. (He totally was tho, and maybe if he used some fear powers to spook Midvalley into not going through it or not, Midvalley was too scared to try). It’s so interesting because Midvalley in that moment acknowledges that he’d going to die either way, so might as well take out the bad guy, right? But he doesn’t, because he’s clearly scared to die. He saw what Knives could do, saw him slice up his murder buddies/band mates. Motivated by fear, pretty common in Trigun.

Then Hoppered! We’ve had characters confront Vash about July before (BDN in the manga mentioned July) but this is the first one that’s really explicitly out to kill Vash for destroying July. I love the conversation Midvalley and Hoppered have on the train (???) on their way to their mission, Midvalley offering a drink and Hoppered declining. Hoppered knows MIdvalley wants to defect but is too scared to, and acknowledges that they’re all dead soon as their mission is over. Unlike Midvaley, Hoppered says he’s at peace with it, he’s at peace with his death coming soon. Again, unlike the other Gung-Ho-Guns, Hoppered has a mission besides pure violence. It’s personal for him, he wants revenge on Vash for destroying July. (We’ll learn more about him in the next volume! 5 was my favorite when I first read the series, I’m so excited for it!)

I really enjoy when Hoppered starts breaking down and crying when Vash says July wasn’t his fault. He refuses to believe it, can’t believe it (because that would make everything he’s done since then in vain) and is determined to make Vash remember, so that he’ll feel Hoppered’s pain. Crying out of all six holes in his mask is an impactful, if confusing, choice too. So overcome with grief the villain of the week cries.

Two villains with different and opposite motives, finding kind of companionship in their mission and oncoming deaths. Hoppered even asks Midvalley to erase the evidence they were there after the mission, which he says he will. (Again, we’ll see what this means in volume 5). Sweet isn’t the word for it, but it’s a vulnerable moment between two not very good people where we see more of their humanity. Trigun is very good at those moments.

Oh and Zazie is bugs. We learn about that too!

We finally get a good look at Knives and start getting a sense of who he is as a person! “A collector of Knives” love me a hands-on villain. He looks so tired all the time, that’s what living in fear does to you. And now every time Vash looks tired there’s a moment where he looks like Knives and every time they’re made to look like each other, like when Knives applauds Midvalley’s band, I go a little more insane. We’ll get to more stuff with Knives in later volumes, but we’re starting to build on his character properly in this one.

I’m pretty sure this volume is our first explicit look at Vash’s suicidal thoughts. We’ve already gotten a sense that he doesn’t care about his own life, but then he tells Hoppered that he can kill Vash, can chain and torture him, but only after he’s dealt with Knives. It’s his hate for his brother that’s keeping him going, his grief over Rem. What a horrible, corrosive way to live. Again this is something we’ll see expanded on more in future volumes, but god damn this hits hard. (Especially as someone who used to struggle with suicidal ideation, but that’s a bit more personal. I bring it up because it feels authentic to my experience, the way Vash talks does feel like someone who genuinely does not care to keep living.)

THE GIRLS we see more of Milly and Meryl in this volume! Meryl teasing the boys with her water as punishment for not saying goodbye, richly deserved! But also we see the conflict between the two wanting to stay with Vash and be a part of his life, but also being afraid of the kind of violence that life involves. Milly threatens Wolfwood to let her follow, but when danger arrives she’s too scared to move. Part of me wonders if this is misogyny by the narrative or if it’s meant to be another thing that separates people like Vash and Wolfwood from humanity (from Meryl and Milly). Generally I really like how both girls are written and drawn, they’re allowed to be as goofy and mean as the boys, they feel like full characters even though their stories don’t get the same spotlight. In fact the only time I was really uncomfortable with how a woman was written in Trigun was the fight with Domonique the Cyclops, the joke about groping her, Vash saying he’d slap her, yeah that was just plain old sexism. But that’s an outlier as I recall, there’s a couple weird lines about Elendira but that’s about all I can think of? The insurance girls (and some important women we’ll meet later) are written pretty well as I remember. I guess I tend to be overcautious because I’m so used to nuclear grade sexism in anime/manga, so perhaps I’m being unfair. This is something I’m going to chew on going forward.

SPEAKING OF THE QUEEN, WE GET OUR FIRST LOOK AT THE BEST GUNG-HO-GUN Elendira the Crimson Nail Me Please. No I refuse to be any less homosexual about her. She has no back story or explanation for her powers but it’s okay because she’s trans and wants the world to burn and that’s all we need to know. Please hold me gently in your arms that are so buff from hauling around a giant nail gun. That’s all I have for this volume! Again I don’t have any big, sweeping thoughts about this one. There’s a lot of important scenes and setup here

#trigun #i love trigun analysis #kay writes things #trigunbookclub

[thebroccolination]

I've Been Revisiting Stargate Atlantis…

Because my broken foot is still healing, so I'm trying to rest at home as much as I can, and SkyReplay airs it pretty regularly.

It's also because I love revisiting my favorite fandoms. Especially the fandoms I was in as a teenager. Hours upon hours spent reading these incredible fics written by people whose talent just made them feel heroic to me as a younger writer. When I rewatch these episodes, I remember my life as it was then. Fandom as it was then.

When I first watched Stargate Atlantis, I was in my third year of high school. I still posted my fics to FFN. I hadn't even heard of LiveJournal yet. I took a laptop and a book everywhere. I hadn't realized my queerness. I had few friends. And I was years away from leaving the States to live in another country where I'd finally stop trying to find the perfect way to change myself to impress my family. I'd find out that living like that would have chipped away at my heart and, ultimately, slowly erase the person I am now.

I was a lurker in most fandoms since the age of nine. I wrote fic and posted it sometimes, but I didn't engage in many forums. I rarely talked to anyone online at all, and I didn't really make fandom friends, either. Whenever I found a fandom with a huge amount of fics, I didn't bother writing anything myself. I just read as much as I could, the longer the fic, the better.

I knew fandom as a mainly adult space, and I was excited to be part of it. These fan-written stories felt more familiar to me than the media they were based on, especially with queer romance instead of heterosexual. And while there were famous episodes of Drama and Fandom Wank, fandom was, in general, my safe space.

Online fandom insulated me from all the school and family strife that I couldn't avoid offline while Being a Teenager. Fandom was a treehouse I could climb into. Pull the ladder up behind me, sprawl on some pillows, feel the cool breeze and the sun pouring in through the windows. Safe and alone with my imagination and the stories shared in a little-known community where no one who felt unsafe could find me.

And the fandom of Stargate Atlantis was an extra special escape. The fic was phenomenal, and the meta was incredible, and the show was ridiculous sometimes but fun and full of potential to explore in fic.

I just rewatched "Trinity" and reread Time in a Bottle by @astolat today, and all those feelings are still where I left them, only now I'm older and more experienced. And I'm so much happier than I was then. It's like revisiting the treehouse and finding everything right where I left it, untouched by time or weather or discovery.

Fandom has changed. Even back then, fandom wasn't a treehouse for everyone. But when I think about what it was for me, when I look back on how much it saved me and made my life worth living and celebrating in the darkest moments, I think, That's what I know to pass on now. I can't give my experience to anyone else, but I can make treehouses. I can create communities where people feel safe in their joy.

That is, in a way, what AO3 is. The big treehouse. Where our stories are safe.

And I think that's what we're here for, in the big What Are We Here For? sense.

To soak in the sun together when we can, then build cover from the rain. Protecting our peace and each other's so we can use our breathtakingly short time to share stories by a fire.

There's a moment in Astolat's fic that made me cry when I was in high school. It won't have the same impact without the rest of the fic, so please read it first, but it's this:

[John] had one wild moment just standing there, and then he flung himself on the bed, scrabbling at Rodney's shoulders, hauling him up against his body to hold him tight tight tight, and Rodney shuddered awake and grabbed him back. John said, "Rodney, Jesus God, don't—don't—" and Rodney gasped, "John, John, John," and clung to him.

Rereading it today, it still made me emotional. The fic is just as beautiful as I remembered it. It's just as important to me as it was then.

And I genuinely believe it's fics like that that have had the greatest influence on my writing. That soul-deep emotion. A character thinking they've lost their person only to get them back. That excerpt is only two sentences, and I've remembered them for years. I must have read this fic when I was in my last year of high school, and I must have read it on my laptop in my bedroom, sitting on my bed with the pillows against my back. Back before I read that you should keep your bed for sleeping only. I read so many fics on my computer in bed. I don't remember where I was exactly, if it was there or elsewhere, but I do remember crying.

And I never forgot that scene. It left a comforting stitch in my mind with a precious memory underneath.

And how beautiful are we when we do this? That we found a way to tell untold numbers of people these sincere, heartfelt stories that not only stay with us for years afterward but also thread themselves into the core of who we are and maybe even change how we see the world and what we think life could be?

If we're alive for anything, I think it's to do that: to press our fingerprints together and leave a bit of golden light on someone who needs it.

#stargate atlantis #fic rec #and now i've made myself cry again #which is good because i'm writing a very emotional scene in my book today #anyway #thank you astolat <3 #i appreciate you and your brain that made such beautiful things

[female-malice]

With her feet rooted on the ground and her voice steady, Colette Pichon Battle seems to be the type of person most of us would want nearby in a crisis. When she speaks about climate change displacing millions, she uses measured words to describe strategies to dismantle structural racism, build alliances in community, and provide legal services for equitable disaster recovery. As I listen to her TED Talk, I’m reminded of a cheer from my high school in coastal Alabama: “Rock, rock, rock, rock, steady, eddy, eddy, eddy, rock! Rock steady.” So I wasn’t surprised to learn she describes her superpower as “seeing patterns in chaos,” an apt skill for the organization she founded, the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy, now called Taproot Earth.

Working on the frontlines of climate disasters caused by hurricanes, sea level rise, and fossil fuel companies, she knows that recovery for industries has been quick, and recovery for communities has been slow. From Houston, Texas, to Pensacola, Florida, her work brings climate change to the community level, especially with women at the heart of neighborhoods and households.

“We found that the folks most willing to get to know each other were actually women,” she said in an interview with Reimagine. “When women talk about their communities, it’s sort of like women talking about their children . . . So a lot of the moral fabric and the moral movement of a family and of a community is done through the women.”

She and her staff used a meeting format called the People’s Movement Assembly, which involved Black, Latina, and Asian American women learning about each other’s lives and agreeing to reach a vision together. From there, groups of women followed through on actions, such as talking about the climate crisis and extractive industries with elected officials in Louisiana who needed the vote from people of color.

In Bayou Liberty, just north of New Orleans, Colette grew up in the house built by her grandfather, where her mother was born. There, water was a way of life: “The bayou is green and lush and all the things that equal bountiful life,” she told TED Radio, “But it is also watery and muddy. You can smell everything.”

She remembers the names of particular hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, much as I did growing up in Alabama. During the eye of the storm, family members would get into flat-bottomed boats called pirogues to check on neighbors before retreating to safety inside while the other band of the hurricane passed. But the water became unrecognizable given the severity of Hurricane Katrina. As an adult, Colette practiced law in Washington, DC, but after the destruction of Katrina, she vowed never to leave her beloved Gulf Coast again.

When she first saw the Louisiana flood maps at a community meeting, Colette says her life changed. The maps explained how the thirty-foot surge from Hurricane Katrina could flood her community as well as those in Mississippi and Alabama. She realized the land lost from sea level rise was the buffer to her own home—a buffer predicted to disappear. “I wasn’t alone at the front of the room,” she explained. “I was standing there with other members of south Louisiana’s communities—Black, Native, poor. We thought we were just bound by temporary disaster recovery, but we found that we were now bound by the impossible task of ensuring that our communities would not be erased by sea level rise due to climate change.

“I just assumed it would always be there. Land, trees, marsh, bayou. I just assumed it would be there as it had been for thousands of years,” she said. “I was wrong.” Knowing climate is predicted to displace more than 200 million people by the next century, Colette advocates for preparing for global migration by restructuring social and economic systems rooted in justice, such as investing in public hospitals before the impact of climate migration or additional storms like Hurricane Ida. It’s not like we don’t know what is coming, and Colette knows preparation is a life-and-death matter.

“Climate change is not the problem,” she said. “Climate change is the most horrible symptom of an economic system that has been built for a few to extract every precious value out of this planet and its people, from our natural resources to the fruits of our human labor.”

What holds clear and steady is her belief of what can be done now. “It’s already possible, y’all,” she often tells people, with the practical sense of someone who can get things done. Colette knows women who have the most to lose from climate disasters also know what it’ll take to plan for the future and anticipate the storm.

Reprinted with permission from Love Your Mother: 50 States, 50 Stories, and 50 Women United for Climate Justice by Mallory McDuff © 2023.

#cc

[reasoningdaily]

I’ll take my reparation payment in the form of Boone Hall Plantation, please.

Boone Hall is a sprawling plantation located in Charleston County, South Carolina. Today, it offers tours so the curious can get a glimpse of what it was like during antebellum days when Black people were enslaved and white people got richer than Midas from their free labor.

Small Town Horror: The Story of the Largest African Burial Ground in the U.S.

The place is so scenic Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively got married there. Not sure how they didn’t know about the beatings and rapes that likely took place there during slavery, but they’ve since said they’re very, very sorry for using a place of horror as a wedding venue.

I grew up not far from Boone Hall, and it’s likely that ancestors on my father’s side of the family were enslaved there.

I’d like the current owners of the plantation to give it to me. After all, how much would it ever have been worth without the back-breaking labor of my ancestors?

I figured I’d just throw out my pitch for Boone Hall because there are murmurs in the country about trying to find a way to make reparations for that bad slavery thing.

U.S. Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri has legislation that would give $14 trillion to Black Americans to compensate them for the brutal enslavement of their ancestors. Bush and other backers of that legislation want the country to at least discuss reparations - and it’s a discussion I and many other Black Americans would welcome.

But just as awarding Boone Hall to me isn’t quite workable, neither are cash payments to Black Americans to pay for the enslavement of their ancestors.

It’s not that $14 trillion isn’t a lot of money. It is. But it’s only about two-thirds of this country’s annual GDP.

Let’s see...246 years of slavery helped make the United States the most powerful and one of the wealthiest nations on Earth and me and the roughly 40 million other native-born Black Americans split two-thirds of the economic output from a single year.

That does not compute.

Indeed, there is no credible way to compute what would be owed if the country was serious about reparations. (And there is no indication that it is serious.)

How much is a life of enslavement worth in today’s dollars? The calculations can’t simply measure work output based on an eight-hour day. Slaves, we all know, worked ever so slightly longer than that each day.

And then there are the rapes. And the beatings. And the selling of a slave’s children.

How do you calculate centuries of forced illiteracy?

There is a real need for some national acknowledgement of the horrors of slavery and the economic impact it has to this day.

Since 1865, when the end of the Civil War brought emancipation, the economic head start white Americans had over their Black countrymen hasn’t been erased.

Research from the Rand Corporation shows that white Americans hold 10 times more total wealth than Black Americans. I dare say not all of that can be attributed to rap music or wearing your pants too low.

Something structural is at play here, and any solution would likely need to be far more systemic than a check. Think vastly expanded educational opportunities, expanded land and business ownership opportunities - AND a check.

I’m not sure what that reparations system needs to look like, but it needs to be broad and long-lasting.

Meanwhile, while we’re coming up with what could work, I’ll take Boone Hall. Washington Place has a much better ring to it, don’t you think?

Wayne Washington is an investigative reporter based in Florida.

#Why Reparations Owed to Black People Could be Too Massive for Cash payouts #reparations #Black Reparations

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

To Make a Difference: Part 1  [Beginning of Arc]

[Kuripa’s Apartment, 3¾ Years Ago]

I’m sorry for coming here so out of the blue...

No problem. Can I get you anything?

A soft drink please...I need sugar...bad...

*Kuripa grabs some energy drinks and slides Uchui his favorite. He grabs a pre-made cup of tea for himself.

Still can’t stand this stuff, huh?

Nah. Classic British cup o’ tea for me can keep me going. 

You are the strangest nerd I’ve ever met, Kuripa. Usually, people like you would be chugging these things all night.

You’re one to talk. Don’t think I didn’t notice the bags under your eyes.

*sigh*

What’s up? Is it the new workspace? You finding it hard to fit in?

No, the new lab is fine. Thanks again for putting a good word in for me.

It’s just...about the research I’m conducting?

Oh. You mean this...interdimensional-travel thing, right?

Yes...That...Truth be told, I’m currently putting it all on a paper. Then, once I finish the entire project, I plan on unveiling it in front of a live audience.

Seriously!? You haven’t done that since school!

Yeah...and I barely scraped by then. The problem with having a talent like Theoretical Physicist is that ordinary people...don’t get it...Not even examiners. No way I would have been able to attend Hope’s Peak back in the good old days.

I wouldn’t exactly call the old Hope’s Peak, “The good old days...”

Fair point.

So how’s it all going?

It’s progressing...smoothly enough, but I feel like I’ve hit another wall...In regards to this...device thing...I mentioned.

You mean the one that you showed me where we looked into other universes and timelines?

No, not that one. The step up from that. The one that allows us to TRAVEL through universes.

And how can I help? You know I don’t understand this stuff as much as you do.

I know, I know, it’s just...I...need someone to talk this through with...And you’re basically the only person I’ve got...

Right...Well, ok then. Lay it on me.

Thank you.

*Uchui takes a big gulp of his drink.

To start with...I made a discovery last night that’s been keeping me up this whole time...I used my spyglass to find a new universe closely connected to ours. One in the distant future.

That’s pretty normal, isn’t it? What’s been eating you about this one?

...Because I saw a Killing Game on the other side.

...!?

A killing game? Like...a KILLING GAME killing game.

Yes. 16 students, all with Ultimate Talents, locked in an academy, forced to kill each other to escape.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen such a thing, admittedly, but it’s the first time it had an impact on me. I looked deeper into that world and...found a horrible truth.

What?

This Killing Game took place in a reality where none of us are real. Instead, your boss, his friends, the people on Jabberwock Island and all that are part of a popular anime franchise called “Danganronpa”.

That’s a dumb name.

The name is not what’s important. I’ll cut to the chase.

The Killing Game I saw...was the fifty-third one...

MRGH!?

*Kuripa chokes on his tea.

Fi....FIFTY-THIRD!? How does that even-!? WHAT!?

That series got so popular that they busted out a new one every chance they got. And not only that, but society of that world became so obsessed with Danganronpa, that REAL PEOPLE started to be used, and killed, in the killing games.

The fuck is...what!? How is a series where people die horrible deaths so popular!?

I know, right!? It’s like if Dead Man’s Wonderland was a real thing!

I...Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen some pretty horrible things...Some timelines where Junko Enoshima won, or others where disease spreads across the whole universe...Heh...I’ve even seen zombie apocalypse realities, believe it or not.

But this takes the cake...Something like this, so out of control, due to a worlds deception...These kids identities are erased and they’re turned into characters for entertainment...

And I just wish...I just wish I could do something...But they’re out of my reach.

Uchui...

Ignoring the fact that I’m freakishly weak on my own, even if I do find some way to go to that world and rescue those kids, the damage has already been done. There’s no saving a world like that...

But if I could just get these people away from it...That’d be enough.

You want to save them? What does that accomplish?

It accomplishes saving lives and...knowing I did something to help. But even now, maybe I’m a little too late for that...

I just...needed to get it off my chest...I hate the fact that no matter where I’ve look, I’ve yet to find a reality or world that isn’t cruel, bitter and painful...And that nobody can hope to fight against.

Such is the way of the world, I guess.

Not to be rude or anything buddy, but I think peeking in on these other worlds isn’t helping you. You say you feel helpless, but you’re still watching that suffering, cursing yourself.

It’s not good for your mental health.

You’re right...But at the same time, you’re one to talk about obsession over hopeless ideals.

Touché...

*He tips his mug.

Every different reality suffers from a different kind of pain. In this case, it’s a never-ending cycle of anarchy and death...It’s never going to stop because no one wants it to stop. So even if some of these kids survive that game, there’s no one they’ll be able to share their pain with. 

Even if we were to find a way to take our world and bring it to theirs, and show them the reality of suffering because of Killing Games and despair...I don’t think that would be enough to stop this...And that’s what I ultimately realized.

Hm...And you’re sure there’s absolutely NOTHING you can do?

You already have the power to look in. Can’t you send a message or something to the participants?

Again, how does that help? They’re caught hook line and sinker in this game. Telling them the truth won’t stop things.

No matter how I look at this, anything I do that allows me to contact that other world from ours won’t yield any results. Plus, it’s impossible unless there’s a way for me to get out safely on the other side, much less several people.

And I’m guessing the Uchui Porosen of that reality never existed?

Mm-hm...The real people who get put in the Killing Game are given false histories and fake Ultimate Talents. If that reality did have an Uchui, he never achieved anything I did.

Hm...Hang on a second though.

What’s up?

You said that unless there was a way to safely receive yourself, you couldn’t travel there. And that the Uchui of that reality never really had any talents, right?

That’s right.

The Uchui of THIS world, DOES have talents, and is a pretty genius physicist.

D-Don’t butter me up.

So...why don’t you look at it from another angle?

Instead of focusing on bringing our reality to that world...Why not bring THAT world HERE?

...What?

I mean...Here’s how I look at it. You said that you felt powerless because you can’t 

Let’s say, hypothetically, you found a way to grab the people stuck in this Killing Game, and bring them over here. Not only could you save them and give them a chance at new life, but no participants means no Killing Game!

...That’s...True...But then I wouldn’t be able to send them back...At least not right now.

Why would you want to send them back? You said yourself there’s nothing left for them...

...Kuripa...That’s...

INGENIOUS!

It is!?

YES! And no doubt in my mind I could make it work!

It’s not exactly what I want, or what I’m aiming for, but it’s a step in the right direction!

Ooh! I need to plan! I need to hurry and write this down somewhere!? I need to calculate risks, and time management...Ooh, I’m not gonna be sleeping tonight!

Normally I’d try to stop you, given that you’ve already been pulling all-nighters, but I know what you’re like when you’re on this type of high.

Oh...sorry...It’s just, I can’t believe I didn’t see it before! You’ve helped me make a major breakthrough!

Nah, it was just an idle suggestion. I didn’t think too hard about it.

I knew it would be a good idea bringing this to you. Thank you Kuripa! I owe you for this!

*Uchui gets up and rushes out as soon as he arrived.

*sigh*

#danganronpa survivor #danganronpa #oc #kuripa kurafto #uchui porosen #story chapter #the day the world stood still arc

[triedandfailed]

Elaborate. (I very much agree BUT I want to listen to u rambling <3)

HELLO hiiii how r u (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)💗 I know I can trust you to listen to me rambling <33

so this is my essay on how Blonde by Frank Ocean is about Formula 1

(disclaimer ik what this album is about and I don't wanna 'erase' that meaning. I'm just giving a f1-perspective :))

NIKES

iconic first track.

"we’ll let you guys prophesy, we gon’ see the future first"

so, these lines about the expectation on the races, like this would be from a driver's pov talking to a journalist

"living so the last night feels like a past life"

this magnificent line has a very direct meaning ofc but just think,,, this after a race weekend,, especially a bad race,,

also the line "my balls sticking to my jeans" is giving me Magnussen vibes ngl

IVY

"I broke your heart last week you'll probably feel better by the weekend"

this line is sooo Formula 1. every weekend is a new opportunity and it doesn't matter what you did last week (I'm oversimplifying here ofc).

this song especially reminds me of brocedes and other friendships that started in childhood like esteban and pierre, in many many lines, but to say some:

"oh, I could hate you now it's quite alright to hate me now when we both know that deep down the feeling still deep down is good" "in the halls of your hotel arm around my shoulder so I could tell how much I meant to you, meant it sincere back then we had time to kill back then you ain't a kid no more"

BE YOURSELF

honestly I love this audio (would it be considered a song? idk). but well you see the thing, don't do drugs if you want to be an athlete.

also the lines:

"don't try to be someone else don't try to be like someone else don't try to act like someone else, be yourself be secure with yourself rely and trust upon your own decisions on your own beliefs"

can be related to the deal with fame and how it can be difficult to stay true to yourself when you have such a big repercussion

SKYLINE TO

this song is about the summer break you can't change my mind. here are some of the lyrics:

"solstice ain’t as far as it used to be it begins to blur, we get older summer’s not as long as it used to be"

especially from the perspective of an experienced driver, who has been on the sport for many seasons

PRETTY SWEET

the first lines of this song are like made for F1 omg. especially the first four lines:

"now to the edge I'll race to the end I'll make it all the risk I'll take it"

I know they can be applied to anything in life etc but just look at them kgkldkkv. formula 1.

"said you wanna hurt me now you can't hurt me now that might be what you need"

just formula 1 battles. see the most recent (chestappen) as an example

FACEBOOK STORY

literally Esteban Ocon's voice.

jokes aside, the impact that the drivers have on social media and how it affects their relationships (I'm sure you can think of an example)

WHITE FERRARI

do I even have to. I mean

"white ferrari, had a good time (sweet sixteen, how was I supposed to know anything?)"

literally Charles Leclerc. I mean the fact that he races with number 16, also white ferrari could be Alfa Romeo and he had quite a good time there (being a bit delusional here)

"I care for you still and I will forever that was my part of the deal, honest we got so familiar spending each day of the year"

honestly I kinda see this as relationships between drivers who have been seeing each other in the paddock for many years (even some before, in karting)

"I'm sure we're taller in another dimension"

Ferrari and Charles could have been much more </3 maybe in another timeline he'll be world champion (maybe on this one)

SEIGFRIED

"I can’t relate to my peers I’d rather live outside I’d rather chip my pride than lose my mind out here maybe I’m a fool maybe I should move and settle two kids and a swimming pool"

sooo these lyrics (and this song in general) are related to Frank's sexuality and the concept of tough, stoic masculinity, and as we know most sports demand men to be very "masculine", including Formula 1

"maybe I'm a fool to settle for a place with some nice views"

Monaco has some nice views doesn't it

also those last lines

"(in the dark) I’d do anything for you (in the dark)"

could relate to the things that we don't see when watching the sport, like what is going on inside a team (again, bringing us to chestapp-)

aand I left so many songs (Nights, Godspeed, Futura Free,,,) and I'm sorry about it :') anyway steam Blonde by Frank Ocean

#formula 1 #f1 #formula one #my English teacher would say this is badly redacted #and it is #but I'm not sorry just disappointed with myself #stream blonde aka the best albummmm

[giffingthingsss]

Federation: Hey-

Solum: *explodes*

I like how they don’t try to go talk to the planet that exists now. Or their past selves or anything. Like they just know it won’t do any good. “There’s no way this information won’t implode them on impact. No reasoning with them.” (maybe there’s no way to get there via normal space? like they live in a pocket outside our reality? I doubt it.)

You could go try to change your trajectory. Like, why don’t all the people that want to explore and do federation things just leave and do that. And then the people that don’t want to do that just stay and don’t do that. Just split up and don’t kill each other. 

‘That will never happen, we will always kill each other if we find out aliens exist, we must never know. Oops, I just destroyed the Federation and then the Kazon landed. Here we go again.’

Let’s talk about time travel, shall we? 

So the ‘Grandfather Paradox’ has to be garbage, right? 

If they travel from the future and destroy the Federation before it can set in motion the events that destroy their planet, then they would never have a reason to travel from the future, and hence never would. ‘If you kill your grandfather, you never exist, so you never kill your grandfather.’

If they just go talk to the Federation and say, ‘Hey, if you talk to us, we won’t be able to handle it and we’ll all kill each other. We’re over there, please don’t visit ever. Also keep anyone else from visiting, thanks.’ Then they never go back in time because they never had a reason too, etc...

If the grandfather paradox holds water, then you can never intentionally change the past (you could maybe do it unwittingly). The change would just constantly erase itself. But the past has changed. 

So instead it must be that whatever happens just immediately creates a new chain of events with no outside thought about what changes were made. If you go back in time and kill your grandfather, then everything just readjusts. There is no paradox. It just is a new thing. This is just reality now. Everything just constantly moves forward.

It’s dangerous to go to the future. Archer was plucked from the past and put in the future, and everything immediately readjusted to a timeline where everything he had done from the point he disappeared until the point he reappeared was gone and that screwed the entire timeline. 

(The bug in the Shockwave ointment is that Daniels shouldn’t have remembered the original timeline. Unless he was outside of time when he did this. Being outside of time is the only way to know if anything changed, ever. To not be changed yourself.) 

I refuse to do the ‘you create whole new branches of reality’ thing. I’m so bored by this option. 

Let’s be real. The Vulcan Science Directorate was right. This is all ridiculous. Time travel is impossible. 

#star trek prodigy #prodigy things #in the which i pretend i know anything about anything #time travel

[selflessanatta]

Tibetan Buddhist Lamrim: The Disadvantages of Self-Cherishing, http://selflessanatta.com/tibetan-buddhist-lamrim-the-disadvantages-of-self-cherishing/

New Post has been published on http://selflessanatta.com/tibetan-buddhist-lamrim-the-disadvantages-of-self-cherishing/

Tibetan Buddhist Lamrim: The Disadvantages of Self-Cherishing

Chasing individual happiness through selfish means always leads to unhappiness and dissatisfaction.

The Primordial Error

When I first came into existence as pure, aware consciousness, there was just observation.

In the first moment of self-awareness, consciousness observes itself and realizes, “I exist.” Buddhists call this the primordial error.

In the next moment comes the feeling, “I am important.”

And with it, we give birth to Selfish Desire, my instinct to survive, and other primal forces needed for individual survival.

While this boot-up sequence and deeply instinctual belief is essential for survival, it’s detrimental to happiness as it causes all of us to cherish ourselves and our desires above all other concerns.

Self Cherishing

Self-cherishing refers to the self-centered attitude that prioritizes one’s own well-being and desires over the welfare of others.

Most people spend their lives doing whatever they can to make themselves happy. Perhaps others are invited to enjoy the ride, but often their desire for happiness is exclusive to themselves.

Every thought they have is self-centered and focused single-mindedly on what they want and how they plan to obtain whatever they desire.

Our entire economic system is predicated on the idea that individuals ruthlessly purse their selfish ends. In short, self-cherishing, the act of valuing one’s own needs above all others, is deeply embedded into each person and our collective consciousness.

Yet, it doesn’t work.

People have been pursuing their own ends since the beginning of time, yet no one succeeds.

Sure, some people present an outward facade of emotional success, flaunting their income with conspicuous consumption, bragging about their accomplishments, and generally hoping to get others to believe they have it all together.

It’s a fraud.

The Buddha was born a prince, and he had every advantage in life, yet he was not happy. He came to believe innate unhappiness was the nature of the mind itself.

Human Suffering: Understanding Dukkha in the First Noble Truth

The Buddha came to see suffering as the central problem of the human condition, and he correctly reasoned that if suffering impacted his life, given all that was provided for him, then suffering must be a pervasive problem that touches everyone. If he could solve the problem for himself, he would have given his life the meaning and purpose that he felt it lacked, and he would find unshakable happiness and peace of mind independent of his worldly circumstances.

Read full story

Self-Cherishing is the Root of Bad Behavior

If we honestly reflect on our past behavior, we will acknowledge that we have engaged in behaviors that harmed others. While me may find thin rationalizations and justifications for our actions, self-deception doesn’t erase the stains on our hearts.

If we honestly reflect on the reasons for our past misdeeds, we will deduce they all had one thing in common: selfish desire.

Every bad behavior we engage in we do for entirely selfish reasons.

If we carefully considered our actions and how our choices would impact the people around us—and actually valued other’s feelings—we would never place our selfish desires above the needs and wants of others.

We only act badly when we either fail to consider other’s needs and wants, or consider the needs and wants of others to be unimportant.

Self-Cherishing is the Root of Suffering

Self-centeredness has been our downfall across countless lifetimes. Despite our efforts and numerous selfish actions, we haven’t achieved lasting happiness. It’s evident that self-cherishing has misled us.

Now is the time to shift our focus from ourselves to other beings.

So far, we have prioritized ourselves over others, which has perpetuated our suffering. To end this suffering and attain enlightenment, we must start valuing others above ourselves.

Enlightenment is straightforward: prioritize others over oneself, and all spiritual insights will follow. Our natural tendency is to consider ourselves more important than others, but enlightened individuals believe the opposite.

Enlightened beings have found peace and happiness by forsaking self-centeredness and embracing the well-being of others. By following their teachings, we too can find peace.

Learning to Value Others

Changing our mindset won’t happen instantly, but with patience, practice, merit accumulation, purification, and blessings, we can cultivate a genuine concern for all beings.

This transformation doesn’t require a change in lifestyle, but rather in perspective and intent. Our usual view is egocentric, valuing things based on their impact on us.

However, this self-important view is ignorant and doesn’t reflect reality. It leads to selfish actions and endless problems. By embracing teachings that promote a realistic view of the world, recognizing the importance and interconnectedness of all beings, we can foster benevolence towards them.

Cherishing others is achievable. We need to comprehend the reasons for doing so and firmly decide to act on them. Meditating on this decision will deepen our sense of care for all beings, which we should then incorporate into our daily lives.

Meditation on Eliminating Self-Cherishing

In Tibetan Buddhist Lamrim teachings, recognizing the disadvantages of self-cherishing is a crucial step in the development of wisdom, compassion, and spiritual progress.

Lamrim teachings begin by highlighting that self-cherishing is at the root of all selfish thoughts, behaviors, and actions. It is the source of attachment, greed, and harmful actions that lead to suffering for oneself and others.

Self-cherishing creates a barrier to genuine compassion for others. When individuals prioritize their own interests, it becomes challenging to genuinely empathize with and care for the suffering of others.

Self-cherishing obstructs the development of altruism and the wish to benefit others. It reinforces a narrow focus on one’s own needs and desires, often at the expense of others’ well-being.

Self-cherishing hinders the cultivation of loving-kindness (Metta), which involves the generation of goodwill and love for all beings. When self-cherishing is strong, it limits the ability to extend loving-kindness beyond one’s immediate circle.

Self-cherishing gives rise to negative emotions such as anger, jealousy, and pride. These emotions are rooted in self-concern and can lead to destructive actions and suffering for oneself and others.

Self-cherishing feeds attachment to one’s own desires, possessions, and accomplishments. This attachment perpetuates the cycle of suffering by leading to disappointment and dissatisfaction when these desires are unmet.

Self-cherishing is considered an obstacle to spiritual progress. It keeps individuals bound to the cycle of samsara by reinforcing the ego and preventing the development of wisdom and insight.

Self-cherishing can lead to conflicts and discord in relationships and communities. When individuals prioritize their own interests, it can create tension and division, hindering harmonious interactions.

Recognizing the disadvantages of self-cherishing is a key step in the path to liberation and enlightenment. By reducing self-cherishing and cultivating altruism, individuals can work towards freedom from suffering and the realization of their full spiritual potential.

Contemplation

Consider what you read in this post and focus on the following first-person narrative:

My selfish desire is the source of all my negative emotions, unhappiness, and lack of fulfillment. The more I pursue happiness through selfish means, the more I become dissatisfied and cause harm to myself and others.

Object of Meditation

Tbrough contemplating the above the strong desire to abandon self-cherishing will arise. This determination is the object of the meditation.

You should hold this determination in your mind for as long as possible.

When you are out of the meditation session, whenever you feel selfish desire arise, you should remind yourself of its many faults.

In summary, Tibetan Buddhist Lamrim teachings on the disadvantages of self-cherishing emphasize the harmful effects of self-centeredness on individuals’ well-being, relationships, and spiritual progress. By understanding these drawbacks, practitioners are encouraged to reduce self-cherishing and develop a more compassionate and altruistic attitude toward all sentient beings. This transformation is seen as essential for genuine spiritual growth and the alleviation of suffering.

~~wink~~

Anatta

[nerdby]

Doctor Doom, Ouroboros, & The TVA

Okay, so if my theory that the Loki series is building up to the Avengers Forever arc that means Loki and fam will be squaring off against a team of multiversal villains led by Victor von Doom -- AKA Doctor Doom. For those of you who don't know Victor von Doom is a Marvel villain most well known for his ties to the Fantastic Four. He is an evil genius and an authoritarian dictator of the country Latveria. Latveria is what Sokovia is/was called in the comics. Disney renamed it Sokovia because when Age Of Ultron was made the Fantastic Four and X-Men film rights were owned by Fox, and Disney was barred from making any references to the franchises because of copyright issues.

But anyway...

Victor is also a scientist and a tech wiz akin to Tony and Howard Stark or Hank Pym. Part of how he maintains control over Latveria is with an army of robots that function as secret police called Doom Bots. And holy motherfuck the Doom Bots are a metaphor for police brutality and corrupt brainwashed cops. How am I just now noticing that?😐

And we're off-topic.

Again.

Like last week I made a post where I talked this idea I have where Kang lied about having created Miss Minutes. I think that Miss Minutes is a program that was created by Victor von Doom in another timeline in which he and Kang knew each other. Potentially in the upcoming Fantastic Four film which is rumored to be set at some point in the 1960s.

Why would he do that?

Well, if Doom is leading a team of multiversal villains then maybe he needs someone to recruit them, right? That means those villains are variants of villains we might have already encountered in other movies. And we know that everyone who works for the TVA are variants. Which means that Kang is only killing off specific variants while allowing others to live after plucking them from various universes and timelines.

Could Doom be using Miss Minutes to manipulate Kang into deciding who lives and who dies?🤔

Circling back to our good pal Ouroboros, if you watch the first episode it becomes apparent from his interactions with Loki that OB is the only one in the TVA who hasn't had his memory erased by Kang. Why is that? Well, there could be a few reasons--

He's too valuable. Ouroboros wrote the TVA guidebook and assumably constructed most of the technology that it operates with. It's possible that he knows that tech better than Kang himself does which means wiping his memory could negatively impact the TVA.

Kang is simply not able to. Why would he not be able to? Because Ouroboros is a robot -- a piece of machinery so complex that not even Kang himself is capable of navigating it's/his inner workings.

It has also just occurred to me that Doom being tied into the Loki series would be supported by the aforementioned Fantastic Four film's 1960s setting. Cause the 1950s-60s was all about mid-century modern decor. You've all seen The Jetsons, right? If not get on that cause the decor in the TVA is extremely mid-century modern just like in The Jetsons. Which could be a hint that the creators of the TVA are from a universe where that was in vogue. In addition to being a metaphor for outdated rightwing values.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts and predictions so far. I wanted to get them out there cause if I don't then I'd be hyperfixating and driving myself crazy.

#comic books #marvel comics #marvel #graphic novels #mcu #marvel cinematic universe #marvel movies #comic book movies #books #marvel loki #loki series #loki odinson #loki laufeyson #thor movies #fantastic four #avengers #marvel avengers #ouroboros loki #loki season two #kang the conqueror #doctor strange multiverse of madness #miss minutes #doctor doom #victor von doom #marvel multiverse #loki fandom #fan theory #prediction #avengers forever #sylvie laufeydottir

[iamforilive]

A letter from the grave.

And just like that. Here we were. 50 years into the future sat in front of each other the same way we did as teenagers. Except now he looked a little different, still handsome... just wrinkled by time, scrunched by the responsibilities of life and scarred by ever-lasting memories. His skin - once so delicate - has grown so rough, though my hands still caressed his cheeks in awe. And his eyes, reminded me of a sundown I could see just between the tops of the forest trees; the gold, the brown and the green hues each representing a different area of this hazel image in my mind. His eyes were the one feature that remained as beautiful as it was 50 years ago. There was more history in them than on his scars.

My darling's eyes looked tired though, but his smile hid the exhaustion on his face, with the extra trenches carved around this sculpture, the skin folded over the bags under his eyes like the sea does over the sand. Those were the waves of freedom and tranquillity. He continued to look at me, and I at him, analysing every imperfect perfection realising this moment was exactly why we started everything. My body fluttered, the same way it did when I met him. Some things don't change.

So I smiled, and continued to trace his pale skin with my gaze. Kissing every scar or wrinkle that my eyes fell upon. He's older now and yet not even the blemishes of passing days could cover his beauty to me...

Furthermore, his lips, oh the rosy hues paired with the asymmetrical smile made him look like art. But he was not a portrait, he was a body, a person... My person... I traced the softness of his lips with my thumb; plucking them accidentally to reveal his teeth. Now I'm reminded of the times I'd pick out a piece of lettuce for him just from between the gap before we go out for dinner. Or when he would playfully bite my cheek as he kissed it and call me by the sweetest names. Such small things like that bring such impactful memories and bring me a sort of quietude. With him I felt eternal because my love for him was eternal. I could swim in the picture he created in my mind and float on the surface - even surrounded by sharks. I was calm. I wasn't afraid.

Because I had him.

See though, I wasn't built to love. And yet... in him... I found every reason to try. And with every reason came a realisation, that love wasn't just a word to describe an emotion. It was a feeling. The feeling of being finally whole. Every painful thought being erased steadily from your mind; replaced with the memory of the moment - in which you feel in control of, in which you feel inlove with. And believe, I've searched for the cliché definition of love before. Because when you don't feel something, you rely on the description of it provided by others who do. And when it comes to endeavour in the sweetness of said love, you realise that time doesn't always stop. Your heart doesn't skip a beat. But instead, time becomes precious, something to cherish. And your heartbeat synchronises with the world around you.

And my heartbeat synchronised with his.

- - - - - -

Writers note:

I had always found immense beauty in older couples, they would always sit on a bench in a park together or walk on a beach holding hands and they looked truly happy, they looked as if they had felt immortal with eachother. Upon these observations my mind wandered, and I was inspired to imagine what it would be like to meet someone who made you feel this way so young and die with this feeling knowing that you've lived a life full of hope and love. Knowing that the troubles and pain were softened by that one life long parner.

I wrote "a letter from the grave" from the perspective an old soul reminiscing on her love after she had passed with her life long partner. I hope this short story allows you to see the same beauty I do in the world, and more specifically, in strangers.

{Skaiva}

#writers and poets #just an observation #Romantic #female writers #writeblr #writing #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #blogger

[studyingthelore]

I don’t think we’re done with the 70s timeline, either; the “don’t mess with anything” rules of time travel are there for a reason, and I think it’s pretty obvious that this isn’t going to be a simple “and so this AU John and Mary were happy and nothing bad happened to them, the end.” That’s willfully staying in Limbo’s happy halls.

So, some possible directions:

It’s still entirely possible that Mary will end up having to make a deal with Azazel to bring John back to life. John being aware of his anger issues and his self-destructive impulses doesn’t mean that he’s going to resolve them. This could still be a tragedy as a whole: Mary dies young, John loses all of the coping mechanisms that he had built up and devolves into the John we know from the original series.

It’s possible that Dean helping his parents heal their generational trauma to this extent leads to them having an entirely different family structure. I think photoshopping Sam out of that “mystery man” picture was a deliberate choice (and not just to shade Jared lmao as funny as those posts were). They very obviously could have just shot present-day Jensen getting out of the Impala. So picking a photo from season 6 (? I think? I will double check that) is a choice; is there a timeline collapse sort of thing going on here?

If it is in fact from season 6, that season showed the impact of Cas unsinking the Titanic: Ellen was alive and married to Bobby, and all the descendants of those who had originally died on the Titanic started dying in freak accidents. This seems significant! If you try to mess with the timeline, it will correct itself (see the first bullet point that Dean’s meddling might not have actually changed the course of events; perhaps it did for a while, but then the course of events will correct itself).

So, did Dean’s meddling erase Sam from existence? Maybe, but I think it’s more likely in line with Dean’s djinn dream, in which Sam marries Jess, becomes a lawyer, lives a very different and separate life from Dean and they aren’t all that close to each other. Remember season 6 is also when Dean was trying to keep his own normal life with Lisa together. Maybe this is the normie AU, with lawyer Sam and mechanic Dean who’s in this good enough, mostly okay relationship with Lisa but something is still not quite right and he isn’t exactly happy.

I would still love to see Dean test out other AUs (do we think Mr. Guilt Complex is going to be able to resist the possibility that he can go back and find a timeline in which he can save Charlie’s life, or Kevin’s?), because I do think that he just happened to kind of stumble into this one but his main mission is finding Cas. I think he’s very afraid of possibly messing with Cas through his timeline meddling, so that’s why he keeps it vague (”looking for my family”) in explaining himself to John, Mary, Lata, and Carlos. So, he’s keeping that close to the chest, but in a mirror of the first season of Supernatural, where he was trying to find his dad, Dean can’t resist saving as many people along the way as he possibly can (and now with the added bonus of processing his own trauma and grief; and I absolutely think that his enormous guilt complex has to be addressed).

#spnwin theories #this is very meandering sorry lol

[deansmultitudes]

What was the point of prequel? I know jackles is a j*hn apologist but this didn't even redeem j*hn lol like its just a show about some strangers? It's not even a prequel since it happens after finale and does nothing to change show timeline. It just made Dean look infinitely more pathetic. Like dude is dead yet can't stop obsessing over his abusive father. Made me feel worse than spn finale which is a feat in itself.

The point? Money and ego.

Within the show, it set up the au versions of john and mary and this whole au verse for thompson to play around in.

And thus making more money and bigger ego boost for JA lol if this crap for some godforsaken reason gets picked up for season 2.

This is all it comes down to, it has no other value. From now on it'll have nothing to do with Dean or his universe. Thompson said the voiceover will be coming from Dean's journal that he gave them. Funnily spnwinnies expect it to become a show about dean's travels through the multiverse lmao as if he wasn't told by jack he's coming back to heaven, like the show wasn't from the beginning about J&M and like they can't read what thompson is saying lmao.

Other than that, no there was no point. Nothing has changed, the show turned out to be some random john and mary among millions of other john and marys. It's like if he made a show about huntercorp sam and dean except they at least were entertaining AND they did have an impact on the "main" universe and the og sam and dean's lives, somewhat. (hell who knows maybe that's the same verse and the therapy!john will start the huntercorp lol)

Frankly, the world that's all squirrels is higher on the fun list than this one lol.

So basically JA could have just made a show "Anventures of ALT!John and Mary" about this universe where Henry's letter just happened to land in John's hands, since there was no reason whatsoever for it not to land in his hands without Dean's interference. This verse has already had so many differences in it like john and mary not hating each other when they met. There was no fucking need to drag Dean into it. And then they wouldn't have needed the deus ex machina jack (which thompson literally admitted they needed LMAO? If you need a deus ex machina in a 13 episode show, that's not a fucking bragging point for a writer dude, maybe you need a career change).

(I should put a readmore here, sorry it got so long lol)

Like, thompson's talking about this season opening a whole wide supernatural universe... but this universe means nothing. It's not our SPN universe! It's not Dean's! If in the future JA does do that reboot he keeps talking about (and it's actually a reboot not JA the big showbiz guy not knowing the proper terms for his medium) those won't be our Sam and Dean. Funny how the fandom hates the concept of AW!Bobby and AW!Charlie but this crap they're eating up like it's chocolate not a turd (some of them that is). Wanna bet that if they reboot it into young sam and dean show, JA will play john? You know, the way Bill Murray played the skeptic guy in Ghostbusters 2016.

Pathetically, this is one of the least bad solutions, because if ja actually had dean mess with his own timeline, he would have literally entirely erased Dean's existence, and all the events of the "mothership". Which, you know, with his ego he actually might have. So I guess we should count our blessings.

Which doesn't change a fact that he turned dean into an obsessed stalker. Just like you put it: a pathetic, dead dude who can't stop obsessing over his abusive father. That is NOT where Dean was mentally at the end of SPN. That is not where he had been for years before that. It's sad and disgusting and it's not who my Dean was. At least with the 40years long drive you could tell yourself the heaven timey-wimey made it last a few hours not years. Like this, you know he's purposefully following john after john after john after john channeling britney's Born to make you happy.

And by the way since the akrida was unleashed by chuck after he failed then Dean's line of "[ultimate killer] that's not who I am" aka one of the most important lines of the show was a mistake. He should have remained a killer, dad's little soldier. And well, look, he did. Almost getting kicked out of heaven (into where? hell? the empty? oh em gee d*stiel empty reunion and existence foreva and eva in the nothingness?) to make john happy.

And yeah lol, he didn't redeem John. But he's given this version of him everything Dean can never have (including Dean's favorite song that cost the whole TW budget lol). And given how weird an attitude this show and thompson have about alternate universes (like Dean was looking for his family in the alternate universes HOW?? What was he gonna pop up to a random version of X characters and be like hi! I'm Dean, you're my family now????????? And the whole giving john and mary a happy ending, like, it means nothing for Dean's world or himself. His parents still were through shit and are still terrible parents. And also opening spn universe, which this isn't? Like, I don't get what their weird view on alternate universes is lol?) maybe they do think it's redeeming.

He did however succeed at blorboification of John. Now john has fangirls that aren't the few weird john apologists who'd you see in passing once in a blue moon. Now it's their boy john, their little blorbo, their poor little meow meow and boyfriend goals.

I'm so sorry you feel that way :( It's so fucking insidious for JA to do this. But we've known for two years (heck, more with his earlier comments about how "awesome" and "satifying" spn finale would be) that he doesn't give a shit about how miserably Dean's life ended. He fucking loved it. He keeps praising it every chance he gets. The only reason he had a problem with accepting dean's death (for one week lol) after he found out is that he thought he would not be able to get back to him and make more money off him. He didn't actually care that Dean didn't get to live, just that he thought he couldn't play him anymore. Hell even when he said Dean's biggest mistake was landing on the rebar it was bc if he didn't there'd be 6 more seasons! or whatever (as if he wasn't the one who wanted to end the show. Does he think a tv series can just end then resume at his personal whim??) For him it wasn't because Dean died young and didn't get to live the life he fought for. It was about himself. And he's shown it multiple times too! Every time since he's made Dean's birthday all about himself. Last year with *his own pictures* on insta and talking about himself (young and brooding/older and happier??? That's not a description of Dean) and this year with that fucking cringe birthday party for J*nsen with J*nsen blowing out the candles. They literally sang happy birthday to J*nsen on Dean's birthday. So fucked up.

Anyway, for me this episode feels like JA stabbed my barely scabbed-over finale wound with a butter knife, opened it up and salted it. And the fact now the people who were hurting about Dean's death too, now are fucking rejoicing same way S/am girls have been since the finale adds even more insult to the injury. Like thanks, I've heard enough over those 2+ years how I'm an idiot for not understanding the show because I should be totally happy that Dean is dead, and now to hear the same from what I thought was the same side of the fence? Never thought I'd see the day where who I thought was dean girls reiterate b*bros' words because they ate up JA's b*bro agenda.

For what it's worth, this show isn't SPN canon, it's a separate show that has barely any connection to SPN. So probably best course of action is to refuse to accept it as anything other than bad fanfiction that got unfortunately televized. And I hate that due to the spn finale being what it was, there is no comfort there to go back to, but I guess we've managed to live with that for over two years now, we gotta keep going and hope that this failure gets cancelled and that no one ever picks up any more of ja's shit ideas.

We really didn't appreciate how the SPN writers would ignore JA's ideas for Dean and file them away as "actor bullshit" lol

Oh and remember, in about 35 years this earth will get fried and taken over by lucifer or michael like the AW because if these J&M don't raise Sam and Dean to be the hunters who will save the world (IF they're even born at all and are the same people), there will be no one to save it from the apocalypse that is still happening whether they shoot Azazel or not, since he was a small part of the plan that's in motion anyway. The very fact that J&M exist in this verse is because of the millenia of matchmaking programme :)

#anonymous #answered #ask #the j*hn show #'I got him' you don't got shit #or maybe you do got shit and you're confusing it for dean since you treat him like you'd treat shit lol

[64bitgamer]

[greysfall]

My 4444-word review of NEO TWEWY (with personal illustration + heavy spoilers)

My overall critical score for the game is 7.5/10, while my personal enjoyment score is 8.5/10. This review is posted as I have 80% completed the game, got the secret ending and achieved the Angel psychic rank. I’ll first start with the main pros and cons as follows.

PROS:

-        Enjoyable as a whole, still upholding the first game’s spirit in world building and sharing the same backbone - which was mostly revealed in the Secret Reports, it’s impossible to grasp the story without reading them.

-        The new cast and new game is charming in their own way

-        The old cast’s return is one of the biggest highlights for sure, it was fun and impactful. Everyone stays true to themselves and also had their own stories wrapped up nicely.

-        Boss designs are cool, new pins are fun to use and collect

-        The connection between the old and new cast is well written and executed, including but are not limited to the tension between the old and new protagonist, the weird but fun interaction between the 2 Composers, the new friendships revealed and formed

-        Sho being in the main cast is something so uniquely TWEWY and uniquely Sho

-        Still good music

-        Still many fun side quests, some of them really uphold the same quirky spirit of the old game and some are surprisingly touching

-        Many new nice stores and yummy looking foods to explore

-        The map is really easy to memorize for me, it’s fun to travel around the “current” Shibuya to see all the differences compared to the past

-        The social network is crazy and interesting to read through

-        Has an anti-frustration system to help 100% complete the game more easily and earn money faster, so post-game is relatively managable.

-        Overall, I really feel the efforts the team poured into making this as their passion project, not just during the development process but for all the last 14 years. They showed the vision of what they wanted to make, at the same time giving something to both the old as well as new fans.

CONS:

-        The biggest problem with the game is scenario writing. The story is so heavily back-loaded. The director himself thought it would be better to balance out the tension flow by adding more at the beginning but gave in to the scenario writer in the end, probably due to time pressure. This results in an underwhelming execution of characterization and lots of wasted potentials for the first half of the game.  

-        I struggle to view it as a stand-alone game, since the backstory and the old cast both play such an important role in the core of the game. If someone plays this game without having played the OG, they can only enjoy it on surface value at best.

-        The new cast is nice but most of them aren’t quite as intriguing as the old cast, maybe it’s cuz they’re all too nice deep down that they lack a little bit of an edge, of that batshit craziness that everyone in the OG used to have? I think some characters (Fret, Nagi) ended up weaker in terms of characterization because the writer is too afraid of making them unlikeable – which kind of backlashed cuz they only became likable in the most expectable way to cater for a specific group of fans. I would have wished for the other team leaders to be more crazy too, had they not suffered 30+ loops of the Game…

-        The CAMERAWORK IS HELL.

-        Gameplay does get tedious at certain points with all the time travels.

-        Shiba is so badly written as a villain, some Shinjuku characters should be given more screentime cutting into Shiba’s– like Hishima or Kaie or even, Hazuki (though his limited presence also solidified his importance).

-        Some of the main character designs, for example Beat’s hairstyle and his food reactions are hilariously bad. What’s the point of covering up most of his unique facial features?

-        Some of the minor/side characters’ design are too cool for them to have such a small role (eg: Ayano, Eiru). Ryoji did get much screentime but is nowhere as fun as Makoto was.

-        Overall the scope of this game is made a little too big for the team to handle as perfectly as the last game that was very compact, it felt somewhat rushed in development too so the missing pieces are clearly there in the final picture

The entry fee versus paying for it all in the end

An important difference between the Neo game and the original Shibuya game was that the Shibuya rule asked for an entry fee that is the Player’s most important asset, stated as a chance the Composer gives them to reexamine themselves. Meanwhile, the Shinjuku rule neither encourages nor allows personal growth and ultimately aims to erase as many Players as possible. It’s a pity we were never introduced to the full Shinjuku rulebook, as it seems like the system there focuses more on building up power and a grand government to compare with the individuality-driven system of Shibuya.

When you have to compare the new game and the original game (OG), this is an important factor to consider. Also, the OG has a serious storyline running through and through, locked with a different partner/GM creating unique atmosphere for each week and you don’t get to see your old partners again until the end. NEO’s team system does not allow such deep insight and communication between the Players. All of your teammates are always there throughout, the dynamic does change with each new addition but it is not as prominent as a partner change.

Another important factor is how the OG was built from scratch for a new platform as “something no one has ever seen before”, while Neo recycled a lot of old unused ideas from the previous development (check out this interview for more details). The development team for NEO lacks 2 key members and had a change of writer so the final product is not as strongly bound together as the last game.

The new cast is definitely inspired by today’s teenagers (from the view of creators), compared to the old cast they’re more sociable and always seem to take whatever works for them despite feeling unstable inside. They are all innocent and genuinely nice kids, avoiding to hurt each other to a degree that they end up keeping some sort of distance. They’re also unable to communicate at deeper levels, always stagnant at this half-baked stage of equilibrium without any motivation to get to the core of things. That is the cost of entering the game without an entry fee, without even dying or having a reason to be there/to fight seriously. These kids were stolen from the RG into a Game that was decidedly the worst environment for them to change or develop, just wandering around cluelessly to find a way “out” until tragedies started to unfold one by one and they ended up being charged the total sum of the price for their actions – ultimately losing everything in the end.

That is, I believe, a story arc which can resonate more to the youth of today rather than of my generation. If the message of the old game was to “listen”, enjoy life to the fullest and accept to trust others, the message of the new game is to “speak up” from the inside, trying to understand yourself and take actions instead of just going with the flow and finally, to take responsibility for such actions.

If Neku was handpicked by the Composer for being the special one with an all-dense soul to ensure victory of the game then Rindo was just a normal kid chosen out of random by Kubo to be his back-up plan, who just happened to have a high enough imagination to awaken the incredible power from his pin. Rindo was then officially chosen by the Composer as Josh picked up and handed the pin to him again, this time not as Josh’s personal Proxy – but as the Proxy to represent the normal people of Shibuya and via whom he could gamble if humans can fight for their own fate.

The underworld heroine and the hero with little of his own

Shoka is for me a refreshing and layered heroine. She’s the kind of character that took at least 3 trials of creators to form as a complete individual – that included Nomura who gave her the base design and Reaper background, Gen who gave a more cunning touch and the writers who made her English dialogues more punchy. Dishonesty equals “tsundere” is such a cliché, so the English writers tried really hard to avoid that trope in my opinion, while still letting her good intention come through.

She serves as the character who is informed of everything the players should have known, and there was almost nothing she could do about it. Almost. Until she met Rindo.

They were drawn to each other by sharing a state of “not having anything of their own”. They both started out with not being able to truly know themselves, Shoka even hated her RG life but also managed to mature from that stage before Rindo. She must have vibed with Shiki’s love and passion in the Gatto Nero threads, initiating her connection with Shibuya and understanding herself more. With Shoka as Swallow, they were able to open up to each other and offer mental support… but was still not getting to the centre of their problems because for all this time, Shoka could not tell Rindo the most important things about herself.

How did Shoka feel when she met Rindo at the UG? She probably didn’t want to hope that he would live the day until she witnessed the Twisters’ potentials. From the very beginning, they were both incredibly conscious of each other and also constantly frustrated that the person they happened to “notice” was such a condescending bitch/a clueless loser. The Shinjuku Reapers are overall quite drunk in power and uncompassionate to Players, Shoka included. She is also a master of dissociation, which results in her constant boredom, tone swings, haughtiness and subconsciously distancing herself from the friend – the boy she cares about – from false hope, as she judged from facts that it was a hopeless situation where nothing could ever be. Maybe she is naturally a bit of a chameleon just like her name suggests (Shoka 紫陽花 = hydrangea, the color-changing flower), so putting on an act and always dissociating herself from what’s important was easy, while hiding her contradiction was impossible. It was the ex-Reaper Beat who broke it out to her, that she should decide whether she really cared and wanted to do something for a change. He knew how it felt like to cross that line, and knew she wanted to too.  

Shoka is endeared by many of the Shinjuku Reapers and has shown independent acts of kindness (the Shinjuku ghost), proving that her kind and truthful side is as real as her harsh and dishonest side – which makes her a nice mirror to the previous heroine Shiki, who also embraced a dichotomy of self-complex and self-love within her character. In the end, she was the first of the new cast to ultimately accept all that is important to her and independently made the decision to help save Shibuya despite all costs.

She was jealous at Rindo’s interaction with Tsugumi and Kanon but remained silent cuz she wasn’t at a place to have any say about it. She also didn’t reveal about Swallow because that would only add an awkward irrelevance to their current situation, as she was too ready to face erasure at the end of the Game. She only wished to “play a game” with him, be it FanGo or the Reapers’ Game. The tension that the team could only feel at the end, she’s felt it the entire time. The song “DIVIDE” is applicable to not just one bond in the game, but it always makes me think of theirs. There is always a “divide” between her and Rindo throughout the course of their journey, as the living and the dead, as a Player and Reaper, as someone who has a place to return to and someone who doesn’t, someone who knows little but wields too much power and someone who knows a lot despite not being able to do much.

“If only I had the chance to connect with you on the other side

But time goes on, and without us realizing it

The battle is getting heated

Time goes on, and without us realiazing it

Divided again”

To be honest, maybe I didn’t grow any affection for the new main cast from Rindo’s perspective but from Shoka’s. Since I started to sympathize with Shoka, I started to see the boy in a more “real” way. The real Rindo, behind his peaceful façade with others, would lash out on Shoka for her unfairly harsh attitude while none of the others cared. He could also subtly feel that mantle of unspoken secrets from her, her own contradictions, the unresolved chemistry between themselves – and not knowing what to do with it rather than to feel angry with all the unfairness he could not process. (As a Libra too, he’s triggered the most by unfairness!)

It is actually a positive development as he’s at least “reacting” to something strongly now rather than to keep evading his problems. During my replay, I clearly saw the difficult situation Shoka was in, her remaining harshness after the Motoi incident was due to her internal struggle with a mission to save her own life, versus a chance to really be with the team. Her decision was to do both at the risk of losing favour from both sides. Rindo started to accept her layer by layer, as the person who resonated the most to her contradicting nature from the start and knew that via learning her resolve, he has learnt his too.

Later into the game, she even got too much of his attention. Maybe even without knowing she’s Swallow, he’s familiar with her thinking direction and Swallow had always been closer to him than any other friend. It was only after she had to betray her important ones twice that she could start being truly honest. The scene when she died a 2nd time left a strong impression in me, the little reveal let Rindo know that he is also losing Swallow as he’s losing Shoka – and that only death could drive the last secret out of her. Her final “Later, loser” echoed through Rindo as it was the final truth, with only him remaining to hear it: they had actually, already lost everything.

Rindo was the boy who never dared to face all that matters to him until he lost it all, fighting an unfair battle in the faith that they would somehow still win. Shoka was the girl who always knew what was dear to her, but never dared to think she could be together with them ever after and still threw her all into a battle she knew was losing. I think they stir each other on naturally to fill out their gaps, similar to what the Shibuya game partner systerm would have aimed for. The end reward was a little divine intervention to help close up the divide between them once and for all.  

During the game there was not enough space to process anything personal so at the ending when they officially became “friends”, it was an important affirmation of their bond. Some people complained it was friendzoning but it’s not, they just have arrived at the perfect place to start something more. “From now on, we will truly be together” – I read it as that kind of message.  

The heroine from a lost battle, with her story taken away

After reading the secret reports and playing the game to be surprised of how small a role Tsugumi had in the main game despite being the “Hype-chan” thought to be a major character of the next TWEWY installment, many fans would feel sad at a missed opportunity to see the Shinjuku arc in full depiction.

It was shown clearly that, a Shinjuku arc was very carefully planned out and is a vital part of the whole story, yet it could not be made due to various circumstances behind the development scene. I would assume, that the team were not able to make a TWEWY game that ended on a despairing note, but it already happened in their mind, thus becoming a mental burden that forced them to break away from it and started the game anew with NEO. A significant part of NEO became the healing arc for the Shinjuku characters, especially for Tsugumi though I really wished more emphasis should have been placed on her rather than Shiba. We didn’t even get to see her brother – Shinjuku’s Conductor who had a vital role and instead was given the clueless Shiba, who had absolutely no idea what’s going on all the way until the last day in NEO. It’s as if Tsugumi has had her story stolen away from her, because her own battle ended with a saddening loss.

I think every time the game creators look at Tsugumi, they would feel that sadness too. Maybe to them, she is a bigger character than what is seen by the fans, as despite their failed effort to depict her story, she’s lived in their mind for all these years through periods of destruction, healing and rebuild.  Though it is a pity we could not get to experience the full scope of the Shinjuku story, the creators was clear about the place they wished for it to arrive at.    

Individuality, connection and the social network

The team system adapted from Shinjuku rulebook does not allow much room for personal development, as the team dynamic is closer to a work relationship forced to bear results, than a spiritual bond to max out all corners of understanding as found in the partnership system. The old Shibuya system allowed only 1 winner and 1 week limit per game, while the new rule declares for a 1 winning team and only the team at last place will be erased – the other teams will enter another loop. Furthermore, whichever team to challenge the unwinnable Ruinbringers will face the risk of ending up dead last followed by erasure. As a result, the longest-standing teams are most likely not the strongest ever recorded, but the ones who have figured out a strategy to simply survive until something changes, enjoying their newly found social constructs while they are at it. Basically, it is a system to hypnotise players into the illusion that they are still “living”.

Therefore, we as players would not get to the core of each Player individually as fast and directly as we did in the last game. The Twisters were able to stand out not because they’re powerful, they only started to have a real chance after growing enough to each form a meaningful and personal connection to another teammate. It did not come as a team, nor did it intiate from the existing friendship between Rindo and Fret. In fact, I did not find much solidity or anything truly note-worthy about the main team and new characters within themselves until they started clashing with other team members, Reapers and new recruits from week 2 onwards. Rindo found his personal development with Shoka (via a clash with Motoi and pretty much a mini dating sim between them), then via the confrontation of his role with Neku; Fret found his with Kanon then Nagi, the team learned about the real Neku via Beat, Neku entered the UG via Coco’s wish to save Tsugumi… it was not the team but their personal links that empowered them to fight and solve each of their problems.

The other team leaders may have failed because they did not form such personal links, after 30+ hopeless loops Fuya’s team all fell apart to pursue their own interest even at the cost of erasure, Motoi quit his KOL façade to work like a dog for the Reapers (probably to save just his own ass not his team), while Kanon dropped her tricks to find changes via honest cooperation in acceptance of a fair loss. The despairing note in that is huge without making much of a scene because their failure didn’t happen at their best effort to “win”, but in their last attempt to find a way “out”. Even Shiba got his way “out” in the end thanked to his personal friendship with Hishima and Tsugumi.

Something has shifted in the mindset of the game creators in the last 14 years, as both games are about “connection vs individuality” but the last game focuses more on connection between just individuals and this one on the overall network that is formed out of those individual connections.

The introduction of Beat into the main cast was truly the bridge between old and new, they helped each other out in several turns before officially recruiting him. Beat is a character whom a lot of fans including myself have felt somewhat concerned about after Neku disappeared from the RG, so when the new kids welcomed Beat with warm and organic interaction and Beat seemed happy, I started to feel like I wanted to help them out too! I think the overall team chemistry is enjoyable enough for new players, but I could warm up to the new kids more from the pov of a returning character – whom I’m glad to be Beat, as the older brother figure who is genuinely kind, fun, serious and upbeat at the same time; who is needed and needs the kids in return.

The social network is a fun and refreshing feature. You can read all of the crazy tidbits about Shibuya and the links each character have formed with the town people, it’s also fun to visualize how the characters act off screen. Characters’ profiles provide extra insight into their background too, like how it reveals Tsugumi has been friend with Coco during her time in the RG. During the game when not all characters have showed up, you can sometimes guess which empty spot will belong to whom. For example there is a 1 character linking to Neky that is not linked to anyone else, so I could guess that was Joshua, and that another character linking only to Joshua was probably Hazuki, hinting that the 2 Composers are related before either of them even showed up.

Hazuki only showed up for 5 minutes, but his presence is so vital and true to the game that I think he is the most memorable out of the new cast. The two Composers have such an intriguing bond, with their yin/yang or phoenix/dragon themes, opposite color design, the sempai/kouhai tone and the way they keep some sort of distance/work relationship as if it’s mandatory between Higher beings, yet at the same time they can talk so casually because they are truly equal – and different from one another. I have written a separate meta on them here.

Some people pointed out, that all Shinjuku characters’ names and themes are based off Hanafuda cards and the Phoenix in Hanafuda belongs to the Paulownia suit – which is Joshua’s name flower. This is so interesting because it feels like the creators somehow saw it as a sign to interweave the Shibuya and Shinjuku storylines together. Though it doesn’t come out much on the surface, it’s fascinating nonetheless considering both Josh and Haz had at some point interfered with the other town’s affairs.

“Shibuya tour with Haz” was such a special scene, as it happened between 2 characters who do not/no longer have a reason to care about Shibuya, on the subject of what is worth saving about Shibuya. Hazuki carried out the purification of Shinjuku and stepped in to restore Shibuya just as part of his job and unlike Hanekoma or Joshua who both possess profound understanding of humanity, he really didn’t know humans at all. Rindo’s irrational wish invoked in him a sense of curiosity, to try gambling on something irrationally and learning a bit of what his senior have experienced. With all the pieces put together, it provides an overview on Higher beings as a whole, and that Joshua and Hanekoma are really the odd ones out with Hazuki being somewhere in between them and the rest.        

The old friends

It’s easy to have returning characters overshadow the new cast as they have already matured out of their personal story arc and stayed in our hearts for all this time. In the end, I have managed to enjoy both the old and new cast separately and altogether, and they will both find their own place in our memory of this game for the long term.

Sho is truly as crazy as ever, the game wouldn’t be the same if Sho is any less of what he is. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like Neky or Beat is younger than Nagi at all, with moments when it seems like Neky has aged 14 years instead of 3 years. His friendship with Coco surprised me pleasantly, and their interaction together with Beat was fun to watch. Rhyme’s found a new dream and her friendship with Kaie is precious too, especially considering that she can still talk to him online after the game ended. Josh and Neku’s interaction suggested that they have resolved the past and are on equal terms now, they even parted ways in good spirit and I don’t feel any worry about them like I did before.

Neku and Shiki’s reunion scene was beautiful, theirs is such a special bond that it has grown and supported them even without being able to see each other. I am so happy to see them all again and that they stay true to who they are, albeit looking more grown up, cooler and happier than ever before.  

Overall, NEO can’t become a classic on par with the OG, but is definitely a good sequel and a good game in its own rights. I’m happy with whether or not there will be a 3rd game to complete the 3 monkeys theme, but if there will be – I hope the creators can really find the time to learn from the last 2 games and start over with a fresh mindset and strong core.  

#neotwewy #neotwewyspoilers #ntwewy #ntwewy spoilers #neo the world ends with you #twewy #review #meta #neo twewy #shoka sakurane #rindo kanade #tsugumi matsunae

[songmingisthighs]

[9.55] mafia!wooyoung × reader

⇀ good thing you're smart, if not Wooyoung wouldn't have a whole attitude change

⇁ tw : violence, torture, kindapping, mafia life

⇁ part 1 / 2 / 3

⇁ disclaimer : the author does not support any and all criminal/illegal acts. the narrative written in this story is purely fiction out of the author's imagination. the things written here does not portray real mafia life nor is the author aware of how the mafia life is like. the author is a hermit loser.

You don't remember how long it has been since they captured you. Being stuck in a basement would do that apparently.

Whoever was behind your capture had been torturing you beyond your own imagination. They had starved you, hit you, kicked you, attempted to drown you, tied you in an uncomfortable position every night, and sent in someone to make sure you don't get an ounce of sleep.

All that just to get information on Wooyoung.

Currently, you're being tied to a chair, being once again interrogated for informations you had no clue about, "things would be much easier if you'd just give us what we want," the buff man in front of you said, he held a knife to your cheek but at this point you couldn't even flinch, "where is Jung Wooyoung's headquarters?"

Your cold outfit was clinging onto you like second skin, it's uncomfortable and it's dirty, the cold had definitely impacted your health.

Recently all you've been able to feel is just the headache and the burn from inside your body. Not even the abuse given to you was able to inflict you pain.

Everything's just numb.

You look up at the man, almost with a challenging look as you press your face daringly to the blade, "I. Don't. Know." you spat each word like venom.

The man laughed, pretty amused at how daring you are being, "you're his wife, there is no way you wouldn't have known," you rolled your eyes at him, bitter that he used the word 'wife' because you know fully well that Wooyoung would never treat you as such, "then I must've not been his wife now, am I?" You retorted back at him, slightly shocking him because this is the first time within the (apparently) 7 days you've been captured that you had said something else other than 'I don't know' or 'fuck you'.

Everyone was startled at the revelation, they probably hadn't concidered that you might not be Wooyoung's wife. No one really know about Wooyoung's personal life, it seems.

Seeing their hesitance, you take this as your chance of escaping.

The buff man grab your hair harshly, his eyes narrowing at you in suspicion, "don't lie to me, whore, if you're not his wife, then why'd you have a wedding ring on?" "Stole it from my mistress before I ran away, needed the money," you lied easily, surprising yourself.

"And why are you wearing it?" He asked again, "to make it less inconspicuous, people need to believe that this belongs to me or else they'll alert the cops that I'm a thief,"

He seemed to be having an inner turmoil on whether or not he should believe you.

With how you've been acting and the lack of evidence that you are Wooyoung's wife, you could really have been the wrong target.

"That means Handong lied to us," he said as he push your head away, talking to one of the men next to him, "bring him in and get this bitch out," he said simply before turning back to leave.

But before he walked out of the room, he looked back once more at you with a bitter smirk, "make sure to... deal... with her first, insurance for your silence,"

When the doors closed, 5 men approach your figure, still tied on the chair.

One of them crouch down in front of you, he brush your hair out of your face with a sad smile, "I'm sorry that we have to do this, pretty girl," confused at what he said, you just stared at him. But then he suddenly slap you so hard that you fell down along with the chair you're tied to.

And thus began one of the longest night of your life.

Meanwhile Wooyoung was getting antsy. His men couldn't find you anywhere and there isn't a second when he didn't regret turning his abundance of cctv off

He spent his days either in meetings or trying to track your whereabouts. San had to step in and actually force him to eat, going as far as cuffing him to his chair and spoon-fed him, even throwing a cheesy "would (Y/N) be happy to see you in this state?" At him to which he replied, "considering how I treat her, I wouldn't be surprised if she is,"

So far, neither yours nor his parents were aware of your disappearance. His dad only asked about you once to ensure he still has leverage, which of course Wooyoung lied, he's already stressed over your disappearance the last thing he need is for his dad to bit his head off.

Each night he spent sleeping in his bedroom, moping to the fact that he genuinely misses and worried about you. He regret taking you for granted, taking your presence for granted. Now, he could only imagine your sleeping form next to him using the memories of when he actually slept in bed with you. He used to be able to feel your warmth next to him, now it's just cold and he dislike it.

Tonight was no different. Before he got into bed, he went to the walk-in closet and look at all the dresses he had brought you to events that you went to (re : events he was forced brought you because his parents would be there). He remembered every how you looked in every single one of them.

It's pathetic of him, to be pining over the woman he claimed to have no care about.

Just as he turned the walk-in closet's lights off, there were commotions from downstairs, then a huge bang like his front doors had been barged open.

Diving into his instincts, Wooyoung grabbed the nearest gun he had hid all around the room and ran out, thinking that it was a raid by his rivals.

But when he looked down from the second floor to the living room, his heart wrenched and he froze.

San had you in his arms, you looked sickly pale with bruises all over your exposed arms and legs, clothes had chunks of them torn, and you weren't moving. One would assume that you're dead.

Wooyoung dropped his gun and ran to his friend who had just put you on the couch.

The sight of you looking so broken panicked him. He wanted to hold you and be glad that you're home, but he doesn't wanna hurt you. He wanted to tell you how sorry he is and that he'll make up to you but he's not sure whether or not you're still alive.

He snapped his head towards his staff, "call the doctor! Call Kang Yeosang in!" He barked to which his staffs immediately obeyed, scrambling to do as he ordered.

"God, baby, who did this to you?" He muttered to himself, reaching forward to brush your hair out of your face.

You stirred a bit when you heard his voice ans managed to open your eyes despite the splitting headache and the soreness all over your body.

When your eyes met his, you smiled, "hey, what are you doing in my dreams?" You croaked out, throat obviously sore and beyond parched from having been denied fluids for so long. It was your turn to brush his bangs from his eyes, something you've always wanted to do but know never could considering his dislike that turned out to be hatred towards you.

You suddenly frown at him, making his gaze on you softer, "I'm sorry," you muttered, not able to speak louder. At that, he tilted his head, "for what?" "Not being able to stay gone, I had to had the will to live, I should've let them kill me," you said before you slip into unconsciousness, rendering Wooyoung speechless at your words.

Before he was able to retaliate, San had swoop you back into his arms to take you to an empty room so Yeosang could come in and treat you.

"No," Wooyoung called, stopping San in his tracks, "bring her to my- our room, she should feel comfortable," to which San just nodded and obey, knowing how important it is to have you next to him as much as him next to you.

Yeosang came in not long after and spent 3 hours cleaning and stitching your wounds, checking for possible internal injuries, all the while making sure he's handling you with the utmost care as Wooyoung had been glaring daggers at him. Whether it serve to be a warning to not harm you or a sign of jealousy as Yeosang had a perfectly valid reason to cut your shirt and shorts off for handling.

"I can't make a clear diagnosis without checking for internal injuries, we have to take her to the hospital," Yeosang said. But Wooyoung just snap at him, "then freaking bring the machines here! She's not leaving this mansion and she's not leaving my side!"

Both men just stared at each other for a few minutes, Yeosang holding onto his ground on wanting simplicity, and Wooyoung being afraid of losing you from his sight again.

Knowing how stubborn his friend can be, Yeosang was first to crack, sighing and nodding at Wooyoung, "I'll see what I can do," he said simply before going out to talk to San about possibly transporting some of his machines.

The rest of the night, Wooyoung took care of you. He had put you in one of his large, white button up because it's the easiest to put on you. He stayed by your side in a chair, afraid that he might hurt you (than he already necessary does with his words) if he were to slip in bed with you.

As he watch you, his hands moved to held yours in his. His thumbs were rubbing the back of your hand when it suddenly caught on something.

Looking down, he noticed that it's your wedding ring, matching his own which he's wearing.

It brought a smile to his face seeing you're still holding onto it so dearly. You could've left it for him to find and throw away the day you left, but you had decided to take it with you.

Could it be that despite everything he's done to you, you don't want to completely erase him from your mind?

And that's what made Wooyoung broke down and cried.

He didn't deserve you, not one bit. But despite that, he knows that he's the only one capable enough of taking care of you, to provide for whatever it is that you need.

So at that moment, with you back in hia arms, he decided to step up and assume his responsibilities and treat you as how you deserve to be treated.

#ateez #ateez scenarios #ateez au #ateez imagines #ateez scenario #ateez imagine #timestamp #ateez timestamp #au #kpop au #kpop scenario #kpop imagine #kpop imagines #wooyoung #jung wooyoung #ateez wooyoung #smt timestamp